Teeth & Claws: A Paranormal Space Opera Adventure (Star Justice Book 10)

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “That is interesting,” Toriton said as he exhaled. The man actually did seem surprised that their armor was changing its design, and it looked like he was having trouble figuring out what to say next.

  The seven of us were silent for a few moments, but then the tension between our two groups seemed to thicken. There was really nothing else for me to say that hadn’t already been communicated, but I got the feeling that Toriton was attempting to lure me to say something that might give him an advantage.

  I bit my tongue and just met their eyes evenly.

  “The Idonan clan is different from the others,” he whispered after he let out a long sigh. “We wage war to defend ourselves, but we would look forward to peace between the clans. We are not cold and calculating like the Vaish. We are neither bellicose nor angry like the Skyad. We are not cunning and devious like the Jotnar or strategists like the Waymund. We are brave though, and we care for each other. The other clans see war as their main purpose, but the Idonan wish to be left in peace so we can work on our arts. We have a navy and train for war to protect ourselves, but we have never taken systems from any of the other clans. You all think that is a weakness, but what use is war if you don’t enjoy life?”

  “We enjoy life,” Sivaha scoffed. “Some of us feel that battle is living.”

  “You prove my point,” King Toriton said.

  “Then there is sex, and alcohol, and raising our children to be better warriors,” Sivaha said as she shook her head. It looked like she was fighting hard not to roll her eyes. “We have plenty of artisans. Our skalds sing songs. Our painters paint. Our sculptors sculpt.”

  “Every Vaish and Skyad was a warrior first, then they take up a hobby. We are artists first and then serve in the military so we can preserve our way of life. Our passions keep our discipline burning, and we find that we can stand chest to chest with the other clans in war.”

  “The Skyad is no more,” Sivaha clarified. “There is just the Vaish.”

  “My point was the contrast,” he said with a shrug.

  “The conversation has turned away from our initial topic,” I said. “The threat to the Nordar is far greater than the schisms between the Blood Overlord Clans.”

  “King Adam,” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “I will not submit to another man, but I will submit to the avatar of Odin. You will prove it to me by trial.”

  “Trial?” Madalena asked.

  “Yes,” Toriton said. “Odin gives us the white stag to show when the changes are upon us. The day my father died I was out hunting and brought the creature down. When I was selecting my wife, I had my pick from a dozen beautiful and intelligent women, but I hunted a white stag the same day as I met my wife. We have stood together through countless storms, and I know it was Odin’s wish that we come together.”

  “I don’t have time to go hunt a deer,” I said.

  “Then you will not gain my submission,” Toriton said as he laid his hands flat on the table. “You can attempt to kill me now, and our armadas can clash until all my people are killed and your forces are weakened. Then you can pillage my homeworld, turn my people into thralls, and use them to fight the Waymund and Jotnar.”

  “But if I bring you a white stag, you will submit to me?” I asked with a bit of disbelief.

  “The hart is the symbol of our people,” he said. “Peace when peace is needed, and violence when violence is needed. The stag is made to both run with its powerful legs and attack with its sharp antlers. Most men never see a white stag, but I have seen two, so I always knew that I would be involved in a dramatic change for the benefit of my people.”

  “Adam is the change for all the Nordar,” Madalena said. “He will unite the clans.”

  “But you need me to agree,” he said.

  “No,” Sivaha said. “We need you to make it easier. In return, your people get to live longer. There will be no more warring between the clans, or taking of sectors from each other. If you want peace, submit to my husband now.”

  “You need to make it easier on me then,” he said as he turned his eye to me. “I will be named a coward and a traitor by my people if I submit to you. They would rather fight to the death than be Vaish. However, if I have proof that you are chosen by the gods to unite us against the Draugr, I will be able to convince them that this was the best decision.”

  “Are you their king, or not?” I growled. “I have enough firepower to destroy your entire clan, you are correct that I would prefer you to cooperate, but don’t pretend that you need to do it to save face.”

  “I am their king, and I have made my decision,” he said as he glared at me. “Bring me the corpse of a white stag that you hunted with either bow or spear, and I will submit to you.”

  “For the sake of argument, where do you think I can find one of these?” I asked as I shook my head.

  “I’m sure the Vaish homeworlds have deer,” he said with a shrug.

  “Ahh, so I am to return home, hunt, and then bring the carcass back to you?”

  “There are forests on my world,” he said with a shrug. “You can hunt there. I’ll permit your wives to join you.”

  I would have preferred my revolvers to get their first use in actual combat, but I supposed that regicide was a fitting baptism. Both the gold and silver weapons pulled free of my holsters easily, and neither King Toriton nor his Valkyrie bodyguard could do more than reach for their axes.

  Then both of my new revolvers shouted thunder, and massive holes appeared in my targets’ chests. I could actually see the wall through Toriton’s torso as his corpse tumbled away from me, and I saw that the twin bullets had actually punched fist-sized holes through the bulkhead at the back of the conference room.

  “I don’t have time for games,” I said as I turned both of my revolvers to Admiral Kiuys. “I’m going to guess that, like most admirals, you are practical, and will be looking to advance your career.”

  “Yes, my lord,” the older woman said as she raised her hands away from the knife she wore on her belt.

  “You aren’t dead,” I said, “so I’m guessing that you never submitted to your king.”

  “You are correct, my lord,” Kiyus said, her hands weren’t shaking, but her eyes were opened a bit wider than they were a few moments before.

  “Who is next in line?” I asked. “His wife? You will communicate with her and ask her to come.”

  “King Toriton had seventeen wives,” Kiuys spoke with careful words. “They are all submitted to him, so I expect them to be dead now. Our entire kingdom will know he has passed in a few minutes.”

  “Seventeen wives?” I asked with surprise. “It sounded like he just had one wife; the one where he hunted the white stag.”

  “King Toriton sometimes bent or embellished his tales,” Kiuys said as she bowed her head and closed her eyes. “For example, as far as I know, he has never hunted a white stag.”

  “I suspected as much,” I said as I tried to hide my annoyance. Fuck that guy and his games. I hadn’t wanted to kill him, but I felt a lot better knowing he lied to me. “Who is next in line?”

  “His eldest daughter,” Kiyus said.

  “Fine,” I replied. “She will submit to me. Send word that she is to come--”

  “My lord,” Kiuys interrupted me as she bowed lower. “That will be difficult since she is currently off planet.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  “She has gone to the planet Oskmay,” Kiuys said as she looked to Madalena.

  “Shit,” Sivaha hissed.

  “Where is Oskmay?” I asked.

  “It is the place where young women are tested to be valkyries,” Madalena said. “How long ago did she leave?”

  “A few days,” Kiuys said. “She has been training her whole life to become a valkyrie.”

  “I thought the Idonan weren’t warriors,” I said as I pinched the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes.

  “Again, Toriton’s stories were not entirely accurate, my lord,” Kiuys admitte
d. “We are still Nordar, and train from birth to fight. However, we are also encouraged to pursue the arts, and our artists are revered and known throughout the Nordar Blood Overlord Clans. Aasne took inspiration from stories of the Prime Valkyrie. She wished to serve her father as his primary warrior.”

  “This will be a problem,” Madalena said.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “It can take up to a year to complete the test,” Madalena said. “No men are allowed in the training halls of Oskmay. Even kings.”

  Now I knew why Sivaha had cursed, and I turned back to Kiuys. “Who is next in line?”

  “There will be no one else that matters,” Madalena said. “Aasne is now the ruler of the Idonan Blood Overlord Clan, and we will need to find her.”

  “The Prime Valkyrie is correct,” Kiuys said. “I have no desire to see more war, especially when you seek to unite the clans, but we will fight you until Aasne says that we are now Vaish.”

  “How far away is Oskmay?” I asked Madalena.

  “It is six light years away from Nordar - 13,” the Prime Valkyrie replied.

  “It is ten from this sector,” Kiuys said with a nod of agreement.

  “Did Aasne leave on a ship with a warpdrive?” I asked with hopes that I would catch a break.

  “I will pull the manifest if you let me contact my staff,” she said.

  “Go ahead.” I nodded to Sivaha, and she walked out of the conference room and returned a moment later with a transponder that I guessed was hooked into this ship’s communication systems.

  “We are ready to send Admiral Kiuys’ transmission, my queen,” a voice said through the pen sized device, and then Sivaha handed it to the gray-haired woman.

  She spoke in Nordar for a few seconds, and then we waited for a reply. There was a bit of back and forth, but Sivaha and Madalena didn’t seem upset by the conversation, so I figured that the admiral was doing as she told me she would do.

  “Her ship is a corvette class warship named Sunlight Lute. It has a warp drive that does three light years every ten hours, then has a twenty-hour reset.”

  “How fast is the hyperdrive?” Sivaha asked.

  “A light year every thirty-six hours,” Kiuys answered.

  “How many hours ago did she leave?” Sivaha asked.

  “Fifty-two,” the admiral answered after she asked in the transponder.

  “She’ll be there in about seven hours,” Sivaha sighed.

  “And our warpdrives need forty hours to reset,” I said, “Or we could beat here there.”

  “Let’s talk about this Oskmay planet, you said I am not allowed on it?” I asked Madalena.

  “They will not allow you in the training grounds,” Madalena said. “You will be granted an audience from The Six, but they will not budge on handing over Aasne to you if she has already begun the testing process.”

  “Who are The Six?” I asked.

  “Valkyries that manage the testing and development of the order,” Madalena answered. “They will bow to me and give me anything I ask except for one of the applicants to be released from her test.”

  “It’s worse than that,” Sivaha said as she frowned at me. “If she is a valkyrie, she won’t submit to you unless you beat her in combat.”

  “Even if it is to prevent our people from going to war?” I asked, and I glanced to Kiuys to see if she would agree with my wife.

  “Aasne was committed to her calling,” the admiral said as she shook her head. “She might be interested in submitting to you because the Prime Valkyrie is, but she may also consider that she controls the Idonan now, and she will be protected from marriage by the valkyrie vows. I have only met the young woman a few times, but she was sometimes as hot-headed as her father.”

  “There is another option,” Madalena said, and I turned to see a pained expression on her face.

  “Yeah?” I asked.

  “You can challenge The Six to combat. If you win, then they will be expected to agree to submit to you.”

  “I feel like I’m just picking up too many wives here,” I sighed. “I don’t even know this Aasne, but this seems like the safest solution toward peace. I don’t want six other women who I--”

  “They will release Aasne to you,” Madalena interrupted me. “It will be a negotiation. The Six are not interested in marrying you, or any man, even the avatar of Odin. They are the most extreme of our order, and their only goal is to develop the strongest warrior women for the Nordar people. They do not involve themselves in clan warfare or politics. The planet is a haven for any woman that wants to train and test to become a servant of the gods.”

  “I agree with the Prime Valkyrie,” Sivaha said. “I don’t know The Six, but the last thing they want is to be involved with a man. If you defeat them in combat, they will be filled with agony. But when you offer them a negotiation, they will take it and turn over Aasne to you. They do not wish to leave Oskmay.”

  “But then I’ll still need to convince Aasne to submit to me,” I said as I thought through the logistics. I had no wish to force anyone to submit to me, but I also wanted to save the human race from the most deadly predators that our galaxy had ever known.

  “Husband,” Madalena said. “That is an almost insignificant challenge when compared to the trials of defeating The Six. They are valkyries of the highest order and have trained their entire lifetime for combat. They have given up their clans and families so that they can serve the order. They only accept the best of our warriors, train, and then test them.”

  “But none of them have been Prime Valkyries?” I asked.

  “Some of them have,” Madalena said, “and they gave up the title. I killed my predecessor, but the woman before her is now known as Skuld, and she is one of the most important of The Six.”

  “Is there not a possibility that we will catch Aasne before she enters the training hall?” Sivaha asked Madalena.

  “It is,” the Prime Valkyrie said, “but we would need to arrive around the same time that Aasne’s ship docks and the warpdrive hasn’t reset yet.”

  “We will use the foldingdrive,” I said. “Then we will arrive instantly.”

  “No!” Madalena hissed, but then she blinked and bowed her head. “I am sorry, my husband. I did not mean for my words to sound defiant. The foldingdrive is not safe to use. I am afraid of nothing in this universe except losing you, the Draugr, and traveling via the foldingdrive.”

  “That’s okay,” I said as I reached out to squeeze her armored shoulder. “I took no offense.”

  We were silent a moment, and then I glanced at Kuroda. “What are your thoughts?”

  “Tiger, time is your most valuable resource. These six valkyries are but gnats for you to brush aside. They are an annoyance, but why bother in the first place? You need the maiden to lay claim to the Idonan, and your ship’s capabilities are at your disposal. The powers of light course through your body and using the foldingdrives will not cause you or your people harm. If it did, then fate would not have made it available to you.”

  “I agree with everything he said, but The Six and the foldingdrive,” Sivaha said with a light laugh. “The foldingdrive is dangerous, but only because we don’t know if we will lose time when we come out the other end. The Six are not ‘gnats,’ they are the most powerful of our women warriors, and they would have no problem killing a king to demonstrate their prowess.”

  “So we’ll take the foldingdrive,” I said. “I have no wish to fight six women when there is an option to do otherwise.” I turned to Madalena, and I stared into her gray eyes for a few moments.

  “I agree, my lord,” she said at last. “This is the quickest and most direct path to our goals. Odin and Freyja will protect us.”

  “So we have a plan,” I said as I turned to look at Admiral Kiuys. “That leaves you.”

  “I am Idonan, my lord,” she said as she bowed her head. “I respect you as king of the strongest clan, but I belong to my queen until she says otherwise.”

  �
��My armada will retreat and take position fifty thousand kilometers away from your planet,” I said. “We will not attack unless fired upon, or your armada changes position. I will return with Aasne, and then you will become Vaish.”

  “I will speak with the other admirals,” Kiuys said. “We will have a truce until you return.”

  “Good,” I said, and then I motioned for Madalena, Sivaha, and Kuroda to follow me out of the conference room.

  “This is a setback,” I said as we walked through the destroyer’s corridors with our armed escort, “but nothing major as long as we make it to Oskmay before Aasne.”

  Madalena nodded, but I could feel her uneasiness, and I turned to face her as we walked.

  “What do you fear more? The foldingdrive or me fighting The Six?”

  “My lord,” she said. “I love you unconditionally, you are the mightiest of warriors, and I feel confident that you will destroy anyone in your path.” Her gray eyes turned to Kuroda, and the dragon-man nodded his head.

  “But?” I asked.

  “But I hope the foldingdrive gets us to Oskmay before Aasne. I would not choose to use the foldingdrive unless your life was on the line.”

  Chapter 6

  The mood was somber on Persephone’s bridge. The Nordar were incredible warriors, but all of them seemed to share the same fears that Madalena had about using the foldingdrive.

  “How does the navigation for it work?” I said after I issued the order to head to Oskmay.

  “There is nothing required,” Madalena said. “We plug in the coordinates into the drive.”

  “You have traveled with it on Dance to the Dirge?” I asked.

  “Yes,” she said. “Once.”

  “And?” I asked.

  “We woke up at our destination,” Madalena said, “but felt different. It was almost as if I was not really in my own body or mind. The feeling went away after a week or so, but the strange dreams continued for a month. The technology is beyond what humans are meant to experience.”