Sunstar: Amina's story a YA scifi romance (Peacekeepers Book 1)

by Annalise Whelan

  “I must’ve hit my head. I’ve got a roaring headache.”

  She nodded. “You have a nasty cut, but I don’t think it’s too serious. You probably have a concussion. The others had to get Mara to the Sunstar, but they’ll be back for us when she’s stable. I’ve got the beacon set.”

  “Good. That was a nice way to wake up. I should get concussions more often.” His hand reached for her, and she slipped her hand into his.

  “I love you, Kindel.”

  He drew her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “I love you. You’re ok with us? You’ve dealt with whatever was holding you back?”

  “Yes, but there’s one thing I have to know. If you loved me, why didn’t you declare yourself at the ball?”

  “I took you onto the veranda with those intentions, but I was interrupted by Gem. She has a habit of interrupting us, pulling you away, giving you warnings against me. I wanted to tell you, but each time I got close to you someone came, or I got called away. You tended to run from me like a scared little rabbit.”

  She laughed. “I’ve loved you since nearly the beginning. I thought, hoped, you would declare yourself at the ball. You’d said you wanted to speak to me, but when you did, it was to ask me how to gain Gem’s favor.”

  “You thought I had feelings for her? I was overwhelmed by you. I could barely see straight, I wanted to kiss you so badly.”

  “I thought you were toying with me, enjoying me at the moment, but that it wasn’t love. I wanted your love.”

  His eyes darkened. “Come here.” She laid along his side, resting her head against his shoulder. He sighed deeply. “You have me. Completely. Please, don’t ever doubt that. I’ve been going slow, trying to show you my heart, waiting for you to deal with whatever was keeping you distant.”

  “Why did you ask about Gem?”

  “I was afraid if I declared my feelings, and her opinion influenced you, that you would reject me. I was crazy in love with you, but when she interrupted us you drew away from me. I panicked, terrified I would lose you. I didn’t explain myself well. And you called me a goat.”

  They laughed. He started stroking her hair, running the strands through his fingers. “But then, you showed me that list you’d made for Rhys, and it gave me hope. If you could see through him, through all his pretty words, then perhaps you would see me, too. No matter what Gem might say.”

  “You make me feel the words. You make me understand the poets. He might’ve read them or quoted them, but you inspired them.”

  “I wanted to kill him. When I saw him manhandling you, kissing you, I wanted to tear his arms off. I’m sorry I couldn’t reach you before he hurt you. I’ve never felt so enraged or so helpless. I was so close to you but so far away.”

  She shuddered, and he wrapped his arm around her, snuggled her close. “That chapter’s closed. We have so much ahead.”

  They stayed wrapped up in each other for some time. Kindel dozed in and out. She shared her last ration bar.

  “They’re coming.” She heard the Sunstar-3’s engines outside.

  Gem ran into the cave. “Kindel! I can’t believe it. We all thought you were dead! How did you find him?”

  “I’ll tell you once we’re in the ship. We need water, food, pain killer.”

  “Pain killer first, please.”

  She hugged Gem ferociously. “I’m glad to see you.”

  Gem called Katlin on her wrist comm. “You aren’t going to believe it! Kindel’s alive. Prepare a sleeping chamber for him on the medical deck, please.”

  “One more thing,” Kindel said. “I need clothes. I’ve lost mine.”

  Amina felt her face flush. “Not all of them. I had to check you for internal injuries.”

  “I guess we’re even since you went swimming in that lake. Were you trying to give me a heart spasm?”

  She got him settled into a sleeping chamber, and they all fussed over him. They worked out how to use the scanner and checked his insides. All good as far as they could tell.

  They dropped Mrs. Fiona Jorgensen off at the Distar GIPS branch for an emotional reunion with her husband and headed for home.

  She walked over to Mara. She was deathly white, even her rosy lips pale. She was stable according to the monitors. “We’re getting you back to Kildren, Mara sweet. Just hold on a little longer.”

  “She’s saving her strength,” Katlin said. “She’s got steel on the inside.”

  Mara’s eyes didn’t open, and fear gripped Amina. Would they save Kindel and lose Mara?

  Chapter 21

  Amina tried in vain to find Kindel in the crowd. The ceremony was about to begin. Although she saw many GIPS captains, none of them were Kindel Withes. Spotting Katlin at the punch bowl, Amina made slow progress toward her. Many of the people gathered recognized her, which was unsettling considering that before the mission she was only another fresh recruit. Smiling slightly in the dim light of Kildren’s arena, Amina remembered how the entire crew became famous in less than two weeks. Everyone had heard about the Sunstar crew’s miraculous escape and shut down of Smithe’s operation.

  “Have you seen the captain?”

  “No. But with all these marvelous captains around, I can’t say I’ve been looking either.”

  She laughed. “Any one captain in particular?” A spark in Katlin’s eye confirmed Amina’s suspicion. She hadn’t been staking out the punch bowl. It was the fair-haired captain standing by the punch that caught Katlin’s attention.

  “Ladies and gentleman,” the Commander’s voice rang out and the crowd became silent. “Please take your seats. Mrs. Fiona Jorgensen would like a chance to thank the team responsible for her rescue.”

  Fiona came from the right side of the stage and stood at the podium. “I sincerely thank the Captain of the Sunstar-3, Kindel Withes. Without your guidance and support, it couldn’t have been done.” Amina felt her eyes mist over at Fiona’s praise, and the brief reminder of what she so nearly lost. “I thank all the young women who made up the crew. I’m deeply indebted and thank you from the depths of my heart.”

  The Commander came back to the podium. Katlin snatched her sleeve. “Look! There’s Kindel!”

  He walked onto the stage just a bit stiffer than usual wearing a pneumatic boot on his broken ankle. The Commander of GIPS turned to Kindel with a proud, beaming smile under his thick white mustache. “I’m awarding Captain Kindel Withes a Ruby Star for his bravery and sacrifice.” The crowd clapped in an uproar of approval.

  Kindel’s eyes glistened as he raised one hand to hush the room. He was so distinguished and handsome. Amina wasn’t sure her heart would ever grow quiet again. “I’m honored to receive this award. It was a team effort. Thanks to the support of a great crew, and the leadership of GIPS’ Commander.”

  The Commander took over the podium again. “I’m also awarding Mara Saprophase the Ruby Star. Since she isn’t present to accept the award, Gem Falhowsen is accepting it in her stead.”

  Gem stepped forward and took the award, and the audience clapped. The Commander closed the award ceremony saying, “please, join us in the reception hall for light refreshments and dancing.”

  Amina hurried to the side of the stage to meet Kindel. She threw her arms around him. “I’m so proud of you!”

  Gem stepped up to them. “I wish Mara could’ve been here.”

  Kindel said, “I do too, but she’s recovering well back home on Zel.”

  “I’m so relieved. We got to speak to her over vid-screen, and she’s looking much better. She’s going to pursue medicine though and not return to GIPS,” Amina said.

  “I’m not surprised. She was fantastic in the field. Being empathetic, medicine is really her calling,” Katlin said.

  Sari glided in and stood by the group. “You’re sporting new equipment I see.” She pointed to Kindel’s boot.

  “Just a couple more weeks and it should be as good as new.” He wrapped an arm around Amina’s shoulders. “Up for a waltz?”

 
“As long as you don’t step on my toes with that boot, always.” He led her away with the others trailing behind them.

  When he took her in his arms it was just how things should be. She could dance with him happily, forever.

  “I’m glad you feel that way, my heart.”

  “Stop spying on my thoughts!” He laughed and surprised her by swinging her out of the couples and through the veranda doors. “Where are we going?”

  He swept her along until they stopped beside one of the veranda columns. He pulled her up against his chest and captured her mouth with his in a long, lingering kiss. “I could kiss you forever and never get enough.”

  “That’s a nice theory. We should test it.”

  “I love you. Your heart was made to beat alongside mine. There’s a poem I found written by Johnson that reminded me of us. It’s how I feel about finding you.”

  “You did that for me? I’d like to hear it.”

  “I dreamed you were a rose close by a lonely way, you grew and gathered perfume within your heart but never knew why you waited there and grew. I dreamed I was a bee that one day flew along and came to you, I brushed your petals with a kiss, you yielded the treasured perfume of your heart, and then I knew, you had waited there for me.”

  “That’s lovely and sweet.”

  “It’s true of you and of me. We complement each other, encourage each other, strengthen each other. You’re a part of me.” He held her waist and brushed his lips over hers, just a breath, like a promise. “Will you be my wife?”

  “Yes. Absolutely, with all my heart, yes.”

  He wrapped her up in his arms, lifted her off her feet and twirled her around, both laughing. He gazed at her as if she were a treasure and kissed her. She reached around his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss, letting herself get lost in the heat. She heard the door to the veranda open and the girls’ voices. He growled but kept on kissing her. In her peripheral vision, she saw Gem try to walk out to the veranda only to be swung back around and the door close behind her.

  Gem called, “I can take a hint, you know!”

  Some time later, she said, “I’m so happy.” She leaned against him, and they stood together on the veranda enjoying the late afternoon breeze.

  Then, something strange seemed to be happening, and she straightened. “What is that?” The clouds rolled in the sky like giant waves. A great hole opened where the clouds had been. Pink, purple, and gray lights flashed like lightning, except it wasn’t storming. A sphere of rings appeared out of the hole in the sky, like the rings around a planet. The rings swirled furiously, so fast they were blurs of pink and yellow. “What is that?”

  “It’s a ship.”

  “I’ve never seen a ship like that before. And what was the hole in the sky?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The sirens went off, blaring all around GIPS headquarters. A warning announcement blared from the speakers. “Attention all GIPS personnel we are under attack. Make your way to the shelters.”

  People started running out to the veranda. Amina looked over the railing to the courtyard below and saw people running outside and staring up at the sky.

  Kindel’s wrist comm crackled. The Commander’s voice came through the comm. “Captains, Kildren is under attack by an unknown enemy. We’ve received reports from five planets currently under an identical assault. All squads available and willing, please help with evacuations.”

  Amina grabbed his arm. “The city is full of families. Children. We have to help them.”

  He laced his fingers with hers and called the Commander back. “What do we know about the enemy? Have there been sightings?”

  “They’re not humanoid. Initial reports are they’re some sentient carnivorous plant.”

  “Meaning they eat people?”

  “That’s how it sounds to me.”

  “Amina and I are going to help with the evacuations.”

  “Count us in too!” Gem, Katlin, and Sari met them on the veranda.

  “My squad is ready, sir.”

  “Head for the city with your ship and get as many people out and to the shelters as possible. The Fighters are defending the planet as we speak. Our objective is to keep order and support the citizens.”

  “Understood sir.”

  Amina tugged on his arm. Flashes of silver-gray light were appearing to fall from the alien ship. “They’re teleporters!” she cried. “Tell the Commander they’re infiltrating the courtyard.”

  “Commander, you get that?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll call in the Fighters. They’re up there as we speak above the clouds trying to take down the ship. These are like nothing we’ve seen before.”

  Kindel kept Amina’s hand firmly clasped in his as he led the group into the reception hall and outside. Pandemonium surrounded them. Charging for the hangar, they jerked to a stop as one of the silver-gray lights flashed down in front of them. Amina shielded her eyes from the piercing light. The blinding glare flipped off leaving behind a hulking brown-green mass. She couldn’t move. Time seemed to slow, and she watched it as if she were seeing it from a distance. It pulsated in front of them, and whip-like tentacles writhed all around the creature. It didn’t appear to have a face. Gaping black holes covered the entire shape and wept with mucus, as a tree would drip sap. One of the tentacles whipped after a man, capturing him and coiling around him. He screamed in agony as the creature crushed him. Blood burst from his eyes, ears, and mouth. Another tentacle waved menacingly and whipped toward them. Amina reacted instinctively and pushed with all her Ability. The creature writhed. A rushing noise screamed from it, like wind blowing in a gale, and it imploded. Globs of mucus-covered flesh fell all around them.

  “Great Gwana,” Katlin gushed out in a breath. “I thought we were goners!”

  “How’d you do that?” Gem asked.

  “I pushed. All I could think was I wanted it away, fast.”

  Kindel said, “I pulled. I wanted to rip its arm off.”

  They looked at each other and grinned.

  “You popped it like a pimple!” Katlin said.

  “What’re we waiting for?” Sari asked with a haughty swish of hair. “You two are our secret weapon!”

  Kindel called the Commander on his wrist comm as they ran to the hangar, imploding any creatures they met along the way.

  If you liked the first book in the Peacekeepers series don’t miss Mara’s story coming summer of 2019!

  Thanks for reading! Annalise Whelan

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