by Annie Bellet
Silent felt along her ribs and looked over at Captain. “Four cracked. She’ll live.”
Relief drained some of the adrenaline from Captain’s body and the sudden reminder of the bleeding wounds in his back and scalp took him back down to his knees. “Anyone got wound salt left?” he asked, trying to sound casual and calm.
“Fuck, sorry,” Screech said, pulling out his packet.
The salts stung almost as badly as the razor tentacles but then the numbing agents kicked in and Captain sagged a little before remembering that wasn’t very leaderly of him.
“You all right, Captain?” Beauty asked.
“I hate this planet,” he said.
“Moon,” the three of them said in chorus. Their loopy grins echoed his own, though he hoped he didn’t look quite as filthy. Hells, he probably looked worse.
“You had a plaz gun the whole time?” Beauty asked Silent. “Why the hell didn’t you use it on that damn flower thing?”
“No clear shot,” Silent said with a shrug.
“Why the hell did you bring a gun?” Captain said, remembering the mission parameters and that he was probably supposed to be mad about the rules breaking.
“Oops,” Silent said with a look on his bearded face that was wholly unapologetic.
Rhino woke up a few minutes later and insisted on walking the rest of the way, though she leaned heavily on Screech. She, too, just grinned and shrugged when Captain pointed out that bringing one of her stilettos was against mission protocol. The progress was slow as they moved carefully in a staggered line, testing the ground for more tunnels and picking chunks and strings of putrid fishy flesh off their slicksuits.
The beacon was a silvery box about ten feet tall that glinted in the twilight as they crested a final hill. In the sky to Captain’s left, the blue gas giant was rising, painting a deep shadow across the horizon and giving the pale grasses a ghostly glow. He opened the control panel on the beacon and flipped the switch that would call for extraction. The suns hadn’t set, so technically the mission was a success.
He sank down into a cross-legged position, keeping his wounded back as still as possible. They weren’t a bad crew, his scrubs. Captain smiled to himself and started forming his mission report in his mind.
To one side, Silent stood alert, watching the grass around him with his reloaded plaz gun in hand. Beauty sat nearby, the comb tool on his multi-tool out, trying to bring some order to what was left of his hair. A short ways off, Rhino lay on her back watching Screech as he peeled open his slicksuit and bent to examine his thighs with a flashlight, still convinced he had leeches.
“Want a magnifier so you can find your dick while you’re down there?” Rhino offered.
“Only ifth you fthucking fthucks wanna thelp me look,” Screech mouthed around the flashlight held in his teeth.
All right. So maybe Captain would leave a thing or five out of that report. He raised his gaze to the sky as the subsonic boom of the descending transport drew his attention. Time to go to the home ship and see a sergeant about helping him wash up. There were worse punishments.
He didn’t think he’d tell Commander Tilly that, however. Some lessons even he could learn. Eventually.
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Also by Annie Bellet:
The Gryphonpike Chronicles:
Witch Hunt
Twice Drowned Dragon
A Stone’s Throw
Dead of Knight
The Barrows: Omnibus Volume One
The Twenty-Sided Sorceress series:
Justice Calling
Murder of Crows
Pack of Lies
Chwedl Duology:
A Heart in Sun and Shadow
The Raven King
Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division Series:
Avarice
Short Story Collections:
The Spacer’s Blade and Other Stories
River Daughter and Other Stories
Deep Black Beyond
Till Human Voices Wake Us
By Spell and Sword
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About the Author:
Annie Bellet lives and writes in the Pacific NW. She is the author of multiple science fiction and fantasy series and her short stories have appeared on over two dozen magazines, anthologies, and collections. Follow her on her website at “anniebellet.com”
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