Chapter 9
CAPTAIN JAMIE HOLT
I did not like the fact that Avery was spending a lot of time with the captured captain. I knew it was part of her research, but I could tell that she was attracted to him. How could I tell? Because she looked at him the same way she looked at me. I knew her responses. She would get flushed and her cheeks would turn rosy and she would move uncomfortably. These were all the reactions that she was having when she would be in contact with the captured Kalazaron. It pissed me off. But I had a mission to run; this was bigger than any of us.
So, as I sat there with the council listening to the Kalazaron tell us that he was part of a rebel force, I grew angry. Did Avery know this? She had spent more time conversing with him than anyone else. Had he told her this? Had she kept it secret just to make me look like a fool? We had captured a useless Kalazaron for our cause. Now he was being escorted out of the room only to hear that he was being given comfortable accommodations. I grew angrier.
"Vice President Thompson, may I speak with you in private?" I said as I stood at attention at his side.
"Yes, in my office now," he said angrily. He was pissed at me. This was my mission, after all; Avery didn't even know that it had existed in this way. I was looking like a failure and I was pissed. I had to do something to save myself and I knew exactly what that was going to be.
"This mission cannot be a failure. We are bending many laws here just to do this. Now we have someone that cannot even bring a message to the majority of the Kalazaron race!" the Vice President shouted at me.
"Yes, that seems to be the case. However, we had a split second to make a decision whether to capture or be captured when faced with an enemy ship. We didn't exactly get the time to question if they were in positions of power before taking them," I responded.
"Yes, I suppose you are right. This is a mess though; we will need to figure something out. Perhaps it is salvageable if this particular Kalazaron takes the message back to his rebel base that the humans seek peace or will begin to capture their ships as well, and that message will spread by word-of-mouth to the capital city. There is still hope."
"Vice President, if I may say so, I would advise that you would send the message with a lieutenant of the Kalazaron that we have captured. I believe this captain is of high value and should stay here on Earth."
"Why is that?" He asked.
"I have heard Ambassador Jones say that the captain is a hybrid of sorts."
"Hybrid? What do you mean?" he asked.
"I cannot be sure; you will have to ask her and perhaps look at her notes and journals. But I have overheard her say that he is a hybrid of a human female and a male Kalazaron."
He gasped. "That is impossible! I do not see how. It has been known that they cannot mate successfully and produce offspring."
"That is only what we have heard; as you can see, we do not know much about them. We did not know about this rebel existence, or perhaps the Captain is lying about the rebels. How would we know? But Ambassador Jones is good with research and I do not doubt her intelligence."
"Thank you, Captain Holt. Perhaps this mission and the cargo that you have brought back can be salvaged. If he is a hybrid, there is much that we can learn. Our scientists can learn a lot from him, take samples of his blood, study him. We can also study the ship that you brought back and learn their technology so that we can better fight it. We will make do. You are dismissed, Captain. Good work on this mission."
"Thank you, Vice President," I said with a salute and began to walk out.
"Captain! Wait," he shouted.
"Yes, Vice President Thompson?"
"Bring Ambassador Jones to me. While she is with me, confiscate her notes by any means necessary; is that clear?"
"Yes, crystal clear."
I knew exactly where to look for Avery. She would be with the Kalazaron Captain. I walked over to his new living quarters and was pissed to see that it was better than my own. But he was being seen as a dignitary and representative of an entire planet and alien race, and we were working toward peace with them. He would need to be treated well from here on out.
"Is Ambassador Jones inside?" I said to the guard outside the door.
"Yes, Captain. She is in there alone with the Kalazaron warrior. She insisted on being alone with him."
"Insufferable woman," I said under my breath as I opened the door.
"Why did you not tell me you were with the rebels?! Why did you not tell me that rebels even existed on Kaethon?!" I heard her voice shouting as I walked in. She was a headstrong woman and now she was giving it to the Kalazaron Captain. Perhaps she did not know about him being a rebel. But why was she being so familiar with him? Enough to be yelling at him in this fashion, as though they were lovers? That question made me angry as I moved into the living space.
"Ambassador Jones!" I shouted and startled both of them. I guess they were not expecting company. I wondered what they would be doing had I waited a while outside the door. It felt the tension among them. It was chemistry. I knew it well because I had experienced the same sort of arguing passion with her before. She liked debate and argument. It aroused her. Now she was doing it with a Kalazaron warrior.
"Captain Holt, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Vice President Thompson requested that I send for you and bring you to his office," I said, standing at attention in a cold manner.
"Now?" she asked.
"Yes, now," I said to her.
She turned to the Kalazaron captain and said, "I am not done with you yet."
"I look forward to it," was his response.
He said it in a sexual way and I moved toward him and said, "Do not speak to her in such away. This is an ambassador; you will treat her with respect."
"You mean the same respect as you treat her with?" he said, coming toward me. I was ready for this. I had been waiting for this. I knew that he could not be as strong as the other Kalazaron warriors.
"Yes, I do treat her with respect. I am a human, after all. It is something you could never understand, alien freak!" I shouted as I moved toward him.
"Stop! Don't do this!" Avery shouted as she grew frantic. I charged straight at the Kalazaron and he charged at me.
Boom! Our chests met together in a crash. We bounced off each other but quickly recovered. I hit him with a right hook up across the jaw. His head turned. Bam!
His left fist hit me under the ribs and it knocked the breath out of me, but not the anger. I pushed my leg behind his and swiped his legs out from under him and he fell backwards.
I could hear Avery yelling, "Come quick! The captain is attacking the Kalazaron!" she shouted out the door to the guards.
I jumped on top of the Kalazaron captain and began to pummel him as his hands went up around my neck and squeezed. I was struggling to breathe. I was almost losing consciousness. Then arms grabbed me and I was pulled off by the guards. I was disappointed; I was not done.
"Captain Ankon, are you all right?" Avery shouted.
"Yes, just a few scratches," he said, staring at me.
"Get him outside!" she shouted to the guards about me as they moved me toward the door. I waited outside and recovered. Two minutes later, Avery came out the door.
"Have you lost your mind?! We are trying to make peace with this race and you are attacking. We already have so much to make up for by capturing them. We are trying to make it right and you attack him!"
"They are fighters. He will get over it. It is their way of life. Now, to the vice president. This guard is going to escort you," I said to her bluntly. It pissed me off that she was sticking up for the Kalazaron warrior. I knew she was doing it because she cared for him and not just because of some diplomatic regulations.
"I regret ever letting you touch me," she said as she leaned into my ear and whispered the words in a harsh tone.
She stomped off with the guard to see the vice president. If I didn't have a mission to take her notes and research, I would have gone back in and finished what I started with the Kalazaron. Instead, I moved away and went to the ambassadors living quarters. I took her tablets and journals that she had on the ship. These notes would now go to the vice president and to the scientists. Any amends that could be made between Avery and I were now gone. I blamed the Kalazaron warrior; I would do all that I could to make sure that his time on Earth was a terrible one. Suddenly knowing that he could be studied and experimented on for the rest of his life gave me satisfaction. I only had to do my part.