Page 73 of Star Champion

“Sir Klark, if you would accompany me please,” Jemm said, her voice remarkably composed.

They left the main locker room with the league official and physician, headed for a private area with a lockable door that was used to treat injuries. After feeling the outrage and sympathy radiating from her teammates as she passed by, Jemm felt as if she were being marched to her execution. She kept her head high, her face free of emotion. She did not need to look at Klark to know the nature of his thoughts. She could feel them hitting her like grit blown across the badlands.

She and Klark had one chance left. If the physical exam did not require her to undress, they were in the clear.

The door closed, shutting them inside. Jemm stood awaiting further instruction. Her bajha suit was unfastened at her neck; her hair was matted from wearing her headgear. She avoided meeting Klark’s gaze for fear of setting off a chain reaction of emotions.

First her blood was taken and sampled. Again, she was deemed clean. Then the league surgeon donned a pair of skin-tight gloves. “All right, Mr. Aves, if you will undress now we’ll make this as painless as possible.”

Klark’s vivid gaze collided with hers. He gave his head a single subtle shake.

“We have the right to refuse the physical examination,” Klark told the officials.

“Why, yes, but why would you?” the physician asked.

“Your player tested clean,” the official added. “This is just a perfunctory check to confirm there is no physical alteration to the body of any kind. Then I can sign off Mr. Aves, and dismiss the protests. For good.”

“Yes. I understand. However, as this player’s chaperone and the team owner I cannot allow the examination to proceed.”

Crat. Jemm braced herself and winced as her heart kicked against her sternum and her pulse pounded in her head. Here it comes.

“It is for her modesty, you see,” Klark said in a cool, measured tone. “Kes Aves is a woman.”

CHAPTER23

Jemm faceda wall of muscle as the players closed ranks around her. She had never stopped thinking that the risk of discovery was real, but she never imagined it would happen like this. Her success in the ring had caused suspicion. Not her manner, her voice, her eyes, her body.

While coaches and staff secured the locker room, Jemm huddled with her teammates. Klark loomed like a block of trill at the perimeter, his arms folded hard over his chest, as if it were a physical struggle not to jump in and deliver the bad news himself.

I’m doing it,she told him with her eyes. It had to come from her. “I’ve been banned from competition,” she began to say.

Grumbles and questions drowned her out. “But you’re clean,” Skeet argued.

She thrust up one hand and the men quieted. “Aye. I’m clean. I’m banned because females ain’t allowed to play professional bajha. I’m a lass. A woman.”

She never heard a hush so deep in all her life.

Then Xirri’s raw laugh shattered the silence. “No, Kes. Really. What’s going on?”

“I’m telling ya the truth, fellas.”

Many pairs of eyes bored into her now, all of them different—looks of disbelief and denial, a few glares hinting at egos bruised by the realization that a female had beaten them, and, lastly, amusement from some of her good friends like Xirri who thought she was joking.

She reached for the fasteners on her bajha suit. An explosion of thrust-out hands stopped her. A collective protest of, “Don’t.”

Jemm bowed her head. “I’m sorry. I let all of ya down, and I feel awful about it.”

Klark spoke up. “Kes informed me that she was female before we left Barésh, but I signed her anyway. It was never her intent to reach beyond street bajha. What started out innocently enough on her part led to something none of us expected. Gentlemen, if there’s any blame to bear, it’s mine and mine only.”

“Blame? For winning every contest so far this season? For the other teams being afraid to face us? For me to be eying the Galactic Cup for the first time since I’ve been on this team?” G’Zanna blurted out. The fatherly man was usually an island of calm. “Don’t be ridiculous, sir.”

Anger contorted Xirri’s angular face as he added to what G’Zanna said, “Those B’kah bastards better not use this to lay claim to the games tonight. We won, fair and square. Thanks in no small part to Sea Kestrel here.”

“The Kes effect!” Arlo Heddad bellowed.

More cheers followed Heddad’s cry. The hullabaloo was louder than a North City dive bar on an Eighthnight. “That’s enough, gentlemen!” Skeet shouted, and the noise simmered down some. He cast a pleading look in Klark’s direction. “They’re right, sir. Tonight we won fair and square. We won our past contests the same way. It’s not like Kes was using PET. In fact, anyone who hasn’t seen her in action would consider her gender a handicap. We’re going to protest the decision, right?”

“We absolutely have to protest the decision,” Xirri chimed in. “We’re in third place in the league now. After tonight we’re probably in second.”

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