by Stella Cassy
When the video started, he frowned at the images screen on the wall. “Tarion, the Commander of Hielsrane.” He pointed to the red Drakon standing beside him. Lehar stood slightly behind Tarion, who had bright red skin. The cousins were about the same height.
“The Moset.” He pointed to half-bunny looking warriors. While they were speaking to the cousins, they gesticulated and half hopped. They were bright orange creatures who stood on two legs and had two arms and medium-size tails. I opened my mouth to ask him about pictures of Carissa but after his comments earlier I kept my thoughts to myself. Who cared what she looked like? She’s human.
He tipped my chin up and I automatically pressed my lips to his, luxuriating in their warmth. “You should stay on the ship, visit the observatory and view worlds you have yet to see or visit the hatchlings.”
“I don’t mind that at all, but I’d rather do it later.” That put a smile on his face, and he kissed my lips again. “Is it horrible down there?” All I could see on the screen was part of Lehar’s ship and greenery underfoot that looked like long grass but probably wasn’t. “It kind of reminds me of Earth.”
“The environment is innocuous and has a similar environment to many planets in appearance with one moon and sun. The Moset are the problem. Despite them being our allies, I don’t like interacting with them.”
“You don’t trust them.”
“No ally can be fully trusted,” he said, his tone cynical.
“I haven’t been outside since...” I didn’t want to mention the Pax and Nish because that subject made my stomach cramp. My hand went immediately to my neck, to the necklace, which tinkled. “I don’t want my only time on another planet to have been in a cage.”
“That is why I wish you to remain behind, Lara. They would not dare touch you but —”
“I want to go.” I kissed his cheek, my lips finding his own again. “You called me by my name.”
He went to a cabinet in the corner and took out something from one of the small drawers at the bottom.
“You are still my human, and if you do go, I’ll have to guide you around with this,” He said, attaching a long strand of small black stones to my necklace and tugging slightly. There was a faint smile playing on his lips, in his eyes.
“Oh.” Like a dog, again. I almost said the words but bit them back. “I’m not wearing that.”
“I will have one of the crew escort you to the observatory,” he said, like he knew what my answer would be. He was trying to scare me off.
Even if I hated the collar, I had to get off this ship an onto a planet where there might be other humans. Carissa and I might be able to form some kind of network. I didn’t have many friends, but the connections I made in the entertainment industry usually paid off short- and long-term.
“I’ll feel like my neighbor’s dog.” I tugged the strand of stones from his hands.
“It’s necessary, especially with the likes of the Moset.” His voice held a more serious note. Muscles in his jaw were taut along his jawline.
“I still want to go.”
He exhaled heavily and stuck his tongue in my mouth while he played with my hair. He unhooked the strand, and I curled up on his lap until it was time for him to go back to the bridge for landing.
“You’ll come back for me, won’t you?”
“Yes, after first solar nutrition,” he said.
I fell asleep as soon as the door closed. The ship was making me drowsy all of a sudden. I needed fresh air, even alien air, to clear my head, to see if it really was the air or maybe the food, the water — all of it.
The door opened, and I sat up. It was like he had just left.
“Did you change your mind?” His voice went up on the end and there was a hopeful smile on his face.
“No.” I scrambled off the bed, smoothed down my shirt, hiked up my pants, and scrunched my distorted curls.
In the hall, he took hold of the chain and gave it a little tug with a malicious grin. “Come, my human.”
I pulled it out of his hand.
“Lara…” He shot a warning look my way.
“We’re outside of your room,” I said. “Shouldn’t you call me human or hey you or maybe whistle?”
“Why?” he asked. “Does the sound of your name in my mouth excite your female parts?”
I pulled one of his long strands of hair. He muttered something that sounded like “airlock.” I laughed.
At the pedestrian exit, I put my hand up to shield my eyes and squinted but still couldn’t open them completely. Several times I tried to look up, but the sun was too bright.
How could I stay on the ship when we were on a planet that looked so similar to Earth? It didn’t smell like Earth though. More like a kennel or horse stable, although there were only eight of the Moset to greet us. The air on the ship wasn’t so bad after all. I pulled at the collar. Was this really necessary or did he just like leading me around?
Down the ramp, I followed behind Lehar attached to him literally by a leash, no matter how pretty the stones were. If I didn’t already feel like a pet, I would have stayed in his room, but I just had to have a breath of fresh air.
I stood in place between blue and purple-skinned Drakons whose waists were loaded with gadgets, more so than the ones had on the ship with bigger rods, octagons, and rectangular shaped objects that were most likely weapons. They were too big to be just fashionable. They had extra silver and black bands on their upper arms that I didn’t think were bracelets. Lehar had weapons strapped to his waist, too, but his arms were bare.
Hobbit-like hills, which looked like they were only ten feet tall, rose out of the earth in neat rows with doors of every color imaginable. They were built right into the earth like those Earthship houses but completely covered in green, yellow and brown vegetation. In between each row was a different kind of overgrown flower as colorful as the doors and as tall as the hills. Blooms in pinks and oranges and purples from petal to ground grew in a single color. The ground cover was every shade of green possible and as perfect as any manicured lawn or golf course could be.
I sneezed.
“Oh…This is nothing like Earth, but it’s pretty, almost.” It was like Disney Land and a military base all rolled into one except everything was real and smelly and the lights were turned up too high. Instead of all the sweet, fried, spicy treats scenting the air, it smelled like a gigantic flower shop of cut flowers and herbs. I wiggled my nose, then gave in and rubbed it.
“Pretend you are mute again until we are back on board,” Lehar whispered over his shoulder without hardly moving his mouth as far as I could see since I was a step behind him like a good little slave.
“Yes, sir, Capt. Hielsrane,” I whispered and saluted his back. Without turning around, he tugged the chain again, and I tugged right back.
“Lara, silence, or I will bite you when we get back to my quarters.”
I coughed and laughed at the same time.
Lehar stopped in front of a Moset who had a triangle of Mosets standing behind him. Then, the doors of every one of the houses that I could see opened, and a single Moset stepped out, closed the door and stood in front of it.
10
Lehar
A Dangerous Ally
Lara’s sharp intake of breath told me that Neswove’s simulated soldiers standing in front of their barracks looked as real to her human eyes as they once had to my Drakonian ones the first time I saw them. Unknown to the Neswove, we knew his projected soldiers were mere figments of their overblown egos.
While Neswove ignored our presence on the pretense of speaking to one of his subordinates, Lara sneezed and sniffled. My eyes lingered on Lara’s gray upper garment covering most of the skin I was used to seeing, left bare daily by her strapless dress. Every bit of her skin except her hands was covered. Her orange dress would have been too much for the Moset, especially Neswove, who had little self-control. Their entire population could do with a lot more restraint.
“The planet
does not agree with her,” I said.
She opened her mouth to respond but sneezed again.
“Hielsrane,” Neswove said to my back.
I half turned.
“Has your superior arrived?” he asked.
“Neswove.” I faced him and stood completely in front of Lara with my wings expanded a quarter of the way, which shielded her almost completely.
He bobbed and made a high pitch whistling sound, which had Lara moving closer to my back. “Where is Tarion of Hielsrane?”
The sound caused me to grit my teeth. His beady eyes shot past me over my shoulder. “You brought an offering. Such generosity. Gratitude, tenfold.” He stepped closer to my left as if I had actually brought him my Lara.
I expanded my wings halfway. He stopped but remained deliberately too close, a move he would not have dared if Tarion were standing there. Perhaps if I incinerated every being in his vicinity, he would not challenge me. It was just as well I had brought Lara. I did not want to explain to Tarion why I destroyed an ally whose help we needed to quash a possible rebellion on Coovoo.
His regimen tittered and tapped the ground, waved their short arms and clapped the way they did to throw others off balance.
“My error,” he said. “I thought his emissaries bore gifts. I’ll wait for your superior.”
“He is close. You are as good as talking to him, as you well know. Let’s get to why we are here. Coovoo.”
“Your dwarf planet is in peril already?”
“We need additional ships, at least twenty, as a show of force to quash an uprising there. With additional ally forces, we can prevent this from becoming an actual uprising.”
“My troops have recently returned from travel and are on respite with their kin. You need fresh troops for war. Your fleet is reported to be much larger than ours, or was that an exaggeration?” Snickers came from his subordinates. A puff of breath and sharp intake of breath came from Lara.
All that was Kanet could easily be ours again. The planet’s autonomy was an illusion.
“The appearance of force and unity of two united is all that will be needed to curb a minor rebellion. If left unchecked, it could develop into unnecessary battle.”
He lifted his chin. “A point I cannot dispute.”
“Then we are in agreement, correct?”
“For such an ally as Hielsrane, what response other than affirmative is possible?” Neswove snickered. “How much does your slave rent for?”
I should have temporarily disabled her translator. She had already been subjected to enough of the basest of the verse, having fallen into the hands of the Pax, no matter how short of a time. She did not need to deal with Neswove and his games. The weight of her small hand was planted in the middle of my back. “We are here to discuss alliance affairs, not trade or other matters.”
I glanced over my shoulder to ensure that my wingspan shielded her fully. I did not want to give him the opportunity to ever look upon her again.
“We finalize the arrangements with Tarion soon, you said?”
“Yes.” That was as good of an agreement as I would get from the ass. Tarion should have led the negotiation himself. Neswove only agreed because Tarion was on his way.
“Why don’t you go to the central trade center? We have many foodstuffs to tempt your slave. You can borrow a ground rover.”
“Before we depart. We will wait for Tarion, as you suggested. Until then.” I turned my back on him before he could respond or leave me standing in his dust as he had tried to do before. I tugged lightly on Lara’s chain so that she would not falter when I drew her closer to my side, slightly in front of me, out of their line of sight.
Despite the hissing and stomping and tapping I’d dealt with before, I did not turn around. “Walk faster and do not look behind you.” I spoke in a low voice through gritted teeth to Lara. The four crew I’d opted to bring with me instead of Dashel knew not to respond to the Moset’s jeering.
“As an ally, I’d like first refusal when you get rid of your slave!” Neswove called after me.
The front crew jogged in front of us to open the pedestrian bay. If I had known he was going to be worse than usual, I would never have brought Lara. Was he worse? Or was I more sensitive with her at my side? I dropped Lara’s necklace extension as soon as we were inside.
“Meet me in my chambers for mid-solar nutrition,” I said. I received a slight downturn of her lips, but she went without comment.
I should have tempered my tone before speaking but controlling my voice while my dragon begged to be released was more than I was capable just then. Smoke furled from my nostrils as my inner dragon rumbled, longing to take his frustrations out on Neswove.
Lara’s soft hands squeezed my shoulder and my dragon settled.
I wished I could go with her immediately, but I needed to relay the outcome of the meeting with Neswove to Tarion and Dashel. As soon as I stepped onto the bridge, Dashel had a million questions for me before and during the conference with Tarion, which ended with him reporting that his estimated arrival was well before lunar.
“Black holes of verse, I have to be in on the next one,” Dashel said. “I could have lasered both his lieutenants before they could move and have him in one of the cells in the cargo hold.”
“We might have to deal with another far worse. Maybe one of his lieutenants will end him before I have to meet with him again. One of them has to be a better liaison.”
I almost went to the recreation bay to dispel the stench of my encounter with Neswove and give my thoughts time to settle, but Lara awaited in my quarters.
I went to my room and opened the door. She was not curled up in the middle of my bed as I expected, nor was she in the cleansing unit. The elimination chamber was empty, too.
Wings spread out, I flopped back on the bed and closed my eyes. “Computer, simulate lunar mode.” My eyelids drifted as the lights lowered, the purple tinged solar skies of Thirren illuminated the ceiling and Drakonian birdsong surrounded me.
The door slid open and her soft sigh joined the music of my home planet.
Her scent filled my nose and her sweet breath puffed down on my forehead. “You can’t be asleep. I saw you walk in here just a second ago.”
“Why do you not follow my orders ever? You were supposed to be here in my room,” I said quietly and in a more even tone than I was feeling.
“I was showering in my room. It was sticky out there and smelly. I didn’t think I had allergies, but Kanet has proved me wrong. Even after ten minutes inside, I can still taste it, smell it in the air, and smell it in my hair.” She rubbed a circle in the middle of my forehead. “Open your eyes.”
“You don’t need to use that room any longer.” I caught her arm with one hand and reached for the chain dangling between her breasts with the other, but she leaned away. “You shower and sleep here every lunar.”
She thumped my windpipe. “There aren’t any Moset here to put on a show for.”
I wheezed. “Deathstars, do you realize any other owner would send you to a holding cell in the cargo bay for less?”
“Don’t forget the airlock,” she said. “I can see you’re still in a bad mood. ‘Bye. I’m going to my room.”
She stepped in the hall and the door started to close. I shot to my feet and my foot was jammed in the door before it could shut completely.
“You do not have another room other than this one,” I said. “I am used to you in my nest. Lara, come inside. Do not leave.” Even her anger in my presence was better than her absence in that moment.
“Are you mad at those bunny warriors or me?” she asked without turning around.
“Them.” I slumped against the door.
She looked over her shoulder.
“Come inside for nutrition,” I said.
She faced me completely but flattened herself on the opposite wall and folded her arms across her chest. “I didn’t like them either. Probably because I’m prejudiced against anyone I remember
seeing on Nish.”
“Except me.”
“Only you,” she said, but remained in the corridor.
“They were not bidding on you. I didn’t see any Moset there.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “There were too many people in the crowd.”
I stepped further into the hall, extending a hand to pull her into the room. With a small smile, she laced her fingers with mine and pressed her body against me. With a low growl of triumph, I picked her up and stepped into my quarters, the door closing behind us.
She wrapped her legs tightly around my waist, pressing a soft kiss to my neck. My dragon rumbled from the contact and I shifted her hips, angling her so that my cock rubbed against her soft folds through the thin fabric of our uniforms.
Before I could remove our clothes, she deliberately slid down the length of my body and went to the nutrition dispenser. “I’m starving, aren’t you?”
“No.” I followed her and kissed her neck while she punched in the request for one tray of food. “We will eat later.”
“Apologize for snapping at me first,” she said.
“I apologize and I will apologize over and over, if you come over here and let me fuck you for the rest of the lunar.” Removing the tight fabric of my lower uniform, I pumped my cock to relieve the painfully constricting muscle.
“I want these off first.” She yanked the chain hooked on her necklace. “Remove it, please. If I have to have this on, I’d rather go to the airlock. This collar is bad enough.”
I wished to tether her to me every hour. I did not want to wonder if she was lost or search for her on the security monitors. She would not understand, just as I did not understand her.
“The collar must stay in public. How else would you be able to understand what is being said around you?” I released the antique locking mechanism securing the extension to her necklace. “Do not talk about the airlock again.”
