A Chance for Arus: A Sci Fi Alien Romance (Tallean Mercenaries Book 2)

by Lynnea Lee

  CHAPTER TEN

  Mia checked her messages again. Still, nothing. Nothing from her mother and nothing from Arus. She knew Arus was busy with the situation at the new colonist area. But her mother usually answered with the enthusiasm of a stage five clinger. It was almost midnight. Therefore, she worried.

  She shifted her weight restlessly in the high-backed desk chair. Fidgety from her nervousness, she swiveled the seat from side to side. It creaked softly with the rhythm.

  Throughout the evening, Mia kept herself updated with the reports of the ongoing developments. At first, it was just another fence failure. They’ve been having too many of those recently. Then someone spotted a pack of dragus roaming the streets. Only minutes later, on the other side of the new colonist area, came news of another pack. Mia worried. Not just for Arus, who might be out hunting the dragus, but also for the humans living there. Was her mother safe inside her room?

  To make matters worse, the last message left by her mother was roughly after Daniel had shown up at the cafe. The message was bizarre too. Bianca ranted on about how Mia was ruining their chance to get back to Earth on a spaceship. It seemed her mother believed that sucking up to Dr. Ives was the golden ticket for the Earthbound train. It sounded nuttier than squirrel turd. Had Mother Dear finally lost it? Mia chewed at her fingernails again, unable to stop the compulsion.

  Against her better judgment, or because Mia just loved tormenting herself, she checked the colony broadcasts again. You know, just in case something happened in the thirty seconds she had clicked away from the screen. And wouldn’t you know it, there was another update. She clicked on the “translate me” button and froze. Hands shaking, she clicked for more details.

  Missing Female Reported: New Colonist Area

  Human Female

  Middle Aged

  Red haired

  5’9” Earth Height Units

  Bespectacled

  Contact security if you have any info on her whereabouts.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. Good, it wasn’t her mom. Well, no. Not good. She didn’t want anyone to go missing, especially since the description sounded so familiar. Who did it remind her of?

  Tall, middle-aged redhead with glasses. Mia heard her voice in her head before she remembered the name. Isabella!

  Without thinking, Mia commed the housing office. She tapped her nails on the desk and waited for the comm to patch through. Catching the time display at the corner of the screen, she realized how late it was. Angie probably left the office hours ago. As Mia was about to close the comm, Angie’s face appeared on the screen.

  “Thank goodness you called, Mia! I’m dying of boredom in here!” Angie lamented with an exaggerated eye roll. “I was, like, two minutes from leaving the office when they shut down the entire area. I’ve been stuck at the housing office, alone, all evening.”

  “That’s shitty. Are you stuck with no dinner?” Mia leaned back in her chair and lifted her feet to rest on the desk, legs crossed.

  “There’s a food replicator, but it’s meh.” Angie held up a half-finished plate of food. It didn’t look appetizing. “But the office is air-conditioned, so at least I won’t bake to death.”

  “Ugh! Today’s a scorcher. I think it’s the first crazy hot day I’ve experienced here on Reka 5. I hope it’s not common.”

  “Hell, no!” Angie assured her. “It’s never this hot! What a day for a fence outage and a dragus attack! Those poor males out there rounding up the dragus must be sweating buckets.”

  “I can’t even step outside without melting,” Mia agreed. “Imagine having to run and fight.”

  The image of Arus in his black tank top and his heavy-duty combat boots stalking a pack of dragus sprung to Mia’s mind. He was out there with the security team. She couldn’t decide which image was more intimidating, a well-armed Arus, or an entire pack of dragus.

  “Your man is out there teaching those creatures who’s boss. I saw them from the window. Holy cow! Those two mercs are something else. They belong on calendars!” Angie fanned herself as if the image was too hot to handle. “OMG, I totally didn’t mean to gush about ogling your man.”

  “Arus isn’t really mine. It’s just a fling. Or at least, it’s supposed to be?”

  Angie sniggered at her. “You sound like you are trying to convince yourself.”

  Mia huffed. “To be honest, it will be hard when he leaves. Arus is amazing. But I’m not in a place for a relationship right now, and neither is he.”

  “Well, I’d still tap that for as long as I can if I were you. Not that it’s hard to find terrific bed buddies here. You know what they say, the best way to get over someone is to get under someone. When he leaves, you and I can visit the baths together. You’ll have your pick of Tallean men.”

  “Sounds like a plan.” But Mia’s heart was not in it. The thought of jumping into another man’s bed did not appeal. It felt wrong.

  Mia dragged herself mentally back to the conversation and the reason she made the comm. “I saw the missing person’s announcement. The description reminded me of someone I know, Isabella. I wanted to know if she’s all right. I was hoping it was someone else.”

  Angie paused on the other end, and Mia’s stomach sank.

  “I’m sorry, Mia. Isabella’s the one who is missing. Her roommate reported her missing right before the fence went down. Once the lockdown went into effect, we called all the places she could be, and no one had seen her.”

  “First the fence, then the dragus, and now Isabella is missing? What the hell is going on today?” Mia blew out a lengthy sigh. “Not to mention, my mom, who never leaves me alone, haven’t replied since leaving me a cryptic message around noon about going back to Earth on a spaceship.”

  “Oh boy, is she still stuck on the whole getting back to Earth thing?” Angie sounded sympathetic. “The faster she gets over that phase, the easier it gets. I promise!”

  “I agree. That’s why I got a job right away. The faster I set roots down here, the better.”

  “You’re doing great, Mia. You’ve got a job, and you’ve made friends. That’s most important. Things get easier with friends. At least it did for me.”

  Angie was right. “Maybe that’s what my mom needs. Friends.”

  “She doesn’t get away from the new colonist area much, does she?”

  “Never. She’s still terrified of the Talleans even though the ones at Reka 5 have done nothing but help us. But I understand. Talleans were the ones who stole us from Earth, so they are all bad guys in her eyes.”

  Mia had hoped to help her mother integrate into their new home. Their first few days here, she had tried to convince Bianca to go on the guided tours and orientations, but her mom had staunchly refused. She said she didn’t plan on staying long.

  When Mia took the job at the Daily Dose, Bianca threw a tantrum. Why would they need credits when they had plenty of money back on Earth? She accused Mia of not loving her father enough to find a way back to him. And that was when Mia finally understood.

  It hurt Mia to see her mother so heartbroken and trapped in her delusions. Maybe it would be possible for her parents to reunite one day. But broke and crazy wasn’t the way to get there. Not to mention, Earth was currently firmly in Dominion space. They couldn’t just pay someone to fly them in.

  Angie spoke again, “Why don’t you bring her by sometime? I can introduce her to some ladies who have been here longer. Like I said before, we’ve never had an entire shipload of new arrivals from Earth before. We’ve never had to deal with humans who don’t want to be here. The rest of us celebrated when we reached Reka 5. This is our freedom.” Angie’s eyes looked distant as she remembered her struggles.

  “I think that’s a brilliant idea. It can’t be healthy hanging around Dr. Ives and Reverend Jon.”

  Angie made a gagging sound and pretended to retch at her screen. Mia giggled at the dramatic response. That was exactly how the two men made her feel.


  “Don’t even mention them! Did you know Jon came by the other day, spouting his religious bull crap? He claimed the Talleans were sent by the devil to tempt us into fornication and that we should wage a holy war on them!”

  “Well,” Mia said with a smirk. “They are very tempting! They can tempt me into fornication anytime!”

  “That, I agree! I told Jon to take his holy war and shove it because the only war I would be waging would be on him if he didn’t leave my office.”

  Mia guffawed, imagining the look on Reverend Jon’s face. “That man is a real piece of work.”

  “Then, he told me not to laugh because the Ark will be here soon to take the righteous back to Earth. The dude is crazy! Bat shit insane! I told him to leave on his ark already, and good riddance, Amen!”

  “Amen!” Mia liked Angie. She was spunky and fun to talk to. “Shit, do you think my mom is buying into the whole ark thing? I thought she was smarter than that!”

  “She’s in denial. She’ll snap out of it,” Angie assured her. “Don’t you worry about Bianca not replying, I saw her earlier today. I’m sure she’s in her room.”

  Mia felt better. Her mom was probably just giving her the cold shoulder.

  “Thanks, Angie.”

  The grime sluiced off Arus’s body in sheets of brown and crimson. Hunting down the dragus in the heat had not been fun for anyone, except maybe for Vore. That male found joy in all forms of violence. At least it gave Arus an outlet for his frustrations. Still, he was glad it was over.

  The cool water of the cleansing unit was a welcome reprieve. He washed the foam off efficiently with deft hands, watching the dirty water circle down the drain. The quick shower over, he turned off the unit.

  He wrapped a towel over his hips and stood under the dryer. Setting the heat on low, he ruffled his hair to start the drying process. But he was impatient and cut the dry time short. He could live with damp hair. He went to check the time on his comm.

  It was well past midnight. It was much too late to contact Mia now. She would already be asleep. He imagined her small body curled up asleep in bed and rubbed at his chest, absentmindedly.

  He would have to go into the Daily Dose tomorrow to see her. He planned on taking Vore’s advice and cooking for her.

  The light on the corner of his comm blinked. There was a message from the Defiant. He opened it and read it. A feeling of dread crept in, forming a lump in his throat.

  Shit! They were early. They expected to touch down on Reka 5 the day after tomorrow. Two days! That was all he had.

  Arus buried his face in his palms. How was he going to convince Mia to stay with him in two days? He needed a miracle. Having never been religious, he had never prayed for anything in his life. He knew he would never pray to the Goddess. Even at the academy, he had simply daydreamed during the daily prayers.

  He gazed out into the night sky. He spent so much of his life out among the Stars that maybe, he thought, it was time to start praying to them. The constellations blinked back at him. And for the first time in his life, he closed his eyes and prayed.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Mia struggled not to curse as the pastry dough laughed in her face.

  “Female, you can’t just beat everything into submission,” Crox tutted. “You’ve got to finesse it, use a firm but delicate hand.”

  She watched as Crox masterfully folded softened fat into the layers of his dough and rolled it out into a thin, uniform layer. He repeated the practiced movements several more times, exponentially increasing the layers in the dough. He made it look so easy.

  This morning, when Crox asked if one of them wanted to help him make pastries, she had jumped on the chance. After yesterday’s run-in with Daniel, she wasn’t too keen on manning the bar on her own. If anyone came in asking for Mia, Sala would tell them she wasn’t in. Besides, how hard could pastry making be?

  They were making a pastry called, unimaginatively, a crown puff. It was a crown-shaped puff filled with a nut paste and topped with fresh fruit. It was a local pastry, created and sold only on Reka 5. Whenever Arus came into the refreshment bar, he always ordered this pastry. Knowing this was Arus’s pastry of choice at the shop distracted her. She had thought of him all night, despite telling herself they were only fuck buddies.

  “Try again,” Crox encouraged. He handed her another spatula full of the softened, spiced fat. “Spread it on thinly almost to the edge, leave some room for the dough to seal.”

  Steeling her resolve, she gave it another try. She squared her hips towards the marble work surface and followed Crox’s directions.

  “Now fold the dough over in thirds and seal the edges. That’s good! Next, you want to roll it out.” Then he added, “Gently, this time!”

  Hey! Would you look at that, it worked! The fat stayed dough bound and didn’t squeeze out the side like her muffin tops in too-tight yoga pants. She did it two more times following Crox’s lead. Then she cut out the crown shape using the cutter.

  “Now the paste,” he said. “Right in the center. Not too much, or it will overflow in the oven.”

  They had made the paste earlier by grinding down tree nuts local to the area surrounding Reka 5. The paste was then mixed with the boiled down sweet sap of the same tree.

  She piped the paste into the center of the pastry. She even managed to keep most of the paste where it belonged.

  Sala poked her head through the doorway. “You’ve got another visitor, Mia.”

  “You were supposed to tell them I’m not here!” Mia looked up at the tiled ceiling, wondering what mess she had to face now.

  “Another one? You sure are a popular female. Do you need me to go out there and make sure we don’t get a repeat of yesterday?”

  “This one’s safe,” said Sala. Then to Mia, who hadn’t moved from her location, “You’ll want to see this one.”

  Mia got up, wiped her hands on her apron, and made her way to the door.

  “I’ll get these in to bake. You go on out there,” said Crox, ushering her out to the front.

  Arus greeted her at the counter. She bounced over to greet him, more excited than she should be.

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see you yesterday, Dumpling,” he started. “We had a lot of dragus to hunt down.”

  “Are you okay?” Mia asked. “Those dragus look like tough bastards.”

  “So am I. It was good fun.”

  Fun? It was fun to fight scary beasts?

  “I will come to see you after your shift. I rented out a suite with a kitchen, so I can cook for you.”

  “He cooks!” Crox exclaimed as he checked the pastry case. “Definitely a keeper. The ones who cook are the best. I should know.” He looked across the counter at Arus. “I know you! You are one of the mercenaries the director hired to help around the colony. Heard you guys had some fence and dragus problems yesterday.”

  “Nothing we couldn’t handle. We caught most of the culprits responsible.”

  Crox looked wistful and sighed. “Reminds me of the good old days when the colony was still new. I used to be on the security team. We didn’t have the fences in place then, and we had to fight off the dragus every few days. It was fun at first, but it got tedious fast. After a dozen times, I never wanted to see a dragus again. I leave it to you young males now and spend my days rolling dough instead.”

  Arus peeked into the pastry case. “No crown puffs today?”

  “We just got those into the oven, if you sit and wait, they should be done soon,” Crox assured him. “Mia helped with this batch.”

  Mia coughed awkwardly. “You can tell which ones are mine. They look like they’ve been tortured to within an inch of their lives.”

  Crox guffawed. Then he looked thoughtful.

  “Mia, why don’t you ask your merc here to scare off your other suitor while he’s here?”

  “Other suitor?” Arus’s voice sounded strained. His face darkened. Was he jealo
us?

  “He means Daniel. The jerk came by trying to win an academy award, but his acting sucked, and we knew he was lying.” Then to Crox, “They’ve met.”

  Arus turned serious and growled. “He was here? When?”

  “Yesterday. What’s wrong, Arus?” Mia asked.

  “We have a recording of him and three others sabotaging the fence. We caught the other three. Dr. Ives is still missing.”

  “Ugh! Why am I not surprised? I bet that slimy fake as fuck Reverend Jon is a part of it, too. Daniel was here yesterday before the fence outage. He was trying to get me to go back with him. But I’m not that stupid!”

  “Reverend Jon? Who is that?”

  “An older man with gray hair. Short, about yea tall.” Mia put her hand a few inches above her head. “He’s condescending and spews religious bullshit.”

  “He was not on the recording. But I’ll pass on his description to the security team.”

  The oven dinged, and Crox went to the back to remove the fresh pastries. After a quick rest on the cooling rack and a generous topping of fresh fruit, the treats were ready for the display.

  Mia’s heart did a little flip-flop when Arus chose the most deformed pastry of the batch.

  “See you tonight,” he said before taking a generous bite.

  The cramped kitchenette lacked the equipment Arus was used to, but he hummed to himself as he worked all the same. The thing he loved most about food was how it brought so much enjoyment to people. No matter where in the galaxy they came from, or where they were going, good food was universal happiness.

  The creation process was calming and easy to get lost in. The practice of taking raw ingredients, combining and altering them to create something new and delicious, was immersive. Even slow moments were filled with tidbits for the senses. Scent, sight, and touch combined into a cocktail of deliciousness.

  While he often bemoaned his nickname of “the chef” on board the Defiant, he never stopped cooking for the crew. For his crew. It wasn’t just the process he enjoyed; it was the sharing. He felt a connection to his crew by feeding them.