Rescued By The Alien Warrior: A Sci Fi Alien Romance

by Leia Gray

My fingers finally give way and I’m falling, flying, and...

  Oof!

  I slam into the solid wall of the shuttle, closed just in time.

  “Air pressure and gravity stabilized,” a robotic voice announces, and I hit the ground hard.

  My head spins and every joint in my body cries out in pain, but I’m alive! I can’t believe it. I roll over onto my side with a moan and check the room. All the furniture and trinkets are gone. All the art on the walls lays shattered on the floor or floating through the expanse. Krevith is dead, thrown to the elements. The tycoon, too.

  All is quiet. All is still.

  And then there’s Darvok.

  He lays slumped on the floor, draped over a pile of rubble. He’s not moving, and there’s a bloody gash across his forehead.

  “No,” I whisper and push myself into a crawl. My arms and legs scream at me to stop, but I claw my way through the rubble. My own injuries don’t even register. I have to get to him.

  “Darvok,” I mutter, trying to roll him over. “Come on, get up…”

  He turns his head, only barely. I let out a breath of relief. His eyes flutter open and he groans, his hands flying to the gash at his forehead. Purple hands come away bloody. He blinks a few times, squinting at me.

  “Liana?” He coughs.

  “I’m here,” I promise him. I take his bloodstained hands and squeeze them, letting my warmth and energy flow across our bond. “I’ve got you.”

  He sucks in a breath and his eyes clear. “He’s gone.” Darvok’s muscles let go and he slumps to the floor, still breathing heavy. “He’s finally…gone…”

  “We did it, Darvok,” I whisper, then I bend down to kiss his forehead.

  Just then, a wailing alarm sounds through the cabin and bathes us in red light.

  “Shit,” Darvok mutters, groaning when I help him to his feet. “We gotta get out of here.”

  “Let’s go.” I take his hand, and we run.

  22

  Liana

  We rush through the shuttle, and even though alarms blare around us, I have to admit, I feel alive.

  “This way!” Darvok yells, and yanks me around the corner. There’s a hatch at the end of the hall marked ‘escape pods for emergency only’.

  “This is as much of an emergency as any, don’t you think?” I ask, shrugging.

  “You’re right about that.” He pats me on the back and squeezes my hand. There’s that rush of energy again. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, and I’m not sure I want to. “Let’s go,” he says and we’re rushing off toward the escape pods.

  All but one has been deployed; just our luck. Darvok presses a series of buttons on the console and the hatch slides open, revealing a pretty cramped little pod designed to take us who knows where.

  “Ladies first,” he says, gesturing me inside. I got to say I’m not wild about sitting in another cramped-up compartment, but I hear footsteps echoing in the distance, and that means more guards are coming. We’ve got to get out of here while we still can. I know I’m not planning to get captured again. I’ve had enough of that now.

  I crawl into the small hold and into one of the two marked seats, pulling the leather restraints over my lap. Darvok is still messing with the controls and the footsteps are growing louder now. Why isn’t he joining me?

  “Come on,” I scream at him. “They’re coming!”

  But he draws his weapon and faces down the advancing intruders.

  Stupid warrior.

  I watch in horror as a couple of them fall to the floor injured or dead, but they’re still coming. More of them. A bullet whizzes off the side of the pod and I smell something burning.

  “Come on!” I yell again, letting all the emotion out into my voice. Then it happens again. The slow, mysterious time dilation.

  This is getting super weird. I watch with shock as the intruders advance on us in slow motion. Darvok ducks another bullet and lunges to the left, but he doesn’t have time to see what I see.

  “Stubborn alien,” I grumble, and lean out of the pod to grab his wrist. Time speeds up just in time for him to fall into the pod with me, and before he can resist, I slam my fist into the launch button.

  There’s a huge gust of air, the sound of some kind of mechanical whirring, and then I’m thrown against the back of my seat as the pod is jettisoned off into space. It’s not long before our attackers are nearly dots in the distance, and we’re speeding through space on a course to who knows where.

  But we are alive. And that’s what matters for now.

  I sink down in the chair, all of the adrenaline and energy finally wearing off. I feel heavy. So heavy. It’s like all my limbs are made of lead and I can barely lift them anymore. You know what I need? A nap. A week-long nap, at this point.

  I turn around when Darvok calls to me.

  “Liana,” he says, finally opening his eyes. “You’re okay.”

  “We’re okay.” But somehow, it doesn’t feel that way. Even though we’re safe now, and we’re drifting through space, something’s still nagging at my gut.

  The way he looked when he bounded in the door and pointed the gun at Krevith.

  The way he said my name. The way he called me his.

  This one is mine, he’d said.

  Didn’t that sound just like all the other men that wanted to claim me as a trophy? Was Darvok really different after all?

  I try not to think about these things, but the further we get out into space, the gravity of it surrounds me. I definitely felt something that night with the ore when we mated. And the stone definitely seems to respond to me, as well. Not to mention the way that I seem to be able to affect time in some strange mystical way. All of it pointed to me and Darvok truly being fated mates.

  But did I want that?

  That was the part I wasn’t sure about.

  “We’re heading to a station not far from here,” Darvok tells me, pointing at a reading on the console. “It’s safe enough for now, and we can refuel and get a better ship to get back to my planet.”

  I huff out a breath. “What makes you think I’m coming with you?”

  Darvok stares at me, shocked. “We’re mates.” He says the words slowly, as if he wasn’t sure he understood me.

  “Haven’t you considered that maybe I want to make my own decision?” I stare down at my feet. “When I left my planet, it was one of the first real decisions I’ve ever made in my life. Look where it got me, sure.” I stutter out a little laugh and roll my eyes. “All this time I’ve been hunted like an animal. Tossed from man to man like some piece of meat, like some trophy to be sold and treasured. I need to figure out what I’m doing here. And I need to figure out where I’m going after this.”

  Darvok frowns and turns away. We spend the rest of the shuttle ride in silence.

  23

  Darvok

  I can’t figure out what I have done wrong. I saved her, didn’t I? I thought that’s what she wanted. I felt the pull of the ore just as much as she did, if not more. And now she’s saying she doesn’t want to stay with me?

  Humans. Can’t understand them.

  In my clan, the women would be delighted to be called a possession. To be claimed by one of us. It was the highest sort of honor. But apparently humans have a different expectation. And I’m going to have to learn what it is if things are going to work out between us.

  The pod docks at the nearest safe station, and Liana exits without a word. Fair enough. She’s got to figure things out for herself, just like she said. I just hope she doesn’t stray too far.

  On the way over, we split up Krevith’s purse between both of us. I know she has enough now to get off this rock and go back home if that’s what she really wants, and as much as it pains me to see her go, I know that it’s the right thing to do. Soon, she is lost in the throng of bustling people and aliens from all over the galaxy, and I’m left alone.

  I try to reach out to her with my telepathy, but there’s still only static. I just
wanted to tell her not to stray too far. But even that didn’t work. I know the telepathy between us will take time to grow, and it’s totally possible that Liana herself is blocking things off on her end. I wouldn’t blame her.

  I look around the bustling station and realize I don’t really know what to do next. I spent so long tracking Krevith down, making that my entire life mission, that I don’t know any different.

  Glittering stands with neon lights call to me from every direction and a slender green-skinned woman sidles up to me with a ravenous grin.

  “We don’t get your kind around here very much,” she says in her most sultry voice. The woman blinks unthinkably long eyelashes at me, and I have to take a few steps away.

  “Come on,” she whines. “The prowess of your people is legendary, after all.”

  “Not today. Sorry.” I pull away and lose myself in the crowd.

  I follow the stream of people and my footsteps lead me to a small dive bar called Marley’s. Creatures of all types chatter and share drinks and games. Some of them even gamble, by the looks of it. But right now, all I need is a drink.

  I sit down at the bar and stare at the bartender, who’s back is turned to me. This must be Marley. He is wearing an apron, but not much else. When he turns, I see the multiple stalks of his eyes all focused on me.

  “Rathian,” he says in surprise. “You’re a long way from home.”

  “Tell me about it.” I sink into one of the rickety barstools.

  “What will it be?” he asks, leaning over the bar. “Ale? Water? Or maybe something a little stronger...”

  “Stronger,” I reply, and Marley gives me a nod. At least, what I think is a nod. Its strange tentacle eyestalks just kind of wave in my direction, and then he turns to the back of the bar.

  He drops a clear liquid into a spherical glass and swirls it around a little, dropping a few berries into the mixture. Last but not least, he adds a swizzle stick that turns the mixture an electric blue color. When he turns to me, the cocktail is positively sparkling.

  “This should fix you right up,” he says, setting it down on the bar. “I’ve seen your type before, you know. I can always tell when someone’s having lady problems, and buddy, you’ve got it written all over your face.”

  I stare up at him. “I’m not that obvious, right?” and here I thought I was holding it together pretty well.

  “I see a lot of patrons come and go. This is one of the Hub Stations of the galaxy after all. I’ve seen a lot of things, and I’ve seen a lot of people. Let’s just say I have experience.”

  I open my mouth to say something else but another bar goer calls to him and he turns away from me, leaving me with my drink.

  I stare at it for a few moments and give it a sniff. It smells like fruit and life and happiness somehow. I’ve heard there are some pretty crazy cocktails out here on the Hub Stations, but I’ve always been too busy to try them.

  Lady problems. Just who did he think he was? I tilt the glass backwards and the cool liquid flows down my throat. It’s surprisingly refreshing. The taste of alcohol is there, of course, but there’s something else too. I stare into the crystal glass, marveling at the blue sparkles within. It has the sweetness of berries but the crisp tang of herbal roots we make tea from on my planet. I never thought the combination would be very good before, but this cocktail is bringing me around.

  It’s not long before the warmth starts to gather in my belly and my cup is nearly empty. Marley returns, wiping his hands on an old rag.

  “Downed it already? Must be worse than I thought.” He grabs the glass and moves to refill it. I don’t even have to ask. “Why don’t you tell old Marley what’s going on. It’s practically part of my job, you know, listening to people’s stories. Some might say I don’t know much, I don’t amount to much, just ’cause I work as a bartender on a Hub Station. But they don’t know what they’re talking about. This is really the best place to get information, after all. I can learn from the whole galaxy and I don’t have to leave this building.”

  Not that I really feel like talking, but I decide to oblige him anyway.

  “There’s a girl,” I start.

  “Course there is.” Marley nods and places the refilled drink in front of me. “Now what about her? She leave you? Run off with someone else?”

  “Not so much as that. It’s just... I feel like I’ve done something wrong, and I’m not sure what it is. I don’t even know how to fix it.”

  I looked over the edge of my glass at Marley. “You ever hear of anything like that?”

  Marley gives me a knowing smile and gestures for me to come closer. “What’s the last thing she said to you? Before she ran off?”

  I stroke my chin, trying to remember. Wait a second, I didn’t even tell him that she ran off. I sigh and hide my face in my hands. “I rescued her from some very rough men. They were going to do... well, bad things to her. We mated under the light of my peoples’ stone. We had a connection, a spiritual one. I’m sure the gods have ordained it but...”

  “You ever stop to ask what she thinks?” He says it so casually.

  I sit there for a few moments, stirring my drink. Surely I had, right? But the more I think about it, the more I can’t remember actually asking her. She consented to the mating that night, but after that?

  “Sounds like you’ve got your answer,” Marley says. He takes my now empty glass and washes it out. “Relationships take two people to work. Sometimes more, I suppose. But you need to find this girl, if you really care about her. Don’t put so much stock in faith through the gods or whatever it is you’re relying on. Talk to her like a person. Find out what she needs. Then allow her the choice.”

  When he says it like that, it seems almost too easy. “Thanks,” I mumble and put a few credits down on the bar. “I owe you one!”

  But my mind is already with Liana. I have to find her. And I have to make this right.

  I step out into the bustling bazaar, my eyes glowing with divine purpose. The twin suns are just now setting over the horizon and darkness would fall soon.

  I’m coming, Liana. Wait up for me.

  24

  Liana

  I feel adrift. Like all those particles floating in space. Like Krevith when the airlock took him.

  The thought of it still sends a chill down my spine. I shudder. The certificate for the credits Darvok gave me weighs heavy in my pocket. I have enough to go home, if I want to.

  But do I?

  When we went our separate ways at the station, I’d really just wanted a little alone time. But now I have no way to find him. Oh, and the sun is going down soon.

  I fidget with the steel band of my grandma’s bracelet around my arm. I wish I had someone, anyone, here that I could talk to. Darvok has his Tia, or whatever they are. And what’s more, he is more a citizen of this world than I am. I’d never been off my home world before the pageant, and boy was I in for a surprise.

  My thoughts take me back to memories of my grandmother, when I was very young. What I wouldn’t give to have her here with me now, to ask her just a few of the burning questions within my heart. She had psychic powers too, according to my mother. But my mother also said that wasn’t a topic people talked about in polite company.

  If only I knew more about my powers, or my heritage. Maybe there was some secret there that would help me figure all this out.

  If my grandmother was in a situation like this, what would she do?

  The answer comes to me just as easy as breathing. Why, go to the spa of course!

  She always said it soothed both her body and mind. And I could use a lot of both right now. I wander through the bustling corridors until the bright neon lights catch my eye. Galactic Glam, the sign reads in a ritzy pink font.

  Perfect.

  I step through the swishing doors and am surprised to see something that looks like every bad sci-fi film I’ve seen. The whole place is done up in glistening chrome and neon lights. I have to squint against the brightn
ess.

  A petite, nymph-like lady with impossibly long white hair sidles up to me, wearing her biggest grin. She seems to match the rest of the place, all bright colors and garish lights. There are even LEDs waving through her long pigtails.

  “Welcome to Galactic Glam!” She gestures around at the room. “You’ve come to the right place, the best spa on Asteria. We have a bill of full services available, if you’d like to take a look…”

  She waves a hand and a holographic screen appears before me. Cool! My eyes scan down the page, marveling at all the different offerings. I decide to settle on what I know best, though: the standard mani/pedi.

  “An excellent choice,” she beams and whisks the menu away. “If you’ll follow me.”

  I follow her in quick step. We weave in and out of the spa areas until reaching a nail desk and a huge glittering mirror. “How’s this, hun?” she asks.

  “Great,” I smile. The seat is unthinkably soft and forms to my curves. I let out a sigh of relief and pure bliss. It’s been so long since I truly had time to relax.

  “Long day?” The nail tech asks me. She begins rummaging in a cabinet behind her, gathering supplies.

  “You have no idea.” I roll my eyes. “Long hard trip to Ecto.”

  The nail tech sucks in a breath and gives me a knowing smile. “Ecto. Rough station.”

  “Tell me about it,” I say, but my voice is far away.

  “Well, let’s get you fixed up then, shall we?” She puts on a glittery grin. “When we’re done here, you’ll feel good as new.”

  I realize I don’t know the lady’s name, but then it appears above her head in some sort of holographic text.

  Zon Yi, the neon letters read.

  “Zon Yi,” I repeat, and she turns around. “That’s your name.”

  “It is,” she smiles and shrugs. “Though most people just call me Zon.”

  I’m feeling more relaxed by the seconds, and she hands me a chart with a myriad of different colors in every tone of the rainbow. If I didn’t know better, I’d say there’s even some colors not part of the rainbow. I glance over the different choices and then settle on a shimmering moonstone-colored coating with silver sparkles. It reminds me of the stars.