Universe of the Soul (8 page)

Ayane nodded. “If I don't see anything within an hour, we'll go back, agreed?”

“Agreed.”

Ayane closed her eyes and rested her upturned palms on Freya's. A long silence encircled them, broken only by night noises. Some mice scurried in the deeper loam. An owl passed in near silence overhead.

It didn't take more than fifteen minutes. “Change is coming,”

Freya opened her eyes to stare into Ayane's, which were opaque with vision.

“Death is coming, riding in on flame and fear. The awakening of Veranda is near, a challenge to Cerebitha. The cycle will bring about the…”

“The what? Ayane!”

Ayane's face had gone white, and she began to tremble. “It will all burn….they will destroy it all…Freya,”

Freya removed her hands and shook Ayane, breaking the connection. Almost at once, Ayane gripped her head and began to scream. Freya wrapped her arms around the younger girl and began to rock her, whispering soothingly. She caught a glimpse of the convent walls, visible through the trees. The sun had turned the white walls blood red.

“I can't see it, Freya.” Ayane whispered. “Its like something has blocked me, it hurts to look. It hurts to look.”

“It's all right, just rest now.” Freya stared at the bloody walls as the sun fell beyond the horizon. Change was coming.

***

Light-years away, in another part of the galaxy, Adri tossed and turned on her bed in her second officer's quarters aboard the
G.C.N. Oreallus
.

Nightmares plagued her sleep. Dreams of fire. Bright winged lights raced to and fro away from the flames, only to be swallowed by the dark.

To Do:

Get dressed. – Find out where the heck Gobrett went with the new uniform orders.

Eat breakfast. – Check the supplies and the simulators. Gotta stay healthy.

Yell at Sergeant Walters. – scrub duty for ten months. The moron.

Check munitions. – Inspect all ammo levels, speak to Giselle about the specs for the new sniper rifle.

Proceed to the Rivera. – load ‘em up.

Eat lunch.

Practice Ayallan. – Does Giselle know those roll kicks?

Analyze battle specs. – figure out what happened. What went wrong. How can we improve our performance? Talk to Smith about weapons acquisitions. Figure out what the heck happened with that blaster shot at Rael. What was that?

Eat dinner. – Compliment the captain on his choice of new tactical officers.

Review tomorrow's agenda. – Ask Giselle about Riordan's progress on that code breaker.

Go to bed. – Promise self that I will actually get seven hours of sleep.

Note to self:

Make the time to really talk with Giselle. I think she's afraid we're over our heads, but she won't say anything. Don't let what happened with Rael worry me too much. Remember that no one is perfect, and that I have lived my entire life with the Advance Force. I can take on one skinny Commonwealth agazi. Next time will be much better. After all, I did manage to pin down the elusive Rael, didn't I? Ought to pound on that idiot Parlovi.

Check to see if we have some organic milk somewhere.

R
ough night, Adri mused as she glanced back at the twisted sheets on her bed. Normally she slept hard on her first night of full sleep aboard ship, but last night she had been plagued with some very disturbing nightmares. With a last stretch, she shook off the last remnants of sleep and turned to the shower.

The “night” shift was just beginning as Adri made her way from her quarters up to the ship's bridge. The calm orderliness was such a change from the typical noise and controlled chaos of the Advance Force surface camps that she had to mentally adjust to the difference. The ensigns saluted to her as they passed her on the main corridor. Just outside the door, she made a final adjustment to her fresh uniform. Taking a deep breath, she murmured her routine “Patience, Adrienne, patience,” before opening the doorway and stepping onto the bridge. “Second Officer Lieutenant Commander Rael is now on duty, Captain.”

Captain Heedman turned from his discussion with Vice Captain Christian Lowell at the sound of her voice. “Ah, Lieutenant Rael. Excellent. I was just telling Lowell that your services were necessary.”

He was drinking real coffee. Adri could almost hear her stomach whine in envy. She had to mentally remind herself of her mantra: patience, patience, no matter how much of a dolt he was, he was her captain, and she needed to show him respect. That's how the political wheel spun. “How can I be of service, sir?”

“You need to show Lieutenant Grayson around the ship. He is the new security officer, after all.”

Adri turned her head to see that Gray was standing a step behind Lowell. “You need me to give him a tour?” Did she look like some dippy tour guide?

“Of course.”

“With all due respect, sir, my shift has started,”

Heedman waved his hand. “Yes, I know. Janag will stand in for you until this task is completed.”

Adri could hear the operations officer, Susan Janag, sigh in resignation. Her shift would normally begin after Adri's ended, but today was the first in transit, and most of the crew who'd stayed aboard the ship while the rest were on the planet's surface had spent the previous eight hours debriefing the captain and other senior staff. Adri doubted that Janag had seen her bed in the last twenty-one hours.

“You need to make it thorough, Rael,” Heedman lectured. “Leave no corner unexplored; I want our new security officer to be fully acquainted with our ship so that he can do his job. But you need to make it quick, we are expecting visitors this shift. The
Damacene
is going to be here soon on its way to Alistor.”

“Yes, sir.”

“This is the main corridor,” Adri said as she and Gray exited the bridge. What kind of order was ‘show the entire ship, but be done by mid shift?' The idea was laughable. “Since we only have a few hours before the arrival of the
Damacene
, I expect you to lie to your superior officer and tell him that you miraculously saw the entire ship when you next see him.”

“I understand. I would be amazed to discover if the captain has seen more than his quarters and the bridge, for fear of getting lost.”

Adri snorted in suppressed laughter.

They continued walking until they reached the lift. “This is the main lift.” Adri said dryly before ordering it to drop to the next level.

“Adri, is it just me, or are you adverse to any sort of intimate relationship?” Gray asked bluntly as the lift began to descend.

Adri opened her mouth and closed it with a small noise. “I prefer not to have intimate relationships at all.” she finally managed.

“Oh, well then, as long as it isn't just me.” Gray smiled at her as the lift stopped and the doors opened.

“What do you mean?” Adri demanded, stepping out of the lift and starting to walk again.

“If it had been me you were nervous of, then I'd be stuck, but if its just relationships in general, then I have a chance.”

“What?!” Adri stopped in the hallway, glaring at a couple of ensigns until they scurried out of hearing range. “I am NOT nervous, and what do you mean, have a chance? A chance at what?”

Gray continued to smile, but now it was more of a smirk. “You blush when you're nervous, like right now. And I will have a chance to have an intimate relationship with you, Adri, once I convince you that there is nothing to be nervous about. These kind of relationships are supposed to be pleasant, after all.”

Adri suddenly felt the urge to tug out her hair. Or strangle the new security officer. “I
know
that! What makes you think I like you anyway?”

“If you really didn't like me, I would never have made it this far, would I?” Gray insisted.

Was she that transparent? The man read her like a public forum. She even let him get away with calling her Adri. What were her options? Shooting him was a bad idea, she'd get thrown into the brig, and it would be a pity to ruin that pretty face. She failed miserably at ignoring him. “I've known you for only a few days, and you've already complicated my life.”

“What is life without complications, Adri?” Gray watched the emotions play out in her pretty brown eyes. The woman had an obvious mistrust of relationships, but hopefully he could show her how special being with someone who cared for you could be. He had a feeling that he was fast approaching a line in the sand, and he didn't care.

Adri stared hard into his eyes before running her fingers through her hair and turning away. “I think about you too much, Gray. Let that be enough for now.”

“Fair enough.”

“This level houses mostly engineering and storage,” Adri said as they wandered down yet another corridor. “Warehousing is in charge of cataloguing and organizing everything in the storage spaces, including the ammunitions storage. Commander Janag or Vice Captain Lowell are the ones who usually deal with Warehousing, so I wouldn't concern myself too much with whatever they do to pass the time down here.”

“I've always though that Warehouse was a rather thankless job,” Gray commented.

“Further down this corridor is Engineering, and depending on how Commander Solson's mood is, you might be making a lot of trips down here.”

“Why?”

Adri pressed the release on the door. “To suppress riots.”

The minute the door was open, the noise level increased to a wild clamor. Over it could be heard an older man shouting. “Did I ask you to think, grunt? No. I told you to adjust the power regulator, that's all. A simple order you could have followed if you hadn't taken it upon yourself to THINK!”

“I see what you mean,” Gray murmured.

“He's really on a rampage,” said a voice to their right. Gray watched as Duane sauntered over, his bright magenta face streaked with something black and greasy. “Well, I see that you made it down to the Engine Room at last, Grayson.”

Gray nodded. “I dabbled in engineering while aboard the
Cliam Lomas
, but this is…something else.” The chaos was unbelievable. Gray watched as two running engineering ensigns, each carrying what looked to be boxes of tools, crashed into each other with deafening noise. Tools cascaded over the floor like escaping hamsters. They promptly began to yell and curse at each other. No one else seemed to notice or care.

“This is a good day. Solson is in an uproar because the
Damacene
is on its way, and he has a longstanding rivalry with Commander Haggan, the
Damacene
's chief engineer,” Duane went on blithely.

“I'd hate to see a bad day,” Gray muttered, watching in fascinated horror as the two ensigns tackled each other and began to roll around on the scattered pile of tools.

“Danwe,” Adri said suddenly, noticing the two ensigns for the first time. “Utter morons.”

Gray and Duane watched as Adri strode over to the two fighting ensigns, stepping over tools and shoving aside spectators.

Duane shook his head. “Now they've gone and done it. She was in a nice, mellow mood, too.”

“What do you mean…” Gray began, but stopped speaking as Adri stepped up to the battleground. When her sharp order to cease was ignored (they probably did not hear her over their own huffing breaths and raging insults), Adri gave up any form of diplomacy. Reaching down for the nearest assailant, she hauled him up and rammed her knee into his stomach, decommissioning him. Tossing him aside, she reached for the second man, who was trying to pounce on his downed opponent. He tried to dodge her jab, and ended up wheezing in pain as Adri's knee hit him several inches lower.

Hands on her hips, Adri glared down at the two culprits. “Which one of you two morons thought that it was a good idea to start a wrestling match while on duty?”

One ensign squeaked in terror, obviously realizing for the first time just who had broken up their fight.

“And there's our beloved L.C.” Duane said as Adri berated the two idiots.

Gray whistled. “I can see where she gets her reputation. Sergeant Kalinen from Analysis stopped me in the main corridor this afternoon and whispered ‘Good luck with the L.C.' to me. I didn't know what he meant.”

“The L.C. isn't known for her diplomacy,” Duane replied, winking at Adri as she strode back towards them. “She's as tough as she is pretty.”

“I can't believe the idiots you have working down here, Duane, I really don't,” she said heatedly.

Duane shrugged amiably. “I don't do the hiring, I'm only an assistant engineer.”

“Solson would have us stranded in the middle of nowhere with the way he runs things down here.”

“Well, at least the engine's running. For now.”

Adri felt like throwing up her hands in sheer frustration. “I'm getting out of here before something else happens that will offend my sense of order. Duane, do you have those specs I asked for?”

Duane reached into his pocket and pulled out a small data chip. “Here you are. I had to twist a few arms in the weapon tech's division for it.”

“Thanks,” Adri slipped the chip into her own pocket. Turning to Gray she said, “Are you coming?”

“Right beside you.”

“Duane,” Adri called out as they headed for the door, “You should probably call Dr. Geiger and have those two imbeciles moved to the infirmary.”

The door closed on Duane's annoyed expletive.

“Adri, what's on the data chip that Duane gave you?” Gray asked as they walked along the level that housed the science and technology labs.

Adri was quiet for a long moment. Finally she stopped and turned to look hard at Gray. She hadn't known him long, only a few days really, but he'd proven himself a capable soldier and officer. He was interested in her; something she really didn't want to think about for…maybe never. It all came down to a matter of trust. Looking into his calm, questioning gray eyes, she could feel herself longing to be able to trust someone. Something more than the friendly camaraderie she had with Duane, or some of the other Advance Force members. But did she dare open herself even that much? Did she even remember how?

Gray could see some interior struggle going on behind Adri's lovely brown eyes, and he found himself holding his breath, waiting for her answer.

“It's the data analysis of the ambush at the Belligerent Coalition camp last night.”

Gray frowned. “Can't you just order up a copy? You are the lieutenant commander.”

“You're right, but I'd need to sign out on it, and I didn't want it to be general knowledge. Something strange happened, and I need to figure out what it was.” Adri shook her head. “It might be nothing, but I need to find out.”

“Find out what?”

The overhead communication system buzzed before Adri could reply. [Bridge to Rael and Grayson. Contact has been established with the
Damacene
, and the captain requests your presence on the bridge.]

Both Adri and Gray touched their earpieces, [Acknowledged, Bridge.]

They began walking at a faster clip towards the lifts. When they had stepped inside and were rising to the bridge level, Adri said, “Grayson, are you well versed in the schematics and workings of the Belligerent's handheld weaponry?”

“I've seen my fair share, and I've had some extensive training. Why?”

Adri opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She tried again. “I'm going to go over these specs, and then run a probability analysis. I'm going to need an assistant. I don't want anyone else to know what or why I'm doing this.” Oh crap, what was she doing? She didn't want to spend time – private, one on one time – with him. Did she?

Gray nodded, a hint of a smile in his eyes. “I'm your man.”

Something in Adri's stomach fluttered, and she found herself wishing in the back of her mind that he were.

My mind has been unsettled lately. There is a dark presence around the convent, as though a warning of danger to come; yet no one can identify it. This is probably the most disturbing part of the whole situation. A convent filled with Talented and headed by a Talented ought to be able to decipher coming danger. No one speaks of it aloud, but I know in my own way that everyone is worried.

Ayane's vision disturbed me more than I can say. She has a very powerful gift, and she has spent most of her life refining and perfecting its use. But it is a burden. I am glad that I have no such power. Rather, I prefer my variations of weak gifts. It must be an incredibly vulnerable feeling, to not be able to rely on a part of oneself that has always been there. This adds to my uneasiness. Did her gift simply fail her? Or is it something else? I have heard that there are powers out in the vast universe that can block or manipulate another's conscience,…but that seems absurd. Why would someone with such a skill wish to block Ayane's Sight? Unless…

I have a terrible feeling that something is about to happen, something irreversible, not just for my life, but for everyone else's. It grows stronger daily. On top of this is my growing concern for my brother. He is never home to speak with by transmission, and my telepathy cannot reach as far away as Corinthe city. The news he sent me of father's death was most grievous, and I was surprised and upset when
ada
Sergei did not allow me to return home for his funeral. Something is not right about the report Floyd sent me on father's death. He was never one to throw his life away! The whole situation seems suspicious. Poor Floyd, dealing with all this, plus the workload I know he's taken on, I worry about his health.