by S. E. Smith
Taro grinned, placing StarPup-in-a-box back in her hands before reaching out to cup her face and kiss her senseless. “I think we can find a way to make that work.”
You can buy Farewell Andromeda and Inherit the Stars or find out more here.
About StarDog
They had me at Pets+Space! I'd been musing on the idea of a ship mascot for a future novel with Captain Dava Jordan as one of the central characters when the opportunity arose to participate in the Pets in Space anthology. The plot soon took shape not only as a conflicted romance between a ship navigator and a spaceport vendor, but also as an origin story of how a mysterious captain and the cutest little dog/cat/weasel/mongoose in the galaxy first met.
For readers of my full-length novel, Inherit the Stars, I promise a couple of eye-opening surprises. For those not familiar with my work, I hope StarDog will be the perfect companion to introduce you to the Inherited Stars universe.
Also by Laurie A. Green
Farewell Andromeda
Inherit the Stars
About Laurie A. Green
Laurie A. Green is a three-time RWA Golden Heart® finalist, an award-winning author, and a science fiction romance enthusiast who founded the SFR Brigade community of writers, which is now nearly 900 members strong.
She confesses to being an Andromeda Galaxy groupie and would someday love to own a vacation home on Mars or Titan. She's enthused to be a part of this wonderful anthology mash-up of two of her favorite things--pets and space.
Her family includes her husband, David, four dogs, three cats and several horses, all who reside on a ranch in beautiful New Mexico. A former military budget director and reserve state trooper, she now spends her time writing, networking, researching, enjoying the Southwestern lifestyle and, naturally, stargazing and daydreaming about other worlds.
To learn more about Laurie and her books:
@SFRLaurie
Laurie-A-Green-139849829386292
www.laurieagreen.com/
Space Ranger By Lea Kirk
About Space Ranger
Graig Roble is a Senior Commander of security for the Guardian Fleet. His specialty as a weapons specialist and combat master is his world, what he was born to do - or so he thought until he finds his resolve and focus inexplicably wavering. His new position aboard the Atlantis can't even save him; if anything, it has left him questioning his own motives. He never thought that could happen until he met Simone Campbell.
Simone's focus is on her home world - Earth. She thought her life was full with her research as a botanist. After all, she always believed that helping the people of her world become self-sufficient should take all of her concentration - except it doesn't. There is one man that keeps pulling her attention, and her heart, away from her job.
Graig's gift of a puppy to keep her company does more than that, it keeps him in her dreams. How can such a simple gift bring her comfort and make her long for more? Graig and Simone are about to find out that sometimes love can blossom from the smallest, furriest ties.
One
I don’t want to die. Not here. Not lying on the hot, crumbly ground under a bush with no water and no food. But, I’m the runt, and I couldn’t keep up with Mama. She left me. My sisters and brother left me. I’m alone, scared, and wish they were still here. I miss them. Maybe they’ll come back.
No. The dark time will be here soon. They aren’t coming back. I’m so tired of fighting to live all the time. When the bright light in the sky goes away, the yippers will come. They look like dogs, but they aren’t. Mama says they’re tricksters who like to call dogs away from safety then attack them. She said they eat puppies too and I believe her. I heard their horrible, high-pitched barking once. All of us hid behind Mama, and I couldn’t stop shaking.
My body is shaking again now, like it’s cold, even though this light-time has been hot—too hot. Even panting isn’t making me cooler. My mouth is as dry as the dirt and sharp pains poke my belly. The little black buzzing things keep landing on me too. Do they know I’m dying?
Crunch. Crunch.
What is that sound? It sounds like the footsteps of something big. I tip my ear up to hear better. No, not one thing…two? They make more noise than yippers. Don’t they care who hears them? Aren’t they afraid of being eaten? I hope they don’t eat me.
A pair of feet stop next to my bush. “This would be a good place.”
A two-legger, not a yipper. I saw some of them once. They were far away from us. Mama stayed away from them. I wish I knew why. This two-legger’s voice isn’t scary. It’s soft, and so pretty.
“Indeed.” The other voice is lower, rumbly. Are they trying to find me? I wish I understood what they are saying. “Only a minor amount of leveling will be required.”
“This is so exciting, Graig,” Pretty Voice is talking again. “It’ll be more than my first green house. It’s the first step to help my people become self-sustaining.”
“Matir will provide what your people need for however long it takes, Simone.”
Pretty Voice moves away, gravelly dirt crunching under the heavy coverings around its feet. “I know, but to raise our own food and not have to be dependent on your people…it’s important, you know.”
Sharp pain claws at the inside of my belly. I can’t make a sound or they will hear me. A soft whimper warbles in my throat anyway. Do they hear me? I hope not. I don’t know what they will do if they find me. My heart beats so hard my whole body shakes harder than before. One of them lies on the ground and peeks under the bush. His eyes are light and his face blue. He has seen me for sure.
“Graig?” Pretty Voice stepped closer. “What are you doing?”
Rumbly Voice’s mouth pulls up at the corners and he bares his teeth, but doesn’t growl. If he is about to eat me, shouldn’t he be growling, or drooling? “Hello, little one.”
He sounds friendly but it could be a trick. Not that it matters. I can’t stop him from doing anything, he’s too big and I’m just a little puppy. His paw reaches toward me then stops by my nose. He smells like…food. Not a lot, but it’s there. Maybe something he held in his paws a while ago. My mouth is suddenly wet and my belly hurts again. Maybe he’ll give me some food.
Pretty Voice gets down on the ground and looks at me too. Her face and eyes are darker than Rumbly Voice. “A puppy! She’s adorable, Graig. She looks just like my next door neighbor’s dog when I was growing up. Even the ridge on her back looks the same. We can’t leave her here. The coyotes will kill her.”
She bares her teeth too. Why do they do this? Their voices don’t sound like they want to eat me. Maybe they will help me?
“It’s terrified,” Rumbly Voice says. “I’m going to try to get it out without it biting me.”
“It’s a girl, and she’s not going to bite you, are you baby?” Whatever Pretty Voice said sounded so nice my tail moved. “There, you see? She wagged her tail.”
Rumbly Voice’s paw grasps my scruff and lifts me the way Mama does. Suddenly, I am hanging in the air, even with his eyes. His other paw cups my tail end as he looks at me. “There we are. And you are a girl.”
“Her fur is as red as your hair,” Pretty Voice says.
Rumbly Voice grunts. “She will make a good protector for you.”
“Just what I need, another bossy body-guard.”
Rumbly Voice turns me one way, then the other. “What are these bugs attached to her.” I wish I understood his words. He sounds worried.
“Ticks. They suck blood and carry disease.”
“I will carry her then.” He holds me against him, his paw petting my head. I like it here, and I don’t think they’re going to eat me. “Dante can heal her.”
“Dante’s not a vet, and I can carry her.”
Rumbly Voice bares his teeth again. What does that mean? Is he angry? He doesn’t sound angry, but I don’t know anything about two-leggers. “He can handle it. She is meant for you, though. Here.”
“Oh, come to Mommy,” Pretty Voice says taking me and
holding me against her the way Rumbly Voice had. “Hello, baby. Mommy has you now, and I’m going to take the best care of you.”
“What are you going to name her, Simone?”
“I think I’ll call her, Ranger.”
Two
Graig propped his arms against the single section of split-rail fence on the hillside, his hands clasped and shoulders hunched. The moment he’d dreaded since the Fleet Admiralty had announced the dismantling of the Guardian Fleet and the creation of the Matiran and Terrian Unified Fleet was almost here.
He would miss this place, this small valley homestead where he and Simone had lived for the past month. Even after the Anferthians’ hasty retreat, the repercussions of their invasion and whole-scale massacre of the Terrians continued to ripple through the affected worlds. Change was necessary to promote healing.
His gaze was riveted on the three buildings occupying a small portion of the valley floor at the base of the hill. A sense of pride filled him at how quickly the Matiran government had responded in the aftermath of the devastating Anferthian invasion by gifting modular housing cubes to the approximately two million plus destitute and homeless Earthlings—or Terrians in his language. The one closest to the hill was small, just large enough for him and Simone, but it held so many more memories than he’d have thought could fit into a short Terrian month. A larger cube sat nearly a hundred forty metras—or, as Simone liked to say, one and a half football fields—away and would serve as an education and training facility for Simone to impart her knowledge of botany to the next generation of botanists, farmers, and so on. Mother above, that woman was passionate about her work, and didn’t that just make this day even harder?
The barn behind the living cube housed Simone’s horse, Buck, and another horse on loan to him from the stable in town. The puppy they’d found under the manzanita bush two weeks ago would also sleep there, eventually. Ranger was already bonding with Simone, and that bond would soon bring out a protective instinct in the pup, as long as Simone didn’t spoil her by allowing her to sleep inside the cube all the time. Which seemed likely. He gave his head a shake. Still, Simone would be safe enough here, alone. By all the hells, she’d better remember everything he’d taught her about staying safe and defending herself.
“Is something wrong, Graig?” Simone walked up the incline toward him, Ranger snuggled in her arms. Her eyes shone with concern and that compassionate spirit which had drawn him to her in the first place. But, there was uncertainty in her body language, a sure sign she sensed something was off.
She nuzzled the pup’s head. Two weeks of healthy eating and nonstop love had transformed the furry, half-dead rag into a bright-eyed, tongue-licking bundle of curiosity. And she brought Simone happiness, more happiness than he could give her.
He took in her petite frame as she approached, the full curves of her hips swaying from side to side below her narrow waist. The hot afternoon sun shimmered off her close-cropped cap of tight black curls. Soft and springy, that’s how those curls felt each time he had cradled her head in his hands, and her warm brown skin like silk as his fingertips had glided over her shoulders and down her back. Even now the feminine essence of her unique scent challenged him to follow through on what he knew must be done.
Touching her now would be his undoing. He set his jaw. It was, as Terrians often said, now or never. “I’m going back, Simone.”
Confusion, followed almost immediately by comprehension flashed in her deep brown eyes. He didn’t need to explain that back meant back to the Atlantis, and space. She was an intelligent woman, and any misunderstandings between them had been because he’d failed to communicate clearly.
Sadness clouded her face. “You have to go where your heart calls you. My heart calls me to stay and help my people rebuild.”
She’d made that clear from the beginning and he respected her choice, then and now. Her people needed the expertise of specialists like her in order to recover from the blow they’d received at the hands of the Anferthians. But he was a Guardian, and a damn good one. Since childhood, this was what he’d wanted to do with his life, what he had trained for, his dream fulfilled.
A dream that had gone sour when a fellow Matiran allied with the Anferthian Arruch, the political party currently in power on Anferthia. Only a fraction of Simone’s people had survived that massacre. A stalwart fraction that had united with the remaining Guardians and taken back their planet. Meeting Simone in those early and desperate days following the attack had been balm to his raging soul. He thanked the Mother daily for allowing him to be there for her when she had needed him the most too.
Now this beautiful and determined woman was a respected pillar of her new, recovering community. She had her job, and he had his. Both their roles were necessary if Terr was to become a self-sufficient and self-sustaining planet again. And he’d never try to take this healing work away from her.
He stepped around the fence rail, stopping a few feet from her. The look in her eyes was resolute as she gazed up at him. Like tempered Talliese pure-steel, her will was unbendable, and he would miss that strength. If he took the time, he could make up a pages-long list of all the other qualities he would miss about her too, but that exercise made no practical sense since his destiny lay elsewhere.
Simone blinked, then seemed to shake off all traces of her previous vulnerability. The urge to take her into his arms consumed him, but that would be a mistake. It was best to finish this quickly, for both their sakes. “The next transport to the Atlantis will be leaving from the port tarmac in New Damon Beach soon.”
“Then you better get back to town so you don’t miss it,” she replied in a cool voice. Already she seemed to be putting distance between them. A normal defense mechanism.
His hand twitched as though it wanted to shun the logic of his mind and touch her one last time. Foolishness, pure and simple. There was only one thing left to say before he took his borrowed horse and rode back to town, and his future. “Take care of yourself, dele.” Darling.
Less than two minutes later he was guiding the horse up the trail toward town and his future. The faint sound of a puppy whimper reached his ear just as he crested the hilltop.
Graig stepped out of the New Damon Beach community stable, his gear bag slung over one shoulder. The bright Terrian sunshine warmed his blue skin, but did nothing to ease the film of ice coating his heart. He rubbed his hand over his chest, but the action failed to ease the discomfort. Leaving Simone had been more difficult than he’d expected.
He set out in the direction of the port tarmac and Atlantis’s transport ship which would return him to his assignment as the senior security commander of the Guardian Fleet. This was his calling, his duty, no matter his personal feelings for Simone. Gryf needed his help to complete the fleet transition within the one Galactic Standard year allotted. And his duty was to stand by his commanding officer and childhood friend until the job was done and they were reassigned.
Alex needed him too, though she’d deny it. Sweet Mother above, who knew what kind of trouble his best friend’s wife could attract. As the first ever Terrian Ambassador to Matir, the list was long. He’d already saved her life from one assassination attempt, and all the heavens knew there were others in the galaxy that would benefit from the death of the Profeta. The peace she and Gryf had so recently established between Terr, Matir, and Anferthia was as fragile as spun glass.
The air cooled slightly as he ducked under the belly of the waiting shuttle. If the Holy Mother was merciful, he’d be able to slip into the craft before Gryf and Alex arrived. Simone and Alex were close, too close to even entertain the illusion that Alex remained ignorant of what had transpired. Since he was here and Simone was not, the very perceptive Profeta would figure it out in any case.
“Hello, Graig.”
He froze. Apparently the Holy Mother was not feeling very merciful today. He turned, his gaze locking with that of the Terrian woman he called sora, ‘sister’. Hurt and accusation flitted i
n Alex’s brown and gold eyes. Wonderful. As if he wasn’t feeling like a big enough piece of shit already.
“Hello, sora.”
A very unambassador-like snort came out of her. “You are such a dumbass, Roble.”
Not that he’d asked for her opinion. Simone might be her best friend, but that didn’t give her the right to meddle. Of course, only a dumbass would have walked away from a woman like Simone Campbell.
He squashed the little contradictory voice in his head. “If I decide I need someone to run my personal life, Bock, you will be the first person I’ll consider for the post.”
Her eyes narrowed, but he gave his attention and a sharp salute to the Matiran man standing next to her. “Senior Security Commander Roble reporting for duty, sir.”
His words hung in the hot autumn air as he waited for acknowledgement from the Senior Captain of the fleet. Gryf’s brilliant blue eyes seemed to study him, then he returned his salute. “Welcome aboard, Senior Commander. Stow your gear, our transport departs in ten minutes.”
“Yes, sir.” He turned away from two of the people he loved most in the universe and stalked toward the transport ship.
A girlish shriek came from the open hatch of the shuttle followed by the clanging of three sets of feet running down the ramp toward him. “Uncle Graig! Uncle Graig!”
Four-year-old Maggie launched herself off the side of the ramp and he dropped his gear bag just in time to catch her. Mother have mercy, the child either had no fear or no sense. At least the older two had kept their feet on the ground until the end of the ramp. Juan and Flora plowed into his legs a half a breath later. Gryf and Alex’s adopted Terrian children, orphans of the invasion. Three bright spots of joy in his otherwise not so great day. He managed to hang onto Maggie with one arm and give the other two children an awkward hug with the other.
