With slow, almost lazy movement, she spiraled the three objects toward the viewing window, skimming them along within inches of the stunned faces of the Hierarchy, or whoever they were. Holding the rock and the toy steady, she waggled the feather in front of Liona Dann's nose. Kass still stood, arms crossed, leaning against the metal table, openly taunting Tal Rigel's former lover. A long frozen moment and then Dann charged through the gaping crowd. A side door slammed open, clanged closed, as the pysch doctor disappeared into another room. Uh-oh, what now?
Kass returned the feather and the toy to the table, pulled the rock back to the far side of the room and launched it straight at the window. The crowd surged back. She caught the rock just short of its goal and let it hover there, almost touching the plastiglass, while they all inched back toward the window, eyes fixed on her impish, satisfied grin.
The older man nodded. "Well done, Kiolani. Though what you've done is beyond our comprehension, we stand rebuked."
Thank the goddess, it was over.
Metal clanged as a door opened. Not the door to the conference room. Wha . . . ? Kass stared at a plasticrate that had been thrust into the room, the door swiftly closed behind it. A plasticrate with ventilation holes. A plasticrate with something very bad. Evil. She could feel it.
A click. A remote control, Kass realized. The latches on the crate popped open.
Long moments of nothing as Kass watched for signs of movement, never taking her gaze off the crate. At last a sleek black nose, a flash of red, a flash of yellow. By the time the snake was halfway out, Kass was on the table. A quick glance at the viewing window and she could see the older man arguing with Doctor Dann, who was so lost in her own venomous world that she snatched the speaker system from him, draping it over her own head.
"Let's see what you can do with that," she hissed.
"That," Kass said, "is a krall, the deadliest snake in the known universe. Blue Moon has no snakes, and it is forbidden to import them. A rather diabolical plot to get rid of me, Doc, but it won't work."
"If you're really a sorceress," Commander Dann countered, "you can stop it."
Kass glanced at the snake, which seemed to be checking the room, its shining black head moving from side to side, discovering she was the only action available. "I've already proved I can teleport," Kass said in the even tones one uses to a person whose reasoning powers seemed to have dimmed. "Commander Dann, let the Lieutenant Stagg kill the snake."
"No!" Liona Dann threw herself in front of the lieutenant, who was already moving forward, Steg-9 in hand. "Stop! I'm in command here." The two lab coats joined her in barring the lieutenant's way.
"This is overkill, Commander," Kass declared. "You're not a believer. You don't think I can save myself. Which means that snake is premeditated murder. You thought you could kill me without repercussions. Just a test gone wrong."
Vaguely, Kass heard murmurs from the crowd at the window, but if Dann offered a denial, she missed it. Her full attention, every last neuron of her brain, was on the krall, which had started its attack glide, slithering across the floor straight for the metal table. "Stand back from the window," Kass ordered, without taking her eyes off the snake. Fyd! She really hadn't wanted to go this far, but the psych doc left her no choice. "Keep away from the chairs!" she added, though she didn't dare turn her head to see if they'd taken her orders seriously. Like the night Olin Lusk died, this was survival. No holds barred. Kill or be killed. And the victim wasn't going to be L'ira Faelle Maedan Orlondami, aka Kass Kiolani.
When the krall was halfway to the table, Kass flung it against the wall. Again and again until it was a flattened bloody mess. She bombarded the viewing window with a stream of chairs from the conference room, enough to shatter the plastiglass, sending shards flying into the lab, where she was sheltering behind the overturned table.
The bloody snake, entrails hanging out, flew into the conference room, smacking Liona Dann in the face. Her screams were still echoing when Psyclid's Princess Royal and heir designate to the ParaPrime, the planet's chief sorceress, stepped through a door into the corridor and closed it firmly, shutting out the uproar she left behind.
Kass gripped the gilded bannister, gazing up at the spiraling climb to her room. For twenty-one years she had honed her gifts for peaceful purposes, for the benefit of others, for sheer spectacle, for fun. And then, against all the tenets of her people, she had reveled in the war games on Orion, the exhilaration of a job well done. No harm, no foul.
But in the last two weeks, she had killed three men and a krall, shattered two Imperial Tau-15s, clipped members of the rebel Hierarchy with flying chairs, scattered plastiglass on a roomful of innocent people, and smacked Tal Rigel's mistress in the face with the remains of a the galaxy's most venomous snake.
Good going, Kass. The Hierarchy's going to give you a medal.
The stairs still loomed. She was so drained she thought she might have to crawl up them on her hands and knees. Strong hands swept her up, tossing her over a shoulder she instantly recognized from her height off the floor and the bright red of his uniform. Marines to the rescue. Again.
In less than a minute she was sitting on the white and silver sofa with the lieutenant frowning down at her. "You all right, Kiolani? You don't look so good."
"I just need some rest." Kass leaned back and closed her eyes.
"I would have killed it, you know that. I was in the doorway when you zapped it against the wall."
"I did know that," Kass murmured, "but there were enough people in that room to stop you if they wanted to. I couldn't be sure. And besides . . ." Kass drew in a deep breath, as if hoping enough air would pry out the words she was reluctant to admit. "I am cursed with a temper, Lieutenant. I can go years without a glimpse of it, and now, in two weeks time, it's erupted twice. Perhaps even three times. What I felt when I saw Tal Rigel was still alive was closer to rage than shock. Those Tau-15s didn't stand a chance."
"Whatever happens, Dama, know that Quint and I are with you."
Kass's eyes snapped open. "Thank you . . . Anton. I'm afraid I'm going to need all the friends I can get."
"May I get you some wine, Dama? I can send Quint, he's just outside the door."
"Lunelle or ullali. Perhaps both. Thank you."
Stagg flashed an appreciative grin. Lunelle was Blue Moon's exclusive product, a blue wine of legendary quality. Ullali, produced on Psyclid, a liqueur that some claimed was potent enough to wake the dead.
The door swung open, and B'ram Biryani rushed toward them-as fast as Kass had ever seen the old man move. Now she was certain he had at least a touch of the gift of telepathy. He was carrying a tray holding three bottles-lunelle, ullali, and vinali, Psyclid's white wine.
"If there is anything more I can do, you have only to ask," the lieutenant told her before leaving her alone with Veranelle's majordomo.
Biryani's hand trembled as he poured the ullali Kass requested. He seemed to have aged five years in the scant two hours since she'd last seen him. In fact . . . were those tears in his faded gray eyes?
He handed her the glass and stepped back, standing at military attention. "Your Highness-Honored Dama, I had no idea. None. If I had thought they planned to hurt you, I would have roused everyone to fight for you. A thousand apologies. That I could let such a thing happen under this roof-"
Kass dragged herself forward, seized his hand. "Listen to me, Biryani, there was no way you could have known, or even guessed. Everyone was surprised. It was the work of Doctor Liona Dann. An act of jealous rage, I think."
Could she lower herself to ask? Kass squeezed the majordomo's wrinkled hand in thanks then leaned back against the sofa, a wry smile at her own churning emotions tugging at her lips. "Biryani, when I was aboard Captain Rigel's ship, Orion, Commander Dann was his mistress. It was supposed to be a secret, but all the females knew. I assume that hasn't changed?"
The old man kept his gaze fixed on the pale green watered silk wall-covering behind Kass's head. "It is generally known that the captain has not visited the doctor for many months now." Biryani considered the matter, obviously juggling dates in his head. "Well over a year, Dama. Of that I am quite certain."
"He has a new woman?"
"Not on Blue Moon, dama." Biryani offered a slight sniff and added, "I cannot attest, however, to what the captain gets up to on his travels."
"Thank you, Biryani. As always, you are a treasure. Please leave the tray. I will help myself."