Torl's Journey

Early the next day, Jaselle had Url wake Torl to tell him that they had received word that Lia would be allowed to speak to them by secure transmission in two hours. They would be granted a maximum of one hour for this conversation.

Torl woke Seala to allow her time to get refreshed and eat before speaking to her mother for the first time in many years. She was very anxious and nervous, alternating between bouncing off the walls and sitting in deep thought. He could imagine how she felt, he didn’t think he would be able to contain himself if somehow he had been able to speak to his mother again. As it was, he found himself somewhat nervous about talking to Lia. He knew that she loved her daughter; he had felt that when she aided him in the battle that seemed like eons past. But if she somehow failed to live up to Seala’s expectations, he was not sure what he would do. Seala had become quite special to him, like a daughter he thought, and it would be very difficult to see her disappointed.

Finally, they were ready. They had dressed, and eaten, and Torl had even had time to work with Seala on preventing others from eavesdropping on her thoughts. She practiced the technique as Url escorted them to the command center.

They arrived a few minutes early, and Torl instructed Jaselle to set up the secure channel then wait outside the command center with Url while they talked to Lia. She acknowledged the instructions just as the signal came in indicating that planet side was ready to initiate the communications channel. In a few seconds the channel was secured Jaselle had verified the presence of only one person on the other end. Then she excused herself and left the room.

Torl kicked things off by asking Lia for permission to scan to ensure they were private. She granted permission, and responded immediately when he made mental contact. He then reached out seeking other minds in the vicinity. He found two shielded minds just outside the room Lia was in, presumably the guards. No other minds were in the immediate area, or probing that area. With that completed, he broke the mental connection with Lia.

“Lia, I have confirmed that we are private in the non-technology arena. Jaselle believes we are private on the technology level. Do you believe that we are being monitored?”

“They would not be that bold, not with the claims that I understand you have made. They might risk it if it were just me, but they would not risk being on the wrong side of the first seat. And they do believe you are a Srin Master, so they will be very cautious. I believe we are secure.”

The logic made sense, so Torl relaxed a little. “Okay, what kind of trouble are you in? What is this about terms of your resignation?”

“I broke the rules reaching out to give you support when you were in trouble on the ship. Actually I broke the rules prior to that by monitoring your progress as soon as I found out Seala had left Earth. When I used the power projector to send you aid, my offense was discovered. Because of my past service, I have been given the option of resigning my position and exiling myself to a non-sensitive position on a lesser planet. I negotiated safe passage for Seala and the right for her to choose to be exiled with me or stay on Sharing Six to study in the new universities. I’m sorry but I did not have enough political influence to smooth the way for anyone else. Fortunately, it appears that you have the ability to take care of that yourself. A Srin Master, I hear, that would explain how you held your own for so long against two who were trained here. I assume you already know that there are those here who would rather see you dead than allow you to claim the first seat?”

“Yes, I am aware. I have a name Aarl, Councilman Aarl to be precise, but that is all I know. Do you know who this is?”

Yes, he is a kiss-up right hand man to the ruling first Councilwoman J’Irle. If he has come after you, it is a virtual certainty that Councilwoman J’Irle is behind it. If she stopped walking suddenly, I believe she would have to have his head surgically removed from her behind. Open your mind and I will show you what they look like.”

Torl dropped his block and quickly felt Lia’s touch. Then she shared a memory of each of the two council members. Aarl was a short heavyset man in his middle years with light skin and just a fringe of salt and pepper hair around his head. He wore a handlebar mustache that clearly was color altered to keep it black. His small beady eyes were a dark brown and his nose was narrow and pointed. He would be easy to identify in a crowd, but most likely was ignored in most crowds. J’Irle on the other hand was a tall well-built woman in her later years. Her hair was almost silver, offsetting bright green eyes beneath light brown eyebrows. She had a strong jawline and a small gently sloping nose. She would most likely be described as handsome rather than beautiful, but there was a clear air of authority wrapped about her like a robe. She would be noticed in any crowd.

“Thank you, forewarned is forearmed. Sorry to push my needs ahead of yours, if I can I will make it up to you. Seala is here and I am certain you two need to talk. I will step out of the room and give you two some private time. I wish to speak to you a little more, but Seala’s needs take precedence right now. Thank you again for your aid.”

“Thank you for bringing my daughter safely to the colonies. The underground would not allow me to bring her with me when I was discovered, because she had not yet shown any signs of having the talent. Thank you for protecting her and bringing her to me.”

“She protected me as much as I protected her. You two have much to discover about one another.” Torl stepped outside the command center joining Jaselle and Url.

As the door closed behind Torl, Seala nearly jumped, Lia had just stated that she had wanted to take her along when she had run from Earth. If that were true, it answered many questions.

“Is it true? Did you want to bring me with you when you fled Earth? Why did you never send word that you were okay?”

“Oh my sweet daughter, it broke my heart to leave you behind. I almost refused to go when I learned that you could not come with me. But if I had stayed on Earth, the witch hunters would have killed me, taken the farm, and condemned you at the first sign of any talent. Likely you would not have survived anyway with no home and no resources. Mala would have tried to protect you, but he too would have been stained by his association with me. Your only real chance for survival was for me to run. I would give anything to get back those years.

As you probably know, the Free Colonies remain free so long as the witch hunters do not discover where we are. They have a much larger and stronger military than ours, and would have no qualms about attacking if they discovered our location. To ensure that they remain ignorant of our location, no one is allowed to leave once they choose to settle here. Oh, we have a few spies that move back and forth, but they are specially trained and are committed to suicide before disclosure of our location. That is actually why what I did in helping you is such a big deal, I left power traces that could have been tracked by a witch hunter to find us here. It did not happen, but I put everyone at risk just the same.”

“This exile, will it be somewhere that Torl will be able to visit? Will I be allowed to go and visit him?”

“Yes and yes. I am the one who is being exiled, you are not. Our justice system is very clear where punishment is concerned. You will be restricted in no manner whatsoever. Torl, if he is who he claims to be, will have full access to any planet in any of the systems ruled by the council, so he will be able to visit at will, even in the no-tech system. Of course one of the great things about being a witch is that we can communicate without technology across vast distances. Earth is too far away, but there are not more than a couple of systems in the Free Colonies that are far enough apart to prevent that form of communication.”

They spoke for a while longer, before Lia asked Seala to bring Torl back in. Torl asked several questions about how completely the government designed by his parents had been implemented. In the end he concluded that it had been implemented exactly as intended, and aside from the isolationist attitude, the government was operating as efficiently and effectively as a government could.

All too soon the time was up and Jaselle had to come back in to shut down the communications channel. Torl comforted Seala by reminding her that they would get to Sharing Six in three days, and then she would get to see Lia in person.

Torl kept Seala very busy over the next three days, working with her on power color techniques in the morning, martial arts practice with Irnla in the afternoon, and extrasensory skill development in the evenings. They had worked together in all these area since they joined forces back on Earth, but this was the first time he had exposed her to the regimens of dedicated study, it left her completely exhausted by the time sleep period came, and allowed her to sleep restfully not having time to think about or worry over what would happen after they reached the port on Sharing Six.

On the fourth day following the talk with Lia, Torl awoke to the sounds of the landing bells. They had finally arrived. He got up and went through his normal morning routine, and as expected, he found that Seala was at least an hour ahead of him this morning. Normally, she slept as late as he would allow, but today she was excited. By the time he was ready to go to the command center, she had them both packed and had the staging techs picking up their bags. With nothing remaining for her to do in the quarters, Torl decided to take her with him to see to the port negotiations and discussions with port authorities that always had to be attended to before they would be allowed to disembark.

They had met with the crew and staff the previous evening and as expected they found that all had decided they would prefer to stay in the new colonies, so Torl would need to get negotiations underway for that to occur.

As they walked toward the command center for what would likely be the last time, Torl tested Seala’s shields and probed her defenses; she was getting very good at reacting properly and maintaining a solid shield and defensive posture. He complimented her on her progress, and reminded her that she should be on her guard constantly now that they were in a realm where use of the power and extrasensory techniques was encouraged. She smiled at the complement, but promptly rolled her eyes at the reminder. He laughed.

“So you think that I am a nag do you? Well maybe I am a little bit of one, but I want you to be safe if you are going to be wandering around without me. I wonder how long it will be before Lia gets the eye roll? I’m betting you won’t make it a day before you roll your eyes at her.”

Seala rolled her eyes at him again, but she giggled afterward.

“I’ll try to control myself, and not roll my eyes at my mom in the first hour.” She smiled an impish smile. “And you know I can take care of myself, so stop worrying.”

They arrived at the command center, just as Farnle told Jaselle to check on Torl.

“I’m here Farnle. Are they sufficiently frustrated yet, or should I go away and return in an hour or so?” He winked at Jaselle as she stifled a giggle.

“Sir? …Oh, yes, they are ready for you.

I am trying to negotiate a full service for the ship’s surface, we took a few meteor hits on the way in and I would like to make sure we are structurally sound.

I have already negotiated the docking fee, and have begun negotiations for the cargo. There is a lot of excitement about getting food stores from the outside; it seems that they have not had any supplies brought in from other realms in a very long time. The Arth tea and coffee are of particular interest it seems. We should make a very nice profit on this cargo; it was a good choice, sir.

You will need to negotiate the customs process and authority for port leave for the crew and staff, as well as access to local facilities. Ready?”

“Yes, go ahead and open the channel.”

A few seconds later, Farnle made the introductions and Torl began negotiations.

Seala was looking decidedly bored by the time Torl had completed all the administrative tasks demanded of the captain on docking at a port. It had taken nearly two hours to get everything taken care of so they could debark. As soon as the communications link was broken, Jaselle told them that the delegation from the high council would arrive shortly to greet Torl and Seala in the VIP lounge outside the main exit portal.

“Sir, will you be returning to the ship today?”

“I honestly do not know. Seala is assuming that we will not, she packed all our things and had them taken to the port. I do need to return to gather a few things that I have locked in the captain’s safe, and to officially relinquish command and ownership to Captain Farnle here.” That brought a big smile to the old man’s face and his eye seemed to almost glow with excitement.

“Well, sir if I don’t see you before then let me say that it has been a great honor to serve under your command. I have never had the pleasure of working with a captain who was so open and willing to answer questions as you have been. Thank you, sir.”

“You are welcome, Jaselle. Thank you for your hard work and dedication. You too Farnle, you taught me a lot about running a ship, without the aid you two provided, I most likely would have guided us into disaster.

Well Seala, are you ready to go and meet a couple of overstuffed bereaucraps?”

Seala and Jaselle laughed out loud and even old Farnle snorted at his use of Seala’s old phrase.

“Yes, I’m ready. Should I roll my eyes at them right away, or wait for them to say something stupid?” Now she was all giggles.

Torl made an effort and rolled his eyes at her. “I think I will let you make that call. Let’s go.”

As they left the command center, Irnla and Url joined them wearing full dress uniforms that Torl had never seen before. He looked at Irnla and raised his eyebrows. She simply smiled back as if to say that he had no say in the matter. He shrugged and walked to the exit portal.

As they exited the portal and entered the main debarkation area of the terminal, Torl made note of the small number of people in the area. All the terminals he had been to before had been bustling with activity, this one was not empty, but was far from bustling. He could clearly see the sign above the VIP lounge Jaselle had indicated they would be meeting the council delegation in, and started to head for it, when a young man in a Port Authority uniform intercepted him.

“Sir, could you please come this way, we need to process you through Port Authority before your meeting with the council delegation. You are Captain Torl, correct? And I assume this is Seala daughter of Lia? And these other two are your honor guard? Will they be staying as well?”

“Yes, you are correct on all counts, and my security staff will be staying with us. What processing do we need to do? Nothing was said about this in the negotiations earlier.”

“Sorry Sir, the execs often don’t remember that all immigrations require identity validation and persona graphing. We have everything ready right here, it will take just a moment of your time Sir.”

It sounded reasonable, but out of caution, he reached out to Seala with his mind and advised alert and caution while he made a hand gesture to Irnla and Url that brought them immediately to a heightened state of alert. Seala returned a positive affirmation, and he allowed them to be led over to the ident station.

As they began the ident process, there was suddenly a commotion in the main terminal walkway. Torl looked up and saw a large delegation moving toward the VIP lounge. It would appear that the council delegation was arriving. He did not see the first seat among them and in fact did not see anyone whom he could identify from the vid images he had reviewed of the sitting council. Hopefully he just did not see them; it would be a significant political slight if none were present.

True to his word, the Port Authority officer processed them through the ident and persona processes rapidly. It took slightly longer for Irnla and Url because the port staff had not already prepared their immigration documents, but still, they were finished with the process by the time an important looking bureaucrat came bustling over to see what was holding up their honored guests.

At the door to the VIP lounge a couple of guards wearing council logos on their uniforms informed him that only he and Seala would be admitted, the security specialists would have to wait outside.

“That is unacceptable; Irnla and Url go where we go. If they are not permitted to enter, then we will not enter either.” Torl turned around and started to walk back toward the ship. Seala, Irnla and Url had to hustle to catch up with him because he had moved so suddenly. They all three seemed quite confused, but to their credit they all kept silent.

“Sir, please wait. I’m certain we can come to some accommodation. Please wait, sir.” That was the bureaucrat. He was almost running and clearly in a state of near panic as he came up next to Torl and reached out a hand to grab Torl’s arm.

In an instant, Irnla had the man on the floor with a blaster pointed directly into his face, and the near panic was replaced by absolute terror in the man’s eyes. Torl swung about and saw that Url had his blaster out as well and both the guards from the door were backing up away from him with their hands in the air.

He looked back to the bureaucrat on the floor and signaled Irnla who pulled the man to his feet.

“I am going to have you released. When I do, you will go into the VIP lounge and bring out the person in authority.

Let me be very clear, I am the son of the Firsts of Tali, as soon as the paperwork is processed, I will be the first seat of the high council, and neither I nor my staff will be treated with less than full honor and respect. I accept the law of the land and submitted to the Port Authority requirements for ident, but I will not tolerate disrespect. You sir, are very fortunate Irnla did not see you as a real threat or I would be having this conversation with one of the guards instead. Do not ever attempt to interfere with me again. Now go, I expect to see the person in charge within ten seconds.”

The bureaucrat no longer looked important. He was pale white and looked as though he had just soiled himself. As Torl turned to watch him go, he noted that the guards too had a look of fear in their eyes that had nothing to do with the blaster Url was lowering. It was the look of soldiers who realized there was a new commander and they had just pissed him off.

Five seconds later, the bureaucrat came hustling out of the VIP lounge with a young man (not more than 20 years by Torl’s estimation), wearing the seal of the high council on his lapel, and trailed by three more guards with the council emblem on their uniforms.

Torl could feel his anger rising and fought it down. It would appear that no council members were present after all. The young man hustled up to Torl trying to maintain an aire of dignity while clearly hurrying to avoid taking too long in arriving.

Torl waited for him to speak first.

“Sir, I am T’Gil first son and heir to the Iridian system’s high council seat. My father T’Lane sends his apologies for not being able to be here to greet you in person, but affairs of state keep him away.

Welcome to Sharing Six, the capitol planet of the Free Colonial System. It has been very long since a Srin Master has visited us, and we are very honored to have you. Will you…”

“Be silent!” Torl spoke calmly but firmly, and the boy instantly stopped speaking, clearly recognizing that he had done something wrong, but also clearly uncertain what it was. It would appear that he thought he was greeting a visiting dignitary of relatively minor rank.

“Irnla, contact Farnle and have him submit the forms I provided him immediately.” Irnla nodded, then stepped aside and spoke into her communicator briefly.

“T’Gil is it? I want you to contact your father right this moment and tell him that the first seat of the high council, demands his presence and the presence of the former first seat within the hour. I take personal offense at their choice not to greet me in person, and wish to have a full explanation.” As he spoke T’Gil’s eyes widened and he began to perspire heavily. To his credit these were the only signs that he had been caught completely off guard.

“Yes, Your Honor. I will see to it immediately.” He stepped back and his guards hustled to stay behind him, not wanting to be between their charge and the man claiming to be the first seat of the high council.

It all depended now on how quickly word would spread that he had filed the required paperwork to claim the first seat. Torl’s guess was that someone was monitoring and had decided he would not file for his rights, and that was why he had been greeted as a low ranking honored guest instead of a member of the high council with a valid claim to the first seat. Clearly they did not believe he would be able to produce the evidence of his relationship to the Firsts of Tali. The monks however had given him a chip embedded under the skin of his right thigh which contained the DNA proof that he was the son of Teal and Rhea. He had simply copied the data from that chip and applied it to the application. He had still been resistant to pushing his way into the council without first finding out more about how it operated and who held the real power on the council, but again, they had forced his hand with their arrogance.

They could at least have treated him as a Srin Master with claim to a seat on the high council. He had already provided proof of that rank, and they clearly accepted it because the boy had mentioned it in his ceremonial greeting. Someone was going to a great deal of effort to push him. They were not going to like the result.

“You are dismissed. You may contact me when the council members have arrived.”