For Crystal to come to her it had to be something serious. “I have to ask Crystal. Have you encouraged his attention? Maybe not deliberately. Possible unintentionally. Please think about this. Have you indicated that you would like to share sex with him for example?” Crystal looked shocked. Alex smiled at her again. “These are literal people. You could say something innocuous to us and to them it means something else”. Crystal thought for a moment. She wrung her hands. “I don’t think so Alex. Really. I’ve been careful. We all have. We took the lessons on board. I avoid males where possible. It’s not like he’s not nice. I mean my god, he’s pretty gorgeous. The long hair, all that tallness going on and the muscles. Even with the facial scars. He doesn’t scare me, he looks kindly. He’s big but they all are. Gentle when he speaks to me. It just feels uncomfortable and I do not want there to be any misunderstandings.
Most of the time he just seems to stand there. He doesn’t talk or engage in anything much. It feels like he see’s everything. I just don’t know how to handle it. He’s not rude or invasive. He’s kind and caring I guess. He’s here for a time, then not, then back again. It’s just a bit weird. I don’t want to upset him. I’m not afraid or anything, I don’t want any big deal made of it. It’s just that he hasn’t done anything to deserve that. You know what I mean?” Alex studied Crystal for a moment. She was rambling. It was most unusual for her to over react to anything. She normally withdrew. “Do you know his name?” “No. I got this picture from the security vid”. Crystal handed her the print out. “I’ll look into it discretely ok”. Crystal look relieved. “Your doing a great job here Crystal. You should be proud of the work you have achieved with your compounds and people. Its excellent work.” “Thanks Alex”. Crystal appeared lighter. Freer. Alex didn’t like her staff being upset. Her staff were special to her. So what’s with this guy?
“I’ve seen this warrior around but I don’t know him do you?” Alex passed the print to Leut. “Yes I know him. He’s a warrior 1st class. Honourable male I always thought. He has been around here quite a bit on his time off. He works the undercover missions.” Alex nodded “Do you know when he is off duty again”. “No Prema but I can check”. “Please do and arrange for him to see me after hours. I would appreciate your presence. Thank you Leut”.
Alex had sent all her staff home early today. She didn’t want Crystal to see her visitor. She was enjoying a fresh pot of coffee when interrupted by Leut knocking on her door frame. “Prema I have Keo’Qi Zl for you”. Alex stood and came around her desk as both men entered. Keo was a handsome man. Crystal was right he was scarred but it added to his features. He held himself as if ready for a battle. Alex hoped it didn’t come to that. He was another formidable male. Alex smiled and held out her hand. “You may not know this. It’s an Earth custom to welcome someone into their space or presence. You take it and hold it.” She told him.
Keo ignored her hand and bowed to her. Alex knew he had not slighted her but gave the old traditional response but still she did not like it. “Prema, how may I be of service?” “Well first off you can stand up and shake my hand as I asked. And then, you can tell me why you are scaring one of my females”. Keo jerked righting himself as if struck. He raised his head to look at the Prema. Her hand was still extended. Keo wasn’t sure if he was worthy to take her hand in his. He looked to Leut. “Shake the Prema’s hand Keo”. Instinctively he did but was worried. “Thank you. Please sit down and visit with me a while. Would you like some coffee Keo?” Alex asked indicating the coffee pot. “I would thank you Prema”. “Leut?”. “Thank you yes”. “Please let’s all sit”. Alex took her time and freshened her coffee and poured two more. “Help yourselves to cream and sugar”.
Having doctored her own Alex looked at Keo. “Now. I know you did not mean to slight me just now so please do not worry on it. Keo. I asked you here because it has come to my attention that you appear to have singled out one of my females. If I am wrong in assuming this. Please tell me.” Keo looked uncomfortable. “I did not mean to cause harm to the female. Is she well?” He asked her worriedly. She had read his warrior record. It was exemplary. He could have easily held one of the commander positions and yet did not. Alex answered him. “She is well enough warrior”. Keo visibly relaxed. “You are an excellent warrior Keo. Your record speaks for itself. My husband speaks highly of you. Can you explain what is going on here for me”?
Keo appeared to hold himself in check. He took a sip of the coffee. Stalling. Alex waited. “The female is … delicate. Fragile even. I first encountered her in the Cantina. She was surrounded by warriors, she had become separated from her females and the males were frightening her merely by their presence. They did nothing but look at her. She was so small by comparison. Their curiosity demanding to be answered. There was no blood rage. Yet the female visibly shrunk with the attention on her. I moved to intercede and the males dispersed. She did not see me. And that was fine. She was calmer and less agitated once they had moved on. And she smiled at her friends when she joined them. It was an amazing sight. Like the moons of our home world. It lit up her face. Almost like the sun of this world having come out in space. She variably shone with it. It was beautiful to behold. I had not seen such a look on a females face in centuries.
Once I realised that she was working here. I found myself drawn to being around. I would try to deflect attention away from her when the warriors who came again out of curiosity to see the Human females. The others do not seem to mind so much. Some like it I believe. But the timid one would withdraw. She would lose her glow and retreat. It became a need in me. I know it’s the protected forces at work. I am old enough to know the loss of a pairing female. I know how it feels to lose something so precious. How something unimaginable in your life can break you. No female should feel how this one does around males. I do not know her history. But I want to kill every male that has harmed her. And I fear that some have. And I fear that some will.
I … come here on my time off. I have no right but I stand guard over her. I have tried not to be over protective. Just around in case she needs something. I did not think she realised I was here most of the time. I am sorry if I have upset her. That was not my intension. She shines a light into my soul that has not existed for nearly 400 of your Earth years. It was simply hard to ignore”. Alex considered his words. He appeared honest and truthful as expected of the Bataari. So long without his female. How had he survived the loss? Alex thought of Tah. She could not even contemplate it. “Why do you have no right to stand guard over her Keo”? Alex asked. “I am not her family or her male. I do not have her permission to be her protector. I have had my life Prema. She is young. Beautiful. Intelligent. I see her caring for our people. Making a better life for us. She fights for us in her own way. She will make a great pairing for a warrior”. Alex nodded “Yes she would Keo. But tell me. You say you have over 400 Earth years. Yet the Bataari can live to over a thousand years if they so wish. You are hardly an old man. Why do you exclude yourself from that statement you clearly have an affection for her?”
Keo looked haunted. He was quiet for a moment. Lost in the echo of time. “My pairing had been a joyous one if short lived. She was everything a warrior could wish for. She brought laughter and joy into my life. I had never known such joy as being with her. We were young for a pairing. The war was at its height. Skirmishes broke out as the invaders attacked without provocation. They were deliberately attacking homes. Targeting them. We knew later it was to infect the females. But at the time, no honourable warrior could believe something so aberrant even in war. I was on leave. There was myself and two other warriors in the village. We held most off and killed many. But it wasn’t enough. We lost many females that day. Including mine.
I carry the scars and guilt of that day with me. It can never be eroded. I squandered what the goddess gave me. There will be no other.” He told her sadly. Alex could almost taste the pain this man carried. She would not offer him platitudes or sympathy. It would not be wel
come or right. “Maybe Keo and Maybe not. You are still grieving warrior”. He nodded “Every day. Except it is easier when I am here. And I crave the peace it brings me”. Alex leaned back in her chair. Picked up her coffee and sipped it. The others did the same. The silence after hearing such horrors was welcome.
Alex was in no rush to speak again. She thought about all she had heard and knew from her own pairing and the stories she had heard from the others warriors. At length, Alex put down her cup and faced Keo. “I have seen many things during my lifetime and I have come to realise that goddesses tend to do things their own way. Living our lives, we often see or experience harsh realities that make no sense at the time, if at all. It is a hard universe warrior. And we have to be tough to survive it. Have the courage to embrace it. To face it. And you are right. There is some pain in Crystal. I am not going to talk about it. It is not my story to tell. The fact that she survived to be who she is today is a wonderful thing. I know for a fact, that kindred spirits cross all barriers of time and space Keo. I only need to look at My Lord to be reminded of that daily and I do thank the goddess for sending him to me. Crystal does not fear you. She simply does not understand you. And as you say, she has a fear of males and the unknown. She worries about why you are near her. Why you continue to be around her. What it is, you want from her.” Alex paused to let that sink in.
“If you wish to make this right you have two options. One. Leave her be and do not come back. Or Two. Engage with her formally. Get to know her. And offer your protection if you feel you need to. But I caution you male.” Alex leaned forward and engaged him head on. “I will not tolerate Crystal being upset. I will not allow any male to interfere where it is not welcome. Do not presume on her female nature. The Bataari precursor to dominance to overcome female objections will not work with Crystal. You would simply scare her off and you will have to deal with me. You will need to be clear on your intensions from the beginning and allow her to choose. Draw your lines and stick to them warrior. Do not, chase, corner or make choices for her and I know, that will be very hard for you to endure and ignore. Be worthy of her.”
Keo looked at his future Queen. “You would allow me the choice Prema after this”. Alex frowned. And looked at her empty coffee cup. No answers in tea leaves for her. “No matter who we are, we are all deserving of choosing our futures Keo. I suggest. As yours will affect both of you. That you make it a good one. If you choose Crystal. She will be here tomorrow at 8.25am Earth time. No more skulking around our offices. She is safe here. I am sure Leut will formally introduce you and you can perhaps offer to take her to lunch? If she rejects you, this is at an end. Now. You must excuse me. I have a date with My Lord and I am late!”. Alex smiled. “Good eve gentleman”. Alex left them to it.
Keo sat watching his Queen walk to her guards. “Our future Queen is generous Leut. In the old days ….” Leut followed Alex’s exit as her warriors joined her and escorted her down the corridor. “We are a lucky people Keo. Everyday working with her. I am reminded of this. She means what she says. It may be the Bataari way. But do not mess with her female. Do not be fooled. She can be as ruthless as she can be kind. Think long and hard this eve on your decision and let me know by com on the morrow”. Keo grasped the warriors arm. “Thank you”.
CHAPTER ONE
Someone tell me why I’m sweating my arse off in this dam field? Sharon asked herself looking round the field in question. “Sharon do me a solid and take my shift tonight.” She mimicked quietly. That whining shithead. Had I really fallen for that one? What was I thinking? I’m a bloody idiot. A sucker. If I have to wipe this bloody sweat one more time of my face, I’m gonna kill someone. My pants are stuck to my ass and no pulling um off my body is going to dry them out any time soon.
Please tell me that god awful smell isn’t me? She asked herself sniffing down the front of her T shirt. Ewww. I stink. Arm pits from hell. Give me a frozen waste land any day. Siberia was looking real good about now. When I said I’d take on Eastern Europe no one said scorching bloody summer nights. I’m from Alaska. This was not in the job description. What was taking so dam long getting this meeting started. The tipoff said they were meeting here. So where the hell were they?
For Christ sake, if someone has fucked up here, I’ll have their arse. Turning her laser gun in her hand and checking it for the third time. It was all good. Turning she glanced at her team. If I’ve passed on a date for nothing……. Lifting her coms. “Trev you got anything, it’s dead here.” She asked real quiet. “Got nothing Commander.” Shit. This was a bust. “Five more minutes and we’re gone.” She told him. Pulling her pack nearer to her she caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye something shiny over by the trees. Turning to focus she realised it was moving. Fast. A split second she realised what was wrong with it. Shit it was a hit. Screaming out to her team, “Incoming, com HQ,” diving for cover. Her last thought as the explosion hit, Geogor was going to kill her.
Keo’Qi Zl warrior first class, was crouched with his team in a suburb doing surveillance of a reported bad guy. A boom in the distance and chatter over the coms grabbed his attention. He looked over at his team, they’d heard it too. They were on black out surveillance, base had no direct tag on them. Getting a nod, he com’d in. “Location Czech boarder five miles out.” He told central coms. The response was quick. “Search and rescue priority one, unable to drop, Keo you are a go.” Tapping his coms to his team. “New priority one, search and rescue on foot, coordinates sending now. Move out in 1.”
Keo was grateful that his entire team were Bataari, they could move at more than human speed. He rechecked his Personal Information Device, his PID, held in the arm brace of his uniform and started to indicate to his men they were moving. All Bataarian’s had the same uniform. His legs were covered in a toughened metal mesh that looked similar to Earth leather. It was unbreakable, difficult to penetrate with even the largest of weapons and it would pass for Earth trousers. His top was standard issue. The same material in a softer version for better manoeuvrability. It would pass for a casual Earth high neck top and was dark grey as well. His personal camouflage, his camo, would hide his PID along with himself. They would go unseen. They could do that run in less than 20 Earth minutes. Quietly and undetected. Indicating to his men that they should withdraw, being spread out circling the area, they moved away from their target heading in the new direction.
Clear of the initial area. Raging thoughts crossed his mind as he ran with his men. He was a proud warrior. Good at his job. An officer 1st Class. His unit was one of many and one of the best. They didn’t need a Commander. They had him. The Bataari undercover warriors were the unknown force to the humans. The undercover infiltration groups that worked in eradicating the evil that prevailed this world. They had come looking for a new life. With new hope. To start again and found destruction, devastation of both the people and the land and true evil.
Thinking of his home world and their own destruction and death due to war and vengeance, turned sadness into anger, they were all gone, many centuries ago. When they’d arrived at Earth, they had such high hopes for this new world. Only their males had survived the final vestiges of their war, a plague sent to them to wipe out their females had done its job and also killed off the war mongering neighbours who’d sent it. They were all gone.
The Bataari had desperately fled their world in hopes of finding a cure for those few females that were left. It hadn’t helped, each new hope dashed as more females died along the journey for a new world, they had been lost to them too. The males were alone now, looking for a new future. Led by their mystic elder who had seen a future in this new world.
What they found was the worst of the beings who lived here. Human nature they called it, a layer of human society bent on their own and others destruction, often abusing power and using perverseness that would lead them on a path to world oblivion. The old-world similarities in aspects of war a warning to the Bataari. Other human behaviours shocking towards children
and females and despised by the Bataari were unheard of by them. The Bataari had stepped in and done what humans were unable to do. They’d cleaned house.
They had been in space for over 300 years following a death blow to their home world. Only the elders and some of the older warriors could really remember their females and family units. Mates and Pairings. The rest was in their history logs and anyone was welcome to research them at any time. The long since dead aggressor had infected their world killing off the females of their world but it had turned on them and killed off not only their own females but infected the males as well. Within two generations of that aggressor’s actions their own people were gone. Their world a wasteland. The Bataari had fled by then but their transmissions had told the story.
How could a world do this to another, to themselves? He had often wondered. They had fled their home world taking those females left with them, only to lose them over time during their space travel. Those that had hoped that being away from the infection might preserve them, were left bereft as nothing worked to save their mothers, sisters and daughters. For all their technical advances, they could not reverse engineer the virus in the females. Many died volunteering to try each new hope. Nothing worked. The youngest male in the Bataari empire was by Earth standards 204 years old. They are a long-lived species. Males were not considered grown until they reached their 130th year. It had been a long time.
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