Discovery (Hybrid Book 1) (5 page)

Connor turned to the older man. “Ambassador, would it be possible for us to retire and ready ourselves for the reception this evening?  I know Lady Chesara is so excited to see the palace and to meet Lord and Lady Harmon.” Chesara shot him a dirty look as Tenset hid a laugh with a cough.

“Of course, of course,” fussed the older man. “First may I introduce my nephew, Lord Tenset? He’ll be your companion this evening Lady Chesara. I thought someone a little younger might give you more insight into our culture than my dry, old history lessons.” He smiled weakly before turning to press a button next to the light switch. They could hear a slight tinkling in the distance.

“I’ll have you shown to your rooms immediately. You’ll find appropriate clothing for the function ready for you. We can meet back in this room in an hour?”

“Is my security officer not attending the function with me Ambassador?”

“Erm no. I’m afraid we have other mundane Federation matters concerning your visit to discuss, nothing that would keep you from your entertainment this evening.” Tamas appeared a little flustered by the query.

Connor seemed unconcerned, but she wasn’t quite sure how she felt about spending an evening with ‘Prince Charming’ without her ever present guardian.

Chesara was glad to follow the middle aged, female servant out of the room as the piecing gaze of Lord Tenset was making her feel distinctly uncomfortable. Men didn’t usually look at her like that. Tenset was looking at her as if she was an attractive woman, not a freak of nature, or the answer to their medical problem. She wasn’t sure if she felt put off by that, or if it could be rather fun to be the centre of an attractive male’s attention. Well there was always the option of a swift kick to the genitals if she felt too uncomfortable.

Seeing as though he was Tamas’ nephew, he might or might not know about her ‘true identity’. Zeus Almighty, she sounded like a cheap ‘hero’ entertainment, and she grinned whilst decided to err on the side of safety, and continue to perform her assigned role. After all, it could be fun pretending to be a bimbo for the evening.

Chesara followed Connor and the servant who was smartly dressed in a knee length black skirt and white shirt up the wide plascrete staircase to the second floor. She quietly announced that the second door to the left was the ‘executive suite’ for the lady, before telling Connor he’d be in a room on the floor above. Connor turned following the woman. Chesara was rather annoyed, as she wanted to discuss the fact that he wasn’t attending the function in person, rather than via their standard federation issue com implants.

While she waited for Connor to reach his room, she explored hers. It was almost identical to the VIP quarters on the ship, although the walls were a darker shade than the pale ones on the Apollo. Didn’t the Federation ever get fed up with beige?

The room had the usual Federation dark red colour accents, in the form of bedding and couches. The bathroom even had ‘feature’ red tiles and red towels. As she wandered over to the bed, to test how hard or soft it was, she stopped in her tracks at the ‘dress’ laid out for her. Immediately, she touched the com link button under the skin behind her ear.

“Are you kidding Connor?  I can’t wear that in public,” she almost screeched at him.

“Thanks for checking I was alone before calling. You know these people don’t use com implants, and what’s wrong with the clothing?” He sounded a little weary. But seriously, she wasn’t a dress up doll, no matter what the character she was meant to be assuming for the convenience of the locals.

“It’s beach wear with tassels,” she said holding up what looked like a pile of green shimmering fabric strips.

“It’s what all the other young women will be wearing. Local tradition dictates that women only cover up when they get older,” he explained patiently in a tone that indicated she was being childish. “You had the guidance notes on your desk. I know you were tired, but didn’t you read any of it?” He sounded a little exasperated.

She knew discussions about ‘fashion’ weren’t his thing, but this was more than an ‘I’ll look fat in that,’ moment and he was starting to annoy her. It was all right for him, all he had to worry about was getting lint on his ninja outfit. She knew he always carried a lint roller in his bag, the big girl’s blouse.

“Well excuse me. I’ve been a little ‘busy’ today so forgive me missing the local fashion handout, instead of the political information.”

Her annoyance started to drain away as she knew she’d probably end up wearing the damn thing. A sense of impending doom occurred as she eyed the garment. Much as she wanted to appear to be a sophisticated, together woman, outside of medical situations, which were her comfort zone, she really wasn’t. She winced as she heard a whine entering her voice as she continued a last ditch defence.

“I can’t walk about in public in this, especially as you’re not coming. I bet the not so Honourable Lord Tenset has octopus hands, why can’t you come as well? Please?”

Chesara heard a sigh before his reply came through. “Planetary etiquette doesn’t allow people with active implants to attend because of security fears, and one of us needs to remain in touch with the Apollo. They wouldn’t try anything Kittycat. If anything happened to you the Federation would come down on them like a ton of bricks, and they know it. I’m sure Lord Tenset will be the perfect gentleman, but I’ll be having a word before you go. Just to make sure he knows I’ll turn him into a pretzel if he makes you feel at all uncomfortable.”

Exceedingly few people had the guts to ignore a ‘word’ from Connor. Even though it was annoying, he was right as usual. There was a Federation cruiser in orbit after all. It could pulverise all the major cities on the planet in a few hours. With her worries mostly settled, she remembered what else he’d said. She hated being sedated.

“We only have an hour, so please get into your costume, and I’ll be down with my box of tricks to deactivate your implants while you’re in the Palace. It’ll only be for a couple of hours.” The connection went dead, and she started to swear. Quietly. Just in case anyone was listening.

“Son of a Kackbad, save me from bloody backward yokels. Why the hell can’t they just pop up to the ship for me to sort out their infertility problem, instead of making me go through this song and dance? They’re probably both so fucking ugly, putting bags on their heads would work, or maybe they didn’t get the birds and the bees talk cos no one thought they’d ever need it.”

Chesara carried on muttering as she stripped off her stained white shirt, trousers and black boots. Looking at the garment, she sighed and removed her bra, before having a quick shower. The luxury of a bath would have to wait until later. It didn’t improve her mood.

Twenty minutes later, she looked in the mirror and decided that the dark green outfit wasn’t too bad after all. In fact, it was quite attractive, although it showed a hell of a lot more flesh than she was used to. Connor’s eyes were going to pop out. She knew he thought of her as a smart arse kid, but this outfit showed a completely different side of her.

The crop top had cap sleeves and was connected to the ‘skirt’ by two strips on either side of her navel, forming a ‘V’ shape. The skirt consisted of a band of material that just reached her upper thighs and a great many strips of the same shimmering fabric hanging from it. The strips fell almost to the floor so when she stood still, she was covered, but if she walked her whole leg, including her thigh would be exposed.

The green certainly worked wonders with her colouring, but her body markings stood out like a sore thumb. They were a red beacon about her head shouting ‘different’ to anyone with two brain cells to rub together.

She’d have to use the ‘it’s all the rage at home,’ fashion excuse that had explained her skin and eyes to many other groups of ‘carrot crunchers’. She smiled as she particularly liked that insult, and this’d been the first time she’d remembered it in an appropriate situation.

Her mood somewhat improved, she eyed the delicate metallic green sandals with small heels and ties that would crisscross her calves and decided that vigorous movement would not be an activity of choice that evening. Not if she wanted to avoid being in plaster for the next couple of weeks.

It had always annoyed her that she could heal other people’s injuries, including broken bones with ease, but she’d never been able to work on herself. When she touched her skin and tried to ‘sink in’ nothing happened.

The only upside of this evening was perhaps that she’d be able to flirt a little more as she’d be out from under Connor’s wing for once. Having him standing at her shoulder usually stopped anyone from attempting anything more than excruciatingly polite formal conversation. Even so, being on display for strangers, while playing a diva with ‘fake’ fashion eyes and body art for them to gossip about, was not her idea of fun.

What would happen if she dug her heels in and simply refused to go? After all, she was the only person who could do what she did. Looking at her reflection, she was clearly not a child anymore, and it was time that people, particularly Connor, stopped treating her like one. A quiet knock on her door drew her out of her scheming.

“Come on in, it’s only Tourist Bimbo Barbie in here.”

When the door opened, Connor just stood in the doorway with a somewhat stunned look on his face, his mouth slightly open as he watched her.

“It’s not as bad as that is it?” She peered into the mirror, turning around to see if she’d missed something.

C
onnor gave himself a mental shake and tried to ignore how stunningly beautiful she was. The costume emphasized the markings on her soft flesh, and when she turned, he got a glimpse of her long firm thighs. A picture of them wrapped tightly around his waist as he was buried inside her flashed into his mind and his body reacted instantly.

Her forwardness and sexual innuendos this morning were a cause for concern, although he hadn’t reported them. His superiors definitely did not want her to be sexually active, and it was part of his assignment to ensure she stayed an innocent. What they were planning to do about it he wasn’t privy to, but his gut churned every time he considered the issue.

Up until the last three or four months, it’d been an easy matter to dismiss as she hadn’t shown any interest in sexuality apart from childish joking. Later, he’d caught her looking at couples that were flirting and she was paying more attention to certain male members of the crew, although there didn’t seem to be anyone in particular that had caught her fancy.

She spent more time watching taller, more muscular men than short, slight individuals. He didn’t know whether he was pleased he fit her ‘profile’ or not. Christ, who was he kidding? Of course he was pleased he was her type and that she was flirting with him. What he would do about it, was another matter.

Up until now, he’d been able to pretend to himself, to fool himself that she was just another charge. Someone he protected because it was his job, but she’d always been more than that. Chesara was brave, selfless, willing to work to help people to the point of exhaustion and beyond. She was also bright, funny, irreverent, and more sexy that she would ever imagine.

Chesara was also a piece of property that belonged to an organisation that thought of her as nothing more than a very valuable tool. At least she was safe here from others that wanted to exploit her. It was his personal mission to make sure she stayed ignorant of the fact that she was a bird in a gilded cage, and that he was both her protector, and her jailer.

He turned his attention back to the Ambassador, who didn’t seem to have noticed that part of his audience had just headed quietly out the door. Then again, this society didn’t give females the same status as males.

Connor didn’t see the point of the elaborate subterfuge they were being asked to perform either, but to a greater extent, the customer was always right.

The healing could be accomplished remarkably quickly, and there certainly was no need to introduce Chesara to the planet’s population. As usual with missions like this, the diplomatic portion was just as important as the physical.

The ruling family had paid an immense amount of credits to bring her here. Perhaps they wanted to ‘enjoy’ her company in a formal setting. He wished them luck with that. Chesara could be somewhat unpredictable in social settings at the best of times. Her recent change in behaviour made her even more unpredictable, and to be honest he was starting to have second thoughts about being separated from her for even a few hours.

No one knew how her sexuality would manifest or even if it would. She certainly wasn’t developing along strictly human lines. Although she’d developed certain secondary sexual characteristics such as wider hips and breasts, she hadn’t menstruated or developed body hair.

Just thinking about her smooth curves, that were tantalizingly within reach had his groin reacting. Damn it, he certainly shouldn’t be having a sexual reaction to his charge; both his training and self-discipline should be taking care of such inappropriate thoughts. As a distraction, he started fishing in his bag for the instruments to deactivate the implants that gave detectable signals to scanners.

As far as Chesara knew, her implants consisted of a com unit behind her left ear and a tracking device under the hairline at the base of her skull. They were standard equipment for Federation operatives. The third one was so secret; he could probably count the number of people who were fully aware of it on the fingers on one hand. As it wasn’t detectable by human technology, it was likely to remain that way.

“Right, assume the position,” he said indicating the bed. Chesara huffed muttering ‘promises, promises’ as she climbed onto the bed and lay down with her head resting on its right side.

He just stared as the strips of cloth revealed her gorgeous ass, waiting just in front of him. Her chocolate brown skin markings on the side of the round globes centred attention on the cleft between them. He gave himself a mental kick up the backside as her voice brought him back from his contemplation.