Alien Invader's Baby (Science Fiction Alien/BBW Secret Baby Romance)
Page 12
Messages didn't get much clearer than that.
Gotcha.
There was a ringing in her ears and the world pulled away from her and she heard Bella squeal as if from a great distance.
Part 2
29
The radio crackled. "Thanks, Carry Six. Unloading complete. Right on time."
"Always," Dani said and increased power to the engines, preparing to lift off from the surface. The cargo shuttle shook as its undercarriage left the ground, and she pointed the nose up to accelerate to escape velocity and take the empty craft back to the ship.
Combat duty was out of the question for her now that she was the only survivor from the loss of the Copernicus. She had been transferred to a Space Marine ship called the Procyon, which only had ten thousand Space Marines on board and was engaged with exploring a solar system where no aliens had been detected. Any Space Marine could fly a shuttle, and being transferred to Logistics was fine with her.
The Vlon were still coming at mankind from many directions, and Space Force was reeling with the hard onslaught of giant cockroaches. But Dani was glad she didn't have to deal with them right now.
The loss of the Copernicus with an elite Space Marine division aboard it was the greatest space disaster since the destruction of the Moon colony the last time the Ethereals had been around. Dani's role in the whole event had to be investigated, as well as everything that had to do with Crixael.
Olivia had not placed any blame on Dani. "When Ethereals want to screw decent people over, they usually find a way. He sought you out because of who you are, then spun his web around you. You never had a chance."
Dani herself was of another opinion, one that she had kept to herself. If it was true that Crixael didn't love her, then she couldn't love anyone ever again and she was just terrible at understanding other people's emotions. But she couldn't bring herself to believe that he hadn't been truthful about liking her, at least.
Shit, she hoped he had been honest about that.
The shuttle was out in space above the planet's atmosphere, and she flew straight into the huge hangar.
Her pilot's helmet came off easily. It was a different design than the helmet from her battlesuit, and her long hair had been in the way, so she had cut it shorter. And she had given it a lighter color. Because it felt right and she knew she had changed. The old Dani was gone.
Her shift was over, and she would have sixteen hours to herself before the next one started.
The Procyon was a newer ship than the Copernicus, and her cabin was larger. It didn't matter one way or the other. She never had guests and she never socialized outside of work hours.
She kicked off her boots and stripped off her fatigues, then got into loose, comfortable pants and an old-fashioned sweater with huge text on the front. Space Marine Academy, it said.
Well, she would never be going back there for her officer's training. Everyone she met knew that she had been at the center of the Copernicus disaster, and they kept their distance. It was clear that she was no longer trusted by Space Force. Not even her mother trusted her anymore. Something had broken between them.
Well, Dani thought and lay down on her bunk, her mother had good reason to not trust her. She had kept important information from her. And she still was. She wasn't showing yet, but she was only a month into the pregnancy anyway. At some time, she had to come clean to someone. Probably she'd just tell the ship doctor and have it treated as any normal pregnancy.
She glanced up at the wall where she had hung the sword after it was retrieved from the point in space where the Copernicus had exploded. No one had commented about it to her face, and they had simply given it back to her. But the message it represented was obvious to everyone: that ship had exploded because of her.
The physics behind the explosion were still not understood, but everyone knew that only Ethereals could do something like that.
She got her pad from the shelf over her head and stroked Bella's back as she started reading. She could get through a book a night, including taking notes of the most important parts. Right now she was two thirds finished with another volume about negotiating, and next she would start on the memoirs of a diplomat from the old days. She had many lined up about different topics. Alien cultures, alien languages, xenobiology, cultural understanding, exploration and even books about making business deals. As well as hundreds of documentaries and learning programs about the topics that she thought would give her a background for talking to aliens. Especially new aliens that would be encountered as mankind moved further out into space.
She knew that there was little chance that she would ever need the things she was learning in whatever job she would get from then on. But this was her own choice. This was what she should have done all along. And all it had taken for her to understand it was her whole unit destroyed.
She looked up at the wall. Beside her sword hung a picture someone had taken of her and parts of her squad and other marines during some kind of celebration at The Dump. It was not too flattering of her, but Nichole and Kelson looked suitably silly in it. She couldn't look at it without welling up. But she made sure to look at it many times a day. She would not forget.
Her time with Space Force was pretty much done anyway. When the full story of her involvement with Crixael became known, they would have no choice but to kick her out. And if anyone asked, she wouldn't hold back. She'd tell them everything. She wasn't ashamed.
Heck, she could even go back to Brax, marry a warrior and just be a princess. Space Force wasn't going to suddenly be all interested in diplomacy and meeting aliens with an outstretched hand after this. The latest experience with Ethereals had stressed the wisdom that when you meet someone new in space, you better make sure he knows you're armed and dangerous. Even better if you start your encounter by giving him a very vivid and bloody demonstration. Punch the guy before he even knows you're there.
Standard Space Force strategy.
But so unwise. So much war. Such a fearful way to approach the galaxy. Wouldn't it be better to meet everyone with a big and genuine smile? And, as Kienle had said, hold your gun behind your back at first?
The thought of her old friend who was now dead sent a sharp barb to her heart. There had been many tears and lonely nights spent awake in her cabin, staring at the ceiling with eyes that only saw the Copernicus explode again and again.
She had come to pretty fast after the shock of seeing the ship destroyed had made her faint, and she had told no one about it. She had simply left her mother's quarters and gone to report to the first Space Marine officer she could find on the Tycho. They'd struggled a lot with what to do with her, and she got the feeling her mother had stayed out of it. And Logistics wasn't the worst place to be while she lived out her last weeks with Space Force.
What would happen when her pregnancy was discovered? Everyone would just have to deal with it, including her. She wasn't thrilled about it yet. But she hoped that she would be. Bringing a new life into the world couldn't be bad, no matter who the father was.
Then? A peaceful and effortless life on Brax, raising Crixael's child. Or on Earth, if her father really decided to be angry about it. Of course she couldn't get married. Which man, reckless Braxian warrior or not, could measure up after Crixael?
She sighed. No one could. He was a god. And now he was gone.
She should have known better.
She turned the page.
30
"Oh Crix, it pains me more than I can say to see you here! But you did bring it on yourself."
Diamsheba didn't look the least bit as if she had ever felt pain in her entire life. The contrast between her otherworldly beauty and the horrific surroundings was so stark Crixael wanted to laugh. But he was in genuine pain, and laughter was the last thing he'd be seriously contemplating.
"I think you'll find Benirsheba brought it on me," he said, keeping his demeanor just as cool and unaffected as always. "But it's not bad at all. No, the only thing tha
t bothers me very slightly is that she found it necessary to rip my pants. Look! It's scandalous."
He nodded towards his pant leg, where a microscopic tear had appeared during the struggle when Queen Benirsheba's minions had forcibly removed him from the cabin on the Earthling spaceship. He had known instinctively that there was something disastrous happening, and he had fought them with all his might. He had taken two of them out of the fight, but with most of his powers cancelled by Queen Benirsheba, the outcome had never been in doubt.
Diamsheba didn't even glance at the rip. She wore her black hair up, and it cascaded down in either side of her bronze face, framing its unearthly beauty with heartrending perfection. She only wore a sheer white cloth around her waist, and at any earlier time her perky, naked breasts would have enticed him quite a lot. Now, she was only annoying.
She giggled like a mildly amused toddler. "What do you think will happen to you? Will you be reduced to dust? Oh Crix, if it comes to pass, I will of course be first in line. Because can there be any delicacy better than a half dust, half Ethereal being? You can console yourself that at least one of us will appreciate it."
He winked. "Diamsheba, our queen is wiser than I'd thought. Mildly unpleasant as this situation is, it is made infinitely worse by your vapid presence."
She gasped in feigned shock and brought a slender, perfectly feminine little hand to her mouth. "Oh Crix! How could you! You know I place great value on my conversational skills. You've hurt me to the core of my soul. I shall never forgive you."
"That would certainly be regrettable. But it has become clear to me that if there's one thing you lack, it is precisely that; a soul. Thus I have not harmed you deeply. But fear not, for when I am king I will make sure that a search for your soul is begun."
The Ethereal female laughed with crystal clarity, and her sharp teeth glittered between blood-red lips. "King? I fear this well-deserved ordeal of yours has made you lose your mind. Or are you trying to entertain me? Yes, of course. That's it. Even here you're the perfect gentleman, placing the greatest value on the entertainment of others. It is much appreciated, Crix. I shall advise the queen that we only consume you slowly, that we may enjoy your wonderful manners as long as possible. It's the least we can do."
He only smirked. She was absolutely serious, he knew that. She had never in her life had to hide her true desires. None of them had. They would always state their lusts and be sure that they would be fulfilled.
He glanced down the narrow corridor, brightly lit in white like the meat counter of a butcher's store. "Have you taken your pick?"
Diamsheba frowned at the long row of cages and placed a sharp-nailed index finger at her lips, thinking deeply. "It seems the selection isn't as good as one might wish. I mean, certainly some of these have an acceptable flavor, and all of them would do in a pinch. But the youngest are gone. And now I crave something new. Didn't Denibael greatly enjoy human flesh? The sweetness and the softness? And the sounds they would sing when one bit into them? My mouth waters at the thought, Crix, and I am grateful that our queen has decided that we will conquer their space. So I suppose the anticipation will have to tide me over until we can procure some of them." She stomped her foot like a spoiled toddler. "But I want something right now, too!"
She sashayed down the corridor, peeking into each cage and smiling sweetly to the sentient beings held there, her finger running along the metal bars as she walked. Finally she stopped at one cage and peered thoughtfully at the creature inside. The door to the cage opened and her hand shot out like a snake and grabbed something, then pulled it out.
It was a young Idiro, a sentient species that Queen Benirsheba's wave had encountered some years before and which had actually put up a respectable fight before they were inevitably conquered and eradicated. All that remained of their large civilization was a handful of beings in these cages. This one knew perfectly well what its fate was about to be in Diamsheba's care, and the little being squealed in despair and struggled helplessly in the Ethereal's hard, beautiful hand.
"Hello," Diamsheba said with the sweetness of a mother talking lovingly to her own child. "Shall I take you out of this terrible cage and bring you up to the golden levels? Yes? Very well."
She sashayed back over to Crixael's cage and held her squealing victim out to him. "Did you ever have one of these? Oh no, I forgot – you only eat non-sentients. How thoughtless of me. This must offend you greatly. But still, how strange of an Ethereal to not eat sentients. Are they not the peak of life? Is there anything more worthy for consumption in this galaxy? I suppose your half-ness would catch up with you eventually. Had you only been whole! I shall recommend to our queen that she reduces you to dust permanently. You will be a feast, Crix. Such an honor for you!"
She winked at him and sent him the sultriest, flirtiest look any woman would ever be able to and walked off with her victim, her flared, womanly hips swaying with great sensuality under the half-transparent cloth carelessly tied around her waist. Then a steel door clanged and she was gone, carrying the meal she would devour while keeping the creature alive for as long as possible.
Crixael sighed, relieved to be alone again. The metal manacles around his wrists and ankles were digging into his flesh, but he preferred the pain to the reminder of what the Ethereals were.
Destroying, killing, eating, consuming, eradicating – those things didn't require any effort at all, and so they were worthless. Building, creating, adding to, developing, improving – those things took real effort. And thus they were valuable.
Why had he said he would be king? That was too ridiculous an idea to even laugh at. He would be lucky to survive this day. But the thought had just occurred to him. For no reason.
He looked down the corridor. Thousands of cages, most of them containing one or more sentient beings of various species, all intelligent, all from a species that had built some kind of civilization that no longer existed because Benirsheba and her wave had destroyed them. Now they were all waiting to be eaten alive, ripped into by the sharp teeth of unspeakably beautiful Ethereals.
They had built and created. Benirsheba never had. Someone should protect them from her. Someone should protect the rest of the galaxy from the Ethereals. And only another Ethereal could do that.
He flexed his hands, making sure to keep the blood flowing. Physical pain was not new to him, but he had never felt it as acutely as now.
He could only keep his mind away from her for seconds at a time. She filled his mind, and she always would. No one else would come close.
Danai'a. Even her name seemed full of beauty and strength. Not the artificial, contrived beauty of the Ethereals, but the beauty born from life and struggle and emotions and an actual soul. She had all that.
She was alive. He knew that from the little information he had been able to glean from the Ethereals who sporadically came down here to get a living snack. The ship had exploded, but she could not have been aboard it. He had no doubts about it at all. She was alive. He could feel it. And there was more to her now. Something he couldn't grasp. Something of the greatest importance.
He smiled at the thought of her. He knew now what it was he felt for her. It was something that Ethereals could fake, but could never feel for someone other than themselves. That was what had confused him to start with – he had felt the same for her as he felt for himself. And then he started feeling more for her than for himself. He knew what it was now.
He loved her.
31
"Says here you have negotiated with Vlon," the captain said, reading from a pad. "And you survived a couple of encounters with them."
"Yes, sir." Dani stood in the at-ease position in his office, wearing her pilot's suit. The captain was not in charge of her cargo shuttle section, but commanded a reconnaissance company. She was used to being shuffled back and forth between various units. That was just the way the Space Marines worked. Any marine could do almost any job in the corps, and she had experience with all of them.
"I don't know, sir." The officer must be pretty new in the Space Marines. You never asked someone if they wanted to do something – you ordered them.
"See, the reason I'm asking is that I don't want to send you and a platoon of my own guys down there if it's hopeless from the beginning. What would the conditions have to be to make something like that work? In your opinion?"
Hm, Dani thought. That was rare in the Space Marines. An officer who didn't pretend to have every answer and who felt okay asking subordinates about things they knew better than him. She could respect someone like that.
"Sir, Space Force must be in a position of strength. It's much harder to negotiate from a position of weakness. And someone must be able to speak their language."
The captain nodded and consulted his pad. "Noted. The language thing is said to be taken care of, according to the officer in charge. As for showing strength, I guess we can concentrate fire on them from every angle for a half hour before you try talking to them. From what it says here, the roaches are fighting in three different groups and not as one damn swarm. I've never heard of that happening, but I guess that opens up some possibilities. If we can convince one group to either stand down or leave us alone or whatever you're able to talk them into, then I guess the going will get easier for our people down there. I should mention that I have been ordered to send you down, but I've never heard of this guy and like I said, I'm not about to send my guys down if it just can't work. So. How would you rate your chances?"
Dani thought fast. If they had the language problem taken care of, then she could probably do some good here. This was pretty much exactly what she had wanted to do. "Sir, I think it's worth a shot. I'll try the same thing as last time."