The Alien Commander's Surrogate

Episode 65

Hillary
The past few days, flying through space towards Trenzia passed in a blur. My belly continued to shock, amaze - and yes - horrify me as it grew even larger. While Lytla assured me that everything was going according to plan and the tiny Trenzian youngling inside of me wasn't nearly ready to come out and greet us in the world, I began to have some doubts about staying pregnant for weeks more.
Or rather, I had complaints. And poor Salex heard them all. The male had become devoted to my comfort, sending Ghantlan to surprise me during the day with treats, or slipping off of the bridge during the quiet part of the day to come back and rub my feet or back with his big hands.
I'm sure the fact that my libido was still wildly high, may have also had a lure to my Trenzian mate, but I liked to pretend that he was really just coming back to our nest to see me. Either way, I loved it, and the minute he was close by, my body seemed to relax.
When Salex wasn't around to distract me, I also found Kait and I drifting closer and closer together. The new girls were all wonderful, but there was something about being the first two to forge our way into this situation that bonded us in ways that we barely understood.
It helped that Adra and Salex's friendship maintained a constant in the background too. I secretly hoped that after Kait and Adra returned from finding her lost fiancee that they might choose to remain about the Losskee and help Salex and I find more of the human omega's that might be looking for their mates.
Neither Kait nor I had fancied ourselves matchmakers before now, but there was something so gratifying about being able to share happiness with others. Which brought us to today, Kait and I perched at Salex's empty desk at home while our two mates were up at the front of the ship.
"There has to be some kind of basic guidelines," Kait commented, her fingers drumming against her chair's arm. "I mean, we can't just sign people up all over the place. The Trenzian's are going to be wildy into it, but the ladies..." She grimaced, "They night need more convincing."
I shrugged, then considered her words, "Salex believes that the surrogacy program was probably taken advantage of a long time ago, changing from a mate matching program to what the leaders wanted to use it for–making more baby warriors with limited emotional connections. Maybe the Prime will allow us access. Women can either sign up to be surrogates, or they can enter into the mate matching program."
Kait nodded, her eyes shining with interest, "Great point, we really just need to add a few questions to the application and it would be perfect. If, that is, the Prime allows us access."
That made my heart skip a beat. Oren and his flock of advisors –or rather spies had all been very quiet this week. Salex wasn't concerned, simply saying that the males had probably all made landfall in Trenzia and were hard at work selling our story to the leadership there. If something was wrong, he claimed, we would know it.
No news was good news. Or so he claimed.
I sagged in the chair, rubbing my belly as the youngling inside executed a perfect somersault. "I hope he does, that would make all of this so much easier."
"Agreed. We have to believe that Oren is on our side and that he can stand up to his brothers and father."
"I can't believe we are now a part of a plant that still has a king."
Kait snorted, "I know right? And they claim to be so far advanced to us. At least we vote."
We laughed and stared down at our notes. "Okay, so the human woman, once tested to be an omega, can enter the system. They can choose surrogacy or mate marketplace. After that, they will be able to branch out their options to either an open surrogacy like we all have now, or a closed surrogacy where they live out their pregnancy days at one of the Surrogate Centers or ships."
I picked up where she left off, "And as for the mate market, they can either go all in, trust the system and move in right off the bat, or they can choose a courtship path and decide in what...a month?"
"A month to decide your whole future? That seems rushed," Kait commented.
I gave her a hard look, "Didn't you decide to drop your fiancee like two days after meeting Adra?"
She covered her mouth, cheeks growing pink, "Oh shit, I guess I did." Shrugging, she scribbled across the communicator, "One month will be plenty. It can be a trial of sorts. They believe that some omegas would have multiple matches, right? Because there are sometimes competitions for one surrogate between two Trenzian males."
"Yes, but Salex said it's only happened a few times in dozens of years. Plus, maybe some ladies will love both of them."
Kait crossed her legs, "Good luck to her, I can barely keep up with one."
I giggled, "Blessed are those with short refractory times."
"I am not writing that down. Even if it's one of this race's finest features.
We dissolved into laughter, broken only by the soft clearing of a throat. Adra stood in the doorway. "My mate, we should get home. We have plans to finalize."
Kait's throat worked and my laughter died in an instant. As she stood, my hand shaked out to grip her writs. "You're sure you want to do this. Calling Shar to you could be a risk. What if–"
"What if he calls in his contract to force me into mating him?" Her hand caressed her belly. "It won't happen. It can't, I won't let it."
"Neither will I," Adra said, his voice ringing with assurance, "We will clear this up and be back on the Losskee in time for our youngling to be born. And when he arrives, he will have two parents committed to one another and him."
I smiled, releasing Kait. "I just want you to be careful."
"I will," Kait assured me, letting Adra help her up from the chair. The way he held her, watched her with such reverence, it made my throat ache. I wanted everyone to know this kind of love and devotion.
Which meant we had to keep pushing.
"Good luck, my friend," I said, rising on my toes to curl an arm around Kait. "Don't forget to say goodbye, before you leave I mean."
"Of course," Adra said as we separated. I watched them the whole way to the door, and when it closed, leaving me alone in my quarters, I realized for the first time that this place, these people, were more of a family to me than I'd ever had before.
I was happy. And addicted to that happiness. Everything was going to plan–the baby, the ship, the negotiations with the Prime. Life was better than good. It was perfect. And as I moved towards the small kitchen nook, preparing to get myself a snack, I wondered if there was anything in the universe that could possibly change any of that.
As it turns out...
There was.