Vaka

by Keira Conrad

  A thunderous boom reverberated throughout their hideout. A massive tremor followed closely and shook their very bones. They crowded together and held hands and prepared for the end. Callie heard stifled cries and whispered prayers as she gathered her friends close. She held her breath and waited. And waited. And waited. The entire room was enveloped in an eerie silence.

  The women strained for clues as to what was happening outside. They tilted their ears toward the sky and stared at each other in confusion.

  Metal screamed as someone tried to force the door. The colonists banded together and moved toward the back of the compartment. There was nowhere to hide, and fear threatened to overwhelm them. Callie looked around her and saw bulging eyes and mouths hanging open in horror. She heard the raspy sounds of frenzied breathing. Women struggling to control their animal reactions to the situation.

  There was another thud and the giant door buckled under the strain. Daylight filtered around its edges. The locking mechanism snapped like a twig as the slab of steel was pulled free.

  Callie hid her face as light streamed into their sanctuary. She'd promised herself she would face her fate head-on but the light was blinding. She gave her eyes a moment to adjust and then squinted at the figure in the doorway. His mammoth frame filled the entire space. She immediately recognized the strong jawline, broad shoulders, and thick arms, but she told herself it was just her imagination working overtime. She didn't have this kind of luck.

  She stood and waited for his outline to evaporate. For a hostile alien droid to charge into the room, zap her with a cattle prod, and suck her into the transport ship with a purple beam of light. But she wasn't struck down.

  "Callie," he called as he stepped into the room.

  The sound of her name on his lips erased all doubt from her mind. She felt light as air as she ran to him and leapt into his arms. He wrapped his giant arms around her and held her close.

  "Is Naomi okay?”

  Vaka loosened his grip and set her back on the ground. "Riyad delivered her to Shiva after our village was attacked. She's safe."

  "Your village?" The thought of both of their villages being totally destroyed was almost more than she could bear. After all their hard work. "Was anyone hurt? Is there a lot of damage?" Callie had so many questions.

  "No one perished, but our home was completely destroyed," he said. "Do not worry yourself, Callie. Everything I care for is safe."

  He took her in his arms again as the other colonists ventured from their hideout. They stepped into the light and surveyed the damage. Callie looked, too, over Vaka's shoulder. Debris, ash, and smoke scattered as far as the eye could see. She'd miss the small dwelling she and Naomi had made their own, but as long as she was in his arms, she was home.

  37

  Both camps were a total loss, but Andromeda was able to salvage supplies from the med bay, which was the strongest element of their former ship. She used them to treat the security team members who survived. Callie was surprised at the relief she felt when she saw Captain Hudson resting on a stretcher. If Vaka had arrived any later, their losses would have been far worse.

  The Verakai and the humans abandoned their respective camps and met together in the forest. There was safety in numbers and the tragedy of the attack had brought them together more than they expected. The Earth women slept soundly with the Verakai warriors walking the forest and patrolling the skies. The Verakai looked upon the women and felt secure in their future. They would survive on this planet together.

  Vaka led Callie and his child to a sheltered area where they could have some privacy. Callie reclined with Naomi in her arms and stared up at the sky. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. Vaka stretched out next to her on the soft ground cover.

  "I like the name Naomi," he said. "It suits her very well."

  "I think it does, too," she said.

  They gazed at each other as the silence stretched between them.

  "There is much I have to account for." He looked like he wasn't sure where to start.

  "We'll have plenty of time for that," she said. "I very much want to hear what you have to say, but it doesn't have to happen now." She wasn't about to push him after the ordeal they just survived.

  He forged ahead anyway. "I didn't trust you to love me for what I was," he said as he stretched out beside her, "and I was already so in love with you, I couldn't risk losing you."

  She sought out his hand and took it in her own. "You wouldn't have lost me," she said. "Give me more credit than that."

  "It's not about you," he said. "When I was young, I was proud of my nature. I felt powerful and I was ready to take on the world." Now it was his turn to stare at the stars as he bared his soul to her.

  "What changed?"

  "I grew older and more travelers arrived on our planet. I started to see myself through the eyes of others, strangers who didn't understand us. They saw us as monsters to be tamed or animals to be sold like livestock."

  In her arms and in the dark, he told her the story of the Obeday and his people. He shared the regret and the shame that marked the early days of his leadership and scarred his psyche to this day. And then he told her more. Things that he had not confessed to another living soul.

  "I never loved my mate," he confessed as they lay together, "and she certainly never loved me."

  "So, I didn't have a reason to be jealous?" she asked. He scoffed in the dark.

  "Our fathers arranged the marriage. Mine was leader of the tribe, and hers was the leader of a coalition of merchants that we did business with. Our fathers wanted to strengthen the alliance between our people."

  Callie rested her hand on top of his. Naomi slept soundly, nestled by her side.

  "She cried all through the ceremony. I was young and foolish and I thought I could win her over. I spent all my waking hours trying to show her how enjoyable life could be here, but she was inconsolable. She called me a beast and said she wouldn't give herself to an animal."

  "I contacted her father and arranged for her to return to her people, but he wouldn't have her. He was insulted by my request. They cut all ties with us and never visited again. Her sadness turned to something darker."

  He shifted his weight and moved away from her.

  "She started coming to my bed, but there was no pleasure in our time together. Everything was mechanical and joyless. She grew large with my child, but it did not survive. I sometimes think she did not want it to, and I wonder if she exploited our clan’s knowledge of poisonous herbs to make it so."

  Callie looked down at the child in her arms and her heart broke a little for Vaka.

  "When the Obeday arrived, she saw a way out. She drugged our ceremonial brew and placed a collar around my neck while I slept. She was the traitor who enslaved us all."

  She suddenly understood why he couldn't tell her what he was. Her father's abandonment had been a defining moment of her life, but it hadn't been intentional. She was certain he had died in the woods. His bones were probably still there. Vaka's wound was an altogether different type, and he had been cut so deeply. She grieved for him.

  "Did they send her home?" she asked.

  "They tortured her along with the others. Used her in their horrible experiments until she died in agony."

  "I'm sorry," she said as she pulled him close. "I was jealous of her. I was worried you loved her more, and now I just feel horrible."

  "You have nothing to be sorry for," he said. "And I've never loved anyone more than I love you." He sounded so vulnerable in the dark. "Except for her, perhaps." He plucked Naomi from her mother's side and held her close.

  "What will we do now?" she asked.

  "I don't know," he said. "Find a way forward, I suppose."

  "For all of us," she said.

  "For all of us," he agreed, and they leaned together until their foreheads touched. They fell asleep that way, in each other's arms with their daughter cradled between them.

  38

  TWO WEEKS LATER />
  Rebuilding as one camp made sense to everyone involved, so the humans joined the Verakai inside their mountain village. They sealed the tunnels the Obeday had built to burrow into their stone fortress and Captain Hudson donated some probes from the perimeter fence to be set around the footings. If their enemies tried to attack them from below again, they'd be ready.

  There were a few bumps in the road along the way, but that was to be expected. It was a major adjustment for both sides and, all things considered, it went amazingly well. The Verakai warriors vacated their tents and gave them to the women to use until suitable housing could be constructed. They helped the colonists build new dwellings and the humans brought all the materials they could salvage from their ship and old camp. They pooled all their resources together and shared without reservation. There was a kindness and a goodness in their dealings with each other, and Callie hoped it would remain that way.

  Callie, Juno, and Captain Hudson sat together in a makeshift war room at the edge of the village and waited for the Verakai delegation to arrive. The small cavern was located away from the tents where everyone slept, in order to give the leaders a measure of privacy as they discussed sensitive matters. Vaka strode in with Riyad and Arnar by his side. He was amused when he spotted his wife. Callie had not told him she’d be crashing their discussion.

  They settled on the other side of the makeshift table, across from the humans.

  "I appreciate you joining us today," Captain Hudson said. "I know you have a lot on your plate and we won't keep you long."

  "What can we do for you, Captain?" Vaka asked.

  "It's more a question of what we can do for you and the Verakai," Juno said as she slid a piece of paper across the table to Vaka. "It's long and boring, so I'll summarize. This is our final communication to Earth. Advising them that this planet is unsuitable for colonization."

  "What does that mean for you?" Vaka asked.

  "It means we stay here and live out our lives," she said. "We always knew there was no chance of returning. Now there's no chance that they'll send another ship. They'll cross this planet off their list of possibilities. Our people won't bother you again."

  "What about—"

  "What about these?" Callie knew what Vaka was thinking of. She crossed the room and opened a cabinet to reveal the six cryotubes they had brought along with them.

  "Where did you…?" Vaka's brow furrowed as his voice trailed off.

  "We found them hidden when we disassembled the med bay to move it here," Hudson explained.

  "Now, they're yours." The metal tubes clanged within the cabinet as Callie rolled it across the stone floor toward them. "These two are animal embryos, these two are plant seedlings, and the last two are human embryos." She touched each cylinder as she rattled off the contents. "Do what you want with them," she said. "They're yours now."

  Vaka and his men huddled together and conferred in hushed tones. They came to a quick agreement and moved back to their seats.

  "We will store the samples of plants and animals for you," he said. "If they are to be used, we shall agree to it together." Riyad and Arnar removed four storage containers from the cabinet. They rolled the rest back to Callie. "We will not take your human seedlings. This place is for them as much as anyone else."

  Callie was pleased with the progress they were making and she could tell Vaka was as well. Cementing their relationship as two diverse populations only made them a stronger whole, as far as she was concerned. This was the way to atone for early missteps on their part. But she wondered how Vaka would take the next item on their checklist. It was the one put forth by Captain Hudson.

  He moved his chair closer and rested his hands on the tabletop.

  "There's really no way to ever adequately thank you for coming to our assistance and saving our asses, to be frank. But a few of my guys are itching for a rematch against the bastards who attacked us. I don't really want to live on edge, always looking to the skies for another attack. I think this planet would be a better place if we wiped those motherfuckers clean off of it."

  He tapped his hands against the tabletop and waved one of his men into the room. "Now, I know those bastards are holding some of your people hostage, but Jonesy here has an idea." Hudson grasped the young man's shoulder and pushed him forward. "Tell them about it, son."

  "Well, I need to connect with more of your men to learn everything we possibly can about their city and facility, but based on the stories I've heard so far, I think there's a way we could infiltrate their base, free the hostages, and then blow the whole thing to hell."

  "Or burn it to the ground?" Vaka asked. The look of unbridled joy on the faces of all three warriors tickled Callie beyond belief. She couldn't wait to debrief this meeting later with Vaka, back in their tent.

  "Or burn it to the ground," Hudson said. "We'd be honored to help you, if you'd let us." He rose to his feet and offered his hand to the warriors.

  They hopped to their feet and each shook his hand in turn. Vaka couldn't keep the smile off his face. "I just have one question," he said. "When do we leave?"

  Want more Vaka and Callie? Join my mailing list and I’ll set you a steamy scene that didn’t make the final cut. You’ll receive monthly emails with new releases, bonus content, and photos of my dog (his name is Henry and he’s damn cute). Click here to signup.

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  Keira

  Also by Keira Conrad

  Riyad is coming mid-April and it’s available for preorder now.