Page 49 of The Pregnancy Pact

There it was. Definite disdain on the word human. I wasn’t mistaken this time.

“My plans changed,” Ellax replied simply. “I will not apologize for them.”

“Nor should you. We were surprised, but not displeased.” Grignus spoke up. He leaned towards us. I picked up an intensity in his manner that set me to inconspicuously twisting my thumbs in my lap. I sensed he was about to lower the boom. This was the point of why we were here.

“We have a tremendous need for you and your human wife, Ellax. A need that centers on Earth and our development of it.”

Chapter 29

Lorelai

Iglanced sideways at my new husband. If he was surprised, he maintained his calm, but I heard a note in his voice as he asked, “Development? Further development than what already occurs?”

“The rebuild of our colony is happening too slowly,” Grignus explained. “We’ve discussed this.”

“We have,” Ellax agreed, “though we found no new solutions.”

“We found one while you were away.” A member whose name I didn’t know spoke up. He was rounder than the rest, younger, and had the most intense golden eyes I’d ever seen. He looked like the type to pick a fight just because he loved arguing. Instinctively, I wanted to shrink back. I made myself sit up straighter and clenched my thumbs to stop the twiddling.

“And what is that? All solutions must be approved by a majority vote,” Ellax reminded his peers.

“It’s been approved,” Grignus said. “Even if you dissented—and I don’t know why you would—all of us are in agreement. There has been no formal vote without you, of course, but we know which way we’d all vote. We simply need you to present it to the Interstellar Coalition, as you are the sole Lead Advisor among us.”

My alien husband’s dark silver eyebrows rose. I thought he was surprised. Possibly offended. Still, he didn’t quarrel. Simply said, “And what is this proposal? How does it affect my wife and myself?”

“A strike force.” Sirena said bluntly. “From the Interstellar Coalition. Led from the air by Flight Commander Abidah. You know Flight Commander Abidah, I believe?”

For the first time, I saw a crack in Ellax’s façade. At Abidah’s name, he shifted uncomfortably on his seat. What was the emotion that washed over his face? Guilt? I had no idea what this meant, yet I heard the strain in his voice as he admitted, “I know him.”

“We wish the Interstellar Coalition to approve a strike force from the air and on the ground.”

“Utilize the Elite?” I didn’t know this term, but it sounded military. I would have to question Ellax later. “The Coalition uses them only in the most dangerous or sensitive of circumstances.”

“And that is what this is,” Ursis confirmed, nodding wisely. “The Elite go in first, seek out the wild humans and their strongholds, report back, and thus pave the way for the strike force from the air. After that, the ground troops come in.”

A sickening feeling flooded my guts, worse than the nausea of nerves from before. They were talking about a military invasion. On Earth. Against the wild humans. People who had successfully managed to evade the Overlords’ control by living out in the mostly barren wastelands outside the colonies the Coalition’s planets were attempting to build.

“You’re going to hunt down the wild humans?”

I heard the horror in my voice. I wasn’t meant to speak. I couldn’t help it. This was wrong.

“You can’t do that!”

“We can,” Ursis shot back. “Having lived on Earth, you know better than us that they are thieves, marauders, and sometimes murderers.”

“I mean, sometimes they do cause some trouble…” Okay, sometimes they caused a lot of trouble. The people living outside the Citadel’s walls always had to be careful that they weren’t attacked by wild humans. While many wild humans kept as far away from alien strongholds as possible, others survived by raiding alien supply trains traveling from one colony to the next, or by preying on the humans outside the fortress walls. Usually, it was simple thievery for supplies. And yet, I’d heard of murders. Rape. Honestly, even torture and butchery. While the majority of wild humans merely wanted to be left alone, there were, unfortunately, those factions that tried to fight back, in their minds, against the Overlords by taking revenge on unprotected humans who complied with them.

“That’s not all of them, though,” I went on, continuing my protest. “Are you talking about the Elite going after the troublemakers? Or…”

Sirena picked up on my trailing sentence. “The Council wishes to petition the Interstellar Coalition to send its troops after any and all wild humans they can find—minus, perhaps, young females who can be saved for the breeder’s program. The rebels have been a pest and a nuisance for far too long. Once the wild humans are wiped out, rebuilding on Earth can proceed at a much swifter, safer pace.”

My guts were churning. I’m sure horror was evident on my face. I felt Ellax reach out and clasp my hand. He squeezed it, either attempting to ground me, comfort me, or silence me.

I wrenched my hand away.

If he went along with this…

“You’re literally talking about murdering every human you can catch who doesn’t comply with the Interstellar Coalition,” I said. “Even the ones who haven’t caused any problems. Unless, of course, you can save them alive to make babies for you.” I allowed them to hear my abject disgust.

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