Chapter 15
Evlon
I knew what Rangellis was up to, but I did not think that it would affect me so much when I saw it unfold in front of me. When the humans were told that they had been prisoners all along, Miranda looked at me. She wanted me to step in. She wanted me to save her. I wanted to, but what could I do? I was not prepared to defend her in any way. I would have to wait and find a way to save her from becoming a slave. Little did I know, I already had.
When I was summoned to the examination room for human females, I felt sick to my stomach. Had they hurt her? I would not be able to restrain myself from killing the soldier that hurt her if they had started some sort of weird experiment on her.
But that was not the case. Instead, I was in for a very pleasant surprise. She was pregnant. She was carrying my child, and we had proven it right then and there. I smiled as soon as I learn the news because I knew what this meant. This meant she would be officially mine. That was the Zenkian way. She would not become a slave in a prison waiting for a random Zenkian to do as he wishes with her. Instead, she would be a slave, but she would be my slave. But I had no brutal plans for her; I only wanted her to be mine. Now, she had no choice. I owned Miranda, and she had seen what her other options were. She could not refuse me.
We said nothing as I raced back to my home in the speeder. I waited until we were in my dwellings to address the situation. She was very quiet as we walked in and I locked the door behind us.
“I cannot believe this is happening. This is all wrong,” she cried.
I grabbed her arms and pulled her to me. She pushed me away.
“No, do not touch me. You were in on this all along. You knew that Rangellis was tricking us. You knew he planned to make us into slaves and make an example of us. You have been a part of this. I do not trust you. Do not touch me. You will never touch me again,” she screamed.
I hated that she was right. But I was not the one in the wrong here.
“Get a hold of yourself. Yes, I was a part of this as far as I knew, but Rangellis did not tell me his entire plan. I only heard it in there just as you did. Do you really blame me? I am the enemy of the humans, Miranda! You already know this from the beginning. I was not going to betray my entire race in order to inform you that you were being tricked. What would be the point of that? You would only have been a slave sooner. Do you not see how that would have been horrible for you? You would not be with my child now, the very reason why you are not in prison. If I had told you, there would have been no difference. You would not have been able to escape. You would have only gone to the prisons sooner. I did you a favor by not telling you!”
“How can you say that to me? My entire team has been taken! What will happen to them?”
“That, I do not know. But I have a feeling you are going to find out tomorrow. I do not pretend to know what Rangellis is up to or how he thinks. I am his second-in-command, and he does not tell me everything. I do what I am told. That is the Zenkian way. You will also do as you're told. You have no more freedom here. You belong to me, and I will not allow you to do anything to jeopardize the life of my child that you carry inside of you.”
She was silent as she looked at me. She knew that I was right. She knew that I was right about all of it, and now she was silent as she thought about it. She sat down on the sofa and cried into her hands. I did not like seeing her like this. But she had every right to be upset after what she had just gone through. I would not try to stop her from releasing that energy. It needed to come out somehow.
“You have been through a lot today. I will leave you alone for some time to grieve,” I walked toward the door.
“No! Please do not leave me. I do not feel safe unless you are with me,” she ran to me and threw her arms around me.
I was shocked by this sudden change in her demeanor. I knew that she lusted after me, but I did not know that she had feelings for me in a human emotional sense. This was new to me. It felt good to have her look to me for protection.
“I will keep you safe always, Miranda. I will fight to protect you. I would die for you. You are safe with me. Now you have been through a lot. Let's get you two some rest.” I scooped her up into my arms and carried her to my bed. I laid her down on my bed and then lay next to her molding my body against her. She cried against my chest until she fell asleep. The next day was going to be just as detrimental and traumatic to her, but there was nothing I could do about it. It was the Zenkian way.
The next morning, I woke up to Miranda gently rubbing her hand along my arm. I woke up and smiled at her.
“Are you feeling better this morning, mother of my child?” I asked.
She smiled and put her hands on her belly. “I am still in shock over the news. I cannot believe I am growing your child inside of me.”
“I have never been happier about the news. I want you, Miranda. I have fallen very deeply for you. I cannot stop thinking about you at all times of the day and the night. The fact that you carry my child is the happiest news I have ever received.” I put my hand on her belly.
“We are really going to have a child. I am happy too. I have always wanted a child, but I never expected such an extraordinary way of it happening,” she smiled.
I could not help myself; I kissed her lips, and she laid back in the bed. She wrapped her arms around my neck. I was careful not to lay on top of her. I would protect that child.
Then the sound of my communication wall activated. “Crap. I am getting a call. Stay there and do not move; I am coming back for you, for more kissing,” I said. But she did not laugh. Her face changed, and it was as if everything came back to her at that moment. She gasped. “My team…”
I answered the communication call. “Evlon, you and your new slave Miranda are being summoned to the Great Hall. Rangellis expects you there in an hour for the send-off,” the soldier said.
“Inform Rangellis I will be there with my slave,” I responded. Then communication ended, and Miranda came out of the room.
“I forgot that I am a slave. I forgot that you own me.”
“Only in the eyes of this government. Trust me; it is a good thing. For them, it means that no one can touch you but me. I do not mean to harm you or cause you any pain, Miranda. I know I can be dominating and frustrating at times, but that is just the Zenkian way. I will never force you to do things you do not want to do. I want to protect you and our child. It is no different than a wife to a man on Earth,” I responded.
“I guess in some ways you are right, if it were the 1950s on Earth,” she said.
“I don't know what that means.”
“Never mind; what is this sendoff that we have to go to?”
“You are not going to like it. But I am going to tell you now so that it is not such a shock to you when it happens. Being in shock is not good for the child. The send-off means that one of your team is going to be sent back to Earth with the knowledge of everything that has happened. It is Rangellis' way of sending his message to Earth.”
“Only one? What will happen to the rest?”
“I assume they will be slaves. That is up to Rangellis.”
“Then let us go. I only need a minute to wash up,” she moved into the washroom. I changed into a different uniform.
An hour later we were standing outside the Great Hall with Rangellis and the other officials. The human spaceship that the group came on was parked next to it. I stood with my arm around Miranda in a show of ownership.
“Let it be known from this day forth that the human female known as Miranda is now the slave of Evlon. He owns her. She carries his child. She is his property. No other will touch her. It is official,” Rangellis said as he handed me a certificate of ownership. I saluted him and then grabbed Miranda and stepped back into the crowd.
She squeezed my hand very uncomfortable and out of her element in this alien environment. I squeezed it back to give her some support.
“Bring in the other humans!” Leader Rangellis said.
Miranda twitched as the three human men companions of her crew were brought in on chains in front of Leader Rangellis.
“You, human! Step forward!” Leader Rangellis said pointing at Brad. The soldier holding the chains pulled Brad forward as he was reluctant to obey the leader.
“You will return to Earth. We have reconfigured your ship here. We have flight command of it in a remote fashion. Do not try to reroute it; it will be no use. We have disengaged all manual controls, and we will guide the ship back to Earth. You will deliver the information of everything you have seen here so that humans can know never to try to strike a talk of peace with us. There is no point. You will tell them of our war games. You will tell them of the human slaves and that we will not stop until we have conquered Earth. You will tell them that the leader you sent to speak of peace, the human female known as Miranda, is now pregnant with a Zenkian child. She is now the slave of that Zenkian. But she betrayed the humans before she was his slave. She did so willingly. Take that information to your humans, that you were betrayed by your own kind,” Leader Rangellis said.
Miranda gasped. Her crew turned to look at her. Their eyes narrowed in hatred. They wanted to hurt her for betraying them. She began to shake uncontrollably. I put my arms around her trying to soothe her, but it only made the men angrier. Then Leader Rangellis continued.
“You will tell them of our ruthless actions, like this one,” Leader Rangellis said.
Just then the group of soldiers surrounding the human man pulled out swords and stabbed the men through the hearts in a swift movement that they did not see coming. I did not see it coming. Miranda wailed in grief. “Noooo!”
I grabbed her arm and tried to calm her down as she screamed. Leader Rangellis smiled. Brad was struggling in chains.
“Put the human on the ship with the bodies of the dead,” Leader Rangellis said. Brad’s eyes grew wide as he realized he would be on a journey to Earth with his dead crewmates. They were put on the ship and then we all watched as the engines turned on and the ship shot straight up into the atmosphere of our planet. It was on its way to Earth.
The crowd gathered clapped in applause. Leader Rangellis put his arms in the air in victory. For him, it was a victory. It would be for me too if I did not have the empathy I felt for Miranda. I was torn between the success of the Zenkian plot and the feelings of my human female lover. It was a tight spot to be in.
“Let it be known that we foiled the humans; we even made the one they sent to us as a leader into one of our own. Converted her. We have won this trickery of the humans, whatever they were really planning to do with this ridiculous talk of peace. Do not trust them. We will prevail. We will conquer!” Leader Rangellis said.
The crowd saluted him before everyone disbursed. Miranda was shaking as I walked her back toward my speeder.
“Take me to the sandy beach with the ocean. I need some air,” she could barely get the words out she was so distraught.
“Of course,” I said. “We will go there now.”