by KG Stutts
And then there was Amethyst. They were a mix of it all. Each of them at the top of their game. They were highly respected and admired. Thinking about the personal sacrifice it took to become the elite team pissed her off. The anger and hatred rolled around in her belly, setting her teeth on edge. Ember wasn't always like this. She used to be happy and better tempered.
All she ever wanted was the approval of her father. General Blanchard was the reason she joined the Air Force. She wanted to be just like him. But the General always favored her younger sister, Laura, because she most resembled their late mother. She would've done anything just for a kind word from him. When he couldn't give one, she changed herself.
When the opportunity came up to be a part of Genesis, Ember jumped at it. She hoped by becoming better than human, she would finally earn her father's love. Instead, he shunned her for it. To him, the only piece of her mother she had left was gone when her eyes changed from baby blue to violet.
Ember decided she had had enough. She started going by her mother's surname of Wilson and rejected the General and his perfect other daughter. To her, all the family she had was Amethyst.
But Lewis was different. They went through the academy together and always had a strong physical connection. She wasn't interested in anything more, regardless of how often he tried to change the boundaries of their relationship.
She pushed everything away from her mind. It would be a hard couple of days to train the military team to even keep up with hers and she needed rest. She rummaged through the brass cabinet in her bathroom until she found a prescription bottle of sleeping pills. Ember popped two sleeping pills and downed the glass of water sitting on her night stand. She quickly dozed off.
#
The next morning, Ember grumbled as she received her schedule. After breakfast, she was supposed to report to General Blanchard. What a lovely way to start the day.
"Morning," she mumbled to her squad as she sat down with her food.
"Not a morning person?" Liam asked as he joined them.
Ember stared hard at him as the rest of his team joined the long table. Ross had to look away from her.
"No, Wilson isn't much of a morning person," Lewis said.
"Or an afternoon person," Nova chimed in.
"Or an evening person," Morris added.
"Haha," Ember dryly said.
"Would've thought you'd be nice and relaxed after last night," Morris teased.
Ember narrowed her eyes. Lewis' ears turned pink.
"You are in for so much pain." Ice filled her voice.
"I'm sorry."
"Not yet, but you're going to be."
"I missed something," Liam said, looking confused.
"Don't worry about it," Lewis muttered.
Liam looked at Lewis and back at Ember. A part of him wanted to press further, but didn't want her to glare at him the way she was looking at her second-in-command. Whatever it was, it felt personal and it was best not to get involved. He just wanted to do his job and go back home, assuming there was one to go back to.
"Do you have a meeting with General Blanchard as well?" Liam asked, trying to break the tension.
Ember pursed her lips together and nodded.
"Great. I'll walk with you."
She didn't say anything as she stood up and walked off.
"You'd better go," Lewis muttered.
"Ember! Wait up!" Liam yelled.
When she didn't stop, he caught up to her in the hallway and grabbed her arm.
"What the hell?" Ember snapped.
"What's your problem with me?"
She grabbed his wrist and pulled it backwards. He bit his lip to keep from whimpering once she let go.
"I don't like being touched," she said before walking away.
"So noted." Liam rubbed his wrist. "Unless it's by someone under your command, right?"
Ember stopped in mid-stride. She turned on her heels, grabbed the back of his elbow, wrenching his arm against his back as her right hand pressed down against his shoulder. The Major winced as she kept the hold.
"Don't pretend you know me, Major Ross. Next time you want to talk about my personal life, I'll separate your shoulder from the socket."
"Okay." He swallowed.
"Glad we understand each other." She let go of her hold.
This time when Ember walked off, Liam kept up the pace slightly behind her.
Chapter Four
"Ah, good," the General said as they entered his office.
"You wanted to see us?" Ember questioned as she took a seat.
"I did. I wanted to let you both know I'm ordering a series of training exercises beginning at eleven hundred hours."
"Is that really necessary?"
"Yes, Ember, it is. Your teams need to work as a unit if we have any chance of success."
"Tell your boy to stay out of my way and follow orders, and everything will be fine."
"Now, hang on -" Liam interjected but she cut him off.
"I've seen your team in action and I wasn't impressed,” she hissed. "It'll be better for everyone if you just acted as the backup my squad doesn't need."
"One simulation means nothing. We weren't prepared -"
"It was a test of your squad's mettle and you failed."
"Enough!" General Blanchard banged his fist on the desk. "Like it or not, this is the mission. There is more on the line than foolish pride. I won't let Earth be in jeopardy over your petty squabbles."
To Liam's surprise, Ember lowered her eyes.
"Good." Blanchard curtly nodded. "You two will be a cohesive unit. From this point on, you will be joined at the hip. You'll eat together, train together, even room together."
"Sir!" They protested in unison.
"If one of you has an itch, I expect the other to scratch it."
Ember and Liam turned and glared at one another but neither argued.
"Glad we had this talk."
General Blanchard rose from his desk and input a series of commands from his console. A holographic image appeared of a woman with long dirty blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a pretty, heart-shaped face.
"Do you know who this woman is?" Blanchard asked.
"Yes." Ember cleared her throat. She knew the woman well. There was a statue of her outside headquarters in West Virginia. Scientists had to take a master class on her in order to get their doctorate. "Doctor Madison Brooks."
"That's right. You have her to thank for the Genesis Project."
"Among other things. She was the savior of Earth over a thousand years ago," Liam chimed in.
"She was the face of the new world. At that point in our history, Earth's population had no knowledge of other worlds and alien races. Dr. Brooks was the one who explained the situation to the planet when a vengeful species known as the Synth were attempting to conquer," Ember stated. “The Intergalactic Security Commission was no longer a secret. That’s when the world’s military branches united under the Air Force.”
“Hard to believe Dr. Brooks was a clone,” Liam commented.
"Exactly. Clone or not, she and her counterpart, Mackenzie Rhodes, were our planet's most gifted minds in the last millennia." Blanchard nodded.
"Sir, what does Dr. Brooks have to do with us?" Liam asked.
"She was brilliant beyond the technological resources of her time. Like Genesis, she had designed a defensive program which couldn't be implemented until the discovery of sampsite long after her death."
"What kind of defensive system?" Ember asked.
"It was designed to find and neutralize any element or substance not natural to Earth," the General explained.
"Sounds dangerous," Liam said.
Ember rolled her eyes. "I assume the system is programmable to particular elements."
"Yes." General Blanchard nodded. "All that is needed is a small sample."
"Let me guess." Ember placed her feet on the General's desk. "Rudo's weather system uses something not organic to this planet."
<
br /> "We've discovered croceus is the power source."
"So we just need to use this system to target the croceus and destroy the weather machine," Liam said.
"It's not that simple, you twit," Ember snapped. "We don't exactly have an abundance of croceus around."
"What's the big deal? We'll go get some."
"Croceus is found on PK-5873. The Maulians that inhabit the planet aren't exactly the friendliest bunch," General Blanchard said.
"Let my team go." Ember cut her eyes at Liam. "We can be in and out before the Maulians know we are there."
"Joined at the hip." The General enunciated each word. "You're not going anywhere without Major Ross."
"His team will just complicate things."
"Then you'd better start training together to learn how to work."
"This is ridiculous," Ember muttered under her breath.
The General walked around the desk, knocked her feet off, and bent down to get in her face.
"I don't care," he said in a low voice. "You will do as you are told or you'll go back in the hibernation chamber. And this time, I'll authorize behavior modification protocols. You'll wake singing every Disney song and having a strong urge to knit. Do I make myself clear?"
Ember glared in response to his threat but didn't argue. After a moment, he backed off and straightened his jacket.
"Dismissed."
#
A large portion of the afternoon was spent with both teams arguing. The Air Force unit wanted to show up Amethyst. The quartet viewed the others as a nuisance.
The General ordered the two leaders to share quarters. Being in close proximity to each other set both of them on edge. Neither trusted the other and resented the forced arrangements.
"I'm not at all bad," Liam told her as she made her bed.
"I'm sure you're not."
"Can't we ... why can't we get along?"
"Get along?" Ember stopped at the foot of the bed.
"Make the best of this situation."
"Let me spell it out for you." She sat down and placed her hands on her knees. "My goal here is to kill Rudo and save our planet by any means necessary."
"And I'm what's necessary."
"I doubt that."
"Why?"
"You're just a pretty boy with a gun. I've seen and trusted my fair share of good-looking guys who think they're something, and they always end up dead. This is dangerous. I want to get out of this with as few fatalities as possible."
"I do, too. We're on the same page. I am not your enemy."
"I know," she murmured.
The softness in her voice temporarily stunned him.
"You're not my enemy," she continued. "In a previous life, we might have been friends. That doesn't mean I want you around."
"Previous life?"
"I wasn't always like this," she explained, her voice gentle and velvet smooth. "I used to be warm and open. Back when I had blonde hair and baby blue eyes. I used to ..." she trailed off, her voice cracking slightly. "It was a different time."
"Ember, what the hell happened to you?"
Liam sat across from her on his bed, resisting the impulse to reach over and take her hands in his. Something in her eyes shifted from gentle to harsh.
"Don't get all touchy-feely on me. This isn't sharing hour. You serve as much usefulness to me as a Slinky. You're not really good for anything, but it would bring a smile to my face if I could push you down a flight of stairs."
"Ember, who lit the fuse on your tampon?"
"Be lucky you don't have any balls for me to kick you in."
Liam leaned forward slightly, peering at her.
"What?" Ember asked.
"I'm just wondering how you style your hair so the horns don't show."
Ember flashed him a humorless smile. "Original. I'm not a bitch."
"Seriously?" Liam made a face. "Could've fooled me."
"I'm blunt and honest."
"I love how you don't think it's the same thing."
She scoffed as she rolled backwards and laid down on the bed. Liam looked at her as she stared up at the ceiling and sighed.
"Look, I'm sorry," Liam muttered.
"Don't be. You're right. I've done nothing but antagonize you since we met."
"Is it going to stop?"
She shrugged. "Maybe."
He fell silent as he tried to sum up how he felt.
"I'm the new kid on your block. I'm just trying to understand and keep up."
His words struck a chord with her. She could relate to it all too well.
"All right."
"General Blanchard is right, Ember. We do need to work together if this mission is going to work."
"I agree."
Liam stood beside her bed and extended his hand. After a moment, Ember sat up and shook it.
"Ember Wilson," she politely said.
"Liam Ross. I look forward to working with you."
#
It surprised both teams when Ember and Liam appeared as a united front during the morning training.
"Is this a trick?" Lewis asked.
"Wilson is acting … pleasant?" Nova questioned, chewing on gum loudly.
"Maybe General Blanchard drugged her," Morris speculated.
"Ooh, or he reprogrammed her somehow," Nova suggested.
"Very funny, boys," Ember said.
"Has the cat been somehow declawed?" Lewis asked.
In response, Ember punched him in the stomach. The second-in-command groaned as he took to one knee and held his abdomen.
"What's the matter, Lewis? Thought I'd lost my bite?"
"Sorry," he said, wheezing slightly.
As he caught his breath, Ember turned attention to the squad.
"From this point forward, there will be no more arguing, no petty competitions. We need to work together as a team if we have any hope of being successful."
One of the members of Liam's team raised his hand sheepishly. Ember gave a quick glance to his name tag before addressing him.
"No need to raise your hand, Lassiter. We're not in grade school."
"Sorry." He turned red. "Um, who do we report to?"
"Me." Liam and Ember said in unison. "No, I'm the leader."
"Oh, this is going to be good." Lewis rocked back on his heels, grinning.
"Knew it couldn't last," Nova muttered before blowing a bubble and popping it.
Ember and Liam looked at each other scornfully.
"General Blanchard put me in charge," he insisted.
"Frankly, I don't give a shit what the General said. My team will not be reporting to you."
"Ember, we talked about this," Liam emphatically said. "We need to unite-"
"Exactly, so why are you fighting me on this?"
"Genera Blanchard-"
"Told you to work with me to take down Rudo. I'm the one who knows how Rudo operates. I know the machine and the methods we're fighting against. You lack the skills and the knowledge necessary to lead us."
She poked him several times in the chest as she spoke. For a moment, he was taken aback by the passion in her voice. She wasn't speaking out of pride or anger. She felt she was right.
"I don't want any of our people to die," she said.
"Neither do I," Liam relented.
She studied him for a moment, her brow furrowing.
"How about this? We'll work as a tandem. We'll make decisions together."
"A compromise?"
Ember nodded. "For the mission."
She extended her hand and Liam didn't hesitate to shake it.
It wasn't the first time they had touched, but this time the moment their hands met, Liam felt a surge of energy coursing through his veins. The look in Ember's eyes said she felt it as well.
"We've reached an accord." Ember turned back to the team. "Report to who you feel most comfortable with."
#
Liam clapped his hands together and announced training would begin. The three Amethyst men looked
at each other, amazed Ember was letting the Air Force Major take the lead. After a gentle nudging from her, they complied. If she was going to go along with it, so could they.
They spent the day on weapons training and cardiovascular conditioning. Ember taught the military personnel on a new blaster rifle they were testing out. Liam ran them through an obstacle course.
By the end of the day, Ember felt better about their odds. Liam Ross earned a little more respect in her eyes. They even sat down as a team for the evening meal.
"You would think since we're the saviors of the planet, we would get a better meal," Morris joked.
"Be glad it's not food pellets," one of Liam's men, Johnston, said.
"I'm surprised it's not. There's not an abundance of fresh food around these days," Nova said, a wad of gum in the corner of his mouth.
“Speaking of, I’ve been meaning to ask. How did you manage to find gum anyways?” Morris asked. “It’s not exactly in abundance right now.”
“I’m special.” Nova grinned, the gum clinched in his teeth before sucking it back in.
"The General won’t eat anything synthesized," Ember explained. "It may be bland, but it's food. Call it a perk for being on his station."
Liam leaned back in his chair and smiled as he watched everyone interact. Even Ember seemed to be in a good mood as she ate.
He wished they had gotten off on a better foot. Admittedly, he liked her. It was becoming easier to see past her tough exterior to see how beautiful she truly was.
"You're not so scary when you smile," Walsh commented, breaking into Liam's thoughts. At least he wasn't the only one who thought so.
"I'm scary?" Ember asked.
"Frightening is more like it," McKnight remarked.
Ember roared with laughter. Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she slapped the table.
"There you go being all scary again."
"Nah, Walsh, Wilson isn't scary. You just have to know how to deal with her," Lewis said.
"Oh, and I suppose you know how?" She raised an eyebrow.