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Racking her brain, she tried to wrap her mind around the information he had given her. It couldn’t be true, could it? Why would she be sent to confront enemy forces that had no intention of attacking Earth?
* * *
That night, Edagon slept beside her for the first time, pulling her small body into his much larger one, and she couldn’t help but feel something for the man.
She didn’t hate him. He’d been a harsh master thus far, but fair. She’d been embarrassed to be spanked, but it had left no lasting marks on her skin. There had been moments where he could have slapped her, maimed her, and physically hurt her in a way that she couldn’t recover from, but he hadn’t.
He was the enemy commander. It was practically expected of him to make an example of her. He could murder her in cold blood and not a single person in this world would blink an eye. Instead, he’d touched her with tenderness and answered her probing questions.
Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she could be happy with him.
Eventually, Aubrie fell into a fitful sleep, plagued by dreams where Edagon would both protect her and hurt her, leaving her in a state of confusion that shook her to the core.
The next morning, she awoke to a loud booming noise, feeling Edagon stir beside her. A protective arm wound around her waist, pulling her closer to him than before and she couldn’t deny that it felt good. He kissed the top of her head and she shivered.
The sound boomed once again and Edagon sat straight up. He jumped out of bed, pulling on a pair of pants and slipping on a pair of thick combat boots.
“Get up, Aubrie. Put on your dress,” he ordered and she obeyed without a fuss. She wondered what was happening, if there was some sort of explosion, if they were under attack. Rubbing her hand over the back of her neck, she tried not to hope that it was the Earthen forces come to rescue her.
Everything happened so quickly then as the two of them finished dressing in record time.
In order to get to the command center as quickly as possible, he had taken her and thrown her over his shoulder. She had tried to protest, but only earned a few harsh swats to her bottom and she relented. Instead, she had memorized the path they had taken to get there, focusing her efforts on more important things than escaping her embarrassing position. He spirited her away to what was a single room protected deep underneath the tall tower she’d arrived on.
The command center was a place she would have never seen if it weren’t for her current predicament. She was surrounded by alien technology, radars that far surpassed Earth’s, weapons she couldn’t identify, and a communication intel that connected a vast amount of alien networks all in one. She studied everything, making sure to stay out of the way as Edagon commanded his forces.
She saw no mention of Earth, no matter where she looked.
“What’s happening?” he roared as he stalked to the front of the room.
“Commander Edagon, a small legion of enemy forces has broken into the airspace of the dome. Pretending to be Venassathi ships, they have entered and begun to bomb our city. One of the ships whereabouts is unknown,” an alien man responded.
“Do we know their origin?” Edagon pressed.
“No. We have not had contact yet. We’ve initiated, but there hasn’t been any response,” the same alien responded. Aubrie guessed the man was second in command to Edagon.
“Last known location of the missing ship?”
“Near us, sir. The ship landed and disappeared just a few blocks away,” he responded.
“Put a team together and send them to investigate. Keep the mission stealth. I demand they do not engage. Have them report back to command as soon as they find anything,” Edagon ordered as he studied the incoming ship logs.
Aubrie sat down in a nearby seat and tried to stay out of the way. The back of her neck itched and she scratched it, noticing that there was a bump growing there. She felt it again, realizing it was also in the same location of the tracking device that had been inserted ages ago when she joined the military. Until now, she hadn’t given the thing a second thought.
Her arm tingled then, almost as if an electronic signal was passing through her veins.
Something inside her mind clicked then and a transmission began.
“Commander Aubrie Kent. This is Sergeant Logan Shepard. Earthen forces have breached the dome of the Venassathi city where you’re being held captive. We know your coordinates but need you to try to get somewhere on higher ground so that we may rescue you. Once you are in a safe location, please tap your finger twice on the back of your neck to confirm. End message.”
Startled, she looked around to ensure that no one else had heard the male voice that had just played in her head. Blinking, she realized that the tracking device within her body must have other functions, such as emergency communication with prisoners of war. She watched Edagon for a long moment, seeing how busy he was and how much his people respected him.
As she wandered around the room, he didn’t seem to notice any of her movements. Scrutinizing her surroundings, she saw two exits. She moved closer toward the one she and Edagon had come through, and no one had any care for her carefully calculated explorations. It was a stark reminder that on this planet, she was nothing to anyone, a human slave owned by their commander.
An alien male entered the room, and she slipped out the door behind him. Quickly, she ran around the corner and waited, her ears met with overwhelming silence. Considering her options, she returned to the path they had taken to get to the command center. There was an elevator, but she also saw a door indicating stairs nearby. Remembering that Edagon had used his palm in order to power the elevator, she elected to dash toward the stairs.
Flight after flight, she tore upward at a full sprint, hearing nothing behind her but the heavy beating of her own heart. Eventually, after what seemed like forever, she reached the top of the building. She was alone as she emerged out into the open air.
Taking in her surroundings, she saw a pile of crates and quickly moved to hide herself behind them. It took a long moment to catch her breath.
