by Octavia Kore
“Meatface, you have a ping,” his AI interrupted his observation. “Commander Vog is requesting that all crewmembers report to the main common area.”
With a shake of his head at the name, Oshen huffed. It was obvious Brin had been tampering with his AI again. The Havaker was his best friend, but he was a constant pain in his tail when it came to his tech pranks. Oshen was an ambassador and not tech savvy at all so fixing what had been done to the AI was going to be a long process.
“Thank you. Send confirmation.”
Honestly, the request didn’t come as a surprise. After orbiting the planet called Earth for weeks, the crew aboard the mothership was fast becoming restless. No one had been allowed to venture down to the surface, and the walls of the ship had begun to feel as if they were closing in around many of them.
Humans, the primitive inhabitants of the planet, were not used to outside interference. Other species had visited, but no official contact had been made. Not until recently, when the Grutex happened upon them. The large, troublesome race had made contact with the council and claimed that Earth might hold the solution to a growing problem the Venium and many other species were facing.
The database that the Grutex had provided them with offered little information on the humans and how they would be helpful, which was just one reason they were here. The Venium government was not going to simply trust a race that had lied and schemed its way to power.
“Confirmation sent.”
Tail snapping in annoyance, Oshen turned away from the gazer and walked out of the viewing room, stepping around a few of the benches that had been pulled out from the wall. The metal beneath him vibrated with his sure gait as he made his way through the halls of the mothership.
One of the things that had excited him most from the database was the extensive amount of life on the planet, particularly those that resided in the waters. His favorite animal so far was the shark, since it reminded him of his own species with its sharp teeth for tearing into prey and streamlined bodies for cutting through water.
If the gods were good, he would be allowed to explore the okeanos of this new world soon. His species believed in many gods, but their most important deities were the two moon gods Ven and Nem. Both had fallen in love with the sun goddess, Una, and had formed the sacred three. They loved the waters of Venora so much that they chose to birth their children within it and had provided them with the means to prosper for generations. It was believed that the children of this triad brought forth the very first Venium.
Pups were taught from a very young age that if they earned the favor of the moons, they would guide you to your bondmate, the one Venium you were destined to be with for all times. Although a trio had made up the first mating bond, very few had presented since the old times. It was a very rare and special occasion, one that Oshen had never witnessed in his lifetime. With any luck, the moons would turn their favor on him and grace him with a bondmate to settle down and raise a brood of pups with.
“Nice of you to join us, Ambassador Oshen.” The sneer that crawled across Vog’s gray face tugged at the scars that covered nearly half of it.
“And a pleasant sol to you as well, Commander.”
The violet glow of Vog’s fushori was there and gone so fast that he may not have noticed if he had not been paying attention. If he were going to compare the Venium to a shark, Vog would be a Great White.He was large and grey and was not willing to take any nonsense. Vog was someone most of the crew respected and all of them feared. With a quick nod, Oshen moved to take a seat next to his brutok, Brin, locking tails for a moment as a sign of friendship before he let his fall to the floor near his feet.
Vog’s voice resonated through the room. “It has been decided that there will be no exploration of the planet or its waters until the council gives us permission. It seems that we have stepped into a war between the humans and Grutex.”
Oshen’s growl vibrated within his chest. “You know that many of us are being called down to the world and yet you would deny us our chance to see why?”
Vog’s eyes narrowed threateningly. “You know the protocol as well as I do. We are not allowed to interfere without first being asked. For now, we will wait for a call of distress or until we see a violation of Galactic Law. Is that understood?”
Jaw clenched tightly, Oshen managed to ground out a respectful reply. “Of course, Commander.” But just as Vog turned to address the room once more, Oshen raised another question. “How do you expect humans to know Galactic Law? Are we assuming the Grutex handed over the terms so that the natives of this backwater planet could report them? How many violations do you think have been committed so far?”
“I cannot change the law merely because you do not like it. In fact, I do not have the authority to change it at all. If you do not agree with the way the Venium handle conflicts and interventions, then you should move to have it changed when we return to Venora… Ambassador.” Vog’s tone was icy, and Oshen knew better than to push him further. “The Sanctus females have offered their service to those of you who have the need.” He waved his hand as more males began to speak. “It is not up for discussion. Dismissed.”
“Ridiculous,” Oshen mumbled as he and Brin strode side by side down the hall, their frustration palpable. There was no way he was going to let the commander keep him from going where his soul told him he needed to be. Not when he knew that whatever the gods had in store for him was waiting on the planet below.
“I know that look, brutok,” Brin said with a grin, his shoulder nudging Oshen’s.
“Which look is that exactly?”
“The one that tells me we are about to do something stupid and exciting.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Oshen lifted his chin in mock offense.
“Oh, please. When we were young, that look always told me we were about to get into some trouble.” He rubbed his hands together, his ears twitching in excitement as he bounced on the balls of his feet. “What have you got planned, brutok?”
Brin cursed as another shot from the plasma cannon caused the craft to pitch. Bringing the small shuttle to the planet’s surface probably had not been their brightest moment, but they had felt such a strong pull that stopping to assess the risks had been something they neglected to do. The Grutex ship chasing them fired again, barely missing as Brin jerked the controls to the left. Lights flashed on the console, and warning sirens blared through the small space as the craft made an ominous creaking sound.
“Brin!” Oshen hissed as he tapped at the keys in front of him, silencing a few of the alarms.
“One moment.” Brin evaded another shot, dropping the shuttle close to the surface of the okeanos.
They should have anticipated this welcome. The Grutex weren’t exactly on friendly terms with most species. They were secretive, cunning, and untrustworthy, taking what they wanted without remorse, dominating unsuspecting worlds. The Grutex used and destroyed whatever they pleased. Though they had a tentative agreement in place, they certainly were not going to be okay with the Venium getting wind of whatever they were doing here.
Oshen growled as he watched two more ships join the one already in pursuit on the monitor in front of him. Brin’s jaw was clenched, his fingers flying along the buttons as more shots struck the hull of the craft.
“This is not good!” Oshen shouted over the renewed blaring of alarms.
Brin glanced at the display. “Uh, no, this is definitely not good.”
There was no way they were going to be able to escape this many Grutex. His friend was pushing the machine to its limits and they were still barely keeping their lead. Smoke billowed from somewhere behind the cockpit, the acrid smell burning his lungs and making his eyes tear up.
“This isn’t going to hold together much longer.” A loud explosion punctuated his words, followed by the chaos of even more alarms that seemed pretty unnecessary at this point. “We need to get out of here!” The roar of the flames and the shriek of t
he alarms were becoming deafening.
There was nothing more either of them could do to save the craft. Brin slammed his palm down on the red button and hit the code to start the emergency ejection process. The ship’s comm made the announcement moments before Oshen was launched from the ship, his body flying through the hatch as it sprang open.
“Brin, no!” The breath was ripped from his lungs as he left the ship, and the world around him went dark.
The cool sensation of saltwater pressing in on him was the first thing Oshen noticed as he came back to consciousness. He allowed himself to drift limply with the current for a moment as his jumbled mind worked to piece together what had gone wrong. He’d been on the shuttle, hadn’t he?
Oshen cracked open one gleaming golden eye and peered into the murky darkness around him. Definitely not the shuttle. The gills on either side of his neck flared open as the unfamiliar okeanos filtered in over them, and his mouth pulled into a grimace. Definitely not the okeanos of the homeworld. This water wasn’t as clean as he and Brin had hoped when they first looked upon it.
Oshen’s eyes flew open in alarm. Brin! Where was the other male? He whipped his head around, searching desperately for any sign of his brutok, but the movement only brought his attention to a large, painful wound on his side. He bared his teeth as he gazed down at the torn flesh. Oshen was lost and compromised in uncharted, alien territory. Fantastic.
“Meatface, you survived? Lucky me.” The too-sweet, feminine voice of his comm’s AI made his jaw clench in annoyance. “I’ll be here to assist when you are done with your napping.”
“Mouni.” He sneered down at the wrist his comm was embedded in. When he found Brin, he was going to give him a thump upside the head for reprogramming the unit only to answer to the word for a female’s genitalia. “Make yourself useful for once and run a full body scan.” He heard the soft chime that indicated the program was following his command and filtered more water slowly through his gills, trying to calm the racing of his heart.
“Scan complete, Meatface. I have found a problem. Do you still wish to have a kokoras?”
“Excuse me? What does my kokoras have to do with anything?” The damned AI. hadn’t stopped commenting on his phallus since its last “upgrade” from Brin.
“It is my recommendation that you have it removed before we find dry land.”
“Oh, for the sake of the gods! What is the extent of my injuries, you malfunctioning piece of scrap?” Gills flaring in annoyance, Oshen moved his legs through the water.
The AI actually laughed at him. “You’ll be fine. Quit acting like a pup.”
Oshen moved his fingers along the deep gash in his side, trying to gauge how bad the damage was. What’s the point of having the AI if I have to do this myself? If Oshen had just listened to the commander, he wouldn’t be dealing with this right now. He could have stayed in his cabin, requested the company of a Sanctus female, and had a good night.
Lies, his mind chided. He didn’t want the Sanctus females; he wanted whoever was calling to him.
“Wishing you had stayed on the ship instead of stealing the shuttle yet?”
Oshen glared at his device. He definitely planned on having her reprogrammed the moment he was back on the ship and would get one of the other Havackers to do it for him. “We didn’t steal the craft.” He pressed his hand against the wound, wincing at the sting. “It was tactically acquired.” The AI made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snort. “And I’m not interested in the Sanctus.”
Though the rainbow-colored females were very beautiful, they held no appeal for him. Oshen wished to find his gynaika, the female that would call to his body to start the reproductive process, the only female he could ever have a family with.
Finding one’s bonded, however, was becoming increasingly difficult on his homeworld. Many Venium had taken to settling for pleasure mates, but Oshen didn’t want that for himself. He had spent time in the company of a few pleasure mates, and while they were lovely females, he just couldn’t see himself giving up on what he truly desired.
“I should have stayed home instead of accepting this mission,” Oshen said. He absolutely preferred the company of his family to the AI program.
“Ah, yes, I’m sure staying behind to care for an entire brood of pups is far more exciting than this.”
He admitted that time away from his siblings had been something he looked forward to at first, but Oshen wasn’t used to being alone. His parents had blessed their failing species with fourteen healthy pups over the course of their mating. As the second-born, Oshen had naturally grown up looking after his younger siblings.
This assignment would allow his people to gather more information on the Grutex and had the added benefit of a vacation of sorts. Helping to raise his siblings while learning to become an ambassador from his sire was oftentimes exhausting.
Pain throbbed through his side.
The gash was deep and jagged and would probably leave a decent scar. The salt in the water surrounding him stung his wound, and he gritted his teeth as he addressed his AI. “Mouni, any word from Brin?”
Oshen knew the male was capable enough to look after himself, but worry clawed at his stomach when he thought about how badly damaged the shuttle had been. They hadn’t planned for the Grutex to find them so soon, or even at all, considering the fact that the Venium thought they had arrived undetected.
Their simple craft was not built for the strain of battle, and it was lucky for them that the okeanos on this planet was capable of sustaining their kind. There was little hope of finding an underwater city like the one on his homeworld since the dominant species here dwelled on land.
“Still unable to locate the most handsome man in the verse.”
Oshen growled, his tail flicking in disbelief. Really, Brin? Pulling the salty water across his gills, he turned his wrist over and looked at his comm. The screen projected onto his inner arm and he tapped on the display, sending out another ping to try and locate the wily male.
The reception here was disturbingly spotty, and he had to try multiple times before he got anything to work. Relief raced through him as an answering ping and a request to talk flashed across his arm. Oshen accepted the call and he grimaced as Brin’s bloodied face filled the screen. Cuts mangled the gray skin of his cheeks, and his black braids sat in disarray around his head.
“Brin! Where are you? Are you okay?” he inquired as he coddled his own wound, trying to prevent more of his lifeblood from escaping into the water surrounding him.
“Fine, fine.” Brin grinned in his usual annoyingly charming manner. “Don’t act so worried, brutok. We’ve been in more challenging situations.”
“The shuttle?”
“Blown to bits.” Brin waved his hand through the water in a contemptuous manner.
Oshen winced over the loss of the craft, knowing it had most likely cost a fortune, but he was thankful they were both still alive. In the okeanos, there was no way to know which direction to go. It seemed to spread on for as far as the eye could see.
The depths he would have found comfort in on Venora felt ominous on this planet. He could feel his gills flutter in the polluted waters and hoped that his comm would work long enough to help him find the other male. The injuries on Brin’s face tugged at his conscience. He wished that they hadn’t followed through with this insane plan.
“Do you know where you are, brutok?” Oshen felt disoriented as he looked around once more. There was no moon in the sky tonight, and the surface of the water above him seemed to be calm.
“I think I’ve found a place for us to get some land under our feet. I’m sending you my location now and I’ve already sent out a distress signal to the mothership. Hopefully, reinforcements should be here as soon as you make it.” Brin’s hand moved up to swipe some blood from his brow just before the comm abruptly ended.
A moment later, coordinates flashed across the projected screen on his arm and he set a course for them. Soon they w
ould both be back on the mothership and in a mess of trouble.
Oshen moved as close to the shore as he dared, glancing around at the abandoned dock that jutted out into the water. This was where his comm had indicated that he needed to be, but he saw nothing aside from the floating vessel at the end of the dock and the building a little further inland.
The loud clang of metal drew his attention and he watched as a figure darted from the building. A human, and a small one at that. A female? Venium females were slender and willowy, but this human one was curvy and voluptuous. The movement of her chest had his lifeblood heating and a tingle shooting through his body. As she got closer, he could see her dark hair flying wildly as she glanced behind her.
From the shadows at her back sprang the familiar form of a Grutex male. Oshen growled, lunging forward as the large male tackled the human, bringing her to the ground beneath his body.
There was no way he was going to stand back and allow this. She needed his help.
Chapter 2
Amanda
A few hours before …
Today was just not going to go as planned. She could feel it in her soul. Somehow the universe was going to fuck it up, and she wasn’t looking forward to finding out what it had in store. Amanda hitched her bag higher up on her shoulder as she hurried down the empty hallway toward the gear room, glancing down at her watch.
Only a couple hours late. Thank you, unreliable alarm clock.
Trashing that old piece of junk was going to be so incredibly satisfying when she got back home. Her footsteps echoed through the space as she sprinted the last few feet to the door and flung it open.
“Amanda?”
She squealed in surprise and spun toward the voice. Standing off to the side, clipboard clutched to his chest and thick-framed glasses sliding precariously close to the tip of his nose, was her supervisor.
