Kelvena smiled slightly, tempted to imitate their fellow Element's cheer just to irk her partner. But she hadn't served with Dominia for so many years without learning her moods...... and this was not the time for games.

"You're the one who mentioned him."

Dominia was silent for a moment. "I suppose it doesn't matter. That...... woman...... keeps him enthralled, somehow. It wouldn't do any good to say anything if he'll just believe her." Her mouth twisted, making her look angrier than before, but her hair -- blowing loose on wind one could only enjoy on the surface -- somehow softened the expression.

"Well, what do we care?" Kelvena leaned back against Marinebasher's fin, watching her friend carefully. "Maybe Elly didn't deserve it, but she's not one of us anymore. If the Commander doesn't want to notice......" She shrugged, her voice somehow ringing false even in her own ears. "So be it."

"I know...... I know, but what I hate is the fact that she used me to do it. Elly didn't deserve to be transferred to a Gebler unit. But that Miang used me to do it!"

A wry smile touched Kelvena's lips, but she knew better than to try to comfort her. And in any case...... well, she completely understood. Dominia hadn't been the only one involved, after all. And Elly was her friend......

The plains of Elru stretched out around them -- scorched, dusty plains, in a dead country. She hated coming to this place sometimes. She could feel, without even having to try, the enormous ether discharges that had been released during the purge almost three years ago; it emanated from the ground like heat waves, almost, even though the residue should have been long gone.

Her friend felt it too, though it likely held a different meaning for her. Isn't that why they were here? This was Dominia's one place of contemplation when she truly needed it, despite the pain it caused her to return to her home country. It was dead in every sense of the word, save the population. It numbered only one, but Kelvena doubted anything could ever kill that one, solitary person.

She was too stubborn to die, if nothing else.

The wind -- dry, hot wind -- picked up, blowing a cloud of dust into their faces. Kelvena covered her nose and mouth with a gloved hand, slitting her eyes against the grit. "Want me to call it off?" she asked, leaning toward Dominia. All she had to do was reach, and she could blow the dust devil away with as little effort as it took to swat a fly.

Her companion shook her head. "We might as well leave."

"Where to?" Kelvena closed her eyes against the scouring wind, making her way to Marinebasher's cockpit as surely as she would have had her eyes been open. The power did more than allow her to "do things"; it led her, when she walked like this. She could feel what was around her, and even see it to an extent, in the darkness behind her eyelids -- like pale outlines and shadows of the world, washed of all color.

"Etrenank." Dominia snorted. "Where else?"

Where else indeed?

Etrenank, Solaris...... city of the gods.

"Damn them." Dominia's voice crackled in through the comm unit, sounding more irritated than it had in Elru -- if that were possible. "Do they think we're new recruits? If I get one more message telling me about supply trafic --"

"-- Then we'll deal with them later. You know how Command deals with incompetence like this." Kelvena leaned back in her seat, opening her eyes briefly to take in the flawless -- empty -- sky surrounding their destination. "Maybe you can put in a special request......" She let them slide shut again, and through the darkness she could see the outline of Etrenank, clawlike and cold beneath its cloaking barrier.

"Maybe they really are experiencing problems," Kelvena said finally, tapping the screen that she knew displayed her companion's angry face. "The city is stationed open right now; it shouldn't be, at this time of year."

"I thought Solaris was supposed to be above this type of mundane problem. Silly me, for believing it."

Kelvena smiled; sarcasm was a good sign. Usually.

"Is Elly still 'on leave'?"

She shrugged. "Last I heard. Not that it makes much difference. They apparently wanted to rid themselves of her strike team, and she ruined their little escapade by disobeying the order. Or so the report says." Another small smile creased her lips, and she opened her eyes again, to meet her friend's eyes. "Its obviously...... priviledged information."

A grim smile greeted her in return. "Should we do anything about it? Anything...... to show that woman up......?"

"Why Dominia, that's so unlike you......" A pause. "The Commander won't listen, and you know it." Little good it did them, that information; knowing they could do nothing left them right where they had begun.

That woman...... perhaps it wasn't logical to hate a commanding officer, but it was unavoidable....... at least now. Such unfair treatment for Elly, such obvious control flaunted over the Commander......

"I have to do something to take my mind off of this ridiculous wait. And plotting ways to bring Miang down has always been a favorite passtime of mine."

...... Since you noticed the Commander, at any rate. Not a thought she would have voiced aloud. Certainly not with the mood she was in at the moment.

Oh, what the hell? Kelvena shrugged, tapping her fingers on the console. Miang can stand to come down a few rungs...... and it won't hurt if the Commander loses interest either......

...... now will it?


- Back