by Cara Wylde
Ginny almost jumped out of her skin. She clapped her hands in childish excitement, as if she’d just been given the best news of her life.
“He came. I knew he’d come!”
Avery knew her captains would give the order to open all the comms before they gave it. Apparently, Araime had finally agreed to talk to them, and Kryan and Aedar decided it was best for all four ships and everyone on them to hear.
“Hey, let’s pay attention!”
Kaylee cocked an eyebrow. “To what?”
“Wait for it…”
Sure enough, two seconds later, Aedar’s voice came through the speakers.
“This is Captain Aedar of the Hordaa. The Craziak is attempting to open a channel with us, but we think it’s better for all to hear it. All comms open.”
“This is Captain Araime of the Craziak.”
For the first time since the attack, complete silence fell over the conference room.
“Hordaa, Swetho, Lyare, Verto. Surrender now. It’s time to open your eyes and see how the humans have played you and manipulated you. You gave your slaves rights and privileges, and now they’re sentencing you and your people to death, and worse, making you believe it was your idea. This is the moment. We shall step up together, wipe out the traitors, and start anew. The Alliance must prevail. The Earth is ready and is ours for the taking. Hordaa, give up the slaves and you will be forgiven and welcomed with open arms once again.”
Avery shook her head in disbelief. Well, Araime was anything but gullible, for sure.
“You don’t need these wretched women who have conspired and taken advantage of your good will. There are plenty of women on Earth. You can have as many as you want, and they will give you as many children as you desire. We will build a new society together, as brothers and sisters. No one will stop us.” She paused for effect, then added: “I ask you now: wake up from this false dream you’ve allowed yourselves to be trapped in. You take this road, and only suffering, death, and extinction awaits you. Stand with me now, or I will crush you and claim the Earth for the Minarians.”
“How exactly does she think…” Grace started.
“She doesn’t.” Avery smiled. Kryan had a good point. He hadn’t said it out loud because the comms were open, but was thinking it now, and Avery was right there, in his head and heart. “It’s a bluff. Well, not exactly a bluff… she hopes she can still convince the other captains to join her because she can’t possibly fight four ships and win.”
“Do you think she’ll…”
“No. Listen.”
Kryan’s voice boomed through the speakers: “Captain Araime attacked the Hordaa because she knows all your wives and mothers are on board. They called a grand meeting because you, their husbands, have decided to join the Kralians in a new search for a free, habitable planet even though you know success is unlikely. They have taken a vote, and just before the Hordaa was hit, they presented us with the results.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” Ginny asked. “We didn’t even have time to count the votes. Is he buying time?”
“No,” Avery said. She looked around them, at all the women who were huddled together on the floor, in pairs and groups, holding on to each other in case the ship was hit again. She raised her voice, so all of them could hear her: “Forget about what you voted half an hour ago. How would you vote now?”
No one answered, and that was okay. Avery didn’t need an answer. She already knew it. And they knew, too.
“Kryan is not merely buying time. He’s telling everyone the truth.”
Through the comms, Kryan continued: “Your wives and mothers, these women who have suffered so much at our hands, want you… want us to stay. They have voted for peace and forgiveness. This war can end now. No victims, and no winners. All we have to do is thank them for their wisdom and compassion and negotiate with Terra’s governments. It’s not too late to atone for our sins and allow the people of this rich, beautiful planet to offer us shelter.”
Kaylee rubbed at her aching temples. “Sounds like a stretch when he says it like this, out loud.”
Grace threw her an annoyed glance. “It was your idea in the first place!”
“You’ve made your decision, I see,” Araime said. There was some sadness in her voice. It couldn’t be denied.
“What about your people?” challenged Aedar. “What did the Minarians decide?”
“Let me worry about them.”
The Craziak fired at the Swetho, the comms died for a moment, then went back up only to be switched off at Kryan’s order.
“What’s happening now?” Grace grabbed Avery by the shoulders. “Poppy! Avery, what’s going on?”
Hordaa took the next hit. The women screamed, the lights flickered, then there was complete darkness. Half a minute later, the emergency lights kicked in. In the eerie, reddish glow, the situation looked even more disastrous.
“What are they doing?! Four ships, and the Craziak is still standing?”
Avery tried to focus as best as she could. Aside from the pain in her side, now she was sure she had sprained an ankle.
“They can’t destroy the Craziak. Not yet.”
“Why not?!”
“We need to find a way to reach the Minarian civilians,” Kryan yelled at his Deck crew, as if anyone could do anything about it. If Araime didn’t want her people to hear what the other captains had to say, then there was nothing they could do.
Avery’s eyes went wide with understanding. Between what Kryan was yelling and what Aedar was thinking, she got the whole picture.
“Her people don’t know!” She grabbed the edge of the table and struggled to pull herself to her feet even with the strange angle. The Hordaa couldn’t take another hit. She sensed Aedar’s worry that the shields wouldn’t last long after the last one. “Everyone, listen to me! Araime has been keeping the Minarians in the dark. She’s not opening her ship-wide comms, and her people don’t know what we’ve discussed and decided here. They’re probably thinking this meeting was some sort of escape plan… err… betrayal… They don’t even know that making peace with Earth and living together on our planet is an option.”
“How do you know that?” someone asked.
“What do we do?”
Avery addressed the most important question of the two.
“We have to reach the Minarians.”
“How?”
“I don’t know how… I… I have no idea. Araime has probably gathered a bunch of loyal people around her on Deck and she’s keeping everyone else out of it. There has to be a way to… err… I don’t know… God!” She ran her hands through her disheveled hair. She should have watched more Star Trek. Or Stargate. Or Kralia movies!
Kaylee stood up next to Avery.
“There has to be a way someone from the inside can overwrite Araime’s access to the comms and open them to all the ships in the Alliance.”
A curvy, brown-haired woman raised her hand. “My husband is an engineer. He can do that. I know he can. But there no way to reach him…”
The Hordaa was back to its horizontal position, so Avery took a chance at crossing the room. She stopped in front of the Minarian wife, then asked all the girls who were from the Craziak to raise their hands.
“There’s a way. I know that it works with me and my…” She realized she didn’t know what to call them. “… with me and the Kralian ship captains. The deep, powerful connection I have with Kryan and Aedar… you have it too with your men. Just tap into it. It’s there.”
The brown-haired woman looked up at Avery. Fear and insecurity were dancing in her eyes.
“What we have with the Kralians… We don’t have it with the Minarians… I’ve heard the stories… The gene sequence… Terrans might have this bond you speak of with the Kralians, but the Minarians are so different.”
“Screw the gene sequence,” Avery said confidently. “Screw it to hell and back! What’s your name, honey?�
�
“Chloe.”
“And what is the name of your Minarian master? I mean… man.”
“Krayd.”
“Do you… care about him?”
Chloe bit her lower lip. “We have two children together. He’s always treated me right.”
“Good, but I’m going to need more than that. Do. You. Care. About him.”
“Y-yes… I do.” She blushed and stole a quick glance around her, as if she’d just said something she was never supposed to admit. As if falling in love with the man who’d kidnapped her was something to be deeply ashamed of. When the other Minarian wives didn’t say anything, she dared to add: “Krayd… he’s tall and handsome. I was scared at first… of his white, almost translucent skin and his pale blue eyes… He had his hair dyed black when he took me, and the unnatural contrast scared the bejesus out of me. He dyed it blond just to please me.”
Avery smiled tensely. As much as she loved a good twisted love story, that was the last thing they had time for now.
“Okay, Chloe, listen to me: you’re going to reach Krayd. Telepathically, but… not quite.” How was she supposed to explain something she did naturally and, in general, had little control over? “Emotionally. You will reach him emotionally.” She straightened her back and looked at the other Minarian wives. “All of you! You’ll do the same with your men. Even your children. Someone from the Craziak will hear or feel you. I know. Just close your eyes and think of them intensely. Bring up their image, bring up your happiest moments with them… Focus on how you feel about them, on what you want to tell them right now, when all of you are in danger of…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, and she didn’t have to. In fact, leaving that ending open had a much stronger effect on the women. In danger of what? Being blown to smithereens? Returning to their home planet as shooting stars? What a romantic way to go…
Avery waited with baited breath. She wasn’t sure whether it was best to let them do their thing intuitively, or whether she should try to guide them in some way. Not that she knew how… But, maybe she could invent some sort of guided meditation on the spot? She couldn’t decide. “No, it could ruin everything,” she thought. “My job here is done.” Since admitting to herself and to her lovers that what the three of them had was pure, unadulterated love, and not temporary lust, Avery had been better at surrendering to her own intuition and listening to inner messages that made no sense if she thought of them logically. Slowly, she stood up and went back to Grace, Kaylee, and Ginny.
“Do you think it will work?” Grace whispered.
Avery shook her head and motioned for everyone to stay quiet.
Waiting without knowing what exactly they were waiting for was torture. It felt as if everything was frozen in time. The ship captains hadn’t opened the comms again, and for some reason, the Craziak had stopped shooting. Avery realized that not only the women in the conference room were waiting and anticipating a change of fate, but the entire Alliance fleet had fallen into this apparent void that seemed to swallow them all little by little, inch by inch. She looked at Chloe. She could swear she felt a light vibration coming off of her and the Minarian wives who had gathered around her. They were all focusing with their eyes closed, some of them holding hands or having placed their hands on their hearts or stomachs.
“Well… damn me! That is feminine intuition right there,” she murmured under her breath.
They waited for what felt like forever. When Kryan’s voice came through the comms, as if out of nowhere, they all jumped in surprise, their hearts beating wildly. It was as if that booming, masculine voice was disrespecting something sacred. That was… until they realized what Kryan was saying.
“It worked!”
Avery jumped in excitement and laughed out loud when Ginny hugged her tightly. Kryan was addressing the Minarian civilians directly. One minute before, the Hordaa had received an encrypted message from the Craziak. Apparently, the Minarians were reluctant about going behind their captain’s back, but at the same time willing to hear the Kralians’ side of the story. It didn’t matter. No one wanted to cause a mutiny on the Craziak. That wasn’t the point.
First, Kryan explained what was happening and why. Then, Aedar, in his soft, trustworthy voice, encouraged the Minarians to decide for themselves. The Craziak had no chance against four ships.
“If you choose to remain loyal to your captain, we understand. But your wives and mothers have taken a vote, and now the future of your race depends on you and you alone. The Hordaa, the Swetho, the Lyare, and the Verto are ready to welcome all the Minarian people who believe in a new day, a new chance at peace, love, and acceptance. This is your time!”
The connection was lost.
“That bitch!”
Avery was surprised to see Chloe so angry, but she smiled nonetheless. This was what they needed: strong, angry women, not scared little girls.
“She killed the connection, didn’t she?”
“Most likely,” Avery said.
For now, nothing seemed to be happening. The red emergency lights were still glowing and flickering in a rather psychedelic way, but she noticed she’d at least gotten used to the alarm. She looked at the windows. Should she risk it? What if the Hordaa was hit again? If she was near the windows when it happened, she’d be flung across the room with nothing to hold on to. She combed her fingers through her hair nervously, pulled it all over her right shoulder, then sighed and walked brusquely to the windows. Whatever happened, she had to see what was out there with her own eyes.
“Avery?” Grace threw Kaylee a confused glance, and when the redhead just shrugged, she looked at Ginny. “Shouldn’t we stop her?”
“As if anyone could,” said Kaylee, a small smile playing on her lips. “This missy does whatever the heck she wants.”
“Guys! You have to see this!” Avery had her nose practically glued to the thick glass. “Seriously! Come!” She motioned with one hand but didn’t take her eyes off the window for a second.
The Minarian wives were the first to follow her lead. When they saw what was out there, they cheered and laughed, and their reaction urged everyone to gather around the windows, fighting and pushing for a spot.
“I’ll be damned…” Kaylee whispered in Avery’s hair.
“Right?”
“It worked.”
All the pods the Craziak had were leaving the mother ship, headed for the Hordaa, the Swetho, the Lyare, and the Verto. It was a sight to behold! The Minarian ship didn’t look scary at all now. In fact, it looked like a huge, empty shell that was being left behind by those whose trust it had betrayed.
“I can’t believe Araime isn’t doing anything about this!” Grace said.
“I don’t think she can.” Avery was thinking out loud. “What if her Deck crew turned on her?”
“She could shoot the weapons herself…”
“What if the engineers rigged them?”
“Oooh… Okay, I like your theory.”
It didn’t last long. When all the pods were safe on the ships offering asylum, only another two minutes passed before the order was given. Avery was the only one who heard Kryan and Aedar giving Araime one last chance to surrender. The Kralian captains opened the comms with the other ships, but not with the civilians on them. Araime was the only one left on the Craziak, and she didn’t say a word.
“Wait!” Avery sent telepathically. “Can’t we… take her prisoner?”
“I’m sorry, Avery. This must end here and now.”
But when she read Kryan’s thoughts, she knew they weren’t exactly his. He and Aedar wanted what she wanted, but the other three captains thought otherwise. The majority won.
When a fireworks show was all that was left of the Craziak, at least Avery felt soothed knowing it hadn’t been the Hordaa to have fired.
CHAPTER FIVE
The next couple of hours were a chaos of tears and laughter, cheers and mourning. The women who’
d been trapped in the conference room found their husbands and children, and the crews and civilians on the four ships started making arrangements to house the Minarians and their families. While the aliens, regardless of the color of their skin and eyes, were busy trying to find solutions to accommodate the newcomers in the rough conditions of less resources for more people, the Terran women were already thinking of home. For reasons she couldn’t quite grasp, Avery found herself forced into a weird position of ambassador.
“They know,” said Kaylee mischievously when she caught Avery arguing in a corner with one of the Norgavian wives.
Avery turned to her, daggers shooting through her blue eyes.
“What? What do they know?”
Kaylee shrugged as if totally unbothered by her friend’s exasperation.
“The truth. That you’re an FBI agent and Kryan’s and Aedar’s… err… woman.”
Avery rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air.
“Thank you! Thank you very much! As if I didn’t have enough on my plate, now all the women in the fleet are coming to me as if I had all the answers and held their future in my hands.”
Kaylee cocked an eyebrow. “All the Terran women, you mean.”
“No. All. The. Women. I just had a lengthy talk with three Minarian ladies. Not ex-slaves, or wives, or whatever, mind you. Three honest-to-God, ivory-skinned and rainbow-haired Minarians of the feminine variety who insisted on reassuring me that they had no idea what Araime had been up to all along, and asking me if, maybe, per chance… there’s any way they could find Terran husbands on Earth once we get there.”
Kaylee blinked a couple of times, then burst out laughing.
“You should be proud, Agent Tonkin. You know, a matchmaker job can’t be that bad once you lose your current one.”
“Are you being serious right now? No, Kaylee, really. You hate me so much that the possibility of me losing my job makes you happy?”
Kaylee huffed, but it was impossible for her to stop laughing all together.
“Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t hate you. I just dislike you. Mildly.”
