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  Seering Order

  Copyright © 2009 Viola Grace ISBN: 978-1-55487-390-6

  Cover art by Martine Jardin

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Devine Destinies An imprint of eXtasy Books

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  Seering Order

  Book 4 of the

  Sector Guard

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  Sector Guard Base - Morganti h, it’s wonderful to be back home.” Aggie

  “ s

  O tr etched and looked out the window, admiring the view of the Morganti base, then turned around and admired the view of her husband stripping off for sleep. Pretty. A flicker of light caught her eye and she turned back to the window. “What the hell is that?”

  “If I don’t miss my guess, it is Drai in a mid-air intimacy. I would avoid flying if you don’t know where they are. That is a surprise you don’t want.”

  Haaro came up behind her and watched the pool of fire and wind in the sky settle to a glowing point that trailed to the dragon’s home in the hills.

  “Mid-air mating, huh? I wonder if we could try that one day.” She turned in her mate’s arms and ran her hands over his skin, relearning the planes and angles of his body. She never tired of him, it was a round of study that she would always embrace.

  “We will have to make sure that they are off planet. Mid-air interaction is not for the faint of 1

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  heart. It may take a bit of practice before we can get it just right.” His hands pulled her hips against him. His eyes and horns gleamed in the dim light of the oncoming sunset.

  “Well, my husband, let’s get practicing.” They laughed, together and then laughter stilled as they kissed and tangled together, practicing.

  Planet Calor

  Reva sighed and looked at her herd. She took a deep breath and gave them her order, “Hands off, stand together and line up. Time to leave the market.”

  The fifty minor members of the Roci family lined up and prepared to return to their home.

  It never failed to amaze Reva that her odd talent was best used as a nanny. Occasionally, the Matriarch would call for her service when she was laying a particularly difficult clutch, but other than that, she was left to the care and wrangling of the Matriarch’s brood. Not a bad job for a slave from Geehoe Nine.

  Reva had been born and raised as a slave. She had survived situations that should have driven her mad, and after years of assorted servitude, she had ended up on Calor, watching the young of a species that used to frighten her with its ferocity.

  The first time one of her charges ate one of its 2

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  siblings, she had cowered in fear of her owners destroying her for dereliction of duty. They had merely laughed and patted the aggressor on the back, saying that he was almost an adult now and would soon need to leave the nest. K’ket children had the snapping claws of their parents, but did not develop the venom until in their second year of adulthood. Their arching, stinging tail was their primary weapon in mating battles. It also served them well in trade. No one wanted to piss off something that could, and would, stab them through the heart with little or no warning.

  Her herd of deadly children moved swiftly through the streets, pausing now and then to examine something that caught their eye, but a sharp admonition from her and they rapidly lost interest. It took less than an hour to march them home, and as soon as she counted them, shepherded them into their heat lamp appointed and hot rocked rooms, she rested in her private room until feeding time.

  She was embroidering a tunic for herself, the delicate needlework keeping her hands busy while she tried to plan her future. There wasn’t much to do on Cador. The Roci clan was nice enough, but it wasn’t sufficient. Being born a slave had been a harsh sentence for her. Her life lay in the hands, or claws, of beings who could kill her in an instant, because she legally belonged to them. It wasn’t 3

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  enough to wait to die. She needed to get herself together and run.

  The knock on her door was unexpected.

  “Nanny Reva, the Matriarch requests your presence.”

  “Just a moment.” She set aside her embroidery and straightened her tunic. A small mirror had been placed in her room for just such occasions and she quickly ran a brush through her ivory hair. She could remember it being red when she arrived years earlier, but the acid agent in the water on Calor had bleached her hair and skin of its pigment. When her hair was neat and her tunic straight, she opened the door and let one of the Matriarch’s oldest children escort her to the breeding queen. It was a career option for the K’ket, they simply had to agree to be sterilized by their parent and they would receive the safety of the nest. Reva steered clear of the six ground limbs as they walked together to the grand receiving hall of the Matriarch. Apparently, there was a visitor.

  As the doors opened for them, she noted the humanoid standing to one side of the Matriarch’s throne. Reva approached and bowed formally.

  “Matriarch, you sent for me?”

  The visitor was an Enjel, his midnight wings flared out behind him, matching the silken hair flowing from his forehead. His eyes were the same bright onyx as the K’ket, but his skin matched hers 4

  Seering Order

  in chalky appearance.

  “Yes, Nanny Reva. This Enjel has come forward to purchase you.”

  “For what purpose, Matriarch?” The glare she gave the winged man should have given him the hint that she was not up for any fun and games.

  “As a breeding partner. He says you have complimentary genetics with his kind and he has been seeking one such as you for some time.” The enormous Matriarch clacked her front claws delicately. “I have agreed.”

  “Pardon, Matriarch?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I thought I had served the Roci family well?”

  “You have, Nanny, but it was a very large amount of money.” The oversized insect cackled and her stinger came shooting forward to the spot where the Enjel had been standing.

  He wasn’t there any longer. He was behind Reva, winding his arms around her waist.

  “You have received payment, Matriarch.

  Attempting to kill me was inhospitable.”

  “You are correct. I was just trying to see if I could keep both my Nanny and the money. She is quite talented, you know. I am sure you will be happy together.” Retracting her tail from the floor, the Matriarch settled back on her hot rock. “ Be gone, before I change my mind.”

  “Farewell, Matriarch. Lovely doing business 5

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  with you.” The Enjel bowed formally and bent his legs.

  It took all of Reva’s self-control not to scream as he launched them into the air and took them out the window. With her talent for giving orders that had to be followed by all within earshot, she carefully did not follow her instinct to yell let me down. With the height at which they were flying, it would have been fatal.

  She kept quiet. The rush of air past her face felt surprisingly soft, and at this height, she could not taste the insects that populated this world. It was refreshing. His wings beat steadily, keeping them aloft and transporting them to the spaceport on the far side of the city. A trip that took hours on foot, was accomplished in fifteen minutes.

  When her new owner landed in the open-air spaceport, he placed her gently on her feet and took her hand in his own.

  “Come with me, Reva. The faster we get off this planet, the safer you will be.”

  “What? What do you mean?” She didn’t dig in her heels, but she wasn’t following him with the enthusiasm he apparently wanted, so he swung her into his arms and carried her into the shuttle.

  “Strap in and I will tell you. But I do warn you that your orders won’t have quite the effect you anticipate, so I would avoid using them until we are off this world.” He dropped her in the co-6

  Seering Order

  pilot’s seat and took his own seat in the specially made chair. It accommodated his wings nicely, but offered back support.

  He ran through pre-flight checks in seconds.

  Reva could only sit, bemused. This was not what she had experienced the last three times she had been sold. Those eager hands had caused her no end of stress. Her talent had bloomed by then and had kept her from their advances, but they felt a certain amount of uneasiness around her that had sent her back to the block. “Where are we going ?”

  He finished the checks, got clearance and lifted off before he answered. “We have been summoned to Sadril. They are evacuating due to a problem with their sun, and as members of the Sector Guard, we are going in to help with the evacuation.”

  That shocked her. She was the slave of the guard? “Sector Guard? You are a Guard?”

  “We both are. The minute you crossed that threshold, Reva the slave ceased to exist. You are now a full citizen of the Alliance with the rights and freedoms included. Of course, if you try your position in the guard out and find it not to your liking, you can find employment elsewhere. We are always looking for support staff on Morganti.”

  Most of his speech was said through clenched teeth as he fought the helm for control.

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  “Would you like some help with that? I am fully checked out on this style of shuttle.” The offer came from the part of her that feared he would shake the ship apart.

  “If you can help with the attitude, I would be most grateful.” His teeth were still tight. He flipped a toggle to activate the co-pilot’s controls.

  Reva leaned forward to grip the controls as he relaxed. She smoothed their ascent and gently guided them out of the atmosphere. She brought them up and headed them to the slingshot point off the nearest moon, then turned to look at him.

  His black eyes sparkled in the starlight. “That was well done, but I knew it would be.”

  She snorted in disbelief. “How could you have known I could fly?”

  “Well, you can tell I can fly just by looking at me.” He smiled at her surprised laughter. “Let me set the coordinates for our mission and then we can have some lunch and discuss how we came to be in this shuttle together.” He competently entered their destination and set the computer for maximum speed. “Okay. That’s taken care of that.

  Let’s have a little talk now.”

  8

  Seering Order

  Chapter Two

  o, Reva, you have been on the Alliance

  “ r

  S ad

  ar for some time.”

  He led her back to the tiny common area and gestured for her to sit on one of the benches. The Enjel still hadn’t told her his name, but he moved efficiently and soon she was sitting with a selection of small snacks designed for bi-pedal humanoids.

  “Eat, they are safe enough for you.”

  “Thank you. What’s your name?”

  “Thalik. Norelios Thalik. You may call me Nor.” He saluted her with a vegetable stick and smiled. “Enjel Seer of the Fornar colony.”

  “Seer?” She munched and drank some of the tea he provided. It went down without any of the acidic burn she was used to. It had a rich and soothing taste that relaxed her with every sip.

  “I have a certain amount of foresight when it comes to my own life. I have been seeing you as my partner in the Sector Guard for quite some 9

  Viola Grace

  time.” He shrugged, the black feathers moving with the motion. “Finding you was the hard part.”

  She swallowed through a suddenly dry throat.

  “You have been trying to find me?”

  “Yes. Our Commander is a pattern Seer. He can see the way people and events connect. You and I were meant to be partners. As the other four teams paired up. They all have complimentary balances that make them very effective Guards.”

  “And you want to pair up with me?” Her outrage made him laugh.

  “Eventually, yes. But until you choose to start that portion of our relationship, no. There is no rush here.” He shrugged again. “Unless you want to jump me now and get it over with?”

  Her snort was answer enough.

  “Just thought I would make the offer.” He smiled. “I have tracked you from the farm where you were born through every sale, wiping out all trace of you as I went. No document or file exists with your name or bio profile on it.”

  She put her plate aside. “So when you said that I was free now, you weren’t just trying to get me to go along quietly?”

  “Nope. Your talent depends on you being able to make noise, so I want you to make as much noise as you can.” He collected her plate and placed it in the cleaner. “So. Is anything I have said remotely tempting?”

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  Seering Order

  “The word freedom is still ricocheting around my mind.” She smoothed her hands down her tunic. “What kind of a dress code is involved?”

  “Ah. That is the fun thing.” He flipped open one of the benches, revealing two folded suits.

  “This one is mine, and this one is yours. It will go nicely with your hair when the color comes back.”

  “You even know about that, huh?” Her hair was bleached to ivory when she was bought by the K’ket. Their acidic water had a bleaching effect on her hair and eyebrows. The suit he tossed her was a matching ivory, it had a stiff feel to the fabric. There were boots, but no undergarments.

  “Yes. I was very thorough. The suit has insulating properties and has been treated to be a light armour. There is also a mask, if you wish it.”

  “What purpose does a mask serve?”

  “To hide your identity from those we serve, so that they do not become attached, to give you some anonymity when you travel away from the Guard, and to keep any family members you have from becoming targets.”

  “The fellows of my birth file are not a concern.

  As far as I am aware, I am the only survivor of my breeding parent. As well as the only genetic combination between those two particular breeders.” Reva looked around and after some investigation, found the small sanitary chamber.

  Getting the K’ket’s servant tunic and leggings off 11

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  was extremely satisfying.

  Pulling the new suit on felt right. There was a frame that would surround her face, which held her hair back, but it felt a little cumbersome.

  Tugging on the boots in the small space was a feat, but she had moved more in smaller quarters.

  Taking a deep breath, she slid open the door of the sanitary chamber. “How does it look?”

  He wasn’t wearing his suit. Nor wasn’t wearing anything.

  Fortunately, she knew just what to do. Ignore it.

  Right down to the portion of his anatomy that was happy to see her. “Nor? How does this uniform look? There aren’t any mirrors large enough for me to check it out.”

  “It looks lovely. Perfect, and the framing surround makes you look like an ancient goddess from a coin. It houses some speakers and microphones to enhance your talent. If you would like to practice on me, I am willing.” He held his hands out from his sides and gave her an innocent grin.

  “Put some clothing on.” Her order was an instinct and when he moved to tug on the smoke grey suit, she breathed a little easier. “Don’t forget your boots.” Five years as a Nanny was a hard habit to break.

  His costume wrapped him in smoky armour from top to toe. Only his wings were left free and 12

  Seering Order

  unprotected. Even his hands were gloved. He was fully dressed and at attention with his wings half-furled. “Clothed enough?”

  “Yes. Thank you. Time in slave pens does not endear one toward nudity.”

  He looked shocked, as if she had just crushed one of his favourite toys. “There goes my favourite pastime.”

  Reva sighed. “I know, I have run into Enjel’s before. It is probably why the Matriarch agreed to sell me to one of your kind. They are well known for their dabbling in slavery. It wasn’t too much of a jump to think you meant what you said about a breeding partner.”

  “That was the idea. It was why I selected that particular tact. She would never have surrendered you if it was to join the Sector Guard. K’ket are not known for their altruistic actions. It was far simpler to buy you.”

  She could see the logic. Dressed in this suit, she felt a certain stiffening of her spine, straightening of her shoulders, and a strange energy invading her. She wanted to help, and to run and jump as well as fightexcept she didn’t know how to fight.

 

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