The Commander's Warrior Mate

by A. R. Kayne

  “One day we climbed up the back of this hill. It was raining hard, we were hungry and chilled, and it was clear we weren’t going to make good progress. I looked for a dry spot and found this cave. It was more of a niche then, just big enough for us to lie in side by side, but it was dry and mostly hidden behind some brush. It was better than the other places we’d slept. I showed my grandma. She crawled inside and fell into a deep sleep.

  “After the storm, I foraged. I found tubers, some greens my grandma liked, and a stream with clear water. Grandma said we should stop for awhile and try to get our strength back. Our rest stop turned into almost fifteen years.”

  “This is much bigger than a niche,” said Pryce, gesturing at the cave. “Did you do all of this? Are you the one who dug away the dirt?”

  “That was mostly me, yes. My grandma knew how to do things but I was stronger than her, even as a girl. I started out scraping the niche with a shard of rock to make it bigger. Over the years, I hollowed it out and reinforced the ceiling with wood until it reached the size it is now. My grandma smeared the clay on the walls and the floor to make it smooth. That was her idea.”

  “Who made the bed?”

  “Both of us. I cut the wood and hauled it. Grandma taught me how to make leather and cut strips out of it.” Jess laughed, remembering. “We had some disasters at first. I puked the first time I took the skin off an animal. I got good at hunting and killing, but I never liked it. The trick is to kill the animal fast, before it knows you’re there, so it won’t be scared or suffer.”

  “What is this?” one of the soldiers asked, pointing at a pile of salvaged parts. He exchanged a look with Pryce.

  She shrugged. “It’s just my junk heap. It has bits and pieces I found here and there. It started when I found a light with a crank handle. I brought it home and took it apart, and my grandma explained as much as she could about how it worked. When I went scavenging, I’d look for things like that. Sometimes I’d find old machines that were simple inside or got their power from the wind or the sun. When it rained a lot or was bitter, I’d stay inside and fiddle with them. It drove my poor grandma crazy.”

  Jess walked over to the pile and scooped up a rectangle covered with a web of silver lines. “The old machines were best. New machines have bits that are so small you can’t see them with your bare eye, although a lens made from a droplet of water will make them look a little bigger. They’re fun to look at but too small to do anything with. I can’t work out what most of them do.”

  “Can you show us something you built?” Pryce asked.

  She shrugged again. “I never made anything much. It’s all just junk pieced together from other junk. I couldn’t even tell you how or why some of it works.”

  “What’s this?” He pointed at a wire strung across the cave entrance.

  “That’s for the squealer. It’s broken now, thanks to your soldiers inviting themselves in the other night.” Jess smiled at them to let them know she wasn’t angry. “That’s how I knew they were coming. If someone pulls the wire, it makes a racket. I caught a man that way one night.”

  “A man?”

  “Yes. Not too many people come out this far, but sometimes one will walk through. He found our cave and he’d been watching us. I was fourteen and looking enough like a woman, I guess, or maybe he just didn’t care. A lot of men don’t. He meant to hurt my grandma and drive his barbs in me and, sad to say, he wasn’t the first. I had to kill him.”

  Jess swallowed hard and stared out into the distance, remembering. “That was a bad night. I couldn’t dig fast enough in one day to get him buried, so when daylight came, I rolled his body down the hill then drug it as far away as I could. The night creatures took care of the rest.”

  There was a long silence, then the soldier pointed at another group of parts. “What’s this?”

  Jess smiled. “That’s a thing I made for my grandma from that first crank light. It was nice for awhile. Grandma’s eyes went bad and she liked having a light. This part went outside. The wind would turn it and make the light come on in here. But then it broke. Grandma passed before I found the parts to fix it. I did make candles, but they weren’t as good.”

  “Did anyone teach you, or did you figure out things on your own?” Pryce watched her intently.

  “Some of both. Grandma taught me what she could, but mostly I just fiddled around with things. If you spend long enough at something, I guess you make some progress. I spent fourteen winters in this cave, Pryce, and was looking at my fifteenth when your people came. They scared the life out of me, but it’s a blessing they came. I should thank every one of them. I would have died in here sooner or later and animals would have been gnawing at my bones.”

  Jess looked around the dim room and shook her head sadly. “It’s all just a pile of shit, isn’t it? It took so much work to scrape this hole out of the ground so we could hide in here like scared animals. I spent years gathering tubers and drying berries and making goo out of leaves. What a waste. Up on your ship, you just push a button and food or clothing appear. There’s not a blessed thing here that’s worth anything. It’s just as you said, Pryce. The most important things aren’t things at all. I’ve wasted enough of everyone’s time. I’ll get my things then say goodbye to my grandma so we can leave.”

  She sorted through the debris, answering questions about it when Pryce or the others asked. In the end, there were only three things she wanted to take: a pendant of her mother’s, a ragged sweater her grandmother had knit and brought from the city years before, and a basket her grandma had made for berry gathering. Everything else could rot back into the forest from which she’d gotten it. She put the keepsakes in a bag and led the group outside to her grandmother’s grave. She stood in silence for a few minutes, remembering.

  “What are you thinking?” asked Pryce.

  “That she died by inches,” Jess recalled, shaking her head. “It would have been kinder if I’d had the courage to kill her myself instead of letting the sickness do it. There was an herb that would put her to sleep and take some of the pain away. I brewed it up strong and poured it in her mouth when she grew too weak to chew. I knew she was going, so I came out here and dug on her grave every day while she slept. She’s down there deep, wrapped up snug in our one good blanket.”

  Jess knelt beside the grave and bowed her head.

  I love you, Grandma, Jess thought, I’m going on a trip and I wish you could come with me. My new home is warm and safe, and there’s always plenty of food. It’s because of you that I have that. Thank you for all you did. Thank you for loving and teaching me. I wish life hadn’t been so hard for you. I love you so much and I think about you every single day. I always will.

  She picked up a small stone that lay on the grave and put it in her pocket. When Pryce pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her, she realized she was sobbing so hard that her body was shaking. She couldn’t stop.

  “Alright,” he murmured, and he rubbed his hand over her back and pressed kisses into her hair. “Let the tears flow. It’ll be alright. I swear it’ll be alright someday. It’s hard leaving her, but she’d want you to be safe and have a good life. She’d be so proud if she could see you now and know all the good you’ve done. She’d be so proud of you.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Pryce

  Pryce stood at one end of the conference room with his hands linked behind his back, waiting for the group to be seated. There were fifteen people in all including the ship’s counselor, the chief medical officer, and other section heads.

  “This is going to be a little different than most of our meetings,” he told them.

  Without further elaboration, he played the video of Jess’s interrogation. The group was silent at first, but there were increasing numbers of chuckles as Jess verbally sparred with him onscreen. When Ro woke up and told his story, they gasped and murmured. While everyone on the ship knew they’d had an unscheduled stop at Draco – it was almost impossible to keep something
like that a secret – few people knew the details.

  As Pryce watched, a smile played around his lips.“I’m not your honey,” Jess snarled in the video. Oh yes, she was. She was definitely his honey. They’d struck sparks off each other even then, and it was like nothing he’d ever imagined. He shouldn’t have been surprised they were matched.

  “If you or anyone else tries to lay a finger on him, I’ll fight you to the death.” She was magnificent. She’d been tattered, exhausted, and utterly determined to do whatever it took to protect the child in her arms. Despite being tied to a chair, she would’ve fought the entire ship if she’d had to.

  The group became sober as the next video played and Jess spoke of fleeing the Ghul. The recording ended with her beside her grandmother’s grave, sobbing in Pryce’s arms while he nuzzled her hair. He stared at the screen, reliving that moment. He’d felt primal, protective, and very male. He always did when he was with her. He wanted to undo everything bad, sweep her away, and keep her safe and happy forever.

  Pryce heard a discreet cough and realized the videos had finished. He was staring at a blank screen and, no doubt, looked like an ass. He cleared his throat and quickly schooled his expression into something more appropriate for the captain of a starship.

  “The woman in the videos is Ajess Peria. She prefers to be called Jess. She’s been claimed as kin by the child’s parents, as is their custom, but I asked them to leave her in my care.”

  Pryce saw a brow or two arch at that: Fleet captains weren’t known for taking on long-term passengers out of the goodness of their hearts. Thankfully, no one asked about his motives. With any luck, he could get through the briefing without discussing his personal life.

  “Her life was upended when the Ghul invaded and killed her family. Her education ended at that point. She’s joining our crew to study, train, and start a new life.

  “Jess has spent the past month in assessments and medical procedures. I’d appreciate your help with integrating her into ship life. The videos should give you a sense of her background. Her aptitude and other assessments are available from your tablets. We also have reports from some of the staff who’ve already worked with her. Dr. Ales, can you share your thoughts?”

  The ship’s lead counselor, a tiny, energetic centenarian, made her way forward. She reached up, patted Pryce’s cheek, then turned and smiled at the group.

  “Jess is a delightful young woman. At present she feels overwhelmed by shipboard life, so she’s been spending a great deal of time in her quarters. She does have some odd ways. After the Ghul killed her family, she spent fifteen years in the cave Pryce just showed you. She lived in isolation with only her grandmother for company. Based on some of the things Jess has said and done, I suspect that her grandmother may have been a bit eccentric.”

  There was a chorus of chuckles. Pryce also smiled; he’d also encountered the full range of grandma-taught lore and superstitions. They included dark suspicions about men, a belief that she could forecast weather by inspecting the legs of grubs, and an absolute terror of washing during her menses lest some unspecified thing get “up there”.

  He’d bitten his tongue about the latter issue, although he’d been sorely tempted to tell Jess that yes, something did want to get “up there” – him. Instead, he’d asked the medical group to have a chat with her and, if she agreed to it, stall her menses. There was no reason a woman should have to endure pain each month, and he’d like to avoid future arguments about her hair developing an oil slick.

  Her grandma’s suspicions about men were on target, though. He fully intended to get Jess on her back as soon as possible. He was also going to get her on her hands and knees, standing up, and as many other ways as he could invent.

  “… something as simple as chatting with her will help improve her social skills,” Dr. Ales droned. “We’ll ease her into the general population of the ship a little at a time. She’ll continue to undergo counseling while she catches up academically. We’ll also have her rotate through the various sections on this ship. Dane, would you like to speak next?”

  Dane, the head of Security, immediately splashed a gruesome, larger-than-life image of bones, viscera fragments, and oily purple limbs across the wall. The audience cringed. Pryce glared at his friend. If Dane wanted to assure the group that Jess was “delightful,” as Dr. Ales had put it, this was an odd way to do it.

  “I’m here to report on my group’s experiences with Jess and our evaluation of her as a risk to the crew of the ship.”

  None, Pryce thought. She’s fought and killed, but only to protect herself and others. If she hadn’t, she’d be dead herself. Everything she’s done is legally and morally defensible.

  “These images were taken on the ground during the rescue mission,” Dane continued. “My team found a crashed Ghul jumpship and this kill site first.”

  Kill site. Thanks, Dane. That description is sure to put everyone at ease.

  “There was human blood and other biomatter in the downed ship, but no human remains were found there or scattered with the Ghul. However, the large quantity of Ghul remains was a matter of concern. They were distributed over a fairly small area, which made it likely the Ghul had been killed there, more or less at the same time. Because of the state of decay, my team couldn’t tell whether they’d been killed by wildlife or a coordinated attack by other parties.

  “After fanning out from the crash site and performing a systematic search, they picked up the signal from the child’s implant and located him. Given the state of the kill site and the likelihood that a group was involved, they elected to proceed with caution. They waited until dark to approach the site where the child was being held.”

  The footage of the Ghul remains disappeared. It was replaced by a chaotic infrared video of the assault on Jess’s cave. Pryce could make out a child’s yowls of terror, objects being hurled, and men howling in agony.

  “That’s our band of Ghul killers,” Dane said dryly, freezing on a frame of a wild-eyed, knife-wielding Jess. “She had rigged an alarm at the entrance to the cave. She didn’t appreciate being woken up and wasn’t in the mood to chat after they entered her home. In retrospect, that may have been a tactical error on their part.”

  Dane seemed half admiring as he described the injuries she’d given his team, freezing frames to point out deft kicks and assaults with various homemade weapons. The audience stared in horrified fascination.

  Pryce scowled. “What point are you trying to make here, Dane? Is it really necessary to show closeups of the weapons or a diagram of how she drove the blades in?”

  Dane gave him a look of feigned innocence. “I’m merely ensuring that the staff have access to all pertinent information.”

  “You’ve more than achieved that. Wrap it up.”

  “Given that she was trying to defend the child, at this time we don’t believe that she poses a danger to the personnel of this ship,” Dane concluded. “However, you should all be aware that she’s capable of great violence or even killing if she believes that she or someone she cares about is in danger. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating her.” He smiled at Pryce with a twinkle in his eye. “I’m sure you’d like to speak again, Captain.”

  Pryce shook his head and glared at his friend. “Thanks,” he growled.

  Dane smirked. “Any time.”

  “Captain Adamson, Jess is here,” the computer interrupted.

  Dane hurriedly blanked the display. Pryce strode toward the door and peered outside. “Where? I don’t see her.”

  Behind him, there was a clatter and a soft, tentative “Hello?”

  Pryce whirled. All eyes were fixed on the ceiling, where a delicate face peered down at them from a newly uncovered maintenance port.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Pryce

  Pryce froze in place and stared up at the maintenance port. “Jess!” he sputtered, “What are you doing up there?”

  “Assessment. The computer has been testing my map reading sk
ills and helping me learn the ship’s layout. She hid parts for me around the ship.” A dainty, grime-coated hand extended down, holding a toothed wheel. “She’s really nice. See what she made me? Isn’t it pretty? She said that once I find all the parts, we’re going to build a machine.”

  Pryce didn’t know which to address first: the fact Jess thought the shipboard computer was a person, or the fact she was risking her health by crawling through strange parts of his ship. He settled on the second issue, standing beneath the port and holding his arms out to her.

  “Jess, come here.”

  She tilted her head thoughtfully. Her braid tumbled down so that it hung well below the ceiling. “Why? It’s nice up here. I can see without being seen. Did you know that you can go almost anywhere without using the corridors?”

  Pryce was afraid to ask what she’d seen. “I want you to meet everyone.”

  “Can’t I meet them from up here?” She smiled and waved shyly. “Hi, Dr. Ales. Hi, Dr. Kellis,” she said, her words oddly accented. She’d just begun to learn the standard language used on the ship; Pryce was proud of her for trying to use it. Most people understood her language, but she’d feel more comfortable if she spoke the common tongue.

  The ladies grinned and waved back. They both leaned back in their seats, clearly settling in for a show. Pryce hoped they were mistaken and there’d be nothing to see. On the other hand, they both knew Jess very well, almost as well as him. Within a day of her coming on board he’d learned that she was feral, didn’t respect his authority, and wasn’t afraid of him. If she didn’t understand the point of an instruction, she simply didn’t comply with it. Sometimes he thought she caused mischief on purpose, just to see him sputter.