Alien Rescue

By Ashley West

Due to the circumstances of his life, Kitto is a criminal. He's a thief, a liar, and now a kin killer, which is the worst crime that can be committed by his people. As punishment, he's exiled and sent to Earth, stripped of his clan affiliations and told never to show his face again. After his shuttle crashes, he's found in the snow, hurt, half frozen, and confused and taken in by Aidan, a kind hearted young woman with a legendary soft spot for strays and the inability to leave him there to die. 

Kitto tells her his story, and she thinks he's just delusional or hurt worse than she'd assumed until creatures with horns show up and demand that Kitto give back a priceless jewel stolen from another planet. The only problem is that, unlike the other things he's been accused of, he didn't steal this jewel. That and the fact that the creatures kidnap Aidan with no intent to give her back until the jewel is returned. Can Kitto find out who took the jewel to get it back in time to save the woman who saved him and who he has come to care for? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Monster Media LLC
• Release date: Mar 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781540118967

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Alien Rescue

by Ashley West

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Chapter 1: The Judgment

The Ish’lin people were usually a calm, collected bunch, choosing to tend to their farms and make their technology in peace. That is unless of course, there was some scandal or drama happening. Then they would put aside their placid demeanors and start baying for blood. It was a much welcomed change in their usually mundane lives. That being said, they treated whatever was happening like a spectator sport, sitting around the Center and leaning forward eagerly, probably only seconds away from bursting into either cheers or jeers depending on what the situation was.

In this case, the spectacle was Kitto Corovolo, and he was on trial.

Trials were always something to behold for the Ish’lin, and it was for this reason that they were always held at the Center. It was, as the name suggested, in the center of their quadrant, an arena of sorts with stands all around it in a bowl shape, allowing sound to travel and the people who were spectating to see everything that was going on.

Kitto supposed that the set up was also supposed to be some sort of intimidation technique for the accused; because sitting there with all those eyes on them would drive anyone to confess their crimes, but he was doing a very good job of keeping his head down.

The laws of their people were older than the people themselves, really, and people hardly ever broke them, not because the punishments for doing so were harsh (because they really weren’t that bad compared to some of the punishments other clans had for lesser offenses), but because they just thought themselves above such things.

Punishments were for criminals, and no one wanted to be thought of by their own people as a criminal, especially since most of the punishments involved some form of public humiliation meant to keep people in line.

For stealing, there was usually some form of community service and maybe a whipping or two in the public Center. For avoiding your taxes, there would be some seizure of property and probably also a whipping. For hurting a fellow member of the clan, there would be a whipping and you had to give something to the family of whoever you hurt. It went on like that down a lengthy list of laws that shouldn’t be broken.

For killing a member of the clan…

Well.

That was one of the more unheard of crimes, and in the last hundred years, it had never been a problem. Until now, which was one of the reasons why this particular crowd was so rowdy.

The trial hadn’t even started yet, and already people were stomping their feet and clapping their hands, eager to see how things would proceed.

The leader of their clan climbed up onto the podium that had been set aside for him in the middle of the bowl shaped Center, and he cleared his throat, the amplification device that was built in making sure that everyone could hear him.

He was an old man now, hunched with his age, hair white where it spilled out of a low ponytail, but he still commanded the respect of the people and they all fell silent. Even Kitto had to fight the urge to sit up and give him his attention as he’d been taught that he should. His green eyes pinned Kitto to the spot where he was sitting in a hard chair, the accused’s chair, directly across from the podium, and he cleared his throat again.

Kitto Corovolo, he said, voice trembling, but strong. You stand accused of a great many crimes, the least of which is evading your taxes and the worst of which is kin killing.

A gasp went up from the assembled people, and Kitto had to work hard not to roll his eyes. As the people whispered among themselves, he sighed and slumped down more in his seat, grateful that he wasn’t chained to it. There was no need, really. At this point, there wasn’t anything he could do to run away. Everyone would look for him and it would just make all of this worse than it was probably already going to be.

The leader, Shanwen, rattled off the full list of Kitto’s crimes, going from least to greatest. Kitto noticed that some of them were from when he was a child, alone and confused. Stealing cropped up the most often. Kitto found that he remembered each instance, and he slouched lower and lower as the list went on.

And finally, Shanwen wheezed, out of breath from the reading. The crime of kin killing. The death of Harshell Farafel, committed seven days ago. Do you deny these charges, Kitto Corovolo?

And what was he supposed to say to that? Was he supposed to beg for mercy or throw himself down on his hands and knees and swear he’d be good? Denying them would do nothing. He’d been caught red handed doing some of it, and the rest was easy enough to believe he’d done. Admitting it outright was honestly probably the quickest way to get this over and done with.

The thing that really annoyed him was that for the most part, no one had cared when he was doing all the other stuff. When he’d stolen a shuttle from visiting clans, no one had batted an eye. When he’d broken into Mem’s place and gotten himself good and drunk before passing out on his front step, he’d gotten a warning about public decency and then was sent on his way.

But it had always been like that. Once you crossed over into kin killing, then you weren’t really allowed the luxury of people turning a blind eye. The Ish’lin people weren’t as vast as they once were, and they took the loss of their own very seriously.

For one of them to have been deliberately killed was an atrocity that they couldn’t overlook. Kitto got that, but it was stupid that they were dragging up all the other things he’d done in the process of punishing him for this. As if it was going to make this worse.

Sighing internally, he lifted his head. No, he said. I don’t deny it.

If possible, the atmosphere in the Center shifted even more, the assembled crowd reacting with shock that he would be so bold.

None of them understood. They were his people, but he’d never really been one of them. None of them were surprised to see him sitting in the place of the accused, and none of them had any pity for him.

And that was fine. He didn’t need their pity. He didn’t want it. If they hadn’t been willing when he’d been a poor kid on the street, then he certainly didn’t need it now that he was an adult.

Let them think he was a cold and heartless killer if they wanted to. There wasn’t really much he could do about that one way or another. If he did feel bad about what had happened, then showing it one way or another wasn’t going to change the way they saw him now. He was ruined in their eyes, and his punishment would be justified no matter what it was.

The fact was that Kitto hadn’t meant to do a good number of the things he was being accused of. Yes, some of the things he had stolen had definitely been on purpose, but it wasn’t like anyone had taken him aside and given him any lessons in life. Before he’d been taken in by the orphanage where he’d been raised, he’d had to steal if he wanted to eat. He took food when he could and other things that he could sell when it was easier to do it that way. If they were going to drag up things from when he was a child, the least they could do was say why he’d been doing it.

But that was clearly too much to ask for.

All of the petty stuff aside, Kitto hadn’t meant to kill that man. He’d never wanted to add kin killer to his list of sins, punishment or not. It wasn’t like he’d woken up that morning and decided that ‘yeah, I really want to go out and kill one of my own today’. It had been an accident, but there wasn’t really a precedent for that kind of thing and saying so wouldn’t do anything to endear him to the people.

Shanwen cleared his throat again, holding up his hands to quiet the restless murmurs of the people. Kitto Corovolo, you are aware that kin killing is the greatest offense for our kind?

Kitto rolled his eyes. Yes, Leader. I’m pretty sure that point’s been hammered home by now.

There was more restless murmuring at the way he was talking to Shanwen, but Kitto was past caring about what they thought. At this point, he just wanted them to hand down his punishment so he could leave already.

You shame yourself, Shanwen said. More than you already have, I mean. Kin killing cannot be forgiven, just as your kin cannot be brought back from the dead. There is nothing that can absolve you of this stain to your honor and to our people.

He swallowed reflexively at that. They made it sound like he had gone and done the man in on purpose and wanted to ruin everyone else’s lives along with it. Part of him wanted to explain that it was an accident, if only to get Shanwen to stop saying things like that. He didn’t want to care, but there was definitely something in him that still wanted the approval of his people, stupid as that was.

Not even a good scrubbing? he asked, forcing a smirk onto his face as he looked around at the assembled crowd.

Most of them were shaking their heads in disgust at the way he was acting, and he knew that this wasn’t doing anything to help his cause, but Shanwen had