by Vivian Venus
WARRIOR’S FATE
Grahf of the Ezrok
VIVIAN VENUS
SUMMARY
Grahf Ven Diel is a master warrior of the Ezrok, the alien race who conquered humanity, and his home is on the battlefield. When he is condemned to a reassignment to the backwater human colony on Mars, Grahf feels he is facing a sentence of misery…until he meets her.
He’s never desired a mate before in his life – his training prevents it – but this human girl is unlike any female he’s ever met.
Casey Pearce never asked for this. Ordered to quarter this tall and mysterious alien soldier at her farm, Casey is reluctant to trust Grahf. She knows the stories of the atrocities committed by the Ezrok during the war, but the more time she spends with him the more she finds herself helplessly enthralled by his presence.
A human and Ezrok shouldn’t be mated…so why do the bonds of fate draw them together?
Written by Vivian Venus
Copyright© 2015-2016 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.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
BONUS: Crash Landed
Chapter 1
Casey Pearce
The Ezrok occupation zone stretches through twelve star systems, the Earth Solar System being the one out on the very edge of their domain, far from the war still raging through the inner systems. My grandparents were just kids, terraform farmers on Mars when the Ezroks first arrived. Tall, with shimmering skin and elven features, the Ezroks were an alien race built for conquering, just like the Spartans of ancient Earth. Their bodies were shredded with muscle, the weakest of their warriors completely outclassed the strongest human. We didn’t even have a chance, at least that’s what I learned in my history classes. They came, we fought, we lost, they took over, all in the span of one month. The Crunch, they called it.
My Dad used to tell me stories about how Grandpa hid down in an old thranium ore mine for two weeks, sneaking back to the family farm which had been occupied by a group of Ezrok soldiers just to steal food from our own fields. It’s hard for me to even imagine how things were back then. Dad’s hate for the Ezroks held strong right up to his death two years ago, despite the vast improvements in technology they had brought to us. I grew up with the stories, but I also grew up with the benefits of Ezrok assistance. The squid-like moisture condensers that hovered up in the atmosphere and brought real, consistent rain. The miracle crop, sath, which has absolutely no problem growing in Martian soil. The cross-verse transport system that although I’m too poor to ever try, seems like a godsend. From what I’ve heard on the news casts, Earth may even become a desirable place to live again because of Ezrok influence.
So yeah, I can’t say I exactly trust the Ezroks knowing what they were responsible for back in Grandpa’s day. But I’ve never met one in real life – occupied with the war against much more advanced and dangerous species in the inner systems, they’ve left us Mars dwellers pretty much up to our own devices since before I was born, sending their harvester bots to pick up their share of the season’s crops and that’s it – and I’m one to reserve judgement on someone I’ve never met.
“Thirty five thousand greks of sath,” my bot, Notch, said satisfied. Earth built but with Ezrok tech, of course – he’s the only one I lived with out on the farm. “A spectacular harvest, Casey. This season has been bountiful.”
I brushed an errant lock of brown hair off my sweat and dirt covered forehead and smiled proudly, looking over the sea of golden yellow sath bushels stretching out into the distance. We’d gone through some tough periods recently – I mean, nothing compared to what Grandma and Grandpa and even Mom and Dad had to go through when they were kids – but tough nonetheless.
“Another job well done, Notch. Let’s get them prepped for pickup. Harvesters will be here tomorrow.”
“You got it,” he said. I call him “he” but Notch doesn’t really have a gender – he’s just a big floating metal ball with a male voice. You’d wonder how a floating orb would be of any help getting things done on a farm – but that’s another miracle of Ezrok tech. Notch used repulsor manipulation technology to float around and also interact with objects. I have a repulsor manipulator glove – its basic compared to what’s inside him (and what I’ve been told the Ezroks themselves use), but it allows me to pick up heavy objects without even touching them and is incredibly useful when out in the fields. So even though he’s a floating ball, he does technically have hands – just invisible ones.
Notch floated off to go get the sath organized and I went back to the farmhouse to cook dinner and get cleaned up. Not that I really minded being covered in dirt, I was used to it after all, but there definitely was nothing like taking a shower at the end of a long day and especially at the end of a harvest, going out on the porch with a plate of piping hot food from your own fields and enjoying the Martian sunset.
I kicked off my boots at the front door and immediately romped upstairs to the bedroom, the auto-lights slowly brightening the house as I walked through, the wood floor creaking beneath my feet. I loved that wood floor – where most of the houses here had synth tile or stone, we had antique hardwood, something that my great-grandparents had installed when they first came to Mars. Wood was an expensive commodity on Mars, seeing as most of the trees that grew here were small and illegal to cut down, so I knew I was lucky to get to experience something as great as a hardwood floor. I loved the way it felt beneath my feet, nice and cool and softly textured, and the way it sounded as I walked along. I pulled off my dirt stained shirt and threw it into the cleaner, then wiggled out of my jeans and did the same with them. I stopped to check myself out in the mirror. Farm work had kept my body nice and toned, though I was a little rough around the edges. Jenny, my friend on the farm three quadrants down, always would nag at me to find a husband, saying that all this labor would make me undesirable for a man. “Men like soft, pale skin,” she would tell me, referring to my calloused hands and farmer’s tan. I would always just laugh it off. Being out here by myself wasn’t so bad, besides, I had Notch.
I slipped my finger under my bra and unhooked it, letting the straps fall my down my shoulders, then I drew my panties down my thighs and tossed the whole package into the cleaner. I put my hands on my hips and gave myself a little lopsided smile in the mirror. “You look good,” I said. Not that I was concerned about getting a husband - I mean, I could handle the work myself no problem, but the thought of having a man around the house was at least a little enticing…but it would never happen. There weren’t many single men around here – in fact there was really just one – an asshole loser named Zyp who lived off his dad’s fortune from selling farm machinery. The guy was relentlessly persistent about trying to win me over, but there was no way I was falling f
or a dick like him.
Finding a guy would require me spending time in town at the dingy old dive bar, The Orion’s Belt, where all you’d see were the same old tired faces and the occasional freighter pilot passing through, and those guys always seemed to have a few screws loose, even more so than Zyp. Nope, you’d never see me at one of those places.
The com system chimed and a picture of Jenny’s face appeared in the corner of the mirror – incoming call – and I chuckled. Speak of the devil. “Connect,” I announced, and the line opened. “Hey Jenny,” I said. “I’m just about to step in the shower so I’m keeping the camera off, okay?”
“Want me to call back?” Her video feed appeared, transferring from the bedroom mirror to the bathroom mirror as I walked inside, and I could see she was in the kitchen readying dinner.
“No, it’s fine.” I turned on the shower and stepped inside, relishing the feeling of the piping hot water washing away a day’s worth of grime. “Had a great harvest day,” I told her. “Nearly thirty five thousand. How’d you and Kenji do?”
“Not too bad but nothing like you do Case. You’ve got a real way with the land.”
“Learned it from my Daddy,” I told her proudly, shampooing my hair.
“May he rest in peace. Imagine how you’d do if you had a man to help you?”
“Every single time, Jenny!” I laughed. “Can we go one conversation without you trying to set me up? I’m fine just the way things are.”
“Case, you’re not getting any younger, you know. Don’t you want kids someday?”
Kids. Ugh. It’s hard for me to admit, but the truth is I do like the idea of kids, not just to have a family but because I want to pass the farm on. The thought of little mes and hims running around makes my heart flutter and my ovaries ache…but at this point I’ve pretty much come to the acceptance that it’s just not going to happen for me.
“You know my answer to that question already,” I said, rinsing the shampoo from my hair.
“You’re damn right I do. Look, just because the one single guy who lives in the sector is a complete asshole doesn’t mean you can’t meet anyone. That’s why I want you to come with us to town after the harvest. We’ll go The Orion’s Belt, they’re having a dance night there, and we’ll find you a nice guy. There will be folks coming in from Gale I’m sure, so you’ll meet some fresh faces.”
“I’m really not interested in going there, Jenny,” I said, amused at her crazy persistence. “Really. I appreciate you looking out for me though, I really do.”
“Damnit, Case. You’re a stubborn one, you know that? You should— Holy hell, what was that? Did you see that?”
“See what? I’m in the shower.”
“There was a really bright light outside!”
“It was probably a meteor or something.”
“Holy… Case, you need to look outside your window, now.”
I turned off the water and wrapped myself in a towel. Oh Jenny, always overreacting to everything. She’d always been like this even when we were kids, where she’d see something just a little unusual and then start freaking out about it, calling me over to look. Walking past the bathroom mirror, I saw that Jenny’s video feed was empty. I went to the bedroom window and peeked out. “What am I looking at Jenny?” I called. Just a moment later I got my answer.
I nearly dropped my towel to the floor as the sky lit up, and a monstrous space cruiser appeared in the atmosphere from a cross-verse jump. My mouth dropped. “Holy shit!” I shouted in complete shock.
“Case, do you see it?”
“How could I not see it?!” Neither of us had ever seen one in person before, but we both knew exactly what it was. The stretching, obelisk like silhouette had been carved into our memories since childhood – an Ezrok battle cruiser.
“Oh my God, Case, what could they be here for?”
“I don’t know. Turn on newsfeed.” A new video screen popped up on my bedroom window. On it was the face of an elven like Ezrok, the worlds “emergency announcement” scrolling along the bottom. Its voice, deep and gravelly came through.
“—of invasion. The fleet will leave a temporary command on Martian soil to ensure the security of Ezrok territory. If your home is chosen for quarter you will be expected to comply without question.” The screen blinked to a PLEASE STANDBY message.
“Invasion,” Jenny says, sounding faint. “Invasion by who? The war with Veldarians is all the way in the inner systems!”
Just then Notch burst in to the room buzzing around wildly, his indicator light manically flashing red. “Sorry to burst in on you, Casey, but it seems we have a bit of a situation.”
“Yeah, I know. I saw the ship.”
“No, a different situation. I’ve detected that we’re about to have an uninvited guest.”
I peered back out the window saw a cluster of glowing blips shooting out of the bottom of the gigantic battle cruiser, one of which grew bigger, resolving into what I could see was a transport ship flying directly towards the farm.
Of all the luck.
“Sorry, Jenny, I have to go,” I said, and I disconnected the line and rushed to throw on a pair of jeans and a fresh shirt. Looked like we really were going to have some uninvited Ezrokian company.
Chapter 2
Grahf Vel Dien
Three honor badges for exceptional skill and bravery on the Veldarian front and this is where I find myself – stripped of two ranks and on my way to the Earthling’s newly seeded second home out with the farmers and the backwater traders, all because I refused an order. And what a ridiculous order it was – one completely without honor or sense. Yet, I suppose I should be thankful that I was not discharged, or worse.
The warship Kahran Prime exploded out of crossversal warp, the spiraling cloud of energy outside of the viewport window snapping away like a puff of smoke being sucked from an airlock, and I was greeted with the dreary rust colored surface of Mars. I was a little surprised at how much vegetation there actually was – I had seen images in the briefings, but seeing it in reality made it almost impressive. Light dustings of low growing trees in loosely packed forests that, from our altitude, made the surface look as if it were blotchy with faded moss. I saw the vast stretches of sath farmland, cross hatching through the red soil and interspersed with the occasional small lake or pond. Sol, the Terran System’s single sun, burned close to the horizon and the sky was going reddish pink with the sunset. It was beautiful, I had to admit. On the Veldarian front there were hardly any quiet moments to admire the beauty of anything except battle. And what glories battle could bring.
I donned the clean, crisp lines of my Ezrok official military uniform and reported down to the hangar bay where three other warriors were lined up for the mission to the surface. Like me, each of them had made trouble in some way, though none had been as decorated as I. Whether or not they were as skilled in combat, I did not know – but I highly doubted it. They were fresh, undisciplined. I shouldn’t be lined up with these soldiers, I should be leading them. I wasn’t sure what was a worse punishment – forced retirement and being sent back to Ezrok for reprogramming, or carrying out this pseudo-mission here on this shit rock. I took my place in the line.
“Heard we’re going to be quartered with humans,” Grenlok, a huge and hulking beast of an Ezrok said. “What shit luck.”
“I’m alright by it, if you ask me,” said Reylar. He had been transferred to the Kahran Prime shortly after I had. I had heard he had been caught with his commander’s daughter. Like I said – no discipline. “Have you ever seen a human female?”
“Never in real life,” Cayd chuckled. “I’ve been told that human women are the most beautiful creatures in the universe.” Cayd was the only warrior who I had known prior to my time on the Kahran Prime. I fought alongside him against the Veldarians a year ago – he was a capable warrior but ruthless and unwieldy. It was no surprise he ended up here.
Reylar grinned. “Fortune holds, I’ll be quartered with one of t
hem. Maybe two.”
They laughed. I could no longer hold my tongue. “And just what do you think our purpose here is, warrior?” I bellowed, irritated. “To get your cock wet?”
They were surprised and stiffened up at first, a conditioned reaction to the tone of voice I had taken, but then slackened back down again. “What do you think we’re doing here? This is no mission of importance. We’re here because we fucked up, and they needed someone to do the job so better us than their very best.”
That stung. He was right of course – which made it all the more painful to me. Because I had defied orders, made an ethics judgement instead of obeying without question, I was no longer considered their very best.
“Attention,” the harsh voice of our commander croaked, and we all straightened up and stood at attention. The battle scarred elder commander’s boots cracked loudly against the metal floor as he entered the hangar. “Warriors. Welcome to the Terran system. I’m sure it’s a first time for most of us being here and you’re probably wondering what kind of shit shoveling job was low enough to be assigned to a lot of your quality. We’ve got reports that Veldarian infiltrators may try to dig their claws into the Terran system while our focus is divided back on the main front. Now we can’t have this, Mars may be in the middle of nowhere but it’s still a prime source of sath crops. For them to sneak around the back end and take control of this system would mean a certain destabilization in our supplies.”