Starblade (26 page)

Sharr stood, took Frederika by her arm.
“Come.”

“By Wotan!” Frederika gasped.

A series of FS-9 Raptors flew overhead.
Stronghold troops marched in formation inside the mountain. Below
the scaffolding on which she stood, workers armed both Falcanian
warriors and their war machines as they prepared for their day to
strike.

Sounds of metal welding on to equipment
filled the massive hollowed-out base within the Himalayas. Troops
of all ranks and orders marched in formation or conducted elaborate
combat exercises “on the wing” as they soared around the base in
disciplined formations.

There came a swish in the air. Frederika
watched a Falcanian worker launch himself up to a girder and push a
pallet of weapons hanging on a crane onto a transport. Attached
into ports along the wall, like bats nested in a cave the FS-9
Raptors docked and allowed for their crews to disembark.

Sharr came up behind his duchess and held
her by her shoulders. “We shall become masters of the Earth by the
might of this army.”

Frederika stiffened. That notion of Sharr's
chilled her. “It is not such a wise plan, my lord. You... we have
Vanguard Island and this province. Surely trying to wrest the globe
from the hands of the Imperium will cost us dearly.”

“Nadia said something similar,” Sharr
confessed. “She worries we tangle with a rabid beast.”

“We are!” Frederika wheeled around. “JR
Giovanni acts only out of revenge and hatred for the worlds
abandonment.”

To see this massive army in person was an
amazing experience. She realized her decision to join the
Falcanians was the right one. Even with her misgivings about the
war plan, she could see a possibility of victory.

One of the warriors below caught sight of
their Shotar. He saluted and the others in the massive stronghold
followed in his lead. The sound of the booming cheer made the
blonde smile. For a moment Frederika's fears of the conflagration
she would be part of subsided.

“Our blood burns,” the Tahru cleric intoned.
Repeating the holy words of the Falcanian mating rite, the cleric
outstretched his arms to enfold the couple. He wore a deep blue
cowl that almost concealed his whole face. The light from the
saffron candles in the temple reflected off the triangular green
bindi adorning his forehead.

Veiled in a gossamer red wrap Sitara's
violet eyes were filled with warmth and joy. In a loving touch
beside the holy prayer lamp Sitara and Kulcarin joined two fingers
together. The bride's choli and lehnga glistened with pure threads
of platinum woven into the luxurious red fabric. Eight pointed
stars fashioned from gold were stitched into the wedding ensemble,
each one catching the light of the holy lamp to reflect its burning
light onto the witnesses who encircled the couple.

As tradition demanded, all present stood
around the large lamp in bare feet as the scent of sandalwood
filled the air.

“Our souls seek the stars. Our hearts beat
with tairlok,” continued the Tahru cleric. “You are tierkel and
valka, Falcania's Heart beats at your core.” The cleric waved a
stick of cleansing incense around the couple. “Thrice around the
lamp pass. Let your bond be forged in fire. Let its might alight
your souls. May Falcania's hammer forge a strong tharrin from
within you as her hammer made three shards into a single mighty
blade.”

Together Sitara and Kulcarin circled the
blue domed telhri which burned with oil, repeating in the steps of
those who had first laid the foundations of the Falcanian Khanate.
The light of the Telchar cast its radiance upon the newly joined
couple.

Drums hammered a steady thump upon anvils
and raised the sexual tensions inside the marriage temple toward a
feverish pitch. Everything in the ceremony affirmed fertility and
the bride's holiness as a bearer of eggs.

On their last round the lamp the couple
turned to look at the cleric.

“Sip now this tea. The bitterness and
sweetness of love.” The cleric poured a dark spicy brew into a
green mug from an iron kettle.

Sitara pulled back her veil and sipped from
the smoky tea, grown only on Vanguard’s shores. She handed the cup
to her new mate.

“My T'krin, I declare thee! Protectoress of
Darr and clutch,” Kulcarin boldly stated and then sipped from the
cup at the spot where Sitara had just drank.

“Rakja I declare thee, sire of my
offspring,” Sitara murmured in response.

Kulcarin placed a collar around her neck on
which the Aranskrai emblem of the Iron-Sun was emblazoned. In
return, Sitara fastened a gold band onto to Kulcarin's upper arm.
On it was a single stylized thread of DNA. A symbol of one T'krin,
but should he take other mates a new thread would be added to the
armband.

Sharr's eyes strayed in the direction of
Frederika. She was decked out in a green ensemble chosen for her by
Nadia. Apparently the young Duchess greatly enjoyed the party as
she showed by dancing and drinking to her heart's content. Beside
her, Mia and Sabina danced with each other. Certainly many of the
males in the room were pleased with Frederika's presence, though
very few dared make an approach and the ones that did so she
politely entertained and teased.

Sharr hardly could believe it when Shuriken
pulled the blonde aside. He kept up a steady stream of hilarious
teasing to which she reacted with amusement. An unusual action to
be certain, Kra did not have a particular need to always be
surrounded by females. Mostly to Shuriken women simply were just
there.

At their table the Shotar noticed his
daughter behaved as the perfect blushing bride. Sitara smiled and
thanked her and Kulcarin's well wishers. Nadia hovered by the
couple expressing her thanks to those who offered gifts to the
newly mated pair.

“I love this room,” Nadia sighed.

Sharr unlatched the front of his jaal
jacket. “Why?”

“You, I and Shalimar had a lot of fun in
here.”

She noticed a twitch at mention of Shalimar,
yet didn’t linger upon it. Nadia had faith that Sharr and
Shalimar’s issues would resolve themselves soon enough. Nadia
smiled and helped her mate remove his ox-blood vest.

“Our children were born here,” she added.
“Remember?”

“Shreik bursting through those doors to tell
us a nuclear bomb had been detonated over the United States stands
out in my memory.” He frowned at the sharp recollection of his then
majordomo as he charged into the room to wake himself, Nadia, and
Shalimar with news of the nuking of America clear in his
thoughts.

A sense of mischief overcame Nadia. Her body
felt like it had begun to vibrate and then her awareness shifted,
becoming two beings.

“
You are ready.”

“
Ready?”
Nadia asked as she felt the
AI occupy her body.

“
Ripe and prepared to reproduce. Your
child will be filled with the might of the Telchar. A worthy
successor to Sharr Khan shall come from this mating.”

Nadia’s awareness returned to the room.
Sharr held her by the chin, making her look up at him, lust burning
in his gray-blue eyes. Sharr Khan undid the string of Nadia’s
cobalt choli, the soft fabric fell away, her ample breasts exposed
erect nipples ready for his pleasure. With a light nudge he pushed
her onto the nest, there came a clang of bangles and she let out a
breathless sigh.

Nadia leaned back, and looked up at her
Shotar, now clad only in gold bands and elaborate earrings. Her
brown mane hung wild about her face. He moved on top of her and
forced her hands over her head, kissing her lush lips.

Hours later after they fulfilled themselves
the couple lay in the nest.

She kneaded Sharr's chest with her manicured
nails, Nadia traced the birthmark shaped like an infinity symbol
over his heart. She leaned down, and kissed him on his lips. “It
has been a while since you've made love to me like that.”

“Really?” Sharr Khan cupped one of his
mate's breasts, playfully pinching it. “We do it all the time.” His
free hand patted her hind end. “You were different as well.”

Nadia smiled, aware that the AI had
possessed her. She and Falcania both experienced the intercourse
with the Shotar and it had an indelible impact upon the other that
would add a new depth to the AI’s life.

“What I mean is you have gotten into the
habit of throwing me down and fucking me. Not that it’s bad, I just
sometimes think that you only see me as your egg layer, not your
wife and companion.” She leaned down and kissed his neck. “Tonight
I felt like you loved me as you did long ago. It was like our first
time.”

“Bright Eyes, you are my T'Kara,” he assured
her. “I do love you. Never forget that.” Sharr ran a string of her
hair through his fingers. “And as I recall the first time we had
sex, I did throw you down and bang you after an argument. An
argument that you provoked if I remember correctly?”

Nadia couldn't help but giggle a bit. She
had deliberately provoked that fight all those years before,
seeking the passionate response he had given her.

“Tell me,” Sharr ran his finger over the
ridge of her pointed ear. “Why did you not mention your suspicions
about Frederika sooner?”

Her brown tresses washed over his chest,
smiling as she felt his erection. He was primed to take her once
more.

“You’re a distrustful man.” She nibbled on
him, moving downward toward his freshly erect phallus. “There was
no need to rouse your worries without certainty. Have I not always
acted with your best interests?”

“Always, love,” he said. “Frederika tells me
to not trust Oberon.”

She looked up at him with her brilliant
gaze. “I agree. Once I either prove or disprove his claims then we
can decide how to act. He very well could be your brother.” She
knew this would be a touchy subject for her mate. “Will you be
angry? If Oberon is whom he claims, that means Uric abandoned
you…”

“T'Kara you know I’ve always assumed my
mother had good reason to cut my father out of my life.”

Just then Krürashi leapt up into the
Imperial couples nest.

“How did we come to have the cat?” Sharr
asked as he patted the beast's head. It purred, pressing its body
against the Shotar.

“I believe Kulcarin sent him away. They
deserve some private time, even away from their pets.” A wry gleam
entered her eye. “Surely you remember what that first night was
like, Sharr?”

“Sitara seldom goes far without her cat,” he
reminded her. She even took her animal with her on trips to
Mars.

Nadia sat up, stretched. Her hand dropped
slowly down the curve of her body and came to rest over her womb.
She snuggled close to Sharr. Both fell asleep and Krürashi
attempted to get between them.

The Kuras mansion’s arboretum was a thing of
extraordinary beauty. Nadia admired the exotic trees and flowers
adorning the domed room as she strode beside her mother. This had
been she and Sharr’s first home after they had moved to the
Subcontinent. Queen T’Kara was pretty sure that her twin daughters
had been conceived in this tropical garden.

Nadia sighed and sat on a bench. “We knew
sooner or later at least one Morningstar child would find their way
back to us.”

“Frederika is a remarkable piece of work,”
Ambika said. “It’s hard for me not to see your Papa’s hand in her
creation. I hope they’ve all turned out just as magnificent!”

“Don’t underestimate their impact on the
world. Who’d have thought the 12th Imam would have been born from
an artificial womb?” Nadia grinned. “It is perhaps a boon that you
and Papa engineered him like you did. In a way, you’ve helped end a
conflict that could have brought the Earth to near ruin by
fashioning a religious reformer in Darius Noorani.”

“GenKon wanted soldiers and overseers for
the transition to ‘New Humans’. That they set a Morningstar up to
be a religious figure makes some sense. Darius Noorani’s arrival as
the 12th Imam would have served GenKon in population control.” The
Grand Matriarch's face became prideful and nostalgic. “I often
wonder what became of those who have fallen off our radar. Where
Uric and his son hid them, what kind of people they’ve grown
into?”

“I’ve done some checking,” Nadia said.
“There’s reason to think the Antares twins are Morningstars.”

Ambika nodded in agreement. “I would not be
surprised if Uric sold the babies to a disenfranchised KGB agent
with dreams of a restored Soviet glory. Uric didn’t hold any moral
qualms about selling a Morningstar baby to Al-Qaeda.”

“Did Uric Kreis really think he’d be able to
maintain control of all these super children?”

“Had it not been for the last World War, I
think Uric and his son would have had a better hold on this network
of superior humans. Think of it, Nadia. Each nation belonging to
one corporation? Their loyalty would have been enforced by
telepathic means. We were strictly forbidden from giving our
Morningstar children that power.”

“Now I see why Oberon didn’t warn Frederika
about my powers.” Nadia smiled grimly. “He’s a crafty one for sure.
When they arrive, I shall have my Valküri closely watch him, be he
Sharr’s brother or not. There’s more to Oberon than meets the
eye.”

“Well,” Ambika began, she wondered what
plans her daughter had designed for her other granddaughter.
“You’ve wed one twin to a Drakorian. What are your plans for the
other?” she asked with a matriarch’s keen interest.

“You make it sound so sinister, Maa. As if I
use my children like pawns.” Truth be told, the Maharani knew she
was equal to her own mother when it came to the matters of
manipulation.

“Are we to have that old argument once
more?”

“I’ve long adjusted to the idea that you and
Papa manipulated biorobotic protomatter to build a daughter.” When
Nadia first learned about her own Morningstar nature she had been
less than philosophical. In fact, she was disgusted at the idea of
Ambika, a devout Hindu could gleefully play as a goddess with life.
“I’m proud to be Papa’s Sampo, manifest in our world.”