Free Askance 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