Sliding her hover bike to a halt about a hundred yards in front of the huge blast doors, Keiko revved the motor impatiently. Forcing down the panic growing stronger with each passing heartbeat, she watched the flurry of activity on the embrasures. The seconds ticked by before the ancient doors finally creaked slowly open, welcoming her home.
The moment there was enough space to squeeze through, she hit the accelerator. The electronic shield fell for a few seconds, just long enough for her to make it inside. Hearing a sickening series of sizzles as her pursuers hit the exterior shielding told her exactly how close she’d come to being eaten alive today. The adrenaline flowing through her veins thankfully nullified the pain of her leg injury.
With her vision beginning to blur, she could barely make out multiple forms rushing forward. Mamoru pushed the others aside, in his desperation to reach her. Though she couldn’t see his dark eyes, she knew they reflected the worry and frustration tearing him apart inside at her direct disobedience.
Keiko’s hand went to her belt, tugging weakly at the pouch. It came loose with a firm jerk and she heaved it towards him, as she stumbled into his arms. The loot in her backpack kept her off balanced, and unable to stand properly in her weakened state.
The older Terillian ambassador murmured, “Gods of chaos, the small human did it. She pulled yet more crystals from the wreckage.”
His long, black hair blew in the wind, as Mamoru kneeled over her. “But at what cost? It seems every member of the Japanese imperial line will end up dead before we’re rescued from this godforsaken planet.”
As she faded into the darkness, she felt her brother’s strong arms lifting her. The ambassador mumbled something about her heroic sacrifice buying them time. Time for what, she wondered. After all, they fought a battle they had no hope of ever winning. It suddenly hit her that she didn’t truly believe in her heart of hearts they’d be rescued.
Chapter 2
~ Shar Jalon ~
Keiko’s Music Mix Two
Strange emotions churned in the clone leader’s chest, as he watched Maiko walk down the aisle. The human princess was beyond beautiful, draped in a beautiful, white-layered kimono, which was the traditional dress of her native land. There was a special word for such a garment, but it escaped Shar Jalon at the moment. Her intricate hairstyle was covered in a thin, white, filmy fabric, which allowed him to see her beaming expression. Looking down at her delicate hands wrapped around some brightly colored foliage, her long nails had been painted a deep red color for the occasion to match her red lips.
For the first time in his long life, Shar Jalon fully understood the term breathtakingly beautiful. Seeing her so gloriously happy left him feeling bitter sweet. Though he was truly thrilled she’d found her perfect male, it still stung that the male had turned out to be someone other than himself. Even now, his chest ached with an odd kind of pain he’d never known before. Feeling an almost overwhelming desire to leap from his seat and snatch her away from her would-be husband, he forced himself to remain seated, and clamped his jaw shut.
Why was this so hard? He’d realized he wasn’t her one, and they’d even talked about it a couple of times. If he were being honest with himself, Shar Jalon would even admit to actually growing a genuine liking for the rather immature Krylon prince she’d chosen as a mate. They were sweet together, and dedicated to one another.
Yet, he felt so insanely possessive of her. It made no logical sense. Was he in love with her? It was possible. Being a clone, he had little experience in such matters since few of his kind had engaged in romance of any sort. Even if he was in love, it was glaringly obvious that the female didn’t love him back. Since love was by definition mutual, it precluded the possibility that it was true love. Perhaps he was attached to her in a non-romantic context. Though that made sense, he knew it wasn’t true. He wanted to see her naked and beneath him, and begrudged any other male to feast his eyes upon her.
Focusing intently upon their exchange of vows, he knew hearing their words should put the strange feelings churning in his chest to rest once and for all. Listening attentively, he forced himself to absorb every single word of their sincere vows of commitment to each other. Something was terribly wrong; hearing it didn’t change the way he felt at all. Even watching them in each other’s arms joining lips, didn’t squelch the unwanted ache.
As he watched the couple dance together and drink inebriating beverages, he simply couldn’t find the will to join in the celebration, electing instead to fade into the background. Not wanting to distract from the festivities, Shar Jalon quietly headed for the door. A gentle tug on his arm brought him to a stop. Turning, he looked down to find Maiko looking curiously up at him.
“Are you all right?”
“Certainly, you have my best wishes for a long and happy life with the Krylon prince.”
Smiling indulgently, she quipped, “He has a name, but you never use it. Do you mind if I ask why that is?”
Relaxing a little, he admitted reluctantly, “I have no quarrel with the prince. Truth be told, I’m growing fonder of him with each passing day.”
“I think you’ve been spending too much time around the artifacts. It’s affecting you.”
Even knowing what she said was true wouldn’t stop him from gravitating there after leaving the party. “I’m drawn to them, Maiko. Even if I gave you my most sincere promise, I couldn’t stay away from them.”
“Will you dance with me?”
“You have a dance partner and I’ll not allow you to anger him on his wedding day by showing consideration to a rival.”
“Shar…”
Reaching out to place his hand over hers, he spoke softly, “This is something I must work out for myself. Go and think no more about your friend this night. I promise you, I’ll be just fine.”
Turning before she could object, he strolled through the door towards the loading bay, holding the three artifacts. Maiko was sweet to be considerate of his feelings, but he wanted her love rather than her pity.
The thought occurred to him that, because he was the leader of his people in this sector of space and undefeated in battle, maybe his feelings were the result of being unable to cope with losing for the first time. Deep in his soul, he didn’t think it was anything quite that petty.
Entering the huge room housing the artifacts, he realized the entire science team must have left to witness the couple’s joining. Moving from one of the huge mechanical constructs to another, he ran his hands over them, looking for a clue as to their use.
Maiko was certain they worked in concert to close the strange temporal anomaly that currently chewed its way through this region of space, swallowing planets whole. The ancients must have created the huge mechanical structures for a reason. Perhaps they were designed to nudge the anomaly safely around planets, as his friend insisted.
Then again, they could have been used for terraforming planets, or controlling the weather. Without the ability to read the cryptic markings covering the outer hull, there was no telling for sure what their purpose had been.
The room suddenly tilted slightly. Shar Jalon felt lightheaded, and an aching throb thumped in his temple. A faint metallic taste soured on his tongue. One sentence ran through his mind on a repeat loop. The mothers must be protected.
Unexpectedly, someone grabbed his arm. Snapping his head up, he looked into Maiko’s worried eyes.
“Are you all right?”
“I answered that question once tonight.” Rubbing his temple, he asked absentmindedly, “How many times do you plan to ask me the same question?”
Trying to steady him with a tiny hand on his muscular back, she whispered, “This is the first time I’ve spoken to you today. You were standing here rubbing your head, so I came to check on you.”
Looking around, he took in his surroundings. What he saw felt like getting punched in the gut. He was back in the huge reception room, surrounded by celebrating guests. Seeing things he’d already seen, drove home the fa
ct that he’d jumped back in his own timeline.
Fighting back the urge to panic, he raised his com to his lips. “Attention all Shardon, report to the cloning unit immediately.” Turning to Maiko, he murmured reassurances, intent on not disrupting her special day, “If you’ll excuse me, I have important matters to attend to. Don’t worry, my friend. All is well.”
Fast walking to the medical unit, Shar Jalon was gratified to find his clones converging on the area as ordered. Whatever was going on, he felt safer in their midst. Clones were taught early on that there was strength to be found in unity. Rallying whatever resources were at their disposal, they’d figure out why he’d time jumped.
Being an experienced space traveler, Shar Jalon knew that jumping a few minutes back in time, while they were so near a temporal anomaly, couldn’t be a coincidence. He messaged the fleet to pull back another parsec from the anomaly, thinking the jump might be related to spatial proximity.
Against his advice, Lar Jalon had brought his female along on the mission. Miss Madison was nothing if not inquisitive. Therefore, he wasn’t surprised to find she’d made her way to the meeting. Before he could speak, she asked excitedly, “Did it happen to you too?”
“The small time jump?”
“Yes.”
Lar Jalon stepped forward. “It happened to me and one other of the Jalon line. It’s reasonable to suspect that because it’s only happened to those cloned from our batch, that a genetic flaw leaves us vulnerable or a unique add-on feature is causing it.”
Madison wedged herself under his arm. “What the hell is an add-on feature? You guys make yourselves sound like androids.”
Lar attempted to quickly bring her up to speed. “We were cloned on the Shardon home world. Males from the same batch are cloned from a pool of genetic material with simple variations introduced to each individual clone. The material is fragile and often leads to irregularities. We compensate for those irregularities with cybernetic implants. I have artificial joints in both legs and Shar required a new heart and left lung.”
“That’s disappointing. No one got x-ray vision or lasers implanted in their hands?”
Shaking his head in bewilderment, Lar stared down at her smiling face. “Where do you even get such ideas?”
Shrugging, she didn’t answer.
Shar pointed out succinctly, “Your female is an added distraction that we don’t need at the moment. As our chief medical officer, Lar, you must gather a team and study this phenomenon. We must know what is causing it, if others outside our line are at risk, and how to stabilize our temporal field. No one rests until it’s done.”
Madison frowned. “Good idea, big guy. There’s only one problem with your brilliant plan. What if it’s caused by something we do in the future?”
Sighing, he murmured, “Miss Madison is correct. Temporal mechanics does allow for the paradox of effect preceding cause.”
Lar’s voice held a note of panic. “Bearing that in mind, I suggest our engineers work on a stabilizing field to ensure no more time jumps happen.”
“Agreed. We’ll funnel the majority of our resources into protecting us from future movements through time. However, I still want you and a small team to try to figure out what is making the Jalon line vulnerable.”
Chapter 3
~ Keiko ~
Keiko Music Mix Three
Waking up cold and alone once again, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness stole over her. In the face of insurmountable odds, she’d succeeded. It was a small victory, but these days she’d take what she could get. Moving slightly, she felt a sharp pain in her leg.
No sense putting it off, she hauled herself to a sitting position and lifted the blanket to look down her nearly nude body. Sure enough, there was a red, partially healed wound where the insectoid had stabbed her with its claw. Keiko thought wryly that she could thank herself for bringing back the tissue regenerator along with the crystals to power it; otherwise, her wound would have been stitched shut in a much more primitive fashion. Momentarily pleased with herself, she thought of all the many people who would benefit from that gadget before it finally lost power.
“Don’t look so smug, Keiko. You nearly lost your life in that little stunt.”
Grinning like a mad fool, she looked over to find Mamoru standing in the doorway. “Are you referring to the stunt that netted us enough crystals to keep your little kingdom safe and functional for another couple years? The ambassador called me heroic, if I remember correctly.” Try as she may, she couldn’t keep the smugness from her voice.
Folding his arms over his chest, Mamoru frowned at her. “If you keep risking your life, I’ll be the last member of the imperial family standing. Is that what you want?”
Tilting her head slightly, she replied, “Of course that’s not what I want. I want you to listen to me and take my ideas into consideration.”
“I listened and made the decision I thought best, yet that clearly wasn’t good enough for you.”
“What about what I think is best? If you don’t allow me the dignity of risk, I’m nothing more than a womb to carry future sons for the imperial line.”
Finally, her reserved brother smiled faintly. “You can’t have sons, if you continue to avoid selecting a husband.” Smiling mischievously, he added, “Even the Terillian ambassador has asked about you.”
Laughing, she responded primly, “I love Ambassador Dok’ter. Hell, I don’t even mind the fact that he’s reptilian or has an extra leg.” Looking away, she sighed, unsure how to communicate her dislike for his kalsar.
“Come on, out with it, imperial princess. What is it about Dok’ter that bothers you?”
“It’s… well… it’s the tail.”
Her brother burst out laughing. “Humans have vestigial tails. What do you think your coccyx bone is? Most of the human girls really rave about the kalsar. They say it does magical things in the bedroom.”
Picking at nonexistent lint on the bedcover, she replied thoughtfully, “I know they do. Maybe, there’s something wrong with me.”
“Well, you’re not exactly an old maid yet. I’ll spread the word about your generalized dislike of the kalsar, though.”
Her eyes flew to his. “You’d better not mention a word about that, or I swear by every ancestor we have, I’ll…”
Cutting into her rambling threat, he announced calmly, “I’d never really do that, little sister. You know me better than that.”
Looking into his handsome face, she felt her annoyance slip away. Deep down inside, she knew that he’d never do anything to publicly humiliate her.
When he spoke again, all the mirth had fallen from his voice. “You did a good job finding those crystals. It’ll definitely ensure our survival until the Intergalactic Council evacuates us in six months.”
Keiko immediately perked up. “They finally approved our request?”
Nodding, he looked relieved. “One of the Krylon planets is taking us in. They have several gigantic continents not currently in use. They’re sending freighters for all of us, so no one gets left behind.”
Keiko couldn’t help being suspicious. “Any idea why they changed their minds?”
“Seems some human woman got taken by the Krylon and come to find out, we’re breeding compatible with their people.”
“What kind of deal did you make?” Unable to keep the horror from her voice, she glared at him.
“Calm down, Keiko. I told them they could have whatever women agreed to mate with them, like I have a choice in such things anyway. If our women want alien husbands, they’ll take them no matter what I say. Since there are so few human men, I honestly thought you’d be thrilled. Not every woman is a well-born imperial princess, like yourself.”
“Don’t try to develop a sense of humor at this point, Mamoru. You know better than most that being imperial is more a hardship than the glamourous life most imagine it to be.”
Shoving his hands into his pants, he didn’t debate the point. “We have n
o choice, Keiko. The plan is to isolate the insectoids on Earth, then destroy the entire planet with some type of fusion device designed to eradicate all life. I know it sounds extreme, but they can’t take the chance on the infestation spreading and I don’t want any humans left behind.”
Nodding, Keiko admitted reluctantly, “Earth is totally infested at this point. I’m not at all surprised they consider it a total loss. I’d normally grieve for the loss of the animals, but the insectoids hunted them to extinction long ago.”
“We still have the Genesis Project.”
“It will be a blessing, if we ever get permission from the Galactic Council to use it.”
“We’ve preserved seeds from almost forty-three percent of Earth’s vegetation and enough frozen sperm and eggs to reproduce about twenty-two percent of the animals.”
“Genesis has been more successful than we could have hoped. Have you been in contact with the other heads of state?”
Pushing off the wall, he stood defiantly in front of her. “Since I took the lead on negotiations with the Galactic Council, I’ll take charge of the transition and oversee the destruction of Earth.”
“I’d be surprised if they didn’t force you into a leadership role when we’re resettled.”
“Since when has anyone ever had to force leadership on me? I thrive on it.”
Grinning, she held up two hands in front of her. “I forgot who I was talking to there for a minute. How do you think the Krylons will handle you having five wives? The women are in such short supply there that most of Krylon men never end up married.”
“I have already had Ambassador MacDowell convey that information. He says they were fairly shocked, but understood our situation. The few remaining human males have multiple wives and upwards of ten children.”
“Whoever would have thought all the endless warring with insectoids would skew our population towards almost being exclusively female.” Keiko had a hard time keeping the snarkiness out of her voice.
“Ahh, I now see why you seek out the company of alien warriors rather than your own kind. You don’t want to become one of several wives, even to a great man.”
Celestial Mates Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) (Alien SciFi Romance) Page 43