by Reagan Woods
∞ ∞ ∞
Jorkan knew he’d made a mess of things with Arianna yesterday. She made it hard for him to think about anything but having her for his own. She couldn’t be his primary concubine, of course, his step-sister, Ilana, was slated for that honor. After all, if he were to adequately convince the Separatists to do as he instructed, he couldn’t favor exotic foreigners so highly…but Arianna would be a fine addition to his collection. Sadly, that was not to be. At least, not as things stood.
Studying her prone form, he watched her twitch in the padded white chair as the reconditioner prepared to release her from its thrall. Her tunic barely covered the tops of her creamy thighs. The slave collar and cuffs highlighted her subservient status, making him ache to possess her. She was so attractive, so like a miniature Doranos female…only unable to prevent him from having his way with her. Ilana might still resist him, but Arianna wouldn’t be able to.
“Hello, again,” Arianna sat up slowly, groggily from the reconditioning session.
“You’ve made marked progress once again today,” Jorkan took her small hand and helped her to stand. She was shaky and weak when she emerged from each session. It made him feel powerfully male when she leaned on him, depended on him.
When “Peter” had been sent to watch her, sleeping with his charge had been acceptable. But Jorkan had been warned away by the Emperor’s Warlord, and he’d be living under Hash-Han’s protection for quite some time. Angering his allies wouldn’t be prudent.
“I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” Jorkan was determined to have her at least once before he had to turn her over, preferably willingly. He handed her a bar of ull and a bottle of electrolytes.
“Umm…alright,” she said, putting distance between them, quickly eating the unappetizing food.
Her obvious desire to keep away from him wasn’t part of his plan, he’d spent hours next to her while she was in the reconditioner, knowing his male pheromones would make her want him as much as he wanted her. She needed to trust him, to want him back. He was going to such trouble to groom her to play her part in this charade, after all. He didn’t want to have to damage her to get his way. But he would.
“I don’t like the way the General treats you, Arianna,” he decided to try a different approach with her. “You aren’t allowed out of this suite. When the time comes, I hope you’ll give me a chance to change all that.” He worked a touch of sincerity into his voice, watching her closely as she prepared to step into the hologym.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Jorkan. Do you know for certain that the General is going to give me away?” she sounded off-balance and uncertain. Just how he wanted her to feel.
“I will try to help you when that day comes,” Jorkan promised with feeling, implying that Darvan did, indeed, have plans in the works to pack her off. “For now, let’s focus on progressing through the reconditioner. I have to program in several new settings,” he gave her a small smile full of pity. She was going to serve ever so many of his purposes so very well.
Jorkan and his comrades had plans and fall back plans galore. Bottom line, the Earthers were too willing to allow the CGA free run of Earth. For the most part, they’d gone meekly into the work camps. But Jorkan needed the Earthers to at least appear to resist the General. If “Peter” could stir them to actual revolt, all the better.
It was essential that the High Council keep General Darvan and his armada in this galaxy, unable to defend the CORANOS Galaxies. The other Generals were far less competent in the ways of battle strategy than Darvan, their warriors not as fierce. They could be dealt with if Darvan weren’t available to assist them.
What a blow to the vaunted General’s ego it would be when his own captive turned against him. Jorkan would allow her to fear for her life for a time…just long enough to make her grateful when he rescued her from certain death. She’d be amenable to his advances, one way or another, and both he and Hash-Han would get what they wanted from her.
He intended to plant that seed in her fertile mind now…
Chapter Fifteen
One Day Later
“Hello, Arianna,” Jorkan loomed over her, bending so close he was practically lying atop her on the reconditioner’s chair.
Their daily routine had been disrupted this morning for some reason. The General had scarfed down his breakfast soon after she woke him. He took time only to drop a quick kiss on her mouth and he was gone.
She’d waited and waited for Jorkan to present himself, but he hadn’t shown. With no one there to help her set up her daily exercises, she’d been forced to slog her way through the reconditioner’s interfaces on her own. In the process of tweaking the parameters, she’d discovered a few perplexing settings.
“Hello,” she flattened herself against the cushioned surface, surprised at his nearness.
Clearing her throat after a few moments of uncomfortable scrutiny she said, “Will you please back up a little? I need to get up.” She was having a difficult time differentiating her new world view from the one he’d programmed for her.
“Of course,” he hesitated, studying her face intently.
“Nothing is different today?” he asked as he backed up.
“I don’t understand what you mean,” she brushed past him to collect her food from the kitchenette.
Initially, she’d thought of the oddly colored Corians as predators. All of her lessons in the reconditioner had begun painting the giant aliens as aggressive, dominating world conquerors. The program indicated the CGA had been formed when the Corians had conquered the Doranos, effectively pushing the Doranos into the role of stewards over their combined resources. While the Doranos managed the results of Corian greed, the insatiable Corians went about the business of acquiring more and more resources.
Logic argued that the equal standing the Doranos enjoyed in the CGA indicated a willing partnership between the two alien races. But her reconditioning program had been set to a pro-Doranos view point. And that wasn’t the only anomalous setting she’d encountered during her foray into the reconditioner’s settings.
Jorkan trailed her into the kitchenette forcing her to pass uncomfortably close to him in order to reach the hologym. He practically tread on her feet he was so close behind her. She came to an abrupt halt and swung around to face him. He was too close.
“Are you going to come with me willingly, Arianna?”
“Where are you going?” some of those incongruent settings were starting to make sense now.
“Did you not feel the urge to leave this ship escalate over the last few days?” the furrows in his brow deepened.
“I’ve had an intense urge to leave since before I got here,” she said dryly. He grabbed her shoulders and began walking her backwards. She needed to get away from him. Maybe she could surprise him into halting this course of action. “If you’re referring to the nonsensical programming suggesting I accompany you to the surface, you should have thought that out better. It requires rudimentary logic skills at best to know that I would be no safer on the surface of Earth with you than I was on my own. Besides, when you didn’t show up this morning, I went through the reconditioner’s settings. Whatever program you were running to urge me to flee this ship, I’ve turned off. Why would you do this to me?”
“The urge to go home is always an easy desire to implant. Logical or not, most individuals cannot resist the conditioning. It coincides with their deepest desire,” he informed allowing her to move a few steps away from him. “No matter, we have other options,” his superior reach and strength allowed him to seize her bodily. Tossing her back onto the plush recliner he initiated the programming again. “You won’t recall this conversation because, you see, I’m quite good at programming these little machines. I’ve found a way to make you do what I want, and you’re about to do a horrible thing, Arianna. If only you’d cooperated. Don’t worry, though. I’ll try to make sure you don’t pay too big a price – if you survive,” he leaned forward to press a cr
uel, grinding kiss to her lips.
∞ ∞ ∞
“General, you’re a credit to us all,” Councilor Darkan’s large form vibrated with excited approval.
“The engineers aboard the Horizon deserve the credit,” Darvan said smoothly. “They fabricated the energy magnification pods to make this field possible.”
“I’ve never heard of putting such a large portion of a galaxy inside an energy barrier,” Councilor Nantik stated. “How will the field affect the living organisms inside the barrier?”
“The biologists say we’ve placed the energy arrays far enough outside of the sphere of influence for most organisms that they should not be adversely affected by any energy fluctuation. The ships’ liquid ceramide shields will protect those of us in space.”
“Have your sensors located the precise coordinates of the Ventix ships?” Councilor Tegas queried.
“They are clustered along the border of the field,” Darvan pulled up a holomap and pointed the coordinates out. “They haven’t opened fire or attempted to break through in any way. Have they communicated their intentions to the Council?”
“They have. Their demands are simple. Leave the galaxy. The Earthers we have, they invite us to keep; however, the Earthers in the camps on the surface are to be abandoned when we pull our warriors out,” Darkan reported drily.
“How do they know there are still Earthers on the surface?” Darvan barely got the question out before the Victory’s monitoring system interrupted.
“Field breach is imminent,” the calm voice came over the speakers.
“There’s been a massive energy fluctuation,” Darvan cut the link to the Council. He would investigate to find the enemy’s source of information as soon as he dealt with the emergency at hand.
“Battle stations,” Darvan barked stepping out of his office and striding onto the command deck.
“Victory, link up commanding officers.” While he waited, he needed a status report from his own men.
“Silex, what are they using to cause the energy fluctuation?” Darvan demanded without preamble.
The weapons specialist studied the readings coming over the screens at his station, “General, it would appear that the enemy has access to our magnification array specs.”
“They’re using our technology against us,” Darvan muttered, mentally scrolling through his contingency plans.
“Vank, report,” he demanded when his commanding officers were on-screen.
“General, the Horizon is closest to the data stream that is affecting the arrangement of the arrays. We can jettison a temporary field generator in our position within the energy matrix and take a run at the enemy ship attempting to breach the field,” he suggested a variant of their fallback plan.
“Do it, Vank. Tiron, Norkin, protect your borders. Tamnon, Karvik, pull the Memorial and the Hope back to orbit the blue planet more closely. We will cover your retreat.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Commander, Ventix ships are moving to engage us,” Bram reported.
Vank gave a derisive snort and studied the behemoth Ventix warship on the view screen.
“It would appear they believe they have the upper hand.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong Commander, but my data indicates the outcome of the current situation does, indeed, favor the Ventix,” Young Calyx said from his position at the energy monitor, an apprehensive look on his untried face.
“This is a dynamic situation, Calyx. Sound the alarm,” Vank commanded. “Bram, bring us around sixty degrees. Send out a ship-wide transmission advising all non-essential personnel to load into the life-pods. Domik, take over weapons from Yixl. We do not want to directly engage the enemy until we have to. Suppressive fire only until the life-pods are safely out of firing range. Yixl and Calyx, consider yourselves non-essential and get your asses to the life pods.” Vank wanted only his most experienced warriors with him while he pulled this maneuver off. It would be extremely risky and they would have to time everything just right.
“Colonel, we’re being scanned and sighed in by the enemy ship,” Calyx protested. “We’re being targeted by at least three plasma cannons.”
“That’s over-kill,” Vank murmured. “Domik, can you target the most likely locations of the cannons and take them out before they can fire?”
“Locked and ready,” the experienced warrior had anticipated Vank’s command.
“Fire at will, Domik.”
They watched a section of either side of the bloated disk erupt into the blue light that indicated a plasma strike before the cere-shields contained the blasts. The third strike near the base of the disk must have superheated an oxygenated area of the Ventix ship. The orange glow of fire flared to life for a moment, dramatically up-lighting the enemy ship.
“That should slow them down, Commander,” Domik said coolly.
“But it won’t stop them,” Vank finished, grimly watching fighters launch from the enemy ship bays. “Make sure to broadcast our findings to the General. First they punch through our encrypted data codes like tissue paper. Now, they have plasma tech. We’ve got bigger problems than we thought.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Arianna’s head ached fiercely when she woke from the reconditioner. The room was shrouded in a flashing greenish cast and Jorkan was nowhere to be seen. Stumbling from the chair, she started crawling for the kitchen trying to focus through the incessant buzzing in her head. With the pounding behind her eyes came a terrible sense of disorientation. She must have slammed her head into the helmet of the reconditioner before emerging. Blood stung her eyes causing them to tear up.
Each time she gained her feet, she crashed painfully back to her hands and knees. The jarring agony of her head made each inch forward a monumental effort. Finally gaining the kitchenette, she pulled herself up and chugged a bottle of electrolytes. That helped clear her head enough to realize the floor really was bucking beneath her.
Somewhere, a buzzing alarm was sounding. Each dip and jerk of the ship was directly preceded by the muffled sound of….an explosion? That couldn’t be good.
Fighting back nausea, Arianna stumbled for Darvan’s bedroom, smacking into tables and walls as she went. The hated chain might just come in handy for once. Using the fluffy blankets as padding, she constructed a makeshift harness with the chain and hoped that the disturbance would end soon.
She was covered in bruises and cuts from her clumsy jaunt through the small quarters. There wasn’t a part of her body that didn’t ache and protest as she tested the tensile strength of her harness through shockwave after shockwave. She didn’t have the luxury of giving in to the panicked horror trying to flood her mind, she needed to be prepared to act if they lost life support. There had to be some way for her to break out of the General’s quarters if that happened.
After bouncing around like a ping pong ball paddled back and forth between two manic children for what seemed an eternity, the ship stabilized. The blaring alarms quieted and the dizzying emergency lights stopped flashing their green haze. She knew she’d have colorful bruises tomorrow but she was too exhausted to bother crawling out of her harness. She lay there in the darkness taking stock of her situation.
“Arianna! Answer me! Arianna! Where are you?” Darvan’s voice jerked her awake.
“Here! I’m here,” she struggled to pull herself upright in the tangle of blanket and chain, fighting a brutal wave of nausea. She felt a ridiculous sense of relief that he’d come for her.
“Lights fifty percent,” he commanded striding into the room. Seeing her predicament, he set about freeing her quickly and efficiently. He seemed quite disturbed. Of course, finding her mangled corpse strewn around his quarters would have pushed his last meal back an hour or so.
“What happened?” she asked when finally free of her bindings.
“The Ventix attacked,” he said shortly.
“The what?” she asked, confused.
“Not what. Who. They are an enemy alliance who have chosen
to contest our right to this galaxy. Specifically, they claim a prior right to Earth.”
“More aliens. I should have figured.”
“They’ve been driven back for now, but I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of them.” It was the first time she’d ever seen him so upset. In the low lighting, his eyes were shadowed pits of despair.
“Was anyone hurt?”
“We lost the Horizon, my brother’s ship, and all of the crew, personnel and civilian Earthers aboard her,” he ran a hand over his tired face.
“I’m so sorry,” she laid a comforting hand on his arm. She knew what it was to lose a sibling and she wouldn’t have wished that on her worst enemy.
∞ ∞ ∞
“You were supposed to go to your life pod staging area in case of an emergency evacuation. You did not,” Darvan practically shouted, angry that she hadn’t followed protocol. Now that he’d gotten her free he could see that dried blood covered half of her face and was matted into her golden hair. Her body showed multiple large, painful looking bruises forming all over her pale skin. The more he assessed her injuries, the angrier he became. He didn’t want to think about what would have happened if he’d lost her.
“What? I was in the reconditioner. Besides, how would I know that?” She appeared genuinely confused and he began to fear that the blow to her head had seriously damaged her.
“The machine should have roused you at the first sign of danger,” he told her, trying to assess her mental state. “Wait,” comprehension dawned, “are you telling me you haven’t had the emergency preparedness training?”
“I guess I am,” she agreed putting a hand to her head.
“We need to remedy that right now. They logs indicate that you went through training on your first day aboard the ship. It’s a requirement for every soul that comes aboard,” he was horrified by the implications. Endangering a female like this went against the core values of both Doranos and Corians. Jorkan needed to answer for this. Now.