by Tracy Lauren
As we near the end of the corridor a shot skims Kellen’s arm. It knocks him back, but he does not falter on providing us cover. We come into the sample room. Three Ju’tup lie dead near the corridor. Two more hide behind cages, only to stick an arm out to send sporadic disrupter bursts in our direction. I hear one yelling into his personal comm. The ramp at the entrance of the ship begins to hiss as its hydraulic locking system kicks on--they are trying to shut us in. We run toward the exit--Dax, Da’vi and myself making our way to the front of the group to protect the females. Kellen and Bossan take the rear to continue providing cover. I bound over two dead guards. My crew likely killed them upon hearing my battle cry. I dive through the increasingly smaller opening to the outside of the ship. Bossan and Kellen switch to running on all fours to make the leap out. They skid in the dust. I clutch the female in my arms, as if holding her tighter will protect her. We are still not safe. We must make it to our ship and exit the atmosphere before the Ju’tup shoot us down. I shift my female to one arm and crouch down to run on all fours… well, three in this case because I hold her in one arm. But I am faster in this mode. I hope the female on my back can hang on as I dig my claws into the ground to gain traction. My ship is close. I must keep this female safe.
Chapter 6
Kate
How does the old saying go? Out of the pot and into the fire. The gargoyle killed my would-be rapist and his boss, or whatever he was. Then, more of these gargoyle like dudes… and a lizard man... show up and people… or should I say monsters… start firing laser guns at us. I have to make a choice and even though this dude looks like a demon, I think he might have just saved me.
He tries to speak to me, but seriously? I have no freaking clue. He reaches for me tentatively, a question in his eyes. But when the laser guns start he doesn’t hesitate any longer, he grabs me and I send a nod to the other girls watching the interaction intently and they allow the other dudes to scoop them up, as if we all weighed nothing. Then they run with us into the laser gun fire. I duck my head and the gargoyle encircles me in his wings. I close my eyes and bury my face in his hard chest. I don’t want to look at anything. I don’t want to see more monsters. I don’t want to see any of our group being shot. I don’t want to see any of us being captured. But I can’t look away either, so I just hang on.
We run straight for a few moments and then we turn. I peek out beyond the wings wrapped around me and see cages with animals in them freaking out. I don’t get that great of a look as the gargoyle carrying me sprints past them… but these animals look like nothing I have ever seen--like not in a pet shop, not at the zoo and not even on YouTube. They are going nuts over the laser fight, howling and screeching, pacing in their cages. I feel sick at the sight of them. That could have been me. That could still be me if we don’t make it out of here.
We bound out of a slowly closing ramp. I see our surroundings. Mars. It looks like we are on Mars. Red and dusty, but I’m breathing… so, not Mars. I look ahead and I see this big metal warehouse or something. The gargoyle tips forward and I think we are about to fall, but he holds me with just one arm and runs like a dog or bear or something, towards this big metal rectangle building. There are still laser beam shots coming from behind, but I think a lot of it is coming from the gargoyle guys. We make it to the doors of the metal rectangle and one of the other dudes uses a control panel to shut the doors. The gun fire stops, but I get the feeling we aren’t safe yet because we all continue running down corridor after corridor.
We make it to a large room and the dudes set us women folk down and begin to rush over monitors and controls, making these weird guttural noises at each other. Well, almost everyone sets the women down. The gargoyle holding me doesn’t let go. He does drop the other chick off his back though. Seems like he is shouting orders at the other dudes. Bossy, but you won't see me arguing with him after what he did to those nasty frog dudes back there. Actually, you wouldn’t have seen me argue with him before that either.
One of the other dudes goes along the wall and folds down what appears to be extra seats. Like murphy beds, only chairs. The dude calls the women over to him, motioning with his hands… er, claws. They stare, because who knows what he’s saying, right? He gently pulls one over and begins to strap her in like a baby in a car seat. She slaps at his hands. “Get your fucking hands off me, you aren't tying me down to shit!”
My gargoyle goes to the seat next her, I see these seats aren’t like the rape chair the other dudes put me in. These look more like seats for a roller coaster. I don’t know why we need to be strapped in. My gargoyle sets me down. He bends to look into my eyes. He clicks or something at me. He knows I can’t understand, but I see the pleading look in his eyes. He motions for me to sit and I do. He pulls the strap over my head and secures it around me.
“You’re just going to let him?! We don’t know what these guys have planned for us. Look at what happened to the last guy who tried to tie you down!” The girl who was swatting the gargoyle says to me.
“Yeah? Look at him. This dude killed the fuck out of him. So, if he wants to tie me down, what can any of us do to stop him? But he isn’t forcing us, right? He’s asking. And besides,” I soften, “I think they are trying to help us. They haven’t hurt us yet, have they?”
She huffs her frustration, but the room is giving off vibes of serious urgency. “Yeah, ‘yet’ being the key word there, Red. Fine, fuck it. Abducted by aliens, might as well roll with it.” She throws her hands up to be buckled in. The dude helping her keeps his head down. He looks ashamed or mortified by this interaction. He buckles her in quickly but gently. The rest of the girls follow suit. Then a window opens across from us. My guy sits in a seat big enough to accommodate his large body in the center of the room. I see a shit ton of those frog-crabs swarming our building. That's when it lurches beneath us. At first, I think the bad guys hit us with a missile or something, but then I realize we are lifting up into the air. I see the building we came from. It’s a huge black triangle. It looks like a UFO. Then my stomach tries to make a mad dash for my feet--we shoot into the air so fast that in seconds the view outside the window is black, our ship turns and I see… I see stars, just before we shoot into space. The stars blur past us and it hits me. I'm sure as shit not dreaming. I'm not dead or in hell. This isn’t a building I’m in--it’s a spaceship and it seems I’ve been abducted by aliens.
Chapter 7
Rennek
Some of the females sob and whimper. My female does not. She observes, taking everything in. She is smart as well as brave and I am filled with pride at the thought.
I am aware of a sensation within myself… the drumming that began on Ju’toktah’s ship. It has not gone away. I thought at first it was rage within me boiling over because of the horrible things Ju’toktah had done. And yes, I do feel rage. But I now think this drumming is something else, something more. It is caused by proximity to this female. My female. I do not know what it is, but she is affecting me. It is exhilarating and frightening at the same time.
Whatever it is, I need to put it aside for now. We are not yet out of danger.
“I shot into warp after exiting the atmosphere. Sentinels were already trying to lock onto us, but it will be nearly impossible for them to know which direction to go in,” Dax reports.
“The Ju’tup will already be fighting amongst themselves to take over the captain’s position, they may be too busy to chase us. After all, we only stole six… and you saw their cargo hold. Six are of little value compared to what they still have…” Bossan says. The silence that follows tells me we all feel the pain over having to leave the sleeping females behind.
“We need to send a comm.” I say, resolved.
“If they are pursuing us, they will be able to track our location if I engage comms. We can wait until we cross into UPC patrolled territory, it will be safer for...” Kellen says looking at the females.
We all exchange knowing glances. We are in a difficult spot. We are th
e protectors of these six, it goes against the grain of all we have been taught to put them in a position where they might be at risk. If we contact UPC to let them know of the slave trade, the sentinels could find us and blow our ship to debris before the comm is even complete.
But, the females we left back in the cryo bags? They have no protectors. The Ju’tup will leave the moons of Magna VII and set up shop elsewhere and when those females are ripped from stasis there will be no one to save them. Even if we get the comm out, the Ju’tup might still be gone by the time the UPC can respond. Do we put these six at risk in an effort to help the ones we left behind? I must be the one to decide our course of action and there is no time to delay. I look to my red maned queen and think of how she protected her people.
“Prepare a comm,” I decide. Kellen nods and I begin my recording.
“This is ex-commander Rennek of Thaad, District 17, Unit 2. This is an urgent message. While on a cargo acquisition on the red moon of Manga VII my crew and I uncovered a Ju’tup led trafficking ring. Sentient beings, all females. The Ju’tup are violating them and selling them as slaves. Hundreds are still captive. Requesting immediate response,” a violent explosion rocks the ship. Some of the women scream.
“They have locked onto our signal. Beginning evasives,” Dax reports as Da’vi activates weapon controls.
“The message was dispersed! Everyone in this quarter is going to hear what the Ju’tup have done,” Kellen delivers the news we were all praying for. Hopefully a UPC fleet will soon come and liberate the others, but for now we have to worry about the females here with us.
“Bossan! Can you strengthen our shields?” I shout to my friend, who is already bringing the controls up on his panel. “Kellen, give us a visual. How many do our sensors read?”
Kellen adjusts the view window so we see a rear-view image from the ship. Only two sentinels. We are lucky.
“Sensors confirm. There are only the two, Captain,” Kellen tells us.
“They may have only sent a handful of sentinels out in different directions. The other Ju’tup are probably fighting over their own ship,” Bossan says.
“Can our shields hold up against their firepower?” I ask. Our ship rocks again with another explosion.
“It is a fair match. We have some top of the line stuff… but they have some illegal stuff. We need to take them out before they do some real damage.”
“Agreed. Da’vi, fire when ready.”
“With pleasure,” Da’vi tells me as he adjusts his targets and locks on. The first is gone in an instant. It is as if Da’vi knew exactly where the weak point in the ship was and targeted it precisely. But before he can lock onto the second ship it switches to wrap and vanishes the way it came. The honor-less Ju’tup figured we were not worth the trouble.
“Drop us into warp. Get us out of here,” I tell Dax.
“Happily,” he says as the stars blur and we head out of danger.
Finally, we have a moment to breathe. I turn. All eyes are on me. My crew, the female, but my eyes find my red maned queen and my core seems to march in time with the beat of a faraway drum.
Chapter 8
Kate
Finally, all is calm. I have no idea how much time has passed since I woke up. Everything moved so quickly and my adrenaline’s been in overdrive the whole time. Can you ever run out of adrenaline, I wonder? If you can, I must certainly be nearing the end of my supply.
Now that I’m not in fight or flight mode I’m able to really take in my surroundings. Alien rescuers included. They are all similar to one another. Except for one, he looks more like he evolved from a reptile. The others all look like horned gargoyles. They are super tall and super built and even look hard to the touch. They all have greyish skin tones aiding in their resemblance to the stone statues from Earth. They style their hair differently from one another, I notice.
I scan them and my eyes instinctively go to my hero. The gargoyle guy who killed my captors and carried me out of harm’s way through a barrage of gunfire. Well… hopefully he carried me out of harm’s way. I guess I don’t really know their intentions yet, I think to myself. In any case, he is different from the others. He has wings. Looking around, I suddenly realize that everybody is looking to my guy, the gargoyle in charge. The only thing is, he’s looking at me. Our eyes lock. Did he catch me checking him out… er, inspecting him… for… uh, alien… qualities?
“Dang, you guys could just like, get a room. We can wait,” the surly girl beside me says and I feel myself turn bright red, finally breaking the intense gaze of this alien-gargoyle dude.
He makes some crazy noises that must be his language and another dude jumps up and leaves the room. Soon after he’s back with a handful of blankets. They help us out of the seat belts, because we can’t figure them out for shit, and wrap the blankets around us. The guys bustle around helping all the women, but it seems I have a babysitter… or maybe the outer space version of a guardian angel. I haven’t decided yet. The blanket he puts around my shoulders is a super smooth, thin material, but it’s surprisingly warm.
Now that that piece of business is out of the way, all us Earthlings congregate towards each other. Looking at the room, I’m reminded of a middle school dance… all the boys on one side and all the girls on the other, everyone too shy to ask anyone to dance.
It seems the girls are beginning to realize that although everything has settled down, we are still in the presence of a bunch of aliens. I hear tears start again and those who aren’t crying are shifting on their feet. I think everyone in the room can feel the tension rising. I take a step forward and stand in front of the other women. I don’t really sense danger from these guys, but I still don’t want them freaking my girls out. I don’t remember what happened to me, and I don’t know what happened to them, but they woke up naked and frog boy back there clearly was going to try and rape me. So, I’m in super protective mode right now.
“Tell them to take us home,” surly nudges me.
“Okay, hand me my pocket alien dictionary.”
“Look Red, that one is paying attention to you…” she points at my hero, “...to say the least. Use it and get us the fuck home.” All the other girls are looking to me, eyes wide and welled with tears. I’ve got to be the strong one. It’s okay, I’m good at that. I take a deep breath and step toward my gargoyle. He matches my movement and steps closer to me.
“Um, hello…” I don’t know what the fuck to say. I look back and forth between groups. Everyone is looking at me expectantly, like I’m about to bridge some gap. “I’m Kate,” I say holding my hand to my chest over my blanket. “Kate” I say again.
“Kate,” the alien says fairly well. It sounds a little different coming from him. It’s like he makes the sounds deep in his throat and his teeth click a little when he says it. He places a hand over his chest. “Rennek,” he says in his throaty, growly voice.
“Rennek,” I repeat his name nodding--probably a little too enthusiastically.
He motions toward his friends. “Dax… Kellen… Bossan… Da’vi,” he pauses between each to make sure I am understanding him. I expect their names to be more like crazy clicks and things I can’t pronounce, but I’m pleased to find I can say all the alien names. I can’t do it all throaty like he does, but I can replicate the sounds fairly well in my opinion.
All alien eyes go to the women behind me. I turn and look at the other humans, I realize I don’t know their names yet.
“Allison,” a girl with long brown mermaid hair supplies. “Clark,” says the girl I gave my cami to. “April,” says the girl wearing my PJ shorts. “...Viv… Victoria,” sobs a mousy brunette with short hair says. Everyone is mostly staying back, but my surly friend steps forward and waves, “I’m Reagan,” she says.
“Eemmrayyshinn,” Rennek repeats. All us girls laugh.
“Sure, he gets your name right and mine gets butchered. Wonder why…” Reagan says sarcastically. “Rayyy Ginnn,” She says with heavier emphasis. It
doesn’t help though, because now all these dudes are trying to master saying her name. It’s a cacophony of Rah-shin’s and Ray-chin’s. “Oh, never mind! What’s the point of this? Tell us something useful, like when we get to go home!” She shouts, exacerbated.
And I only feel a little butt hurt. I thought we were making good progress. I shake it off, step forward again and… here we go. “Hi… um, do you guys know any English? Can you understand me?”
The aliens look back and forth to one another. Rennek says something to us and then waits. He looks to his friends and begins to speak, motioning to his ear. The exchange goes back and forth for a minute until my guy approaches me again and lets loose a long string of words. But no matter how slow and deliberate he tries to speak, I’m just not getting it. I shrug. He then tries to pick me up. I squirm away.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa… I can walk!” I hold him at bay with my outstretched arms. Now it’s his turn to look butt hurt. One of the other gargoyle aliens laughs at him and Rennek shoots him a pissed look. The one who laughed waves to us and starts walking from the room. I think his name was Dax. He makes some encouraging sounds and continues to wave to us, so we slowly begin to follow him, staying close together as we do.