Charlotte Boyett-Compo- WIND VERSE- Hunger's Harmattan (21 page)

“They’d have found another way to get to
Ailyn, Shanee,” Leveche told her.

“The mere thought of them transporting a
ghoret into my daughter’s quarters absolutely boggles the mind,” Polemusa said.
“She could have been killed. A single bite from one of those creatures has
enough venom to kill twenty men or more.”

A soft rap came on the general’s door and
he cursed. “Damn it, Miriam, I asked not to be disturbed!” he yelled even as
the portal opened.

“I’m sorry, Sir, but…” Miriam began then
stepped aside as a man politely pushed past her.

“I told her it would be all right.” He
patted Miriam on the shoulder. “Thanks, love.”

Polemusa Iphito sat straight up in her
chair and drew in a quick, stunned breath. Her hand fluttered near her chest
and when her daughter gave her an annoyed look, she didn’t notice.

“Can I get anyone something to drink?”
Miriam asked. She too was staring at the man who had entered the general’s
office.

“No, Miri. We’re fine,” Strom answered for
everyone.

“Shanee, I am so sorry to hear about your
husband,” the newcomer said, and he came to hunker down in front of Shanee,
reaching out to take her hands in his. “Tell me what I can do.”

“Find him,” Shanee said, her eyes tearing
up again much to her irritation. She swiped angrily at the telltale moisture.

“That is my intent,” came the reply.

Ryden Bakari—the man who had once been
Burgon of Aduaidh—got to his feet and turned to face Strom. “I came as soon as
I heard and I’ve got Quinn with me.” He gave Gabriel Leveche a grin. “How’s it
going, Gabe?”

“Fair to middling. I take it you’ve found
him?” Leveche asked. He reached out to grasp the other man’s wrist in the
warrior way.

“Does the queen pop out fledglings?” Bakari
quipped.

“Where?” Strom asked.

“Where do you think?” the former Burgon
queried.

“The last place we’d think to look,”
Leveche said, grinning.

“Where?” Shanee asked.

“R-9,” Bakari and Leveche said at the same
time.

“Let’s go,” Shanee said, getting to her
feet.

“I know you’re anxious to get him back,”
Bakari said, “but he’s pretty heavily guarded.”

“Why?” Polemusa asked. “We thought it was
his mother who took him.”

“It is,” Bakari stated.

“How did you find him, Burgon?” the
arch-counselor asked from the vid-com.

Bakari nodded to the arch-counselor. “How
are you, Sebastian?”

“Quite well, Ry.”

“Although we dismantled the Reaper labs on
R-9, the facility was still being used as a medical facility up until about
four months ago. I had them keep a minimum-security staff on hand via a few
cybots. The monitoring system was shut down to only a few rooms where entry
into the facility is made. When we received an activation alarm from rooms that
were not being vid-sequenced it sent up a red flag. I was informed right away.
There was no doubt in my mind who had infiltrated the facility and what they
were doing.”

“Why didn’t you just let us know?” Shanee
demanded.

“Because in order to get into the facility
without detection, it is going to take someone like Quinn,” Bakari told her.
“With the Maze the
Scaan
have developed, he can get in, shut down the
alarms and the Storian Web Harmattan-Jost and her son have no doubt booted up,
and then we can transport Quinn and Ailyn out of there.”

“She’ll have taken what she wants by now,”
Shanee said, “and have undergone Transition.”

“Doubtful,” Leveche said. “A ghoret bite
leaves a Reaper pretty well incapacitated for at least a week, Shanee. They may
have started taking the fledglings but they won’t be able to use them until
they know for sure the parasite doesn’t have even one drop of venom in it. If
it does, it would kill her the moment it is dropped into her body.”

“She’s a dead woman anyway,” Shanee vowed.

“You said fledglings as in plural,” Miriam
spoke up. “I thought it was just the mother who wanted a parasite.”

“It might have started out that way,”
Bakari agreed, “but I think it’s progressed beyond that now.”

“She’s figured out she can sell them on the
black market,” Leveche said, his jaw flexing. “That’s a lot of money and there
will be people who will line up to shell it out to live virtually forever.”

“We were afraid that would happen,” the
arch-counselor put in.

“Those fledglings must be destroyed,”
Bakari said. “If even one of them falls into the wrong hands, you’ll have the
beginnings of disaster.”

“Do I understand that there is someone on
R-9 who knows how to harvest the fledglings?” General Strom inquired. “Whoever
that is, I want him.”

“Aye,” Bakari said. “Perse Cean and two of
her Ceannus are once again on R-9.”

Shanee gasped. “Oh god, no!” she said.

“Don’t worry, Shanee,” the ex-Burgon said.
“Cean and her assistants won’t ever leave that planet. I swear they won’t.”

“But he was so scared of her,” Shanee said.

“And with good reason,” Bakari said.

“Are you sure it’s Cean?” Leveche asked.

“Aye, I’m sure,” Bakari snapped. “I’ve seen
the vid-seqs coming from there and I’d recognize that evil bitch anywhere. She
is as ugly as stepped-in dog shit.” His eyes narrowed. “And by the way, she’s
mine. I’ll take her out myself.”

“But you’ll leave Elspeth Jost to me,”
Shanee told him.

“If she’s Transitioned, you won’t be a
match for her, daughter,” Polemusa put in. Her eyes had not left Ryden Bakari.

The ex-Burgon actually blushed at the look
the defense queen was sending his way. “She’s right, Shanee. Even at her
advanced age, with a hellion growing inside her, she’ll be a very powerful
foe.”

Shanee met Bakari’s gaze. “I’ll be ready
for her, Burgon. She will pay for hurting my man.”

Bakari nodded slowly. “I see. Do you think
your husband will approve of what you are intending?”

Shanee lifted her chin. “It is my right to
protect him as it is his right to protect me. I love Ailyn Harmattan and I have
no desire for him to ever be alone again. I have to do this.”

“Do what?” Polemusa asked. Her eyebrows
were drawn together. “What is it you are thinking of doing, daughter?”

“She wants to become a Reaper,” Leveche
said quietly. He’d read it in her mind an hour earlier but had not mentioned
it.

“No!” Polemusa hissed. “Burgon, you cannot
allow that!”

“It is my decision, Mother, not yours or
his,” Shanee said. “He understands.”

“As do I, Shanee,” Leveche said. “But think
carefully for once done, it cannot be undone.”

Polemusa rushed to Bakari and grabbed his
arm in a fierce grip. “Please talk her out of this. Please!” she asked,
shocking everyone in the room with her use of the word. “I do not want my only
child to go through such a thing!”

“Milady,” Bakari said. “Shanee won’t be
diminished by it. She will be enhanced. She is not the first Amazeen to embrace
this way of life nor will she be the last, I imagine. As she said, it is her
decision.”

“Do you fear she will be more of a warrior
than you once the deed is done?” Leveche asked quietly.

“No, of course not,” Polemusa said. “I love
my child and I would not see her hurt.” She turned to Shanee. “Did I not return
as soon as you told me what had happened to your man? Does that not say I have
great affection for you, Shanee?”

“Aye, it does, Mother,” Shanee said, “and I
am grateful you came back. I needed you then and I need you now. Try to
understand. I love Ailyn and I will be the one to put down the bitch who is
responsible for all the evil things in his life.”

“I wish to the gods I’d known his mother
had been a spy for the Alliance. I could have warned him,” Bakari said, “but I
never viewed those vid-seqs. I didn’t want to know any more about what had
happened at R-9 than I already knew. For that, I am sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Burgon,” Polemusa
assured him. “How could anyone know a mother would setup her own son to be
killed?”

“She would have been taken into custody had
she not vanished before we could arrest her. Jost too since we knew it was he
who contracted for Ailyn’s assassination,” Strom said. “Someone saved us the
trouble with him.”

“The wife,” the arch-counselor stated.

“I’m not so sure,” Leveche said. “From all
indications, the stepson had no love for Jost. He could have done it.”

“O’Shay wasn’t the only one contracting for
Shanee’s demise. Someone else whose identity I haven’t been able to discover
also put hits out on her,” Bakari said.

“Still no word on where O’Shay has gone to
ground?” Leveche asked.

“No, but I’ll catch up with the bastard,”
Bakari stated.

“So when do we leave to get my husband
back?” Shanee asked. She was still standing, her hands clenched into fists at
her side.

“As soon as I have my other men sealing off
the corridors into and out of R-9 airspace,” Bakari said. “Neither old lady
Harmattan-Jost or Cean is going to escape the noose.”

“Who are you stationing around the planet?”
Strom asked.

“Gabe’s brother Raoul Breva and the
Sangunar
for one,” Bakari answered, “plus seven others loaned to us by Fleet Command.”
He grinned. “I just may let him keep the title and I’ll retire.”

“You have the
Sekkeen
or did you
loan it out to the new Burgon?” Polemusa asked.

“Oh I’m letting him play with it a while,”
Bakari said. “I took the gargantuan, the
Raptor,
when Morrison kicked
the bucket. Spoils of war and all that.”

“We weren’t at war, Ry,” Leveche reminded
him.

“Bastard ordered the hit on my palace that
killed my family,” Bakari snapped. “What was his is now mine! The Coalition
didn’t seem to have a problem with it. If they did, tough shit. The
Raptor
is now an Alliance ship and with a full complement of weapons.” He gave Leveche
a puzzled look. “By the way, when did Raoul begin captaining the
Sangunar
?”

“Since matters at home keep me in
Vespertine,” Leveche grumbled. “I came here in my new Fiach. That is one
bitchin’ machine.”

“Named?” Bakari prodded.

“
Meu Brinquedo
P
equeno
,” the
infamous Lord Savidos replied with a grin. “It means…”

“I know what it means,” Bakari stated with
a roll of his eyes. “Idiot.”

“What does it mean?” Polemusa inquired.

“My little toy,” Bakari grumbled. “What can
I say? The man’s an imbecile.”

“I would like to accompany you on this
mission,” Polemusa said, giving Bakari a heated look.

“Ah, sure,” Bakari said, blushing again. He
glanced at Strom. “May I have a few of your Riezell Guardians just in case?”

“You have the Primary,” Shanee said. “You
don’t need any more Guardians.”

Bakari smiled. “All right.” He looked at
Leveche. “You coming, Lord Savidos?”

Leveche snorted. “Think you can keep me out
of it?”

For the next twenty minutes the mission was
discussed in detail then those gathered started leaving. The arch-counselor
wished them luck and promised any assistance they might need in accomplishing
their goals. Strom asked Polemusa to accompany him to Pass and ID so she could
be given a temporary assignment to Command Central. Shanee asked to be given
half an hour so she could get her Class 10s and bring them to the
Raptor
.
Only Bakari and Leveche were left in the general’s office as Miriam tidied up.

“You flew close to R-9, didn’t you?”
Leveche asked quietly. He glanced at Miriam to see if she’d heard him.

“Miri works for me,” Bakari said, giving
the secretary a wink. “You can talk openly in front of her.”

If that news surprised Leveche, he didn’t
let on. “Did you fly close to R-9?” he repeated.

“Aye,” Bakari admitted.

“Could you sense him?”

The ex-Burgon sighed. “No, Gabe, I
couldn’t.”

“That could mean they are keeping him weak.”

“That’s all I’m hoping it means,” Bakari
replied.

“I pray Ailyn’s still alive,” Leveche said.
He headed for the door then realized Bakari wasn’t behind him. He saw his
friend in quiet conversation with Miriam. “You coming, Ry?” he asked.

Bakari was staring into Miriam’s eyes. “Not
yet,” he said softly.

Leveche saw the woman’s cheeks heat red
before she turned away. He cocked a brow at Bakari who was striding—no, Leveche
corrected himself—who was strutting toward him.

Bakari winked at the infamous Lord Savidos
then continued on to the corridor.

“Your grace?” Miriam called out to Leveche.

“Aye, wench?”