Alien Captain's Prisoner

by Corin Cain

  Now, I might have just moments to warn Aelon of the attack before it hits. The irony is that I’d spent the last few hours doing everything I could to block the Bond from my mind – and now I’m focused desperately on reconnecting with the three men, trying frantically to bring them back into my mind.

  But there’s nothing...

  It’s suddenly as if I was never Bonded in the first place. You never think about how lonely it is to have only yourself in your mind. All humans are alone compared to Aurelians. That noble species can feel each other, with their battle-brothers inside their brain at all times; offering them reassurance and support even if they don’t say anything out loud.

  I glance behind me. Theme’s got his hands white-knuckled on the triggers of his Orb-Beam. If I shared a Bond with him, I feel like his aura would be that of a nervous rabbit being chased down by dogs. I just hope the feeling of the triggers in his hands is reassuring him a little, because otherwise he’ll be useless in a fight.

  Sawoot suddenly speaks up.

  “Dammit, I was scared you wouldn’t do this, Tasha. I wasn’t going to be able to let you just leave them. I couldn’t let Garrick die for nothing. When we warn him, he’ll take his triad and escape.”

  “You know he won’t. That man is loyal, Sawoot.”

  She shrugs. I can see her in my periphery. “He is loyal. He even thought he might be Bonded to me.”

  I don’t let up on the accelerator. I’m pushing the ship to its very limits, but it doesn’t whine or shake like my old, barely-held-together Wayward Scythe did.

  This alien technology is designed for moments of intense pressure like this. None of us might have wanted to go to war, but we’re in no better vessel to face it in.

  I think back to what Sawoot just told me. “So, you weren’t Bonded. That must have broken him.”

  The poor man. Once Sawoot left, he’d known she wasn’t his Fated Mate. More than that, he’d known she’d betrayed him.

  Then, Sawoot breathes raggedly. She shakes her head.

  “Tasha… I couldn’t take my own advice. I distracted them, but I couldn’t go through with… it.”

  It?

  Oh – she means sex.

  Which means she didn’t have sex with Garrick or his triad, which means…

  “I couldn’t do it, Tasha” Sawoot almost sounds apologetic. “I know if I did – and if I found out I was Bonded to them… Well, I couldn’t have left him – not even for you guys.”

  I tighten my grip on the controls. I’m not angry with Sawoot for saying that, because I was plagued with the same dilemma. The only difference was that I’d known I was Bonded to Aelon, Vinnicus and Iunia – and I betrayed and abandoned them anyway.

  “I thought once we’d got you two to safety,” Sawoot continues, “I could go back later, if I still wanted to. But I just kept thinking about my friend from that harem – who’d wanted so desperately to be Bonded to her Aurelian triad, and then just ended up another woman in their harem.” She takes a deep, ragged breath. “I didn’t want to feel that.”

  I realize now that Sawoot might be Bonded to Garrick, but she’d chosen not to find out for sure, because that way she knew she’d be able to choose to help Theme and I escape. She understood the dilemma – of having to choose between your Fated Mates and your most trusted mates.

  I turn and glance at her – filled once again with incredible gratitude for my fearless, compassionate, brilliant friend.

  Then, I turn back to the controls.

  Sawoot might not have mated with Garrick and his triad, so she’d keep a level head and be able to leave The Instigator – but now we’re going back there.

  Everything has come full circle. We’d started this by running away from Toads and stumbling into Captain Aelon’s lap. Now, we’re going back. It might be by choice this time, but the circle is complete.

  I just don’t know what reception we’ll get when we arrive back at The Instigator. I’ll have no one to blame but myself if Captain Aelon drags us in with his tractor beam again and throws us in the brig.

  The Instigator may be our demise.

  But I couldn’t have left without giving Aelon, Vinicus and Iunia a chance – just as Sawoot wanted to give Garrick that chance.

  I know the pain that lurks in Aelon’s mind. I know he has a death wish, and he sees himself as an angel of destruction to the Toads – but I just hope he can change…

  I hope he can change for me.

  The calm before the storm is deadly. We have an hour of travel ahead of us to get back to The Instigator. I just hope we can evade the signal jammers in the meantime, so I can communicate with Captain Aelon and convince him to run.

  “We’ll get out of range. You’ll see.” It’s like Sawoot can read my mind – although perhaps she can. Who needs the Bond when you have friends like her? She and I grew up together, worked together, and went into business together. Her hands are shaking on the triggers of her Orb-Beam, but I know she’ll be with me to the end. She tries to sound confident, so I ignore the fear in her voice.

  If Captain Aelon choses to fight, we can only hope to be blown into atoms. I remember what Aelon told me about the human women he’d encountered on that Toad ship – being hurt for the entertainment of the Toad Captain. Death would be preferable to that – especially for me.

  After all, most human women could stand weeks of torture at best – maybe years of abuse.

  But me? Thanks to the Bond? I’d have thousands of years of torment to look forward to as one of their slaves. I’d be the heirloom one generation of Toad pass down to the next; to be tortured in the most horrific ways that my stronger, healthier body could now withstand.

  I shudder. I won’t let that happen.

  The voyage back to the Instigator seems to be taking forever. This calm is a dull terror. Our vessel is faster than the Toad Mothership, but as I cover the distance I have to wonder how much of a difference it will make.

  What good will a warning of a few minutes be? How could even a brilliant commander like Captain Aelon turn defeat into victory with just seconds of warning?

  I dial down our life support, diverting even more power to the engines. Our air is slowing thinning, and we have no shields, but we’re making incredible speed.

  Theme and Sawoot might have their fingers on the triggers, but the Orb-Beams are now useless. I diverted all power from them to the engines.

  Without shields we’re defenceless. If there’s a Toad reconnaissance ship ahead that we run into, it could land a single lucky shot that tears right through the armor of our Reaver.

  I’ll have to risk it, though.

  Every second we outpace the Toads is another second I can use to warn Aelon.

  I just have to hope Aelon doesn’t snap. I can’t imagine what it’s like for an Aurelian to lose his Fated Mate. I certainly can’t think what it’s like to suddenly have her reappear.

  I’m half-expecting Captain Aelon to handcuff me, throw me into a cell, and charge into battle without consulting me at all. I’ve seen women try to change men, and you might as well try to change the tides of the ocean or the alignment of the stars.

  Can Aelon put his future above his need to battle? Can he choose his Fated Mate over his bloodlust?

  My eyes flicker down to my charts. My HUD is finally clearing. It’s staticky, but that means we’re getting out of range of the Toads’ jammers and signal disruptors.

  We’re twenty minutes out from Tarrion. If the Toads keep their pace, I’ve gained ten minutes on them – but that’s only if they’ve kept their pace. Toads usually wait until the last second and then come in at attack speed – hurtling towards their enemy fast enough to totally blindside them.

  Suddenly, my HUD flicks back on fully. I focus every thought I’ve got towards my triad, trying desperately to bring them back into my mind like the sensors and HUD came back to life.

  The Aurelians suddenly blink back into my mind. I focused so hard on finding them again that when they do reapp
ear, their presence is so powerful and overwhelming that I lose my own identity for a moment.

  A triad of anger, confusion, grief, and loss floods my mind. My hands twitch, pushing our ship off trajectory. Sawoot looks over in concern.

  Overshadowing all of the emotions flooding through the Bond is one of horror – horror so deep it erases my mind. Loss so poignant it rocks me to the core. My hands are shaking, the ship responding as tears well up in my mind from the second-hand emotions.

  I force myself to be strong – and the Aurelians’ pain suddenly winks back out of existence, replaced by joy and relief.

  “Making contact!” I get the ship back under control.

  “Aelon! There’s a Toad Mothership with a full battalion of assault ships thirty minutes away from you. Did you regain control over the ship?”

  “Aye.”

  I was expecting him to curse at me through our telepathic communications. I was expecting him to question me on why I’d left. Iunia and Vinicus’s auras are still brimming with relief, but Aelon’s instantly changes. All emotion disappears into cold certainty.

  This is the aura of Aelon the Commander. This is how he is when his ship faces a foe. I was worried that Toads would bring out the rage inside of him.

  Instead, it brings out the coldness of a passionless executioner.

  “Tasha! Comms-links are back up! There’s an incoming communication from The Instigator!”

  “Accept it.”

  11

  Aelon

  There is no bliss greater than to find your Fated Mate.

  There is no horror greater than losing her.

  When Tasha blinked out of my mind, I knew she was dead. There was no other explanation.

  My triad felt the same – the instant loss of her from our shared Bond. Vinicus and Iunia instantly delegated command of the anti-air batteries to another triad and returned to The Instigator – flying their Reaver at breakneck speed without a thought.

  None of us had said anything to each other through our minds. When my two battle-brothers had come and joined me on the bridge, not one of us spoke.

  We just stared out through the viewscreen – to where the emptiness of space opened up before us. The three of us looked out into the void, feeling that our future was now as bleak and empty.

  We waited. That’s all that our life would be. Waiting for death. Our primal drive to find our Fated Mate is the force that powers all Aurelians forward. We spend our whole lives yearning for her, searching for her – and if we’re astronomically lucky, finding her.

  But, when she’s gone, there’s nothing more to search for.

  We sunk into the bleak, empty, oblivion…

  …and that’s when her aura suddenly returned to our minds.

  It was like the world suddenly regained color. Vinicus fell to his knees, overcome by emotion. Iunia couldn’t believe it for a second, thinking it was his mind playing tricks on him – that he’d finally succumbed to madness.

  As for me? I quietly said my thank you to the Gods, and then I reached for her aura, basking in Tasha’s being.

  I’d failed my Fated Mate.

  I’d allowed her to escape my protection. The Gods had given me another change to claim her, but I knew this would be the final one. I’d been given a gift that all Aurelians spend their lives searching for, but few ever find. I’d let my emotions and actions nearly cost me that incredible gift.

  Now, I know Tasha is still alive.

  Emotions well up in me, but I rip their roots from the ground and crush them beneath my boot. A commander must be passionless. The enemy force arrives, and to earn back my Fated Mate I must wipe them all from the skies.

  We’re facing a Toad mothership, according to Tasha’s report. An immense behemoth capable of blocking communications and even the telepathy of the Bond.

  This changes everything. The anti-air battery plan is now useless. Not only are we undergunned against such a formidable fleet, but it’s doubtful the Toads will even launch their attack against the mining colonies – so our weapons aren’t even in position to use as a defense.

  Everything I’d planned was wrong. The Toads aren’t planning to try and split us up. They’re not going to divert my forces. They’re just going to come at The Instigator in a frontal assault, with ten times the number of assault ships I’d anticipated, and overwhelming firepower.

  My mind races.

  First they’ll try to cripple The Instigator with a burst of firepower that will shred through our shields. There’ll be no surrender accepted – not that I’d give it. The Toads won’t take prisoners. They know the only way to get away with this affront is to leave no witnesses of their crime. The Toads will obliterate us into dust, and then pick up the Orbs they seek from the remains.

  Then, they’ll go down to Tarrion and wipe out the mining crews – slaughtering them to the last man. They’ll steal the ore, wipe out the witnesses – and perform the perfect atrocity.

  We were hired to protect those miners from Scorp and pirates. We’d never anticipated a full Toad fleet descending on us. Even worse? It was because of my avarice and arrogance that they’re here at all. If I hadn’t claimed those stolen Orbs, the Toads would have had no reason to bother the mining colonies. Now, I’ve signed the death warrant of every man working on them.

  “We have a comms-signal, Captain.”

  “On screen.”

  Tasha’s projection appears in front of us on the bridge. She’s pale-faced, but she’s alive.

  Tasha is a fighter. She managed to escape me – and that’s no easy feat. I couldn’t hold her – and some deep, angry part of me tells me to hold on tighter next time.

  If there is a next time.

  I’m ashamed of that instinct, though. It’s what drove her away in the first place. The primal, old Aurelian ways are embedded deeply in my soul, but I can see now that they’re flawed. The part of me that screams to claim her body and soul is why I nearly lost them. My instinct to bind her so close to me she can never escape again is why she’d fled.

  The holographic projection shows Tasha behind the controls of the stolen Reaver. She’s a natural at the helm. I can tell a skilled pilot in a second, and she’s better than most of the Aurelians under my command, many of whom have hundreds of years more experience than she does.

  Clarity comes to me as I understand that trying to hold onto a woman like Tasha is like trying to hold grains of sand in my fist. The tighter I squeeze, the more escapes. I realize now the only way to keep Tasha is to let her choose to stay.

  To be worthy of that choice.

  Vinicus pulls himself back to his feet. “Thank the Gods! You’re alive.”

  “I’m alive.” Her feed is cutting in and out. Tasha is at the very edge of the Toad blocking signal, and we risk losing her any second.

  But now, we know they’re coming. The Toads think they’re going to catch us by surprise. They plan on ambushing us and taking us out before we have a chance to defend ourselves.

  I lick my lips, forcing back my eagerness. A Toad Mothership. That means there’ll be tens of thousands of Toad on board. I’ll finally have my chance to rid the universe of an entire fleet of the disgusting creatures...

  …if I can beat them.

  If? Where did that thought come from? I’ve never lost before!

  But I’ve never had so much at stake before, either.

  “Aelon, they had some sort of blocking device,” Tasha pleads. “You need to evacuate before they get here!”

  Evacuate? I’ve never backed down from a fight in my life.

  I announce: “Do you think I fear a Toad Mothership?”

  Tasha’s projection looks down in defeat. I can feel the sadness flowing through our Bond. It’s like she wants me to be a coward and run.

  I’ll admit, this battle will be a difficult one. Even with all my years of experience, I’ve never taken on a Toad Mothership before…

  “Aelon – their ship is three times the size of The Instigator. T
hey have a fleet of assault ships that outnumbers you ten to one. The Toads aren’t here to ambush you. It doesn’t matter how good your tactics are. They’re going to destroy you.”

  Unease creeps over me.

  Tasha speaks the truth. A Toad Mothership is protected by enough assault ships to rip The Instigator apart even without the massive batteries of las-cannons of the behemoth itself.

  Tasha looks up at me, her eyes clear.

  “They’ll kill you, Aelon. They’ll kill you and your battle-brothers, and every Aurelian on The Instigator. They’ll shoot down every Reaver, and slaughter every soldier you have. Then, they’ll massacre the humans you swore to protect just to cover the traces of their crime.”

  Iunia steps towards me. He puts his hand on my shoulder. His eyes are a light brown, and it’s strange to see them different after so many years of looking into the slate-grey irises of my battle brother.

  “Aelon,” he rasps. His voice is harsh. Thinking Tasha was dead cut him to the core. “Aelon, she speaks the truth.”

  I’m not used to being questioned.

  The bridge of my ship has a concave view of the outside world. I can see the giant, green planet of Tarrion spinning below, and the coldness of the Scorp-infested moon above it. I’d already called back my fleet of Reavers to The Instigator the moment I felt Tasha disappear from my mind. That’s something. At least the Toads think we’ll be spread out.

  My mind races. “We need to move. The moon is the key to this battle. I’ll conceal The Instigator behind it – so they think we received advanced warning and retreated.” My lips curl. “Then, we’ll have one chance to cripple that Mothership before they even realize my play.”

  Tasha slams her fist against the controls – hard.

  Hard enough to hurt her – and I feel that pain through the Bond. I’d rather take it a hundred times than have her feel that frustration and self-inflicted agony.

  “Aelon! That’s madness! If they register The Instigator, you’ll be backed up against that moon – they’ll have you cornered!”

  “But if they don’t,” I growl, “we’ll have one chance to fire everything we have – that’s enough to cripple even a Toad Mothership.”