by G. E. Stills
“I see that. I’m happy it worked and I’m happy for you. Who’s the father?” Kat smiled.
And there it was. She could not lie to Kat. She shifted her gaze to the floor and mumbled in a voice too low for Kat to hear, “Blake.”
“Excuse me, I didn’t hear. Who’s the father?”
In a slightly louder whisper she said, “Blake.”
The smile vanished from Kat’s lips. Kat released her top, let it fall into place and stared into her eyes. Her glare was unfriendly, her voice ice cold. “My Blake? My son, Blake?”
Tantara couldn’t say the word, “yes.” She nodded instead.
“You had sex with my son? When?”
Thoughts raced through her head. She was certain Kat hated her and saw no sense in causing Kat to be unhappy with Blake too. “That first night we met. When he walked me home. I seduced him. We made love among the flowers on the trail between our houses.”
“You mean you had sex. What you did was not love, just sex. I hope you’re happy. You got your wish. You’re pregnant with a human baby,” her last words spat out harshly.
“We made love,” Tantara said in defiance.
“You had sex. What if he is married?”
Her heart leapt to her throat. “Is he?”
“No, thankfully, but you didn’t even think of that.”
“I’m sorry, Kat. It was wrong of me. I will leave. I’ll take the shuttle up to the space station. I’ll catch the next flight leaving for Zanatha or even Youcan. You will never have to see me again. You will never have to see the baby.”
Kat glared at her.
“I’ll leave here now and Teelan as soon as possible.”
The air shimmered beside them. Blake’s form solidified. The computer she’d forgotten dangled from his hand. “What did I hear about you going away?”
“Blake, she’s pregnant. Pregnant with your child.”
He gazed at her for a moment stunned speechless, before turning to his mother once more. “I had no idea. She didn’t tell me. I had no idea it was even possible for her to get pregnant by me. It seems the two of you have been busy. The same operation you performed on La’lani I trust. I’m thrilled with this news.”
“Blake…” Tantara started.
He shushed her to silence. “Mom, Tantara nearly worships you. She thinks you’re the greatest woman that has ever lived. At the same time she knows you’re a powerful woman and she’s scared to death of you.”
“She seduced you to get herself pregnant. She used you, Blake,” Kat snarled. Her eyes narrowed and she glared daggers at Tantara.
“I know she seduced me the first time. That much is true, but. I’m glad she did. What she hasn’t told you is we’ve been seeing each other ever since then. We’ve made love countless times. We live together. Mom, I’m in love with her and I know she loves me. She’s told me so. Besides that I can sense it.”
Kat’s mouth dropped open further with each revelation. “Love?” Kat squeaked.
“I’m leaving Teelan, Blake,” she said. “I will not embarrass either of you, nor will I saddle you with an unwanted child.”
“Unwanted?” Blake took her hand and squeezed tight before rounding on Kat.
“Mom, you’re half alien and yet you love my father very much. Is it so unbelievable that your son could fall in love with an alien? You of all people should understand. If you cannot accept this love of ours, then Tantara is right about leaving, but it will be both of us going away. I’ve said what I have to say. The decision is yours, Mother. Do we stay or go?”
Tantara’s eyes were blurred with tears. He’s not mad that I’m pregnant. He wants me and the baby. She saw that Kat’s eyes also glistened with tears.
“You’re right, Blake. I’ve lived among humans for so long I almost forgot. I’m not human and neither are you. Not completely. Well little, alien girl,” she began, “It seems that you not only got pregnant by my son, but you’ve stolen his heart too. I know my son is empathic, but I want to hear you say it. I want you to tell me, you love him.”
“I love him with all my heart. Blake is my world.”
Kat visibly relaxed. A smile replaced the frown on her face. “Then that’s good enough for me. Welcome to the family.”
“Mom, I haven’t even asked her, but if she accepts when I do, I’d like to get married.”
Kat chuckled. “Well I think maybe you better get busy and ask. Then you can tell me if she accepts. If she does, your aunts and I will have a wedding to plan.”
Scrubbing her tears away, Tantara looked up into Blake’s eyes. “Marriage is something I’ve learned about from La’lani. If you’re going to ask me and of course I’ll accept…If you’re going to ask and you want the marriage to happen before you’re a father, then it better be quick. My gestation period is only four months and at least one month has passed already.”
“Oh my God,” Blake said. Still holding her hand, he dropped to one knee.
THE END
Acknowledgements:
No matter who is involved, love is love.
THE DAUGHTERS OF TEELAN
GINA AND BECKY
BOOK THREE:
THE GENERATIONS OF TEELAN
BY G.E. STILLS
The right of G.E. Stills to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Cover Design by Rue Volley
Edited by Elizabeth A. Lance
Copyright 2014 by G.E. Stills
Published by
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.
To my ever busy publisher, SJ Davis
CHAPTER ONE
Gina jolted awake to the sound of muffled explosions. Before she could react, her stateroom tilted to a steep angle tossing her from bed to roll across the floor in a jumble of arms and legs. She crashed against a wall, almost jarring the breath from her.
“Lights,” she screamed out to the room’s computer to dispel the darkness.
Nothing happened. Something flew in the dark and struck her in the head. A deeper blackness consumed her.
Her eyes flashed open. Dim red light glowed in her dark cabin.
Emergency lights.
The floor had leveled somewhat from the steep angle. Why didn’t the compensators kick in? She scrambled to her feet and placed her hand on her forehead. It came back sticky.
“Grant,” she reached out mentally to her artificial intelligence implant. “How long was I unconscious?”
“About an hour, Gina,” he answered.
“I need information on what’s happening!”
“I’ve tried to access the ship’s computer with no success. I will try again.”
She opened the wall panel to grab some clothes. Behind her, she heard a hissing noise and turning, saw the door latch glowing. Quickly she dropped into one corner of her stateroom. The lock melted, the door swung wide and a tall hairless, alabaster white being entered.
Men-gar. The single word blazed through her mind like a searing brand fueling intense hatred.
“Gina…” Grant started.
“Silence,” she warned mentally. “Something’s happening.”
She hoped the invisibility field that she was generating would prevent the being from detecting her.
If not…
A feral smile crossed the features of her face and her fingers splayed. I will make the Men-gar pay for this. I can destroy this one
, but it will alert the others. They will kill me in the end, but not before I take the lives of many of these monsters.
The armed Men-gar turned and left the room leaving the door ajar. It retreated into the hallway. The traits of caution and reason kicked in dampening her intense hatred slightly. Traits from her aunt Kat that were also part of her. Genes that had been inserted in her before birth and were just as much part of her makeup as the ones inherited from her mother and father.
Gina sighed in relief. She followed, intent on procuring further information about the situation. Standing in her door, she watched the Men-gar as he systematically checked each stateroom door. He burned the latch off the locked ones.
In one room, she heard a person cry out when the Men-gar fired its weapon. It entered the room and a few moments later, the soldier shoved a woman who was holding her arm, out into the hall.
Gina watched in helpless anger when the soldier prodded the woman down the hall. Though she had her father Aden’s light skin and green eyes, she had her mother Emma’s hot-blooded aggressive nature. Her blood was boiling right now. Her fingers spread. Fire suddenly snapped and popped between them. The pair reached the end of the hall and stepped into the lift shaft. They rose into the air.
She dashed down the corridor and looked up just in time to observe the two step out of the antigravity shaft into the second floor corridor above.
Quickly, images of the ship’s layout, supplied by Grant, formed in her mind.
Primarily a freight hauler, the Fallon only had two dozen passenger cabins. Twelve on the lowest floor where she was and twelve on the third floor above. The second floor was the dining and recreation areas. The front of the spaceship was crew quarters and command center. The bulk of the Fallon, dedicated to freight, was to the rear of the passenger area. Behind the freight areas were the engines. Above the third floor was a corridor that stretched the length of the vessel. Although she had never been in it, she knew it granted access to every section of the ship’s interior.
Still generating her field of invisibility, she trailed the pair. Stepping out of the lift field on the second floor, she crept down the hall. She flattened herself against a wall when she entered the dining section. Twenty Men-gar filled it. The woman captive was kneeling in the center of the room with ten other captives.
The translator located under the skin just below Gina’s left ear, vibrated slightly. The Men-gar words became understandable. The tall being standing in front of the kneeling captives spoke. That it was a she, was discernible by the four breasts that bulged beneath her flight-suit. The necklace around her throat denoted her rank.
“This is the last of the humans?”
“Yes, mistress,” the soldier Gina had followed, answered with bowed head. “All the staterooms have been searched. I cannot speak for the other areas at the front and rear of the ship.”
“Other teams have searched them. If there are survivors we haven’t located, they will perish when we destroy this ship.”
A device on the leader’s hip chimed. She put the instrument to her ear. “It will be done immediately, sir,” she said and placed the item back on her hip. “We will take these prisoners and evacuate. This ship may have been able to radio for help. Our force will not be here just in case. Return to the shuttle,” she ordered.
Gina was barely able to leap out of the way when the group left the room. She followed cautiously and watched them proceed into an umbilical tunnel that breached the ship’s hull and connected to their craft. The tunnel entrance clam-shelled closed.
“Caution Gina,” was Grant’s shouted warning. “When the umbilical is retracted the breach hole will be exposed to open space.”
Gina’s invisibility field winked out of existence. She fled down the hall heading for the lift shaft, only pausing long enough to grab an emergency oxygen mask hanging from one wall. She dove into the shaft and whisked upwards just ahead of the abrupt depressurization. An automatic door slammed shut ending the loss of atmosphere. The lift shaft deposited her in the corridor that ran the length of the Fallon.
“We must get off the Fallon, Grant. They intend to destroy her.”
“I have linked with what remains functional of the ship’s computer. There are life pods located on this corridor. We must get into one quickly. I will direct you to the nearest one.”
Racing through the passage, she followed Grant’s instructions and found herself in a large bay with hatch after hatch leading into the small life pods. She scrambled inside one of them and climbed into one of the four sleep chairs.
“Lieutenant Commander Gina Mitchell,” she identified herself to the pods computer. She recited her identity code. “Countermanding order. Detach from Fallon, but do not fire automatic escape thrusters.”
“Countermanding order received and accepted,” the computer voice answered. The pod detached and drifted along beside the Fallon. She was certain if the thrusters fired, the Men-gar would spot them and destroy the pod.
Think Gina!
“Grant can you detect when the Men-gar ship fires on the Fallon?”
“Yes,” her AI answered.
“Can I assume you have linked with the pod’s computer?”
“I have.”
“When they fire, activate thrusters, but not before. Once we are clear of the Fallon shut down all power systems and go inert. With luck they will think the pod part of the debris from the Fallon’s destruction.”
“As you command Gina,” her AI answered.
The thrusters kicked to life, boosting the life pod away from the Fallon. Micro-seconds after their ignition the Fallon exploded. The Life pod tossed, turned and spun crazily in the resultant blast front.
“Hold together. Please hold together,” she whispered.
Moments later the lights in the pod winked out leaving her in total darkness. Just as she had ordered, Grant had taken the pod’s power grid down, causing the small craft to become completely inert and hopefully appearing as just part of the spreading debris field. Again, she donned the emergency oxygen mask.
“So were you able to obtain answers from the Fallon’s computer?” she asked Grant.
“Yes. There were three Men-gar battle-cruisers. They were doubtless lying silent in ambush. Our frigate escort never had a chance. They destroyed her before she had any opportunity to react. Then they systematically carved the unarmed Fallon up. They destroyed her engines and then the command center. The ones we saw as prisoners and yourself were the only survivors.”
“Damn. There were a hundred people on board the Fallon and that doesn’t even consider those on board the frigate. Fuckin’ Men-gar. They can’t best us in an open fight. They have to lie in ambush and defeat small ships with overwhelming odds.”
“The Men-gar ships have departed,” Grant reported.
The lights flashed on and electrical systems hummed to life. She removed the oxygen mask.
“Was a distress signal sent out?” she asked.
“From the escort, no. The Men-gar attack came suddenly and without warning. The ship was destroyed in an instant. I was unable to determine from the Fallon’s computer if it sent one.”
“So what now?”
“Now that the Men-gar are gone, the pod’s locater beacon is activated. For now, we wait. You will go to sleep and I will monitor and begin searching for a habitable planet to wait on.”
Sides rose and a lid slid over above, completely enclosing the padded chair where she lay. Moments later, she heard the hiss of gas and knew she would be in suspended animation in moments.
“I will wake you when rescue is at hand or if I locate a planet,” were Grant’s last words.
Her eyes grew heavy and she soon drifted into deep and dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER TWO
“Gina.” Grants voice roused her from slumber. The lid and sides of the bed folded away.
“Yes, I’m awake, Grant. Rescue?”
“No, but I’ve located a planet. We will be landing there soon. Atmosphere is optimal. Gravity zero-point seven-five-seven-seven normal. Planet contains large bodies of water and several land masses.”
“Life?”
“Unknown. The search capabilities on this life pod are limited. I have been unable to detect any signs of civilization.”
“Understood.”
“I suggest the tropical areas near the equator for landing.”
“Concur,” she answered.
“Gina, Some of the pod’s systems were damaged during our escape. Not all the main engines are functional. Set down will be rough, but survivable. I am searching now for a small body of water that is deep enough to land in.”
“Understood.”
From her prone position, she glanced down slightly to the left of her feet and saw the planet through the viewport. It was blue and green much like Earth and Teelan, but the bodies of water appeared larger. The globe grew in size quickly and soon just a small portion filled the viewport. Although she could not hear or see it, the atmosphere started to buffet the craft as it entered final approach.
Straps snaked across her legs and torso, pinning her to the chair. They cinched tight holding her in her prone position. A red glow crept across the clear window, a result of the tremendous heat being generated as the pod sank deeper into the atmosphere.
The craft rotated and she was gazing up into a bluish sky. The rockets kicked in with a jar when three of the four main engines surged to life in attempt to reduce forward momentum. The compensators fought desperately to equalize the horrendous g-forces pressing against her. One of the engines died. The ship slewed from its course and her heart skipped a beat. Relays tripped moments later and additional power poured into the two remaining engines. Computer controls fired retro jets and forced the ship back on course. Even through the sound deadening, she heard the loud splash when the craft plunged into the water.