****
Lane warned Dutch another hit was coming. He just couldn't dodge them all.
"Shields full."
"Eighty percent max!"
Lissa rocked with the force of the blast, but Lane got her steadied fast. They had a long way to go and he was trying to make a change. But he couldn't find one that didn't lead to a sudden end of the path.
"Make that sixty. Lane, we've got to shoot back. Clete, take over ops. I'll take the gun. Give it to me on manual, Lane."
"I don't-- Damn! He's already gone."
"He's right, Lane. Incoming. Aft shield down. Compensating. We're at thirty-two percent. We don't get that fighter off our tail, we've-- Shields off! Go, Dutch! YES! Shields up. We've got another one. Not anymore. Damn! I hope he knows what he's doing. Evasive, Lane! Dutch, routine A on three, two, one... NOW!"
The little ship had never fired back before. She'd run the blockade time after time and never fired a shot. This time they'd been waiting. The admiral had decided to take her out. Half a fleet could have gotten through the holes left in the blockade. He'd sent every ship with any kind of a chance at catching her after her.
Half a fleet did get through. A fleet of cargo ships. The desperately needed supply ships opened a hole a little wider and sped through it toward the planet. The little ship had done her job and the admiral had lost his. She'd also reduced the strength of the blockade by eighteen ships.
"Nice work, Dutch."
"Thanks, Clete. Aren't you going to say anything, Lane?"
"Do you really want me to say it?! I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. You're right. We wouldn't have made it without the gun. I was hoping for a change. I guess... I was just hoping we could avoid killing anyone."
"So was I. Lane, we had to do it. The people on the planet need those medical supplies desperately. For every life lost up here, a thousand will be saved on Amarri. If it had been weapons they were trying to get through, I'd have told them to stuff it. Nice piloting."
"Ahem."
"Yeah, Clete, I know. You're the one who made us practice until every zig and zag was perfect. Worked too. I knew exactly where I'd be after every maneuver. Now, how long til touchdown? I've got dates and I need a bath."
"Twins again, Dutch?"
"Nope. Triplets."
"I don't suppose you'd want to share."
"Clete, you've got to be kidding!"
"I am. Touchdown in twelve minutes."
Laire wasn't extremely young, but she was young to have been given the task of seeking the one ally the assembly was sure would end the war. She was pleased they thought her the right choice and didn't disagree with the assembly on that point, but she really wished there was another world that offered as much hope of it. She put aside her irritation at that and worked on the proposal. Then her office door opened and her level of irritation went up another notch.
She didn't like being interrupted and didn't want her office cleaned, but it was fourday, the time scheduled for her lunch and Missa had a schedule too. She almost wished she did want lunch. Missa's mother and hers were old friends and she'd known her since she was a child.
"You're so lucky, Laire. A tenday with the three of them."
"I'm not looking forward to it."
"What?! You're about to spend ten days with three beautiful, blond, eligible men and you're not looking forward to it?"
"Unlike you, Missa, I have other things on my mind. They're just three young hotshots. I'm not particularly interested."
"Those 'hotshots' are the most brilliant, talented, gorgeous hunks of pure male ever to hit this planet. Curly hair and gray eyes and voices that make your heart thump. Especially the little one."
"Missa, one hundred eighty-five centimeters is not little."
"See what I mean? Even you've noticed them. But you're right, Dutch only looks little when he's standing next to Clete. Kerith asked Dutch how tall he was. He said they're 'stair steps,' exactly five centimeters difference. Lane in the middle at one ninety. How'd you know how tall Dutch was?"
"Those three young men have been the predominant topic of conversation since they landed here. If anyone had gotten them on a scale, I'd have overheard their weights too! I'm sorry, Missa. I'm just bored with the subject."
"All work. Laire, you worry me. You're either in conference or up to your ears in communiqués. You don't go anywhere but department social functions and you don't really socialize at them. Just work, work, work."
"We're at war. I have a job to do. Now, if you've finished stirring up dust on the pretext of cleaning my office, I'll get back to it. I'm not looking forward to it, but I must take an offer of alliance to Bernis, another bunch of swaggering males."
Dutch sat down on the bridge and shook his head. Their passenger was not the friendly sort.
"She's an iceberg. Brr. Like a marble statue. Beautiful, but no feeling."
"That's the problem, Dutch. The feeling's there, but she's got it locked up. She'll never reach the bernisi. She's got everything they respect buried. She can't stop this war the way she is."
"Lane, I'm glad I'm not Clete. I get frostbite when I talk to her. She's an iron maiden, smooth metal outside and sharp knives within."
"Yes, and I've told Clete to step in and pull the door closed. They're going to cut each other apart, but Clete will bleed and bandage her wounds."
"She's broken and you told him to fix her."
"Violently."
"Oh, shit."
Lane counted lives that wouldn't be lost and ached while he fixed the dinner tray. Clete, of course, felt it and was hovering right outside the galley when he finished it.
"Take this to her."
"Lane, she's revolted by me. Afraid of me. I can handle the revulsion, the fear--"
"Clete, it's not you she's afraid of. It's herself. She's convinced herself she's made of stone. She's afraid of a crack. If Bernis allies with Amarri, the war will end instantly. The Fed or the Empire might win a war with the bernisi, but no one else would and everyone knows it. Her job is to convince the chief lord Amarri is worthy to be an ally and there's only one way to do that. She must 'burn with the fire of the hills.' Can she succeed the way she is?"
"No. Give me her dinner. Wine and two glasses. Isn't that a bit obvious?"
"Yes."
"Thanks."
Clete knew Lane was right. He reminded himself the ambassador really did want to end the war and would have given her life to accomplish it, was giving it to accomplish it, steeled himself against her feelings and knocked.
"Ambassador Kardina, I brought your dinner."
"Leave it outside."
"Not this time. This time you eat. You're not going to forget another meal. Open, or I'll let myself in."
"Oh, all right."
She opened the door and looked up at him. He could feel her fear. He almost handed her the tray and ran. He didn't. He poured two glasses of wine and handed one to her.
"Now, I'm going to sit here while you eat. You want to get rid of me? Eat your dinner."
"I'm in the middle of some trade figures. I'll eat when I'm done with them."
"I'll wait."
He watched her work. She was a dark-haired beauty. Fortyish and richly feminine, very young to carry the hopes of her world and she knew it. He pushed the wine a bit closer to her hand and smiled when she absently picked it up and drank some. He took a few sips of his.
Who had made this beautiful woman fear love? Why had she locked her passions away? He pulled her glass toward him and refilled it. She lifted it and drank, then reached up and rubbed her neck. He stood and stepped behind her.
"Easy, let me rub the knots out. SIT STILL!"
He realized he was trembling. The fragrance of her was making him dizzy. He ignored her fear. He'd felt it rise after her pleasure in his touch. It was the order in which they came that gave him hope he could
help her and her world. He slipped his thumbs under her collar and massaged the tight cords of fatigued muscle. He felt her pleasure then her terror, again in that order, but the terror was overwhelming his determination. If this was going to be, it must be now. She felt the change in him and stood.
He loosed his powers and reached for her. He opened her emotions and crashed through her barriers. He felt her terror as her walls crashed down and it excited him, aroused him. And he hated himself for it. He destroyed the ice statue she'd created outside and found fire within. He freed himself from his own barriers and fueled it with his own.
He'd never done it before. In that instant, he knew he too had feared the passion within, just as she had. Lane had chosen this way to free them both. He forgave him and lost himself in the fire of the woman in his arms.
Dutch and Lane were in the galley when Clete became fire.
"Lane!"
"Hang on, Dutch! Take my hand. We'll ride this storm. We knew it was coming. We've known what he was since we were sixteen. Remember how it was. Dad was careful, but we knew. When we all joined minds, we knew what Clete was."
"Yeah, but like you always say, reality is much more intense than remembering."
"Now it's your turn. We won't get through this unless you shield us. He'll burn us out. You're the only one who can stop that from happening."
"Lane, I don't know how!"
"It's not knowing. It's being. Be who you are!"
Dutch found his barriers. He hadn't known they were there. He set his power free. He met Lane's mind with his and set him free too. Lane hadn't known he was barriered either. He'd seen his brothers', but not his own. They joined with Clete and felt him surge into completeness. Passion, intellect and power blended. Something more than the sum of its parts blazed into existence. Dutch laughed with delight in their minds.
Laire traced Clete's smile with a fingertip. He'd healed her and she hadn't known she was injured, but the smile was gently ironic and she was rather sure she hadn't been the only one healed.
"What are you?"
"I'm not sure, Laire. Half human, half something more. Our father isn't from this universe. You got caught in, no, caused the breakthrough. You freed me. Freed us all. You're very special. Now I know why you walled yourself away. No one you'd met ever responded. They were half-passioned. Involved only with their bodies."
"Yes! I didn't know why. There was something wrong with me. I wanted more, more than they had. I loved a man deeply. He left me. He feared me."
"Laire, you burn with the fire of the hills."
"Clete, that's not fair!"
"No, but it's real. You mustn't hide what you are. Must be who you are. It's the only way to win them and end the horror of war on your world and you want that more than anything else."
"Show me, Clete. Show me how to be who I am."
Bernis, the home of the oldest species and civilization humans had ever found, was an odd world. It had a cycle of geologic upheaval that shouldn't have been stable, but was. It was also completely predictable. The bernisi had adapted to it and that adaptation was nearly as odd as the cycle. Many studies of both had been done by scholars in the Fed, but they'd found no answers. The bernisi had been tolerant of the studies, but not surprised by the outcome.
The bernisi had been the first species humans had contacted that looked human and a real shock. They'd told them there were thousands upon thousands, but they'd never learned why either. They hadn't given humans a great deal more information about the galaxy. They'd stopped exploring a very long time before, if they ever had, but they did tell them a bit about other peoples they'd find nearby and that they'd been anticipating meeting them for a long time. They liked the Fed.
Laire went over everything she knew about the bernisi one more time, as she faced the entry to the Hall of Lords. She smiled when she thought of how her view of that knowledge had changed over the last few days.
"Back me up, boys."
"Such a beautiful back."
"Dutch, you're incorrigible."
"No, but very encourageable."
"Clete, help me keep myself open. Don't let me get lost in trade figures and treaty negotiations."
"You won't. Bank the fires. We'll be standing at your back. Feel us there. Feel me there."
"How do I look?"
"Ravishing."
Lane grinned at her. She was surprised. She hadn't expected him to say it.
"Clete, doesn't have all the passion, Laire, just the power. Frankly, you knock my socks off."
She laughed in delight at the very old phrase and took Clete's arm; beautiful lady in black, escorted by the warriors in white. Dutch winked at Lane and pulled their minds together. They became fire.
The warriors at the door dropped back instinctively. Dutch and Lane hit the huge iron doors and they crashed open. The Warrior Lords stirred. They growled low in their throats. These were men and the woman burned. She won them in that moment. They were hers. The Chief Lord knelt before her.
"Lady, the warriors of Bernis will aid in your world's battle. Command us. We serve your fire."
The warriors roared their approval. Laire stretched out her arms and exulted in her triumph.
They returned to Amarri with an escort of bernisi ships. They had no difficulty getting through. The blockade dissolved around them. Tar a'Reth h'Mun, the chief lord, contacted Lissa and drily noted his computer had asked for assistance with the code the blockade fleet used. It just couldn't find a key to unencrypt the yelps on their comm channel. Laire was still giggling when they landed.
Three days later, Lane dropped in the middle of the hall in the building that housed the Planetary Assembly. Clete moved people out of his way and Dutch went through the ones in his. They knew what was wrong. The war was over and the future was changing.
"No! Don't call med! Let us take care of him. Clete, clear this hall. I'm going in. It's bad."
"I can feel it. Do it fast or I'll be down there with him. OUT! Everyone out! NOW! MOVE! CLEAR THIS CORRIDOR!"
The guards on the assembly chamber door looked at each other, then Clete, and went inside the chamber. If Clete wanted the corridor clear, they weren't going to argue. One person came out of the chamber, Laire.
"They sued for peace. Sent an apology. Terrible misunderstanding. Terribly sorry. Hope you aren't angry we killed several thousand of your people. Oops."
"Yeah, oops. Look, Laire, keep everyone away. We need a few minutes. Lane's riding the winds of change."
She went back in the chamber and brought out the chief and two other bernisi lords. They each moved into a corridor. Laire stood over them. No one would disturb them. If the council had to spend the night in the chamber, they would. Dutch opened his eyes and smiled.
"Can't be heaven. You're the most real woman I've met. Find us a room. This is going to take a while. Feel silly in the hall."
Laire opened the first door along the central corridor and ordered the occupants out. It was the Assembly Chair's office. There was a small apartment behind it. Dutch walked. The bernisi carried Lane and Clete. They didn't ask what was happening, but Laire told them what Clete had said. Tar nodded.
"They're the sons of the Fire Lord. We knew them when they came into the Hall. They serve all life. It's an honor to guard them. And to serve them."
Laire was still thinking over all of what Tar had said when the Assembly Chair asked permission to enter his office. She granted it, then winced when she realized that was exactly how she'd put it as she walked from the comm to the door to open it for him.
"Laire, it's rather embarrassing to have to ask to enter my own office."
"Chair Firth, I'm sorry. They need time. Your office was closest."
"Keep it as long as they need it. I just need some notes I made on my data pad this morning If you want me, I'll be sitting on the floor outside the door,
hashing out a trade agreement with the chief lord."
Laire was still laughing when he left. He was a very happy man. Her whole world was happy and she knew that the three in the apartment behind her were why. She looked up from the papers she was working on when they came out together.
"You absolutely glow. What happened?"
"You changed the future. Lane's been learning the new one. It's never been this rough before. Thanks for your help."
"Dutch, Tar recognized you. He called you the 'Sons of the Fire Lord.' He said you serve all life."
"Sounds like he's met Dad. Lane?"
"Not necessarily Tar, Dutch. The bernisi are a unique species. They've evolved through the rise and fall of civilization on their planet dozens of times. Part of that evolution is a racial memory. If they met Dad or us in their past in some way that was significant to them, all of them would remember. I'm not thinking straight! Laire, you didn't hear that."
"You can travel in time?!"
"Not yet, but we will."
"Oh... my. What happened? I know you 'remember' your future and get dizzy if something changes, but… Why did it flatten all three of you this time? Please tell me, Lane."
"All right. Sit down on the couch with me. I'll tell you what you really did. Your little war wasn't destined to stay little. The Empire was on the verge of coming in. They would have chosen what they saw as the strongest side. The Federation would have rushed to the aid of Amarri. It would have spread. Neutral space would have become a war zone. Trillions would have died as world after world became a battleground. No one could have stayed out of it. Except, perhaps, the bernisi. Neutrality wouldn't have existed, but I don't think even the durcassins are foolish enough to attack them. I didn't see what would happen after a certain point."
"Dutch! Calm down! It's changed."
"Yeah, Clete. Lane…"
"Dutch, all the explored galaxy would have been at war. I wouldn't have left the fleet. You two wouldn't have either. Laire, you stopped that. You ended the war and the Empire has no reason to come here. You are the savior of the known galaxy."
"No, Clete is. And you and Dutch. But I'd be delighted to accept the title of helper. Yes. I like that. Gallant helper. It has a nice ring to it."
"You helped a new branch of the family business. Starting small, but growing."
"What do you mean by starting small, Dutch?"
"All we've done is save one little piece of one galaxy. And evidently us. Dad saves universes. He usually saves his own, but he's saved this one once or twice as part of saving... everything. We know he's been here several times, though after what I think of as this time. I'm confusing you."
"Yes, but keep going. I have illusions I'll sort it out."
"The first visit was when Mom decided to have me. He said he didn't stand a chance once she'd made up her mind. She was the second Athena."
"Family joke, Laire. Three different mothers with the same name. We're half-brothers. Only Dutch was actually born here. Lane and I come from Dad's universe."
"How much of this is 'family business,' Clete?"
"All of it. Your job as helper from now on is to not know anything you heard in this room."
"I want to tell my husband. He should know."
"WHAT?! What husband?!"
"Relax, Clete, I haven't married him yet. I haven't even asked him yet. I guess I decided the minute I saw him. It just took awhile to realize it."
"Just who is this you want to entrust our lives to?"
"Tar a'Reth h'Mun, Dutch."
"Chief Lord of Bernis."
"That's him. I don't think he'll mind being second choice."
"Second choice?"
"Well, I don't think Clete would say yes and my previous reaction to rejection was a bit too extreme to ask on the off chance I'm wrong."
Lane didn't tell Dutch and Clete all he'd seen when the future had changed. Dutch had pulled out while he was still following the path in his mind. He 'remembered' waiting until they reached the world where they would find much of what they needed to finish the ship. He went to the ship and Dutch and Clete started on locating things they'd need. He was deep in the control systems when Dutch arrived about two hours later.
"They're expecting us, Lane."
"Good. How much could you locate, Dutch?"
"Parts, boards, raw materials, things we can adapt, maybe twenty percent. It will about use our fees from Amarri. Enough to establish a matrix. We're not going to be able to build most of it in this time, but probably enough to get to another."
"Where's Clete?"
"Rock hunting. I left him in the university library pulling every piece of planetary survey information they had stored. We need some extremely rare minerals besides the one isotope that's not just rare."
"Was he having any luck?"
"Yes, but not finding the minerals."
"Explain the grin, Dutch, or I won't have remembered why it's funny."
"He was sitting on the floor with some ancient hvorkin maps unrolled. They aren't delicate, but they aren't easy to keep flat either. There was a pretty student holding down each corner for him. You know Clete. He could feel they really wanted to help, so he gave them something useful to do. Most attractive paperweights I ever saw. He asked me to stay, but I told him I had something to do too."
"That doesn't sound like you, Dutch."
"Yeah, well, I couldn't resist. When I left, he was loosening his collar. He was getting real warm. I figured he should get himself out of this one. Besides, I've already got plans."
"I thought so. I just couldn't see you leaving if there were several lovely ladies around."
"I have plans for you too, Lane. You're going out to dinner."
"Dutch, I've got a lot of work to do."
"Nope. If you look, you'll see you go. I'd prefer you didn't search for the memory though. Everyone should get nice surprises. Three hours. Very casual."
Lane realized he was running late. He'd gotten involved and the three hours had slipped away. He really didn't want to leave what he was doing, but Dutch had pulled the double promise from him. He would go to dinner and he wouldn't look into the evening's future. He wondered just how casual "very" was.
"Let's go."
"Just a minute, Dutch. Let me get shoes and a shirt. You're wearing a tux!"
"You're fine. They're waiting."
Dutch began pushing his protesting brother toward the hatch. Half the fun of the evening would be watching his staid brother just surrender to the silliness of the situation he was in. As soon as he got him through the hatch, the ladies helped with the pushing and they were in the transport and on their way before he got a chance to turn around and run. They helped hustle him into the restaurant too.
"Dutch, I may strangle you. This is not what I would call 'very casual.' How could you do this to me? Why didn't I remember this?"
"It was there. One of the first images I saw in the change. You weren't looking at anything in the near future. Your mind was on the war that wouldn't happen. Relax. Oh, oh. Clete may make things a bit warm out tonight."
Lane started to laugh. He sat in the midst of a bevy of beautiful women in evening gowns, shirtless and barefoot, his only attire the pair of faded pants he wore when he worked on the ship. The women were enjoying it as much as Dutch was. They kept dragging him onto the dance floor. He tensed and took a deep breath. At least he wasn't cold. Clete was keeping things quite warm. He was beginning to wonder how Dutch could handle the heat in his tux. Laughter became giggles when Dutch answered the thought almost as soon as he had it.
"That's it. I'm dying. Here hold this."
Dutch handed his jacket to the pretty woman on his left and proceeded to strip to the waist. Soon, he was dressed, or undressed, to the same extent as Lane. Two of the bernisi came in shortly thereafter and the evening got strange and wild. No one in the club minde
d the dance floor being taken over. The friendly combat of the four beautiful warriors was the best show in town. They carried the wildness with them as they hit club after club.
They ran into Clete in the early hours of the morning and laughed as the four young women with him reduced him to their state of dress. Two more bernisi joined them and they prowled the capital.
The city became one wild celebration. The streets filled and the summer night rang with peeling bells. The war was over.