Sons of the Lion
Book Eleven of The Omega War
By
Jason Cordova
PUBLISHED BY: Seventh Seal Press
Copyright © 2019 Jason Cordova
All Rights Reserved
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License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events, or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
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Acknowledgements
First off, thank you to Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey for creating such an awesome playground for us writers to play in. While I’ve been in previous anthologies the opportunity to write a novel in their universe has been an absolute joy. I hope I get to extend my stay here a little longer.
Secondly, the first readers who graciously stepped up to go over this novel, I owe you a huge thank you. Lauren, Collyn, and Kelly are my usual first readers. For this, however, I reached out to the Four Horsemen Fan Community and picked up Jamie, Rene, Pat, Ian, and Dan to help. There are over 25 books in the series and I needed to make sure I had everything straight. They are all awesome people doing a thankless job.
Lastly, to all of you who cheered me on. It was terrific motivation and I couldn’t have done it without your support.
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Author’s Note:
While this novel is a work of fiction, the accounts of the child slaves and child soldiers in the book are based on actual events from over a dozen brave young men, aged 9-17, who shared their trials and tribulations with the author. Not all the boys were physically scarred. Some hid their hurts well, but all of them have the emotional and psychological wounds that oftentimes never heal. It is the author’s belief these boys only shared their experiences as an attempt to help heal these wounds.
Slavery is a horrid thing, and these young men survived something that is incomprehensible in western society. It is the author’s hope that these boys continue their journey to becoming men and never give up the strength which got them this far. They have already won the battle against evil, but only time will tell if they realize it.
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Cover Design by Brenda Mihalko
Original Art by Ricky Ryan
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Contents
Prologue
Part One—The Proud Lion
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Part Two—The Thorn & The Paw
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Part Three—A Mighty Roar
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
About the Author
Titles by Jason Cordova
Excerpt from Book One of the Salvage Title Trilogy
Excerpt from Book One of the Earth Song Cycle
Excerpt from Book One of The Psyche of War
Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle
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Prologue
Izlian Heavy Cruiser Bird of Prey, Capitol Planet Emergence Zone
Thorpi knew he was the least likely Veetanho in his race’s illustrious history to be in his current position. It was a position of power, almost unheard of for a male to accomplish. The fact it was in a minor Human mercenary company was beside the point. To him, it was the most important job he would ever attain in his young life.
Which was why when his mother’s daughter, Leeto, came calling upon him as the Kakata Korps were in the midst of transitioning back to Earth after their most recent successful deployment, Thorpi became extremely nervous. Enough so he looked into his own private dealings and agreements outside the Mercenary Guild and wondered if his plot had already been discovered.
His memories of Leeto were vague ones at best. They hadn’t been of the same litter, her being multiple years older than he, and she’d already been gone when he became aware. Thorpi was what the Humans would have called the “runt” of the litter, though in a different sense of the word. It was galling to think this way, but also accurate, he allowed. Humans were an odd bunch but seemed to have a phrase for everything.
He swam quickly through the adjoining tube and into the waiting transport shuttle. Since they were meeting in a ship and not the station, and the Izlians had no use for rotating sections to create any form of centrifugal gravity, the going was fast but a little treacherous. His time served as the Chief Operations Officer of the Kakata Korps had taught him punctuality was everything, even if Leeto made him wait to see her. It was the nature of the beast, experience told him. Even so, he knew being allowed into her presence alone made for an amazing first step. The fact he was being acknowledged sent delicious shivers of satisfaction down his spine and caused his fur to ripple in excitement. His status in the hierarchy of the family was growing.
Thorpi mentally shook himself before his wild fantasies took hold. Caution and wariness were needed when dealing with a temperamental female, he was quietly reminded by an inner voice. The females of his species were far deadlier than the males, and it showed in their domination of both the Veetanho home world and the Mercenary Guild.
At the last stop, he was met by a brooding Jivool, one of the 36 other mercenary races in the Galactic Union. A guard outside Leeto’s door wasn’t surprising. That the guard was a Jivool, certainly was, however. As far as Thorpi knew, the bear-like knuckle draggers were not the best-suited for a protective detail. But it was not his place to talk, so he remained silent until the piggish eyes of the Jivool focused squarely on his face. He saw some dim sign of intelligence in the alien’s eyes, and Thorpi chided himself. Appearances can be deceiving, and the Jivool were highly underrated as mercenaries.
Whiskers twitching nervously, Thorpi waited for some sort of acknowledgement from the guard. Time seemed to pass slowly as he stared at the Veetanho, his expression one of boredom and contempt. Thorpi’s skin began to itch as he floated, waiting. He was a Veetanho of action, and being forced to wait in silence was pure, unadulterated torture.
“I’m here to meet with Leeto,” he finally said, knowing the Kakata Korps were expected to make their transfer through the gate back to Earth soon. If Thorpi wanted a ride back with them, he would have to hurry. Their ship would not wait around for a single Veetanho. Transition fees had already been paid, and there were no refunds for missing passengers.
The Jivool finally grunted in a surprisingly high-pitched tone and opened the door. Not knowing if he should thank the alien or not, Thorpi instead simply gave the merc a quick nod. Thorpi pushed through the door into a surprisingly large room, where three figures waited.
He recognized Leeto instantly, as she was the only Veetanho present. Two MinSha guards flanked her, both of whom studied him closely with their strange ruby-red eyes. Their narrow, segmented bodies always disgusted Thorpi a little when he looked at them
. They wore their standard chitlin armor, though they seemed to lack any obvious weaponry save for their ceremonial staves. It made sense, though. Thorpi didn’t know Leeto well, but if she were as paranoid as he had been led to believe, there was no way she would allow weapons in her presence. As terrifying as the mantis-like aliens were, they were nothing when compared to the intimidating form of their mother’s favored daughter.
“Greetings, creche sister of our mother,” Leeto said and dipped her head at him. Thorpi’s ear twitched in shock at the obvious sign of respect.
“I greet thee in return, favored daughter,” Thorpi replied and bowed his head deeper. Though she had shown him respect, it was expected of him to show her even more. Not only was she a female, but she was the leading general under their mother. “I am here as summoned, to both pay respects and offer my services.”
“You are an odd one, Thorpi,” Leeto said as she waved the two MinSha guards away. They left the room without question, leaving the two Veetanho alone. As the door closed, she turned her sleek head and focused intently on him. “Small, a creche sister who passes herself off as male amongst her employers, yet cunning and devious. A planner. You’d be better suited in a logistics role for the Veetanho, did you know this? Perhaps as the senior logistics officer of a small task force?”
The thought had occurred to him, a dream he often fantasized about in the depths of the night when his Human merc companions were sleeping. The first creche sister to be head logistician for the great General Peepo in her crusade through the stars, to further the glory of both the Mercenary Guild and the Veetanho race. It was a job which he lusted for and desired more than anything else in the universe.
However, his time amongst the Humans had taught him almost as much as when he attended school in his youth. The phrase “mama didn’t raise no fool” was one which his current employer, Colonel Mulbah Luo of the Kakata Korps, was fond of saying. Leeto was softening him up with compliments and suggestions, which set off alarm bells in his head. The last thing the smaller Veetanho could be described as was a fool. Inexperienced, perhaps, but even this was quickly becoming a thing of the past with every completed contract with the Korps. He had arrived, and it was glorious to behold.
“I thank you for the compliment, favored daughter, but I am just another mere Veetanho creche sister in the service of our family,” Thorpi stated in a controlled voice, his fur rippling ever-so-slightly at her words. This was not a simple meeting between children of General Peepo but a full-on negotiation, one which would make even the legendary Depik take note of. The immediate problem, however, was he didn’t know what was being negotiated. Not yet, at least.
“Nonsense,” Leeto scoffed, her tone one of amusement and only mild rebuke. “Our mother did not choose you for this role because you are just another ordinary Veetanho. She picked you because you are an extraordinary creche sister, born of the great General Peepo. Your other creche sisters were all wastes of matter, suited for nothing more than menial labor and the usual hardships of being one of your kind. You are special, Thorpi. Even among our people, being selected for this task is a sign of expected greatness.”
If you say so, Thorpi thought as he bowed his head in acquiescence. He really wished she would call him something other than creche sister. He never felt as though it were truly accurate. It was part of the reason he passed himself off as male amongst his Human employers. Too many questions and explanations. Misunderstandings and assumptions were all part of the ploys used against creche sisters by favored daughters, and something he wanted no part of anymore. “I thank you, favored daughter, for your kind words.”
“Please, call me something other than ‘favored daughter,’” Leeto suggested. “I would not wish to call you ‘favored creche sister,’ after all. It’s a mouthful and wastes time. You have recently received a promotion in rank within your own mercenary company, correct? Congratulations…Major?”
That little tidbit of information caused him to twitch nervously. There was no way the sudden news of his promotion could have reached Leeto yet, given it happened during one of their normal transits through a gate. It had been over three weeks earlier, true, but the only manner of which Leeto could have learned of the news was if she had someone in the Mercenary Guild tracking the rank structures and payroll of the Kakata Korps. Which meant Leeto was connected almost as well as their mother, and this made him suspicious of her true motives.
“Thank you, General,” Thorpi bowed his head a second time. Subservience often meant survival, no matter how distasteful he found it. “Your congratulatory words cause me great joy.”
“Tell me.” Leeto paused here and casually inspected the back of her paw, examining a stray patch of fur a little too intently. A ruse, Thorpi recognized immediately, but a very clever one. It was a sign of her indifference to the next question, and it might have fooled him if he had not noticed her ears twitching in nervous anticipation of…something. “How do you like working with the Humans?”
Careful now, Thorpi told himself as he gathered the right words. There was much more afoot here than he knew about. Her question had been carefully timed. Even the least intelligent of creche sisters could recognize this.
“They are very interesting to work with,” Thorpi stated. That much was true, though the male Veetanho had learnt the various meanings of the word “interesting” in his time with the Humans.
Apparently his mother’s daughter had not, for Leeto nodded sagely. “That has been my assessment as well. Very peculiar bunch, prone to do the unexpected. Very adaptable, but also unpredictable, which makes them unreliable in the Mercenary Guild’s eyes.”
You mean to General Peepo’s, Thorpi thought. He was beginning to understand where this conversation was going, and he didn’t like it one bit. He had moved past caution and was at full-blown trepidation, with a side of dread for good measure. Truth be told, he liked the Liberians he worked with. He had never met a more industrious or loyal people in his entire life, and the care they showed for those in their family was something Thorpi felt a Veetanho could learn much from them.
A sudden thought caused his blood to run cold. Is Leeto aware of the contacts I have inside the Information Guild? Do she or Peepo suspect?
It wasn’t an entirely unfeasible idea. After all, Peepo was renowned for her daughters being as cunning as she. Leeto could very well know who Thorpi was working with on the side, all things considered. His footing felt more slippery and treacherous with each passing moment. He slowed his breathing to almost normal levels, deciding for the time being to allow Leeto to think he was only nervous about the meeting.
“Nonetheless, their success rate for guild contracts recently is over 95%, which is almost unheard of,” Leeto continued, unaware the male had already discovered the point she was slowly steering the conversation toward. “They are very profitable, but…” her voice trailed off.
“Yes?”
“General Peepo believes they are positioning themselves to take over the Mercenary Guild,” Leeto stated bluntly. This caught Thorpi by surprise, but not for the expected reason. This ruse was not the direction he had anticipated his mother going. Influencers, perhaps, or even falsifying records to trigger an interspecies war, much like what had been done with the Pushtal when they began to try and exert influence over the guild long before. He couldn’t hide his body’s reaction to the news, so instead of fighting to control his twitching he charged full ahead as a typical, ignorant creche sister would, hoping his apparent over-eagerness would be interpreted as something else.
“Surely they would be mad to believe they can take on the entire Mercenary Guild!”
“We have proof that Humans are flouting Guild Law and spitting in its eye,” Leeto proclaimed, appearing to mistake his body posture for something else. “They have elevated a race to sentience and have activated massive war machines of old. They also are creating Canavar, which as you undoubtedly know, is strictly prohibited not only by Guild Law but also by Galactic law.”
“I have heard nothing of this,” Thorpi admitted, shaking slightly. “Colonel Luo does not do any of these things and keeps the operation small. It saves money.”
“Which has come to General Peepo’s attention,” Leeto nodded, pleased. “Your Colonel Luo is a rare breed, one who puts his oaths first and personal desires second. Our information on him suggests his loyalty to the guild even overshadows his love of Earth.”
That’s technically true, Thorpi silently allowed as he thought it over. Mulbah had little love for Earth, considering the hell which had befallen his people throughout history, as well as the injustices they had shackled themselves with. However, Mulbah had no greater love than what he felt for his nation, Liberia. This was painfully obvious to anyone who spent more than five seconds in his presence. His desire to see his homeland succeed was white-hot and could burn through any other loyalties, pledges, or promises. It had even led to the dissolution of his marriage, a concept Thorpi had only begun to explore as his dealings with the Information Guild grew.
“He is loyal to the guild,” Thorpi stated instead, carefully negotiating the unseen minefield as he continued to spar with his mother’s favored daughter. There was no way he would allow familiarity to breed contempt in this situation. Leeto was far too dangerous, as well as a shrewd negotiator, for him to allow her to draw him in too easily.
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