Roran Read online

  Becca glanced over at the men fanned out around Roran. He seemed to be enjoying himself, so she took the opportunity to reminisce with her new acquaintances.

  “You really missed a lot back on Earth,” said Nora.

  “I don’t doubt it. Did they ever make any more Star Trek movies?”

  “Oh, you would not believe. They made about a dozen altogether and half a dozen series,” said Scarlet. “I was a fan too.”

  “What did you do back on Earth,” Cayla asked.

  “I was a nurse.”

  “So was I,” said Nora. “I’m still studying to catch up to Consortium medicine. Is that what you plan to do.”

  “I think so,” Becca said, nodding. “Roran said farming won’t take up that much time with the machinery and bots to do most of the work.”

  “With that ship of his, he might be able to work for Argen’s transport business,” Zoey said. “Argen will probably suggest it.”

  Becca frowned.

  “Don’t worry,” Zoey added. “It’s mainly hauling stuff back and forth from orbit from ships too big to land here.”

  “His android Feenix can probably do that,” Becca said. “He is so well programed for human interaction; you can almost forget he’s not human. But he never gets moody. That can get annoying. Sometimes his cheerfulness makes me want to punch him.”

  That got a laugh from everyone. They all chatted excitedly and at length. So much had happened on Earth since Becca had been taken. It all sounded like she would have nearly as much to learn if she went back as she did on Farseek. Only after talking to the other women, she felt much less homesick. Even with interstellar travel, Tyema said it would take months to get to Earth.

  As she had learned their language, Becca had finally gotten a better frame of reference for how people in this part of the galaxy measured time compared to Earth. Most time increments were measured in multiples of ten.

  Harper said she had made a chart because she wanted to know how old her mate Zared was compared to her. The man Harper pointed out, didn’t look a day over thirty-five. Harper had calculated he was fifty-five in Earth years.

  “We’re pretty sure it has to do with the nanites they used to heal injuries and cure disease,” said Nora.

  “I hadn’t figured it out exactly yet. When Roran told me how long he served in the Sargus War and how long in Special Ops, I knew he was older than me. Not that it matters; it’s just interesting.”

  Momentarily, Ayah and Mahri returned with trays laden with drinks. It turned out to be a kind of fruited wine punch like what Becca had before. Not long afterward, Harper got everyone's attention long enough for them to start getting food from the table set up like a buffet.

  Becca reunited with Roran at that point because everyone insisted that they should get their meal first.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Roran, you should go to see your friends. They have been waiting for almost a span for you to arrive. I’m going to make sure that there is enough drink for everyone. We’ll talk more later.”

  Roran nodded as his father walked away, and he headed across the lawn to a group of men that he vaguely recognized. One of them handed him a plastic flask of Farseekan ale, the kind they used to drink on leave from warrior training. All of his old friends from those days were there: Pyrr Avantu, Faigon Nesgatu, Argen Trematu, Kragyn Vermaktu, Narzek Pardantu, and a feline humanoid that he had never met.

  Kragyn stepped forward and gave him a hug patting him on his back, and they all took their turn as it had been almost twenty star-spans since they had all been together. Then Pyrr introduced Sahvin Kazza.

  “We found Sahvin on Breskaa. He was half-dead from working the mines, starving, and the beatings. As soon as he was well enough, he joined the brigade,” said Pyrr. “Not in a million star-spans, did we ever suspect that Evzen Guryon was behind the bombing of Farseek. Was Commander Maktu pissed when he found out it was Guryon! That bastard looked him right in the eye and never gave a hint that he had orchestrated the attack.”

  “That’s because Guryon had Rhazien Fadek arranging to kill everyone he hired so they couldn’t be traced back to him,” said Roran.

  “You did our world and the whole Consortium a great service by finding the man responsible for destroying our world.”

  “He killed the wrong man when he killed Haemeg. If he hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have gone looking. But when Haemeg figured it out, he left a message for me on our network. I think his main purpose was to give the information about his credit account to his mate Kasha, but he wanted Guryon to pay for his crimes.”

  “I still don’t get why Guryon did it. He has more money than all of Farseek,” said Kragyn. “He probably owns most of the tech production in this sector. That alone probably made him the richest man alive.”

  “Because he was a damn greedy fucker,” said Argen. “I wish we could do to him what he did to Haemeg, but take our time doing it.”

  “Commander Maktu said if we tortured him every day for the rest of his life, that wouldn’t pay for what he did to your people and your world,” said Sahvin.

  Faigon said, “stripping him of his wealth and putting him in a small cell for the rest of his life, might actually be worse than death for him.”

  “I can’t even imagine having that much wealth,” said Narzek. “I’ve never wished for it either. All I wanted was for the war to end so I could find a mate and come back to Farseek to settle and have children. That is wealth to me.”

  “Your mate is lovely,” said Pyrr to Roran. “You found her at a slave auction house?”

  “Yeah, on Ideshan. I walked through them almost every planetfall, looking for my family and our people. Other people waiting to be sold that day were probably from Becca’s world, but there was no way I could save them all. The only way I could get Becca out was to buy her because it was too dangerous to simply take her. I am not that rich.”

  “None of us are,” Kragyn said. “Between the Consortium and the Alliance, they will eventually get those people back to Earth. At least those who want to go back.”

  “Becca wanted to go back at first until she found out she had been in stasis for more than thirty star-spans. Her people would have aged far ahead of her. I think she didn’t want to go and find out they were dead.” Roran took a sip of his ale. “Ah, I haven’t had any of this since warrior training days. It tastes good.”

  “We thought you might enjoy it, so we picked some up,” said Argen. “By the way, what are your plans for that little freighter you have here?”

  “Well, I had thought I could use it to shuttle crops up to big ships in space orbit, and I would not have to pay someone else to do it.”

  “I could use another ship like your freighter. Would you consider leasing it to me if I can find a pilot?” asked Argen. “I run shuttle service from the ground to orbit out of the spaceport.”

  “Herminia has an android pilot, and I might be available to do some flights. That would keep me busy while Becca studies to become a medic. She was a kind of medic that they call a nurse on Earth. But the procedures and science have changed and advanced since her nursing education. So, she has decided to learn medicine through our AI net. My android Feenix has a complete program, and he downloaded a copy into Becca’s personal tablet.”

  “Is it true that the Consortium and Alliance commanded the Farseek Brigade to stand down on retrieving our people from the Sargus annex?” Roran asked.

  “They did initially, but Admiral Degatu worked out an agreement to let five of our dreadnaughts join the Consortium forces under their direction to seek and retrieve our people. They said we were undermining their efforts by going in ahead of them and getting into trouble so that they had to come to our rescue,” said Narzek. The combined forces of the Alliance and Consortium were doing more than we thought. They didn’t abandon us as we believed when we first discovered our world had been attacked.”

  “That’s what I heard,” said Roran. “I knew all along that t
he Consortium hadn’t betrayed us. Even I’d didn’t know why the Sargans went so far out of their way to attack Farseek. It turns out that one of Guryon’s planets lines up directly with Farseek only in the Sargus annex. But it’s still a stretch to find the logic.”

  “I don’t think that he was driven by logic. He was obsessed with power and manipulation of everyone to get exactly what he wanted. I am surprised that he actually paid the Farseek Mercenary Brigade to retrieve his daughter after what he had done to our world,” said Narzek.

  “That was because we were the only takers,” said Pyrr. “And he was so stoic when he paid the reward to Commander Maktu, the commander suspected nothing. It was enough to pay our fleet to return to Sargus territory until we needed a ship to transport our rescues. You know the rest.”

  “It’s going to take some getting used to being back on Farseek watching our crops grow,” said Roran. “But when I saw this beautiful green and blue planet in my view screen as we approached orbit, I knew I was home. I never expected to find all those flyers lined up on the beach. At first, I thought I’d just wanted to be alone here with Becca, but then I felt deeply honored that you all came to welcome us home. It’s really great to be here.”

  The men chatted for a few more minutes before Roran’s father came to invite them to get their food from the buff a table and be seated at one of the tables. They each met their mates in the line at the buffet table. It was typical of their gatherings that the men and women separated to socialize then came back together when it was time to eat.

  Roran didn’t know everyone there personally, but they all had relatives affected by the Sargan attack on Farseek. Later he learned they had asked to be included to thank Roran personally for getting justice for their losses. He gave up trying to explain that it was personal because of Haemeg. Then he realized it was personal for them, too. In that respect, what he had done for himself---finding why and who killed Haemeg ---satisfied their need to know who took their loved ones too.

  Not until after the group had eaten did Roran and Becca finally go inside their new home for the first time. It was a one-story home of a series of three connected domes. Across the middle dome, which was the largest, was a sheltered patio area facing the ocean overlooking a pristine beach of white sand.

  Most of the new homes on Farseek were a variation on the design. They were fabricated off-world and delivered in kits and assembled by androids. Those androids remained to maintain the home and property. The house came complete with a built-in AI. It was fully furnished in a minimalist style with a polished composite stone floor.

  Although it was clearly a mass-produced dwelling, with white walls and a reddish stone floor, it was aesthetically pleasing to the eye. They had seen the holographic tour of the home, and it seemed like a pleasant dwelling. It was currently set up with three bedrooms on one end and a master bedroom with an adjacent nursery at the other end.

  Their guests had only come inside to use the bathroom by the back entrance between the dining area and kitchen. They didn’t really need to see inside because their own dwellings were a variation of this one.

  “They are all gone, finally,” Roran said. “It was great to see them all again. It’s even better to be here with you alone in our new bedroom.” They stood beside the bed, wrapped in each other’s arms. “Do you like the house?”

  “It’s beautiful. Your whole world is beautiful.”

  “It is. And our people were satisfied with the lifestyle we had here before Guryon sent the Sargans to destroy everything we’d built. The bastard owned planets. How much wealth does any one man need?”

  “I’ve thought about that. I think the challenge of getting it was what Guryon needed. It was like a game to him, and killing people along the way was the price of doing business. He just finally killed the wrong person.”

  “It’s finally over,” he said huskily.

  “This is our new start.” Becca lifted her head from the hollow of his shoulder and looked up at him, caressing his face with her eyes full of love. “Your family is found, we have a new home, and I have made six new friends.”

  “And here we are, alone, our brand new house with a brand new bed to try out.” He gave her his best sexy smirk and kissed her while reaching for the hem of her tunic.

  Their clothes came off between kisses and caresses. When they were both naked, they pulled back the cover and fell onto it together in a heated embrace. Roran savored her body with kisses and caresses in all the ways he knew to stoke her passion.

  Becca responded in kind as she basked in the pleasure of his caresses, cooing and ah-ing her approval. He knew just how to bring her to the peak of pleasure, kissing and nipping her flesh and sucking and gently biting her nipples.

  Although she was wet and ready, he dragged his mouth down her chest and belly to her mons. Parting her outer lips, he pushed a finger inside her and teased her swollen clit with the tip of his tongue. Becca keened and tried to buck her hips, but Roran held her still while he satiated her desire. She endured his exquisite stimulation for only a short time before she came hard against his mouth and hand, moaning and keening.

  While that was utterly satisfying, Becca loved it when he moved back up her body and poised himself to fill her with his cock. She relished his weight pressed down on her, the hardness of his chest and the warmth of his skin against her sensitized breasts. He covered her mouth with his and caressed inside it with his tongue.

  Roran started gently pumping in and out, gradually thrusting harder and faster. Becca held on, raising her hips to meet his, loving him with her body as she loved him with her mind and heart.

  She was home in this house, in this bed with this man inside her. This wasn’t the life she planned, but Roran changed everything. He was everything, her friend, her lover, her hero.

  He took her spirit soaring to an orgasm that racked her body with ecstasy as he poured his seed into her womb.

  She loved this man with all her heart, and one day soon, he would be the father of her children. Someday she would tell them about the grandparents and uncles they would never know.

  The End

  Epilogue

  Three months later…

  Becca was sitting in a comfortable lounge chair on the patio overlooking the ocean. She was poring over her com-tablet reading about modern birthing techniques in medicine. After talking with the women at the party, she decided to become a midwife. A couple of them were already pregnant, and she thought---hoped she was.

  The population grew as people returned, and others released from slavery in the Sargus Empire came to settle on Farseek. That meant more people coming to Farseek to settle and start their families.

  With all their modern technology, most people had at least one of their domestic androids programmed for Medical Diagnostics and treatment beds in their homes. While she was reading about delivery procedures, her tablet beeped with an incoming call.

  It was Tyema Resnar. Although her new friends were spread all over the primary continent of Farseek, they had kept their promise to stay in touch. One or all of them called her almost every rotation. Becca hadn’t heard from Tyema in nearly a rotation span.

  “Good morning Becca,” said Tyema with a smile as her face came on to Becca’s screen. “I have some news for you. Remember what I told you about compiling a database for people looking for friends and relatives who have gone missing on their worlds?”

  Becca frowned. “Well, yeah.”

  “I have something for you, and I am sending it to you as we speak. It took a while because of time and distance, but it finally came through. After the Alliance announced their presence to Earth and confirmed that aliens were indeed abducting people from Earth, they set up an internet connection for people to file missing person reports. I registered your information to see if I could find any of your relatives looking for you. And I found them.”

  “What, who?”

  “Your parents and your brothers.”

  “You mean the
y are still alive?” Becca gasped.

  “Yes, they are all still alive. Much older, but they never stopped hoping you would be found. They made a video after the Alliance set up the missing person registry. That is what I have sent you.”

  “Oh, Tyema, thank you so much! Will I be able to communicate with them?”

  “Yes, but not directly just yet. You will be able to record yourself and send it to them via our AI network. One day, we will have a direct connection. It is in the works. So, I will sign off now so you can watch your video. You can call back if you need any help or have any questions.”

  “Thank you, Tyema. I’ve gotten pretty good with this tablet.”

  After the screen went dark, Becca sat staring at it for a couple mini-spans. Her hands were trembling as she thought about the fact that her parents and brothers were still alive. She had hoped that her brothers were still living but she was not so sure about her parents. After all, it had been over forty Earth years.

  Finally, Becca gave the command to retrieve her messages. She was suddenly glad she was alone, because Roran hated to see her cry, and she knew she would even before their faces came on to the screen. As she expected, her two brothers appeared to be the age her parents would have been when she was taken.

  Even though her parents were in their nineties, they looked well, and she could still recognize them. Her brothers Mack and Jason were both handsome older men in their sixties. She ached for all the years they had missed together.

  In the video, her parents sat on a sofa together with Mack and Jason sitting in chairs flanking their parents. Her mother spoke first.

  “We were thrilled to learn that you are alive and well out there among the stars. We understand that you have married and live on a beautiful planet with your husband. Even after all these years, I could never let myself believe that you were dead. The boys here kept saying that you were probably abducted by aliens because you had disappeared without a trace. And of course, we never took them seriously. So here we are forty years later, and we learn that you actually were abducted by aliens.”