Kaplan's mind ran hot, adrenaline spiking his abilities. Even as people left the private conference room next to Shau's office, he picked up their heightened emotions. From the only non-psi in the group, he caught rapid, analytical thoughts.

Dr Ilias Farnquar was focused on the toxicology results Jinx had provided. Intrigue overrode his discomfort at being summoned to consult with multiple, high-ranking psionics. A few of the molecules in the report appeared to be similar to psi-active drugs in his research. Fascinating.

It hadn't yet occurred to the researcher that might mean bad things.

Like espionage. A high-level security breach.

Kaplan stayed seated, locking down the urge to interrogate the researcher. Farnquar's handler would do that soon enough, hopefully before someone less diplomatic got to the scientist. The man's excitement grated, provoking more tense psionics from those around him. Farnquar seemed to have forgotten his company. Everything but his work.

But then, he didn't personally know the Rha Si male who'd been loaded up with enough drugs to kill a normal human twice over.

Lieutenant Callan Tarak.

Kaplan pressed a hand to the ache burning his eyes, even as a deeper pain hollowed out his chest. Cal was supposed to be enjoying some R&R on Sann Glyth. How had he ended up drugged and bleeding on a Xykeree barge in a completely different star sector?

And how had the Xykeree known what he was? They knew the Coalition had the means to interfere with hive minds, but not the specifics: genetic alteration of human personnel. But according to Farnquar's off-the-cuff assessment, Cal had been given chems similar to ones in development to treat psionic overload. Psi suppressants.

Cold foreboding stole through Kaplan, more than concern for a friend. The same emotion hummed in the psi auras of other Rha Si as they left the room. They'd know more when Farnquar provided his full analysis, but...

This looked bad. For Rha Si. For the Coalition.

Kaplan drew in a breath and blocked out what he could of other people's unease. He needed to speak with Sun. He'd only been able to give her a heads-up over coms. She'd be about to go nova. He also needed to touch base with Atlas, find out more about what his team had found on the Bullhead.

Then there was Jinx.

Grimacing, Kaplan stood to follow people out. That conversation—what he'd have to ask of her—he could live without. He'd seen the look on her face when drug therapy had come up. He'd felt her alarm. A kick straight to the gut.

"Senuri Kaplan." Shau's brisk address stopped him before he could exit. "A word."

Kaplan swallowed the curse that burned his tongue. A clean getaway would've been too much to ask. Moving back to his seat, he marshalled his thoughts. One sign of weakness and he'd be benched. That couldn't happen. Not now.

Shau tapped a blunt nail against her data pad and studied him across the table. "This is no longer just about an attack on a mining colony. One of our own has been lost. His family and the ruling council need answers." Her stare became a focused laser. "Do you think L'senuri Tarak is going to be satisfied with the current level of intel on his son's disappearance?"

Kaplan recalled the man's face, the violence of his emotions, when he'd learned about the blood, where it had been found. A strong telepath and the director of the military branch of the Coalition's Intelligence Group, Zio Tarak was not a man to cross even on a good day. He'd just gone from formidable to outright dangerous. He'd left the meeting barely two minutes into it. No doubt to break the news to Cal's stepmother and half-brother before getting a head start on tearing up the universe. "I expect L'senuri Tarak will move heaven and earth to find his son, R'henuri."

"And will expect nothing less from those he ultimately commands. Nor will I. I want that aberrant mind open." Shau slapped a hand down on the table. "I want every memory in that malformed brain."

Kaplan held his temper, not easy with other people's—his grandmother's—volatile psionics provoking him. "We should explore options other than drug therapy first, R'henuri. The Qua-zi have more knowledge in this area. Ambassador Mu might have insight into—"

"Mu has official business on the surface and won't return for another ten hours. No one is waiting that long for answers."

"I understand, R'henuri. However, Ms Koel has the right to refuse medical intervention."

"Convince her it's in her interest to cooperate." Shau's gaze bored into him. "Use whatever relationship you've developed with her to sway her. Do whatever is necessary to find out what happened on that ship—to find out how one of our own ended up on it. Callan Tarak is a friend, is he not?"

Kaplan ignored the verbal slap. "Cal either got caught in an illegal harvest or he was targeted. We need to find out why he was in that sector."

Shau's jaw hardened. "Others will look into that while you work on the intelligence the aberrant can provide."

"And if Ms Koel is unwilling to consent to therapy?"

"Keep asking until she is." A hard, succinct order. "Perhaps you'd like to remind her that unauthorised DNA analysis is a crime and that the courts might be more lenient if she's shown herself to be cooperative."

"Ms Koel was facing four Xykeree battleships with unclear intentions when she made that decision, R'henuri. She was days, if not weeks, away from receiving any military backup. She followed her own initiative, and we wouldn't have known about Cal if she hadn't. Is threatening her with legal action really how we're going to play this?"

"You have an hour to convince her." Shau's gaze gleamed. "After that, I will personally ensure her cooperation. And I think you and I both know that Ms Koel would prefer to avoid that."

Shau's kinesis locked around his skull, destabilising the cabin lights as she drew power from them. His teeth snapped together—then ground as her telepathy joined the assault, hammering his psionic shields. Her point wasn't easily missed.

The Original wasn't getting within a hundred metres of Jinx.

"Get her consent, Senuri." Shau released him. "And don't mistake my words for anything other than an order. And here's another. Report for your health assessment and visit your parents. That means within the next twenty-four hours. Are we clear?"

"Yes, R'henuri."

Shau glowered then rose, snatching up her data pad. "You're developing a habit of annoying me, Reid. Break it, before you find the limit of my patience."

*

Kaplan entered the restricted Rha Si medical unit, an unwelcome detour on his way back to Jinx. There was only one place Sun would be right now: with Cal's family. Tom, Cal's half-brother, was yet to be discharged. Despite neurotech tuning, his psionics were still unstable.

An ugly truth for a number of the Rha Si on the ward.

Unsettling psionics and emotions whispered down the corridor of med rooms.

Roping in his own erratic abilities, Kaplan tried to block out what he could, but reflex had him reaching out to one particular mind.

His brother's.

A faint hum of life caught in a state deeper than sleep. Unresponsive.

Seven other minds in the ward lay in similar states. Third-gens. None older than thirty-five.

Breaking the disturbing connection, Kaplan telepathically searched for Sun—another mental contact he wasn't looking forward to. His cousin had strong feelings about her old academy classmate; 'conflicted' barely began to describe them.

He located her—just as other minds found his.

Atlas, three other Rha Si in military uniforms, and two in slick business suits—Coalition Intelligence—appeared out of patient rooms, their expressions and psionics brutally controlled. They looked to be visiting injured or sick friends, but all were third-gens, apart from Atlas. They'd have been called in for medicals.

Kaplan moved to join them, aware of the countdown ticking over his own head. A medical appointment notification had turned up on his com two minutes after leaving Shau, scheduled for the start of his next wake period.

He had about twelve hours before his situation got more complicated.

He skipped the pleasantries as he reached Atlas. "Cal's flight logs?"

"Just been pulled. You won't like them." Steel ran through Atlas' words—honed and ready for retribution. "Cal set a course for Sann Glyth in StarSec One as planned, but two days after departure, he reported a course change. Destination, Dronno 18. It's a mining outpost in this starsec. A first-class slum."

"So, Cal's capture could have been opportunistic." Kaplan took no comfort from that. Whether it had been a general ship harvest or targeted abduction, the Xykeree had had psi-active drugs on hand to deal with a Rha Si. "You have any idea why Cal changed his plans?"

Atlas shifted his head side to side. "None."

Kaplan eyed the rest of the group of Rha Si, only got more headshakes and grim looks. He turned back to Atlas. "The Bullhead?"

"The teams on board are looking for evidence of Cal's presence, and I've got my people sifting through the harvested tech we recovered. Some of it might match his vessel." Atlas nodded to a room down the corridor. "We've also got a psi-therapist coming in tomorrow to assess our survivor. What's left of the poor bastard's in one of the regen chambers. Not much hope of him being fit for memory extraction, but we have to try. There any chance of requestioning your aberrant witness?"

"She's next on my list." Kaplan spotted Sun leaving a ward room. "I have to keep moving, Atlas."

The second-gen stopped him with a heavy hand on one shoulder. "If we don't find Tarak, more than a few people are going to be out for blood. My team's already charging their battle tech. Regardless of what else is on your plate right now, Kap, I'll be saving you and Sun a seat on any hunting trip."

Kaplan nodded. He'd be on medical leave soon enough and more than ready to go 'off books'.

He headed for his cousin. Her psionics, usually clean fire or ice, dipped and spiked. After a taut glance his way, she closed the door of the room she'd exited, cutting off his view of a tall, ebony-skinned woman and an unconscious teenager. Cal's stepmother and half-brother.

Before Kaplan could ask after them, Sun grabbed the front of his jacket and hauled him into an empty ward room. Her inner turmoil hit him, snapping into focus with the physical contact. "Reid, this has to be a mistake."

He repressed the urge to knock off her hold, and gently unhooked her fingers. "The blood's Cal's, Sun."

"How?" The stubborn set of her jaw was pure defence. "Cal was on Sann Glyth. Those rebel ships have been nowhere near that sector."

"Cal changed course last minute. Headed for Dronno 18."

"So, he was in this starsec."

Kaplan steeled himself as his cousin's denial fractured. Pain. Near asphyxiating fear. For both their sakes, he stayed on task. "Did Cal say anything to you that might explain the course change?"

"No. The coward told me nothing. He said he was 'fine' then vanished, leaving me to find out from you that he'd been pulled from active duty." Sun spun away to pace. "If the roaches haven't gutted him, I'm going to."

"Any idea what business he might have had in this sector?"

"How would I know?" Sun swung back, eyes molten. "He stopped talking to me, Reid. Probably when his symptoms started. Just like you did."

Kaplan felt his control slip, her temper provoking his. "Cal and I are both strong empaths. Think about what that means, Sia."

A second of blistering psionics. Then distress swamped his psi-tech, hammering him straight in the gut. He cursed and stepped forward. "Sun."

She jerked back, her mind going cold like it did before a kill shot. She turned away and took up a position against the far wall, arms crossed, expression set. "You should have told me. Any discomfort could've been minimised."

Kaplan closed his eyes, the regret he felt all his. But he could already sense whispers of grief and resentment slipping out of his cousin's control. Not her fault. His. He opened his eyes. "Tell me about Cal."

"I don't know why he was in this sector." Clipped words—that came with a telling flicker of disquiet.

"You're not convinced that's true, Sun."

Her reply came with a savage flash of teeth. "Empaths. Bitch about uncomfortable resonance one minute, use it to your advantage the next. As for what I know about Cal, that would be nothing definitive."

"But what you do know is...?"

"What I know—all I know—is that Cal was dealing with family issues. Different from the usual."

Kaplan knew about "the usual". Like most powerful Rha Si who gravitated to high-level positions, Zio Tarak took his responsibilities seriously and the concept of control a little too far. His relationship with his eldest son had always been strained. "What does Cal's family have to do with Dronno 18?"

Sun started to pace again. "Most likely nothing."

"But?"

She hissed out a breath; looked to the ward room across the corridor. After a muttered oath, she turned bitter eyes on him. "It's no one's business but Cal's, but a few months back, I caught him in his quarters half drunk, brooding over an image of his biological mother. He'd done a records search on her. She's from this sector."

"She was an egg donor, wasn't she? A latent in one of the genetic trials?"

"A viable candidate who declined alteration." Sun curled her lip. "I doubt she even knew she helped create a child. And if she did, she'd have lost that memory when she decided to return to her non-psi life."

"And you think Cal wanted to track her down?"

"He claimed that wasn't an option. Said his father would spit plaz. You know what the admiral's like when it comes to personal relationships with non-psi. He's worse than your grandmother."

Kaplan thought of his destabilising psionics, the imminent loss of his team, the orders he'd just been given ... and Jinx. "Cal would have gone ahead and looked for this woman, to hell with the admiral."

Sun grunted her agreement. "I did a search myself. The more likely reason Cal didn't track her down was a lack of fresh intel. The woman hasn't paid taxes or drawn welfare in the last twenty-seven years. She fell off grid shortly after she left the trial. I'd say something unfortunate happened to her, but she appears on no missing persons list submitted to the central database. But that's probably not surprising given her immediate family are addicts and gangbangers. Going by her early records, she was no shining star either. Probably got involved with the genetic trial for the credits. I doubt she cared one way or another about any research results—Cal included."

"He had no lead on her location?"

Sun's pulse broke rhythm. "Not when I last spoke to him."

"Why'd that question bother you, Sia?"

She shoved off the wall behind her. "Cal's missing. That bothers me."

Kaplan grabbed her arm before she could stalk out. He had to fight not to react to the pain he sensed. "Stop deflecting. Something's twisting you up besides Cal's abduction. Something that's been bothering you for a while."

Sun jerked loose. "Save the empathic BS for your official interrogations, Reid."

"You want this to be official?"

Her gaze turned subzero. "You pulling rank?"

"I trust my lieutenant's intuition. And right now, her reticence is telling me she believes her concerns are relevant."

Sun's glare defied the deep unease he sensed. "You want to know what's been bothering me?" Her lips twisted. "Fine. The last few times I saw Cal, he was acting off—distracted, cagey. He'd started meditating and was reading pseudo-science papers on psychic phenomena. The Cal I know likes to shoot things, not fantasise and bloody navel gaze." She clenched her fists at her sides, shook her head. "As far as I'm concerned, my best friend disappeared weeks before he boarded any damn ship."

Kaplan thought of his own medical and philosophical research over the past year, his many internal debates, his need to avoid people. "Cal was dealing with a lot. Looking for answers."

"I know, but..." Sun exhaled then nailed him with a grim look. "A few weeks before he left, I caught him reading some wacko spiritualist's article on hypersensing theory. I laughed and asked him if he was trying to cast a spell to find the dignity he'd lost back in StarSec Three—Throlean liquor, strip poker, don't ask. I expected him to grin and ask for a rematch. He just closed the article and changed the subject."

An ominous feeling crept over Kaplan. He knew where his cousin's thoughts had gone. Cal had been looking for his genetic roots, but he'd had no path to follow and little time left. "Long-range sensing is a myth born out of a few odd coincidences observed with the Originals in the Formation War. Some got good at anticipating Xykeree strategy and attacks." Shau had been one of them, her instincts honed over years of tracking and destroying hives.

"I know." Sun bared her teeth. "And the psychic multiverse, paired souls, and teleportation of one's essence into the trans-spiritual ether are also woo-woo crapology theories, but Cal was reading about those as well."

Kaplan felt a new weight settle. There were implications for his own health situation, but for now, finding Cal was the priority. Unfortunately, tracing his movements might have just got more difficult. "You're saying Cal might not have been rational."

Sun closed her eyes. "I shouldn't have let him leave, Reid."

Kaplan pulled her into a hug, didn't fight the pain the contact caused.