Aron: A SciFi Alien Romance (Alien Shifter Force)

by Maya Kane

  “How many?” he repeated, pushing the prophecy to the back of his mind. It was the least of his concerns in that moment—he wouldn’t be able to do anything about his planet’s future if he didn’t survive this combat. “How many ships?”

  “One,” Melen said, shaking his head.

  Aron stood up and then froze. “Why aren’t you celebrating? You thought you defeated the enemy. You should be happy?”

  Melen looked confused. “Thought…” he started to say. Then he stopped and shook his head again. “I want to get off this horrible planet. But no. We have to stay here while the commander has his fun with the human instead of radioing the high command to get a rescue crew.”

  “Radioing,” Aron repeated, his palms dampening. “What? We can’t. They’re—”

  “Some of the injured crew managed to get it working again while we were gone.”

  Aron was gone before the young Dreon could finish his sentence. He sprinted away, trying to decide where to look first. It was vital that they didn’t activate the radios. The enemy would know they were alive as soon as that signal started up.

  “Aron? What’s wrong?” Athena cried, chasing after him.

  He didn’t break his pace—to do so might mean the end of all of them. “The radios,” he yelled desperately. “They found a ship out there. They think this is over. They’re going to call for help.”

  Her heart-wrenching gasp almost shattered him.

  “We need to stop them,” she hissed.

  Aron rounded the corner and threw open the door to Redon’s cabin. He was halfway across the room by the time he realized it was empty. He turned to her desperately.

  “It’s too late. Athena, if they—”

  He saw his own desperation and regret mirrored on her face. He took a step closer to her, body tingling with adrenaline. She stepped to him, seemingly as spellbound as he was.

  They had a choice to make. Give in to their desires for their limited time on earth or take a gamble and hope they found the others before it was too late.

  He pulled his hand away from hers when they were inches apart. “The engineering room,” he gasped, hating himself for making the decision that might mean they would never get a chance to be together. But he couldn’t give up hope. “You try the control room. Those are the only places with comms terminals.”

  He leaned down and buried his head in her hair before bursting back to the door.

  His muscles screamed and his ridges throbbed painfully. It felt like his heart was breaking.

  8

  All Athena wanted to do was throw herself on the bed and cry her eyes out. She knew now. She had seen the look in his eyes and understood. She didn’t blame him for snapping out of it and choosing to gamble. There was more riding on this than the two of them—like her, he was a soldier. They needed to think of more than just themselves.

  Even though…

  Athena clenched her fists and turned. She rushed to the door and almost collided with one of the younger Dreon as she raced up the corridor to the control room. Aron had gone in the other direction toward the engineering room.

  She didn’t have much hope. The huge control room had been devastated by the impact.

  Aron hadn’t said much, but she had managed to piece it together. Redon and Kate had gone first to his cabin. She was relieved that they’d been unable to resist each other. If they’d put duty first, none of them would be alive now.

  But they weren’t safe yet. She threw herself along the corridor even though the fear and adrenaline of the day had all but drained the energy from her. She had to find them; had to stop them before they switched on that transmitter and delivered them all into the aliens’ hands.

  “Kate,” she screamed as she threw open the door to the control room and rushed inside, almost tearing her arm from its socket in her haste.

  She stood blinking on the threshold. The room was empty and smoky, as if nobody had been inside for days. The panels were dark and blank when they should have been flickering with lights and digits. There was no way anyone had managed to fix the controls in there.

  Athena turned and ran back in the direction she came from, ignoring the screaming pain in her lungs. She was still trying to acclimatize to the atmosphere on earth: it usually took some time, and that was with relaxation and physiotherapy back at the base.

  Not flying half-way across the country on the back of an alien she couldn’t get out of her mind.

  Now’s not the time, she told herself, not slowing her pace. She ran past Redon’s cabin and on into the depths of the ship.

  She’d never been to the engineering room. Now she wished she’d been more inquisitive about the ship’s repair instead of focusing on their exploration. She opened her mouth to scream for Aron and then thought better of it. If he had reached them and she distracted him before he had a chance to tell them what was happening, they could transmit. And if they transmitted…

  It was funny—the main drawback she could think of was she’d never be able to get to know Aron as intimately as she wanted. A strange loneliness spread through her even though she shouldn’t have had time to think, she was running so fast.

  The corridor narrowed and the roof grew smaller. Athena came to a screeching halt when the corridor split off into two. She looked around. She couldn’t see anybody and the whole ship was silent.

  “Fuck,” she muttered to herself. It seemed like the eerie calm before a storm. She closed her eyes and prayed that he had found them.

  9

  Aron burst into the engineering room and powered through to the little communications room. It was little more than closet-sized. Its only purpose was as a backup comms area in the event the control room was hit in an attack. Aron had never been so glad to see it.

  Redon sat at the controls with Vedan, one of the engineers who’d been injured in the crash. They were chatting quietly. His hand rested on the desk just inches from the switch. Aron’s heart plummeted.

  “Sir! No! The enemy is still out there. Please tell me you haven’t used the radio.”

  Redon turned to face him in slow motion. Aron watched his face for any indication. He was frozen to the spot in horror. Redon’s face was a reflection of his own.

  “You’ve transmitted,” Aron said with a feeling of hopelessness.

  That meant they had seconds, maybe less, before the unseen enemy struck. He’d never have time to find her.

  Redon shook his head. “What do you mean still out there? We destroyed their base.”

  “No,” Aron growled. “We found them on the east coast. At least fifteen huge ships plus smaller units. And there’s something in the ground…” he broke off and stepped forward, towering over his friend and commander. There was too much at stake to get into it now. He needed to know. “You radioed?”

  Redon shook his head. “No. We were about to try. Vedan fixed—”

  “Don’t,” Aron gasped, collapsing down on the only other free seat. “If you do, we’ll all be vaporized within moments.”

  Redon was looking at him strangely. In all the panic, Aron had forgotten about the very obvious tell-tale signs that telegraphed his condition to anybody with a passing knowledge of Dreon physiology. Aron looked away.

  “You’ve had the mating call,” Redon said. “But that’s impossible.”

  Aron shrugged. “What wonderful timing.”

  “Did you mate?”

  Aron shook his head. “No. I… it’s strange. It’s making me stronger instead of weaker. Maybe it’s because it is my second time to experience the call, which is unheard of. I worried that the same might have happened as it did with you and…” Aron stopped and froze. “Where is Kate?”

  Redon frowned. “Your human did not go to her?”

  “No,” Aron said quickly, standing again. “We thought you were together. Where is she?” he repeated with a growing sense of unease.

  Redon exhaled quickly. “She left. She has gone to speak to the humans and tell them that the enemy
is defeated.”

  They realized it at the same time. Aron rushed to the door and raced along the corridor with the other two so close behind that he thought he could feel their jagged breaths at the back of his neck.

  He saw someone up ahead and realized as they got closer that it was Athena. There was no time to explain—he grabbed her arm and pulled her along with them, realizing that they’d need her in order to explain the danger to the humans.

  They exited the ship and he stood back to help Athena out of the hole and onto the ground. She seemed to sense the urgency—she nodded her thanks and made no attempt to ask where they were going.

  Aron looked around. His heart plummeted. There was no sign of her. The human base loomed ahead in the distance, looking as inactive as ever. And then he spotted her. Redon had raced ahead and had a fifty-yard headstart, but even then there was no way he’d make it to her on time.

  “Kate,” Aron yelled desperately. Athena soon joined him but it was clear she couldn’t hear them.

  “Damn desert winds. She’ll never hear us. And we’ll never reach her in time,” Athena said, moving closer and taking his hand in hers. He looked down at her in dismay. This might be the closest they’d ever get to each other and that tore him up inside.

  And then he thought of something.

  “Redon,” he called. But there was no time to explain. He willed his Drayon to take over. And then he was swooping through the air, reaching the base within seconds. He heard Redon’s huge wings crashing through the air behind him. There was no worry or fear in his mind now—only single-minded focus on his mission.

  The gate was opening.

  He lurched down out of the air and grabbed her as gently as he could, just like he’d told himself to do before he shifted. He carried her off, swooping erratically in order to avoid the humans having a clear line of sight to him. When he was far enough away from the human base, he landed and changed back. Redon landed beside them half a second later.

  “What… What… about… why?” Kate spluttered.

  Aron shook his head. He had forgotten Athena was the only one with passable Uniton. “Did you tell them it was safe to radio?” he asked.

  She stared at him blankly.

  He turned to Redon. “Can you explain to her? Please? See if she’s told them anything. If she has, we need to stop the humans from starting up their communications equipment again.”

  His commander turned to the human and unleashed a torrent of Dreon. Aron’s heart sank. He sunk down onto his haunches and stared at the sand beneath his feet, wondering how he might convey his question to her by drawing.

  “Tell,” he said slowly. “Humans?”

  She shook her head slowly. “Enemy fight. Win,” she said as slowly as he had spoken.

  “No,” Aron muttered. He pointed to her and then pointed to his mouth. Then he pointed to the base. What did you tell them? He watched her hopefully.

  She turned and looked in the direction he had pointed. She turned back and continued to stare at him blankly. “Yes,” she said, nodding. “I go to tell.”

  Panic was rising within Aron. He didn’t want them to see, but this was so vitally urgent he was having trouble keeping it from his face and voice.

  “Did you—”

  “Kate. Chewtellcomander?”

  Aron spun around. His eyes widened in astonishment at the sight of Athena sprinting across the desert toward them, screaming.

  Kate said something in response to the question Athena had roared. He didn’t catch it and wouldn’t have understood even if he had given he knew nothing of the human tongue.

  Seconds later, Athena reached them. To his surprise, she flung herself into his arms and leaned against him, gasping and wheezing for breath. He glanced at the ship in the distance, impressed by her speed. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him. He wished he had something to give her; water, food; but she seemed satisfied just to be held.

  “What did you say?” he asked.

  She glanced up at him. Her face was flushed pink and her brow was wet from the exertion. “She didn’t say anything. She didn’t get a chance before you carried her off.”

  10

  “Thank goodness,” Athena muttered when she’d finally forced herself to let go of Aron. She eased herself down onto the rocky sand.

  Kate shook her head. “I had no idea. I thought I should go inform the commander as soon as possible so we could get relief efforts underway. I never imagined…”

  Athena shook her head. “It’s okay. We all thought it was a foregone conclusion that they were based to the west. I was astonished when I saw them.” She didn’t tell Kate her theory about why they had all been so eager to go it alone.

  “Ugh,” Kate groaned, collapsing onto the sand beside her. “I thought this was all over.”

  “No,” Athena whispered. “It’s far from over. We found them on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Fifteen big ships—at least fifteen. Round with holes in the middle. Like—”

  “Donuts,” Kate said, cutting her off.

  “I was going to say Life Savers,” Athena said with a weak laugh. “You saw something similar?”

  Kate nodded. “Just one. Out in the open all on its own.” She sighed. “How could we have thought it was the only one?”

  “I guess it makes sense. You sure there was just one?”

  “Yeah. We flew back in a wide loop over Arizona and New Mexico. No other ships. No people either, of course.”

  Athena shook her head. “Same. I didn’t see one single moving vehicle over thousands of miles. It’s so much worse than we thought.”

  Kate nodded. “At least we destroyed one of the assholes’ ships.”

  Athena’s eyes widened. “You destroyed it? How?”

  Kate rubbed her face. “We flew over. I… It all happened so fast. We flew over and there was this horrible beam that shot out. When I saw that I just threw in a grenade as quickly as I could.”

  “That was it? No reaction? No chaser unit?”

  Kate shook her head. “No, Athena. But we hit it lucky. There was just one. The doors opened in the bottom of the ship but it exploded before they could come after us.”

  “Oh shit,” Athena groaned. “We’d never be able to hit fifteen simultaneously. We hit one, then we run the risk of them bearing down on us with whatever destroyed the millions of people in all those cities.”

  Kate froze and Athena realized too late what she’d said.

  “I’m sorry,” Athena whispered. “I shouldn’t have just dumped it on you like that. Every major city that we flew over…”

  Kate exhaled sharply.

  Athena turned and looked back at Aron who was watching her intently while he spoke in low murmurs to Redon. Athena smiled.

  “We’re just discussing what we both saw.”

  A strange look appeared on his face. “We are too,” he said haltingly.

  Athena turned back to Kate wishing she could understand their Dreon language. Uniton was perfectly adequate, but there was a formality to it. After all, it had been created by the Universal Council as a way for its original members to communicate. It had grown from there to become the most spoken second language in the universe, but it was still only suitable for coordinating attacks or agreeing to trade quotas, not discussing feelings.

  She glanced at Kate and found her crewmate watching her with a strange grin.

  “What?” she muttered.

  “You and Aron,” Kate grinned. “He’s got the hots for you doesn’t he?”

  Athena shook her head, feigning annoyance. “Now’s not the time to talk about stuff like that. We need to figure out a plan.”

  “Of course it’s time,” Kate squealed. “We might not have a whole lot of time left. You haven’t? His ridges are going crazy. Redon’s were like that before we—”

  “We haven’t,” Athena said firmly, wanting to change the subject to more predictable matters… like how they go about neutralizing an unseen enemy before it destroyed th
em. She sighed. “It’s not… like you and Redon.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, for one thing, his flying wasn’t affected. I think he’s just stressed out. He hasn’t said anything.”

  Kate raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s true,” Athena protested. “If it was the mating call, then he would have had to approach me. Otherwise it wouldn’t be safe for us to fly.”

  She shook her head. She knew that was the truth. So why did she desperately want Kate to contradict her; to tell her that Aron wanted her as badly as she wanted him? It was pathetic.

  “Okay,” she said, trying to get a grip. “What do we do? We have ten fit Dreon and three of us. That’s not enough to wage a war against them. And those are the ones we know about.”

  Kate’s face fell. “Danni, Zalon and the others aren’t back yet. That leaves eight of us here, not counting the injured and Timon who needs to stay with them.”

  “No,” Athena said, shaking her head and avoiding her friend’s eyes. “Six of us. We split off from Salen and Heran.”

  “What?” Kate asked, eyes wide with shock. “You did what? I can’t believe you. You’ve always been such a stickler for protocol.”

  “Yeah, well,” Athena said. She couldn’t explain it either and she wasn’t about to try. “Let’s just hope they didn’t find anything. Because if they did…”

  They shook their heads in silence. It seemed like they could sneak up on their enemies, judging from the lack of retaliation for their earlier snooping. But could they attack on two fronts? The aliens had no restriction on their comms—they could call in the cavalry. And they’d have time to do so if the human and Dreon alliance had at least fifteen ships to destroy.

  Athena shook her head. “No matter how I play it in my mind, it won’t work unless we can get Commander Jessop’s support. Did you see any other bases with any sign of life?”

  “No,” Kate said bitterly. “Of course, we were pretty high up. It could be that there were some minor ones we missed. Like flying over that.” She pointed to their former base. “It’d be easy to fly over and think it was deserted.”