Return to Atsileigh

By Deirdre O'Dare

Sequel to Treading Dangerous Ground

Some years ago, an event now called Hightower’s Betrayal ended the existing settlement of old world Native Americans on the obscure world of Atsileigh. But was Hightower the betrayer or the betrayed?

Floyd Jaxon, Nathan No Horses, and Jamison Hightower, nephew of the earlier Hightower, meet as cadets at the Unifleet Training base. They alternately razz each other and share in some steamy interludes as they are drawn into the growing plot to mark Hightower’s Betrayal with a return to Atsileigh.

Can their budding friendship withstand the dangers and demands they must face? Will Nate’s contempt for the Hightower name destroy any chances for a long term connection among them? The future looms ahead, filled with threat and promise. How the three young men grow to deal with it and each other will impact them all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Apr 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781634869287

Deirdre O'Dare

Deirdre writes gay romance channeling a prior life’s gay male twin she calls Danny. Fascinated by love’s diverse shades and guises, she explores and experiences a range of attachments. She still believes in happily ever after, that Love is the One True Thing and genuine Love is never wrong. For more information, visit deirdredares.blogspot.com.

Book preview

Return to Atsileigh

By Deirdre O’Dare

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2019 Deirdre O’Dare

ISBN 9781634869287

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission from the publisher, with the exception of excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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My very first gay romance was Treading Dangerous Ground, in which Hightower’s Betrayal was a key part of the plot. I have to acknowledge I grew a deep fondness for the space opera genre from Star Trek many years ago. Perhaps this one is for Leonard Nimoy, who will always be Spock to me, although he has gone on to other adventures now. Also for the rest of the crew, actors, and producers, who gave us this still-amazing look at a future that gets closer all the time. There is a vast and wonderful Universe out there; I just hope people advance in their perceptions and ways to deal with each other and the entities they will encounter when they leave our solar system as they progress with the technology to do so. May the True Powers bless you with many bright and wonderful things. And may The Force be with you!

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Return to Atsileigh

By Deirdre O’Dare

Chapter 1

Titan, Main UniFleet Base Standard Calendar, 2299

Tonight at 2200 in the Skylar Wilks barracks. The whisper went from one UniFleet cadet to another, although only a particular kind of cadet. The meeting was only for those with old Terran Native American blood.

Floyd Jaxon thought about it. Do I really want to get involved? The twentieth anniversary of Hightower’s Betrayal was coming up soon. He didn’t doubt the secret meeting had something to do with an action, probably a seriously illegal action, to protest or commemorate that event. There were advocates for both positions, he knew.

I’ve got too much at stake to risk it for a hollow act of defiance. What do I care, really? Yeah, maybe a bunch of Indian settlers were mowed down on Atsileigh because of Hightower’s treachery or someone higher up. What’s that to me? Most of the people on Atsi were Navaho or a couple of the plains tribes. I’m Nez Perce, mostly…

He moved forward as the line edged ahead. Today, due to the training schedule, all the cadets in three classes had chow at the same time. It was going to take a lot longer than anyone expected for all the troops to get fed. We’d better not be docked if we’re late. But he knew they likely would be. The chickenshit class monitors were that way.

A sharp jab in the ribs spun him around. He looked up into Nathan No Horses’ grinning face. Mostly Comanche, a tribe with many tall members, Nate stood over six feet to Floyd’s five-eight, so he had to look way up. They’d been teasing and flirting off and on since they arrived for basic training two months ago.

So far, Floyd hadn’t quite decided if he liked it or not. Nate was good-looking, but he had an attitude that wouldn’t quit. Despite that, he somehow managed to squeak by, not quite getting enough demerits to be ejected from basic training.

Come on, Nate, give me a break. That hurt. Do you always have to be poking and picking at me? A person would think you were still in grade school. Grow up, man.

Nate deliberately ignored Floyd’s comments. You coming to the powwow tonight?

Floyd shrugged. Maybe, maybe not. It sounds to me like a good way to get in trouble. None of us need that, ‘specially you. You’re about five demerits from being sent back home with a BCD. I don’t know about you, but for me, it’s been a tough struggle to get here. Why throw it all away on some pointless, stupid protest?

Nate’s dark eyes flared with apparent rage. There’s nothing stupid about it. Because of Hightower’s betrayal, my people were almost wiped out. I was born on Atsileigh. I barely remember it, but it was home. I lost my father, two uncles, cousins, and friends that day. And the only life we’d all known, too. He took a deep breath and let it out with a sharp puff, almost a snort. "We were rounded up, hauled off, and dumped on Corinth, that fuckin’ shit pit. Well, we were just Indians—and rogue-rebel no-account Indians at that—so who gave a damn? But I want to go back. That planet was ours, and we’d earned the right to exist there, undisturbed, to follow the old ways and live as we were