Now she knew where she’d seen him before, with his brown hair an even mousier shade than hers had been, and his gray eyes like chipped steel. The challenge for the Directorship had taken place before she had been transferred to Goverance Building, when she was still a Sec 2, but she remembered how outraged the citizens had been at this man’s underhanded tactics in trying to buy votes from the Council of Nine, who were only all-powerful during election time every ten years when it was their duty to decide the matter, and were mere advisors otherwise.

“Whether you remember me or not is of no importance,” he continued, seeming to have read Tedra’s thoughts. “All that you need know is that I am Crad Ce Moerr, your new Director-”

“The hell you say!” she growled, almost missing the rest, since he didn’t stop to allow for her fury.

“-by virtue of might. I have this day taken control of Goverance Building and do not intend to give it up. The takeover was accomplished with ease and a minimum of casualties. And you will be pleased to know your previous Director will not be harmed as long as there are no attempts to remove him from Goverance Building, where he will enjoy a comfortable confinement as hostage for your good behavior during the transition of power, as well as in the years to come. Let me assure you there will be no major changes under my Directorship. Your careers and lives, good citizens, will continue as they are, including those of Security, the only difference being you have a new Director to lead you in peace and prosperity, a new Director to protect and revere. I am he, Crad Ce Moerr.”

The screen went blank, and Tedra’s thoughts exploded in a whirl of outrage and disbelief. It was a joke, and in very bad taste. Yet there was that word “revere,” which planted the doubt and twisted it around in her gut. Demanding reverence? How utterly autocratic. Garr Ce Bernn was loved and revered. He didn’t have to demand it. By virtue of might? Security against Security? No! Impossible! But how else?-if it was true.

She flipped on the long-distance channel and keyed Goverance Building direct. Her fingers bit into the arms of the chair as she waited for the screen to flash on again. Security at Goverance Building was the best. How could they be defeated? Bribery? Payoffs? Could she work with men for so long and not know them at all? Damn and damn, why hadn’t she been there? She could have done something, made a difference. The screen remained blank, refusing to give answers.

Immediately she tried another location while the channel was still open. On the second chime the screen lit up with the face of one of her closer friends, Rourk Ce Dell, Chief of Relics Hall.

“Thank Heaven’s Stars, Tedra, we were so afraid they’d-” He broke that off, running a hand over his blue eyes in a sign of extreme weariness-or relief. Her heart had already accelerated again, expecting the worst after that. “Listen up, babe, and don’t interrupt. It’s true if you saw it with the rest of us, at least the fact that they’ve got Goverance Building locked up tight. And the Director was still alive, last we heard. But the rest-nothing but lies. You wouldn’t believe some of the things we’ve heard… the farden slime’s issuing directives left and right… so many changes, and he’s getting away with it.”

“Just tell me how, Rourk.”

“I will, as soon as you get here-”

“Rourk!”

“There’s no time now, Tedra!” he said with as much frustration and anxiety as she was feeling. “I’ve got to keep this line open for Slaker. He’s working magic at the computer lab. When I couldn’t reach you, I took the chance that you were still in Fanya and had him list you dead as of yesterday, so there shouldn’t be any suspicion. We’ve worked up new stats for you, too, but there’s been some trouble with the Records computer, as if they’ve already figured out there’ll be tampering and have put a lock on the files. But Slaker’s working on it, and you know how good he is.”

“Yes, I-”

“Just get back here as soon as you can, Tedra, and come straight to my place. Don’t even think of going near Goverance Building or the Security Complex, or your new place. Don’t talk to anyone else, and try not to worry. Slaker and I will get you off the planet somehow.”

“Off the planet?” she said in a small, disbelieving voice. “I’ve got to leave the planet?”

“That or worse, babe. Crad Ce Moerr has to pay his mercenaries with something. Every female Sec they can get their hands on is the first installment.”

Tedra blanched, but got out, “Mercenaries, not Security? Who?”

“The Sha-Ka’ari.”

But the Sha-Ka’ari were sword-wielder’s, was her incredulous thought as the screen went blank again.

In her four-seater air cruiser, it took Tedra less than twenty minutes to return to Gallion City. It took several hours to find parking, however, since Rourk’s apartment was right in the heart of Gallion, and to find space for an air cruiser was never easy, today almost impossible. She wished she dared zip out to the suburbs to exchange the cruiser for her much smaller Fleetwing II, which she usually used for city travel, but after Rourk’s warning, she’d be crazy to try it. She still didn’t know what the hell had happened at Goverance Building, and until she did, she’d follow Rourk’s suggestions to the letter.

At last another cruiser took off from a parking roof three blocks away, and before enough Fleetwings could zip in to fill the space, she set her craft down. It was likely Crad Ce Moerr’s broadcast that had brought such traffic congestion to the city today. Tedra wouldn’t be the only one anxious to find out what was really going on.

Her mind was still spinning with it, and it still made no sense. She knew so little about the Sha-Ka’ari, but there had to be tons of information about them on computer file, since Kystran had been trading with Sha-Ka’ar ever since the small planet was first discovered tucked away in the north sector of Centura Star System not too many years ago. All she knew was that they were reputed giants who clung to many of their old beliefs and customs, such as the keeping of slaves and the making of war on their own planet. Despite that, however, they coveted the advanced technology of other worlds to improve their lifestyles, which they had done considerably. But the last she had heard, they were still slaveholders, and still sword-wielding warriors, which really made no sense-unless Ce Moerr had trained and supplied them with modem weapons for the takeover.

Even as the thought occurred to her and seemed to be the only answer, she got her first look at the devils in question, and it was swords attached to their belts, not lazors. Two of them rode the avenue glide, which got the foot traffic where it wanted to go about three times faster than walking would. She was cruising down the avenue under her own steam herself, having wanted to keep a distance from the crowded glides, if just a few feet distant, Rourk’s warning not to talk to anyone ever-present in her mind.

Just seeing them, heads above everyone else on the glides, set her adrenaline pumping. They really were bigger than she had counted on, even if they were reputed giants. Kystran men obtained height; at least a few did. But they didn’t obtain brawn. The two Sha-Ka’ari warriors were huge in comparison, even the one who was likely no more than six feet himself. His buddy had maybe another four inches to top that, but they were both so muscular it was worth crying over. Heaven’s Stars, were they all like that?

But they carried swords, for Star’s sake. Again it made no sense. Against a phazor, they might as well be unarmed. Her own weapons were in her carryall, but she could get to them quickly enough if she had to. Against mere swords, she wouldn’t even need to. She wasn’t a Sec 1 for nothing. She had advanced beyond Security training years ago, and gone on to self-train in some of the more deadly techniques of weaponless fighting. Rourk, who worked in the Relics Hall, supplied her with all the tapes she could ask for. He’d even hooked her on general ancient history, which had become her second passion, next to her job.