Tiva Boon: Heir of Abennelp (Tiva Boon Series Book 2) (25 page)

She smiled back. “Yes, everything seems to be in working order, and I have readied the engines for warp.”

“See you soon,” he said. “Oh and erase this from the log, m’lady.”

“Understood,” she replied then the screen went blank. As ordered, she erased the conversation from the log, and put the ship into warp. Her heading was set, Aliri and Emerala had already fixed the fake flight pattern into the log, now all she had to do was watch the sensors and navigation controls for anomalies and wait to arrive.

The Kihlmaro Traker was not built for comfort or long-term travel. Both seats in the cockpit were durable and made of metal. A pull down cot without a mat, and a tiny lavatory made up the rest of the vessel.

After she put the ship on auto controls, she searched all the compartments to familiarize herself with its inventory. She knew that the flight path her friends had programmed into the computer would take six days, and she should know the ins and outs of the vessel completely if the enemy was to believe she’d been on board the entire time. Once satisfied, she checked the console, made a minor adjustment to the flight path, verified the weapons status, and rested on the cot. If she became too tired, she would find a moon, or an asteroid belt as cover. Regardless of the sensors alerting her to trouble, she wouldn’t risk sleeping for any length of time while traversing space alone.

Lying back, Tiva retrieved her Yantar and flipped through the pages. Ages seemed to have passed since last she had read her book. Laughing slightly as she skimmed the words of the courting ritual, she paused upon reaching the passages for the Bonding Rite. She had seen many couples wed back home. Most times, she was there in an official capacity, but the one ceremony that always stayed with her was Neola and Jex’s. They had exchanged vows in the Great Hall; hundreds if not a thousand people were present. It was a joyous gathering. She wondered how many Bonding Rites had taken place in secret or in smaller ministry houses since the palace hall had been under the control of the Rebels.

The more she thought about it, the more it irritated her. Grunting, she closed the book and put it away. Her finger touched the edge of her family’s painting, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at it. Having her life change completely once then twice was enough to make anyone angry, but not only did her life change, her purpose for living had changed as well. A lifetime of servitude as an elite guardian was her calling, her fate. Each time she put her life on the line for king or country, it was the right choice. Whether the spirits were on her side and showed her the path or her inner consciousness, she never once wanted to sway from her guardian destiny. Now, a new path was set before her and for the first time in her life, she feared making the wrong decisions.

Tiva shook off the thought and pulled her dagger out of her boot. The sturdy weapon shone like new. She saw her markings in the blade. Standing, she stretched a bit before training with the weapon. The feel was so familiar despite being over two years since she had held her father’s dagger. She was lucky to have found it. Striking phantom enemies and objects for an hour kept her focused. After a quick meal, she washed up and moved back to the cockpit to check her status.

Six hours passed. Not one single planet, nebula, shooting star, or asteroid belt was in range. All the gauges and sensors were normal, but she sat in the flight seat for another two hours to try to pass some time.

Already missing her friends and the
Tolox
, she realized she’d be having dinner or walking around the arboretum if she were there. Provided, of course, they were not in the middle of a battle. A chill ran up her spine thinking about the crew fighting without her there to help. For a moment, she felt absolutely powerless.

Tiva pulled her Timbur from her belt and decided to give it a good clean. Sitting on the cot once more, she detached all the claws, and wiped them down one by one. When she was through with the prongs, she cleaned the handle and grip. Once it was back in one piece, Tiva set it on the floor and took out her dagger. With a tight grip on the cross-guard, she began twisting. The stubborn weapon wasn’t cooperating. She finally forced the cross-guard off, and the palm size hilt slipped from her hand and fell to the ground.

When she picked it up, she saw part of a chain hanging out from the open end. She pulled on the chain to reveal a silver necklace with a purple half-moon gemstone.

“How did you know?”

“You told me on our ride to your home.”

Confused, she sat back and held the trinket in her hand. It didn’t belong to her father. Tiva tried to remember where she had seen it before, and whose voice spoke to her. Tespor never gave her such a gift, and it couldn’t have been Adam. The dagger had not left her possession since she found it.

“So when you return, I will present you with a rose, and ask you to be mine.”

“And I will accept.”

Tiva gasped, and clutched the charm.

“We are one spirit, Tiva, separated only to be joined again, destined to be together…”

“Litru, my heart…”

“No.” She jumped up from the bed and threw it to the ground. Shaking in disbelief, she closed her eyes hoping the image would fade. “No.”

Tiva saw Litru on his knees. Their eyes met, but before she could move, a bladed staff pierced through him exiting from his abdomen.

Tiva’s legs gave, and she fell to the ground clutching her chest. “By the spirits…”

“Wake up, Litru, my heart…it’s your flower. I’m here, wake for me, please.”

“Dearest one, he has gone to the Eternal Lands, let him go…let him rest,” Kevler said.

“I will not!” she yelled.

“You must.”

“I cannot...”

Tiva strained to breathe as the memory broke through. Each exhale was a sharp stab to her heart. This couldn’t be real. This much pain was impossible to bear.

Darlew had dragged her from the grounds into the palace. Litru’s lifeless body, covered in blood, lay on the floor. She saw herself holding him and crying while her parents watched. She remembered the rose crashing to the ground, shattering to pieces just like her heart. Her father carried her up to her room and covered her, telling her Litru would not want her to grieve and one day she would be whole again…

Tiva numbly walked to the pond, knowing no voice would sing to her tonight. He’d never sing again. Unable to think his name, she knelt on the bank, pulled the dagger from her hand and stared at the necklace clutched in her other fist.

She removed the pummel from the dagger and stuffed the necklace inside. She called to the spirits to take her pain, to help her forget. She never wanted to feel again. As she enclosed the dagger, Tiva wished this night erased from her memory. As she stared into the pond, she remained motionless, almost welcoming the numbness as it pulled her deeper, for she began to feel nothing.

Nothing at all.

“O
h, Litru, forgive me,” she whimpered. Curled up on the cold floor of the Traker, she sobbed for what seemed like an eternity. She’d never had the chance to love Litru. The Rebels had taken yet another person from her. Was she destined to lose every person she ever loved?

Gaps in her memory began to fill. Questions she’d long forgotten became clear, with answers she never wanted to know. She knew now what Zaynus meant when he had spoken to her in the portrait hall the day after Solun’s attack. He wanted to know if she remembered Litru, his twin…she hadn’t. She forced herself to forget the man she loved, and when her parents saw her the next morning, they acted as if nothing had happened. They must have understood the need for her to forget, and everyone within the palace went along with the ruse because no one ever mentioned his name again.

Harer sent her on the mission to Cenii only a few days after, most likely hoping the change of scenery would help. Looking back, she realized how much colder and angrier she became.

With shaking fingers, she picked up the chain once more. She longed to feel his arms around her again. She missed his smile, his eyes, and his kiss. Wiping the tears from her cheek, Tiva sat back and stared at the crystal. It was all she had left to remember him, and this time she would not forget.

The Traker jerked forward. Tiva snapped back to the present, jumped up, and ran to the cockpit. The sensors showed nothing, but the power to the engines was dropping slowly. She rerouted the auxiliary power source to the main engine feed, and the ship smoothed out. Tiva fell back to the chair and sighed. She had to hold it together; she had a mission to complete. She took control of the ship for a while, and remained on high alert.

Attempting to keep her mind on her work, she reviewed all the data on the Triune Syndicate base, the Kihlmaros and their counterparts the Bujeni and Pizilites, every so often glancing to the chain and thinking of Litru.

When her eyelids began to burn, she programmed the computer to wake her after a short nap and moved back to the cot to rest.

“Litru!” Tiva jolted awake and the nightmare faded. The room came into focus and she realized she was not at the gates to the palace, but on the Traker still. Her rapid breathing slowed, and she forced back the tears that were about to fall. She had to remain strong. Her mission to gather intelligence on the Syndicate was imperative, and she wasn’t going to fail.

She was less than three hours from her destination now, she needed to collect her thoughts and focus on her task. After adjusting the speed, and sending the automated message the captain had supplied, she washed up and made something to eat. The dagger was still on the floor so she picked it up and put it back together, securing the necklace around the cross-guard. She reattached her Timbur to her belt then lifted her pant leg to hide the dagger in its sheath. “Adam…”

She hadn’t thought about him since finding the necklace. “Damn the spirits!”

Tiva slammed the dagger into its holding place and knew her markings were as dark as her mood. She was tired and her spirit drained. How many trials must she face in order to have a simple, happy life?

Unexpectedly, the extended sensors beeped. Another Traker headed her way. Taking a deep breath, she sat, deactivated the auto controls, but kept the ship on its course. The time had come to put on the façade and gain access to the Syndicate. Pushing the thoughts of the last several hours aside, Tiva cleared her mind and strengthened her mental shield. Whatever she was going to face, she had to remain strong and alert.

An hour passed, the other Traker continued its course toward her. Thankfully, nothing else showed up in the area other than a large asteroid field. Tiva forced extra power to the sensors to scan the incoming vessel. It was definitely a newer model, and out-gunned hers tenfold. Before the scan finished completely, the comm channel lit up. She sucked in a breath and activated the controls. A beast-like man appeared before her. His face was dark and tight. Two small horns decorated his forehead. The Kihlmaro crinkled his wide nose and looked into the displayer.

“My navigator picked up your transmission for assistance…” he said in the general tongue, then paused for a moment. “You aren’t one of ours. Who are you?”

“My name is Tiva, I am from a small planet from Cobee space,” she responded, keeping her features neutral.

“State your business!” he barked.

“I was separated from my family after we were attacked and came upon this vessel floating abandoned in space. I am attempting to return it to its owners.”

“Whom does it belong to?”

“I do not know.”

The man peered at her as if studying whom he was speaking to, and his face broke out in a sharp-fanged smile. “You have no idea whose vessel it is?”

“No, I programmed it to take me back to its home coordinates and came along for the ride in hopes of perhaps finding a way to get home. Who are you?”

“I am Colonel Maorist, second in command on Chomllie Station 5.” His left eye twitched slightly as he spoke.

She bowed her head slightly. “An honor to meet you.”

“Where did you say you found our Traker?”

“I did not say for I am uncertain. But I can relay the information to you. I am unfamiliar with space travel so I know not the names of many places. My people have just recently started exploring.”

“Ah, I see. Well, disarm your weapons. I will download the information from your central computer and if everything seems in order, I will escort you back to our base. I am sure my general would be interested in meeting you.”

Tiva tapped on the main console, shutting down weapons as asked, and gave the other ship access to her logs; everything so far was going exactly as Aries predicted.

Three hours passed before the colonel appeared again and agreed to take her to Chomllie. He fed her navigation system new coordinates and ordered her to follow.

The two ships met and traveled toward the Kihlmaro base. Tiva kept her Traker on course with the colonel, matching its speed. The computer and sensors hissed and whistled softly in the background like an electronic concert as it picked up readings from the sector. The displayer showed an object in the distance, a very large structure by the readings. Sweeps picked up a nearby planet, but at this range, it showed little information. The colonel’s Traker slowed so she compensated. His face, once again, filled the displayer.

“Shut down your engines and we will tow you in with the grappler,” he ordered then the screen went blank.

She grumbled slightly, obviously having no choice, and did as he wished. Once the ship was dead in space, two sturdy cables jettisoned from the back of his craft locking on to hers. The ship jerked forward then began a slow steady path as the structure came into view. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. It was twice the size of Ovvella Base; hundreds of Trakers, bomb runners, and other known Triune Syndicate vessels were attached to the two docking arms of the structure. The oddly shaped base had various sections connected to a main operation center. The base was older than Ovvella. By the look of it, it had seen its fair share of battle damage. At the end of the left arm, a large clamp opened. The Traker maneuvered directly toward it. The grappling cables retracted and Tiva’s ship floated into the clutches of the clamp, forced to a sudden stop.

The colonel’s ship maneuvered under the arm then back around, docking next to hers. She shut down the ship completely and moved through the cabin to gather her things and wait. The hatch opened, and standing before her in the corridor were several large Kihlmaro men pointing weapons directly at her. Behind them, she spotted a Bujeni woman and two Pizilite men as well as three other species she did not recognize.

She stood there, no more intimidated than she had been when facing a group of angry Rebels on Abennelp, and glanced around for the man who made contact with her. Several of the aliens moved aside as Colonel Maorist neared.

“Lower your weapons. This female is not a prisoner…yet,” he snapped and offered his hand to her. She took it graciously and stepped out of the vessel, nodding her thanks. He confiscated her Timbur, but did not search her for other weapons; an obvious miscalculation. Without another word, he led her down the seemingly endless hallway. A troop of soldiers followed. At the end of the corridor, a metal door retracted into the ceiling revealing the heart of the base. It was similar to the promenade on Ovvella. Hundreds of beings moved about. The general mood she picked up was alert, but relaxed. Her presence was not perceived as a threat it seemed; for that she was grateful. “This is Chomllie 5’s common area. When not…exploring, many of our group make their home here or nearby on Dempor. I assume you noticed it on your way here?”

Tiva nodded. “The ship did alert me to the planet’s location.”

“So, Tiva…”

“Vren,” she finished.

“Tiva Vren, what planet do you call home?”

Knowing he was attempting to gather information, she answered honestly. The Union had little information on her planet still, so if they had access to the data they could confirm Abennelp was not part of any organization and was new to space travel. The Union already sequestered her information; still the use of an alias ensured her safety.

“Come, I will bring you to see the general.”

Tiva followed, the group of protectors keeping in close proximity. The colonel took her through the common area and onto an automatic walkway. They rode past hundreds of shops filled with thousands of people and entered an area with a moving stairway. Riding up, Tiva took in as much of the station as possible. Unsure of who was security, she memorized the layout with each sector they entered.

After a few checks of identification, the group reached the operations center of the station. A dozen computer stations and consoles filled the room. The tallest man she had ever seen rose from one of the middle seats in the room and greeted Maorist by grabbing his wrist and meeting his forehead.

“General Vekor Anann, this is Tiva Vren, from Abennelp. She brought one of our vessels home.”

The Kihlmaro turned to her, looking down to meet her gaze. Tiva dipped her head slightly. “An honor to meet you, General Anann.”

“I’ve been informed you are in a predicament of sorts. Our records here show little information about your planet…how did you happen upon one of our Trakers?” he asked, as Maorist and the others turned and left.

Not surprised by his direct line of questioning, she explained carefully. “My people recently made a space worthy craft and ventured out to explore space. We made friends with a nearby planet who gave us stargrids and translator technology to help us on our journey, but we were attacked soon after leaving.”

He motioned to another doorway, which lead to his office. Anann sat behind an oversized desk, and she took the seat his right.“By whom?”

“Unknown.” She shifted in the chair and met his eyes. “They claimed we were trespassing on their territory and we tried to inform them of our exploratory intentions, but they fired upon our vessel forcing us to use our escape modules.”

“Interesting…” he began. “And you found one of our Trakers abandoned?”

“I did,” she replied sighing slightly. “I was able to repair some of the damage with parts from my module, but I did not know where I was, nor could I find any of my people’s crafts. My only choice was to attempt friendly contact with the owners, thus I am here.”

He reached into his desk and pulled out a cylindrical object putting it to his lip. He lit the end with fire and began inhaling as a cloud of smoke trickled from the end. “Cigar? It’s a human thing. Quite good.”

“No, thank you. I am unfamiliar with the custom.”

He nodded and leaned back in his chair. After drawing a few more times on the cigar, he looked her over once more and smiled. “You are an engineer on your world, Tiva Vren?”

“No, I am…” She paused unsure which route to take. “I would like to know your intentions before I reveal that information, General Anann. After all, I am alone now. Hopefully, my family has returned home and I do wish to join them.”

“So, you are someone important?”

“Somewhat,” she confessed. “It appears that now we are a space-bound planet, alliances with other races are imperative.”

“Quite true and lucky for you…you’ve come upon the strongest organization in this part of the universe. Maorist has verified the information from the vessel, and everything’s checked out so far. We thank you for bringing us our vessel, Tiva Vren. You are safe here; we wish you no harm and are always interested in meeting new species.”