“You are a hero to the Dak-Hiliah. I…I can’t find more words. My heart feels like it’s going to burst. I love you so dearly, Selena.”
She gave a shuddering sigh. Hern was what she needed. She knew she could endure as long as she had him.
“Selena, you must accept the guilt for General Xaroth’s murder entirely,” Elentinus said.
They separated from their embrace to look at him.
“It can’t come out that we conspired with you, particularly General Hern’s involvement. If it appears he orchestrated the murder, there will be civil war. If, however, this is merely the act of a woman pushed to her limit, then we’ll have some chaos, but ultimately General Hern will become the sole leader of the military. That’s what needs to come from this.”
Hern’s breathing had become labored. “They’ll execute her.”
“I am part of ‘they.’ A case such as this can only be tried by the High Council. I will not vote for her execution. Without a unanimous vote it can’t happen. I swear to you—I won’t condemn her.”
“What then?” Hern said. “She won’t get away with this.”
“We have to negate her punishment. General Xaroth’s prior wife committed suicide. That will help to prove that he was obscenely cruel to her. Perhaps that she even took his life in her self-defense.”
“He wasn’t…that cruel to me,” Selena said through a constricted throat. “At least not until the end.”
“You won’t testify. Have your counsel state that you stole the hotice from his drawer. Beyond that, you’ve the right to say nothing and not incriminate yourself. We shall make the case for you to ensure your punishment is mild.”
“Will I be imprisoned?”
Lord Elentinus stared at her.
Hern soothed her shoulder. “Selena, imprisonment is not a punishment given in our society. There are only two penalties. Death or the collar.”
“Did he have sex with you?” Elentinus said.
Selena was too upset to be embarrassed. “Yes. Right before I…”
“Then you’ll likely become pregnant with his child. We’ll test you right before your hearing. Your sentence must be carried out at the end of the hearing. It’s forbidden to force someone convicted to wait any length of time for their punishment. The severity of your punishment will be greatly limited. Otherwise we could destroy Xaroth’s unborn child.”
“How limited?” Hern said.
“Three units.”
Selena blinked. The Dak-Hiliah time converted to three minutes and eighteen seconds.
“No,” Hern said. “She can’t suffer for that long. It’s monstrous. She did what was right! She shouldn’t be punished at all.”
Elentinus raised a hand to quiet him. “Let me argue this for you at the hearing. I’ll do everything in my power to keep her punishment mild. Remember, no decision can be made by the Council without a unanimous vote.”
The room became quiet after this. Selena knew more details were needed about what she was about to endure. It seemed trivial to ask. She was at Elentinus’ mercy now. At least he seemed genuinely on her side.
“What happened to Europa Colony?” Selena said.
Elentinus smiled. Hern squeezed her against him.
“Oh, Selena. It was wonderful. This wasn’t an invasion—we were rescuing them. They were starving. That’s why they sent out the beacon for help. The colony was never able to become self-sufficient, and their resources were almost entirely depleted. They saw us as their saviors. They knew we’d conquered Earth. The colony was a secret hold out for some of your elite class to escape to. They suffered so greatly in their attempt to colonize the moon that they were glad to surrender. We took them with compassion and they responded in gratitude—the way it was meant to be.”
Selena buried her face in her hands. This time she wept happy tears.
The news of Xaroth’s murder became over-shrouded by scandal. Let-Shurit and Shol-Ignar went to the Dak-Hiliah press and exposed that Xaroth committed Ryezeit with them. Let-Shurit went into horrific detail, appearing on numerous Dak-Hiliah press shows. (His new fame even led to an offer of work from one). An uprising had started on parts of planet Hok after Xaroth’s death. It quieted at once when the true nature of Xaroth came to light. Selena realized that the crime of Ryezeit was something considered just as abhorrent as child molestation on Earth.
All of this occurred during her transport to the Dak-Hiliah home world for her trial. Hern stayed beside her constantly, allowing her to watch the news on his tablet.
When she finally arrived at the forbidding High Council chambers, her trial played out like a formality. Only one member of the High Council suggested a death sentence for her. He was staunchly silenced by the others. Elentinus suggested she receive one second of collar punishment and be remanded to the custody of her husband. The others refused to consider a collar sentence so mild. The one who’d asked for her death suggested ten minutes of the collar. That’s when her counsel brought to light her pregnancy, which she had tested positive for just prior to her trial. They voted on giving her three minutes of collar torture. Elentinus refused to vote in favor. He countered with ten seconds. The member in seat number one compromised at two minutes. Her counsel brought up the fact Xaroth’s previous wife had committed suicide. The member in seat three suggested one minute. Everyone except Elentinus voted in favor of this. He countered at thirty seconds. No one listened to him. They argued that anything less than a minute would be seen as a travesty of justice. Hern hugged Selena tightly against him. She saw Elentinus mouth ‘I’m sorry.’ Then he pressed his button.
As soon as he did the pink force-field collar lit up around her neck. She screamed with unimaginable pain. Hern held her tighter. He soothed her and whispered that it would be over soon. For her it seemed like more than a minute—it was hours. Agonizing torture wracked every nerve in her body.
Then it was over.
Shol-Ignar chauffeured Selena and Hern to the most upscale nursery in planet Den’s capitol. Ms. Aggil, a fluffy sheep-like alien who stood only four feet tall brightened with a smile at the sight of her.
“Well look who’s here!”
Selena returned her smile. “Not just me.”
Hern moved beside her to wrap a strong arm around her. The sheep alien’s liquidy blue eyes grew wide.
“Oh how wonderful! The children will be so happy.” She raced on stubby wool covered legs through the glass doors leading into a vast play room. “Oh Ms. Hedeo! Lady Selena and General Hern are here!”
They followed the small woman in. A flood of two and three year olds ran toward them.
“Mommy, Mommy!”
A dozen noticed Hern. “Daddy!”
They knelt to hug and kiss their brood. Each child was a paler blue than their father with faint pink markings. None of them had signs of horns yet.
Selena looked at the fuzzy Ms. Hedeo. “Denver and Romi haven’t been brought in yet?”
“Oh, no dear. Give them a bit longer with the infants. They’re still potty training.”
A three-year-old boy with platinum blond hair held a drawing up to Hern. “Look what I made, Daddy.”
Hern took the picture from Xaroth’s son and gaped at its beauty. He mussed the boy’s hair. “That’s incredible, Jacob.”
Jacob gushed and twirled from side to side on one foot.
They spent two exhausting hours playing with the forty-six children. Selena thought Hern would become overwhelmed, but his energy seemed as boundless as the children’s. The two sheep-like workers laid out mats and called for nap-time. The lights in the room were dimmed and soon every child had settled down.
Hern and Selena sat on diminutive chairs side by side, gazing over their babies.
“They’re happy children,” Hern said.
“Yes. Especially when you show up.”
“I wish I could spend every day here. Take the place of Ms. Aggil and watch over each and every one.”
“Are you joking?”
>
He smiled at her. “I’m truly not.”
She laughed and leaned against him. “Your soldiers need you.”
“I have a duty to make our army a wonderful institution for our children to join. Both the boys and the girls, since Pakpo’s new decree. Coming here reminds me why I must hold fast to our ideals.”
Selena sighed. “I have no doubt they’ll have a wonderful future.”
Hern gave her a squeeze and kissed her forehead. “You’re happy then, my love? Even with a brood so huge?”
She smiled at him. “This is our life. It’s what it has to be, but I really think it’s wonderful, don’t you?”
He kissed her again. “More than you can know.”
END
Alien’s Bride
Meredith
Alien’s Bride: Meredith
Meredith held her microphone with both tremulous hands from where she sat in the control tower. Before her console was a floor-to-ceiling window where she could watch the massive Dak-Hiliah warship attempting to land.
"Smitty, are you on?" she said with more than a touch of urgency. "We need to move all the green cars completely out of the landing area. The aft of their ship is not going to clear."
"Got it!" Smitty's voice came through her speakers. "Can you tell them to hover? We won't have enough time."
Are you kidding me? Even if there wasn't the language difference she had no idea how to initiate communication with their conquerors.
Another glance out her window made her chew her lower lip. Half their cars were going to be crushed by their enemy's warship. For all she knew the colony still needed them.
Meredith opened all channels by pushing up the switches with both hands. "This is Europa Space Station calling the Dak-Hiliah vessel. Can anyone there hear me?"
Two harrowing minutes passed without an answer. The massive angular ship, which was so black it looked like a portal into the abyss, was starting to block her view of the landing area. Meredith now tore at her cuticles. Smitty was still directly under the aft trying to drive out their cars.
Screw the cars...he's going to end up being crushed!
Though...from what she'd heard, the Dak-Hiliah were going to castrate and enslave all their men anyway. Was a quick death really such a bad thing?
Meredith squared her jaw. No. Get that bullshit out of your head. They didn't know anything yet. This wasn't the time to get suicidal.
"This is Alyona from the Dak-Hiliah ship."
Meredith's eyes grew wide. It was a female voice...not just a female--an Earthling!
"I'm one of their wives," Alyona continued. "I'll have to translate for you. None of the soldiers speak English."
Soldiers? So it really was a warship? Why? Were they expecting us to fight? Meredith's heart started racing even faster than before.
"Alyona," she said, while drawing up a few faint scraps of fortitude. "Can you ask them to come in slower? We're still clearing the landing area."
Silence followed once again, but after only a few moments Meredith could tell the ship was no longer descending. She puffed out a deep breath.
"We're going to hover until you tell us we're clear," Alyona said.
"Confirmed," Meredith said at once. "Thank you." That was a good sign, right?
"What is your name and rank?" Alyona said.
The question made her face hot. Should she lie? Would she be punished for her involvement in hiding their colony from them?
No. You're a woman. They need women. The implications of that thought made her stomach tighten.
Meredith cleared her throat. "I'm Meredith Evans. I don't have a rank. I'm a just a traffic controller."
"Meredith, they want to know if any of your people left on your ships."
The heat in her face increased. Damn it. Why did she have to be their point of contact? Riley should have been up here or Song-Yu. She chewed her bottom lip some more and looked around her as though there was an answer to be found in the small control room.
"Okay, Alyona, look--I'm not the best one for you to be talking with."
"I'll take that as a yes."
Meredith gripped her microphone stem with a fist. "I didn't say that! Don't go telling your masters some load of crap that gets me in trouble!"
"I don't have a master. I have a husband. He wants to know how much lead time the ships that left had, and if there were both men and women on board. Also, how many of your people took off?"
Meredith's jaw clenched. But you're an Earthling too! Lousy traitor scum! Tears began to build behind her eyes.
"We're clear!" Smitty said through her speaker.
This perked her up. "You're clear to land now."
"Yes, fine," Alyona said.
Meredith closed all the channels. She rolled back her chair with her heart thumping in her chest. Before her the alien's ship landed with a thud that shook the ground. Meredith let a few tears fall.
Smitty came up the stairs to look out the tower beside her. The rail-thin senior took off his cap and wiped his brow on it.
"Son of a deuce." He shook his head slowly. Then he glanced at her. "They had to hear that underground. Hope they ain't panicking."
Meredith stared before her blankly. "We knew they were coming."
"Guess our reckoning's finally here. It was a good ride though."
Meredith raised a brow at him. They'd had nothing but mushroom broth to eat for the last seven days. She had some spare pounds to carry her, but Smitty looked emaciated.
"They're already asking about the Shanghai," Meredith said.
Smitty wet his chapped lips. "You made contact? How'd they know it was gone?"
"They don't. Not for sure anyway." She unfolded her arms so she could gesture as she spoke. "They just see this space port and all those ships parked around it and figure there's probably one or two missing."
Smitty grimaced while he considered. "Well, we'll see how it all goes down."
Noise on the landing strip made him dart his head to look. Meredith stood.
One side of the black ship unfurled to open a large hatch. Meredith stared at it without breathing for half a minute. Then a squadron of robots rolled out on tank treads. They were boxy and simplistic, with glowing yellow cylinders for heads. A hundred moved out of the ship onto the landing area.
Smitty scowled. "I remember those damned things."
Meredith eyed him. Her only memories from Earth's war were what she'd seen on the news. Maybe that was why that Alyona woman was so cold to her. Did she know Meredith had escaped the war, the Instajant Invasion, and had never been in a Dak-Hiliah slave camp?
"Here they come," Smitty said.
Meredith looked back down. Five blue-skinned aliens marched behind the robots, all male. Each was taller than any of their men by a good half-foot. They wore thight black bodysuits with chiseled silver armor attached, while brandishing guns that looked like small bazookas. Meredith could see they were densely muscled.
Super soldiers. That's how they'd been described to her in the past.
The aliens stepped onto the landing area and huddled to discuss things. Meredith wished she had binoculars. She wanted to see what they looked like in detail. Hopefully they weren't too foul up close, because her best-case scenario was to be forced to marry one of them. They'd conquered Earth to get brides. If she was lucky that would be their same agenda here on Jupiter's moon. At least then she'd survive. She tried not to worry about the men--Smitty, Riley, and the others. She'd done all she could for them.
Their time was up.
Meredith wiped a new tear away with the back of her hand.
"Looks like they're coming up here," Smitty said.
She swallowed down a lump. Two of the aliens were striding for her tower. The other three were leading the robots to the elevator bays that went down to the colony.
Meredith looked at Smitty. "What do we do?"
He shrugged. "Nothing. They're in charge now. Maybe they're going to kill me, or maybe they're going
to cut off my nads and work me to death. Guess I'll find out here in a minute."
His voice cracked with emotion on the last word, causing Meredith a heart-wrenching pang in her middle.
The aliens' footsteps were thudding up the stairwell behind them.
"Fighting them won't do no good so don't even try," Smitty said. "We've surrendered. That's all there is to it."
Meredith nodded. Smitty stood and she moved beside him to face the entrance.
The alien who entered first had curled horns on his head. (Meredith had forgotten they had horns.) His skin was a clear blue nearing turquoise with pink markings. He had a somewhat chubby face beneath short shiny black hair that was parted in the middle. Most of his bulk was muscle, but there was a protrusion of belly.
He walked in with his gun pointed toward them. Meredith and Smitty raised their hands. The alien grunted at the gesture. He turned his gun to the side.
"Cre-ahchra deel," he said over his shoulder.
A slightly taller alien who had extra horns growing from his shoulders entered behind him. Meredith's lips parted. The first one wasn't entirely ugly, but this second one--he was gorgeous. He looked a little older than her if she went by Earth years, 35 or so. He had long white hair with tresses of silver. Some of this spilled over his forehead in a sultry way. His face was lean and aristocratic. He had the super soldier body she'd fathomed from the distance, but this was lean also. He was more athlete than body-builder.
Geez. Can I marry this one?
The alien locked fierce blue eyes on her. His face was eerily cold. He let his gun hang on the strap going over his shoulder and pointed to himself.
"Jaximor."
Now he pointed at her.
Meredith pursed her lips. His icy demeanor kept her heart rate up. She touched her finger to her chest with resignation.
"Meredith."
Jaximor said a few words in his language to the other one and turned to go. The black-haired alien grabbed her arm. Meredith sent a forlorn look to Smitty as he carted her away.
"Bye, Smitty. Stay strong."
The Complete Alien's Bride Page 50