Captain Marrek’s Raptor had just reached the edge of the Solar system when another galactic power determined Earth should become part of their empire. It wouldn’t be the first time the Alliance had competed with other entities for worlds to join them. The Drayid Empire was one, but with far less scruples than the Alliance. The Drayid battle cruiser gutted New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Moscow, London, Paris, Rome, Cairo, Delhi, Beijing, and Tokyo.
They literally obliterated several square miles from the heart of each city, so there was just a small amount of rubble left. Since the Drayid’s technology rivaled that of the Alliance, they weren’t discovered until they uncloaked their ship when they put into Earth orbit. A second Drayid’s vessel appeared in Earth orbit shortly after the first had completed the mass destruction of the earth cities. Immediately after the sinister display of their power, the Drayids broadcast their demands for unconditional surrender to the Empire.
The attack caused Raptor One head back to help defend Earth. Three Raptors from Mars were dispatched to Earth as well, but they were ordered to hold positions while more Raptors were dispatched. It would take at least two each to subdue the two massive Drayid battleships. Two more would be better, and they were on their way. Unfortunately, they might not make it before things heated up.
Captain Marrek informed the Drayids that Earth was under Alliance protection, and the Alliance was in negotiations with Earth to open formal diplomatic relations aimed at convincing them to join the Alliance. Their attack on Earth was an act of war. If the Drayids didn’t vacate the Sol system immediately, the Alliance would be forced to defend Earth.
The Drayids answered their demands with a blaster shot across their bow that just missed them. Their answer was exactly what Marrek expected. With that, he commed headquarters requesting additional backup. Nothing showed on the scanners, but he suspected there might be more Drayid battle carriers just beyond scanner range.
Drayid battle carriers were at least three times the size of the Alliance Raptors but not as heavily armed. Instead, each one carried many fighter ships that would attack the Raptors together and hit them from all sides. Though not impossible, they were tough for a single Raptor to defend against. But the Raptors were the first wave until their own battle carriers arrived. Unless the Raptors could hold them off, the Drayids could leave the Earth a burnt cinder before they were halfway there.
With the arrival of the other Raptors, the Drayid battleship fired on Raptor One and made a direct hit against their shields. No real damage was done, but it sent tremors through the whole ship causing some bumps and bruises among the crew. All civilians had already been secured because the Drayids were not known for giving up without a fight. This wasn’t the first time the Drayids had challenged the Alliance for protected territory. Alliance forces had driven them off but not without heavy losses on both sides. Marrek had been there, second in command of an old Star Hawk series ship. His actions in that battle had saved his ship and crew as well as helping defeat the Drayids.
That was before Alliance Law Enforcement allowed civilian bond mates and spouses aboard, before Meg. He couldn’t let any of that cloud his judgment, and he didn’t. Doing his job was the best way to protect his crew and their loved ones…and Earth. He was the lead officer in the operation, and he knew what to do. All the gunners were at their battle stations to monitor the weapons fire and switch over to manual if necessary in the event the main computer failed.
Before they took another hit, the Raptors fired torpedoes at the Drayids, though direct hits did only minor damage. Meanwhile, the small fighters seemed to pour from the enemy ships. Like angry bees from a disturbed hive, they swarmed about the Alliance Raptors. While the gunners took out fighters, the Raptors circled the Drayid ships bombarding them with shield penetrating torpedoes. Hull damage was blatant, yet the fighters continued to pour from multiple launch bays to defend the Drayid battleships.
The sheer numbers of the one and two man fighters were doing damage to the Raptors. Although the Alliance was destroying them in substantial numbers. There were hull breaches in the outer sections and casualties. The damage control teams sealed off those sections while the civilians were safe for the time being in the heart of the ship.
The fighting continued for hours while Earth remained in a state of panic in the wake of the devastating alien attack. Governments would have suppressed the fact that Earth was in imminent danger of an alien invasion, but the Drayids had broadcast their intentions worldwide. Other than Alliance forces, they had no defense and nowhere to run from the Drayids. They could only watch and wait along with the thousands of Alliance people secretly living on Earth to see who would win.
The Alliance had too much invested in the Sol system to let it fall to the totalitarian regime of the Drayid Empire. They were slavers just like the Tenzari, and would use the people of Earth as a fresh source of new slaves, including the Alliance residents on Earth. Although the Alliance wouldn’t interfere with those practices within the Drayid Empire, they would fight to the death to defend their own territories.
The Raptors were sustaining heavy damage, but they were also inflicting heavy damage to the Drayids. Seeing that Alliance forces were gaining control of the battle one of the Drayid fighters rammed Raptor One causing an explosion on the bridge. Three people were killed instantly, and Captain Marrek was seriously injured. The Drayid fighter exploded on impact, and its pilot was killed instantly.
The damage control team put out the fires and sealed the hull breech so the medical team could get the injured Captain and crew members to sickbay. Raptor One was losing power due to all the damage. They were in no shape to continue fighting. , they persisted until they reached a standoff with Drayid forces that had also sustained heavy damage.
Commander Pannot Rareton took over for the injured captain. Just as it looked like the Raptors might force a Drayid retreat, two more Drayid battle carriers arrived. Pannot thought they were finished until three Alliance battle carriers came around the backside of the moon. Drayid forces didn’t stay around to answer an expected demand for surrender. The last two battle carriers sped away immediately, and the damaged crafts limped away after them.
Admiral Cartis Eksar of the Alliance fleet contacted Earth to let them know they had stopped the attack, and then the massive carrier towed Raptor One to Mars for repair at Mars City.
#
Soon as Meg learned that Dargan was injured, she refused to stay harnessed in their quarters. Raptor One was on auxiliary power. The corridors were dimly lit a Meg ran for the lift. It was down, so she ran to the ladder shaft and climbed to the next level to get to the sickbay. She moved from room to room until she found where a medical team was working on Dargan. Listening to the medics talking as they worked, she discerned that her mate had a serious concussion and numerous internal injuries. To Meg, he looked dead, unmoving, barely breathing.
Meg choked back a sob. Even though he was still alive, she didn’t know how he could survive his injuries. On Earth, she knew he wouldn’t.
“Don’t worry, Meg,” Brak Dolken came to stand beside her outside the treatment room. “The nanites will repair the damage. The captain will recover in a few days.”
“How can you know that?” Meg worried.
“Because I’ve seen people hurt a whole lot worse recover with nanite therapy. They will repair the damage from the inside out,” Brak said.
“God, I hope you are right,” she murmured unevenly. “I can’t lose him now.”
“Trust me. You won’t. Do you want me to ask Trista to wait with you? I have to help with cleanup from all the damage we took.”
“No, thanks. I will be fine. When they finish, I will stay with him until he wakes.”
“Okay. I’ll come back to check on you both when I finish my assignment,” he told her and then he left.
Meg stayed, watching the medics work to stabilize her mate. When they finished, one of the male medics stopped to talk to her. He patted her arm with a reassuring smile and said in heavily accented English, “Captain Marrek will recover. No worry. Might take few hours for him to wake.”
“Thank you, sir. May I stay with him until then?”
“Yes. I will check on him later. More patients waiting,” he nodded and left the treatment cell.
Meg pulled out the seat built into the treatment table and sat beside Dargan. She didn’t mind waiting after the reassurances that he would recover. Even more reassuring was his deep even breathing. Hours passed. Eventually, Meg leaned over, rested her head on the padded table by Dargan’s arm, and fell asleep.
That’s how Dargan found her when he regained consciousness. Dargan smiled faintly when he saw her blond head. With more effort than he expected, he raised his hand to stroke her hair. He was alive, and she was safe. If they’d been captured by the Drayids, he wouldn’t likely be in Raptor One’s sickbay with Meg beside him.
“Meomee,” he whispered.
Meg bolted upright. At first, she wasn’t sure she if she had heard her mate’s voice or dreamed it. Tears pricked her eyes when she saw his eyes were open and he gave her a weak smile. “Oh, Dargan. You scared me out of my mind. I was terrified I would lose you,” she took her hand in hers and pressed the back of it to her cheek.
He sighed. He was so tired from the effort to speak after raising his hand to touch her hair. “Not this time, sweet one,” he paused, drawing in a breath. “I love you…rest…talk later,” his eyes closed and he slept.
“Yes, rest my love,” she kissed the back of his hand then reluctantly released it. Although she wanted to stay with him, she would go back to their quarters to try to sleep. It would be difficult to sleep without the warmth of his arms holding her close. She would try because she didn’t want to be exhausted when Dargan awoke.
#
After Alliance forces had driven the Drayids from the Sol system, Alliance diplomats met with the United Nations again with their proposed relationship. This time they accepted without hesitation. The Drayid attack made it crystal clear that Earth Defense forces were wholly inadequate to protect the planet from aliens like the Drayids. They still had to negotiate the status of the aliens living on Earth. However, they weren’t living off taxpayers’ funds so it as just a matter of legalities. There was also a big question on what to do with the huge holes the Drayid carved into the major cities of the world. These were all densely populated areas. Millions of people were vaporized in the attack along with the real estate. It could be months before the authorities could account for all who were missing. The Alliance had lost several operatives in those areas as well.
“Whatever happens, Jackie, we’re in this together,” he said and took her hand, “unless you’ve changed your mind.”
She squeezed his hand and gave him a wan smile, shaking her head. “Not happening. I’m just in shock.”
“And I, too. Just a few meters further and we would be no more. Everyone in the cars ahead of us---just gone,” he murmured. “They wouldn’t have stopped there, either. Had the Alliance not driven them off, they would have taken most of the people and any resources they valued and left the planet uninhabitable.”
“They’ve done this before…?”
“Yes. This is not the first time we have fought them for a lower tech planet and probably won’t be the last.”
“Will they come back and try again?” she worried.
“Probably, not with the battle cruisers in the system now. Their opportunity for conquest is past. They’ve never come back to the other planets we’ve defended. Earth is too far into Alliance territory. I think we are safe now.”
Once they got back to base, Blade and Jackie were assigned quarters. Separate meetings were arranged for military and nonmilitary personnel regarding reassignment. Blade was not surprised to learn he was being reassigned off world. The establishment of open relations with Earth made his covert operation unnecessary. They asked him to take a similar assignment on another lower tech world to assess feasibility for opening interstellar relations. His only worry was how Jackie would feel about it.
Their relationship was still so young for such a tremendous change. Leaving her home world hadn’t been part of the deal. He needn’t have worried.
“It’s okay,” she said when they found each other afterward. “I’ll do it. I can’t ask you to give up your career to stay here. I was going to find a new one anyway.”
Blade hugged her fervently then smiled down at her. Maybe he didn’t feel it the way his friend E’Dar felt with Rhonna, but Blade trusted his instincts. He believed that Jackie was his meomee, and he would treat her that way for the rest of their lives