Chapter Text
A harsh female voice spoke over the communicator: “Go no further. State your identity and your purpose in trespassing into our territory. Failure to comply will result in the immediate destruction of your vessel.” Lights tagged the Maru, which was pointless, as she was going nowhere in a hurry. She might as well have been a basket of muffins left on someone’s doorstep.
“I am Tyr Anasazi, out of Victoria by Barbosa. I have come to join with Vulpes pride.” He paused. “I wish to have a home for myself, and a family.”
There was a longer pause and then the docking bay doors were folded back. Tyr maneuvered the Maru into the dock of the great vessel; the Navarch. The Maru was not in good shape; she was venting plasma and the hull was severely damaged; only one fragile shell was keeping the air from being siphoned out violently, along with everything in it.
Exiting the Maru, Tyr was met with several armed women and one man. They had an air of desperation about them which made Tyr wary. One of the women spoke; her voice was low and smooth.
“For what purpose have you come to the Vulpes pride, Tyr Anasazi?”
“I told you,” Tyr said slowly “I want a place for myself. Children. Many children. There is too much infighting in the other prides; I do not wish to join with them.” He added pointedly, “Kodiak and Vulpes were also allies, in better times.”
“Who is that human with you?”
Tyr dragged Harper to him, who had been peeking out from behind his back, and without warning, viciously kissed him. When he was finished Harper’s lip was bleeding slightly.
“I am permitted a pet by your pride’s law, am I not?”
The woman made a close study of the two. She was lean and tall, older; obviously no longer able to bear children, but still in her prime. Her stare was piercing and intelligent.
“Gaius show them to one of the empty living chambers. We will call you after we have had a meeting of pride leaders.”
The man lowered his weapon and began to walk briskly away, giving only a nod as a sign that they were meant to follow, a disdainful expression on his face. Tyr and Harper followed him down several corridors. The ship was dim and unwelcoming, seemingly devoid of life. Finally, Gaius stopped at a door that looked like any other and brusquely ushered them in. The door made an electronic buzzing sound behind them; locked from without.
Harper, who had uncharacteristically been keeping quiet the whole time, burst into babbled speech.
Tyr answered him calmly, though in an irritated tone of voice.
“In some prides, because homosexuality is not hereditary, it is not considered an important flaw- as long as one continues to reproduce of course. People of such a persuasion are allowed to keep ‘pets,’ to satisfy certain needs.”
“The first I’m hearing of this wacko rule, not that Nietzscheans aren’t absolutely rife with them! Why did I have to play your pet, this is totally bizarre!” Harper was gesticulating wildly, movements frenetic like a hummingbird.
Tyr grasped his arms to still him, “This was the only way, boy, Nietzscheans hardly have human traveling companions. Do you wish so earnestly to die? Didn’t you see their faces!”
“No, I was too busy being focused on your tongue in my mouth!” In an unconscious movement Harper licked the blood from his lip.
“Don’t snivel, we’ve got more pressing things to worry about. Can you fix the Maru?”
“Yes. I think. Yes. But I need parts. If you got me the right parts, I could practically build a new Maru.”
Tyr nodded, ‘we might have to stay here a while then.”
Harper’s eyes went wild “We can’t stay here with these people! Can’t we just find some way of calling the Andromeda?”
“Not if we don’t want to give ourselves away. We were on a radio silent mission, remember? The Vulpes are relatively weak but dangerous. They were once rival only to the Drago-Kasov. The Dragans came and killed all of their males, even the children. All that’s left of the pride is on this godforsaken ship that hides at the edge of space. The remaining men are either cowards who ran when the Drago-Kasov raided them, or eunuchs. I have heard that some of the men even castrated themselves in order that they be spared…”
“Delightful story. But aren’t we cracked if we think they believe this whole spiel about you deciding to come here by choice when we’re in the middle of fucking nowhere with our engine on fire?”
“They don’t trust us, but they need new blood. They might just use me and then kill us anyways. But for as long as I can be ‘useful,’ we just may live.”
“How did we ever get into this mess to begin with…”
Nietzscheans, even considering their base philosophy, always had a special flair for the dramatic.
A few hours later Tyr was sitting looking for all the world like he belonged in exactly that spot. It was casualness that only Harper new was feigned, and that he was just as troubled as Harper looked. The women in the counsel chamber were looking at him like hyenas, some being so bold to examine his bone-blades and to touch his hair.
The table was abundant with food of all sorts; hot slabs of dark meat, bowls of succulent peeled fruits, spicy drinks that burned your mouth no matter to what temperature you allowed them to cool. They might not have any males but they still did well in some kind of commerce apparently, Tyr noted, or else they were just pulling out all the stops for him, which he doubted since he could tell they still hadn’t decided whether or not they were just going to kill him.
Harper sat picking at his food; he had been positioned next to Tyr, which he was grateful for, and hey, at least there wasn’t like a separate table for ‘pets’ he thought, like the kiddie table at shitty thanksgiving on earth. The girl on his other side scared him though, in contrast with the feast before them she had gaunt cheeks and a grim look, and contrasting with that even more, an unlikely outfit of lace and frills.
Tyr began carefully pulling apart some kind of vegetable that looked like an artichoke, “we have a common enemy, a common goal. I need not detail further how this arrangement would be beneficial to us both, do I?”
Nice, Harper thought, leave it to Tyr to bring up a sensitive subject.
“Then why make the undignified display of saying it.”
The woman who had met them in the docking bay seemed to speak for the entire pride.
“You need genetic material. And I am willing to provide.”
“What makes you think we want it?”
“Let’s not play pretend here. This is why you let me in here in the first place. You need it, badly. You didn’t even check my DNA at the door. It doesn’t matter as long as it’s Nietzschean. And may I just say that you lucked out with me, my particular sequence, I don’t mean to be boastful, is nothing short of art. Angels sang when I was conceived.”
The woman’s manner shifted slightly.
“Yes, we need it.”
“Iulia!” A young woman with a furrowed brow chimed in, mouth full of roasted meats. Gravy dripped down her chin.
“Shut up girl, it’s true. It is not weak to say what you want; we could do with some pragmatism around here.”
The girl next to Harper reached towards him and he startled, knocking over his glass. Her goal had not been Harper in fact, but to stroke Tyr’s arm in a flirtatious manner, not even registering Harper’s surprise. Jesus, this girl was freaky.
“Why is your pet so nervous, I wonder.’
Tyr smiled congenially, “he hates to travel, poor thing. Gives him anxiety- you know how delicate humans are.”
Iulia gave a small smile that was like the devil. Her fingernails tapped on the empty plate before her; she had eaten nothing.
“We will accept you, Tyr Anasazi. We will take your blood first of course, but when everything has been examined to our liking you can begin your task. You will have children very soon. You should be very pleased. This is what you wanted.”
Tyr lifted his glass, “to old allies… and to children.”
“Little professor,” Tyr began. Somehow this nickname evoked some kind of vestigial familiarity. It reminded him of that ancient Earth show. It was also the name Tyr seemed to use when he was feeling his fondest. “Yes, Ginger?” Tyr ignored this inanity, “We will survive. Do you trust me?”
Harper didn’t need to hesitate in his mind. He did trust him, completely, more than anyone in his life; which scared him.
“This plan is ridiculous, and insane! This isn’t any old jewel thievery scheme, or espionage mission, Tyr, you’re going to have to…”
“I can deal with it.”
Harper made a face and sat down on the edge of a chair, wrapping his arms around himself.
Harper dreamt that night. He and Tyr were on a little boat with a single sail in the middle of the ocean, sharks in the water of course. But they were rowing towards an island inhabited by cannibals and Tyr kept saying it was going to be alright, even while they were eating him alive.
When he woke up he found that he was clinging to Tyr’s side.
“You mewl even in your sleep.”
Harper quickly extricated himself, wary for a remark more severe to come, but it didn’t.
A few days later, Tyr’s DNA was found to be satisfactory and he and Harper were given free reign of the ship, though they were being watched; Tyr more closely than Harper. Nietzscheans often made the mistake of underestimating humans, especially when it came to their intelligence. This allowed Harper to slip away to make repairs on the ship. He had found a duct system that seemed to be in disuse as it was filled with dust and all kinds of terrible creepy crawlies. Probably most of them were too big to fit through the space, ha, here’s where his inferior human genetics came to his advantage. Though he didn’t have the schematics for the ship, using his boy genius skills he was able to extrapolate roughly where he would come out, eventually finding the spare parts storage and an opening to the hangar where the Maru was being kept. Unfortunately the duct to the hanger opened about 12 meters above the floor and he had to find a rope to get down; difficult, especially with the parts he was carrying. But he managed to rig up a pulley system so he could just lower them to the ground. This kept him very busy.
When he was around Tyr outside of their quarters, Tyr was always putting himself around him, touching him. It was almost more than he could handle.
“You’re heavy,” he whispered, “get off.”
Tyr seemingly ignored him, and continued his ministrations. “How is the work going?”
Around them Niezscheans milled around; it was a central area of the ship in which many people chose to meet and discourse with each other and trade sundries.
“Not well, I’ve almost run out of parts I can adapt from that storeroom. Ah!”
Tyr had started kissing up the side of his neck. He said nearly into his ear, “they’re watching us. We can talk this way. Act as though you are enamored of me.”
Tyr and Harper were not given much opportunity to be alone together; they really had to make use of it when they could. Their quarters had been quickly bugged after their meeting with the leaders’ council. Harper had found them right away, big juicy ones, very outdated tech. They didn’t remove them, fearful of what that would trigger but kept them in place and held their tongues.
Speaking of tongues. Harper bit his as Tyr’s found its solicitous way into his neckport. The effect was immediate, and dire. He could feel it all the way down his spine, his hair stood on edge. It didn’t feel good as much as… very, very odd. Like someone had reached their hand around his, -everything.
“Soon ah, I’ll have to begin. Taking parts from this ship to use on ours,” he shivered, struggling to produce coherent speech. “I’m trying to figure out a way to trick their system into thinking it’s still alright for as long as possible.” Tyr bit his ear.
“Ow, I’m beginning to think you’re enjoying this.”