Alien Dragon's Mate: Braxan (Science Fiction Alien/BBW Romance) (18 page)

He saw his spaceship in the distance, the round, gray disk that was his home away from his planet and his father's kingdom. It was not the only spaceship there. A little beyond it was a much larger one, shining orange and green, the garish favorite combination of the Dragon Emperor Kraz. He had come. And why he had come was no mystery – he was displeased. A displeased Emperor would have given Braxan pause at any other time. Now, he was eager to take him on. Hadn't that uselessly greedy Emperor been on the throne for a little too long?

He zoomed into his spaceship, Changed back, put on suitable clothes and walked through the huge arch inside, into the replica of an ancient castle that made him feel so at home.

His flight was assembled in the Great Hall, as expected. Karox and Evec jumped to their feet in surprise, while Dacron hardly batted an eyelash at the sight of his presumed dead captain come walking in as if nothing had happened.

“Prince Braxan!” Evec exclaimed. “My Captain! You're still alive!”

“Alive still or alive again,” Braxan said. “I'm actually not sure which.”

Dacron placed his feet on the huge oak table. “The human female solved my riddle, then. I thought she might. I made it as easy as I reasonably could.”

Braxan stood still for a moment, stunned. “You, Dacron?
You
gave her the clue to my healing?”

The other Ultraco prince locked eyes with him and sparks flew from his blue eyes. “Is it so surprising? Much as I crave your hoard, Braxan, even I have a sense of honor. I consulted the Ancient Histories to see what they said about healing. They don't say much. But they say enough. There was still a chance you might live. It was remote. It came to pass. Very well, I can wait longer.”

“I'm grateful,” Braxan said. “I wonder if my human Mate doesn't bring out the best sides of other Ultracos than just me.”

Dacron snorted. “Meanwhile, His Imperial Highness has arrived with five hundred of his Imperial Guards. Pure dragons, Braxan. Five hundred. Excellent and superior Ultracos though we are, we four can fight maybe one twentieth of that number. I would much prefer not to fight any of them.”

Evec fidgeted in his youthful way. “The Pirgks have asked us to assist them with their final assault on the human base. When the orange sun has been in the sky for one hour, they will launch their attack. The Emperor has ordered us to comply. Many chests of gold are at stake for him. I have never seen him so furious.”

Karox lifted his stein and drank, then wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “He's already unhappy that we broke off the first attack. He demanded to see you, but of course you were not available. That, shall we say, did
not
lessen his fury. He threatened to remove you as captain of our flight. And to seize your hoard.”

Braxan sat down. He hadn't expected it to be this bad. The Emperor did have a formal right to claim the hoard of a rebellious officer. But it had never happened. “I see. We have a choice to make.”

“I think you'll find,” Dacron said with his silky voice, sounding more dangerous than anyone Braxan had ever met, “that
you
have a choice to make. I'm not at all certain I want to defy the Emperor and face possible disfavor so that you may have your Mate. These mercenary missions are perhaps not the most honorable idea, but they are good for my hoard.”

Braxan got slowly to his feet, fighting the increasingly strong urge to see his own hoard again. “I understand, strange as it may seem. Indeed you are all to obey the Emperor and finish off the human base. I am your captain and that is my command.”

He turned his back to them and marched down the levels of the spaceship until he came to the thick door that was so important to him. He looked suspiciously around and opened it, then felt a deep elation as he beheld the hoard in front of him. Not one piece of gold was missing, not one gem out of place. He could see that with a single glance. No one had been there and disturbed the mountain of wealth he possessed. It was all his.

He took a deep breath, feeling the peace of mind he always did when he enjoyed his hoard. If he obeyed the Emperor, he would keep adding to it. More and more. It would outgrow this giant room and keep growing for hundreds of years. Thousands. Then, at some point, he would inherit his father's hoard, which was probably even larger. Then he would be king and could levy taxes, increasing his wealth while relaxing on his capital planet. He would fill many mountains with gold and precious stones. And he would guard it, lying on top of it, feeling the cold, soft metal under his scales and just
own
.

The dragon wanted it. Very much. Every dragon wanted it. After a long, successful life to finally enjoy the spoils, remembering where every piece of gold came from, reliving the successes in his mind. In great and vivid detail.

He was still clutching something hard in his hand. Ah. A coin-like disk with a simple inscription on it.
For Bravery
. And a little image underneath it. A man and a child. The quality of the engraving was quite exquisite.

He flicked it into the air with a fingernail, and the gold resonated with a most delightful
ting
as it spun, reflecting the flames from the flickering torches like a warm stroboscopic light.

He caught it again and felt the soft heat from the metal. It was a very pure gold. Pure enough to heal him.

It would go well with his hoard.

- A
melia -

“They're definitely coming,” Amelia said. The screen in the command center was almost completely red with enemies. The base was just a tiny, green jumble of circles in the middle. But the open space between it and the Pirgks was gradually shrinking.

Hanson nodded. “Then it's time. The closest evacuation ship is still several days away. Sound the evacuation alarm.”

Amelia pressed the button, and the base was filled with the urgent sound the colonists had been dreading for days. She turned off all the equipment and grabbed her backpack, then walked over to the exit while two of the officers in the command center swung large fire axes and smashed all the electronic systems except one – the fire control for the automated defense turrets. There were still two turrets functioning, and they were a vital part of the escape plan.

She tightened the straps of her backpack. If she had to run, she'd make sure it was tied down good to her body.

Hanson came over to her. “It's at times like this when you wish we'd have made some body armor.”

Amelia checked her handgun. She could fire it three times before it was empty. “Well, no one expected this to be such a difficult planet. We were taken by surprise by those Pirgks.”

Hanson looked around the command center one last time, then turned off the light. “And by the dragons. I hope the one that escaped is on our side. If not, we're all dead.”

Amelia just nodded. She hoped so, too. Probably more than anyone else.

The colonists were all lined up in the corridors and ready to march out into the plain inside the huge crater. Young women and men and kids. They were all anxious and serious, but they were determined. Some of them had guns that could fire a couple of shots before they were empty, but most of them only had knives or homemade spears or other types of peaceful equipment that could be turned into a weapon.

Daria came over and smiled lopsidedly. “I never thought I would say this, but this is actually pretty cool. Just sitting inside here and waiting to be attacked is not my style at all. At least now we'll be doing something.”

Amelia hugged her. “I know how you feel. It'll be fine. That jungle has some good fruit here and there.”

Commander Hanson made his last announcement over the PA system. “Okay, colonists, let's get to safety. Take the shortest route to the crater's edge, then down the other side. The turrets have enough ammo to clear a straight path for us. As soon as you reach the jungle outside the crater, you're pretty safe. Watch out for venomous creatures. Go straight into the woods and look for a way to get down under the surface and into the spaceship beneath. It could look like a huge open hatch. We'll be safe there while we wait for the evac ships. Good luck, everyone. We have surprised the Pirgks before. Today we'll do it again.”

He hung up his microphone and turned the PA system off.

Amelia was surprised at how optimistic and sure the base commander sounded. He seemed to have grown with the crisis, and the man he was now would not have ignored Amelia's advice like he had the other day, right before the dragon attack. “We will, too,” she said. “No doubts about it.”

“One way or the other,” Daria completed. “Well, let's go.”

The outer door slid open and the corridor was filled with sour-smelling air and orange light. Amelia would be one of the last to leave after the other six hundred Earthlings were out. First families with children, then everyone else, and finally the administration personnel, including Amelia. The closest Pirgks were looking at them, and already they were taking spread pot shots with rocks and short arrows that pinged off the metal domes of the base.

There was no time to lose. “Go, go, go!”

There was a hellish, rasping sound as the automated turrets shot hundreds of gas-filled canisters in a straight line from the base to the inner side of the crater's wall. It was about a mile away, and then there was a long climb to the top.

The colonists ran along the straight path that the turrets had cleared in the mass of Pirgks. The shells were on the ground, hissing as they gave off a yellowish gas that would knock any Pirgk unconscious. All the colonists had taken an antidote against it, but still it made their eyes tear up when they ran past the orange boxes.

The first evacuees ran along the path, braving a hail of rocks from Pirgks that were too far away to be affected by the gas. Then more and more colonists followed until they were all running away from the base and towards the crater's edge.

“Think we'll make it?” Jean panted, jogging alongside Amelia and Daria. “There's a lot of them.”

Amelia scanned the sky. She secretly didn't think they had a chance in hell if they didn't get help from somewhere. But the reddish sky was empty. The smaller dragons were no longer circling, and there were no larger flying things anywhere. “Oh yeah. They're many, but we're smart.”

She threw a glance behind her. The base was now completely overrun by Pirgks, milling around it like ants on rotten apple. The turrets had exhausted their ammunition and went silent. The gas in the canisters would last for about ten minutes before it was too thinned out to affect the Pirgks. Sporadic bangs rang out across the plain as some colonists shot at Pirgks that were getting too close.

Jean flinched as she had to duck to avoid a rock flying through the air. “I tell you, I'm not getting captured by those things again. I'd rather die. They're not real. They're not alive. They're ...
artificial
somehow. Gods, the things they did to me ... but there was no emotion in it. They were like machines.”

Amelia clutched the gun hard in one hand. “I know what you mean. I felt the same way. And they didn't even get as far with me as they did with you.”

They ran in silence for a few steps. Then Jean asked the question they were probably all thinking about. “Think he'll come and rescue us? Or you?”

Amelia hesitated. She had hoped that he would. She had been sure. Now, she was much less certain. It was getting pretty late. “I don't know,” she said in a throat that was closing up.

Now the Pirgks were starting to realize what was happening, and an unholy noise rose from the thousands of terrible aliens as they began chanting with their broken voices. It was the most terrifying noise Amelia had ever heard.

“Yeah,” Jean yelled to be heard over the insane racket, “so anytime your boyfriend wants to show up is fine with me.”

The first canisters of gas began to sputter as they had released the last of the gas. The yellow mist of gas that had kept the Pirgks away until now started to slowly drift away. Amelia saw the other colonists ahead of her run faster in a panic, the parents among them dragging their children after them as fast as they could.

It wasn't going to work. The side of the crater was still too far away, and now it looked like the path the gas had cleared was narrowing fast as the Pirgks filled in from the sides. Behind them, the path back to the base was gray with hundreds of enemies. There was no going back.

Jean fired her gun at a Pirgk that was getting too close. “Any ideas?”

But Amelia came up empty. “You know,” she said in a throat that was sore and closing with emotion, “I thought maybe he would mean something by it. Damn it, he even proposed to me right before he left. But no, he just wanted me to cure him. That was all. Helping us was never his intention. It even made me happy when he asked me to marry him. Like, really happy.
Fuck
.”

Jean placed a pale hand lightly on Amelia's arm as they ran. “If it's any consolation, you're not the first who's been tricked like that. Hey, I would have fallen for it, too. Wait, is that him over there?”

Jean pointed. There was a little speck in the sky, getting closer. Amelia squinted. No, there were two! No, there were ... hundreds.

“No,” Amelia said, not really able to feel much disappointment anymore. “That's not him. Those are silver dragons. I don't think he likes them.”

“But at least they're not Pirgks, right? They could be the Pirgks' enemies, right?”

“Maybe,” Amelia said. “But I don't think so. Wouldn't they have attacked them by now?”

The great host of silver dragons came closer. There were too many to count, and even if they were smaller and less magnificent than Braxan and his friends, they were still terrifying.

“I guess so,” Jean said, and Amelia detected panic in her voice. That was okay. She was panicking herself, just about.

The silver dragons started circling around the escaping colonists, while some of them flew over the base and spewed fire at it, quickly reducing the sturdy metal structure to a glowing ruin full of ashes.

And then the colonists were forced to stop. The Pirgks had closed the path, and they were surrounded on all sides by chanting enemies and circling dragons.