by PJ Schnyder
“No.” And she wasn’t going to tell him about her connection to Rygard. Not yet and not based on the current line of conversation.
“That’s going to make things all sorts of complicated in the near future.”
She waited to see if he’d expand on that.
He only tasted the air again.
“I do fine solo.”
He blinked. “Do you? All on your lonesome, with no one to help you take the edge off? Sure you haven’t been feeling a little...violent lately?”
“I’ve got my temper under control.” The anger constantly living inside her seethed. It had to be what he was talking about.
“Control isn’t what you’re going to need.” He pushed off the wall and loomed as close to the energy field as possible without setting it off. “You need to embrace your beast or you will not come out of there alive. Alone, maybe you could, but you’re trying to retrieve people. You’re going to need the extra help.”
She remained silent, too stubborn to argue with him.
“All this time, and such a perfect mutation.” He shook his head slow. “Wasted while you pretend to be just a human.”
“I didn’t give in to the virus. It didn’t take who I am from me.”
“Now you’re just spouting the lies they told you to save your sanity.” He waved the words away. “You came through it, put your big cat claws out and admit you did. Give in. it did change you. You are a full mutation because you let the virus alter every single cell in your body. Every skin cell, every muscle and bone cell, every single neuron firing in that pretty little skull. You are your beast and you’re wasting more of your brain than any normal human while you deny it.”
The truth of his words rang in the air, struck a chord deep inside her.
“When we land tomorrow, you scout like you’re supposed to. Find those men and bring them back if you can.” He withdrew, letting the shadows swallow him. “Watch, listen, survive. If you come back, I might tell you more.”
* * *
If she came back. Rawr.
Kaitlyn stalked down the corridor. It’d taken all she had to leave the room without saying something she’d regret later. Bharguest set out to push her buttons and he’d succeeded. He knew it, she knew it. No sense in confirming the fact.
He’d given her too much to think on and precious little in the way of peace of mind. If she wanted to be honest with herself, she envied him. A prisoner, under confinement and multiple layers of security, stood in more control of his world and his circumstances than she. Dev had given her a lot of things over the years, skills and tools to grow into a solid mercenary. But she’d never been as completely in control of her mutation, herself, or her life the way Bharguest managed.
How did he do it?
Her footsteps took her toward the galley, by habit for the most part. It’d been several hours since she’d eaten and whenever she wrestled with frustrating mental puzzles she headed there. But what she wanted was comfort food and her favorite synthesizer had malfunctioned. She slowed, pondering the other options. Freeze dried or reconstituted food stuffs fulfilled nutritional requirement but wouldn’t satisfy her current craving. Maybe hydroponics? Most of those fruits and vegetables weren’t ready for harvesting.
Urk.
“Why are we here again?” It took her a moment to register the male’s voice as the dog handler, Tracer’s. His question had been light, but his tone of voice held a warmer note than she’d heard previously. Kaitlyn paused, staying outside the galley and out of line of sight of the door.
“Hand me the laser calibrator? The long handled one. Yup.” Skuld was up to something. Quiet clicks and the high-pitched whine of the calibrator came across crystal clear in the otherwise empty galley. “This synthesizer is Katy’s favorite. It’s set to make the best cupcakes and brownies we can get outside Terran space.”
“So you’ve spent hours here, trying to fix a dessert maker?”
Tracer must not have a lot of experience with women. Dev had declared it a necessity in surviving with females on board. Kaitlyn and Skuld emphatically agreed. Lives had been saved because they’d had a reasonable synthesized fudge brownie.
“Katy’s been on edge recently and this morning’s thing in the gym made her angrier.”
How much had Skuld been talking to Tracer? Kaitlyn had been the one to literally toss Skuld into the man’s arms, but she hadn’t expected Skuld to stay with him all day.
“Well, I’m happy to help if it’d make your friend a little less threatening.” The man wasn’t ingratiating himself with Kaitlyn. “She’s the most intimidating merc I’ve met in a long time.”
Skuld laughed, and the bright sound mollified Kaitlyn. It always did. “New guys always have one of two reactions. They underestimate her or they’re scared of her.”
“There’s a difference between intimidated and scared.”
At least the man had a semblance of a back bone. And, Kaitlyn admitted to herself, he gained a couple of points for not underestimating her.
“She’s more than intimidating, then.” Skuld’s voice took a harder edge. It didn’t come out often, but when it did, the conviction was unmistakable. “She’s warm and generous and caring. It takes a lot of strength to be as kind as she is. She just...gets embarrassed by it, is all. She doesn’t know what to do with thank-yous so she avoids them. It’s better to show your thanks instead of stumbling around trying to say it to her.”
Silence fell for a moment. “You’re a very good friend.”
And this wasn’t the usual flirty sort of conversation. This one had some depth to it. It was to Tracer’s credit he’d followed along with what seemed like good intentions.
Skuld snorted. “You’re missing the point again. She’s the kind of friend to be there for you for life. Once you’re one of hers, she’ll travel galaxies to get to you when you need her. One mission, Cap’n had to empty this ship and set it adrift as a decoy. I stayed aboard to fire the engines back up cold.”
“That’s not an easy thing to do.” Tracer’s concern was justified. It wasn’t. But Skuld wasn’t just any engineer. She could coax life back into any mechanical thing, no matter how cold and rusted it might be.
“Eh. You give the ship the right kind of attention and she’ll give you what she needs.” Skuld brushed aside her talent. Another set of clicks and the calibrator hummed again. “But the mission drew out longer than expected and their shuttle suffered damage. A couple of the men we were laying the trap for managed to board before the rest of our team could get back. Katy geared up in a deep space suit and hopped from the shuttle back to this ship to get to me.”
“Seriously dangerous.” Tracer grunted. He must be lifting the synthesizer for Skuld. “If she misgauged the rotation of the ship, she could’ve missed and ended up floating in deep space.”
Yeah, it hadn’t been fun. But she’d have died before letting Skuld face the danger alone, and she’d been the only crew member with the strength and agility to manage it.
“Point is, Katy came for me.” Skuld’s voice warmed. “Life isn’t kind to everyone. And I won’t get into details so don’t ask. Just believe me when I say Katy has more reason than most not to like people. History has a funny way of taking hold of a person, trapping them. And they walk through the universe mad or angry or scared. Katy? She came through it stronger, yeah, and fierce. But she doesn’t use it to strike out at the universe. You just look at her and see a kind and gentle soul, a little jagged around the edges but clear all the same. She deserves good friends. And I want to help her get comfortable with people again. We’re working on her people skills, me and Chester and the Captain.”
Kaitlyn swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked away burning tears. Only Skuld.
“Chester, huh?” Tracer’s chuckle was soft, no hint of any mocking. An affirmative squea
k triggered another chuckle. Well, at least Chester was with them, chaperoning as it were. The man won more points for not asking probing questions.
“Animals are simpler, honest. Katy likes honest.”
True enough. Little tube-rat was a pain in the rear and a thief, but he didn’t lie or hurt people. Manipulation, torture...evil wasn’t in his nature.
“Maybe Max can help with her people skills too.”
The dog? Seriously? She might’ve helped him earlier but she had no intentions of dealing with a canine any more than she had to.
“Maybe.” Skuld’s voice was all melty and sweet. “You don’t think badly of Katy?”
“You obviously think a great deal of her.” Tracer’s response sounded sincere. “Even if I had any doubts before, I’d think twice based on what you’ve said. But no, everything I’ve seen so far points to an intimidating but impressive merc.”
“She is good at what she does.” Pride. Skuld rarely gave herself enough credit, but she always made it clear how proud she was of Kaitlyn. It made Kaitlyn strive to do better.
“And you brushed it off before, but I’ll say it again. You’re a good friend.” Tracer paused for a moment. Kaitlyn wondered if he’d snuck a kiss. She couldn’t see, but heat warmed her cheeks. She didn’t mean to be spying on Skuld’s intimate moments. “And I’m very glad to have met you.”
“Really?” Skuld’s breathless voice answered the question of whether he’d kissed her or not. And oh, Skuld had fallen for the dog handler. Kaitlyn stepped away on silent feet and made her way back to her room. Let the two have a few more hours of time to get to know each other. She could get herself a chocolate cupcake later.
Chapter Nine
“Beginning approach. Everybody, get soft.”
Kaitlyn relaxed back into her harness as the landing shuttle entered atmosphere and gravity began to set in, pulling her down into her seat. Dev’s ship remained in orbit, too big to make any sort of stealthy insertion and not designed for anything but emergency landings anyway.
Turbulence had already started to make their entry into the atmosphere a rough ride. Not as bad as it could be, but enough to make her stomach jump.
Katzer had always teased her about the way she took to space flight better than in atmosphere. But then, he’d died in space.
Her thoughts were too far in the past. Old flames and echoes had no place in what she had to do here and now. She centered her attention on the dog lying at his handler’s feet across the aisle from her.
“Since you’re lying there, lemme see that paw.”
The handler, Tracer, chuckled. “I figured you must have patched him up when I saw the sealant over the cut.”
“Not a cut.” Good man to check his dog’s health on a regular basis even distracted as Tracer had been, spending time with Skuld. Max, for his part, looked up at her and laid his ears back in a nervous posture.
“If you chewed on your paw, I wasn’t kidding, I’ll put a cone of shame on you.” She repeated the threat, ignoring the way his lip lifted to bare his teeth. He didn’t mean it, yet. “I need to be sure you’re good to run out there.”
Tracer opened his mouth to speak, a command most likely, but Kaitlyn held up her hand.
“This is between me and Max. He came to me. He can be a big dog and let me inspect the wound or he can stay on the shuttle once we land.”
“What the fuck?” The man they called Zec sneered. “The mutt is going to get out and do his job.”
Meat Head was detailed to secure the landing site and clear away underbrush. Fine. Max was out there to help her find Rygard and his team. Besides, he’d come to her. She’d be sure he was ready to run. “If he’s got an open wound, he stays on the shuttle, same as any other crew member. Too many contagious vectors out there and we can’t risk him contracting something I can’t cure.”
Max’s ears swiveled forward and he looked to Zec. After a moment, the big dog laid his head down and turned on his side, extending the injured paw as far as he could.
She leaned forward, taking a good look. A normal medic might have had to lean closer, to within a couple of inches of the wound, but her eye sight managed the meter between them just fine.
“Wound is clean, no swelling. Sealant is chewed up a bit, but it’ll hold.” She raised an eyebrow at Max as he lifted his head. The big dog whined. “No more chewing.”
“He won’t.” Tracer came to his partner’s rescue, reaching down to rub between those big ears. “Right, Max?”
Max gave a positive sounding bark.
Yeah. If she was beginning to hear the nuances in doggy talk, she’d already been around the dog too much.
“He’s fine to scout. Just don’t send him over any insanely rough terrain without those little bootie things.” She paused. “He has those, doesn’t he?”
Boggle had tried to suggest them for her, but her paws were bigger and spread wider than a dog’s. Besides, she couldn’t climb with the damned things strapped to her paws.
Tracer cleared his throat, hiding what sounded suspiciously like a chuckle. “Yeah, Max has those as part of his gear.”
Well that was settled then.
After a moment, Tracer made another throat clearing noise.
“You need water?” He had a water bottle strapped to his gear. Hell, the dog had a water bottle strapped to his harness too.
“Huh? Oh. No thanks.” Tracer took a moment to gather his wits. Men did take a minute or two. “Your friend, Skuld...”
“She’s a good friend.” She didn’t bother to hide the growl forming in her chest.
Max laid back his ears again.
“No, no. I mean yeah, I noticed how close you two were at the gym.” The words literally tumbled out of his mouth. “I was wondering if she was seeing anybody...”
Else. If Skuld’s seeing anybody else, because her scent was already on Tracer’s skin and clothes.
Kaitlyn considered him for a long moment. Not too many of Skuld’s lovers ever checked with the crew to see if Skuld was available. Most didn’t care if Skuld did entertain others so long as she was available when they wanted her. As picks went, Tracer wasn’t a bad sort, definitely a better man than most of the others Kaitlyn had encountered.
“Not currently.” Even that bit of data was more than she’d give to any other man.
“Do you know if she...”
Oh no, Kaitlyn was not about to get sucked into match making. “Skuld makes her own choices. You’d do best to talk to her directly about whatever is developing between you.”
* * *
“Landing protocols complete. Teams are clear to go.” Their pilot, Tails, sounded almost bored over the speakers.
Kaitlyn watched the cargo bay doors open and forced her feet to remain anchored to the floor, all thoughts of inter-ship relationships dismissed. Blue skies, jungle humidity and a breeze carrying the smell of rich earth called to her. If they’d been on their own, without the add-on military team, she’d have shot out the doors as soon as there was an opening big enough for her body and Dev wouldn’t have said a word in criticism.
But no, they were team players on this mission. And she had to play as part of the human contingent.
An eager whine sounded to her left. Max was ready to get off ship as well.
As soon as the ramp touched dirt, she moved.
The landing site was relatively clear, close to the original camp site but on higher ground with just enough vegetation to set up camouflage. Badger would stay behind and take care of securing the area with a detail of crew members and soldiers, including Zec. It irked her a little to leave her way off the planet guarded by Meat Head but she trusted her ship mates. That would have to be enough.
Kaitlyn moved forward, listening to the jungle.
The silence in the n
ear vicinity wasn’t what surprised her. Natural avian or small biologics would have gone quiet as the shuttle landed. No, it was the sense of something watching and waiting, as out of place in this particular jungle as they all were.
“Kaitlyn, proceed north as planned.” Dev’s voice whispered from the auditory unit in her ear canal. Nifty bit of technology from Boggle. Even if she shifted, the communicator piece would remain in her ear canal, allowing Dev or the ship to communicate with her. On missions like this, where they acted in tandem with another team, Dev tended to stay aboard their ship in orbit and direct things from afar. She and the rest of the landing crew were his eyes and ears, hands and feet. Left him free to coordinate with the leadership for the other team. “Tracer and Max will proceed East. Badger and his team will set up a perimeter and venture south to assess terrain.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“There you go with saying ‘Aye’ again. It’s got me twitchy.”
She huffed and set off at an easy jog into the jungle, ducking low to slip through the undergrowth along a game trail she’d spotted. From the wear and tear to the path, she guessed Rygard’s team might have used it coming and going. The vegetation showed obvious signs of semi-recent clearing. Another few days and the path would be choked with plants again.
It felt good to stretch her legs, fill her lungs with real air. Scents teased her from every direction. This jungle sheltered a wide array of prey. Her cat aspect wanted to run, explore, stalk a target and hunt it down. The urge wasn’t simply about hunger, although she’d eaten her prey in the past with a cold practicality.
Rabbits tasted better than protein bars.
It went beyond the need for sustenance. The excitement of the hunt did her soul good too. It freed something inside her, and the tension building during every long space flight evaporated after a good run and successful hunt.