by Susan Kelley
Helen snorted. “At least he’s a handsome cuss. He didn’t impress me with intellectual chatter.”
“We were only with him for a few minutes, Helen.” Molly had noticed Mak’s good looks and he’d shown off his physical prowess against the four men earlier. Four men whose purpose remained a mystery even after vigorous interrogation. She set that worry aside. They’d be safely in space in a few hours. In a relatively small space with a legendary Recon Marine. She’d been raised around the military and had met many handsome soldiers through her father. It would take more than Mak’s pretty face and rippling muscles to make an army man appear attractive to her. “They were designed to be intelligent.”
“Intelligent by military standards or ours?” Helen asked. “Oh, well. If we run into anything like that monster in the vid, we’ll be glad to have him with us.”
Molly shivered a little. The huge man’s physical endowments hadn’t frightened her as much as the look in his eyes. Cold and emotionless, the killer eyes of a poisonous snake. “The Recon Marine in that vid didn’t do so well.”
Mak wasn’t a big man, no more than six feet tall and lean despite his muscles. He looked fit and acted with impressive fighting skill, but none of that would help him against a behemoth like in the vid. She didn’t expect to find any more of the unnatural humans out there but if they did, one man, Recon Marine notwithstanding, couldn’t protect them.
Chapter Two
Mak saw little of the civilians as they loaded their supplies. He and Pender went through preflight checks on the newest model ship sitting on the tarmac. Mak would have preferred a ship with a few more hours in its history but this specially outfitted science vessel impressed him with its luxuries.
Kory Pender sat in the copilot’s seat, competent and knowledgeable despite his youth. “Do you want me to program the destination into the navigation, sir?”
“Go ahead. Get clearance from flight command for fifteen minutes from now.”
Pender stared at Mak, his mouth hanging open but no words coming forth. Mak nearly smiled, proud that once again he understood someone’s expression. The young man wanted to say something but was afraid to question a superior officer. “Did you have something you wanted to say, Pender?”
The ensign swallowed and looked down at the controls. “Well, sir, I’ve been the pilot for the doctors and Corporal Box before. They usually tell me when we’re ready to go not the other way around.”
“Call flight command, Pender, fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, sir.” Pender smiled for some reason that eluded Mak.
Mak rose from the comfortable pilot’s seat and walked toward the back of the ship. He passed the weapon’s locker, the combined kitchen and lounging area, and the three bedrooms. The women shared one, Mak had his own and the other three men bunked in the crew quarters. The laboratory took up the rest of the upper deck and beyond it was the elevator to the lower storage deck and the propulsion room. He found the corporal and the doctors in their lab talking among themselves.
“We’re off base in just under fifteen minutes.” Mak had delivered the warning in person rather than use the ship wide audio. Civilians needed special treatment rather than rigid military handling. But he regretted his soft thoughts as he stood in the sterile confines of the science work areas. The setting reminded him of his youth when the Recon Marines underwent test after test.
“We’re not ready yet, lieutenant,” Dr. Drant said over her shoulder. “We’ll let you know when we have everything settled into place.”
“Doors close in less than thirteen minutes. Anything not on board at that time will be left behind.” Mak walked back toward the bridge. Voices rose behind him but he didn’t listen. Probably they were excited about the expedition.
Someone hurried after him. Light footsteps, one of the women. “Lieutenant, stop please.”
Mak turned and faced Dr. Drant. She wore clinging pants and a tight shirt of the same drab colors as his military attire. But she didn’t look like any soldier to him. “Yes, doctor?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Perhaps you didn’t know, but I’m the head of this mission. We work on my timetable.”
Mak copied her stance, setting his hands on his hips. He’d seen civilians stand so before. Perhaps it was an accepted posture for discourse. It certainly wasn’t used at any time in the military. “General Drant assigned me command of this ship.”
Her eyes narrowed. “This is my expedition.”
Mak recognized anger though he was certain he’d done nothing out of turn. “Yes, sir, and it departs in twelve minutes.”
“This ship leaves when I say it leaves.”
“Yes, doctor, as long as what you say coincides with my orders.”
She closed the distance between them, the look in her eyes as determined as anything Mak had ever seen in the general’s air. “We need to start off this mission as we intend to go on. I give the orders.”
“The general made his orders very clear to me, Dr. Drant. What part don’t you understand? Perhaps I can explain it to you.” Oddly, his reasonable tone lit a fire in her eyes.
The greenish color darkened to something closer to brown. She clenched her fists and her body quivered. Mak stared at her, fascinated by the color rising from the collar of her shirt and staining her cheeks. Her scent drifted to him with the rise in her body heat, something clean like sunshine on a lawn. She poked him in the chest. “I’m in charge.”
Mak didn’t believe she meant the physical contact to be aggressive though what else could it be? She had a sturdy body, but she couldn’t mean to fight him for leadership. It didn’t hurt when she jabbed him with her finger though he could do the same thing to a grown man and knock him down or crack his ribs. “Ten minutes. I suggest you complete any loading in the time you have left.”
“Are you deaf? We’re not leaving until I say so.”
The rumble of the hover engines starting up sent a soft vibration through the floor. Pender knew what he was doing.
The doctor’s bottom lip pushed out, distracting Mak for a moment. He shook off a warm feeling. This was the general’s daughter, Mak’s charge to protect. “Nine minutes, doctor.”
“Son of a bitch.” She hurried back to the lab, throwing a glare over her shoulder at him. Protests rose from her team inside.
Mak continued onto the bridge. He settled into his seat, giving Pender a nod.
“We’re cleared, sir.”
Mak used the AI device on the control panel to pull up the star charts they would pass through to their final destination, Julian, a planet in the Owen galaxy. It was mostly unexplored with no permanent bases established. That probably meant no natural resources of importance to the Galactic Ministry. The one-minute warning for takeoff pinged. “Make sure the passengers are secured onboard, Pender. Doors locked in forty-five seconds.”
It was the largest ship Mak had flown, but he had no trouble maneuvering off the deck and out the bay doors into space. He used the hover engines until they’d cleared the space station by five miles. Pender rejoined him as he fired the interstellar drive propelled by crystallized iron. The stars blurred on the viewer.
Mak enjoyed the short sensation of weightlessness before the internal gravitation control of the ship adjusted. For the first time in months a feeling of freedom washed over him. He’d missed exploring and seeing new worlds. And for the first time in his life, he had no immediate commander nearby. He was in charge.
****
“Who the hell does he think he is?” Molly threw her clothing in the narrow closet. Not that tossing them would do much damage. They were standard military garb, different shades and patterns of green, browns, and blacks to suit whatever terrain they encountered.
“Your father gave Mak his orders,” Helen said in a reasonable tone. “After that last escapade with Andy Box in charge, you shouldn’t be surprised the general would find someone you can’t boss around.”
Molly fumed as she lined up her three pairs
of all-weather boots. “No one was hurt, and Andy doesn’t blindly take orders from me. He’s a scientist first.”
Helen snorted. “That’s exactly why your father put a different military man in charge. Someone he can trust to follow his orders. He might be the general but he’s you father first. He’ll risk handcuffing us to keep you safe.”
“But this time his plans and ours are the same.” Molly straightened her shirts and pants. She really didn’t like them wrinkled. Too many years with the general in charge of her upbringing had ingrained her sense of order.
“I’m not so sure. There could be entire research labs out there that operated for years. Think what we could learn from the work they must have done to produce that giant they called Nemon.”
“What kind of scientist could do something like that to a person? Dig around in their brain and cut out everything that makes them human?” Molly silently considered the perpetrators to be truly evil.
“Is it that much different from shuffling around their genes like was done to create that Recon Marine driving this ship? At least Nemon was born somewhat normal. Mak is different from humans on a subcellular level.”
Molly had debated this with Helen before and didn’t feel like doing so now with Mak only steps away. She finished unpacking and then took out her AI device to study the few known facts about Julian.
The journey took three days during which Molly avoided encounters with Mak. Her anger simmered as she imagined how much he would interfere with their usual operating procedures. Andy Box had worked with her on numerous expeditions when the military had an interest. He’d never tried to usurp her authority unlike Mak’s stubborn position.
Mak stayed on the bridge at mealtimes, allowing Kory Pender to join them. It was the young soldier’s third mission as their pilot.
“How are you getting along with the lieutenant, Pender?” Corporal Box asked on the morning of the day they expected to arrive on Julian.
“Just fine, sir.” Kory had proven reluctant to discuss Mak when questioned during the last few days. “He knows his way around the flight controls.”
“I’m sure,” Andy said. “I hope he doesn’t try to take charge once we’re on planet. I expect you to follow my orders, Pender, once we’re landside.”
Kory frowned. “I can’t disobey a superior officer, sir.”
Molly felt sorry for the young man. She didn’t want him caught in the middle of a power play with Mak, but she also couldn’t let the Recon Marine get in the way of scientific discovery. Surely her father wouldn’t have given Mak orders that countermanded her intentions. “What the corporal means, Kory, is that this is a science mission first, military second.”
Kory looked down at his meal. “Are you sure the lieutenant knows that, Dr. Drant?”
“I’ll make sure he does. All you need to do is assist us as you did before.” Though Molly acknowledged to herself that this time wasn’t like before. They’d hunted plants and even a few strange animals to take blood and tissue samples, but they’d never searched out something as dangerous as the man in that vid. She managed a smile for Kory. “The lieutenant won’t be a problem.”
The ship wide audio chirped for attention. Lieutenant Mak’s deep voice filled the dining room. “Dr. Drant, report to the bridge.”
Heat prickled across Molly’s skin, and her face warmed. Had Mak just issued an order to her in front of her crew? Hers. Her team. Her mission. Her ship. She stood up, feeling the stares of her people except for Kory who blushed and looked down at the remnants of his meal. “I’ll return shortly and we’ll go over the geographic information.”
She took her time walking to the bridge, reminding herself that Mak had no experience working with her crew. No reason to be angry with him. He’d literally been bred and born into a military mindset. All he needed was instruction on how this mission would work.
Molly noticed something different about the bridge, an orderliness that was previously missing. It looked…like a military vessel. Even the copilot’s seat was squared up to face the front viewing window. But the change in the bridge seemed less physical than an extension of the man sitting with perfect posture in the pilot’s chair. “This is a science vessel,” Molly blurted, not the lecture she’d prepared to put Mak in his place.
Mak glanced at her over his shoulder but then turned his attention back to the controls in front of him. He pointed toward the front screen. “We’ll enter the atmosphere of Julian within an hour. According to information shared by Admiral Lester, they built their lab inside the tree line of the only major forest on the largest land mass. Most of the land around the forest is savannah populated by nomadic herds of herbivores.”
Molly took the copilot’s seat so she could see the AI screen set into the control deck. A detailed map of the continent he spoke of took up the screen. The excitement of seeing a new land almost pushed aside her irritation. Almost. “Lieutenant, we need to set some rules of command in our working relationship.”
“Rules?” The glow of the AI unit brought out deep blue sparkles in his eyes. What might natural sunlight do for the color she’d mistaken for black until now?
Molly grimaced at her unusual distraction. “I’m the leader of this scientific endeavor. I give the orders and make the decisions.”
Mak gave a short nod. “General Drant explained you would lead the scientists. I have a firm understanding of that and some experience in civilian hierarchies of command.”
His agreement surprised her even as relief swept her. “Good. Why did you want to see me?”
His right eyebrow lifted as if with a question, prompting her to smile for some reason. “I wanted to speak of your plans more than see you.”
She fought a grin. “Speak then, lieutenant.”
“The planet temperature is moderate, gravity and atmospheric gases consistent with requirements for human occupation without special equipment. The AI is running checks for viral and bacterial vectors. For security reasons, I will set down one half mile from the tree line after we do a low fly over to check for native creatures.” He pointed at a spot on the map that looked like any other to her. “These structures you see should be the lab. It looks like one large building and one other small structure. We can’t tell with this equipment if there are underground constructs.”
She looked at the AI unit and the front view screen where the planet had grown close enough for her to distinguish land masses and frozen oceans at the poles. “I intended to hold a planning meeting with the hour. You’re welcome to attend.”
“The plan is that Pender and I will take point while Box covers the rear and watches the flanks. I would prefer to go in alone and clear the building first, but sensors indicate no life within the walls. You and your team will remain within our protective arc.”
“Andy will help us carry our testing equipment and log our findings. Everything needs careful handling to make sure we don’t contaminate any material we find. There could be skeletons, preserved remains, heavy objects we need to bring back to the onboard lab.”
Mak’s hands flew over the ship’s controls. The vessel slowed enough for Molly to feel it. Mak touched the AI device and a high view of the grasslands came up. A small herd of furry animals grazed on the thick grass. “Box will cover you from twenty paces behind so he has a clear line of fire to the flanks. The only equipment he will carry is his gun.”
“That is not the way we do things.” Perhaps she hadn’t understood what he had said earlier.
He lifted his eyebrow again. “What things? Have you searched for secret labs before?”
“Well, no, but we’ve been on many searches for new scientific discoveries, successful hunts for new pathogens and plants we hope to develop new medicines from.”
“Twenty minutes until set down, Dr. Drant. All nonvisual scans should be completed ten minutes later. My men will secure the perimeter before your team exits the ship.” Mak adjusted things on the flight controls, his side of the conversation apparently ove
r.
The usual thrill of seeing a new world and searching out never before seen fauna and flora battled with Molly’s need to set Mak straight. Perhaps it would be easier to make procedures clearer to him after this first investigation when he would see a science team in action. Recon Marines were accustomed to battles not peaceful exploration. “We’ll be ready in thirty minutes.”
But after leaving Mak to his flying, it took Molly, Hector and Helen nearly an hour to decide what to take with them. Without Andy to help them, they had to leave many instruments behind. They finally decided if they needed something else they would send the stubborn lieutenant to fetch it.
Molly entered the code to open the exit door, savoring the rush of cooler air and the scent of sun on grass. They negotiated the four steps to reach the ground and paused to take in their surroundings. No matter how many new worlds Molly visited, each struck her with its beauty. Green and gold grasses stretched to the horizon where they met a sky clear of clouds. Three small moons hung in the blue infinity. Their ship that looked so huge in port appeared tiny on the vast plain.
“Do you suppose they went on without us?” Hector asked.
The grass shimmered from about fifty feet away. Mak turned toward them, his camouflaged outfit rendering him nearly invisible except when he moved. He flipped the head covering back, his dark hair standing out against the background of the grass. “Follow me. It would be best if you didn’t wander from the path I’ll make. We flushed one species of snake and two small lizards. Anything could be venomous.”
“We’re familiar with safety protocols on unsettled planets,” Molly said, some of the joy of discovery fading. Later she would deal with Mak’s presumptions.
Mak started off up a gradual incline that Molly hadn’t noticed. The terrain beneath the grass wasn’t nearly as flat as it had appeared. As they trudged up the slope, she realized their ship occupied a small depression where it would go unnoticed unless one knew where it was parked. Not that there was anyone about except peaceful animals. Mak really was taking security seriously.
