Page 39 of Reaper

The idiot had the good sense of looking embarrassed.

“He didn’t mean it that way,” Martin said in an appeasing tone. “Throughout the war, and for our own safety, Coalition troops have always been kept at the back while you guys charged in first. It made sense. After all, you’re the Vanguard for a reason. But that means few of us have heroic tales to bring back home aside from having been the cleanup crew. It would have been nice on our way out to be able to tell our families some cool story such as we had saved a beautiful young woman from near starvation and the hundred Creckels that raised her in the base they’d been buried in for two decades.”

I snorted at the romanticized spin on our rescue of Janelle and the modified Creckels.

“Like you said, it is for your own safety,” Doom said noncommittally. However, we both knew their safety was only one aspect of it. Keeping sensitive—and potentially dangerous—weapons out of the hands of people the Vanguard hadn’t personally vetted was an even bigger reason. “That said, we would like to have a look at Terrence’s quarters.”

Martin recoiled while his two companions made no effort to hide their outrage.

“We told you there was nothing in that base,” Martin argued.

“Just like you told us Terrence wouldn’t copy data,” Doom said in a calm but firm tone. “Clearly, he’s been keeping things from you. The experiments ordered by General Khutu are extremely dangerous. We cannot risk blueprints or research data falling into the wrong hands. So, we will need you to take us to his quarters… right now.”

Although Doom’s voice remained conversational, almost friendly, the underlying imperious command couldn’t have been clearer. Forcing our unit leader to pull rank would only make an already awkward situation even more unpleasant. Thankfully, Martin gave us a stiff nod and headed towards his vessel. We followed in his wake, Rickon and Jasper begrudgingly closing the march behind us.

The Albatross was a large Coalition transport ship. During the war, such ships usually carried troops, cargo, or refugees to and from the hot zones, while never actually getting to the front. The pristine state of the ship testified to the fact that it had never seen battle up close.

As we strolled down the main corridor towards the crew’s quarters, the wave of psychic energy flowing between Martin and the two men behind us almost made me regret the absence of Reklig. While possible, male-to-male telepathic communication only worked well in relatively short distances. The greater the distance and the longer it took to establish the connection, which explained why there were no male Soulcatchers. Right this instant, I would have given anything to know what they were discussing.

“You think they’ll try to play us?”I telepathically asked Doom.

“I think they’re considering it. However, Martin doesn’t strike me as a fool,”Doom replied.“I doubt he will risk getting caught to protect Terrence.”

Martin opened the door to Terrence’s room, overriding the biometric lock using his ranking officer clearance. While Jasper seemed displeased and uncomfortable about all of this, Rickon was flat out seething. You’d never guess it looking at his stiff expression. But his aura told a completely different tale. Thankfully, Martin gestured for the other two men to stay outside while we investigated. They complied and remained in the doorframe to observe us.

As with most transport ships, the crew’s quarters leaned on the small side to maximize the space reserved for passengers or cargo. A small bed with a storage locker at its foot occupied the length of the back wall with a large window above it looking outside. The left side of the room had a long table that served both as a work desk and breakfast table. A giant screen used two-thirds of the wall. On the opposite side, two large closets took up most of the space, leaving only enough room for the door to the hygiene room shared between his and those on the other side.

The room was clean and orderly, the bed done in an almost military fashion. While Doom checked the desk and small drawer cabinet beneath it, I ran a scan from my armband in x-ray mode to look for anything that seemed out of place. The first thing that jumped out to me was the outline of a large crate under the bed while none could be seen by the naked eye.

Two larger containers inside his closets raised even more red flags.

“Doom, check out the closets,” I said, gesturing to the set of doors with my chin. “There are two large containers in there. Based on the readings, they might be temperature controlled.”

Our team leader immediately headed towards them. At the same time, I crouched next to the bed and reached for where the interface of my scanner indicated the location of the crate.

“Besides some clothes, they’re both empty,” Doom said, turning to look at me questioningly.

His jaw dropped upon hearing the scraping sound of the invisible box I was dragging out from under the bed. I smirked as his eyes lit up with understanding. He reached out carefully with a hand and connected with something.

“What the fuck?” Martin whispered when Doom also began dragging out his catch.

My hand roamed over my camouflaged container and quickly located the manual switch to deactivate the invisibility cloak on it. My teeth clenched when I recognized a lab case normally used to transport potentially hazardous samples.

“Any idea what could be inside this?” I asked Martin while Doom was also disabling the camouflage on his container.

“I have no idea,” Martin said in a firm voice laced with anger.

His sincerity couldn’t be denied. It pleased me that we weren’t dealing with a corrupt crew, only a bad crewmate. The absence of a security seal on the opening mechanism reassured me that there would likely be no risk in exploring its contents. The lid parted in the middle, each half folding to the side of the container. It revealed a series of flasks and vials filled with liquids of varying colors. The anger coursing through me cranked up a notch at the sight of some of the labels on the vials.

“That fucker has venom and toxin samples belonging to many of the species Khutu experimented on,”I telepathically said to Doom.“Where the fuck did he acquire them?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,”Doom replied, his own anger seeping through our psychic link.“My own damn crate contains tissues, organs, and even some fucking embryos. Something big is going down.”

“Are you certain there wasnothingin the base you visited?” I asked Martin in a cool voice while leveling him with a hard stare.

“I told you the truth,” he snapped, getting angry. “I don’t know what the fuck any of this shit is. I never saw him bring these things on board. My crew and I havenothingto do with this. We are not scavengers.”

“And yet, one of your crewmates is carrying the worst possible kind of contraband aboard your ship,” Doom countered.

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