The Conscripts: Fight or Die (Blood War Book 3) (9 page)

“Then why do that to yourself? You’ve done so much already. You could step back and not go into combat anymore. You’re a general now.”

Dasan’s face hardened. “No, never. I will not quit until I’ve killed every fucking one of them. I’ve seen what they’ve done. I know what they are. I don’t know if you believe in fate or not, but I was fated to do this and I will not stop now or ever. The only way they can stop me is to kill me. If you can’t understand that, then maybe we should call this thing off now, because that is who I am and who I will always be.”

Kat looked up at him. Anger twisted her face and she slapped him hard. “Listen, you stupid son of a bitch. If you don’t know that I care about you by now, then you’re not the man I thought you were. We have something special going on here. I don’t have anything like this with any of my husbands or wives. This is something more. Something I didn’t think I was capable of. Now if you can’t handle it, then you’re the one who will have to walk away.”

Dasan rubbed his face where she had slapped him. “I don’t want to walk away. I just thought that you should know it will get worse,” he said.

Kat’s face softened and she said, “I know, babe. I know. The only thing that scares me is you leaving.”

Dasan pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Then he scooped her up and carried her to the bed. Kat lay back and took him into her with a low moan. Later they were lying beside one another when Dasan sat up.

“I’m sorry about—” Dasan began. Kat put a finger across his mouth before he finished his sentence.

“It was something that we both had to say. No need for an apology. Not between us.”

Dasan kissed her and Kat melted against him. She reached for him, but Dasan gently pushed her hand away.

“I really do have to go now.”

“Don’t go. Stay, baby,” Kat said, kissing his chest.

“Right.”

Kat chuckled. She knew he had to report for work. Idly, Kat traced the long scars on Dasan’s chest. His body was covered with marks left from his wounds on Rift.

“Why didn’t you have the surgeons remove the scars, baby? You feel like a road map.”

“It’s a Wolf thing. They feel that scars from wounds in battle are something to wear with pride. They separate warriors from others. Aijuba first explained it to me, and now that I have my own, I know that she was right. I am proud of my scars. They are a symbol of my battles. They mark me as a warrior.”

Dasan kissed Kat on the forehead and rolled off the bed. Kat propped her head up on a hand and watched Dasan closely, enjoying the sight of his naked, lean, muscular body.

“You know, I was thinking,” Kat began with a smile. “That thing that you do that makes me climax so quickly. Well, if you started with that little trick we might have time for.…”

Dasan was walking toward the bathroom. He stopped and turned to face Kat. Her lush, nude body was something he never tired of looking at. She was so different physically from Aijuba, but so similar in her passion and need in bed. Sprawled across the bed, she knew how good she looked. She gave him a small smirk that conveyed much more than words. At times she seemed almost insatiable. Dasan could get lost in the pure, physical feel of her, to the point that the world would disappear and only they existed. Even with Aijuba he had never felt this kind of physical need.

“No, we don’t. The meeting is with the admiral and I don’t think she would accept my excuse for missing a meeting to stay in bed with my.…”

Kat arched an eyebrow. They had not discussed what it was they had together. They had only reveled in the attraction.

“Your what?”

Dasan smiled. “My wench.”

“Oh, I’ve never been somebody’s wench before. I think I like it. Come ravish me, sir. Your wench awaits.”

Dasan smiled and ducked into the bathroom.

“Tease,” Kat said, throwing a shoe at Dasan.

Dasan came out later to find Kat sitting up in bed with one of her special morning-blend cigarettes and coffee. The cigarettes had some uppers with some happy, as she called the drug, mixed with the tobacco. A pot of coffee and another cup sat on a tray on the bed.

“There’s coffee, babe,” Kat said.

“Thanks. I have time for a quick cup.”

Dasan poured himself a cup and began to dress. Kat sat watching him, smoking and sipping her coffee. He was knotting his tie when she said, “When are you leaving?”

Dasan stopped and turned to stare at her. “Now. Isn’t it obvious?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Kat said, her face serious.

“How did you know? You didn’t hear something, did you?”

“No, dear, this has nothing to do with my job. It has everything to do with being your wench.”

Dasan came and sat on the bed. “A couple more days. I was going to tell you tonight.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“I don’t know.”

Kat took a final drag on her cigarette then crushed it out. She blew a thick stream of smoke out before she said, “That long.”

“It’s just another training exercise.”

“Dasan, I lie for a living. But more than that you can’t lie to your wench. She knows you too well. I’ve known you were leaving for a week. I was just waiting to see how long before you got up the courage to tell me.”

“How did you know?”

“When you care about someone, you pay close attention.”

“Yes, and when you care, so many unspoken things are more transparent.”

Their eyes met for a long moment.

“General, you had better finish dressing before your wench jumps you and forces herself on you.”

Dasan finished putting his uniform on. When he turned she was still sitting in bed, staring at him. He leaned over the bed to kiss her goodbye. The kiss turned into a long, lingering one.

“Tonight, babe.”

“Tonight.”

#

That night when Dasan returned to Kat’s apartment, he found her waiting. She was wearing the same dress she had worn the night they met. She was wearing the same breast jewelry, her hair carefully finger-combed back from her face so that it looked casual but in reality was perfectly arranged to emphasize her beauty. She had done her eyes with smoky eyeshadow and had dark red lipstick on her full lips. She looked so beautiful and desirable Dasan went to take her in his arms.

With a laugh, Kat evaded him and said, “Oh, no there, General. We eat first. Your wench did not go to all this trouble to look good for you only to have you destroy it so early. No, sir, you will have to wait.”

“Listen, wench.…”

Kat laughed and said, “Go get out of that uniform and we will have drinks then dinner.”

“But—” Dasan said as he reached for her again.

“Out with you, sir,” Kat said as she again moved away.

Dasan found a robe and a lounging shirt and pants laid out for him. He put them on and padded barefoot back into the living room.

The lights were down, with only real candles burning on the table. Kat had opened a bottle of wine and sat there smoking, waiting for him to return. This time she came into his arms and kissed him gently.

“Welcome home, General.”

“It is very good to be home.”

Kat looked at him for a long moment, not moving out of his arms, and said, “You know I want you to think of this as your home, don’t you?”

“Kat, I.…”

Kat put one finger to his lips and said, “I know what you're thinking. That it’s too soon after Aijuba. But you told me what she said for you to do after she was gone.”

Dasan still heard the words echo in his mind. “Live your life for me. Celebrate me not by grieving but by finding someone.”

Kat’s beautiful eyes searched his face. “Dasan, I have two wives and three husbands, but I don’t have anything close to what you and I have. I’ve never felt this way before.”

Dasan didn’t know what to say. He too felt something special between them. Something as strong as with Aijuba but different in a way he could not explain.

“What about them?”

“Sweetie, none of us are good at monogamy. But this is so much more than physical. I can face that when we have figured out what we are going to do about us.”

Dasan released her and walked away. He turned and said, “What about us?”

“We don’t know yet, do we? We still need more time. This is new territory for me,”

“I’m leaving tomorrow and I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

Kat strode across the space separating them and grabbed him by the shoulders.

“I know. Oh, I know too well. All I am asking is you come back to me. Do you understand me? You come back to me no matter how long it is. I will be waiting for you.”

This time Kat did not resist when Dasan took her into his arms and kissed her with more desire than he had ever felt for anyone before. Kat responded to his passion with her own. Dasan pulled her dress off as she tore off his robe and pants. She pushed him down onto the floor and mounted him. Dasan groaned as he entered her and rolled on top of her. They lost themselves in each other’s bodies. Both knew all of the little things that gave the other pleasure now, and they kept their passion going for hours. Much later they were sitting at the table finally having their dinner. Kat noticed the scratches her nails had left on his shoulder.

“Baby, I'm sorry about those scratches.”

“I took them as a compliment.”

Kat smirked. “They were,” she said.

They finished the bottle of wine with dinner and were sitting with one of Kat’s favorite after-dinner cigarette blends when she said, “Baby, I need to get you to bed. You only have a few hours before you have to go.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dasan said with a look that said more than the words.

“Seriously, baby, you need to rest.”

“I can rest on the ship. It's time I ravished you, wench.”

He stood, reached over, grabbed Kat and threw her over his shoulder, and walked toward the bedroom.

Laughing, Kat said, “Let the ravishing begin, sir.”

#

Dasan was knotting his uniform’s tie as the sun began to rise. Kat lay nude on the bed watching him. He finished, turned, and looked down at her.

“It’s time, Kat.”

Kat rose and came into his arms. “You didn’t get much sleep. Will you be all right?”

“Are you kidding? I didn’t get any sleep. Somebody was very demanding.”

“A wench has the right to send her man off the right way.”

Dasan lifted her face. There were tears in her eyes.

“You come back to me. Do you hear me, Dasan? You better come back to me,” Kat said fiercely.

“Oh, don’t you worry. I will come back to you.”

Dasan kissed her gently on the mouth and stepped away to grab his hat. Kat stood there, one hand to her mouth. Tears were slowly rolling down her face.

“I.…” he started, but he could not finish.

“I know,” Kat said.

Dasan walked out of the apartment. When Kat heard the door slam she collapsed on the bed, crying.

Rigel Kent System

Intina

Intina Spaceport

135th Penal Battalion

3rd Company

First Platoon

Dieter Fenes and the rest of the platoon were standing in the cold of the Intinan morning with the rest of their newly formed battalion as another shuttle touched down. They had been standing in formation for almost two hours now as platoon after platoon was loaded onto shuttles that would take them up to the troopship in orbit above. Von Fleet security guards stood at twenty-five-foot intervals around the large formation. Guard towers with more Von Fleet security manning automatic weapons pointed at the formation made Dieter feel more like a prisoner than he had since his trial.

Dieter glanced at the rest of his platoon. They were standing together in a tight platoon formation with him, Ardan, and Minga at the head of three squads. Around them other platoons were milling around. Some sat on the ground. Others argued with one another. The last thing they looked like was a military unit. Periodically the loudspeaker squawked for the next platoon to load up on a shuttle for the trip to the waiting troopship. The disorganization and downright chaos of some of the other platoons worried Dieter. They only seemed to come together when the guards made them, and that did not bode well for fighting alongside them.

“Third Company, first platoon report to the loading ramp. I repeat, 3rd Company, first platoon report to the loading ramp.”

Dieter glanced over his shoulder at Ardan and Minga and nodded. Then he said, “First squad on me.”

First squad followed him as he strode toward the ramp that led to the recently landed shuttle. Ardan followed the last man in Dieter’s squad and Minga followed the last woman in Ardan’s squad. Dieter marched up to the guard who was checking the roster as the platoons were loaded.

“Sir, 3rd Company, first platoon reporting as ordered,” Dieter said.

The guard looked up from his pad’s readout and said, “Get them aboard.”

Dieter led the platoon on board the shuttle. Each held out their right hand and a scanner scanned their Von Fleet I.D. tattoo, tracking them as they entered the ship. They were crammed in the passenger space almost on top of each other. Once they were all finally aboard, the hatch closed. Dieter and the others sat down in the web-sling seats provided and waited as the shuttle lifted off and left Intina. It was a short ride up to the ship. The shuttle docked with the waiting ship and the hatch opened. Another guard was standing there waiting for them.

“Come on, you fucks. Get off that shuttle before I throw you in the brig. Now move! I don’t want to see nothing but assholes and elbows!” he bellowed.

Minga’s squad was first to disembark since they were the last to board. The guard held a heavy bludgeon. He looked like he wanted a reason to use it. Dieter kept an eye on him. The platoon filed off without hesitation in good order. Dieter and the last of the platoon were about to leave, when a squad mate two people in front of Dieter, tripped on the hatch and almost fell.

“You stupid fuck! Move it!” the guard screamed. He raised the bludgeon over his head to strike her. Dieter lunged forward and grabbed the guard’s raised arm with one hand and his throat with the other. He lifted the guard and slammed him against the bulkhead.