by Zara Zenia
"Take a seat," Melody demanded, her hand stretched out toward the only two available seats.
Bella sat in the chair next to Naela and Jodie took the other open seat on her right. She folded her hands on the table and looked over at Melody.
Melody, who seemed calmer than she had the last time Bella had seen her, stood up. "Alright, now, tell me why, after everything, we should listen to you at all and not just kill you and flush your body out of the airlock?" She stared at Terrex.
Terrex nodded. "I know you are angry, and you blame me for my father's actions. I did warn you that he wouldn't pay to get me back, I am worthless to him. I suppose I thought maybe that he might not wish to see me harmed, and the video might work, but I was wrong."
"Go on," Naela encouraged.
Terrex took a breath and then continued, "I didn't know that my father could get the Yebraxians to work with him or for him, I have no idea what he promised them, my flesh maybe. Anyway, once we saw the Yebraxians waiting for us, and we started back toward the ship, I looked for my father, it was definitely his ship, so I knew he had to be there. He was of course, out of the way, safely ensconced on his command deck ordering the Yebraxians to focus on me." He sighed and looked over at Naela. "I'm sorry that you were shot as I moved toward you to assist with Mabav. That was why I switched directions and ran past the ship, I wanted to keep them focused on me."
"It wasn't your fault. It was a battle, and I'm recovered. We all are. And Mabav will recover too. The shot was very close to his heart, but Sina was able to repair the damage with the nanobots and her healing. Now we just need to wait."
"I am glad you have all recovered," Terrex answered.
"Since we are a democracy here," Melody's jaw ticked, "anyone wish to lay blame on Terrex and Bella's shoulders for that debacle and leave them here on Verva, raise your hand." Melody looked around the table, but no one raised their hand. "Very well, those willing to allow them to return to their quarters and resume their freedom aboard the ship?"
Nearly everyone's hands went up at once, and then slowly the others raised theirs as well.
"Majority rules then. You may return to your previous quarters instead of the brig or being left here on Verva." Melody's lips turned down like she wasn't thrilled with the outcome. "Next topic of discussion. Jodie has made me aware that you have a possible plan to gain us the Credits we need to make full repairs to the ship?"
"Yes. I think we should kidnap someone my father actually will pay a ransom for. My mother."
Melody gaped. "You want us to steal an Omega from Duke Mal? After what we just went through? After nearly losing Mabav and most of us wounded? You want us to actually somehow land on Cania and if that weren't bad enough, sneak into his home and steal his Omega! Unbelievable!" Melody fumed.
Devron reached for her, whispering in her ear. He turned back to the table and looked at Terrex. "Do you have an actual, viable plan for us to accomplish this?"
Terrex nodded. "Yeah. My father may hate me and want me dead, but I do still have some loyal friends who will help us out. I just need a way to contact them. My idea is for one of them to get us a small transport ship, one that the ISF won't be on the lookout for, and we use it to get to Cania. Then we can get into the house and convince my mother to come with us. I don't intend to give her back, but we can snag some things to sell, and I know the combination to my father's safe, so there's that too."
"Wait, so what you're saying is we're going to 'rescue' your mother and pretend that we've kidnapped her?" Rayhan asked, frowning.
"Well, we would actually be taking her away from him, so it is a kidnapping in a way, then we set up a meet with him, but we just don't show up. We'll already have all the money we need, and we can then return my mother to Earth along with the other women on the ship."
Rayhan looked at Lezin and they shared an inaudible conversation for a moment and then he looked at the group. "It's doable, assuming your contacts are trustworthy and can get us what we need."
Terrex grinned. "They are and I know they can, I just have to contact them."
"Rayhan, you and Lezin actually think this could work?" Devron asked.
"What are the probabilities that we'll get caught?" Melody asked.
"I'd say fifty-fifty shot right now, we'll take it slow, right? Make sure we plan it all out properly before we begin. But I think we can up the odds with a few things."
"Up them by how much?" Melody wanted to know.
"Maybe to eighty percent chance of success."
Melody nodded. "So, the danger is still there of us getting caught, what about killed? I don't want to risk anyone's life."
"Yeah that is always a risk, we could die trying this. I'm not going to sugar coat it," Rayhan answered.
"Very well, we'll put it to a vote. Those willing to see if this is a viable plan?"
Everyone's hands went up.
"Okay, Terrex, we'll let you contact these friends and see how far you get. We'll re-evaluate after and in the meantime, we'll stay here on Verva and continue maintenance. How much is left in food, Jodie?"
"We're running low. They've got some shops here, we could go do some minimal shopping if you think we have enough Credits?"
"We'll check on that, see what we can do. Credits are running low. We need to bring in a hell of a lot more and sooner rather than later."
"If this plan works, we won't have to worry about Credits for a while," Devron reminded her.
"Right, anything else?"
No one spoke up.
"Great. Lezin, go with Terrex while he contacts his friends. Everyone else, back to work."
35
“Hey!" Terrex smiled and raised a hand in greeting to his friend Craylin as he landed a small ten person travel craft next to The Freedom.
As soon as he landed, he opened the side panel and stepped out. Craylin grinned and walked over to Terrex. "You leave for an extended vacation and join some sort of hodgepodge of space travelers?"
Terrex laughed. "Something like that. My father is being a dick and won't replenish my funds. He's even gone so far as to ban my friends from coming to Cania! Can you believe it?"
"Your father has always been an ass." Craylin chuckled as he handed over the control keys to the transport ship to Terrex. "So, I brought you and your friends those cloaks, took some doing, but I got five of them. They're in the transport. Is that gonna be enough?"
"Yeah, yeah. Perfect. I really just want to introduce my mother to my Omega. I'm hoping she'll help me out with some funds."
"You've bonded with an Omega? That must have cost you a pretty penny!" Craylin glanced curiously at The Freedom.
"Yeah it did, which is why I'm so low on funds!" Terrex chuckled.
Once Terrex had contacted his friends with the story that he and Lezin had come up with — that their ship was stuck on Verva in need of repairs and he wanted to bring his friend to meet his mother — they'd had another group meeting. After a long discussion, they'd decided to only share minimal information with his friends, not wanting them to get into trouble.
"So, where's Jespar?"
"On his way, his ship's a bit on the slow side. I offered him mine, but you know Jespar. He loves that old piece of junk of his." Craylin chuckled.
"How about a drink while we wait? I can introduce you to my friend and my Omega?" Terrex offered.
They headed into the town and found the local bar where Bella waited with Devron and Melody. When they entered, Bella's face lit up. Terrex led Craylin over to them.
"I just sent Jespar my location, so he knows where to meet us," Craylin commented as they approached the table.
"Great. Craylin, this is my Omega, I call her Bella. Bella, greet my friend," Terrex said.
Bella stood and nodded her head at Craylin, a smile on her pretty lips. "It is a pleasure to meet a friend of my master's." She stuttered just a tiny bit on that last word, but it wasn't noticeable.
Craylin grinned. "Nice."
"And this is m
y friend, Devron, I don't think you two have met before, have you?"
"You look familiar, but no, I don't think so. I've been off planet for some time, traveling with my Omega." Devron stood and shook Craylin's hand.
"Nice to meet you, Devron," Craylin replied. "What's the trick to getting such pretty Omegas? You two struck gold it looks like." His eyes flicked from Melody to Bella.
"Luck I suppose," Devron replied. "Just happened to be at the right auction at the right time."
"Same. She was pretty expensive, but worth it."
They made small talk for a while longer and drank a round of spirits before Jespar arrived and they went through the pleasantries again. The whole time, Bella and Melody sat quiet, only speaking when asked a direct question by their 'masters'. It was all a show done to not draw suspicion to what they were really doing. From what Terrex had told them, Craylin and Jespar were both sons of a lower-born nobles, and no fans of their fathers either as they kowtowed to their 'betters'.
After another hour, Jespar and Craylin left. "We should go back to the ship and fill in the others," Devron said quietly.
Once they were back onboard The Freedom, they all headed to the galley to meet with the others. "I hated that," Bella said softly, but Melody overheard her.
"Me too." They shared a smile. "Unfortunately, we couldn't take any chances they might think we weren't obedient to our men." She rolled her eyes.
They settled around the table and shared what had taken place. They decided Sina, Gaddis, Lezin and Jorwon would stay behind on Verva with The Freedom and the Earth women onboard, but they would stay in communication with them through an agreed upon comm channel. Rayhan and Naela would act as pilot and co-pilot of the transport, then Jodie, Melody, and Devron would escort Bella and Terrex into the city dressed as religious figures in the borrowed cloaks. Bella and Terrex would break off from them and using a back way in, make their way to his mother at the Duke's mansion.
While there, they planned to relieve Behlinn of several expensive trinkets. With that in mind, they each wore backpacks under the cloaks. Sina handed over a small black box to Bella just as they group was breaking up.
"What's this?" Bella asked.
"That is insurance. Just in case Terrex's mother is less than cooperative. It's a sedative. It will not harm her, but it will knock her out for about six hours or so, so if you use it, you'll need to hurry to get back to the transport."
Bella nodded. "Okay, thanks, Sina."
"Good luck, Bella."
36
Terrex wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and they headed back to his quarters. They weren't going to head out until morning, so they ate dinner alone in his quarters as they watched the sunset over Verva. It was an interesting planet. Bella enjoyed watching the majestic birds fly through the evening sky as they ate.
"Do you think those are people or just animals?" she asked as they took in the vivid scenery.
"Probably both," Terrex said, chuckling. He pulled her into his side, enjoying the feel of her curled into him.
Their bond had been getting stronger and stronger ever since she'd accepted him. He nuzzled her neck and kissed her behind her ear. She sighed in his arms and turned into him. With a click of a button, he dimmed the lights and quickly removed her clothing and then his own. He adored her and wanted to show her how much.
He slid down her body, trailing kisses over her skin, he moved down her stomach and then lifting her leg, he kissed her inner thigh and down to her toes and then moved to her other foot and made his way up her body, giving each patch of skin special attention. He wanted to learn everything about her, right down to every last freckle upon her skin. He wanted to hear how her breath changed with each new erotic spot he found to kiss her.
Once he'd finished covering her in kisses, he moved back to her core and slowly dragged his tongue over her clit as she emitted a slow, low moan of pleasure. It was a sound he would never tire of. He did it again to draw another similar sound from her throat.
"Terrex, please," she murmured.
Chuckling he moved back up her body and slid his cock into her. Within three strokes, she was over the edge and arching her back as she came for him. He continued to slide in and out of her, varying the pace until she came several more times and was completely undone by the time he joined her for the final one. He cuddled her close and fell asleep with her head upon his chest.
The next morning, they awoke wrapped in each other's arms. After a joint shower that led to more love making, they both dressed and put on the backpacks and then the cloaks. They left the hoods down as they headed down to meet the others at the transport after a quick bite in the galley. Luckily, Jodie had restocked the food, but it had apparently left the group with less than a hundred Credits between them all. If this plan didn't work, they were all sunk.
"Be safe!" Sina called as they all loaded into the transport.
"Everyone ready for this?" Melody asked.
"As I can be," Bella replied softly. She was once again reminded of the fact that she was normally not part of the action but filming it instead and her nerves rose. She prayed that everything went to plan because she wasn't sure she could adapt if things went awry.
"It will be okay, I promise," Terrex whispered to her.
Bella stretched her hand into the pocket of the backpack where she'd stored the sedative to make sure she still had it. She did, of course.
"Here, take this." Melody handed her a blaster.
Bella's eyes widened. "Do you think we'll need it?"
"Better to have it and not need it than, well you know the rest." She grinned.
Bella nodded but was too nervous to grin back. She took the blaster and secured it to her waistband as Devron, Jodie, and Terrex did the same with theirs.
Rayhan flew the ten person transport, which reminded Bella of a flying bus, up and out of Verva's atmosphere and into space. Two hours later, he announced they were entering Cania's atmosphere. He landed twenty minutes later outside of the main city in a smaller little town, setting the transport down into a parking area where it wouldn't look out of place.
They all climbed out and pulled up their hoods so they wouldn't be recognized. Rayhan and Naela, who didn't have cloaks were going to stay close by the ship, so they'd be ready to go once the others returned. They checked their wrist comms, making sure they were on the same frequency with each other and the ship back on Verva.
"Lezin, you got us?" Rayhan spoke into his wrist comm.
"Hear you loud and clear."
Rayhan touched the ear piece in his ear. "Same, going quiet." He looked at Terrex, Bella, and the others. "Be safe, don't take any chances. If things seem off, get out of there and get back here to the transport, got it?"
They all nodded.
"Stay in touch," Rayhan ordered as Naela hugged Devron and Melody.
"We will."
Together the five of them set off toward the city. They walked the religious pilgrim route toward the city. It wasn't a direct route, and was rather circuitous and lengthy, but considering how they were dressed it would have been suspicious for them do anything else. Three hours later, they reached the city limits.
"We'll get you to the back road into your father's house and then we'll head to the center of the city, where we'll blend in with the other religious figures who are giving sermons. If things go wrong, use the code word and we'll get to you, otherwise, stay quiet and once you've got your mother out and are headed back, let us know and we'll make our way to meet you." Melody spoke quietly as they stood just outside the city, still in the treeline.
"Got it."
They slowly walked into the city, staying to the edges, moving through alleys and side streets until they came to the back road used by the servants to get to work at the Duke's mansion. There, Terrex and Bella split off and moved up the well-trodden dirt road. It went uphill for about half a mile and then turned to a small gravel walkway that went behind the mansion to a garden gate. Terrex punch
ed in the security code the servants used, his father thankfully had never changed it. The gate opened and they moved into the garden and to the door used to enter the kitchen.
Bella was amazed at how much it looked like a home back on Earth, different materials, obviously, but really similar to adobe. In the kitchen, the cook looked up and Terrex pushed his hood down and smiled at the woman. They'd entered here, knowing the cook had always had a soft spot for him.
"Lord Terrex, have you joined the religious order?" The tall, silver-haired woman quirked an eyebrow at him and grinned. Bella noticed that she had a few wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, and so Bella assumed that she must be an older woman.
"Of course not, Dellina." He chuckled. "Just hoping to see Mother without Father finding out."
The cook nodded. "She's in the salon. Your father is down in the city, but he'll be returning soon, so you'd best go now. And keep that hood up, best no one else recognizes you."
"Thanks, Dellina, are we going to run into anyone on the way there?"
Della paused and then shook her head. "The maids should all be upstairs seeing to the cleaning, but just in case, best to keep your face hidden."
Terrex nodded and returned his hood. He led Bella out of the kitchen and down the hall into a parlor. While there, Terrex moved to a painting and set it on the floor silently. Behind it was a safe. He put in the combination and swung the door open while Bella kept watch.
He reached in and pulled out three stacks of gold colored coins that Bella recognized as Credits. There had to be at least a million dollars' worth that he slipped into his backpack. Her eyes went back to the safe as he then adjusted the things in it so what he took wasn't noticeable. It looked as though there were about forty more stacks of coins.
Silently, he closed the safe while Bella kept watch. He returned the painting and then they grabbed a few trinkets from around the room, easily concealable and easy to sell items. Terrex half wished he'd taken more of the coins, but he feared his father would notice if more than that paltry amount had gone missing. The art work too would fetch a nice price, but it was all too large to take and hide away in the backpack.
