by Rena Marks
“What’s on the agenda today?” Bajoc asked.
All the warriors looked his way.
“We have cleaned the water and the air. The soil is cleaned, capable of growing nutritious crops. We have all mated, and our offspring are happy. We need to decide to ask our mates if they would like to know the language for communication.”
A few cheers went around the room. “Let’s implant them!”
But Tristan was worried. How would Lara feel knowing he had the knowledge to do this earlier?
“How will we do it? How do we communicate with them to tell them what we want?”
“We can have Tomlak relay it in Universal,” Kamau said.
“I’d rather leave the offspring out of it,” Bajoc said.
“How about if we implant one woman, showing it to her on the ship, and have her ask the rest whether they would like it done?”
“That’s a good idea,” Dronan said. “How do we decide which one?”
Tristan shrugged. “I guess it does not matter.”
“Finally. I cannot believe it is time to give them the language,” Bajoc said.
“Yes. Life is good.”
“Yes, it is,” Bajoc agreed.
“What will we do to keep them hidden from headquarters?”
“Once they can communicate, we’ll make their presence known to the Supreme Commander. They can express that they wish to stay with us. It will be no problem.” How they would explain their presence was still something he had to work on.
A bloodcurdling, high-pitched scream made them jump to their feet, swords drawn. They burst from the entrance of the ship to catch Marcie, flinging herself up the ramp, looking behind her as she ran.
“Marcie!” Bajoc caught her, lifting her to him. “Mate, what is wrong?” As soon as he said the words, Tristan saw frustration roll across his face. Marcie couldn’t understand a word he said.
“Help us,” Marcie babbled. “Back there! Lara and I…”
Tristan roared at the sound of his mate’s name.
“We were looking under a bush, and there was this black blob of liquid. But Lara touched it, and it became her! Two of them. And I couldn’t tell which one was Lara and which one was the blob. Then I could think her thoughts…just like she did with the creature. So I knew I was next. She told me to run, but she was thinking she’d toss herself over the cliff to keep the creature from coming into the village and merging with everyone.”
“Gorgians,” Tristan bellowed, turning down the ramp, barely aware of Bajoc spinning Marcie around and demanding, “Show us where.”
Marcie led them to an area where a scuffle had occurred, proven by the soil patterns. The soil had hardened into a crust-like shell—evidence of the Gorgians’ biomatter.
Tristan turned to Bajoc. “Get her back to the village. Half the warriors go with you, half go with me. Round up all the females and offspring and get them into the main area for easier protection. Dronan, get to the ship and force an ice-cold rain.”
His men nodded, knowing that until they were formed, a freezing drizzle would make the other Gorgians sluggish in their liquid form. They also knew how the Gorgians operated—attacking the outside ranks to distract the colony while infiltrating the rest. The men broke automatically, knowing which group would go where.
Tristan followed the patterns to the edge of the cliff, where Lara was battling with the creature that had taken her form. She was struggling to toss it over the edge. His stomach sunk, knowing it was a conscious suicide mission since her body was now merged with the alien’s. The creature knew it would die in its solidified form and was battling her will, using her nervous system against her for control.
With a mighty roar, he pounced.
He pushed the two females apart, because the other was trying to fully absorb her into itself. When they were separated, Dronan held one of the Lara’s and Aello held the other one, keeping them apart with their melded arms held straight out between them. They were already merged up to the elbow.
He drew his sword.
Lara screamed, and the creature mimicked the sound. Her right hand was fused with that of the alien, so he hacked it off on the creature’s side. It screamed piteously, which sent a frisson of revulsion through his midsection. It sounded and looked exactly like Lara. For a moment he panicked. What if he picked the wrong one?
But he couldn’t focus on that. “Go find the other Gorgians,” Tristan instructed. His men left immediately to comply, searching under thick bushes that would cover them in the event of bad weather. As soon as they’d find a shimmering black egg, they’d begin to hack at it. Contents of the egg spilled onto the ground, killing them before they were able to merge and form with a creature.
While the Lara with the missing arm was weakened and howling in pain, he round-kicked her with a wince. He had to concentrate on the fact that it was not his Lara he was killing. But he would have nightmares over this moment, watching the horror in her eyes as he crushed her ribcage with the kick, smashing her beating heart. Then her expression changed to impending death, acknowledgement at his blow. The kick sent her sailing over the cliff.
He turned to the other woman standing in shock…his mate. Her hands were spread out warily, not even aware of the creature’s hand returned to black goo covering her right arm past the forearm, nearly to the shoulder.
“Tristan! It’s me. I swear I’m the one who’s Lara.”
He grabbed her to him as the rain began to fall, holding her close and murmuring against her hair.
“Shh, stellina, I’ve got you.”
His tiny mate cried against his chest. “How did you know it was me? Are you faking this? Are you still going to kill me, too?”
He cursed his stupidity that he couldn’t comfort her with words at this moment. But he would fix it—as soon as the others were safe from the rest of the infiltration of Gorgians. He looked around at the skirmishes around him. His team had this, slaughtering the eggs before the beings could even hatch. They would know as soon as the rain froze everything that the any other already cloned creatures would be decimated. He lifted his mate, wrapping her legs around his waist, and began to run toward the village.
They’d arrived in time. The others of his team had gathered the mates and children into the main area, while they combed the houses for any traces of black biomatter.
“Anything?” he snapped to Aello.
“Nothing, sir. It appears none of the others had a chance to manifest yet. Perhaps Lara was the first conquest and the rest of the Gorgians were slaughtered in the egg-stage.”
“Good.”
Their offspring stared wide-eyed. The females were holding up well, comforting the little ones.
Marcie stood with Anita, and between them they cared for Titi.
“Stellina, go join your friends,” he whispered, kissing her cold forehead. “Take care of our young.” She shivered in his arms still. He hated leaving her, but he had to make sure all the Gorgians were slaughtered. If he could get to the ship, he’d be able to trace the spacewaves for the size of the incoming vessel. Then he’d have a sense of how many Gorgians had descended, and he could count how many eggs had been slaughtered.
He let her slide down him, and walked her to where the others were. Titi held out her arms for him, but he kissed her soft cheek and murmured for her to stay with Lara.
Lara turned her lips up to him and he kissed her gently. Regretfully, he turned to leave.
Midway across the yard, a loud boom assailed his ears.
A blast slammed into his chest, knocking him flat on his back with a mighty roar. Someone screamed and suddenly the planet surface was covered in thick smoke—a product of weapon discharge. His warriors took cover, some splitting up to protect the females and offspring in the confusion. Across the sky lit various lights from a descending vessel.
A Freijian vessel. They were under attack from their own.
As soon as he realized this, he also realized he wasn’t dead. The laser was
set to just under kill, making for a very painful attack, but leaving him alive. He was stunned for the several minutes it took for the ship to descend, silently landing next to his own. He couldn’t hear, and his senses were numbed. Time passed as he blacked out for a bit and roared up to see a set of black thigh high boots walking toward him. He struggled to rise, fully intent to attack the bastard that dared to fire upon his planet.
Three more blasts followed in quick succession, bringing him gasping to his knees. Behind him, he could hear the screams and cries from the offspring.
“You’re scaring them,” he muttered to his nemesis, Serecone of the Chirex.
“Cuff him,” Serecone snapped to his first commander, ignoring the blood that poured from his wounds. There was never any reason to blast a warrior at point blank range once, much less three times. But Serecone operated on a thin line between ethical and unethical.
“If the protected species is harmed, you will be liable,” he gritted.
Serecone raised an imperious eyebrow. “And the teachers? Who is liable for their demise? Me or you? Do you admit you stole females?” he snarled.
His hands were unnecessarily cuffed behind his back, spreading open the three wounds on his chest and causing more blood to flow.
With a roar, Bajoc came from behind them. One mighty fist dislocated Serecone’s jaw, but the guards turned their laser fire onto him, blasting him until he twitched on the ground with Tristan in an electrical spasm.
“Stop!” Tristan roared. “You’ll kill him!” The freezing drizzle caused the electricity of the lasers to smoke, but Serecone would pretend later that he wasn’t prepared to take the weather into account when he was defended from the attack against Bajoc. Lying troll.
“No one touches me,” Serecone spat. “He’s lucky the lasers were still turned to stun.”
“It is any commander’s job to protect his captain,” Tristan snarled, looking directly at Serecone’s right hand. The man gulped. They were all aware his would never do the same.
Serecone snarled and did the unthinkable, something he could be brought up on charges on later. If Tristan wasn’t found guilty and stripped of his rank.
He electrocuted Tristan in the freezing drizzle, while all the inhabitants of the planet watched.
Chapter Ten
The planet was in chaos. The women were screaming, the offspring howling. Everyone was confused, and it was his own fault.
They should have implanted the language to their precious mates long before this.
An outdoor loudspeaker boomed from the other ship. “Captain Tristan Jeislkak of Helian Six, you will comply with the wishes of the Supreme Commander and relinquish your hold on the nineteen Eear-th females to the Master Teachers Council. An investigation will be wrought and if you are found guilty, you will be banished, your ship confiscated. If it is found that your team went along without having direct orders from you to comply, they will also face banishment.”
“Tristan,” Lara hollered, tears running down her cheeks. She broke away from the guard holding her, running to where he lay helpless and bleeding on the ground. He couldn’t move, his limbs still quivered and refused to support his weight.
“Stellina, my heart,” he said, running his hands over her cheeks to wipe away the tears. “Do not waste your body liquids on me. Look, you are getting yourself dirty with my blood.”
But his feisty red-haired female didn’t care, flinging her face into his neck and sobbing. From the net where the children were gathered, Titi howled loudly.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Lara sobbed. “I don’t understand the language.”
“Shh,” he comforted his mate, even as Serecone returned for her. “All is well. They will implant you and you will understand soon enough.”
And then he would lose her forever. Because at that time, she would learn he was on trial for her kidnapping.
The Captain took her arm, but she pushed him away, refusing to leave his side. With another growl, Serecone backhanded her. He never could stand insolent females.
Tristan roared, struggling to get up.
But she was ripped from his arms, led away by a guard to be held with the other females. Then they turned to him, and with one blow, gave him blessed darkness.
* * * * *
Lara woke up on a table. All around her, she heard sobbing. She sprang up, and realized she and the other teachers were alone in the room. She jumped off the table and swayed. The room felt like it whirled around her, and her legs weakened.
“Slow down, tiger,” Anita said, her voice groggy. “They implanted something in us. We can understand their language now.”
“What the hell’s going on?”
“From what I’ve picked up so far…and my implant seems to be working completely, while the rest of you only have about a twenty percent understanding. I guess the knowledge is supposed to integrate gradually, and I don’t think they’re aware of how much I can pick up. But apparently, our guys are called Helian Six. They’re in big trouble for stealing us from the Master Teachers Council.”
“Are you kidding? We were already stolen. They rescued us. The captain of the Harbor had already told us we were going to be kidnapped and raped.”
“Yes. But the quieter I’ve been, the more I learn. Helian Six had the technology to give us the language capabilities, too. These ones are wondering why they never did.”
Tristan would have been able to communicate with her? Why hadn’t he?
“I’m sure they had their reasons,” Lara said. “And we can sort our personal business out with them at home. But right now, this is the only teaching job I need. Hell, the council didn’t protect us. Who knows where we’d have been right now?”
The doors opened. Two of the same alien species as their men walked through.
“Females,” one of them said. It was the captain of this ship, the one who had hurt Tristan. Who had slapped her. His eyes swept around the room, noticing Lara was awake. He smirked cockily, and irritation instantly swept Lara’s midsection. “Please come with me. There is a three-way meeting with our Freijian headquarters, namely the Supreme Commander, and your representative from the Master Teachers Council.”
The ladies all stood, moving slowly.
“And my apologies to you,” he said, looking down his nose at Lara. “From what I understand, you were forced to play house with the soon-to-be ex captain of Helian Six. Rest assured, my lady. You will never have to suffer at his clumsy command again.”
What she wouldn’t give to knee him in the clumsy balls.
“Just move,” Marcie whispered at her. “Not here. We’ll get that one later.”
The group of women was ushered into a room with a large conference table. Two hologram images graced the table. One was clearly human, and the other Freijian.
“Ladies, our apologies for your abduction,” the Freijian image spoke. “I am Ambassador Krieckjan, the Supreme Commander of the Freijians. Let me choose as the spokesperson for your group the human female called Lara Ceylon, as she was the one directly in contact with Captain Tristan Jeislkak of the Helian Six. As it is our own people who abducted your staff, we are in the midst of negotiations with Earth to salvage what we can from the relationship.”
“Translation,” Anita whispered. “Earth deserves a bit of compensation for their loss.”
By the look of the bald human who was the head of the Council of Master Teachers, Lara had to agree. The man rubbed his fat fingers together. She was so going to love bursting his bubble.
“My poor teaching staff,” he said, his voice syrupy. “Many of you know me as Counselor Gene Gorman. Is there anything we can get you? What a hellish experience you have lived through.”
“It was hellish,” Lara said, her eyes narrowed. “What took you so long to find us when we never completed the last check-in? And how were we targeted to disappear in the first place?”
The attack to him obviously wasn’t expected. Counselor Gorman’s eyes widened wit
h surprise. “It was assumed you were killed on board the Harbor when it exploded, of course. We began searching for you immediately after the check-in time frame was missed. We contacted the Freijian unit, who polices that section of the galaxy. They found the space debris.”
“That’s not what I’m asking,” Lara said. “Every single one of us has no family to report as missing if we don’t arrive at our destination. How were so many of us gathered into one location? And how did the transport vessel—the Harbor—know that?”
The Freijian ambassador leaned forward, interest in his eyes. “Are you saying you were not merely abducted by our people?”
“Abducted? By Captain Tristan? Hell, no. We were rescued. Earth kidnapped us. The very ship that was supposed to deliver us was going to force us to do our last check-in, and then never deliver us. We were not supposed to be missed, as we were low-level, inexperienced teachers without family.”
The tables had turned. The human, with his bald head, began to turn an uncomfortable mottled color that made his scalp look a sickly grayish white. The Freijian leaned back, looking much more relaxed.
“Please, do continue with your story,” Ambassador Krieckjan said.
“The vehicle we were on was simply biding their time for our last check-in. We caught on to the plan, and delayed it so we could figure out what to do. But then we were all cornered. The captain informed us that no one would miss us, we would be forced to check-in, and we would not be delivered to the destined coordinates to teach. No one would look for us, and we would be considered Earth’s responsibility after the check, so the Harbor would be off the hook. He pointed out that it was highly unlikely that a group of newly graduated females would be shipped together to one location.”
If possible, Counselor Gorman shrank even more.
“He intended to rape us. He had just stated his intention and grabbed for Anita when the Freijian vessel broke through the walls and rescued us.”
“That doesn’t explain why you weren’t brought to us immediately.” Counselor Gorman gasped, his eyes darting back and forth.
