by Sonia Nova
Not an Alliance species at all. The enemy.
Naomi felt sick. She hoped another glass of water would help. But just as she was about to refill her glass, her wristband emitted a frantic beep from her nightstand.
Incoming call.
Naomi’s eyes widened in surprise at the sound. Who could be calling her at 4am in the morning?
Immediately, her heart sank. Once again, at this time of night, it couldn’t be anything good. Crap.
Naomi rushed back to her bed and picked up the wristband. Mareb’s name flashed on the screen as she took the call, her palms suddenly even sweatier and her heart beating rapidly in her chest.
“Mareb?” she breathed, her mind already reeling with every possible explanation – all bad – as to why he was calling her now.
“Naomi…” Mareb’s panicked voice answered on the other end. “I’m so sorry to disturb you in the middle of the night but… Something has happened.”
Naomi’s heart nearly stopped at his words, and she closed her eyes, letting out a deep breath.
“What’s wrong, Mareb?” she asked, trying to remain calm. “What can I do for you?”
Mareb didn’t say anything for a moment, and Naomi thought the connection had been lost. But then, he spoke again.
“I… I can’t tell you on the phone,” he said quietly. “Could you please come to the conference room we met at yesterday?”
“Of course. Just… Give me a minute and I’ll get dressed. I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you, beautiful. And please, hurry.”
* * *
Moments later, Naomi rushed through the palace corridors toward the conference room. Her heart thumped an unruly beat in her chest, and she willed her legs to move faster. Mareb’s secretive words had hardly put her mind at ease, and her brain was on overdrive.
What could possibly have happened?
The skies above Agaria still looked peaceful, with no Krezlians in sight, but she knew that didn’t necessarily mean anything.
Please, let there be no more casualties at least… No more missing people…
The palace was completely quiet around her, the only sound being the one her footsteps made. Darkness surrounded her, with her wristband as the only source of light illuminating the dim corridors as she ran through them.
Taking the stairs a few floors down, she soon arrived at the conference room. The twin doors slid quietly open before her as she stepped into the room – revealing a horror she had never expected to see.
Naomi gasped and her eyes widened in shock at the sight before her.
It seemed she wasn’t the first human to make it here. Although she was the only one standing.
The bodies of her co-workers and team members – all of whom were human and female – littered the floor. Not one of them moved.
Naomi felt the shadows close in around her, and she turned around with a horrified gasp.
A group of Agari guards surrounded her, all of them heavily armed, and none of them looking particularly friendly.
But that wasn’t what shocked her the most.
As the guards stepped aside, a tall Agari man passed before them. He walked up to Naomi, and her eyes rounded in shock as she took him in. Her gaze darted briefly to the other men around him. She didn’t recognize them. But she did recognize the man before her. Very much so.
“Mareb?” she breathed, stupefied.
Mareb stood before her calmly, as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on. His expression was empty, revealing no emotion, and alarm crawled along Naomi’s spine, making her hair stand on end. After a moment, Mareb took a step closer, but when he didn’t speak, Naomi finally seemed to discover her own voice again.
“What is the meaning of this?” she asked, her voice carrying a slight shiver she had hoped to hide. “Are they… alive?” Her eyes shifted back to the women on the floor of the conference room, although she didn’t think there was any need to indicate who she meant by ‘they’.
“They are alive,” Mareb said, his voice oddly cold and holding none of the flirtatious humor that usually accompanied his demeanor. “Simply unconscious.”
He turned to look at the women in the room briefly, then turned back to Naomi again, an uncertain expression on his face, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with her. Naomi wondered whether he was considering killing her on the spot or simply chucking her together with the women in the room.
“Why?” she whispered, uncomprehending. This didn’t make any sense. Mareb was her friend… wasn’t he?
Mareb stared at her for a long moment, then shifted his gaze away to look at the women again.
“The Krezlians are taking my planet. I cannot allow that to happen.”
Krezlians? What the hell did the Krezlians have to do with…? Her eyes widened as realization struck her. And while she could’ve still expected this of Sayhe, Ayal, or the other representatives who had suggested giving up the Ezak-X to the Krezlians… She would’ve never thought this of Mareb.
“You’ve made a deal with them,” she gasped in horror.
Mareb turned back to her now, his eyes desperate. “You must know there was no other choice. With the battle that took place yesterday… Losing the moon… We cannot wait for the Alliance reinforcements! The Krezlians will destroy our planet before that happens!”
Naomi wanted to argue, but before she could get a word out of her mouth, Mareb continued, in a slightly calmer voice, “The Krezlians managed to capture a few Ezak-X already during the battle, when they took over the moon. That’s what we assumed they were after – and they are! But I’m sure you remember the kidnapping of the human woman from the Ka’elea… Although that was initially a coincidence…”
“They want us too,” Naomi supplied, her mouth suddenly dry and her whole body numb.
“Yes,” Mareb said simply, without emotion, as if discussing the weather. Naomi shook her head rapidly, refusing to think of the implications of his words. She’d known there were theories, but…
“I can’t believe the King would agree to this.”
“The King doesn’t know,” Mareb said immediately, his voice detached and neutral.
Naomi’s eyes widened at that. The King didn’t know?
“You would betray your King?” she asked, her voice filled with disbelief. Apparently, everything she’d thought to have known about Mareb was proving untrue. She would have never imagined betrayal to be possible for him. He was devoted to the King. More so than any other representative… or so she’d thought.
Mareb smiled sadly. “Whether it is betrayal or not, I do this for Agaria. The King… He does what he believes is best. But so will I. I will not stand by while Agaria – my planet, my home – burns.”
Naomi stood in her place, gaping at him. She didn’t know what to say. That Mareb would do this…
She could tell that he really thought this was the only way to save Agaria. She could see the determination in the depths of his eyes, and could hear his conviction in his voice. He was not even afraid of being named a traitor. She could tell that, in his mind, he really saw no choice.
But still… She couldn’t believe it. She could not believe he was doing this to her people. To his co-workers. To her.
“The Alliance reinforcements should be here any moment!” she snapped, in some kind of a desperate attempt to still talk some sense into him, although she knew it was too late. “Either today or tomorrow, they will–”
“They will what?” Mareb interrupted her. “Bring more war to Agaria? Fight off the Krezlians at the cost of our moon, perhaps burn it to the ground?”
He stared at Naomi with a furious, tortured look on his face, and Naomi’s mouth snapped shut.
Mareb shook his head then, pacing the corridor. “No… I won’t let that happen. Now that the Krezlians hold the moon, that changes everything. If the Alliance troops attack the moon, they will destroy it. And what would the effects of that be on Agaria? Devastating! I cannot have it. This must be
solved with peaceful negotiation, not battle.”
Naomi’s eyes bulged at his words. “Peaceful negotiation?!” She couldn’t believe what he was saying. She glanced around herself, gesturing at the unconscious women on the floor. “You call this peaceful negotiation?”
Mareb smiled sadly. “I have to say, I hesitated about you… That’s why I called you here last. But then I figured… If they find out I left even one female behind…”
He shook his head. When he looked up at her again, his dark eyes looked haunted, and tears shimmered in their depths.
“I’m sorry, beautiful.”
Before Naomi could argue any more, one of the goons behind her whacked her on her head. Her vision blacked out and darkness swallowed her. Long before the pain even registered, she was out.
CHAPTER 13
AREZ
Arez hid behind a computer unit, trying to mold himself to the walls as he watched the Krezlians work on the main platform of the ship that opened up beneath him. They were walking around, preparing, obviously getting themselves organized for battle. He snuck under a large pipe, trying to get closer.
There were surveillance cameras and guards everywhere on the ship, and no doubt everyone knew to be looking out for him. He had managed to avoid the guards so far, but without an escape plan, there was only so much he could do.
He knew the ship was no longer in space. He could tell that much by the lack of the engine’s vibration around him. So, the only logical explanation was that the ship had landed on the moon – perhaps it was even the very same ship he’d seen landing. The one that likely still occupied the Eifan station’s shuttle platform.
The knowledge hardly made him feel better. Because if there was a Krezlian ship casually on the moon without a battle raging on outside… That could only mean one thing: that the Krezlians had taken control of the whole moon.
Shit…
His spirits immediately deflated at the thought. If that was indeed the case, he doubted he was the only one the Krezlians had captured.
Arez shook his head. He couldn’t think of that now. Right now, his priority was to get out, get back to Agaria, and warn the Alliance that the Krezlians weren’t just coming after the Ezak-X. They were after human females too. After Naomi.
His chest constricted strangely at the thought of her. Because, if it wasn’t for her, for the need to warn off the Alliance, he would simply make his way to the engine room and blow this whole ship up. Even if it meant killing himself in the process.
But he knew that would only kill the Krezlians inside this ship – and this was hardly the only ship they had. Destroying it and killing the hundred or so Krezlians within its walls would do nothing. There were still more of the lizards outside, in other ships. They could go after the females then, and nobody would be any safer.
Rather, they would be in more trouble, because the Alliance wouldn’t know to increase the protection of the females, thinking it was only his people – the Ezak-X – that the Krezlians wanted.
But it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Arez’s brow furrowed again as he considered that. He still did not understand why the Krezlians wanted the females, but there was no time to work that out now. Right now, instead of blowing this ship up, he would have to get out alive and warn the Alliance. The latter was far more difficult to do than the former, but he knew he had to do it anyway.
For Naomi.
A strange warmth stirred in his chest at the thought of the female. He could almost smell her sweet scent in his nose, and it made his loins tighten. Once again, he remembered the Krezlian scientist’s words. Hormonal changes… Because of the female.
Was that why she smelled so sweet? Why his skin heated up and prickled every time she touched him? Even now, as he closed his eyes, he could feel her soft touch on his skin, smell her sweet fragrance in his nose and–
Arez fought to erase the picture of the orange-haired human female from his mind.
Focus.
He could not fuck this up now. Especially since the life of the female in question depended on it. He would have to find a way out of the ship, without the Krezlians’ noticing. Or, if they did notice, he’d have to plan it so that he killed everyone who did see him, and return to Agaria to warn the humans.
And then… Then, he would get back into his speeder and wreck the bastards’ ship. Then, he would blow it up from the inside out, just as he currently itched to do. A cruel smile spread on his lips at the thought. Yes, that’s what he would do.
Arez scanned the platform below him again, looking for some kind of a weak spot in the defenses, an opening he could take to pass through – perhaps a smaller group of guards he could overtake for their weapons. But as he pondered his next move, he caught the sight of three Krezlian generals by the main entrance of the platform.
A group of guards followed closely behind them, and Arez’s eyes narrowed at the congregation. He followed the small group with his gaze as they walked closer toward the door, obviously in anticipation of something.
What were they up to?
He tried to train his ears on the generals, to get a sense of what they were talking about, when suddenly the main doors of the platform opened, and in stepped a group of red-skinned, lean, Agari representatives – with humans in tow.
Arez’s eyes widened in shock at the sight. The humans were cuffed together in a chain, all of them female. And the Agari representatives didn’t seem to be walking in as enemies of the Krezlians… but as allies.
A horrifying realization dawned on Arez. The Agari were trading in the humans… They had made a deal with the scaly bastards.
His breath caught in his throat as more human females were pushed into the platform, some of them struggling against their captors, others submitting to their fate. His heart almost stopped in his chest as he saw a certain orange-haired, pale, human female walk inside with them, glaring at her Agari guards with a vicious look on her beautiful round face.
Naomi.
“Is this all of them?” one of the Krezlian generals asked in the standard Alliance language, and although his words were deformed and all wrong – his reptilian tongue incapable of making half the sounds – his meaning was clear.
“All females, as you asked,” one of the Agari reps – a tall, dark-haired male Arez had seen a time or two before – said.
“Good. We will take it from here,” the Krezlian general replied, gesturing at the group of guards behind him to start rounding up the females.
The Agari guards handed the females to the Krezlians, and when the exchange was complete, the Agari male, who was obviously in charge of the operation, turned to the Krezlian generals again.
“And the war?” he asked.
The Krezlian general waved his hand at the man.
“We will leave the planet,” he said, “if we find what it is we want…”
The Agari representative’s eyes flashed, as if he had simply expected the Krezlians to pack up and leave – the fool – but he seemed to collect himself quickly.
“Of course,” he said, bowing to the Krezlians before he turned back toward the entrance.
A moment later, the Agari took their leave of the ship, and the Krezlians started to drag the human females deeper inside the spacecraft. They were now all screaming and struggling against their captors, protesting the exchange, but it was no use. The Krezlians had them, and there was nowhere else for them to go.
Arez’s eyes were fixed on Naomi. She seemed calmer than others, although she too was spitting expletives at the Krezlian guards. He followed her with his gaze until the group was taken through a metallic door on the other side of the platform, his heart pounding in his chest as he watched.
Shit…
Now he wouldn’t just have to get himself out of here. But her, too…
CHAPTER 14
NAOMI
“Let me go, you incorrigible bastards!”
Naomi struggled against the chains holding her captive as the gro
up of Krezlian guards dragged her and the other women through the corridors of their ship.
“You know the Alliance will never let you get away with this!”
She yanked her chains and spat at the nearest guard. She knew she was hardly being an ambassadorial example for her fellow humans, but at that point, she didn’t care. She was done with calm and rational. Fuck calm and rational. She was just so angry that someone she trusted had tricked her into this. Someone she had considered her friend.
The Krezlian guard she had spat at suddenly stopped, jerked back her chain and nearly made her fall head first on the floor. Instead, the guard caught her by the arm when she tripped and gripped it so hard that she grimaced in pain.
“Hey, let her go!” Tammy, one of the Immigration Team Leaders yelled, struggling in her own chains, her expression furious.
The guard ignored her.
“Bitch,” he hissed at Naomi, his yellowing teeth suddenly appearing in her field of vision as he yanked her closer to his face. She turned away, the rotting stench alone making her nearly puke. But that seemed to be a mistake, because now the Krezlian pulled her up to a standing position by her throat.
“Tough, aren’t you?” He hissed into her ear, his voice so cold that Naomi couldn’t help the shiver that coursed along her spine. His words were heavily accented, but Naomi got the message loud and clear.
The scaly green hand on her throat prevented the air from flowing into her lungs properly, and her breath hitched in her throat as she tried to gasp for air. A sudden dread filled her, and she considered that perhaps she had gone too far by spitting on him.
It turned out that all her training to remain calm no matter what happened could just crumble away if she was betrayed by a friend and taken by a species of aliens who were everything she stood against. Yeah, that could definitely cause a shift in perspective.
