by Calista Skye
The Kalet's Claim: A BBW, Scifi Romance © Calista Skye (Story Dev: Lux Xe)
All rights reserved.
Nostalgic for home, Ki struggles with the summoning of the Kalet whose set his eyes upon her with an intent to claim her mind, body, and soul. New to the ways of the Kalion people, she strains to adjust to the possibility that she might never see Earth again.
But when the ship is attacked by acquisitioners, and she's rushed into a drop pod with the Kalion royal, she's no longer able to deny the chemistry between them.
Will she succumb to his claim? Can she say goodbye to the only life she's ever known?
A steamy, BBW, Science Fiction romance
One
"You may step forward."
Ki bristled at the command, but she knew her position would never afford her the rebellion burning in her heart. Utterly exposed in glittering raiments spilling over her ample curves, she did as she was bid, placing one metallic sandled foot ahead of her and then the other until she was standing before the Kalet's throne.
His luminous eyes bore through her as he scanned her, mini galaxies swimming in the ink black sea of his irises. He had the sure eyes of a space cat, but he was something very different, man but not merely man, something else entirely. Among the Kalion, a Kalet was a burgeoning King, much like those of ancient Earth. An earth much different than it was today.
Ki sighed to herself, struggling to find the resignation she needed to endure the selection process the refugees of earth were made to endure in return for the shelter the Kalion granted them. It was an honor of sorts, as the Kalion appreciated the lush figures of more generously formed earth females, and sought to bind them in marriages of consent at the earliest opportunity. Ki should feel gratitude, and she told herself as much in the days leading up to the selection for the new Kalet, but she mourned the prospect of a loveless marriage, instead. It was very hard for her to believe that two people who did not love each other could "grow" to do so, as the Kalion promised was always the case in interspatial-matings.
Her eyes drifting back to the Kalet, she watched his long, conic fingers lift up a metallic goblet with lights shimmering in an electric race around the rim as he extended it to her.
"Will you come sit at my side, Ki Long?"
Forcing herself to bow her head, Ki lifted the draping ends of the form-fitting, Kalion gown accentuating her ample curves and ascended the small steps leading to the platform where he sat.
The Kalet held the goblet until she took her seat on the throne beside him, and she nodded her thanks when he finally slipped its stem into her hand. His eyes lingered on her then, his admiration unmistakable, even as he restrained himself from oggling her.
Unlike some of the men of earth Ki had grown accustomed to, her voluptuous beauty was heralded and celebrated by alien men. And to have, perhaps, the most important Kalion of all, the Kalet, admire her beauty was overwhelming to a simple waitress like herself. She hadn't been on Kalion's starship for very long, but the weeks she'd spent there so far were an exercise in reorientation for her. She was no longer the sidekick friend who received half-assed attention while the men she was truly attracted to gave all of their attention to her thinner friends. There'd been Tim, but he hadn't been "ready for commitment," and that had actually stung worse than her experiences as second-pickins in her overall dating experience on earth.
Ki fought back a pang of sadness at the thought of her friends, most of them still applying for spots on the available starships circling earth's orbit after the greening that utterly destroyed the cities as nature had mutated and grown, or perhaps revealed, an autonomy that refused the dangerous technologies that had threatened it for far too long to even draw a spark of electricity in the new atmosphere it had created.
One day, she hoped to go back, when civilization normalized itself, acclimating the people of the land to more ancient technologies that did not rely on the mass development of weaponry and earth-stripped baubles that were unsustainable and too often dug up in sheer vain.
"You're far away, Ki."
The Kalet's words were like water, delivered in a bassy, musical tone that one would expect of such a beautiful man, and Ki had to weather the accelerated beating of her heart in response. She was far from sure she wanted this. Even the prospect of so much wealth, joining into union with the Kalet meant everything she ever knew would fade from her reach. She might never return to earth again. Might not be allowed once they were bonded.
"I do not mean to offend."
"I believe your intentions are good."
Blinking up to meet his cat eyes, Ki realized she'd been looking down at her hands, lost in some sort of daze.
Pull it together, Ki.
The fate of her family rode on this. It didn't matter what she felt or did not feel for the Kalet. He had chosen her, and it would ensure the entire future of she and her mother and brothers.
A series of courtship meetings would be arranged from here, and she would somehow need to find her head through it all. She'd barely acclimated herself to the strange ways of the Kalion aboard their traveler ship, and now she'd be expected to help rule one alongside Kalion royalty.
"Are you averse to wine?" The Kalet asked, his cat eyes searching and inquisitive.
"No. Of course, not," Ki answered. "Just thinking..."
"You're overwhelmed."
It wasn't a question, and the warmth in the Kalet's multi-hued eyes told her that he genuinely cared about her emotional state, somehow, though they'd only just met a moment before. It was very unlike her previous experiences with Tim, who'd struggled to show his emotions to Ki. Tim had been good at buying her things, mostly after he'd stood her up at one important event or another, or utterly forgotten some special, romantic get together previously planned between them or with friends. Ki had hated being a third wheel to another couple when he'd pulled that nonsense.
Something about the way the Kalet looked at her now told her he wasn't that type, that he'd never leave her alone, wanting and waiting, that he intended to see to her happiness. It was the Kalion way, after all, and if the truth of the warmth she felt coming from him was any indication, the Kalet's people truly did believe in nurturing their unions.
"I..."
"Do not explain. Even I have felt put upon by this process. Until I set eyes on you, of course."
There was mirth in his eyes now, and the stars and constellations shooting in their depths took on a more solar hue, as if bathed in the rays of the sun at close orbit. He was truly breathtaking. Ki couldn't help but admire the regal cut of his sculpted cheeks, the intent warmth in his widely cut, almond eyes, and the lush protrusion of his flushed lips. She dared not let her gaze slip lower. As intently as he was staring at her, he would surely notice.
Lifting her glass, she turned her attention to the Black wine, drawing a deep sip from its depths as the lights danced its rim. When she drummed up the courage again, her eyes rose to meet his as he stared into her, almost analytically.
"It's delicious," she offered.
This won a smile that warmed her heart as intensely as the wine heated a trail to her belly.
"Brewed by my brother. I understand your eldest brother has taken an interest in the art. Perhaps, he can apprentice him."
Ki perked up at the thought, a real gratitude she could not find before washing over her. How many times had Tim ignored the needs of her family, when he could have gotten her brother into his company before the greening put it entirely out of business. How hard had her family worked to fund the most basic of their needs as the economy had begun to show its first signs of c
ollapse?
"I think he'd like that very much."
Two
Ki woke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest at the sound of a thundering crack and a swaying ship to follow that inspired the most dire of thoughts in her barely roused mind. Throwing the blue velveteen coverlets off of her, she quickly slipped her feet into the hover boots at the side of her bed and attached the call-link resting on her bedside cube to her ear.
Her eyes flicking to the panoramic view of dark space bursting with light beyond her dwelling unit's window, her gut flared with resolve. Something was wrong, she had to make it to her mother, her brothers... Quickly.
Running to the doors, she raced through them as the sensors read her ID bracelet and slid the exit open wide, her feet carrying her half-way across the hall-ramps to the first entry door she could find to the lower units. Panic seized her as the entry doors maintained their static position, and she waved her hands in front of them, silently pleading with them to open. When that failed, her eyes glanced the hall, looking for another route, her heart sinking to her gut when she found nothing.
"Dammit."
Cursing, her hands clenched, and she beat the entry doors, pounding them with flying fists until they finally slid open, and she took a clumsy step back with surprise. The sight of the Kalet alarmed her, and stuttering a breath, her eyes beckoned to him.
"My family."
"They're being loaded into the drop-pods until the threat is neutralized. As Kalee-Ascending, you will ride down in my drop-pod. Our custom requires us to remain close during our courtship."
Ki swallowed her nerves.
"Of course."
"Come," he asked, extending his hand to take hers.
Ki shivered as they touched, the impossible soft, heat of his skin infusing her with a flare of desire she was utterly unaccustomed to. Their eyes met, and she could see he, too, felt the surge of passion flowing through their bodies from so simple a gesture, but he was able to summon a control she found herself unable to in that moment.
"We must be quick."
Pulled with him down the lowering ramps, Ki's heart chugged in her chest as another loud crack shook the ship, and the fiery fallout of impact flashed down in implosive sparks outside of the deck windows, illuminating the dark space with an eerie declaration of war. She fought against the worst kinds of thoughts, telling herself that her family was safe to fight her way out of her mind's nets. That they were sure to be alright in the hands of the Kalion people.
Her feet carrying her ably alongside the Kalet, Ki's fingers tightened in his grasp like a child's hands in the hold of a potent protector. For days, she'd dreaded the process that would draw them close together in the bonds of Kalion tradition, but now she was clutching to him with an utterly unexpected desperation. The Kalet made her feel safe, somehow, amidst all of the chaos overtaking the starship, and she couldn't imagine not having him by her side in that moment.
Ship attacks were common on other vessels, but the Kalion rarely fell victim to them. A largely benevolent presence in the galaxy, they enjoyed the approval of most of the Intergalactic Council. Ki couldn't imagine who would be attacking them. But as their feet sped farther down the ramps leading to the drop pod deck, she buried the thought in the necessity of the moment.
Upon reaching the royal drop-pod, the Kalet turned to her, a seriousness that shook her filling his gaze and coloring the stars and planets in his eyes a gleaming obsidian bursting with silver stars.
"The ride will not be comfortable until we are out of harm's way, I'm afraid. We'll bunk in the lower portion of the pod while the automated pilot navigates a track to my home planet."
Swallowing a lump of fear, Ki nodded her understanding.
Three
Ki panted, fighting to catch her breath as the AI pilot drew a bio-reader over her form. Biting her lip nervously, she glanced at the determined expression on the pale man-machine's face before turning her eyes to the Kalet. He was curiously focused, but that was the way of most AIs - the ones who weren't cast to the Holo Wilds when they failed to follow the orders of their makers.
"Data captured," the AI announced robotically to the Kalet, standing at still attention.
"Very good, Max. Please unlock the lower hatch. We'll take cover until we reach the Sieron cluster. We'll have shaken the fiends by then, and I wish to show our Kalee-ascending the glowing trail."
"Of course, Kalet."
The Kalet's fingers slipped easily into Ki's, as if they'd already found a home to return to there, and he gestured her to follow him down the ramps of the deck paneled in Moon-steel and Saturnian-silver. Her hover boots flirting quickly over the decks, she stole a glance out of the pod's window panels, just as the shields lowered and fully curtained the lightning explosions disrupting the inky sea of stars she'd become quite fond of staring into over the recent weeks.
Her skin was still tingling after the mildly invasive bio-wanding she'd been subjected to, but it bothered her far less than the prospect of what lay on the horizon if their attackers disrupted the drop pod, or threw it offline, somehow.
The wanding the AI had performed was a necessary part of the process, one that would help the pod identify her among any potential enemies that might breach the small vessel. With it being the vessel of a royal, there was a strong likelihood they'd all be attacked before they managed to set course to the planet's surface. With that in mind, it was all Ki could do to calm her nerves.
"Who's attacking us?" She finally asked when they drew to a stand by the hatch to the lower decks. She'd somehow found the courage to ask it now, deciding it best to know what they were facing, rather than wait for the Kalet to offer up the information to her. He seemed the type to withhold the identity of their pursuers for as long as he could manage, in the name of keeping her comfortably snuggled in the bounds of blissful ignorance.
"acquisitioners , most likely. Or perhaps, your garden variety ether pirates."
The Kalet answered her with a grunt as he reached down to lift the hatch manually, pressing a code into the light panel until the correct color sequence illuminated the room with a brief, but near-blinding glow of pink and yellow. His expression was somber, his calm looking more like a thin veil cloaking his rage. And somehow, Ki realized that she could feel his blood boiling inside of him. She knew it meant that they were already bonding far more organically than she'd anticipated they would.
According to Kalion custom, they would bond to one another in a way that made them intrinsically aware of the other, nearly sharing two minds through an empathically emotional sense.
It must've been activated when they touched. Her senses sung with the feel of him throughout the flirting of their fingers, even in their haste to access the drop pod.
Ki trained her focus on that, on their connection now because it secured her in far happier thoughts than the prospect of being nabbed by acquisitioners - which was a nightmare prospect she didn't want to entertain in her thoughts, let alone reality.
"Come, Beauty."
The Kalet's voice thrummed through her, a low, bassy rumble that ignited her senses. Following his lead down the ramp into the lower sector, her eyes glanced the mutating colors that danced the screens in the room, a curious brow arching up in response. She still had much to learn about Kalion custom and easily found herself marveling at every new thing. They were a highly cultured people, an inter-galactic genome of the arts for sure.
Ki still wasn't resigned to the potential of never seeing her home planet again to live a life riding the routes among the stars, but she had to admit the perks that came along with a position as a Kalee were more than a little tempting.
Releasing her fingers, the Kalet pressed a series of light-buttons emerging in the wall of lava-lamp like colors, and the sound of the hatch sealing shut behind them announced that they were now secure. His eyes met hers then.
"We should strap in, at least for several chrono-ticks."
Nodding, Ki followed him to the en
d wall, where they were met with an emerged set of chairs and straps, and she sank into the plush cushion of the plum colored chair she was gestured to, lifting her arms as the automation sequence strapped she and the Kalet in securely.
Their eyes locked again, a moment before the Kalet seemed to rein himself in, and he averted his gaze to the wall panels.
"Why does the color swim on those screens?"
"It's connected to our manifester screens. Should we find ourselves off-course, the inque in our resource tanks would take the genetic form of whatever we might we select from its menu. There's enough to keep us fed for weeks. Long enough for us to reach a friendly out-post. But we won't find ourselves in such a position so close to home."
"Ah."
It was comforting knowing their needs could be manifested out of the liquid currently entertaining them with a rainbow light show, and it only served to deepen her admiration for the Kalion people. It was not long, though, in distracting her from the worry beginning to circle her belly. To know that acquisitioners were on their tail was a worrisome prospect.
"Do not worry."
Ki's eyes flitted to the Kalet, and she found him gazing somberly at her, his look telling her that he felt the adrenalin rush building up in her blood, dammed up by her sense of restraint, but fast gaining momentum enough to take it down, and loose her into a certain panic.
She'd heard too many stories about the acquisitioners to sit back calmly, and bat the threat away. They were scavengers of, perhaps, the worst sort. Ruthless thieves who claimed what they found and incorporated all sorts of things, and... beings into their growing market. Ki had been warned early on to steer clear of the almost translucently pale, red-eyed fiends, lest she become one of the founts poised for sale to the highest bidder.
Intergalactic relations, in the Western quadrants, were building up to be something like the wild west of old, no matter how nonsensical it was that such advanced species should ever come to that. There was more than enough to go around in the way of resources when everyone played by the rules. It was when the greedy chose not to play by the rules that the worst of things happened. Earth history offered many cautionary lessons about the perils of greed, but it was ultimately the greening that put all wickedness to rest, and forced the people of the land to return to more sustainable ways of meeting their needs and entertaining their whims.
