Star warrior complete a.., p.58
Star Warrior Complete: A Scifi Alien Romance Bundle, page 58
Them and maybe the security guards who were supposed to keep them in their gilded cage.
Finally that wave of recognition reached my target. Manin ignored the first elbow to his side, but at the second he turned to see what was going on. When his eyes met mine I felt that tingling threatening to leap from the pit of my stomach once more and I had to viciously stomp down on it to keep from doing something embarrassing like biting my lip or fluttering my eyelashes at him.
But damn was it hard to keep from doing something like that. That look. It was pure fire as he bore into my eyes, and I knew as he stared at me that I’d finally found a Solfarj on this world who knew a human when he saw one. His eyes raked up and down my body and the interest was obvious. It was made even more obvious by the way his cock engorged and seemed to point right at me.
I licked my lips. I couldn’t help it. I found myself wondering what that dark red monster would taste like. What it would feel like. The pleasure center of my mind was taking over the business side, and that was dangerous. I hadn’t gotten like this since my younger days when I was still new and didn’t know any better.
I took a deep breath and held my tablet at my side as a lifeline. It was my lifeline in a way. My contact with the galaxy at large. A reminder that I was here on this world for the Authority and not to get my rocks off.
I stepped forward and held a hand out, ignoring the way his cock was straining for me and almost bridged the distance between us as I held my arm out. Damn that was huge. And distracting. He smiled and looked me up and down again, obviously liking what he saw, before he took my hand in his large hand that dwarfed my own.
“I didn’t expect to see a human all the way out here,” he said in passable Standard Galactic, though there was a slight accent that was a touch of Solfarj mixed in with some local flavor. I was able, with some difficulty, to keep from going weak in the knees at that odd accent that was somehow just as alluring as the rest of him.
“I’m a representative of the Authority,” I said, trying to keep as much poise and command as I could muster in my voice.
“Of course you are,” he said with a cocky grin.
Damn. This one knew how good he was. At least he thought he knew how good he was. He might discover just how wrong he was if he did get his big break getting called up to the Galactic League.
Still, I could feel it deep in my bones that this one was going to be trouble. I wasn’t sure if it was because of how cocky he was or because of the feelings he was stirring up inside me. Probably both. This trip was getting needlessly complicated.
“I’m Zoe Trace, agent of the Galactic Sports Authority, and I have a business proposition for you Manin.”
Business before pleasure. Though as I felt the head radiating off of his body it occurred to me that it wouldn’t be an entirely wasted trip if I did end up bending a few of my rules and getting some pleasure out of this in addition to landing a huge business deal.
4: Negotiation
Manin:
I looked this strange and delightful creature up and down once more. The others in the room didn’t seem to realize exactly what was happening here, but that was to be expected. They were uncultured swine whose only thought was for the next game and whether or not they would get a special meal for winning and a little time in the bed of some rich thing as part of their reward.
I saw something else in the woman standing before me. She was human. Of that there could be no doubt. I’d seen pictures of them when I was younger. Smuggled through on a pirated transmission that wasn’t supposed to reach our world. They were so different in the reality than they were in the legends where they were depicted as horrific creatures bathed in shadows with glowing eyes. The sort of creature that could rain down horror and destruction from orbit without a second thought.
This one standing before me was far closer to the reality of humanity. A petite creature that was several heads shorter than me. She had all the looks of a Solfarj female, but smaller and more petite. Daintier somehow.
Yet for all that daintiness it was clear that she was the one in charge of this room. She looked around at all of us, myself included, as though we were beneath her. I bristled at being assessed so, yet at the same time I was merely Solfarj and she was a conquering human. I suppose she deserved to have some of that haughtiness.
“What sort of business proposition did you have in mind, human?” I asked.
I tried to hide the excitement welling up in my chest. I looked down at this human and saw something more than the alluring promise of an off world beauty. When I looked at her I saw a chance to get off of this world. To escape a conflict that amounted to nothing more than Solfarj fighting in the mud for the scraps of a world that didn’t rate for anything in the galactic scale.
Still, this one’s beauty was distracting. It was the beauty that had become the standard in the galaxy since their culture had come to dominate other worlds as surely as their massive military had once conquered with terrible weapons from the skies.
At least humans were the beauty standard for so-called “humanoid” worlds. Another word that showed just how they’d come to dominate this galaxy so completely and utterly. I’d heard of some non-humanoid species like the Squivarth also having relations with the humans, but the less thought about that the better.
The human, this Zoe creature, looked around the room. She eyed my teammates, but she didn’t blush. She didn’t give any acknowledgment that she was in a room surrounded by nude aliens. I’d heard that humans could be touchy about nakedness, though that had always struck me as odd. This one didn’t seem to have any problem with it though. No, it was clear that she thought she was the power in this room.
From the way the men on my team reacted it was clear they were inclined to agree with her.
“If we’re going to have this conversation I’d prefer we did it somewhere with some more privacy,” Zoe said, glancing around the room again. “I’ve made arrangements to have you…”
I held up a hand to stop her. I was tempted by the idea of getting away from the gilded cage they held me in, but at the same time I was cautious. The galaxy was full of stories of how wily the humans could be when they started a business negotiation. It was said that they’d taken more territory with their cleverly worded contracts than they ever did with their warships.
In short, I was in no mood to allow myself to be whisked off to some place of her choosing where she was the most comfortable. I didn’t want to discover the rumors were true and find myself in a situation that was no better than on this world.
Though as I looked her up and down again I found myself thinking that it wouldn’t be entirely terrible to be taken advantage of by a beauty such as this. That didn’t mean I was going to give her a chance to get me into an unfair human contract, but thinking about it was a pleasant diversion at least.
“Whatever you have to say to me you can say in front of my men,” I said. I paused for a moment, reluctant to say what I was about to say. It was difficult. “They are an important part of how I’m able to perform well enough to catch your interest in the first place.”
My teammates muttered in agreement around me. I tried not to let the distaste I felt deep in the core of my stomachs show on my face. It was a pretense that I kept up to keep them happy, but it was clear from the look on the beautiful human’s face that she wasn’t buying that line any more than I did.
“Right,” she said. “I’m sure your team is very important to you and your success.”
Her tone of voice communicated that she clearly didn’t believe it. The men quieted down at that and some gave her hostile looks, but she continued on as though she hadn’t just angered a room full of men who were far stronger than her. As though she assumed there was no danger of the room turning on her no matter what she said.
And to be honest she was probably right. Everyone knew the price of crossing the Authority.
“But be that as it may, this deal is for you and you alone,” she continued. “So I would like to…”
“Speak in front of my men or not at all,” I said, a menacing growl coming to my voice. That growl was enough to impress the women I bedded after a win, but judging from the way she casually arched her eyebrow she wasn’t impressed in the least.
She looked around the room once more. Sighed. Seemed to resign herself to speaking in front of the men. Good. Let her be off balance. She might hold all the advantage in this negotiation considering I was desperate to get off world, but I didn’t want her to feel that way. Let her think I’d be perfectly content to remain here fighting with my men, defeating the scum that ran this world, and bedding their women after victory.
“Very well,” she said. “You can have things your way, but it’s only going to make things more difficult.”
I stood and regarded her with all the arrogance I could muster, which was quite a bit. There were advantages to being the best at what you did, and they were advantages I’d grown quite used to in my years on this world. She rolled her eyes as though she wasn’t impressed by that arrogance at all, though, and I felt myself deflate just a bit.
“Fine. You want to act all big and bad then you can act all big and bad. Here’s how it is. I think you could be big. Huge. Good enough to play in the Galactic League, even,” she said. “I think you have raw talent that could be molded into something special with a little discipline, and if you were able to do that then the galaxy is the limit and I’m the one who’s going to take you there.”
I bristled at the implication that all I had was raw talent. She’d seen how the game went earlier. She knew what I was capable of. Sure the opponents I was being tested against were nothing compared to those playing in the Galactic League, for sure, but I had no doubt that if I were called up to play in the Galactic League there would be no question that I would dominate.
Her words called that into question though. I didn’t like that at all.
Another thing I didn’t like? The way my teammates were glancing at one another and muttering. It suddenly hit me that it might not be such a good idea to discuss these sorts of things so openly in front of them after all. They would no doubt be jealous that one of us was getting off world, after all, and that jealousy could be dangerous. If the ptargs running this world were to get even a hint that the Authority was interested…
“Perhaps we should have this conversation somewhere in private after all,” I said.
She arched that eyebrow again. It seemed that was the only emotion she ever betrayed. This one was cold, that was for sure. As cold as deep space. I remembered all the warnings about dealing with humans that had been instilled in me since I was a young one listening to my grandmother telling stories of the horrors that visited our world when she was a young girl and wondered that this beautiful creature standing before me could belong to the species that visited those horrors on my people.
“I thought you might say something like that,” she said. “Good to know that you’re smart in addition to being pretty.”
That earned a laugh from the team. It would have been irritating, but I was too busy looking at each of them in turn and wondering if any of them would betray me. It was entirely possible. They knew I was the best and I was the reason they led a life of luxury, but I also held no doubt that there were some who would betray me in a moment if they thought it might guarantee them that luxury for the rest of their life.
I looked at each of them in turn and wondered if any were thinking of betrayal.
“It’s been nice meeting you, boys, but I’m afraid we have to take this business up somewhere else.”
She turned and made her way out of the room. Her strange wrappings for her feet, hard objects that had the balls of her feet up on a stilt of some sort, clicked against the hard floor. I found myself distracted by the way her body moved in that odd human business suit that had come to dominate the galaxy so thoroughly. The way her body moved promised things. Things that I’d very much like to explore.
She paused at the entrance and turned to lock eyes with me. And as she locked eyes with me I felt a stirring down below once more. I felt my cock growing hard and engorging as I thought of all the things I’d like to do with her. Her eyes moved down to stare between my legs and she licked her lips.
It was a small motion. So small that I would have missed it if I hadn’t been staring so intently at her, but it was a motion that wasn’t lost on me. There was interest there. There was something that went beyond the simple human avarice that was so famous throughout the galaxy.
This negotiation could be far more interesting than I thought. Far more interesting than another boring night with one of the rich ptargs who regularly used us for their pleasure after a game. I got the distinct feeling that this could be the first night of a new life if I played this game correctly.
I scrambled to dress myself, suddenly feeling as though the silly uniform they gave us was lacking. I’d always felt so proud to wear it before. The bright blue was a contrast to my deep red skin and it was a symbol of the victories I won over the ruling class on this world every time I stepped into the spherical arena.
Now it seemed like less than nothing though. This was a woman from the wider galaxy. A woman who represented the Authority. A woman who was used to the wonders of the sport as it was played on distant worlds where there were wonders that made this world seem like nothing.
I pulled it on and wore it as though it was the uniform of one of those teams though. I was the best on this world, otherwise she wouldn’t be here looking for me. And if I was the best then that meant she needed me. She recognized that I was worth something despite all those words about how I merely had raw talent.
I stood tall and proud as I joined her at the exit. She motioned for me to step through and I was surprised to see a security guard out cold on the ground when I stepped out. The other guards standing there instinctively put their hands to the stun weapons at their sides as though they fully intended to use them on me, a ripple of fear running through them as though I was a dangerous animal.
Zoe stepped through and put her hands on her hips as she regarded the guards. Several of them still kept their hands on their stun weapons, but one of them quickly motioned for them to stop, glancing nervously at Zoe the entire time.
They hesitated for a moment. Zoe merely did that arching of her eyebrow again and the first guard started waving his hands more frantically. Very odd. I wondered what she’d been up to out here earlier to provoke such a reaction.
“Are you ready to go Manin?” she asked. She turned to the guards. “I trust I won’t have any issues leaving with my potential client?”
“None at all ma’am,” the guard with the frantically waving arms said. “Of course you know you won’t be able to go off world with him without the proper clearances.”
“You don’t think I could get those clearances with a snap of my finger if I wanted them?” she asked.
Oh yes, she was cold. Deep space had nothing on her. The guards glanced at one another and a couple of them swallowed, but otherwise they didn’t respond. Zoe motioned for me to follow her and I did, but I looked at her with a new respect.
Anyone who could get those pigs to stand down like that was someone I should be wary of.
“How did you do that?” I asked.
“You have your talents and I have mine,” she said. “Wading into galactic backwaters and bullying the local authorities into getting what I want just so happens to be one of my talents.”
“Talent. You seemed to think that’s all I have. I don’t know that I appreciate all that crap you spouted about how I needed to learn discipline. I’m the best this world has ever seen.”
Zoe whirled around and pressed her finger into my chest. It would have been irritating, it did hurt which surprised me coming from such a petite creature, but the first contact between us was enough to distract me from the irritation and the pain that threatened.
Not that I would give her the satisfaction of knowing that a simple poke was painful.
“You might be the best this world has ever seen, but it’s a big galaxy out there,” she said. “You have raw talent, but that’s all it is. There are hundreds of billions of stars with habitable planets and billions of worlds with species who play the Sport. If you want to be big, big enough to play in the Galactic League, then you’re going to have to have way more than raw talent. You need to be incredible.”
I bristled at her assessment, but for the first time in my life I felt something else. Worry. Worry that I might not be enough. That the math simply didn’t work in my favor. Who had a prayer of competing against billions of worlds with billions of beings who could potentially be better?
No. I wasn’t going to think like that. There was a reason she was here, and I wasn’t going to let her play her human mind games. It was said they would tell you whatever they thought you needed to hear in order to get the deal that was best for them.
I sneered down at her. She might be distracting, but that was probably part of the negotiation as well. I wasn’t going to let a human take advantage of me.
“Obviously you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t think I already had the ability to ‘make it’ in the Galactic League. So perhaps you could drop the bullshit and make your offer.”
Zoe smiled. It was a thin knowing smile. The sort of smile that promised things. Whether that was an infamous human business deal or something else was still up in the air.
“You’re right,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for awhile and I have a habit of picking the good ones. You’re going to have to work if you want this to happen, but I wouldn’t be here having this conversation with you if I didn’t think you had a chance.”
“So your offer?” I prodded.
“I didn’t have anything concrete in mind yet,” she said. “But I was thinking we’d start with getting you off of this shithole and go from there. Come on. We’ll talk over the details back at my place.”
