Alien Caged (3 page)

The Nobek’s sudden grin was a mixture of humor and pretended threat.  “Attack you?  You know, I have had time to consider that option.  I decided that if given the chance, I would take you hostage.  Harming you would be off the table, little one, though making you squirm might be fun.”

Zemos gave Oret a warning look, though he looked as if he might smile too.  “Don’t frighten her, Oret.  Matara Elisa has been kind to us when she is able.”

Oret chuckled, a harsh chuffing sound that made Elisa wonder how often the man actually laughed.  “I meant
squirm
in a good sense.  Of course, this naive Earther female has no idea what I am inferring, do you?”

His smile turned paternal, as if she was no more than a child.  Elisa knew exactly what he referred to with his sly comment.  She might be a virgin at the grand old age of 48, but she wasn’t clueless.  Oret’s condescension irritated her, and she couldn’t help but respond in a manner that she’d never dare in Earther company.

Keeping her tone unimpressed, she told the alien, “If it was your weight on me, Nobek Oret, I don’t think I would have the breath or strength to squirm.”

It was an outrageous statement for an Earther woman to say to anyone, never mind a Kalquorian man.  Zemos froze to stare at her as if he couldn’t believe his ears.  Miragin made choking sounds as he laughed around his mouthful of food. 

Oret’s eyes widened at Elisa’s boldness.  Then his lips curled in a slow, knowing smile that made her heart hammer.  “Oh, my pretty one.  That I would have the chance to take your breath away—”

Before he could finish his comment, the telltale thud of booted feet warned them that Remington was on his way.  Elisa hurriedly squared away her cart and started walking away from the cell just as Remington came into the corridor.  His hand rested on the blaster holstered on his hip.

He pulled the weapon out.  Elisa’s mouth went dry.  She was sure none of their conversation had reached his ears.  Remington was simply being an asshole again.  He enjoyed threatening the prisoners.  She kept her eyes averted as he came level to her clattering cart and kept going past her.

His nasally voice rang out as he greeted the Kalquorians.  “Good evening, slimeballs!  Did you have another good day filled with fun and games?”

The clan made no response.  Elisa worried that someday Remington would push the three into a reaction, one that would give him the reason he desired to kill one or all of them.  She turned her head enough to peek at him and the men in the cell.  Remington was aiming at the Kalquorians in turn, pretending he was about to shoot them.  Miragin had risen from the bunk, and Oret and Zemos stood in front of him, shielding the Imdiko.

Remington giggled, somehow sounding like a little girl when he did so.  “What do you think, homo aliens?  You like seeing a female once or twice a day?  Does it make you wish you were me, someone who can have a woman’s pussy and not a man’s ass?  You want to hear how nice Mackenzie there feels to fuck?”

Elisa’s face flamed with heat.  She hoped Zemos and his clan knew she would never sleep with a disgusting pig like Remington.  She’d never known a man at all except to kiss ... if a teenage buss with a sixteen-year-old boy could be called knowing a man.

It might as well have been.  That innocent moment had landed her in all sorts of trouble over thirty years ago.  It had torn away every dream she’d possessed.  That moment of curiosity and infatuation had certainly not been worth the hell it had caused.

Elisa did not like Remington telling the Kalquorians or anyone that he’d enjoyed anything remotely sexual with her.  Even the most innocent instances could land her in hot water, and what Remington was saying could do a lot more than put her in the brig.

Somehow, it still paled in comparison to the fact the bastard was telling Zemos, Oret, and Miragin he’d known her in a carnal manner.  It made her sick to her stomach to think they might believe him.

Her cart clattered as she rushed out of the cell block.  Elisa’s chest was tight as she escaped the hateful sound of Remington’s laugh thudding in her ears.

Chapter 2

Dramok Zemos forced back red-tinged fury at Remington’s crude allusions to Elisa, struggling to keep his expression impassive.  Not quite as able to disguise his emotions, Oret turned his back on the foul-mouthed guard.  The Nobek’s heavy brow creased in hatred.  Despite putting his back to Remington, his head was turned enough to keep the man in his peripheral vision, making sure he always kept his enemy in view. 

Zemos could well understand his clanmate’s need to shield his feelings from the Earther guard.  Remington delighted in finding out what upset others, simply so he could make them more miserable than they already were.  If he knew the regard Zemos’ clan held for Elisa, the bastard would say even worse things about her.

Zemos edged closer to his clanmate to speak in a low voice.  “He wants you to react.  Do not give him the pleasure of seeing you angry, my Nobek.”

Oret shot Zemos a black look.  “That he speaks of that sweet girl in such disgusting terms to other men—” 

Miragin looked up at his taller Nobek clanmate, his always reasonable tone more than enough to interrupt.  “You know a lovely such as our Elisa would never give him a second thought.  The bastard speaks of what he wishes, not what he has had the honor of experiencing.”

“It is obvious she is frightened of him.  Perhaps he has forced his attentions on her.”

Zemos shook his head.  “She would be markedly more afraid if that had happened.  My Nobek, you are too strong for the likes of that fool to defeat you in any way.  Do not let stupid words claim victory.”

Oret drew a breath to settle his temper.  He nodded.  “You are right.  As always.”  He grimaced with a suggestion of a smile, which Zemos returned.

Miragin snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.  He jerked his head to toss his unruly mass of curls back.  “Remington’s pathetic.  His assertions are worth humor rather than anger.” 

The Imdiko walked away from Zemos and Oret, leaving the questionable security of their bodies that shielded him.  The Earther guard was still smirking and talking, though Zemos had faded his repugnant comments into an unimportant background buzz.  Miragin looked at the wiry little pest and laughed.

Remington turned furious in a moment, his loathsome smile turning into a snarl.  “What the fuck are you laughing at, freak?  Huh?”

He raised his percussion blaster and aimed it right at the Imdiko.  The other hand snatched his field disruptor from his belt and aimed it as well.

Alarm coursed through Zemos.  It was a full-spectrum disruptor, capable of taking the entire containment field down.  It could also open a window like the limited disruptor Elisa carried.  It would be enough to keep the clan from escaping while allowing Remington to shoot Miragin.

Faster than thought and quicker than Zemos could react, Oret dropped his nearly empty tray.  The next instant, he was between his Imdiko and the guard.  The Nobek’s fangs unhinged from the roof of his mouth, dripping the intoxicating venom natural to all Kalquorians.  He roared defiant rage at Remington.  With a cry, Miragin tried to yank his clanmate out of the line of fire.

Zemos felt cold calm descend on him as he watched the situation unfold.  Decades of command and his stronger Dramok instincts took over, giving him the ability to assess even as he readied to act.  He waited to see what Remington would do before making a move.  Zemos thought he had time to jump in the path of a blast in the second it would take the Earther to disrupt the field and aim.  He noted how hard Remington’s hands shook.  The Dramok wondered if it was in anger over Miragin laughing at him or fear from Oret’s feral display.  Either way, it would fuck up his aim.

It wasn’t much comfort when there was no place for them to run.  If Remington started shooting and kept shooting, he’d eventually hit one or all of them.

Remington yelled, “Two of you for the price of one?  Fine by me.  I’ll take you both out!”

He hesitated, however.  It made Zemos feel sure Remington wouldn’t shoot unless provoked further. 

His tone utterly reasonable, Zemos asked the little bastard, “Won’t that get you in trouble with your superiors?  They want us kept alive for a purpose, don’t they?”

Remington’s weapon swung around to sight on Zemos, and the Dramok felt some tension release.  His calm increased now that the blaster was no longer aimed at his clanmates. 

The Earther screamed at him, “Shut up!  No one asked you to talk, freak!”

“Ensign, what do you think you’re doing?”

Remington jumped in surprise.  His hands snatched behind his back, hiding the blaster and disruptor like a child caught with stolen sweets.  He stared in wide-eyed horror at the man walking down the corridor.

Zemos moved over to stand at Oret’s side.  The Nobek promptly shouldered him back, as if he could shield both his clanmates with his body.

The three Kalquorians watched Remington carefully despite Captain Joseph Walker’s unexpected appearance.  Zemos thought of how a cornered man was a dangerous man.  Remington looked extremely cornered right now with his commanding officer bearing down on him.

The guard shot them a frightened look as he began to make his excuses.  “They were being rowdy and disrespectful, Captain.  I was just reminding them of their place.”

Walker was a young man, even by Earther standards, but he had an old look on his face.  As usual, Zemos felt an unwelcome stab of pity for his captor.  Walker was the enemy, but he was the nicest enemy the Dramok had ever encountered. 

It was an odd thing to wish the man was an asshole.  After all, the battlecruiser under Walker’s command had demolished Zemos’ destroyer and taken his surviving crew prisoner.  The Kalquorian wished for nothing more than to be able to hate Walker as easily as he hated Remington, but the damned Earther captain wouldn’t grant him the luxury.

Walker looked at Remington with tired disgust.  “You were reminding the prisoners of their place by killing them?”  He snorted with derision.  “I’m sure after they’re dead they’ll accord you all the respect you can wish for.  Get back to the observation post.”

Remington looked aghast.  “You want me to leave you alone with them, Captain?”  As if he hadn’t done that very thing with the much more helpless Elisa.

Walker tapped the containment field, and a flare of bright yellow light from the contact made Zemos squint.  “Since you weren’t foolish enough to drop the field, I think I will be fine.  Out, Ensign.  At the end of your shift, you may report to Lieutenant Commander Robards for disciplinary measures.  I will inform him of your dangerous actions with the prisoners.”

“Yes sir.”  His face angry and embarrassed, Remington holstered his blaster and field disruptor.

Walker watched him slouch out of the room, waiting for Remington to get out of earshot before turning his attention to Zemos and his clan.  He sighed as he met the Kalquorian’s eyes.

“Allow me to offer my apologies to you and your clan, Captain Zemos.  I am glad none of you were hurt.”

Zemos didn’t speak to Joseph as he might a peer.  The kid was too raw and hesitant for that, as much as the Dramok liked him.  Instead, Zemos counseled him much as he might a member of his own crew who had come to him for advice.  “That one should be watched most carefully, Captain Walker.  Remington is trouble not only to us but to members of your own crew.”

“Particularly the woman,” Oret added.  His fangs were still down, long and sharp behind his blunter teeth. 

Walker scowled, showing a little bit of backbone for a change.  “He threatened Elisa?”

Miragin sighed.  “Not so much a threat, though I do not doubt she feels uncomfortable around him.  He speaks of her in most unflattering terms.  Terms I believe would have earned him prison time on Earth before it was destroyed, as well as landed her in trouble though she is innocent of any wrongdoing.”

Walker turned an amazing shade of red.  He’d understood that the Imdiko alluded to sexual overtones, and it seemed to embarrass him terribly.  Zemos didn’t know whether to be amused or exasperated with the Earther captain’s unease over such matters.  But then again, he’d recognized early on that Walker had more to be repressed about than the rest of his fellow crew.

After a moment, Walker recovered his composure enough to say, “I see.  Be assured I will correct him on that score.”  He looked at Zemos as if begging approval.  “I do not subscribe to the belief that women should be punished for the actions of men.  Elisa will not be blamed.  She would never do anything to encourage such familiarity.”

Not with Remington anyway, Zemos thought.  Elisa’s earlier jibe about having Oret’s weight on her made him wonder how discouraging she’d be to his clan if they weren’t enemies.

The thought of being able to get his hands on the lovely Earther female made Zemos’ crotch throb agreeably.  Fantasies of spending time with Elisa were almost commonplace for the Dramok now, though they weren’t always of the carnal variety.  He often wished they had met under better circumstances, ones which would have allowed him to while away hours talking, sharing ... and yes, if he was to be honest, making love.  She astounded him in every way, and each time he saw her, Zemos was more entranced.