Yahn: Paranormal Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Alien Mates Book 4) Read online

  “Drop that weapon, Karkastian. This will not end well for you if you try something. My soldiers are combing this whole region and there will be no escape for you once you leave this place. If you try and stay here, you’ll starve to death. You had best drop your weapon and come with me now,” James said.

  Yahn did not answer right away. He closed his eyes and tried to vaporize. He opened his eyes a second later, realizing that the device James held was keeping him from doing so. I would learn that most Karkastians would rather flee than fight or kill another being. This stood in direct contrast to what most Earthlings believed about Karkastians. Most of them were actually peace-loving creatures that lived in harmony compared with the chaos and disorder of human society.

  "Ha! Nice try Karkastian, but you won't be vaporizing while I have this device pointed at you. You had best put that weapon down and come with me," James said as he began to push the activator switch on the laser cannon.

  “I wouldn’t push that activator switch if I were you,” Yahn said.

  "Oh so you speak English I see. Good, I'm glad it will be easy for us to understand one another. If you surrender right now then we will take you back to Earth and more than likely you will be allowed to live. If you kill me, my fellow soldiers will be more inclined to shoot to kill. You won't likely make it out of this alive."

  “What if my men kill your first?” Yahn said.

  I knew that Yahn was bluffing because he had already told me that there weren’t but a few of them left alive.

  “So you’re saying that there are lots of you left alive on this rock?” James said.

  “More than you have suspected,” Yahn said.

  "Well if there are others, my fellow soldiers will find them and capture them. Your men are no match for ours!" James insisted.

  I sat there in my hiding spot trying to figure out how I could help Yahn. I knew that I needed to create some kind of distraction, so I picked up a small metal tool that looked somewhat like a wrench and threw it into the opposite corner of the room, where Yahn was hiding. James turned his attention to the sound suddenly and Yahn took the opportunity to try and get away. However, James was only distracted for a split second before he turned his attention back to Yahn. Now that Yahn’s laser cannon wasn’t pointed at him. James lunged for it, and grabbed it away from Yahn. Yahn had nearly reached the conveyor belt when he heard the activator switch being pushed.

  “Freeze Karkastian! This ends right now. You know you have really pissed me off. I could very easily blast you into the next sector and tell my captain that I didn’t find any survivors in this area. I think that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Any last words?”

  I could no longer remain silent. I emerged from my hiding place, took out my gun and pointed it at James, pushing the activator switch. He heard the sound of my cannon charging up and turned to face me with the laser still pointed at Yahn.

  “What the hell? Private Hampton what do you think you’re doing? You’re supposed to be cleaning the toilets,” James said.

  “Someone has to keep an eye on you because you seem to have a problem with following orders as well,” I said.

  James began to laugh.

  “So you would risk being labeled a traitor for the rest of your life of this lousy Karkastian?” James asked incredulously.

  “We are under orders to bring all of the survivors back alive, not blast them out of existence,” I insisted.

  "I don't think you have the guts to follow through with it," he said, mockingly. "Go on and shoot- I'll give you five seconds and then I'm sending this creature to Karkastian hell!" he said. "One……" I could feel my hands trembling, making it hard for me to steady my weapon. "Two….." I could see James' laser glowing red as it became fully charged. "Three…" I could see the orange glow coming from my gun, letting me know it was fully charged. "Four….." I steadied my hand and aimed for James's hand.

  In a flash, I fired the gun and James howled in pain as his weapon dropped to the ground and he clutched his hand. Yahn made his way up the conveyor belt and I followed behind him, keeping my weapon trained on James who was still distracted by his now useless hand.

  “I’m going to get you for this, Hampton!” were the last words I heard as I followed Yahn.

  “This way, I know of a crater where we can hide out!” Yahn said.

  I turned around to see James emerging from the bunker. He had his injured hand wrapped up and was aiming his laser cannon using the other hand. He fired and I jumped behind a large boulder to avoid the blast. The rock was blasted into bits, so I ran as fast as I could to catch up with Yahn. We began to descend a rocky path down into a canyon full of craters. We disappeared into one of them before James could get another shot off. Yahn took me by the hand and guided me through a dark cave inside of the crater. We took several twists and turns until we came to a more open chamber. Again, I was impressed by the amazing formations on the walls and ceiling. A large dripstone on the back wall of the cave resembled a pipe organ, while another resembled a castle.

  “We should be safe here for the time being. We can see anyone that comes into the chamber well before they see us,” he said. I sat down and took a deep breath, trying to process what had just happened.

  Chapter Four

  Yahn

  I looked at the human, finding myself being hypnotized by her beautiful eyes. She was trembling with fear and I did my best to comfort her.

  “Don’t worry, they won’t find us,” I said.

  “I’m going to be considered a traitor now. More than likely, there will be a swift trial and executed when I get back to Earth,” Jessie said as drops of water began to form in her eyes. I wondered why Earthlings only had water come from their eyes when they were sad. It seemed so strange to me.

  “Then don’t go back with them,” I said, knowing that it would be difficult if not impossible for her to survive long term on Karkast.

  "You know as well as I do that I can't breathe the air in this atmosphere,” she said.

  “I can create a temporary oxygen bubble for you. Let me show you,” I said as I got up from where I sat next to her. I closed my eyes and focused my energy on expelling all of the excess oxygen from my pores. Once I opened my eyes and sniffed the air, I knew it was safe.

  “Go on and remove your safety helmet,” I said.

  Jessie looked slightly skeptical, but removed the helmet and took a deep breath.

  “Wow, that’s amazing! How long does it last?”

  "Only for a few minutes, I'm afraid. We can't sustain it for long periods of time without risking oxygen deprivation of our own bodies," I said. I took a moment to admire the beauty of this Earth creature and found myself desiring to see the rest of her. Her hair, her eyes, and her pale skin captivated me and I couldn't remember ever meeting a creature that I felt this attracted to. I could tell by the way she looked at me that she felt much the same way as I did.

  “I just want to say that I’m sorry that my fellow Earthlings are unenlightened. It doesn’t take much for them to believe that an entire race of people is bad because of the actions of a few,” she said.

  “Karkastians are no better. Most of them think that humans are vile, primitive and destructive beings that are only out to serve themselves,” I said.

  “Well truth be told, many of them are,” she said.

  I found myself engaging in what the humans called laughter and Jessie was amazed as she watched me.

  “You laughed Yahn! How did it feel?”

  “It feels quite wonderful actually. I want to experience that as much as possible!” I said.

  “I’m starting to get hungry,” Jessie said as she removed her pack and began to look for food. There was one tiny section of the rectangular meal pouch that she had left. She referred to it as ‘rations’. It neither smelled nor tasted appetizing in the least.

  “I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I will transform into mist and see if I can obtain us some more food. You wait here and I will be back a
s quickly as I can.”

  “No Yahn, please don’t leave me!” she said, clutching my hand. I felt something that I had never felt before when she touched me- like a jolt of electricity.

  “I won’t be gone long, trust me. If someone comes in, you will see them long before they see you and you can blast them with your laser cannon.”

  “Please hurry back!” she said.

  I can’t wait to get back to you, I thought as I turned to leave the cave. I tried to sort through the strange feelings that I had begun to feel towards this Earth creature. I could just imagine what my mother would say if she were still alive.

  I transformed into mist and made my way to the Earthling’s ship. Several of them were gathered around eating rations and taking about Jessie.

  “I just can’t believe that she would do such a thing,” One of the males said.

  “Well when I find her I can tell you it’s going to take all of the restraint I can muster not to kill her!” the one called James said, clutching his wrapped up hand.

  “You leave it to the authorities to punish her. If you take the law into your own hands, they will punish you almost as harshly as they will her. Is that understood Private Perry?” their captain said.

  "Yes, sir."

  “Now, after lunch, we are going to resume our patrols. I want Private Hampton brought back to me as soon as possible. Then she will have to face a court-martial and will likely be imprisoned.”

  “Yes sir,” they all said in unison. I waited until they all dispersed in various directions. I made my way to the ship and got all of the rations that I could carry. Just as I began to exit the ship, the only female Earthling came walking in my direction. I panicked and began to transform again.

  “No, it’s ok, you don’t have to be afraid of me,” she said. “My name is Wendy. I’m a friend of Jessie’s,” she said. I stopped my transformation and gave her a curious glance.

  “You aren’t going to try and capture me?” I asked.

  “You’re the one that Jessie helped out are you not?”

  “I am,” I answered.

  “Is she ok? Is she safe?”

  “Yes, she is in a safe hiding place. I just came here to get us some supplies. I’m about to go back to her now.”

  “What is she going to do now?”

  "I don't know, but I will not let them capture her. They obviously mean to cause her harm."

  “They are going to take her back to Earth and more than likely she will be trialed as a traitor and put to death.”

  “I will not let that happen!” I insisted.

  “Thank you for protecting her.”

  “What does ‘thank you’ mean?” I asked. I had never heard such a phrase before.

  “It’s something we say to show gratitude,” Wendy said.

  “I see, well thank you for not trying to capture me or tell the others,” I said.

  “You’re welcome. You had better get out of here before one of the others spots you. What are you going to do?”

  "I'm not sure. We could remain in hiding until your team leaves, but Jessie will not be able to survive long term on this planet because of the lack of oxygen. You poor humans cannot generate it the way that we can.

  “Well, tell Jessie that I’m thinking of her.”

  “I will,” I said and then I ran off in the direction of the crater, carrying the rations. I soon realized that there were a couple of humans from the expedition team off to the north that had spotted me. One of them pointed in my direction and gestured for the others to follow him. I vanished into the crater as quickly as I could and ran through the passage to get to Jessie.

  As soon as I got back into the chamber we had been hiding in, I called out to her.

  “Quickly, we have to get out of here. I’ve been spotted. There’s a crew of humans to the north headed in this direction.”

  "Oh no. Were any of them stationed on the ship?" she asked.

  "They were, but they split off to carry out their patrols. I did talk briefly with your friend, the one that calls herself Wendy. She wishes you well," he said.

  “So only Wendy was there. That’s good. Here’s what we need to do if you are willing to leave with me. We need to head to the main ship and escape from the planet using one of the escape pods,” she said.

  I knew there wasn’t much time to think about it; but I was hesitant to leave Karkast, the only home I ever knew. On the other hand, there wasn’t much left for me here now that all of my loved ones had been incinerated. I realized in that moment that this female human that I had known only for a short time, was the only thing that I cared about.

  “Come on, let’s get you out of here and back to your ship,” I said, still pondering my decision.

  As soon as we got out of the crater, the patrol was only a hundred yards away. They spotted us as soon as we took off across the rocky plains.

  “Come on, they are gaining on us. We have to get to the ship as quickly as we can!” Jessie yelled.

  “Don’t worry, we are going to make it!” I said as the ship came into view. Luckily all of the other crews were still out on their patrols or else our escape would be impossible.

  As soon as we got to the loading platform, Jessie typed in the identification code and a ramp lowered down from the bottom of the ship. The humans that were pursuing us were now only a short distance away.

  “Where are the escape pods?” I asked as I followed Jessie.

  “This way, towards the back of the ship. All we have to do is strap ourselves in and program it for launch,” she said. “So, have you decided what you’re going to do? If you stay here they will either capture you or kill you. Once you are captured, you will be taken back to Earth where you will probably be imprisoned or killed,” she said.

  “Well my options don’t sound too appealing, so I guess I’m coming with you,” I said. We made our way to the back of the ship at the same time that the human crew began to board it. We could hear their voices:

  “They got on board the ship, Captain, I saw them!” A familiar voice said. I realized it was the one called James; the one Jessie had shot on my behalf.

  “They are making for the escape pods. We must not let them activate one!” the captain said.

  “Quickly!” I said as Jessie tried to remember the activation code.

  “Hmm, let’s see. Oh yes, it’s the captain’s birthday- zero, six, five, fourteen…” A round, metal door came open and Jessie pulled me by the hand into the escape pod. It was small and round with only enough room for six beings to sit. Jessie pressed the controls on the main control board and the pod door shut just as the Captain and James came into view.

  “Open this pod door now, Jessie!” The captain shouted.

  “No!” Jessie said and she continued to type commands into the main control board.

  “What are you doing? Shouldn’t we be taking off?” I asked.

  "It takes a minute for the pod to power its boosters. I'm typing in an override code so that the captain can't gain access," she said.

  The captain was furiously typing away at the control panel outside of the pod, but the door refused to open.

  "Damn, she's typed in the override code. Now we can't get inside," the captain said. "Listen, Jessie, you are only making things harder for yourself. You know as well as I do that this pod is programmed to return to Earth. If you return there, you will be arrested and your Karkastian friend will more than likely be eliminated."

  “I’ll take my chances!” Jessie said. It only took a second for the power boosters to charge.

  "Strap yourself in, we're ready for takeoff!" Jessie said.

  Chapter Five

  Jessie

  The escape pod lifted off from the surface of Karkast. I looked down and saw the captain and other members of the crew looking up at us. I smiled, knowing that they wouldn't try and follow us due to the fact that their mission wasn't complete. However, as soon as we got out of Karkast's atmosphere, trepidation began to rise up in my thr
oat. I was now a fugitive of justice and a traitor because I had attacked and injured a fellow crewmember in defense of an enemy combatant. More than likely, I would never be able to return to my home planet again without being trialed and convicted.

  “Are you alright?” Yahn asked me as I sat back in my chair and sulked.

  “Yeah, it just dawned on me that I can never go home again,” I said.

  “I know how you feel. I suppose we will just have to get used to the idea,” he said.

  “You know, I never asked you how you know how to speak English,” I said.

  “We Karkastians are taught several languages when we are very young- even the languages of our enemies. We can speak both with our mouths and telepathically.”

  “Sounds as if your educational program is far more advanced than our own. I don’t even know one other language besides my own. That’s what this trusty gizmo is for,” I said, pointing to the language decoder device attached to my army –issued uniform. I didn’t even need to use it once when I was talking to Yahn.

  “So, this pod is programmed to take us back to Earth,” Yahn said, bringing up the most urgent matter at hand.

  "Yes, it is," I said as I watched a bright, blue comet shoot by the window. Its icy tail sparkled and then disappeared from view.

  “I suppose there is some way to program it to go to other destinations,” Yahn said.

  “I’m quite sure that there is.” Unfortunately, I had no idea how to re-program it.

  "I sense that you don't know how to re-program it," Yahn said. Yahn couldn't exactly read my mind, but Karkastians were so intuitive that they came very close to it.

  “No, I’m afraid I do not,” I said, feeling embarrassed. “To tell you the truth I’ve never been too technically inclined. I only got into the army so that I could get money for college.”