Page 7 of Jewel of the Alien Bandit
Grumbling, I followed Mabel away from the gardens and towards the viewing decks along with every other eligible female clamoring for the chance to mate during the peak of the moon’s radiation.
I had no intention of mating with anyone. I had more important things to do, like plan how I was going to sneak away onto the bounty hunter’s ship. What was his name again?
Did it matter?
Of course it did, my mother always said using someone’s name has always endeared a person towards you. Showed interest and respect. I stared at the picture on my view screen again. The image lifted from my wrist jewel, my stomach twisted. Nerves again.
You’re going to help me, Vareo, I know you will, I thought.
Even if he didn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER SIX
Vareo
NO ONE SAIDanything about playing games before the ceremony, and I still haven’t located the jewel of Estreldez. My guide was just as bright as my examiner but green coloring, and male as well. He was in better shape than the others I’ve seen going about their business. He wore a strange uniform that made him look like meat tied into sausage skin, loose beige clothing tied and cinched at his junctions. Though his torso was draped open displaying his toned muscle, I could see his ribcage. Either he needed to eat more or all the estreld males were skeletal like that under their lab coats.
“What kind of games?” I asked, suspiciously considering what tests I had to do on their moon before arriving on the mainland.
“Every mate must do their part to encourage as many females to participate in the ceremony as possible. If you do not catch the attention of a mate then you will be escorted back to your ship and be unable to participate in the ceremony.”
We were passing by a large black stone courtyard and my eye caught on a large diamond at the center.
“What’s that used for?”
“That's where the ceremony will be held, you will not be returning to this assembly garden until you’re chosen. The jewelat the center helps focus the radiation of the moon’s rays being gathered by the tarnpul,” he explained lazily. I smiled as the diamond in the floor disappeared from sight. There it was. The Jewel of Estreldez. Ripe for the taking while everyone was distracted fucking each other, I’ll grab the fist-sized diamond right under their gyrating bodies.
“So, what is it that gets an estreld excited?” I teased him, but it was a valid question. Even this green male turned a deeper shade of embarrassment at the topic. Their whole ceremony was about mating. They were sensitive for being the ones soliciting me to procreate their species.
“Displays of power, intelligence, and skill,” the green estreld replied evenly. I scanned him over once more assessing what he’d have to offer in those departments and he continued, “We start with gaining their attention.” And with that, we entered a room within the palace set up like a stadium, if it could even be called a room. The stands were filled with estrelds, all female and I was the last of the males to arrive. Seeing as the whole floor level was packed with potential mates and their handlers. There was even a krelin in the lot of them. He was easy to spot, even in a crowd, as everyone was giving him a decent girth of space, like a bubble no one dared enter.
And I found I was indeed wrong about the estreld males being all scrawny, or ill-fed. My eye caught on a particular blue one that was nearly as large as I was. Nearly, I joked internally with a grin thinking about how I could still take him down if it came down to a fight. But, I wasn’t here to cause trouble, at least not until I was long gone from this system and the best strategy was always keep your strongest threat to your goals closer than your end game.
“Who’s he?” I pointed to the big blue estreld with his tied sausage pants, and no shirt to display his muscles, along with his rather large organic jewels the scientist was telling me about.He seemed to have many more jewels on his arms than the examiner, or the handler that stayed glued to my side. I’d have to figure out a way of ditching my handler at some point.
“Aw.” I hadn’t even asked the handler what his own name was, and he didn’t seem to mind when he saw who I was referring to. “He’s the Amlder’s favorite adviser, and the Pride of Estreldez, Loric. Many females join just for a chance to mate with him, but he only chooses one each ceremony.”
“Only one?” The handler made a point to say ’only’ and it made me think that it wasn’t normal, especially with the way the planet was described as the best kept exclusive pleasure destination. Selling forged invites for a chance to be evaluated and make it into the games was a common black market scam, and only a few of the dealers were shady enough to trust their forgeries to be up to the challenge of making it to the examination. Lucky for me, even before the too-good-to-be-true job posting the necia had already dipped into the market craze of creating forged invites, and they were damned good at it.
“Yes, every mate is allowed to procreate as often as their anatomy will allow them to during the ceremony. Diversity is encouraged, though copulating multiple times with one female has shown to bear positive results as well.”
That’s what I thought he meant.
“Why only one then?” I motioned my chin over to the blue guy named Loric.
“He is an honorable estreld, and if his efforts spawn in another female he would wish to stay with her. It’s rare for an estreld male to be compatible with multiple mates, but he is aware that he risks a small chance to spawn with someone he isn’t fully compatible with, and he does his duty while still mitigating his chance of meeting both his true mate, and the mother of his spawn in the same evening. Though our clanwould praise him for both, he does not want to make a true mate sad.”
So the blue warrior was a softy after all. I didn’t realize their true mates would be sad if their male had an offspring with another female. I thought they were all very open about that kind of stuff considering their mating games, but apparently some of them were more traditional.
“So, we’re just supposed to mingle with the competition?” I changed the subject, scanning the crowd of females staring at us like a herd of blorgenpines gathered to be slaughtered for flavor packs. Those flavor packs were a godsend with the gruel you have to endure on long space travel.
“Normally there are only ten mates chosen for the ritual, but as you can see many mates have been accepted this cycle. The Almder will arrive soon to start the games, and Salph will introduce the mates to the participants.”
“Right…”
I took the opportunity to make my way closer to Loric, the stoic blue estreld in the back, and folded my arms over my chest, grunting while scanning the females. Appearing dissatisfied with my search was a sure bet for any protective softy to start up a conversation to be defensive on their behalf. I didn’t need him thinking I was a complete asshole, but I could easily adjust the chat in my favor once he initiated contact. Trust is never built between marks when they think you’re talking to them because you want something, but when they are the one that talks to you, well then, their guard is down because they think they are the one in control.
I kept my back to the male, further cementing that I have no intention of approaching him. Tapping my foot to increase the anxiety levels of most who were paying attention only psychologically sped up the desire for my mark to take action sooner than later. Preferably before my act was interrupted bythe leader of the planet, and the whole mating games. I needed to solidify my ally in this show and gorble parade.
