ALTERNATE TALES OF THE STAR FORCE
STAR BLAZERS---THE NET TIGHTENS
Being the fourth part of THE NEW COMET--- BY: Frederick P. Kopetz
This Act is being completed with the Cooperation and Assistance of Derek A.C. Wakefield (as usual)---Freddo
ACT THREE: MORE WAR…
I. INVESTIGATIONS
Space Battleship Argo
1,500 Lightyears Away from Earth
Monday, May 19, 2206
0145 Hours: Earth Time
Commodore Derek Wildstar was facing a dilemna.
The Argo had warped out to a location in deep space where several patrol ships had picked up some strong Cometine signals in the past few days. When they arrived there, there was nothing on the radar, and no sign of the enemy…
…at least, not until now.
Lieutenant Victoria Becker, the Argo’s new Living Group Leader, sat at the cosmo-radar in Nova’s usual place. She said, “Sir, I have something.”
“Where is it?” said Wildstar.
“It’s on the Time Radar, sir. This was in our space about five hours ago. Image amplified and enhanced and sent to main video panel…”
A moment later, an image of an enemy fleet appeared on the screen. Becker said, “It looks like a carrier, two battleships, four missile cruisers, ten destroyers and ten submarines.”
“Twenty-seven ships,” said Sandor. “Can we figure out which way they were going?”
“It’s hard to tell from the image,” said Domon.
“I don’t quite have a clear vector on it, either,” said Becker. “There’s not enough data to come up with a solution.”
“Can’t you get one?” said Wildstar.
“No, sir,” said Becker as she began to sweat.
I’ll bet Nova could have done it, Derek thought bitterly. Luckily, he kept that thought to himself.
The question of which location the fleet was going became a moot point a moment later when Eager cried out, “Missiles approachin’ from starboard! Big wave of missiles!”
“All hands, to
combat stations!” yelled Wildstar as Kitano turned the Argo about. Only
one missile hit the Argo as a Cometine group of missile ships showed
itself on Becker’s Cosmo Radar as the First Star Force’s new foe.
“So much for investigating the enemy, huh?” said Sandor with a twisted grin.
“We can investigate later,” snapped back Commodore Wildstar. “After we reduce this bunch to debris, that is.”
“I’ve got a bead on the enemy fleet,” said Becker. “Distance, fourteen megameters, bearing thirty degrees to starboard, and speed, ten space knots and accelerating.”
“I have a bead and bearing on the fleet,” said Domon. “All guns, track to thirty starboard, elevation angle, maxiumum.”
The Argo shook again from another wave of missiles and took a little damage.
This can’t be as simple as it seems, thought Wildstar. There’s something behind this, but what is it? What is it?
II. SETTING A TRAP…
Cometine Spacecraft Carrier Dekgavis
1,500 Lightyears Away from Earth
Monday, May 19, 2206
0145 Hours: Earth Time
General Dalkon, per his orders from Invidia some weeks ago, was heading towards Rotella, but he and his forces had decided to try some attacks around the vicinity of Earth in the hopes of drawing out the Argo and the Arizona. Now, he was glad to find out that his efforts had borne some fruit.
“So,” he said in a transmission to his Third Missile Cruiser Squadron Commander, Captain Megara. “You’ve got the Argo pinned down?”
“Yes, sir. And the Second Fleet also has the Arizona in combat near Pluto.”
“Excellent,” said Dalkon. “Launch all planes. I want the Argo battered beyond recognition!”
On the bridge of his carrier, Dalkon’s executive officer nodded as he did an about-face to carry out his skipper’s orders.
Dalkon ordered his planes launched.
Soon, they were attacking the Argo, causing a fair amount of damage.
However, Wildstar ordered Hardy and the rest of the Black Tigers to launch a counterattack. Soon, Hartcliffe’s squadron was driving away the Cometine attack boats, while Hardy’s squadron flew in to attack the enemy carrier and its destroyer escorts.
“We’re under attack?” snapped Dalkon.
“Affirmed, sir,” said his new executive officer, a Captain Vallis. He had recently killed his previous XO for not obeying orders quickly enough. “How many of them?”
“Twelve enemy planes,” said Vallis.
Dalkon laughed. “They can’t do us any damage! Order our gunners to begin to take them out like rats infesting a basement back home in And…”
The Dekgavis
shook a moment later as Hardy himself pumped a missile into one of her hangar
bays.
“Not bad!” laughed Hardy as he dodged a laser beam that came from one of the enemy carrier’s turrets.
As Vallis got up from the deck, he said, “Sir, should we be laughing?”
“Perhaps not,” hissed Dalkon. “They’re so experienced, it might take some more effort to take them out. Order our own fighters to launch and…”
The carrier shook again a moment later as she took a hit right down one of the elevators.
“I would recommend retreating to a safer area!” snapped Vallis.
“It might be a good idea,” responded Dalkon as he saw two of his destroyers blown apart. “Perhaps we can lure the Argo towards Rotella and finish them off there? They might be foolhardy enough to follow us…”
“Not a bad idea,” said Vallis as the Dekgavis shook from another hit. “All ships!” he snapped. “Prepare to warp out towards Rotella in two minutes. Repeat, emergency warp, two minutes!”
On the Argo, Lieutenant Kumyat said, from Artillery on the First Bridge, “Captain Wildstar, all of the enemy missile ships are in one location. Main guns ready, and they’re in range.”
“We can’t take much more of this,” said Wildstar as he stood next to Sandor and saw that the Argo had taken more damage from missiles. “Open fire now!”
“Main guns, open
fire!” barked Domon from his place.
Soon, the Argo’s guns went off, destroying two of the missile cruisers.
“Domon, order the Black Tigers back to base. We’re going to finish off that carrier now.”
“Yessir. Black Tigers, return to the ship!”
“Roguh!” said Hardy.
The planes began to return to the Argo a moment later.
When they began to land, Domon relined the guns on the rest of Dalkon’s fleet. He had the fleet in his sights when it warped away.
“What?” he said.
“They’ve warped out!” said Becker. “Heading, off straight towards the Andromeda Nebula! Course, RPX-212 by RGA-40. We might be able to extrapolate where they went by following that course…”
“It’ll take us time,” said Sandor as he walked up to Wildstar. “The Argo’s taken some heavy damage. It’ll take a few days to make repairs.”
“Homer, can we call Earth?” said Wildstar.
“I was meaning to tell you, sir,” said Homer. “That last missile hit…it damaged the main radio antenna. We can’t send or receive…at least until we get it fixed…”
“Damn…what a spot,” said Wildstar as he sat down angrily at his post. “We were supposed to report back home…and now…we can’t…”
III. DEKE’S HOMECOMING
The Vicinity of Pluto
Space Battleship Arizona
Monday, May 19, 2206
0248 Hours: Earth Time
When the enemy sub fired again, Deke blotted out his rage about Brew being missing and he was ready to take it out. He attacked the sub with all of his guns blazing and he and Hollingsfield blew several holes in the sub. As he gritted his teeth and swung off, Hollingsfield said, “Pull out! I’ll give it the coup de grace!”
“Got it!” hissed Deke.
Hollingsfield finished off the sub while Deke snapped about and attacked two Scorpions with his remaining missiles. Then, a moment after that, Deke heard Conroy in his headset. “All planes, return to base at once! The Arizona’s about to fire!”
“Sir!” said Deke. “Ensign Marrable is missing!”
“Missing?”
“We were separated in the battle! I don’t know where he is!”
Conroy was silent and then he said, “Wakefield, we’ll deal with it back on the ship. Return to base!”
“Sir..?”
“Return to base!” snapped Conroy. “Acknowledge!”
“Roger,” said Deke as tears ran down his face. “Returning to base!”
Deke then gritted his teeth and followed Hollingsfield as, far away, the remaining remnants of the nearby enemy fleet tried to regroup.
Back aboard the Arizona, Captain Venture said, “Where’s the enemy fleet?”
At the Cosmo-Radar, Nova (who was sharing this position with Aliscea) said, “They’re disorganized, Captain. Part of the enemy fleet is one megameter behind the submarine force that the Sun Tigers routed; there’s just one submarine left and a group of five planes. Behind them, I’m still tracking a small carrier, six destroyers, two missile cruisers. Range, nine megameters, speed, twenty-one space knots and accelerating! The carrier is at the rear of the formation!”
“We need to recover our planes, first,” said Rosstowski.
“Missiles approaching! Incoming missiles!” barked Junior Lieutenant O’Caffrey from the tactical radar. “Brace for hit!” he snapped.
A moment later, the Arizona trembled from a major missile hit.
“Where is Conroy, Rosstowski?” asked Venture.
“He says they’re beginning to arrive back aboard ship, sir!” barked Rosstowski.
“Second wave of missiles!” yelled Nova. “Enemy fleet is now at eight megameters!”
“Ten degrees port!” said Captain Venture.
“Turning ten degrees to port,” said Holly Venture a moment later from her post at the helm as she turned the handles hard. “Evading missiles!”
“All planes are in!” said Rosstowski.
“Mister Rosstowski, prepare to fire main guns,” said Venture. “Time’s running out!”
“Enemy Fleet, distance, five point five megameters, speed, twenty-six space knots!” said Nova. “Bearing, RX-225!”
“Roger that!” said Rosstowski. “Main guns, to RX-225!”
Deke Wakefield jumped out of his plane after the ship landed and was on his journey on its lift upwards to its docking space when he noticed a familiar figure yelling as he played a fire extinguisher over a plane parked at the lowest level of the docking bays.
“Damnit!” yelled a familiar voice. “Damnit to hell!”
“Brew?” said Deke.
“Hey, Deke!” yelled Brew as he laughed after he put out a small fire that was burning on his plane. “Damn plane! In the battle, one of my thrusters got all fouled up and it made me start spinning! Turns out it wasn’t checked out right! I got out of the battle and I was just chewing the maintenance crew idiots a new asshole when you landed!”
“I’m glad you made it, man!” laughed Deke as he hugged Brew.
“Hey, I’m glad, too,” said Brew.
A moment later, the deck vibrated below their feet and a loud set of bangs came through the Arizona’s superstructure.
“What the hell is that?” said Brew.
Deke dragged Brew to a viewport as he and several other pilots and flight crew members cheered as the Arizona’s main guns went off. A moment later, several explosions lit up space.
“I think that’s the end of that bunch!” said Wakefield.
“And I think we need to get into the ready room to debrief,” said Lieutenant Ambrose as she looked at her squadron. “All twelve of you guys made it back…good show. We’ll go over who shot down what later on.”
“Is the battle over, ma’am?” asked another pilot.
“That’s what I heard,” said Ambrose. “Now, let’s get going. We’ll be up a while tonight…”
A while later, Nova Wildstar sat in her Living Group Leader’s office, meeting with Aliscea (who was helping some nurses with recovery of the few wounded from the battle) and with the ship’s surgeon, Doctor Patricia Bradford. They were discussing the aftermath of the battle.
“Well, it wasn’t too bad, overall,” said Aliscea.
“You’ll see worse, if you’re serious in wanting to learn nursing and medicine as well as helping out every now and then with those Pellian abilities of yours,” said Bradford.
“I’m no teenager, remember,” said Aliscea. “I saw worse on Pellias than you ever have!”
“And I think you have to learn to pay your dues,” said Doctor Bradford.
“Dues?” snapped Aliscea Rosstowski. “I’ve paid my dues, you…”
“Both of you, cool it!” snapped Nova. “You two are giving me a headache!”
“You’re gonna have lots of headaches, Wildstar, if you want to be a doctor some day,” said Bradford.
“She has a point,” said Aliscea.
“What point?” said Bradford.
“The point I mean to make with you, Doctor,” snapped Aliscea as she stared hard into Doctor Bradford’s eyes.
“The point you mean to make with me,” said Bradford in a slow voice that shocked Nova. Nova thought, Is she using some kind of Pellian Mind Trick on Doctor Bradford?
“Now I think we should get out of here,” said Aliscea.
“I think we should get out of here,” said Bradford in a robotic voice. Nova shook her head as she realized, Aliscea…you are doing this! Stop playing games!
“Let’s go,” said Aliscea.
“Let’s go,” said Bradford in a dull voice as she left.
Nova looked aghast at Aliscea, and said, “You weren’t supposed to do that! She is your superior officer!”
However, the Pellian just shrugged and smiled as Bradford went down the passage.
“Don’t make this a regular tactic, Aliscea,” said Nova.
“I’ll try not to,” said Aliscea with an evil grin. “Good night, ma’am.”
A few minutes later, Nova brushed her hair out of her eyes and sat back in her office chair as she was suddenly disturbed by some banging from inside a storage locker in her office.
“Now what is it?” said Nova. “Who’s in here?”
“I am,” piped up a familiar electronic voice.
“What?” said Nova. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
Nova opened the locker and IQ-9 tumbled out, crashing to the deck on his back before Nova’s feet.
“Tinwit, you are not the ninth class that’s supposed to be aboard this ship!” snapped Nova.
“That other stupid ninth class and I made a deal and we made a swap last night before we left Earth,” said IQ-9.
“Why?”
“I have a hunch that you might need me around this cruise.”
“Robots don’t have hunches,” huffed Nova.
“I do,” said IQ-9 as he got up. “I have this sense you are in danger. All of my circuits are pulsing with it. I feel I need to protect you without Commodore Wildstar around to do it. Besides, I found this bag you had in here.”
“Thanks, I knew it was there; besides, that gear bag’s not mine,” said Nova. “It belongs to someone I need to have a talk with in a minute. Why do you feel I’m in danger?”
“We will be confronting front-line forces of the Comet Empire. Without Wildstar around, I compute you are in greater danger. To help Wildstar and keep you safe, you need to be protected. I will do it.”
A tap came at the hatch from outside. Nova called out, “Come in!” Then, the hatch opened, and a tired-looking Deke Wakefield stumbled in. IQ-9 went quiet as he came in, and Deke barely seemed to notice the robot’s presence.
“You called my cabin and asked me to come down here, ma’am? What do you need?”
“You thought you lost this?” said Nova as, with a look of shock on his face, she handed him the B-4 gear bag he had left aboard the Argo by mistake back in March.
Deke recognized the beat-up bag at once. “Where did you find it, ma’am?”
“In your quarters aboard the Argo after an enlisted person from my Group was cleaning up. I kept it for safekeeping and took it home with me. When I knew you were going to be onboard this ship yesterday, I made sure I brought it. You have some explaining to do, Ensign.”
Deke gulped at that, thinking at once of the picture of Dawn in the bag. “Uh…ma’am…did you look in the bag?”
“No, I would never dream of it, it’s YOUR dirty old B-4 flight bag! I have no business in there!” said Nova. “What I do mean is that a space sailor cannot afford to be so careless about his or her personal effects aboard ship. What if you left classified papers somewhere? Or a weapon? You’d better learn to be more careful.”
“Uh…ma’am…I’ll try to be…thanks,” stammered Deke.
“I see,” said Nova. She studied his face for a moment, then said, “You look very…perturbed about something. Would you like to talk? About your personal life, say?”
He assumed a professional façade, and then said, “No, ma’am.”
“You’re sure?”
“That’s right.”
“I’m good at counseling,” said Nova. “I have an open door if you’d ever like to come in and talk for a bit.”
Deke gulped for some reason and said, “Ma’am, I’ll think about it.”
Nova nodded and said, “Dismissed.”
Deke saluted and said, “Thanks, ma’am.” Then, he left.
Nova then began to make herself some tea while biting her lip and thinking seriously. Then, she turned to IQ-9 and said, “Something doesn’t feel right about this, IQ. Sasha’s told me that they’ve been exchanging letters. Yet, I ask him about it, and he seemed to deny it. Now does that make any sense?”
“It does not seem to make a lot of sense. But, I detected an increased heartbeat and greater electro-galvanic resistance in his magnetic field with my sensors. Since I am ten thousand times more sensitive than any lie detector apparatus, I can tell that something is very obviously bothering that human.”
“Yeah,” said Nova. “You and me, both, my friend. You and me both,” she said while shaking her head.
IV. HOWLS OF DEVILS, SCREAMS OF JACKALS
The Site of Numeira, Jordan
Near the Shores of the Dead Sea
Friday, May 29, 2206
1200 Hours: Local Time
The Dead Sea had been a desolate, horrid place for a long, long time. The shores of the salty, polluted inland sea between Israel and Jordan had long been hellishly hot, with the sun burning on weird salt shapes that the sea deposited in hunks on the rocky, sandy, salt-ridden shores.
It had become even worse after the planet bombings as bombs had stirred up the salt and the desert soil, exposing ruins of an archaelogical dig that few had yet had the nerve to return to. Now, ancient bits of wall, ancient bits of pottery, and ancient bones, many of them burned and human, littered the ground near the salt flats in this evil no-man’s land, a no-man’s land that resounded every now and then with the screams of jackals…or things that sounded like jackals.
And some of the ancient soil that had been kicked up by the bombs looked blackened, like obsidian. A fresh smell of sulfur hung everywhere in this accursed plain.
The Space Marine who had been Mick Stovall stumbled with an idiotic grin amongst the cursed rocks and ruins of Numeira as he said to the dark spirit that indwelt him, “This was a long damned walk, Lordship. Where is this place?”
“It was a verdant plain once, long, long, long ago,” said Ekogaru as he smiled. “My father had a grand experiment in human relations going here, yes he did, in the cities of the plain. A great experiment. Long before the Dreaded, Burning One walked the Earth, my father was active here, yes, and I visited this place, when there were great cities here, with other names. Those were in the days before the Burning One caused the cities of the plain to be overthrown; and there was a smoke, a smoke as like as to a burning from a furnace. The patriarch Lot saw it. It was the last thing his wife saw.” Ekogaru laughed at that. “Numeira once had another name. Yvona will know it. She shall soon be here, just as I commanded.”
A harsh wind blew as Ekogaru pulled a black cloak out from a pocket of Stovall’s Space Marine uniform and he clad himself in the black cloak. “They are here. I see the conning tower of the R’Khell space submarine over those hills. She will soon come to me. Just as she promised. And then, no more questions from you, human.”
Stovall nodded and his consciousness passed into a blissful forgetfulness as he felt the Sphere. Ekogaru stared into it and nodded once as a party of three came over a hill.
One of the party was a tall woman in a red cloak and matching red sandals; she was Miosha, the new High Priestess of the R’Khell people. To her far right walked General Vargarda, a tall R’Khell male in a red uniform with a beard and turban who walked along with his hand clamped hard on the arm of a tall human female who was chained to him.
The third member of the party was tall, with dark reddish-blonde hair, and she had a torn sackcloth dress and sandals made of rope and old tires. She was the clone of Yvona, and long had she been awaiting this moment, this day, but she had also long feared it.
When she saw Ekogaru, she kissed his hand and knelt, heedless of the feel of the hot, burning salts on her bare knees as she prostrated herself before her Lord.
“Rise, my Lady,” said Ekogaru after a long while. “Miosha, Vargarda, all is in readiness?”
“It is, Master,” said Miosha. “It is good to see that you live again. That you are with us.”
“It is good,” said Ekogaru. “Yvona. I contacted you in your night visions and commanded you to memorize some…Scripture…” he said with an evident distaste. “Recite now, from Genesis, Chapter Nineteen.”
“Yes, My Lord,” said Yvona. “The Book of Genesis, Chapter Nineteen, verses twenty-three to thirty-two.”
Yvona cleared her throat and began to recite.
“Genesis 19:23-32: The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father…”
“Enough,” said Ekogaru. “Give us a history lesson, Yvona. Where do we stand now?”
“In the ruins of Gomorrah, my Lord,” said Yvona. “The fire from heaven came down right here and blasted this place.”
“And why are you here?”
“You are my father, so to speak, since you cloned me, my Lord. I am to lie with you, to preserve thy seed…”
“WRONG!” yelled Ekogaru as he viciously slapped Yvona across the face. “Try again.”
“I am to lie with you, to preser…”
Ekogaru slapped her across the face again, hard enough to draw blood from her nose.
“YOU are RIGHT, but you are WRONG!” yelled Ekogaru. “try again, wench.”
“Lord, I am…to…lie with you…” said a frightened Yvona as Miosha and Vargarda drew daggers and placed them lightly against her back. Ekogaru loomed menacingly over her
“Good. Go on.”
“To…generate…seed…so…there may be more…”
“of my kind, enough,” said Ekogaru as he grinned evilly at Yvona. “Right now, I have a weakness,” said Ekogaru. “Right now, I am not immortal. I live in this human body as a subterfuge. Eventually, I will make a new cyborg body and reward this bearer of my spirit when the time is right. Then, I will again be immortal. But, for now, until my conquest of all things is completed, only as a mortal can I produce seed and concieve children. You will bear my child, Yvona. That is why I am wedding you today. In Hell, you will produce…our child.”
“Now, are you prepared?” said Ekogaru.
“I am,” said Yvona. “I have only the sackcloth of a simple servant of yours and sandals on. Nothing else.”
“You obeyed that, at least. General, unchain her.”
Vargarda nodded and undid Yvona’s chain. He handed the key to Ekogaru.
“Now that your arms are free, strip,” snapped Ekogaru. “You are to go utterly naked except for the chain for the ceremony.”
“In front of these witnesses?”
“Yes,” said Ekogaru. “Strip.”
Yvona slowly undid the string that tied on her ragged sackcloth dress and she took it off and almost involuntarily cast down her eyes as she stood almost totally naked in front of Ekogaru and his minions.. Then, she untied the rough cord bows that held on her sandals, tossed them aside, and gasped as she stood barefoot on the hot salt flat.
Ekogaru smiled evilly as he lewdly stroked the slender yet muscular youngish clone of Yvona from her chin down to her crotch. Then, he grabbed the manacle and key that had been around Vargarda’s wrist and said, “Now, I will read you your vows and you will recite your answers. Before these witnesses, do you swear to love, honor, and cherish me?”
“I do,” said Yvona.
“Do you swear to honor, obey, and worship me?”
“I do,” said Yvona.
“Do you swear to worship me and follow me and obey my directives, forsaking all others?”
“I do,” said Yvona.
“Do you swear to bear my child?”
“I do.”
“And to put it to your breast and raise it?”
“I do.”
“Good,” said Ekogaru. “Now, ask me.”
“Very..well,” said Yvona. “Lordship, do you swear to love, honor, and cherish me?”
“Yes, when I feel like it,” hissed Ekogaru.
Yvona looked around and almost backed away from her Lord’s malice for a moment before she felt Miosha’s dagger pricking one of her bare buttocks and drawing blood.
“Lord, do you swear to honor, obey, and worship me?”
“I will honor you as best I can, being a god,” snapped Ekogaru. “I will never worship you since you are beneath me, and you are to obey me, not the other way around. IS THAT UNDERSTOOD???” he screamed in her face.
Yvona sobbed at this and weak tears ran down her face. Somehow, this clone thought that Ekogaru loved her and that he would give her the respect and honor that Hiram Josiah had given her forebear on the wedding day she still bore in memory.
But, no, thought Yvona in horror. Instead of a church, we are being married in Gomorrah with human bones and jackals watching us. Instead of a bridal gown and shoes, I am naked and barefoot. Instead of a kind groom, I have a monster. And, instead of a wedding ring, I have…chains…
“By the power vested in me as the War god of Rikasha,” hissed Ekogaru as he locked the manacle around his wrist and then dragged Yvona roughly to her knees. “I prounounce you, wench, my wife. Watch, mine witnesses, as I kiss my bride.”
Ekogaru then grinned evilly and kissed her like a madman. And then, Yvona began to scream, while he kissed her and then took her while the others grinned like sin-sick devils and applauded, she realized that Ekogaru’s nuptial kiss was making her lips and mouth bleed…and as the jackals screamed a sudden sick, cold rain fell, Yvona was screaming along with them as the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were again manifested on this warped, cold wedding night in Hell.
Later, that night, in the cold, Yvona was still strripped. “Lord?” said Yvona in a voice like a mouse as all of them sat together watching her later on. She knew she had to be careful with Ekogaru, since he had beaten her a few more times during this very unromantic wedding night. “When will I get clothes again?”
All three of them laughed. “I have decided that since I know you are pregnant with my child, it will be a while.”
“Will we be together?”
“No. You will be returned to the planet R’Khelleva and kept in seclusion in the Temple while I do my work on Earth. I will check on you, though, wife,” he said with an evil laugh. “And, I am aware, by the way, you are now pregnant. Have a care, Yvona. I don’t want anything to happen to our child.”
And, at that, Ekogaru laughed while Yvona wept bitter tears of humiliation and rage.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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