“Is she well?” Cyndora asked with a sob.
Crineal nodded. “She was very helpful at finding just the right gift once I explained who it was for.”
Cyndora threw her arms around him in a flood of tears. “Thank you, Crin. I couldn’t have asked for a better present.” Crineal held her as she wept. Finally, Cyndora quieted and sat back looking at the precious card.
“Better put it somewhere safe, Love. Don’t want it to get damaged on our travels.” He reached out and wiped away the tears with his thumb. She smiled at him with all of her love, knowing that their future was together.
Epilogue
A silver-haired man sat at a desk in a luxurious office. Everything from the fine décor, to the genuine wood shelves and the antique books that filled them screamed wealth and power. He studied a series of reports on the holo screens in front of him in grim silence. The documents came direct from Space Corps HQ and detailed the attack on the rebel base at Larahope. The carnage wrought on the rebel forces as described therein was nothing short of appalling and he found very little in any of the individual reports to offer him much cheer. The awful reality appeared to be that the base was a total loss and the mobile forces had been completely wiped out. Scrolling through a few more pages the expression on his face became more troubled at some of the details missing from the reports, particularly those concerned with any intelligence finds. Finally he shut the screens off and sat staring into space, wondering how such a major attack had taken place without him hearing anything of it beforehand. In the past his sources had always managed to give him a heads up and avert total disaster. This time they had failed and the results had been catastrophic. His mind had picked out a few relevant pieces of information though, Lord Sar’Clax and General Crineal seemed to be deeply involved in what had happened and between them they had bypassed the usual channels of information and Space Corps general staff. The silver-haired man found himself tapping a finger in irritation on the surface of his exquisitely polished desk as he wondered what else was being kept from him. At last he opened up a new screen and typed out a message naming a time and date for a meeting. He added the four recipient’s code names to the message before running it through an encryption program and sending it off via a secure channel; a channel so secure that it would have made the officers in fleet intelligence blink had they known of it. With that done he shut the screen down to leave empty air in front of him once more. The others weren’t going to be happy about this series of events and someone was going to pay for it, he thought. Two names sprang to mind immediately and he fervently hoped that they could find a way to get to them.
Preview of Imperial Citizen – The Crineal Chronicles Volume Two
Walking down the white coated corridor towards the recreation dorm gave Cyndora an odd feeling. It had been just three months since she had first arrived on board the Annihilator as a new recreation assistant with a twenty five year tour of duty stretching in front of her. An eternity of virtual slavery and degradation had been waiting to fill Cyndora’s’ days. The ship back then had looked like a prison to her. And then a miracle had happened. Cyndora remembered the panic she had felt as they had marched her out of the rec area to be assigned to a general, the feelings of dread building inside her as she awaited his arrival fearfully, followed by her shock at finding out that the general was in fact an old friend.
Their first week together had been stormy but soon they were deeply in love. Now the Annihilator felt a little bit like home and here she was going to the rec dorm for a visit with her friends before leaving with Crineal for a visit to the imperial capital. It would be the last time she saw them for a few weeks so she was determined to make the most of it. Cyndora patted her bulging purse as she entered a corridor with a green stripe on the wall indicating the recreation section and headed to the standards dormitory. She’d left Crineal making the last arrangements for the transfer of his duties whilst they were away from the ship. As he was the Annihilators flight group commander this meant a lot of work that needed to be delegated and he had been tapping away at his data pad furiously when she stepped out of their quarters, leaving him to work in peace. Finally Cyndora arrived at the dorm and immediately spotted one of her friends, Xianing. The tall oriental looking woman waved at her as she entered, a smile lifting her rosebud lips.
“Hey Cyndy. I hear you’re going travelling?” Xianing said as she hugged the redhead.
Cyndora laughed as she hugged the taller woman in return. “I see the rumor mill still works fast. We leave tomorrow for a few weeks so I thought I’d come and say goodbye to you all.”
Xianing stepped back to look down at her friend. Being a galactic gave her a good six inches height advantage over the Earth born Cyndora.
“No one can believe that a rec assistant is actually leaving the ship for a trip. It’s never happened before that anyone can remember. Everyone here is excited for you and wondering if others might get the same chance.” Xianing grinned infectiously. “It’s like we have a little hope again. Plus the regular crew is treating us all much better.” She gave Cyndora a little kiss on the lips “And we have you and the general to thank for it.”
The redhead blushed a little. “Awww, it’s mostly the general but thank you Xian.” She looked around the dorm. “Are Jay and Marsh here?”
The oriental looking woman shook her head, her long black hair billowing behind her “No, they are on duty at the moment, but their shift is due to finish in a few.” The pair moved to Xianing’s’ bed and sat down.
“Oh I brought you some more of that lipstick you like. To keep you going whilst I’m away.” Cyndora reached into her purse and tugged out two small tubes along with a couple of chocolate bars. “And I thought you might like these too,” she said with a grin at her friend.
Xianing grinned back at her. “If only you knew what I would have done for chocolate and lipstick a few months ago. You’re spoiling me you know, unless you’re trying to buy my services?” she teased, arching her back and puckering her lips suggestively.
“XIAN!” exclaimed Cyndora blushing furiously.
Her friend gave out a little trilling laugh. “I’m messing with you Cyndy.” Then she smiled wickedly at Cyndora “I’m always willing to make you happy for free my shenou.” Xianing had told her that ‘shenou’ was a term of endearment from her planet that roughly meant ‘little one’. Cyndora blushed some more as she was well aware that her friend was naturally bi-sexual even though she was fairly sure that Xianing only saw her as a good friend. “You’re so cute when you blush.” Xianing threw her head back and laughed again.
Cyndora was saved from further embarrassment by a shout from the far end of the dorm. “Girlfriend!” Jaydea ran across the room to give the redhead a hug. She took a look at her friends’ bright scarlet face. “Has Xian been teasing you again?” The moon faced woman gave Jaydea her best innocent expression as the dusky skinned Marshalla ambled up behind Jaydea.
“Hey Cyndy. How’s it goin’?” Marshalla asked giving Xianing a mock stern glare.
“I’m good thanks Marsh. Just came to say goodbye before my trip.” Cyndora said smiling up at Marshalla.
“Yeah, wow, we heard about that. You’re really going to see the emperor?” Jaydea asked with a wide eyed look of amazement.
Cyndora laughed. “No, I’m just travelling with Crin. I don’t think I’ll ever be meeting the emperor. I can see the news casts now ‘Recreation assistant meets with his Imperial Majesty. Palace is now being fumigated following the audience’. ” She shook her head wryly and the other three laughed at her self-deprecating expression. Recreation assistants were hardly considered members of polite society.
Her fellow Earther grinned at her. “I guess not. Still, you are getting away from here and that’s just awesome. I’m so excited for you.”
“I’m excited too. And I get to spend some nice snuggle time with Crin.” The four women giggled conspiratorially. “Oh, and I brought you a few goodies for you as well
.” Xianing blew her a little kiss as she gave Jaydea and Marshalla the makeup pieces and chocolate that she had brought for them. Jaydea and Marshalla hugged her in thanks.
“Gonna be weird travelling dressed in uniform I bet.” Marshalla nodded at the very short white toga dress that all assistants wore.
“You really think Crin would let me travel like this?” Cyndora chuckled as she indicated her short toga dress with a wave of her hand. “I’ve been shopping and have a suitcase full of travelling clothes.” Actually over half of their luggage space contained her new outfits. She had tried to pack a minimum for herself but Crineal insisted that she make sure she had plenty of choice and in the end Cyndora spent more than a few hours at the replicator picking out clothes for the trip.
Jaydea pouted at her. “Now I’m jealous. I wish we could have some proper clothes to wear. Even just for around the dorm would be nice.”
Cyndora nodded in sympathy with her friend. “Yeah, although I have to admit that I only wear shorts and a sleeveless top when I’m in our quarters. Anything heavier is just uncomfortable.” Being on board a space ship meant that the usual concerns about local climate didn’t apply to clothing considerations. The temperature was maintained at a constant level.
“I guess.” Jaydea replied thoughtfully. “But the choice would be nice. So how long are you going to be away?”
“Crin says the trip there will take nine days and we’re booked in at a hotel for a week in Caradon City near to the palace and then I guess about the same time back. It kinda depends on where we’ll have to meet back up with the Annihilator.”
“Wow, a whole month on vacation. Unbelievable.” Jaydea shook her head.
Cyndora tried her best to look wounded. “Excuse me! It’s not a vacation. I’ll still be working hard as an assistant and seeing to the generals’ comfort and pleasure. Oh the shameful things I’ll be subjected to just to satisfy his sordid whims,” she wailed plaintively. Her three friends broke out in gales of laughter and Cyndora was unable to maintain her pose.
“Poor you.” Xianing smiled. “All those long nights of having to share his bed and being oh so dreadfully used. How will you cope?”
They all knew how Crineal and Cyndora felt about each other and kept the secret to themselves. Cyndora was pretty certain that Colonel Strieger and probably 1st Lieutenant Feldea knew too. But they seemed to be keeping it quiet as well. The truth was that although Cyndora and Crineal shared the same bed and were very much in love they still hadn’t fully consummated their relationship despite lots of very heavy petting. Crineal was extremely conscious of her feelings and was allowing her time to mentally heal. The next step would be all her choice whenever she felt ready. His tenderness towards her just made Cyndora love him all the more. The four assistants spent the next few hours chatting and giggling together before Cyndora hugged and kissed them all goodbye, promising to send them a holo-card from the capital. Then she made her way back to the cabin she shared with Crineal.
Note to the Reader
I hope you’ve enjoyed this book, I can tell you that it’s been a blast writing it. After this book was released I had people ask for more about certain characters. Some have roles in the next book, like Xianing, Marshalla and Saphya and these ladies will also feature in future stories. Personally, Xianing is one of my favorite characters besides Crineal and Cyndora. We’ll see Anddav make another appearance along with some new characters heading for some big roles in the future. So let me know if you want to read more about any particular people and if there’s enough demand I’d like to expand on their stories as I did with the prelude tale: Natoyah’s Story on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/InHerasService (You’ll have to read the free story there to find out who Natoyah is).
But whether you liked or disliked In Hera’s Service, I would ask you to submit a review. Reviews are vital for authors. Not only can they tell us how well our works are received but also where we might make improvements. They also help other readers determine if they too might want to read this book, or not. A review will only take a few minutes of your time but it will be greatly appreciated. You can find my books at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0095PW0DG . Please e-mail me at [email protected] if you have any questions or comments. I’d love to hear from you.
Raymond L Jennings
About The Author
Raymond Jennings was born and raised in England. He studied Applied Physics at Lancashire Polytechnic and worked in the British civil service for twenty years before moving to Tucson, Arizona where he now lives with his wife and their two cats.
His interests include science (with a special emphasis on space exploration), military history, war-gaming (most notably Advanced Squad Leader) and travelling.
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