6. CHAPTER 6

I didn't feel it when the creature ran into me. He flew back to the floor and cried out, and I could get a good look at him. These new aliens resembled us more so than even the Travols! The only differences I could see were his odd, shaped legs and flat, dull ears. He was also much smaller than the typical Valisian woman but about the same height as a Travol male.

This was very interesting indeed. His chest had two nipples resembling ours, whereas Travol men and women had four. But like Valisian men, his genitals contained a sac underneath the shaft. We did as well, but it was shaped differently, especially in alphas, so we could adequately knot our omegas.

I felt like a child again, breeding animals and researching the results of said matings. The urge of wanting to see how he fucked filled my mind.

"Think it's possible to breed with it?" I asked Swarti, who walked at a pace behind me.

"Why ask me?" He scoffed.

"Send it to the medical examiner onboard the Eber'luian."

"Yes, sir." Swarti gestured to a soldier who followed us to grab the alien and take it away. He gripped the male and flung him over his shoulder. We all ignored the soft cries and the outright angry tirade of gibberish as he carried the creature away. His cries were soft and sweet. Was he an omega? I couldn't wait to find out more about this new alien. First contact was always the most exciting.

I opened the door to the cells, wondering how he escaped. The Ironclad soldier lay in a pool of his blood told me what I needed to know. I kicked him over and noticed the six-pointed flower petal on the chest. He was Regis's man.

"A naked alien defeated one of our kind?" Swarti gasped at the mess.

He picked up the soldier's weapon and placed it on his body out of respect.

"It would seem these new aliens are tougher than we think."

"But Regis took over their massive ship easy enough."

"Maybe he had the element of surprise on his side." I sneered. "And like a coward, he runs the moment I show up. And what a fine mess he leaves me to clean up! He wasn't even brave enough to face what he's done."

It was clear why Daruuk and his forces tried to come here. If he had landed here, he would have had hundreds of disgruntled former slaves to make up the bulk of his army. Including these new aliens, we know nothing of. I had no idea when Regis had come upon these new aliens and how much of their tech he could have siphoned before Daruuk forced him to leave this moon. One clear thing was that he had no desire to report his findings to our King, just as he wasn't honest about running a slave camp here. How many other secrets did my dear brother have?

"These slaves can be transported elsewhere," Swarti said once the sun shined on us again. I hated how humid this tropical moon was. I could already feel my inner suit sticking to my flesh most uncomfortably.

The dirty men, women, and children continued to work as if we weren't there. Broken faces and scarred backs, people so used to the whip they feared halting their work for any reason, even though their master had long fled and left them to rot.

"Where else? There is nowhere for them to go." I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration. My only options were to free them and let them have the moon, take them with me and drop them off… somewhere… or contact home and arrange everything, all but one of these options I wanted to deal with.

And I was not in the business of playing savior. But I believe in giving others chances if they take it well; if not, I wouldn't lose any sleep. "Leave them. The keys to their cuffs are now accessible. If they never realize they can leave, they belong here."

I was done with this place and the stench of these people. When I entered my ship, the first thing I wanted to do was shower and eat.

"Welcome back, Commander. XO Ulisse is relieved of duty." The feminine mechanical voice blurred over the speaker.

"Welcome aboard, sir." Ulisse saluted. "His Majesty is on the comms."

"Ugh."

I did not understand what my father wanted, but it was not my place to turn down communications from the King. I headed to the comms room and opened the private channel.

"Lorvian."

"There's no need to check up on me."

"Daruuk has been little of a challenge in years."

"Daruuk was after the slaves left on that moon. Did you realize Regis was still enslaving?"

"I suspected it but had no proof. But I'm not here to talk about Regis."

"I heard the news." I grinned, unable to contain myself.

"You're named one of my heirs. You still need to prove yourself."

"That won't be a problem."

"Lorvian. When you return home, things will be different." His voice became grim.

"I don't get your meaning."

"They will dock your ship in the civilian sector, and you will pay a fee for them to keep it there."

I laughed. "This is a joke. We just discovered…"

"Have you ever known me to joke?" He said sternly. Now, there was the old man I've always known.

"Why am I docking a military vessel in a civilian sector?"

"Because your division is no longer needed. You should consider what else you would like to do."

"I'm a warrior; I fight; that's what I do!" Now, it was my turn to push back. I couldn't help myself. The two of us never got along much. Things improved as I grew older, but getting better doesn't mean you forget.

"You are a warrior without a war to fight. The military police are more than capable of handling Daruuk's illegal business. I'm afraid you've done your job too well, son. You've helped me claim total dominion over all fifty-one habitable planets and the various aliens who live in each of them; there is no need for a massive fleet; there are no more wars to fight."

"I'm a war hero! I can't be among normal folk, being normal."

"If you wish to become King, then you will be King of a peaceful galaxy, not the war-torn one I had to endure. It would be best to make another name for yourself than that of a warrior. Beating Daruuk is not enough to secure a legacy. Most folks have forgotten about him and his crimes. As it should be."

"Then they need a reminder of Daruuk's crimes!" I exclaimed. "Perhaps find a few Travols and make an example. Let our people see them as the threat they still are."

"That would just make you look petty. And what will you do? Start with the Travol princess who has served you loyally?"

He had a point.

"Listen, one day, our species will die out; the youngest woman in my harem is six hundred years old. Her child-bearing years are almost at an end. I'm trying to have her birth at least one more child before the end. We must etch our names in the stars but not through war. Just think about it when you return."

"And they will ground my ship until I figure that out, huh?"

"Goodbye, Lorvian."

The line had ceased, and this talk of ours left me confused and pissed. Why the hell would he choose me as an heir and then strip me of the one thing I knew I could do!?

I returned to the bridge after I calmed myself.

"Sir, that alien is in medical." Swarti was the first to see me, as always.

"Good, we're going to Eros."

"Why not home? Eros is further away."

"Because my father wants to ground my ship in the civvie sector."

"Oh."

"You don't seem too surprised."

"We do little; everyone fears us, so they give us no grief. I also plan to marry soon, and it will secure my wife's father's freedom. I thought of working on their farm after my military contract."

"What the hell is wrong with you? You are a warrior. We all are."

"Look at how easy it was to defeat Daruuk. Like it or not, he's just blowing hot air now."

There was no point in continuing this conversation. I wanted to do something interesting like check up on this new alien species, so I headed to medical, hoping for some good news. I tried to tell my father about these new alien arrivals, but so far, all I had was a torn ship my spies were investigating and one possible survivor. Even if this creature should be of some use, we may have to torture it to find information on his home planet, and what a shame that would be to cause pain to such a comely-looking thing.

"Doctor."

"Sir!" The older man saluted. His name was Dr. Pheasus. He was over eight hundred years old, retirement age, but he was obsessed with ships and working onboard a vessel. He said he couldn't bear sitting at home and staring out a window until he croaked. He needed action and wanted to go where he was most needed. So, I put him to work on my ship.

"What do we have? It's a man, I presume?"

"Yes! A new alien species capable of siring children. But also…" he hesitated.

"Also, what?"

"Well, I was thinking that if no one knows of these aliens yet, they aren't under the Protection Act yet."

"You want to torture the creature for your experiments?" I raised a brow.

"Well, torture is such a dirty word." He chuckled. "Our kind is going extinct, and I hoped that traveling with you, outside of the laws of our world, could help me discover a breakthrough that may help us avoid oblivion. This new species could be the very thing we need."

"How so? Out of nearly every alien species we've discovered, only two can birth our children, and none can sire. This may very well be another dud."

"Yes, but none of them resembled our kind as much as this one does, and so far, the DNA tests are looking very positive. We may be able to inject it with our hormones and have it survive. It will be a great boon if it can sire our kind. Provided we can find more, of course."

"If he can, let's hope his kind can perform better than the Travols."

His eyes remained on me as fierce as a cornered animal, ready for their last stand. He was angry, that much was clear, I wondered about his strength and fighting ability, he killed one of Regis' men despite being smaller and frail looking, and thinking about him fighting in the nude was making my cock hard.

"He's been decontaminated and scanned for major diseases. He's clean, but we still don't know every illness he can spread."

"I want results as soon as possible, Doc."

He appeared to think. "Once he has undergone gene therapy, I can persuade a young female soldier to step inside and run a few tests."

"To fuck him?"

"Two skips with a single stone. If she gets ill, it won't damage the entire crew. We'll keep her in containment as well and see if she becomes impregnated."

"He's feistier than most aliens in this predicament." I chuckled softly. He didn't take his eyes off me; he looked like he wanted to tear me apart if he could. "I think I'd like to have him for myself."

"Sir, if you get sick…"

"Hush, I'm sure I'm strong enough to ride out whatever I catch. And my room is sealed enough and isolated from the rest of the ship. Don't worry, I'll make sure he fucks whichever woman you bring to us."

"Hm, I suppose, as long as the experiments are conducted… I'll ensure that once the therapy is done, we put him in the bubble and deliver him to your cabin." He bowed low, understanding it wasn't wise to challenge me once I set my mind to a task.

It felt good to take off my armor; the warm water and aroma oils washing away the sweat and stink were a bonus. However, I couldn't stop thinking of my father's so-called wish.

What the hell did he want from me? Why did he choose me? I was sure it was because I received the most victories in battle, but a galaxy of peace? Me? The King of Peace? My father must have fallen and hit his head.

The rest of the journey was uneventful until I heard word from the Doc that gene therapy had been completed and the specimen was more than alive, but thriving and transforming most unexpectedly.

During the tests, he was receptive to our alpha pheromones, like our omegas.

The Doc wanted to forgo siring to observe this specimen"s behavior with actual alpha pheromones over the weaker synthetic mess. And no one on board had more potent alpha pheromones than me.

I heard the door open to my cabin, and I climbed out of the bath and entered the room as I wrapped the blanket around me to catch the water.

A chuckle escaped me. "The Doc wasn't lying about the bubble!"

The boy was still naked inside a round containment bubble, which they placed on a trolley to wheel him inside.

"Give me an ETA when we've reached Eros," I ordered, not taking my eyes off the strange male.

"Sir!" He gave a simple salute and left me in peace.

Now, I could give him my full attention. He shifted and winced; he probably wanted to be as far away from me as possible, but that was too bad.

"You don't look that off from our own or the Travols. Perhaps mating with you wouldn't be so different."

I pressed the small button to release the bubble, and the boy fell to the floor with a small cry and hurried to the corner of the room.

He screamed when I reached out to him and pounded on my chest, and before I knew it, I was shaking this mad creature to shut it up.

"You need to relax! I will see if I can fuck you and knot you." I don't know why I said that. It wasn't like he could understand unless the doctor implanted the language chip in him.

Grabbing him by his long black hair I dipped his head low to check for the small implant scar, nope no chip, he understood nothing I said. Next time, I'll ask for an implant before requesting a new alien's presence in my bedroom.

There was only one thing I could do. You need not speak another's tongue to get what you want.

Holding him in place, I opened the pores on my back, emitting my pheromones. If he were receptive, he would loosen up and know I mean him no harm; if he can't, then he wouldn't accept me, and then it would be up to me to determine if I still wanted to fuck him or not.

The Doc would be disappointed if I took him by force and tore him apart.

Lucky for me he relaxed and closed his eyes for a long time before opening them again and now he looked up at me, I was a handsome specimen, that much was clear, and I can't imagine I looked all that different to the men in his world.

"See, you and I can get along swimmingly. I'm not in the business of raping, my pride is on the line, and I would prefer not to fuck a crying, useless boy."

I kneeled in front of him and stuck out my tongue to give him a taste and heard his breath hitch, although there was a sharp pull in his sound. Hmm, I inspected the side of his heavily bruised body. Someone injured him.

"Well, great."