Dark Origins: Kralken Four: Part 6 Old Business
#10 of Dark Origins
Matt finds that he must deal with something he has put off since nagatok and Shiru attemtps to make his escape.
Dark Origins: Kralken Four: Part 6: Old Business
"Chire Thorn; may I speak with you for a moment in private?"
Matt turned toward the source of the respectful Soriss accented voice and saw Paredt the second Soriss he had taken prisoner since his change. He was flanked by two male human soldiers that were part of Jason's personal security detail.
He had been reluctant to deal with the Soriss since he had bitten and brought him on board since his adventure on Nagatok but decided that he should get this over with and asked permission from Jason permission and got it; "Take your time."
He thought he heard a chuckle before Jason signed off but ignored it and used a nearby control panel to locate a spare Dorzeli sized room that was between his present location and the bridge then motioned them to follow.
Upon their arrival he directed Paredt to enter then looked to the guards and told them, "This should take only a few minutes."
He frowned when he saw one of them smile. When both humans took on a more serious stance and saluted him he realized that he must have bared his fangs when he frowned. He thought nothing more about it, turned, walked into the room, ordered the doors closed, turned to Paredt, sat then went on his hands so that he could give him the proper Dorzeli greeting. He was caught off guard when Paredt hugged his snout but the sensation of pleasure he got from the contact caused him to not pull away until he was released a few moments later.
He tried to explain his actions, or, in his case, inactions, "I'm sorry that I've ignored you since..." He stopped when the Soriss held up his left hand.
"I can imagine that you weren't ready for what you had to do back on Nagatok or with me once my change is complete and I'm not sure I'm ready for it either, so I can understand and appreciate your reluctance." He smiled when he saw Matt's surprise at his knowledge of Dorzeli customs then continued, "I knew the risks involved in my course of actions, but I did what I did because I knew that if humans ever allied with the Dorzeli that fled to Andromeda..." He lowered his and shook his head.
Matt was further surprised by this new revelation about his adopted race. "I had heard that some were hiding out in remote areas of the empire but I didn't know that was where the rest had gone?"
Paredt looked back up at him, "That is where they are according to the intelligence from that time; almost thirty-six first and second generation Primes along with a few thousand the other sub-species." He seemed to become troubled once more. "I couldn't imagine what would happen if they returned to join with your people, but, if your actions back on Nagatok were any indication it may already be too late."
Matt did not know how to respond to how he had behaved; the ease with which he had killed and devoured three Soriss soldiers in his search for his brother, Jasdik. He did not know whether to apologize or leave the situation as is.
Paredt became sullen. "I know that your new instincts may have given you no choice and then there's the heat of battle, and that the same thing will happen to me. All I want to do is save those I have left, my brother and his family, even if it means that I have to change them too."
Matt decided not to tell him that his brother's transformation due to his venom had been suspended by Jason until the next time they met, so he told him,. "I don't think you'll have to worry about them since it's so close to the Kroon border until this war is over and I don't think Jason will allow a genocide of your people now that that he and Freerah have destroyed that Mech research center."
"Those that they fought were working prototypes. I think the plans for the final versions were taken off Nagatok before you arrived. But I could be wrong."
Matt had barely gotten over this new surprise when Paredt took his right wrist in both of his hands and he felt something pass between them that he had not experienced since he captured his brother.
"Did Jasdik and you...?"
Matt knew what the nervous Soriss meant. "No. I couldn't afford that sort of distraction at the time." He then rubbed his shoulder which served to increase the pleasure they both felt to a new level then added, "Unlike now" and smiled.
Paredt tried to smile and not to show how nervous he was when Matt grabbed him with his other hand and lifted him towards his face.
Krassa ran as fast as she could toward the sleek spacecraft that sat in the underground hangar at the edge of Kralken Four's capitol city. She was halfway to the ship when she broke radio silence and shouted "Shiru!"
She did not slow her approach when he growled, "Why aren't you in the council chamber?"
Unfazed by his obvious anger she continued forward until she was at the ship's main hatch. She looked behind her for any sign of pursuit and panted, "I don't know how they found out but they've captured Fronas and Jolle is interrogating him."
He chuckled, "Shi won't get anything out of him. Go back..."
"Shi has the two humans with hir!" Met with silence she cried out, "Please, you can't leave me here! You know what Heilo will do to me if she catches me." She also thought of what he would do to her if she gave up what she knew if she is subjected to the same treatment. There was another moment of dead silence which ended when the boarding ramp lowered.
She ran on board just in time to hear over the PA system that their launch clearance had been revoked and that they were to prepare to be boarded. By the time she sat next to him in the very plush passenger compartment she heard Shiru tell his pilot to ignore all warnings and to take off at the first opportunity.
She secured her flight harness then looked at him with worry as the ship moved onto the elevator pad that would take them to the surface, "You might be able to override the security systems and out run most of the ships in orbit, but we'll never out run the Pressat let alone Freerah or her mate."
He smirked, "We have nothing to worry about." He looked to the control panel in front of him and voiced the override commands that allowed the ship to move to the surface and into a launch position despite the protest and warnings from the traffic controllers and the security teams that approached them from the edge of the field. "They aren't the only ones to have made a recent significant discovery about our race's past."
He switched the viewer to a scene above the planet that showed the position of the Pressat and ordered their immediate departure. "We'll have more than enough time to put some distance between them and us before they can begin their pursuit."
Krassa tried to keep her anger at his continued calm under control when she asked, "And what do we when they do catch or fire on us?"
He chuckled, "They won't." He looked at the screen as the engines charged for takeoff. "I've made sure that my plans are too far along to be thwarted by Freerah or anyone else and by the time I'm finished they'll be the ones fleeing from me. If I let them live."
She could not believe what she had just heard. He may have somehow gained some power, but, due to certain unique characteristics of their species, he could never hope to match a true Prime's unless... She held in a gasp but it was noticed by Shiru who grinned when the ship shot down the runway and took to the sky.
"Red alert! All crew report to your battle stations. Red alert!"
Shocked back to reality by the announcement and the flashing red lights Matt hesitated then set Paredt down, stood, turned away, opened the door and stuttered, "I'm-I'm sorry."
Paredt smiled, "I can wait. Now go before you get in trouble."
He watched his future alpha run out the doorway and to the right toward the bridge then stepped through a few seconds later and walked back to his quarters escorted by his guards and smiled with the knowledge that his position with the Desslats, along with that of his brother's family, would now be secure.
He failed to notice that one of his guards smiled while the other one looked like he had just lost a bet.
Matt could not believe what he was about to do with Paredt before the alarms sounded as he neared the bridge's entrance. The attraction he felt for his prisoner and soon to be clan mate was almost as strong as what he had felt when he realized Feih had wanted him as a mate but stronger than when he had mated with Kreesak just before Feih and Jason's confrontation or what he had done with that human female that, along with her Mendall lover, had spied on then on their wedding night. He placed his palm on the pad next to the door and thought, "Her self control was a lot better than mine just was."
His thoughts of what could have been if he had not been interrupted did not bother him as much as it would have a few months ago vanished when he entered the bridge and saw what was on the main holographic display as he ran past Feih, who was in the command chair flanked by Jason and Freerah, to his Navigator's station. Through all of the cross traffic of orbital stations and civilian traffic a small ship moved at better than escape velocity from the near side of the planet and away from their position. Then half of the display resolved into a live image of Prime Minister Heilo.
Freerah spoke first. "Is he in that ship?"
"Yes. The interrogation of the one that violated your privacy has confirmed that Hiru and Krassa were responsible for what happened last night."
Freerah growled, "And you're just letting him get away?"
A second after Heilo smiled and all lights on board the ship went from yellow standby to green. Matt looked his over and announced what everyone already knew, "We've been released for immediate departure", then took the initiative and laid in an interception course. Feih ordered the engines powered up.
"His ship is too fast for anything we have in system so you'll have to apprehend and return him, or what's left, if anything, if he resists."
Matt shivered at her sharp toothed filled grin even though he was just smaller than her and the prospect of what they had just had been given the green light to do. Freerah's was no better before she thanked her long time friend, "Once he and I are done with our business we'll come back and repair those doors that we destroyed."
The prime minister's response was stern, "Don't worry about it and be sure you take care of that other problem first or the reason for your presence here will have been meaningless." Freerah nodded and she smiled once more. "Good hunting."
Before she could sign off Feih asked, "How did you get this information out of your prisoner?"
When the picture changed to that of a holding cell everyone except Freerah gasped at what they saw. The sight before him made Matt glad that the Dorzeli had a high degree of voluntary control over their bodies otherwise the bridge would have needed a thorough cleaning once their pursuit of Shiru was over.
[Note that the next chapter will be called "The Interrogation" and will involve the method in which information was extracted from the prisoner. Since it will be described in brief at the beginning of Chapter 8 it can be skipped by those not into "enhanced" methods; I'm not in favor of torture in any form, but what will be described is somewhat unique (or maybe it isn't).