“Interesting,” he says. “I wanted to know what kind of female my brother would claim. You’re like me, huh?”
I don’t know what he’s implying, and I twitch my ears.
“You know,” he says. “You like them real, don’t you? You could have your pick, take the one with the oversized breasts and perfect skin...but you choose this one.”
I can almost hear Kara gritting her teeth beside me.
“I have similar tastes,” Adus says. “Come sit next to me, human.”
I feel my blood begin to boil, but I swallow my anger. This must be a test. He’s trying to get me to snap. If I show him that I care about her, she will be in that much more danger.
Kara looks over at me and shakes her head, but I push her toward Adus. “Sit down,” I say. “He’s High Commander.”
She sits down in the seat that Adus motions toward, and when she looks up at me, her eyes are seething with anger. I avoid her gaze.
Adus reaches out and touches her hair. He runs his hand down along it, then he gently lifts a few strands of her hair and sniffs them.
Kara shudders, and I summon all my mental strength to not blast a sharp tendril through Adus’s skull. My brain starts trying to justify why killing him wouldn’t be stupid. I could kill him, then call myself High Commander. I’d order the release of the prisoners–and….
No. It would never work. Raius, and dozens like him, would rise up in a coup. They’d execute the prisoners. And even if that didn’t happen, Felicia is still down on Darkstar. There is too much risk...I have to endure this. I have to keep my cool. I can’t break.
“Interesting...interesting…,” Adus says. “How is she in bed?” he asks, turning to address me.
“Quite good,” I say. “Though I’m still breaking her in.”
Kara looks up at me now as if she is going to not only kill Adus, but me as well.
“I’ll have to pay that sister of hers a visit then? Are they similar?”
“Felicia would not accept you,” Kara says.
No! Shit! Why did she have to speak?
“Ignore her,” I say, “She–”
Adus starts to laugh. He slaps a hand on Kara’s lower thigh and says, “Yes, I really want to meet this sister now. Well, anyway, take the female away. We have other business to discuss.”
I nod to Kara, and she jumps to her feet.
“She can, uh,” Adus says, “sit over there.” He points to a smaller couch only a few meters away. She will still be facing us.
At least Kara will hear everything he says. It will be easier than trying to relay everything that we discuss to her later.
I point to the couch, but Kara stands obstinately in place and crosses her arms.
“Sit. Down,” I say, my voice angry.
“Better break her in quick,” Adus says. “You can’t have your female disobeying you like that….”
Kara sits down, her arms still crossed.
I turn away from her and look at my brother. “May I sit?” I ask.
Adus nods and starts to pour me a drink.
I sit down and prepare for my attack.
I had been planning to force a meeting with Adus in the next few days, but this is probably all I will get, so I need to do what I have to do now.
“I had some ideas,” I say, “about how we should use the Seraphim army.”
“Oh?” Adus says, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “I didn’t think I told you to have any ideas.”
He slides the drink over to me.
“No,” I say, “you didn’t. But I, too, am a son of Grius, and it’s in my blood.”
Adus laughs. “All right, brother, so what’s your plan?”
I’ve thought it through, and I’ve tried to make my best-guess at Adus’s plan. The plan that he won’t breathe a word to me about. If I can suggest his own plan to him, maybe he’ll confirm it back to me. I’ll have something to bring back to Venus and the other peacekeepers.
“With Harmony destabilizing the inner planets,” I say, “it’s likely our enemies will have to consolidate their defenses, focusing more on protecting their own borders. And now that Harmony already has antimatter, the factories on Titan won’t be defended so heavily as before.”
“Fewer defenses counts for very little when a quarter of the Martian fleet is in railgun range of Titan” Adus says.
“Even one-eighth of the Martian fleet is too much.”
“So we attack Mars,” I say. “Or we pretend like we are going to. We show ourselves. Send all of our fighters toward Mars, and we load up ten full dropships of Seraphim–once they are battle-ready. As soon as the Martians pull their ships away from Titan, the Seraphim strike.”
“We can’t hold Titan,” Adus says. “They’ll come right back.”
“Strip mining,” I say. “We run the factories day and night for as long as we hold it, and we take every last milligram of antimatter that we can. We cut and run before they can stop us. They get Titan back, but we leave with what we need.”
Adus nods. “Perhaps it is in your blood.”
“You think the plan can work?” I ask.
“Yes,” Adus says. “It’s remarkably similar to the plan I already had, though my plan relied on having 3,000 Seraphim. Not 2,457! Or have you killed more over the past few hours?”
He slams his glass down in anger, and I see Kara shake in fear.
“Would you rather have 3,000 Seraphim,” I ask, “or 2,000 Marauders?”
Adus stares me down, fuming mad, but his anger has peaked–at least it’s not getting worse.
“Seraphim grew up on Earth,” I say. “They are inherently weaker than us. Marauder genes can go a long way, but some of these Seraphim cannot overcome their upbringing.”
“So we use them as fucking cannon fodder!” Adus snaps. “In my original plan, we left the weak ones behind on Titan when we ran. They slow down the Martians from pursuing us, and we eliminate them from the gene pool in one fell swoop!”
“I see,” I say. “But I still think my method is more effective. These Seraphim that I’m training–these Marauders–are vicious. From the first day of their training, I’ve given them the scent of blood. They are killers, and they no longer fear death. I couldn’t have achieved this without sacrificing the cannon fodder.”
Adus points a finger at me, shakes his head, and draws in a long breath. “Your soldiers are impressive,” Adus says. “I grant you that. But we need numbers, little brother, so no more killing them. You’ve culled the herd down already. From now on, when you find one who isn’t good enough, write his fucking name down and give it to Raius.”
“Yes, brother,” I say.
“Now, human,” Adus says, turning again toward Kara. “I have a full harem of human females on the ship. I don’t make trips down to Darkstar like some peasant. These women do not eat gruel...they eat fresh-baked bread and drink fine wine. And they get to enjoy the full girth and power of my big, fat, teal cock whenever I deem them worthy. I want you to convince your sister to join my harem.”
Kara glares at him.
Adus laughs. “Fine, fine, because here’s the deal. I hesitate to take you away from my brother...he did find you first. But I’m hungry, and I think your sister would satiate me...but if I can’t have her, I’m taking you.”
15 Kara
I don’t speak to Kain until we are back in my cell.
“Thanks for defending me,” I say. “And Felicia.”
“Nothing he said is going to happen,” Kain says.
“He’s your brother,” I say. “You couldn’t have talked him down?”
“Did he look like the kind of guy you talk down?” Kain contends. “I was doing everything I could to prevent him from taking you right there. If he didn’t trust me, I think he was going to take you hostage right then and there.”
I sigh. “That would have been awful.”
“Yes,” Kain says. “And I wouldn’t have been able to rescue you. That was not a...pleasant experience...
but it did result in us both being able to come back here with Felicia. The plan is still on.”
He puts his hand on me, but I push him away. “Sorry, you’re kind of reminding me of your brother. Can you just...let me rest tonight?”
He pulls away from me and stands up. “I’m not like him. I never will be.”
He disappears out the door. I fall onto my bed and start crying into my pillow.
In the morning, as soon as our doors open to let us head into the gruel hall, Felicia jumps on me.
“What happened?”
“Nothing,” I say.
“Damn it, Kara, tell me!”
“I met Kain’s brother,” I say.
“And?”
I look up at her with a dead expression. “If our plan falls apart, we should probably just kill each other.”
“Yikes,” Felicia says. “That bad? I don’t think things could get any worse than they already are.”
I grab her by the shoulders. “Felicia, if this plan fails, we will be separated. We’ll likely never see each other again. And one of us–I don’t know which one–will suffer worse than we already are.”
“That’s pretty bleak,” Felicia says. “So we just have to make the plan work then.”
Since when did Felicia become the optimistic one?
As I’m looking despondently down into my bowl of gruel, I notice the entire hall has suddenly become quiet.
“Kara,” Felicia whispers to me, then she grabs my wrist. “Kara!”
“What?” I snap, but when I look up, I see him approaching. Kain.
“Why is he visiting you in the gruel hall?” Felicia asks. “I’ve never seen any other Marauder do that.”
“I guess Kain isn’t like any other Marauder,” I say sarcastically.
He sits down next to us, and I see most of the other humans whispering to one another and pretending not to be casting glances at us, but it’s very obvious they are all watching us.
“What is it?” I ask. “We’re trying to eat.”
“Don’t be a bitch, Kara,” Felicia says.
I glare at her, but Kain says, “I’m here for Felicia.”
Now it’s my turn to glare at Kain.
“Me?” Felicia asks suspiciously.
“My brother, the High Commander, has invited you to join his harem.”
“His...harem?” Felicia says. “Is that like a big orgy?”
“You would be expected to have sex with him,” Kain says, “but you’d be given real food and comfortable quarters.”
“Kain,” I hiss, “why the fuck–”
He widens his eyes at me, and flicks them toward the entranceway. I look back and see Raius standing there, observing us.
“This invitation is time-limited,” Kain says. “I wouldn’t recommend turning down the High Commander.”
“I thought it was always our choice,” Felicia says, rolling her eyes.
“It is your choice,” Kain says, “but sometimes one choice is much better than the other. You will die on Darkstar either way, so don’t deny yourself some comfort in the meantime.”
Kain grabs my hand and looks into my eyes. He speaks to me without words, but his eyes are filled with regret–they let me know that he’s sorry. I smile and nod, and he presses something into my palm. His expression becomes serious as he looks down at our joined hands.
I palm the thing into my hand–it feels like folded paper–and I move it discreetly down to my side.
Kain gets up and walks away from us.
“What the fuck–” Felicia starts to whisper.
I kick her in the shin.
We sit quietly, and I watch for Raius and Kain to leave. Only after they are gone for several minutes do I finally speak again.
“He gave me a note. We’ll read it when we’re out mining. Ignore everything he said...Raius was listening in.”
I stuff the note into one of the outer suit pockets before I suit up for mining. We ride one of the wagons out to the mining site, and during the entire ride I’m tempted to pull out the note out to read it, but I know it’s smarter to wait until we’re far away and alone.
The wagon stops, and we all jump off to walk the extra distance to the rocks. I’m tempted to check the note now, but it’s probably safer to wait until the wagon leaves.
“So my friend’s friend,” Thorsten says, “has given my other friend’s friend the item we discussed.”
“What?” Eli says. “Which friend?”
“My friend’s friend,” Thorsten says, anger seeping into his voice.
“What item?” Andreas shouts. “The fertilizer we’re gonna’ use to build the bomb with? Or the electronics we’re going to use to make a detonator?”
“Jesus!” Thorsten shouts. “They may be listening in on us! Be discreet!”
“If they are, we’re dead,” I say, shaking my head. “May as well discuss openly now. And Thorsten, how is your friend’s friend and item not suspicious as hell?”
“Less suspicious than shouting ‘BOMB’ and ‘DETONATOR’ over the comms link!”
“So you can do it, though?” Felicia asks. “You got the materials?”
“Yes,” Thorsten says. “Just enough for our needs, and not a gram more. My friend is paranoid about getting caught. I had to promise I’d introduce him to my Marauder lady.”
“Good,” I say.
“And I got all the crap we need for the detonator,” Eli says. “My hookup isn’t stingy, so I can make dozens!”
“Why would we need dozens?” Andreas says. “One bomb. You can only detonate a bomb one time.”
“Maybe we could all have a detonator,” Eli says. “Or maybe we make multiple ones in case one doesn’t work.”
“Just make one detonator,” Thorsten says, “and make it really good! I don’t want you fucking up on six detonators when you could have spent time getting one right.”
I pull out the note while they are all squabbling.
I unfold it and start to read:
Kara, I’m sorry about last night. Know that it took every last ounce of my willpower to not kill him on the spot. The only thing stopping me was knowing what would happen after that–you and your sister being taken prisoner after my death–know that I care deeply, and–
Eli snatches the note out of my hand. “What you reading?”
I lunge for it, but he jumps back and I snatch thin air. He turns his body away from me and keeps reading.
“Shit!” he says over the comms. “It’s from Kain!”
“What’s it say?” Thorsten asks.
“Uh,” Eli mutters as I make another grab for the note. “He starts off with a bunch of shit no one cares about. He’s sorry to Kara and blah blah. He cares deeply for her and hopes they have a future together and who gives a shit–. Ah! Here we go. He needs to know immediately whether we can make a bomb, and–no fucking way!”
“What?” Felicia asks.
I drive into Thorsten, head first. My helmet slams into his gut, and I fall down on top of him. I grab the note out of his hand and roll away from him with it.
I start to read again.
“He wants us to–” I start to say, but Eli cuts me off.
“He wants us to build ten bombs!” Eli shouts. “Good thing I can provide ten detonators!”
I read further. “We only need two detonators. One for the wagon bomb, and one for the other nine.”
“I can’t get that much fertilizer!” Thorsten whines. “There’s no way in hell! Where would we even stash that? I was going to smuggle the few bags I had out in the wagon, and we’d build the bomb while we were out here mining. Ten bombs? When the hell are we going to do that?”
“We build two a day,” I say, “and then we stash them out among the rocks. In five days, we’ll have everything we need.”
“That doesn’t solve the fertilizer problem,” Thorsten says. “I simply can’t get that much, someone will notice it’s missing!”
“I know none of you give a shit,” I say, �
�but Kain cares deeply for me….”
They all start to groan.
“And,” I continue, “I’ll get him to help with the fertilizer, just give me your friend’s name.”
16 Kain
“Milo Stanopolous,” I say. “Is he here?”
The Marauder narrows his eyes at me. “You should really speak with Araz. He is the head of the Agricultural Unit...Milo is a human slave.”
I stare him down, giving him a hard look.
I could mention my brother’s name, but I’d take a big risk that this Marauder would actually check–probably with Raius–that Adus had actually asked me to talk to Milo.
No, the staredown is the optimal tactic.
I look into the Marauder’s eyes as if I am a few seconds away from killing him, as if we were in a Marauder bar fight–not a human one. I hope he heard how I killed Senka with no warning–I hope he remembers well as I stare him down. And just as I am ready to speak again, he nods.
“Fine,” he says. “Go in and find him!”
He slams the button, and the door opens up.
I step into the warm, humid air. To save resources, most of the Darkstar facilities are kept extremely cold. The greenhouse, however, requires higher temperatures and humidity, and memories of Venus and the floating jungles flood back to me as the air touches my skin.
I walk down the rows of crops, under the powerful heat of the massive artificial sun atop the dome.
I spot a human harvesting potatoes out of the soil.
“I’m looking for Milo,” I grunt.
He looks up at me, shocked. I guess that few Marauders ever soil themselves walking through the fields.
“Uh,” the man says. “I’m...Milo. Please don’t kill me, I only gave him a little! I don’t know what it’s for–”
I grab his shoulder and kick his feet out from beneath him. He falls to the ground, hard.
I crouch down and pin him to the dirt. We’re both low down now, and no one will see us due to the tall crops obscuring us.
“Shut up,” I hiss. “You rat him out before I even accuse you? What’s wrong with you?”
Milo looks up at me with wild eyes; he can’t make sense of what’s happening.
Marauder Kain: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars Book 5) Page 10
