Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  Jess turned and gripped her sleeve. “Careful. It’s steep here.” She slowly worked her way down the rough cut steps they’d climbed up earlier, pressing herself hard against the cliff surface. It occurred to her that staying in the city might have been a wiser choice, but she’d started getting that itch between her shoulder blades and the last thing she wanted was a firefight in the middle of Quebec.

  Probably end up with all of them in jail, those that didn’t end up dead.

  The storm suddenly cracked and thundered right over head, and with a yelp, she ducked as a landslide of sharp stones came cascading down on top of them. “C’mon!”

  Dev scampered down after her, feeling sliding under her boots and an unsteadiness in her balance as the rock seemed to shiver under her.

  She half slid the last part to the bottom, then she joined Jess in a full out bolt for the carrier as a heavy rumble warned them of trouble coming down.

  Rocks started to bounce past her, and she felt an impact on her back as they got to the bottom of the slope and then ran across the boulder strewn area in front of where they’d left the bus.

  Jess looked behind her, and her eyes went wide. “Oh crap! Dev! Move it! Get to the bus! Move!”

  Dev didn’t bother looking. She bolted past her companion and triggered the hatch, ducking inside as Jess caught up to her. She headed for her seat as a sound started coming around them that was louder than anything she’d heard in her life.

  She heard the hatch seal behind her and got her harness in place as she was already reaching out to start up the engines and get the power systems up, her hands moving in programming boosted speed and precision she didn’t have the luxury to think about.

  “Better boost! We’re gonna get creamed!” Jess bellowed, thumping into her own seat. “Or there isn’t gonna be enough of this damn thing for Clint to...ugh!”

  “Hold on!” Dev didn’t hesitate an instant. She kicked the landing jets in full force as soon as they spooled and took the carrier straight up for just long enough to clear the boulders before she cut in the mains, boosting clear of the ground as she heard the bump and clang of rocks hitting the outside of the hull.

  No time even to put her headset on. She got away from the cliff at full speed for a minute, then she cut in the rear scan and the screens came alive with the sight of the entire face of the cliff sliding down and collapsing in a destructive rush that blasted over the tiny plateau they’d been parked on minutes before.

  “Holy shit.” Jess stared at the screen.

  Another crack of thunder and a blast of lightning rocked the carrier. Dev instinctively ducked and flinched as the forward screens whited out, then she adjusted the tint and cut in comp. “We’re getting weather warnings,” she said. “Too much interference.”

  “Find a place to put her down,” Jess said. “No one’ll be out watching now anyway. Stupid god damned storms.” She pushed her hood back and raked the wet hair out of her eyes, as the carrier rocked back and forth between blasts of lightning.

  Dev set up comp and searched the map ahead of them, spotting an overhang on the other side of the small valley they were currently coursing through. The carrier flashed over bare rock and dark pools of rain, the coated front window giving her a clear view of the sheets of water slamming against the carrier with intimidating force.

  “Get her down,” Jess warned, as they both felt the engines hesitate.

  Dev did, aiming for the overhang and slamming the landing jets on just as the mains cut out and they dropped hard. Lightning was striking all around them, multiple bolts coming on either side as she got the vehicle under the ledge and cut power just before a bolt hit them full on, making the power blank out completely for a few long seconds.

  Then the batts came on and they were safe, the landing feet leveling the carrier as the storm came on in earnest. For a few minutes, the rumble and thump almost deafened them, but after that it steadied down to a dull roar and they both let out a breath of relief at the same time.

  Jess let her body relax against her seat. “I’ll tell ya, Dev. You really are worth your weight in gold credits.”

  Dev turned her seat around, glancing down at herself, before she regarded Jess. “I think it’s possible I might have to cash that in if I keep almost wrecking this transport.” She gave Jess a wry look. “Clint is going to be very disturbed.”

  Jess started unzipping her jacket. “Probably,” she said. “But we made it. Now we just have to wait out the storm and then head off to North Station.” She stood up and hung her jacket on one of the hooks near the drop pack. “And hope no one’s stupid enough to try and follow us in this.”

  Dev undid her restraints and stood, getting out of her jacket as well. She hung it up next to Jess’s and riffled her damp hair out. “So now we just wait?”

  “Now we just wait.” Jess leaned against the drop suit, a faint smile appearing on her lips. “Of course, this could be the moment I tell you to take your clothes off.”

  Dev met her eyes, and smiled. “Because we can wear our uniforms in the North place?”

  “Well.” Jess pushed off from the suit and started unfastening the wrist catches on her jumpsuit. “That too.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  THE STORM WAS overwhelmingly violent. Dev had perched on the small ledge behind the drop suit, with her back against the dispenser half hidden behind it. Overhead, she could hear the almost continual rumble of thunder, and the lightning strikes were going on around them in an eye blinking barrage of cracks and blasts.

  She and Jess were in their gray under suits, the environmental systems in the carrier working well enough to keep the icy chill of the wind and weather from impacting them. It was comfortable and relaxed. Dev was reading a few pages of her book while Jess fiddled with one of the big blaster rifles.

  She had halfway wanted Jess to tell her to take her clothes off. For a moment, she’d thought Jess was, but the fury of the storm had distracted both of them and Jess had seemed to turn a bit shy, her face twisting up into a wry grin as she folded her city suit and put it away.

  That was all right, Dev decided. There was always time later to investigate the idea.

  After a few minutes Jess set the rifle back into it’s clamps and stood up, walking over and taking a seat next to her on the ledge. “Crazy outside, huh?” She braced her hands on the edge of the flat surface, her shoulder just brushing Dev’s.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this, so yes, I believe it is.” Dev was glad to have the solid wall of the carrier behind her, instead of the glass.

  Jess hitched herself back and leaned against the wall, folding her hands and letting them rest on her thighs. “Thats right, no storms in space.”

  “Well.” Dev put her book down. “We do have storms, just not water ones. We have sun storms and asteroid storms, and they’re both pretty dangerous. I remember one of the asteroid ones when I was little that was so bad it knocked out power and grav.”

  “Huh.”

  “It was scary. We were all in class when it happened. All of a sudden we heard a loud noise, then it went dark and we were all floating.”

  Jess tried to imagine that, and really couldn’t. “Wow.”

  “It was really disconcerting,” Dev said. “Even the proctors were scared. You do go through training for emergencies but you don’t expect one like that.”

  Jess considered that in silence. “Space is kinda creepy.”

  Dev nodded. “It sometimes is. Especially when they show you what explosive decompression does. No one makes airlock jokes after that.” She pulled her legs up crossed and leaned on them. “That’s what they do to people who die upside.”

  Jess made a face.

  “Well, it’s either that or put them in the solar furnace and you know, I think I’d prefer the spacing,” Dev said. “I remember in basics class they told us in the long ago past they used to bury bodies in the ground. That sounded pretty crazy.”

  “It was,” Jess admitted. “I gues
s we don’t do any better, processing bodies and just dispersing them into the sea. Gotta do something with all the mass, I guess and I always though it was sorta comforting to know you’d at least give a fish a meal.”

  “I see.” Dev thought about that. “This is quite an unpleasant subject,” she said, finally. “Can you talk about fish instead? They live in the ocean?”

  “They do. They’re the only thing that survived, after it all went bad. They learned to live on the venting algae, and we learned to live on them. That, and we learned to harvest the sea, to use the waves and the tides and the wind for power, and subsist on a lot less than we used to.”

  Dev nodded. “I learned that in class too,” she said. “Except at the crèche we used solar power for everything. They took us when we were kids up to the processing center to see the arrays. They were so pretty, all shining, and moving to follow the sun.”

  Jess studied her hands. “I’d like to see the sun. Maybe you could show me around up there someday.”

  Dev made a picture in her head of that. She realized with some internal embarrassment that while she’d love to show Jess the sun, she wasn’t really happy about considering going back to the crèche. She tried to imagine returning to her life of classes and sleep pods, and felt an intense sense of discomfort over it.

  It was a strange feeling.

  “Except I’m pretty sure you don’t want to go back there,” Jess said after a few moments of silence. “Do ya?”

  Dev smiled, and glanced at her. “No. I was just thinking about that.” She shifted a little, to face Jess. “I don’t want to go back there. I like it here much better.” She looked at Jess, watching the interesting shadows the overhead lights were casting on her profile.

  They made her a little mysterious looking. There were sharp planes to her face that seemed stark in the half lighting.

  Jess reached over and gently touched the exposed collar on Dev’s neck. “Do they ever take these off?”

  Dev felt the touch, and she swallowed the faint lump in her throat from it. “What do you mean?”

  Jess ran her thumb over the metal, and felt the thin, flexible edge. “You said it was for programming. So when they’re done with that, do they take them off? When you don’t need it anymore?”

  Dev remained absolutely still for a moment. “No,” she said, resisting the urge to move away from Jess’s hand. “Because the other reason we have them is so they can put us down if they need to.”

  Jess sat up and moved closer. “What?” She said, a sharp note in her voice. “What do you mean, put you down?”

  Dev shrugged slightly. “Sometimes things happen. I mean, we are humans, after all. Even bio alts can end up doing bad things and like any other human they can get dangerous.” She put her hand out and touched Jess’s knee. “It’s like those gates in the citadel, isn’t it? That’s to stop people when they do bad things.”

  “Yes,” Jess said. “It doesn’t happen often, but it has happened, when someone just went nuts or...” She shrugged. “I mean, we are dangerous.” She indicated herself. “I am. Any of the agents are. Hell, you saw what Bain did.”

  “So, it’s the same for us.” Dev said. “They put a code into a system, and it tells the programming interface to send a signal up into our brains and makes us—well, it makes your heart stop. And your breathing.” She watched Jess’s face, seeing the emotion and tension cross it. “And trying to take it off would do the same thing,” she finished quietly.

  Jess shifted her fingers from the collar down to Dev’s shoulder. “That’s why you don’t like anyone touching it.”

  “Yes,” Dev said. “But I don’t mind if you do.”

  “Why?”

  “I trust you.”

  Jess looked at her. “Well, NM-Dev-1, I’m sure glad you told me about that damn thing before I tried to get it off you.” She patted Dev’s cheek. “I’ll keep my paws off it though. I don’t want to freak you out.”

  “You won’t.”

  “I won’t?”

  “No.” Dev reached up to touch Jess’s hand. “I like when you touch me. It feels good.”

  Jess felt a curious sensation steal over her and the sound of the storm outside faded as she focused on those pale, gentle eyes facing her. “I’m glad. Feels good to me too,” she murmured, letting her hand lay flat against Dev’s cheek and feeling the shift under her fingertips as Dev smiled in response.

  It did feel good. Seeing that smile felt good, and she felt herself smiling back, her skin feeling warm and sensitized as Dev’s thumb gently stroked the back of her hand. “Yeah, I like that.” She stroked Dev’s cheek. “Glad you do too.”

  Dev’s eyes were twinkling a little. “Oh, I do.”

  What next? Jess felt a little short of breath. “Um...Want to try that kissing thing again?” She asked hopefully, seeing the instant interest in the pale eyes watching her.

  “Yes,” Dev responded positively. “I really would.”

  It was crazy and insane and there was the storm and... Jess leaned over and tilted her head and their lips brushed. And who cared? She made a more solid contact and it grew into something sweet and familiar and she felt herself losing her balance and the next thing she knew they were tumbling together against the back wall of the carrier. “Oof.” She grunted, as her head hit the metal surface. “Ouch.”

  Dev chuckled softly, and righted herself. “That was interesting.” She cleared her throat a little. “A bit easier in the water I think.” She shifted a little and laid down on her back, folding her hands over her stomach. “I do like it though.”

  Jess slowly straightened, rolling onto her side and extending her legs out. It put her right next to Dev and she propped her head up on her hand and put her other one on Dev’s arm. “Me too. C’mere.”

  Dev rolled over to face her and they kissed again, this time in a somewhat safer position. She felt the good feeling start up again, and she touched Jess’s face, feeling a little heat under her fingertips as Jess’s hand came to rest on her hip. When they paused, she was short of breath and so was Jess, and they looked at each other at close distance.

  Jess reached up and traced one of her cheekbones. “Ever done this before?”

  Dev shook her head.

  “They teach you about sex upstairs?”

  Dev half shrugged. “They showed us a vid in health class,” she said. “It wasn’t anything like this. And they didn’t say anything about what it would feel like.” She felt her heartbeat start to settle. “Maybe they should have.” She added, almost as an afterthought.

  “Maybe.” Jess smiled a little. “Does it bother you?”

  Dev sat there quietly for a little while, thinking about the question. “I don’t think so,” she finally said. “I like how it feels. I just didn’t expect it.”

  “Expect...kissing? Or that you and I would...or...” Jess fished a little. “We do this sometimes. Ops teams, I mean. With each other.”

  “That’s what Doctor Dan said. I asked him after we did it the first time and he told me that sometimes it happened, and about how it wasn’t okay with us but that it was okay for me because I was doing this job.” She studied Jess thoughtfully. “But even if he hadn’t said that, I would still want to do it,” she admitted, with an almost bashful look.

  Jess looked at her in some mild fascination. “Even if it was...what do you call it, incorrect?”

  “Yes.” Dev smiled. “I told you that you were really attractive,” she said. “You really are, to me.”

  Jess grinned. “Likewise.”

  “So I would have broken that rule anyway,” Dev said. “Even if I’d known about it before.”

  “Ahhh...I knew I liked you.” Jess’s eyes twinkled gravely. “They call me a rogue, y’know. I don’t always play by the rules, and that gets me in trouble sometimes.” She traced one of Dev’s eyebrows. “I knew about the rule regarding bio alts,” she said. “But I had no intention of obeying it with you.”

  Dev’s head tilted a little
. “Really?”

  “Unless you had a problem with it,” Jess said. “And I don’t think you do.” She glanced up as the thunder overhead calmed, and the lightning strikes started to taper off. “We can talk about it when we get back to base. It’s more comfortable in bed anyway.”

  They both sat up and regarded each other. Then Dev hopped off the ledge and shook herself a little, reaching for her flight suit and taking it down off the hook.

  Jess reached around her, and then, unexpectedly, ducked her head and gave Dev another kiss. Then she took her own suit and winked, backing up and shaking the suit out in preparation to donning it. “I’m glad you’re okay with this. It’s been a while for me. Joshua wasn’t into girls.”

  Dev felt quite flushed. It was an interesting feeling. “I see.” She got into her flight suit, and went over to the dispenser for a container of water. Her lips were still tingling, and she could taste Jess on them, a little. Also very interesting.

  “Are you into boys?” Dev asked, glancing over her shoulder.

  Jess blushed visibly. “Are you?” She turned the question back.

  “I never really thought about it either way.” Dev answered straightforwardly. “Class made sex about as interesting as sweeping out the kitchen, so no one really talked about it much.” She hopped into her seat and started bringing systems online. “But I know one thing.”

  “Yeah?” Jess gave herself a shake, and dropped into her chair.

  Dev turned around and looked at her. “No one ever made me want to kiss them like that before.” She turned back around and started syncing the comp, slowly bringing the power online and running checks to make sure the lightning strikes hadn’t fried anything.

  Jess slowly pulled her restraints around her and buckled them, her eyes fixed on the pilot’s chair. “Well, we’re even,” she finally said, as she clicked the catches in place and hit the toggle to retract them. “Because no one’s ever made me want to say screw the mission, let’s go find a cave somewhere before.”