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Overview
Suraden is everything Earth should be: clean lavender sea and green sky, peace and prosperity. Everything is protected by powers, superheroes who begin a mandatory life of service at ten. No exceptions. No escape. A power who doesn’t serve is a Grellan traitor.
Soulchaser is the strongest psychic tracker ever born, a unit leader, the most feared man at the Academy save ‘the old man’ himself. When Soulchaser connects with an astral projected Grellan temptress, his beliefs are shaken. Starseeker offers everything he desires. All he has to do to claim it is trust her completely -- and make a traitor of himself.
Description
"He's coming up, sir."
Julien couldn't place that voice. It was female, not a woman he knew.
"Good," Adrien growled.
Julien licked his lips. His mouth was dry and his body ached.
"Soulchaser," the first voice called again. "I know you can hear me, Soulchaser. Give me a sign."
Julien forced his eyes open. The sea lavender walls swam before him. He cursed softly. They'd stuck him in medical. No operative wanted to end up in medical. For some reason, the med-techs always believed in putting the powers through hell when they were in, as if they were fragile.
"He knows where he is." Adrien chuckled darkly at that.
Julien swung his gaze back to Adrien, moving tenderly. He took in the doctor in surprise, scanning his eyes over the white identi-card on her red work cover. "Human?" he asked.
She nodded. "We do have some talents," she teased.
"I'm sorry. I just thought--"
"Quite all right. We were closer."
"What the hell happened?" Julien demanded weakly, trying to raise an arm to rub his neck and finding the task nearly impossible.
"Medically? Shock complicated by an electrical imbalance--roughly the same thing that would happen if you got hit by a sonic wave unit blast coupled with a lightening strike," she answered dryly.
"Lovely," he growled. "That's about what it felt like."
She winced. "You're stuck here overnight," she informed him. "After that, your own people will handle you--beside the ones they have camped in the hall protecting you now."
"How long have I been out?"
"Overnight." She headed to the door, nodding to Adrien. "He's stable, sir. I'll leave you alone now."
Adrien smiled warmly. "My thanks, doctor, and the Calante's thanks as well." The old man waited until the door closed behind her.
When he turned back to Julien, the smile was gone. "What the hell did you think you were doing, Soulchaser?"
"My job. How was I supposed to know it would bite back?"
"You're trained to know."
"You didn't train me for that," Julien groused.
"What precisely was that?"
"If I knew what it was, I would have been trained for it."
Adrien glared at him.
Julien sighed. He was too damned tired to spar with the old man today. "I don't know. Light. Pain. A feeling that I wasn't...there."
Adrien nodded. "Understood. Who did it?"
"Did?" he asked in confusion.
"Which of the Grellan tried to kill you?" Adrien asked impatiently.
"Kill me? You think that was a trap?"
"Of course. It's the same way they killed your father. Luckily, you have faster reflexes than Empathen did."
Julien let his anger have free rein, though he hid his mind carefully. He was angry, and Adrien would accept that, but Julien wouldn't let the old man know why he was angry. Julien had no doubts that Adrien was lying to him.
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