The Mercenary's Dawn (Renegades Book 1)

by L P Peace

  After a few moments, she broke the kiss. She searched his eyes. ‘I have something for you,’ she whispered.

  ‘Something else?’ he joked.

  Alethia laughed but nodded.

  ‘Because I do not think I could take that again just yet.’

  Alethia chuckled as she raised herself to her hands and knees and leaned across him. Her pale breasts brushed against his upper chest. Thanesh moved down enough to catch one nipple in his mouth and suck before Alethia could stop him. She sucked in a breath and moaned, her body stopping for a moment.

  She snickered, moving back. Her nipple slipped out of his mouth, and he watched it go with regret.

  ‘I have something for you,’ she repeated and slipped something cold and hard into his hand.

  Thanesh held it up and opened his hand to find a small data chip. ‘What is this?’ He frowned. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t this.

  Alethia’s face turned solemn. She was still up on her hands and knees, her face iniths from him. She stroked her fingers down his face.

  ‘The coordinates of Tessa.’

  Thanesh looked into her eyes, then back at the data chip. He swallowed over the lump forming in his throat. ‘Alethia…’ He shook his head, unable to say what he needed to say.

  ‘If you look after my people the way you look after your own,’ she shrugged, ‘I know I never need to worry about them again.’

  ‘They are our people now.’ He cupped her face. ‘All of them.’

  Alethia nodded. ‘I know,’ she agreed.

  Alethia took a closer step to Invictus’s viewscreen and watched as Tessa grew.

  Thanesh walked up beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. She looked up at him as his eyes scanned over the surface.

  She, Thanesh and Dairon were on the bridge as they entered the atmosphere of the planet; they would be landing within minutes. Behind them were all of the ships they had retrieved from Cealin space, a few Amaran ships and Makios’s ship Tala.

  Several Protectorate ships were coming from across this sector of the galaxy to view their new home and to bring slaves that they had purchased or freed. Thanesh had instructed them to do this when he and Alethia returned from their time on the Tinar planet. Alethia marvelled that it was only a few weeks before.

  ‘Red and purple,’ Thanesh said.

  ‘There’s blue.’ She gestured to the planet’s oceans.

  Thanesh scoffed. ‘Water’s most common colour is blue.’

  ‘Most of the plant life is purple and red.’ She shrugged. ‘If you want a white planet to go with your skin, we could always invade Cealis.’

  Thanesh raised a brow. ‘You are spending too much time with Devorak.’

  Alethia suppressed a chuckle and looked back at Tessa. Home.

  ‘How do you raise money to buy slaves?’ Thanesh pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on her head. It meant he had to bend over; he’d taken to doing this to point out their height difference.

  Alethia licked her lips; she’d been waiting for this question.

  ‘I’d just like to point out I’m officially Protectorate now,’ she said.

  ‘Racially,’ Thanesh confirmed. ‘You have no rank in the Protectorate, just yet.’ He kissed the top of her head.

  Alethia nodded. ‘Yes, but racially, I’m Protectorate.’

  Thanesh nodded against her head. ‘Tessan,’ he said.

  ‘What?’ She frowned.

  ‘Tessan,’ he repeated. Alethia turned and looked up at him. ‘We are the Tessan race. Our military is the Tessan Protectorate.’

  Alethia’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly. ‘Thanesh…’ Her voice was almost inaudible.

  ‘I know.’ He smiled and kissed her on the end of her nose. ‘Now, back to buying slaves.’

  Alethia swallowed and turned back to face the planet. She pictured her mother and fathers for a moment, then forced herself to answer the question.

  ‘The planet’s riddled with Amot,’ she admitted.

  Thanesh spun her around, disbelief on his face. ‘Amot?’

  Alethia nodded. ‘The planet. All the planets.’ She shrugged. ‘The moon. The asteroid belts. If anyone had ever surveyed this system, we’d have had to evacuate.’

  Thanesh stared at her for a minute, too stunned to say anything. He looked up at the planet, then back down at her. ‘You are telling me this planet is a rich source of the best shipbuilding metal in the galaxy?’

  Alethia pursed her lips into a tight line to stop herself from laughing. ‘Yep.’ The word rippled on her mirth.

  ‘How do you know?’ His disbelief was apparent.

  ‘Our dads were surveyors,’ Dairon said. He switched on a dead panel next to him. He flicked the information, scrolling across the screen onto part of the viewscreen. Thanesh stepped forward, his eyes widening as he read the readout of the system’s resources.

  ‘How did you…’ He looked back at the planet.

  ‘We sold it in tiny quantities to not attract attention. I was always aware we were in your space and had no actual rights to the planet.’

  ‘I am going to have to renegotiate my contract with the Amarans.’ Thanesh beamed a smile at her. ‘They are always looking for new sources of Amot.’

  ‘Now that you’ve revealed Tessa’s greatest secrets,’ Dairon’s dry voice said, ‘perhaps you could buckle up.’ Dairon pushed a few buttons and his voice rang out over the ship. ‘Brace for atmosphere.’

  Alethia and Thanesh walked to the back of the bridge and sat at the table, strapping in. Thanesh took Alethia’s hand.

  The ship shook. The black of space slowly brightened into a soft lavender-blue sky. Alethia let out a long breath of relief, feeling the muscles in her shoulders unclench. The ship descended, followed by Calaia’s dropship, Sarya.

  ‘Pete knows we’re on the way?’ Alethia called to Dairon.

  ‘I spoke to him before you came on the bridge. He’s freaked out, but he’ll meet us at the landing site.’

  ‘The IGC have minimum population requirements,’ Thanesh said. ‘Minimum technology. Minimum power output. Minimum industry. We will leave much of the world untouched, but I am going to have to make a lot of changes quickly so that we can join.’

  Alethia nodded. ‘I know.’ It made her a little sad. She and her people had worked hard to build these two small villages. Soon there would be cities.

  She looked at Thanesh. He was making plans; she could see it on his face.

  He turned to her and licked his lips. He was contemplating other things, but the action shot a core of excitement and anticipation through her when she remembered what those lips and tongue were capable of.

  ‘Tell me,’ she smiled.

  Thanesh grinned back. ‘You live on that continent?’

  She reached out and pointed to a spot on the eastern seaboard. ‘The villages are around there.’

  Thanesh’s grin widened. ‘Perfect.’ He looked at her. ‘We will build the capital south of there.’ His own hand reached out, and he traced his finger down to a spot where the coast curved into a large bay. ‘Right there.’ He stabbed his finger over the bay.

  ‘What were your fathers' names?’

  ‘Adanith and Teyrin.’ She smiled.

  ‘We will stick to the T theme and call it Teyrin?’

  ‘I like that,’ Dairon said.

  Alethia nodded swallowing.

  ‘The second city we will call Adanith.’ He nodded to himself.

  ‘You and I will build a home. We’ll keep a portion of the beach private, just for our family.’

  Family. Kallis confirmed Thanesh’s venom made them capable of having children, she’d forgotten all about it; she might be pregnant right now.

  The ship fell towards the planet.

  Below them, Thanesh pointed to a spot where the river that ran by her village bisected the bay over a hundred madith away. ‘We will build the centre of the capital there.’

  ‘Who’s going to build it? Design it?
’

  Thanesh smiled. ‘I have plans. I have put a call out for surveyors, city planners, architects.’ He looked at the planet. ‘Lots of architects.’

  ‘Is your mine up…’ He pointed north of the bay towards where her home village was located, his voice trailing away.

  ‘I live in Aida.’ She moved his finger higher. ‘There. Alyk, the mining village is a few madiths away,’ she pointed to a ridge. ‘Nearer the mountains.’

  Thanesh nodded. ‘We will mine from the rest of the system,’ he said. ‘And limit Amot mining from the planet to that spot. I have reached out to surveyors so we can get a full list of our resources, here and in other systems nearby.’

  ‘Before I told you about the Amot?’

  Thanesh nodded. ‘I have had these plans for a long time. It is just the location that has changed, the timeline sped up.’

  ‘Sped up?’

  ‘I had planned on building up a world over decades. But we need to pull in the IGC if we are going to save Earth. As soon as we are down on the planet, I am calling them and registering Tessa. They will then give me a timeline to have the planet up to their minimum standards so membership can be confirmed, and it will also prevent other member states from openly moving against us.’

  ‘What happens if we fail?’

  ‘I do not know,’ Thanesh squeezed her hand. ‘But we will not fail. This is going to work.’ He smiled confidently.

  The doors opened. Alethia was standing with Thanesh at the top of the ramp with several of his men. Vella, Dabin and Makios had disembarked Invictus rotes ago and returned to Tala, which Alethia could see was taking its usual landing spot across from them. Farther behind it, the Protectorate drop ship was descending.

  ‘We need to build a proper landing pad as a priority,’ Thanesh growled.

  Pete was standing on the ground a few meters back. He smiled at Alethia, though his face paled when he saw Thanesh standing next to her.

  ‘Be nice,’ she squeezed his hand when she saw him scowling at him.

  ‘I am always nice,’ he said gruffly.

  They walked down the ramp hand in hand.

  ‘Thanesh, this is my right-hand man, Peter Walker.’

  Alethia felt Thanesh relax a little.

  ‘Is everyone—’

  ‘In hiding to see if we’re about to be betrayed and sold into slavery? Yup,’ Pete confirmed in a soft Scottish accent.

  ‘We are not going to do that,’ Thanesh assured him.

  Pete nodded, but the wary look on his face didn’t fade. He ran his hand through his loose curls and grimaced at some unseen pain.

  ‘Look, I’m not saying I don’t believe you. But you have a planet of people here whose only experience with larger aliens is negative. You’ll have to give them time.’

  ‘Acceptable. You are my people now. I am not going to betray you.’ Thanesh’s face was solemn.

  Pete nodded.

  ‘I am going to make the call,’ Thanesh said. He kissed Alethia on the forehead, pressing his lips to her skin, then released her hand. ‘I will leave Dak at the ramp if you decide to come in and watch.’

  ‘Be right there.’ She smiled and watched him walk away.

  When he was out of earshot, Pete turned to her, panic and fear on his face. ‘Alethia, have you gone fucking insane?’

  ‘Pete, I trust him. He chased my kidnapper through Cealin space to rescue me.’ She smiled.

  Pete shook his head. ‘I don’t understand. How did you meet? When? Where? Why have you been gone this long?’

  ‘It’s all a really long story, and I swear I will tell you all of it,’ Alethia said, realising there were some parts she’d be keeping to herself. ‘But right now, Thanesh is registering Tessa as his homeworld.’

  ‘Alethia, what did you do?’

  ‘Pete, look at me. Do you really think I’d bring them here if I thought they were a threat to us?’

  Pete opened his mouth, closed it and shook his head.

  ‘He’s gained the trust of me, Dairon, Makios and his crew,’ she pointed to the Tala and Makios who was walking up to join them.

  ‘Let me tell you everything later. What Thanesh is doing is bringing us into the Protectorate and making this world and us the centre of it.’

  Pete’s eyes widened; his mouth opened to form an O.

  ‘Me and my crew will be out here.’ Makios smiled at her. ‘I don’t think the IGC would appreciate seeing a known smuggler with Thanesh.’

  ‘That’s probably a good idea,’ Alethia admitted. ‘You coming, Pete?’

  ‘Before we go, you should know, we had some trouble while you were gone.’

  ‘What kind of trouble?’

  ‘The same day we learned you were taken, a ship arrived—’

  ‘A ship.’ Alethia looked around, there was no sign of another ship. ‘What happened? Where is it?’

  ‘It’s a long story, but we’re all right. We’ve got some new people. I’ll fill you in on everything,’ he nodded his head towards Sarya, ‘after.’

  Alethia nodded, feeling her panic slowly subside. She trusted Pete would have told her already if it was something that needed her immediate attention.

  Alethia led the way to the enormous Protectorate ship. Dak was waiting at the ramp, a grin on his face.

  ‘Welcome to Sarya,’ he said, ushering them on board.

  ‘Where’ve you been?’

  ‘It is a long tale.’ Dak smiled at her.

  ‘I expect to hear it later,’ she said as she passed him.

  The grey walls of the ship enclosed them. Alethia heard Pete’s breath increase in pace behind her. She reached back to him and took his hand, looking over her shoulder.

  ‘If you don’t trust them, trust me.’

  Pete nodded. Alethia saw his face going red. At least part of that was due to the pain he was in and the damage to his lungs from long years working mines. Thanesh promised her everyone would be seen by the medics and plans put in place to help them. She thought of Ann and hoped there was something that could be done for her.

  Dak showed them onto the bridge. Thanesh stood in the middle of the room, his back turned to her, his arms were crossed over his expansive chest and his legs were firmly planted shoulder-width apart as he stood in front of the giant viewscreen before him. He looked over his shoulder and smiled at her, winking.

  Beside her, Pete hissed. Alethia looked at him and saw his eyes fixed to the screen. She turned and saw a Bentari male staring back into the room. He looked from Thanesh to Alethia and Pete then back to Alethia. His eyes scanned her greedily.

  ‘What planet?’ the Bentari said, turning his attention back to Thanesh.

  ‘We are sending you the application package now.’ Thanesh nodded at Korren, who hit a button. ‘That should be with you in a few moments.’

  The Bentari nodded.

  ‘Its name is Tessa,’ Thanesh said. ‘We are registering our people, Protectorate and other citizens including Human, Mvari, Aavani, Zavi and Ualha…’ Thanesh looked at Alethia, ‘Any others?’

  Alethia stepped forward. The Bentari licked his lips as she got closer to the screen.

  ‘We have two Teyas, a Vholin, a Temerin and a Setean.’

  The Bentari nodded again. ‘If you wished to sell them, I could give you a good price,’ the Bentari said. His eyes were downcast, but his demeanour showed the intensity of his interest. ‘Especially for her,’ he looked up at Alethia.

  Alethia raised her chin and glared at him.

  ‘This is my mate and a Protectorate female,’ Thanesh said through gritted teeth. ‘The next time you insult her, Hekalion, I will come to the IGC and break you into pieces as a gift for her.’

  So, this was the Bentari who had ruined Makios’s family.

  Hekalion’s face turned from open lust to fear to fury. His lip curled in a sneer.

  ‘My apologies. No one has ever seen a Protectorate female. Many believed they didn’t exist.’ He paused. ‘And the rest—’

  ‘Are
not for sale,’ Thanesh said. The muscle in his jaw was ticking.

  Alethia turned to look at Pete. He was staring at Thanesh with barely restrained relief.

  ‘Very well,’ the Bentari said, glancing at Alethia. ‘Back to business then.’

  A chirp caught the Bentari’s attention. He clicked at something off-screen. ‘I have the application package,’ he said, pressing his thumb to a sensor in front of him. ‘Your planet is now, registered with the IGC. You will have to come here in person within a quarter standard solar to confirm the application.’

  Thanesh nodded his understanding.

  ‘The application period is five standard galactic solars,’ he said and pressed another button. ‘Those are the conditions that must be met by the end of the five solars.’

  ‘Understood.’

  ‘If you should fail to meet those standards, or come to the IGC within the specified period, it will be another twenty solars before you are allowed to apply again.’

  The Bentari looked at Alethia. ‘My apologies to you, female. I am Hekalion Dar.’

  ‘Alethia,’ Alethia said.

  ‘Alethia. I hope to apologise to you in person some rote.’

  Alethia nodded, unsure what to say.

  Hekalion turned back to Thanesh. ‘Good luck with meeting our standards. They are exacting.’

  ‘I’ve never failed a challenge,’ Thanesh said.

  The Bentari sneered a smile at the screen just before it went blank.

  ‘Next,’ Thanesh called out.

  ‘Recording,’ Korren called back a moment later.

  Thanesh looked at Alethia and smiled a wicked smile.

  ‘This is Thanesh of the Protectorate to all Protectorate member nations.’ Thanesh took a breath, his eyes still on her. ‘I have just taken a planet called Tessa as my homeworld. On this planet are races many of you would consider slaves. They are free people and under my protection. Anyone who takes any of them as a slave will answer to me.’

  Alethia wanted to look back at Pete, but the intensity of Thanesh’s gaze compelled her to stare into his eyes, to share this moment with him.

  ‘Further, those races, Aavani, Mvari, Zavi, Ualha and Humans are now under my protection. If you have slaves of those races, it puts our relationship in jeopardy. I want to see your plans for divesting and releasing those slaves as quickly as possible.’