Page 11 of Saved By the Servali

Nessa was wearing some sort of uniform when they bought her in. She was likely some sort of official, and she had heroically rescued those two other humans—no one could persuade him otherwise. Even sickly and asleep, she had the bearing of one of the noble estates. On her planet, she was probably betrothed to a rich and powerful man. Or maybe she had several men vying for her love.

A Felid cook on a long-haul freighter who has nothing to call his own aside from his quarters—and even those truly belong to someone else? As Dax would say... Not a hope in hell.

“THE MEN HAD HOT-BEAMlasers, and they pulled them on me. I barely got the shuttle door closed in time. The shuttle began to move, and I had already seen that the siding wasn’t going to survive a planetary landing. If Ididget off somehow, I knew I could get shot—and those women in hypersleep would have died upon landing because their coordinates were for a planetary landing. So... I had to think fast and hope for the best by piggybacking on the coordinates of the last shuttle—the one arriving here. I knew it was docking in space, on a craft, and it wouldn’t have to go through the reentry process.” Nessa finished her story with a sense of disbelief. Felids, Canids, and humans were all staring at her with utter silence and awe.

The one called Kamau was the one to speak first. “You are a hero. Your quick thinking saved three lives, and you realized all of those things in just a matter of moments while criminals fired upon you?” He clasped his paws together, his tail lashing around behind him like a pendulum gone wild. “A warrior Queen who saved the lives of strangers.Anbessa-Bastet!” he said with a deep bow.

“Anbessa-Bastet!” said Dr. Marcus, doing the same thing.

The others looked confused, then echoed them, a polite but fervent chorus of “Anbessa-Bastet!” running around the tables that were shoved together in one long line.

“Um. Thank you?”

“Anbessa-Bastetis the Servali term for one of great valor. It means Bastet’s lion, or lioness. Bastet is the goddess most Felids worship, in addition to others.” Marcus explained.

“Oh! Oh, wow. Thank you. I’m not a lioness, believe me. I was scared to death. I cried... A lot.”

“Bravery is being scared and doing the right thing anyway,” Rupex, the tawny Leonid captain, declared. “We are honored to have you on board, and we suspect that your case is just another piece of the puzzle we’ve dealt with for over a year now. Human agents on Sapien-Three are kidnapping human women and sending them off-world. Sometimes they trick them with the promise of a better job, sometimes they’re drugged, or they’re simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. So far, kindly Felids have intercepted thirteen humans—but we may not know of every case, and we don’t know how this issue will accelerate once it becomes well-known that Felids and humans can have children together.”

“And that’s important to Felids?” Nessa tried to keep the disgust out of her voice. Love was love. Why did you need to be someone’s baby-making machine?

“Most of our Queens of childbearing age died during Queen Fever. Younger and older females survived. The cubs who grew up without mothers are just now entering adulthood or are infertile thanks to life-saving surgery. With an entire generation missing, there are lonely people doing desperate things—or in our case,” Rupex put his arm around Layla’s shoulders, “a wonderful thing that had a happy outcome.”

The dislike that had flared in her cooled. “Oh. I guess that would change things.” There was a difference between justwanting to plant your flag and actually fearing your species would die out.

“Yes. A lot of young Knights—what you’d call unmarried or unmated male Felids—will never have a mate or a family.”

Wendy spoke up, her small figure nestled in her Tigerite husband’s lap, his tail curled loosely around her growing middle. “I came here of my own free will—but not with the intention of getting married. That was just a wonderful coincidence. I was working for Metro Labs as a permanent test subject. It was horrible.” Wendy shuddered. “Layla’s jobs weren’t much better.”

Jade cleared her throat. “Mine looked cushy—but it was soul-shattering despite the decent pay and luxuries that came with it.”

Wendy lightly touched Jade’s hand in a supportive gesture before letting it rest on Talos’ wide paw. “I think a lot of human women on Sapien-Three would like the chance to leave our planet with its corruption and pollution behind. They might enjoy the option of exploring life in the Felix Orbus Galaxy.”

Nessa snorted, then turned it into a cough. Kamau sprang six feet in the air to refill her water tumbler the second she made a noise. “Exactly! I know that’s true. I’m one of those women. I live on the Milky Way Intergalactic Port outpost. Sadly, it’s not much better than St. Albany on Sapien-Three. I take pride in my work, and I enjoy it most of the time, but I had to fight for twelve years to even get to where I am—which is pretty low and low paying.”

“Trafficking is a heinous crime in our galaxy,” Dr. Marcus interjected. “I’m sure it is the same in yours. Felids have a need for female companionship—and they don’t evenknowabout the possibility of procreation yet. Humans seem willing to sacrifice each other to fulfill that need. There are criminals on both sides of the equation, a sickening law of supply and demand.”

Nessa felt relief flooding her as the figures in the room all nodded. The whole crew had turned out to welcome her, eventwo sleeping cubs who were nestled in Layla’s arms. All of them seemed like good, kind people, the kind who didn’t intend to eat her or sell her. “What do I do now? How do I get back?”

“In about two weeks, we’ll dock on Leonid-One. You’ll be able to get back to the Milky Way Intergalactic Port from there. In the meantime, you’ll need to speak to your relatives at home, Felid law enforcement, Sapien-Three law enforcement... You’ll be on screens and calls for a good deal of the next two weeks, but we can make the best of it,” Rupex reassured. “The run of the ship is yours. Kamau and Ardol just ordered an entire bay’s worth of human goods and food,” he gave the Leopardine and Servali crew members a playfully exasperated glare. “I imagine you could live down there for several years before needing to come out.”

“Hey! Do you want me to show you how much I saved on shipping by consolidatingallthe orders into one capsule, Ru?” Ardol demanded.

“You still need monitoring, but perhaps you’d like your own room to recuperate in, Nessa. May I call you Nessa?” Dr. Marcus asked.

“Yes. Everyone can call me Nessa. You saved my life. You are allAnbessa-Bastet.”

Kamau made a strangled noise and began clearing the cups of the sweet but tangy cream he called a citrine custard.

“Hey! You know what? Kamau, isn’t the suite on B Deck empty? It’s right next to yours and near the B Deck entrance to the dining area and kitchen! That’d be ideal. Nessa could have someone close by if she needs something, and if she gets hungry, she won’t have far to go!” Wendy said brightly.

Nessa caught the Felid chef’s eye.

“It would be my pleasure to take care of such an honored Queen and guest,” he murmured, eyes locked with hers.

Nessa felt a zap run through her that had nothing to do with her muscles learning to function after almost dying. She hadn’t felt this sensation in a long time—years, even.

“I’d like that,” she tried to keep her voice steady, but her insides were wildly confused.

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