Grendel

It had been several days since their arrival. Because the repairs on the tundra had only been a stopgap, Kristoff spent a good portion of that time slaving over Sven in one of the side tunnels, readying for their inevitable departure. Anna helped. While she was obviously inexperienced with snowcat maintenance, she had an iron determination and formidable will that impressed him.

As the days passed and they kept working in the oppressive cavern heat, various thoughts would run through his mind. He should have been angry with Anna for putting him in this predicament. Instead, he found himself often laughing at her antics, intentional or otherwise. Soon, he found himself taking surreptitious glances at her just to get a glimpse of her smile … or the sparkle in her beautiful teal eyes. It was as if she had some kind of magnetic draw on him.

On a serious note, he had to wonder if his life as a harvester was over. With a new enemy like the Duke, he had no idea how he was going to get things back to normal. So much for his plans to leave Arendelle-255 with an abundance of credits. At this point, he might be lucky just to get off the planet alive. Well, I survived Skallagrim. Things couldn't get worse than that.

Kristoff tapped a spanner against the metallic portion of the tread he had been working on. He was grateful to the Trallis for creating replacement parts—it was necessary for them to be self-sufficient because of their limited contact with the outside world. He certainly didn't want to take advantage of Pabbie's or the Trallis's generosity, but under the circumstances, his chances of acquiring spare parts through ordinary channels was close to nil.

His thoughts momentarily flashed forward. If he did have to leave the planet, would Anna accompany him? She couldn't very well stay here, or could she? He inwardly sighed. Borgman, you're getting way ahead of yourself. He'd only known the woman a few days. It was just a series of bizarre events that held them together in the first place.

Given his less than ideal upbringing on Skallagrim, and then the subsequent frenzied departure to Arendelle-255, he had long since dismissed any thoughts of romance. Kristoff had reconciled himself to a solitary future, but … but ... he was coming to realize for the first time that Anna was somehow special. Then his mind did that thing … He found himself seesawing between, Anna is just wonderful and You've flipped your lid! Faced with self-contradictions, he grew furious with himself.

The heat in his work area brought him back to his senses. Not surprisingly, it was warm inside the open space due to the heavy geothermal activity, and Kristoff found himself wiping the sweat from his brow as he tinkered with the idler. Because he was alone, he had stripped down to his bare chest, exposing his muscled torso and the host of scars that were normally hidden from view.

Sweat ran down his body, down each nook and cranny of exposed flesh, to even the undersides of his forearms, where the crimson brands he guarded from public view were prominently displayed.

The hardened musculature of his torso glistened under the myriad crystals illuminating the cavern. He was glad that Anna wasn't here at the moment. He was afraid she might ask questions.

Glancing at the brands, he grimaced. You know what you are! As a child back in the 61 Ursae Majoris system, his life wasn't his own. The minders treated him and the other orphans with little regard. He swore an oath to Odin, the Allfather, and Thor, God of Thunder, like the others. Their ultimate goal was to seek entry into the Halls of Valhalla. It truly was survival of the fittest as they competed against each other on a regular basis. Many had perished, some at Kristoff's own hands … it was all part of the training … or so he told himself as he futilely sought after redemption.

That part of his life had been shed. He had taken on a new life and persona, one filled with hard, albeit honest, work and ...

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard singing from a distance. Anna!
"Odin's balls!" he bellowed as he scrambled to grab his shirt.

"I heard that!" Anna announced as she came around the corner.

"Of course you did … because if a man swears in a cave and there's no woman there to yell at him, then what's the point?"

Anna, arms akimbo, stared him down. "Well, at least you're finally catching on." Her eyes narrowed as Kristoff hastily buttoned his shirt. "Are you trying to hide something?"

"What?"

"You're a little old to be bashful, don't you think?"

"And you're just fishing for a reason to see me with my shirt off," he fired back, congratulating himself on his quick wit as a smug grin waxed across his face.

"Oh, Kristoff."

Anna effortlessly closed the distance between them. He reminded himself on exactly how briskly she could move when she put her mind to it. Her delicate hands drifted across his chest, lightly lingering there, and she looked up at him, teal eyes wide, lips almost trembling.

In that instance, Kristoff's mind went completely offline. He stupidly thought about kissing her … that is until she deftly sprang away from him, pulling his shirt away with her. How did she do that?

"Ha!" she crowed triumphantly. "If I wanted to see you with your shirt off … Well, see how easy that was?"

"Why, you little …" He stopped himself short of completing his sentence. "You played me." And Kristoff felt like a fool for being manipulated so easily.

But then Anna's eyes took focus of Kristoff's bare chest. Both her voice and expression changed. "Kristoff …" she whispered apologetically.

"What?" he defiantly asked, holding himself straight with dignity.

Her eyes darted back-and-forth over the criss-crossed scars marring his torso.

"Are you satisfied?" he added as he plucked the shirt from her hand. Instinctively, he turned his back, no doubt exposing even more scars to her view, and proceeded to button up.

"I didn't know," Anna limply offered. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't need your sympathy, Anna," he stated flatly. He let anger get the better of him. "Not all of us can live privileged lives." He turned to face her.

The comment sparked something. Those teal eyes carried storm clouds with them. "What do you really know about my life?" she angrily shot back. "Privilege? Imprisoned in a gilded cage? Not having a chance to even grow up knowing my sister?" She blushed at her own words, seemingly having said too much. "You have no idea …" a fading voice mumbled.

For that second, she was vulnerable. It was the first time Kristoff had seen her like that. He closed the gap between them as quickly as she had done moments ago.

Grabbing her by the waist, Kristoff pulled Anna in close and then did the thing brewing steadily just under the surface of his consciousness. He kissed her.

She yielded into his arms, accepting his kiss, but then her body stiffened and she pushed back with surprising strength. A sharp crack resonated within the cavern walls as the flat of her hand made contact with his cheek. "How dare you!"

He watched her storm off, feeling guilty, stupid, and awkward. You blew it, you fucking idiot! What the hell were you thinking?

The HMS Grendel, a sleek corvette sporting the markings of the Imperial Navy of Epsilon Crucis flew rapidly from its home planet of Isles. It's destination, of course, was Arendelle-255.

Kaptajnløjnant DeVos surveyed the hard faces of his troops, volunteers from Prince Hans' personal guard. The small contingent consisted of a single squad of men, every one of them combat veterans and each of them belonging at one time to the Isles's Speciel Rumtjeneste. They were the best of the best and DeVos knew that they could rival, man for man, any military unit in the known universe, with the alleged exception of the infamous, but now expired, Zerkers.

He wryly smiled to himself as he replayed the ridiculous legends in his mind. Zerkers … their strength and speed of execution was, obviously, nonsense. He had, like every soldier, heard the propaganda …

I'll ask of the Ulfheðnar, you tasters of blood,

Those who wade out into battle?

Wolf-skinned they are called.

Red with blood are they when they come to fight.

As strong as bears, they kill with a single blow,

But neither lasgun's fire nor steel told upon them.

The Kaptajnløjnant snickered in amusement. The "tasters of blood" were a preposterous allusion to the carrion birds that came to feast on the dead after an encounter with the Zerkers. Before battle, Zerkers were said to hamask, entering a state of fury and gaining the strength, speed, and ferocity of wolf and bear. Rubbish, of course. Either way, the Zerkers no longer existed, having been wiped from the face of the Universe some four Standard Years back. A cloaked planet buster had been employed to destroy them. DeVos only wished he could have been there as the pan-galactic fleet obliterated this nuisance.

The troop cabin was, naturally, spartan. Exposed pipes and cables ran throughout various locations on the bulkheads, falling short on aesthetics. This was ever so obviously not a luxury yacht.

He briefed his troops about the upcoming operation. The cabin dimmed as a holographic image of the planet was summoned forth with key locations marked. Bright red arrows were projected against the globe, noting the specific areas of interest.

"Arendelle-255 is an arctic wasteland. You've all heard of it, no doubt, since it's the sole source of Arendellian Ice. It's remote location has left it largely lawless and shrouded in obscurity. If it wasn't for that goddamned ice, it's doubtful anyone would have bothered to settle this miserable planet. The dangers are plenty, both through the elements and from the indigenous life forms." He paused for emphasis. "You've trained well, and even though this operation should be a piece of cake, proceed with caution."

He continued by pointing out their landing site. "This is Arendelle City …" The holographic globe zoomed in so that only a portion of it was now visible. "We'll be landing at the one and only spaceport," he continued. "Our mission is to rescue this woman," he lied. A new hologram of a pretty redhead showed up next to the globe.

"She's a little hottie!" one of the sergeants exclaimed, followed by a host of wolf-whistles.

"Keep it in your pants, Olsen. And that goes for the rest of you, too. Just a reminder to you all, no chit-chatting with this one. We're under strict orders, including myself, against engaging in any casual conversation with her. So, let me remind you, you don't ask her any questions, and you don't talk to her about anything personal. This is strictly business."

The real mission was to eliminate the woman, along with her kidnapper and accomplices, as quickly as possible. It was explained to DeVos that her death had to be arranged to look like an accident. The others were to be handled with extreme prejudice. Prince Hans had emphasized the need for secrecy. The less people that knew the truth, the better.

He continued to inform his men of their mission. Each of them were sent a brief to study on Arendelle's pitfalls. He also addressed the Intelligence on the kidnapper. "We don't know a whole lot about him other than he's a tall, blond ice harvester named Kristoff Bjorgman, probably out to make a quick buck. Intel is unusually sparse. We'll assume the worst, but it's doubtful he'll be a threat." DeVos paused. "Well, regardless, this backwoods bondeknold never counted on us." He smiled broadly, noting that his troops wore similar grins. "Our orders are to eliminate this ass-banana. No quarter is to be given. In fact, we're here to inflict as much pain as possible. We need to make an example of this pikspiller."

A cheer rose from amongst the men.

The next several days proved uncomfortable. Prior to the ill-fated kiss, Kristoff 's feelings were already mixed up towards Anna, but now it was even worse. He wished he could take it all back. What had possessed him? Although the memory of her soft lips pressed against his would forever be etched in his mind. She did seem to like it … at first. He grunted.

Maybe the smarter thing to have done was to walk out of Oaken's without her? But he flinched at the thought. It was difficult to admit, but, like it or not, he was attracted to Anna, Roxanna, or whoever she really was, from the moment he laid eyes on her. "Odin's balls!"

Anna looked at him with disgust. While she continued to work alongside him, she was uncharacteristically silent, at least for her. Their conversation was primarily monosyllabic, "yep," "nope," or a series of hand motions. And now he could add looks of contempt to his list. It was driving him mad.

On numerous occasions, he tried to apologize, but at each failed attempt, Anna would drop her tools, emit a "hmph" and haughtily walk away. It was almost as if she knew what he was going to say, and rejected it, before anything even came out of his mouth. How was he ever going to fix this?

They had just finished coating Sven with a new stealth finish that made the snowcat difficult to detect both visually and otherwise—another gift from the Trallis who always had a technological edge over everyone else—when Pabbie lumbered in.

Anna still avoided making eye contact with Kristoff, even with Pabbie's entrance. Kristoff was about to comment but the elder Trallis's presence would have made it awkward.

"Kristoff … there you are. We have matters of importance to discuss."

Kristoff raised an eyebrow.

Pabbie continued, "As you know, we like to keep an eye on the outside world. We've monitored a series of interstellar transmissions between the Duke and a military vessel from the Crucis system."

Anna's eyes widened. "Hans," was the only thing she uttered, but that brief trickle ended as abruptly as it came. Pabbie looked at her as if he understood.

"Apparently, this ship is on its way to Arendelle-255 to find Anna, and to deal with, um, her kidnapper." Pabbie looked directly at Kristoff when he mentioned kidnapper.

"Kidnapper? You're shi … err, you've got to be kidding me." He glanced at Anna briefly. She actually made eye contact with him and he almost smiled.

"I'm afraid that bodes ill for all of us, especially you, Kristoff." Pabbie looked uncomfortable with what he had to say next. "With a military grade vessel coming this way, we … we …"

Kristoff understood immediately. The Trallis were in danger of being discovered. A war vessel would come with the most sophisticated surveillance equipment. And even though the Trallis were experts at illusion, they could possibly be detected. He turned to Pabbie. "How long do we have?"

"About a week. This vessel, the Grendel, has to make a series of strategic jumps before it can get here. You know Arendelle's difficult to get to because of the scarcity of wormholes along the way."

"Right." Well, this was just adding fuel to the fire. A military grade vessel? Who was this ex-fiance Anna was fleeing from? Hans? And what kind of secrets was Anna holding that would warrant such extremes? Not only that, but how the hell had he been misidentified as a kidnapper?

Fuck, fuck, fuck. He hated where this was going. He hated to ask. "We might need a cloaking suit or two." That, and weapons … and … and the one thing Kristoff had sworn to leave buried in his past. A single angry tear of resolve ran down his cheek.

A/N - Yeah, I suck. It's been a long time since I've updated. I'm not sure if there's anyone still reading this story. If there are, reviews or comments are always appreciated.