“If I suffer from any sort of ‘awareness’ around one of the females, I’ll ignore it, or run like hell. I don’t have time or the inclination for such nonsense. I continue to take my pleasure when I can and focus on the business of keeping our people safe.”
It was the general’s turn to chuckle. “So says the man who hasn’t yet found his mate.”
Roth snorted. “I have more common sense and self-control than to be sucked in by female wiles.”
“You know it’s more than that.”
“That’s what makes our ways so reliable. It’s basic chemistry. If I stick with females who are less than 50 percent compatible, I’ll be able to see to my needs, and theirs, naturally—I’m not completely selfish—and afterwards, I can return to what matters most, my command.”
“That sounds rather cold and impersonal.”
“What can I say?” Roth replied with a shrug. “I am a ship’s captain to the bone. Besides, my last bed partner didn’t have any complaints while she was moaning my name to the rafters.”
Trask laughed, but it was cut short, as was their conversation when Kerr entered and called for their attention.
Roth and the other warriors listened to the much-anticipated news that the females were indeed a biocellular match with Primarian DNA and that successful breeding had an extremely high probability. As cheers erupted among the men, Roth sat quietly watching, happy for his brethren and their imminent mating. He was also biding his time to share his own good news.
When the conversation spiraled down into jokes and a few risqué comments, Roth interrupted before things got too out of hand.
“I hate to delay the testing, breaching, and mating festivities you have planned, but I have some news of my own to impart before we adjourn.” He ignored the grumbles and groans and continued at the Princep’s nod. “We believe we have tracked the alien females’ ship. They have slowed and established orbit around one of the smaller marginally habitable planets. It doesn’t appear they are planning to go back for their missing crew.”
Kerr frowned. “What kind of species abandons their own?”
“I’m not sure, but preliminary scans estimate nearly three hundred on board. We need to be closer for a more in-depth analysis to be sure, but what if—like their landing team—the crew is all-female as well?”
“You’re proposing we go after them?”
“Absolutely!” he replied heartily. “The few we acquired are not nearly enough to repopulate our world. Forty times that many wouldn’t be either, though it would be a step in the right direction.”
The room erupted into discussion, most in favor of pursuit, but Roth could see Kerr had serious doubts. Claiming eight females who crossed their path while on a hunting expedition was one thing; chasing and commandeering an entire vessel, and summarily taking every member of its crew captive, was quite another.
At the Princep’s hesitation, Eldrin, one of the two elders who had come along to hunt, spoke up. “I know this goes against the grain for you, Kerr, but we agreed to do whatever it takes to save our people from extinction.”
“It is the first promising race we have found in a decade,” Mordrun, the other elder, added.
Silence encompassed the room as they awaited Kerr’s ruling. Roth could tell by the strained expression on his friend’s face that the magnitude of the decision was weighing heavily upon him. He was an excellent leader, not easily pushed into rash decisions, gathering facts, and listening to different views often before deciding. In this, Roth had a strong suspicion how he would rule, his people always being Kerr’s main priority. The Princep’s next question was directed his way.
“Surely, we’re not prepared to take three hundred more on board the Intrepid.”
“No,” Roth replied. “We can wait until after we bring this group home, then return with the Dauntless. It can be readied by the time we arrive.”
The premier vessel of their space fleet, the Dauntless, was the newest, largest, and best equipped. It required a minimum of two hundred crew members, but could easily quarter five times that many. Three hundred “guests”—even reluctant ones—would not be an issue.
“How do you propose taking their ship?” Kerr put forth after a long moment of consideration. “I won’t see them harmed.”
“Neural gas,” suggested Jarlan, their chief medical expert, or physic, as he was often called. “Odorless, tasteless, it causes temporary paralysis of the motor functions, and there are no significant side effects. Nausea, headache, maybe some dizziness would be expected for most of them until it passes out of their system. The worst we can expect is some bumps and bruises if they fall when the gas takes effect.”
Kerr sought Trask’s input next.
“Another option without using force is stunning their craft with an electromagnetic pulse. It will disable them, taking out their weapons and navigation systems.” The general met their leader’s gaze directly for the rest of his explanation. “Unfortunately, it will also impact their life-support systems, which means we’ll be pressed for time to get all them out before oxygen levels dip to lethal levels.”
“I do not recommend this,” Jarlan put in, his jaw set and his brow furrowed in concern.
“Nor do I,” replied Trask. “If they resist once we board—which they undoubtedly will—the window of time will narrow. And hand-to-hand combat with these small females is not something I relish. Some are bound to be injured as we subdue them.”
Still not convinced, Kerr pressed for more specifics. “How do you suggest deploying the paralyzing neural gas?”
“We would need to introduce it into the ventilation system.” Plotting aloud, Roth pulled up the holographic image of the alien ship that Hayden in his efficiency had ready to go. “Our scans tell us there are two optimal entry points. The first accesses the docking station manually, which means there is a risk of injury to any of their guards who might try to repel our boarding. The other option is to send a probe to drill through the hull.” He pointed to the multi-dimensional image floating above the table, and with a few swipes of his hands, zoomed in on the precise location. “I recommend here, by their main ventilation ducts. There is a risk of decompression, though it is minimal, and if that occurs, we can deploy the EMP and get them out as quickly as possible.”
Further discussion ensued, weighing the pros and cons of all the options. After another long contemplative pause, Kerr’s measured gaze swept through them all one by one. When it reached Roth, he gave the order. “Make the preparations for pursuit, Commander, but when you engage, go carefully. I don’t want even one of them harmed in any way.”
For a second time, the room erupted in cheers and eager discourse, although Kerr didn’t join in. Roth, bearing the responsibility of carrying out the mission, would also wait until after the females were captured and safely brought to Primaria before celebrating. He stood, his eyes connecting with his friend’s for a moment in silent understanding, before he bowed and quit the room. Already his mind was planning every detail of what needed to be accomplished in the short time, no more than three full days, before the Dauntless would be ready to depart. He didn’t dare wait another time cycle, lest their prey move on and result in a pursuit halfway across the galaxy.
3
Heart pounding, her lungs constricting, with a searing heat stabbing into her side, she pushed her body to run faster, while darting a brief glance over her shoulder. It was dark, and the only thing keeping her from slamming into something in her path was a thin sliver of moonlight passing through the leaf-laden branches overhead. Maggie sensed him drawing closer and was convinced if she stopped and peered into the blackness of the forest, she would see his purple eyes staring out at her.
He was out there, somewhere, sizing her up and stalking her relentlessly, like prey. Often she sensed he was close enough to pounce, but he didn’t, not ready to stop playing with his toy quite yet.
A bird overhead screeched, as though in warning.
Panicked, sh
e pushed her body to move faster.
Out of the dense foliage a large body suddenly appeared, long arms reaching for her. Her screams were cut short as he took her easily to the ground. What scant breath she had left in her lungs rushed out with a whoosh as she landed atop his hard body. Next, he rolled, crushing her face down, trapped beneath his massive frame and the debris-strewn forest floor. She struggled futilely, his strength far too great. Hands, large enough to dwarf hers as an adult’s did a child, captured her flailing wrists and pinned them in the damp earth beside her head.
A frightened, quaking sob escaped her. “Please, don’t,” she managed in a reedy-thin, breathless plea for mercy.
There was no response, except the brush of his breath across the back of her neck. Then something hot and wet trailed up the side of her throat. Her mind reeled at the reality that it was the beast’s tongue. He was tasting her. She braced for the pain of his teeth next as she became his supper. And although she wasn’t ordinarily a very spiritual person, a prayer for a quick death came immediately to her lips.
But the pain didn’t come. Instead, his weight lifted from her body.
Stunned and confused, she wasn’t sure whether he understood her pitiful begging or if the Almighty had decided to intercede. It was neither, she realized, as she was abruptly flipped onto her back and pressed fully into the leaves and soil beneath her.
Expecting a huge, hulking beast, she blinked in surprise as she stared up at a strikingly handsome man. Dark, thick hair fell forward from either side of his head, surrounding her own like a curtain. She could feel more so than make out in the darkness his muscular shoulders, bulging biceps, and forearms, and the broad chest that constrained her, flattening her full breasts with every gulp of air she drew into her still-heaving lungs.
“Are you human?” she managed to gasp.
His only response was a flash of white teeth as he smiled.
She tried again. “What do you want with me?”
The answer was silent, coming this time in the shift of his body as his solid thigh firmly pressed her own apart and his hips settled between them. She trembled as his imposing hardness pushed up along her soft center. With a flip of his head, he whipped his long hair behind him, letting in a glimmer of moonlight. It was enough to see that his mouth had curved into a full grin and his eyes were the same purple orbs that she’d sensed staring at her out of the darkness. They deepened almost to black as he moved the length of his shaft deliberately against her.
She needed no words of explanation; he meant to have her.
While her fear and panic rose, she was betrayed by a rush of tingling heat between her thighs as her body responded. That wasn’t all that gave her desire away, however. Her nipples hardened, forming taut peaks as they pressed against her flight suit, and her clit throbbed for attention. Shame filled her when her hips lifted, as if having a will of their own, and her needy pussy pressed urgently into him.
How could she possibly become aroused by this huge, marauding alien? He’d take what he wanted, easily. As he’d done with her crew, snatching them from the planet’s surface, and then vanishing without a trace.
“Please…” she groaned helplessly.
“Oh, I aim to please, little captain. As I fuck you, claim you, and make you mine forever.”
The words spoken in precise English startled her so that she jerked, fiercely enough to make him roll off her body. She screamed, the sound echoing back to her and waking her with a violent jolt.
Sitting upright in bed, she tried to acclimate herself to what was real. Beneath her, the hard forest floor transformed into the firmness of her mattress. The glowing green light of the control panel near the door and the stark whiteness of the walls grounded her, as the residual fingers of the dream faded. Shaken, her hands came up and speared through her damp hair.
“It was a dream,” she said aloud as if trying to convince herself. Glancing around and seeing that the normal images of her bedroom remained constant, she repeated it with more conviction. “It was only a dream.”
Flipping back the thin cover, she swung her legs over the side of the bed as she tried to shake the incredibly vivid images and powerful sensations. She could practically feel his strong, inflexible fingers manacling her wrists and his rigid cock pressing into her overeager pussy.
Pushing to her feet, she lurched across the room and into her small bathroom. Foregoing the lights, she turned on the cold faucet full blast and splashed cold water on her face.
What kind of slut was she to fantasize about sex with an alien being, the kind who hunted, captured, and manhandled women, and not the least of it, spanked them, or worse?
After sluicing more water on her flushed face, she gazed intently at her reflection, visible in the slight glow of the footlights interspersed throughout the room. Regardless of the water dripping off her nose and chin, she didn’t appear different. Same wavy blonde hair, sky blue eyes—identical to her mother’s—and the same detested dimple in her right cheek. Her skin was as fair as always, except...
Leaning closer, she frowned while running her finger lightly over the delicate tissue below her eyes. She’d always been prone to dark circles, but right now, they didn’t look like the usual shadows. Instead, they were purplish-black, more like bruises, as if she’d gone a few rounds with the champ in a prize-fight and lost big. She grimaced in disgust. With the worry and stress keeping her up in recent days, they appeared far worse than ever before.
“First few minutes of sleep in days, and I am tormented by sex dreams starring a lecherous alien!”
Maggie took a deep breath to calm herself. She reached for a towel, wiped the water from her face, neck, and chest, and in frustration threw it into the sink. Planning to analyze her disturbing sex dream later—perhaps a decade past never—she went to her closet for dry clothes.
She hadn’t slept in three nights and it was beginning to show, not only in the dark circles and stress lines on her face, but in her increased irritability. Until just now, every time she had an idle moment or tried to rest, horrible images of what the missing crew members were enduring filled her head. She imagined them as anything from the main course to some huge, ugly beasts to their sex slaves for breeding.
“At least that explains tonight’s lewd dream,” she muttered.
As she left her quarters and made her way through the ship, the exhaustion and tension hit her as she wrapped her hand around the back of her neck and squeezed. She couldn’t go on like this. A captain needed to be sharp, on her game, prepared for the next crisis or life and death decision. Telling herself she would stop by sickbay as soon as possible, Maggie spun around instead, and went in the opposite direction, making a beeline for the galley and the coffee she needed to function.
Less than ten minutes later, while sipping from her 24-ounce blended half espresso, half high-test coffee made with freeze-dried Robusta beans—what her crew referred to as “liquid oomph” due to the 600-plus milligrams of caffeine per cup—she made her way to the bridge. As she waited for the lift, she thought back over the taxing past three days.
Once safely out of range of the alien ship, they’d bided their time, watching carefully. When it moved out of the sector the next day, heading in the opposite direction from where they were obscured behind a moon, Maggie ordered their return to SperoMP13. This time she sent down drones, unwilling to risk more lives. The data sent back prompted more questions than answers. There were no heat signatures, C02 readings, or other human life signs. More curiously, the giant creatures seemed to have vanished.
Her crew wanted to continue the search, but the facts were undeniable; their valued team mates, and to many, close friends, were no longer on the planet. Where they had gone was anyone’s guess: taken somehow by the barbarians, or by the aliens up to their ship, or perhaps—per several suppositions, including her own—they were one and the same.
The unending questions were enough to amp the stress levels of her and the crew through the roof. A
nd three days after the awful event, it showed no sign of abating, especially when she’d given the order to set a course for SperoMP2, the second most viable planet in the system.
Immediately, morale took a tail spin. Although they went about their duties like it was business as usual, her typically upbeat crew—despite being in space for as long as they had—did so with long-faced glum expressions. The commonplace smiles and laughter of a week ago had been replaced with faraway looks and sad sighs.
One of the junior officers muttered that it was like being on a flying morgue. An apt description, considering the morose demeanor of the crew, especially the captain.
As she arrived at bridge level and moved down the short corridor to the nerve center of the entire ship, she sucked down another healthy swig of mega-caffeine. When the doors slid open, the wave of panic emitting from the crew was like a slap in the face. As she stepped inside, the alarms began to sound.
“What’s happening?” she demanded, shoving her coffee cup at the first person she passed.
“The alien ship, ma’am. It’s back.”
“Put it on screen,” she ordered.
With a flicker the digital display changed from an image of the shields coming, one by one, around the ship, to an enormous space craft. It filled the entire screen, giving the impression that it was right on top of them.
“Reduce magnification so I can see the damn thing,” she snapped.
“This is standard resolution, ma’am. No magnification. That thing is as massive as it appears, believe me.”
“Holy shit! It’s got to be ten times the size of the Odyssey.”
“Eighteen, by my calculations, Captain.”
“Shields?”
“Activated and at full power,” Nala replied.
His By Command (Primarian Mates Book 2) Page 3
