Chapter 4

Medical Stasis

~ Ember ~

Being squished between the two oversized males as they headed for the medical bay, reminded her of her brother always hovering at her back. The familiarity was bittersweet. Normally she would find such behavior annoying, but since she was on a strange ship with a ton of men she didn’t know, being nestled between the two males felt much safer than strutting around on her own.

Unable to focus on her surroundings much, Ember was eager to be eyes on with her brother. A little worry niggled in the back of her mind that the handsome drones were lying to her about him being on board. Something wasn’t right about the whole situation. It was a well-known fact that aliens only took brides, leaving other family members to fend for themselves on the dying planet. Why had they taken Dark? She worried that they were planning on selling him, or forcing him to work for the clan.

A wild and crazy idea popped into her mind that they might try to eat him. That idea sounded absurd right up until the point that they walked into medical and she saw a large dog like creature with large fangs sitting in front of her brother’s stasis pod.

Stopping short, she looked it over. Whatever it was, it looked like some sort of cross between a saber toothed tiger with the teeth that large enough to be considered tusks and a gargoyle with wings and a snout. The creature was laying on the ground like a dog, with his wings folded back, twirling an orange around with one claw on the floor.

Valic spoke in a low, gentle voice. “Have no fear, my queen.”

Haroc’s voice rang out. “Greetings, Dargon. Come and meet your new queen. She is eager for news of her brother.”

Jumping to his feet, the orange spun away bumping into the wall. Trotting over, he bowed by pulling his front down and stretching his front paws out for a brief second. “Greetings, my new queen. Your drone is still safely in his pod. The healers have visited seven times to make sure the unit is operating at optimal capacity. We are scheduled to meet with the Shardon vessel in 3,330 microns, or 1,110 of your human minutes.”

Ember filed away another handy factoid; one micron is equal to three minutes. Since everyone said greetings upon meeting someone, she followed suit. “Greetings Dargon. Thank you for the update. Are you a member of our clan?”

The creature smiled, displaying virtually every sharp tooth in his head. “Humans are not compatible for mating with the Golugua. We are sentinels and I came to offer my services to your line during your voyage. I wish to test compatibility. If I find you worthy, I will offer my services on a more permanent basis.”

Since she had absolutely no idea what the creature was talking about, and the nice insectoids were not clarifying anything for her, she decided the best course of action was to simply nod and keep it moving forward.

“Thank you for looking out for my brother. I appreciate that more than you know.”

“I brought you a welcome gift, fiery queen.”

Sighing, she tolerated the reference to her red hair. The creature scurried to the corner of the room and retrieved the orange for her. Holding it out in one palm, his claws were pulled back, making the thought of taking it from him less dangerous. Stretching out her hand, she quickly snatched it from him, mumbling her thanks.

Edging around him, she went to the pod and looked through the small glass like window. He appeared to be sleeping, but she knew if the metal capsule were peeled back, she would be able to see the laser burns. Her stomach churned at the thought of him lying there and being technically dead.

Placing her hand against the glass, she whispered. “I’m really sorry, Dark. It’s my fault you’re dead.”

“You did not injure him, my queen. The humans protesting the bride trade did that.”

Leaning her forehead against the glass, she sighed. “I don’t even think they knew Maruvians don’t even trade in women. It’s the reason my brother chose your ship. He thought I would be thought of as a person and not property.”

It was the sentinel who growled a reply. “Queens are not property. If any male disagrees I will removed his head from his worthless body.”

Valic interjected quietly. “This is not what our queen needs to hear right now. She grieves for her fallen brother.”

“I’m going to be a nervous wreck until while he’s gone.”

“Then we will simply request to accompany him.” Haroc sounded very sure of himself. Looking at her smartly dressed clan member, her eyes slid over his bulky physique. His form fitting uniform seemed to accentuate his best features. Valic stood proudly at his side wearing the same uniform, only his had blue piping along the edges. They looked good together. “Were you a couple before you joined the clan?”

Haroc’s eyes got big, but it was Valic who answered. We are a two person elite fighting team. Drones are not typically romantically involved with each other. We normally rely upon tiny pleasure stones tiled together to provoke our sexual release.”

Swiveling her head around to look at the drones, she stated. “I did not know that.” Shaking her head to clear the image of them pleasuring themselves from her brain, she tried to pick back up with the conversation. “It would really be fantastic if I could accompany him. I would like to give them medical information about our family and help make sure he has a good outcome.”

Bringing his com to his lips, Haroc screeched something she didn’t understand. Covering her ears, she flinched away from the awful sound. Somehow he seemed much more alien when he spoke his own language. Slowly his screeching began to sort out into words she could understand.

“…no, not our female…myself and Valic…were are both insectoid…no…we have no mimicking capabilities…I am a queen maker…Valic is a simple drone…”

Haroc was a queen maker. She didn’t know what was, but filed the information away for future reference. Turning to Valic, Ember asked cautiously. “How is it I can understand Maruvian?”

“Our healers gave you a dose of the multi-language bacteria. You will understand several dozen alien languages. We were careful to ensure you received our longevity serum as well. Your lifeline will stretch to meet ours.”

Not understanding quite what that meant, she focused on the thing she did understand. “You shot me full of drugs without asking me first.”

Shock flooded his expression. “The assumption is that you would wish for these modifications. Are you angry with us?”

Immediately looking away, she sealed her lips. These people were going to try to save her brother, now was not the time to piss them off. “No, I’m not angry. Forget I mentioned it.”

“As you wish, my queen.”

Craning her neck, Ember was getting aggravated with being called a queen. Those two men were polite to fault, calling her a queen seemed to be their word for woman. She wished they would just use her name.

She paced back and forth, rolling the orange around in her hands as she waited for the Shardon vessel to appear.