"Hail the ship and all that." The voice was nasal, high pitched, but mostly cheerful.
Jasyn leaned around the edge of the hatch, wiping her hands on a towel. The sink in the galley was still half full of dishes. "Leon," she said and smiled. "Come in."
Leon Gravis, lawyer extraordinaire, sauntered into the ship. His hands were shoved into pockets in his lime green and yellow striped suit. He looked around the lounge area of the Phoenix Rising and whistled.
"You've done remodeling since I was here last," he said. "If I remember right, you were just tearing out walls then."
Clark, Jasyn's husband, lay on a padded bench in an alcove at the back of the ship. A baby was sprawled across his chest, fast asleep. Night black hair framed a chubby face.
"We needed the room." Clark eased the sleeping child onto the bench then slid out from under him. "Since we don't haul much cargo anymore, we figured cabin space was more important."
"So how's Louie doing?" Leon asked, nodding at the child.
"Fine," Jasyn said impatiently. She kept glancing out the open hatch as if expecting someone else to appear. "Leon, I thought we were paying you to find Dace and bring her back."
"True," Leon said, nodding agreeably.
"Well? Where is she?" Jasyn leaned against the galley counter and folded her arms across her chest.
"That," Leon said, "is a long story. Mind if I sit?"
Jasyn turned to the cabinets and banged mugs around. Clark ran a hand through his tousled hair. He was barefoot and looked rumpled.
"I suggest you just tell her the story," Clark said to Leon. "It better be good, too, or she might hurt you. And this time I won't try to stop her."
"Point taken," Leon said. He sat at the table and rubbed his chin with one hand. His smile faded, making him look a decade older. "Where are the rest of them?"
"Beryn and Twyla took Ginni into the port to do some shopping. I think Finn went with them. They won't be back for a while." Clark sat at the end of the table. A muffled clank came from the engine compartment. "And Darus is down there, dismantling the water recycler."
"Maybe he should hear this," Leon suggested.
"And maybe he shouldn't yet," Clark said.
Jasyn slammed three mugs on the table. Juice slopped out of one. A plate of cookies followed the mugs. One cookie slid off the side of the plate. Leon picked it up and held it. He made no move to eat it. Jasyn stared at him, reading the emotions on his face. She sighed heavily and sat.
"How bad is it, Leon?" Jasyn asked.
"From what Paltronis told me, pretty bad." Leon put the cookie carefully back on the table. "Lowell sent her to Tivor to salvage what she could of the situation. It was hopeless."
He fell silent, staring down at the table top. Jasyn and Clark exchanged glances. This was not the Leon they knew. He was never this grim.
"Clark?" Darus climbed up the steep steps from the engine room. He had a greasy part clutched in his hands. "The valve is gummed up past the point I can fix it." He stopped dead at the sight of Leon. He very slowly and carefully set the broken valve on the floor. He crossed to the table. He stood over Leon, his hands flexing open and closed. He stared at the top of Leon's balding head. "Dace?" he asked, the simple sound of her name question enough.
"She's in the Patrol hospital on Besht," Leon said. "They assured me she'd pull through. Eventually."
Darus collapsed into a chair. "I should have shot Lowell when I had the chance."
"I think all of us would like to do that," Clark said.
Jasyn reached across the table and took Darus' hand.
"Tell us what happened," Clark said, "from clear back when Lowell sent her off to Serrimonia."
"I only know what Paltronis told me," Leon answered. "And she only knows the story from the reports Dace gave. She wasn't there for most of it."
Louie whimpered in his sleep. Jasyn and Clark both glanced over at him. He shifted his head to one side and went back to sleep.
"Lowell really only meant for her to be gone a couple of weeks."
"It's been over a year," Jasyn said.
"She and the agent Lowell sent with her, I forget his name, they were shot down. They crashed and had to find a way to convince the Sessimoniss to let them go. And find a way off the planet and all the rest. Apparently the Sessimoniss were under attack. I don't know details, Paltronis claimed it was classified. But she did tell me that the people doing the attacking were related to the ones you ran into on Vallius." Leon picked up a mug and sipped.
Jasyn swore, quietly. Darus went white. He'd been trapped on Vallius for twelve years, held as a slave. Jasyn and Clark had only been there a couple of weeks. Dace was the only reason any of them had left.
"They caught Dace and the agent," Leon continued. "They took both of them as slaves. Dace managed to steal one of their ships and escape. There was some kind of civil war going on. She came back into the Empire flying one of the ghost ships and shocked everyone. Paltronis told me that Lowell thought she was dead."
"He's lucky she wasn't," Jasyn muttered.
"We heard she was on Tivor," Darus said. "What happened, Leon? We also heard she was an admiral. What was Lowell thinking?"
Leon shook his head. "Paltronis said Lowell refused to send Dace on the rescue mission. He said it was a Patrol operation. She wasn't Patrol, not then. But Tayvis was on Trythia. Paltronis said Dace was right in insisting on going. Lowell wouldn't let her go. Paltronis finagled her enlistment as an admiral. Lowell had no choice but to let her go back."
Leon paused to drink again. Jasyn and Darus watched him intently, impatient for his story.
"There was a foul up in the rescue. Paltronis said the fighting was fierce. She lost track of Dace, she didn't show up at the meeting place. There was an army of the Trythians waiting to ambush them. They found Dace and pulled her out, but Tayvis was killed in the fighting."
"That would destroy her," Darus said.
"That's why Lowell sent her to Tivor, partly," Leon continued. "He said he had no choice about it. Not at the time. And she was in the Patrol."
"And now?" Jasyn asked.
"Medical discharge," Leon said. "The paperwork should clear within a week."
"So we set course to Besht to pick her up," Jasyn said.
"Besht has strict laws against murder, or even torture," Clark told her. "For your sake, I hope Lowell isn't there."
"She belongs here, Trevyn, and you know it," Jasyn said sharply to her husband.
"I agree completely with you," Clark said.
"She loved him," Darus said. No one needed to ask who he was talking about. "I was stupid to be jealous of him. I liked him." He rubbed his face with his hands. "We heard the rumor that Tayvis was dead, but I didn't want to believe it."
"He's not. Miscommunication on Trythia is the explanation Lowell gave me," Leon said. He waited until they were looking at him again. "Lowell sent her to Tivor to start a war. The only problem was, the war was already starting without her. Paltronis and Scholar went there to get her out in one piece."
"You said she's in a hospital," Clark said. "What happened?"
Leon shook his head. "That's the part Paltronis refused to talk about. She told me the Hrissia'noru were mixed up in it. Dace isn't the same person she was. If and when she wakes up, they might be able to tell how extensive the neural damage is. She was shot, point blank, with a blaster. It's a wonder she's still alive at all."
"She always was too stubborn for her own good," Clark said.
"A blaster doesn't cause neural damage," Darus said. "What are you not telling us, Leon?"
Leon eyed Darus warily, but it was Clark who answered. "You weren't with us then. You didn't see what they did to her."
"Who?" Darus asked.
"The Hrissia'noru," Jasyn replied. "Lowell's one of them. And so is your daughter."
Darus looked even more confused. "I've never heard of them."
"They don't matter anymore," Leon said. "They bought a colony ship and left. They said something about Dace making her choice when they gave her back."
"Who are they and why do they matter at all?" Darus asked.
"Dace scored a zero on all psychic evaluations," Leon said. "It wasn't because she had no latent abilities, it was because she had a strong natural shield. She didn't have conscious control over it until the Hrissia'noru broke through. Paltronis wouldn't tell me any more about it, she only said I didn't want to know what happened. I felt her, though, from miles away. It was like nothing I've ever experienced."
They sat in silence for a long moment. Jasyn stood up suddenly, headed for the cockpit.
"Where are you going?" Clark asked.
"To set a course for Besht. We're leaving. Now."
"Shouldn't we wait for the others to come back?" Clark asked.
"They'd better hurry," Jasyn said flatly. She dropped into the navigator's chair and flipped on the com. "This is the Phoenix Rising requesting a liftoff window."
"I think she's serious about it," Leon said.
"You coming with us?" Clark asked Leon.
"Give me an hour to close up shop here," Leon answered.
"I'll give you as long as Jasyn will let me," Clark answered. He headed for the cockpit and the com unit.
Leon stood, looking down uncertainly at Darus. "I'm sorry, Darus," he said finally.
Darus sat with his shoulders hunched, staring at the table. One finger traced a slow circle, over and over. He made no reply. Leon patted his shoulder before walking out the open hatch.
No one was there to see the single tear roll down Darus' cheek. He brushed it away angrily. He crossed the lounge to the greasy broken pump still sitting on the floor. He gave the pump a savage kick. It clattered down the stairs into the engine room.
"I think we've got a spare in the cargo hold," Clark said behind him. "I'll help you get it hooked up."
"You should never have had children," Darus said savagely. "It hurts too much. I wish I'd never had any."
"No, you don't, Darus." Clark put his arm around the shorter man's shoulders. "And I wouldn't have missed Lohys for anything. No matter what pain it may cause in the future."
They both glanced over at the sleeping child.
"Maybe it would be different," Darus said, "if I'd been there for her. I had no idea she even existed."
Clark patted his shoulder. "Let's get the pump in. Before Jasyn decides to fly the ship by herself."
Darus let Clark lead him away.