Page 42 of Bred by the Alien Prince

“I lost track of him in the crowd when I picked this up.” He slipped the jewel from his gray cloak, and I snatched it from his hands. The chain wasn’t broken. It was removed. “Before I knew it, I was getting carted off somewhere. Only these guys, other aliens like you, gave me clothes and these implants, and that’s when Elvira told me to give this tablet to you.” He sighed. “I get it,” he continued. “This place is all kinds of shady. You’re smart not to trust anyone here.” He realized what he had just said, and he ceased looking around and focused his wide-eyed gaze on me. “I have no reason to lie, of course!”

“This is probably a trap,” I said on edge. Running wildly through the city, slicing everything in sight, would only get me put down like a rabid animal. Once again, I was forced to play this game, play the cornered animal until the predator realizes they are the prey. There was also a detail in this human’s story I found interesting. He spoke of Elvira being with other Valisians. Was this Feion that powerful? Something wasn’t right. “You’re coming with me.”

“Huh? Why?” The man protested. “I barely escaped with my life! Now, I can talk to these aliens and understand them. I have a chance to make it. I feel sorry for Caspian, but I did my part in trying to save him twice already.”

A devious thought had entered my mind. “You said it yourself, did you not?” I showed off my fangs. “I shouldn’t trust anyone; therefore, I need some insurance, so you will come with me whether you want to or not.”

“This is not fair.” He groaned, resigned to his fate.

“You will find yourself doing many things you don’t want to do unless you want to spend time in the prison onboard my ship. I’m sure my scientists would love to know more about human anatomy.”

“I’m coming!” He perked up and plastered a false smile on his face.

Now, that was better.

The human followed behind me like a baby following its mother. I didn’t want to waste more time with my rescue attempt, and I wondered how much of my efforts would be in vain. His life snuffed out before I had even arrived.

The shuttle that would take me to my ship, parked at the refueling station that orbited the planet, was ready to go. Still, I wanted no one from my ship to come with me. I didn’t want to deal with the headache of deciding who was trustworthy and who wasn’t. I suppose you could say I was avoiding the matter altogether. Perhaps it was because I feared being surrounded by others who didn’t think I was worth following.

I ordered a new ship, one large enough to provide a private cabin and some comforts and small enough to land and take off from a planet’s surface.

The dealer said he only had one available for me and to my luck it was a Valisian ship.

It felt like a new beginning the moment I stepped on board; the bridge was small enough for the pilot and copilot chair, while the main room was large, with a navigation system seated in the center and a single podium to overlook the system. A small security room, conference area, kitchen, dining space, and crew quarters for a small crew comprised the rest of the rooms onboard. A med bay and weapons systems with a turret room took care of the guns onboard. Engineering was below deck with the FTL drives. The ship was a sight to behold, and not every day someone would put a ship like this up for sale.

Like a compulsive buyer, I purchased it sight unseen after hearing it was Valisian-made. Though the design was similar, there was something quite off about it. Most Valisian ships of this size had a throne for the captain; this one focused on the nav system. There were also signs of stealth tech, and none of our ships used stealth; we considered it the coward's way. Perhaps the ship was modified. I saw signs of several markings that were hard to see, such as paint scratching or covering them—so much for buying it new.

“For somebody on a rescue mission, you sure are taking your time inspecting this ship.” The human male sighed.

I chuckled. “It wouldn’t be much of a rescue attempt if this ship came apart the moment we left the atmosphere.”

“Good point.”

“Can you fly?” I asked, trying to figure out what role to give him; the vessel was small enough to fit inside my capital ship but was still sizable.

“I can get the hang of it, though I’m no professional. I got to this planet without even understanding the computer of a shuttle; now that I can, it would be even better.”

“I’ll fly. You focus on Nav,” None of what he said gave me much confidence.

It wasn’t long until we had our clearance and were taking off into deep space.

For the most part, the ship would be on autopilot until we were there.

“What’s your planet like?”

“Fishing for information?” The human replied over the comms. “You will have to pay me.”

“Pay you? You would tell me everything for credits?”

“I’m not the least bit brave. Torture wouldn’t work on me; I will just tell you whatever you want.”

“Are all the human males like this?” I thought of Xil and the news of his deal with humans willing to trade their people.

“No, most wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did. Some meatheads would have acted tough and gotten themselves killed. I understand my limitations. I also have ambitions.”

I laughed. “And you hope to achieve them here?”

“Yeah. Suppose I had a good ship. The company responsible for bringing us here had some serious restrictions on alcohol, candy, chocolates, and so on. Maybe they thought of creating a new religion, or they were health nuts, I don’t know, but I planned to get my own ship and transport these restricted goods and more, make myself a shit ton of credits. Be a smuggler like Han Solo.”

---