by Juno Wells
My queen asks quietly, “How many are in need of shelter?”
“We currently have sixty in our care.”
“Shall I assume all are female?”
The older man wrung his hands anxiously. “Forty-six are adult females, three are adult males and one is an intellectually disabled female. If you can’t see fit to find her a suitable situation, we would be willing to keep Jenny.”
I feel compelled to speak on this vulnerable queen’s behalf. “Our medical skills are quite advanced. If we cannot do anything to help with her disability, I feel certain she would be welcome in the queen housing.”
“I’m not sure I understand what that is. I hope you aren’t suggesting a brothel or anything like that.”
Queen Kearney jumps into the conversation again. “The warriors would probably kill anyone who suggested creating a brothel on our new home world. The queen housing is a really nice apartment-style complex that was built to the standards the warriors thought was appropriate for a female. Trust me when I say they spared no expense.”
“Is proper security in place?”
“No and yes. As best I can tell, there’s no crime on our home world. Therefore there is no need for security. The warriors think of security as something that’s necessary when a woman comes into contact with the outside world.”
“Are you saying a warrior would never take liberties with a woman?”
“Well, sure they would, if and only if the woman invited them. They’re “No means no” fanatics.”
I state emphatically, “The punishment for pressing oneself upon a queen is death.”
“Yep, that’s how it works. They make no bones about the fact that anyone who harms a queen on a ship gets vented into space. I never even considered what they’d do to a warrior who stepped out of line that way on our world because it’s literally never happened. If a woman doesn’t find a guy she wants, they’ll hook her up with any other species she wants or even bring her back to Earth. I should mention that they won’t let us hang around forever without selecting a mate, but they’re not pressuring anyone either. I’ve been with them almost two years, and I just picked my mate yesterday.”
“That sounds like possibly the best situation for women that I’ve heard of out of all the different species who come here looking for brides. Would it be possible for me to have a look at your ship myself and talk to the other members of your family?”
“Of course, you are welcome to visit my ship anytime we’re in orbit. Of course if we end up relocating the group you spoke of, we’ll need to lay in more provisions.”
“I’m afraid we have a very limited budget, but I will try to ensure…”
“I brought some gemstone and other trade items. I was hoping to trade for seeds and household goods for our family units back home. Do you think we could work together to see both are needs are met?”
“I have been given leave to do whatever is necessary to see our charges are well situated. We have several universities with seed banks. I feel certain they would be willing to donate seeds. We are unable to use most of our seeds because of environmental concerns make traditional outdoor growing nearly impossible in most places on Earth.”
“Are you certain your charges are willing to relocate to an alien world?”
“I fear they have little choice, but they will all go willingly or not at all.”
My queen tapped her fingers on the table quietly as if she were mulling over something of great importance. “I would be willing to take the women if each will take care of a homeless child on the voyage from Earth to our new home world. I feel certain that I can find good homes for them with caring human mothers. That might give your charity a bit of time to regroup before taking on more children.”
“I would be a fool to turn down such an offer. The truth is your world is the only one I feel remotely comfortable with taking our innocents. I must warn you that our church elders will expect to have regular supervision with them until we know for sure they are safe and well cared for on your world.”
“I can’t imagine a problem with that. The space communication relay system is in place and functioning properly, so getting a real time signal should be no problem.”
“Then it is agreed.”
16 CHICKEN PLUCKING
KEARNEY
MY MOTHER SCREECHES, “You have how many coming?” The poor woman’s eyes are threatening to pop right out of her head. She was all for us taking some church-sheltered, vulnerable women. It’s been almost a week, and I’ve been putting off telling her the actual number, for just this reason. She was fine with the plan, right up until she learned the number.
Unfortunately the number seventy-four blew her mind. It’s a number that will go down in infamy. Okay, maybe I’ve been a bit ambitious, but I can’t stand thinking of them being turned out. At least we had land and shelter. They would be bunking out in the lower level of the bio dome, where all the really evil shit goes down.
“I’m sick and tired of human women always getting the shaft. How the heck do you think they’re going to survive in the underworld of the bio dome after being raised in a church?”
“The ship might be huge but over half of it’s not even been made habitable.”
“We didn’t anticipate needing the space for a while, so we cleared the rooms and created a renovation schedule.
“That’s all well and good but where are we going to put them, Keary?”
I reply absently, “We’ll have to double up or something.” Looking up to catch her eye, I explain, “Tabor’s working on a plan right now. My big problem is I haven’t been able to find Virgil, and I owe him a water purifier. I promised that I’d get it to him the day after he landed. I had to leave it with the local mail center.”
I can tell she doesn’t want to talk about that man who forced her to sign over her property. She’s still intent on getting me to see reason about the number of people making the voyage back to our home world. “Virgil’s clan is thirty strong. You do know that, don’t you?”
A little quick math tells me that with our family numbering about twenty-five, the Grayson clan being thirty, the orphans being seventy-four and the warriors being fifty that means our ship will be carrying around a hundred and eighty people. Suddenly, the vein in my temple is throbbing like it has a heartbeat of its own. I rub it with a vengeance, hoping to make it calm down a bit.
Tabor looks up from his data pad. He’s been a good sport about the whole situation, considering we still haven’t gotten a chance to consummate our bond. I felt so old using that term. He looks up at me wearing the strange virtual reality goggles he uses to link into the ship’s mainframe. His dark eyes look huge but pleased.
“I am close to a solution. We can move all the warriors to the loading bay. We are used to sleeping rough and even with it loaded down cargo, it is still spacious enough to accommodate our numbers. At any given time a third of us will be on duty and that cuts down on the space we need.”
“Don’t use the word we when talking about where warriors will sleep, cause you are going to be bunking with me.”
He smiles, quickly dipping his head. “Thank you, my queen. We have renovated a large dormitory and about thirty chambers at this point, not counting the fifteen rooms your family occupies. We can probably get at least twenty more rooms renovated and worthy of a queen prior to leaving this world.”
My mother chimes in, “They don’t need to be worthy of a queen. They just need to be clean basic living.”
“As you wish, queen mother.”
“Sorry Tabor, I’m not trying to be pushy. I just want everyone sorted into a reasonably appropriate room. We can share cleansing rooms.”
Tabor’s head jerks up to look at her. I interject soothingly, “We’re used to having one or two cleansing rooms per house. I promise, nobody’s going to lose their mind over sharing.”
“If we create a cleansing room between each room, we can perhaps have thirty additional rooms ready.”
“How many is that total?”
“The dormitory can comfortably hold fifty people. That leaves about thirty rooms. You and Kendra will want private rooms. The queen mother will wish a room for her and the twins.”
“Put Scarn in my room. He’s helpful with the little ones and a good bed warmer.”
Tabor ducks his head again but I see the pleased look on his face. “Scarn is one of our most respected elders. You will not regret taking him to you, queen mother.”
“I don’t imagine I will, but thanks for talking him up to me. He’ll be pleased to hear you think so well of him. Now, I think we should turn the dorm into a nursery and keep all the kids together. Everyone can take turns looking out for the little ones.”
I point out the obvious. “They’ll get more quality time with an adult if we assign them to the older and more responsible women to care for.”
My mother puts her hands on her hips and gives me a meaningful look. “Sure they will, but they also might get attached to their caregivers. It’s not fair to put that kind of burden on these women or for the little ones to end up disappointed when they get placed with another family. It’s better to bed them all down in one common space and tell them they’re going to live with their forever families.”
I have to admit that I didn’t think of all that. “I can’t believe you came up with all that on the fly. I used to think you were the smartest women in the universe, and now you’ve just proved it true.”
My mother tosses me an amused smirk. “You don’t have to lay it on quite so thick, Keary. You know I’ll do what I can to make this work.”
“It looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. According to my calculations we will have enough rooms to put 2-3 women to a room. The men are going into the loading bay with the warriors. If that’s not okay with them, they can stay behind.”
My mother rolls her eyes, “We put Virgil, Donna and their two little ones in one room and the same with Virgil’s married sons. That way we’re actually saving space in the long run.”
I tease her playfully, “Hey, who’s plucking this chicken anyway?”
“It looks like it’s going to take all of us plucking at the speed of light to work our way out of this situation.”
I have to laugh. “You might just be right about that.”
Our conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the ambassador’s shuttle. The plan was for him to visit first, look over the place and talk to my family. However, when word got out that we were prepared to find homes for the little ones, every elder in the church wanted to visit. My mother and Elder Scarn will be joining the tour. I figured elders talking to elders might smooth the way. If they don’t want to risk the little ones, that’s fine too. I’m just trying to do a good deed.
We hustle to the loading bay to meet them. Though I’m expecting some uptight men in suits, they’re mostly women, and though they look really nice, they aren’t what you would call dressed up. Looking down at my gown, I realize that I’m the one who’s technically overdressed for the occasion. It’s not a cringe-worthy misstep in a situation like this but it feels weird none the less.
The ambassador introduces the church elders. They’re all around my mother’s age, and I don’t consider that old, but who am I to question their ways? We hand off the tour to my mother and Elder Scarn after the first hour or so and head back to my quarters for some rest and relaxation.
Scooting over towards Tabor, I announce. “We’re getting a lot done in a day.”
“You are a very productive queen. I have noticed this over the last couple of solars. You dug gemstone like a droid set on its highest setting and got all your warriors lined up for this mission with supreme efficiency. If I had not gotten stung, we would have still had three or four lunars of travel before reaching Earth.”
“Hey, you’re right about that. Catching a ride with space folding crazy Strovian only happened because our repairs were delayed. I hated to see you down that way. Phan said it was touch and go there for a bit because the poison got into your bloodstream.”
“I did not know that. I’m glad I survived. If not, you might have ended up with a less worthy mate.” My hot warrior looks all kinds of smug as he wraps his wing around me and pulls me closer.
“I can’t believe I once thought you had no sense of humor.”
His eyes fill with pain. “Before you came into my life, I’m not certain I had much of a sense of humor. Then again, perhaps it was just a different type of humor.”
“Well you’re all kinds of sexy and funny now.”
“Is this some kind of secret queen code for you wish to mate with me now? If so I am ready. In fact, I am more than ready. I mean to say, I wish to join with you.”
“Aw, you’re cute when you’re babbling. Just so you know, I’m right there with you.”
“I wish to learn the human kiss, so I might please you, and in doing so seal you to me.”
“You don’t have to make up reasons to kiss, handsome. I’m willing to cuddle up and kiss you every chance we get.”
“I wish that I had known this before now. You and I need more accurate communication, my sweet and accommodating queen.”
I drag him down for a kiss, beginning by ghosting my lips over his. His eagerness is charming the pants off me, or the gown in my case. Wings flutter up around me and he pulls me on top of his body. I go willingly, straddling his lap. I love the feel of his soft wings pressing me into his hard body. Slowly he goes from novice to groping insecure learner to master. It’s not occurred to him to use his tongue but this smokin’ hot warrior can kiss like nobody’s business. The moment I relay into the spell of seduction he’s weaving, we get a buzz on our com.
Tabor’s deep, sexy voice prompts the com unit. “Speak. We are listening.” His hands smother over my body, exploring and teasing my tender bits.
I’m totally distracted, and vaguely think his response to the prompt is the Draconian version of a hello.
Virgil’s face comes up on the com, and he looks like death warmed over. He’s covered in filth, and his hair is kind of wild. Before we can speak, he launches into a breathless speech. “We had a wild fire at our place a couple of days after we met. It swept through our property and drove us up the mountain. Everything’s so brittle since the fall that it just went up in flames.”
“Did you lose anyone?”
“Thank God no, but several are injured. We didn’t have any way to contact you, and then I realized that if you couldn’t get ahold of me, you would leave the purifier at the mail center. Though they no longer deliver mail, it’s practically the only place you could leave something for me. Thank you for attaching the communication unit.”
“Are you in town right now? We’ll come for you immediately.”
“Yes, we’re in town. We lost everything, though.”
“You must be starving. Go to the Sportsman’s Paradise and order whatever you want. I’ll be there within the hour to pay for it and pick you all up.”
“Thanks Keary girl, I knew you’d keep your word to us.” He looks relieved and like I just saved the life of all his family. Though that’s not far from the truth, I don’t feel like it’s anything amazing. I feel like humans are mostly all on Team Poverty at this point. Teamworking solutions is the only course of action that makes sense. I got a chance at a better life, and I’ll make sure to pay it forward to as many people as I can.
I sure am disappointed about once again having sex with my hot new Takadon bumped off my schedule. I try to act like my sex isn’t a hot throbbing mess for him. It’s best to keep things light and move on before I cry my eyes out. “So much for fancy gowns and hot sex tonight. I’ll get changed, and we can grab a shuttle.”
“I will com the loading bay and have it prepped and waiting for us.”
“I’m sorry we can’t ever seem to catch a break.”
“Warriors are accustomed to putting the safety of others before all else. There are queens and young ones in need o
f our help. I will set my own needs aside for them.” His expression slips back to protector mode and he adds, “That does not mean I am pleased to be disrupted with my queen.”
“Me either. You and I have a lifetime to spend together. What difference will a few more hours make?”
“I hope none. My cock says he will perish if he is not inside you soon. I thought it proper to pass along the message in time to save his life.”
I can’t help the laughter that spills from my mouth. “We wouldn’t want anything to happen to my favorite body part, now would we?”
He takes a step closer. “So, we are choosing favorite body parts now?”
Pointing towards the door, I say sternly, “Out, you devilishly sexy man. You have no idea how close I am to losing my battle to do the right thing here.”
Tucking his wings neatly behind him, he takes a dramatic step backwards. “In that case, I will tempt you no more.”
He doesn’t leave, so I do. I feel like I should grab a quick misting but there’s simply no time. So, instead I pull off the gown and put on a crisp clean uniform. I grab my utility belt and boots and slide them on as I make my way back into the common room. Tabor is standing near the open door, so we make a run for the loading bay double quick.
Literally everything is my life moves at the speed of light. I feel like a ball rolling from one crisis to another. I really need some control over my life, and the only way to get it is to keep working my way through the tangle of problems until we get to the end.
17 FRENEMIES AND ENEMIES
TABOR
I HAVE a beautiful mate who desires to mate with me. She makes jest with me about all the things that are difficult in our life. Her playful and positive attitude takes the sting out of even our worst day. I would never put my pleasure before the lives of people in need. The only positive aspect to this situation that I can think of is the longer we delay joining, the more intense the experience will be.
