Trian's Spark Page 2

  The image of a rather disheveled Lesh’s face appeared on the bridge’s chrono screen. His normally dark blue skin was pale, and his red eyes burned with anger.

  “What is the meaning of this?” the Lesh shouted.

  Trian blanked his face of all emotion. “This planet is currently under our protection,” he replied, making a decision. “Knowing what you do for a living, we will no longer permit you to take females off this planet. As soon as you accept our claim we will allow you to go free. Lower your shields for my men to search your ship for any current planet occupants.”

  “Protection? This planet has nothing to do with you, Gracian. You have no power here,” the Lesh spat back.

  Trian knew he was right, but there was no such thing as law enforcement in space. The only thing that would stop Trian and his crew from protecting the females on the blue and green planet below was if the Lesh brothers, or anyone else who came after today, had better firepower than the Gemorph.

  “I will warn you now, Lesh,” Trian answered, copying the male and saying his species rather than his name, not that he was sure which brother he was speaking to. “If you do not succumb to our demands, I’d get ready to enjoy the next life.” With that Trian pressed a button on his armchair and halted the communication.

  “You really want to do this?” Iryano asked. Trian turned his head to look at his first officer and best friend. “You really want to spend the next however long protecting that planet?”

  “What if the females on this planet are our eternal mates?” Trian shook his head, sighing. “It isn’t just about mates to me anymore. Those females belong to someone, and even if they don’t, they don’t deserve the life of a slave. What if these were our females on our planet? The ones we left behind while looking for mates. Haven’t you had enough of sitting back and doing nothing? Haven’t we passed enough planets and their struggles and done nothing?” Trian could hear the passion in his own voice he felt right then.

  Iryano turned his attention to the view screen before looking around the bridge at his comrades and then Trian. “I’m with you.” Iryano nodded.

  “Sir, they’re sending a communication request.”

  Trian nodded toward Basup. One of the brother’s faces again appeared on the view screen.

  “You win, Gracian. I don’t suppose you will take our word when we say we have no females on board?”

  Trian refrained from rolling his eyes. “You are correct in that assumption.”

  The brother swore. “Fine, bring your damn men over. We will lower our shields. But know this, Gracian, this planet brings in a pretty dragnoid. The females on it are curvaceous and are sought after. You leave this planet unprotected again and we will be back.”

  Trian didn’t need to be told, he could already guess. Gritting his teeth, Trian held his tongue. He didn’t want to say something that might antagonize the situation even more.

  “Shields down, sir,” Basup announced.

  Trian pressed the button to end the communication. “Iryano, take a ten-man team over, and watch your back. Fic, keep a weapons lock.”

  “Shame we can’t zap over there,” Iryano grumbled, standing from his seat.

  Trian hid his amusement at his friend’s disgruntled moan. Iryano hated traveling in their pods. It was easier for them when a Gracian ship met another, and the layout of the ship was known. They couldn’t just zap anywhere, Gracians had to visualize where they were going. They could zap themselves to and from depending on their energy and distance. But if the layout of the ship was unknown or if it wasn’t close enough for them to zap within their bodily energies, then they had to depend on the slower means of travel—the ship’s pods.

  “Next time maybe. How’s your energy? Zap back?” Trian asked with a smirk.

  Iryano zapped off the bridge but not before shoving his middle finger up at his friend, quietly mumbling to himself.

  Trian turned his attention back to the planet. If the women in this solar system were that sought after, he was sure the brothers would be back. He vowed for as long as he was captain, he would protect the females on the planet below.

  “Basup, set up a planet-wide perimeter scan. I want to know if any other distortions or ships turn up. Make sure the Cof leaves this space.”

  “Captain, Orb One is free from the hanger,” Basup announced.

  Trian nodded toward his youngest officer, remembering the male’s first day on the bridge. Basup had been a nervous wreck. He’d received his first look at a battle that day too. By the time he had finished his shift, Basup had zapped off the bridge as pale as an ashen moon but with a stupid grin on his face. Here he was yarn cycles later, a confident male, with only a few mistakes and a whole lot more battles behind him.

  The image of a small, fifteen-man pod appeared on the large chrono screen as it flew toward the Cof. Again, Trian thought of his friend. He was probably sitting in the first chair, grumbling, with his fists clenched, cursing Trian. Trian watched along with his bridge officers until Orb One disappeared into the Cof’s docking area.

  “Orb One has docked,” Basup announced.

  Trian acknowledged he’d heard. “I’ll be in my office. Inform me of any progress.”

  Basup nodded.

  Trian visualized his office and zapped to it.

  Chapter 2

  Amelia Heart sang along to the song currently streaming through her headphones, not caring if anyone was close enough to hear her sing out of tune. She was taking a much needed two-week holiday from the hospital where she worked as a midwife.

  For the last year, she’d been grabbing all the shifts she could, trying to catch up on some bills her ex had left her with. She hated owing money to anyone. But the bastard had run up bills in her name before running off with a neighbor’s daughter. She’d paid the final installment on the last credit card a month ago and then had saved enough to go on a well-earned holiday in the highlands of Scotland. She didn’t enjoy the hot, humid weather that some of the countries abroad had. Nope, she was born and bred in Britain and loved its cool, damp weather.

  Amelia stopped walking and raised her face to the sun. Inhaling deeply, she collected all the scents around her. Damp grass and flowers wrapped up with the tang of fresh water coming from the loch below the path she was walking. She turned her music off to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet and the birds singing in the trees.

  A snapped branch to her right had her turning around to look. She thought she was alone there. In the hour she’d been hiking she hadn’t spotted anyone else. She assumed the noise was caused by a rabbit or some other animal. She wasn’t worried about predators. The biggest one around there would be a fox.

  Turning her head to the right, she waited to see what had made the sound. She smiled when a tiny, gray-haired rabbit hopped out from under a bush. It spotted her, and with an ear and whisker twitch, it vanished back into the bush. What a cutie, Amelia thought.

  “Perfect place to stop and eat I think,” she mused.

  Tugging her rucksack off her shoulders, she sat on the ground with her legs hanging over the small, rocky lip overlooking the loch. It was a fantastic sight. The view made working nonstop for a year worthwhile. Digging in her rucksack, she was about to pull her bottle of water and sandwiches out when something bit her neck, making her wince.

  “Shit!” she cursed, slapping a hand where it hurt. She was surprised to feel something that was about finger-length sticking out of her skin. Feeling dizzy, she pulled the offending item out and looked at it. With the world feeling like it was melting around her, Amelia gazed at the item in her hand. It looked like an arrow of sorts.

  She cursed mentally before her world went dark.

  * * * *

  “Hey,” a soft, female voice whispered. “Hey you.”

  Amelia tried to think where she was. Was someone whispering to her? Who had shoved a bowling ball in her head? It was now clanging around, hitting the inside of her skull. Where was she? She tried to drum up the images of wh
ere she was, but the whispering voice was adamant in trying to talk to her.

  “Hey, you awake over there?”

  Was she awake? Amelia wondered groggily. Yes, I suppose I am of sorts and feeling like I’ve been on an all-night drinking spree. Something wasn’t right here. She hadn’t been drinking since she’d been in university. In fact, she hadn’t drunk a drop of alcohol since…

  Amelia opened her eyes and immediately shut them again. The blue light she’d briefly seen was like someone piercing her eyes with needles. Her stomach roiled and rocked.

  “Crap,” she whispered to herself. “What the hell?”

  “You’re awake. I knew you were. I saw you move a couple of times. The others aren’t yet. I keep trying to rouse them.” The annoying voice kept going.

  “Take a breath, will you? Let me think,” Amelia snapped. It was then she realized she was lying on a cold, hard floor.

  Things came back to her. She’d been hiking in Scotland, and she’d stopped, about to eat, when something bit her. No, not something. Amelia opened her eyes slowly. Gradually, the pain the blue light caused stopped making her head hurt so much. However, that didn’t stop her stomach from revolting. She sat up, taking several deep breaths. Her skin was clammy, but finally she managed to push down the urge to vomit.

  Squinting, Amelia looked around and took in her surroundings. She was sitting in what she assumed to be the size of a prison cell, a six-by-eight rectangle. The small area was surrounded by bright blue, see-through walls at the sides. She counted about twenty-odd cells, some of which held other women lying on the floor. Besides some machines that lined the walls, the rest of the area was bare and gray.

  She glanced over herself. She was dressed in her hiking clothes, but her coat was missing. At least she wasn’t naked. That was a good thing, right? Her rucksack and music were also missing. She flexed her muscles around her body. They ached, but other than that, they didn’t hurt. She moved to touch one of the lights when the whispered voice that woke her and wouldn’t shut up warned her not to do that.

  “Huh?” Amelia looked around to find who the voice belonged to. A young woman with striking red hair was sitting on the floor two cells over from her.

  “Hi, I’m Jane. I wouldn’t touch those blue wall things, they burn your fingers.” She held up her hand. Even from where Amelia sat, she could see the ends of the young girl’s fingers were a deep red.

  “They did that to your fingers?” Amelia asked.

  Jane nodded. “It hurts like a bitch.”

  “Do you know where we are?”

  Jane shook her head. “I was camping with some friends. Two of them are over there.” She pointed to a couple of females a few cells away from her. “And I woke up here. They haven’t woken up yet.”

  Amelia could see the worry the young girl had for her friends, and the sorrow of her situation.

  “I haven’t seen anyone else besides us women,” Jane said. “You were the only one stirring, so I kept whispering to you, hoping to wake you up. It felt so lonely to be the only one awake. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Amelia, and I was on holiday, hiking in Scotland, when I thought something bit me.” She ran a hand over her neck where the arrow thing had stabbed her skin, wincing when a finger ran over the small wound it had caused. “I pulled a weird arrow-dart thing out of my neck, then I woke up here.”

  “Scotland? We were in Devon.”

  Amelia couldn’t hide her shock. Her eyebrows raised and her mouth dropped open. They had been kidnapped so far apart? It took hours to travel between the distances. How long had she been asleep?

  “I don’t think we’re on Earth anymore,” Jane whispered even lower. “Those machines over there?” She pointed to long, gray-looking machines with several colored lights flashing on them. “From here, I can see a language on them that looks similar to Latin.” Jane rolled her eyes. “I know, who takes Latin anymore?” she asked as if she’d heard it many times before. “My mother, who is an archaeologist, wanted me to take it. I think she wanted me to follow in her footsteps.” She sighed and seemed to go off in her own head for a moment.

  Even through two blue walls, Amelia could see the young girl’s eyes tear up.

  “Well, anyway,” Jane continued. “From what I can see, the words on some of the buttons look like Latin. If I have this right, one of them says navis, which means cargo. Another says gravitas, which means gravity. Also, if you lay your hands or your ears flat on the floor, it feels and sounds like it’s humming.”

  Amelia placed both hands flat on the floor, and just as Jane had said, she could feel a slight thrum under her fingers. Laying down, she placed her ear to the floor to see if she could hear anything. Besides the low hum, she couldn’t hear anything else.

  “Perhaps we’re on some kind of aircraft,” Amelia said, raising her eyes to look at Jane. She’d never left her hometown in Liverpool until she went to Scotland. She hadn’t ever flown anywhere so had no idea what an aircraft felt like. But she didn’t think it would be this silent.

  “More like a spaceship. An aeroplane doesn’t ride this smoothly.”

  “A spaceship?” Amelia repeated. What planet is this girl on? Realizing what she’d just thought, she rolled her eyes. Planet? Really? Come on, Amelia, pull yourself together.

  A female moan broke through her thoughts. Raising her head from the floor, Amelia looked around to see where the sound had come from.

  “Over there.” Jane pointed to a cell that was two over from Amelia’s cell and four from Jane’s.

  Kneeling up, Amelia watched to see if the woman moved.

  “Hey,” Jane called out. “Hey you.”

  “Give her time,” Amelia snapped, glaring at Jane. She immediately felt guilty and lowered her head and blew out a breath. “Sorry, Jane, I didn’t mean to snap. But please, just give her some time.”

  Jane shrugged and gave Amelia a weary smile. “It’s okay. I understand.”

  Returning the smile, Amelia went back to watching the other female waking up. A whooshing sound filled the area. Amelia followed the sound to one of the walls where a door had opened. A light filled a sloped archway, revealing a huge figure standing in a doorway. Finally, they would get to find out where they were and what was going on.

  However, her glee quickly disappeared. With the bright, white light shining behind the person standing there, it made it look like the man or woman had four arms.

  “Oh God!” Jane screamed.

  Amelia’s attention shifted from the figure in the doorway to the young woman edging dangerously close to the blue screen walls. She could almost feel Jane’s fear.

  “Jane!” Amelia called. “Don’t move any more. You’re too near the wall.”

  Jane turned her head. Her eyes widened when she saw how close she’d slid near the wall, and she stopped moving. Taking her eyes off Jane, Amelia glanced back up at the doorway and caught her first proper look at an alien.

  The male did indeed have four arms. The top half of him was naked, leaving her to see all kinds of different-sized, glittering gems embedded over his pale blue skin. Around his waist was a thick, leather belt looped into a tight pair of black, leather trousers. He wore knee-length, black boots. His short, black hair was spiked, and his eyes glowed a faint red. All in all, this dude was one scary son of a bitch. Amelia swallowed nervously as her heart pounded in her chest. Fuck! Jane had been right, they were on a spaceship!

  Another male figure followed the first into the room. He too had gems over his skin but in different places. Both aliens were huge. If Amelia were to stand, the top of her head wouldn’t even reach their shoulders. The aliens seemed to be identical in looks apart from the gold and precious gems that adorned their bodies.

  She was about to stand and demand to know why they’d been taken and where they were going when the ship rocked to the side. A huge explosive sound came next, and again the ship shuddered and rocked.

  In a language Amelia didn’t understand, one of the mal
es shouted at the other, who then ran out of the room. With an angry look, the first male followed the second.

  “We really are on a spaceship,” Amelia let slip, her gaze shifting from the closed door to Jane.

  Jane stared at her with an expression that was a combination of terrified and I told you so’. A thundering crash sounded before yet again the ship rocked. Amelia was worried about the other women who were beginning to slide toward the blue walls, unable to stop themselves while they were unconscious. Another boom echoed around the room. Suddenly the blue, see-through walls around them all flickered. The walls flashed once more and went out when the ship rocked to the side again.

  Thinking fast, Amelia called on Jane. “Quick, grab as many women as you can and pull them over to the machines in case these walls go back up.”

  As rapidly as they could, both women frantically pulled the others to the machines at the edge of the room while the ship rocked to and fro a couple more times. Adrenalin coursed through Amelia’s bloodstream as she tugged two women at a time by their arms. Once they were safe by the machines, away from the lights, she went back for two more. Between her and Jane, not one woman was left in the cells. Suddenly, everything seemed to go quiet and the blue walls flickered back on. But this time instead of trapping all the women, the cells remained empty.

  “We need to wake them and figure out how to get out of here. We also need to find some weapons,” Amelia said, coaxing Jane to follow her as she tried to wake each of the women up.

  After what seemed to take forever, Jane and Amelia managed to wake half the women up. Then the whooshing noise of the door opening sounded. Amelia couldn’t help the gasp that left her as five large men quickly entered the room. From their stunned looks, they hadn’t been expecting the women they saw.

  The new huge men were nothing like the aliens before. If it wasn’t for their eyes, Amelia would have said they were human. Their eyes were similar to human eyes, but where the humans had irises these men had colored orbs that swirled like small tornados. They all wore the same tight, black trousers and vests that showed off tanned skin and bulging muscles, but each wore their hair differently. They all carried a glinting silver dagger in one hand and a sci-fi looking gun in the other. Gradually, as each of them looked around the room and their gazes landed on the women, surprised flittered over their faces.