Part 15 (1/2)

She yanked and banked so hard that the gravity plating couldn't compensate, and they all went flying over the deck, save Bronse, who grabbed onto his seat.

Then they were up and away.

Bronse threw himself into his seat, gripping the armrests tightly and staring hard at the forward screen until they were safely out of the atmosphere. With no sign of any kind of pursuit, he finally exhaled and sat back, taking the time to visually check on the pa.s.sengers. The lot of them had picked themselves up and were huddled together, clinging to one another the way only family would do. In the center of it all was Ravenna, and all of her attention was fixed on his face as she held her flock close.

”All right, we're safe now,” she said softly to them.

It was like casting a spell to animate them. As she touched a hand of comfort to each of them, they began to draw away from her, their confidence in her statement quite the thing to behold. Ravenna had grown up just as sheltered as they had, but she didn't look the least bit frightened of the things she was seeing and doing. Quite the opposite, in fact. She looked strong and secure and very much like a true leader.

Bronse stood up and walked over to her, helping Devan to her feet as he did so. He then stood barely a foot away from Rave and found himself staring into her rich topaz eyes. He suddenly reached out to ring her neck with one hand, and then he pulled her up to the hard fall of his mouth against hers. He kissed her as if he had nothing else to worry about, as if it wasn't highly inappropriate behavior for the commander of the crew, and as if he was not interested in stopping. Finally he broke away for a breath.

”You're right,” he said fiercely. ”You're safe now.”

The promise made in that single statement was clear. She was safe, and as long as he was alive in this universe, she was going to stay that way. He would see to it personally, no matter what.

It was so strange to think he'd known her for barely a day. And yet she'd had such a tremendous impact on him. On everything. He had no idea what the future held for any of them, but he did know that he was not going to let her go.

”Justice, stay at the stick,” Bronse instructed. ”You're not to leave that seat unless something blows you out of it. Ender, find these kids some quarters. It's going to be a while before we get anywhere, and I want them out from underfoot. Lasher, you and I have to start talking about what our reports will say.”

Lasher gave him the same grim nod that the others did. He took up a position at Bronse's elbow and watched as Ender herded the Chosen Ones deeper into the s.h.i.+p.

”You know there are only six cabins on this thing,” said Lasher.

”It'll be tight, but it'll be enough,” said Bronse. ”Surely the crew won't mind sharing their quarters.”

”Some of us less than others,” Masin said with a smirk. Sitting with her back to them, Justice m.u.f.fled a snort of laughter, but not well enough.

”Can we talk about the mission, please?” Bronse said sternly. He s.h.i.+fted with discomfort in his chair. It wasn't that he minded being the b.u.t.t of the occasional joke, but he was feeling bad enough that it was over his own questionable behavior. He wished he could somehow excuse it or explain it, but the truth was that he was just as baffled by it as his crew was.

”As I see it, the mission is over,” Lasher said. ”It's what will happen when we go in for debriefing that I'm sweating.”

”Me too,” Bronse said honestly. ”I have to confess I'm at a loss here. We clearly know who we can't trust; we know he isn't afraid to be blatant in his attempts to get rid of me; and we know that as soon as we check in and debrief, he has the power to send us right back out, again and again, until we finally come up dead or die later from sheer exhaustion.” Bronse rubbed wearily at his eyes. ”To compound the problem, I have to figure out what to do about Rave and the others. She's actually talking about letting them be turned over to IM, but until I know that the corruption we've seen begins and ends with JuJuren, I'm really leery about the idea. She doesn't understand ... anything.”

”First of all, you can't get paranoid just because someone's out to get you,” Lasher advised, speaking lightly but making it clear how seriously he was actually taking it. ”Caution is warranted, but you've made your life in the IM just as I have. This is a good outfit. A strong one. One corrupt b.a.s.t.a.r.d is not going to ruin it for me, and the same should go for you.”

”I just wish I knew what the h.e.l.l it is that I know or did to earn JuJuren's sweet attentions. It would help me make some sense out of this, and I really need it to make sense.”

”Men like JuJuren don't have to make sense. They just have to be stopped. Why don't you focus on that?”

Bronse tapped his fingers on the armrest of his chair, drumming them steadily as he thought. ”I think I have an idea. But I'm going to need a crew briefing before I take any action. We do this like we do everything, as a whole. As a team. I'm not going to stretch our necks any further until we agree on a game plan.”

”Fine. We'll brief in twenty minutes. I'll let Jet and Ender know. As to the problem of our Chosen Ones, let's start with them getting physicals and inoculations, so wherever they end up going, they don't drop dead of the Tarian flu or something like that.”

”Good idea.” Bronse frowned. ”Twenty minutes,” he said. ”Right here. I don't want Justice out of that chair.”

”Feeling antsy?” Lasher queried, his tone flat serious.

”I don't think I'll stop feeling antsy until I get this all set straight.”

Ravenna waited until Ender left to go to his meeting with the others, then she called her Chosen Ones around her, bringing the boys and the girls together in one of the cabins they'd been a.s.signed to. There weren't enough bunks for them, even with them split by s.e.x between this and another cabin, but that was the least of her worries for the moment. Right now, she had to make some hard choices, and needed all of the Chosen Ones on the same page that she was on.

”I've been forced to think very quickly about what we should do from here,” she began, walking a winding path among them as she spoke. ”I know I can see the future, but even I can't predict the long-term outcomes of the choices we are going to be making. So I have to do what I feel is best for us all. But I have never made a unilateral decision for you unless I was absolutely forced to, so I need to talk to you all about this.”

”What are you thinking, Rave?” Domino asked, as blunt as he always was. ”And don't coddle us.”

Ravenna looked at young Devan and Ophelia and wished she could coddle them. They were too young to be making such dramatic choices in their lives. They ought to have been cherished and protected from this until they were ready.

But that was not to be. She had to face it. And so did they.

”As I see this, we have two choices before us.” She linked her hands together at the fingers, squeezing tightly to keep them from shaking and showing her nervousness. She had to project confidence to them. It was so important that they come to the right decisions. ”We can settle somewhere out there, out there anywhere, and try to live in peace together, try to adapt to no longer being in the temple and no longer having the protections that it afforded ... when they were still in place. But we face many problems if we do. One, we will have to learn and adapt to an alien way of living. And two, we will run the risk of the exact same thing that just happened to us happening again. If our own people were willing to sell us out to the highest bidders, imagine what total strangers will do to us when they learn how different we are.”

”Then we hide our differences,” Kith spoke up. ”No one has to know anything about us. We just won't tell.”

”That will not happen,” Ravenna said gravely. ”We all know that all it will take is Ophelia seeing one small injury or one very sick person and she will not be able to help herself. No more than I will be able to resist acting on any visions I might have. Besides, it goes against everything I believe in. We have these gifts for a reason. We're not meant to keep them selfishly to ourselves.”

”And what's your alternative suggestion?” Kith nearly sneered the remark, his taut body language telling her that he already had an inkling of where she was going to go, and he was preparing to do battle with her over it.

”We choose a champion.”

”I knew it. You mean Chapel.” Kith spat the name like an invective.

”No. I mean a body of people who are powerful as a whole with a trustworthy track record who will hire us to work for them and, in trade, they will protect us. Preferably we will work for a greater good. It will be up to us to locate such a group. Frankly, we know nothing of the worlds out here or how to go about finding anyone of note or of trust. We need to learn. We need a stepping-stone. A place to exist while we learn the things we need to learn.”

”I'll bet she has a suggestion,” Kith said darkly.

”I do,” she countered, not at all swayed by his behavior. ”The Interplanetary Militia. The people Bronse works for. They are the peacekeepers in this galaxy. They strive to make these worlds peaceful places. Even as sheltered as we were, we have heard of them. They are well meaning if nothing else. But the truth is, this will be a blind alley. All we have to base our choice on is the example we have seen set by Bronse and his crew. Now I don't know about you, but they have proven to me that they are honorable and well minded and strive to make morally right choices.”

”Is that what Bronse was proving to you last night?” Kith's derisive tone was cutting. ”You can't listen to her,” her brother said to the others. ”She's been completely taken in by him. Listen, Sis, you're new at the whole s.e.x thing, so let me clue you in. He's a soldier and you're just the flavor of the minute.”

Ravenna had to control her urge to slap him again, no matter how much her palm itched to do it. Acting wildly would do nothing but prove him right, and prove that her normally staid judgment was impaired by Bronse somehow. She refused to give him the satisfaction.

”Just because that is how you treat women does not make it so for everyone else,” she said as calmly and quietly as she could, her entire body tight with her emotions. ”And my private relations.h.i.+p with Bronse is a separate matter from this. I am merely trying to find us the best possible home, if only for the moment. If we get to the militia and we show them who and what we are, they will covet us. Prize us even. They will want to use us as tools to achieving their peaceful goals, and we will make them compensate us with things we need, like food, shelter, and safety.”

”And if they turn on us?” This time it was Domino who spoke. ”What if they decide to force us to do whatever they want, whether we want to or not?”

”If they prove themselves dishonorable, we will leave. And I think you know that we are more than capable of doing so.” She reached out to touch Vivienne's cheek lovingly. ”Right?”

”Yes. We can do anything,” Vivienne said. She bit her lip. ”And this time you'd let me? You'd let me help us this time?”

The last time, Ravenna had called Vivienne off. She had known that if Vivi showed her power, it could come back to haunt them. Rave had feared that they'd all be taken, instead of just her and Kith. But should push come to shove, she and Vivi could do a great deal of damage together.

”I would. What's more, I will suggest that we keep my other power to ourselves until such time as we all agree we can trust the militia. Vivi, you can show yours, but downplay just how strong you are. We should all take care to measure what we show at first. I won't have us losing control again. And I won't let us be separated. Temple or no, I am the leader of the Chosen Ones. I am your priestess. But I am also your sister and your friend, and I believe that this is the best thing we can do.”

”You know,” Kith laughed without humor, ”I think you want to join the IM just so you can keep close to your new man. If you think you guys are going to actually make something of this thing going on between you, then you're out of your mind, Rave.”

”Kith,” she said, forcing his name through her teeth, ”you are an empath and yet you have no clue to my emotions. If you would stop balking like a spoiled child for one second and open your power to me, you would see that my motivations are to keep this family safe, fed, and well balanced.”

”He doesn't need to see,” Fallon spoke up, stepping forward. ”I can read your every thought, Rave, and I can a.s.sure everyone here that you have no ulterior motives. She never does,” he added. ”And if you accuse her of it one more time, Kith, I'm going to knock your teeth down your throat.”

”Thank you, Fallon,” Rave said pointedly, appreciating him coming to her defense but not wanting to provoke any violence on behalf of her temperamental brother. ”So I need to know what you all are thinking. Ask me anything. I will listen to all opinions, good or bad. Even yours,” she said to Kith, ”if they're not motivated by your own selfish jealousies.”