Chapter 2
“Our passengers are entering the flight deck, Captain.”
Captain Nevv Kellen looked up from his control deck. Veirn, the Quendala’s onboard AI, was broadcasting video from the flight deck.
Kellen had studied their information packets, supplied to him by the Maestra, but this was his first time getting eyes on some of them. He’d flown missions with Riina and Tim before, though this was a new Tim, a mostly human Tim. Or somewhat human Tim? Only time would answer that question.
The TrackerY robot, Trac, was a disturbing sight with the three-tailed skitterfin on his shoulder. Its three tails wrapped his cyborg head and its wings were tucked in.
Nevv had never liked skitterfens. As a general rule he didn’t like any animals on his ship. They were difficult to control and often acted on impulse. Its inclusion in the mission had been done without his input.
He studied the female soldier walking behind Trac. Her name was Lt. Lovely Dish, so he’d expected her to be anything but lovely. He wasn’t sorry to be wrong.
He’d noticed when anyone mentioned Lieutenant Dish, the men fell silent. Now he knew why.
She was blonde, generously built, and her walk might have stalled his thinking for several seconds. Or longer.
It was a small team, but Arroxan Prime wasn’t a high priority contact planet, being situated off the beaten flight paths and isolated in their little system.
He’d studied the system, too, and had mentally labeled it as mostly dysfunctional.
It had only one slightly habitable planet. How had anyone found their way there?
They were only sending the mission because contact had happened, not because any of them wanted to make contact with the planet’s inhabitants.
From his perusal of the mission report, Dr. Miles Walker had gone to investigate a seismic warning sensor and tripped over everything in sight. And several things not in sight.
At least he seemed to realize it. He’d been deployed with a robot assist module named Harold—there had to be a story there—but even it couldn’t save Dr. Walker from himself. Or from first contact.
On the good news side of the equation, the contact was limited so far. Nothing official yet.
They’d have probably just pulled Dr. Walker and Harold out, but the problem that had triggered the sensor seemed to be systemic and possibly planet-wide.
Current protocol was to interfere as little as possible in a planet’s affairs, but back before the long sleep?
A lot of interfering had occurred, with Arroxan Prime as a, well, prime example.
He wasn’t clear on the nature of the interference, but if sensors had been planted? Interfering had occurred.
There was a short delay at the boarding ramp, as man and robot signaled for the two women to board first. Riina didn’t hesitate, but Lt. Dish engaged in a short argument with Tim before giving in and coming aboard.
With some reluctance, he stood, smoothing down his uniform before turning and striding to the hatch. It was time to welcome the team aboard.
Riina led the way to the Quendala’s lounge.
Even if she hadn’t been aboard this ship before, its design was similar to others of its type that had been brought back into service as more and more of them woke from the long sleep.
It helped to lead their small group. This meant she didn’t have to look at Tim yet.
They’d exchanged greetings at the hatch, of course, but somehow their glances hadn’t intersected.
As she walked down the main corridor, she tried to ignore the tingling sensations traveling up and down her back. It was probably her imagination that Tim stared at her. That and wishful thinking? She pushed that thought away as firmly as she could manage.
From the opposite direction, the captain, Nevv Kellen approached, lifting a hand in greeting.
She was pleased to be traveling with him once more.
He had a steady head in a crisis and was also brave and resourceful.
The ship’s AI, Veirn, had an interesting sense of humor, but personality quirks seemed to be the order of the day as more and more of the Garradian assets were assembled and reactivated.
“Captain,” she said, giving him a respectful nod, before smiling and holding out her hand.
He took her hand, but his attention shifted past her. Either to Lt. Dish or the team in general, she wasn’t sure. Well, she might suspect it was Lt. Dish. She seemed to have an interesting effect on the men.
“Small team this time,” Kellen noted. “Optimism or…”
“Caution,” Riina finished. They weren’t exactly expecting things to go badly, but Arroxan Prime was a planet that did not appear to have indulged in any type of star ward looking.
And, between experience and time spent in Doc’s company, Riina was learning to expect the unexpected. And the worst from the unexpected.
It was entirely possible the populace would become a little agitated at the realization that first contact had happened. Or a lot. Full on panic was also on what Doc liked to call the Bingo card, whatever that meant. And they might reject any attempts to help them with their Vorthari infestation.
There was the video from Dr. Walker’s contact, but would they believe it? The Vorthari were unusual appearing aliens. Unsettling but also beautiful. The aliens, the Skaridrex, who’d helped contain the Vorthari at the initial contact site were not beautiful. That might be a problem.
Multiple Garradian scientific teams had studied the data transmitted from Dr. Walker’s encounter with the Vorthari. They hoped to discover their origins and why they’d migrated to Arroxan Prime. They were all certain they weren’t natural to the planet. She wasn’t sure why yet.
There was one theory currently being discussed that the Vorthari were the source of the extreme volcanic activity the planet experienced. Did that mean the Vorthari predated the human occupants?
Anything was possible which was just another way of saying, “expect the unexpected.”
“We have contact with Dr. Walker and Harold,” Riina continued. So far everything he’d supplied indicated a people who weren’t that interested in the stars. Even their alien conspiracy theories seemed to be focused underground.
And they weren’t wrong about that.
There was a short pause, then the captain cleared his throat.
“You’ll each find a path customized to your ID that will lead you to your quarters. We’ll be lifting off shortly. Locate your secure seating for both lift-off and when we activate the star drive or you’ll have some unpleasant moments.”
They had to be well clear of the outpost before they could activate the star drive, Riina knew.
“Thank you, Captain,” Riina said. She glanced at her timepiece. “Let’s return here in half an hour? We have some video from Dr. Walker to study. It’s from their entertainment broadcasts. We need to get a feel for the inhabitants of Arroxan Prime.”
“Cool,” Lt. Dish said. She bent to pick up her gear, but Trac beat her—and Tim—to it.
“Let me assist you,” Trac said. “I have no gear to stow.”
Now Tim turned toward her, but it felt as if he avoided her gaze.
“You brought no gear?” he asked.
“I brought it aboard earlier,” Riina said. She and the captain had needed to discuss their approach to the planet.
Was it her imagination that Tim’s gaze shot toward the captain for a few seconds?
She gave an imperceptible sigh. This mission was going to be challenging on multiple levels.