Free Only Human by Chris Reher Page B

friends?"
    "What does that mean?"
    "That someone will put up with your
quite unpredictably fluctuating levels of rudeness," she said pointedly.
“You haven’t spoken to me all day. Then again, that isn’t so very different
from most days.”
    He scowled. "I am not paid to be nice
to you, Captain."
    She glared back at him, refusing to yield.
“And I’m not paid to be ballast around here, Major!”
    His eyes narrowed and for a moment Nova wondered
if she had gone too far. She had never spoken to a superior officer like this
and she was well aware that outward courtesy was something all Delphians valued.
    He took a deep breath and his tense
shoulders relaxed visibly. “You are not heavy enough for ballast. And my name
is Tychon. Do not use my rank when we’re down there. In fact, don’t use it at
all.”
    “As you wish,” she replied, barely
mollified.
    "We'll be on K'lar soon. Have you ever
been there?"
    "Once, briefly. Desert, isn't it? Salt
flats?"
    He nodded. "One big dried up lake
system. Not like Targon, though. Gravity is a bit light but that will give us
an edge."
    “What is your plan?"
    He motioned her to follow him to the map
table in the center of the room. The slide he selected was at once illuminated
from below. A rough, hand drawn map appeared on the surface of the table,
altered here and there and marked with notes and landing coordinates. He bent
over it, tracing a line with a long, blue-nailed finger.
    "I hope that this is still pretty
accurate. I am sure that I can get a few friendlies to create a diversion over
here. If I have the correct information here, they are keeping him in one of
these buildings. With luck we can do this quietly. We are building an orbiting
station over K'lar and I don't want Tharron deciding that he doesn't want it
there. I don't know who is being more audacious: The Union for putting a base
over Tharron's home planet or Tharron for holding a Union member captive right
under our noses."
    "Maybe we're crediting the rebels with
too much organizational skill," Nova said. "They might not even know
what we're building up there. I mean, look at the layout of this
compound!"
    "Not unusual for Tharron. Most of his
stations are no more than garrisons. What cities and airfields he holds he took
by force from either our people or neutrals. He does not care for niceties. It
will not be difficult to find Anders."
    "Anders?"
    "Anders Devaughn."
    "Devaughn, like the General?"
    "His son. He works as a liaison on the
Union base on Delphi. Xenologist and language expert, ranked Captain. Any of
that makes him valuable enough to be bartered."
    "You think he's still alive?"
Nova doubted that Tharron would bother to keep a hostage in good condition. All
of his own men were expendable.
    "He better be or they'll pay for that,
too."
    She studied his face. "What else are
they paying for?"
    His shuttered expression cautioned her to
mind her own business. She stood her ground.
    "Kiran's mother," he said
finally, his eyes finding some object of interest across the room. "We
were both regular Air Command pilots back then and escorting some settlers to a
new colony in the Outlands. Easy assignment. Practically a vacation. We had to stop
over on K'lar Four." Tychon paused to examine his nails.
    "Go on," she said softly.
    "We'd been laid up by a sandstorm and
when it finally cleared Dana took some of the civilians outside. Rhuwacs caught
them. Dana held them off while most of the others got away. She took three
Rhuwacs out, then she was cornered." His eyes focused beyond Nova and he spat
out the last of his words. "The other two raped her. Right there among the
dead. I found her body not long after. Or what was left of it. Took me longer
to find her head."
    "Gods, Tychon..." Nova whispered.
She touched his arm, sickened by the images forming in her mind.
    "I should not have taken her
there," he said, now looking at Nova. His gaze took in all of her.
"And now I have to go back and they give me another woman