by Maia Starr
After she told me, I went straight to the fighting rings. I disguised it as training, but I needed to release some steam.
“Who wants to demonstrate!” I shouted as I walked in, heated.
“I will take the offer for training,” an Earth soldier said.
“Maybe next time. You, Captain Bidu, care to show the Earthlings what we are made of?” I said with a grin.
He looked at me, and the corners of his mouth curled up.
“Gladly, Commander,” he said.
I was relieved. The Captain was only five years older than I was and he was skilled in all kinds of battle and hand-to-hand combat. In a sense, I wanted him to kick my ass.
We both faced each other in the outline of the ring.
“Come for it, Commander Vycon Dase,” he said.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Absolutely. I am rusty; this is good for me,” he said.
I jabbed at him, and he dodged my punch and punched me in the abs. The wind left me. It was a good hard punch. I swung at him quickly and punched him in the chest. He came back and grabbed my arm. Then we went down on the ground. Now it was a wrestling match as we punched and kicked while rolling across the floor. The soldiers were shouting and cheering. They were having a good time, and I thought Nicole would be proud of me for this. Watching to Grantsions fight was good for the relations between the Earth soldiers and the Zenkians. I could see them cheering together, not divided. It seemed that boys would be boys, no matter the species.
Finally, I let the Captain get the best of me. He punched me in the ribs over and over, and I did not resist. Finally, he stopped and looked at me.
“Had enough, Commander?” he asked.
“Yes, I believe so,” I said.
“Did I knock whatever was bothering you out of your mind?” he asked with an arched brow.
“Almost, sir. At least the anger is partly gone,” I said.
He laughed. He stood up and then held out his hand to me. He helped me to my feet. The crowd cheered and clapped.
“And that is how it is done!” the Captain shouted. I smiled nodding in agreement to him defeating me.
But the beating did not help. I needed more of an adrenaline rush to get this out of my system. I went to wash the blood off my face and cleaned up. I could not stop thinking about how I responded to Nicole. I had to get out of the base. I got into a landspeeder and went for a scout. The scout was a good distraction. I could see just how much work needed to be done to defend this area and taking note of it was good work. The next day I did the same thing. I went for a scout as soon as I was able to take a landspeeder. I spent all morning out there running that landspeeder recklessly trying to occupy my mind. But it was not a good enough distraction. I thought about Nicole over and over.
The poor human female. I had just told her that she was in this alone. What was I thinking? Of course, I wanted the child. It was my flesh and blood too. I had made a big mistake. “Fuck!” I shouted to myself. I needed to fix this.
I needed to speak with her. It had been twenty-four hours since she told me, and I felt guilty for making her wait that long to come to her support and side. I could only imagine how she must have spent the night alone and in such turmoil. She could not confide this information in anyone but myself, and I had betrayed her. I turned the landspeeder around to head back to base. I needed to see her as soon as I landed. I needed to make sure that she was not in a long meeting. I got on the communication line and radioed back to the base.
“This is Commander Vycon Dase; I need to set up a meeting with Nicole Plimoc. I am on my way in from a scouting mission and I would like to speak with her as soon as I arrive” I said.
“Commander, you have not heard? Nicole left this morning to a copper mine several miles away. It is where we think the Waysaw will invade if they come in this vicinity.”
“What? No, I was not made aware of that. I'm coming back in,” I said as I made my way back to the base. I desired to find out why she had gone, and I was low on fuel. I desired to go to her. If the Waysaw did come, she would be in serious danger. I could not have that. She was carrying my child, and I desired to protect her and the child. I would give my life for it. But mostly, I desired to tell her that I loved her. I desired to tell her how wrong I was. I could not get back to the base fast enough.
Chapter Eleven
NICOLE PLIMOC
I had to get out of the base. After what had happened with Vycon Dase, I could not stay there. I could not risk the chance of running into him and having him treat me so coldly again. My heart could not handle it. I did not want to see Sergeant Banks and have him try to get me to marry him. I just desired to get away. That was why I requested to go to the copper mine on the outskirts of the coastline. It was along the Gulf of Mexico, south of Houston by several miles. I wanted to oversee and check on the production of the shield. By all accounts, it was almost ready, but I wanted to see it for myself, or at least that's the excuse I told my superiors in order to go.
I walked around the copper mine, impressed with the work that had been done. It truly was a benefit to us to have the Grantsions helping us. I could see a difference in the morale of the Earth army soldiers; they were looking more confident now that the shield was going into place.
“Let me show you how it works,” a Grantsion lieutenant said to me as he stood in front of the console.
“Yes, thank you very much,” I said to him. There were a few Earth soldiers standing by that had been trained as well in the way the shield worked.
“In order to activate the energy desired, this lever needs to be pumped ten times,” he said pointing to a very large flat handle. “Then once it is charged, this light here will come on, and that is how you will know that it is ready. After that, it is a combination of buttons: first this square button, followed by the round green one. Then the shield will appear. Should I demonstrate for you?” he said.
“Is it ready?” I asked.
“It is partially ready. What you will see is an incomplete dome over the copper mine. But even that is better than nothing.”
“I would love to see it,” I said.
I watched as the lieutenant went through the motions of everything that he had just told me. He pumped the handle in order to charge it, and the light came on just as he had said. Then he pushed the combination of buttons. I looked out the window and was surprised. Out of thin air, a large dome appeared over the entire mine. It looked like a big glass dome, but it wasn't glass. It was simply a high energy field.
“That is amazing,” I said.
“You see that in the west quadrant there is a large gap about fifty those energy amplifiers are being worked on today. But it would take a few days to get it up and running.”
“Then that is where the majority of our defenses should be stationed. It is in need of the most protection. We cannot have a Waysaw ship getting in here in order to disable the entire shield,” I said.
“Precisely. We have the majority of our defenses there, both Earth and our own. You are good with strategic placement, human female,” he said.
“Thank you. I will send my report of this back to base, good work. We are very excited about this technology; the Waysaw will not be expecting us to have it,” I said very excited.
“No, they will not. It will be a surprise for them, and they will not be ready for it. Defeating them is a victory for us as well,” he replied.
“Yes, it is. Now if you will excuse me, I need to get to the communications room,” I said.
“Yes, I need to bring down the shield. It is not exactly fully charged yet; we need it to rest in order for it to have the most energy possible from your sun,” he said as he took the shield down. It was fascinating to watch it disappear as well.
“What happens if it does not have enough energy and there is an invasion?” I asked.
“It will simply need to be manned and charged with the lever off and on. Nothing for you to worry about,” he said.
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“Thank you, Lieutenant. Good work,” I said.
I walked away and went to the communications building. I sent a report to the tower base. I received a message back; it was from Sheila. I was surprised. I was not expecting to get a message from her.
I opened the video message. “Nicole, how are things at the copper mine? Things are exactly the same here at the base. Sergeant Banks has been looking for you. I don't know what he is up to, but it can't be good. He is being very strange; I just thought I should warn you. Anyway, I miss you and hope to see you soon.”
The message ended. Her words had me on edge. When I was on the base, I was there to defuse tensions; now I was away from the base, and Sergeant Banks would be free to spread his hate. I had not thought about this when I left. I was so concerned about needing to get away from Commander Vycon Dase that I had screwed up.
I worked all afternoon in order to get my work done and get myself back to the mine. I should not have left in the first place, but I had to get away.
When I was done, I left the communications building walking across the mine in order to schedule a transport back to the tower base. But as I was walking, the air raid sirens went off. Shit! We were about to be under attack. I saw the shield go up and battalions rally to the shield opening. It was sudden chaos. The Waysaw ships were fast, and that meant we had ten minutes before they attacked, if they were heading to this mine.
Chapter Twelve
COMMANDER VYCON DASE
I walked out of the base after having come back from the scout. I was ready to find out about transport to the mine. I had to find Leader Nizok and let him know that I was going to be gone. I had to go find Nicole and tell her how I truly felt.
“There he is! Get him!” I turned to see Sergeant Banks shouting at me. He had military police with him, and they were coming right for me. What the hell was this all about? I couldn't deal with this nonsense now.
“What do you want, Sergeant Banks? I am very busy,” I said angrily.
“You have gone against the rules, Commander Vycon. You are under arrest. Take him,” he said.
I put myself on guard and gave the military officers a dirty look.
“Under arrest for what?”
“You have had relations with a human, a human female named Nicole. That is against the rules. You will be arrested, and you will be put in front of the superiors where your fate will be decided,” he angrily said.
The secret was out. But did he know that she was pregnant? Was this Nicole's doing? Was this her way of getting back at me for being so cold to her? If it was, I couldn't blame her. I had been a jerk.
“You will do no such thing. I do not answer to the humans. You will not arrest me, and you will get these officers out of my face,” I said.
He laughed. “Don't be ridiculous, Commander Vycon Dase. Arrest him,” he said.
I punched the first officer that came at me. Bam! Then I jabbed the other one in the ribs with my elbow. He doubled over. Two more came at me, grabbing my arms and trying to force them behind me. Then in the middle of it all, the siren went off! Everyone stopped and looked around.
“Invasion! The Waysaw are coming!” Sergeant Banks shouted. Everyone scrambled. My eyes grew wide. I pushed the officers off of me and ran for it. They ran after me, but it was complete chaos as everyone began to get ready for battle. I desired to get to Nicole. If the Waysaw were coming here, then they were going to the copper mine. I desired to get to her. I desired to protect her. I desired to protect my child, at all costs. I had failed her by being such a jerk; I could not fail her now.
I jumped in a land transport and took off. Over the radio, everyone was shouting about the copper mine, and I was able to pick up the coordinates. I typed them in and made my way there. I only hoped that I would get there in time.
Chapter Thirteen
NICOLE PLIMOC
Suddenly, I feared for my life. The Waysaw ships had arrived. There was a dogfight in the air over the dome. I watched as the battalions protected the hole in the shield. It was terrifying; this was the first time I had been in an invasion. I ran back toward the communications building. I had to be in contact with the tower to see if the reinforcements were on their way from the base. They would have received the satellite information first, but they were several miles away, and they had to prepare and depart. That took time, especially when there were two battalions of alien and humans that did not get along.
Boom! Suddenly the communications building was hit. I was shocked by the blast and it pushed me back, and I fell on my butt. But it wasn't a bad injury; I was far enough away from the communications building to only get the wind and energy of the blast and nothing else. I rolled onto my knees and quickly scrambled against an army truck.
The blast should not have been able to get through the shield. I looked up; the dome of the shield was gone. I looked toward the console across the mine. Someone needed to be there in order to charge the shield and get it up again. I knew there must be several soldiers there doing it. But if there were, why was it not going back up? I needed to get there. I knew how to do it. That shield had to go up. Suddenly the sky was full of Waysaw ships. They had gotten in. I made a run for it, ducking behind one truck and then another trying to get to the shield console.
Bam! Bam! Laser blasts rained down around me. I ducked again. I was terrified. I put my hand on my belly. I had to do this for my child. If the Waysaw became stronger, there would be no future for any of us. I ran again, darting and dashing my way across the fields. Then I suddenly came to an area under heavy fire.
“Aagh!” I screamed and covered my head. I was boxed in by the laser blastd all around me. I was scared for my life and the life of my child.
“I have you,” I heard a deep voice say as strong arms enveloped me. I looked up and saw Vycon. His strong blue arms were around me, and his blue-skinned chest was against my face.
“Vycon? What are you doing?” I said surprised.
“I’ve come for you. I am here to protect you and our child,” he said.
“Our child?”
“Yes, Nicole. I apologize for what I said. It was wrong of me. I have so much I want to say but now is not the time. I must get you to safety,” he said looking around.
I could not believe it. I felt so safe. I felt safer than I ever had in my life. Feeling his strength was overwhelming. I wanted to cry. For a moment, I felt relieved and forgot about the rainstorm of laser blasts around us. He had said our child; did he really mean it?
“We can get to my landspeeder this way,” he said pointing.
“No, I have to go that way. I have to get to the shield console. We have to activate the shield. I don't know what is going on in that room; there should be soldiers in there. They should be activating it,” I said.
“Perhaps there is a defect in the wiring. I have seen it before. If there are soldiers operating it, they won't know what to do. But we can't go that way; it is too dangerous. I must get you to safety first, then I will see to the shield,” he said.
“No! We must go now. Every second we waste is lives lost as well as the Waysaw getting to the copper. We have to go now,” I said.
“I cannot put you in that kind of danger. I will pick you up and take you to my landspeeder,” he said with a dominant tone.
“No,” I said as I pushed him away and ran toward the console.
“Shit! Nicole!” he shouted at me. But then I felt him at my side. He grabbed my hand and ran ahead of me, pulling me along. We dodged and hid behind walls and vehicles. It was treacherous. I looked into his eyes when we rested our backs against a truck. His yellow diamond-like eyes locked on me.
“You are completely nuts, you know that, human female? I thought humans didn't have this kind of recklessness in them,” he said.
“Then you haven't known many humans like me,” I said with a smile.
He put his hand behind my head and pulled me to him. He planted his soft blue lips on mine. I kissed him hard. I kis
sed him like it was the last kiss if I would ever have in my life, and that was possibly true.
He pulled away from me. “Ready?”
“I am ready, Commander,” I said.
He looked around and into the air. He grabbed my hand and with one swift move we were running toward the building with the shield console.
We finally made it inside. There were two Earth soldiers fiddling in a panic on the console.
“What is going on here?” the commander asked.
“We don't know. It just went off. We have flipped the charger over and over; we are new to this.”
“Let me have a look,” he said. He quickly yanked off the top panel of the console. Sure enough, there were two wires that were sparking together. I watched as Commander Vycon Dase went to work on those wires. He was quick. I was impressed and turned on. It was the adrenaline of the battle around us.