by L M Lacee
Everyone in her vicinity heard Peyton’s muttered. ‘I will give them violation.’
Even Darby cracked a smile at the vehemence in her tone. Then suddenly Peyton’s body started glowing a soft white as she was contacted by the planet Oraintarre. He introduced himself, then told her of the Warriors he had provided shelter to as they were damaged. Peyton took that to be hurt or ill.
Darby frowned. ‘What is she doing?’
Hawk stated. ‘It would seem she is talking to someone.’
Darby looked from him to Peyton. ‘Of course, how do you all stay calm with that happening?’
Netta shrugged. ‘It is what it is, we have to get used to it. This is our life now and hers. Darby hon, you are going to have to come to grips with it soon.’
‘I know… I know, it’s just you know?’
Janet agreed. ‘Yeah, we all do.’
The planet Oraintarre explained to Peyton that he was not really mobile or fully conscious yet. When he had felt Peyton’s emergence, he had decided it was time to re-emerge himself, sadly he had suffered a tremendous loss and had withdrawn from the surface of his body. His consciousness while not fully aware was awake enough to realize some of what was happening on his surface. He told her how upset by the treatment of the Warriors he was and he asked if Peyton would talk to the Matriarch and explain how disappointed he was with her and her family, and how much he wished her to change what had been occurring while he grieved. Preferably before he had to resort to more deadly persuasions.
When she asked him to explain, he told her the current Matriarch and her family seemed to have violated the treaty he and the original Matriarch had agreed to. Peyton told him she would do what she could, but her main goal was the retrieval of her Warriors. When that was accomplished, she would see about explaining to the ruling house of Oraintarre about their violation of their agreement. She came back from her conversation with him to find they had landed.
Peyton told everyone what she had learned, Darby quickly tapped her fingers over her tablet and said. ‘At least we know the Warriors are really here.’
Hawk agreed with her. ‘That is true, Darby send them all out, signal Melody and Kerol we have confirmation the Warriors are on planet. Now all we have to do is find them.’
Darby nodded as she sent the location of the Warriors Oraintarre had protected to Melody. It seemed they were closer to her and her squads than to where Nikolas had landed their shuttle. Melody assured Darby she would send Warriors and Turqualls to them first.
‘How can we find out how many Warriors are meant to be assigned here?’ Peyton asked Darby, who was busy flicking her fingers over the face of her tablet again as she answered. ‘Got it… looks like the records show that there are at present three hundred and sixty-five Warriors registered on duty. Originally four hundred and fifty were sent here. No deaths have been reported, so there are eighty-five missing.’
She looked at Peyton, her expression sad. ‘They may have died, and no one thought to tell anyone or place it in the records.’
‘It is a possibility.’ Hawk said. ‘It happens when our Warriors die, sometimes no one thinks to record their deaths.’
At the outraged look from the females, he amended that too. ‘It happened a lot, before in the past.’
He placed stress on the words, happened and before and tried hard to keep the bitterness from his voice, as all the Warriors did when talking about before the Terran females had set them free.
Peyton gave his arm a pat. ‘I know Hawk, but we are going to make that right. Darby, you will remain on board.’
She opened her mouth to protest when Peyton smiled at her. ‘I know, as does everyone here, that you would go on planet if asked. But truthfully Darby, you are better at organizing the search from here.’
She subsided, feeling a modicum of relief, she really preferred not going to planets and meeting people who could be angered at them. Her guard snapped to attention when Peyton addressed them. ‘Make sure no one gets on board or comes near Lady Darby, please.’
Darby sighed at the title as she did every time someone used it. Which made Peyton and the others smile. ‘I trust you Warriors with her life because I know you are as amused by her as I am.’
They laughed a little and relaxed their stance when they heard Darby’s response. ‘Honestly, I am not that funny.’
‘Don’t sell yourself so short.’ Peyton grinned at the pun as Darby growled softly and murmured. ‘Short jokes, so sad.’
When no one commented but only smiled, she said gruffly. ‘You take care, all of you, they know we are here.’
‘I certainly hope so.’ Peyton chuckled. ‘We made enough noise about it.’
Four Turquall units consisting of sixteen Turqualls and four companies of Warriors, one hundred in total, were on the shuttle with Peyton. Melody and Kerol had that many with them on the other side of the planet.
Another four companies and Turqualls still aboard the Warbird were ready to deploy at the first sign of trouble. Accompanying Peyton were her guards and two units of Turqualls led by Rage and Rave.
Everyone else were about to embark on a city wide hunt for missing Warriors, this meant homes, businesses, out buildings, everything would be searched. Nothing would be ignored from either the Turqualls or Warriors. The planet of Oraintarre was about to be dissected and torn apart as her people looked for the missing Maikonian Warriors. Darby would be coordinating the searches when everyone was in position and at Darby’s signal they would commence operation. Warrior Hunt.
The name was Darby’s suggestion. No one thought to dissuade her from it, because they had all learned she could screech when annoyed, and in truth no-one else had thought to name the mission.
While the planet underwent the search, Peyton and her squads would visit the Matriarch’s residence and locate any Warriors there. Netta and her team of Warriors and Turqualls who were doing the town searches left first, with a quick salute to Peyton and Hawk.
On the other side of the world, at Darby’s signal. Kerol split off from Melody and took another team of Warriors and Turqualls to search the mining settlements they had found when they flew over the world.
As Peyton left the shuttle, she mind-sent to the Turqualls who were staying with Darby.
Keep her safe, please.
They both bowed their heads and assured her they would. The two Turquall who remained with Darby were females; one of them had attached herself to Darby, and they were inseparable now.
Apparently when Fanharr was showing the newly arrived females around Prime as part of the orientation for new members of the pride. The female Honor and Darby had seen each other and an instant attraction was established. Fanharr told Peyton later it was love at first sight, much to Darby’s fascination and Honor’s amazement.
No one was using the word bonding just yet, but Peyton knew that was what it was, as did Fanharr. Rage and Rave were studiously ignoring the attachment Darby and Honor had for one another, at some point Peyton would have to address that situation. She was just waiting for the right time.
Honor was one of fifteen females Rage had granted permission to join the Pride, six wekens ago. They were all over the age of twenty; the females had been found on a small planet by one of the Battlecruisers on its way to Maikonia. When the Commander of the cruiser was asked why he had sent a shuttle to the planet, as it seemed such a random thing to do, he told them he had dreamed there was someone in need of rescue. Other than that, he could say no more about the reason he had shuttled down to the empty planet. Peyton felt the hand of the Star Child in his decision, as did Hawk and the Commander. She was coming to accept the way this universe worked, and the fact people felt nothing wrong in direct interference from the Star Child or Star Daughter in their daily lives.
Honor had told Peyton, Turqualls had heard whispers on the wind that a Pride Leader named Rage, who was the chosen of the Star Daughter, would allow them to make their home with his pride, if they were willing to join with
his males, which they were all eager to do. Peyton was assured by Fanharr that none of the females were discouraged by the unusual coloring of the Maikonia Turqualls. It seemed that the possibility of finding mates outweighed the normal abhorrence to the males coloring although she saw as the wekens had passed, several differences occurring in the new females, like Honor whose eye coloring was deepening to an almost violet blue, or another female who seemed unfazed by the fact that she had spots appearing like Fanharr.
She did wonder if the changes were occurring because of the influence of the Turquall on Maikonia or were they always different, and something had triggered the change in them when they arrived on Prime.
For now though Honor and another member of the pride, Salmah a bi-colored female were with Darby as her personal bodyguards.
Darby handed Peyton a new comm link with a small smile. ‘We are testing this one to see if it will survive you, it goes in your ear, you just talk naturally and I will hear you.’ She and Jean were getting desperate, they hoped this design would last, somehow Peyton had managed to burn out every link so far. This in truth was the last design if it did not hold up, she would have to go without a link. ‘Melody’s team are all hooked up as well.’
Peyton hugged her and replied. ‘Great, stay in touch.’
Her squad of Turqualls broke off from the others and walked with her out of the cruiser into the port. She asked Hawk as they entered the receiving area of the cavernous building. ‘Why is it empty, I thought a port would be busy?’
He looked around at the serviceable building they had entered. There were no frills here, just plain brown walls, and the only wall of glass that allowed sunlight to enter was the one that led to the town. Other than that it was a bleak brown depressing building, and he was amazed at himself. That one; he noticed and two; he did not like it. His time with the Terrans had changed his outlook on colors and how they made one feel.
‘We have blockaded the planet for the last three wekens, this is why the Battlecruiser was here.’
Peyton looked at him and refrained from commenting on his snarky tone, because she thought he may not know he was being snarky, and Netta was not here to ask, so she simply said. ‘I forgot, so that explains the lack of people and ships.’
‘Yes, no one is apparently working at the port, therefore no one answered our hails. It is a very unusual situation and one I have never incurred before.’
Peyton looked around at the depressing building and murmured. ‘Does not seem like the right way to run a world.’
Darby agreed. ‘I am guessing the Warriors are usually in place to guard the port and stop anyone just arriving on the world without clearance.’
Hawk replied. ‘That would be standard practice. We are walking into the town now.’
‘Good luck.’
THREE:
Hawk and Peyton had elected to walk the distance to the Matriarch’s home, her decision on how to initiate contact of the ruling house or family, would depend totally on how they had treated the Warriors assigned to their planet. The fact they had ignored all the hails from the Battlecruiser did not bode well for the house or people of Oraintarre.
The planet was made up of towns and villages of varying sizes. Darby’s report stated this was the main town or city of Oraintarre. They had medium tech, meaning they had bots for cleaning and vids, probably Holo screen communication and moving walkways as well as tech for mining. The town itself was a cross between an upscale metro city and a market village. No malls were evident, and no high rises graced the skyline. Stores were opened to the street, no glass windows to hinder the shopper from looking at the wares. There were boutiques and upscale salons intermingled with food produce stores and furniture shops. Peyton could see that the produce stores were obviously very low on stock there seemed to be more empty shelves than full.
All the buildings were only one level and colored white or made from a material that resembled white marble. As they watched, several flying oval vessels which reminded Peyton of water tanks flew pass them. When the crafts approached the buildings, several people reached out with long handled sprayers and proceeded to spray the walls and roofs of the structures, washing away the red dust that clung to them.
One of her guards said softly. ‘That has to be a full-time job.’
Another she thought it was, Janet said. ‘Seriously, who would have white buildings?’
Peyton could not help herself, she muttered. ‘Only a moron.’ There were a few grunts of agreements and snickers of laughter as they continued on, watching people step on and off the wide moving walkways as they shopped. Vehicles flew overhead, but they never landed on the street. Janet said quietly. ‘Makes you wonder what the roads are for if they don’t use them.’
Everyone agreed with her, although there seemed to be a parking lot at the end of the main shopping area. They could see what looked like domed flying platforms leaving and arriving, others lined up in neat rows toward the back of the lot. Even here, there was a small flying tanker that went around spraying the dust off the vehicles.
Their attention was caught by a tall, slim, beautifully dressed female who stepped onto the walkway with her was a male who could have been in her employ, he stood behind her carrying parcels. When they arrived at the parking lot, a vehicle hovered close to the platform. She appeared to pay the male driver, then the male who was carrying her parcels, placed them inside the vehicle as she waited, he then helped her into her seat. Once completed, he went to the front and stepped in, no seat for him or the driver who stood at the controls as they flew off. Janet stated. ‘It’s a type of passenger vehicle.’
Hawk smiled slightly at the looks on the female’s faces, ‘Yes, on other planets they call them transporters, they are normally used for carrying freight.’
Janet asked him. ‘I wonder why they do not have proper vehicles, you can get them right?’
‘Of course, not like you have on Earth, but standard vehicles for one or two people are common on most tech worlds. I do not know why they cannot have them here.’
‘Maybe it is to do with mining.’ Peyton mused. ‘You know they are only used to mining transporters, so that is what people get used to using or their world is out of step with advanced technology.’
Hawk shrugged, uncaring of this worlds transport, he was impatient to find out what had happened to his Warriors. He had a niggling suspicion all was not right with this world. ‘Maybe so.’
Hearing the suppressed impatience in his tone, Peyton started walking once more, stepping now onto the slow moving walkway and stared around at the small stores and shops. Some of them looked very inviting. Peyton itched to stop and investigate but she dared not, what with Hawk trying to not appear impatient and Melody and Netta already searching. She decided it would be better to just get on with the job and not have to hear the moaning and groaning or sighs like the one coming from the male next to her. She said to Darby while she was thinking about it. ‘Darby, we are going to have to think of what kind of vehicle we need for the worlds. Let’s have Commander Kolin look into that please.’
‘Done, I will send him a message now.’
‘Thank you, so no one lives in the main part of town?’
‘Not where the shops are but around and beyond the Matriarch’s house. They sort of surround the town, more toward the edges where Netta is starting her searches.’
‘How are they doing?’
They heard her sigh. ‘Nothing yet.’
‘Dayam.’
‘Peyton take a left, then right and you will be at the house.’
‘Thanks Darby.’
They moved or walked along in no hurry, watching the people and the shops, it was a nice planet; Peyton felt it was still to bare, no trees or plants in the immediate area or in fact in the town. They could see a few on the hills, but there was very sparse vegetation. Maybe she thought the mining created too much dust for plants to grow. She grinned as she let the walkway move her along, she could see the value of having
the walkway here, except she wondered if it made people lazy. Now she was thinking about it, she sort of wondered about the walkway they had at home was she being stubborn by insisting it stayed when it really was unnecessary. It was something she would have to think seriously about, keeping it or letting it go.
Very little attention was paid to their group; the Warriors were ignored completely. Peyton herself drew some attention, but not anywhere near as much as she would have thought. The Turqualls caused the most stir they were stared at and exclaimed over.
Rage mind-sent to Peyton and the Warriors. They have never seen Turquall of our coloring, they are trying to decide if we are to be protected as our kind are, or if we are for acquiring.
Peyton sent back. The others are aware of the speculation?
He laughed at her fierce tone. They are and are taking precautions.
Okay, tell them if in doubt, return to base and we will find another way.
Yes, beloved, they will. It always amused him how protective their Beloved was of him and his Pride. She was the guiding light for his Pride, and as her power and reach grew, so did his worth, as witnessed by the recent additions to Maikonia’s Pride. Rage knew his decision to be chosen by Peyton and live on Maikonia had gone a long way in saving the Turquall, whether they were part of his pride or not.
Peyton quietly sighed. It seemed her suspicion the house of Oraintarre had deliberately kept the Warriors from making contact was true. Or there would have been a welcoming committee to greet them. She watched the people hurrying to and fro, hoping to get a read on the citizens, but just like the ruling house, it seemed like it was business as usual. Darby must have been thinking the same thing as she said quietly. ‘So on purpose then, they are keeping them from coming home?’
Peyton agreed. ‘Yeah, it would seem so. No welcome and the people do not seem to care that strangers are here within their town.’
‘Scared maybe?’
Hawk suggested. ‘Perhaps they were told to ignore us. Maybe they thought if we received an inhospitable welcome we would turn about and leave.’
