Chapter 12

Oh, the pain!

I slowly regained consciousness. The first thing I noticed was the pain. Oh, my head! Oh, the pain! Oh, the PAIN! The back of my head felt like it was ready to split open. The second thing I noticed was the pain. Maybe my head already had been split wide open. Oh, my head! Oh, the pain!

I heard nothing, other than the roaring in my head; it sounded like a continuous stream of jets taking off from one ear and landing in the other. I slowly opened my eyes. It was dark and I couldn't see a thing. I tried to focus, but the pain in my head forced me to close my eyes. Oh, my head! Oh, the pain!

I tried to move my hands to my head to massage my throbbing temples. But my arms refused to obey the signals from my brain. Or maybe my brain just wasn't sending the right signals. I tried again. My arms still wouldn't move. I couldn't move my legs, either. My arms and legs felt like they were made of lead. My head felt like cotton, soaked in gasoline and on fire. Oh, my head! Oh, the pain!

I tried to open my eyes again. Oh, the pain! I hadn't felt pain like that since before my manifestation. I wasn't sure whether I had felt pain like that before my manifestation, either. Given the way I felt at the moment, I wouldn't have been sure of my own name. Giving up the struggle, I closed my eyes again and surrendered myself to the tender mercies of oblivion.

When I regained consciousness again, the pain in the back of my head was down to a dull throb. Yeah, real dull, like a fleet of diesel locomotives was trying to batter its way out of my skull while a dozen jackhammers tried to open it up from the outside. At least now I could tell that I was lying down on my back on a hard but level surface. A cold, hard, and level surface.

I slowly opened my eyes. It wasn't as dark as before, but all I saw was a gray haze. Slowly my vision started to clear and focus. I seemed to be on the floor of an otherwise empty room. I didn't see Mark anywhere.

Mark! Where was he? I was supposed to be his bodyguard. How could I be guarding him when I was like this?

Where was he? How was he? If somebody could have done this to me, what must he have done to Mark? Oh, poor Mark! He's only Terran. He wouldn't stand a chance against whoever had done this to me.

I looked around again. I couldn't see outside of the room. I also seemed to be naked. Oh, if only my head didn't hurt so much!

I tried to sit up. But my arms and legs still wouldn't move. Looking around myself I saw the reason. I was lying spread-eagle on the floor; my wrists and ankles were fastened to the floor with steel shackles. No wonder I couldn't move my limbs. The shackles were the closest things I had on to clothes.

Hold on there a second! I'm a Velorian! Mere steel shackles can't hold me! A flick of my wrist and my right arm should be free. But it wasn't. What's going on here? Had I somehow lost my Velorian powers? I tried to melt one of the shackles off with my heat vision, but again nothing happened. I didn't even feel any warmth. Oh no! Was I powerless? No! I couldn't be! I strained at my shackles. I tried to fly up. The only result was that my wrists and ankles started feeling sore. More than sore, they were actually beginning to hurt. This couldn't be happening to me! Oh, if only my head didn't hurt so much!

I was quickly exhausted from my struggles. No! I couldn't be this tired after just a few minutes of exertion. Totally defeated, I slumped back down and close my eyes. Oh, if only my head didn't hurt so much!

A few minutes later, I snapped my eyes open. I've felt like this before. Down in Steve's gym. While wearing my necklaces. My gold necklaces. Gold! There must be gold inside of those steel shackles. That must be why I didn't have the strength to break free. That must also be why my other powers didn't work, why I couldn't melt my shackles nor see outside of the room.

I tried again to break my bonds. It was still no good, the gold inside the shackles inhibited far too much of my strength. Though my left arm felt a little stronger than my right arm. Maybe there was a crack or an impurity in the gold there. But it wasn't enough; my left arm still didn't have enough strength to break free.

I tried to remember back to how I got into this situation. Oh, if only my head didn't hurt so much!

Mark didn't want to jump out of the airplane while we were at ten thousand feet. I supposed that I really couldn't blame him; a parachute jump was tough for most people, even in daylight and we were doing this one at night. Even though we both had parachutes, we weren't planning on using them. Well, if he wasn't going to jump on his own, I would just have to do it for him. After all, who needs a parachute when he has a Velorian instead? I put my arms around his big muscular body and lifted him up off his feet. Quickly turning around, I stepped to the door and dropped him out of the plane into the darkness. I quickly followed him out of the plane. Within a minute I had caught up to him, and caught him. We continued to drop down, free-falling. Flexing my calves, I slowed us down, until we stopped just above the ocean waves. I then flew us the ten miles to our little island. I had flown in some supplies the previous night so that I didn't have to carry anything besides Mark on this trip. Just Mark and our unused parachutes.

Mark and I were tracking some arms smugglers. We believed that they had been responsible for supplying the weapons behind some of the recent terrorist activities in the States. So far nothing too major; a few drive-by shootings and some car bombings. Mostly one gang using the weapons against another. But we all could imagine what might have happened in Oklahoma City with a 'real' bomb, instead of a simple home-brew job.

We had first encountered this operation in Idaho, when we had uncovered a cache of weapons. We had raided the ranch before the arms could be distributed any further. Fortunately, that had been one of my cases. They had had enough weapons stashed away to have made a mess even of Mom. They probably wouldn't have killed her, unless they got lucky, but it still would not have been very pretty. Against me they hadn't stood a chance. All that small army had done was destroy my clothes and mess up my hair a little. And left me completely covered with the gunpowder stains. We had then traced the supply, first to the Oregon coast, and now up here to Alaska.

Our base was on a small deserted island in the Aleutians, up in Alaska. The smugglers had a small base on the next island, about five miles away, in an old abandoned fish-packing plant. They were ideally positioned to smuggle weapons from the former Soviet Union into the United States.

We were waiting a few days before moving in, hoping to catch one or more of their buyers or even better, some of their suppliers, as well. However we hadn't seen a boat or a plane the whole time. It did get a bit cold up here, at least for Mark, but it didn't take me very long to find some ways to keep him warm. And I didn't even have to use my heat vision. Though the first step in keeping him warm had been to remove his clothes, he hadn't complained. At this time of the year, and this far north, the nights were definitely longer than the days. And much colder. All the more reason for me to keep him warm. And he certainly didn't complain about my methods for keeping him warm. The twinkle in his eyes told me that he approved of my methods. And I wasn't about to complain about the extra duty. I enjoyed keeping Mark warm.

I was now officially a part of the Agency, even though I was only part-time. Since Mark had seniority, he was the team leader. Though we both knew that he was the team leader only while we were both vertical, once we were horizontal we both knew that I was in charge. Even before we were horizontal, once I got my little finger in the middle of his chest I was in charge completely.

Of course I was careful to be VERY gentle with Mark. Even though his body was bigger than my husband's was, I knew that it wasn't anywhere near as hard as my husband's was. I had to be especially careful with a certain part of him, it wasn't as big or as hard as my darling husband's was.

An Arctic storm front was moving in. We debated whether to move in now or try to sit out the storm, waiting for the suppliers to show up. We had just about decided to hole up in our little tent, with me keeping him warm, when I spotted some activity at the other island. Mark got out his binoculars while I focused in closer with my baby blues.

There was a submarine surfacing just off the island. Mark identified it as an old Soviet diesel sub, not a newer nuclear sub. I guessed that there were still some weapons they couldn't get their hands on, thankfully. As we saw the sub tie up at the dock, we decided to move in tonight, before the storm hit. But the sub didn't stay long, unloading a few crates before heading back out to the open sea to ride out the storm underneath the waves.

I wanted to go in alone, leaving Mark here where he would be safe. But he pulled rank on me, insisting that I take him along when I go. I threatened to disobey, using force if necessary to keep him here, but he was adamant and he knew that I wasn't really going to disobey him. I finally decided that he couldn't get into too much more trouble there than here, since we had only seen three people there, so I agreed.

That night, under cover of darkness, I flew us across the five miles to the other island, landing on the rocky beach not too far from the old buildings. We approached on foot. I tried to look into the buildings, but there seemed to be lead, probably in the paint, and I couldn't get a good look inside.

I was about to go on to the next building when I heard Mark yelling something behind me. I quickly turned around, to see Mark fighting with someone. Even in the dark, I could see that the someone was a woman. I also saw that she was winning handily, even though she was unarmed.

What was going on here? I knew that Mark was a pretty good unarmed fighter. He was definitely not in my class, no one was, but he was pretty good for a Terran man; I had sparred with him a few times, very gently of course. But this woman was handling him as easily as if he was nothing more than a rag doll. She almost seemed to be toying with him. How could she be doing that? Sure, Mom or I could do that, but obviously I knew that I wasn't the one doing it. And Mom was on a case of her own, somewhere on the East Coast. Nancy might be able to, but she's a blonde, like me. This woman had black hair, like Mom's.

What was that? Black hair, like Mom's? Another Arion? Could she be an Arion? Here? Have more Arions landed on Earth? Could the Arions be invading the Earth?

Just then, I heard some footsteps behind me and something hit me in the back of my head. Hmm, not a bad knockout punch, for a Terran. As I turned around to see who was trying to break his hand against my head, I saw a large man behind me cocking his arm for another punch.

I thrust my chin out at him. If he wants to break every bone in his hand against my jaw, I thought that I'd just let him.

The huge fist at the end of his arm started coming towards me. Something was not right; that fist was coming at me much too fast, much faster than....

Ever since that first time in San Jose when Orion had brought her young daughter along, Mark had always enjoyed working with Julie. What man wouldn't enjoy being with a young woman who looked like Julie did? And looks weren't even her best traits. Not that her looks were bad, by any means. Oh, no. She had certain 'special' abilities that set her apart from every other woman on the planet, even from her 'mother'. He now knew that the two of them were actually aliens, stranded on Earth, even though Julie had actually been born here on Earth.

Admittedly, he had been a little uncertain about the wisdom of involving a teenage girl in a potentially dangerous situation. But Orion had explained that she had the same 'special' abilities as herself. And she had proved that quite well, she had handled the situation almost single-handedly. She had taken care of the five men while he had sat by, almost helpless. In fact he had been unconscious while she had taken care of the first three thugs.

But this Julie was not the same young girl who had saved his skin that time in San Jose. She had also proven that adequately during that case in Seattle. Quite adequately. Much more than adequately. She was not a young girl. She was now a young woman. Oh very definitely, she was now a woman.

She had shown him some things that he had never seen before. She had made him feel things that he had never felt before. He had wondered how a man like himself could please a woman like her. But she had known just what to do to him and had shown him just what to do to her.

Not that she had shirked any of her work responsibilities in Seattle. She had taken care of those four hired assassins. Not to mention that 'door' she had created in that brick wall! No, she did take her job seriously. Almost too seriously sometimes. When she was a bodyguard, she tended to stick very close to the body she was supposed to be guarding.

And Julie certainly knew how to use her 'special' abilities. Though sometimes he thought that she overdid things a bit, like that stunt of throwing him out of the plane. She could just have stepped out of the door while holding him, instead of throwing him out. Now as she insisted on keeping him warm on this snow-bound island, he was helpless in her arms. An interesting way of keeping a man warm, she had started by removing every stitch of his clothing. Not only was he in her arms, he was in something else of hers. Not that he minded; this wasn't the first time Julie had kept him warm through a night. And when she kept him warm, she definitely kept him WARM. Oh, that sexy body! And those muscles! They weren't huge like a bodybuilder's, more like those of a finely toned gymnast. They were rock-hard. Even harder than rocks, he had seen her smash through a brick wall, after all.

Oh yes, she was keeping him quite warm. Though it wasn't always restful for him. In fact, it was never restful when she kept him warm. But he didn't mind that, either.

He had been a little hesitant the first time they worked together after she had gotten married. But she wasn't. Wasn't hesitant, that is. She definitely had been willing to work with him. And she had been willing to 'work' with him, as well.

Her incredible blue eyes had spotted that old Soviet sub surfacing. He had thought about calling in the Navy, who was waiting as backup. Backup, hah! With Julie around, there usually wasn't much need for a backup. Except maybe to just pick up the pieces. He had seen her take on a small army single-handedly.

She had been a real mess when she had returned after that, he had been appalled, and horrified that she might have been hurt. She had refused any offers of aid. Instead, she had simply headed for the shower, and when she had emerged after using up all of the hot water she was as good as new. And horny as hell. Julie really seemed to enjoy using her 'special' abilities, and that always seemed to get her aroused. Not that he minded. Too much. But that night had been something else entirely. When she had completely exhausted him, and another agent, she still hadn't been satisfied. He remembered her using her own fingers to finish what the two men had only been able to start. Her bucking body had threatened to completely destroy the RV that they had been using.

Given a choice between the Navy and Julie, he knew that he would be safer with Julie at his side. Or rather, on top of him, which she seemed to prefer.

As she flew them across to the smugglers' island, he again marveled at her 'special' abilities. The media had certainly done it right when they had named her 'Supergirl' after the comic book character. To her, a five-mile flight seemed easier than a walk down the block would have been for him. And she was carrying him like he was no more than a sack of groceries. Though he hoped that she didn't see him in quite that way.

She landed them on the beach and they approached on foot. She had just signaled to him that she was going on to the next building, when he felt an arm close about his neck. He managed to yell out a warning to Julie as he dropped to his knees, getting out off the hold. Springing to his feet and turning around, he was surprised to see that his attacker appeared to be a young woman.

Well, he wasn't going to let that keep him from doing his job. However, he was surprised at her quickness as she managed to evade his every swing, evade his every kick. But she managed to land some punches on his chest and stomach, almost knocking the wind out of him. He was going to have to do something, and do it quickly. Where was Julie when he really needed her?

He lunged, feinting with a fist before launching a roundhouse kick at her head. Instead of ducking out of the way, she reached up with one hand and caught his ankle. He tried to pull his leg away. It wouldn't move, somehow she was holding it firmly in place. As he looked at her, he thought that he could see her smile. Was she enjoying this?

That smile! Julie's mother, Orion, would often smile at him as she used her tremendous strength to pull some impossible stunt while they sparred. So would Julie. But they claimed that they were alone, stranded on Earth. But were they?

As he tried again to escape her grasp, she calmly twisted his leg and threw him against the wall. He again saw the smile on her face. He then saw stars in front of his eyes. He then saw nothing at all.

A woman entered the room, closing the door behind her. She was the same one I had seen fighting with Mark just before I was hit and knocked out. At least I thought so. I hadn't gotten a really good look at her before. "Ah, you're finally awake, Velorian. Meelek will be happy to know that. He's been getting a little anxious." She pressed a button by the door.

"Wh-wh-what? Who?" What was going on here? She knew that I was a Velorian? Then she really must be an Arion. How could there be an Arion here? Oh my God, the Arions have come! To Earth! To my world! And somehow I didn't think that they had come here as tourists for some interstellar sightseeing. Oh, my head really hurt now!

Just then the door opened and a large man walked in. A very large man, he was even bigger than Steve was, and much more muscular. He looked like an overgrown bodybuilder, but he moved like a dancer. "So, the Velorian is awake at last," he leered at me. "You may leave us now, Koren," he told the woman.

"Yes, Meelek." She bowed to the man before quietly leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Something told me that this Meelek creep was an Arion Warrior Prime. Maybe it was what little clothing he was wearing, the red and black uniform of the Arion Empire. Or maybe it was his size and his muscles. Or maybe it was the way he leered at me and then patted Koren's ass as she walked by him on her way out. And I had a pretty good idea why he had sent her out of the room. It definitely was not something I was looking forward to. This was not cool! Not at all!

"So, you are the Velorian Protector for this planet, huh? I had not expected to find a Protector here at all. Though you are not much of a Protector, are you?" he sneered at me, before reaching out to squeeze and twist one of my nipples between the big fingers on his huge hand. Ouch! Between his Prime strength and my gold-weakened state, that really hurt! "Even your pathetic Terran boyfriend gave little Koren more of a fight than you gave me."

He quickly stripped off his clothes, which didn't take very long given that he wasn't wearing all that much to start with, and got between my legs and mounted me. With my arms and legs shackled to the floor I couldn't put up much resistance. I tried to tighten my inner muscles to keep him out, but in my weakened state he had no trouble entering me. Ahh, he was so hard and so large, it hurt!

For the next three hours he pounded away at me almost non-stop. He knew that despite my gold-weakened state he couldn't actually cause me any real injury, so he took special delight in causing me as much pain as he could. While he saw to his own sexual pleasures, he was also careful to not let me have any. Not that I would want any pleasure from a pig like him! Oh, the pain! It's not fair! I shouldn't have to feel this much pain at both ends.

James Bond never had to put up with anything like this! This definitely was not cool!

I had never felt so helpless in my life, so completely powerless and absolutely humiliated. This went way beyond humiliation. Even when I had been 'raped' by some biker gangs I had always been in complete control of the situation, even if those men hadn't known that at the time. They had only been able to do to me what I allowed them to do to me, at first. Later, they had had no say in what I had done to them.

This was completely different. This time he was in control, complete and total control. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. It was the first time that a man had been inside of me against my will. With the gold restraints weakening me, my struggles meant nothing to the Arion Prime as he repeatedly used my body for his pleasure. This most definitely was not cool!

Was this what a man felt like when I used his body for my pleasure? But it couldn't be, I always made sure that he got his pleasure out of it too.

At least when I wasn't just paying back a rapist. Was this how their victims had felt? So completely helpless, so completely powerless?

Was this how the rapists must have felt, being my unwilling victims, my unwilling sex toys? Was this what it felt like to be a sex toy, used merely for the other's pleasure? While the other took pleasure and gave none in return?

I must have passed out, for the next thing I felt was the woman, Koren, wiping my face and body with a wet towel. Unlike Meelek, she was tender and gentle with me, but she wouldn't say a word to me.

At least I got to take a good look at Koren. She looked to be about my age, maybe a little younger, but then I really didn't know how to judge an Arion's age. After all, Mom didn't look much older than I did. And she's pushing eighty! Koren was not quite as tall as Mom was, and not quite as slender. When she moved she seemed to be even better muscled than Mom was; though nowhere near Meelek's class, he could win a bodybuilding contest just by showing up. And she moved with the same fluid grace that Mom did. Apparently a Beta, not a Prime. Meelek certainly hadn't treated her as an equal, but more like a slave.

Mark slowly recovered consciousness. He found himself naked on an old mattress, a couple of blankets on top of him. He was alone; there was no sign of Julie. The room was barren, two doors and a single window, with a cracked pane that let in some of the cold. There was a bare light bulb on the ceiling, which together with the light coming in through the window gave him just enough light to see around the room. Not that there was much to see.

He got to his feet, thinking to go look out the window. However, he stopped when he realized that he was chained to the wall. A simple chain linked his left ankle to the radiator, unfortunately cold. The chain gave him just enough leeway to reach one of the doors, but not the other one, nor the window. He discovered that the first door led to a bathroom, the chain just barely allowing him to reach the toilet.

He realized that he urgently needed to use the toilet. After taking care of his business, he returned to the mattress and wrapped the blankets around himself, trying to keep himself warm. Or at least to keep himself not as cold.

Sitting down, he examined the metal ring around his ankle. He realized that it was a simple steel bar that had been twisted around his ankle. He tried to pry it open, but he couldn't unbend it in the slightest. Julie would have no trouble getting out of that, but there was no way that he ever could.

Julie? But who had done that? Who had twisted that bar around his ankle? Only Julie, or perhaps Orion, her 'mother', could have done that. But neither of them would ever do that to him, would she have?

Then he remembered the woman he had been fighting. A woman with superhuman strength and quickness. A woman apparently like Julie and her 'mother'.

Could there be more of them? On the other side of the fence? If somebody like Julie turned bad, how could they hope to ever stop her? Help! Julie, where are you? Where am I? Oh Julie, where are you?

I didn't know how long the routine lasted; alternating between Meelek abusing and humiliating me, and then Koren cleaning me back up and getting me ready again for his pleasure. My room had no windows, so I didn't know how many days or even weeks I had been here. I lost count of how many times Meelek took his pleasure from me. No breaks to feed me either, they must have been trying to wear down my Velorian constitution. Koren did give me some water now and then, though she still wouldn't talk with me. At least my head eventually stopped hurting so much. But I still hurt at the other end of my body.

But this time the routine was different. When I regained consciousness to the feel of a wet towel across my body, I didn't see Koren on the other end of the towel. Instead, it was a black-haired young man, about Koren's age. Not that I'm a very good judge of Arion age. Not as big or as muscular as Meelek was, but still a big and impressive young man. Another Arion Beta, like Koren. Was Meelek now going to have his Betas rape me?

If it wasn't for the situation, I might have found him attractive. If we had met socially, I might even have considered seducing him. Before I had gotten married, I might even have thought about raping him.

He continued to clean me up with his towels. But this man made no attempt to rape me. In fact, his hands hesitated and then stopped as they approached my more sensitive areas. He looked at me and cleared his throat. "Ah, Protector, I know that I am not as good at this as Koren is, but would you, ah, allow me, ah...?" He was actually blushing a bit, trying not to stare too hard at my naked body.

"I'm not exactly in any position to stop you from doing anything," I told him. Was this some new trick of Meelek's to try to weaken me further? But it didn't seem to be. He continued to clean me up, easing up when he reached the bruises.

He appeared younger than Meelek, maybe about Koren's age. He was also a little more talkative than Koren. He at least told me that his name was Korek. He definitely seemed to be in fear of Meelek. And maybe even of me, he was very careful not to take unfair advantage of me. Or to even seem to. Even if I wasn't really a Protector, he didn't know that. And I wasn't about to tell him that. Instead I asked him about Mark.

"Mark? Oh, you mean the Terran man you were with. Meelek has him locked up in another room. He believes that keeping him alive might provide some additional leverage to use against you." Oh no! Where had I heard that one before? These Arion Primes are all the same. Just like they kept Mom against my mother, Meelek was now keeping Mark against me.

"Is he getting food? You know that he can't last without food as long as I can." Though I was beginning to feel a little hunger myself. I didn't know how long I've been here like this, and with the gold, my energy reserves were being used up faster than normal.

"Oh yes, Koren or I feed him every day. Meelek wants him alive, though not necessarily at the peak of his health."

"If you've done anything to him," I snarled at Korek, "so help me, when I get loose, I'll kill you all!" I knew that I was only bluffing at the time, I certainly couldn't get free to do anything. But I hoped that he didn't realize that.

Apparently he didn't. He backed away and put his hands up. "No, no. Please believe me, Protector. Koren and I wish you and your friend no harm. But Meelek...." He then bent closer and whispered in my ear, "Koren and I have been sneaking some extra food in to him. If you could provide us with sanctuary, we Betas would be...."

"Meelek is the one I want dead! You and Koren haven't mistreated me. If Mark's all right, I'll do what I can for you two. But right now I'm not really in any position to make any promises." At least he confirmed that he and Koren were Betas, not Primes.

"We understand, Protector. All we want is a chance to live our own lives, not the Empire's."

Korek had a hard time controlling himself. Like many young Arion men, he had harbored secret and forbidden fantasies regarding Velorian women. Ah, those beautiful blonde superwomen! Though he knew that he wouldn't last a second in one's embrace, they were bitter enemies after all. And one-on-one, a Velorian woman was more than a match for any Warrior Prime. Especially if that woman was a Planetary Protector, like this one was. And by the Stars, she was beautiful!

He knew that he had a job to do. If Meelek ever caught him doing anything even remotely resembling taking advantage of her, it probably would mean his instant death. She was Meelek's prize. And if he took any advantage of the situation, and then she got free, she could kill him even quicker than Meelek could. Though to a Beta like him, the mere microseconds difference in his death would be purely theoretical and academic.

He didn't think that the Protector would look too favorably on anybody who took advantage of her predicament. He had heard her screams as Meelek used her. Meelek would not be likely to live very long after she got free, if she got free. He was not about to put himself into that same category. Not if his life depended on it. Indeed, his life probably depended on his not doing it.

Korek truly believed that he was fated to die at the hands of a Velorian Planetary Protector. He had seen that often in his dreams. But he didn't want to die yet. He certainly didn't want to die at the hands of the beautiful woman lying in front of him. He wanted to make love to her, to hold her beautiful body in his arms. And to have her make love to him. To be held in the loving embrace of the beautiful woman lying in front of him.

He had felt the embrace of a full Prime woman only once. And that really hadn't been an embrace. And that had been at the hands of a young girl, one about a year younger than he had been at the time. After a particularly rowdy victory party celebrating an easy win, the wrestling coach at his school had brought in a young Prime girl to teach the boys a little lesson in humility. She had wrestled with the entire team. Even now he could remember her laughing as she threw the boys around the gym. He also remembered having his face rubbed against her firm young breast, as she also rubbed a teammate's face against her other breast. He had been completely helpless in her one-arm hold. All of his part Prime strength had been unable to affect her hold in the slightest. He, and the other boys, had been completely humiliated as she had outwrestled all of them and then had all but raped all of them. The entire team, all but raped by a young girl, by the Stars!

He had known that he was the better wrestler, but all of his skill had been completely useless against her overpowering strength. No other girl or woman had ever handled him like that. Not even Koren. Even though Koren was more than six times as strong as he was, this young Prime had been more than ten times stronger than Koren was. And he had wrestled with Koren plenty of times. Practicing against her was one reason he had won the district championship in his weight class three years running. The Beta championship, that is. The best Beta wrestler couldn't even dream of competing against even a young inexperienced Prime girl. He had received ample proof of that.

The experience still rankled. He probably would not have minded so much if she had actually shown some skill while defeating him. But she had defeated him with just her raw strength. He had gotten the advantages of balance and leverage on her repeatedly, yet he had been completely powerless against her. After all, how can you wrestle someone who could throw you all the way across the gym with just a flick of her powerful wrist as she laughed at your best efforts?

Still, the young Velorian woman spread-eagled in front of him, the first Velorian he had ever actually seen, let alone touched, was so beautiful! It was hard to believe that she was stronger than the strongest Warrior Prime. It took all of his willpower to concentrate on the job at hand. By the Stars! This was normally Koren's job. But as their communications technician, today she was occupied with the monthly signals to and from the ship. He just hoped that she had been able to edit out the parts about capturing a Velorian Protector from Meelek's monthly report.

As they conversed in whispers, he saw a faint glimmer of hope. Like many Betas, he secretly despised the Empire and the Primes who controlled it. He wished that he could somehow leave, to live a quiet life with other people, instead of engaging in the Prime's wars. And this Velorian just might be his best chance for him and Koren to escape from the Empire and defect. At least she could offer them some protection from the vengeance of the Empire. After all, that was what Planetary Protectors did.

This was something he would have to discuss with Koren. This was his first operational assignment down on the surface or elsewhere. Koren had spent a year down here on her first operational assignment, she had the campaign cape to prove it. She knew a lot more about this planet and its inhabitants.

Just then, Meelek entered. He saw Korek talking with me. "You had better not be telling the Velorian anything, Beta!" he snarled, cuffing Korek with a backhanded blow and sending him flying across the room to hit against the far wall. "You may now leave us, Korek."

Korek slowly got to his feet. "Yes, Meelek," he bowed and then left, closing the door behind him. I tried to let my mind go completely blank for the next few hours.

Koren really did not like this assignment, her second operational assignment on this planet the natives called Earth. Even though at last she was working in her specialty, as an electronics and communications technician. Stuck on this lonely island with just Meelek and Korek to keep her company.

Not that she minded Korek's company; after all they had known each other all their lives. The two of them had always enjoyed each other's company, though necessarily strictly platonic; they both knew that they could never get any more intimate than that. And they hadn't had the opportunity to work together before.

But being with Meelek was a completely different story. As a Prime, he was in command of this operational assignment; both Koren and Korek were 'mere' Betas, not much more than slaves to do his bidding. And as she was the only female on this forsaken island, Meelek demanded certain 'duties' of Koren that he did not of Korek. Duties that she could not refuse.

How had her mother withstood that? One was bad enough. Her mother and some friends had been raped by a group of Warriors Prime.

There was little to do on this cold rocky island. Periodically a weapons shipment would come in from the west, and they would have to stow the crates in the old warehouse. Then when the pickup came from the east, they would have to move the crates out of the warehouse and load them up. And those sailors weren't around long enough for her to have any fun with on this cold rocky island. Not that Meelek would have let her, anyway. Korek at least didn't have that temptation.

At least the copilot of the drop shuttle that brought down supplies every month had been willing. At least after the first time, when she had met him in the cargo bay as they were just about finished unloading the cargo. She had not let him go back to the cabin until she had helped him 'unload' his 'cargo'.

Just as she knew that the female pilot had helped Korek 'unload' his own 'cargo'.

And the place definitely was cold! By the Stars, it was cold! Much colder than either of the other two planets she had been on before. Cold enough that water actually froze. And not just at night. The water would remain frozen throughout the day. Sometimes the frozen water would even fall from the sky.

Though she wasn't as affected as much by the cold as Korek was. The Prime genes she had inherited from her father helped some, though she still preferred to go outside fully clothed. Fully clothed in the Terran style, not the Arion style. Of course, Meelek, being a full Prime, wasn't affected in the least by the cold; he actually enjoyed taking Koren in a snow bank. Though the cold helped numb some of her pain, it definitely was not comfortable for Koren. Let alone enjoyable.

Definitely nothing like her first operational assignment, in a city the locals called Los Angeles, in a place called California.

Afterwards I awoke to Koren's gentle ministrations. "Korek says that you could provide the two of us with sanctuary. Is that true, Protector?"

I really wasn't angry at the two Betas. I knew that they were working for the Prime. Meelek was the one I was angry at. "I can't promise anything. But if the two of you could help me get free, I'll see to it that Meelek never bothers you again. And I'll do my best to see that the Empire never bothers anybody on this planet again."

"That is more than we can ask for. How can we help you, Protector?"

"These shackles...."

"There is gold inside. I am afraid that we cannot help you there. They are well beyond Korek's strength or mine. Meelek keeps the key to himself."

"Take a look at the one on my left wrist. It may be cracked a little. My left arm feels stronger than my right."

But as Koren began to examine the shackle, the door opened and Meelek came in. "So, Koren, how is our little guest doing? Is she ready for some more of our hospitality?"

"Yes, Meelek," Koren bowed to him and then left. Here we go again! Didn't he ever get tired of me? But then, why should he, no man had ever gotten bored with me before. Damn! Being a sex object wasn't always a good thing.

When Meelek finally left and Koren came back in, we continued our discussion. "Even with the gold, you should still be much stronger than a Beta. You are the only one, besides Meelek, who could break that shackle."

"But I don't have that much strength! If only I could get a little more." I thought about what I had just said. I knew that there was one way I might be able to get the needed strength. But would it be enough? And it would require some help. Would Koren be willing? I quickly outlined my plans to Koren.

"Yes, I understand, Protector. I get the same way myself. But to do it, someone is going to have to keep Meelek occupied. If he finds out what we are doing, we are done for."

"How can you keep Meelek occupied?" With his tachyon vision and sensitive hearing, he would have to be VERY occupied. Off the top of my head, I could only think of one way. But that would put him in here with me, and we had to avoid that at all costs.

"Leave that to us. Korek and I will have to do some planning, but I believe that we can do it. You may have to put up with Meelek one more time, though."

It wasn't much longer before Meelek came back. I again tried to let my mind go blank.

George was getting worried. His wife had been on her 'business trip' too long. It just wasn't like Jule to be late, without letting him know. She usually wrapped up her cases ahead of schedule. The management still wasn't accustomed to having someone with her 'special' abilities on the job.

Oh, those special abilities! He had never been with her at work, but he had a good feel for those special abilities. After all, he had felt some of her special abilities quite often. Ever since that final summer of college, when she had revealed her alien origin to him. And those special abilities that came with that alien origin.

As they had dated throughout high school and they had gotten more and more familiar with each other, he had often marveled at her athletic abilities, even though she hadn't participated in any sports. At least not in school, they had certainly engaged in some 'athletic activities' after they had finished their homework. Though they had never gone 'all the way'. Now he knew that she had been holding herself back during their 'wrestling'.

Then during their senior year she had dumped him for Larry, that new football player. Looking back objectively, it had seemed reasonable that the athletic stepdaughter of a professional football player would be attracted to another athlete. And God knows, he certainly was not athletic himself.

But then, in his junior year at Stanford, when he had come home during spring break, they had run into each other at that bookstore where she had worked. During that magical week they had rediscovered some of the magic that they had shared before.

Then that summer! They had explored her special abilities. He had helped her learn how to control herself. He had been one of the first men to be able to walk away under his own power after spending more than one night with her. They had spent many a wonderful day alone up in the Colorado mountains.

The following summer she had consented to marry him. And she hadn't needed to flex anything in order to get him to propose. He knew that he was the luckiest man on the planet, being married to Jule. Especially after what she had done to him during their honeymoon in Hawaii. Even if she did tend to 'share' some of her 'special' abilities with some of the other men she worked with. At least she always came home to him.

She always came home to him. Before this time

He went over to his in-laws every evening after work. Jule's 'mother' was on a 'business trip' of her own, but he could talk with Jule's stepfather, Steve. He hadn't heard from her either, but he did not seem too concerned. Steve told him about some of the times his own wife had been delayed incommunicado while on the job.

And if there was any one person on the planet who could take care of herself, it should be Jule. He couldn't imagine any situation that she wouldn't be able to get herself out of. After all, how do you stop someone who could bounce bullets off of her body? And how would you hold someone who could go through solid granite or steel as easily as he could go through a shower curtain?

Still, she was his wife. He worried about her every night he spent alone. He wished that there was something, anything, he could do to help her, though deep down he knew that there was very little he could do to help her if she really was in any kind of trouble.

Koren stopped in the hallway in front of the door and adjusted the straps of her dress uniform, the straps of a uniform that might have been considered just a bit too revealing to be in a Frederick's of Hollywood catalog, a uniform that did not consist of much more than just the straps. She took a deep breath to center herself and arranged the cape properly over her shoulders. At least she had already earned her campaign cape. That cape was the envy of Korek, as it designated her as a veteran, having accomplished her first operational assignment. Korek would earn his own cape when they finished this operational assignment.

However, if their plan worked, they would not be going anywhere near anybody with the authority to issue Korek his own campaign cape.

She took another deep breath and knocked on the door to Meelek's room. She was not looking forward to doing this. She did not want to do this. But she and Korek had decided that there was no other way to do this. She was going to have to use all of her acting experience from her first operational assignment. And she knew that this time, she would be the one feeling the pain, not her partner. By the Stars, would she feel pain! Neither would she feel any pleasure. Not at all like with the drop shuttle copilot.

When she was granted entrance, she entered the room, stopped before the desk, and bowed. She kept her eyes cast down towards the floor until Meelek spoke. "What is it, girl?"

Now that he was speaking to her, she could look up at him. But she only looked at his chest, she could not yet bear to look at his face. "Meelek, I would like to make a request. A personal request."

"A personal request? Remember that we are here only to do our duty to the Empire. Personal desires take second place to our duty, if at all."

Her duty to the Empire! If this wasn't a treasonous act, then nothing was. She tried to keep her face and her voice from betraying her. "Of course, Meelek. This request does not conflict with our duty." By the Stars, was that a lie!

"Well then, what is this personal request, girl?"

She looked back down at the floor, trying to appear as demure as possible. "Meelek, I desire you tonight. You and your company."

He rose halfway out of his chair in his surprise. "What?"

"Ever since you, the great Warrior that you are, captured that Velorian bitch, you have been neglecting me. Please. I have needs too, and you know that Korek cannot help me with this one. Only you can. Please." She took a big risk by walking up to him and placing her arms around his neck. Even though he was again sitting down, she still had to reach up to do so.

"Why this seeming change of attitude, Koren? You never seemed to enjoy my company before."

Good, now it was 'Koren', not 'girl'. And he made no attempt to push her away. Instead, one of his huge arms came around her waist. She knew that he was being gentle with her but it still was a much harder hug than she had received from any other man since she had been on this planet. "I had thought that you enjoyed the thrill of the pursuit, the taste of victory, the feeling that you were taking something despite the opposition, as a true Warrior should. Had I been mistaken in this, Meelek?"

He threw back his head and laughed. "Ah, you truly are a good one, Noren Koren." She hated that nickname, 'Little Koren'. Unless it was Slanek using it. And she hadn't seen him since she and Korek had enlisted. Again, she wished that she was taller. It would be great fun to be as tall as that beautiful Velorian Planetary Protector in the next building was. Meelek didn't give her much time to dwell on that thought, however. "Perhaps there is even more of your father's blood in you than I had thought. Had I known that you in fact felt this way, I would have pursued you more often, tasted the victory more often. As a true Warrior should!" He laughed again.

Thank the Stars he hadn't. She had tasted his victory more than enough. "Tonight, I will not resist you. I will respond to you in ways that I have always wanted to. I will respond to you in ways that the Velorian bitch cannot." That was going to take another superb acting performance, something the LA natives sometimes referred to as an 'Oscar-winner'. Except this time instead of feigning pleasure when she felt almost nothing, she would have to feign pleasure when she felt only pain. She had heard the Protector screaming in her pain as Meelek used her. Oh yes, she knew the pain well. And Meelek was very experienced in dealing it out. She thought that it was an integral part of a Warrior Prime's training. At least for the males. She couldn't even imagine what kind of training a female Warrior Prime received.

"Could I also request that you not take me outside, Meelek?" she asked, hoping to eliminate at least one source of discomfort, albeit a minor one.

"Of course, Noren Koren," he laughed as he picked her up in the crook of his arm and carried her into his sleeping room.

The next day, at least I thought it was the next day, I woke up to find myself alone. I was tired and hungry. Much more tired and much more hungry than I had ever been after my manifestation. I looked down at my body. I could see and feel some light bruises where Meelek had been abusing me.

I knew that my energy reserves were being depleted. My breasts didn't stand up as high and firm as usual. Normally, even on my back, my breasts stood proudly up, almost refusing to acknowledge the presence of gravity. Now they were drooping, sagging like an ordinary Terran woman's breasts. It really saddened me to see my body like this.

I knew that if I didn't get free soon, it would get much worse for me.

The first person to come in was Korek. He put a finger to his lips to caution me to be quiet and then did something to the control panel by the door. He then came over to kneel next to me on the floor.

"Koren has told me of your plan, Protector" he whispered to me.

"Where is she?" I whispered back.

"She is, ah, keeping Meelek, ah, occupied."

"You mean...? She's...?" She's with that pig, willingly?

"It was the best way we could think of to keep him away from here for a while." I could see the anguish in his eyes.

"Then we can't waste her sacrifice." And who better would know the sacrifice she was making for my sake?

"Just how do you wish it, Protector?"

"First, quit calling me Protector. It's hard enough to get into the mood without you being so damn formal. My name is Julie."

"Certainly, Pro... Certainly, Julie."

"Now, treat me like you would treat any other woman that you like." God, I hoped he wasn't a virgin. No, he couldn't be, not an Arion at his age. I was sure that he and Koren were lovers. I was about to ask him to treat me like treated Koren, when he spoke first.

"Even better, Julie. I shall treat you like I would wish some good man would treat Koren."

Huh? Say what? Weren't he and Koren lovers? How could he want some other man to make love to her? I was about to ask him about that when his hands touched me and removed all thoughts of conversation from my mind. If he wasn't Koren's lover, she was missing out on something good. Something very good.

Korek knew that he was throwing away his chance to earn his own campaign cape, just like the one Koren was now entitled to wear. But he was now trying to earn something much more important, his freedom from the Arion Empire and the Warriors Prime who controlled it.

Under other circumstances, Korek knew that he could have been really enjoying this. Here in front of him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. By the Stars, she was beautiful! Yet he knew that she was the strongest person on the planet, even stronger than a full Prime, she was a Velorian Planetary Protector. And the Protector wanted him to bring her to an orgasm.

"Now, treat me like you would treat any other girl that you like," she told him.

That would not be good enough for her. No, by the Stars, she deserved better than that. "Even better, Julie. I shall treat you like I would wish some good man would treat Koren." He began to caress and stroke her large full breasts. After a week of gold and no food, they were smaller than they had been, but they were still quite impressive. And even though she was greatly weakened by the gold, her breasts were firmer than any he had ever felt. He knew that only a full Prime could compare to that.

He then leaned over and suckled at one breast, while his hands never stopped their motion over her body. She began to moan. Then one of his hands began stroking her thigh. He would move tantalizingly close to her sex, before going down almost to her knee. Then it would come back up to tease her again.

He thought about the irony of the situation. He believed that he was fated to die at the hands of a Velorian Planetary Protector. Here he was, with a Velorian chained helplessly before him. Yet he was helping to bring her to her orgasm so that she could escape. He was helping her to escape so that she could kill him.

She stopped her moaning to plead with him, "Quit teasing me, Korek. Give it to me now! Please!"

Just then his hand entered her slit. He squeezed and rubbed her clit. "The shackles," he whispered to her as he felt her orgasm approach.

"Again, Korek. Please. Again. Please." she managed to get out through her panting.

He obliged her, his hands moving in a different pattern.

As another orgasm hit her, she pulled again at the shackle on her left wrist. As the shackle came apart, he was surprised to see the door burst open and Meelek come into the room, heading straight for him. As Meelek grabbed him around the neck and threw him against the far wall, his only thought was that hopefully Meelek had been in enough of a hurry to not have taken the time to kill Koren.

Oh, it was wonderful. He caressed me with his strong hands; hands much stronger than that of any other man I've ever had caress me. Well, except for Meelek, and he never caressed me like this. His hands worked over both of my breasts. Then one hand began moving down my body until it was stroking my thigh. His mouth took its place on my breast.

Mmm, that felt good! Even his tongue was stronger than an ordinary man's hand. He licked, nibbled, and suckled. Then he did it again. And again.

I knew that after I got free I would have to return the favor. I promised myself that the first chance that we got, I would let him have me. If he was willing, that is. I wouldn't force myself on him. But no man had ever turned me down before.

Instead of making love to a bound Velorian, I would have to let him make love to an unbound Velorian. And I would have to let him know what it's like to have an unbound Velorian make love to him.

Just thinking about returning his love made me tingle even more. Oh yes! OH YES! OHHH YESSS!!!

With my first orgasm I heaved at the shackle on my left wrist. I felt it give a little. I also felt a little more strength flowing into my arm. Good, the gold must have been cracked some more.

With the second orgasm I again heaved at the shackle on my left wrist. This time the metal band broke open. I gasped as a surge of power flowed through my arm. It was as if a switch had just turned on.

I reached across my body, rolling over to my right, to get to the shackle on my right wrist. Grasping the metal band with my reenergized left hand I pulled it apart. Ah, it felt so good to have my strength back, even if only in my upper body. I rolled back to lie on my back as the sparks flew between my nipples.

Suddenly I realized that Korek and I were no longer alone. Meelek had Korek by the neck. He shook Korek once and threw him against the far wall. NO!

I quickly bent over in order to reach the shackles around my ankles. I put my back into the pull and the shackles came off. The Orgone rush hit me hard as the last of the gold was removed from around my body. I could feel the buzz coming from my feet and traveling up my legs and my body until it exploded at my chest. After being under the influence of the gold for so long, it stunned me. It knocked me flat on my back and took my breath away.

I recovered in time to discover that Meelek was pounding away at my face with his fists. I kicked up with my legs and must have gotten in a lucky kick, for Meelek went flying across the room. And through the wall. I quickly got to my feet and prepared to face Meelek as he came back through the hole in the wall. I was determined not to let him get me with a sucker punch as he had done the very first time.

Sucker punch! Hell, I'd invited him to hit me. I'd thought that he was just another Terran thug. I'd had other men break their fists against my face, I hadn't thought that this was going to be any different. I'd just seen Mark fighting with someone who might have been an Arion, and I'd thought that I was fighting with a Terran. Could I have gotten any BLONDER that?

I knew that I was in for the fight of my life, literally. Fighting Terrans was one thing, I knew that they couldn't hurt me. But this Meelek was probably about as strong as I was, and just about as invulnerable, according to what Mom's told me about Arion Warriors Prime. This guy could not only hurt me; he really could kill me. And he looked like that was exactly what he wanted to do to me.

This was not going to be like fighting a street punk with a tire iron and a switchblade. This was not going to be like fighting a mugger with a pistol. Even though Meelek was unarmed, he was much more dangerous than anything or anybody I've ever faced in my life. I knew that I would have to be at my best if I was ever going to face anything or anybody else in my life again. And I was still a little woozy from the gold and the lack of food.

He came charging at me. I prepared to meet him, charging right at him.

Just then Koren came running in through the smashed door, wearing even less than usual. In fact she was completely naked.

Looking through the door, she saw the Velorian Protector tear off the shackles around her ankles. She then saw her go back down onto her back as the Orgone rush hit her. She then saw Meelek attacking her, before a kick from the Velorian send him flying across the room and through the wall. She hastened her steps.

The next thing Koren saw when she came in through the shattered door was Korek's body, crumpled against the far wall. She immediately ran across the room to his side, knowing that in the battle between the Velorian Planetary Protector and the Arion Warrior Prime there was nothing she could do to affect its outcome.

Korek was still alive, but just barely; she didn't think that he would last long. Even a full field hospital probably couldn't save him now. Let alone the first aid kits they had. By the Stars! If she could only have kept Meelek occupied for one more minute!

As she held Korek's body in her arms, she saw Meelek coming through the hole in the wall as the Protector got to her feet. A bit unsteadily, she thought, but the Protector seemed to recover quickly. She was saddened to see just how much the gold and starvation had weakened her; her breasts were noticeably smaller. And her body was covered with bruises.

The Protector met Meelek's charge head-on. Even though she was more than twenty feet away, she felt rather than heard the impact, which knocked her back against the wall.

When her eyes cleared, she did not see either of them in the room. But there were two new holes in the walls, on opposite sides of the room.

Oof! Okay, so maybe head-on isn't the best way to take on an Arion Prime. I may be blonde, but I figured that one out all by myself. Though I admit, I had learned it the hard way. Literally. That was the hardest thing I've ever run into. Or had run into me, he had been moving almost as fast as I had been. I could definitely feel the effects of the prolonged exposure to gold and no food. This was not cool!

This most definitely was not going to be like fighting a street punk with a tire iron and a switchblade.

I got back up on my feet and looked around for Meelek. I didn't see him. I didn't see much of anything. I was in another gray room. But this one was dark and empty, except for the layer of dust on the floor. It didn't look like anybody had been in here for months until I had gotten here. No windows, one door on the far side, closed and sealed. How did I get in here?

Then I noticed the hole in the wall.

Of course, you dumb blonde! Duh! What did you expect to happen to you after you run head-on into a charging Arion Prime at full speed?

Okay, let's think this one through. If I'm here, then he must be over that-a-way!

Well, that was a brilliant deduction, blondie. Why don't I just try looking through the hole? I walked over to the hole in the wall and cautiously peeked through into the room where I had been held captive for I don't know how long.

Straight across the room I could see a larger hole in the far wall. Meelek was looking out at me through that hole, looking about as dazed as I felt. Good! I wasn't the only person getting a headache from this. But I wanted to make sure that his headache would be fatal.

Before he made my headache fatal.

Koren saw the Protector climbing through the hole in the wall on her right. Meelek came through the wall on her left, not bothering to climb, just smashing his way through the wall. Typical Prime! Typical arrogant Prime! They glared at each other as they warily circled each other around the room.

She saw faint purple beams of light emanate from the Protector's eyes. They struck Meelek, but seemed to have no effect. The beams stopped and the Protector shook her head, looking like she might be confused. Koren was also confused. Even she knew that the heat vision would have no effect on a Prime, why had the Protector even bothered trying?

They exchanged blows. Fists and feet moved too fast for her to follow. She could hear and feel the shock waves from the impacts. She could feel the floor shake with each sledgehammer blow. Pieces of cement and tiles from the ceiling and the walls flaked off. Yet they seemed to have no effect on the two combatants.

Then Meelek made his charge. One moment he had been circling to his right. The next, he had his arms around the Protector, driving her back against the wall. And right through the wall. Then they came back, knocking another hole in the wall. Meelek still had his arms around the Protector, but her powerful legs were driving her forward. She continued driving forward until Meelek's broad back hit the wall on the other side. The wall crumbled under the onslaught as the two nearly invulnerable bodies went through it without even slowing down.

The battering was weakening the walls. Koren saw cracks forming on the walls and up on the ceiling. She didn't think that the roof would hold much longer. She knew that she had to get Korek out of there as quickly as possible. Even being naked in the cold outside would be better than being buried under the rubble.

We traded a furious flurry of blows. I was still too used to fighting Terrans, I pulled my early punches, swinging slowly and softly, barely tapping him. But his punches quickly reminded me that I was not fighting a Terran this time. Ouch! They stung! They did more than just sting. They hurt!

I succeeded in blocking most of his punches with my hands and arms. He also succeeded in blocking many of mine. I got a few through his guard to tattoo his nose and chin. Any one of those blows should have demolished an Army tank. But he just shook them off; they only served to make him madder.

Then he sprang forward and got his arms around me, pinning my arms to my sides. I couldn't get out of grip of those powerful arms. He crushed me against him, almost flattening my breasts between us. My breasts have never been treated like that! He drove forward, using his greater height to lift my feet completely off of the floor. I felt my backside hit the wall. I felt the wall shatter as we went through it.

He must have stumbled on something going through the wall, because he started falling forward, on top of me. That gave me a chance to get my feet back on the floor. I leaned back, supporting his weight on top of my body, trying to keep his feet off of the floor. There! Now if he wanted his feet on the floor, he would have to let me go.

With his body on top of me I drove him into two walls. Either of the impacts would have shattered just about every bone in a Terran's body. Yet his Prime body just went right through the walls as if they weren't even there.

I knew that I should be stronger than a Prime, but I was still feeling the effects of my confinement and the gold and the lack of food. I couldn't keep him off of his feet. As I staggered a bit he got his feet back under him. He lifted me back up and smashed me through a wall again. We were now out in the night. I noticed that it was snowing lightly.

He drove me right into another building. And out through the other side, without even slowing down.

Finally I managed to get my legs around one of his huge thighs and I was able to trip him. But even as we went down he kept his arms around me. We rolled around on the ground, going through a few more walls and buildings in the process.

I knew that I couldn't let him get back to his feet. If I let him get the leverage advantage on me, I knew that I could be in real trouble. Yeah, as if I wasn't already in enough trouble as it was. He was so much taller; his legs and arms so much longer than mine.

Well, there's one sure way to keep his feet off of the ground, by getting my feet off of the ground as well. As we rolled into another building, I flexed my legs and kicked out at the floor. We rose straight up. Straight up at the ceiling. And straight up through the ceiling! Continuing to flex my legs I took us a couple of miles up into the sky, rolling and turning to try to shake him off of me.

Koren finally got Korek's body out of the damaged building, into the relative safety of the outdoors. It was cold, but not unbearable. At least not with the two blankets she had managed to bring with her. She wrapped both of the blankets around his unconscious body as she sought shelter in one of the other buildings.

Just as she got to the door, Meelek and the Protector also came out. Not through the door, Meelek still had his arms around her as he drove her through the wall. As she huddled against the wall, watching, they fell to the ground. They continued to roll on the ground, both of them trying, and failing, to get to their feet. But that did not prevent them from hitting and going through a few more walls. But they didn't even seem to notice the walls, as the wood splintered and the concrete shattered around them, mere buildings being no match for the bare flesh of a Velorian Planetary Protector and an Arion Warrior Prime.

Then she saw the two of them go crashing through the roof of the building they had rolled into. Crashing through the roof going UP! She quickly lost sight of them as they rose up into the lightly falling snow.

Mark woke up suddenly. He didn't have too much choice in the matter as he was practically thrown off of his partially warm mattress onto the totally cold floor. At first he thought that he had just rolled over in his sleep. After all, he hadn't been sleeping very well since he had been captured. He only slept because his body required it.

Though there was not much else to do here. The chain allowed him to move between his mattress and the bathroom. Twice a day some food and water was brought to him, either by a young man, or by the same young woman that he had fought. Neither of them said a word to him. He had tried fighting them, but both of them had just shrugged off his efforts. The only effect of his attempts was that the food did not come the next time, only the water.

But then he felt the tremor and heard the crash. He couldn't see anything out the window, except that it was night and that it seemed to be snowing lightly. The floor continued to shake, and periodically he could hear a crashing sound, almost like explosions.

He rubbed his chin and its week's growth of beard. What the hell was going on? Could the smugglers be demonstrating something for a prospective buyer? No, they wouldn't do so this close to the base. Was the Navy shelling the base? No, they wouldn't do that without authorization from either Julie or himself, or they had proof that he was dead. Could Julie think that he was dead?

Dear God, could Julie be dead? That superwoman, who could bounce bullets off of her bare flesh? Could these people somehow have killed her?

Then the whole building shook. It was like a truck had just crashed into it. A truck, hell, it was more like a freight train. After a few more minutes the tremors and the crashing sounds ceased, replaced by the usual silence.

Though he thought that he could still hear something. But no it couldn't be.

He thought that he could hear somebody crying.

Finally he must have gotten disoriented enough, I felt his arms loosen slightly. But not enough, I still couldn't get my arms free. I had to do something to get out of his bear hug. Not being a man, I felt no need to be constrained to fight like a gentleman. Not that I've ever fought like a gentleman. And certainly no gentleman ever fought like me. Not that Meelek had been fighting like a gentleman either, for that matter.

I leaned further forward into his embrace, getting my head alongside his neck. Turning my head, I bit his ear as hard as I could! I knew that my jaws could drive my teeth through an inch of armored steel without any effort, I had done it before. But they couldn't go through a quarter inch of the Arion Prime's soft flesh. But it did have an effect. Even in the thin air I could hear his scream. I felt his body shake and his arms loosened a little. I bit him again, wishing that I was biting off some other part of his anatomy. His arms loosened their embrace a little more. Putting everything I had into it, I managed to spread my arms apart, prying loose his grip. Not being able to fly, he started to fall.

But not very far. As he fell, he grabbed onto my left ankle with his right hand, holding on to it with a grip that I knew could pulverize steel. As hard as I shook and kicked my leg, he wouldn't let go of my ankle. I even kicked him repeatedly in the head with my right foot; he still wouldn't let go of me. I had to stop kicking him when he tried to grab that leg with his other hand.

I flew lower and bashed him against a mountaintop. He continued to cling to my ankle as solid rock shattered against him. I flew just above the sea at Mach three, dangling my left leg to drag him through the icy waters, raising up a rooster tail. I just could not shake him. He still refused to let go of my ankle. Instead, he got his other hand on my leg as well, and started trying to climb up my leg.

Under other circumstances, I might have enjoyed having a man climb up my legs. But this wasn't one of those circumstances. And this certainly was not a man I wanted climbing up my legs. I got my right foot on the top of his head and tried to push him off of me.

Continuing to push and kick at his head, I headed back up. And up. Soon, I was out of the atmosphere completely. Damn! Primes can survive the hard vacuum as well as I can. Not only survive, but he was still trying to climb up my legs. How was I going to get rid of this guy?

I directed my heat vision at the top of his head. That had no more effect on him than my earlier attempt. All it seemed to do was to heat up his hair and head. Well, if he could survive the vacuum and cold of space, then it seemed natural that he could survive the heat as well.

He made a lunge upwards, trying to get a hand on my body. His hand slapped against my lower stomach and started to slide down. I felt his hand tangling in my pubic hair. Then I felt the creep's fingers go into my slit. Damn the bastard! Hadn't he been in there enough already yet? Then he grabbed and pulled. OUCH! THAT HURTS! I tried again to shake and kick him off of me. The bastard! THAT HURTS!

I grabbed his wrist and tried to get him to let go of me. I squeezed his wrist hard enough to crush the hardest steel alloy. He squeezed me back almost as hard, right in my most sensitive part. I tried to block out the pain by flexing my muscles, accelerating us even more as we continued to shoot out into space.

He looked up at me. I gave him a blast of heat vision right in the face. That seemed to have some effect, as he quickly closed his eyes and averted his face. Apparently there was one part of him that was vulnerable to my heat vision. Conversely, my own eyes were probably just as vulnerable to his heat vision. I'll have to remember that the next time I fight against a Prime.

If I live long enough to have to fight against another Prime. I knew that the first fight I lost against a Prime would be my last.

After crossing the orbit of the Moon I stopped suddenly, kicking my legs out in front of me, doing a backwards somersault of sorts, whipping him out in front of me. That maneuver almost worked, it got rid of one of his hands. The one that was really hurting. His other hand started to slide down my leg. Now he had just his left hand on my ankle.

I reached my arms up over my head and began spinning, trying to center the spin around my hands. Faster and faster I spun. Eventually the centrifugal force got to be too much even for his Prime grip. As I felt his one-handed grip on my ankle loosen, I kicked him in the head again with my right leg. That finally did the trick! His grip broken, he sailed off into space.

I stopped my body from spinning. It took a little longer for me to get my head to stop spinning. I looked around to see if I could find Meelek. Oh no! He was headed back down to the Earth, spinning slowly. I wasn't sure if a Prime could survive the reentry and the impact, but I didn't want to find out. I flew after him. Timing my approach, I grabbed him by a huge ankle and spun him around, sending him away from the Earth.

He was still spinning slowly. He shook his fist at me and tried to say something. In the vacuum I could hear nothing, of course, but from his demeanor I didn't think that he was being very polite to me. Not that he had ever been very polite to me in the past.

Again timing my approach, I came up behind him and gave him a swift and not so very gentle kick in the ass, sending him in the general direction of the sun. I figured that in a couple of months he would eventually get there, unless he got lucky and hit Venus or Mercury instead. I didn't care, as long as he didn't get back to the Earth. I didn't know whether he would still be alive when he got there or not. And I really didn't care one bit. Not for the man who had the gall to chain me up and rape me. Not one damn bit!

No, that wasn't quite right. I hoped that he would still be alive for the entire trip to the sun. I hoped that he would have plenty of time to remember who had done this to him, and why. And I hoped that he would still be alive as he fell into the corona of the sun, and beyond. I wanted him to burn up alive as he fell into the nuclear furnace of the sun.

The last I saw of him, he was still spinning slowly and still shaking his fist at me and still yelling something at me. I blew him a kiss, waved bye-bye at him, and then turned and headed back down towards the Earth and the Aleutians. Back to the Aleutians, and Koren and Korek. And I hoped, back to Mark.

By the time I got back, Koren had gotten Korek safely out of the smashed building. She was sitting on the ground in the shelter of an intact wall, holding him in her arms, cradling his head in her lap. I could see that he was still alive, but it didn't look like he would stay that way much longer. I landed besides the two of them, feeling completely exhausted, wondering if a Terran hospital would be able to do anything for an Arion, if I could get him there quickly enough.

Koren turned and looked up at me. "Where is Meelek?" she asked.

"You won't have to worry about him anymore. How's Korek?"

The look on her face answered me better than any mere words ever could have. I knew right away that I wouldn't have to try to get him to a hospital.

Just then, Korek opened his eyes, saw me, and whispered something to his lover. I couldn't make out his words; it seemed that his last words were going to be in Arion. Koren stroked his face and whispered back to him in the same language, and then looked up to face me. Wiping the tears away from her eyes, she suddenly took on a very serious and formal demeanor. "Protector, Korek has made his Final Request. He wishes to die in your arms. He wishes to feel the embrace of a Velorian woman just once before he dies."

"B-b-but I c-c-can't do that! If anybody should be with him at the very end, it should be you. Not me."

"Please, Protector. This is his final wish, and I understand and accept it. Please. I also ask this for him. Please. This is his Final Request, his dying wish."

I sat down and took his limp body as she handed it over to me. I cradled his head between my bare breasts, holding him very gently while Koren knelt beside us, holding her head in her hands and weeping. The pain seemed to vanish from his face, to be replaced by a smile. After about a minute, he stopped breathing. Koren examined him. "He is finally at rest," she quietly announced, taking his limp body back from me. She then chanted something in Arion over his body.

"I'm sorry, Koren. I really am. But there was nothing I could do. By the time I could get free, it was too late."

"I know. It is not your fault. I saw. It is that Star-forsaken Prime! If I could only have kept him busy for one more minute!" She was sobbing once again.

"You did all that you could. I'm still sorry. I know that Korek means something to you. He means something to me, too. I wouldn't have gotten free if it wasn't for him. But he should have died in the arms of his lover, not in my arms."

She looked up at my words, seemingly startled. "Korek is not my lover. He never had been. He has always been much more than that. Korek is..." she managed to get through her tears. "No, Korek WAS my twin brother." Her body continued to shake with her sobbing.

Brother and sister! Siblings! Twins! Of course! The similarity of their names, the similarity of their faces. That's why she was willing to let mine be the last embrace he would ever feel. She wasn't his lover. Oh, I could be SO blonde sometimes!

She got up, carrying her twin brother's dead body and setting it down by an intact section of the wall. Then she took my hand and led me to where they had been keeping Mark locked up.

Mark was definitely glad to see Julie again. He would have been glad to see her, even if she hadn't been completely naked. She had made one of her usual dramatic entrances, breaking down the door to his little room in the workers' living quarters. She then quickly and easily unbent the steel bar around his ankle, releasing him.

Then he noticed the other person coming into the room through the shattered door. She was one of THEM! The same black-haired young woman who had so easily overpowered him when they had first come to this island. Like Julie, she was also completely naked.

He backed away from her and tried to warn Julie. He was very surprised when Julie took the other woman's hand in hers and turned to him. "Mark, this is Koren." She then briefly explained that Koren was now on their side, having freed Julie from her captivity. She also told him that Koren was an Arion, of the same race as Julie's own mother, Orion.

The girl was very surprised to hear that Julie's mother was not of Julie's race, but instead was of her own. "Obviously, Mom isn't my real birth mother. My mother died giving me birth, and Mom adopted me. I'm probably the only Velorian in history with an Arion Mom. It's a long story."

As Julie was talking, she sat down. Mark noticed that she looked tired. She had never looked that tired before. She must really have been put through the wringer to get her that tired. She was pale, and Mark thought she had lost some weight. Her face was drawn and gaunt. He could see dark bruises on her body. And even her normally proud breasts seemed somewhat smaller and they were not sitting up as high as usual.

Koren must have seen it also. "Oh, Protector. I'm so sorry. You haven't had any food while you were here, and then the gold, and the battle with Meelek. You must be exhausted. We need to get you recharged." Julie had gone the whole week without any food?

"What do you have here that could do it?" Julie asked her.

"The generator should help. We don't need any power to the packing plant any more. Not after you and Meelek got through with it."

The generator? What were they talking about? Recharging? Like a battery? And what had happened to the packing plant?

Finding some clothes for him and Koren, they went out into the light snow. He was shocked to see the devastation. Most of the packing plant was in ruins. Some of the other buildings also showed signs of the battle, some burn marks and a lot of damage from flying rubble.

All this from a fight between two unarmed people? No, even if she was completely naked, Julie definitely would not have qualified as unarmed. Especially not naked! But this was not the proper time to think of that. But he knew that her naked body was a more powerful weapon than any other on Earth was, short of a nuclear weapon. And Mark wouldn't bet against her in such a contest. And if her opponent had been able to force Julie to cause this much destruction during the battle, he certainly wouldn't have qualified as unarmed either.

Koren led them to the power plant, where the diesel generators still supplied electricity to the entire complex. To what was left of the complex, that is. She walked around, looking at the big power cables. "Okay, this one goes to the packing plant, where you were held captive. I do not think that we need that one any more. Let me shut off that circuit for now. I will turn it back on when you are ready." Mark still didn't know what they were planning.

After Koren threw a switch, Julie ripped up the cable from its conduit. With a pull of her powerful arms, she cut the cable. She then grasped the bare metal ends. At a nod from her, Koren threw the switch. Mark had to cover his eyes as the sparks flew. He lowered his hands slightly so he could see what was happening. Julie was shorting almost the entire output of the diesel generator through her body. Sparks were flying around both of her hands as she held the ends of the cable. As he continued watching, she seemed to be glowing. There was definitely a white light around her chest area. The glow got brighter and brighter. He was reminded of the old horror films that showed Doctor Frankenstein using lightning to try to bring his creation to life. But Julie certainly was no monster.

Then he saw blue-green sparks fly between her nipples. At that, Koren threw the switch again, cutting the circuit. As the sparks died off, Julie dropped the cable ends. As the glow faded, Julie stepped forward. Her skin had lost its pallor and was back to her usual golden tan. The bruises seemed to have disappeared. Though he really didn't notice her color, his eyes were glued to her breasts. They seemed even larger and fuller and higher than he had remembered. And they still seemed to be glowing slightly.

Julie had apparently suffered no ill effects from the experience. In fact both of them assured him that all that had happened was restoring some of her energy reserves, in a way much faster than mere food and rest could have done. "Thank you, Koren. I feel a lot better now." She then turned and smiled at him. "Just like charging a battery. Or two," she had said, smiling and cupping her still glowing globes in her hands.

I felt a lot better after the recharging. I dug a grave in the solid rock for Korek. Koren wrapped her twin brother's body in a red cape that she had gotten from her room and laid him in the grave and chanted in Arion. When she had finished, I filled in the grave and sealed it by melting the rock over it. I then placed a boulder on top. Mark and I then left Koren alone. Alone with her thoughts and with her brother.

I regretted that I couldn't keep the promise I had made myself. I had wanted to show Korek my gratitude for freeing me from my gold bonds. I had wanted to show him my gratitude in the best way possible.

I didn't think that it was because he was a Supremis man, and that I had never made love to a Supremis man. What Meelek had done to me definitely did not fit into that category. I didn't think that I cared whether Korek was a Supremis or a Terran. In the short time that we had known each other he had been a friend, an ally, a comrade in arms.

And the only gratitude that I had been able to show him had been to let him die in my arms.

Apparently another storm had moved in while I had been, well, tied up with other concerns. With the weather as it was, I couldn't fly Koren and Mark out of here; they would freeze before we could get anywhere. At least Mark would freeze, I wasn't sure about Koren, she had told us that she was half Prime. But she didn't seem to be very comfortable in the cold. The cold probably wouldn't have bothered Mom, but she was Velorian-enhanced.

We rearranged the contents of one of the rooms in the living quarters; at least the walls and roof were intact, and the windows were in place. While they gathered up some mattresses and blankets I flew across to our base and brought back our radio and some more food and Mark's shaving kit. We even managed to get some heat and hot water. I resisted the temptation to use up all of the hot water myself. I let Mark and Koren use up all they wanted first. Then I took my hot shower. But I cheated; I first heated up some more water, my way.

As we ate dinner I was also getting ready to go out to see whether I could find that submarine. Koren and Mark had been discussing her capture of him as they finished their dinner. She stood up and walked around the table to Mark, who also stood up.

"Oh Mark, I am sorry I had to do that to you. But when you showed up on the island, I did not know who you were. Let alone that you had a Velorian Protector with you. I hope I did not hurt you too bad." Koren's reached out to Mark and tried to hug him.

He backed away from her and held his hands out towards me. "Julie...." he started to plead.

I walked over to him and took his hands in mine. "Please, Mark. Can't you see that the lady is trying to apologize to you? Now be a good proper gentleman and let her. Or aren't you up to it?" I placed his hands into hers. "And if you're really nice to her, she will be very gentle and she won't hurt you again." I winked at the two of them. "Will you, Koren?"

She smiled. "Oh no, Julie. I will be very gentle with him. I will not hurt him again." She smiled at him. "Not too much." She hugged and kissed him.

"Um, I forgive you, Koren," he managed to gasp out when she finally let him up for air.

"Oh, I am not through apologizing to you yet, Mark," she said. She put an arm around his waist and lifted, carrying him off to the pile of blankets. Her body certainly flexed in interesting ways when she moved, a lot like Mom's did, only more so. "A proper apology could take all night. Maybe even longer."

During the day they had explained a lot of things to him, and to each other. Among other things, Mark had learned that Koren was of the same alien race as Julie's 'mother'. That Julie herself was of a related race. That his own race was also related, though obviously more distantly.

They had told him of the similarities, and the differences, of the Velorians and Arions. And of the two types of Arions, the Primes and the Betas. The big one, whom he had seen a few times during the week, had been a Prime. He was the one Julie that had had so much trouble with. The other two, the girl Koren and her dead brother, were Betas, though they had some Prime blood in them. That apparently was an unusual thing.

Julie had also revealed some additional facts about herself. Apparently there were also two kinds of Velorians. The 'normal' kind and the Planetary Protectors who were much stronger, and as the name implied, assigned to protect planets. Koren had been surprised to learn that Julie was not a Planetary Protector, but just a 'normal' Velorian.

"You're not trained as a Protector? And yet you were able to defeat a trained Warrior Prime the first time you even fought a Prime?" Koren was beyond surprised, if she had been very respectful of Julie before, now she was practically in awe of her.

Julie had told him about the young man they had buried. Rather, the young man Koren had buried in the grave Julie had dug in the solid rock with her bare hands. She had told him that Korek had been Koren's twin brother, and that like many twins they had had a special bond that went beyond merely being siblings. She had also told him that despite the ordeal she and Mark had just gone through, they should also respect Koren's loss, giving her space if she desired, and provide what comfort they could, should she require it. He wasn't quite sure whether he detected a veiled reference to something else in that last statement. Nonetheless he had readily agreed.

Mark also had suspected that the women had been plotting something else. He had seen them whispering with each other. He had also seen them exchanging conspiratorial looks over dinner. He had wondered what they were up to. Knowing Julie, it could have been just about anything.

Just about anything but this! He certainly had not expected this! It was clear to him that Julie now trusted Koren completely, she would not otherwise entrust Koren with the task of 'bodyguarding' him.

He realized that the two alien races had a lot in common as Koren picked him up and carried him to their makeshift sleeping area. She had then pinned him to the mattress with one hand as she began to undress him with the other. He put his hands on her arm and tried to free himself. He was pleased to discover that he could move her arm a little. Julie could hold him immobile with just her little finger; this girl wasn't in her class. He thought that he just might be able to escape her one-handed pin if he used all of his strength. He had just gotten her hand off of his chest just enough to begin to slide out from under it. But then, Koren had smiled down at him and stiffened her arm. Now he couldn't budge it a single inch. She stifled a yawn with her free hand. The sly minx! She had just been teasing him. Somehow, that also pleased him.

During the remainder of the night he learned more about the similarities of the two alien races. Or at least the similarities of two of their female representatives. And some of their differences.

Were all of these alien women like this? What about their men?

Well, for right now, he was all of their men. That thought pleased him immensely.

I came back from my futile search for the sub; it had too great a head start on me and it could be just about anywhere in the North Pacific by now. Apparently Mark had been satisfied with Koren's apology, for the two of them were huddled under some blankets, sound asleep in each other's arms. And Koren had been gentle with Mark, a quick look revealed no broken bones and only a few new light bruises.

Mark and I spent much of the day rounding up what Arion equipment we could, while Koren gathered what personal items she had. And her brother's personal things, as well. Koren was a great help in identifying the Arion equipment, stuff that Mark and I had never seen before.

Koren and Mark came up to me after dinner, holding hands. Koren spoke first. "Ah, Julie, we have been talking, and we have decided that we have yet to thank you properly for saving us from Meelek."

"That's okay, Koren. That's what Protectors are supposed to do." I winked at her.

"Please, Julie. Can't you see that we're trying to thank you? Now be a good proper lady and let us. Or aren't you up to it?" Mark said, using my own words from last night against me. It was hopeless, they had me trapped; they each took an arm and led me off to the pile of blankets. "A proper thank you could take all night." he added, grinning from ear to ear.

"Maybe even longer," Koren added, also grinning from ear to ear. "We will be very gentle with you. We will not hurt you. Too much."

I pulled them down on top of me. "As if you two could hurt me! Go ahead and try!" Getting an arm around each of their heads I pulled their faces down to my breasts. Mmm, that felt good! This was so cool! The delightful contrast between Mark's soft feather-like caresses and Koren's much more vigorous caresses, feeling much like Mom's did, was so delicious. Mmm, her caresses reminded me of Mom's; nobody else had that much strength in their bodies. Except for Meelek, and he didn't count. I promptly erased Meelek from my mind the rest of the night.

I rolled Koren off of me, pinning her on her back. I disengaged Mark from the nipple he was attacking, and placed his mouth on one of Koren's. He continued his assault while I attacked the other one.

I then rolled Mark onto his back. Getting my hands on Koren's hips, I lifted her up and lowered her onto Mark's throbbing manhood.

As Koren began to pump her strong legs, I floated up in front of Koren's face. After giving her a kiss, I rose up higher. I wrapped my legs around her neck as her eager tongue found my sex. I continued to support myself by flying until all three of us reached climax. I floated away from Koren to let her catch her breath. Frankly, I needed to catch my breath too.

Koren got up off of Mark and looked down at him. "Oh, you should have been thanking Julie, not me." Grinning at him, she continued, "Well, I believe that I have to do something about that, so you can thank her properly." With that, she leaned forward and began ravishing his large muscular chest.

Well, I couldn't just sit by and let her do all of the work. I came down and began kissing him. I then moved down further, until Koren and I were both working over his broad chest.

When he was ready, I floated up and lowered myself onto him, lifting Koren up out of my way. With a hand on Koren's cute ass I lifted her up to my face. She eagerly wrapped her shapely legs around my neck as I continued to hold her. Ahh, the taste of Koren mingled with the taste of Mark was SO delicious!

They were right. A proper thank you does take all night. Maybe even longer. But I thought that Koren and Mark might need to work at it a little more; they both fell asleep before I did.

As Koren made love with Julie and Mark she realized that there was only one thing missing. One person, rather. She wished that her brother could have been here to share it with her.

Korek had often told her about his recurring dream. The dream where he died at the hands of a Velorian Planetary Protector. He had come to accept that dream as foretelling his fate.

His interpretation of the dream had been almost correct. He had not died at the hands of a Velorian, but had died instead in one's arms. Though Julie was not a Planetary Protector, she most certainly was a Velorian.

Even though one of his lifelong fantasies had been fulfilled, having been held in the embrace of a Velorian's arms, she wished that he could have lived long enough to have felt a Velorian's more intimate embrace. The intimate embraces that both she and Julie had been giving Mark hadn't necessarily involved their arms.

Oh, how Korek would have enjoyed Julie's most intimate embraces! Oh, why couldn't his dream have shown him lying in a Velorian's embrace? Stars, he would have enjoyed it! Stars, Koren was certainly enjoying it! Julie was not like any other woman she had ever known.

The best way to remember her brother would be to continue living as the two of them had, to continue to enjoy life. And that certainly included enjoying what she was doing right now. Korek certainly would have enjoyed it, and she was certain that he was with her somewhere, somehow, enjoying it through her enjoyment.

Yes, the best way to honor her brother would be to enjoy what Julie was doing to her at the moment, even if she wouldn't be doing quite the same thing to Korek if he was around.

The next day the weather broke up enough for the Navy to send a helicopter to fly out to pick us up. We had told Koren not to speak to anybody without having Mark or myself around. We explained to the Navy that she had been a prisoner of the smugglers. We also told them that we were taking her in under our care.

We came back with the Navy to try to salvage what we could. Koren was a big help with the stuff we didn't recognize. We grabbed all of the electronic equipment that we could and arranged to have it all shipped to Denver. I was sure that Mom would want it all. And Koren had told us that she had been trained as an electronics and communications technician.

Mark stayed in Anchorage to help coordinate the mopping up operations. Both the Navy and the Coast Guard were now involved. Mark assured me that he would be safe by himself, that he wouldn't go back to the island without at least a platoon of Marines to keep him safe from harm. I decided that a platoon of Marines would do almost as good a job of bodyguarding as a single Velorian woman, though probably not as good a job of keeping him warm. Besides, he was only going back to the island with the demolition crew, to cover up any signs of alien activity.

Mark also convinced the Navy and Coast Guard brass to keep a lid on the incident. That wasn't too hard to do, they didn't want the press, and through them the public, to know how they had been letting the smuggling go on right under their noses. Nor the story of how they had to have the help of us 'civilians' to put an end to it.

We decided that I should take Koren home with me, to get her out of the area as quickly as possible. So we made the arrangements. My clothes didn't fit her too well so after some clothes shopping Koren and I got aboard a commercial flight in Anchorage for the Lower Forty-Eight and for home.

Home. Home sweet home and my darling husband. Home sweet home and the only other Arion that I knew of.

The Arion woman whom I've called 'Mom' all of my life.