The Breeding Experiment (Veslor Mates Book 3) Page 13

  “I’m not going to do that. This is our first day. It would give a bad impression. We need these jobs.”

  Becky came closer and reached out, pressing her palm to her forehead. Her eyes widened. “You feel warm.”

  “It’s just the new kind of heat bulbs. They keep it warmer in here than what we’re used to, since they’re on while we work.”

  “Does your throat hurt?”

  “No. I just have a headache.” Darla backed away.

  “You should go see that doctor. Dad had a bad cold a few weeks ago, remember? Maybe you caught it. He had to take medicine when he got a sinus infection. That caused him to have headaches, too.”

  “I’m not getting a cold. It’s just a stress headache. If it doesn’t go away soon, I’ll contact Jessa to take a look at me. Let’s just finish our shift. I probably just need some sleep. I haven’t gotten a lot of that lately. My body is rundown.”

  Her sister sighed. “Fine. But promise that you’ll go see your new doctor friend if it gets worse.”

  “I promise.” Darla turned around and withdrew a device she kept in one of her pockets. She moved to the next row of plants that needed attention and double checked their moisture level. It was a little low. She tapped on the sprinklers. Sensors would automatically shut them off when the moisture level was perfect. She moved to the next row, which didn’t need to be watered.

  Working in a fleet garden was way easier than in a greenhouse, where most of the work had been manual labor. Joseph had explained that computers couldn’t visually inspect plants because sometimes sensors failed. It’s why they needed live workers tending everything. Machines also weren’t good for harvesting most of the delicate produce. He’d told some funny stories of how that had gone wrong when they’d received some new equipment to try.

  She glanced up at the artificial sky again, enjoying the view, but the brightness hurt her eyes a little with her headache. It would pass.

  Her thoughts returned once more to Gnaw. Not surprising. She had Gnaw on the brain, which made her smile. He was worthy of her musings. She just hoped that he was okay and didn’t hate her.

  Defcon Red was huge. It really was like a city in space. It was possible she’d never run into him again. He’d said he was a fighter. A map of the ship had shown that some sections were off limits to civilians. The lifts wouldn’t even open on some levels, since she didn’t have clearance. It was possible that Gnaw lived and worked where she couldn’t go.

  Maybe he’d come to see her. She’d glimpsed fleet members in various colors of uniforms strolling around the gardens. Joseph had said that everyone on Defcon Red had access to visit. They just weren’t allowed off the paths, or to touch anything growing. But the peaceful, colorful space helped some of them deal with living in space.

  The hour ended, and Darla and her sister went to the employee area, storing their devices in the lockers they’d been assigned. Becky hooked her arm as they left the gardens. “Do you feel any better?”

  “I just need sleep.”

  “I guess that means you don’t want to have dinner with me?”

  “Not tonight.” She glanced at her baby sister. “Is that okay?”

  She nodded. “Those food replicators in our cabins are pretty nice. The options are limited, but promise me that you’ll eat before going to bed.”

  “I will. You could go have dinner in the cafeteria without me.”

  Becky shook her head. “I’m still adjusting to being around a bunch of strangers. It’s one thing to go with you, but I don’t feel comfortable yet doing it alone.”

  That made sense to Darla. They were both used to living with their family. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Just feel better. Is your new friend going to visit you tonight?”

  “Jessa? No. She only came by my cabin yesterday to make sure we’d been sent clothing, since our stuff wasn’t recovered when we were rescued. Anyway, we’re on our way to some planet she said she’s never heard of. I got the impression it was an unexpected mission. That means she has a ton of research to do, and she mentioned I wouldn’t hear from her for a few days. She’s going to be pretty busy.”

  “Any idea what mission?”

  They reached the lift and got inside. “I don’t know. I didn’t ask. She didn’t stay long.”

  “I envy you that you’ve already made a friend.”

  The lift opened and they made their way down the winding corridor to Becky’s cabin. “I don’t really know Jessa well. It’s new. You’ll make friends, too.”

  “I hope so.” Becky unhooked her arm and faced her, lifting her hand and gently placing her palm on Darla’s forehead. She frowned. “You’re still hot. I read the employee information packet; you should go to the Med Bay and have a doctor take a look at you if Jessa is busy.”

  “I’ll do that tomorrow if I’m still feeling bad, promise. I’m just rundown.”

  Becky nodded. “Okay. Come get me if you need me, or use that communications device thing for ship calls. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

  “I haven’t even messed with it. Their technology is something, isn’t it?”

  “Way better than what we’re used to.”

  They hugged, and Darla walked to her own cabin, Becky watching her until she went inside. She bypassed the kitchen and went straight to her room, showered, and went to bed. She just needed to rest and give her body a chance to recover from everything she’d been through.

  But a part of her wished Gnaw was there to hold her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gnaw had spent another restless night in his bed staring at the ceiling. Abby had sent a few messages to Darla, but she hadn’t responded in two days. All his plans to talk her into becoming his mate, or at least spending lots of time with him until he could convince her, were unfulfilled.

  He finally climbed out of bed and got ready to go to the training room, where they worked out every morning. When he walked into the shared living space, Maith was the only male there. He glanced around, looking for the rest of his grouping. They normally ate together, either in their cabin or the cafeteria.

  “Drak escorted Abby to work. Roth left to meet with Clark. He sent a message that they needed to speak about a mission.” Maith inhaled deeply, clearly picking up on Gnaw’s anxiousness. “Perhaps the female just needs time to think about seeing you. Humans don’t listen to their instincts.”

  Gnaw appreciated Maith attempting to make him feel better. “She could associate me with the Elth. Humans like to forget bad experiences. Her instincts might be telling her to avoid me.”

  Maith’s features softened. “No. You are nothing like the Elth. Humans just overthink everything. Give her more time. It’s only been a few days.”

  “Do you mind if we eat here?”

  “That’s fine.”

  Gnaw nodded, spun away, and entered the kitchen to get breakfast. He warmed a few meat pastries that Abby kept stocked for them. He sat at the table and began to eat. Maith did the same, sitting across from him, digging into his own breakfast while watching him closely.

  “I’m a strong male. I will not go hunt for Darla. She needs to come to me willingly.”

  “I know. I have no fear that you’ll do that. But you’ve been depressed. That is not like you. Perhaps you should take a few days off and not train with the human males.”

  “I refuse to sit around in our home doing nothing. The exercise helps. I hope our next job is challenging. Did Clark give any information to Roth?”

  “Not that Roth shared. He just let me know that Clark had messaged him and he needed to go.”

  They were almost finished eating when both of their communications devises buzzed. Gnaw removed his from his pocket and looked at the screen. Roth had sent a message that they were to meet immediately in the situation room.

  Gnaw stood quickly and headed to the door, Maith at his side.

  Five minutes later, they entered the large room, finding Drak already there. So were four other huma
n tactical teams. There was no sign of Clark or Roth. Gnaw and Maith took seats just as the back doors to an office swished open and the missing males entered. Both wore matching grim expressions. Roth came to sit with them while Clark took the podium in the front.

  “Our trip to handle the trouble happening on Torid has been delayed.” Clark cleared his throat. “We’ve received a distress signal from the Blaze. Their ship has been heavily damaged after fighting off attackers. They’ve had to set down on a prohibited planet, and we’re currently the closest to their location. We’ll be dropped off there to provide protection to their crew and our repair teams, while Defcon Red tracks down the bastards who attacked them.”

  The large screen behind Clark came to life, showing a planet. “This is…well, I can’t pronounce it. Whoever named it didn’t believe in vowels. Let’s call it primitive as hell for now. Blaze avoided landing near any of the established alien settlements and parked their vessel in what amounts to a valley surrounded by mountains. It’s very remote. As in, these aliens are still using clubs and spears for weapons. We’re talking cavemen status. You know we try like hell to not influence inhabitants like that in any way, though the Blaze had no choice but to break protocol when they lost life support and suffered a few hull breaches that need to be patched.

  “First and foremost, we will only stun any aliens that might approach. No killing. We’d also prefer that they not spot us. Stun from a distance. Roth?”

  Roth stood, addressing the room. “We viewed scans of the planet from some drones a research vessel sent down six years ago, when they were collecting data. The captain of the damaged ship chose a smart, defensible landing spot. Clark and I both agreed it would be best to assign our tactical teams to the tops of the surrounding mountains,” he explained, pointing them out on the drone scans. “We’ll be able to spot any approaching aliens and stun them before they can reach the valley.”

  Clark changed the view on the screen, illustrating a large mammal with sharp-looking tusks. “It’s mostly the animals we have to watch out for. Try to only stun them, too. We don’t want to confuse the inhabitants if they find carcasses blown to hell, burned, or with big holes in them. Remember, these aliens hunt with spears and clubs.”

  A member of team six raised his hand.

  Clark gave a sharp nod. “What?”

  “The Blaze? What is it, exactly? I’ve never heard of it, and it’s not fleet. And who attacked them?”

  “The Blaze is owned by Outreach. It’s one of those companies that surveys planets like the one we’re going to, only they specialize in planets without sentient lifeforms. They had just finished a survey of a planet and were heading back toward Earth when they came under fire from another vessel. From the recordings of the attack…” Clark appeared angry, glancing briefly at Gnaw. “We’re pretty certain it was the Elth. Roth agrees. The Veslors have some history of fighting these bastards and can identify their ship designs.”

  Gnaw snarled and stood. “Are there human females on the Blaze?”

  Clark met his gaze. “Yes. It’s an all-human crew. They lost six people due to the attack, but they’re reporting forty-six men and thirty-one women survived. I know what you’re thinking, Gnaw—and you’re right. Those Elth bastards went for the women, probably because we retrieved the ones they’d kidnapped from our transport shuttle.”

  Maith stood and gripped Gnaw’s arm to help him calm. It didn’t work. He still felt enraged.

  “Defcon Red is going to destroy the Elth ship after we assist the downed civilian ship,” Clark promised. “United Earth wants to send those bastards a clear message. Fuck with humans and die. Our tactical teams are going to protect the stranded crew of the Blaze on the planet until we get them back in space. The Doverson, another military vessel from our fleet, is heading that way, too, but they’re a few days behind us. They’ll give the Blaze an escort all the way back to Earth since we’re still needed on Torid.”

  “The Doverson only carries a crew of three hundred, or near that,” one of the females from team five called out. “My brother is assigned to it.”

  “Right,” Clark nodded. “It’s why they can’t handle the situation on Torid, but they have the firepower to protect a civilian ship. A lone nonmilitary vessel probably seemed like an easy target to the Elth. They were wrong, since the captain refused to surrender. They had minimal weapons but from what I’ve learned, she sacrificed the five transport shuttles and seven emergency pods they had onboard by remotely piloting them to slam into the Elth ship. Last she saw before they fled to the primitive planet was the Elth set adrift. Their ship might still be there, where the fight took place, just waiting for Defcon Red to find them if they weren’t able to do fast repairs.” He grinned suddenly. “That captain’s a woman I want to meet and shake her hand.”

  Gnaw fought for control of his temper. The Elth still wanted to collect human females. That likely meant they hadn’t given up on the idea of breeding experiments. He met Roth’s gaze.

  “I sent another message to our king to update him,” Roth rasped softly. “The Elth can’t do their experiments without one of our males. All of our ships and colonies were already warned after you were taken. Abby also contacted the Brar. They are fine and on alert. There’s only one female on their ship, but she is Abby’s close friend and she recently had a cub.”

  Gnaw remembered that Vivian was also pregnant with a second cub. He hoped the trader Veslors had many weapons on their ship, or even decided to fly to their home solar system, where they’d be heavily protected by other males of their race.

  Clark loudly cleared his throat. “We’ve got a lot of planning to do and only sixteen hours before we reach our mission target. There is limited information from the survey about all the wildlife and environmental hazards. That means there could be some plants that like to eat flesh or are poisonous.”

  He kept talking but as Gnaw retook his seat, he tuned out. His thoughts immediately went to Darla. Humans loved to talk and share information. Abby called it gossip. Would Darla be frightened or emotionally unsettled when she heard that the Elth had attacked more humans?

  The urge to track her hit hard, making his body tensed.

  Maith reached out again and gripped his arm. “Calm.”

  He turned to the male sitting next to him.

  “You want to go to your female to soothe her. I would, too. Perhaps we can ask Abby to seek her out to speak face to face. She could plead your case and talk her into meeting with you.”

  That seemed like a good plan to Gnaw.

  He tried to pay attention to Clark as more survey images showed on the large screen, revealing what little they knew about the planet they were about to be visiting. He usually enjoyed seeing new places and taking out threats…but he’d much rather stay and protect Darla.

  * * * * *

  “Drat it, Darla!” Becky frowned at her. “You still look as if you don’t feel good. Is your headache any better? You shouldn’t be at work. We get sick days.”

  “That’s what you said yesterday, but I made it all day, didn’t I? The headache isn’t as bad.”

  “Is your nose stuffy? Do you have a sore throat?”

  “No.”

  “You should go see that doctor friend, or at least another ship doctor. It’s part of our work package. It’s not going to cost us money.”

  “I’m just tired.”

  Becky marched closer and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s what you said the first day you weren’t feeling well. You’ve been going straight to your cabin after work, and you told me that you’re getting lots of sleep. That should mean you’re well rested. Did you lie about that?”

  “No.” She’d been sleeping about twelve hours at night. “Look, we’ve both been through a lot since we needed to leave home. I was highly stressed out while scrambling to get us jobs with the fleet. Then we were kidnapped. Now we’re getting used to living on a big fleet vessel in space. New jobs.” She sighed. “It’s a lot of changes. Gi
ve me a few more days and I’ll be back to normal.”

  “I still thought you might be coming down with the cold Dad had, but I don’t believe that anymore.” Her sister began tapping her foot, something she did when she was angry. “Now I’m thinking you might have caught an infection on that alien ship from those nasty tentacles that touched you. I demand that you go see a doctor.”

  “Jessa checked my wounds when we got on this ship. They were well cleaned and are healing fine. There would be redness around the areas if that were true. There’s not. I check them.”

  “Maybe it’s an alien cold you picked up. Dang it, Darla. Go see a doctor! If you don’t, I’ll contact Med Bay myself and tell them you’re feeling off. Then they’ll probably come get you. I’ll tell them I think the aliens are responsible.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Darla glanced around and lowered her voice. “We don’t need that kind of attention drawn to us.” She was more worried that the fleet would blame Gnaw instead of the Elth, if she had caught some kind of alien cold.

  Her sister glared at her, tapping that foot faster.

  “I’ll go see Jessa after my shift.”

  “Now,” Becky demanded. “I already asked Joseph, and he said it would be fine for you to leave early today.”

  “You told him that I was sick?” Darla’s eyes widened.

  “I said you had a headache. I didn’t give details. We get sick time. Use it and go see your friend. You won’t get into any trouble and your job is safe.”

  That didn’t comfort her much. “Fine. I’ll go now.”

  “Good. I’ll come by your cabin as soon as my shift ends. And don’t lie to me, big sis. Actually go. Have her send a confirmation to your communications console in your cabin as proof. You can show it to me when I get there.”

  Darla rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t lie about that. I also haven’t figured out how to turn it on. I tried and the screen remained blank. I wanted to call Jessa to check on her this morning.”