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    Stammering, the young man turned at Jaer’s
approach and paled. “General Athru, sir. Fayn Jaer.
Sh-sh-she said she’d be back before da-dar-dark,” he whimpered.
    Jaer reached out, saying nothing, and grabbed
the front of the man’s jacket. He lifted, pulling him slowly
forward until their faces nearly touched.
    “Jaer, take it easy,” Cale warned. “We won’t
get any information out of him if you kill him.” His eyes cold and
hard, Cale turned on the young man. “Tell me everything Erynn said
to you.”
    Jaer dropped the young man, and he struggled
briefly to stay upright. Jaer crossed his arms and waited, his
blazing glare never leaving the frightened, shaking young man.
    If anything has happened to my Kipa, he’ll
know real fear .
    “Yes, sir, General. Captain Yager said she
needed to go out and that there would be trouble if she didn’t.”
The words tumbled from his lips. He ducked his head, his gaze
darting between Jaer and Cale. “She said she’d be back before
dark.”
    “I am going. I will take Aven and Roni with
me.” Jaer pushed by the young man, and he stumbled backward. “Ready
three speeders, Whill,” Jaer ordered an older man with long gray
hair who stood back, watching the interrogation.
    Whill nodded. “They’re ready, Fayn.” He
glared at the young man. “Figured you might be needing them.”
Whill’s use of Jaer’s impressive title was further meant to
intimidate the young man.
    Cale’s tone held an angry quality Jaer had
never heard from him. “Whill, I’m closing all access points to the
base until further notice. No one and I mean no one comes in or
goes out without Jaer’s or my approval.”
    “Understood, General. Consider it done.”
Whill turned to the young man. “And what about Rand here?”
    Cale whirled on Rand. “Whill, I’m putting
Rand on report. I trust you to mete out an appropriate punishment
for not following SOP, [Standard Operating Procedures].”
    Whill nodded. “I’ll handle this,
General.”
    Rand stared at the floor. “I’m sorry, sir.
I…She…” He shook his head. “There’s no excuse for what I did.”
    Roni hurried up to Cale and Jaer from the
outer tunnel. “A speeder is approaching the first waypoint.” She
smiled, the warmth of her expression spreading across her young
face and into her green-brown eyes. “It’s Erynn.”
    Jaer felt his shoulders loosen. His breathing
resumed its unrestrained rhythm of inhalations and exhalations, and
his heartbeat slowed to a more normal pace.
    Erynn is all right, at least for
now .
     
     
    Erynn entered the bay through the wide
corridor. Jaer, Cale, Roni, and everyone on duty stared at her.
    Maybe I should turn around and go back
out. No, they need to know what I saw .
    She stopped in front of them, pulled off her
helmet, and climbed from the speeder. Cale glared at her. Jaer’s
dark eyes blazed with an internal fire. Their anger and fear
bombarded her. To reduce her exposure to their emotions, she
visualized a tunnel of light becoming a pinpoint speck. “Yell at me
later for not following procedure. There’s something out in the
forest. Something not normally there. My speeder was damaged.
It…They…were hunting me.” Her voice sounded thin, a fragile ribbon
stringing her words together, barely holding. She put her hand to
her forehead and rubbed. Now that she knew she was safe, relief and
fatigue dropped over her like a heavy weight. Erynn glanced up, her
attention divided between Jaer and Cale. “I saw them.”
    Cale’s frustration was evident in his voice.
“We’ll get to that. But first, what prompted you to go out, alone,
all night?”
    Jaer said nothing. He only stared at her.
That was worse. She wished he’d say something and get it over
with.
    “I told you. I hadn’t planned to stay out
that long. My speeder was damaged. They did it, somehow.
Chewed the main power cable in two.” She sucked in a deep breath
and let it out through pursed lips. “Two enemy soldiers were