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“Shit.” William cursed as he looked at the clock. He was late. While such a thing was quite rare for him, the last thing Will needed right now was the chief's wrath. He walked into the building and almost collided with an officer.
Apparently this day had decided to torture him. It began when his alarm clock did not go off, he then proceeded to cut himself shaving, spilled coffee on his work shirt and had to find something decent to wear. Most of his casual shirts advertised messages that no one should see in a police department. He had, eventually, settled on a light green shirt with black squares that sufficed to make him now look more like a hillbilly than a detective. It was however, still better than the alternative option of a “Don't stand so close – I'm allergic to idiots” t-shirt. By the time he had struggled through his morning routine, it had been too late to get his usual sandwich from the gas station so instead Will drove directly to work. And to add to the poor start to the day, his car refused to get lock. It was highly unlikely that someone would touch a car in police department's secure and designated parking lot, but he didn't like idea that his personal belongings might get touched.
Now, Will was late, hungry, in severe need of caffeine and looked like shit. It was one of those days where the universe hated him.
Since he was already in the building, William figured that grabbing a snack and coffee wasn’t going to kill him.
He wanted to be able to think, in case the world was going to come to an end today. He stopped at the vending machines and picked two candy bars as well as a cup of black coffee. Since the cup was taking one hand and he held his jacket in the other, Will carried the candy bar between his teeth. A gray backpack hung on his shoulder. At least his hair was short enough that he didn't have to worry about it.
Before he reached his desk Kelly caught up with him.
“Good morning” she smiled. “Wow, nice shirt.” Since William could not respond he simply nodded
and walked to his desk. Kelly followed him. She was the closest thing to a friend William had at work.
Always positive, kind and compassionate. Kelly had joined their department two years ago and ever since Jason had died, she tried her best to be there for William. The girl had even requested to be partnered with him couple of times, although William was well known as department's main asshole. Not that Rob, her current partner was much better. Still, William could never understand what this woman saw in him. He was aware of all the not so subtle ‘I have a crush on you’ signs that she failed to hide but he was not able to respond to them. The best he could do was to try and explain it but Kelly never got the full message. Maybe she thought that it was because of Jason and would fade in time? William, however, knew that it would not. Since she had made a comment about his shirt he
took a quick look at her own clothes. As usual Kelly looked nice and tidy, wearing a light blue blouse and
black pants. She had an amazing skill of keeping the curly chaos that was her hair in a ponytail. At first glance most people saw this tiny round woman as gentle and fragile, but she was one hell of a detective. William had worked on couple of cases with her and thought that she was great. Way too great to be stuck with Rob in any case.
It was a mystery to William how a tool like that managed to become a detective. If it wasn't for Kelly, the man would probably fail to write a simple report.
“Oh, the psycho is here!” Just hearing Rob's voice made William shiver like he had just walked through a
spiderweb. Rob stopped and smiled. “Great shirt... If you are cosplaying Logan.”The man laughed. Of course he would find it funny. Rob spent more money on his hair, suit and shoes than William did on his car.
William lifted his head from the files that were on his desk. Rob's voice had thus far, made it very hard to plan a productive day.
“Thank you” Will smiled. “It was between this and a pink unicorn onesie. I didn't want you to feel under
dressed, so I picked the boring version. Don't tell me you're jealous?” Rob cursed under his breath and
went to his desk. Kelly, who was trying her best not to laugh at him concentrated her attention back on William.
“Erm... Listen. I don't want to make your morning any worse but... You are getting a partner.”
William was happy he didn't have coffee in his mouth at that moment, otherwise the poor woman would be covered in it.
“What? Why?” He asked as he unpacked the backpack.
“Because it's new blood and you are the only lone wolf in the department.”
“Yeah, there is a good damn reason for it. I don't like people.” He answered.
Kelly was silent for few seconds, then attempted the topic that she hated to talk about. And knew very well that the man she was talking to also hated it.
“Will, it's been two years. You can't be alone forever...” she said while spinning a ring around her finger.
“Why not? I am doing fine.” He said, paying no attention to her nervousness.
“Because you need to trust someone... To let someone in...” What she really wanted to say was “Let me
in” but Kelly knew better. William was known as the “iceman” when it came to women. He never showed interest in anyone and Kelly was sure that someone as ugly as her wasn’t going to make it happen.
William closed a folder and sighed.
“I am fine. I don't need a partner... Or another consultation with the shrink for that matter.”
Kelly bit her lip. “That's not what I am trying to do...”
The man locked his deep blue eyes on her, making her more nervous. There was something different about them; like staring at two frozen lakes. “Like hell you didn't.” He said. “Look, I have been through this with twelve different shrinks. I am fine. Not in shock, not mourning over Jason, not blaming myself. I simply don't like people in general, no matter who they are.” His last few words stung the woman deeply, but she managed not to show it. He was complicated, Kelly knew that. He had issues and said hurtful things to almost everyone. She assumed he couldn't help it. But still, it hurt.
“What if it's a hot woman and you like her?” she tried another approach.
“I won't.” He said and ripped the candy bar wrapper open. “I don't like women.”
Kelly blushed faster than she could understand what was happening. Could this be it? The answer she had needed to hear for the past two years? She had tried so hard to get his attention. In fact, many women had tried and yet he had refused them all. Could the answer to so many nights of crying be that simple?
“Oh... Oh!” She stood in shock for few seconds, thinking over everything. She had never seen him with
anyone, he had never mentioned anyone close to him. The only person who had seemed to mean something was Jason. Kelly's face became a cherry. “Did you and Jason... Were you...?”
William watched all the while trying his best to understand what was going on. This set of emotions was new to him and he had to analyze why it was happening. When he finally did, William almost choked on the candy bar. “Huh? God, no, we weren't a couple. Why would you think that?”
Kelly who was now covering her very red face found it hard to explain. “Well, you worked together for
years... He was single... And you just said....”
William was already back at reading a file. As soon as he solved the tiny new mystery that was Kelly's
confusion he had lost interest in her.
“No, he wasn't. He had a girlfriend, Jenna. And I didn't mean it like that. I do not like men, women, kids,
old people and everything in between. I like being alone.”
“Dude, how do you get laid?” Simon, from the desk in front of William’s was listening and now looked at
William like he was some sort of alien. Simon was in his early thirties, very loud, positive and on an eternal quest to get all the ladies while maintaining his freedom from the ring.
“I don't. I am a virgin.” William said without blinking. He didn't blush, he wasn't even shy about it. For him it was just another piece of information. For Kelly and Simon, it was equal to the world's end. Simon sat in his chair with his mouth wide open while she tried her best to stop blushing. This was starting to attract too much attention. William waited patiently while the two of them went through their little heart attacks and then directed his attention to more important things.
“So when this new guy coming in?” he asked watching Kelly fan herself with a folder and taking deep
breaths.
“Yeah, right. New guy. He... Or she... Anyway they are coming today.”
“Fuck!” William cursed. “Not enough time to tell the Chief how deeply I disagree with it.”
“No, they are coming from someplace far, their plane will probably land soon.” Kelly said, still trying to stop thinking about the word “virgin”.
“I wonder what the Chief was thinking. He knows that I don't do well with people.”
“Unless it's someone who deserves to be punished.” Simon chuckled.
“Don't say it like that! William is a great detective” Kelly said, giving Simon death stares.
“Yeah, king of psychos. Doesn't make him an easy person.” He answered. Before William could react to
it he saw the sergeant coming towards him. The Detective Sergeant was tall man in his late fifties and carried himself with determination and authority. He cared about his people and tried his best to run the team as smoothly as possible. William was the only exception to his strict policies. Derrek knew quite well that his detective was missing some bolts in the head, but he couldn't keep sending William to the shrink again and again. There was no point, on paper William looked almost perfect. Whatever he had he, hid well on his evaluations. And he solved cases.
William was so good at getting into maniac's brain that it was almost scary. After William's partner died
two years ago Sergeant Derrek was afraid that William would break or request time off, but all he ever
asked was to let him back to work as soon as possible. William never had any sick days or requested his vacation.
Derrek was thankful for that. Losing one of the best detectives in a shooting was hard enough.
“Good morning, Alda. I have case for you. Body, brand new, so go now. You can finish your coffee on
the way.”
William closed the folders he was reading and put on his jacket. “Will this save me from babysitting the
newbie?”
“I'm afraid not. If the new kid shows up I will be sending them after you. I need this psycho behind bars yesterday, Alda.”
“Great.” William took the folder from the sergeant. “I should have called in sick.”
Apparently this day had decided to torture him. It began when his alarm clock did not go off, he then proceeded to cut himself shaving, spilled coffee on his work shirt and had to find something decent to wear. Most of his casual shirts advertised messages that no one should see in a police department. He had, eventually, settled on a light green shirt with black squares that sufficed to make him now look more like a hillbilly than a detective. It was however, still better than the alternative option of a “Don't stand so close – I'm allergic to idiots” t-shirt. By the time he had struggled through his morning routine, it had been too late to get his usual sandwich from the gas station so instead Will drove directly to work. And to add to the poor start to the day, his car refused to get lock. It was highly unlikely that someone would touch a car in police department's secure and designated parking lot, but he didn't like idea that his personal belongings might get touched.
Now, Will was late, hungry, in severe need of caffeine and looked like shit. It was one of those days where the universe hated him.
Since he was already in the building, William figured that grabbing a snack and coffee wasn’t going to kill him.
He wanted to be able to think, in case the world was going to come to an end today. He stopped at the vending machines and picked two candy bars as well as a cup of black coffee. Since the cup was taking one hand and he held his jacket in the other, Will carried the candy bar between his teeth. A gray backpack hung on his shoulder. At least his hair was short enough that he didn't have to worry about it.
Before he reached his desk Kelly caught up with him.
“Good morning” she smiled. “Wow, nice shirt.” Since William could not respond he simply nodded
and walked to his desk. Kelly followed him. She was the closest thing to a friend William had at work.
Always positive, kind and compassionate. Kelly had joined their department two years ago and ever since Jason had died, she tried her best to be there for William. The girl had even requested to be partnered with him couple of times, although William was well known as department's main asshole. Not that Rob, her current partner was much better. Still, William could never understand what this woman saw in him. He was aware of all the not so subtle ‘I have a crush on you’ signs that she failed to hide but he was not able to respond to them. The best he could do was to try and explain it but Kelly never got the full message. Maybe she thought that it was because of Jason and would fade in time? William, however, knew that it would not. Since she had made a comment about his shirt he
took a quick look at her own clothes. As usual Kelly looked nice and tidy, wearing a light blue blouse and
black pants. She had an amazing skill of keeping the curly chaos that was her hair in a ponytail. At first glance most people saw this tiny round woman as gentle and fragile, but she was one hell of a detective. William had worked on couple of cases with her and thought that she was great. Way too great to be stuck with Rob in any case.
It was a mystery to William how a tool like that managed to become a detective. If it wasn't for Kelly, the man would probably fail to write a simple report.
“Oh, the psycho is here!” Just hearing Rob's voice made William shiver like he had just walked through a
spiderweb. Rob stopped and smiled. “Great shirt... If you are cosplaying Logan.”The man laughed. Of course he would find it funny. Rob spent more money on his hair, suit and shoes than William did on his car.
William lifted his head from the files that were on his desk. Rob's voice had thus far, made it very hard to plan a productive day.
“Thank you” Will smiled. “It was between this and a pink unicorn onesie. I didn't want you to feel under
dressed, so I picked the boring version. Don't tell me you're jealous?” Rob cursed under his breath and
went to his desk. Kelly, who was trying her best not to laugh at him concentrated her attention back on William.
“Erm... Listen. I don't want to make your morning any worse but... You are getting a partner.”
William was happy he didn't have coffee in his mouth at that moment, otherwise the poor woman would be covered in it.
“What? Why?” He asked as he unpacked the backpack.
“Because it's new blood and you are the only lone wolf in the department.”
“Yeah, there is a good damn reason for it. I don't like people.” He answered.
Kelly was silent for few seconds, then attempted the topic that she hated to talk about. And knew very well that the man she was talking to also hated it.
“Will, it's been two years. You can't be alone forever...” she said while spinning a ring around her finger.
“Why not? I am doing fine.” He said, paying no attention to her nervousness.
“Because you need to trust someone... To let someone in...” What she really wanted to say was “Let me
in” but Kelly knew better. William was known as the “iceman” when it came to women. He never showed interest in anyone and Kelly was sure that someone as ugly as her wasn’t going to make it happen.
William closed a folder and sighed.
“I am fine. I don't need a partner... Or another consultation with the shrink for that matter.”
Kelly bit her lip. “That's not what I am trying to do...”
The man locked his deep blue eyes on her, making her more nervous. There was something different about them; like staring at two frozen lakes. “Like hell you didn't.” He said. “Look, I have been through this with twelve different shrinks. I am fine. Not in shock, not mourning over Jason, not blaming myself. I simply don't like people in general, no matter who they are.” His last few words stung the woman deeply, but she managed not to show it. He was complicated, Kelly knew that. He had issues and said hurtful things to almost everyone. She assumed he couldn't help it. But still, it hurt.
“What if it's a hot woman and you like her?” she tried another approach.
“I won't.” He said and ripped the candy bar wrapper open. “I don't like women.”
Kelly blushed faster than she could understand what was happening. Could this be it? The answer she had needed to hear for the past two years? She had tried so hard to get his attention. In fact, many women had tried and yet he had refused them all. Could the answer to so many nights of crying be that simple?
“Oh... Oh!” She stood in shock for few seconds, thinking over everything. She had never seen him with
anyone, he had never mentioned anyone close to him. The only person who had seemed to mean something was Jason. Kelly's face became a cherry. “Did you and Jason... Were you...?”
William watched all the while trying his best to understand what was going on. This set of emotions was new to him and he had to analyze why it was happening. When he finally did, William almost choked on the candy bar. “Huh? God, no, we weren't a couple. Why would you think that?”
Kelly who was now covering her very red face found it hard to explain. “Well, you worked together for
years... He was single... And you just said....”
William was already back at reading a file. As soon as he solved the tiny new mystery that was Kelly's
confusion he had lost interest in her.
“No, he wasn't. He had a girlfriend, Jenna. And I didn't mean it like that. I do not like men, women, kids,
old people and everything in between. I like being alone.”
“Dude, how do you get laid?” Simon, from the desk in front of William’s was listening and now looked at
William like he was some sort of alien. Simon was in his early thirties, very loud, positive and on an eternal quest to get all the ladies while maintaining his freedom from the ring.
“I don't. I am a virgin.” William said without blinking. He didn't blush, he wasn't even shy about it. For him it was just another piece of information. For Kelly and Simon, it was equal to the world's end. Simon sat in his chair with his mouth wide open while she tried her best to stop blushing. This was starting to attract too much attention. William waited patiently while the two of them went through their little heart attacks and then directed his attention to more important things.
“So when this new guy coming in?” he asked watching Kelly fan herself with a folder and taking deep
breaths.
“Yeah, right. New guy. He... Or she... Anyway they are coming today.”
“Fuck!” William cursed. “Not enough time to tell the Chief how deeply I disagree with it.”
“No, they are coming from someplace far, their plane will probably land soon.” Kelly said, still trying to stop thinking about the word “virgin”.
“I wonder what the Chief was thinking. He knows that I don't do well with people.”
“Unless it's someone who deserves to be punished.” Simon chuckled.
“Don't say it like that! William is a great detective” Kelly said, giving Simon death stares.
“Yeah, king of psychos. Doesn't make him an easy person.” He answered. Before William could react to
it he saw the sergeant coming towards him. The Detective Sergeant was tall man in his late fifties and carried himself with determination and authority. He cared about his people and tried his best to run the team as smoothly as possible. William was the only exception to his strict policies. Derrek knew quite well that his detective was missing some bolts in the head, but he couldn't keep sending William to the shrink again and again. There was no point, on paper William looked almost perfect. Whatever he had he, hid well on his evaluations. And he solved cases.
William was so good at getting into maniac's brain that it was almost scary. After William's partner died
two years ago Sergeant Derrek was afraid that William would break or request time off, but all he ever
asked was to let him back to work as soon as possible. William never had any sick days or requested his vacation.
Derrek was thankful for that. Losing one of the best detectives in a shooting was hard enough.
“Good morning, Alda. I have case for you. Body, brand new, so go now. You can finish your coffee on
the way.”
William closed the folders he was reading and put on his jacket. “Will this save me from babysitting the
newbie?”
“I'm afraid not. If the new kid shows up I will be sending them after you. I need this psycho behind bars yesterday, Alda.”
“Great.” William took the folder from the sergeant. “I should have called in sick.”
A man blinked few times and slowly yawned. The scenery in front of him was starting to play tricks with his eyes while his body position made his limbs numb. The top of the cliff was indeed a great observation point but it was also torture to his bones.
“This sucks” the man mumbled to himself and looked around through a scope. All he could see was flat, yellowish, sandy ground with a few random rocks here and there. He was so tired of the million shades of yellow and orange that surrounded him for last few weeks since they landed. Everything on this planet was either sand or rocks. “I would kill for something green right now” he sighed.
“Say what?” Grey's voice reached him through the receiver. “You are killing something?”
“No, sadly.” The man on the cliff sighed again. “That would be a nice change of scenery.”
“Stop complaining, old man. All you have to do is to lay down and look around.” Garreth joined the conversation. He and Wei didn't like each other since day one. In fact, no one liked him. Garreth was big, loud and obnoxious. Since he was recently discharged from the Imperial troops, this Felarian still had a hard time adapting to work the ethics the mercenaries had. Things that the rest of the team knew by heart were all new to him. He also seemed to think that if their leader wasn't yelling at them every second, respect and obedience wasn't needed. In Garreth's eyes everyone who haven't served in Imperial troops were not real warriors. That included Wei.
“Sure. My back hurts, I have sharp rocks digging into my guts, I need to take a leak for the last three hours and I have sand in places I didn't know were places. I am having the time of my life here.” Wei said and slightly shifted making sure that his body is still capable of moving.
The movement he really wanted to do was to shoot Garreth. Luckily the Felarian was deep underground, somewhere under Wei. Hopefully his scenery was as boring as the sniper's. Wei was a man in his late fifties. His black hair only recently started to turn gray and he tried his best to hide it under a hat. He had a small build and was one of the shortest men in the group. Hard to see, hard to hit as he liked saying. In his youth Wei served in the resistance army back at his home planet Rhul, after their governor Rusthi tried implementing his dictatorship. Since Rhul was so far away from the heart of the Empire, the locals couldn't wait for assistance. They armed themselves as best they could and started a revolution. The war lasted for over a year. Wei was seventeen when it started. His older brother Misai was leading one of the final battles and later became a leader of the local army base. But since it was a local war on some tiny planet on the edge of the Empire, no one gave a damn about it. Locals got back to their daily lives, worked boring jobs and had boring families. Only the locals would know that the lady who just sold you warm bread could also build a bomb from her kitchen appliances. Wei tried having boring jobs, starting boring family. It didn't work for him. He had one love in his life – his rifle. Nothing else made him as happy or excited. He joined the mercenaries a couple years later.
Worran Grey was his fourth leader. The only one who deserved Wei's respect. They had been trough all kinds of hell together and considered each other friends. Grey wasn't the usual type of commander. He almost never yelled but still received respect and loyalty. For him this group was a family and everyone but Garreth knew that he was the father of it. It was something in his deep blue eyes that made people trust this man, regardless of his looks. The man had messy red hair and attempted to keep it somewhat in order by wearing a ponytail. His clothes always looked like someone slept on the pile of them for a week. Shaving was in the end of the list as well as wearing any uniform. Grey once served in the special forces and still had a rank of a major but he never mentioned it and didn't like using it. According to him a good leader is a good leader with or without tiny drawing on his jacket. He always listened to his men's opinions and could take good advice without getting butt hurt that it came from someone half his age. Wei and most of the teams could and would die for him if needed.
“At least you don't have to stand and watch our librarian playing with his gear for eternity.” Saros mumbled. He was new, young and too eager to shoot things. He also didn't know that Dante “The Librarian” Dreinar had almost supernatural hearing.
“Search isn't something you can do on your lunch break, kid” he responded without turning away from the screens. The librarian was a mountain of a man, had wide shoulders and wore his long hair in numerous braids. Barely short of seven feet he was the least dangerous person in the group. Ages ago this man was a well known archaeologist but after a series of very unfortunate events he got blamed for killing his team and was banished from the Scientist's guild. Of course that didn't stop him from going to dangerous places to find all kinds of alien technology, but now, instead of writing articles about it, Dante was selling it to the black market. His knowledge and expeditions were one of the main ways to feed and maintain the group. Wei was still thankful for the rifle upgrade he was able to buy after Dante sold very rare crystal back at Nihhiri. “If you think you can do it faster, be my guest.”
It was a threat that would make anyone with half a brain shut up. Trying to be better at archeology then Dante was equal to challenging a god while being hospitalized. Saros apparently had less brain than that. “Can't we just blow a hole and go in?” he asked, every word being coated in teenager's frustration.
Dante stopped typing and took a deep breath. “Economy test, kid. What sells better; evirium crystals or evirium dust?”
“Crystals.” Saros responded. He was happy to prove that he knew something about science. Everyone else was trying not to laugh out loud.
A little smile appeared on Dante's face. “Good. So tell my why you wish to turn perfectly good expensive crystals into useless dust?”
Saros blinked. “What”? I don't!”
“Yes you do. Evirium is extremely fragile. If you sneeze too hard next to the crystal it will shatter and we will have no food, gear or parts for the ship for few months. Do you still want to blow a hole, kid?”
Sixteen year old boy shut his mouth, checked his rifle and stepped few steps away from the scientist. The giant smiled to himself and got back to work.
Wei had to blink rapidly once again. For a moment he thought that he saw something moving in the west. He was staring at same empty boring thing for so long that black dots were to be expected. It had to be a black dot, otherwise it would mean he was going insane. The man checked the area once again, just in case. Numerous battles in all kinds of planets taught him that it was better to be too careful than not careful enough. For a few seconds he saw only sand and rocks, then suddenly two black figures popped up. They were around ten feet tall, slim, had very long arms with four fingers on each. Their legs were hidden under long robe-like clothing. The creatures had no noses or mouths, their eyes were glowing in a grayish blue light. They moved in slow floating motion. The creatures also had a skill similar to teleportation, making it very hard to track their movements in a battle. Mercenaries called it “the glitch”. They were strong, fast and absolutely ruthless, leaving them with one hell of a name.
“Hey, Dante. Are you sure you are getting only crystals down there?” Wei asked trying to keep his voice calm.
The Librarian lifted his head. “Yeah, why? Feeling like getting a lecture about local caves?”
'Feeling like giving you one. Look who's coming.” Wei pressed a button on top of his scope. In a moment one of Dante's screens lip up broadcasting direct view of everything Wei saw. The whole group was staring at it. Garreth whistled while Grey was already planning defenses.
“Reapers,” Dante whispered. “I haven't seen them in twelve years.”
“I was hoping to never see them again, but here we are. Any idea why they are out during the day?”
“No.” Dante was already working his machines, scanning the cave with every sensor he had. In a different situation he would love to study most of the data more closely but now all he cared about was finding a relic. These ancient pieces of alien technology were very rare and usually guarded with all kinds of nasty surprises. The last time his team ran into one of them, Grey bought a new ship. Well it wasn't exactly new, but the “Vigilant” was way more stable and newer than its predecessor. If they could collect another artifact maybe Mira could actually fix it instead of duck taping everything. Or Dante could get some good computers. He liked the ones he built for now but they were moody to say the least. Half of the time he had to beat his machines into submission. Granted they survived the reapers. “I must have poked something.”
“Next time please be more careful and do not poke ancient things without telling us. I still have to finish my painting and being devoured by a reaper might be an issue” Kastor stationed himself in between the crates and deployed his turret. This man was an army just by himself while still having a great sense of style and talent in most arts.
“Wasn't planning on it,” Dante responded just before half of dozen of his sensors went insane. “Found it.” he smiled.
“Can we get to it in time?” Grey asked. He was blocking the path they made when they came here with rubble.
Dante glanced at the screen. The reapers were still gliding towards them. They would start running as soon as they felt humans. Wei would have to shoot them before that. When running reapers were too fast even for him. It was very complicated task but Dante trusted Wei. They worked together for years and knew each other's limits. “Yeah, give me two men to drill and I can get it out in a minute.”
Grey nodded. “Take Lura and Saros. The rest take your positions”
“I said men, you fool” Dante cursed but started working at the retrieval.
“Sorry,” Saros smiled apologetically towards Lura. She was half of the females currently working in the team. Twice Saros's size Lura was strong, brave and determined. She was a goddess of close combat and quite a good shot from a distance. Lura joined Grey's team after her unit was discharged. The leaders of her home planet wanted to prove to the Empire that they weren't ancient in their thinking and made special forces containing only female warriors. In a male dominant planet it was a joke and the leaders pretty much expected to have a bunch of obedient sexy body guards that would come with few benefits, but after so many years of being suppressed women finally got to feel the power. While they were great warriors, these women would not obey men any more, not to mention breaking the bones of anyone who tried to touch them. The project was declared a failure and the soldiers got discharged. Going back to the old ways was no longer an option. They have seen other planets, knew that women were not lesser or weaker. They couldn't close their eyes and believe the brainwashing anymore.
“I was complaining about you, kid.” Dante opened a crate and pulled a big laser drill then passed it to Lura. “Drill here.” he pointed. “Kid, clean the debris while I watch the trajectory. Wei, stall as long as you can.”
“Don't tell me how to hunt and I won't tell you how to search.” the sniper responded and pointed his beloved rifle at a reaper's eye. “Time to kill some aliens” he smiled.
“This sucks” the man mumbled to himself and looked around through a scope. All he could see was flat, yellowish, sandy ground with a few random rocks here and there. He was so tired of the million shades of yellow and orange that surrounded him for last few weeks since they landed. Everything on this planet was either sand or rocks. “I would kill for something green right now” he sighed.
“Say what?” Grey's voice reached him through the receiver. “You are killing something?”
“No, sadly.” The man on the cliff sighed again. “That would be a nice change of scenery.”
“Stop complaining, old man. All you have to do is to lay down and look around.” Garreth joined the conversation. He and Wei didn't like each other since day one. In fact, no one liked him. Garreth was big, loud and obnoxious. Since he was recently discharged from the Imperial troops, this Felarian still had a hard time adapting to work the ethics the mercenaries had. Things that the rest of the team knew by heart were all new to him. He also seemed to think that if their leader wasn't yelling at them every second, respect and obedience wasn't needed. In Garreth's eyes everyone who haven't served in Imperial troops were not real warriors. That included Wei.
“Sure. My back hurts, I have sharp rocks digging into my guts, I need to take a leak for the last three hours and I have sand in places I didn't know were places. I am having the time of my life here.” Wei said and slightly shifted making sure that his body is still capable of moving.
The movement he really wanted to do was to shoot Garreth. Luckily the Felarian was deep underground, somewhere under Wei. Hopefully his scenery was as boring as the sniper's. Wei was a man in his late fifties. His black hair only recently started to turn gray and he tried his best to hide it under a hat. He had a small build and was one of the shortest men in the group. Hard to see, hard to hit as he liked saying. In his youth Wei served in the resistance army back at his home planet Rhul, after their governor Rusthi tried implementing his dictatorship. Since Rhul was so far away from the heart of the Empire, the locals couldn't wait for assistance. They armed themselves as best they could and started a revolution. The war lasted for over a year. Wei was seventeen when it started. His older brother Misai was leading one of the final battles and later became a leader of the local army base. But since it was a local war on some tiny planet on the edge of the Empire, no one gave a damn about it. Locals got back to their daily lives, worked boring jobs and had boring families. Only the locals would know that the lady who just sold you warm bread could also build a bomb from her kitchen appliances. Wei tried having boring jobs, starting boring family. It didn't work for him. He had one love in his life – his rifle. Nothing else made him as happy or excited. He joined the mercenaries a couple years later.
Worran Grey was his fourth leader. The only one who deserved Wei's respect. They had been trough all kinds of hell together and considered each other friends. Grey wasn't the usual type of commander. He almost never yelled but still received respect and loyalty. For him this group was a family and everyone but Garreth knew that he was the father of it. It was something in his deep blue eyes that made people trust this man, regardless of his looks. The man had messy red hair and attempted to keep it somewhat in order by wearing a ponytail. His clothes always looked like someone slept on the pile of them for a week. Shaving was in the end of the list as well as wearing any uniform. Grey once served in the special forces and still had a rank of a major but he never mentioned it and didn't like using it. According to him a good leader is a good leader with or without tiny drawing on his jacket. He always listened to his men's opinions and could take good advice without getting butt hurt that it came from someone half his age. Wei and most of the teams could and would die for him if needed.
“At least you don't have to stand and watch our librarian playing with his gear for eternity.” Saros mumbled. He was new, young and too eager to shoot things. He also didn't know that Dante “The Librarian” Dreinar had almost supernatural hearing.
“Search isn't something you can do on your lunch break, kid” he responded without turning away from the screens. The librarian was a mountain of a man, had wide shoulders and wore his long hair in numerous braids. Barely short of seven feet he was the least dangerous person in the group. Ages ago this man was a well known archaeologist but after a series of very unfortunate events he got blamed for killing his team and was banished from the Scientist's guild. Of course that didn't stop him from going to dangerous places to find all kinds of alien technology, but now, instead of writing articles about it, Dante was selling it to the black market. His knowledge and expeditions were one of the main ways to feed and maintain the group. Wei was still thankful for the rifle upgrade he was able to buy after Dante sold very rare crystal back at Nihhiri. “If you think you can do it faster, be my guest.”
It was a threat that would make anyone with half a brain shut up. Trying to be better at archeology then Dante was equal to challenging a god while being hospitalized. Saros apparently had less brain than that. “Can't we just blow a hole and go in?” he asked, every word being coated in teenager's frustration.
Dante stopped typing and took a deep breath. “Economy test, kid. What sells better; evirium crystals or evirium dust?”
“Crystals.” Saros responded. He was happy to prove that he knew something about science. Everyone else was trying not to laugh out loud.
A little smile appeared on Dante's face. “Good. So tell my why you wish to turn perfectly good expensive crystals into useless dust?”
Saros blinked. “What”? I don't!”
“Yes you do. Evirium is extremely fragile. If you sneeze too hard next to the crystal it will shatter and we will have no food, gear or parts for the ship for few months. Do you still want to blow a hole, kid?”
Sixteen year old boy shut his mouth, checked his rifle and stepped few steps away from the scientist. The giant smiled to himself and got back to work.
Wei had to blink rapidly once again. For a moment he thought that he saw something moving in the west. He was staring at same empty boring thing for so long that black dots were to be expected. It had to be a black dot, otherwise it would mean he was going insane. The man checked the area once again, just in case. Numerous battles in all kinds of planets taught him that it was better to be too careful than not careful enough. For a few seconds he saw only sand and rocks, then suddenly two black figures popped up. They were around ten feet tall, slim, had very long arms with four fingers on each. Their legs were hidden under long robe-like clothing. The creatures had no noses or mouths, their eyes were glowing in a grayish blue light. They moved in slow floating motion. The creatures also had a skill similar to teleportation, making it very hard to track their movements in a battle. Mercenaries called it “the glitch”. They were strong, fast and absolutely ruthless, leaving them with one hell of a name.
“Hey, Dante. Are you sure you are getting only crystals down there?” Wei asked trying to keep his voice calm.
The Librarian lifted his head. “Yeah, why? Feeling like getting a lecture about local caves?”
'Feeling like giving you one. Look who's coming.” Wei pressed a button on top of his scope. In a moment one of Dante's screens lip up broadcasting direct view of everything Wei saw. The whole group was staring at it. Garreth whistled while Grey was already planning defenses.
“Reapers,” Dante whispered. “I haven't seen them in twelve years.”
“I was hoping to never see them again, but here we are. Any idea why they are out during the day?”
“No.” Dante was already working his machines, scanning the cave with every sensor he had. In a different situation he would love to study most of the data more closely but now all he cared about was finding a relic. These ancient pieces of alien technology were very rare and usually guarded with all kinds of nasty surprises. The last time his team ran into one of them, Grey bought a new ship. Well it wasn't exactly new, but the “Vigilant” was way more stable and newer than its predecessor. If they could collect another artifact maybe Mira could actually fix it instead of duck taping everything. Or Dante could get some good computers. He liked the ones he built for now but they were moody to say the least. Half of the time he had to beat his machines into submission. Granted they survived the reapers. “I must have poked something.”
“Next time please be more careful and do not poke ancient things without telling us. I still have to finish my painting and being devoured by a reaper might be an issue” Kastor stationed himself in between the crates and deployed his turret. This man was an army just by himself while still having a great sense of style and talent in most arts.
“Wasn't planning on it,” Dante responded just before half of dozen of his sensors went insane. “Found it.” he smiled.
“Can we get to it in time?” Grey asked. He was blocking the path they made when they came here with rubble.
Dante glanced at the screen. The reapers were still gliding towards them. They would start running as soon as they felt humans. Wei would have to shoot them before that. When running reapers were too fast even for him. It was very complicated task but Dante trusted Wei. They worked together for years and knew each other's limits. “Yeah, give me two men to drill and I can get it out in a minute.”
Grey nodded. “Take Lura and Saros. The rest take your positions”
“I said men, you fool” Dante cursed but started working at the retrieval.
“Sorry,” Saros smiled apologetically towards Lura. She was half of the females currently working in the team. Twice Saros's size Lura was strong, brave and determined. She was a goddess of close combat and quite a good shot from a distance. Lura joined Grey's team after her unit was discharged. The leaders of her home planet wanted to prove to the Empire that they weren't ancient in their thinking and made special forces containing only female warriors. In a male dominant planet it was a joke and the leaders pretty much expected to have a bunch of obedient sexy body guards that would come with few benefits, but after so many years of being suppressed women finally got to feel the power. While they were great warriors, these women would not obey men any more, not to mention breaking the bones of anyone who tried to touch them. The project was declared a failure and the soldiers got discharged. Going back to the old ways was no longer an option. They have seen other planets, knew that women were not lesser or weaker. They couldn't close their eyes and believe the brainwashing anymore.
“I was complaining about you, kid.” Dante opened a crate and pulled a big laser drill then passed it to Lura. “Drill here.” he pointed. “Kid, clean the debris while I watch the trajectory. Wei, stall as long as you can.”
“Don't tell me how to hunt and I won't tell you how to search.” the sniper responded and pointed his beloved rifle at a reaper's eye. “Time to kill some aliens” he smiled.