Askance Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Recovering from damage done by a psycho, Silari, Agent of the Alliance, has been waiting for a new assignment. When that assignment turns out to be one of two dozen women in line for a shot at becoming the bride of an Avatar, she is slightly disappointed. What man would want a woman damaged in body and mind?

  Maksuan has shied away from women who used their wiles to get his attention, but the shy Terran shines in every room she enters. He tries to get closer to her and when he finds out why she is dodging him, he takes action and removes clothing.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Askance

  Copyright © 2012 Viola Grace

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-179-9

  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 eXtasy Books

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  Askance

  A Terran Times Tale

  By

  Viola Grace

  Chapter One

  After three months of therapy and regeneration treatments, Silari was ready to rejoin the workforce and hopefully, today was the day. She fidgeted with her hair, still amazed that the follicle stimulation could take her from one inch to her normal shoulder-length hair in just a few hours.

  The assignment officer smiled slightly as he looked through her file. “Agent Henderson, you have completed your rehabilitation after your capture and retrieval.”

  “I have.”

  “And your recuperation is complete? Your counselling sessions as well?”

  “They are as complete as they are getting and my counsellor gave me a clear workup.” She sat with her hands in her lap, fighting the urge to touch the scars that had been carved into her skin.

  The Raider who had tortured her considered himself an artist. He carved matching bands of designs around each wrist bringing the design up to the elbow, the same with ankle to knee. Her abdomen bore the largest of the scars, remembered agony flared every time she looked in a mirror after a shower, so she had simply stopped looking at her reflection.

  The torturer had followed each cut with a chemical compound that burned all the way through her skin, making the marks permanent. The Alliance medical teams had been unable to heal her without removing her skin, so she had engaged in therapy to come to grips with her altered appearance.

  Today, she wanted her job back as an investigative agent for the Alliance.

  “Good, good. Well, I have good news, Agent Henderson. We have found an assignment for you.”

  “I am ready for duty.” She tried to give the appearance of being in control of herself, but she could feel the look of pity on her dispatcher’s face.

  “The assignment we have for you is not active duty, per se. You are being sent to Niiko.”

  Silari cocked her head. “I don’t understand. Am I investigating someone on Niiko?”

  Her dispatcher rubbed his head and sighed. “No. You have been declared unfit for active duty. The assignment on Niiko is more of a tryout.”

  She was confused. “For what?”

  “Niiko wants his Avatar to take a wife and Maksuan is being difficult. The only thing that his Avatar would agree to would be to choose from a few dozen women with compatible biology. You are one of those chosen.”

  Silari sat in shock. “I am unsuitable. You have seen my files. You know what my body wears.”

  “As does Niiko, but he has chosen you as one of the candidates. He saw something that pleased him and you will go to see and be seen.”

  “What happens when he chooses someone else?” Her fingers knotted in her lap.

  “You will be given a full pension and sent to begin your retirement. Several of your planetary sisters have offered you a place in their homes or on their worlds.”

  Silari jerked her head in a nod. “Fine. When do I leave?”

  “The shuttle is waiting. It will take you to the ship.”

  “Fine. I will go and pack a bag.”

  She got to her feet and her hand was on the door when she heard, “Agent Henderson, I wish this could have come out differently for you.”

  Silari turned her head and spoke over her shoulder as the door opened. “So do I.”

  With a determined step, she walked out of her dispatcher’s office on Nodak Station, returning to her quarters to gather her things.

  Her life was about to redirect itself and she could either fight or go along for the ride. Silari planned on a happy medium.

  Days on board the Dakramic Hind had her pacing in frustration. She needed to have somewhere to run, someone to talk to, but the ship was sparsely populated and conversations were fleeting.

  The Hind had carried six of the other women. She was the last to be chosen as a candidate.

  From what the crew had told her, the planet had created a facility for the women that kept them separate from the population until the full complement was achieved. Maksuan was not to choose one simply because he had known her longer. He had to have equal exposure to all of the women selected by his world.

  When Silari arrived, the introductions could start.

  She sat on the observation deck and watched the stars pass.

  Her future loomed ahead of her, unformed and shapeless.

  The feeling of being out of control had begun on the day that her routine arrest had turned into her nightmare. She had no psychic talent, merely a strong personality and that changed the Raider’s plan. He had handed her over to a talent who had used a combination of blades and his own acidic secretions to mark her.

  Her stamina had fascinated him and he had been planning to continue his artwork, but the Sector Guard had found her and intervened. They took her to a healer, but the acid that her torturer used had burned its way into her cells and attached to her DNA.

  He was part of her for life now.

  Silari shook her head and brought herself out of her memory. All of her uniforms covered her from wrist to ankle and were high necked. The less comment she elicited, the better for her peace of mind.

  She was simply Silari Henderson, Agent of the Alliance, retired.

  A woman cleared her throat and smiled, fidgeting with her uniform. “Agent Henderson, we are nearing Niiko. Please collect your things and a pilot will meet you at shuttle bay nine.”

  “Thank you, crewman.” With one last look at the panorama of stars, she got to her feet and returned to her quarters.

  Her bag was ready and waiting for her, just as it had been every day since she boarded the ship. There was no sense unpacking when she knew she wasn’
t staying.

  With the bag slung over her shoulder, she made her way down to shuttle bay nine.

  She nodded at the crew as she passed them, but few, if any, responded. She had kept to herself on this trip and they had sensed that she wanted to be left alone.

  The shuttle pilot was waiting for her when she approached the designated location.

  “Good afternoon, Agent Henderson. Are you ready for your trip to Niiko?”

  She sighed and clasped hands with the pilot. Having him be another Terran made things so much worse. “As ready as I can be. How soon will we be there?”

  He smiled and waved for her to enter the ship. “Four hours or so. It is a pretty straight shot and the Hind will get us as close as she can.”

  “I would say I can hardly wait, but that would be a lie.” She moved into the shuttle and stowed her bag before she took the navigator seat.

  The harness pressed against her suit and she tried to ignore the press against her scars. This was coming up far too quickly. She wasn’t at ease with her body yet, so how could she expect to make a positive impression in the arena of physical appearance?

  She couldn’t even guess at why she had been selected in her current state and when the pilot got clearance to leave and smiled encouragingly at her, she responded with a matching smile. No sense ticking off the last friendly face she was going to be seeing for a while. Silari watched the Hind fall away from them as they turned toward the spinning orb of Niiko.

  Silari just had to humiliate herself and then, she would be able to retire somewhere and live quietly for the rest of her natural life. It wasn’t much of a career plan, but it was all she had.

  Chapter Two

  The shuttle touched down on Niiko and her pilot inclined his head. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Agent Henderson.”

  She nodded and unbuckled. “Thank you for your prompt delivery, pilot.”

  He caught her hand. “It will get better, Silari. You just have to give life the opportunity to prove it to you.”

  Bitterness welled up in her and she tried not to cry. “I really doubt it. I have just recovered from a rather traumatic event and this is throwing me back into a situation where I have no control. It isn’t fair.”

  “Life out here isn’t fair, Henderson. You simply get on with your duty and do what you can to get through.” He smiled again. “My name is Robert Anders, by the way. I have been wed for the last two years to the wife that the Alliance chose for me. She is everything I wanted and yet was afraid to hope for.”

  That brought her a little way out of her misery. “Did you have a choice?”

  He rubbed a hand through his short brown hair. “No. She was part of a lottery to get new genes into her species. She didn’t want me, I didn’t want her and yet, now I can’t think of a day going by without her. You met Lohra actually, she was sent to notify you of the shuttle.”

  “Lavender skin, brown hair and bright blue eyes?” She was grateful for the distraction of the conversation.

  “Yes, that’s her. Lohra is one of the Dekkanic people. She agreed to accompany me to the stars in an effort to keep me happy while we settled into married life. We have a home on Dekkan, but it will wait until I retire or she becomes pregnant.”

  “Do you have a problem being used like that?”

  “Henderson, men and women have been using each other like that back on Earth since time began. There is nothing wrong with it unless you are facing a partner you absolutely can’t stand. If there is mutual attraction, where is the harm?”

  He made a good point and she smiled until the com beeped. “Pilot Anders, please return to the Hind. We are waiting for you.”

  She sighed. “Thank you for the kind words, Robert. I needed to talk it out a little. Please don’t let me keep you.”

  He followed her to the hatch and as soon as she slung her bag over her shoulder, he brought her in for a hug. “Take care and simply let what happens, happen. Niiko and Maksuan have a good reputation for being reasonable and intelligent. Don’t worry about anything. You will be free and clear in no time.”

  Silari smiled. “Thanks again. Say hello to Lohra for me. She’s a sister-in-law of sorts and I am afraid I was a little rude to her.”

  He chuckled. “She lives with a Terran, she is used to rude.”

  It brought a genuine grin to her features for the first time in a very long time. With that smile still in place, she left the shuttle and crossed the tarmac to the building where a guard waited for her.

  The guard didn’t speak but led her through a maze of halls and eventually, Silari heard feminine conversation in the rooms they approached.

  He gestured for her to enter the room at the end of the hall and she inclined her head. If everyone on Niiko was as silent as the guard was, she might just get through this with her dignity intact.

  The moment that she walked through the doors, her hope went out the window. Twenty-three pairs of eyes fixated on her and one woman said what they seemed to all be thinking. “Oh, great. Another one.”

  “Where do I put my bag?”

  The spokesperson for the group gestured down a hall. “The door will open for you when you approach. Watch for the light to warm up.”

  Silari nodded with a jerky motion and walked down the hall that had been pointed out to her.

  The doors all had small lights above them and as she walked, the door at the end of the hall began to glow. Silari headed to her room with relief and was stunned to see the panoramic view that took up the entire corner of the chamber.

  If the other women knew that she had this view, their attitude was far more understandable. It was a room to kill for.

  Silari unpacked her ship suits and coveralls before she explored her room. There was a lav, a wide bed with crisp sheets and a small entertainment unit, as well as a low couch and table. It was perfectly comfortable, but there was no food dispenser, so she had to join the others if she was to have any sort of sustenance.

  She checked her reflection out in the mirror of the lav and as soon as her cuffs hid all traces of her scars, she walked back to the common area to face the rest of the two dozen.

  She could only name about half the races of women that were sitting around on couches and drinking either tea or wine.

  “Good afternoon, ladies.” She kept her voice blank and calm.

  The woman who had spoken earlier turned to her with a scowl. “We were having a discussion and it did not include you.”

  Silari smiled and went to the dispenser to get a cup of tea. Her sense of hearing was the most exceptional thing about her, so she sat at the edge of the grouping and simply listened.

  The other women were discussing the most likely of them to get the attention of the Avatar and they were wondering about when he was going to make his appearance.

  Silari sipped at her tea and listened to the footfalls that were coming down the hall. If all the women were gathered, there could only be one possible new entry to the mix.

  * * * *

  Maksuan deliberately made his footsteps audible to the women waiting for him in the chambers designed for this purpose.

  When he saw all the women in the room, he forced himself to keep walking. If Niiko wanted him to take a mate, he would find a woman that he could converse with and leave the more wild behaviour to others. Niiko was the one who wanted a female Avatar to complement Maksuan’s presence. It was a trend that many sentient planets were trying and Niiko was no exception.

  A Selna, Azon, Wyoran, Borthic and Oefric were easily identifiable by their auras, but the others were generic blends based on the glow of their skin. The women were all dressed in revealing clothing and he winced at the exposed flesh.

  Sitting to one side was a Terran, but her aura was showing dark colouration and a deep emotional pain. Her clothing covered her from neck to ankle and the demure way she was sitting caused a flutter of relaxation in him.

  “Good afternoon, ladies. If you would accompany me to the dining hall, we will
share a meal and introduce ourselves.”

  He watched their reactions to his presence and gauged their attitudes based on their body language. He repelled four, three were confused, ten were indifferent, six were attracted to him and the woman sitting on her own simply watched him warily. She was reserving judgement on him and her situation.

  He quirked his lips as the others got to their feet and lined up to follow him. He led the way down the halls, past the endless pillars and into the grand dining hall with its long table set for twenty-five.

  He stood next to the chair at the head of the table, unsurprised to see the Selna snake in next to him. The lush Wyoran took over the seat on his other side and the women slowly arranged themselves next to their seats, waiting for his authorization to sit.

  The Terran took a seat at the far end of the table without waiting, facing his chair. There was a stillness to her that should have been unsettling, but she was simply there, taking up space while her mind was elsewhere.

  She was not focussed on him, not waiting for his attentions but rather, simply waiting.

  What could a woman with a face that lovely be waiting for if it wasn’t the chance at being a planet’s secondary Avatar?

  Maksuan was resigned to the amusement that Niiko was emanating from deep within. With the planet manipulating events, it was unsurprising that there was a woman who caught Maksuan’s interest. He just wondered what the Planet saw in the quiet woman at the far side of the table. What lay beneath her concealing clothing and behind her sombre face?

  Chapter Three

  Silari sat and waited as the courses of food were brought out and the women were at their most charming with their host.

  She kept concentrating on the thought that she only needed to make a tolerable impression in order to make it seem that she was an active participant in this ridiculous process. The other women were in a series of alluring costumes or traditional dress. As a Terran Volunteer, she had no native costume. A number of Volunteers had tried to get jeans and t-shirts in as official garb, but the Alliance wasn’t that gullible.