Sholan Alliance - Au B 04

Dani and Mizaki 3

The next morning Dani was relaxing in bed next to Mizaki. It had been an enjoyable evening getting to know his family. His mother had been comforting but she was still scared of what might happen. She had considered falling asleep in the living area but she had wanted the bed. Even now the sleeping as a group was something she was getting used to. Having Mizaki curled up next to her was one thing. Having his entire family curled up next to her was too much. All she could do was hope that his family would understand.

After relaxing there for a while Dani finally slipped out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. As she had expected once she stepped into the shower Mizaki had joined her. For the moment, she was feeling rather quiet since she wasn't sure what to say. Thankfully Mizaki kept the conversation to a minimum.

While Dani and Mizaki were showering Vangie and Sally were waking up as well. They had ended up sleeping downstairs with the rest of Mizaki's family. Sally had a feeling the reason Dani had gone to a room was because she still wasn't comfortable with her talents. She felt bad for Dani but thankfully she had come back as not having anything other than empathy. Chances were good she wouldn't have to deal with being a Leska like Dani was.

When K'Ren headed towards the kitchen Sally followed her in, "I can help with breakfast. Vangie's mom has been teaching me Sholan cooking." After breakfast was over she and Vangie could take a shower. After that she wasn't sure what was planned for the day. Dani was starting to need a nap in the afternoons but for the morning they might wander around. It would be nice to see a different Sholan city.

"Thanks and it helps. If you want to start..." K'Ren was chatting with Sally as the kitchen was starting to fill with the smells of cooking food.

By the time the other two came down Sally had started the cshar blend her dad had created. By now most of the people familiar with the humans had grown to like it. It was mild enough the alcoholic actions were neutralized. It was also mellow enough Dani could drink it and it wouldn't upset her stomach. She carried the cups and pot out, "Here you go. This is something our daddy made. It is a mix of cshar and a drink called coffee. Most Sholan's seem to enjoy it."

Vangie grinned, "It's pretty good. Even this way makes cshar rather bland. Just warning you straight coffee has an effect like alcohol on Sholan's." He poured some and flavored it. Before sitting down, he gave Dani a light hug. She was still looking somewhat stressed. Since she was familiar with his mental feel he could hug her and not overwhelm her talents.

She returned the hug, "Thanks Vangie." Dani poured a cup and sniffed and almost turned green. With a muffled apology, she almost ran for the bathroom. Mizaki hurried after her.

K'Ren sighed, "Poor girl, this isn't the fun part." She went back into the kitchen and worked on a light meal for her. It was something she had eaten with both her sons. As she was working on that Sally was taking the rest of the food out.

~~~

When Dani came out of the bathroom K'Ren went over and gave her a good hug, "I've a light meal which shouldn't upset your stomach. It is something I used to eat with my pregnancies. There is also a spice which helps the nausea and is safe to eat. It is one of our normal spices so you should be fine. Come, sit down, and relax." She led the girl over to the table and placed the plate in front of her.

Dani leaned into the hug, "Thanks. Not sure but I'll try. First time it hit this hard." She carefully sniffed the food and it didn't seem to bother her stomach. Chances were good it was something she would normally consider bland but she needed the food.

Mizaki settled next to her and pressed his hand against her upper back, "I can tell Dani. Just eat slowly and give your stomach time to consider what you are eating. If it bothers you then move to something else." He had been talking to several doctors and it was what had been recommended.

Dani almost snarled at him but managed not to, "Glad you get to enjoy this as well." She took a small bite of some grain cake and carefully chewed it before swallowing. When her stomach didn't rebel, she took another bite. It took her some time to get the food down but once done she felt better, "Thanks K'Ren. That didn't annoy my stomach too much. So, what is on the list of things to do today?"

K'Ren stroked her back, "I'll keep it in mind and do my best to make food which shouldn't make you nauseous. Mostly it should be in the morning. If it helps I will send a few suggestions back with Mizaki." She had finished eating by now.

He did his best to comfort her as she was eating, "Unless you don't want to I'm going to show you around town and some of the places I enjoyed when I was younger here." He nuzzled her hair before letting her finish eating.

Dani snorted before yawning, "Not too long when we go out. Had trouble sleeping last night and will need a nap." She leaned against him as she finished eating, "I was so worried about coming here as you know. Thanks, everyone for being so nice."

Mizaki glanced at his father and it showed how he felt.

Salvage ship

The captain of the salvage ship had already started sending feelers out for other bids. He would give the woman a chance to make the first bid but she was going to have to come up with a great deal of money. As he was making calls from his cabin a priority connection was made. He blanched when he saw who it was from. He really didn't want to chance irritating them. Ships had vanished before by doing that. The crews were never seen again. He gulped before accepting the message, "What can I do for you?"

The voice was electronically altered, "Shift position to the following coordinates... A ship will meet you there. Hand over the probe and you'll be well compensated. Don't try selling it to anyone else. If you do your death will be the stuff of legends." The call was disconnected.

The captain tossed back the balance of his drink before heading to the bridge. He dropped heavily into his seat and programmed in the coordinates given. Chances were good he and his crew were dead anyways but this at least gave them a chance of being killed cleanly. If they walked away alive, that was a bonus and the best he could hope for. When his first officer gave him an odd look he shook his head, "Don't ask. Shut down everything we can."

The officer gave him a measuring look before turning to his boards and doing what he could. The damn ship was old enough she would still leak an EM signature which would be easy to follow. He looked at the captain, "If anyone asks I'll tell them we're going to try and hide so we can get more bids." It was something they would do.

"Do it. I'll be in my cabin for the time being." He stood and headed back. As much as he wanted to get drunk now wasn't a good time. He did take something to relax or he would consider just shooting himself and save himself the pain and suffering.

~~~

Sholan stealth transport

Almost the moment the Sholan Commander disconnected from the Grand Marshall he tasked one of the heavy troop transports. The orders he gave them were somewhat different than intended. They were to remain in stealth and simply shadow the ship. He didn't have the authority to try and keep the ship from moving. Based on what the Marshall indicated the captain of the salvage ship might move. If that happened he wanted it followed to see who if anyone they might meet up with. If they did he wanted them followed.

After a great deal of thought he decided to launch a second craft and it was going to be a fighter. Additional orders were handed out for the fighter to be in charge. Their stealth was far better and would have a better chance of following any ships the scow might hook up with. If that happened he wanted to know where it was going. Ike had been providing information on what they had been finding about the people who shot Yilly. Not everything for obvious reasons but enough that he was concerned it might end up in their hands. It was very possible the organization would try to get their hands on the probe. If so they needed to know and see if it could lead to someone more senior. So far everyone taken down had been low level as far as they knew.

He had received a report from the combatants sent to deal with the pirate base. They still had a week or so before they arrived. Until they came into the system he couldn't let that information out. Once they were back he could brief Ike and the Ambassador.

After some consideration, he finally contacted his adjutant, "I need to talk to the Clan Lord and it's urgent. It needs to be a face to face meeting and preferably up here." If the Clan Lord ordered him to tell the Ambassador he would but they were still on limited duty. The last thing anyone wanted was a sudden change in their genetics or becoming Leska's. He had seen the report on Yilly's youngest girl. They didn't want or need a repeat of that.

It wasn't much later when his Adjutant sent him a message the Clan Lord would up the next morning. It also included a mention of the Clan Lord wasn't happy at being pulled away from what he was doing.

~~~

The Grand Marshal was back in his office and glaring at the screen on his desk. After a great deal of consideration, he was going to classify 'send them in the morning' loosely. Morning could be considered anything after 0001. He knocked the orders out to one of the captains he knew personally and trusted implicitly. They had come up together though his friend was still just a commander. The man liked the rank and liked captaining smaller ships.

The Grand Marshal occasionally had to agree since he would never be on a ship again. He enjoyed his job though and was good at it. He ensured a set of private orders was sent as well. It could only be decrypted by the Commanders personal codes. He explained his concerns about the possibilities the salvage captain might take for a bit more money. He didn't mention the Sholan's sending a troop transport to keep an eye on the ship.

~~~

Clan Lord and potential telepaths

Anddar was glaring at the monitor as he was talking to the three tutors. They were having enough problems finding valid telepaths he had stepped in to help as well. Even with his help they were lucky if they were able to do more than thirteen or fourteen people a day. It was stressful enough they were forced to take every other day off, "So just to go over this again, out of the eighty people we have tested we have barely found five minor talents. At this rate, I'm going to be lucky to get back to my mate by the end of the year."

Mentor G'Houl wanted to hiss, "That is about the long and short of it Clan Lord. Without the structured belief system we have, there has become such a mish mash of beliefs. There simply isn't anyway to look at one group of people and say, 'they are who we need'. It also doesn't help that many of the valid talents are from polities which are not friendly with each other. If we pick more from this polity and less from another it could cause problems."

Another sighed, "He is right Clan Lord. On top of that as you mentioned, it is based on a myriad of beliefs. Some religions indicate it is wrong to have such powers. Others it is directly from the spirits, some deity, while others..." He made a slight face, "Others I haven't been able to figure out where they think they get it. Trying to sort those we'd be comfortable trying to train, is as hard as the testing. That is part of where the selection is as difficult. There have been several I've had to reject due to their beliefs. Since their powers come from some higher being what they feel would be right or wrong would outweigh our ethics."

When the Clan Lord looked at the third she was forced to shrug, "Pretty much what they had to say. It is also an issue with some of the families. The adults don't want their children taught about the powers. In those cases, many were forced to come by their governments. From what I can tell it is in hopes they can impose their wants and desires on the malleable mind of a child." She could see the irony since they did much the same. To them it was to teach the ethics of being a telepath and not to abuse the powers.

Anddar took a sip of that odd drink Ambassador Yilly had created. It wasn't half bad and was refreshing. What they were saying was pretty much what he had experienced as he had been doing the testing as well. He had known it was going to be a problem even before arriving on Earth. Teolura had made that clear in one of her many reports on the religions of Earth. He didn't care who you believed in since Sholan's had any number of Gods. What was a pain, was when you decided what you believed was more important than the proper use of your talents, "Any suggestions? Right off the top of my mind I can't think of any way to expedite this."

G'Houl didn't have any idea and he had discussed it with the other two, "Sorry Clan Lord about the only way to speed the process up would to be to send for more tutors. That isn't practical since we don't have enough as it is. We have sent you some suggestions on additional filters before they get to us. The fact is we are going to have to slog our way through. I'm almost tempted to say send the five we did find and the two families to the Fijishi for indoc before forwarding them to Shola. It might be easier to have a small test group and go from there." It would help them fine tune both indoc and the beginning of the training.

Anddar had already seen the suggestions and had been hoping they had come up with more. They had been implemented and showed some results. The idea of sending a small group ahead was something he had been thinking about as well, "I'll arrange for them to go to the Fijishi. Depending on how they do with the Indoc will dictate what we do from there. Go get them ready to leave for the ship." He dismissed them.

~~~

Ike and Co.

The three of them had settled into a warm and comfortable way to sleep. Amanda loved waking curled up between Ike and Teo. He tended to be curled against her back when going to sleep with Teo pressed against her front. Normally Amanda would have gone to bed in shorts and a thigh length shirt but after the first night or two, now it was just shorts. Feeling his skin against her back and Teo's silky fur against her chest was so wonderful.

Even though the surgical repairs had been some time ago she was still recovering. The illness had slowed it down some but she was moving so much better now. They had to be careful but they had started to be far more active sexually than she had been since the original injuries. Teo was definitely a lovely woman and between her and Ike Amanda was very content.

Teo finally opened her eyes that morning and couldn't help but smile at the happy expression on Amanda's face, "Someone looks so very content." She pressed several kisses against Amanda's face before she nibbled on an ear.

Ike snickered, "I know. Can't help but admit it feels so good to have her almost back to where she had been. For that alone I'm going to hug the crap out of Yilly next time I see him. I'm glad I got my Mandy back." He moved a bit closer to her. He would never divorce Amanda but there had been times the injuries had strained their relationship, "Yup, going to hug the shit out of him in thanks."

Amanda rolled over and gave her husband a good hug and a loving kiss, "I know Ike, how I love you but there had been times I wished you had done what was needed. I love you more than you can begin to imagine."

Teo slipped out of bed and around to the other side of Ike and curled against his back and started purring, "You are such a good man Ike. It is one of the reasons I was drawn to you. You loved and love your life mate. Even with the problems her injuries caused you stood by her. You didn't let it chase you away for something easier to deal with. I have come to love you Ike, and Mandy. Both of you mean so much to me." She rubbed her muzzle against his hair after she finished talking.

"How could I even consider something like that? So Mandy was hurt? I value oaths and the wedding includes that. Love her so very much and would never let her go." He felt Teo press against his back and much like Billy had grown to love the feel of her fur against his skin.

"And that is why you are such a good military man, oaths mean something to you. Now time to get up and get to work." Teo gave him a light rub against his back before she started to move out of bed. The longer they were together the more they cared for each other.

When she moved into the bathing area Ike looked at Amanda, "Shall we?" He knew she would understand what he was asking.

She gave him a good kiss, "We shall, contact Billy and talk to him." Standing was so much easier and the two of them moved to the shower and joined Teo. They would talk to her later.

~~~

Col. Jinjow

Billy finally had a good reason to send Col. Jinjow back. To be honest he almost challenged him since he had yelled at Z'Marl for not being at the design center after they had linked. The man simply refused to accept Leska links existed. Billy had linked with her that way and she was having some troubles dealing with it. In the mornings, she was being trained with the link and helping her to deal with the sudden change in their relationship.

What brought this on was while at the design center Jinjow had almost cornered her and started yelling. She hadn't done some report he had demanded and in the time frame he had wanted it. Billy had been in his office when it happened and the only thing which had kept him from frying Jinjow's brain was Kingie. He had been close and dashed into the room when the argument started.

If he hadn't Billy would have fried his brain down and sent what remained of the man back to Earth. He thought back even as he was trying to work.

Kingie had dashed into the room and found Jinjow had cornered Z'Marl and was screaming at her for a report she simply couldn't have done. Between the recent link day, her training, and what Billy needed it couldn't have been done. She was trying to explain but the Dolab wasn't letting her speak and he definitely wasn't listening.

Kingie had grabbed the man from the back and turned to heave him across the room. Before Jinjow was able to recover Kingie had jerked him up and had his claws extended and wrapped around his neck, "You fucked up. You were told about telepaths and how to deal with them. That is especially true with Leska's." He could feel his claws starting to penetrate skin and if Billy hadn't come in he would have ripped his throat out.

"Freeze warrior, I'll deal with this." Billy stalked over and took Jinjow from Kingie's paws and whipped him around and slammed him against the wall, "You fucked up asshole. Nothing you have learned will return to Earth with you. You are no longer wanted or needed. Might not accept anyone from your fucking country on Shola. I'm going to recommend we don't deal with you again. I'm going to also tell my company to keep the engine changes black box and classified. If you try and open them they will melt down. Don't try me or I'll deny you the access to the engines completely." His eyes almost glowed.

When Jinjow woke he was on a ship back to earth and no matter what he couldn't bring to mind what he knew about the engines. This was getting reported and it was going to the world courts. He was going to demand satisfaction of that insolent upstart.

Return of the Sholan combat vessels

When they left the pirate base, the Sholan ships moved to max safe speed to get back to the Terran territory. For the pirates, it hadn't been a nice flight since they had been secured and other than basic treatment had been left alone. Thanks to the Sholan medications for the most part they had been spending most of the time in a drug induced haze. The quarters they were in were the most basic possible.