Alliance Hunter
Chapter 17

I walked down the corridor of the ship trailing slowly behind my Valkyrie guide apprehensive at what I’d replace when I’d finally met with Runa. It had been five days since I had emerged from the cell stitcher. Five days before Kara was satisfied in passing me fit but for what I did not know. My guide was a typical Valkyrie, the only difference from the half dozen we had passed getting to this point was that her sash was black and silver. In fact all the Valkyrie I’d seen had sashes with silver on them. I guess it must be something important. I’d even seen both Martin and Yanik colours amongst them.

I halted a regarded my guide wondering if she’d talk to me. I know I was going to see Runa but I felt ashamed of my behaviour. Yes I wasn’t in control but that didn’t excuse the rage that filled me. I wasn’t about to buy Digger’s explanation but there was something in me. I felt relieved to know it was out, still the lingering fear was there. I could never get rid of my Imperial heritage. The AI war had been drilled into me since I could walk. Have something in me that could control me scared me more than anything else.

“Is there a reason that everyone has silver in their sashes?” I said to hide my fears I didn’t really expect an answer.

My guide turned and regarded me. She had walked a few steps before my words had halted her.

“Wearing silver is a privilege,” she told me. I guess there was a double meaning in her words. “I mean that all those clans that wear silver have pledged warriors to the Elders.” She placed her hand on her chest that odd gesture I’d seen the Valkyrie do more stuff I didn’t know about. “I’m Jenna Hrutdottir.” She nodded at me. “And you are Gwen Hunter also known as Gwen Martin.” She gestured. “Come along Gwen, the Commander doesn’t like to wait.”

I followed Jenna like a good Valkyrie to a door down a short corridor off the one we had been walking down.

“Later Gwen,” Jenna said leaving alone outside the door.

I took a deep breath, exhaled loudly soothed my tattered nerves and pressed the buzzer on the door console.

“Enter!” Runa’s voice called out.

I stepped through the door expecting an office but what I saw had me taken aback. It was a larger than I expected room. At the back were a double bed and a set of closets. A desk and terminal was on one wall. Close to the door was what looked like a washroom cubical. In the centre was an ‘L’ shaped couch done in the pastel colours so liked by the T’Arni. Seated on the couch was Runa looking more relaxed than I’d ever seen her. She had her long blond hair down and was dressed in black leather effect suit.

“Sit down please Gwen.”

I sat down in the spot she had indicated wondering where the real Runa had gone. She seemed more relaxed than I’d seen her. It was a bit of a shock truth be told but I obeyed.

“Before you say anything,” Runa said. “I have to apologise.”

“For what?” I said surprised it wasn’t the Valkyrie way.

“Thinking like a Valkyrie.” Runa winced. “And in treating you like one.”

“I’m human or I was one,” I responded instantly sounding more resigned than angry.

Runa held up her hand to silence me. “Please don’t make this hard. I as you would say ‘suck’ at apologies.”

I knew that was genuine and heartfelt. “I’m sorry I lost it. I know the Guardians had a hand in that but I should have had more restraint.”

“As should I,” Runa replied.

“We’re both victims here.” I was a victim of the Guardians insidious plan and Runa the victim of millennia of being Valkyrie.

Runa actually smiled at that. “Well said.” She paused before continuing. “Anyway my pledge still stands. I treated you like my daughter, a Valkyrie daughter.”

Her words surprised me, another in what seemed to be a series of them. “You have a daughter?”

“I have three,” she admitted.

“Wow?” Was all I could say. I’d never heard such a thing. Valkyrie didn’t talk about those sorts of things, well not to an outsider like me.

“Yes me, I can see it in your eyes you don’t believe me capable of that. You should know every one of us must have at least one child for the clan. Some of us like to have more than a single child. I have three daughters.” She said proudly. “Four if I’m allowed to include you.”

I heard the offer in her voice. “Why I’m not Valkyrie or even part of a clan.”

“That is something for another day.” She cut me off before I could say anything.

“What I’m trying to say and making a mess of it. Is that even if you do not want it you are my daughter. I may not have given birth to you but you are as close to my heart as any of my children are.”

I was surprised and touched by her offer. “Kara says I’m a Martin. I have the blood all albeit through a convoluted chain.”

“You are more a Martin than you think.”

“What, how so?” I knew that the Elders had referred that my blood had come through Marsha Martin’s brother a tenuous link by any means.

Runa gave a sigh. “How can I put it your true origins were well hidden.”

I thought back to the conversation with my mother on Melanos and the image I’d seen of my great grandfather. “Hidden?”

“Kara did a very in depth investigation when I carried you to the medbay.”

I shivered thinking how I went berserk. I realised in all this I hadn’t told her what I’d found from my mother.

“It seems there was more Valkyrie blood in you than the Elders meddling had produced.”

I was glad she said the Elder’s meddling I felt better about that. “How do you know all this?” I realised I hadn’t told Kelli about my great grandfather there hadn’t been enough time. Kelli would have told Kara if I had told her.

“Because I pestered the Elders. I can be very persistent when I need to be. They deliberately left off your origins at the expense of your true clan.”

“That’s not possible I’m human or I was and both of my parents are human.” I hadn’t said anything about my great grandfather yet but I had a feeling it was going to crop up sooner if not later.

“You are more than you think you are. I managed to trace it to your mother’s line. But for some reason the blood was hidden.” Runa shrugged. “Something far beyond my knowledge.”

I suspected the Elders told her that. It explained why Thirika kept referring me to be of the ‘blood’ yet Gudbjorga thought me human. I guess they must have found out in the time it took me to reach Alfheimir. I felt such a fool for not realising this earlier. But that didn’t help my current situation. I had been convinced by the Elders that my connection was to the Martin clan but only because my blood was from Miranda Martin through her brother. Yet Runa seemed to be implying something else something to do with my great grandfather on my mother’s side.

“What about my blood?”

“Kara got hold of your medical records from Earth. She was worried about you. You show up as nearly full human on those.” Runa held out her hand to cut me off. “Yes I know what the Elder’s did to enhance your blood but it still doesn’t explain the change?”

“How has it changed?” I knew the criteria for acceptance into security was ninety percent human. So I wondered how much it had changed then Runa was also saying my Valkyrie blood had been hidden.

“The Elder increased the ratio of human/Valkyrie blood to make you enough of us to pass our rules. Rules that had been employed after Miranda Martin formed her clan.” Runa grimaced. “The Martin clan wasn’t the only clan with a human Clan Mother. Even back then we had those isolationists that wanted Alfheimir to be only Valkyrie. Miranda Martin and the others proved we needed new blood.”

“What clans were human led?” I asked her.

“A few.”

I knew her well enough to know that was about as far as she wanted to go on that subject. “And that relates to me how.”

“The Elders did what they did for you. Your actions proved them correct. They saw your warrior soul and sort to release it. They succeeded in that. You might not think it but your warrior soul shines bright.”

“Ok, what’s the bit you aren’t telling me how could I have hidden blood?”

“It’s complicated. To tell you the truth I have no idea how or why it was done but it was.” Runa gave me a look. “I often wondered why it had been so easy for the Elders to accept you. They must have known something. Even before you arrived on Alfheimir.”

“Miri was spying on families the Elders had an interest in.” A thought occurred to me Miri was another with hidden blood. Her mother was Valkyrie and her father human. So her mix would have made it impossible for her to be enlisted in the Data pool. My entry into security was though my father. He I was sure of was a hundred percent human. Now I knew about my great grandfather I was sure my mother was at least a quarter Valkyrie but she had none of the signs of any Valkyrie blood. Mother’s hair was dark and curly and her eyes hazel. I on the other hand had inherited my traits from my father. Somehow and this was only speculation that the Elders had hidden my great grandfather’s blood. Why I didn’t know and I was hardly in a position to ask.

“Oh?” Runa seemed surprised. “I didn’t know that. I did wonder why she had been selected as your contact on Saros. I would have selected someone with at least some combat experience.”

“You mean someone that actually looked and acted Valkyrie?”

“You see I don’t like sneaking around if I want to say something I do it directly.”

Runa gave a sigh. “I’m not cut out to be an agent I’m too direct.”

I could agree with that. She was no Thirika, she knew about stealth. I hadn’t known she had trailed me during that training session that ended with me attacking two younger Valkyrie out to take my life. The thud of a bottle on the table and the clink of glasses broke me out of my thoughts. I watched, as Runa poured out two glasses of that black brew the Valkyrie so loved.

“Drink this,” she said to me. “I think we both need it.”

As much as I didn’t want it my mind was racing too fast for me to sort through my thoughts. I drew a deep breath picked up my glass and downed it in one. I felt the alcohol burn down my throat. The room swayed at the effect hit me. I giggled like some idiot and slid sideways slowly.

I woke with a pounding headache on Runa’s couch a cover over me and a pillow under my head. I groaned feeling the taste of bile rising in my throat. I got off the couch my vision blurring and staggered towards the door I hoped was a washroom. It would be my luck that it was a storage closet. My luck held it was a washroom. I couched there for several minutes heaving my guts down the pan of the toilet. I washed the vileness out of my mouth and exited from the room trying to get my vision to clear. Runa sat at her terminal I hadn’t seen her when I’d got off the couch but she must have been there. I was in too much of a state to have noticed her. I should have known better. I’d been in this state several times before drinking the foul brew the Valkyrie seemed to drink like water.

“Sorry!” I mumbled an apology to Runa.

“Get yourself to Kara she’ll have something to fix that.”

I knew the drill. “Ok,” I said and staggered out squinting wildly at the too bright lights each step thudding through my brain.

Kara was waiting for me when I finally found my way to the medbay.

“Hello Gwen,” she said cheerfully. “Sit on the bed please.”

A little too cheerful for my liking but then it was my fault in the first place. I’d been on Alfheimir so I should have known this would happen. It wasn’t like I was in some cantina drinking the stuff on a dare.

“Please Kara make it go away?”

“Certainly,” she said and with a flourish she produced a hypo and jabbed it into my neck. “There that should clear things up.” As she put down the hypo she said. “Oh there’s a message from Runa.”

“That is?” At least I could think straight now my headache was fading.

“When your head clears enough she wants you to report to her quarters and clean up the mess you made of her bathroom.”

I winced at that. “God I really made a mess then?” Then added. “I knew what that stuff does to me and I still drank it?”

“Your body isn’t attuned to Valkyrie alcohol,” Kara stated simply.

I looked at her sharply her words implied I was ‘human’. “What, did I just hear you say Valkyrie instead of ‘our’ alcohol?”

Kara expression grew serious. “I want you as part of my clan but sixty percent of you is still human.”

“What about my great grandfather’s clan?” Not a question I should have asked her but I had to know the truth. I quickly explained what my mother had told me and what Runa had said. “You see?” I said to her not expecting an answer.

“Oh that,” Kara said sitting down on the bed opposite. “I suppose it’s time you learned.”

“I as Runa did dug into your past, not you personally but your family. Your father’s line is easily traceable but your mother’s line is somewhat more complicated. We think and this is a theory only. We weren’t able to pry much out of the Elders but we think your great grandfather was a Landottir. They broke away from the Martin clan.”

Kara’s comment surprised me. “Can that be done?” I asked her.

“Yes but it is complicated a Bond Sister may ask the Clan Mother for permission to separate from the clan and create her own. She then has to petition the Elders stating her reasons. Then she has to replace enough members of her original clan to follow her.”

I was fascinated but it didn’t explain why a Valkyrie, a male Valkyrie was on Earth.

Kara continued. “This was granted.” Kara frowned. “In hindsight it might have been better had they been refused. They moved to a colony world on the edge of the Disputed Territories.”

I knew Saros was a world on the edge of the Disputed Territories but not actually within the Territories like Anoxi a world I had heard a lot about. “So how have I not heard of this clan?”

Kara gave me a sad look that did nothing for my self-esteem. “The Orsini attacked and wiped out the Landottir.”

I shivered at that. I knew the Valkyrie hated the Orsini with a vengeance. I had always assumed it because they were a male dominated race but this put things into a different perspective. I felt a deep sadness I couldn’t explain for a clan I’d never heard of. I think part of it may have been it echoed the Keepers fate. “All of them?”

“The few survivors we found we reabsorbed into the clan.”

“What this got to do with my great grandfather?”

“There was a Terran trader in the vicinity it responded to the emergency call from the colony and took off survivors. And this is where things get hazy. We theorised your great grandfather was one of those. Instead of going back to Alfheimir he headed to Earth.” Kara paused. “Not long after that the eleven former Terran colonies seceded and we were at war with the Terran Empire.”

That was all old history to me I wanted to know what happened to the Orsini.

Somehow I wanted them dead their interference had ruined my life. “And the Orsini raiders?”

“Tried it again with another world only to run into a Pre-Confederacy fleet assembling to participate in the war. And as you know the Orsini were destroyed they always are.”

“Ok,” Was all I could replace myself to say. I did feel vindicated the Orsini took on a lot more than it could chew. But one question remained. “Why did he not return?” I wasn’t sure why not, then that was my total sum of knowledge into the Valkyrie world. Males were not talked about yet they must exist for that was the way Valkyrie babies were made. I knew for certain that they didn’t practice in vitro fertilisation.

“I do not know nor did anyone go looking for him. I assume it was because we were fighting the Terrans at the time.” Kara seemed to forget I was an Imperial from the Terran Empire. She gave a shrug. “And afterwards we were all busy creating the Confederacy. He was overlooked and forgotten.”

What she said made sense in a way. Yet there was something half remembered. Then it clicked into place a part of the puzzle was revealed. Miri had said the Elders knew she had over heard them say two lines are now one. I think she was on about me. My Martin blood was through the Marsha’s brother but my other link was through my great grandfather a true Martin although disguised as a Landottir. I regarded Kara carefully. “The Elders knew. That’s one of the reasons Miri was created to be their spy. She overheard a conversation between two Elders.” I quickly explained what she had told me.

“I see I didn’t wonder why they sent such a experienced child as your contact.” Kara frowned. “Which was also the reason the Elders were so keen for us to pick her up.” She sighed. “I wish they had told us this before hand it would have saved us so much trouble.” Kara returned my regard with interest. “ Something to think over. In the meantime head to your quarters we can talk again later.” As I got off the bed she called out. “Remember Runa is expecting you to clean up her washroom.

I took the hint and went to replace where I was supposed to be sleeping and replace cleaning materials. I hadn’t got the tour on account I went mad and then slept my drunkenness on Runa’s couch. With that in mind I began my search.