When he crossed to the door, he saw that the door to his ready room was also open.
“The ball runned over there.” Lucie pointed.
He debated having a conversation with her about the fact that doors did not open themselves but in the end he simply nodded. “Then let's go find it.”
The missing ball turned out to be hidden under one of the cabinets. He used his tail to retrieve it and was just returning it to Lucie when Abigail’s voice sounded from across the hall.
“Lucinda Kathryn Reynolds.”
“Uh oh. Mama is using all my names. That means she’s mad.” The child did not look particularly concerned. “Do you have more than one name?”
“My full name is Hrebec Zarmutek Nak’Charen.”
“Wow! Did your mama use all your names when she was mad too?”
His mother had died when he was three, one of the first victims to fall prey to the disease that would eventually take all of their females, but he looked down at the trusting little face and could not bring himself to tell her. Neither could he lie to her.
“I don’t remember, but it would not surprise me if she had.”
Abigail’s voice came again, a little more frantic this time.
“You should return to your mother.”
“Okay.” She gave him a sunny smile and curled her impossibly tiny fingers around one of his. “Will you take me? So you can ‘splain about the ball?”
The trust on her face and the warmth of her touch rocketed through him and in that moment, Hrebec Zarmutek Nak’Charen lost his heart completely. “I will take you wherever you wish.”
It was a vow.
Chapter Ten
Hrebec passed Lucie off to Abigail, who received her daughter with a tight embrace and a stern warning to not wander off again.
“I will show you how to lock the doors,” he said. “I apologize for my distraction last night.”
As she looked up at him, the intriguing pink color highlighted her cheeks, and he suspected that she remembered why he had been so distracted. Unfortunately, she had donned her outer garment once more, but he could visualize all too clearly how that heated color had spread down across her chest and over her luscious breasts. His cock started to thicken, his tail already reaching for her, but he forced his body under control.
“If it would not inconvenience you, I would like to refresh myself and put on a clean uniform.”
“Oh, no. Of course not. This is your cabin, after all.”
“Does we live with you now, Leonardo?” Lucie asked, and he had to fight the overwhelming urge to tell her yes.
“It’s just temporary, baby,” Abigail said. “The captain is going to take us back to our house on Earth.”
The child’s bottom lip poked out. “I wants to stay with Leonardo.”
Abigail looked to him, seeking a support that he did not want to give, so he took the coward’s way out by gathering his clothes and disappearing into the bathroom. When he emerged, Lucie was still pouting, and Abigail paced the length of the room, rocking Tiana while the child made little whimpering cries.
“I need a bottle for her,” she said urgently. “I didn’t realize how little was left in the one I had.”
“Bottle?”
“It’s to feed her with. I need more formula.”
“You mean a nutritional substance?” His thoughts flashed back to the hundreds of combinations they had tried in the past and his heart sank. What if they were no more successful with this precious infant?
“Yes.” She looked at him anxiously. “Can you ask Doctor Mekoi?”
“Of course.” After a brief conversation over his communicator with the medic, he rubbed the back of his neck, then turned to Abigail. “Mekoi is not sure what would be best. The nutritional substances we used before were frequently unsuccessful.” At her appalled look, he hurried on. “He will prepare a selection for you to try.”
“Whatever Kwaret was giving her seemed to be fine. Can’t we just use that?”
“Do you know what it contained?”
“Of course not.” Tiana’s whimpers grew in frequency and Abigail rocked her soothingly. “It was grey. That’s all I know. Why don’t you ask him?”
His pride rebelled against the idea of asking a Vedeckian slave trafficker for assistance, but the infant’s health was far more important. Turning back to the communication panel, he ordered the one called Kwaret to be brought to the medical bay.
“We will meet him there,” he told her.
“Lucie, do you want to go play with the girls?”
“No. I wanna stay with Leonardo.”
He went down on one knee before her, his tail wrapping around her small waist. “I have work to do, little one. If your mother permits, I will join you for the mid-shift meal.”
When he glanced at Abigail, seeking her input, she blushed again and bit her lip. That heated shade of pink was fast becoming his favorite color.
“That would be very nice,” she said.
“But for now, you will spend time with the females while we try to help Tiana,” he told Lucie, his tone firm but gentle.
She gave a reluctant nod, then patted his tail, and jumped up, her smile restored. “I’s ready!”
Abby followed Hrebec to the lab. Kwaret was already there, standing off to one side, wringing his cuffed hands and shooting anxious looks at his guard. The burly Cire made the tall, thin Vedeckian appear weak and fragile.
“Is it really necessary to cuff him?” Abby muttered to Hrebec. “Do you really think he can get past your guard, let alone the rest of you?”
“He is a prisoner,” he said sternly, but then relented. “Very well. Cuvar, release his hands.” He looked at Kwaret and his voice turned deadly. “Vedeckian, be assured that if you make any attempt to escape, you will be severely punished.”
“Y-yes, Captain,” Kwaret stuttered.
Abby couldn’t blame him. Hrebec was an intimidating sight in full warrior mode.
Hrebec gestured to Tiana. “We wish to know what nutritional substance was given to the infant.”
Kwaret rubbed his wrists. “It was a standard formula, enhanced for Cire physiology.”
“Like one of these?” Mekoi asked, showing him a screen with what looked like utter gobbledygook to Abby.
“Yes, that one. The third one down.”
Mekoi shook his head, glancing at Hrebec. “We tried that one before. It didn’t work.”
“Well, it was working for Tiana,” Abby said. The baby was starting to go quiet again, which worried her even more than the pitiful whimpers. “Can you make it?”
“Yes. I have the requirements,” Mekoi said.
Within a few minutes, he and Kwaret had produced a bottle of the grey fluid.
“Can you heat it a little?” she asked.
“Heat?” Mekoi asked.
“Good lord, don’t you people know anything about babies? Yes, heat it to the temperature it would be if it came from her mother.”
Mekoi put the bottle in a device that looked startlingly like an Earth microwave and pulled it back out immediately. “Here.”
The milk was the perfect temperature. She dribbled a little bit on Tiana’s mouth and finally coaxed her into accepting the bottle. As soon as her lips closed around it, she sucked eagerly. Everyone in the room, even Kwaret, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Now, Vedeckian,” Hrebec said, looming over the smaller man. “Tell us where she came from.”
Kwaret looked around nervously, but began talking readily enough. “We stopped on Trevelor for supplies to outfit the, um, lab. I was at the hospital completing the transaction when a Cire female was brought in. She was in labor and she died after giving birth to the infant.” He looked at Tiana, now sucking happily on her bottle. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I purchased the child. Commander Khaen was not pleased.”
“They let you buy her?” Hrebec asked, his face stiff with anger.
Kwaret shrank back, but he kept talking. “I don’t think they kne
w what else to do with her. The Trevelorians are a very different species.”
“And the female had no family?” Hrebec’s eyes were focused on Kwaret.
“Since she came in alone, the hospital didn’t know and they didn’t have time to investigate. There was an outbreak of some kind of disease at the same time. Someone mentioned that she was headed for the spaceport, but I think that was only speculation.” He looked around at his audience and gave a helpless little shrug. “I swear that’s all I know.”
“Are you sure they said heading to the spaceport? Not coming from it?”
“I think so. Does it matter?”
“If she was living on the planet, there could be more Cires there,” Hrebec said slowly, exchanging a look with Mekoi.
“Many people fled when the plague was escalating.” The medic shook his head, the same look of resignation on his face that Abby had seen on Hrebec’s the previous night. “They didn’t know that it was pointless. Perhaps some ended up on Trevelor. I’m not familiar with the location.”
“It’s a small planet,” Kwaret volunteered. “Sparsely populated even before the Red Death, but they didn’t seem as affected as many of the other planets in the Confederation. Their dyes are highly desirable. You should see some of the fabric that can be created—” He broke off, looking embarrassed. “Forgive me. I realize that trading opportunities are not of interest to you.”
Hrebec didn’t appear to have been listening. Instead, he frowned thoughtfully at Mekoi. “We should see if there are any records available on Ciresia. It’s unlikely, given the chaos of the times, but it’s possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
Hrebec gave Kwaret a stiff nod. “Thank you for your assistance, Vedeckian.”
“His name is Kwaret,” Abby said impatiently. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand, Kwaret. How did you keep Tiana alive if she wouldn’t eat?”
“I was giving her injections of vitamins and nutrients, but since Commander Khaen did not approve, I had limited opportunities to do so. He said that if she couldn’t thrive on the standard nutrition, that no one would be willing to purchase her.” He shot a nervous glance at the Cires. “He also wasn’t sure if there was a market for her, since you have a reputation for being um, law-abiding, and he wasn’t sure what her value would be elsewhere.”
“I can’t believe she survived,” Abby said, tucking the baby closer.
“I had my doubts. I was only able to get her to take the nutrition once.”
“But you were successful one time. How?” Mekoi asked.
“I don’t know. I was giving her an injection when the automated feeding began and she actually took some sustenance.”
A light clicked on in Abby’s brain. “Were you holding her?”
“Yes, I believe so.”
“Of course. All babies need to be held, but maybe it’s an actual physical requirement for a Cire baby.” She looked at Hrebec. “You said you tried to raise babies. Were they also in labs like the one on the ship?”
“Yes. Do you really think it would make a difference?”
“I don’t know. I am basing this on a data set of one baby. But you said they were still trying. Can you ask them to try again, this time holding the babies during feeding? And tell them to heat the formula?”
Hrebec and Mekoi stared at each other, an almost reluctant look of hope on their faces.
“Could it really be that simple?” Hrebec asked.
“It seems unlikely the solution will be that simple, but I will communicate our recommendations immediately,” Mekoi said slowly, then slanted a glance at Tiana. “She will be a good point of comparison.”
Abby didn’t like the speculation on his face, and gathered the now sleeping baby closer. “She’s a baby—she’s not some damn lab rat you can study.”
He looked horrified. “No, of course not. I just meant that the fact that she is thriving would help to establish the validity of our theory—”
Before he could finish, there was a loud disruption from the corridor and Abby went on alert as she recognized TeShawna’s voice. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Chapter Eleven
Abby rushed out of the lab, not entirely surprised that both Mekoi and Hrebec followed immediately. Through the large crowd of aliens gathered in the small area, she could just make out TeShawna standing at the foot of the stairs, her hands on her hips.
Beside her, Mekoi growled, the sound harsh enough to make her pull away, backing right into Hrebec. His arms and his tail both wrapped around her for a moment before he let out a roar of his own, the sound loud enough to startle Tiana awake. Instead of crying, the baby’s eyes fastened on Hrebec and she gave her wide toothless grin.
“Attention!” Hrebec snapped as the men turned cowed faces in his direction.
The crowd in the corridor separated immediately and fell into place along the walls. Now that they were lined up, she could see that there were less of them than she had originally thought. Mekoi immediately started to head for TeShawna, but he took one look at Hrebec and stepped back.
“Stay with the Vedeckian,” Hrebec ordered the guard, gesturing for Abby to go ahead of him.
TeShawna waited at the far end of the corridor, her hands still on her hips. A flustered guard stood next to her.
“What’s the matter, TeShawna?” Abby asked.
“They’re keeping us fucking prisoner,” the girl snapped. “I was just trying to go to the med lab to get some more of those bandage things.” She snuck a look at Mekoi, and Abby suspected that procuring diapers hadn’t been her only motivation. “And there was a whole damn crowd of them out here, peering at me like I’m some kind of damn exhibit! This jerk wouldn’t let me go any further.”
“Captain, I just wanted the female to wait while I cleared the corridor,” the guard said anxiously.
“What are they all doing here?” Abby demanded.
Hrebec sighed and rubbed his eyes, looking tired all of a sudden. A pang of guilt shot through her as she remembered that he’d had a late and interrupted night, even before they had taken his bed. Not that he had seemed to mind sharing it. She’d actually been a little disappointed when she woke up alone… but that wasn’t something she wanted to think about right now, and she forced her attention back to the present situation.
Hrebec leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Most of them have rarely seen a female, let alone a child. They are curious but they mean no harm.”
“Never seen? Oh.” As she looked at the crewmen lining the walls, she realized that despite their size, they tended to have the same smooth complexions and unmarked skin as the young ensign. She sighed. “I think I understand, but the girls aren’t a show for them to watch. They need to stay away. And the girls should be free to leave their cabins.”
“Damn right we should,” TeShawna added, but Abby could tell that she’d lost some of her fire with Hrebec’s words.
Hrebec turned to the crew. “Since all of you have so much time on your hands, report to the training room. I expect you to have performed ten circuits before I join you. We’ll see how much energy you have left when you face me.” He bared his teeth. The crewmen paled noticeably, turning various sickly shades of green. “Dismissed.”
The young warriors took off at a run. Hrebec sighed and turned back to Abby.
“I will take care of it,” he said. “But if the females are free to roam the ship, they will encounter the crew. Perhaps it would be best if we introduced them?”
“Maybe,” she said tentatively. It did make a certain amount of sense. “How many are on the ship?”
“Twenty-four.” Sorrow flashed across his face. “We didn’t have many to choose from.”
“Perhaps a communal meal would be nice? That would give everyone a chance to meet.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s not a bad idea. Perhaps half at the mid-shift meal and half this evening? The crew members who were here just now can wait until then.”
He returned the smile, and for just a second, she could feel an almost palpable warmth flowing between them. Flustered, she dragged her eyes away and turned to TeShawna. The girl was frowning at Mekoi, who was very determinedly not looking at her, although Abby couldn’t help but notice that his tail kept creeping in TeShawna’s direction.
“TeShawna, why don’t you get the rest of the girls and we’ll all go back to the lab for more bandages?”
“Yeah, okay. And what about some food for us? I need to keep up my strength.”
“You are hungry?” Mekoi looked appalled, his gaze whipping from the now vacant corridor directly to TeShawna.
“Well, yeah. Those Veckians, or whatever you called ‘em, at least fed us regular.”
“I am truly sorry for my thoughtlessness.” In his agitation, he had forgotten to control his tail, and it was now patting TeShawna’s wrist. She gave it a bemused look, but Abby noticed she didn’t object. Somehow, Abby wasn’t altogether surprised when Hrebec’s tail wrapped around her own wrist briefly before he pulled it back.
“I will take you to the cook,” Hrebec said. “You can advise him as to what would be most suitable for your females. I will have it served in my ready room so you will be undisturbed.”
“Thank you, l—”
“Mama! You’s been gone forever.” Lucie appeared at the door of Cassie’s cabin and immediately came flying towards her.
Since Abby still held Tiana, she braced herself, but Hrebec intercepted the small body and lifted Lucie up against his chest.
She gave him a sunny smile. “You’s been gone forever, too.”
“We were tending to your sister,” he said gravely. A lump appeared in Abby’s throat at his easy acceptance of her claim on both girls. “Your mother and I were about to arrange for a meal for the rest of you.”
“Good. I’s starving.”
“It’s just an expression,” Abby said quickly as horror crossed his face and his tail came up to circle Lucie’s waist. “Don't exaggerate, Lucie.”
“But Mama, my tummy is empty,” she said with a pitiful look.
Mama and the Alien Warrior Page 6