Claimed by the Alien Chief
Zocrone of the Seven Galaxies, Book 1
By Sloane Meyers
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual people or events are entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Sloane Meyers. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Thank You For Reading!
More Books by Sloane Meyers
About the Author
Chapter One
Nova Wolke looked up from her e-assistant when the shrill blaring of a malfunction alarm suddenly filled the air. Her navigator, Evie Riaz, was frowning in a way that Nova definitely didn’t like.
“Problem?” Nova asked, calmly stowing her e-assistant in the side pocket of her captain’s chair. But she didn’t feel as calm as she looked. Her gut instincts had been telling her ever since they picked up the cargo for this job that something wasn’t right, and every beep of the Starburst’s malfunction alarm grated on her nerves. Evie’s slowness to respond didn’t help much.
“The system is indicating a critical malfunction with our thrusters. I’m not getting any more detailed information than that.”
Nova glanced uneasily at the nav screen in front of Evie. “How critical of a malfunction?”
“Critical. We need to land somewhere A.S.A.P. Hopefully it’s something that won’t be too much trouble for Maisie to repair, but the longer we’re up in the air the more chances of something going horribly wrong.”
“What are our options? We’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere.”
Evie paused for another moment, furrowing her brow as she stared at the screen in front of her. “We’re almost directly over Zocrone right now. It’s only a small mining planet with one city. The atmosphere is hostile to oxygen-breathing species, which the Zocronians apparently are, so they all live inside a dome. Doesn’t look like they get many visitors. Their Seven Galaxies profile notes that they don’t accept outside immigration requests, and that landing inside their dome’s airlock requires at least forty-eight hours’ worth of notice or the landing request won’t be approved. But the profile also lists them as a Class A peaceable civilization, so hopefully they’ll make an exception for us and let us land, given our emergency situation.”
“Hmm. Is that our only option?” Nova stood and came to peer over her navigator’s shoulder at the screen in front of her. Class A Civilizations were ones that had not participated in a war and had not had any Intergalactic Species Rights violations for at least the last one hundred years. The fact that the Zocronians were Class A meant that landing on their planet would probably be safe enough, but Nova didn’t like the fact that the planet’s official information noted a prohibition on immigration and such a long lead time on even being allowed to land there. It didn’t take a genius to realize that the Zocronians weren’t too keen on outsiders.
But Evie was frowning again and shaking her head. “The next closest habitable planet would take us a full day and a half to reach, at least. I doubt we’ll make it. Our only other option is to land on an asteroid belt and try to make repairs while docked there. We’d need about five hours to get to the closest asteroid belt, which may or may not be doable depending on how long the thrusters hold. Hard to say, since I’m not getting much information about the error right now.”
As if in response, the Starburst suddenly lurched sharply to one side. Evie looked up at Nova and raised an eyebrow, and Nova sighed. “Alright. Take her down to Zocrone. Start hailing them with an emergency signal and explain the situation when they answer.”
“Aye, aye, captain. And you might want to harness in. This could be a bumpy ride. Not only are our thrusters out of whack, but I’m showing some pretty significant weather systems down near Zocrone’s surface.”
Nova nodded in acknowledgement, even though Evie had already turned her attention back to the screen in front of her. Nova sat in her captain’s chair, but reached for her comm link before reaching for the straps of the seat’s five-point safety harness. “Maisie! Anya! We’re making an emergency landing. Get your asses to the bridge and strapped into your safety seats. Now! That’s an order.”
Nova had been flying with this crew for so long that almost all semblances of formality were gone. Her three crew members still referred to her as “Captain,” but other than that, the four women living and working on the Starburst were more like sisters and best friends than co-workers. Nova still had the final say on all major decisions. It was her ship, after all. But she valued the others’ opinions, and always listened to their advice before making any major moves.
The ship lurched again a few minutes later, just as Maisie and Anya walked into the bridge together. The whishing sound of the sliding door was drowned out completely by the warning klaxons that were blaring more urgently than ever. Maisie and Anya went to their respective seats on the bridge and began strapping in, their wide eyes reflecting the worry Nova was sure was showing in her own eyes by now. She was doing her best to appear calm, but she didn’t like the way the ship’s flying was becoming more jerky and erratic.
“What’s going on?” Maisie asked as soon as her safety harness was buckled.
Nova gritted her teeth as another lurch rocked the Starburst. “Problem with the thrusters, but we don’t know what. We’re going to attempt to land on Zocrone, assuming that the Zocronians allow us to. According to their Seven Galaxies profile they seem like a reasonably tolerant civilization, if a bit aloof.”
“Entering Zocrone’s orbit field!” Evie shouted. “Hang on.”
Nova felt a bit lightheaded as the ship sped up to pass from open space into the gravity of Zocrone’s orbit field. Usually, once Evie completed initial maneuvers to enter a planet’s atmosphere, Nova’s lightheadedness would go away. But this time, the small cargo ship’s movements only seemed to get worse with every passing second.
“Shit!” Evie did not sound pleased.
“Talk to me, Evie. What’s going on?”
“Thrusters aren’t responding properly to my commands at all, and the weather down here is way worse than I thought it was. The weather radar scanners were apparently malfunctioning too.”
Nova tightened her safety straps, and glanced around to double check that all of her other crew members were strapped in as well. This landing wasn’t going to be pretty. “Can you make it to the Zocronians dome?”
“I dunno. I thought I’d be able to, but that pass through Zocrone’s upper atmosphere was harder on the ship than it should have been for some reason. And now this storm is doing a number on us.”
Evie wasn’t kidding. The blaring of the klaxons had grown louder, and the ship felt like a rag doll being tossed around in a hurricane.
“Um…” Maisie yelled.
“Shut up, I know!” Evie yelled back. Nova wasn’t sure what the two of them were discussing, but Maisie had apparently noticed some other problem on the war
ning screens that Evie hadn’t mentioned yet. Maisie served as the ship’s air mechanic and general handywoman. She would be the one responsible for fixing whatever was wrong with the ship when they landed. If there was even anything left of the ship after they landed, that was.
“Are you hailing the Zocronians?” Nova yelled out. “Have they responded?”
“I’ve been trying. No response. Don’t think it matters, though. I don’t think we’re going to make it to the dome. We’ll have to crash land on the planet and hope we’re close enough to the dome to get there on foot. Or hope that the Zocronians will see us coming in and send out a rescue crew.”
“Keep hailing them. How much time until landing?”
“Four minutes. We’re definitely not making the dome.”
Nova closed her eyes for a brief moment. This is all my fault. I should have known a run covering this much distance would tax the Starburst. But I let the amount of money the job paid skew my judgment. Nova opened her eyes and pushed the thoughts away. She didn’t have time to feel guilty right now. There would be plenty of time for that later, if she lived. For now, she had to focus her thoughts and energy on getting the crew out of this situation alive.
“Initiate emergency landing procedures, level four,” Nova called out. “Survival suits on, everyone!”
Nova ignored the white pallor that took over Anya’s face, and reached to unstrap herself from her safety harness. She reached below her captain’s chair to open the sturdy compartment that held a survival suit, meant for situations just like this. She glanced up to see that Evie and Maisie were reaching for their suits as well, but Anya was still staring up at the console screen in shock.
“Anya! Suit on! Now!”
Thankfully, Nova’s voice seemed to snap Anya out of her petrified stupor, and the woman started to unstrap herself and reach for her suit as well. Good. Of course, Nova couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to any of her crew members. But beyond a general concern for Anya, Nova had a feeling that Anya might become very, very useful within the next few minutes. Anya served as the ship’s medic, and there was a high probability that this crew was about to need a medic.
Nova started slipping her legs into the billowy white fabric of the survival suit. The fabric was designed to cover a human being completely, from head to toe. It was a state of the art, synthetic material that could withstand extreme heat, cold, and radiation. A similarly protective clear material covered the face portion, so that an individual wearing the suit would be able to see. The suit was completely airtight except for an opening near the mouth where a breathing line from an oxygen tank could be fed. Once a compatible breathing line was locked into place, the suit would be completely airtight. Nova often scrimped and saved on equipment for the Starburst, but one thing she had never gone cheap on was the crew’s survival suits. She’d always insisted on carrying the most advanced suits available, and she’d never been as glad for that policy as she was right now.
She pulled out the oxygen tank and slipped her arms through its straps, buckling those straps closed across her chest and waist. She locked the breathing line into place, testing to make sure she could breathe in and out normally. Then she pulled on the helmet that would serve both to protect her skull, and to protect the airtight breathing line from being accidently pulled out by the forces of impact.
Speaking of the forces of impact…Nova looked up at Evie, who had already pulled on her suit and re-strapped herself into her chair. Damn, that girl was fast. Nova couldn’t communicate verbally with Evie while in the survival suit, but it didn’t matter. Evie understood the question in Nova’s eyes, and held up one finger.
One minute till impact.
Nova nodded, took a deep breath, and sat back down in her captain’s chair, quickly buckling up the five-point harness once more. A quick look to her left reassured her that Maisie and Anya were buckling themselves back in as well.
Well, this oughta be fun. There had still been no answer from the Zocronians, so Nova wasn’t sure whether they’d even noticed that a strange cargo ship was hurtling across the atmosphere toward their city. If they had, did they even care? They didn’t like outsiders, and if there’s one thing Nova had spent her entire life being, it was just that: an outsider. There might not be any rescue party coming.
One step at a time. First, let’s survive this landing. Then we can worry about getting into the dome.
Nova could see Evie still trying to steady the Starburst’s flight path, even though the ship seemed to be completely unresponsive to any input at this point. Whatever storm was raging out there, it wasn’t doing the ailing cargo ship any favors. Nova had a feeling that this might be the Starburst’s last flight, regardless of how talented Maisie was at fixing things up.
In the final seconds before impact, Nova closed her eyes. It was an instinctive reaction, borne of some sort of inner child fantasy that if you couldn’t see the danger, it couldn’t see you. Nova felt her whole body lurch to one side, then the other. Then the ship hit the ground and the whole weight of her body flew forward against the straps of the safety harness as the ground accomplished what Evie had not been able to accomplish with the ship’s controls: slowing the damn thing down. A split-second later, Nova felt herself fly backward again against the back of her seat. She opened her eyes as the ship screeched to a complete stop. Had she actually survived? Had her crew survived?
Frantically, she looked around to check on Evie, Maisie, and Anya. To her relief, they all seemed very much alive. The three of them were all fumbling to unbuckle themselves from their safety harnesses. Nova let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. They were alive! All of them had made it, and made it without any injuries as far as she could tell. It seemed almost too good to be true.
As if to mock her happiness, a small, chirping alarm started going off in the helmet of her survival suit.
“Caution, low oxygen levels,” a computerized voice informed her. “Caution, low oxygen levels.”
“What the heck?” Nova looked down at the small oxygen gauge that attached to the gloved portion of the survival suit. The gauge’s needle had slipped over into the red. Critically low oxygen levels. But how was that possible? These oxygen tanks were supposed to hold four hours worth of oxygen!
Nova unfastened herself from her safety harness and stood, looking around in a panic to see whether everyone else had the same issue as her. These damn suits had been expensive. She’d done her research! They were the best on the market. How could they be failing now?
But as she looked around, she realized she was the only one having trouble. None of her crew members seemed in the least bit worried about the amount of air they had to breathe. They were all calmly beginning to move toward the exit door, which was lit up bright red by the emergency lighting system.
At least that is working. Nova turned around in a circle trying to see whether there was something that might have damaged her oxygen tank. Part of her was daring to hope that the gauge was just broken, and that the tank itself was fine and full of oxygen. But then she saw her e-assistant tablet on the floor by her captain’s chair, the supposedly unbreakable cosmic glass of its screen shattered across the floor in a million shards.
Oh no. It’s not possible. No, no, no. Nova reached back behind her and began running her hand across the surface of her oxygen tank. It should be completely smooth. Completely solid. For a few moments, it was. And then, to her horror, she felt a tiny nick in the surface where there definitely should not be a nick. If she had to guess, she’d just so happened to be unlucky enough that a screen of unbreakable cosmic glass—one of the sturdiest known substances in the Seven Galaxies—had managed to break during the Starburst’s crash landing. Not only that, but one of those broken shards of cosmic glass had managed to impact with her oxygen tank, nicking it just enough to cause a leak. And now, she was on the surface of a planet whose atmosphere was incompatible with human life, and there was no guarantee or real hope of a r
escue party coming for her. And she had…Nova glanced down at her gauge…approximately five minutes of breathable oxygen remaining.
“Caution, low oxygen levels,” her helmet’s computerized system continued to tell her in a maddeningly calm voice. “Caution, low oxygen levels.”
Nova swore at the computer. No shit, Sherlock.
Its only response was a pleasant reminder: “Caution, low oxygen levels.”
Nova Wolke may have survived the Starburst’s crash, but it didn’t matter.
She still had less than five minutes to live.
Chapter Two
“What the sludge?” Daxar Kotula leaned forward in the seat of the industrial rover and squinted, his fog gray eyes peering through the thick, reddish-brown dust swirling all around them. Beside him, Jarmuk Kader was squinting too.
“Is that a spaceship?” Jarmuk asked, slowing the rover’s progress slightly, which was probably a good thing. They’d been in a hurry to get back from the Zekkardite mines, trying to reach the safety of the dome before the incoming storm hit. They hadn’t quite made it, but Jarmuk had still been pushing the rover to its limits. One wrong gust from the wind at the exact moment the rover was going over a bump, and the entire load of Zekkardite would be spilled across Zocrone’s surface.
“That’s definitely a spaceship,” Toryx Keizer piped in. “Small cargo vessel, from the looks of it.”
Daxar tightened his grip on the edge of the rover’s console in front of him. “We don’t have any cargo ships scheduled to arrive in Zocrone right now, do we?”
He could feel the anger beginning to make its way through his veins, coursing through his body like a river of fire. He’d been warned countless times that he needed to get his rage under control if he wanted to be seen as a levelheaded leader, but he didn’t think that was true. Daxar might have a temper, but that temper had served Zocrone well over his tenure as Chief. He’d kept the Zocronians safe. There had been no more incidents like the one…well like the one from twenty years ago that he didn’t even want to think about. Right now, he needed to think about why the hell a random cargo ship was invading his planet’s airspace.
Claimed by the Alien Chief: A sci fi alien romance (Zocrone of the Seven Galaxies Book 1) Page 1