"I was at Comm when you were a cadet."
"I beg your pardon, I should have remembered."
Zee-Zee gave her a surprising look of sympathy. "Hardly surprising you'd shut out Fleet, the Academy, and everyone associated with it."
Everything but Tal Rigel.
"So unpack," Zee-Zee ordered breezily. "I left you the bottom two drawers, you being shorter and all."
Kass's lips quirked. Set off by her roommate's broad grin, she laughed out loud. As she slung her carry-all on the bed Zee-Zee hadn't already claimed, she asked, "Did you volunteer for this, or did the captain twist your arm?"
"I volunteered. Dorn and I were the only bridge officers who made money when you took out Archer. We didn't let pride stand in the way of betting on you."
"Thanks for that," Kass said, and meant it. She had thought no one bet on her. But of course some must have, or there could have been no bets at all. She opened her carry-all and started to unpack.
"Great Omni," Zee-Zee pronounced with considerable emphasis, "if we didn't already know you're captain's pet . . ."
"Pardon? Oh!" Kass felt the color draining from her skin. "I'm sorry," she muttered, gazing down at the hastily constructed array of brand-new clothes. I'd heard the seamstresses are hard-pressed with so many to outfit, but I had nothing at all, you see. I wore the same three outfits for four years and I couldn't bear-"
Zee-Zee pounded her knuckles against her forehead. "No, I'm sorry. I forgot you were alone for so long you're not used to be teased. How could you be?"
Kass dropped onto her bunk, shaking her head. "I guess the captain knew what he was doing when he put us together. You're here to help me be human again."
"I'm here as a mentor and, I hope, a friend. And, yes, this friend wants you to be comfortable with people again."
Comfortable. For that Kass had to go back nearly five years, to the time before that fateful interview with Captain Rigel on Orion. When he tried to warn her of the coming storm.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. When Zee-Zee answered, a young man said, "Captain's compliments, Lieutenant. He wishes me to inform you that you have a new neighbor. We've moved the Psyclid magician next door."
"Which next door?" Zee-Zee snapped.
"Uh-that way." The young officer pointed to the right.
Zee-Zee sniffed and shut the door in his face.
Uh-oh. "Problem?" Kass asked.
Her new roommate stared blankly for a moment, as if wondering if she cared to share. Then she winked and said, "Just a wobble. Got an interest in the other side, and I have to tell you the Psyclid kid's not my type."
Kass raised her eyebrows. "Dare I ask?"
"Dorn Jorkan, and don't you ever forget it. If he hadn't come back from that lunatic jaunt to the Archives, you'd be first on my pok list."
Kass sighed and stretched out on her bed, staring at the ceiling. "I wonder how long it's going to be before we stop saying sorry to each other. I never asked them to save me, you know. That's just who they are."
Zee-Zee studied her for a moment. "I can't stand people who insist on pointing out the truth," she said in a tone as dry as the Sebi, "but I'm afraid I'm going to like you anyway."
Kass had never had a friend before. There had been hangers-on back in the days when she lived her life as darling of the palace, but she'd found them shallow and doubted their motives for offering friendship. With Zandra Foxx she'd never have that problem. Zee-Zee would say what she thought, straight-out, no holds barred.
In all fairness, Kass had to admit her roommate's forthrightness would probably do her a great deal of good. Not even four years in solitary had obliterated the natural-born arrogance of the heir to the House of Orlondami. If she was going to fit in, she needed to learn to be humble.
She could almost hear the captain's mocking laughter. Who knew better than he how far Kass was from being genuinely humble?
Zee-Zee gasped. Kass looked up to find K'kadi's disembodied head floating just inside the door. Fyd! She was going to wring his neck. Kass bounded to her feet, dashed across the room, and opened the door. "Get in here before I spank you!"
"Kass!" Well, pok! Now she'd shocked the roommate.
K'kadi smirked at her. Miserable little twirp. Even if he is half a head taller. The disembodied face split into an ear-to-ear smile, then drifted slowly toward the room on the right, disappearing as it seemed to pass straight through the wall.
"Yes, I know," Kass told the Psyclid teen. "They've put you next door. Which will be convenient because I need to find out just how much you've learned in the last eight years."
K'kadi struck a pose, one finger to his chin, as if daring her to explore inside his head.
"You know," Zee-Zee intoned, "I'm not sure I can take two of you at once."
"Don't worry. We'll have our training sessions in K'kadi's room."
"No magical spillovers," Zee-Zee urged. "Promise."
Kass rolled her eyes at the teen and sighed. "I can promise for myself, but as for K'kadi . . ." She left the sentence hanging.
He moved with such swift grace, he had clasped Zee-Zee's hand before Kass's roommate could dart out of the way. He raised the lieutenant's fingers to his mouth and brushed a kiss over her knuckles. Kass rather enjoyed seeing Zandra Foxx, eyes wide and totally speechless.
And then he was gone, the door shutting gently behind him.
"You should know," Kass murmured, "that he's a classic absent-minded genius. He doesn't always remember his promises. He's also," she added dryly, "a bit autocratic. That tends to be a problem when your father is a king."
Zee-Zee dropped onto her bunk with an audible thud. "King?" she questioned weakly. "The kid's a prince?"
Great goddess, Kass thought, give her another female to talk to and she'd gone mad. A secret she'd hadn't even told Tal, and she'd babbled it to Zee-Zee in under an hour.
"Not a prince," Kass responded carefully. "K'kadi was born outside the king's marriage."
"Poor kid's a bastard? Well, that's better. Kind of unnerving to have a prince next door."
If she only knew.
"Kiolani, Amund, move to the front where you can see." From his position on top of a table, Tal watched heads turn and bodies sway as the two Psyclids made their way through the tightly packed crowd of officers and crew assembled in Astarte's common room. Fleet Captain Tal Rigel would have addressed them via vid screens, but S'sorrokan preferred the personal touch. Except for a skeleton staff on the bridge and in the engine room, they'd all managed to squeeze into this one space. It was more than five Regulon weeks since they'd all been together, and it felt good to see the sea of upturned familiar faces. Better than good. He was a spacer. This is where he belonged.
Kass popped out of the crowd directly below him, straight-faced and professional. Not a sign of the strange bond between them. Shoulders wedged sideways, the crowd parted just enough to let K'kadi through. The teen offered Kass the broad welcoming smile Tal could not give her. Mallick!
"Welcome back!" Tal took his time, sweeping the crowd with a look that managed to make each one feel the greeting was personal. "And welcome to our two newest crew members, Kass Kiolani and K'kadi Amund." He paused for effect before adding dryly, "I believe you are all familiar with their special talents."
A low rumble, mostly laughter, echoed from the crowd. A grinning mouth started to form over their heads. He saw Kass dig an elbow hard into Amund's ribs. The young Psyclid scowled. The mouth winked out.
Interesting, Tal thought. If Kass was attempting to control Amund's talent, he suspected she'd taken on a formidable task. Like turning a wild creature into a pet. But she was very likely right. Amund would be of little use until he learned to discipline his gifts.
When the room was quiet once again, Tal said, "We're headed for Tatarus." Another ripple of sound swept across the room, a mixed reaction from those pleased to learn their destination and those not so pleased at the length of the journey with no immediate fight at the end.
Tal raised his voice over the murmurs and groans. "Tat was a good source of information a year ago, so we'll try our luck there again. Our object as usual, gathering recruits, intel on Regulon ships, and intel on how outsiders see the rebellion. Are we making a dent in the Empire, or are we nothing more than a flyspeck on the Empire's horizon?"
Boos and catcalls. "Hell, no!" roared someone in the back, the chant swiftly taken up by others. "Hell no! Hell no! Hell no! Hell no . . ."
As the chant continued, K'kadi began a repeat of the miniature battle he'd staged while waiting in line on Blue Moon. Kass shot Tal an anxious glance, her hands dropping back to her sides when Tal nodded his approval. Poor kid, she'd been ready to pounce on him.