by Maia Starr
Crash! Suddenly the glass windows shattered as an Earth SWAT team broke into the house. There was a lot of chaos and shouting and I was completely freaked out and frightened. Before I could move, there were two men in black pointing guns at me.
“Put your hands up, now!” they shouted.
I put my hands up in the air and said, “What is going on here? I only just arrived. I’ve been here for thirty minutes. I am looking for Commander Kasian Jade!” I shouted as I began to cry.
“We will ask the questions! Now keep your hands in the air,” the swat member shouted at me. Then the other grabbed my hands and put them behind my back, ready to cuff me. He was being very rough with me and I had no choice but to say, “I am pregnant! Please be careful! I am with child!” I shouted.
“What? What did you say?” I heard a very familiar voice say. My heart exploded as I saw him walking toward me.
“Kasian! You’re alive! They told me you were dead!” I shouted as I broke into uncontrollable tears.
He ran to me and put his arms around me as he said, “She’s all right. Do not touch her,” to the team. They let me go and moved on to other business. I collapsed into Kasian’s arms.
“Come with me,” he whispered into my ear. Then he pulled me into a downstairs bathroom.
“Kelly, what the hell are you doing here? Do you know how this looks right now? Do you know what is going on?” he asked.
I gasped for air and through my crying fit said, “No. What the hell is going on? I just got here. I had to come tell you. The registration office tried to get in touch with you, but they couldn’t. Then I got here and they told me that you were dead. Oh, Kasian, I am so glad that you are alive.”
“Is it true? What you said out there. Is it true or were you just saying that to get out of trouble? Please tell me you are not part of this?”
“Part of what? Kasian, tell me what is going on here?”
“Is it true? Are you with child?” he asked again.
“Yes, it is true. I have been known since I returned to Los Angeles,” I said.
He smiled a big smile. He was happy. I longed to see that happy grin on his face for so long. I smiled a weak smile in response. Then his smile faded as he grabbed my arm and said, “Is it mine? Or is it my brother’s?” he asked.
I stopped smiling. I had to tell him the truth. I could not hurt him with a lie; I never wanted to hurt him again. “I don’t know, Kasian. I wish I could tell you, but I honestly don’t know. I won’t know until after the birth,” I said.
He ran his fingers through his long hair. I knew that move; he was angry. “What are you doing here? Do you know what’s going on here? Please tell me you are not part of this?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I only just arrived. Check my flight information. Check the boat I took here, and the driver. I was barely here when the SWAT team burst in.”
He sighed and said, “The SWAT team is worth the Earth Council. We discovered that some of my team is working with my brother. They are traitors. We had no way of knowing who, so the king ordered this raid. Then to find you here among them at this time.”
I gasped. This was not good. He had already thought I was working for his brother before and now for me to show up at this time. I felt sick to my stomach. I kept being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Oh, Kasian, you must believe me. I had no idea. I only came here to find you. I had to tell you about the baby. I didn’t know what else to do. You must believe me, please,” I begged.
“Commander, your brother has been captured!” a voice yelled through the door with a loud knock.
No, I thought. I was just in the process of reuniting with Kasian and now they were going to take him away. Kasian opened the door and said, “Where?”
“On the river! On a river barge heading toward the city.”
Kasian grabbed my arm and led me outside the cabin. “This is Kelly Perkins. Take her with you to the Earth Council for safety. She is with child. She is not part of this raid; she is my special guest, is that understood?”
“Yes, Commander,” the swat team man said.
“But, Kasian, wait…” I said. But it was no use. He only looked at me as he moved away and shifted. Then he followed a group of Drackon toward the river. I sighed. But I was glad that he was alive. He was still out of reach, but he was alive and that was all that I could really ask for today. There was hope.
I waited at the Earth Council for two days, growing more and more anxious. The mission was top secret and was not able to get any information out of anyone. I was given a comfortable room in the living quarters of the council with an amazing city view. Each day I looked over the courtyard wondering if I could see Kasian walk in, but I never did.
Being pregnant made me increasingly sleepy and it was during one of the many naps that I had grown used to that I had a wonderful dream about Kasian. It was back in the days before his brother made himself known to us. I was in his garden, picking vegetables for breakfast. I was going to make veggie omelets.
“Does this make you happy?” Kasian asked as I pulled potatoes from the ground.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“This type of life. Does it make you happy? Picking your own foods to cook, and living out in the wilderness? You know, my home on Mooreah is a lot like this. It is outside of the city, in the wilderness. You would like it there.”
“Mooreah. I never thought about going to Mooreah; in fact, that is why I picked you, because you were on Earth. But yes, this does make me happy. This simple life, and perhaps a few babies too.”
He laughed and kissed my lips. His kiss was so real in the dream. I thought that I could feel his lips on mine. They grazed softly over mine back and forth. I could smell his delicious, manly scent and I let out a soft moan in my sleep.
“I’ve missed that sound,” he said. But his voice was very loud and clear. I opened my eyes and couldn’t tell if I was still dreaming. Kasian was lingering above me. His hand moved my hair off my forehead.
“Kasian?”
“Yes, I’m here. I’ve returned.”
I sat up in bed and looked around. It wasn’t a dream. I threw my arms around him. “I was so worried I was never going to see you again.”
“No need to worry. I am a very strong warrior.”
“I am so happy that you are here. I know that you can never forgive me, but please do not shut me out, not now,” I said to him.
“I have come to terms with what happened. Time has helped to heal that rage. My brother admitted to me that he went after you on purpose. He held a grudge against me for stealing a female Drackon he loved when we were fifteen.”
“He did?” I said, wide eyed and filled with relief.
“Yes, he did, and he has been captured. He is on his way to a prison on Sala. He can never bother us again.”
I sighed and threw my arms around him. He rubbed my back up and down and said, “I’m so sorry for everything I put you through. It was wrong of me.”
“No, I apologize for being so reckless while I was here in the city before meeting you. I really thought I was just having my own, private bachelorette party and now I ruined everything.”
“No, you did not. We have this child,” he said putting his hand on my belly.
“But Kasian, I do not know,” I said feeling sad.
“I know, but it does not matter. I will raise it as my own. My brother is not a good Drackon warrior; he could never be a good father. If this offspring is his, we will still raise it together as a family.”
“A family? You mean…”
“Yes, if you will have me. I still want you to be my wife,” he said seriously.
“Yes! Yes, Kasian, I want you. I will be your wife,” I said.
“Good, get dressed. We will go now. There is a councilmember that can marry us today. He is waiting on the fifth floor for us,” he said smiling.
“What? Now? Are you joking or are you being serious?” I asked
.
“Oh, I am not joking. I will not be letting anything get in the way of our marriage ever again, and the sooner we do it, the sooner we will be married before you clumsily fall into some trouble,” he said playfully.
“Kasian!” I said. Then I kissed him hard and fast. Before I knew it, we were ravaging each other. So much longing and desire had been held back for so long. I pulled away from him and said, “Do you think that the councilmember can wait another hour or two?” I said breathlessly.
“He is going to have to,” he said as he kissed me and pushed me back on the bed. Then he made love to me. This time, with all the animosity between us gone. It was beautiful and sensual as he took his time savoring every inch of me, and took my time enjoying his every touch. Tears rolled down my face as I had finally had what I wanted since I first saw his photo: his love.
After two hours of making love, we forced ourselves out of bed, but only for an hour. We went down to the fifth floor and were quickly married in a brief and simple ceremony. It was perfect. Then it was only an elevator ride back to the room, which we would make our honeymoon suite for a week. We never left the bed.
When the time came, our hybrid Drackonian son was born. He was perfect and the Drackon test proved that he was Kasian’s child. His blond locks and blue eyes left no doubt in my mind anyway. We named him Kild. It was a mixture of the wild from the forest that we loved, and the initial of our names: Kasian and Kelly. And although we started our family on Earth, we eventually moved to Kasian’s home on Mooreah. If I had known that Mooreah was something out of a medieval fairy tale, I would have wanted to move there sooner. It was stunning, and it was perfect for our perfect family.
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(Blue Planet Warriors)
By Maia Starr
Chapter 1
SILVER BROOKS
It was now or never!
“You can do this, Silver. You can leave this godforsaken rock and go to Earth, just as you always dreamed. Just crawl along the floor quietly, and by all means, don’t get caught,” I whispered to myself as I stared at my reflection in the shiny, stainless steel wall. I was on all fours, trying to crawl to freedom, or so I thought at the time; how could I have known what would really happen?
I studied my reflection, trying to talk courage into myself. I looked as I always did, with my red hair in knots around my face. Everyone had knotted hair because of the necessary water rationing and lack of proper soaps like they had on Earth—or so I heard.
Dirt: that seemed to be everywhere in this place. It was on my face and arms that looked like ash and soot. My green eyes pierced through the dirt on my pale skin that was speckled with freckles. My brown pants and sweater were made of wool and they were hand me downs, with patches sewn here and there. This was the standard look that everyone on this mining planet wore. I only hoped that it was good for space travel. I supposed it would have to do. [SBM1]
I peeked around the corner inside the launch room and waited until the crewmen had their backs turned to me. As soon as they did, I scurried quietly on all fours, hiding behind various boxes and items as I made my way to the cargo ship from Earth. This particular ship came every three years on a regular cycle. It was a bride ship that brought women from Earth to be wives to the miners that were stationed here. This is how my mother had made it to this planet over twenty years ago, and how I had planned to leave, or escape.
The ship had been here for a month after bringing twenty new brides and eight new miners. Now it was scheduled to leave for Earth in less than two hours with a large load of silver. My plan was to get on the ship and hide until it was too late for the ship to turn around and bring me back to the mining planet. They would have no choice but to take me to Earth. I would prefer to hide the entire time on the ship, but unless I could find a good hiding spot with food, water, and a toilet, I would have to come out eventually. For now, I was taking it one step at a time and I just needed to get on the ship and hide.
“What was that?” a male voice said. I froze at his words. I was well hidden behind a large table, but I thought I had been caught.
“That was the new weighing scale. It makes that noise after calculating the load,” the other man said. I sighed in relief and picked up my head slowly to see that the men were focused on the preparations for loading the silver as they continued to talk.
“This entire ship has been overhauled with new equipment. We had some trouble with it on the way here and the auto pilot veered off course a bit, but we corrected it in time.”
I continued crawling toward the cargo bay door that was opened, laying like a long ramp. They continued to talk about the mechanics and such as I slowly stood up and walked quietly up the ramp and into the ship. Once I was in, I still had to be cautious as I didn’t know who was on the ship already.
I quietly crossed the vast, cavernous space of the cargo bay and into the main quarters of the ship. I soon found a large closet to hide in and remained there, very nervous and very quiet. I didn’t let myself relax an ounce until I felt the engines of the ship come alive. Then the sensation of flying hit me, or at least that’s what I assumed it was. I had never felt anything like it before. I had always been on the ground.
I was born on the silver mining planet Merton Loy, one of many desolate and barren planets that Earth mined. This particular planet had large amounts of silver, and since it was this element that brought my parents together, they thought it was a good name for their one and only daughter: me. Growing up on the barren rock called Merton Loy, I always longed for escape, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.
I had desired to see and live on Earth as soon as I first heard about it when I was a child. This is when the first bride ship came in and then took the silver loads. That was when my mother first told me about where the ship came from. She told me about her time living on Earth and what it was like for her. She told me that her adventurous spirit made her want to see space and experience a different place. She was very happy living on this barren rock of Merton Loy as she saw it as different and unusual. For me, it was all that I had ever known and I longed to see Earth. I guess I inherited my adventurous spirit from my mother and father, as that is what brought them here in the first place. Now, they both had passed away and I was left on my own on Merton Loy.
Then it happened. The local government mandated me to marry. I did not want to. They said I could choose any miner that I wanted, but I had to do it within twelve months. That’s when I planned this escape. I could not marry someone that I did not love and I had not met any miner that I loved. Some of them were good friends and nice, but love it was not. I did not want to give in to a loveless marriage for the sake of keeping the miners happy. I wanted to see Earth. I wanted to experience space. I wanted so much more. I soon fell asleep thinking about these thoughts as I crouched down on the floor in the closet.
When I awoke, I didn’t know if I had allowed enough time to make it impossible for the ship to turn around, but I was very thirsty and hungry. I quietly opened the door and looked around. No one was in the area. I made[SBM2] my way to the wall and looked out a small, round window; the blackness of space surrounded us. It was beautiful. After nearly bringing myself to tears, I finally pulled myself from the view and began to tiptoe around the ship.
I had never been on a ship before, so the layout was foreign to me. I walked down a long corridor not seeing anyone, and by luck, I peeked into the glass area of a door and saw the kitchen. I quietly entered and looked around. I wondered if it was sleeping hours on the ship because there was no sign that the kitchen had been used recently. I carefully drank water and ate a dehydrated meal of rice and vegetables. Then I thought, maybe I could stay
hidden a while longer. I could take food and water with me right now. But first, I had to find the toilet. I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall, but all the doors were shut, and there were no glass windows like the kitchen had. This would be hard to find.
“Hey! What are you doing here?” a voice yelled.
I was startled as I turned around and saw a man with black hair in a grey jumpsuit coming toward me.
“I’m looking for the toilet,” I said.
“What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be on this ship,” he said.
“Where are we? How far from Merton Loy?” I asked.
He looked at me confused and then said, “How did you get on this ship? Who are you?” he asked again.
