Part Two: Eddie & Sonta

ALL OF THE STORIES IN THE SHORE LEAVE SERIES OF SHORTS TAKE PLACE THREE MONTHS BEFORE SINFUL MATE, BOOK ONE OF THE INFINITE UNIONS SERIES.

Eddie

Sweat and blood perfumed the air in this part of the Venus Space Station. We were in the bowels of the place, almost literally. The waste processing station was right next door, which explained the occasional whiff of shit that filtered through the damp air. The room was cavernous, a huge round space with old walls decorated in blaster scorches, blood, and torn posters for fights or businesses long gone.

At one corner was a long table that acted as a bar where dozens of kegs were being tapped, their contents poured into recycled bottles and shuttled out to the customers. Waitresses in skimpy skirts and halter tops scurried around, dodging grabby hands as much as possible while also delivering drinks. Old metal benches sat in tiered rows around a raised dais where a huge metal cage currently sat empty. The mat of the cage was currently being cleaned by some drones, though it looked more like they were just smearing the blood around more than anything.

The floor where all of us spectators walked was always sticky underfoot, and I never looked down to find out why, because why take the gross factor up?

Not that I had any room to complain. After all, none of us were here for the ambience.

Unless by ambience, you were looking for illegal cage fighting. And I was.

Even though my days of being the most successful underdog in Terran cage fighting were well behind me thanks to the double knee cap replacement, I’d had one year before joining the Gex-Corps, I still loved to watch.

And gamble, of course, but that went for everyone here, really.

I made my way through the crowd, which was growing by the second because the main event was about to start. The long handle of my compact hover scooter was secured to my back, and the horizontal piece kept sneaking into my periphery on my left. The scooter was a necessity for getting around a station this size that didn’t have any accommodations for someone my height. It was a newer model that had been outfitted with some special bells and whistles by the Intrepid’s engineer, Sophia Dawes. It went faster than a regulation scooter, and the horizontal handle was thicker to account for the barely legal Hornet Blaster that I didn’t go anywhere off ship without.

To most people, though, the long vertical handle might be just about anything. It wasn’t until I depressed the button on top that it unfolded into the hover scooter. It also was a wicked club in a pinch.

I snagged a bottle of beer from a passing waitress, a human with a great ass, and tipped her generously.

“Thanks, handsome,” she said with a wink.

I was distracted by thoughts of getting that beauty in my bed when I was nearly knocked on my ass by a Zorestran with an eye patch who wasn’t  watching where he was going.

“Watch it, you imp!” he snarled.

I flipped him off and started to walk to a seat when his meaty hand landed on my shoulder.

“Seriously?” I said with an eye roll.

I was not in the mood for this, but…

“You need to learn some respect, you shit stain,” the Zorestran said.

He attempted to pick me up when I spun to the side and grabbed a handful of his testicles. I gave them a good yank and squeeze for good measure. An anemic scream escaped his gaping mouth, and I held on.

“Now,” I said, sipping my beer with my free hand, “I was inclined to let your behavior slide, but now I expect you to apologize.”

I squeezed harder, and he groaned.

“I-I’m s-sorry,” he whimpered.

I held on for a second more before letting go. The Zorestran fell on his face on the disgusting floor and I simply walked over him. If I had a credit for every asshole who thought I was someone they could step on because I was only four feet seven, I’d be one rich fucker. The Intrepid was one of the few places that didn’t seem to make a deal out of my short stature. I was the Chief Medical Officer, and the nano sensitive shoes I wore on the ship activated nanites in the floor that raised it up for me when I walked, allowing me to do my job no matter what the height requirements might be.

But the Venus space station had no such accommodations, especially not here.

This particular room wasn’t even on the plans of the station, a small pocket where low-level criminals, bookies, gamblers and those looking to make a name for themselves in illegal cage fighting gathered for a bit of entertainment.

I climbed up onto the bench where a grizzled, huge Zorestran male was waiting for me and clinked the bottle against his.

“Is it just me or did you get uglier since the last time I saw you?” I asked, taking a swig.

He grunted out a hoarse chuckle.

“Naw, I did. Two new scars from breaking up a fight here last week,” he pointed at a nasty one on his left cheek.

“Trace, you don’t watch it I’m gonna be collecting your damn body one of these days.”

The old Talosian just shrugged.

“I’d rather live hard than rot in retirement.”

“Don’t gimme that. After all these fights, you’ve got plenty of creds to get off this floating shit heap.”

“Hey,” his playful smack on my arm nearly knocked me off the bench, “this shit heap has history. Show some respect.”

I snorted and took another swig.

It was true that Venus Station was one of the oldest around, famous for its beautiful bio-domes, old time piano bar and the infamous criminals that were caught on its premises.

Oh, and the cage fighting, of course.

“So,” Trace leaned down to me, “everything set?”

I grinned at him and nodded. Trace and I had been running some variation of the same con for years. He knew virtually every fighter on the station, and when one of them was in need of a hand up or was in too deep with a bad trainer or bookie, he would make sure the odds were driven way low on their winning, I’d show up with an adrenal and they’d miraculously win. Most of the credits would go to the fighter to help them out, and my share always went to Trace. I told him to hold it for me and I’d get it later, but I never did. A few credits were nothing compared to how he’d saved my life when I’d been young and stupid.

“Shira has the adrenal hidden in her glove,” I said. “When she’s about to go down, she’ll hit it and win the fight. I pity the poor sod who’s got to fight her tonight. Who is it anyway?”

“Some newcomer I didn’t recognize. Apparently, they always wear a mask over part of their face and go by an alias. She’s been on a winning streak, so I’m a bit nervous.”

I waved the worry away even though his words made a kernel of doubt start to stir in my mind.

“The other fighter won’t know what hit them. The adrenal is solid.”

“I sure hope so. Those bookies have Shira’s little sister. They’re threatening to sell her.”

“Not gonna happen. Even if I have to beat the shit out of them myself.”

Trace cocked an eyebrow at me.

“What?” I asked, incredulous. “I’m still in my prime.”

He let out a bellowing laugh and hit his knee.

“Sure,” he wiped his eyes, “and I’m a prince in hiding.”

“Alright, alright, alright!” hooted a bald human male dressed in an outlandishly bright green suit. “It’s time for our main event, if you could all take your seats. Betting is now closed.”

In spite of how sure I was that we would win, nerves still ricocheted in my gut. There were always errors that could happen. No plan was perfect and while I could make that adrenal in my sleep, there was an odd itch between my shoulder blades that I couldn’t shake. I’d had the same feeling just before the fight where the brute had broken both my knees. I’d gotten it before my wife had been shot in front of me. And I had it now.

It’s fine…it’s gonna be fine.

“First up,” the human grinned as the spot light hit his shining face, “our challenger. At five feet eleven inches, a rarity indeed, the Valtoshan, Shira Hasus!”

Some cheers, but mostly jeers for the young woman who jogged up to the cage. Her gear was clean but obviously worn, her arms and legs were a patchwork of scars, some from fights and some clearly not. Her riju the tendrils that flowed from her skull and were part of her ability to empathically know what someone was feeling, were all held back by several thin strips of fabric that both kept them out of an opponent reach and kept her from using them as a weapon. Her face was focused, serious, but I’d been around this sport long enough to see the nerves in her eyes.

She found us in the crowd and Trace gave her a nod that she returned. He was her sponsor in this fight, so it was nothing suspicious to have her acknowledge him. It would’ve been weird if she hadn’t.

“And now our champion, standing at six feet ten inches, the mysterious and beautiful Talosian who is undefeated in all of our affiliate fight clubs, Athena!”

A golden skinned woman in black shorts and sports bra, the bottom half of her face covered in a breathing mask, jogged up to the cage while the place went completely crazy. She was fit, that was for sure. A beautiful pattern of amber colored scales ran up her muscular arms and shoulders, up the sides of her neck and to her temples, standing out in shimmering contrast to her golden skin. But it was her eyes that truly set her apart.

They were purple.

And few Talosian I’d ever met had purple fucking eyes.

No…no, no, no.

I stood up on the bench to get a better view of her body as she warmed up on her side of the cage and after a few seconds I saw the tattoo that she always passed off as a birth mark during her physicals, partially covered by the straps of her sports top but it was there.

The sign of the royal family of Talos Five.

The one thing that clinched it without question.

The fighter that Shira was going up against, the one that I’d ensured would go down in a bloody heap, was the first officer of the Intrepid, Commander Sonta Fidelius.

“Shit.”

Sonta

The crowd was rabid tonight as I climbed into the cage. This was my little secret, a way to not be the buttoned down Commander of the Galactic Union’s flagship, or fourteenth in line for the Talosian throne.

Both had their pleasures and their burdens.

And I needed an escape from all of it.

This was my solution to that.

Inelegant?

Yeah probably, but I didn’t really care. Everyone out there didn’t care about me beyond the blood splattered spectacle I was about to give them. Still, I wore a mask to make sure that no one recognized me. The Intrepid stopped off on a lot of planets and space stations, and as unlikely as it was that someone from one of those missions or even from the ship itself would be here, I didn’t want to take any chances.

I sized up the opponent in front of me and inwardly cringed. She had a tough facade, and a strong body. From her warm up movements, I could see that she knew what she was doing. But she was also little more than a kid. I was over thirty cycles, though Talosians aged slower than most other species, so I still looked too young to be the first officer of the flagship.

I also looked like someone that could be taken advantage of by the occasional drunken fleet Admiral who assumed I was vulnerable and young.

They didn’t have that assumption intact after I was done with them.

Sometimes other things weren’t intact either but that was a last resort kind of attack that I didn’t relish.

The announcer finally wrapped up his advertisements and self aggrandizements. My heart stilled, my mind focused. It was obvious that I could beat her, but I wanted to do it with as little bloodshed as possible. The crowd might not like that, considering my last opponent was a seven and half foot tall Zorestran who stabbed me with her horn. That had been a difficult wound to explain to doctor Goodman. There was no way he bought my story about it, but being the discrete medical professional he was, Eddie didn’t say a word.

The buzzer went off. The crowd screamed in near mania but it all faded to a dull roar in the back of my mind. Time slowed as she advanced on me. Skills honed on the dusty practice yards of Talos Five and the suffocating sparing rooms of the academy activated as instinct as the world snapped back into my consciousness.

She came out swinging with a jab to my face that dodged, landing an upper cut in response. Her head snapped back, and she stumbled. I didn’t press the advantage that I could have. Instead I circled, getting a sense of how dazed she was. Not very well apparently, because she rammed her shoulder into my middle and slammed me back into the cage, which was a little electrified. That would get worse the longer the match went on. As it was now, the bite of the electricity barely registered.

I hooked my foot around her ankle and let my weight bear down on her as she lost her balance. We fell together, and I had her in an arm lock. This was a short end to the match, which would not please anyone, but it was also the least bloody way to subdue her. A small shoulder displacement. I pay for the repair and she leaves a little wiser and still alive.

Instead, the young woman grit her teeth and slammed her hand on the mat a little too hard. I hadn’t really started approaching what was likely her pain point, so what the hell was that?

“Sorry about this,” she whispered.

I frowned just before her fist connected with my face.

It was like someone took a block of stone and slammed it into my face. I was seeing stars as I lost my grip on her arm and fell to the side. I just got myself onto my hands and knees so that I wouldn’t be an easy pin, but my ears rang.

That blow was not natural, I knew that. It was an adrenal of some kind.

The crowd was going berserk as my opponent climbed on my back and put me in a head lock, her forearm pressed on my wind pipe. She was clearly inexperienced because the way she was doing this, she could easily crush it instead of merely squeeze it and make me pass out.

I slapped her arm, my face pulsing from lack of air. My vision was going in and out already from that punch and now I saw black spots in my vision. But that didn’t keep me from making eye contact with a very familiar face.

What the…?

“Stop! You’ll kill her!” Eddie, and I was sure it was him, screamed from the crowd. “Let her go!”

The other fighter kept the pressure on and I went limp, hoping that would let her know that it was done, that I was defeated.

“You want your champion to die? Get her the fuck off her!” Eddie yelled, just before everything went dark.

Sonta

I woke up to the sting of sulfur in my nose and flung my hands out to get the smell away.

My eyes still werent, focusing all that well, so at first I wasn’t sure if the room had low lighting or it was. But after another few minutes, I realized it was the filthy lights above me in the dingy little laundry room that doubled as a ‘locker room’ for the cage fights.

A small light shone in my eyes and I batted it away.

“Stop that!”

“Hold still. I need to see if you’re concussed.”

“Now you’re worried?”

“Hush, doctor working.”

“I’m going to kill you, Eddie.”

“Okay, after I make sure nothing’s broken.”

I threw up my hands.

“Fine.”

Eddie began to examine my throat, then my eyes, and finally the bruise on the side of my face. I wasn’t sure how long all of it took, but at the end of it, he gave me a hypospray that took the worst of the pain away and slathered a healing gel on my throat to help with the swelling and bruising.

“Thanks,” I said, and sat up slowly.”Now, what are you doing here?”

“Me? I fit here, people wouldn’t think twice about seeing me here. This is expected of me. I’m not exactly an angel. But you? Sonta, what are you doing?”

I glared at him and turned away.

“I don’t need to answer to you.”

“As your doctor, I think you do.”

“We aren’t on the Intrepid Eddie.”

“Okay then, just be straight with me then as a friend. What is this?”

“Blowing off steam. What is it for you?”

He blew out his lips and tossed a towel into a small basket in the corner.

“Repaying a debt or two.”

“That girl?”

“Sort of. It’s a long sad story with a bunch of other equally pathetic and sad stories all blended in. You up for that?”

“Hell no. At least not without a strong drink.”

“Well, you don’t have a head injury, so that’s fine. I’m buying. I owe you that much.”

“Damn right you do.” I gingerly touched my jaw. “What the hell did you give that girl? There was no way she could have hit me that hard unless she was on something.”

“Is that so?” said a gravely voice from the doorway.

“Oh shit,” Eddie murmured just before snagging a vial of something blue and shoving it in the hypospray. “This is going to give you an energy boost and take away all the pain temporarily. You’ll feel it later, but not now.

“What– hey!”

He injected me with it just before doing the same for himself. A cool sensation spread through my body, followed by a rush of adrenaline. I suddenly felt like I punch through walls and not have a scratch. Which was a good thing, since the three Zorestrans that just walked in were about as big as a wall.

“Um, Eddie?” I asked as I got to my feet.

“Tell ya later, just don’t hold back.”

“So ya rigged the fight?” the first guy said.

He was shorter than the other two, but not by much. There was a jagged scar that ran down the length of his face and his head was shaved, making his steel tipped horns stand out all the more.

“I didn’t say that and neither did she,” Eddie said, standing in front of me with his arms crossed. “But since Shira won, you’ll get your credits and you don’t get to keep her sister any more.”

“That’s not really how it is. Ya see, I had a lot riding on this one winning. So you cost me more than Shira made.”

“Not my problem. We had a deal. Shira held up her end and now it’s your turn. Where is her sister?”

“Probably on her way to the pleasure houses on Qellen Two,” he said with a lascivious chuckle. “Kid has a future, I can tell ya that.”

Suddenly I was seeing red as a sick feeling spread through my gut. I’d been invisible once, easily taken advantage of in spite of my royal status. I knew what it was like to be at the mercy of men who thought their size and age gave them leave to do whatever they wanted.

I’d never been able to do anything about those evil men. But these? Oh, these I could do something about.

I got to my feet, adrenaline coursing through me lightning fast. All of my senses were suddenly sharper than ever before. I could hear and see everything, every nuance of movement, every whisper of breath. It should’ve been overwhelming, but instead, all I felt was a wicked joy.

These pricks weren’t gonna know what hit them.

My fist flew at the first Zorestran, smashing into his jaw. Blood and saliva flew as the crack of bone sounded throughout the room.

He yowled in agony, clutching his broken jaw as he attempted to remove his blaster pistol from the holster. I snared his hand, twisted and felt the distinct pop of tendons. His scream was muffled this time, but tears fell in fat drops down his face as he dropped to his knees. I didn’t see Eddie move, but I heard the squeal of pain from the second Zorestran, who fell to the floor, his leg bent the wrong way at the knee.

I grabbed for the third one just as he was fleeing. His shirt ripped in my grip and I shoved him hard into the wall, breaking his nose.

“Stop, I’ll tell you where the girl is!” he cried.

His two friends behind him were sobbing and panting, the distinct smell of urine suddenly invaded the air.

“Talk fast unless you want my friend to rip your balls off,” I said as I pulled him away from the wall and shoved him onto a bench.

Eddie walked up, bleeding from his lip, expression hard as stone as he cracked his knuckles.

“Okay! Look, she’s not gone, not yet. Boss had us sedate her and stow her as cargo for a ship leaving in twenty minutes from docking bay six. Crate number sixteen, twelve, L.”

I stared at him for a few seconds just to draw out the suspense and finally let him go.

“If you’re lying to us,” Eddie’s voice was soft but menacing, “me ripping your balls off will be the least of your troubles.”

“I’m not, I swear!”

In spite of the way my body was humming with energy, I managed to walk, not run out of there. When we got to the hall, I started to run when I realized that Eddie wouldn’t be able to keep up.

“Piggy back ride?” I asked.

He gave me a sour look.

“Fuck no, I’ve got it covered. Let me comm Shira first.”

He pinged the woman I’d fought, her voice thick with worry.

“Where is she?” Shira asked.

“Long story, but we’re on our way to find her,” Eddie said. “Is Trace with you?”

“Yeah, I’m here. What the hell Eddie?” Trace’s gravely voice sounded quite angry.

“I’ll explain later. Trace, stick to the plan. I’ll meet you both at the shuttle with your sister.”

“You sure you don’t need back up?” Trace asked.

“No, I’ve got a friend helping.”

“A friend, huh?” I asked with a smirk. “I always thought you tolerated me.”

“I’m generally a bit on the grumpy side in case you hadn’t noticed. Nothing personal.”

I crossed my arms, because honestly? I didn’t buy it one bit. I was an expert at knowing when someone was wearing a mask. Everyone in my life from the time I was born had ulterior motives, hid things from me and generally played games with their loyalties to my family. I could count on one hand the people who were absolutely honest with me before I joined the Gex-Corps. And I knew, for some reason, that Eddie Goodman had always been stand offish toward me. I just didn’t know why.

“Come on, we don’t have a whole lotta time,” he said, swinging a long pole with a horizontal bar off his back.

When he pressed a blue button at the top, a low whirring sound began and the bottom extended, then widened into a board. Another click of a switch and the engines under fired and Eddie stepped on. He zoomed away from me, yelling over his shoulder as I stared after him, “You coming or what?”

Eddie

I had to focus and get Shira’s little sister back, but all I could think about was that I was fighting alongside a member of the same royal family that had instigated the Grellton war ten years ago. The same war where I’d served as a field hospital doctor for the GUP, who had supported the Talosians in that conflict. That was where I’d seen some of the most vile war crimes committed by the so called ‘civilized’ Talosians.

Sonta’s uncle had been one of the worst offenders, earning him a reputation that even the GUP couldn’t ignore after a while. He was finally charged with war crimes, but only after the war was pretty much over. I would never have stayed with the GUP if it hadn’t been for a scrappy first officer named Antony Drake that had been helping with some of the relief efforts. He’d convinced me that there was more to the GUP than what I’d seen, and that I could have a place there, making a difference.

Our Captain had changed my life, but all the service I’d done, all the therapy to work through my anger and PTSD didn’t completely take away my feelings about Talosians, no matter how hard I tried.

Though, I have to admit, Sonta might be different. She’s not the spoiled royal I had expected when Antony told me she’d be joining his crew.

The respect I grudgingly had for Sonta was hard to admit.

The low level attraction was even worse. She was beautiful, fierce, funny, intelligent and brave. Everything that made me weak when it came to a woman. But she was also the Commander of the Intrepid, and a Talosian. So being lovers was ever gonna happen.

Maybe we could be friends…maybe.

Between her long legs and my super charged scooter, we made it to the dock with a few minutes to spare. Usually, our standing in the GUP would be enough to get civilian freighter crews to stand back while we searched cargo, and that had been my plan at the beginning.

Until I saw the markings on the side of the shuttle.

“Nero Pirate Federation,” Sonta said with a twist of disgust as we hid behind some crates in the shuttle bay. “We’re a little outnumbered, but that stuff you injected us with could give us an advantage.”

“Do you see the crate we’re looking for?” I asked, getting my Hornet out of the handle of the scooter.

“Yeah, it’s in that last remaining stack over there.”

I nodded and pressed the button to compress my scooter. I didn’t put the pole back in the harness at my back and instead gripped it where the bar met the handle. There were about a dozen pirates, all different species, loading crates into their shuttle. The Pirate Federations did a lot of business across GUP space, only a little of it was legal. The GUP tended to look the other way as long as the Federation wasn’t raiding GUP ships or selling human cargo, like Shira’s sister. Depending on the influence of the Nero Federation, they might not get into too much trouble about it, though, which really pissed me off.

“We can take ‘em,” I said, “but it’s gonna get messy.”

“I’m okay with messy.”

I snorted.

“What? I am!”

“I know! It’s just…”

“What?” her eyes narrowed. “Is it the royal thing? Trust me, I’m no princess.”

I couldn’t help smiling at that.

“Maybe not, but you’re a damn fine first officer.”

“A compliment? Be still my heart.”

“Alright,” I grunted and stepped out from behind the crate. “Let’s do this before I start to actually like you.”

She chuckled and shook her head.

We didn’t give them time to absorb the fact that a short human man and a Talosian woman were rushing them. I shot the first two with my Hornet set to a strong stun, and they went down with a yell. Sonta punched the one that came at her hard enough for him to spin around, and then she slammed her foot into his knee, which broke with a crack.

Between the two of us, we cut through the first half in no time before the rest of them realized what was happening. I didn’t see a muscular human woman coming at me until her fist had collided with my face. I fell to the side at the impact, the pain starting to break through the block in the adrenal. We didn’t have much time before it ran out completely.

I aimed the Hornet and hit her on the shoulder. She yelped and came at me again. I managed to knock her legs out from under her with the scooter pole and get up before the next one came at me. I landed a solid hit to his knees as well, but didn’t see the pirate aim a blaster at me until it was too late. I dove to the side, and the bolt grazed my thigh.

I cried out, the pain sharp. He advanced on me, blaster raised and I hit him with two bolts from my Hornet. He went down in a heap and I breathed a sigh of relief.

By now, there were only two left. They threw up their hands and backed away while the rest of the shuttle crew lay moaning or unconscious on the ground.

Sonta snagged the two of them and shoved them down onto the ground while I limped up to them. One of the crew grazed me with a blaster in the thigh and while it wasn’t bleeding all that much, it hurt like a son of a bitch. Sonta wiped blood from her mouth, another bruise beginning to bloom around her eye.

“We know you’re transporting sentient cargo,” I said, pointing my Hornet at them. “How many?”

They looked at each other, terrified.

“Don’t tell them a damn thing!” snarled someone on the ground nearby.

“Sonta, dear, would you mind?”

She marched over and stepped on the leg that was clearly broken. He let out a keening cry and begged her to stop.

“Now,” I said when she’d let up, “I’m only gonna ask one more time. How many sentients are you transporting?”

“Those are them,” said one of the scared pirates as he gestured to the last stack of crates. “Just those, that’s it!”

“I’m gonna gut you two!” said the one with the broken leg.

Sonta bent over and punched him twice, and the man finally passed out.

When she got up, her hands were shaking badly and I could see the fear starting to take over. The first time one of these kinds of adrenals wore off, it could get intense. I just needed her to hold it together a little longer, though, and I could give her something to help. She gave me a short nod and stalked over to the crates.

“You two get out of here,” I said.

They scurried off as I commed Trace.

“Where the hell are you?” he asked.

“We have a problem.”

“What’s new?”

“There are about six sentients total that scum was selling off. We’ve got them here and I’m not leaving them. Can you call in a solid with your buddies in the Constabulary?”

“No problem. Shira and I will be there in a few as well.”

“Thanks.”

Sonta fell onto the ground on her bottom and closed her eyes. I ran over to her and checked her pupils.

“What…the…hell did…you give…me?” she stuttered.

“This is the side effect. First couple of times is the worst.”

She nodded and cringed.

“My heart…I think I’m…feel like I’m…”

“Dying?”

She gave me a tiny nod.

“I’m scared…Eddie.”

And then she did an incredibly shocking thing. She reached out and pulled me to her, resting her head on my chest. I was stunned for a second, and then I hugged her back. Her body was trembling from the let down. It would pass in a few minutes, but I knew from experience that the worst withdrawals felt like forever. So I held her tighter, promising her it was going to be alright. My fingers ran over her tight braids against her skull. A few strands had escaped and they were silky through my fingers. I could feel her full breasts against my upper thighs, the strength in her arms as she held onto me. She felt…good. She felt way too damn good in my arms and I should’ve let go, put some distance between us. The last thing I needed was to lust after a damn Talosian royal. But I didn’t let go. I couldn’t ignore someone who was in distress.

By the time she stopped shaking, the Constabulary showed up, demanding we put our hands up.

“I’m Doctor Goodman from the Intrepid,” I said, hand going to the pocket of my pants.”I’m going to reach in here and grab my credentials.”

“Slowly!” snapped the officer with the stun rifle in my face.

I handed it to him, keeping a hand on Sonta’s shoulder as she leaned her head back against the crate she was sitting against.

He scanned the credentials and handed it back, lowering his gun.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, suspicion dripping from his voice.

“Long, classified story,” I snapped, and then gestured to the group waiting behind him and the other two officers. “You gonna let the medics through or what?”

Sonta

I didn’t remember much after the adrenal wore off. All I could think about was how my heart raced, then dipped, how my entire body ached and was on fire. By the time the symptoms had mostly passed, the station constabulary had secured the pirates and freed the six young women in the crates. I was sitting off to the side, watching Eddie check on each of their vitals while his very large Zorestran friend made sure the Constabulary didn’t give us too much of a hard time.

“Here,” Shira said, handing me a bottle of water. “Thank you for saving my sister.”

A thinner version of Shira was off to the side, a blanket wrapped around her body while Eddie did one final check on a nasty bruise on her head.

“It was nothing,” I said.

“Yes it was. People like me, we don’t usually get help from anyone in Gex-Corps.”

“Technically, that’s not what I’m here for at the moment.”

“Yeah, well, still. You cared enough to help and so thanks. I guess you’re one of the good ones.”

The tone of surprise and yet also bitterness in her voice surprised me. I wasn’t delusional enough to think that Gex-Corps was without fault. I remembered the Grellton conflict. I heard about what my uncle had done. But I had seen enough good to make me believe in our mission, to think that others did too. Maybe that wasn’t the reality, though.

“Do you and your sister need help with anything?” I asked. “Passage or a place to start over?”

She let out a long breath through her nose.

“Well, since Eddie said he took care of the shit bag I owed credits to, we have a good start where that’s concerned, but…I guess I’m not sure. I’m scared of messing up again, ya know? Trusting the wrong person.”

I nodded.

“Then let me help you find the right ones.”

I sent a few contacts over to her wrist comm and stood up.

“I’m Sonta Fidelius,” I said, “and if you use my name with any of them, they’ll get you set up on the worlds they live on. Get you a place to live, a job. You can trust them.”

Shira stared down at the list of names and then back at me, tears in her dark eyes.

“Why would you do this?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do and because everyone deserves a helping hand. If I can do that, I want to.”

“Thank you,” her breath stuttered. “You have no idea what this means to us.”

I wanted to say that I did. That I remembered what it felt like to be given a chance to shed my royal identity and join Gex-Corps. But I didn’t because that was my secret. Instead, I just shook her hand and enjoyed the warm sensation of helping someone in need.

Eddie sauntered toward me, eyeing Shira as she gave her sister a tearful hug.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Just giving them a little help to start a new life.”

He grunted, and I got the impression that was his way of saying he approved. Not that I should care about that, but oddly, I very much did.

“You ready to return to the ship?” he asked. “I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve had enough shore leave for now. And besides, I need to look you over before you return to duty.”

“What about you? That blaster graze should be looked at.”

He shrugged.

“Gave myself a hypo of a numbing agent, and it’s fine right now. I’ll have Chloe look it over later.”

We got back to the Intrepid without incident and snuck into the sick bay. I hadn’t looked in a mirror, so I had no idea just how bad I looked until the nurse on duty squeaked in shock.

“Oh my goodness, Commander, what happened?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Eddie snapped, “go catalogue something and leave her to me.”

The poor nurse’s eyes widened further when he saw Eddie, but he didn’t say another word. Just did as he was told and ran off to an adjacent room and closed the door.

“You talk to all your nurses like that?” I asked as I jumped up onto a med bed.

Eddie slipped on his nano sensitive shoes and the computer acknowledge his presence.

“Welcome back, Doctor Goodman, activating floor risers.”

The floor elevated for him as the nanites in his shoes reacted to the sensors in the floor, and now he was around the height of an average human. He could go up to six feet with those shoes on, though I’d rarely seen him do that. Eddie seemed to prefer not to be that high off the ground. He began to examine my eyes first, running the small med scanner down my body.

“I talk to some of them like that,” he finally said, “because they need to know that this job isn’t all sunshine and fucking rainbows. If they can’t handle a grumpy doctor, they aren’t going to last long.”

“Harsh.”

“True.”

I was silent after that as he continued the exam. His face was close to mine on several occasions as he administered healing gels to my cuts and bruises. It was a little unnerving that I was just now noticing how handsome he was. Not in the traditional way of most human men, but there was a rough around the edges appeal to his craggy features that I found intriguing. I’d not had many lovers over the years, too focused on proving myself. And I certainly never had one on the ship I was serving on, mostly because I rose through the ranks fast and most were my subordinates. It wasn’t right for me to try to engage in a relationship with such an uneven power balance.

But Eddie was technically my equal. And he was fierce, intelligent. The way his uniform clung to his body showed a man who had a leanly muscular physique, which was generally my weakness. I liked a man who was smaller than me and with my broad shoulders and Talosian height, there were usually plenty to choose from if I wanted.

And yet…

“You don’t like me,” I said as he administered a hypo spray.

Eddie hesitated, his jaw tightening under his trimmed goatee.

“I used to not like you at all,” he admitted.

“And now?”

“I hate the way you’re growing on me.”

I couldn’t help letting loose a chuckle at that and for a second, Eddie stopped and looked me in the eye. We were so close, the slightest movement would bring our mouths close enough to kiss. I noticed the way his hazel eyes flitted down to my mouth and back up, and I had the oddest sort of flutter in my chest. But then he backed off and walked over to the tray he’d been taking different things off of during my exam.

“You served during the Grellton conflict,” I said.

His back stiffened.

“Yeah. What of it?”

“It’s why you’ve never liked me, and I understand that.”

He turned around, arms folded across his chest and just stared at me, daring me to continue. I took a deep breath, not at all sure why I felt the need to explain this to him, why I had to reveal things that I hadn’t told anyone. But something inside of me rebelled against letting Eddie continue to assume that I might’ve agreed with what my family had done. I needed him to see me, or at least start to give me a chance.

“I once asked my father why he did it,” I said, the words hard to get out at first. “He didn’t answer me for a long time. When he finally did, he told me just one thing. That he’d trusted the wrong person. I assumed he meant my uncle because he was the one who had turned him over to the GUP for war crimes.”

Eddie’s eyebrows winged up at that but he didn’t say anything.

“I left to join the Gex-Corps because there was a lot on my planet I didn’t agree with, a lot in the galaxy I wanted to change,” I continued. “But as the youngest and fourteenth in line for the throne, I had no power to change anything. I wanted to serve, but I realized that I didn’t want to serve a throne that had condoned such horrible things, like that war. My father did not agree with my decision, but he never stood in the way of it. I think…I think he knew that I would never be able to live a full life on Talos Five. By the time I graduated the Academy, the war was over.”

“Why tell me all this?”

I took a minute to find an answer because I still kind of wondered that myself.

“I want you to be my friend,” I said, knowing it was the truth. “And I know that you saw some horrible things that my people, my family had done. I needed you to know that I’m not them.”

He let out a long breath, staring down at the floor and I thought after a minute or so that he wasn’t going to respond. When he did, his voice was thick with regrets and sadness.

“I wasn’t exactly an angel during all of that. I did things I’m not proud of.”

“I think that’s probably war.”

“Yeah. Still doesn’t excuse it.”

“No, I guess not.”

“I know you’re not your family,” he said, looking me in the eye. “I knew that the longer I served with you, and I know that after tonight. It was hard to be around you at first. But you wore me down.”

I let out a small laugh.

“It’s what I do.”

He grunted out a laugh at that.

“Yeah, I noticed. It’s damn infuriating.”

I laughed again, a lighter sound this time because I was seeing hope that Eddie might actually let me in. And for some reason, that made me quite happy.

“It wasn’t right of me to judge you at first,” he said, “I’m sorry. “

“Thank you.”

“And I guess we could be friends.”

“Wow,” I said, quirking an eyebrow, “that took a lot didn’t it.”

“You have no idea.”

I hopped off the med bed and walked up to him, extending my hand.

“Thank you, for giving me a chance.”

His grasp was firm, warm and we both might’ve held on a little longer than necessary.

“You going to the Captains brunch tomorrow?” he asked as he started to clean up.

“Of course. You?”

“Not gonna miss out on his cooking. Or his Bloody Mary’s, the man has a heavy hand with the alcohol.”

“Well then,” I said with a grin, “I’ll see you there.”

Eddie

I couldn’t get her out of my head all night.

The way she’d smiled at me.

The way her laughter made something tight inside of me, that thing I’d held onto for so long I wasn’t even aware of it anymore, loosen up.

She was…unexpected.

We arrived at the Captain’s quarters together. Her in a crisp dark blue uniform with gold accents, dark hair braided into a conical shape on top of her head. I still thought her hairstyles were ridiculous, although maybe a bit less so now.

“Doctor,” she greeted me with a warm smile.

“Commander,” I said with a nod and…

Fuck me, was I actually smiling at her?

Just a little?

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything, a smart move on her part since I was already shocked enough.

We entered the spacious quarters, the sound of old earth classic rock playing in the background, a cozy fire in the sitting area. The smell of bacon and scones made my mouth water, but it was the sparkling pitcher of Bloody Mary’s that really held my attention. Captain Drake had set the entire ship to interact with my shoes, so I didn’t have to ask anyone to pour me the drink, I could do it myself.

“Well good morning you two,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Captain was half Zorestran, half human, as evidenced by his salt and pepper hair, lighter blue skin and shorter horns. Bastard was still gorgeous and had charisma coming out of every pore. The fact he never turned that charm onto his subordinates was a point in his favor. I hated play boy Captains who couldn’t keep it in their pants on every away mission and at every space station.

“How was the station?” he asked as I poured myself a drink. “You both look like it was an interesting shore leave.”

“It was.” Sonta looked at me with a little panic. “Very.”

Drake’s eyes widened and when we didn’t elaborate he shrugged.

“Okay then. Help yourselves to some fruit while we wait for everyone else to arrive. And then there’s something I need to talk to everyone about.”

My adrenaline spiked, but I hid it behind a long pull from my glass. Sonta gripped a delicate champagne flute filled with a mimosa but her eyes filled with panic. We made our way over to the table while the door opened again and in walked Lt. Kier’Ahn.

“He knows,” Sonta said, downing half her drink in one go.

“If you keep acting guilty, he’s gonna know something is going on.”

“No, I’m serious. I’ve seen that look. That’s his ‘I know what you did on shore leave’ look.”

I frowned incredulously.

“That’s oddly specific.”

“You have no idea who many times we’ve had to confront crew members about something on shore leave. I’m usually his bad cop and now being on this end of it? Not a fan.”

I went to take a drink and stopped.

“You’re the bad cop?”

“Yeah, why? You think I can’t be tough?”

“In the way that bread is tough, maybe.”

“Hey,” she smacked my arm, “I am filled with toughness when I need to be.”

“I’ll take your word for it cage fighter champion.”

“See, that’s an example of me being tough.”

“Got me there but…”

The Captain brought a platter of bacon to the table and we gave him wide smiles. His smile became awkward, and the turned around slowly, as if he were a little unsure how to react.

“Okay, yeah, I see it now,” I said, draining my glass.

Sonta refilled my Bloody Mary and her Mimosa and we drank nervously waiting for everyone else to arrive. When a hung over Lt. Vabaris walked in and the Captain hadn’t said anything yet, I was hopeful Sonta and I were just seeing things.

And then he said, “Alright now, who wants to go first and tell me why I received two messages from the station constabulary and one odd noise complaint from the Priest who works at the station chapel?”

I downed my second drink, let out a groan and said, “I’m too fucking sore and tired to lie. Captain, what happened was…”

An hour later, and several other revealing stories told, a stunned Sonta and I were walking out of the brunch.

“I can’t believe he bought it,” she said.

“Neither can I,” I said with a burp. “It wasn’t my best lie.”

“It was…creative.”

I huffed out a laugh.

“Thanks.”

“So,” she said as we walked to the lift, “next shore leave, am I gonna find you at the cage fight?”

I gave her a sideways glance.

“Am I going to find you there?”

The grin she gave me was heart stopping, and I had the sudden urge to pull her in and find out if her lips were as soft as they looked. I clenched my hands together and resisted.

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

“I guess so…princess.”

I expected her smile to fade, or for her to protest. I expected several things, but not the glint of heat in her purple eyes.

“Don’t call me princess,” she shot back, but there was a playfulness to it that I very much liked.

“Whatever you say.”

The rest of the short walk we were silent, last night, and this morning rolled around in my head, all tangled up with these new feelings I had for her. I didn’t like it. Relationships among the crew were messy, and I didn’t do messy.

But I did do friends with people I respected. And damn it if I didn’t find myself respecting Sonta.

“See you later Doctor,” she said just before walking into the lift.

“See you Commander.”