Talokta had watched the image of Marone fade off the screen.
I will contact you with my decision in a day. The sheer insolence! That would give him more than enough time to mount a battle, which he was very reluctant to do at this point in time. And he knew Marone knew that too. He was toying with him.
His concern was purely for Kate. What Marone would do to her he did not want to imagine. The man was a self righteous pig who would kill on a whim.
He had no option but to contact Kalvich and inform him of what had happened.
The Supreme Ruler listened without interruption.
Instead of berating Talokta, he congratulated him on his genius, especially the part where Manutaai had a poison capsule and an undetectable bomb in his body.
“Leave the problem with me. I will deal with it,” was all Kalvich had told him.
Kalvich had since used the power of his stone to “look in” on Kate and follow what was happening.
Even though she was not physically in touch with her stones, she was still in their vicinity, and the fact that two of them were together boosted the power.
He had eavesdropped on his parent’s conversation with her. It did not surprise him his parents had already stuck their nose in. The vacuum of space gave no privacy from exposure to the Elder Gods. Anymore of their so called “non interference” and he just may deal with them in his own way, permanently. Besides, it was silly to give such a “gift” without some form of instruction. His parents were overly confident she would know what to do once she received it; he was simply making sure she did. Leave nothing to chance at this stage.
During those few frozen seconds, he managed to download the information she would need. He reasoned with himself that he was not influencing her free will, rather guiding her. She would make the decision when to try it out.
Kalvich was inwardly seething with fury at both Manutaai and Marone’s treason. The fools did not know anything about the situation they were getting themselves into. And if anything happened to Kate!
He was delighted she showed no fear, and she had managed to read Marone’s mind about his desire to defeat the Supreme Ruler. He was even happier, when, at the mention of his name, she showed no signs of hate. But if her true memory should return before she was on Heliostronus, he would have his work cut out.
From his comfortable armchair, he could have easily choked Marone with his well honed telekinetic power, and given his fleet to Talokta. But, he wanted Talokta to handle it, as he was more than capable. Besides, he did not want to expose Kate to his power too soon and sway her opinion on him. If things ended up the way he wanted them to, it would mean Kate would be Marone’s undoing. It would be interesting to see her feelings about that. The downside was it could put her off the Way of the Trimadian’s, but it would give her a taste of just what powers she could have. Damn free will! Now it was up to Kate.
Kalvich was ecstatic that Cemel’s prediction that upon reincarnation she would retain a complete memory of her past had not come true. Reincarnation was far beyond a pure science.