The Tenth Cycle of TinTay High General’s private office Legionary Headquarters, Reborah, Hakim ToPher and TinTay are seated at the side table eating their supper. “Tophy it’s been almost a cycle since the Dirters attacked our convoy. I think that it might be time to send Major Taylor Peterson back to Dirt to see if we can start negotiations. They must realize by now that we won’t fight them in space and that they aren’t capable of attacking one of our planets. Has the navy gotten any ships ready to fight yet?” “No Tinny they haven’t gotten any of their ships equipped with weapons systems that don’t start falling apart, as soon as they fire the first test missile. It’s been so long since the Navy even considered the possibility of their ships having to fight that they simply stopped building ships capable of being altered to add weapons. Then we add in the fact that they use them until they literally fall apart from age. They hadn’t built any new ships for almost a hundred cycles. The first armed ships, built new, should be ready in less than half a cycle though.” “While we’ll continue building the new warships, we’ll start the negotiating process with Dirt. They might not be willing to talk so we still might need the new ships. I also don’t want to take the chance of being caught flat-footed by some other race that develops Inner Space drive. Have we ever gotten word from the Horab about why they raided Dirt when there wasn’t a rebirth sanctioned? Have they ever explained why they didn‘t tell the Legion that they lost ships when they raided Dirt for the second rebirth of Gkolath?” “No we haven’t gotten any answers to our questions about Dirt; we just get evasions that the Horab blame on communication mishaps. Communication with the Horab is done with translators since the translating devices don’t work with them. The Imperial bureaucracy claims that they haven’t had any better luck with them either. I’m thinking that the Horab might be hiding actions from the Emperor and us. Since the Horab have been so useful in the rebirth process we might’ve given them too much leeway, over the cycles, on how they provide zygotes for a rebirth. When this situation with Dirt is concluded it might be in the Empire’s best interest that The Legion gives the Horab home world a surprise visit.” For the first time of the night TinTay allows a smile on his face. “Sounds good to me Tophy. Even the Horab will be uneasy to have you and a Legion task force pay them an unexpected visit. Do you think Major Taylor Peterson is ready to go home? More importantly will he be willing to take a message from us to Dirt without being overly negative about The Legion and Empire? I don‘t expect him to sing our praises but will he be able to be somewhat neutral?” “Of course he’s ready to go home and I’m reasonably sure he’ll speak well of us. Of course he’ll also tell them of any perceived weaknesses he has observed during his time on Hakim. He’s gotten over the need for revenge once it sank in that The Stolen weren’t made into sexual slaves. That we were captured in order to became part of The Legion. While he hasn’t been able to go anywhere he might want to go to he’s been very popular with the Legionarys of the first rebirth of TinTay; once I let it be known that he could be considered an acceptable bed partner. While most of his partners have been of the first rebirth of TinTay, he as been with at least one Legionary of almost every rebirth. No member of the 2nd rebirth of Gkolath has slept with him though. It would be safe to say that Major Taylor Peterson is very willing to share his charms. Though I still don’t see why so many find him so attractive. He asked me why you haven’t been to see him since that first interrogation. I simply told him that the High General of The Legion is too busy to spend time with a mere prisoner of war. While he bought that answer he did stick his tongue into the side of his cheek while he considered it. I thought about slapping him silly for his impertinence but I remembered that you wanted him treated like family.” “I’ve avoided him because I can’t bear to be reminded of Brian. Brian can never be a part of my life again so to look at his grandson, who looks just like him, is more than I want to deal with. His sexual behavior also reminds me of Brian. He could have any man he wanted and it seems that Major Taylor Peterson can have any Legionary he wants. Why hasn’t he been with anyone from the second rebirth of Gkolath? “I think that for most of us he’s too young and brings back memories that we don’t want to think about at this stage of our lives.” “I know that I have to talk to Major Taylor Peterson before we send him back to Dirt but coward that I am I’ve put that off until the last possible moment.” “Tinny no one could ever claim that you’re a coward. You’ve led too many charges into the face of the enemy for that to be something you should ever worry about.” “I know that I’m not militarily a coward but when it comes to dealing with my feelings for Brian I’m totally afraid. When there was no possibility that I would ever see him again I could remember the good times we had that last night before the Horab captured us. Now that there’s a good chance that I’ll see him again I find that I wobble in my boots at the thought of being in the same room as he is. I wonder if he remembers me, does he remember our time together as a good time or not? I worry that we’ve become two completely different men and will have nothing in common. I‘m afraid that I’ll become tongue tied in his presence and look like an idiot.” “There’s no reason for you to fear meeting with this man. You’re the High General of The Legion of Orkon you simply tell the man to come to your quarters, take off his clothes, and then make love to him. You do realize how old he must be now don’t you Tinny? You’ll probably have to do all of the work. What will be will be and there’s no reason to worry about it.” “Yes I know how old he is and how old I am but that doesn’t matter; if I think of him in any way sexual then he’ll be 30 and I’ll be 18. There is no way I could tell him to do anything. I can only hope that I don’t see him until after the negotiations with the Dirt government have been concluded and we’re at peace. I’ll need to be on the top of my game for the negotiations and if I see Brian before I probably won’t be able to speak coherently. After finishing the negotiations I might find the courage to go back to Pittsburgh and find him.” “There’ll be no reason for your Brian to be at the first meetings so there’s no need to worry about it. Besides even if he’s there you’ll do your duty as High General of The Legion. I still think the best answer is to forget about him and invite Major Taylor Peterson into your bed. I‘m reasonably sure that he would be thrilled to receive that invitation. The 30 year old grandson would have to be better in bed than the 80 year old grandfather.” “That’s never going to happen Tophy. As High General I have to set an example for the rest of The Legion. For whatever reason the Dirters think that The Legion buys sexual slaves so we don’t want them to think that I can just demand that a prisoner put his legs in the air for me. Tophy I know that you are interested in my best interests but you have to stop putting down Brian at every chance you get. You seem to be jealous of him. We don’t know what these Dirters are going to demand that we give up for a peace treaty. They might very well want my head on a stick, and if that happens then I wouldn’t have to worry about anything after that little ceremony takes place. They also might not be willing to even talk to us if their desire for revenge is too great.” “While the Emperor will allow you to compromise on a lot of things with the Dirters I don’t think he would allow you to sacrifice yourself. Their military will be willing to talk since they now know that they can‘t bring us to battle until we’re ready to fight. Tinny I don‘t know why this Brian bothers me so much since I don‘t really remember him at all but I just don‘t want you to get hurt.” “If my death is what they need to calm their desire for revenge on The Legion then that is what they’ll get. Of course I’ll make them work for it. I’m fond of my head and won’t give it up too easily. It makes me happy that you worry about my feelings Tophy but I’m over 70 cycles old, I’m capable of taking care of my emotional stability. I suppose I’d better get started on this negotiating phase of the war. Bring Major Taylor Peterson to my duty office the day after tomorrow at the 10th hour of the day. We’ll need to send someone with him to act for The Legion, pick someone from the second rebirth of Gkolath, and not yourself Tophy.” TinTay grins at his friend. ToPher smiles back at his lifelong friend. “Yes Lord General.” *** “Major Taylor Peterson, it’s good to see you again.” “Thank you High General, I’ve been looking forward to meeting with you again. When I left Earth my goal was to harm the Legion as much as humanly possible. Now that I’ve found out more of the truth my goals have changed. I would like the Empire and Earth to become friends. I’m sure that both sides have a lot that can be shared for the benefit of both. We wanted revenge for something that didn‘t really happen. But even though The Stolen weren‘t taken to be sexual slaves they still were taken away from Earth by force and many people on Earth will not be willing to forgive that fact.” “I’m glad to hear that Major Taylor Peterson since I had you brought here today to see if you would be willing to return to Dirt as an emissary of The Legion. You’ve fucked enough of my Legionarys to be considered an honorary member of The Legion.” “Is that a problem High General? No one forced me and I certainly didn‘t force any of them. I do have to say that it has been very interesting fucking a blue skinned guy one day and a green skinned one the next. Then the Legionary with the prehensile tail added some new tactile feelings to the sexual acts we engaged in.” “I think Lord General that we are getting off of the topic.” “Yes General ToPher you’re right, as always, thank you for reminding me why we’re here today.” “I’m sorry High General for speaking out of line.” “You’ve done nothing wrong Major Taylor Peterson. I started the talk about sex. I’m glad that you have been reasonably happy during your enforced stay with The Legion. I do need to send you back to Dirt in an effort to start talks between The Empire and Dirt. Are you willing to go home and speak honestly about your time since you were captured? I’ll send an officer of The Legion with you to be our official envoy.” “High General I can’t guarantee the safety of a member of the Legion.” “I know that and so does Colonel ThanMa but it’s important that we try to stop these hostilities. So far no great damage has been done but eventually it’ll happen if we don’t stop the war soon.” “Then yes I’ll return to Earth to do what I can to help in starting the peace process.” “Good, then we’ll start making some plans. You and ThanMa will return to Dirt in a Legion ship. I assume you have some way of proving to the Dirt authorities who you are.” “That’ll be no problem High General. Though I’m sure that they’ll believe I’ve been brainwashed once I start saying good things about the Legion and Empire. But don‘t fear, I’ll be able to deliver your messages to the proper authorities.” “Basically we’ll need to set up a meeting between me, as representative of The Legion and the Empire, and someone from Dirt who can speak for them. We then can start working out the details of how to end this conflict that both sides can live with.” “I’m sure that the Director of Planetary Security will represent Earth in these talks. He’s basically in the same position as you are except that he isn’t directly in charge of the military. Where would you want to meet with him?” “I would think that on some uninhabited world would be the best. That way both sides can be relatively sure that there isn’t a double-cross going on. You can take that idea to the Dirters and they can choose the planet. After we make sure that the planet is safe then we can set a date for the meetings. You can also tell them that we’ll have ships capable of fighting in space by the time these meetings can be held.” “It sounds like a good plan to me High General but it’ll depend on whether the people of Earth can get past their desire for revenge. That desire has been developed for 50 years and may not be easily removed from the worldview of the population. I’ll do what I can but again I can’t guarantee the safety of Colonel ThanMa.” “That is a risk he’s willing to take. ThanMa is a member of the second rebirth of Gkolath and thus one of the Stolen.” “While that fact might help with the authorities I don’t know how it’ll play with the general populace of Earth. How many of The Stolen are still alive?” “There are less than 300 of us left alive. While as a group we have been very successful more than half of us were killed, under the High Generalship of Horem, during the conquest of Blumom. Major Taylor Peterson if at possible you need to convince your people that it isn’t in the best interests of either side to continue these hostilities. Convince them that I’ll negotiate in good faith and have the authority from the Emperor to do whatever is necessary to end the war. There’re traditions that I can‘t break so they need to know that as well.” “I’ll do everything I can High General. It might take some time.” “Colonel ThanMa has been given a crash course in implanting translation devices and how to transfer the knowledge of a language from one device to another. That works faster than trying to teach the devices a language when there aren’t a large number of speakers of the language; of course the translators aren‘t as capable as they are when they learn the language on their own..” “I’m sure that the authorities will want to check the devices out before they implant them. You’ll need to send extras for that process.” “We assumed that would be necessary. It’s interesting that more and more of our memories from before we became of The Legion are returning as we think about Dirt. Colonel ThanMa has been given codes that he can give to any emissaries from Dirt to prove that they come from the two of you and so will be given the benefit of the doubt if they show up here. The Legion has a long history of dealing with other planetary populations so we know how to protect ourselves; if someone from Dirt was to try to something other than communicate this would not be taken lightly. Have no fear Major Taylor Peterson, while I and the Emperor, don’t want to continue this fighting with Dirt we know that we can win a war with your planet. Neither side would want the results of that so it’s in the best interests of both sides to make every effort to come to an agreement to end the hostilities.” “I’ll do everything I possibly can to convince the authorities of that fact High General. I hope that everything works out well for both sides.” “You and Colonel ThanMa will leave tomorrow.” *** Legion Explorer Craft 5 minutes after entering Inner Space from Hakim orbit. “Colonel ThanMa why is the High General only sending you with me to Earth?” “According to Legion traditions, and there are a 1000 cycles of Legion traditions, one representative from The Legion works best when opening negotiations. Once we’re able to agree to arrange a meeting between our two governments then High General TinTay will send a large party. Though most of those functionaries will be Imperial bureaucrats and levy officers. The Legion delegation will be either General ToPher or High General TinTay and just enough Legionarys to provide protection.” “Traditions seem to rule the Legion much more than they do on Earth.” “The Legion was first formed when Orkon conquered Minbar and began the Empire. Minbar was the second planet in the Empire and there’re now over a 1000 planets in the Empire, all of which have been conquered by the Legion. So yes The Legion follows tradition on almost every detail. High General TinTay probably knows the traditions better than anyone in the Empire and will know how to use one tradition to counter other traditions. Though there are some traditions that simply can’t be countered.” “Probably the tradition that I found the most interesting is the complete lack of contact with females by Legionarys.” “That’s probably the tradition that causes more embryos to never become babies of The Legion. Some males simply can’t get past the need for females. So they never move past being an embryo and are destroyed when the next rebirth begins. Tradition requires that The Legion have nothing to do with females for a biological reason but tradition doesn’t require homosexuality of Legionarys. While the vast majority of Legionarys do engage in homosexual acts it isn’t mandatory, any Legionary can remain celibate if he can’t bring himself to have sex with other Legionarys. Of course no Legionary from the newest baby to the oldest member of The Legion is ever forced to do something he doesn’t want to do. Rape of a fellow Legionary is as much a death sentence as having sexual contact with a female.” “You said the tradition against having sex with females is biologically orientated, how so?” “Since the formation of the Empire with the conquest of Minbar by Orkon there has never been a pregnancy between two different races. None of the Empire planets have a high fertility rate so if a Legionary has a relationship with a female of Hakim she won’t have any children with him but more importantly she won’t have any children with a male of her race. The Legion is the elite military unit of the Empire and leads the levy Armies in the conquest of new planets. So yes the homosexuality of The Legion is biologically based.” “What’s considered rape of another Legionary?” “If I said no to any sexual act required by my Legionary sponsor when I was a baby and he went ahead anyway that would be considered rape and punishable by death. Even something as minor as a forced kiss would be considered rape. Of course there have been cases of a baby demanding sexual acts that a sponsor wasn’t willing to provide and the baby was executed for rape. This is a very rare occurrence though since from the beginning of our time as a embryo we learn about the traditions of The Legion and the proscription of rape is almost the very first one we learned about.” “Did you ever tell anyone no?” “That is a personal question Major Taylor Peterson.” Taylor looks embarrassed. “I’m sorry if I overstepped the bounds Colonel ThanMa.” “It’s ok Major Taylor Peterson it just caught me off guard. There was a time early in my babyhood when I thought that I would have to say no.” “Well you have my interest Colonel.” “I was an active gay man back on Dirt so I had no problem having homosexual sex. My first sponsor and I fucked like grooths but eventually I had to move on since he had taught me everything that he could. My second sponsor was from the 4th rebirth of Lavello. I found out later that he was the only member of that rebirth still in The Legion. He was a huge male, over 7 feet tall and 300 pounds of muscle. His skin was orange tinged and his hair was blonder than High General TinTay‘s was, when we were young. He looked like the ideal Legionary but he was in the supply corps, which only fights, in defensive situations. He had specifically requested me when he heard that my first sponsor was giving me up. When I first came to his quarters he was coming out of the bathing unit and I about fell over when I saw that his dick was almost to his knee in the flaccid state. I knew that if he wanted to fuck me I would have to say no since even as experienced as I was there was no way that I could take something that huge.” “How big was it erect?” “15 inches minimum but later that night when he invited me into his bed I hesitated. He then told me that I had nothing to worry; that the last thing he wanted to do was fuck me. So I got into bed and we had a fabulous night but I had to do everything since he was the most passive lover I’ve ever had. In the morning I asked him why he was so passive considering his physique and age. I was so surprised at his answer that I’ve never forgotten a word and this was over 60 cycles ago. ‘Little ThanMa you never have to worry about me doing anything physical to you since for me to do so would cause my death.’ ‘What?’ ‘I’m from the 4th rebirth of Lavello which has to be the worst rebirth in the history of The Legion. When the Horab found my planet they thought they had found the perfect zygote planet. As you can see I am very large and physically strong. The problem is that my people have a hormonal weakness regarding violence. The thought of causing violence causes hormones to be released in our bodies that causes our death. Over half of the zygotes died on the trip to the rebirth center simply from the idea of being forced to be soldiers. At the rebirth center less than 10 of us survived the embryo stage since as we learned about the traditions of The Legion the ideas caused the hormonal release. I was the only baby of the 4th rebirth to be born a Legionary, I guess I would’ve been considered defective on my home planet since the idea of violence doesn’t affect me as much as it did my fellows. The others died when their sponsors required them to act in the active role. Evidently the hormone considers active homosexual acts as violence. I’ve been very careful to never do anything that my body could consider violent. So young ThanMa you have nothing to fear from me, since anything you would be afraid of would kill me. In all the history of The Legion the time interval between the 4th rebirth and the 5th rebirth of Lavello is the shortest.’ That is the closest to saying no that I’ve ever been but many Legionarys say no to various acts every day. I’ve been with others who would do anal sex but not oral and vice versa.” “15 inches that must have been quite the sight if nothing else.” “Yes it was an amazing sight and I was tempted a time or two to try to take him either orally or anally but he wouldn’t allow it since he didn’t want to take the chance that even if he lay perfectly still his body would betray and kill him.” “Colonel ThanMa how much do you remember of your life on Earth? Which of the Twelve were you from? Do you want to go back home when we get to Earth?” “I doubt that there is anything for me back in Manchester so I don’t have any great desire to go back there and like most of the others of the second rebirth of Gkolath I don’t really remember much about my life before I became of The Legion. Any other personal questions Major Taylor Peterson?” “I’m pushing it again aren’t I?” “It isn’t like we have a lot of other things to do. Ask away, I can always not answer.” “How did you get the name ThanMa?” “The High General of The Legion derives a formula for each rebirth, it’s different every time though. I suppose that the formulas are reused over time just not when there is overlap amongst members of The Legion. The second rebirth of Gkolath had a simple formula; the second and third syllables of our birth name. I was Nathan Maloney so I became ThanMa when I was born a Legionary. For the first rebirth of Valdof they took the first two syllables of their birth name and add Dof to the end. High General TinTay came up with a very novel formula for the first rebirth of TinTay, those Legionarys simply use whatever name they want, most stayed with the first part of their birth name but a fair number have TinTay in their name.” “As you probably know I had sex with a lot of members of the first rebirth of TinTay since they’re the closest in age to me and I wondered why so many had TinTay in their name but not all of them.” “High General TinTay is very beloved by The Legion and we would all die for him in a heartbeat if necessary, because we know that he would die for any one of us just as fast. He’s been High General for 10 cycles and we’ve captured 4 planets in that time and only had one rebirth, which really was more because of the policies of the previous High General than of TinTay. He’s a brilliant military mind and a wonderful lover.” “You’ve slept with him.” “Many cycles ago when we were both young Legionarys we had a short affair. High General TinTay has always been generous with his favors though he’s less obvious about it now than he was when we were younger and less highly ranked. Even as High General he’s sponsored his share of babies. Some High Generals have worried so much about their status that they became almost celibate.” “I had very little contact with the High General but I found him very likable and I was raised to hate the Legion and everything it stands for. General ToPher on the other hand scares me even when he’s going out of his way to be nice.” “You wouldn’t be the first to be afraid of ToPher but he loves TinTay with a dangerous passion. If he felt anyone threatened TinTay, in any possible way, he would have no problem killing him in a split second. Well Major Taylor Peterson the computer tells me that we’ll be jumping into Dirt space in 5 minutes. You have your recognition codes? We wouldn‘t want to be destroyed before we can talk to the authorities.” *** “Gus, this is your father, Taylor is back. I’ve sent a jet to Pittsburgh to bring you and Katherine here.” “How is he Dad?” “I haven’t spoken to him yet Gus but he should be on the ground by the time you get here. Do you want me to tell him the good news?’ “How do you know about that?” “Gus I’m the Director of Planetary Defense did you really think I wouldn’t find out about the conception of my great-grandchild?” “I guess I’m so use to not thinking about you Dad that it didn’t occur to me. Don’t tell him anything about it. Katherine and I’ll tell him when we get there.” “OK son, Gus we need to talk.” “I know Dad, let me talk to Taylor first.” “See you soon.” The Director hangs up the phone and wipes his brow of the nervous perspiration that covered it. *** “Director Kinney, Major Peterson and his Legion companion are here. The alien looks extremely human to me Mr. Director.” “Captain Sheridan bring Major Peterson to me, keep the prisoner in the outer office. Make sure he’s comfortable but that he knows there are armed guards prepared to shoot.” “Yes Mr. Director,” *** “Taylor, it’s good to see you again. Your parents will be here in less than an hour. We’ve missed you so much. Were you mistreated? Why did they let you go? Who’s your companion?” “Grandfather I have a question and a request before I answer your questions.” “What Taylor? Anything we can do we will.” “Can you have the pictures of The Stolen computer aged so that they would look like they’re 50 years older than they were when they were captured?” “That’s no problem Taylor, that’s been done for every one of The Stolen every year on the anniversary of The Raid.” “Then I would like to see the pictures of The Stolen from Pittsburgh.” “Why do you want to see these pictures, did you meet any of The Stolen?” “Just let me look at the pictures first grandfather.” Director Kinney buzzes his assistant and asks her to have the relevant pictures made available to the computer in his office. “There you go Taylor, they are alphabetical by last name.” “Thank you grandfather.” Taylor looks through the array of pictures, selects two and pastes them into a separate page. Taylor then gestures for his grandfather to join him at the computer. “Grandfather this picture is of General ToPher, second in command of the Legion. This picture is of High General TinTay, leader of the Legion.” Director Kinney stares at the computer screen in disbelief. “Taylor are you sure of this?” “Yes Grandfather I’m sure.” “Justin, my Justin is the leader of the god damn fucking Legion.” TBC