by TJ Ryan
“Your suits will be miked and rigged with cameras that are always transmitting,” Danvers added. Those transmissions will be recorded by your drop ship’s AI, and transmitted to Overwatch as soon as a clear line of transmission can be obtained. Do not try to disconnect the recorders. Do not do anything that you’d be embarrassed to have me see. I will review everything, I will take corrective measures where needed.”
“Oh, come on Lieutenant,” Crestin said. “You know we’re by the book.”
Tyrese chuckled along with the soldiers. Danvers scowled. Tara tried not to let the wave of anxiety welling up inside of her show on her face.
Of course the drop ship would have its own AI. She should have known.
Well. Bite the bullet, she told herself, pulling that ancient expression up from her Earth History courses. Bite the bullet. Take the hit.
Get over it.
The others were standing up before she came back to herself and joined them. Meeting over. Not that there was a whole lot to say. It’s dangerous. Don’t miss your mark. Don’t go out without your suits. Remember you’re being recorded so don’t piss or screw yourself in front of the cameras.
She almost laughed at her joke, but couldn’t quite make it happen. The four of them confined in a drop ship that was basically just a guided missile with a passenger compartment, trapped with an AI.
The memory of how the Aiden program in her Defense Pod had learned to ionize the air itself to use as his hands, and then tried to rape her, haunted her memory.
She felt something invisible wrap around her one wrist, and yanked her forward, and then she felt pressure against her lips. A soft, forceful touch that was there and gone again. Her hand was released at the same moment the kiss ended…
Tyrese’s hand on her back made her jump. “Tara. It’s all right. Aiden’s gone. Not every AI program is psychotic.”
“In fact,” Claire spoke to her from Tyrese’s temple, “no AI program has ever been known to malfunction in that way. It makes me wonder what you did to encourage him.”
“Claire,” Tyrese warned. “You don’t have all the information.”
“On the contrary,” the AI’s voice argued. “I have reviewed all available data recordings. Aiden was damaged. There is no doubt of that. However, I believe that Engineer Tara Royce must have interfered with his programming in some way. Either physiologically or… physically.”
Tara would have slapped the halo ring right then, if she didn’t remember she would have been slapping Tyrese’s face and doing nothing at all to Claire. She settled for putting a menacing growl into her voice. “Keep that thing quiet Tyrese or so help me I’ll show her exactly how many ways an Engineer can ‘interfere’ with an AI program.”
A little blip from Claire sounded like an all-too-human yelp.
“Is there a problem here?” Lieutenant Danvers called back into the room from the doorway.
“No problem,” Tyrese told him, smiling down at Tara from the inch or two his new legs had given him over her. “Just strategizing for the mission.”
“Then get yourselves up here.” The lieutenant was obviously not in the mood to wait. “It’s time to get geared up and board ship. You all need to practice before we launch. If you’re really good, maybe we can leave for Earth tomorrow instead of in two or three days.”
Wonderful, Tara thought to herself. Like she was looking forward to getting down there any sooner. Although, quicker started was quicker done. For a moment, she felt faint as the comprehension of what she was being asked to do finally hit her with the full weight of reality. Leaning on Tyrese’s shoulder was the only way that she could keep herself on her feet. Ironic, she thought, considering he only recently got his feet back.
Lieutenant Danvers reached the end of the corridor he was leading them down and looked back, his eyes catching on the sight of Tara snugged close to Tyrese. Whatever he was thinking, he kept it to himself.
Bastard, Tara hollered in her mind. Who she chose to be attracted to was none of his business. Like she’d ever be attracted to a career military guy who was forcing her to do recon on the hostile surface of homeworld under penalty of not waking up again. She willed herself to forget the initial attraction she had felt earlier when he came into her chamber. She shuddered at the memory.
“Prepare yourselves,” is what Danvers actually said. “Through this door is the pride of Overwatch.”
Placing his hand to the scanner activated this door, and it opened up not just by sliding aside but by separating into three parts that retracted away to leave a wide open space between the corridor and the adjoining section of the complex.
They stood on the edge of the docking port, listening to the increased hum of the solar generators, staring at tier after tier of battleships and landcrawlers and smaller transport pods. All of them were settled in perfect symmetrical rows. All of them gleamed under the floodlights set in the very top of the smooth white wall, up with the mechanical arms that were the size of the spacecraft themselves, used for moving ships from docking to ready status. To Tara’s right, through the dim red glow of the semi-permeable forcefield, the stars shone brightly.
She looked for the Earth, until she remembered that she was on the opposite side of the moon relative to homeworld. They would have to launch before they could see it.
Then, in the middle of the sleek reflective surface of the runway, she saw the most gorgeous looking spaceship she had ever seen.
“There she is, people.” Danvers stepped out into the cold room ahead of them, motioning everyone to follow. “This is your drop ship. We call it God’s Hammer.”
CHAPTER FIVE
How very humble of them, was Tara’s first thought. To assume that God had anything to do with this adventure. Or maybe Danvers was comparing himself to God. He certainly had the ego for it.
Still, she had to admit it was an amazing vehicle.
Sitting on five articulated struts with tripod tension supports for “feet,” the ship gave the appearance of being an animal hunkered down, ready to launch an attack at anyone who threatened it. The body was blocky, with shoulders protruding over the two front landing gear. The cockpit resembled the lowered head, tapering down like a jawline should, with the black shatter resistant windows wrapped around where the eyes would go. She counted six thrusters at the back, four carefully hidden at the front, and three along each side. Changing course would be as easy as burning off some fuel in a short burst of flame to push God’s Hammer wherever they wanted it to go.
As a Defense Engineer, she had to admire every little thing about this ship.
Gray and red, it sat there waiting for them, as if it was asking why they weren’t taking off already.
Tyrese whistled one long, low note. “I think I’m in love.”
“Don’t be a jerk,” Tara muttered to him, but… yeah. She was definitely having a starship crush right now.
“You two are so cute,” Enverly said, her lips curling in distaste. “I think I might want to puke.”
Crestin shrugged one big shoulder. “She used to be that cute too, back in the day. Don’t let her fool you.”
“That was a long time ago,” the decidedly uncute and violently compact Sergeant Enverly said. “Before I knew you.”
“Shoot, Enverly. I’m the best thing ever happened to you, and you know it.”
“In your dreams, big boy.”
Danvers took a long, deep breath. “If you two are done acting like little children, we have work to do.”
“Yes, sir,” both of the sergeants said almost at the same time.
Tyrese and Tara exchanged a look. Yes. There was definitely something going on between those two. Or at least, there used to be. Every Defense Engineer was schooled in the reasons why romance could be deadly to a working relationship in a career like the Engineers or Overwatch. Getting too close to someone could lead to mistakes, missteps, miscalculations, or any of a thousand different ways to forget that you were in the depths of space and one wrong
move got you dead. It was the very reason why Defense Engineers worked alone in their pods, only interacting with other Engineers by way of comms channels. Tyrese and she had broken that rule already, but Tara didn’t regret it. After all, breaking the rules had saved her life.
Now if only she didn’t end up getting dead in the next few days, it might all have been worth it.
She traced the circle of his exotech utility belt around his back and felt him shudder the further along her hand went. Huh. A sense of touch wired into the hardware itself. Interesting.
Her fingers felt down a little lower, and he held his breath while trying not to look like he could feel every little thing she was doing.
“You either need to stop that,” he whispered to her when Danvers turned his back again, “or come with me to my quarters and show me how you really feel.”
“I thought that’s what I was doing,” she teased.
When she looked up, Danvers was watching them. Just standing there. Watching.
After a moment in which Tara thought she read a thousand different emotions in those eyes of his, the lieutenant waved an arm toward God’s Hammer. “Enverly, Crestin, go get acquainted with the ship. Tyrese, you join them.”
The three of them eagerly started off across the docking port floor, ready to get their first glimpse at the inside of the ship. Tyrese was a few steps behind when he stopped and turned back, wondering why Tara wasn’t coming with them.
“What about me?” she asked Danvers. “Um, sir.”
“You’re coming with me,” he answered her. “The other three in our group have already had experience with enviro suits. You haven’t. Your training starts now.”
Tyrese waited for her to look his way. She signaled him with just her eyes, telling him she was okay. Only then did he turn to follow the other two, his new feet clomping against the hard floor. Still, he looked back over his shoulder a couple of times to watch her. Danvers waited with his back to them and the ship, somehow knowing when they had finished climbing up the gangplank into the squat, imposing vehicle.
“Now then,” he said, leading her back through the door and down the hallway. “I need you to know a few things before we start.”
Tara followed along behind him. She didn’t say anything. He wasn’t looking for her to speak, and she knew it. This was private talk, just for the two of them, and she had a feeling she wasn’t going to like what she heard in the least. Somehow, the corridor seemed claustrophobic now in a way that it hadn’t when it was four of them walking through here.
“Here’s the thing of it, Engineer Royce. You’re the only reason we have the fission cell in the first place. If it were up to those idiots back at the Academy, it would be on its way back to them right now and then buried for decades while they studied it and reverse engineered it and then maybe our children’s children would see the results of all that work. Maybe they would see a weapon strong enough to defend us from all the alien species who want to kill us off for good.”
Tara nodded. The need to be safe was one of the basic beliefs every human being held close to their hearts. She understood that. But was the answer really to build weapons that could crack not just the planet Earth, but the entire universe? Were they really that far gone? At least the Academy would have used the device to study and learn. Overwatch would likely use it a weapon first and foremost. Act first, ask questions later.
“So here’s what you’re going to do,” Danvers told her as they turned a corner and started into a different part of the complex. “First, you’re going to learn to use an enviro suit. It’s not just a matter of putting it on and making sure the latches are locked tight. Then, when you’ve got that mastered, you’re going to learn to fly the drop ship in case anything happens to my sergeants. You’ll be backup pilot.”
“Then what?” she asked. “What happens when we get down to the surface?”
“If you survive,” he started to say, “then you will find the tech you need to fix my fuel cell. You will make it work and then I will send you back to the colonies. Maybe even get you a position at the Academy.”
Forced retirement, she translated. Everything she had worked for, gone. Maybe there was nothing she could do about that.
“You’ll leave Crestin and Enverly to their own devices, and they’ll in turn leave you the freedom to do your job. They’re there to help you, but they also have their own mission. You are not to question them about their mission. Do you understand me?”
Heh. So they were looking for more cells, Tara imagined. Interesting.
Tara nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Danvers led her down a long corridor in silence. Tara rolled the seed between her fingers in her pocket as they walked. Was Danvers sending her down with the understanding that the Earth wasn’t as dead as they were meant to believe, and had hope that they would return with the tech? Or was he truly sending her on a suicide mission, in hopes that maybe his people brought back more power cells? Either way, she had a bad feeling in her gut about what was going on here at Overwatch.
Another door, another room. Danvers held his hand over the scanner, but he had something more to say before he opened it for them. “One last thing, Engineer Royce, and this I need you to hear. There is no one else on this mission who matters. Only you. Everyone else is expendable. Everyone. If you have to sacrifice anyone to get me the tech I need, then you do it.”
Huh, so he at least had some hope of her return. Maybe they would be pleasantly surprised with what they found past Earth’s black atmosphere. Or, he could just be saying that to boost her confidence in her mission. If they did in fact have their own mission, she doubted they truly were dispensable. Unless they were ordered to send something back in an unmanned vessel. She frowned at his clear lack of value for his people’s lives.
She stood where she was, stunned, as he palmed the scanner and opened the door. Inside, on racks in separate alcoves, hung more than a dozen enviro suits. Black and gray, with tubes running from the box on the chest and the transparent face mask. The joints were articulated and reinforced with some sort of black metal. They looked scary, in Tara’s opinion.
Danvers’ words scared her even more. Everyone was expendable. Everyone.
“Do you understand me, Engineer Royce?”
“Yes,” she said automatically. Right now, Danvers needed her alive. If she stepped sideways, that just might change.
Anyone who wasn’t useful to this man was expendable. She didn’t want to be one of those people. She wanted to live. His words were confusing.
“As long as you know where you stand,” he said, reading her thoughts. “You’ll do fine as long as you stay on the right side of things.”
“The… right side?”
“Yes,” he explained. “The side that I tell you to stay on. Our side. More specifically, I mean my side.”
Of course, she thought to herself. What else would he mean except that?
He waved an arm for her to go inside. “All right, Engineer Royce. Take your clothes off and try on that suit there. It’s about your size.”
“Sir?”
His gaze hardened. “I said, strip. I don’t have time for your damned modesty. You honestly think you have anything I haven’t seen before?”
“Can you wait outside?” she insisted. “I know the protocol and there’s sections of the Universal Code that prohibit superior officers from forcing people under their command to do things like… stripping naked… or…”
“Fine,” he growled. “I don’t have time for this. We’re adults, Engineer Royce. This is the modern age, not the archaic past where men and women couldn’t look at each other without trying to engage in sex. I am a lieutenant in Overwatch, damn it, and you will not malign my character just because you’re too afraid to show me your ass!”
Then he turned and closed the door behind him, leaving her alone to change clothes.
Tara blew out a breath and pressed her hands to her temples. At least he left her alone. She didn’t k
now what she would have done if he’d insisted on staying while she changed. It wasn’t like she had any authority over him, quoted regulations or not.
Undoing the zipper at the front of her jumpsuit, Tara slipped her arms out of the sleeves and let it fall down her legs to the floor. Her breasts were cold, now that they were uncovered, and she shivered a little as she stripped down her underwear. She’d never worn an enviro suit before. Danvers had been right about that. But, the Academy had trained them all in the proper use of the things, just in case. She knew a person had to be naked under the suit for them to work properly. The material of the suit had to make contact to collect the sweat and, um, other bodily fluids and recycle them. At the same time, the fabric filtered out poisons and toxins from the environment.
She put her feet into the boots, tugging at the straps to size them down to her feet, bending over to reach the toes, the curves of her ass high in the air.
“That’s very pretty, Engineer Royce.”
Tara startled and tried to whirl around but tripped over her feet instead and toppled backward, landing on the cold floor, crossing her arms defensively over her chest.
She knew that voice. It couldn’t be him, and she couldn’t have heard it here, but she knew that voice.
Aiden, the crazed AI program from her destroyed Defense Pod. It couldn’t be him.
Pain jarred up her spine, and she realized she must have heard it all in her head. The AI used by Overwatch was the Elaine program. Not the masculine Aiden that Tara had gotten so close to before it tried to hurt her. He wasn’t here, she reminded herself, and she was still naked down to her boots, with Lieutenant Danvers waiting for her to come out.
So she got dressed and fit everything just right to her curves, and still felt naked when she was done.