Chapter 2: Wolf and the Cat Embraced

The Lupus Rising entered the Elishen system four days after it had left the planet where Eric Wolf had found the Dizyntk, Veenalara. In that time Veenalara had taken the opportunity to review the history of her race since the last time she had been awake. Although the Lupus' computer did not have extensive files on Dizyntk history, it did have enough information for Alara to get a good idea of what had transpired in the past 120 cyankas. The civil war that led to the establishment of the Imperium was of primary interest to her. The most interesting thing about the files the computer had on that period was what they did not contain. There was no mention at all of any Faylantkrana.

Veenalara knew for a fact that there had been more like herself among the Dizyntk. She had personally met four others, trained by other Orders, while on Lilac. She had read files on several others when preparing for missions. She had also fought three more at various times, although they did not survive the encounters. So, while her kind was exceedingly rare, they did exist and were used by the various Orders and Houses in times of war. Yet there was no mention at all of any of them in the records she was looking at.

She knew that the files she was reviewing were just cursory ones. That did not seem like a good reason to her for the complete absence of any mention of her kind in the battles. By the end of the week, she had gotten a sneaking suspicion that the Faylantkrana had purposefully been omitted from the official history files. And why not, she knew. The Orders no longer were allowed to participate in the military as anything other than healers. It was forbidden by Imperial decree to even train priestesses in any combat techniques other than simple hand-to-hand. It would therefore make sense that the Orders would attempt to erase all evidence as to why they were once valued as combat support to the regular military forces. No need to remind everyone of what some Dizyntk were capable of, given the proper training. No need to explain how warrior priestesses accounted for half the casualties in the war when they only made up ten percent of the combatants. In truth, even though they made up only one-tenth of one percent of the warriors of the Orders, the Faylantkrana were probably responsible for two-thirds of those casualties ascribed to the warrior priestesses. Veenalara was aware of this fact. She could only hope that it was not just the official history that her kind had been erased from.

Unknown to either her or Eric, there was one part of the old security system around the planet that held her that had worked exactly as it had been intended to.

The planet Kalantk is one of the two planets in the Second Star Cluster, along with Ishalitk (Sapphire), which had first been settled by the Dizyntk. In fact they were the first two to be settled after the initial five worlds that make up the current Imperial Cluster along with Dizyn itself. Kalantk had therefore been populated by Dizyntk for two hundred fifty cyankas. It currently serves as the main base and headquarters for the Second Cluster Fleet. One hundred twenty-four cyankas ago, it was the seat of power for the Therazanik Noble House. The Therazanik had, at the time of the civil war, been in control of three worlds; Kalantk, Elishen and Ashal-Kendant. Kalantk was their capital, however, and the site of their palace.

Theirs was the first House to fall in the Wars of Unification, as the Dizyntk referred to their last civil war. The war had been started by two other Houses, but the Therazaniks decided to take advantage of the ensuing chaos and take the only world in the cluster that they did not control, Ishalitk. This proved to be their undoing. The head of the ruling house on Ishalitk was Duchess Rilaphenia Asarazyntk. Ishalitk was the sole planet that House Asarazyntk controlled and they did not see any reason to give it up easily. Unfortunately for house Therazanik, not only was Rilaphenia one of the most brilliant strategists in Dizyntk history, but her House also possessed the most cunning and devious individual the Dizyntk had seen in quite some time.

Eniakala Zerleen was a Priestess of the Silver Order and a member of House Asarazyntk by being bonded to the Duchess' eldest son. She had always shown great talents in diplomacy as well as espionage. She was sent as the Ambassador to the Therazaniks. She proceeded to covertly cut the legs out from under them from the inside while Rilaphenia pummeled them militarily from without. The combination of these two remarkable individuals spelled the doom of House Therazanik. Within four cyankas they had been defeated and absorbed into house Asarazyntk.

Many organizations associated with the Therazaniks ceased to exist or were consigned to insignificance when the House fell. Among the latter was a religious order that had once been at the cusp of becoming another Major Order. The fall of the House that provided their main support, however, caused the Nebula Order to tumble back into obscurity.

They had been reduced, by this time, to a total of twelve priestesses in two Temples located near the old Therazanik residences in the city of Tralaniran. The city used to be the capital of the entire planet of Kalantk. It now is the site of the Ducal Residence for House Relentia, which rules the western hemisphere of the planet.

In one of these Temples lives the current head of the Order, Tylavari Therazanik. At only twenty-four cyankas, she was young to be the head of an order regardless of its size. The previous head of the Order had died just three cyans prior. There had been no one older than Tylavari in the Order when this had happened. Prior to her joining it at the age of fourteen cyankas, the Nebula Order had been in danger of ceasing to exist altogether. The previous head of the Order, and two other elderly Priestesses, were all that were left. Tylavari had joined out of respect for the history that her family and the Nebula Order shared. Indeed, it was thanks to her tireless efforts over the cyankas that there were now eleven other priestesses in the Order and its demise perhaps not so imminent.

She bore no ill will over her former House's fall. It had happened long before she was born and, more importantly, she had been raised by her mother to not let such things cloud her thinking. She was also a Priestess of the Temple and her instruction on Lilac had taught her that there was little point in dwelling on what might have been. She wished that other Dizyntk could learn that as well. This thought was usually followed by thinking of the former Duchess Caliarena's absurd attempt to seize the throne a cyanka earlier.

Just because she did not let the past influence her feelings did not mean that she was not interested in it. On the contrary, she loved learning all she could about history; especially relating to the Orders and her Order in particular. Her recent ascension to the leadership of her Order had been a boon in this regard. There were several volumes of old records that were sealed and available only to the Head Priestess of the Order, which she now was. She knew that most of the Nebula Order's old records had been lost when the Main Temple in Tralaniran had been destroyed in a strike on the city by Asarazyntk forces shortly before her family had agreed to surrender. The records she did have told of things that she had never heard about before. Specifically she had a few records dealing with Faylantkrana.

These confirmed what Veenalara was already suspecting aboard the Lupus, the fact that the Orders had decided to intentionally expunge all information about the Faylantkrana from the general history. Even their own teachings would not mention them. Only the senior priestesses of the various Orders would know anything about them. This was so that they would be able to recognize them and steer their training away from anything that would help develop their powers. There were a few lines mentioning that the Nebula Order had, at one time, possessed a trained Faylantkrana and that she had been kept off world. The records that stated where she was kept, who she was or what had become of her were among those that had been destroyed however.

She was reviewing some of these very records when the Priestess who served as her assistant in charge of the Order knocked and entered. Linatora Yosteranik was a very petite Dizyntk at only four foot nine and ninety pounds, but she more than made up for this with her diligence and devotion to her Order. This was why she was Tylavari's assistant at only eighteen cyankas when there were several others in the order a little older than she.

Tylavari smiled at her friend as she entered. "What can I do for you, Tora?"

Linatora bowed her head slightly. "Pardon me, Revered Sister. There is something ... strange ... that has come in."

"Strange, Linatora?" she asked.

Linatora nodded. "Apparently an old messenger drone has entered the system. Its signal marks it as one belonging to our Order."

She then handed over the notice that the Fleet Communications Center had sent them just a few minutes before. A message drone had entered the system and was sending out a coded message. The only unencoded part of the signal was that which identified its intended recipient; the Head Priestess of the Nebula Order.

Tylavari scratched her head. She had never heard of her Order using coded message drones before. She also knew that the records were woefully incomplete for the reasons mentioned earlier. She did smile about one thing however.

"I suppose we are fortunate that a copy of a decoding program is in the old records. I had wondered what it was for. I would assume that this is why." She said to her friend.

Linatora nodded once more and said, "I suppose so, Sister Tyla. What do we tell Fleet Command about it though? They are inquiring as to why we are using such a device."

"There is a very simple answer to that." she replied. "It is a relic from before the Wars of Unification. Something or other must have triggered it from wherever it came from."

Tylavari looked back down to her desk and wrote a message for her assistant to deliver to Fleet Command. "This will let them know that I consider it to have been a device used before the Wars as well as a request to have it brought to the planet so that we might discover where it came from and what its message is. It is a piece of our past after all."

Linatora nodded in agreement. "It will be fascinating to discover what a message from over a hundred cyankas ago has to say."

She took the note for the Fleet Command and left to go deliver it.

By the time the Lupus Rising settled into its landing cradle at the starport outside the city of Carendak on the southern coast of the main equatorial continent of the planet Elishen, there had already been several communications between Eric and the company he contracted with. They had been obviously concerned when he did not return from his last run. His explanation of a malfunctioning star drive was the reason for the engineering crew waiting near the cradle as the ship came in. Temporary repairs made by the vessel's maintenance bots on such a delicate system were just that, temporary. If one valued one's life, then you had an experienced repair crew work on the drive and make sure it was sound as soon as that was feasible.

Eric exited the ship. It was just getting dark. In the glare of the lights that were just coming on, he saw his boss, and sometimes friend, Oranfalin waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"It's about time you showed up, Eric. I had begun to think you were dead or something." Oranfalin said in a very irritated voice.

Eric smiled and shrugged as he walked down the stairs. "What could I do? Stupid star drive started going screwy on me. I couldn't even change heading for a couple of days. When I finally got near a place to land, the whole thing up and quit on me."

Eric reached the bottom and continued. "Took a whole hakin for the maintenance system to get it working again."

Oranfalin looked up at the human pilot and growled a little. "I told you that drive was getting old. You're lucky it didn't just blow on you. I ought to punch you in the nose for making me worry like that. Do you realize how much your friends ... have ... worried ... Who is that?" Oranfalin had just seen Veenalara emerge from the ship at the top of the stairs.

Eric looked up the stairs. He said with a mocking tone in his voice "A priestess. Can't you see that?"

"OF COURSE I CAN SEE IT'S A BLOODY PRIESTESS." he screamed before he could get control of himself.

Veenalara had been halfway down the steps when this outburst occurred. She stopped and looked at Oranfalin with wide eyes.

"Is there a problem... ?" she asked while giving Oranfalin a look that implied asking what his name was.

Oranfalin bowed his head quickly. "I am Oranfalin, Sister. No, no problem at all. Just this human employee of mine has always been good at getting a rise out of me."

Alara nodded and continued down the steps. "I see. Well I would like to thank you for your employee's courteous behavior. I was in need of transport to Elishen from Trellken and he offered me a ride."

She got to the bottom and Eric stepped aside so that Alara could stand in front of Oranfalin. "The malfunction with the ship was most unfortunate but the Goddess saw us through it and at last we are here. A bit late, I know, but safe and sound all the same."

She placed her hand on top of Oranfalin's head. "May the Goddess smile favorably upon you and your endeavors."

"Thank you, Sister." he said.

She bowed to him and proceeded to walk towards the hangars.

Oranfalin watched as she walked away. He looked back at Eric with a questioning look on his face.

"Like she said, Oran, she needed a ride and I was going this way. I always understood that you Dizyntk were very accommodating to your priestesses, so I gave her a ride." Eric explained.

Oran closed his eyes, sighed and nodded. "Yes, we are very charitable to the Orders. It's not a problem, I suppose."

He looked back at Alara as she continued to walk. "I don't think I recognize her Order."

Eric nodded. "I didn't either. She said it was something called the Nebula Order, whatever that is. You yourself told me there are a couple dozen Orders. I've only heard of four of them."

Oran nodded back as he looked at his friend. "Yes, yes, there are twenty or more minor Orders, give or take. Ah well, maybe her presence was the reason that your ship didn't just go boom. Thank the Goddess for her protections."

Eric laughed and slapped his friend on the shoulder. "Very true, my friend. Now, if you will excuse me, I have something else I need to do."

He started walking after Alara when he heard Oran exclaim. "HEY, what do you mean something else? Your ship needs fixing."

Eric stopped and turned his head towards his friend. "And it will get fixed just as fast whether I am standing here watching the crew fix it or waiting someplace else."

He started walking again.

"Where are you going?" Oran yelled after him.

"After a cute priestess that flirted with me on my ship." Eric replied and then waved as he increased his pace.

Oran looked mildly surprised for a moment before roaring in laughter.

It took a couple of minutes for Eric to catch up to Alara. They had discussed what they would say to Oran, whom Eric knew would be waiting for him, for a full day before they landed. He had ad-libbed the last line though. He was looking back and forth for her in the various hangars when he heard her speak to him.

She came out of the darkening shadows next to a hangar and said, "I flirted with you? I think it was the other way around."

Eric smiled at her as she approached. "It was something that he would not question and besides, I would like it if you flirted with me."

She reached him and put a hand on his chest. "I get the feeling that you would like me to do more than that."

"I won't deny that." he said. "And what, no mention of the fact that I said you were cute? I was completely honest about that part."

She slowly smiled at him. "For one who could not imagine himself flirting with a priestess, you are doing a good job right now."

Eric blushed a bit and scratched his head. "Well, for right now let's just go to my place. We can figure out what to do from there."

"Very well." Alara said as she let Eric take her hand and lead her to the light rail station where they would get a ride to his apartment.

"Just make sure that you behave yourself when we get there, human." she said in a light tone.

"Have no fear, Sister Veenalara. I have too much respect for your position as a priestess to misbehave towards you." he replied in an equally light tone.

"Respect for my ability to throw you through a wall has nothing to do with it?" she asked.

Eric laughed. "Well, maybe a little to do with it. But only a little."

Veenalara laughed as well. This was the first time she had ever been with anyone who was willing to joke about her powers, much less not be afraid of them. Yet she could not deny the fact that she felt absolutely no fear emanating from this human. She initially had questioned whether this was because he was a different race and therefore she could not read his emotions. This had changed during their trip to Elishen. She found that she could read all of his other emotions. This definitely included the desire that he was feeling towards her, but no fear at all. For this reason, along with her own attraction towards him, she allowed her tail to come up and wrap lightly around Eric's waist.

Tylavari was feeling conflicting emotions. She was intrigued and fascinated. Yet, at the same time she was also disbelieving and frightened. The drone had been delivered to the Tralaniran spaceport as she had requested. Fleet Command had been satisfied with the explanation of the drone being a relic from the time of the civil war. That their scans showed it to be a type that had not been manufactured since before the start of that war had helped immensely in this regard. She had arrived at the hangar it was to be parked in just as it was pulled through the doors on the transport cradle. She had seen that there was a key lock on the drone and that the shape of it looked to be the same as the ring she had received when she ascended to the head of her Order. It turned out that the ring did indeed unlock the access panel on the drone. She entered the decoding program that had been in the old records. It worked perfectly, although she was unsure if she was happy about that or not.

The message was simple. "This is a containment breach alert. Veenalara Thersin, Faylantkrana of the Nebula Order, has escaped from her containment facility on the planet TK334-1 (Tiriska). Containment Subject was released from her suspension capsule and taken from the facility by unknown individuals. Security drones in the facility were destroyed by weapons fire and powers of the Faylantkrana. Other planetary security devices were either offline due to fluctuations in the power generator, or had deteriorated from lack of scheduled maintenance. After sensors came back online, they detected an unauthorized starship leaving the system on a heading for the Elishen system. Repeating ... This is a containment breach alert..."

At first she thought this was something that had happened many cyankas earlier and the drone had simply failed to launch until now for some reason. That was until she looked at the date stamp for the sensor scan information. It took her only a few moments to mentally convert it to the modern calendar and it told her that this had happened only four tasin before the drone had arrived in the Kalantk system. It was possible that there had been an error of some kind. She prayed to the Goddess that this was all it was. She made a copy of the message, erased the memory of the drone and left the hangar. Outside, Linatora was waiting for her.

Linatora could plainly see the distress in Tylavari's face. "What is the matter, Revered Sister? You look scared."

Tyla attempted to force a smile to her face. She herself could tell it was not a very convincing one. "A message that our past may be coming back to haunt our present."

She could tell that this explanation was lost on her assistant. "Who is the eldest Sister on the planet?"

"Revered Sister Silvarinea of the Star Order, Mistress." She replied at once. It was part of her job to know such things, but the fact that Tylavari had needed to ask was troubling.

She stepped closer to her lightly stroked her ear. "What is it, my friend?"

Tyla took her friend's had and squeezed it gently. "Hopefully a mistake, but I need to see the Revered Sister all the same. Could you please call and make arrangements for me to see her. Tell her it is very important."

Inside she was shaking. A Faylantkrana was alive and on the loose on a main world. She could only pray that she did nothing destructive while on Elishen. It was an unnecessary prayer for, although she had no way of knowing it, destruction was the farthest thing from Veenalara's mind right then.

Veenalara was looking around Eric's apartment as he was making calls to his friends to let them all know he was alright. She looked at the pictures and holo-crystals he had of himself with his friends at some of the more well known tourist sites on Elishen. She was happy to see that some of them were the same as they had been when she had last been here. Not that she had been able to visit any of them personally. When Eric came back into the room, she was holding one of the pictures that showed Eric standing next to a Dizyntk female.

"That's Drela. Anadrela to be precise. She's one of my friends here on Elishen. She was very happy to hear that I was safe. Well, all of my friends were." he said as he looked over her shoulder.

Alana set the picture down and turned to Eric. "Just a friend?"

Eric looked down a little and rubbed the back of his neck. "Occasionally we are a bit more than friends." he admitted.

"So you are close friends then. Or are you lovers?" she asked.

Eric was familiar enough with Dizyntk culture that he knew that there was a distinct difference between the two terms. A close friend was one whom you sometimes might have sex with but was otherwise someone you just treated as any other friend. The human term "friends with benefits" was quite apropos to the concept and Dizyntk society had no problem with it. A lover was a step above that. A lover was someone that you were semi-committed to and might possibly bond with in the future. You could have any number of close friends at the same time. Once you had a lover, it was considered to be an exclusive relationship and you did not go around having sex with others. Unless, of course, said lover was involved in the sex; then it was perfectly fine. It was similar to being bonded with the exception that you could break up with a lover.

"Close friends." Eric replied without hesitation. "We do enjoy each other's physical company sometimes, but we both have other close friends. We don't usually have sex when we spend time together."

Alara smiled and nodded. Eric knew that, as a Dizyntk, this would not bother her. This did not mean that he was completely comfortable with the subject, as the slight reddening of his cheeks proved.

"Good." she said as she stepped closer to him.

"I guess so." Eric muttered. "Wait, why is it good?" he asked immediately, and more loudly, afterward as he his brain processed the comment.

"Because, that means I feel free to do this." Alara replied.

On saying this she pulled his head down and kissed him as she had done just before they had boarded his ship to come to Elishen. This was different though as Eric realized that she was not stopping the kiss. She was kissing him and nipping lightly on his lips. Her other hand was lightly fondling his crotch. He was quite surprised by this turn of events but he was not about to complain about it. It was true that he had never imagined flirting, much less having sex, with a Priestess. That thought was nowhere to be found, however, as he returned the kiss.

He squatted down slightly so as to put an arm around both her shoulders and waist. He proceeded to lift her up while never completely breaking the kiss. As he did so, Alara wrapped her arms around his neck. She was a bundle of emotions as this human carried her into the bedroom as she continued kissing him. It had been a long time since she had had sex; longer still with a male. Eric laid her down and she giggled as he tried, not very successfully, to undue her robes.

She put her hands on top of his. "Allow me to help."

The robes were more elaborate than the simple clothing usually worn by Dizyntk. They were Alara's normal mode of dress however. She quickly and easily undid them and they splayed out to either side of her.

Eric leaned down and licked lightly at her hardening nipples before nipping one of them. This caused Alara to yelp. Fortunately this was not Eric's first time with a Dizyntk so he was able to tell that it was a yelp of enjoyment. He stroked one hand slowly up her legs until he reached her vaginal area. He looked up at her and grinned as he felt that she was quite wet already.

"Do not be so ... OOOHHH!" Her head flexed back and her body arched as he slid two fingers inside her.

She looked back at him, her breathing beginning to get ragged " ... so sure of your skills. I was just ready for any lover to ... YES!" Her tirade was interrupted by his fingers stroking up inside at just the right spot.

Eric smirked at what she was trying to say. "Ready for any lover hmmm? Perhaps I should just stop then." He withdrew his fingers and went to get up.

Alara swiftly grabbed his arm. "NO! I mean ... grrrrr." she looked away briefly as she swallowed her pride.

It was true that her body needed someone, anyone, to touch and caress it. It had been so long since anyone had done so. It was also true that she was both grateful to Eric for rescuing her and that she found him very arousing right now.

She turned back to look at this human who had aroused her so skillfully. "I apologize." she said while pulling his hand back towards her dripping slit. "Please, continue, use my body, mate with me."

Eric smiled at her as she changed her tone. He leaned back down and licked up the side of one of her ears before biting down on the tip of it. At the same time, he got between her legs and rubbed the tip of his cock across her clit.

Alara was crazy with lust at this point. She arched her back and thrust her hips forward, trying to get his cock inside of her. She wanted this male, alien or not, inside of her. She needed him inside of her.

Eric decided that he had teased her enough and lined his cock up with her entrance. He thrust firmly into her. He felt her legs wrap around his back and her hands grab onto his shoulders as she moaned loudly.

She felt him thrust all the way to the end inside her before pulling almost all the way out and then plunging back inside. She licked, nibbled and kissed his neck and chest. She used her legs to pull herself up to meet each of his thrusts with an upward thrust of her own hips. She wanted as much of him inside her as it was possible for her to get.

Eric responded by pumping into her harder and faster. He could feel her vaginal muscles squeezing and milking on him and could tell that it would not take long for her to climax.

Alara could not speak, could not think. If it was not an automatic function she would probably have not been able to breathe so concentrated she was on the pleasure that was sweeping over her body. This pleasure built and built until it reached a breaking point. She thrust her hips up one last time and latched her claws onto Eric's shoulders as she began to orgasm.

Eric felt it coming and tried to hold back his own climax. He suddenly felt as if an orgasm were starting in a different part of his body than usual. Just as Alara began howling, this feeling caused Eric to cum hard inside her tightly clenching pussy.

Alara was in the midst of her orgasm when it suddenly felt like she was seeing herself through Eric's eyes and feeling his climax instead of her own. This merely caused her peak to intensify.

Eric was experiencing the same thing, only the other way around. He could feel it as Alara's pussy got warmer and slicker from his semen, but from her point of view. He could feel the orgasm that was sweeping hard and fast through her body. The unexpected sensation caused him to scream in pleasure as he finished pumping the last of his cum inside her.

As the feeling and climax receded, Eric collapsed on the bed next to an equally exhausted Alara. His eyes were wide open as he tried to understand what had just happened. He turned his head and looked at Alara. He saw an equally wide eyed stare looking back at him.

"Was ... that ... you?" he asked through his ragged breathing.

Alara's breathing was equally fast. "I ... I don't know ... maybe."

Eric laughed as best he could. "Maybe?"