“We’ve talked plenty. Besides, the only thing you want to talk about is getting me married off.”
My mom scoffs, “I do not.”
“Okay, Mom. Sure.”
“I only talk about it because you’re too closed off. You need to open yourself up to love,” Mom says, wagging a finger at me.
“I’m not closed off. I’m very open,” I lie. Glancing at the time, I cringe. “I have to go now. I love you guys. I will call you soon.”
“We love you too, Pita,” Dad says.
“I need grandbabies!” is the last thing I hear before I hang up the call with an exasperated huff.
After quickly checking my hair and makeup in my mirror, I head to the cargo hangar. I want to get there early and hopefully find either L’Corte or the Bride Liaison Rosie before it starts.
Chapter 5
L’Corte
Sitting at the main conference table, I look around at command council as they listen to the Ostium Princess Ameela, the daughter of our people’s enemy. Her face fills the screen on the wall.
“The Hisk arrived last night, which means we will be heading to Osti in just over a week. We are as prepared as possible. How is your part in the plan coming along?” Chancellor L’Forn asks the princess.
“It’s good. I’ve already noticed some small changes within Queen Diamalla’s council, so I am hopeful. I also have several people in position ready to broadcast the proof of my mother’s actions across all of Osti. I’m still working on getting access codes to the security grid around the planet,” the princess states, staring at L’Forn with her strange silver eyes. Without pupils or irises, they remind me of two shimmering coins.
“Don’t risk alerting the queen to our plans. If you can get access, that would be helpful, but our ships can handle getting through the security net if need be,” L’Forn tells her.
The chancellor doesn’t tell Princess Ameela that our cloaking technology renders our ships invisible and undetectable to any scanners, including Osti’s planetary security grid. Better to keep our technology a secret, just in case the princess turns out to be as treacherous as her mother. None of us on the council think it is the case, but it pays to hold information in reserve.
“I will take all the precautions as necessary, though getting the queen off the throne is the only thing that matters,” the princess says with determination.
“Agreed.”
“How is the prisoner Vorto doing? Has his mental or physical state changed since you took away the pheromone ampoule?” Ameela asks.
I shudder when I think of the crazed Ostium prisoner we have in the bowels of our ship. When General D’Annon attempted to return bride volunteer Sara to her home on Earth, they were both kidnapped by a coalition of anti-Cerastean humans who call themselves Earth First. To everyone’s shock, the terrorist group was being led by an Ostium spy planted on Earth by Queen Diamalla to thwart Cerasteans’ attempt to integrate into human society.
We have since found out that a pheromone the queen emits causes the males of the Ostium species to become mindlessly devoted to her. The Ostium spy had a vial of the queen’s Regina pheromone on his person. It kept him under her control and carrying out her commands from afar. When we took the ampoule away from Vorto, he became a screeching, mindless animal. He appears to be going through terrible withdrawal. We can barely get him to eat or drink, and aside from occasionally screaming in agony and rage, he will not talk to anyone. We’ve been slipping a pheromone-repressor Princess Ameela provided us called Reprimo into his food and water. It seems to alleviate the worst of the withdrawal symptoms. Hopefully, it will help his deteriorating mental state as well.
“He appears to be making slow progress. He refuses to talk, so we have not been able to find out any more information about his orders or if he has any additional intelligence regarding your father,” Chancellor L’Forn says.
When Vorto kidnapped General D’Annon and Sara, believing they would soon be dead, he informed them that an Ostium named Sator invented reshen. Reshen was the poison that was used to kill all my people. Vorto also said that Sator had created a scent blocker that renders our superior sense of smell null. Princess Ameela believes this mysterious inventor might be her father whose name was also Sator. She had believed her father was murdered over a decade ago by Queen Diamalla after previously escaping her clutches. According to Ameela, he had been on a mission for the queen when his ampoule of Regina was accidentally destroyed. The loss of the pheromone allowed him to finally escape the queen’s control. Sator then invented several medicines, including Reprimo, in his bid to counter the queen’s power before he was killed in a hovercraft ‘accident.’ To discover that he might still be alive and back in the queen’s clutches was a terrible shock to the princess.
“Too bad. Please keep me posted on his progress. It will let me know what to expect with the males currently under my mother’s control,” Ameela requests. “We’ve been searching for possible locations where my father could be imprisoned. The most likely spot is in the southern region of Auster because it’s rich in botanicals and resources that he would need for his work. Plus, we’ve found evidence of a military compound there not listed in public records. I will send you the coordinates of the base. Be careful, though. If that is the location where they are holding my father, who knows what chemical or biological weapons might be on-site. Odds are my mother has used her Regina pheromone to make him her slave once again. If we can save him, we need to do so. He will have vital information concerning the things he has invented. Plus, he is my father. I want him back.”
“We understand. We will do what we can.”
But Princess Ameela pressed on. “I know it is a lot to ask. If we are to believe Vorto, my father created the poison that killed everyone on your home planet. However, if it’s true, it’s not his fault; it’s my mother’s fault. You are witnessing with Vorto what the Regina pheromone does to our males. They will do anything the queen asks. I am sending one of my people to the Auster region to see if he can get us more information about the military installation there. I’m hoping to find evidence that my father is still alive and being held prisoner there.”
“Is there anything else we need to discuss?”
“I believe we have covered everything. If I discover any important intel, I will send it to Officer L’Errence,” the princess says, cutting her eyes toward the Cerastean in question. “Before I go, I wanted to say thank you. I do not believe I would be able to remove Diamalla from the throne without your help.”
“You’re welcome. We need to depose Diamalla for the good of both our peoples,” L’Forn says. “Good luck, princess.”
The princess nods her appreciation, and the screen goes dark as she ends the call.
“Can Princess Ameela be trusted?” one of the Warriors says from the far corner of the conference table.
