CHAPTER 3
Shar Jalon went straight from the guest suite to the medical center. Two nearly identical males stepped from the shadows, one coming up on each side of him.
Entering the center, they tracked to the right and straight into the cloning incubation hub. Even now, the lead physician brewed more clones, in anticipation of the heavy causalities they took in battle today. Most were nearly complete. They were even more homologized than the last round had been. Tearing his eyes from the bubbling tanks of upright clones, he turned to his physician.
Lar Jalon greeted him with wide eyes.
“You successfully procured a human female, I hear.”
“I did, brother. She is young and I believe, quite fertile.”
“You are a credit to our race, Shar Jalon. I did not think it would be possible to tear her from the clutches of a Krylon battle cruiser.”
The man to Shar Jalon’s right spoke. “It is a magnificent victory for our batch. Shar Jalon was correct that our overwhelming numbers and newest weapon tilted the battle in our favor.”
The physician turned to Shar Jalon. “Congratulations.”
“That is not the best news.”
“Better news than this, I cannot imagine.”
“I explained our situation honestly to her. The human is sympathetic to our plight. She agrees to any testing you wish to perform no matter how invasive. Her compassion leads her to dare what she normally would not.”
The physician’s eyes got big. “I will do my very best to maintain the good relations you have established.”
“She has asked that we take samples of whatever we need but that we leave her reproductive organs untouched. I believe she intends to make offspring with Prince Korban in short order. They are newly mated.”
Though Lar Jalon stared at his batch match mate, he dared not ask the question haunting them all.
Shar Jalon spoke firmly. “While you have her anesthetized to extract tissue and bone samples, you will carefully harvest all her eggs from this cycle. Our intelligence indicates they ovulate every solar cycle. I do not know where she is in this process, but if we are fortunate enough to harvest twice before she leaves us, I wish it. You will do this in a way that leaves no trace, does not cause discomfort, and leaves her reproductive organs functioning properly.”
“You wish me to violate the one boundary she established?”
“You know better than most how desperately we need this material. I am not callous, blind to the wrong we are doing, or even certain this is the correct course of action. All I know is our future is uncertain. We have one female here on this ship who might provide us with enough to novel genetic material to survive another generation. Though we are in route to her home world, there is no guarantee we can make contact, establish diplomatic relations, or that we will be given females. The humans may have a strong prejudice against our kind as well. We must grasp every opportunity that presents itself. You know as well as I that time is against us. Soon her body’s natural function will simply cleanse away the material we so desperately need. I will not permit this kind of waste on my watch.”
“I know some few species do cycle every solar. Never have we been fortunate enough to encounter one that ovulates so frequently and is likely so compatible.”
“It is a unique opportunity and one I refuse to squander.”
“Understood. We have no other choice.”
“Just spare her feelings if you can. She has a good soul. I have no interest in seeing her emotionally or physically harmed.”
“Agreed.”
Shar Jalon left his assistants to work out the particulars and headed back to his suite.
Upon entering, a feminine voice asked. “Would like something to eat, sir?”
“No. Please go into hibernate mode. I will summon you if I need anything.”
A series of clicking noises indicated his rudimentary AI had powered down. It was little more than a set of gigantic metal robot arms that came down from the ceiling to attend to the cooking and cleaning, but at least the voice was nice.
Shar Jalon sat on the side of his bed and daydreamed about a pretty human female to warm his heart and his bed. Such a thing was not possible for his kind until now, so he’d never allowed himself to fantasize about such things. Grabbing his hand held, he scanned through females from different species. Humans were the loveliest, by far. The sweet tone of her voice and her compassion for his kind had chewed away at his resolve to do right by his people. He hated violating her trust, but he was a man with few choices and his people looked to him to put their survival above all other considerations.
His com sounded and he answered the call from Prince Korban.
“You dare to touch my queen?”
“She asked to come with us. I did not take her against her will.”
“Do not play games with me, Shar Jalon. We have been on good terms until this moment. Give her back now and I may let you live.”
“You are nothing if not dramatic, Imperial Prince. After we explained our plight, your newly minted queen took pity on us by offering biological samples. We have every intention of accepting her much-needed and generous gifts. Rest assured, she will not be harmed.”
“She is not available for mating.”
“We do not seek her as a mate, only to determine if her kind are compatible with Shardon physiology. Why would we fight with you over one female when her home world has many more females than males?”
“You should have asked for what you needed. We would have shared information on her biology.”
“I doubt you would have done anything of the sort. Not to be insulting, but your medical technologies would not have assisted us. Your techniques are rudimentary compared to ours.”
“I do not like my female being in your hands.”
“Not my hands. I do not plan to be around her any more than necessary. I see no point in growing an attachment to a female who will only be with us a short time. To prove our good intention, we offer you our hospitality. You are welcome to join her aboard our vessel if you like.”
“This latest raid will not be so easily forgiven.”
“I have spoken to the Krylon home world. His Imperial Highness assures me that as long as we share the information on human physiology, it will be.”
Shar Jalon watched the angry prince’s eyes narrow. “You have spoken to my brother about human females?”
“He found my report quite enlightening. In fact, His Imperial Highness dispatched an emissary to treaty with the humans. If his request is granted, it opens the door for all of us to make similar trades. We would do well to act jointly, but I can see your anger precludes you from seeing this.”
“When next we meet, I plan to remove your lying head from your shoulders myself.”
“If you feel you must. Excluding the stroke of good luck in our last battle, the Shardon are ill equipped to fend off your army. Kill me if you must, but know another will take my place and our negotiations with the humans well move forward.”
“It hardly matters, for you will still be dead.”
“I wonder how your female will take the news that you’ve procured the very same Candorian trader who stole her away to escort her mother. She was not impressed with the fact that you both paid the Candorian for her and reported him to the Galactic Council. The phrase she used to describe your behavior was interesting. He was intent on having me by hook or by crook. It worked out well for us; she saw that we at least tried to intervene on her behalf when all others were intent on deceiving her. The woman appreciates honesty.”
“We will meet you at the human home world. I can promise nothing more at the moment. I wish to speak to her.”
“After she has provided the samples she offered. I would not have you poison her innocent mind against us. In the meanwhile, I will forward continuous security feeds, so you may know she is well and no harm comes to her under our watch.”
“Fine. You have three days, then I want to talk to her on holo-vid.”
“Agreed.”