Silas: Imperial Warrior (A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance) Read Online Free Page A

colored eyes, falls of golden hair, and long, prehensile tail, was a vision.
    She was a member of the Alagertha tribes, who hailed from the northern parts of the planet, and a member of her family had been in power ever since Gathra had declared itself its own independent governing force about five hundred full cycles ago.
    Ammaline was kind and fair, smart and sharp, skilled and diplomatic. Under her leadership, Gathra was flourishing, while they were a military planet, it was much less focused on war and fighting than other planets who said the same. Their mission wasn’t to go looking for trouble, but rather to continue to defend against it when it came knocking on their doors. Unfortunately, that happened often.
    Silas had a feeling that something having to do with a new threat was what he was in her office to discuss this evening.
    He presented himself before her, keeping his eyes downcast as he bowed from the waist and then tapped his left hand over his heart twice. The traditional salute of someone who was essentially thought of as being the Empress’ left hand.
    “Captain,” she said, in her dulcet tones, rising from her seat and pressing her palm to her head before extending it out towards him. She would make that salute to anyone in the army, as she was its head. “Please, do come in and have a seat.”
    “Your Imperial Majesty,” Silas replied, moving closer to the desk and allowing himself to drop into the seat opposite it. “You said that this was a matter of some urgency?”
    She nodded, golden hair cascading about her shoulders. It was held back this evening, with a circlet of platinum that sat nestled against her brow and was studded with the rainbow colored gems from the Dipthe mines. The greens brought out her eyes.
    “I did,” she agreed, sitting back down once he was seated. “You’ve been keeping up to date on the attacks in the pleasure district, I assume.”
    It wasn’t a question, and it didn’t need to be one. They both knew that any acts of crime that were committed around here came to Silas’ attention before long. “Of course,” he replied. “I’ve been getting regular reports from the people who do those patrols.” He pulled out his tablet and let his fingers find the relevant notes. “Seven attacked so far, several robberies, two people found dead, though no one can say for sure if they’re related to this.”
    “I am inclined to treat it as if they are,” Ammaline said. “Targeting the pleasure district is a low move, Captain. Committed by someone who thinks we will not care because of where these attacks are taking place. I would like you to show them that we do, in fact, care. And that we will defend our people, no matter what area they might be from.”
    “Of course,” Silas said again, a frown wrinkling his forehead. “Do you have ideas or suspicions about who is doing this, then?”
    She nodded. Her tablet was in her hands in a second, and she drew a pattern on the screen with slender fingers, calling up a holo image that hovered above the desk in glowing blue lines. Silas squinted and then tipped his head back until the lines resolved themselves into something that made sense.
    What he was seeing was a reptilian creature, hunched over, with long arms that nearly dragged the ground. Each finger on a large hand was tipped in a talon, and the same went for the feet, the toes of which were splayed outwards. A long tail did drag the ground, tipped in spikes that had to be at least half a foot long. As Silas watched, the image moved, and a long tongue came sliding out of the creature’s mouth. It licked a bulbous eyeball and then disappeared back into that mouth, slowly enough for Silas to catch a glimpse of sharp teeth.
    “Well,” he said. “That guy’s not invited to any of my dinner parties.”
    Ammaline smiled a tiny smile. “Likewise, Captain. Are you familiar with the Fremeri?”
    He had to shake his head. Being a member of HIMA gave him plenty of chances