Page 15 of Alien Engineer's Mate

The engine pitch changed, and she glanced back at the viewport. Earth filled the whole thing now; coastlines curving, storms spiraling, and city lights glittering like ore seams against the darkness cast by night. It was beautiful and huge. Far bigger than she remembered. Their entire colony wouldn't even show as a speck from up here.

Her back complained as she straightened. The status display above the door counted down their arrival. Her stomach clenched at the sight, but she kept her shoulders back. Doubt killed as surely as bad air when you had three lives counting on you.

She watched the kids at the viewport, letting herself feel the full weight of what she'd done. Left the colony. Left James's memory. Agreed to marry some unknown alien... but only for a moment. Then she locked it all away. Her children needed her steady.

"Look!" Grace squealed. "It's getting bigger!"

The station grew in the view, Earth slipping away as they banked, despite Kyle and Leo's protests.

"But I want to see more!" Kyle left fresh smudges trying to track the planet.

"Look over there instead." Leo pointed, excitement breaking through his exhaustion. "Those ships! They're huge!"

Warships hung in the station's shadow, sleek and deadly. They were nothing like the battered haulers she was used to seeing. There were no cargo doors or loading zones, just weapon ports and cannon arrays that sent a chill over her skin.

Space disappeared behind them, replaced by metal walls and harsh lighting, and the shuttle shuddered as it entered the bay.Grace whimpered, pressing closer to Eira. It felt like they were being swallowed up whole.

Taaven emerged from the cockpit, seven feet of Latharian warrior in combat gear. His gaze swept over them. "Station security is waiting," he said, his gravelly voice more familiar after the days they'd been traveling. "We’ll take you through to processing. Your belongings will be transferred to your assigned accommodations."

She nodded and stood, Grace clinging to her leg. Their two trunks sat secured in the cargo netting behind her.

They followed the warriors down the boarding ramp and took their first breaths of station air. It was sharp with cleaners and had an odd metallic scent, totally different from the mineral tang of home. Grace buried her face against Eira again, obviously overwhelmed by the echoing space.

The bay stretched overhead like a perfect cavern, too polished, too clean. Strange ships sat in their berths as they passed. Leo and Kyle stared up despite their exhaustion.

A group of well-dressed women watched them approach the checkpoint at the end of the cavernous bay, their expressions of curiosity turning to disgust.

"...desperate enough to sign up for the mate program..."

"...bringing children into it..."

"...colony trash..."

Eira kept her back straight and her gaze fixed ahead, not looking left or right. Each whispered word hit like a bullet, but she refused to let it show. This was about survival. About better odds than struggling for air and medicine every day.

"Mom?" Kyle's voice wavered. "Why are they looking at us?"

"Because they don't understand," she said quietly. "Ignore them. Don’t look."

Daas and Taaven, their pilots, moved to flank them. They didn't speak, but their stance made a clear barrier.

Grace's breathing hitched, too young to understand but feeling the pressure. Eira lifted her up onto her hip, letting her hide like she used to during dust storms.

"This way." Daas gestured to a side corridor. "Less traffic."

The warriors cleared their path with the smooth efficiency of a rescue crew. Even across the species gap, their support felt solid as good rock.

She kept moving, each step taking them further into the belly of the beast where she’d have to marry an alien. Leo matched her straight back, Kyle stayed close to his brother, and Grace stayed hidden against her shoulder.

Lifting her chin, she walked.

There was no choice but forward now.

Their pilots ledthem right through the station and to the doors of the LMP offices. Eira smiled at them as they disappeared back down the corridor, then pushed the door open. The huge reception stretched before them like something out of a science fiction movie, all gleaming surfaces and recessed lighting that made the walls glow.

Through the windows, she caught glimpses of clinical rooms filled with equipment that looked more like art installations than medical devices. Her heart stuttered in her chest. What had she gotten her children into? But there was no going back now… the stack of paperwork she'd signed on the colony had seen to that. She hadn't even known that many legal terms existed.

Her fingers tightened around Grace’s hand as they approached the reception desk, where a human woman in a crisp uniform stood waiting.

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