See Part One for Disclaimers

Later, as they lay together, she tackled him once again about the missing weeks.

"Thane had been sent to keep an eye on me, to ensure that, should I not destroy the box, the Circle would."  His low voice was almost drowned by the splatter of rain still falling outside.  "He had monitored the explosion and waited until the Excalibur had rescued you and the others before seeing if I had survived."  She felt the tension in him and moved closer into his embrace trying to give some comfort.

"I was barely conscious when he finally found me.  His instructions were to bring me back to the Circle, and to retrieve my ship if possible.  I refused to give him access.  I don't think he was too happy about that," he said, with a certain satisfaction tingeing his voice.  "A Mages vessel can only be accessed by another if that Mage is either dead or has given the specific codes required, hence my message to you.  The stone held the correct key, but only in conjunction with your voice."

Her hand slid up to clasp the necklace, wondering again at his foresight and abilities.

"Why couldn't the Circle heal you?  Surely, they had the technology?"

His hand slid slowly up and down her arm as he thought about his reply.  "There is only so much a Technomage can do Dureena.  Each slab is tailored to the unique physiological make up of its user.  I can not use another Mage's device to heal myself with any success.  They did what they could, I lived.  Though that outcome was not looked on with favour by all my order."

"Thane? But surely, he could have just left you there on the planet.  No one on the Excalibur thought you had survived, they would have left you there to die."

"Ah, but the Circle had wanted my return, and although Thane had been sent to watch me, you can be sure someone was watching him.  We are a little paranoid on occasion."  The soft chuckle delighted her.

"What did you do to him, to make him dislike you so?" Her curiosity about the Mage had been held in check ever since the encounter outside the house, now she could give free rein to it.

"That is a long story, Dureena.  But I suppose you are entitled to hear it.  The short version at least.  My father and Thane's had been members of the Circle long before either of us was born.  When my father fell in love and wanted to leave the order, start a life outside their influence Thane's father was the leader of those who objected most strongly.  I think I must get my stubborn streak from my father, for he married and left the order, abandoning his technomancy for a simpler life.  Many years later, when he died, the order came looking for me.  Thane's father had passed on a few years before and Elric had taken up the mantle of guide to the young man, but he abandoned that role to take me under his wing."

"And Thane blames you for that? Blames you for a decision you had no hand in and had no influence over!"

"Calm down, my dear.  That was many years ago, and not the only thing that stands between us, though it was the beginning."  

"It seems unfair to blame a child for an adults choice, " she muttered against his chest, as his hand stroked through her hair, soothing and almost hypnotic.

"Life, as you very well know, is never fair.  Do you want to hear more?"

She nodded against his skin, planting a soft kiss on the flesh beneath her.

"Thane was almost at the end of his training when Elric brought me to the Circle for the first time.  Even then, I was a bone of contention between them.  The older members remembered my father with affection and esteem; at one time, he had been first choice to lead the order, that was before he met my mother.  The younger ones, like Thane, saw me as an interloper.  Someone who had passed his formative years untrained and undisciplined; a maverick.  Only Elric's stand on my behalf kept me in the order.  He was a fearsome man; he terrified me for years! Of course, they were right, I could never behave as expected.  My father had taught me much when I was a child, to think for myself, to question everything.  You would think our order would be above petty differences and jealousies, but we are not.  We are who we are, individuals guided with one ideal, or so the Circle would have you believe.  Our idea of right and wrong does not always coincide with the rest of the universe, and we are all the more dangerous for it."  

Her "And Thane?" brought Galen back to his story.

"Yes, Thane.  For years the order had quested for knowledge, we have travelled most of the universe this side of the divide tracking down the obscure the hidden.  I was more successful than most, my searches benefiting all our order, but Thane felt in competition with me.  Whether he wanted to impress the Circle as a whole or Elric in particular he made a point of finding me where I should not be and reporting me to the others.  With Elric's death, there was an opening on the ruling council.  I was never a contender, too much my own man for the order, but I believe Thane saw me as a threat."

Her stomach tightened as she thought of a mage consumed by such petty jealousies and all that he could do.  She wondered why Thane had never removed Galen from his path.  She must have spoken out loud, or maybe it was just Galen knew the way her mind worked for he answered her anyway.

"Why didn't he get rid of me? Because he still fears me.  Many years ago, shortly after Isabelle's death Elric took me in, did his best to heal my wounds.  Thane arrived one day, ostensibly to visit my master but he could not help gloating over my loss."  She tightened her hold on his body wrapping her arms around him, holding him close, knowing how much his loss still hurt.  "He made the mistake of challenging my right to stay with the order, blaming my lack of emotional stability.  Telling Elric I was a danger to everyone with my implants and technological enhancements in place.  He was right of course, and I almost fried him where he stood, only Elric's timely return stopped me.  I did singe him a little though . . ."  His mouth tipped up into an amused satisfied grin.

"So why, if the Circle knows of this enmity between you, did they set Thane to be your watchdog?"

"Precisely because they know of it.  Thane knows, as I do, that if anything permanent should happen to either of us, in, shall we say less than normal circumstances, then the other will automatically be under suspicion.  The Circle has many ways of discovering the truth, and their punishment would be severe.  I don't give Thane a second thought, but I don't think that is true of his feelings about me."

"That's it? All this bad feeling because of petty arguments and perceived slights!"

"It is why we train so hard to control our feelings, Dureena.  Anger and a Mage's power are a deadly combination.  I set strict guard over my emotions.  To become too involved, too concerned in an event could cost lives.  I lost control, Dureena, and look what happened.  It is a lesson you have to learn before we can go further with your instruction.  Do you understand now why I was so reluctant to take you as my pupil?"

Yes, but it will be hard for me Galen.  My anger has sustained me for so long, I don't know how to live without it . . ."

All her life she had struggled with an anger that at times almost overwhelmed her.  From the injustice of her forced slavery, the battle to be accepted for who she was, learning to be an individual all had been fuelled by this deep wrath at the unfairness of her life.  When the Drakh destroyed her planet, it was one more thing to keep her anger alive, she needed it to survive, or so she thought.  Now, laying by Galen's side, content in his presence, knowing that someone cared for her she realised that anger was not all she needed.  If she could just let that go and allow herself to trust again, maybe, just maybe she could earn the right to be at his side, his equal perhaps, in time.

***

After talking long into the small hours, they had made love again, slow, exquisite and almost overwhelming in its intensity.  Falling asleep in his embrace, she had wondered when the dream would end.

The day was far gone when she finally woke.  Bright sunshine warmed the room and she stretched lazily, reaching out across the bed to find herself alone.  She stretched again, enjoying the sense of well being that filled her.  He was back, he was well and he loved her.  A smile lit her face as she slid out of bed, for probably the first time in her life she was happy, and she liked the feeling, she liked it a lot.

He was just where she had expected to find him, hunched over the staff down in the laboratory.  Fine instruments lay scattered around the bench as he concentrated on the delicate mechanism revealed under the open panelling.

"Good morning," he said, not looking up from his task.  She had become accustomed to his brusque manner, his mercurial temperament and took no umbrage at the lack of enthusiasm in his voice.  When he was deeply involved in something, his attention was focused almost entirely on his task.

"How's it going?"

The staff suddenly glowed, and he carefully replaced the panel he had been working on.  "Quite well actually."  His tone was satisfied.  Turning around she saw the smile playing across his face and grinned back at him.

"I wish we had more time to stay here, " he began, "but I have the strongest feeling that we should return to the Excalibur.  Something doesn't feel right."

"I thought I was the one with the second sight!"

His eyes were serious as he picked up his coat.  "Something is wrong, I may be mistaken but . . .  Pack what you need, Dureena, we leave in an hour."

He must have been working for hours on the staff and coat for she could see no signs of damage on either item now.  He slipped his arms into the heavy sleeves, picked up the staff and gently tapped it on the floor.  Every system came alive, with a further tap they went blank.  At each tap, she thought could feel the stone flare with warmth.  Not enough to hurt or mark her in any way, in fact she was not sure if the stone actually warmed at all, it may have been her imagination for touching it now, it felt as it had always felt.

***

The Excalibur hung huge and still in the depths of hyperspace.  Surrounding her, like baby ducks around their mother were the small fighters usually at rest deep in her bowels.  It was as though the scene had been frozen in time, no movement disturbed the picture, no sound could be detected on any frequency to break the utter silence.

She watched Galen's lips thin as he took in the scene, feeling her own keen senses start to scream of danger.

"What do you think has happened?"

His hand was tight against one of the panels as he concentrated, his answer distracted.  "Propulsion is off line, communications down, I can't get an answer from any system, it appears the engines are dead.  Life support is fading rapidly, but I can detect faint life signs.  Damn, but I do not like going in blind like this."

"The pilots?  Are they alive, can we take one of them in and find the answers?"

He considered her idea, nodded and instructed the ship to salvage the nearest starfury for his inspection.

"Stay here, keep a watch on the Excalibur, inform me immediately if there is any change."  He dived quickly out of the room, down the nearest passage and to the area where the fighter had been brought in.

Dureena watched his progress in the sphere he had left linked to the console she now occupied.   Her attention torn between the huge ship in distress outside their walls and the dangerous mission Galen had undertaken within as she tried to keep both under observation.  It seemed forever that the Technomage stood outside the fighter's hatchway, but she knew he was gathering data; he was not foolhardy by any means and never walked into danger blindly.  The slight twinkle of a shield suddenly enveloped him as he opened the door and pulled the half-comatose pilot from his seat.

Removing the helmet revealed the familiar oriental features of John Matheson and she frowned.  The first officer had never taken out a fighter in all the time she had known them, what was he doing in one now?  Galen, after assuring himself the young man was still breathing turned his attention to the ship, his staff probing the interior.  A sudden flare caught her attention and she watched Galen jump clear of the machine, turning his staff on the open hatch sending his fire into its depths.  For a brief moment she thought she saw a tide of huge spider like creatures rush the mage and then the image was gone, like a bad dream disappearing in the mornings light.

Galen's face was grim as he turned back to Matheson, lifting the man with ease he was making his way back to Dureena when she saw, or thought she saw one of those same shapes on the Excalibur's hull.  Though it seemed tiny against the massive bulk of the starship, there was definitely something moving, no not just one; dozens suddenly appeared to be crawling across the silver skin of the outer hull.

"What the hell are they?" she muttered.  Every sense repulsed by the sight of the jet-black beings that were clambering over the Excalibur.

"Shelob's children."  Galen, entered the room quietly, his voice stony and grim.  Matheson was starting to recover and he laid the telepath down disappearing again only to reappear with a glass of clear liquid that he forced the young man to drink.  Its affect was rapid, within minutes Matheson opened his eyes and quickly took in his surroundings.

"Galen?" he reached out and touched the Mage's arm as though to assure himself he did not hallucinate.  He sat up quickly, eyes widening in remembered panic.  "My God, those things, those. . . They are all over the ship; we couldn't stop them.  The Captain tried to send us out in shuttles, starfuries anything to get us away from them but they were everywhere."   Shuddering, his eyes closed against the vision.

"How did they get on board, Matheson?   I need to know if there are more out there, or if they are confined to the ship and fighters."  Shaking the still dazed man until he answered.

"We answered a distress call shortly after entering the gate.  You know the Captain never ignores a call for help; if only we had known.  The vessel was a small one-man scout ship; we thought the pilot was raving, on drugs or space happy when he kept telling us that giant spiders were attacking him.  We sent a pilot out to escort the ship back to the landing bay and the Doc took the man off to sick bay.  About an hour later systems started to go down, the crew began seeing things.  We thought he had brought some kind of hallucinatory bug on board so we started purging the air filters, anything we could think of.  But it got worse; by the time we realised what we were up against, we were swamped.  Nothing we threw at them even slowed them down for an instant; that's when we ordered the evacuation, those that were still able to escape that is."

Dureena watched as Matheson's already pale features grew whiter.  "As I left I saw them, dozens of them swarm one of the crew, wrapping him in some white mesh like material, leaving him there to pass on to the next one.  I saw his eyes looking at me, pleading with me . . ."

"What of the pilot's own ship?"  The mage's urgency communicated itself to Matheson.

The Excalibur's second in command shook his head.  "Communications were already down by the time we had assessed the situation.  We don't know where they are, or if they are affected."

"You know what they are, Galen, can they be stopped?"

She felt her stomach sink as she watched his eyes grow bleak, expecting the worst.

"Yes they can.  I thought these creatures extinct long ago."  He sighed, and turned to her.  "I will need your help, and yours too, John."

Hands flew across controls as he adapted his ship's weapons to this threat, explaining the nature of this enemy as he did so.

""Shelob's children" was the designation my father gave them, named after an imaginary character in an ancient Earth book.  In form, they resemble this "Shelob" and they catch and feed on any unwary traveller as this creature did, but there the similarity ends.  Each time they feed, they grow larger and more aggressive.  They can exist without oxygen, and reproduce at an extreme rate.  They are part organic part technology, and impervious to most weaponry.  Our order encountered them millennia ago, and thought they had eradicated them, we even lost their true name in the depths of time.  We thought them extinct, a matter of myth; it appears we were mistaken.  Your side arm," he held out an imperious hand and received the weapon Matheson handed him.  Removing the charge, he slipped it into a slot on one of the panels, passed a hand over the unit then returned it to its casing, giving the gun back to Matheson.

"This will last approximately one hour, we don't have time to bring in and adapt the other fighters weaponry, we must deal with this threat immediately.  Dureena, " he brought out a slim wand, jet black and heavy to hold, giving it to her with a warning, " this acts much as my staff, be very careful how you use it.  Direct its power carefully, and be accurate, I don't want to find half the ship blown away.  Keep your anger in check or you will destroy more than you save."

"Galen, I don't think I should. . ."

"You must."

His trust in her was almost a physical blow.  Hadn't she overheard him say that she would be a danger to herself and others without training, and wasn't he now giving her the power to destroy them all!

Fire burst from the ship's prow, its brilliant blue white light surrounded the Excalibur, searing the insectoid creatures from the hull.  When all seemed removed, he headed toward the docking bays.

"What about the Starfuries?" Matheson queried.

"Later.  They are infested inside the vessels, as was your own.  We must dispose of those on board first, then return each ship one at a time and cleanse it.  If we miss just one they will multiply within days and re-infest the ship."

Continued

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