His Fallen Star

by Lily Thomas

  “Well, you let me know.” He ambled off the bridge.

  The moment the door closed behind him, Sophia turned and addressed them all. “We should give them a task. I think they’re growing bored, and I’d hate to see Liam when he has nothing to do but harass us.”

  “They’re meant to be our protection, but they’re more of an annoyance,” Emma muttered in agreement. “I can’t get anything done with him hovering over us all the time. He’s creepy. I keep wondering when I’ll wake to see him standing over me with a gun pressed to my head.”

  Olivia agreed that he was creepy and his misogynistic words were driving her insane. “I’ll see what I can do. For now, do your best to ignore them, and if anyone has any idea of what tasks to give them, let me know.”

  “How about cleaning the inside of the waste disposal unit?”

  All the women on the bridge laughed and nodded as they got back to their work, studying the planet below.

  Liam and his men were going to be a problem. Olivia could just feel it in her bones. If only she could get them replaced with a different group of soldiers, but they were too far out there. None of her superiors would okay a transfer when it took so long to get out here, a month at least, assuming they could get a fast ship for the journey.

  For now, they would have to learn to get along with Liam and his men.

  Chapter 2

  Olivia bolted upright in her bed clutching her covers to her chest. Something had woken her. She glanced around the dark room, but everything appeared normal. After a few minutes of nothing, she let her head fall back onto the soft pillow.

  “It was probably a nightmare.” She groaned to herself, as she dug her face back into her soft pillow. All she wanted was a good night’s sleep, and it seemed like it might be impossible.

  Right as she closed her eyes, the station shuddered, and she was thrown from her bed only to land in a heap on the floor. The sound of metal groaning pierced the air and sent shivers of fear running through her.

  “What the hell?”

  A loud metal noise shrieked through the whole station, and Olivia covered her ears with her hands. Something was not right on the station.

  She dashed over to her clothing, threw them on, and then ran from her room. Every other woman came stumbling out of their cabins as the station continued to shudder around them with loud metal shrieks of protest.

  “What’s going on?” A redhead asked. Her green eyes dazed with sleep as they darted around frantically. Another metal shriek went tearing through the station.

  “We need to get to the bridge!” Olivia yelled at all the women standing around in the hall. “We won’t know anything until we get up there to see what the problem is.” And hopefully, fix whatever issue the station was suffering from.

  Even as her heart raced away, Olivia forced her feet to move. Thankfully, the station wasn’t large, and she made it to the bridge in a matter of seconds.

  The station gave another shudder, and she braced herself against a console so she wouldn’t be thrown around like a ragdoll.

  “What’s going on?” She asked the moment the ship stopped shuddering.

  Sophia looked up from another console. “We have a hull breach on deck three.”

  “Someone shot at us?” Olivia was about to freak out. Who would shoot at a research vessel? There was nothing on here, except for scientists. And who would travel all the way out here in the first place?

  “No. Something from space hit us, I think. Our hull got punctured, and we are now leaking oxygen into space, and none of the fail-safes are coming online.” Sophia slammed a hand against a console. “Come on!”

  “Is there anything we can do?”

  “We’ve tried everything.” Another woman addressed her from the other side of the bridge, her hazel eyes wide.

  “Escape pods?”

  “We have them, but where do you want us to go? The only planet in this system we can survive on is X-37625, and it already has an alien population that we showed you last night.” Sophia turned her wide eyes to Olivia.

  “And the escape pods won’t keep us alive long enough for a rescue or to get us out of this system.” Olivia shook her head. Why did this have to happen to her first command?

  Olivia took a deep breath calming her racing nerves. She didn’t want to land on a primitive planet with an alien species they barely knew anything about, but they had no choice in the matter. They could stay here and die or face their chances on the alien planet’s surface.

  “Would you rather stay here and get blown into space?” Olivia didn’t allow them the chance to speak, as she rushed over to a panel and hit the communication system. “This is Olivia Peterson speaking. We need to abandon ship. Locate the escape pods and land at the coordinates pre-programmed.”

  Olivia turned to Sophia. “Pick a spot that looks good and download it to all the escape pods, and then get down there to the pods.”

  Olivia raced back through the corridors until she reached the hallway of escape pods. There were already four men standing there armed to the teeth with plasma rifles. She’d forgotten about the soldiers that had been assigned to the vessel. Liam and his men.

  “Are you the one who spoke over the intercom?” Liam asked as he stepped towards her, the red scar running down his face standing out in stark contrast against his face.

  “Yes.” She straightened her shoulders. She was sure he’d take offense that she had just taken charge of the escape pods without consulting him, but there wasn’t any time for him to get hurt feelings. The ship was slowly losing control, and soon there wouldn’t be any oxygen left to breathe.

  “We have yet to determine if we actually need to abandon the station,” Liam informed her.

  “Well, while you figure it out,” she pointed a finger at him, “I’m leaving and anyone who wants to go, may leave the ship.” She stared him down.

  The ship shuddered around them and groaned as if in pain.

  One of his eyes twitched in visible irritation, but then he directed incoming women into the waiting escape pods as the space station continued to groan in pain around them.

  Once all the other women had been launched, Olivia stepped into her own escape pod. The door latched shut behind her, and a green button flashed in front of her face. Sucking in another calming breath, she slammed a palm down on the ever-blinking button and ejected it into space.

  She punched in the programmed coordinates and then stared out the small window. Several escape pods entered the atmosphere before her, and she watched them light up in yellows, oranges, and reds in a brilliant display against the backdrop of the planet below them.

  Then her escape pod punched through the atmosphere, and she watched the flames right outside her window as it ate up the stars outside. She held her breath. She wasn’t usually negative, but she kept praying her escape pod wouldn’t break into pieces or that its thrusters wouldn’t fail and she’d slam into the planet’s surface at full speed. These things were built to last through anything, but it didn’t mean accidents couldn’t happen.

  Then a thought smacked her straight in the face. Had anyone activated a distress signal before leaving the station? The escape pods had distress signals, but they wouldn’t be strong enough to go past the edge of this solar system. The space station was the only one with a distress signal strong enough that could actually reach past the solar system.

  Punching in a few keys on her console, she picked up the distress signal coming from the research station. Relief poured through her as she fell back against her seat. Good! It might be a while before a rescue team came for them, but at least they were putting out a distress signal. It was better than nothing.

  Olivia relaxed against her seat, as her pod shook and rattled around her. It only took a few moments before it broke through the atmosphere, and then she was punched against her seat as the thrusters flared on and slowed down the shuttle.

  Her heart flew into her throat as her hands clutched the sides of her seat. She
never thought she’d be using an escape pod, but here she was inside the escape pod as it soared through the air.

  Once she landed firmly on the ground, she flung the pod door open and watched as the last of the pods landed in the same clearing.

  Olivia grabbed her emergency backpack and set out to meet with all the others thankful to be out of the claustrophobic pod. It was time for them to get settled in and wait for a rescue. As the women filed out of their escape pods, Olivia gathered them into a group.

  “Don’t forget your emergency backpacks!” She announced as loudly as she could. They’d need those if they wanted to last on X-37625 while waiting for a rescue.

  She gave a head count of the women. There should be twelve, including herself, but there were only ten. Two of the pods were missing! She gave another count of the women and came up with the same number.

  One of the women spoke up, “Where’s Emma and Harper?” Her voice squeaked a little at the end.

  “Did their pods get destroyed on entry?” Another woman asked as she looked up at the sky above them. All the other women gasped as they glanced up at the sky.

  Olivia was quick to respond and quell the terror that was spreading through the women. “Their pods must have gone off course. We will find them.” She reassured them. “For now, let’s gather our supplies.” She motioned over the four guards. “Did any of you happen to notice any pods go off course?”

  Liam nodded, his scar dancing over his face with the movement or perhaps it was just the sun and shadows playing games with her eyes. “A couple of pods went off course a little North East of us.”

  “Then we’ll head that way, and hopefully the women will be fine when we get there.” She didn’t need anyone dying on this planet. It was her first command, and it was getting more complicated by the minute.

  She eyed Liam for a second, waiting for him to try to take control of the group, but he didn’t.

  “It’s a plan then.” He agreed.

  Good to know he was on her side and not threatened by her taking leadership of their small group, but she was going to keep an eye on him. His eyes made her skin crawl a bit, and she knew he’d take control the moment her back was turned.

  Maybe she was overreacting, or perhaps she wasn’t but either way, she thought it was best to remain alert when it came to that man.

  “We will head out to find the other women, and we’ll try not to attract any attention from the natives. If we do attract attention, we will try to find a peaceful solution.” Olivia gave Liam a pointed glance. She didn’t need him shooting at the natives. For all they knew, the natives were peaceful. She’d rather ask questions first and shoot later if she could. They were the intruders on this planet, so she wasn’t about to go shooting everything that moved.

  “Let’s head out ladies.” Liam led the way into the surrounding rainforest.

  Two guards led the front of the group, and two followed behind.

  Sophia sidled up to Olivia. “If that guard tries to take the lead, we want you to know we will back you up.” Her sapphire eyes glared daggers at Liam’s back as he strutted through the forest.

  Olivia patted her shoulder. “I have no intention of backing down. I’m only letting him lead the group because he has the gun, but I’m not about to let him dictate rules to us. We may have only studied the planet for a week, but we know more about the people and the environment then they do.”

  Sophia smiled. “Good, because that Liam guy rubs me the wrong way with the way he refers to us ladies like we can’t do anything on our own.”

  “I’ll second that.” Scarlett agreed as she pulled up beside them.

  “I fear what kind of damage we will do to these people if they stumble upon us.” Olivia switched the subject away from Liam. Now wasn’t a time to riot against Liam. “Our technology is nothing they’ve seen before.” Olivia worried her bottom lip. “If there had been another livable planet in this system, I definitely wouldn’t have landed on X-37625.”

  “We know that, but it was the right decision.” Sophia glanced between them. “The other women might freak out knowing this, but we got out just in the nick of time.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We only had minutes left until the whole ship depressurized, and we were all blown out into space.” Sophie smiled. “I figured it was best not to announce that while we were up there.”

  Olivia grimaced. “Yikes. I don’t like even thinking about that.”

  Scarlett shrugged. “Just a factor of living in space. It could happen to any of us at any time. We just don’t think about it our day to day living.”

  “I still don’t like thinking about it, but we made it down here. Now we find the missing women, avoid the natives, and get rescued. One step at a time.” Olivia just hoped it would be as easy as saying it.

  Chapter 3

  Vlek watched as lights streaked across the blue sky in fiery glory. It was an impressive sight, but not uncommon around here. They had lights streak the sky every once in a while, but it usually happened at night, not during the day.

  And this time there were sixteen of the bright lights, which was a lot more than normal. Usually, they came in ones or twos, but he’d never seen so many at once.

  Vlek knew exactly what they were. He’d seen one up close before. It was just some sort of flying rock. Nothing special, but he continued to watch them soar through the sky anyways. It might just be rock, but he still marveled at how it flew through the sky leaving a fiery trail in its wake.

  His black hair whipped around his shoulders, as he watched over the forest below. His clan made their home on a cliff overlooking the rainforest below. It not only gave them a beautiful view but provided protection from some of the rainforests more dangerous animals and other clans.

  The shooting rocks finally landed in the forest below and disappeared.

  He felt drawn to the lights, but since he already knew it would just be more boring rocks, he ignored them.

  Vlek had too much to worry about as the leader of his people. They currently had several pregnant females in the clan. It was a time to celebrate, but it also meant they needed to go out hunting to provide for the extra mouths that were soon to come.

  They would also need to search for plants from the thick forest below to make into medicine. The females would need the medicine to help with the birthing and to staunch any persistent bleeding that might occur. Births could be unpredictable, and he was glad he was a male.

  A shiver ran through him. They’d lost a female not too long ago to childbirth, and her screams still echoed in the back of his mind.

  He held a deep respect for females. Vlek couldn’t imagine carrying a baby for eight cycles. Then they gave birth, and he’d heard the cries of pain coming out of the birthing tent. Males would go insane, as they listened to their mates cry out, but then the joy on their faces afterward was always worth the waiting and worrying.

  Maybe he was lucky he hadn’t found his mate yet. He could be one of those males panicking outside the birthing hut, and he wasn’t sure he could remain sane during those long hours of waiting.

  “What are you thinking about?” Kriiv walked up beside him and took a look over the rainforest below.

  “We need to go out hunting.”

  “I will gather the hunters then.” Kriiv left his side eager to get out of the village and do something.

  With one final look over the rainforest, he turned back to the village. It was time to get on with hunting and making sure his clan wanted for nothing.

  “We should make camp.” Olivia pulled up beside Liam.

  He glanced back at the stumbling women behind them. Dark was setting in and the one thing missing from their emergency packs had been flashlights. Whoever packed those damn things was going to get a talking to when she got off this planet.

  “We’ll get a fire started if you women would like to kick your feet up and relax.”

  Olivia bristled again. Them women? He’d better change h
is tone and quickly. The women were useful when it came to information about the planet. She’d like to see him know what to eat and what not to eat without them.

  Liam began directing his men to go out and gather wood.

  “Wait!” Everyone turned to look at Olivia their eyes wide at her sudden outburst. “Should we start a fire? A fire means smoke and light, and smoke and light means we might attract unwanted attention from the natives on the planet.”

  “Scared?” Liam taunted, while his men snickered behind him.

  Olivia glared at him. “No, I’m not scared of the natives. I just don’t want them to find us and have us interfere with the way they’re developing. Our presence could severely damage their society. We should do everything in our power to avoid them. If they find us, so be it, but we should do what we can, and that starts with not having a fire.”

  The women around her nodded in agreement. They were scientists and wrecking a developing peoples’ culture wasn’t something they wished to do if they could avoid it. In the end, it might be a useless point. It just depended on how long a rescue ship took to get to them.

  Liam’s smile faded into a straight-lipped frown. “When it gets cold, you might wish we had a fire.”

  “We’re in a rainforest-like environment.” Sophia eyed him. “The nights won’t get that cold.” She pointed to a slight shimmer of sweat on her skin. “It’s humid out here. Heck, I’m thinking of stripping off some layers.”

  Liam went on. “And the fire could keep any predators at bay.”

  Now that was something Olivia could agree with, as an image of the black panther-like animal flashed through her mind. Emma and Sophia glanced over at her. They were clearly thinking about the panther as well.

  “Fine, but try not to make it too large or noticeable.” Olivia relented. She had to pick her fights with Liam as well. So far, they weren’t butting heads too much, and she was going to do her best to keep it that way.