Victor looked up at him and blinked his gray eyes. "Sorry, Kai. I must sound like the heat death of the universe is imminent or something." He cracked a smile. "Nothing so terrible, I assure you. I just wanted to speak to you alone in order to pass on some personal information that came with our orders. No one else is getting any personal communications because of our cutting ComStar off ..."
"Got it." Kai sat down on the edge of the conference table. "What's happening?"
Victor dropped into a well-padded chair and put his feet up on the table. "Our parents made it back to New Avalon without incident. My brother Peter went AWOL from his NAIS company during exercises so he could be there when they arrived. He wants to ship out here immediately."
Kai chuckled lightly. "Peter always was a bit headstrong, He's the only cadet who's ever given Firsties more trouble during hazing than they gave him. What made him think he wanted to be out here?"
"I'm not sure." Victor shrugged. "I think he heard that Ragnar Magnusson is younger than he is and I gather his grades have been less than stunning."
"My father said Quint was a bit irked about having to stay at the Sakhara Academy while we were training on Wolf's world." Kai rotated his fist to loosen up his forearm. "I guess Cassandra and Kuan Yin convinced him to stay at the Academy."
"There's more," Victor said gravely. "Intelligence from Sian reports that Romano has put your mother and father under an edict of death. I'm sorry."
"Again?" Kai forced himself to take the threat lightly. "This is at least the tenth report we've had of another assassination plot. All the others that have leaked were dismal failures. The ones we didn't foresee came close, except that the agents always managed to bungle them. The assassins all got picked up coming in-system at St. Ives or Loris."
"Even so, we're tightening security here, just in case Romano's insane enough to go after you."
Kai nodded. "I appreciate the warning, but we'll have to tell the Liao assassin to take a number. After the Clans are through with me, he can do his worst."
"I suppose."
Kai sensed a sudden shift in Victor's mood. "There's something else. Are you still upset at our assignment to Alyina even though the Clans bypassed it in favor of Devin and Pasig?"
"No. I'm certainly not happy about it, but it could be worse. Alyina has some good defensive positions." Victor glanced down at his hands, then back up at Kai. "My father said that various folks in the Draconis March have been reminding him of their loyalty and that they wouldn't ever want to be faced with a choice between staying with the Federated Commonwealth or allying with another state."
"What?" Kai couldn't believe what he heard. "That's treason, isn't it?"
"I suppose. From what I can make out, Liao agents in the
Sarna March have been spreading stories of a torrid romance between Omi Kurita and me. Of course, it eventually got to folks in the Draconis March and they reacted unfavorably, to put it mildly. There has been no incident, mind you, but I don't appreciate their interest in my life."
"Ah." Kai narrowed his eyes. "But you and Omi Kurita didn't seem to be carrying on a big romance. Has something changed that I don't know about?"
"Not unless you want to call a goodbye kiss a big romance." Victor pounded his fist on the table. "I barely know her and now I've got people protesting about a phantom relationship. How dare they?"
Kai got up and began to pace the room. "Victor, don't you realize how many people's future rides on you? You turned twenty-one back in April, and if it hadn't been for our training, you would certainly have been officially invested as the heir to both thrones of the Federated Commonwealth. Hell, your father might even have abdicated in your favor, which some were predicting at the time—war or no war."
"What has that got to do with anything?" Victor demanded angrily.
"It has to do with how others react to your behavior. The people in the Draconis March only feel safe as long as they believe you hate the Dracos as much as they do. They know you and your father keep the Draconis March strong to prevent the Kuritans from trying to take it away. They like that. It reassures them, makes them think you're following in your father's footsteps.
"Now they hear you're romancing Theodore Kurita's daughter." Kai shook his head. "They figure she's bewitched you and that you'll begin to start making excuses for the Dracos. Then poof! They're suddenly Theodore's vassals."
"That's ridiculous."
"To you and me, but not to them." Kai stopped his pacing and leaned his hands down on the conference table. "Look, I trust you to make the right decision, no matter what. If you want to romance anyone—save Kali Liao—I'll back your play. But you've got to start looking at things the way others might interpret them."
Victor sighed and hung his head. "I've been thinking just these kinds of things, too, of late. Even if I don't like the situation, you're right and I must be careful. But, Kai, only you can help me."
"Whatever you need."
"Rumor and damage control mostly. Try to get it out that this 'romance' is merely idle gossip. With you and Galen and my cousin Morgan to back me, who will doubt that I've got my head on straight? Which I do, by the way."
Kai laughed. "I'll agree with that. After all, didn't you find the most interesting woman on Outreach?"
"Our mothers excepted."
"Of course." Kai opened the hatch. "Don't worry, Victor. Before long, we'll all have way too much on our minds to worry about who is romancing whom." He threw his friend a friendly salute. "Later."
Kai glanced at his chronometer, thinking that if he moved quickly, he still had a chance to reach the sick bay before the change of shift. Using an access ladder to descend two levels, he then cut through a maze of narrow corridors and bulkheads. Passing through the hatch, he tugged the sleeves of his shirt down into place and gave the orderly at the reception desk a smile.
"Is Doctor Lear in?"
The orderly glanced at the clock on his desk. "She still has a few minutes on her shift. Name?"
Kai jerked his thumb toward the interior office. "I'll announce myself."
The orderly nodded and Kai passed through the examination room to the small office for the medical watch officer. He knocked on the bulkhead and braced himself for her response.
He almost thought she was glad to see him, then the look on her face changed immediately to the dark mask of anger and hatred she reserved for him, though he'd never learned why.
"Afternoon, Leftenant Allard. Something I can do for you?"
Kai did his best to ignore her icy tone. "I have seen the assignments for the landing on Alyina. Your field hospital will be located in sector 2750."
She nodded, her blue eyes full of suspicion. "We've been assigned to take over a veterinary hospital attached to the agrocomplex at Tassa."
"I know. My company is assigned to cover that area." Kai looked down at his feet. "Tassa is close enough to what could be a front that things might get nasty. I'll do my best to keep you informed so you'll have plenty of time to ready patients for evacuation, if necessary."
"You are most kind, Leftenant." Deirdre closed the chart on her computer desktop and prepared to open another. "If there is nothing else, I have work to do."
"Actually, there is something. I want to say thank you."
"For fixing your legs on Twycross?" She waved away his thanks as trivial. "I was just doing my job, Leftenant, as were you when you kidnapped me and killed those soldiers." Anger rippled through her words, but Kai thought her usual cutting tone had lost some of its edge.
He shook his head. "No, I mean ... of course, I appreciate you for that, but it was what you did on Outreach, in the Council of Lords, that I wanted to thank." He gave her a weak smile. "Romano certainly subjected you to some badgering."