by Maia Starr
“Thank you, this looks delicious. I am hungry. In fact, I'm very very hungry. I don't usually need to eat so much but I might have to eat more than just this.” I said spooning eggs into my mouth.
“Good thing there’s extra in the pan,” Neevon said as he got up and moved to the pans on the stove and placed them in front of me. I laughed a little.
He sat back down and scrolled through a tablet of sorts that he had been focusing his attention on before I showed up.
“What does that that you are looking at?” I asked.
“Work. It's fairly boring, a lot of reports and inventory to go over. But there is a lot of it,” he said.
“Does that mean you will be working all day?”
“Yes, I have so much to do, barely enough time to do anything else. That is, except for you of course! But that will have to wait till later,” he winked at me.
I smiled, but truth be told I was hoping to have some company today. I remembered when Kandyr had made it a point to take me to the museum that day. He didn't have to do that. I wondered how much work he had missed out on just to entertain me and to make sure that I was happy. He really did care for me. He loved me. But now that I thought about it, none of the other husbands had done anything like that for me. For the most part when I was with one of them all day, they would work or work on the home and I would just kind of be alone doing my own thing. I always appreciated the alone time because it made me feel like less of a prisoner, and that was always a good thing.
After I ate I left Neevon to his work and walked around the home both inside and out. I sat outside for a while looking at the gray sky and the soft rays of sunshine that were peeking through. I walked around the pool that was green with moss but was still nice to have. It was almost like having a pond exceptI only wished that I could swim in it and I've missed being able to swim in the creek in the forest.
After we ate lunch something strange happened. We heard a vehicle pull up in the driveway and the front door flewopen. Kandyr came storming into the kitchen.
“Commander, what are you doing here? You usually have the latest shift of all of us!” Neevon said, looking at him.
“I have come to gather some of my things. I am going out on a mission, and I don't know how long I will be gone. I am going out of the city,” the Commander said. He looked directly at me as he said it.
“You are going away?” I asked surprised.
“Yes, I am a commander and I am in charge of this mission, that is what a commander does.”
I was silent. I didn't know what to say, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to know if this had anything to do with his confession that morning, wanting to take me away. Was he going to steal me right now, atthis moment? Pick me up over his shoulder, punch Neevon into unconsciousness and steal away with me? My body tightened, ready for anything.
“Neevon, there are supplies in my vehicle that I brought from the base to the home to set you all up for a few days. Go grab them and bring them inside,” he said.
“Yes Commander,” Neevon said and walked outside. Kandyr just looked at me.
“What is going on? I mean what is really going on?” I asked him as I walked over to him.
“I am leaving. I realized that I must leave.. I can't be here with you like this watching them take you night after night. I need to get away at least for a while,” he said.
“You did this on purpose? You weren't assigned to this mission?”
“I assigned myself to this mission. I picked the longest mission going into the most dangerous territory. I need the work. I need the distraction.”
“Dangerous? How long?”
“I do not know. It is not a matter of time, it is a matter of accomplishment. When the mission is accomplished is when I will return. Maybe by then these things that have been going through my mind about you will be gone and I can live here and return to normal.”
“Because of me? You are going away and putting yourself in danger because of me? But you don't need to do that. If anything happened to you I would…”
“You would what? You don't love me. You have made that clear. I don't blame you, we captured you. We forced you into this. You must hate me, you must hate all of us. I can't live with that, so I must leave. I don't have a lot of time, I have work to do Sabine.” He walked away from me and climb the stairs to his room.
I sat down in the chair, confused and in shock. Why was he doing this just because of me? It wasn't my fault that he had to share me, that was just the way of things. But now, with the possibility that he could get hurt out there, I suddenly felt frantic to find a way to make him stay.
“Woo wee, we’ve got some good stuff here,” Neevon said coming in with a large box full of food and supplies. He set it down on the table, calling out the name of each item as he pulled it out of the box. I was not paying attention.
A few minutes later, Kandyr was coming down the stairs with a large pack on his back and his gun draped around his body. His belt was full of all of his tools and he was ready to go.
“Have a good mission Commander/ Don't worry, we will take care of the home while you are gone,” Neevon said giving him a salute.
I stood up. I stood there waiting for him to give me a hug and a kiss goodbye. Instead he looked at me and said nothing. He looked at Neevon and gave him a nod, and then he walked out the door.
Neevon turned and continued with the supplies. “The Commander's never much for words. Now let's see what we can get going for dinner.”
I heard the vehicle roar to life and then drive away. I couldn't believe it. He was really doing this. He was really leaving, all because he couldn't handle sharing me with the other three. What if I never saw him again? What if he died out there?
Something came over me and I stood up and quickly moved to the front window by the door, but he was gone. I didn't even get a chance to see the vehicle driving away. But Neevon, Jate, and Priah weren't aware of the increasing bond that I was experiencing with Kandyr so I couldn't talk to them about it. I couldn't talk to anyone, I would just have to stay quiet and wonder in silence.
The next few days were hard, I found myself longing for the Commander. Every day when my husbands came home from the base I had one question for them.
“Any news on the Commander?”
No was always the response, and then the subject was quickly changed. There was no information at all, but for them it was normal. They didn't know each other's missions before they were a group so why would they now? I found myself in the game room a lot. I would look at the ping pong table reliving the fun that I had with him and the filthy fun it would lead into. Had I made a mistake? Should I have agreed to go with him? Did I love him? The answer to that question came in the most unexpected way.
“Mmm, Sabine, you are so wet,” Jate moaned as he slid his cock in and out of me.
It was his night. We were having our one-on-one night and he was inside of me. But I felt numb. I couldn't get into it the way I usually could. All of my husbands brought me pleasure, but tonight I couldn't get rid of my anxiety for Kandyr.
I closed my eyes trying to get into making love with my husband, Jate. But as soon as I closed my eyes I imagined that it was Kandyr that was inside of me. As soon as I did that my body started to respond and come alive. I started moaning wildly and wiggling underneath him.
“Oh, Oh, Kandyr,” I moaned.
Jate stopped. “Did you just call me Kandyr?”
I opened my eyes and looked at him. I was mortified. “Did I? I'm sorry,I didn't realize.”
He laughed. “I guess that is bound to happen at some point. There are four of us after all.”
“Yes… I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he smiled. Then he continued moving inside of me. All I could think was… Kandyr, come back to me. I miss you. I love you.
Chapter Seventeen
Priah
I had a secret that I was holding onto, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do
with the information. I had been holding on to it for a few days now. I had heard Kandyr tell Sabine that he wanted to take her away, from us. I didn't blame him for wanting to do that, I'm sure deep inside of us each of us wanted to have her to ourselves. But now I didn't trust him. We were all living with the system, but he was trying to go around it. Now, I would have to tell the others.
“Are you sure? The Commander is the most loyal Dain that I know. I don't believe it,” Neevon said.
“I am with Neevon. I don't think the commander would really do something like that. He is always about the rules. Remember how pissed off he was when we broke the rules taking Sabine in the first place and claiming her? He wanted to turn us in.” Jate said.
“I know what I heard. He wants her. He didn't do it then, but it is possible that he is planning something. Maybe that's why he went away. Maybe he went away in order to put a plan into action. When he returns we have to watch him carefully and watch her. We can't let her out of our sight. He very well might take her, take her to another planet as far as we know.
“All right, if that's what you think. Then what's the plan? If he does return and tries to take her and we catch him. What do we do?” Jate asked.
“I have been thinking about that. I have a plan. If he tries to take her, betrays us, then we turn him in. We tell the system regulators that he faked the marriage, the documents the whole thing. We will say that we had no idea,” I said.
“What if that leads back to me. I am the one that did it after all,” Jate said.
“It won't. They will look into it and only see that he is at fault. It will make sense, to them anyway. They will have no choice but to leave her with us and take him, arrest him,” I said.
Neevon and Jate looked at each other. They were quiet. Then the sound of footsteps stopped us from our conversation. Sabine was coming down the stairs. She came into the kitchen.
“Sorry, I needed to take a nap. I've just been so tired lately.”
“Hello Sabine,” We each said as she came into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water.
After a moment she looked at us. “Any news of the commander?”
“No, we have heard nothing,” I said looking at Jate and Neevon acknowledging the fact that she had been asking about him an awful lot lately.
I wondered if it was possible that she had agreed eventually and that she knew more than she was letting on. Maybe she was asking about him because she knew that when he returned they would be leaving together. Now I looked at her suspiciously, but I couldn't blame her. I had to remember that she was a prisoner being held against her will, she was a human being forced to breed with alien Dains, the same aliens that were killing her people. She was so sweet and loving to us that it was hard to remember that crucial fact.
“Do let me know if you hear anything. I am worried about him. He said he was going to a very dangerous area;he is my husband after all,” She said.
“Is that the only reason?” Neevon said. I elbowed him in the side.
“What Neevon means, is… is that the only reason that you think he might be in danger. Is there anything else that we need to know?” I said covering up his dumb question.
“No that is all I know. You must know more than I being at the base and all,” she said, taking another drink of water.
“We’ve heard nothing, but I will look into it,” Jate said.
“Thank you Jate,” she said with a smile. “I’m going to go sit outside for a while.” She poured more water into her cup and walked out the back door.
I looked at Neevon and Jate.
“Think she knows something?” Neevon asked.
“It’s hard to tell,” I said.
“I’ll find out where the Commander went. See if this mission could lead to a chance for him to escape Earth with her,” Jate said suddenly taking me seriously.
“Good. Keep me updated on what you find. I’m going to go sit outside with her.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jate
I was pissed. To think I was the one that went through all the trouble to get the documents forged to create this marriage. I was the one that made having Sabine as a wife possible. I was the one that put my life on the line to do it and now Kandyr was just going to steal her away. That was just complete bullshit.
It made me angry enough to look into it. I knew that the Commander was a loyal Dain, but Sabine was quite the woman. I could see how she could change a loyal Dain soldier into being rebellious and wanting to go against all the rules just to have her all to himself. But there was something that I did not share with Neevon and Priah. Priah thought that Sabine might know more than she was letting on. That she might be in on escaping with Kandyr, waiting for him to return so they could both leave together. It made sense to me because she called me by his name when inside of her. I wasn't going to tell Priah and Neevon this it would make her look guilty immediately and I did not want them taking out any aggression on her, shouting at her. I knew that it was possible that she could be with child. We had all been taking turns with her for weeks now;it was only a matter of time.
“Jate what are you doing here?” Yintana said as I walked into one of the smaller command centers at the base.
“Just checking on some things for my commander. Have a system free?” I asked. I wasn't exactly a rare sight around here, but I hardly came in anymore after I had switched from systems to being a scout.
“Yes, I believe a system is free in the back,”
“Thank you. I will take it,” I said walking toward the back.
I pulled up the system and looked at the mission led by Commander Kandyr. He wasn't lying He was going to a very dangerous region, the outfields. That area was a minefield laid by the humans aat the very start of the war and it was a very active region. If your vehicle rolled over a mine or you stepped on one, you were blown to pieces. Why would he go there if he was planning to steal Sabine away from us? That did not make sense.
“Jate, what are you doing back here?”
I looked up to see a familiar face, Lieutenant Dirgo. I didn't know him well, only in passing, but he was someone that I had worked with when I worked in the system's registry. He also worked in dealing with the virgin camps, assigning numbers, and the marriage lottery.
“Just doing some work for my commander, I'm all done here,” I said turning off the system before he could see what I was doing. I stood up to face him.
“That is a very unusual request,” He said.
“Lieutenant, we have invaded another planet. There is nothing unusual anymore. Now if you will excuse me,” I said giving him a salute and walking away.
That was close, I thought as I walked out of the command center. I went about the rest of my responsibilities so as not to cause any suspicion. Then I went home in the evening, to report my findings.
“I don't think the commander was lying. I looked at the range of his mission, he is in the outfields,” I said.
“The outfields? That is extremely dangerous territory, where there are active mines,” Neevon said.
“Yes, that is not exactly a place that you go to plan an escape. If he was at the Spaceport or ship yards then that would make sense. Perhaps he really is just on a mission, needed to get away,” Priah said.
“So we'll just wait and see then?” Neevon said.
“Yes, but no one tell Sabine what we have found out. We do not need her to worry that the commander could be blown to pieces by now. Say nothing,” Priah said.
We didn't have to wait too long. Two days later the commander walked in while we all sat around at the dinner table. We heard the front door open. Sabine stood up immediately.
“Kandyr?” She whispered walking toward the foyer. We all stood up and followed her.
“It is you, thank God,” she said as she ran into his arms. He looked worn, like he had been to battle. I envied him a little bit, like I had grown stagnant at the base and on short scouting missions. He looked like he had seen some action.
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“Sabine...” He whispered as he held her tight. It was a moment that made us all look at each other. It was obvious that there was something going on there. Something more than what we each were experiencing with Sabine. Her body started to shake as she began to cry.
“Shhh, it’s alright, I’m here,” he whispered to her.
Again, we all looked at each other. This was proof.
Finally, he raised his head and looked it up. He nodded, “Soldiers.”
“Commander,” we responded.
“I was so worried about you. And I'm so glad that you have returned,” Sabine said.
“So am I.” The Commander said.
“I bet you are,” Neevon said.
“Neevon, I said.
“What? I can't live with the secret any longer. We need to just get it out in the open. Otherwise he's going to take her right from under us,” Neevon said.
“What's going on here?” The Commander asked.
“I think you know,” Priah said.
Kandyr moved Sabine to the side and step toward us. He dropped his supply bag on the ground.
“No, I don't know what's going on here. But you are obviously going to tell me.”
“I heard you that day. I heard you telling Sabine that you were going to take her the way. Take her to another planet even. That is not going to happen,” Priah said.
“You don't control me. None of you. I didn't do it, did I? But if I wanted to I would, and there wouldn't be a damn thing you could do to stop me.”
“Yes, there is…” Priah said.
“Please, stop,” Sabine whispered. She tried to step between all of us.
“And what is that?” Kandyr said.
“We are going to report you. We are going to say that you are the one that faked the marriage documents and we had nothing to do with it,” Priah said crossing his arms over his chest.