Alien Captain's Claimed Bride: A SciFi Alien Romance Page 4

  “Since we didn’t lose any warriors, I consider that a win.”

  A frown creased his face. “What does losing warriors have to do with victory in battle?”

  “I place a high value on the lives of our warriors. If any of them had died saving our allies, the victory would have been marred by their loss.”

  “That is an unusual perspective. Warriors are plentiful and often have a prodigious death rate in battle. A commander can hardly take their lives into consideration when devising battle strategy, my queen.”

  Caught off guard by his comment, she put down the pinchers they used for forks. “You had better be joking about that, captain.”

  “I do not joke. Humor is a distraction from the serious work of saving lives and defending our queens.”

  “You know what I do for a living, don’t you?”

  “You care for the health of our scions. Since there are no young on board, I did wonder why you accepted this assignment.”

  “I’m a doctor.”

  “You are a healer of scion, not warriors.”

  Becoming irritated, Stacy tried to keep her cool. “I’m a doctor of people with a specialty in healing children. I think you saw me healing warriors just now in the medical unit. I’m a very qualified healer. When you treat our warriors like they are expendable it makes me mad. If what I say on board this vessel matters to you at all, you will devise battle strategy with their safety in mind. Only risk their lives when absolutely necessary and build in as many safety protocols and as much backup as you can.”

  “Your words will always be obeyed.” Smoothing his fingers over the edge of his clear plastic box, he seemed to be carefully choosing his words. “There is no need to curry favor with us by pretending to care about our well-being.”

  “I’m not pretending. If we lose even one warrior when it could have been avoided, I’m going to be highly upset. Please prioritize their safety as much as possible.”

  “I will see it done, my queen.”

  “What else did you want to discuss.”

  “The Yuroba ship is carrying ten times ten hands of human queens. We are honor bound to meet with them and ensure they are being accorded all due respect. If we find they do not have signed contracts, it will fall heavily on their oppressors.”

  “Well, the Yuroba are our allies. I doubt they are being ill-treated.”

  “That may be true, but we must verify their safety. We also have another problem.”

  Cramming a bit of food into her mouth, Stacy made a motion with her pinchers that he should continue.

  “We acquired two Moltan ships and will be commandeering them as spoils of conflict.”

  “It’s my understanding that this is standard operating procedure in this region. To the victor goes the spoils, I think the saying goes.”

  “Our warriors are seeing to repairs on our vessel as well as the two we just acquired. We will need names for them.”

  “What are your suggestions?”

  “One is older. Though it is in need of extensive repairs, we can get it running again in short order. The other is newer and repairs will be minimal. Might I suggest we name one after yourself, as the warriors were fighting under your rule?”

  “Heck no, that honor should go to yourself or another distinguished warrior who fought with valor.”

  “The warriors will be disappointed. Gaining a valuable ship in a glorious battle and naming it after our queen is a longstanding and proud tradition among our people.”

  “In that case I would choose, Meric the Lionheart. My last name is Lionheart and I wish to honor your victory.”

  “My translation program is bringing up images of a ferocious beast from your home world coupled with symbols of romantic love. That can’t be correct.”

  Leaning back in her seat, Stacy folded her hands in her lap.”

  “Lionheart was name of distinction on ancient Earth. My father’s line is descended from an offshoot of the British royal line. It sounds a lot more interesting than it really is. Our family was likely someone’s cousin twice removed who moved to America in the twentieth century or something along those lines.” Stacy realized she was babbling again. Looking down at her hardly touched food drove home the point that she was talking more than eating. Grabbing her pincher, she shuffled the food around on her plate. “Anyway, that’s my preference.”

  “You are born of Earth’s royal line?”

  Shrugging, she swallowed the bite of food she’d managed to get into her mouth before answering. “There were many royal lines on Earth. Most of them died out long ago. You could say we’re kind of vestige of what was a once proud line.”

  “You are what the Draconians call a queen mother, the lone descendent in this sector of a long line of queens.”

  Sighing, she tried to get him to understand. “One could choose to see it that way, I suppose. However, I prefer to think of my ancestors as quirky eccentrics who ended up marrying their cousins just often enough to make them slow. To be honest, I’m glad to be so far removed from the royal line.”

  “Modesty is trait we are have some difficult comprehending. Among the Draconians, such a heritage would make you the most desirable queen on our home world. You would be a queen among queens.”

  Smiling uncomfortably at the always serious man, she tried to figure a way out of the conversation that was growing more awkward by the moment. “I’m not sure what a queen of queens is. However, we have a saying on Earth. Too many cooks spoil the broth.”

  For the first time ever, she saw an almost smile slide onto his face. “Warriors have similar saying. Too many wings hinder the flight.”

  It was hard not to admire a warrior who tried so hard to find common ground.

  “We will name one vessel as you suggest. May I suggest a name for the second ship?”

  Nodding, she made the gesture with her pinchers for him to spit it out. If she didn’t get on with eating, her food was going to get cold.

  “I have assigned the scion of Jeron to captain the two vessels. We owe our lives to this particular elder. He was the commander that made our escape to freedom possible. Naming the ship in his honor would please the warriors greatly.”

  “I wholeheartedly approve of that idea.”

  “There are couple more matters that require your attention. During the battle we observed the use of technology that we suspect only the foremost queen in our fleet has access to. Their shielding took three ships working in unison to break through and the vessel used an escape velocity no ship in this sector could possibly match.”

  “What are you saying? Jesus, tell me the crazy symbiont-carrying queens have not found a way to our sector.”

  “We think not, but obviously we must verify for ourselves if this is true by tracking down the ship that escaped. I plan to interrogate the Moltan we captured in battle until they tell me all that they know. Then we must track the vessel down, and if we find a Draconian queen, we must destroy her and the symbiont she carries. We cannot allow her to propagate in this sector, for she will destroy many innocent worlds.”

  “Whoa, hold up a minute. I’m on board with tracking down the damn ship and making sure the evil, soul-sucking symbiont doesn’t contaminate our sector. It’s the interrogating the Moltan that’s got me worried. Are you suggesting that we torture information out of them?”

  “We are not so primitive as that, my queen. Our version of interrogation is creating a neural link to a specially designed program that scans the subject’s brain and uses that information to create a simulated reality that meets with their expectations. Normally, I locate their commander and simply cue them to give a report. That usually tells us what we most want to know. I know you are a compassionate queen, but we must have this information.”

  “I don’t like playing with a person’s brain. What if something goes wrong?”

  “They are our enemies, evil warriors who are responsible for buying stolen queens on the black market. Their lives are forfeit.”


  “I won’t allow you to kill them. We will place them in stasis and send them to the Intergalactic Council along with a report on their crimes.”

  “Showing mercy to those who would harm queens and their young is your prerogative as our queen, however let it be noted that I objected strenuously to such an accommodation.”

  “Duly noted, Captain Meric. Add to your report that you objected and I overruled your objection.” Stopping in mid-sentence, Stacy wrinkled her face into a confused expression. “Wait. Can I actually overrule your commands? That doesn’t sound right. Sorry, I got carried away there for a minute and started acting like I’m in charge or something.”

  “Every Draconian ship that flies must carry a queen. Queens are tasked with ensuring that we do not err in our decision making on such things. My job is to recommend, and your job is to decide. It is the natural order of things.”

  Something occurred to her that she hadn’t thought of before. “What of queens of the other two ships? Our mission sounds dangerous. Asking any of the queens to put themselves into jeopardy seems wrong.”

  “Do not ask questions that you already know the answer to, my queen. In order for the warriors to settle and concentrate on the battle they need the guidance of a queen.”

  “Please don’t take this wrong way, but I hate our current situation.”

  “You are a soft queen, used to a luxurious life on your home world. Please do not hate us for seeing the ‘verse differently. Our warriors have known nothing but hardship, pain and death. Most of us thought never to meet a compassionate queen. To discover that our new queen of queens has more compassion for our enemies than to consider their need for a queen to lead them into battle would destroy their morale in way you cannot begin to imagine. I am no one to be giving advice to a queen, but I beg that you reconsider your priorities.”

  Shoving away her box of food, Stacy stomach was churning so badly that she couldn’t eat if she wanted to. Honestly, her appetite was long gone. God help him, he was right. She prayed there would be two women among the hundred willing to risk themselves for a worthy cause. What could be more important than saving hundreds of planets from evil symbionts bent on destruction?

  “I will visit with the queens and see if two among them will step up to help with our mission.”

  “I can ask no more of you than that, my queen.”

  “I have a little juice left. We might as well talk to them now and see what they say. I want to be ready to begin searching for this vessel with the mystery tech as soon as repairs are completed.”

  “As you wish, Queen Stacy the Lionheart.”

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have the strength for another round of polite arguing with the forceful captain, so she let the ridiculous new title slide.

  6 Panicked Queens

  Stacy

  Upon entering their ship, Stacy noticed the Yuroba seemed more tribal than most aliens she’d met. Instead of uniforms, they wore leather-like pants and tops. There didn’t seem to be any interest in uniformity as they were all different colors and styles. It was anyone’s guess who the captain was, since their clothing gave no hint at rank. Many wore huge swords in specially designed sheaths down their backs. Needless to say, they looked decidedly out of place on a spaceship.

  The Yuroba had gathered all the women together into a huge loading bay. They looked clean and well cared for, if a little panicked. No one was injured, crying hysterically or shying away from the Yuroba. So far everything looked legit.

  One tan face stood out in the crowd. They saw each other at the same time and rushed over to hug each other. Riya was wearing one of the colorful saris she was so fond of and didn’t have a hair out of place. She was grinning from ear to ear.

  “What in the heck are you doing out in the black, Riya?”

  “Same as you my friend, I’m just trying to do my civic duty. Hope asked me to speak with a group of women on one of the human outposts about relocating to the Draconian home world. As you know, Delphi Seven is in the midst of a war of sorts. Of course they call it a border dispute, which is clearly not the case because they have heavy artillery. Anyway, I jumped a Yuroba freighter and by the time I got there, they’d all disappeared.”

  “Let me guess, the Moltan snatched the lot of them?”

  Riya nodded, causing her extremely long braid to dangle around her knees. “The Yuroba agreed to help get them free. Their warriors are pretty fierce, and they can turn any kind of space junk they find into a spaceworthy ship. They have a real talent for cobbling things together and making it work. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  “How’s about we get back to the abduction?”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wander off topic. Getting them back turned out to be easier than I thought it would be. We broke open an escape hatch while they were refueling, they all scurried out and we made a run for the Yuroba ship. They didn’t even notice.”

  “That was easy.”

  “Why can’t things ever stay easy, that’s what I want to know?”

  “The Moltan tracked you down again, didn’t they?”

  “Clearly they did. The Yuroba use some kind of energy to power their ships that is apparently easy to track.”

  “Sorry about all the shooting. Two more ships came and we had a battle royale on our hands.”

  “We didn’t know what was going on.” Frowning, she gestured towards the throng of women. Stacy saw that some had small children. “They were all in a panic during the attack, but I’ve managed to calm them down somewhat.”

  “Want me to have a few words with them before I get down to the business at hand?”

  Riya’s big brown eyes turned warm and relief showed in her expression. “If you would, I’d be forever in your debt. I’m beginning to feel like their auntie.”

  Gathering the anxious women around, Stacy tried to soothe their fears. “Hello everyone, my name is Stacy Lionheart. Like you, I came to participate in the intergalactic brides program, and my first choice didn’t work out either. We had a similar situation, where our ship was attacked and a Draconian rescued us. In case you don’t know, that’s what happened today. Our ship noticed you guys getting pounded, so we came riding to the rescue. Draconians are extremely effective warriors, and once you get to their home world, you’ll be safe. You’re over halfway there right now, and I’d be really surprised if you had any more trouble.”

  One woman asked nervously, “Is the Draconian ship going to escort us to their home world?”

  “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. We’re on an important mission and as soon as we get repairs completed, we’re going to be on our way.”

  “I want to travel on the Draconian ship. It’s much safer and it doesn’t matter if it takes longer to get to their planet. I don’t care about that.”

  Several more women chimed in, begging to come as well. Shooting Riya an exasperated look, she tried to dissuade them. “Our mission is going to be kind of dangerous, so you would all probably be safer with the Yuroba.”

  “If it weren’t for you happening upon us when we were under attack, we’d all probably be dead right now. I hear you have an armada of three ships. There’s safety in numbers.”

  “Under usual conditions, I would agree with you. As I’ve already explained, we are facing a dangerous mission. I can’t go into details with you right now, but I believe it is riskier than continuing your voyage with the Yuroba.”

  The women began all talking at once. Turning to Riya, she whispered. “This is getting out of hand.”

  “I hate to say this, but I kind of agree with them. Human women are highly valued and having a hundred on one ship makes us a target. The Yuroba are nice people but look at them. Do they look like they could fend off any kind of attack? Sure, their ships are spaceworthy, but they have no exterior armaments. I originally left Dracon Two on the ship that came for our friend Sinthia. It was much nicer.”

  Swearing under her breath, Stacy capitulated. “We’ll let them vote on
it.”

  “That’s a smart thing to do in this situation. Some of them have formed ties with Yuroba men, so I don’t think they will choose to leave them.”

  Nodding, Stacy brought her fingers to her mouth, sucked in a lung full of air and whistled loud enough to draw attention. “Quiet down for a minute. Riya and I have come up with an idea. We’re going to take a vote. How many of you want to stay on the Yuroba ship?”

  A few hands went up. It was mostly women with warriors wrapped around them.

  “How many want to accompany us on our very dangerous mission, even if it results in you getting hurt or winding up dead?”

  Almost every hand in the room went up. Some of them were straining their arms straight up and shaking their hands in the air much like children did when they wanted the teacher to call on them. Only in this situation, she took it to mean they were adding extra emphasis to their yes vote.

  “Shit, I was afraid of that.”

  Riya shrugged. “I agree. We are safer with the Draconians.”

  “We have three ships and one me. You know how superstitious they are about flying without a queen. Are you up for a challenge?”

  Eyeing her suspiciously, Riya responded wryly. “This isn’t some plan to marry me off to their captain or anything like that, is it?”

  “No, but the captains are pretty hot. You might be changing your mind about that once you see them.”

  “It’s the difference between possible and probable. However, I will do what I can to help.”

  “Have you met anyone else here adventurous enough to step up for the third ship?”

  Glancing over her shoulder at the crowd of excited women, she sighed. “There are two sisters who don’t seem afraid of much. The scrappy pair could hold their own with any warrior and help get the job done.”

  “But do you trust them?”

  “I do. They’ve been really good about helping manage things during the attack. They’ve both been surviving on their own for several years. They’re pretty jaded and said have no illusions about finding the perfect husband among the Dracon. They’re honest and seem to have good judgement. I can see them being helpful on a ship.”