If the gods would have allowed it, Talyarkinash would have rebuilt herself to be seven feet tall, just so she could lurk above Eveth Baker for once, to give the woman a dose of her own medicine. Among her own kind, Talyarkinash was usually an inch taller than any Nari woman she met.
Being around Vanir all the time was wearing on the soul.
She kept her grumbles to herself though, as she climbed into the Constabulary Transport and buckled herself in, followed by the three giants from some fairy tale. Her small equipment bag, almost a purse, went between her feet.
Gareth was the most perfect gentleman. Had been from the first moment they had met. Had remained so even after she had discovered he was human. He gave lie to all those horrible threats and fairy tales her mother had told her as a kitten, even going so far as to confirm her seatbelt was done before attaching his own harness when he got in just now.
Baker, on the other hand, had been a major burr in her tailfur from the beginning.
Talyarkinash was willing to allow that she had been with the bad guys at the time. And guilty of some of the worst crimes on the books. Technically. Conspiracy and Being an Accessory to Treason were not particularly good things to list on her C.V., so she was planning on leaving those off, if she ever managed to make to a class reunion.
At least one outside prison. She had a pretty good idea how many of her old associates would probably be able to make one of those in another few years.
Eveth Baker was a bully. Emotionally. Psychologically. Even physically. It made her a good cop, Talyarkinash supposed. It also made her a pain in the ass, most of the time.
At least Baker appeared to be completely immune to the charms of one Gareth St. John Dankworth. That helped.
Gareth still had the card from some other Nari woman in his wallet. Seriously, the woman had given a complete stranger from another species a scent card.
What the hell?
Not that Talyarkinash hadn’t considered doing the same, from time to time. Being human, Gareth had just possessed a magnetism that would have made her rich, had she been able to identify it, bottle it, and market it. After becoming Vanir, it was all she could do some days to not run her fingertips through his mane.
The craft lifting off concealed the way her fingers curled in her lap.
Post-zenith sun in a clear sky out the windows. Cool up here from the elevation, but she could have found a place out of the breeze, if she wanted to just bask on a warm rock. Instead, she had added a jacket that hung to her knees and a wool-lined cap with the perfect ear holes, for when they got even further up the enormous valley and the temperatures began to nip, even in direct sunlight.
This much wilderness was unnatural to a city kitten like her, but it was the hand she had been dealt. Rumors had been circulating that Maximus was currently in a war with his own people, deep in the underworld, to retain control. Or regain it. She was much safer with Baker and Grodray protecting her.
And Gareth.
If she was in the city, any city, someone would have found her, eventually. Maximus had done some amazingly savage things, even for a human, according to Gareth. She would have been on Sarzynski’s list. Especially from where the two of them had started, her and Maximus.
Much better here.
The flight took all of about fifteen long, silent minutes. Gareth was lost in his sightseeing. Baker was scowling at something, but she always did. Grodray had grown introspective.
Gareth had explained to her the armies of earlier centuries on Earth. The tremendous wars fought over things she still couldn’t quite parse. But more importantly, the science of destruction that his species had worshipped for so many millennia and the amazing advances they had driven in human culture, over just a few millennia.
Bronze Age to Space in three thousand years? Without outside intervention? Amazing.
And frightening. Where would they be in another thousand years?
The Gunnery Range they were about to take over was designed to give Heavy Rescue teams from the Constabulary a place to practice, working with weapons that could kill, rather than just stun, when you needed to blow things up, or destroy vehicles.
When you were reduced to the sorts of savagery that humans apparently just took for granted.
Talyarkinash shuddered, in spite of herself as they landed.
She had been here twice before, working with Gareth as he flew and practiced things like the breath weapon he had insisted almost all human cultures expected that dragons were born with.
Was there a more violent species, anywhere in the galaxy?
Today, the place was abandoned. Completely empty.
Even the vehicle bringing them had been auto-piloted, so the four of them might be the only people within twenty kilometers in any direction.
The old Talyarkinash would have had serious qualms about that sort of situation. Too easy to be brought up here and vanish without any trace that a crime had been committed. But Baker and Grodray weren’t that sort of cops. And there was Gareth.
This might be one of the few situations in her life that Talyarkinash was confident she could take at face value.
She turned in place to view the magnificent arena formed by a bowl of mountains all the way around her as she emerged. The tarmac where they had parked was probably over one thousand hectares by itself, with a line of six enormous hangars on the right and a set of office buildings and warehouses on the left. Space for five, or maybe eight thousand people in a pinch, although last time she had been here, the population had been barely two dozen, sworn to secrecy but still gawking in the afternoon sun at a bronze dragon flying overhead. At least they had all had an occasional friendly smile for her.
The air was crisp, but not enough to penetrate her coat. If a breeze picked up, the hat would go on, but she was fine for now. It even smelled faintly of pine sap, a sticky, green pungency at the lower end of her range. Gareth almost certainly could detect it, but she doubted the cops would be able to.
That brought the faintest smile to her face as she fell in behind Grodray, with the other two behind her.
He led the column to a tower, a five story square cylinder where flight control would be able to see aircraft coming and going, and keep them organized in the sort of emergency where auto-pilots might not be smart enough to all maneuver in synch.
The stairs warmed her, as did being inside, to the point she pulled her coat open and considered taking it off.
Talyarkinash found the echoes in the stairwell amusing. Grodray walked with a lighter step than most Vanir, while Baker seemed to be trying to punish each tread as she stepped on it. Gareth made almost no sound, just a whisper more than she did.
The step into the brightness of the top chamber, after the dimness of the stairwell, caused her eyes to slam nearly shut for a moment, before they flickered sideways again.
Empty.
Four sides where up to eight controllers could work, although one was normal. She followed Grodray to the side where they had the best view of the long runway. He turned and gave them his best grouchy stare.
“Wanted to confirm we were completely alone,” he said simply. “Dr. Liamssen, you said you had mechanisms that would not necessarily be part of Gareth’s translation?”
“I do,” she said, reaching into the bag she had brought with her and pulling out a small, clamshelled container that she handed to Gareth. “Attach this to your ear like an earring, and flip the tip into your ear canal.”
He took it and opened the box warily. Simple enough, for now. A clip for the cartilage, hinged. He pulled it out and put it on. She saw a little red light appear.
Talyarkinash pulled out the communicator and pressed the button that would send a beep. He nodded in response, so she handed it to Grodray.
“Gareth’s side is voice activated,” she said. “Press the button on the side when you want to talk.”
“Gareth, I’ve seen the videos of you in action,” Grodray said. “I’ve read Dr. Liamssen’s reports, plus a few others from around you. Those were relaxed, controlled circumstances. I want to see you in something like combat circumstances. Questions?”
“Anything in particular?” Gareth asked, himself falling into the seriousness of the other cops.
“Speed, maneuverability, fire,” Grodray said. “We’re reaching a point where talk now is about putting you in the field to hunt Sarzynski.”
“Stalking horse?” Gareth asked.
“Do you know a better way to hunt lions?”
Talyarkinash shuddered. Maximus was at least that dangerous. Hopefully Gareth was as well.