by Luna Hunter
I hate to leave her like this. Sprawled out on the interrogation table, legs opened wide, dripping with my seed… so much left unfinished.
But duty calls.
I close the door behind me and rush towards the command center. Inside rages pandemonium.
Teodor is shouting commands, his voice filled with panic, which my crew is working on in a blind frenzy. All of the lights on their panels are flashing erratically. And in front of us, the surface of Moss looms up.
“Teodor, status report!” I bark.
“We’ve lost all control, sir!” he says. “The ship is moving of its own accord!”
“Impossible,” I grunt as I take my place behind the controls and try to access the ship’s database. To my anger, I am completely locked out. The ship doesn’t respond to any commands.
“When did this happen?”
“Moments ago!” Teodor says. “It happened out of nowhere! No attack, no nothing!”
“The humans?”
“Negative, sir, look!”
I glance out the window and see the human vessel in the distance. It is also being pulled towards the large green planet, seemingly suffering the same fate we are.
The planet grows bigger and bigger, until the blackness of space disappears, and the dark green surface fills the entire window.
“Prepare for emergency landing,” I growl. “Tell engineering to take the operating system offline. I’m taking her down manually.”
“M-manually?” Teodor stammers. “That’s never been done before!”
“Do it, now!” I bark.
Olivia.
She might have a clue as to what’s going on. There’s a reason the humans showed up here, after all, and I bet it has something to do with this mysterious planet.
I got consumed by lust, and forgot my main task: Interrogate, rather than inseminate, the human female.
I quickly rush back towards the interrogation room. When I open the door, Olivia is just wiggling her way back into her pants. Her shirt hangs open, the fabric torn, barely covering her naked breasts. The moment I see her naked, pale skin my cock throbs with lust once more.
Damn, Vukan. Focus.
“Moss,” I say. “What do you know?!”
She looks up at me, startled, her eyes opened wide.
“M-moss?”
“The green planet!” What do you know?!”
Olivia hesitates. Even after I’ve conquered her body, even after I’ve given her my seed and made her mine, she refuses to divulge her secrets. A part of me admires her steadfastness, yet another part feels slightly wounded.
It wasn’t just primal mating. It meant something more.
I don’t have time for this. I storm into the room, throw her over my shoulder and run back towards the command room. She yelps and punches my shoulder, but I barely feel a thing.
I place her back down on her feet when we’ve arrived. Her face is red with embarrassment, her hands clutching her torn shirt, hiding her full breasts. My crew is working in a blind frenzy, oblivious to the half-naked female in their midst.
“That,” I say, pointing at the green planet looming in front of us, “is Moss. And we’re about to crash-land.”
“Oh no,” she says, all color now draining from her face. “Oh, please god, no. Not us too.”
“What do you mean?! Tell me!”
She swallows the lump in her throat.
“W-we came here to study this p-planet, after one of our ships crashed on it,” she says, her voice shaking. “Due to a rogue AI. P-please tell me that’s not what’s happening to us?”
“It seems to be the case,” I answer. A rogue AI. That could explain our ship’s erratic behavior. Our ships don’t rely on artificial intelligence as much as the humans do, which is perhaps the reason we haven’t barreled straight into the surface yet.
“I-is that…?” Olivia asks, her voice trailing off, as she stares at the human vessel in the distance breaking through the planet’s atmosphere.
I nod.
She claps her hands in front of her mouth, tears forming the corner of her eyes.
“General, engineering confirms the operating system is down!” Teodor says.
“Good.”
I take my place behind the command panel, taking the two control sticks into my hands.
No one’s ever had to land a ZMC Destroyer completely manually before.
Today is a day of firsts.
13
Olivia
Oh god. In the distance I watch the human ship break through the atmosphere. A ball of pure heat forms around the vessel, making it appear like a comet as it barrels down towards the surface at a breakneck speed.
The contrast in emotions couldn’t be greater. One moment I had Vukan inside of me, his body pressing down on mine, our tongues intertwined as we both came down from the incredibly passionate high we experienced. I’ve never felt so close, so connected to someone.
The next moment I’m watching my crew die in a ball of fire.
I’ve read the files.
I know exactly what will happen, because I know exactly what happened to Cindy and Dusan.
The human ship will be smashed to bits. It will crash into the surface and be obliterated. Most, if not all, of the crew will die in impact.
Captain Price, all of those soldiers… we may not have gotten along, but the last thing I want to do is watch them die. Cindy and Dusan managed to survive the crash, miraculously, but such a thing doesn’t happen twice in a row.
We are also heading towards the surface, but we’re not going nearly as fast as the human ship is. Vukan is sitting behind the controls, sweat dripping down his brow, a look of pure concentration on his face as he wrestles with the two control sticks in front of him.
The Zoran who walked in on us stands next to me. Teodor is his name, I think. I still have my arms crossed over my chest, hiding my naked breasts, but considering what’s happening in front of us it seems almost silly.
Who cares about somebody seeing my boobs if we’re all about to die?
Teodor doesn’t have eyes for me. He’s watching the general work with a look of awe.
“What’s he doing?” I ask.
“Taking the ship down manually,” he answers. “Every system is down. It’s just him now. It’s never been done before.”
“Can he do it?”
“If anyone can do, it’s Vukan,” Teodor answers.
Not a completely reassuring answer. A light bulb goes off in my head. There’s still a way for us to save Price and the crew!
“You need to use the tractor beam!” I blurt out.
Vukan doesn’t look up, his eyes glued to the controls.
“What?” he grunts.
“The tractor beam!” I repeat, pointing at the human ship. “If you don’t save them, they’ll all die!”
“We need all the energy we have to land safely,” Teodor interjects. “We have nothing left to spare.”
“You can’t be serious!” I say, glaring at the Zoran. “You are condemning them to death if you don’t act!”
“We could be condemning ourselves if we do,” Teodor answers.
“It was you who disabled their systems,” I say. “You took down the shields, the weapons, the engines, the controls. Everything. If you hadn’t done that, maybe they wouldn’t be about to crash!”
“You don’t know if that’s true,” Teodor says.
“You don’t know if it’s false, either,” I reply.
Vukan glances up for a single moment, his piercing blue eyes finding mine.
“Please,” I whisper.
If he has a heart, if he’s more than a brutal warlord, he’ll do this. For me. For them. If our moment meant anything to him, he has to do this for me.
He turns his attention back to the controls without uttering a single word. For a brief moment I think he’s about to ignore me, and a pit of despair forms in my stomach. However, the next moment I see a purple ray of pure energy shooting from the Zo
ran mothership towards the human ship.
“Yes!” I scream.
Teodor curses under his breath, but he doesn’t dare to question his superior.
The purple beam of energy latches on to the human ship. My eyes are focused on the scene in front of me. I don’t even dare to blink.
Despite the beam making contact, the human ship doesn’t slow down.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “Nothing’s happening!”
“They’re going too fast,” Vukan grunts. “I can’t hold them.”
“No,” I cry. “No!”
“Hold on!” he says. “We’re about to enter the atmosphere as well!”
The entire ship starts rattling and shaking, the vision through the window being reduced to nothing as we’re engulfed in flames. I lose sight of the human ship, and a violent tremor throws me to the floor.
I’m caught before my head hits the floor by a big, blue hand.
Vukan.
“Hold on,” he growls, turning his eyes back to the controls.
I wrap my arms around his leg, holding on for dear life as the ship seems to want to tear itself apart. It’s shaking so hard I’m afraid the nuts and bolts are going to unscrew themselves.
“Prepare for impact,” Vukan thunders. “Everyone, strap in!”
The crew members all strap themselves into their seats, but I have nowhere to go.
The general glances down at me.
“You okay down there?”
I nod.
“Hold on,” he says. “It’s almost over.”
I look up at him. He’s got a frown on his face, sweat dripping his brow. It’s nearly the same intense look he had when he was disciplining me.
My life is in his hands now.
“Prepare for impact,” he says. “In three, two, one…”
14
Vukan
The surface looms up in front of me threateningly.
I’ve crashed on alien planets before, but only with cruisers and shuttles. Small, lightweight, agile ships, that you could land in a clearing with some luck and ability.
Never have I had to land a billion-pound mothership before.
We’re so close I can see the individual leaves on the trees. I can see animals scampering in the swamps, glancing up at the metal monstrosity barreling down on them. The landscape is marshland for as far as the eye can see.
No mountains, luckily.
Branches hit the underside of the ship, snapping like twigs. I press down on the controls, taking us towards the ground. Here goes.
The moment we make contact the entire ship trembles violently. The water from the swamp mixes with dirt and splashes up tens of feet high, raining back down on us, clogging up the windshield.
We slide along for several hundred yards, carried forward by our momentum. For a brief few seconds I hold my breath. I can’t see what’s happening, I can’t control the ship any longer. It’s out of my hands.
All we can do is hope.
When the ship comes to a complete stop, I instantly reach for my com.
“Engineering,” I say, “is the reactor stable?”
After a few moments my com crackles with static. “Yes sir. Reactor is unscathed.”
Only now do I exhale. We seem to have made it, without taking too much damage.
I turn around and see everyone is still strapped into their seats, looking at me for answers. I can still feel Olivia’s arms clutched around my leg, her body trembling with fear.
“We did it!” I say.
The room erupts in cheers, and there are smiles all around. Olivia climbs to her feet, and there’s even a relieved smile on her beautiful visage. She raises her two fits in the air in victory, and when she does so her shirt hangs open, her beautiful, round breasts on full display.
I can’t resist.
I lean forward and bury my face in her breasts, my mouth finding a nipple. She yelps and jumps back, slapping me right in the face.
“How d-dare you,” she stammers as she covers up, her face red.
“You are mine,” I answer. “Remember?”
She glares and turns her back towards me, but I saw the mischievous glint in her eyes.
I know she loved it.
“Teodor,” I say. “Prepare a search party.”
“Yes, sir,” he answers.
I place my hand on Olivia’s lower back. “Let’s see if we can find our human friends.”
She turns back to me, her cheeks still flushed, but there’s a hint of a smile on her face.
“Okay. But I need to change first.”
“Why?” I grin, my eyes scanning her frame. “I like you way you are.”
“Yeah, of course you do. Quit playing me with, Vukan.”
She taps her foot, waiting for my answer. I could do this all day, but unfortunately we have a ship to find and a crew to save.
“Very well. Follow me.”
I guide her to the armory, where I command one of my subordinates to adjust one my crew’s outfits to her size. Fifteen minutes later she’s wearing a black overall. The outfit still can’t hide her curves, however.
Teodor meets me at the walkway. Rufus and four more of my warriors are waiting for me, fully decked out in their gear.
“Excellent. Teodor, try to get the ship operational once more while we go find the human ship.”
Teodor leans in close, glancing at Olivia. “Sir, do we need to bother with the humans? They will only slow us down.”
“They have been here before, Teodor. Their knowledge could be of use to us. And besides, a true Zoran never leaves anyone behind. Not even humans.”
He nods swiftly. “Yes, sir.”
I take in a deep breath. The air on each planet is slightly different. Moss is a swamp-like planet, with nothing but water and high grass as far as the eye can see. Directly to the north I see a plume of smoke. Most likely our target.
“Let’s head out,” I say, pointing in the direction. My soldiers move without a word, trudging into the high grass.
We walk in silence for a moment. The grass reaches up to my midriff, which means Olivia can barely see a thing. After watching her struggle for a few minutes I decide that it’s easier to just carry her.
I grab her waist and lift her up, plumping her down on my shoulders.
“What are you doing?!” she says. “I don’t need your help!”
“Are you sure?” I ask. “You look like you were having trouble.”
“Put me down, right now!”
“No.”
“What?”
“No.”
She tries to squirm her way off me, but I hold her thighs in place with my hands. Olivia tries to pry my fingers loose, but my grip is much too strong for her. After a minute she gives up, grumbling.
“You can be our lookout,” I say. “What do you see from up there?”
She sighs deeply. “More grass.”
“Thank you,” I answer. “For a second I feared we were about to run out.”
“And smoke, in the north.”
“Are we headed in the right direction?”
“No, we need to go a little to the left.”
We follow her directions as she guides us through the swamp. I like the feeling of her legs wrapped around my neck. I want to keep her as close to me as possible.
“So, Olivia, you have me at a disadvantage,” I say. “You seem to be familiar with this planet, while I am not. It seems we have to depend on each other.”
“Seems that way,” she answers.
“Tell me what you know about his planet. For the sake of your crew.”
“I guess it can’t hurt to tell you now,” she mumbles. “Okay. A few days ago a human female, Cindy Knox, lost power in nearby sector. She was picked up by a group of Zoran Special Forces. They crash-landed on this planet, much like we did — only their ship was torn apart.”
“Zoran Special Forces?” I frown. “Are you sure?”
“According to the Federation, that’s what happe
ned. I’m just a scientist who got drafted into this, I don’t have all the answers.”
Hm. The Special Forces are a small strike team that only partake in highly classified, extremely dangerous missions. If they were here… than my King would have known about this.
Why didn’t he tell me?
“And then what happened?”
“An escape pod managed to survive the blast, and they managed to fix it… with the help of the local wildlife.”
“What now?”
She clears her throat. “There’s a species of animals indigenous to the swamps called Ypes, after the sound they make. Small, highly intelligent ape-like beings who are skilled in stealth.”
“Hm. For your human senses, perhaps,” I growl. “Nothing escapes my attention.”
“Really?” Olivia asks. “Alright, how many Ypes do you see now?”
I stop dead in my tracks, and my squad stops with me. I sniff — but I don’t smell any animals.
“None,” I answer.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Why?” I growl. “How many do you see?”
“I’m not telling,” she says. “Your fine Zoran senses don’t need my help, remember?”
Rufus dares to chuckle, but a single raises eyebrow shuts him up again.
More training is in order. I can’t have the human female undermining my authority…
15
Olivia
With every step Vukan takes the plume of smoke gets closer, and my heart grows heavier. Thick, black smoke billows into the clear sky, casting the marshland in shadows.
I pray that they’re okay, but I feel the doubt setting in, slowly but surely. The heavy pit in my stomach grows stronger by the moment.
Is there something we missed? How did this happen?
Vukan raises his hand, and his squad stops instantly. He lowers me to the ground and readies his trident.
It’s a big weapon, as tall as he is, a golden snake coiling its way around the pole and up towards the three prongs.