Page 55 of Alien Captain's Prisoner

“Aye,” he nods. “I know their nature well.Toowell.” Then his eyes open a little. “You speak the truth, Tasha. I’m holding them to human standards – but Toad would have no compunction about killing hundreds if it served their purpose. Those disgusting frogspawn are without honor.”

“No argument here,” I nod.

I lean closer.

“Listen, Captain Aelon. I don’t know what sort of contract you have with the mining crews, but the Toads know you’ll be obligated to send reinforcements to protect those miners. Between the Scorp nests and protecting those miners, your ship will be left with a skeleton crew and few defenses at best. YouthinkThe Instigator is invincible – but with the right planning, a good commander could force you to split your forces up and spread them too wide to protect your ship.”

“A good commander,” Aelon nods. “A commander as smart as you.”

“I’m not smart – I’m just an opportunist – as are the Toads. They’ll be coming, they’ll pull a scheme like this, and they’ll bring enough attack ships to rip The Instigator to shreds.”

Aelon’s face hardens. “Well done,” he says coldly.

“Well done?”

“Yes – well done. That’sexactlywhat the Toads are going to do – right down to the three specific mining camps that they’ll select to attack.”

My eyes widen. What does hemean?

“I’ve already given orders to Iunia and Vinicus to set up anti-air batteries in each of the mining camps. The Toad will strike with assault ships, expecting the camps to be undefended. Instead, they’ll run right into so much firepower they’ll think the Planet-Killers have returned.”

I shiver. Planet-Killers were ancient weapons from a long-ago war between Aurelians and Toads. They did exactly what the name suggests – destroying whole planets, and killing billions. In the millennia since that war, such weapons have been banned by all the intelligent species of the universe; and talk of them is hushed and reverent.

Aelon watches my expression, and then he points to the mining camps displayed on the projection – flicking his fingers to interact with the display.

The holographic display zooms in on each of them in turn.

“Those Toad assault ships will fly into hellfire and destruction – and then I’ll “deploy” my Reavers to defend the camps. In reality, the Reavers will circle back around the moon to flank the oncoming assault ships – the ones that were expecting The Instigator to be undefended. I’llmassacrethe fuckers.”

My eyes widen. I’d totally misjudged this situation – thisman.

I can’t believe how ruthless Captain Aelon is capable of being. Far from being arrogant enough to dismiss the threat the Toads pose, he’srelishingin it. Instead of protecting the mining camps he’d been hired to shield from the threat of those Scorp nests, he’s actually using them as bait to drawinthe Toads.

“Youwantthe Toads to come back!”

The smile that comes to Aelon’s face chills me to the bone. I see his true nature now. That cocky arrogance has only ever been a façade. Beneath, he’s a born killer. He’ll butcher those Toads like animals. Their greed, arrogance and scheming will be the death of them. This has all been a complex game of chess that Aelon has been playing foryears.

“Let me tell you a story, Tasha,” the commander leans forward. “During my last year of service with the Aurelian Army, I was ready for it all to be over – to live the indolent life of luxury and harems that so many of my species do. I’d already served ninety-nine bloody years and seen terrible,terriblethings that still haunt me to this day.”

I remember all I know about the Scorp. As much as I resent the Aurelian Empire for all they do wrong – like levying such harsh taxes that they’ve reduced planets like my home world to poverty – there is areasonfor this. Each Aurelian swears a century of service, which is spent protecting human-aligned planets from threats they can’t protect themselves from – like the Scorp.

I shouldn’t discount the sacrifice that Aelon, Vinicus, Iunia and all the other Aurelians on board this vessel have made for the likes of me.

Aelon continues his story:

“A human research vessel went missing, right on the border of Toad territory. There were Toad nearby, and I was the diplomatic envoy assigned to speak to them, and see if they had any involvement with the disappearance. As always, my triad accompanied me.”

I try to picture Aelon and his two battle-brothers as fresh-faced Army recruits, rather than the cocky commander and his two beast-like brethren that they resemble today.

Aelon’s face grows hard as he recalls the long-distant events.

“Oh Tasha – thethingsI saw in that Toad ship. They’redisgusting, those creatures – with no sense of humanity, or decency, or right and wrong.” He stares me in the eye. “And, of course, I was sure the Toad had those missing humans. They had other humans – slave girls, tied and chained in their festering, water-filled ships. Poor, lost, broken humans…”

His hand balls into a fist. Aelon’s eyes spark with fury.

“The first human slave I saw? I vowed to free her. I contacted my commanders – and I was told to stand down.” His mouth draws into a bitter line. “Apparently, the Empire didn’t want to risk a diplomatic incident with the Toads – not over slaves, which are a legal commodity in Toad space.”

The towering Aurelian is practically shuddering with rage as he recounts this story.

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