Rai

by Maia Starr

  “No, I am not pregnant. As you can see, Sergeant Banks was very angry that I have not been with him,” I said as I hid the panic inside of me. I grabbed my glass of water and drank it down in order to distract her. Could it possible? Was my appetite growing out of control because I was pregnant? It had only been ten or eleven days since I’d slept with Commander Vycon Dase. Was that enough time to tell? I didn't know how these things worked when you were dealing with an alien baby.

  I sat there listening to small talk with Sheila while I was in a complete panic. It had been a long time since my last monthly cycle, as Sergeant Banks had reminded me outside. The last time I was with the sergeant, I had my cycle a week later. That was more than a month ago, at least a month and a half. So that meant if I were with child, it would belong to Commander Vycon Dase, no question. I quickly shoved the food in my mouth, in all honesty, I was very hungry. I ate practically all of it to Sheila's surprise.

  After we walked back to the tower, I waited for Sheila to go back to her workstation before I snuck out. I quickly made my way to my apartment. I had a stash of pregnancy test; almost all of us females did. It wasn't easy getting supplies out to this base, so when they came, we tended to hoard things that females needed in our own apartments.

  I took a test; it showed positive. I was in shock. Maybe it was an old test and broken. I grabbed another and took it a few minutes later after I had chugged an enormous amount of water. The test once again showed that I was pregnant. Crap.

  “What am I going to do now? You have really gotten yourself into it thick, Nicole,” I said to myself as I left my bathroom. I walked back and forth in front of the windows of my apartment. I would have to get back to work soon before I was missed. But I needed at least twenty minutes to process this. What the hell was I going to do? I could not be pregnant with an alien baby. There were so many things wrong with that prospect.

  It was sort of forbidden for humans to be with the Zenkian in any way, even the Grantsions. It wasn't exactly a hard rule, but it was definitely frowned upon. The human females sort of had a choice in the matter, but as far as the Grantsions were concerned, they would be punished. The Grantsions had told Earth over and over that they did not want the human females the way the Waysaw did. It was a major point in the pact between us. This baby could cause all kinds of trouble. but that wasn't my biggest problem: at least not now.

  The biggest problem was that the father of this child would be leaving across the Galaxy billions of miles away to another planet. I would never see him again. He would never know that he had created a child inside of me. What was I going to do? I did not have a lot of time because he would be leaving soon, once that shield was completed. I had to do something.

  Chapter Eight

  COMMANDER VYCON DASE

  I had returned from the copper mine. I wasn't happy about it. The work was almost completed. I had left Lieutenant Yata to do the rest of the work. I had to return because Leader Nizok had summoned me. But a part of me was happy to return to the base. I had been itching to set my eyes on Nicole, even if just for a second. But I knew that I could not speak to her. I still needed her to hate me. I was sure that the Leader would want me to take care of preparations for our departure that would be imminent. Because of this, I could not lead her on. It was all too dangerous.

  “Leader, I have returned. You have summoned me?” I said as I boarded our ship.

  “Yes, I believe the lieutenant is far enough along to work without you. I need you here. We will have a few more meetings in the tower, and I also want you working with the battalions here. I particularly want you working with this Earth sergeant.”

  “Sergeant?” I asked hoping that it wasn't who I thought it was.

  “Yes, he is called Sergeant Banks. I want you to train him in hand-to-hand combat in the way that we would fight a Waysaw Soldier. Show him how the Waysaw soldiers fight, the way they make sport of it. These humans do not know how the Waysaw have war games and fight differently. I want you to teach him so that he can, in turn, teach his soldiers. I want them to be ready. I want them to get the most of our presence here before we depart.”

  “I understand, Leader. I will get right on that task,” I said.

  I saluted the Leader and left his presence. A part of me was feeling happy and cocky in order to go around or two with this sergeant. I hated him, and I had a lot of energy to dispel.

  I grabbed a few Grantsion soldiers and walked out into the path between the Earth Battalion and the Grantsion battalions.

  “Human!”

  “Private Martinez, sir,” the soldier said as he scrambled over to me. I had seen him before inside the tower. I knew he worked with Nicole. I quickly looked around to see if she was anywhere nearby, but I did not see her.

  “Private Martinez, go into the Earth Battalion to deliver a message. I am seeking Sergeant Banks. Tell him Commander Vycon Dase waits for him out here for our training sessions,” I said.

  “Yes, sir, right away,” he said as he scrambled into the Earth Base building.

  I waited with my soldiers telling them what our mission was in training this Earth soldiers today.

  “Well, if it isn't Little Boy Blue!” Sergeant Banks shouted as he came out of the base with a few of his soldiers.

  I did not know what he was referencing, but I assumed it was an insult.

  “Yes, that is the spirit, Sergeant Banks. I am here to fight with you, but it is not what you think.”

  “Yes, I know. Your Leader has informed me that you are here to show us how the Waysaw fight. We are very aware; it is not the first time that we have come across them,” he said with arrogance.

  “I understand, Sergeant. But I am here to show you how to defeat them in hand-to-hand combat. They fight differently, and therefore you need different moves in order to defeat them. Or are you too scared to take me on?”

  The sergeant’s face grew dark. The fact that my soldiers were laughing at him did not help. It was easy to get this human worked up. I knew exactly which buttons to push to do it. I only had two wound his ego in order to get him to make mistakes and be sloppy.

  He unbuckled the belt around his waist with his guns and handed it to one of his soldiers. I did the same. Then we met each other in the middle. A crowd was starting to gather. I could hear bets being placed.

  “Now, I am going to do some moves that the Waysaw do, and Sergeant Banks is going to try to block them and hit me back,” I said to the soldiers that were gathered.

  “Go ahead, Sergeant Banks; come at me,” I said putting my hands in the air motioning for him to come to me.

  He shouted and ran straight for me as though he was going to tackle me with his shoulder to my belly. With one swift motion, I moved out of the way and had my hands around his waist and flipped him over, hitting his back hard on the ground. The wind was knocked out of him.

  The crowd cheered, and the Earth soldiers let out remarks of pain sympathy for the sergeant.

  “Do you see that? Did you see that move? Do you know why it works? It works because the Waysaw are expecting you to charge at them like that. Not only are they expecting it, they want it. Because then they can use that perfect swift move that I just showed you. They are not scared of you. They are not scared of me. They make sport of fighting. For every move that you have coming at them, they have a move to not only guard themselves, but to take you down at the same time,” I shouted, giving my lesson.

  I stepped over the sergeant, adding humiliation to his defeat. He slowly got up and faced me again.

  “I am ready,” I said with a grin.

  He swung a right hook at me. I caught his hand mid-air and twisted it around his back; I could snap his arm like this. He squealed in pain.

  “Did you see that? Right now, if I were a Waysaw, I would snap his arm in two. I was anticipating his swing and already knew that I was going to catch it and twist him around. Now, that is enough show!” I said pushing the sergeant away from me.

  “Righ
t now, I want all of you to line up, and I am going to show you how to do these moves. I want you to master them and spread them throughout your camps,” I said.

  I watched as every soldier enthusiastically lined up in order to learn this move. The sergeant was staring at me with hatred in his eyes. I knew hatred very well. He came over to me and spat on the ground, close to my boot. Then he leaned in and whispered, “This isn't over yet, Commander.”

  “Oh, I hope not, Sergeant. I hope to meet again in the same light soon,” I said with a grin.

  He slowly limped away. It felt good; it felt damn good. I continue to watch him walk away as I waited for the soldiers to line up and for my soldiers to assist me in the training. I watched him and noticed that he was not heading back inside the base building. Instead, he was heading off to the corner of it on the outside. It was then that I saw her. It was Nicole. She was staring directly at me. I felt an enormous amount of guilt and regret flood my body. The triumph of making a fool out of the sergeant went away. But as I looked at her, I noticed that the sergeant grabbed her arm. She yanked it away. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but it was obviously a heated argument. Wait a minute, was she involved with him? I did not know her life before I arrived. I hated him even more in that second. I wanted to go to her and defend her, but I did not want to give away that I was in love with her. Crap, I love her. I knew at that moment when I saw another man touching her. I was repulsed by his hands on her. She yanked her arm away again and stomped off. He just laid against the wall, catching his breath. I had really done a number on him, and I was glad because he would probably follow her if he wasn't feeling so badly and injured.

  I now had a new fervor and anger to get rid of as I went about the training. The fact that there might be something between the sergeant and Nicole made me very angry. I would kill him if I found out.

  Chapter Nine

  NICOLE PLIMOC

  I was in a bad way. I was pregnant with an alien child and I had no idea what I should do about it. I couldn’t tell anyone. I wanted to confide in Sheila, but I was not sure how she would take it. She would judge me. She would think I was a freak, or maybe she would tell on me. I did not want to tell anyone until I told Vycon, but the problem was he was nowhere to be found. I didn’t know if he was still at the mines. But the way he had spoken to me let me know that it would not matter. He had jilted me. So, when I saw him at the base that day, I was shocked.

  I watched as he shouted for Private Martinez. I had been walking between the buildings on the backside, but I heard his voice, and I knew that it was him. Dread and excitement filled me when I heard him shout. I quickly and quietly made my way to the corner of the building and peeked around the corner. When I saw him, my heart fell to my stomach, and my stomach grew knots and butterflies all at the same time. It was a combination of being happy to see him but scared to see him. I had his alien baby inside of me, and he would not give a damn.

  But fear gripped me as I heard him tell Private Martinez to get Sergeant Banks. What the hell did he want with Banks? Since I had not spoken to the commander in days, I had no idea what he was up to. I wanted to step in because it was my job to do so. I was there to diffuse tensions between the Zenkians and the Earth soldiers. But I couldn’t do it. My feet would not move no matter how much I wanted them to. So I just watched.

  But I was not prepared for what I saw. It wasn’t until the commander explained it was training that I exhaled in relief. I had to admit that it was pleasant to watch the commander defeat Sergeant Banks. But I had stayed too long. I knew this when the sergeant came over to me.

  “Nicole, what are you doing here? Did you see that? He cheated, the filthy alien,” he said breathlessly.

  “I don’t think that he cheated. Just admit that he is a better soldier than you, Banks. It is nothing to be ashamed of; he is bigger than you,” I whispered to him.

  He grabbed my arm. “You would know, wouldn’t you? You would know just how much bigger he is than I am. Have you sucked on his disgusting blue cock, Nicole?” he pressed on my arm.

  “You’re hurting me,” I said yanking my arm away from him.

  “If I find out it is true, I will report it, Nicole,” he said angrily.

  “It is not true; just leave me alone,” I said as I turned and walked away.

  I had enough drama for one day. I went back to my apartment, taking the rest of the two hours that were left of work, off. I told my boss I had a headache and felt ill. Commander Eriks was understanding as we all had been working overtime. I went home and slept.

  The next morning, I had to deal with it. I had to deal with this pregnancy head on.

  I could not believe it. I was pregnant with the child of a Grantsion Zenkian. This was awful. I did not know what to do. I desired to tell him. He would know what to do, but I knew he could get in a lot of trouble for it. It was forbidden for the Grantsions to be intimate with humans. It was against their rules. It wasn't exactly looked upon with approval on my side of things either. I was screwed no matter what, so I thought I might as well tell him.

  I found Commander Vycon Dase in the common area of the Grantsion base.

  “I need to speak with you,” I said.

  “Nicole, always good to see you. Yes, of course, I will give you my time; where shall we speak?”

  “This way, the conference room,” I said, trying to make it look like official business to the Grantsions that he was sitting with. He nodded to the soldiers and then followed me into the hallway all the way down to the private conference room.

  “What is it? Is there news of the Waysaw invasion?”

  “No, this is more of a personal thing,” I said.

  “You know that we cannot do that. We especially cannot do that here,” he said arching an eyebrow at me.

  “No, it is... Well, I don't know how to say this. I'm searching for the words,” I said feeling very nervous.

  “Just say it; be blunt. Be like me,” he said.

  “I am pregnant. I am carrying your child,” I said in the bluntest way possible.

  He looked at me stunned. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I have taken the test. I have all the symptoms. I am pregnant,” I said.

  “No, are you sure that it is mine? Are you sure that it is not the child of Sergeant Banks?”

  “I have not been with him since before my last cycle. I have only been with you; it is yours,” I said, feeling angry that he would even ask me that. “If I had any question at all as to who the father was, then I would say so.”

  “We must keep this a secret. You know that I am not allowed to be intimate with humans. I have already gone against the law of my own kind by being with you. This must stay between us,” he said.

  “Don't you think I know that? I wasn't going to tell anyone,” I said.

  “And yet, it will eventually be known, but maybe I will have returned back to my own planet by then,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Maybe I won't have to deal with this at all,” he said.

  “Are you serious, Commander? You expect me to deal with this alone? You expect me to suddenly have an alien hybrid baby and to not say who the father is?”

  “No, you can have the baby. You can say who the father is, but I won't be here. I will be on my own planet,” he said. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do,” he said as he walked out.

  I could not fucking believe it. I was in shock. I wanted to burst into tears, but I couldn't do it where I was. I quickly walked out of the conference room and walked as fast as I could to my own apartment. It wasn't until I was inside that I let myself cry. This was the worst thing that could happen. What was I going to do? I was all alone in this. The commanderwas not the honorable alien I thought he was. Why did I ever think differently? Just because he was charming and was able to seduce me? I let my lust get the better of me, and now I was paying for it.

  Chapter Ten

  COMMANDER VYCON DASE

  It felt wrong.
I knew that I should not have done what I did. I was mean to Nicole. I gathered all of my hatred for the humans and took it out on her. It was immature of me to respond the way that I did. But I desired time to think. I was shocked, and the only way I knew how to push her away with to be mean to her. I regretted it. Now, I was in a landspeeder driving recklessly over the Earth areas on a scouting mission. I wasn't scheduled to scout, but I volunteered because I desired to release some of the energy before I took it out on someone like Sergeant Banks.

  Sergeant Banks was one reason that I hated humans. It was the arrogant and entitled pieces of crap like him that made me think all humans must be that way. But now that I had lived among them, I started to think differently. Nicole had showed me what a big heart a human could have. It was made it clear to me why she had the job that she did; she was able to calm and soothe those around her, including myself.