by T. J. Quinn
My second thought was, no---this is just crazy. But almost as soon as the helmet came off, his gaze riveted to me, as he seemed to sniff the air. He was definitely alien, over six feet tall with almost fluorescent yellow hair cropped close to his head. His skin was pale blue gray and his eyes were a shade of violet I’d never seen as an eye color. Despite his alien appearance, his face was beautifully sculpted, strong jawline, full mouth---and those purple eyes.
Suddenly I knew what it was like to be riveted under the intense stare of one magnificent hunk of man. He’s the one, I thought, unable to take my eyes from his. He looked as stunned by it as I felt. All of the noise and confusion in the background faded.
He seemed to give himself a mental shake and cleared his throat. “We are here to help. Come with us. You will not be sold as slaves. We will take you to a safe place.”
“Who are you?” I asked in a shaky voice.
“I am Commander Zared Maktu of Farseek. We have come to rescue Kyanna Guryon, but we are taking all of those stolen from their homes. There will be no slaves sold here today,” he said in an authoritative tone. “Come, we must go before reinforcement arrives. Please follow me.”
Anywhere! I thought and stepped away from the group. “Pleased to meet you, Commander, Harper Avery, from Earth.” I would have offered my hand but his were covered with dark metallic gloves.
“You are from Dirt?” he smirked a little. “Where is this planet Dirt?”
I chuckled in spite of myself. The translators were working quite literally. “It’s what we call it, Earth, not dirt. Where is it from here? I have no idea. I don’t even know where here is.”
He gave a slight nod and something in his gaze told me we weren’t done by a long shot. “Come, all of you. We will organize this mess after we leave this planet.”
He turned and started walking toward the door, and we all fell into step behind him. It was a little chilly outside the building for the way we were dressed, and the ground was rough on our tender feet. But there was no whining of complaining as we stepped briskly behind him, determined to keep up.
We got to their ship as Kyanna arrived with other armored soldiers.
“See,” she said all smiles. “I told you they would come.”
Yes, she did.
CHAPTER THREE
Zared
As soon as I opened my combat helmet, I caught her scent she was one of eight women huddled in the back corner of the room. They were all fine looking females, and I knew immediately, one of them was going to be mine. My cock twitched at that thought. It was no time to be thinking about claiming a female, but it was not easy to quell the desire once I caught her scent. Then she caught my eye and our gazes locked.
There was stunned surprise in her look that told me she recognized the blatant attraction between us. Gods, she was beautiful even in that shapeless slave sack she was wearing. Her shoulder length light brown hair was tousled about her face and her blue eyes sparkled. Then she stepped forward, smiled up at me and told me she was “Harper Avery from the planet Dirt.”
I knew our translators hadn’t got it quite right. It struck me funny as it came through. I wanted to reach out and stroke her smooth skin, but I didn’t want to frighten her with my combat gloves. If I touched her… it would be a mistake. There was too much to do to indulge in mating rituals.
We had to get these people into the ship and off the planet before security rousted the military to defend the auction house. My team was one of the best in the Consortium and better than any in the Empire, but we could be vastly outnumbered. Some of the females, including mine, could be injured in a fire fight.
Mine. I lingered on the thought for just a split second. Harper Avery didn’t know it yet, but she would not be going back to the planet Dirt or whatever name she had called it. Then I pushed that thought to the back of my mind and commanded them to follow. They fell into step behind me immediately and stuck close as I guided them out of the building to our shuttle.
It was too cold outside for the thin shifts they wore with no shoes. None of them complained. We’d rounded up about 100 of them. Only a couple were from Farseek. The shuttle would be crowded but we were under our weight limit and we only had to endure a fifteen minute ride to the ship.
While we were rounding up the merchandise, my AI specialist Tivid Lantu was hacking the auction house databank to learn if any of our people had been sold through the Ursaga Auction house, who bought them and where they were taken. Nearly a million people were missing. They were likely spread all over the Empire which encompassed hundreds of worlds. It could take a lifetime to find them---damn the Consortium!
Farseek was not the only world left undefended. They’d done the same thing to a dozen other worlds whose militaries had agreed to fight for them against the Empire. We all wanted revenge but we wanted to find our people more. We would need many more companies and ships to avenge our people. For all of that we needed currency and backing. To get it we needed paying missions like this one to rescue Guryon’s daughter. His support also allowed us to save a hundred other would be slaves.
We were lucky on this one. Security was lax and not well organized. By the time the military mustered an attack from the ground, our shuttle was docking in the in the bay of Farseek Dreadnought One. It was one fine ship with the most up-to-date weaponry the Consortium could buy.
Technically, they owned it, though it would do them little good without someone to run it. They had us, and we weren’t planning to give it back anytime soon. They owed us as well as all the other mercenaries they’d hired to fight the Sargus War for them. With the Farseek warriors and others like us serving in their military, the Consortium had no one else to come take their ship back by force. All they could do is cut off the funding and wait for us to fold.
The reward for rescuing Guryon’s daughter would keep us solvent for a while. After we take inventory of the others we scooped up with her, we might collect some more rewards. We could only keep them on the ship temporarily because we just didn’t have the room. Some we could probably return to their home worlds, except the women from the planet Dirt. Certainly not Harper Avery.
I had no idea where that world might be located. Maybe Tivid could figure it out from the data we collected from the auction house, unless the slavers lied about where they collected their merchandise. At least we had saved some 100 souls from slavery this day, including my fated mate from the planet Dirt.
I chuckled to myself remembering the indignant look on her face when I said that. Then she smiled up at me. That was beautiful to see---the first decent thing I’d seen since we’d been back to Farseek. It’s good that she has a sense of humor, she will need it.
CHAPTER FOUR
Harper
Obviously, our rescue ship was not meant to carry this many passengers. All of us that would have been sold at the auction were placed spread through three different spaces, the mess hall, a conference room and a gym. I was in the conference room with Kyanna Guryon and the other four Earth women. We sat at a long table while some soldiers passed around food and drink that was marginally better than what the slavers gave us. No one complained though. It was evident that this was the same food they ate. It stopped the gnawing in my stomach and quenched my thirst.
I didn’t know where we were going or when we would get there. I was just so glad not to be sold into slavery, I couldn’t worry about it. Maybe that’s why the room full of women was so quiet. We were all just letting it sink in.
We had been in there for about an hour when a young man in a soldier uniform came in through the sliding door. “Harper Avery,” he called.
“Here.” I raised my hand and waved.
“Come with me please,” he motioned.
I frowned, wondering what this means, and slowly pushed back my chair and stood up. The other women were all looking at me a bit apprehensively, like maybe I was going to be punished for something. That didn’t make sense. This was not the slavers’ ship.
/> I shrugged and followed the young soldier out into the corridor.
“What is this about?” I asked him when the door closed behind us.
“I don’t know,” he replied, “the Commander told me to bring you to him.”
“Oh,” I said, suddenly nervous. That look that passed between us meant something. What if I had escaped one kind of slavery for another? There was little time to speculate. It took about a minute and a half to get to the commander’s door. It opened automatically when the soldier stood in front of it. He stepped aside and motioned for me to enter.
To my relief, it was an office, not a bedroom---not that I wouldn’t entertain bedroom thoughts about the sexy commander. His back was to the door when I stepped inside. He was now dressed in the uniform of his company---dark green trousers with multiple pockets and a long sleeved shirt that fastened up the front by invisible closures. There was a barred insignia across his right breast pocket and on his right sleeve at the top of his muscular arm.
I stood inside the door, clasping my hands in front of me, embarrassingly cognizant I was wearing a thin white dress that did little to hide my nudity underneath. He certainly cut a fine masculine figure from behind, broad shoulders, rippled muscles in his broad back, tight ass, and sculpted legs and arms. He was big, too. I’m 5’8” and he was head and shoulders taller than me.
He turned around and gave me a slow, appreciative smile. The air should have been crackling with the intensity of the attraction that flashed between us. My body told me I wanted him before my mind even registered the thought. This man was dangerous in more ways than one. From the look in his eyes, it must have shown on my face.
“You feel it, too,” he said bluntly.
I swallowed and nodded. There was no use denying it. He could probably see my nipples poking against the thin fabric covering them. I hoped he couldn’t smell the wetness between my thighs. This was crazy. He was an alien, a freaking light blue alien with fluorescent yellow hair.
“It means you are my soul mate, my fated mate.”
He was dead serious.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to take that. We definitely have chemistry. Does that mean we hookup tonight and live happily ever after? I don’t even know you or if we are even the same species.” I was just saying anything that popped into my head.
“We are genetically compatible, or we wouldn’t have the awareness between us. The scent of your arousal is irresistible,” he said evenly.
No way could I deny I was aroused, but my mind and body were at odds. For a change I didn’t have any snappy comeback. I just stood there looking at him---drinking in the mouthwatering sight of him. If he pushed it, I didn‘t know if I could resist temptation.
He crossed the room and stopped barely two feet in front of me. I looked up at him mainly because he was too close to ignore, trying to figure out his intent. He gently gripped my upper arms, and slid his hands down to take mine in his.
“Harper Avery from the planet Dirt, I wish to bond with you and become your mate,” he said, looking into my eyes earnestly. Then he lifted one hand then the other to his lips and kissed the backs of them.
“I—I it’s not the planet Dirt,” I asserted. “That’s only one definition of earth. It’s planet Earth, our world the ground we walk on---and I was hoping to go back there. It’s my home.”
“There is a problem getting you back to your world. We don’t know where this planet D---Earth is located,” he explained. “Can you tell me where it’s located?”
I sighed, disappointed. “Probably not so you can find it. It’s on the rim of the galaxy, in a system of nine planets with a yellow sun. Earth is the third planet about 93 million miles from the sun we call Sol. There is some debate as to whether the ninth planet is a planet or a moon because it’s so small.” I explained. “And that probably doesn’t narrow it down at all for you.”
“It doesn’t,” he looked apologetic, and oh so sexy. “We didn’t take any of the slavers into custody or hack their data. We only copied the data from the auction house. There are too many variables to determine the course they took to from your world to Ursaga and whether they took a direct route. That leaves a huge piece of the galaxy to search.”
“And if I don’t want to become your mate?”
At first, he looked like I had slapped his face, then a glint of understanding flickered in his violet eyes.
“It is, of course, your choice. I am asking for you to know me better before you decide,” he said carefully.
I smiled up at him. “Right answer.”
He let my hands go and cupped his hands around my face. His kiss was gentle at first, but heated up quickly once he slid his tongue into my mouth. Sparks of desire seemed to crash through my whole body. I so wanted to lean into his incredible body, but we were heating up fast enough. I just rested my hands on his waist, keeping the space between us. Had he not been a man of honor, we might have ended up doing the deed on his desk.
By the time he ended the kiss, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist him. I’m sure he knew that from how I responded to his kiss. I don’t think I had ever been kissed that thoroughly or that well. When he finally ended the kiss, abate reluctantly, I felt stunned by my attraction to him. We simply stood there staring at each other like we had both forgotten how to string words together that made any sense.
Maybe there was a little hint of triumph in his eyes, daring me to deny the smoking hot chemistry between us. But I’m not that good a liar.
He stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. He seemed about to kiss me again, at least I was hoping when the ship jerked and we were nearly knocked to the deck. Alarms started going off and there was an announcement for personnel to go to various places. OMG! We were under attack just like on Star Trek.
“I have to go,” Zared said. “I will take you back to the others on my way.”
He took my hand and I followed him into the corridor back to the conference room.
“Tell the others to stay seated. We are under attack. The chairs are anchored to the deck automatically. You will be safe in there. I will come back for you as soon as I can.”
He was gone before the door finished closing in front of me. The other women inside looked as scared as I felt. We could only guess that the Ursagans didn’t appreciate these mercenaries stealing all the slaves from the auction house. I hoped our guns were bigger and better than theirs---or at least our ship was faster.
CHAPTER FIVE
Zared
I got to the bridge just as we took another hit. I grabbed a handhold by the door to avoid a body slam to the deck. Admiral Degatu had everything under control. The readouts on the holograms showed only two fighters pursuing us, pounding our shields with their ion pulse cannons. They could shake us up a bit, but our shields were too strong for those weapons. So far, they were avoiding our return fire.
Two more fighters joined them, apparently piloted remotely. Even four of them weren’t powerful enough to disable our ship, so either they were decoys or they didn’t know that. Degatu guessed they were trying to slow us down so a battle carrier could catch up to us. The ship’s AI took out two of the fighters and four more appeared.
Scanners indicated something bigger approaching behind them. The AI took out two more of the fighters, as Degatu called for the ship to jump in to FTL short of our jump point. There was nothing to win worth staying to fight. We’d got what we came for so we didn’t need to put our passengers in further danger.
While I was fully capable of commanding the ship, it was Admiral Degatu’s primary responsibility. I was there to observe and assist as necessary. Once the alarms stopped and we were safely away from attackers, I approached the Admiral with a question.
“Have you ever heard of a planet called Dir---er---I mean Earth?” I asked. “That’s where some of the women we picked up are from. The one called Harper said it was on the rim of their galaxy orbiting a yellow dwarf star with eight other planets.”
“There a
re many yellow dwarf stars and the rim encompasses the entire perimeter of the galaxy,” Degatu replied. “From their data, it appears they may have entered another galaxy to obtain those women from their home world. That would make it doubly hard to trace their origin.”
“Don’t we have an obligation to try to get them back to their home worlds?” I asked.
“We didn’t leave them there to be sold as slaves. Without specific coordinates to their star system, there isn’t much more we can do,” Degatu said. “We are only being paid to rescue Guryon’s daughter. We have already gone above and beyond by stealing all the rest of the slaves with her.” He said
“And I am glad we did. One is solmatu---my solmatu,” I admitted. “That was a surprise.”
“Not especially a convenient time or situation for a courtship,” Degatu reminded.
“What choice do I have? If I deny her, I will never mate, never have children. You have already had that. Did your solmatu come at a time convenient for you?”
“Is there ever a convenient time for soldiers like us?” he asked with a wry smile.
He didn’t say, but I knew the answer was ‘no’.
“Which one?” he asked.
“The tall one with light brown hair and blue eyes,” I said.
“From the planet Dirt?”
“Not dirt, Earth---they call it Earth. Dirt is only one translation for the word. “
“Then they must be genetically compatible, or you would not have scented recognition. But they are so pale.”
“Color is only skin deep. We are all the same color underneath,” I reminded him. “Since we are out of danger, I will go back and inform them what we have discussed.”
“I know it won’t make them happy, but our first obligation is to our own people and to Farseek.”