“Let’s open up that tiramisu you brought,” Poppy suggested.
Pixie nodded. She’d chilled out a little between the last cider and this one, and Poppy was sure she was going to ask for a smoke break on the deck when she realized Poppy wasn’t going to change her mind. Pixie and Poppy were both emotional smokers. When the shit hit the fan, the cigarettes came out.
Poppy decided they could eat their dessert straight from the to-go containers. She headed back to the living room to see Pixie gathering her stuff up.
“Sorry, Pops, stupid payroll problem at the office and of course it has to be cleared up tonight before it can go for auto deposits tomorrow. I can be back in an hour or two depending on how much my assistant has fucked it up.” Blowing air kisses as she walked, she was already reaching for her phone again, most likely to yell at whoever’d messed up the payroll.
Poppy ended up filling out the rest of the forms on her own that evening. She admitted that her sister had not been necessary for her to do it. Poppy had really just used that excuse as a way to break the news of applying to Pixie. Her plan that her sister would be more supportive if she’d felt as if she were involved in the process must have worked, because Poppy had expected a much bigger protest from Pixie.
Poppy cleaned up the rest of the kitchen and got ready for bed. She set the completed packet down on her nightstand and smiled. Hopefully, having finished it would give her a chance to relax. She gazed up at the ceiling as she lay down, her belly fluttering at the thought of the future and having her own handsome warrior to keep her company at night. Letting out a sigh, she reached for her bedside drawer. As she picked up the vibrator from inside it, she admitted, “I know who I’m going to be thinking of tonight.”
Chapter Seven
Driving up to the Intake Center in her ancient Honda, Poppy noticed the building was flooded with protesters outside its front gates. After parking, she jogged up the steps, hoping this would be a quick trip in and out with no lines. For one thing, the grocery store was calling her name since she wasn’t in the mood for leftovers and all her hard cider was gone.
The armed guards waiting by the door made her pause in her steps. All of a sudden the building seemed much more daunting.
“Do you have an appointment, miss?” one of the guards asked.
Her yoga pants and Star Wars T-shirt didn’t make her seem as if she were there on business. Pixie would have been totally right about the jeans and nice top today. She hated it when Pixie was right.
“Ummmm…yes I do. I mean, no I don’t, but I’m just dropping off my packet to the office,” she stuttered, taking in his military dress and intimidating gun.
“We will need you to walk through the security zone and also see your ID for the sign-in sheet.” He opened the door and steered her to the area indicated. Her apprehension at all the security she was seeing made Poppy rethink her decision.
“Miss? Miss? You need to keep moving through security.” The loud voice was coming from one of the desks located in the security area.
Poppy walked to the counter just past the entrance and smiled weakly at the guard sitting there.
“Good afternoon. I’ll need your ID and also a signature. Are you just turning in your packet?” He nodded toward the folder Poppy was clutching to her chest.
“Yes, sir, I am. What’s all this security for? Did something happen?” She could feel she was being filmed and glanced up to see cameras on the ceiling about every ten feet.
“Unfortunately, we received a bomb threat last night. The State Department has decided that we need to up our security so they sent in the National Guard until private security measures are implemented. The protesters showed up last night right before the bomb threat so my money’s on them being the ones behind it, but better safe than sorry. I’ll also need to check your purse and take your cell phone while you’re inside.”
After walking her through a set of metal detectors, he handed Poppy her bag and ID and pointed to the elevator she needed to take to turn in her papers. Nodding at her to continue moving on, he turned to the next woman coming in behind Poppy.
She hurried to the elevator. Once on the third floor she found the correct door and walked inside. An older woman was sitting at the desk facing the door, sorting papers. She smiled warmly as Poppy walked up to her.
“Welcome to the Intake Center, miss. My name is Suzie. Is that your application to turn in?”
“Yes, ma’am. I finished it last night. I still haven’t had a chance to get my physical yet but I wanted to get the ball rolling.”
“Poppy? Is that your legal name or a nickname?” Suzie peered up over her glasses with another smile.
“Legal name, ma’am. My parents weren’t exactly traditional with naming their daughters. My sister’s name is Pixie. I think they may have been closet hippies.” She smiled at Suzie and noticed that all the other folders on her desk were also applicant packets. “Can I ask how many applicants you have so far? What are the chances of being selected?”
“Well, so far we have about thirty at this center. There would be more but the protesters have scared some women off and then our computer system was hacked and some applications deleted. So it’s actually a good thing you filled out a paper application, otherwise you would be needing to go over all this again.”
Poppy smiled again and said, “You know, if I don’t get selected, maybe I could apply for a job here? It seems like you could use some help with this stuff and I have office experience.”
Suzie leaned across the desk and patted her hand. “Well, aren’t you just a sweetie! It actually isn’t too bad. I just scan all this in and don’t actually have to read or retype any answers into the program. It’s pretty simple but it does set me back a bit when somebody fudges with my computer.” She started flipping through the packet and noticed the dates of Poppy’s last medical exams. “Do you have appointments set up for these or would you like to use our physicians on the sixth floor while you are here today? We can bill your insurance.”
“I didn’t know there was a medical center here. I thought the whole building was just an Intake Office.”
Suzie walked around the desk and reached for a pamphlet in a clear holder on the wall. “Here, sweetie. We have doctors available that take most insurances so our applicants don’t have to wait for appointments to become available at their family doctors. The doctors here are all certified and working through contracts with the State Department. Would you like for me to see if one is available?”
“Sure, I’d just planned on grocery shopping so I can even wait a bit if they can’t fit me in immediately. I haven’t even called my doctor yet to see when the soonest he could get me in was so this would help me out.” Poppy searched for her cell to text her sister before remembering it was at the security office. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to call my sister and let her know I may not be out of here when I said I would.”
Suzie smiled and said yes while marking down a room number on a card. “Just hit which line you want to dial out on and go from there. They have an opening in about thirty minutes so your wait won’t be long.”
After calling her sister and leaving a voice mail, Poppy took the elevator to the medical offices and proceeded to wait for her appointment. Heck, even if she didn’t get selected for the program, at least she’d be able to get her physical out of the way early this year.
One Pap smear, physical exam and blood draw later, Poppy was heading back to Suzie’s desk. Amazingly enough, the medical reports had already been sent down to Suzie by the time the elevator brought Poppy back to her office.
“Okay, sweetie, I just have to notarize these items and you will be assigned your liaison. Any questions that you have they can answer. They will have a packet of information for you to go over regarding the different Warrior breeds you may be matched with. This is information that the Phaeton Warrior Council has put together so you could learn something of their culture and be somewhat prepared for your match.”
Suzie had been skimming through Poppy’s paperwork and stamping and signing away when she paused for a moment. She looked up with a smile. “And, sweetie?”
“Yes?” Poppy asked, trying to get over the feeling that things were moving way faster than anticipated.
“Good luck!” Suzie followed her words with a wink.
The top piece of paper Suzie passed her was a welcome form with Poppy’s liaison’s name.
Valerie Bennett. Well, Poppy thought, Valerie had better be prepared to answer a shitload of questions.
* * * * *
Valerie actually ended up being a woman close to Poppy’s own age. She had brown hair with red highlights Poppy was sure had never seen a frizzy day. Wearing a tailored white button-up top with a pencil skirt, she appeared professional yet sexy. Poppy studied the outfit in admiration, knowing that if she didn’t get selected for the Bridal Pact, she would want to invest in an outfit like hers for job interviews. After introducing herself with a firm handshake and a warm smile, Valerie led Poppy to an office down the hall, her heels clicking as she set a quick pace.
“So, I’m sure you have many questions and by the expression on your face you’re overwhelmed. Maybe we should do this over coffee,” Valerie quipped with a grin.
“Dear god yes. I didn’t plan on doing anything but turning in my paperwork today. All of a sudden I have my doc’s appointments out of the way and I’ve been here almost three hours.”
Poppy flopped into the chair on the other side of a large mahogany desk. Accepting a cup of coffee from the personal coffeemaker Valerie had on the table behind her desk, she took a sip and tried to relax.
“Okay, Poppy, you have the hard part done already. Suzie is actually scanning your questionnaire now. Once it’s uploaded, the system will start to sort your answers and match them with a potential husband. Suzie noted that you were interested in your odds of being selected. Well there are only about one thousand applicants in the US and we have about ten thousand profiles from the Warrior Council submitted so far.” Valerie said this so matter-of-factly Poppy didn’t immediately digest what was said.
Then it hit her. Ten thousand warriors.
“Did you say ten thousand?” Poppy’s gulp was extremely loud in the quiet office.
Valerie smiled and held out some papers. “Yes, we have ten thousand so far and are actually expecting about three times that amount when we’ve finished with their profile intake. Apparently they used a lottery system to figure out who would be the first warriors to apply for brides. They didn’t want to overload the system from the get-go so they’re going in groupings of ten thousand. When the first group is matched, we’ll move to the next lottery group and go from there. Our hopes are to have enough volunteers to accommodate their large number of profiles. We’ve been open for a while and the small amount of volunteers is discouraging but we hope once we have our first successful matches, others will follow.”
Poppy realized she was still holding the papers she had taken from the liaison and began to go over them. Warrior Breeds was printed at the top. “Suzie mentioned there were different types of warriors but I didn’t really let that sink in… What does that mean exactly?”
“Well, simply put, their society is made up of different classes of warriors. There are the scientists, diplomats and military breeds, from what we gather. The scientist breeds make up their doctors and engineering warriors, then the diplomats are usually all political figures, and well the military breeds…that’s pretty self-explanatory.” Valerie started pulling up pictures on her computer and tilted the screen toward Poppy.
“Military breeds are the larger of the race, normally at least seven feet tall and bulky. Among their society they’re called Skrammon. They still fight physically in battle so they’re built for it in height and bulk. Most of the profiles I’ve seen show they have tattoos around their temples and dreadlocks.”
The computer screen showed a darkly tanned man who seemed attractive even though he was different from anyone Poppy had seen before.
“The Healson are the diplomats of the group. Most of them are political figures and are known for being keen negotiators when it comes to arguments. They’re the ones who developed the lottery idea when it came time to figure out who would get the first shot at matches.”
The screen now showed a slightly smaller, lean warrior with shorter hair and no tattoos on the temples. The alien’s height was still listed as six foot ten, so height must be something they all shared across the board.
“The Brakken warriors are the science guys. They make up the majority of the doctors, engineers and teachers of the race. They are extremely smart but also strong. We’ve been told they’re always tinkering with things and can fix almost anything.”
Tall, dark and handsome popped up on the screen. This warrior’s skin was slightly darker than that of the previous two, more of a cinnamon tone versus what Poppy would have called an African-American skin tone. He had similar tattoos on his temple, but they seemed to be higher on his forehead than the previous Skrammon breed and this warrior was smiling in his photo.
“Will I get to choose a preference when it comes to my match? From what I’ve heard so far, I’m not sure how well I would mesh with a politician or a warrior.” Poppy was trying to absorb as much as she could but felt a panic attack coming on. Considering she’d expected to be shopping the freezer section at the local grocery store right about now but instead had her profile whizzing through the government database made her feel nauseous all of a sudden.
“I’m so sorry, I spaced out. Can you repeat everything you just said?” Poppy smiled weakly as she tried again to relax. “I honestly didn’t expect this to happen so quickly. I had just planned on turning in the packet today…not actually completing the whole process in a couple of hours, and now I’m a step away from instant alien husband.”
Valerie smiled and tilted the computer screen back around. “Take a couple deep breaths. I’m sure you feel like you want something stronger than coffee but this is all I have right now. My job is to make sure you are comfortable and informed throughout this whole process. I hope we can be friends through this. You are my sole concern right now. Liaisons are assigned only one applicant until the process is completed so all my focus is on you. That includes knowing when you need a breather or even a drink.
“Are you ready to continue?”
At Poppy’s small nod, Valerie started again. “Let’s go over the contract portion of the bridal packet. Most people have those questions first so we can knock those out of the way early and I’m sure it’ll make you feel better.” Valerie walked around her desk and took the chair beside Poppy.
“Once a match is made, we will notify you within twenty-four hours. At that time, you will need to start getting prepared for a meet-and-greet. At the meet-and-greet, you’ll meet your warrior and at that point a thirty-day clock will start. The thirty days is essentially a trial period where you will go and actually stay with your match on the aliens’ spaceship. You are not required to have any type of intimate contact during the trial period.”
Valerie paused for a moment as if she were trying to find a way to say something she didn’t really want to say.
“We encourage you to find out if you are ‘compatible’ but the government is not putting pressure on you or any of the other volunteers to do anything you’re not comfortable with. If you want to explore …physical attraction then that is between you and your match. There is a small US military presence on the squadron ships and you are not only encouraged but expected to report to the US representatives there if you’re feeling physically threatened, even if this is coming from your match.”
“So no sex unless it’s consensual. Got it.” Poppy knew the next words out of her mouth were going to cause her to turn bright red. “Do they know how to…you know?”
Valerie smiled and said very matter-of-factly, “We’ve been told they’ve been monitoring Earth for quite some time and that includes
watching cable broadcasts to try to assimilate. I’m sure if they’ve seen some of the shows on the cable channels I watch then they have an idea even if they haven’t actually practiced before. You do need to know that physical contact like hugging or common friendly gestures are generally not done there. Being an all-male race means that they generally have physical combat training, but holding hands and hugging aren’t something many of them have ever done or actually seen unless it’s been on TV.”
Poppy let out a long breath and wondered again, What am I getting myself into?
“You are clearly overwhelmed. Do you want to keep going, or make an appointment after you take a couple days to breathe? If you have any questions I will answer them or find answers for you. I also want you to let me know before you sign the contract if you have any doubts regarding the process. Do you want me to keep going or break for the day?”
“Honestly? Yeah, I probably need a break, but my sister is going to grill me later and if I don’t have some good answers, she may kill me. Let’s keep going. Can you explain what happens after the thirty days?” If she was going to do this then she was going to pull up her big-girl panties and go for broke.
Valerie continued, “After thirty days, if both parties are satisfied with the match, then you will enter into a spousal contract, which is essentially their version of marriage. At that point, they will want physical relations to begin. Getting pregnant is essentially the brass ring in this program. I need to let you know they don’t really have divorce on their planet but we have had them add it into the spousal contract. However if you do get pregnant then you’re expected to give up your parental rights and leave the child with them if you wish to return to Earth. They were adamant they don’t trust us to care for or protect their young if one is born. It is very important you make sure this is the path you want to take, considering this will potentially involve your future children.”
Poppy could feel the tension in the small room. She understood Valerie was trying to stress the weight of her decision and was grateful she wasn’t getting anything sugar-coated.
Brida Pact Page 5
