Page 16 of Chieftain
What felt right was how she cuddled against me, letting me comfort her with foray after foray of my fingers into her thick mass of red curls. Comforting her felt right. Protecting her felt right. Holding her against my body felt the most right of all.
I’d rescued hundreds of humans—seen my share of beautiful females throughout the charted galaxy.
None compared to her.
Emmy.
Even her name was beautiful, feeling soft and sweet on my tongue.
She was tiny in my arms, delicate but with pronounced curves of breasts and hips. Her face was pale and perfectly oval with a smattering of tiny brown dots that humans called freckles across her nose and cheeks. Eyes the deep green color of the sea on my home planet gazed at me with such trust and hope. I would not let her down.
I would find her friends no matter what the cost.
Above us, the blackness of space yawned wide, a visual reminder of the impossibility of the task. But I had done the impossible before.
The memory was as raw and fresh as the day itself. My home planet was lush with vegetation and life. Our oceans were a deep clear green flowing endlessly under a pale purple sky. Khiak, my older brother, loved the seas. He loved the challenge of hunting the creatures that made the green depths their home. Khiak was older than me, he was already into his adult rotation when I was born, and while our father was off on a battle cruiser, he was the only father I knew.
I was still a youngling, all gangly and uncoordinated, just beginning my warrior training and still unable to hold half my weight for more than a minute. It was hot that late summer day when he and I stole away to the seaside to catch our mother a batch of fleckings—tiny, swift swimmers whose sweet flesh melted on your tongue. We'd just cast our nets when the waters pulled away from the sand, as though the sea feared the beast.
A Tweller.
Massive. Ten times the size of the pod I lay in, with a dozen appendages lined with suction cups and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. The beast was on me before I had time to run. Khiak put himself between me and the beast. My brother's skill as a warrior was unmatched by those in our village, but to the Tweller, he was just a toy. Still, he battled to protect me and somehow managed to drive the creature back into the sea—losing his leg in the process.
I managed to cauterize the wound and slow the bleeding, but the skiff we used to travel was damaged in the battle. Khiakwas twice my weight, but there was no other option. Hoisting my brother upon my back, I began to walk.
It was one hundred Earth miles from my village to the sea, and we only stopped to rest twice when Khaik's screams of pain became too great. It took four days to reach the village. A village where my brother still lived.
I would give all I had to return in time and keep my brother from the pain he suffered. Even so, those four days when I was small and scared, praying to Valana with every step to have the strength to save Khiak taught me that with enough determination, nothing is impossible.
It was my greatest lesson.
The pod gave an abrupt lurch, drawing a frightened squeak from the female in my arms. Her eyes were wide, shimmering with the same wetness that clung to her cheeks.
"Do not be alarmed, tiny human. It is only the tractor beam of my vessel bringing us on board." I loosened my grip on her waist so she could raise her head and glance around.
Emmy wiped her face with the back of her hands, her gaze settling on my ship a few hundred meters away. Her green eyes widened considerably, along with the drop of her jaw.
“That’s your ship?” Emy chirped, and she squirmed to get a better look at my battle cruiser's sleek gray and white hull. "It's huge—like five times the size of Sanford Stadium."
"Sanford Stadium?" It was a concept I didn't remember from my Earth studies.
“A really,reallybig building," Emmy explained and added. "It didn't take them long to find us?"
Pride at my ship and crew had me squaring my shoulders as much as possible in the small space. “My ship and crew are the best in the galaxy.”
“It looks much bigger than the Toadwick ship.”
“Trogvyk?”
“Yeah, those guys.”
“The Bardaga is larger than any slaver ship," I assured her.
"Then why didn't you just blow those cat-aliens out of the sky when they pulled up alongside Earthbeforethey started snatching people?" Her face held a touch of aggravation. It made the faint lines at the corners of her eyes deepen.
“Before today, did you know my kind existed?”
Her gaze widened, mouth opening and closing before she finally uttered a defeated, "No. Some humans believe in aliens, but most of us consider them lunatics." Her eyes sparked with defiance. "Why? What's that got to do with you keeping humans from being abducted?"
