by K. D. Jones
“Back away King Kong! Don’t touch her again!” Jaxon yells at him.
The other women who were also having communication issues, noticed the confrontation and came to help Jaxon and Cassie. One of the women with really short blond hair pointed to Cassie’s stomach and Jaxon knew what she was silently asking. Jaxon nodded yes. The women formed a protective circle with Cassie in the center.
Two men tried to infiltrate the protective circle. Jaxon took them down to the ground within seconds. When she glanced back up it seemed that everything was in slow motion. Two more large men ran into the ballroom and screeched to a halt upon seeing her. Her eyes locked onto the darkest pair of eyes she had ever seen. Wow. Just … wow.
The newly arrived men yelled in gibberish. Jaxon tried to keep her mind on protecting Cassie. But the taller man kept drawing her eyes to him. There was something about him that called to her. She shook her head trying to keep focus. They were up to something.
The men surrounded the circle. This was it, Jaxon thought. They were going to make their move. She kept her eyes on the new big guy.
“Don’t fight them Cass.” She yells to her friend.
That was all she had time to say before the men surged forward grabbing each woman. Jaxon admired the way they timed it just right. It was a perfect strategic move. The new big guy grabbed her before she had a chance to maneuver out of his hold. He was fast. She was pulled up against a large, muscular body. Oh God, he smelled divine. Like woods, rain, and man. She saw the other newcomer make a move towards Cassie.
“No. Don’t touch her jackass!”
“Sa Sa talle.” A deep male voice whispered in her ear. The timbre of his voice sent shivers down Jaxon’s spine.
More large men ran into the ballroom. They wore something that resembled smocks. They gave each of the restrained women a shot in the neck with some kind of syringe thing. When one of the men came to do the same to her, she struggled to get free.
“Key mile” The huge man that held her said as the other man gave her a needless shot. It felt like air pressure against her skin.
“Sa Sa talle, key mile.” The big man says this over and over until the words start to make sense. “No no female, be still.”
“What did you say?” She demanded. She wiggled her bottom against his front in an attempt to free herself.
“I said, be still female!” The big guy responded with a raspy voice. He lowered his head to take a whiff of her intriguing scent. He became aroused.
Jaxon feels his male response to her against her backside. “What the hell do you think you are doing? Let me go!” She kicks back at his shin for good measure. The big man grunts and then releases her.
Prime Commander KydEL lets go of the female warrior and rubs his chin. “Damn female.” They stare at each other for a few seconds. And then the commander yells, “Warriors Report!”
All the men scramble to take positions in front of the Commander. “The breeding female is being taken back to the temporary medic room. No injuries to report Commander.” One of the warriors report.
Commander? As in THE Prime Commander, head of the alien military force of Katiera. And she just kicked his shin. Oh shit!
The Commander didn’t look at the female warrior as he tried to get his focus back. He still felt the female’s bottom pressed against his front. She was a damn distracting female. He ordered his males to take the women to a room for interrogation.
One of the warriors steps up to the Commander. He is followed by one of the women with very short flaxen hair. “Excuse me Commander. This female says she is a human medic. She asks that she be allowed to check on breeding female. I request permission to take her to the temporary medic room.”
The Commander nodded, “Permission granted.”
Jaxon was distracted by what the other man said. Breeding? Did that mean they knew Cassie was pregnant? Did they plan to turn her over to the EWG?
Jaxon and the rest of the women were shuffled into a smaller conference room that had a table and chairs in the center. They each took a seat and waited to find out their fate. Two Katieran men stood guard at the door.
Twenty minutes later the door opened and a human woman tall, slim with golden brown hair came into the room. She was followed by the large Katieran man from the ballroom. The human woman introduced herself.
“My name is Lindsey Carreli. I am the Katieran Legal Advisor for Earth Relations.” She turns to point towards the Commander. “This is Prime Commander KydEL. We want to find out what happened in the ballroom today.”
All the women started talking at one time trying to explain themselves. Jaxon couldn’t take her eyes off the Commander. He had the darkest eyes she had ever seen. They were almost black with gold pupils which all Katierans had. Both strange and beautiful. Hypnotizing. She was so distracted that she didn’t hear the question that the Legal Advisor asked her.
“Sorry. What did you say?” Jaxon asked.
Lindsey smiled. She had she caught the looks that went on between the Commander and the brunette in fatigues. “I asked whether you were with the EWG military team that will be traveling to Katiera.”
Jaxon nodded, “Yes.”
The Commander approaches. “Is this how the warriors for the EWG behave?” He demands as he breathes in her scent.
Jaxon stands up and gets right into his face. “No, but this is how I deal with overgrown walking muscle heads that like to bully everyone around them!” She proceeds to give the second most powerful man on the planet of Katiera, the Bird.
Chapter 2
Jaxon was grateful that her plan to help Cassie worked out. The Katieran Prime Leader RendEL offered Cassie political asylum. This allowed Cassie to leave Earth and escape possible prosecution by the EWG. Jaxon was able to see Cassie one more time before they traveled separately up to the Katieran transport ship that orbited the Earth.
The transport ship was too big to land on the planet. Katierans used it mainly for space travel. Smaller shuttles were used to transport people from the planet to the awaiting transport ship.
Jaxon was in awe of the silver spherical shuttle. It was about the size of a minivan. She asked the pilot, a Lieutenant SilAS, a ton of questions about the flight abilities and the control panel buttons. The pilot offered to let Jaxon sit in the co-pilot’s seat; she practically jumped across the other passengers to get into the seat.
The lift off was smooth, she barely felt anything. The shuttle had viewing screens that were used like windows. The images from outside of the shuttle were displayed on the viewing screens. Jaxon watched as the Earth slowly shrunk until it became a small blue ball, surrounded by stars.
“So beautiful.” Jaxon whispers.
“Yes, you are.” The pilot says.
Jaxon peeked over at the man beside her. He stared at her with a gleam in his eyes. It made her blush. She was not used to having a man, a good looking man, look at her so intently. She never knew what to say when men complimented her.
Jaxon considered her appearance to be average. She had dark brown hair that came down to the middle of her back. It would never stay curled no matter what she did to it. She usually kept it in a ponytail or a braid. Her eyes were a chocolate brown. She was 5’6” tall. The only thing Jaxon thought was nice about her was her skin tone. It was a nice olive color that easily tanned golden in the sun. She smiled remembering all the times Cassie complained that come summertime, she turned into a lobster while Jaxon turned into a brunette Malibu Barbie doll.
She ignores the sexual interest in Lieutenant SilAS’s eyes. She points at an object in the distance. “Is that the transport ship?”
“Yes, Katieran Transport 220.” SilAS enters coordinates into the control panel. Jaxon watches him closely, memorizing everything he does. She could hardly wait to fly one of these babies herself.
Jaxon looked back at the other passengers. Four of her team members were on board with her and the other 5 members of her team were coming on the next shuttle. In all, there we
re 10 women from similar areas of the EWG military; Army, Navy, Marines, Air force, and Reserves. Since she had the highest rank among them, she would be their leader in this venture.
She wasn’t sure if any of the others on her team had been approached secretly by the EWG. She still didn’t like the idea of spying on the Katierans. They seemed genuinely friendly and not to mention … hot as hell. The Air Force had always been good to her, so her loyalties were hard for her to ignore.
She had joined the military right out of high school, when she was only 18 years old. It was really hard for her at first. She had always had a problem with authority figures. And boot camp, kicked her ass. She went in hoping to get flying experience and wait the 3 years until Cassie graduated from high school so that they could go off to college together. What she found was that not only did she adjust to authority figures; she rose quickly up in the ranks and became the authority figure. She was good at it, the fighting and the flying.
Jaxon had changed physically as well. When she graduated from high school she was about 135 pounds and had never exercised outside of gym class. After boot camp, she was 15 pounds lighter and a toned fighting machine. And once she got in the pilot’s seat of a plane, no one could touch her. Her initial plan to stay in the military for 3 years to earn her GI bill and wait for Cassie to graduate, turned into 10 years. She moved up through the ranks to that of Captain.
Jaxon watched SilAS as he maneuvered the ship into the docking bay of the transport ship. He was clearly an experienced pilot. She gave him a shy smile before she turned in her seat to let her team know that they were still on point.
Prime Commander KydEL stood on the enclosed upper balcony that overlooked the docking bay. He didn’t know why he felt so anxious. He squeezed his hands into fists and then released them. His heartbeat sped up the moment the female warrior’s shuttle landed. Damn female.
He watched as the shuttle door opened. The other females unloaded. His breath caught as soon as she came out. Jaxon’s hair shown bright with dark brown strands mingled with gold strands. He observed her as she took in her surroundings. She didn’t see him even though she gazed up towards the balcony several times. He kept himself to the shadows.
The pilot, Lieutenant SilAS, touched Jaxon’s shoulder to get her attention. Kyd growled. He didn’t understand where these possessive feelings came from. But he definitely did not like the other male near the female or touching her. He watched the interaction between the two. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hear anything.
Jaxon was taken aback by Lieutenant SilAS. He had asked if she would like to take a private flight with him. The pilot in her was screaming YES, but the woman in her was hesitant. She wanted the flight time. However, it was clear to her that the Lieutenant wanted to do a lot more than take the shuttle for a spin. Jaxon wasn’t experienced with men despite the way she talked. He seemed nice enough and was well built. But he didn’t make her heart race like the Commander.
“I will keep your offer in mind.” Jaxon gives him with a warm smile.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She felt like someone was staring at her. She turned around slowly trying to see who it was. There were people running around but no one seemed to pay any attention to her. The balcony had grabbed her attention. She thought she saw a slight movement, but it could just be her imagination. Oh well. She turned to follow her team as they were led away.
Kyd breathes a sigh of relief that the female does not see him watching her. He hits his Comm link. “Second Lieutenant, make sure that Lieutenant SilAS is kept busy on the active roster for the next 2 weeks.”
“Yes Commander.” The unseen Lieutenant responds.
He hoped that 2 weeks would be enough time for the pilot to lose interest in the female warrior, or maybe he would. By the uncomfortable fit of his pants, it was going to be hard on him.
As the women were taken to their rooms, Jaxon observed the transport ship. The color theme was gray and silver for everything. Hadn’t these people ever heard of color, as in blue, red or green? The layout was a cross between a naval ship and something from a science fiction flick. What worried Jaxon the most was how big the transport ship was. It was going to be hard locating Cassie.
Jaxon’s team was assigned standard crew member quarters. The doors, which were kept open, operated like pocket doors. Each room had two sets of bunk beds. Jaxon and her second shared a room. It was nicer than EWG military living. Every few rooms shared a communal shower.
“What are these?” One of the navy girls asks. She picks up some kind of tablet that looks similar to an IPAD.
The ‘liaison’ escorting them around answers, “These are digital tablets. They are similar to your laptop computers but have much more functionality. Each of you will have your own digital tablet with your training schedules already programmed into them.”
Cool. Jaxon picks up a tablet and plays around with it. She wonders if you can get YouTube. A few clicks and drags later she is able to pull up YouTube. Cool. She is surprised to find that she can log into her personal e-mail. However, it doesn’t let her send out any messages. Figures.
“You will be able to log into your personal intranet correspondence, but for security reasons you will not be able to send out messages until we reach Katiera.” The liaison adds.
Of course not. Jaxon put the tablet back down on the table and browsed the room. She couldn’t help herself, she was suspicious by nature. Everything seemed too good to be true.
The liaison went on to explain that everyone meets for meals 3 times a day at Morning Meal, Midday Meal, and Evening Meal. They were all expected to share meals in the large Meal Room. When he finished going over his little introductory tour, he gave them 20 minutes to settle their stuff before meeting in front of Jaxon’s room. He, then, showed them to their first assignment.
Kyd looks at his brother, Prime Leader RendEL, walking around acting irrational for no reason. “What is wrong with you?”
Ren’s response was a growl and a frustrated, “Nothing!”
“Fine, act like a crazy person. I’ve got better things to do.” He storms off leaving his brother to suffer whatever is bothering him alone. He suspects Ren’s odd behavior has something to do with the breeding female.
Kyd was determined that he would not to let some female turn him into a blathering idiot like his brother. No matter how attractive she was. He would have more control over his emotions.
As Kyd walked towards the engine rooms, he checked his digital tablet for an update on the EWG military exchange team. They reported for their first assignment over an hour ago. They were not a standard first assignment, but it would serve their purposes.
The engine rooms were on the lower levels of the transport ship. They were like two large warehouses with pipes running all along the walls and ceiling.
Kyd stopped just inside the first engine room and stood beside the lead lieutenant. “Report Lieutenant.”
The lieutenant jumped to attention. “Commander KydEL. The females … I mean … female warriors have attempted to clean the floors of the anti-gravity chamber.”
“I take it that they have been unsuccessful?” The Commander asks trying to keep the mirth from his voice.
The lieutenant chuckled. “Yes sir. They have been unsuccessful with a bit of a bruising.” He led the way to the anti-gravity chamber. He heard other males laugh and call out instructions to the females.
The anti-gravity chamber was used for many purposes. The engineers used it to help train themselves to on how to repair the ships from the outside while in space. They also used it for testing new engineering parts. It was a round cylinder dome with glass walls that reached almost floor to ceiling. There were fans all throughout that helped to duplicate weightlessness.
The females were all inside the cylinder floating around sporadically back and forth, up and down. None of them seemed to be able to reach the floors, which they were supposed to be cleaning. Kyd tried to hold back his own laughter as he w
atched the females. He zeroed in on a very nice ass currently facing him. He knew that ass instinctively. It belonged to the female that had been plaguing him, Captain Jaxon Malone
As if she knew he was there watching her, Jaxon whipped her head around to lock eyes with him. Damn. The female was beautiful, even floating all over the place and out of control. She made his body react to her like no other.
Jaxon was pissed. She had grown up in the foster care system going from one home to another. She had to stand up for herself against bullies in school. With every dangerous mission she took with the Air Force, she proved herself. Hazing was nothing new to her. But come on! The Katieran people were supposed to be these advanced beings from another galaxy. They had nothing better to do than travel hundreds of galaxies to punk a bunch of women?
Jaxon turned her attention back to her team. She felt anger build inside of her. She had been excited for the opportunity to learn from the Katieran people. But it was clear to her now, they saw her team as a joke. She straightened her shoulders and yelled out for her team to turn her way, which they did. Even the one that was currently floating upside down twirled in her direction.
“Jones, Jessup and Connors leap frog to me now. Lyons and Taylor hold together on that side and prepare to catch me if I go too far. The rest of you stabilize yourselves.” She yells out her commands.
The first 3 women were able to pull one another forward until they were beside Jaxon. They formed a sort of floating pyramid with Jaxon on the top. They catapulted her towards the door of the anti-gravity chamber. It took a little bit of effort but Jaxon was able to grasp the handle and slide the door open. Stupid men didn’t bother locking it because they never thought Jaxon’s team would get near it.
Jaxon opened the door to the anti-gravity chamber and attempted to pull herself out. This was extremely tough to do. The gravity from inside the chamber was trying to suck her back in. After a few minutes of strenuous effort on her part, she was finally able to haul herself out of the chamber. She rolled onto the floor and tried to catch her breath.