Waiting Weapon: Dancer, #0

Waiting Weapon

K. M. TOLAN

CHAMPAGNE BOOK GROUP

Waiting Weapon

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.

Published by Champagne Book Group

712 SE Winchell Drive, Depoe Bay OR 97341 U.S.A.

~~~

Second Edition 2024

eISBN: 978-1-959036-16-6

Copyright © 2024 K. M. Tolan All rights reserved.

Cover Art by Sevannah Storm

Champagne Book Group supports copyright which encourages creativity and diverse voices, creates a rich culture, and promotes free speech. Thank you for complying by not scanning, uploading, and distributing this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher. Your purchase of an authorized electronic edition supports the author’s rights and hard work and allows Champagne Book Group to continue to bring readers fiction at its finest.

www.champagnebooks.com

Version_1

Other Books by K. M. Tolan

Dancer Series

Dark Dancer

Rising Dancers, Book 3

Void Dancer, Book 2

Dark Dancer, Book 1

Battle Dancer

Battle Dancer, Book 4

Defiant Dancer, Book 3

Rogue Dancer, Book 2

Blade Dancer, Book 1

Hobohemia Series

Knight of the Open Road, Book 3

Storm Child, Book 2

Tracks, Book 1

Stand-Alone

Siren’s Song

Waiting Weapon

Chapter One

Jaw sagging, Richard Pinn watched the woman drift out of the crumbling inner wall. The apparition was not human, but one of his own vanished race.

She wore a white blouse whose sleeves were richly embroidered with tiny brown and green fish. Me’Aukin Totemic symbols.

The woman’s diminutive slender figure was enhanced by a hip-hugging green skirt that swirled around matching evergreen trousers. She had shoulder-length black hair sweeping around a narrow nose and thin lips. Large doe-like eyes seemed to burn with an inner torment.

Jamie? he whispered.

Rick? Andrea’s voice came from over his shoulder. The freckled archeologist walked next to him, dusting dirt off of her rumpled red plaid shirt. Um…Jamie’s back up at Kenner’s Basin, and you’re staring at a wall.

I’m looking at a Me’Aukin woman in her late thirties. He blinked his eyes, but the vision didn’t go away. His hallucination turned, paused, and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Meora Co’Oden, she whispered. Tanee, th’repes me’oke, du’tene Weth." Turning, the image vanished into the wall.

She just said that her name’s Meora from the Family Tanee of Clan Weth. He looked at Andrea’s widening eyes and gave an uncertain laugh. I think I just saw a ghost.

I think you’re getting out of here, Andrea replied with a stricken look.

He put a gentle, yet firm, hand on her arm. He was far more fascinated than terrified. It’s all right.

All right? She pointed down the hall with her light. You stand there like you’re in a trance and tell me it’s all right that you just saw a ghost?

I don’t know what the hell I saw, he replied, moving down the hall after the specter. I do know she was heading toward the dome room. It could be a hologram.

That I couldn’t see or hear? Anguish pulled at Andrea’s lips as she stepped in front of Rick and turned to block him. This place is dead, Rick! No activity…nothing. Her voice softened. You so badly want to find them, don’t you?

He took a deep breath. She stabbed to the heart of his desire with her usual accuracy. Okay, maybe that’s more of what’s going on here.

You think? She snorted. Your race slaughtered all the humans trying to share this world with them, then ran off leaving you and Jamie stuffed in a jar for a few centuries. That’s enough to make anyone want to see things.

He gave the wall a skeptical look. Just the same, I’ve hardly got a history of hallucinating.

No, but you do have a history of empathic, and possibly even telepathic, episodes.

Only in those experiments with Jamie back at the Institute…which I’d like to forget, thank you.

Andrea nodded slowly. Well that, at least, makes some sense to me. Ghosts don’t. Jamie’s not another world away now. This could be some sort of subconscious communication between you two. Something new that’s manifested since you two parted ways.

He gave a thin smile. The only thing communicating between us is how much we can’t stand each other’s company. He gestured down the hall. Let’s just go to the dome room. That’s where she seemed to be headed.

He stopped and tapped at the wall with its green and blue texture. Its mottled appearance, upon closer inspection, displayed subtle geometric patterns.

This whole place is made out of Stone, he said, his own theories on this ghost woman taking shape. You’ve said you’d been trying to pry secrets from this stuff. Maybe we just found one.

She gave the wall a speculative rap with her knuckles. Everything here is inert. Just one solid piece of dead nano-tech. Engineering degree or not, I haven’t figured out how to apply power to even a section of Stone, let alone conjure spirits with it. Interstar would’ve dumped me months ago if you hadn’t convinced me on a double major in archeology.

They turned the corner into the Circle Hall’s main chamber. It reminded him of a large theater in the round, with a circular central stage. Across the room, clumps of tall grass gained footholds in the rubble of the ceiling collapse. The musty smell of lichen-encrusted stonework rose in his nostrils as he looked up through a shaft of sunlight.

So much for chasing ghosts, he said, his voice echoing. He was not sure if he preferred the disappointment. Let’s open that hatch in the cryo-chamber room.

I was afraid you’d say that. Andrea groaned. Rick, it’s just a hole. All the cryogenic stuff they found you and Jamie in was pulled out long ago. By the way, she sends her congratulations on your new job.

Happy to hear it, he replied with a nod. There was no reason to begrudge his Me’Aukin counterpart a pleasantry or two, provided Jamie kept her distance. How’s she doing these days? Not stealing any more freighters in hopes of finding the clans, I trust?

Colonel Jay buried that little fiasco under a pile of money, Andrea said with a chuckle. It helps having Me’Auk’s first governor as your foster father.

Well, we each have our own way of finding our past.

As Colonial Curator, you’ll at least be doing it legally. She snickered. You really want to stare down a hole, then follow me. With a jerk of her thumb, she indicated a square of blackness where wooden doors had long since succumbed to the elements.

She threw open the cover hatch with a loud clang. Pulling out a flashlight, she shined it down. "Oh shit!"

He peered in. Her light played across a spiraling staircase. Don’t remember that in the simulation.

She stared at the steps like they were a weaving serpent. That’s because it wasn’t there. Andrea pushed him back and slammed the hatch shut. We’ve got to get out of here. Now!

He frowned. You hear whispers?

What whispers? She tapped at her helmet. Steve. Steve? Major god-damn Keller, answer me!

Digger, the major’s voice answered with immediate concern. The accent was Earth Australian. What’s up?

Something’s happened up here. We have newly built stairs in the old borehole where they found Rick and Jamie. He’s also…experiencing weird things. Remember what we talked about earlier?

Sounds like it. Get out as fast as you can.

Get out? Rick said, unnerved by her growing panic. What’s wrong with you guys?

Something you’ve never faced in your simulations…and don’t want to.

He joined her in a scramble for the exit. What exactly were you two talking about?

Jamie swore she saw a bunch of stuff around Clan Weth’s ruins. Andrea came to a halt at the corner of the entrance, peeking her head outside before continuing. We talked about the significance of the same thing happening to you here at Clan Maedan.

Preset triggers might explain why we were left behind. You sure we shouldn’t investigate this first?

Hell no, she snapped between breaths. Run for the rover…and I do mean run.

He dashed after her, happy to have traded the business suit he wore at the earlier press conference for a practical brown shirt and worn jeans.

She slid to a halt halfway across the outside plaza, dirt kicking up around her boots. Twisting, she dove into a pile of weeds and debris to their left. Getting more anxious by the second, he joined her with equal speed.

Steve, she whispered, her voice going up an octave. There’s something moving between us and the rover. God, I don’t believe this is happening.

Rick forced a swallow down his drying throat. Andrea was right. There was motion between two broken columns near the yellow all-terrain vehicle. This was no ghostly figure, though he wished it were.

What he saw instead was the hood of a camouflaged oval shell roughly twice the size of a serving platter. It bobbed silently through yellowed stalks of high weeds.

He had seen pictures, but never thought he would witness this first hand. It’s a Me’Aukin mine.

It’s not supposed to be here, she said, shaking her head. This place is safe. It’s always been.

Trying to keep his own wits and voice steady, he used his helmet microphone. Major, we’ve got mine activity up here. He glanced around for some kind of cover, spying a dark space beneath a tilted slab of wall they passed earlier. We’re heading for shelter.

Don’t move, you won’t make it, Steve answered. We’re on the way. Get as low to the ground as you can, Doctor.

Rick motioned to Andrea, only to find her staring over his shoulder. He turned around and froze, afraid even to take a breath.

It stood on the trail they just traversed, the lethal relic poised on camouflaged machine legs like a large walking clam. He moved to keep between it and her. Blunt twin barrels tracked him from an aperture between the upper and lower shell.

You’re Me’Aukin, she said in a slow careful voice. Try speaking with it.

He swept aside a lock of black hair so it would get a clear look at his large dark eyes. Roughly equal to his four-foot-three height, the mine held him in its sights. He raised his hands so it could also see his unusually long fingers. Another part of his mind noted the remarkably good condition of the artifact, considering its age.

An odd thought to die with. "Mathell." Was the thing even intelligent?

He gave a start as a pair of leaf-colored serpentine manipulators uncoiled to either side of its guns. "Cor’them," spoke a hollow voice from its speaker.

It took an expectant step back. He could almost sense the impression of menace it conveyed. Artificial life?

Rick glanced to his left, where the north valley stretched out into a blue haze. Dots appeared through the mist, climbing rapidly. Very rapidly, with flashes erupting beneath their angular hulls. Andrea, down!

The mine leapt back into the brush, firing bright bursts of energy skyward in a succession of sharp reports. He pushed her beneath the slant of intervening wall and dove after her as everything lit up in a pink flash of violence.

Heat and pulverized rock lashed them from multiple concussions. The whine of engines rose over the cacophony of energy weapons that struck like selective lightning.

Wide-eyed, he watched a hand-sized green sphere bounce and roll next to their hiding place. It spun to a stop before Andrea’s panicked face.

Don’t move! it instructed.

Steve?

Don’t move! The command was punctuated by another flurry of weapons fire coming from the ruins.

The first snub-nosed transport dropped through the smoke of grass fires. Its side hatches disgorged a squad of heavily armed Exploratory Corps marines. Soldiers dove around them, heavy rifles clattering against rocks in a defensive ring. One of the larger marines slid next to Rick.

He raised his visor to display a heavy-set jaw beneath strikingly blue eyes and a blond crew-cut. Don’t bloody move until I tell ya!

Glad you got here, Major, Rick replied, recognizing the Australian twang in the soldier’s voice.

Hopper’s on the way, Steve said with a quick nod. When it gets here, the two of you run like hell. He looked over Rick’s shoulder. Digger, you okay?

Scared shitless, she gasped. What’d you expect?

Steve gave a rasping laugh. You’re not alone. Get ready. Here comes the rest of our bunch.

Another rectangular military ship set down nearby, the hopper skids crunching heavily on the plaza rubble. Its armored passengers piled out to form a living shield between Rick’s hiding place and the first transport. The dagger shapes of gunships shrieked overhead.

"Go! Go! Go!"

Rick grunted as Steve picked him up and charged with Andrea into the lime green interior. Dropping him on the deck, Steve slammed the hatch door shut. Lift this bucket!

Rick barely had time to strap in before they rose in a roar of droning engines. Through the windows, he could see columns of smoke rising around the rotunda. Marines swept outward in a determined skirmish line.

You okay? Steve asked Andrea as she clung to him. You hurt?

Just scared. She shuddered. We’re all right. We’re fine.

The officer’s blue eyes turned on Rick like cold ice. What in hell did you start down there, Doctor?

I don’t know, Major, he answered. Rick’s jaw tightened in anger and frustration. This place was supposed to be cleared, remember?

It was until you showed up.

It’s not his fault, Andrea broke in. Steve, it’s not anybody’s fault.

It’s our fault for exposing him to whatever’s been waiting down here. Scowling, he slammed his helmet back against the bulkhead. Eight months away from Opening Day and this happens. Damn, we should’ve known better than to pull off this publicity stunt.

You warned the colonel that it was too early to bring colonists in. Her voice softened into a more reasoning tone. Maybe now he’ll listen to you.

Rick peered out a small porthole for what he feared would be a final glimpse of Clan Maedan’s mist-shrouded spires and domes. Clouds covered his view of the two valleys as the craft sped away. Had his hopes been left behind as quickly?

He took several deep breaths, trying to reign in his own shaking nerves. We can’t turn our backs on this. He looked over at Andrea’s ex-fiancé, who was the modern day rendition of Earth’s ancient Vikings. Major, we may have discovered new construction, the significance of which is staggering to say the least. Maybe those mines were just programmed to guard it.

Steve didn’t take his eyes off Rick as he spoke into his helmet. Captain Shelly, what did you find in the hole? He nodded as a distant response was given. Copy…stairs. Nobody goes in. Get Alpha Company out here with all the trimmings. Nothing stays upright that isn’t ours, you know the drill. I’m headed for Kenner’s Basin. Keller out.

Andrea put a hand on his armored shoulder. I know what you’re thinking, damn it. Give us a chance first. Please! This could be a find of historic significance.

Rick’s eyes narrowed. Just what are you thinking, Major?

Steve folded his arms with a scowl. No offense, Doctor, but history takes a back seat to people’s lives. I don’t want to repeat what happened to Weth any more than you, but this site’s got to be cleaned out if we’re going to make Opening Day. If I can do it without cratering the place, I will.

Rick was horrified that the man would even consider such an act. Then you don’t mind a little risk-taking on our part? Let’s turn this thing around now and let Andrea and I earn our pay. Your team can back us up.

Steve shook his head. That’s not my decision to make, but I’ll see what I can do. He grabbed a handrail to lift himself up to the flight deck, then hesitated. His gaze peered over Rick’s shoulder at Andrea. You really want to go back there?

Don’t even doubt that, Steve, she replied. I’m not going to fold just because a couple mines pop up.

The major gave a nod. I understand, hon, but my orders are to keep you two safe. That comes first.

She let out a breath after Keller disappeared up the stairs. Colonel Jay will let us go back. He has to.

You keep calling him Colonel. Jay did resign from the EC in order to hold office, didn’t he?

Sort of. Everybody’s still in the habit of calling him by his former rank. I suspect he likes it that way.

Would he really destroy that site? Because of a few mines?

Her voice lowered. He’s not governor yet, Rick. That’s the problem. It takes this place becoming approved as an official colony first. He’s already blasted Weth. I can’t look at Steve without being reminded of what they did to the only intact Me’Aukin city we had. That pretty much tore the bottom out of our getting married. She buried her head in her hands. "Clan Maedan’s always been dormant. Always! I’ve camped out in those ruins for weeks on end."

He closed his eyes, wondering how long it would be before she started blaming him too.

Chapter Two

Despite the speed of the military transport, it took over an hour to reach Kenner’s Basin. The coastline of the Southern Continent passed below them, the white lace of ocean waves dashing against granite escarpments.

Watching through the small port window, Rick hardly believed the rapidity at which everything collapsed around him. He and Andrea flew over these cliffs only a few hours earlier. It could not be allowed to end like this. They had to let him go back.

The transport repeller plates droned with determination as they gained altitude, crossing over ridges that poked like sparkling gray castles through powdered snow. They descended into a land of evergreens and smoky moraines.

He saw little evidence of habitation until they neared Kenner City. A clutch of office buildings, several girdled by cranes, glittered in the sun along a meandering river. Emblazoned on the tallest structure was Interstar’s blue seagull logo.

Corporate headquarters, Andrea said. The Brinwall family underwrote a lot of what you’re seeing. Everything they have is tied up in this.

Along with practically everybody else’s savings, he replied. Even New Texas back on Corven has stretched itself thin trying to cash in on Opening Day.

Just keep that in mind before you start talking, okay?

The military craft decelerated and dropped toward a line of hills north of the city. A sprawling estate came into view, its orange tile roofs crowning most of a ridgeline.

Steve entered the troop cabin and raised a hand in caution. Let’s try and keep speculation to a dull roar, guys. The colonel’s already gotten my preliminary report. My guess is that he’ll want to keep this thing contained and quiet.

Let’s try and take off the armor before meeting him. She tapped at his camouflaged vest. You know…set the tone to something other than another military campaign?

He gave her a tempered smile. I’ll do that.

They landed next to an enclosed tennis court, the transport engines immediately shutting down. Its hatch was opened by one of three beefy men in powder-blue suits, their expressions impassive.

Followed by Andrea and the major, Rick stepped out into the coolness of a late afternoon. He regarded the main house whose two stories split across the terraced hill like a grandiose ranch house. Faded orange roof tiles finished off the impression of a country villa. The tinted glass windows and manicured bushes radiated a lingering mental scent. There was anger there, muted within a longing desire and propelled by a sharp wit.

Andrea edged closer to him, her voice dropping to a whisper. Rick, you with us?

He gave a start, realizing that even the security guards stared at him. Just a bit preoccupied. My apologies.

Jamie on your mind? she asked.

He nodded. Apparently she’s one of those things that won’t improve over time.

Everyone trailed their escorts up a flagstone path bordered by quartz pebbles. Wind chimes announced their arrival with melodic sounds that mocked the foreboding inside him. Crossing a wide verandah, they entered a foyer whose broad stairs brought them to a reception area on the second floor.

He was left with Andrea to admire the bay windows and oak furnishings. Steve vanished behind a paneled conference door opposite the entrance. Rick glanced across deep green carpeting. The room was large enough to accommodate a small dinner party.

He could not help the uncanny feeling that Jamie had just passed through there. His acute awareness of her presence was the only alien attribute he possessed. Despite the years since he last saw her, it had not lost any of its aggravating potency.

He walked to a small bar where Andrea nervously picked at a tray of pastries. He glanced up at a large portrait hanging above the crystal shelves, its heavy oak frame set against black curtains.

Katherine Brinwall’s humorous brown eyes shown from a lean face suggesting a life of sun and hard work. A wisp of hair was visible along the sides of a tanned brow, the rest hidden by a worn brown farm cap.

He smiled. She was wearing that old hat the day she offered me the position of Curator.

She actually grew up on a farm, Andrea replied, staring at the painting. Katherine drove one of those wheat harvesting refineries in Weatherford before she married Jay. He had this work commissioned for their wedding.

Katherine was a great evangelist for opening up Me’Auk. I’m not sure Jamie was particularly impressed with her, though.

Well, you can’t develop much of a mother-daughter relationship when you’re adopted at age seventeen.

He nodded. Katherine got her out of the Institute. Jamie was at least grateful for that.

Andrea gave his hand a quick squeeze. I’m not trying to rub things in, you know.

He shrugged. She got adopted. Dean Pinn sponsored me into Lake Austin University’s anthropology department. I’d say we both made out pretty good. With a smile at the portrait, he continued, Part of me still expected her to be at the airport.

She sat on a barstool, shaking her head. Everyone misses her. The colonel…

He took a stool beside her. How’d it happen? I only heard brief reports about that day.

She clasped her hands together, squeezing them between her knees. Katherine invited some investors to Me’Auk in order to prove that Kenner’s Basin was safe. Naturally, she wanted to show off our crown jewel. Steve sent two patrols through Clan Weth ahead of the visit…just to make sure. He then took Katherine out ahead of the tour so she could plan an itinerary.

Her freckled face grew taut, her voice straining with inner pain. Five mines were waiting just inside the North Gate—

That’s enough, Rick interrupted, gently touching her shoulder. The anguish in her eyes went further than the simple re-telling of a tragic event. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were there.

It wasn’t something I felt you needed to know. I’ve tried forgetting it myself…but not with much luck. She hung her head. I was in the back of the line. They went right for Kath, as if they knew who she was. Her face compressed into a wince. God, Rick, they cut her in half. You’d think they would’ve gone after Steve, but when the firing stopped, he wasn’t even scratched. And then today… Andrea covered her face and took a trembling breath.

I’m sorry. Empty-sounding words, but it was all he could provide in the face of such pain.

Now he understood why she was so eager to run from the rotunda.

Rick placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. You don’t have to go back…assuming we even get the chance.

The hell I don’t. She wiped her eyes. You think you’re the only one here with questions? Excuse me, but the last time I checked, I was still an engineer on the payroll. Let’s just say that I’ve a right to get shook when mines start popping up around me. Now we’ve got to convince Colonel Brinwall not to do a repeat of Clan Weth on Maedan. She stood. Any ideas?

He took a deep breath, then said, Play the threat down. Show him a better advantage to letting us back in. His center of awareness in the universe shifted.

"Only dead leaves answer an empty wind," came a light voice in the melodic Me’Aukin language.

An olive-skinned young woman walked in behind them. She was small by human standards, but stood eye-to-eye with Rick. This was no ghost. He could practically taste the swirling eddies behind her thoughts.

She wore an off-white wool sweater with brown leather lapels and cuffs that matched her tailored pants. Jet-black hair curled along a delicate jaw line, giving her a disarmingly fragile appearance. He knew better than to make that mistake in judgment.

Like his, Jamie’s eyes were a deep ebony. They focused on him over a narrow nose, her expression no less intense than his own awareness of her. He noticed the moment of hesitation between her breaths. The subtle working of muscles along her throat.

The intensity of her presence was stronger now than he ever remembered. The scientists at the Institute called it an empathic awareness. He called it stifling back then, and it had just gotten worse.

He took a mentally clearing breath. "Ma’thell."

"Ma’thelsa, came her more cautious greeting. I didn’t expect to see you before I left. She glanced at Andrea. Problems at the site?"

Nothing to be concerned over, she replied, her expression smoothing into what seemed a well-practiced pleasantness. Going back to Corven?

Jamie’s lips curved in a perfunctory smile. Leaving shortly, as a matter of fact. I’m resuming my studies in political science at Lake Austin as ordered. Actually, I think Father’s nervous about having both Rick and me on the same planet. Her eyes bored into his, her mind seeming to dig even further. Still pretending to be human?

He stiffened. Are we going to pick up that old argument again?

She shrugged. Don’t be offended. When it’s politically convenient for the colonel, I pretend to be his daughter.

She turned to leave, then paused. Rick was not sure if the shudder was physical or emotional.

"Have you heard them?" she spoke once more in Me’Aukin. Her long fingers brushed against her temples.

He swallowed, her comment piercing through his guard to confirm that those whispers he had heard were not to be dismissed as an overactive imagination. Searching for something to shield his surprise, he found nothing.

His startled reaction brought genuine relief to her face, not the mocking grin he expected. "As I thought. Was it the whispers that chased you back, then?"

Behind him, a middle-aged tenor voice broke into their conversation. Don’t be rude, Jamie.

Colonel Jay Brinwall emerged from the conference room, a reproving yet fatherly frown on a face as rugged as a recruiting poster. Tanned cheeks were drawn tight over a thick jaw, autumn-brown eyes set like stones beneath a prominent brow line.

Even though the colonel traded his uniform in for a conservative ash-gray business suit, his thinly stretched lips only enhanced an impression that salutes were expected.

Rick noticed that the man’s light brown hair had grown out from the brush cut he favored, reflecting a transition from perimeters to politics.

Jamie returned an insipid smile, her emotions a cold drizzle of contempt. You know as much about the language as you do me. I was just asking a polite question.

Then ask it in Standard. You know what I told you about setting impressions.

Straightening, she remained coolly impassive. "Don’t you dare dictate to me on how to speak to my own." Her response earned a wince from Andrea who spoke Me’Aukin as well as either of them.

The colonel’s gaze locked on his adopted daughter like a missile. He might not have understood her words, but the flash of anger crossing his face indicated a correct interpretation of her icy tone. Isn’t your flight leaving soon?

Not soon enough.

Before Rick could question her about the whispers, Jamie whirled around and left, slamming the foyer doors hard enough to rattle the glass shelves behind the bar. The stormy presence in his mind lingered for a moment before if fled with her.

Colonel Brinwall gave Rick an apologetic look, his face smoothing into unruffled amiability. You will have to forgive her. One hell of a welcome you had today. Not exactly what either of us expected, Doctor Pinn.

I’d be more comfortable if you just called me Rick, Colonel, he replied, shaking the man’s large hand.

While not Steve’s height, Jay Brinwall was still a big man at nearly six feet. Although in his late forties, he retained a powerful physique developed through a twenty-three year military career.

Good to have you on board, Rick. Jay turned to Andrea, his wide brow creasing with concern. You all right? Need time to unwind?

She let out a breath. I’m a little shaken, Colonel, but okay. Since Rick and I are both standing here, it suggests that the mines weren’t out for blood this time.

Nodding, the colonel gestured back toward the panel door. Well, let’s go in and figure out what they did want.

Rick followed the colonel and Andrea into an oak-paneled conference room. Steve waited at an imported mahogany table whose glossy polish shone beneath three small chandeliers. He motioned Andrea to one of the consoles built into the table. Rick sat across from the major.

Jay unceremoniously tossed his suit jacket over the chair next to Rick and sat beside him, instead of at the head of the table as he expected. The colonel loosened a dark blue tie, but did not go as far as rolling up the lighter blue sleeves of his shirt. The impression was made, nevertheless.

"All right team, here is the problem. I have got