Teeth & Claws_A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Fair enough,” Aasne said. “I feel a bit outclassed in the presence of Queen Sivaha and the Prime Valkyrie. I would like to contribute to your quest in any way I can.”

  “Feelings of inadequacy are common in other women when they are around me,” Sivaha said with a laugh. “Yet, even I sometimes feel jealous of the Prime Valkyrie.”

  “There is no reason for those feelings,” Madalena said as she glanced at the other two women.

  “Do not try to be humble, Madalena. One does not become the Prime Valkyrie if one does not think she is the best warrior alive and she does not want everyone else to know of it.” Sivaha smirked at the brunette warrior woman and raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “I was younger, and brash,” Madalena said with her usual shrug. “Now there are more important things. I care about defeating the Draugr and serving our husband.”

  “Well…” Sivaha said with a long sigh. “I suppose people can change. Just look at me.”

  “Let’s go to the carrier,” I said as I stood from my chair. My wives nodded, and I passed command of Persephone to Nikki before we walked toward the elevator.

  “Dragon, I’d like you to come with me,” I said as I reached the gunner station where he sat next to Rin, Yui, Kala, and Vikana. I hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to any of them since they came aboard Persephone, but each of them looked at me with hopeful eyes whenever I walked past them.

  “Yes, Tiger,” he said as he stood and smiled.

  Then the five of us continued to the elevator and rode it to the bottom floor. Once we were there, we headed to the armory. I reloaded my two pistols and checked my ammunition pouches while my companions grabbed sidearms.

  “Adam, I have docked with the carrier Volsung,” Nikki’s voice came over our transponders. “The warriors on the carrier are waiting to escort you to the conference room. Your other admirals are arriving in the next few minutes, and the eight from Idonan will be there in ten.”

  “Thanks, Nikki,” I said as we headed to the docking tube.

  A regiment of aegis wearing Vaish warriors met us on the other side of the tube, and they drove us across the massive carrier’s fighter drone filled hold in a large hover platform. Then we were ushered into a large conference room with an impressive carved wooden table in the middle, paintings of Viking warriors on the wall, and sculptures of half-naked valkyrie warriors positioned in each of the four corners. The captain of the carrier greeted me inside of the room, and I thanked him for hosting us.

  When all of my six admirals were gathered, we quickly debriefed the results of our short battle with Idonan. It was the kind of review that would have normally taken us six or more hours, but we only had ten or so minutes before the Idonan admirals showed up, so I just asked each admiral to give me their short version of what we did well and what we needed to do better next time.

  “We were surprised by their number,” Admiral Jetuyn said when it was her turn. “We expected a quarter of their ships, and I had to reprogram our targeting systems so that my vanguard attack went after their carriers first. This forced them to withdraw a bit from the press of my attack so they could protect their carriers, but then their formations became tighter. If I had to do it again, I would have targeted their shieldless corvettes or frigates to inflict more destruction.”

  “Hmmm,” I said. “How would that have helped?”

  “We were hitting them hard, but they weren’t seeing the numbers drop,” she explained. “I would rather lose ten destroyers than one of my carriers, but the numbers have a psychological effect. My portion of the armada ended up destroying three thousand of their vessels, and twenty-two hundred of those were carriers. It could have been twenty-eight thousand if I had focused on the smaller ships. That number read off might have punched their admirals in the stomach, and made them stupid.”

  “Good feedback, Admiral Jetuyn. Let’s keep it in mind for the next battle.”

  “Thank you, my lord,” the young woman bowed, and I sensed Sivaha’s pride radiate from her. Jetuyn was her admiral, and I had to admit that I liked her aggressive attitude.

  Admiral Birger went last, and he pointed out that we could have brought part of the armada around the side to take out the other force the Idonan had behind the planet. The other admirals nodded at this, but then a guard informed us that the eight admirals were here, and we decided to end the debriefing.

  The eight admirals entered, and the groups exchanged greetings. The air was a bit tense for about a quarter of an hour, but I expected that much. The admirals of three clans were now sitting together in one room under the same banner, but I was sure that each person could point to another in the room and blame them for the deaths of hundreds of their kin. If anything, I had been ready for possible violence, but before the initial level of tension could worsen, servants entered the conference room bearing a feast.

  Thirty of the rowers poured into the conference room carrying silver trays, pitchers of beer, and rolls of freshly baked bread. The scent of the feast made my stomach growl and I realized that the last time I had eaten was dinner with Paula back on Odin Geirr.

  “Food and drink often lubricate tense social situations,” Sivaha whispered to me as the gathered admirals turned to the buffet being laid out on the large conference table. “Also orgies, but that would require much more drink than what is set on the table.”

  “Great idea,” I said to her.

  “An orgy?” she asked with a raised eyebrow and a half smile. “I believed you wanted to keep this professional, but--”

  “No, with the food,” I said. I could tell she was joking from the emotions I felt pouring from her, and I laughed with her.

  “You can’t think of everything, husband. Neither can the Prime Valkyrie. Look.”

  I glanced over to where Madalena stood beside Aasne, and the brunette woman’s jaw was a bit tense, she seemed to sense that I was looking at her, and she glanced back at me and raised her eyebrows with a question.

  “She is annoyed that we aren’t working, but this is work. You want them to both love and fear you. You need the carrot and the stick.”

  “If this is the carrot, then what is the stick?” I asked

  “Either of these or both will work,” she purred as she touched the handle of the revolver she had given me. “Or you can use your teeth and claws. The valkyries on Oskmay are not without ways to communicate with their clans. I doubt Waymund will have a chance to know we are coming, but Jotnar will get word of your abilities. Perhaps the battle with them will go much easier since they will know of the magic Odin has given you.”

  “We can hope,” I said. I almost reminded her that Odin hadn’t given me my powers. Instead it had been some asshole mad scientist with a god complex, but that might have not been the truth anymore. The beast could have always been inside of me.

  But no. I was forced to conclude that even that train of thought was wrong. I was the beast. The human part of me wasn’t real.

  Sivaha and I watched the group of admirals eat, drink, and speak with each other while Madalena and Aasne observed from the other side of the room. After a few minutes, I could tell they were beginning to trade stories, and I nodded across the room to my other two wives. Aasne didn’t know what I meant with my gesture, but Madalena did, and she began to prepare a plate of food.

  “What do you think of Aasne?” I asked Sivaha as I saw the other woman follow Madalena’s example.

  “She is only a few years younger than me, but lacks the experience ruling. Or controlling others. She is a sweet girl, and you will probably enjoy her a few times, but then you will grow bored with her and just choose to spend your nights with me.”

  “You are confident,” I said.

  “We were meant to be lovers,” she whispered. “I have never felt passion the way I have with you, husband, and I could tell from your emotions that you felt the same.”

  “I care for you as I care for Madalena, Eve, and Zea,” I said.

  “Th
at is fine,” the silver-haired woman said, “I respect them too, but I am talking about sex and lovemaking. You and I share a raw connection in battle and in bed. I know that you felt it, and I doubt you feel it with any of your other wives. Well… perhaps Eve. Her anger is like a river of magma hidden deep in the earth.”

  “I don’t want to compare either of you,” I said.

  “You do not have to,” she whispered. “Words can be twisted and bent so that feelings aren’t hurt, but I feel your emotions.”

  “So does Madalena,” I said. “So will Zea and Eve once they submit to me.”

  “But they can’t tell--”

  “Look, Sivaha,” I interrupted her. “I’m happy with you as my wife, and I want to make you happy as a husband, but I have three other women that I was already in a relationship with, and another one that I need to build a relationship with. Yeah, the sex between you and me is fantastic, but this isn’t a competition. I need your clever brain and understanding of people’s motivations now. Help me figure out these new admirals during this meeting and don’t talk to me anymore about how much better you think you are than the other women I love. Got it?”

  “Yes, husband,” she said quickly. “As I said, I respect them. I spoke out of turn and did not wish to make you angry.”

  “I’m not angry,” I said. “You are just being you, but you don’t need to use your competitive spirit with my other wives. Use it to make the group better.”

  “Yes, I will,” she said.

  “Great, now let’s get some food and talk some of these new admirals up. I’m going to let you lead me in working the room. My guess is that you’ve rubbed elbows with powerful people plenty of times.”

  “Yes, husband,” she said as her perfect lips spread into an even more perfect smile. “If you will let me lead you in this dance, we’ll learn what there is to learn from each of these eight.”

  “Lead on,” I said, and then we went to grab some food together.

  The next few hours I spent getting to know my new admirals. Most of the time I spent next to Sivaha, but for about a quarter of the dinner I was with Madalena. Soon there was no more tension in the room, and I saw that the admirals from each of the old clans were sitting and talking with each other as if they had been comrades for years.

  “They are Nordar above all else,” Madalena said. “You were wondering how they could get along so quickly when they have been enemies for so long.”

  “Yeah, I was,” I said.

  “They believe in you. It started with the Vaish and then spread to Sivaha’s people. Now you have the Idonan, and soon Waymund will join us again.”

  “Then Jotnar,” I said.

  “Yes, then Jotnar,” she replied. “They will be the hardest.”

  “I’ll worry about that after Waymund,” I said. “And we’ll have Eve, Zea, Paula, and Kasta back. Nothing will stop us then.”

  “I am looking forward to welcoming them as Nordar,” Madalena said.

  “And speaking of the Waymund,” I said. “Let’s wrap up this party and get to work.”

  I brought my hands together in a loud clap, and the conversation cut off instantly. All eyes turned to face me, and I scanned the small group. There was no hostility in the eyes of the Idonan admirals, they just seemed interested in what I was about to say.

  “As you know,” I began. “My mission is to unite the clans so that we can defeat the Draugr. I won’t get into an explanation of how dangerous they are right now, but calling them god-like would not be a disservice to their powers.”

  Birger and a few of the Vaish admirals nodded, and I continued.

  “The next clan I want to join us is the Waymund. I had planned on taking our combined armada there just as I had with Idonan, but I have since learned that the king, queen, and their children will be visiting one of their pleasure worlds. The purpose of their trip was to witness Aasne marry one of their sons, and it presents us with a unique opportunity to get to the heart of the horse without having to chase it down.”

  Half of the admirals nodded, but the other half seemed thoughtful, and a brief flash of fear rolled through my stomach. These men were admirals of the most powerful space fleets in perhaps all the human colonies in the Milky Way. Admiral Jetuyn was a tactical genius who was about the same age as my sister, yet she commanded an arm of the armada that was almost the size of the entire Jupiter Navy.

  And I was just a space Marine grunt that could change into a tigerman. Who the fuck was I to tell them what to do?

  Madalena rested her fingers on my shoulder and her touch drop kicked the fear out of my heart. They would do what I told them to do because I was their king, and if they refused to follow me, I would make an example of them and then find one of the other hundreds of vice-admirals that wanted the job.

  “My rough plan is to journey to this Dia-Prism 5 planet as if the plan for Aasne to marry has not changed. When we get there, we’ll land on the planet, infiltrate whatever fortress that King Goki Waymund has, and then have a conversation with him. Before the conversation, I would like the rest of our armada to appear in the space around the planet. Then Goki will understand that he has very little leverage in our negotiations.”

  “How many ships will be there?” Jetuyn asked.

  “Admiral Kiuys was working with Toriton on the plan. She will now tell us about the plan.” I nodded to the gray haired woman, and she stood, pulled a datapad from her pocket, and then walked to the front of the conference room.

  “We were asked to bring fifty ships,” Kiuys said as the lights to the room dimmed and a projection of a handwritten letter in the Nordar language appeared on the wall. “King Goki Waymund committed to bring the same number. He also asked Toriton to bring a hundred thousand kilos of rhodium as a dowry.”

  “Damn,” I gasped at the number, but I was still thinking like a poor Marine that had to join the Yakuza to pay for his sister’s hospital bills. A dozen grams of rhodium would have paid for my sister to live in the hospital for the rest of her life.

  The Vaish Blood Overlord Clan mined over two-hundred thousand kilograms of rhodium every day, and I could have paid for Aasne’s dowry without even blinking. I never had to worry about money ever again, but I still wasn’t used to it.

  The mining intake was from the combined efforts of the old Skyad and Vaish clans. The Skyad made up a quarter of that number, and I was about to ask what the Idonan intake was, but then Kiuys guessed my question.

  “We mine thirty thousand kilograms of rhodium every day.”

  “So this dowry was an inconvenience, but only took three and a half days to pay for,” I said.

  “Yes,” Kiuys said. “Aasne’s father did not debate it long. He sent the reply back to the Waymund, called back most his armada so that the home sector would be protected, and then prepared to make an alliance with the Waymund. But then disaster struck.”

  “We showed up?” Sivaha asked.

  “Well, yes,” Kiuys said, “but you caught us flat footed because we had just found out that Aasne had left for Oskmay, and we did not have a ship fast enough to catch her. The disaster was that Aasne left, and Toriton would not be able to wed her to Waymund.”

  “Ahh,” I said, and I realized that the timing of our arrival had been interesting. If I had come a few days before, I might have found Idonan’s home system without more than twenty thousand ships as defenders, and I could have conquered the clan easily. Had I come a week later, Waymund and Idonan might have been at war, or at least, the rival clans might have been preparing for it.

  “Were you given instructions for arriving in Waymund space?” Madalena asked.

  “It is as you guessed,” Kiuys said. “We would land on the planet as guests of the Waymund and then attend the wedding. Afterward, Toriton and Goki would discuss the ways they could protect each other.”

  “This seems like my father was taking an enormous risk,” Aasne said, and all eyes in the room turned to her. “We would be surrounded by Waymund, on one of
their worlds, with little negotiation power. They could have done what King Vaish did and kill him then declare that Idonan was now Waymund.”

  “That is how it looked if your father agreed with their plan,” Kiuys said. “However, he planned on taking a good chunk of the armada and placing them on the far side of the system within quick hyperdrive distance in case of betrayal. He also planned on sending your uncle planetside instead of him. They look enough alike so that Waymund would not tell the difference, and if your uncle was killed, the clan would not fall to you.”

  “Ahh,” Aasne said. “That is a better plan.”

  “Where is Toriton’s brother?” I asked.

  “He was submitted to his brother,” Kiuys said. “Now he is dead.”

  “Well shit,” I said. “Did Toriton and Goki correspond through visual communication? Do they each know what each other looks like?”

  “They communicated through writing,” Kiuys said with a half-smile, “but we have visual images of all the kings and queens except you, since you are too new and our spies did not have a chance to return information.”

  “So it seems that my original plan doesn’t require much alteration,” I said. “The difference is that instead of Toriton sending his brother while he awaits with the rest of his armada on the other side of the system, I’ll be going planetside, and my entire armada will be coming.”

  “You will be entering their fortress, though,” Kiuys said. “That is what Waymund wanted of Toriton.”

  “If you can even get in,” Admiral Unnie Gezald spoke up, and everyone turned to him. “Goki must expect some sort of bait and switch from Toriton. He’ll have some means of establishing identity. It might have worked if Queen Aasne’s brother went in his stead, but you will not be able to impersonate them. Also, we should consider that Waymund might have a better spy network than we do. They might know what you look like.”

  “We just need to get on planet and into the estate or fortress,” I said.

  “But my lord,” Unnie said after he cleared his throat. “How will that help? King Goki will most definitely have an incredible amount of security inside the fortress. In the worst case, he has planned to kill Toriton, in the best case, he worries that Toriton might want to kill him. There might be thousands of guards inside of whatever fortress where the wedding is planned. Unless you can somehow make it to the ceremony, I don’t see how you would get direct access to Goki.” I could tell the young man was trying to be respectful, and he folded his hands in his lap when he finished speaking.