Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human (13 page)

“You need to shave,” she breathed.

Kyle rubbed his face with his right hand and nodded. “Later…”

Wordlessly, he put one arm around her waist to hold her tight against his body while his
other hand caressed her neck. Smiling, he led her to his quarters and she followed willingly. Within minutes Kyle was urgently running his fingers along the
minetic
seam of her black sports bra, which caused the band to fall apart and away from her breasts. He turned to her shorts, pulling them down over her wide hips. As she disengaged her bra straps from her arms she finished wriggling out of her black
clingtight
shorts, letting them fall soundlessly to the floor of his quarters. Eris then put her hands on Kyle…helping him to shrug out of his uniform down to his boxers and he quickly threw them off. They repeatedly kept kissing one another, and moving their hands over each other’s bodies until both were completely naked. As their naked bodies touched they became entangled with each other in a feverish pitch. Kyle began kissing her neck and moved down to her breasts. He stopped at her taut nipple, licking until goose-bumps appeared on her skin. She shuddered in delight at his touch. Her ponytail finally came undone and they proceeded to make love at a frenetic pace. The sex was rough, urgent and was sweet as anything Eris could remember. With her knees in the air, she gripped his naked butt and pulled him tight with each deep thrust he made inside her. Building in tempo, he pushed her legs back with his arms until her ankles were beside her ears…his hands moved smoothly from her ample breasts to her ass, kissing her all the while and never stopped thrusting deep inside of her. The sounds they made together were wet and soft. He continued until Eris heard him grunt in satisfaction as he gave one final explosive thrust and came inside her. He wasn’t finished however…Kyle pulled himself off her body and then put his hand down between her legs. Eris groaned in ecstasy. As he switched from using his hand to using his tongue, she began to make a sound low in her throat. She began twisting her hips, writhing in pleasure as he probed deeply inside her,
tasting
her warm walls.

“Oh…stop, stop it. Oh,
please
...” she whispered in a fierce cry, but her voice was low and weak and she did not push him away. Her hands buried themselves in his tangled glorious golden hair. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open, moaning. Sweat beaded on their glistening bodies as they lay tangled together in each other’s arms. Her fifth orgasm of the last hour was the strongest yet as she tensed and a wave of delicious pleasure coursed through her body spreading from her groin outward. She finally curled into a half moon crescent as Kyle rested his leg over hers and together they lay spent on his bed. He lazily played with her shoulder length hair and nuzzled against her neck.

Eris turned over
on her side. Her deep sea-blue eyes penetrated
through
his green eyes as if to see the soul inside the man. The room smelled of sex. Kyle had never been so pleasantly exhausted in his life.

“Well, that was
delicious
. I don’t know why I waited so long to do that…” She laughed…a throaty sound that came sweet to Kyle’s ears. He felt more alive than he’d ever felt in his life. Sex was not frowned upon in Republic military ranks – it was considered as essential to unit cohesion and morale as group activities. However, whether a commander had sex with a subordinate was a gray area left to the discretion of the individual officer. Of course, she wasn’t exactly under Fleet orders at the moment...

“Eris, I love you.”

She pulled away from him and sat on his bed while she gathered up her clothes and began putting them on. She offered no similar reply to Kyle. When she finished dressing, she walked lightly over and kissed him softly on the lips.
I’ll take that as ‘I love you too’,
Kyle thought.

“Come on, we’re going to be late to the meeting.” Eris hurried back to her quarters to
shower and put on a crisp new uniform. Her mind was a blank slate as she savored the feelings that were coursing through her body and along her nerves.

The conference room was large enough to hold a hundred people. Dominating the center was a huge horseshoe shaped table with more than four dozen people seated waiting for them. For some reason, Eris was surprised to see Doctor Xinhao seated at the table. Eris and Kyle had arrived five minutes late. There were plenty of people Eris didn’t know, but the moment she saw him, she ran over and gave him the biggest hug of his life.

“Eli!”
Eris usually kept her emotions in check, but on seeing him she practically screamed at him. “You’re alive!” She literally picked him off the ground with a bear hug. Every set of eyes in the room instantly looked right at the pair of them.

Embarrassed
by the attention, he hugged her back and momentarily seemed at a loss for words. “Kizz and I just returned a few hours ago from a…uh, a fact finding mission. It’s good to see you too, Commander.” An Evene woman seated by Eli stood, her tail twitching. Kyle looked on with a bemused expression as he rubbed the stubble on his face.

“It is a pleasure to
finally meet you Commander Monroe. I’ve heard so much about your exploits!” She said in a thick Evene accent.

Eris finally let go of Eli and stood
beaming. Good news was always welcome. She realized that people were staring at her, but she didn’t care.

“
How…
what
happened
to you? Everyone on Kanpur thought you’d been killed!” She was babbling in her excitement at seeing him alive and apparently unharmed.

“I found myself on Earth
, believe it or not. I don’t know how that occurred. I…” Eli became quiet when a larger than life holographic image of Dominic Gray appeared in the center of the horseshoe table. Eris sat down at an empty chair beside Eli and Kyle sat opposite her across the table. Everyone, alien and human alike, paid attention to the image and what the chief executive officer of Dynamic Space Development was about to say. Eris wanted to sit down and talk to Eli for hours. She wanted to catch up with her old friend. She couldn’t wait to hear everything that he had been a part of for the last several months. Mr. Gray cleared his throat.

“I’m glad you
finally decided to attend, Commander. Let’s get started.” Dominic Gray began to speak at length about everything he knew. No one in the gathered room had heard all of the pieces of information put together as they did now…they had only seen or read fragments. They paid rapt attention.

“
Many of you know exactly why you’re here. Your unique talents brought you to this place at this time. All of you stand for the Republic. This is the first time all of you have come together in one room. You’re a single crew, serving one captain. Each of you wishes to be part of something greater than yourselves.” He paused and surveyed the room. Silence held sway and no one interrupted him.

“We’re at war though the Republic refuses to admit it.
Civilians in control of the Fleet argue that diplomacy against the autocratic regime of the Alliance will keep the galaxy safe - they’re misguided. I’ve tried reasoning with them in my own way, but they do not listen. Now I have taken action. The Alliance has had secret programs to obtain
Valdren
technology in an attempt to reverse engineer anything they find of military value. A few of you have seen firsthand what working military Valdren technology can do. The Alliance accelerated their program in the last year and has now covertly attacked a Republic funded expedition using proxy Vortex mercenaries. This was done in order to gain deniability…a shrewd move on their part. The Alliance intends to use this new capability to make their ships unbeatable in combat.
They
were behind the attack at Domovik that destroyed the
Division Six
team as well as the Majestic and all aboard her. Fleet superiors think all of this is an isolated event that will soon blow over...but they’re wrong.” The image floating before the assembled group was flawless. Dominic Gray exuded charisma and power even as a holographic facsimile. Rumors estimated he was one hundred and sixty years old, even though he didn’t look any older than a human male in his early forties. His black hair was immaculately coifed – but his clothing was archaic and definitely out of style.

“Irrefutable
intelligence has been obtained that Vortex mercenaries, including a large portion of their fleet, took part in those planned ambushes. Other attacks have taken place in quadrants throughout the galaxy, though those were the largest and most destructive. The Alliance plan of action is now rolling ahead at a frantic pace. Republic leaders and politicians do not wish to antagonize the Alliance, especially now that they have publically committed as allies to the Jiraxis Union. Frankly, I think they’re afraid of what is coming.”

Eli leaned over
grinning at Eris and whispered, “That
intel
came from me…” as Dominic Gray continued talking.

“I’m not blind. The Alliance
autocracy is a threat not only to the Republic…but also to the K’Tosk Hegemony, the Zari Protectorate and the Arras Concordat. If they succeed with their plans,
nothing
will be able to stop them. At the height of their empire twenty-nine thousand years ago, the
Valdren
controlled the entire galaxy. Their technology was far ahead of what we have discovered. We
must not
let the Alliance develop weapons based on that technology. A small team will have a much better chance to disrupt their plans than a full blown assault…which is the reason all of you are here today. Information has been obtained that the main scientific breakthroughs are taking place on the Holdfast located in the Magellus system. The Holdfast is too heavily defended to launch a conventional attack against it. A strike team must penetrate that fortress, find the research, and destroy all of it. That is the ultimate goal of the mission. First however, several steps must be undertaken for such a strike to succeed.” Dominic turned to look directly at Eris.

“
This work is risky…all of you have good reason to fight, but I must be honest, some of you may not live to see the end of this endeavor. Eris Monroe, effective today, will be the Captain of the DSD starship
Sparta
.” Everyone in the room knew that Eris was going to be granted the captaincy of the experimental ship, but it was exciting to hear it from the man that had ordered the ship created in the first place. Tremendous resources had been brought to bear for this event to happen, several trillion credits worth of resources. Everyone present knew it was history in the making.

“
Are there any questions?” As Dominic Gray paused in his monologue, Eris stood from her chair and looked over those assembled. The room was so silent the ventilators pumping air could faintly be heard.

“What’s our first mission?”
Eris asked the question directly.

“
First, additional experts are required for our eventual success. Captain Monroe, take command of the Sparta and head to Planoss in the Alphard system. It’s officially neutral, but the Alliance has dispatched agents there in the past, and they still may be operating there.”

“Who
exactly are we bringing to the party?” Eris didn’t want to go on any wild hunts. She liked having clearly defined objectives along with exit strategies mapped out. If she didn’t like what she was hearing, she would walk away – her vengeance would come through a different avenue and at a later time.

“An Orvod named Hasephrey Saephan
…a brilliant engineer with former ties to my company. He and I have had…
disagreements
…but that is in the past. Secondly, you and your crew should investigate the mining planet NSP362, also known as
Furnace
. There are no known jump-points plotted to the Ekaph system; therefore it must be reached via conventional FTL drive. The Vortex mercenary group has sent a strong force there in an attempt to obtain certain Valdren technological artifacts. What the purpose of these artifacts is unknown, but the Alliance has committed tremendous resources to the planet to locate and extract them. The final mission is to recruit the Arrasian scientist Gelkar Ruz-Zel. He is an expert on the Valdren and would be a valuable addition to your team. He was last known to be headed to the Zaniah system in the Mirfak quadrant of the Verge. Zaniah is only a few jumps from the Ekaph system. However, I would suggest you track down and gain the cooperation of Saephan first since stealth is required for all other missions. The choice of how you wish to proceed, I leave in your capable hands.”

Eris was dubious.
She didn’t like that her first mission was to pick up an Orvod. It made her think of Chol Cuxa. “An engineer…don’t we require soldiers or specialists like Gelkar Ruz’zel?” Ten days prior she had just met Dominic Gray and she hadn’t figured out what his motivations were. She didn’t know
why
he was doing the things he’d done, and she couldn’t just attribute everything to his fabled eccentricity. No one would spend sixteen hundred billion credits just on a whim. However, she had seen what happened when the Republic Fleet had agreed to work with the TEC and she didn’t want something like that happening again.

Eli Bowman interrupted.
“Saephan was a former employee at DSD. His theories led to the development of the
null field
stealth generator. I think Mr. Gray pissed him off so he left before it was fully working on the Sparta...” At the withering glance the CEO gave him, Eli thought he’d best say nothing further about the subject and receded far back into his chair.

“C
aptain, we need Saephan to stabilize the stealth field generator on board the Sparta. Secrecy and stealth are essential…without either, I fear these missions will have little chance of success. Do what you have to, but get him on board and cooperating, or find a way to make the generator functional.” Mr. Gray crossed his arms indicating he was finished with the conversation.

“What if he doesn’t want to join my crew…
?” Eris was not convinced this was a viable plan.

“
You can be most persuasive when you want to be Captain. I am sure you will find a way to influence him. You must.” Dominic Gray took a sip of water from a glass.

“
You have your instructions, I expect they will be carried out soon.” He turned his gaze once more to Eris, “Since you are fully recovered, Captain, make all preparations to get underway and head to the Alphard system. I look forward to you making the jump in the next few hours. We will speak again as the mission progresses further.”

As
the image of Dominic Gray faded out the Evene female walked up to Eris extending her hand in greeting. Eris noticed she had black claws – they looked extremely sharp. Seldom seen outside of Hegemony space the Evene were a feline humanoid client species of the K’Tosk. Her fur was short-cropped, golden colored, and covered her from head to clawed toe completely. However, she had a glorious long mane of red hair that spilled down past her shoulders. Her ears were pointed and large. Eris saw that her black polished nails were a centimeter long and razor sharp – her golden tail moved lazily. The Evene’s accent was distinctive as she introduced herself.

“
Captain Monroe, Eli has spoken highly of your antics and bravery! I will be piloting the
Sparta
on our missions.” Eris was crowded by humans and aliens congratulating her on her new command. She raised an eyebrow at Eli, “
Antics
?” Eli seemed oblivious as he was meeting people.

A man
encased in black and grey combat armor approached and saluted Eris. Flanked by two other humans dressed similarly in personal body armor, he appeared to be in his thirties with closely cut black hair. Eris returned the salute and then shook his offered hand.

“Captain…
it’s good to see you again.” He pointed to his left at a shorter woman, “This is Sergeant Isabella Dulac, my adjutant. She gets to file all the paperwork.” He flashed a quick grin. “She’s also an expert at electronics. But don’t let that fool you; she’s really an exciting person…” Dulac stood a full eighteen centimeters shorter than Eris but was still taller than an average human female. Isabella had short green hair styled in a page cut - she smiled as she saluted Eris. “It’s an honor to serve in your crew,” said Dulac earnestly. Isabella was twenty-one years old.

Malik then pointed to a muscled soldier to his right. “And this joker here is
Sergeant Ted Garcia.” The heavily muscled man saluted and stood at attention.

“Ma’am
,” Garcia was polite and stoic. Eris liked him immediately.

Arnav
Malik was good-looking, handsome even…and stood just a little taller than Eris. “We’ll be ready whenever you need us, Captain. Everyone on my team has battle experience…we’re looking forward to these missions.”

Eris was intrigued and wanted to know more about his squad.
She nodded solemnly. “I’m glad to have you all aboard…Malik, Dulac, Garcia. Once I have some spare time, I’d like to talk with you and your squad.”

“I’m looking forward to that, Captain.” Malik then
walked away to allow others a chance to talk to Eris.
He’s a handsome man with a regal bearing
. She gave her attention to Kizzara who was pulling on her arm.