Fire Planet Warrior's Lust: A SciFi BBW/Alien Fated Mates Romance (Fire Planet Warriors Book 4)

by Calista Skye

  He glanced over at her. “Very well. It can often be useful to give each other secret signals. For instance, when you want me to come closer, you can do this.”

  They took the rest of the faster-than-light part of the journey to develop and practice a system of hand signals for several cases, from saying “I'm fine, stay where you are” to “please kill all the aliens you can see”. Ava knew she would never need that one, but Xark'ion wanted it.

  When they arrived at the star system, something was wrong.

  Ava looked down at her pad, then back at the star. “Is that Woor? The star? I remember it being more yellow than that. Does it change color with time?”

  “That is not Woor,” Xark'ion said and busied himself with the navigation console. “This system is called Krok in our language.”

  Ava consulted her pad again. “Weren't we going to the Woor system? That's where the king of the Solp is, or we think he is. Right? Did I get it wrong?”

  “You are correct. The Solp are not here.”

  He didn't look at her.

  “Then why are we here, Xark'ion?”

  A point of light was growing right in front of them. A planet, not too far from the star itself.

  “I will show you.”

  Shit, Ava suddenly thought. Nobody knows I'm here.

  “I think,” she said, wanting to sound firm, but thoughtful, “that we should go to the Woor system. As we planned. As I ordered.”

  “I'm sure you will go to the Woor system at some point.” His voice was flat.

  “What the hell is going on, Xark'ion? This is not what we agreed on.”

  “I am aware that this is a breach of trust. And I fully expect you to dismiss me after this. But this is important.”

  “You're scaring me. Tell me why you're doing this.”

  He shot her a cold smirk. “I'm doing this to scare you.”

  “Okay, mission accomplished. Now I order you to stop this and go back to the Friendship.”

  “I will not obey that order now. Later. This is important.”

  She looked at him from the side for a long minute. She had no reason to think that he had anything dangerous in mind. And she had no choice in this. It wasn't as if she could fight him.

  “I really hope it is.”

  He didn't reply, just flew the shuttle to the fourth planet out from the star.

  Ava had seen many inhabited planets from orbit, and this one was one of the more pleasant-looking ones. It had turquoise oceans and reddish continents, and the clouds were as white as on Earth or Acerex.

  As they got closer to the surface, it was obvious that it was a well-developed planet, with towns and small cities scattered here and there in a varied landscape with deserts, forests, coastland and icy regions.

  Xark'ion aimed for a point about halfway between the equator and one of the poles, right in the middle of an orange landmass. There was a small city with squat, alien buildings that were not too different from what one might find on Earth, except that the proportions were wrong and that they were too small to comfortably house Earthlings. It was mid-day, but there was no movement anywhere.

  He set the shuttle down in a town square, not too gently. “Let's go outside.”

  Ava looked up at him, not eager to comply. “Why?”

  He bent down and yanked a module out of the shuttle's dashboard. The main panel went dark. “Because this shuttle isn't going anywhere until you at least take a look at this place. Ten of your minutes.”

  Ava was curious, but still she didn't relish having her mission hijacked.

  “How dangerous will this be?”

  “Not at all. You've never been to a safer place.”

  She looked out the side window. It looked like it should be a bustling little town, but there was no movement anywhere. For some reason it made the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. “Fine. I'll give you five minutes. That's it.”

  The warrior gave her a cold smile. “Very well.”

  He popped the hatch, and then they were standing on a nicely tiled triangular plaza ringed by low buildings in various colors. They had wide windows and a round shape that vaguely reminded Ava of Arabic architecture, with domes and gentle arches. They were all constructed with thin strands of some hard material, which made them look a little like a closeup of muscle fibers. They had been built with care, and there was an artfulness and a fineness to them that struck her as quite beautiful. Each one of them must have taken a long time to build.

  Xark'ion looked around as if searching for something.

  “Ah,” he said and pointed. “There's one.”

  He walked briskly in the direction of one building, and Ava followed. Might as well get this over with.

  He didn't need to point. It was obvious what he wanted her to see.

  Ava stopped and checked the tiny translator in her ear. “Does he speak Acerex, by any chance?”

  “No,” Xark'ion said. “He never did. And now he never will.”

  It was an alien, about four feet tall. It was an unusually humanoid being, with two legs, an torso and two arms. Its four fingers were further split into three fingers after the first knuckle, so its hands ended in twelve thin fingertips. The head consisted of two almost completely separate pods that were shaped like eggplants fused together lengthwise. At the thick end of each pod there was a large, watery eye with three black pupils surrounded by a translucent, gray lens.

  The alien wore clothes made from white fabric, and while they covered most of the torso, they also had a flowing quality to them. The being seemed to be mid-stride, with one leg in front of the other, but it wasn't moving.

  Ava put on her friendly, professional expression, with a mild smile, remembering that showing bare teeth in a grin could be taken the wrong way. “Greetings. I am Ava, a friend from the planet Earth.”

  The alien showed no sign of having heard her, but that didn't throw her off. Some alien species experienced time in a different way than humans, so that it took them a long time to reply to questions.

  Xark'ion looked away. “He can't hear you.”

  Hm. Most aliens communicated with sound, in Ava's experience. But on closer inspection, this one had no visible ears.

  It still hadn't moved.

  “Is he in a trance or is he asleep or something?”

  “Come closer.”

  She slowly took a couple of steps towards the alien, until she was at normal conversation distance for a human. The alien's skin was smooth and so translucent she could see the vague shape of some of its internal organs. It didn't look injured. But there was something very wrong with it.

  Xark'ion extended one finger and tapped the alien right between the eyes. There was no reaction.

  “He's dead,” Ava stated, and a chill went through her. “Dead, but perfectly preserved.”

  “Perfectly,” Xark'ion said and pointed to a group of similar aliens in the shadows further away. They were also not moving. “I think that's part of the point.”

  Now that Ava knew what she was looking for, she could spot about twenty similar aliens around the plaza, of varying sizes. They were all frozen as if in the middle of a movement, and many of them had fallen down. “What happened here?”

  Xark'ion took a deep breath. “A few things happened here. First, these poor beings – we called them the Ysal – were discovered by another species of aliens. This other species was different. But the Ysal had some difficulties in imagining that anyone could be different from them. They thought – or rather, they knew – that everyone was the same as them. Of course they could see that other species often had a different appearance than their own. But they were convinced that it was all on the outside, and that the insides were the same. Not physically, of course. But the thoughts and feelings. What we on Acerex call the soul. The Ysal knew that all sentient beings had the same type of soul, with the same values and ethics and emotions. They themselves felt that they were basically good. Which was true, in my opinion. So of course they knew tha
t all other aliens were also ultimately good. They were wrong.”

  Ava had no idea where this was going. “Uh-huh.”

  “The Acerex kingdom dealt with the Ysal for a little while after we discovered them. Some trade took place. Not much. Our two species had different needs. Then they were discovered by another alien race. The Ysal welcomed them, knowing all sentients are the same, knowing they're all good. These new aliens were not the same. They were not as good as the Ysal and not as kindly as the Acerex. They demanded that the Ysal fight for them. They instructed the Ysal in how to wage war. The Ysal were puzzled, but they were curious and liked learning new things. And it seemed like a fine enough alien game to them. They found the weapons interesting from a technical and esthetic viewpoint. Then they were commanded to go to war for real. We know this because they were commanded to declare war on us. So they came to us, declared war, and then asked us what it meant.”

  Xark'ion started walking down a narrow street, and with one last look at the frozen alien, Ava followed.

  “We told them,” Xark'ion continued. “When I say “we”, I mean the Acerex high command. I understand there was a very real struggle to help the Ysal wrap their minds around the concept of trying to kill other sentient beings. They had never had any wars themselves. So when the other aliens again ordered them to attack us in the way they had been taught, the Ysal ignored the order and tried to talk the other aliens out of their war-like ways. It was not successful. The other aliens came here, to the Ysal homeworld. We had some idea about what would happen, so we came here, too. There was a battle. We lost. And the other aliens did this to the Ysal, as a punishment for their disobedience.”

  They passed several Ysal, all frozen and stiff, and yet so lifelike Ava fully expected them to start moving at any moment, like un-pausing a movie. They came in all sizes between two and four feet, and the smallest ones tended to be carried by the larger ones.

  “They did this to some of them? Or all of them?”

  “All of them,” Xark'ion said and leaned against a pillar. “These other, less good aliens have interesting weapons. When the conditions are right, they can release certain things into the atmosphere of a planet. Small things that infest the beings, kill them instantly and then preserve them as they were in that instant. Not just the Ysal were killed. All the trees you see are dead. All the animals. The insects. The amoebas. Everything. It's a completely dead planet. The only living things on this whole planet are you and me. And yet it looks so alive.”

  “Nanoweapons,” Ava said. “Tiny particles that can be programmed to do just about anything. I've heard of that. Totally banned on Earth, even for use in space.”

  Xark'ion lifted his eyebrows. “Really? You know of these things, but won't use them? If only the Ysal had met you instead of the other ones. Your two species would have a lot in common.”

  “I think I know what this is, Xark'ion. You want to show me how dangerous aliens can be. Thing is, I already knew that.”

  “You think you know,” Xark'ion said. “But you don't feel it. If you did, you would approach all this in a different way. You want to be friends with all aliens. This,” he said and pointed to a frozen Ysal a few feet away, “is what some aliens will do to their friends.”

  Ava looked around their surroundings. It gave her chills. So easy to kill a whole species like this. Just casually. Without a second thought.

  “Fine. Point made. I get it. Don't make friends with aliens.”

  The warrior scratched his chin. “That might be going too far. It looks like a fine friendship is developing between our two worlds. I would suggest that the best approach to making friends is to first be cautious. Show the other party your capabilities. Be honest. Have your sword in your hand when you first meet him. Let him see the blade you wield. How else can he trust you?”

  “How can he trust you if the first thing you do when you see him is to come at him with your sword drawn?” Ava countered. “Maybe that's why the Kunuru are so dead set on wiping you out. Maybe you were too aggressive the first time you met.”

  “Maybe. Though to my knowledge, we've never met them. You're the one who brought them to my attention. I had no idea the Kunuru existed.”

  “You know how I found that out?” Ava said. “By being friendly to aliens. So they would know I meant them no harm. From the instant they saw me. So they would talk to me. It seemed to work.” She looked around the dead city. “Who were the aggressive aliens who did this to the Ysal? Was it the Kunuru?”

  Xark'ion shrugged. “We just call them Enemy 55. They might be your Kunuru, or they might not.”

  “You said there was a battle here. Did any Acerex see the bad aliens?”

  He turned his back and started walking back to the shuttle. “Yes.”

  Ava came after him. “And?”

  “Ugly and evil. What more do you want to know? We lost the battle against them. We were too few. We suffered very heavy losses. We withdrew and left the Ysal to their fate. We were lucky. Enemy 55 were not here to kill us. They were here to punish the Ysal.”

  They reached the shuttle and entered it in silence.

  Xark'ion reinserted the module and got the engines started. “This was all I wanted to show you. I know it has probably fallen on barren ground. And that's fair. I have a gift for you.”

  He opened a compartment beside his seat and took out a small object wrapped in a fine fabric.

  He held it out, and Ava took it and unwrapped it.

  It was a small, wooden tube, just about the size of a soft drink straw.

  “Thank you.”

  “It's a weapon, I'm afraid,” Xark'ion said. “Easily concealable. The tribe made it for me when I was a boy and it became obvious that I was not a gifted swordsman. They wanted me to have an alternative in a tight spot. I've never used it. Press the sealed end, and it will shoot a small dart. It's very sharp. It will penetrate a half inch of steel. For the occasion when the diplomat needs to save her own life. Or it can be just a trinket to fill a shelf in her quarters.”

  Ava studied the little pipe while the increasing whine from the turbines filled the cabin. One end was sealed and had an obvious button, and the other end was covered by an extremely thin and transparent film of fine fabric. The workmanship was exquisite, and she had no doubts that his claim about the dart was true.

  “You told me you knew taking me here was a breach of trust. Still you did it. It's not like you.”

  Xark'ion pulled back on the controls, and the shuttle took off and hovered in the air. “I have been a disappointment as a bodyguard and a diplomat. You have done many good things for me. Very good things. I wanted to do at least one good thing for you. Hopefully this hasn't left you entirely cold.”

  Shit. He was doing the best he could. He felt inadequate. Suddenly Ava couldn't bear the thought of him leaving. “I disagree about the disappointment part. I don't appreciate being abducted, that's true. But you had an intention with it. You could have just asked me, and I would probably have agreed to come here. Now I know more about the aliens, and maybe about the Kunuru.”

  He gave her a lopsided little smile. “We'll go back to the Friendship and the queen will suggest another guard for you. That king of the Solp isn't going anywhere.”

  “We're not going back. Set a course for the Woor system, please.”

  19

  - Xark'ion -

  He just looked at her, trying to understand.

  “Did you hear me?” Ava said. “Do you intend to abduct me again? No? Then do as I say and fly us back to the Solp.”

  “You need a new bodyguard,” Xark'ion said slowly. “After this, you can't possibly keep me on. You have to tell the queen to dismiss me. I've given you no choice.”

  “I don't have to do anything. Now that you've done what you felt you had to, hopefully you've finished with your unscheduled excursion and we can go and do some work. Together. The Solp are our clue to the Kunuru. It's urgent that we find them. You may not have heard, but all the
aliens attackers are backing off from the Acerex. That gives me the creeps. The Kunuru are up to something. And we have to find out what.”

  Very well. There was a time aspect. And he had wasted enough of hers now. She would dismiss him after they came back. That was irreversible. But he should show her the respect of obeying this last of her orders.

  “If the diplomat orders it, then we shall go.”

  Ava settled back in her seat. “I do order that. I know that in your army, you would be demoted for doing anything a tenth as bad as this. But this is not an army mission. This is my mission. And I want you to stick with this until we're done. Even though I can see you've brought your sword. And thank you for this weapon. I will always keep it with me, just in case.”

  Well, that was something, at least. He couldn't help feeling quite stupid. Of course she would have gone with him here if he had asked her.

  But being dismissed from this mission had been his plan, just to get away from this intensely attractive woman and the grave temptations she represented.

  That hadn't happened. And he felt a relief and a joy that worried him. He should follow Bruti'ex's advice and disengage from this. He still could.

  But he knew that he wasn't going to. It was easy to make that kind of decision when he was far away from her. Now that she was close, and he could smell her and see her and just feel her presence, it was impossible to leave her. Who else could protect her like he could?

  “It was my intention to leave my sword in your starship. But we were in a hurry.”

  “Oh,” Ava said. “I guess I was a little abrupt back there. But I suppose separating an Acerex warrior from his sword is a fool's errand anyway.”

  There was a little bit of warmth in her voice, and somehow that made Xark'ion's mind lighter.

  - - -

  “That should be it.”

  Ava looked in the direction he was pointing. “Huh. For a citadel among the stars, you'd think it would be a little more to look at.”