UF-2 Book 1 Chapter 6 By Barbie Lee, Edited by Catherine Linda Michel

“Toni…” I know my mouth fell open because my brain stopped working.

Sherry giggled. “That’s right, Toni.”

She got serious. “He really would have let you go back to the station if you wanted. It had to be of your own free will to marry him. If you decided to leave, he would have never married and that would have been the end of his lineage.”

“But you said there are always two. What about his brother? Is he married?” I didn’t understand.

“That’s what has put you smack dab into the middle of the equation with the Trag. Toni’s brother was killed by the Trag. Like humans, the Pash are explorers. Toni’s brother happen to be the first to run into the Trag. I understand the Trag are more vegetable than animal. They like to dissect things. Their favorite things they like to dissect are animal forms. Then they do what they have become good at, designing DNA cutters to eliminate that animal life form.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth in horror. “Oh my God!”

Sherry sighed as she shook her head. Her earrings tinkling with the slightest movement. “Pash don’t kill unless provoked. They certainly don’t take lightly to one of their own being dissected. Remember, the Trag are vegetable life, not animal. A death or two means nothing to them. Losing a few hundred would be a 'ho hum, who cares' event. A few thousand deaths might get some attention, but not much.”

“The Pash went after them with a vengeance the Trag had never felt before. The Trag understood death better than they had ever understood it in their whole history before the Pash stopped the slaughter. It was understood if the Trag tried any of their DNA virus tricks on the Pash then the Trag would be wiped from existence.”

“How did you learn all this?” I found it hard to believe anyone, even of Sherry’s intelligence, could pick up all this information in the few days we had been living with the Pash.

A smile crossed her face. “The Pash are telepathic, I am...”

“Telepathic. Duhh. I don’t guess you have to verbalize the knowledge to share it.” Would I never learn?

She laughed. “Don’t get too smug doll, your time is coming.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I searched her eyes for answers.

“That little girl you are carrying is changing you as we speak. After Pash mate, their wives change to look like Pash as their child develops. It’s sharing of life forces between mother and child. You won’t see any alien wives among the Pash because they morphed to look like Pash with motherhood.” She winked at me.

In shock I stuck my hand out to see if I was growing nails like Toni’s.

Sherry giggled when she saw the shock on my face. “Don’t worry dear, you’re different in more ways then to be the first to give birth to girls. Your physical looks won’t change. It’s part of the DNA virus. You are going to be the first mate of a Pash to not morph.”

“Then what? You said my time was coming. What did you mean by that?” I took a real close look at my hand to make sure I wasn’t changing.

Sherry pointed a long slender finger at my head. “Becoming telepathic is not a physical change.”

“You gotta be joking!” I wasn’t sure I wanted that kind of change any more than morphing to look like a Pash. Although I was warming up to the idea that looking like a Pash would be much better than the Trader Post Bimbo figure I was endowed with. Courtesy of the Trag,

“Toni’s home and I need to be going.” Sherry rose up off the couch.

“When will you be back?” I enjoyed Sherry’s conversation immensely. I was wishing she would stay.

“We go back to have a meeting with the Trag tomorrow. I’ll be there with you. Listen to Toni and act like the Queen you now are. Don’t do anything rash. You were Captain of a Space Post, remember to carry yourself with authority.”

She was walking out of the room as Toni walked in. “Hello, Toni. Bye Toni.”

He nodded his head in acknowledgment. “Bye Sherry.”

Toni motioned for me to stay put when I started to get up. “Please, you are so beautiful. I want to stand here and drown in my love for you.”

Tears involuntarily came to my eyes as I rose off the couch. Walking over to him, I wrapped my arms around his neck as I stared into those beautiful, intelligent cat eyes of his. “I love you so much it hurts. You are so beautiful... handsome. I have been doubly blessed. My heart aches to be close to you when you are out of sight. I am the luckiest person in any universe.”

Toni leaned over and kissed me. I was lost in him as my emotions flooded my soul. With love he swept me off my feet and carried me to the couch where he laid me down. My emotions were off the scale as he fondled my breasts and...

Did he ravish me, or did I ravish him? Talk about animal love! Bless those Trag and what they did to me, for I was an animal myself when it came to making love. I could never get enough.

It was much later, and I was lying beside Toni, his left arm under my head. I was tickling his lips with the ends of my long hair. He could stand it for only so long before it got to him and he would have to rub his mouth to get rid of the tickle. Then we would do it all over again.

“I need another one of those baths.” I was tickling his nose with my hair as his lips were getting immune to my teasing.

“Okay.” Toni shoved me off the couch, stood up, picked me up and carried me through the bedroom to the bathroom.

I could see it coming. “NO. I’m still dressed. NO TONI! DON’T YOU DARE!”

I was still screaming as he tossed me in, heels, dress, and all.

I came up spitting water and coughing. “You beast!”

He leaned over the tub. “You said...”

I wrapped both hands behind his head as I put my feet against the edge of the tub and pulled with all my strength. Toni came in on top of me and water went everywhere.

He came up spluttering. “That was uncalled for.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck I dragged him back under as I planted a kiss on his lips and we made love like a couple of fish as we balanced our need for air with our passion for love.

A lifetime later I had my back to the edge of the tub, and Toni was wrapped up in my arms. I was gently raking my nails across his chest. “I’m so in love.”

He rolled over in the water where he was facing me. He cupped my face in his hands. “Thank you for loving me.”

That brought the tears. I couldn’t speak as I looked into his eyes and cried. I could not imagine life without him. I now knew what they meant by soul mate. He was mine and more importantly, I was his.

I could have spent my life like that, but Toni soon escaped, asking me if I would mind getting dressed.

When I stepped out of the tub, I couldn’t believe how heavy that dress could get when it was wet. Stick was there to get me out of my wet clothes. I was thinking I had to introduce these people to velcro, and zippers, and other closures. The idea I was in my clothes until Stick did his molecular whatever was ridiculous. I was positive I couldn’t cut the material. It may look like fine material, but it was armor plate tough.

An iridescent blue gown covered in embedded blue stones was laid out on the bed as I entered the bedroom. I sighed as I studied the gown. “A little over the top for a day at home isn’t it?”

With Stick’s help, I finished dressing when Toni walked back into the bedroom. He was undoubtedly the most handsome devil I had ever laid eyes on. I was so in love it hurt. I also knew formal dress when I was looking at it. Toni was dressed formally. A bolero style jacket over a white ruffled shirt, black skin tight pants with a dark blue stripe down the outside of each leg. He was wearing a weapon on his right hip and a sword on his left.

“My soldier, would you care to take a girl to dinner?” I would have rather taken him to bed.

He walked up in front of me, took my left hand, raised it as he bent over and kissed it. “You are so beautiful. There is a banquet this evening in your honor. Be yourself, nothing more, and absolutely nothing less.”

That took me back. “Toni, I don’t know your customs. What if I make a fool of myself? I would be so ashamed if I embarrassed you.”

He put his arms around me and pulled me into his chest. “You could never do anything to embarrass me.”

“You say that now. Wait until later when you want to hide in shame.” His shirt was tickling my nose.

It was a different ship waiting outside the house than the one Toni usually flew. It was still a slick little ship. I figured it was for going over to the neighbors, not for star jumping. I also wasn’t going to walk up the ramp in those four inch heels Toni liked to see me wearing. At the bottom of the ramp he gathered me up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head down on his shoulder. He gathered me, my gown, and my train, and carried me in his arms into the little runabout.

It took me a little bit to get situated in my seat. My gown was a bustier top and barely, by the barest minimums, covered things that needed covering. My tiny waist was cinched in so tightly I could hardly breathe. The skirt flared out to about six feet around me and was held out in shape by some gossamer material almost as light as air, but resilient.

I was wearing a multi strand necklace of blue stones. My earrings were spirals of blue stones and, like Sherry’s earrings, they tinkled with the slightest movement. Stick had done something to my long brown hair. It sparkled and glistened like strands of shimmering light, every strand perfectly in place as it cascaded down to my hips. My eyes were so over done that those girls at the Traders Posts would have looked like also-rans. I guess my blue eyes went along with my blue nails, which were two inches long and sharp enough to be called weapons.

Toni had settled into his seat beside me when I finally decided I was going to have to drown in that dress as it billowed out around me. He patiently waited until I gave up. I started laughing.

“What’s funny?” He looked puzzled.

“You should have hung me up. This dress was definitely not designed for sitting.” I giggled.

“I’ll keep that in mind next time.” He pulled the console into his lap and placed his right hand on the screen, as he ran his fingers on his left hand over the left hand screen.

“We are there.” He pushed the console back, stood up, and held out his right hand.

I took his right hand in my left and stood up. I didn’t have to straighten up my skirt or my hair as they magically went back in place. Between the iridescent blue material that looked like flowing liquid, and those blue stones that radiated light like small stars, I was glowing in more ways than one as I turned and took Toni’s arm. “I love you with all my heart.”

Toni beamed as he smiled. “You are a credit to your kind and mine. I could have never loved another.”

He escorted me to the door. Either the ship was sitting down in a recess, or there was a platform raised up even with the door. I wasn’t going to have to depend on Toni to carry me down the ramp. I have no idea if I would have had the courage to step off the ship if I had been looking up instead of down at my feet when Toni and I stepped off the ship.

When I looked up my heart jumped up in my throat. There were thousands of Pash lined up on each side of a walk. About six hundred feet to the other end of the walk were two Pash sitting on blue stone chairs. It had to be a man and woman. The man was attired similarly to Toni, and the woman was wearing a blue gown.

Toni caught my right hand in his left. “Please, walk with me.”

I stepped forward with Toni, my knees knocking so badly I thought I was going to fall down. It was deathly quiet and the rustling of my skirt and the tinkling of my earrings were magnified a thousand-fold as I walked with Toni, who made absolutely no sound at all. With each step, my heels clicked on the stone tile. I swear the sound carried to the end of that huge room and back again. I could hear my twelve foot train 'shish' as it slid over the stone trailing behind me.

All the Pash lining the walk were focused on me. I could see them turn their heads as we passed them one by one, but not a sound did they make. It was eerie. as if all sound had been removed from the world except for the sounds I made. My throat was cotton dry by the time we had walked the longest six hundred feet I had ever walked in my whole life.

We stopped six feet in front of the man and woman. Turning loose of my hand, Toni kneeled on his right knee and bowed his head. “I present to you my mate.”

As the man studied me I felt like he could hear my heart knocking. “Did you take Tonlosania as your mate of your own free will?”

I glanced over at Toni who had yet to rise. I held my skirt as I curtsied and bowed my head. “I did, and I have.”

“Rise.” The man stepped up in front of Toni. He took a jewel encrusted sword and scabbard off his hip and held it out horizontally in front of Toni.

“By rite of passage, I pass on to you the leadership of the Escubanesa Clan.”

Toni stood up, removed the sword he was wearing and slipped the jeweled sword in its place. “I pledge my service to our people. If I am half the leader you were then I will have served our people well.”

The woman stepped up in front of me. “Rise.”

I raised my head and I was looking into the eyes of a female Pash, a beautiful woman by any standards. She was a contrast in study. I could see intelligence in her eyes beyond human understanding. She looked old in intelligence, but young in looks. These had to be Toni’s parents that Sherry was telling me about.

I saw a sparkle in her eyes as laugh lines formed in the corners, but she didn’t laugh. “You are everything I have heard and more. Already intelligent beyond your years. You bring the change promised to us through the millennia.”

She removed a blue jewel encrusted dagger from her left side and held it out to me. “By accepting, you pledge your unwavering support to your mate, your King, until the end of life.”

I reached out and put my hand on top the dagger but didn’t pick it up. “I pledge Toni my support and more. I pledge him my life and my undying love until the end of time.”

She nodded and I put the dagger on my left side. She lifted a blue jeweled crown off her head and placed it on my head. “By rite of passage, I pass on the title of Queen to the one named Brandy. She shall bring us a new millennium.”

Tears were trickling down my cheeks as I tried to act... God, I had no idea how to act. I held my hand out to Toni’s mother. “Does protocol allow me to give you a hug?”

She smiled as she held out her hand. “You are a Queen, protocol allows you to do whatever you want.”

I closed in and hugged her neck as I whispered in her ear. “We need to have some really long discussions. I beg for your advice to be a good leader.”

“You already are. You are a natural born leader. It has been ordained.” She squeezed me before stepping back.

“Please your highness, how should I address you?” I was scared I would make a gaffe' and embarrass Toni.

“I am Lass. My mate is Dre. We do not use formal titles except in rare instances. Tomorrow, when you meet the Trag, will be one of those instances where formal titles will be used.” She took my hand. “Please, everyone wants to meet you and touch you. They have already heard so much about you.”

“Toni?” I hesitated.

He gave me a quick kiss and a wink. “Mother is right. It is you they want to meet. They already know me. I’m old stuff to them. Most of them have never seen a human before. Go and enjoy yourself. I will be close by.”

“But...” I was in the middle of a dozen Pash. I had never seen so many beautiful people in my whole life. They were also the best mannered and most courteous people I had ever met. No one grabbed me, no one stepped on the hem of my dress, no one stepped on my train as I followed Lass and moved among them. It had to be the cat qualities in their bloodlines. I could only wish to be half as graceful as they.

It was hours later that I met Sherry and her mate, Meliss. I wrapped my hand around her neck and gave her a heartfelt hug. “I’m so glad you stayed and married a Pash. I pray you and I can work together, for I value your intelligence and your advice more than you will ever know.”

“You may get tired of me before we kick the bucket. That little girl you are carrying is going to make sure you live a really long time as she infuses her genes with yours.”

Sherry turned her attention to Lass as she held her skirt, bowed her head, and curtsied. “Your Highness. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Lass was beaming as Sherry rose. “So formal are you. You are not to be underestimated. Your intelligence speaks volumes. I have been hearing rumors about you. It seems that the Pash have been doubly blessed that Melissandevoledo chose you as a mate.”

Sherry bowed her head before answering. “I am the one who has been honored and blessed. I pray I am a credit to the Pash as Melissandevoledo’s mate.”

Lass smiled as she placed her hand on Sherry’s stomach. “They tell me you are a seer? Why do you not see your own?”

For the first time in my life I saw doubt in Sherry’s eyes. “I have seen.”

“Tell me, Seer, what have you seen in your own future?” Lass stepped back and waited.

“You ask about our child. I will give Meliss two healthy boys.” For the first time Sherry wasn’t sure of herself.

“Are you certain, Seer? And what about Brandy? What did you see?” Lass gave a quick nod in my direction for emphasis.

“Again you ask about children. I see two healthy girls.” Sherry was back on solid ground.

Lass placed her hand on my stomach and nodded. “She will bear two girls as it has been ordained.”

Lass turned her attention back to Sherry. “I see confusion and delusion where you read your own future. You do not feel worthy of such an event. You keep calling yourself a test tube experiment. I know of this type of life reproduction. It is not the fault of the life that is created, as you had nothing to do with it. It would be the same as one of us saying we were to blame if we were born to the Pash, or Wern, or any other species.” Then she turned back to me.

“Do not be surprised when you give birth to your girls. They will grow up to be leaders of a new generation of Pash.”

I was looking at Sherry who had a look of shock and doubt all over her face. Turning to look at Lass I saw nothing but seriousness. Obviously, my mother in law was a seer herself. If she wasn’t, she was a darn good con artist because I believed everything she said.

The news about me being pregnant with girls, spread like wildfire, although I was no longer the sole object of attention in that hall. All the Pash wanted to touch Sherry also.

I lost Lass in the crowd and that was where Toni found me. “You look beautiful.”

I slid my arms around his waist as I laid my head up against his chest. “And you look handsome, my Lord. I’m in love with your people, they are all so courteous and kind, and handsome, and beautiful.”

I snuggled in close to his chest. “Your mother is such a sweetheart. I hope she teaches me how to be like her.”

Toni pushed me back and kissed my forehead. “My mother is fascinated with you, my Queen. As is my father and everyone else. I most of all.”

I looked into his beautiful, yellow cat eyes. “I need to pay my respects to your father.”

“He’s looking forward to talking to you some more. Personally, I think he wants to admire your figure some more.”

“Me? But all your women are so slim and fit. Even your mother is such a fox. I wish I had her figure. She looks like she could run ten miles and never break out in a sweat.” I ran my hand down his arm as I was talking. Toni was pure muscle. Every time he picked me up, he made it seem like child’s play.

Toni put his hand in the small of my back and steered me toward the other side of the hall. “There are benefits to being slim. There are also benefits to having your figure. Never forget that, what makes you one of us, also elevates you above the rest of us. Your blue eyes are a wonder to everyone. None of us have ever seen blue eyes before. Someone asked me if the only color you see is blue?”

That tickled me and I laughed. “I guess all of us jump to conclusions at times. Blue eyes, blue color? Sure... makes sense to me.”

Toni’s dad was staring at me as we walked up to him. I curtsied and bowed my head. “Your Highness, it is such a pleasure to meet you again.”

He reached out and put his hand under my chin, raising my head to look into my eyes. “I should have never doubted. When Tonlosania returned after the first time he saw you, he said there had been a mistake. I agreed with him and told him to forget you. His mother disagreed. She said the only mistake was to not go back. Tonlosania heeded his mother’s advice and returned to the place where he was ordained to meet his mate. Again he came back and said it could not be. Again I agreed and again his mother sent him back, admonishing him to wait, for it was ordained.”

I blushed in embarrassment because I knew what Toni was looking at when he first visited that station. The funny thing was, I fell in love with him thinking he was she. In an odd way, things worked out. I was head over heels in love. “I’m glad Toni listened to Lass, your Majesty and took your advice under consideration.”

Toni’s dad closed his eyes as he laughed. “She is a diplomat too. You are a credit to your race. We are proud to accept you as a Pash, and one of us.”

I curtsied again. “You are most kind, your Highness. I pray I do not disappoint you too many times. I beg your favor as I seek your council if I am ever asked to make a decision.”

Again that chuckle of his. “Make a decision? You are Queen of the Pash. Of course you will make decisions. However I am afraid you seek advice from the one least qualified to give advice. Lass is the seer in our family. Seek her council when you feel the need.”

I glanced over at Toni and he nodded his head. “Mother is the one for advice. In time she will come to you for advice. Our daughters may not change you into a Pash, but they will change you.”

I blinked as I stared at him. Unconsciously I put my hand on my tummy. I was in way over my head and scared to death.

Toni took my arm. “I think we have been called to dinner.”

“I’m not hungry.” My nerves had killed my appetite.

“Sit at the Royal Table anyway. It’s tradition.” He guided me into another room.

Toni’s dad was right behind us. Before we waked halfway across the room, his mother stepped up beside him.

Toni guided me up to a huge banquet table with two large chairs at the head. I was left of Toni, and Lass was left of me, in front of a smaller chair. Toni’s dad was to the right of Toni.

The rest of the Pash and Sherry filed in and found places in front of the tables. Toni leaned over in my direction. “Be seated and they can sit.”

“Lass said I could do anything I wanted and it would be okay. Is that right?” I hesitated.

“Yes, within reason.”

I backed up behind the chair and bowed toward Lass. “Your Highness, I never had the honor to serve a Queen before. Would you please grant me this wish and sit here?”

Toni looked amused, Lass’ eyes were dancing as she moved to the Royal Chair and sat down. Toni nodded in agreement as he moved out and let his father sit in his Royal Chair. I moved to the left of Lass and waited for an indication it would be okay to be seated. Lass looked at me and smiled. “Please be seated.”

I managed with that full skirt and the train to sit down, even if I was sitting on the edge of my chair to do it. When I did, a roar swelled up from the banquet room, as the Pash cheered.

Toni’s dad leaned over toward Toni. “You are going to have your hands full. When she gets to be too much for you, then drop her off at our house.”

Toni laughed as he looked at me and mouthed, ‘I love you’. “Dad, you are wishful thinking if you believe I will ever let her out of my sight.”

I kept an eye on Lass and made sure to mimic her while eating. I did not want to make a gaffe' in a room full of Pash.

It was late, late, late when Toni took me home. I was so tired. Most of it was from nervous excitement, but part of it was physical from being on my feet most of the evening. I wrapped my arms around Toni’s neck as he carried me down the ramp off the ship.

“I can walk from here.”

“I know, but it feels good to hold you in my arms. You feel so soft and warm.” He walked into the house carrying me.

“Did I ever tell you, I love you?” I whispered in his ear.

“No, but you can start now.” He tried to bite me on the neck and received a mouthful of hair for his efforts.

“I love you, Toni. I love you so much I can not begin to tell you how much because words don’t explain.”

He laid me down on the bed, bent over, brushed the hair away from my face, and kissed me. “I know the feeling.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Then make love to me.”

He kissed me and then pulled back out of my arms. “We need to get some rest. We have work to do tomorrow.”

Glancing around the room he removed his sword and pistol. “First things first.”

He lay down on top of me as he smothered me with kisses and then playfully put those fangs of his in my neck.

“Oh Master, I am yours to do as you wish. You are a man and I, a mere woman.” I giggled as I said it in mock of his strength.

Toni grabbed my wrists and held my hands up above my head as he stared into my eyes. I didn’t think I could have escaped if I had the help of ten men. But feeling mischievous I brought my knees up under him as I leveraged my heels against the bed. It tossed him over my head upside down up against the head rail on the bed.

I don’t know who was more shocked, Toni or me? “I’m sorry, Toni, I didn’...”

He rolled back down where he was beside me as he studied my eyes. “Bring that ‘mere woman’ by me again because I was believing that one.”

I reached out and dragged him in as I planted a big kiss on his lips. “Enough chatter. I’m your Queen. I demand you make love to me.”

Toni reached up and removed my crown and then down to my side and removed my dagger. He set them off to the side. “You are my Queen and I can not refuse your command.”

How Toni found me under that full skirt and gossamer petticoat was a wonder, but he did.

The next morning, I rolled over and was looking at Stick. “Where’s Toni?”

“Assembling the attack force, Mistress.”

That brought me awake, along with my heart up in my throat. “We are under attack? By whom? Why didn’t he wake me? Take me to him.”

“You are not properly dressed, Mistress. We are not under attack. No life forms have ever attacked the Pash. The attack force is for the meeting with the Trag. Now, if Mistress will take her bath, I will prepare her meal. It is going to be a busy day.”

I rolled out of bed and turned my back to Stick. “Undo me please. I really need to teach you about zippers.”

My dress fell to the floor and I stepped out of my heels. It felt sooooo good to be out of that thing. I rubbed my waist. I couldn’t believe I had managed to sleep like that. I must really have been wiped out.

After the bath I stopped in the doorway and stared at my clothes lying on the bed. “We must have a talk about my attire.”

I was finishing breakfast when Toni and several Pash walked in. I studied them. Warriors for sure and armed to the teeth. Toni had his cannon on his right hip, a sword on his left, and I guessed some kind of shield generator on his belt, right in front of his sword. The four Pash behind him were dressed in similar fashion. They also carried rifles of some kind.

Toni took me in from head to toe. “You did well. It is time to go.”

I rose out of the chair and walked beside him out of the house. Everyone’s mood had changed. These Pash were not going to a banquet, nor were they going to a social meeting. They were going to negotiate a bargain, or let blood.

The ship outside our house was huge, dark, and formidable. It scared me and I was only looking at it. I was guessing it was one of the Pash Star Destroyers. Our group stopped under the ship, there was that familiar flash of light, and we were in the bowels of the beast. If I thought it looked like business from the outside I was wrong. It looked like death personified from the inside. There were a dozen Pash at consoles and those were fire control consoles they were sitting at.

Toni put his hand in the small of my back. “Forward, my Queen.”

I glanced over at him. “Formal titles?”

“Yes, please. This is not a pleasure trip.”

He motioned me to a chair with a console in front of it. I sat down and it formed to my body.

He sat down in the chair beside me and pulled a console up in his lap. “As Queen, you are the Commander. Place your right hand on the right side of the screen.”

I did as he directed and felt a tingling in my hand.

“It has read you and accepted you as in control of the fleet. Place your fingers on the left side of the screen.”

Again I followed directions. Something I had never seen before blipped up in front of my face. A star chart unlike any chart I had ever seen before.

Toni ran his left hand over his console and one of the stars on my chart glowed red. “That is the Trag galaxy. You are going to fly us there. There are several ways to guide the ship to that destination. The easiest one would be for you to reach up and touch the red star.”

I did and my star chart disappeared, replaced by a universe chart.

Toni touched his screen and one of the planets turned red. “The Trag inhabit all the planets in this universe. The planet in red is where the meeting is to take place. Please touch it.”

My touch made the universe chart disappear and a planet hologram was in front of me.

There were thousands upon thousands of bright dots around us.

“Full view.” Toni, touched his screen.

I was looking out across space at thousands and thousands of ships. By their very design, easily identifiable as Pash ships. “My God!”

“Our meeting is here.” Tony touched his screen and a red dot appeared on the planet hologram.

I touched it and a view of buildings appeared in front of us.

“This one here is the meeting hall.” One of the buildings turned red.

I touched it and we were in front of that building. I now realized Toni did all that so fluidly and quickly I had never noticed he had taken us from point A to point B.

“Full battle ready.” Toni stood up and held out his hand.

I took his hand and stood beside him. We walked back to the lift. Two Pash disappeared ahead of us and then we were in the flash. I was standing beside Toni in the same hall we had been in two days earlier. There were a couple dozen Trag on the other side. I was guessing those things they were holding in their arms were weapons.

Four more Pash, and Sherry, dropped in behind us. I took a quick glance in Sherry’s direction. She was wearing black hip boots, with a four inch stiletto heel. Her micro mini skirt was tight. Her huge breasts couldn’t be considered covered by that flimsy chain mail brassiere she was wearing. Her long earrings were too much, like mine were. Her long, golden hair cascaded over her shoulders down to her hips. Like everyone else, other than me, she carried a sword on her left hip and a blaster on her right. Sherry was a fox, no matter how she was dressed, or not dressed.

Four Trag walked toward us on those funny legs of theirs, their eyes moving in agitation from us to the other Pash. Toni put his hand in the small of my back. We stepped forward to meet them halfway across the room. Sherry stepped up behind me to my left.

The Trag on my right waved an arm in my direction. “There is no need for this show of hostility. We Trag have no quarrel with the Pash.”

“My Queen informs me you have broken the treaty with Pash.” Toni looked more serious than any time I had ever seen him.

The Trag on my left motioned toward me. “You are Queen of Pash? You do not look Pash. This is trick.”

Toni shook his head. “It is not a trick. You met her two days ago. I informed you she was my mate. You said you had to take our terms to council for consideration. What is your answer?”

The Trag directly in front of me stepped forward and reached an arm out to...

Toni was holding his sword in his left hand. A green goo was dripping off the blade. The Trag that had reached out was missing half his arm. Green goo was dripping out of the stump. Toni had his blaster in his right and he had a fighters stance, legs apart ready to move in any direction.

“Dare to touch our Queen and you will forfeit your life. Next time it will be more than an arm.” He shifted his attention from one to all four Trag.

“I meant no harm. I only wanted to take a DNA sample to test if you speak the truth. She does not look Pash. Her eyes are not Pash. Her skin is not Pash. Where are the Pash teeth? Her fur is not Pash. You are lying to us. This life is not Pash.” The Trag who had lost an arm countered.

“I tire of your rebuke. She is my mate, our Queen, and most certainly Pash. I can offer a solution, a test, but if you touch her, you will die, along with all Trag.” Toni waited for an answer.

“I have to touch her for test sample.” He countered.

“Put your arm out, but don’t touch her or I will carry through my threat.” Toni tensed waiting for the Trag to try something.

The Trag extended his arm out, careful to not touch me.

Toni glanced in my direction. “Spit on it.”

I almost gagged. The smell was of something rotten. I managed to get some saliva in my mouth and spat on the Trag’s arm.

The Trag pulled back and left the room. All, except the three Trag in front of us, followed the first one from the room.

“Can you use a sword?” Toni was looking nervously about the room.

“I have used one in practice a long time ago. I’m better with a phaser.” I was looking to see what was making Toni so nervous.

“Pull your sword.”

I reached up over my back, not really expecting to wrap my right hand around a handle. The handle was there and I felt a hum between my shoulder blades. I could also feel it in my hand when I gripped the handle. I lifted a sword that was not there a second ago. As I brought it up and over I took a fighter’s stance. The blade cast off light beams in random directions. There was no doubt that a faint hum was coming from the sword.

The Trag backed up several steps as their eyes waved excitedly on their stalks. One of them turned and scurried from the room.

“What’s going on? They going to jump us?” I was trying to keep an eye on the whole room, while waiting for an attack.

“They were planning on it.” Toni looked like he had relaxed a little.

“I don’t think I would make a lot of difference. I’m not as quick as you are.”

“Quick has nothing to do with it. That’s the Queen’s sword. Only the Queen can pull it. It’s not there until you reach for it. Anyone else could search for eternity and never get their hands on it.”

“It’s a damn good thing Stick told me I had a sword between my shoulder blades then, isn’t it? I thought he was joking. It’s always there?” I took a close look at that sword. What was so special about it, besides it could disappear?

Toni never took his eyes off the Trag. “It goes with the Queen’s Crown and Dagger. When you accepted the position you accepted the Sword.”

Taking quick glances at the sword that seemed so special, I could not fathom why. “Maybe you should have told me more before we were married, my love. Anything else I should know that slipped your mind before our wedding?”

“You might try and be extra careful what you cut with that sword. It collapses molecular structure.”

“Oh shit! And I’m holding it!” I was considering handing it to Toni.

“Don’t even think it. Your molecular structure bonded with the sword when you accepted the title. If anyone tries to touch it they will be history. You can swing the blade through your body and nothing would happen. You can’t hurt yourself with it.”

Toni looked over and smiled a crooked smile. “Could we discuss history lessons at a later time?”

I wanted to take a deep breath, but that little nothing outfit Stick had bonded me into was ridiculously tight. My blue boots were thigh high with a four inch stiletto heel, my skin tight, blue skirt was so short it was more of an idea rather than practical. I felt like toothpaste my waist was so small. I was sure Toni could touch his fingers if he wrapped his hands around my waist. I hope he was enjoying my figure now because I was sure I would look like a barge ship when our little girl started growing. I had no idea how that little bit of bustier material could support those huge breasts of mine. I was positive the material was stronger than boilerplate. I would never claim I was dressed.

My conversation with Toni was cut short by the return of two Trag. One of them walked up in front of me making sure to not get close to me. I was positive it was the sword he was respecting and not the woman. I was also positive Lass had been involved in the revenge the Pash had taken against the Trag for her son’s death. Otherwise, the Trag would not have known about the Queen’s Sword. I could only hope to be half the woman she was, is.

The Trag studied me for a long, long time. “The test is mixed. We do not agree she is Pash.”

For the first time I saw a hint of a smile on Toni’s face. “Would you like a little proof at the point of her sword?”

The Trag was waving his arms as he backed. “NO! No need for hostilities.”

I was thinking how strange that they would fear a sword, yet the blaster Toni held in his hand was not that much of a threat. I was missing something.

The Trag grouped up in conversation, but those eyes of theirs kept looking in my direction.

What I never expected was for two of them to leap at me from the group. It was pure reflex reaction rather than skill, as I brought the sword up to block the weapon thrust at my eyes from the one on my right. No conscious thought was involved as the Trag’s weapon disappeared. I jumped to my right, straight into Toni as I tried to sidestep their charge. Toni was knocked off balance and stumbled to his right as I body slammed into him. He had involuntarily checked my movement. I two fisted the handle as I flat bladed a sweeping arc into the Trag nearest me. I had overpowered my swing, expecting resistance where blade met Trag, but there was none. The Trag just disappeared.

Because of my mistake I was pulled off balance and clumsily stumbled forward. The second Trag thrust his weapon at where I would have been standing had I not been so clumsy and fallen out of his target area. I planted my right foot and swung underhanded, bringing my sword up, hoping to cut his weapon in half. When sword and Trag weapon touched, the Trag weapon disappeared.

I was too close to the Trag. It snaked out an arm as a phaser came up in one of its other arms. I shortened the arc of my up swing and brought it down hoping to catch the Trag’s arm before it could wrap me up. What I saw was beyond my powers of comprehension. When the blade touched the Trag’s arm snaking toward my throat, the whole Trag disappeared.

“BEHIND YOU!” Blasters were barking as Toni shouted.

I spun on my left heel leaning into whatever? I only knew Toni had yelled and nothing else.

The other two Trag had decided to attack. I was lucky beyond belief that I had advanced rather than retreated when Toni yelled. They must have figured I was running when I started to spin, for their attack carried them into the sweep of my sword. I had it in a two fisted swing, waist high, and putting everything I had into it as I stepped forward. The sword met no resistance as it cut through the Trag and like the first two, they disappeared. I stumbled forward after meeting no resistance and only by the slimmest margin managed to keep my balance. I was standing where the Trag had been only seconds before.

I was scared out of my ever loving mind. I fully expected a couple thousand of them to come pouring into the room to finish the job the first four had started. “Toni?”

I could see laugh lines forming around his eyes as he and the other Pash stared at me. “Honey, your style is a little unorthodox, but I’m not complaining.”

“Let’s get back to the ship before they regroup. I’m not your mother and...” I couldn’t believe we weren’t already back in the ship headed as far away as we could get.

Toni put his sword and blaster back on left and right hips as he walked over in front of me. “Careful with that sword. It’s as dangerous to me as it was to the Trag.”

“The fight is over?” I couldn’t believe we weren’t about to be swarmed with a couple thousand others.

“It’s over. Put up your sword.”

Hesitantly I slipped it over my back and turned loose of it, expecting to hear a clatter when it hit the floor. There was no clatter. I could only imagine it was one of those dimensional portals it had slipped into.

Toni wrapped his right arm around my waist as his eyes gleamed. “The test is over. The Trag won’t be sending any more bio-balls to destroy the human race.”

“Test…?” I coughed. “They forfeited four lives on a test to see if I would kill them or not? And what were you shooting? I heard your weapons discharge?”

Sherry walked up beside us. “If that was an act with the sword, please don’t ever do it again.”

She leaned over and gave me a hug. “I’ll see you in a couple days. You need to drop back over at UF-2 and tell them the virus attack is over. You need to take them off Death-Com or those poor souls on that station will be stuck there forever. Command Central won’t ever lift a Death-Com alert.”

“Thanks for your support Sherry. I guess I’ll figure out what we did when Toni decides to explain it to me.” I hugged her back before she stepped back and disappeared in a flash of light.

We were back on the Pash Star Destroyer. Toni motioned me to the console. “Please, my Queen, take us home.”

We made it home, but not because I knew how or where. Toni guided me step by step. I also figured out we were traveling dimensionally as well as distance. Would the human race ever figure out how to travel through dimensions? I had no idea, but if they did it would be a long, long time. The other half of traveling through a dimension is figuring out how to get back where you left. Obviously the Pash had it figured out.

The place we stopped wasn’t home. I recognized Toni’s ship when we beamed off the Star Destroyer. The Star Destroyer disappeared. Toni took my right hand in his left and led me into the house. His parents were waiting.

I curtsied and bowed my head in respect to both of them.

“Please, you are the Queen of the Pash. Dre and I no longer deserve formal address.” Lass put her hand on my shoulder urging me to rise.

I stood up and looked into her eyes. “You will always deserve formal address, my Queen. A crown or a title does not make a Queen, nor does it make a King. Working toward the common good of all your race is what made you a Queen and Dre a King. I pray I do not disappoint you or my King as I try to be half the woman you are.”

Her cat eyes opened as she studied me before she answered. “The Pash could not be more fortuitous than having you reign as their Queen.”

She turned her attention to Toni. “I know my son well. He will be a good King.”

Lass put her hand around my arm and urged me toward the living room. “I heard the meeting with the Trag went well. You go back tomorrow to sign the treaty. A word of advice. Don’t let any of them touch you. They carry the nastiest spore on their bodies. It takes a trip through a field portal, the likes of which you don’t even want to think about, to get rid of the spore and lesions on your skin.”

I took a quick look back over my shoulder at Toni who was nodding his head in agreement. That was why he didn’t let the Trag touch me. A wash job through that field portal didn’t sound like something I wanted to experience.

“You’re welcome.” Toni laughed.

Darn him, he was mind reading again. Wait until tonight. I was going to do things to him he hadn’t ever...

Lass looked over at me, her eyes were wide open in shock and then she was laughing.

Jeeze, everyone was reading my mind. I blushed in embarrassment. I hadn’t planned on Toni’s mom knowing how we made love.

FROM THE EDITOR: This is the end of Book One. Book Two will follow as soon as I get it proofed, edited and ready to post. Hopefully by Wednesday at the latest.

Barbie and I are very pleased that you have enjoyed this story and we appreciate all your comments and kudos. Thank you all very much.