Alien Captain's Claimed Bride: A SciFi Alien Romance Page 9

  Riya’s voice sounded off in her ear. “What’s going on Stacy? You zoned out on us.”

  Looking from one to another of them, she leaned forward. “Kearney just solved our problem of how to slow down the Moltan ship.”

  “Wait. I did what?”

  “You know the elders were going to use the particle transporter to infiltrate the enemy ship? Unless they were planning to do that buck naked, the transporter can move non-living things as well as people. What if we transport an incendiary device?”

  Kearney shook her head. “That does not sound like a good idea to me. Transporting an unstable device such as a bomb seems dangerous. What if exploded just when we trying to dematerialize it? If it’s going to be big enough to do damage to the enemy ship, it’ll damage ours as well if it goes off prematurely.”

  “When you mentioned mixing a something with a kick, the idea of transporting a liquid incendiary in two steps popped into my mind.”

  Riya murmured thoughtfully, “That’s actually a brilliant idea, since there isn’t any danger until the chemicals mix together on the Moltan vessel.”

  Kearney nodded her agreement. “We’d have to be really careful about placement and timing, but it actually sounds doable if we get within transport range.”

  Coming swiftly to her feet, Stacy stated excitedly, “Sorry to cut our get together short, but I’m going to work with the science team on what types of explosives might be appropriate for transport.”

  “Do you really think one of their queens managed to get to our quadrant of space?”

  Meeting Riya’s worried eyes, Stacy thought it over for a moment. “After everything we’ve been through, I don’t feel comfortable ruling anything out.”

  13 Reality Orientation

  Meric

  Calen gestured to the view screen. “There, I told you it would work.”

  Salon and a couple of other warriors sounded off in amazement. “I never thought merely putting the four queens in a room would lead to a solution to our problem.”

  Meric shot the elder a wry smile. “Nor did I, Elder Salon. The idea seemed too fantastical to be credible.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, Calen appeared smug. “Humans are smart and resourceful. When you put a group of them together to relax with this problem weighing on their mind, they’re bound to come up with a clever solution. This is doable, isn’t it?”

  Nodding, a still shocked Meric mumbled. “Yes. It is such an obvious solution, I can’t believe we didn’t think of it before now.”

  Salon slapped Calen on the back and congratulated him on bringing the queens together before he left with the other elder warriors. Meric couldn’t think of anything except what his queen had said. “Why do you think my queen wishes to crush me with a gigantic object?”

  Calen turned on him with a frown of disapproval. “How can you know so little about human females? When Queen Stacy said she had gigantic crush on you, she meant she wants you to be her one and only male.”

  Swallowing thickly, Meric choked out, “That doesn’t sound right.”

  “Think about it, sir. All the human queens came to Dracon Two looking for mates. None of them have taken a harem because they mate one-to-one. If she’s interested in you, it will be for one-on-one peer bonding.”

  “You talk like they do.”

  “I don’t exactly consider that an insult, sir.”

  “I refuse to be her breeder.”

  “Well, humans don’t really think that way.”

  “I do. I’ve had my fill of queens. I just want to be left alone with my young.”

  “You can keep telling yourself that if you want, but I’ve noticed you stare at her lot. I think you do admire her.”

  Meric growled, “You have my permission to return to your ship.”

  “With all due respect, I’m not leaving until my queen calls for me. Where she goes, I go.”

  Sighing Meric dropped into his office chair. “You are a good male, Calen. You don’t deserve to bear the brunt of my annoyance.”

  “I know it is not my place to comment on your queen. However, I wish you would rethink your stance on human females. You watched the same monitor I did just now. They act the same whether they are alone, with us, or enjoying each other’s company. My brother was chosen by Queen Hope, and we’ve lived with her for many lunars now. She only ever loves and supports Larok and his small hatchling. I swear there is nothing to fear from them.”

  “I appreciate your advice and will consider your wise counsel.”

  Just then Calen’s com chimed. “It’s my queen. I must go. Com me if you need advice on how to lure your queen, though I think she will need very little in the way of luring.”

  Meric was still too astounded to get his head around the situation. He needed to get his head straight, because Salon certainly didn’t miss Queen Stacy’s comments about him and would most assuredly pass that information quickly on to his sire. Meric was not interested in discussing this with the elder warrior until he’d had time to process it himself.

  He stood up and headed to the training room. He switched on the holographic imager and chose an experienced opponent to spar with. He’d been going at it for about ten microns when the imager switched off. Looking around, he found Tabor standing near the imager. His dark eyes flashed to the wall behind Meric, and that was all the notice that he was going to get that the blood sport was on. He ran and flew up to grab a batlet and whirled around to face off against his security officer. The other man had already grabbed the very same weapon from his side of the room. They circled each other, each sizing the other up for a weakness that could be exploited.

  Stepping out to try to swipe his opponent’s leg out from under him, Tabor asked, “So we’re in the bomb-making business now, are we?”

  Dodging out of his reach, Meric replied. “It was our queen who came up with the ingenious idea.”

  “We’ll have to be particular where we put it, or we’ll blow our chance to find out if the Queen Mother is here all to hell.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that. The other ship looks much like this one on the outside. I suspect it is the same model, so perhaps the layout is the same.”

  “I’ve been looking at the scans we did during the battle. There is a small space beneath the engine room that looks like it could be used to access the equipment for repairs.” Tabor swiped him across the arm with his batlet, leaving a bloody trail and then smiled viciously.

  Intent on wiping the smirk off his friend’s face, Meric brought his batlet up so fast Tabor never saw it coming. Meric took great pleasure in widening the ridiculous cleft in the handsome male’s chin a bit. That did the trick. Rather than smirking all over the place Tabor was now out to get even.

  “I’m pleased that we now have a way to bring that ship to a stop when we next find it.”

  Tabor nodded slightly, as he moved around Meric with his batlet raised. “I watched the security feed from the meeting of the queens.”

  Meric stiffened, grasping his weapon tighter. “I do not wish to discuss it, Tabor.”

  “You may command me when we are on duty, however, when we are not, I will speak my mind.”

  Using his batlet to bat into the side of his distracted longtime friend’s hip, Meric spun back around knocking him behind the knee. The swift move almost brought Tabor to his knees. “Fine. She wishes me for breeding.”

  Clashing batlets, Tabor replied hotly. “Do not attempt to deceive me, Meric. Did you forget that I am in control of all the security feeds, even the one monitoring your conversation with Calen? He clarified that human queens don’t breed us. They take us into their family units one male to one queen.”

  “Calen was right. I’m equal measures fascinated and on some level attracted to our new queen.” His default response had always been that he didn’t want to become a breeder again. Turing it over in his mind, Meric began to see that perhaps he’d been too hasty in making that decision. He definitely respected her and trusted
her as the queen of their ship. “It is difficult to trust a queen around my young.” If he were being honest, that was the real barrier to accepting her advances.

  “What do you think she will do, eat them?”

  Clashing over and over again, they hashed out his issues with queens. “Of course I do not think such. I am cautious, not ignorant of human ways.”

  “I think you worry that she may pass you over in favor of your sire or even your oldest. He will be ready to mate in but a few turns of the seasons.”

  Anger fired in his chest and Meric bright his batlet up again, grazing Tabor’s cheek.

  “A violent response tells me I am not far from the mark. Your sire would have all the females on this ship chasing after him if he were permitted to show his face. He has a way with queens.”

  “Stop telling me what I already know. What you say is not true. Human queens do not chose young warriors and lie in wait for them to ripen before plucking them for the first time. They would be appalled at such a thought. When they look at a young warrior, they see them as immature and in need of caretaking, not as potential breeders.”

  Tabor raised one eyebrow. The thick pliable plating over his eye offered their kind more protection than the tiny soft filaments that grew out of a queen in that area. “You acknowledge that human queens do not have the depraved urges of Draconian queens, yet you still hesitate.”

  “I have been thinking. Our queens chose young warriors because they are more easily intimidated and frightened than mature warriors. The creature living inside them feeds off their fear. I always protected my scion from the prying eyes of other queens and this practice continued with the human queens.”

  “The humans have an expression for that. It’s called being on dumb-ass automatic pilot.” Tabor’s expression was almost blank but Meric could see the amusement in his eyes.

  “Yes, they have a colorful expression for every occasion it seems.”

  “Will you accept our new queen if she approaches you?”

  “I have already told her that I have no desire to be become a breeder again.”

  “Let me guess, she stopped pursuing you.”

  “Yes. All of our interactions are mission related. It is for the best.”

  “Great. I will lure her to me, for she deserves a mate who knows her worth.”

  Meric’s temper flared fast and hot. He stepped forward with a growl, throwing hit after hit with his weapon until he had his security officer pinned to the wall. “Leave her be, Tabor. We need no distractions during our mission.”

  “She needs a warrior to tend to her needs, one who does not make her feel so inadequate that she begins to question her ability to attract a mate.”

  Tabor’s stoic, matter-of-fact words and cold stare penetrated the shell Meric had carefully built around himself over the years. He roared out his frustration and stepped back.

  Tossing his batlet carelessly to the ground, he took a moment to catch his breath before speaking. “It’s true that our queen is deserving of a warrior to tend to her needs. She has it in her to be a queen of legend. My fondest wish is for her realize her true worth.”

  Tabor quietly agreed. “It is times of war that often bring a queen into her own. She rises to the occasion over and over again and still you do not trust her. That is your flaw, not hers. She does not need a flawed warrior at her side. She needs me.”

  Meric’s head dropped and his eyes narrowed. His wings unfurled in a stark display of dominance. “Queen Stacy of the Lionheart is not for you, nor any other warrior in this armada.”

  Tabor’s chin came up in a gesture of defiance. “How about the warriors on Dracon Two? Is there no warrior on our home world fit for her bed? How about warriors from other worlds in our sector of space?” The other man’s penetrating gaze did not ease up as he finished making his point. “Is there any warrior in the ‘verse that you would tolerate seeing her with?”

  Meric’s throat locked up at Tabor’s next words. “You refuse her advances but have no wish to see her with another. To deprive a young beautiful queen of her right to mate is a serious offense, my friend. Are you certain you wish to tread this path?”

  “Do not make me kill or maim you, Tabor. If you approach her, I know in my heart that I will not be able to stop myself from harming you.”

  His longtime friend stepped forward with a grim expression on his face. “I have no desire for your pretty little queen, Meric. We were raised like brothers and to be battle partners. We’ve spent a lifetime protecting each other’s backs and families. That bond will not be broken, even over breeding rights. You must know deep down that I would never deceive you or attempt to lure your queen away. I will also not stand idly by while you do wrong by the queen who has allied herself with our cause.”

  “I don’t have it in me to breed again, nor do I have the ability to see her with another. I well know what kind of warrior that makes me.”

  “Would you like to know what I think about your reluctance?”

  Shooting his friend a miserable half smile, Meric tucked his wings neatly against his back again. “No, but I’m certain you will tell me in spite of my disinterest.”

  “I don’t think you are reluctant to breed again. If memory serves carrying young was the only part of being Stonara’s breeder that you actually enjoyed. And why wouldn’t you? All males enjoy bringing new life into the ‘verse.”

  “If you have one, please get to the point.”

  Tabor’s mouth settled into a firm line, and then he spun on his heel to clean his batlet. After putting it away, he turned back to drive his point home. “I believe your core problem is that you are reluctant to hope again. Our former queens were carrying symbionts that fed off our emotions, particularly negative ones. To keep them sated, they discovered a thousand ways to make us believe they cared, and in our eagerness for love and acceptance, we were susceptible to believing them. Always after earning our trust, they reveled in betraying it, and hurling us into the deepest, darkest emotional and physical pain imaginable. It was clearly a cause-and-effect situation for a single purpose. That purpose was to feed the lust of the symbiont they carried inside. Once you stopped having trust in Stonara, your hope evaporated, and you were hardened to her abuse. That she moved on to other males after you is proof that what I say is true.”

  “I do not disagree with anything you have said.”

  Tabor reached out to grasp his arm, looking intently into his eyes. “Human queens have no symbiont and therefore no motivation to deceive and betray our trust.”

  Meric gaped at his intelligent friend. His explanation was perfect in its simplicity. The truth of his situation had been staring him in the face the whole time, and yet he was too trapped in his own pain and misery to see it. As all the pieces fell into place, Meric felt something in his chest loosen. Finally he could breathe again. Immediately a kind of possessiveness he’d never known slammed into the place where before only pain had lived. A low and threating growl escaped unbidden from the back of his throat. “I will have her. No one and nothing will get in the way of luring her from now on.”

  Tabor relaxed a bit, his expression more grim than ever. “You must proceed with caution, for you have rebuffed her advances once already. Find a way to signal that you are open to her courting you again. Let her see that your attitude has changed.”

  “How do I do that?”

  His lips twitched and Meric could tell he wanted to smile. “You best know your own queen, my friend. Therefore, only you can answer that question.”

  Meric brought his hand up to Tabor’s other shoulder. “Thank you for the challenge. I needed it more than you know.”

  Tabor full-on grinned. It was rare and lit up his already handsome face enough to make Meric a little jealous. His gruff voice held a teasing tone when he next spoke. “Which challenge, the physical one or the mental-reality orientation?”

  Meric laughed, relief flowing through his veins and washing away all his doubts about human queens. �
��Both. Will you, Phan and Salon be joining our clade for the evening meal this night?”

  “The humans call it dinner. As always, we will be there.”

  “We will talk more on this over dinner. Until then, walk in safety. Honor our queen and may your wings never touch the ground.”

  “You as well, Captain.”

  Meric nodded formally to the crew who came in to use the training room after him. He eased out the door thinking over how different he felt without the irrational fears revolving around human queens weighing him down.

  14 A Million Possibilities

  Meric

  Speaking informally with Tabor reminded him of how carefree they were as younglings. They flew, played games of chance and challenged each other. Protected by their sires, they had no idea how vicious queens could be. How innocent they had been back then. How precious a gift it was to get some of that innocence back by opening himself to his human queen.

  Today, he had an opportunity to have the kind of bonding experience he always wished to enjoy with his former queen. Their new queen was both beautiful and intelligent. She spoke her mind, dressed him down neatly for needlessly endangering their warriors, and refused to put their elder warriors in danger. By contrast, their former queens saw warriors as highly expendable and thought nothing of insisting they be sacrificed as necessary to complete the mission. The human queens were much different from the queens of old.

  Since coming to this sector, Meric had occasion to observe what he thought to be frail humans. Humans talked more than any species he’d ever met. One never had to wonder what they were thinking, for it invariably came out in the form of casual conversation. At first their endless chatter had annoyed him. After getting used to their human ways, he could see the benefit in beings that were honest and open about their thoughts. It was one less variable to account for in any given situation.

  It helped that their queen had a pleasing voice. Some had high-pitched voices that hurt his ears. Such was the case for the queen who tested him on Dracon Two. She demanded his submission and he reluctantly gave it, for it was before laws were written forbidding such demands. The queen seemed fine in every regard save one. She even managed to soothe his wild and savage soul after so much suffering at the hands of their elder queen. Her body was warm and she openly gave of herself when they were intimate. The one and only reason he didn’t accept her offer of mating was the high-pitched voice. It literally hurt his auditory system. Draconian males had extremely sensitive hearing and could not tolerate sound in a certain range.