Worth Fighting For (Little Blue Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter Nine

Tasid tried to hold still as his mother fussed with the collar of his new dress suit. Today was the day he and several other diplomats were going to be welcomed by the humans on Earth. It was going to be a massive demonstration of their cultures.

He couldn’t wear what he did for the first official contact. In fact, all he had to wear were the uniforms for UPALE, none of which he was allowed to wear anymore because he wasn’t a captain in the UPALE military anymore. Luckily a small team of clothiers were stationed on the diplomatic ship that Tasid’s father arrived in, so he and the others traveling down for this event were now dressed in their race’s diplomatic attire, until he could choose a mark, colors, and other details for his new position.

“Stop fidgeting.” His mother’s voice sounded exasperated.

The door to his quarters swished opened, and his second, Errim, stepped through. Errim immediately began to laugh.

“Wow, look at you, all grown up,” he said teasingly, and smirked.

Tasid growled at him, but stopped when his mother swatted him. This only had Errim laughing more.

Tasid sent Errim an annoyed look. “You should talk. You have a suit on, same as me.”

“Not like you, I look good in mine.”

“Stop it, you two,” his mother said sternly, but the look on her face told him she was amused by their banter. “Errim, you get over here and let me straighten out your collar.”

With his mother done fussing over him, Tasid rubbed his hands down the front of his suit. He laughed at his friend when his mother proceeded to fuss over Errim, as she just had with him. The door swished open again, and his father entered the tiny space.

“I just spoke with my assistant. He informed me that many of the others are ready to head down to the planet, but they are all waiting on you. No one can set foot on the planet before you.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Errim said, keeping his chin lifted for Adonna. “All of our other officers are ready and waiting in the transport.”

“Thank you. Guess it’s time.” Tasid watched as his father lovingly held out his two right arms for his mother to take before they all left the small confines of the room.

“How many of your crew chose to stay on with you?” his father asked, as they made their way down the corridor.

“More than I had thought would. Most of the miners chose to stay with UPALE, and just a few of the crew as well, but all the rest chose to stay with me.”

His mother looked back at him as he walked behind her. “Have you chosen a ship yet, Tasid?”

Tasid shook his head and winced. “No, I felt there were too many other things that were more important to do first.”

“Tomorrow is the day of the mating lottery,” she said excitedly. She looked up at her mate and gave him a hopeful look. “Have many signed up for it?”

Jurresh smiled at Adonna benevolently before looking back at Tasid as he answered. “I have reports that far more females signed up for it than we had anticipated.”

“That’s wonderful!” his mother said with excitement. She looked up at Errim as they entered a lift. “You are going to take part in The Catch, too, aren’t you?”

Tasid held back his chuckle at seeing the color that spread over Errim, as he answered. “I am. I believe I made you a promise,” he answered, and then he sent her a wink.

Adonna laughed. “I can’t wait to see it. Even though their atmosphere is much smaller, it will be exciting to see my boys fighting their way to a mate.”

“Aren’t you worried the humans won’t approve of our mating ritual?” Errim asked her.

“Not at all. I’ve seen the competitions they do for fun. They like to challenge themselves. Today, they share with us some of their cultures and traditions, and when the mating rituals are held, it will be our turn to show them some of ours.”

****

“Hurry, Benny, they’re going to show up any time now,” Maggie said over her shoulder.

Juno looked towards the kitchen to see Benny pouring drinks. A large feast sat on the coffee table in front of them, and the drinks were the last to be brought. All the girls were seated around the television, to watch the huge event.

Benny scurried over and handed cups of juice to everyone, then plopped down beside Juno. “I wonder how they put all this together so fast. It takes four years to prepare for the Olympics, and this is far bigger than that.”

“First off, they have to build a new stadium for each Olympics, but they didn’t do that here,” Juno answered.

Paige added, “They also had a lot of help from other countries, like China, who donated most of the fireworks.”

“Yeah, but the choreography of the performers had to have been a nightmare to put on, on such short notice,” Juno said.

****

Tasid’s father and mother entered the transport and took their seats. Tasid stopped just inside to take a look around. There were rows of seats in the middle and seats against the walls on the sides. The pilots were on the floor above.

Errim took a seat next to where Tasid would be sitting. He noticed Burren, Yebiri, Skane, and Sharrow were already seated. Also going were Pyx, his head engineer, and his head cook, Norlo. Everyone was dressed in their new attire, complete with smiles. The rest of the seats were taken by his parents and a security detail. Everyone else going from his ship was on a different floor further down. This vessel had several floors.

Entry into Earth’s atmosphere wasn’t nearly as harsh as others he had flown through, so Tasid didn’t have any problems reading through reports using the band on his wrist. Once they touched down, they waited for the other transport from the diplomatic fleet to land next to them, before they opened the doors and the ramp was let down from the lower level, where they were going to exit.

****

Juno saw little Amanda hop up and down.

“Look!” Amanda pointed and shouted excitedly.

“Those are huge shuttles,” Jeri said, surprised.

Kaycee added, “Yet sleek and fancy.”

Benny gasped. “It’s opening.”

Juno felt her stomach flutter with anticipation. She took in a sharp breath when she saw the aliens begin to appear. She recognized Tasid, right off. The sun shone on his blue skin, brightening it. His large muscles flexed and moved as he started down the ramp.

****

The sun was shining bright and warm as Tasid stood and looked out around them. He saw several of the human dignitaries he had been dealing with standing to greet them at the bottom of the ramp, along with a sea of humans all around, most of whom held video devices. Many were in uniform and were lined in a row, making a path to their destination. Some were holding rifles, some held swords, and others were holding flags that lightly waved in the breeze.

Errim joined just behind him. Behind them were his parents, then the rest of the crew. Tasid slowly walked down the ramp but stopped halfway. The breeze felt so good flowing across his skin, he couldn’t help but open both sets of his wings wide and high, to stretch them. He tilted his head back and flapped them once, enjoying the sensation.

****

Juno watched Tasid stop, and his wings began to open wide. Her stomach did another flutter, only much stronger. His wings were beautiful to her, and opening them showed off more of his seriously fit bodily form. His head tilted back, and he closed his eyes. A blissful and tranquil look relaxed his features, enhancing his attractiveness.

Juno would have been happy to stare at him longer, but the camera moved to reveal the other aliens, who were behind Tasid. The ones with wings did the same as Tasid, taking a moment to enjoy the sun. Their lines and colors were stunning, and she could hear the crowd’s approval.

****

A loud cheer erupted from the sea of humans, and they began clapping. Tasid opened his eyes and looked around. Errim, Jurresh, and Sharrow were also flexing their wings, and behind them, he could see the brightly colored wings on Burren, Skane, Norlo, and Pyx flutter. The crowd grew louder, watching their display.

Tasid folded and wrapped his wings back into place behind his back and over his front, then continued down the ramp. At the bottom, he was greeted by several dignitaries. The one who governed what they called the United States stepped forward and extended his hand.

“Advocate Tasid, welcome to Earth.”

Every dignitary smiled at him and offered their hands to shake as they were led down the red floored path. The clicks of the devices many held were almost as loud as the claps and cheers. Everyone from both transports followed behind, greeting each dignitary along the way.

The man beside him talked about the events they were providing for the day. “All around the inside of the stadium are food booths, each representing different styles and cultures. In the stadium arena, we will be performing different events featuring all different kinds of music and rituals that are part of that group’s culture. The best part of the events will happen after dark.” The man smiled wide, and Tasid could hear the excitement in his voice. “I can’t wait for you to see it. We are eager to show you our best.”

Throughout the day, the group made their way around to all of the different food booths and was introduced to many more people. At one booth, Tasid saw a small human peeking shyly around the corner of the table. Cocking his head to the side, he squatted down. Suspecting it was one of their young, he kept his voice calm and sweet.

“Hello, and who might you be?” he asked.

Big brown eyes stared silently back at him. One of the females running the booth ran over and picked up the little one. She seemed unsure at first what to do, glancing worriedly around at all the reporters and security personnel. But one of the human dignitaries smiled and nodded at her, which seemed to give her the confidence she needed. She placed the little one on the floor.

“This is my son, Liam,” she said.

She held Liam’s hand and pulled him forward. “Liam, sweetie, this is Advocate Tasid. Say hello.”

A tiny voice responded. “Hi.” The small child smiled up at him. Tasid’s translator implant made it possible for him to understand the child. He also wore an external one that translated his words to others around him. He looked forward to when the humans were implanted, but for now, this would do.

“Hello, Liam. How old are you?”

A small hand rose up in the air, displaying four fingers. Tasid had learned what their timelines were, which were similar to their own, so he understood the child to be four years old, which was very young.

“Four? Wow! On my planet, little children who are four learn how to fly. Would you like to learn how to fly someday?”

The child looked at Tasid’s wings. “I don’t have any wings.”

Tasid gave him a reassuring smile. “That’s ok, you don’t need to be born with wings to fly. All you need is a talon. That is what we call our small flying crafts. We call the males who fly them flyers.”

The child looked once again at his wings. “Can I touch them?”

Tasid nodded his head and carefully spread out one of his battle wings towards the small child. In spite of the strength of the hard, boney arms, Tasid could feel the heat from the little fingers gliding over the features. The webbing was more sensitive, so he felt the tickle from the light touch.

Tasid dramatically squirmed and giggled. “It tickles.”

Liam laughed, and Tasid didn’t think he had ever heard a sweeter sound. The laugh was infectious and filled his heart with joy.

Liam pointed at the other wings Tasid had. “You have four wings.”

“Yes, I do. The hard ones are called battle wings, and these,” Tasid pointed to the lighter blue feathers that were as impenetrable as the toughest metal, “are called guardian wings.”

Liam pointed to the band on his wrist. “What’s that?”

Tasid looked down to where the boy was pointing. “That is my holo-band.” He tapped on the top of it, and a holo-screen popped up. He showed the child how it showed him information, brought up different files, how he wrote notes in it, and he even contacted Horo, who was in charge while he was off ship. Only Horo’s head was showing, but he was very understanding about the call, and even waved and smiled at the boy through the connection.

Tasid’s mother walked up beside him. Tasid looked up at her, surprised it had taken her this long to come forward to gush over the child. Adonna, though a female of his race, was still much taller than the humans. She knelt down and smiled at the child.

Tasid introduced her. “Liam, this is my mother, Adonna.”

“Hi, Liam. Look, I don’t have wings either.” Adonna twisted her body just enough so he could see her back.

The little boy’s eyes scrunched up. “What happened to them?”

“In our species, the females don’t have wings, only the males.” She held out her hand to him. “Can I look at you?”

Liam looked up at his mother, who just smiled back down at him and nodded her head. Liam reached out and took Adonna’s hand, and walked closer to her.

The look on Adonna’s face was one of pure adoration, as she held up his hands and placed them against hers to see the size difference.

“Look how pink you are compared to me,” she said.