Craved by the Alien Alpha Read online

  Craved by the Alien Alpha

  Zocrone of the Seven Galaxies, Book 2

  By Sloane Meyers

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Similarities to actual people or events are entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Sloane Meyers. All rights reserved.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Thank You For Reading!

  More Books by Sloane Meyers

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Maisie Scotts glanced up from the spaceship’s engine at the sound of someone yelling her name.

  “Maisie! Maisie we need your help!”

  Ashariz, the Zocronian man who owned the spaceship repair shop where Maisie sometimes worked, was running toward her with a look of wild terror in his eyes. Something must be very wrong. Even if Maisie hadn’t been able to see the alarm on Ashariz’s face, the fact that he’d actually called her Maisie gave her a hint that he wasn’t in his normal good mood. Ever since Ashariz had discovered that mechanics back on Earth were often referred to as “grease monkeys,” he’d taken to calling Maisie by the term. Or, if he was in an especially cheesy mood, he’d call her “Grease Maisie.” Unfortunately, the nickname had caught on, and now Maisie’s entire crew had taken to calling her Grease Maisie. She tried not to let them see how much the name annoyed her, because the more they thought they were irritating her, the more they would tease her.

  There was no teasing now, however. Ashariz’s face had turned from deep blue to pale blue, and his eyes looked unusually wide.

  “Ash! What’s wrong?”

  “Distress call from one of the Zekkardite Rovers. Something’s wrong with the engine, and the thing is stranded halfway between here and the mines. There’s a big storm coming through that’s spawned a super-tornado and if the rover doesn’t get fixed soon, a huge load of Zekkardite might be blown away by the super-tornado!”

  Maisie frowned. “Okay. Losing a bunch of Zekkardite would be bad, but it’s not the end of the world. This planet has a lot more of it to mine.”

  Ashariz looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Are you crazy? It’s not the Zekkardite itself we’re worried about. It’s the city dome!”

  Maisie set down the wrench she’d been holding and wiped her hands on her dark blue mechanic’s coveralls. “I’m lost. How does a lost load of Zekkardite have anything to do with the city dome?”

  “Zekkardite is heavy. Really freaking heavy. But a super-tornado is strong enough to pick it up and throw it around. If enough of it gets pelted into the city dome at a high enough speed, it could severely damage the dome.” Ashariz’s eyes had grown so wide that they looked like they might pop right out of his head.

  Maisie frowned. “Oh. I guess that would be a problem.” The planet of Zocrone itself was completely inhospitable to life, so the entire Zocronian population lived inside a giant, climate-controlled glass dome. The dome was incredibly sturdy, and Maisie knew the Zocronians had the ability to lock off large sections of the city in the event that one section was damaged. A break in one section of the dome would be bad, but it wasn’t like it would be the complete end of life on Zocrone.

  Nevertheless, Ashariz was freaking out. “A problem? More like a catastrophe!”

  “Right. Of course,” Maisie said, still not convinced. “But I’m not sure panicking about it is all that helpful. Surely, this can’t be the first time a threat like this has popped up. There must be some sort of emergency response plan in place?”

  Ashariz sighed dramatically. “How are you always so calm?”

  “Dunno. I’ve faced a lot of near-death emergencies in my time. After a while it takes a lot to shock you. Besides, what good would it do to freak out? Either the emergency response plan your people have will work, or it won’t. There’s not a whole lot I can do to change that either way.” Maisie shrugged, and went to pick up her wrench again, but Ashariz wasn’t done freaking out.

  “Um, there is a lot you can do.”

  Maisie looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”

  “Like, head out to the rover and attempt to fix it so it can haul the Zekkardite in before the super-tornado gets here.”

  Maisie laughed. “Yeah, right. I’m sure that Chief Daxar really wants a flight mechanic out there to work on a rover in an emergency. A human flight mechanic, no less. I work on spaceships. Rovers aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”

  Ashariz only stared at her, until understanding finally dawned on Maisie.

  “Oh. You weren’t kidding.”

  “No, I wasn’t kidding. Chief Daxar personally requested that you go out to the rover to fix it. He said you’re the best mechanic in town.”

  Maisie felt her cheeks heating up with embarrassment the way they always did whenever someone praised her mechanical abilities. Sure, she was good at what she did. But she repaired spaceships, not rovers. And besides, she highly doubted she was the best in all of Zocrone. Surely, there was someone else here better able to take on an emergency repair when the safety of the entire city was at stake. “He can’t be serious.”

  “I am,” another male voice said, joining the conversation. Maisie looked up to see that the voice belonged to none other than Chief Daxar himself, who had just entered the repair bay with a team of Zocronian soldiers by his side.

  “Chief!” Maisie squeaked out. She cleared her throat, trying to cover over how pathetic her voice had sounded. She couldn’t help it if she got flustered anytime someone of power was in the room. One would think she’d be used to Daxar by now, since he was dating one of Maisie’s best friends, Nova Wolke. But no. Maisie still turned into a bundle of nerves any time he was around.

  If Daxar noticed how flustered she was, however, he didn’t show it. Instead, he gestured toward the soldiers. “These guys are about to take a rescue rover out to evacuate the mining crew from the damaged rover. I’d like you to go with them and see if you can fix the damaged rover so we can get it back into the city dome before the worst of the storm hits.”

  “But Chief—”

  Daxar held up a hand to stop her from protesting. “Maisie, you’re the best. I’ve seen your work. We’ve all seen your work. If anyone can fix this rover and fix it quickly, it’s you. And I’m not the only one who thinks that. Jarmuk is out on that rover, and he personally requested that you be the one sent out to fix it.”

  “Jarmuk requested me?”

  “Yes. Now come on, enough talk. Let’s get you to the rescue rover. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  Maisie hesitated only a moment longer. She still didn’t think she was the best choice for this job, but if the Chief and Jarmuk both wanted her out there, then what the hell. She did have experience fixing engines while wearing a survival suit in the middle of Zocrone’s harsh atmosphere. She’d had to fix her own crew’s spaceship that way just a few weeks ago after they crash landed outside of Zocrone’s city dome. Besides, what Ashariz had said was true. She was indeed calmer than anyone else in emergency situations. And when you’re under time pressure to fix an engine and save a planet, calmness can count for a lot.

  “Fine. I’ll do it.”

  Ashariz let out a whoop, as though he was somehow pers
onally responsible for Maisie being selected as the heroine of the day. Maisie resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she gave him a small wave and then followed the soldiers out of the room.

  “This way, Ms. Scotts,” the leader said in Universal. “That storm’s coming in fast, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

  Maisie nodded. “Please, just call me Maisie.”

  The leader nodded, but didn’t say anything further. Instead, he broke off in a run toward the western corner of Zocrone’s industrial sector, where all the military rovers were kept. Maisie followed him, thankful that she ran every day for exercise and was able to keep up reasonably well. The military rovers weren’t far, but these guys were going fast.

  Chief Daxar didn’t even try to keep up with them. Instead, he yelled after them wishing them good luck, and then took off in the other direction. Maisie figured he was heading back toward city headquarters to monitor the situation.

  Hopefully, once she got her hands on the rover’s engine, the situation would be under control. But nothing was ever guaranteed in the midst of Zocrone’s storms, and despite her resolve to be calm, Maisie couldn’t quite keep a nervous lump from forming in her throat as she climbed into the rescue rover and started donning her survival suit. Everyone viewed her as smart and talented, but if she messed up this repair, they would all know she was an imposter.

  Of course, if she messed up this repair and the city dome was damaged, there might not be anyone left on Zocrone to berate her for being an imposter. At least there was that.

  Here goes nothing. She took in a deep breath as the rescue rover entered the airlock chamber in preparation for leaving Zocrone’s city dome. Outside, the storm was already raging worse than anything Maisie had ever seen, and she’d seen some pretty bad storms. Before settling down in Zocrone, she’d worked as part of a smuggling crew, traveling across the Seven Galaxies in a cargo ship through often questionable weather. But the storms here on Zocrone were infamous, and this one looked like it might be trying to set a record, even for Zocrone.

  Still, Maisie did her best to stay calm. All she could do was her best. So far her best had always somehow been enough to get her through.

  She just hoped that lucky streak didn’t end today.

  Chapter Two

  “I see the rescue rover’s lights up ahead!”

  Jarmuk Kader looked in the direction the young Zocronian miner had just pointed, and was relieved to see that indeed, lights from two rescue rovers were just visible on the horizon.

  “Thank Jupiter. It’s about sludging time.” Jarmuk hadn’t wanted to admit to the crew of miners on board how nervous he had been, but he’d started to wonder there for a few minutes whether the rescue crews were actually coming. He knew Daxar would do everything possible to save him and the other men out here, but this storm was progressing so quickly that even the rescue rovers might not have been able to make it out of the city dome. They’d done it, though, and Jarmuk found himself breathing a little easier. “Everyone, finish putting your survival suits on.”

  The men all had on the main portions of their suits, just in case a quick exit from the damaged rover had been necessary. But they still needed to put on helmets and gloves and ensure that their oxygen tanks were connected.

  “We’re being hailed,” the young miner said, pausing in the middle of putting on his helmet to peer down at the control console in front of him, which was now blinking red with an incoming call.

  “Well, answer them, of course!” Jarmuk was losing patience. Normally, he was about as easygoing as could be, but right now he’d had about all he could take of the miner manning the console. The kid was a good driver, but horrible at making decisions. Jarmuk had tried to give him a little grace, considering the entire crew was in a life or death situation and was understandably stressed out. But, seriously, these guys needed to step up their game. It’s like they’d never practiced emergency protocol before.

  “Rover 2793 this is Military Rover Z549. We are here to rescue your crew. Please advise whether there are any injuries on board.”

  The miner at the console looked back at Jarmuk, waiting for directions on what to say. “Oh, sludge it. Move over and I’ll talk to them directly. You just concentrate on putting on your survival suit.”

  The nervous young miner gladly scurried away from the console to make room for Jarmuk. A massive gust of wind shook the rover just as Jarmuk sat down, and Jarmuk glanced uneasily at the section of the console that reported back information about the Zekkardite load on the rover’s trailer. Thankfully, no Zekkardite had been blown off in that last gust.

  But Jarmuk knew it was only a matter of time. Daxar was going to have to order emergency evacuation to the very center of the city dome in an attempt to keep the Zocronian people from losing their lives if the outside dome was damaged by flying Zekkardite.

  Not if. When. With a storm like the one coming, there’s no way that stuff isn’t gonna be flying around soon. And when it starts flying, there’s bound to be damage to the city dome. When the problem with the rover first became evident, Jarmuk had asked for a tow. But the tow trucks could not run in this kind of weather. Now, Jarmuk was just glad that his mining crew was getting out of this damaged rover and into the city dome before the worst of the storm hit. At least inside the city, they would have a chance.

  “Military Rover, this is Rover 2793. Jarmuk Kader here. We have twenty men on board, no injuries. I’ve got them all in survival suits, ready for a quick exit.”

  “Jarmuk, good to hear your voice. We’re opening our back airlock right now, as is our sister rover. We can cycle four men through each airlock at a time, so we should be able to get everyone into the rescue rovers in a few cycles. Go ahead and send your men out as quickly as you can.”

  “Will do. Our airlock holds ten men so we can cycle out in two passes. The first group is heading out now. And thank you. I’m glad to see you boys out here.”

  “Happy to help. Just following orders, as usual. Be advised, we have a mechanic on board who is going to attempt to fix the damaged rover and drive it back. She won’t be needing access to your airlock right away, though. She’s assured us that she can get started on repairs right away if you just release the safety lock on your rover’s engine cover.

  Jarmuk’s eyes widened in surprise. “Dax sent Maisie?”

  “Yes, Maisie. That’s who you requested, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yeah. But I requested her like an hour ago. I would have thought it was too late to worry about attempting repairs at this point. This storm is out of control.”

  “Apparently not. She’s here, and she’s going to make an attempt to fix the rover. If she’s successful in time to get safely back to the city, she’ll drive it back.”

  Jarmuk could hardly believe what he was hearing. The storm’s winds were gusting horribly. One more huge gust and Maisie could be blown away. How she thought she was actually going to work on the engine in such conditions was beyond him. He frowned. “And if she’s not successful?”

  “She’ll do her best to weather the storm inside the rover.”

  “That’d be suicide!”

  There was a slight pause, and Jarmuk could almost imagine the military guys rolling their eyes at him before they answered. “Those were Chief Daxar’s orders, and she accepted the mission on her own free will.”

  “There’s no way Dax realized how bad it was out here. He wouldn’t have sent her into this. You have to tell her to come back with us.”

  Another pause, longer this time. “We’ll contact Chief Daxar and see what he says. Please stand by.”

  Jarmuk scowled down at the console. No one could be expected to work in conditions like this. Daxar should have realized how quickly everything was going downhill and told Maisie to stay put inside the dome. Now she’d come all the way out here on the rescue rover for no reason.

  The first group of miners cycled out into Zocrone’s atmosphere. Jarmuk could see them shuffling through the storm toward
the rescue rovers, their arms all interlocked at the elbows so that they stuck together and had more leverage against the storm. The wind was steadily picking up, making walking difficult even for grown men. One dangerous gust could send the whole group of them scattering across the planet’s surface.

  The second group of miners began to enter the damaged rover’s airlock, preparing for their exit out onto the planet’s surface. One of them called to Jarmuk, but he held up one finger, telling them to wait.

  “Military Rover Z549, what’s the status of the repair mission?”

  Jarmuk expected them to say the repair mission had been aborted, but in the next moment he saw the shadow of a lone female figure approaching through the dark, swirling cloud of red dust that the storm had stirred up. He cursed under his breath. It wasn’t possible that Dax was actually sending her out here, was it?

  “Rover 2793, be advised that the repair mission will continue. Please release the safety lock on your rover’s engine cover.”

  “You guys have got to be kidding me!” Jarmuk gave up trying to speak in any kind of formal, military tone. Time was running out, and he didn’t have patience for that bullshit right now. “Did Dax actually approve this? That girl is gonna get blown away.”

  “Chief Daxar left it up to Maisie’s discretion whether she wanted to continue on with the repairs or not. She chose to continue.”

  Jarmuk cursed Daxar under his breath. The Chief had probably assumed that the human, like any sane individual, would have taken one look at the storm and realized that attempting a repair right now would be impossible. But if Jarmuk had learned anything about humans in the last few weeks, it was that they frequently did not act like sane individuals. Which left him only one choice in this situation: not to act sane himself.

  “Understood,” Jarmuk said in a weary voice as he reached to release the engine’s safety lock. “Please be advised, I will be staying with Maisie to assist her. The rest of my crew is about to exit the damaged rover and enter the rescue rovers.”