Page 4 of Stranded with the Alien

The front pocket contained water purification tablets in case she found a natural water-source, and two small vacuum-packed bags containing grey SDF T-shirts. No other clothing. Clearly the survival department thought trousers and underwear were unnecessary luxuries.

She stuffed her flight jacket into the bag with everything else, then groped under the seat until she found the emergency beacon.

“Gotcha!”

It didn’t look like much, resembling a fat little walkie-talkie. But it was her way off this planet. All she had to do was find a high spot and switch it on.

It might take a few days but eventually the Idaho would receive the encoded location signal. Sooner, if Koenig was actively looking for her.

He probably thinks you’re dead. Your Merlin went kaboom, remember?

She shook off the thought. The cap was like a bloody terrier. Even if he thought she was a goner, he’d want confirmation. And as soon as he realized the wreckage didn’t include the escape pod, he’d know she was alive.

He’d definitely look for her then. He wouldn’t want to pass up the chance to yell at her for disobeying orders.

She zipped the beacon inside the bag and scrambled out of the pod. A heat shimmer rose from the sand and she wondered if she ought to stay put till morning. She was itching to get going but she didn’t want to be caught in the open when darkness came. Who knew what kind of creatures lived here?

She touched her holster for reassurance. Her Sig Sauer RX500 pulse blaster nestled against her hip, ready and loaded with enough juice to take down a charging rhino from half akilometer away. Not that rhinos were likely to exist on this planet. Then again, who knew?

She shielded her eyes and scanned the area, trying to see if there was anywhere she could shelter overnight. Something caught her gaze and she squinted. A small copse of spindly trees rising out of the desert, a few miles from her position.

That would do. If she got a move on, she could probably reach it by dusk. It looked like a reasonable place to rest until first light.

From there, she estimated it would take another day to reach the larger woodland beyond and a further one to reach the hills. After that it was just a question of climbing high enough for the beacon to operate.

Her foot kicked against something and she looked down. The Hawaiian doll grinned up at her.

“I see you made it too, huh? I guess us girls ought to stick together.”

She stuffed Gloria into her waistband and strode into the rapidly gathering dusk.

Three

Night fell quickly. One minute the suns were tracking downwards, the next it was dark. The pinkish gleam of dusk, if it could be called that, lasted mere minutes.

There were no moons, which was weird. But that didn’t mean the planet descended into blackness. Quite the opposite. The night sky was scattered with abnormally bright stars, undoubtedly the effect of reflecting two suns instead of one. The impact was double-edged – the stars cast a pale glow over the landscape but made the shadows darker and more menacing.

Kara lay on her back and stared into the sky, wondering how far away the E.S.V. Idaho was. She’d been based on the Earth Space Vessel for thirty six months now, stationed in a sector far from Earth. Technically she was allowed to decline combat duty after two years on the front line but when she was offered the choice, she’d thoughtwhat the hell. It wasn’t as if she had anything better to do.

She didn’t have many skills but she was a damn good fighter pilot. It was probably the only reason Koenig hadn’t thrown her out of the military. She had graduated top of her training class, one of the youngest to earn her wings. And with her mother being who she was… well, staying home wasn’t an option.

Not when the only thing that stood between her beloved home planet and domination by the Vraxian Empire was the Space Defense Force. The brave men and women who patrolled the farthest reaches of the galaxy and kept the alien aggressors at bay.

The war had been going on for nearly twenty years, long enough that neither side bothered with planetary incursions anymore. They simply maintained the status quo – long periods of uneasy quiet punctuated by bloody skirmishes along the notional border in the blackness of space.

Like today.

Kara tried to get comfortable. She’d reached the copse and taken shelter under a tree in the last few moments of daylight. The temperature had dropped at sunset, enough that she had put on her jacket again. She gathered some rocks and fired on them with her blaster until they were cherry red.

The terrain had become decidedly rockier the further she got from her pod. At least the walk had loosened up her joints and muscles. She was still a little sore, but definitely a whole lot better than a couple of hours ago.

Using the backpack as a pillow, she lay next to the glowing rocks and studied the stars. There wasn’t a single constellation she recognized.

Wonder if mother is missing me?She snorted to herself. Unlikely. Her mother was probably cursing her, her immaculate eyebrows drawn into an elegant frown.

“Kara Singh, I’m deeply disappointed in you. The SDF is having to waste precious time and resources looking for you. How do you think that reflects on me?”

Yeah, that was more like it.

---