A Soldier in Love (32 page)

She suddenly had
understanding. She could feel every warm moment she had ever shared with her students
in the past. The hugs, the shoe tying, the story reading, it all came back. She
could feel the warmth that Kate and Aaron had given her. She could hear
laughter with old friends before the Earth wars. Most of all she could feel her
parents. The love they had given her made her heart felt happy.

“My child, your heart
is good. Now, you may bond with my son of Baat, Serik,” he said releasing her
hands from his.

A sudden commotion
began as someone entered the door.

“No, no she can’t!” a
voice cried out.

“These are sacred
grounds and this is a private sacred time,” the priest scolded.

Michelle opened her
eyes and looked up to see Amy. She was the same still tiny with a massive mane
of blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Amy?” she cried out in
disbelief. With all the weird emotions she had just experienced with the priest
she wasn’t sure if her sister was real or if it was some sort of crazy
spiritual hallucination.

“You came? I can’t
believe it!” Michelle exclaimed joyfully.

Michelle’s happiness
shifted into confusion as she noticed the annoyed look on Amy’s face.

“Look, the priest is
right, I’m sorry. We’ll be done in a minute but you can’t be here,” Michelle
called out.

Suddenly Eric stepped
out. Michelle’s stomach turned when she saw their expressions. Something was
wrong.

“We’re going now but
you are going with us,” Amy said coolly.

Michelle shook her
head. Her mouth became dry as she tried to force herself to say no.

“We are taking you back
with us,” Amy repeated. “I’ve already lost everything else. I’ve lost mom and dad
and I lost everything on Earth. I can’t lose you too.”

“You haven’t lost me,”
Michelle began.

“Yes, yes we have.” Amy
pouted. “We can’t afford any more losses. You have to come back with us we have
to repopulate the human race.”

“Repopulate the human
race?” Michelle asked in disbelief.

She held back a
chuckle, was her sister really serious? She took the whole Earthy Army wife
thing a little too far.

Michelle looked over
Amy and Eric’s faces and quickly realized it was no joke. Their expressions
were frightening expressions.
 

“Michelle, this is
serious,” Eric said as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

“I am to be with Serik.
We are having our wedding today,” Michelle replied in shock.

Eric shook his head and
stepped in closer. “You are to come with us.”

He grabbed her by the
wrist and began to drag her.

“Serik!”
Michelle yelled as loud as she could. She pulled
back with all of her strength as she tried to free herself from Eric’s grip. She
fought with all she had despite the fact that he was the stronger fighter; he
was the one who had trained her.

Eric grunted and in one
swift move he covered her mouth with some sort of rag. Michelle struggled and
wriggled against him. She felt everything slow down. She tried to force her
body to move but it wouldn’t comply.

“Its horse
tranquilizer, sorry,” he whispered as he dragged her body out of the temple.

***

Serik turned his
attention towards the private priest room. He could have sworn he heard a
commotion.

“Hey, so what did you
say about the Baat weather?” An unknown human male asked for what seemed like
the third time. He had been engaging Serik in such useless and annoying
conversations.

“I thought I already
told you…” Serik replied wearily. The guy seemed rather dense and he was
beginning to get frustrated. He wasn’t sure why the male was at their wedding.
He had said something about knowing Michelle but Serik knew that couldn’t be.

Serik heard another
noise from the private priest room. He could sense something was wrong. It was
a place of peace, why would there be a commotion?

He pushed the Earth
male out of the way and barged into the room. Serik gasped as he saw the priest
lay in a heap on the floor.

“Help,” he called out
to the others in the Temple. He looked around the otherwise empty room as he
knelt down to check the priest’s pulse.

He saw several temple
attendants rush in. They surrounded the area in a flurry.

“My bride,” he managed
to get out. “She’s gone. I have to go after her.”

“Go my son. We will
care for this one,” another priest motioned.
 

Serik began to run as
fast as he could toward the docking station. His muscles ached due to his
intensity and speed. He was finally there but it was too late. He watched as an
Earth Army ship shot through the atmosphere.

“No, no, it can’t be,”
he cried out loud to himself.

But it was. She was
gone.

***

Michelle groggily
opened her eyes. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light.

“No,” she cried. “NO,”
she screamed as she realized where she was. She wasn’t with Serik but instead
taken from him.

She desperately wanted
to go back to Serik. Fear paralyzed her when she realized he might think she
willingly went off with Amy and Eric. She couldn’t stand the notion that he could
think that she stood him up on the altar.

Michelle looked up to
see Amy come in. Everything was still bleary but she knew it was her. Her
blonde hair was neatly pulled back and a serious expression marked her face.
Her usual warmth and glow wasn’t there.

“You are supposed to be
my family. You are supposed to care about me. Why are you doing this?” Michelle
asked weakly. She refused to cry, she had done enough of that for a lifetime
already.

“Because we care,” Amy
replied mechanically.

“You care?” Michelle repeated
in an astonished tone. “You care about yourself, you mean? You only care about
your own selfish needs and desires.”

Amy’s facial expression
formed a disapproving look. “You will feel better in a few days. He must have
been telling you many lies.”

“What is wrong with
you?” Michelle cried.

“Nothing,” Amy replied.
“And nothing will be wrong with you either very soon. We’ll be home in the
morning.”

“Are you hungry?” Eric
asked with what almost looked like a hint of concern in his eyes.

Michelle nodded. Lately
she had been feeling almost ravenous. She guessed that she was continuing to
regain her appetite after being almost starved to death. Although it seemed
odd, it had been months now but still she was almost always hungry.

He remained silent as
he led her to the kitchen. Eric and Amy’s home on First World II wasn’t anywhere
as nice as their one back on Earth. It was small and dark. Everything was government
issued. There were no pictures on the walls. There wasn’t much furniture beyond
the basics. It felt very bleak and uninviting. Michelle thought back to their
house on New Shanghai. Amy had spent so much time and energy into decorating
and transforming her home into a warm and inviting space.

“I’ll make you toast
and egg substitute,” he said as he motioned for her to sit at the kitchen
table.

Michelle’s stomach
growled with hunger. She sat and watched him quickly prepare a meal for her. She
wasn’t surprised when the food he served her tasted bland and rubbery. Despite
its taste, she devoured her food as soon as Eric put it in front of her.

“You’ll probably want
to take a shower,” he offered.

Michelle nodded. “I
would.”

“Don’t try anything
funny we will be right outside,” Eric said as he led her to the small bathroom.
 

Michelle shut the door.
She took a sigh of relief; despite the bleak circumstances that surrounded her
it was nice to have a moment of solitude and peace. Eric and Amy had hardly
left her alone. She knew they didn’t trust her; they were afraid she would run.

She began to undress. She
groaned as she unbuttoned her top. She realized her breasts were painfully
tender.
Have I had a period since being
deployed?
she
wondered. She had figured she was
suffering from
anovulation
from being so thin.

The realization finally
came to her, she was pregnant.

Of course,
she berated herself.
Me
and Serik had unprotected sex many, many,
times.
How could I be so dumb?

The water poured over
her in the shower. She had to figure how to get back to Serik and get back to
him fast. She was a true soldier this time; she had an innocent child in her
womb to protect. She let the water pour over her as she tried to think.

Think, think, think….

She left the water
running but slipped out of the shower. She quickly dried herself off and tapped
her IS. The information it gave her always seemed to be useful one way or
another. She just had to ask the right things.

“IS
activate
,”
she whispered softly.

She heard the familiar
beeping.

“IS syncing to
satellite,” its mechanical tone replied.

“Find registered space
shuttle named Sally,” she instructed.

“500 matches in
intergalactic registration found. Confirm if you would like list?” the IS
replied.

Shit.

Michelle’s mind raced. “From
those matches those registered to Baat citizens.”

“One result found.”

Michelle breathed a
heavy sigh of relief.

“Record ship’s
viewscreen data number,” Michelle instructed quietly.
 

She heard knocking on
the door. “Michelle, hurry up!” she heard Amy yell through the door.

“I’m almost done,” she
called out.

She turned her IS off
and then shower.

I just have to play along. I have to play along
until I can think of something. I’ve done it before, I can do it again.

***

“Fuck!” he exclaimed.

He couldn’t lose her. He
just couldn’t. It wasn’t even an option.

Serik raced towards his
shuttle.

What I’m going to do? How can I find her?

He paced back and
forth; his heavy boots caused a thudding noise on the floor. He had fought
before but no war had ever been like this. This was personal, this wasn’t about
Baat or bounty hunting money, no this was his mate. This was the female he
loved. The female he swore to protect, the one that gave his life meaning, the
one that he would lay his life down for.

Her translation chip.
I can find where
they’ve taken her through it,
he
realized with a sudden excitement.

He darted to the medic
station. He fumbled around through the cabinets. Items crashed and spilled on
the floor, he didn’t care; he had to find it. He dug until he found the
translation microchip case. He shoved the other chips under the microscope.

He looked at the
sequence. He calmed himself to find the missing number. Moments later he had
the microchip number of her translation chip. He could track her.

He breathed a sigh of partial
relief.

He was a bounty hunter.
He was good at finding people. He had tracked dangerous criminals and
terrorists throughout the galaxy. He could find her. He would have to do.

He entered the chip
number into his computer system. He nervously tapped his fingers along the dash
as it loaded. He knew it was fast but again nothing was fast enough when the
one you loved wasn’t safe.

The screen populated
with her location, New Earth II.

He entered the
coordinates into his navigation. The shuttle lurched forward through the
atmosphere before steadily gaining speed. He knew however fast he went, it
wasn’t fast enough. He couldn’t stand to be apart from her, to not know whether
she was safe or not.

God, please keep her safe. Help me get her back
, he silently prayed.