Craving: A SciFi Alien Mail Order Bride Romance (TerraMates Book 8) (18 page)

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I
’m
on a mission to get an artifact that can cure disease. I’m good at what I do, and I work by myself. I don’t need a man.

To survive, I switched places with a stranger on a starship. I didn’t know where it was going, and I didn’t care.

She never told me she was a TerraMates bride. When I arrived, a sexy ex-military man was waiting for me, expecting marriage.

I don’t need a man, but I want this one.

T
ERRA

They were out there. The Surtu.

I could see their ships from my tiny window in the kitchen where I worked as a porter on the Fortuna space station.

I thought their ships would be more hostile looking. Intimidating or depraved perhaps, like the Surtu themselves. But as I took a rag from over my shoulder to dry a glass, I couldn't help but think that the ships looked like glow flies out in the distance.

The view would have been romantic if we weren't worried that the Surtu were going to kill us all.

We knew the Surtu were going to come. It was a war Earth had sixty years to prepare for. Now that war was about to begin, and I was part of Earth's first line of defense.

My home the Fortuna was one of many military space stations constructed after Earth learned that the Surtu were out there and we had to be ready. Unlike the other space stations, it was disguised as a spiritual sanctuary. We looked like a sisterhood, where women of the cloth were ready to welcome alien visitors into the gardens and marble halls under the pretense of peace.

Setting the glass down, I snickered at my own thoughts, more out of tension than any humor.

Nothing about the Fortuna was peaceful. Every woman on board was as lethal as a cobra. From one generation to the next, the women chosen for the Fortuna were taught the art of warfare with precision, as if it were a school subject like algebra or English. Earth never knew when the Surtu would come, but we knew what the Fortuna was built for. We were the furthest station away from Earth. Fortuna was a deathtrap, meant to lure the enemy in, learn its weaknesses, then eliminate them.

Our time was now.

"Gallia wants to see you," Lucina announced brightly as she bounded into the kitchen, grabbing an apple from a nearby bowl. Lucina Whitmore was my best friend. Like me, the petite blonde had been primed to join the Fortuna since she was little. Our mothers had done a tour of duty here together before they returned to Earth to marry and have children.

All women assigned to the Fortuna were given the name of a Roman goddess, which was used proudly like a badge. Lucina and I were different. We had been given Roman names since birth, our destiny already decided by our mothers.

I'd known Lucina since I first beat half the boys in our kindergarten class at arm wrestling. We knew more about each other than our own families back on Earth. I didn't know one thing, though. How she managed to stay so bubbly and upbeat, even with danger looming close to us, was beyond me.

"Did Gallia say what for?" I asked, deciding whether or not I should finish my duties in the kitchen before heading to our Commander's office. Lucina twirled the apple on her finger before taking a huge bite. "No," she said, her mouth full, "but I'm assuming it has something to do with the alien race that's about to attack. The ones with the big fangs and hollow eyes."

I was surprised. "Is that really what you think they look like?"

"We grew up listening to stories about the monsters in space. It's hard to know what to expect." Lucina shrugged.

"Those who escaped the attack on the colony all those years ago said the Surtu were humanoid."

"Even devils are humanoid," Lucina pointed out with a wide smile as if she enjoyed the prospect of standing her ground against creatures so unholy. Being pretty, small, and blonde, she was like a militant angel.

Unable to share her enthusiasm, I once again looked out the window at the glow flies in the dark sky, ignoring the girl with the mousy hair and earthy brown eyes faintly reflected in the glass. I was not a warrior, not like Lucina, or Gallia, or any of the other women on the Fortuna.

I mean, I had skills, I was perhaps one of the most skilled fighters on board, but I considered intellect a stronger weapon than a spear. And I was an optimist. We didn't know what the Surtu wanted, or why they were hell bent on attacking us, but I believed there was still a way to work our differences out before a war began.

Such sentiment was why I was in the kitchen, and Gallia was in command.

I turned towards the door, dropping the rag on the counter. "I guess I better go see our Queen Sister," I said, using the name Lucina and I secretly thought of for Gallia. "Maybe she wants a chance to yell at me one last time before the Surtu attack."

"Probably," Lucina supposed. "She better start yelling now. Based on the formation of those ships out there, we don't have much time left."

* * *

"
T
erra Lynch
, how old are you?" Gallia asked as I entered her office. Like me, she was dressed in a skin-tight, plain white jumpsuit. It was the standard uniform on the Fortuna, regardless of rank.

One of many differences between Gallia and myself was that her jumpsuit complimented her raven black hair and green eyes, which were both reckless and wise simultaneously.

"Twenty-four," I answered.

She didn't seem pleased. "You're a little young, but it still might work."

A little young? Gallia wasn't that much older than me. Few women on the Fortuna were. Many left in their thirties, ready to fall in love and start a family after serving their time like my mother had.

"I've watched you train, Terra," Gallia stated. "You're one of the most skilled warriors on the Fortuna, but you have no bite. Why is that?"

"I think weapons should be the final solution, not the first," I said truthfully. I was confused as to why I was there.

Gallia frowned. "Even when the enemy already has their weapons pointed at you?" she asked.

"That's when your mind will catch them off-guard," I said earnestly.

"That sounds like fancy bullshit to me," she returned. "Why are you here if you won't fight? The whole reason for the Fortuna's existence is to fight."

I was getting nervous. Gallia's words suggested dissatisfaction with my performance. Was she thinking of sending me home?

I hoped not.

"The Fortuna is my legacy," I said, choosing my words carefully. "I've trained to be here since I was a little girl. It has always been my destiny. This space station is everything I know. I never said I wouldn't fight to protect it. I understand our purpose here. I just think we have to fight with our heads and our hearts as much as our fists."

"There's no heart in war," Gallia imparted. "You're naive to think so."

"Please don't send me home," I begged. "I'm an asset to this station."

She seemed amused. "Enlighten me."

"The girls trust me. They turn to me for support. They need me, especially now."

Gallia wasn't fazed. "That's why we have Bellona. She's here to provide counsel."

I thought of Bellona, the fiery priestess on board. "She's here to play a role. Her counsel is that of a superior. Mine is that of a friend."

I was panicked. I couldn't let Gallia send me home, no matter what the danger of staying here was. Although I did not want to fight, my life had a purpose on the Fortuna.

My last remark caught Gallia's attention. "You think Bellona is playing a role?"

"Bellona is an assassin before she is a priestess, able to live in the shadows, her first strike her last. Her counsel is sensible, but it's not always comforting. I mean, we're all playing a role here, right? I'm no kitchen porter. I can barely pretend to be one. I wish the Fortuna had a library. A real one, not the one with all the forged spiritual text. That's where I belong. I like to learn."

"And you're also a trained warrior," Gallia said thoughtfully.

"Yes, and that. Please don't send me away."

"I'm not sending you home," Gallia revealed, her expression softening. "You're right, you are an asset to the Fortuna, despite your own personal philosophies on warfare. That's why I'm making you Commander."

* * *

"
C
ommander
?" I asked, baffled. It didn't make sense. Why would Gallia put me in charge? "Where will you be?"

"Right here beside you. We're all playing a role. As far as the Surtu know, as far as what they've been led to believe, we're women of the cloth, living in peace within a spiritual sanctuary in space. That's why, unlike the other military stations that surround us, we have no guns or obvious weapons, no fighters like the base nearby. Assuming the Surtu have long-range sensors, the last thing we need is for them to pick up on a storage room full of ammo. Our weapons are much more discreet." Her lips curled into a proud, knowing smile. "And much more deadly."

I thought of our last training session, where we learned to kill a man with our bare hands. We may not be armed with guns, just spears and daggers made up to look like religious artifacts, but we were as prepared for this war with the Surtu as the rest of the military stations set up to protect Earth.

None of this explained why Gallia was making me Commander. "Where does that leave me?"

Gallia folded her arms across her chest, surprisingly patient. "The problem with our facade is that women of the cloth are meant to be serene and insightful. Polite, even. I am none of those things, but you are all of them."

Oh. Now I understood. I wasn't actually going to be in command. I was going to pretend to be in command. But this meant the task of collecting intelligence on the Surtu while Earth listened in would fall down to me.

Strangely, I was comfortable with the responsibility. Encouraged, even. Perhaps if I could discover what the Surtu really wanted, a war could be avoided.

Before I could work my mind around it further, Gallia added, "The Surtu have made contact."

"With Earth?"

"Not Earth. With the Fortuna."

That was shocking. "Why would they make contact with us first? We're just a space station. And as far as they know, we're not even military."

Gallia shrugged. "Does it matter? It falls right into our plans."

"I guess," I conceded. "Did they say why they're here?"

"No," Gallia replied, "but it wasn't exactly a conversation. They sent a message directly to our satellite receivers – a galactic voicemail. They don't want to hurt the women on board. They want the Fortuna intact. An envoy ship will land here tomorrow to negotiate our peaceful surrender."

"So they're buying it. They really do believe this is a sanctuary."

"And we want them to continue to buy it," Gallia insisted. "At least until I receive the signal from Earth to attack. We knew this day would come. As the one in charge, you'll have to greet the envoy ship and its Lead Officer. You will be Earth's first diplomatic contact with the Surtu. Everyone will be watching. Can you handle it?"

"Yes, Commander," I answered in reflex.

"Not anymore. That's your title from here on out. From now on, I'm just Gallia."

"Yes, Gallia," I corrected.

A shadow of concern passed across her face. "Remember, Terra. The only reason the Surtu are able to communicate with us in our language is because, sixty years ago, they attacked an Earth colony, slaughtering the men and taking the women and children as slaves. They've had time to learn about us. We haven't had the same luxury. We know very little, except for this – they're not here to make friends, and neither are we."

"Understood," I said. I didn't need the history lesson. Every Earth child knew the horror stories of the Surtu. The chances of negotiating a peace were small. But still...

"Good," Gallia said. "Then it's settled. I'll tell Bellona to spread the word. Terra Lynch is now Commander of the Fortuna. Let's hope you aren't commanding her in her final hours."