Alien Refuge (51 page)

The ride back to the planet’s surface seemed to take an eternity.

* * * *

As soon as Jol put the shuttle on the landing pad, Ospar opened the hatch and hurtled out towards the other shuttle, which Jol had set down before landing their own. The Dramok had gotten halfway there when his Nobek’s hand landed on his shoulders, yanking him backwards.

Too frantic to register what he was doing, Ospar whirled around, swinging a fist at Jol’s face. His clanmate caught his wrist, stopping him. He pulled Ospar hard against his body to hold him still.

“Me first, Ospar. We don’t know who or how many are on board, how they’re armed or ... or what we’ll find.”

Ospar struggled against his Nobek, still intent on getting to his Matara and son. “Damn you—”

“Do you want Iris and Thomas to watch you die?”

Jol’s low, intense tone finally brought the Dramok to his senses. He blinked, realizing what the other man was saying. The captors were no doubt armed and ready to fight. To kill, most likely.

Rivek joined them and wrapped one arm around Ospar’s chest, holding him back. Jol released him and hurried to the shuttle that had taken their family away, his blaster drawn. Rivek yanked Ospar to one side, so that whoever was on board would not have an easy time taking them out with a shot.

Glancing at his clanmates first to make sure they were clear, Jol used a frequency disrupter on the hatch door. He crouched, ready to fire as it slid open.

No one shot at them. From his position, Ospar could just make out the boot and pant leg of a formsuited Kalquorian lying on the floor of the shuttle. Jol edged to the opening and peered in. Then he crept closer still, cautiously entering the vehicle. Ospar held his breath as Jol looked from side to side, searching the depths of the shuttle. He suddenly froze. Then he straightened, standing tall.

Ospar heard his shocked mutter. “By the ancestors.” Without turning, Jol called, “Ospar, Rivek, come quickly.”

Not knowing what he would see, not even able to guess what would leave his mighty Nobek staring in stunned disbelief, Ospar raced to the shuttle with Rivek on his heels. He bounded on board and took in the astonishing tableau.

The dead Kalquorian lay at his feet, his head shattered from what could only be a pointblank blaster shot. The body of an Earther male was facedown nearby. The still form wasn’t just bloodied, but soaked in scarlet.

At the back of the shuttle, huddled in the aisle between the seats, was Ospar’s everything. A badly beaten Iris, her face swollen and bruised, sat with Thomas curled in her lap. She stared at him, Jol, and Rivek with disbelief, as if she thought them ghosts of the dead.

Thomas patted her arm with one shaking hand, smears of blood streaking his fingers. “Are you all right, Mommy?” he asked.

Still staring at the men before her, Iris’ voice issued from between split, inflamed lips. “I’m all right, baby.”

Again, still patting his mother’s arm. “Are you all right, Mommy?”

“I’m all right, baby.”

Ospar croaked, “Iris. Thomas.”

Thomas jerked. Iris’ eyes filled with tears and immediately spilled over. “It
is
you,” she said. “You’re really here. I didn’t think—”

Thomas’ yell interrupted her. “Jol! Thomas find Jol! Osbar! Rivek!”

He scrambled from Iris’ lap, his face alight. Jol moved forward, stepping over Slade’s body to catch Thomas as he launched himself at them. The big Nobek, his eyes overbright, held the boy to his chest and kissed his cheek.

“My son,” he whispered. “My son.”

Ospar’s frozen limbs finally regained feeling. He and Rivek hurried to Iris, kneeling next to her, kissing her poor bloodied face over and over. She cried and laughed all at once, the marks on her pale skin livid.

No one had ever looked more beautiful to Ospar.

She started to talk between her sobs. “I thought I’d gone insane. It couldn’t be you standing there, come to save us. Nothing good could ever happen again, not after what I did. Not after I kill – killed—”

She broke off. A sound that was a bizarre mixture of groaning, sobbing, and laughter tore from her chest.

“Nothing could keep us from you,” Ospar assured her. “No matter what, we would have found you.”

Iris’ wide eyes focused on the body on the floor. “He wanted us to die rather than let us go. I had to do it. I had to!”

Rivek’s gentle pressure on her jaw forced her to look away from Slade. “Hush, hush, precious. We can talk of this later.”

But Iris couldn’t seem to not talk about the horror she’d endured. “Thomas got the knife after I dropped it. He stabbed Conrad in the neck to make him stop beating me. It distracted Conrad, made him shift enough so I could get my hands free. I fought him off, grabbed the knife, and I – and I—”

Ospar clutched her tight. “It’s all right, Iris. You did what you had to.”

She suddenly stopped crying. Her eyes were still too wide, but her voice went soft and wondering. “I stabbed him. I stabbed him over and over until he didn’t move anymore. Until I knew he couldn’t hurt Thomas, ever.”

Iris grabbed each man’s arm. She looked from Rivek to Ospar, her grip tightening. “Is he dead? Is he really dead? Is it over?” she choked.

Rivek stroked her hair. “It’s all over, Iris. He’s gone for good.”

He exchanged a look with Ospar, who nodded. The Imdiko gathered Iris in his arms and stood. Ospar also rose and went to Jol, who cradled Thomas. The little boy was looking into his Nobek father’s face, smiling contentedly. He turned that sweet face to Ospar.

“Go home, Osbar. Go home now. See fish. See Thomas’ trains.”

Ospar held his hands out, and Thomas eagerly came to him, his arms circling the Dramok’s neck. “Yes, my son. We’re going home now,” he said, kissing Thomas’ cheek.

Ospar gave Jol a meaningful look. “Slade will never come anywhere near either of you again, Iris. This is done.”

Jol nodded almost imperceptibly. The clan’s leader had addressed Iris, but the message was for their Nobek. He would make sure Slade was indeed dead after Iris and Thomas were off the shuttle. If the bastard had somehow managed to survive Iris’ attack, Jol would finish the matter once and for all.

Ospar carried Thomas outside. The little boy – his little boy – now seemed completely innocent of the drama that had played out. His sweet smile remained as he gazed at his Dramok father.

His musical voice made Ospar smile too. “Hi, Osbar. Bad daddy hurt. Go bye-bye now.”

Ospar nodded. “Hello, Thomas. I am so happy to see you again.”

The child snuggled against his chest, and Ospar suddenly found himself looking at Thomas through blurred eyes. He was not as successful as Jol had been when it came to blinking back the tears, not when he had this beautiful boy and his mother safe once more.

Chapter 17

Ospar was stunning in his formal dress robes, the blue-trimmed purple setting off his eyes and molding to his body in a way that made Iris’s mouth dry. It was hard to concentrate on his words, as beautiful as they were, when he was standing at her side and looking at her the way he was.

His pleasant raspy voice carried through the warm early spring air so the many gathered guests could hear the clan’s vows. “To our Matara Iris, we pledge our lives, our love, our eternal devotion to you. We will not falter in our duty to you, duty we take up not as an obligation or encumbrance, but as our lives’ most joyful undertaking.”

The Dramok looked down at Thomas, who knelt at his surrounding parents’ feet playing with his latest locomotive creation. “And to our firstborn son Thomas, we pledge all these things too. We also promise unending support and guidance until such time as he becomes the great man we know he will be and asks we offer no more. Even after that time has come, we will stand ready to render any support he needs, his only for the asking.”

Thomas had looked up at Ospar at the mention of his name. There was no way to know how much the boy understood of what had been said, but he seemed to pay rapt attention. At the end of Ospar’s declaration, Thomas raised his train as if saluting the four people smiling down at him.

“Woo-woo!” he said.

Everyone laughed. Iris felt gratitude that Thomas seemed to have recovered so well from the events of two months prior. Other than the occasional remark of ‘no more bad daddy’ along with nightmares which were finally tapering off, he showed no signs of trauma. Having three devoted fathers always ready to see to his needs had gone a long way to tame many of the storms Thomas had been prone to. Not only that, he was blossoming from working with the newly ordained Master Copin and three aspirants at the temple. His reading skills, already strong, had taken off under their direction. He was also excelling in math and mechanics. Copin used Thomas’ love for trains as a teaching tool, both scholastically and for behavior issues. The phrase ‘the train is in the station’ was Thomas’ cue that he needed to stay still and not run wild.

Thomas was now exercising that hard-won patience, waiting while the train sat in the station as his parents performed the formal clanning ceremony that announced to the Empire they were a committed unit. Conrad’s death had allowed Iris to once more be declared the Matara of Clan Ospar. However, the investigation into the events surrounding Thomas’ abduction had meant postponing the official rite until now.

The first warmth of spring had finally brought the opportunity to declare themselves a clan. This was also the day Thomas became the recognized son of Ospar, Jol, and Rivek, and an official member of the Empire.

Smiling so hard her cheeks hurt, Iris pronounced her vows. “To my clanmates Ospar, Rivek, and Jol, I pledge my endless love and gratitude. Everything I can offer as your Matara, I do so without reservation. Even when you did not know me, you were there to keep us safe, to give our spirits sustenance, to offer us everything you were capable of. You are my soulmates, your spirits the ones I remember from before we met on the physical plane. I am too grateful for words to be reunited with you again.”

She had a surprise for the men, something she and Copin had worked on with Thomas for several weeks. At the young priest’s nod, she bent to squeeze the boy’s shoulder. “Thomas, can you say your vows now?”

Thomas looked up from his train, smiled, and stood. In his clear, ringing voice he told everyone, “Ospar is my father. Rivek is my father. Jol is my father! I will be a good son. Woo-woo!” He waved his locomotive at his parents.

His pronouncement received beaming smiles from the clan, along with laughter and cheers from the guests. Except for the late addition of ‘woo-woo’, he’d said his part perfectly. Iris could see how much his words meant to the men who loved him.

Completely recovered from the heinous injuries he’d suffered while defending Thomas during the temple attack, a smiling Copin nodded to Ospar. The Dramok pulled soft earplugs from a pocket and handed them to Thomas, who immediately stuffed them in his ears. He watched Copin carefully.

The young Kalquorian held his hands high over the clan’s heads. The colony’s newest priest, resplendent in gold, white, and green robes announced, “Clan Ospar has made their declaration of a new Matara and son public, and we recognize this union as binding and eternal for all their lives. May your clan enjoy much success. Congratulations.”

Loud proclamations of congratulations and well wishing followed. With the earplugs leaving him blessedly immune to the loud noises, Thomas continued to watch Copin. He tugged on his friend’s sleeve. “Train leaves the station?”

Copin looked to Iris and she nodded as the loudest voices quieted. At her signal, the aspirants who worked with Thomas under Copin’s direction moved forward to take the boy away from the main part of the celebration.

Copin tapped his ear, and Thomas pulled his earplugs out and put them in a pocket. Once they were put away, the priest said, “All aboard, Thomas. The train is leaving the station.”

Released, Thomas took off running, locomotive in hand. His laughing minders chased after, in charge of his care so that Iris and her mates could enjoy the post-clanning celebration. The gathered guests quietly applauded Thomas as they parted to make way for him.

Iris breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas had done very well during the formal part of the ceremony. They’d deliberately kept it short to not tax his limited patience, but she thought he might have been able to handle a few minutes more. The added support of the temple personnel and his adoptive fathers had made a huge difference over the winter. In such a short amount of time, the little boy’s coping skills had taken off. Ospar’s declaration that hinted Thomas may one day be able to live an independent, productive life seemed well-founded.