Leila wiped the perspiration off the young girl’s face. ‘Push, Megan, push,’ she instructed the young woman who was on her back with her knees up. She mustn’t be any more than twenty years old, yet here she was delivering her first baby.
Delilah wiped the forehead of the girl, who was yelling out in pain.
‘Push, Megan, push,’ said Leila, as she saw the baby’s head. The baby came with a rush and the scream of the new arrival could be heard throughout the medical bay. Leila checked the baby, drawing on her past history of midwifery, and then, after cutting the umbilical cord, wrapped the baby up and presented her back to the young mother. The girl turned her head away from the baby.
‘Take it away,’ she said, her eyes dead. No love. No warmth.
‘Megan, it is a beautiful baby girl,’ said Leila, trying to convince the poor girl.
‘It’s a monster from a monster,’ Megan retorted. Leila had half expected that this may be her reaction and she motioned to Delilah to take the baby away. She would give Megan time, like the others, in the hope she would eventually come around. This was the third baby born since they had been kidnapped onto the ship, the second girl.
‘You rest honey, we will bring her back later,’ said Leila, lightly with a hint of sadness in her voice. She turned to one of the guards at the door; a dour mercenary from the Malacca clan.
‘Can you please let Zylar know that it is a girl and that the mother is very weak and needs plenty of rest and medical attention.’ The guard scowled, lazy and not wanting to do any tasks, then he saw the determination on Leila’s face and reluctantly left the room to deliver the message. Leila had played this game before. She did what she could do to protect the twenty human women from the breeding programme that Zylar had set out for them. Zylar, after experiencing first-hand the exploits of Tyson had realised that if he could sire enough half-breeds then he could create an army of Tyson’s. A kind of master race, a clan of no equals. When Zylar was a child he loved to listen about all the battles that Earth’s chequered path had brought. It was from one of these brutal warrior civilisations that he took the name for his master race. The Sparta clan now numbered three.
While plotting his now doomed conquering of Earth, he had set the late General Chad the task of capturing young women over eighteen but under twenty-five years old for the sole purpose of breeding. The women, selected by a range of tests which were administered to them unwittingly, including tests on intelligence genes, looks and level of fertility, undertaken while they were sleeping after a strong knock out gas had been injected into their own bedrooms, came from all corners of the world. When a girl passed the fertility tests they would be “harvested” and transported to Zylar’s battleship Discovery. He had targeted a hundred women but the defeat at the Southern Quadrant Palace meant that his plan was curtailed.
Once he had recovered from his injuries he frequently selected one of the young women to be brought to his quarters. The scared women had no choice but to comply. One girl fought back, trying to stab him. She was a student from Oxford, England and quite beautiful. He brought her in front of the remaining girls and had her flogged. When her sobbing, bloody body was lying on the floor, he had commanded his troops to treat her wounds and bring her to his quarters when her wounds healed. From that point all the women did exactly what he wanted them to do. The girl with the bloody back was taken to the medical centre, where she was treated. Since that fateful day Megan had not uttered a word until now.
Leila asked the physician to administer a sleeping drug and left the medical centre with Delilah. The two had grown extremely close and Leila had pleaded with Zylar not to hurt Delilah but she didn’t need to worry, there was no interest in the girl. She was Zeinonian and therefore her worth to him was in her link with Kabel. It was Zylar’s hope that Kabel will rashly pursue him to free his step-sister.
‘He has asked for Joanna tonight,’ said Delilah. Leila groaned. Zylar had taken a distinct liking to a small number of the girls; although he bedded them all, some had more attention than others, making the last ten months a difficult situation. Joanna was South African and only nineteen and fragile. She was a petite, black, mousy brown haired girl and somehow Zylar had felt a connection. As his ardour increased, Joanna went further into herself. Leila knew she was protecting herself in the only way possible, by building up mental walls to separate the abuse.
‘Enough is enough,’ said Leila, disgust spreading through her. She had thought about trying to stab him when he was engrossed in something else, but he seemed to have a sixth sense or knew what she was going to do. There was no way to surprise him, leaving her no choice but to support the girls and help them through the nightmare.
‘What are you going to do,’ said Delilah, not liking the look on Leila’s face.
‘Give him what he wants.’
‘No, you can’t do that,’ Delilah protested. Leila, leant over and kissed Delilah lightly on the forehead.
‘Go and look after Joanna for me,’ she pleaded.
‘But…’ Delilah started saying. Leila placed a finger against the young women’s lips.
‘I am a big girl Delilah, I can deal with Zylar.’ With that she left a worried Delilah and went to her own room to change and then went through the quiet corridors to Zylar’s quarters. Outside his doors stood two Ilsid, they stepped to one side and she entered the room with a shudder, the silent soldiers gave her the creeps.
Soft music was playing and Zylar was staring out of the window at the beautiful array of constellations. He was in a good mood; it was the end of a very successful day meeting the emissary of Prince Jernli of Xonia, a repulsive reptilian like humanoid, called Yisli. When the Xonian patrol had shown up on their radar, before they could attack, Zylar had used his magics to reach out to the aliens. The picture he painted of Earth and their inhabitants had intrigued the commander and the request for an audience conveyed back to Skegus. Zylar originally planned to go to Zein, crush any resistance and take control of the planet, that decision taken away from him with the loss of the core of his troops. He needed to rebuild his army and the Xonians he had studied from the histories collated from the original Zein Inter-Galactic Expeditionary Force databanks made the Xonians the logical choice…the main issue he now faced was that he could not trust them. He would need to watch them closely.
The meeting with Yisli started badly with threats to blow his ship out of the sky. It was only when Yisli was shown the recordings of Earth and a glimpse of the kidnapped human girls, via the CCTV in their quarters that the discussions became more amicable.
Agreement was reached with the Xonians pledging to support him in building his new Ilsid army in return for the coordinates of Earth and the rights to the planet. He had no issues with this request; lose Earth in the short term but these fools didn’t realise the power of the army he was going to build and before they knew it he would conquer their empire from within…they wouldn’t know that they were helping build an army designed to defeat them… yes a very good day as he scanned the two ships flanking his ship, Discovery, left by Yisli, to guide him to the conquered planet of Skegus.
I have the beautiful Joanna tonight, he thought. So quiet and submissive, should be fun. He heard the door open and shut and turned round to meet his guest; his face registering surprise at seeing Leila.
Leila let her eyes take in the music, soft lighting and the robed commanding figure of Zylar. She was going to dishonour the memory of Tyson’s father tonight but it was a price worth paying - if she could take this monster’s mind off the breeding programme, there might be a respite for the girls. Zylar had tried to win her over constantly and wanted her to accept him without force. Well, he had won. Zylar’s face was confused. ‘Where is Joanna?’ he asked.
‘Resting,’ was the quick response.
‘I am sure she is but I asked her to be here tonight. Do I need to provide another lesson?’ he threatened.
‘No, I just thought I could make you an offer you could not refuse.’
His face still retained that confused look. He had enjoyed the last few months. Travelling more slowly than he wanted to the Capulus Novus System so as not to deplete his limited zinithium stores, he had made sure that there was plenty of fun in the long nights.
Now what was this irritating human doing to disturb his pleasure?
Seemingly in perfect timing, as if she were reading his mind, Leila undid the belt of her kimono and let it slide to the floor, exposing her naked body. Her heart in her mouth, she walked up to him as his mouth fell open and his hungry eyes took in the beautiful, womanly, hourglass figure. He took note of the swell of her breasts and the sexual sway of her hips.
‘Instead of girls, how about a real woman?’ she said seductively. She kissed him, her neck straining to reach his lips. She fought the revulsion of the touch as his cold hands touched her skin as she untied his robe and slipped it off his shoulders. He broke off the kiss.
‘Well, well, I knew you could not resist for ever.’ His arrogant tone cut her to the bone but it didn’t stop her as she kissed his face, chest and lips. His excitement rose and he lowered her onto the bed before joining her on the large round mattress. Leila let herself experience the moment, pushing her real thoughts deep inside her. He was only a man and one day she would repay him for this. For now she had to satisfy his desires to pull him into her web of deceit.