Ordar’s Mission: Scifi Alien Adventure Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Galactic Survival Book 4)

by Hana Starr

  “Is everything okay?” She asked him quietly as she approached, resting a hand lightly on his arm. He looked at her as though he had only just remembered that she was in the room, too. He pursed his lips, clearly not pleased about something.

  “Your first assignment is in one hour.” He huffed. “The soldier that just left is going to be the one that requires documentation today.”

  “Oh, okay.” She said, relieved that that was all it was. “What will I be documenting?”

  “A medical log, and a personal log,” Ordar answered distractedly. “I will accompany you, but I will have to wait outside the door while you are attending to your duties.”

  “That makes sense.” She nodded her head. “I'll be working with personal and confidential records. The fewer eyes on them, the safer.”

  “I suppose.” He didn't sound convinced in the slightest. The hand she laid on his arm lightly squeezed his forearm.

  “Is there something wrong?” She asked, keeping her tone soft.

  “Seig despises other races that are not Almer.” He muttered, his eyes darkening as he glared holes into the door. “Even those with Almer descendents are not good enough for him.” He turned to look at her. “As your guardian, I would be remiss to not have concerns about your safety.”

  “I trust you.” She said, giving his arm another squeeze. “I know that if anything happens, you'll come to me.” He nodded, seeming more sure of himself.

  “You are correct. I am your Guardian, it is my role.” He said, as if reminding himself that he was capable of protecting her. She sighed.

  “Still, I might as well try and get dressed, if I've got work to do...” She trailed off, going to the wardrobe beside the bed and seeing if there was anything that she could use. She let out a gasp as another blue screen projected itself from atop the wardrobe, asking her to select clothing from its inventory for her to use. “It's like a video game back home...” she muttered as she scrolled through her options.

  “Humans have this technology?” Ordar asked as he neared, surprised at the thought.

  “Not exactly.” She said distractedly as she looked at the uniform options that she could wear. “But we've thought about using systems like this, when the technology catches up. But it's already used in a lot of video games that we play back on Earth!”

  “I do not understand what that is.” Ordar deadpanned.

  “A video game?” He nodded, and she picked out a blue and silver uniform to wear. “It's a type of entertainment. You move a character around on a screen and play through objectives to beat it.”

  “How primitive.” He laughed. “We do not call them that. And we do not require buttons. It is a virtual adventure in a room.” Her eyes widened as the uniform appeared on her form, replacing the fluffy pajamas that she had been wearing.

  “That's what they've become to you guys already?” She asked, excited at the prospect. He laughed and nodded.

  “I have not had the time to partake in a while. Though I have heard of some new adventures coming out that I would like to go through.” She nodded, impressed.

  “We should probably head to Seig's location,” she said absentmindedly. “It'd probably be better if we were early rather than late.” He laughed heartily.

  “Very true, especially where Seig is concerned.” His laughter died out, and a more concerned look passed across his face. “Are you ready, though? There's time, if you need to collect yourself-”

  “Working is good for me,” she admitted honestly. “It keeps me from dwelling on stuff.”

  “I understand. It is the same for me.” He gave her a small smile before pulling his rifle off of his back, holding it at rest with the safety on. “Are you ready, then?” She nodded. “Excellent. Let us be on our way, then.” He motioned for her to follow him, and together they left the room.

  The walk down the hall was a relatively short one – or at least, shorter than she had been expecting it to be. Before long, they were in front of another door, one that looked like all the rest, save for a green line across the door to signify that it was medical. They both hesitated outside, as if bracing for their separation.

  “Remember that I am your Guardian,” Ordar finally said. “Should anything happen, all you have to do is call for help, even if it is just in your thoughts. I will be there.” She vaguely wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but chose to wait – she had work to do, and and explanation could wait until her duties were attended to. So, she simply nodded and let the door open with a soft hiss, and stepped inside.

  Some things carry over from species to species, Mary thought to herself as she took in the smell of disinfectant and sick that was the medical wing. Taking in the room and its few inhabitants, she spotted Seig sitting on one of the examination tables, adamantly glaring at a wall facing away from her. Still, she braced herself and put on her best businesswoman smile and strolled up to meet him.

  “You are late.” He said gruffly when she was near him. Her smile faltered, but she remained professional.

  “I was told to come here in an hour.” She reminded him in her no nonsense tone. “I made it here in twenty minutes.” He growled low in his throat but didn't say anything further until the medical examiner came up to where Seig was seated.

  “Thank you for coming to document this examination, Oracle.” The feminine voice that came out of the Almer doctor startled her – save for having a slightly smaller frame than Ordar, there was almost no discernible difference between what Mary classified as, 'female,' and, 'male,' to the species. The idea fascinated her. “We will begin with routine vitals. At your say so, Oracle.” The doctor nodded kindly to her, and she raised her hands to bring up her keyboard.

  “Ready.” She said, opting to keep her spoken word brief but polite.

  The examination was a simple one, with the vitals taken with a scanner that the doctor allowed her to see the result screen of to accurately record its results. Seig complained that she should be able to just take down what was dictated to her, but the doctor firmly reminded him that his medical charts were nothing to sneeze at. She even went so far as to compliment Mary for being so thorough, something that pleased Mary to no end; maybe Ordar was right, and most of the Almer were kind.

  The rest of the examination was, even to Mary, rather pedestrian; the doctor asked him questions about his health and overall wellness, and he answered in that same gruff, half angry tone. Before long, the medical record was complete, and she was standing by, waiting for him to let her record his personal log. He looked up at her, annoyance written all over his face.

  “What are you waiting for?” He barked at her, baring his teeth in a snarl. She prided herself in not flinching.

  “I was told that you had a personal log that I needed to record as well.” She answered, keeping her tone even and crisp. “I am simply waiting for that to begin.” He snorted.

  “So you remembered that. At least you can do that much.” He scoffed at her as he rose to his feet. “Come then, I would rather be done with this sooner rather than later.” His frame towered over her, even over that of Ordar by a little, and though the sheer size of the man intimidated her, she held her chin up high as he led her out of the medical wing.

  Ordar fell in step wordlessly beside her as they made their way to Seig's quarters, where she could take down the personal log and be done with him, at least for now. The walk there was a little longer than the one from their quarters to the medical wing, but it still didn't take long for them to get to Seig's room. Shorter than Mary would have liked; by the time Seig stopped in front of his door, she felt like she hadn't had time to brace herself.

  Ordar stepped to the side of the door, his back to the wall and his arms crossed. As Seig opened the door, they shared a sideways glance, but she couldn't even begin to know what kind of message the two were conveying through that one split second look before she had to trail in after Seig. She caught Ordar's eye just as she walked past, and he gave her a small, reassuring smile.<
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  “Stand over there,” Seig grunted at her when the door was shut. He pointed to the corner of the room farthest away from the corner that Ordar had posted himself to outside. It struck her as odd, and a reg flag was certainly raised because of it, but she did as she was told, hoping that it was just because he didn't want anyone to hear his personal log being documented.

  She wrote down his name, his soldier number, and the star date and time, and nodded to him to let him know that she was ready to take down his log. He sneered at her, clearly not pleased with the idea of working with her, but she remained unresponsive to his goading. When he realized that she wasn't flinching, he sat himself in his chair opposite her, placing himself between her and the door before he began.

  “Today was a waste of my time and my talents,” he began, his tone bitter. “And it has barely even begun. I cannot imagine that the day will get much better, even with the rest of it to myself. So I am logging now to get it out of the way.” He rolled his neck. “The only reason that I was granted the rest of the day off was due to spending most of the previous night cycle processing the humans we took from Earth.” His lips curled into a cruel smile. “I presume that the experience was unpleasant? Being taken from everything you hold dear.”

  “Please stick to the personal log.” She said, her tone leaving no room for rebuttal. “I am only here for the log, not a conversation.” Still, she logged the comment along with the rest of what he had said, flagging the log for review by his superior the way that Ordar had taught her to. If nothing came of it, fine, but if he was harassing someone that he couldn't harass, she wanted him to be held accountable for it.

  “Fine.” His eyes flashed angrily but he resumed with his log. “There were not many useful humans in the last few waves of incoming prisoners. Most of them were shipped to the slaver vessels to await further instruction.” Something flickered in his gaze. “Most of them will die. At least, that is my hope. The more agonizing the death, the better.”

  Mary logged everything that was said with no emotion, no reaction. She knew that these comments were only meant to goad her into a reaction, to give him a reason to put her out of her misery, to show that she had no place here. All he needed was one slip up from her, and she would be gone, presumably to her death.

  But this wasn't the first time that she had to deal with someone like him; some business executive that had a stick up their ass and didn't like her for some arbitrary reason would decide that they would hover around her, try to find her weakness and exploit it until she either cracked or left. This would end the same way that it did every other time: she would rise above it, and get her job done.

  “Does this not hurt you?” He asked, his voice low. “Does it not anger you that these are my thoughts on your people?” She felt him shift in his chair but did not look up from her display, intent on keeping the face of professionalism throughout this entire interaction; she already knew that it was likely going to be her word against his, so she was already handicapped in that regard. No need to give him more to work with.

  The whoosh of air on either side of her face startled her out of her focus, and it took her a moment to realize that he had approached her and slammed his hands on the wall behind her, pinning her into the corner he had put her in. She mentally cursed herself for leaving herself so open but let the thought go just as quickly as it came; it wasn't going to help her now.

  “I relish in the destruction of humans.” He said, his face so close to her that the display for his personal log was parted. The light from it illuminated his torso but darkened his face until that only his hair and eyes stood out. It made him look almost akin to a demon, and she felt her hands tremble even as they continued to document everything he was saying. “They do not deserve to breathe the same air as my people. You are beneath me.”

  She felt her throat resist the heavy swallow that she forced at the proximity that he had to her. Suddenly, her attempt at putting him in the same category as cutthroat men and women in business suits couldn't have felt less appropriate – at least none of them had ever implied that they would murder her on principle.

  “And still you say nothing. You simply stand there and try to pretend that your life has worth.” He spit in her face, and she couldn't help but flinch at it hitting her cheek. That was definitely new to her, but still she documented it on his personal log, her fingers more or less working of their own volition. The motion of the digits moving in a flurry across a keyboard was familiar, grounding, and she clung to it to keep her sanity.

  “If we could complete your log,” she said coolly, the only thing giving away her inner turmoil the slight tremble in her voice. He bared his teeth, his lips pulled back in a snarl. She actually saw the moment that his anger at her lack of reaction got to him, and it helped her, in part, to mentally brace for the way that she saw his arms slide down the wall, closer together and nearly clamping her head in place.

  “Do you believe yourself above me? Above your station?” He ground out, demanding and forceful, his voice loud in the silence of the room. She swore that she saw the bio-luminescence in his eyes intensify, brightening more with his anger, but she couldn't be sure. All she knew in that moment was that she wanted to leave, the sooner the better.

  And yet, she resisted calling for Ordar.

  “I believe that I have a job to complete.” She said, her hands trembling almost uncontrollably but still she documented, still she recorded all that was happening to her. It was a part of the ship's goings on, after all. It needed documentation. It was her job. With Seig blocking the display showing what she had written, she wasn't even sure how many typing errors she had made by this point, but she was too far gone to care; editing could always happen later.

  Provided, of course, that she even had a later.

  What should have only ever been considered a mere sleeping quarters, a place for one to rest their head, was steadily looking more and more like a confession room from a shady police station, the kind that never recorded what the police would do to get a confession out of someone, as long as they got a result that closed a case. She vaguely wondered what she would have to do to diffuse the situation, if not call for Ordar.

  A part of her wondered why Ordar hadn't come in yet, to see what was happening. Perhaps that was why he told her that she needed to call him, to summon him to her side, otherwise there was protocol and walls and security measures and rules and regulations in the way of that. Strange that none of that protected her, who, without question, was the one that needed protection the most in this situation.

  Then again, what was a human to the Empire?

  Nothing, it seemed. Less than nothing.

  “The log?” Seig's laugh chilled her to her soul. “Did you truly believe that I needed a log this early in the day?” She was only vaguely aware that her entire body was trembling now, too focused on breathing to think of much else. She could feel her knuckles popping from the speed at which they flew across the digital keyboard but still she did not stop. “I will tell you this now: if any of the humans we sent away are still alive, it is because they were shielded by some divine power.” He grinned cruelly. “I personally saw to their distribution. They only went to the most labor intensive areas, the most brutal slave markets with cutthroat masters. None of them will live.”

  “Does this conclude your log?” She asked. “If it does, I have other-”

  “My personal log is the least of your concerns.” He chuckled darkly. “You are one of the few humans that were kept aboard this ship.” His eyes narrowed. “All of you daring to share a space with your betters, skittering around like a bunch of rats.” He grit his teeth. “Rats that should be burned out before the plague spreads.” He lifted one of his hands.

  “ORDAR!!!” The scream tore itself from her throat before she had even completed the thought that she needed to call him for help. She screamed it so loudly that it burned her lungs from the effort, and she ducked, wanting to avoid the blow that was no doubt h
eading her way. It was a blow that she knew she would not walk away from unharmed, or possibly even conscious.

  It was also a blow that never came, as it turned out. At the very least, a blow that did not come to her. She certainly heard Seig's fist connect with something solid, something fleshy, but she felt nothing to accompany the sound, so it couldn't have been her. Dazed, confused, and more than a little fearful for her life, she looked up in time to see Ordar standing between the two of them, ever her shield, her staunch guardian, with his hand holding the clenched fist Seig had thrown that had been meant for her.

  “I had hoped that you would be stronger than your hatred, Seig.” Ordar clicked his tongue in disappointment as he stared down his brother in arms. Seig was wrestling with his fist, still in Ordar's grip in an attempt to break free but Ordar held fast, unmovable and unyielding as a mountain. If she hadn't been attacked, Mary would have almost thought his efforts were brave, when compared to what he faced. “I though better of you.”