Authors: KD Jones
“Prime Leader RendEL. Prime Commander KydEL.” KadEN greeted his longtime adversaries. He introduced the bald headed hulk on his left as the Kiljorn Commander TylOR.
“Prime Leader KadEN, Commander, welcome to Katiera.” Ren responded reaching out to clasp forearms which was the Katieran custom.
“Prime Leader, they have the conference room ready for us.” Commander KydEL told Ren.
Ren nodded and motioned for KadEN and his commander to follow them. They had tried to take the less traveled corridors, but, halfway down they passed a group of human females. Damn! Ren was hoping to keep the presence of the human females hidden a little while longer. He noticed the Kiljorns giving each other looks.
The group was unnaturally quiet until they got to the conference room where the High Council members were waiting.
“My Intel said that you have gotten your hands on females. I didn’t believe it at first. But it is true. Where did they come from?” KadEN asked.
Ren paused before he responded, “The females are not up for discussion. Why are you here?”
KadEN chuckled, “You get right to the point do you not Prime Leader?”
Ren didn’t answer. He crossed his arms across his chest.
KadEN stopped laughing and became very serious. “The Morins are approaching our Solar System. My Intel says there has been communication interference not only with my people, but with communications between Katiera and your transport ships.” KadEN waited to let the implications sink in. He needed the Katierans' help, but, he wasn’t going to beg for it.
Ren looked at Kyd. The Morins. They were a mutual enemy of the Katierans' and the Kiljorns'. As different from the Katierans as any alien nation could be. They were a slaving nation with no compassion for other beings. They conquered weaker worlds that couldn’t defend themselves against their advanced technology. When they had consumed all of the planet’s resources, they left it as a wasteland.
“What do you propose?” Ren asked KadEN.
Cassie took a shower and changed into her comfy nightgown. She had talked briefly with Jaxon using the IHM 3D viewer on her tablet. Jaxon couldn’t come by because she and her team were assigned to perform equipment checks for all the land bound shuttles.
Cassie told her all about how she and Ren had declared their feelings for one another. Jaxon was not surprised. She said, “It's about damn time” which made Cassie giggle. Cassie admitted that she was a little bit nervous about the mating ceremony tomorrow. Jaxon promised to come by first thing in the morning and whisk Cassie away to the suite she had shared with Jaxon and Kat so they could help her get ready for the ceremony.
After having her Evening Meal alone, Cassie thought about heading off to bed early. The suite’s buzzer went off. It must be the new guard Cassie thought. He was late. She didn’t even think twice before she opened the door. It wasn’t the guard. It was … Erica?
“Grab the bitch!” Erica yelled to someone.
Everything became fuzzy for Cassie. She remembered an older gentleman coming into the suite and putting something over Cassie’s mouth. The next thing she knew she was waking up in some kind of ship. She was so groggy she couldn’t lift her head at all. “What … what’s going … on?” She managed to ask.
A face appeared above Cassie. The image was blurry at first and then it started to come into focus. Erica. She looked at Cassie with hate filled eyes and told her, “You’re going on a little trip. One way.”
“You propose that the Katierans and Kiljorns join forces against the Morins? I understand the joint military forces to protect each Nation. What do you specifically want out of this alliance?” Ren asked with suspicion.
KadEN looked at his commander before he answered, “We want more than a joint military force. We, also, seek joint medical technology.” KadEN sighed as he continued. “It should not be a surprise that the Kiljorns suffer from the same malady as the Katierans. After all, we originated from Katiera. We have few females. Even fewer children.”
Ren narrowed his eyes at the Kiljorn leader. “You want females?”
“Yes. And … I want to seal the alliance with a political mating.”
Both Ren and Kyd stood up as if they were ready to fight. There was only one female in the Prime family that was available for such a mating … AriELa.
“No! I won’t sell my cousin off just to form an alliance.” Ren stated flatly.
The High Council, however, jumped in with their arguments for the match. Debates went on for another 15 minutes before Kyd stepped in to silence everyone. He didn’t want to use AriELa like that either, but, this alliance was something that both Nations needed desperately, especially if the Morins were closing in on their territory.
Kyd gathered his thoughts and spoke, “What if the political mating was mutually agreed upon by both Prime Leader KadEN and the Prima in question?” Everyone looked at him as they thought about what he meant. “Tomorrow, Prime Leader RendEL will have his mating ceremony. It would be a good time to make introductions … and see if the match can be made in a more agreeable manner. However, if either party decides the mating is not to their desire, the alliance will still take place, with an exchange of females that have been obtained from Earth.”
Brilliant. Kyd was brilliant Ren thought. If AriELa refuses the match, then the alliance would still take place, they would just lose a few human females. “I agree.” Ren stated.
KadEN nodded at Ren and said, “I agree.”
Ren was directing one of his people to make suite arrangements for the Kiljorn Leader and his commander, when his and Kyd’s comm links went off.
“Prime Leader.” Ren answered.
It was TarAK, “We have a security breach on the 8th floor. Prime Leader RendEL’s suite.”
“Cassie!” Ren took off towards the lifts with Kyd, some members of the High Council, and both Kiljorn males following close behind him.
Chapter 13
When Ren finally got to his suite, his stomach turned over. The door was wide open, a vase that had flowers in it was shattered on the floor, and there was no sign of Cassie. “Where is she?” Ren demanded as he saw TarAK sitting on the couch with what looked like a big bruise forming on the side of his head.
“I was watching the human male, Scott McCormick. He had unexpected visitors. Senator Rowe and his daughter Erica. It was my understanding that Miss Rowe was under house arrest. But, there was no security detail with her. The next thing I know, I am waking up on the floor of the human male’s suite. I came here immediately because I remembered Miss Rowe’s attack on Cassie. I called a security breach as I made my way up. But, she was gone when I got here.” TarAK looked pained.
Kyd took over the situation. He got on his comm link and called for an immediate lockdown of the Prime Building and all incoming/outgoing shuttles.
“Commander KydEL.” Kyd answered his comm link. “How long ago? Who gave the clearance? Whose piloting? She did what? Damn female! … I want a shuttle ready on docking pad 5 NOW!” He turned to look at Ren with sorrowful eyes. “A shuttle left 3 minutes ago from docking pad 3.”
Ren headed out of the suite on his way to the docking pad with the other males close behind him. “Who’s piloting the shuttle?” Ren demanded. No Katieran male would allow a breeding female to be taken off the planet.
“Jaxon … Captain Malone.” Kyd corrected himself. Damn smart female. “She left her comm link open when she noticed that Cassie was being carried on board a shuttle. She went to investigate and found the Senator attempting to pilot the ship himself. They threatened to harm Cassie if Captain Malone did not take over as pilot.”
The lift doors closed. KadEN looked between the two Katierans trying to access the situation. “You have two females abducted?” He asked.
“Yes. My mate and her friend.” Ren answered looking frustrated with the slowness of the lift.
“Your mate’s friend is piloting the shuttle? I did not know you allowed your females to perform such dangerous tasks.” KadEN looked at the Katierans with disgust.
It was Kyd that responded snappily. “She is a human female warrior, one of the best that I’ve seen.”
Commander TylOR stood at attention with interest showing in his eyes. “A female warrior? I have not heard of such a thing in many eons.”
Kyd growled. He couldn’t help himself.
“ENOUGH!” Ren yelled. He was heaving, his eyes were glowing, he felt his muscles flexing. All the men stepped as far away from Ren as they could.
“He is going into protection mode.” TylOR acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
“Of course he is. His mate, who is breeding, has been taken off the planet.” Kyd explained.
“The female is breeding?” Prime Leader KadEN asked. Kyd nodded. KadEN gave some kind of signal towards Commander TylOR.
TylOR opened his own comm link. “Commander TylOR here. There is a small shuttle just entering orbit. Do you have sight of it?” There was a pause as a response was being given. “Good. Keep it in sight and let us know if there is any change in the direction the shuttle is taking. Do not let it go through a wormhole. Commander out.”
Ren and Kyd looked between the two Kiljorn men amazed that they would offer their assistance.
“What? Did you think Kiljorns would stand by while a breeding female is being threatened?” KadEN responded.
The lift doors, finally, opened and the men took off at a fast pace. The shuttle was already fired up and the pilot ready to go. Kyd hit his comm link yelling out a command, “REPORT!”
The lieutenant in charge of the Operations Room updated him on the status of the shuttle, “Unauthorized shuttle making way past third moon. They are still in range. Two Kiljorn transport ships are tracking the shuttle. Captain Malone has kept her comm link open. I will connect the link for you to hear what is going on.”
In the next moment, their comm links were connected to Jaxon’s. They could hear what was going on the inside of the shuttle.
“You should have listened to me months ago on Earth. None of this would have had to happen. But no … you had to try to keep those little rats growing inside of you. I couldn’t even report you to the EWG because I knew they were passing a new law against illegally fathering kids. I told people that you ran off with another man. You made me look like an idiot!” Scott McCormick was ranting and raving at Cassie. He would stop to point at her accusingly, then, break out into tears about how his life was in danger all because of her. He was as unbalanced as Erica.
“Don’t worry Senator McCormick. We’ll get rid of her in just a bit. Then we’ll circle around and sneak back into the Prime City. If anyone asks, we’ll say that she committed suicide. I’ve even written the suicide note.” Erica was sitting in the co-pilot’s chair keeping an eye on Jaxon.
“Ren won’t believe it! He’ll come for me I know it. Tomorrow’s our mating ceremony.” Cassie told her smugly.
“Don’t worry about Ren. I will comfort him while he grieves for you. Maybe I’ll seduce him, get pregnant, and then insist he give me a mating ceremony.” Erica kept on with her crazy meanderings.
Cassie looked at Jaxon who was giving her a wink. It made her feel a lot better knowing her friend was there. She kept rubbing her belly with her hands. And a sharp pain had her hunching over.
“Oh my God Cassie, you’re bleeding!” Jaxon yelled.
“She’s bleeding? What does that mean, she’s bleeding? Was she shot? Stabbed? What?” Ren was standing straight up even though the ceiling of the shuttle was too short and cramped.
“Shhhh. I can’t hear what’s happening” Kyd told him. Everyone on the shuttle got silent.
Cassie lifted her gown up to peer at the wet liquid coming from her. “It’s not red, it’s pink. My water broke and the plug is bloody.”
“Shit! You’re in labor NOW?” Jaxon yelled.
“That’s disgusting! We need to dump her before those brats get out.” Scott yelled at Erica.
The whole time Senator Rowe had been sitting behind Jaxon with a gun pointed at her. But now he was looking back at the chaos happening behind him. Erica left the co-pilot’s seat to go to the back of the shuttle.
Jaxon took that moment to speak into her comm link low enough not to draw attention. “Putting on Auto Pilot … countdown from 10 … drag us in … need a medic on standby.” Jaxon looked around for that big transport ship she saw trailing beside her. She had purposely kept the viewing screens off. There it was. She programmed coordinates into the autopilot. “10 … 9 …. 8 … 7 …”
“Damn female!” Kyd hit his comm link to tell the transport ship what was happening, but then he realized that Jaxon had locked onto the Kiljorn ship, not the Katieran ship. He turned to the Kiljorn Commander. “She’s locked onto your ship.”
The Kiljorn commander wasted no time and hit his comm link, “Commander TylOR here, the shuttle is locking onto our ship and setting auto pilot, pull her in counting from …. 3 … 2 … 1!” At the exact same time Jaxon’s comm link went dead.
It seemed like hours to Ren when in fact it was only a few minutes that had passed. “What’s happening?” Ren asked.
The Kiljorn commander answered his comm link, “Report. No … hold them. We will dock.” He ended communications and turned to his leader.
“Prime Leader, the shuttle and its occupants have been secured. But … they can’t reach the breeding female because the warrior female is protecting her.” TylOR was thoroughly impressed so far with this female warrior. He couldn’t wait to meet her in person.
“Sit. Get control. If she sees you like this, it will only scare her.” Kyd told Ren as he braved his wrath.
Ren sat. He said a silent prayer to the Goddess to watch over his family. And that was what they were to him. HIS family. He would die to protect them. He looked at his brother and said, “I can’t lose them.”
“You won’t.” Kyd reassured him. Goddess be with them.
The shuttle had no sooner settled on the transport docking bay and the air pressurized, before Ren was tearing out of it. Kyd was right on his heels. They ignored the Kiljorns present. “Cassie!” Ren yelled.
“Ren!” Cassie yelled back from inside the stolen shuttle.
Ren and Kyd ducked as they boarded the shuttle and froze for a moment.