Born of Defiance

Though he was wobbly, he was on his feet while the rest were either dead, unconscious, or begging for help as they tried to crawl away from Talyn’s reach. In all the years of military service, Merrell had never seen anything like this. It terrified him just how easily Batur had plowed through dozens of ruthless killers and predators. The most vicious criminals Andaria had.

Batur wiped at the blood on his face as he moved to stand in front of the camera to glare at them. When he spoke, it was a raw, feral growl that was even more terrifying than his reckless stance that dared them to come after him. It was also the words that had been spoken by the male who had founded Batur’s paternal lineage almost four thousand years ago at the beginning of Andarion civilization. “A Hauk is not a politician. There is no room in our hearts to sit in peace with those who would do any Andarion harm. We are, and will forever be, protectors of our brethren, family, and homeworld. So long as a single War Hauk lives, no nation will defeat us. No race will dare to invade our air, lands, or sea. We will stand and we will defend. For we are not bred of mercy and we are not bred for peace.

“We are born of fury.

“Forever fear the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk.” Talyn spat blood on the ground. “But most of all, you better fear me, you quivering quims! For every drop of War Hauk blood flowing in my veins, I am of the Winged Blood Clan of Batur and we are born of defiance. When I get out of here, and I will, I’m coming for you. And no one will be able to save any of your putrid lives from my vengeance.”

Chrisen gasped. “We are in deep Andarion shite.”

Jullien rolled his eyes. “You think? Saint Zaran, why didn’t you tell us what he was capable of?”

Chrisen choked as he watched Talyn sit down to tend his wounds. “I had no idea he could do this. He’s always been subservient.”

“No,” Merrell said between clenched teeth. “He was a conscientious soldier, taking orders from his CO. And a vicious Ring champion. Our mistake was to forget all that in our arrogance.” He looked from his brother to Jullien. “We can’t control him. He is the only fucking War Hauk of his generation, with all the insane skill and strength that goes with that untainted bloodline.”

Jullien lifted his chin. “We’re still tizirani. And I am tahrs.”

Merrell gestured at the bodies scattered around Talyn, who sat with a terrifying calmness. “Yeah, that so stopped him. You’re lucky he didn’t make it to you before your guards stunned him unconscious.”

Chrisen let out a heavy sigh. “As much as it pains me to say this, should we offer him a deal?”

Shaking his head, Merrell stared at the fallen bodies surrounding Talyn. “It’s too late for that. He’ll be gunning for us from now on… like Fain and Keris, back in the day. We have to get rid of him the same way we got rid of them.”

“It’s not that easy.” Jullien curled his lip. “Galene Batur hates me – she always has, and my mother loves and adores that minsid bitch for some reason. While my mom might be bat-shit crazy, she is the favored daughter of our tadara and Tylie pets her like a psychotic child. Even nuts, she still holds a lot of pull.” Jullien kicked the chair he’d been sitting in across the room. “Not to mention, if my mother ever comes to her senses, she’s going to ask questions none of us want to answer.”

“We could kill her, too.”

Jullien backhanded Chrisen. “She’s my mother! I’d kill yours first.”

“Stop it!” Merrell snarled. “We have a problem here. How do we fix it?”

“I can buy us time with Galene.” Chrisen narrowed his gaze on Jullien. “If you’re off-planet, she’ll assume her son is with you. Can’t you stay with your paka for a while?”

“Yeah. Why? What are you thinking?”

Merrell licked his lips as he caught his brother’s line of reasoning. “We dump him where no one can find him.”

Jullien wasn’t sure about that. “Where?”

“Onoria.”

That would do it. The magnetic fields there rendered all tracking and comm devices worthless. A slow smile spread across Jullien’s face. “You’re right. No one will ever find him there.”

Chrisen shook his head. “I still think we ought to kill him.”

Merrell pulled Chrisen’s blaster from his hip and handed it to him. “Good luck with that.”

Chrisen glared at him drolly.

“Your brother’s right,” Jullien growled. “Batur’s too well known. If we order him killed, someone will rat us out. If we bring him up on charges publicly, his mother will defend him and my mother will have him pardoned and released. But, if we accuse him of treason and dump him before anyone knows what we’ve done, we won’t be punished. No proof. No crime. Galene can scream all she wants. But he did attack us. That’s not a lie and we can prove it with the guards who stunned him and video surveillance. We have every legal right to remove him to Onoria, based on that.”

“And what if he comes back?” Chrisen asked.

Merrell snorted. “We’ll break his legs before we dump him. No one, not even a Hauk bastard, can survive an environment that hostile with no working legs. He’ll be dead in less than a week.”



Talyn came awake with a fierce groan.