The Tharon knew as soon as it awoke that many days had passed. A small stump was in the process of regrowing into a left arm, he guessed maybe three days since it had been cut off as he still had no left hand. His tail too was gone, and he winced in shame at the loss of the metre limb, replaced by a small stub only a few centimetres long. Tails took much longer to grow back, and he staggered and fell over as he tried to stand, unable to compensate for the loss of it.
He hunkered on all fours instead, and sped through the sands, tasting what little scent there was on the wind. The smell he was looking for was long since gone, but if he could find a crash, a smell of metal...
There. As he slowly crept over the crest of a dune some metal reflected the sun down below and lit up like beacons, like glitter amongst the sand.
"Yeah, it's quite obvious it's dead, so why are we still getting ordered to look for it?"
He dived under the sand as he heard the chatter of two humans a few hundred yards away, cursing himself for carelessly not realising the wind had shifted direction. If he had heard them just a few seconds later, burrowed down just a little slower or noisier, they could have spotted him. The Tharon guessed it would not be good if they saw him.
The sands of Mars were fairly barren, especially compared to the stories passed down by the elders, of a ground teeming with life and energy. Waiting for the vibrations of the humans' footfalls to move away, the Tharon had plenty of time to remember the stories, and the one that stuck in his head was the story recounted most often in his home.
Long ago the Tharon had served another race known as the Ramri. The Ramri were building a mighty Empire under one leader, and had colonised over twenty planets and moons, including every moon orbiting Saturn, enslaving, annihilating or working with the other raves they encountered - depending on their use to the Ramri. When the Ramri colonised Mars they made a deal with the Tharons. The Tharons built their weapons, fought for the Ramri, and shared their gift of the tongues by acting as translators...in exchange for protection from The Dark. But The Dark was unstoppable, it's strength increasing constantly, and as even Mars (the Ramri homeworld) became endangered it became clear they were losing the war. Eventually the Tharons who had not been called to the fight made the decision to seal themselves deep underground, in a comatose state so as not to be discovered by The Dark.
They'd expected the Tharons to return after The Dark was defeated, but when they were woken it was another race which spoke to them in an unfamiliar language. Most Tharons had an innate gift for learning languages, and through Tharon telepathy the others had at least a basic form of the language transferred to their brain, and once communicated with the new race confirmed the elder at the time's suspicions. They had been underground for thousands of years. The Ramri had disappeared, taking the enemy with them.
He'd always hated that story. He wondered why it was on his mind now.
"Still no visuals or trace of the Tharon that was on the Warbler in this section. Requesting permission to return to the shuttle?" one of the two patrolling marines said into his walkie talkie.
"Granted. We'll resume tomorrow. Captain Clarington 'as given orders not to give up until we're sure the lizard calling' itself Zthisulio is dead as a door nail. I'm getting real sick now, so if ya see it give it a few bullets from me wontcha?"
Under the sand, Ziss breathed a sigh of relied as the footsteps finally moved away.
"OI! LET US OUT WILL YOU?" Sebastian screamed and begged at the door till his throat was hoarse, just like every other day, as he heard the footsteps on the stone signalling lunchtime. As usual there was no reply.
Can't let them tell i'm scared.
The councillor just sighed in the corner and made disapproving noises.
"Well I don't see you helping, 'Councillor'!
"We're going to die here boy, you could at least go with dignity." the older man quavered and huffed in pain as he caught the pack of crisps Sebastian hurled at him.
"I will not die, I am way too young and attractive to die. I still haven't slept with Nick and if I die right now my ship goes to the Alliance. I can not afford to lose that ship, it was a birthday gift. My father would bring me back to life and kill me himself." Sebastian rambled on and on, more to himself than his fellow prisoner.
Jeff was both intimidated and amazed by Erridan. They were now on the ground, where the streets were the busiest place Jeff had ever seen. Every second he was shoved by at least one person trying to squeeze their way through the densely packed swarm, the crowds bottleneckedby the narrow alleys.
Merchants wove through the gaps or used their carts and trolleys to barge through, selling bottles of water, or other snacks, for extortionate prices. The streets were dark, lit only by the neon lights from street signs and the tall needle-buildings. A thick layer of smoke from the countless fires in the more open areas hung over everyone's heads, covering everyone and everything below eight feet in soot.
The group of marines eventually elbowed their way into a large flat area. Homeless people huddled around several fires, their sunken eyes regarding the armoured men warily, it was clear they were unsure whether to flee or not. The spacers ignored them and formed a circle of their own.
"The splinter faction we're here to deal with is located on the outskirts roughly around here," Hunter touched his wrist and a small green holographic map of Erridan was projected into the middle of the huddle, a red cross where Hunter pointed to.
"So Captain, what's the plan?" Eddie asked.
"All in good time, Corporal Harwood. You and Jack will approach from the floor below, using the emergency stairs. I will take the lift to floor 14 and take the direct approach. Oh, and unless you find the leader, shoot to kill."
Jack looked like he was going to say something, eyes darting to Jeff and back to Hunter, but Eddie elbowed the other Corporal and they both nodded, gripping their guns tighter.
"Is everything up to scratch in here?" Lieitenant Commander Thad Harwood stepped into the cockpit.
"It's fine, all readings green. Green is good, in case you didn't know. I don't know who decided when they chose colours that green would be good and red would be bad, there are lots of horrible green things, like pickles and bogies and plants, and lots of nice red things like wine and-"
"Yes yes I get the picture Pilot. Just keep the ship prepped for a take-off with little to no warning at any time. If you need me I'll be making patrols but my comcuff will be on." with that Thad left.
"'I get the picture pilot' Yes Trent I'm just going to call you, the guy I've known for two years now, pilot now because im sucking up to Captain Clarington Pilot," Trent mimicked Thad in a hHugh pitched voice "Jeez, If I'd known when they changed captains they were also going to change Thad for a pompous robot I would've warned Eddie. This is awful. I've forgotten my other examples of nice things that are red now."
"Is that really our biggest worry right now?" David said exasperatedly.
"it's a worry." Trent defended himself.
"I'm going to catch some sleep. See you later." David sighed as he left the pilot to his ramblings. Trent would find some other unwilling crew member to be his audience now, and David pittied the poor soul.
Lost in thought, he walked right into the large black shape he'd assumed would move out his way. Wes looked equally stunned to find himself colliding with David as they both picked themselves up off the floor.
"You should be more careful," David said, trying to keep his tone as light hearted as possible, instead of quavering.
"Why? Are you hurt?" Wes sprang instantaneously to his feet.
"No, but damn I'm jealous of your muscles. It was like colliding with a brick wall." David's eyes looked the engineer - wearing a tight uniform similar to the space marines' but black instead of white - up and down appreciatively. "Do you work out your free time then?'
"Yes." Wes began to walk away quickly.
"We need to talk." David said, mustering all his courage.
"I'm sure that won't be-"
David gulped, and took a deep breath.
"I know what you are Wes."
The CrossSpec froze in mid stride, eyes widening in horror.
"I don't have a clue what you are talking about." David closed the distance between them in a few long steps, grabbed Wes, and dragged him into an empty room before closing the door and locking it. The only items in the tiny room were a small table and four chairs, next to a sink set on top of a cupboard. David pushed Wes into a chair, before plonking himself into the one opposite.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. When you saved Rachel from being kicked off the ship I was so thankful I didn't even think about how weird it was. Then your engine bay gets trashed and Rachel gets all shifty about it. Why would she risk revealing herself by using her abilities unless she was facing someone strong enough to threaten her? Then you and her are suddenly joined at the hip, and she's taking the exact same vitamin pills you do. Plus you haven't aged at all in the whole time anyone onboard has known you. An Alliance Engineer would have to spent a rather hefty chunk of his paycheck in order to get gene therapy that extensive, if they could even afford it at all. That combined with all the other evidence...It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. You're a CrossSpec like Rachel. "
"My dead aunt left me an inheritance which paid for anti-ageing laser treatment. I'm not a CrossSpec and If you suspect Rachel is we should inform the Captain immediately." Wes stood up to leave.
"Oh, one last thing." David said behind him, and as Wes turned he saw the bullet leave the gun that David had pointed at the engineer's back. He dodged it narrowly, realising just a fraction of a second too late what he had just done, as a sly grin slid across the Flight Lieutenant's face.
"You just dodged a bullet at less than 50 yards and you expect me to believe you're human? Think I can safely say you just confirmed my suspicions."
Fear of discovery had driven Wes for the whole of his life, during his childhood, his career as a notorious pirate and his career with the Alliance. Eventually someone had to notice he was living too long without agong and he'd have to move on. Reinvent himself as something and someone else yet again. When your very existence is illegal you don't take being exposed lightly, the fact that David did it in such a blasé way made it worse.
"You can't say anything safely, don't you understand?" Wes grabbed David by the front of his uniform and shoved him against a wall "I should kill you right now, to avoid detection. And even If I do let you live, you're going to be in a world of trouble for letting a CrossSpec escape. You'll lose your job, possibly your freedom, we're talking actual time in prison David why would-"
"I wanted to show you I didn't care!" the lieutenant screamed, interrupting the engineer's rant.
"You...what?"
"I was trying to show you I was ok with you being a CrossSpec, and that it wouldn't change a thing for us."
"But...Why?" Wes asked, flabbergasted.
"Wes I've wanted you since the day I came on board this ship. I wouldn't care if you were a mermaid."
The CrossSpec hungrily pressed his lips to David's. Arms roamed and David pressed every inch of his body as far into Wes as he could, until there was literally nothing between them but their clothes. Hands grabbed him with bruising force, holding him close. It stopped as suddenly as it began.
"Am I hurting you?" Wes asked.
"A bit, but don't let that stop you. I'm a big boy, I can take some pain."
"I'll tone it down a bit, don't want you in the medbay with broken ribs again...it's been so long since I've touched another human being for more than a few seconds. Years, Maybe decades..."
"That's terrible," David reached up a hand to gently stroke the outline of the CrossSpec's face.
"I tried initially but it hurt too much, being so physically intimate with others but keeping such a huge secret from them, it made me too distant. That barrier has gone but... David I don't think you realise how hard being with a CrossSpec is. I could kill you."
"I'm not saying this is Disney love at first sight happy ever after let's get married and have lots of cats," David said "can't we just think of it as something casual and easygoing for now, like stress relief? We'll figure it out as we go along."
Wes grinned his shark-like grin.
"So much sarcasm! You've been spending way too much time with Rachel. Stress relief...I like the sound of that."