Taken By The Alien Hero (Romance, Alien, Adventure)

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Taken By The Alien Hero

Taken By The Alien Hero

Roshon had no intention of giving up his weapon. If it came down to that he would walk away. Contract or no contract, there was no way he was going to walk into a citadel, on a Union planet, without knowing that he would be able to defend himself. They called themselves the guardians of peace, but he never trusted government types.

Standing outside the imposing structure, Roshon checked the message once more.

Two passengers for transport to Alarias Prime. Payment upon confirmed arrival. Rendezvous at Machingo Citadel, Zantac III.

This was the place. Despite the rosy glow of the pink genomite that the citadel was made from, it looked imposing. Its spires reached well into the cloud bank, like spears threatening the sky to fall. The reinforced tubing that helped the genomite grow in the correct shape looked like steel traps to Roshon.

Pushing down his feeling of foreboding, he approached the gate.

“State your business.” The bored gatekeeper could barely be bothered to look Roshon in the eye.

“I am expected. I am here to transport…”

“Name.” The gatekeeper interrupted, apparently wanting to keep their interaction as brief as possible.

“Nandu, Roshon.”

A few seconds later, he was being escorted in the citadel by a very jittery and very short pink man. A Genovian, to be sure. His flapping robes told labeled him as a Keeper. The magnificent growth and maintenance of the great genomite citadel was his responsibility, so too were the keeping of its secrets. For a moment, Roshon felt sorry for the hyper little man. He would never be allowed to leave the citadel; Roshon couldn’t imagine a worse fate.

The Keeper left Roshon in a small ante-chamber and disappeared without a word. Roshon looked around. He wasn’t in the citadel proper; this room appeared to be part of an outer ring of chambers. They were probably incorporated in the design to allow meetings, such as this, to happen behind closed doors but away from whatever secrets the citadel held.

After a few minutes, the door of the ante-chamber opened and two females walked in.

Females! Females? Why had the Union contacted a known mercenary to transport females?

It had been so long since Roshon had seen one up close, and even longer than that since he had spoken to one. Everything began to click in Roshon’s brain. The Union was transporting females from one citadel to another, but they weren’t using the normal transport. That meant trouble and Roshon wasn’t sure he wanted any part of it. Was it too late to back out?

“Mister Nandu, I presume?” The eldest of the two spoke first. She was well past breeding age and had the pinched faced demeanor of a school warden. Roshon assumed that she was probably well armed beneath the dark blue traveling robes she was wearing. It wasn’t likely that the Union would let a female get within 100 meters of a male like him without some precautions.

“Yeah, that’s me. Ladies, you mind telling me what all this is about?”

“I am Zaffa and this is my charge. We are your cargo for this run. I assume that the terms of the contract were to your liking?”

“Nobody told me about running females off world. Doesn’t the Union have dedicated transport for this kind of thing? I don’t want any trouble.”

“You are being paid are you not? Mr. Nandu, in your line of work, isn’t the avoidance and disposal of trouble part of the job description?”

Roshon was not enjoying the way this conversation was heading. More and more he felt like he had walked into a trap. The breeder said nothing. The only movement she made was with her eyes, bouncing from Roshon to Zaffa and back again as the conversation progressed.

“Look, if the breeder is running away from her guild I want no part of it. I still value my life.”

“I assure you the ‘breeder’ is not running away from anything but need to be safely taken to her sistren who await her on Alarias Prime.”

“Sure, sure. And what if I say I want out of this deal?”

“Then you will be free to leave this place, but your ship, Mister Nandu, will not be allowed to leave the dock until it has the appropriate amount of cargo onboard.”

Shit. Roshon knew when he was beaten. He may have to accept it, but he had no intention of going peacefully. He took several confident strides across the room until he was mere centimeters from the breeder. He inhaled and got a nose full of her scent. She smelled of sunshine and jysum. They probably used the night blooming flower to make soaps and teas around here. Its antimicrobial properties were well known throughout the galaxy. Back on Roshon’s home planet, farmers had begun growing it almost exclusively once the plague began. People were more concerned about keeping their beloved females alive than feeding themselves. In the end, it had been for naught. The plague had done to his world what it had done throughout the quadrant, leaving the females of almost every race decimated. Only a third of all the females survived, and most of them were small children at the time.

The breeder looked too young to remember the plague. Her quiet acceptance of his inspection told Roshon that she was used to being examined intimately. She must have grown up in the citadels. Roshon felt pity for the second time that day. She too was trapped, although her cage was much more luxurious than anything he was likely to end up in. Roshon circled the silent female. She was tall with golden skin, her limbs were strong. The spots along her cheeks and forehead were characteristic of Alarian females, but the inky black hair the fell to her waist was not.

“Is she a splice?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“She is an interspecies genomic, a splice, as you so crudely call it.” If it was possible, the older female’s face became more pinched than it had been. The splice shot Roshon a deadly look and let loose a low growl. The sound amused Roshon. Alarian females would never make a sound as sexy as that.

“Let’s go then, I want to be home by morning.” Roshon snorted and walked out of the room without looking back at the two females.

What in the hell had he just signed up for?

Ilham would never show it, but she was terrified. The male who had been sent to transport her looked rough and more than a little dangerous. Whose idea had this been? She knew there had been rumors among the guilds of sistren taken from official transports. It was becoming so bad that most off world travel had come to a complete halt for the guild members. Unfortunately, her time of fertility was upon her, and she needed to return to Alarias Prime if she was to undergo the insemination.

“Is she a splice?” he had said.

She hated that word. It made it seem that she was less of a being; not sentient and endowed with a soul. Zaffa had always assured her that she was in fact a whole person, regardless of her beginnings. Females like Ilham were necessary for the survival of higher order beings in this quadrant. There just simply weren’t enough fertile females to replenish each race. Females like Ilham presented a new opportunity, that two or even three different races could find compatibility in one female meant that there was a chance for all three races to continue their genome.

Ilham grasped Zaffa’s hand tightly as they followed the mercenary to his transport vessel. It was a refitted hauler of some sort. Once on board, Ilham was relieved to see that somebody had already put her luggage onboard. Mister Nandu did not seem pleased at all.

“I guess the Union just does whatever it wants in these parts, huh?” he snorted.

Ilham took a seat and waited silently.

“Aren’t you going to inform the authorities about your flight plan?” Zaffa questioned.

“Well now, that’s the same as letting every pirate and mercenary in the area know exactly where we are going isn’t it? We might as well paint a target on our backs.”

“I must insist, so that the guild can stay apprised of our location and progress. Please enter your flight plan Mister Nandu.”

“Are you asking me, lady, or are you telling me ?” Mister Nandu’s expression was absolutely deadly. It made Ilham’s stomache do a small flip, but not with the same nervousness she had been experiencing all day.

“I am advising you how to leave orbit with the least amount of resistance from the authorites.” Zaffa bit back. She was not a female to be trifled with. Her martial skills were unparalleled amongst all of the guilds.

The mercenary snorted and did as he was told. Ilham could see the tension in his body as he communicated his flight plan with the Central Authority. Ilham had seen many males in her lifetime, but none quite like him. He was a large male, taller and more heavily muscled than most Alarian males. He wore pants and a jacket made of some sort of animal hide, and the kind of boots that she had often seen soldiers wear.

Ilham stared at the male. She had never seen his kind before. Where did he come from? Was he from one of the doomed races, whose females were mostly infertile? Ilham chewed on these questions as he navigated the vessel out of the planet’s atmosphere.

“Excuse me,” Ilham spoke on impulse “what planet are you from?”

“Dortaki.”

“Can you tell me about your home planet?”

Excitement animated all of Ilham’s features. She was part Dortaki as well. She had never seen that planet or met another person from it. She had been born and raised on Alarias Prime. She had so many questions her spots tingled.

Roshon ran his hands through his thick, black curls and leaned back in his seat. For a moment Ilham was afraid that he would not speak. Sadness crept into his face and Ilham had to suppress the instinct to sooth it away.

“Dortaki is a planet of herdsmen, farmers and warriors. We don’t have many of the fancy technologies and creature comforts you are accustomed to on Alarias Prime. Life there requires work, but aw is it beautiful?”

“And your females? What of your females?”

“I haven’t seen one of my own since I was a small boy. The plague took my own mother and my sister was sent to a citadel soon after. What I remember of my mother was that she smelled like forests after a heavy rain. Honestly princess, all of the females of my planet have been sent off world to live in the citadels. After watching so many of them die, most folks gladly sent their surviving females away.”

Ilham let a few moments of silence pass between them. He seemed very sad, his people must have been very attached to their females.

“Is breeding not going well with your people?” Ilham’s voice sounded small in her own ears.

“I guess it goes. Every so often a new boy is delivered to his father. I think they keep the females. But… we survive.”

Mister Nandu turned around and faced the display panel. Their talk was over. Ilham felt strange. She was deeply saddened by the state of affairs. On Alarias Prime the female children are given to the family to raise until the onset of puberty, at which point they join the guilds and enter the citadels. After three successful matings they are released from their obligation. Although they remain part of the guild for life, they may choose to leave the citadel. How must it have been to grow up without the presence of a single female?

The three of them had been traveling in comfortable silence for more than an hour when a proximity alarm began to sound. Roshon jumped to check sensor data, whatever it was, it was either too fast to be seen or using some sort of cloaking device.

“Take her to the hold, there is a reinforced compartment there. Stay there.” Roshon ordered.

Zaffa nodded her agreement and yanked Ilham to her feet just as the vessel was hit by plasma burst. Ilham reached out blindly to steady herself and found herself yanked into the air by a strong arm. Roshon hauled the breeder up against his body to prevent her from bashing her pretty little head against the consol unit. A jolt of electricity passed between them and took the breath right out of Ilham.

Zaffa tugged her arm, entreating her to leave, but Ilham found it hard to move. A low growl escaped Roshon. Whatever had passed between them was affecting him as well.

“What are you?” he whispered in her ear.

Before she could answer, a second blast rocked the small hauling vessel and Roshon put the female down. Zaffa pulled Ilham out of the cockpit and down into the belly of the vessel. Ilham followed like an obedient child, her whole body tingling. She had no idea what had just happened but she was fighting back an urge to cry. 

Roshon’s teeth set on edge as the offending vessel came into view. Pirates. He cursed loudly; he knew it was a bad idea to broadcast his whereabouts. He may not have all the details, but he knew enough to know this run was going to be tricky. Too bad he hadn’t left himself an out. That’s what he gets for working with the Union.

He strapped into the helm of the hauler, it was too late to run and he couldn’t withstand too many more hits like the last one. Opening up the general communications frequency he waited silently. Pirates didn’t simply attack a ship for shits and giggles. If they were firing on him it meant that they wanted something, and if he could negotiate he might get out of this alive.

“Prepare to be boarded,” was all the strange voice said.

“Don’t think so, bub. Why don’t you try telling me what it is that you are looking for first?”

“Prepare to be boarded or you and the female die now!”

Roshon’s blood ran cold. He had only just met the female, but his whole body still tingled from their brief contact. The idea of her being harmed or hauled away from him made him angry. What was this? What had she done to him?

And how would he keep his cool once she was gone?