Chapter 13

Bah! Additional training, by the Stars! The copilot knew that he could fly this drop shuttle as well as the pilot could, if not better. Certainly he could fly this particular approach better, he had done it more often. It was a routine descent, the only thing to be careful about was the native traffic, and that only for the last six miles or so. A little cloudy, as usual, but that didn't bother the instruments at all. But the pilot had insisted that he take the drop shuttle down to the surface this time, as usual.

Not seeing anything other than clouds outside the windows, he looked over at the pilot. The pilot was leaning back in the command chair, with eyes closed. Probably thinking about that Korek guy down below. No, probably dreaming about that Korek guy down below. Being part Prime, Korek was quite a hunk. He could understand why women like the pilot might be so interested in him.

Not that he was completely without daydreams of his own. After all, there was a rather lonely girl waiting for him down there. And by the Stars, she was quite a girl!

At least he hoped that Koren was down there on the island below waiting for him. They had lost radio contact with Meelek's group last month. That was why they were shuttling down a small combat team, instead of the usual supplies. In the cargo bay aft were twelve heavily armed Beta soldiers, along with their officers, three Warriors Prime. If something down there had somehow taken out a Warrior Prime, they wanted to be ready for it.

He repressed a shudder. If something down there had taken out a Warrior Prime, for what by the Stars was he, a mere Beta, and an aviator, not a combat soldier, doing going down there? But then, he knew that somebody had to fly the drop shuttle.

Of course, it could all just be simple equipment failure. With what Koren had told him about Meelek having assigned her some 'extra duties', he wouldn't be surprised if she had had to let some routine maintenance slip. After all, there were only three people down there, and you couldn't expect Meelek to do any of the work. Certainly not any work that required using the muscle between his ears.

Besides, the copilot was an Arion soldier. His commander had told him to go down there, so he was going down there.

As he broke through the last layer of the cloud and approached the island, he could see that it was not a simple equipment failure that had cut off communications with Meelek's group. By the Stars! Though he doubted that any of the radio equipment was in working condition, that had just became a secondary concern now. "Pilot, you had better see this for yourself," he said, reaching over and giving her chair a little shake.

"Huh? What is it, Copilot?" she said, stirring herself awake and stretching. He could not resist taking a good long look. The pilot could be quite distracting when she stretched her arms up over her head like that.

As she brought her arms down he brought his mind back to the situation at hand. Besides, Koren, despite her lack of height, had a better set of breasts than the pilot had; and Koren was whom he was coming down to see. As he pointed at the island her eyes followed his finger out through the canopy to the island. "By the Stars! What happened down there?"

"Landing instructions, Pilot?" he asked, trying to sound as casual and nonchalant as possible. After all, she was in charge. Let her figure out what to do now. Let the pilot put her command training to good use.

She blinked her eyes in surprise. "What? Oh, put us down on the island, Copilot. Not too close to the base. Or rather, what is left of the base."

He quickly scanned the small island. "How about the beach on the other side of the island, Pilot?"

"Excellent, Copilot. Begin your approach. I shall let our 'guests' know what is happening." She unstrapped herself from her chair and went aft into the cargo bay. She returned in a moment with the senior Warrior Prime. The cockpit, in the time-honored tradition of military vehicles everywhere in the galaxy, was not too spacious to begin with. But now it suddenly felt very cramped with the Warrior Prime's huge bulk in there. He stared silently out the canopy, staring out silently at the remains of the camp. Even at this altitude the craters were clearly visible, even if they were partially covered by the frozen water. He did not say one single word before going aft to no doubt discuss this turn of events with the other officers in his command.

After a perfect landing on the rocky beach, even if he did say so himself, the troops got out. The pilot and copilot were each assigned to accompany one of the Warriors Prime. They spread out and began to scour the island for any information that might tell them about what had happened here. And to find the three people who had been stationed here.

Most of the buildings, he recalled that it had once been an old Terran fish packing plant, had been destroyed. The frozen water covered up any traces of footprints, but they did nothing to hide the obvious shape of the craters. From the craters, it looked as if there had been at least three major explosions, along with several smaller ones. All of the explosions had been before the latest fall of the frozen water with which this part of this miserable little planet seemed to be cursed.

"Velorian," muttered one of the Betas under his breath. That one word sent a shudder up and down the spines of every Beta in hearing range. Even the Warriors Prime seemed to blanch a little at the thought of a Velorian Planetary Protector. Those blonde superwomen might be supremely beautiful, but they were more than a match for a Warrior Prime in unarmed combat. To one of them, a mere Beta would be no more than an annoyance, no more than just an insect to be brushed aside or crushed.

One of the soldiers looked up from the scanner he was carrying. "Sir, I'm picking up some residues of the crude Terran explosives. The one they call dynamite."

"It looks like Meelek had a little accident with the stuff he was storing here," one of the officers remarked, obviously relieved that it was merely explosives and not a Velorian Planetary Protector that had laid waste to the island.

"A little accident, he calls it," muttered another one of the Betas under his breath, before the officer's glare forced him to lower his head and take a step backwards.

The copilot couldn't help but agree with that Beta. While those explosions might not have done anything to a Warrior Prime, other than to throw him halfway across the island, a Beta would not fare nearly as well. Not that a Beta would fare any better against a Velorian Planetary Protector.

Stars! He hoped that Koren hadn't been caught in whatever had happened here. But if she hadn't been, where was she, then?

"Sir, there's a grave over here!" another of the Warriors Prime exclaimed. Everybody rushed over to where he was standing. At first the copilot could not see anything but a jumble of rocks, partially covered by the frozen water. Then he noticed that there was a solid layer below. It looked like it had been melted recently, and then allowed to harden.

"So, at least Meelek took care of his people," the commander said, looking at the ground. Though the copilot was sure that the commander was actually looking below the ground.

"Sir, I can only see one body in there," said the Warrior Prime who had initially discovered the grave.

The other two Warriors Prime stared intently at the grave, their heads moving slowly from side to side and up and down. "You are right, there is only one body in there."

'Which one?' the copilot wanted to ask, but he dreaded the answer that he might receive.

Fortunately, the first Prime asked the question for him. "So where is the other Beta? And where is Meelek? He obviously survived whatever killed this Beta. But where is he now?"

They searched the rest of the island. The Warriors Prime used their tachyon vision to search under the ground, as well as to scan the nearby islands and the ocean floor. But they could find no trace of the other Beta, or of the Warrior Prime, who had been stationed on this island.

"Sir," the second-in-command addressed the commander, "I suggest that this requires a scientific team to determine what happened here, with full survey equipment, not merely the equipment our combat team has."

"I believe that you are right. Very well. Go back to the craft and report the situation and request a scientific survey team."

"Yes sir!" Gesturing to the communications tech, the second trotted back to the drop shuttle, the Beta having to sprint to still not quite keep up with the Warrior Prime.

They returned a few minutes later. After a brief conference amongst the officers, the word was passed around to return to the drop shuttle.

Leaving three of the Betas behind, they boarded the drop shuttle for the trip home. Or at least for the trip back to the ship. The pilot was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she even neglected to order him to take off, instead doing the job herself.

From Anchorage Koren and I got back as far as Seattle. Due to a snowstorm back in the Denver area our flight home was canceled and we had to spend the night. If I had been alone, that wouldn't have stopped me. And I really did want to get home. I felt good about having killed the Prime, even if I had needed some help in getting free from the gold to do so. I didn't feel so good about Korek's death. But if there was one Prime, then there had to be more just around the corner somewhere. I needed to talk with Mom. Badly.

But I had no good way of bringing Koren with me that far. After checking into a hotel, I called my darling husband to let him know that I would be home the next day, weather permitting, and that I would have a guest with me. I didn't tell him too much about my guest; just that the guest was the reason I couldn't simply fly home by myself.

We then went into town for dinner. Mom had once told me that Aria has no oceans, so I thought that we might try some seafood. Sure, she had spent some time in LA, but she had told me that she hadn't tried much seafood while she was there. And that stuff up in Alaska! That had been mostly Arion field rations. Great examples of Arion military efficiency. They had all the nutrition you could hope for. But that was all there was to it, all nutrition and no taste. Not that the rations Mark and I had were much better. But we only had to live off of them for a couple of days.

Living in Colorado, I didn't get to enjoy much seafood myself. Though I've occasionally flown to the coast just for dinner. But I couldn't bring my darling husband along on such trips, and shopping bags don't survive the trips very well.

I suggested lobster. She didn't know what they were, so I took her to the lobster tank in the back to show her. She squirmed a bit when she saw the lobsters. "By the Stars! How could anyone eat one of those? They look just like overgrown insects! Yuck!"

I tried to explain to her that lobsters were considered to be delicacies by many people, including yours truly. She wouldn't even consider trying one. I was glad that we were headed for Colorado, lobsters aren't a big part of the natural food chain there.

Though I did make a mental note to myself to give her some chocolate-covered ants sometime when I got the chance. Though I would have to make sure that there were no breakable objects nearby when I did so. Certainly not when I finally told her just exactly what she had eaten.

She decided on a swordfish steak when I described the fish to her. At least the reason for the name. I thought that she was a little disappointed to learn that the 'sword' wasn't a part of the dish. She even wanted me to ask the waitress for the sword. I decided against ordering lobster, for her sake. Or maybe it was for the sake of the other diners. I certainly didn't want to see Koren get violent. I also decided against crab, for the same reason. I settled instead for geoduck. We don't have a lot of those in Colorado, either. Despite the name, it's not a duck but a large clam. I couldn't explain that to Koren's satisfaction. To me, that's just what they're called. I also couldn't explain why it's spelled 'geoduck' on the menu but pronounced 'gooeyduck'.

After dinner I took her out on the town. Seattle's nightlife may not be as good and exciting as LA's, but then she had been working most nights so she hadn't experienced that much nightlife. Not this kind of nightlife, that is. I had to keep a tight rein on her so that she didn't go off to 'experience' too much of Seattle's nightlife.

Seattle did share one aspect of nightlife with most other large cities. It was a cool night, but not cold, so we decided to walk. As we were walking back towards our hotel, four men, all wearing flannel shirts and blue jeans, met us and forced us into a dark alley. I checked and discovered that they were unarmed, apparently they thought that four big men could have their way with two lone women. From their words it was clear what they wanted from us. I took Koren's hand and whispered to her, "Be gentle with them, don't use too much force. They're unarmed." After all, there was nothing they could do to us without our consent. Heck, the four of them couldn't force Koren alone to do anything she didn't want to do, let alone me. Against the two of us together, they stood absolutely no chance. Under the circumstances I didn't want Koren rashly doing something that we might later regret.

Koren whispered her acknowledgment and then let go of my hand. She slipped out of her jacket and walked forward towards the two men on her side. Did I say she walked? She practically flowed; she was oozing so much sex appeal. And I was standing behind her! What must have the mere men standing in front of her felt? Mom had never taught me to move like that!

"So, you guys like what you see?" she asked so sweetly that I felt my knees go weak. The men's reactions were also obvious.

Well, I wasn't going to let her have all of the fun! With four men available I wanted my fair share. I slipped out of my jacket and tried my best swaying walk towards the two men on my side. "What about you guys?" My walk must have been adequate, judging from their reactions.

The four men rushed us almost simultaneously. I grabbed the two heads coming towards me and guided them to where I thought that they could do me the most good. I rubbed their faces over my breasts as I forced them down to their knees and leaned over them. I let them unbutton the blouse, though it took them a while; four hands weren't necessarily better than two were. They tore off more buttons off than they unbuttoned. Good thing it wasn't one of my better blouses.

When they finally had it open I shook my chest a little to free my breasts. Of course I wasn't wearing a bra. Neither of us were, that was something I had not felt a need to buy for Koren while in Anchorage, an obvious advantage of the built-in bras that we Supremis women had. I then resumed rubbing their faces over my breasts. Mmm, that felt nice. Mmm, it felt even better when I forced my nipples into their eager, open mouths and the men began to suckle.

I looked over to Koren to see how she was doing. Or rather, to see how she was doing it. She had her two men stacked in front of her. One of them was down on his knees, with his face jammed into her crotch. The other was behind him, leaning over him to suckle at one of her breasts. She had her hands on the back of their heads, pressing them against her.

I wasn't sure just how much she could feel of his tongue through her jeans, until I noticed that she was rubbing his face over her crotch. Instead of merely using his tongue, she was using his whole face. I thought about trying that for myself, but it felt so good to have both of my breasts worked over at the same time, as lightly as they were, that I decided to leave it at that. As it was, I still had to be very careful not to crush their hard skulls against my soft breasts as I held them against me.

We stood there for about ten minutes, occasionally looking over at each other and exchanging smiles as we each demonstrated our superiority over these mere Terran males. Anytime one of my men got a little lazy I would squeeze his head a little to get his mind back on to the business at hand. Or rather, back on to the business at mouth. Koren rotated her two men a couple of times, alternating them between crotch duty and breast duty.

I could tell that like me, she was getting off more on the power she had over men than on anything these men were doing to her. After all, what could a weak and soft Terran man, or even two of them, really do for a Supremis woman? It's SO cool to be a Supremis, and to be a female!

Eventually I noticed that Koren's men apparently had gotten more than enough of her, they were hitting her and trying to push themselves away from her. Looking down at my own men, I realized that they were also hitting me and trying to push themselves away from me. Even though these men were actually hitting me as hard as they could with all of their masculine strength, I had thought that they had been merely caressing my soft feminine body. Their large fists had felt so good against my breasts.

"Koren, I think that you're men are getting a little tired of you. Maybe you're not being nice enough to them. You wanna swap?"

"I thought that I was being very nice to them. Sure thing, Julie. Maybe yours are better."

I released their heads. Getting both of my arms around their waists I picked up my two men and carried them over to her. As she lifted her two men out of the way, I dumped my two at her feet. I then took the others from her arms and stepped back a few paces to give us some working room.

I had the two new men suckle my breasts. They tried to push themselves away from me, but my hands on the back of their heads kept them close. Koren used her two new men in the same high-low manner. Both of us ignored their feeble struggles.

After about another ten minutes, I was beginning to get a little bored with this. Their feathery light caresses and touches just weren't doing that much for me. After all, they were just mere Terran men. But I was getting ready for some more vigorous activity; they had warmed me up a little. I hoped that Koren was also getting warmed up for some, as well.

"Well, I think they've had enough. They seem too tired to keep doing this. What do you want to do now?" I asked her, smiling.

She looked down at her men and noticed their feeble struggles, apparently for the first time. "I did not think that these men could really please me." She looked back at me and grinned, her bright blue eyes sparkling. "I wonder if there is anybody at all in this city who could?"

Hmm, that almost sounded like a challenge. I couldn't let that go unanswered. "I think that I know of one such person. But I wonder if there is anybody around who could please her?"

"Why do you not give someone a chance to try?" she responded.

"Hmm, I just may have to resort to that, since these two aren't doing that much for me." Getting my arms around their heads I quickly squeezed them, knocking them both unconscious. I then released them to let their bodies fall limply at my feet. I walked over to her two and lightly squeezed their heads. Koren let them fall at her feet. We quickly stripped off their clothes and used them to tie them up. I had to explain to Koren that even though they might have deserved it, that I didn't want to kill people unnecessarily.

"How like a Protector, not wanting to kill," she said, giving me a sly grin.

"How like a Prime, saying something like that," I winked at her.

We both laughed. But I saw the look in her eyes that told me that she hadn't wanted to kill them either. After all, we really hadn't been in any danger.

We then went back to retrieve our jackets. Both of our blouses had been torn. But we didn't bother to cover ourselves up with our jackets. After all, if Koren didn't mind looking at mine, I certainly didn't mind looking at hers.

I put my arms around Koren and leaped up into the night sky. It took me a minute to find our hotel, but then I quickly found our room and zoomed down to land us on the balcony outside our fifth-floor room.

"How do we get in?" she asked. "An Arion or a Velorian door opener?"

"No, we can simply use the Terran," I smiled down at her. Holding her with one arm, I reached for the door handle with the other and slid the door open. "I left the door unlocked, just in case. It's a habit, I never know when I have to fly back."

She returned my smile. "You dirty dog! Rotten scum! You, you LOBSTER!" She stuck her tongue out at me.

"What? You take that back! Or else I'll make you sleep alone tonight!" I told her as I carried her in and dumped her onto the bed. "Or maybe I'll go get you a real lobster and you can share your bed with THAT tonight!"

She did take it back. At least she didn't sleep alone that night. And she didn't sleep with a lobster. Needless to say, I didn't, either. And neither of us actually got much sleep that night. Though I first called the Seattle police to report the attempted rapes and told them where to find the culprits responsible.

In the morning we showered together. That took a while as we kept distracting each other a bit. Well, maybe a little more than just a bit. Afterwards I dried her off with my heat vision as she dried me off with a towel.

When we got back to Denver the next day, I brought Koren home with me. While she did have some experience fitting into certain types of Terran society, those weren't exactly the kinds of society I wanted her to fit into. And she told me that she wanted to lead a normal life. At least as normal a life as a Supremis woman could lead here on Earth among the Terrans.

George and I put her up in our guest room; I still didn't quite trust her enough to leave her alone with Steve until Mom got home from her case on the East Coast. Even then, I had to explain to Koren that she didn't need to express her gratitude to George in quite that way. Or to me, for that matter. After all, tonight my darling husband had to welcome ME home first. Which he did quite well, apparently he's missed me. Oh, how I had missed him!

I stayed up most every night with her all week, explaining how our society works, and how she should conduct herself, at least while she was staying in our house, until we got her settled into her own life. I also let her express her gratitude for our hospitality, but only to me, in private, after my darling husband was sound asleep.

Outside our house, it was a different matter. We introduced Koren to the simple pleasures of a snowball fight. We had to be careful in our yard not to throw them too hard or fast. Especially when we got some of the neighborhood kids involved. Up in the mountains, it was an entirely different story. She was so quick that I had trouble hitting her. If I threw any harder I would have vaporized the snowball before it could get there. Because she couldn't withstand the cold like I could, I refrained from dumping a lot of snow on her. No more than a couple of hundred pounds, shaking the snow off of the trees onto her.

Of course she couldn't hit me with a snowball unless I let her. A couple of times I just stood there and vaporized the snowball with my heat vision before it could reach me. That really ticked her off.

As we got to know each other better, it almost felt as if we had known each other all of our lives. It was almost like she was my little sister or something. Though we did do some things that sisters weren't supposed to do with each other. Some things that Mom wasn't supposed to have taught me, either.

Part of that, I was sure, was because we both had grown up different from the people around us, though of course for her it hadn't been nearly as drastic as it had been for me. Still, from experience, I knew that growing up to be ten or twelve times stronger than the people around you could definitely leave its mark on you.

I liked to think that I turned out pretty good despite that 'handicap'. I also thought that Koren hadn't turned out too bad herself, either.

I also took Koren over to meet Steve. After all, he's the person with the most experience in dealing with Arions; he had known that Mom was an Arion before I did. Well, the most experienced outside of Koren, and she didn't count for this purpose.

I also had to make sure that they kept his 'experience' well outside of Koren. She could be quite wicked when she wanted to be, which was most of the time. I hated to admit it, but she reminded me a lot of myself at that age. I guessed that there were more similarities between Velorians and Arion Primes than I wanted to admit.

Steve took an immediate liking to Koren. After all, in many ways she's practically a younger and maybe wilder version of his own wife. And the attraction seemed to be mutual. Koren's tastes apparently didn't differ much from Mom's, either. I knew that I was going to have to be very careful with the two of them. Imagine, a Velorian having to play chaperone for an Arion and a Terran! One of them her own stepdad!

Steve agreed with me that we couldn't just turn Koren out on the streets by herself. We also agreed that we should wait for Mom's return before making any really important decisions.

"Mmm, your stepfather is quite a hunk, isn't he, Julie?" she said one night as I was driving us home. "I can see why your mother picked him."

I had kind of expected that reaction. After all, I thought so, too. "Hold on there, Koren. You keep your hands off of Mom's husband, as well as off of my husband," I told her.

"Oh, I know, Julie. I wouldn't do anything. But he's such a good-looking hunk. It's tough to keep my hands off of him, though."

"Yeah, that he is. I know I've had trouble keeping my hands off of him, before I got my own husband."

"Oh? And how well did you manage to keep your hands off of him before then, Julie?" she asked, with that wicked grin of hers.

"Well, mostly. Mom's let me 'borrow' him a couple of times. But I also had to lend her my husband, the last time."

"Mmm, you think she might let me 'borrow' him?"

"Maybe, if you were to ask her nicely. But not for the first few nights after she gets home. I'm sure that she's missed him while she's been away. She's sure to have some catching up to do."

When Mark got back from Alaska I let him take Koren out for dinner one night. I told her to be careful, and I asked him not to keep her out too late, though I had a feeling that he wasn't going to be bringing her home until she was ready to come home. I was definitely getting a better appreciation of what Mom had to go through while I was growing up. And I haven't even had Koren under my roof for a week. Mom had to put up with me for most of my life, until I got married and became George's problem.

After putting George to bed, I waited up for Koren. I didn't want her to know that I was waiting up for her, so I just sat in the living room with the lights turned off, reading some books. I thought about following them from the air, or at least with my tachyon vision. But I didn't. After all, she was with Mark. If I couldn't trust her with him, with whom could I trust her?

Apparently she had been careful; Mark didn't even limp as he walked her to the door. He was all smiles and the twinkle was in his eyes. And he didn't keep her out too late. Or she didn't keep him out too late. I was sure that she wouldn't have minded staying out a bit longer, but he did bring her home around one in the morning. Even though they had made the effort to straighten themselves up, the condition of their clothing was enough to tell me what they had been doing after dinner. Not to mention the wide grin on Mark's face. At least that part of my mind could now rest easy. I stayed out of sight, hovering just below the ceiling, while she let him in and gave him a good night kiss. I was a little surprised that it had only been a good night kiss. Maybe they were afraid of waking up George and myself.

After Mark had driven off I floated down to land behind her. "So, how was your evening? Or do I even need to ask?"

She jumped. "Oh, Julie! Were you watching?" She looked a little embarrassed.

"Only since he walked you to the door," I told her.

We stayed up the rest of the night while we split a pitcher of orange juice and she told me about her first real date. Even if it had gone much further than usual for a first date. And it certainly wasn't the first time for the two of them.

The next day we discussed the best way to introduce the two Arion women to each other. We knew that we wouldn't be able to keep Koren's real identity hidden from Mom too long, so it would be for the best if we didn't even try. Steve suggested that we might try to surprise her. Something like what Mom and I had done to him when I had started manifesting my powers. I immediately agreed with him. We then had to give Koren a capsule history of that day so many years ago.

"I think that I know how we can do that this time, Julie!" Koren told me as we were finishing dinner. She continued on with that wicked smile of hers. "Why don't we let your mother come home and find me in her bed with Steve?"

Oh no! I've told her that Steve was Mom's hunk. Even I don't take unfair advantage of him. She knows that! I've told her often enough.

Steve almost fell over backwards in his chair. That was when I saw Koren smile at me. Okay, I decided to play along with Koren and see what happens. We could always apologize to Steve later.

Steve got his chair back under control and also got his chair back under him. "Um, that wasn't quite I had in mind when I suggested surprising her. She's liable to get a little, um, upset, if she found me like that. While you might be able to survive her anger, there are other things in this house that wouldn't."

Yes, let's play along and see what happens. Besides, I couldn't let Steve's set-up line go to waste. "Yeah, he's right, Koren. Some of the furniture in the bedroom is a bit fragile. You'd have to do it with him somewhere else without so many fragile things around."

"The furniture? Somewhere else? Julie!"

This was getting even better. I smiled at Steve. "You and Mom ever do it in the back yard? We can move the picnic table and the barbecue grill out of the way so that they don't get damaged." I turned to Koren and winked at her. "What do you think? Would the grass do?"

"Julie! The table and the grill? What about me? What about the snow?"

Koren got into the spirit of things. After all, she had started it. "I don't know, Julie. I always liked having plenty of elbowroom. How about that park down the street? Plenty of room there. Though I suppose I'd have to be careful of that pond. I wouldn't want to hurt the geese."

"The park? The geese? What about me? Julie! You're not going to let her rape me in the park? In the snow? JULIE!"

Okay, enough was enough. Koren and I couldn't control ourselves any more. We both broke up laughing. Steve looked from one of us to the other, looking totally stunned as he realized that he'd just been had. But he was a good sport; he quickly joined our laughter. "Okay, girls. You two had me going there for a while." He wagged a finger at Koren. "And you, young lady. I owe you one." He then wagged his finger at me. "And also you, my little daughter." He definitely emphasized that last word. Yeah, right. Like it's a daughter's responsibility to protect her big football player father from little teenage girls. As if!

I swear that we hadn't planned this, things just happened this way. Koren and I simultaneously flexed our right arms, showing off our biceps. Hers was much bigger than mine was, bigger even than Mom's was, but Steve knew from first-hand experience that mine was nothing to sneer at. "Any time you're ready," I said as Koren said, "I'll be waiting."

As Koren and I broke up laughing again, Steve quickly withdrew his finger as if he had burned it. He reddened a little as he looked at the two of us and then shook his head. "Julie, I'm very glad that you're an only child. I don't think that I could have put up with two of you."

"But Koren can be my little sister." I made a face at her. "Even if she is a little bratty sometimes. And she never behaves herself."

"Sure thing. I've never had a sister before, either." She stuck her tongue out at me. "I can borrow all of her clothes. And maybe even her men."

"Girls, girls!" Steve interrupted us. Koren and I broke up laughing again. Steve quickly joined in. I walked around the table and gave Steve a big hug. He even let Koren hug him.

Later that week I took Koren with me when I drove to the airport to pick up Mom. It's a long drive there and back, and I didn't want to leave Koren alone at home. And leaving her in Steve's care could be worse. Even though I thought that she had only been joking about being in bed with Steve when Mom came home. Even though Steve has great self control, being around me as I was growing up he needed it, if she really wanted to take Steve to his bed, I knew that there wasn't a thing he could do to stop her.

"But Julie, why don't we just fly?" she asked me after we had gotten in the car.

"I'd like to, it would be so much quicker. But the people here don't know about me, and I want to try to keep it that way. I don't want to attract attention to myself. We call it 'keeping a low profile'."

"Oh, sort of like what we, ah, the Arions, I mean, have to do when we're down here. Especially the Primes."

"Well, not exactly, but yeah, that's the same general idea." I spent the rest of the trip telling her just what to expect from Mom.

At the airport, I had her sit in the waiting area while I greeted Mom. After the usual hug, I told her that I had a very 'special' friend with me, and that she shouldn't ask too many questions until we got to the car. I was sure that Mom immediately recognized Koren as an Arion, but after shaking hands only made small talk until we were in the car. But I knew that this was going to be an interesting drive home!

"Okay, which one of you two girls is going to tell me what this is all about?" Mom asked as I started the car to drive out of the parking lot.

"Well Mom, uh, I guess you know WHAT Koren IS."

"An Arion, of course. Just because the only one I've seen in over twenty years is the one in the mirror doesn't mean that I won't recognize one when I see one. I think a better question might be, what is she doing HERE?" I didn't think Mom meant that 'here' to mean simply 'here in our car'.

"That's an easy one, Mom. She's doing the same thing you are, trying to get away from the Arion Empire." Koren and I spent the remainder of the drive giving Mom the "Readers' Digest" version of the story.

Dinner that evening was also quite interesting. There was Mom and myself, our two husbands, and of course Koren.

"Okay, I don't see a problem with Koren being here, per se. It seems to me that the real problem is that the Empire has finally decided to make its move on Earth. Julie, does she know about you?"

"She obviously knows that I'm a Velorian. She also knows that I'm not a Protector, if that's what you mean."

"But can't you contact the Protector? I mean, if the Empire is here, shouldn't the Protector be told of that?"

"That's the problem. As far as we know, there is no Protector here. Or if she is here, we haven't found any traces of her. Julie, my little one, we just may have to promote you to Protector."

"But you can't do that! I'm not trained to be a Protector! I'm not bred to be a Protector!"

"But you're the only one even remotely qualified for it," Steve chimed in.

"You said that you, sorry, they, have only been here for about two years?" Mom asked Koren.

"That's how long I've been here, and we were told that we were the first wave."

"Do you know anything about the next wave?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It can't be helped; you weren't in the chain of command so you had no need to know. And you said just one ship?"

"Yes. About three hundred of us. Forty Primes, including the ship's officers. Thirty-nine now with Meelek gone. And good riddance!"

"I'm with you on that. The filthy pig!" Even just the mention of his name still made me feel unclean.

"Do you have any idea as to their plans? What types of operations they're engaging in?"

"Well, my first operation was prostitution. Interesting custom you have here on Terra."

"Um, could we discuss that some other time?" George was so sweet, and his parents had brought him up so well. His Terran sensibilities weren't quite up to it, even though he had heard Koren and me talking about it. Steve didn't look all that comfortable, either. And he's been around Supremis women much longer.

"And my second operation, you know about. And I've heard some of my, ah, colleagues talking about what they called 'illegal drugs'."

"So far, all rather low-profile operations. Even your weapons ring, Koren. That was more of an annoyance than a real threat. We didn't even think that the Arabs were behind that, let alone the Arion Empire."

"That's low-profile? What's high-profile?" Steve asked.

"Something really big. Like bombing the Super Bowl," Mom winked at Steve. He turned white.

I saw the confused look on Koren's face as she saw Steve's reaction. "I'll tell you about it later," I told her.

"Seriously," Mom continued, "this sounds like the classic infiltration scheme, trying to fit in with and to exploit the existing trouble makers, instead of just landing an invasion force. Or blasting us from space, like in that movie we saw a couple of years ago."

"Independence Day? I don't think that I could stop something like that. One of the city destroyers, maybe two, but not a whole fleet."

Mom saw the look on Koren's face. "Yeah, that one. We'll have to rent the video and let Koren see it. That is the way the High Command operates when they're up against a Velorian force. This is the way they operate when they don't want to attract the attention of the Protectors. Or of the Ancient Ones."

Koren nodded thoughtfully at Mom's last sentence. "The Ancient Ones? Then it's true? That Earth really is the mother world? And the Ancient Ones? They really exist, and are watching?"

"We don't know that for a fact, any more than you do. But the important thing is that the High Command seems to believe so. Whatever the reason, they seem to be taking it slowly. Very slowly, if there's only three hundred of them."

"Should I try and find the ship?"

"No, they probably would be cloaked," Mom said, looking for confirmation to Koren, who nodded. "The only way you would find it is if you accidentally flew right into it. And even a small ship like that would still be heavily armed. Remember, they have weapons intended to be used against Protectors. If you didn't destroy it quickly, they would know that they were up against a Velorian, and to them that could only mean a Protector. If they discovered a Protector here, they would be likely to escalate things, and call in reinforcements."

"In that case, I think you'd better not promote me to Protector. It sounds like they'd just step things up and 'ID4' the planet if they thought that there was a Protector here."

"You're absolutely right. We'd be better off if the High Command continues to think that there isn't a Protector here. Very well, Julie, we'll cancel your promotion. You can remain my little one," Mom laughed. "And since I still outrank you, could you do the dishes tonight?"

"Yes, ma'am!" I stood up and gave her a salute, which Mom returned, still laughing. "C'mon, Koren. The General expects the women in this house to do the work around here."

As Koren started to stand up, Mom took her hand. "Could you stay and sit for a while, Koren? I'd like to talk with you a little. After what Julie just said, could I ask you gentlemen to help her with the dishes?"

"Sure thing, sweetheart. Come on, George. Let's work off some of that dinner." Steve got to his feet, followed by George.

As we did the dishes I tried to listen in on the conversation in the living room. But I didn't understand any of it; they were apparently talking in Arion.

Koren quickly accepted Mom's authority. Even though Mom hadn't been with the Arions for over thirty years, she still outranked Koren, and Koren was too good a soldier to not respect authority. Like most military organizations, Arions made their nurses officers. And I think that the fact that the only Velorian on the planet also looked to Mom for authority helped.

The next week Mom started constructing a cover identity for Koren. Over dinner she explained what she had done thus far, as well as what she wanted to do. "I think that you're a little too old for me to claim as my daughter."

"But I'm still younger than Julie! You claim her as a daughter!"

"Yes, but I claimed her as my daughter when she was born. How would we explain Julie's younger sister, after so many years?"

"Okay, I see the problem. Too bad, Big Sister!" Koren smiled at me, faked a punch at my arm, and then stuck her tongue out at me.

"Yeah, too bad. I always wanted a little sister to beat up on," I smiled back at Koren, faked a swat at her, and then made a face.

"Children, behave!" Mom scolded us, and waited patiently until we had settled back down. "Even though I can't be your mother, I think that it's best if we were related. How would you like to become Karen, my niece?"

"I would be honored to be your niece Karen, Aunt Joreen!" Koren got up and went to hug Mom.

Mom brushed away Koren's arms. "No, no. If you're going to be Karen, you have to call me by my Terran name. Do you understand? We have to act like Terrans."

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I would be honored to be your niece Karen, Aunt Joan!" This time Mom accepted Koren's, no, Karen's hug. Then I got a chance to hug Koren. No, I got a chance to hug my new cousin Karen.

It might not be as cool as having a younger sister, but after having grown up with no family at all a cousin was still pretty cool. Though if you looked at the three of us, you would have bet that Mom and Karen were mother and daughter, or maybe sisters, and that I was the cousin. After all, they had the matching black hair, while I was the odd one out with my golden hair.

After a complete round of family hugs, we all sat back down. "What a crazy and mixed-up family I have," Mom laughed. "If someone had told me that I would one day have a Terran husband, a Velorian daughter, and a Prime niece, I would have told her that she was crazy!" Her laughter was soon joined by those of her Terran husband, Velorian daughter, and Prime niece, along with that of her Terran son-in-law.

Over the course of the next few days we continued to build up Karen's identity. Because her first assignment had been in Los Angeles, we made that her home. Her former home, her parents had been killed in a car accident and Mom had taken in her sister's only daughter. The day I had freed her from Meelek became her eighteenth birthday.

"You know, Julie," Karen told me as we did the dishes that night, part of Mom' plan to get her more familiar with living on Earth, "Aunt Joan has the most charming colonial accent. She rolls her Rs in such a sweet way. It's so quaint."

"I heard that!" Mom's voice rang out from the living room. She stuck her head into the kitchen. "So I wasn't born on Aria. That just gives me a better view of the galaxy, unlike the conservatives that spend their entire lives on Aria."

"Oh, Aunt Joan, I didn't mean anything bad. I've always loved the holo-vid programs about the colonies, and the way they talk out there." My cousin walked over to Mom and gave her a big hug, which Mom returned. "And Ah'm glad to be heah, y'all," she tried her best Scarlett O'Hara impersonation. She must have seen plenty of TV since she got here. But still not enough, she sounded SO funny. Both Mom and I broke up laughing. Karen quickly joined in.

The commotion quickly brought the men into the kitchen. Mom had Karen repeat the scene with her for their enlightenment. Not to mention for their entertainment. She sounded even funnier the second time around. Not that my Scarlett O'Hara was any better, Mom made me try it too as the men laughed.

Karen had told us that she was about twelve times as strong as the Beta norms, about sixty times the Terran norms. Yet when we tried to measure her strength, she turned out to be about eighty Terrans. Stronger than Mom had been before her second enhancement, but not quite as strong as Mom was now. She was a little surprised at the results herself.

"You said that you didn't start manifesting any of your Prime abilities until you reached puberty?" asked Mom, our resident Arion medical expert.

"Yes, Aunt Joan. My brother also started about then. Though his strength never got to double the norm."

"Was it a gradual process, or did you wake up one morning to suddenly find yourself twelve times stronger than your friends?"

"Well, I think that it was gradual. Though I think that I first noticed it my gym class when I could suddenly lift a lot more weight than before."

"Sorta sounds like me, Mom."

"Yes, but you're definitely not a half-breed, my little one. No offense intended, Karen."

"None taken, Aunt Joan. I'm happy to be even part Prime. I like to think that I got the good parts." She flexed a bicep. A really awesome bicep. Much bigger than mine, and even bigger than Mom's. Big enough to make me jealous.

"Uh, yes. You certainly don't act like any Prime I've ever met, Karen."

"Yeah, you act even worse sometimes, you bad nasty Prime." I stuck my tongue out at her.

"Julie! I do not! Aunt Joan, Julie's being mean to me again." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Children!" Even laughing, Mom quickly regained control. "Karen, you're the first part Prime I've ever met. There's so few of you, there just isn't that much data available. And I haven't been able to keep up my subscriptions to the Arion medical journals," she laughed again.

"Could it be the yellow sun? You thought that that might be one reason why I turned out the way I did."

"Hmph! I like to think that I had something to do with the way you turned out," Mom laughed again. "At least for the good parts. I think that Steve's responsible for the bad parts."

"Me?" We all turned to see Steve leaning in the doorway with a coffee mug in his hand. And when Steve was in a doorway, he filled the doorway. "I always thought that I brought out her good side. She must have gotten the bad parts from somewhere before you married me, sweetheart."

Mom cocked a finger at him. "You wanna come over here and repeat that, big boy?"

"No thank you, sweetheart. I think that I'll stay over here where it's nice and safe."

"Ah, c'mon Uncle Steve. I'll protect you from Aunt Joan," Karen offered.

"Yeah, and don't worry, I'll protect you from Karen," I offered.

"In that case, I think that I had better definitely stay over here," he laughed. But then he came over and sat down next to Mom at the table anyway. "Sweetheart, you were saying something about the yellow sun, I believe."

"I don't know whether it's the yellow sun, or because she's still young. I know that the sun hasn't affected me, but then I was pretty old when I got here."

"The sun doesn't affect you, the full moon does!" Steve jumped all over her as I added, "You old hag!"

Mom held up her hands in mock surrender and laughed. "Okay, okay. I suppose that I deserved that."

"See! Julie, I told you so! The only person who's not mean to Aunt Joan is the bad nasty Prime." That got another round of laughter from everyone at the table.

After the laughter died down Mom continued. "Without Arion or Velorian medical technology, I don't think that we can determine the real reason, or reasons. Even with it, we might not be able to do so. Karen's case is unique, just as Julie's is. Both of you girls are one-of-a-kind. I don't think that we can do much about it, except to just let you grow up."

"Yeah, just grow up, Karen. That's what I've been trying to tell her, but she won't listen to me," I said. Karen stuck her tongue out at me. "There! See what I mean?" She pulled her tongue back into her mouth.

"Girls, girls! If you keep that up, I'm going to have to send you upstairs to your rooms without dinner."

"But you can't do that to me, Mom! I have to go home and cook dinner for my husband."

"Then behave yourself, my little one!"

"Yes, Mom. I'm sorry." Karen took the opportunity to stick her tongue out at me again. I pointed. "But tell her to stop doing that!"

She pulled her tongue back into her mouth long enough to say, "Tattle-tale! Snitch!"

"And you, Karen, stop that and behave!"

"Yes, Aunt Joan. I'm sorry." She didn't look very sorry. But then, I probably didn't, either.

During the whole sequence, Steve had been trying hard not to laugh out loud. Karen and I behaved ourselves for the rest of the evening. But we could come up with no course of action other than to let Karen grow up and see what happens, to see just how much of her Prime heritage eventually comes to the surface. We did decide that she should follow a workout regimen to try to help her strength grow, much as we had done when I had been her age.

I had to admit, it was quite interesting watching Karen work out. Her Prime heritage gave her such awesome muscles. It was even more interesting watching her and Mom wrestle and spar. Karen, as a field operative, had received better training than Mom, as a nurse, had received. This gave her just enough of an advantage to offset Mom's greater strength and quickness; they were pretty evenly matched. Just seeing the two of them out there, their bikinis covering almost nothing of their superbly muscled bodies, it was all I could do to keep from going out there to join them. To join them for something other than sparring, that is.

I did get my chances to join them. One at a time, however. And only for sparring. Mom insisted on having Karen coach both of us in the advanced Arion martial arts, techniques she herself had been unable to teach me. After all, there hadn't been a big piece of skill involved in my victory over Meelek. If I was going to have to fight other Warrior Primes, I would have to learn to become a much better fighter.

Karen loved wrestling with Julie and Aunt Joan. It was great fun. Though it wasn't too much fun wrestling with Julie if Julie wasn't wearing some gold to bring her strength down some. Otherwise it was almost like what trying to stop Meelek from doing what he wanted to do had been.

Sometimes she would wear some gold herself while wrestling with Uncle Steve, as he would teach her the finer points of Terran wrestling. Though wrestling with Uncle Steve was quite distracting. Even bigger than the average Beta, Aunt Joan's enhancement had also made his body much harder, though his strength wasn't anywhere up to the Beta levels.

Wrestling with Uncle Steve reminded her of the years back in school on Aria, when she had wrestled with her twin brother Korek. Among the Betas wrestling was an all-male sport, so she could not engage in actual competition. Korek excelled at it, his Prime heritage had made him the strongest boy in school, even in his first year.

Since she was already several times stronger than he was but couldn't compete with the boys, she had helped him train. Practicing against her had made him an even better wrestler. Together they would watch the vids of his next opponent. She would then try to mimic his particular style while Korek would try to counter her. She had to be careful not to use too much of her strength and quickness, only enough to counter her lack of experience.

Korek would sometimes invite his best friend, Slanek, over to wrestle. Slanek had been two weight classes above Korek, and also a year older than the twins. The year before, he had made it to the district tournament, before losing in the quarterfinals. He was one of the few boys on the wrestling team who could give Korek a good match. Koren had also thought that he was the cutest boy on the wrestling team. And she had thought that he liked her, though he kidded and teased her a lot about being younger and so much smaller. Especially the part about being smaller. She had enjoyed watching the two boys wrestle. She had even picked up a few tricks and moves, which she had then tried out on Korek later on during their private training sessions. His 'secret' training sessions, Korek had called them.

One day, as Koren had been watching the two boys wrestle, Korek had used Slanek's favorite move against him. Slanek, surprised, had asked how Korek had learned that particular move. Korek had started describing his 'secret' training program to Slanek, about how Koren had learned that from watching the two of them, and used it on Korek, before teaching it to him. It was not generally known around the school that Korek and Koren had inherited any Prime characteristics from their father. Slanek had been one of the few that knew about Korek's greater-than-average strength. But he hadn't even suspected that Koren was strong enough to wrestle with her much larger brother.

"You wrestle with Noren Koren? I mean, since she is your twin sister, she is part Prime too, but she is so little. She just cannot be that strong!"

"You had better not call her 'Little Koren' to her face. She is liable to shove those words down your throat and make you swallow them. She does not like that nickname. And she is a lot more Prime than I am. She already is several times stronger than I am. Why not try wrestling her?" He looked over at his sister and winked, "Koren, you would not hurt him, would you?"

Slanek was understandably hesitant. "No, Korek. I cannot wrestle with your sister. It would not be proper."

"Go ahead, Slanek. I wrestle with her all the time. She knows what to do on the mat. You will not be able to hurt her. But you will also not defeat her."

She could not resist returning his barbs, with some interest. "Yes, Slanek. My brother and I will not tell anybody that you were defeated by 'Noren Koren' in wrestling. Or would you rather have us tell people that you were afraid of 'Noren Koren'?"

That had done it, as she had hoped. He accepted the challenge from his best friend's 'little' sister. Korek turned away from Slanek, smiled at his twin sister, and stepped aside to leave the mat for his large friend and his much smaller sister.

This was the opportunity she had been waiting for. Finally, a chance to show some boy just how little 'Noren Koren' really was. And that boy was the cutest wrestler on the team!

She had quickly pinned him. But not too quickly. She had enjoyed having him in her arms, and being in his arms. Before letting him up, she took the opportunity to give him a kiss. Actually, she had taken the kiss from him, rather than having given him one. That had been the first time she had ever kissed him. It would not be the last.

Slanek had never called her 'Noren Koren', or 'Little Koren', again. At least not in public. He had also gotten all of the boys in school to stop calling her that. After all, none of the boys ever messed with Slanek. Not twice.

From that day forward, Koren had helped both boys train and practice, as Slanek came over almost every day after school. Sometimes for fun she would wrestle with both of them together. That had been great fun! Though she had been by far the smallest of the three, she had been by far the strongest, far stronger even than the two bigger boys combined. She had not needed to exert herself fully in order to pin them both, using one hand in the middle of each boy's chest to hold him down.

With her helping them to train, both boys won the district championship in their weight classes. But they could never beat her, at least not while she was wrestling as herself, not simply mimicking one of the boys' opponents. Even together, they had never succeeded in pinning her.

One day Korek couldn't make their training session, having gone to the library to do some research. As she had wrestled with Slanek, she had noticed a feeling inside of her, something she had never felt while wrestling with Korek. Playfully, she had pinned him to the mat, using just one hand to hold him down, while pretending to stifle a yawn with the other hand. Then she had leaned down and kissed him. Not the quick playful kiss as usual, but a long deep passionate kiss. She had been thrilled, as she had felt him responding to her. No, she had never felt like this while wrestling with Korek.

She had not really realized that she had stripped off his wrestling uniform. Nor had she really noticed that he had removed her workout clothes. Nor had she resisted as he rolled her over onto her back and attached his mouth to one of her breasts and begun to kiss and lick her nipple. But she did notice that. Ah, that had felt good! It had felt even better when he had begun to suckle.

She had then rolled him over onto his back and mounted him. This was something else that she had never done with Korek. She had never done this with any other boy before. She had never had a boy inside her before. It had felt so good!

The two of them had proceeded to try out some other holds and positions and techniques, holds and positions and techniques that had absolutely nothing to do with wrestling.

That was the day Koren had discovered the power she had over men. She had truly enjoyed the feeling, dominating a man and making him love her. And she still did enjoy it. By the Stars, did she!

After that day, Koren and Slanek often had additional 'training' sessions together, after finding some excuse to get away from her brother. Those additional sessions had been great fun! They had explored their maturing bodies and the things that they were capable of doing. They had also explored her power over men. At least over one young man. They were sure that Korek knew what they were doing, but he had never made much of a fuss about it. After all, Korek had his own girlfriend.

Koren and Slanek had made an interesting couple. One of the biggest boys in school paired with one of the smallest girls. But they ignored the comments of the other kids. Slanek never dated another girl until he graduated a year ahead of Koren.

Mom also got busy, trying to make the department, and other government agencies, aware of the Arion threat to Earth, and then to do something about it. Her presentations had been greeted with skepticism at first. But she had some rather dramatic methods to show them that there indeed were 'aliens' here on Earth. Sometimes Karen or I would accompany her. Seeing bullets bounce harmlessly off of my chest usually was enough to convince even the most ardent skeptic that I was not of Terran origin.

Some people refused to believe that the Arions posed a military threat to Earth, since the two Arions that they had seen did not appear to be a threat. Mom and Karen had to explain repeatedly that they were not typical Arions, that they had defected from the Empire. We also had to explain that the Betas, like Mom and Karen, well, most of Karen, were not the main threat, but that the threat came from the Primes.

Other people distrusted our motives, thinking instead that we were actually trying to infiltrate Terran defenses instead. That was a much tougher argument to refute.

The other two men and one woman left the room. Leaning back in his chair and slowly putting his feet up on the desk, the man looked at the woman sitting on the other side of the desk in her straight-backed chair. "Well, Major, you have also seen the report of the initial team, the one that first discovered the disappearance. What do you make of this new report?" He tossed the report in question onto the desk.

She also tossed her copy of the report onto the desk. "Colonel, I am at a total loss. Only Meelek could have dug that grave. But only the male, Korek, was in that grave. According to the report, the explosions, whatever caused them, happened after the burial. The debris from the explosions was clearly on top of the grave."

"What could have killed him? It certainly could not have been the explosions. Could it have been Meelek? A fight over the girl, perhaps?"

"Highly unlikely. A Beta would not presume to oppose a Warrior Prime, even to defend his sister. You did know that they were siblings, Major?"

"It must have slipped my mind, Colonel."

"They were. Close as siblings go, but there could have been no romantic or amorous ties between them. And if Meelek had killed him in a fight over the girl, he would not have been likely to have buried him."

"Yes, the victor in such a duel would have vaporized his opponent, not taken the time to dig a grave and bury him."

"So where are Meelek and the Beta female, Koren?"

"I cannot say for certain, Colonel. Could they have been killed in the explosions?"

"From the report, and our previous experiences with the Terran explosives, I find it highly unlikely that Meelek could have been killed in that. The Beta, certainly, but not an experienced Warrior Prime like Meelek."

"Could there have been anybody else on that island?"

"That is now impossible to determine. There have been no accounts of the incident in the Terran media."

"Yes, that is strange. I have observed that the Terran authorities are usually quite proud of their accomplishments and desire news of them to be disseminated widely. Even though all they are doing is carrying out their duties."

"And now, according to the reports, that frozen water that covers so much of the area has obliterated all evidence of any activity."

"Snow, Colonel, snow."

"What, Major?"

"The frozen water, Colonel. They call it snow."

"Huh. I wish we could call it gone. But how could mere Terrans have killed Meelek?"

"Any of our other teams?"

"All of them were accounted for. And Meelek was the only Warrior Prime down on the surface at the time, other than those at the training camp. They have all been checked. None of them left the camp during the time in question."

"What about the reports that one of the arms buyers had been apprehended by the Terran authorities?"

"That group in, what was it, Oregon and Idaho? Those were purely Terran operations. They merely wanted something that we could supply."

"But if they were apprehended, could the Terrans have discovered Meelek's operation and moved against him?"

"We only have sketchy reports of what happened to those groups. At the time, we were not overly concerned about them. Intelligence went back later, and discovered that the Terrans seemed to be hiding something. They were somewhat vague about what had happened. And many Terrans were surprised that such a heavily armed group, at least heavily armed by Terran standards, were overcome so easily."

"A Velorian Planetary Protector?"

That was a disturbing thought. His little force was not prepared for an all-out war that could result if a Velorian Planetary Protector was actually stationed on this planet. He had never had the misfortune to face a Velorian Planetary Protector. At least not face-to-face. But he had had friends and acquaintances on ships that had been destroyed by them. "All of our reports indicate that the Velorians have not stationed one of their Planetary Protectors on this planet." If one of those blonde superwomen were here, he would not want to meet her in combat. A non-belligerent encounter, however, might be something else. Ah, but that was impossible, Velorians and Arions just did not get along well together.

After a pause the woman continued. "Could the Betas possibly have turned on him?"

"They had no heavy disruptors down there. They were not armed to take on a Velorian Planetary Protector, nor any other Warriors Prime. They were only smuggling Terran weapons. Even then, none of their primitive nuclear weapons. I find it highly unlikely that she alone could have killed him after her brother was dead."

"But was she not half Prime herself?"

"Yes, she was. She and her brother, the Beta in the grave, were twins. Their mother was raped by some Marines on leave back on Aria. We do not even know who their father is. I had some hopes of using the two of them to create a better breed of Betas. But she was nowhere near Prime levels. She could not have killed a trained Warrior Prime, even if he was asleep."

After another pause, she grimaced. "Colonel, I hate to even suggest this."

At her hesitation, he prompted her. "What is it, Major?"

"I hate to even think of it, but could they possibly have defected and gone native? Joined the Terrans against us?"

The thought had crossed his mind briefly, but he had dismissed it almost immediately. "Meelek? No. I served under his father on several campaigns when I was younger. Meelek has been with me on several campaigns himself now. I cannot question his loyalty to the Empire. His record is flawless."

"The girl, Koren, was quite successful on her first assignment, going native, was she not? Could she somehow have persuaded him to take her away with him?"

"She blended in with the natives. She carried out her previous assignment admirably. But there was nothing in Koren's records to indicate any disloyalty in her. Or in Korek's, for that matter."

"But with her brother dead, would she have any reason to stay with us? Besides her loyalty to the Empire, of course."

"Perhaps. But even then, Meelek would not be so persuaded by a Beta girl, even a half Prime. I believe that he had some attachments to another woman here, did he not?" The Major blushed and looked away, giving him all the answer that he needed. One of the reasons he had assigned Meelek to this task was to get him away from his second-in-command. He had harbored some resentment that Meelek had seemed to be closer to winning the heart of the cold but beautiful Major. With Meelek away on an isolated post, he had hoped to improve his own chances with her. He had been trying to win her heart since long before this campaign. The heart of the woman some of his staff referred to as the Ice Queen. Though nobody ever called her that to her face.

But then, Meelek had accepted the assignment eagerly. No doubt he had thought it a good way to win some points with his commander. And more importantly, to win some points with the commander's second-in-command, the cold but beautiful Ice Queen.

With a start, he realized that she had been speaking to him while he had been daydreaming. "What was that, Major?"

"I was merely speculating whether there might actually be a Velorian Planetary Protector on this planet, despite what our Intelligence people say. She might be responsible for Meelek's disappearance. I find it hard to accept any other explanation for Meelek's disappearance."

No! By the Stars, no! His force just was not equipped to take on the Velorians. Even a single Planetary Protector would be more than they could handle. At least until they got some footholds down on the planet below. "Intelligence reports indicate that the Velorians are staying well away from this planet. They seem to fear attracting the attention of the Ancient Ones. At least on the planet that they foolishly believe is the First World."

"Just as we do, Colonel?" Her smile, rare as they were, was better than sunshine on a cloudy day.

"There are some on the High Command that seem to believe so. You know that is why we are so under-manned and under-equipped for a planetary conquest fleet." He had wanted a fully equipped fleet, and the authority to use it openly, as on all other campaigns, not just one ship and plans for a covert operation. "Though I suppose that we should thank the Stars that we do not have to tend any Kintzi this time." Those Star-forsaken felines had been a real pain during the last campaign. And during every campaign he had had the misfortune to share with them. They had been responsible for the death of somebody who had been very close to him, somebody he had respected and honored very much. Almost as much as the Emperor himself.

Those Star-forsaken felines had killed his father! His first commanding officer!

"Even then, we should have no problems with these feeble and primitive inhabitants, Colonel."

"If the High Command would only let us use the personnel and the weapons that they deigned to let us have!" He pounded the desk with a huge fist, almost denting the thick Vendorian steel.

"So what do we do for now, Colonel?"

Taking his feet off of the desk, he stood up. Walking over to the window, he pulled aside the covering and looked out at the small blue planet far below and its one large natural satellite half hidden behind it. "Maybe we should just drop off a thousand Kintzi here and move on," he muttered under his breath, knowing fully well that the Major would hear him. "Then we can move on to somewhere more worthwhile."

She got up and joined him at the window. He took the opportunity to study the woman out of the corners of his eyes. And she was quite well worth studying. Especially in her uniform, which concealed almost nothing. Though he had often wished to see her in even less. After a lengthy pause during which she said nothing, he focused his attention back on the sight in front of him instead of the sight beside him and said, "It is quite a disgusting little planet, no?"

"Yes, sir. Too much of the surface is covered by water." Both of them came from the Arion home world, which boasted of no oceans and only a few large lakes. To the Arions, oceans were a waste of potential real estate. The oceans on this small planet made the usable surface area even smaller. And some of that was covered by the frozen water. Snow, he remembered the Terran word. The word in one of the many languages the Terrans still used. Such a small world, and yet the people didn't speak a common language.

After another pause, he continued, "Very well, Major. Have the staff prepare plans for a new arms smuggling operation to replace this one. We shall need a new base of operations. We also shall need to contact our suppliers and buyers, notifying them of the new location. I shall also want their recommendations regarding the personnel for this assignment. I shall want to see their plans first thing in the morning."

"Yes sir! I shall inform the staff of your wishes. Will there be anything else, sir?"

"Yes, there is, Major. Do not involve the staff on this one just yet. But start thinking about contingency plans if we do run across any Velorians here." He wasn't ready to admit that they were here, but he wanted to be prepared. "But keep this to just the two of us. I do not want to unduly alarm any of the personnel aboard. Nor do I want to inform the High Command just yet."

"Yes, sir! Anything else, sir?"

He could think of one more thing she could do for him, but he did not think that this would be a good time to mention it. "No, Major, that will be all. Thank you."

"Yes, sir!" After saluting she pivoted smartly on her heels and exited the office.

As he stood by the window the Colonel spent some time wondering what could have taken out a good Warrior Prime like Meelek. But he spent more time wondering just what it would be like to have the Major with him in his other room. In the room that held a bed instead of a desk.

With a sigh he returned to his desk. Using the intercom he ordered one of his orderlies to attend him tonight. The young Beta woman suffered more than her usual. Even though the Colonel was careful with the fragile Beta in his arms, he was still thinking about someone he would not have to be so careful with.

He was thinking about the Major. Oh no, he would not have to be careful with her. Though he hoped that she would be careful with him.