Betrayal 05

She brushed her fingers lightly over his brow and down the side of his face. "He's not ready for this daddy. He hasn't healed completely yet; his stamina is still weak, and he doesn't even know how to use most of the new things we installed into him." A soft chuckle from her mother interrupted her, making her look up.

"Well, he learned a new one today, well part of one anyway." Brigit's eyes grew as she listened to her mother. "During the meeting I was dropping data packs at him. Trust me; I was as surprised as he was that you hadn't told him about that feature." Frowning at her daughter, she cocked her head to the side slightly. "Why is that anyway? If I remember correctly, that was one of the first ones we learned how to use when we got all this plugged into our heads."

Brigit looked down thoughtfully, her fingers running through Mykal's hair absently. "We had never done anything like this before. He was uncharted territory, regardless of how much we 'knew' it would work. Uncle Jason and I went around and around about this, but he finally convinced me that the best course of action, as far as Mykal's recovery, would be to develop and strengthen the things he already knew how to use from before. We figured that once we did that, all the rest would be that much easier to learn how to use." She looked up at her father, irritation obvious in her eyes. "This is why I said we needed to wait. He won't hesitate to do anything this family asks of him. He'll literally go until he drops, and eventually he'll go just that little bit too far and he won't get back up." Leaning down and kissing his forehead lightly, she whispered, "I won't let that happen, daddy. I can't let it happen."

Hans looked at his wife and then his youngest son, eyes wide in surprise. Tobias had his head down, while covering his mouth and trying to hide a chuckle as a cough; while Elaine rolled her eyes and smiled at her husband, shaking her head at his lack of observation skills.

Finally looking up, she noticed her family watching her; one with a look of amazed confusion, the other two in happy amusement. Her face and neck immediately flushed a red almost as bright as her hair.

Finally composing himself after a moment, Hans cleared his throat. "I don't know if my heart can handle much more of this today." he muttered, taking another pull of the drink on his desk. "You do realize we'll have to do something about this when we get home don't you?" He looked pointedly at his wife, who nodded slowly and smiled slightly.

"Do something? What do you mean?" Brigit said standing quickly and facing her father. The look of fear on her face, told her father more than any answer to any question he could have asked.

"Your mother will take care of it, and will keep you informed of what you need to be informed of." he said, with false severity.

Tobias walked forward, "Do you want me to get someone to help me move him to his quarters, father?"

Hans shook his head. "No, with his new rank, he will be moving into the royal suites. I will need you to go to his quarters and gather his personal belongings Tobi." He held his hand up as Brigit was about to speak. "I am nearly certain that there is going to be some sensitive military information in his quarters, and I want you to be the one to collect it all and secure it in his new quarters, which you Brigit; " he said as he looked to his daughter, "will be setting up while Mykal gets some rest in here. Understood?" Both of his children nodded in acquiescence, though Brigit did so a second slower than her brother. "Be about it then. Don't worry Brigit; I will make sure that he is not disturbed. Perhaps I'll have Ensign Jeffries watch over him." The lightning that flashed in her eyes made him chuckle. "Or perhaps not."

******

As Mykal began to regain consciousness, he realized a couple of things. He had fallen asleep on the couch in his king's study, while in full dress uniform. And neither of these things was comfortable. Mentally checking the time, he realized that he had been asleep for nearly seven hours. "No wonder I'm so sore" he whispered to himself.

"I told them you were going to wake up sore as Hades after sleeping, in your uniform, on that really uncomfortable couch." a man's voice came from across the room, "But of course, try telling my mom anything opposed to what she wants."

Mykal bolted upright and scanned the room quickly. "Colonel, I mean, you're Highness, I mean..." he stuttered to a stop looking at the younger man who was just sitting there chuckling.

"Same rule applies for me Mykal. No ranks in private. Tobias or Tobi." he said with a glint in his eyes. "Or I'll have to tell my Mother you aren't following the rules.

Mykal rolled his eyes. "Must be genetic." he mumbled under his breath as he stood and stretched slightly. "Speaking of you mother, where are your parents?"

"Damn, she's right, you never do quit." Tobias said with an eye roll. "They finally went to bed a couple hours ago. I myself just got here after my late night nap, which followed my moving your belongings to your new quarters. I had a few questions that I wanted to ask you, before my father woke up. I want to avoid any extra stress that I can." Tobi picked up a pad that was sitting next to him on the desk, and held it out for Mykal to take. "As much as I would love for those pictures to tell a story of how you are a slob in your private space; having seen firsthand how elaborate your room was to begin with, I don't think these pictures were you."

Mykal flipped through the various pictures on the pad, shocked at how his quarters looked. "Someone thrashed my quarters sometime since I left to have lunch with your parents early yesterday." He passed a weary hand over his face. "Gods, has it been less than a day? What about computer access logs; couldn't they say who accessed my room?"

Tobi nodded in reply. "Yes, usually there is. However, in this case there is no record of anyone going into your quarters after you left." The young prince looked Mykal in the eye. "Not a single person and I looked at the log after we left."

"Someone bypassed the ship's security system." Mykal said, finishing Tobi's thought. "What the hell were they after? I don't have any access to anything allthatsensitive. Well, I didn't before yesterday. Hell, I don't even know what kind of access I have now. We didn't get much time to cover that."

"Total."

"Wait, what?" Mykal's head snapped up to meet Tobi's eyes. "What do you mean 'total'?"

"Exactly what I said. You have total access, well provided that it has been recorded by my father. You have the same access he has. Everything." Tobias chuckled. "In fact, you have more access than I do."

"Why in Hades would I have that much access and who in their right name would give it to me?" Mykal whispered to himself, taken back at the revelation.

"Because you deserve it silly." came the lilting voice that set his heart racing as soon as he heard it.

He was immediately on his feet, bowing to the red haired vision that walked in the door. "Princess, thank you for the kind words, though I hardly deserve them." His steel grey eyes met her stormy green. As much as he enjoyed seeing her, he hadn't forgotten that she was holding information back from him as to what was installed in his brain.

As he straightened from the bow, she took three quick steps forward and quick as lightning, a smack rang out in the room. Mykal's eyes narrowed slightly as he looked into her red, angry face. "What in Hades is it with the women in this family and smacking me?" he growled out.

"If you would listen as you know you should, it wouldn't be an issue, now would it?" Elaine's voice said, from the side entrance to the room.

Without taking his eyes from Brigit's, he replied, "Well, Elaine, I was taught never to strike a woman for any reason. Like tinkering around in someone's head and not telling them what they were doing. So, since I can't do what you and your daughter so seem to like to do, I figure that treating the situation formally would be much better than losing my temper."

Elaine chuckled softly. "Having seen you lose your temper, I can imagine it would be better for all involved if you didn't do so again."

Mykal's head turned slowly and he looked at the Queen, just as the King entered the room from the same door she had just come through, his aide following him. "Elaine, what you saw yesterday was not me losing my temper, but was me controlling a situation with a weak man." Her eyes got slightly bigger, but immediately went back to her normal, soft and caring composure; a soft gasp coming from her daughter.

"I thought that it looked far too controlled on your side of things. Especially, after what he said he was going to do with Brigit." she said, her eyebrows drawing together in anger when she thought about it.

His eyes instantly snapped back to Brigit, and amid the rage he was obviously feeling, there was a touch of something that she couldn't help but think was fear. "What did he say about me?" she asked quietly.

Mykal shook his head softly, trying to stop her from seeking answers, but he was not able to speak before her mother spoke up. "Barovos gloated that after your father lost the crown to your brother, for his assistance, you were to be his prize." Elaine sighed softly. "He was a touch more vulgar than that though."

Brigit's eyes got large, as the facts washed over her. She saw the new flare of pure rage in Mykal's eyes, as the muscles in his jaw clenched and she heard his teeth grind. She took a step closer, lightly laid a hand on his chest and looked up into his eyes. "Mykal, you need to calm down. Nothing is going to happen to me now, you took care of that; he'll never get close to me again. Please calm down for me." she whispered.

From behind him, Mykal heard the king speak. "Mykal, we have some things to go over today, but I think you need to go change and freshen up. I need to have a word with Brigit, so could you show Mykal to his new quarters, Tobi?"

Mykal nodded, "Yes, sir." never taking his eyes away from Brigit's.

Lifting up on her tiptoes, she brushed a surprising and feather light kiss on his cheek. "Go settle in. I promise we will talk later." she said with a slight blush and smile.

Mykal nodded, a smile twitching at the corner of his lips. "We have a lot to go over." he whispered, tapping the back of his head, just above the data jack in the base of his skull. He brushed a light kiss over her forehead as he walked by her, ignoring the fact that there were others in the room, and followed Tobi out of the room.

The king smiled at his daughter. "Well, I guess that is one question I don't have to ask."