by Maia Starr
“I don’t know! But I think we might be crashing,” she yelled.
Meera’s eyes grew wide at Tiffany’s response. This was not in Meera’s plan. She only wanted to be a wife and to be taken to Suvell for a new start. She imagined a strong miner with a great body, a byproduct of his work, for a husband. This dream had been in her head for months while they traveled in space, and now it was all coming crashing down, literally.
As the starship entered the thick blue atmosphere of Kaethon, Captain Steck was in shock at what he saw before him. “I can’t believe it!”
“It’s an entire city! Look at that?” the crewmate shouted as they looked out the window before them at a gleaming city of blue glass and a well-built city structure.
“This is an advanced species. We must be ready for anything. What is that over there?” Captain Steck pointed toward an area devoid of buildings.
“It looks like crops.”
“Yes, I think you are right. Let’s aim for that. Our landing will not be a gentle one and the gravity measurements here are just about what they are on Earth. Oxygen levels are reading normal as well. Hold on!” the Captain yelled.
Seconds later the starship gouged a large scar through the crop fields as it crashed to a stop. They had made it. They were alive and in one piece, but now they were on a foreign planet they nothing about.
Meera unlatched her seat belt and stood up. “I think we’ve landed somewhere. Perhaps we made it to Suvell after all?”
“No, that is impossible. We had another three months of travel before we were anywhere close to Suvell,” Tiffany said.
The door opened and Captain Steck moved through the door. “Is everyone all right?”
“What happened? Where are we?” Meera asked in panic.
“Everyone remain calm. The ship suffered damages in space and we had to make an emergency landing. We have landed on the planet Kaethon. There is civilization here. We know nothing about this planet or its inhabitants. There is oxygen and gravity and we saw a very well built city on our descent. Let us hope that…”
Boom! Boom! Loud gunfire sounded from outside. “Exit or ship! Now!” the booming voice said over loudspeaker from outside. The girls screamed in panic. The Captain and the four crewmen looked at each other. “Well they speak our language. That is a plus,” the Captain said.
“I advise that we go out there slowly with our hands in the air. Let us show them that we are not hostile. That we only seek their help with our ship and then we will be on our way,” the Captain said to the crewmen who nodded in agreement.
So slowly they opened the door of the ship and walked out into a crop field of plants they had never seen. The air was cold, but not unbearable. In the distance were blue mountains on one side and the city on the other. But what was the most astonishing sight of all was the line of tall warriors standing before them with blasters and spears in their hands. They were tall males that looked human only different. Standing at seven feet tall and some of them taller than that, they were fierce looking. Their bare chest gleamed with iridescent blue tints along their oblique muscles, which were chiseled and toned. Broad shoulders were stout and thick supporting a very straight lined posture. The strong stomach muscles were hard and led down to their waist which was covered in a leather like kilt of sorts, almost like a Roman gladiator of ancient Rome. Thick black boots went up their calves and their muscular forearms were covered with leather like sheaths. In this uniform they looked ferocious because this alien race of warrior known as the Kalazaron had trained since they were young. It had been this way as far back as any Kalazaron could remember. They had always been a fighting race that used brute force to make decisions and to run their systems. They did not keep this type of behavior exclusive to their planet of Kaethon either. They commanded an impressive fleet of starships that roamed the nearby solar systems where they would pillage and plunder like pirates in space. They plundered for wealth often stealing treasure and taking captive animals and beings as slaves to toil in their fields, in their houses, and sometimes even in their beds. But the Kalazaron were not all brawn and muscle, they were very intelligent and advanced, more so than Earthlings. Their technology was superior and unlike anything that humans had ever seen. Their starships were fast and had an invisible cloak shield that let them sneak up on unsuspecting ships. Their weapons were innovative and their fighting skills were only made more effective because of their large size, long arms meant a long reach. The city structure was progressive and the buildings made the most of the beautiful nature of the blue planet by using lots of glass to let the vast views inside, but still kept the inside private through use of a special blue glaze. This strong, intelligent, advanced warrior alien race now held weapons aimed at the Earthlings that had crashed landed onto their planet, and they were very suspicious and angry.
“Tell us who you are and what you are doing here now,” a strong warrior said as he stepped forward. He had dark black hair and stunning blue eyes and was an inch taller than the rest. His name was Baku Janga and he was the commander of this warrior unit.
“We had a problem with our starship and had to make an emergency landing. We would like your help to fix the ship and be back on our trip,” Captain Steck said as he did not move a muscle other than to talk.
“Why should I believe you? What are you? Where do you come from?” Baku asked.
“We are humans from the planet Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy. We are on our way to the planet Suvell.”
“Earth? I have not heard of this Earth or of this galaxy. You lie and why are there many females among you and few males? This is wrong. Guards take them! Take them all into the cages!” Baku shouted.
Everyone screamed and the captain tried to reason with the commander, but it was Meera who shouted and stepped forward.
“You cannot do this you brute! You cannot just take people hostage like this! We have done nothing to you!” she shouted.
Baku stopped and looked and looked at her. He arched his eyebrows and stepped very close to her. He put only an inch between his chest and her face as he towered over her. As he looked down upon her he smiled and took a strand of her brown hair into his fingers. He leaned down and sniffed it. “What are you?”
“I am human,” she said jutting her chin in the air. “I am on a trip to get to a miner to be my husband and you are interrupting that. Now I demand that you help us fix our ship and let us be on our way,” she said defiantly.
“Human. I don’t know what a human is, but you I find interesting. Take her to my chambers,” he said to one of his guards as he moved to continue shouting orders.
“What?! No!” Meera shouted but it was no use. As she looked around she could see that all the women and the crewmen were being restrained with hands tied behind their backs. She was not. Instead a guard held her by the arm and forced her forward through the cropland and toward the massive city that loomed before them.
Chapter 2
Meera found herself sitting on a crude bed made of steel bars with a hard mattress inside a sparse grey room. She was alone wondering why she had been separated from everyone else. She hoped that this was a temporary arrangement and that after she explained, or the captain explained, that they meant no harm to this planet. That they would let them go. But something about the way those alien males seemed to be very skilled warriors, as though it was their entire lives, made her feel like that would not be happening.
Whoosh! The door opened and the warrior in command at the crash site walked in. Meera sucked in a sharp breath of air as his towering physique moved into the room. She was a little scared but also fascinated by this impressive male before her. His blue black hair was buzz shaved on his left side above his ear, and the right side was a little long and choppy. His green eyes searched over her body as she shifted in her seat. His bare chest forced her eyes to look at it and she did notice the strong six-pack abs and stout arms. His square jaw and full lips made him a very handsome specimen indeed.
�
��Where am I?” Meera asked.
“What are you?” Baku asked. “I can see that you are a female, but what?”
“I asked you first,” she said narrowing her eyes at him. He grinned at her and moved closer to her as she flinched and moved back.
“I will not hurt you,” he said as he put up his hand in a calming nature but then he added, “…unless you force me too.”
Meera gulped down and then said, “I am a human, just as our captain said. I am destined to be a bride of a miner on Suvell. That is the truth of it. We wish you no harm and indeed did not even know of your existence until now.”
“Nor did we know of you, human. But that is no reason to believe you are not a threat. We are a very careful race of warriors and we think all creatures are meant for battle and now we will add humans of Earth to that list.”
“That is ridiculous and wrong!” Meera shouted.
“Do not shout at me human,” Baku said with a stern tone to his voice that shut Meera right up in fear.
“You are at the warrior stations and training grounds of the city of Konthos on the planet Kaethon. This is where you will remain until I decide what to do with you.”
“What?! No! You can’t do that! At least let me join the women I was with, my crew. Please do not separate me.”
“This is not open for negotiation. I have to attend to the examination of your starship amongst my other duties training warriors, there are many. I am too busy at the moment, but do know that when I get back, I will give you my FULL attention,” he said with a grin that made Meera think of sex instantly. She was both frightened and aroused by this prospect because he was a very attractive creature, but also a stranger of a strange alien race. As he made his way to the door she said, “Wait! What do I call you? Do you have names here?”
“I am Commander Baku Janga.”
“I am Meera…Meera Stavos.”
“Very well Meera Stavos. I will have nourishment brought to you. Eat and drink at your own caution as I do not know what our foods and liquids can or will do to a human,” he said as he opened the door and left. Meera plopped down on her back on the bed. So she was in a warrior station and training grounds. That would be why she was in such a stark room made for a soldier…or a prisoner. She sighed and waited until the foods were brought to her because what else could she do?
Tiffany moved in the restrained arm cuffs along with the other mail order brides and the crew into a large warehouse type of building made of solid steel. It was like one solid block of shiny steel with only one large opening. As the door rose slowly up like a gate on a castle, Tiffany looked up at the towering building. Whatever it was, there would be no escape. As they were led in by the armed warriors they entered a large cavernous space. The Kalazaron knew this cavernous warehouse as the cages. It was where they kept all their captives. This included creatures from space that they crossed during their pillaging and plundering campaigns. It included their own Kalazaron race of male and females that had broken the rules, and lately there had been quite a few due to a difference of perspective in politics.
A loud noise filled the space and Tiffany and the brides looked over to see a large forklift like contraption with a glass cage lowering to the ground. Inside the cage was a fourteen-foot water snake slithering about. Tiffany’s mouth fell open at the sight. She had never seen anything like it. As the cage was carefully placed on the ground it was evident just how many cages were in the warehouse, about a hundred. Walking through they were led down aisle upon aisles of cages. Some were filled with animal like creatures and others held Kalazaron, or other intelligent beings. This is what the Kalazaron did to maintain a strong military hold on the creatures they came across. They put them in cages and then they studied them. They studied everything about them, including their weaknesses. This was the destination for the mail order brides and crew yet they did not know it yet.
“You! Females! In this cage! Now!” the brute warrior shouted. The women moved into a large cage and the warrior locked it.
“Who is the captain of the starship?” Baku said as he walked down the aisle to join them.
“I am,” Captain Steck said.
“Come with me,” he said to the Captain and then looked at the warrior and said, “You know what to do with the rest. Get started as soon as now.”
“Yes Commander Janga,” the warrior nodded. He pushed the rest of the crewmen into another cage. The Commander walked before Captain Steck who was led by a guard.
“I am taking you to your ship.”
“Does that mean you will help us fix it so we can be on our way?”
“No. It means you will show me how it works. I want to know everything. Is that understood?”
“And if I refuse?”
“If you refuse you will die,” the Commander said. The Captain nodded in agreement. Moments later he was showing Commander Janga the starship and all its mechanics and workings as the Commander’s warriors recorded the Captain with a projection recorder to save in their files.
While Meera sat in her sparse room that she considered a cell she thought about how she had got there in the first place. She thought about sitting in New York with no prospects and how she had got here. It all began when she was sitting on the stoop of her building, bored as usual. Then as though he could read her thoughts Baku walked in with certain demands.
“Now Meera Stavos. I need to know everything,” he said.
“Everything about how you are here. You said you are to be a wife to a miner on Suvell. I need you to say everything of that came about. Do you see this?” Baku pulled out a projection recorder. “This is going to record your account of everything that you say. I want every detail. It is the only way that we can understand what Earth is and what humans are. Do you understand?” he asked.
“Everything? As in every boring detail?” Meera asked.
“Boring is for me to decide. What might seem boring to you could be vital information to us. Now, began.” Baku pressed the recorder and Meera sat down and took a deep breath.
“Very well, then I guess it all began in New York. That is the city on Earth that I live in, or used to live in. I was sitting outside my home when I heard a woman say, "No you cannot do not I forbid it," as she something from her daughter and threw it on the ground in front of me.
I lifted it up and opened it. I was stunned by what was inside.
'Respectable miners on the planet of Suvell are looking for young women for marriage and life in space,’ the ad read. There was an organization called Galactic Bride Agency For Marriage Placement with an address. It was in reality a stunning opportunity for me though one I was not looking for. The experience of possibly being a wife to a miner in space made me feel hopeful and thrilled. I would get to go on a starship and explore a new planet. It was all that I ever dreamed of. For a week I couldn’t get the possibility of a new life out of my head. I was fantasizing about what my life could be in the immense outer regions of space. At long last I gave into the insane interest of being a mail order space bride. I persuaded myself that I could simply go there to find out what it was all about. So one day I went.
When I arrived I was stunned to find long lines of beautiful women. That is human females I mean. I didn't think it would be so popular. There was a lady called Mrs. Banoff who was quick at her job.
"What is your name woman?" she said.
"Meera Stavos"
"And what is your age?" she proceeded.
"Twenty two, yet… " but she would not let me stop her. She just kept going.
"Do you give a strong assurance that you are a virgin and that you will be a good bride to the miner who you are matched with?" she said.
"Yes, however… "
"That is all I need to know from you. If you would just sign here and then you will go to the next steps. Your photo will be taken that will be shown to the miners on Suvell. Return in a month and we will let you know if you have been chosen. Next!" Then she was done with me and I was off to do
the next steps of the process.
I was informed that ladies were few and far between out on the planet of Suvell. Men out there were all alone without women. It was an uninhabited planet until we discovered it and began to mine it. I figure it all sounded good to me. I picked a few men off the wall that I thought would suit my liking and then they sent my photo to those men to see which one wanted me as a mail order bride. A month later I returned and found out that all the five men that I had picked wanted me as a wife. So I picked my favorite, his name was Jonathan Meyers. Then I packed up and was on a starship to Suvell to meet my future husband and become his wife. Then while traveling our starship malfunctioned and crashed landed on your planet. That is it. That is the truth.”
Baku looked at Meera and smiled, “What is a virgin?”
Meera swallowed hard and said, “It means that I have not been with a man before. I have not had sex.”
“Coupled? You have not coupled with a male mate?” Baku asked.
“Yes that is it,” she said nervously.
The door opened and a warrior walked in with a large trey of foods as he looked down at the floor. “Meera perhaps you will like this instead…” the warrior named Kalva Treen stopped.
“What are you doing in here Lieutenant Treen?” the Commander said sternly.
“This warrior was kind enough to wait with me earlier as I tried the different foods and a few made me sick. So now he is bringing me…”
“Enough!” the Commander shouted.
