must insist, so that the guild can stay apprised of our location and progress. Please enter your flight plan Mister Nandu.”
“Are you asking me, lady, or are you telling me ?” Mister Nandu’s expression was absolutely deadly. It made Ilham’s stomache do a small flip, but not with the same nervousness she had been experiencing all day.
“I am advising you how to leave orbit with the least amount of resistance from the authorites.” Zaffa bit back. She was not a female to be trifled with. Her martial skills were unparalleled amongst all of the guilds.
The mercenary snorted and did as he was told. Ilham could see the tension in his body as he communicated his flight plan with the Central Authority. Ilham had seen many males in her lifetime, but none quite like him. He was a large male, taller and more heavily muscled than most Alarian males. He wore pants and a jacket made of some sort of animal hide, and the kind of boots that she had often seen soldiers wear.
Ilham stared at the male. She had never seen his kind before. Where did he come from? Was he from one of the doomed races, whose females were mostly infertile? Ilham chewed on these questions as he navigated the vessel out of the planet’s atmosphere.
“Excuse me,” Ilham spoke on impulse “what planet are you from?”
“Dortaki.”
“Can you tell me about your home planet?”
Excitement animated all of Ilham’s features. She was part Dortaki as well. She had never seen that planet or met another person from it. She had been born and raised on Alarias Prime. She had so many questions her spots tingled.
Roshon ran his hands through his thick, black curls and leaned back in his seat. For a moment Ilham was afraid that he would not speak. Sadness crept into his face and Ilham had to suppress the instinct to sooth it away.
“Dortaki is a planet of herdsmen, farmers and warriors. We don’t have many of the fancy technologies and creature comforts you are accustomed to on Alarias Prime. Life there requires work, but aw is it beautiful?”
“And your females? What of your females?”
“I haven’t seen one of my own since I was a small boy. The plague took my own mother and my sister was sent to a citadel soon after. What I remember of my mother was that she smelled like forests after a heavy rain. Honestly princess, all of the females of my planet have been sent off world to live in the citadels. After watching so many of them die, most folks gladly sent their surviving females away.”
Ilham let a few moments of silence pass between them. He seemed very sad, his people must have been very attached to their females.
“Is breeding not going well with your people?” Ilham’s voice sounded small in her own ears.
“I guess it goes. Every so often a new boy is delivered to his father. I think they keep the females. But… we survive.”
Mister Nandu turned around and faced the display panel. Their talk was over. Ilham felt strange. She was deeply saddened by the state of affairs. On Alarias Prime the female children are given to the family to raise until the onset of puberty, at which point they join the guilds and enter the citadels. After three successful matings they are released from their obligation. Although they remain part of the guild for life, they may choose to leave the citadel. How must it have been to grow up without the presence of a single female?
The three of them had been traveling in comfortable silence for more than an hour when a proximity alarm began to sound. Roshon jumped to check sensor data, whatever it was, it was either too fast to be seen or using some sort of cloaking device.
“Take her to the hold, there is a reinforced compartment there. Stay there.” Roshon ordered.
Zaffa nodded her agreement and yanked Ilham to her feet just as the vessel was hit by plasma burst. Ilham reached out blindly to steady herself and found herself yanked into the air by a strong arm. Roshon hauled the breeder up against his body
“Are you asking me, lady, or are you telling me ?” Mister Nandu’s expression was absolutely deadly. It made Ilham’s stomache do a small flip, but not with the same nervousness she had been experiencing all day.
“I am advising you how to leave orbit with the least amount of resistance from the authorites.” Zaffa bit back. She was not a female to be trifled with. Her martial skills were unparalleled amongst all of the guilds.
The mercenary snorted and did as he was told. Ilham could see the tension in his body as he communicated his flight plan with the Central Authority. Ilham had seen many males in her lifetime, but none quite like him. He was a large male, taller and more heavily muscled than most Alarian males. He wore pants and a jacket made of some sort of animal hide, and the kind of boots that she had often seen soldiers wear.
Ilham stared at the male. She had never seen his kind before. Where did he come from? Was he from one of the doomed races, whose females were mostly infertile? Ilham chewed on these questions as he navigated the vessel out of the planet’s atmosphere.
“Excuse me,” Ilham spoke on impulse “what planet are you from?”
“Dortaki.”
“Can you tell me about your home planet?”
Excitement animated all of Ilham’s features. She was part Dortaki as well. She had never seen that planet or met another person from it. She had been born and raised on Alarias Prime. She had so many questions her spots tingled.
Roshon ran his hands through his thick, black curls and leaned back in his seat. For a moment Ilham was afraid that he would not speak. Sadness crept into his face and Ilham had to suppress the instinct to sooth it away.
“Dortaki is a planet of herdsmen, farmers and warriors. We don’t have many of the fancy technologies and creature comforts you are accustomed to on Alarias Prime. Life there requires work, but aw is it beautiful?”
“And your females? What of your females?”
“I haven’t seen one of my own since I was a small boy. The plague took my own mother and my sister was sent to a citadel soon after. What I remember of my mother was that she smelled like forests after a heavy rain. Honestly princess, all of the females of my planet have been sent off world to live in the citadels. After watching so many of them die, most folks gladly sent their surviving females away.”
Ilham let a few moments of silence pass between them. He seemed very sad, his people must have been very attached to their females.
“Is breeding not going well with your people?” Ilham’s voice sounded small in her own ears.
“I guess it goes. Every so often a new boy is delivered to his father. I think they keep the females. But… we survive.”
Mister Nandu turned around and faced the display panel. Their talk was over. Ilham felt strange. She was deeply saddened by the state of affairs. On Alarias Prime the female children are given to the family to raise until the onset of puberty, at which point they join the guilds and enter the citadels. After three successful matings they are released from their obligation. Although they remain part of the guild for life, they may choose to leave the citadel. How must it have been to grow up without the presence of a single female?
The three of them had been traveling in comfortable silence for more than an hour when a proximity alarm began to sound. Roshon jumped to check sensor data, whatever it was, it was either too fast to be seen or using some sort of cloaking device.
“Take her to the hold, there is a reinforced compartment there. Stay there.” Roshon ordered.
Zaffa nodded her agreement and yanked Ilham to her feet just as the vessel was hit by plasma burst. Ilham reached out blindly to steady herself and found herself yanked into the air by a strong arm. Roshon hauled the breeder up against his body
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