Chapter 10

Vlad brought the ship closer to the Hannibal. He engaged in the docking procedure and performed the task perfectly. Lydia was getting more impressed with his flying abilities, but she was still better. The clear docking tube extended to the airlock of the Enigma and then loud clenching sound followed. With the docking tube secured, the crew waited until the tube pressurized. Simona and Faith escorted the prisoner from the brig. Powerful magnetic restraints fastened the drillus’s wrists together and Simon carried a shock stick set on at maximum voltage that would put him down fast if he tried to escape. The crew walked down the docking tube. Faith stared at the stars, she was getting used to space and admire the beauty of cosmos. They arrived at Hannibal’s airlock. It unlocked and they greeted by a six-person security team armed with sidearms, and a young blonde-haired man accompanied the security team.

“Welcome aboard, Dr. Carson,” said the blond-haired man.

Lydia frowned. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m sorry,” the man said. “Where are my matters? I’m Warren Haden. I filled in for you while you were on assignment.” He stared at the beaten drillus and looked at his security team. “That the beast to his cell. We’ll talk to him later.” The security team escorted the prisoner out of the airlock. The drillus snapped at Warren as the guards walked him by. Warren didn’t even flinch. Then his eyes spotted the striking purple creature. “You are one of the beautiful beings I have ever seen.” He gently grabbed her hand and kissed it. “It’s a human custom. I hope you didn’t mind.”

“Not at all,” Ezi replied adding more seductive tone to her voice.

“The pleasure was all my.”

“I see you adjusted your translator,” Lydia added.

“Of course,” he said with a slight smirk on his face. “One should always be prepared.”

“Are you going to kiss my hand?” Faith joked.

“You must be Faith,” he said. His eyes scanned her body. “You are small, tiny really.” Warren stood a half a meter taller than her. “It surprising that you have the strength of three men. I heard a lot about you and I can’t wait to hear more.”

“I heard nothing about you,” Faith said. “If you want to know more, read the reports. I’m not telling you anything.”

“You still have fire in your blood,” he said. “I bet it still burns.”

“I don’t trust you.” Faith said with only her lips moved, her jaws stay shut.

“You will grow to trust me, Faith,” Warren said.

“I doubt it,” Faith snarled back.

Warren directed his attention to Lydia. “I will escort your crew to their quarters. Amulius wants to talk to you once you came aboard.”

“I will see him now.” Lydia excused herself from the group.

Warren walked them through the ship. The guest quarters were on the third deck. The crew of the Hannibal took notice of the shavili. She was exotic, sexy and very different. The crew was drawn to her like ships to a black hole. They knew it was dangerous, but they couldn’t resist. Ezi did not help the situation. She flirted at them by winking, giggling and flashing her special smile that would make one feel like their the only one in the room.

Warren gave them a brief tour of their quarters. Faith already had a room, so she didn’t need Warren’s guidance and broke from the group. Faith didn’t like Warren and wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. She faced highly trained soldiers, both human and drilli, and showed no fear, but Warren made her skin crawl.

Lydia met Amulius and Captain Jackson in the briefing room. Captain Jackson appeared to be less irritated than usual. He smiled when Lydia entered the room. Amulius was standing in front of the room staring at several holographic screens. The screens showed the drilli responding to the destruction of the shipyard.

“Look at the chaos you created,” said Amulius. His back was facing the group.

“Those baboons don’t know how to handle this,” said the captain.

Lydia’s eyes were moving back and forward from screen to screen. “What’s going on?”

Amulius turned around and faced the group. “We were able to hack into their network and their tears are so sweet.”

“Your crew outdid themselves,” said the captain.

“Your action might send the drilli into a civil war,” Amulius boosted. “They are blaming the attack on a homegrown terrorist group.”

“The drilli don’t have a terrorist group,” answered Lydia.

“They do now,” said the captain, “thanks to the fast thinking from your boss.”

Lydia looked at Amulius. “What is he talking about?”

“Warren and I were able to start a quick propaganda campaign,” Amulius explained. “We flooded their network with anti-government sentiments. We named the group, Jazhung, which is drilli for ‘struggle.’ Now, we are going to give the movement a face.” Amulius pulled up another screen with the face of the defeated drilli captain.

“You got to be kidding,” said Lydia. “He is a respected officer. No one will believe he is a terrorist.”

“There is an old saying on Earth,” said Amulius. “Brighter the picture, darker the negative.”

“Amulius, this is insane,” said Lydia, “but brilliant, if you can pull it off. But the risk is high. If the drilli find out, it is all-out war. The nessians might get involved. The Association will turn against us.”

“Details, details,” said the captain.

“These are significant details, Captain Jackson,” said Lydia. “We could be charged with interstellar war crimes.”

“Focus on the groundwork,” said Amulius. “We’ll take care of the details.” He closed the screen by waving his hand in front of them. “What did you get from the shavili?”

“Bioelectric research,” said Lydia. She took out her datapad and scan over the information. “Am not sure this will help us with AMPED, but I will get your people to look at it.” She uploaded the data on Amulius’s pad.

Amulius quickly reviewed the information. “We might be able to do something with it.” He placed the pad on the table. “Your missions will be more complex with this new development. Your targets will be more carefully selected.”

Lydia looked down at her pad, avoiding direct eye contact. “This is going to be hard, but we will prevail.” Lydia was aware of what type of targets would be attacked, civilian targets. She didn’t want that much blood on her hands, but she had a mission to complete.

“I don’t have any doubts,” said Amulius. “But I sense uneasiness.”

“Maybe she is losing her nerves,” the captain grinned. “Maybe Warren might have to take over. He is smart, calculating and has no morals.”

“I think it will be more beneficial to attack military targets,” said Lydia. “Let the drilli attack their own civilians.”

“Set them up,” answered Amulius.

“Exactly,” said Lydia. “Why should we do all the hard work?”

“I hate to admit it,” said Captain Jackson, “but she has a point.”

Amulius stroked his goatee. “We have the means to pull it off. You haven’t lost your touch. I know what you are thinking. Don’t worry about Warren taking your job. We have other plans for him.”

“I wasn’t worried at all,” said Lydia. “He could never replace me.”

“What about the shavili?” Captain Jackson asked. “I’m not comfortable with an alien around sensitive information.

“We are keeping close tabs on her,” answered Lydia. “She is becoming a real asset to the crew.”

“Well,” said the captain. “She is a pretty thing. I bet everybody on the ship wants to fuck her, including me. Hell, if I was ten years younger...”

“You’ll still be too old,” interrupted Lydia. “We will continue to watch her.”

Faith sat on the floor of her quarters, downtime was hard for her. She felt the need to be useful or doing something productive. Meditating was one way to pass the time, but her mind couldn’t get focus. Memories, thoughts ran around in her brain. Thoughts of her parents, Roat-At-Tat, Lydia, Ezi and the mission all crushed in her head. Faith tried harder to focus and remove the thoughts of the past, present, and future, but she failed when the sweet, spicy aroma of Ezi subdued of the young woman’s nose. It brought a smile to Faith’s face, she loved Ezi’s scent.

“What is wrong, little one?” Ezi asked.

“I don’t like to be left alone with my thoughts,” answered Faith.

“Your thoughts must be dark and painful,” said Ezi. “Please, share them with me.”

“My thoughts aren’t dark or painful, Ezi,” said Faith. “They are confusing.”

“What do you mean?” Ezi sat next to her.

Faith’s let out a big sigh. “This mission is off. I’m getting a bad sense about it. We killed thousands of drilli and we are not even at war. It is not even a conflict.”

“The drilli killed a lot of my sisters at the base,” said Ezi. “They killed your parents. They enslaved hundreds of our people. They are not innocent.”

Faith held her head in her hands. “Humans had done bad things as well.”

Ezi put her arms around Faith’s shoulder. “None of our races are innocent. We all done horrible things. We are a result of some of the things. We both were made into a weapon.”

“Lydia wields us at well,” said Faith.

Ezi’s eyes perp up. “That’s the real reason. It’s Lydia or your feeling for her. Does she really care about you or are you just a tool?”

“Lydia is my friend, I think.”

“She shared with me that she is your friend,” Ezi ensured, “and she does care about you. But your feelings for her go deep, deeper than friendship.”

Faith laid back on the floor with her arms folded behind her head. Her top lifted up exposing the very bottom of her breasts. Her nipples still covered, but one could see the impression of them through her top. Faith never wore a bra or anything thing for support. Gravity was very good to her. “I do have feelings for her, but I know that she doesn’t feel the same way.”

Ezi laid down next to her, their arms slightly touching. Ezi grabbed Faith’s hand. “So, I was half right. Your thoughts are painful.”

Faith faced the purple beauty. “Shut the hell up,” she laughed.

Ezi sat up. “Let me show you a meditation technique that will clear your mind. Sit up and turn your back to me.”

Faith did as she was told and crossed her legs. “Are you going to do something weird?”

“No,” said Ezi. “Trust me. Close your eyes and relax.”

Ezi sat up on her knees and placed her hands on Faith’s shoulders and rubbed them. The tips of Ezi’s fingernails stroked Faith’s arms. The shavili’s hands moved to Faith’s abdomen. Ezi felt her friend’s body tensed up.

“Relax,” said Ezi.

Ezi felt the contours of Faith’s stomach and released a low-grade shock. It sent a tingling sensation through Faith’s body. Small sparks could be seen coming from Ezi’s fingertips. Goosebumps formed on Faith’s skin as a warm and cold feeling surged in her. Ezi sled one of her hands under Faith’s top, caressing the soft and tender breasts of the dark hair pixie.

“What the hell?” Faith grabbed Ezi’s wrist. “What are you doing?”

“Relax, little one,” Ezi said. “Trust me.” The shavili released several shocks which sent hundreds of little earthquakes throughout Faith’s body.

Faith let go of Ezi’s wrist. “Damn,” The word rolling out of Faith’s mouth, followed by a deep moan. Her breathing increased and her body started to perspire.

Ezi’s lips pressed against the soft moisten skin of Faith’s shoulder, feeding on the nervous energy that Faith’s body was giving off. Ezi moved from the shoulder and planted slow soft kisses on Faith’s neck.

Faith’s head rolled back. “” Faith said in her second tongue.

Ezi didn’t understand Faith but understood the intergalactic language of raw lust. Her hand slipped down and underneath Faith’s shorts. The shavili caressed the soft soaked folds between Faith’s legs, slipped in two fingers and delivered a small control shock.

“” Faith yelled and fell back onto Ezi. Faith shook and she let out several loud moans and a series of pants. Faith never experienced this feeling before, never had joy rush throughout of her body. Ezi’s legs wrapped around Faith, locking down the young warrior. The raven hair darling turned and stared into the yellow eyes of the purple creature. A strong urge came over Faith as she was drawn to Ezi. The two kissed like they wanted to devour each other. Faith rolled on top and the two continued to kiss. Faith’s tongue slipped passed dark lips of Ezi. Faith loved the way Ezi smelled, but she really liked the way the shavili’s lips tasted, but Faith wanted to taste more. Faith’s lips moved down to the side of Ezi’s neck and took a small bite, not too hard, but enough to get the Ezi’s attention.

“Was that a drillus thing or human?” Ezi questioned.

“Both,” Faith said. “You are bringing it out of me.” Faith liked Ezi and there was an attraction but Faith’s body was only reacting to Ezi’s advances. It was all physical and Faith wasn’t emotionally invested. It was erratic lust.

“Faith,” Lydia’s voice rang in Faith ear. The two stopped their zealous embrace. Faith climbed off of Ezi and composed herself and answered the call.

“Yeah, Lydia,” Faith panted.

“I need you to come to my quarters,” asked Lydia.

“On my way,” Faith sounded out of breath.

“You been working out,” said Lydia. “You sound tired.”

“Yeah,” she responded.

“Wash up,” said Lydia, “and put on something nice.”

“Okay, Faith out.”

Ezi smiled her devilish grin. “Go back to your true mistress, little one.” Ezi stroke the side of Faith’s face.”

“What the hell was that?” Faith asked.

“Just a sample of the unbridled longing we share,” Ezi replied. “Go see what your mistress wants. We will continue this conversation later.”

“I don’t recall much talking.”