by L P Peace
‘Danielle?’ Aerdan tried to step between them, but Danielle moved forward on light feet.
‘It’s okay. Evanin’s not going to hurt me.’
The Ualhan looked down at her protruding belly, a look of grief appearing on his face.
‘Everyone’s been really worried since they found out Tolomus bought you. But when I heard how you two felt about each other, I didn’t think you minded.’
‘He loves me,’ Evanin said.
‘I know he does,’ Danielle smiled kindly. ‘And you love him.’
Evanin nodded. His eyes moving from her stomach to her face.
‘Guys, back off,’ Danielle said, gesturing to the other Temerin. ‘Evanin’s not going to hurt me.’ She looked at him again. ‘Are you…’ It wasn’t a question.
‘I’ve been so happy,’ the Ualhan said. His face twisted in sorrow.
‘I know,’ Danielle whispered. She reached out for the pistol and Evanin handed it over without protest. Danielle pulled the Ualhan into an embrace. ‘Sometimes we love people who aren’t good for us,’ she said.
The statement seemed to open something inside the Ualhan and he sobbed into her shoulder. She pulled him out of the way, and the Temerin worked on getting Tolomus’s door open.
They found him inside, on an open comm. Aerdan saw a Bentari face before the comm was cut.
Tolomus stood and faced them. He didn’t say anything as they took him into custody. It was only once he was out in the hall and saw Evanin that his façade broke for a moment, and then his walls were back up, his eyes cold as he was marched away.
They found almost one hundred and forty slaves in the slave hold. Danielle walked through the room she’d escaped from a few months before, her arms wrapped tight around her centre in case it fell apart. She knew every face that had been in those cages. Watched impassively as her crew were led away, sometimes singularly, like Zoe, like Addison and Eileen, sometimes in groups.
‘Do better, Abrami. I know you can do better.’ Marcus’s words, as he was dragged out of the cages to be sold to some mining company, still haunted her. She’d failed him. She’d failed them all.
‘You look after them, Danielle. You look after them as long as you have them.’
It was too late to do right by her crew. But she could do right by these people. Do right by the Temerin and do right by her family. Including the two little lives growing inside her.
Around thirty of the aliens were from the bigger races. Three Raqhan in particular looked like they were just waiting to be released so they could start having fun. They would leave releasing them to the Tessans, who were, even now, on their way. Thanesh himself was coming, as they hoped he would. The planet the Temerin had chosen for the ambush was just inside Tessan space.
Imalia and a few of the other Temerin females were cleaning out crew quarters and making them available for the slaves. Several of which were Temerin, all Bentari facility slaves. Most of the Temerin males were planning the changes they were going to make to the interior structure while Bedvir and some other engineers were already redesigning the engine to make it more efficient.
Kentor and Sidha were walking with Danielle while she and a couple of dozen Temerin were unlocking the cages and taking the slaves in them away in small groups. They were bringing them to the crew mess and feeding them. Giving them fresh clothes and showing them where the communal bathing rooms were.
Finally, the larger slaves noticed they were skipping their cages.
‘Hey, you can’t leave us in here.’
The Temerin ignored them.
Danielle started towards them, but Kentor stopped her. ‘I’ll do it.’
Kentor crossed the room to let them know what was going on. When one of them swiped for him, he punched the Horran in the face. Sidha ran to his side.
Danielle walked out of the room, taking the elevator up to the next floor. She walked down a small hall and saw Tolomus sitting inside a single sized cell.
As she walked into the room, he turned to look at her, scorn in his eyes. ‘I remember you,’ he said.
‘I remember you,’ she replied.
‘Come to see the slaver brought low,’ he asked, his voice half-mocking, half-anger.
‘I came to test a theory I heard about you,’ Danielle said.
The Fedhith looked at her, anger and bitterness twisting the handsome features of his face. ‘Theory?’
‘I was on IGC when it blew,’ she started. ‘A few of us talked and heard rumours about you. Some of my friends wanted to understand what makes someone like you, so they hunted for information. I didn’t much care.’ Danielle stepped forward. ‘To me, an abuser is an abuser. I don’t care what your reasons are. But Alethia mentioned the scar on your neck.’
Tolomus flinched and looked away.
‘She said Fedhith males are only tattooed there when they’re considered damaged goods.’
Tolomus’s face twisted into a snarl, but he stayed quiet.
‘She said that the males of your world are brought up in monasteries where you’re taught how to be a good mate to your females.’ Tolomus started breathing heavily. His body becoming restless until he stood, staring at her with hatred. ‘But your purity is prized,’ she continued on, ‘and if you lose your purity, that’s when they tattoo you. Sell you on as damaged goods.’
Tolomus surged forward, hitting the bars of his cage. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
Danielle stepped back, not letting him see how he’d scared her. She’d gotten good at hiding her reactions over her childhood, and she could see, despite Tolomus’s reaction, that he was usually the same.
Danielle let out a deep breath. ‘Ah, I get it now.’ She nodded.
‘You get nothing,’ the Fedhith hissed at her.
Danielle smiled. ‘I wish that was true,’ she said. She swallowed. ‘It was my uncle. My parents wouldn’t believe me, and they left me in his care.’ Danielle laughed. ‘Care,’ she said bitterly.
Tolomus stepped back, a wary look on his face.
‘I suppose on your world they don’t care if consent was given. It’s the purity that counts.’
‘Shut up!’ Tolomus seemed to choke the words out.
‘How old were you?’ she asked. She stepped a little closer to his cell, sure to keep out of the reach of his muscular arms. She studied his face as she asked the question. ‘Ah. Young, like me,’ she said.
‘Shut up!’ he said, his voice quieter, more vulnerable.
‘I didn’t do quite as good a job as spreading our misery as you did,’ Danielle said, looking around the cell and indicating the ship beyond. ‘I spread my pain to a few dozen. You spread yours to thousands. Tens of thousands?’
‘Vrok you!’
‘Everything we’ve been through and you deliberately put others through it and worse.’ Danielle turned around, offering the Fedhith her back. ‘Poor Evanin, being in love with a creature like you.’
Danielle walked out of the cell, ignoring Tolomus as he shouted insults at her. She knew it was petty, what she’d done, she didn’t think it would make any difference to the Fedhith slaver, but she needed to say it.
Taking the lift, she went in search of her males.
* * *
Three days after they’d taken Crucible, they were standing on the bridge watching as Thanesh’s ship, Alethia, arrived. Another of the Tessan ships had arrived a few hours after they’d contacted Thanesh to let him know they’d taken the ship, and Tolomus, into custody. Thanesh had stared at them, mouth hung open, as they talked to him from the bridge.
Almost as soon as it arrived, a shuttle launched. Aerdan was in meetings about the ships they’d taken, so it was Bedvir who greeted Thanesh and gave him a tour before finally they were able to arrange to meet.
Haddis was standing with Aerdan and Danielle on the bridge when Thanesh arrived, led by Bedvir. He looked around at the refit and nodded.
‘I’ve just been to your engine room,’ Thanesh said. ‘Intere
sting design. I hear it’s Temerin.’
Aerdan nodded. ‘Vysor occurs naturally near radioactive material on my world,’ Aerdan said. ‘We like to keep knowledge of it to ourselves, however.’
Thanesh nodded his understanding. ‘Dorrus.’ Thanesh nodded towards the planet on the viewscreen. ‘I like the name.’
Danielle looked at the green and blue planet.
‘I’ve never offered a place to your people on Tessa, because I thought you were happy with the life you had, and that you would chafe under the laws and rules of my world.’
‘We would,’ Aerdan agreed.
‘Nice to be asked, though,’ Danielle said.
‘Something Alethia has pointed out to me.’ Thanesh turned back to Aerdan. ‘Your people are welcome to settle on Tessa,’ he said. ‘You always have been. We do have Temerin among our population.’
Aerdan nodded. ‘I appreciate the offer, thank you.’
‘We’re keeping Crucible,’ Haddis clarified.
‘I’ve spoken to Ilan Dahnus. He’s gifted you the ship as a thank you for recovering it from the slaver.’
Haddis felt tension he didn’t know he had bleed from his shoulders. He saw a similar tension release from Aerdan and Danielle.
‘On top of that, he’s giving you the location of a shipyard where his people retire old ships. He believes that’s where Tolomus found Crucible in the first place. There’s no radiant there, but I doubt that will be much of a problem for your people.’
‘Not much of one at all,’ Aerdan said, grinning.
‘You’re welcome to use our space to travel. Just don’t attack anyone there,’ Thanesh growled.
‘Absolutely,’ Aerdan agreed.
By the time Thanesh left, he’d extracted an agreement, in principle, that the Temerin would consider trading their engine designs and samples of vysor to the Tessans. Aerdan assured him he would bring it up at the next temit.
His people had already released the last of the slaves from the slave hold and transferred them to their ship, along with Evanin, who had gratefully taken their invitation to live on Tessa, and Tolomus, who was now his prisoner.
He’d already fielded calls from the IGC calling for him to release the Fedhith slaver, most of them driven by Markalion Dar, who Thanesh and Danielle theorised was the Bentari he’d been talking to while they were outside distracted by Evanin.
Thanesh had told the IGC in no uncertain terms to go vrok themselves. Haddis chuckled in approval. He’d never cared much for Tessans, but he had to admit, Thanesh was growing on him.
With the refit complete, the ship that had been Crucible was rechristened Adoste. Soon after, it left to start picking up Temerin who were trapped and hidden on planets across a dozen systems. Aerdan had asked Danielle if she wanted to live there, among their people, with females who would be company and friends for their children. She explained to them that Crucible was the ship where she’d been a slave, however briefly. That was the ship where all of her hope for the future had died. Compound Errors was her home, and the males on it, particularly Aerdan, Bedvir and Haddis, were the people who’d not only restored her hope but her ability to trust.
Compound Errors watched as all of the ships of their Temerin brethren jumped away. Their fleet was much larger now, and Adoste would take a central place among them, as a place to meet and trade, not just among themselves, but they would invite other races there, putting on markets in what had once been the slave hold. The only thing it wouldn’t do was take the place of a world for temits. Finding locations would still be a job for Cuulden.
Haddis prepared the engine but went no further as the last of the ships jumped away.
Having been off-world when Temir was taken, Haddis knew that Aerdan had a thing about being the last one to leave. He wanted to ensure every last one of his people were gone and safe before jumping himself.
Danielle was so pretty, on her hands and knees, sopping wet, the silver of the plug just above her lush, hot hole. Bedvir crouched in front of her, his hands on her rear, massaging the skin and muscle as his tongue flicked through her folds.
She gasped, moaned, and rocked as he prepared her for what was to come.
Aerdan was lying on the bed watching, his hands on his cocks, slowly stroking himself. Haddis was standing next to the bed, his own cocks standing proudly against his stomach.
Bedvir pulled on the plug, and Danielle moaned. ‘We’re ready,’ he said.
Aerdan moved towards them, as Bedvir pulled Danielle up against his chest. He removed the plug and pushed into her cunt from behind. Danielle moaned as he moved back and forth, coating himself in her before pulling out and pushing the head of his cock into that tight, puckered hole.
Aerdan sat between her spread legs and pushed his fingers into her. ‘Relax, Danielle,’ he whispered. ‘You’re doing so well.’
Bedvir pushed into her one stroke at a time. Later, when they were alone, he’d take her in both holes at the same time, but this time he wanted to share this with his family.
Finally, fully seated, Bedvir rested his forehead on her shoulder and groaned.
He felt Aerdan pushing into her through the thin wall that separated her juicy pussy from where Bedvir was now encased inside her. The sensation added pressure and pleasure until he was barely able to keep from groaning anymore.
Between them, Danielle was moaning and shaking. Haddis was plucking and pinching on her nipples, which sent delicious spasms coiling through her body until she was flinching and clenching around them.
Aerdan lay down, taking Danielle with him. Bedvir placed his hands on her ass, loving the feel of her soft flesh giving under his grip.
‘Haddis,’ Danielle whispered.
‘Oh, vrok!’ Haddis said. He walked to her on shaky legs. When she opened her mouth, he fed his lower cock inside it, his stomach spasming, his face going slack.
Bedvir tightened his grip on Danielle and rocked her, directing her moves, and she vrokked all three of them at once.
‘So vrokking good,’ Aerdan gasped.
Bedvir silently agreed with him. There was something about these moments, sharing Danielle between the three of them, that locked them closer together. Later, they would talk about it. The sounds she made, the feel of her, how vrokking much they all loved her. Not in front of Danielle, she was still sensitive about these things, but among themselves, while they planned what to do next.
Bedvir nodded at Haddis, who fisted Danielle’s hair. With that, he sped her pace, gripping tightly onto her hips and pulling her back hard onto his and Aerdan’s cocks. They’d spent the last couple of hacri making love, making Danielle cum over and over so that she was completely relaxed for this moment until their cocks hurt from how much they wanted her. Now they were primed and ready.
Aerdan was the first to gasp. His body lifted off the bed and his hands went around Danielle’s waist. Bedvir sped up even further until the sounds of his hips meeting her rear filled the room. Danielle’s cunt rippled, and she cried out at the same time as Bedvir and Haddis both lost control.
Haddis lay down next and Aerdan took the side of the bed. Bedvir stayed exactly where he was and they each entered her a second time.
Danielle came quickly and then again before they each found their pleasure. She collapsed on top of Haddis while Bedvir cleaned himself, then her. When he climbed on the bed, Danielle was looking at him with a grin on her face.
‘Worth the wait?’
Bedvir propped himself on his elbow and kissed her, gripping her chin. ‘I plan on doing that again and again.’
Danielle giggled.
‘Definitely,’ Haddis said.
‘I third this,’ Aerdan pointed at Bedvir. ‘You?’
‘If I wasn’t so relaxed and sleepy, I’d say we should go again now.’
For a moment, Bedvir considered it, but when Danielle yawned, he put the idea away. At least until morning.
Everyone fell asleep quickly, leaving Bedvir to turn the lights low, so that on
ly the thing that was visible, were the stars streaking by on the vidscreens. Danielle liked to keep it on—something about seeing the stars soothed her soul. By their light, he looked at the face of the small human who’d become everything to him and his mates. Looking down, he looked at the small bump of her belly, squashed against Haddis’s stomach. There were two babies in there. The thought still filled him with awe. She was carrying their young, and they would fill this ship with them. Danielle had been shocked when they told her they planned for at least six pregnancies. Two for each of them, but in fact, they planned to let nature take its course. At least after the next pregnancy. They wanted to help Aerdan rebuild his mita. Whatever children were born, whoever the father was, they were precious because they were their children, their mita. They were precious because they were hers.
Bedvir ran his fingers down the delicate bones of Danielle’s spine and heard her sigh. The muscles of her back were prone to tensing from so many years of trying to handle the world alone. Every night he smoothed them out, massaged them and helped her relax, and every day the tension built up, though to a lesser degree than the night before.
Tonight, the muscles were almost completely relaxed. Bedvir grinned. She was a precious, perfect thing. Theirs, their mate. When the Bentari had taken his world, when they’d tortured him and sold him, he couldn’t see a happy ending for him. That this was his world was beyond his imagining.
* * *
With the deal for vysor and the engine almost complete, the Temerin gathered together on a planet in Protectorate space to vote.
Of course, the vote was tied. Despite agreement being almost universally in support of the deal.
The Temerin liked their games.
With Danielle seven cycles along, Aerdan, Bedvir, and Haddis sat this one out.
They cheered Tonni on as she led against her competitors. She was a formidable female, and there were few who could challenge her.
Even though she was horribly uncomfortable, they still slept out every night and they still made love under the stars.
