Chapter 8: Back In Space

Mev, Sheila, and Kathleen slept in Sick Bay for nearly ten hours. During that time the captain took Sheila's advice, as passed to him by the security officer Casey, and left the planet and headed for deep space. Having watched the battle between the three High Lords and the aliens remotely, and seeing the explosion at the end, pretty much made up Captain Mason's mind about leaving even before Casey came to him with Sheila's recommendation. There was no way Mason wanted to learn the hard way what else might lay buried in the planet below.

As soon as everything was ready for getting under way the Republic battlecruiser left the planet, heading out to deep space at the maximum safe speed. Because of the activities of the Morro the battlecruiser would have to travel a wide circle around an incursion of the Morro into Republic space in order to return home.

During his meeting with the captain Casey also requested that Mev should be transferred to his division, a request which was quickly granted. The transfer had the double benefit of keeping the three in one place as well as making it easy for Casey to keep them under closer observation. Even though so far Mev had proved to be completely loyal to the ship, just the idea of the three possessing as much power as they did made the security officer somewhat uneasy.

When Mev awakened the ship was already well out into deep space. He remained quietly in bed for a time and took the opportunity to scry over the ship and the immediate vicinity. After looking around for a few minutes Mev could find nothing untoward and so he returned his awareness to his body and Sick Bay. When he came back to himself he noticed that the other two were awake so Mev spent some time communing with them mentally over the permanent link between them.

It was an opportunity for Mev and Kathleen to get to know Sheila, who they'd had little contact with until they were suddenly thrown together by the Zentas Hue. The three would be together in a much more intimate way from then on due to Sheila's conversion by Sha Ne and then linking all to form the Trio of Power needed to fight the aliens.

For Sheila it was an opportunity to get to know Mev and Kathleen, as well as learn more about the Vendan High Lords and their history. Due to the way the Sha Ne conversion worked Sheila knew as much about using her powers and spellcraft as Mev did, but she did not know anything beyond that. So Mev would have to teach her much that she did not yet know.

Sheila was surprised to learn that Mev was much older than she had thought. He appeared to be in his early twenties, the normal age for a petty officer of his rank in the Republic Space Navy. But actually Mev was fifty two standard years old, an age that was still quite youthful for a Vendan High Lord. Considering the much longer life cycle of the High Lords, aging proceeded much more slowly than in humans and this explained Mev's youthful appearance.

A little later Dr. Mori came in and gave the three another examination. He was surprised to find that Mev's wound was now almost fully healed, with only a fading red mark to mark to show it was still there. Mori released Mev and Sheila for duty and gave Kathleen a clean bill of health.

As soon as the three were out of sick bay they discovered Mev had been transferred to security and that Mev would have to move his and Kathleen's things to Sheila's stateroom. This didn't give them any extra space though because Sheila occupied a two person officer's stateroom which would now have to hold three people. The three had to do some rearranging to make it possible for three people to sleep in the cabin. As it turned out the bunks were just large enough that Mev and Kathleen were able to share one.

The three High Lords soon settled into a new routine and Casey did not assign them much to do except muster with the rest of the security division at the appropriate times. This left the three with a lot of free time and Mev used much of it in teaching the other two. For Kathleen especially there was much she needed to learn in order to be able to use her powers as well as Sheila and Mev. And Sheila needed to learn everything she could about Venda so the knowledge of that planet could be preserved.

It was when the three were together in their little room getting ready for bed that it happened. Suddenly the room was filled with light and a person appeared in the room. Mev was completely surprised since neither he nor the other two had sensed anything associated with the appearance of the being in their little room. In order to be able to hide his spellcraft in that way the being must be something far greater than a High Lord of Venda.

The being who appeared in their room was male and appeared to be young, almost a teenager, though considering his apparent command of the power his youthful appearance wasn't anything special. He was wearing a white, light robe which covered his torso, his legs down to his calves, and his upper arms. He was surrounded by a white nimbus similar to the shields of the High Lords, but Mev and his mates could not sense anything of that nature.

"Greetings, Mev Van Zehe of Venda," the being said once he was fully materialized.

"Who are you?" asked Mev.

"You may call me Zesh," the strange being replied.

"What are you?" Kathleen asked.

"I am one who is interested in the last remains of the House of Venda," was the reply.

"Why are you interested in us?" Mev asked.

"When one such as you is left bereft and alone there is considerable danger. Often the result is becoming what you call Zentas Hue and considerable damage can result. There are those who wish to be watchful over such cases. I am such a one," Zesh replied.

"I see," said Mev.

"Yet despite the obvious and subtle temptations of your current situation you have comported yourself well. I am please by what I have seen so far," Zesh continued.

"You have been watching me?" Mev asked.

"Yes, I have," the alien replied.

"That would account for certain faint impressions and traces I have sensed over the years. And there are tales among my people which speak of beings such as yourself," Mev said.

"Yes, while we wish to be discreet it is not possible to fully conceal our presence."

"That fits the laws of spellcraft as I know them," Mev said.

"Yes, your knowledge in such matters, while limited, is correct."

"So why do you reveal yourself to us now?" Mev asked.

"To encourage you to continue on your current path, and more importantly to grant you a gift," Zesh answered.

"You are giving me a gift?"

"Yes, a gift. Behold!" the alien exclaimed, while at the same time another being appeared within the room.

The new presence within the room was female and dressed only in her brilliant glory. She was very young in appearance, with midnight hair down to her waist, and light brown skin. The three High Lords could immediately sense this person was different from Zesh, her aura showing her to be something more akin to the High Lord nature than the more exalted Zesh. Even more than was normal for High Lord women, she was exquisitely beautiful.

"This is Zira, who was left alone by a disaster similar to your own Mev, though the location was a vast distance from here. She has prayed for the chance to be with others of her kind once again, her prayer is to be answered at this moment. I give her to you now." Zesh told Mev.

"You give her to me? What about what she wants?" Mev asked the alien.

"Yes, I give her to you. It is my wish, and more importantly it is her wish. She has journeyed a vast distance to be with others similar to herself. She has no wish to remain alone any further," Zesh assured.

"Since that is how it is, your giving her to us makes sense," Kathleen said.

"Yes, it is very much the best for her. You can also learn much from her if you wish. Care for her, love her, and cherish her, Mev Van Zehe. This I charge you," Zesh said and then he disappeared, leaving the nude girl alone in the room with the three.

"Hello Zira, welcome to our group," Mev said to the new girl.

"Hello, I am happy to meet someone like myself at least. I was alone for such a long time," Zira answered.

"Zesh said you have traveled far to get here," Sheila said.

"Yes, the place where I come from is not in this galaxy. It is extremely far away even for us. I am not sure it is even in the same universe as we are now," Zira replied. "I do not fully understand the spellcraft that Zesh used to bring me here, except that it was vastly more powerful and complex than mere transportation."

"How did you meet Zesh?" Kathleen asked.

"I was all alone, there were no others left. After a time I felt so lonely I started calling with my mind but no one came, no one answered. Then one day Zesh appeared to me and took me away. Now that he has left me with you and I feel I will like it here." Zira replied.

"You are very welcome to stay with us and we will do everything we can to help you be happy here with us." Mev told Zira.

"Thank you. Are you all together in a Triad of Power? I sensed that was probably the case when I watched your battle with the Zentas Hue. It is well those are gone now," Zira said.

"You watched the battle with them?" Mev asked.

"Yes, Zesh allowed me to watch with him. Actually, I have been watching you for several weeks. Zesh wanted me to see you and decide for myself if I wanted to be with you. I liked what I saw so here I am," Zira answered.

"Ah, Zira, it is customary for people to wear clothes on this ship. It doesn't matter inside this room but whenever you go outside you will need to wear something. We are trying to be as discreet as we can," Sheila said.

"That is what I observed also while I was watching you. It was not the custom for females to wear clothing where I came from but I can adapt. It is not a problem for me if you can loan me something to wear until I can make clothes for myself," Zira said.

"I have some things you can borrow if you need to," Kathleen said.

"Thank you," said Zira.

"Just in case Zesh did not tell you all of our names, my companions here are Kathleen Chen and Sheila Blake." Mev told Zira, introducing the others.

"Zesh has already told me all of your names but thank you for the introduction anyway," Zira said.

One problem Mev and Sheila needed to work out was how to reveal Zira's presence to the command staff of the battlecruiser without causing any negative repercussions. It wasn't desirable for the new girl to hide, though with her powers it was certainly possible for her to do so. But it was much better for her to become part of the ship's company openly, rather than skulking in the shadows.

After some discussion the four High Lords decided they would just tell Zira's story as it was but without any mention of Zesh. The humans on the ship already were paying more attention to Mev and his group than ever before and Mev felt any knowledge of Zesh would only complicate things further. Kathleen loaned Zira some clothes and shoes that fit her pretty well and with that Sheila was dispatched with Zira to see Casey and get the meetings with command started.