Amazingly, Drake felt less troubled at leaving Earth with no foreseeable date to return once they had left. The Be’Kal Zephyr’s shuttle used the same cloaking technology as the Alliance Law Enforcer ships so that almost no one on Earth knew it was there. The shuttle took them to the Zephyr as it orbited the Earth, and then they went on to Mars City for a four-hour layover. Drake had been expecting a little backwater outpost instead of the elaborate underground metropolis that astounded him as he looked at the pictures in the electronic brochure on Zya’s tablet.
Jenna greeted Drake and Zya as the came into the passenger section from the Zephyr’s shuttle bay. “Welcome aboard,” she said and extended her hand to Drake. I’m Jenna Harper. For want of a better word, I will be your hostess for your journey with us.”
“Wait, I remember you,” Drake said, “I saw you that last day in the conference room on Raptor One. You were taken by slavers.”
“Yes, Captain Zeke Be’Kal is meomee. He and his brother Arkis followed the slavers to Se’Nar and bought us from the auction to return us,” she said. “I had a feeling we would see you again after we brought Zya to Earth. If you are meomee, ‘Resistance is futile,'” she chuckled.
“I’ll say,” Drake grinned. “I never even met her, just had the short video where she said who she was and that we are meomee. It was like a punch in the gut every time I looked at it and heard her voice, but I couldn’t stop playing it. I was about to send her an email when she showed up at my door.”
“Meg warned you that could happen. We just brought in a trader from Narova on the same run as Zya. His mate was on that pirate ship with you,” Jenna replied. “Come on, let me show you to your cabin.”
“Renan Garr,” said Zya. “I remember him. Nice man, handsome, too.”
“Yes, he was. All of his ships were out of range. That’s how we got him,” Jenna stopped in front of one of their private cabins it was one of two that contained what would be considered a king sized bed on Earth. “This will be your cabin; our AI has been instructed to open the door for you automatically. Bella responds to verbal commands just tell her what you need or com me.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine, we’re ready to relax and enjoy the ride,” Drake said,” we just finished my busiest season ever.”
“We will be landing at Mars City in a few hours to leave freight and pick up four more passengers. There will be a few hours layover if you want to shop or see the sights.”
“Well, maybe,” Drake said, putting his arm around Zya as they stood just inside the doorway of their cabin. “Zya told me about Mars city. Said it’s been there for almost 500 years.”
“It’s completely underground, but once you’re inside, you’d never know it. It’s got all the comforts and five-star hotels.”
“I don’t know,” Drake said. “I’m not much for cities.”
“I hear you. I’m a country girl myself,” Jenna smiled. “I’ll see you two later. I want to see Zeke before he starts his shift.”
When Jenna went back to their cabin, she found that Zeke had already gone to the bridge. Jenna frowned it was an hour before his shift. She had thought to jump him for a quickie beforehand. A sudden frisson of alarm surged through her. She decided to go see what was going on.
“I saw it just as we broke Earth orbit,” Tray said.
“And you’re sure it’s Drayid?” Zeke asked.
“Bella, show Zeke the vessel on the big screen,” Tray commanded.
“Gods be damned!” Zeke murmured vehemently. “It’s a fucking battle cruiser!”
Jenna stepped on the bridge and saw the big scary looking ship that filled the screen.
“Take us out of the system now Bella,” Zeke snapped.
“What is that?” Jenna asked.
“A Drayid battleship,” Zeke muttered.
“They just broadcast a demand for Earth’s surrender,” Sajh called over the com.
“Raptor One is coming around the backside of the Moon,” said Tray.
“Oh, my God!” Jenna gasped.
“Mars is advising us to leave the system without dropping off their cargo,” Sajh relayed.
“Two more Raptors have just launched from Mars,” Tray called out looking at his small screen.
“Tell them we’re going, Sajh,” Zeke called back.
“Shouldn’t we do something to help?” Jenna wondered aloud.
“If this were a Raptor or a Star Hawk, maybe, but we have minimal weapons,” Zeke told her grimly. “They would just laugh and blow us out of the sky. The Alliance will defend Earth. They just want us to get out of their way. Bella, set course for Tau Ceti as Mars suggested. Monitor the news and report Earth status as it becomes available.”
“That’s the opposite direction from Narova,” Tray put in.
“But the safest route out for now,” Zeke said.
“Are they invading Earth,” Jenna asked unevenly.
“Come, here, Baby,” Zeke held out his arm, beckoning her to his side.
She came across the bridge to where he stood behind the pilot seat glancing back and forth between the big screen in front of him and the smaller screen on the console. Jenny slid her arm around his waist, and he put his arm around her shoulders to draw her close against his side. He pressed a brief kiss to her forehead and turned his attention to the screens.
“The Raptors will keep them busy, they won’t even notice us,” Tray said.
“I just got a report from Earth. Drayids gutted a whole list of major cities all over the planet. Took out our office in D.C. They simply disintegrated about four square kilometers in each city 100 meters deep. Everything is just gone,” Sajh seemed to be repeating as he read it. “Thousands of dead or missing. The Alliance is calling all our agents back to bases in US, South Africa, and China.”
Tears streamed down Jenna’s face as she listened. Aliens were attacking her home world, killed thousands of people for no reason.
Zeke turned and wrapped his arms around Jenny and hugged her tightly as she choked back a sob. He had seen enough. He wished he could join the battle. By hurting her world, those merciless bugs hurt his mate. That alone was enough to make him want to kill them. But what the Drayids had done also went against everything the Alliance believed in. Every world had sovereign rights. The Alliance didn’t conquer worlds and annex them into an empire. They enlisted allies---and they would fight back.
Within minutes, Sajh reported that the Alliance was sending some of its battle cruisers to join the melee as well as more Raptors.
With nothing they could do to help defend Earth, their priority was to keep their passengers safe. The detour would add another week on their trip, but their supplies were more than adequate for a much longer detour
Drake had spent a lot of time with Zya learning the common Alliance language predominantly spoken on Narova. Helping Drake learn her language also helped her learn his better as well. Drake swore it might as well be Russian. He didn't think it would be any harder to learn but learn he did.
He was concerned when they landed on Narova. The Starport was on the outskirts of Narov, a city rivaling New York City on Earth, but Zya assured him they would be living nowhere near the city. After disembarking the starship, they took an automated taxi to the air car port where Zya's private air car was waiting to take them to her farmstead the equivalent of 400 miles away. He was relieved to find that the scenery became rural once they were about a hundred miles from Narov. It was a two-hour trip in the air car. There was a fair-sized community of 15,000 about a half hour north of her farm by air.
It turned out that Zya's farm was a huge agricultural operation of about 100,000 acres of cropland and forest. Her house was kind of white semi-dome with a large garden pond in front of it on several acres of lawn and ornate garden rooms.
“Zya, when you said you had a farm, I never dreamed of anything like this. It's huge.” Drake said wondrously.
“Now you see why I was lonely. I have friends, but I want a family. Now we are family---and soon we will have children.”
“Are you telling me?” Drake asked as they got out of the air car at the landing pad by the house.
“I am going to have babies,” she told him. “I found out on the ship.”
“Babies, plural?”
“Twins,” she smiled up at him.
He wrapped her in his arms, lifting her off her feet as he kissed her and danced around in a circle. They kissed for a long time and then Drake laughed. “And I was worried we wouldn't have enough to keep us busy. Twins will certainly keep us busy.”
“Are you happy?”
“I am. I get to live in a beautiful house with the woman I love and were going to be parents. I'm glad you didn't take “no” for an answer when I refused to meet you. Now, I can't even imagine my life without you. I love you, Zya. I am yours, and you are mine.”
“Always.” Zya murmured and kissed him. “I love you, too.