by Hana Starr
And in any case, she was just excited.
But, as excited as Bea was, she was also pretty darn tired. By the time she actually checked in and made it up to her bed, there was little she could do but flop down with exhaustion.
In the blink of an eye it seemed, she was up and about again. There was no time to lollygag because of her delayed sleep, so she rushed through a nutrient-supplement breakfast and a quick hit through the showers.
Then she met up with Jax, who was standing just outside the garage door. He had his arms folded and his head tilted down, seeming to think very hard.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
He stared at her and she winced. Hardly even any old humans said that phrase anymore but she couldn’t help the fact that she knew a lot and it sometimes came out at inopportune times. She tried again. “What are you thinking about?”
“Ah,” he grumbled. “I was just wondering. Shipway United? Haven’t they gone out of business?”
Bea laughed a bit. “Yes. Several times, in fact.”
He sighed. “It is true then that most major corporations have left Earth behind. Why must it still be the center? There are many other planets who are worth far more to protect so heavily.”
“I agree,” Beatrice said quickly, because she actually did. “But, humans can be pretty stubborn, you know. A lot of people find it hard to admit that we’re not the center of the universe.”
He spat a little with distaste, which made her grimace. She didn’t comment on it though, because this might be another test to see if she was going to judge him again. “Humans need to get over it. We are all equal up here. At least, we should be.”
How on Earth do I explain to you that human history is all about inequality?
Well, they did have an entire month together…
Best to just agree again, which she did. And then she hesitated. “Um…are we ready to go?”
“You’re the captain of the ship and I am your guard,” he explained in a very condescending manner. “We are ready whenever you say we are.”
She blushed and marched out the door and into the garage. Only, at this much-bigger base, it was nearer to a hangar than a garage. And she couldn’t walk anywhere she wanted because ships were always coming and going here, so she cruised along the yellow line and made her way to her own ship.
A loading dock man was waiting for her. “You’re all ready to go, ma’am,” he said primly. “Your cargo hold is completely full of medical boxes. We were also told to fit some in wherever we could, so you might find your interior to be a little packed.”
That meant she would have to be even closer to Jax.
“That’s okay,” she said. “It’s for a good cause.”
“Right,” the worker said, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced. “Well, anyway, that’s all there is to it. Good luck.”
Beatrice turned to make sure Jax was right next to her but he was already brushing past her and entering the ship ahead of her. “I’m just checking everything,” he called gruffly over his shoulder. “Don’t come in until I tell you to.”
She rolled her eyes and followed anyway. Jax stared at her with anger, blocking the doorway with his bulk. “What are you doing?”
“We’re not in enemy territory,” she pointed out, trying to get him to see reason. “There’s no reason at all why you have to do that.”
He grumbled and kept standing his ground. “I am your guard and it’s my job to defend you. You can’t just…”
She dropped down and slid neatly between his legs and emerged into the cockpit. Much like she’d thought, nothing happened to her. There were no enemies lying in ambush ready to attack and kill her, and she couldn’t see a single thing out of place. “Look, it’s fine,” she said.
Jax huffed and shut the door behind him, and did a quick cursory glance around the cabin. Another chair had been quickly added to the cockpit for his convenience. The rest of the ship was packed with stacked and secured boxes, as promised. Beatrice knew that the extra weight would mean they’d have to make more pit stops along the way than she normally would have had to –those stops had already been calculated for her in the data that Harris gave her.
She was aware of the big alien marching around and inspecting boxes, probably looking for bombs or tracking devices. Well, she couldn’t pay attention to him right now. She had bigger things to worry about, such as navigating successfully through the constant stream of arriving and departing vessels. Luckily, it wasn’t as bad as she feared and she made it to the airlock with time to spare. There were more watchmen here than at the smaller base where the Federation found her, which was good because it meant she was cleared almost immediately.
She guided the ship out onto the runway and called over her shoulder to Jax, “Might want to get buckled in. We’re taking off.”
He did as she asked –grudgingly, she noticed- and then that was it. She ran through the same motions that she always did, and they reached their ascent in no time. Withdrawing her landing gear, she set the course and then…
Then, nothing. There was nothing to do now but pretend to be actually piloting a ship that didn’t need it. The turbulence of takeoff was long gone which meant that Jax could get to his feet and move around if he so wished but he just stayed buckled into his seat.
One instruments check later and she’d had enough. A month of silence? No way.
“So…um…”
Jax turned his head to look blankly at her. “What is it, Noble?”
She sighed. “First, could you just call me by my name? I don’t care if you use Bea or Beatrice but an overly dramatic formality like that is going to get old super quickly, okay? I don’t have the time or patient for it and neither do you.”
He was staring at her in slack-jawed silence, so she kept plunging on. Her mouth was opened now and she couldn’t stop it from running its course.
“Secondly, all I wanted to do was make some light conversation with you. You know that I must have had a lot of conversations because of my Chip being able to reproduce your language like this. I guess I might have made a few mistakes here and there but honestly, it’s better than you thought it would be. You know it. I just wanted to ask what it felt like, is all.”
Jax continued staring at her with his eyes wide –and empty, devoid of anything but surprise.
Great, now I’ve done it.
“It…tingles.”
Very slowly, she lifted her head to meet his gaze. His eyes had softened somewhat but he was now wearing an unreadable expression. “Huh?”
“Electricity. Static. It feels like bubbles in my blood. On my skin, it tingles.”
“And can you really shoot it out through your hands?” Beatrice asked. The words continued to come out in a rush, she was so excited. “I mean, that’s what everyone has told me but I don’t know if they were just messing with me or not, you know? Why isn’t that deadly?”
Incredibly, Jax laughed. Beatrice was surprised, and he looked just as shocked, too. “We can. It’s not deadly for us because our blood conducts it. I wouldn’t want to show off your you anywhere near a site where anyone or anything else might be damaged, you know. Lightning has a way of doing what it likes.” He paused and gave a tiny little sound in the back of his throat. She was a little perplexed before she remembered that she was supposed to be piloting the ship and turned back to it. Only then did he continue.
“Lightning tends to be attracted to all sorts of different materials. We can’t guarantee where a bolt will choose to go if we don’t know the makeup of every single thing within reach –and that’s impossible.”
“So, like, if someone had an old-fashioned metal implant…”
Jax chuckled darkly. “Then, they would be rather old and would have already lived a long enough life anyway.”
“Oh! That’s terrible!”
“For everyone involved, yes. Back on Ulahee, things were different. We did not live with all these risks but you Earth people don’t take
no for an answer, do you?”
She knew exactly what he was thinking of: a day in his history not very long ago where the growing Federation tried to ship a bunch of Ula back down to Earth to take care of the energy problems. Because Earth still used electrical power for many things, that was an actual thought process someone had that was then approved by many others! Of course, it was inhumane and wrong and was quickly stopped.
Then, to make up for it, Ula was added to the growing list of planets under the Federation’s protection.
Whether that was a blessing or curse…Well, that wasn’t up for her to decide.
She had a lot of misgivings about an organization that wanted to shove everyone into such a small corner where only one thing was accepted while others weren’t, but at least their mission was good. Right?
Either way, the attack on her species seemed to be his idea of ending a conversation but she wasn’t very happy with that.
“Don’t you like any humans?”
“Sure,” he grunted. “I like them when I can’t see them. You weren’t exactly what I had in mind.”
Beatrice snorted, trying not to let on that her feelings had been hurt. Her fingers tightened on the controls and she had to make herself release her grip or else start to send them off-course. “You weren’t exactly what I had in mind, either.”
You’re so much more annoying.
And hotter, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with being an asshole just because he was hot. Well, maybe a little but she had a distinct feeling that Jax was going to end up crossing some sort of line sooner or later, just like she had. The question was if she would be so willing to forgive him as he was to her –if this could be called forgiveness.
Jax unbuckled himself, struggling to undo the small clasps that his large fingers had so effortlessly pushed together. When he finally managed it, Beatrice watched him look around for a moment and then grumble.
“If you need me, I will probably be within eyeshot.”
That was true, since all the alcoves of the ship were filled. But, she let him go and do what he would, turning back to her screen displays. There was nothing ahead of them but darkness, as there would be for quite awhile. Not even stars broke up the monotony here.
Beatrice sighed a little and adjusted her course, and then adjusted it back just to have something to do. All her sensors were working perfectly. They were nowhere near the part of the solar system where rebel activity had been reported, but they were certainly prepared for it. Her shields and radar would detect any incoming craft, friendly or otherwise.
And if worst came to worst, there was always that single-person fighter capsule that hopefully Jax could fit in. She was certain he’d been trained in commandeering it but if he couldn’t fit his bulk in the tiny little cockpit, it wouldn’t do either of them much good.
Now that she thought about it, what exactly had he been expecting when he signed on to be her guard? Certainly he knew the situation surrounding this mission, so what was his problem? Well, she supposed she had to resign herself to just never knowing because he obviously didn’t want to talk to her.
Fine, she sulked, staring blankly down at her hands. I don’t want to talk to him either.
Such a lie…but she couldn’t defend herself against his rejection any other way. After all, he didn’t even know her.
Chapter Five
Jax had to admit: the annoying human girl knew her stuff. Beatrice, he was supposed to call her, but he was loathe to be so familiar with someone under his protection, especially one that he didn’t like. Well, her attitude was incredibly odd but she was certainly smart –smarter than she seemed to know she was, anyway.
It was still the longest couple of days he’d ever experienced in his entire life, but that wasn’t for lack of trying on her part. No, it was because she tried too much.
Really, she was pushy. Jax was an adult. He knew his own habits and personality, having grown up with himself. He had a warrior’s spirit and could be considered abrasive by those who grew up in a more sheltered situation than he; he understood that, and he also understood his natural and instinctive reluctance to distrust humans because of what they’d done in the past. Perhaps that wasn’t right of him, but he would thaw in his own time. No matter how hard this Beatrice might try, she couldn’t force him to change his mind. Oh, but she was determined.
There was only so much time he could spend pacing around the cramped ship before he had to return to his seat up front. Every time he did that, she would lay into him with some discussion or other.
“So, how does tribe life work?” she chattered.
Jax groaned and rubbed his bald head with one hand. “How do you think it works? A child is born…”
“How?” she butted in. “And are children already capable of holding onto electricity and stuff like you guys?”
He groaned again, longer this time. She was purposely ignoring him, he could tell. “How? The normal way. And yes, a child can already begin to collect static but they are young and can’t actually redirect it.”
Beatrice nodded. Silence fell for a few minutes, during which he prayed it may be permanent, before her mouth opened once more. “So, a child is born and then what?”
“What do you want me to say here, Beatrice? Should I tell you about all sorts of barbaric rituals that our children must endure each year? Perhaps culling the weaklings from the herd?”
She was starting to protest but he was making himself angry and talking right over her. “And would you perhaps like to hear that I never wore a stitch of clothing until the Federation recruited me and showed me the error of my ways? Why, it’s true. We even drink blood and defecate in our water supply!” His voice started to rise. “Or perhaps you want to know the truth. We have a society just like yours. Our children grow up, go to school to learn about all that we know. We have jobs. We know many, many things and we are our own power sources. Yes, many of us hunt. However, we must obtain permission to do so because we already have farms to grow crops and ranches to raise animals.
“Which version would you like?”
“Damn,” she whispered.
Immediately, he regretted his words. Her eyes were wet, and her lower lip quivered with hurt.
He felt like he’d kicked a baby, honestly.
“I just wanted to get to know you better.”
Jax sighed, but it wasn’t as heavy or as impatient before. The sight of her hurt made something strange twist in his chest, which he really did not like. He had crossed some sort of boundary and hurt her, and now he couldn’t hold onto the feelings which only moments before had had him crackling and seething.
“I apologize. I’m just not used to this.”
“Well, I am,” Beatrice said softly. “I’m used to all of this. Day in and day out. Just darkness. Just traveling around. I chose to do this and I’m proud to be doing this mission but I’ve never actually had anyone else on my ship with me before. We don’t have to be friends, I just wanted someone to talk to.”
I would have to be a heartless monster to ignore a request like that, he thought, and then winced as he realized that was exactly what he had been acting like. Well, damn indeed.
“Okay,” he sighed again. “Fine. Do you want to just start over?”
“Sure. For starters, how did you get into my ship?”
Another example of human wit, he was sure. Humor wasn’t really a part of his life after he grew up a little –it was mostly reserved for infants and toddlers- but he tried to crack a smile for her anyway. She deserved that much, at least.
It looked like she appreciated the effort, which made him smile a little more.
And then he was tingling but it wasn’t with electricity. His groin was tingling.. That was pretty astonishing. He’d been picky even with his own breed of woman, why was this scrawny little human having this kind of effect upon him? Was it that he’d just noticed the skin on her arm was not merely pale, but tinged olive? Or was it the way her dark, slanted eye
s watched him from beneath straight-cut bangs? Was it how childlike she seemed, wearing clothes too large for her and returning his smile?
Or was it just that he hadn’t had sex in about a year and this just happened to be one of the worst times for his body to remember it?
It wasn’t just a little stirring around, either. His uniform hid it pretty well, and it was a bonus that his chair was angled slightly behind hers, but there was an obvious bulge standing up from between his legs. He was suddenly and inexplicably, incredibly horny.
Swallowing hard, he said, “Well, I’m your guard. My name is Jax. It’s an honor to meet you, valued pilot of the company known as Shipway United.”
