by Rena Marks
BABY SOLDIERS
IN SPACE
Rena Marks
Baby Soldiers in Space
Book 2
Rena Marks
Helian Six has it made. Their own planet, lifemates, and kids. Not bad for a species who were born in vats—to emerge full grown with designated careers dependent upon specifically implanted personality traits.
What used to be friendly competition has turned into jealousy, and everyone is scrambling to be accepted onto their planet to live the good life. Now, the Helian Six crew, with their updated promotions, can afford to be picky about who goes or stays.
However, a personal request from the Supreme Commander has all but ordered acceptance of a new breed of female. The leader, with her steadfast ways, nurturing heart, and fuzzy unibrow, has caught the Ambassador’s finicky eye. The poor crew members of Helian Six have been warned to give these refugee females everything they may need.
Unfortunately, they can’t share with their moody mates why they’re giving extra attention to the hairy bunch.
Table of Contents
Prologue
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
Alien Stolen
Artificial Intelligence
Serepto’s Story (An AI Tale)
Chasing Violet
Abducted
Stargazer Series
Also by Rena Marks
Prologue
The front door burst open.
Lara looked up, startled. She and Anita were sitting in her living room, rocking their newborn babies. Anita was feeding hers, and had half a boob hanging out.
Anita’s other son, Tomlak, barely gave it a second glance, since they’d all gotten used to nursing mothers on the planet.
“Mom, she’s at it again. There are some strange ladies here the Supreme Commander sent. They’re wearing black and have hot-looking clothes on. Buttons up on their neck and long sleeves. Boots under their dresses. Funny little bonnets on their heads. They ran screaming after she kicked off her clothes and started dancing round and round in a circle.”
“Who?” Anita asked, though Lara wondered why she bothered.
“Titi.”
Dead silence.
“Where’s her father?” Lara asked Tomlak since Titi was hers.
“He’s with the Supreme Commander.”
“Where’s Bajoc? I thought he was going to be on hand in case of emergencies.”
“After he stopped laughing, he said he wasn’t going to touch this one. Then he started laughing again.”
“I’ll be right back,” Lara said to Anita. It was her mate, and leader of the planet, Tristan, who had promised to care for Titi, the planetary handful. Apparently he’d pawned their daughter off on his right hand, Bajoc.
With her newborn baby Hagan in her arms, she marched with Tomlak out the front door, down to the enclosed area where the children often played, to see Titi wriggling her chubby form for the shell-shocked other children.
“Titi!” She yelled from across the yard.
Titi gave her wide-eyes, and scrambled off the table. She bent over to grab her clothing from the dirty ground, giving Lara a view of her purple moon. “Hawt, Ma. Hawt,” she said, fanning herself.
“Get your clothes on right now, missy,” Lara said sternly. “Your father’s going to hear about this. You are so banished to your room for the rest of the afternoon.”
Titi looked up at her with huge eyes that glossed over. All at once, big, fat tears tumbled down her chubby purple cheeks, the liquid so clear it appeared purple-tinged, but it was just her skin showing through. Her ears quivered. Lara wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in her arms, but she wanted her daughter to learn to live peaceably among others.
“You did it to yourself,” Lara said. “I had to wake up Hagan to come out here to see to you. Remember when you said you were a big girl and the other kids could keep an eye on you? I’m very disappointed.”
“Aww. Sowwy, Hegg-head.”
Titi came at him with lips puckered. Lara lowered the baby for a kiss. “Now be a good girl and show Hagan you can be all grown up.”
“Awwight.”
She turned to march toward the house, leaving Tomlak and Lara to follow.
“Umm—“ Tomlak began.
Titi’s skirt was tucked up in her undies in the back. A huge smiley face—as yellow as the sun—grinned back at them as she walked up ahead. The Supreme Commander had found the tiny pairs of underwear at one of the trading posts. He thought it would encourage Titi’s toilet training to wear big kid pants.
“They’re kind of funny looking,” Tomlak said.
“Yeah,” Lara agreed with him. “It used to be a logo on a store back home, this bright yellow smiley face. Represented a huge store that took over our planet. I’d hoped never to see it again. Imagine my surprise when Commander Kriekjan found those.”
“No, not her underwear,” Tomlak said. “The new ladies. I think the Supreme Commander wants them to live here. But they’re funny looking. A couple of them have only one eyebrow.”
“Well, we’ll teach them how to pluck them into two,” Lara assured him. “Remember Raine’s sharpie eyebrows? They’ve grown out some.”
Raine used to have the strangest style of super-thin, barely-there eyebrows.
Titi had just entered the house but forgot to keep the door from slamming behind her. From outside, Lara could hear baby Magnus shriek as he was startled awake. Through the open window, she heard Anita trying to soothe her infant.
“Oh, crap,” she muttered. “I swear I’m not going to keep any friends with that child. Uh, Auntie Lara didn’t say crap,” she said to Tomlak.
“Tomlak didn’t hear crap,” he responded.
She smiled at the boy. They had a good understanding between them.
They stepped onto the front porch to hear Anita shriek, followed by Titi’s cajoling pleas.
Lara threw open the door.
“Titi!”
Her guilty-looking toddler dropped her hand from Anita’s boob like it was a red-hot potato.
From where he’d just been squirted in the face, Magnus wailed.
Chapter One
“I heard you allowed Titi to perform naked for the new group women from the planet Quakestrarian.” Marcie’s voice was sharp.
Bajoc—Commander to Captain Tristan with the Helian Six crew—knew better than to burst into the laughter that had been plaguing him ever since the incident occurred. “I would not say allowed, per se. Really, can anyone handle Titi other than Lara?” He tried to distract her with his best piteous look, but this time Marcie wasn’t buying it.
“You know the Supreme Commander wanted to impress those women with our lovely planet,” Marcie chided. “They probably want to run back to whatever planet they’re from now.”
“Bah. Let them go. We do not need them.” Not one person gave them any credit or help when they rescued this planet but now that it was up and running, everyone wanted to jump on board for a free ride at the good life. Unbeknownst to the tender-hearted human females who became their mates, the Freijian species could hold a grudge.
“We’re soon to have new men, Bajoc. They will want mates.”
“Those Quackers were not good enough. They nearly fainted
at the sight of purple skin.”
“Qwaaay-kers. Quackers implies…well, never mind. And to be fair, she was showing all of it.”
He leaned in to share a horrible secret with the love of his life. “I heard Titi tried to feed Magnus.”
“Feed him? How?”
This time he couldn’t hold back his howl of laughter. Once he was able to take a breath, he shared with Marcie what he knew. “Anita was rocking a sleeping Magnus. Titi grabbed her teat and tried to shove it into the bibble’s mouth. It squirted instead, and the spray of liquid woke him.”
“Oh, no!” His mate looked horrified, her eyes wide. “Where was Lara? Tristan?”
He held his sides as he chuckled some more at the image it conjured. “Tristan was the one who told me. He was meeting with the Supreme Commander at the time the Crackers came running, screaming about a naked purple dancer. Lara called him soon after to come home to talk to Titi after Anita marched home with Tomlak and Magnus in tow. Anita had been visiting Lara and the little ones were going to nap together.”
“Quakers. Um—what in the world would Tristan talk to her about?”
Bajoc shrugged. “He said he explained to that one that her clothes needed to remain on at all times. Titi claimed she took them off because she was hot. Tristan then pointed out that she should not dance on the table in the sun if she was hot. He said he turned on his parental voice and instructed her to never grab a female’s teat to feed an infant either.”
“Poor Lara. She’s probably mortified.”
“She will be speaking with the Supreme Commander tomorrow. Perhaps you can go with her to support your friend?”
“That’s a great idea. Especially since Anita’s probably upset with her right now. I’ll go over straight away…hey, wait a minute. You aren’t trying to send me off with her so you can have the scoop straight from the horse’s mouth, are you?”
It was easy to look innocent. He did not know what this horse was.
“Never mind,” Marcie said.
“Tristan said he also explained to Titi that a female dancing on the table was known as a cheap tart. And if she did choose the life of pleasuring others, he would prefer she was not cheap.”
“What did she say?” Marcie’s voice sounded strangled.
He shrugged. “She focused on the word cheap. She has been muttering it ever since. She sounds like one of those squawking feathered creatures.”
Just then, a sweet, high pitched cry squealed from the back bedroom.
“My Lily,” he said. Joy lit his heart. Sometimes it was hard not to wake her, and he and Reese frequently did when Marcie was not watching. “I will tend to her.”
Reese looked up from his toys, watching his father head into the room. Then, deciding his toys were more fun, he went back to playing.
Lily stopped her soft crying as soon as she saw him and kicked her scrawny legs instead. “Shh, sweet water,” he cooed.
“Daughter,” Marcie called out from the kitchen.
“It is I, your parental unit.” He picked her up, inhaling her baby goodness.
Goddess, how had his species gone so long without these precious, helpless bibbles? Oh, he knew the reasoning, of course. It made more sense to engineer the perfect combination of traits from two unrelated beings in order to develop a person specific for a job he was intended to perform. And it made more sense to emerge fully grown, as opposed to completely helpless.
But oh, how much they’d lost instead.
He crooned into his Lily’s neck, her wispy white hair tickling his nostrils. She smiled at him, her look so trusting and perfect his heart melted.
She looked just like Marcie, except for her silver skin. She gurgled, and rammed her tiny fist into his chin.
“Yes, you will be a mighty warrior,” he assured her. “But on the days when Marcie takes you to dance, your brother will protect you instead. It is important to be ladylike on those dance days.”
The image of Titi was still fresh in his mind. Perhaps Titi was too young to be allowed in the dance classes. This little girl, he would rear right. All would welcome his little lady with open arms, instead of running for the hills.
“Knock, knock.” A voice called out from the front porch. By the time Bajoc headed out of the bedroom with Lily, Marcie had opened the door to allow their leader Tristan in, along with Supreme Commander Kriekjan, who was staying in his own ship docked near theirs. Tristan’s daughter Titi was in tow. As usual, Titi was cradled in the Supreme Commander’s arms, which tickled Bajoc. Tristan was jealous of the Supreme Commander, but couldn’t very well say it annoyed him that his daughter had Commander Kriekjan wrapped around her finger. And clung to him every chance she got.
His son’s eyes lit up when he saw who’d entered the dwelling. “Titi,” he said, rising on his own sturdy legs. “I made a bwidge for the cars to drive on. Come see.”
“Cheap. Cheap,” Titi said, folding her arms at the elbows and flapping them. “Cheap, cheap.”
Titi wiggled her way down the Supreme Commander’s body, and Reese took her hand to lead the small one into his bedroom. Bajoc was proud of his son, and the way he cared for her. He mimicked the older Tomlak in that regard, and Bajoc was sure Reese would be just as amazing when he reached maturity. He felt proud that he was rearing his son right.
The men sat on the sofa Marcie had arranged in the living room, and Bajoc sat Lily on his lap, two fingers on her tiny jaw to support her rather large head as it flopped forward. He had no idea how her head had emerged from Marcie, but it was practically as big as a basketball, and too heavy for Lily to hold up all on her own.
“Your nutling is rather adorable,” the Supreme Commander cooed. “I love that fuzzy little dandelion.”
“Nutling?” Marcie’s voice sounded strangled, yet again.
“Yes. You know. She is from the seed of Bajoc’s nut.”
Bajoc was not sure why his Marcie began to fan herself, and from the looks of Tristan and the Supreme Commander, they were equally confused.
“Which one?” she asked, rather flabbergasted.
Bajoc gave his sunny-haired mate a tender smile. She was adorable with her naïve questions.
“We do not know if she is from my right nut or my left nut, mate. It does not really matter.”
“Hmmph. Well, I’ll just leave you three to discuss things…” His mate looked eager to leave as she moved toward him with her arms out to retrieve Lily.
“Actually, I hoped to have you present also,” Commander Kriekjan said. “I need a female’s perspective.”
“Of course.” Marcie sighed, warily sitting back down in the chair next to him.
“We have six Quaker females here. Perhaps you’ve noticed them.”
“Hard to miss them,” Marcie said.
“Yes.” The Supreme Commander smiled in a rather lovesick way. It was not a good look for the weathered old chap. “They are an extremely attractive lot.”
Tristan cut his eyes to Bajoc, an expression of shock on his face. Bajoc blinked at his own leader because quite frankly, he was just as confused. The Quakers were among the oddest females he’d ever seen. They were scandalized by the smallest things, the flash of an ankle, a male’s growl. And attractive? One couldn’t tell what shape they were in beneath the thick, dark clothing they wore. Even the bonnets covered their hair and half their faces.
“Do you know them personally?” he asked.
“The Madonna and I go way back. She is the leader, and has sacrificed her own happiness for the servitude of others.”
Bajoc fought a shudder. The Madonna was the frumpiest of the lot.
Marcie picked up on his line of questioning. “Way back?”
Kriekjan nodded. “She caught my eye during a mediation on their planet. She and another official on the planet had a small disagreement, the details of which I can’t share. But I was enthralled with the way Pariah Pritchard stood up for herself and didn’t back down, no matter how many were against her. I’ve monitored her e
ver since.”
Marcie’s eyebrows rose. “In most circles that would be called stalking.”
“That’s what she said.” Kriekjan didn’t seem too upset, instead laughing from his belly. “She’s such a riot.”
“Well, I feel terrible about the incident with Titi. She was merely welcoming the newcomers with the gift of dance. Unfortunately it was a rather hot day…” Marcie’s voice trailed off, because there wasn’t much else she could say.
Bajoc choked back his laughter, ignoring her glare.
Fortunately the other two didn’t notice. The Supreme Commander was nodding his head, as if he agreed. “Yes, I can see what she was thinking.”
He could?
But the Commander went on. “However, we really need the situation with the Quakers smoothed over. I can’t say why just yet, but it is imperative that we take this batch of poor females under our wing. Marcie, I need your help in convincing the others.”
“My help?” his mate squeaked. “Why me?”
“You are the voice of reason for many of the human females. They will listen to you.”
To Bajoc’s ears, it was more of what the Commander wasn’t saying than what he was. But he was right, Marcie was the most easygoing of all the mates. After all, she’d taken on him. He was the biggest beast of them all. While the warriors liked to think him ugly, he knew better. Women were intrigued by the scar that cut across his face. It made him dangerous and mysterious. Marcie told him so.
“If it is all right, I would like to bring them over to introduce to you.”
“Tonight?” Marcie looked strangled.
“Now. It will just be for a moment,” the Commander assured her. “I’m sure you’ll make fast friends of them.”
Titi’s loud giggling had Bajoc getting up silently to check on the youngsters, rocking Lily gently as he went. In the bedroom, Reese was holding still as he sat on the floor. In Titi’s hand was the thing Marcie called a marker of magic.
A thick, black line connected Reese’s pale purple brows.
Bajoc frowned at Titi, and held out his hand. She waddled over to him, grinning large enough to show her two teeth, and handed him the thick marker. He placed it on his desk in the hallway before heading into the living room.