Page 16 of Narzek
Their training session finished well past the usual time for second meal, but Narzek called Cayla to join him after he had showered and changed.
Chapter Eleven
Cayla had meant to get up when Narzek rose for his scheduled training session, but he had urged her to sleep a little longer. She still felt tired and a little drained emotionally now that she had made her decision. She could only believe that he must be her soul mate because the thought of leaving him and never seeing him again caused her so much pain.
She got up slowly, feeling a little achy from the sexual workout they had shared. A quick hot shower help ease that soreness. But it was worth it, she thought, to see the joy in Narzek’s eyes as he claimed her. By the time she had emerged from the bathroom to dress, the bunk she had shared with him had made itself.
Cayla was not very hungry, so she got a cup of tea from the dispenser in the wall by the table in their cabin and ate a protein bar from the rack also on the wall. While she ate, she opened her tablet and asked for the qualifications to become a member of the Farseek Brigade. Even with her own military training, she still had much to learn because of the cross-training and high-tech weapons.
At least she did have martial arts training. She had started karate lessons when she was a kid. Thefehiatupracticed by the Farseek Brigade was more similar than different. Because she was thinking about learning to fly shuttles, she also looked up the requirements for that. Apparently, flying small planes back on Earth only qualified her to pilot transport flyers planet side. That only meant she would need more training. The first step would be the aptitude testing.
Now that her language module had been assimilated, she could not only speak the common Consortium language of the Farseekans, but she could read it as well. There was still time for her to start the testing before the next planetfall. Cayla wanted to check with Narzek’s schedule so they could spend his free time together.
Cayla had just started learning about the Farseek planet when Narzek called to ask her to join him for a late second meal. She was just a little nervous about meeting his team. Narzek waited for her in the corridor outside the mess hall, apparently anticipating her discomfort.
He greeted her with a warm smile and took her hand as she came to face him. Cayla smiled back as he gave her hand an affectionate squeeze, then let go as they entered the mess together. Some of his team members were still in the food line, making their selections as they progressed through the self-serve line.
Narzek and Cayla joined the line and took their turn choosing their food as they progressed. They sat with his team at one of the long tables in the dining area. Two seats at the head of the table had been left open for them. Setting down his tray, he called for their attention, which they gave immediately.
“This is Cayla Fox of Earth, my bond-mate andsolmatu. She is a trained warrior from her world, and she wishes to join us. Like so many of our people, Cayla was abducted from her world and enslaved by the Sargans.”
Then he introduced his team, starting with Seronna Brevatu, in the seat beside Cayla’s. He went on to name each one of them: Covron Lagatu, Weglan Kopatu, Bendar Sakitu, Prunat Melistu, Ebna Zaykentu, Baxar Kiatu, Kierton Fedotu, Dias Elatu. Serrona and Dias were the female members of the team. They nodded in turn as they were introduced.
Cayla repeated each name to herself so that she would remember them. Remembering names and details was an essential skill for a soldier from any world. As a driver in a warzone it was crucial for her survival as well as that of her passengers to notice details that might prove a danger to her and per passengers.
No one ever told her to watch out for extraterrestrial alien slavers. Getting abducted by aliens was the thing that never crossed her mind, while she worried about roadside bombs and ambushes by hostiles.
Cayla mentally shook herself as she looked at each member of Narzek’s team. They were literally a colorful bunch. Skin tones varied from her mate’s bluish lavender to blue-gray, brighter blue, mahogany and dark blue-black with hair in neon colors. Even before she met them, Narzek assured her that they were all genetically human.
Seronna, who sat beside her, was blue with cropped red hair and beautiful. Cayla imagined she looked almost as unusual to his team as they looked at her with her pale skin and brown hair. The other female sitting across from her was a darker shade of lavender than Narzek with pink hair.
Both of them smiled at Cayla as she sat down.
“It’s always nice to have another female join us,” said Seronna. “We have heard of Earth from our first mission to recover some of our people. Dread One had four females from Earth join them.”
“Then they rescued a Narovian feline who was from the United Galactic Alliance in the same sector as Earth,” Dias added.
“They rescued a female feline from Julconi, and she put Dread Four in contact with the Alliance. They, in turn, routed messages to Earth about the Earthers they rescued,” said Bendar. “Communications should be able to relay a message to your people. It’s a little tricky because our systems don’t exactly mesh, but it can be done.”
“Narzek has mentioned it, but with all the communications from theKurellisbeing relayed. We decided to wait. And I was still deciding whether to stay.”
“I won’t ask what changed your mind,” said Dias. “I’ve seen the way you look at LC. Since you aresolmatu, you aren’t required to accept formal duties.”
“Yes, Narzek told me, but I need to contribute. On my world, we have a practice called pay it forward. Your people saved me from life as a slave. I can’t exactly return the favor, but I can help in some way to rescue other people facing the same fate.”
“Cayla plans to take our general aptitude tests to see what type of work she is suited for,” Narzek said.
“Even then, I will still have to train. In the meantime, I will keep up my physical training. I’m trying to talk LC here into letting me join your sparring matches.”
“Do you knowfehiatu?”asked Seronna.
“I learned something called karate. That means ‘empty hand.’ It seems like it would be comparable.”
“That might be fun to try. We don’t usually do full contact anyway,” said Dias. “We don’t want to have anyone seriously injured before a mission.”
The team talked among themselves and asked Cayla questions about Earth. Narzek didn’t always attend meals with his team, but he wanted Cayla to have a chance to meet the team he worked with and possibly make some new friends.
A few days later, Cayla finally got to have a video talk with her friend Luanne. “You look good, Cay. Azur tells me that you are mated to her brother.”
