by Abigail Myst
The warrior nearest him managed a sheepish smile. “Kave said it was okay.”
“Kave?”
“Yes. He arrived last week.”
“How the hell did he arrive last… the bastard took a transport!”
Athen’s blood began to boil. Suhlik could be arriving any day, and his camp was a disastrous mating ground full of fragile females and hot-for-it warriors. If he knew what was good for him, Kave would hide. He would hide and not come out for a month.
“You’re not supposed to be back for a—“
Athen turned and punched Kave in the face. Nearby females screamed and scattered. Kave, as usual, stayed down. Odette, however, irked him when she put herself between him and his deceptive second-in-command.
“Woman!”
“Exactly! You’re scaring the noobs!” Athen had no idea what a noob was but he was fairly certain she was referring to the women, many of whom had gone scattering back to their new husbands.
“When your father found out you’d left your post, he sent me back here to command. I’ve never had any compulsion to deny the men their request for a mate,” Kave said. He actually propped his hands behind his head, making himself comfortable on the ground. “You can’t send them back. And there’s not much to do but—“
Athen let out a bellow, which the warriors recognized immediately. It was a general all call and they quickly gathered, some with still clinging mates, to the center of the camp where Athen stood.
“Your mates are your own. That is a certain thing. However, perhaps you should have consulted me before filling a battle camp full of females. Yes. The lines have shifted.”
His men knew what this meant. A tittering flew up among the women. His warriors knew better and remained silent. His own mate didn’t.
“Look, it might get a little scary for a while but I’m sure Athen will come up with a plan to keep us all safe. Seriously. So why don’t the ladies step over here, and we’ll get to chatting a bit while the warriors do some strategizing and get all caught up.”
Odette had such a happy look on her face that when she motioned everyone back to the mess, they all seemed to follow the herd.
Kave scrambled to his feet. The look on his face told only of serious business.
“You couldn’t wait, could you?” Athen spat.
“None of those are mine. Apparently, I’m difficult.” He shrugged and had the gall to look grumpy.
“Then perhaps you will not leave a widow behind like my brothers.”
“I will best any Suhlik that tries to land.”
“They will try. The Noonian captain?”
“I last saw them on the beach. They were a bit upset when all the females began to arrive and there were to be none for them. I see you brought their ship back in one piece.”
Athen nodded to two warriors who went to round up the cargo crew. It wouldn’t do to have them running around any more, considering they had a vital role to play in Athen’s plan.
“And we delivered a shipment to Etlon of one small Suhlik ship and two other cargo ships with traitorous captains. We’ve spread false information throughout their network. They are, if we are successful, going to amass here like lambs to be slaughtered.” Athen could see the realization dawn on Kave’s face. He turned a shade bluer than Athen had ever seen before. Yes, he knew exactly what kind of danger he had placed the newly mated women in. “Reinforcements will be sent in shortly, but we will have to decide what to do with the females.”
“Back up plan N?”
Athen pondered. It had been one of the original plans for a potential invasion and protection of target. They’d scouted the planet and found a small island off one of the coasts, that contained a deep enough cave to avoid any scans. It had been shoved way down the list for the main fact that Etlonians did not like to swim and therefore being on an island was not preferable. But putting Odette on an island might actually work. The Suhlik were not fond of swimming either. With all their armor, they sunk right to the bottom.
“Look into it. My mate has discovered something that might prove useful in the fight.”
“Don’t sound too proud, now.” Warriors were often teased if their mate’s accomplishments outshined their own.
Odette
Odette stared down the faces of twenty women of all shapes and sizes.
While it was never something she sought out, being stared at by curious eyes was something she had gotten used to in the years of academia. After all, one did not get through grad school without having been a teacher’s assistant for at least a year. Whether he’d been testing her or trying to make a professor out of her, Dr. Syverson, her father’s partner and her mentor, had thrown her as many sections as he could get away with. Odette had always preferred the lab. After all, plants couldn’t talk back.
Years of being dragged to Ladies Organizations had prepared her to deal with the other eventuality: mob mentality. These women had formed a common bond from being transported across the universe together. She, on the other hand, was a new arrival in their eyes. She was going to have to earn their respect and face challenges head on.
“What did he mean? The front lines?” one brunette questioned.
Odette took a deep breath. It was starting already.
“First of all, he was exaggerating a bit, but you have all heard that sometimes, the lottery puts you on the edge of the Suhlik invasions. Most of you saw that when they arrived on Earth without a proper invitation.” They all would have been children, but many would have clear memories of the fighting or the hunkering down in shelters or bunkers. They would have remembered fleeing the cities that were under massive bombardments and scattering to the wind in the countryside. “But Athen is a very capable commander.”
“You would say that. You’re the one fucking him,” said a short blonde in the front.
“True. But I’ve seen it first hand. I’ve also seen how chauvinistic some of these boys can be. Sure, I might be a girl, but just out of curiosity, how many of you have a college degree?” About half of them raised their hand. “And how many have any kind of military training?” Four of them raised their hand. “And how many of you are in careers that require you to kick ass and take names and get shit done that the men on Earth always have a hard time getting done?”
“Yes!” one woman exclaimed, hand high. The others rose their hands, too.
“Then we just need to get organized. Who’s good with spreadsheets?”
“I’m a— well, was a personal secretary to Freecorp’s CEO. She said I was kick ass.”
“Okay, all in favor of making—“
“Viviane,” she said when Odette glanced at her for a moment.
“Viviane as secretary of the Noven 90 Ladies Corp, say I.” A chorus of ayes raised. “Nays?” Nothing.
“So moved.”
“I suppose you nominate yourself as president?” asked someone from the crowd.
“Hell no. Who wants the job?” The women all stood there and looked a bit sheepish, all waiting for the first person to raise their hand. Slowly, one blond rose her hand. Another shot up rather quickly after that.
“Alright, Viviane, as the only duly elected officer, you get to run the election.”
That was all it took for the rest of the women to begin to organize into their group. She was torn between wanting to grab her samples and go to her and making sure things didn’t descend into chaos again. She stayed on the edge and watched as Paula was elected President and Electra her Vice President.
“You will be liaison to the Chief Warrior?” asked Paula.
“Warlord,” Odette supplied.
“That sounds so barbaric.”
“Kinda does. But they get a little googly when you don’t use the proper terms. But I guess I’m the logical choice, considering I am already ‘liaisoning’ with him.” The crowd tittered. Odette shrugged, glad that she got a laugh.
“We want more details on this battle line thing,” Paula said.
“I�
�m not going to sugar coat it. There is both good news and bad. The Mahdfel recently discovered a spy ring, and they are using it to their advantage to draw the Suhlik here. More Mahdfel will be arriving shortly to catch the Suhlik by surprise. That’s why Athen was upset. He didn’t even want me to come, but I convinced him. And he punches Kave all the time, really. It’s sort of his idea of a light smack upside the head. They are probably going to put us far away from the action, and we might be there for a while. And those posters, they really are true. Your Mahdfel would rather die than see you come to harm.
“What if I haven’t… I haven’t—” A petite redhead sputtered.
“Then get going honey,” one sneered.
“But he’s so big!”
Most of the women laughed knowingly.
“Trust me,” Odette said in her most calm voice. “If you didn’t fit, you wouldn’t have been matched. Some of these guys are bachelors and before I got here, some of them had never seen a human before. So give it time. The warriors only get one match so he will be very motivated to keep you safe for as long as it takes for you to adjust.”
“Oh she’s just nervous because she heard Sally screaming from the beach the other day when she was getting pounded.”
“It was a good scream,” Sally interjected. “I promise. I tend to be loud anyway.”
“So we need to be ready to pack up and move at a moment’s notice,” Odette spoke out, bringing them back to task. “And organized and ready to live as a unit.”
Paula nodded and they began planning. No longer needed, Odette stepped back and drifted to her quarters.
Athen
Athen got back into the routine of the camp, checking to find that despite his absence, the warriors still maintained proper guard shifts and kept up the rotation of the monitoring stations, though that particular duty had gone from the most desired to the least.
When he finally got back to his cabin, he found Odette there waiting for him.
“Maybe you should have thought twice before announcing ‘Hey! Scary lizard monsters are on their way’!” she said.
“You did well in calming them.”
“Athen, I chose to be here. They didn’t.”
“I noticed they are all human. I suppose you had quite an impression on my warriors in your previous stay.”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I was not. I was praising my mate. Am I not allowed to praise my mate?” He unbuttoned the front of her blouse. Though he loved the way her undergarment pushed her breasts up for him in an inviting manner, Athen didn’t appreciate the extra layer between him and her skin.
“Athen, we are in the middle of a discussion.” Her breath caught when he slipped a finger down and revealed her nipple.
“I am listening.” Athen bent and teased the puckered point with his tongue.
“You- you don’t play fair,” she muttered. He knew by now she wasn’t really angry. He’d had two solid weeks on the ship, and most of them had been spent in bed. His warriors could easily have called him out for dereliction of duty, but they were too busy grinning, anticipating their own mating to say anything to disrupt their distracted warlord from, as Odette called it, their honeymoon.
Chapter Seventeen
Odette
Odette couldn’t get out to the jungle fast enough. She took Goru and Leif with her, mainly because they were two of the six warriors that had traveled with Athen and she wasn’t tearing them away from mates. She was also taking their minds off the very fact that they didn’t yet have mates. They’d grumbled most of the way out along the path Athen had carved out of the jungle.
“I want a nice fat one,” Goru said. “They come in fat, right?”
“Yes. They come in all shapes and sizes,” she said. His questions had been nonstop.
“Doesn’t make sense to get one until after things settle,” Leif reminded them.
“I know, but that doesn’t stop me from dreaming, now, does it?”
Odette knew that Goru would get little choice in what match actually suited him.
“Goru, just remember,” Odette said. “If she’s skinny, you can always fatten her up.”
“True. Very true. Either way, I hope that she is just like you.”
It was a little intimidating being the only example of the entire human race. She hoped that she had done humankind a turn for the better. What would have happened if someone like Megan had popped over instead, all drink and idle chatter? Odette made a note to herself to send a cheerful vid to her birthday friend. One could find happiness out in the vast reaches of space after all… and green aliens are hot.
“It’s this one, I think,” Odette said, indicating the carnivorous plant that Athen had pointed to during their last journey out. Despite the hack job that he had done to it a month ago, the thing had grown back larger and fiercer than before. That boded well for potential cultivation. If it turned out to be a shrinking violet that took years to grow, they’d be foraging the planet for ages trying to find enough of it to make the stuff.
“This one? It grows like a weed,” Goru said.
“Exactly. That’s a good thing. If I’m right, by the end of the afternoon, we should have enough to melt the scales off those Suhlik.”
“One doesn’t need to melt their scales. Just slide a knife under them and squish!” He made a movement with his hand that made Odette shudder.
“I can’t imagine a human being able to do that though. If we had this, we could totally shoot them. Bullets practically bounce off their scales.”
“You wouldn’t need Mahdfel anymore.”
“Oh, we’ll always need hot stud muffins like the pair of you.”
“Ha!” Goru punched Leif on the arm.
Odette remained quiet for that one. Sure, the Mahdfel were mainly protection, but they had also provided serious upgrades in technology. She hadn’t fully pondered the implications of her father’s formula. If they knew how to make the compound, it would save lives, but it would also put Earth on a brand new footing within the political sphere. But then, it could also paint a target on their backs. Right now, the Suhlik basically ignored Earth. Its citizens were well protected and the resources weren’t worth the fight.
Goru and Leif went to work cutting the plant, slicing into its heart so that it would stop trying to eat them, then bagging the large tendrils.
“Do you think we could find a baby plant? You know, one we could take back to camp to see how well it transplants.”
Goru looked at the plant. “That is a baby one.”
Odette stared at the stump they had left. Bits of it were still wriggling around the edges.
“Baby?”
“Yeah, the big ones, they could probably swallow a warrior whole. Hapstel said his entire transport ship was swallowed by one one, but I think he was exaggerating a bit. I mean, it probably only ate half, because otherwise the exhaust ports would have been fried. I think he took a nap and lost track of time,” Goru added.
“Well then, I think we’ll save that for another day.”
“Another day, another adventure,” Leif said.
They traipsed uneventfully back to camp. Leif and Goru sighed and gazed longingly at their fellow Mahdfel with their new brides as they crossed the camp and deposited the sacks by her office.
“Thanks.”
Odette went to work immediately. Athen had provided her with more appropriate subjects than his mother’s furniture for her to test variations and make sure that the formula could be reproduced in large quantities. As she handled the shiny metallic plates, she tried not to think about how each one was basically the skin of a formerly live and sentient being, even if it was a monstrous being. After all, if the Suhlik were here today, it would probably tear her to shreds without a second thought.
Odette worked on five different variations and concentrations. She was too engrossed in her work to even notice when Athen came in to claim her for mess.
“I’m busy.”
“
You must eat.”
“Later. You were the one complaining that time was of the essence.”
“Yes, but I will not have our child suffer for it.”
Odette paused, and took a deep breath. Most of the time, she could forget that she carried a baby inside her. Except for a few queasy moments, it was easier to ignore the large change in her life that was imminent.
Athen disappeared but a few minutes later, entered with two meals. He looked prepared to argue, but she simply sat down at the empty table. They ate the noodle dish in silence. Odette knew he was staring at her, watching her, assessing her. Finally, he spoke.
“We have made a plan. I cannot protect every female in camp. If they stay, there will be losses. There is a cave, big enough to hide them from the Suhlik scans. You will all go, along with your lab. We have already begun the preparations. Your formula is too important to put in the kind of danger that we have created.”
“Just the formula?”
“Which argument do you want? I thought logic best.”
“There’s another argument.”
“That I would stop breathing if you were injured? Or our child? That I would fly into such a rage that I would slaughter every last Suhlik with my bare hands before walking into the water with despair?”
Odette looked up at him. There was not an ounce of sarcasm floating on his face.
“I love you,” she whispered.
Athen stood and pulled her into his arms. His mouth came down on hers and his fingers tangled in her hair.
“I did not doubt it,” Athen said smugly. “But you doubted me?”
“Tell me.”
“You are my life’s blood, woman.”
***
“This is not what I had in mind.” Odette stared hard at the vid screen, as if that would change her stubborn husband’s decision to plant every female on the planet on a small island, literally halfway around the world.
