by Maia Starr
“Why did you not tell me about this if you knew?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. It never came up. I didn’t really think of it as something important as far as our daily life here. Though it is very interesting. But every civilization has wars and disagreements. It is the way of things all across the universe it seems,” she said.
“True, but are you not scared now knowing that if the opposition is out there, they will try to kill you and your offspring?” I asked as I took off the strip of red cloth across my breasts and untied the cloth around my waist. Then I stepped into the tub. It felt relieving.
“Of course I am, but returning to Earth would be worse for the offspring. At least that it was I have figured out for myself,” she said awkwardly looking at me.
“I suppose you are right. As soon as humans found out about the child, they would want to experiment and such. I am a scientist; I should know. Living in secret and cut off from socializing would be detrimental to a child, so that is not a choice either,” I said as I grabbed a sponge and washed in the hot water.
“It is something to think about,” Luka said as she moved over to the bed and lay down. I could tell that she was tired, and so was I.
Hours later she returned to her hut, and I waited in dread for the first time over Dekario coming to my hut at night. I walked back and forth in the hut knowing that this would be the first time I spoke with him after admitting to myself that I was pregnant with his child. Denial was so much easier. Now I was extremely nervous. Then he walked in.
“I was scared you had gone to bed already. Then I would be forced to wake up your lovely sleeping body,” he said as he moved right to me and pressed his lips on mine. The palm of his hand went up around my breast and then slid down to my belly. As soon as he touched me there, I jerked back away from him. I didn’t mean to. It was just a knee-jerk reaction.
“What’s wrong, Reena?” he asked.
“Nothing, it just tickled a little,” I said smiling.
He was quiet for a bit as he looked at me. Then he said, “You are acting differently.”
“What? No, I am not,” I said turning away from him and pouring myself a glass of water.
“Yes, you are. You are acting suspicious. I can feel it,” he said, walking over to my side.
Oh great, I thought. Not only was he able to move objects with his mind, but he was also able to sense my change in mood. It was going to be super hard to keep this baby a secret from him. How does he know me so well already? It has not been long…should I tell him? No, I can't yet. I need to figure out how I feel about this first. I turned to him and threw my arms around his neck and pushed my fingers into his hair and playfully said, “You are the one acting suspiciously with all these questions.” I got up on my tiptoes and pulled him down to me from his tall height. I kissed his lips, and he moaned. In seconds, he was distracted from his suspicions and concentrating on kissing my neck and massaging my breasts. Then between kisses, he said something that startled me.
“I’m leaving Kelon,” he said.
“What?” I said pushing him away. “What do you mean you are leaving me?” I said panicked.
“I did not say that I was leaving you. I said that I was leaving Kelon,” he said.
“Is that not the same thing?” I said crossing my arms.
“No. I am leaving Kelon on a mission and will return, and I will return to you,” he said. “I am not leaving you forever, as you make it sound.”
“Fine,” I said annoyed. It was silly. I knew that he was a warrior and had a job to do. So why was I acting so petty? It had to be the hormones. Damn, hormones already making me a crazy pregnant woman.
“Reena,” he said.
“When do you leave?” I asked.
“Tomorrow morning,” he said.
“Well, if you are planning to have your way with me tonight and then just say goodbye in the morning, you can think again. I would like to be alone please,” I said trying to hold in my anger.
“That’s what you want?” he asked with this look on his face as though he thought I couldn’t live one night without his cock. His damn dashing grin! I narrowed my eyes at him feeling really angry.
“Yes, it is what I want. Get out,” I said turning my back to him.
Then a whoosh of wind hit me. I turned to see him flying fast out the window. I ran to it and watched as he flew gracefully among the trees. He was a sight to behold in the night. His long wings stretched out from his toned long body. He was flawless, and I had just kicked him out of my bed. I felt stupid. But it was better this way; at least I wouldn’t have to hold in being nervous all night. When he was finally out of sight, I closed the shutters and locked the door. I was going to spend my first night alone in a very long time. I laid down and stared at the thatched roof ceiling.
It was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LEUITENANT DEKARIO DUNDRA
“As for Commander Triq, if you feel that something is not right because he has not returned yet, then I trust you, Dekario, and your instincts. You’ve always had a way of knowing what Draqua are up to. I give my permission to find Commander Triq. You and Kavik take a small ship and go quietly spy on Commander Triq on Pacu without him knowing of your presence. Check on the Aeriwana Draqua hybrid situation and see if there is any news on it. I still have a feeling that something is happening on that front. Perhaps it is linked and you will suss it out this time.”
“I will leave right away, if you wish it,” I said to the King.
“Yes. Leave as soon as you can,” he responded.
As soon as he said it, my mind jumped to Reena. I didn’t want to leave her, not now. I didn’t trust that she would be safe in the village without me.
“Leave in the morning and tell no one where you are going. I will take care of your cover and send a false mission to the port to grant you a small, fast ship,” the king said.
“Yes, sir,” I said as I moved to the veranda and shifted. I ran fast and swan dived off the edge, my favorite thing to do, and flew straight to the tree huts to find Reena. I didn’t feel good about leaving her. I still did not trust that she was safe, but a mission is a mission. I had orders from the king himself, and if anyone was going to find out what Commander Triq was up to, it was damn well going to be me.
But I was not expecting Reena to be acting so odd when I visited her hut. She was nervous about something, but I did not know what. When she asked me to leave, I was very disappointed. Since I was going away, I wanted to spend the night with her. Who knew how long this mission would take? It could be a week or a month, and now I had to leave without being inside of her again. It was excruciating.
So the next morning I was in a grumpy mood.
“Make sure you check the fuel gages,” I said to Kavik.
“Yeah I already did it. I just told you I did a few seconds ago,” Kavik responded.
“Well, do it again,” I said angrily.
“What the hell is going on with you, Dekario? You are acting like an ass,” he said as he stopped working.
I stopped what I was doing and realized he was right. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night,” I said.
“Or maybe you didn’t get any Reena last night and now I have to deal with your sourness,” Kavik said moving to the back of the ship.
“Damn it,” I mumbled to myself. He was right, and I hated to admit that this human female was having this affect on me. I did enjoy her company and I wanted her as my life-long mate, but simply to mate. I was not supposed to be letting her have an affect on my work as a warrior. She was there to create my offspring and please me in bed, and now she was doing so much more than that.
“Ready for take off. Count it down,” Kavik said as he returned to the front of the ship and strapped in.
“Readying for launch,” I said as I focused on launching and not on Reena. It was hard but necessary.
We launched from Kelon and made our way to Tiok. We did not approach the
village of Pacu. Instead, we entered the planet far from it and then when we reached a distance above the surface, we traveled along it, speeding toward the village of Pacu.
“I think we should park our ship outside the village, hide it. Then we will fly to the east end where Commander Triq normally lands as a base. We will see if he is there as he should be,” I said to Kavik
“Sounds like a good plan to me,” Kavik said.
A couple of hours later, we landed in a small rocky ravine and hid the ship in the deep water of the ravine creek. Then we were off to the village of Pacu where we landed over the port.
“Do you see it? Do you see the ship?” I asked Kavik.
“No. I don’t see it at all. There are only twenty or so ships in there. It’s not crowded, and there is plenty of room to land that Kiva that he’s in. He’s not here,” Kavik said.
“Shit. Then where?” I asked.
“Looks like we’re going to have to ask around and dig a little,” Kavik said. “I’ll be right back.” He flew off. I stared at the port searching for any sign of Draqua and didn’t see any.
“Here, you can put this on. Let’s get down on the ground,” Kavik said as he reappeared and handed me a long black cloth. Then he flew down the side of the wall and into the empty alley. I followed him down.
“Should we stay with wings?” he asked.
“Yes, in case we need to get away quickly. These cloths are long enough,” I said as I draped the cloth on my head and then wrapped the entire black cloth over my body and tied it at the waist. The long cloth went all the way down to the ground. Kavik wore a dark blue one. We were now unrecognizable, and even the hump on our backs from our folded wings did not give us away as the various races you found on Tiok came in all different shapes.
“I say we talk to the port guard in case he has been here this trip,” Kavik said.
“Great idea. After you,” he said. A few minutes later we were talking to the port guard.
“You know Commander Triq. You have seen him here many times before. Now tell us, was he here these last few days and where did he go to?” I said to him sternly. The guard gave us a disinterested look and then ignored us.
“We are speaking to you,” Kavik said.
“I hear you, but I do not care to engage with you. I do not need to tell you anything,” the guard said. I looked at his blue skin and small stature. He carried a blaster gun at his side, and as soon as I eyed it, I thought of a way to encourage him to talk to us.
“I think you do care to engage,” I said as I used my mind power to lift his own blaster gun out of his holster and aim it at him. He stared with wide eyes at the floating gun aimed at him. I laughed.
“So what was it that you were saying?” Kavik asked him.
“How? Give me back my gun,” he said.
“Quiet now,” I said as I pushed the gun closer to him but not close enough for him to reach. He jerked back. “Just answer the question, and you will have your gun back.”
“Commander Triq was here,” he sighed annoyed. “He left three days ago and mentioned that he needed coordinates for Riqov,” the guard said.
“Riqov?” Kavik said.
“I know it. Let’s get out of here,” I said as I made the blaster gun fly far from the guard and then set it down on the ground.
“Shit,” he mumbled as he went after it. We walked back to the alley and disappeared into the crowd, making our way to the outskirts of the village toward the ship.
“What is Riqov? Where is it? We have never had orders to go there,” Kavik said.
“No, we have not. But the king had suspicions about it. He pointed it out to me on the map of Tiok and told me it was a possible headquarters for the opposition,” I said as we took off our cloaks along the side of the creek.
“The opposition? What is Commander Triq doing there then? You think he’s hunting down the opposition?” Kavik asked.
“No, I don’t. Let’s go find out what he’s up to,” I said as I dove into the water toward the ship. Kavik dove in after me.
A few minutes later we were flying low over the orange dirt of Tiok out in the outlands as we made our way to Riqov.
“What am I getting into, Dekario?” Kavik asked. “Tell me of this place.”
“It is worse that Pacu. It is more dangerous. There are few inhabitants, and it is complete lawlessness. I have not seen it with my own eyes. I only go on what the King has told me.”
“So how do we approach it?”
“There is an outcropping of rocks a mile outside the western side of the small village. That is where we will park and then we will fly the rest of the way ourselves. It is easier not to be seen that way. Anyone would recognize our ship as belonging to the king’s fleet so it cannot be seen. It will give us away, and Commander Triq would be warned of our arrival. We shall stay unseen as much as we can and just gather the information to see what he is up to.”
“I like this plan. I will follow your lead,” Kavik said.
When we arrived outside the small village, we took up positions on the roof of a building along the fence line. It was high enough to hide us.
“What do you see?” I asked Kavik as we both scanned the area with scopes.
“I see the ship. It is all the way on the north side of the village. See it?” he said.
“Yes, I see it. The courtyard next to it seems to have a lot of activity. I’m putting eyes on it. I see Nalox,” I said.
“I see him. I see him,” Kavik said.
“I don’t see Commander Triq or the new warriors Borvon and Yatew,” Kavik said.
“Neither do I. But… are those. Holy shit. It can’t be,” I whispered.
“What, what is it?” Kavik asked.
“The king was right. They do exist,” I said.
“What?”
“The hybrids. The Aeriwana and Draqua hybrids exist. Do you see? There are two of them standing outside that building at the entrance. I bet you Commander Triq is in there,” I said as I started to feel very, very angry. It was boiling inside of me.
“Aeriwana, what? How can you tell?” Kavik sai, moving closer to me, looking through his scope.
“Look at the forearms, shoulders, what do you see?” I asked.
“Scale patterns…” Kavik said.
“Yes, and what’s missing?”
“Wings. Shit.” Kavik said.
“Exactly. The king said that the Aeriwana Draqua look exactly like us, but when they shift, they do not have wings, only scales and the strength of the dragon,” I said staring through the scope.
“What the hell is going on here?” Kavik said.
Then I saw Commander Triq emerge from the building. “That traitor,” I growled. I put down my scope and jumped off the roof.
“Dekario don’t,” Kavik said. But it was too late. I was heated, and there was no stopping me. The ass was not going to get away with this. I did not put any thought into it. I was in a rage, and I was going for him. First, this poor excuse for a Draqua attacked the human female that I love and then he turned out to be a traitor. It all drove me to the edge. I flew over the courtyard. “Triq!” I shouted, and as I did so, I used my mind to make every single Draqua near him float in the air. It took a lot of energy to do this, but being in such a rage helped.
“Dekario,” Commander Triq sneered at me.
“Traitor!” I shouted as I landed in front of him. He stepped toward me.
“Dekario, why have you come here? You know that now since you have seen too much, I cannot let you leave here alive,” Commander Triq grinned.
“I will be leaving alive, and I will be leaving with you in a cell aboard a ship. I will take you back to the king where you will be tried. The king already suspected that something was going on. He had his suspicions, and now you have confirmed them. You will pay for this!” I shouted at him.
Commander Triq growled in anger. He did not like this news that the king knew about him, and that meant he could not go back to Kelon, ever. He
was now a homeless Draqua.
Whoosh. I turned to see Kavik flying fast past every single Draqua that I had suspended in the air. As he touched them, they went limp. This allowed me to let go of my mind control and the Draqua fell to the ground, paralyzed.
“I see you did not come alone,” Commander Triq said as he lunged for me. Bam! He knocked me back off my feet. We rolled across the courtyard, fighting. He punched me in the torso, but I was happy he came at me.