The Sword of Stars: Chapter 6, Part 2 (J2 AU NC-17, Fic)

[paleogymnast]

Continued from Chapter 6, Part 1



Sam had indeed kept Jensen busy-the two had worked their way through cleaning and slicing a bushel of malus fruit by the time Jared found them.

Jensen greeted him with a big, excited smile that warmed Jared’s heart and sent flutters of want through his belly. That lasted for about ten seconds before Morgan’s plan crowded out everything else in Jared’s mind and threatened to overwhelm him. Looking at Jensen, so full of life, so-happy-despite everything life had thrown at him, how could anyone even think of sacrificing Jensen, of risking him as an individual was unfathomable. Hadn’t Jensen already sacrificed enough?

Jared’s inner turmoil must have shown on his face because Jensen’s smile faltered, and he asked, “What is wrong?”

Sam shot Jared a concerned glare, one eyebrow cocking in question.

“I am so sorry to keep you waiting, Jensen, I just had some unexpected business involving my family and my, uh, former home to attend to.” It was sort of a lie, but not. Jensen would think he was talking about dead parents and Campus Worth, and Jared was just digging his hole a little deeper, but like Chris had said, he really couldn’t spring this mess on Jensen now.

“I am sorry to hear that, Master Lecki,” Jensen said solemnly.

“We were waiting for you to return because Jensen has some exciting news,” Sam offered.

“News?” Jared asked, a little thrown by the quick change of topic, but relieved to see the excitement and light return to Jensen’s eyes.

“Yes,” Jensen agreed. He was almost bubbling with pride.

When Jensen turned to retrieve something that was carefully propped on a clean patch of the long counter that ran along the wall behind him, Sam caught Jared’s eye. “What?” she mouthed.

“Later,” Jared murmured with a little shake of his head. He managed to school his features to a more neutral expression by the time Jensen had turned back around.

“Please, sir, read this,” Jensen offered, holding out a fine parchment scroll and held it out for Jared to take.

Jared could see the colorful calligraphy and metal leaf through the translucent surface. This was no ordinary scroll.

As he unfurled it to take a closer look, Jensen spoke. “Misha-he’s an acolyte at the monastery, and sort of a-a friend of mine. He mostly runs the monastery kitchens and does research, but his sponsoring Priest, Father Peleggi, nominated him to make his Debut at the Temple. The Council just approved it this morning, and he will be delivering the sermon and blessing at the service this afternoon. He has asked me to be his Scripture Bearer and the Council Approved. Afterwards there is to be a formal dinner, and all the participants are invited,” Jensen paused, faltering for the first time since he began his joyous exposition. “I will have to cut our time this afternoon rather short, and I-I was looking forward to spending time with you, but this... this is a great honor. I hope you will attend the service and watch? Father Peleggi has approved you for the reserved seating up front,” Jensen added hopefully.

Jared’s eyes tracked over the scroll quickly taking in the information that confirmed what Jared had said. It was a huge honor for anyone, especially a member of Jensen’s caste, as was the reserved seating Jared had been offered. “Of course I would love to attend. Oh, Congratulations, Jensen, I am so happy for you, so... proud,” he added, biting his lip.

Jensen flushed with joy and relief.

“I am sorry our afternoon will be cut short, but I am honored to attend the service,” Jared added, passing the scroll back to Jensen.

As Jensen accepted it, Jared caught a glimpse of the angry, red crescents Jensen’s fingernails had left behind. He wanted to kick himself-no, kick Morgan-for keeping Jensen waiting so long. “Seeing as we only have,” he glanced at the goddess clock on the wall, “about two hours until you need to be at the Temple, why don’t we enjoy a light meal and go for a stroll. That way you’ll have plenty of time to mentally prepare yourself, and I won’t distract you from your duties with any mindless prattle about tavernkeeping.” Jared managed to smile. It was true, Jensen would want to clear his mind before the service, but Jared’s proposed schedule was actually very selfish. He’d give just about anything to buy a little more time with Jensen happy and content, and he doubted he could fill two hours with inconsequential nonsense, given his emotional state.

“Certainly, sir,” Jared agreed.

“Madam Ferris, would it be all right if we helped ourselves to some of the white bean soup?” Jared asked.

Sam gave him a wary, knowing glare, but agreed. “Of course.”

Jared’s plan went off almost without a hitch. Jensen was so excited about the service and Misha’s debut, that he spent most of their meal and slow stroll through the narrow side streets up and around to Piety Way rattling off statistics about acolytes’ debuts and their service as priests after debuting.

Jared was content to murmur along, asking questions at a few key points to keep Jensen talking.

It was only when they’d crossed the plaza and paused by one of the small service doors to the Temple that the spell of normalcy was broken.

“Jared, what’s wrong?” Jensen asked, his voice full of concern.

“Nothing, Jensen,” Jared started. No reason to heap on more lies now, Jared thought resignedly. “Well, nothing I can resolve right now, so I’m trying not to worry about it.” He looked at Jensen and smiled. “I’m really happy for you,” he added, reaching his hand out and squeezing Jensen’s shoulder. “It’s too bad we won’t get to spend the entire evening together, though.”

Jensen beamed, his eyes lighting up with more joy than Jared had ever seen him possess. Jensen reached out and ran a tentative hand along Jared’s cheek. “I would have been honored to spend the evening with you. But instead, it will be my honor to have you attend this service.” He stroked his thumb along Jared’s cheek.

Jared gave an involuntary shudder.

Jensen blushed, but didn’t jerk away. Reluctantly, he lowered his hand to his side. “Jared, I hope whatever problem you are facing is resolved. I will say an extra prayer for you tonight and ask the Goddess to smile upon you.”

“Thank you, Jensen, that... that would be wonderful.” It didn’t matter that Jared didn’t believe or that no amount of wishful thinking could solve this mess, but praying would mean something to Jensen, and that thought brought comfort to Jared.

“We will still have breakfast tomorrow, yes? You will meet me at the monastery?” Jensen asked eagerly.

Tomorrow morning would come far too soon. “Yes, Jensen, I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast. Now, hurry, don’t keep your friend Misha waiting,” Jared agreed, stepping back.

Jensen blushed back at him before turning and slipping quietly through the door and into the temple.



The temple service was beautiful even if it was based on lies and manipulation. Some of the prayers Jensen’s friend Misha had chosen were old though, like Old Zyreta old, remnant’s of one of the planet’s original, non-manipulated religions-they had to be because Jared recognized the words from folk songs he’d learned in school. Stuff about caring for each other and respecting the world around you. Much friendlier fare than the usual hate and distrust Zyretan priests spewed. That was probably a big part of why Brother Benedict had spent the entire service alternating between fury and apparent nausea, at times his face turned almost as deep a purple as his voluminous robes.

Jensen had been great though. Polite and attentive and serious and radiating awe-exactly what Jared had expected.

But the service was done now, and Jensen was off celebrating-or coming as close to that as Zyretan clergy and their wards came-and congratulating his friend Misha on a job well done.

Misha seemed really nice. Jared could tell he cared about Jensen, but not the way Jared cared about Jensen (and he was beginning to alternatingly hope and fear Jensen felt about him), so Jared felt no jealousy or animosity. Jensen needed friends like Misha. Jared could count on Misha to be there for Jensen if he decided he hated Jared when Jared came clean...

Which was going to be sooner rather than later.

Jared was lost in thought as he stumbled out of the temple and into the Central Plaza. Since he’d been seated up front, most of the congregation had already exited and the crowd had begun to thin by the time he was outdoors. As he made his way across the plaza to Purity Way, he realized he was grateful St. Pious was located in the equatorial region of Zyreta. In Campus Worth or Trakorian Peak, it would be approaching winter and the day would be dark, at least one of the suns long set. But here it was still sunny and hopeful, and Jared felt like daylight gave him time to think, time to sort himself out before the new day came. He could have this time to hold onto the calm a little longer.

Part of him thought it was very strange to think that way. Associating sunlight with hope and happiness... after all, back home sunlight didn’t exist.

He’d made his way to Purity __ and over into the narrow ring streets of the Civic Sector where the ostensibly non-Church government officials had their offices, still lost in thought when he saw her.

In a flash, his confusing day had just gotten hopelessly more lost.

The Noble woman who had crossed his path… He knew her, and it wasn’t just that she was a familiar face, someone he’d run into over the course of the last four-plus months. No, in fact, Jared so rarely came to this part of the city, he was quite certain they’d never crossed paths before this very moment. But he knew that face-smooth, mocha-colored skin, fine bones, big eyes, strong cheek bones, all framed by an artfully gathered bundle of wavy dark-brown hair. He’d know that face anywhere, so would any other child who’d grown up in the Union or the Colonies in the last twenty years.

The problem was-she had sacrificed herself to save the Ackles children. She’d died twenty years ago. One of the casualties of the Zyretan crack-down. She’d managed to get Jensen’s aunts, grandparents, brother, and baby sister to the Freedom Beach Spaceport and onto one of the last passenger ships that left the surface before the Zyretans attacked. She’d explained she’d tried to get the Ackles family back into the Union, but they were being followed and any attempt to go underground would put the entire Union at risk. So, she passed on the message about Donna having found the key to defeating the Insids and reuniting the people once and for all, and about Jensen knowing, not being able to forget. Hah! he couldn’t suppress the rueful mental chuckle. Oh no, what if it’s all been a lie? What if there’s never been any research or anything? What if she made up the entire prophecy? Jared’s panic was short-lived; it didn’t take long to remember that Donna had sent her own report. It wasn’t like they were relying on the sole word of this… woman.

But that didn’t make it okay. They’d honored her, given her posthumous awards for her bravery and dedication. She’d said in her message she was going back to try to help Donna, Alan, and young Jensen out of St. Pious, and then she’d never been heard from again. The next day the executions had started. They’d all thought…

Well, clearly they’d thought wrong, because here she was entering the Zyretan equivalent of an office building wearing an emerald and sapphire encrusted, embroidered slit-side tunic over loose, flowing blue silk pants. She was still living as nobility and they’d all been mourning her death. Well no more!

Jared was following her before he was really aware he was moving. A few swift strides with his long legs and he’d doubled back from the spoke street he’d just turned down, and into the small square created by the intersection of a narrow spoke street and a wider ring street around which the government buildings were arrayed. Once he stepped inside, she was easy to follow. She was heading to an office down one long hall and then another, and she slipped inside. Oh, Jared realized looking around. It was a conference room of some sort. Glancing around quickly to make sure he wasn’t being followed and hadn’t attracted any unwanted information, he slipped followed her into the room through the still open door.

“You’re dead!” Jared exclaimed as he rounded the black, wooden oblong table that filled the center of the room, as he tried to get a closer look at the woman, “at least you’re supposed to be.”

“I can explain,” she said, holding up her hands in placation and retreating away from Jared. She’d dropped the accent. Sure there was still a bit of the Zyretan noble left, as one might expect after more than twenty years of living topside, but there underneath was still that roundness of vowels that was distinctly Scientist.

“We have annual memorials in honor of you!” Jared spat in disbelief. “What, were you just waiting all this time to sell us out?” A more horrifying prospect came to mind. “Did you do that to Jensen’s family? Huh, did you sell out the Ackleses? Is that what this is to you? Some kind of sick joke where you spared Jensen’s life so you could watch him be brainwashed, traumatized, taught to hate himself by the people who murdered his parents?” Jared’s voice was rising in pitch and volume as he and Vissandra Mirabile continued their tense dance around the table.

There were doors, but she didn’t run. Jared wanted to hurt, to kill, tear her apart with his bear hands, so angry was he over her apparent betrayal, but he had no weapon, and somewhere in the back of his mind, a quiet, still-rational voice was telling him that killing her wasn’t the answer. No matter how much she might deserve it-and, whoa, maybe he’d been living among the Zyretans for too long already if he was starting to think that way-it would only cause more harm, more complications. There might still be a way out of this alive, for him, maybe for Jensen, maybe for the others too. They might have to scrap the plan to fend off the coming attack. It might mean doom or an uncertain exile for everyone in the very near future. But maybe there was still a way, if he kept his cool right now. He lowered the fist he didn’t realize he’d raised and halted his advance. “What were you waiting for?”

She didn’t say anything, just shook her head.

“How long have you known? Known about me, known we were here?” He took a single step; she held her ground. “Have you been reporting on us all this time?”

“No!” she shouted, then blanching, the color draining from her face as if in shock over what she’d said (or maybe how she’d said it), she added more quietly, “No, it’s not like that. I didn’t betray anyone. I’ve only been trying to help-”

“Help? Is that what you’re calling it-”

“Donna was my friend!” This time she cut him off. “I swore to her I would do everything to protect her son, to protect Jensen, not just because…” She didn’t finish the thought, instead paused and seemed to reconsider. When she opened her mouth to speak again, it was clear she was choosing her words very carefully. “I wanted to protect Jensen because he’s an innocent, and he doesn’t deserve this. I waited for twenty years and for eighteen of them no one came. No one,” she said again taking a step towards Jared, and then another step wide, towards the wall, as if daring to see if he would move; follow her.

Jared was confused enough by her behavior that he didn’t move instead standing stock still, waiting to see where she was going, both physically and explanation-wise.

“I will tell you everything, I swear, but not here.” She pointed her left pointer down meaningfully at the bright honeyblossom wood table with its intricate broodwood inlays and then glanced meaningfully up at the ceiling.

For a moment, Jared didn’t understand. He looked again at the green, scalloped glass diffuser that covered the godlamp that sat at the center of the ceiling. What? That covered the godlamp-

Oh. Oh shit! Jared felt the blood rush from his face, his stomach churning, his feet seeming to turn to lead at the same time his knees turned to jelly. How could I have forgotten? How could I have been so stupid? He glanced back at her and met her eyes, sure his fear was showing.

She seemed to waver in indecision for a moment, and then reached out and took his hand and pulled him towards her-

Jared’s brain checked out around the time he felt her lips on his. Her mouth opening before his, forcing her tongue in, as one arm wrapped around him, grabbing his ass, and the other tucked under his left arm nudging it higher until it was sort-of wrapped around his torso. He wanted to pull away, to flee, to object, but he really wasn’t sure what was going on.

Finally she pulled back.

He opened his mouth to speak, have a mind to squawk ‘I’m gay!’ but having enough presence of mind to realize that would make the bizarre and possibly life-threatening situation even worse (well for him, anyway); he stopped himself, instead stammering, “W-ww-what?” in a shocked-breathless pant.

“Not. Here,” she said again. Then, “Come with me.” As she spoke, Jared felt her fingers close around his wrist tightly and tug, as she turned on her heel and began leading him out the door he had entered. Once they were outside in the open, tall-ceilinged foyer, she let go, dropping his wrist, but only after shooting him an insistent glance over her shoulder to ensure he would follow.

Follow her, he did.

She led him on a meandering path through the narrow streets in the hilltop district of St. Pious. In the three months he’d spent in the city, Jared had never really had occasion to come here. This was the posh, clean area on the North-Western slope of St. Pious’ hill, where the nobles lived in luxury and relative sophistication and were insulated from the harsh realties to which even many of the merchant castes were subjected. The buildings were tall and colorful since the nobles bore no real restriction on color use, beyond the reservation of silver. Even purples abounded since the Church was more of a parallel set of closely linked castes than a superior unit to the nobility in the planetary hierarchy, and any family that had at least one member in the Religious orders was permitted to use purples in their home decor.

The cobbles here were brushed clean, in stark contrast to even the city’s central plaza, and were studded with glass tiles and swaths of mosaic made from imported sea-shells and semi-precious stones. The air was light and pleasantly fragrant with the aroma of sweet spices wafting on the breeze. The skies were filled with flocks of tea swallows as many of the area homes had perches and feeding troughs hanging from third and fourth story balconies. Jared could also see the lush greenery and bright blooms of rooftop gardens trailing along many buildings’ summits.

She finally led him through a narrow archway into a small courtyard with tall, cream-colored, vine-covered walls. Jared looked around, taking in a small seating area with chairs and table covered in mosaic tile and a three-tiered, bubbling fountain. She didn’t stop though; instead produced a key from a pocket hidden inside her tunic overlay and opened the heavy broodwood door. Jared followed her through more, twisting and turning hallways, these with high, scalloped ceilings that were dyed a slightly paler shade of green than the fresh mint that graced the stuccoed walls. Jared drew on his training to try to keep his bearings, but the home was palatial, and the path she led him on, while at least staying on the ground floor, was convoluted enough to rival the layouts and patterns the Intelligence Ministry came up wi-Oh... Jared’s uneasiness grew as the implication washed over him.

At last, she stepped into a small, nondescript linen closet-or the Zyretan approximation of one-with Jared hot on her heels. The closet was shallow with pale blue walls, and she stopped so abruptly Jared stumbled, nearly falling against her. Once again, she reached back and took Jared’s hand, this time grabbing his left as she reached out and pressed her right hand to the closet’s blank, shelf-less back wall. A distinctive humming sound murmured in the close space, and a tell-tale beam of blue laser light scanned down from the ceiling coming from a tiny emitter hidden in the floor-to-ceiling molding ran along the innermost edge of the shelving on the left wall. It was a little more antiquated than what Jared was used to, but it was undoubtedly a Scientist-made biometric scanner. The scan completed with a chime, and suddenly a seam appeared in the back wall and the entire panel popped back about a half centimeter and slid to the left disappearing into the left wall with a gentle swish.

She stepped in and yanked Jared in after her, reaching back with her right hand to press a lighted button on the newly revealed control panel on the hidden doorway’s right side.

Jared heard the sound of a twinkling, Zyretan romantic melody flow from speakers in an adjoining room, as she jerked her hand back and the hidden door whooshed back into place behind them. Mood music, Jared realized uncomfortably as he turned his attention back to their new surroundings.

“Sit,” she commanded, indicating one of two chairs in the room with a curt gesture.

Jared was tempted to refuse, but his panic and desire to know more overrode his defiance, and he complied.

He stammered as he sat, too many questions trying to break free at the same time. “What... how much...” he managed before she cut him off with a raised finger.

She was still standing, gliding around the room with graceful efficiency, punching instructions into the controls of various pieces of equipment Jared recognized as earlier versions of the standard tech in an Intelligence Ministry secure comms room. The rest of the decor and layout matched as well-warm yellow walls, a large monitor screen filling one wall, an integrated desk, and two swiveling, rolling office chairs. The equipment in the room-camera feeds, encrypt-decrypt, a secure comm, multiple computer processors-was the same too, only everything looked about 20 years old and it was dark. Shut down.

“The room’s still soundproof, and so far, no one from the Zyretan government has found it. But I still like to play it safe.” Her last word held a note of disdain, and she glared at Jared a little as she sank down into the other chair, hands clasped loosely over her lap.

“So, you turned on the sound system out there,” Jared said uncertainly, “and you also turned on the noise cancellation protocols and armed the door?” His voice rose along with one eyebrow. He knew he was stalling, but he also needed to know what was going on.

“Can’t be too cautious,” she said slyly with an air that was decidedly not fitting for a Zyretan noblewoman, almost coy and flirtatious-perfectly fitting for a top student at the Intelligence Academy. He’d known students-and teachers-with the same attitude. But on her, it was completely… incongruous. “But then being a trained agent for the Intelligence Ministry, you would know that, Jared…” her voice trailed off. “Jared-” She paused again, staring at him, eyes narrowing.

Jared got the sense she expected something from him, but he was so thrown by the whirlwind-and, huh, that term made a lot more sense now that he’d been topside for this long-of events, he was completely lost.

She scoffed, sitting up straighter in her chair, her posture more fitting for her attire and current appearance. “You gonna tell me your real name-” it was striking how different her language was now that she’d dropped the noblewoman act-”or am I gonna have to keep calling your Master Jared or Master Lecki?”

Jared swallowed, saliva catching in his suddenly dry throat before it was lubricated enough to speak, “Why should I tell you anything. I don’t know who you are!” He tried to keep his voice low, even, and rumbling, but he realized the utter foolishness of the words the moment they left his lips.

“Don’t know me, you just told me I was dead, right before you had a screaming match and chased me around the table, in the open, in an unsecured space, on a deep cover mission.” She glared at him, disapproving, disappointed, “And you tell me you don’t know who I am. Who trained you? Has the Ministry’s standards slipped so-”

“I meant,” Jared interjected, the words bursting from his lips and hanging in the air for a moment before he continued, “that I don’t know who you are now. The person you were is dead. So, what have you been doing for the last twenty years and why? How do I now you weren’t a double agent? Huh?” He let her stew in the implication for a moment. “If I was a bad or ill-trained agent, I would trust you, but I’m not, so I don’t. Forgive me for limiting my lapse in judgment to the clusterfuck I dragged us into back at the Council Court.” Jared was going to leave it there, but then, he caught her eye. Saw the pain reflected there. Whatever was going on, Jared was certain she was not here to turn him over to the authorities. Not that he knew how she could save him after his little outburst-he really, really wasn’t sure what the kissing was all about. Jared shuddered. He was still angry about that. Felt violated, unsettled. It feels like I betrayed someone… He allowed himself thing before forcing Jensen’s face from his mind. He could not, would not go there. Not now. Maybe not ever. His feelings were so jumbled and mixed and completely inappropriate, but he didn’t know how to stop- But maybe he could give her his name. His real name, as a show of trust? He swallowed again. “It’s Padalecki, Jared Padalecki,” he whispered, eyes lowered.

“I don’t recognize-” she hedged, genuine curiosity in her voice.

“I’m from Carillon, originally. Where the Ackles kids ended up,” he added softly, eyes boring into his fidgeting hands. “My family moved to the Scientist Union when I was six. Got kinda fascinated with the Lost Son. It’s why I wanted to go into intelligence in the first place.”

“The Lost Son?” she queried, mouth stumbling as if the words were foreign. “And wait… Ackles kids. Do you… do you mean Mackenzie and Joshua are… alive?”

She gasped.

Jared looked up then, the naked emotion in her voice drawing him out. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her right hand was actually poised in front of her wide-open mouth while her left hand squeezed her right elbow tightly. “Yeah. They made it out okay. Mr. Ackles parents and Mrs. Ackles sister made it too,” he explained hastily. “You… you didn’t know?”

She shook her head ‘no,’ hand covering her mouth tightly to stifle another gasp. It was strange to see, the now-obvious mix of Zyretan nobility manners and Scientist Intelligence training fighting for dominance behind her carefully cultured mask of clam and impassivity.

“The-the-Jensen is the Lost Son. That’s what,” Jared gulped his voice shaking, “that’s what we call him.” We didn’t know. Didn’t have a clue. Forgot that he was a real person in all of this. I told Morgan. But even then-I really understand like I do now. But what have I done? Jared’s mind raced. “Our people have gotten rather obsessed with Jensen, but they know very little about him. You too-you’re supposed to be self-sacrificing and dead,” Jared explained. He let out a shaking breath. “Look, we’re on a timetable, an even tighter one than you probably realize. So I need you to give me one good reason to trust you, or I dial up your comm and turn you in.”

She glared at him, and twitched her wrist, flipping a tiny blaster into her hand, which she then raised and pointed a Jared.

“Seriously, the situation is so screwed up right now that getting shot, would be a picnic.” He paused to make sure she knew how serious he was.

She didn’t lower her weapon, but twitched her shoulders in a little shrug and gave him a devious smile.

“Why don’t you just tell me what happened?” Jared suggested.

Vissandra’s smile immediately faltered. “Why don’t you have a seat, this will take a while,” she gestured towards the lone chair in front of the slightly out-dated, but still familiar, securecomm terminal with the hand that wasn’t holding the weapon.

“I don’t have a while, so talk fast,” Jared replied.

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I’m warned, now talk, or I’m going to risk getting shot.”

“I was set up here as Donna and Alan’s assistant and support advisor. Back then we placed whole families in deep cover, stationed families together in the bases, you probably know this, but I know the Ministry doesn’t work that way anymore. But over the years we got close. The Ackleses tried to spend at least a few months of every year underground so their children would know where they came from, would experience a little normalcy, but aside from the whole year after Jensen was born, they spent the better part of twelve years topside in St. Pious. Donna and I were in the same class at the Academy and we got our first posting together-you have to understand, I would never do anything to hurt her or betray her or her family,” Vissandra said with earnest sincerity.

“Touching story, but that’s not explaining why you’re not dead or why you’re living a life of luxury in the Capital of our arch enemies. Oh, and I didn’t forget we’re trained,” he leaned closer to her, feeling the hard composite of the blaster barrel press against his chest, “in being convincing liars and actors.”

“I assure you, I’m only providing the necessary details, but if you insist on interrupting, I’m sure you can make this take all night,” she spat back.

“I see your point. Go on.” Jared took a step back.

Vissandra visibly relaxed. “But who we were to each other in the Union and who we were in Zyretan society were two very different stories. You see, thanks to Alan’s family, we were able to establish the Ackleses as one of the top caste families. As far as the Zyretans were concerned Alan was one of the idol rich, sponsoring the occasional trade venture and recommending people from lower castes for positions in the Church and government, but not really doing any work. Donna was one of the chosen few the Council ordained as an Aide; she had access to the Archive from her second year here until she died. I, on the other hand, was then as I am now, a middle tier noble with a position in the travel regulations department,” Vissandra explained. “We hardly moved in the same circles as far as Zyretans were concerned, but the Ackleses had permissions to travel regularly, and I was one of the officials assigned to assisting them.”

“One of?” Jared interrupted.

“Yes, and it has a lot to do with why I’m still here.” She took a deep breath. Donna was onto something for a long time, and no one in the Zyretan Church suspected her. She had a plan-she was going to pass the secret she’d found onto herself, Alan, all three kids, even, even the baby.”

Jared raised an eyebrow at that. “Babies aren’t exactly known for their eidetic memories and fabulous communication skills,” Jared observed.

“No, and she said something about it not being perfect, but it would work. I don’t know quite what she meant. She was going to share the secret with Alan’s parents and the rest of the family. It was just taking a while-whatever she found in the archive she was checking and double checking against other sources, and running endless simulations in her lab.”

“Why didn’t she just send it on to the Ministry, make sure the Union knew-”

“Because whatever it was, it was complicated. Multiple steps, multiple plans, a million things that could go terribly, horribly wrong if everything didn’t check out just right. I do know that the plan she had to reunite Zyreta was largely separate from the weapon she discovered against the Insidiari Usupare. She wouldn’t tell me because she wasn’t supposed to. Our risks were different; there would be too many threats if we both knew. We also had a problem with signal interceptions. We weren’t sure if the messages were getting decrypted, but we knew someone on the Council had intercepted several transmissions to and from our satellites, and we didn’t want to chance it with securecomm-if someone had tracked or cracked that… it would have jeopardized the safety of every agent on Zyreta, it could have revealed the position of the safehouses. So we were on strict orders for minimal comm use, and anything that sensitive was under orders for in-person delivery only.” Vissandra paused and took a deep breath, looking down at her hands and fidgeting. When she looked back up at Jared, there were tears in her eyes.

“It was summer here. Right after the Piety festival. Donna had scheduled a family vacation to get the kids out of the house for a few weeks. She used another officer, not me. It was actual travel on Zyreta, not cover for a trip back to the Union. We-we tried to use me for that and other agents for the regular stuff. Well, Alan’s parents and the aunts decided to go too, but Donna couldn’t convince Jensen to go. He was always uniquely interested in her work, focused on it. She’d take him with her to the monastery and the Temple sometimes, and he was always by her side in her lab. Donna used to call him mommy’s little lab tech. He didn’t want to go, and Donna didn’t want to upset him. So he stayed.” She shuddered, “I’ve spent the last twenty years trying to figure out if that decision saved us all or damned him. Maybe both.”

Jared waited almost patiently when Vissandra paused again. He wanted her to hurry up, but maybe if she was genuinely telling the truth, it was probably painful for her to recount, and after an afternoon of ranting at Morgan for not caring enough about Jensen as an individual human being, it would be uncomfortably hypocritical to fault Vissandra for her reaction.

“Someone saw Donna. What they saw, I don’t know, but she thought one of the monastery guards, the ones that officially answer to the Council but are really only accountable to the head of the secret police, had seen her coming and going from the Archive too frequently. She would slip in there for research when she didn’t absolutely have to be in there. She was known for exceptional efficiency, so the behavior would have immediately aroused some suspicion, but this guard started following her, and one night a bout three hours from the first dawn he followed her back from the archive, all the way to their house.”

“She wasn’t supposed to be there that late?” Jared asked uncertainly.

Vissandra shook her head, “No, the Archive is supposed to be on lock down after midnight, it’s the Council’s idea for ensuring virtuous behavior, no one can be tempted or forced into neglecting their other duties. She overrode the lockouts the Order uses about three weeks after she earned her Aide status. She came to me that night, almost immediately after. I had freedom to travel without needing to plan in advance because of my position in the government and the tools we used… She told me to go to Grace, where the family was vacationing. I had to either get them underground or off the planet. I asked about her and Alan or if she wanted me to take Jensen, but…” Vissandra blinked hard, running shaking hands through her hair and tugging at it. “She knew there wasn’t time. The guard would start an inquiry, and the Council would move swiftly. I-I didn’t believe it would be as bad as she thought, but Donna understood better than anyone that no one likes being betrayed, least of all the Council and being betrayed by someone you’ve vetted and placed in the greatest position of trust… she understood what that would do. She said preserving the information, getting it to the Ministry was the most important thing. She gave me files and her journal and instructions on how to hide them in the Spaceport. Said she’d already set up a cache there, and Jensen would be the only one who could access it. I didn’t understand, then she told me, Jensen was the only way… the only way to preserve the information, that it was vital to two civilizations and was the only way to save us. She said Jensen would remember… that he couldn’t forget. That they would execute her and Alan, but not Jensen. Never Jensen. The plan was ready, but she could only do it for one, and he was it. I-I begged her pleaded with her, but she promised me Jensen would be okay. Told me to get her family to safety and come back for Jensen. If I got back in time, she’d have me get him back to the Union or off-planet, but otherwise, I had to watch over him. I promised her. My best friend, who I worked with every day for twelve years. I couldn’t… I couldn’t let her down.”

The silence hung between them as Jared struggled to assimilate what he’d learned. After a while, Vissandra stopped shaking, her polished composure returning rapidly, while Jared began to tremble and twitch, his fears for Jensen and overwhelmed confusion from having his worldview turned on its head twice in the last twelve hours winning out over his training. “You got to the Ackles family and got them off planet…” Jared started.

“Mmm-hmm, by the time I reached Grace the Church had started searching door-to-door. They had the travel plans and knew where to find the family. I barely got to them in time. There was no way we could have tried to go underground, they would have tailed us and we would have delivered the Zyretan Scientia to the Union’s doorstep. I got them to the base and on the first transport,” Vissandra explained.

“Did you-”

“I followed Donna’s instructions. Concealed the data in her cache-no one at the spaceport knew I’d done it… she was vey specific that it was tied to a genetic key. There would be no way for anyone to retrieve it and she said it-it wasn’t the whole picture, it was part of a bigger puzzle, and all the pieces needed to be reunited. It was insurance for Jensen she said… I don’t know what she meant, but once it was hidden, there would be no way for me to access it again.”

“Whose-” Jared started to ask.

“It’s tied to Jensen’s genetic key and… something else. I, I’m a communications and logistics expert, not a biologist like Donna. She’d figured out some way that having Jensen’s DNA wouldn’t e good enough, he would have to be there and be alive to retrieve it,” Vissandra answered.

“Do you think it could have survived the attack?” Jared asked, his voice rising. Freedom Beach Spaceport had been bombed and besieged, much of it reduced to charred rubble. His pulse sped as he realized after all this time, the goal might be unattainable. If the data stored there had been destroyed, then even if Jensen remembered, even if they figured this all out, there might not be any way to recover the research.

“Oh, it survived… I don’t know what Donna told the Council, but they clearly knew there was something of great value there and they didn’t destroy it. I think that’s why there’s such a large garrison there. They’re far more worried someone will try to retrieve the data than use the spaceport to get offworld,” Vissandra said emphatically.

“So, you stored the data and… I still don’t understand why our government thinks you’ve been dead for twenty years. I don’t understand how you’re still here,” he jabbed his pointer finger at her shoulder for emphasis, “when Donna and Alan are dead and Jensen has been brainwashed.”

“I got back as soon as I could, but it was too late. They’d already had the execution and taken Jensen. I thought for sure I’d be next, but… there was nothing tying the Ackleses travel to me. There was nothing tying my trip to Donna. Apparently no one realized she’d visited me that night. They rounded up the poor man who had arranged the family vacation and hung him in the Plaza two days after they executed the Donna and Alan. But no one suspected me. By that time the only way I could have contacted the Ministry was through the securecomm, and I was sure if I did, they’d either abandon me like they did so many others, or recall me. I couldn’t take that chance. I promised Donna I would watch over Jensen, ensure he was all right, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”

“You’ve been watching over him? You’ve been watching over him?” Jared asked incredulously. “Well, in case you hadn’t noticed he’s spent the last twenty years getting brainwashed by the Church and doesn’t have a clue who he is,” he shouted, voice rising high and tight. “Tell me, how is that helping him? How is that-”

“The Council already had Jensen by the time I got back and was certain I wasn’t under suspicion. I’ve helped him the best I can-sponsoring him when the opportunity arose, being kind on the occasion we crossed paths, encouraging the key government personnel to support the Church’s guardianship of abandoned children. I’ve kept tabs on him. Made sure they didn’t send him away or kill him,” Vissandra protested her voice almost hissing; whether with anger or frustration, Jared wasn’t sure. “You think I’m happy with what they did? You think I pat myself on the back? I hate knowing I let Donna’s son grow up alone not knowing who he is. I hate that he’s been indoctrinated and convinced the values his parents died for are evil.” She let out a long sigh and folded her arms across her chest, hands squeezed tight around her elbows, fingers digging in harshly. “I’m just one person. In case you haven’t noticed, there haven’t been any other Scientists around here in the last twenty years.” She cocked her head to the side-”I still travel; I know there are agents elsewhere topside, but it’s not like I can take Jensen to them. I have influence here with the Zyretans, but my sphere is limited, and I lost my connections to the Union when Donna and Alan died.”

“What about the securecom,” Jensen tipped his head towards the console. “You have it. You still have this room; surely you could have tried to contact someone. Or-just approach one of the agents, in another city and tell them how to find Jensen?”

“You can’t be serious?”

“What? Of course-” Jared started to explain in confusion.

Vissandra took two steps back and sank into the chair that Jared had refused earlier. “Yes, after all that time, I was supposed to just call up the Ministry or approach an agent that would have gone over so very well, just like this ever so polite conversation you and I are having.”

Jared blinked hard, flummoxed. His jaw bobbed a few times as he struggled to find a response. “That’s-sarcasm… you’re being sarcastic. You… but you didn’t know we thought you were dead.”

“I didn’t know for sure what you thought, but give me some credit. It wasn’t too hard to guess that contacting the Ministry out of the blue wasn’t going to win me any friends. If I was in your position I would worry if I’d been compromised,” she admitted.

“How do I know you haven’t?”

“You’re just going to have to trust me on that one,” she countered. “Notice I didn’t turn you in. I think we both know that if I was working for the Zyretans turning you in would be as much risk to me as you. Even what we’re doing right now-”

“Would be considered colluding,” Jared realized.

“Yes.”

Jared threw his hands up in frustration. “What about right away, right after it happened. Couldn’t you have tried to contact the Union then? Or tried to get back underground with one of the evacuations-” Chris’s story about the frantic, haphazard evacuation and the paranoia of the Union came back to him. “They were all gone before you were sure you weren’t under suspicion.”

Vissandra nodded affirmatively.

“And you didn’t want to risk leading them to our doorstep, so you couldn’t risk escape until you were sure?” Jared guessed.

“Exactly. And if I’d tried,” she leaned back in the chair, propping her right foot on her left knee, “it would have meant leaving Jensen. I was concerned if I could get underground, the Ministry would have prevented me from going back. And even if they allowed me to return, I would have likely blown my cover, so there’d be no way to go back to him. I would have been abandoning Jensen. I couldn’t do that to Donna.”

Jared was struck by how “unladylike” her pose was, how much it clashed with her graceful, elegant noble attire. For the first time Jared could really see the agent Vissandra had been-and on some level still was-rather than the persona she’d cultivated over the years. There was something genuine and convincing about it, an honesty he recognized, one born out of loyalty, dedication, and self-sacrifice. It was a reflection of his own dreams, fears, and frustrations, and in that instant, he trusted Vissandra. She was telling the truth. “I-I can understand that.”

Vissandra shot him a small smile. “Besides,” she shrugged, “I wouldn’t trust them with Jensen anyway. I may not like the situation he’s been in, but at least he’s whole, healthy, and relatively happy. I know the Ministry well enough to be wary of his survival in their hands.”

Jared snorted, “You’d be right to worry.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her head cocked to the side with the query.

“I-” It was classified. Jared couldn’t tell her. Except-except maybe she was the only person who could help him. He stared Vissandra directly in the eye and spoke. “The Deputy Director of the Intelligence Ministry believes since Jensen doesn’t remember right now, he doesn’t know anything. He’s convinced Donna hid her plans in Jensen through some biochemical or biomechanical means, and he’s willing to do anything to retrieve them. Even if it means experimenting on Jensen, subjecting him to torture, scans, whatever. Even if it kills him, if it saves the rest of us, it’s okay. He also thinks Donna’s plan for reuniting the people is some kind of…” his hands fluttered as he wracked his brain for the right word, “mind control. I don’t believe it. I know Jensen knows something he just can’t seem to access the memory, and I’m sure if Donna’s world unification strategy was something research-based, we would have found it in the last twenty years. Whatever it is it’s gotta depend on something she learned, probably in the Archive. Only, now I’ve got two weeks to figure all that out, or Jensen is going to be taken by force, and the Ministry has a doctor standing by who they’ll order to operate on him if need be.” He let the information sink in, not breaking eye contact with Vissandra. “I need you to help me however you can, to make sure that doesn’t happen. If you genuinely care about Jensen-”

“I do,” Vissandra interrupted. “And I think maybe it’s time I reunite with more of our people. Take me to your base. Strip and search me if you need to, but I’m going to help.” Her words came as a taught whisper, but Jared heard her loud and clear.

“Okay,” Jared agreed. “What do you say to a late night trip to a tavern?” Somehow they’d get this mess sorted out, and figure out how to save Jensen’s future in the process.

Continue to Chapter 7

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