Thunder Struck Read Online Free Page B

until the Guard shuttle landed beyond the city.
    “See you later.” She waved farewell and walked to the low balcony, jumping into the air and using the wind to carry her to the landing site.
    To her surprise, she recognized the Guardsman who came out to greet her.
    Haedock’s shock was apparent in his expression as well. “Kedna?”
    She nodded and stepped toward the ship. In reflex, he stepped back and let her pass. Out of habit, she stowed her bag and settled into the navigator seat, bringing up the mission specs and reading about what they needed her to do.
    “You have changed, Kedna.”
    She chuckled. “I grew up, Haedock, or is it Tend now?”
    “Haedock is fine until we land. I have to say, I never imagined that you would look like this when you reached maturity.”
    She looked down at herself and back up at him. “Why not? What is wrong?”
    He settled in the pilot’s seat and fired up the engines. “Nothing is wrong but my means of expressing myself. You look lovely and it tongue-tied me.”
    “Oh.” She focused on the diagrams of the planet and tried to come to grips with being thought pretty. Most of her other handlers were women so the compliments had never come up.
    She felt the delicate feathering of his mind on her shields. “I have learned to defend my mind against intruders, Haedock.”
    He lifted off and cleared his throat. “Apologies. I just wanted to know if I had offended you.”
    “Not offended. I just don’t know what to do. You merely observed a physical change in my body, so I do not thank you, but I haven’t dealt with many men, so I am a little out of my depth here.”
    “Understandable. Well, how about we begin again?”
    She chuckled. “Fine. Hello, Haedock. Nice to see you again.”
    “Hello, Kedna. Using your talent certainly seems to be agreeing with you.”
    “It is. It is. Have you heard the news about Iskan?”
    He blinked. “No, what is going on?
    “Apparently, the last few years of work that Iskan has been doing has been leading up to him opening up that planet as a Guard and Citadel training centre.”
    He looked at her in surprise. “Really?”
    “Iskan is an ideal location. It is empty and the perfect situation for world-wreckers like myself. Halwis and I have divided the world into different training areas depending on the talent of the individual involved.”
    “So, the plans are underway?”
    She laughed. “They are. As Iskan said when I questioned him, His planet, his rules. ”
    Haedock inhaled and then exhaled sharply. “Well, that is certainly true.”
    “He feels your people had enough time to work their way out from planetary dependence and you didn’t do it, so he forced your kind off.”
    Haedock chuckled. “That is certainly blunt. I apologise for our first meeting. I was labouring under the opinions of my parents and hadn’t actually looked into the situation myself. I educated myself the moment we parted.”
    “Understandable. I have done the same with the exodus of the Iskanoi.”
    He nodded. “Iskan did what he could before he sent us off.”
    “It has been three hundred years. Are your folk still obsessed with getting back on the surface?”
    “Only a small faction, mostly descendants of Halwis. They consider Iskan family property.”
    “I would like to hear them tell him that.” She chuckled. It was an interesting mental visual.
    Their mission got off to a much better start than their first one and it continued that way until she brought up population records on Jul. “Oh, damn.”
    They were in the galley on the long stretch between jump points and Ked was trying to remember if she had brought her full-cover robes.
    “What is it?” He set her cup of tea in front of her.
    “The city we are landing near is inhabited by Rexko. They don’t like my species very much. Our home worlds have been at war for hundreds of years.”
    “That might be a problem.”
    “I know. I am trying to remember if I brought my full-concealment robes,