Chapter Twelve

Jago

It was late afternoon on Mara by the time Niko said we were arriving. Sunset, as seen from a vantage point on one of the moons, came on suddenly. From a vantage point on Pton watching a sunrise or sunset, colored light would be seen in the sky, scattered by the planet’s atmosphere, much like it was on Tygeria or Earth. But Mara didn’t have an atmosphere, so there were no twilight colors, and sunset was sudden and abrupt. The moment after the sun set, it was as dark as midnight, with no lingering color at all. One side of the moon always faced the planet, from any given spot, because it spun along on its axis as the planet did.

Niko explained all of this on the way down to the moon’s surface. I think he did it mainly to fill the quiet, because I’d been giving him the silent treatment. He told me too, that the advantage to landing on Mara was that it was the farthest distance from Pton, and there were at least four abandoned outposts on the large moon. Back during the old emperor’s time, these outposts has been manned at all times. There were three other planets in our star system that were inhabited, and able to sustain life and all three were hostile to the Pton and far more democratic in their governing. These outposts on the farthest outlying moon thus served as “early warning systems” to the Pton populace, should one of the other planets decide to attack.

Once the old emperor, Kitannos, passed away, and Linnius took over, he declared brutal wars on all of these planets, one at a time, and conquered each of them in their turn. That was the beginning of his policy to destroy his enemies utterly and leave nothing behind and not many resources for them to rebuild. There were too few survivors anyway. After that, there was no real need to man the outposts, though they were still at least partially maintained.

A few people still lived on those planets, but they lived in small tribe-like groups. They despised the Pton and its emperor. With good reason, it seemed to me.

Niko said all the outposts were still regularly inspected and stocked, because that was part of the job he did for the council for years as one of a few in charge of planetary defenses. He said that none of the outposts were currently being used, however.

He’d lived in one of these outposts for almost six months during the time they were still being used regularly, so he was very familiar with them. That had been years ago, when he did his mandatory military training, but he still remembered them very well.

He told me all of this without my asking a single question, and I tried to pretend I wasn’t interested in the least. It didn’t stop him.

“In actuality,” he said, “when our government began their genocidal attacks on the other planets in our solar system, some soldiers rebelled and refused to follow Linnius’s orders. They were deemed outlaws and banished both from the army and the planet. The majority of them traveled to a solar system adjacent to ours, where my grandmother, Itaka’s planet Touzia was located, and they live there to this day. From time to time, there have been reports of small ships landing on Mara. Who mans these ships and for what purpose they come, no one knows. But I suspect that it may be these former Pton soldiers.”

So? Why was he concerning himself with all this? Just making conversation or still formulating some plan? I was dying to know but still too furious at him to ask.

We came in low over the moon only minutes from after sunset. Like most of the moons I’ve ever been on, Mara was desolate looking in the dark. There were no trees or lakes or any features whatsoever—just dirt and rocks.

“But why are we landing here instead of on the planet’s surface?” I asked.

“I had some time to think about it on the way, and I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to suddenly show up in Pton airspace in an alien craft, with no warning. Too many questions would be asked. Especially considering the fact that Itaka said Linnius contracted to kill me. This will give me some breathing room to figure out what my next move should be.”

“But didn’t they see us landing here?”

“We’re still cloaked, but maybe they picked us up. If they did, they may have dismissed it as more of the random traffic coming back and forth to this moon. It’s so far out that traders use it often as a refueling stop. It’s the farthest moon from Pton, and we came in after sunset. I think we’ll be fine for a few days until I can have a chance to think about things.”

“What kind of plan?”

“One that will keep us both safe,” he said, rather ominously, I thought.

The outpost station he said he was looking for was one on the northern edge of the moon face, just a short distance from the “dark side” or the side that faced away from Pton. He said he remembered it as being the most well-built of all the outposts and the most comfortable. We came in over it low and saw no sign of any life anywhere near it. Beside him, I was still quiet, though I know my eyes must have been wide, as I was fascinated by my first look at this alien moon in another galaxy through the screens.

“I’m going to land just inside the so-called dark side, so our craft is hidden if anyone decides to look. It’s only a short hike from there to the outpost, but you’ll have to wear a spacesuit. I can help you if you need me to.”

“I don’t need help. I’m perfectly capable of walking in a spacesuit and don’t require any aid whatsoever.”

“Good.”

“Fine.”

“I said it was.”

He glared at me a defiantly, as if daring me to question him.

“I’m agreeing with you, Jago. I said it was good.”

“You had a tone—and don’t you dare roll your eyes.”

“I will endeavor to remain completely expressionless.”

“See that you do,” he huffed, and then he worked hard at biting the inside of his lips to keep any sign of a smile off his face.

We came in for a bit of a bumpy landing. It couldn’t be helped, because it had probably been a while since this landing pad had been used, and the lunar dust and debris, along with no protection from meteorites or radiation due to the sparse atmosphere had probably mostly destroyed the landing pads left behind years ago.

Niko managed to land successfully, and we both found our suits packed in the back storage compartments. One of these suits is pretty much like another, so I got mine on easily enough and glanced over at Niko who was ready too. I had a little trouble with my helmet, and he made no move to help me—as I’d instructed—but then as I continued to struggle and he didn’t help, I gave him a blistering look.

“Well? Are you just going to stand there? Help me get this damn thing fastened on.”

He did as I asked, checking to make sure everything else was done properly too. Temperatures could drop down between -400 and -250 degrees Celsius in this area, or so he said, so it was no joke if one of our suits wasn’t working properly. After reassuring myself that it was, we opened the hatch, he eased himself down to the surface. I decided to jump, forgetting that the moon’s gravity was only a quarter as strong as it would have been on the planet’s surface. I jumped down and immediately bounced upward, flailing my arms.

Niko managed to catch me in midair by jumping after me, and we flew some distance as we landed again and he managed to right us. He shook his head at me and switched on the speaker inside my helmet.

“Slow down,” he told me firmly. “You’re going to get hurt. Follow my lead.”

I nodded, feeling abashed. I was being uncharacteristically quiet, but he’d told me over and over that I talked too much. He also told me he didn’t think “the restful silence” would last long though, so maybe he needed to soak it up and not complain. He apparently fancied himself a comedian.

We made the fairly short walk over to the outpost and went to the entrance, which had a keypad to punch in a code that thankfully, Niko still knew. We got inside and he switched on the lights on our helmets and told me through the speakers to wait until he checked the life support systems. I waited, fidgeting only a little as he went outside and checked the systems that monitored temperature inside the structure as well as the proper mix of oxygen. After switching that machinery on, along with the lights, he was able to readjust the settings and close all the shades to prevent any light from showing outside. I guess he really was hiding. At least for now.

****

Niko

Once I’d reassured myself that we’d be safe until morning, I found Jago still waiting by the door and motioned him inside to go sit down. I gave it a full thirty minutes and checked the oxygen levels and the temperature, and then finally I was able to signal him that it was all right to take off his suit.

“It’s still a little cold in here,” he said and shivered hard, holding onto his arms.

“It should be warm soon. Wrap yourself in a blanket if you need to.”

“All the bedding needs to be aired out.”

“Why don’t you take care of that, and I’ll check on the food situation. Are you hungry?”

“Not right now, but I guess I will be later.”

“There’s plenty of food and bottled water. It’s in the storage cabinet behind you and is replenished on a regular basis.”

“Pton food?”

“Well, of course, it is. Pton food is far superior to anything I’ve eaten from your people.”

“Ha!”

Since there wasn’t a lot to respond to in that, I said nothing and watched him as he turned away and began opening cabinets. He picked around and found a few containers and out them on the counter. I figured it did me little good to just stand around and watch him, though that was increasingly what I wanted to do.

I left him to the airing out of the sheets and blankets and went to make sure there was no sign that anyone had been using the facility recently. I checked every room and found nothing, so I finally began to relax.

I sat down in front of the communications modules to find government channels I could monitor and try to pick up on any news or chatter from the planet. I was especially interested in Lady Melanius and any news of her fate. Was she still imprisoned or had her family managed to win her release?

I felt guilty about the affair we’d had—not because of any concerns over Linnius and his feelings. He didn’t have any feelings that I could see. But I didn’t want anything to happen to Melanius. She was a strong woman and capable of handling herself, and she never should have allied herself with Linnius in the first place. But she had, and now she was paying the price. Melanius was more of a friend than anything else, though we both used each other for casual sex from time to time. It didn’t mean I wasn’t worried about her.

I was attracted to both women and men and had no preference for either sex, really. Lately, however, I’d come to especially like small, blue-haired young men who were half Jayronian and half Tygerian and totally exotic and adorable.

And “adorable” was a word I’d never used before in my life.

Jago was also incredibly irritating and yet somehow endearing at the same time. He was someone who filled my thoughts and left little room for anything or anyone else—which didn’t make him one bit less annoying.

“Niko?’

As if on cue, Jago spoke behind my chair, and I turned to look at him.

“Yes?” I answered, despite his use of the ridiculous name my grandmother saw fit to call me. We needed to talk about that soon.

“I’m sorry to bother you…” he said in a little stilted voice to make sure I knew he was still angry.

“Since when?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Go ahead. What is it you need?”

“I was wondering…do you have a plan yet? For taking care of the emperor? How are you intending to kill him?”

“At the moment, I have no idea.”

“You don’t?”

His tone was incredulous, but I’d had little time to think of any kind of plan yet. I was busy trying to keep us alive.

All right, I’d had years to think, but that was part of the problem. I always thought there’d be time and things would be clearer. I was busy with my own work and consolidating my own position in the world and things hadn’t seemed pressing.

This was before he’d started his aggressive moves against all the neighboring planets and advertised his ambitions to branch out even into the next galaxy. His assumption of power had been almost insidious until suddenly, he was a clear and present danger, fully realized. I’d hated him for years and had vowed revenge, but that was as far as it had gone. At least to this point.

“No, Jago, I don’t have an established plan yet. He keeps bodyguards around him at all times, and he pays them well to keep them loyal.”

“Would it be possible to get to them and pay them off to get them to look the other way long enough to do it?”

“Probably, with enough money and enough time. I don’t have either of those things.”

“Then what are we going to do?”

“There is no ‘we’ in this. You’ll out of this altogether.”

“But maybe I can help.”

“No, you can’t.

“Yes, I can.’

“No,”

“Yes!”

‘Why am I arguing with a child?”

I tried to turn my chair back around and he had the temerity to jerk it back.

“Don’t ignore me.”

Beyond exasperated, I stared up at him and then pulled him down into my lap, bending him back over my arm. It was either spank him or kiss him. Anything to make him shut up. He stared up at me and caught his breath. His eyes got wide and immediately I regretted scaring him. I was just about to put him back on his feet when he lifted his lips the barest bit and closed his eyes.

Those long, thick navy-blue eyelashes fanned his cheeks and his lush lips parted. I think a few of my brain cells fainted dead away. It would have taken a stronger man than I was to resist his invitation.

I kissed him and felt the soft lips press against mine, once, and then again, as if asking for more.

“I’m not a child,” he said. “I do know what I want.”

“And what is that, princeling? What do you want?”

His kisses had been closed-mouth and sweet, like one close relative might give to another. I realized that was probably the only kind he knew.

“I want you.”

I stared down at him, knowing I should let him go. But when he made no effort to move away, I put my hand on the back of his head.

“Why do you have to look like this?” I asked and gently, slowly, kissed him again.

“I don’t want you to think I’ve forgiven you,” he said, unexpectedly, as I began nuzzling his throat. “Because I haven’t.”

“Duly noted.”

“But I want to kiss you anyway.” He turned in my lap to straddle me and link both arms around my neck. And I was lost.

I looked down, and those lovely amber eyes stared back at me curiously, but with no sign of fear or any kind of reluctance. He lifted his lips for me to kiss him again, and I couldn’t resist him, this time slipping in my tongue and relishing the feel of his soft mouth and that sweet, warm tongue touching mine.

Things were moving fast, but still not fast enough. I was desperate for him, and he pressed himself against me, making soft sounds in his throat, trusting me to know what to do next. I knew exactly what to do and yet I didn’t think I’d ever been with someone so innocent before, not even when I was younger. I put both my hands on his ass and pulled him tightly to my groin to let him feel how much I wanted him, and brushed my lips across his again as I looked down into his eyes.

“I want to make love to you,” I told him.

He stared back at me for a moment and then nodded. “Then what are you waiting for?”

What indeed? Though there was no reason for us to rush anything. We were utterly alone here in this outpost, and we literally had all the time in the world at our disposal. Before I could rise and take him somewhere to stretch out beside him, he began to pepper my face with so many sweet kisses I started laughing at first and then slowly began feeling almost drugged by them. He kissed me over and over again, long soulful kisses interspersed with short, sweet ones too, until my mouth felt thoroughly plundered.

He stroked his hand over my horns, which were incredibly sensitive to touch. I shuddered and grabbed his hands.

“Enough,” I said, laughing a little breathlessly. “Who taught you to kiss this way?”

“No one. I guess I’m a natural.”

He smiled and I had to smile back at him. Gods, he was so sweet.

“I’m starting to want something more, but I don’t exactly know what it is,” he said and looked at me shyly from beneath his long eyelashes again. “Well, I do know . Or at least I’ve been told some things. I think my friends were just teasing me, though, and trying to fool me about some of the things they said would happen. Some of it couldn’t be true.”

I stood up with him then, and he gasped and twined his legs around my waist, holding on. I carried him out of the main room and into the bunk room before setting him back on his feet and holding him until he stopped swaying. I pulled one of the rolled-up mattresses to the floor and stripped off its protective wrapping, and then did the same thing with a blanket, stretching it out over the mattress. The beds were stacked on top of each other, and I didn’t want to be so restricted. In truth, I was a little claustrophobic and had been since I was a child. I stood back up and looked at him.

“I’m going to make sure this building is secure and then I’m coming back. I’d like you to take off all your clothes and be lying on this mattress waiting for me when I return.”

“Take off all my clothes? You want me naked? ” he squeaked.

“Very much so. Then I can show you exactly what happens to little boys when they provoke men to make love to them. Would you like that?” I bent to kiss his shocked little face and prodded him when he didn’t answer. “Well?”

“Y-yes. I’d like that very much.”

“Then do as I asked, princeling.”

He nodded. “Yes. Yes, I can do that.”

“Good. Get more blankets if you need them. This is where we’ll sleep tonight.”

“On this same bed?”

“Most certainly on this same bed.”

His face suffused with pink, but he nodded again. “I can do that too.”