Daughter of Destiny (6 page)

Zane smiled and waded
through the man’s contorted English to figure out what he meant. He
closed the vehicle door and spoke through the open window. "I’ll go
straight inside. Thank you." With that, Zane turned and the old man
drove off. He entered the station hoping that not everyone spoke as
that man.

Steel and glass gleamed
under fluorescent lights, and his footsteps echoed off the shiny
tiles. An automated machine passed by as it cleaned and polished
the floor. The cleaner scented the air with a light citrus
fragrance. Zane took note of the bored security guard and nodded a
greeting. The guard lifted a hand in return and then went back to
watching a large screen across the room where a man discussed
something involving an oblong ball and men fighting each other to
catch it.

A handful of people
occupied the large open lobby of the station. Five meters away an
adolescent boy with shaggy brown hair and brightly colored clothing
slouched on a bench next to a middle-aged woman. His foot swung
back and forth, kicking the bench across from him. The woman leaned
over and said something to the boy which made him scowl and cease
kicking.

Several benches over, an
old woman dressed in worn and soiled clothes sat on the bench
dozing. Close to the large screen, a man in rumpled, but good
quality clothes sat and worked on a hand held computer. The
remaining occupant of the lobby, a man dressed in a dark matching
coat and pants, fidgeted and looked at his watch every few seconds.
None of the people looked at Zane twice.

Zane made his way to a
ticket kiosk.

"How may I help you?" a
computerized voice asked.

"I need a ticket to
Memphis, Tennessee."

"One moment…"

"The next shuttle leaves at
5 a.m. tomorrow. Would you like to purchase a ticket or search for
other departure times?"

"Purchase a
ticket."

"Please insert your debit
card and prepare for a retina scan."

Zane did as the machine
instructed, confident Coran’s fabrications would pass
inspection.

"Identity and account
confirmed. Would you like to purchase a frequent traveler
program?"

"No."

"Processing transaction.
Thank you for traveling with TransAmerican Shuttles." A minute
later the machine spit out his debit card and a wafer thin plastic
ticket engraved with his name, destination, and departure time.
Zane pocketed the items and went to a vacant bench. A glance at the
human's computer as he passed by made him feel confident that his
would not raise suspicions unless someone got a very close look. He
could message Coran and fine tune the meeting plans.

Hurry up and wait; the
motto of soldiers everywhere,
Zane thought as he sat down and
took out his computer.

Katarina sat in bed
attempting to catch up on paper work. The clock on the nightstand
glowed five thirty a.m., but she kept working. She made outlines
for a couple of papers and finished a grant renewal due in a week.
She graded quizzes from her graduate genetics class. When the words
blurred on the page and she stared at the same scrawled answer for
five minutes without the foggiest idea what it meant she gave up.
Katarina pushed the piles of plasti onto the other side of the bed
and buried under the covers.

"Lights off," she called
out. The lights extinguished and she started to drift off when a
storm of emotions pelted her like a hailstorm. She jerked upright
and stared into the darkness as she examined her mental barriers. A
"door" in her mind stood open.
I know better than that!
She
shook her head at her lapse and started to slam it shut when she
recognized Zane’s psychic imprint. His pain created a vortex that
latched onto her empathic senses, making his feelings rage inside
her as if they were her own.

It went against her nature
to turn from anyone in pain. Katarina avoided social contact for
that reason. Their pain became hers, and she could only tolerate so
much anguish. Katarina hesitated for a minute before calling out
telepathically, but he didn't respond. She touched his mind and
found him locked in a nightmare, unable to hear her. Katarina
closed her eyes and did something she never dared with anyone
before. She sent her mind into Zane’s. His mental barriers were
gone. Either he didn’t know how to maintain while sleeping, or the
nightmare destroyed them.

She sought his unconscious
mind and joined him in the dream. Katarina planned to wake him and
then get the hell out, but she forgot that strategy when her mental
avatar melded with Zane's subconscious mind in the midst of his
nightmare.

Mist gave way to a scene
painted in dark shadows.

"He's surrendering? He's
not even supposed to know we're out here," Zane said. Through his
eyes she stared at the man in front of her. She wondered who he was
and Zane's mind supplied the information.

Captain Jandori, of the
local enforcer squad, shrugged. "One of his spies probably spotted
us. Who cares? Command wants him, and I'm in charge. I'm giving the
order to go in."

Zane rolled his shoulders
and looked up at the unimposing three-story residential compound.
"Captain, allow my men to sweep the place with a deep sensor
first."

"And let the Goloth Emperor
escape while we're sitting out here like cowards? I don't think
so." Captain Jandori tapped the control on his comm unit. "All
units; proceed with caution into the structure." Jandori left cover
and led his troops across the deserted street to the compound. He
didn't wait to see if Zane followed him.

Zane tapped his own comm
unit. "Lieutenant, please tell me you've got something on those
scans."

"Sorry, sir, but he's got
the place protected with layers of sensor scramblers, jammers, and
an EM shield. It's taking time to get through it all."

"Can't you just cut the
blasted power?"

"Already done. He's got
power generators in there."

"Kraghak!"
Zane
cursed.

"Sir?"

"Nothing, Plaswer. Just get
me the readings as fast as you can. Jandori is moving in." Zane
broke off when he saw Rhea's distinctive form following the local
Enforcers. "And my troops are going in as well." Zane tapped the
comm off and cursed again. He double checked his laser rifle before
joining the surge of troops. He hated joint ops like this because
the locals always insisted on being in charge, even if it was an
IGCF matter.

Zane flicked the safety off
and the power cell let out a high pitched whine as it charged the
lasers. He scowled as he moved his rifle to a ready position. No
matter what protocol dictated, Rhea should have awaited his
command.
And she wonders why I refuse to promote
her.

Just as Zane stepped
forward to join his troops, a deafening explosion buckled the
ground beneath his feet. He fell to his knees, which saved him from
the fury of flying debris that blasted past and rained down. His
ears rang and he coughed as dust and smoke filled the air. Zane
scrambled to his feet and steadied himself by placing one hand on
the building that protected him from most of the blast.

At first the dust and smoke
shrouded his view, but he moved ahead despite it, squinting as his
eyes watered and stung from the smoke. Small debris fires burned
here and there, but the fire retardant chemicals impregnated in the
building materials prevented a full-blown conflagration. Zane moved
into the blast zone and came upon bodies. He checked one after
another, even when logic told him no one could survive the blast
which left nothing but a crater twice the diameter of the building
which stood in its place moments before.

When the bright light of
search beams cut through the haze, he realized the high pitched
wail wasn't ringing in his ears, but sirens. Emergency workers
rushed passed him as he turned his back on the disaster. Not until
the emergency response vehicles cut their sirens did he realize his
comm was beeping. He tapped the device.

"Zane!?"

"I'm here,
Coran."

"What happened? Sensors
recorded a huge energy surge just as I got through the last
jammer."

"He blew the place. I don't
think anyone survived."

"No one? Rhea?"

"I'm sorry,
Coran."

The comm remained silent
for a minute. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine. Do whatever
scans you can from orbit. See if this was something he might have
had in place for some time or a last minute
'Kraghak
ti'."

"Yes, sir."

Zane deactivated his comm
and then hunted down the local in charge so he could give a report.
A wiry Ardacian female at the center of a cluster of vehicles
shouted orders to personnel. He headed toward her. She spotted him
and said something in a rapid flow of language that he didn't
comprehend. He opened his mouth to ask her to use a computer
translator, but stopped mid-breath. Fear washed through him
accompanied by a flash of phantom pain in his midsection. He
doubled over as the pain stole his breath. An image came to life in
his mind. A heavily muscled Goloth in battle armor held a bloody
xaraq a
nd wore a malicious grin.

At the same time his
brother whispered his name,
"Zane."
The thought reached him
and ended almost like a breath. Then the connection
snapped.

"NO!"

The Ardacian woman backed
up a step at his yell and then in the way of dreams, she
disappeared. In her place, the chaos of the explosion morphed into
an equally gruesome scene. The switch caused a break in the flow of
thoughts which allowed Katarina to pull out of Zane's point of view
and become an objective viewer instead of participating in the
horrific events. These were not simple dreams. The crystal clarity
of the images and the soul wrenching emotions convinced her he was
reliving a memory.

Katarina's stomach lurched
as once again broken, bloody bodies surrounded her. Instead of
outside in the night air, she now stood in what looked like a
cavern. Katarina tried not to look at the gore around her as she
sought Zane in this new horror, but everywhere she turned the
bodies lay in heaps. She skirted around a dead woman in a black
outfit that reminded her of a SWAT team uniform. Katarina came to
an abrupt stop. The purple creature at her feet was not human. The
technology and languages hinted at the truth. The body on the floor
proved without a doubt that Zane came from a world far beyond her
own.

She heard Zane’s anguished
voice.

"Qior!"

Her surroundings tilted and
twirled like a dizzying ride until she stood beside him. Zane held
a lifeless young man in his arms and tears left a trail through the
soot covering his face. The young man wore a blue uniform stained
scarlet with blood. Katarina edged closer. The dead man's face
lacked the hard lines of Zane's more mature face, and aside from a
few subtle differences around the eyes he looked like a mirror
image.

"What happened?" she asked
before she thought better of it.

Zane looked up and blinked
at her, but didn’t seem shocked to see her. Rage darkened his eyes.
"Karglock. He attacked the station while we tried to apprehend
Goptemock."

Katarina felt bile rise at
the memory of the explosion. "Who was Qior?"

Zane’s eyes closed and he
whispered, "My half-brother." He bowed his head. "It’s my fault. I
should have protected him."

“
Did you do everything you
could?"

“
I tried. Yawaha, I
tried."

Katarina recognized
pointless guilt when she saw it. She carried her own share over the
years. "Then the only person at fault here is the monster who
killed all of these people. I’m sorry you lost your brother, but he
wouldn’t blame you for his death."

Zane looked up again and as
his attention focused on her the nightmare faded into an indistinct
white mist. Qior disappeared. Zane stood, and as he did, the wound
on his shoulder vanished and the black uniform morphed into a gray
one with a colorful insignia on the breast.

"I know, but it doesn’t
change how I feel."

Katarina shrugged, trying
to appear calm while her mind shouted at her to back slowly away
from the alien.

"Wait a minute." His gaze
raked up and down studying her. "Why are you here and why am I
speaking in English?"

"How would I know? It’s
your dream." She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from wincing
at her lame comeback.

She expected him to toss up
mental blocks, get angry at the invasion, and push her out of his
mind, all things she might do. Instead a slow smile played across
his face. "Yes, it is my dream." He took a step forward and his
arms closed around her. She tilted her head back and gaped at his
reaction in stunned silence. He used the opportunity to capture her
mouth with a kiss.

Common sense told her to
pull out now, but the kiss fired the demanding hormonal tide which
held her in its grip. Her breath quickened as his hands moved over
her body. She never wanted it to stop, but when his clothes
disappeared, leaving nothing between them but her clothing, she
panicked.