Taming Ryock

by Sara Page

  Red Mask - The Red Masks are the Tribunal’s and Rathturia’s branch of law enforcement. They are typically Rathturian, and wear a red mask to cover their face. The number of marks on their mask display their rank.

  Gold Cloak – Typically the personal guards of high-ranking members of the Tribunal. Some serve as general guards for the Tribunal.

  Vicarion – A warring, aggressive race that lives on the fringes of known alien society. Suffering a decrease in procreation, they heavily modify their humanoid bodies to remain superior in combat. Due to their warring ways, their female population has decreased to a rate of zero. There are currently no known living Vicarion females. They are rivals, not members, of the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Exqucthk – Yarrel’s home planet.

  Prig – A race that appears to be a mix between a frog and a pig. They’re humanoid and usually have multiple arms. Notorious slavers, they are native to the planet Ofatala. They currently hold a seat on the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Ofatala – The home of the Prigs. The planet has been transformed into a waste dump that serves most of the galaxy.

  Priests of Wollite – Worshippers of the one the true god Wollite. They are nomadic, consist of many races, and have no known central location.

  Goest – A planet located in Tribunal space. Home to at least one known illegal slave market.

  Twyline – A water-breathing, aquatic lesser race subjugated by the more powerful races of the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Rogh – A small, furry race currently protected by the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Ongwan – A race where both the males and females have male reproductive organs. They are purple-skinned and sport horns on their foreheads. They currently hold a seat in the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Barrie – A small, weak insectoid race that is subjugated by the more powerful races of the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Tuine – A bi-pedal, cat-like race. They currently hold a seat in the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Paxzy – Paxzies are a blue-skinned humanoid race native to the planet Pax. They currently hold a seat on the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Black Ranch – An orbital station located in the lawless regions of space.

  Bezo – A monstrous, powerful race that resembles demons. They typically have several arms, red eyes, and horns on their foreheads. They currently hold a seat in the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Krakus- A purple-skinned, squid-like race that currently holds a seat in the Twenty-Three Tribunal.

  Playlists

  Isla’s Playlist

  Available on Spotify - http://smarturl.it/p0xazk

  Good L__k (Yo_’re F_cked) - Celldweller

  Illicit Dreams - Noise Unit

  Never and Me - Kidneythieves

  Are You Coming With Me? - Crown the Empire

  Heart On - Celldweller

  El Phantasmo And The Chicken-Run Blast-O-Rama (Wine, Women and Song mix) - White Zombie

  Blood And Bone - Escape The Day

  Side Effect - Imperative Reaction

  Neo-Tokyo (Dance With The Dead Mix) - Scandroid

  Lies Irae - Dope Stars Inc.

  Perpetual - VNV Nation

  Not Over Til We Say So - Blue Stahli, Emma Anzai

  Ryock’s Playlist

  Available on Spotify - http://smarturl.it/twuzip

  Monster - Starset

  FREEDOM - Crossfaith, Rou Reynolds

  New World - Breakdown of Sanity

  Drift - Erra

  Open Water - blessthefall, Lights

  NZT48 - I See Stars

  Vicious - Parkway Drive

  Doomsday - Architects

  Song #3 - Stone Sour

  Newsletter

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  About Us

  Izzy Sweet & Sara Page – The one and the same brain.

  Sean Moriarty - The real life alpha bad boy that Izzy tamed.

  Residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, Izzy and Sean are high school sweethearts that just celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary, though they’ve been together since they were teenagers – over fifteen years.

  Both avid and voracious readers, they share a great love and appreciation for a great story, and attribute their early role-playing days as the fledgling beginnings of their joint writing career.

  You can see more of our works at our website - www.dirtynothings.com

  Craving Maul

  Star Joined Book One

  Maul

  The sickening plush comforts of my father’s office push me to the point of revulsion. The man is the pillar of our caste and yet he lives like some pampered royal. Where once he commanded the battalion of Red Masks, he now sits before me as Commander of the Red School of Enforcement. Plush in his warm, comfortable office. There isn’t a sharp corner to be seen, even his desk is rounded like the curves of a woman.

  “As I was saying, Maul, we need to be careful with your approach. We can’t be seen by the Premier as being overly suspicious of…”

  “There is no we, father.”

  “Now, Maul, when I spoke with the Minister of Finance…”

  “Who has zero authority or influence on my position.”

  Standing up from the chaise, my father tries to be imposing with his height and size, but it’s not working. I have long outgrown him in size and bulk. That he has to use the arm of the chair to push off doesn’t aid in his bluster one bit.

  “Maul, my son, listen to me now. We are in a tenuous alliance with the Crima. The last hundred years of peace could be ended at any moment if we push too hard on the guidelines from the peace accordance. They are a barbarous race but...”

  “Slavers, Father, and on the outer rims of this arm of the galaxy they still continue their trade with no rules.”

  “Well, yes, but the political machinations at work…”

  “Are of no consequence to me or the Red Masks. We answer to the Tribunal. You are trying to curry favor with—”

  In his day my father was once a very dangerous fellow, but he has allowed himself to become weak with power. Where he was once fearsome in battle, now he is as soft and weak as a lamb.

  The hand that comes up to strike me across the face is easily caught in my large fist.

  Yanking him close to me, I growl, “Do you dare strike a Red Mask?”

  “Now see here, Maul, I’m your father and you will—”

  “No, you are a fat louse whose political ambitions of rising in caste have put him in peril of losing any chance of rising beyond here,” I say as I push him back into his chair.

  His broad shoulders slump as the reality of my words hit him.

  “Just consider looking at all of the angles before you go rushing in to arrest anyone. The humans are a smarter race than we give credit. Just because they have, for the moment, been put out of reach through the Slaver Mandates doesn’t mean that one day they won’t be. They are not advanced enough to push out even the weakest of the twenty-three, but one day soon the vote may sway in favor of using their solar system—and by that extension using them as tools or slaves.”

  “That day is not today, Father, and by the Twenty-Three Tribunal, I will follow and enforce their mandates to the letter.”

  “For the star’s sake Maul, lighten up! Every single Mask out there must ‘follow’ the mandates,” he says as he mimics my words. “But even in my days, we understood sometimes you must look at the bigger picture. Step on a bug here and it angers the whole nest.”

  Turning away from him, I resist the cringe I feel as I walk across his star’s-forsaken carpet. It’s an affront to the code of the Mask. We live barren lives so that we may understand nothing but the law.

  “Maul,” he calls out to me as I reach the door to his office. “Your mother wants you to come visit. She cannot understand why you insist on punishing her while you stay wrathful with me.”

  Turning to him, I snarl, “I will visit my mother
when I am able to. I don’t punish her.”

  With that I rip his door open and take a much needed step out of the horrid office. Outside his office, the gray stoned hallway is all cool, straight lines. The air is much more to my liking, cold and brisk.

  Taking a deep breath, I shut the door behind me.

  Lexi

  The floor is hard and unforgiving against my knees. My back aches from holding this same position for over an hour. I stare forward, chin up, hands on my thighs, seeing but not seeing as I focus my eyes on the blank white wall.

  The world is a blur but the words I hear are crystal clear.

  “She’s not ready,” Jack hisses angrily.

  I’ve known him for so long, since we were in preschool, even though I can’t see him I can picture the way he looks perfectly inside my head. He always stands tall, taking advantage of his full six and a half feet to loom over others. He’s probably looming over poor Yarrel right now. When he’s angry, he’s quite impressive. His dark eyes narrow to slits and his face flushes a dark red. There’s a thick vein in his neck that seems to grow and throb the angrier he gets, and no doubt he’s clenching his hands into tight fists.

  If the numbness wasn’t weighing me down, my heartbeat would skip a beat. Not ready? I’ve been training for this mission for six months.

  If the drugs pumping through my veins weren’t enslaving my nervous and emotional systems, I’d probably be hurt by his lack of faith in me.

  But all I feel is calm.

  I am nothing.

  This is nothing.

  The fog thickens around me until Yarrel’s voice pulls me out. “She is ready. She’s been ready for weeks. The council is ready to move forward—”

  “I don’t give a fuck what the council is ready to do,” Jack snaps. “This entire operation is a fucking joke. You idiots are going to get her killed!”

  I feel the vaguest twinge in my fingers and fight the sudden urge to move.

  Every day, it takes more and more serenity to pull me under. If we wait any longer, it won’t affect me at all.

  If I have to do what I’m about to do and feel everything as well…

  The fog thickens once more and I welcome the loss of my thoughts.

  Yarrel sighs. “You know she wants to do this. She’s determined to rescue Isla...”

  Everything sharpens, coming back into focus at the sound of my sister’s name. Isla is up there, somewhere, enduring who knows what.

  It’s been six months. Six long months.

  I might not even find her.

  My pulse threatens to quicken but I center myself, bringing it back under control.

  The wall is white. My head sits upon my shoulders.

  Inside, I’m safe. Inside I can block everything out if I want to.

  Jack mutters something I can’t quite make out and then there’s a loud bang as something slams into the wall.

  It doesn’t surprise me. I’d be surprised if he was suddenly willing to go along with this. He’s been trying to talk me out of this mission since we first apprehended Yarrel.

  But there’s no going back now. I was a goner the moment they took her. I won’t rest until I know Isla is safe.

  “It’s out of our hands,” Yarrel says apologetically, and I don’t know why, but I don’t trust him. He sounds sincere but he doesn’t feel sincere. “All the necessary preparations have been made. We board tomorrow.”

  “Fuck!” Jack growls and there’s another thud as something connects with the wall. “This is crazy. It’s fucking suicide. I can’t let her go through with this.”

  There’s a bit of a scuffle and Yarrel calls out, “Wait, Jack. It’s too late—”

  “I don’t give a fuck what the council wants! I’ll show them that this mission is doomed to fail. All they’re going to accomplish is getting her killed!”

  Out of the corners of my eyes, there’s movement.

  I continue to stare forward.

  After all these months, I’ve mastered seeing without looking. Never moving my eyes to get more of the picture. If you focus on what’s floating around the center, you can put the pieces of the puzzle together.

  A pair of boots thumps around me. Thick and black. Bureau issued.

  Jack comes to stand in front of me, blocking out my white wall.

  Lexi, he probes at my mind but I push him out.

  I let him in once, when we were first connected by the neural transmitter he had us implanted with, and that brief moment ruined our friendship forever.

  If I would have known how he felt, how he’s really felt about me over all these years, I would have never allowed myself to be bound to him.

  Now he’s my only hope of making it back. My only connection to Earth.

  “So that’s how it’s going to be?” Jack says with frustration. “You’re determined to go along with this? You’re determined to throw yourself away on this fool’s errand?”

  I can’t take the bait. I can’t allow him to visibly affect me at all. If I show even the minutest of reactions, the entire operation could be called off. Everything relies on me appearing to be under the full effect of serenity, an alien drug so powerful it sucks you inside of yourself while turning everything else off.

  Over the past six months, under Yarrel’s guidance, we’ve been building up my tolerance to the drug. At first, I was sucked completely in, living in a warm bubble of bliss. Completely oblivious to the outside world. My body continued to function without my mind, and I was essentially turned into a human robot.

  Things were done to me. My body was used, tested, maybe even abused, but I was completely unaware. Inside myself, I was in my own personal little heaven.

  It took eight weeks before I could fight my way back through the fog.

  Yarrel wasn’t even sure it was possible. He waited until I finally surfaced, breaking through the bubble, before informing me that he’d never witnessed a human pull themselves out before.

  We’re so weak, so vulnerable, he claimed, that we tend to get lost inside ourselves.

  “I know you’re here, Lexi,” Jack says, taking a step toward me. “You may fool them but you can’t fool me. I’ve known you for how long now? Twenty-two years?”

  More like twenty-one years. But he knows that. He knows the exact day and the exact time we first met in Miss Amanda’s class. I learned that and much more when the transmitters connected us.

  He’s just trying to get me to respond.

  He takes another step toward me and I feel that twinge in my fingers. My body wants me to move. Something bad is about to happen, but I have to remain still.

  I stare forward, focused on his stomach. Imagining I can stare right through him and see the wall.

  But then he takes another step, and another. Growing larger until I’m staring at his groin.

  “Do you really think you can do it?” he asks, his voice lowering to an angry whisper. “Do you really think you can block it out when they take you? When they use you?”

  He reaches down and grabs me by the back of my head. Tugging on my hair, he forces my eyes up.

  His dark eyes are narrowed and his face is red. That angry vein in his neck throbs.

  “What will you do, Lexi, when they fuck you with their alien cocks?”

  Nothing.

  I will do nothing. I will feel nothing.

  I will run deep, deep inside myself.

  My eyes begin to cloud over and Jack yanks painfully on my hair.

  “No, no, don’t run away. Stay right here with me. I’m not done.”

  His fingers dig into the back of my head while his other hand moves between us. The metal of his buckle glints in the light as he fumbles with his belt.

  The protective fog in my mind thins, weakened by the force of my growing terror.

  He’s not… He can’t…

  I’m staring up at his face but I see without looking as he yanks his belt out.

  “What do you think you’re doing?!” Yarrel bellows from behind me.


  “This is the final test,” Jack says, his jaw tensing with determination. “If she can’t whore herself for me, her best friend, how will she be able to do it for those alien freaks?”

  “You can’t do this,” Yarrel sputters. “Are you nuts? She’s already been through all her testing. She’s already proven, time and time again—”

  “I don’t fucking care,” Jack roars, cutting him off.

  Jack’s grip tightens, his fingers painfully tearing hair from my scalp. But I don’t complain. I don’t twitch. I don’t groan.

  To do so would be failure.

  If I fail, I’ll lose Isla forever.

  I’ll do anything to find her and rescue her. Anything.

  The fog swirls in my corners.

  Even this.

  “You’re crazy!” Yarrel exclaims. “You’re compromising the entire mission.”

  Jack ignores him, looking down to me. In his eyes, behind the anger, I see his pain. Selfishly, he wants me to fail because he wants me all to himself.

  If I would have known he was in love with me when we first put together this recon mission, I would have asked to be reassigned to someone else. But how could I know? We’ve been best friends for years. We grew up beside each other, in neighboring houses. To me he’s always been like a brother.

  “That’s it!” Yarrel roars. “I’m having you reassigned. You’re off the mission. Get out.”

  Jack shakes his head, his eyes never leaving me. “For one, you don’t have the authority. You’re only working for us as long as we need you. And for two, we’re already connected. It’s too late to pair her up with someone else. Go ahead, pull me off. Either way, the mission is a bust…”