by C. R Corbin
Alien’s Claim (Delosian Warriors Book 2)
by C.R Corbin
Table of contents
1. Sarel
2. Sarah
3. Sarel
4. Sarah
5. Sarel
6. Sarah
7. Sarel
8. Sarah
9. Sarel
10. Sarah
11. Sarel
12. Sarah
13. Sarel
14. Sarah
15. Sarel
16. Sarah
17. Sarel
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Chapter One
Sarel
The day was foggy, immensely so, the light could barely pierce the thick veil of mist that was around the area. I sat on the edge of one of the temples, my claws dug into the stone as I sat there. My eyes were locked on the surrounding mountains, my armor was covered in droplets of condensation and my golden visor could only be barely seen through the mist.
Why he had wanted to meet up here was unknown to me. Perhaps he just had a taste of the theatrics of it all. I have to admit that this man did concern me a bit, he was always so secretive but then again I suppose that everyone had their reasons. I was just happy to get paid at the end of this all. When I was a child I used to sell stolen spaceship parts instead of this, a rather dull existence if I had to say so myself.
"So what is this about?" I called out, my hands gripping the side of the large pillar under the bridge tightly while my eyes shut.
This was Delos, a world filled with decaying stone and rain with little else to entertain yourself with. I have to say that the world from here didn't seem to be that bad, I couldn't see most of the ruins. When I got to the ground level it got bad, I began to reminisce and think about all that was lost in the ensuing parak of what was the extinction of my species. It was terrible to even give it a thought, I didn't even want to see the old paths that I used to play on when I lived here.
But this bridge always was special to me. It never held any pain, it was always ever-present over my little town and I would come here to think a lot of the time. I remembered that I first learned to really climb on this bridge which was higher than any trees around here. The stones had a lot of pores so it was easy to dig my fingers in and get a grip.
The smell of fresh rain fills my nostrils, my helmet was off to the side covered in mist and I grinned inwardly as the thoughts of the other Delosians that I was raised with fill my mind. Most of them were likely dead now but they were a good bunch, I don't think anyone has lived as long as I have, however. There were some reports of Delosians around but they were rare...the sign of a female was even rarer.
That was the one thing that I needed, above all, a mate. That was the one thing that I wanted, a family to call my own instead of this life of living on my own with nothing to return home to except for decrepit stone structures. There was no fun to be had in that, there was no hope to be had here. The only thing that I could derive from this life was a love of battle and that got stale fast.
So whoever was giving me this contract better pay a handsome sum.
"You're early." Remarked the man, he was stout and rather tiny in comparison to me. He stands at the ledge not too far to my right. He was wearing this cloak and two red eyes peered out of the shadow of his hood. There was a mess of limbs near the floor and when he glanced over at me I felt an emotion that I wasn't entirely used to feeling.
Unease.
He seemingly appeared out of nowhere but I wasn't going to question it after all the man gave me a contract that paid far more than the run of the mill assassinations and if his greeting that he sent was to be an indicator of anything then this would be a rather sizable bounty. He insisted on meeting here all of the time and I wasn't even really sure why considering the fact that he could have just sent me the contracts over a communication system but I suspect that he wants to play things as closely to the chest as he possibly could.
"So what is it? What do you have?" I muttered, standing on the ledge after getting up from it. He flicked his wrist as a hologram of a sphere suddenly popped up in front of me.
It was a marshland world with networks of tree roots along the lands of the planet. I am rather curious as to what he would need here but apparently there was something to be found, some sort of artifact deep inside one of the massive trees in the middle of the planet, it was dubbed that by the Berians that used to live there until someone took all the poor feathered bastards out. Now it was home to a gang of this new species of "human", they were mostly marauders that were in search of this artifact as well. I have never heard of them but I could find some information about them on my gauntlet. Apparently, they were bipedal, like me, a bit smaller, weaker, but a bit more nimble than most. They had a tremendous ability to adapt and survive and were suited to a wide array of temperatures.
But that wasn't the one thing that stuck out to me. There was also the fact that their DNA was listed as likely being compatible with a Delosian.
"So you want me to retrieve this thing? This thing that might not even exist?" I asked him incredulously. I mean I would do it but the prospect of finding some kind of legend wasn't all too enticing.
"And the pay." He remarked and I glanced down at the number, "I believe that you've ever really looked at the pay quite yet."
Over 10 million credits...well, I suppose that I didn't have a choice then. I was a sucker for that much money.
"Well alright then." I muttered as I held my hand out and took the information into my gauntlet.
I knew that making this mission might result in finding a mate for me and that was one of the primary reasons that I was going after it like this. I wondered if she would be there, if there would be a human that I would be compatible with, that I would know is the one. I rest my hand on my chest and sigh, the pulse for sensing that one was your mate came from the chest and I was eager to find out if I could seek her out on this planet.
I turned to the side and watched as that strange man had disappeared into the rocks. He seemingly sunk down into the stones with his body phasing quite rapidly until nothing was beside me but the mist. My hands had clenched up and my red eyes were glowing as I glanced at my spacecraft in the distance. The report of what was happening on this harsh world, Nomida, it was...harrowing, to say the least.
I continued to appraise the information afforded to me. Apparently, the world was covered in bandit groups as well as charity organizations that had come in order to support those that were caught in the crossfire. Those charity group members now comprised most of the civilian casualties and were dying by the dozen every day, either that or getting enslaved. I could only shake my head as I wondered what the human governments were even doing about it. Did they really just let people duke it out in a bloodbath over this artifact? They couldn't have, right?
Well regardless, I should probably hurry, with the tenacity that the bandits were showing it's only a matter of time before someone succeeds and finds what they were looking for.
With one jump I leapt off of the bridge towards the lake below. My arms stretched out as the helmet locked into place and I dived into the water. I launched deep into the lake before surfacing soon after, my hands slide along the surface as I swim towards the edge of the lake, but I take a moment to simply take in the air, the moisture.
It was all so enthralling, so peaceful. I would be coming back here if I found a woman, this would be my home, I am sure of it. I would build a home on this lakefront here and have a family that I could call my own, a place that I could call my own. Too much of my life has been spent
without a real identity so now it was time to finally claim one, to finally become a man that I can be proud of with a legacy that actually means something beyond wealth and violence.
Now was time to prove myself worthy of the Delosian name and to make sure that my species did not perish.
Chapter Two
Sarah
"How are the signs looking Sheila? Is everything alright?" I called out to her as she presided over the table where the child had lain. This was the second village that we've been to this week that needed help. It was all fucking Karo's fault, the prick. He was the reason that all of this was happening.
I stared down at my apron that was marred with blood, these latex gloves that were close to fraying at this point. A cup of coffee that was off to the side and lukewarm at this point. The moist air of the swamp clashes against my face as I stood there in front of my patient, monitoring her. She was an older woman that I presumed was from a place far from this planet, why you would come here to actually live a life I would never understand but some people sought their thrills that way I suppose.
"Her temperature is headed upwards...it's not looking too good." She remarked and I scowled.
God as if this entire day couldn't get any worse than it already was.
We were losing patients every day, the food shipments that we hauled in were always ruined in some way by the goddamn marauders that came here to take their "tribute". It was only my second month here and I am pretty sure that soon enough they would be ready to simply take us all as slaves when the humor in using us to heal them wore off. When one of those stupid gangs found an actual male doctor to heal them they would have no need for our camp and we would likely be taken in as sex slaves or something even worse.
Why didn't I stay back on Iopa?
I saw this as an opportunity to get away from Iopa and to have some measure of change in my life after the thrill of working at a hospital at that place had worn off. Boy did I overestimate how much I was willing to do. My old life seemed so comfortable in comparison to what I was doing now, it was too comfortable in fact.
I longed for the sort of edge that could only be found in the thrill of adventure and that was one of the things that had led me here. I just didn't want to be on Iopa anymore. There was far too little action there and the monotony had gotten to me. I had thought that I wasn't using my abilities to the fullest and that I could actually be doing more to help people.
And boy did this job provide that satisfaction in spades.
When I had first arrived we touched down on this massive platform in the trees. The camp that I had been accepted to had warned me of the dangers here quite clearly and the ship that had dropped me off, as well as Sheila and a bunch of other doctor's from around the planet, had flown off rather quickly before I even got a chance to change my mind. The gravity here was slightly less than Iopa so it took some getting used to at first. We had to have a litany of injections just to maintain our muscular and bone strength. After we got all the paperwork done I was introduced to the real horror.
Children, the elderly, men and women, and everything in between, they were all strewn about on tables and floors, limbs missing, horrible burns that scarred entire sides of their bodies and more. I wanted to vomit upon seeing it, the fact that those marauders were abound outside was another worrying factor. I had thought that it wouldn't be that bad, that the reports were exaggerated, I was still young and foolish, I never thought that such evil could exist still in a time when humanity was already so advanced.
And yet it did, I had no idea what to say to that, what to do. I was told to keep my head down and merely try to help whomever I could.
I poured the mixture of the immune-boosting supplement as well as the potassium into the fluid and made sure to give it to my patient. The elderly woman lifts her hand and takes it before pressing the cap against her mouth and sipping from it. I see her cheeks flushing, her temperature was already dangerously high, I didn't want to think of the repercussions should it get any higher. I would sincerely hope that this would be enough to help here, the fact that this would be enough for her.
The marauders hadn't come for weeks at this point but I knew that they would be here again. They would be here to ravage, to pillage to take whatever they wanted from this place. God I feel so helpless sometimes, so dull and foolish for even coming here when I clearly was out of my depth. Experienced trauma surgeons came here! Not fresh grads like me that got bored after two years of routine work healing suburban kids who took vacations to the moons around Iopa every summer. Who got sent to universities the galaxy over!
Just what the hell was I even doing here?
"Hey...you okay?" Sheila asked me, I nodded slowly although I knew my image at the moment didn't really provide a flattering picture. I was stained with blood and my eyes were bloodshot, I wasn't even sure if I was going to be able to keep my composure for much longer considering how things were going. I needed rest, but it was my shift regardless.
The marauders would be coming soon, they could never hold out for long and I knew that they would soon be marching on our step and knocking on the doors before bursting in with all the rage and greed that they embodied. They were all here in search of the Yukri, some stupid diamond that supposedly is made out of some extremely valuable element that hasn't been discovered yet. They said that it lays on the roots of one of these trees and they weren't giving up anytime soon. They would keep searching until they found it.
Not that this world was that much better without them, of course. It was humid, hot, and filled with things that could kill you but at least I could understand the animals. They need to eat. These marauders just needed to fulfill some sort of sick fantasy of theirs.
My eyes shut and I peeled off the gloves, my break was coming up as we had treated all the people that we could. My eyes begin to droop and Sheila seemingly follows my lead as she peels off her mask as well, setting everything into the trash can. For a moment we both took a seat in the middle of the medical wing. I grabbed my coffee mug and sipped it, frowning as I watched my reflection in the black fluid.
Karo would love to have us, he would love to have even more people to add to his harem. Hell he might even have some sort of fetish for doctors. Who knows?
"I need a drink." Remarked Sheila, her grey hair brushed over her cheek and her green eyes softened. Her hair was tied back into a single knot and she looked to be as tired as I had ever seen her. Her breaths were short and labored, it would seem that I had the advantage of youth out of almost everyone here and yet I was still complaining. Just another reason that I wasn't good enough, I was a whining failure.
And then I heard it, the call of an engine, the roar of a hovercraft. I scowled as I glance outside to see a bunch of men pulling up on their speeder bikes. They were right in front of our little camp and they all got off with their blasters at the ready. I could see the glow of the blades of their knives on their thighs, they were all more than ready to butcher us all. The men looked like they haven't showered in months, their hair was matted at parts and dirt covered their faces. Those were only those in the lowest ranks, however. The higher ranking "officers' in their little "army" were all groomed to perfection, nice hair and the finest dental care that they could afford. After all dentists in this area weren't cheap so they put their wealth to great use. Their armor was all professional, however, hardened carbon nanotube plates with a magnetic field suspended around them.
That didn't change the fact that they were animals at heart, however.
At every turn, even when there was ample opportunity to do good these men never did, they always lingered and waited like scavengers for any sign of weakness before seizing it. It was disgraceful was what it was, they pillaged more villages than I could count, hell they were probably responsible for a massive number of casualties inside of here. Karo wasn't only after the Yukri but he was after control if this place as well, control of Nomida.
And no one could
deny him that.
"Hello Sarah." Karo's local commander, Juer, drawled out as he stepped inside, slashing his hand across one of the tables with various glass flasks and instruments. They fall on the floor in a scattered pattern while I merely glared at him in frustration. He always did have to act like that didn't he? The men all come in and begin to leer at the wounded, groping the women that were unconscious while I merely shivered in disgust.
Sheila was the first to speak up, "Juer." She muttered under her breath and bowed, I followed her, knowing that if I didn't comply then I and everyone here would be real fucked. Juer was easy going at the surface level but once you went beyond that the real filth began to reveal itself and I was in no mood to entertain it at the moment. All I wanted was to get through this day and have another couple of weeks of not having to deal with these bastards.
"Can we help you?" I asked him and he paused, glancing at a beaker thoughtfully before chucking it across the room, causing it to break into tiny shards that sprinkle over one of the cadavers that we were going to bury. "Yes you can." He snarled.
"You'll be coming with me."
I paused and glanced at him in shock. There was no way that he was going to take us when he knew that we were going to refuse to give him any medical aid right? There was just no way that he would be that gutsy to try and take us when we were some of the only medical practitioners in a massive radius.
but that was until he revealed one of the men that was standing in the crowd of bandits that he had brought. He was a male doctor, not one that I recognized and certainly not someone from our camp. He didn't look to be wearing the uniform of any charitable organization so I suspected that he might have simply come from the outside.
A black market healer.
"So you found a lap dog?" I asked.
"Quite a lot of spunk huh?" the male doctor asked before a lecherous grin spread across his lips, "I'll make sure that I give her a special examination."
So everyone in his crew was a pervert, that was comforting.