Found: BBW Alien Lottery Romance (Warriors of Karal Book 2) (10 page)

“We are ready for entry,” he said and eased the ship between the beacons.

Swallowed whole, they spun around out of control. He fought, and eventually conquered the cruiser, levelling off the nose until they flew smoothly against the colourful clouds of gasses. He glanced at the readings: all normal, it must just have been an anomaly causing the ship to spin. Relaxing, he took in the vast field of stars, which stretched out as far as they could see.

“It’s amazing,” she said, and he had to agree. No matter how many times he travelled through space, he always saw something that took his breath away and reminded him of how small and insignificant he was in the universe. A blip in its radar before he passed from this life.

“Look.” He pointed into the distance, and there a star was ending its life, a red dwarf, huge and growing bigger until it swallowed all in its path. Much like the love he felt for Gaia.

“I never knew space could be so different. Each time I look out of the window it is like a snapshot of another world, another event bigger than both of us. We look at ourselves as being so important, but to the universe we are almost invisible.” Tears made her eyes bright, and he longed to tell her that to this one Karalian warrior, she would never be insignificant.

“The end is ahead. We will make our way to the next wormhole with all haste and then see if the planet is viable.” He held the control stick firmly, watching as the emptiness outside the wormhole claimed them, and they slowed down. It took a minute for the disorientation to end. The change in speed and their surroundings was so sudden their brains took a while to catch up. It was a sensation you never grew used to.

“Right. Now we head towards our final wormhole. Our mission goal is only a day away,” he said, flicking a switch and checking the computer screen. The screen bleeped, and a warning light flashed.

“What’s that?” she asked, her voice full of concern.

“I’m not sure.” He pressed a button to switch the system to audible. “Rikka 8354. Scan area. Report.”

“Scanning.” They sat in silence, and then the voice returned. “Unknown vessel at two hundred thousand kilometres.”

“Any identification?” he asked.

“None. No distress signal.”

“What does that mean?” Gaia asked.

“It could be a dead abandoned space cruiser.” He searched for a visual and took a closer look, but it was too far away. “We need to take a closer look.”

“OK.” She sounded nervous. “Damn, you never meet an alien species your whole life, and then two come along in the space of two weeks.”

“It may not be alien. It may be the other deep space mission. Although from this distance the ship looks to be the wrong shape. And I don’t think they were exploring near this sector.”

“You are joking?” Gaia said, scared now.

“System. Chance of alien vessel being a Karal ship?”

“Unknown.”

“Then we take a look.” Rikka input an intercept course with the unknown ship. A warrior like him did not experience nervousness. But as the ship came into view and they closed in on it, he felt a definite unease. He knew it was because Gaia was here with him. Whatever it took, he would protect her, give his life for her if he had to. He only hoped his choices would not be clouded by his love for her.

Craning forward, she kept her eye on the big lump of metal floating in space as it gradually began to take on the shape of a ship. Almost immediately, the ship told them it was not Karalian. What was it, though? She held her breath as they drew alongside.

“Do you know what it is?” she asked.

“No.” Rikka said, shaking his head. “It is not a ship we have encountered before. Our onboard system has a log of all known space crafts and it cannot identify it.”

“So what do we do now?” she asked, hoping his answer was to get out of there as quickly as possible. There was something uniquely sinister about this dead ship floating in space.

“We allow our systems to scan it. Then the schematics will be added to our database.” He watched as the ship grew bigger on his screen and then flipped to what looked like an internal schematics of the ship.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“Our sensors are penetrating the ship’s hull and taking readings of what it contains.” Then he leaned closer. Pressing a button to magnify the schematics. “System. Are there life forms on the ship?”

“Affirmative. Ten life forms.”

She froze. What if these aliens were dangerous? What if they were about to be captured or just blown out of space?

“Are they compatible with the Karal?” he asked.

“Scanning biological readings.” While the system scanned, one of the aliens moved, heading for the front of the ship.

“Abort scan,” Rikka said. He grasped the control stick and began a sharp manoeuvre, taking them away from the ship so fast, she was flung back into her seat.

“Are they going to attack?” she asked, her voice small.

“I do not know,” he said, “We will head for the wormhole as planned and put some distance between us.”

As they moved away, the ship’s voice came over the speakers. “Receiving message from unknown space craft.”

“Relay.”

“Help us. No power. Limited life support. Attacked by unknown alien vessel. Help us.” The computer’s unnatural voice made the message incredibly disturbing.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“Leave,” Rikka answered, the ship still powering away from the source of the distress signal.

“Can’t we help them?” she asked.

“No.”

“But they will die.”

“Or it is a trap.” His mouth was set firm, and she didn’t know how to argue with him. He might be right, but all her life she had been taught to help save life. It didn’t matter if it was human, plant, or animal. Life was precious, and the teachings of her mother wouldn’t leave her. Even though she had thought she had abandoned them years ago.

“Isn’t there some way to check?” she asked.

“No.”

“Can’t the system tell us?” she persevered.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said bluntly.

“It matters to me. It should matter to you. What if it was us stuck out here?”

“I would accept their behaviour. The Karal always understand that the preservation of the mission is what is most important.”

“You can’t be serious?” she said, shocked that their mission would ever be more important than life.

“Yes. I am. If we help them, we put ourselves in danger. There are ten of them on the ship. If we bring them aboard, they may attack us. If we don’t bring them aboard, we would have to tow their ship to safety. How are we supposed to get them through a wormhole without risking this ship?”

His arguments were good and sound, and yet she couldn’t allow herself to believe they were right. “Ask the ship?

“Ask the ship what?”

“Ask the ship if it had enough time to scan the other vessel? Let’s make our decision based on the facts we may have gathered.”

“No. We are not going back.”

“Please, Rikka. Let’s find out all we know about them. Then we decide it it’s worth the risk.”

“It makes no difference,” he said. “We go on.”

“System. Gaia 7496. Show results of scan.”

“Gaia. This is not helpful.”

“You overrode the system and gave me the ability to be your equal on board. I have not used that ability until now. I thought this was
our
mission, not yours.”

“So you would abandon our mission, the goal of which is to find a new home for your species?” he asked hotly.

“I simply want all the facts.” She had not thought of it in those terms. Was the choice really about whether they found a new home for humans, or saved some unknown aliens?

“The facts will only cloud your judgement,” he told her.

“Results on screen.” The computer screen flashed up the results, set out in tables and graphs which she couldn’t understand. “Will you help me?”

“No,” he said petulantly.

“Rikka, please.”

“No. We head for the wormhole and the destination set in our mission.”

She wanted to shout at him and make him turn around. But she didn’t know if it was the right or wrong thing to do anymore. “Please Rikka. For me, tell me if we could help them. This mission is for my people. If we abandon it, then shouldn’t it be my choice?”

“No. I have to think of Karal, of the danger we put them in if those aliens are not good. What if they wish to steal our technology and our planet?”

“What?” she asked.

“Think of what we do as a species. We go out and take what we want, whether it is technology or females to breed with. Do you think we are the only ones who do this? Do you think we are the worst out of all the possible species that roam the universe? If we help those aliens, we may be being lured into a trap.”

“But they are stranded. All I’m asking you to do is look at the data.”

He sighed. “I will give you a deal. I will look at the data. But in return you will promise to abide by what I say. You will also agree to the completion of our mission. If we return this way and the ship is still there, then maybe we can help them. But our mission comes first, and my decision is final.”

“I agree,” she said, although she didn’t like it. But really there was no choice; she couldn’t force him to help the others and if she took control of the ship, then it would destroy the relationship between Karal and Earth. And Gaia was not willing to risk that for aliens she did not know. “But I don’t like it.”

He looked across at the screen, taking his time to flick through the different graphs and tables. Then he spoke to the system computer. “Is life form oxygen-breathing?”

“Affirmative.”

“Was there anything in the chemical count to show any poisonous gas on board. Or any weapons?” he asked again, flicking through the data.

“Breakdown of air shows only pollutants consistent with diminished life support. No weapons.”

“Can you ascertain why the vessel was without power?”

“Loss of fuel.”

“So they are the same as us, but they have no fuel?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“And they will die if we don’t help them?” she asked once more.

“Possibly. They may have sent a distress call to their own people.” He looked over at her and she saw a streak of red cross his cheek. Was it possible he was fighting his conscience too?

“I am going to prepare us something to eat,” she said, getting up from her seat. As she moved away he grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards him.

“I know you don’t understand.”

“I think I do.” She pulled away from him, her head in turmoil.

Going to the small kitchen, she began to prepare some fruit. Mixing it with a kind of pulse, which resembled rice, she lost herself to the jumbled-up thoughts in her head. She hated what they were doing. Yet the more she thought about it, the more his words made sense. This realisation was disturbing to her. Had the time she spent on board the cruiser with him made her change who she was?

If anyone would have asked, her she would have said with one hundred percent certainty that she would have made him turn around and go and help those people. Yet to do so was to risk their own lives and the future of the human race.

Sitting down with a thump, she placed her hand on her stomach, feeling a wave of nausea wash over her. Was the child inside her somehow changing who she was? When he was born, would he be hard and unloving like his father? Would he break her heart in the same way she felt Rikka was breaking her heart right now?

Or could she teach both the Karalians what it was to love and be loved in return?

She wasn’t speaking to him. Or at least she wasn’t making any conversation above that she needed to. They talked about food, their destination, and whether the ship was running correctly. He had lost the part of her that he had grown used to, the part he cherished.

“The next wormhole will be opening in two hours,” he said, sitting down and going through the system checks again. This was the last wormhole. When they exited it on the other side, they would be within a day of the planet they had come to survey. He only hoped it was worth it.

“OK. Do you want to eat now?” she asked.

He looked up at her. She stood in the doorway, framed by the light from the control deck, and to him she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Or the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, more beautiful than the stars themselves.

“I think so. Just in case…” He turned back to the console, glancing down to see blue streaks running over his hands, following the path of his veins as if the blood were flowing over his skin instead of under it.

“In case of what?” she asked.

“I have been looking at the star maps. Using the computer, I have plotted the many possible paths that vessel may have taken to get to where it was.” He should be keeping this to himself, but she had to be aware that they might be in danger.

“And?” she asked. He could tell by the tone of her voice she knew what his next words would be.

“They may have drifted from this wormhole. Although it only opens periodically. We need the beacons to open it. They may have the same technology.” He sighed. Was he running around in the dark looking for possible answers that weren’t there? The ship could have drifted from anywhere. Rikka hated not knowing.

“You mean whatever happened to them, we may be heading straight for it?”

“Exactly.” He flicked over the data on the screen. The computer’s systems were in a perpetual state of high-resolution scanning. If there was anything in front of them, or to the sides they would be able to pick it up and avoid it. This was fine in open space. But if they entered the wormhole and something was indeed waiting for them on the other side, they would not have time to manoeuvre themselves out of it. Unless they were extremely lucky.

“We should have stopped,” she said, coming and sitting down by his side. “If for no other reason than to find out what they know. We should have stopped.”

“Maybe,” he conceded. “But then we would have had to abort the mission.” He placed his hand on hers, wanting to break the tension between them. “I did what I thought best. What I have been trained to do.”