by Calista Skye
Or was she protecting Charlotte? The idea that she would need to be protected against him was like a dagger in his heart.
He took a deep breath between clenched teeth. “I ... I hated it.”
“And now?”
He faced her full on, towering over her. Still he felt small. “And now ... I don't.”
She held his gaze for three heartbeats. Then she must have seen that he was sincere, because her eyes went mild again, and a smile was playing on her lips. “That's a reply as good as any. I can see you mean it. I had to ask. I know that many warriors are skeptical of all aliens, and I actually understand why. But you, Cori'ax, you can't be in doubt anymore. Shall I explain why?”
“No, Your High- Harper. It's not necessary. I understand. I don't hate the Earthlings being here anymore. What happened today is proof good enough. But the main reason is Charlotte.”
Yes, finally he did understand. Anyone who had been close to Charlotte or Harper or any of their friends would realize within less than a minute that the Earthlings were not enemy invaders. Anyone would see it. Except him, of course. He was too stupid and too stubborn. He had lived with her for months without having the guts to think the thought to its conclusion, to consciously say what he knew deep down was true: It's real. The Earthlings are friends.
First he felt it as a pang of sorrow. He had been wrong.
Then the brightness took over. He had hardly dared think about it. If the Earthlings were indeed friends, the alliance would be impossible to defeat and Acerex would be safe forever. It was true!
His hand went to his forehead in disbelief. How stupid could you get? Spirits, had she ever chosen the wrong warrior to spend that first night with.
And for all that was holy, he had to see her again! To apologize. To beg for forgiveness that he had been so slow to see her goodness and honesty. And to see if-
An explosion of light went off in his mind, so intensely that he could feel the heat from it in his whole body. It was a good explosion, something he would only know once in a lifetime. And at its core ...
Yes! Of course! It was all so obvious. The Earthlings were friends, and so he could allow that thought now. The gates in his minds were open, finally he could think freely.
Charlotte was ...
He pictured her in his mind, her otherworldly face, her round shape, her soft, melodious voice with a hint of a rasp to it, her determined look when she was behind the controls of a shuttle, the way she would sigh in delight when she opened her legs for him. His mind contained all of her and tried to show him all of it at the same time, tried to shove every emotion she roused in him to the forefront of his consciousness at the same instant. Thousands of happy moments, blissful experiences, glorious seconds where she was all his and he was all hers. All came together in one and blocked out everything else, and it was the most wonderful experience he'd ever had. It changed him, then and there. Nothing would ever be the same.
He was distantly aware that he was laughing. Of course! It could be no other way.
Charlotte was ... she was ...
Harper reached out for him. “Are you all right, Cori'ax?”
He couldn't reply. The huge hangar spun around him. He found nothing to grasp for support. He heard Harper give a surprised cry, and his first thought was that he had to call for someone to relieve him in guarding the queen, because he was going down and would no longer be able to.
The deck hit his knees, hard.
“My Mahan,” he sighed, and then he knew nothing more.
20
- Charlotte -
“There it is.” She was alone in the craft, but her unborn baby was there with her, too, and she already felt her as another person. “We'd better get ready.”
The dropship could traverse huge distances between stars in space, and that was how she could do this. She'd taken a calculated chance, just like Cori'ax would have done, and bet on nobody checking too closely where she was taking the craft. Then she had put the planet Acerex between her and the Friendship, and then she had gone into hyperspace behind the planet so they couldn't track her.
It was not quite like she had stolen the dropship. It was assigned to her, and nobody else had ever flown it. Still she had a guilty conscience about just taking it and lying about what she would use it for.
And about Harper. She'd seen her right after she came back from Earth, she had told the queen that she was going back to Cori'ax's squad to handle some last administrative issues and that she would be back at the Friendship in time to give birth.
She had said nothing about her plan, and then she had said goodbye, gone down to the hangar bay and just taken the dropship. Harper would have tried to stop her if she'd known what Charlotte was doing.
Heck, if the roles had been reversed, Charlotte would absolutely have tried to stop anyone who was planning what she was planning, too. To other people, it would have to seem insanely dangerous.
Irresponsible, even.
“And yet, here we are.”
It was the right solar system, and now all that was left was to fly further in, towards the star and its planets. The autopilot could handle it. She needed some rest before the main event.
She laid back in her seat and cupped her huge bump. “It's totally crazy. But we'll win this time. I promise.”
As if it were a reply, she felt the first contraction.
She smiled. “Excited, huh? Yeah, I'm eager to get this done too, so I can finally meet you.”
21
- Cori'ax -
He came to and saw the ceiling far above him, as well as Harper and the rescue pilot. The man was kneeling beside him, rummaging through a large open case with a red cross on the side.
“He's back,” the pilot said and shone a light into his eyes. “Are you all there, warrior? Hey, no, you just stay down. You took a heavy fall.”
Cori'ax felt a strong hand on his chest and laid back on the hard deck, and the pilot just had time to slide something soft under his head.
He sought Harper with his eyes, and she knelt down on the other side. Her eyes were radiating worry.
“Were you injured during the mission? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sprung all that on you before your checkout. It's just that you looked totally fine.”
“Not injured,” he managed to croak. “Charlotte- where?”
Harper frowned. “Isn't she with your unit? She said ... no, you should probably just stay down.”
Cori'ax raised his torso and felt for his sword, fear coursing through him. “She's not with me nor Squad Nine. I haven't seen her for months. Has she not been here?”
The look on Harper's face scared him more than anything he could remember. “She was here yesterday. She had just returned from Earth, and she wanted to have the baby here. She said she was going to you and your squad to tie everything up and then come back here with you. But she didn't show up? Wait.”
Harper said something into her wristband, then listened.
Cori'ax laid his head down on the deck again. He had not heard from Charlotte at all since she'd left his camp. And now it sounded a lot like she was missing.
The loudspeakers in the hangar came alive. “Pilot Charlotte Taylor, report to C&C in any way you can. Pilot Charlotte Taylor, immediately report to C&C in any way you can.”
The voice was pleasant, and the translation in his ear was neutral, but still it sent a chill down Cori'ax's back.
Harper slowly straightened up. “Yeah, I had them page her, just in case. I sent someone to her quarters, too. She seems to be nowhere on board, judging from our systems, but I'm taking no chances.”
She looked at the rescue pilot. “Where is Charlotte's dropship?”
The pilot pointed to an empty space. “Usually right there. She likes to park it close to the ammunition dispenser. I wondered why her craft wasn't there today.”
“That explains it. I don't think we'll find her onboard. She's gone somewhere without telling anyone. Any way to track that thing?”
<
br /> The pilot got his pad out. “If it's still in this solar system, it should show up here. The transponder should send a very clear signal.”
Cori'ax laboriously got to his feet, and neither Harper or the pilot protested. His forehead and his nose both felt tender, but apart from that, he seemed to be fine. The shock of realizing that Charlotte was indeed his Mahan had only lasted for a few seconds, but still he knew that everything had changed. Once and for all. And to the better.
Probably.
Unless something had happened to Charlotte.
The pilot shook his head. “Nothing. Only Acerex traffic, and not much of that, either.”
Harper looked at his pad. “Can she turn off that signal?”
“Not easily. She'd have to smash the transmitter with a hammer. And I don't see her as the kind of person who'd deliberately damage her ship.”
Harper listened to a message on her wristband. “You're right. It still works. She's recorded as leaving this ship twelve hours ago, wanting to test a new system on her craft. C&C has a record of her going down to Acerex, but then they lost track of her because she was on the other side of the planet. They were about to declare her missing anyway.” She looked at Cori'ax. “Any idea where she might have been going on your planet?”
He thought fast. “Only one idea. My village. Skato, the Neriud tribe. She liked it.”
“Okay. We'll send a shuttle. Or six. You can just go straight to the medical section. We'll find her.” Harper started talking into her wristband and walked off with quick steps.
The rescue pilot started packing up his first aid kit. He glanced up at Cori'ax. “She's right. You really should after a fall like that. Sounded like a ton of bricks hitting the deck. I'll come with you.”
Cori'ax frowned, tried to get his thoughts in order. He was missing something. Something that had been said here ...
“Your Highness!” His voice resonated from the entire hangar. Some mechanics hundreds of meters away ducked reflexively at the mighty sound of his voice resonating from the metallic floor and ceiling, but he hardly noticed it.
Harper spun on the spot and crouched, then straightened and tilted her head to the side quizzically.
Cori'ax ran to her, realized everyone was looking and made sure to bow when he reached her. “'Have the baby?'” he hissed. “What baby?”
The queen's hand went to her mouth. “You didn't know? I thought she'd told you ... I mean, she must have been showing for months ...”
Cori'ax froze, totally focused on Harper. He swallowed in a dry throat. “Told me what, Your Highness?”
“Stars, you shouldn't get this from me. But I suppose the cat's out of the bag now. Charlotte's pregnant. Cori'ax, you must have seen that?”
“She's pregnant?” His voice came out pained and hoarse. Certainly he'd noticed that she'd been getting a little rounder, becoming even more feminine and attractive to him. But he'd never seen a pregnant woman before. He had no idea what that looked like.
Harper was distressed, too. “She's due any time now. Doctor Heming was preparing everything. That's why I really want to find her right now.”
A thousand thoughts battled for attention in Cori'ax's mind. But one stood out more than any. “Your Highness ... I mean, Harper ... do you think ... The baby ... is it ...?” His voice trailed off.
Harper put one slender hand on his arm. “Is it yours? That's what she tells me. Don't faint again, warrior. That's good news.”
Cori'ax felt heat and cold coursing through him, and it was as if he was standing beside himself. His lips felt numb and he had to concentrate to form sounds. “And she's due to give birth any time now?”
“Today, in fact. Short pregnancy. Heming was going to gently help that along, but until we find her, there's not much we can do. We'll find her, don't worry. You just go get fixed up. You've had a lot of things happen today.” Harper squeezed his arm, then turned and walked fast to the shuttle that was powering up.
Cori'ax realized what that meant: the queen was going to get Charlotte herself.
Cori'ax stared after her, feeling himself become complete. He wasn't afraid for Charlotte anymore. Everything was falling into place. The news he'd gotten fit perfectly with Charlotte being his Mahan. Of course she was carrying his baby. Of course she hadn't told him. How could she trust him?
It didn't change much.
Except one thing.
He looked around. It should be – ah. All the way over in a dark corner he could see his squad's old shuttle, the one they'd always used before Charlotte came in her new Earth model. It was fast, but old, and it looked like no one had used it for months. No wonder – the Earth dropships were changing the entire way the Acerex army fought their battles, and the Acerex ones were now badly obsolete.
He walked calmly over to it. He'd have no chance to pilot any of the Earth shuttles. But this one he had flown many times before.
He got inside and did a quick systems check. It had fuel and no error messages. It was ready to fly. There was nobody close, and no one seemed to notice that he powered up the engine in the noisy hangar where Harper's shuttle was also going through its startup routine at the other end.
He turned off the communications module. There was nothing anyone could say that would be much help now.
He lifted off from the floor and hit the throttle just enough for the craft to crawl slowly out of the hangar and out into space. The sneaking wouldn't help much longer, but as soon as he was away, they couldn't catch him. Earth shuttles were powerful, but also heavy. And this Acerex-made one was almost as powerful, but much lighter. Armor had never been a priority for warriors.
He took a deep breath. He didn't think Charlotte was on Acerex. She might be, of course. There was a remote chance she'd go to his village to give birth there or just to visit before the event.
But he thought she had something grander in mind. Something worthy of a warrior like her. Something that would shake all of Acerex and make the child special.
If he was wrong, Harper would find her. But if he was right ...
She had gone to do it alone, and her choice must be respected. She didn't want to get rescued. And she very probably didn't need it. But he would be there with her, keeping her safe. At any cost. Her and the baby.
She just wanted to win, that was all, and he understood her perfectly.
Spirits, such an idea!
How could she know about that prophecy?
He suddenly laughed out loud in happiness and excitement. She was sensational!
22
- Charlotte -
She circled the planet once before she put down. No place on this planet was safe at any time, but at the exact opposite side of where the Fire was raging was probably as close as she could get to peace and quiet here. Even so, she saw movement in the vegetation and small, black shapes in the air.
That was fine. This was dangerous. That was the whole point. This would be the first time anything like this had ever happened.
Many had died on the Fire Planet.
But nobody had been born there.
Charlotte's daughter would be the first.
The midwife robot was ready back in the otherwise empty cargo compartment, where the squad of warriors would usually sit. It was a large thing that contained everything to handle a safe delivery, including a comfortable table and a cocktail of nanopharmaceuticals to make it a not too unpleasant experience for the mother or the baby.
Before she'd left she'd given the robot one drop of her blood, and the robot's highly advanced computer did the rest, tailoring everything to fit perfectly to her body chemistry. It should be an easy delivery. Any risk would come from the planet itself.
She waddled back to the cargo compartment and sat down heavily in the delivery chair. The nanogel it contained immediately shaped itself after her body, giving perfect support, so it felt like she was floating in thin air. It was about time.
“There you are, honey,” the midwife robot said. “I'll just
give you a quick check.”
The robot got busy around her in a very unobtrusive way, hardly touching her when it checked on her and the baby's vital signs.
The contractions had started right when she entered this solar system, and she had toyed with the idea of giving birth in orbit instead. But she'd discarded it. The whole point was that her daughter would be born on the Fire Planet itself. She would have gone through her Trials at birth, and the Acerex would understand the significance. They'd never ask the girl to go through any Trials again, even if she wanted to become a warrior.
In their own way, Charlotte and the Acerex warriors understood each other better than she'd ever understood other Earthlings. And this she was sure of. A girl born on the Fire Planet would be accepted as one of their own, half-alien or not. She would be accepted as a warrior, too, if that was what she wanted.
The midwife robot finished its examination and gently placed a sticky little band-aid on her hand, containing nanosensors.
“Everything looks great, sweetie. Still a little while to wait,” the robot said, sounding just like a supportive and completely confident middle-aged woman. That was the intention, too - its personality and voice had been modelled on an actual and very much loved midwife in Louisiana.
“You can get up and walk around a little if you want. I'll keep an eye on you with that sensor. Don't take it off, now.”
Charlotte got back up. She was still wearing her flight suit, but that would have to come off later.
She looked out the view ports onto what was probably the most dangerous planet in the universe.
Earthlings wouldn't get it. They would never be able to understand why Charlotte would take the risk of giving birth here, when she had the entire medical section on mankind's largest and most advanced spaceship at her disposal.
Well, they were right. It was risky. That was the point. The Acerex would respect and understand in their quiet way. And accept.
Even Cori'ax would understand this. Perhaps he would realize that he was wrong about her, that she was more than an easy lay for him, that she was every bit as much a warrior as he was.
