Chapter 1
Purist Rebel Transport — Deep Space
When MarIK first met OrIN in warrior training many years ago, they both were young and full of hopeful dreams. They were assigned different locations and hadn’t seen each other again until about three years ago. MarIK had suffered several losses, including one involving his mate, RowANa.
RowANa had a weakened immune system caused by the mutation of the virus the Morins had cursed them with. RowANa’s entire family suffered. The females didn’t live past the age of twenty-five. He had traveled with her from the Colonial planet where they had resided to Kiljor and Katiera in hopes that the medics would find a way to save her life.
She went to the next life three years ago while they were on Katiera. At about the same time he lost his mate, Katierans were bringing transport ships full of healthy Earth females to breed with. He watched from the sidelines feeling his heart was broken as so many others welcomed the different species with hope and joy.
OrIN approached him and expressed his displeasure in females from another planet being brought to Katiera for breeding purposes. In truth, OrIN had been having issues with the Primes for years complaining that they were unfit to rule. Prime Commander KydEL had knocked him back in rank because of his attitude. At that moment, MarIK was grieving and angry; he was open to hearing what OrIN was saying. In retrospect, he could now see that OrIN played on his weakness and heartache to manipulate him.
“OrIN, what you are asking is that we become traitors to our people.”
“Never. That is not honorable. What I am asking you is to be a part of a rebellion against the true betrayers of Katiera and all that we hold dear. The diluting of our bloodline is a transgression. Prime Leader RendEL needs to be replaced and these aliens returned to their own world.”
At the time, MarIK was not in a place where he could think things through properly. The pain from his loss was overwhelming him. He was also full of anger. He was watching as hope filled Katiera at the arrival of these females, while his love had been torn from him too soon. He foolishly believed in OrIN and followed him, becoming the commander of the rebellion, following OrIN as its leader.
Years later, he knew he would have to make a stand. A few months ago, OrIN had gotten his hands on one of the Earth females that the Katierans had brought to Katiera to breed with. MarIK met the female, Melody, and she reminded him of his long dead mate RowANa. It suddenly hit him that this was not what his mate would have wanted him to do and that he was not behaving honorably. He had allowed OrIN’s sick mind to take the one thing he still had — his honor as a warrior — and almost destroy it.
MarIK secretly helped the Katieran interrogator, StrykER, escape with the female. OrIN was furious they got away and his demeanor had become even more questionable and unstable. His decision-making had become volatile and senseless which had led them to his unholy alliance with the enemy of their people — the Morins.
MarIK was filled with rage and disgust as he watched the Purist Leader OrIN clasp forearms with the Morin leader. OrIN was making a deal with the enemy to defeat the Katierans. This went against everything he believed in. It went against what OrIN had promised him and the others that chose to follow him.
Looking at the Morins brought back memories of watching his mate die at such a young age — all due to the mutation that the Morins deployed on the Katierans. There was no way he would be able to hide the hatred he felt for long, but he had to discover what they were up to and warn the Katierans. He was determined to regain his honor before he went to the great beyond.
He knew OrIN was up to no good after he lost the captured female Melody and was betrayed by StrykER. OrIN was out to avenge himself and he would use any means available to him. OrIN didn’t trust him or anyone, so discovering his nefarious plans would be harder than ever.
Knowing that OrIN would not appreciate an interruption, MarIK checked on his crew that he had personally picked out. These males had indicated many times that they, too, were uncomfortable with the path OrIN was taking them. Slowly they began coming to him and he had taken his time vetting them to make sure that they were not spies for OrIN.
He had told the males to meet him at the old storage area that they kept locked. Only he and five of his select team had access to it. There were others that he felt would follow their lead if they rebelled against OrIN, but he didn’t want to call on them for anything yet. MarIK arrived at the storage area and used the code to get inside. Two of his team, DayES and TurnEN, were already there.
“Where are the others?”
TurnEN answered him. “JarOD, LanIN, and SeAL are setting up the communications link we will need to send out messages. They will put the transmitters on the far corners, which should keep them hidden. They think that Kiljor would probably be the best contact for our messages because that planet is the closest.”
“Warrior DayES, what have you found about the Morin transport?”
“Their transport is badly damaged. OrIN has sent a crew over to help them. It’s older and they had manipulated the parts but what they did corrupted their sensors. All their power had gone into their cloaking ability.”
“Why would they be this far out without a way to fully repair their ship? Do we have anyone we trust that is going over there?”MarIK asked.
“Yeah, a couple of males, engineers from the mining community, were sent. They will contact us with updates,” Warrior DayES answered.
“I heard they had tried to take females before. Do you think they have any over there? What shape would they be in?” TurnEN asked in concern.
“I doubt they have females but if they did, we will find a way to free them,” MarIK reassured them. Based on their relieved expressions, he knew that these males were good males and had just been led down the wrong path like he had been. They, too, wished to restore their honor. Many of the followers MarIK found were from the mining community OrIN had overtaken. They watched their families torn apart and used as a way to manipulate them into compliance. When the Katierans sent help for StrykER, they were able to free a lot of the enslaved miners, but the community still experienced losses.
Every life should be treated as the gift that was intended by the Goddess KatieRI. The Goddess created all that was good, and yet MarIK watched as first the Morins and now OrIN tried to destroy it. MarIK was determined to correct the wrongs he had been involved in.
“Commander, if the Morins want assistance in repairing their ship from OrIN, what does OrIN want in return from the Morins?” TurnEN asked.
MarIK wondered about this as well. What could OrIN hope to gain from the Morins? If their transport were more advanced, that would be the sharing of technology. The only thing that the Morins had that OrIN didn’t was the…Oh. “He wants the cloaking technology.”
“If OrIN perfects that technology, he could attack the Katieran Prime City without detection. Millions would die.”
That’s what OrIN wanted — to destroy the prime city and prime family ruling Katiera. He would then try to step in as leader. “See if any of our people can take a look at that cloaking system. I want all the schematics on how it works, how to uncloak them, and how to mimic using it.”
“Yes, sir, but what can we do about keeping it out of OrIN’s hands?”
