“Yup. But that’s okay. This gives you what you need to be what Kol needs, is how Rokai is thinking of it.”
“Or not,” Ada confided.
“Or not. But that’s up to you and him. At least you’ll be home and get the opportunity to make your own choices.”
“Yes. I’m coming,” Ada agreed. She turned and ran back to the bedroom, slipped on her shoes, then looked around for anything she needed to take with her. Nothing was hers. There were some things that Kol had bought for her, clothes and shoes, but she didn’t feel right taking them, especially if she was leaving. She grabbed the tablet he’d given her and brought up the note app. She typed a quick note to Kol and left it on her pillow.
“I’m ready,” she said, rushing back into the living room.
“Let’s go then,” Rosie said, from her spot by the front door.
As they hurried down the corridor, away from Ada Jane’s rooms, the door swooshed closed, giving the impression that nothing was amiss. That everything was as it should be. And maybe, for Ada Jane, for the first time in a long time — it was just as it should be. She was going home.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Rokai sat in the pilot’s seat of his beloved ship. He’d added all the improvements himself, well, he and Gaishon, and all the upgrades were hand chosen. His ship was like a piece of him. He ran through the checklist he always consulted when preparing for a long journey. He had a little while, so he was taking his time. His Rosalita had gone to invite Kol’s woman transport to her home planet. Rokai smiled. Kol would be so angry, he may lose his legendary control. But one day, Kol would thank him. Neither Kol nor his female could move on with their lives until she’d worked her way through all her doubt and questions. Rokai would help them with that by taking her home. He had no doubt Kol would follow, and all would be well.
“Rokai?” a voice behind him said.
Rokai smiled. He’d known the male was there. He’d only been standing there for a moment before drawing Rokai's attention. Rokai got to his feet and turned, facing his best friend.
“Gaishon! I wondered if you’d come to say goodbye.”
Gaishon nodded. “How did you know I’d not come along?”
“Because a member of the Cruestaci crew of Command Warship 1 does not simply abandon their post.”
“You heard,” Gaishon said, smiling proudly.
“I did. I’m very happy for you, my friend. I know this is what you wanted, and I’m happy you’ve got it.”
“Thank you, Rokai. I will miss you though.”
“I will miss you, too, my brother,” Rokai said to Gaishon, embracing him fiercely.
“Will you be staying on Earth?” Gaishon asked, taking a step back from Rokai’s embrace.
“No. There is no one Rosie wishes to see, so we are delivering Kol’s female to the Consortium authorities, then setting a course for Quarin.”
“Ahhh, you are going home, then.”
“Just for a little while. She’s met the Cruestaci side of my family. Now she wishes to see and meet my father’s people.”
“It is a beautiful planet. Perhaps she’ll want to settle there.”
“I doubt it, but it is worth visiting from time to time.”
“I am always here if you need me, Rokai.”
“I know that, Gaishon. But how would I reach out to you without alerting the entire ship that I’m asking for you? It is not likely that will happen. But, I appreciate the offer anyway. And it is simply a pleasure trip to show my Ehlealah worlds she never dreamed existed.”
Gaishon grinned. He reached for Rokai’s arm, grasping him just above the elbow, as Rokai grasped him in turn. “Travel safe, my brother. And do not underestimate the capabilities of Missy.”
Rokai's brow furrowed. “Missy? You installed Missy on my ship?” he asked, hopefully.
“I did. She can reach me directly should you have a wish to.”
“Missy?!” Rokai called to his ship.
“Hello, Captain Flight Cadet Rokai ahl!” Missy answered.
“Welcome aboard, Missy,” Rokai answered.
“Thank you, Captain,” Missy answered.
Rokai looked back at Gaishon. “Be happy, Gaishon. You have a whole new life ahead of you.”
“And you,” Gaishon answered.
“Until we meet again?” Rokai asked.
“Until we meet again,” Gaishon echoed. Gaishon turned to leave the ship, but stopped only a few feet away. “Give my love to Aunt Yaileen. Tell her I will send her a special gift soon.”
“I will, Gaishon. Take care.”
Gaishon nodded, then in an effort to hide the emotion he felt at Rokai flying off without him this time, he hurried back to his post in the Engineering Department of Command Warship 1.
Chapter 34
Quin was sound asleep, wrapped around his Vivi, their shraler curled up on Vivi’s other side, when a pounding noise woke him, causing him to shoot straight up in bed before lowering his upper body over Vivi protectively, a low threatening growl in his throat.
He took stock of the room. No, no one was in their room. He raised up off his Ehlealah, intent on searching for the noise that had awoken him. Then, he figured out where it was. Kitty was already at the front door, his fur standing on end, a horrifying yowl reverberating around the apartment. His back was arched, and he really wanted to eat whatever, or whoever was on the other side.
“Kitty!” Quin called softly, trying to get the creature’s attention.
Kitty looked over at him, then refocused on the door, with a bone chilling growl, the barb on his tail twitching.
Then the pounding started again. But this time, Quin was close enough to the door to hear a muffled voice calling out as well. Quin stopped moving quietly, carefully, and approached the door without hesitation. “Kol?” Quin called through the door.
Quin couldn’t quite make out the response. The walls and doors of Command Warship 1 were thick metal, well-insulated, and sound was muffled to almost non-existent. But he knew it was Kol. Quin keyed in the code to return the door to auto controlled, then stood back from it to activate the sensor.
As soon as the door swooshed open, Kol stomped through, and Kitty launched himself.
Quin shouted for Kitty to stop, Kol roared, Kitty yowled, and Vivian came running half-asleep into the living room.
“What is going on?!” she shouted irritatedly.
“Make him get off Kol before he stings him!” Quin shouted back.
“Kitty! Get off Uncle Kol!” Vivian demanded. When Kitty didn’t respond, Vivian raised her voice. “Now! Right here, right now, cat!” she said, stomping the floor with her foot where she wanted Kitty.
Reluctantly Kitty stopped snarling in Kol’s face and moved back to stand where Vivian ordered.
Kol got up off the floor, still snarling himself. “I’ve been trying to wake you for thirty minutes!” he said angrily.
“I gave orders that we are not to be disturbed. We locked the door and advised Missy not to wake us unless the damned ship was under attack. After weeks of my family non-stop, we deserve it!”
“Yeah, well, while you were in here sleeping, one of your damned family stole my Ehlealah!” Kol bellowed.
Quin stood there, looking at Kol like he’d lost his mind. That was certainly not what he expected Kol to say.
“Why would any of my family want your Ehlealah?” Quin asked, thoroughly confused.
“Because he is a dick. No other reason.”
“Ohhh,” Vivi said, sleepily over a yawn. “You mean Rokai. Wait, why would Rokai take Ada Jane when he’s got Rosie?”
“All I know is that she left me this!” Kol growled and shoved the tablet at Quin.
Quin read it, then walked the few feet and handed it to Vivi. Vivi started to read it.
“Did you have a disagreement or something?” Quin asked.
“No! I don’t understand it. We’d started talking, spending hours sharing stories of growing up. Then, all of a sudden, she’s gon
e!” Kol shouted again.
Vivian, having finished reading the note Ada Jane had left, handed the tablet back to Quin. “Well, I understand it. It doesn’t take a genius.”
Kol and Quin both turned to look at Vivian expectantly.
“What?” she asked. “Really? Neither of you two can figure this out?” Vivian looked from one to the other of them. “Fine. All she wanted to do was go home. The first thing out of her mouth when she woke in medical was, ‘I want to go home’. Even after you told her how long we calculated she was most likely here, she still wanted to go home. She begged over and over again. When the transport came, you stalled the lift, so she couldn’t take it home. An opportunity came to get where she wanted to be, so she took it. It’s nothing personal, Kol. She just has to find out for herself what home is like now. What is and isn’t there.”
“But there’s nothing there for her!” Kol yelled.
“She doesn’t know that!” Vivian screamed back at him, over the warning rumble from Quin’s chest when Kol shouted at his Ehlealah.
“She does. I told her. I explained it over and over again,” Kol objected.
“No, she doesn’t,” Vivian argued.
“How can she not? I could not have made it any clearer.”
“Okay, smart boy. One day you’re milking your cows, herding your sheep, whatever the hell you do on a farm. Then, you wake up in a cylinder of green goo. It’s inside you, in your lungs, in your mouth, in your eyes. And males pull you out of the goo, and stand around where you lie on the floor, waiting for you to wake up, so they can offer bids on you for the hour, the day, the week. Hell, maybe they even want to buy you outright. Once their needs are serviced, once you’ve served your purpose, your owner drops you back in the green goo. You think you’re drowning, you panic, until you realize that this stuff not only keeps you alive, something about it keeps you asleep, suspended in time. And the thought hits you just as you lose consciousness, ‘this is never going to end, they can keep me alive forever’. So you begin to pray for death, because you know every time they thaw you out, it’s the same. Then, you’re rescued and told you’ve been here one hundred thirty-five years. To you, it feels like it’s only been a few weeks, a few months, a year tops. There is no way it’s been that long. A male claims he is yours. He protects you, he provides for you, he is kind to you. But no matter how many times you ask to go home to see things for yourself, you’re denied. He even screws up the one chance you had to go home with the other human females that were rescued. What is he hiding, why won’t he let you go, or even take you himself? Something’s not right.”
Kol had been looking more and more defeated with every word she said.
“Are you just going to take the word of an alien male, because as far as you knew a few months ago, aliens didn’t exist. Or are you going to do everything you can to get home to your family, to those you love. To find out if they did indeed die, if it has actually been one hundred thirty-five years. Could you just write off everyone you’ve ever loved, ever known, and start a new life because someone told you it’d been a long time, so you should just trust them?”
Kol sank down on the floor beside the doorway. He looked at Vivian, then looked at Quin. He began shaking his head. “No. I wouldn’t. I’d have to see for myself.”
“That’s what she’s doing, Kol. She’s got to see for herself. You wouldn’t take her, so she made other arrangements. Once she’s made peace with exactly what has been stolen from her, and she looks around at her options, maybe she’ll be back,” Vivian said.
“Maybe? Maybe isn’t good enough, Vivi!” Kol yelled.
“It has to be. You don’t know what she’s going to encounter, who she’s going to meet. She’s traumatized. Her whole life has not only been turned upside down, it was taken from her.”
“But I am her life now, just as she is mine!” Kol pleaded. “I’m right here!” he insisted.
Vivian nodded. “And she’s on Earth, or will be soon.”
Kol’s whole demeanor changed. He jumped to his feet. “I have to go to Earth!”
“You can’t go to Earth. We don’t have permission to go to Earth. We only patrol from just outside their solar system,” Quin objected.
Kol looked intently at Quin. “I don’t care. I’m going to Earth.”
Quin pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d told Vivi this mating thing was going to make things complicated. “Give me some time. I will broach the subject with Bart to see if you can be temporarily assigned there in some capacity. Can you do at least that much, give me a chance to make arrangements before you take off without any preparation, any type of support or backups?”
“No,” Kol answered, heading out of their door.
“Kol! Just give me twenty-four hours!” Quin shouted.
“Com him now!” Kol yelled back.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Ada Jane sat in one of the rear seats in Rokai ahl’s ship. She could see just fine and didn’t need to be up front to get a first-hand view like Rosie enjoyed.
“You alright back there, Ada Jane?” Rosie asked.
“Yes. Just fine. How much longer?” Ada asked.
“It will be four more days. Then we should enter your atmosphere. We shall land, allow you to exit, then we’ll be on our way,” Rokai ahl explained.
Ada Jane nodded. Now that she was actually headed home, she was a little frightened that maybe Kol was telling her the truth. What if he had been, and she had no parents, no family farm, no place to be or way to make a living.
“You look a little off, Ada. You sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. Just worried about what I’ll find, or not find.”
“We will not leave you without credits. I will give you credits so that you can make your way until you formulate a plan,” Rokai said gently.
Ada listened to Rokai offering to give her credits, watched him being loving and attentive to Rosie, and it just made no sense that he’d be willing to incur Kol’s anger just for taking her home.
“Don’t you worry that Kol will come after you for taking me home?” Ada asked.
Rokai grinned. “I’m sure he will, but that will be much, much later.”
“Later?” she asked.
“Yes. Later after he comes for you and finds that you going home was the best thing for the two of you. You will make the correct choice, and he will wish to thank me, then.”
Ada thought about it. “You really think taking me away from him will make everything right between us?” she asked incredulously.
“I do. You have questions that you cannot move past. He has insecurities of you leaving to return to Earth that he cannot move past. This way, you answer your questions, and he comes to Earth with you. All obstacles removed.”
“Why would you care?” Ada Jane asked.
Rokai smiled at Rosie and took her hand in his before he answered Ada Jane. “Kol has always been kind to me, treated me with respect. Even when I gave him every opportunity to do otherwise, he never disrespected me. He is a good male — one of the best. He deserves his Ehlealah, and though you don’t understand it yet, his Ehlealah deserves him. I am helping you both get out of one another’s way.”
Rosie grinned. “Out of their own way,” she corrected.
“Yes, that is it. Helping you and Kol get out of your own way.”
“I can’t even consider that at the moment,” Ada Jane admitted.
“I know. But you will be able to. And then, you will both thank me.”
The ancient communicator crackled to life. “Command Warship 1 to Rokai ahl Tel Mo’ Kok.”
Rokai raised an eyebrow but didn’t answer.
“Aren’t you going to answer?” Rosie asked.
“Why? So they can yell at me?”
“Command Warship 1 to Rokai ahl Tel Mo’ Kok,” the com repeated.
After three more attempts, Rokai finally snatched the plastic safety cover off the activation switch and turned on the device. “What do you want?” Rokai snapped
.
There was a moment of silence before Quin’s voice filled the cabin of Rokai’s ship. “Why? Why did you think it would be acceptable to steal Kol’s mate?”
“Brother! Hello! How are you and Vivian?” Rokai ahl asked, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“Rokai…”
“I have stolen no one! I told you before we left, I am reformed. I shall no longer steal — at least not belongings or credits.”
“Is Ada Jane with you, or not?” Quin asked.
Rokai hesitated, then shrugged and figured, what were they going to do? He was already too far away from them for them to come after her. “Yes. She is here. She wishes to go home, and her male wouldn’t take her. We were coming this way, so we offered her transport.”
“Bring her back,” Quin tried.
“No. We cannot do that. She deserves to see what has become of her home and her people. Then you may send Kol after her.”
“Kol is already on his way. He is not happy. Not in the least, Rokai.”
“It is fine. Kol is a good male. Now that he has become used to her returning to her planet, he can be beside her while she acclimates.”
“If he’s not incarcerated for breaking laws forbidding our kind to set foot on Earth without express permission!” Quin yelled.
“You should relax more, brother. You shout far too often,” Rokai suggested.
“I shout because no one does a single thing they are supposed to do, and I’m left to clean up their messes!”
“Ah, well, yes, then it makes sense.”
“Bring her back, Rokai!” Quin ordered.
“Unfortunately, I cannot. I have given my word, and she has chosen to return to her home planet.”
“Rokai…” Quin started, then paused when someone on Command Warship 1 began to speak with him. “Fine,” they heard him say. “Rokai, Bart is waiting for me to answer his com. He’s instructed that you should check Ada Jane into the repatriation center in Washington D.C.. They will see to it that she is not just wandering the streets. They will fill in the information she needs and arrange for her to tour her family’s property. If it is already owned by another, they will have her reimbursed. They will be waiting for her — he has given them her name.”
Haven 2: Redemption Page 30