The Spider Queen (The Space Merchants Book 5)

by Wendie Nordgren

  The Squirrel King bowed low to Queen Spectra as did his entire entourage. Then, he turned to me. His series of odd sounds was translated. “May I present a gift to the Spider Queen?”

  The name surprised me. “I am not a queen. I am Princess Probus.” I waited for my words to be translated.

  “She would be pleased to accept your gift,” Eric said for me.

  Queen Spectra and her party seemed frightened by Eric, and I wondered why.

  “His eyes frighten them. Blue eyes are as unnerving to the Talpa as red eyes are to our people,” Zared explained telepathically.

  One of the Squirrel King’s entourage came forward with something that had been covered in their red woven cloth. The King uncovered it revealing a tiara made of dark metal. Rather than a lacy or looped design, a thin band formed the circlet. From it, a spider had been fashioned at the center of the piece and stood on its four back legs. Its front legs were lifted up toward the sky. From its middle front legs, red gems dangled from tiny metal chains.

  “Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!” Thunderdrop said excitedly as he hopped from my head to my arms and back again.

  I laughed at him.

  Trills sounded from the Patagee. The king lifted the spider tiara and approached me. Thunderdrop crawled to my shoulder and chirped at me to curtsey since the king and I were of a similar height. I did.

  When he placed his gift on my head and I stood, our troops stomped again and yelled out, “Probus!”

  Yukihyo motioned, and Rozz and Izaac brought out our gift.

  “We have a gift for the King of the Patagee,” I said.

  He did not correct my name for his people after the translator box finished. From our stored cargo, Yukihyo had found a bolt of dark-red Arachnean Silk. Eric helped Yukihyo to unwrap a few yards of it. All of us could tell that the Patagee were pleased.

  “You pay us the highest respect in presenting us with a symbol of our home world,” the king said after the box translated.

  A viciously concussive series of booms had me cringing in fear.

  “Chitter! Chitter!”

  Suddenly, I was in Yukihyo’s arms as he ran with me to our vessel.

  Chapter Seven

  Yells and loud alien clicks and whistles filled my ears. Looking far up, I saw the sky filling up with a roiling ball of fire that seemed to expand and smoke as it came closer. All of us crowded inside of our ship. Eli sealed the hatch and yelled, “Shields up!”

  “Yukihyo! What happened? Are my babies alright?”

  Yukihyo hushed me and forced a calm over me that I struggled against.

  Dr. Savelli was shoved through the tight press of bodies over to us. “Activating medical isolation containment shielding,” he said as a bubble formed around Yukihyo, the doctor, and me. He placed a medical device on my chest and activated it.

  Agitated whistles and clicks filled the cabin. I felt the gravitational wave when it hit, but my heart didn’t skip a beat.

  “Planetary defensive shielding is stable and holding over highly populated areas. Reports coming in. A faulty mine detonated an entire grid of the remaining mines. Four Patagee shuttles destroyed. Parvac and Militia ships are shielding Patagee life ships. Patagee life ship closest to the blast is losing orbit. Prepare for impact in ten minutes,” Eli reported.

  All the while that Eli had spoken, trills, whistles, and clicks had sounded from the translator box. The sounds of planetary sirens filled the air as the inhabitants rushed to safety.

  “Will our troops have time to get to their ships?” I asked. All I could see was Yukihyo’s face and chest and Dr. Savelli’s hand, arm, and shoulder. “What about Eric? Where’s Kane? My cousins!” I yelled in anguished panic which had my heart racing.

  “Relax, Teagan,” Eric said quickly before continuing to speak into his vid-screen.

  “Troops boarded and accounted for, Princess Probus,” Vice Admiral Kane Valen reported.

  “Thank goodness you’re both safe and our men are safe. What about my babies?” I cried out.

  “They are safe. Niklos cries. Neema attempts to soothe him,” Zared said.

  “Is he hurt?”

  “No, he is frightened and wants his mother.”

  “Well, I want him, too,” I said in what came out sounding like a loud whine.

  People shifted allowing Kane and Eric to move past them and into the cockpit area with Eli.

  Dr. Savelli’s hands were a blur as he quickly sanitized them. Then, he cut open the top of my dress before my, “No!” could stop him. He proceeded to attach a heart monitor to my chest and quickly set up an IV. “Ow!” I yelled as Dr. Savelli secured a needle and tube into my inner arm. “Why? I’m okay. The nanites are working, and you know it.”

  As he worked, he smiled sweetly at me. “I would rather have you angry with me than risk failing you when you need me.”

  Sensing he meant it had me feeling contrite. I noticed that my adopted hybrid brothers, the Galaxic Militia officers, and the Patagee King and dignitaries were packed into our stealth vessel. I took up more space than anyone in the seat Dr. Savelli had reclined for Yukihyo to put me on. Everything we said went into the box and came out as trills and whistles. Eric and Kane were ordering rescue teams and triage centers to be prepared to aid crash survivors.

  Several Patagee spoke so quickly into their audio communication devices that their sounds blurred together like the wind.

  Thunderdrop used my spider tiara like a ledge over my forehead and concentrated on the aliens instead of me. He knew I was fine.

  “At least cover my boobs,” I complained.

  Dr. Savelli covered me with a blanket. I was certain the aliens had managed to stare in curiosity at my chest even during our crisis.

  “Prepare for impact in ten, nine,” Eli announced as he began counting down.

  Dr. Savelli and Yukihyo were solely concentrating on me.

  The planet’s surface shuddered and jerked like an earthquake as the alien life ship crashed down filling the air with the sounds of metal as it groaned, screamed, and tore apart. The gravitational wave struck and carried me away, lifting me up and dragging me under as alien minds screamed out in panic, fear, and terror.

  “So close to a new beginning only to fall to our deaths on our only hope,” were the thoughts that screamed to me most clearly.

  “Find other survivors, escort them from the ship, medical teams and rescue operations are underway. Your people need you,” I said telepathically with as much force as I possessed. “Take metal cutting tools with you. We will find you.”

  Coming back to myself, I saw Yukihyo with his eyes closed as he gripped my chair. Dr. Savelli seemed satisfied that the nanites of Bosh Technologies had performed well beyond expectations. He had recorded and documented their reaction to the magnetic disturbances.

  “Can I sit up now?” I asked into an eerily silent cabin.

  Kane and Eli continued to exchange commands and information through our vid-screens to the accompaniment of static. However, anyone else with a drop of Laconian blood and the aliens were still.

  “We all felt their fear. Put it aside. We can be afraid later. Now, we must be strong. We have rescue operations to conduct. Get this stuff off of me,” I said to Dr. Savelli. Scowling at my ruined dress, I directed my thoughts at my Ponidi brothers who seemed to be in a stunned telepathic state.

  “Chirp chitter chitter chirp,” Thunderdrop said as he jumped to Zared’s chest and blinked at him.

  Zared took a deep breath, stroked Thunderdrop’s abdomen, and then looked into my eyes. “I’m alright. Even though the strongest of the Patagee have the telepathic abilities of a newly hatched Silk spider, their combined panic, fear, and pain was overwhelming. I will see to our brothers.” Zared squeezed Yukihyo’s arm and began checking on Rozz, Izaac, Jazon, and the others.

  They led Izaac over, and I got up clutching my blanket to my chest. Blood dribbled from Izaac’s nose. As the strongest telepath, it had been hardest for him. He replaced me on the c
hair so Dr. Savelli could begin treating him.

  Eric squeezed through the throng of people, hugged me, and kissed my forehead. He stared into my eyes and sent his love to me. My eyes swelled, and I sobbed in relief that he had forgiven me for my violence. “Unless someone you love is at risk, like me,” Eric grinned, “leave those types of decisions and orders to those who have been trained to make them.”

  Nodding, I said, “I promise. I was….”

  “I know, Teagan,” Eric said. “Someone get my cousin a shirt,” he ordered.

  The hatched opened. Men spilled out of the cabin, and smoky air spilled in to replace them. Jazon passed Yukihyo a spare black T-shirt that someone had in a pack. Once the Patagee were out, Yukihyo helped me change out of my now tattered dress. I pulled the black shirt over my head and tied the length of fabric Queen Spectra had given me around my hips. Then, I fastened on my blaster.

  Yukihyo’s eyes had filled with pink and gold. I sensed other erotic feelings from him that my attire had spurred.

  I looked down at my white boots, colorful, short sarong type of skirt, white belt and blaster, and soldier’s black T-shirt. Then, I looked at him like he was crazy.

  Grinning, Yukihyo pulled me against him and pressed his suit covered groin to my stomach, so I could feel the proof of his appreciation. “Don’t forget the crown, Spider Queen,” he said in a gruff monotone.

  Laughing, I kissed his neck. “I’ll remember this outfit for the next time you make a pact and play hard to get.”

  Yukihyo brought his lips down to mine, and with his kiss shared his love empathically with me. With everything I had, I returned it. “I love you, Teagan Alaric Montgomery Lee.”

  “I love you, Yukihyo Alaric Montgomery Lee.”

  We took a moment to stare into each other’s eyes. Then, we touched our foreheads together feeling a strengthening of our symbiotic bond. As the moment ended, we turned our attention to Izaac and Dr. Savelli.

  “He’s alright. His synapses were overwhelmed. Some nanites and a pain patch should make him right once again. Izaac, try to limit your telepathy for a few hours.”

  Izaac nodded to him in agreement.

  I leaned over and kissed Izaac’s cheek. Zared and Jazon had remained inside and to either side of the cabin door. With Yukihyo’s hand in mine, we stepped toward the exit and the devastating view it provided.

  The feeling of panic in the air was mitigated by the highly-specialized teams of Parvac and Militia soldiers who made order out of chaos. Thunderdrop crawled from his perch on top of my head, to the back of my neck, where he clutched my throat and hid behind my loosened braid. The ground beneath us shook. I held onto Yukihyo’s arm as my knees wobbled back and forth. Zared and Jazon braced themselves against the stealth ship and held onto us so we wouldn’t fall. A few soldiers outside weren’t so lucky and stayed down until the tremors stopped.

  “Shockwaves,” Xavier answered before I could ask.

  Stepping away from our vessel, I looked around for signs of the crash site. Dr. Savelli stood behind us. Soldiers wearing protective suits raced to put out random fires. The sky had grown darker.

  “Where are the Talpa?” I asked.

  “Underground,” Eric said as he strode toward us. “The crash site is a hundred miles from here to the north-east. Fortunately, the ship crashed in the jungle. We are going there now to assist. You should either take shelter in one of our grounded starships or come with us so we can keep an eye on you.”

  “I presumed we would be returning to the Empress,” Yukihyo said. “We will return Teagan to the safety of our ship and to her children. Then, we will return and assist in the rescue efforts.”

  Eric shook his head. His black hair, now covered with dust, was no longer shiny. “It’s not safe enough. The dust particles, debris, and energy fluctuations resulting from the explosions need time to stabilize before any of us go up. Sensor readings could become distorted at this time. Commander Bosh has assigned science officers to alert him as soon as it is safe for our ships to ascend.” Eric grinned, and his eyes flashed down to the large emerald around my throat. “He doesn’t want Teagan down here anymore than you do. We’ll just keep her safe until then. Phillip can watch her on the Diocletian.”

  Yukihyo nodded in agreement.

  I whispered, “No.” They turned to me. Looking up at Eric’s pale blue eyes and Yukihyo’s solid white eyes that were now streaked with a worried orange, I said, “I will help with the rescue efforts.”

  “No, you will go to the ship,” Eric said sternly.

  I shook my head sadly. “I’ve already killed ten of them. I’m going to try and save a few.”

  Eric got a steely unyielding clench to his jaw. “I didn’t like your order. I would have risked my men and tried to find a diplomatic resolution. Militia soldiers know the risks. Phillip’s not Militia. He’s a civilian, and it was very personal. I understand why you ordered the destruction of what at the time were enemy vessels. It sent a clear message. Chief Medical Officer Svenson and his wife are grateful. Had anything happened to Phillip, his parents would have blamed themselves.”

  “I’m the one who brought him out here.”

  “Phillip would have found a way with or without your help, and you know it.” Eric reached out, enclosed my wrist in his hand, and pulled me to him. Burying my face against his Galaxic Militia uniform, I put my arms around his chest and let out all of my pain and guilt.

  “They started it, Teagan. You showed them that you protect your own, and they respect you for it,” Jazon said angrily.

  “Why are you mad?” I asked Jazon as I sniffled.

  “Because it’s stupid for you to torture yourself. You’d feel a lot worse if you had tried to reason with the Patagee ruler, and he had killed Phillip and Olson anyway. He refused to talk with anyone else, Teagan. If he had killed a Galaxic civilian and a Parvac soldier, many more of them and some of us would have died in the resultant fighting. Captain Alaric knows that.”

  “Jazon, Teagan is too tender-hearted for command, and that’s something we all know. Diplomatic social calls are one thing. First contact with alien races is something else.”

  “On the contrary, I find that our little cousin conducted herself as well as any fleet admiral. Had Teagan not been here, all of their ships would have been destroyed for the insult of the mines they used to imprison our ships. The aliens should have better educated themselves as to with whom they were dealing before seeking to ignite our fury,” Kane said. “Teagan handled it expediently and with minimal bloodshed, not that I would have given them much time to bleed.”

  At the moment, Kane looked so much like an angry Uncle Kagan that I shivered in Eric’s arms.

  “I thought Parvac was attempting a new era of peace,” Eric said.

  “We have been much more peaceful. However, we are a warrior race. Should someone antagonize us, we will gleefully destroy them. It would be far more beneficial for the Militia to encourage our little cousin. Teagan, won’t you come and give me a hug?”

  I looked up at Eric, worried that Kane and he were arguing with me right in the middle.

  “It’s alright, Teagan,” Eric said as he touched one of the dangling red stones of my new spider tiara.

  “I love you,” I whispered up at him.

  “I love you, too.”

  I went up on my tip-toes and kissed Eric’s cheek. Then, I stepped over to Kane and hugged him fiercely. When Eric turned to speak to Gary and a few of his other elite soldiers, I said, “Thank you for sticking up for me.”

  Kane said, “He just doesn’t want you to lose your sweet innocence and become a bloodthirsty megalomaniac intent on subjugating alien races and forcing them to serve the Empire.”

  I drew in a breath and looked up at Kane with frightened eyes. He threw his head back and laughed while hugging me tightly to his chest. I heard Eric and Yukihyo laughing with him.

  “Chirp!” Thunderdrop said from behind my braid.

  “Okay, Kane. When you pu
t it that way, I feel like an ass,” Eric said.

  “We’re heading in with military transports. Rescue and recovery is underway. Let’s go,” Kane said.

  “See you there,” Eric said as he strode away.

  Kane looped our arms together and led me away over trampled ground and the remains of steaming fires up into the heavy transport. “Get Princess Probus into a jacket,” he ordered.

  Before I had blinked twice, a soldier was holding open a black protective military jacket for me. After my arms were in, he fastened it and turned up the sleeves. Zared took over when the soldier tried to help me into a pair of pants. Xavier, Izaac, Jazon, Zam, and the others were already seated and wearing their safety harnesses. Yukihyo had stripped out of his suit and now hurried to dress in a standard Parvac uniform. My eyes trailed up the back of his lifted foot, ankle, calf, and thigh to his perfect butt as he stepped into the pants.

  “Teagan,” Zared said drawing my attention back to his solid black eyes and long dove-grey hair as he assisted me out of my boots and into pants that were way too big.

  “Just forget it. These are going to fall off of me and make me trip.”

  “No, they will protect your skin from heat, metal, and insects,” Zared said as he forced my foot into a leg opening. I held onto his shoulders as he pulled them up. Taking out zip ties, he cinched the pants in at each side of my waist through the belt loops. “See. They won’t fall off, but you can still go pee.”

  “Great.” I kissed Zared on the lips and then sat down, pulling him down beside me.

  We harnessed ourselves in, and I pulled on my boots. Yukihyo already had on pants, boots, and was pulling a shirt down over his back hiding his muscles from view. A disappointed sigh escaped me. As he put on a jacket and fastened on his blaster, he grinned at me. He was probably the last beautiful sight that I would see today.