Chapter 10

T

he Goddess Harmony came to my mind in my dream. Or I felt like it was a dream."Darah is worthy, and so is her mate."I heard her chiming with her magical melodic voice. Her

mate, Hecat, stood beside her. I heard the collective gasp of the audience that surrounded us. Murmurs of our God and Goddess appearing before us.

"This is the Goddess Harmony. She is my true bond mate. You will obey her as you would me." Hecat declared pridefully.The images of the Gods before us were overwhelmingly powerful. Somehow, I knew that this was just a projection of them. The scrambling of movement was all I heard, with subtle cries and whispers of reverie."We praise you, our God Hecat." "We welcome your Goddess. We praise her, as well."Harmony turned to me. Stand Darah, you are worthy. She smiled at me so beautifully that it hurt to look upon her. The straps of the worthiness detection chair flew away from me with a flip of the Goddess's hand.Harmony gave me a warm feeling. She covered me in love and affection as she faded from my dream. I awoke standing tall with all of my five-foot-two frame.My eyes scanned the stunned faces that surrounded me as they rose from the prone positions they took while going to the floor in submission to the Gods."Wait, that really happened?" I said out loud.In a haze of shock, I numbly turned to my mate, who was still in his chair. The worthy chair that held Terrek displayed holographic images above his head.This shows Terrek as he discovered his village and his despair for his people. I saw the beautiful structures that made up the homes in his village. Earthy style homes reminding me of cabins. My heart broke for him. I wanted to remove him from the chair when it glowed green, deeming Terrek worthy.I ran to him, ignoring my chair, which had been flashing green since Harmony released me from the machine. Terrek stood fast from his chair. He shook his head, seemingly confused. I grabbed his hand and stood silently as we faced the council women.The females were bowed with their heads on the floor, up on the panel in front of us. I was confused as I looked around. The red-eyed female and the two-armed guards also bowed on the floor."Uhm . . . is everything okay?" I asked softly as my voice echoed off the walls of the hall. Terrek looked at me wide-eyed."As long as I have you, I am well." He spoke sweetly.Terrek was looking into my eyes with wonderment. "Aren't you just a tall glass of sweet tea." I winked at him.The red-eyed female rose from her reverie first as the two gods faded from our view. She quickly joined Terrek and me, assessing us with a spark in her gaze. There was a softness in the lady with red eyes as she helped Terrek and me sit beside her. We watched all present shake off the wonderment and power of the god's visit.The stern woman from before was gone as she looked us both over. It was enthralling to have her attention. Her changing disposition from cold and aloof to alluring with interest had my stomach flutter with butterflies. Before I could even evaluate my reaction. My focus was drawn to the booming voice of the leader."There was no denying the feeling of the Goddess or the feel of our maker, the God Hecat." Announced the woman in charge with graying hair.Reverently, she turned her head towards the ceiling as if saying a silent prayer. She slowly regained her composure, standing to re-seat herself before the rest of the room followed her example."Welcome, Darah, the chosen one of the Goddess Harmony."Every female placed their right fist over their heart and bowed toward me with a respectful salute. I mimic their greeting, bending back at them."Thank you for finding us worthy," I said."You have graced us with the blessing of the gods. How can we assist you.?" The lead woman asked."I need your assistance fighting for my mate's home planet. We need to fight the Kanenites and recover the resources that were stolen. According to the ship's files, the Laverian people have been sold for slavery. They were only a class two protected planet. I read the Spies report and have learned this much. I read they intend to harvest Gias next. I am hoping my enemy being your enemy will compel you to assist us, we need to save the slaves and resources that these evil beings have harvested. Please, will you help save the Laverian people?""We know of some things based on that tablet you gave us. I do not know how this planet was left undefended, but I will find out. We will need full access to your ship to gather as much intel as possible for our new quest. Our duty and honor to rally with you and fight these Kanenites.""Thank you," I said in genuine gratitude. Terrek pulled me in for a hug and held my hand."My mate, ready to fight for my tribe and planet, Darah, I love you." He gave me a sweet kiss.I had almost forgotten that we had an audience when I heard the red-eyed female clear her throat to interrupt us.I felt my cheeks blush as I turned to face the council again."Sorry," I said as I stood tall, composing myself. Terrek squeezed my hand reassuringly."I am Empress Zion. We have much to discuss. However, it may be wiser to show you to our guest residence and let you relax for the day. We can resume our discussions tomorrow." The Empress said as she nodded toward us and turned to leave, dismissing everyone."Wait! I can't stay here. I need to return to my ship. I have Candy and Andromeda on board."The Empress stopped and looked at the red-eyed female next to Terrek and I. "Escort her to her ship and assist her with whatever she needs.""As you wish, Empress Zion." The red-eyed female bowed her head respectfully as the council of females as they left us in the hall."Empress Zion. Sounds important." I whispered to Terrek."Yes, she is the most important among us." The female who now gives me butterflies said as she and the two guards approached us."My name is Flame. I am glad you are worthy." Flame bowed with her fist placed over her heart, greeting me officially.She was as pretty as a peach and her new disposition had me wanting to know her. Wanting to be close to her."It is very nice to meet you, Flame." I said, mimicking her, with my fist over my heart as I bowed.Flames sultry eyes met mine, and something stirred inside me again. She gave me a smirk that said she knew something I did not. Flame broke her hypnotizing eye contact with me and gave Terrek her full attention. I felt him jolt as my hand held his.I get it. There is something about Flame. A fitting name for her as she ignites my insides with need. I saw them stare at each other as if no one else existed. Should I have been disturbed? I felt a sense of joy, a feeling of compersion, witnessing some intimate bonding between my mate and Flame.I wondered if Flame had that effect on everyone. She had just gazed at me like that; I was still trying to shake off the warm tingles she had given me. Maybe aliens just had that effect on beings."Come now, tell me about Candy and Andromeda as I take you back to your stolen vessel." Flame had spoken as she broke eye contact with Terrek and tried to compose herself.Terrek looked at everything with bright, dark eyes. He had a boyish charm about his curiosity as we followed Flame.I told Flame how the Goddess sent me to Laverian and how I met Candy and Terrek. I caught her up to how I ended up there on Gias and how simple it seemed to take the ship from the Kanenites. Flame paid close attention to me as I spoke.Her gaze felt tangible whenever she looked upon me. I was eager to keep her attention now that her coldness was gone. Flame seemed scary and formidable at first, but I'd quickly forgotten. I only had a desire for her, and everything I saw was remarkable and alluring."I want to have our technicians scan your ship and learn about the Kanenites' ability to fight us." Flame said suddenly, professionally.She glanced at me and then Terrek, and before our eyes, she shook off her soft allure and became all business. The contrast was a shock. I tried not to let my hurt feelings show as I opened my ship's doors, lowering the ramp so we could enter my stolen ship."I know they used translator chips on the slaves. They store them in the infirmary so the slavers can give commands. But I understand that it is a limited translation. If needed, I can translate anything on board if that helps." I announce, trying to be helpful hoping to get her soft intoxicating attention again.Flame called for her technicians, she took a scanning device, and they followed us on board."Gias has AI translation tags throughout our planet and ships. It scans the mind and feeds the natural speech into our tags so we can speak freely to visitors. The Laverian and Earth languages is now known to the Galactic Empires." Flame said. My mind blown from the wild advancement of the AI scans."The Kanenites must have a less advanced translation system than our Galactic empire source." Flame mentioned with intrigue.We found Candy, his pastel colors glowing with his tale pointed at Andromeda in the chow hall. I walked up to him and started to rub his ears."Candy, are you harassing Andromeda again?"He just chuffed and let his fur dim as he rubbed against my thigh. He gave Terrek a look. He's still not his biggest fan, but I could tell Terrek was in a better standing than Andromeda as far as Candy was concerned.Candy saw several of the Gias people as they entered the room. He gazed at them and stepped in front of me, never taking his pointed tail off our life pod guest, who was now to his back. My sweet Candy doesn't like her."I would keep your distance from my baby Candy. He can be a bit moody at times," I warned Flame.She seemed impressed by my pastel-colored guardian. She waved the group of her soldiers to step back a few feet."That's an understatement," Andromeda said with attitude."Hey now! He hasn't eaten you yet." I said playfully as I pulled on his big ears."This is Andromeda. I found her in the cargo life pod area. I also have those Kanenites spacemen in stasis down there too."Flame was harsh towards Andromeda as she assessed her directly. Flame's stance and menacing gaze toward Andromeda looked like she was about to fight Andromeda herself."She needs to be deemed worthy or not," Flame said with a wicked grin, daring Andromeda not to be worthy. This woman was sexy and scary all at once."What does it mean to you and your people to be worthy?" I asked, curious."Worthy means you are good. Not worthy means you are bad. We won't give our positive energy to evil things. We fight bad, unworthy beings. We don't want evil to grow and infect our universe. Worthiness is essential to establish right away." Flame said as she glared at Andromeda."Okay, I think I understand that. But Andromeda claims she is from a class three planet. I am from a class three planet as well. We don't have machines that scan people to tell us if people are worthy or good or bad or evil. I was raised to give people the benefit of the doubt. Which means trust someone until they give you a reason not to trust them."Flame looked appalled at that notion. "You trust unknown people before knowing they are worthy? Evil beings cause harm." Flame said.Candy smelled Flame's outreached hand and seemed to accept her. He allowed her to step closer to me. We sat a table away from Andromeda as his tail aimed her way, ever vigilant."You see, even your beast scans for worthiness." Flame said as she sat next to us.My feelings make me suspicious of Andromeda. Maybe on some level our intuition and feelings are a form of worthiness detection."I told Andromeda I would return her to her planet, Tarin, after I met with your people," I said and saw Andromeda perk up."Please, I want this nightmare to stop. I want to go home and pretend this is all a bad dream." Andromeda pouted meekly. Candy started to glow and growled softly toward her.