Contents
Cover Credit
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About this Book
Beginnings
Ehlealah
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
A Bit More
Epilogue
From The Author
About The Author
Cover Credit
Christopher Coyle
darkandstormyknight.com
HAVEN 1: ASCEND
Sandra R Neeley
Copyright © 2018 SANDRA R NEELEY
All rights reserved.
Thank you for purchasing and/or downloading this book. It is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and/or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes without express written permission from the author.
Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales, is purely coincidental. The characters are creations of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademarked ownership of all trademarks and word marks mentioned in this book.
For everyone who ever wished they’d be carried away.
About This Book
Haven 1: Ascend
Command Warship 1 is home to one of the most feared males in the multi-verse. Zha Quin Tha is Sire to his people, next in line to the throne. He rules his military with an iron hand. His people, the Cruestaci, are a warrior race who bow to no one and no thing. They’ve been deemed too violent to be an ally by the Unified Consortium Defense — the organization responsible for keeping peace between all peoples and worlds. Zha Quin didn’t care what their opinion was. He was only violent when necessary — like when provoked, or if his planet was threatened, or a weaker people overrun, or he was just irritated in general. Like now, slavers had crossed into the territory of Cruestace. He’d been called in to intercept and return the kidnapped women on board to the Consortium for return to their home worlds. Little did he know, his whole existence was about to be turned upside down. One little, human female was about to teach him a thing or two about survival, patience, and trust.
One large room — every wall, the entire floor, even the ceiling covered in mats. This is now Vivian’s home. Her world extends no further than the end of the chain that keeps her anchored in the center of the room. She’s learned how to use that chain as a weapon. She had to — her captors find great sport in taunting her, abusing her, hurting her. She’s exhausted, nearly starved, injured and if truth be told — not long for this world, whatever the hell world it is. All she’s got left is her pride, and she’ll be damned if she gives that up to any of her alien captors. They want to play — she’ll play — and she’ll make sure they pay for it in bruises and pain the next day. They may win, but they’ll think twice next time. Days run together, no hope of ever being freed. Survival seems pointless, until she finds herself face to face with the largest, scariest male she’s ever seen. So be it — she’s got nothing to lose — she’ll fight him, too. Maybe this time her misery will finally come to an end. She has no idea this male is different. This male is stronger than the rest. This male will be her Haven.
Pronunciations
Name - Pronunciation, Nickname(s) - Pronunciation
Zha Quin Tha Tel Mo’ Kok - Shah Keen Tha Tell Moe Coke, Zha Quin - Shah Keen, Quin - Keen
Ba Re’ Non Tol - Bah Ray Non Toll, Ba Re’ - Bah Ray
Kol Ra’ Don Tol - Cole Rah Don Toll, Kol - Cole, aka Blue-Dude
Jhan Re’ Non Tol - Shahn Ray Non Toll, Jhan - Shahn
Xallen -Zallen
Vor - Vor
Kail - Kale
Zahn - Zon
Rel - Rel
Asl - Acel
General Lo’San - General Low Sahn
Vilshhelkrj - Impossible to pronounce - Vennie
Ehlealah - Eh lee lah
shraler - shrayler
Psi - Sigh
Cruestaci - Crew stah see
Cruestace - Crew Stahs
Litah - Leetah
Ehlealah - Precious one, holder of one’s soul, protector of one’s heart. Mate.
Chapter 1
“Come ‘round! Now! Bring us in just below them!” their Commander shouted. “Be sure they cannot detect us!”
“They can’t see us, Sire. We are fully cloaked,” his first in command answered.
“Fire!” the Commander shouted again.
“Yes, Sire!” came multiple answers from the Command Deck.
“Fucking slavers!” the Commander muttered as he watched the lights flicker throughout the ship they’d just overtaken. They’d been tracking it for hours, actually alerted to it by their own security forces before they’d received a transmission from the Unified Consortium Defense. His people, the Cruestaci, were not a welcome addition to the Consortium, their species deemed too violent to be an ally. They were a warrior race, so they’d only been allowed in on an as-needed basis, forever in a holding pattern of probationary supervision. He didn’t really fucking care. He needed no one’s approval. He knew he was only violent when necessary, as were the rest of his people. And one of those times was now. No one entered their territory without explicit permission. And they didn’t tolerate slavery — of any type. He, like his people, was only dangerous when provoked; when someone threatened them for instance, or their planet, or took advantage of a weaker species, or just generally pissed them off. Like now, a slave ship trying to skim the outer edges of their territory to escape notice by the Consortium.
Though the Consortium deemed them volatile, practically unworthy, they had no problem contacting him when they wanted his help — now when they realized their hands were so tied by their overabundance of stupid rules that they were unable to handle this situation themselves. Now the Cruestaci were good enough to entrust with a mission, but only because the Consortium buried themselves in so much bureaucracy that they had no other choice.
Just then the comm crackled through the Command Deck, as the eyes of his crew were glued to the holograph image of the targeted ship projected onto their viewing podium. “Commander Tel Mo’ Kok, have you intercepted?” came the question, echoed by several indistinguishable languages in the background. It was a standard feature of most modern warships regardless of the species that designed them. There were so many different coalitions, different species, that a universal language was damn near impossible. They compensated with automatic translators on the ships; regardless of the language spoken, the translator immediately provided a soft translation in the background in whichever languages had been chosen in their software systems. Commander Tel Mo’ Kok had several species under his command as well as his own, so a minimum of at least four translations were in play at most times. His own language consisted of a complicated series o
f sounds and inflections that made perfect sense to him. To others, however, it sounded like a conglomeration of growls, snarls and guttural noises — almost aggressive in its cadence.
Again, the comm crackled as Chairman Malm of the Consortium demanded an answer to his question, “Commander Tel Mo’ Kok! Have you intercepted?!”
He hated these fuckers, resented them believing they had a right to question him. He answered to no one. Never had, never would. Well, almost no one. His father demanded his loyalty, and he gave it. But only because the man was not only his father, but Sovereign of their people, ruler of their empire — their entire planet. And Zha Quin Tha was first in line for the throne, which also made him Commander of their military. At thirteen hundred years of age, he’d finally reached a point in his life where he’d managed to make peace with his place in it. His father ran their empire, he commanded their military. He had no desire to run the empire. No desire to deal with the bureaucracies of those vying for favoritism from his family. No desire to return to their home planet and become land bound. He preferred the wide expanse of space — where he was lord and master. He chose what, who, where and how. He was a male that demanded complete respect and ran every aspect of his life as a military operation. When he issued an order, he expected it to be followed, immediately and without question. All his males, his warriors, answered his demands with pride, knowing only the best of the best served on his command ship. Personally, though, he led a very solitary life, and if that was his destiny, so be it. At least they were his own choices, not the mandates of others.
The comm crackled again, preparing to present him with another demand from Chairman Malm. Before the male had a chance to question him again, Zha Quin Tha snapped, “I am intercepting now!” Zha Quin Tha spoke in his native language, knowing full well they couldn’t understand him without translators, and even then most were not fully accurate with his language. He also knew, they knew, he could speak their language, but refused to. His own little form of insult to them.
“Commander Tel Mo’ Kok, this is a very serious undertaking. We are made to understand there are human women on that vessel. You know as well as I that Earth is off limits. They are a primitive planet, still trying to recover from invasion by aggressive forces. You must retrieve her at all costs and return her to me for return to her home.”
Zha Quin Tha only slightly stifled a snarl, he cared not for the political problems of the Consortium, only that there were slavers in his territory and the bastards had dared to try to cross their borders. Then he realized he’d been given conflicting information, “Is it one, or is it several humans? Make up your mind!” he demanded.
“It is most certainly one. It could be more. But regardless, the one that we are sure of should be returned to my personal care,” Chairman Malm demanded.
“I am aware you want her, or them, sent to you. I will gladly send them all to you,” he snarled at them, again in his own language. “I will report as I am able.” Then he turned to his communications officer and bellowed, “End Comm!”
On the space station the Consortium called home, the communication was abruptly ended, and Chairman Malm sat back in his seat, staring unbelievingly at the black screen now in front of him. “Arrogant bastard,” he mumbled.
Zha Quin Tha watched on his monitors as his crew locked the slave ship in their bond beams and began the process of gaining entrance to the ship. Rather than establish a connection to their loading bay, Zha Quin Tha’s crew simply pulled the ship alongside theirs, applied a temporary airlock chamber to the side of the slave ship, and used a laser bot to cut a hole in the side, gaining immediate entrance to the levels their scanners showed lifeforms to be on. Slavers rarely had more than a couple dozen for their own crew. The slaves, however, were usually many and were housed together below the main levels of the ship. The close proximity and lack of movement due to confinement made them easy to pick out on the life-form scanner readings.
He watched as his forces stormed the ship, killing everything breathing on the command levels of the vessel. His voice filled their ear pieces, “Be very careful with the females, we must return them to the Consortium unharmed.”
Zha Quin Tha did not wait for their response — he knew they would obey. He knew each intimately and had no doubt of their loyalty or their skills.
Not more than twenty Earth minutes later, he was receiving feedback from his Lieutenants, “Commander, we are still clearing the ship. The females we have found are being sent aboard Command Warship 1. They are being taken directly to medical.”
He rose from his command chair, “I’m going to medical. Comm me if needed.” Then he called over his shoulder as he left the Command Deck, “You have command of the deck, General.”
“Yes, Sire,” his first in command, General Lo’ San, responded.
The pneumatic doors to medical whooshed open as he approached. He stomped through them on a mission to get the females checked out and off his ship as quickly as possible. As he entered, several of them stepped back in an attempt to avoid his very intimidating, obviously pissed off and highly inconvenienced self. “Healer! Have you determined their health levels?” he barked in his own language.
“No, Sire. They are just arriving, we are trying to get them organized so that we may start processing them.”
Zha Quin Tha looked them over critically. He recognized several species, but as far as he could tell, there was no human among them. He barked a command, and the ship’s computer immediately responded in a smooth, feminine voice, “Translators on, Commander.” Those of his own species called him Sire, those of any other species called him Commander. He really didn’t care which he was called, as long as they all did what he demanded, when he demanded. It was the only way to keep his warship running as efficiently as it always did.
He looked at the ten females assembled before him, in all states of dress, some clean, some not. All seemed underfed and frightened. “Where is the human?” he snarled, his ship’s translator immediately providing several soft translations in the background. One female, slightly purplish in skin color, spoke up, “We haven’t seen all the females on the ship. We were kept in small groups. Ours is the first group sent to your ship. There may be others, perhaps the one you seek is still there,” she indicated the ship they’d just come from by pointing her chin toward the door of medical. She watched him for a moment before speaking, “What are you going to do with us?”
He had been watching a new group of women enter his medical bay as she spoke and snapped his eyes back to her, “You will be treated for any sicknesses or wounds, fed, and returned to your people.”
She watched him suspiciously, “You won’t… ” she hesitated, searching for the right word, knowing what she wanted to ask, but not wanting to offend this obviously dangerous male, “hurt us?” she asked apprehensively.
He was offended that this female believed his character so low. He approached her, turning his head slightly to the side while piercing her with his eyes, “Female, I have no need to force my attentions upon any. I have a line of females ready and waiting to tend to my every need, my every thought. Do not insult me with your questions again.” He turned and stormed off, his honor insulted. Never mind that he’d not called on any of the females he’d spoken of in nearly a decade — he did have them available just the same. He was the fucking Sire — the Sovereign Apparent. He’d just lost interest in merely fucking years ago.
He stepped into the lift and moved two levels up, stopping by their commissary to poke his head in and bark, “Get food to medical, we’ve taken on freed captives from the slave ship. They need sustenance. Now!”
“Yes, Sire,” came the answer from within.
As he turned to make his way back to his Command Deck, the portable comm in his ear went off, “Sire, we have a problem.”
He stopped, dropping his head back on his shoulders, staring up at the ceiling in the wide metallic corridor he stood in. He reached up and pressed the comm nestled in his ear
until it clicked, signifying it was ready to transmit his response, “What problem?” he asked, his eyes now closed.
“There is one female left. We, uh, we can’t get her,” his Lieutenant answered.
He so did not need this, “What do you mean, ‘you can’t get her’? Just fucking grab her and bring her on board!” he snapped.
“Apologies, Sire, but, we can’t get close enough.”
“Just bring her on board,” Zha Quin Tha bellowed. How the hell could one little female confound his entire boarding party?
It was a moment before he got an answer, this time from another Lieutenant, “Sire, perhaps you’d like to come take a look yourself.”
“No, perhaps I’d rather not. It’s what I sent you for. Bring her to the ship!” Then he remembered the human, “Did you send the human aboard yet?” he asked.
“She is the human, Sire,” his Lieutenant answered.
That stopped him in his tracks; humans were a subspecies, weak and fragile. Their government was only just added to the Unified Consortium after the Consortium had fought for their independence from oppressive invasions. Most of their people feared any and all life in the universe other than their own. Now he was curious, “I am coming. Keep your distance, but do not leave her unattended.”
“Yes, Sire.”
Zha Quin Tha ducked his head as he stepped through the opening his men had created in the side of the slave ship. He was greeted by two of his Lieutenants, who immediately reported on their progress.
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