Trinh gives both her friends quick hugs, then turns on her heel and marches toward my office. I quicken my stride to catch up with her.
Chapter 2
L’Corte
Usually being in my office gives me a sense of control, but with Trinh pacing back and forth on the far side of my desk, that feeling is lost.
Stopping in front of me, she leans across my desk, bracing her fists on its sleek surface. I swallow a small ember of annoyance at the smudges I will have to clean later.
“Explain,” Trinh says seriously.
“As you know, the people on my home planet all died several years ago. We had believed that they were killed by a plague since there were no signs of foul play. We’ve recently discovered that a species called the Ostiums murdered our people.”
Trinh sits down heavily in one of the chairs facing my desk, a shocked look on her face.
“Do you remember when Chelsea arrived?” I ask. When Trinh nods her head, I continue, “She’d been trapped on an Ostium space station after they kidnapped her from Earth. The Ostiums had been carrying out scientific experiments on humans and other species. Miraculously, Chelsea managed to escape her Ostium captors and was hiding in the walls of the facility. When Scout Pilots D’Rett and L’Tarne were sent into the region to investigate some unusual signals, the Ostiums captured them. Chelsea was able to rescue both pilots from certain death. The three of them escaped and were able to bring back the truth about the Ostiums and their nefarious plans. The information they provided allowed us to prevent an Ostium attack on the Deerfield healing center.”
“Holy shit,” Trinh whispers. “Poor Chelsea. Wait, the attack on the medical facility… Was that the one where Dr. Salcedo worked? That wasn’t an attack by the Earth First terrorist group?”
“No, it wasn’t. At the time, we thought it best to let everyone believe it was an Earth First attack. We have learned the Ostiums have been plotting against us, humans and the Hisk. The entire Hisk armada arrived tonight to help us go to war with the Ostiums. Many of your Earth governments have sent members of their militaries to assist us. The entire contingent of Cerasteans, humans, and Hisk will be leaving in just over a week to remove the Ostium queen from her throne. We will be leaving several ships stationed around Earth to protect it from any outside threats. The Chancellor will be making this announcement tomorrow to all the bride volunteers. Any volunteers who would like to leave the ship will be free to do so. We expect most of the unmated women would want to leave.”
Trinh huffs a quiet laugh. “You sure about that, huh?”
“What do you mean?”
“I bet fewer women leave than you think,” she replies, a contemplative look on her face.
“I can’t imagine that is true, but I hope you are correct.”
Trinh taps her nails against my desk, deep in thought. I often watch her hands as she talks; they say as much as she does. I realize that I will miss Trinh when she returns to Earth. Matching wits against this bold, inquisitive woman has broken up an occasionally tedious existence.
“There’s going to be so many matings,” Trinh says quietly, biting her lip pensively.
“What?” I ask, even though I believe she is talking to herself. She does this quite often. “What matings?”
“I assume that most of the males on this ship will be leaving, heading off to war, right?”
When I nod my head in assent, Trinh blows out a quick breath. “If that’s the case, then I promise you, you guys are going to have a rash of matings this week.”
“I can’t imagine any women will want to mate males they might lose in battle before they can settle into their lives. It’s not logical to take that risk.”
“Logical? Dude, what you know about women could fit in a shoebox.”
Did she just call me ‘dude’?
“I promise you; you are going to have a ton of matings this week. You can find similar instances all through human history. When a war was looming on the horizon, there would be a rash of marriages before soldiers headed out to war. There’s even a term for it: war brides.”
“War brides?”
“It also means women who marry soldiers from other countries in times of war. But that’s not the definition I’m thinking about.”
“You think this is going to happen with the Cerasteans who are leaving for the front lines?”
“Absolutely. Do you know what we should do? We should just have one huge wedding – I mean, Presenting Ceremony – for anyone who gets mated this week,” Trinh says, nodding her head like she is in agreement with me, even though I am sitting frozen at my desk in stunned silence. “There is so much to do! We’re going to need a ton of flowers! Oh man, I don’t know what we’re going to do about dresses. The reception will have to be in the main mess hall, I guess. What if it’s not big enough? Shit, I need to write this all down. Why don’t you guys ever have paper?” Trinh’s words are tripping over each other on the way out of her mouth. She scowls at the uncluttered surface of my desk and then transfers her frown to me.
“I… uh… I will see if I can get you some paper,” I say inanely.
“Ugh, never mind. I’ll just use my tablet when I get back to my room. I need to write this all down, or I will never get back to sleep.”
