Ark: A Scifi Alien Romance
touching her again, of making her my mate.

    I shook my head, trying to clear the thoughts away. The Kreossian Empire’s most fearsome warrior laid low by a human woman? Reduced to this lack of strength? This wouldn’t do at all.

    At the same time, though, a voice in the back of my head made it clear to me that while I could fight this development, or, rather, this revelation of fate, in the long run this would not be a war I could win.

    Still, though, I needed to retain my focus as long as possible and make sure I was still equipped to handle this and any other mission.

    I sat up on the slab in my room, pulling my knees in closer and hooking my arms around them while looking out the window into the blackness of space. I was not cold or uncomfortable - the questions that jump into one’s thoughts when staring out at the emptiness beyond, questions of mortality and meaning and relevance and significance, didn’t cross my path.  

    If anything, I was comfortable with who I was - I had fought long and hard to get to this point and that kind of survival and success didn’t come to one who questioned himself.

    The voice in the back of my head didn’t speak of such questions, such thoughts. The voice spoke of Melissa Crane of Earth, and I knew better than to try and silence it. Hopefully, it would recede into the fog and I could ignore it until this mission was over, and I could find a new battle to fight, a new war to win, far, far away from Earth, instead of child-rearing jobs like this.

    Admiral Kaalax, for all the glory and conquest he had achieved, had grown soft in his old age. He thought more of diplomacy and high-minded notions of togetherness, when I knew the truth, the truth Kaalax seemed to have forgotten: the galaxy was a cold and unflinching expanse that would destroy all inside it without the blink of an eye given the half the chance.

    Survival was a constant struggle, and making friends with insignificant weakling races didn’t make the Kreossians any more able to stand the terrors that waited in the infinite night.

    Of course, I didn’t have to agree with Admiral Kaalax, I just had to follow the man’s orders, which I would do without question. Still, as I looked out into the darkness and tried to focus on individual stars, I wondered which of them held battles that would excite me.

    I sighed as I turned to look back at the bare and drab room. Until this mission was over and I could make my way to those battles, I would have to settle for the excitement that came from peaceful negotiations. I laughed again to the empty room, but the laughter rang hollow.

    Of course, Melissa Crane of Earth did offer a different kind of excitement. But as soon as the thought came to mind, I tried to banish it - it would do no good to indulge these fantasies. Melissa was not my mate and would never be. I would not let myself be consumed by her.

    I swung my feet off the slab and stood up, raising my arms and moving them about while squatting down as low as I could go, beginning the traditional Kreossian warrior’s morning calisthenics routine. Some warriors in the empire thought themselves too advanced and powerful for such rituals, but I had learned through experience that relying on the old ways took the guesswork out of things - routines like this became routines for a reason.

    I completed the ritual, feeling the muscles that coursed all over my body stretch and wake up, ready for whatever the day would bring. Even if all I would do was sit and listen to Ambassador Fuller and Admiral Kaalax talk while trying not to stare at Melissa Crane, it felt good to have the muscles move around a little bit, keep them on edge for the future. A warrior was only as good as he kept his body lean and ready.

    I looked at the chronometer on the wall, the only adornment in the entire room. It was early - the day’s meeting was not scheduled to begin for a while. I liked to wake up early; I liked to think it gave me an advantage

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