“You sympathize with this human?” she flared, aghast.
“Our sstoriez are quite different, I assure you,” Verrikoth replied dryly. “But yess, he and I have ssimilar wantss.” He looked over at her directly. “It iz not a crime to be birthed in the mud, but it iz one to want to sstay there.”
“I dispute that first part,” she retorted haughtily. “But I cannot argue the second.”
Verrikoth let that pass; all Xai’ryn had an inflated sense of entitlement. “But I need az many good engineerz as I can get, even thoze with questionable loyalties. I will deal with any problemz properly and painfully az the ssituation meritss.”
Her antennae straightened. Her voice, normally bold and strong, softened. “There are other ways to obtain capable engineers.”
He set the datapad down. “Perhapss thiss iz besst disscussed in persson.”
Her voice was a purr. “Yes, perhaps it is. Meet with me and we will… discuss.” The display vanished.
Verrikoth sat in his seat for several minutes, feeling his carapace developing a warm rose blush. It had been years, decades actually. Encounters with other zheen females were rare in his life, but not unheard of. He was no poor, unloved soul, never to know the touch of a female. But this would be different.
Zheen were not the rapacious sexual creatures that humans or Severites were. It wasn’t to say they couldn’t get together to have a good time, or that they didn’t have sexual appetites; the universe was a cold and lonely place, after all. But while both of the other races were sexually active year round, zheen were far less so. Zheen females were on a four-month cycle of activity, four months on, four off. Virile males had a seven-month on, two-month off cycle, which made for some interesting timing issues.
However, all of this was based on the assumption that both parties were healthy and fully functional. One of them in this case was not. But if the Xai’ryn was willing to mate with him, to take his genetic material and create ysh’kai and drei’kai – zheen worker and warrior drones – then whatever pain or discomfort he was about the experience would be worth it.
And there would be pain. Normally the potent pheromone mix would arouse and excite him, which would dull his pain receptors and overcharge his pleasure centers. But now, since he refused to be without his breather in her presence when the Xai’ryn used her bony arms and talons to grab hold of him and bring him close enough to have penetration, it wouldn’t feel good, it would only hurt.
Small price to pay, but I will not be removing my breather. A little pain would be infinitely better than the coma she’d put me into without it.
Without another thought, Verrikoth rose to his feet, switched off his datapad and stepped out of the conference room.
((--[][]--))
Walking into the broodmother’s quarters, Verrikoth activated the breather on his throat. The purified air had no odor and he internally grimaced at that. Zheen used their olfactory senses more than some of the fleshy races like humans or Secaarans, and without them, he felt as though more than a third of his senses were gone, as though his world was grayed out.
“I must say, Warlord,” the Xai’ryn said as he drew closer. She was magnificent, even with all of the hideous alterations, “that you are most brave entering my chambers with no escort.”
“Thiss iz my sship,” he replied, swaggering in. “I don’t fear anything here.”
“Not even me?” she asked, her mandibles clicking lightly.
“You are Xai’ryn,” Verrikoth said, stepping closer. “That iz different.”
His comment seemed to please her, and she flared her arms out to the sides. He could see previously closed ventricles on the sides of her neck and at the tops of her shoulders opening, presumably flooding the area with sex pheromones. Verrikoth buzzed in frustration, as with the breather active, they would not affect him.
At her gesture, he moved closer, within touching distance of her bony arms. From her body language and the slight hum he could hear emanating from her thorax she was excited, eager, but there was a tinge of… unease? Nervousness? He couldn’t fathom why she would feel that way.
Then a moment later, two of her arms stabbed uncomfortably into the carapace on the sides of his thorax, which shifted slightly to accommodate the tiny threads that extended from her talons. Verrikoth tensed as his body locked up; she was immobilizing him so he couldn’t interrupt what she was doing.
The plates of his exoskeleton shifted, opening up ventricles in his shoulders, just on either side of his neck. She then pressed her two other arms into those spaces and Verrikoth could feel more tendrils sliding into him and his previous prediction proved to be correct. There was pain.
He heard himself hissing in pain and th Xai’ryn clicked in frustration. The talons and their accompanying tendrils were sending surges of electricity into his body. All of his being was screaming in pain. “This is different from the last time I mated,” she admitted. Verrikoth found he could not answer, though he heartily agreed. The last mating with a Xai’ryn he’d experienced had been decades past and it was an amazing memory. Now, though, this experience would stick with him as well, but as among the most agonizing in his life.
“Hurtsss…” the word slithered out of his mouth, mouthparts pulsing in time with the shocks coming from her talons.
The Xai’ryn hissed loudly. “This is not about pleasure, Warlord. This is about expanding our influence. I need ysh’kai to work on a proper living space and if you are to properly fight our enemies, you will need legions of drei’kai. No, this is not about pleasure.” The grip on his shoulders increased, but his voice was frozen, he could do nothing but hiss.
Finally, his body responded to her ministrations, and the lower section of his thorax shifted. The plates of his lower front shifted, revealing his reproductive organ. He could see that her own carapace had opened and before he could think, she pulled him to her, linking them together. He could do nothing, but he could feel her completing the act, taking what she needed.
An eternity later, she released him, all of her arms shoving him away and snapping backward so quickly that he suddenly found himself standing on legs that couldn’t support him. He refused to go down, however, and through sheer willpower alone managed to keep his feet, stumbling over to hold himself up against the wall. There was a burning sensation in his shoulders, and a slurping sound as a trail of ichor linked him to her talons for a second. His abdomen was raw and shooting with pain. After a moment he could feel the carapace sliding back into its normal places.
The Xai’yn chittered at him, though the hum she was sending out belied her derisive chuckle. “Was it good for you?”
“If the yssh’kai and drei’kai that hatch from thiss are az capable az I need them to be, then it will be worth it,” Verrikoth told her, not rising to the bait.
“As you need them to be?” the Xai’ryn flared, are arms waving menacingly, though the male was well out of range to be struck.
His mandibles clacked, antennae swirling. His legs were starting to function properly again, but he wasn’t quite sure if they were up for walking yet. It wouldn’t do for him to stagger around the ship like a drunken lout. “Az I need them to be,” Verrikoth replied. “You do not rule here, Xai’ryn. I am willing to be partnerz, but thiss iz my fleet.”
“You need me,” she growled, completely sure of herself.
He bowed his antennae and his head in acknowledgment. “Indeed, I do. But I have come this far without you. I am willing to ssoldier on without you or the drones you could provide. Where would you be without me?” Then he softened. “But I do not wissh to fight. We have sstar ssysstemz to ssurvey and many people to introduce you to.”
She seemed shocked at that. “Introduce me to?”
Verrikoth chittered lightly, then winced as a tremor shook his body. “Of coursse. I ssaid we will be partnerz. The people of my sstar ssysstemz do not know the Xai’ryn who will sstand with them againsst the Republic or any other enemy. The Xai’ryn who will reign
over otherz.”
She hesitated for a long moment and then nodded. “I will think on your words. It will be only a few days for the eggs to be fertilized and a few hours after that for them to be hatched.” She hesitated again, turning her head away from the Warlord. “But then, I have not fertilized any eggs since my imprisonment.”
“Undersstood, Xai’ryn.” He pushed himself off from the bulkhead and forced himself to stand unassisted. Thankfully, his pain-wracked limbs were willing to listen. “Is there anything you need? Ssomething I can have brought to you?”
She gave him a small list, consisting mostly of food and gallon of sugar water. He wasn’t going to argue with her about any requests at the moment. He bowed, then departed the compartment, leaving her as she pulled up a vid display. Verrikoth let the door slide shut behind him before he leaned heavily against the bulkhead again with one hand. He buzzed uncontrollably in pain for a long moment, his shoulders and flanks aching terribly.
Get the Xai’ryn the items she requested, then I will go down to sickbay to get a painkiller. Happy with this plan, Verrikoth started off down the corridor of the ship, holding himself up straight and tall. It would not do for the crew to see him in such a weakened state.
((--[][]--))
Jensen Tyler found his Warlord in his quarters an hour later. Gritting his teeth, Tyler opened the hatch to the Warlord’s stateroom and stepped inside, closing it behind him after hearing his leader’s call to enter. Thankfully, the human was pleasantly surprised to find that the place was not infested with vermin and tiny stinging bugs as the compartments had been in recent visits. He wasn’t sure what had changed and certainly did not want them to be released again, but even still, Tyler could not help the involuntary nerve twinges in his shoulders as he tried desperately tried not to think on what he might not be seeing.
Verrikoth was lying on his bunk, his carapace a very muted purple, tinged with a hint of gray. He looked ill, truth be told. “What iz it, Commander?”
“We have finished the resupply, my Lord. Per your orders, we are rotating the crews of the two ships over for some brief liberty, but I have the group leaders and chiefs understanding that it will be brief. A few hours at the bar, then back here.”
Verrikoth did not stir from his repose. “It izn’t like Amethysst, where there are gambling and pleazure denz on every level. A wize precaution.”
“I also have some crew transfer requests for your approval.” He stepped forward, a data card in his hand.
“Tranzzferz?” the Warlord replied, confused. “I waz not aware of any tranzzferz.”
“They just came in, my Lord. And I must say, I agree with them.”
The zheen buzzed and pushed himself to a sitting position on his bunk. He was clearly in pain, though it was being managed pharmaceutically if the opened packet of pain pills on the small desk was any indication. He took the data card from Tyler’s outstretched hand and plugged it into his datapad. His antennae instantly went erect. “There are only ten people on this lisst, Commander. You want to tranzzfer Vok and hiz Unruk platoon off Nemessiss? Along with the Ssecaaranz?”
Tyler looked uncomfortable. “I don’t want to transfer them, no, my Lord. But you’re sending Hestian and his task force into enemy territory, and he won’t have a heavy cruiser or any serious backup. War Leader Vok came to me and asked for the transfer, at least until Nemesis makes her way back this way again. If things go well, after all, we’ll just be making the rounds through the protected star systems and won’t have any need for any serious boarding fighters. Besides, we’ll still have the remaining ground forces.”
Verrikoth looked back and forth from the human’s face to the data pad display before he finally relaxed. “It iz a good idea. And with the Xai’ryn taking up a large compartment in the berthing area, I know that quarterz have been extremely tight.” He clicked his mouthparts and pressed a thumb to the reader. “Done. Anything else?”
Tyler took back the card from him. “No, my Lord. Nothing that can’t wait. In fact, once the last group of the crew is finished with liberty in six hours time, we could leave for Caridosia.”
Verrikoth lay back down on the bunk. “You have conferred with Kapitan Flayl?”
Tyler nodded. “Yes, my Lord. She reports Kopesh will be ready by then. Twenty-six of her crew are aboard the station, but her ship is otherwise prepared for the journey.”
“Very well. Issue the order. We leave once liberty iz completed. Until then, do not dissturb me unless the Xai’ryn iz calling or the ssysstem iz under attack by Republic forcezz. Am I clear, Commander?” Pure menace filled his exhausted voice.
Tyler snapped to attention, his gaze locking to the edge of the compartment’s bulkhead and the overhead. “Perfectly, my Lord.”
“Dissmissed.”
((--[][]--))
Eleven days after the departure of the Warlord’s small convoy, the remainder of the warships from Amethyst arrived. Three more days of in-system travel brought the ships up to the yard, where the loading and unloading of supplies began. This gave the crews a few days of liberty, but like with the Warlord’s crews, time off the ship was limited. This was a shipyard complex, not a trade port. There were some recreational facilities for visiting crews, but they were very limited: a couple of restaurants, three drinking establishments, and a moderate vid-movie complex. Enough to get off the ship and have a few hours of relaxation before getting back to work.
Virtual meetings among the captains were held, plans were discussed, briefly, and within a day of their arrival, the Strike flotilla was loaded up and accelerated away from the yards. Ganges led the way, flanked by two of the corvettes, with Gawhilgur slightly below and behind, with the remaining three corvettes formed up in a triangular formation around her. After three days of travel, they made the long jump for the Chu-Magna system to take on the pirate group known as Baron Death.
Chapter 9
“Coming to within five light-seconds of the inhabited world, Commander,” the sensor officer reported, checking the feeds again. “There’s a fair amount of shuttle and EVA traffic at the planet Caridosia and its largest moon. Appears to be mining operations there.” The inhabited planet Caridosia was named for the star system it inhabited (and ruled), and the sensors were detecting five large continents and three large cities.
“Give me a breakdown, Sensors,” Tyler ordered, clasping his right wrist with his left hand behind his back.
“Yes, Commander. Three large cities in the southern hemisphere, one on the coast, one in the mountains and one by a lake. I’m showing four offshore structures in the ocean; best guess is that they are rigs for extracting petroleum. They must have refineries for the stuff in the city; I would imagine they use it for power and industry. Factory complex and warehouses there.” The zheen buzzed a bit, then continued. “Much strip mining is going on in the mountains; I am showing two large excavations. Also showing more mining near the lake, though there are factories set up there as well. Not sure what it is that they are getting from the lake since I am showing refineries right on the edge of the water.”
“Sounds like a right proper operation,” Tyler commented. “I’m sure the Warlord can get more information about what they’re working on here.”
The zheen turned and looked at him. “The Warlord hasn’t been here before?”
Tyler scowled at him, and the zheen flinched. “No, Sensors, he has not. This and the other three systems in the Red Sphinx group were brought into his protectorate only within the last eight months. Commander Hestian hails from this area of space, but he obviously is not with us.” He thought for a moment. “No, if the Warlord ever did come here, it would have to have been before we launched Ganges, several years ago. I only ever heard about the Red Sphinx worlds a month before the Seylonique raid. I must say, what I’ve seen so far impresses me.”
“New contact,” the sensor operator reported, pointing to the display. “It’s coming out from behind the shadow of the moon. It’s a warship… tentatively
a frigate.”
“Any ID?” Tyler asked the comms operator.
Killix, the zheen at that station, looked up at the commander. His voice sounded in the translator pack monotone, which didn’t disguise the hissing and clicking of his actual voice. “Beacon ID is the Salvadora, showing Caridosia registry.”
Tyler raised an eyebrow. “This ship was built here?” He pulled up the sensor feeds to look for himself. A frigate by size and power plant, but with the number of missile launchers and laser cannons it was trying to be a pocket destroyer. That had to cut into her speed, that and a ship that size simply didn’t have the magazine space for a huge number of missiles. “Are they moving to engage?”
“No, Commander, they are holding position near the moon. Shuttles are accelerating away back toward the planet, landing at the moon base, or turning back to the moon.” Helk at sensors bobbed his antennae in approval. “That is well coordinated. They have trained for an invasion.”
“Good for them,” Tyler replied noncommittally.
Killix spoke up. “They’re hailing us. Audio only.”
Tyler grimaced, mostly at the need to only put through a transmission on an audio channel. Do they have problems with their communications array? “Let’s hear it,” he ordered.
An authoritative voice boomed over the line; a voice that was distinctly female to Tyler’s ears. “This is Francesca Li, captain of the Salvadora. Identify yourselves and state your business in this star system or we will fire upon you.”
Tyler grunted. “Comms, send hostile challenge and ID. Coordinate with Kopesh.”
“Attention Salvadora, this is the heavy cruiser Nemesis out of the Tyseus Star System, Warlord Verrikoth commanding. Stand down, or you will be destroyed,” the zheen intoned.
“Who in the Nine Hells is Warlord Verrikoth?” the woman spat. “Are you invading this system? We will fight you to our last breath!”
The Warlord's Path Page 20
