by Zara Zenia
"We're closing in on their ship. It should be possible for us to rescue Princess Pari soon, as well as the rest of the Terran servants." He used that word, servants, instead of calling them slaves. They weren't just hired help. They were possessions.
I wonder if he even realizes he says it that way every time. "That's wonderful," she said after a moment of letting her brain process what she'd just been told. Chera was still not happy with Thras and found herself distracted in his presence. She had started to analyze every little thing he did to try to figure out what he was thinking. That was starting to lead to lots of judgements that may or may not have been grounded in actual fact.
"My sister will soon be returned to us. I am sure of it."
"And your other slaves," Chera added.
"Yes, of course. However, the safe return of the princess is naturally the priority right now." His words didn't seem to register. Was he really saying that to her face?
"What are you saying?" Chera asked.
"Once the princess is safe, then we will ensure the others are rescued."
"Are you serious? First, they're taken from their homes by force and sold to you like cattle. Then you let them be taken from your palace by your enemies. And now you're being so complacent about their safe return! My people are just as important as your sister. I want Pari back just as much as anyone else, possibly more than most, but your attitude is reprehensible, Sire."
"My, you really are beautiful when you become passionate about something."
Chera was caught off guard by that. How was she meant to respond to that? When he saw the look of confusion on her face, Thras simply grinned; no, he beamed at her and displayed his perfect teeth. Again she found herself wondering if he really did like her and want to be with her. The way he acted made it hard to read. He could have hated her, and she would have totally believed it. Or he could be secretly in love with her and have some weird alien thing going on with his heart that meant he was destined to be with her forever—and she felt like she maybe would have believed that too. When he wasn't being a complete ass, at least.
Since she was taken aback and remaining silent, Thras continued. "You have my word that we are going to track down the other humans. But I can only focus the crew's efforts on one task at a time. When my sister is safe, we will then move onto finding them."
"You need to put the same amount of effort into finding them all," Chera told him. She was keeping her voice more quiet now. Her last outburst had turned several heads. Embarrassing the king by telling him off, or possibly making the other Hjott hate her, was not going to help. This situation required some finesse. Now that she understood the king had feelings for her—whatever those feelings truly were—she would be able to get what she wanted. There was nothing wrong with manipulating him for a good reason.
"Can we please talk about this in private?" she asked. He agreed and they went to a supply room adjacent to the bridge.
"Are you going to put forth all your efforts to find the other women or not?" she asked him with her voice lowered.
Laughing again, Thras said, "Don't worry. All the women will be rescued. You have my word on it."
Again, he reached out those impossibly ripped arms and drew her close to him. Of course he had read this as some kind of come-on. Even though she was mad at him and talking about the very lives of her friends! That was such a typical male thing to do that it sadly didn't faze her all that much.
And she found herself letting him do it. She knew he would not force anything, but she didn't want to stop him. They kissed again. The king had to lower his head down a lot to even line their mouths up. He did have nearly two whole feet of height on her after all. He even bent his knees a little, so he wasn't just hunching over. His muscles bulged as he made the effort. Even such a tiny motion made his whole body flex as though he was trying to make himself look even bigger than usual.
Chera found herself growing wet. His lips were so firm, yet still exceptionally soft and silky. She wondered how many other women had kissed him. As far as she knew, Hjott men saved themselves for their so-called fated mates. That story was surely just for show though.
His body was so warm and inviting. The muscles that ripped throughout him were hard and smooth. He lifted her up and placed her on a supply crate, much to her surprise. It was like he was picking up nothing at all for all the effort he had to put into the action. Now he didn't have to stoop down. She felt the bulge in his pants, and it was huge.
Chera had her eyes closed, mostly because of shyness. She didn't want to admit that she was loving this. There was no human man alive who could have measured up to the physical prowess of Thras. He was built like an ancient sculpture, only much, much better endowed. Their breathing was bated, coming through their noses in short bursts. Their lips remained locked, perfectly pressed together to create one glorious kiss. His tongue worked like magic, anticipated every movement of her own. It was as though she didn't even have to work to make the kiss great.
Chera had kissed men before she was taken away as a slave. A couple were pretty damn good at it too. She liked to think she was a good kisser by most standards. But this alien warrior king had something extra special. If he had half the skills down south, she would probably faint from the pleasure.
And just like her luck, the ship shook violently, and a warning alarm began to sound. Flashing lights were coming from the bridge and he pushed her away from him, gently but firmly. Chaos was about to break out once again. Chera had to take a moment to catch her breath as she was left standing on a crate in the bridge's supply room. She realized her knees had gone weak and her panties were far from dry.
Did I just fall for this alien jerk?
Chapter 9
Thras
That kiss was even better than the last one. He could tell she wanted him, there was no doubt about it in his mind. Why hadn't she accepted his offer then? Women were more confusing than he had imagined. That was doubly so for these Terrans.
After checking what was happening on the bridge to make sure there was no damage to the equipment, he rushed back to her. "Chera, something is terribly wrong. Head to your room, make sure Jaia is with you. Close the door, lock it, and don't come out until you absolutely know it is safe to do so. I will come and get you once I have addressed whatever is happening."
"And what is going on?" she asked with fear in her eyes. She was almost trembling; clearly traumatized from the last attack still.
"Just go," he ordered her. "Please..." he added, realizing that he was acting like she was one of his underlings again. Then he went back to the control where the rest of his crew was starting to pour into the room. Chera did as she was told without an argument. At least she could be trusted to remain level headed and follow instructions when it mattered most.
"What's goin on?" asked Vini, who had been eating when the attack happened. He joined the king in searching the radar. The alarms blared and the emergency light continued to flash.
The intercom crackled to life. The connection seemed to have been impaired by the attack. "Engineering to bridge. We have received damage from the ship we were trailing. I don't know how they spotted us, but they turned and fired on us before we could react."
"Do not return fire. Do not counter attack!" shouted Thras immediately. He didn't think his men would be stupid enough to endanger their princess, but he wanted to make absolutely sure.
"Yes, Sire, but what should we do? The Vada Shadow has taken potentially catastrophic damage. We're not sure how much longer we'll be able to move."
Vini let out a gasp. "We'll be marooned out here. And we'll be sitting ducks for any enemies of Jatra who happen by."
"We need to head to the nearest outpost," said Thras. He was already scouring the radar to find something suitable. "Aha, here. Head to the planet Kren just outside the Vada System. There is an outpost there where we can assess and repair the damage."
"Yes, Sire!" the star pilot who was at the ship's controls said. It ha
d been on autopilot before but was now fully manned and ready for battle and intricate flight.
"That's outside of royal jurisdiction," said Vini. "I recommend changing our call sequence to hide our true identities."
The Hjott crew member who was seated at the communication panel looked at the king expectantly before acting.
"Do it," confirmed Thras. "We could be like sitting nini out here." These were the plump birds that were farmed and used for eggs and meat on Jatra. They were known to be particularly easy to hunt when they were at rest. Their docile nature made them ideal for farming.
They headed straight to the lone planet and hoped that they wouldn't be questioned by the crew stationed there. Now that the Vada Shadow had a non-royal call signal, they would be able to land without issue. The outpost was a breeding ground for all kinds of scum, but as long as no one recognized that they were a royal vessel, it would be fine.
While the ship made its way toward the planet, Thras had some questions for his crew. Kenor, the star pilot commander, was bashful and full of apologies. "I promise that my men were not at fault here."
"How did this happen then? We were meant to be trailing that ship without them detecting us. The Vada Shadow was behind their vessel. How did they get the drop on your men?"
"Engineering has reported that there was an issue with our stealth shields. A malfunction that no one could have possibly been able to detect without a thorough scan of the systems. We didn't have time for that before taking off from Jatra. Surely you understand, Sire."
"Very well. I accept that, but we cannot lose their trail under any circumstances. I will not be forgiving if that happens. Send the Vada Scout with two of your more trusted crew members to follow them, Kenor."
"Right away," replied to commander.
When they reached planet Kren, the Vada Shadow felt as though it was just about the fall apart for all the vibrations running through it.
"It looks like we got here just in time," said Kren. "I don't know how much longer we could have kept going without something going seriously wrong. We're losing speed too." After a terrifying landing, where they almost lost control of the ship completely due to the malfunctions, they landed.
The outpost was tiny compared to most others in the galaxy. It was not a place of government or law. Pirates were known to frequent it, and many shady dealings occurred here. But it was their only option for repairing the Vada Shadow. There was nothing else to do but disguise themselves and show for the best.
"We're signaling as Big Scout and pretending to be a simply cargo transport. Our ship is large enough to pull that off," said Kenor.
"No one is to give away our cover for any reason. Do you all understand?" he said to the crew who was present in the bridge. "If the scum on this outpost learn who we are, or that we have anything to do with royalty or even any government, we might not make it out alive."
Kenor assured that we would make it known to everyone onboard, including the two Terran women.
Vini had some issues to bring up. "There is a slavery market on Kenor. Terrans often bring in the highest prices. I fear that we might not be able to recover your servants without putting the princess at risk. I advise you to just focus on getting Pari to safety. You don't want to cause a scene and endanger everyone, including the princess."
"I gave my word that I would recover the Terrans," replied Thras. "However, I will take your advice into account." After ordering Chera and Jaia to remain on the Vada Shadow, he disguised himself as a cargo captain. The crew disguised themselves as common cargo crew members and went to see about getting some repairs. Thras himself headed for the slave market.
While he walked through the scum and criminals, he thought about Chera. He didn't know why he would be thinking of her at a time like this. There were all manner of different aliens there. Some of the sights were alarming, and the smells were disgusting. To imagine that he might be in love with an alien though, was anything but that. Being away from her for this short amount of time was already starting to have an effect on him. He had to make sure that she was never away from him.
If Pari were to free Chera after this, as a reward for being loyal and helping to save her ... he would be completely lost. That was almost certain to happen. It was common for acts of bravery and loyalty to be rewarded with the gift of freedom for slaves. It would almost look bad if Pari decided not to let Chera go. The only solution would be for the Terran to willingly choose to stay with Thras as his mate. There had to be a way to force her hand, or to trick her into choosing him. It was the king's right to get what he desired, after all.
Chapter 10
Chera
Chera and Jaia were left completely in the dark about what was happening. They knew they had landed due to damages to the ship. And they also knew the crew were going into some alien outpost on a small planet to see about repairs. That was all they were aware of. No one had bothered to tell them anything else.
"This is ridiculous," said Jaia for what seemed like the millionth time. "They could have at least let us know more about what they were doing. What if they never come back? What if someone gets onto this ship while we're stuck here by ourselves?"
"Well that's why we're staying inside our room with the door locked. Do you really think someone would bother to bust down such a heavy door just on the off chance that there's something valuable inside a tiny sleeping quarter?"
"They will, if they figure out we're in here," said Jaia.
Chera smirked and waited a moment before responded. "Well then, I guess you should keep it down so there's no chance anyone hears us, huh?"
"This is no time for joking around, Chera. It's been two days since they all took off."
"There are still some crew members on the ship. Calm down. They're part of the royal military, don't forget. I'm sure those big Hjott men will be able to protect us from whatever could be out there on this planet."
"And that's the other thing. They let us out to eat and use to bathroom, but then they just cram us back in here. All without telling us a single thing about what's going on. Would it kill them to update us, to treat us like we are actual people with thoughts and emotions instead of captive pieces of meat to be ordered around."
"Do you think they all view us that way, really?" asked Chera.
"Oh, now you're asking about your lover boy, aren't you? If he actually gave a crap about you, why would he just take off without mentioning where he was going? I thought it was maybe romantic at first, like getting with him would be a smart move. Now I'm not so sure, no matter if he is the king."
Chera sighed. She was getting so tired of dealing with Jaia's seemingly constant little tantrums. Compassion and empathy were two of her strongest attributes though, which was very lucky in this situation. "You're just saying that because you're getting cabin fever. Nothing's gone wrong since we've been here, has it? No news is good news, I have learned to believe."
"Any news would be better than just sitting around in this tiny room for days with nothing to do. I can't read the Jatra language like you either. These books in here are useless to me. I'm bored and I'm worried about what's going to happen to all of us." Jaia was working herself up into a near-panic state again.
Grabbing one of the Hjott books off the small shelf compartment, Chera asked if it would help for her to read aloud.
"That would be nice. Thank you," said Jaia.
Chera began to speak the alien words that were on the page. Around ten minutes later, a low rumbling sounded throughout the ship.
"That's someone returning to ship!" shouted Jaia with excitement. "You have to find out if it's the king. Please!"
"You're right, I should demand to see him if it is." She went and opened the door. One of the crew members was walking down the narrow hall.
"What are you doing?" he asked her. "Get back in your quarters."
"Is the king back?" she asked without acknowledging the order. "I need to see him. I demand it." They began to argue, but C
hera refused to go back into her room. Soon Thras came down the hall to see what the commotion was.
"What is the problem here?" he asked them. "I told you to stay in your room until I came to get you."
"You also left us here for days with no news and barely any time outside of that room!" scolded Chera. The door was open and Jaia was peering out from their shared room. "Wait, what are you wearing that outfit for? You look like ... a normal person." She noticed that he had regular clothing on, maybe something like a middle-class person would wear anyway. It suited him and added an air of approachability to the king.
"We have had to disguise ourselves as a cargo ship. I have been acting as the cargo captain and trying to find out information. I've been asking about any captives that came through here. This is delicate work that requires a great deal of secrecy. Surely you understand."
"Have you figured out where they are?"
"They are not on this planet. I know that much. This means they must still be on that ship my men are trailing in the Vada Scout. We are in touch with our smaller vessel."
"Well would it be possible for us to get out of this room now? I don't see why we have to be locked away when there are still crew members aboard."
"It's for your own protection. If the people who attacked my palace were here and recognized us, you two Terrans would have been in extreme danger. Your species are highly prized as servants."
"Servants? You mean slaves," added Jaia from her safe spot halfway hidden by the doorway.
"I would like to make it up to you," he said to Chera. "It's safe here, now that we know no one from the ship we were trialing has remained behind, and there are no enemies of Jatra royalty on the planet," said the king. "Let me take you on a tour of the planet."
