Hannah stood at attention, her back straight as an arrow. Captain Maddock paced back and forth in front of her, his eyes trained on his data pad. He was a formidable man, tall, with a large girth, though all of it muscle. She wasn't sure why he had called her here, but she hoped it wasn't about Daniel.
It had been two weeks since Alpha Company joined up with the Hawk. Following their new ship's tradition, Alpha had chosen a predatory bird title and now its members referred to their company as the Falcon. The Falcon integrated almost flawlessly with the Hawk—except for Daniel Shepard.
Hannah took a deep breath as she reviewed the last two weeks in her mind. Daniel's presence onboard the Avian had come at an unfortunate time for him. Since he had played the antagonist at the sharpshooting contest, he provided a prime target for bullying from the Hawk. He hadn't been physically assaulted (any soldier from the Hawk who beat the pulp out of a fellow soldier would have found himself in the brig on order of the Captain), but he had been verbally abused more often than not. His response to the torment wasn't to keep his mouth shut until the memory of the contest died down. No, he egged it on by retaliating every time with a smart remark for every insult. This resulted in conflicts aplenty between him and the Hawk. At this point, very few members of the Hawk came to his defense anymore and members of the Falcon distanced themselves from him, wanting to get out of target range. Those directly under Hannah's command treated Daniel with the most civility as she gave them a direct imperative to welcome him in. Seeing as she had laid the first punch on Daniel, her soldiers respected her command to the letter, assuming she was simply holding her own self back from beating him senseless.
Hannah had done her best to carry out her captain's orders, but she admitted a little guiltily to herself that she probably hadn't made anything easier for Daniel. The first time he called her "Hannah" in front of her soldiers, she'd sharply reprimanded him for the familiarity. At that time, she perceived she'd wounded his pride acutely and in front of his peers to boot. From that time forward he had coolly referred to her as "Lieutenant" when he had to. Most of the time, he said nothing to her at all, even avoiding eye contact.
Hannah censured herself inside. She should have done more to temper Daniel's explosive anger, talked to him woman to man. But she'd been far too content letting circumstances stay as they were. Her relationship with Daniel was taut with uneasy tension. Talking to him would have forced her to have some kind of personal interaction with him, something she was avoiding these days at all costs. She wanted their relationship to be defined as strictly professional.
Captain Maddock stopped pacing, sighed loudly and turned to Hannah. Hannah tried to stand even taller than she already was if that were possible.
"I've received orders from Command," Maddock informed Hannah. "We're being called away from Arcturus."
Hannah's heart sunk, though no emotion appeared on her face. Leaving Arcturus Station? She'd hoped she'd be able to stay and see its construction to completion.
"We're to play nursemaid to a contingent of scientists and space explorers," Maddock continued. "We've been told to give the Delta Pavonis Foundation our complete cooperation." Hannah recognized the organization's name. They had been reported in the news as raising financial capital to colonize worlds beyond the Charon Relay. Did that mean…? Hannah's emotions changed abruptly as excitement replaced her disappointment at leaving Arcturus.
"I've called you up here, Lieutenant, because I know you're the best shot on this ship." Hannah wondered again how much information Captain Maddock had obtained regarding the sharpshooting contest. "I need three teams assembled to accompany these civilians on their exploration of one of the worlds on the other side of the Charon Relay. I want you to head one of the teams on this mission."
Hannah worked to keep the desire to grin off her face. She had been to space, but so far, she hadn't set foot on an alien world. Now, she'd get her chance.
"You need to assemble a team of twelve, yourself included. We're simply waiting for the Foundation's shuttles to arrive, then we'll proceed through the Relay to our destination. Any questions?"
"No, sir!" Hannah declared.
"Do this thing right," Captain Maddock said to her with a slight smile, "And you just might move up the chain of command. How does Lieutenant Commander sound?"
Hannah gauged that Captain Maddock wanted her to answer the question. "It sounds mighty nice, sir."
"Good. Dismissed."
Hannah saluted, turned and kept the spring out of her step, though she wanted to do some kind of celebratory dance to the elevator. She'd almost reached the elevator when the Captain spoke after her.
"Oh, take Shepard with you. I've heard he's almost as good as you with a rifle." Hannah looked back to see a twinkle in the Captain's eye that revealed his own pride in her accomplishment at the sharpshooting contest. "That, and getting him off this ship is probably the best place for that soldier to be."
Hannah couldn't agree more. Giving Daniel some space and something concrete to do would afford everyone on the ship a chance to relax, though she didn't exactly relish having to take Daniel Shepard on her first mission planet side. The emotions he produced in her kept her perpetually uncomfortable.
Hannah gripped a handrail above her head as the shuttle bounced its way through the atmosphere of planet 627. There were no windows in the military shuttle, so she couldn't view their approach, which disappointed her. The only glimpse she'd gotten of the planet so far was on their arrival when she'd been off duty and able to sequester herself away in her private cubby, watching as they took up orbit around 627. From space, she could tell it would be beautiful. It resembled Earth with the blues and greens that covered its surface. In just a few moments, she'd get to step on it in person, her feet touching ground for the first time in over a year.
Hannah glanced around the cabin, once again pleased with the team she'd pulled together. There was Daniel, of course, as she'd been commanded to include him. He sat in a corner, his face emotionless, blank stone. She'd secretly wondered if he was excited at all (they used to talk about visiting planets in outer space all the time when they were kids), but so far, he'd seemed entirely neutral to the whole affair. She moved her eyes to Lucas, who all too obviously was excited. She figured he'd be the first to bound off the shuttle when its door peeled back. She'd chosen Riley, too. Riley had a solid head on her shoulders, never taken by surprise. She'd made Riley second in command to her on the mission. The other soldiers consisted of a combination of Hawk and Falcon members: Brian Fergesen, Travis Hill, Ryan Sanderson and Milana Sastakovich hailed from her own company. Ji Yeon, Greta Dahlin, Peter Young and Victor Bohm she'd pulled from the Falcon, having pored over their files to select those that had achieved high ratings during weapons training. All in all, she figured they had the best team of the three assigned to the Delta Pavonis Foundation.
The shuttle pulled up all of a sudden and Hannah hung on as she felt the lift. Then it settled down with a shake, landing at last. The door lifted up and as Hannah had suspected, Lucas was the first to jump out, his head swinging back and forth as he took stock of planet 627. The others followed with Hannah in the rear, making sure all on her team made it out the door. When she finally jumped out, Hannah grinned from ear to ear as she gazed at the beauty of the planet. The scientists called it a "garden planet" and she could tell why. Every inch in her sight burst with lush green vegetation, including fruit trees. Of course, they wouldn't be allowed to eat anything on the world yet. That was why the scientists were here—to extrapolate the probability that the planet would be suitable for colonization.
Hannah told her team to wait and trod over to find Gable Dervin, the scientist leading the entire expedition, a fifty-year-old well respected for his knowledge of environmental factors and their effects on planets. She found him delegating various responsibilities to his scientific team. She waited patiently until he was finished. His green eyes flashed in her direction and he smiled broadly.
"What do you think, Lieutenant? Beautiful, isn't it?"
Hannah nodded. "It's gorgeous."
Gable drew in a long breath. "And fresh, too. Ripe for a colony. That is, if we approve it." Hannah looked at him expectantly. "Ah yes, your duties." Gable looked down at his data pad. "As discussed, you'll escort one of our exploration teams. They'll map the topography five miles in circumference of the science team's base."
Gable looked up and called out, "Tarun!" A young man obviously of Indian descent practically bounced over to the scientist. Gable indicated Hannah. "This is Lieutenant Collier. She and her team have been assigned to you."
"Lieutenant," Tarun greeted her, sticking out his hand. Hannah shook it.
"Where do you want us?" Hannah asked.
Tarun pointed to his team of explorers, a group of about twenty. "We should be ready to go in about ten minutes." Hannah could tell he was eager to start and she couldn't blame him. The fact that she was about to walk into lands that no one had ever laid eyes on awoke almost uncontrollable energy inside her.
"We'll meet you over there," Hannah acknowledged, then hiked back to her team. As she approached, she heard an argument that boiled her blood immediately. Lucas and Daniel were at it again. From the very first, they had seemed like mortal enemies. Hannah didn't know why, but for some reason their personalities ran smack up against each other.
"Right back atcha, wuss," Lucas was saying.
"You want to settle this now?" Daniel challenged. "I'll take you right here, right now."
"You're on!" Lucas shouted back. Hannah tromped over to them, pushing through the rest of her team.
"Knock it off, now!" she commanded. She reached out and grabbed a hold of Lucas' right arm and Daniel's left, directing them away from the rest of the team. When they were far enough away, she stopped and turned her angry eyes on them.
"For the preservation of the reputation of the Avian in front of these scientists, I want you both to shut it for the duration! You got me?"
Lucas had bowed his head and Daniel was looking to his right, avoiding her gaze.
"Lucas?" Hannah demanded.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, meeting her eyes and saluting.
"You better mean it," she threatened.
She was glad to see he didn't crack a smile, but answered back sincerely. "I do, ma'am."
"Shepard?"
Daniel slowly turned his hazel eyes back to her, his face stone once more. "Yes, ma'am," he mumbled.
"Good. I'm not your nanny, boys, so don't put me in that role. You're grown men. Act like it. Now let's get back with the others." She moved back to her team, followed silently by Lucas and Daniel.
Guarding Tarun's team wasn't thrilling. It was pretty much walk several meters, stop for the explorers to talk and chart, then walk several more meters and do it again. Still, Hannah couldn't complain. She was getting to breathe fresh air and stretch her legs, not to mention take in the glorious sights of the planet. They'd passed a river, a couple waterfalls and several fields full of vibrant flowers so far. Hannah couldn't help but think how perfect this planet would be to colonize and how lucky those first colonists would be.
Tarun finally called for a rest late in the day. The explorers gathered together, a babbling gaggle discussing what they had discovered and mapped out. Hannah's team plopped down on the ground for a rest, most of them laying on the ground for a few minutes nap. Only Daniel wandered away from the group, sauntering over to a pond where he sat staring into it and occasionally picking up a rock to toss in.
As Hannah watched Daniel, she sighed inwardly. She was remembering that day on Lake Superior, when she and Daniel had explored the tiny island together. This was what they had planned for as kids: to explore new worlds side by side. And yet, here she sat, detached from him, afraid to go over and say anything at all.
Hannah forced herself to stand and push back the unpleasant emotions present within her. The least she could do was talk to the guy, maybe make his life with the Avian better by giving him some helpful counsel. She walked over to him and sat down next to him. He acknowledged her presence with a nod, then turned his eyes back to the pond.
Hannah took a breath. "So, what do you think?"
"Of what?" Daniel asked in a dismissive tone, as if he didn't want to be anywhere near her.
She ignored his tone. "The planet."
Daniel took a breath. "It's stunning. Perfect for a colony."
"Yeah," Hannah nodded. After a while, as Daniel remained silent, Hannah tried to get herself to say something, but found she couldn't put voice to her thoughts. Sitting next to him discombobulated her and she couldn't think of anything else to say. She started to stand up and retreat from him, but was stayed when Daniel suddenly spoke.
"Why do you call him Lucas?"
"Huh?" Hannah asked, confused by the subject Daniel had brought up.
"You call everyone by their last name, but you call him Lucas."
"Oh," Hannah turned and glanced back to see Lucas sitting by a patch of weeds, picking at them and smiling. "We went through basic training together. He just didn't pursue officer candidacy afterwards."
"Was he your boyfriend?" Daniel wasn't looking at her. He was drawing circles in the dirt with his finger.
"Lucas?" Hannah laughed. "Not on your life."
"Good."
Hannah felt her heart leap. All at once, she understood the implication of his line of inquiry. Was Daniel…jealous? After all these years?
"You aren't…jealous?" she stammered out.
"What?" Daniel raised his head abruptly. "No. Just, he isn't good enough for you."
"Oh, so you get to decide who's good enough, huh?"
Daniel didn't answer, just went back to shaping the dirt into a portrait.
Hannah went to stand again, but Daniel put his hand out and touched her ankle, causing her to pause. "You wanted to be an explorer yourself? What happened?"
Hannah sighed. She didn't exactly want to discuss her greatest failure. But Daniel looked up and she read true concern in his eyes. "I was smart, but not enough. You know how many people out there dreamed of the stars? A lot more than I knew and a lot more smarter than me."
"Ah," Daniel intoned, refraining from inquiring farther about the details of her failure. "Why the military, then?"
Hannah smiled, remembering. "When they discovered faster than light travel there was talk all over the news how they'd have to push military into space. I think people signed up by the droves just to get the chance to leave Earth. Turns out, the military and I get along really well. Who knew, huh? What about you?"
Daniel looked over at her, then back at the pond. "Nowhere else to go. I was in and out of school all the time due to mom's endless jobs and we moved so often that my grades and test scores didn't add up to much. Military pays for everything, food, room and board. Seemed like the best option."
Hannah felt the sting of pity. She could tell Daniel's life hadn't gone the way he'd wanted it. "At least you're here, made it to space like you wanted."
"Yeah," Daniel smiled slightly.
"Can I give you some advice?"
Daniel turned to her. "Yeah?"
"Just let it go with the Hawk. They only bother you cause you're easy to get a rise out of."
Daniel huffed. "Maybe they should lay off."
"Look, you came onboard our ship shooting your mouth off about how great you are. That didn't endear you to them."
"You didn't help any," Daniel muttered, rubbing his nose.
Hannah grimaced. "Well, never mind what I did. Just stop taking them on. They'll forget if you just stop retaliating every time they say something to you."
Daniel rolled his eyes over to her. "What would you do if every time you turned around someone was insulting you?"
"Keep my mouth shut. I don't need to come back. It doesn't matter what they think."
Daniel shook his head. "Hannah Collier, always confident." Hannah looked at him strangely and he interpreted her look as a reproach. "Sorry, I mean, Lieutenant Collier."
Hannah hadn't been chastising him. She'd been contemplating the fact that when he'd spoken her name, it had sounded like there was affection in his voice.
"Uh," she hesitated, wanting to respond, but taking a moment to gather herself. "You just take yourself too seriously. Forget what anyone thinks about you. Who cares, right?"
"Sure," Daniel said.
Hannah stood and walked away, turning back for just a second to catch Daniel watching her, though he averted his gaze immediately like he meant to hide his stare. As Hannah sat back down, she deliberated inside. Could he really…? No, it's been so long. And we were just kids. But, it really seems like…Stop it, Hannah! You're imagining things.
The explorers spent a couple more hours delving into the wilds of planet 627, then announced they should return to camp for the night. As evening drew closer, the sky began to take on hues of yellow, pink and orange that caused more than one person in the group to stop and stare and proclaim his or her awe. So when Lucas stopped ahead of her, Hannah assumed he had halted to enjoy another moment with the sunset. However, he soon pointed and called out, "What is that?"
Hannah approached along with Tarun. A few feet away, sitting in the middle of a depression in the landscape, was a creature about the size of a small dog. Its fur was black as night and it sported two beady and bulging yellow eyes. Its elongated nose boasted several thick whiskers. It had four feet and was crawling around on the ground snuffling in the grasses as if searching for food. If Hannah had been pressed to describe it, she would have equated it most closely to a black bear from Earth.
Tarun thumbed on his data pad excitedly and began to take notes. "First wild life!" he exclaimed. He held the data pad up and started to take a short amount of video. "We'll need to send the biologists back tomorrow." The rest of the teams gathered to gawk at the newly discovered species.
Suddenly, a deafening, harsh roar sounded behind them. Hannah felt the hair on her neck and arms stand up in reaction to the sound. She turned abruptly. Standing about thirty meters away was an exact copy of the small creature in the depression, except that this one was far larger. If it had stood on its hind legs, she guessed it would have been eight feet tall at least.
The creature roared again, its sharp teeth evident even in the falling light of the day. Then it charged. The speed at which it came was unbelievable. Hannah realized in horror that one of the scientists stood directly in its path, frozen in fear. Then she heard a voice yell out, "Move!" and a blur flew into the scene, flinging the scientist out of the way and taking her place. It was Daniel who had intervened. He yanked his rifle off his back, put it to his shoulder and aimed at the huge creature bounding towards him.
Hannah found her voice. "Take it down!"
She heard the guns of her team click on as they all brought their weapons to bear. Several shots fired, including Daniel's. Where they hit the creature was anyone's guess, because it howled but kept on coming and no one had time to figure out if his shots had caused any damage. The creature had made it to Daniel. It stopped and used its enormous paw to swipe him to the ground. Daniel curled up into a fetal position, but the creature wasn't dissuaded. It opened its jaws and latched onto his right leg. Hannah cringed at the snap of broken bone that rung through the air and made it to her ears. Then Daniel screamed out in pain and her stomach sailed into her heart as she felt she might heave right there, right then. Her team was still firing, trying to save his life.
Hannah gulped a breath, willed thoughts of vomiting out of her mind and threw her rifle to the ground. She reached back and unhooked her shotgun, then took aim at the creature. Her gun fired, the ammo reaching its intended target right between the creature's eyes. The creature reared back, roared one final time and then rolled onto its side, still. The sudden silence was broken by the heart wrenching cries of pain thrown from Daniel's throat.
"Daniel!" Hannah cried out and rushed to his side. His pants leg had been torn to shreds in the encounter. Hannah saw bone protruding from his leg and blood flowed everywhere. She once again fought the urge to heave, instead pushing the comm on her left shoulder. "Emergency! I need an evac shuttle, now!"
She saw Daniel's eyes start to roll back into his head and his groaning ceased. "Hang on, Daniel! Hang on!" she pleaded.