As the transporting device clicked off and he felt the cold stone under his feet, Jian’tulmita motioned for his partner to spread out and take his position on the other side of the balcony.  Only one of the moons of this Elanari planet was shining at the moment, but it was the smallest and reflected less light than the others, so Jian’tulmita wasn’t too worried about being seen.  Not by someone’s eyes, at least.  Hopefully, their cloaking shields would keep the prying magical eyes of the Elanari slaves from noticing their presence.  He almost felt sorry for the people of this planet.  Their ancestors probably had no clue what they got themselves into when they joined the Elanar Empire.  They probably regretted it, now. 

Jian’tulmita shook his covered head and took the stunner from his belt.  He couldn’t afford to feel sorry for the slaves, now.  He had a mission to complete.  There was someone on this planet that gave off a magical aura so strong that the Tu had managed to track it almost to the center of Elanari space.  It was his job to capture that person. 

He glanced in the tall windows.  There were two people standing in front of a large bed.  They looked like adults.  That was strange.  Jian’tulmita checked his scanning device again.  The aura was coming from both of them.  He had been expecting a single child, not two adults.  This was going to be a problem.  They could only provide enough power to transport three people back to their ship without alerting the Elanari slaves of this planet to their presence.  Which one should they take?  Another glance at the scanning device told him that there was one male and one female, both of the same species, though different from any he had seen before.  They surely weren’t Elanari, nor were they any species that the Tu knew belonged to the Elanar Empire.  Jian’tulmita gave an inward shrug.  He would let the medical team figure out where they came from. 

The female.  That’s the one he would have to take.  After all, females usually bear the young.  An adult female with this kind of magical ability could be of more help to his race than a child of either gender.  Yes, he would capture the female.  At the signal from his partner, Jian’tulmita armed the stunner and threw it into the room.  As the two figures collapsed, he quietly opened a window and made his way to the shapes on the floor.  How sweet.  They had collapsed in each other’s arms.  They were obviously a mated pair.  It seemed sad that he would have to separate them.  He pushed that thought from his mind.  There could be no room for pity for this one couple when the fate of his entire race was at stake.  He attached the transporter signal lock onto the female’s arm and sent the signal to the ship to get them out of here.  He didn’t want to spend any longer on this planet than he had to.  As the transport began, he noticed the male stirring.  That was odd.  The stunner should have rendered him unconscious for hours.  It didn’t matter though; they were gone by the time the male opened his eyes. 

The planet called Filarin was really pretty as seen from high orbit.  Heka had been staring out at the blue sphere that depended on nothing but gravity to keep it in place.  The lone continent he could see was dotted with brilliant spots of lights twinkling in the darkness.  It was night on this side of the planet.  Heka moved his gaze to the two moons he could see circling Filarin.  He had been told there was another one on the other side of the planet, but they would leave orbit before it came into view.  That was a little disappointing.  His own world had one moon, as did every habitable planet in the Tu star system.  Even with all his travelling, seeing a planet in the habitable zone of its parent star with more than one moon still amazed him.  He wished he would get the chance to see the third one. 

More amazing than the fact that Filarin had three moons was how quickly they had gotten there.  When they first set out towards the little blip that was a magical energy source on his monitor, Heka had been told it would take them months to reach it.  Of course, that was accounting for the amount of time it should have taken them to evade Elanari scout ships and perimeter sensors that had been practically nonexistent.  Heka was stilled surprised at how easily they had slipped by the few defenses the Elanari had along their flight path.  Then again, the galaxy class star ship that was Heka’s home had just been outfitted with a new type of cloaking device and faster engines.  So, maybe he shouldn’t have been so surprised that they had made it to the planet in a little over a month. 

“Magicker Hekanuurikanim, please report to the bridge.”  The intercom system buzzed with the general’s impatient voice.  Strange, the general usually tried not to show his impatience to Heka.  For a Tu in his high position, it wasn’t considered wise to be rude to a magicker, even one so mild as Heka. 

He sighed and set his cup of warm milk down on the table next to him.  It was almost time for dinner anyway.  Soon, the mess hall would be filled with Tu getting off their shifts and finding amusement in picking on him.  He would have had to leave before then if he didn’t feel like being the entertainment for the evening, anyway.  He might as well go to the bridge; he had nowhere else to go besides his empty quarters. 

Ignoring the crewmembers that, in turn, ignored him, he made his way to the bridge.  The general was standing next to a man dressed completely in black, conferring about something in hushed tones.  Strange.  Why was the man in an Intelligence uniform?  Heka hadn’t heard that one of the Intelligence was coming aboard.  They stopped their conversation as he approached.

“You sent for me, general?”

“Ah, yes. Heka, the Magicker Council has a new assignment for you.  One, that should prove more…interesting than watching a monitor all day.”

A new assignment?  Really?  This was his first new assignment in nearly six and a half years.  Heka tried to curb his excitement.  The last assignment that the council had convinced him to take had led to his near death by boredom on this starship.  Would the next one be any better?  He thought about watching that screen again the next day and shuddered.  It had to be.

“Alright.  What is it?”

“The council wishes to speak to you before giving you any information about it.  They are waiting in my ready room.”

Just great.  A holographic meeting with the entire council.  That meant he was either being given a great honor or a death sentence.  He sincerely hoped it was the former. 

Walking into the general’s ready room felt like walking into a spotlight on a stage where the audience was watching you, not to see how well you did, but to pounce on you when you tripped.  It was not a good feeling.  Then again, meetings with the council were never good. 

“Hekanuurikanim.  How very good to see you.  How has the general been treating you?”  Hutinuum, the head of the council (and also Heka’s grandfather), peered down at him with those brilliantly rainbow eyes that simply radiated power.  Hutinuum was the last of the great magickers, though his power fell far short of the Elanari.  He was still the most powerful Tu to be born in nearly a thousand years.  No one ever wondered how he had come to sit at the head of the Tu government at the young age of 27, or how he had remained there throughout his adult life.  Now, at the ripe old age of 123, he still headed the council that controlled everything in the Tu government.  His only failure in life was having only one grandson be born with the gift of magic.  Heka was told that at his birth, his grandfather had wept, first tears of joy upon seeing his rainbow eyes then tears of anger at hearing his potential.  Growing up, his grandfather had always been kind to Heka, but there was always this frustration at his lack of ability.  Heka knew he wasn’t what his grandfather wanted him to be, but there was nothing he could do about that.  He could only do the best he could with what he was given.  No more, no less.

“Fine, sir.”

“Everyone has been respectful of your standing?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good.  The council has a new assignment for you.  Are you ready for it?  This will be the greatest assignment ever given to a magicker.  The fate of our race will be in your hands.”

What could his grandfather possibly mean by that?  Why would they give him such an important assignment?  “Ummm…what do you mean by that, sir?”

“Heka.  You know our family lineage is the most pure among the Tu and has produced the more magickers in the last five hundred years than any other family.”

“Yes.” Did they finally pick a suitable mate for him?  What did that have to do with his assignment? 

“The magically energy you discovered in Elanari territory was not what we expected.”  So, it wasn’t an Elanari child?  What else could it be?  “It appears that the Elanari have discovered a species with magical potential that rivals their own and were attempting to breed a child of that species to aid with their research into their own infertility.  Our Intelligence suggests that whatever is causing the Elanari’s infertility is linked to their magic.  I guess they were hoping that by studying a child of this new species, they could discover the means to start having children again.  Whatever the reason, the Elanari are no longer in possession of one of their breeding pair.  We are.”  Heka stared at his grandfather, stunned.  So, they had resorted to kidnapping, not an Elanari, but a member of this unknown species that the Elanari had probably kidnapped from wherever they came from?  If the Tu started doing things like this, how were they any better than the Elanari? 

“I’m sorry, sir.  But, I don’t understand.  What does this have to do with my new assignment?”

“I’m getting to it, Heka.  Be patient.  We have the female of this species in the medical bay of your starship.  We have been informed that the species is compatible with ours and, as distasteful as mating with a non-Tu is, we feel that this is our best chance to regain our magical abilities.  By mixing her DNA with our own, we will introduce new magical genes into our own gene pool.  Ideally, we would have preferred to have more than one female, but this is the best we have.”  He paused.

“I still don’t understand.”

“Heka, we want you to mate with the female.  You may be weak in terms of magical potential, but your bloodline is the strongest we have.  You are our best chance.  As your grandfather, I have the obligation to not only give you your name, but also to choose your mate.  As the head of the Magicker Council, I must do what is best for the Tu.”  Hutinuum gave him a piercing stare.  “This is what is best, both for you and for the Tu.”

Heka simply stared at him in shock.  For one, he was far too young to take a mate.  He was only 25!  Most Tu did not take a mate until their late 30’s.  Second, his mate was an alien?  Not only an alien, but an alien with a magical potential great enough to destroy an entire starship!  After a moment, Hutinuum sighed.

“Council, could you give me a moment alone with my grandson?”  The rest of the council nodded and disappeared.  “Heka.  I know that you’re scared.  I was scared when my grandfather informed me of his decision that I was to mate with your grandmother.  And, I know that you are very young.  However, I believe this to be the best course of action.  You are ready for a mate.  If you are worried about age, I am told that the female is very young as well, only 12 years old.  But, her species matures faster than ours and she is at about the same maturity level as you.  Perhaps a little younger.”  Heka stared at him.  The girl was only 12?  His grandfather sighed again at his silence.  “I have had the female transferred to your quarters.  She is your mate now.  Meet her.  Talk to her.  I’m sure she speaks only Elanari, but you speak Elanari well.  Teach her our language.  Do not feel the need to try for a child immediately.  You both are still young.  There is time for that later.  But, I do want you to treat her like a mate.  She is yours.  And, do not forget that this is your assignment, now.”  That tone said that there would be no discussion.  Heka had no choice in the matter.  It was done.  He gave his grandfather a bow.

“It will be as you say, Grandfather.”

“Good.  You will report to me as soon as you get back to the homeworld.”

“Yes, sir.”  The hologram of his grandfather winked out of existence.  Heka stood in the general’s waiting room for a moment.  He could feel the slight hum along the floor that said that the ship was travelling through warped space again.  They were already on their way home.  He had a month to learn about this girl, teach her all he could about the Tu, and have something good to report to his grandfather.  He might as well get started.

The journey back to his lavish quarters seemed so much shorter than usual.  Perhaps, it was because he didn’t want to go back to his quarters.  For once.  He stood in the empty corridor, staring at the door.  Maybe he could find somewhere else to sleep.  No, these were his quarters.  His place was beside his mate. 

He placed a hand against the screen that opened the door and stepped through, hating the whoosh of the closing doors behind him.  His quarters consisted of a single, large room sectioned off into several parts and a bathroom.  There, on his bed, lay the alien girl who was now his mate.  She had very curly brown hair and pale skin.  She was wearing a rather short, pink skirt and a very becoming white blouse.  Her breathing was slow and deep (she had been stunned for the capture, but was now asleep).  She truly was beautiful.  He wondered what color her eyes were.  Did her race have all the same gold colored eyes as most of the Elanar Empire races did?  Or did her race escape the golden curse of the magic that bound the Empire together?  Heka closed his eyes and focused on his magic.  When he opened them again, he could feel the untrained magical power radiating off her.  The magical aura surrounding her was like nothing he had ever seen before.  One moment, it was a calm clear blue and the next, flashing yellow lightning streaked through it churning the blue into a white and red swirl.  Heka felt like he could stare at her aura for hours.  It never stayed the same for very long.  Her power was untamed, vast, mysterious and dangerous.  He hoped she never found cause to use it against him or his people. 

Sitting at the edge of the bed, he swept her bangs away from her face.  Now that he could see her aura, the colorful lighting gave her pale skin an otherworldly glow.  The contrast of the darker brown of her hair and paleness of her skin was stunning.  And she was all his.  He felt truly sorry for her previous mate; he had lost an amazingly beautiful woman.  It was really too bad they would never be together again.  Even if he wanted to take her back, he couldn’t.  Once the Tu got a hold of something they wanted, they never let go.