by Juno Wells
Before the man could speak, Captain Drake’s voice came over their com. “My name is Captain Drake of the deep-space vessel Eden Twelve. We join our pilot in giving thanks for your intervention.”
The man’s facial expression morphed into one of distaste. “Do you wish to negotiate breeding rights … with me?”
Without missing a beat, the captain responded politely. “No, thank you, Lord Lod. I have a female and several children already, so nothing could be further from my mind.”
Lod’s shoulders relaxed and his expression reverted to something approaching normal. “We are pleased to see your lovely female removed from danger. Since you have already established breeding rights, do you have other needs we could meet? We could assist with repairs to your vessel if you like.”
Grace watched the captain’s expression go from wary to keenly interested. “Yes, we would like to establish trade with the Davarian people.”
“We have never encountered your kind before.” Sneaking a quick glance at Grace, Lod adds, “We do find your people breed worthy.”
Grace finally remembered what she’d read about the Davarian. They are an ancient species primarily interested in enhancing their failing bloodlines. That must be what all the talk about breeding rights was about.
“We are a human vessel bound from Earth. Our mission is deep-space exploration with the intent to found a new home world. We would very much like to meet your people, experience a cultural exchange, and perhaps be introduced to other sentient species in this sector of space. You are very welcome aboard our vessel at your leisure where we can speak in person.”
After some careful consideration, Lod responded. “Davarians are not particularly interested in cultural exchange. We are interested in procuring females. Do you have concubitant or concupiscent females you are willing to sell or trade?”
Grace recognized the terminology as straight from their welcome database. These aliens had picked out the exact language to describe females who might be interested in becoming their sexual partners. That was quick and targeted, she thought wryly.
Captain Drake tilted his head, clearly trying to wrap his mind around what the alien was asking him. It sounded an awful lot to Grace like he was saying they were looking to buy women. That was, of course, absurd.
Before the captain could respond, Commander West interjected, “He is looking for females who want to be married or females who enjoy sexual activity with males.”
Captain Drake articulated his words to Lod very clearly. “I am sorry. We do not have spare females on our vessel at this time. If you will return my pilot, I would appreciate it. Miss Grace has family who wish to see her again.”
The alien practically growled his reply. “Davarians do not return ingénue young females. You exploited this female in a most offensive manner. Females are not expendable in battle, but rather are to be protected at all costs. You do not deserve to have her back. She stays with us, where she will be safe.”
Oh hell no. This situation was getting out of control fast. Grace placed her hand gently on the man’s arm. “I wish to return to my vessel, please sir. We do require assistance with repairs. Perhaps I can spend time visiting with you and your crew, while the repairs are made. You all seem like honorable men.”
Lord Lod’s eyes jumped from the hand resting on his arm to her face. Grace could see the moment he caved, because his head bowed slightly and he murmured, “Your wish is my command, Lady Grace.”
Turning to the view screen, he addressed the captain directly. “I will come aboard your vessel, with a dozen of my men. We will assist with the repairs to your vessel. If need be, we will tow you to the docking port in orbit around the Davarian home world.”
“We are grateful for your assistance today and the offer of trade between our peoples.”
Lod dipped his head slightly, “Let us part on good terms. We have no quarrel with humans, and it would not be appropriate to leave you drifting in space, with so many vulnerable females on board.”
This guy was totally preoccupied with women. Captain Drake turned a wary eye to his newest adversary. “We will expect you within the hour.”
2 New Alliances
Grace
Grace walked around Davaria Prime with her sisters. Roaming the city with an appointed escort was her reward for what the captain called a heroic deed. He was referring to her willingness to sacrifice herself to save others, but it was well known that her rescue had led to them being offered the hand of friendship by the Davarians. Come to find out, they were the people to know in this sector of space. Grace was the always the odd person out. The one person usually thinking and doing unexpected things, the kind that normally got her into trouble. But not this time! This time she’d been rewarded for thinking outside the box.
Going from questioning if there was intelligent life on other planets to meeting and making friends with aliens was a breathtaking leap forward for mankind. Their last few years had been filled with brief meetings in space with several other species, but they’d never had the opportunity to visit a human friendly planet before.
Grace could remember seeing the first of the huge deep-space resettlement vessels leaving Earth’s space port on her family’s live stream feed when she was in grade school. Now, twenty years later, humans had pushed into deep space in search of a new Earth.
Awed to be standing with her feet planted firmly on an alien world for the first time, Grace couldn’t believe her luck. It was more amazing than she’d dared to dream, with the intricate skyscrapers spiraling up into the clouds, bright red grass, and aliens bustling around in the pale pink sunlight.
Some of the crew claimed that aliens look strange to them. I don’t think they look odd at all, Grace thought. They all had vastly different forms and faces, and she was fascinated by every single one of them. Her eyes darted around taking in all the new sights, as her body practically vibrated with excitement. The best part was having both her sisters at her side to share this adventure of a lifetime.
Glancing from Dakota to her youngest sister, Mia, she smiled at the wonder on their faces. Suddenly, they both looked straight up. Grace shaded her eyes and turned her face to the sky as well. Her mouth dropped open at the sight of several males with wings soaring through the air. They weren’t wearing shirts, meaning all their mouthwatering muscles were on full display. The sun glinted off their massive metal wings. Grace is shocked that these aliens have devices that enable them to fly like birds in the sky. Even at a distance, it was easy to make out that their biceps were bulging and their torsos were twisting to catch a globe. The dozen or so males were clearly engaged in some kind of sport that involved flying into each other, grabbing the other team members by the foot and flinging them far away from the game. They were kind of vicious with each other, and when the one with long dark hair raised the globe above his head, everyone in the vicinity cheered wildly.
Their guide’s voice sounded off quietly from behind. “Do you wish that I should call them down for you to inspect?” She sounded so matter of fact that Grace almost thought she was serious. Lord Lod’s niece was as accommodating as she was knowledgeable.
Before she could come up with an appropriate response to Nayla’s offer, Dakota said, “Heck yeah, I’d love to ‘inspect’ them.” Though Dakota made little quotation marks around the word “inspect” with her fingers to stress the strangeness of the term, Nayla clearly didn’t understand. The part Dakota didn’t understand and that our nice appointed guide didn’t mention was that males are typically inspected prior to a woman’s offer to negotiate for breeding rights, so I anticipate this being all kinds of awkward.
Poor Mia’s eyes found Grace’s. Her expression was mortified. Clearly her gut was telling her this was a bad idea as well. Unfortunately, our guide was already flashing her handheld communication device at them. A reflection glinted off the globe they were now all tossing back and forth. Suddenly, the entire group looked down at us all at once. Though their faces are totally blank, Grace got
the feeling they were angry at being summoned. Maybe it was the way their wings jerked back slightly.
Moments later, they were all diving down with their wings held out to catch the breeze. Maybe they were gliding—that sounded about right. The women stepped back to make room for them, and the one who held the globe over his head stepped forward. “You summoned us. How can we be of service?”
They all gazed at Nayla. Her long black hair blew gently in the light breeze, and the sun cast a pale pink tint across her skin. Her large dark eyes were almost the size of a fist. Grace remembered the last time she got into a fight with Dakota, and how her sister punched her in the eye. She got grounded, and Grace walked around with a black eye for a couple of weeks. If anyone hit Nayla in the eye, it would have probably punched her eyeball out.
Then again, maybe she had sparring skills no one knew about. She was about a foot taller than Grace, but the huge winged males made her look small by comparison. Apparently, the size difference didn’t intimidate her because she answered his question without hesitation. “Tracor, the humans wish to inspect you.”
Tucking his wings behind his back, he glanced around before turning back to her. “I have no wish to be inspected by these new aliens,” he replied blandly.
Her voice turned sharp. “They are curious about out kind, and our Queen has commanded that we accommodate their wishes.”
“Our Queen’s reign has been long, and her wisdom has seen us through many trying times. It is an honor to follow her orders.” Shooting us a withering glance he adds, “Even if it means humbling ourselves before lesser beings.” He took a step closer to us.
Dakota’s voice quietly warned, “The captain said for us to play nice. Don’t screw up your first away mission. If you do, it’ll be a long time before you see land again.”
Grace knew which way the wind was blowing in this situation and quickly realized that her sister was right. Mister tall, dark, and gorgeous was a bit of a prick, and she wasn’t about to let him drag them into any kind of incident between humans and the Davarians. Rather than telling him off like she’d like to do, she decided to keep it polite. “We’re sorry to bother you. The game you were playing looked interesting, and we’d like to ask the victor to explain a little about it.” Giving people the opportunity to talk about their interests had always been a winner before. With luck, mister pompous would take the bait and drone on about his favorite sport until he forgot he was pontificating to supposedly lower life forms.
When his expression morphed into a smirk, Grace knew there was no chance of that happening. The expression looked a little weird with his alien features, but there was no mistaking that smirk for anything else.
“Our public database is filled with information on our Davarian sporting activities.” His eyes slid down her body and back up again. His voice turned hard. “Since you seem so eager to learn, perhaps I could interest you in a different type of sport.” He was talking about sparring. As tempting as it would be to engage in a good old-fashioned punch up with the fool, Grace decided against it.
She looked up into his cold eyes and took a step back. “Sorry to bother you. We’ll research the database.” His expression turned smug in an instant. Before he could speak again, Grace spun on her heel and headed for one of the beverage stalls. The city center is bustling with activity, music, and laughter.
Within moments, Nayla was distracting them again with cultural information. “It’s an important holiday for our world. As you already know, the Davarian home world is ruled by three leaders. They take turns, two in suspended animation and one ruling at any given time. This is the Awakening Festival for the one we call the priest. It marks the end of the first lunar cycle of the celebration. Bradon the Wise will be awoken tonight and then the celebration will continue for sixty more days, cumulating in the Queen who now rules being placed into hibernation.”
Grace took the whole scene in. Eden Twelve was towed up to their orbital space platform halfway through the celebration period.
Dakota asked about a large stone building. She and Nayla walked away together, as Nayla told her all about how it contained the bodies of the hibernating regents. Mia eased up on Gracie’s right. “Can you believe this? I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around a three-month-long celebration. How in the heck do they get anything done?”
Grace responded with a grin. “It does seem excessive, but I’m told it only happens once every twenty years.”
Though the entire Davarian Tri-World Cluster was in the throes of this celebration, they were somehow managing to continue to conduct trade negotiations and accept visitors. Since humans arrived, it’s been even more chaotic, because the Davarians have never interacted with humans before. They were as fascinated with humans as humans were with them.
Mia and Grace continue walking toward a drink stand. “Their priest ruler, Bradon the Wise is the only one of the three ancients considered a holy man. I don’t know exactly what a priest is, because Davarians don’t really believe in gods. Nayla tried to explain repeatedly that priests feed their spirit.” Grace was intelligent enough to know that means the man is not preparing edibles, but what he actually does remains a mystery to her.
“Are you excited to meet the regents?” Mia’s voice was about as curious as Grace had ever heard it.
“Yes. I’m curious about all three of them, but more so about Bradon. There is much myth surrounding this particular ancient. Rick is friends with Commander West. He said the current reigning ancient is the Warrior Queen, Belanna. She’s due to slumber once Bradon is awake.”
Grace quips, “She’s reputed to be as dangerous as she was beautiful. I wish I was her.”
Mia laughed, covering her hand with her mouth. Good grief, if Mia got any shyer, she’d disappear.
Nayla and Dakota came back, and they all crowded around as Grace tried to figure out what to drink. Images flashed on a 3-D holographic projector over the counter, projecting images of drink selections. Nayla voice-prompted the unit, and a large, frosty pink drink jumped forward. “I suggest this one. It is made of stardust.” When the sisters all shot her a surprised look, she made a squeaking noise as her shoulders shook and laughingly explained, “Stardust is a fruit, shaped like a swirling star. It is good. You will like.”
Grace grinned, nodding. “Yes. I’ll try that one.” They all ended up with huge clear glasses of the frothy pink beverage, which was cold and refreshing. They sat outside on chairs that floated a couple of inches off the ground, sipping dinks and watching the people going about their daily activities.
Nayla nodded at the huge stone building. “I was telling Dakota, that is the Great Hall of Awakening. We’re going there next.”
Grace marveled at the white stone architecture. The Great Hall looked more like a proper museum and less like a temple. How can a building look both ancient and modern at the same time?
Trying not to gush, Grace exclaimed, “I’m thrilled to be visiting the Great Hall. I can’t wait to see the regents.”
Nayla nods. “The Great Hall was originally the fortress of Bradon the Wise. Once there were a hundred ancients. Wars and time dwindled down their numbers. When the ancients became three, they took turns sleeping. Each reigned for twenty solars, then slept for forty. Along the way the fortress was renovated into the Great Hall of Awakening.”
“It’s an impressive piece of real estate.”
When they finish their drinks, Nayla led them into the huge stone Hall. The floors were covered with large slabs of pale pink stone, which had been polished to a high sheen. Much like the outside, the inside felt both modern and ancient at the same time. After spending most of her life on a deep-space vessel, this building and its ancient heritage impressed Grace in a way she might have never thought possible if she hadn’t come.
Nayla made the perfect guide, leading the way, speaking in a quiet murmur the entire time. “The Great Hall holds all of our society’s most prized relics. You will notice that each piece is prominently d
isplayed under a mini invisible force field to ensure its protection.”
All three sisters were wide eyed and hung on her every word. Nayla gave explanations and informational details on each relic. Her knowledge was amazing, especially since she wasn’t a professional tour guide. “We track which ancient’s reign we were born in and identify heavily with that ruler.”
Dakota murmurs, “It is much like the ancient Chinese tracked the year of the dragon and such.”
Nayla adds, “It is considered lucky to cycle through all the ancients twice in one’s lifetime. Davarians must be a slightly longer-lived species than humans.”
Nayla led us directly into the shrine of Bradon the Wise. Grace immediately decided this space was more like a temple than a shrine. It had a warm tranquil feel about it. The walls were painted a serene shade of blue. The color was said to be greatly favored by Bradon. Indeed everything to do with him was the same signature shade of light blue. The floor was covered in pale blue stone and there were white animal skins scattered throughout the temple. All the priests wore long, light blue robes of Davarian silk trimmed in different shades of darker blue. It made for a striking presentation.
Nayla kneeled at a huge altar. It had a long, intricately carved stone box filled with dark sand, large enough to contain a small shuttle. Nayla stuck an incense halfway into the sand and lit the top with a nearby candle. The sisters knelt reverently by her side as she quietly spoke a simple prayer. It felt weird to discover such a strong similarity between the two cultures when it came to spirituality.
Nayla murmurs, “Gods of chaos and calm, we beg your favor. Watch over our sleeping regents and guard Bradon the Wise as he awakens. Give him the strength to protect our people. Grant him happiness, health, and long life. Send him a mate, one who is beautiful, intelligent, kind and filled with love.”
Bradon wasn’t mated. Grace filed away that bit of information under the file in her mind marked of course he isn’t. He had no time to have a family because he’s been ruling for twenty years and then sleeping for forty.
