by Maia Starr
"What is the status on landing?” I asked the pilot.
"We are coming out of hyperdrive in 10 minutes, then we can make our way to Altid,” he said to me.
"Do not wait for landing command to approve. Simply land as soon as you can,” I said as I moved away from the flight deck. The pilot looked at me strangely but followed commands.
"Yes, Commander,” he said.
I quickly moved to the arsenal and armed myself with as many weapons as I could. I pushed knives into my boots and guns in every holster. I didn't have a plan, but I also didn't have a choice.
Minutes later, I felt the engines powering down; it was time. We were landing. I was going to get Shia back if it killed me. I was already dying anyway.
The door to Retriever opened and I quickly ran out of the ship, down the landing port of the moon base. I needed to find Shia and I needed to find her now. I burst into the meeting room of Baradur. He was sitting at a table.
"Where is she? Where is Shia Heton?” I said sternly.
"Commander Duron Spaunok? What are you doing here? You should be pillaging an Earth vessel right about now.”
"Answer me," I shouted.
Baradur stood up angry. “How dare you speak to me in that way! Do you forget that I am your leader?”
"I have not forgotten. Where is she? You cannot send her to Leader Xet Crasis,” I said.
"Oh, I see what is going on here. My warrior reported the communication between you and Shia and your living quarters. He thought it was strange. Now I know the reason: you love her. Have you touched her? Have you mated with her? You do know the penalty if you have,” he said coming toward me.
"You cannot send her to Leader Xet Crasis; he will kill her. It will be a waste of a human female. She is too defiant for such a brutal Corillion warrior. Find another,” I said to him.
"You do love her. It is written all over your face. He will definitely kill her once he realizes that she is carrying your offspring. You cannot tell me that you did not mate with her. Not now, after you barge in here like this risking everything. You risk your life for her.”
"Where is she?"
"Her ship is preparing for departure right at this moment. It is too late,” he said to me. I began to run toward the door ready to leave.
"Stop!” Baradur shouted at me, and several warriors blocked the doorway. “You cannot go after her. She does not belong to you. You will be punished for your disobedience,” he said.
BOOM! An explosion rocked the entire base!
We all fell to the floor. It was complete chaos as all of the buildings shook and the walls vibrated. I knew immediately that we were under attack. I quickly jumped to my feet before the others did, as they were still dazed and unsure of what was going on. I had been in too many air battles to let a single jolt make me hesitate. It was just the distraction that I needed to run out of the room and toward the launching area.
"Shia…” I said as I realized that perhaps the blast was at the launching pad. If she was hurt or dead, I didn't know what I would do. I ran as fast as I could as sirens blared. Through the glass sky domes that I ran under, I could see glimpses of Earth ships firing here and there. It was the same vessel that I had been engaged in battle with. They had followed us. They had used hyperdrive to follow us to the moon base. This was my fault. But it also was the perfect distraction. If Shia and I lived through this, we would have to leave, and that would be easier in this chaos.
EXPLOSIONS boomed all around me. I could not get to the launch pad fast enough. When I finally arrived, there were fires burning and the roof threatened to collapse.
"Shia! Shia!” I shouted. There were dead Corillions all around me on the ground. Many of them had been hurt in the blast. I could now see a clear picture of the battle outside. Corillion ships had taken to the air and there was an air battle between Earth ships and Corillion ships. It was a battle that I should be in, but all I could think about was finding Shia. Perhaps her ship had already launched before the battle siege began. She could be halfway to Crasis by now and to Leader Xet Crasis. I ran to the monitor log to search for ships that were launched.
"Duron!” I heard Shia yell my name.
I turned, and through the smoky fog, I saw her running down the stairs out of a ship. I ran to her. I was so happy to see her. She was alive. She was still on Altid. It was more than I could hope for in the chaotic battle and I realized just how fortunate I was. She ran into my arms and I lifted her off the ground in a tight hug. I would never let her go.
Chapter 9
SHIA HETON
I was absolutely thrilled to see Duron on the communication wall in his living quarters. Even though the communication with static and broken up, I understood him. He was coming for me. He was going to stop this monstrosity from happening to me. I didn't know how, but I knew that he would be with me. I could feel it. I trusted his word. We were bonded.
So when the warrior came in and forced me away, I was completely terrified. I could not go live with this Corillion leader known as Leader Xet Crasis. If he was just as brutal as Baradur had said, then I would end up hurting him, and then I would end up being killed in return. I would not last long. I would not get to see Duron one last time. It was awful timing. I had just got through to Duron and he was coming for me, but he wouldn’t get to me in time now that I was being pulled away.
The warrior dragged me through the base and I kicked and screamed the entire way. I held on to pipes and bars at every turn. Finally, he threw me over his shoulder and I could no longer prolong the trip. He carried me into the launch area. I could see a small ship being prepared. Many Corillions were still working on it. This was good. There was time. He carried me onto the ship and sat me down next to a warrior, who guarded me.
I was on this small transportation ship that would take me to the asteroid known as Crasis when the first bomb went off. I was startled to hear the Corillion warriors shout, “It's the humans! We are under attack by the humans!”
I was frozen in complete shock. Had my messages gotten through to Earth? Were they here to rescue Alexis and I? Would she want to go? There were so many questions running through my mind. Had I caused this siege through the communications I had sent? Now that it was happening I sort of regretted it because I did not know if it meant that Duron would die. But it was perfect timing. I had to figure out how to communicate with the Earth ships to let them know how to find me.
BOOM!
"The launch port has been hit! I repeat, the launch port has been hit!” the warrior shouted into the communication lines. This was good news. It meant that we could not depart to Crasis.
I quickly got up from my seat and ran towards the door and down the stairway of the ship. “Wait!” the warrior shouted.
“Let her go! It is not safe here!” another warrior shouted.
I ran down the stairs and onto the launch floor. Then I saw him, and I could not believe it. Duron was there! I was so relieved when I saw him I ran straight into his arms.
"Duron! You are here! You came back!” I cried into his arms.
"I am here, Shia. Come with me; we do not have much time. We are in a lot of trouble. The Earth vessels followed my ship from the battle we were in. We must get out of here; it is our only chance!”
"They followed you?” I asked him, realizing that perhaps it wasn't because I had signaled them. Maybe they didn't even know I was here.
"Yes, come with me; we must get off this moon base," he said.
I hesitated and stopped. “But it is humans, it is Earth. It is my chance to go home,” I said to him. He stopped and looked at me. There was sorrow on his face. We were both quiet for a few seconds as bombs exploded around us.
"I understand, Shia. If that is what you truly want, then I will help you to get on one of these Earth ships. I don't know how, but we can make it happen. You will be going back to Earth. It is what you want, yes?” he asked.
His willingness to sacrifice never seeing me again so that I could go home made my hear
t swell with joy. Suddenly the feeling of not being with him made me feel sick. Was it really what I wanted? I knew for sure that I did not want to be with Leader Xet Crasis, but that did not mean that I did not want to be with Duron. I had to make a decision, and I had to make it now.
"No. I will go with you."
"Shia, are you sure? This is your time to go home.”
"I am sure. I want to be with you Duron. Take me with you,” I said as I reached up and kissed him.
"It is what I want too. It is all that I want,” he said to me as he grabbed my hand and led me off into a small ship that reminded me of the escape pods from the space station.
“How could we possibly get out of this?” I said to him as the explosions continued around us. I did not see how we could get away from both Earth ships as well as Corillion ships.
"Come with me. I know a way,” he said to me as he continued to drag me through the launch port. He opened a patch on the ground. There was a ladder that led into the ground.
"Climb the ladder! Go down! I'm right behind you!” he shouted.
“All right! I’m going down the ladder! It’s so dark,” I shouted back.
I was terrified as I climbed down the steep ladder that went down into darkness. I could not see anything and I could still feel the vibrations of the attack. I looked up and saw Duron climbing down and closing the lid on top of him. I was relieved that at least he was with me. Then suddenly the entire tunnel of the ladder glowed with green light.
"I opened the panel with my hand print and turned on the light. It’s all right! Keep going; we are almost there, Shia!" he shouted at me.
I looked down and could see the ground now with the green light. I jumped off the last step of the ladder onto the ground. I looked around and could see that it was a very long tunnel. I could not see the end of it. It looked like it went on underground forever.
"Duron, where are we?” I asked him.
"Come on!" He grabbed my hand and led me down the tunnel as he said, “It is an escape tunnel from the moon base. It leads to a smaller launch pad on the other side. We will board a small ship there.”
This gave me hope. I ran faster with him. He was very smart and very skilled. He was a quick thinker. Finally, the tunnel gave way to a small launch port. I could barely hear the blast of the siege battle in the distance. I truly was giving up my chance at going back to Earth to be with Duron. It was a decision that I felt to no regrets over in this moment. It was astonishing how much had changed in such little time. Only a week or two before, I wanted to be on Earth at any cost. Now I felt completely bonded to this Corillion warrior. Maybe there was something to my theory about their kisses emitting spawn-like particles that bonded us to them. But at this point, I did not care; it was too late for me. I just wanted to be with him and it didn't matter where we were, where we went, or whose rules we broke: the Corillions’ or thehumans’. It only mattered that we were together.
"Here, climb in here!" he shouted as he moved around the outside of a small spaceship, removing the tethers that tied it to the launch pad. I climbed inside and quickly fastened myself into a seat. Duron was close behind as he moved in and began to flip switches and knobs and the ship came alive. The engine groaned a soft rumble.
"I have to make sure to take it off-line. No communications,” he said as he pulled on the communication switches, turning it off. We were going rogue. “I do not want to be tracked. We just need to get as far from here as possible.”
"Where will he go?” I asked him.
"Let's figure that out once we are out of range of Altid,” he said.
"Sounds like a plan to me. I'm fastened and ready,” I said to him.
In seconds, the ship shot out of the launch pad straight into deep space. We did it. No one noticed, and we did not have anyone trailing us.
"I'm trying to get us deeper into the astroid belt. It is easier to hide there. There are many space rocks and debris flying around. Earth ships would not dare try to maneuver there. It gives us a lot of cover."
"Is it dangerous?” I asked.
"Everything we have done together is dangerous; this is no different,” he smiled at me. It was good to see a little of the tension leave his face and I knew that we were far from the moon base Altid.
I looked over at him with his long dark hair messy and sweaty, stuck to his face. His blue eyes were focused and he maneuvered the ship expertly. I couldn't believe that this spawn now held my heart, he wasn't even human.
"I am glad you got my message. I am glad you came for me,” I said to him.
"When I got your message, something came over me. I was powered by rage and nothing was going to stop me until I knew that you were safe. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before, Shia. It is very unfamiliar and confusing,” he said to me.
"I understand. It is not how you were programmed. It must be so very strange. I am happy and glad that you followed that feeling and came for me. I do not want to belong to any other Corillion than you,” I said, putting my hand on his.
"That is exactly how I feel as well,” he said to me.
Suddenly I noticed that the blackness of space in front of us was filled with many asteroid rocks. It was a minefield of dangerous debris and asteroids shooting by. I tensed up. Every angle that I looked out the window, there were dangerous things flying around us. I didn’t see how we would be able to get through it. I gasped at the sight.
"Do not worry yourself. I am skilled in this area. I have flown through here many times," Duron said.
"Where does this go?” I asked him.
"This is the way into the Corillion galaxy. The moon base known as Altid is the gateway to it. After passing it, this is the way to the Corillion worlds. This is the way you would be going to get to Crasis.”
"Oh, Duron, we are not passing by there on our way?” I asked.
"No, but we are passing by a few of the other habitations of the Corillion warriors. It is the only way."
BEEP! BEEP!
The siren on the spaceship blared. I felt fear come over me. Duron flipped switches and went into a panic. “No!” he shouted.
"What is it?!” I shouted over the loud siren.
"Someone has a locked on to us! They have control of our ship!” he shouted.
"Is it an Earthship or Corillion ship?” I asked.
He turned to me and gave me a sorrowful look as he said, “Corillion."
Chapter 10
COMMANDER DURON SPAUNOK
I stood there in front of the Supreme Council of the Corillion on the planet base known as Pourock. This was the largest of the Corillion bases in the Corillion galaxy. I was in chains. Shia was at my side, but she was not tied up, and I was glad for it.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Commander Duron Spaunok?” the Supreme Leader Giut Thoen asked me.
"I say that I deserve a fair chance to claim the redheaded human female known as Shia Heton as a forever mate. As you know, we have already mated and it is very likely that she carries my offspring. In punishing me or punishing her, you are in fact stopping the Corillion race from the very thing that we have tried to do for years now: to survive.”
"Yes, but you are not a leader. You are but a warrior, a commander that is in charge of bringing human females to your leaders, not for your own indulgence. That is the way of things. Those are the rules. If we allow you to defy those rules, then what would stop other warriors from following in your footsteps?” he asked.
"I know that what I have done is wrong. But I have spent many years gathering human females for our leaders and have never touched one. It was my leader, Baradur Spaunok, that charged me with taking care of this human female in my own living quarters. I restrained myself from the temptation as much as I could. But it was whenever the human female came to me and offered herself to me that I could no longer hold back,” I said, looking over at Shia.
The council mumbled together in astonishment. Then they looked at Shia and asked, “Is this true huma
n female? Are you the one that instigated mating with this commander known as Duron Spaunok?”
"Yes, Supreme Council. I am the one that wanted this commander. I was in his care for a very long time and we formed a bond. I am the one that mated with him. It is very possible that I am carrying his offspring, and I want to. But I want the commander at my side. I love him. I want him as my forever mate."
I turned to her quickly. Did she say that she loved me? Was this the truth or was she merely trying to spare my life? I wanted to rejoice if it was true. I also loved her in return. It was a very strong feeling that I had not been able to put into words until she did.
The council mumbled again quietly to themselves. I don't think that they were expecting Shia to speak on my behalf. This was the first time they were faced with such a unique situation.
