A Strength to Admire #2
The building chosen for the gala had a wide, empty first floor typically used for gatherings just like this.
The upper floors were office spaces. The entire building was decades old but, instead of being dated like a similar building would be on Turv, it was well loved, preserved, and proud of its old history. He had to admire that.
Individual tables, round and big enough to sit six people, were scattered around the room, but no one was sitting. They were all up, mingling. Romival and Holly were standing off to the side, letting people come to greet them since they were the guests of honor.
The student presentations hadn't started yet, but the food was about to be delivered.
There were culinary students who had created an entire feast for them.
Romival heard they had even taken his inability to eat cooked meat into consideration – as a challenge.
He was eager to see what they had come up with.
Romival was holding a discussion with the dean of the English College when a sudden commotion at the entrance caught his ear.
He turned with a few of the others. Initially, he was only curious. But that curiosity turned to caution, then anger, when the doors to the hall burst open and human males wearing all black, carrying ridiculously large, antiquated guns, ran in.
The screaming began immediately. The males were barking orders at everyone, gesturing with their weapons. Pushing them back. Herding them towards a corner away from the doors.
"Romi," Holly whimpered, grabbing his hand.
Romival pushed her behind him, backing away with the other humans, as he stood between his mate and their guns.
His eyes moved quickly around the room. Taking in information. Cursing his own weakness.
There were twenty males here that he could see. All wearing tactical gear and holding weapons. Moreover, they moved like they were trained. Sweeping side to side, stepping carefully, watching their back, shouting loud but calm and clear orders.
"On the ground!" Came one such command.
The humans made high pitched sounds of distress, keeping their hands up to show their surrender, as slowly lowered themselves down.
Romival did the same, helping his very pregnant mate to sit behind him without moving his eyes off their attackers.
He didn't know what was happening, but it wasn't hard to figure out. Ever since they had come to this planet, there had been those that made no secret of their disdain for the alien delegation. This wasn't even the first attack.
For the first time, Romival genuinely regretted that he was a scholar.
Atem or Tuvo, maybe even Havali, would be able to do something.
He trained to keep himself fit and to work off his natural aggression.
If there were one, maybe two humans, he could probably fight back.
But not against so many, not while they had their guns.
The weapons might be outdated and crude, but that didn’t make them less deadly.
Where was their security team!? They were surrounded by specially trained humans specifically meant to prevent this exact thing from happening.
But he saw no sign of their security as the humans sealed the doors and gained control over the room.
“You!” One of the males pointed right at Romival. “Stand up! Slowly!”
Holly’s hand clenched at the back of his suit, but he calmly removed it as he stood. Not wanting to draw any attention to his mate, he would rather all those guns aim only at him. If he was killed protecting her and their young, his life would have ended with honor.
Holly held on as long as she could, but she didn’t argue or make a scene when he got to his feet.
“That’s the one. Ugly fucker,” one of the males spit.
“Charlie,” another one gestured with his gun. “Contact the others. Make sure all exits have been sealed.”
Charlie. That was a human name. Surely, these masked, helmeted males weren’t foolish enough to use their real names?
“Delta,” the first male continued, gesturing to another. “You and November start binding the hostages.”
Delta and November. Ah, combining that with Charlie, he recognized the human military code to refer to their alphabet. They weren’t using real names; they were using aliases. Military names meant to further obfuscate their identities.
“Listen up!” The same male, clearly the leader, shouted over the whimpering crowd.
“If you cooperate and don’t try anything, you won’t be harmed.
My associates are going to zip tie your hands together and collect your cellphones.
Do as you’re told and you’re going to come out of this perfectly safe. ”
Romival kept his lower eyes on the leader, but his upper, third eye was moving slowly around the room, keeping track of everyone he could see. He didn’t look back, but he could hear people whimpering and crying as they obeyed the orders they had been given.
Good. Humans were so fragile. If a group like this had attacked a similar group of domini, even amongst scholars and students, it immediately would have turned into a fight.
The weapons wouldn’t have made a difference.
His species would always fight. Even now, though he was only a scholar, he could feel the itch to resist, to drag his claws through these humans, burning under his skin.
But humans were different. None of them wanted to fight. No one expected them to even try. Not just because they were scholars either. Even soldiers, while being completely outgunned and caught by surprise, would understandably stand down.
Romival was genuinely frightened for them. He wanted them to obey. He needed them to so that Holly would be safe.
“You, alien freak,” one of the males pointed at him. “Walk forward. Slowly. Hands up. You move too fast and we shoot, got it!”
“I understand,” Romival assured them, raising his hands in submission as he did as commanded, slowly moving away from his mate. Hoping they left her alone.
“Alpha, what about the woman?” One of them asked, bringing Romival to a halt.
“Leave my mate out of this,” Romival said, speaking to the leader, needing to look down to stare into his eyes. “You are after me. Take me.”
“She’s carrying his spawn,” someone else countered. “There’re two aliens here. That one doesn’t get a pass just because it’s in her belly.”
“Woman,” Alpha said calmly. “You get on your feet as well.”
“My mate-”
“Shut it!” One of them snapped, threatening him with his weapon. Though they all deliberately stayed out of reach of his claws. “You alien fuck. You’re on Earth. You do as you’re told on our planet. You don’t get to command anyone here!”
“It was my understanding that kidnapping, battery, and threat of murder were crimes put forth by your own government.”
“Shut your smart mouth or-”
“Bravo!” Alpha interjected before he could continue the threat. “Help the woman up.”
Romival couldn’t suppress his growl when the angry male walked around, giving him a wide berth. He turned, tracking him with all three eyes to where Holly was having difficulty standing due to her large belly and long dress. Bravo grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.
Romival snarled, claws emerging with near painful speed as he barely resisted the urge to leap forward and rip his offending hand off at the wrist.
“Bring her over,” Alpha ordered.
Holly kept one hand protectively over her belly, but she deliberately walked ahead of Bravo to make sure he wouldn’t have to touch her again.
The moment she was in range, Romival grabbed her and yanked her close, holding her tight as he kept both arms around her, as though his limbs alone would be enough to protect the two of them if the males began firing.
"Alright," one of the men, unnamed thus far, came forward with an anticipatory grin in his voice. "Let's kill them both now."
Holly whimpered. Romival tightened his grip, tail thrashing in anger, as he growled at them. Frustration curdled in his belly. He couldn't protect his mate and daughter from this many. He was helpless.
"Not yet," Alpha interjected. "We're not murderers. We're doing this to prove our point. Get the camera."
Romival’s grip tightened. They weren't just victims. They were about to be examples.
Holly
Holly was staring into the face of death.
But she wasn’t worried for herself.
She was afraid for her mate. She was afraid for her unborn daughter. In that instant, she truly understood the bone deep certainty of sacrifice, because she would gladly give up her life if it would spare the two of them.
But the masked men leveling guns at them while two more men set up a camera on a tripod did not have mercy or understanding in their eyes.
“Romi,” she whispered, hiding her face in his chest. In Domtri, she whispered, “I love you.”
“Do not,” he growled back in the same language, one hand tightening in her hair while his other arm crossed her waist so he could spread his hand against her belly as though to protect their daughter. “I will keep you and our daughter alive if it kills me.”
She chuckled. “You’re tough, Romi. But even you can’t take gunfire from this close from this many guns.”
“She is pregnant,” he growled to the humans in English. “Even if you cannot stand my kind, you would kill a pregnant female? An innocent life still in the womb?”
“It’s not a life, it’s a fucking alien,” one of them spat. “You’re on our planet and your life doesn’t have worth unless we say it does.”
“Not now, Charlie,” Alpha snapped at him before turning back. “Is the camera ready?”
“One minute. I’m almost set up.”
Alpha returned his gaze to them, expression hard through the eye window of his mask, but not as hateful as some of the others. “We’ll shoot you in the heads first. Kill you quickly. We don’t want your suffering. The only thing we want is to be left alone.”