Chapter 2
Carson Blake
Well, that had been a waste of time. Though he'd been excited at finding that staircase, it hadn't led anywhere. Through a couple of hallways and to a few empty rooms, sure, but he certainly hadn't found what he was looking for.
Still, it was interesting that the stairwell hadn't appeared on the blueprints. Before the mission had come down to this planet, their ship in orbit, the Orion, had done an extensive survey. In fact, this planet had already been mapped by several other teams. And none of them had ever located this staircase.
So of course he'd been hopeful when that awkward cadet had mentioned she'd found it.
But the reality was it didn't contain any secrets. Just cold stone walls and sparse, empty rooms.
He indulged in another sigh as he walked up the last step and stood on the dusty surface of the planet.
Commander Sharpe was beside him, holding the scanner and checking over the results. "Nothing interesting, I'm afraid," he said curtly.
Blake hardly needed the report; he'd been there. But he nodded politely anyway.
"I guess this planet really doesn't have any secrets anymore," Blake managed as he tipped his head back and looked at the glorious night sky above. You could see every damn star, every constellation even. If he'd had the time, he would have sat back to enjoy the view.
He didn't.
They'd already been down here long enough, and they had absolutely nothing interesting to show for their efforts.
It was time to head back to the ship.
"It's not a complete loss," Sharpe tried from his side.
Blake had to smile at that.
Sharpe was not a compassionate man. He could in no way be referred to as nice. In fact, he was the terror of the Academy. Back when Blake had been a fresh, new cadet, he'd unfortunately had a few run-ins with Sharpe. But now the two of them got on well. Though Sharpe was hard on the surface, if you earned his respect, he was your friend for life.
"Yeah, sure, we got a couple of mineralogical surveys," Blake quipped.
"And a broken scanner," Sharpe added with a sigh. "Cadet Nida Harper is the worst recruit in 1000 years, I swear. I have never come across someone as incompetent."
"You mean the woman who found the staircase?"
Sharpe sighed laboriously. "Yes, that's the one."
Blake smiled.
It was clear from the overwrought frustration twisting through Sharpe's tone that he had problems with Cadet Harper. And Blake felt very sorry for the woman.
"She found the staircase, though, and that's something. Even though there was nothing down there, it is interesting that it didn't appear on any of the scans," Blake said, feeling he should try to defend her, even though he didn't know her at all.
"That's a particularly charitable description of events, Carson. By the sounds of it, she was walking along, not looking where she was going, and she tripped down those stairs. That's hardly a fact to be proud of," Sharpe shot back.
Blake just chuckled under his breath.
They were heading back to the compound, and though the night wasn't completely pitch black, considering the starscape above, they still had to navigate by the light of Sharpe's scanner.
While the scanner threw out bright light, wherever its illumination could not reach, it only served to make the shadows longer and darker.
If Blake hadn't already seen the reports confirming this planet was completely devoid of life, he would have been sure to survey his surroundings far more carefully. He would have also taken some proper armor down to this planet.
But as it was, it was clear this place no longer had any secrets.
This mission had been a wild goose chase to begin with, and nobody would be particularly surprised he hadn't found anything down here. Still, it was disappointing to go back empty handed.
"Ready to get back to the Academy?" Sharpe asked perceptively from his side.
"Something like that," Blake said.
Then something caught his eye.
A dark lump of a shadow about 10 meters to his left.
"Come on," Sharpe mumbled over his shoulder as Blake slowed down.
"Hold on," Blake took several steps toward the shadow, his eyes narrowing.
Then he took several more steps, and then another.
Slowly he realized it wasn't an ordinary shadow; the closer he got, the more the dark shape resolved into the hunched form of a human being.
He ran the last several meters, sliding to his knees when he reached it.
As he scrambled around in front of the body, he realized it was Cadet Harper.
She had a particularly memorable head of messy dark hair. And right now, that hair was splayed around her, covering her cheeks and arms and back.
"Cadet, are you alright?" he snapped as he reached her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.
She didn't move, and she didn't answer.
"Sharpe, get that scanner over here," Blake barked as he checked to see if she was alive.
"What is it?" Sharpe ran up. He dropped to one knee. Then his eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Harper," he moaned, "what the hell has she done to herself?" He brought the scanner to his face, typed something into it, then huffed. "One broken rib, a concussion, a sprained ankle, and several cuts and abrasions," he quickly answered his own question, letting out a relieved sigh as he did.
Even though Sharpe clearly didn't get on well with Cadet Harper, the man was responsible for every recruit under his command, and Blake knew he cared for them all, even the crappy ones.
"So she's alive, then?" Blake found himself confirming needlessly.
Sharpe gave a hard nod. "Yes, she is, but she's going to have one hell of a headache when she wakes up." Then he leaned right down to Harper's ear. "Harper," he shouted.
She stirred slightly.
"Harper," Sharpe snapped again.
Blake watched as she slowly blinked her eyes open.
For the briefest of seconds, he fancied he saw a light flashing deep in her pupils. But he dismissed it.
Because it was impossible. Nothing more than a trick of the dazzling starlight above.
Even though he didn't know the woman, he let out his own breath of relief and shifted back, removing his hand from her shoulder.
She tried to sit up, but immediately groaned and latched a hand to her chest.
"You have broken your rib," Sharpe noted with disdain. "Given yourself a concussion, sprained your ankle, and sustained numerous cuts and abrasions. What exactly happened?"
She stared at Sharpe, her lips parted gently, her eyes out of focus. Then she shook her head.
"She is confused," Blake said quietly to Sharp. "Let's just get her back to the cruiser. Once the doctor has checked over her on the Orion, you can question her then."
"Question her? Who am I kidding? I don't need to question her to know what happened," Sharpe pushed a breath through his clenched teeth. "She fell over. She is a basket case. She's in the infirmary every other day for scrapes and bruises," he added as Blake got to his feet.
One broken rib, a concussion, and a sprained ankle from falling over? Blake doubted it, but then again, he didn't know Harper.
From the brief interaction he'd had with her, she did appear to be pretty clumsy and awkward, though, so maybe she could injure herself that much by simply tripping over a stone.
She tried to get up on her own, but quickly fell flat on her butt when she put weight on her ankle.
"Here, I'll give you a hand," Blake offered as he leaned down and helped her up by the shoulders.
"I'm fine," she squeaked in a high-pitched voice.
"You are not fine," Sharpe noted curtly. "Now get back to the cruiser before you trip over and lop your head off."
She let out a little sigh, then hobbled forward.
Blake pushed his shoulder into her, supporting her as best he could. When he offered to pick her up, considering how slow her progress was, she squeaked a no.
>
Soon enough they made it back to the compound, and several people walked over to see if they were okay.
When the rest of the team asked what was wrong, and Sharpe blatantly pointed out that nothing was wrong, and Cadet Harper had just fallen over again, his comment was met with several knowing laughs.
Blake felt Harper tense against his shoulder, and she shook her head slightly.
"I'm fine," she said one last time, now pushing away from his grip.
Though she swayed, she stood, and he watched as she stared solidly at the ground, ignoring everyone as they continued to laugh at her.
Again, he found himself feeling sorry for her.
Okay, so she didn't exactly seem to be Galactic Coalition Academy material, but she'd just injured herself badly, and surely deserved people's sympathy.
Instead, Sharpe snapped at her to get to the cruiser.
Soon Cadet J'Etem came rushing up to Harper to give her a hand.
J'Etem was stunning. She was Barkarian, and she was beautiful from her lustrous blond hair to her plush purple lips.
She smiled down at Cadet Harper, and the two of them leaned on each other as they made it over to the cruiser.
Well. Hadn't this been a royal waste of time?
Not only had Blake found nothing at all, but one of the cadets had injured herself too.
Dipping his head back, he forced a steeling breath as he stared up at the stars above.
This planet was meant to hold secrets. That's why he was here. Though he didn't know the full story - as his superiors hadn't deemed to share it - his mission brief was to search this barren rock for any signs of the civilization that had once existed here.
Though it wasn't unusual to be sent on missions were his superiors only partly told him what was going on, he really felt like this was a wild goose chase.
What the heck was meant to be down here that could garner the full attention of the Force?
Barbarian warriors? Powerful alien weapons? Some spatial anomaly?
Well, currently he'd found nothing but dust.
And more dust.
Feeling despondent and downright disappointed, Carson quickly made his way back to the shuttle.
Occasionally he glanced over to see Cadet J'Etem administering to Cadet Harper.
Harper seemed okay now, and smiled and chatted with her friend, but occasionally she would get a far-off look in her eyes, and her brow would crease with worry.
He wanted to know what had happened, how exactly she had fallen and hurt herself that badly, but before he'd been able to ask, the rest of his team had distracted him.
Plus, Blake had bigger problems to worry about. He always did.