The Warriors Reward

The Dragon Armada slid silently through space, drawing inexorably nearer their ultimate goal; the mythical home world of all humanity, Earth. Legend told that long ago all humans came from a single planet, a small blue & green world known as Earth. But then rose the Exarch. How the Exarch took power over the entire planet is unknown, but was believed to have been the first to do so. In time, the Exarch had declared that Earth, as the birthplace of humanity, was too precious for any human to live upon, and exiled all human life, himself included, from the planet. Twelve great ships were constructed, each named for one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, and the populace of the planet was divided amongst them, and sent out of Earths solar system with no maps showing the location of the planet.

That was thousands of years ago, and none now knew if the tale were ever true, or if it was just a fantasy cooked up by the ancients when they began to discover that other planets held similar forms of life. Since launching four years ago from their home planet Kai Alpha, the space-faring Dragon Armada had discovered seven separate "human" cultures. Each culture had similar levels of technology, similar belief systems, and similar legends, including the tale of the Exarch and the Exile from Earth. Admiral Lindsey Ty had decided that the 117 ships of the armada would seek out the home world of their people.

Such lofty goals were not the concern of Commander Kensit Roosevelt, however. Born aboard a space faring, FTL equipped vessel, Kensit had never set foot on any planet unless there was combat to be had there, and he never stayed once victory was assured. Kensit was seemingly born to battle and bloodshed. He had joined the Marines at the age of 14, and had gotten his first confirmed kill seven months later. Some would say that after that point, he had become a killing machine. He had more CK's than any other Marine in the Dragon Free Republic's history, and he was only 24 years old.

Last year he had been given command of the Eleventh Fire Team, known as the Iron Horse Legion. His twelve-man unit had the best kill-to-casualty rate in the DFR Marine Corps. That afforded them the privilege of first choice of spoils acquired in raids they participated in. Kensit universally allowed his surviving men to pick through the goods first, choosing what they wanted for themselves before passing on the leftovers to the replacements. Anything left after that, he took for himself. He was acquiring quite a collection of junk.

After signing off on the debriefing reports for a supply raid against the Leikzeg Colony, Kensit was returning to his room. His battle uniform had several burns scored into it from enemy weapons, but none had touched his flesh this time. The standard black-and-gray battlesuit was capable of deflecting a majority of hand held civilian defensive weapons, and these colonials rarely had much in the way of military hardware. Removing his gloves, he held his hand to the pad by the door to room 2206, the cabin that had been given him as a commander. It was about the size of the one he used to share with four others, but it was his alone. He had not taken advantage of many of the benefits of command. He still ate with his men, instead of in the executive dining room. He showered in the communal showers, and took his entertainment in the Enlisted Club. But as a man who had spent his entire life on cramped starships, the lure of having nearly 20 square feet of space to call his own was too much temptation to ignore.

Before the door to his room finished sliding open, Kensit had unholstered his sidearm and slid to the side himself. There was something wrong. He kept his room very spartan. There was nothing in there but a bed and an antique music replay system that he had scavenged and rebuilt as a child. Certainly nothing to create the scent of nightlilly, which he smelled the instant the door had cracked open. Nightlilly was a bio-engineered plant used by those of the unorthodox faith known as The Seeking. It was mildly aphrodisiac to men, and could induce trance-like states and, supposedly, visions in women. DFR scientists had identified it as a psi-neural disinhibitor, which meant that it enhanced psychic powers. The use of psychic powers was outlawed in the DFR, as a violation of the Citizens Privacy Rights Act.

Standing silently beside his door, blaster warm next to his cheek, he listened. The sound he heard was unmistakable... breathing. From the short, shallow sounds he guessed it was a woman sobbing softly, a sound he heard often on Colony Raids. He holstered the sidearm and stepped into the room, ready to defend himself, but almost certain he wouldn't have to. As he had guessed, the woman knelt in the center of the room, wearing a tattered orange jumpsuit with a patch he recognized quickly. Monkey. She was one of the colonists from the planet they had just raided; it had been a Colony of those strange people. Even after thousands of years, most people still identified themselves after the animal for which their original colonization ship had been named. In some cases, they had come to think of themselves as a Clan. This was the case for these people. The Monkey Clan were primarily non-violent people, though they had developed a variety of deadly hand-to-hand techniques, as well as giving birth to the scientist who first theorized the particle weapons now in common use throughout known space.

The woman was fairly attractive, with pale skin and blonde hair that was almost white. She was shapely, with round hips that suggested that her people, unlike those of the Dragon Free Republics, had not given up on live birth of babies. Her breasts were large, another indicator that her people still valued Motherhood. She raised her head to look at him with teary gray-blue eyes. Her hands were bound, but she didnt seem to have been mistreated. Kensit sighed. He suspected she constituted his portion of the "loot" from the most recent raid. Upon occasion the men and women of his unit felt the need to "get him laid." They had yet to succeed, as sex wasn't something Kensit had ever considered a good expenditure of his time. It wasn't that he had never had sex, it was just that he had never had any that made him feel as if he should seek out more.

The look in the woman's eyes spoke volumes. Kensit was not an unattractive man, by the standards of most. He was not tall, but he was broad shouldered and his lifetime as a soldier had given him a hard physique. He wore his fiery red hair long, though it was almost always in a tight tail at the base of his skull, and was tucked beneath his helmet during missions. His blue eyes were piercing, he had mastered using them to speak so that he didn't have to. The woman had not expected the commander coming to rape her to be young or attractive.

Kensit moved to the communication device implanted on the wall, planning to have security come remove the woman so that he could get to sleep. "What... what are you doing?"

"Getting rid of you so I can sleep. I don't know how I managed to not kill you down on the planet, but I assure you it wasn't for lack of trying. You must be an expert coward, to have hidden so well our scanners didn't pick you up."

"Wait!" the woman's fear was audible, causing Kensit to remove his finger from the button that rung for security and turn to face her. "I... I want to make you feel good. To give you pleasure."

Kensit scowled at her. "Don't grovel. I'm not interested." He began to reach for the button once more.

"You don't understand, Sir. If you call them, they will take me to the slave pool, or worse. I would sooner die. So if you do not want me, kill me."

Kensit sighed deeply. What the woman said was true. The Dragon Free Republics relied heavily on slave labor, and captured colonists made up the bulk of those slaves. The life of a slave was not a thing to be envied. They were given the most dangerous and difficult physical work. Kensit knew that this woman, probably in her thirties, was nearing or past the expected lifespan of a DFR slave. Walking over to her, he put a finger under her chin and raised her eyes to meet his. "Do you have a name?"

"They call me Tursa, Sir." She smiled up to him and reached for the clasp of his uniform. Kensit started to resist, but the woman kept her eyes locked on his. After a moment, his battle uniform lay on the ground, and the woman was removing his boots quickly, but with unexpected tenderness. Her warm hands slid up his naked thigh. He thought again about resisting, but as her small hand grasped his cock, a jolt of electricity fired throughout his body. No woman's mere touch had ever made him feel like this before. As she began to stroke his manhood, he looked down at her and found her meeting his gaze, her eyes full of desire rather than loathing or guilt. With her free hand she unzipped the top of her bodysuit, then released him long enough to slide out of the tight uniform. Without rising from the floor, she presented her nude self to him.

Kensit's breathing quickened as he looked at her soft curves and the generous rounding swells of her breasts and hips. The women of the DFR had not given birth to babies in over a hundred generations, and the feminine aspects of their appearance had started to fade. Kensit had never seen a person naked before who's body was not hardened to fighting perfection, as was the norm in the Dragon Free Republics. He found this soft, feminine woman far more attractive than anyone he had ever been with.

The woman's hand once more resumed its slow stroking of his rigid manhood. Now she pressed the tip of his shaft between her generous breasts. His eyes widened as he watched her manipulate him. No words needed to be said; she understood without instruction how to please him. He closed his eyes , and soon felt something warm and wet, something that felt like heaven wrapped around his cock. Looking down, he saw that the woman had put him into her mouth and was stroking his cock with it. The feeling was entirely new to him, and he closed his eyes once more to enjoy it.

Tursa could feel the growing heat and wetness between her thighs. She had never seen a man before whom she had instantly wanted to make love to, but this young DFR Commander had sparked something within her. She had been with men before... the Monkey Clans rigid caste system had placed her within the "entertainment" caste, which for women meant extensive training in giving pleasure. The purpose of her existence was to have been to please the men of the Enlightened Caste, so that they would not have to spend time looking for ways to sate their desires. That was why she had fled as soon as she could toward the Colonies. In the Colonies, she had hoped she would be free of the castes. But even there she had not been able to free herself. Then came the DFR. Their great armada attacked colonies ruthlessly, taking what supplies they needed to continue their relentless war against... whatever it was they were out to defeat or destroy. She had not really been afraid when she had heard they would come to her planet. She had been intrigued. What was it that drove them to this incredible violence. She had made plans. When they had come, she had snuck aboard one of their landing craft. Her attempts to avoid capture had led her to hide in this out-of-the-way cabin. At first she had intended to sate this man, lull him into slumber, and then escape once more. But she could not deny her attraction to him.

Pulling her mouth away from his cock, she let it slide off with a wet pop. He opened his eyes to look at her once more, and she let her eyes invite him as she spread her legs and laid back, letting the pleasant smell of her desire reach him as well. Taking the hint readily, he slid between her legs and kissed her, a passionate, fierce kiss that shocked and excited her. Wrapping her feet behind his body, she pulled his cock toward her waiting pussy. As he entered her, she felt a shock of energy run through her body. His cock fit her perfectly, stretching her just enough to cause a pleasant tingle of pain. She laid her head back and cried out as he began to thrust himself into her. He made love like the warrior he was, growling lustily. Tursa could barely think, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and tried madly to pull him deeper within her. Her loud moans became shouts of ecstasy, but she could somehow hear his own pleasure-drenched shouts as he began to throb within her. It was only a moment before she felt him bury himself in her. She invited him to complete himself within her, screaming fitfully for him to make her his own. His orgasm sent waves of warmth through her even as his cum filled her willing pussy and squeezed out past the seal she made on his cock. In his pleasure he thrust even harder within her, pushing her over the edge. Her body convulsively gripped him as she began to feel waves of pleasure spreading over her. For several minutes she held him inside her with her legs, moaning wildly with no control of her body. As her orgasm began to fade, she allowed him to slump down, laying on top of her, their breath in perfect synch as they attempted to regain control of their own bodies.

Tursa could not believe how safe she felt with this man, who she had just met, ostensibly an enemy, holding her in his arms. She smiled and relaxed, glad she had stumbled into this room in her attempts to hide. Suddenly a chime sounded, and Kensit rolled to his feet, his movements smooth like those of a hunting cat. He pulled on his clothes and moved to the door, glancing to make sure she had covered herself before he opened the door. Two armed security personnel stood at his door. "Sir," one of them said, "we're investigating the possible presence of a class 1-A Psychic on board the ship. May we take a look around your room."

Kensit didn't bother arguing. He knew what it would mean if the woman he had been with was a psychic. They called it "decontamination" but what it meant was brain washing. Those were decontaminated were never the same again. The Marines called them zombies. The two men walked around his empty room, then looked at him, obviously surprised. "Sir... have you had any visitors lately?"

Kensit shook his head. "No. Why?"

"Security showed entrance to your room prior to your return to the ship."

Kensit nodded. The woman had been here since before he had returned from the raid. That meant she had not been left for him by his colleagues. As the two men left, talking quietly over recent problems with the shipboard computers, Kensit began looking for the woman. But before he could move to the bed, she materialized in the middle of the room. "How...?"

Tursa smiled demurely. "They respect you. They hoped that you were not a traitor. I let them see what they wanted to see. And you as well."

Kensit frowned and strapped his boots on. Then the woman was a psychic. He was tainted now, but that was not his chief concern. "We have to get you out of here. If they find you, you're dead." Grabbing her by the hand, he went to the door and peeked out before sneaking out into the hallway.