A Year and a Day Read online

  A Year And A Day

  The Handfasting, Volume 1

  Gail Daley

  Published by Gail Daley, 2017.

  Also by Gail Daley

  Portal Worlds

  Warriors of St. Antoni

  Spell Of The Magi (Coming Soon)

  The Handfasting

  A Year And A Day

  Forever And A Day

  All Our Tomorrows

  From This Day Forward (Coming Soon)

  The Handfasting - 3 Volume set

  The Modern Artist's Handbook

  Art Show Basics

  Watch for more at Gail Daley’s site.

  A YEAR AND A DAY

  The Handfasting Vol 1

  Gail Daley

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is unintentional and accidental.

  © Gail Daley 2016

  All Rights reserved. Any duplication of this work electronically or printed, except for brief publicity quotes, is forbidden without the express written permission of the author.

  Cover Art by ecoverexpert1 on Fiverr.com

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN:

  ISBN-13:

  About This Book

  Welcome to the far future. The Handfasting is an epic tale of a family’s struggle to survive. These are the courageous women and dangerous men who chose to carve a home on the alien world of Vensoog.

  Meet Katherine O'Teague, the heir to Veiled Isle, computer hacker and all-around tough lady, and Lieutenant Zachery Jackson, a hardened ex-recon soldier and his five super-smart orphaned dependents.

  The colony of Vensoog is in trouble. A bio-weapon killed or sterilized all the male colonists. To keep the colony from dying out, the Matchmaker Program finds ex-soldiers like Zack without a planet and offers them a new home if they are willing to marry women willing to sacrifice all to save their colony. Zack's home planet is a pile of radioactive ash. He desperately needs a new home for himself and his kids. When the Matchmaker Program chooses Katherine for him, is it a match made in Heaven or Hell? Katherine needs to find out in a hurry because Zack's five foundlings are too smart for their own good. She and Zack must find a way to keep their kids safe from the ruthless Thieves Guild who wants them, and what they stole when they escaped, back. Plus, Katherine is falling for her new husband and hasn't a clue if he feels the same about her...

  Table of Contents

  About This Book

  Options Of Survivial

  Making A Proposition

  Choices Made

  Repercussions

  Trick Or Prank

  Diplomatic Immunity

  Captain’s Mast

  A New Home

  A New Family

  The Handfasting

  Riverboat Travel

  Taming A Sand Dragon

  Roundup Vensoog Style

  Battle Of Blue Canyon

  Passover

  New Beginnings

  History Of Vensoog

  Alien World Romances

  About The Author

  Acknowledgments

  Options Of Survivial

  Spring 250 A.C. (After Colonization)

  Clan Meeting – Glass Castle

  THE EXECUTIVE ruling body of Clan O’Teague occupied the council chamber of the Clan’s main seat, known as the Glass Castle, on the Southern coast of Glass Isle in the Dragon Sea. There should have been four women and two men, but the two male members had joined the military forces drafted by the Confederation and killed in action on a distant planet. Their heirs were both too young to serve, and no one had yet been elected to take their places.

  Lady Genevieve, the Laird of Clan O’Teague was young for the office. She was in her early thirties, with fiery red hair, large almond shaped grey eyes and a tall, slim build. Despite her age and appearance, during the attack Genevieve had showed both the leadership and strength required to be the Laird.

  It could be seen their by their coloring that the women seated around the table were related. The three varied in age from sixteen to around forty-five. Lady Corinne was the oldest of the three, and her red hair was showing white amid the auburn. Her short, clipped nails drummed a tattoo on the table as she considered the solution her First Daughter, Lady Katherine, was proposing. Lady Corinne was Katherine’s aunt, and as the designated heir to her property, Katherine had taken over her place as the Clan Representative on the National Parliament when Corinne retired to pursue her interest in writing a planetary history. Katherine’s hair was not so fiery a color as Genevieve’s and her eyes had more green than grey, but she shared the same slim build, although she was shorter than her sister. Sixteen-year-old Lady Drusilla had only just taken her seat on the Decision-making Council and she was clearly uncomfortable with her new duties. Her pixie cut hair, a much darker red than either of her sisters, gleamed dully in the muted light from the crystal powered wall sconces, and her eyes were so dark a grey they almost appeared black. Drusilla was tiny; she was half a head shorter than Katherine and only came up to Genevieve’s shoulders. She cuddled her agitated Quirka and glanced nervously from one sister to the other.

  The four women were attended by Quirkas, the small native pets adopted by most of the settlers. Quirkas most closely resembled an Old Earth Squirrel with the pricked ears and pointed muzzle of a fox; they were furred with a large, bushy tail and front paws that looked like human hands. Soft flexible quills that could be ejected for defense ran along the backbone up to the top of the head. When attacked, the quills would stiffen and sharp, poison-tipped retractable barbs appeared. The poison couldn’t kill anything as large as a human, but it could make one sick. Quirkas were chameleons; their body colors could change with their environment, but their natural color seemed to be a soft mottled yellow. They were empathic and developed life-long friendships with some humans. Their small size (about the size of a human hand) made them ideal house pets and vermin hunters. They mostly hunted the variety of small rodents and insects prone to infest homes and businesses.

  "You’re going to put the cat-fox in the hen house with this one girl," Corinne remarked with just a hint of a laugh. "I think I’ll come to the next Parliament just to watch the fur fly!"

  "I think it’s a horrible idea," Drusilla announced. "It’s so cold, letting a—a—program pick your husband! What about love? Don’t you want that?"

  "I know it sounds cold, Honey," Katherine said. "And yes, I want my husband to love me just as much as I want to love him, but this solves our problem. If we don’t do something, this planet will be unpopulated in just three generations. It’s a fact but if we want to preserve our way of life, we need fresh DNA sources. Another fact that works in our favor is there will be many male soldiers left homeless because their worlds were burnt off in the War. We have to make difficult decisions—"

  "Don’t make a campaign speech for Heaven’s sake!" Genevieve protested. "I agree we have to do something, and this sounds like a practicable solution, providing the issues I see can be worked out."

  "What issues?" Drusilla finally found her voice.

  "The most important one is the Issue that we are inviting grown men to become a part of our culture. Adult males who won’t have been raised with our traditions. Issue two is these will be men who are used to fighting and may be not readily accept our traditions—"

  "That’s why you’ve been working on that old emigration selection program, "began Corinne.

  "A program! For what, pray tell? Please don’t say you’re talking about that crap the Makers use to set up marriage matches?" demanded Genevieve. Her Quirka chittered anxiously and she stroked her back, growing visibly calmer as she did so.

  Katherine put two fingers in her mouth and ga
ve a loud whistle. "Time!"

  Everyone turned to look at her. "If I could be allowed to finish? As far as your first two objections go, yes, there is still a program for selecting emigrants. We haven’t used it since the first ships, but I do have a copy. The program analyzed genetic data and personality traits to weed out anyone unsuitable for our culture. We use a part of it in our Matchmaking system. Once we received the results of the bio-weapon used on us, I realized what would need to be done. I have spent the last year working on combining the two programs and I plan to offer them to any clan that wants them. Who knows Genevieve? Since I did make improvements to give more weight to personal compatibility, maybe we’ll get lucky and our dream man will be waiting for us on Fenris."

  Katherine smiled reassuringly at her younger sister. "It isn’t really that much different than the match lists given out by the Makers when we turn of age you know, and we already do that during the Spring and Fall Festivals each year. The couples just won’t have met each other beforehand. I think we can sell it to our young women if we put it out to them as being romantic, instead of a cold business proposition."

  Genevieve pointed a finger at her sister. "All right Politician, write this up in a speech I can present to the Clan for acceptance."

  Drusilla hadn’t given up. "Why would any of these ex-military types come here? And where will you find them?" Drusilla asked.

  "They’ll come because we will offer them a home to come back to. We were hit with a bio weapon but our world is still intact. Many planets weren’t so fortunate. Soldiers from those planets will need to find a new home. As to where they can be found, I intend to present this plan for accepting immigrants to the base commander on Fenris. Fenris was the staging area where most of the troop ships from this area departed. I’m sure he will cooperate in presenting our proposal, because he will appreciate that he could get rid of some loose cannons by sending them home with us. You see Fenris is where they are going to turn loose most of the military units who no longer have a planet to return to. Even if the base commander is reluctant, the planetary government won’t be. Housing thousands of ex-soldiers and finding work for them will mean a big drain on planetary resources if they stay."

  "You will need money to operate. We used to do a lot of trade with Fenris," Corinne said thoughtfully. "Might be a good idea to take along some trade goods to build up capital and rebuild relations. I think I’ll go with you."

  Genevieve jumped to her feet. "Go with her? Then who will sit in Parliament?"

  "You are," Katherine retorted.

  "You are talking at least six weeks to get there and the same to get back! Not including the time spent on the planet setting this up. I can’t be away from our lands that long."

  "Sure you can. Parliament only sits three times a year. You name Drusilla as your deputy—"

  "Me!" squeaked Drusilla.

  "Yes, you," Katherine replied. "Genevieve will be reachable for advice by message crystal. It has to be you in Parliament Genevieve. Drusilla is too inexperienced to deal with that den of vixens."

  Genevieve sat back down heavily. "Oh, God. I hate politics!"

  Katherine nodded briskly. "Now here is what I propose we offer our new Handfasting partners; full clan rights, that is they can hold property for any daughters until the daughter reaches majority. If no daughter is born, they will have lifetime privileges on the property they occupy. Sons will automatically be full clan members; the woman those sons marry will become holders. We will guarantee pension and dowry rights if they marry into another clan after the Handfasting period. Because we need to develop a viable population base as soon as possible, I would prefer to approach a unit from the same area; I think it will be easier to integrate them into the clan as a group. That way if there are older men in the group who don’t find a match or unit members who don’t want to be matched, they would receive the same benefits as those who do, and they would be available to supply sperm for the planetary banks. The other Clans will design their appeal as they see fit. The only thing I plan to bring up before the Parliament next week is that the program is available and that we intend to offer the Year and A Day Handfasting to these men."

  "What if your matching programs works so well the couples want to change the Handfasting to the Forever and A Day?" inquired Corinne.

  "Then that will be up to each couple," Katherine said firmly. "Not our business."

  Drusilla took a deep breath and then asked, "Okay, but what are we going to tell them about us?"

  Her sisters and aunt just looked at her. "What are you talking about?" Genevieve asked.

  "You know well what I’m talking about," Drusilla said doggedly.

  "I don’t see why that would be an issue," Katherine said. "There have been rumors about Vensoog people and our ‘special abilities’ for years. It has always been up to each person what or how much she or he wants to tell spouses who come from off planet."

  "Most visitors to Vensoog conclude that some of us have psychic abilities and let it go at that," Corrine reminded her.

  "She has a point," Genevieve observed. "These men won’t be visitors. They will live here with us. Sooner or later they’re bound to get our talents rubbed in their face. You will have to be careful not to let any religious fanatics who might want to burn witches past your screening."

  "Are you seriously suggesting I go to Fenris and invite battle hardened troops to come back with me to marry a witch?" inquired Katherine. "That is not the approach I plan to make and I doubt I will be alone in that. Can you see Clan Yang or Clan Caldwalder or DeMedici doing that?"

  "Are you going to lie if they ask you about it?" Drusilla insisted.

  Katherine sighed. Sometimes her little sister reminded her of a Quirka at a vermin hole. "No. While I won’t advertise our abilities, if I am asked directly I will tell them the truth. However, since time will be so short before we leave for home, our new clan members will need to do a lot of sleep learning to familiarize themselves with our customs and the dangers of the planet itself. I included acceptance of our ways into the subliminal programs about the planet, so I hope the issue won’t arise."

  Once assured that Katherine and Genevieve would be in the list of marriageable women to be handfasted, about a hundred unmarried women of Clan O’Teague between the ages of twenty and thirty-five volunteered for the plan and started to enter the answers to questions that would determine personality compatibilities for matchmaking into Katherine’s database.

  Since no better solution could be found, the Vensoog Parliament adopted Katherine’s proposal. Several of the Clans were adamant about making their own decisions for dealing with the immigrants, but they all accepted Katherine’s computer matching program. It was finally agreed that each of the Clans would send their own representative to Fenris and the other planets hosting displaced Terrans.

  Katherine, Corrine and delegates from DeMedici and Yang took ship for the planet Fenris on a recently decommissioned freighter. Now that the war had ended, spaceships and crews commandeered from civilian sources were being returned to their original owners. The Spaceman’s Dream had been a free trader and was glad to take on cargo and passengers in return for a percentage of the profit on the sale of the luxury goods stored on Vensoog for the duration of the war. Only three of the clans decided to approach to the homeless soldiers on neighboring Fenris. Of the others, four would reach out to civilian refugees on the planets of N’Jamacia and Camelot, and the remaining three had agreed to take new applications from the Federated Worlds immigration services.

  Making A Proposition

  Planet Fenris A Month Later

  ONCE the decision to use Katherine’s program was started, clan representatives from O’Teague, Yang and DeMedici arrived on Fenris. The next day they met the base commandant, Admiral Noel Harris, who had been handed the unrewarding job of finding placements for thousands of returning soldiers whose planets had been burned off.

  Fenris had set up re-location depots for the returning so
ldiers in the old military bases where combat ready warriors had departed for the war. A base met all the basic needs of anyone who stayed there; food dispensers and housing, which although utilitarian was clean and functional. The planetary government planned to convert these bases into low-level hostelries to attract tourists as soon as they could rid themselves of all the returning ex-military. Some of the Clan leaders preferred to stay in the resort hotels for which Fenris had once been famous. However, Katherine and Corrine had taken up residence in the main base so they could have easy access to the bases’ computers, which were an essential part of Katherine’s plan. She would need to set up her program to accept the chosen men’s information so it could match them with the Vensoog women.

  Clan O’Teague had decided it would be best to find a unit or two willing to re-locate and met their requirements. Today Katherine would start her interviews with the officers in command of the various groups who had asked about finding a new home as a unit.

  "Are you ready for this?" Corrine inquired.

  Katherine blew out a breath. "I have to be, don’t I?" She treasured a private hope that among the soldiers she would find the soul mate she had almost given up hope of finding. Now that the end was in sight, she was a bundle of nerves.

  For maximum impact, she had dressed carefully in the full outfit a Clan Lady of Vensoog would wear for an important meeting. A semi-transparent loose linen blouse and pants in bright colors, topped with a tight-fitting leather vest rounded to cup her full breasts, and cinched at the waist with bright colored ribbons. The long sleeves and pant cuffs were gathered at the wrist and ankles. Her low-heeled shoes were meshed on top with crisscross ties running up the outside of her calves and tied off under the knees. A tall, flat crowned, wide-brimmed hat with a veil that could be brought down to cover her face completed the outfit. Although normally she would have taken the hat off indoors, she wore it now for the full impact. Sooka, her pet Quirka, leaped to her shoulder and clung to the straps on the padded shoulders of the vest. Katherine reached up and stroked her absently.