John and Nine received a summons to appear before the Nani Heiau. Neither man expected they’d stand before the Nani of all six heiaus, 18 extremely elderly women in total. It was hard for John to tell for certain, but either two or three of the ladies had passed the bottleneck.
Unlike the crone, the women on the Nani didn’t dress modestly. The crone covered up a lot of her skin compared to younger Alii. All 18 of these Nani were completely covered in thick, strange, and colorful outfits, including giant bonnet-type headgear. And unlike other Alii, they were all business and not even a little flirty. They sat still and imposing, their judgmental eyes boring into the two former Kahaka, exuding authority.
The large room they were in had no natural light or modern light sources, only torches. The portal brought them right into the very large room. The walls were made of stone. Some pillars were broken and sat on the ground where they had fallen long ago. Though it was clean, John didn’t think the room was used often. He felt as if he were deep underground.
The Nani were all on stone benches making a half circle on a dais in the front of the room. And though John had stood before a large gathering of Nani before, this felt nothing at all like a clowder. There were no strange or appealing scents that clouded and befuddled the mind. No undertones of sensualness. Only very old and powerful rulers.
All Peerless bowed before a Nani Heiau, of their own clan or any other. Every Alii and other Nani also bowed to these women. And John and Nine stayed kneeling with bowed heads until told otherwise.
After long moments of looking at the ground, a voice broke the silence. “Stand, you two. Both of you have refused all purchase offers. We assume you are holding out until the Natural is granted Alii status. What if that isn’t for five years? Ten?”
John, now standing, raised his eyes and said, “Then I’ll wait five or ten years, Nani.”
Nine said, “As will I.”
“Why do you wait, Li Six-five,” asked a different Nani.
“A kauwa containing all three of us originally from outside the Peerless Empire sounds appealing. I believe I will be the Oliua. In no other Kauwa would I be immediately placed into a leadership position. How she described the way her future kauwa would function is also appealing. And Li Four-five and I are friends. I’d like to stay with him.”
“Li Four-five, your reasons?”
“For me,” said John, “it’s because I share a bond with her. We fought side by side as we freed our planet of dark ones, demons, and g’athu. We escaped the NetherRealm together. She has saved my life many times, and I owe her a great debt. And all the same reasons Six-five said. Besides the Oliua part. The kauwa’s function will fit my abilities well.”
One of the Nani asked, “You don’t claim to love her?”
“I desire her greatly, Nani,” replied John. “I would give my life to protect her own.”
“And you’re fine with sharing her love with all your brothers of your kauwa?”
John had prepared for this question, or one like it. No anger entered his heart. There were no outward or inward signs of his true feelings. “I fully accepted the ways of the Peerless my first day at academy, Nani. She will be an Alii. I have no doubt she’ll perform that role well and fulfill all of its demands with gusto. I am not just fine with it – I pray for her success.”
“Who did you pray to, Four-five?”
That was a question John wasn’t prepared for. After stammering for a second, he looked up and said, “It’s just a saying, Nani. It just means I hope she’s successful, is all. I didn’t actually pray to anyone. Or anything. Sorry I misspoke, Nani.”
After a moment of silence, a Nani on the far left asked, “To whom would you pray, if you were to pray?”
That was a tricky question to answer. The Peerless looked very poorly on God. They prayed to Akua but claimed he wasn’t a god. John answered, “No one. I don’t pray, Nani.”
After a very long stretch of silence, one of the Nani of Heiau Hani said, “You boys will be considered of the heiau of the kauwa you join. As for now, you’ll continue to be considered as Heiau Koa. You will take direction from all six Nanis Heiau. As we do with all Li refusing purchase and holding out for a ka or a specific Alii, we will do our best to make your lives miserable.
“But you’re both strong and your current status allows us many opportunities we’d take advantage of. And your wait for the Natural will not be as long as you think.”
Part of the rear wall slid away and the sound of stone scraping on stone echoed through the large room for some time. Amber walked through the door wearing little more than she wore during her skin-darkening ointment commercial, though she wore a sheer robe over her body in a failed attempt to look clothed. She had ascended to Gold. The door closed behind her.
The sight of Amber caused John’s heart to beat faster as he fought down his desire for a woman he couldn’t allow himself to love. He tried and failed to peel his eyes off her.
Amber silently made her way to stand behind the Nani towards the center right of the half circle. The Nani in front of her said, “May I present the Alii of Heiau Koa, Kauwa Mara Pi. A new name for a new type of kauwa.
“Since Terra belongs to Heiau Ikaika, she will too, but her Kauwa Mara Pi will take direction from all six Nanis Heiau, hence the Heiau Koa designator. Everything still needs to be finalized, and her ship is still being built. A fine ship it will be, and expensive.
“It will be three or four months until she’s ready to buy her boys. Her kauwa will be small, as intended. There will be additional stipulations most of our boys would never agree to. We’ll see what you two say to them when the time comes.”
After Nine said, “Understood, Nani,” it prompted John to do the same.
“As we were saying, you’re both strong and your current status allows us many opportunities we’d take advantage of. Do either of you know how expensive it is for a Tech 1 world to invade a Tech 0 world?”
“For the Peerless,” answered Nine, “the big factors would be the size of the force sent to invade, and what tiers and numbers were present on the world to be invaded. Generally, it would cost trillions. Let’s say the people of the world to be invaded were skeevers and the Peerless had far fewer Transcendents included in the invasion force than belonged to the world to be invaded, the cost would be close to a trillion.”
The same Nani said, “Yes. There’s a world near Ma Aom that is rich with many heavy metals this sector is poor in. The natives have yet to ascend off the planet. As usual with such worlds, the natives are fragmented into many countries. We are certain there are less than ten Salts total. None in its history have ascended to the second Tree.”
It seemed the Nani was waiting for a reply. Nine bowed his head for a moment before saying, “That you don’t know the number for certain means you haven’t committed to pre-invasion phases in the NCS. An invasion force of two, a Platinum and Silver, both well below the current tier of the planet’s leaders, as of yet unsworn to an Alii and the Peerless Empire, stripped of any tech not incorporated into their bodies, it would cost well over a hundred million, but no more than two.
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“Almost a free invasion. But only if we don’t receive direct orders to invade. Or use a Peerless ship under orders to bring us. We will make our way to Kotown and solve the ship question on our own.”
A few of the Nani smiled and nodded their heads. Amber stood straight and unmoving, not even meeting John’s eyes.
A smiling Nani said, “That sounds dangerous, Li Six-five. We’d never have a hand in such a thing or give such orders. Before you boys arrived, we did discuss an extra reward for performing so well during the academy, all the new records, surpassing our wildest expectations. Your reward will be two days of leave and a pass giving you free access to use the Kulolo and Kotown portals as you so desire.
“You will be free to do as you want within the boundaries our late and venerable husband and father, Akua, set for us all within the glorious Aikapu, making us superior to all others. With the pass will be 300 million crystals. The crystals aren’t for personal use. We’d like you to hold on to this wealth during your leave. We expect you to return every crystal once your pass expires.”
After Nine said, “Understood, Nani,” it prompted John to do the same again.
“You will hold all the crystals, Li Six-five. Tomorrow, the terrans of the Kahaka district have planned a celebration in honor of Li Four-five’s graduation. You are both ordered to attend. We are using it as a propaganda event geared towards all Kahaka. Upon your arrival, Cam Roderick will provide further instructions. Your two-day leave will commence upon the end of the celebration.”
Both John and Nine bowed their heads and said, “Understood, Nani.”
“Li Six-five, you are to make your way to Kulolo now. You will report to the Mele on CQ. Acquisition three Class II Servitors and inspect the sewage system. A full report will be provided to the Kulolo CQ once the task is completed. You may leave us.”
Nine knelt and briefly bowed his head before heading to and entering the portal. The tone of the room changed once he was gone. “Li Four-five, it’s rare for all the Nanis Heiau to gather as we have today. When we do, we are not considered a clowder. This time, maybe we are. We’re all excited to claim our right as granted by the glorious Aikapu.”
Part of the rear wall slid away again and the sound of stone scraping on stone echoed through the large room for some time. Robots carrying large lounging chairs similar to the ones nobles used in Rome entered through the door. The stone benches were replaced with the loungers.
“Each of us expects to form golden nectar,” stated a Nani matter-of-factly. “We’ve already drawn lots and know the order. If you need or want release yourself, that is your right, but not required after the first of us you pleasure. We doubt even you could spray 18 times.”
John sighed. Amber still wouldn’t meet his eyes. He hoped he was given a chance to talk to her. He hoped she understood this was certainly nothing he ever wanted.
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John and Nine entered the portal to the Kotown District of the city of Victor. He planned on apologizing in person to the bookmaker he assaulted the last time he was here.
The celebration in Kulolo helped clear his mind of the awful task he had to perform for the Nanis Heiau, all while Amber was present. He thought it was disturbing how randy those women were. To him, their behavior and desire was unseemly and undignified for great rulers and elders.
Granted, John was far older than all the Nani Heiau put together, but he looked young, and for the majority of his life, he had no desire at all. It was his strong belief that once a person looked elderly, they should keep all bedroom matters to themselves or, at the very least, only among those that looked of a similar age.
Disgusting, John couldn’t help but think as he shuddered, some memories of his task returning unbidden to his mind. At least I won’t have to be subjected to that again. Disturbed old floozies. And why was Amber present?
Seeing his friends – Hux, Marbrouk, Abe, Gabin, Naoki, and his old boss, Gle Ah – helped cleanse John’s pallet. Well over a thousand new humans lived in Kulolo. There was plenty of news from Earth, but none regarding Stretch. The most disturbing news, to him, was that his people passively accepted everything the Peerless subjected them to on Earth. Only a handful of acts had warranted retribution.
John had not gotten along with Cam Roderick. The slick man had tried ordering him about, and when John refused to act as a mindless slave, the weak man had threatened to destroy John’s reputation through his media coverage.
John had nearly beheaded the man. If Nine had been a little slower, John would have. A Mele appeared soon after Nine stopped John’s attack, the one on CQ. A few minutes after that, the Mele’s Alii and her Oliua arrived.
Cam had overstepped his boundaries. John was a Li and had the right to kill Cam for threatening him. The Alii wouldn’t even let John cut off one of Cam’s limbs or just break a few of his bones. She did grant John a tenth of a credit to let the incident go.
John was glad to now be moving on to a task well suited to his abilities. He had never conquered a world before. He knew it was wrong and would help his enemies, but such great feats usually came with an offer of Ake status, and nothing would help his plans more than being an Akeoli.
That Amber’s plans seemed to be coming along nicely made John glad too. With her own ship, it should be easier to get her away from the Peerless. He would help her as much as possible, but he couldn’t risk himself by spending too much time around her. With things going as they were, he could now put more focus on his own far more important plans.
There was a rank structure to Oli. Without an Alii to direct them, the Oliua was in charge, but he usually took direction from the Meleua. Without an Oliua, the Olini that had fathered the most children was lead, without consideration of tier and rank within a tier. But, regardless of what the Aikapu stated, tier would always be a factor, as the less powerful looking to those more powerful for leadership was only natural.
Since John and Nine were both Li and not Oli, in the eyes of the Aikapu, they were equal. But Nine was a Platinum and much smarter, so John had no issue following his friend’s lead.
After checking out the spaceport, Nine said, “These ships are too well guarded by Peerless and the ship’s crews. Any ideas on how to steal one?”
“Do we have to care about Mele overhearing us? Can we plot openly,” asked John.
“I believe our task here requires our actions to be subtle and free of violence, but we’re able to plot and scheme aloud all we wish. If we must resort to violence, they’ll see it as a partial failure. Or I strongly assume so.”
“We have 300 million and need less than 200 of it to invade. Can’t we just purchase passage?”
Nine had redid his body so he looked as he used to, with regular length arms and no academy uniform. His biosuit was worn but couldn’t be seen, and neither could the peripherals. John had to remove his own biosuit.
With his emotionless face, Nine said, “Yes, but the ship and crew would be considered part of the invasion force since we’d be officially connected to them through pay and general contract. I could use an escape pod to travel to Isb from well outside of range to get around this, but it’d take months to reach the planet this way. This option is not available to you as you’d die once the pod ran out of power. We’re already looking at a four-week flight as is.”
“So, our options are stealing a ship or getting someone to fly us for free?”
“Optimally. And it depends on who flew us. We’re unsworn to the Peerless but connected to them. The greater the disconnect between us and our transport, the better. It’s the only way to keep the invasion price within range. We’ll still need to descend in escape pods or a shuttle. Unless we’re given these things too, we’ll have to steal them or buy them, and even buying escape pods will increase the invasion cost, but not by much. A shuttle will increase it by far more.”
“Can we bribe someone not part of a crew to borrow a ship and fly us,” asked John. “Or would that change the cost still?”
It took Nine a moment to answer as he thought it over. “I’m unsure. It would be safest to steal a ship. If that is beyond us, being flown for free where it’s clear the ship is not ours or connected to us in any way, including as paid passengers, is our best alternative.”
“It would be nice if we had some funds of our own still,” said John. “The arena would be the easiest way to get some, but it isn’t open for martial events today or tomorrow. Gambling is an option. I excel at games of chance, as well as cheating. Do you think they’d pay me back if I sold some of my own mats?”
“No. All our possessions are considered property of the Peerless Empire. Only Akes are allowed their own possessions and wealth.”
“Well, I need to get Akeoli status quickly then,” said John. “I consider everything in my possession to be my own property. What if we hired a ship for transport and killed the crew during the flight?”
“That’s a possibility,” replied Nine. “We’ll consider that option C. Option A is stealing a ship. Option B is getting a crew to transport us for free. Option C is purchasing a flight from a crew we slaughter. Keep in mind, if we steal a ship or kill a crew, we must destroy the ship before we invade. And we must consider political consequences to the Peerless before we commit violence against any race here.”
John nodded. “Okay, let’s go ask around, see what we can come up with. If worse comes to worse, we’ll have to come back here and board a ship by force.”