Duty, Honour, Love

Jane sat on the seat in the back of the ATV another three were parked behind hers. The T’Arni lieutenant sat opposite while Daisy took up the seat beside her. Others in her command and she supposed it was hers were clustered toward the front a sprinkling of Confed guards between them. She shifted uncomfortably under Dareia’s unwavering gaze. She shouldn’t have felt intimidated by a woman shorter than she was but that was the nub of it. Jane tried hard to zone out she had done it often when she was a different person. That person died and here was the T’Arni woman bringing all those unpleasant memories to the surface. Even though Jane could see Dareia’s face her expression was blank. Her face giving nothing away it still made Jane feel like she was the centre of attention. She returned Dareia’s scrutiny with interest. Finally she gave up trying to out stare Dareia and concentrated on what was going on around her. Danielle and Loader Cain were in a deep conversation with a Ezaran. It came as a surprise to her seeing a Ezaran in real life. No vid or picture could do him credit he seemed so alive. Although he was short and had a cat like face his fine fuzz of fur shimmered in the sunlight. They were having an odd three-sided conversation with Cain as the mediator translating for both. Their conversation seemed to involve a number of hand gestures. From the bits she hear they were talking shop discussing the merits of this or that system. There wasn’t much of interest to her but it was better than enduring Dareia’s stare.

Jane fascinated Dareia in ways she was finding it hard to imagine. Beneath the layers of lies the human had surrounded herself with what was a core of strong compassion and fierce loyalty. Sometimes against the human’s will it surfaced above the hard exterior she projected. It was easy to see this in the way she treated Allie Brock looking after the younger human as a mother would even if she denied it with all her heart. Dareia saw the truth of Jane’s past the hard childhood and the even harder teenage years and she even had Jane’s real name ‘Melissa’. She settled back pleased with herself. Jane saw Dareia relax but still felt nervous. Daisy suddenly speaking up was a welcome distraction.

“Do you know what we will find when we get back to the ship?”

Jane was glad of the diversion. “Hopefully not a looted ship?” She gave Dareia her best glare. “Could you ask the lieutenant if the ship has been under guard?”

“That would be bad,” Daisy said with a frown.

“I’d hate to get there and find it has been stripped by souvenir hunters or worse?”

Daisy dutifully translated for her. Dareia already knew what Jane was asking but to keep up the pretence she waited until Daisy had finished before replying. Jane watched while she spoke to Daisy the younger woman seemed to hang on every word.

“It has not been touched. Lieutenant Dareia wants to reassure you everything is secure.”

The engines of the ATV powered up and they on their way. Jane concentrated on the passing scenery at least she wasn’t looking directly at Dareia. She saw a security patrol ground car shadowing them as the drove through the town or city Jane couldn’t be sure as to what to classify it as. The security patrol halted at the city limits and she had no doubt it would be there waiting for them when they returned. The rest of the journey was uneventful after a while she had to turn back to look at Dareia twisting her back to look at the country was giving her cramps. The ATV slowed as it turned onto the overgrown road to the beach. Suddenly all the Confeds came to alert. They had been relaxed until that moment now they seemed to be on edge and they kept glancing to Dareia. She snapped something at them but before Jane could ask Daisy what she said the ATV rumbled to a stop. Jane could see the prow of the ship at least another two hundred metres distant. Dareia said something to Daisy.

“Sir, this is where we get off.” Daisy glanced to Dareia as she said something else.

“Sorry the lieutenant says call you ma’am in future.”

Jane could live with that.

A cooling breeze blew of the sea bringing with it the tang of salt in the air. With the warm of the sun and chirp of birds it felt peaceful. As she climbed off the ramp she wondered why they hadn’t parked closer to the beach it would have made more sense. The road although disused went all the way to the edge of the sand. She gathered her party and walked to the beach noting that the guards had fallen behind an itch ran up her back. The only one keeping pace with them was Lieutenant Dareia.

“Daisy ask the lieutenant if there’s a problem?” Jane had visions of the guards opening fire on them. Being shot in the back wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate. All the T’Arni would have to say was that they tried to escape.

Daisy gave her a querying look. “What do you mean ma’am?”

“The guards I don’t like them trailing our rear like that? There’s something going on and the last thing I want is to be shot in the back.”

Before Daisy had the chance to translate for her Dareia and had turned and yelled at her soldiers. She had been concentrating too much on Jane to notice the way her soldiers were behaving. Frankly she was embarrassed about the way her command was acting. There were no signs of the beast and she was constantly monitoring the WM sensors.

“What did she say?” Jane asked Daisy.

Daisy flushed red. “Nothing I’d care to translate ma’am.”

Suspicion bloomed in Jane’s mind perhaps the T’Arni Lieutenant did speak USE and was pretending to only speak Galactic. Several guards hurried past her taking point before she could give her idea further thought. They continued on Jane regarded Dareia carefully watching her for any slip that would confirm her speculation. Dareia realised her mistake it was easy to read Jane’s suspicion in her mind. She was right but for all the wrong reasons. Dareia did not speak Terran there was no need if she could read her mind. One thing her teachers had told her about in reading minds you had no need of translation.

They walked the rest of the way to the beach in silence although it wasn’t silent for Dareia with all those minds buzzing away in her head. Jane stepped onto the beach her eyes scanning her surroundings. It was quiet too quiet and as far as she could see there was no one guarding the ship. Wind had partly scoured the footprints but from the looks of it no one had been here since they had left yesterday. In a way Jane was relieved hopefully nothing had been touched. At Dareia’s urging they hurried to the escape hatch. The ladder was still there and it was a short climb into the bowels of the ship. A faint stench still lingered in the air despite the hatch was open and had not been closed. Dim light lit the corridor as Jane made her way to the bridge. She halted at the door to the bridge seeing their guard and the T’Arni lieutenant behind them. Here on the Ori Jane felt in more control of herself.

“Strong take your team to engineering and power down the reactor.” She turned to Jaye and Cain. “You two will secure and code lock the weapons system.” She paused. “Daisy you’re with me and the rest can transfer what supplies we have to the vehicles outside. Finally she reluctantly nodded to Dareia. “You best follow me.” When Dareia hadn’t moved she frowned feeling a flash of anger. “Tell the lieutenant to come with me!” She had to admit she was a bit snappy about it. “Two can play that game,” she muttered under her breath and headed into the bridge.

The bridge of the Terran ship was smaller than she expected as Dareia stepped in after Jane entered. It was rather cramped inside with one console looking buckled and burnt.

“That was the comms,” Jane said bitterly pointing to the damaged console.

Even without her telepathy Dareia knew Jane’s anger was directed at her.

“We can access all the systems from here,” Jane told her moderating her tone but wasn’t for Dareia it was for Daisy who had followed them in. She tapped on the console her breath bated as it slowly flickered into life under her fingers. “You can download any info you want I’ve given you full access.” She stepped back letting Dareia and Daisy at work. Daisy helped Dareia with the console icons. She stood and watched them for a short while before heading out.