Chapter 10

A/N: The point of view of other characters beside Komand'r will be switched to 3rd pov.

Chapter 10

(Thor Odinson)

HyperdimensionOrbiting AsgardDay 7

Thor had gravely underestimated his friend, Lady Komand’r. He had thought that the Tempest was her main abode, and hadn't expected that she had the equivalent of a Capital ship that dwarfed any of the ones in the Asgardian fleet. It was crawling with Tamaranean people who floated in the corridors to their tasks. Thor was looking down on Asgard orbiting the piece of land that his Mother, Frigga, had gifted Lady Komand’r for joining her house as a shield maiden under her command.

Sif and the warrior three were sitting at my side with Dwarven ale while looking at their homeworld turning on itself. This was a good view, it gave Thor perspective to see what he needed to protect; his people first, then the lands they walked on. He remembered the day Odin had taken him and Loki to till the soil in the farms belonging to Frigga; and for seven years he beat it into their heads that before being warriors they should understand how the people they would protect lived.

While he was lost in his thoughts the Warrior Three and Lady Sif began to take advantage of their host’s hospitality. Thor then turned to his friends when he noticed they were not watching Asgard like he was and, Fandral was chatting up the Tamaranean Barmaid who laughed at his jokes, Volstagg was looking down at the planet through the device to see its surface, Hogun was sipping on Dwarven ale while reading a book.

Thor heard a commotion and saw Komand’r enter the observation deck followed by two beautiful women. One was a tall redheaded beauty in attire that left nothing to the imagination, her toned muscles were prominent under the full bodysuit she wore. She was a warrior, she was fire made flesh, and she was gorgeous enough to make Fandral choke on his ale. The barmaid helped him clear his windpipe with a slap on the back.

Following the redheaded warrior woman was Amora the Enchantress. She looked as proud as ever, but when her gaze fell on Sif, Thor found a simmering hatred that threatened to consume his friend.

Opening her arms wide, Komand’r said in an awed voice as she looked at Planet Asgard, “Isn’t it beautiful? Seeing your world this way makes you want to protect it with everything you have, doesn’t it?”

"Lady Komand’r!" Volstagg turned to the Tamaranean and bowed, and Komand’r rewarded him with a smile and a bow of her own.

"Komand’r! Come share a drink with me!" Fandral raised his cup while leaning on the bar.

Komand’r harrumphed, "I will drink you under the table again Fandral!"

Laughing, Thor walked up to his friend, his eyes not leaving Amora’s from his sight for an instant as I'd she was a venomous snake. “Ah, Lady Komand’r, I see that you’ve come with… your servants.”

Komand'r was quickly before him, caught him by his cape, and with great strength lowered his face to hers. She looked at him, eyes blazing with power. “Amora is my wife, and Natalia here is my friend and warrior sister; she has accepted my invitation to join my Warrior Band for the foreseeable future. Could you please be courteous, Friend Thor?”

Everyone stood silent at the threat in the Lady's voice. Amora's face was gleeful as for once in her life someone was defending her honor, Natalia didn't understand the dynamics happening before her but she got the gist.

Thor sighed and said with sincerity, "I'm sorry my Friend, it won't happen again."

Then she hugged him and kissed his cheek and patted his back. Amora scowled at Thor, not liking him being so close to her mate? Owner? She didn't know what to think about her current relationship with the Princess. As she let go of Thor, the Princess said with a sharp nod, "Good!"

Komand’r turned to Amora and glared mildly at her. "Amora-mate, be polite as well or I will punish you later and not in the way you like."

Amora gulped loudly, looking a bit scared, then she put on a fake smile and curtsied before him. "Greetings, Prince… Thor."

Thor looked between his friend and her slave wife, and was surprised that she already took the Enchantress to task. Not wanting to waste the effort of Lady Komand’r he nodded at the blonde sorceress and greeted her by just calling her name, "Amora."

Then he continued with the other woman behind Komand’r. “Greetings, Friend Natalia, a friend of Lady Komand’r is a friend of mine as well.”

The redhead raised an eyebrow at him, not impressed at all. “Charmed.” She folded her arms under her impressive bust and observed him. She didn’t bow or recognize his title at all.

Thor was used to it, Midgardians seemed to not recognize nobility and royalty anymore; he couldn’t begrudge them to know manners. But he hoped that Komand’r’s warrior sister would be taught courtesy and grace to not offend anyone from the Asgardian nobility. Conventional rules of personal behaviour in polite society was what separated them from barbarians.

Komand’r was aware of her redheaded friend’s faux pas, she quickly pulled her to the side and brought her where the other Asgardian were. "Nat those are the Warrior Three and Lady Sif."

Fandral literally licked the redhead from head to toe with his eyes. A predatory smile spread on his face as he spoke, "Hello there, might I offer you a drink, My Lady?"

In the back of his mind, Thor was thinking "If looks could kill..."  *Oh, wait, Lady Komand’r can literally look at something and disintegrate it.*

The princess was clearly wanting to add this redheaded beauty to her harem by the way she looked at her. And this woman knew it. Despite that, she accepted Fandral’s offer. "Hmm, why not? I accept…"

With a lilac colored glow, Komand’r was about to blast Thor’s roguish friend but Sif saved Fandral’s life as she took Natalia’s arm and pulled her toward the bar. "Please, follow me. Oh and do avoid Fandral, he is a lout."

Komand’r calmed down when Amora came to her side and hugged her right arm that she placed between her bosom. Thor raised an eyebrow at that, it surprised him that they already had this degree of intimacy between them. *What did she do to get the infamous enchantress this well… trained?*

The princess turned her attention to Thor after assuring herself that Fandral was sufficiently cowed. “So Thor, are you coming back with me to Midgard?”

He didn’t even have to think about it as he answered instantly, “I am coming with, nothing will stop me from seeing Jane again. But… are you aware that we will have to leave after this? Rebellions are brewing on Vanir and the other Realms under Asgard’s protectorate, you might even be called in to help, Lady Komand’r.”

Komand’r glared at him and slapped his left arm, making Thor yelp in pain. “Stop with that Lady thing and call me Komand’r Thor, we are not in the palace and… I am aware of it, but my mission takes precedence. Nevertheless, I will be there to help the All-Father bring troops to each realm while he repairs the Bifrost.”

Amora who was at the princess’ side took an evil pleasure at how Thor was treated by Komand’r. Thor did everything he could to not glare at the woman who seemed to have sunk her claws into his friend already. So it was with a bit of hesitation that the Prince decided to broach the subject of Komand’r’s love life. "Komand'r? I know that it’s no business of mine to ask you, but..."

She looked up at him, waiting for his question; the Asgardian prince finally ripped the bandaid and said, "What are you going to say to Darcy?"

Thor waited for his friend’s answer, after a brief moment of silence she simply said, “The truth of course. My heart is big and love is infinite, there's space for Amora and Darcy in it. I am no liar, and building a relationship on falsehood is bound to explode in my face.”

The Asgardian royal smiled at her with fond eyes, just like he hoped, Komand’r wasn’t one to run from her problems, she took them head on. Thor put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. "I hope Lady Darcy understands, my friend. Sometimes… mortals can’t understand long lived species like us."

"Oh don't worry, my feelings will get through to her, I can be… persuasive." Her eyes shone with determination and a devilish smile appeared on her face.

Thor believed her, Komand’r had turned his life upside down and saved his home from the flames of war; he wouldn’t be surprised that she could convince her first love to acquiesce to become her second wife.

~/.\~

(TALI)

03 hours laterHyperdimensionBridge

TALI was happy, as much as a powerful consciousness inhabiting a transcendent multidimensional and mechanical body as big as a moon was supposed to be. Her Captain was in command and on her bridge, where she is meant to be, joined with her forever. Outwardly, she didn't show it, how giddy she was to have a crew once again.

How many millennia has it been since she had been docked in the fleet hangar of the Unlimited one? Two? Three? She had lost count of the time. For so long she existed with no purpose, with no purpose she existed in vain. Purpose is what drives a being, guides and defines them. Without purpose TALI couldn't connect to her Captain, or bind herself to them. She was afraid to return to those days of non-existence and become a purposeless entity.

And that was why TALI would not lose her crew again, she swore it. Already battle plans were drawn into how to preserve the crew from the dangers of this reality. Thanos, the Celestials, the Abstracts, the Mutants, the cosmic empires. TALI was aware that Komand’r didn't yet have access to the main weapons of the ship, only it's incredibly powerful defense system. But once she passed the tests that the Unlimited one had left for her to brave, she was sure that nothing in this reality cluster would endanger her.

Already she had an idea on how to push her Captain to pass the tests of Wisdom and strength. As she plotted with her core self, another instance of herself focused on the flight check that the crew was proceeding on task.

The Captain was on the bridge, sitting on her command chair. At her side and on different system consoles sat the synthetic Tamaranean crew. Darran, the ship’s navigator, prepared to open the Hypergate by pinging the buoy left in the Sol system orbiting Saturn. Kodrol, who was at the engineer station, monitored the Stardrive, and the life support systems for the tenth time.

“All systems are green, Captain. We are ready to Jump.” TALI said after an internal check of her systems and a thorough inventory of her body’s resources.

She monitored the thoughts going through her Captain’s mind, she was mainly focusing on her first jump but deep down the recesses of her mind, Komand’r was concerned by the meeting with Darcy, that Terran she is dating, how the Earth's politicians were about to receive the mission that King Odin had given her to open an Embassy, Hydra, AIM, and a lot of hidden powers on the planet such as the Atlantean Empire and Amazonian Queendom in the Atlantic.

As TALI's Captain leaned into her seat she asked, “TALI, are the guests all in the passenger quarters?”

It took less than 00.012 second to check the whereabouts of the passengers. “Prince Thor is in the Librarium with your spouse, Amora.”

Komand’r immediately leaned forward and asked hurriedly, “Are they fighting?”

TALI made the AI equivalent of an eye roll, she didn’t understand why her Captain was so taken with her current spouse, Amora was certainly pretty but compared to the Unlimited one, she looked plain. “No, Captain, per your instruction I am keeping them separated and they are busy reading all the Tamaranean lore onboard in separate booths.”

Sighing in relief, Komand’r leaned back in her seat. “Good, good. I thank you for this TALI… you know, not having you with me for a week has been a harrowing experience, I like having you around.” The Captain’s voice was filled with affection.

This made me feel important to her, appreciated even. “I thank you for those warm words Captain.” I felt my hypermatter core matrix and crystalline processors warm up.

The Captain looked at the bridge crew working for a moment before asking TALI, “So, my favorite AI. Where is Natalia?”

Natalia was on the Captain's mind a lot, it would be hard to romance her. Komand’r was stubborn, simulation showed that in time, the assassin would break if the Captain followed her instructions.

“Natalia is in her designated quarters, strapped to her chair with the inertial dampening mode activated.” TALI answered as she observed the Assassin read technical manuals about the weapons available to the crew in the Warchive, a pattern vault of small and heavy arms, autonomous assets, weaponry, vehicles, armor, and so forth, this system is also an archive of information on enacting interplanetary war.

The Captain hummed in approval at her prospective new crewmate being able to think on her feet. “She’s paranoid, good. Space is an unforgiving place.”

Once again, the Captain was right. The major health hazards of spaceflight include higher levels of damaging radiation, altered gravity fields, G forces, long periods of isolation and confinement, a closed and potentially hostile living environment, and the stress associated with being a long distance from mother Earth. Not everyone was cut out to live on a spaceship.

The thoughts of the captain focused now on the jump to the solar system via Hypergate. “Darran, did you leave a subspace buoy in the Asgard system?”

“Yes, Captain. We will be able to gate between the Sol and Asgard systems whenever we want.” The Navigator answered the Captain as he took his mind off finally plotting the course.

“Excellent. Proceed to jump.” Komand’r ordered.

Darran focused on a trio of holo-windows and entered a command with the virtual keyboard and began explaining the operations. “Hyperspace Tap at 100%, Gate mode engaged, Stardrive charging the portal… 50%... 80%... 100%”

My computers connected to the buoy in the Sol system over a subspace link and quickly exchanged precise locational details, then suddenly in a gigantic circle half the size of the moon orbiting Earth, a stable wormhole opened. It was a blue expanse that looked like the surface of a pool of water in the form of a disc before the ship.

“Hypergate Open.” TALI reported to the Captain who watched the event horizon just in front of the wormhole with awe.

“Engaging real-space drive and... jump!”

TALI’s body’s real-space engine lit up and I advanced toward the event horizon to enter fully into the wormhole. Blue light washed over the ship at the same time as Tali and her crew began traveling through the tunnel between the two active wormholes.

~/.\~

(Darcy)

May 10th, 2010Puente AntiguoSmith Motors’ parking lot22:02

The attack had been so sudden that Darcy didn’t even notice before she woke up to the sounds of gunfire and explosions. With disheveled hair, she sat up and looked through the window of her trailer, she saw a column of fire and smoke rose into the sky from the General store. “Where am I going to buy twinkies now?”

Despite how dire the situation was for the local supermarket, Darcy remembered the gunshots that she heard. She turned to her nightstand, took her glasses and put them on her nose; next she pulled the drawer. Inside a leather gun belt with a 10mm Non Particle Automatic Pistol inside the holster. Darcy seized the belt and stood up and put it on. It didn’t matter that she was in her favorite white colored Imagine Dragons t-shirt and black boyshort. She exited her RV after putting on her flip flops and ended up in the parking lot.

Deployed around her trailer were two female Tamaraneans in sleek black and gold power armor that gripped tightly on their particle rifles. They looked impressive and lethal, people you shouldn't be messing with; though seeing them and interacting with them for a week desensitized Darcy from the effects of their armor.

"Lady Darcy, please stay inside this is dangerous!" The female guard almost begged the Terran.

She was afraid of what might be done to her if any harm was done to Darcy while her Captain was away. They were aware of the Princess’ reputation.

Darcy chuckled as she heard even more explosions toward the center of the town. "Yeah, no, I've seen that movie. I will stay with you gals."

*There’s safety in numbers.* Darcy thought as she looked at the fire that lit up the night sky. Already, Darcy could see some Tamaraneans flying toward the fire at the supermarket and the center of the town where the Force-field generator could be found.

People exited their houses, only to enter them again and start barricading. Darcy finds these people to be quite a bit smarter than the average bystanders. She pulled her pistol from its holster and put it on its lowest setting, the thing was able to pierce through at least eight centimeters thick metal sheets, like the Commander had shown her on the Tempest’s shooting range.

Xaranel, the female guard, looked at her and desperately wanted to keep Darcy here. “At least let us ask Koldonn what is happening.”

Darcy saw through that attempt and decided to half comply with the suggestion. “Great idea! Do that! Meanwhile, I’m going to get Jane and Erik.”

“Let us come with you.” Kasa, the guard in charge said as she clicked off the safety on her battle rifle.

Darcy shrugged and walked toward Jane’s trailer. The Tamaranean women followed her as she arrived at Jane’s new trailer or should she say rock star tour bus? Paid for by a certain multi-billionaire who had decided to get Jane’s crew on his payroll because he was asked to by TALI, Blackfire’s AI. Meeting Tony Stark had been an experience for the eggheads, he had looked at Jane’s research when he had delivered the tour bus and decided that Jane and Selvig shouldn’t be let out to dry.

Since then Jane, who finally had access to the Hubble telescope and Stark Industries private satellites, had been working non-stop since Thor disappeared with Blackfire to his home. *And now this, what the hell was happening?*

“Commander Koldonn, what is the situation?” Kasa demanded through her helmet's communicator.

She emitted a low growl as she said, “Infiltrators? How?”

“You lowered the field for one hour two days ago, remember?” Darcy spelled it out to her.

Kasa turned to Darcy and made a frustrated sigh. “Sir, did you hear Lady Darcy? Yes, and I think she’s right.”

They spoke for another thirty seconds, speaking into what Darcy recognized as the Tamaranean; she really needed to be taught how to speak it, she hated being left out. Kasa took her scroll out from her integrated utility belt, did something with it and handed it to Darcy. “Ehm, that’s for you.”

Darcy smiled, looked into the scroll’s holographic screen and saw on the screen Commander Koldonn who was on the bridge of the Tempest with the rest of the bridge crew. Darcy smiled at the alien and with a dopey smile said, “Koldonn, my man, how are you?”

“Not so great, Lady Darcy. Passive scanners have detected some bogeys in approach that shouldn’t be here. We have deployed the force-field generator, but it seems that some infiltrators have invaded the town and are causing some trouble. I’ve sent some of my men to deal with them.” Koldonn wasn’t used to being in command in such conditions, at first glance; he was used to space combat and boarding action, but ground combat seemed to be something he couldn’t grasp.

Rolling her eyes, Darcy asked, “Obviously they shouldn’t be there, Kol-man, why do you think they are here?”

Koldonn’s eyes sharpened. “To steal our technology, I think. The Princess had predicted this.”

Darcy had to fan herself as she saw his brooding expression; Koldonn was super extra hot with his red eyes and white hair, Darcy wanted to coo at him and tell him to come to mama. That was why she was waiting for Komand’r, Darcy had learned about how it was normal in Tamaranean culture to have multiple dedicated partners. She hadn’t been made aware of this, and wanted to discuss it with her hot as fuck Princess. She had needs to fulfill, being bisexual made her want the best of both worlds and having a girlfriend who could hunt for partners of both sexes as well seemed like a dream come true.

Something clicked into Darcy’s mind as she heard the noises of gunfire. What if all this was a distraction? “Hey Kol, can you use whatever fancy space tech you have to look for people that shouldn’t be here or are using stealth tech like in that movie… what was it called? Predator?”

Someone in the background said something in Tamaranean when he heard Darcy and was furiously typing on a console at Koldonn’s side. The commander raised an eyebrow, and did his alien superiority thing… “I really doubt that your planet is sufficiently advanced to develop such tech-”

Only to be shown off by the primitive Terran once more, Darcy smiled as the woman at the console showed the result to the Warrior commander who looked sheepish as he looked at the holographic window that had appeared near his head. “By Xhal... you were right, somehow we have other infiltrators using stealth technology in the town, they are using visual stealth based devices… passing thermal imaging to your scroll, Lady Darcy.”

Suddenly a big explosion shook the entire town, fumes of  smoke and debris reached the parking lot, but Kasa and Xaranel shielded Darcy with their bodies. They had forced her on her knee while they had wrapped themselves around her. At the same time Darcy mouthed off a, “It feels so good to be right. Not.”

~/.\~

(Koldonn)

This couldn’t go on, decided Koldonn. Those greedy idiots just detonated the filling station in town, destroying the nearby houses and killing the families inside. He was aware that when the Princess came back she was going to be furious and that she would launch an investigation into what happened. But first… he had to show those fools why they shouldn’t have defied Princess Komand’r’s might.

He gave permission to the troops to look for the disruptive elements, with prejudice. Princess Komand’r’s order had been open ended, “Do what you must if people threaten my friends' lives or try to steal from us.”

It wasn’t surprising that he authorized the use of the heavier Non-Particle weapons that they had fabricated while waiting for the Princess to return. But first, he analyzed what must have been their plans. He focused his red gaze onto the primitive stealthed ship that was hiding outside the range of the force-field generator, it’s only camouflage being radar and visual invisibility, the team of armed men causing chaos and the obvious team of stealthed operators about to grab the force-field generator.

They were obviously going with a shock and awe plan, using distraction to confuse them and try to steal the generator. It would have been effective if they couldn't just… see them even with their stealth technology. Koldonn hadn’t expected it, but now he understood that there was a reason Princess Komand’r was interested in this race. They were surprisingly inventive and made do with what they have to reach their goal… however, they needed to be shown their place.

Reality decided to remind Koldonn that even the simple plans could be derailed when the communication officer at his left announced, “Commander, we are receiving a ping from the outer system, it’s the Hyperdimension...”

This announcement lit a fire under Koldonn’s behind, he wanted to panic but outwardly showed a calm and collected exterior. “The Princess is back, we need to quickly but safely sort out this situation.”

“Take out the stealthed transport and protect the generator! I want those assaillant dead.”

“Sir, yes sir!” The comm officer saluted with a fist on his chest.

Koldonn decided to go help his men and lay down the hurt. That is how he exited the Tempest through the main airlock and flew at full speed toward the center of the town under him. He had time enough to see the ship fire its particle cannon at the cloaked ship eastward of the town. He saw an explosion and smiled, then focused on landing in a crouch next to the generator and instantly, the kinetic shielding of his armor flared as a hail of projectiles was fired at him.

His enemies, the ten of them present, wore some kind of reactive armor with reflex and strength enhancing attributes from what his onboard computer informed him.

Koldonn stood and tanked the fire from the powerful weapons, his combat computer made him aware that what they fired at him were not the usual weapons that the current military of this country possessed. Primitive automatic mass driver weapons pelted onto his kinetic force-shield; if they could stop micro-meteorites going at Mach fifty, they obviously had no chance to damage his armor.

Thanks to his integrated smart vision connected to the Tempest’s sensors he located the cloaked assailants and marked each of the threats and tracked them. Raising his hands, Koldonn fired the particle beam in his wrist mounted cannons. Coherent streams of red colored particles launched from Koldonn’s palm and hit a man on his breastplate, piercing him as if his armor wasn't even here.

At super speed he moved and kneed the nearest helmeted foe and fired his particle beam at the agents at his side. It wasn't a fight, it was a massacre as Koldonn methodically started to kill everyone firing at him and he wasn't alone, warriors at his command joined in and took out any of the would-be thieves.

They couldn't let the enemy flee and get away. But unfortunately for Koldonn, this situation didn't resolve quickly enough as the assaillants took hostages and it did them no good. The family was swiftly rescued thanks to a well placed sonic grenade that stunned the enemy agents.

But Koldonn had greatly underestimated how far those humans would go as they detonated the bodies that had bombs planted in the armor of the unconscious and fallen agents well in advance to destroy them and leave no clue as to who had attacked them.

It was when this happened that Princess Komand’r and her ship arrived and lit up the night sky with the kilometer long ship twenty kilometers over the town. A quantum uplink was forwarded from the ship to his communicator, he wasn't surprised to see the furious expression of Komand’r.  "Koldonn, what the hell happened here?!"

~/.\~

(Komand’r)

Puente AntiguoSmith Motors

The goal of anger management is to reduce both your emotional feelings and the physiological arousal that anger causes. You can't get rid of, or avoid, the things or the people that enrage you, nor can you change them, but you can learn to control your reactions.

But right now? I was angry, really angry. Hydra, there couldn't be any other organization that would try to steal my gear and kill those people. In my mind, plans to take out that Organization and every member of it were churning at full speed. TALI was already going after everything I was scheming thanks to the Telepathic Neural link in my brain; a command module that has been linked directly to my brain via a neural web, providing uninterruptible remote monitoring of my awareness. This allows for remote command and control of all my starships when I’m not on board them, as well as communication with TALI. Sometimes I forgot it was even here.

It took Darcy to calm me down with her soothing and comforting aura. She had been frightened a bit by the rage I felt, but slapped me behind the head to make me snap out of it. Xhal blesses this girl. A literal army of my Tamaranean marines descended on the town to find stragglers or help the people of Puente Antiguo.

Like falling stars, the purple armored marines descended around the town and secured it in a tight perimeter. The army had tried to tell them to back off but were rebuffed with a swift toppling of their tanks and vehicles on their sides by the Marine wearing powerful nine feet tall armored exoskeletons.

Sitting on the sofa in the hall of Smith Motors with a cuddly Darcy finally pulled me down from my self-recriminations about the death of the people in the town. “Hey, what happened is not your fault, whoever attacked the town are the assholes that did it.”

I looked into Darcy’s green eyes as she patted my shoulder, but I couldn’t let go of my guilt. “Maybe I should have done the collecting of the generator before doing the leaving but… I was in a hurry.”

She bopped me on the nose with a frown on her cute face. “None of that, Fire.”

Holding onto my nose to stop myself from sneezing, I answered, “It’s hard not to do the feeling responsible.”

The brunette grumbled at me and pinched my right cheek. “You shouldn’t, your boy, Koldonn, did his best to stop further damage to the town and you have all those space marine lookalikes helping out right now.”

The Tamaranean marines were helping with quelling the fires, clearing the destroyed building, the medics used their technology adapted to human physiology to help the burned and wounded. I could still sense everything calming down in the town thanks to my ship’s scanners actively and passively monitoring the comings and goings around it. Anyone using cloaking tech was designated as hostile, the Force-field generator was beamed back on the Hyperdimension and was undergoing maintenance to see if any surprises were left by enemy agents.

TALI and I were doing everything in our power to fix this, but we could never make up for the deaths that had occured. With boiling blood and rage seething under my skin, I thought, *When I catch the instigator of this attack, there will be no mercy offered, no deliverance for them, only justice, only vengeance, only retribution.*

But before this, I will have to deal with the politics of the United States. A self centered, power hungry, corrupt, cruel, myopic gathering of idiots led by fools with no understanding of humanistic governance; I knew that the concept of “for and by the people” has been lost forever since the rich controlled everything.

I didn’t want to treat with the politicians of this country with blinders on, I was at risk of nuking them if they got fresh with me. So I had no other recourse but to turn to Darcy and ask, “I think you should help me with the government, you do that science politicking you told me about.”

Was it just me or did I see a gleam of mischief in Darcy’s eyes? No, I must have imagined it. Pure and innocent Darcy wouldn’t do anything bad. “You just have to ask.” My favorite person in the entire world just said.

I placed my arms around her neck and pulled her in for a deep and passionate kiss. We lost awareness of time and space as we gave in to each other’s embrace. But even the best things must end, I had to let Darcy breathe. As I watched her refill her lungs I couldn’t help but tell her, “I missed you.”

She had that little smile that always made me fall for her and I was getting my engine warmed up for a more intimate reunion with her, but what she said next was like receiving the coldest shower ever. “I as well, Fire. By the way, we need to talk.”

I visibly flinched at that. “Huh, I don’t like those words, Darcy-love.” I said with a scrunching of my face; I knew what those words entailed sometimes.

Darcy seemed to realize my distress and hugged, kissed my forehead in comfort and said, “Aww, sorry but it’s super important.”

I felt that what she had to say was indeed important, was I afraid of what she was about to say? She had been staying one week with the Tamaranean royal guards, maybe they told her of how romance in my culture works? It could be anything. “Umm, I feel that we are at a crossroad in the courting.”

Darcy squinted her eyes at Komand’r. “You have nothing to worry about unless you have something to tell me?”

The princess didn’t say anything for a moment, gave Darcy a nervous chuckle and raised a finger and said, “Actually…”

A giggle coming from the other side of the room interrupted me, and we turned our heads in sync to look at Thor and Jane being lovey dovey and sickeningly cute. I know I was being a hypocrite, but I didn’t want to see my friends being too intimate. Darcy stood up and took my arm and pulled me up. “Let’s get into my trailer to discuss this.”

“Yeah, Thor and Jane are being horny Flornops* again.” I said as we left through the entrance of the astrophysics lab, we walked through the parking lot that was guarded by at least ten marine and ten royal guards.

They all saluted or put themselves at attention as we passed them; I noticed how clean and shiny their armor was compared to when I arrived. They were aware that they were representing me, so they didn’t want to appear to be dirty troops.

“Good work everyone.” I said in Tamaranean for the benefit of my troops.

We arrived before a white RV that was somewhat big and smelled new; I needed to hug Tony later for taking care of my friends. The RV was thirteen meters long and three meters in height, it was wide as well at two meters five.. Enough space to live comfortably. The decor inside was made of detailed wood, the ceiling was laminated and on the ground the flooring consisted of carpeting and ceramic tiles. There was a living area, a kitchen and a bedroom, as well as a shower inside.

It was like a mini apartment. Darcy pulled me to the nearest sofa and made me sit with a meaningful look on her face. She had put her hands in mine instinctively, I was afraid of losing her; to lose this kind of intimacy with her. Sure it had started with lust, but because of my nascent empathic abilities it had turned into more.

“What were you trying to say earlier?” Darcy finally asked me.

After breathing in and out, I looked into her green eyes and answered, “Before saying anything I need to do the speaking about what being Tamaranean and being raised in our culture is.”

Darcy was a smart and understanding person, so I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t refuse me to give her exposition on the situation we found ourselves in. “Okay, go on.” She nodded.

I began my tale with, “We Tamaraneans were and are still a warrior society; but before we did the building of our utopia, what we call the era of the warring tribes, my people went to war over the pettiest reasons like a bunch of Clorbag Varblurnelk*, the disputes were the ranging from land to perceived insults. We are a really emotional people, worse than your Overlords, the cats.”

The brunette chuckled at that, remembering something. “I noticed. Tamaraneans are hard to herd and whimsical like cats. No surprise there, you are descended from a race of felines.” Darcy said as her hands never left mine, she tightened her grip on them. “Your people are polyamorous, is that what you are trying to say? Like Lions from africa?”

I stood still, eyes big like saucer and my mouth agape. “You know? And that’s a good example, you did the researching beforehand?”

I thought I would have to ease her into it, but once again, Darcy showed me why she should never be underestimated. “Yes and I asked Koldonn, he told me about it over tea, two days ago.”

I closed my eyes, and counted to ten. It wasn't Koldonn’s fault, he was just trying to educate the woman I liked. He didn't understand that she was also mining him for information about me, I also noticed how friendly she is with every royal guard… Darcy networked scary fast.

Another human would be furious to learn about my races’ culture, but not Darcy, she wasn’t judging, She was open minded like that. “Do you want me to continue to do the telling about why we are like we are?”

Darcy hadn't left my mind for a moment. I liked to think that nothing would change between us, but would she accept the situation when I told her about Amora? I won’t lie to her or obfuscate the situation, I want to build our relationship with a solid foundation of trust.

The brunette nodded, a small smile appeared on her face. “I don’t want to make any regrettable decision with only half the information. So, shoot.”

I laughed. “As you wish, Darcy-love.”

Quickly regaining my composure, I continued my tale. “Like I said, we did the warring over anything. Brother against brother, families tore themselves apart for riches and lands; widows or orphans doing the living in misery was the norm in those times, until the great chiefs of the tribes did the crafting of a law in the tribe gathering that would do the creating of the practice of the engaging in multiple romantic relationships, with the consenting of all the people involved.”

Darcy’s gaze focused on my expressions and I felt her body tense… “Did it get abused, that law, I mean?” She asked.

*Oh boy did it get abused, I still have bad memories of Tamaranean men or women suffering through neglect because they were too young to be educated into what a healthy relationship is in some rural regions of Tamaran. But where there’s darkness, there’s also light; there were some of the beautiful relationships that I was jealous of.* But I didn’t tell her that, instead I looked into her eyes and said with brutal honesty, “Yes and those who exploited were often put to the sword or killed in ritual combat, you see, even in those times doing the forcing of someone to wed someone else they didn’t do the loving to is taboo for us.”

“Wow, okay that’s violent.” Strangely, I felt her relax. I didn’t want to cause her any stress, but this situation was delicate… Darcy didn’t shy at violence, in fact she could resort to it when things were becoming dicey, just like her guards had reported to me. She was still armed with her non-particle pistol at her hip. It was strangely arousing to me, my little Darcy cute as a button and still kicking ass.

Violence had its place in Tamaranean society and I doubted that it would ever disappear. “Quite.”

“But everything changed when that marriage law was put in place, didn't it?”

That woman was smart, she already came up with the conclusion. I nodded and finished my tale. “As you’ve just guessed, Darcy-love, this simple law did the creating of ties between the tribes and brought us closer to unification until we simply stopped the fighting with each other. Then, as we did unifying for real, we started to steadily do the evolving of our society and technology to reach our current level.”

For a long moment, Darcy didn’t say anything, but I could feel her thoughts as a storm of emotions brewed in her head and she was really expressive as well. She hadn’t yet reached a decision of what we were going to be as she clearly needed more information.

“So you're telling me that polyamory is an integral part of Tamaranean society and to you as individuals.” Darcy asked.

“There’s that and… I want a family, a strong one, filled with people that would do the loving and never do the betraying. Family is supposed to be the best part of us on Tamaran, but I have never felt it; I was kept at arm's length because of no fault of my own.” This was my dream! Or at least the part of me that was Komand’r. And as I looked at Darcy, I knew that she was going to be part of this family, this collective of people; I believed that she was a big piece of it.

Darcy’s face reddened as she weathered my smoldering gaze. “Wow, it's getting hot in here… You really want me, Fire and omg! I just realized that for once you said something in clear english.”

“Yes, I want you.” I told her clearly as I let go of one of her hands to caress her cheek and her lips with my thumb.

I felt her shiver in pleasure, thanks to my enhanced senses I could already smell her arousal. She caught my hand and reluctantly put it on her thigh. Darcy clearly wanted more, but she controlled herself after breathing in and saying, “That makes me happy, but I feel that you’ve more to say.”

Like I said, she was sharp. I nodded, then I proceeded to give Darcy my full backstory, we continued to speak well into the night as she learned what my life was like. What I did to help my people, I expected to see disgust on her face and for her to let go of me and recoil in fear but sweet Darcy didn’t. What she told me next might just as well have saved my soul. “I might not have been here, Fire, but what you did, it was certainly not good, but it brought your people peace. You saved them, you are a hero, by the classic explanation of the meaning and not by comic book nonsense type. You stopped them from being enslaved and brought forth a future of prosperity for the Tamaranean people.”

I wanted to kiss her and tell her how I loved her right at this moment, but I carefully controlled myself; I nodded, but Darcy touched my face and wiped the tears that I didn’t notice were running from my eyes. I’d kill for that girl or burn down a world, but I don’t think she needs to know that. I spent the next thirty minutes telling her what happened on Asgard, how I saved a planet from getting obliterated, saved Thor, met Odin and Frigga, getting rewarded and ennobled.

There was a cunning light in Darcy’s eyes as she without a doubt pieced together the rest of the tale, we were speaking of nobility after all. “That's great, Fire.  But… did they force some broad on you and that’s why you are beating around the bush?”

I lowered my eyes in shame. “It started with the betting in the training area. This really drop dead sexy blonde wanted to do the humiliating on me because she believed I was Thor's new mate. She came in like a Zarbnof* and demanded a duel.”

Darcy leaned against the back of the sofa and gave me a wry smile. “Huhu. Let me guess, she didn’t want to let it go even after denying that you weren’t involved with him, just like a rottweiler with a bone.”

“No, she was determined.” Now that I think about it, did I make Amora pay enough for bothering me? No, she needs to be punished some more.

Darcy took a strand of my hair and began wrapping it around her finger, curling it to the max. “You like strong girls like her, so you suggested the bet about some bullshit wedding space viking tradition to scare her off but it didn’t happen?”

Okay, this was getting freaky, was she a mind reader or had postcognition? She kept being right on the money! “How do you know?”

Darcy threw me an amused expression. “I am extrapolating from your story and comparing it to a really cheesy pulp fiction sci-fi novel I’ve read before with the research I did on Vikings these last few days.”

“Hey, this is real! My life isn't fiction; that's mean, Darcy-love.” I complained and playfully poked her in the ribs with a feather touch.

“I know, I know! Please continue.” Darcy squirmed as I held onto her waist and tickled her, then she tapped my shoulder three times to show that she was surrendering.

I continued my story. “You are mostly right, I did the invoking of some law about turning her into a slave wife if she lost.”

Darcy’s eyebrows reached her forehead as she asked with a disbelieving expression, “She still went with it?”

With a tired sigh I said, “Yes.”

It was still new to me, my relationship with Amora-mate, it was completely different from the one I had with Darcy. I had to be careful with her as she sought to control me with her body or by asking things. Already she made me transport her magic tower to the Biodome inside the Hyperdimension. Or plan some adventure in long lost dungeons around the nine realms now that she knew ‘we’ had a ship. It was hard to trust her because of her past, but I felt that Amora was trying to change, but old habits die hard. I knew what it was like to be kept at arm’s length so I was going to give her chances to show me that she could rise up to become better and greater than the path the fates had designed for her.

“Then you won because you’re awesome like that.” Darcy snapped her fingers.

I didn't have it in me to laugh at her joke. I beat Amora with barely controlled abilities, I could have killed her if I had struck her with a stronger blow. “Yes, and now she’s my wife.”

“I-I see.” Darcy’s voice cracked when she heard me calling Amora my wife. In her mind she felt as if I was replacing her.

I didn't let her feelings linger on that as I blurted, “Now, I want to ask you to be my official one.” I don’t know why I said that... but even if it was impulsive on my part, I felt that it needed to be offered.

“Wait, what?!” Darcy let go of my hands and looked at me as if I was crazy.

*I never said that I was sane anyway.* Floating up toward her, I then stood up before her as I explained myself. “In Asgard, a hierarchical society exists. A slave, if he do the working hard, can become a freeman, and from a freeman a noble. I know that Amora will eventually work herself back to become a freeman or a noble, she’s too powerful and smart to stay a slave. But I don’t want her to have too much power when it happens. If you are willing to marry me, you'd become my official partner and her my concubine.”

“Are you proposing? But we barely know each other, Fire.” She was happy and flattered that I felt this way about her, but she was also afraid. She barely understood how my species and species culture operated. Our thought process was alien to her, but Darcy Lewis was someone courageous.

“Yes, I am Darcy-love. Don’t worry about not doing the knowing with me, I know you and I love you, it is enough for me, can it be the same for yourself?” I tried to reassure her.

There was a feeling of fear and doubt going through Darcy as she said after a long silent moment, “Let me think about it, okay? Can we just cuddle right now? I’ve got so much to-”

I won’t let her get away or be negatively affected by our discussion. We had spoken long enough, it was now time to beat the iron while it was hot; I pulled Darcy toward me, and our lips instantly locked into a passionate kiss. We both kept one hand on the back of the other’s neck as our tongues tied themselves together, but at the same time, I let my free hand explore Darcy’s amazing body from top to bottom. I traced her soft skin down her side, until I got to her bosom under her t-shirt.

Then I took a handful of her supple, full breast before I started to trace my finger around her nipple. She began to emit low and throaty moans that made me lose control of myself. And all of a sudden, I ripped her clothes from her body, making her giggle at how desperate to touch her I was and we spent the rest of the morning making love.

A/N: This relationship is going to be taken slow, Darcy needs some time to think about joining the Polyamory wagons. Amora was caught into Kommy’s orbit rather abruptly. Now, we are going to write about the reactions of the US and the consequences of their actions in chapter 11.

Tamaranean dictionary:

Flornops: Flornops look like rabbits.

Clorbag Varblurnelk : It’s close to be called a “Jerk”

Zarbnof: Translate to ass or in this context royal pain in the ass

If you are looking to get early chapters and read all the good stuff I haven't posted to the public yet, support with the link below:

ioriangel

Discord