by Corin Cain
Aelon’s face hardens. “Well done,” he says coldly.
“Well done?”
“Yes – well done. That’s exactly what the Toads are going to do – right down to the three specific mining camps that they’ll select to attack.”
My eyes widen. What does he mean?
“I’ve already given orders to Iunia and Vinicus to set up anti-air batteries in each of the mining camps. The Toad will strike with assault ships, expecting the camps to be undefended. Instead, they’ll run right into so much firepower they’ll think the Planet-Killers have returned.”
I shiver. Planet-Killers were ancient weapons from a long-ago war between Aurelians and Toads. They did exactly what the name suggests – destroying whole planets, and killing billions. In the millennia since that war, such weapons have been banned by all the intelligent species of the universe; and talk of them is hushed and reverent.
Aelon watches my expression, and then he points to the mining camps displayed on the projection – flicking his fingers to interact with the display.
The holographic display zooms in on each of them in turn.
“Those Toad assault ships will fly into hellfire and destruction – and then I’ll “deploy” my Reavers to defend the camps. In reality, the Reavers will circle back around the moon to flank the oncoming assault ships – the ones that were expecting The Instigator to be undefended. I’ll massacre the fuckers.”
My eyes widen. I’d totally misjudged this situation – this man.
I can’t believe how ruthless Captain Aelon is capable of being. Far from being arrogant enough to dismiss the threat the Toads pose, he’s relishing in it. Instead of protecting the mining camps he’d been hired to shield from the threat of those Scorp nests, he’s actually using them as bait to draw in the Toads.
“You want the Toads to come back!”
The smile that comes to Aelon’s face chills me to the bone. I see his true nature now. That cocky arrogance has only ever been a façade. Beneath, he’s a born killer. He’ll butcher those Toads like animals. Their greed, arrogance and scheming will be the death of them. This has all been a complex game of chess that Aelon has been playing for years.
“Let me tell you a story, Tasha,” the commander leans forward. “During my last year of service with the Aurelian Army, I was ready for it all to be over – to live the indolent life of luxury and harems that so many of my species do. I’d already served ninety-nine bloody years and seen terrible, terrible things that still haunt me to this day.”
I remember all I know about the Scorp. As much as I resent the Aurelian Empire for all they do wrong – like levying such harsh taxes that they’ve reduced planets like my home world to poverty – there is a reason for this. Each Aurelian swears a century of service, which is spent protecting human-aligned planets from threats they can’t protect themselves from – like the Scorp.
I shouldn’t discount the sacrifice that Aelon, Vinicus, Iunia and all the other Aurelians on board this vessel have made for the likes of me.
Aelon continues his story:
“A human research vessel went missing, right on the border of Toad territory. There were Toad nearby, and I was the diplomatic envoy assigned to speak to them, and see if they had any involvement with the disappearance. As always, my triad accompanied me.”
I try to picture Aelon and his two battle-brothers as fresh-faced Army recruits, rather than the cocky commander and his two beast-like brethren that they resemble today.
Aelon’s face grows hard as he recalls the long-distant events.
“Oh Tasha – the things I saw in that Toad ship. They’re disgusting, those creatures – with no sense of humanity, or decency, or right and wrong.” He stares me in the eye. “And, of course, I was sure the Toad had those missing humans. They had other humans – slave girls, tied and chained in their festering, water-filled ships. Poor, lost, broken humans…”
His hand balls into a fist. Aelon’s eyes spark with fury.
“The first human slave I saw? I vowed to free her. I contacted my commanders – and I was told to stand down.” His mouth draws into a bitter line. “Apparently, the Empire didn’t want to risk a diplomatic incident with the Toads – not over slaves, which are a legal commodity in Toad space.”
The towering Aurelian is practically shuddering with rage as he recounts this story.
“There was a whole crew of humans who’d disappeared, never to be seen again, and I knew the Toads had taken them – but I could do nothing. That’s why I don’t work for the Aurelian Empire anymore. The moment my final year of service was up, I quit to make my own way – to abide by my own rules.”
Then his eyes flash with menace.
“Ever since then, whenever I can legally kill a Toad, I’ll take that opportunity – with pleasure.”
His voice is cold and flat now. It’s as if all the emotion has been squeezed out of him. In truth, his blank stare is scarier than his anger.
I gulp dryly, and point at the three mining camps again. The display zooms in. There are representations of the thousands of humans working away down on the planets surface, and blinking lights that represent the few Aurelians standing guard, ready to pick off any Scorp that might attack from the moon.
“Captain Aelon – you talk of right and wrong, but what are you doing? You’re using the mining camps as bait! There are innocent people down there, for the sake of the Gods!”
Aelon waves his hand, and the holographic display disappears. Then, he slams his fist against the table – hard enough to make me jump. The whole table shakes, nearly shattering beneath his great strength.
“There are innocent people everywhere, Tasha! You think the kind of Toad who’d illegally attack us aren’t already hurting people each and every day? With this plan, I can wipe them out! I can make it so that scum never kill, steal, rape, or work their evil in the universe ever again!”
I stand up. I can’t even stand to be near him.
“Evil? You’re hardly a choirboy, Captain Aelon.” I do what he’d done earlier – and use his own title mockingly. “You took our cargo, you’re keeping us prisoner with no legal basis – and now my first officer has nearly been raped because of you!”
Aelon stands to his full height. He towers over me, making me feel terrified, small and vulnerable.
One thing, though - I’m almost relieved to see the anger in his eyes again. Anger is more human than the blank, dead look he got when he was talking about slaughtering those Toads.
Almost relieved. He’s unpredictable, violent-tempered, and on the verge of snapping. Anger might be an improvement over cold and deadly focus – but not much of one.
“You’re my prisoner because I wish for you to be my prisoner, Tasha. On my ship, my wish is the only law anybody needs to follow!”
He steps forward, closer to me, and I barely stand my ground – every instinct in my body screaming to shrink away.
I’m being hit in the face with the fact that this towering man is a monster – right down to his core. He might be a slick, cocky, arrogant bastard on the surface, but deep down he’s a vengeful force of destructive nature. He’s a creature that exists to fight and fuck – nothing more – and he’s got at least four hundred pounds of muscle and over two feet of height over me.
Fight and fuck – and if Aelon suddenly decides to go for option two, there’s nothing I can do to stop him.
I realize now that the execution of that would-be rapist pushed him to the edge. He and Kit had a history – and even if that man was scum, he was Aelon’s scum. This alien is quicksilver.
“Okay,” I raise my hand defensively. “Okay, Aelon, your wish is the law. I respect that.”
I allow nothing in my voice but submission. I don’t want Aelon to think I’m testing him – not now, not anymore.
I step back away from him, tensing in fear. He could so easily push me against the wall. I already punched him in the back with all my might, and he barely noticed. Aelon could easily sla
p away my fists and kiss me by force – or do anything else he wanted to me.
I can remember all too easily how he held me down in his lap, securing me effortlessly as he punished me in front of every member of his crew and mine.
Aelon’s holding back – but barely. I remember what he said about Kit and the triad he’d executed.
“He couldn’t think rationally,” Aelon had told me, “and he succumbed to his basest desires.”
The Captain’s breath is ragged. I glance down and gasp. His cock is surging against his lightly armored pants – like a python trying to escape the confines of that fabric.
He wants me.
He wants me in the way that Kit wanted Sawoot, and he’s barely retaining enough control over his body not to snap and just take it.
Aelon breathes in deeply, and his eyes roll back for a second, giving him a crazed look as he moves forward towards me. Every muscle in his body is taut and tense, ready for a fight… or a fuck.
The artery is his neck is pulsing. He’s tasting my scent as he breathes in the very essence of me.
“Leave!”
His voice booms, echoing across the room. It’s not an order – it’s a plea. He’s begging me to leave before he completely loses control and the mating frenzy overwhelms him.
I hesitate, and my fate hangs in the air. I suddenly imagine it – I imagine rushing to him, letting him kiss me desperately, feeling his rage and anger washing over him as he loses complete control and just rips my clothes from my body.
His kisses would be pure passion. He’d thrust inside me like a wild beast, throwing me down to the floor and pinning me beneath him as he fucks me hard and deep with that impossibly huge dick. I realize I’m actually aching for him. I’m aching to surrender to his dominance.
So, I turn tail and run.
I slap my hand against the button to open the doors and race out into the corridor beyond. The door hisses shut behind me, and I pant raggedly from need, fear, anxiety, and a whole mess of other emotions that I don’t even know how to deal with.
I’ve never been so attracted to a man before – and hated him with the same breath. I’ve never been so tortured by lust, and hatred, and fear – all blended into one deliciously dark cocktail.
I sprint down the hallway away from him, needing to put as much distance between us as I can before I succumb to my own mating frenzy and throw myself right back into his arms.
I can remember the way Vinicus panted while he disciplined me. All three of the huge, hulking warriors are aching for me. That scares me – terrifies me. I wasn’t ready for this!
…and I certainly wasn’t ready for the part of me that aches for them just as badly.
It’s the sheer power of those three Aurelians. Their size. Their ability. Their confidence in battle. Aelon is not a man who shies away from a fight – he’s the one who rushes right into it, no matter the job. Vinicus and Iunia are no less fearsome and formidable – doubtless in their decisions. Fearless in their convictions.
My entire career – ever since I was a junior crewmember on a ship until I’d finally made it as captain of my own – I’ve been on both sides of the law. I’ve done legal and illegal jobs – whatever it took to survive and pay my crew. That’s meant a lot of hiding. I’ve hidden from the law, and I’ve hidden from space pirates who want to take everything I have. They’d even take me – selling me into slavery.
But Aelon and his battle-brothers – they don’t want to hide from anyone.
Captain Aelon embraces the fight. He wants it to come to him. He’d rather die than back down, and he’s hoping the Toads come back to give him just that choice.
I have the chilling realization that he’d rather they came back with an army than just a few assault ships. He wants the challenge, the risk, and the danger. He wants to kill a legion of them, not a small contingent. It’s as if the ache to kill the Toad species is the core of Aelon’s being.
Cleansing the galaxy of Toads would be a good step towards making the universe a safer place – but even I don’t condone genocide. Perhaps neither does Aelon. He doesn’t want to wipe out the species – he just wants to personally execute each and every individual one of them. It’s his violent obsession.
Vinicus and Iunia frighten me in the same way. They’re both pure muscle and violence, with biceps the size of bowling balls and huge, hulking frames that tower over me like giants. If a full-sized bull charged at either of them at full speed, they’d stand up against the charge.
I’ve felt how easily these huge warriors can control my body – how easily they can inflame the darkest desires inside of me, igniting the embers I didn’t even know were within me until they’re burning like a raging inferno of need.
I gulp.
And what if Aelon’s claim was right?
What if we’re Mated?
I turn the corner and run right into the barrel-chest of an Aurelian.
Fear grips me, and my fight or flight instinct wells up inside until the towering warrior holds up his hands placatingly. It’s one of the guards who saved Sawoot – one of the few Aurelians on this ship who I don’t feel like a juicy piece of meat in front of.
Of course he’d be waiting for me. Aelon told me I could have free run… as long as I had a guard accompany me. This soldier must have been waiting for me to emerge from Aelon’s quarters this whole time, giving me respectful distance.
“Thank you,” I pant. “Thank you for saving my friend.”
The Aurelian doesn’t move. His eyes are stone. I can’t get a read on him – he’s more implacable than most of the haughty, emotionless creatures.
“It’s our duty,” he eventually says.
I realize this towering Aurelian views himself as my honor guard. He doesn’t care where I go, as long as he can follow and protect me. I start walking, and it’s as if this guard is my shadow – my dark, looming, mountainous shadow.
There’s a difference to his looming presence, though. Where Aelon and his triad both push me away and draw me in, this looming alien merely reassures me.
“Where is my friend now?” I ask.
“We moved her to a new chamber – one that’s significantly more comfortable, and can be secured from the inside. Shall I take you to her?”
“Yes, please do.”
The Aurelian takes the lead. I have to walk quickly to keep up with his long strides. I rub my bare arms as I walk, shivering. A glance down makes me realize they’re covered in goosebumps – but not from the cold.
No, my hard nipples and shivering skin are nothing to do with the cold temperature of this space vessel, and everything to do with the heat I’ve encountered while being on board it. Aelon has affected me deeply – to the point that my own body is betraying me. I don’t know whether to run away from him, or to run right back to his arms. This is all tearing me apart.
The Aurelian guard suddenly puts his hand out, pushing me lightly against the wall. It’s not a brute move, but a protective one. He steps in front of me, his hand gently moving down to the hilt of the Orb-Blade hanging at his waist.
Then I hear it – noise and movement that the guard’s super-sensitive hearing must have detected long before I could. From around the corner, another triad of Aurelians passes by.
The three Aurelians passing by stare me down, and I move instinctively behind the reassuring bulk of my guard. I’m realizing now this entire ship is hostile – not perhaps because of some intrinsic evil, but merely because of the nature of Aurelians, and the uncontrollable intensity of their mating frenzy.
I need to get Sawoot and Theme off The Instigator as fast as possible. It might have been safe before we arrived – but adding two women to the all-male manifest has turned it into a powder-keg.
I can see now why Aelon has a no-women rule aboard The Instigator. Though he’s given us free reign of the ship, I realize he’s letting me make the decision to stay as safe as possible. I realize now it’s going to be best for Sawoot and I – not to mention the
Aurelians themselves – to stay out of the way of each other.
As much as I like freedom? I don’t want to test the restraint of these aliens. Kit and his triad might have earned their death sentence for attempting to rape Sawoot – but the grief in Aelon’s reaction suggests that each and every one of these Aurelians is balanced on the same knife-edge, and their honor and decency is all that prevents them from following Kit’s ill-fated example.
My guard takes me to a large set of doors. Garrick and the other alien of this protective triad are standing outside it like statues. They don’t move an inch as I approach – even as my own guard knocks at the door.
It hisses open. Inside are Sawoot and Theme, sitting across from each other and drinking tea like nothing untoward has happened. It’s such an incongruous sight that I almost laugh as I step inside.
As soon as I do, Sawoot presses a button on the table. The doors closing automatically behind me – sealing us not just from Garrick and the other Aurelian at the door, but also the alien who’d been escorting me.
The moment we’re finally alone, Sawoot breathes a sigh of relief.
She looks up at me. She’d been pale-faced and trembling when I’d last seen her. Now, she’s relaxed after her close call.
Theme stares down into his cup of tea as I enter. He’s too ashamed to make eye contact with me – perhaps because I’d taken his punishment for him in front of that cheering, jeering crowd. I can see the guilt on him – like in the eyes of a dog who knows he’s done something wrong.
Hand trembling, Theme puts down his teacup and tries to look at me – but eventually settles on looking past me, instead. He can’t even make eye-contact as he murmurs:
“Thank you… Thank you, Captain Tasha.”
“I just did what I had to do,” I tell him coolly. “To try and keep my crew safe.”
My crew.
I want to protect Sawoot and Theme – but I no longer feel any responsibility for Chris and his little gang of miners anymore. They served me for two years out of the three I’ve been captain of the Wayward Scythe. Men working jobs like that are normally transient, and only Chris and Felix have been constants throughout my entire tenure – but the other thing that was constant about him was his disrespect.
