Aevar: Trekkers (A SciFi Alien Human Military Romance) (2 page)

“
O
h my stars
! Are you okay?”

Aevar set his blaster down on the ground in front of him as he examined his body. No holes, thank the stars, just a burn on the chest. Sometimes he wondered why their jacket uniforms remained open. He knew it was a sign of strength, but
swuya
if it didn't hurt when you got a blaster straight to the chest.

“I'm fine. We're here to speak to your colony counsel. Where is the Chancellor?”

Black hair framed her porcelain-like face, which was illuminated by the fire. She had it set into braids that fell down around her chest. Aevar couldn't quite tell in the darkness, but he thought her eyes were emerald green, and when she looked toward the fire, he realized he was correct. She had gorgeous curves, a delicious flow of lines creating a beautiful creature in front of him. He couldn't believe his eyes.

“Our Chancellor is dead.”

People around this woman began to stand up, but he immediately noticed that they moved behind her. Their Chancellor may have been dead, but their leader was not.

“Dead? How?”

“The plague took him. Nearly a week ago. Before the ships came.”

Aevar put his hand to his ear and spoke into his communicator. “Everybody, come out. These are the citizens we’ve been looking for.”

His men emerged from the trees, many of them dressed the same way that he was. They all put their blasters back in their holsters or the back of their pants, where they were most comfortable. They all approached the group with caution, as the people looked frightened and tired.

“Tell me about the ships.”

The beautiful woman eyed him carefully. He could tell that she wasn't sure if she should trust him.

“Actually, why don't you tell us about the ships on our pod? We have aid for you, blankets and food, and it's warm there. I promise your people will be safe.”

“And why should we trust you?”

“Because you don't really have any other choice.”

She looked around the group at her frozen comrades and resigned herself to following Aevar. They walked through the woods with their blasters up; whatever ships she had been talking about had taken her people. That meant that the Trekkers had new enemies, some of which may have stayed on the planet to clean up the rest of the mess. The very citizens that they had found could be prey to this other group. Aevar immediately thought about Pirates; they were always coming and stealing things from smaller colonies, but people? That was new. If they really needed people to do some sort of dirty work there were slaves, and while the Galactic Alliance had outlawed it many years ago, it was still common practice on many of the outer planets. The outer rim was the Wild West of the galaxy, and the Galactic Alliance’s rules didn't really matter there.

The night was still and quiet. It made Aevar uncomfortable. The faster he got this group to the pod, the better he would feel about it. Finally, he could see the dark gray structure in the distance. He felt the group picking up pace behind him. Clearly they had seen the large Alliance symbol on the side and finally decided that Aevar and his team were trustworthy.

Aevar spoke into his communicator to the pilot. “Open up the back. We have some people coming on board.”

He watched the back hatch slowly open and he remained outside on watch while some of the new recruits put the citizens inside. He saw Raelor dole out blankets and gave some of them water and food. They all sat down together on the floor of the ship staying huddled in little groups. Aevar didn't blame them. It was clear that they had suffered through some type of horrific experience. Possibly something even worse than the plague.

The woman stayed near the back of the ship, ushering a smaller version of herself, possibly a sister, toward the other people as Aevar approached them.

“I'm Aevar,” he said, bowing his head to her.

“Ivy. Thank you! I can't tell you how long we've been waiting for you. At least, it's felt like a very long time.”

“It's cold out there. I didn't realize how much this planet was like Earth.”

“You’ve been to Earth?”

“Once, a long time ago. Mostly I grew up on space stations, because my father was in politics.”

“Politics? Was he a Chancellor?”

“Yes. On Langlo. That's where my mother was from as well.”

She smiled slightly. “That explains the light tone to your skin then.”

Aevar nodded. “I also have the etchings.”

She blushed slightly. “I've never seen Langlonese etchings before.”

Aevar immediately wanted to rip his jacket off and show her; he wasn't sure if it was just because she was curious or because he wanted to display his strength. The etchings were just that, a sign of strength. The more etchings that had been branded onto your skin as a child, the more powerful the elders thought you would be as an adult. Aevar’s covered most of his shoulders and torso. The elders knew with his lineage he would be a solid warrior. His father was being groomed to be an elder and his mother was an intelligent fighter.

Her eyes shifted over his body and he wanted to tell her all about his extensive etchings. Why was he acting this way? Women usually didn't make them feel like this. Sure, some of them were beautiful, and others had a sense of humor, but no one made his heart flutter like this woman did. Ivy was special.

“So what can you tell me about the ships? Who was on them? What all did they take?”

She shrugged. “They were dark, black maybe. They came in the night and took the people who survived the plague. We were lucky to escape with our lives. Anyone who refused them or fought back is dead.”

Aevar couldn't figure out what set of Pirates would do such damage. They were known to slay a few colony members here and there, but to take out practically an entire planet? That didn't make any sense.

“Can you give me a timeline? Walk me through the past couple weeks.”

Ivy sat down on a bench at the edge of the ship. “I think so. Maybe a month ago, the sickness hit us. I’ve never seen anything like it. People were crazy with fevers. Completely delirious. A man set our entire colony on fire because he felt that he could burn the sickness out. Of course, he was sick himself. It struck the elderly at first and we thought we could contain it. I’ve been working in medical for three years now. But we didn't burn the bodies quick enough, and then some of the other adults got it. By that point it was spreading like wildfire. I took precautions for my family and I and it seemed to spare us. We had some medicines and vaccines the Alliance gave us. But then it seemed like it was all for nothing. Half of the colony was wiped out in just a couple weeks and then, just as things were starting to improve, the ships showed up.”

“Without any warning?” Aevar asked.

“No. Nothing! The fires began and then suddenly they were here. Pushing people into their ship and killing anyone who refused.”

“Could you see their faces?”

“No. They were covered with black bandanas.”

“But an insignia? There had to be something.”

She shook her head, dejected. “There was nothing, Lieutenant, I promise you. Absolutely nothing. I wish I had more information for you, I wish I could have followed them myself. But all of our pods were ruined and the only way to get any kind of help would be if our Chancellor's plea got to you. I’m glad you found us. I don't know how much longer we would've lasted if you hadn't.”

“You seem pretty resourceful. You’ve been taking care of your people for quite a while and doing a pretty good job of it.”

He saw the red rise to her cheeks again. “I'm just doing what we needed to do to survive. Putting a bandage on a much larger wound than I could fix. But now that you’re here, maybe you can help us find the families. Maybe we can track down that ship.”

Aevar knew that they didn't have a lot to go off of, but that wouldn't stop him. Ivy wanted him to find these people, and he would make sure to do it.

I
vy couldn’t believe
the Alliance had finally come and rescued them. She also couldn’t believe the attractiveness of the man that stood in front of her. He stood an entire head taller than her, with light skin, his white etchings peeking out from beneath his jacket as he spoke to her. And his open jacket waving in the night’s breeze was enough to put her over the edge. His eyes were crystal blue, and she felt like she was falling into them every time he spoke.

She was being ridiculous and she knew it, but she couldn’t help herself. She had never met a man so good looking before, and she knew that meant one thing for her: trouble. Why had she asked him about Earth—who cared if he went there? She had never been, but most people hadn’t, since there were no resources left there.

Resources.

“I think they came for the water, maybe…” she said, her thoughts swirling.

“Water?” he questioned.

“Here on Jubar, we have a lot of lakes and rivers, fresh water. Drinkable without filtration. I always thought someone would come for it. Do you think that’s why they took our people? To take over the planet?”

“Do they know any of you survived? Did they see you run?”

She shook her head. “I doubt it. But even if they did they probably thought we wouldn’t survive long. They may have just been waiting for the winter to finish their job.”

He seemed to ponder that as his eyes darted out of the hatch. “Or they may be finishing it themselves,” he mumbled just before she saw a bolt of blue light flash across the open grove they had landed in.

“Pull up the hatch!” he commanded, yelling to his men.

But he wasn’t fast enough. Blue blaster light was coming at the ship from every direction. “Kill on sight,” he yelled again, and two men flanked him. Ivy scrambled to get her own blaster off the bench next to her, but she couldn’t get her grip fast enough. BAM! She felt the surge of electricity run through her veins. The pain was immediate, and every inch of her skin felt like it was on fire. The ship around her seemed to fade in and out.

“Ivy!” Aevar was screaming at her. “Ivy, you’re going to be okay, I promise.
Swuya
, these guys are quick. Just hold on.” He paused and his face swam in and out of view. He was close to her and then so far away. She was sure she was on the ground, or maybe the bench? She could feel the cold metal against her skin as her shawl slipped away.

They had been rescued, and Maggie would be okay with Aevar. He would keep her safe. She could shut her eyes. Even if it was only for a moment.

Just a moment.

And then, darkness.

T
he sound
of blaster shots ricocheting off the sides of the pod had Aevar’s insides feeling like someone had lit a match.

“Raelor, you’re with me. Recruits, you better have my six!” He watched as other Alliance fighters nodded to him. “Communicators on, I don’t want to forget one of you here.” He knew he should just be hightailing back to the Titan, but no one was going to hurt Ivy this way and get away with it. Not while he was still breathing.

He ran out through the open hatch as fast as he could, aiming toward the trees where the initial shots had come from. He heard yelling and knew a couple of his shots had met their mark. Revenge was sweet.

Aevar advanced toward the trees. He was running at a full sprint, trying his best to see through the darkness to find their attackers. But he was unsuccessful. Finally, the blue shots of blasters stopped coming at them. He signaled to his men to fan out into the area to find any survivors, and to collect the dead. He wanted to examine the bodies for himself, to see exactly who these men were. There had to be some sort of emblem or something that would tell him where they were from and what type of people they were. He wasn't sure what he was totally expecting to find, but he had to find something.

“Over here!” he heard one of the recruits call. He should have used the communicator, Aevar thought to himself. If there was anyone around who had survived, they now knew their location. He watched as Raelor nodded to him from his left—he must have thought the same thing. He and Raelor took off at a jog, finding the new recruit in the scope of their blasters. There was a body at the base of his feet.

“What did you find?” The recruit was shaking; poor guy was terrified. Maybe he realized his mistake with yelling, maybe he suddenly knew it could have been fatal.

The new recruit held his blaster still pointing at the body, even though it wasn't moving. “I'm not sure, Sir, I've never seen anything like this before.” As Aevar walked closer to the body he realized what the recruit meant.

This wasn’t a man, it was a monster.

I
vy awoke
to find herself on a plastic cot in a sterile, white room. There was a reptilian medical doctor examining the soles of her feet. Somehow, her shoes were no longer on them. She scanned the room and attempted to sit up, but realized that the stinging pain in her chest got much worse anytime she tried to take a deep breath or move her limbs.

“No, don't try to move, dear, you're still under observation. We had to give you a heavy sedative to keep you from moving when you arrived back on the ship, I didn't want you to further injure yourself.”

“Injure myself?”

“A blast to the chest is a good way to die. We’re surprised that you've made it this long into your recovery. You're one tough cookie.” His forked tongue darted out of his mouth as he tested the air.

She smiled. That was something her father used to tell her back on Jubar. But they certainly weren’t on Jubar anymore.

“What happened to me?” She paused, considering sitting up again. “Where am I now?”

“You're on the Titan. The greatest Alliance ship of the fleet. Also the largest. It’s my favorite medical bay to work in. They have everything that you could need, and it's mostly the reason you survived. That, and the Lieutenant did everything he could to save you. Even gave some of his own plasma. He’s a big part of the reason you're alive.”

“He gave some of his plasma for me?” She couldn't believe it. She knew that Langlonese had medicinal properties within their own bodies, and many of their people were healers themselves. And when giving their plasma to a human, they were hard to kill. She knew of traders that had sold their plasma in the black market just to make warriors and fighters practically invincible. But she had never heard of anyone willingly give it to a human. What did that mean for her and Aevar? She looked around the room but she didn't see him.

“Where is Aevar? I guess I should be thanking him.”

The doctor shook his head. “He was here just a moment ago, and he hasn't left your side since they brought you on the ship. Just a quick meeting with the commander to discuss your assailants, I suppose.”

“They found out who came after my people? Who are they?” Suddenly she felt the need to sit up, but once again, the pain in her chest reminded her that she couldn't move. She felt like a prisoner on that cot, even though she knew the doctor was just trying to help.

“They're not sure, dear. Some new type of species. We've never seen anything like it. I'll dig into him once I'm done with you.” He pointed over to another cot, this time with a sheet covering it. She hadn't realized it was a body before. She had just figured it was medical instruments that were covered in order to maintain sterilization. That was how they did it back on Jubar, but instead she realized that one of the horrible men who had taken her family was lying under that sheet. If he hadn't already been dead, she would have taken a scalpel to his heart herself.

“What will you do to him?” she asked.

“I'll study him, of course. He is one of the great mysteries of science. I’ll figure out why he is the way he is.”

The way he is? What was that supposed to mean? “What do you mean? He's just an evil man. There's nothing special about him.” She was annoyed by his intrigue.

“I guess you haven't seen him then. Because there's definitely something wrong with him. Something much more sinister is going on here than the fact that he took your people.” He studied her, like he was considering what he was about to do. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders. “Do you want to look at him? I think maybe then you will understand.”

She turned her head to the side, looking directly at the cot covered with the sheet. “Go on, then.” She wasn't afraid; she could look into this murderer’s eyes and see him for what he truly was, a monster. But as the doctor pulled back the sheet, she realized that he was monstrous in so many more ways than she was expecting.

Staring back at her were black, soulless eyes and a twisted body. His skin had taken on a clay like quality and his mouth was dropped open at an unusual angle. Jagged teeth sprung out in all directions and he had a tongue like black oil hanging out of the side of his gaping mouth. His skin looked like it was melting off of his skeletal structure, a dark greyish quality to it unlike anything she had seen before. This was no man. This was no species she had ever encountered. When she had been small, she had seen many traders while on Jubar and visiting space stations and wild planets with her father. Besides, they had books of medical terminology that she had studied and she had learned how to care for many other species besides humans. But this? This was no human or alien. He was something entirely new.

“What is it?”

The doctor shook his head. “I wish I could tell you I knew. But in all of my years caring for species all over this galaxy, I've never seen anything like this. I think that this is what some are referring to as those who survived after the plague.”

“The plague? But no one survives. What do you mean?”

“We have been told that the plague was turning some species into a completely new being. What was left over was a soulless creature unlike anything we have ever seen before. I'm going to guess that this thing is whatever they were referring to.”

“So he was human once?” She was dumbfounded; this didn’t make any sense.

“I'm not sure that he was human. I'm not sure what species he was, though. After I run some DNA tests, I'll be able to tell you more.”

She appreciated that he wasn't trying to hide anything from her, or treat her like some child that he needed to be careful around. She didn't want him to treat her that way. She was strong enough to handle whatever was coming after her. She had proved that in the woods these past few days; she had cared for what was left of her people.

Her people. Where were they? Where was Maggie?

Panic started to rise from her belly into her chest and she felt like she couldn't breathe.

“Calm down, dear. If I had known that it was going to upset you that much, I wouldn't have shown you.”

She put up her hand in protest, “No! No! That's not with this is about. I need to know that my people are okay.” She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself, but it just made her chest roar with pain. “Oh my stars! Getting hit with a blaster is real
swuya
!” she said for lack of a better word.

Aevar entered the bay and laughed at her, not reveling in her pain, but probably enjoying her human like qualities. “Yes, it does.”

She looked to him. And didn’t he look delicious. He was in a light blue uniform, but no shirt. Ugh
swuya
. Why didn’t he have a shirt on? Couldn’t he already tell that her heart was healing? Making it pound like a drum wasn’t helping! She began to sweat, even though the room was cold as ice. What was he doing to her?

“Also, your people are safe. They have moved them to another colony on Jubar which was not hit by these wandering monsters. Alliance fighters are there protecting them and they have been given aid. As for your younger sister, she is the talk of the ship. You see, the Alliance doesn't allow females on this vessel. And the last time there was a girl on board, she and her Alliance bodyguard ended up becoming mates.”

Mates? “My sister does not need to become some fighter’s mate!”

“No, no.” He put his hands up in surrender, as if she were an angered animal that he was trying to soothe. “Of course she doesn't. They're all treating her like a princess, and they recognize that she is a child. But she is still something new to them, a shiny new toy for them to play with. She has been living a very fine life the past few days, while you've been recovering.”

“Days? How long have I been out for? And how can you be sure that they won't return and take out that colony? We’ll deal with the sister issue when I see her.” Anger boiled beneath her skin. Of course Maggie was living it up. She just hoped no fighter had fallen in love with her yet. She was a child, to her, and to the men onboard, but to Maggie and the Jubarian people, she was an adult who could make her own decisions and feel consequences for her actions.

“That's not for me to decide. That decision is entirely up to the commander, but I do agree with his ruling. Your people need to be on their planet. We could relocate them all to a space station, but there was a Chancellor remaining, and he wanted them to stay. I think that was probably the best decision that he could have made at the time. His colony hadn't been touched by the plague and he knows nothing of these traveling monsters that abducted your people. We need to focus on one problem at a time.”

The doctor walked over to Ivy again after checking some monitors. “Right now, the biggest issue is getting you well. I’ll be back with some medicine shortly. It will help with the pain.”

The doctor dipped his head in her direction and then nodded at Aevar before walking out through glass sliding doors.

Once the doctor was gone, Aevar pulled up a chair. “I’m glad you’re awake. It was pretty scary for a while there.” He blushed a little at his over excitement.

“Yes, I'm awake, and thank you. I know what sacrifice you made for me. You didn't have to do that.”

“If I hadn't, you wouldn't have made it. Taking a blaster directly to a human’s heart is more electrical shock than it can handle, I mean, that
is
the point of a blaster. Seeing you like that…” He shook his head like he was at a loss for words.

“I understand that I would have died, but I still want to say thank you. You don't know me. And you were still willing to do that for me.” She reached out her hand and intertwined her fingers with his. “That was beyond the call of duty.”

He dipped his head at her. “It was the highest honor, I assure you. How are you feeling?”

“Like I've been in the dark for several days. Tell me about my people. How could you let them go back to Jubar without knowing if those things are wandering around in the woods?”

He sighed. “It wasn't up to me. The commander contacted the Chancellor of the colony and that is the decision that they made. Did you even know that there was a colony on the southern tip?”

She rolled her eyes. “They're hardly a colony. Just a bunch of traders. I doubt they even speak the language. But if that's where they decided to go…”

“I assure you that they made that decision on their own. We didn't push them in one direction or another. Plus, there's an entire squadron of Alliance fighters protecting them. Nothing's going to happen to them.”

“I wish I could believe you,” she said dejectedly. “I never expected anything like this to happen to us to begin with. I never expected to see those things,” she said, making a disgusted face at the man beneath the sheet.

“I don't think anyone would have expected that. I've seen some very different looking species, but nothing like that.”

“Me neither. I don't even understand what it is.”

“None of us do, but once the doctor has some answers, we will figure out what’s going on here. Why the plague is effecting that species in particular and turning them into those beasts.”

“I wish I could help you.”

“I know. I want to help you now, but we have to be patient.” He squeezed her hands and she felt another surge of electricity run through her veins, but this time it was entirely different than the blaster piercing her heart. This was a warm energy, and it made her feel like she might be glowing from the inside out, even though she knew that was ridiculous. Not that she didn't know any glowing species, but humans didn't glow.

“You will be able to help us once you're feeling better. I can't have you out there injured. I can't tell you how it made me feel to see you like that in the pod. It was one of the worst moments of my life.”

She could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks. Why was he saying these things?

“Aevar, why did you give me your plasma? What made you want to do that?”

He shook his head. “I'm not really sure. I just felt like I had to.”

“You said something about the last female that was on board, that she's no longer on the Titan. You said that she found her mate? Does the Alliance believe in those things?”

She hadn't heard the word mate used except for one time on a space station when she was a child. Her father had been trading with some Alliance members and she specifically remembered their elders talking about mates and how some of the outer planets made decisions based on the people that they loved. Her parents certainly loved one another, but they weren't mates. They were just two people who were made for each other. Only alien species believed in mates. Or so she thought.

“Yes, she went to live with her mate on an outlying planet, but that's all I can tell you. The rest is classified.”

“I'm not specifically asking what happened to them, I'm asking what happened between them. How did you all know that they were supposed to be together?” How could she tell that for herself, she thought.

“Nash said that he felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness for her. And that she made him calm and that he needed to care for her in order to survive. She felt similarly, I guess. I never spoke to her about it. Now they have a beautiful little girl and they live a very complete life. Nash always said he felt like something was missing before he met her.”

“Do you feel like something is missing?” she asked sheepishly. His eyes locked with hers and she saw for the first time how the blueness of his eyes seemed to move in the light. It was mesmerizing.

“Sometimes.”

She nodded. For now, sometimes was enough.