Sarazen's Claim, Book One (3 page)

Ga'rae's voice was grave, and for a second she didn't know what he was talking about. But opening her eyes she saw a green holographic rendition of her body, her internal organs, bones and endocrine system floating above her. And in her lower belly it showed a red area, lit up in stark relief, "Mutilation?" She managed to murmur, feeling that thick and floaty sensation of having been very well drugged. "Your womb, reproductive organs, have all been removed."

"Oh that, I didn't score high enough to have babies. Population control,"

"What?"

She frowned at the outrage pouring off of the giant, green tattooed doctor, and it might have been the pain meds, but the Commander looked like he was vibrating with rage, and she didn't understand why. "Our resources aboard the
Aria
were finite," She tilted her head back to see the young man, one of her crew, hovering just out of reach and staring in fascination at the hologram above her. "Our elders elected to enforce population control long before I was born, and gave tests, genetic and intelligence tests, to ensure that any offspring had were the best and brightest. To be granted breeding rights, the women had to either score well on both, or exceptional on one. If not, they were sterilized." She nodded and slurred, "What he said," The Commander barked into some kind of communicator on his wrist, and soon a warrior appeared in the medical room, "Take the young one to the others. If any of you bond with the females, report to medical before you share blood. They may have been mutilated, sterilized."

Her crewmate didn't understand what the Commander said, but the alien warrior did and was apparently horrified. He nodded, and waved at the man she'd rescued, but he hesitated and looked back at her for conformation, or perhaps permission. "S'alright. I'm good now. Go." He nodded sharply and left, just as the glass partition slid down and she was once again alone with the two giant Viking aliens. "What's going on? Why do my people have to come here before getting a blood transfusion?" Again, despite the dark clouds of anger on his face, the Commander stroked his hand down her hair gently, "My blood is healing you, little one. Any damage, wounds, injuries, will be repaired. If you had had a finger torn off, it would now be regenerating, but the pain you feel now is my blood completely renewing, regrowing, your womb."

She just stared at him, not comprehending for the longest time, but a twinge in her belly brought it home just as she was passing out. "I can have babies?" That gentleness in his touch, bled through to his eyes. Man, big, giant, scary bad ass warrior had the softest, kindest golden eyes she’d ever seen. "Many, as soon as you are healed." He murmured softly, and she felt herself smile a big goofy smile. "Wow."

“Rest. Rest now.”

Four

She was warm when she woke up, and the normal hum of the engine was silent. Her bed was softer than she remembered it being, and when she stretched her head didn't hit the top of her rack. "Are you feeling any pain, this rising?" She jolted at the deep voice that floated out of the darkness, clutching the sheets to her chest while lights slowly came on, allowing her eyes to adjust to the gloom. The events of the day before, the attack, it all rushed back to her and she sat up, pushing her hair out of her face to look at the massive man seated not far from her.

He was leaning forward, his elbows braced on his knees, hands clasped between while he focused intently on her. "No, no pain." A dull ache in her belly was all that remained to remind her that she'd been hurt, and her mouth tasted funny, but other than that she was fine. "My men recovered fifteen more females and ten males from your ship. The rest are gone. The ones recovered suffered minor injuries and are resting in the guest quarters. I believe one of them to be of higher rank in your military system, or at least he claims to be a senior officer, so your responsibility is negated."

The enormity of the
Aria's
loss hit her square in the chest. She knew perhaps a handful of the eight thousand aboard, but they were all that remained of a race of billions. "Thirty three? That's all?" She rasped, slumping back on the plush pillows, the white dome of the ceiling blurring as her eyes filled. "Yes. The Na'ah are known for careless slaughter, that any of you survived is impressive." She had to bite into her cheek to keep her bottom lip from trembling. Had to bite harder to use the pain as a distraction from the tears pooling in her eyes. "Thank you for telling me. We never encountered anything like that before. Our ships are equipped with armaments and weapons, but for the most part we were just...looking for a new home. I don't even know if the other five ships are still intact, as far as I know we haven't had any contact with them in a year."

He made a soft growling sound, not a sound a human throat could have ever made, a deep, bass, rumbly growl. Oddly, she found herself soothed by it, wanting to turn and move closer to feel that growl rumble against her bare skin. What the hell was in those drugs they’d given her? "It could be they are beyond the reach of your communications array. They are primitive in comparison to ours, and it was mere chance that we were within range to detect the Na'ah vessel. We had already changed course to intercept and destroy when the presence of your people was noted." She nodded, pushing her hair out of her face, trying to think what her next rational question should be. Though, if there was a senior officer from the
Aria
alive, she didn’t have to be rational. She almost started crying right then for that reason alone. "What happens now?"

Tarek leaned back in the chair and looked at her for a long moment, his golden eyes rolling over every inch of her exposed skin, making her consider pulling the blankets up higher. Just in case, but he didn’t move a muscle. "If it is a home your kind are seeking, you will be welcome on our world. The atmosphere of Saraz is comparable to what your kind require, and few of my warriors have found potential mates in the females you arrived with."

"Potential what’s?"

"Mates."

"I understand the word, what it means in my language, could you clarify what it means in yours?"

"Spouse, life partner, mother of our cubs?"

"Is that...I mean um, is that even possible?"

"Yes," He said, his eyes warming now with amusement,

"But you're aliens, or we are, not of the same species."

"You study plants, and animals, is it not possible for creatures of similar genus to mate and produce viable offspring?"

"To the best of my knowledge, but an alien feline and a feline from earth may not have the same genetic ability to procreate successfully. Or the physical anatomy to successfully couple."

"What is a feline?"

"A warm blooded creature, small, furred, a predatory mammal."

"I see. Our kind are physically compatible, evident by the fact that you did not reject the infusion of blood I gave you and the scans of your anatomy suggest we could couple very successfully."

"I remember you saying something about bonding, and blood exchanges, and...sterilization."

"If you are in no more discomfort, then likely your womb has been successfully repaired and functional. After you have cleansed and broken your fast, we will return to the medical bay and Ga'rae will examine you to confirm it."

"F-functional?"

"Yes."

"As in, completely functional?"

"Completely. We will make fine offspring,"

"WE?"

"Yes. We have begun to bond, you and I. We will discuss it further once Ga'rae has examined you. Several of the females you arrived with are demanding to see you and assure themselves of your safety."

Five

She ate a strange paste that tasted and felt like oatmeal in her mouth, but it was apparently made of a synthetic protein intended to provide any and all nutrients her body required. It was good, strange, but good, and she felt satisfied, energized. She cleansed herself again in the very cool enzyme shower that she didn’t even have to take her clothes off, a two in one that cleaned her entire body, and the dress she wore of any biological toxins, sweat, dead skin cells, odors that lingered on her skin, oils. It was remarkable, and something that would have been wonderful to have aboard the
Aria
.

Tarek waited patiently for her, having donned a tunic top today over his brown, leather like trousers and still wore the metal torque around his throat. His mohawk of hair was unplaited this morning, but slicked back from his face so that the long tawny strands stayed out of his eyes. He was stunning, “That word, it means I am pleasing to your eyes?” She turned scarlet, realizing that she’d said that last bit out loud. “I meant that I um, I’ve never seen another being like you. Any of your warriors, really. But you’re…different.” He flashed both dimples at her when he smiled, and it was like a physical caress the way her body reacted. Tightened, throbbed with want, moistened with readiness.

He came to her then, a slow rolling prowl before he slowly reached up and cupped her chin in his massive hand and turned her face up towards the light that seemed to shine from everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. “And I have never seen another like you. Your eyes are beautiful,” Her face burned with how hot it was, and his thumb traced the edge of her cheek like he was testing the heat of her blushes. “They’re just green. Ga’rae’s eyes are green,” He shook his head with a soft sound that was almost a purr, tilting his head this way, then that. “Not ‘just’ green. They are flawless, not a hint of any other color but bright, clear green. Like the oceans on my world. Your body is delicate, soft, but your spirit is fierce. Strong.”

“You only met me a day ago, you don’t know what my spirit is like,” She whispered, shocked by his sincerity and the lack of any artifice or cajoling in his tone. “You saw the Na’ah,”

She had, and she would never forget the half serpent, half humanoid like beasts that existed only in ancient myths and nightmares. Slimy, oozing a sulfuric like scent, pale and nearly colorless flesh, with putrid yellow eyes and emaciated torsos. They were disgusting, horrifying, and she would never forget the sight of them. “You survived a horror few who are unprepared are capable of doing. And you brought seven others with you. You did not fall to the fear or the hysteria, you remained strong because the others were looking to you to be calm, you stood when your body was weak. You survived, because your spirit is strong. Especially for a female who studies such fragile things as flowers.”

“Not just flowers, thank you. Any plant life, there is to be studied.”

“You will tell me about such studies, later. Ga’rae is waiting.”

He took her back down to the medical bay and now that the initial shock had worn off, she discovered that the medic wasn’t any smaller. She noticed things about him now that she hadn’t before, like the silver in his black hair, and the scars on the backs of his hands that looked like burns. He smiled at her and inclined his head deeply, welcoming her back and asked for her to get up on his big medical table. She had picked up the long, soft skirt of the white dress she wore, and yelped in surprise when Tarek lifted her up in his arms like a child and carefully set her down atop the squishy surface of the table. “You said you felt no further discomfort,” He accused with a growl, and she just sat there for a second, mute by how strange it was to be picked up. No one had done that since she was a toddler. “I don’t, you surprised me. I don’t know anyone who could have picked me up like that, like I don’t weigh anything at all.”

He frowned at her, then at his medic, clearly confused. “I took note that most of the males brought aboard from your ship are slight of stature, like your female kind.” Ga’rae grunted, like he found the size of human men clearly lacking, “I could traverse the entire ship three times over with you in my arms and not tire. Perhaps more than that.” Tarek told her seriously, and her eyebrows slid up, her turn to be surprised. “How strong are you?” The heated amusement returned to his eyes and he actually winked at her a bit. “I will be pleased to demonstrate my strength at a later time. You will sleep well, knowing that your male is capable of defending you from any foe.”

“My, male?”

“Me. Yours.”

“We’re not going there right now,”

“I do not understand. You are going nowhere until Ga’rae has assured me of your health.”

“No, that’s not…I meant I’m not ready to discuss males, mine or otherwise, at this time. I’ve had enough shocks for the next few lifetimes.”

“Your female is humorous, Commander.”

“I do not believe that was her intent.”

They talked over her for a moment so she lie back, exasperated, unwilling to discuss mating, or anatomic and genetic compatibility. Or anything that made her think of sex and Tarek’s big, beautiful body naked above her. She was acutely aware of the fact that she wasn’t wearing a stich of underwear on beneath the thin, yet somehow warm material of her white gown. And she glanced down to make sure her nipples weren’t showing through the soft fabric, catching Tarek’s gaze when he stopped talking mid word, his nostrils flaring like he could smell her and where her train of thoughts had turned.