Since she had absolutely no idea what the creature was talking about, and the nice insectoids were not clarifying anything for her, she decided the best course of action was to simply nod and keep it moving forward.
“Thank you for looking out for my brother. I appreciate that more than you know.”
“I brought you a welcome gift, fiery queen.”
Sighing, she tolerated the reference to her red hair. The creature scurried to the corner of the room and retrieved the orange for her. Holding it out in one palm, his claws were pulled back, making the thought of taking it from him less dangerous. Stretching out her hand, she quickly snatched it from him, mumbling her thanks.
Edging around him, she went to the pod and looked through the small glass like window. He appeared to be sleeping, but she knew if the metal capsule were peeled back, she would be able to see the laser burns. Her stomach churned at the thought of him lying there and being technically dead.
Placing her hand against the glass, she whispered. “I’m really sorry, Dark. It’s my fault you’re dead.”
“You did not injure him, my queen. The humans protesting the bride trade did that.”
Leaning her forehead against the glass, she sighed. “I don’t even think they knew Maruvians don’t even trade in women. It’s the reason my brother chose your ship. He thought I would be thought of as a person and not property.”
It was the sentinel who growled a reply. “Queens are not property. If any male disagrees I will removed his head from his worthless body.”
Valic interjected quietly. “This is not what our queen needs to hear right now. She grieves for her fallen brother.”
“I’m going to be a nervous wreck until while he’s gone.”
“Then we will simply request to accompany him.” Haroc sounded very sure of himself. Looking at her smartly dressed clan member, her eyes slid over his bulky physique. His form fitting uniform seemed to accentuate his best features. Valic stood proudly at his side wearing the same uniform, only his had blue piping along the edges. They looked good together. “Were you a couple before you joined the clan?”
Haroc’s eyes got big, but it was Valic who answered. We are a two person elite fighting team. Drones are not typically romantically involved with each other. We normally rely upon tiny pleasure stones tiled together to provoke our sexual release.”
Swiveling her head around to look at the drones, she stated. “I did not know that.” Shaking her head to clear the image of them pleasuring themselves from her brain, she tried to pick back up with the conversation. “It would really be fantastic if I could accompany him. I would like to give them medical information about our family and help make sure he has a good outcome.”
Bringing his com to his lips, Haroc screeched something she didn’t understand. Covering her ears, she flinched away from the awful sound. Somehow he seemed much more alien when he spoke his own language. Slowly his screeching began to sort out into words she could understand.
“…no, not our female…myself and Valic…were are both insectoid…no…we have no mimicking capabilities…I am a queen maker…Valic is a simple drone…”
Haroc was a queen maker. She didn’t know what was, but filed the information away for future reference. Turning to Valic, Ember asked cautiously. “How is it I can understand Maruvian?”
“Our healers gave you a dose of the multi-language bacteria. You will understand several dozen alien languages. We were careful to ensure you received our longevity serum as well. Your lifeline will stretch to meet ours.”
Not understanding quite what that meant, she focused on the thing she did understand. “You shot me full of drugs without asking me first.”
Shock flooded his expression. “The assumption is that you would wish for these modifications. Are you angry with us?”
Immediately looking away, she sealed her lips. These people were going to try to save her brother, now was not the time to piss them off. “No, I’m not angry. Forget I mentioned it.”
“As you wish, my queen.”
Craning her neck, Ember was getting aggravated with being called a queen. Those two men were polite to fault, calling her a queen seemed to be their word for woman. She wished they would just use her name.
She paced back and forth, rolling the orange around in her hands as she waited for the Shardon vessel to appear.
Chapter 5
Medical Stasis
~ Haroc ~
Music Mix
Forcing himself to stand against the wall with Valic, they allowed their queen to interact freely with the Shardon clones. The Maruvian healers were excited to get an opportunity to swap medical technologies with such an advanced race. The healers were all business, intent on learning all they could to assist with saving her spawn mate’s life.
Their queen was something special, any idiot could see that. She was beautiful, graceful and well spoken. Perhaps she could use to gain a little weight, but that would come in due course. His clan had every intention of taking care of her every need.
His body tingled at the memory of sleeping with her cuddled to his side. Even though unrelated drones did not normally sleep together, having Valic near felt very right to him. The queen belonged to both of them, it was only fair that he occupy the space on the other side of the bed. They both needed to be ready when she went into heat. If human queens were like the queens from their home world, they spawned only very rarely and expected their drones to be ready on demand.
Haroc wasn’t thrilled with the thought of arriving on their home world and adding Talon to the mix. He could already see that their leader was young and his judgement was questionable when it came to their queen. As their queen maker, his place at her side was assured but he felt strongly that her preference for Valic would make it difficult for her to negotiate between the two of them for bed space.
Valic cleared his throat. “Our queen is speaking to you, Haroc.”
Stepping forward with Valic, he queried. “Please repeat your words, my queen.”
“I want to donate biological samples. They tell you have forbid it.”
“I did not wish the clones to distress you by pressing you for such things.”
“Having samples from a close relative could ensure our treatments for the male are more targeted to biology.”
“By all means, do as you like, my queen.”
Hovering, it tore at Haroc’s soul to see her being touched over and over. Watching them cut a small lock of her hair really had him aggravated. They numbed a small area on the back of her hand and clipped several chunks of skin away, then used a dermal healer to close the wounds.
Though his new queen seemed fascinated with the painless procedure, seeing the small trails of bright red blood against her pale skin was causing a burning rage to build in his stomach. Somehow intuiting his feelings, she smoothed her other hand hover his arm and laced her fingers through his. It was the tiny bit of consideration he needed in this situation. It was all he could do to refrain from wrapping a protective wing around her small body.
He saw a healer approaching with a mouth swab, Grabbing him by the arm, he held up his hand. “You will not touch my queen without gloves.” Bowing his head in acknowledgement, the man gloved up.
Ember’s eyes found his and she gazed at him. Unable to read her expression, he swallowed hard hoping he had not offended her.
When the healer walked off, she spoke. “You remind me of my brother.”
Haroc tried not to show exactly how devastated he was by learning that information show on his face. No male wanted his queen to think of him as a brother. Drones wished to see seen as love mates, protectors, and providers. Perhaps that was why she had not become aroused while they were naked, he was the wrong kind of male for her.
They waited patiently for the replication machines to create the necessary blood, tissue and organ material. It took roughly three hours before they got to open the pod.
; His new queen anxiously peered through observation glass running along the side of the operating room.
Chapter 6
Quelling Anxiety
~ Ember ~
Music Mix
Haroc and Valic pressed in on either side of her. Rather than making her feel boxed in or trapped, it made Ember feel safe and protected. It felt like they might understand her plight and care about her feelings. Though they were still virtual strangers and had a lot to learn about each other, finding out the handsome men in her new clan had an ounce of compassion was a good start in her opinion.
Her hearth thumped in her chest as she watched the healers use some high tech gadget to lift Dark from the pod and place him on the operating table. The soft glow of the stasis field was still in place. Though she knew he was technically dead because she saw him take his last breath, her mind insisted he was just sleeping. He’d gone immediately into stasis seconds after taking his last breath, so she had some hope he could be revived. Her mind wandered back over stories of people who had fallen into icy rivers and been revived hours later. If that was possible, that meant her brother had a chance.
After everything was in place, they lowered the shield enough to cut away his clothing. Seeing her brother’s body was shocking. He looked like a bag of bones and was covered in dirt and grime. It reminded her that come what may, she needed to please the men in her clan. Being sent back to Earth would be a death sentence for both of herself and Dark. Placing her hand against the glass, she willed him to live as the healers lowered different areas of the stasis field to work on his wounds.
At one point her knees gave out from under her, when they kept cutting into him over and over again. Haroc pulled up a chair and she sat watching them work. The drones dropped down to sit on the floor on either side of her. They appeared almost as nervous as she was.
The healers seemed to really know what they were doing. Their ship may look like some kind of steampunk crap from the dark ages, however their medical bay was amazing. She had heard that they poured all their research into medical technologies trying to save their failing genome, and now she’d seen it with her own eyes.
When it was all said and done, the team of Maruvian medics put him back into stasis for transport back to their vessel. Ember was disappointed that she hadn’t gotten to see him face to face before they shoved him back into the pod. The healers looked grim, so she was taking that as a sign to be cautious about his prognosis.
“I’d like to be there when they take him out of the pod.”
“The healers won’t like that. Visitors normally wait until the injured has been evaluated and made comfortable. You have not eaten since you’ve been with us. You must eat if you wish to stay strong for your brother.”
Looking down at the orange still in her hand, she hated that they were right. Nodding, she allowed them to escort her to the dining hall. Since being with the overprotective pair, she’d been acting like some docile woman willing to be led around by the nose. Losing Dark had broken her spirit a bit. Glancing up at Valic, she saw he had is warrior’s face on. It was the blank expression that let everyone know to stand back. Without looking at Haroc, she knew he’d be doing the same. Something about their predictability was reassuring. Ember had enjoyed very little predictability in her chaotic life, so it was something she found herself valuing.
Still recovering from all she’d been through was sending her new clan a false positive about her personality. If she asked them, they’d for sure report thinking her timid and shy. Nothing could be further from the truth. That totally was not her. Ember had grown up fighting alongside her siblings, and then when things on earth went belly up, it had only gotten harder to survive. She’d been in her fair share of scrapes.
Something thudded on the floor behind them and she knew without looking it was Dargon. The healers probably threw him out to get through Dark’s unpacking and examination. The Maruvian healers didn’t play around. They were pretty strict.
Chapter 7
Everything A Ritual
~ Ember ~
Music Mix
Upon entering the busy dining hall, she saw about fifty people wandering around with food trays and sitting at tables. There were at least a dozen human women. They ranged from withdrawn to almost giddy with happiness. Strangely enough, Ember could relate to both extremes.
Dargon’s growly voice sounded off as they approached a table. “I will supervise food selections for our new queen. Armon has given me detailed information on what human queens prefer.”
Haroc frowned. “I have conducted a cross study of human females and their nutritional needs. Therefore, I will be selecting a sampling of foods for our new queen to choose from.”
“You sound knowledgeable. I will allow you to assist me.” Pouncing off with Haroc chasing after him, Ember found that once again she was conflicted. On the one hand she didn’t know enough about alien to food to make a selection, so it was nice of them to take charge. Then again on the other hand, it felt like she was getting marginalized when they totally left her out of the process. The bottom line was, she was still to worn out and depressed to really care or put up much of a fight. No, that wasn’t the bottom line at all she reminded herself. The real bottom line was they could do as they liked because it was incumbent upon her to ensure she adjusted her expectations, fit into their culture and made them happy if she wanted to live on their world.
Valic motioned for her to have seat at a small table. Sitting down, she put her orange on the table and wrapped her arms around her stomach. With no hint of an appetite, she realized that she could not remember the last time she ate.
“I have a gift for you. My hope is that it will assist you in understanding our culture and ease your transition.” Slipping his hand inside his dark uniform, he pulled out a slim data pad. It was sleek and modern by human standards.
“Thank you. I’m just worried about my brother. I can’t seem to think of anything else.”
“You can easily access the security feed in his area and check on him whenever you wish.” Leaning over, he showed her how to access the information.
Feeling her bland mood lift she smiled at him. “Wow, that’s amazing.” Giving him a brief hug, she held the unit a little closer. The healers had removed him from the pod and placed him on a healing platform. He was surrounded by a holographic image of his body. She was shocked to find the information was easily to understand. She could see his holographic heart thumping a steady beat and beside it was model heart simulating what it should be doing. They were almost beating in sync with each other. There was another hologram hovering over his arm with what appeared to be blood pressure readings. Again with the two sets, she could see his blood pressure was running very low. His temperature was slightly elevated and the rest of the holograms seemed to be tracking things she didn’t have enough medical training to understand.
“He seems stable for now.”
“I chose to believe he will recover and be healthy once more. Nothing is served by worrying about the future. Once I do all within my power to remedy a situation, I let it go in my mind.”
“That’s a real smart coping skill, Valic. I’ll try to follow your good example.”
Flashing her an understanding smile, she noticed his sharp teen and both antennas swiveled around in her direction. “I linked your data pad to our historical archives. If you look though the list of clanned females, you will find your name as pending inclusion in our clan.”
Looking disappointed, she replied tightly. “I thought you had already selected me as your female.”
His shocked eyes jumped to hers. “No, no, no. We would never do such a thing. Among our people, queens command and drones obey.”
Speaking before she though, Ember murmured. “I don’t recall their being much commanding, but things sure seem to be getting done.”
Grinning again he scooted closer to her. “You are still recovering from your seeing your brother h
armed. It is our responsibility as your clan to do in our power to see you well cared for until such time as the courtship beings.”
Squinting her eyes, she stared into the man’s handsome face. True, he didn’t look a bit human, but he was handsome in his own way. “I didn’t think there was going to be a courtship. I thought my brother gave me to you and I was yours.”
Slipping a wing around her, he purred. “Were it so easy, my queen. Since you have been with us, we have been anticipating your needs and doing our best to prove that we are competent to care for a queen.”
“Is this some kind of game you play with human women?”
“I don’t understand.”
“You know, pretend they get to pick but really everyone knows that if they don’t agree they get shipped right back to Earth.”
Jerking back slightly, he looked totally stunned. Caution edged into his voice which quickly built to genuine panic as he spoke. “I do not think I should the one speaking to you of this. Apparently, I lack the verbal skills to communicate effectively on this subject.”
“What subject would that be, Valic”
Turning to look over her shoulder, she saw Haroc standing with a giant tray of food. Dargon was sitting on the floor beside him craning his neck to see around Valic’s wing.
“He was just telling me some fantastical story about how I have to choose your clan to make it official.”
The man’s confused expression relaxed. He stepped over the bench, and sit down on the other side of her. Moving the tray in front of her, he sent her orange rolling off the table and into the floor. “Valic is correct. Queens chose their clans. I much as I wish it were true, clans do not chose queens.”
Ember let that roll around in her brain for a while. If it were his decision, he would clearly have chosen someone else.
“We worked together to select foods that were both nutritional and most likely to be acceptable to a human queen. What do wish to try first?”
Battalion's Bride Page 3