9. Chapter 9
Cooper stared at Marissa. There was no evidence that he’d pushed her to that conclusion, no sign that she wasn’t making her own decisions. Still, he’d never thought she’d make this one. He could feel the emotions bouncing around her brain but she”d laid a cool layer of logic and professionalism over them.
“I worry I won’t be able to accommodate those plans,” he said slowly. “But I would like to stay alive and try.”
She looked so anxious. He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms. He wanted to comfort her in ways he’d seen humans employ but which he’d never experienced as a nymph. Nor as an adult, for that matter.
“I think you’ll be surprised at what you’re capable of,” she said with a grin. “And I have no idea if our anatomy is even compatible for some of it but I think we’ll be able to rub along very nicely.”
He snorted and she grinned at him.
“We’re compatible enough,” he said. “We’ll figure out the rest, I think.”
“Good,” she said.
There was space between them and he didn’t like it. He felt like there was something he could do to bring her closer but he wasn’t sure how to start.
He felt her amusement before she stepped into the space in front of him. It was the most natural thing to put an arm around her waist and pull her closer. She rested her chin against his chest and he realized how much taller than her he was. He’d never noticed before, never cared, because she seemed so much larger when she was moving and talking.
“You really want to stay with me?”
“I think I do,” she said. “Which means, as much as I’d like to explore how compatible we are, we need to make a plan and start opening negotiations. Because if my people storm in here like it’s a rescue operation, things are going to go bad fast.”
“And you don’t think we can hide until my people get here?”
“Can you get a return message from your people without whatever it was you stole from the Orvax?”
“Not really,” he said.
“Then no, I don’t think we can just hide. I think it’s tempting to try, but I don’t think we’ll manage it. That leaves us with diplomacy and you’re going to have to start that without the fake uniform and face.”
“But you like that face,” Cooper protested. “Don’t bother denying it, I saw how you reacted to it. You think my disguise is sexy.”
“I think you’re sexy,” she corrected him. Her heart sped with the admission and he could feel it where she leaned against him. “I think it’d be better for everybody involved if you came clean with who and what you are. I’ll back you up and explain about the mate thing. Contact with the Orvax should help with that.”
Cooper took a deep breath and inhaled her scent. The smell of what they’d done earlier lingered, and he couldn’t help but react. She cuddled deeper into his arms, and he groaned when her soft belly brushed against his cock.
“Alright, we’ll try and contact your people. Do you think the drone is still out there? Maybe if you just went and waved at it I wouldn’t have to turn my phone back on.”
She laughed and the sound thrilled through his soul.
“I’m not waving down a drone. Turn on your phone, make a call, and we’ll start heading back to the base.”
“I don’t like that idea,” he said. “Actually, I really don’t like that idea. They’ll separate us once we’re back there, and that will go badly.”
“Why?”
“They’ll want to debrief you privately,” he said. “And if anybody is taking off your briefs in private, it should be me. And I kidnapped a Marine which means they’re going to want to lock me up and torture me just on principle. No, I don’t think we’ll head for the base.”
“We can’t hide in your ship forever,” Marissa pointed out. He wanted to gnash his teeth at her for being reasonable, but he couldn’t deny it.
“Why not? I have food and water. Okay, not much of either, but I have something that almost acts like a shower. We could hold out for days before you wanted to kill me. Days!”
“We have weeks or months before your help arrives,” she pointed out with a giggle. “And that’s if they got your message and replied right away.”
“Fine,” he said. “Be reasonable. See if I care. Just for that, no pre-surrender nookie for you.”
“What?” she asked with a laugh. When she tried to pull out of his arms, he held her close and enjoyed the feel of her breasts pressed against him while she struggled.
“You heard what I said. No, no, you want to go back so that’s what we’ll do. Grab your bags, take all your stuff with you, I won’t stop you from throwing yourself back into work after meeting your perfect match. I must admire your dedication to your job, though. I don’t think I’d be so ready to head back after that orgasm but I don’t have your strength.”
Marissa kicked his shin and he let her go, hopping back to rub at it while she felt back for the divider to lean against while she laughed.
“You are such an asshole,” she told him. “I didn’t know pre-surrender nookie was an option.”
“Well, it’s not now,” he said.
“What if I apologized?”
“For what?” he asked, curious to see what she’d say.
“For kicking you,” she suggested and he humphed at her.
“Nope, not good enough, we must away with all due haste. As soon as I locate my phone and turn it back on so I can tell whoever is sending stuff after us I’m taking you back.”
“Do you want me to call it?” she asked.
“No cell service,” he said. “And that’s only part of why I needed the device. No, I’m sure it’s around here somewhere. You go find your stuff and we’ll head back.”
“I’m wearing everything I brought with me,” she reminded him. “Because you kidnapped me on my way to lunch and I didn”t have much to begin with. But I would like to use the bathroom if you have one.”
He waved vaguely at the closed door next to the open one that went to his rest area. It could hardly be called a bedroom, and the cushion that folded out of the wall was barely a bed, but it was where he was supposed to sleep when he wasn’t watching the controls. “Push the square light on the door,” he said. “It works mostly like a human bathroom but if you need help with the controls, let me know.”
When she’d disappeared through the door, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the phone with the alien device attached. It didn’t look like something from the Orvax but he hadn’t seen any of their equipment in years and that had all been badly out of date. He’d never expected to see them all the way out here.
The Chelions had trained to mimic and infiltrate all their neighbors and several other planets that were close enough to be considered a threat. What kind of threat, was left to the imagination, especially with some of the more peaceful ones. Corruption of the young and an affront to their leaders was usually enough to be worth a visit.
The Orvax were considered a threat but they tended to be so insular and xenophobic that nobody had managed to get more than a token infiltration for centuries. Plans were laid a very long time ago to change that but they’d only managed to force them into a population replacement crisis. There had been rumors about earlier plans but nobody had any ideas about the details except to say they were still getting periodic updates from their agents that had been left on the planet.
If the Orvax that had come to Earth had any idea that some of their problems had been caused by the Chelions, they’d be upset. And he couldn’t blame them. If it were his people, he’d be upset about being controlled by an alien species.
Cooper turned his phone back on and waited for it to boot. If the Orvax were looking for this signal, or if they’d given the humans a way to track it, he was taking a huge risk. As it was, he had no idea where he’d actually sent his message from. It certainly hadn’t used any of the systems he’d known about to bounce the signal in the right direction.
Hopefully, the Orvax would chase the hidden communications relay that he’d found rather than the signal booster he’d borrowed. That had been a bit of luck he hadn’t anticipated but he wasn’t about to turn it down.
Marissa came out to join him while he was scrolling through the cat pictures.
“Do any of these mean anything to you?” he asked, when she leaned against his arm to look at them with him.
“That one’s a meme,” she said, pointing to the cat with the crazy hair. “And she looks familiar but I don’t know who she is. I think whoever sent these was trying to confuse you.”
“It worked,” Cooper said with a laugh. “Do you think they mean anything beyond that?”
“Not that I can think of but I’m not a bored teenager who’s looking to cause trouble.”
“Do you think I should message him? Or should I try for one of your commanders?”
“Reply to the kid,” Marissa said. “It can’t hurt. Then try one of the commanders. I can get you a number to call, I think.”
No missiles yet but you can tell the people sending them I’m willing to talk.
Major Ozark had her official contact list pulled up with a sour face for the complete lack of cell signal in his ship. She held her hand out for his phone, typed in the number and started a video call. Cooper grasped her shoulders and turned her so the only thing behind her was a bare metal wall. It wasn’t great but he didn’t want to give them a view of the inside of his ship.
She waited a long time for someone to answer the call but the look on her face when she finally got someone spoke volumes. The anxiety that flooded into his brain from hers spoke more.
“Major Ozark, I’m surprised to see you looking so well,” the officer said from the other end of the line.
“Yes, General, thank you, sir,” she said, her voice clipped.
“I assume this call contains an explanation about why you felt the need to steal a truck and leave the base where you were guarding a very important diplomat.”
“Sir, the truck was stolen by someone else while they were in the process of kidnapping me,” she said, tripping slightly over the explanation. “I have convinced him that he needs to return me to the base and open negotiations with my people.”
“And why would we want to negotiate with a traitor?”