Part 2
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Sethya stood on the balcony of his hotel room watching the busy street several stories beneath him. It had been three solar days since he and his brother had left Moya and her bizarre crew and he breathed in the warm air as if it were freedom.
He had a meeting in two arns to discuss the detail on their next shipping contract. Their ship repairs would be completed by then and when they were finished loading they could get off this rock and far away from the Leviathan. That crew was dangerous and he had enough problems of his own without asking for more.
Idly, he watched the shoppers haggling with merchants. A small boy snurched a piece of fruit and innocently strolled away. The dark haired man grinned, cheering the lad on when a cloaked figure appeared. He couldn't say why his eyes were drawn, but almost against his will he watched as the person slowly viewed stall after stall, finally stopping at a jewelers. A hand appeared from the voluminous folds to point to a necklace and Sethya knew. "Brennik" he whispered to himself. "Tean," he called. "Get out here."
It took a moment, but finally Tean stumbled out onto the balcony, hair disheveled, with only a pair of pants on and his eyes drooping closed. "This had better be good Seth. I was up late making those contacts we're meeting later."
"At a bar no doubt."
"I go where the leads are. Hurry up and tell me what you wanted so I can go back to sleep."
"Tell me what you see down there." Sethya gestured over the balcony.
Grumbling, Tean stumbled to the railing and leaned over, causing Sethya to wonder if he needed to pull him back. "I see a large crowd."
"At the jewelers."
Tean found the appropriate stall and looked for half a microt. "I see a large crowd. Is this your idea of a joke? This is a bad morning for you to suddenly develop a sense of humor."
Sethya sighed in frustration. "The cloaked figure."
"You mean the one arguing with the vendor? What about him?"
"It's not a 'him'. It's a 'her'."
"Seth, if you want to recreate, go find somewhere else. I need to sleep a couple more arns and time is running out." Tean felt the back of his shoulder get punched and he tried to hide the wince as pain shot through his arm.
"That is Brennik."
"Are you sure?" Tean asked doubtfully, squinting and leaning even farther over the railing as if it would enable him to see through the cloak.
"It's her," Sethya assured.
"What is she doing here without her Luxan bodyguard?
Crichton would never let her out by herself."
"That is what I want you to find out."
"Oh, no!" Tean declared, hands up as he backed toward their room. "I need to get more sleep. If you want to follow that little saga, you're on your own."
"She trusts you Tean. Just go down there, smile at her and convince her to go home."
"She's an adult Seth, able to make decisions contrary to daddy's wishes. And if you'd have smiled at her occasionally instead of growling at her all the time, she'd talk to you too." Tean went back into the room, climbed into his bed and very deliberately pulled the covers over his head.
Sethya turned and watched the cloaked figure once again. Tean was right. Brennik was an adult, capable of making her own decisions, and capable of living with the consequences. If that even was Brennik. He couldn't really be sure, after all. He hadn't seen the unknown figure's face.
Then, he saw them. She was surrounded on three sides by individuals who were watching her. They were all discreet, none of them closer than half a block, but every move she made was observed. "Dren!" he exclaimed before running into the room, yanking the blankets off the bed and throwing them across the room. "Get up, she's being followed."
"So?"
"So, you're going to convince her that she wants to go to our ship. I will contact Crichton and get him down here."
"I realize I'm half asleep, but wouldn't it be smarter to switch assignments? Covert operations are your specialty, Seth."
Sethya was busy packing their few belongings, throwing them haphazardly into a giant duffel. "She'll go with you. Just keep your eyes open and stay in the crowds. Do not get caught in any side streets or dead ends."
"Thanks." Tean mumbled as he threw on the rest of his clothes and strapped a pulse pistol to his right thigh. He continued mumbling as he followed his brother from the room.
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Brennik was disappointed the merchant wouldn't be able to accommodate her wishes. This had been a useless trip. She had even snuck out so she could accomplish her task in relative privacy. This was a personal matter and she was tired of having one of her father's friends shadow every move she made. Besides, she'd been on the planet for several arns and no harm had befallen her. Surely, her father was paranoid.
Either that or puffed up with a greater sense of their worth than was real.
"Hello there beautiful," a warm sexy voice whispered in her ear. She turned to see Tean standing next to her looking devastating. His blond hair was tousled, his grey t-shirt tight and untucked, his boots untied. He was completely disheveled and that only made him all the more alluring.
"Tean," she exclaimed on a joyful sigh. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same about you." He wrapped an arm around her waist and began to guide her through the crowd, leisurely looking at various stalls. "I was on my balcony and I saw you and had to take the opportunity to speak with you one last time."
She beamed up at him, feeling warm and secure tucked into his side. "I wanted to have a charm bracelet made for Sundance. The center charm was going to be a pendant from a necklace my father had given her at my birth. The other three would have mine, Aeric's and dad's name on them. I was a bit self conscious about it, and I wanted it to be a surprise, so I came myself." She realized she had probably told him a whole lot more than he really wanted to know and tried to end her ramblings. "Dad is going to be furious, but so far nothing has happened.
"Well, not quite nothing."
"No," she smiled. "I met you."
"Well, that too. But you see, honey, you've managed to obtain three grizzly looking gentlemen working very hard at studying your every move."
Instantly her smile was gone along with any trace of her natural color. "You're kidding."
"They were spotted from the balcony, and have remained half a block away from us the entire time we have been moving. No, don't look around. Keep smiling, talking and looking at me. For some reason, these gentlemen do not seem to be in a hurry."
"You saw them and you came to help me? Oh, Tean, how noble! You could have left me to deal with this myself, but you came to help."
"Yeah, well, I'm just a noble kind of guy, I guess. I couldn't leave you all alone, could I?"
"What are we going to do now?"
"Keep moving. I'm hoping to get you to our ship. The repairs are pretty much completed and you should be safe there until your father arrives to get you."
"If you could get me to my own transport, I could handle the rest myself."
"Honey, I believe you could. But that would be contrary to The Plan and if there is one thing I have learned, it's always stick to The Plan."
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Frell. He was lost. He had backtracked so many times trying to lose the Ominous Three that he'd lost his sense of direction. Frell! This was Sethya's job. He wasn't even sure if they had garnered any new followers. He had been able to keep his eye on the three his brother had pointed out, but identifying new ones was asking too much. And now they were lost.
Luckily, Brennik hadn't guessed yet. As long as he smiled at her and pretended he had everything under control, she was fine. But he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up the ruse. So much for The Plan. By now Sethya was probably looking for them and the tricky part was making themselves available to Sethya, but hidden from anyone else.
He swore silently a few more times simply because it made him feel better. He blamed this on Sethya, the pushover. He loved to put on a tough front, but underneath that gruffness was a sucker for the downtrodden. Only Tean knew the truth and, out of brotherly loyalty, did his best to keep the secret. But at moments like this, with Tean traipsing all over a city instead of in bed asleep, he cursed his brother again.
Almost as if summoned by the invectives being hurled at him, Sethya appeared in front of them, halting their progress. "How long does it take to walk five blocks?"
"Good to see you alive and well, Sethya. Yes, we managed to evade the trackers, thank you for asking. No, it wasn't an arduous walk through half the city." Tean let the sarcasm drip heavily.
Sethya merely looked at him, un-moved. "You got lost, didn't you?"
"I was not lost, I was skillfully maneuvering," Tean denied. "And what about you? Were you able to contact Dad?"
"There is an electromagnetic storm in the upper atmosphere. All traffic is banned both directions for another three arns. Communications have been disrupted during the storm." He turned to Brennik for the first time. "So, Princess, it looks like you are blessed with our company for the next several arns."
"Don't call me Princess. My name is Brennik."
"When you stop acting like a spoiled child, I will."
Brennik scowled and Tean tried to find a way to smooth over his brother's sharp remarks. Before anything came to mind, Sethya continued. "We barely have enough time to make our contact. We need to hurry."
"Right," Tean said. So they were back to business as usual. He wondered how Sethya planned on explaining the presence of Brennik. These people were renown for their edginess. Tean had given specific details about who would be attending the meeting and it had been explained that the businessman did not like surprises. Deciding to let Seth worry about the details, he began to fix his disheveled appearance as they headed to their destination. He relaxed his face and began to get into character for his part in this meeting.
Brennik peaked at him from beneath her cloak and immediately looked again, eyes wide with fear. What did she see? Hopefully, she saw a ruthless, right hand thug. With the men they were about to meet, it was essential to always keep at least one set of muscles ready and visible.
When they reached the entrance of an upscale bar, Sethya stopped and handed Brennik his second pulse pistol. "Do you know how to use this?"
"I've had precisely two lessons."
"Well, you won't have it for long anyway. Just keep it half hidden in your cloak and no matter what- look bored."
"I should just wait out here, I don't think..."
"No!" Sethya and Tean interrupted her together.
"I don't like this." She stated firmly.
"Tough," Sethya pushed. "Until we deliver you safe and sound to the bosom of your loving family, you will always be in our presence. Understood?"
She growled at Sethya in an amazing imitation of him, but she didn't argue further.
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Crichton was a statue, sitting on the floor leaning against Moya's wall, staring into the air before him, seeing nothing. The others had already said everything possible. Brennik was smart, she could look after herself. The storm would let up in a couple of arns and the microt it did, they would go find her.
But as Sundance watched him sitting there, she knew all the comforting words in the universe wouldn't end his misery. She felt helpless. She tried to reach back in her mind to pull out how she might have helped him in the past, but once again she was met with a black void. Swallowing her frustration and anger at herself, she forced herself to think rationally.
Instinct. Every tiny scrap of information she had recovered so far had been when she wasn't trying, when she gave up and let her subconscious take over and guide her. So she waited.
Waiting wasn't her specialty and watching him sit there in torment was too painful. Quietly, she sat beside him and slid one arm around his giant shoulders. He leaned into her, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck. He was shaking and she knew that he was desperately trying to hold himself together, so she placed her other arm around him to show him she would help him with his desperate effort not to fall apart. No words were spoken. No words were needed as they held each other through the storm.
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They had all been searched after entering the bar. It had been an unpleasant experience, having a stranger grope her, and she dumped the blame wholly on Sethya. It was his fault she had been forced to join them on their business meeting. If it had been up to her, she would have gone back to her transport to wait out the storm. But no, here she stood trying valiantly to look unmoved by being pawed and disarmed. Not that she had really wanted the pistol to begin with. Yet another brilliant idea of Sethya's.
The three were led through a room decorated completely in red- red light fixtures, red walls, red booths, red curtains to shield each booth. Even the blasted curtain rods were red. Brennik wondered if her eyes were bleeding and swore that her vision had better not be permanently impaired, or Sethya would answer.
Their host stopped at a booth near the back of the room, holding a hand out to ask them to sit. Sethya looked at her, then the booth and she took the hint and slid in first. He sat beside her with one arm draped on the bench behind her looking relaxed while Tean stood directly behind them, arms crossed looking macho, evidently taking up guard duty.
These boys were into something deep and she really didn't want to know the details.
Five microts later the businessman arrived with his own burly 'muscles' with their arms crossed, each looking macho. All the testosterone in the room was making her head swim. Or maybe it was the cologne.
She was disgusted by all the show, but she continued to keep her face blank and her mouth shut. The businessman, who was blue with a bulbous nose and one bushy green eyebrow, stood in the doorway for a microt, seemingly making an appearance, and Sethya leaned over and began nibbling on her earlobe.
She wanted to deck him but he had said to look bored "no matter what", so she relaxed her face and tried to pretend she was in bed sleeping. No, wait. Bad imagery. She was back in her entomology class listening to Mr. Traes lecture. That would put anyone to sleep. Heck, if she thought about that long enough she could probably pull off comatose.
Only it was getting harder to remember Mr. Traes and his bugs. Sethya really needed to stop flicking his tongue over the sensitive spot behind her ear, or she was going to knuckle him in the thigh, businessman or no businessman to impress. Why couldn't it have been Tean? She'd let him nibble on her ear all day.
Her fist was actually balled slightly above his thigh when Mr. Blue slid into the booth chuckling. Sethya looked up as if it was the first time he noticed the man's presence.
"I am not interrupting am I?" Blue asked in a deep, rumbling voice that held a trace of humor.
"Yes, you are." Sethya said in all seriousness. He looked at Brennik. "Sorry babe. Back to business." He pulled his arm from behind her and folded his hands on the table, refocusing his entire attention to the man before him.
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She was angry, and for the first time she understood what her father had meant when he'd said "seeing red". But she sat in silence with boredom etched on her face as the two men haggled, offered and counter-offered themselves into an agreement. She remained silent while they were escorted to the hangar where Shadow (their ship) was docked and she remained silent as the cargo was loaded. She even sat silent as they lifted off and Tean broadcast a quick message to Moya stating that Brennik was with them and they were in route to deposit her at home.
Finally, Sethya turned to her. "All right, let's hear it."
"Hear what?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"You are angry."
"Oh, am I?" she asked sarcastically.
"Come on, Princess..."
She was finally pushed over the edge. She jumped from her chair and lunged at him standing behind her. "How dare you!" She pushed his chest with all her strength.
"That's it? You're mauled in public by a man you detest and that is the best you can do? You push me? Oh, no! Not that! Please. Don't hurt me."
Her adrenaline was surging, fury taking over. She balled her fist and threw the same right hook that had given Geof Lanyer a bloody tentacle in Advance School. All of her weight was behind that arm, along with her strength.
Almost without effort he caught her fist denches away from his nose, twisting her arm behind her and bringing her to her knees. "Good strength, but we need to work on your speed. A blind Hynerion could have blocked that one. Again," he stated releasing her arm.
She stood and faced him. She realized Tean was watching them in amusement and it only made her angrier. She ran at Sethya, intending to use her entire body to knock him over, but before she realized what was happening she felt herself flying through the air to land on her back on the floor.
Her lungs had been emptied on impact, and her anger seemed to dissipate with her air. As she struggled to convince her organs that they really did want to function, Sethya's face appeared in her view. "We need to work on your landings too. You fall completely wrong."
There was a correct way to fall? Who did he think he was kidding? If she could breathe, she'd have come up with a suitably scathing reply. Instead she closed her eyes until she felt Shadow docking with Moya.
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Aeric watched John pace the landing bay, anger and frustration mounting with each step. Ever since they had received the garbled transmission that Brennik was with "the boys" (as Sundance referred to them) John had been furiously and impatiently pacing.
Finally, Shadow landed and John stalked toward the emerging figures. "You son of a bitch!" He shouted at Sethya. "I warned you. That's the last time you frell with my daughter's safety!"
Sethya, seeing what was about to happen, braced his feet apart, clasping his hands behind his back and raising his chin proudly to look Crichton directly in the old man's eyes as a right hook connected with his chin.
"Dad, NO!" Brennik yelled as Sethya hit the floor.
John turned to Tean. "Your turn Kilmer."
Brennik jumped between the two men, pleading as she held out her hands. "Dad, wait! Listen! It wasn't their fault. They didn't even know I was there until we ran into each other." Crichton lowered his right arm slightly. "They found me in a bad situation and rescued me. If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have made it out of the market, let alone got off the planet. They saved me, dad."
Aeric watched as Crichton stood very still, staring at his daughter for a long moment. Slowly, the tension visibly eased, even though the anger was still viable, until he finally wrapped his arms around Brennik, holding her fiercely. "You have no idea how angry I am right now. If you were younger I'd turn you over my knee. If it was up to D'Argo, I still would. We have rules for a reason."
"I know, Dad. I'm sorry."
"Nobody goes alone, not you, not me, D'Argo, Chiana- nobody."
"I'm sorry."
Crichton finally let his daughter go and turned to Sethya still lying on the floor. He held out a hand to the younger man, and to Aeric's surprise, Sethya grabbed the peace offering and allowed himself to be assisted up. "Thank you for bringing home my daughter."
"I could do nothing else."
Aeric thought the statement strange, but Crichton searched Sethya's face with understanding and pity, finally nodding. "Sucks, doesn't it?"
Sethya averted his eyes and didn't answer the question directly, but turning, said over his shoulder, "She needs hand to hand combat training if she's going to keep pulling stunts like these. You'll want to work on her speed and falls first."
"Why don't you come back and take care of that for us?" John offered.
Sethya began walking to his ship. "I cannot do that and follow your previous directive, sir. Let's go Tean. We have a deadline."
Tean kissed Brennik's cheek, gave the room a jaunty salute and ran into the ship barely in time for the hatch to close before it lifted off.
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Sethya stood on the balcony of his hotel room watching the busy street several stories beneath him. It had been three solar days since he and his brother had left Moya and her bizarre crew and he breathed in the warm air as if it were freedom.
He had a meeting in two arns to discuss the detail on their next shipping contract. Their ship repairs would be completed by then and when they were finished loading they could get off this rock and far away from the Leviathan. That crew was dangerous and he had enough problems of his own without asking for more.
Idly, he watched the shoppers haggling with merchants. A small boy snurched a piece of fruit and innocently strolled away. The dark haired man grinned, cheering the lad on when a cloaked figure appeared. He couldn't say why his eyes were drawn, but almost against his will he watched as the person slowly viewed stall after stall, finally stopping at a jewelers. A hand appeared from the voluminous folds to point to a necklace and Sethya knew. "Brennik" he whispered to himself. "Tean," he called. "Get out here."
It took a moment, but finally Tean stumbled out onto the balcony, hair disheveled, with only a pair of pants on and his eyes drooping closed. "This had better be good Seth. I was up late making those contacts we're meeting later."
"At a bar no doubt."
"I go where the leads are. Hurry up and tell me what you wanted so I can go back to sleep."
"Tell me what you see down there." Sethya gestured over the balcony.
Grumbling, Tean stumbled to the railing and leaned over, causing Sethya to wonder if he needed to pull him back. "I see a large crowd."
"At the jewelers."
Tean found the appropriate stall and looked for half a microt. "I see a large crowd. Is this your idea of a joke? This is a bad morning for you to suddenly develop a sense of humor."
Sethya sighed in frustration. "The cloaked figure."
"You mean the one arguing with the vendor? What about him?"
"It's not a 'him'. It's a 'her'."
"Seth, if you want to recreate, go find somewhere else. I need to sleep a couple more arns and time is running out." Tean felt the back of his shoulder get punched and he tried to hide the wince as pain shot through his arm.
"That is Brennik."
"Are you sure?" Tean asked doubtfully, squinting and leaning even farther over the railing as if it would enable him to see through the cloak.
"It's her," Sethya assured.
"What is she doing here without her Luxan bodyguard?
Crichton would never let her out by herself."
"That is what I want you to find out."
"Oh, no!" Tean declared, hands up as he backed toward their room. "I need to get more sleep. If you want to follow that little saga, you're on your own."
"She trusts you Tean. Just go down there, smile at her and convince her to go home."
"She's an adult Seth, able to make decisions contrary to daddy's wishes. And if you'd have smiled at her occasionally instead of growling at her all the time, she'd talk to you too." Tean went back into the room, climbed into his bed and very deliberately pulled the covers over his head.
Sethya turned and watched the cloaked figure once again. Tean was right. Brennik was an adult, capable of making her own decisions, and capable of living with the consequences. If that even was Brennik. He couldn't really be sure, after all. He hadn't seen the unknown figure's face.
Then, he saw them. She was surrounded on three sides by individuals who were watching her. They were all discreet, none of them closer than half a block, but every move she made was observed. "Dren!" he exclaimed before running into the room, yanking the blankets off the bed and throwing them across the room. "Get up, she's being followed."
"So?"
"So, you're going to convince her that she wants to go to our ship. I will contact Crichton and get him down here."
"I realize I'm half asleep, but wouldn't it be smarter to switch assignments? Covert operations are your specialty, Seth."
Sethya was busy packing their few belongings, throwing them haphazardly into a giant duffel. "She'll go with you. Just keep your eyes open and stay in the crowds. Do not get caught in any side streets or dead ends."
"Thanks." Tean mumbled as he threw on the rest of his clothes and strapped a pulse pistol to his right thigh. He continued mumbling as he followed his brother from the room.
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Brennik was disappointed the merchant wouldn't be able to accommodate her wishes. This had been a useless trip. She had even snuck out so she could accomplish her task in relative privacy. This was a personal matter and she was tired of having one of her father's friends shadow every move she made. Besides, she'd been on the planet for several arns and no harm had befallen her. Surely, her father was paranoid.
Either that or puffed up with a greater sense of their worth than was real.
"Hello there beautiful," a warm sexy voice whispered in her ear. She turned to see Tean standing next to her looking devastating. His blond hair was tousled, his grey t-shirt tight and untucked, his boots untied. He was completely disheveled and that only made him all the more alluring.
"Tean," she exclaimed on a joyful sigh. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask the same about you." He wrapped an arm around her waist and began to guide her through the crowd, leisurely looking at various stalls. "I was on my balcony and I saw you and had to take the opportunity to speak with you one last time."
She beamed up at him, feeling warm and secure tucked into his side. "I wanted to have a charm bracelet made for Sundance. The center charm was going to be a pendant from a necklace my father had given her at my birth. The other three would have mine, Aeric's and dad's name on them. I was a bit self conscious about it, and I wanted it to be a surprise, so I came myself." She realized she had probably told him a whole lot more than he really wanted to know and tried to end her ramblings. "Dad is going to be furious, but so far nothing has happened.
"Well, not quite nothing."
"No," she smiled. "I met you."
"Well, that too. But you see, honey, you've managed to obtain three grizzly looking gentlemen working very hard at studying your every move."
Instantly her smile was gone along with any trace of her natural color. "You're kidding."
"They were spotted from the balcony, and have remained half a block away from us the entire time we have been moving. No, don't look around. Keep smiling, talking and looking at me. For some reason, these gentlemen do not seem to be in a hurry."
"You saw them and you came to help me? Oh, Tean, how noble! You could have left me to deal with this myself, but you came to help."
"Yeah, well, I'm just a noble kind of guy, I guess. I couldn't leave you all alone, could I?"
"What are we going to do now?"
"Keep moving. I'm hoping to get you to our ship. The repairs are pretty much completed and you should be safe there until your father arrives to get you."
"If you could get me to my own transport, I could handle the rest myself."
"Honey, I believe you could. But that would be contrary to The Plan and if there is one thing I have learned, it's always stick to The Plan."
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Frell. He was lost. He had backtracked so many times trying to lose the Ominous Three that he'd lost his sense of direction. Frell! This was Sethya's job. He wasn't even sure if they had garnered any new followers. He had been able to keep his eye on the three his brother had pointed out, but identifying new ones was asking too much. And now they were lost.
Luckily, Brennik hadn't guessed yet. As long as he smiled at her and pretended he had everything under control, she was fine. But he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep up the ruse. So much for The Plan. By now Sethya was probably looking for them and the tricky part was making themselves available to Sethya, but hidden from anyone else.
He swore silently a few more times simply because it made him feel better. He blamed this on Sethya, the pushover. He loved to put on a tough front, but underneath that gruffness was a sucker for the downtrodden. Only Tean knew the truth and, out of brotherly loyalty, did his best to keep the secret. But at moments like this, with Tean traipsing all over a city instead of in bed asleep, he cursed his brother again.
Almost as if summoned by the invectives being hurled at him, Sethya appeared in front of them, halting their progress. "How long does it take to walk five blocks?"
"Good to see you alive and well, Sethya. Yes, we managed to evade the trackers, thank you for asking. No, it wasn't an arduous walk through half the city." Tean let the sarcasm drip heavily.
Sethya merely looked at him, un-moved. "You got lost, didn't you?"
"I was not lost, I was skillfully maneuvering," Tean denied. "And what about you? Were you able to contact Dad?"
"There is an electromagnetic storm in the upper atmosphere. All traffic is banned both directions for another three arns. Communications have been disrupted during the storm." He turned to Brennik for the first time. "So, Princess, it looks like you are blessed with our company for the next several arns."
"Don't call me Princess. My name is Brennik."
"When you stop acting like a spoiled child, I will."
Brennik scowled and Tean tried to find a way to smooth over his brother's sharp remarks. Before anything came to mind, Sethya continued. "We barely have enough time to make our contact. We need to hurry."
"Right," Tean said. So they were back to business as usual. He wondered how Sethya planned on explaining the presence of Brennik. These people were renown for their edginess. Tean had given specific details about who would be attending the meeting and it had been explained that the businessman did not like surprises. Deciding to let Seth worry about the details, he began to fix his disheveled appearance as they headed to their destination. He relaxed his face and began to get into character for his part in this meeting.
Brennik peaked at him from beneath her cloak and immediately looked again, eyes wide with fear. What did she see? Hopefully, she saw a ruthless, right hand thug. With the men they were about to meet, it was essential to always keep at least one set of muscles ready and visible.
When they reached the entrance of an upscale bar, Sethya stopped and handed Brennik his second pulse pistol. "Do you know how to use this?"
"I've had precisely two lessons."
"Well, you won't have it for long anyway. Just keep it half hidden in your cloak and no matter what- look bored."
"I should just wait out here, I don't think..."
"No!" Sethya and Tean interrupted her together.
"I don't like this." She stated firmly.
"Tough," Sethya pushed. "Until we deliver you safe and sound to the bosom of your loving family, you will always be in our presence. Understood?"
She growled at Sethya in an amazing imitation of him, but she didn't argue further.
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Crichton was a statue, sitting on the floor leaning against Moya's wall, staring into the air before him, seeing nothing. The others had already said everything possible. Brennik was smart, she could look after herself. The storm would let up in a couple of arns and the microt it did, they would go find her.
But as Sundance watched him sitting there, she knew all the comforting words in the universe wouldn't end his misery. She felt helpless. She tried to reach back in her mind to pull out how she might have helped him in the past, but once again she was met with a black void. Swallowing her frustration and anger at herself, she forced herself to think rationally.
Instinct. Every tiny scrap of information she had recovered so far had been when she wasn't trying, when she gave up and let her subconscious take over and guide her. So she waited.
Waiting wasn't her specialty and watching him sit there in torment was too painful. Quietly, she sat beside him and slid one arm around his giant shoulders. He leaned into her, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck. He was shaking and she knew that he was desperately trying to hold himself together, so she placed her other arm around him to show him she would help him with his desperate effort not to fall apart. No words were spoken. No words were needed as they held each other through the storm.
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They had all been searched after entering the bar. It had been an unpleasant experience, having a stranger grope her, and she dumped the blame wholly on Sethya. It was his fault she had been forced to join them on their business meeting. If it had been up to her, she would have gone back to her transport to wait out the storm. But no, here she stood trying valiantly to look unmoved by being pawed and disarmed. Not that she had really wanted the pistol to begin with. Yet another brilliant idea of Sethya's.
The three were led through a room decorated completely in red- red light fixtures, red walls, red booths, red curtains to shield each booth. Even the blasted curtain rods were red. Brennik wondered if her eyes were bleeding and swore that her vision had better not be permanently impaired, or Sethya would answer.
Their host stopped at a booth near the back of the room, holding a hand out to ask them to sit. Sethya looked at her, then the booth and she took the hint and slid in first. He sat beside her with one arm draped on the bench behind her looking relaxed while Tean stood directly behind them, arms crossed looking macho, evidently taking up guard duty.
These boys were into something deep and she really didn't want to know the details.
Five microts later the businessman arrived with his own burly 'muscles' with their arms crossed, each looking macho. All the testosterone in the room was making her head swim. Or maybe it was the cologne.
She was disgusted by all the show, but she continued to keep her face blank and her mouth shut. The businessman, who was blue with a bulbous nose and one bushy green eyebrow, stood in the doorway for a microt, seemingly making an appearance, and Sethya leaned over and began nibbling on her earlobe.
She wanted to deck him but he had said to look bored "no matter what", so she relaxed her face and tried to pretend she was in bed sleeping. No, wait. Bad imagery. She was back in her entomology class listening to Mr. Traes lecture. That would put anyone to sleep. Heck, if she thought about that long enough she could probably pull off comatose.
Only it was getting harder to remember Mr. Traes and his bugs. Sethya really needed to stop flicking his tongue over the sensitive spot behind her ear, or she was going to knuckle him in the thigh, businessman or no businessman to impress. Why couldn't it have been Tean? She'd let him nibble on her ear all day.
Her fist was actually balled slightly above his thigh when Mr. Blue slid into the booth chuckling. Sethya looked up as if it was the first time he noticed the man's presence.
"I am not interrupting am I?" Blue asked in a deep, rumbling voice that held a trace of humor.
"Yes, you are." Sethya said in all seriousness. He looked at Brennik. "Sorry babe. Back to business." He pulled his arm from behind her and folded his hands on the table, refocusing his entire attention to the man before him.
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She was angry, and for the first time she understood what her father had meant when he'd said "seeing red". But she sat in silence with boredom etched on her face as the two men haggled, offered and counter-offered themselves into an agreement. She remained silent while they were escorted to the hangar where Shadow (their ship) was docked and she remained silent as the cargo was loaded. She even sat silent as they lifted off and Tean broadcast a quick message to Moya stating that Brennik was with them and they were in route to deposit her at home.
Finally, Sethya turned to her. "All right, let's hear it."
"Hear what?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"You are angry."
"Oh, am I?" she asked sarcastically.
"Come on, Princess..."
She was finally pushed over the edge. She jumped from her chair and lunged at him standing behind her. "How dare you!" She pushed his chest with all her strength.
"That's it? You're mauled in public by a man you detest and that is the best you can do? You push me? Oh, no! Not that! Please. Don't hurt me."
Her adrenaline was surging, fury taking over. She balled her fist and threw the same right hook that had given Geof Lanyer a bloody tentacle in Advance School. All of her weight was behind that arm, along with her strength.
Almost without effort he caught her fist denches away from his nose, twisting her arm behind her and bringing her to her knees. "Good strength, but we need to work on your speed. A blind Hynerion could have blocked that one. Again," he stated releasing her arm.
She stood and faced him. She realized Tean was watching them in amusement and it only made her angrier. She ran at Sethya, intending to use her entire body to knock him over, but before she realized what was happening she felt herself flying through the air to land on her back on the floor.
Her lungs had been emptied on impact, and her anger seemed to dissipate with her air. As she struggled to convince her organs that they really did want to function, Sethya's face appeared in her view. "We need to work on your landings too. You fall completely wrong."
There was a correct way to fall? Who did he think he was kidding? If she could breathe, she'd have come up with a suitably scathing reply. Instead she closed her eyes until she felt Shadow docking with Moya.
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Aeric watched John pace the landing bay, anger and frustration mounting with each step. Ever since they had received the garbled transmission that Brennik was with "the boys" (as Sundance referred to them) John had been furiously and impatiently pacing.
Finally, Shadow landed and John stalked toward the emerging figures. "You son of a bitch!" He shouted at Sethya. "I warned you. That's the last time you frell with my daughter's safety!"
Sethya, seeing what was about to happen, braced his feet apart, clasping his hands behind his back and raising his chin proudly to look Crichton directly in the old man's eyes as a right hook connected with his chin.
"Dad, NO!" Brennik yelled as Sethya hit the floor.
John turned to Tean. "Your turn Kilmer."
Brennik jumped between the two men, pleading as she held out her hands. "Dad, wait! Listen! It wasn't their fault. They didn't even know I was there until we ran into each other." Crichton lowered his right arm slightly. "They found me in a bad situation and rescued me. If it hadn't been for them I wouldn't have made it out of the market, let alone got off the planet. They saved me, dad."
Aeric watched as Crichton stood very still, staring at his daughter for a long moment. Slowly, the tension visibly eased, even though the anger was still viable, until he finally wrapped his arms around Brennik, holding her fiercely. "You have no idea how angry I am right now. If you were younger I'd turn you over my knee. If it was up to D'Argo, I still would. We have rules for a reason."
"I know, Dad. I'm sorry."
"Nobody goes alone, not you, not me, D'Argo, Chiana- nobody."
"I'm sorry."
Crichton finally let his daughter go and turned to Sethya still lying on the floor. He held out a hand to the younger man, and to Aeric's surprise, Sethya grabbed the peace offering and allowed himself to be assisted up. "Thank you for bringing home my daughter."
"I could do nothing else."
Aeric thought the statement strange, but Crichton searched Sethya's face with understanding and pity, finally nodding. "Sucks, doesn't it?"
Sethya averted his eyes and didn't answer the question directly, but turning, said over his shoulder, "She needs hand to hand combat training if she's going to keep pulling stunts like these. You'll want to work on her speed and falls first."
"Why don't you come back and take care of that for us?" John offered.
Sethya began walking to his ship. "I cannot do that and follow your previous directive, sir. Let's go Tean. We have a deadline."
Tean kissed Brennik's cheek, gave the room a jaunty salute and ran into the ship barely in time for the hatch to close before it lifted off.
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