by Nick Braker
Item one: Katerra needed to choose another Kron male as the surrogate father for her children. Katerra had killed Carena’s surrogate days ago to cover up Carena’s pregnancy. Since their pregnancies could not be linked back to Magnus, Agneta would be dismissed and Carena instated as Katerra’s doctor.
Item two: The computer records. They were the easiest portion of her plan as they would be altered to reflect a normal Kron pregnancy. Her complete access to Kron’s computer systems made this the easiest piece of her plan. Her information could not be compromised or accessed.
Item three: Additional reconnaissance of Earth by her Omarii would continue in order to keep the Aliri from believing an alliance had formed and, for that matter, that anything had changed. Alestron must conclude Katerra killed them during teleportation.
Item four: Magnus and his team would be allowed to remain on Kron until their usefulness ended. Magnus would not cooperate if Katerra killed any of them.
Item five: Her Epsilon command ship would be destroyed if Kada was unable to find the source of the energy surge.
The cleaning chamber’s cycle finished, interrupting her train of thought. Katerra stepped out. Katerra had to go through the motions of picking a mate. Should she pick a Kron male whose matriarch possessed royal lines or political clout? Maybe a simple slave from engineering? The notion of mating with any of them disgusted her. Of course, she would not completely go through the formal mating ritual but she would need to choose one to cover her ruse. Katerra examined the list Agneta had provided years ago. Katerra had dismissed the notion of children at that time and had set the collection of names aside.
Katerra tapped the button to update the list with current data. She scanned it and found a suitable subject. Jirnil of the house Maren. Yes, Jirnil would make a fine surrogate but she would need to move quickly.
Kron - Capital City of Citron
Thursday, October 29, 1987 - 10:30am
Katerra
“I will mate with you, Jirnil,” Katerra said.
Katerra thought of her mother, Alysia, the former queen of Kron. Queen Alysia’s weakness and indecision had nearly killed her people. Weakness in others triggered Katerra’s transformation to Ryikoda. She despised weakness and had learned her trigger long ago. She had mastered the ability to keep her carnal instincts suppressed as a child, much to the amazement of her trainers. She was the youngest in Kron’s history to ever control her Ryikoda form, a progeny from birth. Katerra wondered if her mother ever saw her as a danger.
Katerra’s body morphed in less than a second. Several inches were added to her height as her arms, torso and legs grew longer. Her control while in Ryikoda did not waver. It allowed her to suppress her animal instincts. Otherwise, the effect of the Ryikoda virus would force her to procreate or kill without volition.
Jirnil stood before her wearing his ceremonial robe. She knew Jirnil’s thoughts. He felt honor at being chosen to mate with his queen, though normally that choice might cost him his life. Like all Kron men, he understood the dangers. The scientific manipulation that had given the females of Kron their genetic fortitude had also twisted and weakened the males of their world. He could not match her strength or resilience and in his genetically weakened state, she could accidentally kill him or his body might simply give out.
The ceremony for the queen was different than the rest of Kron. Outside her chamber doors, a host of other Kron waited. Council members, leaders of each city, military elite, and a multitude of medical staff. From their perspective, they believed this was Katerra’s first pregnancy and, while that was true, her pregnancy had started yesterday when she intentionally mated with the Earth male. Except for Kada, they believed her pregnancy would be a result of a joining between her and the male, Jirnil. Katerra had chosen him from a pool of names that Agneta had supplied him. Agneta had expressed surprise at Katerra’s sudden renewed interest in the list and had wanted to question her but Katerra didn’t answer to anyone and she made that perfectly clear to Agneta.
A queen’s decision to mate and bear children was an important event to the Kron people. While no one would be allowed to witness it, they all waited outside to celebrate it. Jirnil bowed his head and remained motionless. Katerra approached him slowly, loosening the tie that held her robes in place. The smooth material flowed down, revealing Katerra’s body to Jirnil.
“Look at me, Jirnil,” Katerra ordered.
His eyes fluttered wide, darting across her body as he took in the perfection of his queen. They were also starting to glaze over as her mental influence began to take hold of him. Katerra controlled him without question. She extended her claws, swinging them expertly along Jirnil’s robes. They shredded under her sharp talons.
Jirnil was over a foot shorter than Katerra and his body thin and frail. His breathing came in quick, shallow bursts. Jirnil had only one thought and it consumed him completely. She had his mind in her control and he would obey any order she gave him. It was easy, far easier than Magnus had been. The thought of Magnus distracted her and she paused. She saw no other course of action for her people. They were innately xenophobic and centuries of conditioning could not be undone, not even by their queen. This had to be done. Human and Kron DNA were compatible, and together she would raise a stronger species of Kron. One that would help defeat the Aliri vermin. Jirnil was just a pawn in a larger game against Alestron.
Katerra pushed Jirnil to the floor, making sure he hit his head on it. The fall stunned him. She needed to make this look as real as possible. Katerra would pretend she had been overcome with desire and had lost control. Normally, this was not far from the truth as any female in Ryikoda form did lose control. Katerra refused to mate with Jirnil but she had to go through the motions. Her lip rose in a snarl and she looked askance at him. A part of her wondered why she felt this way. She didn’t understand the feeling and, again, her thoughts drifted to Magnus. Why? He no longer mattered. She had what she needed from him. She should kill him, just as she planned to kill Jirnil.
Everything she did centered on giving Kron a fighting chance. Alestron had to be destroyed and this was one of many steps in her plan. She straddled Jirnil allowing him to enter her. Jirnil closed his eyes as his head tilted back enjoying the sensual pleasure their connection gave him. Katerra knew it had to end before their union finished. She didn’t need anything from Jirnil so she thrust her razor-sharp claws through his neck. Blood gurgled from his mouth and he thrashed about, unable to scream. Jirnil grabbed her wrist with both hands trying to free himself. Katerra’s claws held fast and he didn’t have the strength to overcome her. She closed her eyes, keeping her claws embedded in his throat. Why did the sight bother her? Jirnil continued to struggle, his death would not be swift. Katerra turned her head away, still unable to open her eyes. His struggle slowed and then stopped. She shifted to her original form, climbing off him.
Katerra cleaned herself, ensuring she removed all of Jirnil’s blood. She gathered her robe and dressed. She did not look back as she approached the door leading to those waiting outside. Katerra paused. Something flowed down her face on both sides. Did Jirnil’s blood splash on her? Her hands rose automatically to wipe the liquid from her face. The motion felt normal and practiced. The clear liquid looked like... tears? She had never shed a tear in her life. She had seen the behavior in others, from those weaker with less determination and desires. Was it a symptom of her pregnancy? It mattered little. She dried her face and approached the door. It slid aside and those waiting within the room grew quiet. Katerra walked through, studying them.
“The union is complete but Jirnil did not survive,” Katerra said. “See that he is honored properly.”
Kron - Capital City of Citron
Saturday, October 31, 1987 - 02:30pm
Katerra
Katerra stood again in Kron’s central command center. She needed the TLA system to give her projected options with the new data she possessed. She entered the information manually ensuring no one else was awar
e of the nature of her request. Katerra pondered her situation as the system processed her request.
Her pregnancy was now in its third day. Katerra had no personal experience as to what would come next. The merger of Human and Kron DNA had occurred only twice, once with Carena and now with Katerra. Carena would be allowed to continue her pregnancy in order to provide Katerra potentially advanced notice of any complications. Carena had a two-day head start on Katerra which would allow Katerra to act quickly if the pregnancy proved dangerous to Kron females. She would abort her pregnancy should Carena experience anything unusual.
Their species’ gestation cycles nearly 1100 Kron years ago were equivalent to the humans’ today. It was clearly another confirmation that humans and Kron were once from the same planet. The thought of Alestron’s machinations with their species only reinforced her determination to destroy them. These aliens suffered from a god complex that needed to be squelched. The thought angered her and Katerra realized her fists were tightly balled. She relaxed them. Odd, she had never reacted physically to thoughts regarding the Aliri before. Why now? She stared at her hands as the blood returned to them and dismissed the thought.
In an attempt to fix the damage their scientists had done to the males of Kron, small groups of females were genetically modified to produce many more mature ovum allowing multiple zygotes and ultimately the production of a greater number of children. The problem their scientists had to overcome was what to do with the additional zygotes? Kron scientists came up with an answer; grow the zygotes outside the body. Nurturing pools were created and zygote maturation would occur within them. The embryonic stage would continue until it reached self-sustainability. The process worked allowing the production of nearly eighty zygotes per female that would then mature within separate nurturing pools. Successful birth rates increased. The process created an average of four Kron children per pregnancy versus less than one by normal means, overall, decreasing their infant mortality rate.
If Katerra’s and Carena’s pregnancies progressed normally, Carena would deliver her children to the nurturing pool in 28 days. There, the zygotes would attach themselves to an artificial endometrium and gestation would continue until each individual child could sustain itself. Katerra had already spoken with Carena. She was easy to manipulate and had agreed to continue with her pregnancy under the same ruse as Katerra. Carena’s strong maternal instincts overrode all other fears. She wanted children and had a strong desire to keep them safe.
Carena couldn’t stomach violence. She strove to preserve life and the thought of taking one was foreign to her, a weakness that Katerra had to resolve. Carena could not kill her male donor so Katerra did it for her. The ruse remained intact and only two male Kron were sacrificed in exchange for the survivability of all Kron, an acceptable loss.
Katerra chose Carena as her royal doctor. She would supervise both their pregnancies. Agneta rejected the idea and had argued incessantly against it, but Katerra knew Agneta could not be trusted and would eventually discover that both pregnancies were from the same father, a human father. Agneta must remain ignorant of Katerra’s plans.
Katerra dismissed Agneta from service, citing her numerous failures to stop Katerra’s Omarii from psychological harm and interference by the humans during their missions to Earth. Katerra sent Agneta to Botarna, another large city, to serve as lead physician to her sister, Nesa. An honorable position for any doctor, though Agneta knew her assignment was punitive.
There would be many other hurdles to overcome. If Katerra’s union with Magnus’ worked, their children’s... Katerra paused, correcting her thought, if her union with the human male’s DNA worked, her children’s mortality rates would drop significantly and that would raise questions about the legitimate father. The death of her plan would start with Jirnil’s immediate family. Their doubts would fester and, in time, they would demand a DNA comparison.
None of that mattered. Doubts could not be sewn where none existed. Katerra planned to abort enough zygotes from both pregnancies during their gestation phases, mimicking their low mortality rates. The remaining children, infused with human DNA, would be monitored by Carena, as their doctor, and allowed to serve normal lives on Kron. As queen, Katerra would use her power to protect them from suspicion. Ultimately, she would assure they obtained positions of power and were allowed to continue procreation. They would be Kron’s new hope.
Katerra knew her plan contained so many variables as to be untenable. To compensate, she used her TLA system to predict the outcome. The result displayed on her consoles’ screen. Even with the new data, it generated a favorable result. She purged the scenario from the TLA system, leaving no trace of her request. Her plan would succeed and Kron would be strengthened by it.
“My queen,” Deira said.
“What is it?”
“Another energy surge reported on fleet ship Epsilon,” Deira said.
“Is the ship still patrolling the outer edge of our solar system?” Katerra asked.
“Yes, my queen, per your orders.”
Katerra entered the commands to open a channel to her capital ship in orbit around Kron, their home world. Kada’s face appeared on her screen. Her crystal blue eyes darted back and forth between Katerra’s eyes, alert and trying to anticipate her queen’s desire.
“Commander Kada, update me on the status of the energy surge.”
“My queen,” Kada said, bowing her head, “the source has not been found. It activates and then changes its position within the ship. There is no discernible pattern. Our best minds are on it. They have proposed the idea of segmenting the ship with forcefields. When we detect the energy surge, the segmented shields will automatically activate and prevent it from moving. The search area at that point will be small enough to locate the source and determine its purpose. I will have it destroyed if needed.”
Katerra had prepared Kada’s punishment but Kada’s course of action was a good one. Katerra needed that ship and, though the option of destroying it was still viable, she would prefer not to.
“Prudent,” Katerra said, “divert any resources you need to accomplish it. The next surge will be the last. Am I clear?”
Kada nodded. “Clear, my queen.”
Chapter 21
EARTH FIGHTS BACK
Earth - Washington, D.C.
Saturday, October 31, 1987 - 07:00pm
Alexandria
Across the street, the sun’s rays winked out as the last visible portion of it descended behind the building. The ivory white tower blocked the sun from Alexandria’s office each day during the fall months giving her a welcome respite from the glaring light. She could order the shades pulled but she had neither the inclination nor the time to allow the maintenance staff to disrupt her day, so the glass wall generally remained unobstructed. She pondered a moment on the time and cost it would take to install something automated. She dismissed the thought as a waste of money.
Alexandria stood near the glass wall, spotless from the previous days’ cleaning, watching the D.C. traffic as it flowed by the WSO building. She folded her arms together and then paced from one end to the other. The marble flooring sent the sound of her steps outward, echoing off the walls of her excessively large office. She vaguely noticed the effect as her thoughts were centered on the four young men and women who had been thrust into an interplanetary war started by one alien race and subverted by another.
What was it Brock had said so many months ago? Was it that her office was bigger than his hometown’s city block? She took a deep breath smiling at the memory of the young man that had entered her office, obviously in awe of its size. For all his foibles, Brock was the most honest and forthright person she had ever met. He didn’t hide what he thought and she respected him for it. He had been the best marksman ever put through WSO’s training facility. She missed Brock. Both he and Warren were like sons to her. The loss of these two agents at such a young age bothered her the most. Alexandria felt the heartache for all the men and wom
en who had died under her watch, but Warren’s and Brock’s deaths hurt deeper. Unlike the usual recruits at WSO, these two didn’t choose to be a part of the role they played. They were selected, picked out of billions of human beings by aliens who thought these young men would be instrumental in saving Earth. Perhaps they were. Perhaps their contributions were exactly what Earth needed at crucial moments to create the foundation for the salvation of humanity. She wanted to believe that but these aliens were not gods. They were beings just like any other in the universe. They had simply made a mistake. She stopped and pressed her hands and forehead against the glass, closing her eyes.
Why? How many more would die before the Kron were stopped? Why? What was really going on? Why? The single word question kept repeating itself in her mind. Tens of thousands of innocent people were dead, most killed by the Kron’s attempt to destroy Earth while a smaller number had been killed by another alien race claiming they were trying to help Earth. None of it made sense. Was humanity just a pawn in a larger game? Neither race seemed to care much for human life. There had to be a larger goal here, perhaps something the Aliri wanted that Kron was interfering with? There was a third player in this game, though. This one was playing a role behind the scenes. What were his goals? Could he be the same man that had contacted Tess?
During Tess’s voluntary interrogation, she had described, in intimate detail, the man who had hired her over the phone. He had contacted Tess to set up a hit on Magnus Carson. Was it the same man who had contacted Alexandria two and half years ago and had sworn her to secrecy? From Tess’ description of the man’s voice and mannerisms, it had to be. The only difference between what Alexandria remembered and what Tess had told her was the man who called Alexandria sounded sick. He coughed a lot and suffered from a raspy voice.
