“And?”
“And bearing this in mind, do you wish us to waste valuable resources on a damaged drone or do you wish us to euthanize him?”
Her temper flared red hot in an instant, leading her to speak before she considered her words. “Get the hell out of my medical bay.”
“I don’t understand.”
“As a healer, you should know saving lives comes first. If you have to ask a question like that, you’ve got no business practicing medicine.”
Vraden’s voice cut into the conversation. “My colleague is not communicating effectively with you. He assumes you will want to eliminate Sakor because it is the default decision of every queen we’ve ever had. We are thrilled that you wish us to do our best to see that he recovers.”
“I wish you to see to him yourself, Vraden. He is precious to me and I’ll not risk his wellbeing to someone I do not trust.”
“May ask about your attachment?”
“Believe it or not, I’m getting attached to all of you. You put me in charge, I dropped the ball and people died. I won’t lose anymore drones.” Feeling herself getting emotional, she clamped her mouth shut.
“Speak no more on it, my queen. I will see your will is done.”
“We will stay for a bit.”
Hitting a button on the wall as he left, Vraden gave them some privacy. A holographic screen bounced into place, cutting them off from the rest of the medical bay. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Hel took Sakor’s hand in hers. “I should never have let him leave this morning.”
“It is more my fault than yours. I asked for only one to attend you. My concern was you would wake and regret out night together. I know you do not enjoy large groups of people. Perhaps if more people had been there, things would have gone differently.”
“We couldn’t have seen this coming. It’s neither of our faults. The horrible queen is to blame.”
“She spreads misery wherever she goes. It has always been such with her.”
“It strengthens my resolve to cut her rampage through our sector of space short.”
“Come, let us check on your sister. I am told the youngest is beside herself with worry.”
Chapter 9
~ Penny ~
Music Mix
Penny followed Armon deep into the bowels of the ship. Straying so far from her sisters left her feeling strangely off kilter. Though she was not technically breaking the rules because she had Armon with her, she felt they would not approve. The both of them were far too overprotective, but getting cornered by the Earth Gov commander had taught her that danger often came from unexpected sources.
“Come this way, my queen.”
His rough animalistic voice prompted her to remember that she was with an honest to goodness alien. Though she adored him and had cuddled the huge creature more than once, she had to keep in mind the fact that she knew very little about him.
Clawing at a control panel, he caused a spark. Penny took the small fob from his claw and slid it over the screen. A word flashed up on the screen in white.
“It says we are approved to enter.”
“Except that we’re definitely not approved to enter. Crap, Armon, you’re going to get us into big trouble.”
“My kind are already in big trouble, my little queen. We need your help if we are to survive.”
Stepping closer, she looked at him curiously. “I thought you were the only one of your kind on board.”
“No, there are claws full of us on this ship.” Shaking his head, he corrected himself. “There are a handful of us.”
The door finally slid open. What she saw on the other side sent her stumbling back. Cages, stacked upon cages full of the creatures were housed inside the room. Some weren’t moving, others were struggling to get out, and a few were writhing in pain.
Gathering her wits about her, she marched into the room. Twirling around, she took in the huge number of insectoids. There must have been close to a hundred.
“They are starving, my queen.”
“Why?” Shaking her head, she held up one hand. “Forget I asked. We can sort that out later. Right now we need to get them hydration packs and see to their medical needs. Once that is finished we’ll figure out how to open the cages.”
“Save them we must, but opening the cages is not allowed.”
“They’re living, breathing, thinking people and we aren’t going to keep them in cages. You know what? Let’s add that to the list of things to argue about later. Where can we find hydration packs?”
“There are some in the lockers below. With your permission, we can forcibly open them.”
“Let’s hop to it.”
Running over to the lockers on the lower level, they worked together to force the doors open on a couple of them. Instead of the hand-sized hydration packets she was used to seeing, there were several huge bladders with a couple dozen tubes protruding from the bottom of each of them. Hooking the loop on the top around his neck, Armon hefted it out and up into the air.
“I fly, you climb, my little queen. Each cage must get a feeding tube. We must hurry.”
Understanding him completely, Penny ran to the nearest access ladder and quickly climbed to the top level. Exiting onto a catwalk designed to aid their handlers in caring for the creatures, she ran to meet Armon as he landed with the large bladder.
She slid a feeding tube into the corner of each cage, careful to keep her distance from the more violent insectoids. Mostly they were too preoccupied with getting to the feeding tubes to waste time trying to harass her.
Just as she inserted the last tube, Armon landed with another bladder on the far end of the catwalk. They repeated the process several more times before she climbed down to help him breach more lockers.
Just as they were setting the last bladder, Penny let loose with a torrent of curses. “This is a really shitty way to treat people. I hope that damned queen of yours chokes on her next meal.”
The room went suspiciously quiet. Becoming anxious, she slid between Armon’s front claws and wrapped her arms around him.
“Fear not, my young queen. My people are simply curious about you.”
Drawing her over to a cage in the corner, housing several creatures, he grabbed one of the bars. A small creature moved forward and rubbed noses with him. The two of them looked like a mated pair.
“You brought help.” The small voice was delicate and slightly timid.
Armon responded quietly. “I said that I would. The human queens have thrown Kabelda from this ship. She is adrift in a shuttle with very few drones.”
Another drone spoke. “This is the closest we’ve ever come to freedom.
Armon’s hand reached between the bars to stroke something. Penny gasped out loud.
“Armon, you have a child? I thought we were the only queens.”
“Maruvians do not count our females as queens. They are needed to keep a ready supply of flesh eaters ready to do their bidding.”
“You’re not Maruvian?”
Pulling an orange from one the spikes in his wing, he tore it open and handed it to the female. “We have an insectoid heritage but we are not of the same bloodline.”
Grabbing onto the cage, she let the anger roll over her. “What gives them the right to cage you all like animals?”
“It has been their way for thousands of years.”
“Well, it stops today. My sisters and I will not have it.”
“So, once again it falls to another species to decide if we are worthy of freedom.”
“You were free from the moment you were born. Because others have taken your liberty away does not mean you are not worthy of freedom.”
Cradling his tiny infant in the palm of his hand, Armon held the child out for her to see.
Penny stared at the infant, her heart aching in her chest. “The child is free. May I hold him?”
The female hissed in shock. “The new queen asks our permission?”
Sighing, Penny looked at
the small woman. “Yes ma’am, it’s considered polite to ask before you touch another person’s child.” Picking at a thread on her gown, she admitted shyly, “I’m not really a queen, by the way. I’m just a regular person, like you.”
Beaming at her, the woman spoke quietly. “You may hold our young.”
Gently lifting him from Armon’s hand, she held the little one close. “He’s really adorable. He’s even got tiny little claws and wings like his father.”
Armon reached inside the cage once more and grasped the hands of his mate. Their heads leaned together and Penny thought they were just enjoying the small victory that had come their way.
Sighing, she stated tiredly, “What do you say we break the seal on this cage, so these good folks can stretch their wings?”
“If we do that, it will alert the Maruvian warriors. They will panic, and may even start shooting.”
“I’m not walking off and leaving them like this.”
“Kabelda used to attach a round blinking disk to the underside of our wing. It was designed to drive our kind mad with rage, driving us insane with the need to kill. I do not understand how the devices work, but once mine was removed, my blood quieted and I no longer even consider committing such atrocities.”
“She attached the devices to all of you?”
“Just the warriors she used in battle. As you can see, about a third of those remaining are hyper-aggressive. I have been coming when I know the handlers are gone to make sure my people are hydrated. I have found and removed several of the devices but my hands were not designed for such delicate tasks.”
“I see where you’re going with this conversation. You think that if we can remove the devices, the Maruvians will see that you pose no threat to them?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so much larger than the others of your kind? Are you an alpha or a king?”
His eyes narrowed as he gestured to all the cages. “Much like an ornamental fish, we grow only as large as our housing permits. I have grown larger since being removed from my cage. Living in the open on our own, we can grow to the size of a small shuttle. We wish to be released to make our way in the ‘verse.”
“None have a right to hold you.”
“We are in agreement then?”
Returning the child to his mother, Penny looked around at the expectant faces staring out from all the cages. “Yes, we will figure out this issue with the devices and see them all removed. Then I will speak with my sisters about facilitating your release.”
Chapter 10
~ Hel ~
Music Mix
Sitting on the bridge, flanked by Penny and Alexis, Hel sat on the edge of her seat gripping the arm rests. Kabelda’s shuttles slowly came into view. They were in tight formation surrounding the former queen’s shuttle.
“Scan them for control devices.”
“I’m scanning eleven shuttles. I’m seeing sixteen drones and sixteen devices.”
“She’s culled the herd since our last interaction. There were close to twenty ships and almost thirty drones when we hit her with the sonic wave.”
“Scan her shuttle. I want know how many of my drones are on board with her.”
“I’m showing a contingent of five drones.”
“Interesting. She has one drone on each shuttle and the five remaining at her side. She’s scared of me.”
Vraden spoke from his perch at an observation screen. “As well she should. You are proving to be a formidable adversary, my queen.”
Ignoring his warm compliment, she asked, “Can we send another sonic blast to disable their navigation?”
“I can increase the strength of the pulse if you like. It might result in their systems being off line for a few minutes.”
“I need to stun everyone on her shuttle. Then we need to board and grab our guys before forcing her shuttle to the surface and disabling it.”
“Inadvisable, my queen. I know you wish to rescue the drones, but your plan carries much risk.”
“I will go myself, if I must.”
“No need for you to risk yourself. We can attach a grappling hook and pull them into our cargo bay.”
“No. That just puts us back where we started. I’ll not risk her getting loose on my ship. I have injured and infants onboard this ship.”
“Might I suggest we have another shuttle dock with hers, carrying an escape pod? We can remove any equipment that could be retrofitted for communications and fill it with supplies to get her started on her new home world.”
“I thought we lost all our shuttles.”
“Hardly, my queen. We house them on both the aft and the port sides of the ship.”
“That sounds like a great plan. You are turning out to be a brilliant strategist in your own right, Vraden.”
Smiling slightly he spoke softly into his com. She overheard him ordering Raec to select drones for the mission and issuing very specific directions.
Suddenly the mission took on an additional layer of danger. Certain that Raec wouldn’t like having his assignment pulled out from under him simply because she didn’t want to risk the man she was quickly falling in love with, she stretched her neck and kept her mouth shut.
One of the drones at another display spoke. “Her shuttle will be in optimal position to facilitate her trajectory to the planet in approximately twenty microns.”
Vraden announced, “Our drones will be ready to deploy in less than ten microns. They are loading the survival pod as we speak and will strip it while en route.”
“We have a very efficient crew,” Hel murmured nervously as she resisted the impulse to fidget anxiously in her seat.
“This is true. You should consider keeping us.”
Searching the older man’s eyes, she responded, “I have honestly been considering it. I find your son difficult to walk away from.” Two feminine heads swiveled around from opposite sides to look at her. Shrugging, she murmured softly, “We’ll talk later.”
Armon dropped down behind Penny. “Yes, do talk later.”
The navigator turned to look at them. “I never thought we’d get one good queen, much less three.”
“You deserve a queen for each drone.”
Shocked sounds of astonishment sounded from around the room.
Hel laughed. “I almost forgot to tell you, the human queen on your sister ship has reordered their society. The drones now function in family units of four or five drones to one queen. At last count, they had nearly twenty queens among the seventy-five warriors. More are coming every day.”
“I find that hard to credit, my queen.”
“When we’re finished with this mess, we’ll pay them a little visit and you can see for yourselves.”
A light began flashing and Vraden commented, “Kabelda is breaking apart from her drones.”
“Let me guess. She’s coming straight for us?”
“Yes. She is falling right into your carefully planned trap.”
“Release the shuttle with the escape pod. The moment they are within scanning range of her shuttle, send the sonic pulse. Timing is everything. I won’t risk that shuttle crew any more than I have to.”
“Understood, my queen.”
They anxiously watched the images grow larger on the view screen. “She is coming into range.”
“Hit her shuttle now.”
Watching the screen they couldn’t see the sonic pulse but they watched the shuttle’s lights blink out and then it began to drift. The other shuttles picked up speed.
Jumping to her feet, Hel shouted, “Stop them from docking with the shuttle. Something’s very wrong.”
“You have exactly no time to change your mind.”
“If the queen’s shuttle is down, why did the other drones increase speed? They’re wearing the devices and only respond to commands, right?”
“Yes. You are correct. If we successfully knocked out their systems, she should not still be able to communicate with them.”
“B
ring us right up beside their shuttle and get the grappler ready.”
It took only seconds for the powerful Maruvian mother ship to close the distance.
“Grab one of the other shuttles and throw it in our cargo bay. I want to know if the drone inside is wearing protective armor.”
“It is standard operating procedure for going into battle.”
“Great. Use the grappling hooks to pull her shuttle apart. Pick the bitch up and cram her into the escape pod kicking and screaming if you have to.”
“Your will be done.”
Vraden jumped from his seat and went over to stand behind the drone tasked with operating the grappling hooks. Most were more like large hands that could do minor ship’s repairs on the outer hull and the Maruvian ship was no different. They got ahold of her shuttle just as the other shuttles came into weapons range.
“Can you narrow the sonic pulse and tag the shuttles individually?”
“I can try.”
She watched nervously as they tore a hole in the queen’s shuttle and plucked her out. She was fully armored and attempted to shoot her plasma weapon at the grappling hooks. It was like trying to shoot a person with a wad of paper: totally ineffective.
“Wow, this feels like playing dolls.” Penny’s dry sense of humor was par for the course.
“Don’t make light of a situation that could cost us the lives of drones. I’m still praying the ones on her ship were wearing their protective armor.”
Vraden began stunning the other shuttles. The exterior scanners panned left just in time to see a huge grappling arm toss the escape pod towards the planet. It immediately reached over and grabbed her shuttle and stuffed it into their cargo bay.
“Send healers to the med bay and remind the drones I want their weapons on stun.”
As she got the last of the words out, the huge arm came back out of the bay, holding something that was blinking. The man operating the arm was concentrating quietly on his work. Spinning the arms around, he tossed whatever he was carrying in the direction of the escape pod.
Queen Maker's Bride (Alien SciFi Romance) (Celestial Mates Book 6) Page 7
