Daughter of Ethos

by L M Lacee

  Peyton believed Thanikis was a dangerous man willing to do anything to make his mark and advance his standing in his Emperor’s eyes once more. She supposed in his place she would do the same.

  There were a number of rumors on the Undernet about Ambassador Jenerika. It seemed Thanikis liked to bed a specific type of woman, and it was definitely not someone like her. He preferred tall, slim redheads and sadly there were many of them willing to be his bed partner. Peyton wondered what it was he promised them, if he promised anything at all. She had read that on occasion, he and Ian White shared women. She felt sad for the women if they were being exploited, and if they weren’t, she wished them luck and hoped they got out of the relationship what they wanted.

  Both men took a seat as the Earth Ambassador tapped on his tablet, he saw her looking and smirked saying. ‘For recording purposes. Do you mind?’

  As if she had a choice, Peyton grinned knowing Darby would be tracking her and replied. ‘You do what you must.’

  ‘I am Ambassador Ian White. This is Ambassador Senator Thanikis Jenerika from Jenersar. You are Miss Peyton St. Hill from Runnerdale, a town of the Americas.’

  Peyton nodded. ‘Okay.’

  He looked at her as Thanikis leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, a smile on his lips. He looked the picture of a contented male. Peyton did not react when she felt Thanikis’s mind reach out and tentatively scan her shield. She almost smiled when she felt his frustration at not being able to break through her defenses. Her attention was taken from Thanikis when Ian White asked. ‘Miss St. Hill, do you know why you are here?’

  ‘No clue, your guys picked me up and brought me here. No one told me anything to be fair though I did not ask. I thought they were probably under orders not to tell me anything. I mean, if I was you, I would not tell them why they were sent to pick me up or if you did tell them. You would then, of course, order them not to tell me. See that makes sense.’

  A little baffled by her answer, he said. ‘Ahh! Yes right, well you are here because we believe you have subverted Ambassador Jenerika’s Warriors.’

  Peyton opened her eyes wide and said. ‘Huh! I did what now?’

  Ian White blinked at the startled look that came into the woman’s eyes and cleared his throat before saying. ‘It has come to our attention you have assisted the Warriors of Jenersar to go AWOL.’

  ‘AWOL! What is that?’

  ‘It means. Absent. Without. Official. Leave!’

  ‘Really!’ She laughed. ‘Little ole` me! Why would I do that?’

  ‘This is what we are here to find out.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘Miss St. Hill, I am sure you do not wish to cause an interplanetary incident?’

  Peyton gave a little laugh as she shook her head.

  ‘I bet you never thought you would say that. Interplanetary! I know, I never thought I would hear it in my lifetime. Interplanetary…right?’

  The Ambassadors did not share her amusement, Ian White nodded and said. ‘Right…Ahh no!’

  Worriedly Heather looked at Melody and Darby saying. ‘She is going to get killed, if she keeps answering like that.’

  ‘Because they will just kill her to shut her up, is that what you mean?’ Darby muttered as Heather spluttered out a laugh.

  Melody grinned saying. ‘Darby stop that, if anyone kills her it will be one of us, I keep telling you that. Look we know Peyton, she will have a plan.’

  Darby challenged Melody’s theory. ‘I agree this is Peyton, but I scoff at your notion she has a plan. Because this is Peyton.’

  ‘Yeah… yeah.’ Melody replied with a laugh.

  Thanikis was becoming more intense as he applied extra pressure on her shields. Peyton noticed a line of sweat appearing on his top lip. Ian White’s tone was sharp as he asked. ‘Miss St. Hill, where are the Ambassadors Warriors?’

  She leaned nearer and answered as near to the truth as she could, without lying. ‘I have no knowledge of where they are now. What I want to know is, how did he lose them? Surely that must be the question, not whether I have them.’

  ‘Look, you are not helping yourself here.’

  His veneer of civility slipped from him as she asked her questions, either Ian White did not have answers for her or was unwilling to share any he did have.

  Peyton shrugged as she said. ‘You want me to answer a question I have no answer for.’

  She looked at Thanikis when the pressure against her shield was suddenly removed. He seemed to be very irritated if his expression was anything to go by, now that she found amusing. Peyton asked. ‘Tell me why they wanted to leave the Ambassador, was he unkind to them?’

  Ian leaned back in his chair, he knew this woman did not have the Warriors but he would bet his last credit she knew something. Thanikis believed she knew where they were. Ian knew the only thing stopping him storming the town she came from, was the clause in the agreement, which stated no Ambassador was allowed to work autonomously on Earth.

  He was more or less hindered in the same way, although when he had quietly made the request to the General of this area to have his soldiers enter the town and do a house by house search. His answer had been an emphatic no, he told Ian he did not have the soldiers to go against the Warriors. It would be a suicide mission and one he would not subject his soldiers to. The Warriors had many more years of perfecting the art of warfare compared to the soldiers of Earth and unlike Ian White, he had seen the Warriors in training. He then had looked at Ian seriously and said he believed if the Warriors had deserted en-masse as was stated, they probably had a very good reason for doing so. His final parting shot as he closed down the discussion was to tell Ian, leaders were meant to protect their armies, not sacrifice them.

  Ian had no wish to lose his promotion as Ambassador for doing an illegal search or by having his guards hurt or possibly killed. He and Thanikis had only thirty guards between them, certainly not enough to go up against trained Warriors.

  So he had proposed this alternative, to interview anyone who had been targeted for questioning or brought to their attention through their own sources. In the hopes it would get Thanikis of his back about him not pressuring the Government to lock down the world to find his Warriors. Although why Thanikis was worried confused him; he kept telling the Government he was sure the Warriors would come to heel soon.

  Thanikis had made it plain to him he had a secret weapon to it ensure their return.

  If in fact that was true, then why Ian wondered, were they wasting their time with this woman? She was of no importance just as her dinky hole in the wall town was worth nothing. He looked at her and almost sneered in disgust, just catching himself in time and placing a disinterested expression in his face instead. The woman’s records showed, her ability to produce children was average to nonexistence, and her DNA was unwanted. In fact, she was like every other woman he had met since he arrived in the Americas, plain and uninteresting.

  There was nothing spectacular about her although those eyes of hers gave him pause, they looked like glittering emeralds, and as he looked deeper. He was positive he could see tiny spots of starlight in their depths. Did she hold secrets in her eyes, would he find them if he looked even deeper? Ian felt himself move closer to the table as he delved into the two pools of green fire. Thanikis’s demand for his attention finally penetrated the green fog overshadowing his mind.

  ‘Ian… Ian!’

  Fear grabbed a hold of him and he tore his eyes from hers, blinking several times to clear his vision. He shook his head to dislodge the sensation and cautiously looked at her again and saw unremarkable green eyes in an unremarkable face staring back at him. He flicked his eyes toward Thanikis to see him staring at him as well. ‘What did you want?’

  Thanikis lifted an eyebrow at his surly tone but only said. ‘No matter.’

  Ian returned his gaze to the woman and squinted at her, trying to rationalize a reason why this small woman would have a need for the Warriors. When they had first arriv
ed, Thanikis had assured the Government the women of Earth were safe from his Warriors. He told them the women would remain unmolested, as the males were uninterested in sex and were unable to perform intercourse. From everything Ian had been told, the Warriors were unable to overthrow a Government or join in a rebellion. Peyton St. Hill, definitely did not look like the revolutionary type and he could not see her leading a rebellion.

  So why Thanikis wanted to question her made no sense to him but she had been on Thanikis’s list not his, so he had her collected and brought in for questioning, so far he believed it to be a waste of his time.

  The way Thanikis told it, these Warriors were created living machines that had to be controlled and were little more than animals. Ian had his doubts about that; he had spoken with their Commander Roeah and found him very intelligent and as frightening as he was reported to be. Ian again wondered why Thanikis did not call for more Warriors from their home world, soldiers went missing or were killed all the time and were replaced. Why not replace these Warriors? So far Thanikis had avoided answering that question.

  Peyton drummed her fingers on the table and asked. ‘So, I have a question for you.’

  Melody gave Hawk’s arm a pat of comfort, when she felt him and the other Warriors tense assuring them.

  ‘No, don’t go there. She would die before she handed you over, wait and listen.’

  They all nodded, but the tension did not leave their bodies and the women understood. They were so used to being betrayed and abused, it would take more than a few weeks for them to trust they would not do the same.

  Ian White condescendingly gave her permission. ‘Please, ask your question, Miss St. Hill?’

  Peyton dipped her head, not in submission but to hide the anger that flared to life in her eyes, when she had herself together, she raised her head and asked.

  ‘How many women are still on Earth?’

  Thanikis answered and now Peyton could hear his accent was almost perfect, there was barely a trace of his own in his voice. ‘Why do you not tell us, I am sure you know? Perhaps we should ask the scientists you have working for you?’

  ‘Scientists working for me, I do not understand. I have no one working for me. Look if you don’t know, that’s okay. I don’t know heaps of things, like where your Warriors are.’ She said this with a sympathetic look toward the two men.

  Ian White snapped. ‘At last count there were one billion women remaining. Why is that important?’

  Peyton shrugged. ‘It is not, I was just curious that is all.’

  Thanikis smiled. ‘Miss St. Hill, what does the little scientist Dabby something or other. What does she do for you?’

  ‘Oh brother, I have no idea who you are talking about?’

  Melody said. ‘Okay, that is the signal. Grab your bags now. We are out of here.’

  While the women did as she ordered, Willian and Lukkas took the backpacks and bags from the kitchen and hallway to the shuttle. Hawk and Kerol started securing the house, when they were ready, Darby shut down all her tech and placed the house on standby self-destruct mode. If it became necessary, she would burn the house down.

  The plan was for her and Heather to stay on board the Warship until they left, while Peyton and Melody would hide somewhere else. For the moment, they would monitor Peyton from the shuttle hidden behind the school.

  Knowing the signal would have been received and acted on, and as she knew no one named Dabby, she shrugged and said. ‘I have no idea who you are talking about?’

  Thanikis raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, surely you do, a short female, rather plain I am told. All brains no beauty is the saying, an old one granted, but I am sure you are well versed in it.’

  Both men laughed together as if the joke was funny. Peyton saw Ian White sit back in his chair, happy it seemed for Thanikis to take over the questioning.

  Eww a burn! Peyton shrugged again as she answered. ‘Actually, I don’t think I have ever heard the saying. You must be as old as it is reported you are on the Undernet, if you say the saying is old.’

  Thanikis’s eyes sharpened, and he snarled at her implied reference to his age, which by human standards was very old indeed. He slammed his hands down on the table and demanded in a cold, hard voice. ‘Where are my Warriors?’

  Peyton smirked as she asked. ‘How did you lose them, are you gonna get in trouble? Will you be punished, maybe spanked?’

  Thanikis skin tone deepened to almost charcoal as she made reference to spanking. It was widely known on the Undernet that he liked his bed partners to spank him, apparently it turned him on. Peyton suspected the color denoted embarrassment, of course it could have been temper.

  Ian White moved restlessly in his seat as Thanikis snarled at her, showing sharp white teeth. She just stopped herself from laughing at his posturing, she supposed his expression was meant to scare her. It appeared she hit a nerve, Melody would be so proud of her.

  Thanikis asked again sharply. ‘My Warriors, where are they?’

  ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’

  ‘I can make you talk?’

  Peyton shrugged once more as she stated. ‘You can try!’

  ‘I have drugs and other things you have never heard of at my disposal?’

  He did not want to show her how desperate he was but he needed the Warriors back or dead, either option would work for him now. Over the last two days he had repeatedly sent the code out to kill the Warriors on Earth and expected to see bodies all over the world. So far he had seen none and none had been reported. Either the code was not working, or that bastard Roeah had received help to circumnavigate or negate the effects of the implant.

  His scientists assured him the Earth scientists were incapable of doing so, but they were unable to explain why there were not headless bodies strewn all over the world. Afraid of the repercussions he would face, if he returned home without something. Roeah’s head on a platter would be a good start. Failing that every Warrior in cuffs on the missing warship would do. As none of those things had happened in the last forty-eight hours, he had manipulated Ian to come up with this plan.

  Questioning, this female and all the others his informants had supplied to him, on the slim chance they could give him a clue as to the whereabouts of the Warriors. His biggest fear was Roeah had taken all the Warriors and left this cursed world, while he sat here waiting for relief ships to arrive.

  Peyton drummed her fingers again on the table, she wanted to ask if these males knew about shosole but was fearful they would confirm what she suspected. Deciding being a coward right now was not an option she asked. ‘Would they be the same drugs as shosole? I mean it is the Coalition that allows its manufacture. And you are the one who oversees its distribution here on Earth, right?’

  Thanikis leaned back in his chair a smug smile on his face and she knew she was right. She turned to Ian White, the Ambassador for Earth and watched as his expression never changed.

  ‘Aww! Say it’s not so. You know this is happening and do nothing.’ She blew a breath out as she whispered. ‘I bet the Government knows too. God, how sad for us, we have put our trust in the wrong people. Instead of lining your own pockets, you are meant to be protecting and caring for us, shaping our world for the future.’

  She stared sadly at Ian White, who stared back impassively, she asked. ‘How do you think allowing that shit on our world will make it better, you know it won’t? You and the ones in power now, will live to regret what you are doing. I only hope our world is not destroyed before that happens.’

  Peyton shook her head and softly cursed them both. ‘I hope you and the people you both work for get everything you deserve, for what you are doing to our people and our home world.’

  So saddened she could not speak anymore, she sat back in her chair and looked between the smug and the contemptible Ambassadors and knew that between the two. Earth’s fate had been sealed.

  She hung her head and wanted desperately to cry, the last kernel of hope for her world
, dying in her heart. Once she and her people left Earth, they would never come back. Her precious world had been sold for its commodities, DNA being just one.

  Peyton sat as the ache that had started in her heart on the day the world had changed grew a little more. She wanted to wail and rage against the unfairness of it all, hadn’t humanity already suffered enough. But she knew she would say nothing because ultimately, the ones who had sold the rights of every person on Earth for thirty pieces of silver, were not in this room.

  Instead, she stared at her hands refusing to look at either man, as Thanikis listed what would happen to her, if she did not tell him what he wanted to know. The list was very long, imaginative and impressive. If Peyton wasn’t who she was and knew for a fact, she could leave the building, she would have been terrified.

  However, when he started explaining what would happen to her sisters and the Warriors, fear tightened her throat and caused her heart to race. After several minutes, Thanikis finally stopped threatening her and Ian White leaned over the table, once more the affable Ambassador and said. ‘Look Peyton, can I call you Peyton?’

  She lifted her head and stared at him with cold green eyes but still did not reply, when he realized she wasn’t going to answer he said. ‘Look, you and I don’t want any of that to happen, neither does the Ambassador we just need the Warrior's back. Tell us how to locate them and we will let you go, no harm, no foul. The Ambassador will even find you a nice male to have babies with. You want babies, don’t you? Of course you do all our women want babies!’

  When she still didn’t speak, his lips tightened and his voice hardened as he too decided to add his threats to Thanikis’s. ‘Tell me what I want to know, and I won’t have my soldiers visit with your little town and all your friends. My soldiers would like that, unlike the ones that collected you, they are all male and if I remember rightly, your town is populated by females only, is it not?’ He laughed as did Thanikis, before saying. ‘I am sure there will be plenty of willing women to satisfy my men.’ He shrugged as his eyes narrowed. ‘If they aren’t, my men will not care, and when they are finished with them. They will be sent off to the pleasure planets out there.’ He waved his hand about indicating space, she assumed.