He had fixed himself something that resembled a protein shake. Normally he fixed me an Earth breakfast and he ate it with me. But today he was all business, even in his food choices.
“What is that?” I pointed to his tall clear cup that had a straw in it. The ingredients didn’t look too appetizing. It was a puke green color of sloshy liquid. Not something I wanted to try.
“It is a healthy protein substitute. I need something that will metabolize quickly today and this is usually what I have when I prepare to go into battle. That ship is coming back around, we will intercept him in less than 3 hours. Please stay here in this room today, unless I or Cazon instruct otherwise, ok?” He took my hand and brought it to his lips.
I couldn’t help but smile as he worried over my safety. “I need to feed the people in your holding cells. But after that I will come back here. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“That is fine, but don’t tell them what’s going on. Maybe you can leave them some protein meal replacement bars. We use them when we go down to planets for a few days, just in case we can’t find any local foods to our liking, or dietary requirements.”
“Ok, that’s a great idea. Thanks.” I smiled and kissed him on his cheek before he left the room.
As I was starting to make my breakfast, he came back in and grabbed me for a warm and solid hug. “I love you, I hope you know that. I will do whatever I have to in order to make sure you are safe, do you understand?”
I pulled my back from his warm chest, and looked up to his eyes. I have yet to see him cry, but in that moment I knew I never wanted to see him cry. The look on his face was enough to bring me to tears. His eyes, with those enticing violet irises, were teary. He had such a sad expression on his face. I wanted nothing more than to hold him and kiss away his worries. Those frown lines which were forming and getting bigger, had me worried. “I know you will take care of me, don’t worry about me. You have an entire ship to take care of. I will be here or at Lisa’s, once we are done feeding everyone in the holding cells. Please focus on your work today, and not me.” I gave him a tentative smile and kissed him one last time before he left our quarters.
I sat down at the table after he left and thought about what just happened. This seven foot giant of an alien, is possibly about to go into battle with a ship that shouldn’t have the ability to hurt us, but most likely does. And he is more worried about me, than the rest of the inhabitants on this ship. I hung my head and scratched the back of my neck. He really does love me, doesn’t he, I thought to myself.
Before my breakfast was finished, Cazon showed up. But my appetite was pretty much gone anyways. I was nervous, but not for myself. I was more nervous for Venay, and for my people locked up in cells with no way to protect themselves if we are boarded.
“Cazon, what would happen to the humans if we were overtaken by the Zateelians?”
He took a deep breath and huffed out, “Nothing good, that’s for sure.” Then he hurried out of my quarters and I had to almost run to catch up to him. He kept a really fast pace and before I knew it, we were at Lisa’s door.
He pushed her doorbell and we waited in the hallway for her.
“Cazon, please tell me. I need to know. Will they be killed, or left alone?”
He scratched his head, “Neither, they will be taken as slaves to the Zateelian’s home world. But it won’t be any better than my home. In fact, they will wish they were back here in their cells eating that, what did you call it? Chalky, jello mold?”
“Will they, um, will… they try and force the women to mate with them?”
“No, they are more insectoid then humanoid, so there isn’t compatibility between the two species, thankfully.”
The door swooshed open and Lisa came out.
“Hey there, why the sad faces?” She looked between both of us.
“Oh, it’s nothing. I was just wondering who was going to mate next? Any ideas?”
Cazon stood up proud with the biggest smile I have ever seen on him. “Last night, Sheila came home with me to be my mate.”
Lisa and I both squealed with delight. “Ohh how did you ask here? And what did she say?” Were the questions Lisa and I both blurted out to him.
He backed up a bit and held his hands up in front of him, “Wooo, wait a minute. Give me a break. I don’t do hysterical female speak.” He stopped moving when his back hit the wall across from Lisa’s door.
“Sorry about that, this is just exciting for us! Where is Sheila? Why isn’t she helping us?” I looked at Cazon and narrowed my eyes at him, he was up to something.
“She, well, I decided she needed to stay in our room today. I want her to make sure she gets plenty of rest.”
I knew what he was up to, “Cazon, you want to protect her don’t you? You have locked her up so she can’t be near me today, haven’t you?”
He looked between the two of us, “She doesn’t know” then turned his eyes towards Lisa.
“What don’t I know?” Lisa asked as she looked back and forth between Cazon and me.
“We might have to fight off an alien ship who has tried to play chicken with us for the past couple of days. Venay is worried they might have the arsenal to hurt this ship, badly. If we end up in a firefight today, I am supposed to come to your room and stay with you. I was hoping that all of us women would stay together.”
“Wait, what? We might have to fight another alien species?” She put one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead, like she was getting a headache, or mad. Probably mad.
“Well, at least we have a good shot at beating them.” I was trying to be optimistic, not just for Lisa, but for myself too. There was just too much going on, just as I was starting to adjust to my new life and maybe even accept it, we now had to deal with an eminent attack. We all needed optimism right now.
Cazon ushered us towards the mess hall, “Ok, so no one says anything about this to the guests in our cells, got it?” He eyed us both once we looked back at him.
“Of course, I have no desire to start another panic with the ‘guests’ as you eloquently put it.” Part of me wanted to keep calling them prisoners, abductees, but another was almost ready to refer to them as slaves, and that part of my brain was scaring the tar out of me.
We quietly made the lunch as quickly as we could. While we were in the last room, which was Alpha room, things got dicey.
“Huh, sounds like…” All of a sudden we heard a really loud banging sound and then it felt like we hit something. Everyone who had been standing fell down on the ground.
As I stood up and looked around, I noticed that Cazon had a very worried look on his face. “Alright, everyone sit down and hold on to the bars, we are going to be flying through some very tough space. Paris and Lisa, come with me, now.”
Lisa and I looked at each other and started to follow Cazon. Natalie called out to me, “Paris, what’s going on? Did we hit something?”
“I really don’t know. But do as Cazon says. I gotta get going. Please stay safe everyone.” I yelled that last bit out over my shoulder as I ran to catch up to Cazon.
As soon as we stepped into the hallway, the ship rocked again and we all fell into the wall. We stayed upright, but just barely.
We ran to Lisa’s quarters and Cazon handed me his laser pistol, “Do you know how to handle one of these?”
“Is it just point and shoot?”
He laughed, “Yeah, pretty much.” He handed me the pistol and had me point it at the wall but keep my finger off the trigger.
“Do you see the sight guide?”
“Yes,” and I lined up the guide from the back of the gun to the dot on the end of the barrel.
“Yes, just like that. Keep those two marks lined up and aim for the chest. Pull the trigger like you would an Earth gun, but don’t hold it down. This type of weapon only shoots out short bursts of energy.”
“Ok, thanks. Now go, do whatever it is you do when you have to defend this ship. And kill all of those idi
ots!” I was getting a taste of bloodlust, and I liked it! Maybe I would get a chance to use this weapon? No, wait. That would mean we were losing and they found a way to get on this ship. That wouldn’t work.
Not two minutes after Cazon left, Venay called me on my communicator that was implanted with the translator. “Venay! Are you ok?”
“I am fine, how are you? Where are you? I called our room and you didn’t answer.” He sounded really worried and I could hear the warriors in the background yelling orders and then we were hit again. Thankfully Lisa and I were sitting on the ground. We were both sitting back against the couch in the living room with a good view of the door.
“I am fine, I am with Lisa in her quarters, Cazon just left us here. Don’t worry about us, you get back to work and kill those slimy, cockroaches!”
“Stay where you are. Don’t go anywhere. They are trying to blow a hole in the ship. I imagine to try to board us. Tell no one who you are if they do get on board. Stay with Lisa. Now I wish I would have given you a weapon.” I could hear the anger and frustration in his voice.
“Venay, I have a weapon. Cazon left his laser pistol with me. We are going to be fine. You just focus on squishing every single one of those Insectoids so I don’t have to!”
“I knew you were perfect for me. I love you and I will see you soon!”
My heart was expanding, and I knew I had very strong feelings for him, but love? Not yet. “Venay, you better make it back to me so we can have that romantic wedding on the planet you promised me. And more importantly, our honeymoon in the mountains! Now hang up this call or whatever it is and get to work!”
“Yes ma’am!” I heard him start to give an order and then our communication was cut off. The fact that he called me right in the middle of a battle warmed me through. But he shouldn’t have done that. If we make it out of this, I am going to tell him to never call me again during battle, unless he has orders for me. I need him focused on killing the enemy and protecting the ship, not me.
Chapter 13
My heart was still pumping an hour later, and my adrenaline seemed to be burning out. I was exhausted just sitting there holding tight to the laser gun as well as to the couch every time our ship was hit. I wanted to say that I could hear the laser cannons fire, or whatever they called them on this ship. But I knew it must be my imagination creating the sounds in order to keep track of the fighting somehow.
However, I really did hear some of the torpedoes going back and forth. It was a weird sound, almost like Superman flying super-fast through a tunnel and taking all sound with him through that tunnel. Then it was super quiet for less than half a second which was always followed by a loud bang and then the ship would jerk one way or another. At least there was a warning sound before the torpedoes hit. They packed the most punch.
The next hit, well, it was almost what killed us. The ship started to tilt, like it had lost its stabilizers or something, but we must have gotten a good hit on them as well because another hit didn’t come for a while. I could feel us limping along. Since we were slanted, Lisa and I had to hold on tight to the couch. I had never been so happy to see furniture tied to the ground before. Some of the knickknacks and loose items like chairs and pillows were flying around as we tried to get away from the enemy ship.
We turned and headed to something, at the time I didn’t know what. But at least we weren’t getting shot at any more. It seemed like days before we made it to the planet. The only reason I knew we were at the planet is because Venay called me, again.
“Venay, I am fine. No need to worry about me.”
“Thank the moons! But I am calling to warn you, this next bit is going to get very difficult. There should be a place in the quarters you are in where you can strap yourself to a fold down chair on the wall. Find that and get your butt in it now. We are going to try landing this ship on the planet before the enemy can catch up to us. But with the damage, re-entry is going to make for a very bumpy flight. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I can. Thank you Venay.”
He grunted and then hung up. “Lisa is there a set of fold down emergency chairs that we can lock ourselves into? You know, like the jump seats on a commercial flight?”
“Yes, in the back bedroom. There are two seats there. What’s going on?”
“What did Rotna say when he called you?”
“He tried to tell me what was going one, but was told to focus on his task, not his mate.” Her cheeks actually turned a shade of pink. I wondered when they were planning their ceremony.
“Glad to know he is fine.”
“Why do we need to do this? Is the ship getting worse?” Lisa asked, with wide eyes.
“Yes, we are approaching the planet and going to attempt to land before the enemy ship can catch us. The re-entry is going to be tough.” We made it to the back room and found the seats. There were a few things that had blocked our way, but we moved them without much issue.
It was a good thing Venay called to warn me, because we weren’t even buckled in when I felt the ship jerking and shaking like an amusement park ride about to go off the rails.
My teeth hurt so bad within just the first two minutes, I thought they might all be cracked, first from the chattering they were doing with the way we jumbled around and then from the pressure I put on my mouth to stay closed. Somewhere along the way I had bit my tongue and it hurt.
I couldn’t say how long it took for us to get through the atmosphere, but it felt like forever. I could tell when we made it because we started to smooth out and the ship wasn’t jerking so badly. The loud noise that almost made me deaf had also quieted down, now it was more like a ball whistling through the air. Although, my head was pounding and my body ached from all of the jostling and clenching. I don’t think I have ever held on to anything as tightly as those restraints, ever!
“Lisa, you ok?”
“Did we make it?” She looked around the room wide eyed and I could see she had been crying. Her face was streaked with the paths her tears left. But I couldn’t blame her. I was pretty scared myself and if I hadn’t survived five years on the streets I would have probably been crying as well.
“So far. I don’t think we have landed yet. So stay seated until we are told we can move. I have a feeling we are going to feel the landing as well.”
The ship was still tilted and the seats were very uncomfortable, we were slanted to the left so the belts that made up the restraints were digging into my left side. It felt like one of those carnival rides where you went around in circles but you were hanging on one side and the ride seat was digging into your entire side. It was similar to that, but worse.
“Lisa, tell me about the plans you and Rotna have made for your wedding. When do you want it to take place?” She looked like she might get hysterical any moment. Her eyes were all over the place and she was having trouble breathing. But she didn’t look injured, unless the belts did something internally.
“Huh? What? Oh, yea, wedding. Ummm, we spoke about it last night. We agreed that we wanted it to happen as soon as we could get some time on the Commander’s schedule. Do you think he will have time tomorrow?” She was dazed, I wasn’t sure she understood what was happening. How could she if she was thinking Venay could marry them tomorrow, after crash landing on a planet while in a firefight with a pretty heavily armed enemy ship?
“Lisa, do you know what just happened?” I wished at that moment I could get out of my seat, but I knew there was no way it would be safe until after we made landing.
“Yes, we are landing on a planet.”
“Because we just got our butts kicked in a firefight with an enemy ship. There won’t be time to get married, not at least for a while. I couldn’t even tell you how long it will take to fix our ship. Or if the Zateelians will come for us. Lisa, I need you to focus. Can you do that?” Her eyes were still glazed over and her mouth was hanging open. She kept moving her head like she was listening to some music somewhere.
Just then I got a c
ommunication from Venay, “Paris, are you ok?”
“Yes, both Lisa and I are ok. She might have some internal injuries, but I think she is ok. However, she appears to be in shock. How much longer before we land?”
“We came in too fast, so I have to keep her flying as long as possible to slow down, which means we won’t be close to the settlement here. But they will come for us and help us soon. Stay in your seats. Don’t move until I tell you, ok?”
“Of course, I am betting we will feel it when we land?”
“Yes, I am afraid you will. And Paris, don’t say anything, but Rotna is hurt, badly. Lisa might know. If he called her before he went unconscious then she knows. But don’t say anything until we land and you can check her out. Ok?”
“Ok, thank you. Um, any news about the enemy ship? Are they following us?”
He sighed and I knew it was bad, “Yes, they are heavily damaged, but they did make it through. However, they are not very close to us. They will have to crash land as well so we should have some time before they come looking for us or the settlement. I just hope that they aren’t able to crash very close to the settlement.”
“Thank you for being honest with me. You have no idea how much that means to me. I still have the gun Cazon gave me. Once we land, where should I take Lisa?”
“Stay where you are. I will let you know where to go once we land. Please don’t try to leave your room until you hear from me. The ship will be unstable and I still have no idea where the Zateelians will land.”
“Right, oh then I guess you better get back to work. And Venay, thank you for checking in on me so much. I know you have a huge responsibility with the entire ship.”
“You’re welcome Paris, see you soon.”
That man, or alien, was stealing my heart without even trying. All he had to do was show me love and attention and my stupid heart was falling for him. But I still can’t get over the slave issue. I don’t want to fall completely for him and then end up accepting slavery. It isn’t right. However, my heart won’t stop falling for him. I am truly afraid that I will end up head over heels in love with this great big warrior before this is all over with.
Worlds Away: Sci-fi Alien Romance (Alpha Alien Abduction Tale Book 1) Page 10