Chapter 9, A New Partner 2

(Callie)

Callie, having taken a shower and changed, returned to the training gym. It was 7:30, her body felt loose ready for action. Several hours of sparring had left her ready for the day. She winced at several bruises and her aching arms, but that was a good pain. Several times she had been reminded why she shouldn't underestimate the Zrixian soldiers. Especially that seemingly ordinary Captain Dustin.

Callie adjusted her shirt, pulling the wool cloth and bra underneath into a more comfortable position. She glanced down at her cargo pants and soft soled leather boots. One might think that the rare leather would be a dead giveaway she was from somewhere else. Callie would buy new boots and clothing if it was necessary, but the expensive boots and cargo pants helped her cover.

With delicate work, she had removed the Etrian brand name from the tongue of the boots and replaced it with one from her so-called home planet of Saleia. Even the tags on her cargo pants were resewn to appear from Saleia. She probably didn't need to be overly cautious, but she wasn't taking any chances when the Devali was involved.

Callie took in a deep breath. The sleek black door had a greenish tinge around the edge from the barrier over head. She raised her hand and knocked on the heavy door leading into the side of the large warehouse. The door opened and a somewhat familiar face greeted her. He was in his mid-twenties, maybe twenty-three. With sharp features and the well built athletic frame of a fighter. Callie scanned him from head to toe. He wore nylon combat boots, brown cargo pants and a formfitting soft cotton shirt. His hair glistened in the green light of the barrier, styled upwards as though he was just in the shower. Callie Smiled, her heart skipped a beat as the smell of lilac filled her nose.

"Captain Dustin, what are you doing here?" asked Callie.

"Ahh, Callie, please come in and take a seat." Said Dustin, taking a step back, his eyes bouncing to her gun and knife. His eyes only lingered on her chest for only a moment, but just long enough for her to notice.

Callie took a seat facing the man. The office had nothing of note, only having two chairs and a small white desk. Aside from a small opaque window, the room was rather bare. Anxiety welled in her chest as she met Dustin's calculated stare.

" You may have already guessed, but to state it plainly, I am the one who sent you that message last night." Said Dustin, smoothing his wrinkled white shirt. Through the thin fabric, Callie could make out the lines of his toned chest. She shook herself mentally. Now wasn't the time. The Devali were her enemy, they were the worst of the worst.

" So you got in the ring to fight me to test my skill for yourself?" Asked Callie, raising an eyebrow at him.

Dustin scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. The mans full lips turned up in amusement.

" It was a good fight. To be honest, I should have watched you a bit more before getting into the ring." Said Dustin, chuckling.

" I enjoyed the fight. If you moved out of the way of my net, you would have lasted a lot longer." Said Callie, cracking a smile. The net was her personal invention. Well, as far as she knew, anyway. She was working on it in secret for when she needed to fight Villus again.

" Where did you learn that? The way your net gave when I struck it and then lashed itself to the ground was brilliant." Said Dustin, clearly excited.

" It's a hobby of mine. I enjoy experimenting with the art. Discovering new ways of fighting is a lot of fun." Said Callie honestly.

Dustin scratched his short, unkempt beard and stood. The silence stretched as Dustin analyzed Callie's face for something. Callie held in her emotions, hoping she appeared cool and collected.

" So, why did you call me here? Surely it wasn't to talk about my skill in the art." Asked Callie.

" I brought you here to test you. Do you know who I work for?" asked Dustin

" I think you are Devali." Said Callie, getting straight to the point.

" And what if I said I wasn't?" Said Dustin.

" I might call you a liar." Said Callie, tapping a finger on her chair, unperturbed as though it were obvious.

Dustin laughed, his handsome face scrunching in amusement.

" Or maybe you jumped to conclusions after watching the news? There is a lot of talk going around about the Devali and their involvement with the Secari prisoners." Said Dustin.

" I have actually not heard much about that. I have been more focused on the budding tension between our empire and the Slax." Said Callie.

" Fair enough, the media has been blaring that around the clock for days." Said Dustin, droning his fingers on his desk.

Callie nodded her head.

" So, if I may ask, what are you looking for? Why did you ask me to meet you this morning?" Asked Callie. She was tiring of all this dancing around the real topic.

Dustin let out a sigh.

"I'm looking for a partner. Someone to have my back." Said Dustin, seriously.

" Sort of like a wolf and her pack? You need someone you trust to always have your support, whether it's in a fight or on the political battlefield?" Said Callie. She could understand that. It was why she, Warren and Peyton had become allies and close friends in the brutal training of the compound.

"Something like that." Said Dustin.

" But you don't know if you can trust me?" Said Callie, twirling her hair around one finger.

" No, no I don't. My job demands I distrust everyone." Said Dustin hesitantly.

"Well then, that sounds like we would both need to make a leap of faith. Putting trust in another is like getting on a rickety ship full of holes and going into space." Said Callie.

"That is certainly a frightening prospect. Have you actually tried that?" Asked Dustin, his eyes widening at the prospect. His face scrunched up in thought, going from startled concern to that look one gives someone who they think might be insane.

Callie shrugged her shoulders. Dustin didn't need to know about that time Warren convinced her and Peyton to steal one of the older model falcons to try and leave the atmosphere. The ship hadn't even taken off. She smiled fondly at the memories, remembering Peyton frantically trying to come up with a suitable lie to tell the instructors. Her mood darkened as she remembered the image of Peyton. His eyes swollen mostly shut and his lips split.

Callie steeled herself and stood, holding out a hand to Dustin.

" I can offer you my support. But that does not mean I am offering my support to your organization. I don't know them or trust them. Until I have decided you are trustworthy, I will not trust you either." Said Callie unapologetically. This was a gamble. She could have acted subservient, but after speaking with Dustin, she knew he wouldn't believe something like that.

Dustin's eyebrows rose, and he leaned back, reclining in his chair.

" And how do I know you will support me? The job I do is one of death deceit and intrigue." Asked Dustin.

" Because, like you, I too have goals." Said Callie, hoping her disarming smile showed sincerity.

" And what are those goals?" Said Dustin, standing and approaching her, but still not taking her outstretched hand.

"There are people I want dead." Said Callie.

" If you are talking about the Etrians who killed your instructor, then I think we can come to an arrangement." Said Dustin.

Callie nodded her head. Only then did Dustin take her hand. Standing right in front of her, only then did Callie notice he was several inches shorter, perhaps just over six feet. The mans hard stare and piercing hazel eyes made her not want to lie to him. So far she hadn't spoke a single lie to him. He didn't need to know that she wanted to kill Zrixians instead of Etrians.

And that was how Callie found herself looking at a falcon class ship from inside its docking bay. Callie had not expected to be returning to this bay at all, let alone mere days after arriving in Berdant.

Callie had her hair in a mesh netting and wore a tight fitting white lab coat while she patiently went over every inch of the ship with a hand sized scanner. Slow and methodical, she combed the four seats and the consol for DNA or fingerprints. The hand sized device projected blue light onto whatever surface she pointed it at, highlighting anything like hair or fingerprints.

Once done, she saved a video recording and moved to the main console of the ship. If Villus had left anything for them to find, it would be in here. Dustin peeked inside, looking like some lab tech in his own Personal protective equipment. The white jumpsuit clung to his well muscled frame in a way that made Callie's heart race.

Callie returned to her work. She removed the small bolts holding the hand scanner to the main console of the ship gingerly. Inside, dozens of wires snaked through the console.

Dustin approached her from behind, his boots hardly making a sound as he ascended the metal planking of the ship. Callie breathed rhythmically and removed the wires responsible for powering the palm scanner. She pulled a small port from her pocket and reattached the wires.

Then she attached her comm. A holographic display floated into the air for both Dustin and Callie to see. Like the instructors taught her, Callie scanned each file, searching for the ruminants of both deleted and remaining files. Her comm worked rapidly, pulling up a file. It was an completely blurred out photo. She poked and prodded, going over every redundancy she could think of to clear the image. After all, her new boss was looking over her shoulder.

Callie felt distinctly uncomfortable with this, but she wanted to establish a trusting relationship. Pulling a knife on the guy for standing so close might be considered hostile?

" Can you stop standing so close? I feel like I'm on my first day at work and my boss won't stop watching over my shoulder." said Callie, a hint of amusement in her voice.

" I was curious to see your work. I must say, you are thorough." said Dustin, his tone impressed.

Callie pondered his words as she searched through the physical innards of the console for a hard drive. Finding nothing, she stared at the only remaining file she had found. A thought crossed her mind. What if it was not a picture, but an encryption file? Sometimes when malware wiped a device, encryption files would be spared. Callie grinned. Villus must have messed up? She set a subroutine on her com and reclined in her chair.

"What are you doing? That is just a scrambled photo. You cannot piece it back together with a decription." said Dustin, sitting next to her in the copilot's seat of the cockpit.

Well, she had said she didn't want him behind her. Callie mumbled to herself. She furrowed her brows as the image floating in front of her changed. It wasn't a picture at all. Several thirteen digit numbers filled the screen.

Callie's breath caught in her throat. The first number was unfamiliar, but the next two were something Callie had memorised.

" What do you think?" asked Dustin, eying the numbers with apparent interest.

" I think they might be contacts of the Secari." said Callie, anxiety welling in her chest. How had this happened? Villus was more cautious than that. Next to her, Dustin rose and walked to the back of the ship. She listened intently as he spoke with someone over his comm. Sadly, he spoke to quietly and she couldn't catch his soft words.

Dustin returned a minute later.

" So we have some good news. That top number there is actually a resident of this city. He is Lyle Jaden, a judge here on Berdant." said Dustin, pulling up a holographic image of an older man. The mans gut protruded like a muffin and his greying head was mostly bald on top. He had large jowls and a clean shaven wrinkly face.

" And the other two?" asked Callie, hiding her nerves.

" Once they make a call, we should be able to track their whereabouts. The numbers are all being monitored now." said Dustin.

" What are we going to do about this, Lyle Jaden?" asked Callie. Her mind raced. She needed to message Warren as soon as possible to let him know.

" We will do some digging. I want to see what sort of naughty behaviour Lyle Jaden been up to." said Dustin.

Callie stood and couldn't help but smirk.

"What is so funny?" asked Dustin.

" You make him sound like a disobedient child when you use the word naughty." said Callie.

Several hours later, Callie and Dustin were in a shuttle, driving down the street at breakneck speed. Callie was in the driver's seat, the pedal to the metal.

By the look on Dustin's pale face and the fact he was gripping the roll handle with a whitenuckled grip, Dustin was regretting his words from only a minute ago.

Callie hit on her horn as she barreled past some slow traffic that was driving a reasonable fifty miles an hour.

Callie glanced in her rear-view mirror and smiled. In record time, she had traveled nearly half the city. The shuttle whirred as it took the last corner to the navy administrative building at what they might consider a reckless speed. As per Dustin's request, she had gotten there as quickly as possible. Dustin stumbled from the passenger side as the shuttle came to a smooth halt.

Callie walked around the sleek, dark red shuttle, patting the hood fondly as the shuttle settled gently to the road. Dustin shook himself, his pale face finally gaining some colour as he took in deep breaths.

She raised an eyebrow at the man as he held his knees and gasped for breath. Callie cracked a smile.

" Well, what are you waiting for? Didn't you say we needed to hurry." said Callie, gesturing to the sliding door with armed soldiers out front.

Dustin waved her words away, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

" Wait here, I will be back shortly." Said Dustin, flashing a badge as he walked past the two soldiers.

Callie herself leaned casually against the red hood of the shuttle, running her fingers along its smooth surface while watching to two soldiers out front of the building cautiously.

Those hard men were dressed in deep black light armour. Each with the symbol of a golden raven emblazoned on their chests. Callie herself had her pistol in her underarm leather holster and judging by the two men's glare, she was a subject of interest. She glares back unapologetically. With their light armour, her armour piercing rounds could penetrate either their thin neck armour or their face plates.

Her dark black hair played around her face as traffic whooshed down the street behind her. After nearly a half hour inside, Dustin returned, his complexion now back to its normal deep brown.

" So what next, boss?" Asked Callie.

" We are going to do some snooping. With some luck and a lot of waiting, we might be able to catch this judge Lyle Jaden committing treason." Said Dustin.

Dustin opened the shuttle's driver side door and slid inside. Callie grumbled to herself, opening the passenger's door.

" What? Are you too chicken to let me drive again?" Asked Callie. Dustin glanced across at her, and she gave him an innocent smile.

" You are a horrible person, do you know that?" Said Dustin, pulling the shuttle out into the bustling traffic.