Reckoning

by KD Jones

  “Who the hell are you?”

  “I’m Commander Tonan of the Morin nation.”

  “We need to keep moving,” one of the Lieutenants said to OrIN.

  “You dare to tell me what I should do?”

  “Sir...it’s just that…”

  “Enough! Go help guard the tunnel.”

  OrIN turned to the Morin. “We probably should keep moving. I don’t approve of us stopping.”

  The Morin was undressing her with his eyes. “We stopped because your males were damaging the female. We needed to access her injuries. Why do I sense your fear?”

  She watched as OrIN’s face turned red. “I’m not afraid. I am just wary of staying too long in the same area. We could be attacked.”

  “We have more males than your traitors. They would be outmatched. Do you really think that they would come for just one female?”

  “You did, and yes, MarIK would come for her.” OrIN responded with absolute certainty.

  “I will not give her up until we have achieved what we wanted,” Tonan looked at her once more.

  Sharon shivered with dread. She thought that most of the Morin males lost their ability to have sex, but there had been a few cases where females were recovered who had been abused. She would fight to the death to keep that from happening to her if she had the strength. However, she was no match for the number of them that she would have to fight off. Her best chance was to play the dumb helpless female, get these damn ropes off of her, and make a run for it. How hard could that be?

  “Grab the girl. This time be more careful,” OrIN ordered his men.

  When the warrior pulled her up to her feet, she went slowly as if she was still dizzy. The purist warrior grunted his displeasure when she stumbled. Wow, these guys are real gentlemen, Sharon thought.

  OrIN was up ahead with the Morin commander. She glanced to the side and caught glimpses of more yellow eyes. Shit! Even if she got away from her bodyguard, she would have to get past the yellow-eyed bastards. She needed a weapon but all she had on her at the moment was her mind.

  “So, you just follow whatever OrIN says, huh?” she asked the warrior holding her.

  “OrIN is our leader. I follow the orders of my leader. I’m not a traitor like Commander MarIK,” the warrior said MarIK’s name with a sour face.

  “Are you jealous that he’s more of a male than you?”

  The man jerked her arm angrily. “He’s not honorable!”

  “He is. Do you really believe that OrIN is the true leader of the Katieran Nation? Would your Goddess approve of him aiding the Morins?” She could tell she was getting to him. “What kind of male allows for an innocent female to be harmed or killed?”

  “Be quiet!” He said to her harshly, but he made sure to keep his voice low. “I never liked this plan.”

  “Let me go.”

  “They will kill me if I do that.”

  Oh, but he didn’t sound too sure. She kept at him. “We can escape together. All we have to do is trail further and further behind.”

  “They’ll notice.”

  “You can tell them that you are taking it easy on me, because I’m a weak female.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Just slow your steps, I’ll match them. Once we fall far enough behind, we’ll make a run for it.”

  “This will get us killed.” Even as he said it, he began to slow his steps.

  Sharon actually thought for a moment that they might be able to get out of there without drawing anyone’s attention.

  “Where’s the female?” the Morin commander yelled out. Well, it almost worked.

  She jerked her hand from the warrior and made run for it. The warrior must have had the same idea and passed by her as he ran for his freedom. As she was running, she smelled something like fuel. When she glanced over to the drainage pipe, she saw liquid dripping down from it. They must have some of the fuel from the trading post leaking down there.

  A grunting noise ahead of her caught her attention. A few seconds later, she saw a body on the ground. She didn’t have time to slow down before she run straight into a wall. Not a wall...a body. She raised her fist to attack.

  “Wait, Sharon, it’s me.”

  “MarIK?”

  “Yes.”

  She heard the others coming up behind her. “Do you have a gun? A phase ray or something?”

  He pulled it out. “Yes.”

  “Aim and shoot at the pipe over there.” She pointed in the direction hoping he had better eyes than she did. It was very dim in the tunnel.

  Without hesitation, he aimed his phase ray and shot a blast.

  “We need cover!”

  He took her in his arms and shoved her back against the wall of the tunnel where there was a small alcove. It was just in time as his phase ray blast struck the pipe and ignited the fuel. She was temporarily blinded by the flash of fire explosion and she felt heat. Oh God, were they going to be burned alive? Remembering that her body was being protected by MarIK, she reached up and pulled his head closer to her trying to offer protection to the back of his head.

  “Sharon, what are you doing?” he whispered against her cheek.

  “You’re protecting me. I’m going to protect you, too.”

  She wasn’t sure how long they were there but when he moved away from her, she missed feeling him there close to her. “Is it safe to move?”

  He took a step out of the alcove. “Yes, we need to get as far away as possible in case they survived.” He reached down to untie her hands. Then he offered his hand for her and she didn’t hesitate to take it.

  Stepping out of the alcove, she glanced back and saw a wall of fire still going strong. Hopefully, that would give them enough time to get away.

  “Are you alone?”

  “Yes, I sent the rest to the shuttle. I told them to not wait too long for us. I don’t want to take a chance that…”

  He didn’t finish saying it but she knew what he meant. He didn’t want to take a chance that he would be too late to save her or that they would never make it back. He couldn’t risk the others getting caught and killed too. He really was a great commander. She just wished that he wasn’t putting himself in danger just for her. She was only one person and wasn’t worth it. She must have said that last bit out loud because he suddenly turned and took her into his arms.

  “You are worth everything, Sharon.” He leaned down and kissed her.

  “So are you. Let’s face it; you’re more important than I am. If it comes to it, you need to leave me behind.”

  “Never!”

  “I mean it…”

  He cut her off with another strong kiss. He pulled back and took her hand in his again. “No more talk. We need to get moving.”

  She didn’t argue any more with him but she meant what she said. MarIK’s survival was crucial to the Katierans defeating the purist rebels. She was nothing but a pawn in all this and she had known that going into it. Sharon was determined that she would protect MarIK even against his own wishes. He was just too important to her.

  Chapter 12

  MarIK was impressed. They had been walking for a while, but Sharon never asked him to stop or slow down. He did, of course, make his steps shorter because he was much taller than she was. She was handling all of it really well. In fact, she had escaped the Morins before he had a chance to rescue her. Katieran females probably would not have risked trying to escape just because they were always protected by a male and not allowed out on the battlefield.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  He looked down at her and smiled. “I was just thinking about how different you are from Katieran females. They might not have attempted to escape as you did.”

  “Does it make you feel less of a man because I was able to find a way to save myself?”

  “No, I’m impressed. How did you manage to get away?”

  “One of the warriors OrIN had guarding me wasn’t happy with the Morins’ presence. I talked him into s
lowing our steps and making a run for it.”

  “Was that the male I took down?”

  “Yes.”

  “I saw him running like a mad person and didn’t want to take a chance on him alerting the others to my presence. Did you see the Morins?”

  “Yeah, OrIN was there and the commander for the Morins, Commander Tonan. I didn’t realize how evil the Morins were until I looked into his yellow eyes.” She shivered out of response. MarIK wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort her.

  “I would die before letting the Morins get their hands on you.”

  “I didn’t hear what their plans were for me. Why would they go to all this trouble just for one woman?”

  MarIK hesitated. He wasn’t sure how much he should tell Sharon without scaring her. “They knew when they asked for a female to come, that it would be an Earth female.” She didn’t say anything as they walked, just gave him the time to tell her everything that he knew.

  “I didn’t know OrIN’s full plan until after you arrived with the Katierans. He was planning to give you to the Morins, to draw out the Katierans.”

  “Distract them with me? Why would the Katierans care?”

  “You’re female and from Earth. The primes are all mated to Earth females and have young that are mixed. They would not be able turn their backs on you.”

  “If the Katierans launched a rescue mission and possible war on the Morins, it would leave Katiera vulnerable to an attack by OrIN and his people. They’re seriously outnumbered.”

  “OrIN has completely lost it, but he was also trying to damage the reputation of the primes. They sent you here and put you at risk. They would have to answer to anything that happened to you, and the Morins would have done unspeakable things to you.”

  “I can imagine what they had in mind. That Commander Tonan showed signs of being sexually aggressive. I thought most of the Morins had been affected by the mutations, too.”

  “There have been a few Morins that still showed signs of that kind of aggression. Most enjoy inflicting as much pain as they could. Did he touch you?”

  “No, it was just the way he looked at me. It made me feel uncomfortable. They said something else that confused me. The Morins wanted to trade me, but for what?”

  “The Morins weren’t always like how you saw them. They once came from a people called Morinians that were similar to Katierans. Half of their people were against attacking other nations like the Katierans and broke off from the main population when war against the Katieran nation began. That original group, the Morinians, escaped and somehow their descendants survived after all these years. The Morins have been hunting them ever since. That was part of the reason they came back to the Katieran solar system.”

  “So the Morinians are…here?”

  “I’m not sure where they are exactly, but according to OrIN’s intel, they are being hidden by the Katierans.”

  “Why would they want more males to add to their already dying number?”

  “The Morinians have females and young that can breed. It’s the last chance for them to be able to save their kind from dying out.”

  “What would a female Morin even look like?” Sharon asked.

  MarIK shrugged. “I have no idea. All of this was news to me, too. If the Morins want them and they are female, then I can see why the Katierans have tried to keep this all quiet.”

  “I’m surprised that the Katierans would help, knowing how they felt about the Morins.”

  “Me too, but they must feel like the Morinians are completely different. I’m not sure I would be as forgiving after what I went through.”

  “Can you tell me a little bit about what happened to your mate? I just want to understand how you would end up following someone like OrIN.”

  “I met my mate when we were young. She was fifteen and I was eighteen. I knew the moment I saw her that she was the one for me. She was so strong and exuberant — not to mention beautiful. She tried to scare me off quite a few times because of the mutation that only affected the females of her family. She called it more of a curse. All the females in her family died when they reached the age of twenty-one. Many mated early and had children before the age of twenty, hoping for males.”

  “That sounds horrible, to know that your death would be at such a young age,” Sharon said sympathetically.

  “I thought so too, but not my RowANa. She treated every day like it was the most special day of her life. She never took one moment for granted. When we mated, she wanted to have children right away but the Goddess did not grant us any and I was glad for that. If I had a daughter, she would be destined for the same fate. The mutation when it kicks in starts with a sore throat. Once that happened, her system started to shut down little by little. The medics gave her nanos to try to stop it, but it didn’t work. All they could do was manage her pain. It was the single most difficult thing I’ve ever had to go through.”

  Sharon put her hand on his arm, “I’m so sorry, MarIK.”

  “I took a break from my position as senior lieutenant and withdrew from commander training when she died. I just couldn’t concentrate on anything. Then Prime Leader RendEL brought the first few transports of Earth females. It was like a slap in the face, watching how all the males fell over themselves trying to impress and gain a mate. All I wanted was my mate back and healthy.”

  “I was probably one of those women they paraded in front of you.” Her heart ached for him and the pain he had to have been going through.

  “I was watching the transports as they were bringing the females from Earth when OrIN approached me. I was angry and resentful. It felt like a betrayal of our people to just bring in new females to breed. It didn’t take much more for OrIN to convince me to join his cause. I was an idiot.”

  “Don't be so hard on yourself. You had just suffered the terrible loss of the woman you loved. OrIN is to blame because he knew that he needed someone with your skills. He probably even used the loss you suffered to convince others to join him, too.”

  She was right. OrIN had used his story to help convince others to join them. He hadn’t talked much to anyone about losing his mate or about his vulnerability when OrIN approached him. Sharon was easy to talk to and she listened without judging him. As he looked down at her, he noticed that her face was a little strained and her breathing was rapid.

  “Let’s take a small break.”

  “I’m okay. I don’t want to make us fall behind and have OrIN catch up.”

  “I would hear them if they approached. That fire looked like it would burn for a while so they wouldn’t have been able to follow us until it died down.”

  “What if they decide to come at us at the other side of the tunnel?”

  “That’s a possibility, but they don’t know for sure where the tunnel comes out. It will take them a while to find it. Go ahead and sit down and rest.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I haven’t been able to reach anyone on my comm link since the explosion. I’m going to try again.”

  MarIK walked a few feet away and tried contacting his men. “This is MarIK. Is anyone available?”

  He heard nothing but static. He took his comm link off and opened the back end to see if the wiring was disconnected somehow. Everything looked okay. He had probably lost the channel they were using. It was possible the device would come back online after a little bit more time.

  “Did you get a hold of anyone?” Sharon asked when he walked back over to where she was sitting.

  “No, just static. I’ll keep trying, though.”

  Sharon stood up. “I’m ready to keep going.”

  “Are you sure? You could rest a little while longer.”

  “Nope, I want to get as far away as possible.”

  “The good news is that I believe we’re almost at the end.”

  After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at a large vaulted door that he knew would lead to the surface of the luna. After he looked around, he was
relieved to see two body suits lying across a bench. He spotted a note as he moved in closer. He read it out loud.

  “Commander, we followed your orders, though it went against everything honorable that you taught us. We left you the body suits. Make it across the ridge to the caves where supplies are kept. We will come back for you there. May the Goddess be with you.”

  “Caves?”

  “Yes, when we came over a week ago, we explored the whole of the luna and found caverns that went down below surface. It was used for stocking supplies brought to the trading post. Some of them have natural pools of water filtered by minerals that comes from below ground.”

  “If it has water, does that mean there’s air?”

  “Yes, it should have air and some supplies, like food, there. We left supplies there in case something went wrong.”

  “Just like you had two shuttles waiting at the end of both tunnels?”

  “Exactly.”

  “How long to travel over the ridge?”

  “It’s not far at all, but I would like us to get there before it gets dark. Traveling in the dark is just too dangerous.”

  “Well, let’s get these suits on and get moving. I don’t know if I can handle it if things get more dangerous.”

  “Sharon, I think you could handle just about anything.” That compliment seemed to make her embarrassed. That wasn’t his intention. He was about to apologize but she smiled at him.

  “Thank you. I feel like, with you, I could face just about anything.”

  Chapter 13

  Sharon had never been so glad to see a cave opening in her life. She wasn’t sure how long they had been walking, but her feet were starting to really hurt. MarIK had her wait outside the opening while he checked out the cave first to make sure it was safe. Then he led her inside. Because it was dark, he used his phase ray glow setting as a type of flashlight.

  “Stay here. I’m going to place that large boulder in front of the opening. That way no one should be able to sneak up on us. I’ll leave the phase ray with you so that you can see.”