SCARLET
I used to live on Earth until a couple of strangers stopped and asked for directions while I was walking my dog on the street where we lived. Next thing I knew I woke up strapped to a bunk with a headache from some drug. Then this fish-faced alien walks into the room and tells us we are now slaves of the Sargus Empire. If not for fish face, I wouldn’t have believed it.
That’s when I realized I would probably never see my dog Billy again. I would never know what happened to him. Did they hurt him or just leave him there? If he ended up in the shelter, would he ever find a new home or would he get euthanized because he wasn’t a cute little puppy anymore? I’d gotten him a year before after I was discharged from the Army. He was my family, and I was never going to see him again, never going to know what happened to him. I cried like a baby. He was the one being I could count on, and I had promised him a home for the rest of his life. Damn these aliens!
I was just getting on with my life after Afghanistan. I had no family. My parents were killed in a car accident just after I got out of high school. There was no money for college, so I joined the Army. That’s where I met my fiancé, my late fiancé. He was killed by a roadside bomb six months before his discharge date. I can’t say whether I had PTSD. I just know I felt broken for a long time after coming home without Jake. Friends told me about vets getting service dogs.
I had a dog growing up so I decided it might be nice to have one again. I went to the local animal shelter and found Billy. He’s a big brown and white mutt. We guessed he was Lab, hound and Pit or Boxer. He was a sweet, happy dog and smart. He was the best therapy. We went to dog training classes at the shelter and long walks every day. He loved chasing balls and frisbees at the park. We took care of each other.
I had just started a new job driving a shuttle bus around town. Since Billy was my service dog, he got to go with me. The pay wasn’t the greatest, but it was enough. I inherited the house I grew up in, and insurance paid off the mortgage when my parents were killed. So, I was doing all right. I was almost happy again until I got kidnapped by alien slavers. Bastards!
There were thirty of us in the room I was in, all females of various species, and three other humans than me. Some of them were in a funk like I was for the first couple days then we started getting acquainted because there wasn’t much to do. They injected us with a biochip so we could understand the various languages we spoke. I have no idea how it works, just that it does.
My ‘sister’ abductees were an interesting mix of humanoid species. None of them had ever heard of planet Earth. There was one called Kyanna Guryon who went around telling everyone that her father was governor of the planet Halor and he would send people to rescue her. I remember hoping she was right.
Kyanna was purple skinned with teal colored hair and elfin ears and pink eyes. She was quite pretty, even with a narrow row of ridges that started at her nose and extended into her hair. She told us that the males had hair growing from those ridges and some had it removed. For a rich bitch, she was actually pretty nice.
It turned out that she was right about being rescued. That’s how we all ended up on this mercenary ship. These guys seemed to come out of nowhere as we were lined up to be auctioned off on planet Ursaga. This big, guy in dark armor like Iron Man or something comes strolling into the room, and his helmet opens to reveal one hot alien commander.
He sniffed the air and got a stunned look on his face, then zeroed in on Harper and she on him. He was here to rescue Kyanna Guryon just like she told us. He told us to follow him, and we did. Later, he sent one of his minions to fetch Harper. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what that was about. There was a smoking hot attraction flashing between them from the moment they laid eyes on each other.
Harper confirmed it when she got back. “Commander Maktu, said I am his soul mate. He asked me to be his mate,” she said. She seemed a little stunned by the episode but in a good way.
“So, what did you say to that?” I asked her.
“What if I don’t want to be?” she said, “and he told me it was my choice. But I didn’t really answer then the ship took a hit.”
“But you like him?” I prompted.
“Yeah.” She sighed her answer. “He is so attractive! But he seems really nice, too.”
“Do you think he can help us get home?” I asked.
“It does not sound promising. They have never heard of our world. Even if they had, they probably call it something else,” Harper said.
A little while later, the commander came back and told us they weren’t able to find Earth and offered to take us in. The other three took it hard and had a good cry. I didn’t have any more tears for my predicament. I’d already cried my heart out on the slave ship. It was sweet the way Commander Maktu held Harper in his arms and let her cry it out. He seemed like he would really care for her. When she calmed down, they left the conference room, and I didn’t see her again until two days later.
I knew the minute I saw her she was fucking him. Way to go Harper! Of course, me and my big mouth, I blurted it right out. She wasn’t that upset though. To be honest, I was a little jealous. She wasn’t just fucking him, they were like married---solmatu, she said.
When Commander Maktu came back, he took us on a tour of the ship. Only those of us who were considering staying went. That’s how I came face to face with Lieutenant Pyrr Avantu, the commander’s right-hand man. It was lust at first sight. Then I looked into his violet eyes and saw the attraction was mutual.
He said I was solmatu---his soul mate. He was every bit as hot as Harper’s commander, so I didn’t turn down his invitation to eat with him. I wasn’t sure I bought into the soul mate phenomenon, but I liked him. I was used to the lines guys in the service used to get laid. The soul mate line was a new one. Yet, I could see in his eyes that he believed what he was saying.
Had we been alone, we would likely have ended up making out at the least. When he kissed my hand, it was the sweetest thing I’d experienced in a long time. I knew I wanted to see where it would go. I had already lost everything that ever meant anything to me. Whether it turned out to be a chance to get laid or a chance of a lifetime, I decided to risk it. He was just too good to pass up.
I would have liked to stay and talk to him little longer, but the commander had finished the introduction and was leaving. “I have to go,” I said, reluctantly slipping my hand from his. “I’ll see you at the evening meal.”
Then he smiled at me, and his eyes were warm and inviting and violet, like amethyst. His skin was soft lavender color and his hair the same teal color as Kyanna’s. He was a good-looking guy in any color.
The tour of the ship was interesting and informative. Much of the ship was strictly utilitarian with no attempt at aesthetics, but crew cabins and communal areas were a little homier. The commander showed us one of the empty cabins. It was small, with a built-in bed with room for two people a small sitting area and a private bathroom. There weren’t enough cabins to go around for the women, so only Kyanna Guryon and her friend were each assigned one. After all, Kyanna’s father had paid for her rescue.
The rest of us were just glad to be rescued from the slavers. Bedding down on the floor of the conference room wasn’t the most comfortable, but I had slept in worse places. These guys didn’t have to rescue us. They called themselves mercenaries, but I suspected there was more to the story.
Pyrr didn’t wait for me to come to the mess hall. He came to escort me there. I felt a little self-conscious walking with him to the mess hall barefoot and wearing only a long shirt. It was the best they could do for a hundred women of various sizes and species. Each of the soldiers on the ship had donated one of their own inner shirts for us to wear. The material of the dresses provided by the slavers was so thin we may as well have been naked.
We were watching a holovid program about the Consortium when the Lieutenant strode into the room. I had an odd sensation that made me look up at the same time as Pyrr spotted me. I couldn’t help smiling when I saw him. Soon as our eyes met, the sparks of attraction seemed to echo between us. I think I blushed a little at the contraction in my female parts and the subsequent wetness there.
He tilted his head back and sniffed. Despite his subtlety, I caught the movement. I could feel the heat in my cheeks as I felt certain he’d scented my reaction to him because his grin seemed self-satisfied. He knew I wanted him. But if I fucked him, he would take that as a commitment to be his mate---for life! Sheesh. How was I going to get out of this one?