CHAPTER EIGHT
COMMANDER CERIK HADE
Being with Maria was better than I thought it would be. It was damn amazing. She made me feel like I was drunk on Hiwa. I knew that it was wrong to take her when things were not exactly safe yet. I should have been watching the radar and making sure that the opposition was not on our tail. But once I got a taste of her, I could not stop. It was like my body took over and my mind simply left me. I had no control over it at all. She seemed to enjoy it too, and that only made me want to do things to her to please her. I allowed my senses to be indulged in every way.
“We’re getting close to Ikik,” I said as she got dressed.
“Okay. I understand,” she said. I noticed that she had been quiet since we left the space station. I did not know if it was a result of the sleep agent still, or something else. What did Ephane do to her? Did she know what they did to her, or was it something that she was wondering about?
“We should be safer once we are on this moon,” I said. “It is coming into view now.”
“Good. I will feel safer once my feet are on solid ground,” she said.
“Are you feeling alright? I mean, you seem a little preoccupied. I know that’s a lot to say because of the situation that you are, but something is different about you,” I said as I moved over to the console and took the controls.
She was silent. Then she said, “No, I am fine, really. I am okay. So how long before we are on this moon?” she said, taking a seat next to me.
“About an hour; there it is,” I said as I steered the ship in the direction of the moon. It came into sight. It was an orange moon with rocky ground. It seemed to glow in the light.
“Oh, my. That is beautiful,” she said.
“Yes, it is. Few know of it. So it makes it a perfect base for us Draqua if we ever find ourselves in trouble. Like we are now,” I said. I was not ready to tell her the full extent of everything. I did not want her to look at me with hate. Not yet.
An hour later, we landed on the orange surface. Ravinn would be there to greet me if everything went off the way we planned the mission. I opened the door to the ship and looked at Maria.
“It’s alright. We are among friends now,” I said to her. She took a deep breath and looked at the Draqua that were waiting for us outside the ship. She did not know whom to trust, and I did not blame her. I would have to tell her more about everything once I told my team what I had found. It was of the utmost urgency and was top priority. Everything else would have to wait, including Maria. I felt bad that she had to be last every time. It was not a good thing to do to someone that you expected to be your mate, someone that you expected to trust you for the rest of your life.
“Commander Cerik! We are glad to see you,” Ravinn said as we walked down the ramp of the ship.
“You as well, Ravinn and Hekan,” I said to the two hybrid Draqua. They looked at Maria. I could tell that they were helping themselves to an eyeful as she walked down the ramp. I looked back to see her breasts jiggling under the sheer dress. I cleared my throat at the two warriors.
“Let me introduce you to Maria,” I said.
“Maria, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Ravinn, and this is Hekan. Please, both of you come inside,” Ravinn said as he led us to one of the many globe shaped buildings.
“How did your mission go? Did you find it? Did you find Ephane’s big plan?” Ravinn said. I felt myself tense up. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw Maria look at Ravinn. That would not make sense to her now, but she was about to put it together.
“Yes, I did, and we need to send a message to Kelon now about it. We might already be too late,” I said.
“Tell us,” Hekan said.
“Ephane has devised a virus. It is a virus that will make human females barren,” I said.
“No,” Ravinn said.
I heard Maria gasp, but she stayed quiet. I would have to speak with her later about this. I wanted to take all the time I could to explain this to her, but I had to deal with this first.
“Yes, he is truly a sick fuck. I have it on my device. I have the recipe for it on this file. But it does not say how he plans to distribute it to the females,” I said as we entered the globe cottage and sat down at a monitor. I popped in the device and pulled up the file.
“This is monstrous. It is just like Ephane to come up with something like this,” Ravinn said.
“You know him best, Ravinn. You have dealt with him before. What is he thinking? He has this virus; now what?” I asked.
We were all silent for a moment as Ravinn thought. I took this time to look over at Maria. She was fighting back tears. I did not understand why. Had she figured it out? Had she figured out that me taking her from Earth was just a ploy to get caught by Ephane on purpose? Or was it something else.
“Maria? Do you need some water?” I asked.
“I am fine,” she said.
“Here, let me,” Hekan said as he gestured and showed Maria to the food area. He poured her some water and handed it to her. He pulled out a basket of food and set it on the counter. Then he pulled out a cloth and wrapped it around her shoulders. “It is cold on this moon,” he smiled at her. She smiled and said, “Thank you.”
I didn’t know why, but it made me jealous. I knew I should be the one comforting her. I should be the one keeping her warm. I knew that Hekan meant no harm to me, and was not a threat, but I did not want anyone touching her shoulders but me.
“I got it. I think I know what he is going to do,” Ravinn said, pulling me out of my thoughts and from looking at Maria.
“You do? What?” I asked.
“Ephane was involved in the systemic structures of the village. He knows all that there is to know, and there was one system that I used to make fun of him for: the water system. If he was going to unleash a virus that the human females would consume, it would be in the water,” he said.
“Holy shit, that’s it,” I said.
“What if he has already dispatched a spy to go in and dump the virus?” Hekan said.
“You are right; send a message to the Village. We should try to get there as soon as we can,” I said to them.
“We have been having a hard time getting messages through; the Scorpion nebula has been releasing lots of gases lately. Only a few messages are getting through,” Hekan said,
“Then just send it on repeat. One of them will get through. In the meantime, we have to get there, and we have to get there fast. We can't go in the ship that I came in; it is too risky,” I said.
“And it is too slow. We will go in my transport. We will go the long way around so that the opposition can't track it. We will still get there faster than that ship you came in. We should get going now,” Ravinn said.
“Agreed, as soon as Hekan gets that message going on repeat,” I said.
As the two went to work preparing to send the message, as well as preparing for takeoff, I moved over to Maria. She had been very quiet; it was not like her. She was usually very feisty and voicing her opinion on everything. Or asking questions.
“I am sorry that we have to get back on another ship. I promise once we get to my planet you will be able to be on solid ground longer than a few minutes,” I said to her.
“That is fine,” she said.
“Are you doing alright?” I asked her, trying to figure out why she was acting differently. Was she really paying attention to what we were saying?
“What is this virus that you speak of?” she asked.
“Nothing to worry yourself about. It is something that we are dealing with with the opposition. You don't have to worry about it.”
“I see.” Then she was quiet. I poured myself some water and drank it down.
“We will be leaving soon. Maybe you can get some rest on the ship. You will be safe there. I promise you.”
“What did they mean? What did they mean when we got here? They said, how did your mission go? Did you find it? Did you find Ephane’s big plan?”
“We’re ready, Commander!” Hekan shouted.
“We need to go now,” Ravinn said coming over to us. “This way to my ship.”
They had interrupted us just in time. I did not have to answer Maria's question, at least not right now. But I knew that she would ask me again, and I would have to tell her the truth. I didn't like lying to her, but I did not have a choice before. But now that the mission was almost over, and the only thing left was to get back to Kelon, I knew that I had to tell her. But I was going to let her get some rest first. She had been through a lot.
“We have to go now,” I said to her.
“I heard,” she said with a tone of anger. I could tell that she was annoyed with me, and she had every right to be.
We walked out of the dome and into a smaller speed ship, Ravinn’s ship. We all stepped in and strapped in. Maria took to it like it was a routine. I guess for her it had been. In seconds, we were in the air and taking off from the moon. We shot into space and then into hyperspeed on our way home. I only hoped the message would get there before we did so that the water system could be tested and then guarded. It was very important, and the future of our race depended on it.