Daegan

by Veronica Scott

  How can the Khagrish not realize what Daegan truly is? The Khagrish were noted for their sloppy science and it seemed to Flo their lack of understanding about Daegan’s nature was another proof of their blind spots.

  The Alpha-in-hiding maintained his deceptively calm and mild mannered demeanor. “I’m sure you’ll be left alone now,” he said to the weeping woman. “The situation wasn’t explained clearly to my people.” He spread his hands, palms up, looking at the guards watching them. “I’m not sure anything can be done in the long term but at least for now you won’t be pursued.”

  “Thanks for having my back,” Flo said, sitting again and giving the woman a hug.

  Daegan nodded. He didn’t appear to be in any hurry to move away from Flo, which she counted as a victory.

  “I’m married,” the girl said barely above a whisper. “I don’t know if my husband got swept up into this horrible place too but I’m never going to consent to sleep with another man, not even to save my own life. The Khagrish can just kill me.”

  “Shhh, let’s worry about that another day.” Flo patted her on the shoulder.

  Daegan squatted in front of them, placing one hand lightly on the upset woman’s knee. “Listen to your friend Flo here. Best not to put obstacles in the path of the Khagrish until you have no other choice left.”

  A buzzer sounded and the Badari formed into a line, Daegan included, and left the pavilion.

  The women, most of whom appeared dazed if not reduced to tears like Flo’s companion, slowly gathered in the center of the room. The lab tech stood by the door, raised his voice and said, “For the most part, a promising beginning. You will now be taken to the hut we’ve prepared for you and dinner will be brought.”

  Flo agreed with him because for her at least it had been a promising beginning. She wished she’d been given a procedure to proactively contact MARL and make a report but the AI hadn’t explained the necessary process. Working with an ancient alien AI had its frustrations all right. As the group marched across a sandy expanse dotted with scrubby green bushes to a large, thatched roof hut, she reflected on what she’d learned. The most important thing was Daegan appeared to possess the same instincts as the Badari she knew, at least to some extent, when it came to protecting those weaker than himself. And secondarily, he was obviously obeyed by a majority of the Badari here, even if the signs were subtle. But on the other hand, a few of the Badari seemed rebellious and not in line with what their goddess set forth as her commandments.

  Maybe the ancestral memory was weaker in the Badari strain here? Or with the lack of a pack structure, the lessons weren’t enforced? Too bad I’m not a social scientist or an anthropologist. Flo stifled a grin. Just a simple soldier with a mission.

  As the women filed into the hut, which was huge and contained cots, a long table with benches and a curtained off bathroom facility she wondered what the next day would bring. How fast was Nyddfalorr going to push his repulsive agenda?

  CHAPTER THREE

  When Daegan arrived at the beach next morning for his dawn run, he was astonished to find Flo already there. Briefly he considered the thought she was stalking him but then remembered she had no way to know he ran on the beach every morning. She was doing stretching exercises but he could tell she was aware of his presence. She had the carriage and the courage of a warrior, not afraid to challenge the Badari upsetting the other woman yesterday. She was intriguing to him and whenever she was near he thought he smelled flowers, delicate ones like the blossoms growing in the goddess’s circle of his dreams, not the big sensuous blooms the island produced.

  “So, you’re an early bird too?” she asked as she switched to a different exercise.

  “Best time to savor the day, before the enemy starts making demands.”

  Now she looked at him, although her question was nonchalant, as if she didn’t care either way what his answer might be. “Mind if I run with you?”

  “Sure, it’s a free beach.” He set off at his usual pace and wasn’t surprised to find Flo keeping pace with him. When they reached his rock at the edge of the fenced in area, he stopped. “This is as far as we can go. The force barrier around the Preserve is right there—see it?” He pointed at the glimmer in the air delineating the fence.

  She barely glanced at it. “Right. Do you run circuits then? Back and forth?”

  “Usually, if I want to get in enough of a workout.”

  She stood watching the ocean, hand over her eyes. “Nice waves, good for surfing. Any predators or rip tides?”

  “It’s safe enough. There are big fish and other predators in the water to be wary of but they usually stay outside the line where the waves break.”

  “Predators impressive enough to scare a Badari, with all your fangs and claws?” She held her hands out far apart and then chuckled as she brought her hands almost all the way together. “Or tiny ones only a little human like me should worry about?”

  He tried to remember if he’d flashed his fangs or talons yesterday. Maybe the Khagrish told the women about the Badari natural weaponry ahead of time. “I can handle most of the bigger creatures and they instinctively know it so they avoid me. You might have a problem, no offense meant.”

  With a jaunty grin, she dipped her head. “None taken.”

  “No rip tides unless there’s been a storm,” he added.

  “Ever think about swimming out to sea and escaping? Or building a boat and taking off?” Her question had the hint of a challenge, not idle curiosity.

  “Every damn day,” he said, surprising himself with the force of his answer.

  “Why don’t you then?”

  “We’re the oldest Badari here. There are three younger generations also being held. I couldn’t leave my brothers and the cubs just to save myself. No Badari could.” Chest tight with emotion, he forced himself to draw a deep breath and did a few more stretching exercises. Why did this woman pull the truth from him so easily?

  “Not even those three jerks who were harassing that woman yesterday?” One eyebrow raised she projected skepticism.

  He wasn’t any too pleased with their behavior either. He had to move carefully, however, not to alert the Khagrish to the fact they’d allowed an Alpha to live. “They’re all my brothers,” he said simply.

  Flo let the subject drop. “I think I might go body surfing. I like the way the waves break. If I had a board it’d be better because then I could really surf, but can’t ask for too many favors in this place. It does remind me of Tahumaroa Two, with this gorgeous beach and the big waves. I lived there for a while as a kid.” She studied the beach and the trees. “This beach is a lot better than the lab I was at up on the continent, let me tell you. And the hut may be a bit drafty but it beats the prison cells. Being able to come and go is a luxury.”

  “This is the Preserve,” he repeated, concerned she was taking her captivity too lightly because of the beauty of the island setting. “It’s a reward for us after a mission or an experiment cycle. When the Khagrish summon us to the lab itself, we’re kept in cells. Don’t be fooled.”

  “Oh I’m not. Never trust a Khagrish as they say. Lesson number one.”

  He had the feeling he was telling her things she already knew although how that could be possible eluded him. “So the woman yesterday is already mated? Is her status what she was upset about?”

  “Besides being brought here for forced sex and pregnancy? Yes. We call it marriage and it’s for life, in the truest cases.”

  “I might have an idea,” he said, unsure why he was going to trust her but the attraction between him and Flo was strong. He felt the desire to please her. “You said I was your camouflage yesterday—I might be able to find a Badari willing to do the same for her. A mate shouldn’t be touched by another man. One of the techs told me Nyddfalorr is building on to the Preserve, having two person huts constructed for the pairs. Most of us are not in agreement with forcing women.”

  “Let me guess who the holdouts would be.” Her voice w
as wry but then she smiled. “That’s a great offer."

  “Unfortunately the ruse won’t work forever,” he said, warmed by her reaction but forced to admit he could only do so much to help. “The scientist is determined to create children. There would be punishment when we were found out, probably more severe for the Badari man shielding your married friend but Nyddfalorr wouldn’t spare the woman if he suspected.”

  “Let’s keep this between us for now,” she said. “See how things shake out. I know at least two of the women yesterday met guys they were attracted to, despite the circumstances. You Badari can be quite charming. And as far as Nyddfalorr’s plans—” Flo shook her head and he admired the way the sun played on the strands of various colors in her hair. “Well, he may be in for a surprise of the unpleasant kind.”

  Curiosity aroused, he opened his mouth to ask what she meant, when there was a shout from down the beach and a woman named Lacey came trotting up to them, breathing hard.

  “Flo, come on, girl, there’s a meeting.”

  “Nyddfalorr?” she asked.

  Daegan glanced at his neurocontroller bracelet. There’d been no sign or summons from the Khagrish for the Badari.

  The newcomer shook her head, giving him a suspicious look and keeping her distance. “No, the women. We’re uh going to discuss some plans for how to handle this mess we’re in. You were pretty badass yesterday, standing up for Shelli, so people want you in the debate. Besides, there’s breakfast.”

  “Guess I’d better go,” Flo said, smiling at Daegan. “See you later?”

  He nodded and watched the two of them jog in the direction of the huts, far down the crescent curve of the beach. As he climbed his rock to do the daily check-in, he had a hard time getting his mind off the subject of Flo. He was no expert on humans, having only studied them as a soldier being trained to inflict maximum casualties on the Khagrish enemies, but she struck him as different from most of the women and he wanted to know more.

  Maybe the goddess was finally smiling on him a little more than usual.

  The women’s hut was buzzing with conversation when Flo followed Lacey inside. Everyone was at the tables, with food in front of them.

  “We saved you a plate,” said an older woman who’d taken charge rather ruthlessly. “I’m Renate by the way. Come sit by me and let’s get started, ladies.”

  Flo didn’t like being given orders but as Renate had the group’s attention, she settled for grabbing her plate and some fruit and taking a seat on an unused bunk off to the side. “Go ahead.” She bit into her fruit and gave every appearance of listening raptly.

  “Go around the room and introduce yourselves, where you were when these creeps kidnapped you and what you did for a living,” Renate said. “We’ve got to mold ourselves into a cohesive group here to survive this ordeal and team building begins with who we all are. I’ll go first – I’m Renate Friess, I was on the Azure Mist Maid as second officer and we were taken by the damn Shemdylann pirates in Sector 73.”

  The introductions went rapidly. There was quite a diversity of women in the room, including passengers and crew of various ships, and one person from a colony. Flo spoke up last. “I’m Flo Michetti from the Solar Queen Two, Jill-of-all-trades general crew member.” Not a complete lie—as a mercenary, she handled a variety of tasks, just probably not the kind the other women would assume from her breezy description. “We were taken by the Shemdylann in Sector 73, like so many of you.”

  “First, thanks for intervening to help Shelli yesterday,” Renate said to her before addressing the room at large. “Now the order of business here is to gain some control over the nightmare we’re in the middle of. No more mob scenes like yesterday. We have to make these Badari men understand we’re not here to be their private playthings and they better not try anything without the woman’s freely given consent.” Pausing, she frowned. “Although the concept of free consent here in this place is still dubious.”

  “You have a proposal?” Flo asked, full of foreboding. Usually she liked a take charge woman who had confidence in what she was doing but Renate ran a variety of risks here, not knowing the Khagrish and also possibly placing Flo’s mission in jeopardy. “Because the Khagrish will only be patient so long. And from what I observed yesterday, not all the Badari are going to be civilized gentlemen. We seem to be the only women in this place.”

  Renate pointed at Lacey. “Tell the others what you came up with.”

  Rising, she cleared her throat. “I’m uh Lacey Soames, science officer on the Archangel Drifter as I said earlier. What I was thinking is we present a reasonable alternative to this scientist, a better way to ensure his plan goes smoothly.”

  There was an immediate uproar, with shouts and people shaking their heads.

  “You want to help this bastard?” yelled a voice from the rear.

  Lacey stood her ground. “No, not at all. Of course not. I want to help us get through this. Now Drinda and Sophine actually both met guys they felt some attraction to.” The woman swung to point to Flo. “And you apparently did too.”

  Probably inevitable she’d be singled out. Flo shrugged. “He’s ok. I’m not ready to have his baby.”

  Lacey blinked and swallowed hard but then forged ahead, speaking louder. “Well, what if we set up a process, where these Badari have to speak to each woman, like a brief interview, I don’t know, but enough to let us calmly meet them as people, not potential rapists surrounding us. We sell it to the scientist in charge as a way to gauge attraction because he wants pair bonds and to achieve those, there has to be something between the two people. I didn’t get the impression Nyddfalorr wants forced mating from what he said yesterday.”

  “The Badari are just as much prisoners as we are,” Flo interjected. She liked where this was heading, especially since the women only had to buy themselves a limited amount of time before Aydarr and his men would attack. Unfortunately she couldn’t share the crucial tidbit of information. “The soldiers are subject to punishment if they don’t go along. The guy I sat next to was telling me some horror stories about experiments here, a lot like the ones we’re familiar with in the labs where we came from. So they’d probably be willing to accept the conditions we set and help sell it to the Khagrish.”

  “And if they don’t?” asked someone Flo couldn’t see clearly in the crowd. “Those guys yesterday were being incredibly aggressive. You were brave and all but if they hadn’t backed off, you couldn’t have done anything to stop them, not really.”

  I brought the Alpha himself to intercede. Flo stifled her smile. “If the majority of the Badari go along, if Dr. Nyddfalorr agrees to the protocol, I think even the troublemakers will fall in line.”

  “So we interview them all, what good does compliance actually do?” said a new voice. “Ultimately the Khagrish will expect us to go into those huts the guards said are being built and let ourselves be used to create kids. We merely stave off the inevitable a few days. We’ll only be picking the least offensive choice from among the bad lot.”

  “One thing I’ve learned on this damn planet,” Flo said, making her voice harsh to cut through the chorus of agreement rising in the gathering. “Take it a day at a time because by tomorrow things could change completely, for better or for worse.” She left the cot to stand beside Renate. “The Khagrish can skip all of this protocol and the out of character attempt to create pair bonds and go straight to artificially impregnating every one of us and keeping us in stasis beds for the nine months. They’re capable of anything, don’t kid yourselves.” She saw horrified and shocked faces in the group but frankly she was amazed Nyddfalorr was pursuing the slightly more humane route. Maybe he figured he could keep the Badari warriors here under even tighter control if they had mates and biological children at stake. The Khagrish liked mind games almost as much as they enjoyed inflicting torture. “So, yeah, let’s make this suggestion of Lacey’s and buy ourselves some time.”

  Renate nodded. “Good. We’ll vote by show of hands.
All in favor?”

  Flo counted too. About two thirds of the women were on board, a few didn’t vote, and the others were opposed. Even if they didn’t go along, she figured Nyddfalorr would be satisfied for a while and not crack down as she knew he was fully capable of doing.

  “I’ll talk to Nyddfalorr,” Renate said. “I’ll tell the guards I need to meet with him.”

  “Word of advice?” Flo was compelled to speak up although she was sure it would be wiser for the success of her mission to keep a low profile. She couldn’t walk away and let these other women make fatal mistakes though. “Send Lacey the science officer and I’ll go with her. The Khagrish here don’t like leaders among the prisoners so you shouldn’t put yourself out there. Dr. Nyddfalorr won’t respect her as a scientist peer of course—the Khagrish are extremely conceited—but he might treat her like a lab tech at least and listen. And as for me, I’ve already picked a guy to hang out with, so I should be in good standing with the Khagrish today.” She shrugged. “Who knows about tomorrow in this place.”

  “You seem to know an awful lot about the situation,” Renate said, eyeing her with a frown. “And the Khagrish.”

  “I bounced around a couple of labs up north before I got picked for this experiment. I’m a keen observer, what can I say?” Flo acted unconcerned but made a mental note to watch out for Renate. She might have to be let in on the secret Flo was keeping, if worse came to worst.

  Renate wasn’t giving an inch, although she acted puzzled by Flo’s attitude. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll single you out as a leader? You did stand up to the three guys yesterday who were hassling Shelli.”

  “I can handle myself.” Flo looked past Renate to the science officer. “We should go now before Nyddfalorr gets whatever he has planned for today started. He won’t budge if his protocol is already underway. Too much loss of face.”

  The woman swallowed hard and nodded. Flo left her seat and headed for the door of the hut, expecting Lacey to follow, which she did. Flo walked straight up to the Khagrish guards at the entrance to the Preserve’s force field barrier.