Argen
Argen
Trematu was home on leave from Farseek Brigade when the Sargan’s attacked his
home world. After they destroyed the Farseek colony, Argen was scooped up with
the rest of the survivors and sold into slavery. Uatu warrior, Lieutenant
Commander Trematu didn’t make such a good slave. He rebelled at every turn
which landed him on the Julconi prison planet fighting in the pit.
He thinks his life is over until an old friend comes to tell him the
Farseek Mercenaries were coming to the rescue. Argen never thought landing on
the prison world would be his lucky break.
…. And he never expected to meet her
on the rescue ship.
Zoey
Zoey Addison was kidnapped from Earth to be sold into slavery. She rescued
with four other Earth women by the Farseek Mercenaries. Zoey joined the
Mercenaries with her three friends because they had nowhere else to go. Her
friends all found their soul mates among the crew and Zoey was feeling left
out.
….Until she was checking in the rescues from Julconi. Dressed in rags and
so dirty she could barely discern what color he was Argen walks up to her table
and takes her hand. The attraction between them all most crackles.
The two share the dreams of the rest of the Farseek Mercenaries to return
to Farseek with their people and build a life together never sure it will
really ever happen…
Excerpt:
Argen Trametu
The stench of unwashed bodies and smoke hung heavy in the
air. The crowd was a noisy bunch, and a lot of them were drunk. If one didn’t
know better, they might think they were
in a rowdy bar in a seedy port city. But
it was a prison planet, and we were all
prisoners.
I was in the fight pit. It was my second fight of the night and his first. My last match didn’t last
nearly long enough. I needed to punch someone or something for a lot longer
than I got to punch him. I thought
Alarian warriors were a tougher lot than
that. Our match barely went three rounds, and
most of his punches didn’t land. He smelled of rotgut whiskey, so maybe he was
drunk. But I pounded him without mercy.
Even that was not nearly enough to assuage the rage I still
felt at landing here on the prison planet of Julconi. I am a Uatu warrior from
Farseek, and I had done nothing to warrant going to a prison planet for the
rest of my life.
I was on leave visiting Farseek, my homeworld when the Sargans attacked and left our world in ruin. I
remember walking with mother at the open-air produce market in the town square.
My next memory was waking up strapped to a bunk on a slave
ship. I was no slave! I am an Uatu warrior of the Farseek Brigade! I escaped
every chance I got.
They punished me, tortured me every time, and every time I
did it again. I didn’t know the slavers
put a tracker chip under my skin. I could never get to a starport to steal a
ship and get off world. They used flying
drones to track me. The drones had
shockers that shot me and dropped me wherever I stood.
That was painful enough. Then the punishers shackle me naked by my wrists and ankles to what can
only be called a torture frame. I’ve been whipped, beaten, and repeatedly shocked until I wished they would
just kill me.
I hated being helpless to defend myself. The Sargans knew I would kill them had they
left me unrestrained. They always
tortured me unconscious before they took
off the restraints and threw me in a cell until they could sell me off.
Finally, they must have grown tired of torturing me, so they
sent me here. At least now I could fight back, sometimes three fights a night.
So, far I haven’t lost, though sometimes I take a good beating before it’s
over. Sometimes the pain is better than feeling nothing at all.
The next fighter was new and looked more evenly matched. The
first round we danced around each other throwing and blocking punches. He was pretty good, but I was better. He clearly had training in hand to hand combat,
but few styles compare to that of an Uatu
warrior. I toyed with him for a while letting him think he was actually
blocking me. The next round I made my move landed more blows than he could block. I pounded him and roared like a crazed
animal when he fell, and the rules said I
had to stop.
The rage just welled up inside me. He was no innocent. Duck, block, punch, pivot kick. He lasted five
rounds, and I knocked him out. Then I got
a thirty-minute break. The next guy was bigger
and meaner and had horns.
This one was hard to beat, and
I took a lot of hits, but so did he. We each got in two knockdowns but I got the last one in the twelfth round, and he didn’t get up for another.
No, I didn’t kill him. I really had no grudge against him. He was just someone to hit… to
pound out my rage at what the Sargans had done to my family and my world. It
was not enough. It would never be enough!
The next day everything changed. I dragged out of my hovel
to find some food and fill my plastic jug with water at the community well.
Then I heard someone call my name and I turned to see who it
was,
“Trametu, is that really you?”
“Pegitu,
what the hell are you doing here?” I murmured, hardly believing my eyes.
He nodded his head, silently
asking me to go with him, so I did. He was probably the only man on Julconi who
I would trust.
* * * *
It was midday before I saw Argen again. He was downright
handsome all cleaned up and rested. I couldn’t help smiling up at him when he
came and stood in front of my table. I felt giddy as pleasure and attraction
bubbled up inside me at his presence.
“Hi sweetheart,” he said. “I had to see you. Do you think we
could have third meal together in the
mess hall today? I would so like to get to know you better.”
“I would like that. You look much better. Did you rest
well?”
He shrugged.
“Sometimes it’s hard to rest in a new place. I’ve only been
here a couple days myself. The accommodations are actually nicer than mine on
Dread One, but the bed’s not the same. And the smell is different.”
“It’s a new ship,” Argen said.
“It is. We stole it from Tegliar Station,” I told him.
“I wish I could have been there for that,” he grinned. “I
hope they don’t catch up to us.”
“You and me, too.” I smiled.
It was hard not to smile while I was talking with him. I
knew he was handsome under all that dirt but cleaned up he looked so good I
could hardly stop staring. All the Uatu men were stunningly attractive even
with their odd colored skin and hair.
His skin was a pale lavender, and his hair was a darker lavender color. It had been pretty long
when he came on board, but now it was clipped close to his head in what seemed
to be the universal military cut.
I hoped the way I was looking at him made him feel as good
as I felt at how he was looking at me.
“We’re finished here. Would you like to go to the mess and
get a cup of tea?” I offered. There was no such thing as coffee out here, but
the tea had about the same kick as coffee, and
it tasted good.
“I need to stop at my cabin on the way, but I would love to
have tea with you,” he grinned.
Farseek warriors were seldom demonstrative in public. Argen
walked beside me down the corridor to the lift to level three where his cabin
was. When we got there, he invited me in, and
I fell right for it.
As soon as the door closed behind me, he pivoted and held my
head between his large hands pressed those sexy lips to mine. I just melted
against him and put my arms around him like I wanted to do the first time I saw
him.
Solmatu! As soon
as our lips touched and my arms went around him, I knew it was true. I felt
such elation just to be in his arms for the first time. His tongue slipped
between my lips, and I opened for him,
giving him free reign to stake his claim. Mine!
Mine!
