by Corin Cain
Sawoot considers my words. “So, they’re protecting something – otherwise they’d just let the Scorp claim it.” I can see her mind racing. “The scans reported that the planet below – Tarrion – was resource-rich, but largely undeveloped.”
She purses her lips.
“Until now, I guess. There must be miners exploiting the resources of Tarrion.”
I nod, remembering all the dots on that projection of the moon and planet which I’d seen in Aelon’s bedchambers. Each dot had represented either a battalion or a mining site; and there had been so many, it looked like the moon and planet had a case of bright, glowing chicken pox.
“They’re mining down there,” Sawoot continues, “and the Scorp infestation on the moon is disrupting their operation. Captain Aelon is a mercenary, then – a sword for hire.”
“He’s mercenary, that’s for sure.”
“Okay,” Sawoot nods. “Well, that means we know a few things about him. He’s a mercenary, so he wants and appreciates money. We all saw how much he hates Toads – you remember the way he talked to that Toad Captain. I imagine he’s got some deep-seated grudge against their species. I wonder what happened to trigger it.”
I have the sudden, mental image of Captain Aelon – so tall, towering and cocky. I can’t even imagine creatures as base and repellent as Toads ever getting beneath his skin, but clearly that anger and hatred stemmed from somewhere.
“I guess we’re just lucky he doesn’t feel the same way about humans.”
I appreciate Sawoot’s focus and wisdom – it’s why she’s such a great first mate and business partner. For the first time since being captured, I feel like we’re on track again – figuring out a course of action.
But for all we’ve ascertained about Captain Aelon, how can we use this information against him?
The situation is dire. Put me behind the controls of a starship and have me chased by any manner of alien or man, and I’d fancy my chances. On The Instigator, though? Without my ship or crew? I feel utterly powerless. I’m not used to that feeling – and I don’t intend to become so.
Sawoot clenches her hand into a fist. “We were so fucking close. All we had to do was slip those Toads and we’d have made a clean break of it – we’d have been rich!” She sighs. “Fuck, we could have bought a bloody space station with those Orbs. We could have…”
“…we’re okay. We’re alive,” I interrupt her. “That’s the only thing that matters. What we could have done differently – well, that’s in the past, and there’s nothing we can do about it now. We’ve got to think about our future.”
If we even have one.
“We’ve got to be smart,” I warn Sawoot. “Unless we actually want to try and steal those Orbs back from Captain Aelon – which would be a suicide mission – we’re going to have to be satisfied with escaping this with our lives and our freedom. Chris and the mining crew already made the idiotic decision to attempt an escape. They even dragged poor Theme into it.”
Sawoot cringes. “That boy’s got great skill, but he’s in over his head.”
“We all are,” I clarify, “but especially him.”
Sawoot’s enthusiasm has been dampened by this news.
“Damn. Aelon can’t have liked an escape attempt. How is he going to punish them?” Her bright eyes flash. “I know he hasn’t killed them – not yet. You’d have told me already, right?” Then, a spark of doubt appears in her gaze. “You would have told me, right Tasha?”
Her voice is suddenly trembling. I know Sawoot has a soft spot for Felix, one of the mining crew – despite him being ten years older than her. Then again, I’m hardly one to complain about an appropriate age gap in relationships. If Aelon wasn’t such an arrogant asshole, I’d find him gorgeous – and he’s already hundreds of years older than me, despite physically looking like he’s in his thirties.
Anyway, I raise a reassuring hand.
“No, don’t worry. They’re fine – he didn’t hurt them,” I gulp, “and he won’t.”
Sawoot’s eyes narrow. Now, she’s suspicious.
“Wait a second, Tasha,” my first officer growls. “I know that look. You’re hiding something from me.” She spots the way my cheeks turn pink. “You are, aren’t you? What are you hiding?” Her mind races. “He wouldn’t have let them off with just a warning, that’s for damned sure.”
Now it’s my turn to cringe. suddenly, I can’t meet my best friend’s gaze.
“I… I accepted their punishment for them.” I close my eyes. “Well, I tried to, anyway. I thought I could put Aelon in a no-win situation by offering to take their lashes for them…”
“Lashes? You’d take the punishment for all of them? That would kill you, Tasha!”
I nod silently.
“I thought I was being smart. I knew he wouldn’t let that happen, but he had to honor a captain’s demand to accept punishment in place of their crew…”
“So? What happened?”
I sigh, looking up with embarrassment.
“Once I’d volunteered to accept their punishment, he commuted it.”
“Commuted it? To what?”
“He’s not going to hurt me,” I sigh, “he’s going to humiliate me, instead. The twisted bastard commuted the crew’s lashes to a spanking, instead – in front of everyone.”
Sawoot’s jaw drops, and as soon as she notices, she clamps it shut.
I’m grateful for her reaction, though – I was half-expecting her to laugh at me, just like Chris and the others had. Instead, she shakes her head resolutely.
“Don’t give me that look, Tasha – you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. You protected your crew, that’s all that matters. If they think any less of you for taking a spanking, so they’d be spared lashes? Well, you need a new crew.”
I laugh bitterly at that. Thank the Gods that Sawoot gets it.
She reaches over and squeezes my hand.
“Be brave, Tasha. You’ll get through it with nothing more than your pride hurt.” Then, a mischievous smile quirks her lips. “Gods, Aelon must really like you.”
I raise my eyebrow.
“Like me? No, he wants to humiliate me.”
Now, Sawoot does laugh – but lightly, not mockingly, and only because she knows I’m not in mortal danger.
“Well… from what I heard about the Aurelian harem my friend joined, a spanking definitely means he’s into you. They love that shit, those misogynist bastards. The power and domination turns them on as much as sex does.”
My cheeks burn, but I sense Sawoot is correct. Every interaction with Captain Aelon has so far been a battle of wills – with him enjoying the challenges I present to him, but being ruthless in maintaining the upper hand. It’s like he and I are playing a game of chess; only half of my pieces are missing.
Sawoot leans forward.
“Something else my friend told me about – she’d taken more than a few spankings during her years in the harem.” My best friend squeezes my hand. “It’s going to hurt, Tash. I can tell you that.”
I snort bitterly.
“Good. I want it to hurt. I want to at least feel something for taking the punishment instead of Chris and those idiots…” Then I allow myself to laugh. “It’s still going to hurt less than lashes – and it’s better than facing a firing squad.”
I sink back on the bunk, until my back is pressed against the wall. The hard metal is a reassuring weight behind me, and the bunk is adequately soft beneath my backside.
Suddenly I wonder if I’ll still be thinking that after tonight. Will I even be able to sit for a week after taking my punishment? Once the Aurelians are done with me, what state will my backside be in?
I look across at my first officer, a bitter taste in my mouth.
“So, your friend who was in the harem. She said that this is how Aurelians show affection? By spanking you until you can’t sit down?” I snort. “They really are a fucked-up species.”
Sawoot shrugs. “They sure are – but can you blame them for b
eing so messed up?”
What a weird question.
“Yes, I can!”
“Let me explain,” Sawoot holds up her hand. “They all thought they were going extinct, you know – the Aurelians, I mean. They’re all male, and they can’t sire children naturally – so their numbers were dropping with every Aurelian who got killed before making it to one of those cryo-chambers.”
Aurelians live for thousands of years – but even such an incredible lifespan is but the blink of an eye in terms of the universe itself. For every Aurelian who died naturally, and was cloned via a cryo-chamber, how many warriors died in agony in a Scorp nest? Or were left floating in frozen space after an ill-fated engagement? Slowly, but surely, their numbers had been dwindling.
“It’s only been in the last couple of hundred years that their species even had hope of continuing,” Sawoot nods, as if following along with my thoughts. “It’s only been since then that the Bond has been active again, and triads of Aurelians have found a Fated Mate and been able to have sons naturally.”
She shifts on the bunk.
“Now, there are a dozen or so Bonded triads spread across the universe – and their species is growing in numbers once again. But that just drives the rest of the Aurelians crazy – knowing their Fated Mate is out there, somewhere, but that they might never find her.”
“I’ve heard about this… Bond.”
Sawoot runs her hand through her thick, black hair, pressing her tongue against her cheek as she assembles what she knows.
“My friend who’d been in the harem,” she explains, “told me that she was heartbroken when she found out she wasn’t Bonded to her triad. She’d had this foolish notion that she’d be the one to beat the odds and be their Fated Mate.”
Sawoot laughs bitterly.
“Long story short? She wasn’t – and she quickly found out that no woman can compete with an Aurelian’s desire to find that one human woman capable of bearing theirs sons. They treated her kindly… but she became just one more woman in their collection, and they ceaselessly sought out more. That’s ultimately why she left. You can’t be in an Aurelian harem if you’re the jealous type – because unless you’re that triad’s Fated Mate, you’ll never be enough for them all by yourself.”
I ponder her words.
How horrible would that be? To join a harem in the hopes of being somebody special to those Aurelians… and instead finding yourself relegated to just another plaything among so many others. Just another warm, sucking mouth and tight little hole for the triad to enjoy whenever they deigned that it was your turn. A woman who falls in love with an Aurelian is foolish indeed.
But a woman who was Bonded to a triad? Well, that could be a smart choice – the smartest choice. Anyone offered that possibility should take it.
I remember what Sawoot had told me about the Bond, and I considered the opportunity in the context of my own hardscrabble life.
For a start, as the Fated Mate of a triad, your lifespan would be greatly extended – to the same thousands of years at the Aurelians you’re Bonded with.
Dealing with a trio of aliens obsessed over you would probably become easy after the first hundred years or so – especially given that the alternative is death.
Sawoot sits there silently, watching me ponder this information.
After a few moments, she licks her lips, her nervousness showing.
“Well, Captain – spanking or not; how are you going to get us out of here?”
The question has no hint of sarcasm to it. Despite being imprisoned in the brig of a warship, separated from the rest of her crew, and being completely unarmed in a midst of a fully-manned Aurelian battalion, Sawoot still has faith that I’ll come up with a plan to get us out of this mess.
I appreciate her faith – Gods know I do – and it’s not entirely unfounded. I mean, I’ve gotten us out of tight spots before…
…but the deck of cards has never been so stacked against me before.
I turn to her and force myself to smile.
“I’m working on it,” I promise. “I just need to figure out Captain Aelon and his triad first. He holds all the power. If we want to get out of here with our skins intact, we need to get the better of him.”
But Aelon had justification for being so cocky and arrogant. He was clearly a brilliant, cunning commander and a fearsome warrior. Getting the better of him would not be easy – if it was possible at all.
“I need to find out what motivates him,” I tell Sawoot, “because it sure as hell isn’t loyalty to the Aurelian Empire – and that might be the key to getting ourselves out of this.”
I tap my fingers against the edge of the bunk as my mind works on the problem. Keeping my mind occupied is the easiest way to forget the spanking I’m destined to endure.
The spanking – it still fills me with anger more than humiliation or fear.
It’s sadistic. Aelon wants to humiliate me in front of my entire crew. He wants to break down any respect they might possibly still have for me – erasing the years of progress I’d made with each of my crew in one, fell swoop.
The thought of being thrown over Captain Aelon’s lap like an unruly wench, as he spanks me with all the dominance of a haughty, horny Aurelian warrior, makes a shiver run down my spine.
I shift on the bunk, and the scant padding of the mattress isn’t the only reason I suddenly feel uncomfortable.
Then I realize there’s another angle to all this – one I hadn’t considered earlier.
I look up at Sawoot – suddenly filled with concern not just for me, but for my entire crew.
“We might be in more danger than we think,” I warn.
“We might? How so?”
“Think about it,” I tell her. “Those Toads knew we had a fortune in Orbs hidden in our cargo hold. This ship – The Instigator – has Orbs powering its weapons and Orb-Drive. Small shard of Orbs are even in each of the weapons those Aurelians carry- their Orb-Blades.”
“Yeah, so?”
I lean closer to Sawoot.
“The Instigator is just one, single ship in the blackness of space. A big, powerful, well-armed ship, sure – but we’re alone, and far away from the Aurelian Empire. For the right people, with the right backing, even a battleship like this could be a juicy target.”
“You’re nuts,” Sawoot shakes her head. “You saw how many las-cannons this thing has! How many Reavers it sent out to that moon’s surface.”
“True,” I nod, “but think about it. That Toad Captain might come back – with a lot more than just three assault ships next time.”
Sawoot bites her lip. Her sudden nervousness confirms that I’m onto something, and my scenario is more than just idle worry.
“You really think the Toads would come back? You know those cowards don’t like to pick fair fights – and, as I said, you saw how many las-canons and missile batteries this ship has…”
“…but it wouldn’t be a fair fight,” I warn. I lean in. “This is how I would do it...”
I trace invisible lines on the floor, outlining the strategy I’d employ if I had the same resources as that Toad Captain might have access to.
“First off, I’d wait until the Aurelians leave for the day to clear the Scorp nests on that moon. That removes almost all the active Reavers from the loading bay, and almost all the soldiers and crew.”
Sawoot nods – that much makes sense.
“Next, I’d send a strike team to the mining camps on Tarrion that The Instigator is here to protect. I’d raze them – obliterate them.”
Sawoot’s eyes grow wide. What I’m suggesting would kill dozens or hundreds of mine workers. While, obviously, I don’t have the resources to do this, I think Sawoot is both impressed and horrified that such a scheme even crossed my mind.
It has to, though. I might not be willing to kill hundreds of defenseless miners – but I have no doubt that a suitably-motivated Toad commander would.
“I raze the mining camps,” I cont
inue, “and Aelon will be forced to send the rest of The Instigator’s resources to Tarrion to protect them, leaving nothing but a skeleton crew on board to protect this ship. The Instigator is strong, and well-defended – but without that protective fleet of small, manned Reavers, it would be reliant on las-cannons alone; and most of those have automated targeting systems.”
“Which are trash against smaller targets,” Sawoot nods.
“Exactly,” I nod. “I’d come at The Instigator with a squadron of fast-moving assault ships and rip this ship to shreds. You’ve seen how I can pilot – you know I could do it.”
“But you’re an exceptional pilot – none of the Toads could fly like you.”
“If you’ve got enough assault ships, and if they’re fast enough, they wouldn’t need to.”
Sawoot’s face turns pale.
“Fuck. That’s exactly what they’ll do, isn’t it? Toads wouldn’t think twice about killing hundreds of innocent miners to make a score like this – twenty-six mid-sized Orbs, plus the ones that power The Instigator.”
I nod.
“You need to warn Captain Aelon,” Sawoot gasps. “They could be on their way here right now.”
I laugh bitterly. How ironic is that?
My warning might save the life and ship of the very man who’s threatened to throw me over his lap and spank me tonight.
5
Aelon
I haven’t felt this off balance… ever.
Through the Bond we share, I can sense that Iunia is a hot ball of frustration as well, and even Vinicus is itching to release his frustration with a fight – and yet he’s actually calmer than his battle-brother.
“You’re putting us all at risk, Aelon!” Vinicus snarls. “The entire crew! Not to mention our reputation, and our status as legal members of the Aurelian Empire.”
Even angry, Vinicus states his points clearly. Whether it’s with his words, or the point of his Orb-Blade, Vinicus never fails to strike cleanly.
He’s done plenty of that recently. Today, down in the Scorp nests that infest Tarrion’s moon, he managed to earn himself a fresh, new scar to add to the crisscross of old wounds already adorning his muscular body.
