Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don't care I'm still free, you can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the black, tell them I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me......There's no place I can be since I found my Liberty, you can't take the sky from me."
Chapter 2: I´ll Still Respect You
The first thing to break through to Brian’s consciousness was the high pitched whirl of a laser pistol powering up. The next thing his foggy mind picked up on was the warm body wrapped around him. However, the thing that actually brought him out of his induced coma was the cold feeling of a gun barrel on his right temple. Brian’s eyes popped open and his body gave an involuntary jerk before he heard the lethal growl, “What do you think you are doing boy?”
Brian’s brain was trying to process everything but he was lost. What happened? Where was he? What was going on? Nothing seemed to register in his foggy mind at the moment. Well nothing except the fact that he was naked in bed with another naked man, and someone had a laser pistol pointed at his head.
“Father, what are you doing here?”
Brian turned his head and for the first time noticed it was the gorgeous blonde boy who was wrapped around him in the bed. Boy that should teach him not to drink so much. How could he possibly forget bedding the blonde? Brian felt the pistol nudging the side of his head and heard the gravelly voice growl again, “What do you think you are doing boy?”
Brian slowly turned his head and took in everyone else in the room. Well he recognized Gardner, but the other three people were all new to him. He felt the blonde shifting around and pulling the blankets to keep himself covered, “I’ll ask again Father, what are you doing in my room?”
“Justin keep your mouth shut. I am going to find out what this man thinks he’s doing,” Craig Taylor looked at Brian with menacing eyes.
Brian blinked and looked at the impressively dressed man. Okay this man seemed to be the boy’s father. He also seemed to be pissed at finding the boy in bed with him. Well he could understand how that might upset a parent to find his kid in bed with a total stranger. It was at that moment that Brian wondered just how old the boy was and figured he was in for a world of hurt.
“Father you have no right to barge into my room and demand anything. I am a grown man after all.”
Craig looked at his son with disgust in his eyes, “Well maybe you can tell me what I am suppose to tell the Prince when he arrives to marry you and finds out you are no longer a virgin?”
Brian groaned and reached up to touch his head. This had to be the hangover from hell. It was actually ironic that he was caught in this situation. In his younger days he had exploited many a young man, but he’d lived almost like a monk for the last few months. This was the first time he’d gotten laid in, when was the last time he got laid? As a matter of fact, he didn’t even remember getting laid last night. He’d bedded a virgin and couldn’t remember it. Okay, he deserved to die. This was the worst crime he’d ever committed and he’d committed quite a few, but to bed a virgin and not remember it, well that was just wrong on so many levels.
“I really don’t care what you tell the Prince, Father. I never made any promises to him. I never agreed to anything!” stated Justin emphatically, his tone of voice rising with each word he spoke.
Craig threw his hands in the air and growled, “Well you may not have made the promises but I did Justin. However, if this is the man you choose, so be it. I’ll just get the parson and we’ll perform the ceremony in a few hours. I’ll just have to contact the Prince’s ambassador and pay the mating price. Do you have any idea how much this is going to cost me?”
Brian was trying to follow the conversation and understand what was taking place. It was a might difficult to process everything considering how muddy his mind was and the fact that he still had a laser pistol pressed firmly against his temple. “What’s going on Yang guang?”
Brian felt the pistol being pressed harder against his temple and the man claiming to be the blonde’s father growled, “Keep your mouth shut boy. All you need to know is that today is your wedding day.”
Well that cleared Brian’s head right up, “What?!”
“Father, you can’t be serious. I have no intensions of marry the Captain here.”
Brian was glad to hear that at least someone in the room was still sane.
“Well you should have thought about that before you gave this man your virginity. I have always given you everything Justin. Some would say I have always been too lenient with you. I’ve seen to it that you had the finest education that could be bought out here in the black. I have looked the other way at some of your antics, but the time has come for you to grow up. You must learn that there are consequences to your actions, son. You liked this man well enough to bed down with him, so you will just have to like him enough to mate with him,” was Craig’s reply.
“Well it seems you folks are forgetting one little detail,” stated Brian in a soft calm voice, “I refuse to marry him.”
Gardner walked up closer to Brian’s side of the bed and growled, “Oh but you will marry him, Bri. You seem to forget you are in my city, and I am the law here. If Supreme Commander Taylor wishes you to marry his only son, well then, you will be very happy to do his bidding. However, if you choose not to listen to reason, then I will be forced to arrest your entire crew and dismantle that piece of junk you call Liberty. Am I making myself perfectly clear here Bri?”
Brian’s entire body was rigid with fury and his eyes blazed into Gardner’s, “Crystal clear Gardner, but you should remember that I don’t take kindly to anyone threatening my crew and no one calls Liberty junk.” Brian felt the pistol jab into his temple again and cleared his throat, “However, since you are asking so politely, it seems that today is indeed my wedding day.”
“Marvelous my boy, marvelous. Seems we have us a mating ritual celebration to prepare,” replied Gardner clapping his hands.
“Captain Kinney my man Jones will keep you company and escort you to the ritual ceremony in two hours. I must take my son and prepare him for his upcoming vows. Justin follow me.”
“Father, I have told you already that…”
“Bi zui Justin! You will do as I say or I swear I will turn you over to the prince with a slave status, dong ma?”
Brian watched the fight leave the boy as his shoulders slumped in defeat, “Yes father I understand.”
Justin stood up and draped his toga about his body and silently followed his father from the room. Brian watched him leave with a mix of emotions. He hated the look of defeat on the boy’s face and for some strange reason he wanted to protect the kid. What was he thinking? He was being forced to marry that kid, but just as that thought crossed his mind he remembered that the kid was being forced to marry him as well. What a mess. Brian shoved the blankets down and glared up at the goon holding the gun, “I’d like to get dressed for the happy nuptials if you don’t mind.”
Brian watched the gun toting ape move over by the door. It never escaped his attention that the big ape kept the gun aimed at his head the entire time, and he definitely wasn’t surprised to hear the cryptic remark, “Get to it then.”
Justin walked into his father’s rooms silently seething. Well this was just a fine pickle he’d gotten himself into. He never expected his father to lose his mind like this. His plan was never to be forced to marry anyone. He thought if his father knew he was no longer a virgin he’d be able to pick his own mate in his own time. What was that old Earth saying about deception? “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” Well didn’t that just fit the bill in this case?
Craig put his hand on his son’s shoulder and sighed, “Justin I hope you realize the position you have put me in son. I can no longer turn a blind eye to your disrespectful actions. I know you only want to be like everyone else, but we both know you aren’t like everyone else. I still have no idea how you were able to get past your personal guard last night, but I assure you I will find out.” He squeezed his son’s shoulder and walked over and sat down behind his desk. “Son, you may not yet realize what you have done by bedding down with this man, but the only thing we can do now is get you married to him properly and make sure you understand the importance of this union.”
Justin noted the worried expression on his father’s face, “Oh come on Father, you make it sound like a life or death situation that I lost my virginity!”
Craig shook his head sadly and asked, “Justin, have you ever wondered why things come so naturally to you? Have you ever questioned why you could easily learn the most difficult subject matter? Have you ever thought about the fact that you are stronger, run faster, move quicker, and see things more vividly than others?”
Justin swallowed hard and stared at his father in amazement, “Well I just thought I was special.”
“Oh you are special my boy, very special. As a matter of fact, you are one of a kind. You are so special the Alliance would like nothing better than to find out you exist. Do you want to know why we are out here in the black instead of living on one of the inner planets?”
“I just always thought you preferred to live out here away from the influence of the Alliance,” murmured Justin.
“Well that is true. I did want to be as far away from the Alliance as possible, but not because I like it out here. I really had no choice, because when your mother died in childbirth you were all I had left, so I did what I had to do to keep you safe son.”
“What do you mean, you had to keep me safe. What could the Alliance want with me? I have never broken any laws.” Justin sat up straighter in his chair with a look of indignation.
“Son, your mother and I had been trying to have a child for a number of years when we were approached by a mutual friend. He worked at the Alliance hospital and was renowned in his research with genetics. He offered to help your mother and I have a baby as long as we promised to keep your birth a secret. We were so desperate to have a child that we didn’t question his motives at the time. You see son, you are not quite human.” At the shocked look on Justin’s face his father quickly explained, “I mean you are human, but you are an enhanced human. I honestly don’t know what all you are capable of and I really don’t want to find out. The only thing that was made perfectly clear to me was that if you ever mated with anyone it would be for life. I am not clear what is suppose to happen exactly, but you will be psychically linked to your partner and it would be detrimental to your health to be parted from him. I was assured that if he should die you would eventually be able to function, but I’m still unsure of what would become of you should that fate befall him before you die.”
Justin fell into the chair and looked at his father as the shock of this news finally penetrated, “Oh no, what have I done?”
“Well there is no need for hysterics now, Justin. We must simply get you wed properly to the Captain, and that will solve all our problems.”
Justin studied his father and actually saw how sad and worried he looked. For the first time in his life he felt ashamed. What had he put his father through all these years? What had his father given up to see to his happiness? He took a deep breath and decided that he would make his father happy. For once in his life he would be a good son and do his father’s bidding without making a scene. He would finally make his father proud and show him that all his sacrifices had not been in vain. “I’ll make you proud Father.”
“I have always been proud of you Justin. I admit that I would have preferred a more suitable mate for you than this Captain Kinney fellow, but he seems to be your choice so I will stand by you. Who knows, maybe it will be good to have a Captain in the family.”
Justin smiled at his father and stood up, “Well I must get myself ready for the ritual ceremony. I just hope you know that I love you Father.”
Craig stood and walked over to his son grabbing him in a bear hug choking out, “I love you too son, I love you too. Just make sure you are happy and that’s all I will ever want.”
“Thanks Dad.”
Craig wiped the tears from his eyes as he watched his son leave the room. That was the first time in years his son had called him Dad. Maybe this union would work out for the best after all.
Brian was ushered into the main ballroom wearing the same suit he had worn the night before. He had given this situation a lot of thought and decided that he could do much worse in a mate. Who was he kidding, hadn’t he just been wondering what was missing in his life? Maybe he should give this partnership a chance. After all, he really didn’t have a choice in the matter, and should things not work out, well there was always divorce. So why make himself and the blonde miserable when he could just enjoy all the positive aspects of having a mate. He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face as he thought of all the naughty things he could do to his future partner. He was pushed in front of a very sour looking individual he quickly surmised was the parson. He also realized that the parson knew this was actually a good old fashioned shotgun wedding, and he couldn’t keep the smirk off his face.
A gong sounded and Brian looked up to see the blonde walking slowly toward him. The kid looked terrified. All at once Brian’s protective instincts went on full alert. He regretted putting the boy in this situation, but hopefully they could learn to co-exist with one another amicably. Even though he couldn’t remember what happened last night, which was something he truly regretted, he felt responsible for bedding the boy simply because he was suppose to be older and wiser. He smiled at the boy trying to erase that terrified look and whispered softly, “Don’t worry Yang guang, I’ll still respect you in the morning.”