Chapter 10
It took him ages to find a way out of the ship. If he’d had his armor, he could have done it in seconds. The damn stuff was back at the Academy, though. He was meant to be undercover for this mission, and there was no good excuse to take your battle armor on a resort cruise.
The longer they remained trapped in the belly of that broken ship, the more irritated he got.
Mimi thankfully was silent. In fact, she was doing a pretty darn good job of staying out of his way.
That wouldn’t last, though, would it? As soon as they got out of here, she’d go back to being the arrogant, maddening brat he’d learned to loathe. In fact, it was a surprise she hadn’t taken the opportunity to turn her recording orb on to document this whole mess. It was also a surprise she hadn’t started asking him more questions about his past.
Finally, after what felt like hours, they made their way into the cargo bay. He had to pry apart a door with his bare hands to make it in, but once they were inside, they saw light.
Josh swore and laughed.
At the other end of the room, there was a massive crack in the hull. It had let in a mountain of sand. Enough sand, in fact, to climb up.
He raced toward it. It was only when he was halfway up that he realized Mimi wasn’t following. He turned around, his boots skidding in the sand as he lost the purchase his momentum had given him.
She was searching through the cargo, biting her lip as she concentrated.
“What the heck are you doing?” He called to her.
“Looking for my luggage.”
“Are you serious? We need to get out of here.”
“Hold on, I think I’ve found it. It’s just under this enormous chunk of metal.”
“Mimi, get your ass over here now,” he snapped at her. “Don’t you jeopardize our lives just because you’re looking for your precious stuff. Your dad can replace whatever you’ve lost.”
She blinked at him, her surprise obvious. “I’m just—”
“I said move,” he snarled.
Still clearly shocked, she made her way up the sand bank toward him. She kept her distance, though.
“It figures someone like you would prioritize possessions over people,” he said meanly.
“Why are you suddenly being so mean again?” She asked quietly.
“You just reminded me why I hate you; you’re a spoilt brat.”
“Don’t you think you’re overreacting? I just thought having luggage would be kind of useful considering we’re stuck on a desert planet a long way from home.”
“Yeah, right. You’ve probably got your jewelry hoard in there or something.”
“Do I look like the kind of person to wear enough jewelry to have a hoard of it, Josh?”
“Shut up and keep walking,” he snapped.
She fumed.
It had finally happened; Josh had turned mean again. And she was right – it had happened right when they’d reached safety. With the immediate threat over, he could default to being a prick once more.
She crossed her arms as she followed him up the sand drift until finally they made it out into the light. Though there was a considerable lip of metal she had to scramble over in order to get out of the ship, Josh didn’t help her. He marched ahead, slamming his hands on his hips as he stared at the landscape around them.
Mimi eventually made it out and scrambled up the sand dune beside him.
She stared.
They were in a desert. Though the sun was starting to set, it was still remarkably warm.
“Oh my,” she muttered under her breath as she looked up into the sky. There were dual suns.
This really wasn’t Earth.
Suddenly, she felt something to her side. She looked down, confusion crumpling her brow.
An object burst from the sand next to her.
She screamed and threw herself to the side.
Josh grabbed her protectively. Then they both watched in surprise as the object turned out to be a small subterranean drilling vehicle. It protruded from the sand, the drilling mechanism on the nose winding down as a door was thrust open along the body.
A massive alien who had no right fitting into such a small vehicle pulled its way out.
Mimi held onto Josh fast.
The alien looked the both of them over, then tipped its head back and laughed. It sounded like an engine roaring into orbit. “More survivors,” it said, its voice a gravelly mix between boots crunching over rock and the deepest baritone you’ve ever heard. “The Captain said it was ready to salvage. Said all the crew was accounted for and had already been rescued. Guess he didn’t count you guys as rescuable. Still, you got out just in time; a few more minutes, and we would have torn that ship to shreds.”
Mimi gripped Josh’s arm so hard it was a wonder she didn’t break his bones.
He didn’t push her off. He did, however, shift to the side until he was in front of her. “Where the hell is the Captain?”
“Back in town. It’s a two-hour walk that way. Or you could wait a bit, and I’ll give you a lift.”
“We’ll take the lift,” Josh said immediately.
“Wait, we will? No offense, sir, but how exactly are we going to fit inside that thing?” She tried to be polite as she pointed to the very cramped drilling vehicle.
“By squeezing in,” the alien informed her with a chuckle.
“Oh my, okay.” Mimi bit her lip.
“Plus, it’s preferable to walking out in these parts, ma’am – there are sand wolves, salvagers, and brigands.”
“Umm… aren’t you a salvager?” Mimi asked in a falsely light tone.
“That’s right. I am. And I know how bad my kind can be.”
“That’s comforting.” Though she wasn’t aware of it, Mimi unconsciously shifted closer to Josh.
He didn’t tell her to get back.
Because he was doing it again. There was danger, and he was going into protection mode, dropping his usual attitude in favor of helping her out.
“How long will you be?” Josh asked as he nodded toward the broken ship down the side of the sand dune.
“An hour, max. Sit back and enjoy the show, humans.”
With that, the alien saluted, squeezed himself back into his vehicle, somehow managed to close the door, and gunned the engine. With a sound like a million swarming insects, the drill revved up, spinning so fast it became white hot. Then Josh pulled her back as the vehicle tipped, slid down the sand, and plunged back into it.
She watched in astonishment as the broken transport suddenly lurched to the side, the sound of screeching metal filling the air.
Out of the sand, she saw more drill vehicles as they rammed into the transport’s hull, eating into it as sparks escaped, dancing over the sand and leaving tiny swathes of singe marks.
Once the drills heated up to a blistering red-white, they started to melt the metal of the hull. As they did, great big pumps on either side of the drill head would suck in the molten metal, turn it into cubes, and spit it out onto the sand.
Mimi had never seen a ship being salvaged, and it was an incredible sight to watch.
“They’ll melt down everything – from seats to the engine core – and create matter blocks,” Josh suddenly explained as he shifted beside her and angled his head down to watch the show.
She was no longer holding onto his arm, even though she still rather wanted to.
“The pumps on either side of the drill head have sophisticated matter filters and can separate the different elements coming in. They then fuse them together into easily transportable blocks and spit them out.”
“How do you know so much about salvaging?”
Josh stiffened. He didn’t answer.
Realizing she’d crossed a line, she didn’t push. Instead, she turned back to the show.
She watched as the various drills burst out of the sand, attacking the downed ship in a coordinated fashion. It was mesmerizing, and she was almost sorry when the show stoppe
d.
No, scratch that – she was sorry when the show stopped, because now she had to squeeze inside a tiny drill vessel with Josh and a massive alien.
Soon enough the alien parked his drill back on top of the dune and pushed open the hatch at the front. “All done, humans. Get in.”
Mimi made a face. Josh hissed at her not to be rude, then waved her forward.
Somehow Josh managed to leap up the distance between the top of the sand dune and the hatch, pulling himself into the small vehicle and arranging himself until he somehow looked comfortable.
Mimi really didn’t want to get in there.
“Hurry up,” Josh snapped at her.
“But what about Klutzo, I don’t think he can fit in?”
“Program him to fly behind us. Now hurry up!”
With a squeak, she moved. In an uncoordinated manner, she somehow managed to pull her body into the tiny, cramped cockpit, practically rolling over the alien until she reached one of the walls. She was lodged there, sandwiched between the metal, the alien’s back, and Josh’s side.
She could only just breathe; her face was so smooshed into the wall, her nose was crumpled.
“Comfortable?” The alien asked.
“Ah, what am I sitting on?” Mimi tried to shift, but there was nowhere to move to.
“My arm,” Josh announced as he tried to push her off. Eventually, he managed to slide his arm out from underneath her and stuck it behind the back of her neck instead. There was literally nowhere else to put it apart from back under her butt.
She took a breath and tried to pretend this wasn’t as uncomfortable as it very much was. She also tried to ignore the reassuring feel of Josh so close.
Without another word, the alien turned his salvage vessel back on, and a series of terrible tremors passed through the cockpit. With her face squeezed up against the wall, she felt each shake rattle through her jaw.
Then the drill shifted direction and slammed back into the sand.
Mimi would have been thrown forward, but there was literally nowhere to go.
“So, what brings you two out to this neck of the woods? Honeymoon?” The alien asked conversationally.
“Who would honeymoon on Omacka?” Josh questioned with a chuckle.
“Ah, we are not married,” Mimi jumped in.
She swore Josh shifted his head around to look at her.
She couldn’t look up to check, but she could feel his arm move behind her.
“What, really? So when’s the happy date?” The alien continued. “Because, you know, we have some real cheap celebrants in town. There’s even an ex-cargo captain who’ll marry you for a bottle of space whiskey.”
“We are not getting married,” Mimi squeaked.
“Oh. Fair enough. It’s not for everyone. De facto relationships are just as rewarding,” the alien chuckled.
“What? No, we aren’t—” Mimi began.
“What my girlfriend here is trying to say is that we’re very anti-marriage. We view it as nothing more than property exchange,” Josh cut in.
“I hear you, I hear you,” the salvager agreed.
Mimi found the space to turn and stare at Josh. “What are you doing?” She mouthed.
Despite the cramped quarters, he somehow still managed to look aloof. “Trust me,” he mouthed back.
She did not want to trust him, but when she opened her mouth to clarify the situation, Josh deliberately banged her on the head with his arm. “So, what’s your name?” He asked the alien.
“Hogartiynu’tkauquo Fok’yaayayaya,” the alien said.
“I’m going to call you Hogart for short, then,” Josh said. “What are our chances of booking a transport off this planet?”
“There’ll be a trader or two willing to take you in their cargo ships,” Hogart said jovially.
“Cargo ships…” Josh swallowed through a laugh. “Not exactly the most comfortable transports.”
“Anything’s got to be better than that damn Class Y tug,” Mimi interrupted.
Josh looked at her and slowly raised an eyebrow. “What about a Class Omega transport?”
“That’s not a thing… is it?”
He nodded knowingly.
She pressed her lips into a line and groaned.
“So, what are your names?” Hogart asked.
“Josh and Claire,” Josh answered quickly.
Claire? Did she look like a Claire?
“You know, Claire, you look kind of familiar,” Hogart pointed out.
“She gets that a lot. She just has one of those faces, I guess,” Josh said with a chuckle.
“Nah, it’s more than that,” Hogart continued. “You look like… it’s on the tip of my tongue… ah yeah, Mimi Chester. Which is kind of a coincidence, considering she was on the passenger manifest for that transport – but you said your name is Claire, right?”
Josh acted.
Without another word from the alien, Josh flung himself forward and wrapped his arms around the guy’s massive green throat.
Mimi screamed. “What are you doing?”
“He’s trying to kidnap you, idiot. Salvagers don’t just go after downed ships,” Josh stuttered through breaths.
Hogart was thrashing around, trying to get to the stun gun at his side. But Josh was somehow stronger. Despite the fact he wasn’t in armor, and the alien was easily three times bigger than him and a heck of a lot fleshier, Josh kept his grip around the guy’s neck.
Hogart tried to ram Josh against the wall, but Josh took the blows.
Through it all, Mimi was pressed up against the back of the cockpit, her hands over her head.
Then there was a clatter.
The gun.
She forced her eyes open and flung herself forward, grabbing the gun just before the alien could reach for it with one of his massive hands.
Though she got the gun, the alien grabbed her arm. His grip was crippling, his fingers digging into her flesh like vises.
Just as Hogart squeezed hard enough to break her arm, she managed to squeeze off a shot.
She expected a standard pulse beam to slice out of the gun and into the alien.
That is not what happened.
Instead, a bullet bounced out of the chamber. One that proceeded to bounce around the cockpit like a pinball attached to a rocket.
“No,” Josh screamed as he barreled into her, knocked the gun from her hand, and slammed her against the only patch of floor. He protected her with the bulk of his form, wrapping his arms around her head.
There was an unholy noise as the bullet kept ricocheting off the walls. A couple of times, it hit her in the leg and arm. It didn’t kill her, though, nor did it stun her – it simply rammed into her with all the, well, force of a speeding ball of metal.
Despite the fact she was hit, Josh was hit more; she could feel the ball impacting his back.
Neither of them suffered as bad as Hogart. With his sheer size, there was no getting away from the bullet.
Eventually, she could feel him slump forward, and about a half minute later, the ball stopped. Clanging into the wall with one final thrust before falling to the floor, its momentum was spent.
Josh pulled himself up.
She had no idea what had just happened.
Without a groan, Josh thrust forward, checked Hogart was down, and leaned past his massive form to access the navigation panel. With a few typed commands, the drill reversed direction and soon burst out of the sand. Before the drill died down, Josh kicked open the hatch door and proceeded to shove Hogart out.
Mimi was still speechless.
“A hand would be nice,” Josh groaned as he pushed his shoulder into Hogart and hefted the guy toward the hatch.
Mimi didn’t move.
With one last groan, Josh shoved the alien out of the hatch. The massive guy fell onto the sand, where his body proceeded to sink about 30 centimeters before stopping with a soft scattering sound.
“What… what…” she tried to speak.
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“What happened?” Josh jumped down from the hatch to check on Hogart. “You fired a bruiser in a confined space. You could have killed us both.”
“Bruiser?” She stuttered as she staggered out of the digger, falling to her knees and sinking into the sand.
“That bullet. It sends a ball of metal hurtling around a room until the thing runs out of momentum. It’s called a bruiser, because that’s what it leaves. It’s a great way of clearing a room full of enemies. It is, however, the last thing you should fire in closed confines.”
He looked at her very sternly, but she was still too shocked to care.
With a pathetic sound, she brought her hand up and checked her arm and leg. They felt bruised alright.
“Don’t whimper, it can’t be that bad,” Josh admonished her, “I took most of the blows. Well, the ones our friend here didn’t take.” Josh motioned to Hogart with the tip of his boot.
“… Thanks,” she forced herself to say.
“Yeah, I should imagine you’re thankful. Without me, you would have been kidnapped.”
Mimi felt cold. She shivered, despite the heat. “But… Hogart seemed so nice to begin with. And you trusted him enough to let us ride with him.”
Josh’s left eyebrow kinked up. He was clearly amused. “Trusted him? I never trusted him. I kind of figured this would happen,” Josh admitted.
“What?”
“It was always a possibility.”
“So why did you let us get on board?”
Josh shrugged. “I figured I could take him if anything happened, then we could take his vessel.”
“But, but—”
“Taking our chances with him was preferable to trundling through the desert, trust me on that. Now get back in.” He motioned to the digger with a flick of his head. “We want to make it to the city before dark.”
Mimi was flabbergasted.
“Mimi, please just get back in here.”
Though she wanted to turn on her heel and walk away, she found herself boarding the sand driller instead. She did shoot him a very peeved look as she sat down and crossed her arms.
“You know, that look really suits you; it brings out the purple tones of your spray-on skin,” Josh quipped.
“You know, I don’t get you, Special Commander.”
“What’s not to get?” He didn’t bother turning to her as he sat in the command seat and manipulated the driller’s controls.
“One minute you go from the galaxy’s greatest prick to being almost kind and sweet.”
Josh spluttered. “Kind and sweet? Trust me, I have never been kind and sweet to you, and I never will. Now sit down and shut up; I want to make it to the city as quickly as we can.”
“What do we do when we’re there?”
“Stick together, watch each other’s backs, and pray Hogart doesn’t have a brother.”
Stick together? Did Josh actually mean that? Or was he going to do it again? Get them both out of trouble, then return to being a world-class meany?
…
It took about 20 minutes to make it to the city. Mimi was quiet throughout the trip. Though a part of him wanted to check on any bruises she’d sustained, that part was quickly quashed.
She was starting to irritate him again, which was surprising considering she wasn’t doing anything.
It was her mere presence, her very existence. She stood for everything he loathed, all wrapped up into one mouthy little package. The sooner they got off this planet, the better.
Maybe she was smart enough to tell he was cooling toward her again, because she shifted away from him and stared out the tiny cockpit window. It showed a constant view of churning sand. It was black until the particles of fine sand hit the windscreen and reflected the light from within. Then you could see the yellows and golds and pale oranges.
It could have been pretty, but he was too distracted to tell.
Something was bothering him. It was her. Again. With time enough to pause, he was thinking, and he remembered in short order how this was all her fault. She’d dallied in the cargo bay, looking for her stuff, and it could have cost them their lives. A few minutes later and the ship would have been torn to shreds.
She’d also been dumb enough to fire that bruiser bullet, and his back was killing him. It felt like a horse had done a tango on it.
What else? Oh yeah, there was the little fact that he kept having to look after her. He wouldn’t be in this situation if Hogart hadn’t tried to kidnap her.
As the minutes ticked on by, his mood became darker and darker.
By the time they arrived in the city, if she so much as breathed too loud, he shouted at her.
A part of Josh realized his behavior was way out of line. Not only was it entirely inappropriate for a Coalition officer, but it was just wrong. She’d had a tough day, and he was adding to it.
His anger wasn’t ready to listen to reason, though, so when he kicked open the hatch door, he didn’t bother to give her a hand as he jumped onto the ground. Instead, he watched her practically fall out of the hatch, and he offered nothing but a snigger.
“Right.” Without bothering to explain anything to her, he turned on his heel and marched forward.
He’d parked his driller on the outskirts of town, but it didn’t take long to make their way to the packed center of the city. There were so many various aliens around, it was practically a mob.
While he was okay to stride ahead, pushing his way through the various alien bodies, Mimi was having a much harder time. She kept getting stepped on or elbowed in the face.
When they’d reached the city, the aptly named Klutzo had finally caught up with them. He’d done it in style by flying straight into the side of a building before reorienting and zooming up to Mimi.
She’d been clutching him protectively ever since, wrapping her arms around the recording ball as if it was somehow more important than protecting her own face.
“Wait, hold up a sec,” Mimi said as she tried to make her way around a massive alien with a face like a bull.
Josh ignored her.
“Seriously, just hold on so I can catch up.”
“Look,” he stopped abruptly and turned to her, “I only agreed to look after you if you could keep up. So keep up.” He turned to march away.
She latched a hand on his arm. “Wait, I thought we agreed to stick together so we could watch each other’s backs? That’s what you said in the driller.”
He looked at her hand pointedly, but she wouldn’t move it. He was rapidly learning Mimi Chester was dogged. More dogged than he was, and that was saying something.
“Seriously, just slow down a little. That way we can watch each other’s backs.”
He couldn’t help it – he snorted so loud it sounded like his nose collapsed. “You think I need you to watch my back? You’re delusional. I guess the cadets were right. Now keep up.”
She removed her hand from his arm. It wasn’t a strong move, though; she let it drop to her side weakly. Her expression also changed, her usually bright and cheery smile faltering.
If Josh had an ounce of empathy, he would realize he’d crossed a line. Compassion wasn’t his forte, though – fighting was. Whether on the battlefield or with irritating daddy’s girls like Mimi Chester.
So Josh didn’t stop. He kept crossing the line: “the only reason I’m letting you tag along is that you’re a risk to yourself. If anyone else finds out who you are, you’ll get kidnapped. And we can’t disappoint Theodore Chester, can we? That’s the only reason anyone is ever going to give a hoot about you, Mimi; you have a famous father. I only told you that stuff about sticking together and watching each other’s backs so you didn’t argue. You were dumb enough to believe it. What, you think I actually need someone like you watching my back? You will only ever get people killed, like Lilly Williams,” Josh spat.
He watched her smile fall from her lips as her cheeks paled with some mix of disappointment and shame.
If he were a ni
cer guy, he’d stop. Instead, he gave a sharp chuckle; it felt pretty darn good to wipe the ever-present smile from Mimi Chester’s lips.
Without another word, he turned on his heel and kept marching forward.
If he’d been cognizant of anything save for his own success at putting her down, he’d have realized she wasn’t following him anymore. In fact, Mimi had turned away to forge her own path through the crowd.