Page 20 of Secret War

“Really?” Hope was as useless as sappy reunions, but Selt couldn’t help but feel it. “Piras is calling for additional personnel to join the Earth team. Though…wouldn’t becoming a mere operative be a demotion for you, my Dramok?” Deram was currently the spyship’s first officer, an important posting.

“As Earth grows and needs bigger government, the chain of command will grow as well. Getting in on the ground floor heightens my chances for a regional command post in the future.” Deram waved off his concerns. “It’ll be worth it.”

The clan leader wouldn’t insult Selt with an emotional outpouring of how clan was more important than career or rank, but the Nobek knew it was the reason behind the decision. He pointed out the most awkward detail of Deram’s change of posting. “I’d be your superior in rank. I’m Kuran’s second.”

“So be it. I’m sure you’ll treat me as respectfully I accorded you on the spyship.” Deram’s eyes sparkled in amusement.

“Of course.” Selt’s being warmed to have won his lifemate’s high regard. The relief he wouldn’t have to let Deram and Hadlez go off again without him added to his joy.

He glanced at Hadlez as a mote of concern rippled through him. He thought of the Earther terrorists he’d recently and forcefully interrogated. “You’re asking to join as a planet-side spy too? As a doctor in such a role, you’d be called upon to administer certain drugs for unpleasant effects to convince subjects to talk.”

“I was trained in such protocols years ago. I’ve been lucky to have avoided using them thus far, but…yes, I’m aware of what I might have to do.” Hadlez shrugged, though a line creased his perfect features between his brows. “For honor and empire. Someone has to do the dirty work, and my psych reports show my mental capacities to be sound.”

“I don’t doubt you, my Imdiko.” Selt didn’t. He’d seen Hadlez work on injured shipmates, men screaming and bleeding from horrific wounds. His Imdiko had a gift for zeroing in on the work to be done, performing it to the best of his ability, then letting it go when he was finished. When he washed the blood from hands, it was as if he did the same for his soul, leaving it pristine despite how awful the preceding hours had been.

Repairing physical injuries is different from inflicting pain, no matter how non-injurious.Nonetheless, Selt wanted Hadlez to stay close. Maybe he’d be all right.

Eager to put such questions at rest, at least for the moment, Selt waved them further into their quarters. “I made sure to restock the bar to celebrate your return. Drink up and tell me about your adventures.”

“I know what was here when we left.” Deram studied the bar suspiciously before grabbing a bottle of premium human whiskey, which he’d developed a taste for. “What had you drinking heavily to the point of having to restock?”

“You first.”

“On my end, there isn’t much to share. We rendezvoused with a marauder, which had picked up a shuttle from the destroyed spyship. From there, we raced to Bi’is and found the whole damned species had killed itself off, apparently under the alien Darks’ influence.”

“Did you go on the planet yourself?”

“I led a team.”

“Shit.” Selt’s gut curdled to think of it.

“My Nobek, they were all dead. No Darks remained. I was never in danger.”

“As far as we know.” Hadlez, a light drinker no matter the occasion, uncapped a bottle of kloq. “I was present when Captain Kila questioned the spyship’s survivor, a young ensign. Apparently, only a few of us can detect the Darks where our vision is concerned, though the survivor said those who are ‘ridden’ by them act strange enough for their behavior to be noticed. The fleet will no doubt go into high gear to discover who can see those things.”

“We saw them while I was still on the crew,” Selt pointed out. “The big being we took to be a ship, and the little ones it dropped.”

“Yeah, there’s a theory they can alter the degree of phasing to better escape detection. We also suspect they’re from whatever dimension we sneak into when we’re phased.” Hadlez regarded his bottle, the line between his brows deepening. “Too much conjecture, too few facts. I hate that.”

“Spine-tingling, right?” Deram located the bohut Selt had purchased the day before and handed him a bottle. “Your turn.”

They moved toward the lounger. Normally, Deram and Hadlez would share the wide expanse of the couch and Selt would have taken a nearby floor cushion. Or he would have stood. Nobeks weren’t great about sitting if they didn’t have to.

He sat between his clanmates, eager to keep close after months apart. “A couple of explosions, a few interrogations, a lot of watching.”

“Explosions?”

He told them of the crude, almost laughable attempts on the Earth governor’s life and the space station. “I admit, if anyone had been near the devices, they would have been badly hurt or killed, but the deliveries were so obvious. Even an Asicarian wouldn’t have gone near them. Nobek Kuran…he’s in charge of the group working on Earth…caught the perpetrators easily.”

“You interrogated them?” Hadlez leaned toward him, interest brightening his gaze.

“Yeah, then we rearranged their thinking a bit and sent them home to Mercy Colony.”

“Ah, memory and viewpoint modification. I trained in those disciplines when I was assigned to the spy division. I always wondered if I’d get a chance to use those.” If reworking opponents’ psychological outlooks gave the Imdiko a moment’s pause, he failed to show it.

“Business will probably pick up thanks to Earth’s upcoming elections,” Deram mused.

“Which is why Piras is in a lather to increase our numbers. For now, I’m mostly following a reporter who has important contacts in the government.”

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