Orion: Star Guardians, Book 1

by Ruby Lionsdrake

  Orion cursed and dropped the slaver. So much for keeping him alive.

  Before the armed man could fire again, Orion rushed him, knocking his weapon hand aside. The man backed away, but was hesitant in the dark. He must have glimpsed a tree looming behind him because he glanced that way. Orion took advantage, throwing a series of jabs and punches. He connected several times, driving his enemy back against the tree. He pummeled his foe until the man no longer defended himself, then finished with an uppercut. The man’s head cracked back against the tree, and he pitched sideways, unconscious.

  Orion grabbed his weapon so he couldn’t use it again if he woke, then turned toward where the Star Guardians had been. Blood surged through his veins, making him ready and eager to fight again.

  But the night had quieted, en-bolts no longer streaking through the woods. The flares still burned dully, and four armored figures strode toward Orion. The Star Guardians. None of them appeared injured. Good.

  “Two for you?” the one who had teased him earlier spoke up.

  “I’d gladly take on more,” Orion said, his blood still hot from the fight.

  “What you’d take on and what you took on aren’t the same things. Two for you, and two for her. We’ll see how the night ends.”

  “What?” Orion asked, confused by the words and also the men’s chuckles until Juanita walked uncertainly into view.

  “Will he live?” There was a quaver to her voice as she joined the group.

  Orion walked toward her, trying to piece together what had happened. He’d only left her for a minute. Why hadn’t she stayed put?

  Treyjon walked over and hoisted a man to his feet, eliciting a groan. “Yes, ma’am. You shot him in the shoulder. Appreciate the effort. He was trying to sneak around to the side of us.”

  “Oh, good.” Her voice rang with profound relief.

  “You shot someone else?” Orion asked, coming to stand beside Juanita. “You’re quite the sharpshooter.”

  He was proud of her, but at the same time, he wished he could have protected her so she wouldn’t have had to worry about shooting anyone. She didn’t sound like she’d truly wanted to do it.

  “No, I was just lucky,” she said, seeming more shaken than proud. “He was outlined between me and the flare, and he was aiming at our group of people, so… I didn’t really think. If I had, I would have stayed where I was. Or maybe wet myself.”

  Orion snorted and put an arm around her shoulders again. “Don’t say things like that or the Star Guardians will tease you.”

  “Nah, that’s only Onyx over there,” Treyjon said. “He teases the ones he likes. Better watch your ass in the shower, Orion. I heard he’s got some fantasies going about the captain. He might be satisfied with Sagitta’s little brother.”

  This time, the snickers weren’t aimed at Orion. Though he wasn’t entirely certain his ass hadn’t been part of the joke.

  “It’s hard for me to imagine anyone fantasizing about my brother, male or female, though from the way his instructors at the military academy still talked about him when I went through school, I suppose he left a few of them hot and hard.”

  “Don’t worry, Orion. You’ll get someone fantasizing after you someday.”

  “Not Onyx, I hope.” Orion had just learned the man’s name, but he was already certain he didn’t want to star in his fantasies.

  “Don’t flatter yourself, bounty hunter,” Onyx said.

  The words sounded far more defensive than tough. Whenever they made it back to civilization, Orion would have to buy Treyjon a beer for deflating the man’s pomposity.

  “Black Squad, report,” came a woman’s voice from a rise beyond the flares.

  “Had some trouble, LT,” Treyjon called, “but we’re on our way in now.”

  “Slavers?”

  “Someone with weapons shooting us without asking questions first. Eight someones to be precise.”

  “If any are alive, bring them up. We’re making a collection.”

  “I’d much rather collect coins or Zakota’s wooden figurines.”

  “Yeah? How many of those he sucker you into buying, Treyjon?”

  “Just one. A year ago. I’m still waiting for it to cause women to fall into my lap.”

  “Stow that noise,” a new voice ordered. Sage.

  Orion sighed, again puzzled by the idea of anyone fantasizing about him.

  17

  Juanita listened to the voices of a couple dozen men and one or two women as she approached, her hand clasped with Orion’s. In her other hand, she still carried the weapon he had given her. It had been easy to aim, though the targets she’d shot hadn’t been that challenging. Both had been close to her, neither moving quickly at the time. It was a good thing the weapon was easy to fire, because her shoulder was aching even more after tramping through the marsh. She didn’t imagine she could handle some big rifle or one of their bow weapons with a lot of recoil.

  She felt proud of shooting the giant bird that had been attacking Orion. She was less proud of shooting the man and was relieved she hadn’t killed him. She’d just felt this protective surge of anger toward the guys attacking the Star Guardians—and Orion. She hadn’t considered shooting the men he’d been tangled up with, being certain she would end up hitting him. But the other had paused so nicely in front of that flare.

  “Watch out for that area over there,” someone told the arriving group. “There’s a huge sinkhole of mud. It’s at least six feet deep.”

  “I’d ask how you know that, Mikolos,” Treyjon said, “but the fact that your armor is brown instead of black tells the story for you.”

  “I wasn’t the only one to fall in,” the man grumbled.

  Juanita spotted the speaker as they drew closer. He was coated in brownish-green mud, the gunk hardening on his armor, with a spattering of leaves and fronds and moss added for decoration. He looked more like the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock than a fearsome protector of humanity.

  “You just fell the most in,” someone said.

  “Just be glad Jax was there to rescue you.”

  “Make sure to stay away from the areas where there aren’t any trees,” a woman said, waving toward such an area to the side of the group. “That’s where the sinkholes are.” A few boulders poked up from the leaf-strewn ground she indicated, but nothing substantial grew up from it.

  “Did I see one of those women?” the captain asked as Juanita and Orion stopped behind the four Star Guardians. He didn’t sound pleased, and Juanita wondered if she should hide behind a tree again.

  Treyjon shifted his weight and didn’t answer. Neither did the other Star Guardians in their group.

  “Yes,” Orion said with a sigh. “We got locked out of the ship when the power went out. Was that part of your master plan, or did the algae take over your fire falcon?”

  Juanita was fairly certain he’d asked the question in the hope of deflecting the captain’s attention from her.

  “How did she get outside to start with?” Sagitta asked, undeflected. He stood in the middle of a group of men, everyone wearing armor, though he and a few others had their helmets off as they spoke.

  “She fell out a hatch actually,” Orion said. “I happened to be nearby and caught her.”

  “I bet he did,” someone snickered.

  “And got a nice squeeze at the same time,” came another mutter.

  “She fell,” Sagitta said flatly.

  “I was trying to take some pictures,” Juanita said, stepping forward. She didn’t want Orion to take the brunt of the captain’s irritation. “I’ve never been to an alien planet.”

  “How are you finding it so far?”

  “Muddy. The green sky is neat.”

  “Green skies are fairly common on habitable planets. All right, Miss Juanita, was it?”

  “Uhm, yes, sir.”

  She was surprised he remembered her name, especially when all he could be going on in the dark was the sound of her voice. At least he sounded far l
ess irritated when talking to her than he had when talking to Orion. That made her glad that she had stepped forward.

  “There’s going to be more fighting before the night is through. Your family back home would appreciate it if you kept your back to a tree and didn’t attract attention.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Juanita had never been in the military or sirred anyone, but it felt right with him. Besides, she didn’t want to get on the bad side of the person commanding the only ship out here that wanted to take her home rather than sell her to aliens. Sort of, anyway. Sagitta had been planning to first return to their headquarters when all this started. Could she truly count on him to get her home? She believed Orion would get her home—he was the only one who had promised to do so. But the idea of Orion dropping her off and then her never seeing him again was distressing. How many Earth boys were there who wanted to hold her muddy hand on an alien planet full of slavers and giant, man-eating birds?

  “Want me to take her back to the ship, Captain?” Treyjon asked.

  Orion tensed beside her. She was fairly certain she caught a growl emanating from his throat.

  “The ship is busy being bait right now,” Sagitta said.

  “Do the people inside know that?” Juanita asked.

  “The ones in charge do. The women staying in the rec room shouldn’t be disturbed at all. Those who wander off and fall out of the ship, however, may have a different experience.”

  Juanita snorted, for the first time suspecting the captain of having a sense of humor buried down deep.

  “How pathetic would it be to fly all the way to a different solar system and see nothing more than the rec room inside a spaceship?” she asked. “There’s not even a porthole in there.”

  “Maybe when all this is over, we can arrange an escort for a short field trip,” Sagitta said. “Not that this is that nice of a planet to visit. The fish in that lake will take humans under if they get too close to the shore.”

  Juanita lifted her chin. “I’ll shoot them if they dare.”

  “She did take down a big bird that was trying to eat your brother, sir,” someone said. Onyx, she thought.

  “And one of the slavers,” one of the other Star Guardians blurted.

  She blushed. They didn’t sound like they were teasing her. They actually sounded like they thought she’d done something useful. She had been lucky and nothing more. She’d better stop shooting at things while she was ahead.

  “Did she,” Sagitta mused. “Huh.”

  Orion patted her on the back.

  “Treyjon, Lieutenant Coric, and Bexxer, to me,” Sagitta said. “I need scouts. You three find out who’s out here in the woods with us while Matthok and I climb the hill and check on the ship. The rest of you, stay put and rest if you can. I expect there’ll be fighting before morning.”

  A “Yes, sir” chorus sounded.

  “Rest?” Juanita wondered, speaking softly, since she didn’t want to bother the captain again. He was walking off with the men he’d called over. “I just woke up a couple of hours ago.”

  “Ship’s time and planet times rarely line up,” someone said.

  “You can come over here and sit by me,” another man said. “I’m sure we can find something to do.”

  Orion growled again, not so softly this time.

  Juanita stepped closer to him, a bit uneasy as she realized Treyjon had gone off with the captain, meaning she didn’t know any of the men around her except Orion.

  Since the Star Guardians were supposed to be noble, from what she’d gathered from Orion, she hoped she didn’t have anything to fear from them. Nonetheless, she was glad he was here. She wouldn’t have felt comfortable alone in the woods with all these big men. Having a weapon made her feel slightly less vulnerable, but not much. She imagined those big, muscular, trained fighters could disarm her easily and that she wouldn’t be able to get away from them if they tried to capture her.

  She shivered a little as a chill breeze swept in from the lake.

  “Are you cold?” Orion murmured.

  “A little,” she said, though the breeze hadn’t been the reason for her shiver.

  He drew her a few steps away, toward a thick tree that rose up at the edge of a flat moss- and leaf-covered area, a big sinkhole, perhaps. It had grown fully dark, but a moon seemed to be coming up behind the trees, so she could make out his outline. The other men were indistinguishable from the shadows.

  Orion leaned his back against the tree, moved his bolt bow to the side, and pulled her against him, her chest to his. He grunted and shifted to the side to avoid a huge knot sticking out at head height, then he wrapped his arms around her, one high and one low, as if he could turn himself into a blanket to cover her fully.

  She smiled and leaned contentedly against his chest. The heat of his hard body blazed through his vest, and she had no need for a blanket. She slid her fingers over the bare muscles of his arms, pretending her hands were cold and that she needed to warm them up. In truth, she barely noticed the cold, especially now.

  Memories of their kiss from the day before came to mind, heating her even more than the closeness of his warm body. She was tempted to tilt her head back to see if he would kiss her again. But it had grown very quiet, the sounds of those other spaceship engines disappearing—or more likely nearby and turned off. She could hear the murmured conversations of the Star Guardians only a few meters away, and the occasional crunching of a twig. If she and Orion started kissing, the men would hear it. And the captain would come back and hear about it. And then he might once again berate Orion. As if she didn’t want to be right here. In his arms.

  “Tell me more about that comic book you were reading,” Juanita murmured. “Or graphic novel, if you prefer that term.”

  He chuckled. “Are you really interested? I haven’t met many women who wanted to read about Herakles battling evil aliens.”

  “You haven’t? You’re either looking for them in the wrong place, or the galaxy is incredibly lame. We still have Herakles, you know. Not so much in comic books, though I’m sure you could find some if you hunted around. We’ve got Spiderman, Batman, and Superman these days. Some women, too, but they usually wear bikini armor or cat suits or something stupid. You can tell guys draw them. My roommate and I made serious comics, but then we also did some where we put the men in our versions of scanty superhero costumes where you could totally see all their muscles and their packages.”

  “Packages?”

  “Did that not translate?” Juanita asked.

  “Not… exactly. Herakles wears full combat armor. So do the female characters. You just can’t go into a battle with bolt bows in a bikini or loincloth, or something will get sizzled off.”

  Loincloth? Hah, she’d known he knew what packages were about.

  “That’s funny to imagine Herakles in modern armor, because our pictures from Greek mythology… well, it seemed your ancestors were actually quite fine with packages on display. But Herakles is great. We had a TV show about him. In your time, is he still doing his twelve labors?”

  “In the early volumes, he does, but they’ve been adapted from the original stories. They all take place on different planets, and he travels through space in his flying chariot.”

  “Awesome. Do you want to read one of our comics one day? I actually have them on my phone in digital format, though it’s awful reading them on such a small screen, but you could get an idea. Oh, but I guess the translator only works on verbal stuff, doesn’t it?”

  He didn’t answer right away, and Juanita blushed. Maybe it was too early to try to foist her stories off on him. She’d learned early in her writing career not to share things with her parents or cousins. They thought her science fiction stories were weird and a waste of time.

  “I bet the engineer, Hierax, could figure out a way to scan them and translate them,” Orion said. “I would enjoy seeing stories that you created. But maybe not the ones where the heroes have prominently displayed packages.�
�� He stroked his hand through her hair.

  “Wow, so prudish. You’re not at all what I expected from a descendant of the Ancient Greeks.”

  “I’m not that prudish, I assure you.” Orion slipped his fingers through her hair to rub her scalp. “Now I want to share some of the Herakles story with you. It’s one of my favorites. Not here, since Sage would get grumpy if my logostec lit up the night, but maybe back on the ship. I could read aloud to you after…”

  “After?”

  “After we discussed packages.”

  “Discussed them or explored them?”

  “Both of those things, yes.” He kissed the top of her head.

  Juanita melted against him, pressing her face to the front of his shoulder and feeling the contours of his body under the vest. The material was like leather, but softer, maybe more akin to suede, despite its sheen. She rubbed her face against it, against him, and inhaled deeply. After the trek and the fight, he smelled of sweat and earth and the woods, and she shouldn’t have found that appealing, but there was a warm indecipherable scent beneath it all, bringing it together, making it distinctly him. Appealingly him.

  She ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders, feeling brazen in the dark, knowing the others couldn’t see. Only he would know what she did.

  At first, he merely held her, but then his own arms shifted, hands moving across her back, rubbing her through the thin fabric of her blouse. Part massage, part exploration, his hands soothed her stiff muscles as they traveled up and down her back. She could feel the heat of his skin, the strength of his grip, and each kneading stroke lit her nerves on fire. An ache started to form deep inside of her, along with the need to have that ache sated.

  This close, there were few secrets, and she grew aware of his penis pressing against her through their clothing. Again, that brazenness filled her, and she had the urge to rise up on her tiptoes so she could rub against him, to press her hot, aching parts against his. He sucked in a breath at the barest movement, and she smiled, delighted that someone like him wanted her. No, not someone. Him. Nobody else. Just him.

  She shifted a hand to the back of his neck, brushing her fingers past the hair that had escaped his knot to grip him there. She brought her lips to the side of his throat and slipped her tongue out to taste him. He was warm and salty, and she instantly craved more. She nuzzled his throat, feeling the muscles and tendons beneath his skin.