Page 33 of Her Alien Captain
“Shouldn’t we do something to help?” Jenna wondered aloud.
“If this were a Raptor or a Star Hawk, maybe, but we have minimal weapons,” Zeke told her grimly. “They would just laugh and blow us out of the sky. The Alliance will defend Earth. They just want us to get out of their way. Bella, set course for Tau Ceti as Mars suggested. Monitor the news and report Earth status as it becomes available.”
“That’s the opposite direction from Narova,” Tray put in.
“But the safest route out for now,” Zeke said.
“Are they invading Earth,” Jenna asked unevenly.
“Come, here, Baby,” Zeke held out his arm, beckoning her to his side.
She came across the bridge to where he stood behind the pilot seat glancing back and forth between the big screen in front of him and the smaller screen on the console. Jenny slid her arm around his waist, and he put his arm around her shoulders to draw her close against his side. He pressed a brief kiss to her forehead and turned his attention to the screens.
“The Raptors will keep them busy, they won’t even notice us,” Tray said.
“I just got a report from Earth. Drayids gutted a whole list of major cities all over the planet. Took out our office in D.C. They simply disintegrated about four square kilometers in each city 100 meters deep. Everything is just gone,” Sajh seemed to be repeating as he read it. “Thousands of dead or missing. The Alliance is calling all our agents back to bases in US, South Africa, and China.”
Tears streamed down Jenna’s face as she listened. Aliens were attacking her home world, killed thousands of people for no reason.
Zeke turned and wrapped his arms around Jenny and hugged her tightly as she choked back a sob. He had seen enough. He wished he could join the battle. By hurting her world, those merciless bugs hurt his mate. That alone was enough to make him want to kill them. But what the Drayids had done also went against everything the Alliance believed in. Every world had sovereign rights. The Alliance didn’t conquer worlds and annex them into an empire. They enlisted allies---and they would fight back.
Within minutes, Sajh reported that the Alliance was sending some of its battle cruisers to join the melee as well as more Raptors.
With nothing they could do to help defend Earth, their priority was to keep their passengers safe. The detour would add another week on their trip, but their supplies were more than adequate for a much longer detour
Drake had spent a lot of time with Zya learning the common Alliance language predominantly spoken on Narova. Helping Drake learn her language also helped her learn his better as well. Drake swore it might as well be Russian. He didn't think it would be any harder to learn but learn he did.
He was concerned when they landed on Narova. The Starport was on the outskirts of Narov, a city rivaling New York City on Earth, but Zya assured him they would be living nowhere near the city. After disembarking the starship, they took an automated taxi to the air car port where Zya's private air car was waiting to take them to her farmstead the equivalent of 400 miles away. He was relieved to find that the scenery became rural once they were about a hundred miles from Narov. It was a two-hour trip in the air car. There was a fair-sized community of 15,000 about a half hour north of her farm by air.
It turned out that Zya's farm was a huge agricultural operation of about 100,000 acres of cropland and forest. Her house was kind of white semi-dome with a large garden pond in front of it on several acres of lawn and ornate garden rooms.
“Zya, when you said you had a farm, I never dreamed of anything like this. It's huge.” Drake said wondrously.
“Now you see why I was lonely. I have friends, but I want a family. Now we are family---and soon we will have children.”
“Are you telling me?” Drake asked as they got out of the air car at the landing pad by the house.
“I am going to have babies,” she told him. “I found out on the ship.”
“Babies, plural?”
“Twins,” she smiled up at him.
He wrapped her in his arms, lifting her off her feet as he kissed her and danced around in a circle. They kissed for a long time and then Drake laughed. “And I was worried we wouldn't have enough to keep us busy. Twins will certainly keep us busy.”
“Are you happy?”
“I am. I get to live in a beautiful house with the woman I love and were going to be parents. I'm glad you didn't take “no” for an answer when I refused to meet you. Now, I can't even imagine my life without you. I love you, Zya. I am yours, and you are mine.”
“Always.” Zya murmured and kissed him. “I love you, too.
