The Mercenary's Dawn

by L P Peace

  ‘Yes,’ she said the word clearly. ‘But that doesn’t mean I don’t get aroused. I have had sex.’

  ‘You told me. When you were feverish. You told me about Caras station and the Ualha.’

  Alethia’s face flamed. ‘I don’t remember that,’ she whispered.

  ‘I will never forget. Alethia, you are my dycalti.’

  Alethia was familiar with the Amaran word. His meaning stole her breath. He had just declared her his mate, his heart, a part of his soul.

  ‘I am attracted to you. I don’t know what else beyond that. I can’t think for dread for my home and people.’

  ‘Because you do not trust me.’ His voice was calm.

  ‘I want to, Thanesh,’ she whispered. ‘I want to trust you. I want you to protect us. To protect me. I want what you told me in the cave.’ Alethia stood. It was true; she could see it, her future with the leader of the Protectorate. Her own protector, who cared for her, wanted her. ‘I just can’t quite bring myself to believe it.’ She shook her head, organising her thoughts. ‘You have Amaran ships and medicine. Inadiine weapons and armour tech. You eat Adosian spices, have Maruzen engines that run on Todaal radiant with Kuyon stealth tech. What do my people have to offer compared to all of them?’

  Thanesh stood and walked over to her. Alethia forced herself to stay in place as he got close enough to place one hand to her cheek.

  ‘They have the most important thing; the most important female.’ He smiled down at her. ‘You will trust me. I will prove myself to you.’

  Staying where he was, Thanesh bent forward and pressed his lips to her forehead. He took in a deep breath. ‘I want everything in my world to smell of you,’ he growled before releasing her and walking to the door.

  ‘I want to get there,’ she called after him.

  He paused and looked back at her.

  ‘I’m going to get there,’ she promised.

  Alethia watched him leave. The temptation to call him was held back by the faintest thread of will.

  The shuttle entered Calaia’s docking bay. Thanesh stood on a platform overlooking the landing pad and waited for it to settle before he descended the stairs. The doors opened as he approached, and Jarit appeared.

  Jarit scratched at his neck, drawing Thanesh’s eye to the deep gouging scars that covered his face and neck. He knew those scars continued down his entire torso.

  Beside him was Kerr; another of the hybrids. Kerr carried the trademark horns and white hair of his father’s people, but his skin was covered in the small, iridescent red scales of his Weyilan mother, right down to his tail. Kerr was slightly smaller than a full member of their race, but he was fast and agile. Whenever one of his brother’s sons joined the ranks, they did their training on Thanesh’s ship. They called it a rite of fire, and so far, Kerr had weathered the flames with style.

  It helped that Thanesh allowed a certain familiarity among his crew. The Protectorate was a family; he believed that deep in his bones and passed it along to each of his brothers in turn. It was essential to pass this belief, this way of life onto the younger generation. In the future, they would be the Protectorate. He needed to know that whatever path his people’s children carved for their future they remembered what they were and why it mattered. Perhaps more so now, if what Alethia suspected turned out to be true.

  The ship settled onto the landing pad and powered down. Thanesh walked up to the airlock, which opened as he approached.

  The Kathen was chained, restrained and gagged. His feet were shackled to restrict his walking so that he had to concentrate or risk falling. If Alethia saw him like this, she would never trust him.

  ‘Thanesh,’ Jarit called. Thanesh nodded at his friend in acknowledgement.

  ‘Sir.’ Kerr bowed as he stepped down the platform behind Makios.

  ‘Ungag him.’ Jarit reached up to the Kathen’s mouth, taking out the gag.

  ‘Alethia is here,’ Thanesh said. ‘She’s safe.’

  The Kathen’s eyes opened wide, but he kept his mouth shut.

  ‘Unshackle his legs. I am not crawling to the interrogation room.’

  Makios Desares had a long history of smuggling. Thanesh knew the leaders of a dozen systems who would pay him anything he wanted to bring this smuggler to an end. But if he did that, Alethia would never look at him again and, if what Alethia said was true, there would be people a lot worse off for losing the Kathen.

  Alethia had a good heart. Thanesh believed that she was doing everything she could to save as many people as she was able to. He didn’t know what the Kathen’s motivations were.

  Thanesh studied him. Desares hadn’t been in the pits for eleven solars, yet he looked like he’d walked out of one a few hours ago. Despite the coolness of the room, they hadn’t been able to convince him to wear a top.

  ‘How long have you known Alethia?’

  Silence.

  ‘I am not interested in the crimes you have committed. I have read the reports.’

  ‘Then what?’ They were the first words the male had said since boarding Calaia.

  ‘I have Alethia—‘

  ‘You care for her,’ Makios interrupted him.

  ‘Do you?’

  Makios shook his head. ‘I’m not listening or saying anything more until I speak to Alethia,’ he said. ‘Alone.’

  There was a rapping on the door. Alethia turned in time to see Dak enter with a big grin on his face.

  ‘Ready for your medic appointment?’

  Alethia nodded and jumped off the bed.

  She had been on Calaia for two days now. It was a day and a half since the incident with Thanesh, and she hadn’t seen him since, though she’d seen plenty of Dak who was killing himself flirting with her.

  Alethia followed Dak through the myriad twists and turns of the ship.

  ‘How is your face?’ Dak asked, looking over his shoulder at her.

  Alethia pressed her fingers to the still tender flesh.

  ‘Better,’ she admitted. ‘Though it’s going to be as tough as old leather by the time it’s healed.’

  ‘I think Tevin’s treatment will repair it. He is very good.’ He flashed his teeth at her over his shoulder. Alethia noted he had the same fangs as Thanesh. ‘But you should talk to him about it.’

  Alethia’s stomach lurched when she saw Thanesh turn the corner ahead of them, coming her way. It dropped when she recognised the Kathen walking up behind him.

  ‘Makios.’ She stopped dead, her eyes flickering between the two males.

  Thanesh looked momentarily guilty. Then he turned to Makios.

  ‘There you go.’

  ‘What’s going on here?’ Alethia turned on Thanesh. ‘When did Makios get here.’

  ‘Not long,’ Thanesh said, raising his hands in front of him. ‘I was just bringing him to see you.’

  Alethia had folded her arms over her chest. ‘How long?’ She stared at him then at the cuffs Makios was wearing.

  ‘This is my ship,’ Thanesh growled as he turned and released the cuffs.

  ‘Makios, are you okay?’ Alethia ignored the annoyed look on Thanesh’s face.

  He nodded. ‘I said in private.’

  ‘Follow me,’ Thanesh said through clenched teeth.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Alethia planted her feet and crossed her arms under her chest.

  ‘There’s a room up ahead,’ Thanesh said. He stepped aside and gestured for her to lead. ‘It is right down this hall.’

  Alethia stepped up to Makios and put herself between Thanesh and the Kathen. At this point, she didn’t know which one she was doing it to protect.

  Makios was laughing by the time the doors to the observation deck closed. He pulled Alethia into a hug. She relaxed into the arms of the massive Kathen.

  ‘I worried when I awoke and you weren’t there,’ Makios whispered. ‘Was it the Fedhith?’

  Alethia shook her head.

  ‘The two Huan in the Tinar’s shop when we bought Kyle.’

  �
�Vrok.’ Makios gripped her tight. ‘I sent Deyuul and the ship after the vrokking Fedhith.’

  ‘Deyuul will figure it out as soon as he gets close enough to sense I’m not there.’ She extracted herself from Makios one limb at a time.

  ‘It’s a good job. It was me with you and not him. Tolomus would have me sold by now,’ Makios admitted.

  ‘I don’t doubt it,’ she laughed.

  ‘So, the Protectorate.’ Makios jerked his chin towards the door. ‘Do you trust him?’

  Alethia looked towards the door. She imagined Thanesh standing on the other side, gritted jaw, restless energy and smiled.

  ‘I want to,’ she said earnestly. She looked at Makios, who was studying her in return.

  ‘That’s more than you’ve said about half the people at the colony.’ He took a step towards her. ‘Alethia, are you developing feelings for him?’

  Alethia wrapped her arms around herself and nodded.

  ‘I never thought I’d see the rote.’ Makios was smiling.

  ‘I’m scared,’ she whispered, knowing she could say it to her friend and not be judged.

  ‘I know, little human.’ He pulled her into another all-encompassing hug. ‘I’ve never had much use for the Protectorate. But if he does right by you, I’m all for it.’

  ‘It’s not me I’m worried about right now.’ She looked up into his silver eyes.

  ‘Really?’ Makios asked her dryly.

  ‘Maybe a little bit.’ She laughed. ‘Have you heard from Dairon?’

  Makios nodded. ‘He turned back as soon as he heard. Then realised some Protectorate ship was on him. Last I heard he was evading it.’

  ‘What about Kyle?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Makios grimaced. He pulled Alethia a little closer and bent down, looking at her face. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Really bad sunburn—’

  ‘Vrok.’

  ‘It’s okay. The medic here has said he can repair all the damage.’

  ‘Great to have access to Amaran medicine.’ Makios shook his head.

  ‘Well, I’m grateful for it,’ Alethia said. ‘I just wish… I keep thinking about Ann and how it could help her.’

  ‘Alethia, you can’t be thinking about giving him Tessa’s location?’

  ‘I’m considering it,’ she admitted. ‘Imagine it, Makios. No one could ever hurt us. We wouldn’t be risking bringing slavers back to the system whenever we went home. We’d be the safest people in the galaxy.’

  Makios was still studying her skin, his hand hovering near her face.

  The door opened. Alethia turned to see Thanesh stood frozen in the doorway, staring at them.

  ‘Dak!’ Thanesh’s voice was angry, hostile. ‘Get her to Medbay.’ He looked at Makios. ‘Let her go, Kathen.’

  Alethia looked at Makios; there was mischief in his eyes. He kissed her on the mouth, quick. It was weird, almost like getting kissed by Dairon. Alethia pulled a face at him, and he snickered in response.

  ‘Get better, little human,’ he said before he turned and followed Thanesh back to wherever they had come from.

  Alethia is not your property. You do not have the right to dictate who does and does not touch her.

  No matter how many times Thanesh repeated this to himself on the way back to the interrogation room, he couldn’t quell the rage inside him.

  Alethia was not his property. But she was his.

  He thrust the door open and pulled Makios’s chair out, almost hurling it against the far wall. When Makios got close, he pushed the Kathen down in the chair, hard.

  Makios stood and pushed back.

  The dam burst.

  The Kathen was the same height as Thanesh, but heavier, more muscular. He didn’t care. He roared and reached for his Adunis sticks, but he didn’t carry them on the ship.

  The Kathen’s hands were still bound. He swung them both at Thanesh, connecting with his jaw and throwing him across the room so that his head smacked the wall.

  Thanesh turned, ready to charge back into the fight when he realised the Kathen was laughing.

  ‘Jealous, Protectorate?’

  ‘What is your relationship to her, Kathen?’

  ‘Sit down, Protectorate.’ Makios grabbed his seat, which had been tipped over in the brief clash. He righted it, sat and pulled the chair neatly under the table.

  Thanesh steadied himself. He walked around the table and sat, glaring at the Kathen.

  ‘What is your relationship to Alethia?’

  ‘When we were children,’ the Kathen licked his lips, ‘we would play in the forests around her home. Back then, I believed that we would fall in love and build our own house next to her parents. Next to the house my father was building before he died.’ Makios’s voice was deep, it had a rich timbre and was tinged with humour as he thought back to his past with the pale human. ‘Later, when we started buying slaves together before the darkness descended over her, I believed our fate was together and inevitable.’

  ‘But you never did fall in love?’

  Makios shook his head and took a breath. ‘She’s like my sister. I would kill for that human. Die for her. But Alethia is burdened. Weighed down by the pain of others. My female will burn with passion. If she takes the pain of others, it will be to burn it away and cast the ashes into the wind.’

  Something of Thanesh’s defensiveness of Alethia must have shown on his face.

  ‘Don’t get angry, Protectorate.’ Makios’s laugh was a deep, bassy rumble. ‘She takes that pain from people so that they don’t have to bear it alone. I respect that. But it damages her,’ he whispered the last words. There was sadness on Makios’s face. He cared for her.

  ‘She will not have to do it much longer.’ Thanesh realised he was making a vow to himself.

  ‘What are you going to do? Set up counselling for the survivors of slavery?’

  ‘If I have to,’ Thanesh snapped.

  ‘She really has got you good,’ Makios chuckled.

  ‘I have a deal,’ Thanesh said. ‘Do a job for me, and I will make your record go away.’

  Makios wasn’t laughing anymore. ‘Go on.’

  ‘Dynexium.’

  Makios’s eyes widened. ‘You want radiant?’

  Thanesh nodded.

  ‘It’s illegal to mine, sell, buy, purify or transport radiant without the proper licences.’ Makios seemed to be quoting directly from the law. Thanesh wondered how many times he had been asked to transport it and if he had ever agreed.

  ‘I know,’ Thanesh said. He watched Makios closely.

  ‘You planning on powering a planet, Protectorate? Or do you plan to sell it?’

  Thanesh sat back. Makios’s eyes widened again.

  ‘What planet?’

  ‘What planet do you think?’

  Makios looked at the door as though Alethia were standing in it. ‘That would take a lot of pressure off,’ he murmured.

  Thanesh nodded. ‘I know.’

  ‘It’s in Alethia’s nature not to trust people.’ He held out one hand. ‘Her mother…’ a single finger went up, followed by two more, ‘…her fathers.’ Another finger followed for each person. ‘Her brother, me and my crew.’ He counted his crew on one finger on his other hand. ‘She doesn’t even trust most of the people at the colony. Pete,’ Makios added a finger, he began to raise another, but lowered it, shaking his head. ‘Pete.’ He looked from his hand to Thanesh. ‘You do what you’re planning. If you’re true, you’ll be added to her list.’

  ‘That is the plan.’ Thanesh’s voice was husky. He swallowed.

  ‘She knows about this?’

  Thanesh nodded. ‘Not the Dynexium, but the rest of it.’

  ‘Radiant’s not easy to come by.’ Makios sat back in his seat, his eyes taking in everything.

  ‘I know where you can find some.’

  Makios’s head shot up, surprised eyes finding Thanesh.

  ‘A mercenary job came to me. A favour for a powerful Todaal. I am establishing a world, so
I must avoid it. But you can do it.’ He indicated Makios with a nod of his head.

  ‘And then you swoop in, arrest me, you have the radiant and I have a lifetime in prison.’ Makios’s eyes were wary.

  ‘I will never do that to Alethia.’ He shook his head. ‘The facility is an old Enhari space station somewhere in Goedan space. I have a contact who knows exactly where. They kidnapped a group of Todaal scientists and are forcing them to purify Dynexium. The Todaal will swear he hired you to rescue the scientists. You picked up the Dynexium to keep it out of the hands of the Goedan and brought it to me.’

  ‘Vrok me.’

  ‘You keep the reward for rescuing the scientists and I will petition the IGC to clear your record as a reward for your bravery.’

  Makios lost the look of awe and burgeoning happiness.

  ‘You’ll have a problem there.’

  ‘Hekalion Dar.’ Makios flinched.

  ‘Alethia shouldn’t have told you that.’

  ‘She cares for you.’ Thanesh sat back. ‘She is the only reason I am offering this to you.’

  Makios shifted in his seat, his face was contemplative. ‘What do you plan to do about Hekalion?’

  ‘He is powerful,’ Thanesh acknowledged. ‘We are not a member of the IGC—’

  ‘Hence Tessa,’ Makios said. Thanesh lowered his head in acknowledgement.

  ‘I do have powerful friends who are IGC members. Including three of the founding races, one of which is…’

  ‘Todaal. Vrok me, Protectorate.’ Makios shook his head. A grin on his face. He sat back in his seat and observed Thanesh for a moment. ‘You prove to me, prove to Alethia you can be trusted, and I’ll do it.’

  ‘Your alternative is a prison,’ Thanesh pointed out.

  ‘I’d rather that than work for someone I can’t trust.’

  Thanesh nodded his agreement. ‘Something Alethia said, about your history at Alidai.’

  Makios grimaced but nodded.

  ‘Was the Aavani Daius Edan?’

  Makios nodded.

  ‘You still in contact with him?’

  ‘Occasionally.’ Makios shrugged. ‘I’ll find bigger slaves, good fighters, good males. I buy them and sell them on to Edan. I don’t have the credits to buy every slave, but Edan will give me my money back and let them work for their freedom in the pits. It’s not ideal, but Alethia just takes the weaker slaves.’