Shar Jalon’s eyes narrowed on her. “Your previous behavior led me to believe you’d be much less agreeable to being left behind.”
“I used to be under the mistaken impression that you needed me to cover your back. After seeing you and your clones in battle formation, I can see that you’re safer fighting alongside your own warriors. Since your safety is my primary concerns, I’ll force myself to do right by you.”
His expression softened slightly. “Rest assured, my Keiko. I’m a difficult male to kill.”
“Remember, what I said about needlessly endangering your life or the lives of our clones. I want every single one of them returned to this ship safely.”
“As you wish, my love.”
The ship jostled as the docking clamps locked into place. With little more than a nod, Shar Jalon headed out with his troops. Somehow, the fact that he didn’t make a big deal out of leaving left her with a sense that he would return. Feeling both anxious and warmed by his intimate understanding of her thought processes, she pitched in with the preparations to take on large numbers of wounded.
Within a few hours, small groups of warriors escorted survivors back through the docking portals. There were women and children among the injured. The Candorians were fascinating people. Their aquatic heritage was clearly evident by the large fin running from their forehead to the nape of their neck. The women were very organized and wasted no time rending assistance and getting their people settled.
Chapter 12
~ Keiko ~
Keiko’s Music Mix Twelve
Keiko kneeled before a child that had been brought in without her parents. The little girl was terrified and clutching a clear pouch of dark murky liquid. It looked disgusting and potentially unclean. When Keiko tried to gently remove it from her arms, she panicked and shouted something about taking her life.
“You! Don’t touch her again.”
Swiveling her head around to see where the human voice had come from, Keiko was surprised to see a small human wearing traditional Candorian clothing standing defiantly behind her. She appeared to be around ten years old. One hand balanced a huge beetle on her hip and the other pointed directly at Keiko in an accusing fashion. The little one wore a long, thin gown laced around her torso with what appeared to be leather binding. She was barefooted and her bright red hair stuck out wildly around her head.
Meanwhile, the beetle’s forearms were equipped with very active pinches that kept opening and closing. The little one wore several necklaces of precious stones and had a vile of the murky water hanging around her neck. Even more confusing, were the three Candorian warriors standing directly behind her. They looked like they’d been through the battle of a lifetime.
The child stalked up at her. Since Keiko was still kneeling beside the other child, they were face to face. Shoving the huge brightly colored beetle in her face, she asked threateningly, “Know what this is?”
Keiko smiled indulgently. “An insectoid?”
The girl’s expression turned menacing. “This is Charlie. She’s the most fearsome bug in the galaxy. Trying to steal a Candorian’s water is a criminal offense. Back off or I’ll let Charlie to eat your face right off.”
Sighing, Keiko tilted her head. “Where I come from, it’s considered a criminal offense to allow a huge bug to eat a princess.”
“Well, we’re not where you come from. Here, I’m the princess and whatever I say goes.”
One of the Candorian women came over, picked up the little girl clutching her water, and hurried off with her.
Keiko stared at the defiant, bug-loving human girl. “I’m confused about a couple of things. Instead of threatening to allow your beetle with no teeth to eat me, why not just have your warriors rough me up some?”
Glancing over her shoulder at the harried men, she shrugged. “They’ve been fightin’ for hours, so I thought I’d give them a rest.” Propping the bug back on her hip, she stated flatly, “Next question.”
“What kind of human princess lives with Candorians?”
Making a little chicken neck move as she spoke, the girl explained, “My mother married the Candorian in charge of our people on the Sylon home world. There are three princes—Koal, Korban, and Shar Jalon.”
“Why are you here?”
“I was on my way back from visiting my sister. She’s on a religious retreat on the Krylon home world. Our shuttle got hit by the bugs, I got pulled right out of bed, and we barely made it to the Candorian ship doing some boring science scans.”
Nodding, Keiko responded, “We were part of a three-ship team, assigned to monitor the residual effects of a temporal distortion.”
“Well, instead of discovering science, you got yourselves attacked. Good thing you were with the clones. They’re good fighters.”
“Shar Jalon is my intended.”
Taking a step back, the girl’s expression changed. “Then you’ll be living on the Sylon home world with us. Shar’s a nice guy. He should have warned you about taking people’s water. Water is life. You don’t touch another person’s water unless they give you permission.”
Pushing herself to a standing position, Keiko dusted off her hands. “I’ll try to remember that. My name’s Keiko by the way.”
“My name’s Emily and when Koal gets here, he will wipe the floor with these bugs. I mean, I like bugs as much as the next girl, and the ones who attacked might have cool exoskeletons, but the whole eating people thing is a no go.”
Folding her arms over her chest, Keiko smiled down at the spunky little girl. “Shar Jalon might kill them all before your stepdad even gets here.”
“Ha. My dad’s ship can open wormholes in space. He’ll be here any minute and when he does…”
“That’s enough, Emily.”
They both turned to see a couple entering from one of the docking portals with a large grouping of warriors.
The little girl shook her head. “Sorry, Mom.” Waving one hand towards Keiko, she stated weakly, “This is Shar’s mate. He forgot to tell her about sharing water.”
The man spoke, “You represent the Candorian people now, daughter of my heart. You’re required to be dip0lomatic when meeting new people.”
Shoving her big toe along a groove in the metal floor, the girl looked sheepish. “I will, Koal. I forgot about being diplomatic.”
Keiko smiled at the couple. “Sorry, that was mostly my fault. I’m fairly ignorant of Candorian customs and Emily was just bringing me up to speed.”
The woman stepped forward. “I’m Elaine and this is my husband Koal.”
“I already heard all about him from Emily. Let me give you the rundown. He’s the best dad in the verse, tough as nails, and the insectoids don’t stand a chance against him.”
Elaine laughed. “That sounds about right.”
Emily did a rough run around them, and jerked Koal down to whisper in his ear. Within seconds, he whirled around, jerking a baton from his belt that quickly slid into a long metal shaft. Several warriors surrounded them, forcing the women and the child into a tight circle.
Keiko tried to press her way out of the circle, yelling for them not to harm her clones. The Candorian soldiers shoved her roughly back into the protective circle.
Elaine whispered, “Emily, what’s going on?”
“They’re not all flesh eaters, Mom. They have mimics and they’re hard to spot. They can look like people, the wall, or whatever they stand in front of. I saw them, but the dumbass guards you assigned to me wouldn’t listen.”
“Looks like Koal listened,” Keiko stated dryly, as they heard the sound of laser fire and agonizing screeches. Keiko was shocked that the creatures had gotten past their perimeters. She’d felt so safe attending to the wounded, never once suspecting danger was near.
Suddenly, the grouping of soldiers broke apart. Looking around, they saw several dead creatures that had been splayed open by laser fire.
“Emily, do you see any more of the mimics?”
Looki
ng around, the little girl slowly shook her head. “You can tell them if you look closely; their real eyes aren’t always where human eyes are. Also, they lose pattern around the edges sometimes. It’s like their mimicking has a hard time separating from the person image to the background they’re standing in front of. The couple I saw stood really still. I think it’s more noticeable that they’re real when they move.”
Koal spoke again, “Pass the word to our Shardon and Krylon brothers. Tell them my daughter’s report is accurate. Also let them know that the mimics appear to be defenseless. They didn’t spit venom or fight back when we opened fire on them.”
Turning his attention to Keiko, he stated matter-of-factly, “You called out for us not to harm the clones. The Shardon are members of our alliance. We’d never harm them.”
“I’m sorry. Honestly, I haven’t been in this dimension very long and I don’t know much about how things operate. I just want my people to be safe.”
“I’m aware of your situation. We’d be happy to take you to a place of safety until the fighting is over.”
Shaking her head, she stated emphatically, “I won’t leave Shar.”
“I’m told you battled these creatures for many years on your home world. What can you tell us of their weaknesses?”
“Like I told my intended, they breed fast. The insectoids adapt to whatever environment they find themselves in, and once they taste the blood of a person, they don’t seem to want anything else. When they first arrived on Earth, our scientists believed it was because some of their eggs were embedded in a meteor that crashed. It took them years to adapt to our environment. They look different from the ones here, but I could tell right away that they were the same species. The ones here look larger and more robust, maybe because they were hatched on some other planet.” Glancing at Emily, she acknowledged, “We never saw mimics on Earth. That’s something new.”
Shar Jalon’s voice filled the room. “I believe we can explain the reasoning for that. We believe they have adapted our cloning units to create a new strain of insectoids.”
Koal turned to his friend. “For what possible reason?”
“God, how can you people be so smart and so stupid at the same time?”
All eyes turned to Emily. She was still standing with her huge beetle still balanced on her hip. Waving her other hand through the air, she explained, “Insects develop the ability to mimic as a means of hiding from natural predators. You said yourself that they don’t seem to have any way of fighting back. The ones in here just stood there and let you kill them.”
Keiko frowned, as she considered the child’s words. “It could be they were hoping to create a new strain that could blend in and spy on our efforts to exterminate them.”
Elaine sighed loudly. “Or it could be that they’re attempting to make themselves more humanoid in an effort to communicate with us and make peace.”
Emily snorted her disagreement. “Nope. They’re still eating people, so that’s a dumb idea.”
Before the little girl could get scolded again, Madison’s voice joined the mix, “Sorry, but I’m going to have to agree with the short one on this.”
Emily ran over to Madison and gave her a hug with one arm, while carefully keeping the beetle’s pinchers away from the woman’s protruding belly.
Madison smiled down at the girl. “Still carting Charlie around everywhere you go, I see. I’d have thought he’d be big enough to carry you by now.”
“He’s a she, and she’s as big as she ever will get. You know all that, so stop joking around. Charlie doesn’t like it.”
“Oh, she doesn’t? Well, I’ll mind my manners then.”
Keiko looked over to see that Koal and Shar Jalon were engaged in a little discussion. When they broke apart, Shar Jalon announced calmly, “We have cleared out the Candorian vessel. Koal will stay and assist in freeing our Krylon brothers. Their prince is on the way. Once he arrives, our plan is to purge the planet below of the creatures as quickly as possible. Then we’ll return to the Sylon home world, leaving a contingent of warriors to monitor for any evidence that the infestation hasn’t been eliminated. This is a sensitive area of space as our human brides must traverse this region to reach our home world.”
Koal spoke quietly as was his normal manner. “We ask that our females stay clustered together under the watchful eye of our warriors.” Turning his gaze on Emily, he tacked on for good measure, “That means you, my daughter. I’ll not risk your safety simply because your daring, thrill-seeking nature prompts you to forget yourself. Remember that when you wander into danger, you risk the lives of the warriors assigned to protect you. I know you don’t wish to bring harm onto others.”
Casting her eyes down, she mumbled, “Yes, Father. I promise to stay right here with everyone else.”
After dropping a gentle kiss on her lips, Shar Jalon headed over to the docking rings with Koal and a large group of men. She’d become aware that the ship had moved slightly to align itself with the Krylon vessel. As soon as the docking ports opened, several Krylon warriors dematerialized.
Shar Jalon spoke, “Let me guess, your ship is overrun?”
The man smiled smugly. “We’re Krylon warriors. We easily defeated the enemy.”
Shar Jalon held up a handheld scanner. “We’re showing a total of one hundred and seventeen creatures still aboard your vessel. They appear to be concentrated in five areas of your ship.”
“We created several reinforced areas and have been stunning them and cramming them into our version of insect jail. They get really angry when locked into tight spaces.”
Koal asked succinctly, “To what end?”
“We think the venom they spit could have useful applications. Study the enemy is one of the basic principles of warfare.”
“I can’t honestly disagree with that statement.”
Koal shot him a concerned look. “We keep them on lockdown until we deal with the planet below. Then we take them to an uninhabited planet to conduct any study or testing deemed beneficial.”
“Agreed. I want them nowhere near our families.”
Chapter 13
~ Shar Jalon ~
Keiko’s Music Mix Thirteen
Walking towards his quarters aboard the Shardon vessel, images of Keiko circled in his head. Allowing his imagination to run wild, he envisioned her naked and waiting for him in his bed, or perhaps enjoying the mister in his utilitarian cleansing chamber. He didn’t know if thoughts of seeing her naked made him a bad person, but he did know that his reserved female would be in her own quarters, getting some well-deserved rest.
Clearing the planet of the creatures hadn’t proven all that difficult. The AI had scanned the planet and sent tracking droids to lead the warriors to every creature. Since they didn’t appear to have any hierarchy or leadership to organize a defense, the creatures were easily eliminated with powerful Shardon weapons.
One thing bothered him. During the entire process of scourging the insectoids, they never recovered the missing cloning equipment. Perhaps it would turn up tucked in some out of the way place on one of the vessels.
The door to his quarters automatically opened upon his approach. He saw Keiko standing in front of his settee. He smiled at her, but she didn’t respond, nor did she move to greet him. Glancing away, he tried to figure what he could have done to annoy her.
As he stepped over the threshold, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw a dark form with synthetic straps binding them into a sitting position. The person had long, darky, silken hair, like his beloved. A soft whimper told him that as impossible as it seemed, the dark form was Keiko.
His hand went for his weapon, as he pivoted around to the person standing in his main room. His blood ran cold as he realized a second set of obscure eyes blinked slowly from the creature’s shoulders.
It was a mimic and suddenly it screeched at him over and over again. He raised his laser pistol to eliminate the threat. This one did
n’t stand still and allow itself to be shot. Raising its arms, they transformed into wings. Faster than Shar Jalon could aim, it moved around the room. Always managing to stay just out of his laser range, it scrambled out the door before he could get a hit.
Bringing his com to his lips, he alerted the captain to the threat as he hurried across the room to Keiko. Kneeling, he pulled off the restrictive bands. The moment she was free, her arms slid around his neck.
“Are you injured?”
“No. I came here to wait for you and found it hiding in a corner of the room.” Swallowing hard, he could see she tried to pull herself together. Her lip trembled as she spoke, “I was here for a long time, before I saw it. It felt creepy, like someone was watching me. Then I saw movement, I think it blinked.”
“Thanks be to the gods that it didn’t harm you.”
“It kept screeching and waving its hands, like it was trying to talk or something. It scared the living daylights out of me. When I tried to reach for my katana, it freaked out and tied me up so tight that I almost couldn’t breathe.”
“You’re safe now. It seems the insectoids have something to say.”
“They don’t have anything to say that I want to hear.”
“I find it curious that the mimics never attempt to kill us. Naturally, if their screeches are a form of speech, it isn’t recognized by our linguistics bacteria.”
Keiko shook off her revulsion. “I don’t want to understand them. I can’t think of anything creepier than them talking to me while they eat me.”
“You’re safe now. Until this situation is resolved, I’ll ensure you have guards.”
Just then, the captain’s panicked voice came over the com. “Sir, we aren’t showing any insectoid life forms on the ship. Our processors haven’t been working properly though. We keep getting ghost impressions that show up for a moment or two before disappearing. The ship’s new AI is going crazy trying to figure it out. Engineering thinks it could be a malfunction in the…”
“I want you to treat each and every malfunction as a possible mimic. Track them down all over the ship. When you find them, take them prisoner and put them in stasis. They seem to be trying to communicate. Have Lar dig through any and all recordings and develop language protocols.”
Celestial Mates Complete Series Box Set (Books 1-5) (Alien SciFi Romance) Page 49