Booty Hunter (Harem Station 1)

“Wait,” I say. “Was Corla—”

“Yes,” ALCOR says. “She was pregnant when they separated.”

“So a child was already born?” I say. “Twenty years ago?”

“We think so,” Valor says.

“How do you know all this?” I ask him.

“Crux told us yesterday,” Luck says. “We were gonna tell you, but then you and Lyra—” He shrugs. “We figured it could wait.”

“So the Cygnians,” I say, putting yet another puzzle piece in place. “They have this child of Crux and Corla?”

“That we don’t know,” ALCOR says. “We don’t think so. They’d have had almost a decade to harvest sperm and breed new purebreds in laboratory if that was the case. If they had purebreds, believe me, we’d know about it by now. They’d have attacked us already. And I doubt Corla would leave her progeny behind in another escape attempt.”

“Crux thinks she got caught by the Cygnians after the baby was born,” Jimmy says. “That she probably left it with some trusted people somewhere.”

I just… can’t wrap my head around this yet. All this time I knew we were different. I remember what it was like to escape the Akeelian System and find ALCOR. And I always knew what we did when we left was wrong, but I never thought about it again.

Escaping and finding ALCOR was luck and why would anyone question luck?

I look at Luck. Because he’s had that nickname since I was just a little brat who used to tag along behind him. Long before we got this luck. But for some reason I always equated his name with our escape.

“Wait,” I say, another idea invading my thoughts. “So we are half-breeds too?”

“No,” ALCOR says. “The male Akeelian genetic line has been preserved. It’s only the female line that has been diluted.”

“How is that possible?”

“Do you remember our mother?” Jimmy asks.

“The harem mother,” I say. “Sure.”

“She was your caregiver,” ALCOR says. “Not your mother. You don’t have a mother.”

I knew that. Have always known that. Both of those things. But for some reason it hurts to hear it spelled out so clear.

“Before the great war when the sun, and planets, and moons of the old system were destroyed,” ALCOR says, “a few thousand Akeelians escaped on a generation ship. They took millions of genetic samples with them so they could procreate.”

“That’s us,” Jimmy says.

“Still,” ALCOR continues, “that generation ship couldn’t take samples from a pink or a silver princess. Those genetics were locked up tight. So you are only half of what your children could be. They have been trying to steal Akeelians for thousands of years. You are what they need to complete their plan. You are what they are after right now. And they are using these women to lure you back.”

He pauses for a moment.

“And they want to kill me too. Because I was the one who let that generation ship escape. I was the one who decimated their system. And I am the only thing standing between them and galactic domination. That system is a dictatorship. Nothing comes in or out without permission. Not even information. The Cygnian men are violent, repulsive creatures. There is no line they won’t cross, no measure they won’t take, no life that can’t be sacrificed for the greater good.”

“Pretty fucking crazy, isn’t it?” Valor says. “I mean, I always knew we were different. Something was wrong and pieces of me were missing and shit like that. But I’m like you, Serpint. I don’t know what to make of this shit. I like my job,” he says, looking up at the ceiling to indicate he’s talking to ALCOR. “I really do. I don’t mind scrounging around the galaxy to find components you need. But I don’t want to be in this war. Not if Harem Station goes the way of the system that used to be there.”

“I know that,” ALCOR says, his voice soft and his tone careful. “I don’t either. But they’ve started something now, Valor. The Cygnians have sent us Lyra for a reason. They let Corla escape for a reason.”

“They’re gonna come get us,” I say. “They’re gonna let Lyra and me be together long enough to make babies, and then they’re gonna come steal them or her, or me… or hell, all of us.”

“Or…” Jimmy says. “They’re just gonna take us and blow up ALCOR and everyone else on it using Lyra or Corla as the detonation device. We have no idea how they’re triggered.”

ALCOR says, “But if we can get Nyleena and maybe find that Velia girl, we could, at the very least, reverse engineer their new weapons.”

“And make babies,” Luck says. “And get that too.”

“That’s why we have to get them first,” Xyla says. Those are the first words she’s spoken since we started this conversation. “Whether they want to use Nyleena to blow us up or to set one of you up to breed with her, doesn’t matter. Their endgame is our annihilation.”