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  Jit’Suku Chronicles

  Sons of Amber

  STARCROSSED

  by

  Bianca D’Arc

  Copyright © 2020 Bianca D’Arc

  Hawk Publishing, LLC

  New York

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any or by any means, or stored in a database retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the Author.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  www.biancadarc.com

  OFFICIAL BIANCA D’ARC NEWSLETTER

  In a universe decimated by biological warfare, can former enemies unite to create a new peace out of the ashes?

  A warrior-priest is the only one who can heal a failing empire…

  Newly crowned Emperor of all jit’suku, Tigh has come back from self-imposed exile as a warrior monk on the sacred mountain. He had given up his claim to the throne in favor of his beloved brother, and turned his back on worldly things. Tigh would never know what had driven his brother to the madness of releasing a biological weapon on the humans, but the fact that it turned on its creators and came back to the jit’suku to deal out untold death, mostly among their precious female population, would forever stain Tigh’s memories of his twin.

  A starship captain with famous ancestry and a killer reputation…

  They call her Valkyrie for the way she swoops into battle and usually saves the day. After losing her beloved ship in an ambush that almost cost the Valkyrie and her crew their lives, Captain Gineva Starbridge is cooling her heels at headquarters, waiting for a new assignment, when the Emperor shows up, in person, looking to broker peace.

  For every warrior, there is only one woman who is his true mate…

  When Tigh sees Ginny across the crowded audience chamber where he has come to make an unorthodox proposal to unite their two ravaged peoples, he can scarcely believe his fortune. Could she be the one woman meant for him? He had come before the human Council, on his knees, to offer his hand in marriage to any human female that would help him in his quest to forge a lasting peace. But, when he sees Ginny, he knows she is the only woman who will do. Can they navigate a rocky road, with enemies on both sides plotting against them, to unite two warring cultures, into one lasting peace?

  Note: This book takes place during the Sons of Amber timeline in the overall Jit’Suku Chronicles series, but can easily be read as a standalone.

  DEDICATION

  To all those who reach for the stars…

  Thanks to my editor, Jess, for helping fix some very old writing. I started this book years ago and never quite found a way to finish it until just a few months ago. I guess it was finally the right time. Thanks also to Peggy for her assistance eliminating the last of the typos. Any that remain are my fault, I’m sure. LOL

  Special thanks to Dad, the real rocket scientist, inventor, troubleshooter, and innovator, who fostered my love of science, space, and technology from a very young age.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bianca D’Arc

  PROLOGUE

  Excerpted from the Jit’Suku Warrior Code

  The Rules of Warfare

  The First Rule: Never make war on your own kind.

  The Second Rule: Oldsters and children are to be respected. Unless they raise arms against you, a true warrior shall let them pass unmolested. Likewise, a true warrior shall never attack females, for they are the image of the Mother Goddess and the bringers of life.

  The Third Rule: Never take the coward’s path, for only the brave will earn a place in the Mother Goddess’s hall of honor.

  The Rules of Love

  The Nij-ta: Love’s first kiss will reveal a warrior’s true mate and he will have no other ever after.

  The reluctant mate should be wooed with care. If she refuses after three requests for marriage, she may be coaxed, but only by pleasurable means. If ever she repudiates her mate, the true warrior will respect her wishes and live the rest of his life alone, watching over her welfare from afar.

  A true mate is a gift from the Mother Goddess and never to be disrespected. A true warrior’s most sacred responsibility is the protection of his mate, for she is the image of the Mother Goddess and the bringer of life.

  Honor above all.

  *

  Tigh downed his last opponent cleanly. That made thirty-two for the day. Enough.

  The high priest called him forward after Tigh had helped his opponent back to his feet with friendly courtesy. Courtesy, even in defeat, was a mark of the Zenai priesthood, just as humility was valued in a victor.

  High Priest Jurdan motioned for Tigh to walk with him. It was an honor rarely afforded to even such a highly-ranked novitiate. Tigh fell in step beside him, waiting to hear what the wisest of the elder priests would say.

  “You have learned our teachings well, but I fear your time has finally come to leave us.” The spry old man held out a communiqué bearing the royal seal, and Tigh felt his heart drop. He’d left behind the home that was rightly his and cut all ties to the empire years ago. Surely, they could have no use for him now, after all this time in self-imposed exile.

  Tigh took the crystal pad with a heavy heart, pressing his thumbprint to the elegantly concealed reader. The small holographic screen revealed the face of one of his father’s oldest friends and advisors. Torm had been there for Tigh and his brother, Elius, when their parents had died. Torm had been the one to break the sad news and had acted as Steward, dealing with the day-to-day running of the empire until Tigh and his twin came of age.

  When Torm had retired, Tigh joined the priesthood, clearing the way for his beloved brother to have what he always wanted—the throne.

  “Elius is dead.” Torm’s strong voice rang out from the hologram. His face was lined with age and what looked like worry.

  Torm’s stark words didn’t surprise Tigh. For three days now, he had suffered strange dreams, omens of bad tidings that could reach him even here, on the isolated mountaintop that was the Zenai retreat.

  “Elius was stabbed by his wife, the Empress Marla, in his sleep, moments before she succumbed to the mutated virus that is, even now, raging through our galaxy. Tigh, you’re needed. The empire is in ruins. Elius’s virus has turned on its makers, and the techs tell me it may destroy us utterly, killing most of our females as we insanely tried to kill the humans’ males.” In the holo, Torm sighed heavily. “You may not have heard of this where you are, but Elius became obsessed with defeating the humans, once and for all, after our defeat at
Alpha Richtar Sept. A scientist named Gruber came to him with a virus he’d designed. I don’t have all the particulars yet, but it was somehow targeted to a specific gene on the human Y chromosome. Since only human males have this Y-shaped chromosome, it was thought to only affect the warriors of their galaxy. Gruber claimed that releasing the virus on human worlds would kill all their warriors within three generations, leaving the females unharmed. Elius used this justification to move forward with the release, but Gruber was wrong. Many human females became sick, aborting male children and damaging their reproductive systems. They were changed on a genetic level, and many are now barren. It has fueled their fire to fight against us.”

  “Dear Goddess, no.” Tigh’s whispered words went unheeded by the recording that continued to play.

  “Many human females now man the ships they use to defend their systems. And they are fierce. They fight with even greater intensity than their warriors did. Many field commanders left the battle when they realized most of the enemy fleet is now staffed with females, but Elius’s hand-picked commanders shame themselves and our people by making war on women. Now, that terrible virus has mutated and come back to us. It kills our women, Tigh. The specific gene it targeted in humans was on the Y chromosome carried only by the males, but in our people, it targets something on both X chromosomes carried by all females. Males are spared, they believe, because we only have one X chromosome.” Torm’s old face grew pained in the hologram. “Tigh, my own daughter is gravely ill as I record this message. You’ve got to come back to the capital, as I have, to bring some order to the mess your brother left.”

  Tigh felt heaviness in his heart. His brother was dead, and from what Torm said, his people were in serious trouble. He’d given up his claim to the seat of power in favor of his brother and Elius’s future children. He wasn’t sure where he stood legally, but he would act as an advisor, if necessary, or in any capacity where he could help set things right.

  “Elius’s daughters are sick,” Torm went on. “They tell me the youngest girl is only hours from death. He had no son,” the holo continued. “You will be heir to the throne, once more, if things go as I fear and both princesses succumb to the virus.”

  Tigh switched off the holo. He couldn’t bear to hear any more. The high priest stood silently at his side, watching him with troubled eyes.

  “What should I do?”

  The old man narrowed his eyes. “The Mother Goddess has seen all that has transpired. You already know your duty, Tigh. We’ve long suspected your path lay not with the priesthood. It’s why we have denied you the final vows and will continue to do so.”

  Tigh felt defeat in his heart. It was not something a jit’suku warrior could stomach easily.

  “Then, I must leave the Zenai and do what I can for the empire.”

  The priest patted Tigh’s slumped shoulders. “You must follow where the Mother Goddess leads. There is much wrong to put right, and it seems you are the instrument to do it.”

  “If I’d taken the throne, none of this would ever have happened.” Regret filled his heart. He’d loved his brother and thought to give Elius the one thing fate had denied him.

  Tigh couldn’t believe Elius had released a bioweapon on the humans. It was an act abhorrent to their warrior nature. Tigh was amazed any of his people would have gone along with such a plan. Apparently, much had changed since he’d sought refuge on the Zenai mountain, years ago.

  “Did you ever think that perhaps, She sent you here so that you could learn the right way to govern the empire? The Mother Goddess has plans far deeper than our small minds can comprehend, Tigh. Trust in Her, and all will come right, according to Her plan.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  One Standard Human Year Later

  Emperor Tigh came as a supplicant before the humans’ Governing Council. Begging was not something a jit’suku warrior normally did, but dire circumstances called for drastic measures. Over the past year since he’d claimed the throne of his failing empire, almost all women of childbearing age and younger among the jit’suku had died.

  But the humans had women. And Tigh had learned through his endless study of their peoples’ respective histories, some human women could, and had, bred with jit’suku males in the distant past.

  The humans had few fertile men. Large numbers of human women had been sick with the virus, yet survived. As a result of the damage done to them on a genetic level, they would never be able to conceive from a human male, but some twist of fate would allow those same women to produce female children with more resilient double X chromosomes with jit’suku males.

  The answer to both the human problem and the jit’suku problem was clear, though it would be difficult to carry out. Enemies must become not only friends, but lovers. Tigh knew, in order to show the way to his people, he must select a mate from among the humans—if any human female would have him.

  He’d given up hope of finding his true mate and would settle for any woman that would at least be friendly towards him. What he did, he did for his people. He’d failed them once already by allowing Elius to have the throne that should have been Tigh’s. He would not fail them, again. He would take to wife the first human woman that would have him and get her with child, proving to both races that they could merge and end their fighting, once and for all.

  It was an ambitious plan, and it would be his life’s work. Tigh had risked all by entering human space, seeking audience with their Governing Council over his advisors’ objections. Only old Torm and a small contingent of Tigh’s most loyal warriors accompanied him, steadfast by his side, willing to face any consequences his actions might bring. It would be well within the humans’ right to put them all to death without even hearing what he had to say. The use of a bioweapon was cowardly and not something a jit’suku warrior should countenance. Yet, it had been done. Tigh could hardly fathom his twin’s reasoning, but he would make up for it, if he could.

  And so, he found himself before the Governing Council, ringed by women of power and their aides. Tigh noted a few males, as well—undoubtedly some of the famous Sons of Amber he’d heard about from his tech advisors. The humans had found a way to outsmart the virus, but it would take generations to restore the balance of male and female, and they would be forever changed on a genetic level, since the Sons were genetic creations of Dr. Amber Waithe and her team.

  They were not fully human any longer. Their genetic codes had been modified to make them immune to the virus and able to father over ninety percent male children, with successive generations normalizing to about fifty percent within a few generations as the race recovered. It was a brilliant plan, but the jit’suku had no such similar strategy. Without women, they were stuck. Condemned by their own arrogance.

  Tigh moved to the center of the Council chamber, all eyes on him as he was called to speak. He moved deliberately, knowing his actions were being recorded for posterity. Slowly, he sank to one knee, his ancient sword of office at his feet, head bowed in the traditional gesture of surrender, seldom seen from a jit’suku warrior. What he did here, he did for his people. Some would see it as weakness, but the wise among both races would understand the nobility of his actions. Or so he hoped.

  One of the few males on the Council rose and moved to stand before Tigh. His death could come now, Tigh thought, and it would be justified. But all he’d learned of humans and their history made him hope they’d want to know why he surrendered first, before exacting retribution. He was counting on human curiosity to let him plead his case.

  “I know you had nothing to do with the release of the virus, Tigh, warrior-priest and newly crowned Emperor. Your surrender means little, and I do not accept it.”

  Tigh rose to face the other warrior, meeting the dark-haired man eye to eye. Tigh respected the steel he sensed in the other man, the unrelenting dominance and the honor in his words. He was also surprised at the man’s knowledge of Tigh’s past.

  “It’s true I was not aware of what my brother had done
until recently, but I took over his sins when I took his throne.”

  “A throne that should have been yours to begin with.”

  Tigh bowed his head in acknowledgment. “Another sin for which my people—and yours—have paid too high a price. I would never have released any kind of bioweapon. I could not. It goes against every teaching of my faith and tenet of our Warrior Code. I still don’t understand why Elius did it, but none of that matters now. What matters is how we fix the problems the virus has created and rebuild our societies.”

  “We’ve found our answer,” Dr. Amber Waithe said from her seat on the Council. Tigh recognized her from the reconnaissance holos he had of all the Council members. He knew, too, that this genetically manipulated man standing before him was Commandant Michael Amber, leader of the Atlantia fleet, which made up a substantial portion of the humans’ fighting forces.

  Tigh turned to the scientist, motioning also to Torm who stood forward from the small group of warriors who had been allowed into the chamber with him.

  “You have come up with an elegant, but long-term solution, Dr. Waithe, and are to be commended. I can, however, offer a more immediate solution that will bring the added benefit of ending this war between our peoples for all time.”

  Murmurs rose through the Council chamber, and Tigh took it as a good sign. Councilor Torm passed a collection of data crystals to the famous geneticist through her aides and returned back to his place among the jit’suku warriors.

  “Councilor Torm, who lost his own daughter to the virus, has just given you complete documentation from our best med techs and scientists. I’m sure you all know, by now, that the virus my brother allowed to be released has mutated and turned back on us. It has killed our females in massive numbers, as it killed your males. I’ve made a personal study of our peoples’ history, including especially, the time of the Three Hundred Year Peace, when my ancestor, Tren, mated and married a human female. She was the daughter of an Enhanced human warrior, and I believe now, that these early tamperings with your genetic codes included jit’suku DNA. Otherwise, my techs tell me, the virus could not have mutated enough in your populations to turn against us. It is the small amount of undocumented jit’suku DNA in some of your people that bridged the gap from human to jit’suku and brought our own terror back to us.”