Kralken Four: Part 5: Disappointments
#9 of Dark Origins
Kralken Four: Part 5: Disappointments
Captain Yurex Creduta's black and white ringed tail twitched back and forth as he paced across the floor of the cargo hold of the Pressat. The communications blackout from the planet below combined with the information they had received about the Earth's government decision on the Dorzeli and the Kroon had him worried about the safety of his friend and colleague Jason Monroe-Talbot and the rest of his party as nothing had been heard from them since their wake up call that morning.
Christine and her Cherrodon mate Posk had watched their friend and colleague's actions since their arrival in that vast room for the past hour and she could no longer take it.
"Yurex!" He stopped and looked up at her canine-like face. "You've got to calm down. You are making us nervous."
He tried to sound calm but could not hold back the anxiety he felt about the situation. "Have you've seen Jason when he's angry?"
Posk could not help but smirk; "You forgot that I was there when he 'disposed' of Argent; not much scares me but that..." His translator went silent when a small window appeared on the bay's main screen and displayed the green draconian face of Primir, the commander of the three ships that had escorted the Pressat to Kralken Four.
"Jason and Freerah are on their way back from the capitol." He paused, looked to the side and his eyes opened to their widest, "Under their own power."
Before Yurex could ask him why the connection was cut off and the display changed to an external view which showed two bright blue objects just outside the planet's atmosphere on an interception course with the ship. An alarm sounded and he received a message from the auxiliary bridge; "They're six fighters following Jason and Freerah. What are your orders?"
He watched them surround the pair and frowned. "Open the main cargo doors and maintain our present orbit. We don't want to give them any excuses."
Seconds after the selective force field activated and the main doors above him opened Jason's first Mendallian friend breathed a sigh of relief when the fighters broke turned away when they neared the ship. Less than a minute later the force field flickered when the two Dorzeli Primes broke through it and landed with heavy thuds less than twenty meters from him.
He started to ask what had happened and why they had not used a Kroon shuttle as they had the previous day but stopped when he saw the look of extreme disgust and anger on Jason's face. For the first time since his friend's transformation, felt true fear of him.
Jason frowned at his reaction then turned in unison with Freerah toward an empty section of the hold. They fired their horn's energy beams into the space and within seconds the Dorzeli-Ki forms of Lieutenant Matthew Thorn, his sister Colonel Sarah Thorn, Feih and Daihas Desslat and all but three of the humans that had gone down to the surface the day before materialized.
Yurex noticed that Jason's face had lost some of its intensity when he turned back to him but any assumption he may have had that his friend's anger had dissipated was proven wrong when he shouted, "How the fuck did they find out about that law?"
Many edged away when his cobra-like hood opened and the red circles on them turned into solid circles and glowed bright red. "Not only did they find out about it and throw it in my face, but they added to the insult by saying how 'unenlightened' my people are, and that's putting it politely."
Freerah tried to lighten his mood. "Yes," she started with a half smile, "Despite their positions of authority they do tend to use colorful language, even by human standards." It was obvious to all that her attempt at humor had failed when he glared at her and frowned.
When he looked around and saw how nervous everyone had become he tried to calm down but his voice still had a edge to it when he said, "I sorry for the abrupt way we left but if I had stayed and listened to them any longer they may have had to deal with more than just two melted doors." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I knew I still had some enemies in the World Congress when I stepped down to lead this war from the front, but I didn't think that they would've actually banned us and our potential allies from setting foot on earth." He bared all of his teeth and growled, "Damn them all!" so loud that most present had to cover their ears.
Everyone's fears grew when he saw a blue aura build around Jason's body; a definite danger sign. Yurex tried to calm him down by stating an important fact in the declaration. "You're only banned from being within the moon's orbit in your present form, except for military emergencies."
Jason held up one sharp clawed finger to interrupt him, "But no member of the Kroon Empire over two meters tall can land on Earth or any of its satellites. That eliminates over two thirds of them." He gestured in the direction of the Dorzeli-Ki, "Including our allies."
Matt shook his head in disappointment. "We won't be able to visit my parents now since I can't maintain my human form for more than thirty minutes."
Feih hugged him and spoke in a low voice, "Maybe if the earth's government comes to its senses we can go see them." She looked toward Jason, released Matt and backed away.
Puzzled at her actions he turned and saw that Jason's power horns were still charged and aimed at him.
"That is a situation I can fix right now." He fired and struck Matt in the chest. He felt nothing except for a slight tingling and his whole body glowed for a brief moment and then faded back to normal. "Now you have the same abilities as your sister."
Jason looked at Feih. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what effect the process might have on a fetus so I won't take that chance."
It was Matt's turn to comfort her when she gave off a disheartened sigh, "I know how important it is for you to see my parents before our son is born." He held her close. "We'll get to see them, somehow."
Jason turned to Daihas and Sarah and, for the first time since he had left the planet he smiled; "Congratulations." Everyone looked at the pair and he cast an eye back at Feih. "How often do Dorzeli have twins?"
Surprised by this news she turned and scrutinized her clan's newest member and also smiled. "It's quite common."
Sarah and Daihas assumed a submissive posture and apologized. "We didn't know for sure until we were ready to return this morning."
Both Matt and Feih walked over to them and hugged them in congratulations. But it was when Matt embraced Daihas that he felt as well and smelled something strange about his brother-in-law. He was so curious about this new scent that he held onto him a bit longer than he had intended. When he realized this he separated from him and saw that Daihas was also a bit shocked by the long embrace. He blushed while Daihas half smiled as Jason addressed the entire ship on the few positive points about their trip.
"As of now the forced exile of the Dorzeli on Dessla been partially lifted; they are allowed to possess low power offensive weapons and can travel freely to and from their former home worlds under official Kroon escort, but must continue to consider Dessla their home world until our conflict with the Soriss has ended. Until then the Alliance is wholly responsible for their welfare and protection, unless we are defeated." A toothy grin appeared on his face. "Like that's going to happen.
"I'm also happy to inform you that I have assigned Captains Richards and Bowman and Colonel Harding to be representatives of the Earth-Mendall Alliance so that they can be observers and unofficial sources of intelligence until ambassadors can be exchanged."
He took a deep breath and continued. "You may also have heard about the anti-Kroon ban that was passed on earth recently." He went through the details for those who had not already heard about it. "Even though I signed an oath to obey any laws the World Congress should pass after I stepped down, we will be going to Earth after we've made one other stop the moment we get clearance from the Kroon authorities. I'll explain my motives before we arrive; Jason out."
This shocked Matt out of the confusion he felt and everyone else was stunned by Jason's declaration of his intent to violate the laws he had sworn to uphold.
"You should all go to your quarters or duty stations so that we can leave this system as soon as we get clearance from Kralken's traffic control."
Before he could turn to leave one of the male members of the press that had been down to the planet approached and got his attention. "I speak for the others when I say that we apologize if any of the reports we've sent back to earth swayed their decision in any way."
Jason looked at the auburn haired British citizen and sighed. "It is not your fault. You did what I allowed you to do and as long as you report the truth I won't interfere, except for our next destination." He looked the other correspondents over. "For your own safety once we arrive all non-Dorzeli will be restricted to the ship until we leave that planet."
Some of the others protested which caused his anger to start to return until Freerah walked up to him and said, "We need to have a meeting with the others before we gget there."
He calmed, nodded to her and followed when she left the room. Within moments everyone except Matt, Feih and the two Cherrodons had done likewise. Before he could leave Christine asked Matt if he could stay. He looked to his mate who smiled, gave her consent with a nod of her head and left.
Once they were alone Christine turned to Posk. "I have some private matters that I have to discuss with Lieutenant Thorn so I'll see you at our station when we're finished." When he stayed and kept his eyes locked on Matt, "It'll be all right. I told you before we're old friends."
Posk stood up on his hind legs, walked over to Matt, looked up into his eyes and growled, "You mean lovers don't you?"
Matt's answer was curt and was accompanied with a low growl of his own, "That was a long time ago."
Posk kept his eyes on him when he backed away and returned to his quadruped stance. He looked back at his mate then walked out of the room without another word.
Although he had seen them do that before Matt was still amazed at a Cherrodon's ability to move with ease between their two modes of locomotion and of that particular breed's size; with his long neck Posk had almost equaled him in height.
When the doors closed he sat down so that their faces were level then asked, "What was all that about?"
"That was probably the closest a Cherrodon has ever come to challenging a human, one-on-one." She smiled and looked Matt's body over. "Although I don't think you would've had a problem with him."
"Unless he used his powers as an offensive instead of defensive weapon..." Matt had heard from a few of the human crew members that Posk was one of the few members of his race that had that ability.
He was surprised when everything around him took on a slight yellow tint; she had thrown her shield around him.
"Try and touch me." She grinned at his confusion when he lifted his hand up to its surface but hesitated. "Don't worry I haven't charged it."
He half smiled and pressed forward with only his claws. At first there was some resistance then he felt it yield. He looked up and saw her use more effort to resist him. He also felt his own energy rise, not to the degree of what he felt at Ayabatu but much higher than normal when he managed to first push his claws then his whole hand through her shield and fell forward. It vanished when he made contact with one of her more than modest breasts. He withdrew his hand, sat back up and tried to apologize, "Sorry I didn't meant to do that."
She smiled, "It's my fault. I should have shut it off before you went off balance." She took a deep breath before she spoke. "What just happened is why he backed down."
Amazed by his newest ability he looked at his hand then back up at her, "I thought only a Dorzeli Prime could do something like that?"
"From what I was told all adult Dorzeli have that ability, but don't let any non-Dorzeli know that you found out about this."
He nodded to acknowledge that he would and looked her over then imagined her breasts covered by the standard issue Cherrodon armor. Then it clicked for him. "You were there the day I met my sister back on Dessla, at the head of Jason's column just before Aybabtu battle?"
She grinned. "I didn't want to give myself away until I knew how you'd take my change in appearance; that's also why I didn't approach you until Jason's fight with Feih."
"But why did you do this to yourself?"
"I did it for the same reason as you Matt: for love." She saw the surprise on his face and explained further, "I was in the original landing party that was sent down to Mendall that first met Posk when my group was on a scouting mission during the first day. He kept our location a secret at first, but was ordered to bring us in when the drop ship was captured. When he confronted us I managed to penetrate his shield with a tranquilizer dart."
Matt was surprised by this fact combined with what he had just done.. "I thought a Cherrodon's shield could stop anything up to a nuclear explosion?"
She looked around then whispered, "I'm not allowed to reveal how I did it, especially now that I'm mated to a Cherrodon, but I can say that the sensors he was wearing would have detected any technologically advanced weapons so I used a blowgun.
"Up to that point Posk had been very helpful to us so, not knowing how the drug was going to affect him, Jason asked for someone to stay behind and monitor his reaction. Since I had some veterinarian training I volunteered, even though it meant that I would be captured."
He remembered how much she cared about animals and smiled.
"After twenty minutes had passed I noticed that his breathing was becoming labored so I administered the antidote." She laughed then described what happened next. "I was surprised when he came around faster than I expected and pinned me to the ground with his paw-hand." Matt's ears went erect when he heard this. She allayed his fears. "He kept his claws to himself and thanked me for staying behind to take care of him. Then we both felt something pass between us." She paused and raised one of her paw-hands and showed off her own set of razor sharp claws, as if to let Matt know what Posk could have done to her.
"The Mendalls call it the 'Chatai'; it's a bonding reflex that occurs between a Cherrodon and their new partners." She lowered her paw-hand to the floor. "But it felt much deeper than that, especially after he leaned down and kissed me." Matt saw a warm smile form on her muzzle. "From that moment on he was very protective of me. He even prevented the Mendall soldiers from taking me in when they found us. We were inseparable until the Soriss attacked and he left with Jason in that special fighter to assist in the planet's defense.
"When they returned to the planet a day later, I was there as a part of the recovery team. As soon as they exited the ship Posk ran up to me and openly professed his love to me. I was a little shocked, but admitted that I had similar feelings for him too so as soon as Jason revealed his powers Posk asked him to change me." She looked at the door he had just walked through. "I guess that was his plan all along." Matt could see from her expression that she had not expected this from him.
"At first I was unsure about having my species changed. It took a lot of convincing to get Jason to do it, but he finally relented when I gave my consent to try it." She sat up and spread her arms wide to show off her entire body including those breasts he had touched. "And I've been enjoying it ever since."
Matt thought about their common past together and a sad look came over his face. "And I thought that after our eighteen months together I'd known a lot about you. I guess I was wrong."
She frowned and returned to her previous position, "Your obsession with Freerah and my promotion would've eventually driven us apart." He saw pain in her eyes before she said, "It was best that I ended it when I did."
Matt smiled. "At least it worked out for the best for the both of us in the long run."
She leaned forward and planted a kiss on his snout.
Surprised by her actions he leaned back and asked, "What was that for?"
"That night back on Dessla before the attack: it was the best sex I've ever had, in this body." She winked at him and grinned.
Matt looked away from her so that she could not see his expression of disgust and embarrassment, "When will people stop reminding me about that?"
Her surprise was genuine when she asked, "You didn't know that Dorzeli pheromones affected other species too?"
He sighed and shook his head no.
She laughed. "Well you'll know better next time to stay downwind of others." She glanced at one of the air vents. "At least this ship's systems can filter them out."
He tried to find a diplomatic way to ask his next question but decided to use the direct approach. "Weren't you embarrassed doing that in front of all those troops?"
She shook her head. "No and I think that it actually enhanced the experience." She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "It's not like anyone had much of a choice at the time." Matt just shrugged his shoulders which caused her to grin. "You should be happy; because of what happened that night we're all going to be parents soon." She saw the bewilderment in his eyes and asked, "Sarah did tell you about me didn't she?"
He shook his head no. "I thought she was kidding." He winced at the half-truth then remembered something else his sister told him. "Doesn't Posk have other offspring?"
Her smile faded. "He broke up with their mother a year ago but they still talk from time to time."
She started to look uncomfortable so he did not press her any further on the topic and realized he was not too relaxed with their present situation either. "We'd better get back to our stations before our mates wonder what we were doing in here for so long." He stood up and she went onto all fours in a manner that, to him, made her look like a combination of baboon and a Doberman pinscher when she walked.
"I understand." She turned and walked toward the still closed doors. "Unlike Dorzeli, Cherrodons can become extremely jealous; that's why I didn't want to see you in private until now."
He just nodded and activated the door's control panel.
He had just turned to head for the bridge after she had passed him when he felt a large paw-hand on his shoulder. When he turned and faced her she gave him a warning; "Don't do anything to lose her. She's just what you needed."
Christine removed her paw and ran down the corridor to the next intersection where he saw Posk had waited for her. When they moved off together Posk took one last look back at him.
"You have nothing to worry about; she's all yours."
Posk smiled when he heard the silent transmission on his universal translator/transceiver collar then turned and nuzzled Christine as they walked off..
"You handled that quite well, but you didn't have to let me in on this; I trusted you with her."
Matt did not respond to the message from Feih but just smiled with satisfaction that that part of his life was behind him. He lost that smile when he picked up familiar scent of someone who was behind him.