"Oh-eight-hundred," Kiolani. Don't be late."
"Aye, Captain." She flashed him a look so full of excitement, hope, and something a good deal more personal, he felt himself grow hard. Blessings to Omni, he was safely hidden behind his desk.
Now, at last, Tal thought, the rebellion could begin to move from the grim struggle to increase their forces, from sheer determination to survive to a new and more active attack mode. The revolution had found its heart.
Kass peeked around Anton Stagg's broad shoulders, offering a tentative smile to the vaguely familiar female standing in the long line of Regulons waiting to board the shuttle that would take them to the orbiting docking bays. To Astarte and its scout ship Gemma. But the young woman, an assistant Comm officer, was looking up to the air some six meters above their heads, where a miniature Astarte was defending itself from the attack of an equally small Regulon battlecruiser. Oh, pok! K'kadi. Frantically, Kass looked around, but the Psyclid teen was well hidden in the line of brawny Regulons.
Kass, like everyone else, watched as the two ships executed impossible maneuvers, wheeling and turning more abruptly than birds in flight through an almost solid curtain of laser flashes. The Regulon cruiser exploded, drifting toward the ground in a shower of sparks before winking out just above the tallest heads. A few ducked. Everyone cheered. Three meters behind her, K'kadi's thin but wiry arm shot skyward, clenched in a triumphant fist.
Kass readjusted the brand new carry-all that was slung over her shoulder, using the action to hide a what-are-we-going-to-do-with-you headshake and an indulgent smile. They were going to war, and what better boost to morale than such a graphic victory? And yet, to those who still associated Psyclids with witchcraft, such a display of K'kadi's skills could be the equivalent of kicking a hive of wasps. Not wise.
But how to tell K'kadi that without dampening his spirits and possibly affecting his remarkable gift? She would have to find time in her tight schedule to discover exactly what he could do and how to turn those skills to the rebellion's advantage. And while doing that, assure him he was the rebellion's secret weapon and he needed to be very careful about flaunting his talent.
But K'kadi loved the amazement on people's faces . . .
How could he help it? His mother was an actress of great renown, his father . . . also a man of remarkable skills. A man who commanded the stage wherever he was, as accustomed as his mistress to spotlights, rapt audiences, and thunderous applause. Poor K'kadi. He could no more avoid being a showman than Kass could avoid loving Tal Rigel. Even if he was a far cry from the man of her dreams.
Stagg broke her reverie, shepherding her into the shuttle. Twenty minutes later, Kass followed the lieutenant down unfamiliar corridors on the deck designated for officers' quarters, while Sgt. Quint brought up the rear. All of them were lost.
"Do you know where you're going?" Kass demanded when they turned down yet another hallway punctuated by evenly spaced doors on each side.
"No." Sgt. Quint didn't bother to hide a chuckle. Lt. Stagg merely looked annoyed. "We pretty much stick to D Deck when we're not guarding a landing party or fighting," Quint said, "but don't worry. Once we find your quarters, there's bound to be a lift closer than the one we took."
Kass groaned and hiked her bag higher on her shoulder. The batani bag was too new and shiny. It kept slipping. Grimly, she followed the towering lieutenant, whose booted feet seemed to thump more loudly with each disgruntled step. He came to an abrupt halt before a door that looked exactly like every other door they'd passed, except this time the number on it matched the info on Cass's brand new handheld. "I hope you've got the code," Stagg ground out.
As if she were K'kadi instead of Kass!
She swallowed her pride. Anton Stagg and Joss Quint might be friends, but like other males, they were disconcerted when their navigation skills were found wanting. Kass tapped in the code she'd been given. The door opened . . . and they all gaped at the female in a skintight bodysuit who was in the process of transferring clothing from a carry-all into one of the room's built-in drawers.
Dimi! Only once before had Kass shared a room-those six weeks aboard Orion as a cadet. This time she had assumed no one would want to share with a Psyclid.
Never assume. How many times was that cardinal rule drummed into her head? Not enough, evidently.
Tal should have warned her!
Training, training. Rise to the occasion. Handle it.
Kass summoned a smile to match the one offered by the room's unexpected occupant.
"Greetings," the stranger said. "I'm Zandra Foxx. Everyone calls me Zee-Zee. As long as you promise not to do to me what you did to the snake, we'll get along just fine."
Kass nodded, summoning a tentative smile. She had been trained since infancy to handle social surprises. Somehow she would manage.
"This is it, Kiolani," Anton Stagg told her. "No more bodyguards. You're on your own. So take care, dama. And know you always have friends on D Deck."
"You can't just disappear," Kass cried. "Surely, there's a common area some place-"
"We'll keep an eye on you, we promise. And if we can wangle a visit, we will."
Kass hugged them both, then stood in the open doorway as the marines marched shoulder to shoulder down the hallway.
She was alone. Abandoned again. Her marines gone into military isolation, a stranger for a roommate, Tal Rigel's quarters were probably as far from hers as it was possible to get, and the goddess only knew where they'd put K'kadi.
K'kadi. Who was bound to be more alone and isolated than she was. She should have asked, demanded to know where-
Well, fyd!
"Feeling sort of lost?" asked a voice from behind her.
Turning slowly, Kass faced her new roommate.
Chapter 12
Tal leaned back in the fixed-based swivel chair in the room that served as his personal lounge, dining area, and office and stared up at the unexpected visitor standing just inside the door. Although he was making an effort not to look intimidating, it didn't seem to be working. K'kadi Amund continued to project a dark cloud, clearly indicating he was unhappy.
Which was a mystery, because while still on Blue Moon, Tal had set the astute Dorn Jorkan to investigate the boy's background. Dorn had reported that young Amund was eager to join the crew of Astarte. He'd also stated that the boy's mother was still breathtakingly beautiful, enough to turn any man's head. There was no father in the household, but the family lived in unexpected affluence, which included the mother's parents, an almost sure sign the boy's father acknowledged him and supported him. But when questioned about the family's source of income, the mother had merely raised a perfectly arched eyebrow and smiled.
But now, from the look on K'kadi's face, Tal expected to see lightning flash across the room at any moment. "Amund, I thought you wanted to come with us. Can you show me why you're so unhappy?"
A face formed in the space between Tal and K'kadi. An instantly recognizable face in full color-black hair, amber eyes . . .
Mallik! The boy could create people? Correction-the illusion of actual people. The implications were so startling Tal almost forgot his initial question. "Uh-you want to know where Kass is?"
A vigorous nod. A huge question in K'kadi's tilted azure eyes.
"You came to me because you don't like your quarters. You want to be nearer to Kass?"
Only an infinitesimal chin jut this time, but the boy's shoulders straightened and his eyes were now glowing brightly. The black cloud vanished.
Mystery solved. "I beg your pardon," Tal said. "I left billeting to my staff, when I should have anticipated the problem. But now you know how Kass must have felt when she went off to the Space Academy all by herself."
A solemn look, another jerky nod.
Tal spoke into his comm unit, and one of his officers instantly appeared. "Arrange for Amund to have quarters close to Ensign Kiolani. And K'kadi," Tal said to the young Psyclid, "I'm glad you came to me. That was the right thing to do."
The boy turned and followed the officer out. Behind him, a huge mouth hung in the air. Grinning.
Omni! This was going to be an interesting voyage.
Kass turned to her new roommate, the female she'd seen in line just as K'kadi staged his mock war. Zandra "Zee-Zee" Foxx was everything a Regulon female should be. A few years older than Kass, she was blonde, blue-eyed, tall, and stalwart, with angular features that somehow added up to a woman both appealing to women and enticing to men. Perhaps it was the unusual fullness of her lips or more likely the friendly, even mischievous, lights dancing in her eyes.
"Greetings," Kass murmured. "I know you, don't I?"