Star Conqueror: Recompense: An Epic Space Harem Adventure

by J. A. Cipriano

  “It is quite alright, my dragon,” Alyra said, her blush fading as she relaxed under my hand. “In fact,” – she puffed out her chest and ruffled her wings – “I am more than proud that we have consummated our association. I feel as though I am truly your Wings now.”

  Clara clapped her hands like a schoolgirl in front of her, smile bright and honest. “That’s wonderful, Alyra!”

  Turner’s grin only broadened as he flashed me a thumbs-up, while Tulip’s lips pulled into her Cheshire cat smile. “So, do I need to redo the schedule again?”

  “I believe everything is fine as it is …” Alyra’s voice trailed off hesitantly as she walked toward the huddle, with me close behind. “… zadavio.”

  Tulip arched an eyebrow as she spun her console chair around to face our now complete circle. “What does that mean?” Curiosity and cats, you know, and that old adage held true with Fertish as well.

  “In the simplest form, it means family member,” I said, beating Alyra to the punch as I tapped into her memories. Leaning against the railing beside Clara, I crossed my arms and smiled. “But that doesn’t really capture the essence of it. It’s a spiritual bond, an emotional expression of love. You don’t call your weird, drunk uncle ‘zadavio’ if you catch my drift.”

  Alyra stood bolt straight, clasping her hands behind her, but not nearly as stiffly as she usually did. She was almost comfortable looking. “You are all zadavio now to me.” She cast a stern glance at Turner. “Even you, Bolderian.”

  Turner clapped her small shoulder with one huge mitt. She didn’t stagger from the clap and even smiled a little. “I am honored, Alyra! Together, we shall hunt down the Matriarchy for what they have taken from us, much like the great John Wick did. We shall be the Baba Yagas, yes, David?”

  “You bet, big guy.” I nodded, matching all the smiles going around. “So, let’s get down to business, shall we?”

  Clara nodded, crossing her legs as she leaned forward on her perch. “Let’s. As a matter of fact, we were reviewing some of the information about Leonis IV while we were waiting.”

  She gestured toward the navigation screen, displaying a three-dimensional representation of the Leonis system’s spiraling planets. There were only four planets in the system, with much of the system taken up by the massive red dwarf star at the center of it. From the color presentations, with green planets representing M-class worlds that were suitable for most sapient life in the galaxy to black for the most inhospitable worlds, I was surprised to see that all four worlds were black as night.

  “Wow,” I murmured, “it looks like a real hellhole of a system.”

  Alyra spoke up at this point, nodding slowly. “Indeed, it is, my dragon. Originally, the Leonis system was a paradise, but once the star went into its expansion phase, the system was laid barren.” She looked between all of us. “While it rendered these worlds devoid of life, it revealed that, deep in the core of these worlds, was an untold amount of mineral wealth. Phasic crystals to be specific.”

  I had learned quite a bit more about phasic crystals since we had recovered a stash of them from Clara’s vault on Balarian. While before I had simply understood them to be incredibly valuable crafting resources from Star Conqueror, I now knew they were so much more important than that. “The core resource of both hyperspace technology and magitech,” I murmured.

  “Of course, darling,” Clara added. “Even a low-level administrator such as myself knew that the Leonis system is the Matriarchy’s primary source of phasic crystals.” She pulled her Wander-Z, the wand-shaped, crystal-tipped pistol that helped her focus her magical powers, from her shapely hip and twirled it on her index finger. “Without phasic crystals, the Matriarchy won’t be able to outfit their Matriarchs or their twisted magical Quibs with the tools they need to work their magic.”

  “Which is why I, working with your Resistance leaders, decided this must be our first objective,” Alyra said, steel in her voice. “More importantly, Leonis IV is even more critical than a mere mining world, no matter how important what they mine is. It is the primary research facility for magitech in the entire theocracy.”

  I rubbed my chin in thought, soaking this all in, as Clara smiled brightly. “Well, even better! I can finally get a real Wander instead of this Z-grade instrument!” She giggled at that, but Tulip shook her head.

  “Clara, I love you to death, but you do not see the big picture on this,” she said. “With Leonis being so close to Resistance space, if we can liberate it, we can use the crystals and the research facility to field our own magitech troops.” She grinned as her tail lashed with glee. “We can turn the Matriarchy’s magic back at them!”

  “That’s a good thought.” I pushed off the railing and towards the star chart still swirling. “But I can’t imagine that the Matriarchy has this thing so close to free space and not have it defended to the nines.”

  Turner nodded, joining me by Tulip’s screen, pointing a big finger at Leonis IV’s black sphere. “You’re not wrong, David. Leonis IV has an impressive array of ground troops, not just to prevent an attack but to keep the massive slave population in line. Phasic crystal’s too unstable to be mined with plasma saws, detonite VII, or gamma bombs.” His normally constant grin twisted into an angry frown. “While the Matriarchy could use mining robots, they prefer to use slaves. Just to send a signal to the worlds under their boot what the price of resistance is.”

  Tulip spun her chair back to her console to join our musings, Alyra and Clara coming up behind her. “I guess we won’t be able to pull a high-atmosphere drop like we did on Balarian.” She double-tapped the planet in question, bringing up a detailed window of conditions and intelligence from the Resistance on the planet. “They’ve got a hefty space fleet on standby as well.”

  “More importantly,” Alyra added, “they have a full Matriarch in command of the mines and the research station. Her name is Xara Lilana, Source of the Inner Fountains, Trailblazer of the Three Flames, and a highly ranked Illuminator. The High Priestess’s faith in her is second to none.”

  Clara let out a low gasp. “She’s quite the mystery, dears. I’ve only heard of her in whispers.” She leaned against my back, her breasts pressing into me as she put her arms around me. “It is said that she is one of the most fearsome of our former sisterhood, despite the fact that the Illuminator is said to have never shown a hint of true magic to anyone.”

  “That’s just gotta be propaganda,” Turner scoffed. “There isn’t a single Matriarch that we’ve ever encountered that didn’t do all that bippity-boppity-boo stuff.”

  “Believe what you’d like,” Alyra said with a shake of her head. “It matters little either way, for she is indeed dangerous. We must assume as well that she will be ready, not only for an inevitable attack now that the Resistance is on the move, but that you will be part of that attack, my dragon.”

  “Good point,” I agreed. “You guys weren’t ready for a dragon last time, not until you showed up.” My eyes drifted to the crystal dagger that still hung at Alyra’s hip, the dragon-slaying knife the High Priestess had given her with which to kill me. “This isn’t going to be a walk in the park like last time.”

  Tulip gave me a look, her ears twitching. “You call last time a walk in the park? We all almost died, and worse, I had to go through a sewer!” She stuck out her raspy cat tongue. “It took me a week to smell clean again after that!”

  “Oh, don’t worry so much, sister. This time, we will all be in on the action from the start,” Clara pointed out, letting some gold flashes spark through her Wander. “Our most esteemed demolitions expert will be with us, won’t you, Turner?”

  “An impossible mission against a mysterious enemy to decide the fate of the Resistance?” Turner laughed loudly, his barrel gut shaking with the force of his chuckles. “You would have to kill me to keep me from coming with you!”

  Alyra shook her head as if she were the only adult in the room. “And we may very well all die if we do not come up with a pr
oper plan of attack. While we could destroy the research facility or even set off some kind of chain reaction in the phasic crystal nodes to take out the entire planet, that will not turn the course of the war. We must liberate the planet somehow.”

  With everything that had been said percolating in my brain, I looked up, eyes passing around my team. “Well, if you ask me, it sounds like we need to pull a good, old-fashioned slave revolt.”

  Turner’s eyes lit up at that. “Yes! We will all be Spartacus!”

  While I laughed at Turner’s reference, Alyra’s face was flat. “I have no idea what that means, and while I believe your idea is one with potential, my dragon, that will not be as simple as that.” She began to pace behind us, rattling off a litany of problems to add to the ones we already faced.

  “As Turner pointed out, the slaves use only simple hand tools and thus have no advanced weapons or even industrial implements that could be made into anything truly dangerous. With the wealth of crystals, every magic-wielding soldier there will be armed with the best foci possible.” She raised a final finger. “And how will we even make the approach to Leonis IV? There is no guarantee the Matriarchy has not already cracked their own cloaking device, the only thing that might have let us make a safe approach through their fleet and planetary defenses.”

  Clara frowned, sighing as she ran a hand through her platinum blonde hair. “Really, darling, you're quite the party pooper, especially as you were the one who advised Resistance command that we should attempt this mission!”

  “I did so as it must be done, and done soon,” Alyra countered, her voice hard. “I did not say it would be easy.” She let out a soft sigh herself, obviously trying to keep herself from being frustrated with anyone. “I am sorry, zadavio. I do not mean to sound harsh, but this has been weighing on my mind ever since we set off for this mission.”

  Tulip was up out of her chair at that, falling into her Fertish instincts to comfort the shorter woman with gentle strokes along her shoulders and arms. “It’s going to be fine, Alyra. It may look grim, but we do have a lot of tools to work with here. Your magic is incredible, Clara’s healing gifts can get us through a lot of rough stretches, not to mention that slave rebellions are something of a specialty for Turner and me.”

  Her words seemed to already be calming Alyra some, even as the catwoman gestured grandly over at me. “And that isn’t even counting David. They might try to prepare for the power of his dragon, but they can’t stand in the way of prophecy!” That light of religious fervor flashed in her eyes. “But even if you don’t believe in that, he’s a fantastic leader and a great planner. If anyone can put together a way to pull this off, he can.”

  “Don’t put me on too high a pedestal, Tulip.” I chuckled, rubbing the back of my head. “But I do agree. We’ve got the best team any of us could ask for here. We can find a way to make this work. In essence, all we have to do is get to Xara. If I can free her, everything works itself out.”

  “Of course!” Tulip nodded enthusiastically. “If you can free Xara’s mind and soul bond her, then she should be able to turn around all the automated defenses and security for the entire planet. Clara was only a low-level Anchorite when you saved her, and she still had a ton of secrets to help us out even when her clearances were revoked.” She nodded to Alyra. “And all of the intelligence you gave us has been a tremendous help.”

  “But Xara has a greater direct authority than either of us had,” Alyra continued with that thread, her voice starting to sing with enthusiasm. “She will have total control over all activity on the planet. She might even be able to turn the fleet back or spread mass confusion with conflicting orders long enough for them to be dealt with. At worst, she can simply turn the defenses on the fleet, holding it long enough for a larger Resistance force to secure the planet.”

  I smiled. “Exactly. It won’t be easy, I’ll be the first to admit that, but with the resources we have, it’s our absolute best shot to win this thing.”

  “While that all makes sense, especially with the amazing array of automated defenses Leonis IV has, how will we even get to her?”

  “Well, we do have an entire planet of allies already waiting for us, don’t we, Tulip?” I said with a grin at the Fertish woman.

  Tulip winked at me. “Oh yes, we already have agitators on the inside.”

  With one last stroke along Alyra’s cheek, the catwoman spun, whirling with cat-like grace to her screen and tapping a hyperlink in the planetary briefing. Another window opened with the pictures of people and a dozen or so data profiles of those people.

  “The Matriarchy sometimes forgets that the harder you oppress people, the more they struggle for freedom,” she explained. “The Resistance has at least a dozen cells already among the population of Leonis IV, all working to organize a real revolt against the Matriarchs there. All they need is the right support to do the job.” She looked her shoulder at me, eyes flashing. “It’s a bomb that just needs to get lit, and we have just the dragon to light it!”

  “We’ll need weapons,” Turner grumbled. “I love where we’re going here, but as I said, those miners are going to simply have picks, chisels, shovels, and hammers. We might have the people and the will to resist, but they’ll get mowed down without a ton of guns.” He thumbed out towards the main ship. “Our armory is fine … for our little squad. We don’t have the firepower to give to a slave army.”

  He wasn’t wrong. “What about liberating arms when we get on-planet?” I asked. “Shoot and loot is a classic strategy, and hell, we’ve done it plenty already ourselves.”

  Turner pondered that, rubbing thick fingers over his massive square chin, but it was Clara that answered, her golden eyes going wide as she suddenly began to bounce in place. “Oh! I have it!”

  As all eyes shot to her, she practically skipped to beside Tulip, reaching past her to work the screen. A few deft touches of her delicate fingers pulled the focus out of the Leonis system to a nearby star system, maybe an hour at most from Leonis via hyperspace. If it was possible for there to be an even more barren system than Leonis, this was it. There were only a few planetoids, a massive asteroid belt, and a small star.

  “Feast your wondering eyes upon Exo-7813, a star so humble that no one ever bothered to properly name it,” Clara announced like she was selling us a diamond-encrusted gold ring.

  Alyra glowered, crossing her arms under her chest. “Yes, and what does this fleaspeck of a system have to do with anything, Anchorite Danton?”

  Tulip and I saw it about the same time, both of us leaning forward to read the data about the system. There was some kind of outpost in the asteroid belt, and I was about to point it out when Clara smiled brightly at her former superior and answered.

  “Oh, let this lowly Anchorite and logistics clerk for this entire sector explain it to you.” She pointed at the outpost that we had been looking at. “Upon this lonely rock spiraling through space, there is a supply depot, out of the way yes but stocked with basic weapons and gear, more like a warehouse than an arming point for any major Matriarch force.”

  Turner snapped his fingers. “That’d be plenty good enough to load up a bunch of slaves with to win their freedom.”

  “I must admit,” Alyra said, a smile replacing her glower, “that might just do the trick. You surprise me with the power of your bureaucratic knowledge, Clara.”

  My eyes scanned the known information about the depot, all confirming what Clara had said, not that I doubted her. “We can use this for more than a local Wal-Mart to load up at.” I glanced over at Clara. “Is this intelligence on the defenses accurate?”

  “Let me see.” She leaned over Tulip’s shoulder and squinted. “Ah, yes! This is accurate. As I said, it’s seen as a sort of warehouse, a dumping ground for old-yet-serviceable weaponry. The security is quite light. A small contingent of fighters, a small freighter, and outdated planetary defenses.”

  I stood up straight and smiled. “Perfect.” From the spark I saw in Tulip’s
eye, I could see that the infiltration expert was thinking the same thing I was. “I definitely have a plan forming.”

  “Well, lay it on us, my friend,” Turner said as he clapped me on the back, sending me stumbling a step. “Because if we’re going to Exo-7813, we need to change course, and the sooner I can be Spartacus, the better!”

  I straightened up, still smiling as I crossed my arms and turned to look at my team. “The plan is simple. We go into that depot, guns blazing, and make a lot of noise. Matriarch security protocols kick in then, forcing a chunk of Leonis’s security fleet to move in to assist.”

  Tulip jumped in, tapping away to light up the jump route from Leonis to Exo. “They’ll move along this route to engage us, so if you plant a bunch of smart bombs along it, Turner, while we loot …”

  “The bombs will blow them the fuck up!” Turner shouted with the glee only a true demolitions lover could muster.

  I nodded as Alyra finished, an eager smile on her lips. “And then, their fleet weakened and their security net in disarray, we jump to Leonis while they are still figuring out what just happened.”

  She looked to me. “Tulip speaks the truth, my dragon. You truly are a strategic genius!”

  5

  With the plan set, my little crew broke off to prepare for the mission ahead. Turner was rubbing his huge mitts in joy as he went below decks to the ship’s workshop, visions of warships ripping apart dancing in his eyes, while Tulip and Clara went to their respective cabins, taking the chance to catch a few hours of sleep while they could. I was going to keep watch on the bridge, but Alyra insisted otherwise.

  “You have barely had a rest,” she said with a faint blush, fluttering her wings as she settled down behind the tactical console. “My species needs less consecutive hours of sleep than humans, my dragon. We will need your strength in the trials ahead, so please, let me take this burden from you.”