by Luna Hunter
“Yes sir,” he answers, taking my place behind the multitude of screens.
The large black doors of the elevator whiz open as I approach, automatically reacting to my DNA. Waiting for me inside is the man I loathe the most in the entire known universe: Senator Dimtri.
“General,” he says, his voice dripping with disdain. “Not opting for the proper garment, I see?”
His yellow garment clashes with his lizard-like light-green skin, painting an especially unpalatable picture. I refuse to endorse such trivialities as ceremonial garb, opting for my all-black military uniform, the obsidian armor a tight fit, providing me with maximum flexibility.
It’s all the High Command seems to care about nowadays. They’re preoccupied with ceremonial garbs and having gluttonous feasts, while our sworn enemies raid our borders unpunished.
This mission only proves my point. My fleet should be in the Eastern Quadrant, supporting General Tyr in his fight against the insectoid, infernal Ygg. We went through training together, and there’s no place I’d rather be than at his side, riding into battle together. Instead, I am forced to escort Senator Dimtri because the High Command has developed a taste for one of their sickly sweet treats called chocolate. It’s a hot commodity on the intergalactic black market, and now the High Command wants it straight from the source.
It’s idiotic.
In the last few cycles, the High Command has grown feeble and weak. They have plucked the fruits of the labor of countless Zoran warriors, and have forsaken our origins.
“Remind me again why we’re here,” I growl as the elevator glides down. “There’s been another Ygg attack on Haven-5. We should be in the East.”
“Watch your tone, Vinz,” Dimtri says. “Remember your station. The Emperor wants to open relations with the humans, and that is what we shall do.”
I bite down on my bottom lip, tasting blood. Control is the most important thing in the life of a warrior: Physical as well as emotional. Day by day it becomes harder and harder to control my urges. I can only sit by and watch the High Command run our species into the ground for so long… but this was not the time to strike.
Soon.
“My my, what’s gotten you so worked up, Vinz? Afraid of a few humans now, are we? Or has it been too long without a mate?” Dimtri goaded me.
He senses my rage — us Zoran have very perceptible senses, and the slightest change in mood gives off a particular scent, which makes complete emotional control all the more important in our culture. Even a weakling such as Dimtri has a rudimentary control of these powers, though of course his grasp pales in comparison to a tried and true warrior. I silently admonish myself for letting this pompous aristocrat successfully rile me up.
“Feel free to take one of the humans, if that’s what you prefer,” Dimtri hisses.
I ignore his blithe statement. He wants nothing more than for me to strike him down in anger so he can get me court-martialed and relieved of duty. My animosity for the High Command is well-known, but my prowess is so renowned that they couldn’t get rid of me without inciting a rebellion.
A human for a mate? I can’t even imagine it. Interspecies mingling is not exactly unheard of. After the inexplicable decline in birth rates, which has of course remained a closely guarded secret, Zoran women have remained exceedingly rare. Unfortunately, no interspecies coupling has ever produced offspring. I don’t see humans — so soft and fragile — being the missing link.
“Welcome, General... Uhm..”
A small, frail human male quivers in front of me, his head barely reaching up to my chest. The human is half the width of me and his gut is round where mine is taut. His pupils are dilated, fear escaping from every pore in his feeble body. He offers me a limp hand that I crush. I’ve done my homework and recognize the gesture as a human greeting.
“Vinz,” I answer briskly in Universal. “General Vinz.”
The weak human introduces himself as Tobias, their leader. I don’t understand why the humans have made such a small and pudgy man their leader.
The reception takes place on an observation deck on the top floor of their space station. The spherical glass provides us with a perfect view of Earth, their home planet a blue marble floating in the vast emptiness of space.
I imagine humans consider this a breathtaking sight. I see a glaring security flaw.
I am disappointed to see that the humans share the High Command’s preference for fashion over function. The men are all dressed in strange, dark-colored suits that provide no visible protection. I could easily rip out their throats if I wanted to.
A human female catches my attention. I smell her before I see her — an alluring, warm, pleasant scent that reminds me of the Kyhiss flower that grew in my father’s garden, where I spent my childhood looking up at the stars. On those warm summer nights I’d imagine myself riding into battle headfirst, dropping into the atmosphere from thousands of miles up, cutting through steel and flesh to singlehandedly destroy a Ygg enforcer.
I’ve since then made that dream a reality. What is my reward for my service to the glorious Zoran Empire? I get to be Dimtri’s bodyguard.
I turn on my heels — and the mysterious woman bumps right into my chest, spilling her drink all over me.
“Sorry,” she fusses, her pale cheeks turning pink as she tries to wipe the fluid off my broad chest. My obsidian nano-suit is made to withstand a Ygg’s corrosive acid, so a small beverage is of no concern to me.
To my own surprise I find myself captivated by her beauty. A midnight-black garment hugs her curvy, soft body in all the right places. A thick bush of brown curls frame her gorgeous face. I wonder what her full lips taste like. My cock throbs at the invasive thought of sweeping her off her feet and carrying her back to my quarters.
Get it together, Vinz! A human?!
I shake the strange thought. It must be the bright lights and plethora of peculiar scents overloading my senses. Yes, that’s it.
She wanders off, and my eyes are unable to look away from her captivating form. “Who is she?” I demand to know from Tobias.
“H-her?” the frail man stammers. “Th-that’s Jillian, one of our ch-chief scientists.”
Jillian.
Her name rolls of my tongue with ease.
I silently watch Dimtri exchange pleasantries with the human dignitaries. This is where he is at home: slithering up to these naïve humans, with one hand offering the world, and the other ripping them off right before their eyes.
I try to focus my mind on the situation at hand, but inexplicably, my mind keeps drifting back to that shapely scientist.
No matter. In a few hours Dimtri will have concluded his meeting, and we’ll be back on our way to Exon Prime, and I’ll never set foot in human space again.
Click here to continue reading Alien General’s Baby!
Preview of Nero
A chance encounter with a dominant alien warlord turns Victoria's world upside down.
It was supposed to be a routine flight. Circle Earth and be back home in time for dinner. Easy peasy for astronaut Victoria Snow.
Until Nero Octavius shows up. The powerful alien warrior boards her ship, and from that point on nothing will ever be the same again. With his smoldering eyes and rippling muscles, the headstrong alien is hard to resist, try as Victoria might.
Nero is a wanted man, harboring a dark secret. Everyone he gets close to is in permanent danger. He won't allow anyone into his life... but he makes an exception for the curvy human female. She awakens something inside him, a power greater than he knew existed...
Will it be the end for them both?
1. Nero
“Father! Father! They’re here!”
I rush towards my father’s study as fast as I can, my heart beating in my throat, my voice hoarse from screaming his name.
All day long we’ve heard rumors of Emperor Decimus’s death. Five centuries of peace, five centuries of rule ended with a single stroke.
They say Magn
us Bruttius did it. The prodigal son of House Bruttius, their strongest warrior, their fiercest leader… betraying his emperor, betraying all of us Elbans, driven mad by his lust for power.
I didn’t believe it.
I didn’t want to.
But when the soldiers of House Bruttius arrived on our doorstep, when they ran their blades through our defenseless servants, cut them down like dogs… I couldn’t deny the truth any longer.
Life as I had known it was over.
I kick open the heavy wooden doors to my father’s study to find him in his usual spot: bent-over his desk, studying a paper scroll, glasses perched on his nose.
Gaius Octavius is unlike any other Elban I have ever met. He prefers science over warfare, knowledge over the sword, and this makes him the odd man out in Elban culture.
Even now, with our entire society thrust into chaos, my father is more concerned with some old scroll than saving his own skin.
“We have to go!”
“No time,” he mutters, “No time! She’s not ready, not yet!”
I grab his robe and yank him towards me. “Snap out of it!” I scream. My hand leaves a bloody mark on his olive-green robe.
I don’t know if that blood is my own, or some Bruttius dog I just put down.
My father’s eyes find mine, and finally I see the sparkle of recognition I was looking for.
“Ah, Nero, my son, there you are. I was looking for you.”
“What are you talking about? You were looking at the old scrolls again.”
“Yes, yes, so close, so close to unlocking the true potential… will have to try now, risky, but no choice, no, no choice.”
Father’s rambling worries me. He’s always been aloof, but even this is strange for him. He’s gathered so much knowledge in that graying head of his that I worry it has driven him mad.
There’s no time left to worry, though. House Bruttius has declared war on us, its soldiers are at our gates, and blood has already been spilled. House Octavius is but a minor house compared to the greatest of the Elban houses. We have no realistic hope of defeating them in combat.
There is no other option left than to run — but an Elban doesn’t run.
An Elban comes home with his shield, or on it.
“You have to go,” I growl again. “You don’t have to die this day!”
“Look at you,” Gaius Octavius says, smiling. “You have grown up to be a strong lad. I remember when you were but a little baby boy, smaller than that sword you’re carrying! I am proud of you son.”
There is a finality in his voice that makes a shiver run down my spine. This is not the last conversation I intend to have with my father, even though the situation does look grim.
Boom!
The room is rocked by an explosion. Plaster falls from the ceiling, and the sound of battle draws closer.
“Please, father,” I plead. “Come with me.”
“We must go… to the observatory!”
“This is not the time to stargaze,” I grit through my teeth. “The Emperor has died. The Bruttius are coming for us. Aren’t you listening?! Can’t you see what’s happening?!”
“I’ve always seen,” my father says, uncharacteristically harsh. “I have always known! And prepared, yes! There is a secret escape in the observatory. Take me there. Come on, lad. I haven’t got all day.”
Relieved, I grab my father’s hand and lead him down the hall, going as fast as his old bones can take.
“Die, Bruttius scum!”
At the bottom of the stairs a tall man swings a two-handed sword, cleaving it right through a Bruttius warrior. The man is clad in red body-armor, the symbol of a golden owl barely visible because of all the blood dripping down his imposing frame.
“Romulus Valerius,” I say. “Am I glad to see you.”
Bruttius soldiers, dressed in their characteristic all-black, lay crumbled on the marble floor. I remember playing in this hall when I was a kid, sliding on the slippery tiles. This place was always impeccably clean.
Now the marble floor is covered in an inch of blood.
“There you are,” Romulus says, his voice booming. “I was afraid you’d miss all the fun.”
If there’s one man in this world I trust, it’s Romulus. There’s no Elban warrior taller than him, no one stronger. He’s arrogant, stubborn, even zealous… but he’s also one of the few people I consider a true friend.
“We have to reach the observatory,” I say. “Can we?”
If the enemy have gotten into our very halls, that will be tougher than I imagined.
“Of course we can,” Romulus answers. “Lets carve a path there.”
I nod and draw my own sword - Fire’s Bane. The pommel is shaped like a stag’s head, the symbol of House Octavius. Given to my by my father, this sword is what stands between us and death.
“Stay close, father.”
Flanked by a small contingent of our most loyal fighters we charge out the gates. The observatory is located only a few hundred yards to the left of the Octavius mansion, but in these conditions, it might as well be a thousand miles away.
The sky is filled with smoke, fire and death. Flames bellow up from Massa, our great city being consumed by fire, thick black suffocating smoke blackening out the stars.
Needle-nosed spaceships bearing the mark of House Bruttius punch out of the smoke, dropping more troops on our sacred grounds with every passing second.
My heart is beating like a war-drum. My palms are sweaty, and my sword nearly slips from my grasp when a ship passes overhead, the force of its engines nearly blowing us off our feet.
In the total chaos that surrounds us we manage to carve a path, striking down soldiers as we go. The massive battle is taking place back at the mansion, and few pay attention to us.
The observatory is only a rock’s throw away now. We are close.
So, so close.
“Watch out!”
A small ship rockets by overhead, does a U-turn and touches down on the grass right in front of us. The glass door whizzes open, and my breath falters.
A man steps out, his heavy boots touching the grass with a thud. His jet-black chainmail armor is decorated with a golden snake, curling its way around his massive frame.
However, what draws most of my attention is his eyes.
Cold, dark, eyes, like looking at death itself.
“You,” he growls, pointing right at me. “You die now.”
That man is no-one other than Magnus Bruttius himself.
“I’ll hold him off,” Romulus says. “Go!”
“But—”
“Go!”
Romulus raises his sword up high and charges at Magnus. I run past with my father, the sound of swords meeting behind me. I don’t dare to look back. We reach the observatory, and I snatch the keychain from my father’s hands. As I fumble with the keys, the adrenaline making my hands shake, my mind replays Magnus’s words.
You. You die now.
Why me?
I’m the heir to House Octavius… but we are only a minor house. Not a threat to anyone. Certainly not to House Bruttius.
Yet there was utter conviction in the emperor-slayer’s words.
The door swings open, breaking my chain of thoughts. We enter and I close and lock the door behind us, catching a glimpse of Romulus going toe-to-toe with one of the Elba’s greatest warriors.
If anyone can defeat Magnus in close combat, it’s Romulus. Yet, I don’t dare to look.
The idea that this whole carnage is because of me is making me sick to my stomach.
I press my back against the door, taking a deep breath, steadying my nerves.
The observatory is a circular room, the walls covered in rows of books, a giant telescope taking up most of the space. Father shuffles forwards, his hands traveling past the rows of books.
We Elbans are a traditional people. Even now that the stars themselves are within our grasp, we prefer the old ways. We fight with swords, we study ancient tom
es, we prefer the carriage to the space ship, leaving our planet only to subjugate alien species, only for the glory of warfare.
I could certainly go for a space ship right now, though.
“Where is this exit, father?”
As I watch him pull out a dusty old book out of the wall, I fear for a second that he’s really gone mad. That he lied to me, that his thirst for knowledge is so great he’s risking all of our lives just because he wants to read another book…
But then the entire wall rumbles and slides out of the way, revealing an iron pod.
“Have some faith in me, son,” Gaius says with a smile on his face, as if he could read my mind. “Here’s your exit.”
“How is this pod supposed to get us out of here?”
“Step inside and you’ll see,” father answers as he pushes a stack of papers to the side on his desk to reveal a hidden control panel, full of dials and buttons.
I had no idea about any of this.
What else has father hidden from me?
I walk up to the iron pod, my eyes wide, and peer inside. It’s only big enough for one person.
“No,” I say decisively. “I’m here to save you, not the other way around. ”
Father shakes his head.
“I’m an old man, Nero. I have already passed my second century. My house is on the verge of collapse. You are my only successor, the only hope we have. No son, I will not go.”
“No,” I say. “No! You go. I will hold them off. You go. I demand it, father.”
Father sighs and walks towards me. He places his hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eye.
“I raised you a bit too well, I’m afraid. You’re always looking out for other people. It’s commendable… and a bit foolish at times, so I guess that means you take after your father.”
He smiles, but there’s no joy in his eyes. There’s only crushing sadness.
“Forgive me, son.”
With a force I didn’t know father’s old muscles possessed he shoves me backwards, into the open pod, taking me by absolute surprise. The iron door slams shut, locking me inside the cramped space.
