by Bruce Adams
“Sif, come here girl! Come!” The dog bounded over with her tongue flopping out of her mouth. She licked Eris’s hand and wrist. Eris began to laugh. “She tickles!” Eris threw the towel around her neck onto her small bed.
“She likes you…” Kyle grinned.
“And I like her! What type of dog is she?” queried Eris, still smiling. Sif’s all white fur was soft as she stroked her from her neck to her rump. Sif enjoyed the attention immensely.
“She’s a German Shepherd - Kwaizume mix,” offered Kyle. He had squatted and was petting Sif along with Eris. Their two hands met while stroking Sif. “She likes to be touched a lot.”
“Kwaizume…aren’t they the genetically engineered breed that can talk?”
“They can sort of talk, but not directly…they don’t have vocal chords. The smartest ones know at least three hundred words.” He stood up straight while Eris continued to play with the dog. “Of course, they have to be fitted with neural implants and a speech synthesizer.” I’ve already had them installed. You can begin teaching her words today if you want.”
“Where did you find her?” Eris was intrigued and wanted to know more about Sif. Kyle began to pace in her room, a trait she found endearing in him, if a bit compulsive.
“Well…I’ve been busy during the three months you’ve been laid up in a hospital bed. Dominic Gray has had us doing Intel work - surveys, search and rescue…all kinds of stuff.” He had become animated while speaking. Clearly he enjoyed the work he had been doing – it showed in the way he talked and moved. Eris sat on the floor of her quarters with her back against the unmade bed. The floor was cold but she didn’t mind as she played with the puppy. Sif moved her head from side to side watching Eris’s hands and would pounce when she wiggled her fingers.
“We had been ordered to surveil a planet that had been hit by an unknown force a week before we got there. The whole colony had been wiped out. There was hardly anything left…but I found her hiding in a trash bin. She had been surviving on bits of food and scraps…she must have been born just before the attack took place. I took her…cleaned her up…and here she is.” Sif licked her on the face - Eris burst out laughing. It’s good to hear her laugh thought Kyle. “MEK, set up that box for Captain Monroe,” said Kyle to the silent robot still holding the small container.
“Yes sir,” was the MEK’S soft feminine reply. The MEK was a newer model, with a fully human look except for the eyes, which were purposely designed to appear artificial. The MEK leaned over, set the box down, opened it and took out various items one at a time and made sure each was clean and free of packaging material. One unpacked component was an automated water dispenser – another item was a food container. The MEK went to the sink and completely filled the water dispenser. Returning back to the other items, the MEK put all of them down on the floor, arranging them in a rectangular pattern against the wall. Sif smelled the food and came to investigate. She sniffed a few times, and then proceeded to chomp the dog food with gusto while wagging her tail. Eris suddenly frowned.
“The Fleet doesn’t allow animals on ships…”
“This isn’t the Fleet. I checked with the boss and he’s okay with the situation. He said something about her improving your efficiencies…or something. I guess in his weird way he approves.” Kyle’s eyes glinted as he recalled the memory of talking with Dominic Gray about the puppy.
“I’m in the mood to walk a bit. Come with me,” said Eris softly. Together they left the recovery room she had utilized as her living quarters and walked side by side down wide softly lit corridors. Sif stayed behind eating her food and Kyle dismissed the serving MEK. It left the same time they did and walked in a different direction from the route Eris took. Very few personnel were active at this time of day, but they did pass a mechanic who saluted Eris as he passed. Every ten meters a rather large wide oval window made of clear plasteel showed the emptiness of space with a planet turning on its axis thousands of kilometers below. Eris had learned that the planet was called Wen Chang and its atmosphere was a poisonous mix of carbon dioxide and methane. The Hyperion facility that DSD built was used for research into bio-medical and regenerative medicine techniques. Eris had learned that Dynamic Space Development didn’t just build starships; they had major business assets scattered throughout the galaxy. In every category of manufacturing the company owned subsidiaries such as communications, medical, robotics and weapons. Those few were just some of the major divisions that DSD operated on systems throughout the Republic. Kyle was staring at the planet below and then looked at Eris with a glimmer in his eyes and a warm smile on his face.
“You’ve made Doctor Xinhao unnecessary with your fast healing. She had a full regiment of reconditioning equipment set up for you and now you don’t need it at all. I think she’s upset that she doesn’t have you to look over any more…” Kyle said teasingly.
Eris didn’t reply. Kyle noticed her hair had been pulled back in a ponytail; it was long, black and lustrous. He thought her hair looked better longer. She was wearing workout clothes, a black sports bra and clingy tight shorts that hugged every curve like a second skin. Kyle was staring intently at her, and she averted her eyes. She suddenly seemed to be withdrawn and troubled.
“Eris, I wanted to talk…to discuss things.” He gently touched her face so that she would look at him.
“Kyle…I never truly thanked you.” Eris took his hand in hers…stopping him from touching her face. “All this time has passed…I guess I have a lot of people to thank for my life, you first and foremost, Doctor Xinhao and her team…Dominic Gray. I could keep going. I…I almost wish I had died with them. I know I shouldn’t feel that way…I’m a soldier and I have a duty to perform. I’ve never felt this way before. Survivor’s guilt is not something I wanted…but that’s what I feel.” She continued to hold his hand and was squeezing it with each breath she took. A glint of tears welled up in her eyes and she laughed weakly as she wiped them away from her cheek with her fingers. “I never cry…why now?”
Kyle looked searchingly into her eyes and shook his head. “Because you’re human…it’s going to take time to figure out those feelings. I have them too; you know…I also have other feelings.” He leaned over and kissed her…a warm sensual kiss that seemed to linger on for minutes. She could have stopped him, but she didn’t want to. It felt right to her. She returned it in kind and pulled him close to her.
“You need to shave,” she breathed.
Kyle rubbed his face with his right hand and nodded. “Later…”
Wordlessly, he put one arm around her waist to hold her tight against his body while his other hand caressed her neck. Smiling, he led her to his quarters and she followed willingly. Within minutes Kyle was urgently running his fingers along the minetic seam of her black sports bra, which caused the band to fall apart and away from her breasts. He turned to her shorts, pulling them down over her wide hips. As she disengaged her bra straps from her arms she finished wriggling out of her black clingtight shorts, letting them fall soundlessly to the floor of his quarters. Eris then put her hands on Kyle…helping him to shrug out of his uniform down to his boxers and he quickly threw them off. They repeatedly kept kissing one another, and moving their hands over each other’s bodies until both were completely naked. As their naked bodies touched they became entangled with each other in a feverish pitch. Kyle began kissing her neck and moved down to her breasts. He stopped at her taut nipple, licking until goose-bumps appeared on her skin. She shuddered in delight at his touch. Her ponytail finally came undone and they proceeded to make love at a frenetic pace. The sex was rough, urgent and was sweet as anything Eris could remember. With her knees in the air, she gripped his naked butt and pulled him tight with each deep thrust he made inside her. Building in tempo, he pushed her legs back with his arms until her ankles were beside her ears…his hands moved smoothly from her ample breasts to her ass, kissing her all the while and never stopped thrusting deep inside of her. The sounds they made together w
ere wet and soft. He continued until Eris heard him grunt in satisfaction as he gave one final explosive thrust and came inside her. He wasn’t finished however…Kyle pulled himself off her body and then put his hand down between her legs. Eris groaned in ecstasy. As he switched from using his hand to using his tongue, she began to make a sound low in her throat. She began twisting her hips, writhing in pleasure as he probed deeply inside her, tasting her warm walls.
“Oh…stop, stop it. Oh, please...” she whispered in a fierce cry, but her voice was low and weak and she did not push him away. Her hands buried themselves in his tangled glorious golden hair. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open, moaning. Sweat beaded on their glistening bodies as they lay tangled together in each other’s arms. Her fifth orgasm of the last hour was the strongest yet as she tensed and a wave of delicious pleasure coursed through her body spreading from her groin outward. She finally curled into a half moon crescent as Kyle rested his leg over hers and together they lay spent on his bed. He lazily played with her shoulder length hair and nuzzled against her neck.
Eris turned over on her side. Her deep sea-blue eyes penetrated through his green eyes as if to see the soul inside the man. The room smelled of sex. Kyle had never been so pleasantly exhausted in his life.
“Well, that was delicious. I don’t know why I waited so long to do that…” She laughed…a throaty sound that came sweet to Kyle’s ears. He felt more alive than he’d ever felt in his life. Sex was not frowned upon in Republic military ranks – it was considered as essential to unit cohesion and morale as group activities. However, whether a commander had sex with a subordinate was a gray area left to the discretion of the individual officer. Of course, she wasn’t exactly under Fleet orders at the moment...
“Eris, I love you.”
She pulled away from him and sat on his bed while she gathered up her clothes and began putting them on. She offered no similar reply to Kyle. When she finished dressing, she walked lightly over and kissed him softly on the lips. I’ll take that as ‘I love you too’, Kyle thought.
“Come on, we’re going to be late to the meeting.” Eris hurried back to her quarters to shower and put on a crisp new uniform. Her mind was a blank slate as she savored the feelings that were coursing through her body and along her nerves.
CHAPTER 14
The conference room was large enough to hold a hundred people. Dominating the center was a huge horseshoe shaped table with more than four dozen people seated waiting for them. For some reason, Eris was surprised to see Doctor Xinhao seated at the table. Eris and Kyle had arrived five minutes late. There were plenty of people Eris didn’t know, but the moment she saw him, she ran over and gave him the biggest hug of his life.
“Eli!” Eris usually kept her emotions in check, but on seeing him she practically screamed at him. “You’re alive!” She literally picked him off the ground with a bear hug. Every set of eyes in the room instantly looked right at the pair of them.
Embarrassed by the attention, he hugged her back and momentarily seemed at a loss for words. “Kizz and I just returned a few hours ago from a…uh, a fact finding mission. It’s good to see you too, Commander.” An Evene woman seated by Eli stood, her tail twitching. Kyle looked on with a bemused expression as he rubbed the stubble on his face.
“It is a pleasure to finally meet you Commander Monroe. I’ve heard so much about your exploits!” She said in a thick Evene accent.
Eris finally let go of Eli and stood beaming. Good news was always welcome. She realized that people were staring at her, but she didn’t care.
“How… what happened to you? Everyone on Kanpur thought you’d been killed!” She was babbling in her excitement at seeing him alive and apparently unharmed.
“I found myself on Earth, believe it or not. I don’t know how that occurred. I…” Eli became quiet when a larger than life holographic image of Dominic Gray appeared in the center of the horseshoe table. Eris sat down at an empty chair beside Eli and Kyle sat opposite her across the table. Everyone, alien and human alike, paid attention to the image and what the chief executive officer of Dynamic Space Development was about to say. Eris wanted to sit down and talk to Eli for hours. She wanted to catch up with her old friend. She couldn’t wait to hear everything that he had been a part of for the last several months. Mr. Gray cleared his throat.
“I’m glad you finally decided to attend, Commander. Let’s get started.” Dominic Gray began to speak at length about everything he knew. No one in the gathered room had heard all of the pieces of information put together as they did now…they had only seen or read fragments. They paid rapt attention.
“Many of you know exactly why you’re here. Your unique talents brought you to this place at this time. All of you stand for the Republic. This is the first time all of you have come together in one room. You’re a single crew, serving one captain. Each of you wishes to be part of something greater than yourselves.” He paused and surveyed the room. Silence held sway and no one interrupted him.
“We’re at war though the Republic refuses to admit it. Civilians in control of the Fleet argue that diplomacy against the autocratic regime of the Alliance will keep the galaxy safe - they’re misguided. I’ve tried reasoning with them in my own way, but they do not listen. Now I have taken action. The Alliance has had secret programs to obtain Valdren technology in an attempt to reverse engineer anything they find of military value. A few of you have seen firsthand what working military Valdren technology can do. The Alliance accelerated their program in the last year and has now covertly attacked a Republic funded expedition using proxy Vortex mercenaries. This was done in order to gain deniability…a shrewd move on their part. The Alliance intends to use this new capability to make their ships unbeatable in combat. They were behind the attack at Domovik that destroyed the Division Six team as well as the Majestic and all aboard her. Fleet superiors think all of this is an isolated event that will soon blow over...but they’re wrong.” The image floating before the assembled group was flawless. Dominic Gray exuded charisma and power even as a holographic facsimile. Rumors estimated he was one hundred and sixty years old, even though he didn’t look any older than a human male in his early forties. His black hair was immaculately coifed – but his clothing was archaic and definitely out of style.
“Irrefutable intelligence has been obtained that Vortex mercenaries, including a large portion of their fleet, took part in those planned ambushes. Other attacks have taken place in quadrants throughout the galaxy, though those were the largest and most destructive. The Alliance plan of action is now rolling ahead at a frantic pace. Republic leaders and politicians do not wish to antagonize the Alliance, especially now that they have publically committed as allies to the Jiraxis Union. Frankly, I think they’re afraid of what is coming.”
Eli leaned over grinning at Eris and whispered, “That intel came from me…” as Dominic Gray continued talking.
“I’m not blind. The Alliance autocracy is a threat not only to the Republic…but also to the K’Tosk Hegemony, the Zari Protectorate and the Arras Concordat. If they succeed with their plans, nothing will be able to stop them. At the height of their empire twenty-nine thousand years ago, the Valdren controlled the entire galaxy. Their technology was far ahead of what we have discovered. We must not let the Alliance develop weapons based on that technology. A small team will have a much better chance to disrupt their plans than a full blown assault…which is the reason all of you are here today. Information has been obtained that the main scientific breakthroughs are taking place on the Holdfast located in the Magellus system. The Holdfast is too heavily defended to launch a conventional attack against it. A strike team must penetrate that fortress, find the research, and destroy all of it. That is the ultimate goal of the mission. First however, several steps must be undertaken for such a strike to succeed.” Dominic turned to look directly at Eris.
“This work is risky…all of you have good reason to fight, but I must be honest, some of you m
ay not live to see the end of this endeavor. Eris Monroe, effective today, will be the Captain of the DSD starship Sparta.” Everyone in the room knew that Eris was going to be granted the captaincy of the experimental ship, but it was exciting to hear it from the man that had ordered the ship created in the first place. Tremendous resources had been brought to bear for this event to happen, several trillion credits worth of resources. Everyone present knew it was history in the making.
“Are there any questions?” As Dominic Gray paused in his monologue, Eris stood from her chair and looked over those assembled. The room was so silent the ventilators pumping air could faintly be heard.
“What’s our first mission?” Eris asked the question directly.
“First, additional experts are required for our eventual success. Captain Monroe, take command of the Sparta and head to Planoss in the Alphard system. It’s officially neutral, but the Alliance has dispatched agents there in the past, and they still may be operating there.”
“Who exactly are we bringing to the party?” Eris didn’t want to go on any wild hunts. She liked having clearly defined objectives along with exit strategies mapped out. If she didn’t like what she was hearing, she would walk away – her vengeance would come through a different avenue and at a later time.
“An Orvod named Hasephrey Saephan…a brilliant engineer with former ties to my company. He and I have had…disagreements…but that is in the past. Secondly, you and your crew should investigate the mining planet NSP362, also known as Furnace. There are no known jump-points plotted to the Ekaph system; therefore it must be reached via conventional FTL drive. The Vortex mercenary group has sent a strong force there in an attempt to obtain certain Valdren technological artifacts. What the purpose of these artifacts is unknown, but the Alliance has committed tremendous resources to the planet to locate and extract them. The final mission is to recruit the Arrasian scientist Gelkar Ruz-Zel. He is an expert on the Valdren and would be a valuable addition to your team. He was last known to be headed to the Zaniah system in the Mirfak quadrant of the Verge. Zaniah is only a few jumps from the Ekaph system. However, I would suggest you track down and gain the cooperation of Saephan first since stealth is required for all other missions. The choice of how you wish to proceed, I leave in your capable hands.”
