The Dire: Prodigal Brother

[Melara]

“They are docking,” Orion told her unnecessarily, falling into step beside her as she walked…already on her way to the docking bay. She had put on a plain dress of dove gray only slightly highlighted with pink tones…oddly subdued. Her eyes as well looked softly subdued, and he feared she was still dwelling on her outburst the previous day. He was unsure if she’d even slept.

“Have Kev and Silver been notified?” she asked.

“A message was left with Kitty on his ship,” Orion replied with some bemusement. “She said that he was…occupied at the time. They should be here shortly.”

**

Ilias looked out the observation window with more than a little trepidation as they slowly approached the much larger ship. Ship…if that term truly fit. It was larger than some GRE skyplexs, a huge ball of twisted metal and salvaged parts.

In his hand he carried a small satchel…which contained the charcoaled remains of what Ibis had attempted…and mostly succeeded…to burn. His thoughts were not on that at the moment, but the huge landing bay door that seemed poised to swallow them whole.

“You’re…absolutely sure this is a good idea?” he asked Eion nervously.

[kahl]

Ibis appeared behind them, timidly stepping forward with a thinkpad clutched to her chest. She didn't like the idea of being on a ship of nearly all Jacks. Nor did she like the idea of being in the presence of--not one, but two others like Eion...one a far more powerful psychic than him, perhaps even more than Delaney. Ibis' cheeks colored and she hung her head as she tried to suppress and hide all the dark thoughts and memories that she did NOT want them to know. She found it was significantly harder not to think about things she did not want to think about.

Standing so close to Ilias that she could rest her chin on his shoulder if she so chose, the girl waited with wide eyes. Eion looked back at them then at Ibis in particular. He of course could glean enough of her fears to know her thoughts. "Ibis...you do not have to come if you don't want to. You'll be safe on the ship."

Shaking her head she tried to sound brave, "I don't want to be alone, not knowing what's going on...besides they're your sisters...right? So...I'll be safe on the Dire too, right?"

- - - -

Although in the past Silver had already gotten used to the occasional inclusion of Kitty and, or Charlie in their lovemaking, Kokevni had expressly told them both to leave them alone. The two had been making up for 'lost time' and were entangled tightly like Grecian wrestlers seeming as intent on physical dominance as on pleasure. Their bodies were glossy and slick with their sweat and their cries were a chaotic bouquet of grunts, moans and laughter.

Pinned to the mattress in a particularly pleasing position, Silver moaned with ever increasing delight as Kokevni gently stretched her muscles. When Kitty suddenly lay down in front of her, meeting her face to face, Silver growled, "Kitty--you aren't welcome."

"Yes I know," she answered cheerfully, not seeming the least disappointed in her exclusion. "But I must remind you that your sister is waiting. Your brother Eion has arrived."

Kokevni started to pull away and Silver twisted to grip him. "NO. Not until we're finished." Her tone and stare were stern ones, not to be denied. Holding his gaze she growled, "Kitty...get out."

[Melara]

“All right,” Kitty replied just as cheerfully, rising and departing again. Kev half watched her go, before looking back at Silver. With a smile and a wink, he resumed his activities.

**

His free hand questing back, Ilias caught hold of Ibis’s fingers, slipping his between hers as he took her hand.

“You will be safe,” Eion promised as the doors finished swallowing them. Gently he set the ship down on the lit pad in the massive bay. As he powered down Ilias murmured softly to himself.

“Well…we are here…”

[kahl]

Ibis tried not to tremble. She tried to draw from Ilias and Eion's strength and their trust in these strangers. Ilias followed along behind Eion and Ibis let him draw her along behind him. They were like a diminishing train. The great large engine that was Eion followed by a smaller Ilias and finally the easily breakable Ibis.

As their own hatch opened, the door descending slowly, Ibis could see a mass of people ready to greet them. Most stood at a fair distance, but two stood at center. A handsome man, tall and athletic, a soldier like Eion and a woman. The most beautiful woman Ibis had ever seen. She felt a twinge of jealousy in her gut and then the heavy, foul taste of self doubt on her tongue. When such women existed, how could Ilias wish to stay with her? To be married to her? Ibis was little more than a child. A twig just old enough to be called a woman.

The woman was smiling at them warmly, but the man's eyes drifted back over his shoulder and over the faces of the others. After a moment he whispered to the woman beside him. The other sister wasn't there. Ibis knew there was to be two sisters, but only one woman was present.

- - - -

Selfishly taking her time, Silver took Kokevni's all and even once they'd risen and stepped into the shower to clean up to go, she took some more. At their healthiest the two were voracious lovers with appetites much larger than the average person. That Silver had been ignored and denied for so long, she was like an addict presented with a platter of her favorite fix. There was no stopping her until she was completely spent.

When the two finally managed to get dressed again, Silver had to keep her distance from Kokevni as she whispered, "if we don't go now...we aren't going, and Raea will grow angry."

[Melara]

“I have a hard time imagining your sister angry at anyone,” Kev smiled. “Let alone you. But you’re right. We’d better go meet this brother of yours.”

Winding her hand in his, resisting the urge to tug her back into the small bedroom, he instead led her off the shuttle, barely noticing Charlie following behind.

**

Raea leaned slightly, turning her head as Orion whispered in her ear, then nodded and turned her attention back to the approaching three. Her smile renewed no less warm than it had been before. As they approached she held out her hands to Eion. Oddly enough for the man, he didn’t hesitate to take them.

“I’m Raea,” she said, giving his hands a squeeze before releasing them and gesturing at the man beside her. “This is Orion Drache. Our sister Silver is…momentarily delayed.”

[kahl]

Silver was such a pretty name, Ibis thought and her eyes only peeled away from Raea long enough to take note of the pale, blue-haired woman descending the stairs with a heavily tattooed man on her arm. As the woman neared, Ibis could see the unique quality of Silver's skin. It was not just pale, but an iridescent alabaster. She wondered if it was make-up. Surely it had to be...right?

"Is that Silver?" she asked timidly of Eion doing her best not to point at the exotic beauty. "Your sisters are so pretty..."

Orion's eyes had followed Ibis' gaze and he nodded with a smirk. Of course he needn't be a psychic to know what had detained Silver and Kokevni, and he hoped Raea would not be hard on them for it. "Yes, this is Silver Aristotle and Kokevni. Eion it is an honor to meet you, and Ilias." He nodded to both men then eyed Ibis with a cheeky grin. "It is a pleasure to meet you in person, Miss."

"I-Ibis..." she murmured. "Have we met...?"

"Uh...in a manner of speaking," he answered, one hand rising to cover his grin.

Eion stepped forward and took Raea's hand, holding it as though they stood at a bridal altar. He merely looked at her for a time, then did the same to Silver. When he stepped back he spoke quiet and stern, as he often did. "Please...we must find my family."

[Melara]

“Yes,” Raea replied simply, then looked at Kokevni. “We have a lead…”

“A contact of mine once showed me a mask similar to those worn by whomever abducted your family,” Kev said, then gestured at Charlie who passed him the thinkpad. He in turn called up the image and passed it to Eion. “My contact has always been a little…strange. I didn’t pay much attention to his claims the mask was supposed to stop people reading your thoughts. However he has sent me information on where he obtained his mask. It was stolen from a group of people with loose ties to the GRE, led by a man named John Conte. The schematics of the mask itself show that it is wired to emit an electromagnetic field of a certain wavelength.”

“A field that prevents even myself from finding them psychically,” Raea told him. “John Conte was a member of the original Aristotle Project…you may have heard his name. He worked closely with Jelly…formerly known as Ausra Kohler. He designed these masks and probably his entire ship with the single purpose of preventing any psychic, no matter how powerful, from locating or harming him and his crew.”

[kahl]

Eion absorbed this information then lifted his gaze to Raea's with an arched brow. "So we can't track this ship psychically...but a ship like that, emitting a unique EMF--we can track that with instrumentation."

"Sure you could," Ibis chimed in suddenly. "Finding that kind of EMF in the black would be like hitting a singularity with a skee ball."

"That sounds rather difficult, actually," Silver intoned.

Ibis blushed and shook her head, "It's a...um...skimmer turn of phrase. I just mean that it isn't that hard. Especially if we know exactly what frequencies we're looking for. With a powerful enough scanner we could sweep the Black and light up that ship like a firework."

"Sounds like you are a very resourceful member of Eion's crew," Orion praised.

"I--...um...thank you..." Ibis whispered, retreating back behind Ilias in embarrassment.

[Melara]

Raea smiled at her as Kev bobbed his head. "Getting the frequency is easy enough. I'll just talk to my contact again, have him fix it off the mask that he's got and send it to us. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

"Good. As soon as you got it I want it in Ibis's hands. We'll find that ship in no time."

[Melara]

She thought that the form entering the room was Ilias. He’d only just gone off a few minutes before to get some coffee, leaving Ibis sitting at the console as she skimmed signals for any sign of the ship that had taken Delaney and Panka.

Kev had gotten the frequency from his compatriot only twenty minutes before. The moment it had been transmitted to Ibis she had started looking.

The voice that spoke, however, was far too feminine for Ilias.

“You are quite talented,” Raea murmured, halting by the girl’s shoulder and smiling at her as she watched her work. “Have you had any fortune?”

[kahl]

Ibis lifted her eyes to Raea. "Thank you," she barely breathed. She had never seen a woman as beautiful as the Jack Leader. "I...I think I might have found something."

The woman's hand on her shoulder left Ibis with a strange feeling as if the woman new everything there was to know about her. EVERYTHING. Shuddering at the thought she suppressed the whirlwind of memories and thoughts that surrounded Azael and Ibis' relationship with Ilias...her failures as a new wife and her short comings as a result of her childhood.

Clearing her throat and shaking away the tingling in her head, she pointed at a vast emptiness on the constellation charts. "This black area here. It lies behind the Abaris Nebula. Abaris has an incredibly unstable electro-magnetic radiation output which makes for a fantastic smoke-screen for a ship. Anyone routinely scanning that region wouldn't think anything of the relatively tiny flux that a ship's engine would cause in comparison to the radical electro-magnetic storms."

She turned and faced Raea. "I mean. I haven't pinpointed a ship there, but I've narrowed it down to this region and...if I were hiding, that's where I'd go."

[Melara]

Raea smiled warmly at the girl. "That's clever. Yes, I think you're right. I..."

Eion! Help us! Please, we're here!

The silent words were like a beam of a flashlight suddenly sweeping a dark room and then vanishing again. A weak, sickly flashlight to be sure, still muffled, distant and subdued...but far stronger than it had been. If she had heard it, then it was doubtless Eion had heard it as well.

So swift did it happen she could not pinpoint the exact location, but as in that same flashlight beam, she could tell much about its direction.

"Here...this part, over here," she said, gesturing at the far quadrant of the nebula on the screen. "Focus here...I think she may be trying to escape."

[kahl]

Ibis blinked up at the woman knowing something was wrong. Raea had stiffened as one did when an ice cube was dropped down their shirt. "Um...shia, okay. Are you...are you alright?"

Only moments later Eion burst into the room as well. "You heard it?!" he stared at Raea.

Delaney must have cried out again, Ibis surmised. As Raea nodded, Ibis pointed at her screen. "She's in here somewhere, Eion. We've narrowed it down."

"FIND HER--!"

"I--...o-o-okay," Ibis bobbed her head nervously and returned her focus to the computer. She wondered if this was how Ilias behaved when she'd gone missing too. It was both flattering and frightening to ponder.

"Orion called short the meeting. Something about Tycho and Shoraesai. Silver and I were talking at the time, I missed it. Then I heard Del." Eion studied Raea closely. "Does Kokevni have a face or a name to who's behind this yet?"

[Melara]

"Not yet," Raea told him. "But he's closing in I think. Has a few good leads."

Eion!

Del's faint voice seemed more desperate than ever. Raea gripped his arm. "I'm going to set our course toward that nebula and forward the information to Sho and Tycho. Ibis, let me know the instant you locate the ship."

[kahl]

Ibis was longing for sleep, but she denied herself and ignored Ilias' urgings for rest not trusting that she would wake should her thinkpad finally identify the source of the energy field. When the computer did finally beep with a blinking indicator on the star charts, Ibis' half-lidded eyes snapped open.

"Eion! Raea!" Ibis barked as she bolted from her seat and ran at full tilt in search of the two grown Aristotle children. If Ilias was awakened by her excitement, he was slow to rise and Ibis was halfway down the corridor before his feet hit the floor.

Pounding on the door heavily, Ibis yelled again, "RAEA! RAEA, I FOUND THEM!!!"

[Melara]

Raea was in her lounge...alone, though Orion had tried repeatedly to stay. She wasn't up for company, truly...not even his.

She sat in a half dozing state, partially aware of the room around her and at the same time searching for any thread, the faintest hint of Del's voice again.

The sudden pounding and Ibis's shout snapped her immediately out of it. Rising she pressed the call button on the wall to summon Orion before opening the door. "Ibis, you're a genius. Where are they?"

[kahl]

Passing Raea the thinkpad, she indicated the dot. If zoomed in, the dot would be in motion, even if only on a minute level, but still proof that it was a ship producing the energy field.

"There," Ibis confirmed sternly. "I've tried to get a fix ont he flagship, but there seems to be no registered information. Which means it is decidely NOT GRE. It could be some pirate crew, but the signature field indicates a fairly hi-tech ship. Nothing that a pirate organizzation could afford to own or even maintain."

Rubbing her sweaty palms on her pants, Ibis knit her brows. "I can try to plug into their internal systems...but it might take me a while. I'm a good skimmer but...well, skimming an internal grid is a bit different than skimming the Signal."

[Melara]

“No, that won’t be necessary right now, thank you,” Raea told her. “You’ve earned a rest. Go and get some sleep, I’m going to need that great brain of yours sharp and ready later on.”

She squeezed Ibis’s shoulder affectionately. “Go on. Five hours and I’ll need you back.”

[kahl]

Slipping into their cabin, Ibis tried not to make any noise. She didn't want to wake Ilias, and he was sleeping soundly for once. Undressing to only her tank and panties, the girl carefully slid under the coverlet with him, setting her phone--and alarm just within reach. Five hours Raea had said. No more, no less.

Sinking into Ilias' embrace she closed her eyes and quietly prayed that she had done something to make ammends for her crimes against Eion's family. Unintentional as they were.

- - - -

Silver and Kokevni had only just finished with their routine nightly exercises. Both glossy with sweat, out of breath, limbs trembling with exhaustion.

Setting the wooden practice swords aside, Silver eyed him. "I am surprised you kept up this time. Kendo isn't really your thing."

"No, it's not," he smirked. "Gimme a gun any day."

Sidling up to her as she dried off the faint sheen of sweat dampening her hair, Kokevni gripped her hip and bent her forward like an aggressive policeman aiming to do a search. Silver's hands darted out and caught herself on the rail just in time, as he knew she would.

"So you're looking for a rematch then..." she smirked and pushed back at him, meeting his aggression with her own.

As quickly as their flirtation had begun, Silver suddenly stopped it with a heavy sigh of irritation. "Raea," she muttered.

A second later, her sister's voice echoed in the room. "Silver, Kokevni, I need you to join me. Ibis found the ship."

[Melara]

Kokevni blinked. "Well, that's good news," he said. Reaching down he pinched Silver on the ass. "Don't worry. I'll make it up to you rigorously later."