Angelique Anjou - Dream Warriors.pdf

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DREAM WARRIORS
By
Angelique Anjou
© copyright by Angelique Anjou, July 2004
cover art by Jenny Dixon
ISBN 1-58608-491-7
New Concepts Publishing
Lake Park, GA 31636
www.newconceptspublishing.com
Chapter One
"Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is the pilot of the private cruiser Laurel-Lynn M4J679. I’ve just
passed through a micro meteor shower in quadrant LBT13009 in the Horseshoe Nebula and have
experienced structural damage."
Laurel Conyers switched off the microphone while she waited to see if anyone would pick up the signal.
Seeing that she’d dropped within viewing distance of the planet below her, she activated the craft’s
stealth mode. There was no sense in scaring the shit out of the natives.
Her radio squawked as it picked up a counter transmission. She turned it on again and started panting
and gasping.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is the pilot…." She repeated the previous message.
"Laurel-Lynn M4J679--this is Station O2412 on the outer rim. What’s your status?"
Laurel frowned, dropping a little lower as she saw a land mass appear in her viewing port. "Station
O2412--This is Laurel-Lynn M4J679. I’m hemorrhaging air. The rudder is sluggish. Some computer
malfunction. I’m going to have to set it down for repairs. Copy?"
"Laurel-Lynn M4J679, this is Station O2412. You are in restricted space. I repeat, you are in restricted
space. Can you make it to the next system?"
"Negative. I’m going to have to find something closer--really close," Laurel said, panting into the
microphone for a little added drama before she turned it off and leaned forward in her seat. A smile
curled her lips. There was a village just below her. Pulling the cruiser in a wide turn, she headed back for
another look, dropping a little lower.
"Private cruiser Laurel-Lynn M4J679, this is Station O2412. You are not authorized to land in that
sector. I repeat, you are not authorized to land in that sector."
Laurel activated her microphone again. "Just what part of ‘I’m fucking crashing’ do you not understand,
 
Station O2412?"
As she did her second fly by, she saw that it was a good sized city. In the center was a large building she
decided was probably a temple--primitives were always big on worshipping gods. There were two
smaller buildings on either side of the ‘temple’ which she figured must be gathering places of some sort,
since they looked to be too big to be a single family dwelling. Unless they were something like
apartments? The streets were laid out in a perfect grid, forming squares. Dwellings nestled shoulder to
shoulder around the squares.
It looked perfect to her--not too big, but big enough to have a reasonably good sized population, she
decided. She began looking for a clearing where she could land her craft.
"Laurel-Lynn M4J679 this is Station O2412, the only planet in that system with breathable air is the
fourth planet from the star, NY3410--primitive society, believed to be hostile, protected species. Can
you make repairs in space?"
"Negative, Station O2412. Guess I’m just going to have to take my chances with the barbarians. It
shouldn’t take me more than a couple of weeks, tops. I’ll check back when I’ve had time to look
everything over. Laurel-Lynn M4J679 out."
Really! All the panting and gasping and acting fearful was starting to make her head swim.
Switching off the radio, Laurel concentrated on the terrain below. It was pretty thick with vegetation--no
bare spots. "Shit. I’m just going to have to make a hole."
After checking the distance from the village, she targeted a spot near a small stream of water, did a life
form scan and hit it with a laser beam when she saw there was no higher life forms within the immediate
vicinity. The beam cut a twenty foot diameter swath through the vegetation, clearing it to the dirt.
Satisfied, she dropped her cruiser into the ‘hole’ she’d made.
When the onboard computer informed her that the craft had landed, she shut everything down, threw off
her safety belts and moved to the viewing ports. A shiver of delight went through her. "I’m going to have
the best damned thesis that University has ever set eyes on!" she said gleefully.
Unfortunately, she only had a couple of weeks, tops, to gather her data. Less than that if there was a
confederation cruiser close enough to do a fly by and check her story out.
With that thought, Laurel drew her laser pistol from the holster and studied the interior of the cruiser
carefully, trying to decide where to put the holes. Fortunately, it occurred to her before she’d done it that
micro meteors would have struck outside to in, not vice versa. Sighing, she opened the hatch and
lowered the gang plank.
The scent of vegetation that struck her as the door slid open was nearly overwhelming. The smell of
flowers, and fruit, dead things, rotting vegetation--and burned vegetation, assaulted her in a cacophony of
smells.
"This is going to take some getting used to," she muttered. "Who’d have thought plants would smell?" The
plants on the space station didn’t seem to have that much smell, but maybe it was because there weren’t
nearly so many plants so close together?
Or, maybe it was the dirt?
Or the animals?
 
Shrugging, she went down the gang plank and picked her way around the craft carefully, studying the
ship speculatively. She really hated having to put holes in it, but the enforcers of the Confederation
Policing Agency were bound to check her ship to see if she’d made up her ‘emergency’ landing. Sighing,
she moved around to the rudder and pull a couple of half inch holes in it, scattered a couple on the fins in
an artful splash and then, after studying the cockpit carefully for some time, placed two in the main cabin.
When she’d finished, she went inside to check the damage. "Well fuck! Wouldn’t you know it! I hit the
damned radio!"
Now they were going to be wondering how she’d managed to call for help. "Fuck it!" she muttered
irritably. She could fix it later. She’d just have to tell them she’d had to patch the radio up before she
radioed in her distress call, but she couldn’t get the other holes plugged.
That would work.
She was probably going to have to put a few more holes in the ship before she left though.
Fortunately, she had brought plenty of supplies for repairs, just in case she met up with an accident on
her trip to the Perrsons Star System, which just happened to make it necessary for her to pass right by
the HS Nebula.
Shoving her pistol into her holster, she went to her locker and started pulling her instruments out and
checking them.
First things first--she was going to have to get close enough to pick up speech with her translator before
it could start analyzing the language. Once she had enough input, though, she’d be able to tell what they
were talking about and then she could start taking notes on their social order, religious practices, mating
rituals and so forth.
This was just sooooo exciting! She was going to be the first, the only, person to study the primitives of
NY3410!
* * * *
Faine D’Arten narrowed his eyes as he sensed the strange disturbance in the sky above the village once
more. When he focused upon it, he saw that it was almost cylindrical in shape--like a curved piece of the
sky. Frowning, he followed it with his gaze until he determined the direction of its path and set off through
the jungle. There he followed it by the disturbance it created in the tops of the trees. He was nearing the
stream when he saw a bright light appear in the forest before him. The vegetation simply turned to ash
before his eyes.
His expression hardened. He had known it must be one of the star people. They were forbidden to visit
his world, but he had seen the evidence of their trespass before.
Grimly, he found a position to watch and waited to see if he could determine what the intruder had come
for.
As the strange object began to settle toward the ground, it ceased to look like a piece of the sky and
took on the look of the jungle surrounding it. If he had not known it was there, he might have overlooked
it. It did not look just the same. The images were wavery--like when heat danced upon the horizon, but
 
unless one were specifically searching for it, the disguise was good enough to fool most.
Of course the desecration of the forest would have been a strong indication that something was not as it
should be.
When he heard a faint sound that seemed to indicate activity, he moved around the perimeter for a better
look. A hole had opened in the side of the object. His heart slammed against his ribs as he saw the
creature that appeared in the opening.
It was the most beautiful being he had ever set eyes upon, with hair the color of the sun and pale, golden
skin. His gaze dropped to its chest. When he saw that it was female a sense of desire and possessiveness
moved over him.
Mesmerized, he watched the bounce and sway of her breasts as she walked down the board that led to
the ground, bringing her closer so that he could see he hadn’t just imagined how beautiful she was. She
wore some strange garment that covered most of her body, but it conformed to her shape and he could
see that her body was as beautifully formed as her features. Her hair, drawn back tightly from her face
and worn tied together high on the back of her head, swung as she walked, catching sunlight within it that
sparkled like the yellow metal the women of his people were so fond of adorning themselves with.
He had no desire to adorn his body with anything but hers, he thought, stalking her as she moved around
the strange object, watching curiously as she pulled a stick from a carrier along her hip. His eyes widened
when light shot from the stick--straight into the object that had carried her to his world.
A smile curled her lips as she studied what she had done and then she turned and went inside once
more.
Puzzled, he settled down to wait until she came out once more, dividing half his mind between trying to
understand what she had done and why she had done it, and the other half in trying to decide how best to
capture her.
The weapon--it had to be a weapon--would be almost as good a prize as the female herself, but he had
no desire to discover what it would do to his body when something much like it had reduced the forest to
ash.
He was glad he had not ignored the strange dream vision that he had had.
He was glad he had waited to take a wife.
Chapter Two
The sun had already begun to sink toward the tops of the trees by the time Laurel had everything
organized. She hesitated on the gang plank, wondering if she should just wait until the following morning
before she made her first excursion to the village. Time was something she didn’t have much of, however.
 
It was really irritating, though, to be at the mercy of nature. She’d never thought it would be so
inconvenient.
Shrugging, she went back inside and added a portable light to her bag. When she’d reached the ground,
she turned and aimed the remote toward the controls for the gang plank and the door, waiting until the
ship was secure, and then dropped the remote into her bag and pulled her communicator out, pulling up a
map of the area, frowning in concentration as she carefully oriented her current position with the one the
computer had mapped for the village.
It was only a fifteen minute walk according to the computer’s calculations.
Shifting her pack to a more comfortable position on her back, she struck off through the dense jungle.
Twenty minutes later, huffing for breath--sweating!--she stopped to examine the map again.
According to the map, she was only three quarters of the way there. "Computer, calculate the walk
according to the current terrain," she said testily.
"Thirty minutes."
"Well, for chrissake! Couldn’t you have done that in the first place?" she snapped.
"You told me to calculate on the distance."
"Explain to me why I bothered to pay extra for artificial intelligence--because if I was going to have to
rely on myself anyway, I could have saved that money!"
"You should be aware that you are within hearing distance of the barbarians if you continue to speak in a
loud tone of voice," the computer said warningly.
Laurel glared at the tiny viewing screen and shoved it into her pack.
There was a slight rise at the edge of the village along the tree line. As soon as Laurel began to hear
sounds indicating that she was nearing it, she crouched down and began to move more cautiously.
Finally, she reached the rise. Below her, she could see the natives moving about. Settling on her belly, she
pulled the pack from her shoulder and dragged her translator out. When she’d adjusted it to maximum
range, she set it carefully on the ground and activated her recorder.
"I have now reached the outskirts of the village of the barbarians. Currently, it appears that they are
making piles with limbs of vegetation and setting fire to them. I’m not certain what the purpose of this is,
but I think they might use them for light since it’s late evening now and growing dark," she whispered into
the tiny microphone.
Lifting slightly away from the ground, she craned her neck to see a little better. "The primitives do not
appear to wear clothing of any kind--perhaps because this stinking planet feels like a fucking
sauna--wait! I see a female now. Her genitals are covered by some sort of garment. It looks like some
kind of woven natural fibers--so they have some manufacturing capabilities. This garment is fastened
around her hips and looks like a long rectangle, which leaves her thighs bare. She has something on her
breasts--a bra like thing, but that appears to be metal in nature."
"The primitives are a humanoid race, very tall from what I can see from my observation position--dark.
Their skin is brown, probably because they run around naked in the sun, or half naked. But their hair is
very dark, as well, so it’s possible they are naturally dark anyway."
Hearing the snap of vegetation very close by, Laurel stilled, listening. When she didn’t hear it again, she
 

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