Karac: Kaldar Warriors #1, page 4
Karac
“What do you mean only 15% have registered?” Karac growled across his desk as the warrior tech shifted uneasily in front of him. Karac knew he was in a foul mood. Things were not progressing as he had planned. They were in Karac’s office which overlooked the blue-white planet below. His office, referred to as Command, was just off navigation and down the hall from the communication and tech room. Karac stood up and began pacing in front of the floor to ceiling window with his hands behind his back.
“That’s just it. The database is up and running, we had a steady stream coming in at first. But now, nothing.” The warrior tech shrugged helplessly. “Of the estimated population within the age range, we only have 15% of the females registered.” The tech answered nervously. Even though the tech was trained as a warrior, they all held a healthy dose of respect and caution for their leader when he was irritated.
“I thought the bio Darrok suggested we publish was supposed to encourage more females to register?” Karac couldn’t hide his annoyance with the delay. He and his warriors needed to find their truemates. There was no other option.
“Well, we saw a small influx after that news release, but again, we are only at 15%.” The tech replied.
“Where is Darrok? Why isn’t he reporting to me?” Darrok was, after all, Karac’s head communication and tech warrior. Karac didn’t even know this tech’s name but at least he had seen him around before.
“Darrok was off duty when you requested the information. I was selected to present the current information to you.” The warrior seemed to think he drew the short straw. Karac left that for another time. His warriors were loyal to him and he knew when he was in a mood, most warriors steered clear of him. But trying to make the warrior more comfortable was the least of his concerns. The tech was a warrior after all. He could handle one of Karac’s moods.
“And the Earth governments? What are they saying?” Karac stopped behind his chair and gripped the back for patience while he glared in the tech’s direction, his frustration taking hold.
“They haven’t implemented any laws as punishment for not registering. Most of the governments are saying it goes against people’s rights.” The tech took a step back as Karac’s face lit up with fury.
“We agreed to share our knowledge in exchange for their females!” Karac exploded.
“I realize that, but I think they were waiting to see what action we would take after the 30 days were up.” The tech pointed out bravely. Karac had to give the warrior credit. Thinking back on his dealings with the Earth governments, he huffed in frustration. He knew he should have showed more force with them but he didn’t want to let on that the Kaldarhns were a warrior race in the beginning. He’d had to be careful in the press conferences on Earth to maintain ambiguity when he talked about his fellow warriors. The last thing he needed was humans thinking they wanted to take over the planet. All he wanted was a few thousand females for his warriors. Their planet was of no use to him. Most of the natural resources were depleted. Little did the humans know that in a few hundred years their planet would be damaged beyond repair due to their own actions. Shaking his head at their naivety, he looked back at the tech warrior.
“Well, the deadline has passed.” Karac shoved away from the chair and resumed his pacing. “They did not reach the 75% that we agreed upon so we are not required to share our knowledge with them.” Karac turned back to the window with a smug smile on his face. “Time to implement the next stage.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get our team on it right away.” The warrior strode purposefully from the room to his tech den down the hall. Karac sat in a chair facing the bluish-white marble from his ship’s window. He sighed, knowing that he should have expected this. After all the intel that was gathered about the planet he knew that the vast majority of the planet’s females were head-strong and did not curtail to orders well. Also, the governments down there were pigheaded and too steeped in jockeying each other for political gain, so it was hard to know who to trust. Bring in an unknown species that makes demands to claim the females as mates, and their willingness on the whole was pretty much nonexistent.
Well, one thing he did like about the humans was their need for records. Thousands of records. Karac smiled as he thought of all the females that had unknowingly forfeited their rights by not registering. His mate was down there, he could feel it. It was all a matter of time now.
He turned at a sound from his door to find his longtime friend and head of security, Calzen, smirking from the doorway.
“What did you do to the tech? He practically ran me over in the hall in his hurry to get away.”
“I may have expressed my frustration a little too clearly.” Karac grinned as he motioned Calzen to join him. Calzen was nearly as tall as Karac. He had short, straight black hair, wide shoulders, narrow hips, and was just shy of Karac’s 6’4” frame. He was dressed in the usual warrior garb with black boots, black cargo-like pants, but instead of the standard black shirt, Calzen had found an Earth t-shirt that was green. The shirt had ‘security’ across the upper left chest and when he crossed the room and took a seat, Karac noted it was across his back as well.
“Nice shirt.” Karac commented.
“I thought it was fitting.” Calzen smirked.
Each of them reclined back as they stretched their long legs out in front. Both were silent as they gazed at the blue planet before Karac asked, “Did you hear the latest report?”
“Only 15%? Not very good odds for us, huh?” Calzen shrugged. “Especially when you factor in that we can probably only count on one out of every 100,000 actually being a match.”
“15% is a starting place. The warriors can begin their hunt though the records we have, then others as the tech team finds more.”
“Not everyone will find a mate, you know.” Calzen tilted his head in reply. Karac sighed in resignation.
“I realize that, but some have to be down there. They are physically compatible with us and the DNA strands are not that different. The gods wouldn’t be so cruel as to lead us here, give us that information, then not allow us to find one among their billion or so females.” Karac’s gaze returned to the planet floating in front of them.
“How long will we stay? The warriors understand the need for females but we have been searching and absent from our home planet for years.”
“I have a feeling this is our last stop before returning home.” Karac replied softly.
“A feeling, Karac? You’re going with your gut on this one?” Calzen quirked an eyebrow at Karac.
“Yes, it has served me well in the past.” Karac grinned.
“Yes, I suppose it has. How about an estimate, then? Months? Years?”
“If we find suitable mates on this planet, I will not make our warriors return without each of them having a chance to search. I will arrange shuttles between our world and this one so newly mated couples may return home while unmated warriors may remain to search.” Karac’s gaze returned to the planet below.
“That would require substantial resources to support that mission.” Calzen commented, his gaze also straying back to the planet.
“Yes it will, but the future of our world depends on our warriors finding their truemates. There is no cost that exceeds that need.”
“True.” Calzen paused for a minute while looking down at the planet. “Do you think she’s down there?”
“Yours or mine?” Karac asked quietly.
“Either…both.” Calzen shrugged.
“Ever since this planet came on our screens I have felt a need to be here.” Karac answered softly. “There is something about this planet that draws me. I’ve never felt it before.”
“I felt it to. As well as some of the other warriors. Do you think it is a connection to our mates?”
“I don’t know.” Karac shook his head. “None of the texts say anything about this. I’ve never heard anything like it before either.”
“Well one can hope, right?” Karac could hear the optimism in his friend’s voice.
“Yes, one can hope.” They both turned and started down at the planet that pulled at their very souls.
Chapter 4: 3 Months After D-Day
Ashley
“Nathan! What do you want for supper?” I yelled down to him while I was in the kitchen looking at my options. He was downstairs in his room, changing clothes I think.
“Doesn’t matter, whatever you want.” He yelled back. I huffed in frustration. This happened often enough I should have known better. I’d ask what he wants, he says whatever, and I end up making whatever I can think of. He hadn’t complained yet so I guess that was good. I pulled out a package of hamburger and decided on tacos. Haven’t had those in a while. I moved over to the counter, grabbed a knife, and started to cut the packaging.
“What’d you decide on?” Nathan’s voice came from directly behind me. I jumped about a foot.
“Holy shit, Nathan! Don’t do that!” I dropped the knife, whipped around and pushed him in the chest. He only took a small step back. The frustrating man was grinning from ear to ear. I scowled up at him.
“Aw, come on. You have to admit that was funny.”
“If I would have kept that knife in my hand, you wouldn’t think it was funny,” I warned. I turned around before he could see a smile trying to emerge. I reached for the knife as I felt Nathan’s body move in on my back.
“Are you saying you would have stabbed me?” He breathed by my ear and I froze. I shivered slightly from the closeness of his body. Nathan had become increasingly more comfortable with me in the house and sometimes I would say he was almost flirting with me. But this was Nathan, he didn’t flirt.
“Never know. Better keep one eye open when you sleep.” I said as I cut the package open, trying not to show that I noticed how close he was to me.
“You mean keep both eyes open, all the time. Someone has to keep you out of trouble.” He stepped back just in time as I swung around with the knife in my hand.
“Hey it wasn’t my fault you were in the shower when the phone rang!”
“You should have let it go to voicemail.” He pointed out with arms crossed.
“It was your parents’ number.” I said frustrated. We had this conversation more than I’d care to admit.
“Still, it could have been someone looking for you. You shouldn’t have picked it up.”
“I told you I was sorry about that.” I sighed, knowing he was right.
“I’ve also had to stop you from answering the door when the UPS guy stops, or when the dogs are barking and you want to go ‘see what’s out there’.” He raised an eyebrow to make his point. And he did have a point. No one was supposed to see me or know where I was.
“I only slip up when you’re around. I’m blaming you.” I pointed at him with the knife.
“Hey, watch the pointy end.” He raised his hands in surrender. “And you probably wouldn’t tell me about the times during the day even if I asked.”
“No seriously, it’s only when you’re here that I don’t think.” I glanced away as I said that, not meaning for the words to slip out.
“Why’s that?” He cocked his head to the side, dropping his hands to his side.
“I don’t know.” I hedged, but I could see he was waiting for an answer. “I just don’t feel like I have to be on guard, then. It feels almost, normal, when you’re here.” I didn’t look at him during that last part. It sounded too close to a confession to me. I enjoyed his company and knew we were turning into close friends. With him in the house, I could almost forget why I was there in the first place.
It was quiet for a second and I couldn’t resist, I had to look up in his direction. He was looking at me with a smile on his face. It was a cute smile. Like he was thinking “you’re adorable” kind of smile. He stepped closer to me, pulled the knife out of my hand, set it behind me, and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. I was startled at first, not sure how to take this out-of-the-ordinary contact. But it felt really good to be close. I wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head against his shoulder. This felt like home. I sighed and couldn’t help the smile that came to my lips. He leaned his head against mine and rubbed one of his hands up and down my back.
“This should feel normal. I know I’m not family but you should feel comfortable here, Ashley.” He kissed the top of my head before pulling back to look at my face. “But we do have to curb your unconscious need to put yourself in danger.” He smirked down at me. I glared back at him and pushed off his chest.
“I do not have an unconscious need to put myself in danger.” I turned back to the meat before continuing. “Will you get the taco shells out for me?” He chuckled but did as I asked. We moved around the kitchen well together. We never ran into each other and Nathan usually anticipated anything I needed. Surprising what 3 months of living together would do to a couple. Not that we were a couple. I shook my head and focused on preparing supper.
Just as we were setting the table with all the food, the front door opened. I froze and Nathan leapt in front of me so whoever it was couldn’t see me.
“What the hell, Jesse?” Nathan yelled. I sighed and relaxed. Jesse was Nathan’s older brother by two years, four years older than myself. He was the same height as Nathan, just a little stockier and usually had some scruff going on. You could tell they were brothers because they had the same hair and eye color, besides the tell-tale facial features.
Jesse discovered I was living at Nathan’s by accident when he stopped late one night and found Nathan and I watching a movie together on the couch. Not that we were snuggling or anything. A good two feet separated us, but Jesse still made assumptions. We set him straight and since there was no stopping him from just popping over whenever, he did have a key after all, we both came to accept it. Although, Nathan did ask that Jesse give us a heads up if he was stopping by, just to avoid stressful situations like the one we were currently in. I peeked around Nathan and saw Jesse grinning as he walked toward us.
“Oh, right. I’m supposed to text or call. My bad.” He was totally unrepentant.
“Whatever.” Nathan rumbled. Sighing he asked, “What do you want?” We watched him as he grabbed another plate, cup, and silverware (all of which were courtesy of my apartment) and sat down at the table.
“Food of course. Ashley cooks better than I do.” He gave me puppy dog eyes before ruining it by smirking. I smiled at his antics.
“You could have asked.” Nathan said heatedly.
“Could have. But you have all this food. I wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed Nathan towards his seat and I followed suit. “There is a thing called leftovers, you know.”
“Never heard of them.” Jesse said as he piled his tacos with toppings. Sighing, I had to laugh internally at Jesse’s playfulness.
“So you stopped by just to eat all the food?” Nathan asked as he filled his plate.
“Thought I’d share what I heard in town today.” I froze, knowing that I wasn’t going to like this train of conversation. Jesse looked at me, concern finally breaking through. “There’s talk of the aliens courting the women who registered. Some say a few of the women have even gone to the ships with them.”
“What do you mean courting?” I asked. “I mean, there’s proof of them coming down here to take women on dates and stuff?”
“I guess.” He shrugged. “The alien guys are trying to play by human etiquette. They apparently think this will win over our women faster.”
“Anyone we know?” Nathan asked as he continued to eat. I looked down at my untouched plate and started eating. Had to keep my strength up after all, right?
“No, most are from the bigger cities. Higher population and all that. Probably better odds for them.” He sighed and added, “Some are saying that they took some against their will to the ships.”
“That’s just rumor though, right?” I asked nervously, looking between Nathan and Jesse.
“Who knows? We can’t really trust them. They aren’t sharing the technology they said they would simply because not enough of our women registered.” I looked down but Jesse hurried to say, “Which is bullshit. If they have the technology to save lives they shouldn’t withhold it. That’s just cruel.”
“I agree,” Nathan said around a mouthful of food. He swallowed before adding, “If that is the kind of creatures they are, we shouldn’t have anything to do with them.”
“The government doesn’t even know what to do. Since they brokered a deal saying they would get a certain percentage signed up, and failed, they can’t even do anything about them not giving up any information.”
“What would they do?” I asked incredulously. “Those guys have mastered space travel. You think anything we have would do any damage or be a threat?”
“No,” Nathan sighed. “Probably not.”
“It’s freaky how much they look like us though, you know?” Jesse commented. “They could probably pass off as a human if they weren’t freakishly large and sporting large swords strapped to their backs all the time.”
“Have you heard from my parents?” I asked, changing the subject. I didn’t want to dwell on the aliens any more than I had too. Especially when one in particular kept popping up in my dreams…nightmares, I mean.
“Not lately.” Jesse shook his head. “It still feels weird to be the messenger when you only live a few miles from them.”
“I know.” I bit my lip before adding, “I’m sorry for that.”
“Nah, I don’t mind. Just is different.” He shrugged. “Last I heard your dad was done with the first cutting of hay.”
“That’s good.” I nodded. It was sad how starved I was for news of my family. But, it was my choice to hide. I had to live with the consequences. We spent the rest of the meal talking about farming or nothing in particular. When the table was cleared and dishes washed, it appeared Jesse wasn’t in any hurry to leave. Not that I minded. It was nice to see another face once in a while. I settled in to my favorite chair with my laptop. While I didn’t use the internet, I could use the time to write my stories. I had to have something to fill my time. Nathan and Jesse joined me a few minutes later and watched baseball on TV while continuing their conversation. I smiled thinking that this felt almost…normal.
