“That doesn’t sound possible,” Gnaw snorted. “Most of them are too small and look fragile.”
“You don’t keep up with the news from our world then. It’s happened,” Maith told him. “Brassi and the human have a male cub.”
“Bah! She must have been pregnant before meeting her male.”
“No, Roth. I saw images of the cub. He’s a Veslor. Vivian makes announcements for our males, since there is now an interest in females like her. She held a job smoothing relations between aliens and Earth before she mated. The female also probably wishes there were more of her kind with her, and probably shares information with our males to encourage them to mate humans.”
Drak felt even more drawn to the redheaded female, listening to Maith talk. She could breed him cubs if they mated. “Did this Vivian give details about how to get a female interested in copulating with us or how it was done?”
“No,” Roth cut in. “Don’t answer that, Maith. There will be no copulating with the females on this vessel. Their doctors harassed ours for medical information because of that very reason. They fear accidental pregnancies in their females. Our king ordered us to avoid copulating.”
The room they all shared grew quiet, but Drak still couldn’t sleep. The female, Abby Thomas, had stood up for his grouping. She’d also gotten the unpleasant male in charge of assigning them duties into trouble. The ship’s commander had yelled at Rogers and warned him that if he pulled stunts like that again, he’d bring him up on charges.
Why did the female care about his grouping? What was the reason she’d stood up for them twice? Drak wanted to find out.
Chapter Three
“No way in hell.”
Abby adjusted the uncomfortable, thin-armored suit she’d acquired and frowned at Howard. “It’s my day off. This is how I’d like to spend it.”
Howard stood from behind his desk. “It’s too dangerous.”
“I came here to look out for the Veslors. Reading the reports…well, I don’t trust them. Rogers is an asshat with a tendency to lie, and he’s the one writing them. What better way to find out exactly what the Veslors are being asked to do on the surface than to go with them this shift?”
“It’s too dangerous, Abby.”
“You already said that. Notice this stiff rig of an outfit on me?” She used her knuckles to knock against the chest plate. “Armor. This is what the surface tactical teams wear. I also picked up the helmet and gloves. They’re waiting on my desk. I just wanted to let you know where I’ll be.”
“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you go down to the surface to fight those damn snake bugs. Your parents would never forgive me if I allowed anything to happen to you. Hell, I’d never forgive myself.”
“Who said anything about fighting? I’m going to tag along to make sure the Veslors are being treated fairly while off this ship.”
“No.”
“You already approved it. I’m officially on the mission as your observer.”
Howard gaped at her.
She smiled. “You know how good I am with these systems. Are you really surprised? It took me less than five minutes to contact everyone associated with this shift to add me, have a tactical suit sent to my cabin in my size, and it was a done deal. I leave in twenty minutes. We’re supposed to be down on the planet for six hours. I even made reservations for the two of us to share dinner later tonight. I’ll give you a full report in person.”
“Abby…” He scowled.
“I’ll be with the Veslors. I’m not worried, and you shouldn’t be, either. Hell, we’ll all be safer if I’m with them. Rogers and idiots like him wouldn’t dare do anything to sabotage them with me getting a front-row seat. Keywords: ‘your observer.’”
“Damn it, Abby. I don’t like this.”
“The attacks happen at night on the planet. I purposely chose to go with them during the day for that reason. I was being considerate of your feelings. The Veslors are going to hunt the Cadia down to take them out while they sleep. We haven’t lost anyone on the day shift. It’s the safest time for me to go. Those creatures are nocturnal.”
Howard softly muttered something.
“I’m not stupid, nor do I want to die. Between the armor I’m wearing and going with the Veslor grouping, it’ll be fine. I’ve seen them in action, remember? They kept Vivian alive on the Gorison Traveler. She refused to send them through the ship alone to handle the Ke’ters. They put her behind them to keep her safe, every time. They’ll do the same with me.”
“I can’t believe I’m even considering this. Your parents will never forgive me if anything were to happen to you. They’re like family to me. So are you.”
She beamed. “It’s already settled. I’m going. Thank you. I’m honored.”
“Our fleet tactical teams aren’t sent out to handle simple planetary problems. We get the difficult ones, and these damn monsters have killed over a hundred colonists and we’ve lost one of our men so far. That’s not counting the dozens who’ve had to be patched up in our medical bay. The Cadia are treacherous, Abby.”
“At night. Not during the day,” she reminded him. “I did my research.”
He sighed. “Fine. You better be safe, damn it.”
“I trust the Veslors to watch out for me. I’m not afraid.”
Howard arched his eyebrows.
“Veslors are highly protective of women. One will be assigned to my side. I’ll stay out of the way if they need to fight, and I’ll be completely safe.”
“That better be the case. Go before I change my mind. Just come back in one piece.”
“Promise. I’ll tell you all the details over dinner. We have a seven o’clock reservation in the officers’ lounge. I sent you a reminder.” She left his office, picked up the helmet and gloves off her desk, and attached them to her suit belt. Then she made her way down to where she’d meet with the Veslors and the shuttle taking them to the surface.
Defcon Red was nearly three times the size of the Gorison Traveler because it was a battleship. It had a massive shuttle bay area that held thirty transports. There were also smaller bays strategically placed around the ship for fighter drones. Defcon Red had also been built to be self-sufficient in case of war. There was a garden aboard that could grow enough food to sustain the more than two thousand fleet personnel and three hundred civilian workers, if supply shipments were ever blocked. Most of the civilian workers were assigned to food tasks or, like her, clerical work for high-ranking officers.
It had been tempting to visit one of the weapons vaults to get outfitted with a few, but Abby hadn’t been trained to use them. Instead, she would trust in the Veslors to keep her safe.
She entered the shuttle bay to find the usual hive of activity. The day shift had a lot more people working than the night one did. She avoided bumping into crew hurrying around to perform their duties and went to flight control. It was a different guy on the job today. He looked up and frowned.
“May I help you?” His gaze traveled down her body, and then he stood, reaching for the weapon strapped to his thigh. “I don’t know you.”