by T. J. Quinn
Argen's Mate
Farseek Mercenary Series
Clarissa Lake
GTQ LLC
Orlando, Florida
Copyright © 2017 by Clarissa Lake
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.
GTQ LLC
PO Box 540375
Orlando, FL 32854
www.thesios.com
Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.
Argen’s Mate – 1nd ed.
ISBN
CONTENTS
The Beginning:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue:
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The Beginning:
Commander General Zared Maktu
We won the war but lost everything we ever loved. We stood fast for the Consortium. Some of us even laid down our lives for them while they left our home world undefended. As I stand looking at the ruins of what was my family’s home, I scream in rage, but there is no one to hear my pain and utter disgust.
Farseek Brigade should have been here defending our homes and families instead of light years away defending the Consortium stronghold. Those with the most power and wealth still have all they hold dear, while we have nothing left to fight for.
As I stand looking at the desolate landscape, I am not ashamed of the two tears that slide down my face. Mother, Father, brothers, and sisters all gone and those high and mighty Consortium executives never let us know. They let us come back and find our world in ruin and our people gone.
Were they killed or taken? There was no way to know. The thing I did know was that slavery was rampant in the Sargus Empire. They bought and sold sentient beings as if they were meat animals. Their whole economy depended on slave labor, where the Consortium relied on robots and artificial intelligence. They relied on the warriors of Farseek Brigade and others like us for defense.
Had we been here when those Sargans attacked, we could have protected my people with our elite ground force and our starfighters. From the carnage in front of me, I surmise that many of our people were killed---maybe most of them. I can only guess that the Sargans would have taken the rest as slaves to any of hundreds of different worlds.
Revenge would be sweet, but not productive. We need to go out and find our people and bring them home.
Chapter One
Argen Trametu
The stench of unwashed bodies and smoke hung heavy in the air. The crowd was a noisy bunch, and a lot of them were drunk. If one didn’t know better, they might think they were in a rowdy bar in a seedy port city. But it was a prison planet, and we were all prisoners.
I was in the fight pit. It was my second fight of the night and his first. My last match didn’t last nearly long enough. I needed to punch someone or something for a lot longer than I got to punch him. I thought Alarian warriors were a tougher lot than that. Our match barely went three rounds, and most of his punches didn’t land. He smelled of rotgut whiskey, so maybe he was drunk. But I pounded him without mercy.
Even that was not nearly enough to assuage the rage I still felt at landing here on the prison planet of Julconi. I am a Uatu warrior from Farseek, and I had done nothing to warrant going to a prison planet for the rest of my life.
I was on leave visiting Farseek, my homeworld when the Sargans attacked and left our world in ruin. I remember walking with mother at the open-air produce market in the town square.
My next memory was waking up strapped to a bunk on a slave ship. I was no slave! I am an Uatu warrior of the Farseek Brigade! I escaped every chance I got.
They punished me, tortured me every time, and every time I did it again. I didn’t know the slavers put a tracker chip under my skin. I could never get to a starport to steal a ship and get off world. They used flying drones to track me. The drones had shockers that shot me and dropped me wherever I stood.
That was painful enough. Then the punishers shackle me naked by my wrists and ankles to what can only be called a torture frame. I’ve been whipped, beaten, and repeatedly shocked until I wished they would just kill me.
I hated being helpless to defend myself. The Sargans knew I would kill them had they left me unrestrained. They always tortured me unconscious before they took off the restraints and threw me in a cell until they could sell me off.
Finally, they must have grown tired of torturing me, so they sent me here. At least now I could fight back, sometimes three fights a night. So, far I haven’t lost, though sometimes I take a good beating before it’s over. Sometimes the pain is better than feeling nothing at all.
The next fighter was new and looked more evenly matched. The first round we danced around each other throwing and blocking punches. He was pretty good, but I was better. He clearly had training in hand to hand combat, but few styles compare to that of an Uatu warrior. I toyed with him for a while letting him think he was actually blocking me. The next round I made my move landed more blows than he could block. I pounded him and roared like a crazed animal when he fell, and the rules said I had to stop.
The rage just welled up inside me. He was no innocent. Duck, block, punch, pivot kick. He lasted five rounds, and I knocked him out. Then I got a thirty-minute break. The next guy was bigger and meaner and had horns.
This one was hard to beat, and I took a lot of hits, but so did he. We each got in two knockdowns but I got the last one in the twelfth round, and he didn’t get up for another.
No, I didn’t kill him. I really had no grudge against him. He was just someone to hit… to pound out my rage at what the Sargans had done to my family and my world. It was not enough. It would never be enough!
The next day everything changed. I dragged out of my hovel to find some food and fill my plastic jug with water at the community well.
Then I heard someone call my name and I turned to see who it was,
“Trametu, is that really you?”
“Pegitu, what the hell are you doing here?” I murmured, hardly believing my eyes.
He nodded his head, silently asking me to go with him, so I did. He was probably the only man on Julconi who I would trust.
We walked away from the outdoor market where I had stopped to see if I could trade some crystals for some food. “Pegitu, what are you doing here?” I whispered. “Did they get you too?”
“I’m here to get as many of our people off this world as possible. The Dreads are coming in a few days with a passenger ship to pick them up. All you have to do is show up at the pick-up coordinates.” Pegitu told me then gave me directions. “What happened?”
“I was on Farseek visiting my family when the Sargans attacked. I was walking in the market with my mother. We got separated, and I never saw her again.”
“I am sorry, my friend. We all lost friends and family there. Some have been found but only a fraction of those who were lost. We have been searching almost two years.” Zorem
Pegitu said.
“What can I do to help?”
“Just bring any of our people you find to the rendezvous point to be picked up,” he said. “How long have you been here, anyway?”
“At least a year. This place sucks, but I get by okay. Every time they land those supply ship’s I’ve tried to get to one, but they land inside a fence, so we can’t get near them.” I told him. “I know a couple dozen good people here that deserve to be free, but they’re not Uatu.”
“If you vouch for them and they want to come to Farseek, Command told us to take them.”
“We’ll be there,” I told him
Argen Trametu is my name. After my homeworld was attacked by the Sargans and I was taken from my world to become a slave of the Sargus Empire. They destroyed every city and village on my homeworld of Farseek and stole all the people they could find alive before they left.
I have been a warrior all my life, so I was not a very good slave. I kept escaping but never could get to a ship that would get me off world. I even tried to start a revolt on one planet. They finally decided I was untrainable and they sent me to prison on Julconi. That turned out to be the best thing that could happen to me though I didn’t know it at the time.
A few days later I led a group of twenty-seven people to the extraction point. We had walked all day through the desert, finally arriving in the dead of night. We were all exhausted and thirsty when we got there. The armored warriors scanned us for weapons and a few surrendered knives then we were directed to the shuttle on-ramp. Twenty minutes later fifty of us arrived on the Kurellis. I wondered where they got such a fantastic ship.
I scented her as soon as I stepped into the cargo bay. The aroma was so subtle that I was likely the only one who noticed. I sniffed again subtly to make sure I hadn’t imagined it the first time. I didn’t.
Discovering solmatu almost always takes us by surprise; at least that’s what I’ve been told. An Uatu never knows beforehand when they will find our soulmates.
I had just been through the worst two years of my life. It didn’t seem possible that the joy of finding solmatu was waiting for me at the end of it.
So, of course, I was wholly unprepared to meet her. I was bone tired, weary when I got there and filthy. I smelled so bad that I could hardly stand myself. The others didn’t notice on the trip up because they smelled as bad as me. Julconi Prison is not known for its amenities. Bathing and clean clothes were pure luxuries. The cargo bay was a din of voices echoing in a hollow chamber with long lines for every clerk station.
I was so excited, I couldn’t wait to get cleaned up before setting eyes on my female soulmate. She was one of the females checking in all us refugees. As I got closer to the head of the line, I finally caught her scent more distinctly so I could determine which woman was for me. Then I saw her. She was checking the line next to mine. I rudely stepped to the head of that line, I had to speak to her.
She was absolutely magnificent. Golden tan with black hair and brown eyes. I wasn’t sure whether she was human or not. In fact, all four of the women had odd colored skin and hair, yet their features looked human. That’s not to say they weren’t attractive, but they seemed a bit exotic.
I felt suddenly nervous and a little tongue-tied, considering what to say to her. I stepped up to her table, and she looked up at me with the most stunning brown eyes.
“Hi, beautiful,” I said smiling at her, “please tell me your name.”
“Zoey Addison. May I have your name, sir?”
“Lieutenant Commander Argen Trametu of the Farseek Brigade.” I held out my hand to her, and she put hers in mine, and I brought it to my lips. “You may call me solmatu.”
It was almost like a static shock when my lips touched her hand. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me and I could see the spark of recognition in her eyes.
“Then you are from Farseek,” she said with a tremor in her voice. “You will want to transfer to one of the dreadnaughts.”
“Where will you be?”
“I will be going back to Dreadnaught One when we rendezvous with them.”
“Admiral Degatu. May I see you there?”
“I’m sure we will see each other if you are transferred there,” she said noncommittally.
“Darling, you are my soul mate, I must see you.”
“Yes, you said that,” she said. “W-why don’t you go get cleaned up, get something to eat, let me do my job here and we will talk later.”
I sighed still holding her hand. I just wanted to sweep her away and kiss her senseless, but I realized my unwashed state would probably not help my cause. “You promise?”
“I promise,” she smiled shyly.
The way her eyes lit as she looked up at me through thick dark lashes, told me she meant it. I sighed, and with great reluctance, I finally let her hand slip from mine. I went to the doorway where a guide was waiting to take me to a cabin.
We stopped at the ship’s storeroom, where I was scanned for a set of clothing. It was issued immediately including a light pair of new shoes. It wasn’t a uniform, but they were clean, and I took them. As I followed the young humanoid male through the hallways of the ship the scent of it told me it was nearly brand new. It was also pristine. I couldn’t imagine where they could have gotten the funds for a ship like this.
My assigned cabin was small but clean and minimally furnished with a sleeping alcove, a small sitting area and a private bathroom with a shower stall. There was a com unit on the wall by the door.
I touched the screen, and it lit. “This is Lieutenant Commander Trametu, I need to reach a commanding officer on Dreadnaught One.”
In about thirty seconds, a face I recognized as Admiral Degatu filled the screen.
I dipped my head in salute. “It’s good to see you, sir. I am on the Kurellis, just rescued from Julconi. I commed to declare solmatu. Zoey Addison who I understand is assigned to your ship is my soulmate. I request a transfer to the Dreadnaught One so I may court and bond with her.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged, Lieutenant. Permission to transfer to Dreadnaught One granted. Congratulations. I look forward to seeing you soon.”
“Thank you, sir.” The screen went dark, so I took my new clothes and laid them on the bed then stripped off the filthy rags I was wearing.
I felt my throat tighten as I got under the hot shower and tears filling my eyes. My ordeal was finally over. I was going back to the Brigade where I belonged, and I found my soul mate. The only thing that would make this day better would be to find my mother wasn’t dead and my brothers and sisters were alive as well.
I was knocked out by the blast when they bombed the farm market as I was walking with her two years ago. One moment we were talking and laughing together over the antics of one of my young nephews. The next, everything went black, and I woke up strapped to a bunk on a Sargan slave ship. I didn’t know whether Mother had been killed or not. Maybe I never would.
I told Zorem Pegitu that I did okay since I’d been taken, but I left out a whole lot. The truth was I barely made it out alive. I have been an Uatu warrior most of my adult life, and I am one of the best pilots they have. But I have never faced the things I suffered as a slave of the Sargus Empire.
As the hot water rained down on me inside the shower, I let my tears fall for all that I had lost and all that I had gained. The main reason I was still alive was that the Sargans who took me never knew I was an officer in the Farseek Brigade. I was not in uniform the day they took me from Farseek because I was on leave.
That didn’t stop them from torturing and beating me, in attempts to force me into meek obedience. It never worked. My only regret was that I didn’t kill them before I escaped the last time.
At least it was over.
Chapter Two
Zoey
I knew as soon as I put my hand in his that Argen Trametu was going to be mine even though he was not at all what I expected. I felt a shock of recognition the moment we touched, and his smile w
as heart melting. He was so dirty, I couldn’t really tell what color skin he had and the same for his hair. But his eyes were an unusual shade of aquamarine shaded by dark purple lashes. I couldn’t stop staring into them, nearly forgetting I was there to do a job.
In addition to being dirty and a bit odiferous, he looked tired and like he had probably missed a few too many meals. Frankly, he looked like he really needed a hug, but there was still a whole line of people behind him that were in as bad or worse condition. Only, none of them made my body react like Argen.
I definitely wanted him, but at least it was under control---not like when Nora met Narovian feline, Sahvin Mazza. His pheromones set her off so that she had to drag him to her cabin and fuck him within minutes of touching him. But I could sure imagine pressing my body up against him and kissing that beautiful male mouth of his.
I stared after him long enough to make my next contact just a little impatient. He was humanoid, but not Uatu, or he probably would have been more understanding. “Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. Look into the camera and state your name and your world of origin. Then step over to the doorway, and one of our attendants will take you to your cabin.”
My relief came three hours later. Even though I was exhausted when I got to my cabin, I couldn’t sleep. We still had almost another thirty hours of shuttling people up from Julconi. If the Sargans caught us, we would be lucky if they only marooned us on their prison planet. We could be executed for breaking about four thousand prisoners off the planet.
It was supposed to be four thousand, but I learned later it was closer to six thousand. Our Central Command team decided we would keep bringing them up as long as the Sargan’s didn’t show up. We brought up more than six thousand by the time we were done.
I still had another shift in the morning, and I was dragging when I got there. I only got about five hours sleep, when I hadn’t been sleeping well for several days before Julconi. Would it really be any wonder?
