Taji From Beyond the Rings

by R. Cooper

  The absolute last thing Taji expected was for the emperor’s gorgeous eyes to focus on him. He wanted to be still, to say nothing, but he was a farmer’s son in a borrowed soria, wearing badly applied shimmer. Larin, arrogant and smart and possibly mean, still looked like an emperor.

  Taji licked his lower lip, just a little, out of nerves. Larin stared for one more moment, then returned his attention to Ambassador Tsomyal. “A human? They are skilled at finding new places to adapt to, much like illaroot.” Taji swallowed. “But,” Larin continued, “perhaps it is time that sort of persistence was rewarded. Sometimes illaroot is not difficult to look at. Sometimes, it is almost pretty.”

  “Larin.” Eriat’s voice saved Taji from saying whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “If the ambassador cannot—” Larin swung his gaze to Eriat. Coincidentally or not, so did his Guards. Eriat did not finish his sentence.

  The ambassador nodded. “Yes. I am sure we can make it work. And I would be delighted to meet your sister and congratulate her.”

  “I am certain,” the emperor replied carelessly and moved away from that subject toward one that seemed to interest him more. “Tell me, ambassador. I saw a soldier of your coalition outside. A hurat. How fascinating. Do you trust an animal on staff?”

  Taji let out a short, furious breath and glared up at the emperor right as Larin happened to glance in his direction.

  Taji looked away, a second too late, then back.

  The emperor’s remarkable eyes were even more intense when he wasn’t speaking. He swept a look from Taji’s head to his feet and up again. “Perhaps it is not the hurat you have to worry about going wild,” he remarked softly, though probably loud enough to Shavian ears. Then, with Taji barely able to hold still, Larin took his gaze away. “Eriat will work hard to ensure your safe arrival. I look forward to speaking with you, and seeing you there as well, cousin.” Larin gestured toward Eriat, before minutely inclining his head at the ambassador. “If you will forgive me, I need to speak with the Koel.”

  “Yes.” Ambassador Tsomyal nodded as well, deeper and more respectful than someone that ridiculous deserved, and then put a hand on Taji’s arm as if that was something they normally did as they walked. “Taji?” the ambassador prompted, too subtle to nudge him into motion.

  Taji was vibrating under his skin but placed his hand over the ambassador’s to lead them from the room. He was surprised when the Shavian nobles stepped out of their way, but figured it was a show of respect to the ambassador. Which was funny, since nothing about that encounter had felt respectful.

  Not a word was spoken by the Koel or the emperor until Taji and the ambassador had passed through the partition into the next space, and that was too soft for Taji to make out anything specific. He and the ambassador did not speak either. More members of the imperial entourage waited in this space, Guards among them. It was like walking through a forest of tall, heavily armed trees, but once again, Shavians parted to let them pass.

  Taji was less grateful for that than he possibly should have been. Nevertheless, he breathed easier as they passed into another room where Trenne stood at the doorway, alert and too stiff to be anything but unhappy. His silhouette was reassuring, even if Taji couldn’t quite meet his eyes.

  Trenne fell into step beside and slightly behind them. He didn’t say anything, but up ahead, Markita automatically turned to walk in front of them.

  Stepping outside into the cooler air of evening was a shock. Taji blinked at the light and the radiant sky, then realized all at once that tomorrow they were expected to travel to an unknown destination, and that the emperor had planned on that before he had ever walked onto the Koel estate.

  Taji made a small, displeased sound and felt Trenne glance to him, but Trenne stayed silent as Lin maneuvered their vehicle through the mess of those from the emperor’s entourage. Taji was too aware of the Imperial Guards observing them as Trenne assisted the ambassador inside and then hesitated before offering Taji a hand as well.

  Trenne was worried. Larin Emperor and his retinue had been out there, probably calling him names to his face, and Trenne was worried about Taji. Once Trenne closed the door behind them and the vehicle began to move, Taji raised his head to give Trenne a shaky smile.

  The ambassador sat back and released a long, slow breath.

  “He did that on purpose,” Taji remarked while turning off his translator. He met the ambassador’s dark, glittery stare. He’d been unprepared but had no idea what could have prepared him for that. He wanted to say the emperor had calculated how to keep him off guard, but the emperor of the Sha didn’t give two shits about Taji Ameyo. That display in there had been for the Koel and for IPTC, through the ambassador. Anything else, the comment about Taji’s supposed wildness, was probably already forgotten.

  But Taji glanced to Trenne again, still and watchful at the ambassador’s side, and then to Tsomyal. “I don’t think I like him.”

  Nobody needed Taji to like the emperor, least of all the emperor.

  “More importantly, Mr. Ameyo, I don’t believe he likes us.” The ambassador briefly shut their inner eyelids, then raised one hand in a gentle gesture of apology. “Sergeant Major Trenne, I’m afraid I must ask you to lose a little more sleep. We will be making a trip in the morning.”

  Taji watched Trenne’s ears go up, then down. Then he looked to Taji, as if waiting.

  “Laviias.” Taji bit out. “The home of the Olea. The most beautiful place in this world, apparently, and yet….” He trailed off while gathering his thoughts, then took a deep breath.

  Collection was the word the emperor had used, and for some reason, Taji was bothered by that.

  “Taji?” Trenne prompted, gentle when he had to already be making plans for this forced journey.

  Taji clenched his hand on his knee and looked at the two of them. “But I think it’s a trap of some kind. I don’t know why, exactly, but I…I felt cornered.”

  He’d had that feeling once before, when agreeing to let IPTC fund his schooling, get him off that rock, in exchange for giving them his services once he graduated.

  The ambassador gave a throaty hum, acceptance, not dismissal. Trenne met Taji’s stare and then nodded solemnly as if Taji’s word was enough.

  For the first time in his life, Taji wished it wasn’t.

  Chapter Four

  TAJI STUMBLED up the ramp into the large flier before sunrise, wishing for either feasible personal subspace drives that would allow nearly instantaneous travel so he’d never have to get up early again, or something besides a Pre-C bed to get him the sleep he desperately needed without having to waste time by actually sleeping. He didn’t have time to waste. None of them did.

  Which was probably why Nev poked and prodded him the rest of the way up the ramp and then impatiently shoved past him once inside. Taji stumbled out of her path and onto a crate that really didn’t belong in the passenger section of the flier, but other than hissing under his breath, he didn’t complain about it. They were all in a hurry. A crate was the least of their problems.

  He was curious about the crate’s contents until he realized it was probably either weapons or protective gear, and firmly pushed the thought away to focus on his own version of an armory. He was going to be prepared. No more surprises from the emperor, not on Taji’s watch.

  He stumbled again over someone’s dropped kit bag, got sworn at, waved them off, then tripped into the front section of the flier, where the ambassador was already seated. Buried under a pile of blankets, the ambassador had their head down almost to their chest. They blinked up at Taji with an expression that told Taji to turn around and find another place to sit.

  The ambassador had never been good in the cold, or in the mornings, and Taji did sometimes mumble to himself while studying.

  With a groan, Taji lifted his bag again and went all the way to the back of the compartment, past several soldiers putting things in specific places and complaining about either the hour, or the rushed job of
packing, or the complete and total lack of any reconnaissance. Trenne and Lin and the others had probably been up all night trying to make plans for the ambassador’s security, based on no information. Trenne had likely been on this flier for a while already. Taji had been flown over with Nev and the last of their gear. He’d been in too much of a hurry to stop for a stim drink, and his night was catching up with him.

  He plopped into a seat by the wall. This flier was adapted specifically for humans and other offworlders, so it had seats. They were metal, as was the wall of the flier, and very cold. Taji had no window, which was a shame. The coast they were heading to was on the opposite side of the country—of the continent, in fact. An aerial view of the Shavian countryside would have been nice. But the flight would last for some time, which would give Taji a chance to finish his reading. One of the previous translators had received information about the Olea family years ago. Taji had set the info aside, thinking he would get to it someday. The someday was last night.

  Laviias was indeed the original home of the Olea family since they had crossed the ocean. Every source Taji had been able to find—which wasn’t many—spoke of the beauty of the area.

  On the emperor’s sister, Taji had found nothing except that she was born a considerable time after Larin and had still been very young when their mother had died. The previous emperor had been killed in a flier accident…or not an accident, the record wasn’t clear. What was clear was that no other nobles had stepped into the vacuum to proclaim themselves emperor, so she must have been well-regarded. There was no information on the emperor’s other parent other than the family name.

  Still intent on researching, Taji pulled his data device from his bag, along with a rolled-up shirt. He wedged that beneath his ass in an attempt to make his seat more comfortable. Nev had given him more pain pills in case he needed them, but he wanted to stay alert.

  “I was going to ask if you needed all that stuff, Mouth, but now I see it was necessary.” Nadir made the crack around a wide yawn that immediately made Taji yawn, then glare.

  “I don’t know what I’ll need, and neither do you,” he snapped, and waved at the kit bags and crates taking up most of the compartment. In his defense, he was sleep-deprived.

  Markita hooted a laugh as he came over to drop down next to Nadir. He was slimmer than Nadir, with broad, bony shoulders and a large laryngeal prominence. That and his freckles made him seem very young.

  Nadir nodded sagely despite being made fun of. “Mouth speaks the truth.”

  Across the way, already curled up and ready for sleep despite the uncomfortable seat, Rodian was softly philosophical. “He can only speak the truth if he knows the truth.”

  Taji stopped pawing through his bag to stare at him in amazement. Then Lin, making her way from the front, tossed a coat at Rodian before choosing the row behind him for her own. Her kit was over her shoulder, with no sign of strain from her at the weight.

  Taji was fairly sure that was Lin’s coat Rodian seemed surprised to have as a blanket, but no one would tell him why Lin had given it to him, even if he asked. Soldiers were like that, especially on small teams. Things got tribal very quickly, and the allegiance was always to each other over outsiders. Taji was definitely an outsider. He’d once spent several weeks Standard Time on an IPTC cruiser where the kitchen staff had been the only ones to speak to him.

  Soldiers did not need labrats or xeno-geeks in their way; Taji had gotten the message. And if he hadn’t, here he was on this strange flier, going to an unknown destination, and he was by himself in the very back row of seats, while the members of the team Trenne had chosen for this assignment all automatically grouped together, each of them occupying their own rows close to each other.

  Taji returned to finding another shirt to sit on, and maybe another coat besides the one he was wearing. This was a decent flier, but they were basically in a converted cargo hold, and he doubted it would be temperature-controlled. Once he was comfortable enough, he powered on his data device and angled his body away from the team so he wouldn’t be intruding.

  Without Taji available for roasting, the team turned their comments on themselves for a while. Markita had apparently found a local girl, and the others were very concerned that Markita’s smaller human body wouldn’t measure up when compared to a Shavian’s. Taji hid his grins behind his DD as he pulled up some information on the wars that preceded the fall of the empire that one of his predecessors had tried to compiled from various family histories. He was hoping to glean more intel on the nobles, but the descriptions of the battles were as distracting as the loud speculation on the average size of a Shavian dick taking into account the variety of Shavian genital arrangements—which paused as the engines started up and Trenne’s voice came through the flier’s comm system, telling them all to settle in.

  He was probably up front with Ledo or the ambassador. Better that than back here, with everyone on the team but Lin and Rodian—who was already asleep somehow—grinning wickedly when Taji raised his head at the sound of Trenne’s voice. Then their discussion resumed. Trenne, apparently, was part of their statistic sample on Shavian cock size. The close quarters, Taji assumed, was how they knew that. At least, that’s what he hoped, in a small, foolish way.

  Taji had seen two alien cocks in the course of his limited romantic endeavors. Sadly, neither had been Trenne’s, or even Shavian. He pretended not to notice everyone smirking at him, and dropped his gaze back to his device to discreetly look up Shavian anatomy. Then he decided that was too much right now with an audience close by, and sidelined that information while he returned to studying the final disastrous wars of the empire. He didn’t think his interest in the previous subject was too noticeable, although everyone on the team probably already knew Taji would get on his back for Trenne anytime and anywhere.

  Nadir sighed, in almost a dreamy sort of way, and said, “If I buy a new cock, I suppose I could get an upgrade,” and got Lin’s boot thrown at his head and Lin calling him something in her accented ‘Asha that Taji couldn’t make out. That—or Nadir’s hurt expression—set off more cackling and howls of laughter, and then the flier began to move and slowly everyone quieted down.

  The last time Taji had been on a journey like this had been the flight from the moon to the planet’s surface when IPTC soldiers had brought him here. He remembered confusion and indignation giving way to fear of the unknown and then boredom during the long trip. The soldiers had not spoken more than a few words to him, not since their first meeting in the constabulary offices they had commandeered and the subsequent visit to Taji’s rented room to pack up his meager possessions.

  The big one, the Shavian known as Trenne, with the brand new rank stripes on his sleeves, had stayed several seats away. He’d swayed from exhaustion but hadn’t slept, his attention either on Taji or some distant point with Taji inconveniently in his way. The other soldier, Nev, had briskly asked if there was anything in Taji’s medical history not in his file, unconcerned with the lack of privacy of asking in a small flier with a Shavian close by. When Taji had said no, Nev had proceeded to lean back and close his eyes, leaving Taji with his thoughts and no information to look up in order to calm himself down.

  He’d already tried convincing them he wasn’t right for this job, gesturing wildly in the constabulary office while Nev rolled his eyes and Trenne loomed. But in the end, Taji was the only one available, and what IPTC wanted, it got. Just like that, his research into the dialect of the shepherd moon was over, and he was to learn formal, proper ‘Asha to serve the needs of an I.P.T.C. ambassador after the sudden death of their last assistant.

  The sudden death had not been explained.

  Taji had been practically shaking by the time the flier made it through the dust and debris on the outskirts of the planetary rings. Then the large Shavian officer had startled him by speaking in a low, careful voice. “All you must do is learn the language. I will do the rest.”

  “I don’t know what I’m doing he
re,” Taji had responded without thinking. “And your promotion seems pretty new for you to sound that sure of yourself.” He hadn’t meant to be mean, but fear had made him snappish.

  Why that would make Trenne’s posture soften and his ears go up was something that Taji would never understand. But Trenne had slowly and firmly repeated himself. “You learn the language, Taji Ameyo. I will do the rest.”

  The air of calm assurance around Trenne had not been there when he’d stood, stony and silent, in the constabulary office and informed Taji that he was being sent to the surface of Mirsa, and then listened to Taji’s furious and anxious protests. Neither had it been there while Taji had shoved his things into a bag and tried not to feel pathetic at how very little there was to him that wasn’t research. He didn’t even have anyone to say goodbye to, although Nev had asked if he did, with Trenne listening.