SCS Dark Star Page 4

  “A spaceship?”

  “Of course.” Kellin’s scent was one of surprise and amusement. “What other kind would they have?”

  “Interesting. Has the council said anything about the Service or the Space Corps as a career choice?” Veloki turned the brochure over in his hands. God, it’s tempting. To see the stars? That was exciting, fun, different. It wasn’t the same damn tired things his entire race had been doing for thousands of years. But if the council didn’t approve, he might lose his chance to become a stud. Not that I have much of a chance now, he thought morosely. To go into space might be worth not ever siring children.

  “Not that I’ve heard. Does it matter that much?” Kellin’s exasperation was clear. Even after six months, the human just didn’t get the importance of the council, and Loki had given up trying to explain. “Loki, this is your choice, remember? You shouldn’t need their opinion to decide on what you want to do.”

  “Let’s go speak to my father.” Veloki stood and waited patiently for Kellin to join him. He looked over the brochure again. Space Corps looked better and better with each perusal. He was of a mind to join up even if the council didn’t approve, but he wanted to hear Yeri’s opinion anyhow.

  “You don’t have to trouble Yeraki for every little thing, you know,” Kellin was saying as he finished tying his shoes and stood up. “It’s cold out there.”

  So it is. It is winter, after all. Veloki especially liked Colorado during the winter. Of course, he had a fur coat to keep him warm. He patiently held out Kellin’s coat. “He’s my sire. I want to hear his opinion and possibly get his approval. And if the council has an official position on the Service, he will know.”

  “Since he’s on the council, I guess that makes sense.” Kellin slipped into the heavy coat. “Thanks, Loki.”

  They headed out into the winter night. Veloki took Kellin’s hand—the wind had picked up, and the lights were few and far between. He never forgot that humans couldn’t see in the dark. It was up to him to guide them to the cabin Yeri shared with Lee. It wasn’t that far, and he knew the way by heart, so a few minutes after they’d ventured out, Veloki was politely knocking on their door.

  Lee answered it. He raised his eyebrows as he stepped back to allow them entry. “Loki, Kellin, what are the two of you doing out in such miserable weather?”

  “Breedmaster, I wanted to speak to my father about the Space Corps.”

  “He still thinks he needs council approval for everything,” Kellin added, his scent exasperated.

  “I see.” Lee closed the door behind them. “Yeri’s in the office, come.” He led them through the small living room and off to the left. This cabin had more rooms than theirs because both Yeri and Lee had a lot of administrative work to do, requiring more space. The office Lee spoke of was a high tech puter wonderland as far as Loki was concerned.

  The office had two workstations, one at normal height, with a chair to sit in, and one close enough to the floor that someone sitting on a cushion would be comfortable using it. That’s the workstation Yeri was at, of course. He was reading from what looked to be a stack of handwritten pages and inputting something into his console at the same time. When they entered, he first glanced up then set the papers aside with an air of relief. He removed his reading glasses, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and said, “Loki, Kellin, so nice to see you,” as if they hadn’t just seen each other at dinner.

  Loki waved a hand at the stack of papers. “What’s that about?”

  “It’s damage and repair estimates for the Lineage Compound. It still exists, and it’s legally still ours, so we’re going to repair it and, eventually, go home.” Yeri patted the cushion next to him. “But I’m sure you didn’t walk through a snowy night just to see what I do in my free time. What can I do for you, son? If you want to marry Kellin, I’m sorry, the church is still maintaining that we cannot participate in the sacrament of marriage, though the rest of the sacraments are open to us.”

  It was an effort not to roll his eyes. Sometimes, his father’s humor was a bit much to deal with. He padded over to the older male, plopped himself down on an unoccupied cushion and held out the brochure. “Kellin and I were discussing possible careers. He suggested this as an option. I wanted to know what you thought of it.”

  Yeri barely even glanced at it. “Which branch are you thinking of? You’re smart enough for the Diplomatic Corps, fast enough and strong enough for the Marines.”

  “Space Corps.” Veloki licked his lips. “Neither Kellin nor I have heard if the council has an opinion on the Service as a career, but you seem familiar with the branches...” he trailed off, wondering at the cause of the amusement in his father’s scent.

  “We haven’t issued an official opinion, nor will we, because we don’t wish to prejudice your choice. But, since you’re asking, the council has agreed to view time in the Service as an equivalent to the arenas.”

  Excitement filled him. This is better than I dared hope! Equivalent to the arena! Veloki had been denied his chance to prove himself as a gladiator because he had never been sold. “Any particular branch?” he asked, trying for casual but failing miserably.

  “We will give more weight to the Space Corps and the Marines, but all of the branches of the Service have merit, son, and time spent in any of them will not be disregarded.” Yeri shrugged a shoulder. “However, I should warn you, anyone entering the Service, no matter the branch, will receive the sex-drive-inhibiting shot.”

  Veloki mulled that over. He liked sex, and to go without bordered on hardship. He’d gone through a dry spell when his own body had shut his sex drive down due to immense stress, so he knew what he’d go through. Humans were such lovely creatures, so fun to play with, to be played with by. He nodded. “Understood.”

  “Are you going to sign up?” Lee walked over to them, sat down in the chair on Yeri’s other side. He casually rested a hand on Yeri’s shoulder. The familiar scent of the Breedmaster, intermingled with his father’s scent, almost made Veloki smile.

  “Yes, sir. I think I will. It’s different, and it sounds exciting.”

  Kellin sighed. “Loki, you really need to stop calling every human you see sir.”

  He’d brought this up before, but it baffled Loki because he didn’t call everyone sir, only those who deserved it by virtue of position or age.

  Lee stuck up for him this time. “Kellin, Loki spent the first sixteen years of his life calling me Master. However, I am still a Breedmaster as well as a physician, so calling me sir is not inappropriate.”

  “You Breedmasters aren’t helping,” Kellin snapped, glaring at the man. The scent of his anger washed over Loki, who was surprised at both its depth and ferocity. “Half the time, I think you all regret having freed them! The Rovania need to spread their wings and fly, but you Breedmasters are intent on holding them back in the dark ages!”

  “You think I’m holding them back?” The sudden anger in Lee’s scent was much more worrisome to Veloki, who exchanged a glance with his father.

  “Nobody thinks that,” Yeri murmured, touching Lee’s hand with his own. “Nobody who knows you, at least.”

  The anger remained, along with frustration, but it wasn’t directed at them at all. Lee glanced down at Yeri then back at Kellin. “My dear child, you have no idea how hard I’ve worked to get the Rovania to the point they’re at. If I wanted to keep them slaves, I could do so with a lot less effort, not to mention headaches, than getting them to accept their freedom is taking.”

  Kellin snorted, disbelief predominant now. “Yeah, right. Pretty words but no proof. Like usual.”

  “Proof?” Lee shook his head. “What proof do you want? Proof of the control I could exert if I chose? That’s easy enough to demonstrate.” He quickly walked to the far side of the room, turned and snapped, “Gonatiseh.”

  Veloki found himself reacting before the command to kneel was even completely out from between Lee’s lips. He wasn’t sure if it was the word, the tone of voice, the absolute demand in Lee’s scent, or a combination of all of it, but he was on his knees at Lee’s feet before the man’s mouth closed, and Yeri was right beside him.

  Kellin’s scent was of shock, consternation, and embarrassment—for him.

  “Shall I make them lick my feet? Service me? Trust me, Kellin, if I wanted them as slaves, they would be slaves.”

  Please don’t, please don’t, Veloki thought but didn’t dare say. He stared at Lee’s boots with fascinated dread, waiting for the command to come.

  Kellin was silent—too stunned to speak, Loki realized, but Lee must have taken the silence for defiance because he gave the command. “M’gleepseh.”

  Veloki closed his eyes briefly. Why is this happening? Even though he wanted to resist, he still bent forward and planted his lips on that boot.

  “Do you see now? Their conditioning and training are so deep as to be nigh well unbreakable. They are simply unable to not comply with my commands. Enough, as you were.” That last was in Greek and directed to them. Loki came up out of the kneel in a rush, holding back tears by force of will alone, trying to contain his sense of bewildered humiliation. He leaped away from the man, seeking comfort in Kellin’s arms. Kellin’s sympathy was almost his undoing, but he managed not to shame himself further by bursting into tears like a gataki. The man’s arms came about him, and he started to relax.

  Yeri was slower to come up. His face was expressionless, but Veloki could smell his anger—not shame, just anger. He returned to his cushion in absolute silence, sat back down, put his reading glasses back on, and picked the stack of papers back up.

  “Yeri?” Lee’s voice was soft, his scent worried and uncertain—and remorseful.

  The older Rovani sighed. “I would appreciate it, sir, if you would refrain from repeating that demonstration ever again.”

  Lee sat back down, too, and stroked Yeri’s arm in a silent apology. He looked directly at Kellin. “I spend most of my time trying to get the Rovania to accept their freedom, even if it might not appear that way to you. Veloki is young, and as you just saw, even he hasn’t escaped the conditioning. It’s much, much worse with the older ones.”

  “I’m sorry,” Kellin said at length. “I had no idea. I was wrong about what you Breedmasters are doing, and I’m sorry.”

  Chapter Five: Nick and Cai

  Nick was looking forward to returning to civilized space. For the last six months, they’d been conducting space trials and training in the local space around Skaith Command, the fleet’s ultra-secret shipyard. In that time, his belly had swollen with the growth of the baby Cai had implanted in him, but he still had three months to go before delivery. The baby wasn’t big enough, yet, to get in the way of Cai’s lovemaking, but Cai had him on his hands and knees anyhow.

  He didn’t mind. His body was Cai’s, he’d given himself to his husband as a slave for his wedding present. Around his balls, he wore a locked cuff that declared him the property of Cai. A matching collar with an identical inscription encircled his neck right now because they were alone in the privacy of the Astrogator’s chambers. Cai was balls’ deep in his ass and stroking his tunnel in a very enjoyable way. Telekinetic hands grabbed at and played with his dangling cock and balls, something Nick loved to experience as much as Cai loved to do it.

  Nick looked forward, at the mirror he was positioned in front of. He could see his belly, could see Cai standing behind him, and that was the point. Cai was tall and slender, almost skeletally thin due to the high metabolic demands of his profession. His platinum blond hair would be unmanageable if it were any longer; even in a spacer’s buzz it looked tousled. Cai’s eyes were an intense blue, the exact shade of tanzanite, and they sparkled like the gems they resembled. Cai’s appearance, his pale never-saw-the-sun skin, sharply slanted cheekbones, and narrow chin, made Nick think of a fox, an arctic fox, to be precise.

  In contrast to his spouse, Nick was muscular from all the time he spent working out when he wasn’t able to climb mountains. His skin was dark—genetics had given him a natural tan, which deepened to bronze when he got sun. His hair was just as short as Cai’s but so black there were blue highlights in it, and his eyes were hazel, varying from cloudy blue to stormy grey to cloudy green. Based on appearances, Nick thought, an onlooker would expect things to be the other way around. They’d expect Cai to be the bottom and me the top because he’s thin and fragile looking and I look like an athlete.

  But it was Nick who was on all fours, being hammered by Cai’s cock; it was Nick wearing the collar and carrying the baby in his specially cloned and implanted womb. He met his husband’s reflected gaze and smiled, letting Cai see his joy, his love.

  “I love you, too, Nick.” Cai was a level five telepath, the highest rating the Guild had. He had to actively shield to keep everyone’s thoughts out of his mind, for contrary to popular belief, humans were thought projectors, basically shouting everything they were thinking into the void between minds. Nick, however, had a natural shield that helped protect him from the power of Cai’s mind. Of course, his husband still knew what he was thinking most of the time. He didn’t mind that at all. Sometimes, in fact, he enjoyed that immensely.

  Cai pulled him up into a kneeling position, wrapped him in a snug embrace, and came deep inside him. Nick shuddered and moaned as Cai’s pleasure flashed through him as well. He felt himself spurting in response, his second orgasm of the session, and now, it was Cai who made a soft sound as he sensed Nick’s pleasure.

  In the aftermath, Nick found himself resting atop Cai, using the Gator’s shoulder for a pillow, with Cai’s hands languidly stroking his body. In that moment, he felt not only comforted and secure, but also possessed and deeply loved.

  Cai abruptly sat up, but he steadied Nick with his hands as he did so. His head cocked in that listening pose Nick had come to know so well. Patiently, Nick waited to hear what was going on. Cai relaxed as abruptly as he’d tensed. He smiled down at Nick. “We’ve been cleared for departure at our earliest convenience.”

  Due to his gravid state, Nick was unable to dance for joy like he wanted, so he settled for a whoop instead. He maneuvered himself out of bed and headed for the bathroom. By the time he was done with the toilet, Cai was in the bathroom himself. Twenty minutes later, Nick walked onto the bridge. Half that time had been spent traveling. Dark Star was so big, in fact, that the engineers who’d built it had installed a bullet car system into subdeck A. If he’d tried to walk from Cai’s chambers to the bridge, he’d still be at it, since they were nearly three klicks apart.

  Nick settled on his couch and glanced at the Astrogator’s indicator light as it switched from a steady green to blue as Cai entered the Chamber that was basically the heart of the ship. He brought up his own interface. The SCS Dark Star, the Space Corps newest heavy battle cruiser, was in optimum condition with all systems in the green and their skeleton crew—the entire crew of Laughing Owl, not even a third of Dark Star’s expected roster—were all at their stations.

  Cai’s voice, the voice of Dark Star, always cheered him. “Skaith Command, this is Dark Star, requesting clearance to depart this time. Our destination is Earth.”

  “Dark Star, Skaith Command, you are cleared to depart.” Since they were the only operational ship in the system, it didn’t take long to get clearance, nor would they have to worry about traffic.

  The acceleration was impressive. For his size, Dark Star was surprisingly fast and agile, and Cai had spent six months learning how to make best use of his new ship-self. He had them at the standard point five c within twenty minutes of boosting away from the L5 station on a perfect outbound course for the hardpoint that would take them home.

  Their departure orders, brought in by courier almost four months ago, had instructed them to return to Earth rather than Hevetich, where the fourth fleet was based out of. Cortez had speculated that the Corps wanted to show off their latest heavy cruiser to the politicians, and Nick couldn’t disagree with the notion. Several of the bridge officers were chuckling, and after a moment, Nick realized why. Cai was humming, and the shipnet was broadcasting it. Nick joined in the general chuckle. No way would he tell Cai to stop. If the Astrogator felt like humming, that was his prerogative.

  * * * *

  Power thrummed in his bones. Finally, he was free to fly, the void beckoned, blacker than black, despite being strewn with a multitude of stars. He knew it for the illusion it was, space was vast and those stars were long, long years from each other at conventional speeds. The earliest space pioneers had fled Earth after the first Q’Kathi war in liberated Q’Kathi vessels, and who knew? They might even now be nearing their destinations.

  The hardpoint beckoned. He was a long way from Earth—a dozen jumps, a dozen systems to transit and admire. His crew was looking forward to their destination, but for him, the journey was the destination. He felt like singing but merely announced, “Ten minutes until FTL transit,” and brought up his jump protocols.

  As Cai plunged into the elegant equations of the jump, the bridge informed the crew, “All hands, prepare for jump. Everyone must be in an acceleration couch in seven minutes from mark. Three, two, mark.” Protocol demanded a two-minute safety margin because that was the theoretical point at which Cai could no longer change the insertion into subspace, not that he’d ever tried to abort just to see if it was true.

  Dark Star was not Laughing Owl. He was so much more powerful now that there was no comparison. His puters thought as fast as he did. They interfaced with him and his six like they’d grown their crystalline matrixes right out of his mind. There was no delay as the numbers flowed back and forth, faster and faster even though Cai had slowed his perception of time.

  “Five minutes until FTL transit.” He was deep in time dilation now, proving that black was white and white was black.

  “All hands, you have three minutes from mark to get into an acceleration couch. Three, two, mark. After that, Cai cannot change the insertion angle. Get your ass in a couch or kiss your ass goodbye.”