Chapter 17

~ Arac ~

Arac tossed and turned in his sleep. Much like every night, he suffered from delayed onset of sleep, nocturnal waking, and horrible nightmares. Tonight sleep was proving to be an elusive goal. Forcing himself to still, Arac closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. He thought of lying in the tranquil oceans of his home world. His water board felt warm and wet beneath his back and the pale pink sun beamed down on his chest. Slipping his wings out, he allowed them to push him through the water. It was his favorite memory of being on his home world before he was called to serve aboard his mother’s ship.

The skies suddenly grew overcast and the sensation of it being a dark harbinger of things to come settled over him. A familiar feeling crept forward from the dark recesses of his mind, seeming to take hold of his will. The crystal clear waters turned dark in an instant and began to swirl around him, creating a strange funnel that began pulling him under the water. As he felt the water pouring down his throat, a face flashed through his mind. Kabelda leaned forward whispered in his ear. “You belong to me. Never think to escape my power again.”

The scrape of a familiar claw down his back brought him back to reality in the blink of an eye. Jerking himself up, he realized he was already standing. His hands were tied above his head, just like they always were. His head spun as he woke and he wondered if he’d invented a fantastical story of the ship being rescued by three beautiful queens.

“Wake, my queen maker. You have yet to give me queens.”

Swallowing thickly, Arac opened his eyes to see his cruel queen standing before him the flesh. The ache in his neck told him that he’d been injected with a tranquilizer while he slept. Finding that no only had Kabelda managed to escape from the prison planet but that she’d managed to track them turned his stomach.

“Finally, you are awake. I would have you witness my greatest victory and know you are forever in my service.”

“What are you talking about, my queen?”

“You have led me to a new home world. I intend to challenge the weak human queen and raise my drones to their former glory.”

“None want your rule.”

Backhanding him across the face, she sneered. “Think you that I give a care for what drones want? The deciding belongs to queens. You know this, Arac. Who has poisoned your mind against our ways?”

“You have taught me to hate our ways as I hate you.”

Grabbing his antenna, she jerked it roughly. “It matters not. I will kill the queens, take the new queen maker, and force your brother to give me what you will not. You will die in the worst possible way as an example to all who consider turning against me.”

“In death I will find the kind of freedom being your breeder could never hope to offer.”

Blowing a hole in the top of Queen Carolyn’s newly built sprawling palace, the shuttle dropped down inside. As the drones with her moved to open the doors and spread their force field, Arac noticed they appeared to have the blinking disks attached their necks. They were hidden by the clothing, but nothing else would explain the gently blinking light visible beneath the garments.

He jerked in his restraints, knowing full well there was no hope of getting free. If only he could somehow warn the others. Kabelda cut his still bound hands from above his head and dragged him from the shuttle by the root of one wing. The pain was almost unbearable. Her drones had caught the lightly armed group by surprise. They had Raec and King Igor before anyone could organize any real resistance.

Dragging the two drones behind the force field, she baited the Earth females. “I am the only person in the ‘verse with the technology to slip through your defenses. Did you actually think that I had culled ships and drones at a time when I had so few resources at my disposal? I held them in reserve. They picked me up just microns after you left.”

Hel stepped forward, eyeing Raec. “Perhaps you are a bit more clever than I gave you credit for, however coming here was just real stupid. These drones are going to kill you the moment you drop your shield.”

“These drones now belong to me. They will submit to whoever is victorious in this battle. My only true enemies here are a handful of weak Earth females who don’t deserve to be called queens.”

“Aren’t you going to tell me all about how I’m going to die horribly and who am I to think of challenging you? Come now Kabelda, I know you love saying crap like that.”

Laughing, the strange clawed lashes whipped around her. Arac knew her well enough to know it was a trap. “Stay back, she’s planning something nasty.”

Motioning to her drones, they tied all three of their captives face first against the ship. Their shirts were quickly ripped open before the drones backed away. Arac knew what was coming next. It wasn’t the first time he’d been lashed by her.

“I’m going to have some fun with my new breeders. My shield is set to allow only human females to step through. Anything not biological that is over a tricon thick will be burned away.”

Arac watched Hel step immediately forward. Sure enough, the shielding burned away her thick uniform leaving only the thin bands Earth women were used to wearing under their clothing.

Kabelda used one of her lashes to tear into Raec’s back. Two more women walked through. Queen Carolyn and Alexis stood at her side. Penny and a red haired young female blew through the shield. Then there was another redhead and someone holding back a very pregnant redhead. The ones with fire-colored hair must be fierce on the human’s world. A tiny human with black hair walked through. Where did the small ones get such bravery?

Digging her lashes into the king, Arac felt the sting of her bite as well. He tossed his head back to scream and saw dozens of Golugua had crawled up the force field and where clawing and scratching their way through it. Drones were circling the entire area. The looks on their faces told him if the shield came down they were taking their shot. He saw three men walk up to the force field and begin shooting some kind of huge plasma weapons at it.

Kabelda was shocked and, before she could react, something dropped from the ceiling, clanging to the ground. The Golugua had opened a small hole in the top of the force field and dropped long spears through the tiny opening. As they worked to make it bigger, he could see people passing weapons of every shape, size and caliber up to them.

Kabelda had seriously underestimated how the drones would react her return. Grabbing the weapons, the women circled around her. Lashing out at the humans proved to be a futile effort. The humans were lithe and light on their feet, easily dodging out of her way. Several even sliced through her lashes, causing her to squeal in pain.

To Arac’s amazement, more women moved through the force field. With everyone moving and Kabelda’s attention on them, the small dark haired one crept to his side and cut his bonds with her spear. “Help me disconnect the force field.”

Pulling her into the shuttle, he searched the controls for the defense weapons. Glancing out the huge back door of the shuttle, he could see the fight was heating up. Her drones had joined the fight, as had more human women. The strange part was as women fell others stepped forward, pulled them to safety, and returned to fight in their place. Women who didn’t know them were laying down their lives to save drones. It was humbling.

Just then, Kabelda spun around and shrieked her rage when she saw he was attempting to disconnect her protective shield. The moment Kabelda began moving towards him, the dark haired woman moved forward to meet her. Arac ran to help her fight the queen, but realized a moment too late that she had no intention of engaging with the vicious woman. She slammed her hand against the panel and the door slid shut, but not before Kabelda caught her in the midsection with one of her lashes.

Arac saw the tiny woman’s stomach torn open and knew the only way to save her was to throw a stasis field over her until they could get her medical assistance. Grabbing a med kit, he placed a stasis bar down on her body and hit the activation mode for full body stasis. When it shimmered into place, he ran back to the console.

Searching through the protocols to disengage the shielding was frustrating. Kabelda had cleverly hidden it from prying eyes. Screeching his frustration, he grabbed a laser pistol from the rack and began shooting every system in the shuttle. The door slid open again to reveal the humans had taken down most of the drones and were surging forward. Three large Golugua dropped down and pounced on the remaining few of Kabelda’s drones, ripping them limb from limb. Arac kept shooting until he saw the shielding go down.

Having accomplished his goal, he ran out with the plasma gun in his hand. Catching Kabelda with a shot to the back gave Queen Carolyn the opening she was looking for. Stepping forward, she plunged the spear into the oversized alien’s throat just as the drones pressed in to finish her.

Standing around her in a full circle, Arac reveled in the smell of her blood, as he watched her writhing on the ground clutching her throat. Stumbling back, he watched the humans raise their spears in unison. Hurling them all forward at once some embedded in her body, others glanced off each other, and a few missed their mark.

Queen Carolyn scrambled to her king’s side. Zadon slashed his ropes with one claw and stepped back. Cupping his face in her hands, she kissed him tenderly.

Meanwhile, Hel had grabbed a spearhead and cut Raec free. His father kneeled for a brief moment before coming to Arac. “You shot a queen.”

“To save our human protectors, I would shoot her all over again.”

“You are injured, my son.”

Grasping his father’s shoulder, he pulled him forward. “Come father, a human is seriously injured. The dark haired one fell under one of Kabelda’s lashes before the door shut.”

Running into the shuttle, they put her on a hover board as Vraden called for a medic on his com. The moment they stepped out of the shuttle with her, Shar Jalon ran forward. “I lost track of her during the fight.”

“Kabelda tore her stomach open with one of her claws. I got her into stasis within seconds but she is badly injured.”

“You did well, my new Maruvian friend. Our clones will see to her injuries. I keep cloned blood and tissue on hand in case she is injured.”

“Thanks be to the gods for your foresight.”

Standing Arac watched them dragging Kabelda’s headless body away and his eyes narrowed. He didn’t remember anyone decapitating her. Then again that might have happened during the last spear toss.

Taking a deep breath, he looked around at all the injured females. Gasping, he

realized there were dozens of them. Even an older one who his father was kneeling to help. Something tight loosened in his chest, with the realization that it was finally over.

Watching the drones tending to the human women’s injuries made his throat close up with emotion. He stumbled across a queen that literally stole away his ability to think. Her rounded lush body was sat on the ground as a drone cleaned a wound on her leg. It appeared that she had been clawed by one of Kabelda’s lashes. Fascinated, Arac couldn’t help but stare. The queen’s lush form quivered, making her large breasts heave. She was nothing like the queens he had seen. Her long pale hair almost hit the floor and her clear blue eyes went wide when she saw him looking at her.

Feeling his mating scent rising, he spun on his heel and ran outside outside. Not wishing to attract another queen, he tried to scrub the woman’s large trembling breasts and large innocent eyes from his mind. Yet, a small voice in the back of his mind whispered seductively. The beautiful little queen spilled her blood for you today. She is nothing like the queens you have known, so why deny her your service?