by Maia Starr
Two hours later, I was overseeing the blueprints for the next phase of the project. It was projected on the wall in holographic form. I moved my hand through it to go to the next page of the plans. This was Drackonian technology as well. We had basically moved an entire workforce, layout, and a small army of Drackonians to this remote outpost in the state of New York.
"Commander Kasian Jade, there is a communication coming in from Cerista; it is the aide of the king,” the voice said over my intercom.
"Let the communication through; I am ready,” I said as I went to the communication wall and stood in front of the screen at attention.
"Commander Kasian Jade, King Rykor is requesting communication with you,” the aide said on the screen.
"I am honored and ready for the communication,” I said as the aide pushed a few buttons on the console in front of him. Then the screen switched to the king. King Rykor was sitting in his regal office inside the castle in Cerista on my home planet of Mooreah.
"Commander Kasian Jade, greetings to you from Mooreah,” King Rykor said.
"King Rykor, it is my great honor to receive communication from you directly,” I said with a low bow of my head.
"I have received your progress reports on the project and you are on schedule, on budget, and are making advancements beyond anything we could ever perceive. I congratulate you on your efforts. This project will be good for relations between Drackon and humans.”
"I humbly thank you. I am just doing my duty and I am loyal to my king,” I said in response to his appreciation.
"I bring you bad news,” King Rykor said.
"I am listening, my King,” I said, standing at attention ready for the bad news.
"It has come to my attention that your brother, Orik, has gotten himself into trouble here on Mooreah. I received the report from the Drackonian special intelligence agency."
"What sort of trouble?” I said with my jaw clenching in anger.
"The special intelligence agency reports that Orik has been doing unlawful dealings with outlaws on Riobl. He has been selling Drackon technology on the black market. He has stolen from the military base on Sala, and countless others," the king said angrily.
"My deepest apologies for my brother’s actions,” I said angrily.
"No need to apologize, Commander Kasian Jade. I am well aware that you and your brother are complete opposite Drackons. I trust you and have faith in you. You are not your brother. But the problem is that the agency has lost track of him on Riobl. He was under arrest, but has vanished,” the king said.
I had no hesitation in telling the king exactly where my brother was. “He is here on Earth, my King. He showed up to my cabin yesterday where I threw him out. I did not know of his arrest or I would have detained him. But I did not want him anywhere near my project or my home. I do not want him anywhere near me. I wanted to make sure that he left town and the area of the project. But my security only tracked him to New York City. I told them they no longer needed to track him after that point. I only wanted confirmation that he had left my area. That was over two hours ago. My deepest apologies, my King, for not keeping on him. I did not know," I said, trying to restrain my voice.
I wanted to scream in anger. He had done it again. He was pushing himself into my life when he was in deep trouble. But I couldn't exactly raise my voice in rage while speaking to my king. So I kept my voice at a reasonable level as I clenched my fists at my side.
"That is unfortunate news, Commander Kasian Jade. Him being on Earth could cause great problems between the Drackon and the humans. If he has technology that he stole from Mooreah on him, then he's probably going to try to sell it on the black market to criminal humans. It could be devastating,” the king said.
"What can I do to help?” I asked without hesitation.
"I will need to warn the security of the Earth Council of his presence. They will need to hunt him down. I am sending a taskforce from Riobl that has been tracking him and knows every detail of his work, but it will take a while for them to arrive on Earth. In the meantime, can you organize a taskforce of Drackon warriors there on Earth to track him down and capture him? You have full access to the Drackon reserves of warriors that are stationed in the city under the Earth Council. I will let them know that you are coming,” the king said.
"Yes, I will do what is asked of me. Although I have a slight request of my King, if I may ask it,” I said for the first time in my life, as I had never asked the king for a condition on any of his orders. He looked confused for a second. "Of course, Commander Kasian Jade,” he said.
"My new human female wife arrives at my cabin in the morning. She is already in transit here. I hoped to be able to greet and meet her. It has been in progress for months now and tomorrow is the day."
"Understood, Commander Kasian Jade. Dispatch your taskforce to go ahead of you to try to track down your brother once more. You will meet them the day after meeting your bride. I want you on this because you alone know how your brother thinks. It is important to the mission. But your request for a one day delay of your direct presence on the mission is granted as long as you oversee the taskforce that you dispatch to begin the mission without you,” the king said.
"I understand. Thank you for the flexibility, my King. I will not let you down. We will find my brother and we will stop him from selling whatever he has in his possession.”
"And we will continue to work here to find out who he is working with on Mooreah and on Sala. He could not have done all of this on his own. He definitely could've not gotten it all the way to Earth on his own. Good luck and keep me posted on the status,” the king said.
"Yes, my King,” I said, bowing my head in goodbye.
"Oh, and Commander Kasian Jade,” the king said playfully causing me to look up at the screen in confusion.
"Yes…”
"Enjoy your new human female bride. I hope she is just as lovely and intelligent as mine,” the king said with a smile before the screen went black.
I smiled briefly, thinking about my new human female bride. But then the smile quickly faded as I remembered the task ahead of me. My brother had done it again. I was millions of miles away from him on Earth, and he still managed to come here and pull me into his bullshit.
"Send Agent Teqin in immediately. There is no time to lose!” I shouted into my intercom. I looked out the window at the busy work underneath me. I saw Agent Teqin be alerted. He looked up at my office and flew straight to the landing point outside my door. In seconds, he was standing in front of me.
"Reporting, Commander Kasian Jade,” he said.
"I have just had a talk with our king. It seems that my brother is under arrest and has fled here to Earth. The king is requesting our assistance in tracking him down and detaining him. I told the king that my brother visited me at my cabin and that we stopping tracking him only hours before. Get to your man that was tracking him at the airport and see if he could still find him in the city or if he boarded a flight. Also, we need to assemble a taskforce amongst our warriors here that will meet with a taskforce in New York that is stationed at the Earth council. I want you overseeing this until I join you in forty eight hours from now in New York. The King has reported that my brother may possess Drackonian technology that he is trying to sell on the black market to both Drackon and human criminals. We must stop this. Now go,” I said to him.
He quickly moved out the door and flew into action rounding up his security team on the ground. I trusted him. He was the best of the best and knew exactly what to do.
"Call in my lead engineer,” I said over my intercom.
I had a lot of work to do with my lead engineer. He would be overseeing the project while I was gone, and I had no idea how long this was going to take. Just when I thought that working on this project was going to give me the time to bond with my human female wife because it was forcing me to stand still for years at a time. It was the perfect time to go to work overseeing the project and then come home
to a wife.
Now that had been thrown into chaos. Now I would barely have any time to meet her and talk to her. But I had to do what my king requested, and I wanted to bring my brother down. He was putting the entire Drackon race in jeopardy, as well as the relations that we had with the humans. He needed to be stopped. I was the one to do it. We were very similar in our thinking patterns even though we used them differently. I seemed to use them towards good deeds and he used them towards the bad.
Chapter 5
KELLY PERKINS
The following morning, I woke up to a vacant bed. I moved and my head pounded. “Oh no, Kelly. What did you do?” I said to myself. Then it all came rushing back to me. I darted up, and regretted the rush of blood to my head. I wrapped the sheets around my naked body and got out of bed. I peeked into the bathroom. No one was there. I moved to the living room; no one. I sighed. He had left, whoever he was.
“Wait. Did I never get his name?” I said out loud. Holy crap. I never asked him for his name. I was so drunk and so enchanted by his presence that I never asked, or if I did, I did not remember. I looked at the clock: ten in the morning.
“Oh my god!” I shouted as I moved to the telephone and called room service. “Yes, this is penthouse three; could I get a large pot of strong coffee and a cheeseburger, and can you give room service instructions to set it up in the main room, no need to knock? Thank you!”
I moved to the table and grabbed a large bottle of mineral water and chugged it. I grabbed my wallet and left a tip on the dining table for room service. I ran to the bathroom and jumped in the shower. The car would be picking me up at eleven. Shit. Shit. Shit. So much for a luxurious morning taking a bubble bath and making myself beautiful for my new husband.
I really did feel like I had a bachelorette party. I felt dirty, hung over, dehydrated, and sick. But, it was all worth it. I really did have a good time with my mysterious Drackonian stranger. It was a goodbye to my single life, one last indulgence. He made it really easy too by slipping out while I slept.
After my very quick shower and layering on moisturizer all over my body, I was glad to find food waiting for me in the main room, all set up on the dining table. I drank a cup of hot coffee and then ate a greasy cheeseburger. It wasn’t what I normally had for breakfast, but it was the best hangover food, and would keep my stomach settled on the boat ride.
I took my mug and pot of coffee with me to the bathroom to dry and brush my hair. I needed all the coffee I could get. Miraculously, I was ready by eleven when the telephone rang. “Your car has arrived, Ms. Perkins.”
“Thank you. I am ready,” I said.
“Excellent, I am sending a bell hop now to your room for your bags.”
In ten minutes, I was in the car and the driver headed east toward the boat docks. I had never spent much time in New York, but when I had visited in the past, I didn’t even know that the area of town existed. Boats went back and forth to New York daily. As the driver weaved through traffic, I finally had some time to think about the stranger from my night of decadence. Now in the light of being sober, it felt very wrong. “What the hell were you thinking Kelly?” I muttered to myself. I had to get past it. It was now in the past and it was just a one-night stand.
“This is it, Ms. Let me get your bags,” the driver said, breaking my self-punishing thoughts.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile as I stepped out of the car and onto the ferry.
Once I was on the boat, it was more delightful than I had expected. The river was a wonderful, lazy river. It was very wide and we passed many quaint towns along the way. After leaving the city, New York looked completely different to me. It was so charming and lovely. The fall leaves were changing colors on all the massive trees that we passed. Oranges, reds, and yellows lined the riverbank once we were out of the city into the wilderness. It was beautiful, and the air was crisp. I moved inside to the refreshment area of the ship.
“You look very happy. Are you off on vacation?” the attendant asked me.
“Sort of. I’m off to be married,” I said.
She smiled a big smile and said, “Congratulations. No wonder you are so happy and with a big smile. Love will do that to you. What will you have? It’s on the house, in celebration of your love.”
“Thank you,” I laughed. “I would like a coffee with hot chocolate,” I said, mixing my two favorite drinks together.
“That is a perfect drink for a such a crisp fall day on the Hudson,” she said as she turned her back to me and began to make my drink. I thought about her words; was this love? I was definitely infatuated with Commander Kasian Jade and thought of marrying a Drackon alien weredragon as a very romantic and whimsical thing to do, but how could it be love? I had never ever met him.
“Here you are, nice and hot,” she said.
“Thank you,” I said grabbing the cardboard cup.
“Best of luck to you, dear,” she said.
“Thank you.”
I moved back outside onto the deck and leaned against the rail and I enjoyed the delicious hot cup of cocoa and coffee. It was the perfect partner to the autumn scenery. As I looked up at the tall trees, I thought I caught a glimpse of something very big flying overhead. I looked again. Could it be a Drackon warrior? Could it be my Drackon warrior going to meet me? Then I lost sight of it. I never saw it again, even though I kept my eyes glued to sky.
When the boat finally docked at my destination, there was another black car waiting for me. The driver was a human male, so I knew right away that it was not my fearless Drackonian warrior. I was sort of sad that he was not there to greet me, but he must have had a reason for it. I knew then that the quick glimpse of Drackon flying in the air that I thought I saw was not my Drackon coming to meet me. I thought it was a bit strange since I did not think there were many out here. Especially after the registration lady made it very clear just how rare Drackons on Earth were.
“Ms. Perkins. Commander Kasian Jade sent me to drive you to his home. Please allow me to take your bags,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said as I entered the car. I could get used to this lavish lifestyle of fancy hotels and drivers. I wondered if Commander Kasian was well off? He certainly seemed to be paid very well at least for his position as an engineer. We drove away from the river, passing through a small, lovely town that looked like it had not changed since the revolutionary war.
We pulled up to a massive, two-story cabin in the wilderness. My mouth fell open. I thought it was going to be rustic, but it was not. It was stunning, with lots of tall windows, wraparound decks, and elegant accents. The house was a vast lodge set amidst the forested areas. There were a lot of little gardens surrounding it. It was great, and sort of answered my question about the commander having great wealth.
"This is it," the driver said.
"Goodness. Not what I was expecting. It’s beautiful. Thank you."
The driver helped me inside. I expected that Kasian would greet me at the door, but he did not.
“Ms. Perkins. I am Agent Teqin. I am security for the commander.”
“Oh, nice to meet you,” I said, astonished by this massive Drackon warrior. I was not expecting to be around security. I guess I didn’t realize just how important the commander was.
“Commander Jade will be home in a few hours. He asked me to see to your needs.”
“Oh, that is fine. I guess if you can show me to my room, I am sure I can find my way around the house myself,” I said smiling.
“Of course. Up the stairs this way,” he said as he grabbed my bags. He showed me to a very beautiful bedroom upstairs. There were giant windows that made the outside forest look like it was inside. The tall pine trees were beautiful.
“Thank you.”
“Myself and two other agents are around if you need us,” Agent Teqin said. I nodded my head to him as he closed the door. The room was perfect. There was a large bed with white silk sheets. The connected bathroom was very large and had a huge tub. Looked like
I would be able to get in a bath after all. Then I found a note on the desk by the window.
“My Kelly, please make this your home. I am sorry that work has called me away, but I will return to join you for dinner. I am excited for us. - Kasian.”
I smiled at the note. He was good with words, I had to give him that. I took some time to unpack and then freshen up. Then I was curious to see the grounds. Outside my window, I could see the head of a hiking trail, and I figured a quick hike to clear my mind from the previous night and start fresh would do me some good. I flipped over the note that Kasian left for me and wrote, “I’m here! Excited to meet you for dinner. I went for a quick hike. Love, Kelly.”