Chapter 9

~ Penny ~

Penny followed Armon deep into the bowels of the ship. Straying so far from her sisters left her feeling strangely off kilter. Though she was not technically breaking the rules because she had Armon with her, she felt they would not approve. The both of them were far too overprotective, but getting cornered by the Earth Gov commander had taught her that danger often came from unexpected sources.

“Come this way, my queen.”

His rough animalistic voice prompted her to remember that she was with an honest to goodness alien. Though she adored him and had cuddled the huge creature more than once, she had to keep in mind the fact that she knew very little about him.

Clawing at a control panel, he caused a spark. Penny took the small fob from his claw and slid it over the screen. A word flashed up on the screen in white.

“It says we are approved to enter.”

“Except that we’re definitely not approved to enter. Crap, Armon, you’re going to get us into big trouble.”

“My kind are already in big trouble, my little queen. We need your help if we are to survive.”

Stepping closer, she looked at him curiously. “I thought you were the only one of your kind on board.”

“No, there are claws full of us on this ship.” Shaking his head, he corrected himself. “There are a handful of us.”

The door finally slid open. What she saw on the other side sent her stumbling back. Cages, stacked upon cages full of the creatures were housed inside the room. Some weren’t moving, others were struggling to get out, and a few were writhing in pain.

Gathering her wits about her, she marched into the room. Twirling around, she took in the huge number of insectoids. There must have been close to a hundred.

“They are starving, my queen.”

“Why?” Shaking her head, she held up one hand. “Forget I asked. We can sort that out later. Right now we need to get them hydration packs and see to their medical needs. Once that is finished we’ll figure out how to open the cages.”

“Save them we must, but opening the cages is not allowed.”

“They’re living, breathing, thinking people and we aren’t going to keep them in cages. You know what? Let’s add that to the list of things to argue about later. Where can we find hydration packs?”

“There are some in the lockers below. With your permission, we can forcibly open them.”

“Let’s hop to it.”

Running over to the lockers on the lower level, they worked together to force the doors open on a couple of them. Instead of the hand-sized hydration packets she was used to seeing, there were several huge bladders with a couple dozen tubes protruding from the bottom of each of them. Hooking the loop on the top around his neck, Armon hefted it out and up into the air.

“I fly, you climb, my little queen. Each cage must get a feeding tube. We must hurry.”

Understanding him completely, Penny ran to the nearest access ladder and quickly climbed to the top level. Exiting onto a catwalk designed to aid their handlers in caring for the creatures, she ran to meet Armon as he landed with the large bladder.

She slid a feeding tube into the corner of each cage, careful to keep her distance from the more violent insectoids. Mostly they were too preoccupied with getting to the feeding tubes to waste time trying to harass her.

Just as she inserted the last tube, Armon landed with another bladder on the far end of the catwalk. They repeated the process several more times before she climbed down to help him breach more lockers.

Just as they were setting the last bladder, Penny let loose with a torrent of curses. “This is a really shitty way to treat people. I hope that damned queen of yours chokes on her next meal.”

The room went suspiciously quiet. Becoming anxious, she slid between Armon’s front claws and wrapped her arms around him.

“Fear not, my young queen. My people are simply curious about you.”

Drawing her over to a cage in the corner, housing several creatures, he grabbed one of the bars. A small creature moved forward and rubbed noses with him. The two of them looked like a mated pair.

“You brought help.” The small voice was delicate and slightly timid.

Armon responded quietly. “I said that I would. The human queens have thrown Kabelda from this ship. She is adrift in a shuttle with very few drones.”

Another drone spoke. “This is the closest we’ve ever come to freedom.

Armon’s hand reached between the bars to stroke something. Penny gasped out loud.

“Armon, you have a child? I thought we were the only queens.”

“Maruvians do not count our females as queens. They are needed to keep a ready supply of flesh eaters ready to do their bidding.”

“You’re not Maruvian?”

Pulling an orange from one the spikes in his wing, he tore it open and handed it to the female. “We have an insectoid heritage but we are not of the same bloodline.”

Grabbing onto the cage, she let the anger roll over her. “What gives them the right to cage you all like animals?”

“It has been their way for thousands of years.”

“Well, it stops today. My sisters and I will not have it.”

“So, once again it falls to another species to decide if we are worthy of freedom.”

“You were free from the moment you were born. Because others have taken your liberty away does not mean you are not worthy of freedom.”

Cradling his tiny infant in the palm of his hand, Armon held the child out for her to see.

Penny stared at the infant, her heart aching in her chest. “The child is free. May I hold him?”

The female hissed in shock. “The new queen asks our permission?”

Sighing, Penny looked at the small woman. “Yes ma’am, it’s considered polite to ask before you touch another person’s child.” Picking at a thread on her gown, she admitted shyly, “I’m not really a queen, by the way. I’m just a regular person, like you.”

Beaming at her, the woman spoke quietly. “You may hold our young.”

Gently lifting him from Armon’s hand, she held the little one close. “He’s really adorable. He’s even got tiny little claws and wings like his father.”

Armon reached inside the cage once more and grasped the hands of his mate. Their heads leaned together and Penny thought they were just enjoying the small victory that had come their way.

Sighing, she stated tiredly, “What do you say we break the seal on this cage, so these good folks can stretch their wings?”

“If we do that, it will alert the Maruvian warriors. They will panic, and may even start shooting.”

“I’m not walking off and leaving them like this.”

“Kabelda used to attach a round blinking disk to the underside of our wing. It was designed to drive our kind mad with rage, driving us insane with the need to kill. I do not understand how the devices work, but once mine was removed, my blood quieted and I no longer even consider committing such atrocities.”

“She attached the devices to all of you?”

“Just the warriors she used in battle. As you can see, about a third of those remaining are hyper-aggressive. I have been coming when I know the handlers are gone to make sure my people are hydrated. I have found and removed several of the devices but my hands were not designed for such delicate tasks.”

“I see where you’re going with this conversation. You think that if we can remove the devices, the Maruvians will see that you pose no threat to them?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you so much larger than the others of your kind? Are you an alpha or a king?”

His eyes narrowed as he gestured to all the cages. “Much like an ornamental fish, we grow only as large as our housing permits. I have grown larger since being removed from my cage. Living in the open on our own, we can grow to the size of a small shuttle. We wish to be released to make our way in the ‘verse.”

“None have a right to hold you.”

“We are in agreement then?”

Returning the child to his mother, Penny looked around at the expectant faces staring out from all the cages. “Yes, we will figure out this issue with the devices and see them all removed. Then I will speak with my sisters about facilitating your release.”