“Well, when you left here you were a kid. Youtalked big but had nothing to back it up. Now I see why Dr. Rannorrecommended you so highly. When the challenge came you rose to meetit and became a warrior worthy of my senior staff.”
“Thank you for your kind words, but I do notthink I will be returning to your senior staff. Sir, pleaseunderstand that I fully expect it to go poorly when we meet HighCommand, and it is a given that I will never wear the uniformagain.”
“Vydor, you are more than any uniform, andonly a fool thinks High Command has a clue about real officers inthe field. No matter what happens at that debriefing you will havean ally in me.”
“Captain, I greatly appreciate that, and Imay have to hold you to that promise. A lot of things will changeafter I meet with them, and you may be required to publiclydenounce me. I just want you to know now that we will be fine, andwe do not want you to take a fall for us.”
“When we got that message from you, we allthought that would be the last we heard from you. All of us exceptPeter, that is. He said at the time, ‘Vydor always plans a way outin advance. He will make it yet.’ Seems that he knew you betterthan we did.”
“Captain, Lieutenant Commander Peter is thebest possible replacement for me; please make his positionpermanent as soon as you can.”
He laughed and said, “Of course. You know, itis funny how things work out. He was the one I wanted in yourposition before Dr. Rannor convinced me to take you.”
The door opened behind him and Dr. Rannorwalked in. “Captain, I need to talk to them alone if you don’tmind.”
“That does not sound good, Doc,” the captainsaid as he left.
Dr. Rannor stood there for a moment withoutspeaking, seeming to visually examine each of us. It was a tensesilence and I was unsure of what to expect. He was wearing histraditional white lab coat and holding a medical pad thatpresumably had our charts on it.
Eventually he turned to me and said, “Vydor,how long do you need?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, you have some odd bacteria on you thatresisted the decontamination treatment. It could be harmless butthere is no way to know without watching it for a while,” he said.There was something about his voice, something that told me he knewthat we would be better off spending our trip in here and he wasoffering to arrange that.
“Well, that sounds only prudent and if we hadto stay in here until we were to report to High Command’s chambers,that would be fine with us. We would not want to endanger anyoneneedlessly,” was my reply.
“I think we can arrange to have you out intime for that. It is good to see you again, and we will have tocatch up some day when you are not so penned up.”
I realized then what the good doctor was upto. He was warning me that our conversation was being monitored.“Yes it will, Doc.”
He gave a slight smile and left the room.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The next few days passed painfully slowly.All our books were still on the Dark Talon, and even if we had hadthem with us we dared not study them while under observation. Onthe third day of our captivity Zalith came to visit.
He entered the room and came straight to thetransparent wall, locking his steel-like gaze directly on me.“Vydor, I need you to lower the screen on the Dark Talon.”
“Sorry, Zalith, I cannot do that,” I repliedand matched his gaze.
“Vydor, forget your orders for a minute. Onthat ship are some personal effects from the fallen Knights and Iwould like to get them back to their families.”
Personal effects? The Dark Knights? I couldnot believe it. Still, I could not let him on that ship, not withall that we had stored there. “When I am permitted to return to thevessel I will be glad to retrieve them for you, but I cannot letanyone but us seven on that vessel, at least not until after HighCommand rules on it.” I was bluffing far too much with this HighCommand orders card. I just hoped I could keep it up long enough tospeak before them.
He was not at all happy with that response. Ido not think he expected me to stand up to him and say no. Hisnostrils flared and he bared his razor-like teeth slightly. I heldmy ground and did not flinch, but secretly I worried that the wallwould not be able to hold him back.
I decided to try and defuse the situation,“Zalith, I suggest you go find Dr. Rannor and ask him to set up adecontamination tunnel so that I can return to the ship andretrieve what you want.”
With a slight growl, he swiftly spun and leftthe room.
I could not help but chuckle at him. He wasreally developing a habit for saying the silliest things at theoddest times. I was just glad he had not said that aloud. I did notthink others would find it humorous.
Soon after that Larath came by. I wasexpecting this visit sooner or later. He was dressed in casualattire, like he always was when he was going to evaluate someoneand did not want to let on. This had potential to be a verydangerous meeting as he would surely detect the changes in me, butI was glad for the chance to finally determine how much power hehad.
“Greetings, Vydor. I am sorry I was not ableto see you off properly,” he said warmly.
I could feel him trying to read me, so Ireturned the favor and reached out and gently prodded, trying to donothing more than distract him. I was counting on Gafar to do thereal probing.
“Hello, Larath. I am glad you finally came tovisit,” I said.
“I see you did not need my lessons afterall.”
“No, I had to learn them the hard way, but Imanaged.”
“Perhaps after all this is done we can tradenotes,” he commented.
It was time to risk tipping my hand a bit tosee if I could flush anything out. “Larath, I had been meaning toask but never had the time: how did you come up with the name‘Magi’?” That sent a ripple through his psychic defenses. I haddefinitely stumbled onto something.
“Oh, it is just a name from an old story.Nothing special.”
“Really? What story is that?”
“Just a childhood tale, nothing worthy ofnote. You and your team have been very quiet since your return. Iseverything all right?”
It was an interesting subject change. I hadhit on something there, but I dared not push it yet. “Justrecovering from the stress of combat, each in their own way.”
“Why don’t you tell me a little aboutthat?”
“Larath, you never stop trying to do yourjob, do you?”
“Vydor, how does that make you feel?” he saidwith a big grin.
“Like laughing at you,” I said with achuckle.
“Ah, that’s a good reaction; I will have tonote that in your record.”
“Larath, are you to deliver your report on usbefore or after we present ours?”
“Neither, I will be with you when youreport,” he said and promptly left.
