Prime Deliverance (Katieran Prime Series (Book Five)) (2 page)

Lucy grabbed her hand and tried to pull her behind her but AriELa was frozen. Her feet were like lead.

“AriELa!” TarAK screamed. He jumped in front of her, blocking the view of the Morins. It was enough to snap her out of her immobile state.

“We need to go!” Lucy yelled.

She couldn’t leave while TarAK faced the enemy. Both Morins attacked TarAK. He fell to the ground not moving.

“TarAK!”

*****

Six Hours Later

Kitana!
Prime Leader KadEN watched the video feed showing the Morins attacking his home world. The footage they retrieved focused on Prima AriELa’s abduction. She had been shopping and the video feeds showed the Morins attacking TarAK. AriELa could have escaped, but she chose to aid TarAK instead. There was no doubt after seeing the devastated look on the young female’s face that she was in love with the Liaison.

Second Lieutenant Daniels tried to pull AriELa to safety, but she refused to leave TarAK. The Morins grabbed AriELa. They pulled an unconscious TarAK toward a waiting shuttle. Two more Morins had to come and subdue the female warrior before taking her onto the same shuttle.

KadEN watched Prime Commander KydEL’s expression as he witnessed helplessly as the enemy took his cousin. He was furious. KadEN didn’t blame him. He wanted to personally rip apart the Morin ships, wipe them from existence. They had killed many of his people, put Lindsey’s life in danger, and had taken AriELa.

He looked over at the Prime Commander’s mate, Jaxon. Her reaction to the video feed was unexpected. “That’s bullshit! Daniels could have taken them.” Jaxon insisted the female warrior gave up the fight to follow AriELa.

KadEN had sent transport ships and warships to escort the Katieran Transport from Earth. Several Morin Transports had escaped detection and used the distraction to break through the Kiljorn defenses. Half of their warships that had been on the outer landing fields were destroyed. Five city buildings were completely demolished. There were four hundred injured citizens of Kiljor and seventy deaths. The small southwest region was completely decimated. The only positive note was the Prime Building withstood the attack but the KadEN had a great deal of his people without homes to live in.

The Colonial Transport that was traveling to Kiljor for alliance talks had sent assistance and helped to run the Morins off. Evidently, the Colonists were more of a military force than anyone had known. He was grateful for their assistance.

The leader of the Colony, LarIS, agreed to use his special abilities to help them locate the Morin Transport ship. There had been many side effects caused by the Morin virus released many years ago. One of the more extreme side effects for LarIS was that he could read minds. The Colonial Leader offered to travel on the rescue team and use his psychic abilities to help locate the Morin Transport.

*****

AriELa had fought to stay by TarAK’s side. The Morins dragged him by his feet to their shuttle. “Let him go!” she yelled, but they ignored her.

She looked behind her to see that two Morins held onto Lucy as they shoved her into the seat beside her. Lucy gripped AriELa’s hand. “Calm down, watch and listen.”

She took in deep breaths, trying to calm herself. It was hard when all her thoughts were focused on TarAK.
How badly was he hurt?

The Morins didn’t bother to close the viewing screens. Lucy focused on learning where they were taking them. She couldn’t help but feel a sadness at seeing so much destruction caused by the Morins. She wanted nothing more than to kill every last one of them, but she had to stay focused on her objectives. First to survive—then to escape with AriELa.

The trip didn’t take too long. The Morin Transport was waiting for them. It looked as ugly as the Morins themselves were.
What the hell was with the smell?

The air was pressurized and the shuttle secured to the docking bay. The Morins were not gentle when they dragged them off the shuttle. She had checked over the shuttle control panel and she would be able to fly them back without any problems. If she could remember the way back to Kiljor. However, getting past all the Morins was going to be nearly impossible.

AriELa stood still when a tall Morin approached. He had the same solid yellow eyes but his skin color was not as sickly looking. He walked with an air of confidence. There was something familiar about this male. It was obvious by the way he carried himself and the way the other males moved out of his way, that he was the one in charge.
Who was he?

He looked over them with curiosity. Lucy shivered with dread when he stopped in front of AriELa, staring at her intently. He was probably thirty years older than she was, but he still looked fit.

He spoke to one of the Morin warriors, “Secure the male.”

“Yes, sir.”

AriELa watched with tears in her eyes as TarAK was dragged off the shuttle and taken away.

“Where are you taking him?”

“To a holding room,” he answered her.

He looked her up and down. His eyes gleamed intently, which made AriELa feel wary. “I am Leader Krosis of the Morin Nation. It is a pleasure to meet you again, Prima AriELa. You certainly have grown into a beautiful female.”

“How do you know me? When did we meet?” she asked.

He smiled a sickly smile. “Many years ago. I ordered the attack on your family’s ship.”

She gasped. “You, it was you that attacked my family?”

He tapped his forehead. “Yes.”

AriELa felt all the air being sucked out of her body.
No!
This couldn’t be happening to her, yet again. Over seven years ago this Morin took everything dear to her. Was she doomed to have tragedy follow her life?
No, this couldn’t happen to me again, I won’t allow it.

Her face went pale and her knees gave out on her. Then everything went dark.

Chapter One

A Little Over Seven Years Ago

“Are your tests accurate, Medic Cog?” the Morin Leader Krosis asked as he rubbed a pale hand over his hairless head.

“Yes, sir.” Medic Cog stood anxiously awaiting for his leader to respond to the news he was just given. He wished he had insisted on someone else to give the bad news.

“If our planet can no longer support life, we will have to leave the Morin Star System and seek out a planet with enough resources to support the remaining population. Do we have a number?” asked the leader.

“There are only a couple of thousand left.”

“How many of those are females?” the Morin leader kept demanded.

There was a long, uncomfortable pause. “Less than fifty,” Medic Cog held his breath after he spoke.

“What? Are you telling me that out of two thousand of our Morin Nation, only fifty females have survived?” The Leader looked ready to hit something.

“Yes, sir.”

“Have any of them produced viable young?”

“None have. The side effects from the viral testing on our home planet have made the females unable to produce.”

“And what of the side effects to the males?” Krosis already knew some of the effects that had been caused. He himself experienced the hairlessness, unusual coloring of skin, and extreme bouts of violence.

“The seed production for the males is decreasing at an astronomical rate. In ten years or less, all our males will be sterile.”

“Then we need to acquire not only a new home planet but new specimens to breed with.”

“That is the only option left to us. We have been looking for the nearest Star System that will be…” the medic was interrupted.

“I already have a Star System in mind. If not for them, our people would not be on the verge of non-existent,” Krosis told him pulling up the coordinates on his digital tablet.

“Surely you don’t mean …” Medic Cog stared at his leader wide-eyed.

“Set course for Katiera,” said as an order by the leader, not a statement up for discussion.

*****

“When will we be there?” AriELa asked her father.

Prime Commander ConEL smiled down at his only daughter, Prima AriELa. A father couldn’t be any prouder. She was smart, curious, brave, and as beautiful as her mother. He was going to have to be careful with the males that he knew were going to be after her when she reached maturity.

“A couple of hours more, little one. Where’s your mother?”

“She’s resting in the sleeping quarters. She says the young is kicking at her constantly.”

AriELa’s mother was breeding. It was a miracle because their people had a hard time breeding and most young did not live through the process.

Many years ago their enemy, the Morins, had introduced a virus that nearly wiped out the entire Katieran race. Those that survived suffered varying side effects. One of those side effects made it difficult to conceive and to carry the young to term once they conceived.

Breeding was hard on AriELa’s mother. That’s why they had been vacationing on their family’s waterside home. Her parents hoped the more relaxed environment would be better for AriELa’s mother. It worked for a couple of months. Now that it was getting closer to the time for the young to be born, her family was traveling back to the City of Katiera, where some of the best medics were.

AriELa was glad to be heading back to Katiera. She missed her cousins. They were all part of one of only a few Prime families left on Katiera. Primes held prestige and were looked up to by the people of Katiera. AriELa was a Prima like her mother, MariELa and her aunt, SandELa. The young were a male, so he would be a Prime like her father, ConEL and cousins, RendEL, KydEL, and SydEL. Her father was Prime Commander and her uncle, before he was killed in a Morin skirmish, had been Prime Leader. Her older cousin, RendEL, took on the daunting task of being Prime Leader. He was the youngest Prime Leader in Katieran history.

AriELa was excited about being a big sister, but she worried over her mother’s failing health. Many times the mother died or the young died. In some rare occasions, both died. She was still young and didn’t know much about the medical side of things. Her cousin, SydEL, was studying to be a medic and would know more.

Her family was traveling back to Katiera on board a small Transport Ship only three times the size of a shuttle. Its crew consisted of two pilots and two security personnel. Her father was taking a shift piloting the transport. AriELa liked watching her father while he flew the ship. She asked him lots of questions and he always took the time to answer her. He even taught her how to fly the ship when no one was around. Of course, she had to promise not to let her mother know. Females were not supposed to know how to do these things. Since there were so few females left, they were guarded and heavily protected.

“Will TarAK and his father be in the city when we get there?” AriELa tried to ask as if it didn’t matter.

ConEL frowned at her. “Most likely they will be since MarAK is head of security.”

AriELa looked away to hide her smile. TarAK was the true reason she was looking forward to going back to Katiera. He was a few years older than she was and was training to be part of the security team for the Primes. She had feelings for him that she didn’t understand. If she had to put words to them, she would have to say she felt that he was her bond mate. Bond mates are those that are destined by the Gods to be together. However, females have never had the pull the males feel when they find their Bond Mate.

After meeting TarAK for the first time, she took to him right off. She would follow him around everywhere he went. He never made her feel like a silly young, even though she knew he only saw her that way. She had hoped that when she got older, he would ask to mate her officially.

“Prime Commander ConEL!” One of the Lieutenants ran on to the Control Center.

“What is it, Lieutenant?”

“We’ve received a report from a local star base that a Morin Transport ship was spotted heading in this direction.”

AriELa stood back out of the way while the Lieutenant showed her father the report. She watched as her father glanced over the information on the handheld digital tablet. She couldn’t stop the feeling that her life was about to change forever. “Father, should I go get mother?”

Before her father could answer, their ship was hit with three full bursts. The hits made their ship tilt to the side, knocking AriELa and one of the security people on the floor. AriELa’s father had gripped the console steadying himself.

“Lieutenant, use evasive maneuvers. Return their fire!” he ordered as he helped AriELa back up on her feet.

“Sir, they hit our main power source. We will be out of power in less than twenty minutes. I suggest we get you and your family to the escape pods before we lose power to launch them.” The Lieutenant looked scared, which didn’t make AriELa feel any better.

“MariELa?” ConEL tapped his earpiece trying to reach his mate on his Comm Link.

“ConEL?”

“MariELa, I need you to meet us at the escape pods on the level below us.”

“What’s going on?”

“We’re under attack. I am taking AriELa to the escape pods and I want you to meet us there,” ConEL told her as their ship took another hit, knocking their ship around. There was no response. “MariELa!” ConEL grabbed AriELa’s hand and dragged her behind him down the corridor.

AriELa didn’t say anything. She was too scared. She followed her father as quickly as possible. The ship shook with each hit they took. They descended the ladder leading down instead of the small lift.

The escape pods were not on the same level as the docking bay for safety reasons. The pods themselves were egg shaped and could only hold two people. They were too small to be detected by the enemy’s radar and they had a beacon that would activate once the pod was launched. There were seven people on board but they only had three pods, which meant somebody would have to remain behind. She looked around for her mother but didn’t see her.

“Where’s mother?”

“AriELa, I need you to get inside the pod.” ConEL opened the pod door and pointed for AriELa to follow his directions.