by G. E. Stills
Gerik grinned and glanced at Owen. “And which one of us do you desire to go with you?”
“Do I have to choose just one?” she slurred. “I had in mind that both of you would join me. That is unless you don’t think the two of you can keep up with me in bed.”
“Are you sure you want this, Rho’naa? I mean, you’ve had a lot to drink,” Owen said.
“Are you unsure of yourself?” She giggled, and sliding her hips against Owen, forced him to stand. Gerik joined them and taking each of their hands, she led them at an unsteady gate to the private elevator. When they entered the suite, the mouths of both men gaped open. Dropping their hands, she crossed to the bar where she fixed drinks for each of them. When they joined her, she handed them theirs.
“You said you had a room up here, but God damn it, woman, this isn’t a room, this is a luxury suite.” Gerik grinned.
Rho’naa smiled and kicked off her heels. Picking up the remote, she dimmed the lights and changed the color to red. “Let’s get this party going.” Leaning across the bar, she gave each man a brief sloppy kiss then strolled across the room toward the pool. She swayed her hips wildly as she slipped the dress over her head. She tossed it to the side and for a moment turned to face them wearing nothing but a white silk thong.
“I’m in the mood to go swimming.”
The jaw of each man dropped open.
“When you’re done gawking at my boobs, guys, I would love it if you’d join me. Oh, and lose your clothes.” Rho’naa padded the rest of the way across the room and dove into the pool. “Drago,” she ordered. “Counteract the level of alcohol in my system. I don’t want to pass out and miss what’s coming.”
Both men joined her, stripped to their boxers. The water disguised her profuse sweating as Drago increased her metabolism and she flushed the alcohol from her system. She swam to the pool’s clear wall, and holding onto a rail there, gazed out through the glass side at the blazing and flashing lights of the city below. Gerik swam up on her left and Owen on her right. In a short time, her panties and their boxers floated in the pool. Taking turns, she engaged each man in delicious kisses while the other fondled and caressed her.
By the time the two men carried her to the bed to continue having lusty sex with her, she was completely sober.
****
Rho’naa carefully disengaged herself from the two sleeping men on each side of her. She glanced at the clock on the bed stand seeing it was nearly three a.m. Sunday morning. Her vision adjusted and she slipped silent and graceful to the edge of the bed never disturbing either of them. She slipped on her panties, drew on her short pants and slipped the tank top over her head. Silently in the dark, she padded to the couch. She wrote a note thanking each man for a wonderful weekend. She blew each of them a kiss.
“Thanks guys I’ve had a fantastic time. I hope I didn’t wear you out too badly.” Rho’naa smiled slipped on her tennis shoes, picked up her purse, leaving everything she had purchased behind and left the room.
After a short cab ride, she stood waiting at a private door when Earl taxied the jet up on the tarmac outside. On the flight back she unabashedly told him of her adventures and wonderful days and nights of wonton lusty sex she had shared with Gerik and Owen.
Earl drove her back to the transmitter building and she returned to Teelan. She spent the afternoon with her parents telling them about her trip to Vegas while avoiding the part about spending most of the weekend having sex with two men. Rho’naa ducked into the ground car thankful to be done with tearful goodbyes from her mother. The car deposited her in front of the Tormel and she rode an elevator up to the spaceport above.
Going to a boarding gate, she waited and soon the other two cadets joined her. After a brief shuttle ride, they arrived at a waiting spaceship and a robot escorted them to what it termed a briefing room. She and the other cadets seated themselves and discussed their past several day in hushed tones.
“I’m glad to see you’re all here,” Kyra announced, as she entered the rear of the room. “Congratulations on making it to your last week of training.” She strode to the front and paced in front of them. “I trust each of you enjoyed your time off?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they all responded.
“We are onboard the spaceship, Marenom and will soon be underway to Euganta, our final stop. Beginning at O-five-thirty tomorrow, I will be working with each of you as an individual. We will go over the details of your specific mission. Your living quarters are next door. Get a good night’s sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kyra smiled. “Dismissed.”
CHAPTER THREE
Looking up, Rho’naa watched the shuttle dwindle in size as it climbed toward space. Next, she gazed around at her surroundings. Behind her, rocky cliffs climbed ever higher. In front of her, the ground gradually descended to levels of semi arid grassland. From her vantage point, she could see that beyond the grassland were stands of trees, which gradually changed into a forest.
Right on cue, her flightsuit melted away leaving her standing in her underwear. She stepped back between two boulders and into the shadows. Tracing her index finger over her left inner thigh caused the skin to curl apart over a two-inch length. A small capsule dropped out of the implanted compartment into the palm of her hand. Rho’naa repeated the operation tracing her finger over her other thigh. Using her fingertips, she plucked the small square object from its storage compartment. With these two objects removed, she smoothed her skin back into place. No trace remained to mark the existence of the implanted storage compartments.
Six small buttons marked the square object, three on each side. She pressed a sequence and held the item in the palm of her hand. It expanded and changed shape into a deadly survival knife with a curved six-inch blade and finger holes in the base to provide a secure grip. Inside the knife handle were a compass, a wire garrote, a striker for fire and a small tube of instant skin. Next, she pointed one end of the capsule in front of her and squeezed. A small holographic map took form in the air. A flashing blue dot designated her location. Touching her fingertip to a specific location on the map caused that area to expand in diameter and providing more detail.
In the upper right corner of the hologram, at a distance of a hundred kilometers, was a small town. Her ultimate destination and where the captive she came to rescue was being held. She scrolled the hologram to reduced magnification and examined the forest below. Picking out a spot, Rho’naa committed it to memory. Deactivating the map, she replaced the capsule in her thigh storage compartment while retaining the knife in her hand. At a ground-eating pace, she raced through the waist high grass on her way to the forest.
Drago alerted her to the approaching dot in the sky. Rho’naa dropped to her hands and knees then rolled to the side. She came to a halt and smoothed grass over her to hide beneath. A slight scraping of scales alerted her to the reptile beside her.
Local variety of snake, Drago identified the reptile. Poisonous and getting ready to attack, he warned.
The snake was fast, but Rho’naa was faster. Her knife blade intercepted it in mid- strike, severing its head. She grabbed the head and body tossing it to the side and hunkered lower. The dot in the sky resolved into a two-person aircar and dropped in altitude. She was certain the Men-gar in the craft had spotted her movement through the grass. One of the local wildlife about the size of a large dog broke cover as the shadow of the aircar passed over it. Although she couldn’t distinguish the words, she could hear the two men above talking. She remained still until the car regained altitude and faded away in the distance. She exhaled a sigh of relief, obviously the Men-gar/robots had attributed her movement to the animal. Jumping to her feet, Rho’naa raced toward the forest again.
She breathed slightly easier with the forest canopy overhead hiding her from above. After gathering wood for a fire, she hid next to a small stream and waited. Her patience was rewarded when a deer like animal stopped to drink. I
n a blur of motion, Rho’naa slit the animal’s throat and held it to the ground until it bled to death.
Following Drago’s instructions, she soon had an animal pelt to cover her and meat carved for her meal. Seated near the warmth of the crackling fire and wearing animal fur to further shut out the cold, Rho’naa reflected on her younger years.
“Drago access file 7-3-9 for me and keep watch while I study it.”
“Are you certain? You know how emotional you get when you read that.”
“I’m certain. Just do as I ask and keep watch.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Her surroundings faded as her thoughts delved into the file. She wasn’t worried about danger, Drago would provide ample warning should any threats arise. She sank deeper into the file. The scene solidified to one that had taken place a few days after her tenth birthday.
Her mother and father had sat her down in private to tell her a about her past. “Rhody is your father. I am you mother,” Lina said, “In every way save one. I didn’t give birth to you.”
Rho’naa gazed at her mother in stunned silence.
“Your biological mother was named Naa’dia.”
“Where is my mother now?”
“She’s dead.”
“How did she die? Where did she die? Was she a good person? I have so many questions.”
Her mother wrote out a series of numbers and handed the slip of paper to her. “Enter these numbers on your computer and it will allow you access to a stored file. You will find a large amount of information on your biological mother there. I will not tell you more about her. Now that you have the number code you may search the file on the computer and make your own judgments.”
She donned headphones for privacy and entered the numbers. The voice that spoke to her was her father’s, but he was reading her birth mother’s words. The first shock she learned was that her mother had been a Men-gar and not a nice one. Naa’dia grew up in a Men-gar children’s commune. There she had been indoctrinated daily about how the Men-gar were the superior race and all others were to be enslaved or eliminated.
“When I turned sixteen I was inducted into the military and a year later assigned to espionage. I was given an important assignment at eighteen. Infiltrate Earth, find Teelan and cause as much destruction as possible. After a number of operations to perfect my human disguise and enhance me physically, I left on my mission.”
Naa’dia described how she had killed a number of people and destroyed two factories. “It was then I met a woman named Lina. She knew about Teelan and I was determined to obtain her knowledge. She was friendly and kind. She stirred things to life in me that I wasn’t familiar with ––emotions.”
Tears tracked down Rho’naa’s cheeks. From the explanation her father made afterward, she knew the Lina, Naa’dia spoke of, was none other than her mother Lina.
And for that kindness, you nearly destroyed her mind.
Naa’dia had obtained the information she sought and went to Teelan intent on further destruction and espionage. Instead, she had fallen in love with her father. She changed, became more human and less Men-gar. When Uncle Trevor discovered her, she ran and hid in the wilderness.
Naa’dia found out during her self-imposed banishment she was pregnant. She gave birth and in the end summoned Rho’naa’s father and others. She presented the baby and killed herself.
I am that baby, Rho’naa reminded herself. I’m half Men-gar. I might be able to use that to my advantage in this situation.
With the coming of morning, Rho’naa shaved all of her red hair to make herself appear more Men-gar. By late afternoon of the second day, she knelt in the woods just outside the town. With nightfall, she snuck in, and using her enhanced night vision explored until she located where the captive was held.
Rho’naa peeked out from between the curtains of the second story apartment. Behind her, the couple who owned the apartment were sleeping the forever slumber of the dead. She had suffocated both. The complex across the street housed a small fleet of aircars. So far, she had counted four Men-gar there.
From her briefings earlier, she knew the Men-gar robots were not aware of the pending attempt to free the prisoner. They had been programmed to practice normal vigilance. From her clandestine scouting last night, she knew they increased security during the hours of darkness.
That’s why she planned to execute her attempt during mid-morning. After cutting off the bottom three inches of the Men-gar females pants she slipped them on and cinched the over large waistband tight with a belt. The top was doubtless tight on the woman, but fit loose on her. She glanced in the floor length mirror. She was satisfied her clothes would pass distant inspection. Anyone getting close enough to see the clothes are too large or my skin tone is too dark, will be someone I’m going top kill anyway. Quick and bold, she schooled herself.
She crossed the street and ducked into the garage building. She quickly scanned the wall chart just in the door seeing the units were numbered one through fourteen. Next, she glanced at the dozen aircars parked inside.
That means two are out. Okay.
She moved further into the building looking for the employees.
“Hey you.” A Men-gar stepped out of a small room to her left, his arms filled with parts. “You can’t be in here.”
“Fight mode,” she ordered.
Drugs flooded into her system as she dashed with enhanced speed toward the man.
“Me’kar who’s this––”
She drove the edge of her hand knife like into his throat silencing his beginning summons. Next, she drove her knee into his groin. He dropped the parts and doubled over. Grabbing his head, she twisted, snapping his neck. His crash to the floor sounded loud to her enhanced hearing.
Another Men-gar came into the room. “Did you call me?”
He had no chance to react as she raced up to him. He joined his companion, dead on the floor. This Men-gar carried a beam-pistol. Quickly she removed it and slung the holster over her shoulder. She systematically searched each of the four remaining doors, looking for the remaining employees. She found three in an office behind the last door. She shot all three dead before they even knew she was there.
She climbed into the first craft and studied the control panel. She grinned when she saw it was similar in design to ones she was used to. She grasped the start button and using her increased strength, ripped it out of the dash. While watching the entrance door for intruders, she disabled all the vehicles except two.
Rho’naa loaded the bodies of two Men-gar on the garage floor into a car. She programmed the autopilot to fly the craft to the edge of town and disabling the avoidance control, programmed it to crash into the tallest building there. She sent it on its way to destruction and leapt into the remaining aircar.
She glanced at the watch she had liberated from one of the Men-gar. Fifteen minutes had elapsed so far. While everyone’s attention is on the crash, I’ll be freeing the captive.
After shooting the guard there, she set the car down on the rooftop landing spot. She took the elevator down to the basement. When the door opened, she shot the man standing in front of it and pulled his body into the elevator entrance to prevent the doors from closing.
She dashed down the hall and burst in the door for the incarceration room taking both of the armed guards by surprise. She shot both and removed the master cell door card from one. When she threw open the cell door the human shaped robot there stood facing her in programmed shock.
“We’re leaving here one of two ways,” she said to him. “You can either come with me and follow my instructions quickly, or we can leave with you unconscious over my shoulder.”
“I’ll follow you.”
Rho’naa retraced her steps to the elevator, shoved the dead body from the entrance and punched in their destination. She stood to one side as the doors slid closed. From h
er earlier scouting, she knew there were other Men-gar on floors one and two. She just hoped the elevator wouldn’t stop at one of them.
“Kneel down behind me,” she ordered.
She breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator doors opened on the rooftop. They scrambled into the aircar and she guided it manually toward the outskirts of town opposite the crash sight. When they left town, she dropped in altitude hugging the ground and shoved the accelerator lever to full speed. She glanced at her watch. “Thirty minutes. Not too bad.”
When they were twenty miles from town, she told Drago, “Okay contact Marenom. Tell them mission accomplished and to come get us.”
Seconds later Drago answered, “Done.”
A shuttle from the swooped down from the sky and met them at the designated location. When she boarded the Marenom and after a brief stop to change clothes, she reported as ordered to a conference room. Kyra, beaming with pride waited there. Rho’naa came to stiff attention.
“At ease,” Kyra said. “Congratulations Cadet Rho’naa for completing your test. Not only did you complete it, but you did so in record time.” Kyra shook her head and smiled. “You were allowed two weeks to accomplish your task. You did it in three days. I should have expected it because you are, after all, my granddaughter.”
Rho’naa allowed the briefest smile to touch her lips before letting it fade away once more.
Kyra attached a pin of unique design to each of her collars. “You are no longer a cadet, but instead you are now a member of an elite force outside military jurisdiction. Although you have no military rank, all military personal are your subordinates including admirals and generals. You are answerable only to me or those I personally assign. Your education and abilities far outshine anyone not of this elite unit.”
Pride of accomplishment flooded through her then the gravity and responsibility of her position dampened the fire some.
“You are hereby on leave awaiting further orders. Dismissed.” Kyra stepped forward, hugged her then spun her around to face the door. “When we get back to Teelan, go get that hamburger and get laid.” Kyra clapped her on the shoulder and pushed her toward the door.
