Instead, I zoomed in closer to my house, all the way to the porch steps. On the side of the steps was my messy scribbling.
Love is intelligence.
“I wrote it when I was little,” I reminisced. “After reading it in a book. It sits there today.”
“What does it mean?” he questioned. “It doesn’t make sense. Love is an emotion. Intelligence is void of emotion.”
“Intelligence is many things, but void of emotion is not one of them. When I see an old man begging for food, my heart breaks because I have the knowledge that there is enough in the world to feed everyone, and the intelligence to understand that it will probably never happen.”
He frowned. “I’m not convinced. I’ve seen people in love. They’re idiots.”
I flicked the hologram so that it zoomed back out, showing Earth in its entirety. Then I zoomed further, revealing the hundreds of millions of stars in our galaxy. “Love is a connection, and we are all connected. There’s no higher intelligence than that – the understanding that everything is connected, including the Surtu and humans. Am I right?” I asked.
Jidden was confused. “That love is intelligence?”
“That the Surtu and humans are connected.” The time for being coy was over. “You need something from us. Why else would you be here?”
He seemed surprised by my insight. “Maybe we’re just bloodthirsty,” he said.
“Or maybe you’re stalling, waiting for more ships to arrive so you can take whatever it is that you need.”
It was a risk. Jidden did not like being usurped.
Unfortunately, the risk didn’t pay off. “I’d like to share a story with you,” he said, retreating away from the direction the conversation had taken. “Will we walk as I tell it?”
“Okay,” I agreed, trying to show him my trust, hoping to earn some back in return.
We strolled side by side along the creek, the willows brushing our shoulders. We walked for a while before he spoke again. “A popular goddess amongst the ancient Surtu was Nelti, a woman of great beauty with auburn hair and eyes without color, only flecks of light. She was a dark warrior, showing no mercy to her enemies. However, her ruthlessness was only to protect that which she loved. The ancients worshiped her because they believed she watched over their homes and their families. They considered her ruthlessness a gift.”
His story of Nelti made me feel apprehensive. It sounded too much like the women of the Fortuna, so I went on the defense. “I don’t think I understand what your point is. Are you saying it would be better if I was ruthless rather than peaceful?”
“I’m saying there is already something ruthless about you.”
We were deep within the depths of the gardens now, in a spot where nature had run wild, claiming part of the space station as its own. Among the trees and wildflowers, I did not believe even Earth had surveillance.
We were utterly alone.
“Why haven’t you made any demands for your sisters regarding their surrender? Isn’t that why we are meeting this evening?” he asked, his voice full of authority, but his indifference from our first encounter waned, replaced with a hint of emotion.
It made me weak. It was easy to deal with him when he was cold. But to see any warmth in him at all made my heart flutter again. He was so exotic and strong...
“I was trying to earn your trust so that when I did negotiate our surrender, you were more likely to accept my terms.”
It was a half-truth.
He moved closer to me. Too close.
My God, he was intoxicating.
I wanted to back away, I knew I should back away, but I couldn’t.
“And what do you wish for your girls?” he asked.
“Their survival. Their freedom.”
“I can guarantee their survival,” he said, “but nothing more.”
“That’s not enough,” I told him.
Why did I suddenly feel like a teenage girl again, the night I gave myself to Gerard Dalton? I was full of the same anticipation now as I was back then.
It’s the gardens, I surmised. I’m not thinking clearly.
I turned to head back to where we could be seen and heard again, but Jidden grabbed my arm. His touch was gentle but insistent. “We have more to talk about,” he said. “Tell me what you’re hiding.”
“Tell me what you have planned for the Fortuna,” I countered, but I didn’t move away. “And the women on board.”
He wouldn’t. I already knew that. His silence confirmed it.
“Then tell me why you insisted we talk in private.”
This caught him off-guard. “I thought it would be better,” he answered after a moment.
He’s not sure why, I realized. Cold, indifferent Jidden had acted on impulse.
“At least tell me something real about you,” I pushed. “Anything.”
“I’m an orphan,” he answered, surprising me, and I think he surprised himself. “My mother died from the disease when I was young, and a few years later, my father was killed in a military training accident. He was a celebrated soldier, so his Captain took me in and raised me. The military is all I know. I don’t know what it’s like to have a home out in the middle of the desert. Or to drink lemonade. All I know about are ships.”
There was a real sadness when he spoke. It appeared neither of us was winning this game of tug-of-war between us, each trying to draw the truth from the other without revealing too much of our own.
“I’m sorry to hear it–” I began, but before I could say anything further, he kissed me.
Kissing Jidden was wrong. I knew it. I was a traitor to my people, but I couldn’t stop. During our time in the gardens, we had revealed more to each other than either of us meant to. I had enjoyed sharing images of my home with him. It felt compulsory to do so as if we were connected by a force much greater than our flawed selves.
And his kiss...It was firm and passionate and impossible to turn away from.
It was strange kissing an alien, but not in a bad way. It was like tasting a new exotic fruit – sweet and tantalizing and, in Jidden’s case, extremely dangerous. But it was the danger that made it all the better.
Gallia was right. There was more pleasure where there was danger.
Jidden pulled me tighter into his arms, and his kiss became more urgent. He had no intention of stopping, and I didn’t want him to. My body was already responding to his touch, and his to mine. I could feel his cock growing as we kissed. Jidden may be an alien, but he was all man.
I pulled him back beneath a tree, using a thick, low branch as support. He was tall and broad, much more so than the average human male. I could handle the weight of his muscle as he leaned into me, but only barely.
“I want to know what a human woman feels like,” he said, his voice deep and powerful.
“Go ahead,” I permitted, feeling myself grow wet in anticipation.
He gently positioned me on the branch so that I was sitting down and his hand disappeared beneath my dress. His hand was strong as it traveled up my thigh, pushing the pale blue fabric of the dress away as he edged closer to my center. My eagerness to know his touch caused my core to pulse, and my heart to race.
Finally, his hand reached me.
Exploring me, I felt his fingers lightly circle the edges of my folds, lingering on the outside, causing me to swell.
“You’re not wearing any garments under your dress,” he observed.
“No,” I said, breathless. Willing his hand to explore deeper inside me, I secured myself on the branch and opened my legs wider.
With a smug smile, he complied, pushing two of his fingers in. I moaned and arched my back, letting him explore.
“You’re so ripe and healthy,” he said, moving closer into me. “You feel fantastic.”
I couldn’t respond. His strong, ardent touch blew my mind. His fingers moved inside me like a key turning a lock, hitting all the right places, sending chills of rapture across my body. I shuddered, and he respon
ded by exploring further, caressing his fingers in and out of me as I grew wetter, soaking him.
“I’m going to come,” I warned, feeling a glorious heat build within my core. “You’re going to make me come.”
He didn’t stop. Instead, he thrust harder, rocking my body. “I want to watch you,” he said, plunging his fingers deeper inside me. “Come for me.”
I did. I couldn’t control it. A fury of ecstasy overtook me as I rode the sweet release, falling further into his touch, taking all of him in.
Even after I came, his hand lingered, readying me for more.
He wasn’t through.
And neither was I.
My core pulsed again, craving more. I reached down and took his cock into my hand. It was large and thick, much like the branch I sat on, but his cock was also warm, like a furnace. I wanted to know what that furnace felt like inside of me.
Jidden closed his eyes as I removed his uniform, exposing him to the wilds of the garden. His cock looked as massive as it had felt in my hand, but despite its enormous size, it was normal. Human-looking.
“Tell me you want it,” he demanded.
“I want it,” I said with the greatest of truth. “I want your cock inside me.”
With much more force than before, he grabbed me around the ass with both hands and pushed me in close to him. Then he raised me slightly off the branch and slid me over his cock.
The fullness of it sent electric shocks surging through my body. I felt complete. It was almost sentimental, if not for the excruciating pleasure that came from his deep, lingering thrusts. I laid back on the branch, allowing him to drive deeper into me, as much for my benefit as his.
His movements were slow. His cock caressing me much like his fingers had, but when I began to moan as the heat built inside me once more, like a tidal wave of power, his thrusts became more urgent, igniting me from the inside in a way I had never known before. I floated from my body, swimming in agonizing bliss until I could bear it no longer. I went supernova, becoming like the stars in the sky, releasing my joy all around me.
With one final thrust, he joined me, calling my name as he came, as if I were his last wish. Together, we experienced just how closely connected a Surtu and human could become.
When he finished, I sat up on the branch and held him as he collapsed into my arms, our sweat mixing together as our bodies tangled, breathless and recovering.
Chapter 4
Jidden
As I leaned into Terra’s arms and breathed in her scent, which was earthy like cinnamon, I realized what a fool I was.
I had disobeyed a direct command. I risked not only my promotion but my life, and still I did not care. Terra had a hold on me that went against my will. She was an elixir I could not help but drink from, both potent and healing.
That made her even more dangerous than I originally thought.
Yet still, I could not pull away from her, even though I knew it meant I risked everything I had worked for.
I wanted to stay like this, just the two of us.
And then I remembered the plan – what was happening as I distracted the Commander of the Fortuna.
And I knew once she found out, Terra would never forgive me.
Perhaps it was for the best. I was just a soldier. Even if I wanted to claim a woman, to light bond with one, it could not be her. She was a Commander and above my station.
Reluctantly, I let go.
Chapter 5
Terra
I have to go. The men are expecting me back on the ship to count out the ammo.
I bit my lip. My mind replayed Jidden’s last words to me before he slipped away, and I returned to civilization – what was left of it with the Surtu in charge.
Now that I was alone in the gardens, the full reality of what just happened hit me. I was ashamed and conflicted. I wanted to believe our intimacy had meant something, that it wasn’t a careless act, and I had not betrayed my people. I was having a hard time casting my guilt away, especially after the way Jidden left so suddenly.
There was no connection between us, I realized. I had imagined it, trying to justify my lust.
That made me a traitor.
Standing up from the branch, finally regaining my strength, I tidied my dress, then went to the creek to splash water on my face. I withheld the tears that threatened to pour out of my eyes by focusing on what Jidden had said.
Count out the ammo.
We had surrendered peacefully. Why would they still be concerned about how much ammo they had? Unless they were planning another attack, perhaps on the neighboring space station.
Is that why they wanted the Fortuna? Were we hostages of the Surtu’s new command center?
Jidden and his ship were no envoys. I was sure of it now. We had been playing each other.
I rushed back, following the creek away from isolation, back to where the lights of the space station guided my path. I had to get to Gallia. She could help me warn Earth. The time for recognizance was gone. We had to strike. If we didn’t take back control of the Fortuna, more ships would land and it would be more than we could handle.
Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind and dragged back towards the shadows. I would have fought back, used the skills I’d fostered since childhood to defend myself, but I didn’t need to. I knew who took me. I had been dragged around by her many times before in combat training.
It was Bellona.
“I need to leave,” I said when she released me.
Suddenly, the ground shook. Another ship had landed. With luck, only one.
“Like now,” I added.
“It’s too late,” she asserted, her fiery amber eyes lost somewhere between anger and sorrow. “They’ve already attacked.”
I fell against a tree, willing myself to stay calm. I had to focus. Otherwise, I was no help to anyone. “They attacked the Fortuna?”
Bellona nodded, her anger winning out. It was almost scary how red her eyes became when they were ablaze.
I had been wrong. The Surtu weren’t using the Fortuna to attack our neighbors.
They were attacking us.
They must have figured out who we were. Or they had always known.
That meant Jidden...
I didn’t want to think about it. It didn’t matter. He didn’t matter, right now.
“Are our sisters fighting back?” I asked.
“Of course,” Bellona snapped, scowling. “This is what we trained for. We’re Earth’s first line of defense. But our weapons...compared to theirs? I thought it was smart, training us to be stronger than a blaster and how to use our agility to our advantage. But I was wrong. It wasn’t smart; it was suicidal. What was Earth thinking?”
“Maybe the Fortuna was never about combat,” I speculated. “Maybe we were only meant to be intelligence. The first line of defense wasn’t weaponry; it was knowledge.”
Great job I did, allowing the enemy to distract me when I should have been gathering more information for Earth.
Bellona must have read my expression. “Hey, don’t do that. Don’t let them defeat you. You did what you could. In the short amount of time you had, a lot of information was uncovered. Their ship was scanned. We learned about the Surtu hierarchy. It all helps Earth build a stronger guard. We may be the first line of defense, but we aren’t the last. Even if we fall, Earth still has a good chance of surviving. And so do we.”
“How?” I asked. “How can we possibly survive this? You said it yourself. It’s a suicide mission. We can’t compete with their blasters.”
“That’s what’s strange,” Bellona said, baffled. “They haven’t killed anyone. Not yet. They’re rounding the women up. It’s more of a siege than an attack. I’m not really sure what’s going on. That’s why I’m keeping to the shadows. The more we know, the better chance we have to save our sisters.”
The weight on my shoulders lifted. It wasn’t by much, but it allowed me some composure. “So no has died?”
Bellona allowed h
erself to smile. “No woman has.”
This was good news. “And how many ships have landed?”
“Just the one other, from what I can tell.”
“But it makes no sense.” I worked the siege around in my mind like a math equation. “We had surrendered peacefully. Why are they suddenly acting hostile?”
“They were always hostile. We just didn’t know it.”
“No,” I said. “I mean, yes, they were likely always hostile. But something else is going on here. Okay, let’s assume they know we’re not women of the cloth but actually a space station of femme fatales. Why not attack upon arrival?”
“They needed time to scout.”
She was right. I could see it. They wanted to gain our trust so that they could scout the station for our weaknesses before taking our weapons. “This isn’t about executing the women,” I concluded. “This is about disarming us. They must have known we meant to attack.”
Damn, Jidden was good. The way he had called our weaponry trivial, the way he had tested us in the docking bay to see if we would resist or play the game. It was all a ploy.
As was the way he had distracted me.
“I’m such a fool,” I said under my breath.
Bellona stared out into the distance, towards the inner station where our sisters battled against the Surtu. I could tell it was taking all her will not to go and fight, but she was right – the more we knew about what was happening, the better chance all the women on board the Fortuna had at surviving.
“They’re going to take us as slaves,” Bellona announced. “That’s why they’re not executing us. We’re going to be like the women on the colony. That’s what they need us for.”
It hit me then, exactly what all of this was about. The revelation was strong, sending me into shock. “What they need us for,” I echoed, closing my eyes, imagining the women on the colony being shipped off to some unknown planet like cattle. “That’s why they’re here.”
“Go on,” Bellona encouraged. I had her full attention.
“The women. They need the women. I don’t understand why, but I’m sure of it. Think about it – on the colony, they killed all the men. Only the women and children were taken as slaves. That’s why the Surtu didn’t attack the Fortuna. That’s why they’ve gone through all this trouble to strategize a way to take the station with as few casualties as possible. And it’s why they haven’t attacked Earth with their fancy technology. They can’t risk hurting the women. They need us.”
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