Chapter 2 #3
Chee came to a halt at the front desk. What looked to have been a directory or a welcoming area for some kind of front desk crew now held some neatly stacked boxes and a couple tablets and bread that had been left half eaten, no one at all concerned about rodents or pests because this was a completely lifeless world.
There wasn’t an ant or roach in sight to eat that food.
But it looked fresh. Half a loaf of bread, casually half unwrapped. It wasn’t stale or moldy at all. When she reached over the desk, it depressed easily under her finger. It was fresh. So, they had food at least. Or a functioning food synth making machine.
Then, maybe she should try to find the mess hall. That would be the heart of the facility. Everyone had to eat, so that was where they’d have to return to eventually. Therefore, that would probably be her best bet to-
The pressing of something hard to the back of her head wasn’t hurtful or fast. It was just a gentle pressure that appeared out of nowhere that made her go still.
She couldn’t see who was behind her, she hadn’t even heard anyone approach.
She also didn’t know exactly what was pressing into the back of her helmet.
But she knew. She definitely knew.
Though alien guns were different in design, they were still just triggers and barrels, and she knew the barrel of a gun. She was also aware of intention, and, somehow, there wasn’t any ill intention in this. Just a soft, quiet warning.
“Good,” a male voice hummed from behind. “Now, hands up. Nice and slow.”
She did as she was told, lifting them into the air. Grateful now that she hadn’t brought a weapon. She was not comfortable in skintight clothes, but at least it was obvious she had nothing on her. She was not a threat he needed to deal with immediately.
As directed, she raised her hands in the air, palms forward.
Doing her best to appear as non-threatening as possible.
She couldn’t forget that she was in a den of literal murderers right now.
They were apparently role-playing as good, upstanding citizens, but even good, honest, moral people could commit murder under the right circumstances.
“Now turn around.”
Still moving slowly, deliberately, she put her foot down and pivoted.
Her helmet was shielded from the front, so she knew he couldn’t see her, but she could see him.
And she was met with the tall, familiar form of a domini male.
Familiar because these were the aliens that worked most closely with Earth.
When aliens were discussed back home, domini were the aliens in question.
They were the ones on TV. They were the ones who represented Earth to the Coalition and the Coalition to Earth.
The species’ main claim to fame was their camouflage abilities, so their skin and hair was never one color. It always took on either their surroundings or, just as often, the clothing they wore.
In this case, the color of this male’s skin was the bright, now faded orange of his jumpsuit.
His hair was long, halfway down his back, even in the ponytail he had it up in on the back of his head.
His hair, and the top half of his head, matched the gray of the walls instead of his jumpsuit.
He had three eyes, all sharp slashes on his face.
Two about where hers were and a third on his forehead, but the inner corners were all pointed towards each other, so the upper eye was on its side.
They were purple, bright and clear, and clashing terribly with the orange of his jumpsuit.
But he was handsome despite it. He had a pretty boy face, the kind that would grace the walls of a teenage girl’s room as she dreamed about her favorite boy band members.
A long, elegant nose over a pair of soft lips, all framed by a sharp, triangular jaw.
His features were ageless, timeless, flawless.
He was handsome in a cute, heartthrob way.
And, to her annoyance, that was exactly her type. Especially when that face was accompanied by a crude, metal gun that he was pointing right at her face. He wasn’t thin or super muscular. And he had a tail. She knew that domini had tails, but she was still surprised to see it moving behind him.
His two lower eyes trailed up and down her body, while his third, upper eye remained locked on her face. Making sure he was always watching her closely. It was not an amorous look, but rather a dissecting one. He was making sure she wasn’t a threat.
“You’re rather small…” He said, frowning, checking her out again. “What are… wait…”
“I would like to speak to you and your crew,” she said, her voice level and even despite the fact that she was looking down the barrel of a gun leveled at her forehead.
The domini male focused all three eyes back on her face. Suspicion cast over his features.
“My crew?”
“Yes,” she said, doing her own once over while she was still hidden from his gaze. She’d been given files on everyone who was part of the Humility crew, including the other humans that had mated the males once from Rik-Vane. There was only one domini on the crew.
That must mean this was Trove.
She was in the right place.
It was time to get to work.
“I have a job for you,” she said.