by Maia Starr
Moments later, he got up and gently help to me to my feet. He stared at me for a long time and then finally said, "Let's go back home."
"But I will be punished for escaping. I will probably have a better chance at living if you let me go in the escape pod instead of returning to the base," I said to him.
He looked at me and said, "No. I will take the responsibility. You will not be harmed. You have my word on that. Trust me."
I did trust him. But I did not think that he had any real power over what happened to me. Yet I knew that he was not going to let me go.
"Let us go home then," I said to him.
"But you are not to see him again. Prana, you are not to see him again. You are mine. Is that understood? You are mine in every way," he said as he squeezed my hand. I nodded my head yes. We put our clothes back on and then made our way into the main part of his ship. I buckled into a seat and so did he as he began to turn on the engines and maneuver the ship back to the planet. I took a good look around me at the darkness of space. I took a look at the two moons and the blue planet; it was possible this was the last time I would ever be in space. I wanted to burn it into my memory.
We entered the atmosphere and Jaylin flew toward the Blue Mountain. Then out of nowhere, we were fired upon. I could see that the fire was coming from somewhere across the vastness of the rocky terrain far from the Blue Mountain.
"It's fire from Belvenreed! They are trying to bring us down!" Jaylin shouted. I did not panic. I was used to combat. In fact, I remained cool and calm in these situations. But I did feel helpless that I could not fire back, or help him fly the ship. But Jaylin did not need help; he flew the ship with expert skill through the barrage of fire. Soon we were in the safe zone and finally landing at the Blue Mountain landing point. We had made it back safely.
When he turned off the engines, he looked at me and said, "That has never happened before. It was almost as if they were expecting us. We were not flying over the base. They would have no idea that there would be a ship entering the atmosphere in that area. They were warned of our return."
I looked at him and knew exactly what he was speaking of. He was talking about a spy. "You think somebody at the base told them? You think you have someone that is in communication with the Belvenreed outpost in secret?"
"Yes, but I hope that I am wrong. Speak nothing of those thoughts to anyone. We will just assume that we were fired upon because luck was with them and they saw us. Tell no one. I am going to escort you to our quarters and then I will have to see the official about your escape."
I nodded my head yes in agreement. He escorted me home and I was confined to quarters.
Chapter 9
COMMANDER JAYLIN BRAKIN
"I have called this meeting in reference to the raid. I believe we should postpone it. I think we might have a spy among us, someone that has been communicating with the Belvenreed outpost."
There were ample grumblings of anger at my words, as there should.
"But we need the supplies. We have to do the raid," a warrior said in response. There was agreement all around.
"Calm! I feel that we should move the raid until we are certain. Or we will cancel it altogether and make do. It is too risky."
"You have grown weak, Commander!" a familiar voice rang through the meeting. I turned to see Prana in opposition to me. Of course he would be. "It is the Kalazaron way to take what we want. We will be strong! We will go in and raid and come out victorious!" he shouted.
The crowd shouted in agreement and I knew that he was appealing to their sense of warrior pride. I was going to get nowhere with this and knew that I needed to speak with the official alone, without the interference.
"Prana is right. We will move forward with the raid. I will speak to the official about the planning of the day and time. For now, we still have a few things that need to be worked out in order to get that fence down. You are all released," I said to them.
I gave Prana a look. I knew this wasn't over for him. He wanted Serena. He had already had a taste of her, and after sampling her myself I knew that it was impossible to give that up. I knew that I wouldn't. He was now an enemy of sorts because he wanted my property. I did not know what lengths he would go to to get it, but this little outburst let me know that he was not afraid to do it in front of our Kalazaron warriors.
After I released the warriors to go back to training, I paid a visit to Official Treen, who was expecting me because of the escape pod debacle. I knew exactly what I was going to tell him.
"Commander, your slave human attempted to escape in an escape pod. She should be punished. She should be put to death, execution," he said to me.
"Official, I am the one that put her up to it. It was part of the plan to expose a communication leak. She is not to blame. She was only following orders as she is my slave and does not have any say over what I tell her to do. As you know, she must follow orders as a slave must."
"What communication leak do you speak of? Why did you send her in an escape pod only to bring her back?" he said as he sat down to listen to me.
"I told no one of this plan in order to figure out once and for all if we did have a spy among us. The plan was for her to look like she was trying to escape in an escape pod. I would then go after her in a personal ship. The reentry would be spontaneous and unplanned and not in the system. Because it was a short amount of time, I would know if we had a communication leak. When we reentered the atmosphere and approached the Blue Mountain, we were fired upon by the Belvenreed outpost. We were not directly over it. They were expecting me. They sought us out. They knew."
"You are right. That was a good plan, Commander. It does seem that we have a communication leak. Do you suspect who this spy might be?"
"No, but because I do not know, I do not think that it is safe to go through with the raid. It is possible that the Belvenreed outpost knows of our plans. They will be waiting for us."
"I will take this into consideration. For now, continue with the target practice."
"Yes, Official Treen," I said as I left his side. I was relieved that I was able to turn Serena’s escape into a plan. This would at least save her life.
Over the next week, I made love to her over and over. I moved her from her private quarters into mine. I enjoyed waking up to her naked, human female form under the sheets next to me in the morning. I loved our playful time together and now that she had brought down her defensive walls, we got along better. Though we still had heated debates over certain things, for the most part it was just part of her defiant spirit. Everything had changed in such a short time, and it caught me off guard. I was one that had not planned to take a mate. I had not planned to have a human female slave. Yet it was forced upon me, and now I had fallen for this human female, Serena.
We had suddenly become an inseparable couple. Something I thought that would never happen to me, especially not with a human female. But this one was unlike any other human female that I had ever met. She had gained my trust. Now that she had attempted an escape, I think she got it out of her system. I let her roam the base freely and visit the females that she came with from the Earth ship. She seemed to be happier. We had grown playful and I knew that I was falling for her.
It was something that I did not want to happen, because I had great duties to attend to. Love for a human female would only mean distraction, but I could not help myself. I knew that what had happened between her and Prana was put behind her now. Though I did not think he understood that fact. I started to see a change in him. I no longer saw him as the eager, wide-eyed warrior. I saw him as a calculating individual that I did not trust around Serena. To me, he was a danger to her.
On one afternoon, I went in search of her. I wanted her to sit with the warrior that was going to shoot the control panel on the fence to see why he was still not making the target. I was coming down the mountainside when I saw her walking across the village forum. I saw Prana eyeing her from a distance and then he moved toward her.
I quickened my pace. I watched as he moved in front of her and she tried to sidestep him, moving away. He blocked her movement. I could hear her shout, "Leave me alone!"
He grabbed her arm and the anger boiled within me as I finally reached them. I heard her say again, "I don't want to do that with you anymore. I belong to the commander."
"That never stopped you before," he said.
"Leave her alone. You are not to touch her," I said as I stepped between them. Prana's face fell from the smile to an ugly scowl. He was pissed off. I understood why. It was one thing for me to tell him that he could not have Serena. But it was another for him to hear it from her. At first she had been obliging toward his advances, and now she did not want him. This is what pissed him off.
He looked at me up-and-down and then he looked at Serena and gave her a dirty look. That won't going to help his cause, I thought to myself, laughing at how foolish she was being. Then he stepped aside and moved away from us. I grabbed Serena by the hand and led her to her destination. This was becoming more complicated.
Chapter 10
SERENA SWANDS
I saw it. I saw Prana in a completely new light. He had a dark side and it was scary. After Jaylin and I had returned from space, everything had altered. I now had deep feelings for the commander and I did not want to be sexual with Prana anymore. He had seemed like such a nice and understanding warrior. But the first time I told him that I no longer wanted to bed him, he became angry and aggressive.
The first time I told him was when I was leaving the living quarters of Maria and Elizabeth. He had run into me and said, "There you are. I've been expecting you to find me to run off for one of our sessions. I was afraid after I would never see you again after seeing you try to escape. I'm glad that you're safe."
"Thank you, Prana. But I can no longer run off for our sessions. It was fun while it lasted, but I truly belong to the commander now in every way. I can be with no one else."
He laughed for a second until he realized that I was being serious. Then his face took on an angry look as he said, "You will not reject me. No one rejects me, especially not for that commander."
"I do not think you understand. I am not going to bed you anymore. Leave me be," I said as I walked away from him. I heard him let out a snarl as I walked away and it frightened me. But I was a strong woman that knew how to defend myself if it came to that. But what frightened me was how easily he switched from kind and fun to this dark creature. Could this have been him all along and I did not see it? I let my spite for the commander blind me to the sweet words of Prana, when he could've been playing me all along.
After that moment, I became the commander’s in all ways. We continued to make love on a daily basis. I was falling for him. Then one morning, I woke up and I was feeling ill. I assumed that something that I ate was not working with me since it was foreign food to me. I thought nothing of it. But then the next morning I had the same feeling, and then again and again I was feeling nauseous. Then I had a completely different feeling. I knew it. I was pregnant! But how?
Everyone knew it was impossible for a human female to become pregnant from a Kalazaron male. It had never happened before as far as we knew. It was outrageous. I thought perhaps it could be Mason’s, but so much time had passed and I would have received the morning sickness on the journey to Kaethon from the Madera. And I did not have the feeling that I had now, that feeling that something was inside of me.
I made my way to the reconstructionist, Pentor. I remembered that when I had arrived he scanned my body, and if I had been pregnant at that time, he would have noticed. Now I knew for sure that I did not become pregnant by Mason. It happened after I arrived on this planet. I felt sick to my stomach knowing that I would have no way of knowing who the father was. Was it Prana's baby? Or was it Jaylin's?
"This is unbelievable," Pentor said as he scanned my body with a projector tool. "You are correct. You are with child."
I gasped in shock. "What do you see, Pentor? Is it human?"
"It is reading both human and Kalazaron. It has DNA from both. This is extraordinary. This has never happened before."
"Listen, Pentor. You must keep this a secret for now. I will come to you for checkups and visits, but you must keep it to yourself. Is there a way to know who the father is, as there are two Kalazarons that might be the father?"
"Yes, there is away. But not for a few more weeks. We must wait until it has grown a bit. Then I can do the test."
"Thank you. Remember: Keep it a secret for now until those test can be run. Promise?"
"Yes. It is a secret. I will tell you which foods to eat and only drink water, not the Icannet."
I left the reconstructionist and was now carrying a big secret. I had a secret, alien baby inside of me. I did not know who the father was. The timing couldn't be worse because the raid on Belvenreed was happening the following day. Jaylin was the only warrior that could hit the target. It was all up to him, so I could not tell him about this, even if I wanted to. There was too much at stake.
The next day the warriors gathered in the landing point and the raiding party was preparing.
"Let me go with you. I can take out the electrical box. I can do it," I said to Jaylin.
"No, it is too dangerous. You must stay here," he said to me. He gave me a deep, long kiss and hugged me. When he pulled away, I saw Prana across the room with anger on his face. He jumped on top of a ship and began to address the crowd with some shocking news.
"Warriors! Listen before we raid! There is a spy among us! This spy has made sure that this attack will fail! There is your spy! The human female!"
He pointed at me and the crowd grumbled and gathered closer around me. Warriors surrounded Jaylin and I was completely confused as to why he was saying this. Was he simply that bitter about being rejected? There had to be more to it.
Then he continued shouting, "She had planned to be the target shooter. She was going to pretend to shoot the electrical box and instead shoot at the tower guards to let the Belvenreed outpost know they were being attacked. She has been in communication with the Belvenreed outpost. They have promised her freedom in exchange for information from the base. She told me she did not want to be here and would do whatever she had to in order to get out. I did not know what she meant until I followed her and secretly put it together! There is your spy! She threatens to ruin this for all of us!"
My mouth fell open at his lies. He must be very angry indeed that I rejected him to go to such lengths in order to separate me from Jaylin. Jaylin was shouting at the warriors that were coming toward me trying to defend me. But it was too late. They had already sided with Prana and were putting me in cuffs and leading me away.
"Let her go! He lies!" Jaylin shouted.
"If that is so, it will be sorted after the raid. To be safe, she will be put into prison until the raid is over and her fate and innocence can be decided," another commander said. I was helpless against the majority.
"Do not worry, Serena! I will come for you after the raid!" he shouted to me. I believed him. But I was afraid that he would not return to the base after the raid. Not because I did not think he was a skilled warrior or that it would not go well, but because of Prana. There would be lots of chaos in battle, and I felt that Prana may take it upon himself to use this time to kill Jaylin.
I quietly went along with the warriors that were escorting me. I had to figure out a way to get out of this. I was a strong, female soldier, but I could not find my way out like I had done so many times before. I had a child in my belly now and it made things more complicated. I could not use my physical strength as I had always relied on. I would have to use my wits.
They pushed me into a room and locked it behind me. I could hear the sounds of speed pod racers leaving the mountain base. I had to be on one. I had to go to the cliff side and shoot the target.
"What are you doing in here, Serena?" a voice said to me. I turned to see that it was the human female Lisa. She had become a fri
end and someone I talked too often about my situation.
"Lisa, I am so glad you're here. You must get me out of here. I have to help with the raid. I was put in here falsely by Prana when I no longer allowed him to touch me."
"Prana. He has treated me badly as well. He is a dark Kalazaron. I believe you. But if I help you, you must not tell anyone that it was I who released you."
"I will tell no one," I said to her. She quickly unlocked the door from the outside.
"Thank you." I quietly left the building and made my way to the landing port. I snuck into a speed racer pod and clumsily flew behind a fleet of them. I followed them to a flat plateau along a ridge. In the distance, I could see the Belvenreed outpost. I watched as a large group of speed racer pods were approaching the fence of the Belvenreed outpost. They must have already shot at the electrical box and brought the fence down. I landed the speed racer pad on the flat plateau and ran towards the edge. Then I heard shouting over the radio.
