Chapter Eleven
Outside the building that housed the med-bay, four Primarian men waited for them. Two were in the red tunics of the warrior guards; the others were dressed in the vivid clothing the ordinary citizens wore every day, the same she’d seen when she toured the city.
“Why are they here?” Maggie asked in a hushed tone, while pulling back from the glass double doors.
“This is the inside help I mentioned,” Rebecca replied, also speaking quietly.
“Two of them are warriors.”
“Those are borrowed uniforms. But, Mags, we really don’t have time for me to explain—”
“Make time,” Maggie bit out.
“There is a small group who call themselves purists who aren’t too happy with our presence here and are adamantly opposed to our species cross-breeding. They prefer to allow nature to take its course, rather than introduce inferior DNA into the gene pool.”
“They said that?” Maggie gasped.
“Not in so many insulting words, yet that is what they meant. Evidently, two of the leaders have daughters of breeding age. They fear they will be passed over for humans since several of us have tested higher than many of their own kind.”
“Which means it’s not as utopian as the commander made it out to be,” Maggie mused aloud.
“Hell, no,” Eryn put in. “One of the instigators is a jealous woman who had an eye on one of the newly mated warriors for herself. It’s much the same type of drama we have at home, as well as prejudice, xenophobia, and elitism. As offensive as it is, if their bias is our ticket off this world, I have no problem using it to get where we need to be.”
The door swung open. “What is the delay?” one of the red-shirted men demanded to know.
“Merely bringing our captain up-to-date on the plan,” Rebecca replied.
“Unnecessary.” Teal eyes narrowed with impatience homed in on Maggie. “Do as you are told, and we will see you get back to your ship safely. Let’s go.” In his supreme self-importance, he whirled and was out the door before any of them could react.
“Ass,” Maggie muttered as they trailed after him. “Are you sure he isn’t a warrior? Sounds arrogant enough to be one.”
“They all do, especially if an inferior female deigns to open her mouth.”
“If you want this to succeed, less talking and more walking, if you please.” This came from the same haughty male and drew five annoyed glares from five irritated Earth women.
“Ignore him,” Rebecca advised tightly. “We’ll be free of them all before we know it.”
“And thank God for that,” Eryn grumbled under her breath. “The sooner we see the last of this world full of narrow-minded, condescending misogynists, the better.”
They followed the men through the streets, past the large open market that had been part of their orientation tour. Maggie noticed the crowds were much thinner than the last time, and those present were quiet, almost subdued. They continued a few more blocks until they reached the less congested part of town where the shuttle landing port was located. It was nearly empty, with only one shuttle instead of dozens, the one remaining being hurriedly loaded with supplies by several men. No one spared them a glance.
“Something’s going on,” she whispered to Eryn, still hanging close by her side, although she was steadier now that the dizziness had passed. “The clinic staff left because of a mine explosion, the streets were practically abandoned, and their shuttlecraft are gone. Was the mine a diversion?”
“Yes.”
“You blew up a mine?” she hissed loudly in horror.
“We didn’t.” Her red hair glinted in the sun as she inclined her head toward their escorts.
“My God, they sacrificed their own people to be rid of us.”
“They want us gone, fast. I’m surprised we weren’t the target of their violence. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky planting a bomb in a heavily guarded building then detonating it in the middle of a heavily populated area of the city, posed problems for them.”
They arrived at the transport center. Inside, the corridors were eerily quiet as they made their way to the control room, where more men were manning the controls.
One stepped forward, studied her for a moment before asking with a smirk, “This is your leader?”
“What does that mean?” Maggie snapped as she glared up at him.
“You’re tiny. Strength comes from the top. No wonder your ship and crew were so easily captured.” His gazed swept from her to the other four women standing behind her, and his smirk twisted into a disdainful scowl. “I care not, though. Once we send you back to your ship, you will no longer be our problem.” His hand swept out to the raised floor of the teleporter. “Take your place.”
Maggie moved forward. When she stepped into the center of one of the green circles of light, she faced front and found she was alone. “Aren’t you coming?”
“We have a few more extractions to complete before we join you.”
When she answered, Rebecca wouldn’t meet her gaze directly, a red flag for Maggie something else was wrong. She keyed in on the word extractions, which sounded grim. Eryn and the others wore the same dour expressions.
“Who else?” She didn’t want to ask, but Maggie had to know.
“Not everyone is expected to embrace this idea,” Eryn explained.
“Who?” Even as she repeated the question, Lana and Mailynn immediately came to mind.
“The first captured, some have transformed and may be reluctant to come along.”
“We can’t leave them behind,” she protested.
“If they are bonded, and you take them from their mates, they will sicken, or worse.” One of the men stated this plainly, earning harsh scowls from his cohorts.
“What do you mean worse?” Maggie demanded to know.
“He exaggerates. Your females are new, and the bond still weak,” the snidest, tallest one countered flippantly, without answering her question. “They will be fine.”
Maggie knew he was lying. These Purists didn’t care what became of any of them, just that they left Primaria as fast as possible.
Eyes wide, she gazed from her place in the transporter to Rebecca. “What an impossible choice. Remain captive among those who would conspire against you, or leave and sicken, or worse.
“We’ll make sure she understands the risks, Mags.”
“Can you desist with this incessant chattering? You have much more to do before our window of opportunity closes.” They all scowled at the obnoxious redshirt. Impolite and downright rude, he was far worse than any male she had encountered.
Ignoring him, she said to Rebecca, “Be careful. We’ll debrief when we’re all onboard and safely away.” To the man at the controls, she nodded. “I’m ready.”
The bright lights began swirling, and their images wavered. Before she could count to three, the whirring in her ears stopped, and the tingling on her skin subsided. As the brilliant flashes faded, her vision cleared, and she found herself in familiar surroundings, in the cargo hold of the Odyssey.
Overwhelming relief rushed through her. She also swayed, and the room listed slightly.
“Captain,” one of her crew called as several rushed forward and grabbed her as her knees gave way.
“A neat trick,” Maggie said with a half smile, “but does one ever get used to it?”
“I prefer the old-fashioned way myself,” Tessa agreed as she wrapped an arm around Maggie and took much of her weight. “I’ll stick to a shuttle from here on out, thank you very much.”
“Your leg is healed.” Maggie noticed suddenly. “How did that happen so quickly?”
“The Primarian doctors were able to accelerate the healing—bone knitting is what they called it. A little over an hour in a tube-like contraption compared to what would have taken nature weeks to do on its own. It was amazing.”
“They do have much to offer. Too bad they don’t see us as more than brood mares.”
“What?” the young woman asked with a perplexed look.
“It’s an old term I read in a book. Basically, it means baby-making machine.”
“Mm, that is a drawback.” She led Maggie to a bench along the wall and sat beside her. “The dizziness should pass in a few minutes then you’ll feel right as rain.”
“Not until we’re all aboard and far out of range.”
“Yes,” she answered quietly, a momentary look of—something…was it regret?—crossing her features
“What is it?”
She shook her head.
“It’s okay, Tessa. Tell me.”
“Maybe it’s just me, but they weren’t as bad as we first thought. Yes, they acted like cavemen; still, it was a beautiful place, so clean and colorful. And they do have benefits that we don’t have on Earth, and considering how bad things have gotten at home, I wish…”
“You wish we could come to an agreement.”
“Yes. They need us,” Tessa went on. “And we could gain so much from them. Perhaps a treaty of some kind could be worked out between our governments.”
The same thought had occurred to her, but the arguments she’d had with the commander didn’t bode well for negotiations of any kind, stubborn man. She considered the young guard thoughtfully, before she asked, “What made you go into security instead of politics?”
“Curiosity.”
“Pardon?”
“I wanted to see the universe, and with four brothers growing up, I learned to fight and shoot, so the military and the Odyssey seemed perfect.”
Maggie smiled at the young woman, finding it remarkable she had come out of her trauma on the research planet and the second abduction without any ill will.
“If we could bottle your youth, enthusiasm, and wisdom, I think both of our worlds would be better off.” She pushed to her feet. “I’m feeling better now. What do you say we get to the bridge and see what they’ve done to our ship?”
“Aye, ma’am. Glad to have you back in charge.”
“Glad to be back, Tessa. Let’s go.”