A SPARTAN'S WAR

Iama pulled the sheet tighter around her lush body and turned to look at the sleeping form of the Lycavorian in her bed. Her tail dangled behind her under the sheet, twitching gently back and forth. Iama felt a flash of anger that surged through her but she quickly shook her head and fought it down. It was anger at herself she knew. She had wanted him Iama thought to herself and his interest in her was utterly obvious but this was becoming too much. She would never be more than a delightful fling to the men on this ship, and she had already taken three men into her bed on this trip. Three more than she had wanted too when it had started. They had been nice to her, treated her respectfully and she had initiated their encounters because no matter what she had been through, Iama still enjoyed the company of men. She could still feel pleasure even after all these years. Perhaps what she had endured had made her this way, but they were men after all, and when she stuck her firm ass up at them they reacted as any man would. The only problem was that Iama wanted more. Much more than these men were willing to give to her. This one, as with the other two before him, would wake and go back to his duties and his life. He would no doubt try and entice her into his bed in the future, but as with the others, Iama would not allow that now. Their encounters had been pleasant and pleasurable, but Iama wanted more than just a casual fling. There was another reason as well and it was one she did not quite understand herself.

Iama turned to go into the living area of her quarters, crossing to the small kitchenette on the far bulkhead and pouring herself a mug of tea. As she lifted the tea to her lips his face came to her again. The same face that had taken the place of the man in her bed as he had been taking her. The same face that made her beyond anxious. The man she could not stop thinking about now. His face, his body, his voice. Iama didn't understand it for it had never happened to her before. After years as a sexual toy for so many Kavalian men, Iama was thrilled that she could still enjoy the pleasures of sex when she wanted to have it. The three Lycavorians she had bedded since being rescued had been adequate lovers, usually fumbling about as if they knew what they were doing, but they had shown her she could still feel and enjoy sex. They had not done much to really excite or satisfy her, and last night Iama had actually lost herself as she clutched at the man's shoulders in a small climax. Lost herself because she saw his face and not the man who was actually thrusting into her.

Fedor Leonidas.

There was something so very different about him. Something that drew her to him, but also frightened her terribly. That he was the most delicious specimen of any man she had ever met was without question, but he had been born as all the Kavalian clones had been born. The accelerated birth process was notoriously efficient, but it also left the clones decidedly lacking in intelligence. This had to be made up for in several months of intense schooling that not all of them did well in. Iama had already embarrassed herself in front of him twice by trying to treat him as she had treated the other clones. He was different than the Kavalian clones, something lurking within him that was far more dreamlike than she knew. Perhaps there was something to this Etheric Mindvoice thing than she had first thought possible. She was very practical and did not believe that such things could exist. Perhaps she was wrong in her beliefs. It was obvious to her that he and his sister, his whole family really, it was obvious they could do things that were not normal. All of them except his vampire mothers being bonded to dragons probably played a part in it, but even his two vampire mothers were far more skilled than any vampire she had ever seen or heard of. He and his sister trained privately for several hours a day with King Leonidas and no one was allowed within the gym during those hours. It made Iama wonder as she sipped her tea. What could the King be teaching them?

"Iama?" The voice broke into her thoughts and she looked up to see the Lycavorian come out of her bedroom pulling his shirt on.

"Deleon." She spoke getting to her feet.

The man moved up in front of her and smiled. "You could have woke me up you know." He stated.

Iama smiled. "And risk having you start again when we both need to get to work?" She said.

"Can we see each other again?" He asked.

Iama wanted to blurt out no right away but she smiled. "We'll see… ok?" She spoke.

Deleon nodded. "Fair enough." He spoke. "I should get going."

Iama nodded. "Of course." Iama thought quickly. "Deleon… do you know of a way to get into the gym on deck eight when it is locked down? The hot tubs in there are much larger and I was hoping to sneak in and use one when they aren't in use by others." She lied.

The Lycavorian smiled and took something from his shirt. "Here… take this." He told her. "This is a level six pass. It will get you into the gym."

Iama smiled. "Thank you." She said.

"Call me Iama." He said.

"We'll see." She said with a sadness in her voice that he did not pick up. She allowed him to lean over and kiss her and then she watched him move to the door of her quarters and exit. Iama looked at the pass in her hand and began to plot how she would discover what she wanted when it came to the twins. She needed to know why Fedor affected her so. She wanted to know why he made her feel as she did and Iama could be very persistent when she wanted to be. She wondered if he was as large as his physique hinted at. He was a beautiful man, even if he was no smarter than one of the clones. Her tail twitched at the thought of being wrapped in his arms, yet she did not quite understand the warm flush that swept through her at that thought either.

She would learn.

Had she been more attentive and looked into the corridor before allowing Deleon to leave she would have seen the dark brown eyes on a certain young man she was interested in look up and see Deleon exit her quarters as he was walking towards her doorway. She would have seen his eyes narrow somewhat as he came to a stop, and she would have seen the flash of pain across the same eyes as he turned and headed in the opposite direction quickly.

"…picked it up about seventeen minutes ago." Akemi told Martin as he moved up beside her near the star chart on the ARC ROYAL's bridge. Wayonn stood beside him on the right watching her intently.

"It's on a planet?" Martin asked.

"A moon actually." She told him her fingers dancing across the three dimensional chart and enlarging the dark green moon. It was smaller than the gas giant it was orbiting, but it was obviously able to sustain life if the vegetation data modifiers running alongside the moon were any indication. "About the same size as Earth's moon. Class M with near identical atmospheric conditions as Elear. Surprising considering it's a moon."

"Life signs?" Wayonn asked.

Akemi shook her head. "We're still too far out even for our long range sensors." She answered. "This was picked up by one of the probes we sent before making the last jump."

Martin looked at her. "Ok… why are we here again? We've seen a bunch of these type moons on this trip." He asked with a grin.

Akemi chuckled and played with the holographic console once more. "This." She told him pointing to the lone white dot on the image now. "A low power generator emitter." She said. "The probes are designed to detect any power emissions and then take extensive scans of the area they detect the power source coming from." She adjusted the image again and Martin saw a series of what appeared to be buildings. "These are the scans the probe sent back."

"It's a building." Martin answered.

Akemi nodded. "A very large building by all accounts." She answered. "Seven stories above ground and an additional ten below ground. It's Pralor tech King Leonidas." She told him seeing his eyes come up to meet hers.

"Pralor?" He hissed. "Out here?"

Akemi nodded. "All of the probes used on the ARIZONA-Class ships are designed to detect anything with a Pralor signature on it, whether it be power flows or mineral deposits. To include building materials. Anything."

Wayonn was leaning close to the chart table moving certain frozen images around on the holographic display. He adjusted one final one and let out an interested gasp. "Martin… it's a Pralor Portable Science Facility!"

"A what?" Martin asked.

Wayonn looked up now. "A Portable Science Facility. We would launch them from orbit and once they were situated on the surface of a planet we would occupy them."

"Launch them?" Akemi asked.

Wayonn nodded his head. "The part that is underground starts out as a very large drilling core. When launched it will activate upon touching the surface of a planet or moon, any solid surface really and burrow down until a predetermined depth is reach." He looked up at them. "Then it becomes the central power core as the rest of the station is extended from protected interior cells."

"No shit!" Martin asked surprised. "Very cool."

"I agree." Akemi echoed.

"What's it doing out here?" Martin asked him. "We're a long way from Pralor space Wayonn and you yourself have said there was nothing of value within the Echo quadrant. At least to Pralor civilization."

Wayonn nodded. "I don't know." He said. "Captain… how soon before we get into active sensor range?"

Akemi turned to an officer standing to her right. "Duty Officer?"

"Roughly six hours twenty-two minutes Captain." The man answered.

Akemi turned back to look at Wayonn. "Six hours and twenty-two minutes." She stated. "But that will be extreme long range for our sensors. Two days travel time at our current speed unless we kick in the Light Speed Drive."

Martin looked at her. "How does that affect our jump status?"

"It doesn't really put a crimp in our scheduling sire." She answered him. "With our Quantum Resonance Field Reactors we can do both. It will only slow the recharging of the Jump Drive several hours because we're diverting some power to the Light Speed Drive Coils."

Martin leaned over and touched a separate panel on the chart table. "Danny… you and Jules getting this?" He asked.

"Looking at it now Marty." Danny replied from the work station that he had quickly taken over nine decks below when Martin had sent him a Mindvoice pulse about a possible ground mission. Julie had been with him and they had been headed to do some mission report work when Martin had pulsed them both.

"Jesus!" They heard Julie gasp. "How big is this thing Wayonn?"

"Our Portable Science Facilities came in different versions and sizes depending on the type of research." Wayonn answered. He leaned closer to the images. "If I'm not mistaken, this is one of the smaller ones."

"Smaller?" Julie barked. "If these initial scans are correct it's the size of five square city blocks!"

"What's five blocks to a race that built planet size cities." Danny quipped.

Wayonn chuckled on the bridge and looked at Martin who was smiling. "We did want to be thorough." He stated.

"What's the big deal if its abandoned?" Danny asked. "Why waste our time?"

"That's the question." Akemi spoke. "The reason the probe picked it up at all is because of very low frequency power emitter readings coming from this base."

Martin looked at her. "Life support?" He asked her.

Akemi shrugged. "It's possible. We just don't know."

"How long to get there if we kick in the LSDs?" Martin asked.

"A little under eleven hours." She answered immediately.

"Kick it then. Danny… prep a ground team." Martin spoke. "We're going to take a look at this thing."

Wayonn looked at him. "We may be able to discover quite a bit of information Martin. Information that could tell us quite a bit of what happened to my people." Wayonn said. "I'd like to go."

Martin nodded to him. "Danny… you, Julie and the Master Chief meet with Wayonn in the Tactical Command Center on deck three. I'll join you in one hour."

"On our way." Danny said.

Martin looked at Wayonn. "I'll grab Helen and meet you there with Aricia and Isabella." He told him.