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"This is intolerable," Avon was rasping. "We should get her off the ship immediately. She's a liability."
Blake was resolutely in favor of the Auron named Cally remaining aboard the Liberator. "She's a skilled warrior, she hates the Federation and her telepathic skills could come in handy."
"So far these 'handy' telepathic skills have been detrimental to all of us," Avon snapped. "I for one do not need any more psychic blasts in my head whenever Vila knocks a glass of Soma to the floor."
"Oi! I would never be so wasteful!" Vila proclaimed, indignant.
Avon ignored him. "She's skittish—she jumps at every loud noise. I am not convinced she's worth all the headaches we're getting from her 'telepathic handiness'."
Gan was standing off to the side, listening with quiet interest. Finally, he said, "She's still living in a war zone."
Blake said, "Well, the Liberator is not a battlefield. She must be made to understand that she is safe here with us."
"Is she—?" Avon hissed and Blake glared at him.
"Let me talk to her," Gan said. "I think I understand what she's going through."
***
"You're here to tell me that I need to leave, aren't you?" Cally asked Gan. "My presence is disruptive. Avon, especially, seems to hate me."
The big man smiled. "Avon has little patience for any of us. Try not to take it personally. I noticed that you're still a bit jumpy since Saurian Major and stress, even if it's the memory of stress, makes people lose control sometimes. For instance, I know that leaving a combat zone can do that to you. My woman was a soldier and she used to wake up screaming in the middle of the night and I had to hold her until she calmed down. You see, I've got a bit of a temper myself—which resulted in me getting this." He tapped the back of his head. "But I had to try and learn ways to control it and also to help her. So I started reading about an Old Calendar relaxation method called 'yoga'. And this actually helped a great deal."
Cally had never heard of "yoga" but when Gan explained it to her, she was astonished that such a large, powerful man was so enamored by such a gentle discipline. She found herself amused by mental images of the calm giant assuming the meditative poses he described.
"But despite that, you still wound up with a limiter."
"Well," Gan said darkly, "that was an entirely different situation. They told you about me, didn't they?"
"Yes," Cally said. Then she sighed, resigned. "Show me this 'yoga' of yours, Gan. Something needs to calm me down."
To her own amazement, Cally became an avid student of the philosophy and her nose was frequently in datapads, researching old Terran techniques. She was often seen by the other crew members sitting very still and serene, counting her breaths. She even began to offer her services to the medical unit. And most surprising of all, antagonistic Avon seemed to be drawn to this new, peaceful Cally who had taken the place of the jumpy guerilla warrior.
Much later, she said to Gan, "Did this ... practice... eventually help your lover?"
"It did. But it couldn't save her, and neither could her military training. And it didn't save me either. But it let us sleep at night during wartime."
Cally then said, "Tell me about her, Gan. What was her name?"
Gan had never mentioned her name: even saying it aloud was too painful. But he did tell Cally... and she never forgot this honor.