The Mercenary's Dawn

by L P Peace

  He took a deep breath.

  ‘Let me be clear: I am not open to negotiation. I will not tolerate slavery. Further participation in slavery will result in the withdrawal of my protection from your borders.’

  Thanesh turned to Korren and nodded. Korren pressed something.

  ‘Clear.’

  ‘Send the package to each of our allies,’ Thanesh said.

  Korren took in a deep breath, then pressed a panel on the screen in front of him. ‘Well.’ He sighed. ‘That is going to anger them.’ Korren glanced at Alethia, but whatever opinions he had, he kept to himself.

  Alethia walked over to Thanesh and reached out, taking his face in her hands. ‘What did you do?’

  ‘A calculated risk,’ he said. ‘They need our protection more than they need slaves.’

  ‘There are better ways to put these things. It’s called diplomacy.’

  Thanesh growled. ‘Vrok diplomacy.’

  ‘Alethia.’ Pete was standing next to them. ‘I’m going to go get everyone.’ He nodded at Thanesh. Thanesh returned it with one of his own.

  ‘Pete, what time is it?’ Alethia called after him as he turned.

  ‘Early evening,’ Pete said. ‘The sun will set in a couple of hours.’

  Alethia nodded her thanks as Pete turned and left. She turned her attention back to Thanesh. ‘Would you like to come see my home?’

  Thanesh smiled. ‘More than anything.’

  To say the plant life of Tessa was mostly red and purple was an oversimplification. Lavenders, violets, lilacs, eggplants and plums mixed with scarlets, crimsons, rubies, blood and mahoganies. Flowers, smaller plants and berry bushes of all colours and hues grew in the forests. The trunks of trees tended towards the purple spectrum, though there were a few brown, silver and black. The leaves were different hues of red.

  Thanesh looked up at the sky through the canopy and saw the silver moon had risen. Except from the planet, it had taken on a lavender shade in the haze of the atmosphere.

  His children would grow up in this place. His daughters. They weren’t pregnant yet—they checked—but soon.

  Alethia walked ahead of him. Her slender figure moved gracefully through the forest in a way she hadn’t been able to move on Vidan, because of the harsh sun and the damage it did to her.

  Instead of her usual long dress, she wore a shorter sleeveless dress from her supply on Invictus, the only place she’d been able to wear them before. The dress, like the sky, was lavender-blue. ‘Mum always said it was her favourite colour on me. There’s a song she used to sing to me at the Huan’s home, before.’ Her face went dark for a moment. ‘Then we got here. Mum called it fate.’ She slipped the dress over her head and pulled it over her body, hooking her fingers under the thin straps to straighten them. It fell to her knees, exposing her shapely calves. ‘Ready?’

  It took all of his will power not to vrok her against the wall, right there. He loved the feel of her skin giving under his teeth, her blood in his mouth, his venom pumping into her as he pumped into her. To play with her clit for hours and watch her writhe helplessly for him, hear her desperate moans. He looked at her exposed neck, shoulders and arms. The scar of his bite showed silvery against her pale skin and filled him with pride. She was his female. She wore that scar for him. She would only ever have the one; her skin healed perfectly now, hiding the evidence of their obsession with each other.

  They would fill this planet with life, with their people. He smiled. The thought had haunted him for centuries and seemed impossible; now she led him to it.

  She looked over her shoulder at him, a grin on her face.

  ‘Almost there,’ she called back.

  Thanesh looked over his shoulder at his men. The Aavani, Niada, the Mvari, Idila and Captain Naradai, along with some of his officers, also followed. They all looked around at the planet with looks of curiosity, fear and awe. Jarit looked around warily, as though waiting for the creature from Teralis to jump out and finish its attack. Korren seemed to be watching for danger, while Dak walked behind the two former slaves, talking to them and assuring them with his presence. Kerr was back on the ship. He’d found his mate among the human females Kallis was changing and refused to leave her side.

  Pete had gone ahead an hacri before along with Dairon, Makios and his crew. Only when they got word back that both villages had congregated at Aida was Alethia happy to lead Thanesh and his brothers out of the ship and into the forests that surrounded her home.

  Their home now, he reminded himself.

  They broke through the tree line and were standing in a field filled with crops. He looked left and saw the gentle swell of a hill with a large tree at the top. More fields curved around it. To the right were even more fields, more crops and opposite where he stood, a small village made from dark purple wood, the oldest buildings silvering with age.

  ‘This is Aida.’ She smiled.

  ‘Why Aida?’ he asked her.

  ‘Aida and the other village, Alyk, they were my mother’s brother and sister on Earth.’

  Thanesh nodded. He and his brothers had been naming their ships after the females they cared for, for three hundred solars. He understood remembering those left behind.

  ‘Were they taken?’

  Alethia shook her head.

  ‘So they’re still on Earth?’

  ‘I guess.’ She shrugged.

  He would arrange for her and Dairon to meet them one rote. When they became allies with Earth.

  They crossed through the fields and entered the village. People stood clumped in crowds, watching them warily.

  Thanesh smiled as they were greeted with a mixture of hope and fear. They carried scars and haunted looks.

  An older female stepped out of the crowd towards Alethia.

  ‘Thanesh, this is Sarah.’

  ‘Thanesh?’ Sarah asked. Alethia nodded.

  Sarah took a deep breath. ‘We’re throwing a party,’ she said. Her voice was a different accent than Alethia’s. There was a gentle lilt to it that was pleasant to listen to. ‘It’s not every day your planet is registered with the IGC.’

  ‘That sounds enjoyable.’ Thanesh said softly.

  ‘I’m going to take him to look at my house first,’ Alethia said.

  ‘Oh, we’re still getting it ready. It’ll be a little while.’ She looked at Thanesh. ‘It’s a bit of a potluck. People are bringing whatever they were cooking for the evening meal,’ Sarah explained when she saw the confusion on his face.

  ‘There’s some people I want to introduce you to later, Alethia,’ Sarah called after them.

  ‘Do you need me now?’ Alethia turned, looking at Sarah’s hazel eyes, her hand gripping Thanesh’s tighter.

  Sarah shook her head. ‘No, enjoy your time with your man there. It can wait.’

  Alethia led him away from the crowd and to the house closest to the fields. Behind it was the small hill with what looked like a cemetery sat atop it.

  Alethia opened the door and walked in; there was no lock, Thanesh realised. A part of him liked that she felt safe enough here to have no locks. Another part was already planning the security upgrades for her home and the entire village.

  The wood that made up the logs of her home was a swirl of purple and silver. Most of the furniture was simple wood carved from the local trees. In one corner sat a highly polished silver and purple table that seemed to have been fitted together in an intricate pattern. Simple fabrics covered sofa and chairs, windows and one wall. There was a thick homespun rug on the floor, and more exotic pieces from Amara, Quresh and Keris were folded neatly over the back of the sofa. Everything looked old, like it had been placed there twenty solars before, but it was loved and well cared for. Every single piece was pleasing to the eye and as a whole, they had a flow to them that complimented the colours used in the furniture and the cabin itself.

  It was an unassuming cabin, with the main room adjoining a kitchen. The living room was on the right of the front door, the kitchen to
the left. There was an open door across the small through which he could see doorways to yet more rooms.

  If Thanesh had to live on this planet without ever building an IGC-worthy world, he would have been happy just in this small home. They would keep it, he decided, and come whenever they could. Whenever they wanted to get away from the stresses of being leaders of a world.

  She turned to face him, an insecure smile on her face. ‘I know it’s small…’ she drifted off.

  ‘It’s perfect,’ he assured her. Pulling her into his arms. She smiled up at him.

  Soon they would go to this party. Tomorrow they would begin planning out their world. But in this moment, there was only them.

  He leaned down and kissed her.

  Light with a red shade to it tracked across his lids. Thanesh opened his eyes and looked at the panoramic window that dominated one side of his and Alethia’s bedroom.

  The sun was a sliver on the horizon.

  He looked behind him, to Alethia’s spot. As usual, it was empty. Alethia wasn’t an early riser by nature. Their daughter, however, was a different matter.

  Thanesh pulled the covers back and got out of bed, stretching as he looked out of the window to see Alethia and Tessa down on the beach below.

  They were surrounded by Tessan guards.

  In the five solars since he had confirmed his application, in person as required by IGC law, he had met every challenge. Thrown off every set back. This rote he would set off for the IGC and they would confirm, along with the inspectors the IGC had sent, that they had surpassed every standard, every hurdle that had been laid for them.

  Still, Thanesh was sure Hekalion and his Fedhith ally Ila would do everything they could to deny their entrance. He was confident they were behind much of the sabotage they had faced. Though what Hekalion and his allies didn’t understand was that Thanesh always had a Plan B and a Plan C, D, and E. He planned out the whole, as Alethia called it, alphabet. He had redundancies on his redundancies.

  Thanesh and his people had met every challenge and won.

  Thanesh watched Tessa stand up from playing and wander up the beach. She walked in the wet sand as the water lapped at her feet. Alethia was right behind her, and Dak followed as though his life depended on it.

  His life depended on it. He was Tessa’s personal bodyguard.

  Thanesh slung on pants and, topless, slipped out onto the balcony and descended the stairs to the grass. A short walk took him to the beach. He passed guard after guard. His family’s protection was everything.

  Tessa saw him. Her face lit up and she broke into a run, crossing the distance between them.

  ‘Daddy.’

  Every time she saw him, it was as though he had been gone a thousand solars. He had been the one to put her to bed last night, as every night.

  He bent down and scooped her up, reaching out for her as she jumped, ever trustful that her father would catch her.

  Tessa sat on his arm and clung to his neck. Thanesh peppered her face with kisses, delighting in the squeaking laughter, his hand in her hair so she couldn’t move away.

  ‘No, Daddy. Stop it,’ she squealed.

  Finally, he gave her a big kiss on the cheek and hugged her close, looking over his shoulder as Alethia crossed the beach towards him.

  She’d slowed down again, in the final trimester of her pregnancy. One hand rested on her bump as she grinned at their antics.

  He would make that female pregnant over and over, he vowed. He loved the sight of it, her round and lush with their child.

  ‘No more than two,’ she would yelp when he mentioned it. ‘Maybe three,’ she’d said when Tessa grew out of the baby phase and into the toddler phase. He would get his way.

  Despite all his foreboding, Alethia and Tessa would accompany him to the IGC this rote. There, Tessa would be protected by a contingent of guards in the inner ring while Thanesh and Alethia stood together in the IGC chamber of the central sphere.

  They were leaving a few rotes early so that they could meet up with Dahnus and his ship. But he wasn’t just meeting Dahnus, he would also be meeting the humans. Their craft, Endurance, was currently being escorted by the Halidan on their journey to formally apply for IGC membership. A relay of ships was guarding them. Any moment now, the Halidan would pass the baton to the Luadaal who would escort them to Seliika space. From there they would skirt Cealin space through Etaan, then Surilan, Inadiine and into Amaran space, where they would rendezvous with Dahnus and Thanesh. They would escort them the remainder of the way.

  It would have made more sense to cut through Teyas, but they had been one of the three allies lost when he made his slave ultimatum. It was less than he expected, more than he hoped. The Raqhan even bothered to go as far as a parliamentary vote and formal condemnation of his demand.

  Alethia and Thanesh met. Thanesh moved Tessa to his hip, bent over Alethia, careful of her stomach and kissed her.

  ‘Ahhh,’ Tessa said in his ear, making him laugh.

  ‘Here, let me take her,’ Dak said. ‘Tessa, let’s go to the rock pools.’ Tessa threw herself into Dak’s arms.

  Thanesh relinquished his daughter to one of a handful of people he trusted her with and pulled his wife deeper into his arms. She smiled up at him.

  A flash of Alethia sat astride him, her head thrown back, her eyes closed as she cried out entered his mind. Many rooms in their home were soundproofed. They had to be.

  ‘I am going to make you cum before breakfast,’ he vowed.

  She sucked in a breath and moaned. ‘I think you just did,’ she snickered. ‘Oh, God, I’m so horny. Why does pregnancy do this to me?’

  Another reason to keep her pregnant, he vowed.

  ‘Back to the house?’ Alethia said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

  Thanesh could only nod in response. Rotes from now their future would be cast in stone.

  In this moment, there was only them.

  The end

  Amot. Mikel read the readout with a mixture of joy and disbelief. The whole vrokking system was riddled with Amot.

  ‘So, this is where Makios Desares has been getting his Amot from.’ Herik was looking at the readout over Mikel’s shoulder.

  Mikel looked at the grey-skinned and horned Setean. His aura was shining a slightly darker grey than usual. ‘Vrokker’s been holding out on us.’

  ‘We sell this information to the Protectorate and we’ll be able to buy our own vrokking planet AND Protectorate protection.’ Mikel looked at Fallan, his Temerin crewman; his dappled blue skin shone with a slight violet aura, his loose crimson hair was swept over one shoulder. He was sitting in the pilot seat Herik had just vacated when the results of the system survey came in.

  ‘Get out of my seat vrokker.’ Herik walked over to Fallan who jumped out of his chair and nimbly side-stepped Herik’s swipe. Almost immediately Fallan tripped. Herik caught him before he hit the floor of the ship.

  ‘Be careful little Temerin,’ Herik’s voice was kind. He was a large male, over seven fenth tall, but he had a soft spot for the smaller races.

  ‘I can’t see anything in this vrokking dark. Mikel, can you put your goggles on so I can see?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Mikel sighed as he reached to his head, swept his cobalt hair out of his face and pulled the red lensed goggles over his eyes. Bataar, his homeworld was a dark place and the Bataarin’s eyes were extremely sensitive to light. He could see in it but, as the light came on, he looked around the room bathed in shades of red.

  ‘It’ll be cycles, possibly solars before the Protectorate pay us for the find. We should take some, take a rock and sell it to see us through until the payment comes in.’

  Solars. The thought of waiting that long for the credits he could use to track down his mate was intolerable. Hadn’t he already waited for ten solars? The image of her, long, dark brown hair. Her brown and green eyes she called hazel: her full lips and delicate human features. Grief filled him whenever he thought about his Sarah, but he was determ
ined to find her. For him and her daughter, who Mikel had claimed as his own when he smuggled her from Caras space station where Sarah was forced to prostitute.

  ‘Herik has a point,’ Fallan picked up where the Setean left off. ‘That’s if they pay us at all. The Protectorate. What does anyone know about them? They’re mercenaries and guard the border of some alien’s space. No one knows what race they are, where they come from or has even seen a female. They owe no one. We should take what we can and then bring them this. That way, we’re covered if they decide to rip us off.’

  Mikel considered what they were saying. It made sense. His fingers worked over the console while he scanned the area for a floating piece of rock the ships tractors could easily manage—something with a high Amot content.

  ‘That one,’ Mikel said when more than a minute had passed. He tapped the small screen in front of him. When a holo appeared, he pinched it between finger and thumb and threw it on the main view screen.

  An image of an asteroid belt appeared in front of them. A yellow frame tracked one asteroid as it passed on the inner rim of the field. ‘We tractor that. Take it to Herik’s contacts on Huan, they’ll pay a vrokking fortune for it. Then we go to the Protectorate.’ He looked up at his two friends. Herik had a solemn look on his face, but there was a glint of greed in his eyes. Fallan was grinning.

  ‘Let’s do it.’ The Temerin agreed.

  Herik aimed at the belt and headed towards it. A few minutes later he was flying Sarah skilfully through the belt, heading towards the inner system. ‘The fourth planet is habitable.’

  Mikel pulled up information on the system and tapped on the fourth planet. He clicked on the planets icon and it became a holo in front of him. He threw the information at the viewscreen. A red world appeared before him, the terminator line separating night from the day was swallowing an ocean as the planet rotated. Just on the dark side of the terminator line, a continent was slipping out of view.

  ‘It’s a shame this place is going to be strip-mined by the Protectorate,’ Fallan said, appearing at Mikel’s side. ‘It’s beautiful.’