by Maia Starr
"Where is she?” I asked as I arrived at the port.
"In that ship there,” the warrior said to me.
"Master key?” I asked the warrior. He tossed me a key that was the master key that opened all the doors of any ship in our fleet in case of emergencies, like now. I opened the door and moved inside to find Karissa buckled into her seat. All of the switches were in the necessary position for take off. I was the one that had taught her how to fly a ship like this. So she knew exactly what she was doing. She could've been far gone by now if my warriors had not opened up the ship from the back and cut off the power.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?” I shouted at her.
"What do you care? You have made it very clear that you care nothing for me! You only have me here as a prisoner so that I may bear your children. Well, I have news for you, buddy. I have a choice. I can choose not to live this way. I can run away. I have done it many times before, and I can do it again. I don't want to live like this! I don't want to live like this with you or anyone! You should know that about me by now! So why do you not just let me leave!” she shouted her eyes filled with tears.
I sighed a heavy sigh; she was right. I sat down next to her. “I am sorry for how I have treated you, Karissa. I did not plan on it to be this way. When I found out you were carrying my offspring, I was filled with joy, and I was excited and hopeful that you would want to willingly spend time with me and be mine. Have a family together. But then I remembered what happened on the lunar base, and I know that I cannot trust you. You are a traitor,” I said to her.
She stopped crying and turned to me with hate in her eyes. “What the hell are you talking about, you idiot?! What happened on the lunar base"?
"You know what happened. You are the one that allowed it to happen. It was probably your plan. That is what I cannot forget. That is what I cannot forgive. That is why I do not trust you. I don't know who you really are. And now I'm stuck with you because you carry my offspring,” I said. As soon as I said it, I regretted it. It didn't come out the way I meant it to.
"How dare you speak to me like that. Is that how you really feel about me? You think you are stuck with me?” she said to me.
"No, that is not what I meant,” I said trying to make it right.
"If that is how you feel, then why don't you just let me go? I will not stay here and be treated this way," she said to me.
"It is not that I feel stuck with you. It is that I don't trust you. How could you allow that to happen to me on the lunar base?” I shouted at her.
"I don't know what you're talking about,” she said to me.
"They tortured me. You knew that they were torturing me. You left. As soon as they captured me, you left to Earth and left me behind. Why did you return to the moon base anyway? Did you know that there would be a battle? Is that why you were returned?” I shouted at her.
"I did not leave the base! Where did you get that nonsense from? I was on the base the entire time. I had no idea that you were being tortured. It is against our laws to torture anyone, whether it is human or alien, when they are prisoners. Whoever did that to you went against the law. I would have no way of knowing that they were doing that to you!” she shouted at me.
"Your Commander Cook is the one that did it to me. He is the one that told me you left for Earth as soon as you could. He said that you set me up to be caught!” I shouted at her.
Her mouth fell open in shock. “And you believed him? I did not leave for Earth. I was there studying everyone's moves and the guards’ routine. I was putting a plan in order to help you get out of there. I would have gone to the Earth Council but Commander Cook accused me of being a double agent. He told my superior that they thought I was working with the Corillion. They thought that was the only reason I was able to get back so easily. So you see, you weren't the only one dealing with false information. They were using it against us. Don't you see that? That is exactly what they do to prisoners in order to break them. They put lies all over them and make them feel like they're really alone. It worked on you. But I would hope you would have more faith in me than that!” she shouted back at me.
I was silent. I felt like a fool. What she said made sense. More than that, it made sense with who she was. I didn't think that she would abandon me or leave to Earth so quickly. The fact that she was biding her time and trying to create a plan with all the resources and information she could gather was exactly something that she would do. “I was not aware of your rule of no torture,” I said to her.
"Why would you be? I wouldn't expect you to know that. But I would expect you to have a little faith in me. I saved your life by mating with you, not just for kicks. It was because I actually had grown fond of you and cared about you. I know I wasn't obvious about it, but it's true.”
"I did know it. The fact that you let me touch you when you had killed someone that had tried to touch you let me know that you did care for me. You're right: I should've had more faith in you. But after suffering for over a week in torture, being told lies while being beaten was enough to break me. I should've been stronger than that. I am ashamed that I am so weak. I am usually not this weak, but I am usually not in love. I love you, Karissa,” I said.
"And I love you, Kai. I have been in love with you for sometime. I don't know when it happened exactly, but I know now that I love you. I carry your child. I want you to be at my side. I do not want to be locked up like some prisoner. I do not deserve to be treated like that. No one deserves to be treated like that, and I expect more from you,” she said to me.
"You will not be locked up. In truth, I was hiding you away from myself. I couldn't feel like I trusted you but yet I couldn't stay away from you. I locked you up to keep myself from being with you. But I did lock you up in comfortable rooms,” I said jokingly.
"Oh, comfortable is it? I'd like to see you locked up in there for a week and let me run your empire,” she said with a smile.
"There is my spunky human female. I apologize, and I will apologize forever. I love you. I will never lock you up I promise you that, and I am ashamed that I did so in the first place. Please remain with me here. Please be my forever mate and let us be a family together with our child. Can you live with me after all I have done?” I asked her. She was silent for a long time.
Chapter 15
KARISSA LANE
I had been fed up with being treated that way. It was rude! It was disrespectful! It was bull shit!
Waking up to an empty bed made me furious, if that wasn’t obvious. I thought that after the night that Kai and I shared together that he and I would at last be able to talk about some things. I thought that he would at least stop avoiding me and we would cuddle in each other’s arms and be together.
That plan did not happen. I was so very wrong about it. Waking up to an empty bed shattered my heart. “Are you serious?” I said out loud as I realized that I was all alone. I jumped up from the bed and wrapped the sheet around me. The sheets still smelled like him. It only pissed me off more.
I moved around the entire living quarters that I had been held prisoner in, and he was nowhere to be found. There was nothing letting me know whether he was coming back or not. But I knew that he was not. He had not apologized, and he had not stopped being cold simply because we made love. He was more like a human man then he knew.
But I wasn't going to stand for it anymore! Being naked in front of him and his warriors was only plan number one. If that plan did not work, then I was going to do plan number two: get the hell out of there!
I had gathered enough intelligence to know how to hack the door to get out of the living quarters. And I knew exactly where I would be going. It was where we landed: the port. Thanks to Kai, I knew how to fly a small long-range flyer. I was going to get out of there. I did not want to live there as Kai’s prisoner doing nothing but giving him offspring over and over. That was no way to live. I wanted love, and I demanded love and no less. He proved that he could not give it to me, so I w
as not going to stay around any longer.
To my surprise, my escape plan went off without a hitch, until I got to the port. I was very surprised when Kai walked into the ship and was angry. I thought he would want to see me go after the way he treated me. So after a brief argument, he pleaded with me to stay, to stay there and be a family with him.
“Please be my forever mate and let us be a family together with our child. Can you live with me after all I have done?” he said to me.
I looked at him. I believed him. I believed that it had all been a misunderstanding. I believed him that he thought I had abandoned him on the lunar base and had known that he was being tortured and did nothing. I believed him that being tortured for that long being told lies by Commander Cook broke him and made him develop paranoia toward me. I understood. I knew in my training that that could happen to anyone under those circumstances. I knew deep down in his heart that he did love me because he would not have saved me in the Supreme Council. He would not have risked all that he did in order to return me to the lunar base to begin with.
"Yes, I will be your forever mate. I will stay here and be a family with you," I said to him. He smiled a big, beautiful, bright smile and pulled me to him and kissed me. I kissed him back.
Then I pulled away and said, “But I am going to be my own person. I will not follow your orders like I am some sort of property," I said to him defiantly.
He smiled and said, “I wouldn't have it any other way. I like that you are stubborn," he said as he unbuckled the seatbelt that held me in.
"I am not that stubborn," I said to him.
Then he pulled me up to my feet and said, “Spoken like a stubborn person, a stubborn female."
"And I want us living together, no more of this separate quarters stuff," I said to him.
"Whatever you demand, my sweet Karissa," he said as he bowed in front of me.
"And I want you to spend the entire day with me today. Your responsibilities can wait until tomorrow. We have catching up to do. There is much that you need to show me about your city," I said, putting my hands on my hips.
"Yes, it sounds like you are a leader of the Corillion tribe on this comet already," he said to me.
"I like the sound of that. We can share leadership duties," I said playfully. He grabbed my hand and then led me out of the ship.
"Have a feast prepared in my dining hall. I am taking my mate to eat with me," he said to a warrior as he stepped off the ship.
"Right away, Captain Kai Spornium," the warrior said with a bow.
"I am very hungry. I am eating for two now, remember," I said to him.
"Yes, I remember. And with a Corillion warrior inside of you, it is more like you are eating for three; you should remember that," he said, placing a kiss on my lips.
"I will try to remember that, not that our child will let me forget," I said putting my hands on my belly.
"I will never let you forget," he said as he held my hand and led me through the port. He walked me over to a land vehicle and said, “Allow me to show you around the city. I hope that it will be to your liking; it is your home, our home."
"If you are here, then I am sure that I will love it. But I have one question to ask," I said.
"Yes, my sweet Karissa?" he said as we got into the vehicle.
"I remember you said that since you are a secondary leader, you were not allowed to take a human female until your first leader had one. Since you are the leader on this comet, does that mean that you are the only one that has a human female mate?"
He looked at me and smiled and said, “Yes, for now. Now that I have my mate, the officers that serve below me are now entitled to seek out a mate for themselves."
"So that means that I am the only human female on this rock?" I said with a bit of shock.
"Yes, you are the only human on this rock, male or female. You are the only one. Does that scare you?" he asked.
"No, but now I understand why everyone looks at me so strangely," I laughed.
"Well, that and your story has reached far and wide. They all know what you did to Yiqua. They are fascinated by you and probably a bit scared of you. Plus, what you did in the hallway yesterday showing up nude like that. I am sure those warriors have spoken about that to everyone, and it has reached across the city now," he said
"Oh my God! Seriously? I wasn't thinking. I guess I will be known as the nude killer," I said playfully.
"No, you will be known as my wife," he said as he leaned over and gave me a kiss. Then he moved the vehicle and we shot off into the city for a tour and to start the rest of our lives together
THE END
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Zerk: Aliens Of Jenalk
(Aliens Of Jenalk)
By Maia Starr
Chapter 1
Dr. Lain Brousseau
“I don’t believe it,” I whispered, pulling away from my telescope. “That can’t be right.”
But when I peered into the dark sky above me, all I saw was what I saw every other night. There were a few glittering stars in the sky, and the moon was waning. Beyond that, I couldn’t see any sign of the planet I’d been watching. No matter how hard I looked, there were no answers. Nothing to account for what I’d seen.
“What is it, Lain?”
My research partner, Kara, slid back in her swivel chair to look at me. We were sitting side by side on a large balcony, each of us consumed by our own telescopes.
“Something’s happening on Planet 139,” I said, looking down at my desk to scribble some notes. I pushed stray strands of wavy blonde hair out of my eyes for the fifth time that day. That’s what I got for forgetting my hair tie at home.
“What do you mean? They’ve been dormant for years,” Kara said, standing from her chair and moving to my side.
“See for yourself,” I said, offering her the telescope.
Kara bent over and peered into the dark tunnel.
“Oh my god…you’re right,” she breathed.
What I’d seen didn’t make sense. The alien race I was studying seemed everything but exploratory. And yet I had just been the first woman—no, the first human—to witness the launching of a spacecraft. Of any kind. Even the Vellreq, who were so open about so many things, were secretive about their crafts. Somehow, the alien race managed to cloak them far from where any human eye might see them as they came and went.
“What are they doing? Are they traveling somewhere?”
Sure enough, the spacecraft was hurtling beyond the atmosphere of Planet 139, and I watched in awe. The craft was round and robust, with a huge fuel tank resting on the outside of it. I had no idea what the purpose for it might be, but it was groundbreaking to finally see the launch of an alien craft in person. I memorized every detail I could, right down to the rust-colored bolts holding the craft together.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” I said. Kara nodded.
“This is extraordinary,” she agreed.
Research into alien colonies was a budding science, and I was one of the lucky few chosen to document it in detail. The pioneering research group was known as the Orion Project, and really it was the project of a lifetime, conducting research that would pave the way for exploration in the field of alien lifeforms for generations to come. Our conduct and methods were a turning point for an entirely new scientific field. Every little detail counted.
And yet, they had Kara and I, the only two women on the team, researching the planets with the least activity. Go figure.
“You’d better get back in here and take down the records, Lain. You’re going to be famous for this.”
“Famous? It’s not like I built the ship,” I mumbled, taking Kara�
�s place at the telescope. Still, my hands were shaking. Kara was right. This would launch my career.
I had been assigned to this job by my superiors with the intention of researching the peaceful alien race that had been accidentally discovered during a mission to explore the black holes plaguing our galaxy. Lucky for us, they were just close enough to Earth that the new super-powered telescopes and satellites could give us a constant stream of information.
Still, our access to and understanding of this information was limited. All we really knew was what we had heard and experienced first-hand through dangerous pilgrimages through space.
