“I was thinking the same thing. Sarah and her little one are nearby. Let’s check them first. I can’t stand the thought of them getting eaten.”
“Better move fast. I don’t feel comfortable being out in the open like this.”
They quickly ran down to the quarters their friend shared with the captain. Before they even made it to her door, they could hear screaming inside.
“Blast the scanning plate with the alien weapon.”
Cassidy braced herself and pulled the trigger. As soon as the door opened, they stepped through. In the middle of the floor was an insectoid. He looked much like the one who attacked them, only this one waved his arms around and screeched at Sarah. His weapon still hung at his waist.
Cassidy didn’t even pause to consider the strange scene. Bringing up her weapon, she blew a hole right through his mid-section. The insectoids that had attacked their vessel were killing their warriors and terrorizing the women.
Sarah covered Lea’s ears and turned her face away.
Carolyn made her way to the pair. “You two okay?”
“He… he came in through the vent. We didn’t realize until he was on top of us.”
Cassidy grabbed his weapon. “Come on, we’ve got to check on the others. You can’t stay here by yourself. Others are sure to come.”
Carolyn explained, “The corridors are littered with bodies. You need to carry Lea and turn her face to your chest. We’ll cover you. Shove this in your pocket.”
Cassidy jerked her chin towards the weapon. “They use some kind of plasma technology that puts the Krylon laser weapons to shame. The laser pistols don’t even dent their exoskeleton.”
Taking the weapon from her, Sarah shoved it into the top of her shirt and picked up her daughter. They kept Sarah between them as they moved from room to room, gathering more weapons as they went. After about twenty minutes, they’d cleared eighteen rooms and had about thirty-four women with them. Mostly, they just shot the door locks and the women came pouring out.
Carolyn shook her head. “We aren’t moving fast enough. The bugs will get to them before we can rescue them all.”
Cassidy sighed. “We have to split up. Move in teams of three or four. It’s riskier, but we can cover more ground that way. The Krylons have done most of the heavy lifting. Unless I miss my guess, they came through thinking they’d cleared all the bugs, not realizing a few of them were using the ductwork to move through the ship.”
The women split up weapons, and went in different directions. As they continued clearing room after room, a growing unease flowed back and forth between the sisters.
“None of the women are harmed.”
Cassidy looked at her sister.
Carolyn expanded on her observation, “No matter how long the bugs were with the women, they didn’t harm them. What the hell is going on here?”
“I don’t know, but it’s creeping me the hell out.”
Their group grew again. They were about thirty strong when they entered a medical sub-station. Each section of the ship had a small room for medical emergencies. Cassidy blew the lock off and walked briskly to a medicine cabinet. Breaking the filmy, clear coating, she pulled out a small, clear case of hypo-sprays. Pulling out one of the syringes, she gazed at the sparkling green liquid in the clear vial. “I may not know what’s going on here, but I sure as hell will find out.”
Carolyn was at her shoulder in a heartbeat. “You don’t even know if that will work.”
“Got a better option?”
“Nope, as a matter of fact I don’t.” Carolyn’s answer proved they had no other valid options.
Cassidy shrugged. “Then let’s find ourselves a bug.”
“We’ll file that under the list of things we never thought we’d say.”
“Now you suddenly get a sense of humor.”
Grinning, Carolyn followed her back out of the room. They popped seven more rooms before finding one with a bug terrorizing the female inside. He was a large, green one with huge wings that flapped wildly as he screeched. Again, this one didn’t have his weapon out.
“Lower your weapons, ladies. I don’t want to scare him into shooting someone.”
Trading her shiny new plasma gun for a hypo-spray, she approached him. With another screech, the creature stepped back.
She held up the syringe, tilted it slightly so he could see the liquid, and then made the gesture of injecting herself in the neck. His eyes followed her every movement. She gestured talking, then pointed to him and the needle. His head tilted to the side in a gesture so bizarrely human, it took her by surprise. Its ugly bug eyes regarded her with suspicion.
Stepping forward slowly, she held the syringe in one hand and held the other up in front of her. Though he looked like he was about to flee at any moment, he managed to hold his ground. She lifted the syringe, placed it gently against his neck, and pressed the button.
Remembering that it worked better if someone was speaking, she used her most soothing voice.
“I want to know why you attacked our vessel. What do you want from us? Why are you killing the warriors but not the women? We don’t understand what you need.”
Suddenly, the insectoid’s head snapped up. A scratchy voice, clearly trying to mimic human speech, spoke one word, “Queen.”
“You want women?” Shock tore through her at the realization that an insectoid would want a human woman.
“One queen.”
“If you get one woman, you’ll stop your attack?”
Bowing his head, he said, “Yessss.”
Narrowing her eyes, Cassidy rolled the dice. “No. Queens are precious. We give you one queen and you’ll war no more in this sector.”
“No war, one queen.”
“Your people will stop all fighting for one queen?”
“Yessss. One preciousss queen.”
“You got a deal. Take me. I’m real precious, you can ask anybody.”
Carolyn gasped. “Cassidy, no, don’t do this.”
“One person in exchange for stopping a senseless war? It sounds like a really good deal for everyone but me.” She meant her comment to be funny, but it provoked some of the women to tears.
Her sister’s eyes took on a hard glint. “Fine. Trade yourself to the insectoids. If they don’t keep up with their end of the bargain, I’ll kick their asses myself.”
The bug screeched into what Cassidy imagined was a com device of some sort, “We leave now. Come.”
“Glad to see the multi-language virus works properly. I didn’t think it would work on insectoids.”
“It worksss, my queen.”
“Your people are leaving now.”
“Yessss. We must make for the loading box.”
“Yea, we call that a loading bay.”
Nodding, he walked off. “Guess I’m following.”
Carolyn, spoke up, “I’ll walk with you.”
“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you get yourself as far away from the people-eating, crazy insectoids as possible?”
As they walked off, at the least, the other women had enough common sense not to follow. “Why do you think they want a queen?”
Cassidy hadn’t taken a minute to even wonder about that. “Maybe they’re so used to being told what to do by a queen, their society is breaking down. If that’s the case, I’ll just put my bossy pants on and whip them into shape.”
“You are acting very cavalier.”
“Well, it’s definitely an act. I’m terrified they want a queen to breed little bugs with. I’ll be trapped. I’ll have to submit to whatever they want to do. Not even suicide will be an option; that would result in them attacking again.”
“That’s assuming they are even dealing honestly with you.”
“If you’re thinking I have any answers, you’d be very mistaken. I’m just doing what I can to keep them off you and the other women.”
The bug stopped. “No more time
. We leave now.”
Instead of the loading bay, they stood in front of a garbage portal. Sighing, Cassidy eyed the size of the portal. It would be a tight squeeze but she could probably fit through it. She imagined the insectoid ship retrofitting a docking ring onto the other side. They must be doing that or she’d get sucked into open space.
“I’m sorry about this, sis.”
Turning to look at Carolyn, she asked, “Sorry for what?”
Instead of a reply, there was a white-hot searing pain to her shoulder. Falling back against the wall, everything seemed to move in slow motion. As her back hit the wall, she saw Carolyn standing in front of her with a Krylon weapon in her hands. The bug screeched his anger.
“Your queen is damaged. Take me instead.”
“You come and ssstay? You be queen?”
“Yes. Leave my sister and take me instead.”
Cassidy tried to force her mouth to form words. Though her lips moved, no words came. Feeling herself slowly slide down the wall, her sister stepped forward to ease her to the ground.
She whispered, “You’ll be okay. It’s just a flesh wound. Go back to your warrior and make it work. I’ll get them to let me contact you as often as possible. Don’t let the warriors fight with them again. I don’t want to sacrifice myself for nothing.”
“Stop.” It took every ounce of strength and breath in her body to speak the one word.
Carolyn leaned over and gave her a hug, kissing her hair. “I’ll be fine. You’ll see.”
Trying to grasp onto her clothing to keep her from leaving, Cassidy realized her hands had no strength. Sitting alone, leaning against the wall with her shoulder throbbing, she was forced to watch her older sister crawl through the portal. The portal that was meant to carry her to a horrific life of pain and torture, took her sister instead. The creature followed her and several more scurried through before the warriors screamed after them.
As darkness claimed her, Cassidy felt herself lift from the floor.
Chapter 7
~ Carolyn ~
Cassidy’s Music Mix
Unable to keep the tears from falling, Carolyn watched the insectoid ship pull away from the Krylon battleship. Never having felt such conflicting emotions, she wrapped her arms around her waist. Knowing she might never see her sister again truly devastated her. By the same token, knowing the innocent woman would be forever safe from an insectoid invasion was such a profound relief, it literally cleansed her soul. No matter what happened to her, the tradeoff was well worth it.
Sitting on the bridge of the ship, she couldn’t help but feel conspicuous. There were no less than twenty bugs in the small room and they all stared at her. It occurred to her that they were waiting for something. They were expectant and worried. Her hand moved to the small, clear box clipped to her waist. Taking out a hypo-spray, she motioned to one of the insectoids.
He reluctantly came to her. This one wasn’t like the others. He was small and seemed slightly more humanoid. The soft, multi-shaded, purple skin appeared smooth but had a slight pattern to it. Instead of hair, he had a half-dozen ridges running from his forehead to the nape of his neck. His large, expressive eyes held an element of fear. Why would he fear her? She was the one who’d been abducted. She should fear them, and she did.
Pointing to the floor in front of her, she gestured for him to kneel. She was partially motivated to see if he would comply and a little afraid that if she stood, he might run screaming from the room. Once in front of her, he kneeled, bowing his head.
Bringing the hypo-spray to his neck, she hit the button. The others screeched, but she held up her hand for them to quiet. If the multi-language virus would work properly, he needed to cue on her words first. Whatever language was spoken first would be the primary imprint language.
“My name is Carolyn Striker. I’m your new queen, and I expect you to obey my words. You’ll cease hostilities with the beings in this sector immediately. Can you understand my words?”
“Yes?”
“You don’t sound very sure of yourself.”
Blinking rapidly, the male responded quickly, “I beg pardon, my queen. I thought you were terminating me.”
“Why would I terminate a perfectly good warrior?”
“I’m your humble servant. Thank you for gifting me with your language. What are your orders, my queen?”
“Outline my duties as your queen. I wish to perform adequately.”
Blinking again, he looked around the room. Leaning forward slightly, he asked, “Are you well, my queen?”
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
Straightening, he answered her original question, “Ah, this is a test. Queens rule. Drones obey. It’s the natural order of things.”
“What is our first order of business?”
Looking to the side, he made a squeaky noise of frustration. “If you choose to allow us to live, we should remove ourselves from the vicinity.”
“If I allow you to live?”
“Most of the drones believe our new queen will order us to self-terminate, so you might return to your people.”
“As tempting as that offer is, I’ll go with get the hell out of here for now.”
Screeching something to the others, they catapulted into action.
Horrified by his suggestion that she would ask them all to commit suicide, she asked, “How many creatures are aboard this vessel?”
“There are seventy-eight self-actuated individuals aboard, twelve hatchlings, and…”
“Wait. You have young aboard this vessel?”
“Yes, my queen.”
Frowning, she wondered how they had young with no queen.
As if intuiting her question, the drone answered, “Two of our males were carrying when we went into battle. We beg that all the young live. Though they were sired by another queen, they are strong and worthy of life.”
“Do your queens normally kill each other’s young?”
“Naturally, Maruvian queens are very territorial.”
“Well, here’s your first lesson about human queens. We value all life and most of us would sacrifice ourselves to protect another woman’s child.”
He screeched again and the drones in the room relaxed a little.
“What is your name?”
“I’m called Talon in your tongue, my queen. We offer your sincere gratitude for allowing our young to survive.”
“Do me a favor, Talon. Don’t ever thank me for not killing kids again.” Damn, that was wrong on so many levels.
“As you wish.”
“I’ll tell you what I wish. I wish to see the hatchlings.”
“If you’ll follow me, the hatchery is two levels down.”
Following him out of the room, she really felt how bizarre the situation was getting. She was the queen in name only of a bug ship, carrying hatchlings. Unsure what kind of morbid curiosity motivated, she felt driven to see their young. Maybe she could find something to connect with in their young faces. A bridge between the brutal warriors who ate people, and the rational human being she believed herself to be.
A door slid open, revealing a shocked assortment of male faces. A couple of them moved protectively in front of the alcoves in the wall. Walking over, she peered behind one male. It was difficult to tell, because he was blocking the light, but she saw something moving.
Talon screeched something and the male abruptly moved.
Sure enough, there was a dome-shaped incubator-type unit built into the wall. Inside were three small ones. They were really tiny and incredibly cute. Bending down, she tapped the glass. They scurried over to see what she was doing. Smiling at them, she asked, “Can I hold one?”
Talon huffed out an exasperated expression. “You must work on your phrasing. Queens demand, they don’t ask.”
Reaching into the incubator, he pulled out one of the tiny insectoids. It was less humanoid than several she’d seen. Cupping it in her hand
s, she cradled it against her chest. Wrapping its little claw around hers, she stared down into its adorable face. “His claws are so tiny, and his little antennae keep twitching. What’s causing that?”
“He is probably cold.”
“Easily fixed.” Opening her shirt, she slid the little one in against her skin. He immediately cuddled close, rubbing his face against her. “God, he’s adorable. Why do you call them hatchlings?”
One of the men screeched and Talon screeched back.
“Whoa, what’s going on?”
“He thinks you’ll eat the small one.”
Though it shouldn’t have, that comment struck her as funny. “Humans don’t eat our own or anyone else’s young. We find that whole idea of eating people revolting. Just so we’re clear, no one kills the little ones under any circumstances.”
“Unless they are damaged.”
“That isn’t what I said, Talon.”
“You’d grant damaged fledglings life?”
“What are we talking about here, little ones born with a broken wing?”
“They would never be able to fly, they couldn’t be useful to their unit.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t appear to have wings.”
“My species has never been born with wings. I’m not damaged.” The last part of his sentence was stated with a quiet indignity.
“I wasn’t attempting to insult you, Talon. I’m just saying that you seem incredibly useful, even without wings. I don’t have them either. We can find useful things for people with broken wings to do.”
“But that isn’t our way.”
A huge green form dropped from the ceiling. It was the insectoid that abducted her. “You’ll obey the queen, not force her to act as our queens do.”
“As you wish, Igor.”
“It’s clear our new queen doesn’t believe in killing indiscriminately. She allowed the defeated queen to live. I saw this with my own eyes.”
Talon screeched something and the drones turned curious eyes on her, reminding her that she’d shot her own sister with a laser pistol. The memory of Cassidy hitting the wall and sliding down into a sitting position flashed through her head. The look of pain and betrayal on her face sickened her. Feeling a tear slide down her face, she wiped it roughly away, cuddling the little one closer to her. She wasn’t a bad person. She wasn’t, and that’s all there was to it.
Maruvian Bride (Alien SciFi Romance) (Celestial Mates Book 5) Page 6
