Page 38 of Reaper

“No! They wouldn’t have wanted you to feel guilty for finding happiness,” I argued.

“I know,” Doom said with a smile, “but I couldn’t help my hearts breaking for them. Out of us six from the initial batch of Xian Warriors successfully born from the program, Fury, and I were the only ones to find our mates on Earth. Rage didn’t find his Olivia for twenty-three more years after that. And imagine Legion, Chaos, and Wrath who had to wait another decade after him. Heck, poor Wrath isn’t out of the woods. The situation with Kwan…”

“Ugh, I can’t imagine being in his shoes,” I said, my heart breaking for Wrath. “But surely, in time—”

“Do not fret for him,” Doom interrupted in a reassuring tone. “If anyone could handle that situation, it’s definitely Wrath. Most people only see the badass Warrior in him, but Wrath has always been the nurturer of our brotherhood. His devotion to the welfare of others, and his capacity to love is endless. Hewillhave his happily ever after with his Kwan.”

With these words, Doom stepped onto the hovering platform. I joined him. As we came out of the underground base, we found the three other Coalition men standing a short distance from their ship, and away from listening ears. The tension in their posture and the way they gestured as they spoke revealed much about the intensity of their conversation.

Doom and I exchanged a look before heading towards them under the just as intense stare of our crew that had resumed carving out the meat. Martin was the first to notice our approach. Despite his impressive self-control, he stiffened and observed us with a worried expression. I couldn’t decide if concern for Terrence or fear that we had figured out what his crewmate had been up to prompted that reaction. Maybe it was a mix of both.

“Thank you for helping out our friend,” Martin said as we stopped near them.

“It is Janelle you should thank,” I said in a neutral tone. “We were unfortunately just making things worse.”

“True,” Martin conceded, “but you helped her get it done. She looks really fragile and delicate, but there’s a hell of a woman behind that pretty face.”

I nodded, forcing a pleased smile onto my face. In spite of the genuine admiration in his voice, the underlying incredulity rubbed me the wrong way. Janelle had hinted that she felt like the Coalition men had dismissed her as inconsequential while showing the other Vanguard women the type of respect one grants a superior officer. I had taken it for her insecurities talking. Now, not so much…

“She is indeed very strong and smart,” Doom concurred. “Appearances are often deceiving.”

The way the three men’s eyes jerked towards Doom upon these last words erased any doubt I held that they either knew or suspected Terrence’s indiscretion.

“Terrence was extremely lucky that Janelle knew what to do,” Doom continued. “The question is: what was he doing there?”

While the three men did an admirable job of looking confused, a quick glance at their aura screamed deception.

“Unhealthy curiosity, I guess,” Martin replied with a shrug. “Before joining the Coalition, Terrence had been studying xenobiology. He had hoped to find a job on one of the alien planets of the Coalition. I mean, after traipsing the galaxy for a few years during the war, not that many among us are itching to go back to boring ole Earth. We’re still considered a primitive planet. Who wants to be land bound? No more warp travel. No more cruising among the stars and interacting with alien species and cultures that defy everything we could have ever imagined.”

“Yeah,” Jasper echoed. “I come from a small town… or rather what has devolved into a small town after the city was razed during the Battle for Earth. It’s not much to go back to, and the few Coalition outpost positions have all been handed over to those with greater seniority. Unlike Terrence, I don’t have the big brains and stuff. I can’t blame him for wanting to learn anything he could that might make him valuable enough for the Coalition or even the Vanguard to consider him for a future position.”

“You realize that this is theft that could not only get him permanently banned from ever working for either organization, but also thrown in jail?” Doom asked in a stern voice.

“Whoa, let’s not get carried away here,” Martin said in a defensive tone. “Okay, he fucked up, but he’s also severely paying for it. I mean, Creckels are almost considered as mythical creatures. For someone like him, fascinated by xenobiology, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn more about them. Granted, he went about it the wrong way, but what harm could that have done?”

“Surely, you know that’s not the point?” I challenged.

“Yes, I know,” Martin conceded. “I do not excuse what he has done. I’m merely trying to explain the flawed logic that might have driven him to do something so foolish.”

“We understand that,” I said in the same neutral voice. “However, it troubles me how unsurprised you are by this. How many other bases has he made copies of the data he found there?”

“Terrence didn’t make copies of anything,” Rickon countered. “He doesn’t need to. He has eidetic memory. He would have simply browsed through things that might have been of interest in his field.”

“This little piece of hardware challenges that statement,” Doom argued, extending before the men his open palm in the middle of which sat the tiny data key he’d retrieved from the lab’s computer.

At the sight of the shocked expressions on the three men’s face, a sliver of doubt that they’d been in cahoots with Terrence finally wormed its way into the back of my mind. A quick glance at their aura revealed anger and betrayal, further reinforcing that new belief.

When Martin made to take the key, Doom closed his fingers over it. The Coalition team leader dropped his hand and pursed his lips.

“Judging by your collective reaction,” Doom said, “you clearly hadn’t expected that.”

“No, we had not,” Martin said, while the other two men shook their heads. “We knew he was nosy and poked around in the scientific stuff, but we never saw him copying anything. Like Rickon said, Terrence has eidetic memory. There was no need.”

“Plus, there was nothing of any value, anyway,” Jasper added. “We’ve only been to one base, and it was nothing but dust. There was no equipment, not even any light or power left. Frankly, if not for that freaky shit that just happened to Terrence, we wouldn’t even know about those damn membranes,” he added, running nervous fingers through his hair. “In the base we visited, it just looked like patches of dried cement, like in the basement with those sleeping Creckels.”

“You know well that the Coalition crews haven’t been assigned to any of the good bases,” Rickon said with a sliver of resentment in his voice. “We’re the grunts sent out just to make sure there are no survivors in the spots deemed unlikely.”

“Goodis hardly the appropriate word,” I said in a stern voice. “I got killed within seconds of entering this base by the Creckels trying to protect Janelle. Their tail darts turned me into a fucking sieve, despite my shield and scales. We do not send you to thegoodbases because if things go belly up, there is no rebirth in a new Shell for you.”

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