Tempted by Celestial Bodies

Chapter 4

chapter four

sweet and spicy

Hidden behind the rocky outcropping, toward the mouth of the cave, I stared hard into the dusky, predawn darkness. Shadows from the mountain ridge lay in heavy layers across the path.

No raiders had emerged from or re-entered the cave. No movement came from the shadows. My gaze swiveled back toward the dark, silent space Thrash had disappeared.

I flexed my hands against my thighs, itching to unsheathe my daggers and run after him.

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe he could handle himself. Despite my earlier doubts, I knew he could. No matter what landed him on my team, he had arrived with official paperwork. Someone, or a group of someones, high up in UFIS had sent him our way, which meant he was more than capable of taking on raiders. I would trust any members of my team.

But I’m afraid for Thrash .

That could prove to be a deadly mistake. Space was a wide-open, wild frontier and UFIS had countless highly dangerous departments. The ETP, specifically, the terraforming division, was in the top five. As a terraformer, the quickest way to get dead was to grow soft emotions.

I cared for my team members, but it wouldn’t hurt me if they fell. A stiff drink and good night’s sleep and I could move on. Cold? Maybe. Necessary? Absolutely.

Staring into the silent distance, I knew it would break me if Thrash fell. Stars take me, but I’d known it within five minutes of meeting the guy. I could almost feel my dreams withering on the vine like the Elfusian sugar grapes he so loved.

A fierce burn ignited in my thighs from crouching so long. The discomfort pulled me from my melodramatic thoughts. Where was the signal? I shifted, settling into a comfortable position.

As I sank to one knee, a brilliant light erupted from the darkness, bathing the surrounding area in shades of red, orange, and yellow. The ground trembled from a concussive blast. Small stones hopped along the path from the force. Somewhere, men and women screamed.

A trio of raiders burst from the cave and sprinted toward the chaos.

Thrash’s dark, impressive form stood out in stark relief at the center of an explosive light show. Even from this distance, the rings of bioluminescence flaring on his horns and between his scales were visible. Waves of light rolled away from him in a clearly directed path. More screams sliced through the murky dark.

At the last moment, he turned toward the trio closing in behind him. Another wave of light rolled away from him and collided with the raiders. I could just make out their crumpled bodies hitting the ground.

Holy oblivion! Equipped to handle groups, indeed. Another pulse, and this time I felt weight against my bones. I sucked in a breath. No wonder he didn’t need weapons—that man was a weapon.

“That has to be the sign,” I muttered. Tensing, I stood and cast a final look in Thrash’s direction. Shrill screams continued, but Thrash had moved out of sight, probably herding the raiders toward their ship.

I turned my focus on the cave entrance, confirming no new raiders had joined the party. I had to hurry.

With quick, methodical movements, I rounded the corner and sprinted across the open space between the rocky outcropping and the shadowy entrance. No stragglers emerged as I approached, but that didn’t mean the cave was empty.

Sliding to a stop on the silt and gravel, I pressed my back to the stone wall next to the entrance. After a few focused breaths to slow my erratic heartbeat, I eased forward to peek inside.

Empty. My lungs deflated and ballooned on a relieved breath. The smell of ozone, freshly churned soil, and barely-there evergreen notes rushed through my nostrils. I’d always loved the smell of a newly terraformed planet on the precipice of population phase.

Releasing the breath, I double checked the area behind me was still empty. No raiders, but also, no Thrash.

Damn it! This wasn’t the time to lose focus. Thrash was a big boy—a very big boy. He could handle himself.

I pressed the heels of my palms into my tightly squeezed eyes until I saw stars behind my lids.

Refocused on the task at hand, I opened my eyes and slipped my daggers from their holsters, swiping my thumbs over the bio triggers to ignite the plasma blades. A glance inside confirmed the space was empty. I entered, daggers first.

Thrash’s assault had indeed emptied this entire level. Either the raiders were overconfident or stupid. Or they were neither and there was a group waiting below who had been warned to expect company.

A single ramp led deep underground to the machinery. Nipping my bottom lip between my teeth, I looked from the cave entrance behind me, back to the dimly lit ramp, keenly aware I could be walking into a trap.

I approached the ramp, pausing to study the multiple sets of deep grooves carved into the hardpacked earthen and stone floor. The spitting plasma from my blades cast dancing light across the floor and on the walls.

If I were instructing my team, I would tell them to wait. While Thrash had taken on a larger number, he was in the open with plenty of places to take cover. The machinery room below was a small, enclosed space.

Cognizant that my only chance against an ambush lay in a silent approach, I carefully placed one foot in front the other as I started down the ramp. My gaze swung between the gouges in the path and the dim length of tunnel in front of me. When the equipment had been installed, we’d rolled it in on platforms. Other than what was necessary to install the machinery, there had been no damage to the cave. This was all the raiders’ doing.

Judging by the number of destructive trails leading up the ramp and out of the cave, my gut told me this place was empty. But there was a lot of equipment which meant there were no certainties.

One long, sloping turn after another crept by before pale pink light spilled onto the ramp from overhead. Those were the emergency lights. The fucking raiders had severed the power completely.

The lights flickered. With the total shutdown and so much equipment on the grid, the backup generators would have a hard time keeping up.

Still, no sound rose from below, so I continued my descent.

Despite the perilous situation, my stupid brain grabbed the reins and steered back to Thrash. He hadn’t yet joined me. Was he hurt? Was he dying? Was he dead?

I was an idiot. He was fine. Or he wasn’t.

Neither changed the fact that I had a job to do.

Pausing to center myself, I stared hard down the ramp while I drew in a deep breath and held it for a count of three. Nothing moved below. There were no sounds. I blew out for three seconds, and repeated.

Thoughts of Thrash, of empyrean planets and daiquiris scattered. I was close enough to the base of the ramp that soon the light and hiss from my daggers would alert anyone below of my approach. Naked daggers would have to do. I brushed my thumbs over the triggers and paused, allowing my eyes to adjust to the deeper dark of the tunnel. Tension ratcheted up my spine.

I rolled my shoulders, and holding my weapons in front of me, crept into the machinery room. No when I entered, no noises echoed from anywhere. It was empty.

In the faint glow of the emergency lights and bioluminescent leaves of the subterranean trees similar to those on the surface, my gaze tracked from one dormant machine to the next, cataloguing the damage. Parts and tools were strewn across the room with several devices in various stages of dismantling. This setback would probably extend my time left on KR-732, but it wasn’t catastrophic.

The raiders knew what they were doing, cracking open each machine and taking the most valuable guts—circuits and wires that could be sold on the black market or melted down for their rare precious metals.

I shifted my focus to the habitat regulator, a silent goliath against the far wall set between two stunted trees. Many people, including raiders, thought the planet stabilization equipment was the most important. They were wrong.

If the colony habitat failed, the mission failed. Habitat maintenance was of the utmost importance. The station was airtight. After five hours of downtime, all emergency power would be funneled to oxygen filtration, which had already happened judging by how cold it had been inside.

Enough heat still radiated from the colossal machine to prevent it from being taken apart. Pale teal light from the tree’s bioluminescent leaves revealed the undamaged metal panels. Another hour, maybe two, and it would have been loaded and flying off planet. The length of time it took to power down and safely disassemble the habitat regulator was the reason raiders never messed with it. Not unless they were stupid or came prepared with a large team, like this group had.

Too bad they hadn’t been prepared for Thrash. The corner of my mouth curled in admiration.

Heavy footsteps pounded on the ramp behind me. I spun to face whatever was coming. My thumbs brushed over the bio-triggers of my daggers. White-hot plasma flared along the blades. The momentary burst of light blurred out the enormous figure running toward the room. I crouched, ready to attack.

My muscles tightened but relaxed when I recognized the outline of Thrash’s horns and broad shoulders before his strong features came into view. Unspent adrenaline ping-ponged through my body. I again brushed my fingers over the blades’ triggers. The plasma along the edges went dark, and I holstered the weapons.

Thrash ran straight for me, invading my space. He laid his heavy hands on my shoulders. “You are safe?”

“I’m fine. No one was here.” Instinct pushed me to rebel against his protective nature, but I didn’t step away.

He lifted a hand to cup the back of my neck.

I swallowed. Maybe it was the surge of adrenaline with nowhere to go, but I was tired of fighting, tired of resisting his advances.

Suddenly, Thrash’s head came up and he turned to the entrance, trying to push me behind him.

I heard it too. The rush of feet on the ramp, the rustle of clothes. I scowled and stepped around Thrash, standing at his side.

Raiders gathered on the ramp—five, seven. I lost count.

“This is bad.” My focus shifted to the light already building beneath Thrash’s skin. It flared around his scales in intricate tattoo patterns and illuminated his horns. Panic fluttered in my chest. “You can’t use that down here. It’ll bring the cave down on top of us.”

“I am aware.” He huffed a breath. “There must have been another ship. I was too concerned with your safety to do a thorough sweep of the area.”

Sweet and spicy anger bubbled inside me. I was furious he hadn’t done his job, hadn’t trusted I could do mine, but weirdly touched my well-being meant that much to him.

Someone stepped forward from the group and tossed something in our direction. The object’s distinct rattle and thump echoed off the ramp walls.

A small round metallic orb rolled toward us. Neon red flashed around its bulbous center.

My sluggish brain recognized the concussion grenade at the same moment Thrash projected a pulse of light towards the weapon.

They collided, and the cave imploded.