Battle For Earth

by Daniela A. Wolfe

  Farris pounced on him and hit the bastard so suddenly that what happened didn’t even register until Rayland was down on the ground. “Just what the fuck is it you want? I find it hard to believe that you would come find us out of the goodness of your heart.”

  Rayland staggered back to his feet hand massaging his jaw as he glared back at the other man. “All I’m saying is you should wait a little while. Trust my reasons or not you have to admit that it does make a certain amount of sense.”

  Kaya bit her lip. “Try to find a clearing inside the forest to put the ship down. We can conceal it with brush if we have to. Shut down the engines and the computers so the Qharr won’t be able to detect us then we’ll hide until things settle down. As much as I’m tempted just to go zooming off to the array with guns blazing it would be disastrous if the gray skins ever caught us there.”

  “There is another option,” Rayland grinned tapping the tips of his hand against the wall he was leaning against. “You could take refuge with my people. Our nest is well concealed and the Qharr would be hard pressed to find you.”

  “Right and what’s to keep you from turning us over to the Qharr once we get there?” Farris demanded with both fists clenched at his side.

  “Are all members of the resistance this thick headed? Do you really think I’d go to all that trouble just to turn around and sell you out to the Qharr? We may not have been fighting the Qharr all this time like you have, but make no mistake we hate them every bit as much as you do.”

  “I very much doubt that,” Kaya glared at him. “You’ve never known what it was like to live under the yolk of the gray-skins. I’ve been beaten just for looking at one of the bastards the wrong way and there isn’t a single slave who hasn’t seen friends and family members murdered by those fucking assholes. Do you really think you’re hatred can even come close to the sort of abhorrence that we feel?!”

  “No probably not,” he pursed his lips. “That doesn’t change the fact that we’ve been forced to hide from the Qharr like rodents. We may not have suffered as much grief by their hands, but this world belongs to us just as much as it does you and we would very much like to have it back.”

  “You’ve hidden away all this time. How can we be sure that when the going gets tough you’ll stick around and keep up the fight?” Kaya asked putting her hands on her hips.

  “I guess we’ll just have to take that on faith,” he replied glaring at Farris with a sidelong glance before rubbing his jaw one final time.

  Farris snorted, “Faith? Give me a fucking break. I’m not going to accept anything this dip shit says on faith.”

  “Neither am I,” Kaya replied glaring at Rayland as if daring him to challenge her. “He’s going to have to prove himself. Him and his people.”

  Rayland beamed at Kaya, “Well then we might as well get ourselves under way. That is if you have no objections.”

  Kaya rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Oh dear lord. Get this straight because I’m only going to say this one more time. I’m have no reason to trust your people and I’m not going to risk them betraying us.”

  Rayland shook his head and let out a long soft chuckle before turning to Lily. “Hello beautiful, I’m a bit embarrassed really, but I can’t seem to remember your name. Would you mind repeating it? I promise to treasure it and keep it forever in my mind.”

  “L-Lily,” she replied back turning away from the console to stare at him with wide eyes and red cheeks.

  “A pretty name,” he grinned. “One that suits you quite well. Alright then, Lily I know the perfect hiding–”

  “Thanks, but,” Kaya yelled cutting him short. “we’ll find our own hiding place!”

  “Just trying to be helpful,” he beamed back at her.

  “Oh god, would you just shut up already?” Kaya rolled her eyes. “God are all nesters this annoying?”

  “Lily,” Farris cocked his eyebrows and eyed Kaya and Rayland with a frown. “I think you better find a place to land soon. If you don’t Kaya or myself are liable to kill Rayland…”

  Chapter Four

  It took Lily another hour to find a spot for us to land and another ten minutes to get the ship’s engines shut down. She’d been able to land in a spot near the Alberta Mountains nestling it in a small glade which was ringed with trees. We got to work gathering what we needed to conceal the ship.

  Neither Becca nor myself had any experience with such a thing, but the others knew just what to do. Even Rayland had a thing or two to say as we gathered random bits of brush and large branches from the surrounding forest. Between the two of us, Lily and I, were able to lift some very large pieces of brush which no one else could have handled and as a result we were able to get the ship covered much faster than would have normally been possible. When everything was finished I wasn’t completely convinced that our work would prove to be sufficient, but everyone insisted that from the air the ship would be indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. I was skeptical, but I didn’t press the matter as I figured they must know what they were doing.

  “How long exactly do you expect us to stay here?” Farris rounded on Kaya just as we were finishing up. It may have been because his face was flushed or that he was winded, but he seemed pretty angry as he towered over her.

  “As long as is necessary.” Kaya glared back at him with her arms folded across her chest. “I doubt it will be much longer than a few months.”

  “A few months?” Becca asked with wide eyes staring at Kaya. “Here?”

  Kaya rolled her eyes and shook her head. “That’s a worst case scenario. We’ll probably be out of here in a few weeks.”

  “Well,” Lily sighed. “I guess that would be slightly more bearable.”

  “Indeed,” the doctor agreed. “Vakrexid would like to suggest we prepare a Haagloeb! I am most hungered.”

  “What’s a–” Farris stopped mid-sentence. “You know what forget it. Let’s just get something to eat.”

  “Vakrexid concurs!” The doctor trilled then ran back toward the ship.

  “Come on.” Kaya motioned us forward. “If we don’t stop him, he’s going to start cooking.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?” Rebecca asked staring at Kaya.

  “No not at all.” Kaya grimaced turned around to stare at my sister with a hand on her hip. “If you enjoy the taste of blended up leeches, grubs, and worms boiled in pigs blood.”

  Farris shuddered. “Mara sent me to go hunting for plants and herbs with him once. He made this green goop, lord knows what he put into that shit, but it smelled like hell.”

  “Yeah, and who knows what he’ll concoct without anyone watching him. So if you don’t mind I think it’s time we go find him,” Kaya added then spun around disappearing back into the ship.

  Chapter Five

  “So the girl says ‘Wanna hear a joke about my pussy? Nevermind, you’ll never get it.'” Rayland grinned and chuckled as he looked around the small fire with an expectant smile on his face.

  “Oh lord,” Kaya rolled her eyes. “Someone please kill me now.”

  “Vakrexid does not find your humor amusing. Please cease your jesting at once or I shall be forced to jump up onto Vakrexid’s feet and squawk in a most unsettling manner,” the doctor tooted bobbing his head from side to side before dipping his face tubes down into his bowl to suck down the final remnants of his soup.

  “You hear that Ray? Even the doctor thinks your jokes suck!” Farris chuckled shaking his head then taking a long sip from his water.

  “Shit, you people wouldn’t know good humor if it had hit you in the face. Ah, well…”

  Rebecca yawned then turned to me a thoughtful expression on her face. “You know Jeff that stuff you made tasted a lot like a soup Dad used to make when we were little, but that’s probably just the duck meat.”

  “Really?” I replied stifling a yawn of my own. “C–”

  “Wait,” Rayland said cutting me short then glanced at my sister. “I just gotta know. Why do
es your sister keep calling you Jeff? Wasn’t your name before your change Jellfree? Shouldn’t your nickname be Jell or Jelf or some shit like that?”

  I shrugged and rubbed the back of my neck and realized that I had no idea. Becca had called me Jeff for as long as I remembered and it had never occurred to me to question it.

  “It’s short for Jeffee,” Becca muttered from the other side of the fire. “When J-Lexa was born I had trouble pronouncing his… her name and it just stuck and eventually got shortened to Jeff.”

  “I suppose that makes sense,” Rayland said sporting his usual grin. “Well, now that that’s been cleared up I guess I’ll turn in, but I suppose under the circumstances that’s to be expected. It’s not every day you get to have so much fun moving big branches about like that.”

  “Yeah.” Kaya let out a loud yawn as she stretched her arms out above her head. For a moment I felt a twinge of regret as I stared at her breasts. I blushed and turned away realizing that my eyes had lingered a little longer than they probably should have. I bit my lip then folded my arms across my chest. I’d come to accept that it was over between me and Kai, but I was still very much attracted to her. Hell, who wouldn’t be with a body like that?

  I smiled and turned to Lily and snatched her hand from her side. She blushed and met my eyes and then turned to study Kaya with what I could only describe as a calculating expression. I didn’t know what had sparked this sudden behavior, but I knew it couldn’t be good. I squeezed Lily’s hand then led her back into the ship. When we were finally alone she turned to me with her arms across her chest.

  “You’re still in love with Kaya aren’t you?”

  Well, shit… Obviously, Lily had seen the way I’d been watching Kaya and put two and two together. I let in a sharp intake of breathe and exhaled. “I do still love her–” I admitted then held up my hand before Lily could say anything, “–but I don’t want to be with her… not anymore. She’s not even remotely attracted to women and I think too much has happened between us for things to go back to the way they were.”

  “Besides.” I smiled and put my hand on her shoulder. “I have this thing for another girl. She’s cute, but can be pretty shy.”

  Lily blushed and then took my hand in hers. “W-when I saw the way you looked at Kaya I was afraid that you–”

  I cut her short shaking my head as I stared her in the eyes. “Look I love Kaya and I guess I probably always will, but lately the way I feel about her has changed. It’s more like how I feel about a close friend.”

  ‘Right,’ Khala’s voice rang through my head. ‘That’s why you couldn’t take your eyes away.’

  “Shut up, Khala.” I gritted my teeth and shook my head.

  “She does have a point,” Lily added.

  “Okay,” I admitted and scratched the back of my head. “I’m still attracted to her.”

  “Now, we’re getting down to it aren’t we?” Lily reached up with both hands to grab the collar of my shirt and pull me in for a kiss.

  A second later I pulled away and stared at her completely baffled by her inexplicable reaction. “I, uh, I’m a little confused.”

  She grinned then patted me on the cheek. “Oh Lexa. I just wanted to be sure you were really over Kaya. I don’t care if you’re attracted to her, hell I’m attracted to Kaya. Who isn’t? She’s damn freaking hot, but…” she bit her lip then kissed me on the lips again. “You’re even hotter.”

  “Come on,” she grabbed my hand and batted her eyes at me. “Let’s find someplace a little more private so we can… Well, you know…”

  “You sure? I mean, if you’re not ready I can wait.”

  “I didn’t think any of this could every happen for me. I have a female body like I’ve always wanted, I’m dating probably the most beautiful woman in the world even if she can be a bit thickheaded sometimes, and I think I’m ready to take the next step with her.”

  I bit my lip then let out a long sigh as I looked her over. “As much as I’d love to do this… I’m not really sure there’s anyplace on this ship where we’ll be able to get some real privacy.”

  “You’re kidding right?” Lily asked and just moments after her question was echoed by both Khala and Lil’s symbiote.

  “Just come on… I’ll show you.”

  

  She led me into the center of the ship and the engine room. I hadn’t taken a foot inside since I’d absorbed all that energy from the core, and not much had changed. The panel I’d torn off the wall had been removed from its resting place on the floor and the tube covering the conduit had been closed.

  Lily didn’t stop as she led me to the very rear of the room and into an adjoining area which until that moment I hadn’t even realized was there then stopped in front of a ladder whose runs were built into the wall.

  “The engineer’s quarters are up there,” she explained looking up as she scratched the back of her head. I hadn’t even realized that the engineer had a separate living space from the rest of the crew, but I certainly understood why no one had claimed it yet. The rungs were pretty far apart and would have been difficult for most any human to climb. Since Rayland and Farris were sharing the captain’s quarters and the rest of us, minus the doctor, had been sleeping in the crew quarters this was our only chance at any privacy.

  “Give me a boost, would you?” Lily glanced back at me with a nervous smile. I complied and with very little effort on my part I managed to give her a good enough boost to get her up to the top. She disappeared up the edge then a moment later she appeared at the top with hands extended. I took a few steps back and with a running start I jumped up and Lily caught me in her hands. With her assistance I climbed up into the room above and got my first real look. It really wasn’t much different from the other quarters save that it was smaller, but like the captain’s room it had a single Qharr-sized bed.

  Every gray-skin I’d ever known had preferred a more spartan living space free of clutter and debris, but it appeared that the former engineer of our seized ship was an exception to this rule. Scattered around the floor were dozens of tools, spare engine parts, power cells and weapon parts. Affixed to the wall were dozens of diagrams and personal holo images of what I assume were members of the engineer’s immediate kin. Minus the pictures of gray skins and the Qharr-style bed, it really didn’t look much different from Lily’s room back at the bunker.

  When I turned back to face her I was a little surprised to find that Lily seemed completely ignorant of our surroundings, instead her eyes were focused solely on me. Her hands traced across my chest and stopped over the top button of my blouse. I watched her undo each button with slow deliberate movements that only served to heighten my arousal. When she finally pulled my shirt free she started in on my pants. By then her eagerness had gotten so far away from her that she actually tore the strap on my bra.

  Finally, once my trousers and panties were off and wrapped around my ankles I started in on her clothes. At first I tried to imitate the sexy little way she undid my buttons, but my efforts proved to be too clumsy so I opted for the quicker approach. In short order I had her completely unclothed and I stopped just long enough to take a good hard look at her naked body.

  As far as I could tell she was all female, but if her small sized breasts and boyish hips were any indication I guessed she still wasn’t quite finished with her changes. Not that it really matters; I’d take Lily any way I could take her. I did notice one thing which I hadn’t before; she wore an anklet of braided blond hair around her left ankle. I’d seen a few of my fellow slaves adorn themselves with such jewelry before and they were usually made to honor the dead. I didn’t really spend much time mulling it over; however, because Lily was beckoning forward with a crooked finger.

  “Come here silly,” she muttered standing up on her tip-toes to peck me on the lips then drew me down to the bed pad on the floor.

  Our love making was a wild frenzied thing and by the time we were done we were both sweaty and exhausted.
It was a bit awkward, at first, both because Lily was a virgin and I’d never been with a woman as a woman. I was so accustomed to sex being a penetrative act that I was a bit lost when I realized neither one of us had sexual organ capable of said act. I quickly got around this notable absence and by the time we were done we had a pretty good idea what worked for us and what didn’t. That didn’t mean there wasn’t room for experimentation, but we’d found a pretty good starting point. In short, there was a whole lot of kissing, fondling, licking, sucking and caressing followed up by some fingering and even a bit of straddling.

  “Tell me about growing up in the nests,” I said tracing my hand across her navel about a good ten minutes after we had finished our lovemaking. What we had just done was such an intimate act that I found myself wanting to learn more about her past. She always spent so much time up in the clouds that she very rarely disclosed anything about herself.

  She turned on her side to face me and reach out to touch my cheek. “I’m not even sure where to start. It’s so much different from the life you’ve lead in so many ways, but in other ways it wasn’t as different as you might think. Safe Haven, the nest I grew up in was very much its namesake at least in the regard that we were safe from the Qharr, but the life of a nester probably isn’t what you think it would be. Yes, they live a life free from the tyranny of the gray-skins, but very few nesters besides the rangers ever get to leave the isolation of the shelters.”

  “You work almost from the day you take your first steps and if you’re ever rendered unable to work then you’re no longer allowed to remain a part of the community. They used to always tell people that those who couldn’t work or wished to leave were sent away, but the truth is that didn’t want to risk exposing the haven to the Qharr so those people were always dealt with in other ways,” she shuddered then granted me a pointed look which suggested that when she said ‘other ways’ things didn’t exactly turn out very good for the would be exiles.