Dean Dean finds himself adrift in deep space after an unfortunate collision on the fold space highway. A chance discovery of an unusual artifact brings him to the attention of the feared Dedan Empire.
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Dean's eyes never left his target's slender, etched ebony torso and his aim was true. He didn't know what he expected but it wasn't the gentle disbursement of the plasma pulse as it contacted Miss Yadnee's skin. If his eye's hadn't deceived him, the symbols on her skin glowed faintly as contact was made.
The only other sign anything might have happened was a deep, satisfied breath from the bar's proprietor as she stood a little taller.
"Did that satisfy you, Mr. Dean?" she asked, when he'd recovered from some of the shock.
"Nice trick," he said, tossing her the pistol.
She caught it in one hand and, in a single graceful movement, twisted it in her palm then aimed and shot. The vase behind him exploded.
Dean hadn't even had time to contemplate moving.
"Okay," he said, "perhaps a bit more than a trick. Those are real, then?" he asked, nodding toward her torso.
"Each one of them I etched myself, after a decade of contemplation."
The text was foreign to him. Symbols that he'd never seen. They appeared to be formed of a material that glowed in the right light. He drew his gaze away from them, to look directly into her yellow eyes. "But the Vizin are gone. Extinct. Hunted to oblivion. How can you be here? How many more of you are there?"
"We were hunted, yes. To our shame, it took us too long to believe it was true and too many of our number were lost before we did. We've been in hiding since before the rise of The Bunda's League. But even hidden, we are no longer safe. We need your help."
"Well, that's quite flattering, but why me?"
"I'm beginning to ask myself the same question."
She steepled her fingers and closed her eyes for a moment before speaking again.
"Information moves fast, Mr. Dean. Faster even than The Fold. Your encounter with the artifact has not escaped our attention. So when the illustrious Admiral Gomari of the Third Dedan Fleet made what would otherwise be an absurd request -- one does not just ask to dock at Kualanandar -- I stepped in to make it happen."
"But why?" Dean asked, wondering just how deep this wormhole he'd found himself in might be. "I'm just a dashingly handsome smuggler who's run into a little Dedan trouble."
When she smiled, her eyes sparkled and for a moment Dean allowed himself to see her as a beautiful woman instead of the frighteningly powerful member of a near-extinct religion. Then the moment passed.
"You are much more than you know, Mr. Dean. And you are in much more trouble than you can understand. Even we who have studied millennia of ancient myths and lore do not know the full truth. But what we do know is that the artifact you opened was not what it seemed."
"Well, I figured that much..."
"You have awakened forces that should not have been awakened."
