by Maia Starr
Then the pilot grew serious and I looked ahead to see why. We were approaching the blue Mountains that I had seen when I first stepped foot on this planet. The ship dropped lower, hovering only about a foot or two above the dirt.
"You see that? That is the rebel base, within those mountains. Say what you will about the rebels, but they were very intelligent to put their base inside of those mountains. It is practically impenetrable. We must to be cautious."
As we approached I saw the base where I would be living. It had high walls and there were guards set at every post. Inside the walls was basically a small village that looked to be self-sustaining. One wall slid open, and our ship entered. We were now inside the base. I was relieved that we had made it because I knew that we were in danger outside the walls.
Minutes later I was escorted into a large round building. "Wait here for General Rendor Moscurn. All new arrivals must be vetted by him personally," the warriors said as he stood behind me. I waited patiently looking around the building wondering when I would be able to get started on work. At least the work would keep my mind off of my situation. I tried to take in as much information as I could as I looked at my surroundings. I should become acquainted with this place if it is to be my new home. If I were to work here and lives are going to be in my hands then I should know all that I could. I would like to see the supplies, medical supplies that is. I would like to see what types of nourishment they ate and what it meant to their bodies. I had so much to learn and I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for this damn General. I was anxious to get started. I was making a list in my head of what I wanted to see and what I should know about. That was until I realized that the General was not going to be my friend at all.
Moments later a very tall Kalazaron entered with three warriors following behind him. It was quite the sight. They made a formidable entrance that made them look somewhat oppressive to me. They were all tall and long and muscular of course with the blue skin, but there was something different about these Kalazaron compared to the ones I saw in the city. I think these Kalazaron were rougher around the edges. I think it had to do with the fact that they were living out here like some primitive tribe away from the civilized city.
The General was very tall and attractive. He must have been at least 7 feet and 7 inches. His light brown hair was in contrast to his tan and blue skin, probably from being out here in the outlands in the silver sun. His hair was curly and went down to just passed his ears and it bounced with every step he took. His light brown eyes were beautiful but held a commanding presence to them.
"This is the human with the skills I gather," he said as he looked at me quickly and then took a tool from the warrior that brought me.
"Yes this is she. That is the orders from the Master himself," the warriors said as the General projected the hologram in the air and read it. I assumed it was the orders saying that I would be working as a medic for wounded warriors. He sort of laughed as he read it and I narrowed my eyes at him. I already knew what he was thinking.
"Send her to the barracks and I will decide what is done with her when I turn into bed this evening and fetch her," he said as he began to walk off. The warriors that escorted him laughed with him taking in his meaning that he was going to take me to his bed. I would have none of it.
"Excuse me! No such thing will happen! The Master himself has ordered that I be put to work here with the reconstructionists. I proved my reconstruction skills back in the capital city and I dare you to go against your Masters wishes," I said with my chin held high in the air. The General stopped in his tracks but he did not turn to look at me. Everyone was silent waiting for him to respond, as eyes grew wide at my defiance.
"You will only speak when I have allowed you to, or I will take the lash to your human skin. Now be silent and follow orders," he said as he walked off. I held back tears but I would not show that I felt defeated in front of this arrogant warrior. I restrained myself from running after him and pounding my fists against his strong chest. I knew that would be a dangerous move and could result in death.
The warrior behind me grabbed my arm firmly and yanked me out of the room and into the outside air. I crossed the small village as everyone stared at me. I felt as though I were naked. Minutes later I was thrown into a simple room. It was nothing compared to the chamber I had been in inside the city that was complete luxury. This room had a small bed against the wall that also served as a sitting bench. Behind a curtain was a small sink, toilet, and very tiny shower head that came out from the wall. There was no kitchen, and I assumed that there was some sort of mess hall where everyone took meals together. Now that I was alone, I allowed myself to cry. I would have to get it out of my system now or I would be embarrassing myself later. I longed for the company of the Master. At least he treated me with respect and thought that my skills would be useful here. This arrogant and disrespectful General was a nightmare. He would have me be nothing but a common whore slave. Surely he did not have the authority to go against the Masters orders, but who would tell the Master? We were so far away and I did not know how the communication lines worked. Who would go against the General and tell on him? It seemed very doubtful that the Master would learn that I was not being put in the position that he wanted me to be in. I was now stuck. I was now screwed.
Chapter 2
GENERAL RENDOR MOSCURN
Being the General was not in my plans. I first came out to the outlands as a reconstructionist. It is what I was skilled at. Then overtime my leadership skills pulled us through various battles with the rebels. I was a true Kalazaron. This meant that I was skilled in my occupation, but also a very skilled warrior. However after the General passed away in a battle two years ago I somehow found myself taking his position. All I really wanted to do was bury myself in my reconstruction work. It is where I felt most useful and where my passion lay. Now, I had to be in charge of every department here on the base. I had to be on top of the rebels’ movements. Instead of just working in the reconstruction building, I was in charge of everything.
We were expecting a supply run two days ago, a very needed supply run. We had grown short on a lot of things and tensions were high here at the base and I found myself putting out small fires within the bands of warriors gathered here to fight the rebels. So when the supply run finally arrived, it turned my mood dark to find out there was a human female sent to me. I did not have time for such ridiculous assignments. I had to make sure that all was going well dispatching the supplies, and to make matters worse other news had hit me that I was not very pleased with. It was news that would set us on high alert a few hours later. So when I was summoned to greet the human female I was in a very dark mood.
"This is the human with the skills I gather," I said as he looked at her quickly and then took a tool from the warrior that brought her in order to read the orders that were given to me about his female slave. This better be good. I did not have time for anything like this right now. Perhaps later at night when my bed felt empty I would have time for it. However now she was taking up my precious time. There was nothing that mattered more than securing that supply reinforcement that had arrived. We were a self sustaining base, but there were some things we could not grow ourselves like supplies for the reconstructionists to use on the wounded. This was of the upmost importance to me because lives were on the line. Being a reconstructionists myself, it at least made me feel good to still be involved on that team by securing the supplies that they needed. In truth, I missed the work. I missed being in there and saving lives and reconstructing bodies. It was what I lived for.
"Yes this is she. That is the orders from the Master himself," one of my warriors said as I projected the hologram in the air and read it. I sort of laughed as I read it and she narrowed her eyes at me. She couldn’t possibly know why I was laughing, but this was very comical. The Master had a notion in him that this human female slave that was no bigger than my thigh would be a helpful reconstructionist. No, I did not believe it.
Surely she had manipulated her way into coming out here. I was not going to deal with this or give the lying human what she wanted.
"Send her to the barracks and I will decide what is done with her when I turn into bed this evening and fetch her," I said as moved to leave this waste of time and return to my duties. The warriors that escorted her laughed along with me. It was good to know that I was not the only one that thought this human female was useless except in the bedrooms.
"Excuse me! No such thing will happen! The Master himself has ordered that I be put to work here with the reconstructionists. I proved my reconstruction skills back in the capital city and I dare you to go against your Masters wishes."
Everyone was silent waiting for me to respond at the defiant human female slave. I wanted to turn to her and put her in chains. A few days in the prisons here would teach her not to act in such defiance and shout out ridiculous emotional outbursts such as these. I did not turn to her, as she was not worthy of direct eye contact, instead I said coldly over my shoulder.
"You will only speak when I have allowed you to, or I will take the lash to your human skin. Now be silent and follow orders."
After I left the human female I had many things to see too, and yet I was distracted. I had not seen a human female that looked like her or acted like her. She was a small petite creature with brown hair and brown eyes. She had an ample bosom, tiny waist, and curvy hips. But it wasn't just her appearance; it was the way she presented herself. Here she was a human taken captive as a slave and yet she showed no fear. In fact she showed defiance. It was a defiance that made me angry because how dare she question my orders. I was in charge here. I was the one that had to deal with the oppressive responsibilities of being in charge and I did not need some small human female defying my orders in front of my warriors. It made me look weak and that was something that I did not put up with.
I thought it was ridiculous that the Master thought the small human female was capable of being in the reconstruction building. Seeing that much blood and guts and horror took a certain amount of strength and I knew that a human female was not capable of that. Especially not one that was pretty and attractive like this one was. She would not last a day in there. Whatever possessed the Master to send her to me it was suspicious. Perhaps it was not he who had sent her at all. Perhaps it was the rebels sending an attractive female to infiltrate my base or to distract me. That thought lead me back to the news that I had received earlier. The rebels were gathering at the base of the mountain was the report that I had received from our tower lookers that morning. This could only mean one thing, they were preparing for an attack. This had been the way of that since I arrived. They were constantly attacking this base ever since we set it up years before after the rebellion split. They wanted us gone. They wanted our base to disappear so that they may live in peace out here in the outlands. However our government would have none of it. They wanted continual punishment for the rebels for leaving our faction. If they were allowed to live out here in peace on their own terms, they would grow into a force that was capable of attacking the city. Therefore the small battles and skirmishes had a reason, to keep the rebel population to a minimum and to keep them at a level of exhaustion. If they had many years of rest then they would build into a great army, and we could not allow that. So was the responsibilities of the General of the Belvenreed base, and I currently was that General.
It was not always so, as I only wanted to study and work in reconstruction. It was my cousin Dalik Moscurn that always wanted to be a leader. Our fathers were brothers, but they were not with us anymore. Dalik and I never got along. We had grown enstranged for several years now. We were very different. He had leadership and change in his eyes just like his father. I, however was more focused on simply doing my job and doing it well, which used to be reconstruction. I loathed Dalik in his idealism, why would he want to give himself so much responsibility to implant progressive ideals to the Kalazaron? I thought it was nothing but his ego. He only wanted to implement change so that laws could be named after him, so that he could be remembered just as his father was… a great leader. I hated all of it. Things were fine just the way they were, I was more like my father. Of course, my father and Dalik's father did not get along so it goes without saying that we were our father's sons.
The rest of the day involved taking charge of the newly arrived supply reinforcements. This was mixed in with possible battle plans and reinforcement warrior stations on the high fence for a possible raid by the rebels. By the time I was walking back to my chambers, it was very late.
"Shall I summon the human female now?" My warrior who was second in command Finock Pri asked me.
"What?" I asked over my shoulder.
"The human female that you sent to the barracks. You stated earlier that you would deal with her when you went to bed," he said with a slight elbow jokingly to my side. I gave him an angry look. I had completely forgotten about her. She was more of a nuisance and I had a suspicion that she might be a spy. I did not want to deal with her I just wanted to sleep in the exhaustion of the day away.
"No. Make sure that she receives a tray of nourishment and I will deal with her in the morning," I said to him.
He smiled and said, "Yes sir." I grabbed his arm and stopped him and looked him directly in the eyes and sternly said, "I said a tray of nourishment and nothing else. Do not converse with her. Do not touch her. Open her door, leave the tray on the floor, and shut the door behind you. Make sure there is a guard stationed at her door, someone that we trust to not violate her. Is that clear? "
His face grew serious and he said, "Sir yes sir," as he stomped off to fulfill my orders.
As I lay down in my bed ready to give way to a deep sleep, the worry of the possible rebel attack hit me. My mind suddenly grew very active and I found it hard to relax. Then my mind shifted to the human female. As my mind moved over her delicate features her soft brown eyes, her full lips, and her petite soft curves I began to relax. But something else, I began to grow hard. My eyes drifted off towards sleep and I found myself beginning to partake in a projection of a sexual nature on the human female. I quickly opened my eyes in shock of myself. Yes, that was right. I had forgot about the human females and why the Kalazaron enjoyed having them on our planet so much. It seemed that the human female mind was easily subjected to our projections. If I wanted to I could continue the projection and feel as though I was having a sensual encounter with her. She was close enough to me for it to happen, and the thought made me smile. But I would not do that. I was not here to play games. I was here to lead an army to protect the city against the rebels. I got up from my bed and slammed down a glass of Iccanis juice in order to sleep. I was out within minutes.
The next morning, I was making my rounds on the command deck. All systems were checked and all new reinforcements on the fence were in place.
"General Sir, there is communication for you coming in from the Master," Finock said to me.
"Right away," I said as I followed him to the communication room. This was a small closet like room were only I could fit. This is where I took all communication from the Master. Regular communication was seen on the commander deck on a big holographic screen. But all communications from the Master were seen as secretive and very important for the ears of the General in command only, and that happened to be me at the moment. This was highly unusual as I only communicated with the Master once a week in order to go over weekly reports. We had already done that three days ago, so this communication was something entirely different. Perhaps he had news about the rebels gathering at the base of the mountain for me.
"Master, what news?" I said as I flipped on the communication panel.
"General, all went well with the supply reinforcements?" He asked.
"Yes, all is well thank you for the reinforcements. It seems that the rebels are gathering at the base of the mountain and a possible new raid might occur soon. Therefore the supply reinforcements are crucial at this time."
"Very good, I am sure that you will defeat that raid quickly. What of the human female slave I sent to you? Did she demonstrate her reconstruction skill to your liking?" He asked.
"Master sir, I did not think that you actually meant she should work in reconstruction. Perhaps emptying bedpans or the like as any slave would. But I do not see that she would be fit to do much else," I said to him. His face grew dark and stern and he said, "Am I to understand that you are defying my orders General?"
"No Master I am not. Forgive me. I did not think the female was of priority. In fact I had some suspicion that she might be a spy sent to me by the rebels," I said. The Master began to laugh and said, "She was found on a human ship that Commander Yun captured in space. I guarantee that she is no spy General Moscurn."
"Of course Master Bresh, I will see to it that I test her skills in reconstruction and find a proper position for the human female slave."
