Page 25 of Narzek
“That was my guess, too. The Alliance has a passenger ship in this sector. They’re bound to rendezvous somewhere along the way, and much closer than Farseek.” They stepped into the elevator as its door slid opened. “We’re you even tempted to go when the liaison asked you?”
“Only for a second or two. I just thought about going back to hug my parents one more time,” she admitted. “But it passed just as quickly as I thought of leaving you.”
Narzek nodded, giving her a slightly rueful look. It was the same reason he could never insist on sending her to safety. In the months they’d been together, she had become a vital part of his life.
Despite the fact their relationship was highly sexual, it was so much more than that. When Narzek and Cayla joined, it was spiritual as well as physical, a celebration ofsolmatu.Sometimes, he was almost positive; he felt her joy at having him inside her.
She had convinced him that she would be as miserable with such a separation as he would. That ended his thoughts about sending her away. If her safety was in question, so was his. She reminded him of that one of the times he brought it up.
It was one of the few times she’d been angry enough that she shouted at him. But it was her eyes full of tears, not her words that impressed on him what he was asking of her. What good would keeping her safe be if it broke her heart, and his as well?
Narzek could only hope that they both would survive to build the life they planned on Farseek.
Later that rotation, the combined armada of Alliance and Farseek warships left the Mecstar system to pursue a Pican slave ship. This Pican ship was much larger than the average size they usually used. The Alliance had been tracking it from their space, and they were suspected of carrying up to a thousand people abducted from there.
The Alliance wanted those people back, and the Farseek Brigade needed a ship to transport the people they planned to rescue. The Pican ship was following the same course the Farseek Brigade had set for themselves, but they were a couple of systems ahead.
With months until theKurellisdelivered their rescues back to Farseek and returned to the Sargus sectors, the dreadnaughts could only collect about five hundred people if they housed them in their cargo holds. Taking the Pican ship shouldn’t be too hard for seven warships.
A few rotations later, Commander Lagatu called all the ground teams to a meeting. By then, everyone had received news on whether any of their friends and relatives had been found. Most of them had gotten adverse reports or mixed reports like Narzek. Two of his siblings had been recovered, but one sibling and his mother remained missing.
“First, I want to commend all of you for the tremendous job done seeking and recovering five thousand abductees from slavery. I’m sorry that so many of us were disappointed that our loved ones are still missing. My mate and our daughter weren’t found yet, either.”
Commander Legatu paced back and forth in front of the podium with his hands clasped behind his back. Then he skirted the podium and took his place behind it.
“I’m not going to soften it for you. So much time has passed that we mayneverfind them. I know you don’t want to think about that, let alone accept it any more than I do. That doesn’t mean we are going to stop this mission.
“We’ll keep going and rescuing every enslaved human and humanoid we find. Which brings me to our next endeavor.
“As you know, the Alliance ships have been trailing a Pican slave ship that has stolen thousands of their people. We’ve already rescued some of those they have dropped off on Berrapo and Mecstar Prime.
“We are going to help them seize that ship. One of their passenger ships will rendezvous with them once the ship his under our control. We will board and commandeer the slave ship. Then the Alliance passenger ship will dock with the Pican ship and remove the Alliance abductees.
“After that, we will be on our own. Hopefully, this Pican ship will be in better shape than the one we took the last time. We will have about three rotation spans to get it ready.”
Commander Legatu paused and let that sink in. “One more thing… The primary reason the Alliance ships saved our asses back there; they were bringing us two hundred Farseekans they rescued. We had about three hundred of their people that we returned to them. Some of our people went with them because they were mated to some of theirs and vice versa.
“A liaison from the Alliance interviewed all of those not returning to their homeworlds to be sure their decisions were completely voluntary,” said Legatu. “That’s all I have for you today. You will be on light duty for the next three rotation spans, physical training every other span. Dismissed.
As Narzek got up from his chair, he still lamented he hadn’t gotten the chance to speak to his brother before he was whisked away on theKurellis. He wondered if Jakkin knew where their mother had been sent. He just wished he’d had the chance to see and talk to Jakkin period. Realistically, Narzek knew she might be lost to them forever, but he was not ready to stop looking.
He didn’t talk to his father about it, because Commander Maxin Pardantu chose to remain in a state of denial. His father and mother had been accustomed to long separations all their lives together. They were notsolmatu,but Yarelle was a member of the Farseek Brigade. They served on the same ship together until she became pregnant and was grounded.
So, Yarelle ran the farm while her mate served in the brigade. Narzek was her firstborn, and they were always close, but he had never been close with his father. None of his siblings were either because he was away so much. Narzek avoided his father as much as possible, which was most of the time since they served on different ships.
Chapter Nineteen
“I just realized that you haven’t commed your father once since I’ve been here,” Cayla said. “Does he even know about us?” They were sitting at the table in their cabin, sipping morning tea.
“He was notified of our mating, but I didn’t tell him. We don’t talk since Farseek was laid to ruin. Truth is, we aren’t close,” Narzek admitted. “When I was a kid, and he came home on leave, it was clear that he wasn’t there to see his children. He was there to rut with his mate, and we were to stay out of his way.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Some people don’t make good parents. It’s not always their fault. Did you know his parents, your grandparents?”
“Grandfather was killed in the war before I was born. He was a warrior, too. He probably grew up without a father like we did.Solmatuwas not in the runes for him. I have always sworn that none of my children would grow up feeling the way I felt about him.”
“When a kid feels rejected, they either act out orsimply avoid that parent,” she said gently and reached across the table to curl her hand around his.
“Mother was a good parent, and our uncle, her brother, used to come and take us on outings. He doted on us, almost like we were his own children. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, either.”
