“You’re sure you want to do this?”
“I’m sure that I have no choice. It’s only a matter of time before you try to sell me off to your precious Academy again,” I growled.
She hesitated slightly. My words, it seemed, hurt her. It was nice to know that there was still some part of her that was capable of being hurt. I tried not to feel bad about it. She was getting ready to wipe the floor with my sorry ass, and here I was feeling bad for making her feel like shitty friend.
The door opened behind me, and she froze. I didn’t have to look to tell who it was.
“Carry on, I only came to observe,” said Rakesh.
“Commander, I –”
“I am not here as your Commander. I am here as your brother and the mate of Diem,” he said, removing the insignia from his uniform.
“Why don’t you try to talk some sense into her? She is going to get herself killed like this. She can’t just charge around the Empire challenging anybody who doesn’t treat her like a goddess!”
“Maybe, or maybe that’s exactly what she will have to do. All I know is that some things are worth fighting for. She has decided that if you don’t fight her, you will never respect her. And so, I am here to watch as she fights for her dignity and respect, because I am her mate, and that is what I owe her.”
“What about me?” The pleading in her voice was sharp and piercing.
“What about you?”
“What about what you owe me? I know I made a mistake, but I don’t deserve –”
“YOU TRIED TO SELL MY SOUL!” The strange reverb in his voice let me know that his other side was close to the surface. Both sides spoke as one being.
“And so now what? Fight?” Her tail hovered somewhere near the floor, moving very slowly. Her shoulders were slumped forward in defeat.
“Make it honorable,” he said.
P’tah looked at her brother with pleading eyes and took a deep breath. She fell into her fighting stance, blade at the ready. There was none of the joy or sport in this duel. None of us wanted to be here. There was no sweetness in victory, no matter who won. But there was no other way. It was the Troitek way.
“Begin,” Rakesh said.
I reacted before I had time to think. My reflexes were still much faster than they had been. I launched myself at P’tah, targeting the soft flash along her belly. She blocked several blows in succession before bringing her fist down hard on my back. It landed like a boulder on my back and forced me to roll to the side to avoid another punch.
I didn’t allow myself a moment to think. I let the weeks of training compel me. I swung at her knees, knocking her off balance. She stumbled, and I didn’t hesitate to strike again, crossing my hands in a scissor move, using the flat side of one blade on her head and the other striking the same knee again. She buckled and struck out at me in anger, the blade in her hand barely missing my shoulder.
I went in for another strike and got caught by the barb on her tail, scoring my side. The pain stole my breath for a moment, but I didn’t allow it to deter me. I was fighting for my life and my freedom. I spun around behind her, adopting a move I once saw in a kung-fu movie. With her flank exposed, I drove my blade into her side, where her kidneys would be if she were human. She screamed but didn’t seem in any way diminished, just mad as hell.
She spun around, raining down a volley of blows on my head. I felt the world get dim as the blunt trauma threatened to rob me of consciousness. I had to do something. Even if I was going to die, I was going to get my pound of flesh.
I waited until she raised her fist and then I struck, driving my blade up into her armpit, yanking the blade out quickly and then stabbing upward again. This time I was less worried about where the blow landed. Again, and again, I drove the blade up, determined to die fighting, proving that I was a person. Not a toy. Not a slave. Not a specimen. Just like the humans on Earth that I was trying to save, I wouldn’t go quietly.
It wasn’t until I heard the thud of her body hitting the ground that I realized that I wasn’t dead. I turned my head to see P’tah lying next to me, her shirt covered in blood.
“I need a medical team to the lab,” Rakesh said. He walked over and squatted, protectively, beside his sister.
“Did I win?” I whispered.
“Yes, Diem, you won,” he said. He didn’t sound happy about it. I didn’t feel victorious either.
“Are you going to forgive me now?” P’tah sounded like a small child, begging her parents. I looked into her pinkish eyes.
“I already had them on alert. They’re on the way, Commander,” Puva’s voice assured us through the comm.
“You knew?” I asked P’tah.
“Was there any other way?”
“You could’ve just said you were sorry,” I said. Guilt crashed over me.
“Would you have believed me?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“You are much more Troitek than you know. I believe you are the only savior for your people, Diem. And you might teach us all a thing or two.”
“But you didn’t have to sacrifice yourself.”
“I didn’t. You won,” she said with a sad smile.
“A victory over you is no victory at all… my friend.”
The Healers came in and gingerly lifted P’tah into a stasis bed and wheeled her away. Rakesh’s face remained unreadable as he watched them wheel her away.
“I’m sorry,” I said. Tears stung my eyes, but I struggled to keep them to from falling.
“Do not be sorry, Diem. You were magnificent. I never knew you could fight like that. You caught her off guard and unaware. That is the risk you take when you accept a challenge. She is wounded, but not gravely so. She will recover, and the rift that divided us will heal. You did nothing to be sorry for.”
He crouched down and lifted my body off the floor. My side still ached, but the nanites were hard at work. There was almost none of my blood on the ground, and I knew that by the following cycle my wound would be healed. No medical team necessary.
“Rakesh, I think…”
“Do not speak, Little Flame. I cannot handle it,” he said. He dipped his head and stroked the top of my head with his chin.
The crew members stared as they passed us in the corridors. I tried to shield my bloodied side away from their prying eyes by pulling my tunic tighter to my body.
“It isn’t your wounds that they are looking at,” Rakesh said.
“Then what?” I groaned at the thought of making another faux pas.
“It is me. A warrior does not behave this way,” he said.
“Carrying wounded females around isn’t chivalrous?”
“No female would tolerate being treated so. And no male would so openly favor one female above others,” he said.
“Oh.”
He carried me back to my quarters and helped me change out of my bloodied clothes, bathe, and eat. Satisfied that I was well on my way to healing, he placed me in my sleeping pod with an order to rest. I agreed, happily, dimming the lights and settling in for a nap. Rakesh laid out a new uniform for me and made his way to my door. Before leaving, he looked back at me, his tall, masculine form outlined in the dull glow of the corridor’s lights.
“I miss the sound of your breathing in my quarters, Diem. I know that this courtship is important to you. That is the only reason why I tolerate it. But, I suffer without you. I suffer when you are harmed. We suffer with you, Little Flame.”
He left before I had the chance to respond, and I was left alone with my thoughts. How did I get here? Who was I? We would be on Troiken in two cycles. I would step off this ship where I was becoming a person to be reckoned with and become nobody again. If I didn’t know who I was, how could I ever hope to succeed? How could I protect the people that I cared about? My planet? My love?
I didn’t sleep at all, but my body recovered quickly. In just under three risings I felt refreshed and, save the ache in my side, good as new.
&
nbsp; I decided to go down to the med bay and visit P’tah. I dressed quickly and made my way through the corridors. As I passed, several crew members stopped to stare. After the third time, I pegged a young-looking warrior to the wall.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Haven’t you ever see me before?”
“Sava, I didn’t mean to offend,” he whimpered.
“Then what?”
I looked at him and at the others who stopped to watch. Their eyes darted back and forth between my stern face and their feet.
“We are just wondering, Sava,” said a female.
“Wondering what?”
“Wondering, how you and the Commander… how you-”
“Copulate. We heard that you copulate, physically, I mean,” said the warrior, still standing against the wall.
“Sex? Don’t you understand how to have sex?”
“We know in theory but, there are things we are confused about.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe what they were asking. Did they want me to explain the ins and outs of sexual relations?
“I mean, how do you know when he’s interested? And who initiates? And how do you know who is the appropriate partner? And then, how do you know when to stop?”
“How do you choose partners?” I asked.
“It’s a negotiation. Two interested parties come together to see if an offspring would be in their mutual interest, and then there is the genetic testing –” the female said.
“Genetic testing?”
“Yes, to determine the health and strength of your progeny.”
“Oh,” I was mystified.
“Well, procreation is organic on Earth. I mean, as long as your partner is in good health, we just let nature take its course.”
“But what about genetic diseases, and deformities?” The female looked disgusted by the idea. The males leaned closer with interest.
“They happen, but even people with disabilities contribute to society,” I argued.
They all looked shocked by the idea.
“Look, the thing is, we let our instincts and our hormones do a lot of the thinking for us. Of course, there’s social and cultural stuff that you have to navigate, and personal stuff you need to negotiate. But that’s why we date.”
“Date?”
“It's a semi-formal courtship process where two interested parties decide whether or not they can live with each other for life. When you find somebody you think you can’t live without, you settle down, get married, and have some kids. That’s the plan at least. It doesn’t always work out that way,” I tried to explain quickly.
“How long does that take?”
I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hip. At this rate, I’d be here all day answering questions.
“Listen, I would love to talk to you longer about this, but I need to visit somebody. I’ll be at main meal on the next cycle. Why don’t we talk more then?”
The young Troiteks looked back and forth at each other and then nodded. I removed my forearms from the young warrior’s chest, and the group walked away, talking quietly amongst themselves in hushed tones. I was positive that the few words I said would make their way all over the ship before the next rising.
I shook my head and continued on my way, feeling slightly less agitated and completely dazed by the experience. All eyes turned on me as I entered the medical bay. I spotted P’tah immediately and made my way over to her bed.
“You look better,” I said.
“You look worried.”
“I’m pretty sure I just became your planet’s sex goddess on my way here.”
She looked like she was about to laugh, but her smile quickly turned to a grimmace and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
“What did you do this time?”
“I don’t know really, but I’m sure it’ll be fun.”
I smiled as she struggled to keep her laughter from ripping open her wound.
“That looks like it’s going to leave a scar,” I said softly.
“Yeah, but how many people get to say Troiken’s goddess of sex has stabbed them?”
She smiled back at me, licking her lips with a tongue that was just a little too long to be human. I had to admit; it felt good to have my friend back again.
Chapter Twelve
The low purring woke me. I pressed my naked skin against Rakesh’s warm body. Our legs were intertwined and his body cradled mine.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on duty?” I asked.
“I am discovering why the elders feared this kind of mating.”
“Feared?”
“It causes disorder and violence. It is hard for a male to behave justly and rationally once bound to a female in this way. Even I want to become neglectful of my duties to stay with you.” He ran his large, rough hand down the length of my back.
“Is that why you called me?” I turned my face up to his.
“It is. I am searching for equilibrium.”
“Don’t feel bad. Even human males have a hard time finding balance. Love makes people do crazy things.”
“I am not human.”
“And you’re not an average Troitek either,” I said.
“I have heard that you will tell the crew about human mating habits.”
I nodded.
“How much will you tell them?”
“I won’t tell them details about our relationship if that’s what you’re asking. I’ll speak about how things generally go. I am hoping the P’tah can give them some research to read so that I don’t have to get into the mechanics of breeding,” I said.
“Be careful. There is already talk about how your presence here is eroding traditional Troitek values,” he said.
I could feel the tension in his body as he spoke.
“Are you afraid?”
“I worry about you, Diem. You are too ignorant. You take too many chances,” he said.
“That’s what they said about you. This young Commander is too brash,” I teased.
“That is why I don’t lock you in your quarters. I understand you too well, Little Flame.”
“So, you let me run amok on your ship?”
“No, I give you space to make your name. I gave you this name, Diem, but it is up to you to make it worth something,” he said, hugging my body against his chest.
“How am I doing so far?”
“My crew respects me, but you are beloved to them.”
“Beloved?” It was such an old-fashioned word; I had a hard time applying it.
“You are a contagion. You have stirred up something in them that it is powerful. They are more than shipmates. They are all witnesses to something great. That has brought them together in a way I have not seen except amongst warriors who have gone into battle together. It is hard to explain, but we are all changing. The connections between us are different. This will present a challenge. I am not sure that any of us know how to handle what comes next.”
I smoothed his wrinkled brow with my thumbs and snuggled in closer. The purring immediately resumed, and I let the soft rumble soothe my nerves.
“What about Earth?”
“We will do what we can. First, we must survive both the Crown and the Council,” he said.
“We aren’t alone in this fight anymore, Rakesh. We have the whole crew.”
“That is what worries me even more,” he admitted.
I laced my fingers through his flaming red hair and let the moments tick away.
“Commander,” Puva’s voice buzzed from his comm panel. “You are needed in Comms.”
“Duty calls,” I mumbled.
“On my way,” Rakesh barked, heaving himself up from the bed.
I watched him dress and leave without looking back at me. I stayed snuggled in that spot until all the warmth had escaped the mattress. Then I reluctantly bathed and dressed, taking special care to carry my blades. They were becoming as much a part of my body as my hair or my fingernails. More importantly, since my fight with P
’tah, my reputation as a formidable warrior in my own right was growing. Despite being small, and human, and weak, I was not defenseless.
As important as demonstrations of strength were between humans, they were even more important among the Troitek. I would need that kind of credibility if I hoped to survive the power struggle between the Council and Crown or to ever see Earth again.
P’tah was already in the lab by the time I arrived.
“You just don’t know how to rest, do you?”
She jumped at the sound of my voice and spun around, glowing tablet in her hand.
“What’s that?”
“This? I don’t know yet,” she said, her brows knitting together. It was obvious that she hadn’t spent much time resting in her quarters. The beads and earrings that Troitek females wore were missing. She looked like a wreck.
“So, what do you think it is?”
“I think my nanites have developed a mind of their own.”
“What? Is that a bad thing?”
“No, I mean, they are still doing what we designed them to do. They are still helping you to be able to breathe and function in this environment, but it seems like when I updated them to help you learn the language, they got smarter too. Now they are making enhancements according to your needs.”
“So?”
“To put it simply, you are becoming more Troitek,” she pushed a huge weight in front of me. “Pick that up.”
I shrugged and reached down, fully expecting not to be able to get it off the ground. As soon as I planted my feet and exerted myself, it was clear that something had changed. The weight not only came up off of the ground but I was able to deadlift the heavy metal brick. It wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination, but it was possible.
I dropped it almost immediately and looked at P’tah in amazement.
“What the hell?”
“I think the nanites sensed your stress over the last few days and compensated with additional muscle fibers and nerve endings. You haven’t noticed that your body is changing?”
“Yeah, but I thought that it was just all the training and the special diet you had me on,” I confessed.
“I first thought something was strange when you bested L’rna. You shouldn’t have been able to move that fast or slice that cleanly. Even with the enhancements, severing a hand at the wrist is very difficult. But I was sure something was off when you bested me.” She sat down in her chair and rubbed the sore side. “I don’t mind saying that I’m a pretty good fighter. But you surprised me. I hit you hard, and you didn’t pass out. Not only that but you were able to recover.”
A Pet For The Commander: The Complete Series Page 17
