The helm said, “I am ready to set the course on your order, Captain.”
“Do it!”
* * *
Consciousness seeped back into Katie’s mind as a black ooze of terror. She opened her eyes and stifled a scream. Above her there was a vast domed ceiling, supported by great, arched beams of some golden metal. Suspended from the beams was an array of chandeliers, casting an eerie, bio-electric light. Echoing in the dome was a massed chorus of trilling and whistling, and weird song.
She was prone, lying on her back, and naked. Immediately over her, not more than three feet away, was the huge, scaled head of a Naga, observing her, flicking at her with his thick, tubular tongue.
Instinctively she tried to scramble away, but found her ankles, her wrists and her neck were bound. She looked down along her body and saw that she was chained to a huge banqueting table. In fact she was in a huge banqueting hall. There must have been five hundred Naga gathered there. Food of every description was heaped on vast platters, between bronze flagons; and practically all of it was still alive, slithering, flapping or crawling.
She looked back at the saurian above her and said, “Skral…”
He answered, in a strange, whistling voice, “I am indeed Skral, I speak several of your primitive, human tongues. We used to feast often on your flesh. We shall again, some day. Today is a great day for me. Few Naga can claim to have eaten live human female.”
She gritted her teeth, “Unchain me, let’s see if your capable of eating me when I’m unchained you son of a bitch.”
He trilled and cooed, then filled a goblet from the flagon that stood at her head, “Perhaps not. We will do it the traditional way our ancestors used to follow, I think. I will start by your feet, so that you can watch me do it. Your terror and pain add a special flavor to the meat, you know…” He stood and raised his goblet, silencing the room with a great burst of song. She raised her head and looked about the dining hall. Five hundred Naga all raised their goblets and sang and whistled, toasting their leader and his good health. With a sick twist in her gut she realized this song was Naga for ‘bon appétit!’
Nine
The ship hurtled down towards the seething mass of steam and boiling water erupting into the thin atmosphere of Neptune’s moon. And even as they plunged in, the steam and vapor they left behind them froze in the tortured cold of empty space, ceiling off the escape route behind them. As they sank down through the faintly luminescent murk, the domed Naga base emerged beneath them.
Tsor-Vaal said, “Gunnar-Vaal, I leave you in charge. Engage their defenses. I will take the shuttle to the docking bay. If I am successful I will return in half an hour. Listen for me then.”
Gunnar-Vaal nodded once. “Yes, Captain. But let me beg you one more time, Take me come with you.”
“No, Gunnar-Vaal, I need you to hit the Naga defenses with all your strength and skill. I must do this alone. She is my bond.”
Five minutes later he had ejected from the ship and was speeding towards the very tunnel where Katie had so recently arrived. As he entered and approached the airlock, he heard behind him the barrage of torpedoes being unleashed by the Milky Way on the dome. He smiled grimly and focused his mind on the Naga controlling the lock.
“We are under attack! I am being pursued by Valhaans. I have vital news for Skral. Open the lock! Open the lock before it is too late!”
There was a moment’s hesitation, but the lumbering guard was no match for Tsor-Vaal’s concentrated mind and the lock began to roll open. He was in!
As the last of the water gushed away and the second gates opened, he sprang from the shuttle. Four Naga guards lumbered toward him with their weapons drawn. He raised his hands and addressed them in broken Naga.
“Captain Votan-Vaal attacking Naga base. Will sack and pillage you. Has secret weapon. Imperative I speak Skral! Now!” And he planted in their minds images of the vile things Skral would do to them if they delayed.
In the great hall in Skral’s palace the feasting had begun. News had been brought to him straight away of the attack by Votan-Vaal’s lone ship. His own fleet was on its way to the Pleiades to support an action against the Ael, but he had no concerns. He had more than enough guns to deal with a single Valaan ship. The feast continued. Nothing would stop him from enjoying the greatest delicacy any Naga had eaten for six thousand years.
Five hundred slavering Naga stood poised, drooling, watching as their supreme commander lowered his head and ran his two-foot tongue from Katie’s right foot up along the inside of her leg to her thigh, leaving a long trail of digestive slime as he went. She was trying hard not to scream, but she was also aware that she was close to breaking. There was a hush, a few scattered trills of excitement, and Skral opened his mouth.
Desperately, she focused her mind, concentrating on the image of him releasing her bonds, letting her go. His tongue flicked. “I see you are learning Valhaan lie-tricks of the mind. That might work on my mindless inferiors, but not on the elite. I will now eat your foot, and you can watch and enjoy…”
He again opened his mouth and bent down. Katie felt her foot up to the ankle slip into his moist maw. She screamed in her throat and felt her mind reach out desperately, in a hopeless frenzy, for Tsor-Vaal.
And she found him.
“I am here!”
She cried out. There was a commotion. Skral paused a fraction of a second before the bite. She stared at him. She felt a power surge in her mind as it joined with Tsor-Vaal’s. She whispered into Skral’s mind. “Do not waste that first, delicious bite…”
He withdrew his mouth and stood. Katie turned her head. She saw Tsor-Vaal being marched across the floor by four Naga soldiers. He shouted in broken Naga, “Votan-Vaal attacking your base while fleet away! Secret weapon!”
Skral hissed, “More Valhaan lies and tricks! Why would you help us, scum?”
“Because he stole my bond woman! He want kill me. I escape. You help me, I tell you secret weapon.”
“Lies!”
While he was speaking, he mind-whispered to her, “United we are immensely powerful, Katie-Vaal.” She felt a thrill of pleasure at his presence in her mind again. And as he stammered, waving his arms, “There is an entire cloaked fleet…” she let her consciousness flow like a tidal wave through their minds, sowing images and sounds of a thousand ships, storm troopers, plasma bombs, explosions and fire.
For a moment there was stunned silence as, in their imagination, they heard the massive invasion unleashed upon them. Then there was an explosion of screams, trills and panic as five hundred lumbering, thrashing Naga scrambled in confusion, either to flee the attack or grab their weapons to defend themselves. Katie found quickly that, in their panic and confusion their minds became even more pliable, and she cloaked all of them in the guises of Valhaan warriors, so that within seconds they were shooting and stabbing at each other in a frenzied, suicidal bloodbath.
In one swift, fluid movement Tsor-Vaal had drawn his long sword from his back and sprung onto the table. Skral lashed at him with his talons. Tsor-Vaal dodged, the sword flashed above his head and with a roar like an enraged lion he brought the blade crashing down through Skral’s skull. With two more blows he smashed the chains that held her Katie to the table.
“Run!” He said, “Run for the docking bay!”
Outside, through the great, transparent dome, they could see the Milky Way in fierce battle with the Naga defenses. She looked beleaguered and Tsor-Vaal knew they had precious few minutes to make their escape. They ran. The streets were in chaos and pandemonium reigned. Everywhere they went Katie added havoc to madness by creating images of swarms of Valhaan warriors, so that the Naga turned on each other in madness and self destruction.
At the docking bay Tsor-Vaal took her shoulders in his hands and looked into her eyes. “Get aboard the shuttle. I will join you.”
“Where are you going?”
“Go!”
She watched him run to the building that abutted
the airlock tunnel. He kicked through the door and she turned and ran for the shuttle. She clambered in and sat, staring through the windshield. With growing dread she saw a dozen Naga troopers burst into the docking bay. They pointed at the shuttle and charged. She tried to focus her mind, but panic and exhaustion made ithard concentrate. Where was Tsor-Vaal? It was all she could think. The only thought she could hold in her mind. Was he dead? Had they killed him? Where was he? The Naga were practically at the shuttle. She steeled herself and prepared to die fighting.
And then the rearmost of the troopers seemed to stumble. Katie watched in amazement as his head seemed to levitate and spiral through the air. Next thing, like a silver daemon from hell, Tsor-Vaal was leaping, swinging his long sword over his head, cutting, thrusting, slashing like some diabolical combine harvester, and the Naga went down before him like corn before a deadly reaper.
He sprang aboard.
“We have less than a minute!”
“What have you done?”
The lock doors closed behind them and the ones ahead opened, allowing in the murky, green water. The shuttle engines roared and they surged out into the ocean. As they rendezvoused with the Milky Way, Tsor-Vaal said, “I disabled the airlock and placed a bomb…”
She turned in her seat and stared. Far below, as though in slow motion, she watched the dome shatter and then implode, as billions of tons of water surged in through the open airlock, sweeping the city before it.
A twist of distress knotted her gut. She thought, “What a terrible way to die…”
His voice came back to her, “There is no true death, Katie-Vaal, only change. That is why it is important to die well, with courage. That is how they chose to die. So they have chosen their path.”
* * *
Later, she stood with him, gazing out at the endless fields of space, with a billion tiny stars of frozen light spread before them. Their minds melded and he said, “I have learnt much from you, Katie-Vaal. I am bound to you, and I belong to you. This is what you, as a human, would call love. I do not possess you, and though I wish you to be with me, I cannot command it. And you are free to go. If you wish, you need only say it, and I will take you back to California.”
She took hold of his powerful arm and rested her head on his shoulder, gazing out at infinity with him. She said, “Ah, hell, we can pop down for a burger and a beer sometimes, right? But I guess I’d just as soon stay here with you, big guy. You and me, the Raiders of the Milky Way.”
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* * *
Enjoy Your Bonus Stories!
Invasor
~ Bonus Story ~
An Erotic Secret & Forbidden Alien Romance
“...I reacted by stepping back quickly out of the range of her lips. The Princess was very confused.
“Princess, I’m sorry, but you are my charge. It would not be appropriate for us to develop feelings like that for each other. I’m sure your father would forbid it. He might even react… um… well, hastily to say the least.”
I don’t understand the humans. Their views, beliefs, their feelings, or emotions. In fact, I hold their entire species in contempt most of the time. But I have to study them. I have to learn their behavior, their ways, and I have to try to fit in amongst them. I look human, I have learned to act human, but I am nothing of the sort…
My name is Cahn. I am from the place the humans refer to as The Other World. My race has been at war with the humans for centuries, trying to take over Earth and claim its rich natural resources for our own.
I'm not sure why I have been sent here. But I have done well in adapting and fitting in. In fact, I am a soldier of high rank in the King's Army. For the past six years, he has assigned me as guardian and protector of Princess Reah as she goes from village to village keeping the people united and giving them hope that the war will soon be over.
But now we have been called home. I’m not sure why and I’m not sure now.
I don't understand what is happening to me, but the moment I returned and I laid eyes on Tarin I knew that I was no longer who I was before. When I last saw her she was a child of thirteen, but now she is a young woman six years later. And she is the most beautiful and perfect angel I have ever seen. I want her… I need her… I have never felt this way about any human, but I know that I can’t help myself around her.
And she feels the same about me. We have fallen so deeply in love, but it is so forbidden… much more than she even knows.
For the Other Side has come for the Kingdom. And they will stop at nothing to destroy it. I find myself torn in loyalty between two worlds at war and a dedication and a need to possess a love I never knew I could have.
What can I do? I must follow my heart…
* * *
CHAPTER 1
I groaned slightly at the aching bones of my false body as I leaned back and stretched. Even after all these years I was still not used to this fragile, mortal body that was called human. I hated it. The weakness, the vulnerability to cold and pain, and the emotional fragility that these humans showed. They were either going insane with rage, or grief, or glee at the drop of a hat it seemed. I had studied them and learned to fake all of the necessary emotions so that I would fit in and be one of them, but deep within my real self I pitied them and I was disgusted by them.
But that was the job. It was my duty to offer protection for these people, well namely one special person. The beautiful Princess Reah. She had been my charge for six years now and during those years I had grown quite fond of the girl. She was loyal, caring, and sweet. She cared genuinely for the people within the Kingdom and for humans in general. I had witnessed her kindness as she offered food and coin to vagrants as she traveled near and far to spread the words of her father, King Joseph to the people of his kingdom. The war will soon be over.
But I knew that those were empty words. The Kingdom has been at war with the Other World for centuries, long before I was even created hundreds of years ago. The Other World viewed humanity as a plague that had to be stamped out. The people were vermin and they were destroying what was one of the most densely resource rich planets in the galaxy.
The humans were weak. That was what The Other World believed. But I quickly figured out that if the humans were in fact so weak then they should have been easy to destroy, but they had fought the Other World tooth and nail for centuries, winning some battles and losing others, but the humans still controlled the majority of the planet.
The morning sunrise was just beginning to take shape. It was beautiful. I did not see beauty quite the way the humans did, but I could still appreciate interesting sights and the light show that this planet put on, utilizing its one small simple sun, was pretty spectacular if I had to say so himself.
I knew I had just a few more minutes and then I would be taking over for Lyle, the other night guard to stand guard while the Princess got ready for the day. We both took turns alternating sleeping in three-hour shifts. I usually did not wake Lyle up for his full shift. I did not need that much sleep. My alien body got by on very little rest and very little food, but I did love to eat. That was one of the sweet pleasures of this world, all the wonderful foods that were available. I needed very little nutrition, but I enjoyed eating as a hobby if you will. It was one of the few indulgent pleasures that I actually had.
The other guards had warned me to be wary of falling in love with Princess Reah. I just smiled and told them I would be careful, but truthfully the idea of my falling in love with a human woman was just not going to happen. The art of falling in love, the romance, the passion, the lust—all of these things were human experiences that I knew only in vague terms. My race did not possess such abilities. I looked like a human, I spoke like one, dressed like one, ate like one, but it was all a show. I was not human.
As I lay there wat
ching the sun rising slowly over the mountain in the distance, I tried to remember what I was. I had been taken from my family at a young age and placed among the humans. I was not sure why exactly, but I was here. I was on Earth and I had to continue to fit in. What other choice did I have? I remembered my family. I remembered my brothers and my pack, but I had not seen them or spoken to them in so long.
I used to be able to do it telepathically, but in the past few years they had stopped replying back. I thought that they might be dead. I might be the only one left of his race. I rarely dreamed but when I did I dreamed of my home world being destroyed somehow. My family—father, mother, brothers--all being destroyed.
I knew my brothers had escaped and had arrived on Earth as well, but the last time I spoke to them they warned me to stay the course I was on and that they would contact me when the time was right. There was something they had to do, but I did not know what. I couldn’t remember. It had been a long time and I found that the longer I stayed human the less I remembered about who I used to be.
I finally moved my groggy bones up off the animal hides I was sleeping on and stretched myself to my full height. I’m taller than the average human, about six feet four inches in height, and I have a muscular, strong build. I’ve always been proud of this fact, but with my alien strength these puny human muscles really mean nothing. I’m three times stronger than any human alive, but I can never show anyone this of course.
I took a few deep breaths, enjoying the crisp fall air invading my lungs sending a slight chill through my body. I needed a cup of coffee to warm me up and get my human body going in the morning, but there was none to be found this morning it looked like.
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