Chapter 14 The Talvath Initiative
After celebrating Sen's thirty-sixth birthday and recovering for day, Alawa brushed back a tendril of still damp hair while she chose her classes for that year. At other end of the couch, Sen reviewed a very large pad with five screens. Publically, he retired all the old warbirds while privately he scheduled them for refitting to give them warp, shield and phaser capabilities. While not the most efficient of design, they would serve as a hidden fleet since they already had cloaking capabilities. Ten percent of the new warbirds were sold to the richest families on Romulus per a centuries old contract so the families could protect their trade ships. Sen ensured those didn't have the slight improvements that the engineering team that Alawa had joined added.
"I'm glad you had lunch with your father today. It means so much to him, even if its politicking."
"I know. We have our father and son time at least twice a week since last year. It's more time together than since I got my own palace six years ago. We're closer than ever." Now that I can share my Vulcan secrets. Momentarily, he glanced up at the scantily clad Orion woman several feet away and rubbed his bare foot against hers. "Are you trying to tempt again?"
"No, you're the one who likes it so hot in here so I dress to be comfortable." Smiling smugly, she closed her robe so her cleavage wouldn't show.
Sen crinkled his nose at his long pajamas. "So, what are you taking this year?"
"Comparative Intergalactic History, Advanced Communications, Warp Engine Design and Xeno-biology," she replied.
"All of it but the history is useful. I mean a good cursory knowledge and points for leadership are good but all the dates and such are useless."
"For someone so smart, you're very ignorant." Once she said that, Sen stopped looking at his screen and stared at her irately. "Many cultures experience similar historical events. A tiny event sometimes mushrooms into a gigantic war. On Earth, a Serbian student assassinated an Austrian Duke and his wife which lead to events that triggered a world war which lead to another world war and affected most of the planet for a century. Almost the exact same thing happened on Delta Prime with the assassination of Zolath a thousand years ago."
"That's nice to know but useless since it's already happened. Mathematics and science are useful because you can use them to get desired predicted results."
"Well since history repeats itself if someone were to put events into a mathematical construct wouldn't they be able to predict how certain small events could affect global changes?"
"Maybe," he remarked.
"To take into account societal reactions based on culture along with those events and formularize them would take mathematics to a new scale."
"Yes it would." Sen tapped his fingers thinking about the possibilities and the huge changes he wanted to enact.
"If it could be done, it would take a mathematician beyond genius to figure it out."
"I think you're challenging me and I always win a challenge. However, that's something I need to think about but I can't for another seventy-three minutes which leaves me four minutes to finish my current research."
"Of course, Covert Conversation Caitian is on tonight." Alawa found his soap opera fixation adorable.
While he awaited the start of his program, Sen finished reviewing the planet Talvath. The planet at the back end of the Romulan Empire consisted of primarily oceans that accounted for seventy-two percent of its mass with another ten percent being fresh water. Samples of those oceans taken ninety-seven years prior showed an eleven point two percent pollution factor indicating an advanced culture along with blasted relics and newer structures that were found. A recent survey clearly indicated the pollution to be only at eight point three. An amphibious bipedal humanoid race inhabited the planet but avoided all attempts at contact. Clearly, they somehow managed to artificially clean their oceans. For centuries the Empire ignored the Talvathians deeming them insignificant. With this new information, Sen deemed them significant.
Long range scans indicated that when warbirds filled with soldiers approached, the Talvathians swam to the depths of their oceans the moment the ship took orbit. However, with science vessels the natives retreated once they landed. For that reason, Sen deduced that the natives sensed emotion and avoided hostility. Some other race used that planet as target practice based on the destruction patterns of the old and newer structures which made the natives even more leery of outside contact.
Despite conservation efforts adopted in the past three hundred years, Romulus' oceans remained polluted. Moreover, the pollution levels increased by a fraction each year due to the unavoidable pollution produced by the most environmentally friendly technology. Already the effects were noticeable causing certain beach closures and a global cessation in fishing to occur in five years. In twenty years, they would reach critical levels. The planet's population knew this and put contingency plans in place for expensive alternative food resources that no one really wanted. If Sen could contact the Talvathians and negotiate, he could get them to help the clean-up of Romulus' oceans and offer protection for them. This protection meant extending the Empire's borders through increased military might, another benefit to the Empire that the public would support.
"Alawa, since you love to swim, how would you like to take a vacation on a primitive world alone with me on a vast beach?"
"I would love but you better let me know the full story." Alawa tickled his feet with her feet.
"Of course," he replied. With only one minute until his show started, Sen sent an urgent message to his flagship.
Captain Belina,
Please ready the Blood Vengeance for an extended top secret camping trip ready to leave tomorrow morning.
Praetor Sen Hiro-Ang
The vid screen popped on. Greetings Covert Conversation Caitian here. You know you love me. The last time we saw Kcuhc, he got caught in a precarious position with Aneres. What will Railb think?
After a few days of assurances during their trip, Sen convinced his Uhaii guard to leave him and Alawa on the planet alone but with long range scans fixed on them. Detailed scans revealed that none of the plants or animals were harmful just as they did years before. The ship orbited cloaked with continual transporter locks and scans for life signs monitored by six very anxious Uhaii guards. Besides, Sen wanted to be alone with Alawa to try something that he didn't know how she would react to and he would react to being a touch telepath.
Sen, Alawa and six large tan cubes filled with supplies beamed onto a very hot and humid grey sandy beach which looked out onto clear green water. Though planet wide the pollution factors were within acceptable norms, this was the cleanest. A light ocean breeze filled their lungs. Behind them a lush tropic of green trees with black and purple three foot long leathery flowers disguised the bats that fed from them. Yellow flowers that resembled five foot tall stalks of corn in red husks dappled the beach. Sen removed his jumpsuit to his silver swim trunks while Alawa removed her skimpy dress so she could dive into the warm water nude.
Being the man, Sen decided to set up camp. For a moment, he stared at the container marked shelter which sat in the wooded area away from the beach. How do I open this? Once he pressed the panel, the cube unfolded to reveal green and brown an oddly jutting square structure with various shapes and things inside. Baffled, Sen studied it. He tugged at it but nothing happened.
Donning a sheer robe, Alawa joined her mathematician as he intently studied the shelter cube. "Trouble?" Holding his hand, she backed him away from the box. "Assemble!" A small modular home that blended into its background constructed itself before them. "They make these things so they're easy to assemble."
"Well that's just fine! I'm going for a swim."
The simple things in life always stump him but he's so cute when it happens. Using a few voice commands, Alawa set up camp in no time. Then she rinsed off in the sun shower and took a walk along the beach.
With a year of being with Sen, she loved him beyond measure but she wanted so much more than to be just his mistress. However, she doubted if they could ever be anything more in public at least. In private, they were so much more. When she returned to the campsite, Sen had a blanket spread out on the beach and lay there snoozing. Checking her comm link for Romulan Standard Time, Alawa figured he would snooze for fifteen more minutes during which time she grabbed some scented sensual moisturizing oil. Once Sen started to awaken, she massaged his neck down to his shoulders enjoying the feel of sinewy form.
"Oh Alawa, you take care of me so well." Sen turned over to let her rub oil on his chest. As she did, she provocatively straddled him moving her hips as only an Orion dancer could. When she danced for him, she always performed the most provocative yet somehow innocent moves driving him into a lustful frenzy. Now it was time for him to take control of her body. Little did she realize that he had just learned a few tricks and his Auntie E said Alawa just reached full maturity. "Your turn lay down on your stomach." While he massaged her back, he noticed her Iucunditas gland had grown slightly meaning he could do certain things without injuring her.
Alawa enjoyed her relaxing day on the beach, listening to the waves lapping on the beach while her lover rubbed oil on her back. Sen gently kissed the back of her neck sending tingles down her spine. From kisses to nibbles, that tingling spread through her body from her fingertips to her toes. The more he nibbled the more her body became jelly. While always enjoyed this before, now her pleasure multiplied. A sharp bite brought a momentary pain before seizing her body in the most intense rapture she ever knew. "Sen! Oh!! Oh!!" She rose to her knees but just barely from her trembling.
Ecstasy engulfed Sen through his telepathic touch. Sucking on the back of her neck, Sen held Alawa against him as her body went from trembling to shaking. Suddenly, she screamed in rapture just as he tasted something sweet and salty. Through his telepathic touch, Sen experienced all that she did. The intensity rocked him. Looking at the back of her neck, he saw orange liquid just above the gland.
The slow burn below her waist became a raging inferno. "Sen, please," she pleaded. Falling to her hands and knees, she didn't need to ask twice. Waves of pleasure consumed her until a tidal consumed her followed by several more as she felt Sen's bliss as well.
Later, they collapsed together on the blanket. "Sen, it's always been fantastic but that was just…I mean WOW! How did you know?"
"I have my ways. Besides, I want to satisfy my woman the Orion way. If I didn't, some Orion guy might upstage me."
"You have no reason to be jealous. Mindel takes a class with me and is just barely a friend." She kissed him. "I love you and only you." She walked her fingers up his chest. "You had another reason for bringing me here aside from vacation."
""There's a pad in there with information on Talvath that you can review when you wish. I need your help to bring them around. They sense emotions and soldiers tend to repel them. The emotions between us might attract them. If it does, you can help me negotiate with them."
"Sen, I'm honored but I don't know how much help I'll be. I'm just a …"
"Don't you say it because you're not one. You are so smart that you've aced your classes. You can be so much more than what you've been lead to believe all your life. Never let me hear you say something like that again." Sen kissed her softly. "You have no idea how special you are. Besides, the day after we met I set you free."
"At first, I thought it was because you didn't want me."
"If you love someone deeply, you're willing to set them free." Sen kissed her cheek.
For several nights, Udelis and several of her people watched the strange aliens playing and continually mating. The male was pale with a greenish tinge, black hair and pointed ears. The female's bluish green color matched their own but neither had webbed feet. Never did they sense hostility so at dusk Udelis approached the site.
Sen and Alawa watched as a bald bipedal obviously female being with Alawa's coloring but darker and with large webbed feet and black eyes approached. Alawa switched the universal translator on. "Greetings," she said. "I am Udelis of the Talvath people."
"Greetings I am Praetor Sen Hiro-Ang of the Romulan Empire and this is my consort Alawa. I'm glad to finally meet you." Sen gestured to the compound. "Can I offer you some food or drink?"
"Water, pure water," she replied. "Why are you here?"
While Sen brought her a glass of water, Alawa spoke to her since she seemed to compare their skin color. "It seems your civilization has been attacked at least the land portion."
"Yes, it has been. Sometimes our people are kidnapped as well." Udelis accepted the glass of water graciously.
"If you become part of the Empire, you will be protected." Sen sat with them.
"At what price," Udelis.
"You help us clean the oceans of Romulus." Alawa smiled which seemed to put Udelis at ease. "Your people have done a remarkable job with your own oceans."
"Once that is done, what becomes of us? Will your protection cease?"
"No, your race knows about the oceans' ecosystems. There are plenty of worlds in the Empire that can use your help with clean-up and harvesting. Your work would always be needed. As long as you help, you will be protected. You will be treated with respect." Sen hoped she could sense that he spoke truthfully.
"Maybe we can have a trial period?"
"Starting with Romulus," Sen stated. "Let's work out the details."
After several hours, they hammered out an agreement. In a couple of days, a contingent of Talvathians would venture to Romulus while a fleet of warbirds would patrol this border of the Empire. Alawa leaned against Sen a little bit tired and ready to sleep as the negotiations ended. "Goodbye and thank you," Sen said to Udelis.
"You're welcome and I will see you in two days. May you have a successful seeding." Udelis dived into the water.
Sen carried Alawa to their shelter and placed her on the mattress. "Once you start school, I'll be going away on a mission that might last a month or two and it's classified. I won't be able to contact you. When I get back, we're going to have some difficulties ahead."
"What kind of difficulties?"
"I'm not sure of all the details myself. My father is making plans." He gently kissed her as she brushed back a few strands of hair. "Alawa you are so special to me and I love you so much."
"I love you too."
Weeks later, Alawa sat with several of her Romulan friends from her prior year in the school courtyard eating lunch. Among them Brenna, a pop star on break to get her education, Tegan whose father was a senator, Morgance whose family own a disappearing fishing company, Kier a young Iali-iaj player and Derry, son of a reporter but who told no secrets to his mom so that he could keep his friends. Around them at discreet distance, each one's personal body guard scanned the area.
Tegan nudged her. "Alawa there's your handsome Orion friend."
Brenna looked over. "You're not thinking about …I mean you're with the Praetor."
"No, I'm completely in love with Sen still and it's not because he's the Praetor. Mindel knows about my people. He's helping me find out why I look different." Alawa brushed her hair back as she got up from the table. "Besides, if any other guy were to catch my eye, it would be the handsomest man at the table." Kier and Derry looked up as she left.
Beneath a teal Rg'ave tree, Alawa sat next to Mindel. "Hello Mindel, how are you?"
"Not so good, it seems I have some business to attend to so I'm withdrawing from school." Mindel looked up. "I leave for Federation territory tonight. I just wanted to say goodbye to a couple of folks."
"I'm so sorry. Is it bad?"
"No, just financial business," he replied. "I have that information you wanted but its better left alone." Mindel got up and walked away from the crowds.
"Please tell me," Alawa pleaded, following him.
Mindel switched a white noise generator on his comm link to keep prying ears away but not to interfere with the video surveillance. "You're from a once thought extinct race of Orions. Your pheromones make people love you. Only your fellow Orions are immune. Your entire life is a lie." When he saw her lip trembling, Mindel took her shoulders. "Look your friends don't know any better. The Praetor is your love slave. Be happy. It's a good life."
"No, Sen really loves me." In that moment, Alawa felt her heart being ripped from her. Deep down, she knew he told the truth by the way folks had always reacted to her. Sen told her several times that he fell in love with her the moment he saw her. She was worse than her brethren who enslaved men's' bodies with lust; she enslaved their minds with love.
Mindel hugged her and looked at her kindly, hoping his remote camera caught his best angle. "Go home and just pretend to be ignorant of the entire thing." He loved manipulating this babe in the woods.
"How long does it take for my pheromones to wear off?"
"Avoiding all re-exposure, a few weeks," Mindel replied. "I understand the Praetor is on a diplomatic mission or something. You may want to pop in for a visit sometime in the next two weeks."
"You don't understand. I can't live a lie." Alawa wept.
"Look if there's anything I can do before I go," he said sympathetically.
Between sobs, she mumbled. "Can I go with you to the Federation?"
Dutifully, Mindel gave her the details of his ship's itinerary. "Are you sure about this?"
"Maybe one day you'll have a love so deep that you put that person's happiness above your own, a love so deep that you put their freedom above your need to possess them. If you knew Sen, you would understand why I love him that much."
In the palace, Alawa packed her bags as Pinel watched helplessly. "Please don't go Alawa. He loves you very much. This will kill him."
"This is for his own good. I love him so much that I have to set him free because that is how much he loved me."
"You're not making sense. At least tell me the whole thing so I can tell him." Pinel knew that since she was free, he couldn't force her to stay though every instinct told him to.
"I can't." Alawa wiped away some tears.
"At least let me escort you to the space port."
"Very well," she replied.
"Are you going to leave him a note?"
"No because it'll be tearful and sad. I want him to remember our times as happy." Plus if he hates me, he'll be able to move on easier.
Later Pinel dropped Alawa off at port 51 in front of an Orion transport, the Kaie, which looked a little worse for wear. "Are you sure?" Around them a few aliens amongst crowds of Romulans bumped into each other scurrying to their various ships.
"Yes," Alawa replied.
Pinel left with a sinking feeling. Every instinct told him to lock her in the palace until Sen returned. However, the Uhaii were told to never treat her like a slave or a prisoner.
Minutes later Mindel joined Alawa at port 51. "There's been a change of plan. H'rent will escort you to port 10. I've arranged for a better ship."
"Very well," Alawa mumbled while the muscled Orion guard grabbed her bags.
Quickly, Mindel ensured that the Kaie itinerary had them on the passenger list before he left for his private ship, the Carden, registered under his father's name so no one could trace it to the Liba family. In the Orion Syndicate as with the rest of Orion, wealth passes on family names not gender. Information he didn't impart to his treacherous Romulan co-conspirator.
While the Carden readied for departure Orion, Kaie experienced a malfunction causing it to explode on departure, leaving no survivors.
Aboard the Carden, Mindel let Alawa have a few days of weeping and moping. After all, he wasn't entirely heartless. He even gave her the master quarters filled with silks and tapestries of all colors and a huge ovular bed which served his every pleasure. Besides, it gave him time to establish her new identity: Adena, his slave. On the fifth night, he decided to take possession of his property.
Lying in his bed, Alawa slept scantily clad with the heat turned high. For a moment, Mindel admired the dancer's body with a little more tone and definition than normal but still feminine and sexy. "Time to please your master," he purred.
Alawa's eyes fluttered open. "You are not my master and I only have sex with the man I love."
"Either way you will do as I tell you: easily or painfully," he growled as he pounced on her.
A/N – Please R&R. I love hearing from you guys. Read the names in Covert Conversation Caitian backwards and you'll see a tribute.
In the next section, Sen will have his vengeance on a certain Romulan co-conspirator. Many readers may find it morally objectionable. Can you guess what it might be?
Entry from Ancient Vulcan Archives
Hiro-Ang Clan:
Merits : Visionary and intuitive abilities for grandiose objectives. Known to act fairly with their brethren
Flaws: Overactive libido. Enjoyment of bloodlust and cruelty to enemies.