by T. J. Quinn
“The Picoran’s must know where this planet is,” I said.
“We can’t go back to Ursaga and ask them,” Degatu asserted. “They will have far better security next time now that we raided them. We might not be so lucky then.”
“I know.”
“You’re thinking with your heart, not your head because she is somatu. Otherwise, you would have no problem with just integrating them into our community.”
“That’s only partly true,” I admitted. “Just like our people, they were stolen from their homes and taken from their world to become slaves to other beings. It’s just wrong. I wish we could try harder to get them back where they belong.”
“As do I, but we can’t,” he said. “What we can do is see if the Consortium can help them and give them a choice to stay with the Consortium or settle on Farseek and help with the rebuilding.”
“I want Harper to remain in the ship---with me. It is my right,” I added unnecessarily. Degatu knew that.
“It is also her choice,” he reminded.
I thought---hoped she would choose me. I didn’t imagine her response when I kissed her, but I still felt uncertain. It could have been the heat of the moment because I was the one that led them out of there. Suddenly I had to get back to Harper, I had to know. The possibility of rejection was daunting to consider---to never have a mate or a family of my own. How could I let her go?
I needn’t have worried. The moment I entered the conference room I knew she was looking at me. It took only seconds to pick her out of the group and for us to lock eyes with each other. She got up from her chair and came to stand in front of me and gave me a shy smile. I couldn’t resist caressing her cheek with my fingers. Mine! I thought. Something in her eyes seemed to confirm that. So why was she playing at resisting then looking at me like that? Maybe that’s how they did things on the dirt planet. We would have to talk about this soon, but I just smiled back at her.
But I couldn’t hold it knowing the news I was there to deliver. She seemed to sense that before I spoke. “I’m afraid I have bad news.”
“What?” She frowned.
“I should tell everyone at once,” I said.
“Everyone, listen up. Commander Maktu has something to say us, and it’s not good.”
They all stopped murmuring among themselves and focused on me. “We regret that we cannot determine the location of the planet d—Earth with the information we have. It’s possible, even likely that it isn’t in this galaxy. Harper told me it orbits a yellow dwarf near the rim, but the rim is vast and we don’t have the resources to search.”
“What are you saying?” asked Zoe Addison.
“He’s saying we can’t go home. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. They don’t know where Earth is, and we can’t go back and ask catfish face how to get there.” Harper replied before I could speak.
Another time I might have been irritated, but I was glad not to say those words, especially when Zoe’s eyes filled with tears and the other Earth women began to weep as well. Even worse, my Harper became tearful as well. I wanted to hold her but she crossed her arms across her chest and seemed to close herself off from me.
“I bet that makes you happy, soul mate,” she sniffed, and now she seemed angry at me. She certainly had much more to learn about me if she thought I would use subterfuge to keep her from returning to her home---force maybe but not a lie.
I just looked at her. It hurt to see her so upset, and I felt a little relieved that she couldn’t go back to her planet---a little guilty, too. She had to realize this wasn’t my doing. I moved closer and gently rested my hands on her shoulders. She looked up at me the anger was gone but her eyes were full of tears and started to spill over and run down her cheeks.
“Harper, I’m sorry. This isn’t my doing even though I want you to stay. At some point we may find someone who knows of your Earth. I’ve told all of you this so you won’t have false hopes and to encourage you and the other women from Earth to make a new start with us.”
With that she started to cry in earnest, so I put my arms around her, pulled her against me and just let her cry. I could tell already that she wasn’t a whiner and complainer. She was probably feeling a bit like I did when I went back to Farseek saw the devastation to my family home. Everything that had made it my home was gone. My world was broken, and I felt broken every time I thought about it. So I knew no way to take away Harper’s pain, I could only try to comfort her as she mourned her loss.
CHAPTER SIX
Harper
I’m not usually one who falls apart any time things don’t go my way. This was the culmination of being ripped from my home by aliens and nearly sold into slavery, and then… then being told I could probably never go home to Earth again. I just started sobbing like a little baby.
Then this big, strong warrior man wrapped his strong arms around me and rubbed my back while I sobbed against his chest. I knew and he knew there was nothing else to be done. I don’t know how long I cried. I just knew I needed to get it out, and he just let me. I liked him already.
Soul mate. It must be true. My tears had stopped and I let out a shuddery sigh. Zared caressed the back of my head.
“Harper, come with me to my quarters so we can talk privately,” he said softly close to my ear.
I nodded. We left the room together while some of the other women were still crying softly. It probably wasn’t the best idea to go to his quarters, but I wanted to be with him. He had sounded sincere about talking privately, but when the door slid closed behind us, we came together, kissing like we couldn’t get enough of each other.
As my body molded against his, I could feel his erection against my belly. My nipples were hard and sensitive, and the solid muscles of his chest felt delicious pressing against them. I swear I felt his kisses all the way to my toes. My pussy throbbed for attention, but Zared made no move to go further than deep, wet, tongue tangling kisses from which he pulled back all too soon.
“I would apologize, but I am not sorry at all,” he said looking down into my face, his eyes gently mocking.
“Nor am I.” I laughed a touch nervously.
“I didn’t want to stop there,” he said, “but it’s not proper for me to claim you before our bonding period has finished.”
“What do you mean claim?”
“Mate with you,” he said. “My body says otherwise.”
He let me go and stepped back. I think I blushed as I looked at his crotch and saw he was still hard---for me. My crotch was still clamoring for a meeting with his as well. Since the feeling was clearly mutual, I thought it was best for us to separate for the time being. We stood there a moment, just looking at each other. Zared brought his hand up and drew his fingers down my cheek tenderly. We were both pretty smitten, but did that mean we should mate and have a life together? At that moment it didn’t seem like a bad trade off for what I had lost.
“And so does mine,” I admitted. “So now what?”
“I will order something to eat from the processor and we will talk,” he smiled faintly.
I raised my eyebrows. He was serious. I wasn’t sure whether I was relieved or disappointed. Hot, passionate sex would have felt pretty good just then, but I was also hungry and tired. Being kidnapped by alien slavers was not conducive to getting much rest, not to mention the excellent accommodations.
“You might call it courtship of sorts. It could last a few days to a few weeks,” he explained, though I doubt he used exactly those terms.
If I watched him talk, his mouth wasn’t forming the words I was hearing. It was like watching a movie made in one language then dubbed in English. The translator chip was helpful, but if I were stuck out here the rest of my life I wanted to learn the language.
He led me to a table at the side of the sitting room and gestured for me to sit. He took his place across the small table from me. He looked at the food dispenser on the wall and frowned slightly. “I don’t know what to get for you to e
at,” he admitted.
“And I have no idea what to ask for.” I smiled at him. “Just pick something---not too rich or spicy. I don’t have any food allergies. I like fruits and vegetables, some kinds of meat, bread, cereal… Are there pictures?”
“Ah, yes holograms,” he said and pressed a touch pad/ on the side of the machine. He said some things that didn’t translate and s series of 3D images flashed on the table.
I saw a mishmash of something that looked like Chinese from my favorite take-out and said, “Could I try that?”
It sounded like he said ‘tar cat’ and I giggled thinking about the running jokes about cats and Chinese food. Momentarily a dish of steamy food was ejected from the machine. It smelled wonderful and came with a short tined fork to eat it with. Zared set the bowl and fork in front of me and a second bowl of the same was ejected.
“This is mostly vegetables with a little cultured meat and grain with mildly spicy sauce. Try it and tell me what you think.”
I picked up the utensil and took a small mouthful. Although it was steamy, it was just the right temperature to eat. I can’t quite describe what it tasted like. The meat was like a cross between veal and lamb and some of the vegetables reminded me of bean sprouts and broccoli mixed together with a grain like barley in a sweet lightly salty sauce. It was quite tasty.
“Mmm, this is good. Thank you, I didn’t realize how hungry I was,” told him. He seemed pleased as he smiled at me and started eating his own food. It was the first normal food I’d had since I’d been taken.
“Perhaps after you’ve eaten you would like to shower. I can give you a shirt to wear that would cover you better than that flimsy slave tunic,” he said between bites.
“That would be lovely,” I said.
“I will get you something more suitable when we get to Halor in about two weeks,” he went on.
“Then what?” I asked carefully.
“You are solmatu. I don’t think I can let you go. Don’t you feel it?”
“I know I’m completely attracted to you,” I admitted. But it was more than that. I felt he was someone I could trust, who liked me as I was starting to like him. “But I don’t want to be a burden. Back on Earth, I made my own living as a mail carrier. What can I possibly do here?”
“I don’t have an answer for you right now, but I will help you understand our ways. That should help you find your place here,” he assured her.
He was so kind and solicitous, I found it hard to reconcile that side of him with the fierce warrior I knew he must be. We talked and ate and laughed a little. He was easy to be with though I was always aware of the undercurrent of sexual tension between us. Sometimes, I would catch him looking at me with such passion smoldering in his eyes that I knew he was thinking carnal thoughts. Not that I was opposed, I just wanted a chance to know him better, but I knew I couldn’t hold out for long.
After dinner, Zared showed me how the shower worked and gave me one of his clean shirts. It was very much like a t-shirt without the ribbed neckline. It came to halfway to my knees and was made of a little heavier cloth than the slave dress. I was so delighted to be clean after so many days.
I was a little disappointed to find that Zared was gone when I finished in the bathroom. I didn’t know what to do with myself so I laid down on the small sofa in the sitting area and took a nap that lasted until the next morning.
I woke the to find I was covered with a light blanket and Zared was sitting in the chair across from the sofa watching over me. He smiled faintly as I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times to be sure I wasn’t dreaming.
“I’m sorry I had to leave, I was needed on the bridge to relieve the admiral.”
I sat up slowly, and smoothed down my hair. “I figured you probably had work to do, so I was just going to take a little nap.”
“More than a little nap. You must have been tired. You slept all night.”
“It’s been a long couple weeks, and I was stressed about my situation.” I stood up. “Be right back I need to use the ---lav.” It took me two minutes to figure out that the toilet flushed itself. Then I splashed water on my face and dried it with a towel that popped out from a cubby in the wall.
Zared stood when I came out and crossed the short space between us to take me in his arms and hold me close. In his eyes was the unspoken question, then he kissed me. He was gentle at first and then demanding. I opened willingly to his probing tongue and moaned as it caressed mine. That’s all it took to light a fire between us. I saw no reason to resist what I knew was coming. I wanted him, needed the release he could give me. Whatever else Commander Zared Maktu was, I believed he was a man I could grow to love. Then and there, I realized I wanted to love him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Zared
I wanted to be there when Harper came out from her shower, but our AI specialist had gleaned some valuable information from the Auction House files. A great many of our people had been sold there and transported to a backwater mining planet in Sector Six of the Empire, a planet called Breskaa. It was mostly a desert rock with a few automated farms that grew enough to feed the slaves and the overseers of the mines. From the intel he could gather, security was not as tight as needed to keep us from going in and taking back what was ours. Altogether about two hundred of our people had been shipped to Breskaa.
Once we dropped Kyanna Guryon off on Halor, collected our payment, and replenished our stores, we’d head out to Breskaa to liberate our people. It was a small number compared to the millions missing, but we knew a lot of the missing were probably dead.
The admiral had also received word that Farseek Dreadnought Eight and its crew were alive and well. After we had told them what we found at Farseek, they agreed to rendezvous with us at Breskaa to rescue our people. At least now we had a plan that we thought could work.
But there was no information as to where Harper’s world was located. I was selfishly glad because had we found it I feared she would want to go back. She looked adorable curled up on my sofa sleeping. I thought about carrying her into my bed where she would be more comfortable and I could lay next to her, but I didn’t want to wake her. I took out a light blanket and covered her instead.
I stood watching her sleep for a while after I covered her. I ached with wanting her, knowing she was solmatu. She needed more time and I didn’t know how long I could be patient. It was getting hard to concentrate on my duties while I ached to claim her and make her mine. It would have to be soon. I closed my eyes and willed my muscles to relax and willed my cock into submission so I could sleep. Perhaps when we had both rested I could persuade her with kisses and caresses to mate with me. On that thought I drift to sleep, imagining that I slept with her in my arms.
She was still sleeping when I had showered and dressed. I ordered some morning tea, an herbal blend laced with a mild stimulant, and drank it while I sat watching Harper. My Harper.
Harper woke about a half hour later looking refreshed. She hurried into the lavatory and I rose to fold her in my arms as soon as she emerged. She leaned into me and pressed her cheek against my chest. My cock went hard almost instantly and I knew Harper could feel it against her belly by the quick little intake of her breath.
She drew back a little and looked up at me, her eyes slightly hooded beneath her dark brown lashes. She deliberately pressed her belly harder against my erection and a seductive little smile played across her soft lips. I claimed her lips in a heated kiss and dominated her mouth with my tongue. She let out a soft sweet moan and pressed more tightly against me, caressing and swirling her tongue around mine.
I slid my hands down over her buttocks and cupped them lifting her up so her core was pressing against my cock. I hoped it felt as good to her as it did to me---enough to make her want to feel it inside her.
Harper moaned imploringly and raised one leg to wrap around my hip, grinding her core against my cock. “Zared,” she murmured, “It’s okay. I want to be your mate.” She nuzzled and kissed my th
roat as she wrapped her other leg around me. She wound her arms around my neck and pressed on the back of my head until a kissed her again.
I hoped that she wanted to be my mate now, because I was taking her into the bedroom to claim her sexually. When we reached the bed, she put her feet to the floor and looked up at me with an impassive expression that made me worry she has changed her mind. Then she slid her hands up under my shirt caressing my chest and tweaking my nipples. I took that as an invitation to do the same to her.
Her breasts were soft and pliable in my hands and her nipples taut and erect. She cooed her approval as I rubbed and gently pinched her nipples. Meanwhile, she slid her hand down over my cock making it my turn to groan in pleased arousal. She found the clasp on my trousers and opened it then the fly. She pushed them down over my hips and free my cock. My pants dropped to the floor and I stepped out of them. I hadn’t bothered to put my boots on. Then I pulled off her shirt so she was naked. I smiled down at her, enjoy the view of her beautiful breasts and her triangle of her pussy that was covered with light brown curls.
As I pulled off my shirt, Harper knelt down in front of me and wrapped one hand around my cock and kissed the tip, lapping off a bit of pre-cum there with her tongue. It felt exquisite as she laved the head then took it into her mouth and sucked. Only her mouth wasn’t where I wanted to put it as she could only fit the head there.
“Harper,” I rasped,
“Yes, Zared?” she said releasing my cock.
“Come up here.” I helped her up and crawled onto the bed, beckoning for her to joined me.
We lay down facing each other, and she came into my arms, pressing her body against me, her parted lips seeking mine. I slid my cock between her legs but not inside her even though I was ready, I wanted to make sure she was beforehand. We kissed long and deep until we were both trembling and panting with desire. I wanted to take more time and kiss her whole body and taste her essence as she had tasted mine. But my cock throbbed with the need to be encased inside her velvet tunnel.