Page 5 of Advance and Retreat (Dark Empire #6)

“Sure.” She figured it was her mother, who lived on the planet Haven. “Hello?”

A weak voice, definitely not her mother’s, issued from the device. “Where’s my complementary champagne, Governor Nichols? I want to toast my big sister’s win.”

“Toni?” Stacy was aware she screamed the name, but her voice seemed to come from a million miles away. “Toni?”

“Alive and kicking. Well, alive at any rate.” The whisper was hard to hear.

Stacy was dimly aware of her legs giving out, of her promised clan catching her before she could crash to the floor. A hot flood of tears poured down her cheeks. And still, all she could say was, “Toni?”

* * * *

E arth II

Toni Nichols clicked off the com after fifteen minutes of speaking to Stacy.

By then, the room had blurred to a white smear, and she couldn’t emit more than a hiss of breath when she spoke.

Though some fear wormed in her heart at the idea of going to sleep again and perhaps not waking, exhaustion had its way and darkness descended.

When her eyes opened again, it took perhaps a minute to remember why she was in what was obviously a hospital room. Machines chirped at her in the voices of hesitant birds. Monitors wrote incomprehensible lines of vital signs. Slowly, the mists in her brain cleared. She inhaled and smiled.

Alive.

She had just ordered the medi-bed she occupied to a sitting position when a figure draped in a white suit and clear headpiece walked in the room. The creased face peering through the visor at her looked tired, but he smiled. “Ms. Nichols, it’s wonderful to see you awake.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s good to be awake. The world didn’t end while I was gone, did it?” She recalled his name was Dr. Bowen. When they’d spoken earlier, he’d told her she’d been unconscious for two weeks.

“It would be depressing for your sister if it had. Tough to govern when there’s no Earth to do so.”

The joke was weak, but Toni managed to laugh. “You don’t know Stacy very well. She’d boss a blade of grass for not growing tall or green enough.”

His chuckle was real. “How do you feel?”

She evaluated. “Tired. But my chest doesn’t bother me the way it did before I went AWOL. How bad do I look?”

“I hate to tell a lady the truth when it comes to such questions. You took a beating from the virus. Does it help if I mention how svelte you are these days?”

“Only if I can tell you how much it looks like you need to do a Rip Van Winkle and sleep a few years.”

“I wouldn’t mind it,” he sighed. “We’ve lost a quarter of our personnel to Dark Death. The rest of us are living on coffee, stim tabs, and anything made with a high sugar content these days.”

“I’m so sorry,” Toni gasped.

“The perils of being on the front lines of this thing. Fortunately, we win a few. You, for instance.”

“No doubt thanks to you.” Her appreciation was heartfelt, especially in the wake of his loss. He’d buried too many friends and colleagues. Perhaps even family.

“You’re returning the favor,” Dr. Bowen said.

“When you held off the virus despite it doing its best to kill you, researchers asked for your blood. They did so for anyone whose immune system fought so hard. Your antibodies are among those that are the basis for the vaccine they think will cure Dark Death. We owe you a debt of gratitude, young lady.”

“Really? Wow. Yay me and my refusal to drop dead.”

“Indeed.” He chuckled. “Are you up for visitors?”

“Is it safe for them?” Damn Clan Rihep. If they’d allowed Stacy to return to the planet too soon, Toni would rip their arms off...as soon as she could summon the strength, which was already waning.

“Your guests are immune to Dark Death. I’ll give them five minutes. Send them off if you get too tired.” He headed for the door.

“Wait, I’m not sure I want to be seen like this,” she sputtered a moment later, but he’d already left.

“Damn it.” She felt her hair. Had anyone washed it during the two weeks she’d been unconscious? The usually springy curls felt flat to her touch, particularly those plastered to the back of her head. “A mirror would be nice! And a comb,” she called to no one.

She fluffed her curls as best she could by feel. She examined her fingernails and blinked. Her fingers were skeletal, the knuckles prominent. Dr. Bowen had mentioned her being svelte. Toni had a feeling the description had been kind.

The door opened. Despite her growing fatigue, her pulse sped as Clan Imon walked in. The trio hesitated a scant moment, then swept to her. They exclaimed greetings as they descended.

“What are we going to do about you? You didn’t tell us how sick you were when we last spoke,” Dramok Imon demanded. His intense looks, heightened by a devilish goatee, were often gentled by a roguish bent. Such was the case now, but his bright grin was tempered as he examined her features.

“I’m sorry you missed my act as Sleeping Beauty.

Are you familiar with the story? I think I was miscast. I should have played the evil hag fairy queen.

” She fought the urge to hide her face in her too-thin hands.

It was obvious they’d been prepared for how wan she looked.

Only their rapt gazes taking her in betrayed any hint of her state.

“You’ve suffered nothing a little food and rest won’t cure,” Nobek Wovir declared. He took her hand and gave the back of it a courtly kiss.

It was a chivalrous gesture from a man who looked as little the part as anyone could.

The warrior of the clan managed the unlikely feat of brutish handsomeness.

He was chiseled menace by sight, but no slouch when it came to a warm personality.

Coarse hair waved past his shoulders, which appeared to Toni nearly as wide as he was tall.

“What’s important is you’ll recover, and I have a little while to wait on you hand and foot while you do so,” the third man of the clan enthused.

Imdiko Feru couldn’t have been more opposite of Wovir.

His high cheekbones and aristocratic nose gave him all the trappings of civilization the Nobek was missing.

There was none of Imon’s mischief in his sweet smile or Wovir’s subdued ferocity in his features.

Stunning Feru was pure caregiving Imdiko.

Toni could have basked in their attention all day, but she realized they had no business on Earth. “I’m not complaining, but why have you returned so soon?”

“We took leave to see you. Good thing we did, because we had no idea until we got here you’d been so ill.” Imon shook a disapproving finger at her, pretending severity. “I’m very disappointed in you keeping such secrets, young lady.”

“When we last spoke, I knew my chances of recovery were slim,” she admitted. “I hated the idea of our final conversation being gloomy. Wait, you came before you knew I was sick? But we’d just visited.”

Feru checked the time and frowned. “They’ll kick us out soon so you can rest. Have you heard of the Coydidak?”

“That’s a new one on me. Are they members of the Galactic Council?”

“They’re a group of Kalquorians who wander space. They aren’t big on fitting in society,” Wovir said.

“We’re joining them,” Imon told her.

Toni blinked. The clan had told her they’d grown bored working on a military transport as members of the Kalquorian fleet. Still, it was a surprise to hear they’d resigned when the threat of the Darks was present.

The trio caught her up on the concern the All could succeed in decimating the Galactic Council’s membership and how Emperor Clajak had decided to have the natural explorers of the Coydidak venture to unknown space in the effort to save humans and Kalquorian-Earther hybrids from extinction.

Toni was chilled to discover how dire the situation with the All and the Darks had become.

She concentrated on Clan Imon’s anticipation of the opportunity. “The Coydidak will set foot on planets no one from here has dreamed existed.” Imon’s face lit in excitement.

“It’s difficult to leave the empire to fight the Darks without us,” Wovir allowed, his brow wrinkling in concern.

“But since our transport’s part is merely ferrying ground troops where they’re required, it means I wouldn’t get to fight myself.

..though there’s always the chance. At any rate, this Coydidak mission is important.

And potentially dangerous.” He said dangerous the way most men would have said thrilling . He was a Nobek through and through.

“The deep space voyage is an essential alternative,” Feru put in.

“You aren’t coming back.” Toni’s heart ached at the thought.

“No.”

She could understand why they’d jump at the chance to see and experience things no one else had. She herself had long sought to figure out a meaningful life. Thus far, she’d simply moved from one situation to another, never quite feeling she’d found the place she ought to be.

“Tell me more,” she begged, wanting to at least enjoy a taste of their enthusiasm.

Dr. Bowen chose that moment to stick his head in the room. “Time’s up, gentlemen. Ms. Nichols needs to rest.”

“But—” Toni started.

“No ma’am.” He shook his finger at her as Imon had, but he wasn’t joking.

“Don’t worry,” Feru said. “We don’t set off for a least a few weeks. The emperor has apparently had plans underway for a while, but an expedition of this size and duration takes serious planning and preparation. We’ll have the opportunity to give you the full story later.”

“You’d better,” she said.

Each man kissed her gently. Then they filed out, glancing back at her until the door shut behind them.

Toni could feel fatigue dragging at her, but they’d given her much to think about.

The Coydidak sounded like the nomad tribes of Earth.

To hear they represented insurance against utter defeat to the All.

..her stomach lurched to think of such a fragile hope for humanity’s future.

Yet the idea of striking out for unknown space, to see what was beyond the familiar borders, thrilled her.