“We don’t-not immediately. It may even take several years before Crad Ce Moerr feels safe enough not to surround himself with guards. Nor will Secs be allowed anywhere near Goverance Building. He’ll likely still use them, in other cities, but at Goverance Building, where he’s keeping Garr Ce Bernn hostage, there will be only Sha-Ka’ari.”

“He’ll have to keep himself prisoner as well, if he hopes to stay alive,” she growled.

“Just about,” Rourk agreed. “We won’t be sitting back and playing ‘it’s all right.’ When the opportunity comes to get rid of the farden slime, we’ll do it.”

“But if there aren’t any Secs left in the city-”

“Do you think men have to be Secs to fight, Tedra?”

She colored a little. She hadn’t meant to imply he was a coward. But it would take forever if they had to depend on citizens to overcome the Sha-Ka’ari.

“I’m glad to know at least that no one’s taking this with a shrug.”

“Oh, you can be sure there are those who don’t really care. The new Director and his directives won’t affect everyone. There’ll even be some who’ll like the changes. The computers might be wrong in the objectives they’ve come up with, given all the facts fed to them so far, but it looks like Ce Moerr might have liked the way the Sha-Ka’ari do things. One of the possibilities is that he means to subjugate our women, to get them out of their present positions of power and back to the servile level they broke out of thousands of years ago.”

“What the hell has he done that would suggest that?”

“Every single woman in Gallion City holding a job of any importance, and even a few in secondary positions, have already been fired. The next male in line for that position has been given it.”

“Without reason?” she gasped.

“None is needed when the directive comes from Goverance Building. You know that.”

“What else?” she demanded, in the grips of an anger like nothing she’d ever felt before.

“They’ve already gone on file as being unacceptable for employment.”

“Then what are they supposed to do for exchange tokens? How can they support themselves-”

“That’s just it, Tedra; they can’t. They’ll either have to resort to lawbreaking, in which case the Sha-Ka’ari get them, or they’ll have to depend on a man to support them, not an easy thing for some women to accept.”

No, it wasn’t. She knew she couldn’t. To have to ask a man for everything you wanted or needed when you knew perfectly well you were capable of providing it for yourself, to be told no if he felt like it, or be forced to beg and wheedle it out of him. Tedra shuddered, quickly addressing the alternative he mentioned.

“What was that about lawbreaking and the Sha-Ka’ari getting them?”

“You’re not going to like it, babe, but I have it from Dexal, who’s been watching Goverance Building. Three women were brought in this morning on minor infractions, things worth no more than a handslap and a warning. All three were later taken to one of the Sha-Ka’ari ships. That ship has already left planet. It looks like the female Secs aren’t the only women the Sha-Ka’ari were promised for their help.”

There it was, what she had feared. “Tavra and Prish from my unit?”

“Both on that same ship. It looks like the Sha-Ka’ari especially want all female Secs, which is why I was going out of my head worrying about you before you called. I think they like the idea of making slaves of what they consider female warriors. The directive already went out, ordering every other female Sec on the planet to report to Goverance Building. And they’ll come, unsuspecting, unless we can somehow make known what is really happening. But all traffic has been suspended from leaving the city and no outgoing calls are permitted. The best we can hope to do right now is try and intercept them as they arrive.”

Tedra closed her eyes, letting it all sink in. “You think they mean to eventually enslave all Kystran women?”

“I think they’ll take all they can get, in any way they can get them without alerting the general populace to what they’re doing. The lawbreakers are an easy catch. They can be brought in without questions, and if anyone does inquire about them, they can be told they were sentenced. Several laws have already been changed that will make a good number of women lawbreakers without their even knowing it. You’re-ah-one yourself.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “Am I?”

“Ce Moerr’s lowered the women’s Age of Consent from twenty-five to eighteen. You are now illegally unbreached.”

She blanched. “He can’t do that! I’m not the only woman who’s never accepted a man before.”

It had been decided years ago that a woman shouldn’t be allowed to hold herself back from sex-sharing, that it was somehow detrimental to her health. Tedra was a living example that that just wasn’t so, but who was she to buck the laws? So an age had been picked, twenty-five, as being quite long enough for a woman to file for double occupancy, or be on file in one or more Stress Clinics. If she hadn’t taken the plunge by then to find out how beneficial sex-sharing was supposed to be, then a partner would be chosen for her, by computer of course, so he’d be ideally suited to her, and allowed to legally rape her if she was still having doubts.

It had been a source of slowly growing panic for Tedra, as she approached the Age of Consent, that even as a Sec she wouldn’t be able to get around the law. She would, of course, have chosen someone before then, likely Rourk, just to get the farden unfair law satisfied. But she hadn’t been looking forward to it.

“Don’t frown so, babe,” Rourk interrupted her thoughts, just short of grinning. “Your new stats will list you as breached and a member of no less than four Stress Clinics.”

She blushed. She couldn’t help it. She didn’t have many close friends like Rourk, but those few she did have found it a source of amusement how she felt about sex-sharing, especially since they knew she was all for it, that it was only the choice in partners that was giving her trouble.

Fortunately, Martha came back on line then, before she really got to brooding about it. “Everything’s taken care of, kiddo.” Martha was using her sexy, purring voice for Rourk’s benefit. “You’re now Tamber De Oss, a World Discoverers Pilot with Explorations. I suppose you’d like a World Discoverers craft now?”

“That would be nice,” Tedra replied dryly. “And if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, you might hook up with Supply’s computers and requisition enough supplies for a lengthy voyage.”

“No problem, doll. Anything else?”

“Yes, I want-”

Rourk’s tap on her shoulder cut her off. “You- ah-better do something quick about your friend there. I’ll tell Martha what else you need.”

Tedra was already rushing across the room to drop down beside the warrior, who was starting to make waking noises. Damn, he hadn’t been out very long. “Ask Martha to find that agent and have it delivered,” she called over her shoulder, fighting off the hand that came immediately to her when she spoke. “Easy, baby.” She pried his fingers from her hair and leaned forward to whisper by his ear, “You’re drunk. Too much good Antury wine. But you’re having a great time.”

He must have thought so, for his head turned and his mouth caught hers just as her fingers went to his neck. Swirls of want and need denied too long came rushing to the surface, almost making Tedra forget to apply the pressure that would put him out again. But she did apply it. Her lips clung to his a moment more before his head fell to the side.

Tedra sat back on her heels, sighing as she stared at him. His hair was short and as black as her original color. His eyes were a lovely amber. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a man put together quite so nicely-

well, except maybe his taller friend. It was a farden shame they had to be her enemies.