Pierce sloughed out of his hard but seductively warm bed. He had always imagined that once he became a soldier, he would grow out of his morning sloth habit, but that had never really happened, much to the chagrin of his superiors. Staggering, he slowly made his way to the bathroom. A fast hot shower would do wonders for his disposition.
The past few days had been murderously slow. When he had decided to sign on to work for the reputable Sith lord, Soarise Grae, he had anticipated a life of danger and excitement. But instead, he was constantly being bullied, bullied, by a little prissy officer named Quinn who was constantly licking Grae's boots. Who, of all people, didn't seem to mind his clinginess one bit, but instead seemed to enjoy it. And now the two of them had pranced off together for some obscure 'need to know basis' only mission on a quarantined planet.
So, he, the highly trained, former Spec Ops soldier, had been left behind on the ship to sort the mail and feed the fish. Definitely not something he'd be writing home about anytime soon.
As he shuffled to the bathroom, he noticed a box of breakfast ration bars was opened up and lying out on the counter, surrounded by several empty wrappers. Suppose the boss and Quinn are back, he thought to himself. Finally. Maybe they'd move on from this dumbfounded mission of theirs and go to something a little more exciting that he could join in on.
Pierce pushed open the bathroom door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. A sharp shriek suddenly startled him awake though.
In front of him in the bathroom was a naked woman. A woman he had never seen before. She pulled a large towel over her body (his towel) but not before he got a glimpse of her well-proportioned curves. Very well-proportioned curves. The woman blushed at him, her dark wet hair curling in ringlets around her face.
"Sorry," She chirped nervously, "I guess I had forgotten to lock the door properly,"
"What are you doing here?" He asked, shaking his head. The tips of his ears were burning.
She smiled, nonchalant, and shrugged, "Oh, I was just washing this half inch of grime I had on me off. The jungle is not a kind place,"
"No," He replied, crossing his arms, "I mean, what are you doing on this ship? You'd better explain yourself before I push you out the airlock, missy,"
The easy grin faltered off her face. For a second he felt almost guilty about that, "Oh…Oh!" She exclaimed, smacking her forehead, "I'm so sorry, my brain's a mess right now. My name is Riann. I'm here with Soarise and Malavai, we met down below,"
"Uh-huh," that was all he could think to reply before he simply stepped back and closed the door.
Face flaming with an uncontrollable blush, he hurried to the Captain's Quarters and pounded on the door. Moments later, Quinn opened up the door, his face dirty and smudged from dirt, "What is it, Lieutenant?" He asked in sharp but tired voice. The captain looked like he had been to hell and back.
"Who is our guest on board?" Pierce asked, "You do know that there is some strange woman in our bathroom, don't you?"
Quinn sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I knew that would happen," He muttered, "Her name is Riann Tamor. She's a… physician… we found below on Le'Andor. Lord Grae has enlisted her in our mission to stop the Inquisition,"
"A physician? Isn't that your job?"
The captain shook his head, "It's a little more complicated than that, Lt. You'll be briefed when our Lord is ready," He looked dismayed at Pierce's rumpled sleep clothes, "You'll want to get dressed before that, I'm sure,"
Pierce said nothing else as he turned away. Sure, getting dressed had been his priority until he found a strange woman in his bathroom. Now his brain was scrambled, making processing thought beyond his capacity.