“BRIDGE DECK,” AMYE orders the lift.
JC slides through the doors before they seal. “Amye, are you okay? Summersun was difficult—”
Amye lifts JC into the air by her throat and slams her against the wall of the elevator. “You’re scanning my thoughts.” Wafts of alcohol blast from her mouth.
JC’s golden headband bounces onto the floor.
She fails to reach the floor with her toes. “I didn’t mean to.” Lying would benefit her.
Most of the choker keeps Amye’s fingers from touching flesh but allows enough skin contact to bridge an involuntary telepathic connection.
As she retracts her telepathic link, dark thoughts drift into JC’s head. As she loses contact with Amye’s flesh, flashes of her own memories are brought to the forefront. She fights to keep them filed deeply away.
••••••
SEVENTEEN.
Seventeen and innocent—having just taken the final mental test to determine her cerebral rating, she’s paraded before an Osirian hidden in shadow with an unreadable, no, shielded mind. Not shielded by a telepath, but some technical force. JC was sold to this man. Some long-forgotten commandment in the founding allowed telepaths to be sold into servitude in order to protect their status. As property, if damaged, the owner would receive compensation.
JC cuts off her thought as another memory slips from her control.
••••••
SHE SWADDLES A pink blanket around a baby. “You promised after she was born our contract was complete.”
The older broad-shouldered figure lingers in the shadows with only bright admiral pips on his lapels reflecting the light. “Your contract ended long before we created her.”
“Then don’t make me leave her.”
••••••
JC STRUGGLES TO draw back her memory. She fights against the skin contact which allows for easier thought transfer of Amye’s anger and the pain the remembrance induces.
Never. Not for you to know!
JC pushes back into Amye’s brain. Flashes of Kymberlynn’s death.
Amye releases her. “Stay out of my head!”
JC slumps against the wall. With her first breath, “Reynard’s still alive.”
“Like we’re going to find him on Jenobis making repairs.”
“Those repairs would be expedited if you didn’t spend all your time in the training room.” JC massages her neck.
“Why don’t you use your talents to read the cat’s mind? Or better yet, talk to the orb directly,” Amye demands.
“The orb seems to be in a low-power mode since we returned to the Dragon. I’m unable to reach it.”
Amye leaves her in the lift.
JC adjusts her choker so her pendant dangles in the center of her throat. She slides down the wall, landing in a pile where she hugs her knees. Tears race down her checks. She had hidden her pain deep. Deep in her brain to forget her dead child. Amye’s loss of her dead sister constantly remains in her surface thoughts. Similar memories clump together when people connect, attracted by the emotions they evoke.
No one on the crew knows of her motherhood. The Sisterhood must never learn of the child or even the child’s death. JC would be punished for having an unsolicited mate. Selective breeding means more powerful telepaths.
The lift doors open to the cargo bay.
“Amye’s lost control.” JC jerks back to her feet, scooping the headband up from the floor.
Australia closes the holographic notepad she was typing into. The beams of light disappear into her watch.
“She touched my flesh. It was painful to not read her thoughts. She’s so full of rage.” Not a total lie.
“You are our medic. Do you need my assistance in the sick bay?”
“I don’t need medical treatment. Maybe a shower.”
“Is she dangerous?” Australia asks.
“Only to the living.”
“Commander Reynard would answer in such a manner,” Australia observes.
“We need leads on his location. They won’t be found in an ancient tome,” JC snaps.
“I agree. I will speak further with Samantha.”
“She claims to be a guide—make her guide,” JC demands.
“A helpful recommendation. What is your endorsement on dealing with Amye? She is not part of the UCP, so I am limited in official disciplinary action. Commander Reynard would not approve of me leaving her on some asteroid. He believes in her potential.”
“Scott needs her assistance to repair the Dragon. I don’t know what to do with her. She needs to release her pain in order to recover.”
“Regulations are indifferent when dealing with non-commissioned vessel personnel and crew such as our organization is concerned. If we were a sanctioned member of the fleet, a review board would be convened,” Australia says.
“We’re smugglers, and Ki-Ton labeled us as kidnappers and assassins.”
“A pirate’s punishment for her? Keelhauling perhaps.”
“Humor’s not a Nysaean’s strong suit,” JC says.
“I have yet to discover. It has been twenty-six years since I have encountered another of my people. The Amye question has a solution if you are amenable to it.”
“Hold her down so I’m able to draw out her thoughts in order for her to repair the damage in her life.”
“We are not subject to the laws of the UCP. If she assaults anyone on the Silver Dragon again without provocation I will order you to do so,” Australia says.
