Red Planet: The Slave Queen (Tamarians Book 1)

by Jessica Snow

  “You need to get there quickly, get the King to do something,” Jensen says. “Kelbara and I are coming in on hoverbikes as quickly as we can.”

  “Kelbara? Can you trust her?” I ask, and Jensen winks. “Okay, it's your ass.”

  “Don't worry, I'm watching it. You watch yours. Jensen out.”

  The screen goes blank, and Tauren puts his communicator away. I see a group of humans running towards us, and I snap my powerlance to full length, readying myself. They're panicked, angry, and they see a Tamarian. They might be out for blood. “What's the plan, my love?”

  Tauren pulls his powerlance and sighs. The first of the humans point and screams in anger, a stick in his hand, but before I can fire a plasma bolt Tauren steps between us, grabbing the man's stick as it swings towards Tauren's head and flips him onto his back, disarming him before he turns him onto his stomach and jams the powerlance against the man's head. “STOP!”

  The rest of the humans, hearing the command in Tauren's voice, instinctively come to a halt, pausing for a moment. I use the chance to retract my one powerlance while I pull the other, both of them whining with plasma charges. “Don't move guys.”

  “Why do you defend him?” one of the humans, a young man who could be a spitting image of Mathias other the dirty blond hair he's so otherworldly handsome, yells. “He's one of them!”

  “Them? I am Tauren, Crown Prince of Tamaria!” Tauren booms in reply. “I am here to confront my father in order to end this! I swear to you all, I will not stop until you are free, but if you riot, if you go on a rampage, all that will happen is that you will die under the fire of a Royal Lancer's weapon. Follow me, all of you, and we can change Tamaria together!”

  “Kill him!” one of the other slaves scream, and I step in between Tauren and the others, shaking my head, my lances ready to fire.

  “Listen to him!” I yell, my voice raw. “I am Audra, formerly of Lady Neyilla of the Noble Council! Tauren is speaking the truth, he was with us in the Resistance for months! He fought for us, and when he was captured, he was drugged and tortured just like you were! He knows what you've been through, what we've all been through. He wants to see us free!”

  “Why?” someone else asks, but at least they aren't yelling. Tauren lets up the man who attacked him, and hands him back his stick while I lower one of my powerlances. No way in the stars am I lowering both of them. “Why are you with him?”

  “I'll tell you what I told the children who live in the tunnels underneath this city, the ones who helped me after I escaped from Neyilla's after the bombing. Because I'm a Tamarian. You're Tamarians, we're all Tamarians. We all should be free, and because... because I love this man. And he loves me.”

  “You love her?” the man who spoke first asks, shocked.

  Tauren nods. “She is my breath, my heart, my soul. She is the most important thing in my life. This planet, my people, are second. And you are my people. There comes a time to fight, and there comes a time to set down our weapons. Tonight is a time to fight, but we must be able to fight with our hearts and our minds, not just our rage. You have a lot of it, I understand. But channel it, use that fire, don't let it burn you out.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “Follow me. Let us go to the palace, where I will confront King Joren, get him to stop this madness. Come, join the Resistance, and we can make a change for Tamaria. Like Audra said, we are all Tamarians.”

  The humans mutter among each other, until the leader, the handsome one who first challenged me, steps forward, offering his hand to me. “On your honor, what he is saying is true?”

  I nod, and holster one of my lances, clasping hands with him. “On my honor, it is true.”

  “Then I am Lincoln. Of myself.”

  Tauren offers his hand, and Lincoln shakes, half amazed that a noble Tamarian would shake hands with a human. “Welcome, Lincoln. There is no time to waste.”

  We start off again, our group gathering people as it goes. The word is spread by those on the fringes, who call out to the humans and Tamarians who are suddenly freed from the shackles of control, to the point that when Jensen flies over and sets down his hoverbike, our group has swollen to nearly five hundred. “Wow, and I thought I'd gotten a good sized group.”

  “How many?” Tauren asks, embracing Jensen to a few cheers.

  “A hundred and fifty personally. A local Resistance cell leader is bringing them up from behind you, along with Kelbara. I've got word on thousands more within a kilometer, maybe ten thousand or so.”

  Tauren turns and looks and I can see a group of more organized, disciplined people coming up behind, but I can't really get a clear view. Tauren nods, and then hands his powerlance to Jensen. “Then it's time to storm the palace.”

  We start off again, and I can see the bright glare of the floodlights that surround the gates of the royal palace, and more importantly the line of Royal Lancers who are standing in perfect rank, their powerlances extended and ready to fire. There's no whine of plasma capacitors either, whatever they're using it's deadly. The leader calls out, his voice amplified by the surrounding speakers. “DISPERSE! RETURN TO YOUR HOMES!”

  Most of the crowd halts, but Tauren steps forward, fearless. I follow him, my heart in my throat as Tauren brings his hands to his mouth. “In the name of Tauren, Crown Prince of Tamaria, I order you to stand down!”

  The Lancers don't move, but nobody fires as Tauren keeps walking, into the light of the spotlights, holding his arms out to the side. The Commander of the Lancers steps forward, his lance extended. “Sire, halt! King Joren...”

  “Is about to unleash a mistake that will tear this planet apart,” Tauren finishes for the Commander. “If he does, this city will burn. Your homes, your families, all the people that you love will be torn apart by the riots that even now the troops cannot control.”

  “He is the King, sire. Please, don't make me shoot you.”

  Tauren steps forward, his chest touching the Commander's lance. “When you became a soldier, you took an oath to protect and defend the Law and people of Tamaria. I took that same oath, and we both re-swore that oath when we became Lancers. I know the Royal Lancer oath as well, and nowhere does it say that you have to obey unlawful or immoral orders, Commander. I swear to you now, if you shoot me, you will be violating that oath. So do the right thing. Stand aside.”

  I gulp, looking at the line of Lancers, their faces stony behind their riot armor masks, their rebreathers making them look almost robotic. I glance at Jensen, who reaches over and takes my hand, giving it a squeeze. “I love you, sis.”

  “I love you too, Jensen,” I reply, my fear easing as I look into my brother's eyes. I turn to the Lancer in front of me, and stand tall, the woman that Tauren deserves.

  I see Tauren looking at me over his shoulder, and he smiles, nodding before turning back to the Lancer Commander. “Well, Commander, what are you going to do?”

  The Commander lowers his lance, and looks to his left and right. “STAND DOWN! LET THEM THROUGH!”

  “Not everyone,” Tauren says, turning to the group. He sees Lincoln, and waves him over, handing him his powerlance. “Keep everyone here, while I take Jensen and Audra inside. Can you do that?”

  Lincoln looks at the powerlance, then at Tauren, and nods. “If I can get some help.”

  Tauren looks at the Lancer Commander, who nods. “As you wish, sire. Would you like my microphone?”

  “That would be very helpful.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Tauren

  The royal palace is quieter than I have ever heard it before, even more than in the pre-dawn hours that I used to enjoy exercising in. I see no humans at all, although in the shadows of the darkened hallways I see lumps that I'm not quite ready to investigate as to what they are.

  Jensen feels it too, looking around with his powerlance lowered, but still in his hands. “What the hell's going on?”

  “The servants, most of them were humans,” I explain. “Fat
her had his Tamarian bodyguards, but the vast majority of the house staff were slaves.”

  “They ran off,” a voice calls from the darkness, stepping forward. I gawk as Pretton, my old butler, reaches for a switch and turns on a light. “I turned off the lights to minimize attention, I felt it was safer that way. I would have left as well, but when I heard that you were at the front of the mob that is surrounding the palace, I felt it my duty to stay.”

  “You didn't have to, Pretton,” I reply. “You haven't had to serve me in months.”

  Pretton nods, then smiles that same tight smile. “Highness, while I may have been a slave, I always served you out of a sense of affectionate duty, not slavery. I shall continue to do so, if you would let me.”

  “As a free man,” I counter. “You are no longer Pretton of Tauren. If you wish to be my butler though... well, I can always use assistance around the house. But I'm going to start insisting on dressing myself.”

  Pretton chuckles, and then nods. “As you wish, sir. But before you continue.... the Queen has fallen ill since the mist descended over the palace, and the King is with her, he refuses to leave her side. They are in the throne room.”

  “Lead the way then. Pretton, this is Jensen and Audra.”

  Pretton gives them both polite smiles as he leads us through the palace, turning on lights as he goes. When we reach the royal throne room, the two guards outside brandish their lances for a moment before standing aside, opening the doors.

  Mother is lying on the floor, weeping hysterically while she occasionally kicks and twists, her hair hanging in rough, ragged bunches around her face. Father is sitting next to her in front of his throne, trying from time to time to touch her, to offer comfort, but Mother's mind isn't here right now, it's somewhere else.

  I touch Pretton on the shoulder, shaking my head before he can announce me, and step forward, resisting the urge to kneel down and see what's wrong with Mother. I know what's wrong.... drug withdrawal. “When exactly did she start using?”

  Father looks up without surprise and looks back at Mother, trying to stroke her hair again but failing before he sighs deeply, sadly. “So the guards betrayed me as well. As to your question... when Victrina died. Before that, she was a very different woman, Tauren. Do you remember her then?”

  “I do. Her sister's death changed her. Only now am I realizing just how much.”

  Father nods, and turns his head away, putting his face in his hands. “It was just a little bit at first, she said. Neyton had come up with a great way for her to just get away from it all. And of course, she and I were.... well, feeling the middle aged burnout, I guess you might say. You were eight by then, and Mogar was already your teacher. I'd been on the throne for a long time by then, and Tauria and I were going through a rough patch. She suggested it at first, the sex slaves and the libido enhancers. The first time, the libido enhancer, it was like I was a new man for a while. She and I were like newlyweds for that week, before the slaves were introduced, a bit of stress relief she called it. It... it grew from there.”

  “She'll get through it,” I reassure Father. “But we have things to discuss, Father. Like your plan to use hypnotics and Lancers on the general population of the city.”

  “They're ready, just awaiting my order,” Father says, sighing. “But... a city of hypnotic zombies. That's not a kingdom, that's a nightmare.”

  “It wouldn't work anyway,” I reply. “The mist that triggered Mother's hysterics, it immunizes humans and Tamarians alike against the hypnotics and the libido drugs. All you'll do is anger an already angry population. People are going to die if you give the order, Father.”

  “So what do you advise I do, Tauren? Let you and your Resistance run roughshod? It's wrong!”

  There's footsteps in the hallway, and suddenly Kelbara and Mogar come in, Mogar looking flushed and sweaty, it's probably the most exercise the scholar's gotten in years. “I came as quickly as I could. The drone spraying is complete, Tauren.”

  “Mogar, it is your betrayal which is complete,” Father says without any real anger, just depression. “You turned my son against me, my wife into a hysteric, and my people are now rioting. All you need to do is burn the palace down to really make your name eternal in Tamarian history.”

  Mogar shakes his head, and kneels in front of Father. “Joren, I do what I did for Tamaria, as I always have. Just listen to your son, please.”

  Father looks up at me, and I squat down, not kneeling but looking Father in the eye. “Father, what you called 'growing from there,' do you even know what that meant? Tens of thousands of people are rioting right now because of Neyton's drugs, what they were forced to do under the influence of those drugs. Women and men hypnotized and raped repeatedly by nobles. How many did you drug and bring into your bed? Whatever the answer is, Neyton was worse. And Neyilla, the very woman that Mother wanted to be my Queen.... Father, she was a monster. Killed by one of her very own sex slaves after she subjected him to things that are beyond horror. What she did to her slaves Father was a crime, and most of the nobles did the same.”

  “I... I never used hypnotics on my bedmates,” Father protests weakly. “They all volunteered.”

  “Like any would turn down a request from the King, sire,” Audra says gently, stepping forward. “Especially as the Queen would have tortured and drugged them if she'd found out. You know me, sire. I used to be Neyilla's body servant, her body guard. She tortured me, and yes, she raped me as well. Even though I am immune to the drugs, and she suspected, she raped me numerous times starting when I was just a teen girl.”

  Father's eyes fill with tears, and he takes Audra's face in. “I... I'm sorry. If I could fix things, I would.”

  “You can, Father,” I protest, reaching out and taking his hand. “Get on the communication system, not to unleash your troops, but to talk to your people. Tell them that you are sorry, that you will fix what is wrong.”

  Father sighs, shaking his head. “They aren't my people, Tauren. I'm Tamarian, they're humans. Even if Mogar's theory is right, they're not my people. We're too far apart.”

  “No sire,” Mogar says, taking out a flexi. “Not as far apart as you may think. I have proof.”

  “What do you mean, Mogar?” Father asks, his eyes filled with tears. “More data from a 10,000-year-old data drive?”

  “No... a scan of a fetus, less than three hours old,” Mogar says. “The child of your son.... and Audra. One half Tamarian DNA, one half human DNA.”

  Father blinks, his mouth dropping open, his eyes turning to me and Audra. “You.... you two.”

  “We love each other, Father. And yes, Audra carries my baby. We don't know how it happened, but it is true.”

  “I know how,” Mogar says. “The same genetic abnormality that makes Audra resistant to the hypnotics, makes her capable of carrying Tauren's baby. I did a few calculations on the shuttle ride over, and while it is less than half a percent of the human population in this generation, it is possible for a human and a Tamarian to have a child together. This baby is the first.”

  Father swallows, then wipes at his eyes. “Then it is a new day for Tamaria, and a new day needs a new leader. Tauren, can you bring peace to the city?”

  “I can try, Father. Why?”

  Father stands up, and squares his shoulders. “Then it is time for me to step down as King. I understand if you would arrest me and place me under detention afterwards, I've committed so many crimes that I cannot begin to count... but I will face my fate as I should have faced my duties as King.”

  I'm shocked, but I nod. “I will do my best, Father.”

  “Then let us make an appeal to our people.”

  The lights are bright, and Mother has been taken to her bedroom by Pretton, who has promised to make sure she doesn't hurt herself, while guards and Royal Lancers operate the cameras. Kelbara, Lincoln and some of the other of the crowd from outside have gathered in the courtyard of the palace, where Father stands at the top of the steps, his ceremonia
l crown on his head. The crowd is quiet in anticipation. They have no idea what is going to happen.

  “People of Tamaria, I come before you tonight to plead for your mercy. This very night, our capital city has been torn apart by riots. In the hours that have followed, untold amounts of damage, injury and even death has filled the streets of our once beautiful capital.”

  There's a hum from the crowd, and Father holds up his hands in a plea for silence, the crowd quieting when Jensen turns and does the same. Father gives Jensen a grateful nod, and a smile of thanks. “All of it rests on the shoulders of one person. Rumors and news feeds might give you other names, some of whom are already dead. Some are in jail. But there is one person who is at fault for all of this, for the years of abuse, of maltreatment of humans and Tamarian alike. That person.... is me. When I took up this crown nearly fifty years ago, I swore to protect and defend the people of Tamaria. Not to be a petty, arrogant tyrant. And yet... I find myself having become what I feared and hated the most. As such, I cannot be your King any longer.”

  There's a collective gasp as Father takes off his crown and turns to me, placing the crown on my head before speaking again. “There is one person who can be King. I give you Tauren, out of Tauria by Joren.”

  Father steps back and down the steps to stand by Jensen before he kneels, and in a loud voice cries out. “Long hail King Tauren!”

  Nobody else moves, and I look over at Audra, who is standing just off of the camera shot, smiling for me. I look back at the camera, and address Tamaria... my people. “People of Tamaria. All people, human and Tamarian, I stand before you not as your King. Not as a nobleman, not as a Tamarian. I stand before you tonight as a man, to ask your help. For decades, millions of you have been abused, taken advantage of by nobles or those with riches who used their money to exploit you. This was and is wrong. And I pledge, in my first act as King, to rectify that mistake. As of this moment, I am using royal privilege to make the following declaration. The use of any and all hypnotic or libido enhancing drug to compel the service of another being is to be stopped, immediately.”