by Vivian Venus
WARRIOR’S DESIRE
REYLAR OF THE EZROK
VIVIAN VENUS
CONTENTS
SUMMARY
Copyright
1. REYLAR VEN ERZ
2. LILIANDRA CAST
3. REYLAR
4. LILIANDRA
5. REYLAR
6. LILIANDRA
7. REYLAR
8. LILIANDRA
REYLAR
Epilogue: LILIANDRA
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SUMMARY
REYLAR VEN ERZ is a powerful warrior of the Ezrok, the alien race who conquered humanity, and his kind is at galactic war. Tasked with hunting down an elusive and deadly assassin hiding in the human colony on Mars, Reylar is lead to the doorstep of the human female who he believes is its primary target – and he’ll do everything he can to keep her safe.
A brilliant scientist, Doctor Liliandra Cast may hold the key to ending the war that plagues the galaxy. Now she’s on the run from an alien monster who wants her dead, and a whether she likes it or not she’s got an Ezrok bodyguard who won’t let her leave his sight. He’s stubborn, brooding, and intense – but there’s something about his fierce protectiveness that Liliandra finds herself helplessly captivated by.
Thrust together to defeat a common enemy, they’re the most unlikely pair on Mars – so why do the flames of desire enthrall them both?
Written by Vivian Venus
Copyright© 2016 by Vivian Venus. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ONE
REYLAR VEN ERZ
FIRST HAVEN, the biggest city and capital of the human planet of Mars, is the triumph of human civilization and all their accomplishments up until we Ezrok conquered and inducted them into the Ezrokian Galactic Occupation Zone. With what the humans did to their home planet, it’s no wonder their so called “shining jewel of progress” is a scar on the face of an already forsaken rock, a far cry from the small, rural farming communities on the opposite side of Mars.
The city stretches for miles in a circular formation, it's center a fortified zone stretching upwards out of the polluted air towards the stars, a place where only the most elite reside – including humans, Ezrok, and other species under our occupation. As you make your way out to the city’s edges the less desirable things become, with the slums, factories and crime dens on the outer fringes.
My commander, Grahf Ven Diel, arced our transport shuttle out of the atmosphere on a curve trajectory taking us down to the outskirts of the city. We had been tracking this prey for several days now, a Veldarian spy who had managed to infiltrate the Ezrokian defense net put in place to defend the Terran system from another invasion. The Veldarians, a shape-shifting race of technologically advanced creatures, were the most terrifyingly formidable enemy the Ezrok had ever faced, and had attempted a test invasion of Mars three years ago – which would have succeeded if it hadn’t been for the commander, myself, and a handful of other Ezrok warriors who had been stationed on Mars.
I worked the small branch of the Martian duster tree with the blade of my knife, whittling it into the angular shape of an Ezrok battle cruiser. I blew the wood shavings off and brushed it with my finger and then set it on the console.
“You have a very interesting hobby,” Commander Grahf said, glancing over at my little creation.
“It helps pass the time, and you aren’t much entertainment, sir,” I said with a quick smile.
“No argument,” he replied. “Where did you pick that up?”
“My master. He was an expert with his energy knife in every aspect, not just fighting. Taught me that carving was as good for the spirit as combat was. I don’t know if I believed that crazy old bastard, but the habit rubbed off on me.”
“The mind requires quiet concentration in order to be in its top form, to prevent you from becoming dim witted. Maybe you should spend more time carving.” He gave me a smirk, and laughed. “There it is,” he said, flicking on the sensor scanners. The display readout showed a cargo freighter on its way into the city, the very freighter we had been tracking. “If you’re right about this, the Veldarian spy used that freighter to get past the security blockade.”
I grinned. “Which means we’ll be in for some action.” It had been ages since my blade had seen battle against a worthy enemy.
He nodded grimly. “And also an indication that our defensive measures have some major weaknesses. If they could infiltrate that easily…”
“All the better,” I said, shifting in my seat. I was anxious to fight.
“I understand your thirst for battle, Reylar,” Commander Grahf said, “but an invasion of the Terran system should be the last thing to get excited about. A diversion of troops from Veldarian front lines would certainly stretch the Ezrok fighting force to its limits. And if Mars were to fall into enemy hands…it would mean a loss of the supplies and provisions produced here.”
Commander Grahf was an Ezrok that I might consider boring – extremely disciplined and serious – but he was a true master warrior and I knew that he was right. I thirsted for battle, but a full scale invasion of Mars would bring us to our knees. The Veldarians would swarm the universe and enslave all they encountered. No, Mars wasn’t the place I should be aiming to do battle. The real honor was earned on the Veldarian front lines; a place I would never see again.
“Ready,” I said, feeling a surge of tingling excitement course through my body. The hanging Terran sun swung across the viewport window as Commander Grahf hit the controls and sent the ship into an arcing dive to intercept our target. I activated the ship’s floodlights which poured down onto the cargo freighter, a ship with a long storage container in the back used for hauling. We roared down and swung in front of it, cutting off its flight path, our floodlights moving over it like the searching eyes of a beast of prey.
Commander Grahf spoke into the amplifier, his already deep voice echoing out threateningly. “Freighter zero five seven alpha, terminate your engine and prepare for immediate search.”
The freighter pilot complied, the ship lowering to the ground and its engines cutting off. “Do not exit your ship. Any beings attempting to disembark without authorization will be subdued and destroyed.”
I pulled out my weapon, an Ezrokian energy knife, and checked it by flicking on the activation switch. The blade hummed and glowed red with the oscillating energy field that surrounded it, capable of cutting through metal and penetrating energy shields, and then clicked it off, flipped it around in my hand and thrust it back into its scabbard on my hip. Commander Grahf pulled his weapon off from the rack on the wall – a beam staff, long and black, perfect for both melee and ranged energy attacks. In addition to our weapons, all Ezrok were equipped with repulsor manipulator devices embedded directly into our bodies, which allowed us to interact with objects without physically touching them – a necessary tool in the fight against the amorphous Valderian shape shifters.
&nbs
p; The hull door hissed and opened, and the dry Martian wind whipped at our bodies and tugged at our warrior garb. The freighter was a large ship which dwarfed our two-man shuttle, its face washed out from our spotlights. I could see into the cockpit, the pilot frozen, his eyes wide with fear and confusion. Ships in flight on the aerial highway continued to roar over us, the sky alight with the streaks of their passing. Commander Grahf and I proceeded cautiously towards the freighter, which was jetting steam from its cooling vents.
“Lower the gangway,” he commanded the pilot, his voice still amplified. With a hiss and the loud groan of machinery, the ramp way lowered to the red dust tinged concrete ground. “Slowly disembark with your hands on your head.”
The pilot, a thin and grizzled human man wearing a dirty flight jumpsuit and sports cap – a piece of clothing popular amongst humans – nervously made his way down the ramp with his hands behind his head. Commander Grahf kept his beam staff trained on him, and my hand rested on the hilt of my knife. The man was tiny compared to us as most humans were, and he looked even smaller than normal, shrunken down in fear.
“W-what’s going on?” the man asked. “What have I done?”
“Are you the only one on board?” I asked.
The man nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Commander Grahf held up his palm and a holographic data readout of the freighter’s manifest projected into the air. “You’re hauling processed sath into First Haven, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir,” the pilot said. “For the food distribution center.”
“Where was the last place you stopped?” I asked.
“Made a routine pickup at the Sigma Five Galactic Station before passing through the Terran security border,” he said. “That’s it.”
“We’re going to search your vessel,” Commander Grahf said. “Reylar, detain the pilot.”
“Sir.” I bound his wrists and brought him into the detainment hold of our shuttle.
“What’s going on?” he asked again. “What did I do?”
“At this point in time, nothing,” I said. “However, your ship was flagged as harboring an enemy stowaway. We are seizing your vessel. A Mars Security Enforcement team will be here shortly to bring you in for questioning. You will be compensated and your employer notified.”
I shut the hold and went back to the freighter and drew out my blade. “Ready?” Commander Grahf asked.
“Let’s do it, Commander,” I said, and we walked up the ramp into the ship.
The inside was dark until our eyes adjusted to the light, able to see much better than humans could in darkness. The cockpit was empty, lights on the old analog instrument panel blinking softly. A small photo of a child was taped next to the control stick, and in the drink holder sat a cup of half consumed coffee. Nothing out of the ordinary for a long haul freighter pilot.
“Opening the living quarters access door,” Commander Grahf said, and I nodded in confirmation. He tapped it with the end of his staff and it slid open, and we turned and entered it, our weapons at the ready. We swept through the cramped area, turning up no sign that a Veldarian had been here. The Veldarians in their natural form were dark, amorphous blob-like creatures that could take various different forms and shapes, and it was possible for them to disguise themselves as an entirely different species. We were tense, our bodies hunched into battle ready positions. Getting into a fight with a Valderian in such cramped quarters was not an ideal situation.
“Cleared,” Commander Grahf said, emerging from the eating quarters.
“Clear,” I confirmed, walking out of the sleeping area. That only left one final area to examine – the cavernous cargo bay.
“Releasing cargo access,” I whispered. Commander Grahf nodded to me, tightening his grip on his weapon.
I hit the release and with a hiss of air the door slid open. We turned inside, my blade raised and the Commander’s staff trained. We both looked at each other in confusion, slowly lowering our weapons.
The cargo bay was completely empty.
“Sweep it,” Commander Grahf ordered.
“Sir.” We split off, walking along the walls of the cargo bay, looking for some sign of a creature that had stowed away here. After five minutes of walking through the thing, we met back at the center. Commander Grahf shook his head.
“This makes no sense,” he said. “The ship should’ve been hauling bales of sath. The bay should’ve been full.”
“Unless…”
We looked at each other, the realization registering in our eyes. Shit.
We ran as fast as we could through the ship and back to the cockpit. The spotlight beams from our shuttle shone through the viewport window, making it impossible for us to see the ship, and we charged down the boarding ramp and to the shuttle.
The holding bay door was wrenched open, the inside now empty. The restraints that had kept the pilot held in place were torn from the wall and lay on the ground in pieces. No ordinary man could’ve done this. He was the Veldarian. It had taken a human form.
Commander Grahf’s face was grim. He powered down his beam staff and strapped it to his back just as the Martian Security Enforcement ships arrived, hovering overhead, their spotlights circling the area and redirecting ship traffic. They then began to touch down all around us, the exhaust from their engines tossing up red dust and flailing my warrior braid around. I brushed an errant strand of white hair from my face. Human soldiers grasping energy rifles to their chests emerged from the ships and began to secure the freighter, and troops on hoverbikes swooped in. One of them landed near us and dismounted off his bike and came up to speak to us.
“Notify your command that the Veldarian was on board,” Commander Grahf said to the MSE soldier. “And it’s escaped. It’s taken a human form.”
“Sir.”
A thought occurred to me. “Soldier. Check the freighter’s logs, see where it was headed.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.” He saluted and ran off towards the freighter, leaving Commander Grahf and I alone.
“We have grown negligent,” he said. “For a single Veldarian to break through the security line and elude us right under our noses?”
“There was no way of knowing,” I said. “The same issue exists across the galaxy. It’s what makes the Veldarians such a dangerous enemy. We have no way of detecting them.”
“We cannot let them take the Terran system,” he said, almost to himself. I understood why – it was more than just because of strategic reasons, or anything like that. Commander Grahf had a woman here, a human female he had met during the Invasion three years ago, and a son.
Ever since I had seen human females in our training modules I’d thought that they were some of the most gorgeous creatures I’d ever set my eyes on – yet despite having been on a human planet for so long I had yet to have my chance with one. Most of the humans despised the Ezrok, or at least were apprehensive about us – we had conquered their people after all. The war with the humans nearly seventy years ago was bloody and the Ezrok conquering force then did things that no warrior should be proud of – it was understandable the way they felt towards us. What were these elusive human women like? Their bodies were soft and fragile in comparison to our women, and their stature small and delicate.
The commanding soldier ran back up to us and gave a brisk salute. “Sirs,” he said. “We’ve received word that the body of a pilot registered to this freighter was found at a refuel station just beyond the Sigma Five station.”
Commander Grahf and I exchanged a glance.
“We’ve also run a check on the ship’s destination and have submitted the information to your computer.”
“Good work,” Commander Grahf said, and the soldier saluted and turned heel.
“We’re going to need a new ship,” I said, referring to the mangled hold door on our shuttle. Commander Grahf shrugged and lifted his hand. He grabbed the door using the invisible grasp of his repulsor manipulator and it yanked against its hinges and tore off in a shower o
f sparks. The two of us climbed into the cockpit and powered up the holo-display, and Commander Grahf called up the bit information discovered by the MSE soldiers.
“The Veldarian was making its way into the city,” he said. “Into the inner Citadel. Look here.” He pointed at the holo-display. “He had a specific target. The EzRan Biotechnic Combine building.”
“What could it have wanted with a place like that?”
Commander Grahf smiled at me. “That’ll be your job to find out. I’m going to take the information we’ve learned to the high command. Something needs to be done about security. You go to EzRan Biotechnic and investigate.”
I nodded. I didn’t like the idea of poking around a building with a bunch of scientists. Asking questions and interviewing people wasn’t my idea of a good time and I wanted to get back on this thing’s tail…but it seemed like this was our only lead.
I stepped out of the shuttle and Commander Grahf saluted me and lifted off, the engines kicking up a storm around me before rocketing away into the distance.
I needed a transport.
“Soldier,” I barked at the MSE commander who had arrived via hoverbike.
“Sir?”
“I need to commandeer your bike.”
TWO
LILIANDRA CAST
I RAN through the checklist in my mind as I suited up to enter the research lab, a quarantined clean area that required the strictest of protocols to prevent against any cross contamination of our very rare Veldarian specimens. Pressurized under-suit was secured, atmosphere maintenance module was in place and activated. Outer shell was properly connected and donned in the proper order. Repulsor manipulator gloves fully operational and calibrated. I held out my hand and felt the neural connection between my mind and the gloves, a very strange sensation that had taken me a very long time to get used to. It felt as if I had a second set of limbs that I could feel but couldn’t see, and I reached out with them and grasped the helmet of my suit and floated it onto my head. I then reached up with my real hands and tapped the engagement button, and with a hiss the helmet pressurized and sealed to my suit.