by Maia Starr
“No,” I said walking away from him. I was feeling and extreme mix of emotions. I was angry that he had left without telling me or letting me go with him. I was sad that he might get hurt or captured and I wouldn't know. Now that he was gone, I knew that I would miss him. I couldn't think about anything else but being naked in his arms again. “Come back to me, Jex, and bring my sister home,” I whispered to myself as I looked out toward the setting sun over the water.
Chapter 13
Captain Jex Kailen
Seeing Helen cry over the loss of her sister broke my heart. I did not want to see her that way. It hurt me that she was hurting. I only wanted to see her smile and to be happy. I wanted to see that brave sensual soldier that she was. So I knew I had to do something in order to find her sister.
I ordered Lieutenant Baisen to get on the transmission to find out what other Veruka were in the area. Helen had gone to take a rest. I was glad for it. She had been through a lot emotionally and physically in a short amount of time. I could handle it from here. I could find Hannah for her. I wanted to rescue her sister as a gift to her.
“Captain, there seems to be a small amount of transmission activity on the far side of the island. We cannot tell what it is. It is mostly just static. It could be one of our ships, or it could be cyborgs,” Lieutenant Baisen said as he came into my room on the ship.
“You are sure?” I asked.
“Yes, we reviewed the data over and over again, and it is coming to us in pulses. We think it is in response to the distress signal beacon that we sent out,” he said.
“Ready a ship for me with ten soldiers, I am taking one of the larger ships this time. I want to be gone within ten minutes; do not make a big fuss about it. I do not want the humans to know that I am leaving. Go now,” I said.
“Yes, Captain,” he said as he walked out.
What I meant was that I did not want Helen to know. I did not want her to go with us. She had gone through enough already and I did not want to raise her hopes that this signal could be her sister only to see her let down again. I could not see that look in her eye again, of defeat and despair. No, I would go alone with my soldiers as it should be and find out what was going on. If it were a cyborg encampment, then I did not want to put her in danger. I had already done that more than once since I met her.
A few minutes later, my ship was in the air with ten weredragon soldiers headed out across the bay to the other side. But when we were leaving Willow Springs, something caught my eye.
“There, what is that?” I said pointing along the shoreline. It was glimmering.
“Cyborgs!” A soldier shouted.
“They are headed in the direction of Willow Springs,” I said.
“What do you want to do, Captain?” he asked.
I knew that I had to get to the transmission as soon as possible because it might be gone; if it was Hannah and other Veruka then we could lose them. But I couldn't allow this band of twenty or so cyborgs to get to Willow Springs. Helen was there, and people she cared about, plus my army; I didn't want an entire war to break out.
“Let’s take them out,” I said.
“Roger that, Captain. Going in low! Get the guns ready!” he shouted.
Suddenly we were in a fight with the cyborgs. They shot their guns at us, and we dropped bombs on them each time we flew by.
“There, on the right! It's a keddle!” I shouted pointing to the large silver capsule.
“I see it. Guns!” the soldier shouted. We blasted the keddle with as many laser blasts as we could. But nothing was happening.
“It's too solid. We need to drop a bomb,” I said.
“The cyborgs are guarding it,” he said.
“We have to take it out. Once it fails, the rest of the cyborgs will follow,” I said. “Bomb it,” I said.
“Charge a bomb! Dropping!” the soldiers shouted all around me as they went to work.
Boom! The bomb landed on the keddle. It blew up. We cheered. The rest of the cyborgs became still and did not move again.
“We did it! We won! Willow Springs will be safer now. Now follow the coordinates of the transmission. The sun is setting, and it will soon be dark,” I said.
“Yes, Captain,” he said.
I was relieved. The transmission signal was still coming in, and I manage to stop the small band of cyborgs from reaching Helen at Willow Springs. Now I could try to find the clues to get me to Hannah and safely bring her back to Helen. I only hoped that this small transmission signal held some answers of who in the Veruka army took her. I only hoped that whoever it was had not taken her to Haven Brook. That human colony was very far, and I would not be able to abandon my post at Willow Springs in order to go back to Haven Brook. I would have to dispatch a smaller band to go to Haven Brook to get a message to Hannah, and that was if they had even made it if they ventured that far. It would make things more complicated, and it would only make Helen sad and in despair. I could see that being without her twin sister was crushing her. The light was slowly leaving her eyes, and I did not want to see the fire burn out inside of her. Especially if I could help it with my strength and army.
“Captain, we are coming up on the transmission. In that group of trees,” the pilot said.
I walked to the windshield and looked at the group of trees along the bank of the bay. I couldn't see anything. But then I saw a weredragon fly up into the sky. He was signaling and getting our attention. I couldn't see from this distance who it was.
“There! It is one of our own. Land on the bank,” I said.
“Yes, Captain.”
As soon as we got closer, I could see that it was General Razook. But what the hell was he doing out here? He was supposed to go south. Where was his army?
Our ship landed, and the door opened. I walked out to him. General Razook and I didn't exactly get along, but we were Veruka soldiers and Veruka soldiers stuck together no matter what the personality differences were.
“General Razook! What the hell are you doing out here? Where is your army? You are supposed to be south?” I asked.
“Jex, it is good to see you. It is a long story. We went south, but the human colony was already destroyed. King Karik told us to come north to find colonies here and disperse the virus. Things did not go as planned and we came across a human colony that was hostile. They did not want our help, and a small battle erupted.”
“I am looking for a human female named Hannah. Have you seen her? I am helping her sister find her,” I said.
“Helen? You know Helen?” I heard a voice say. I turned to the trees to see a woman walk out. She looked exactly like Helen. My shoulders dropped in relief.
“Hannah! It is you. You are the mirror image of her,” I said.
“Where is my sister? Is she safe?” she asked.
“She is at Willow Springs. I have come to find you to take you to her,” I said.
“I am so glad that she is safe,” she said.
“What are you doing out here? Where is your army?” I asked General Razook.
“We got separated in the battle. I was in a small ship that crashed here, and I engineered an emergency beacon out of the remains of the radio, what is left, that is. I have not been able to contact the rest of my army. We did not have a stationary camp, so I cannot fly to find them,” he said.
“You will come with us to Willow Springs. It is a human colony that is hospitable to having us as guests. We will find the army and transmit your location,” I said. “Pilot, get on the airwaves and see if you can find a fleet within range of here. We were not in range at Willow Springs,” I said. “Give them the coordinates to Willow Springs.”
“Yes, Captain,” he said.
“Come onto the ship. You look like hell,” I said to General Razook.
“Thank you. I have been through hell, especially with this one… Stubborn human female,” he said gesturing toward Hannah.
“I know what you mean all too well,” I said with a smile.
Cha
pter 14
Helen Maven
The hours went by, and I was a nervous wreck. There was a lot that I did not get to say to Jex. I would have told him that I know deep in my heart that I am more than just an agreement to him. I would tell him that it was obvious that he cared for me because he would not have continued to search for Hannah if he did not want to make me happy. This was the second time that this was happening to me. I didn't get to say a proper goodbye to Hannah when she left for the supply mission because I thought she would return. Now I wasn't able to say a proper goodbye to Jex either. It was driving me crazy.
“I heard the damn alien abandoned you,” I heard an annoying and familiar voice say behind me. I turned around to see Erick standing there with a black eye.
“Why won't you leave me alone, Erick? Why have you always giving me shit? I'm tired of it,” I said.
“Isn't it obvious? Because I've always had feelings for you, Hannah. I don't always know how to show you,” he said.
“Yes, your feelings have been obvious. But I thought I was obvious in telling and showing you that I do not feel the same way about you. Get the picture,” I said getting in his face.
“I don't believe that. I have always felt something between us. You were just denying your feelings,” he said.
“Yes, I am. I have been denying my feelings for a couple of days now. I should have admitted to myself and to him that I am in love with Captain Jex Kailen,” I said.
He looked at me with large eyes. “That alien scum! You too? You are a traitor to humankind. You are nothing but an alien slut,” he said.
I slapped him across the cheek. “He is more of a man than you will ever be,” I said and walked away. I felt good. I felt damn good. I had never stood up to Erick like that before because I was always scared of his power. He ran the colony, and I was always afraid that he would push me and Hannah out if I told him straight up that I did not like him. But now that wasn't going to happen. It was obvious that he was no longer in charge: that the Veruka were in charge of this human colony now.
I walked past the swimming pool that was covered in green moss around to the backside of the house where the ships were parked. I needed to find Lieutenant Baisen to see if he had heard any news. But just as I rounded the corner, I saw five ships coming toward us. I was in shock. As far as I knew, Jex had left with only one ship. Could this be the other Veruka that had taken Hannah?
I ran out to the line to stand beside everyone else looking in awe at the ships. They hovered over the colony.
“Look, there,” Lieutenant Baisen said to me pointing in the opposite direction of the five ships. One ship was coming to the colony over the water. That was my goal. My heart felt happy with joy. He was coming back. Had he found my sister?
The ship landed, and the door opened. Suddenly Hannah ran down the ramp onto the lawn.
“Hannah!” I shouted. I ran to her. Feeling her arms around me as I hugged her with everything that I had been waiting for.
“You are back. You are safe. I am so glad to see you, sister,” I said crying.
“I am so glad to see you as well. I have been so worried about you,” she said.
“I have been worried about you. You were the one that was out on the supply mission, never to return. Don't ever do that to me again,” I said pulling away from her hand and looking at her. “Are you hurt? Are you all right?” I said.
“I am fine. Just a little tired and exhausted from everything. Boy have I been on an adventure, sister,” she said.
“So have I. So much to tell you,” I said.
“And I have a lot to tell you as well,” she said as she turned back toward the ship. As she did so, a very tall Veruka with brown hair and brown eyes came out of the ship. He was smiling at her. I knew that smile all too well.
“Oh, it seems you have been on an adventure,” I said looking at her.
“Yes, he rescued me. But I rescued him right back,” she said smiling. I looked into her eyes. My sister was in love.
“So you must be the infamous Helen?” the Veruka said as he came to my side and shook my hand.
“Yes, thank you for helping my sister. I owe you everything,” I said.
“You owe me nothing. I would gladly give my life for her,” he said looking at her with admiration. I was shocked. The entire time I thought of my sister out there in the hostile environment alone, I never would've thought she was falling in love with an alien.
“Welcome to Willow Springs.”
“General Razook, at your service,” he said with a nod of his head.
Just then, a group of people crowded us, putting their hands on Hannah patting her and welcoming her back. It was at this moment that I saw Jex standing behind Hannah and Edwards looking at me with a big smile on his face. My heart felt like it was going to explode seeing him there. I ran to him and threw my arms around him.
“Thank you. Thank you. I can't thank you enough. Thank you for bringing her back to me,” I said.
“I said that I would. I will always keep my promises to you, Helen. It was worth everything just to see the smile on your face right now. I like seeing you happy,” he said.
“You do?” I asked.
“Yes, it is all that I want for you,” he said.
“And it is all that I want for you as well,” I said.
"Willow Springs!” I heard Hannah shout. I turned to her to see her standing on a chair. I was surprised.
"Although I did not complete a successful supply mission, it was only a small diversion. Because with the help of this Veruka and his fleet, they did read some abandoned houses and found an enormous amount of food!” She pointed to one of General Razook’s ships that had landed on the lawn. Veruka spilled out with boxes and boxes of food.
“In celebration, let's feast tonight! Let's have a bonfire! Let's celebrate and not be living in fear the way that we have been. It is no way to live. We deserve at least one night of happiness to pretend like Earth is as it was before the cyborgs. Let's eat!” she shouted.
I looked at her impressed. I had never seen her direct a crowd in my entire life. Whatever happened to her on her adventure had made her into a more confident woman. She looked at me and winked. I smiled. Damn, it was good to have her home. Now with two small Veruka armies, we could celebrate and light fires and be happy. We were more protected than ever. We would have the freedom to be ourselves and not be in fear, at least for one night.
An hour later, we were all feasting and having a great outdoor party, complete with wine. There were two small bonfires going. It made me think of the parties that this grand mansion probably had before the cyborg skating. I could see it all now: rich people and their extravagant parties.
I watched Hannah be happy with her Veruka. I was so happy that she had returned and was alive and well, and she was even in love. Then I remembered: she was at Willow Springs. Jex had found her for me. He had held up his end of the agreement, and I allowed him my end of the agreement. I found him standing around the fire with his lieutenant.
“May I speak with you, Captain?” I asked.
“Yes, of course,” he said playfully. I let him away.
“What can I do for you now? I will do anything,” he said.
“I wish to speak to you in private. Maybe we can go into your large ship to your living quarters,” I said. He gave me a suspicious look.
"Right this way, human female,” he said.
I followed him onto the largest ship and down the long hallway to the back of the ship. He opened the door, and I was surprised at the luxury of his dwellings. It was a very large room with a large bed, table, sitting bench, and a washroom. It was perfect.
“Now what do you need to speak of that it requires this much secrecy?” he said.
“I wish to discuss our agreement,” I said.
“Our agreement? I am listening,” he said.
“You returned my sister to me, as promised. You held up your end of the agreement. Now it is time that I hold up m
y end of the agreement,” I said taking steps toward him and putting my hands on his stomach. I felt his hard rock abs.
“Yes, your end of the agreement. How could I forget? You do owe me,” he said.
“Yes, I do, Captain,” I said as I got down to my knees in front of him.
“What are you doing, human female?” he asked as I fondled his belt.
“Take this off, Captain. I am trying to hold up my end of the agreement,” I said playfully.