Teeth & Claws: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 10)

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “On screen.”

  “King Adam Vaish,” the other man said carefully. “We should discuss your intentions while not in the process of war. My clan is reasonable, but we prefer diplomacy over acts of violence.”

  “I am willing to halt my forces,” I said, and the blond man nodded quickly. He knew he was going to lose, or maybe he just wanted to buy more time so he could plan his defense better.

  It didn’t really matter. I had all the leverage in the situation. The only angle he had was to realize that I really didn’t want to go to war with his clan, but there was a chance he might not realize it until we made our deal.

  “I will issue the order,” he said.

  “In ten seconds,” I said as I nodded to Sivaha and Madalena. My wives nodded and then they began to type on their small terminals.

  Then the fireworks display ended, and the two armadas silently watched each other from across a five-kilometer killing zone.

  “I have called off my forces,” he said as he wiped the small beads of sweat from his brow.

  “I can see that,” I said. “I have halted mine. Now here are my demands: You will come aboard my ship, kneel before me, and then submit. Then you will leave a small defensive fleet here and take your armada with mine back to the Vaish home sector so that we can proceed with integrating our clans.”

  The man blinked his blue eyes at me, and then his eyebrows drew together with the anger he struggled against.

  “Tanal was unable to convince me to submit to him, and he was polite when he visited me. If you--”

  “I’m going to stop you right there,” I interrupted him. “Tanal’s methods didn’t work. I don’t care what he did, or what he said to you. The fact is that the Skyad Blood Overlord Clan is no more. They are now Vaish. I outnumber you more than four to one. I have been sent by Odin and Freyja to unite the clans, and you can either come to my ship and kneel before me, or I can cleave a bloody path through your navy, invade your castle, rip your head off your shoulders, and then claim your wife as mine. The first option will allow you to live and still have some autonomy over the military powers you once commanded. The second option ends with you knocking on the doors of Valhalla and praying that you didn’t defy Odin’s wishes by contesting me.”

  “You have absorbed the Skyad?” he asked as his blue eyes narrowed.

  “Yes,” Sivaha said, and the king turned his eyes slightly so he could see the queen. “Greetings, Toriton.”

  “Greetings, Sivaha. It has been many years.” He seemed surprised to see her.

  “Last we met was when the Prime Valkyrie took her title,” Sivaha said as she gestured to Madalena. “She killed our two best Valkyries in glorious battle. This will not be a glorious battle for you. The Idonan are outnumbered, and all that will come from your resistance is the loss of everything your family has built.”

  “Are you submitted to this man?” Toriton asked. “What of your--”

  “My old husband is dead, and I am now Adam’s wife,” Sivaha said. “I am completely happy with the arrangement, and your queen might feel the same way as me once your life has ended.”

  “My clan has never wronged yours,” he hissed at her.

  “That is not the point.” Sivaha shrugged. “I am Queen of the Vaish, as is the Prime Valkyrie. You will not stand in the way of our goals. The clans will be united.”

  “They will be united with you alive or dead,” Madalena said.

  “I wish to speak of it in person,” he said as he turned his eyes back to me. “Will you come to my castle so that we can?--”

  “I will indicate which ship is mine,” I interrupted him, “and you can shuttle to it. Bring two advisors with you, but no more.”

  “Two?” he asked, I could tell that he was struggling to control his outrage.

  “And no firearms,” I said as I turned to Madalena.

  “I am sending you the tag for our vessel,” she said. “We will let a shuttle pass.”

  “You have fifteen minutes,” I said. “If your armada begins to change position, I will attack again. If you are late, I will attack again. We’ve destroyed over a thousand of your ships, and I have no problem melting every single one until I find you.”

  “It will take me at least fifteen to get to a shuttle that--”

  “You have ten,” I interrupted him, and then Madalena turned off the communication. I could feel her worry fall off her like waves, and I reached over to touch her shoulder.

  “He is a proud man,” Madalena said. “Foolishly proud, as are all the kings and queens. He will not respond well to demands.”

  “He’s soft and spineless,” Sivaha said. “Once he is in Adam’s presence, he will understand the consequences of his actions and then submit.”

  “He has to be bound to me?” I asked. We had talked about this strategy before, but I didn’t know if I was comfortable with the idea of another man feeling my emotions. Then again, a few of King Tanal’s admirals were bound to him, and all the female crew was bound to Madalena.

  “It will be the only way to be certain he will not betray you,” Madalena said.

  “You could just kill him and take his wife,” Sivaha said with a shrug.

  “There is always that,” I said. I knew she was no longer upset about me forcing her to submit to me, but I wasn’t really looking to take another wife. I was going into this with a hope that Toriton would submit and then be my ally.

  “Adam!” Nikki hissed, and my wives and I turned our attention back to the screen. A single ship had emerged from hyperdrive and set into our back lines near Persephone, the vessel aimed for one of our destroyer class ships, dove downward, and then plunged into it like an arrow. Half a moment later both ships melted and twisted as plasma consumed them.

  King Toriton had thought I was on that ship, but the reality was no one was on that ship. It was being operated by a remote pilot. We set up a ghost network of communications so it seemed like the conversations I was sending to the Idonan were coming from another ship. It was also the ship that we had given Toriton the tag for, and he must have thought I was actually on board it.

  “Ahh, fucking idiot,” I sighed.

  “Indeed,” Madalena said.

  “I knew it,” Sivaha said. “Now what will you do?”

  “Open communications with him again,” I said.

  “I’ll reroute it to another one of our decoy vessels,” Madalena said, and then the image of King Toriton came back on my screen.

  He seemed a bit surprised to see me.

  “Do you really think I would be foolish enough to send my communications to you from the vessel I am on?” I asked. “You could just hyperdrive to me and open fire.”

  “I had to try,” he said as he exhaled.

  I was about to ask him if his admirals had warned him about decoy communication ships, but then I realized that he probably wouldn’t answer.

  “I am a forgiving man,” I said. “You tried to kill me, and your attempt failed. The Prime Valkyrie will send you a new ship to dock at. This is also a decoy ship. If you are not there in ten minutes, I will begin my attack again. It will be a long and bloody conflict, and now that you’ve pissed me off, I can’t say I’ll be quick about ripping your head from your shoulders.”

  The blonde man stared at me for a few seconds, and then he nodded his head. “I will bring my advisors and meet you within ten minutes.”

  Chapter 5

  The meeting-slash-decoy ship we had set up was another destroyer class vessel. Like most Nordar ships, it looked a bit like a bird of prey with its wings outstretched to catch an updraft. We positioned it in the rearguard of our armada, and a squad of my warriors was dispatched to the vessel so that they could confirm King Toriton was on-board before I made my journey over.

  Toriton’s shuttle threaded through his armada and docked at one of his carriers for half a minute before continuing. I guessed that he was picking up one of his admirals, but it didn’t really matter who he brought with him, as lo
ng as he submitted to me.

  It took almost exactly ten minutes for his shuttle to thread through our armada and reach the meeting ship. It docked without any issue, and then we waited for confirmation that King Toriton was onboard.

  “Hmmm,” Sivaha said after we had watched the docked shuttle for a few moments.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked.

  “If I was Toriton, what would I do to get out of this?” she said. “The most obvious answer is that I would bring someone to try to kill you when we met face to face.”

  “That would be suicide,” I said.

  “He is already backed into a corner,” Sivaha said with a shrug. “It depends on how selfish he is. If Toriton cares more about his position as king than his people, he will try to kill you now and then commandeer the destroyer so he can warp back behind his lines. It is a risky plan, but his only other choice is to submit to you.”

  “Even if he is successful in killing Adam, he will still invoke our wrath. The Vaish armada outnumbers him and will destroy his clan.” Madalena’s mouth twisted a tiny amount as she thought through Sivaha’s words.

  “True,” Sivaha said as she raised her eyebrows. “However, he knows we have submitted to Adam. We will die with our husband, and then the Vaish will be left without leadership.”

  “The risk seems too great,” Madalena said.

  “Rulers become arrogant and stupid,” Sivaha sighed. “I thought I would manipulate Adam with my wiles and take over the Vaish. Toriton is far less cunning than me.”

  “I’ll figure it out when we meet,” I said as I stared at Persephone’s screen.

  “I just received word that Toriton is on board our ship and is waiting for you. He is accompanied by a valkyrie and Admiral Kiuys.”

  “Alright,” I said. “Let’s make our way over there.”

  “Yes, Adam,” Nikki said, and Persephone tilted downward and then sped toward the meeting ship. Twenty other vessels also moved toward the destroyer, just in case the Idonan got sneaky and decided to hyperdrive into our backlines and destroy the ships they thought I might have been commanding from.

  The destroyer had three docking stations, and to add to the possible confusion of the Idonans tracking which ship I was on, we let four ships dock before we took our turn. Nikki would then detach from the dock so that the other ships could continue, and they would continue to rotate every few minutes until we left. It wasn’t a foolproof strategy since it would be easy enough for the Idonans to assign these twenty targets to their quick-strike squadrons, but we would just need a few seconds to hyperdrive away if we did get attacked, and an additional twenty targets for the enemy to juggle would give us that window.

  Hyper and warpdrives eliminated all sense of fixed battle lines in space combat because if the enemy knew which ship the admirals were on, they could just pinpoint those, hyperdrive to them instantly and then unleash a salvo. To keep the enemy guessing, communications were encrypted and bounced between ships, and admirals almost never had command of the most obvious vessels; unless those ships were heavily shielded and prepared for surprise attacks.

  “We are docked,” Nikki said, and I stood with Sivaha and Madalena.

  “Nikki, the bridge is yours,” I said, and the blonde woman nodded at me before she returned to stare at the screen.

  We walked back to the rear of the bridge, everyone stood to salute us. Even Kuroda and his four former wives mirrored the Nordar salute, and I nodded to them as we walked past.

  “Tiger, I would like to accompany you,” Kuroda said as Madalena, Sivaha, and I turned the corner.

  “Hmmm,” I thought about telling the man no since I had instructed Toriton to only bring two with him, and I wanted to meet him on equal ground. Then I realized that our footing was already unequal since he was on my ship, surrounded by my warriors, and at my mercy. Kuroda was a strange man, and I didn’t know if I agreed with his views on how I should live my life, but I was starting to appreciate his unique perspective.

  “Yeah,” I said, and he bowed before joining us in the elevator.

  The guards on the destroyer were waiting for us at Persephone’s exit tunnel, and we moved with them through the tube, into the destroyer’s empty cargo bay, and then down a hallway. Another group of my warriors met us at the door to the conference room, and we walked inside to meet King Toriton and his two advisors.

  The king stood a little shorter than I expected, and he wasn’t quite as muscular as I would have thought, but he still held himself like a warrior, and the small hand axe on his belt had a well-worn handle.

  Toriton was accompanied by two women. The first was Admiral Kiuys, and the second was a muscular young woman with short red hair. The three of them wore dark brown uniforms, and I could see the aegis armor jewelry wrapped around their wrists like bracelets.

  “You come armed with pistols?” Toriton growled as he pointed at the weapons that Madalena, Sivaha, and I wore on our hips.

  “Does it matter?” I asked. “I could have ordered your deaths already if I felt like it.”

  Toriton’s eyes narrowed, but then I gestured for him to sit across the table from us, and he took his chair. The two women followed his lead, but their eyes stared at me with intensity.

  “I want none of her foul witch magic,” the blonde man said as he gestured to Sivaha.

  “Oh my,” the silver-haired woman said with a playful gasp as her fingers touched her chest. “My dear King Idonan, whatever do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean,” he growled. “I know that men have the habit of acting like drooling fools around you.”

  “It is but a mix of my beauty and womanly charms,” she said with coy smile. “Besides, most men are drooling fools, even when I am not around.”

  “You and I both know it is far more than that,” he said as he shook his head. Then he looked at me and narrowed his blue eyes. “If I feel anything odd coming from your wife, this conversation will end.”

  “We seek only a conversation,” I said, and I saw Sivaha nod out of the corner of my eye. “My predecessor once asked you to join with the Vaish to fight against the Draugr.”

  “His requests were surprisingly polite when compared with your methods,” Toriton hissed. “I told him no since my people have never wanted to be part of the Vaish.”

  “This is not about the Vaish or Idonan,” Madalena said. “My father saw our extinction on the horizon, and he wanted to unite the clans.”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” Toriton sighed. “Under his thumb. I told him no. Everyone told him no, so then his plan became begging us while he tried to amass his navy.”

  “But now we are here,” Sivaha said. “We aren’t begging, Toriton. Our claws are sharpened, and our teeth thirst for blood.”

  “You lead with threats,” the king said as he shook his blond head. “Yet I am not dead. This means that you need me for something.”

  “We need your help fighting the Draugr,” I said.

  “Let’s say I refuse to help you,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “What will you do? Kill me now? Then take my wife as yours? You will have to tear through my entire armada. You will lose about eight thousand ships, which sounds like a small number compared to what I will lose, but you are counting on those ships to help you with the Waymund and Jotnar. I have more leverage than you want me to think that I have.”

  “I am prepared to continue my assault,” I said. “In fact, I can continue it while we negotiate now. Perhaps I can just keep you here while my navy dismantles yours. Then I will put you back on your planet and release the audio recording of this conversation so that your people know you had a chance for peace and greater glory but, instead, you decided you preferred to protect your pride.”

  Surprise flashed across Toriton’s eyes for half a moment, but then his face shifted back to a scowl, and he shook his head. “Tanal had no proof of these Draugr. They are stories told to scare our children, not monsters that intend to conquer the galaxy.”

  “I
have seen them with my own eyes,” I replied, relieved by the nature of his comment. This was a good conversation path as it meant that the other king was considering my request. “They are monsters who exist by sucking the life force from all living beings. They are immune to bullets, cuts, and conventional weapons. They once extinguished all life in this galaxy, but then they planted more genetic seeds and hibernated so that their food source could grow again. They are--”

  “But proof?” he interrupted me. “Your stories match what we tell the children.”

  “My proof is my word,” I said. “And as I said, they are the ultimate threat to our galaxy, and the human race needs to prepare for their second coming.”

  “King Toriton,” Madalena said as she leaned across the table slightly. “I have gathered evidence of the Draugr temples. I have taken pictures of the technology. My father provided these to you in a report when he last asked you to--”

  “It is just the same as your husband,” the blond man sighed. “You expect me to take your word for it. Bring me one of these corpses and I might be impressed.”

  “But Odin wishes for us to fight them. He is pre--”

  “And what proof do you have that your husband is Odin’s avatar?” he asked.

  “His aegis,” Madalena said, and the three Idonans turned their eyes to the amulet around my neck.

  “It might be a forgery,” Toriton scoffed, but as soon as he spoke, I commanded the aegis to begin to spread across my body.

  The two Idonan women exchanged quick glances with each other, once the armor covered my chest, and I let it continue until everything but my neck, face, and head was covered.

  “You have recently acquired your aegis?” Toriton asked, and his face turned into a smirk.

  “Yes,” I answered. “As you can see, it is no forgery.”

  “It does not prove that Odin or Freyja wish you to be their avatar or unite the clans,” he said as he leaned back in his chair.

  “The Vaish are changing,” Sivaha said. “King Adam’s spirit animal is a tiger, and the feathers are turning into stripes.”

  “Show me,” the blond man said, and both of my wives turned to me. I nodded, and their aegises dripped down their toned bodies like silver drops of rain. Sivaha’s armor was almost all striped now, and her helmet bore the growling cat expression. Madalena’s was about half stripes and half feathers, but her mask was still a screaming skull banshee.