Sneak Peek: Her Alien Captor

Commander Tensel

I'd kept my ship at the Trillume Port for longer than was proper, but the results of the study were paramount to the tribe's prosperity. When Princess Klemon contacted about the virus, Ganpan Fal, and her studies about a cure found within humans for our fertility crisis, this new information was pivotal. The potential DNA marker in humans suggested ancient warriors hid among Earthlings and could mark the turning point for our species' future. I was even willing to mate with one of the humans within the study to give evidence of the claims being true.

Though humans were a fairly defenseless species, they were resourceful, and I found that vulnerability strangely intriguing.

The human I courted through the mating program was capable of a blood bond and showed more promise than I anticipated, how could I deny it?

She found her way to her chosen mate through obstacles that would be tough for even a trained tracker to follow. Were humans capable of a true fated bond? Was such a myth even possible?

I acquiesced to the possibility of a blood bond with humans, and the proven trace markers of necia DNA that made it possible, but I was skeptical of a goddess given mate even for pure-blooded necia warriors.

We were either compatible or not. Chosen or not.

My mind struggled with this yet-to-be explained or confirmed phenomenon.

There was no such thing as finding a mythical Pulsunne, a warrior's heart song. I scoffed at such a notion as our hearts beating to a strange musical enchantment. It was simply a story our elders spoke about to give the gullible something to hope for.

Not being chosen by the human stung my pride. I believed our time together would have been pleasant enough. The sound of her voice was tolerable, despite the lack of a deep quiver in her throat from being human. There were plenty of compatible mates if I had a mind to be looking for one. Which, I was decidedly not, unless it was to help prove to fellow warriors that there could be a successful union with humans without relying on something as mystical as the fates or a goddess's blessing. There was plenty of time for such matters after more conclusive data could be gathered on humans with this trace necia DNA. Renee was but a single human that passed my challenge and now was part of my tribe, regardless of our unsuccessful mating status. It was hardly enough evidence to support much more than compatibility with the human species, but it was something. And I had no desire to harm General Sou-el when he was exhibiting signs of rut. I had expected it, even goaded him to duel me. It was part of my plan to force him into challenging the human to prove the blood bond was possible.

Blood bonds were a choice, I reminded myself. You find someone compatible, then you accept or reject it. More tests were necessary. There was no way to conclude that Renee wouldn't have been just as compatible with me for a blood bond if we had shared blood first. An uncontrolled data set was what I had as evidence, and I could hardly make conclusions from that. Frustrated, I accepted the incoming transmission to my visual implant.

The Princess of Trillume materialized before me, wearing the traditional royal robes of the trill, she was finally taking on some of her responsibilities to her planet it seemed. Her green skin was lighter than her mothers and her eyes didn't hold the same cold detachment I'd seen in intergalactic news vids from the former queen. It was a refreshing change of pace.

"Commander Tensel," she addressed, "Small is her sight when focused on but one instead of many, but from one to all do I strive to serve." The trill were rather verbose in their pleasantries, but I could understand wishing to speak more in an effort to build loyalty and connections among their species, so I obliged in kind.

"Princess Klemon," I addressed with a bow of my head and my pinky finger pressed to my temple, as her own implant would show my form before her. I wished her respect with the reply, "In many we rise," but I hadn't missed how she changed the traditional saying of her species. To recognize this, I added my own thought to show my support of change within the trill's customs, "it only takes one rock to stir the ocean."

Her hologram image within my viewing implant smiled, but she kept her lips closed as their teeth were designed for shredding meat, and they were a polite sort of species to avoid appearing threatening. They liked to hide their predatory nature behind flowing robes and disarming, toothless smiles. I was told by my new king that she was to be trusted, but I was of the solid opinion to trust… but verify.

In my own tribe, it was deemed disrespectful to hide your strength from another strong warrior, it was a sign that you didn't believe they could hold their own against you. It was why we kept our epul on display with the only exception of lowering them briefly to those of a higher honor. We have already displayed our greetings, and to continue to hide one's strength would make any of my warriors on edge, like they should be on alert for deceitfulness. It took much control to remind myself that the trill did not share this sentiment.

"Did you give the antidote to the human?" Princess Klemon got straight to the point. I could respect her directness, even if I didn't like the way her species hid things.

"I have selected a human," I replied with no remorse for my small rebellion against following her order exactly as it was given. She was not my future queen, she was a future queen of Trillume, and my planet now had our own rights returned to us. I was not her commander, but a leader among my species.

"I assume you will be keeping which subject was injected a secret until you can verify results personally," she said without any indication of being upset about my decision to comply, but in my own way. She appeared to have expected this turn events or didn't much care which human was injected to verify her theory that this new serum of nanobots was a cure for the Ganpan Fal. I couldn't risk such a thing without having the specimen examined.

According to Medic Valmeh, the serum was nothing more than a blood sample. The only unusual thing about it was that it was both necia and human, which by deductive reasoning would mean that Princess Klemon wished for me to inject another human with blood from a human mated to a necia, or a possible rare necia-human hybrid specimen.

What was so special about this blood? I couldn't risk running more tests, there wasn't enough sample to do so and then still have enough to inject another human for any changes to their own DNA. All I had confirmation for so far was that this human had the same marker present as the other subjects.

I finally answered Princess Klemon, "I'll be in touch with the results."

Ending our transmission, I pulled up the file from Becky Grant of Earth. She was who Princess Klemon wished to inject the antidote to, young and at the peak of human breeding, but her mother had two spawnlings without an antidote. Princess Klemon may have developed the Ganpan Fal to begin with, but she was not thinking clearly. This subject would not give us the desired confirmation of an antidotes' effectiveness. It was possible she would breed fine regardless of any outside efforts.

Jayden of Earth, the one human who signed up for the research program and missed her shuttle. All the contracts were secured, and under normal circumstances she was one human among many. Her absence would regularly be discarded, but her medical evaluation shows she had similar markers in her blood and had shown many miscarriages with her own kind. When I returned to Earth to drop off the finished contracts, I would find her, and she would fulfill her contract even if I had to capture her to do so.