by Abigail Myst
“Where?”
There was no question about Zenik taking the mission. Despite his rather innocuous name, the Wine Merchant was responsible for the destruction of a multitude of Mahdfel outposts throughout the sector. He was also the one who had burned Zenik and abandoned him to face twenty Suhlik on his own.
Zenik had slaughtered them all, then taken their ship and limped back to Mahdfel space. He had come home a hero, but with no future in the spycraft that was his forte. Service in Athen’s clan on Noven 90 as well as a mate had been his reward, and Jane was quite a reward as far as Kave was concerned, not as good as Humility, but perhaps second.
“Trevose Station 3. There’s a trader loaded with the specs next to the ship.”, Athen responded.
“I’ll leave within the hour,”
Zenik said then nodded, turned and left.
“But what about his mate, Jane?” Kave asked.
“Jane. Is she one of the mates who is carrying?” Athen inquired.
Brale shook his head.
“Then it is a shame.” Athen was under no delusion that Zenik would complete his mission. The best outcome for such a slippery creature was to go down with his target. Zenik would most likely not return to Jane.
“So what else has occurred while I have been absent?” Athen asked, done with that particular topic of conversation.
Kave and the other warriors continued the debrief, and Athen updated them on the current battle lines. The longer they continued, the more Kave longed to go to Humility, hold her close in his arms, and fill her with his child.
When Athen finally dismissed them, Kave hurried out, torn between seeing his own mate and tracking down Jane and offering her his condolences.
He found Humility digging furiously in the garden plot the Terran females had insisted on planting. Rather than checking the progress of seedlings, she was on the edge, attacking the native ground cover, flushed and dripping sweat.
“What are you doing?” he asked her.
“Weeding.”
“Those are not weeds. Those are-”
“They will be, once I put in another row of those whatchamacallits.”
“I was thinking we could fuck.”
She looked up at him in a very disapproving manner.
“There are no other warriors present. You said I could use that term when we were alone,” he said in response.
“I’m not in the mood.”
“But you’re always in the mood.”
“Not today! Now go away.”
Kave opened his mouth to question her further, but she simply turned and pointed back toward the camp with such fervor that he took three steps back before walking away. Jane would know what was wrong. She could fix this.
Kave spent the next twenty minutes looking for Jane, but she was nowhere to be found. He called at her quarters and she did not answer. Perhaps, she was still inside.
Kave entered the command center and without another word, hit the alarm bell. The klaxons rang out in an ear piercing shriek, barely tolerable to Terran and Mahdfel ears. To the Suhlik, the shrill sound was nausea inducing and would set them off balance. Warriors began to pour out to the quad. They, at least, had an inkling that they would be tested today. Not a single one of them appeared without a weapon. With very little sense of panic, the females scrambled to the most defensible area of the camp, a corner on the beach near the force fence. Most of them could swim, despite their mates’ objections, and could reach the sea in the case of a full invasion. Other than taking pot shots at them with a laser rifle, the Suhlik would have few ways of harming swimming targets.
The fear of large sea creatures had largely been quelled by some well placed research. They’d found that the most dangerous creature near the shore was a shelled creature with sharp claws that could at worst take off a toe. Swimming there was a calculated risk, but considering the Suhlik could slice a woman open, they gave it little thought.
The warriors seemed bent on impressing Athen, who had probably planned to execute a drill later in the evening when the warriors were cozier with their mates. However, as second in command, Kave was well within his rights to start a drill at his own leisure and this one suited him now.
Once it became clear that it was indeed a drill, the warriors paired off and practiced a few fighting throws. The klaxons ceased and the wives lined up. He counted them, as did Meadow, while his own mate stomped in still wielding a shovel. She looked ready to take the head off of any Suhlik that showed his face.
What he did not see was Jane. She should be there, standing guard in front of the mates, a laser rifle in her hand. He waited as that fact dawned on Meadow too. She looked around, just in case Jane was hiding, but Kave knew the truth.
Kave stood next to Athen who, with a critical eye, watched his warriors battle each other. “Zenik took his mate with him,” Kave said.
Athen shrugged. There wasn’t much they could do about that now. Kave would miss her. She was a good friend.
Chapter Nineteen
Humility
Humility was not ready to face her husband yet. She was angry with herself for assuming that she could enjoy this life, knowing her father was well and her sister were taken care of.
That wasn’t his fault. The loud headache-inducing klaxons that rang and made her teeth chatter definitely were. At least she could blame him for that. He did not seem to see her discomfort. Instead, he was wandering around, searching for someone with a stern eye for anyone who got in the way of his field of vision.
When the klaxons stopped, the warriors continued their elaborate dance of blade and hand to hand combat and she assumed they were free to go. She was halfway to her cabin before Meadow came trailing after her.
“Jane is gone. She must have gone with Zenik.”
So that’s who he had been looking for. Cheesy Jane had flown the coop. A stab of jealousy bled into her stomach. “Where’s he going?” She tried to ask casually.
“They won’t say. But I get the feeling they don’t expect him to come back.” That should have relieved her jealousy, but instead it just increased her guilt. Jane had been nothing but friendly and supportive in her silent, direct and kickass kind of way.
“I’m sure she’ll be back,” Humility said.
Meadow did not look convinced. Humility tried to offer a reassuring smile, but instead of calming her, it seemed to have the opposite effect.
“Don’t you dare go anywhere. You and Jane and Odette are the only friends I have here,” Meadow pleaded.
Humility blinked at her. Everyone liked Meadow. She got along with each group and did her best to accommodate all requests that came her way. Humility had never asked her for anything. Maybe that’s why she thought Humility was her friend while the other girls weren’t.
“I need to shower. We’ll talk later, okay?” Humility said, feeling suddenly awkward.
“Okay.”
Meadow turned, tablet under her arm, and Humility headed to the shower. The pulsing of the waves set her at ease the moment she stepped in. She knew when Kave entered. He was tentative and she knew he had not deserved the ire she had sent his way earlier.
“You can come in,” she told him.
A moment later, he was naked behind her, his hands stroking her back.
“So how is it that you guys so afraid of the ocean, but like water showers?”
“We are not afraid of the rain, just large pools of water. Where you can sink into the black depths and all air could be sucked from your lungs.”
“Really? That’s a little dramatic.”
“It is true.”
“Drama llama.”
“I do not understand the connection between theater and that particular mammal.”
“Sweetie. Never mind.” He wrapped his arms around her and sighed into her neck. “I’m sorry Jane’s gone.”
“She will slay many Suhlik and their traitorous filth and be worthy of statue in the halls of Etlon’s greatest house.”
�
��I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“I prefer you yelling your pleasure as I fuck you.” He waited. “That is correct, is it not?”
Humility could feel him getting hard against her back. “Yes.” Turning around, she took his cock in hand. It didn’t take much to guide him out of the shower and into the bedroom. She took her towel and dried them both off with a cursory rub then returned both hands to his cock.
“You wish me to fuck you?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
She lay down on the bed and he laid down beside her, his hands roving, plucking one nipple then the other. His tattoos had already begun to glow.
“I love the way that your skin changes colors when I touch it,” she told him.
“Yours changes colors as well. From a light cream to a pink. Here, and here. But here it is already pink.”
His finger dipped into her pussy and played with her clit. His touch was light, but it was not tentative. He wanted her to beg for more.
“Yes, Kave, I want you to fuck me.”
“I wish to watch your other places change colors first.”
“Then give me more.”
He did give her more, circling her clit with a furious pace and filling her with his finger. Her hips bucked off the bed and Humility exploded into a world of sparks. He lifted her onto her side, and thrust into her from behind. Kave pulled her tight as he thrust with increasing vigor until both of them exploded. He remained inside her as their hearts slowed back to a reasonable pace.
“How do I keep you in the mood to fuck?” Kave said after a long moment. Humility had nearly begun to doze in his arms, his cock still filling her.
“My father is ill. I took my bad mood out on you. And the garden. So if you see me with the garden shovel, just leave me alone.”
“What ails your father?”
“His lungs. Some sort of Suhlik gas. It killed my mother. And he’s slowly drowning in his own lungs.”
“Drowning is the worst death.”
“I was kind of hoping you could do something about it.”
“I cannot.”
“I know.”
Chapter Twenty
Humility
“Where. Is. My. Lab?” Odette punctuated each word poking Goru’s stomach. Humility almost felt sorry for the warrior staring down at the boss lady. She didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the entire thing was taking place in the middle of the quad, and Humility wanted to get to her quarters on the other side.
Goru shrugged. “Etlon?” he said, as if expecting her to slug him any second.
“I was told that a new module would be set up for me here.”
“It will.”
“When? And remember, a warrior doesn’t lie.”
“Six months, give or take.”
“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
Goru looked down at her rounded belly and then back to her face, as if it were perfectly obvious.
“I want it now.”
“The warrior will come when he comes.”
“I meant my lab, not the baby.”
“It is not my duty.”
Odette let out an exasperated huff and stormed off, probably looking for some other warrior to grumble at. Humility decided to take a different approach.
“How do I request a module? It’s for another wife,” she asked Kave who had put his hands on her ass the moment she walked into their quarters.
“Is it a reasonable request? That will improve the entire camp?”
“Of course it is.”
It was as easy as that. Kave showed her how to customize the basic cube, gave her the authorization, and voila, the computer would pull the pieces together and craft it to specification then a warrior would be assigned to place it. Humility had to guess which items Odette would want in her lab, but at least the botanist would have a place to start.
The next day, almost as if by magic, a new module appeared in the line along the north side of the quad. It didn’t take long for the news of who had requisitioned it to spread and it had the whole camp buzzing. Humility tried to ignore most of it as she went back to hacking the vegetation back from the edge of the garden.
Odette suddenly appeared in front of her.
“Okay, everyone else is too afraid to ask. What’s the module for?”
Humility didn’t miss a beat in her shoveling.
“It’s a lab.”
“My lab?”
“If anyone asks, it’s just a lab, not yours. If you happen to set it up the way you like it and use it all the time, that’s just a coincidence.”
“Oh!”
“It’s no big deal. The green guys are just a little-”
“Oh shit!”
“I’d say overprotective, but sure.”
“No. I think my water just broke.”
“Oh!” Humility dropped the shovel. Sure enough, a big wet splotch had formed on the surface of Odette’s dress.
“Guess the lab will have to wait,” Odette said as she swiveled back toward the clinic. Humility grabbed her arm and went along with her.
They nearly collided at the door with Clover and Meadow.
“We’re having a baby!” Meadow shouted.
“So are we!” Odette shouted.
Every warrior in hearing distance took off running in a different direction. A moment later the klaxons began to ring.
“What the fuck?” Ruth, the nurse, came out of the clinic. “Shit.” She took one look at the two pregnant ladies and turned green, pushing Meadow out of the way and began to puke her guts out in the bushes.
Humility took the moment to pull Odette and Clover into the clinic. The ruckus was still nearly unbearable.
“Tell them to shut those things off,” she shouted to Meadow.
“You cannot both go into labor at the same time. I have only prepared for one at a time,” Scrubs said as he approached them. He stared from one to another, but it was clear he was eyeing his own child with a bit more apprehension.
“Warriors don’t always pick the most appropriate times, but it’s clear they are both on their way. Deal with it.”
A flood of people came through the door. Led by Meadow, Athen, Kave, Brale, Goru and Leif, all crowded into the clinic which hardly held two patients comfortably, much less a horde of giant green aliens.
“Medic!” Athen shouted, clearly upset that Scrubs was just standing there.
“Where is the nurse?” Scrubs asked.
“She’s outside,” Meadow said. “I think she’s got morning sickness.”
“It is her duty to prepare the beds.”
Humility rolled her eyes. Men were useless. “All right. First things first. If you’ve got green skin, and you aren’t a blood relation to one of those babies, get out.” Nobody moved. “Don’t make me stab you.”
Odette actually laughed, but it was interrupted by a contraction. Athen scrambled to his wife’s side. He waved the rest of the warriors out and they went.
“Meadow, why don’t you run point outside. Make sure we don’t have the whole clan in here getting in our grill,” Humility said, beginning to coordinate.
“I can do that,” Meadow replied, heading out of the clinic. Now it was just husbands, wives and Humility, who would have to appoint herself to nurse.
Getting the beds ready was actually simple. The aliens had most things set to a push button mode. A moment later, the warriors were helping their wives onto the beds. Scrubs seemed calmer now that the initial shock of soon becoming a dad had settled in. He started applying little stickers to various parts of the ladies. She assumed they were some sort of sensors. Scrubs put down the scanner and started watching the screen that appeared behind them.
“How long is this going to take?” Odette asked.
“We just got started. My mom was in labor for eighteen hours and she never let me forget it,” Humility quipped.
“Eighteen?” Athen stroked Odette’s arm.
“I am sure the Mahdfel will be quicker than tha
t. We are faster at most things,” Athen said.
“Uh huh. Hope it’s like dating. Over before you blink. In a sniff and woof!” Clover said, punctuating the woof with another contraction.
There was some more light banter, but then it flew into a flurry of duelling women, both with babies determined to be born at the same time.
“My son will be first,” Athen said with a glaring look at Scrubs, as if he would blame the doctor if Scrubs’s son came first.
Scrubs said nothing because just then, he saw Clover turning a sickly shade of white, opening her eyes wide. The screen started bleeping in alarm, and Scrubs’s skin rippled with a greenish hue that Humility had never seen before. It was neon in spots and an army gray green in others. It was not a flattering look.
“My Soul!” Scrubs said.
Humility stepped back and took up Odette’s other arm as Scrubs went to work. Odette squeezed her so hard she thought she’d break every bone in her hand. Scrubs looked over at Odette.
“Don’t you fucking let her die! I’ll be so pissed off I’ll have Athen deposit you in the middle of the jungle on the other hemisphere!” Scrubs turned his attention back to his wife and Odette turned to Humility.
“Ever delivered a baby?” Odette asked.
“A lamb?” Humility said sheepishly.
“Hey, you hear that, Athen, she’s got birthing experience!”
“I hear. The medic will-” Athen began before being cut off by Odette.
If he’d been wearing a shirt, she would have grabbed him by the collar. Instead, she just grabbed his shorts and rattled his waistband.
“The medic is busy. Got it?”
The warrior said nothing nor did his skin change the color of annoyance like other Etlonians. Humility chalked that up to practice hiding behind command,remaining completely in charge of his emotions.
Another few minutes passed, and sparing a quick glance at Clover, Humility could see her color returning, but that fighting look had begun to fade. Scrubs wouldn’t let his own mate die, but she wondered silently about the child.
Another squeeze and Humility turned her attention back to Odette. A quick check and it was clear her baby was coming.
