The medic pronounced Kragyn fit for duty, but Commander Ganatu said he didn’t have an assignment for him yet. He reiterated that Kragyn should get himself prepared.
He took Reanne with him to the Armory to assess his armor and weapons. He had lost some body mass during his captivity, but though he was a bit leaner, his muscle mass had not diminished. As he donned his armor, it adjusted itself to the changes in his body.
Once he had the helmet closed over his face, Reanne thought he looked like a Robocop or something. The armor was a shiny pewter colored, and she could see her reflection in it.
Kragyn flexed his arms and legs then walked up and down the aisle in the center of the room while Reanne watched. When he returned, he backed into the cubicle where his armor was stored. The armor opened and released him. It was serviced with all his weapons lining the walls of the chamber before he had gone on leave two years ago. Everything was as he had left it.
Once he had rechecked it, he took Reanne to the gym to resume her training in fehiatu the Uatu form of martial arts. The physical activity was good for them both, and it helped her put things in perspective. Sometimes, Kragyn sparred with his fellow warriors, and Reanne watched from the sidelines.
The time that he spared a few rounds with Faigon, Reanne was left on the sidelines with Faigon’s mate, Tyema. She had met Reanne briefly in the mess hall the day before, but this was the first time she had a chance to talk.
From a distance, Tyema could have been mistaken for a human with pale blue hair. Up close, the differences were unmistakable. She had darker blue eyebrows over pale blue cat’s eyes. Her almost elfin ears set higher on her head, and the points protruded from her hair. She definitely looked alien, but beautiful.
Reanne introduced herself again then said, “I understand you were kidnapped from Earth as well.”
“Yes. I was wearing a disguise to make me look homo sapien. Some of our male agents have the tops of their ears rounded to make them look more human.”
“Kragyn said you might be able to contact your people from here.
“I am going to try. At one point in my career, I served on a Raptor Starship in communications. I have a meeting scheduled with the chief of communications to see if I can determine how to make the connection.”
“Does Earth know your people are there?” Reanne asked.
“Homeland Security and the CIA know, but they’re keeping it classified,” she said. “If I can get through to the Alliance, they can access your internet.”
“Gosh, I hope you can. If I could just get in touch with my parents, I would feel so much better about all of this,” Reanne said.
“Reaching my family is important to me as well,” said Tyema, “but more important is to make sure the Alliance knows that Sargan slavers are breaching our territory and taking people.”
“Maybe they can hook up with the Consortium and put the Sargan Empire in their place.”
“I think my information will convince them to act. We found hundreds from Earth and other Alliance worlds on Julconi. There must be a lot more out there on other Sargan worlds.”
“It makes me feel better that you will be working on it. Did you hear that Dread One picked up another one of your people on Earth?”
“Yes, Sahvin Kazza. I knew him from our service on Earth. He disappeared before I was taken. I am glad he’s been rescued.”
They paused their conversation to watch their mates spar. The two men were nearly equal in their skill. In four matches they were tied, so they stopped finally and rejoined the women.
When Kragyn and Reanne went back to their quarters, they discarded their sweaty clothing for a round of sweaty sex before they showered and changed for second meal.
Kragyn didn’t even wait until they got to their bedroom to start undressing Reanne. But she was entirely up for it and started helping him. He picked her up and pressed her against the door so he could take her taut nipple into his mouth. When he had sucked them both long enough that her pussy was dripping for him, he let her slide down until he could put the head of his cock at her entrance.
Reanne caught her breath in anticipation of his filling her with it, and he drove it home. Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she made sounds of pleasure each time he pounded into her until they both came exuberantly.
She never knew when the urge would strike where they would end up coupling in their quarters. When they finished, they would laugh together in delight at their mutual enjoyment of each other. She hoped it would never change. The love they shared was more than she ever thought possible.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The AI team scrutinized the data hacked from Sargus Empire sources and found numerous inconsistencies, specifically the timestamp of the entries regarding Uatu Prime.
The chain of command between Dread Four and Seven concluded it was a trap whether or not their people were actually enslaved there. The AI team continued monitoring the Sargan Web digging for any piece of information that would give them a definitive answer.
Tyema Reznar spent a significant part of every day at a com-station attempting to get a message to and from United Galactic Alliance Intelligence. The messages she sent were coded in Narovian. The rest of the time she trained with Faigon in her new combat armor. But Reanne usually got the chance to speak to Tyema in passing at the mess for one meal or another.
She didn’t ask the Narovian if she got a response. They had already discussed the fact that it could be rotation spans before they got an answer. Reanne knew Tyema was diligently working on the problem. She told herself that was enough.
After a rotation span and a half, Commander Ganatu still had not returned Kragyn to duty. When he finally asked Ganatu, he told him all the teams were filled. Pazel Degatu had been leading his team for a complete orbital span and doing it well enough to be promoted to the same rank as Kragyn.
“Okay,” said Kragyn. “Sir, you know I don’t expect to get my old team back. I don’t have to be a leader. I just want to get back to work.”
“Faigon is down a man. Would you accept a subordinate post on his team?”
“It will be an honor to have his back. I just thought Tyema was going to fill that spot.”
“She is officially a trainee.”
“I’ve seen her train, that’s just a formality.”
“She’s really good at communications, too. It will be a real coup if we can connect with this Alliance and put the squeeze on the Sargan Empire.”
“It would be,” Kragyn agreed.
“I’ll inform Faigon that you will be attached to his team until further notice. You may resume active duty, tomorrow.”
“Thank you, sir.” Kragyn nodded in salute and took his leave.
Two rotations later, Dreadnaughts Four and Seven blinked into Algonteg space. That the intercepted message was bait for a Sargan trap was immediately evident on their arrival. There were many battlecruisers in their immediate vicinity with several battle carriers. They fired on the Dreadnaughts within seconds of their appearance.
The AI assisted gunners were at their stations before they dropped out of FTL and were firing back at the Sargans within seconds of arrival. Dread Four took out two battlecruisers, and two more came after them. Number Four took massive damage but managed to blink out into FTL with Dread Seven running interference. They blinked out right after Four.
The damage Dread Four sustained caused the FTL engines to fail. The heavily armed Dreadnaught dropped out in an isolated system, stranded with only sub-light capability. They couldn’t go anywhere fast until they could repair their FTL drive.
The Farseekans had stolen every spare part for their ships they might need from Tegliar Station where they also took the Kurellis. Not every Dreadnaught stocked every component, but collectively they were well stocked.
Of course, Dreadnaught Four didn’t have the power regulator that needed to be replaced. Dread Seven had one. Dread Four would have to wait for Seven to backtrack and find them. They didn’t w
ant to risk signaling them on the chance the Sargans might intercept and discover their location.
While they were waiting, Engineering put out fires and made repairs to damaged weapons systems. The AI received a coded message from Dread Seven a couple hours later and returned an encrypted message with their location despite the risks.
Once they knew Dreadnaught Seven was on their way, Captain Kaldatu had the pilot move Dread Four toward an asteroid field. Engineering started removing the damaged part. They didn’t quite make it before three battlecruisers blinked into the system. Kaldatu could only guess that their coded signal had been tracked.
Most of the weapon systems were back online, and they were able to mount an aggressive defense as Dread Four continued to move toward the asteroid field.
Every hit shook the whole ship. Reanne was alone in their quarters lying strapped in their bed listening to the ship’s com open channel for instructions. Kragyn had been torn about leaving her alone to suit up in his armor and wait on standby with Faigon’s team. He knew she was scared and scared for him.
He was proud of the brave face she put on. She swore she understood that he could better protect her by defending the ship. He knew they couldn’t hold out for long against three battlecruisers with as much damage as they’d sustained.
Regs said Faigon should leave Tyema in their quarters as Kragyn had left Reanne, but Kragyn fully understood why his team leader chose to ignore it. Tyema was a trained warrior; Reanne was not.
Dread Four was putting up a valiant fight. Although it was severely damaged, the gunners were able to disable one of the battlecruisers knocking them out of the battle. They had inflicted massive destruction on the second of the three battlecruisers when their secondary drive was hit and failed. The maneuvering thrusters were the only power left to move the ship.
The pilot turned the ship, so the side with the most functional weapons was facing the battlecruisers. Even while Dreadnaught Four was still firing on them, the Sargan’s contacted them, demanding surrender.
Captain Maldatu responded with an adamant refusal. Farseek Warriors didn’t surrender. They either killed the enemy or the enemy killed them. He then sent ground teams to all the four main access points on the Dread where the Sargan would likely latch a boarding tube onto it and try to come on to the ship.
Soon as they determined which entry point the Sargans were going to try to breach, Commander Ganatu sent the second team to greet them. Faigon’s team was already on standby at one side of the emergency hatch.
It seemed imprudent that the Sargan’s would board the Dreadnaught by force through an opening where the Farseek Warriors could pick them off as they came in. That didn’t stop them from trying it.
Each team of Farseek Warriors lined both sides of the corridor on each side of the hatch. An explosion rocked the whole ship and blew the door to the airlock through the inner wall on the opposite side of the corridor. Armored warriors came pouring through the opening almost immediately.
Some of the Sargan’s took the corridor to the left because it looked empty, but the other team was waiting beyond the bend. The influx of Sargans alternated in direction, either trying to pick off Faigon’s team or advancing down the opposite corridor.
The combat teams were picking them off nearly as fast as they came through the blown hatchway. When the downed invaders started to pile up, the incoming Sargans attempted to climb over them. Faigon and Kragyn and another of their team went down under fire.
Other members of their team moved in to cover them and take down more Sargans. A sudden shudder went through the ship announcing the arrival of Dreadnaught Seven. They devastated the other Sargan battlecruiser so that it broke apart in a fiery explosion that winked out as soon as the oxygen was expended.
Dreadnaught Seven came about and turned its guns on the battlecruiser latched on to Dread Four. Anticipating the imminent destruction of the last Sargan vessel, Captain Kaldatu ordered the evacuation of the two combat teams defending the breach. With half of Faigon’s team down, two of them fired at the Sargans while Tyema dragged the other three back from where the corridor was about to be sealed off.
As soon as the downed team members were in the safety zone, the rest of the team retreated just in time. Dread Seven’s relentless attack on the battlecruiser caused it to break away, tearing the docking tube from Dread Four’s open hatchway. All of the downed Sargans were sucked into space as well as those lined up in the docking tube.
Right after that, the Sargan ship broke apart spewing flames as oxygen was sucked into space.
Kragyn regained consciousness as Tyema was kneeling on the deck by her mate. He receded his own helmet and slowly got to his feet. Their armor had protected them from killing shots, so they were only knocked unconscious. He turned to check the corridor behind him and saw Reanne running toward him.
He frowned, knowing she was breaking a bunch of protocols. She stopped a few feet from him, looking like she expected a scolding.
Kragyn shook his head and smiled at her, walking toward her. “Sweet one, I’m fine, just got the wind knocked out of me.” He stopped very close to her but didn’t touch her though he wanted to. “Go back to our quarters before you get into trouble. I will be there as soon as I can.”
“I had to be sure. It scared the crap out of me when I heard you went down. I’m leaving now.” She backed away a few steps and silently mouthed, “I love you.” Then, she turned and jogged back the way she had come.”
Faigon was on his feet in time to see Reanne’s retreat, and he gave Kragyn a knowing look. “Got knocked out, I must be seeing things,” he smirked. “Let’s get back to the armory and get out of this armor. I’m sure there is plenty to do now that the Sargans are gone. Your mate’s a mechanic, maybe she can help.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Despite massive damage, Dreadnaught Four was still airtight for the most part. Dread Seven shuttled over the parts needed to repair the FTL engine along with their engineering team. Captain Haldatu reported their status to Joint Command. They all agreed it would be prudent to have Dread Seven tow them from the system before the Sargans came looking for the three battlecruisers they had destroyed.
They moved to another system with a thicker asteroid belt where they could hide while tackling the massive repair job on Dread Four. Even with two teams working around the clock it took several days to repair both drives.
Fortunately, the life support generator was still working because it was not dependent on either engine that was down. While the repairs were ongoing, the AI and communications teams covertly delved into Sargan communications and determined definitively that Algonteg prime was a trap and no Uatu people were being held there. Mission accomplished.
A number of the crew sustained bumps and bruises during the battle, but none died or sustained serious injuries.
Kragyn cleared it with both Commander Ganatu and Captain Kaldatu for Reanne to observe and assist with repairs where she could. Not everything needed an engineer to repair it. Some fixes were strictly nuts and bolts and conduit replacements. Even the warriors were pitching in as well.
Everyone was glad that Dread Seven arrived when it did, or they might all have become prisoners of the Sargan Empire. If they were only sent to Julconi, they would have been lucky. After interrogation under torture and mind probes, they likely would have been executed.
That sent a shiver up and down Reanne’s spine when Kragyn told her that. She never forgot the times that Pican applied his pain stick to her.
One benefit resulted from the space battle. When the Sargan ships broke apart, three transport shuttles spilled out into space. Dread Seven put two of them in their landing bay and one in Dread Four. They could have used some extra shuttles when they evacuated people from Julconi. Command was sure they could use them somewhere.
A few days later, Tyema was called to the bridge during second meal with Faigon’s team including Kragyn and Reanne. Thinking she might be reprimanded for joining his
team at the hull breach, Faigon wanted to go with her. Tyema refused and tactfully told him she didn’t need him to hold her hand while she was reprimanded.
Tyema never got back to her lunch. They didn’t see her until over an hour later when she returned to where the team was inspecting circuits for damage. Apparently, there had been no reprimand because she was smiling broadly as she rejoined them.
“What?” Faigon asked, smiling back at her.
“The Alliance answered my messages! They needed me to translate the replies. Drayids attacked Earth killing millions and wreaking damage in a dozen major cities.”
“Only cities?” Reanne asked worriedly.
“Yes, Reanne. The closest they came to your town was Washington DC.”
Reanne nodded, remembering that Tyema had been taken only a couple hundred miles from her town.
“The best news is that the Alliance wants to join with the Consortium to bring down the Sargus Empire. They want all their people returned, including the ones stolen from Earth.”
“No,” Reanne said immediately. “I’m not going anywhere without Kragyn. We are solmatu.”
“I don’t think you have to worry,” Tyema soothed. “Solmatu and meomee are different words for the same thing. Faigon and I are proof of that. The Alliance will not force you to leave your solmatu. They want the people enslaved back.”
“Will we be able to contact our families?” Reanne asked.
“I believe so, once we establish full communications with them,” Tyema replied. “I want that too. After translating their reply, Kaldatu and Ganatu had me reply to them with communication parameters to contact the Consortium High Council. They will take it from here.”
“Can the Alliance tell them how to find Earth?” Reanne asked.
“They can, but Dread One already discovered that information on a Pican ship they commandeered. It’s a long journey even from here because the Alliance is on the far side of the Sargan Empire.”
Kragyn (Farseek Warrior Series Book 1) Page 14