Jordan (28 page)

“We’re working on it. But we suspect one of the soldiers guarding Stonehenge was compromised.”

“You’ve questioned him?” Vivianne asked.

“Yes. He’s not talking, but two men are dead. One’s vanished. But that’s the least of our worries. We’re panicking down here.
Everyone suspects everyone else of working for the Tribes. Soldiers are deserting their units, and the police can’t contain
the civilian problems. I’m back in Florida at the family homestead. In Europe, there’s chaos. No news is coming out of Asia,
and the last we heard from Pendragon were reports that the Tribes were gathering to make one final attack on Earth.”

“So would you recommend that we come home?” Vivianne asked.

“Not until you have the Grail.” Lucan’s voice was grim.

Lucan had once held the Grail in his hands. But when the Tribes had captured the woman he’d loved, he’d sacrificed it to save
Cael. Vivianne knew that choice still haunted him, and she wanted to give him good news. “We now have all three Keys to the
Ancient Staff. Hopefully we’ll find the Holy Grail soon.”

Lucan sighed. “Although the government announced your mission, you may still have surprise on your side. No one will expect
you to fly straight into the heart of Tribe territory.”

“We’ll do our best,” she promised.

“Look, I hate to put any more pressure on you, but if you don’t get back soon, there may not be much to come back to.”

“Understood.” Vivianne closed the panel and turned to Jordan. “We need to fly straight to Pentar.”

He rested his fists on his hips. “I’m dropping you off on Earth first.”

“We don’t have time to spare.” She frowned at him. “And it’s still half my ship.”

He shook his head. “When we arrive on Earth, I’ll buy you out.”

She didn’t like him standing and hovering over her. “It’s not about the money.”

“No, it’s not.” He leaped onto the bed and laced his fingers behind his head. “You aren’t prepared to fly into Tribe territory.”

“So tell me what to expect.” She must have tensed. George woke up and leapt from her lap. The ball went flying and he chased
it again.

“I’ve never been to Pentar,” he admitted.

“So I’m just as prepared to go as you are.” She stood and strode over to him, not liking how he stared at the ceiling instead
of back at her.

She sat beside him, her hip against his side. “What’s really wrong?”

“You don’t know what it’s like to lose an entire world. It’s like a big aching hole inside that you can never fill.” He finally
looked at her. “Let me show you what it was like on Dominus.”

“All right.” She expected him to pop the data chip Arthur had given him into the computer. Instead, he put a vision in her
mind of himself when he appeared about ten years younger.

Vivianne saw a modern kitchen, a tall woman who resembled Jordan setting a heavy platter in front of him. The scent of freshly
baked bread and cream sauce over pasta, and a whiff of sparkling wine, made her mouth water. This woman must be his mother.
The memory was over a thousand years old, yet every detail remained crisp and clear.

White curtains billowed in the breeze. A cat scampered over immaculate tile. Holograms of the entire family were in frames
over the hearth.

Jordan was directly sharing a memory with her, totally in control of it. She didn’t know how he was doing this, but there
could be no mistaking his love for his mother or vice versa.

His mother ruffled his hair, smiled fondly at Jordan. Another door opened and his father strode in. Jordan had inherited his
powerful shoulders and dark hair. The man swept his wife into his arms and kissed her. Then he clapped Jordan on the shoulder,
set a gift beside his plate.

“Go ahead. Open it,” his father urged.

There could be no doubting the love in the room as both parents smiled down at their son. His fingers made short work of opening
the box. Inside was some kind of mechanical device.

Jordan’s eyes lit with excitement. “The computer core. How did you ever find it?”

His father chuckled. “I have my ways.”

The memory dissolved. She peered at Jordan on the bed, and he spoke softly. “The core was the last piece of equipment I needed
to explore the asteroids around Dominus. The next day, I left.” He swallowed hard. “I never saw them again.”

Her throat tightened in a strangled knot, even as questions flew through her mind. How had he placed that memory in her head?
Why had he chosen that particular scene to show her his life? But when she saw the pain in his eyes, she wanted to hold him
and make the hurt go away.

Vivianne placed her head on his shoulder. She’d lost her own parents at a much younger age than he had, but although she’d
seen Trendonis fire the planetbusters she couldn’t really imagine what it felt like to lose an entire world. And go on fighting.
He was the last of his race.

She snuggled against him. “Are you worried that if you take me with you to Pentar, I’ll lose my world like you lost yours?”

“Do you know how many times I’ve asked myself why I didn’t die with them?” he asked, his voice trembling with pain.

“Your parents would be pleased to know you’ve survived.”

“Would they? Would they be proud of a son who lives for revenge? War was not our way. We were a peaceful people. An old world
with proud traditions.”

She could feel his heartache but didn’t understand him at all. She sat up so she could look into his eyes. “Are you saying
you no longer want to pursue the Grail?”

He shook his head, the agony in his eyes scaring her. “It’s my fate to unite the Grail and the Staff, and then I will finally
be at peace. But I worry about you and how you’ll go on after I am no longer here.”

“You’re worried about me?” Understanding hit her like a fist to the gut. He wanted to spare her the pain of loss. He believed
that if Earth lost to the Tribes, she’d be better off dying with her world than the alternative.

But in truth, whether she stayed with him or not, she was still going to lose him. It would still tear at her so badly that
she didn’t want to think about that terrible moment when he would be gone.

“Trust me.” He drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “It would be better if you were with your own people. Let me
finish this mission as I started it. Alone.”

Alas! The love of a woman! It is known to be a lovely and fearful thing.

—K
ING
R
ION
J
AQARD

V
ivianne shook her head. “Whatever time you have left, I want us to be together.”

Jordan frowned. “But—”

“I want more memories.”

His tone turned gentle. “Those memories that you want will be painful. They’ll tear at you. Keep you awake nights. I didn’t
have a choice. You do. You know what’s coming.”

His death.

“Don’t you think I tried not to care about you?” Her fingers closed into fists, and she forced herself to take a deep breath
and slowly released the tension. She could not let him go. Not yet. They both still had more living to do. Besides, she’d
already fallen for him, and if he left her today or tomorrow or next month, the pain would be the same. “I’ve always been
a survivor.” She toggled the bridge. “Gray.”

“Yes?”

“Set course for Pentar.”

Jordan took her hand. “You’re either very brave or very foolish.”

“But,” Gray hesitated. “Jordan—”

“Needs to make a shipwide announcement before we go anywhere,” Jordan interrupted.

“I’ve got you on the intercom, Captain,” Gray said.

Jordan’s voice boomed through the speaker system. “I’m willing to drop off anyone on Earth who isn’t ready to fly into enemy
territory.”

“Can we afford to lose those hours?” Tennison asked.

“There’s no way of knowing,” Jordan replied. “Earth needs us to find the Grail, but it’s a dangerous mission. It could very
well be a one-way trip.”

“I’m staying,” Tennison said.

“Me, too,” Gray added.

One by one the others agreed, Knox, Darren, Sean, even Lyle.

“Then set course for Pentar, and may the Goddess bless us all.” Jordan ended the communication and pulled Vivianne into his
arms.

She lifted her lips to kiss him, and she let the warmth of his heat radiate into her and fill her soul. There had been enough
talk of death.

When he finally broke away, she gave him a thoughtful glance. “So how did you put a memory in my mind?”

He drew her close once more. “I’m not sure. It’s like I’m developing other senses. I suspect the Staff tried to prepare me
by giving me those glimpses into your mind.”

She eyed him with concern. “Perhaps the data chip that Arthur gave you might prove some of your theories, but why are you
so certain you’ll die when the Staff and the Grail unite? Maybe you’ll turn back into an owl.”

“That’s its own kind of death, but it won’t happen. Although I was separate from the Staff, I could still receive minimal
energy, even through light-years. But when the Staff is gone, there will be no energy.”

And no life.

Her whole body trembled, teetering between rage and grief and hope that he was wrong. “Maybe that chip has an answer that
will save your life.”

He took the data chip from a pocket and held it up. “For so long I’ve wished for exactly this knowledge, but now that I have
it…”

“You’re reluctant to know the truth?” she guessed, wishing she could ease his pain. Would seeing his world make his memories
that much more painful, or would they bring him peace?

“Knowledge is always better than uncertainty,” she continued, taking the chip from his hand and popping it into the computer.
After that, she wasn’t much help. She couldn’t read the Dominus language, and while her translator could have deciphered oral
verbiage, Jordan was processing the data so quickly, it blinked by on the screen at a rate she couldn’t process—even if it
had been English.

She placed George on Jordan’s lap, noting his hand immediately falling to pet the dog behind the ears. She kissed Jordan on
the cheek and left, praying to return to find a man at peace with himself.

Vivianne stopped in the galley to find Knox sitting at the counter, typing into her handheld. With a guilty look, Knox clicked
off the screen.

“What’s up?” Vivianne asked.

“Nothing.”

“Really?” Vivianne opened the fridge. “I was thinking about a tuna sandwich.”

Knox sighed. “I was making out my will. Can you send it to Earth for me? You don’t think I’m jinxing us, do you?”

“I think it’s smart.” Vivianne turned to Knox. “But we’re going to make it. We’re going to find the Grail, and Earth’s going
to survive.”

“How can you be so sure?” Knox opened a can, then chopped up some celery and an onion before adding mayo and piling it all
onto toasted wheat bread.

“The
Draco’
s a sound ship. We have a great crew. And I have faith in Jordan. I have faith in us.” Vivianne squeezed Knox’s hand. “We
can do this.”

“Thanks.” Knox drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I needed a pep talk.”

Vivianne left the galley and took her meal to the bridge to eat. Gray was at the helm. Sean was at navigation. Lyle was pacing.

“What do we know about Pentar?” she asked, hoping Devid’s star charts gave more useful information than just a spatial position
of the Tribal world.

“Pentar’s an artificial planet with a core of asteroid-like material,” Gray told her. “It’s smaller than Earth, about a third
more distant from its sun, and the climate’s cold. The entire society lives below the surface in a hollow core.”

Lyle paced faster, his eyes worried. But he remained silent.

“You said Pentar’s artificial?” Vivianne asked. “Did the Tribes build it?”

“We don’t know. The world is located far out on the rim. Which means it’s one of the older planets in the galaxy.”

“What else do we know about it?”

“Their star’s dying,” Gray told her, his tone serious. “Within the next ten thousand years or so, the planet won’t be able
to sustain life.”

“Good,” Lyle said. “Maybe the Tribes will die out with their planet.”

“Even if Pentar’s their home world, it’s highly unlikely that a race that has spread across the galaxy would die out with
the death of one planet.” Vivianne didn’t want anyone to imagine they could outwait the Tribes.

“The Tribes have usurped over a thousand worlds.” Gray agreed with her.

“But you think Pentar’s their home world?” Lyle asked.

She recalled what Jordan had told her and shook her head. “Jordan said that the Tribes would never bring the Grail to their
home world, for fear someone hostile might come after it.”

“So they know we’re coming?” Lyle asked, his voice tight.

“It’s possible,” Vivianne said.

“So what’s the plan?” Gray asked.

“We fly in, find the Grail, steal it back.” Vivianne stared into space, wondering what surprises were waiting out there for
them. Earth didn’t have much time. Things were falling apart fast.