Page 15 of Taken to Kor
Onemale foronefemale.
Mates. And there are only two of them.
That is how the Voraxians work. That is how the humans work. It is a conundrum I have been mulling over for half a rotation. Since I first heard hersingfor me when she thought I could not hear her. Since I heard her breathlessly whisper my name when she thought she was alone. Since she first called meRhorky bear.Of all the nicknames she has for me, this is my favorite one.
I left her behind and allowed her to board my ship and then escape it all because I was afraid of wanting and being unable to keep her for myself. I did not want her for shekurr because I wanted her for my own private ritual. And now neither I nor any of my brothers will have her.
Though perhaps this is best.
Now, she will be free to start her own life with her own kind, provided that she finds them in that mysterious and elusive satellite and that they take her in and treat her better than her kin did on her colony, that honorless, deceitful female. Deena will find a new family, one worthy of her. She may even find a male…
Centare. I will not think of that.
“Set course for Kor,” I say to no one in particular. The pirates who need tokens have them, however, and they all hear me. The mothership can hear me too, though it takes the coordination of more than one token operating in sync to guide it. It is too big a construct for less than that.
Herannathon is closest to me. Or maybe he’s just the one with the courage to approach me now when I’m like this. He kicks my boot. “No one blames you for the females escaping. None of us sensed them on board.”I did.
I nod but say nothing.
“The human, Svera,” he says. “You believe they will survive their trial at Evernor?” He sounds worried. I understand his pain. If she dies, that is on us.
I cringe and quickly redirect my thoughts to my token, firing through a list of backchannel communiqués that are all my own and not for my brothers,just as Deena should have been. Finding the one I’m looking for, I will my yeeyar token to break through the rotations’ old Yamar technology Ashmara carries on her person, always.
Yamar is a precursor to yeeyar and still has strong defenses, making it harder to hack than the pitiful biogenetic life drives worn by Voraxians, but it is not strong enough to rebuff the yeeyar’s current.
I have no desire to speak with the Eshmiri pirate, but do now out of necessity. She is a half-human psychopath at her worst and a reluctant ally at her best. She’s tried to rob me so many times, it’s caused me and the pirates on board my ship to develop a strange affection for her.
I’ve known her for a rotation — less time than the discovery of the humans by the Voraxians and Drakesh. Then, I’d thought the race to be a pitiful, miserable creation whose sole purpose was for the Drakesh to torment. Then, I met Ashmara. An Eshmiri reaver, I stopped her third attempt to rob us and actually managed to patch through to her yamar for the first time.
I saw images of her for the first time, too. I saw that she is half human and I understood something that has shaped every decision I’ve made since. Humans can breed with other species. Humans can make hybrids. Humans had the potential to save the dwindling Niahhorru pirate species. Back then, knowing this was enough.
Now, nothing is enough.
I thought any human female would do to make Niahhorru hybrids. Maybe, any human will do, but now, I want more. I want a hybrid made by one female and one femaleonly.And I let her slip through my fingers. All twenty of them, rendered simultaneously clumsy.
“Ashmara,” I bark as soon as I hear the familiar static on her end of the line. That, and her Eshmiri reavers laughter in the background.
“Shrov!” She curses. There’s a loud bang, and then more laughing and shouting mixed together. “Rhorkanterannu, you shroving shitting pirate! You can’t just break into my yamar! It’s private.”
“It’s useless. If you’d let me upgrade you, I would.”
“Ha. At what price? Want me to lie back and do that shekurr dance with you boys? I wouldn’t mind at all actually, but I know you’re not interested in getting your hands dirty with a female of my caliber.”
I snort. “Cute. You always were a charmer. I’m here for something else.”
“Whatever it is, I’m sure you can handle it. Disrupt my yamar again when you have something worth stealing.”
“I don’t have time for this. There’s a human in the Evernor pits. A female. She is not a warrior. Do with that information what you will.”
I break the connection without chancing Ashmara’s response. Then I lean back in my seat and flick my gaze up at Herannathon. He’s still there watching me. “Ashmara?”
I nod.
“You think she’ll go for Svera?”
“I’m sure of it. On my honor.” Because Ashmara has a certain code of honor all her own.
Ashmara fights for the defenseless, freeing slaves and releasing prisoners. She’s made quite a name for herself and her actions have garnered her much attention. Perhaps, too much. It’s known that she has a Sky bounty hunter chasing her. More than one, perhaps. Soon one of them will catch up with her. I pity whoever the Sky masters choose to send.
