by L P Peace
She let out a shaky breath. Looking around the room, Sophia saw one of the consoles still had an alien device attached to it. She walked over to it. There was a blinking light. When she pressed it, it was a message from cryptology.
‘Buoy is ready. I just need the message!’
A buoy! Something to go beyond the dampening field?
Sophia left the bridge. Cryptology was several decks below, midway down the ship. The message had come from Zariah Nadar’s workshop, which Sophia located quickly. The buoy was sat in a clear tube, waiting to be launched. Sophia set to work, programming a message and applying the code Zariah set up for it.
With that done, Sophia watched while the buoy was loaded into the launch tube. A few moments later, the computer confirmed its launch. Sophia watched until it went beyond the dampening field. Thanks to the tight beam, the buoy was able to confirm deployment of the message.
Time for a shower and change, and then she’d jump to meet the Tessans at the rendezvous point. It was two weeks since she should have been there. If the Tessans had given up on her arriving, she could just jump back to the ship and wait for them to come to her.
The briefing room was a bust, as were the captain’s quarters.
Ronin headed back up the stairs to the bridge with a growl. This job was turning out to be much more challenging and tedious than he’d expected.
Worse, the ship was human. He hadn’t recognised the language when he saw it, but Cintra had confirmed the source when he asked.
Humans. He huffed a laugh. Humans had conquered deep space travel. Ronin thought about Sarah and her Bataarin mate. She’d be thrilled to learn it. He assumed their mission was to go to the IGC and gain membership. This is what made the fact that he was here at Dar’s request more disturbing. Dar’s family wealth was built off the back of Aavani and Mvari slaves.
Keris didn’t do slavery. They never had. Well, maybe in some ancient past before space travel. But they were members of the IGC and therefore were allied with many races that dealt in slavery. As signatories, they were obliged to respect that. He had to respect the Bentari’s right to slaves.
What he didn’t have to do was participate in it.
This job was looking worse and worse.
What in the waves is that heavenly scent?
Ronin stopped abruptly. There was something warm and spicy about it, evoking memories of family dinners and celebrations. More, there was an underlying musk that was driving Ronin insane.
He’d wandered onto the bridge and started removing his equipment from the last console without really thinking about it. Still, the scent was tickling his nose, and it was distracting him.
It was distracting him so much it took him a moment to realise what it must mean. There was someone on this ship. Someone who’d been on the bridge since he left it more than an hacri before.
Packing everything up, Ronin chased the scent to the lift.
‘Down. Open the door at every floor.’
Three floors down, Ronin picked up the scent.
‘Vrok!’
There was an intense layer of sweat. Whoever this person was, they hadn’t bathed in some time. Was the power that far gone?
Following the hall, Ronin walked for several metri before he rounded a curved section; ahead, there was a door ajar. He crept over to it slowly.
Inside, someone was rushing around. Ronin crept closer, one silent footfall on top of another, letting the room reveal itself to him one inith at a time.
She seemed to be muttering to herself. Her voice was soft, feminine, and somehow, enticing?
Ronin cocked his head to get a better look at her.
She was wearing an all-in-one suit, which was sleeveless. A jacket was laid on the bed where she packed things into a long cylindrical cloth bag.
Her black hair was held up atop her head in a large clump. Messy strands of it fell about her head.
When she stood, her skin was a medium golden brown. When she turned, her black eyes found his, and Ronin felt something twist in his stomach.
‘What the fuck! Dude!’ She stared at him, her face curious, her eyes calculating. ‘That is an awesome suit. What are you?’
‘Hands on your head.’ It was the first thing that came to mind.
What the vrok am I saying?
‘You know, you’re the first alien I’ve ever met!’ She smiled at him, and something twisted further.
‘Hands behind your back!’
What! No! This is her ship!
‘What? Now I’m confused.’ She frowned at him. Small lines creased her forehead. ‘Do you want me like this?’ She held her hands up over her head, stretching. Her modest human breasts, a feature Kerisian females didn’t have, pushed forward as she bowed her back, and her shoulders pulled back, arms framing her long neck. She pressed her wrists together, and it took everything in Ronin not to groan.
‘Or this?’ Her arms fell in a graceful arc and swept behind her back; her shoulders pushed back even further, her breasts pushing out. He could see her nipples protruding through the thin fabric. His mouth both watered and went dry.
‘I’m all yours. How do you want me?’ Her voice was light and airy, but somehow suggestive at the same time. Her words evoked images, and Ronin found himself struggling to talk or swallow or think.
‘I—erm!’ Ronin blinked.
Some higher part of his brain was telling him she was using blatant sexuality to throw him off. The primitive part of his mind agreed wholeheartedly and was enjoying every moment of it.
The higher brain noted the mischievous look in her eyes and the movements they made, but the primitive part enjoyed the show far too much to realise what was happening until the human surged forward, bag and jacket in hand. She was by him in a moment.
‘Close doors!’ she yelled.
When had he stepped into the room?
Ronin threw himself forward and managed to stop the doors with his body. He pushed them aside and followed the human down the hall.
She stopped before he could catch up and dodged him, ducking under his grasping arms, rolling over one shoulder before finding her feet and running in the opposite direction towards the lift, all in one fluid movement. If she managed to get the doors closed before he got there, she’d be gone, and he’d have to track her through the ship.
She got to the lift and doors opened.
Spurred on, Ronin sped his pace, reaching out and managing to hold the doors open with his fingers.
The female jumped forward and tried to knock them aside, Ronin reached out again and snagged her top, pulling her towards him.
‘No!’ Her face was fury, eyes lit by it, skin glowing. Every scent increased and bathed him.
Vrok!
He pulled her into his arms, enlivened by her fight, and looked into her eyes.
He watched the anger recede, replaced with cunning, then soften.
‘Hi there.’ She smiled up at him.
Ronin felt his heart hammering in his chest.
I am in serious trouble!
‘So have you been here all this time waiting for me?’ The female hadn’t stopped talking since he apprehended her.
The doors to the bay opened.
‘Oh my god! Is that your ship? That’s gorgeous. What’s she like to fly?’
Ronin ignored her. He’d found it was the only defence he had against her. She spoke to him like they were friends, used her body to confuse him. Her smile confused him too. Ronin shook his head. He was supposed to be finding a data packet. Not only wasn’t it anywhere on the ship, he now, somehow, had a human prisoner.
He needed time to think, time to figure out what was going on. This whole job stunk, and it was getting worse with every metri.
Or that could just be the human!
‘Cintra, open Vernaya.’
‘Who’s Cintra? Is Vernaya your ship?’
The cargo ramp lowered.
‘Cool.’
They were halfway up the ramp when Ronin noticed
blood dripping from a makeshift bandage on her right hand.
‘What happened to your hand?’
The female looked down. ‘Oh, I cut my hand fixing my fighter,’ she said nonchalantly. ‘I guess it opened back up when I was running from you.’
Her response had an air of the true female to it, not the act she was putting on to throw him off. When she looked at him, a small self-effacing grin on her face, his stomach turned again, his heart stuttered in his chest.
‘Top of the stairs. At the end of the hall, turn left.’
The female followed his instruction.
Ronin put her in a cell. ‘I’ll be back for you in a few metri.’
‘Okay, I’m not going anywhere,’ she called.
Ronin hurried to the bridge, stumbling a little on the way. The human! The female! What had she done to him? He dropped her bag on the long chest of drawers as he passed, followed by his own on the floor. He’d look through it later to see if she had the damn packet.
A few metri later, Vernaya made her way out to space. Ronin fetched the human from the cell and led her to the galley where his med kit was located.
‘Oh, nice digs.’
Ronin followed her into his living area. ‘Digs?’
‘Yeah. It’s a human word. It means home.’ She turned to him. ‘I like the way you’ve decorated,’ she clarified. ‘It’s very homely.’
Her eyes scanned over it.
‘To the galley.’ He pointed. The female turned and headed there.
Following her, he pulled out a med kit from the medicine cabinet his mother had stocked. He took out a healing pad, a vial of painkiller, and the medspray.
‘What’s those?’
‘Pad is to help the wound heal.’ He gestured for her hand. She gave it to him. He could feel the heat of her skin through his glove. ‘The vial,’ he pointed to the silver tube, ‘is a painkiller.’
‘Oh. Thank you. That’s so sweet of you.’ She smiled at him, and Ronin felt his heart hammer harder. ‘When does my life of sexual servitude begin? Are you my first master?’
Ronin froze. He looked up at her, mouth hanging open, and thanked the waves she couldn’t see him through the helmet.
She reached out to him, her fingers grazing his helmet. Ronin felt his breath hitch.
No, she wasn’t reaching out to him; she was reaching past him. Something smacked into the sensors of his helmet, overwhelming them and his senses for a moment.
When the sensors cleared, he looked for her. She was grabbing her bag on the counter, directly across from the escape pod. She slapped her hand on the door mechanism and jumped inside before it closed behind her.
Ronin snarled and chased her.
By the time he got there, she was hitting the release. Her eyes met his as it shot off, leaving only an empty airlock behind. The screen of the airlock turned to black, leaving only the impression of a bulkhead.
Ronin let out an irritated breath and went to the bridge.
He hit the slave control on the escape pod and instructed it to return to the ship, a small smirk on his lips as he imagined the human's reaction when she realised.
He returned and waited for the pod to arrive. When it did, the screen reactivated, and the human was glaring at him from the other side of the airlock. The doors opened.
‘It was worth a try,’ she said, stepping back aboard.
He’d have to watch her every move. This female was tricky.
Ten metri later, her hand bandaged, he led her to the cells and locked her in the first one.
‘You’re male, right?’ The female eyed him.
Ronin felt himself shift. She was doing it again. Looking at him like he was a favoured meal. ‘Yeah, you’re male. Take the helmet off. Let me see your face.’
When he didn’t remove his helmet, she shrugged.
‘Hey, I don’t need to see the dash to appreciate the bodywork.’ Her eyes moved over him. Ronin had to stop himself from puffing out his chest.
Something about the female reminded Ronin of a Kietta. An insect on his world that became aggressive at any creature it perceived as a threat, no matter how giant that creature was in comparison. They were fierce, fearless little warriors. Ronin could squash one with his thumb but had always admired them too much to kill one.
‘Yeah, I appreciate all of this.’ She gestured towards him.
Ronin shook himself out of the human's hold and walked towards the door.
‘Whoa! Nice ass!’
Half-turning, he looked at the female.
‘That is sculpted! The David has nothing on that junk in your trunk! Seriously! Like fifty per cent of your muscle is in that ass!’
Ronin turned around and continued through the door.
‘Work it, baby!’
How did he usually walk again? Had he always swayed his hips this much?
Ronin closed the door and slipped into the main room, closing that door as well for an added layer of protection. He leaned against it, listening to her calling for him.
‘What—what just happened?’
There was information here Ronin didn’t have.
The human, who’d finally stopped calling to him through the door, was on a human ship. The ship had to be on its way to apply for IGC membership.
Ronin thought back to the night he’d spent on Tessa. It was an unknown planet back then. He’d been sent to capture a human female he and his comrades were told was an escaped slave. When they got there, they found a small colony of mixed slave races just over a hundred and forty strong. Despite being confronted with Bentari and Kerisian aliens larger and better equipped than them, the settlement fought, using guerrilla tactics to protect the weak and pick off the invaders—them.
Later, they’d been shown the paperwork that proved they were all free.
Sarah was a small, older female who he grew to admire in the short time he’d known her. He remembered her explaining why humans were so rare. Earth was protected by a defensive system that had seen off three invasion attempts, two by the Bentari, Hekalion Dar’s race, and one by the Fedhith, Ila’s race.
This job was stinking more and more.
What happened on the human ship? Why was it abandoned?
Flying around the outside, he re-examined the penetrations in the hull. Ships designed to breach hulls and secure airlocks allowed the invading pods' occupants to gain a foothold on board enemy ships. They were common, though the best version were the Amarans. The Bentari empire had a military contract with the Amarans.
Ronin huffed out a breath. What was so important about this data packet?
He needed more information.
Walking to the bridge, he sat in the pilot’s seat and activated a call to Dar’s office. While he waited, he pinged the ship again, trying to get information from it. Nothing. He pinged a few more times before he remembered the human had inferred that she only just arrived and mentioned a fighter. He sent the pings again, this time increasing the range to penetrate the hull of the ship.
A moment later, he received an answer from a small fighter. He used the ping to follow the system and downloaded the database. The fighter had jump capability, which was extremely rare. Usually, ships this size were carried by battleships or transport fleets. He started scanning through its system. Could the female have returned to the ship on this fighter?
Before he could get into it further, the Bentari ambassador appeared on the screen.
‘Do you have it?’
‘Straight to the point, Dar.’
‘Dosh’Ventis!’ The ambassador’s voice held a taut warning.
‘The short answer is no,’ Ronin said.
Annoyance flashed on the ambassador’s face. ‘What’s the long answer?’
‘There was no data packet,’ Ronin began. ‘You said the ship was abandoned?’
Dar frowned. ‘It was. Why?’
‘I found a human on it,’ Ronin said, looking off to another screen to give the impression he was distracted.
Dar went entirely still. He muttered something under his breath before speaking again. ‘Male or female?’
Ronin felt every muscle tense. He forced himself to ease them. The female was safe, nowhere near Dar, who rumour had it preferred males anyway.
‘Female.’
‘Bring the female to me. I want to talk with her.’ Dar’s voice held too much interest for Ronin’s liking.
‘The female is not my bounty,’ he protested. ‘If you have another location where I might find this data packet, I will be happy to bring it to you.’
Dar opened his mouth to protest, then shut it. ‘The female must be an escaped slave. I’m sure her owner will want her back. Why don’t you send me her picture? I’ll check the systems for her.’
And inevitably find someone who claimed she belonged to them. Dar must think him a simpleton who hadn’t figured out where the ship came from.
Ronin activated Cintra, transferring his feed onto the bridge before scrolling through the images he had of the human.
He noted her golden brown skin. Her soft, pillowy lips. The smile she offered to him. The suggestion in her eyes.
The only picture he was willing to share was the defiant glare on her face as the escape pod docked with Vernaya.
Ronin sent it to Dar over the open com.
‘I have it,’ Dar said. ‘Hmm, these humans really are attractive. Look at that spirit. It would be fun to break her.’
Ronin felt himself go cold. He wasn’t sure Dar was even aware he’d said it aloud.
‘I will run her through the system. I’m sure I’ll find her. Bring her to me. I have questions for her.’
‘And if it turns out she’s not an escaped slave?’
The Bentari looked at Ronin, a sneer spreading across the male’s face. ‘Oh, then I’ll let her go. But I’m sure she is a slave. These humans, they look like they could be intelligent, but they’re all baser instincts, trust me.’
