CHAPTER 2 - GALATIANS 6:7
Genau'Goeg dreamed restlessly under the heavy sedation of an alien multi-drug cocktail, her shackled body stretched out on the soft, deep piled fur of some
alien beast in the personal chambers of Karegu'Rhia. He watched her from a distance as she slept, his brow furrowed in a knot of distain as he lounged in a
large, intricately carved wingback chair. Her body and higher conscious functions may have been shut down, but a deeper, more animal part of her brain was
still alert - and it was that part of her brain the Dran'an scientists were having the most problems with.
Karegu held reports detailing the results of various tests performed on the sleeping Gen and poured over each one with bored annoyance. A lot of the jargon was
too technical, but what he did understand troubled him. Generally submissive by nature, Dran'an females are not prone to attacking males, unless they have
a brood to protect. The presence of young releases an aggression hormone in the female, similar to what males produce during combat. However, in Gen's
case, there was an abnormality that went unchecked - a deformation of her pituitary gland. It was slightly enlarged, but within tolerance, a scientist tried to
explain before being run through by Kageru's sword. Such incompetence, he thought, is responsible for the downfall of our great race. He took a deep
breath, dropping the reports on the floor in a spray of disheveled papers and played the previous week's events in his head, trying to figure out where it
all went wrong...
They found her half dead and quivering from the force of the electric shock sustained by trying to pull the muscle stimulation electrodes from her skin in a
liquid environment. According to the readouts on her vital monitor, she was in a state of cardiac arrest. Ten years of research and the promise of renewed hope
for the species would come crashing down if she were left to die.
"Do something!" Karegu hissed, almost frantic. Two massive hulks of scientists strode up to her seemingly lifeless body floating in the egg-like
enclosure of her ex-utero capsule. The scientists pushed a panel on the front of the capsule and it opened with a hiss, dumping Gen's form on the floor in
a puddle of synthetic ambiotic fluid. One knelt beside her and injected her with adrenaline through an IV tube coming out of her chest, rebooting her
cardiovascular system.
"She's stabilized now, m'lord," said one scientist, turning towards Karegu. "Heart rate and breathing are normal. She's going to be
unconscious for awhi--GURK!" His voice choked off suddenly as a glowing sliver of energy suddenly appeared on his neck. He mouthed a few more words before
his great, draconic head bid adeiu to the rest of his body, sliding wetly and landing with a sickening thud on the floor. Karegu stepped back, barely avoiding
being splashed with blood as the scientist's headless torso slumped to the floor, revealing a dripping wet Genau'Goeg, claws of angry crackling blue
energy eminating from her wrists. Her snout curled up, revealing a mouthful of dagger-like teeth before she unleashed a massive roar, bounding down a hallway
after the remaining scientist, tubes and wires pulling out of her body as she gave chase.
He fled along the winding corridors of the ex-utero incubation capsules, not paying attention to where his feet were taking him. Too late, he realized that
he'd taken a wrong turn and rounded a corner to a dead end. The scientist frantically activated a long-unused computer panel on the wall and activated an
alarm just as Gen found him. Klaxon alarms blared in the background and the lights overhead began to flash red. With this as her killing symphony, she was upon
him with cobra-like quickness, screaming and clawing at his chest, his skin sizzling under the baleful glow of her blades.
Karegu's blood turned cold as he heard the screams of his scientist above the wailing of sirens, coupled with the screams of bloodlust from his potential
breeding stock. He reached for his sword, the sound of steel singing in his ears as he drew it from the scabbard on his waist. The older warrior dropped into a
fighting stance, the sword a comfortable weight in his hand as he saw Gen stagger into view down the hallway preceded with the cool blue light of her glowing
blades. Her body was spattered with blood, turning her dark powder blue scales a glossy black under the glaring red alarm lights. She spotted Karegu and
stopped, glaring at him with the same fixed, glassy eyes of a coma patient. He snorted and choked up the grip on his sword, his reptilian eyes narrowing at
her.
"Such behavior," he began, "is completely unbecoming of a Dran'an lady. I am your master, and you will do as I say, or there will be
consequences." His voice dropped a couple of octaves at the end, his deep tones resonating against a second set of vocal cords at the back of his throat.
This was a talent unique to the Dran'an males - the dual vocal structures resonate together, creating pulses of sound that affect the cerebrum of
Dran'an females and make them placid and impressionable. Gen's shoulders and head slumped a little, her body relaxing in response to Karegu's
"vocal Prozac". He smiled, baring his gleaming white fangs.
"Very, very good, my goddess," he hissed, "now come to me and let's put an end to this nonsense." Gen slowly walked forward, each step
seemingly painful to her. The grimace of bloodlust never faded from her face as she staggered towards Karegu, her unsteady gait forcing her to support herself
against the wall. Karegu walked towards her reached his clawed hand toward the hand supporting her, putting his sword back in its scabbard. The moment he
clasped his massive clawed hand around Gen's still wet palm, he saw a bright flash and felt incredible searing pain on the right side of his face. The
world grew a little dimmer as he felt his blood pour down his armor and spill upon the stone floor. The glowing blue blade of her off hand had imbedded itself
into the stone wall above Karegu's head, flaying the flesh on his cheek and scalp open as it sailed through the air.
He slumped to the floor just as a contingency of soldiers armed with suppression armaments rounded the corner. One soldier fired a net gun with razor-tipped
bolos, which opened around Gen and pinned her against the wall. She snarled and melted through the netting with her blades, covering the distance between her
and the soldiers quickly. They opened fire as she came, pincushioning her body with tranq darts. She finally succumbed to the drugs coursing through her system
after maiming two more of the soldiers, collapsing on a third...
Karegu was interrupted from his meditation by a low groan as Gen slowly blinked back to consiousness.
"Ah, my sleeping bride," he chuckled, rising from his chair and walking over to the groggy form on his bed. "At last you awaken." His wings
flexed as he began unfastening and shedding his armor, throwing it in a pile near the chair on top of the scattered papers. The last thing he removed was his
sword, which was placed in a holder above the bed. He knelt down on the pile of furs next to Gen and spread his arms wide, muscles rippling under spring-green
scales.
"I am unarmed, and I do not want to hurt you," Karegu said, almost sweetly. "I just wish to...talk."
"Talk...then..." Gen said slowly, the concept of speaking still foreign to her.
"Very well. I admit, it was wrong of me to force so much information upon you at once and expect you to have any other reaction than what you did. But, it
is important you know your place here. You are to be my conicubine - my royal consort of highest ranking." He smiled and leaned in a little closer as he
whispered in a low tone, "My favorite." Gen's eyes widened a little and she blushed as he placed a hand on her scaled thigh.
"What...you...want from me..." she struggled. Karegu put a finger on her lips and hissed softly.
"Shhh, your vocal cords still aren't properly developed yet, try not to speak," he shifted his body onto the bed and straddled her. "In fact
there's no talking necessary for what comes next..."
Genau'Goeg dreamed restlessly under the heavy sedation of an alien multi-drug cocktail, her shackled body stretched out on the soft, deep piled fur of some
alien beast in the personal chambers of Karegu'Rhia. He watched her from a distance as she slept, his brow furrowed in a knot of distain as he lounged in a
large, intricately carved wingback chair. Her body and higher conscious functions may have been shut down, but a deeper, more animal part of her brain was
still alert - and it was that part of her brain the Dran'an scientists were having the most problems with.
Karegu held reports detailing the results of various tests performed on the sleeping Gen and poured over each one with bored annoyance. A lot of the jargon was
too technical, but what he did understand troubled him. Generally submissive by nature, Dran'an females are not prone to attacking males, unless they have
a brood to protect. The presence of young releases an aggression hormone in the female, similar to what males produce during combat. However, in Gen's
case, there was an abnormality that went unchecked - a deformation of her pituitary gland. It was slightly enlarged, but within tolerance, a scientist tried to
explain before being run through by Kageru's sword. Such incompetence, he thought, is responsible for the downfall of our great race. He took a deep
breath, dropping the reports on the floor in a spray of disheveled papers and played the previous week's events in his head, trying to figure out where it
all went wrong...
They found her half dead and quivering from the force of the electric shock sustained by trying to pull the muscle stimulation electrodes from her skin in a
liquid environment. According to the readouts on her vital monitor, she was in a state of cardiac arrest. Ten years of research and the promise of renewed hope
for the species would come crashing down if she were left to die.
"Do something!" Karegu hissed, almost frantic. Two massive hulks of scientists strode up to her seemingly lifeless body floating in the egg-like
enclosure of her ex-utero capsule. The scientists pushed a panel on the front of the capsule and it opened with a hiss, dumping Gen's form on the floor in
a puddle of synthetic ambiotic fluid. One knelt beside her and injected her with adrenaline through an IV tube coming out of her chest, rebooting her
cardiovascular system.
"She's stabilized now, m'lord," said one scientist, turning towards Karegu. "Heart rate and breathing are normal. She's going to be
unconscious for awhi--GURK!" His voice choked off suddenly as a glowing sliver of energy suddenly appeared on his neck. He mouthed a few more words before
his great, draconic head bid adeiu to the rest of his body, sliding wetly and landing with a sickening thud on the floor. Karegu stepped back, barely avoiding
being splashed with blood as the scientist's headless torso slumped to the floor, revealing a dripping wet Genau'Goeg, claws of angry crackling blue
energy eminating from her wrists. Her snout curled up, revealing a mouthful of dagger-like teeth before she unleashed a massive roar, bounding down a hallway
after the remaining scientist, tubes and wires pulling out of her body as she gave chase.
He fled along the winding corridors of the ex-utero incubation capsules, not paying attention to where his feet were taking him. Too late, he realized that
he'd taken a wrong turn and rounded a corner to a dead end. The scientist frantically activated a long-unused computer panel on the wall and activated an
alarm just as Gen found him. Klaxon alarms blared in the background and the lights overhead began to flash red. With this as her killing symphony, she was upon
him with cobra-like quickness, screaming and clawing at his chest, his skin sizzling under the baleful glow of her blades.
Karegu's blood turned cold as he heard the screams of his scientist above the wailing of sirens, coupled with the screams of bloodlust from his potential
breeding stock. He reached for his sword, the sound of steel singing in his ears as he drew it from the scabbard on his waist. The older warrior dropped into a
fighting stance, the sword a comfortable weight in his hand as he saw Gen stagger into view down the hallway preceded with the cool blue light of her glowing
blades. Her body was spattered with blood, turning her dark powder blue scales a glossy black under the glaring red alarm lights. She spotted Karegu and
stopped, glaring at him with the same fixed, glassy eyes of a coma patient. He snorted and choked up the grip on his sword, his reptilian eyes narrowing at
her.
"Such behavior," he began, "is completely unbecoming of a Dran'an lady. I am your master, and you will do as I say, or there will be
consequences." His voice dropped a couple of octaves at the end, his deep tones resonating against a second set of vocal cords at the back of his throat.
This was a talent unique to the Dran'an males - the dual vocal structures resonate together, creating pulses of sound that affect the cerebrum of
Dran'an females and make them placid and impressionable. Gen's shoulders and head slumped a little, her body relaxing in response to Karegu's
"vocal Prozac". He smiled, baring his gleaming white fangs.
"Very, very good, my goddess," he hissed, "now come to me and let's put an end to this nonsense." Gen slowly walked forward, each step
seemingly painful to her. The grimace of bloodlust never faded from her face as she staggered towards Karegu, her unsteady gait forcing her to support herself
against the wall. Karegu walked towards her reached his clawed hand toward the hand supporting her, putting his sword back in its scabbard. The moment he
clasped his massive clawed hand around Gen's still wet palm, he saw a bright flash and felt incredible searing pain on the right side of his face. The
world grew a little dimmer as he felt his blood pour down his armor and spill upon the stone floor. The glowing blue blade of her off hand had imbedded itself
into the stone wall above Karegu's head, flaying the flesh on his cheek and scalp open as it sailed through the air.
He slumped to the floor just as a contingency of soldiers armed with suppression armaments rounded the corner. One soldier fired a net gun with razor-tipped
bolos, which opened around Gen and pinned her against the wall. She snarled and melted through the netting with her blades, covering the distance between her
and the soldiers quickly. They opened fire as she came, pincushioning her body with tranq darts. She finally succumbed to the drugs coursing through her system
after maiming two more of the soldiers, collapsing on a third...
Karegu was interrupted from his meditation by a low groan as Gen slowly blinked back to consiousness.
"Ah, my sleeping bride," he chuckled, rising from his chair and walking over to the groggy form on his bed. "At last you awaken." His wings
flexed as he began unfastening and shedding his armor, throwing it in a pile near the chair on top of the scattered papers. The last thing he removed was his
sword, which was placed in a holder above the bed. He knelt down on the pile of furs next to Gen and spread his arms wide, muscles rippling under spring-green
scales.
"I am unarmed, and I do not want to hurt you," Karegu said, almost sweetly. "I just wish to...talk."
"Talk...then..." Gen said slowly, the concept of speaking still foreign to her.
"Very well. I admit, it was wrong of me to force so much information upon you at once and expect you to have any other reaction than what you did. But, it
is important you know your place here. You are to be my conicubine - my royal consort of highest ranking." He smiled and leaned in a little closer as he
whispered in a low tone, "My favorite." Gen's eyes widened a little and she blushed as he placed a hand on her scaled thigh.
"What...you...want from me..." she struggled. Karegu put a finger on her lips and hissed softly.
"Shhh, your vocal cords still aren't properly developed yet, try not to speak," he shifted his body onto the bed and straddled her. "In fact
there's no talking necessary for what comes next..."