by Maia Starr
“Two, one…”
“Do you understand?!” I shouted.
“Yes, this is my mission!”
“Zero. Firing pulse!”
WHOOSH!
The pulse fired on the ship and I watched in amazement as Avery took on a whole new level of confidence. “Board the ship and take everyone aboard as a prisoner! Go! Now! Go! Board the ship!”
All troops went into action. I looked at her. I pulled her into my arms and planted a firm kiss on her lips. She pulled back, pissed. I just smiled. I cocked my gun and followed the troops in.
Chapter 6
CAPTAIN ANKON
We were tracking the Earth ship without any idea that they were tracking us in return. It wasn’t until it was too late that we knew. We were hit, and hit hard, with a technology we had never encountered before. I was on the command deck when the Earth ship came into range.
“Get ready to fire on the ship. Once it is disabled, we will engage with the ship and dock!” I shouted. Then everything went quiet as a blue light blinded us. Before I knew it, all of us, including myself, were on the ground in convulsions. It was like being electrocuted, and everyone fell from their stations. All our systems went black, completely fried.
I was nearly choking on my tongue as I convulsed. I turned my head to see that the other warriors were not convulsing; they were paralyzed in a frozen state. They weren’t moving whatsoever. I was the only one that seemed to be only half affected by the pulse. Perhaps it was because I was half human?
The pulse stopped and it wore off me immediately. I stood up and looked at my warriors, still in a frozen state. I ran to the controls. I hit the restart switches; nothing happened. I tried the radio communication: nothing. It was all fried. I ran to the artillery and grabbed a weapon, but it too was dead. This was unbelievable. The Earth ships had never overcome us in this way. It seemed that we were dealing with a completely new force that we had never seen before. I ran back to the command deck.
“Get up! We’re being pulled in by the Earth ship!” I shouted as the warriors rolled onto their sides. They weren’t paralyzed, but they were still unable to fully move. They slowly stood and were weak as they swayed. It was all up to me, but I had no plan. How could anyone plan for such a thing?
“Any way to reboot the system if it has been fried?” I shouted. No one answered me.
“Listen, the weapons do not work. If they board us, it will be hand to hand combat!” I shouted. Again, everyone was still just trying to stand. I watched, helpless as my warriors seemed to be overcome with a sort of motion sickness.
“Shit!” I shouted as I moved out of the command deck to the main door. Perhaps there was a way to block the door from opening? If they were going to take our ship, maybe I could delay them taking us. I stared at the large door realizing there wasn’t much I could do with none of the equipment working.
CRASH! BOOM! The loud sounds echoed through the ship and I knew that it was our ship making contact with the floor of the Earth cargo ship. I heard a loud, mechanical sound and knew it was the bay door of the cargo ship closing. Damn it! We were trapped. But why now? The Earth ships never fought back or tried to take us prisoner. Were these Earthlings at all?
Then the blue light hit us once more. We all went down. I was on the ground convulsing while the others were paralyzed. Then the light stopped. The door to our ship opened and Earth humans flooded in, fully armed in tactical ware. They swooped in fast.
“Cuff all of them! Wrists and ankles!” a tall human shouted as he entered. I could tell he was some sort of leader. But then, she entered. I was not surprised to see a human female carrying a weapon. My mother had been the same way: a strong fighter. But this one seemed to be running the show.
“Make sure they are secure before leading them off the ship!” she shouted.
I stood up fast and got in front of her. She jumped back and stared at me.
“You are not taking my warriors!” I shouted at her. In seconds, many guns were on me.
She put her hand up and said, “It’s all right. Continue with the others. You and you stay on this one.”
The human female looked at me closely. She had a look of shock on her face as her eyes roamed over me. I was pissed, not just because of the situation, but because I was already feeling myself becoming attracted to her. There was something about her and I wasn’t sure what it was, but I wanted to find out. My anger only grew the more that she stood there, staring at me, and the more I wanted her.
“What are you?” she asked. I was shocked. Why was she taking charge here and asking me questions? Why was it not the tall male human? Who was she?
“Answer my question. Are you Kalazaron?” she asked. I was shocked and angered by her question. Whoever she was, she was very smart and observant. She was able to tell that I was not a full Kalazaron. How did she know? What gave me away? She cocked her head to the side as though waiting for an answer. There was only one answer that I was going to give her.
“I do not take orders from females!” I shouted. The humans put more guns on me and I realized that she was of very high value for them all to react in such a way.
She put her hands up in a gesture toward her warriors, “Well, I am the one in charge here. If you would like, I could have one of my soldiers repeat the order in their male voice, but it is still my order,” she said in a very angry tone.
I liked it. She was fiery. She was not like any of the human females that I had met on Kaethon. The ones on Kaethon were just as docile as the Kalazaron females. This human female, however, was acting like a male, a very strong male. It was refreshing. Her words were also humorous, which is not what I was expecting in this situation. Still, I was not going to give them answers until they gave me answers. Why did they take us in such a way? And how did they accomplish it?
“Do what you will and get it over with. You will have no answers from me,” I said as I watched them lead my weakened warriors out of the ship in cuffs.
“Contain him,” she said. I was again shocked that she was giving orders. Who was she? Was she captain of the ship?
“Hands behind your back.” I looked at the soldier telling me orders. I did not like it. I could handle it from the human female because she was damn sexy, but from another male, it was insulting. I wanted to strike him, but I knew it was not wise. I turned my attention back toward the human female. I let my eyes lock with hers. She was uneasy with me. She pulled her gaze away, and shockingly she started to look over my body like I was meat at the market. It was a turn on. She was very forward, and I knew that she must be a good fuck.
As I was led away, she stated, “Don’t put him in with the others. This one is the captain of this ship and I want him in a separate cell. I will question him later.”
I looked at her with shock. How did she know I was the captain? I had not said so. I could be a lieutenant for all she knew. I would have to ask her once we were alone. That was what she had just said, after all. She wanted to be alone with me. I wanted to be inside of her. If I were to die, then I would die knowing what it was to be with her.
Chapter 7
AMBASSADOR AVERY JONES
I had to admit that it felt good to be in charge, even though I actually wasn’t. But talking to that Kalazaron captain like I was in charge made me feel powerful.
It had all happened so quickly and I could not wait until the prisoners and the Kalazaron ship were secure so that I could give Captain Holt a piece of my mind. Why the hell had I not been let in on this damn secret mission? It was MY mission, after all! I was beyond pissed off. If it weren’t for the fact that having Kalazaron warriors captive made for easier data collection, then I would be transmitting a call of mutiny back to Earth.
“What the hell, Jamie!” I shouted to him once he entered my office.
“I am reporting that all prisoners are secure, Ambassador Jones. With your permission, I would like to give the order to head back to Earth.”
“My permission? You did
n’t need my permission before!” I shouted at him as I stood up and got in his face. Well, in his chest because he was so much taller than I was.
He sighed and smiled at me then went to the intercom panel and pressed the button, “Ambassador Jones says all systems go. Coordinates set for Earth. Get us the hell out of here, Pilot, as fast as we can.”
“Roger that, Captain Holt.”
Then he turned to me. “I did not say that!”
“I know, but would you rather hang out here and argue with me while more Kalazaron come, or get out of here as fast as we can?” he said, crossing his arms.
Damn it. He was right. For all we knew, the Kalazaron ship could have sent a distress signal and more ships could have been launched for their rescue. So I changed the subject. “Are you going to tell me what the hell that was all about now? I think I have a right to know. Since it was my orders that you needed in order to take prisoners, I want to know exactly what I’m going to be in trouble for when we get back to Earth.”
“You won’t be in trouble. It was in self-defense,” he said.
“What? No, it wasn’t. They didn’t even fire on us!”
“Yes, they did. They missed and we engaged. End of story,” he said, throwing a report on my desk.
“You want me to lie?”
“No, I want you to know that this was part of the plan. You won’t be lying. You will be going along with the plan. This is the council’s doing. They sent me to complete this mission. To commandeer Kalazaron prisoners and a Kalazaron ship to finally get some answers. That’s the real mission; not your random data collections. This is a successful mission and the first of its kind. You should be proud.”
“But lying and taking prisoners is wrong!” I shouted.
“Yes, that is why we are stopping them from doing it. I bet you that those warriors in there were in the process of targeting our ship! Now you have to get on board with this. Do you want answers or not? REAL answers from their own mouths? I know I do!” he shouted.
“Why are you doing this? What did they do to you?” I asked. Jamie’s face changed. He was thinking about something. Then he turned to me and said, “Let me know when you want to schedule interview sessions with the Kalazaron and I will provide guards.” Then he walked out.
I knew then that this was personal for him. The Kalazaron had done something to him or someone he loved.
Twenty-four hours had passed since the capture of the Kalazaron warriors and their ship. I could not get Captain Holt's betrayal out of my mind. I could not get the Kalazaron captain out of my mind. I was anxious to talk to him. I was anxious to question him. But in truth, I did not know what to ask. I was not prepared on this mission to talk directly to a Kalazaron. I thought we were simply going to be on the trail of the missing ships.
This was a whole new mission. It felt wrong, but there was nothing that I could do about it. The damage was already done. We were already headed toward Earth. And if what Captain Holt said was true, the council had granted him permission to capture a Kalazaron ship. This is what they wanted. Now that it was done, I had to make the most of it. This was how I found myself walking toward the prison cells. I did not contact Jamie like he told me too in order to give me a guard to protect me. I wanted to go alone.
I pressed my hand against the electronic panel lock and the door slid open. I walked in to the isolated holding cell hallway. There, at the end of the hall, was the hybrid Kalazaron warrior behind a glass wall. In his cell was a bed, a chair and table, and a washroom behind a privacy screen. He was lying on the bed with one strong arm behind his head. His long form and attractive looks caught me off guard as I stopped in my tracks. I forgot how stunning a creature he was. He turned his head and looked at me, and then looked at the ceiling. He was not interested in my presence. I grabbed a chair and pulled it in front of the glass wall separating us. I sat down.
"My name is Ambassador Avery jones. This is my mission. I do not mean you or your warriors any harm. I only want information," I said.
"Then what? You will let us go? That does not seem likely to me," he said coldly without looking at me.
"No, I suppose you are right. You probably would not believe me if I said I had no idea what the next steps would be. It is very complicated. However, since you are here, I do have questions."
"Ask them if you wish. I will not answer any," he said.
"There was a human female that was taken by the Kalazaron many years ago. I want to know what happened to her," I asked.
This got his attention as he turned and looked at me. He sat up and stared at me and said, "What is the human female called?"
"Her name was Dr. Jade Roberts."
He was silent for a few seconds before he said, "I have heard the name. I have heard that she was a very happy human female on our planet. She was married to a Kalazaron in very high power. That is all I know. I did not live in the same place that she did," he said.
"Happy?!" I said as I stood up from my chair and paced back-and-forth in front of the glass wall. "How could she have been happy? How could you say such a thing about someone that was taken against their will? Taken and then probably forced to be a mate to a Kalazaron of high-power," I shouted in anger.
"It is what I heard. I do not know the details. Why do you want to know all of this, human female?" he asked. "There have been many human females on my planet of Kaethon. Why do you ask of this one?"
"I knew the woman that sponsored her mission that sent her into space. Once she was in space on a research mission, she never returned. I had heard about her over and over when I was young. I have made it my life’s mission to get answers."
"I have told you all of what I know about this human female. If you wish to know more, there is only one way to find out that information. To find out if she was truly happy, and what became of her."
"And what is that?"
"You must go to planet Kaethon for yourself to the city of Konthos. There you will find the buildings of order where the Kalazaron of high-power lived, where she lived. There you will find archives of information and find out what she knew. How she was treated."
"Kaethon?! That is out of the question. I would never go there. Humans that go there never return. I will never be one of them."
"Now that I have answered your question, you must answer one of mine," he said as he stood up and walked toward the glass to me. My breath caught in my throat as I watched his tall form come toward me. He was menacing, and it frightened me a little, but also made me excited and thrilled. He was beautiful, and he was dangerous.
I swallowed hard and said, "That is not how this works. You are the prisoner. You do not get to ask the questions. You must only answer them," I said, trying to remain confident and stern, but I don't think that I was.
He pressed his hands against the glass and asked me, "How did you know that I am hybrid? What is it about me that gave it away?"
I gasped as I said, "You are a hybrid! I knew it. I was doubting myself. How can it be true? We have never heard of such a thing. Human females cannot become pregnant from a Kalazaron warrior. It is just not possible."
"And yet here I stand before you. How did you know?"
"If I tell you, will you answer more questions?" I asked him.
"Only for you, not the other. The male human," he said. I was surprised that he had changed his tone. At first he was very adamant that he did not want to answer orders from a female when we captured him. Now, he only wanted to speak to me. I wondered what had changed.
"Very well; only me. It is a long journey to Earth and I do have many questions. I only want to understand the Kalazaron. That is all I want from you."
He nodded his head in understanding and waited for me to answer his question. I moved closer to the glass and looked his body up and down. "First, it was your eyes. I noticed the color blue was not what I had seen in the depictions of the Kalazaron that I had seen thus far. The blue in your eyes is more human than Kalazaron," I said as I locked eyes wi
th him, feeling suddenly uneasy with our closeness even though there was glass between us. We were only an inch from each other. I hated that glass in that moment because, for some reason, I wanted to touch him. I wanted to run my hands over each feature as I talked about it. Having the glass between us, and he a prisoner, made him forbidden fruit. It was enticing.
"My eyes. What else, human?" he said as his voice grew lower and he was staring at me, up-and-down, caressing my body with his eyes.
"Your hair. There is blond in your hair. It is a human blonde. The Kalazaron have silver-white hair. That sort of blond color is only seen in humans."
"My hair. What else?"
"That is all, except for…."
"For what? Tell me," he said.
"A feeling. It is hard to describe. But it is a feeling that I got when I came near you. Your humanity perhaps? I really don't know what it is."
