The Oathkeepers Ch. 01

Hello! This is my first installment this story. I'm unsure how many Chapters it will end up having, so please be patient and stick around. I love reading comments so please do drop me a line and let me know how you're liking it! Enjoy...

~~

Zoe frantically flicked through the readouts on her terminal. There had to be some way to increase power... Another blast rocked the ship and she ground her teeth, glanced out the viewport. The ship was drifting as the second engine sputtered out. She cursed under her breath, tried to hold onto her threatening panic. Beside her, Rin cursed loudly as he thumbed at the weapons array. Zoe knew it was no use, she'd already tried to reroute the power from weapons to the engines and everything was fried.

Rin turned to her, his face angry. "Any ideas? Looks like we're screwed."

"Reason with them?" she said drily.

Rin snorted and pulled out his sidearm. "Let's take out as many as we can."

"Won't that just provoke them further?" Zoe said, but pulled out her pistol as well. As one, they turned to the bulkhead door and Zoe gripped her pistol between her sweaty palms.

A grinding sound suddenly broke the eerie silence and sparks began to fly on the door. Any moment now. Rin again looked to her, his eyes narrowing with determination. "Remember, save your last round, better to die than be taken. You know what they do to prisoners."

Zoe set her mouth. Would she rather die than be taken? Death seemed so...final. With life...even as prisoner of the Oathkeepers, there was always a chance. A chance of escape. Of revenge. She gritted her teeth and raised the pistol.

~~

Aegis tensed his fingers; Scout was nearly through the door. Word was there were two inside, the pilot and a captain. Male and female. As the door crashed open gunfire sounded within. Aegis threw up his shield in front of the others and stepped into the room, taking in the two humans in an instant. Average male, older with the blue flight suit of the confederation. The female gave him pause. She was...unique. He felt a moment of pity for the lovely woman with her pale hair and wide blue eyes. Then Wing dashed in behind him and quickly disarmed her. As his comrade knocked the woman to the ground, Aegis watched as the male raised his pistol. Realization hit him almost too late, the male aimed his weapon at the blond woman. Aegis quickly sidestepped, blocking her and Wing from the pistol fire. Dropping his shield, he lunged towards the men, knocking him back against the wall. With a sickening crunch, the man crumpled. Damn, he'd hit him too hard. Aegis realized instantly the man was dead.

Scout came up next to him, glanced down at the bleeding human on the ground. "That was unnecessary," his friend quipped. Scout glanced to Wing and the female. The slender warrior was pulling the human to her feet. She struggled, her eyes growing frantic as the three looked her over. Aegis felt another pang at the terror that was apparent in her face, she ground her teeth and continued to try to pull her wrists from Wing's iron grasp.

"If you struggle you only hurt yourself," Aegis said in his attempt at a calming voice. It didn't work, she shrank from him, a shiver going through her as he stepped forward. He couldn't hold it against her. Humans were so small, so fragile compared to his kind.

"Scout, strip the ship," he commanded. "Wing, bring her." He turned and exited back through the destroyed bulkhead into his ship. With luck, they'd be gone in only a few short hours. He kicked himself for killing the male. Paragon would be displeased. It was a waste of resources. Inefficient. Hopefully the lovely female would make up for it... Aegis glanced back to Wing and the woman. She'd set her mouth in a hard line, but seemed to have accepted there was no escape. It boded well for her that she learned fast.

~~

Zoe's wrists were aching as the slender alien dragged her after him. The leader-she presumed-stalked ahead of them. She'd never seen an Oathkeeper in the flesh. They were even more intimidating than the pictures her instructors at flight school at painted. And so very tall. She knew they could reach heights of nearly eight feet, by the looks at how the leader towered over the other two, she was guessing he pushed right at the top end of that spectrum. Zoe had always felt tall, at 5'10, she was used to being imposing...but now surrounded by these savage, monstrous aliens she suddenly realized how vulnerable she was.

The one that dragged her seemed to be of the blue class, average height for an Oathkeeper, with pale blue skin, though she knew some blues' color ranged to a deep indigo. The one they'd left on her ship was the white class and the smallest with pale skin that ranged from milky-white to soft beige. But then there was the onyx class, like the leader that stalked in front of her. Jet black skin that rippled and shone in the light. She'd seen the psychic shield he'd thrown up as they barged onto her ship. His was a class meant only for war, their gifts were weapons and shields and other instruments of destruction.

Of course, it wasn't just their size and strange coloring that set them apart from humans. The taut wings that sprang from their backs gave them the look of demons. But they weren't devils or angels. They were aliens. Aliens that were very unhappy at the human confederation that pressed into their territory.

The little group stopped in front of an arching doorway and the leader swiped at the door, it slid open and he stepped to the side. The blue one that still grasped her wrists shoved her forward into the room. Zoe stumbled, before she could turn the door whooshed shut behind her. She was alone. Shivering, she hugged herself and turned in a circle around the room. Or cell. She supposed it was small for an Oathkeeper, just a simple bed, a sink and toilet. Everything seemed oversized to her though. Like she was goldilocks stumbled into the wrong house. Sitting on the bed, Zoe finally felt the adrenaline drain from her limbs. It seeped from her fingers, her toes. Tears sprang to her eyes and she again glanced around the room, tried to push away the image of Rin bashed against the wall. He'd been trying to kill her. Better dead than captured... Zoe didn't want to die. But now, surrounded by aliens, on the way to their Paragon...she knew no humans ever returned. She would likely be tortured or put to work in a labor camp. Likely both.

Setting her mouth and pushing the tears away, Zoe stood. There was always a chance. As long as she was alive. There was a chance.

~~

Scout set the ship on course back to Homeworld and Aegis finally relaxed. This mission was nearly a disaster, he was still annoyed at himself for killing the male. But when the man raised his weapon to the female, it was unacceptable. She was the priority after all. Aegis hoped Paragon would understand...

Standing from the command center he stretched, let his wings unfurl just a bit. "All right, I'm going to check on our passenger."

Scout chuckled as he set his short legs on his console. "Check? You going to test her out before Paragon?"

Aegis glared at him. "You know that's forbidden."

Scout smirked, "I know."

Aegis rolled his eyes and exited the command center. Padding down the long hallway he came to the human's room. He pulled up the video feed on the screen next to the door and saw she'd fashioned a sort of rope weapon with the blankets from her bed. He chuckled and swiped open the door.

Her eyes went wide in surprise as the door slid open and then she was moving, lunging at him swinging her weapon at his head. Aegis smoothly stepped to the side and grabbed up the rope, realized she'd wrapped her shoes in her blankets.

"How barbaric," he rumbled as he jerked the blanket from her hands. But it was wrapped around one of her wrists and she surprised him by growling and trying to tug it back. Annoyed, he pulled again, reeling her in. He grabbed at her arm, wrenched one hand up and quickly unraveled the make-shift weapon.

She snarled at him like a wild animal and tried to pull from his grasp. Sighing, Aegis grabbed her around the waist and tossed her back onto her bed. She bounced with an indignant squeak, then scrambled backwards. Her eyes had gone wide again, starring at him with a mixture of anger and fear as she huddled on the bed. He was suddenly struck by how attractive she was. Though a savage human, she was very appealing. Curled on the bed like she was, he imagined for a moment lunging in after her. She was so delicate, so soft and lovely with her bright pink cheeks and dazzling blue eyes. And the hair, he'd never seen pale golden hair like hers except on a queen Oathkeeper.

Swallowing, Aegis shook himself back to the present. "You are Zoe Reynolds."

She blinked and hugged herself tighter. "Is that a question or are you telling me my name?" she said.

Aegis pushed down a smile as he cocked his head at her. "That is your name?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

She set her mouth, but then nodded.

"Good. You've been acquired for the Paragon. We'll arrive at Homeworld in a few of your days." He turned to leave.

"Why?" she asked.

Aegis paused, glanced back to her. "Why?"

"Yes, why me? You know my name. It seems you attacking our ship wasn't random."

Aegis shrugged. "That was my mission. Paragon wants you. He must think you have potential."

Zoe furrowed her brow. "Potential? What does that even mean? I'm just a low level pilot. I don't have any sort of security clearance...I don't know any classified...anything!"

Aegis frowned as he realized she had no idea what was in for her. He didn't like speaking to the humans. Usually they just raved like animals, left his nerves raw from their inability to handle their emotions. It seemed Paragon was right though. This Zoe was unique. His eyes softened as he looked her over. He imagined Paragon would let him have a turn once he delivered her. He usually did for his favorite Wardens.

"I assume it's not your mind that Paragon is interested in," he said gruffly and then left the room.

~~

Cold filtered into Zoe's heart, into her feet and fingers as the Onyx's words reached her. 'Not her mind?' She shivered. She'd thought the sex slaves of the Oathkeepers was just a terrible myth that the male pilots at boot camp liked to taunt the women with. The Oathkeepers were an advanced alien species. Would they really have...sex slaves? Nausea rose in her throat as the implications hit her. This was worse, so much worse than she'd imagined. Perhaps Rin had been right and death was better...?

She looked to the make-shift rope she'd created with her blankets. Scrambling from the bed before her she could second-guess herself she grabbed at the rope, shook the shoes it. With trembling fingers she wrapped it tight again and moved to the sink. Panting with some combination of fear and adrenaline, she wrapped it around her neck and began tying one end to the sink.

~~

Zoe gasped. Her throat was raw and her limbs felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. Achingly slow she opened her eyes, found the urgent face of the Onyx staring down at her. Distantly she felt his fingers tugging at the rope at her neck as he lifted her from the floor.

"You aren't allowed to die," he growled. His brow was furrowed again and the only thing Zoe could see was the deep black of his eyes, but then, just on the edges was a halo of violet. They were actually quite beautiful eyes. He set her gently down in her bed and moved his fingers gingerly against her throat.

"Please," she rasped out, ashamed at the tears that filled her eyes. "Just let me go."

His eyes flicked back to hers as he paused in his examining. "Do not try this again."

"Please," she repeated and lifted a hand to grasp at his. His fingers were huge, but surprisingly soft, gentle in her hand.

The Onyx blinked and surprised her by squeezing her hand tenderly. "Death is final. You do not want that." He set his mouth as he pulled his hand from her and stood. "And it is an honor to be chosen by Paragon ."

~~

Aegis stood on the other side of the door. His heart hammered and he clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to grasp at some sort of calm. Wing and Scout stood watching him.

"She's fine?" Wing asked.

"For now," Aegis nodded, then turned from them. His heart still stuttered. The stupid human and her fragile body had almost died. He tried to convince himself his reaction was just anxiety over disappointing Paragon, but there was something else there. Something more. He'd felt the psychic resonance from her before noticing her state on the video feed. It had rippled through him and sent him dashing towards her cell to Wing and Scout's confusion.

He entered his own quarters and paced, trying to pull his stuttering mind back into calm. He was used to the humans and their wild, untrained minds making him jittery. But this...it felt different. Where before he worked only to shut them out, now it seemed impossible to not feel her mind, to not reach out and keep tabs on her. He felt oddly...protective? It was bizarre. And unwanted. She was only his to protect until they reached Homeworld. Then she was for Paragon to do with as he pleased. Aegis shook his head, pushing away the feel of her soft, warm skin under his fingers, the exotic, sweet scent of her hair. Every impulse in his body screamed at him to return to her cell, to wrap himself around her. Comfort her. Take care of her. With a growl, he punched the wall.

~~

Later Aegis stood in the small common room, waiting for Zoe's dinner to heat up. He'd selected a bowl of Silvsin soup, it was his favorite when feeling unwell so... He rubbed his head, still trying to push away the strange reaction he was having to her. Wing and Scout lounged, playing a game of dice on the narrow table.

"Paragon will be displeased about that mark on her neck," Scout said.

Aegis grunted in agreement. It was on his mind as well. When acquiring assets for Paragon there were always rules: Untouched, Unmarred, Unbroken. At least physically. And he'd already killed one of the assets and Zoe now with her bruised neck. It did not bode well for the mission.

"I'll take responsibility. It's not your fault," he said to the other two.

"Do you think Paragon will still give you a turn?" Wing chuckled.

Aegis frowned as he glanced back to the smaller blue. "That's the least of my concerns right now."

Scout snorted a laugh. "Then you're the only one. She's delicious," he glanced to Wing, "Did you get a good feel when you disarmed her?"

Wing grinned, "Just a few nice handfuls."

Aegis slammed his hand on the table. "Untouched, Unmarred, Unbroken. No more talk of this. You'll only wind yourselves up." He grabbed up the bowl of soup and stalked from the room.

Coming to Zoe's cell he steeled himself, straightening his back and tucking his wings tight. Then he swiped open the door.

~~

Zoe lay curled on the bed. Her throat throbbed and she was already regretting her impulsive decision. As much as she didn't want to agree with her captor, the Onyx was right. Death was pretty final. As long as she was alive, she... The door to the cell whooshed open and the huge Oathkeeper loomed in the doorway.

Zoe shrank from him, then paused. Was he...holding a bowl of soup? She blinked as she took in the huge alien. He'd traded the hardened black armor from earlier for a simple, skin-tight bodysuit. His face, it was nearly human, though the deep black seemed to suck in all the light in the room. He stepped into the room and moved slowly, as if approaching a wounded animal. Then he crouched across from her, setting the soup on the ground next to the bed.

"How is your neck?" he asked softly and reached a large hand to her.

Zoe tensed, tried to resist the urge to shrink further from him. So far-other than killing Rin-he hadn't shown any intent to harm her. "Sore," she croaked out.

As he ran his smooth fingers over her skin she shivered, they were cool...oddly comforting. "You should not have done this," he nearly purred.

"I ran out of options," she said softly, finding herself studying his face as he examined her neck. If not for the slightly pointed ears his face could almost pass for human. But then he glanced up to meet her eyes and his intense gaze sucked the air from her. Larger than normal irises of ebony with that beautiful halo of lavender. He clenched his sharp jaw as he met her eye, then pulled his hand from her as if her skin burned.

"You should eat. Keep your strength," he gruffed as he picked back up the bowl of soup to hand to her.

"So I can survive being raped by your Paragon?" she snapped the words at him. Angry, but also curious to see his reaction. Did Oathkeepers have the concept of rape?

He blinked at her, then slowly shook his head. "You should feel honored to be chosen by Paragon. Your kind, they are like..." he searched for the right words and suddenly Zoe realized that though he spoke her language perfectly, it was still foreign to him. He tried again, "Humans are small, short lived. Here then gone. You will be like a cherished pet."

Zoe let out a harsh laugh. "We don't fuck our pets."

The Onyx frowned, apparently unamused. "No, but you slaughter them, enslave them, toss them aside when you're bored of them."

"And so what happens when your Paragon is bored of me?" she asked, anger beginning to fill her.

"If that happens he will give you to one of his loyal Wardens."

"So I'll never be free again. This is my life? The sex slave of a barbaric alien?" She'd sat up in the bed, clenching her fists in fury.

The Onyx leaned into her anger flashing across his severe face as well. "WE are not the barbarians here little human. The Oathkeepers were already among the stars when your people were still building hovels in the mud on your Earth." His face was only a breath from hers as he hissed the words. "You should feel honored to be chosen by Paragon," he repeated as he stood.

Then he was gone. The last view Zoe had was of his leathery blank wings, twitching anxiously at his back as he swept from the room. She sat on the bed, nearly vibrating from anger, from the closeness of the savage alien.

Breathing hard, she glanced around the room, her eyes falling on the bowl of soup he'd left next to her on the bed. It still steamed and as she registered its presence, she smelled the tempting aroma. It wasn't anything she could place, vaguely onion-like, a thick golden soup. Gritting her teeth, she picked up the bowl. Like everything on the Oathkeeper ship it was too large in her hands. She tentatively brought the oversized spoon to her lips and sighed with pleasure as she tasted the soothing broth.

~~

Aegis avoided the human's cell the rest of the short trip back to Homeworld. He couldn't trust himself. He stood outside as Scout brought her food, trying to convince himself the smaller, more human-like Scout wouldn't intimidate her as much. Deep down her knew the truth. Everything about her was intoxicating. He felt the gentle ripple of her mind as his constant companion while awake. When he slept it was worse. He dreamed of her body, smooth and warm under his own. His tongue running along her plump breasts... Aegis coughed and straightened, shaking his head to return to the present as Scout exited the cell.

"How is she?" Aegis asked.

"Same, refusing to talk." He smirked. "Though, Paragon doesn't need them to talk does he?"

Aegis frowned. "Indeed."

Scout clapped him on the back as they walked. The Ivory Oathkeeper was petite by their standards, coming to just Aegis's shoulder. "What's been eating you? You're even grumpier than usual this mission. Is it the dead male?"

Aegis grunted. "It will just be good to get home."

"Paragon will understand. I saw him raising his pistol. He would have shot the female then himself. I'll testify that it was a necessary expense to save her," Scout said.