STORM SLAVE: THE STORM PLANET SERIES: VOLUME THREE Page 7

  ****

  Carefully, Joo stood up and moved away from the door, making sure it was locked behind her. Her senses told her she was alone, but she preferred to search each room. The apartment had been cleaned since she had left. All the items she had scattered about were carefully put away.

  The last of her food items were gone. Good, that old food would have left a smell. In the bedroom, her clothes had been washed and stored in drawers or hung in wall units. In the cooking area there was some food items in storage units.

  This meant she could maintain a position here without going out for a period to steal food.

  Joo thought of the Commander. There was going to come a time when she was going to have to meet with him. There would have to be some type of negotiation between them. She moved over to stare out the large opening glad it was covered by the force field.

  On her old home world, a jungle world, they had used a product called glass to cover windows. It was adequate, but not strong. Force fields were stronger than the rocks she was standing within, but they took a lot of power to build and maintain. This storm planet was the home of unlimited power, as there was Threads buried deep down within the rocks. These people used power since it was as cheap as the air they breathed. She appreciated the fact that right now, she had a force field protecting her from the turmoil attacking this world.

  It was night outside, but the upper sky was full of streaks of light as debris hit the atmosphere. Something big again hit the mountain and she felt the shudder through the floor and her feet.

  She went and got some crackers and a bottle of wine. Taking a few pillows, she built a nest in front of the opening, so she could watch this night in safety. It was unusual that she felt safe, knowing the Commander was in this city cave.

  She quivered with the touch of sex, strange.

  ****

  Baloko was on his knees at a drainage point within one of the work areas, when Quill joined him. This part of the work zone was dark, but several workers were holding up lights and someone was bringing in a floating glow element.

  There was a tight sad feeling in Quill’s chest as he looked down at the female lying in the dirty oily water. She was one of their specially picked hunters, dressed in her gear that could only be understood by someone born on this world.

  Baloko reached out and closed her eyes, as the dirty water touched them. “She never got started. Someone got to her, as soon as she left the meeting.” He pulled the pass and contact unit from a pocket on her leg and held it up.

  Down on one heel, Quill carefully placed a hand on her exposed cheek. He could tell that her neck had been twisted and broken. Her skin was cold, but he jerked as he got those last feelings of sadness from her brain.

  He knew his green eyes would be glowing, so he closed them to shield those around him. He vowed he would find her brother and give him her Medal of Honor. He would make sure the brother was financially comfortable. Most important he would tell the brother of her last thoughts.

  Then, with a degree of disgust, he went deeper, looking for the killer. His planet was helping him, as one of the great storms was whipping up across the seas. The rain was cleansing the damage done to the surface, giving seeds with burrs and small broken limbs with hooks, the chance to sink in and start the growth process all over again.

  He placed his other hand on the greasy stone floor without looking and drew deeper from his world. He felt that hand draw strength from within the rock, then he felt the female dying, as one long arm whipped around above her breasts, catching a strong hold of her other arm. The killer’s other hand was over her mouth, suppressing her shout and twisting her head with one sharp warp.

  Guita knew she heard her own neck bones shatter and Quill fell sideways with the same sound of those bones breaking in his skull.

  Suddenly Baloko had him in the soldier’s strong arms. “Your Highness, should I call healers?”

  Everyone was moving closer, holding out lights, hands to help, even a water vessel.

  To stop the panic, he pushed away from the Commander and sat up. “Stop, I am fine. A natural reaction.” He was on his feet before Baloko could even move.

  “Commander, get her to medical to be cleaned up. They can check the body, but treat it with great pride, as she is a hero and will be given full honors. She has a brother somewhere and I would like to talk to him personally.”

  Now everyone was hustling in the correct actions. He looked at the Commander and jerked his head, as he walked a few steps away.

  “Where is my mother?”

  The Commander actually looked up at one of the high sides that showed different levels of balconies. “She is up with Advisor DeArmond, getting into some type of negotiations that was requested with some off-worlders. The Assassin is with her.”

  “Warn the Assassin we have a professional killer among us. One almost as good as an assassin.”

  Baloko looked at Quill. The young strong man did look worried. “Any chance you might know who, or have a description?”

  Quill shook his head. “Not enough. A male who was a little taller than the female hunter, very strong for his size and trained in the art of killing with his hands. No weapons were used. He knows the cave and knows us. He has been with us for a long time, waiting for something.”

  Baloko looked over, as the healers carefully moved the hunter’s body. “Was he waiting to kill her?”

  “No.” The Heir looked upward at the lights in the offices and apartments lining the walls. “She just made a mistake and got in his way. That makes him so dangerous. He kills without hesitation, waiting for his real issue.”

  Chapter Ten

  Negotiations….

  The first problem Joo had was she needed to contact the Commander, but had no idea how to reach him. He had to have his hands full with this war going on, making sure his troops protected all the city caves around the world.

  She finally went in and stripped and dropped down into the bathing pool. She didn’t stay long as she wanted to be dressed and active. Prowling the large apartment didn’t provide any help. All the usual contacting devices were out of order.

  Joo actually dozed on her pillow nest, but between a storm and another collision between space debris and the ocean, she wasn’t asleep long. She went through the food preparation area, but she didn’t want to mess with the dried items.

  Bored and getting brave, she unlocked the door and cautiously went out into the hallway. Joo was just about to go back into her apartment when she heard the sounds of a cart. It was one of the standard workers, pushing a cart for clean and dirty clothes.

  Joo shook her head and wondered at this strange cave city. In the middle of a war, the normal went forward.

  The elder male pushing the cart smiled at her. “Any exchange of clothing, Mistress?”

  Joo just shook her head no and turned away. She did have a thought, so she turned back. “Sir, can you tell me, is there a way to get a word to Commander Sachim? All the connections in my apartment are out of order.”

  The elder male made a chuckle. “I don’t go into those high circles, but I will pass the word to a section guard that such a lovely Mistress is wishing to talk to the Commander. I am sure such a notice will reach even the high ears of such an important male.”

  “Thank you.” Joo looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry, I have nothing to give to you for your service, except gratitude.”

  The male and his cart set about moving away. “That is a lot more than I get from most. I am making no promises. This is dangerous times.”

  Joo returned and locked herself into the apartment. Okay, she thought crackers and wine would have to do. Watching the deep waves on the waters below, she fell asleep again.

  The sun was reflecting through another storm when a knock on the door woke her up. Holding one of her short knives against her leg where it would not show, she opened the door a few inches.

  The elderly man with his cart of clothes was there, smiling at her. “
Morning Mistress. A soldier gave me this to pass to you.” He held out a small communicator. “I am also to tell you that there is some food coming around soon. They have been instructed to stop here also.”

  Leaving the small solid communicator in her hand he was gone, pushing the floating cart of clothes. She stood inside the big wooden doors. On no other worlds could they afford to have wooden doors. Even on her jungle world, the cost of maintaining wood doors was so expensive, only the rich used them.

  Yet here, on this world, made wealthy due to strange Threads buried within stone, wood was used. Joo leaned on the wood door, drawing some type of warmth.

  She jumped as there was another knock on the door. Turning she hesitated. She heard a small voice through the thick doors.

  “Food delivery. Hello. Food delivery.”

  It took her a few minutes to take the floating tray and assure the worker that he couldn’t come in and set out the service. She smelled the hot food, but her stomach wouldn’t accept anything, as she held tight to the little communicator.

  Joo knew she was just putting off the inevitable. She was going to talk to the Commander and come to some type of understanding.

  ****

  Loralei had listened to about all she could stand. She raised her silly gold-topped cane and heard the troops behind her come to sharp attention. There was silence from the floating screens showing the off-worlders’ faces.

  Her voice was firm, probably from the shock of the boring words that had gone on without stopping from the two groups appealing to her. Except they weren’t appealing, they were demanding and assuring her they would be good partners.

  A grim man spoke from a screen. “Madam, maybe we are being a bit too aggressive. I think, in representing my government, I am just saying we didn’t mean to be a part of this war. We didn’t have any ships as part of the blockade.”

  She actually rolled her eyes. It was amazing that no one would admit to having ships in the blockade even though there were no ships coming through to this world. Well, there had been a mercenary that had slipped through and was allowed to land at another city cave.

  She looked at Dee. “Advisor, would you please ask my small assistant to bring to me the gift, given to me by a soldier earlier?”

  There was silence in the room for only a moment as the Advisor took only a short time to retrieve the small girl Tet.

  The Queen smiled and reached out a hand. “Please give me that piece of metal that fell from the sky.”

  With a solemn nod, the girl held out a hand with the metal that had a symbol engraved on one side. Loralei held the shard upright so that the screens could see the marking.

  “Lord Gentar, is this not the same symbol that is on the flag behind you, on the wall where you are sitting? This is all that is left from a ship that was part of a close blockage that was taken out, when our weapon rose upward.”

  She handed the shard back to Tet and waved the girl away. She laid her cane down and relaxed back against the soft blankets. She heard her warriors behind her take an open stance. She knew the movement of these troops all together must be impressive.

  “You know Gentle Males, at this point you have nothing of interest to offer to GigasVnee. As the representative of GigasVnee, I can only offer you advice, as we are not going to share anything else. Draw all your ships back to your home worlds. Hope that you have enough power to last, because GigasVnee isn’t going to share for a long while.”

  She let her eyes wander out to the opening that only looked into another office. There were a large number of workers and troops gathered there, in case she or the Advisor needed anything.

  “But Madam, there is so many things that people need from each other.” The other negotiator spoke up.

  She didn’t move and kept her voice calm. “You are so right. But if you don’t know my personal history, I came from a different planet. That means I got to discover this world through fresh eyes and I found out some amazing points about it.

  First, we lost very few of our troops, because one of the main things I learned about this world is that they live underground. This means that if someone lands for hand to hand fighting, they will be met by full trained contingents.”

  She stared upward. “I have also learned that this is called a storm planet for a very good reason. If any attacking force does try to land, the planet itself will do more damage to the ships than we will have to do. The winds, the storms, the hurricanes and tornadoes will take out a great many descending ships, while our troops wait in shelters.

  Please remember, we have other weapons like the green bubble that we sent up, so don’t make a mistake of moving in close again. Last, but most important, the beings of this world have learned to live without help for thousands of years. They are willing to live alone, if that is necessary again.”

  Loralei now stared into the screens. “But then I should brag just a little. You see, we have unlimited power. Now the only negotiations, is when you all have withdrawn and our system is open once more.”

  Looking over at her Advisor, she nodded and he turned off the connections.

  “Oh God, what have I done?” She held the tears back, but the agony was in her voice.

  ****

  Quill felt no guilt leaving his mother to handle the absurd negotiations. He actually was afraid that talking to those pretenders would make him so angry, he might show one of the talents he kept hidden.

  He also had such a high respect, along with love for the woman who had carried him in her body, that he was sure she would do everything correct.

  At this point, he was sitting on one heel, on a high thin beam that the Assassin had taught him how to travel. It was above any of the glow from lighting, so his eyes could watch clearly the female below in the working storage area.

  As was in her nature, she had taken over as leader and organized the other workers. They were all doing the labor in a cooperative manner that allowed the everything to get finished and gave them longer rest periods.

  He was fascinated at how efficient her body movement was, as she took her share of the boxes to push into place on shelves. She was tall, but had persevered to keep her muscles toned. Still there was a very appealing femininity about her.

  As she moved and twisted, he realized that part of her appeal was the fact that her waist was very small. He was sure he could span it with his long fingers on his rough hands. He was holding a green metal orb in one of those hands at this moment.

  One of his hunters had reported in that at the top of the old excavation, one where they had not finished any apartments was a strange object. He had great admiration for the climber that had discovered its placement, even if the climber couldn’t reach its location. Quill thought to how he had the orb in his hand.

  Commander Sachim had researched the site on a screen and sent up a tiny eye to see what it would take to extract the orb. He told the Heir that he could not think of a single piece of equipment that would fit up in the tight spot. He also said that he was afraid that trying to remove some of the surrounding rock might damage the orb.

  Quill’s answer to the Commander was simple. “If my fathers placed it there for me, then I should be able to have it in my hand.” He went out on the nearest beam to the orb’s location. It didn’t take him long to feel the pulse of his fathers’ weapon.

  The closest beam was narrow and without any handhold, yet he reached his arm above his head, spreading his fingers, begging the orb to fit in.

  Quill felt the pull of both his body and the orb. He worked to clear his mind, even of a certain female, as he concentrated. He reached with both his arm and his mind. It was as if the orb was stuck and was working to get lose. Finally, he felt the release and the orb came down with such force that he knew he was going to be knocked from the thin beam.

  Except a strong hand reached out and steadied him, preventing his fall, the hand of the only other beam walker on this world.

  “Assassin, I need to thank you for the help.�
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  The dark caped figure knelt down next to him. “Consider it just an extra part of my job.”

  “Why are you not at my mother’s shoulder, putting on a show for our attackers?” Quill spoke softly, as he looked at the green metal orb. It was smaller than the first one. With his good sight he could see the intricate scrollwork all over the metal, making it a work of art.

  Softer than the Heir’s voice, the Assassin’s voice had some humor to it. “The talks are finished and you mother is safely up in her Royal Apartment. At this moment she has a team of women giving her massages and facials and warm bathes. She is also complaining about a certain son who prevented her from such luxuries.”

  “How did she handle the negotiations?” Quill questioned.

  “To sum it up, after long talks, she told them GigasVnee did well before this planet met any off-worlders and it would do well if it never met another.”

  Quill turned the orb. “There are only a few strong females in the universe and we are blessed to have my mother here, as she is one.”

  With this thought he soon found himself watching that other strong female.

  Chapter Eleven

  Where is the war….

  Joo took the communicator with her as she made a careful exit to the upper edge of the tunnel. Here she sat down, still within the protection of the hollow rock.

  A storm was in full swing, normal for this planet. The fresh air hitting her face felt good, as she leaned out to feel the clean water pelt against her skin. She pulled back fast as something stung her cheek.

  With finger and thumb she pulled something from her face and looked at it closely. It was a seed, covered with sticky crooked hooks. So this was how the planet survived and grew its plant life. It found a way to seed and grow plants that would move then hold, in the winds and storms.