Page 73 of Bred by the Alien Prince

He pulled out a blaster and fired on each of the soldiers.

I couldn't take it. Holding my mouth to keep from vomiting right then and there, I ran for one of the enclosures to catch my breath.

A shiver ran up my skin, and I knew someone; no, two people were heading this way. It was Derek and Fran who found me inside the hydroponics greenhouse. It seemed like the place was untouched by the fighting, which was good. I could smell the strong scent of rosemary and lavender. The colorful peppers were ripened, and for the first time, I felt like I was at home back in my father's garden.

"What the hell are you hiding for?" Fran scoffed the moment she entered the room. "You brought them here! You—"

"Fran, there's nothing we can do about that now," Derek said, trying to calm her.

"He hit me and shut down our AI Core, unshackling thousands of AI!" She rounded on him, and I could see the small spot of blood on the bandage on her head.

Don't get me wrong here. I wasn't expecting to walk away from this unscathed. The consequences were obvious when I hit her, but I didn't care. "I needed to save Lorvian."

"Yeah, you needed to save a monster who just finished executing people in cold blood." Fran wiped her tears away and took a deep breath.

"The AI still seems to follow orders, and they are working. I say we worry about these aliens first." Derek rubbed her shoulder.

I was glad I could hold myself together, but this confrontation wasn't over yet. But there was no use in crying about it. I knew I would be back in Lorvian's arms soon, and I knew he would kill anyone who would ever hurt me or his child.

"You're right as always." Fran composed herself. "Earth needs to know what is going on so it isn't blindsided."

"If they don't know already." I scoffed.

"What do you mean by that?" Derek asked, concerned.

"Connor, the droid on my ship, was a part of the Alpha Team, the first to come here to build the colony. They were attacked, and they sent two back to Earth at FTL speed to report on what happened. This was four years ago. I think whoever is in charge of this Outer Worlds bullshit knew about these aliens but sent us here, anyway."

"Why?!" Derek exclaimed. "C'mon, Caspian? What sense would that even make?"

"Even if the droids failed to reach Earth, they would have reported it all through the AI core that Outer Worlds has access to."

"Fuck! Why didn't I think of it?" Derek muttered. "They designed the AI to send periodic reports back to Earth. The AI core is separate from the comms. So why didn't the AI send reports back to Earth when the first aliens arrived here and took us hostage or even when we crashed-landed in our pods after the attack on the Ignis?"

"Then it's probably a good thing I destroyed the AI core," I said, hoping to find some good out of this, and I wanted to soften the blow of my crime.

"What does his man want from these so-called talks?" Fran said, rolling her eyes, most likely at my statement. "It doesn't seem as though he is willing to play nice."

"The Valisian are dying out," I explained, ignoring her gesture. "Most of them are barren. They've relied on the Travol to give birth to their children. That's why the Travol are fighting them." I breathed deeply. "But it seems to be wonky at best. He wants nothing more than to have a child with me, and they want to know what it means for them if we could."

"Ugh. They want us as some sort of baby farm?" Fran continued.

"That could be why they attacked but also why their attack wasn't as harsh as it could have been. Xil, Lorvian's brother, claimed he had a deal with humans to collect more of us. Maybe he spoke to the head of Outer Worlds or our government or something."

"That's why we're here?" Derek said in disbelief.

Fran chuckled, but it didn't appear as if something amused her. "Look, I don't mean any offense, actually I fucking do." She sneered and stepped closer, but she wasn't in my face, and I was afraid of what I would do to her if she got in my face. "I know my man knows you, and for some reason, he seems to like ya, but everything I heard about you tells me you're bad news. I just know it."

I'm bad news? What the hell was she talking about? "But I'm here to help!"

"I don't fucking care." Fran spat. "We've been running this colony since our boots hit the ground, and we were just starting to feel like we were gaining some traction after the tragedy of the Ignis attack, and now we may have fallen into some sick fuck's trap! And I just don't have time to entertain your weird-looking ass right now!" Her voice raised, and I felt myself balling my hands into fists. "We talked about this before you proved a danger by unshackling our AI and hitting me if that brings you any solace. But we agreed that you should leave when these aliens hopefully leave. We want you to stay out of our way, stop trying to help us, just go the fuck away."

Derek gently pulled Fran back. "This is just as much for your own good as it is for ours. It's just too much right now. Some colonists are planning on contacting their families on Earth, and we can't stop them from doing that. They've already taken pictures and recordings of you. You know what would happen to you."

"They're gonna throw me in a lab," I sighed. "What do you hope will happen during the talks?"

"It isn't a good idea to tell you," Fran said, ending the conversation.

I walked past them back outside only to come face-to-face with Swarti, Lorvian's second in command... or perhaps he was no longer that? I had no damn idea. Gods, this day was pure shit, and all I wanted to do was get back on the ship.

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