Boarded: Alien Romance Read online

  BOARDED

  By

  Annie Nicholas

  NOTE TO READERS

  Most of you know me as a paranormal romance writer, but my first love was science fiction. I hope my passion for reading this genre bleeds into my story. For a free Annie Nicholas starter library please see details here: http://annienicholas.webs.com/splash-page

  Chapter One

  Glitch, Sadie’s data processing POD, descended from the ceiling and floated in front of her. Various glyphs appeared then disappeared on its smooth, liquid silver surface, much like a mirrored bubble.

  Knots tied-up her stomach. She quickly wrapped towels around her wet hair and body before stepping out of the shower. Glitch communicated the space station had caught it hacking their computer system.

  “Frik.” She paced the small room assigned to her on the freighter. The POD stored a majority of her memory and ran Sadie’s more complex programs when her attention was too divided, like trying to break through the Cyngi firewall into their database.

  “You never get snagged.” She spun to face Glitch. If they’d been detected at any other space station, she'd just get a slap on the wrist for the intrusion. Her status as a Liaisongave her protectionsince she worked with government officials as a translator and a cultural attaché. She could get away with small injunctions, especially to bend certain laws that applied to her clientele.

  With so many different aliens involved in the Central Worlds government, the Liaison’s office was developed to smooth over any confusion between races and to avoid misunderstandings. Every dignitary received a Liaison, so when an ambassador for the Cyngi had requested an audience with the political Assembly at Center Station—the main hub of trade and politics—she jumped at the opportunity and volunteered for the job.

  The Cyngi guarded their privacy to the point that not even the Liaison office had information on their culture. She had made a polite enquiry before leaving Central Station and they sent her minimal information. A few language files she could use to barely ask for the rest room let alone conduct trade agreements, a child’s version of their history, and basic cultural faux pas anyone flying in space knew.

  Sadie was running into this situation blind, but she had Glitch. Who would have guessed the Cyngi would catch her best safe guard against ignorance? Rubbing her temples didn’t help her growing headache. She didn’t even know how they would react to her and Glitch’s transgression. “Friiiiiik.” She bent in half, letting the swear vibrate in her chest. After everything she and Glitch had been through over the last few years she’d hoped this assignment would be almost a cake walk.

  Wrong.

  A bang echoed from the cargo bay below her as the crew unloaded the ship of goods onto the space station. They orbited the Cyngi home world on the outer reaches of the galaxy. If legal action was taken for hacking their computer, it would be ages before the Liaison office rallied to her defense.

  “Liaison, the ambassador is at the airlock requesting permission to board the ship.” The captain’s voice broke through her panic. He and his family crewed the freighter. They were Denobola, a bipedal, cat-like race. She’d never describe them as such within their hearing range though.

  “She's early.” Sadie dropped the wet towels into the laundry reciprocal. She sounded collected and calm, but her heart drummed in her chest.

  “I can stall if you need more time, Liaison.”

  “I'd appreciate that. If she seems impatient, just let her in. I’m on my way.” She yanked open the drawer under the cot and grabbed a clean red jumper. Running her fingers under the mattress, she fingered her contraband cargo. Her Ragnar blades still lay where she’d hid them. Weapons weren’t allowed in Cyngi space, but Sadie didn’t go anywhere unarmed.

  Most of the freighter comprised of cargo and little living space, so the room they would share consisted of two fold-up bunks, a bathroom, and a wall-bench. No passenger liners came to this remote part of the galaxy so both she and the ambassador needed to make do with the sparse dull surroundings.

  “The Cyngi do not upset easily. He'll wait.” The captain cut the connection.

  Great, even the captain knew more of this race than she. The Denobola had kept their lips shut tight on the subject whenever she attempted to obtain any information. They worried about losing their trade with the station—She stopped dressing, only a leg in the one-piece suit. “He?”

  More symbols flashed in rapid succession over Glitch’s surface. She didn't need to read them. It had a link to her internal processor so communicated directly with her brain, but certain nuances were lost. She did a similar thing by talking out loud to Glitch. They worked better this way.

  “I refuse to review their file again. It’s flawed. According to the information provided, the ambassador is supposed to be female.” She pulled her jumper on, over thin underwear and camisole, and zipped it up. Why did they switch ambassadors? Why didn’t someone send her a message? She ran her fingers through her tight black curls to knock loose any beads of water and forced a deep, slow breath. Why had she volunteered for this assignment? She slipped on her heavy boots. The answer was easy. The unknown. The adventure.

  People who lived in space were of a different breed. No one at the Liaison office questioned her motives. Some had fought her for the opportunity. If she did her job well, this race might offer her a permanent contract. The Holy Grail of all Liaisons.

  She activated the room’s door and it disappeared into the wall. Outside, the bare narrow hallway led to an elevator. Pipes and tubes ran along the ceiling in dull grey shades and she needed to duck to pass. The ship crew was much shorter than her five foot eight inches. A steep metallic emergency stairwell, which she’d hate to have to climb, led to the bowels of the ship. No one used it unless the ship lost power.

  Glitch floated above her head. “Let's go meet our new employer. Maybe he can keep us out of prison.” She made the statement as light and humorous as possible for Glitch's sake but wiped her sweaty palms on her jump suit. No point in both of them worrying. Some PODs were just machines, but the ones connected to a host developed into something more. She couldn’t put it in words, but Glitch was very much part of her.

  A bell announced the lift’s arrival on her floor. The doors slid open and a set of pale green eyes met hers. She restrained the gut reaction to jump back. Thousands of years of instincts bred into human DNA cried out predator. Ten years as a Liaison taught her to repress those impulses.

  Kaille, one of the captain's wives, gave her a concerned look. “Are you ready, Liaison?”

  Shaped like a human but with the features and nature of a panther, Kaille’s slim, lithe body moved with a beast-of-prey’s grace as she stepped out of the elevator. Large, soft lower paws glided over the floor without making a noise when she circled her. The golden fur of her pelt shone as if groomed for hours, and a small black nose glistened on the tip of her short, narrow muzzle. Vertically slit eyes peered with intelligence while they assessed her from head to toe.

  “Sadie has given you permission to address her by name.” Cine, another of the captain’s wives, followed Kaille out of the elevator.

  Her fur shimmered too, but her coat was a paler shade of gold, which complimented her dark blue eyes.

  “You shouldn’t meet the ambassador dressed like that.”

  Both sister-wives wore purple and navy blue silk sarongs, which clung to their hips. She'd never seen them in anything but work attire.

  No Denobola wore shirts; both sexes displayed their fine-furred muscular chest. Though the females were narrower of shoulder, they were beautiful.

  “I doubt he'll care what I'm wearing.” Sadie tugged at the loosed jump suit that hung from her frame. One size fits all was
a lie.

  “That's not so,” The tips of Kaille’s ears flattened. “They appreciate beautiful things and he will be flattered if you made an effort. We mean no offense, but we have dealt with the Cyngi for many decades. Please accept our advice.”

  “No offense taken. They did not send me much data on their culture or customs. Any suggestions would be appreciated, but I wish someone had mentioned this earlier. He’s waiting in the airlock.”

  “At least apply some of your war paint. It gives you more color and draws attention to your pretty copper eyes.” Cine almost skipped while she led them back into Sadie’s room.

  Her 'war paint' was the make-up she’d packed and the most expensive items she owned since they came all the way from Earth. A little piece of home. The wives were intrigued when she'd worn some on her arrival to their ship.

  Sadie applied some of her ‘war paint’ as the sister-wives observed from the wall-bench. They ignored Glitch, who hovered by them. Some green eye shadow and a heavy swipe of black mascara helped accentuate the almond shape of her eyes. She turned around for their inspection and smiled, careful not to expose her teeth. The time she’d made that mistake, she was a new recruit and it almost cost her life since they interpreted it as a threat.

  Kaille crossed the small space and took the application brush from her hand. “You should add some gold on your face.” She made a few more strokes, then physically turned Sadie to look in the mirror. “See? It highlights your dark skin tones.”

  For someone who could never wear the ‘war-paints’ on her fur, the suggestion was sound. It did look better.

  Finding the right color for her dark shade of skin could be a challenge. She wasn’t a pretty chocolate shade; she was a spent-your-life-on-the-Serengeti-plains deep color. With the right lighting, blue highlights would appear.

  Kaille applied a few more swipes along her cheekbones, which helped to soften their sharp prominence.

  “She's ready, Maol.” Sadie watched as Cine shut off the intercom to the captain. “We'll go greet the ambassador now.” The delicate Denobola female activated the door and stepped into the corridor followed by the taller Kaille.

  Sadie followed them through the dull gray hallways of the ship. The lack of color bothered her. Never one to need luxury, it surprised her. “Do you know who this ambassador is?” The need to ask grated on her nerves. “My files state it’s supposed to be a female Cyngi, but the captain said it’s a male waiting to board.”

  “No, they all look the same to us.” Kaille flicked her ears and pressed the button to call the elevator.

  The Denobola were the only race allowed into this system. The treaty they held granted them sole shipping rights for the Cyngi. Yet even they never went on the space station, let alone the planet.

  They took the lift down to the airlock. This meeting must be important for the crew, maybe as trade relations, for them to deem it necessary to inspect her.

  The freighter brought back memories. As a child she’d played among cargo bins and fallen in love with space travel. Her father worked as a miner in the Sol System asteroid belt. One summer he convinced her mother to try and live on the space station Earth maintained in the area. They traveled there via a freighter. The maze of corridors and cargo bins were a perfect playground for an eleven-year-old girl with an active imagination. Her mother had cracked under the isolation of space travel and limited living space though. Within two months, they were on a ship back to Earth. She saw her father every three months for a few weeks afterward, and every time he visited she begged him to take her with him.

  The opportunity to become a Liaison fulfilled her every dream. Nothing could make her happier. She got to travel the universe, learn new languages, and meet aliens of all sorts. The Cyngi topped her bucket list. They’d stayed aloof from all other races.

  Until now.

  The lift stopped and she exited to find Captain Maol’s family, including the children, gathered around the ship's main entrance. At the front stood the captain, his two adult sons, and his dominant wife, Len, who still wore her pilot's jumpsuit.

  Sadie made a small half bow in their direction, a sign of respect for the bridge crew. This wasn't always required except at official meetings. The captain activated the airlock cycle, so the ambassador could enter from the space station dock.

  While they waited, Glitch sent her images of the security programs it had encountered while trying to get her more intel on the Cyngi. It wanted to show her the complexity of the system. The data streamed via the computer chip implanted in her brain.

  This integration made her capable of being a Liaison. Languages and cultures could be downloaded to her within seconds, if a file was available. As an unaltered human, it would have been impossible for her to study them all.

  Advanced software, and that's only the firewall. She mentally stroked the program. Most of which, she couldn’t even understand. No wonder they’d been caught. The urge to meld with its artistry and to learn the language brought tears to her eyes. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she resisted the temptation.

  This race was light years ahead of Central World programming. She’d never seen anything like it. Glitch could have been fried. For a race living on a back world planet, the Cyngi were very advanced. She didn't think Glitch escaped. They let it go. This might mean they weren’t in as much trouble as she’d thought.

  The thick metal door hissed as it opened with a loud clank before the Cyngi dignitary stepped in. He bowed to the Denobola in the same manner she had.

  She bowed back with the ship family.

  “Nual, it's a surprise to see you. We expected Xau.” Captain Maol spoke galactic patwa with a heavy accent. “Welcome aboard the Traveler.”

  “Most happy to be welcomed. Xau is with child, and since we have no knowledge of how space travel would affect the baby’s development, she chose to remain home.” He turned his solemn blue eyes her way and stepped forward to offer his hand. “I am Nual.”

  She stared at his hand, deciding her next move. Should she grab his forearm like a Zair warrior, kiss it like a Kenish maid, or entwine her fingers in his like a Morian noble?

  He withdrew a little. “Is it not customary among humans to shake hands when introducing themselves?”

  She blinked and felt like an ass. “Yes, it is. I apologize for the misunderstanding.” His hand engulfed hers as they shook. “I am Sadie Beckit, your Liaison.”

  His skin was a brighter shade of blue than she'd expected, similar to Earth's sky on a clear summer day. A small hat of feathers of the same color sat on his bald head. Each overlapped the other in a tight configuration, so it looked as if a cap surrounded the top of his head like a bathing cap.

  Nual exchanged names with the ship family. He loomed over them, easily six feet tall.

  Maol gestured to the beige canvas bag slung across Nual's bare chest. “Do you have any other luggage to store?

  “Only the case that came through the bay doors earlier today. Is it secured?”

  “The box has its own storage bin as requested.”

  From this angle, Sadie could see Nual had small, dark blue freckles, which flowed both down the back of his neck from the feathered cap and around his well-defined abdomen. They trailed lower to disappear under the short, white linen cloth wrapped tight around his hips.

  He glanced at her. Some races approved blatant admiration, others didn't. She didn’t know how to deal with her instant attraction and broke eye contact. They needed to have a long talk. The sooner the better.

  Glitch floated over her head and approached Nual’s face.

  She stepped closer, ready to intervene. It never went to strangers. The self-preservation programs loaded into these precious machines erred on the side of caution since they were too valuable to be stolen or damaged. Symbols flashed across its reflective surface in slow succession. Her POD spelled its name using computer glyphs.

  “Nice to meet you, Glitch.” The ambassador gave a slight bow as if to an equal.r />
  With an audible click, her mouth snapped shut. No one ever treated her POD like a person. Most didn’t even acknowledge its presence in the room. Glitch was a high-tech computer to non-POD users but she suspected a deeper sentience within Glitch. When she’d discussed her suspicions with a systems developer, he’d told her that she only saw a reflection of herself in the gadget.

  Not many could read glyphs either. Something low in her abdomen tightened. She could find a pretty face at any station stop if she wanted, but a sharp mind was difficult to find and sexy as hell.

  She reined in her libido. As a representative of the Liaison office professionalism was promoted, not being awe struck. “If you will follow me, Ambassador, I'll show you to our quarters.” The calm serene voice that flowed from her did not reflect the riptide of conflict rising. It took years of practice to learn professional detachment while freaking out inside.

  A Cyngi stood not more than five par secs from her. They’d share a room and hopefully more. She cleared her throat, like information, language files, and cultural faux pas.

  The captain escorted them to the lift and left Nual in her care after the door slid shut. They stood side-by-side while they waited for their level. She glanced his way and found him staring at her.

  He gave a small smile. “You're much more exotic in person,” he whispered.

  Chapter Two

  Nual's whispered comment stroked her like a caress.

  Sadie shivered. Her dark looks would seem strange to him, but she wouldn’t have described herself as exotic. Humans didn’t visit this sector of the galaxy often, most stayed close to the Sol system, so she’d grown accustomed to the stares. Without more data on the Cyngi, she didn't know if his comment was just a statement or if it was a bold flirtation.

  “I'll give you a tour of the ship after we drop your luggage, er, bag off in the room. It won't take long. I have to apologize for the accommodations but freighters don't have much living space.” She activated the door to their shared room and strolled in. “This station is the last stop on Maol's trade route, so we'll be going straight to Center Station from here. It should only take a few days of travel.”