Alien Mercenary’s Destiny by Mina Carter
2
“Seriously, I’m not even sure how he’s still alive. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
Being a doctor himself, albeit not from the medical profession, Eric Archer knew the tones of a fellow professional when he heard one, and this one sounded worried.
“Is there anything you can do for him? Any… treatment? Anything that’ll give him a chance?”
Another voice, male again, asked the question. Must be family, Eric decided, not bothering to open his eyes. It didn’t seem important to him at the moment, not when he was floating in a contented dark sea free from pain.
There would be pain. He knew that and he was prepared for it. He’d chosen this surgery to rid him of needing glasses, but he was well aware that there would be discomfort. The doctors had advised him against having both eyes done at the same time, but that was irrelevant. His intellect was superior, and he could deal with a little discomfort. Mind over matter and all that, and, if he did say so himself, his mind was definitely above average. After all, not many of his contemporaries had triple specialties like he did.
But there was no sense in poking the bear before he had to. The longer he could lie here, content as he listened to the doctors discuss another patient, was time he didn’t have to deal with any… unpleasantness.
Although, hell, the man’s surgery must have gone really wrong for them to be discussing experimental treatments to give him a chance. As far as he knew Ashfield Clinic only dealt in cosmetic surgeries. So what had happened… had the patient suffered some kind of reaction to an implant or to the anesthesia? It was the only thing he could think of.
“There is one. A retro-gene therapy…” The doctor’s voice rang with wariness. “It’s dangerous but it might give him a chance.”
“Do it,” the other guy ordered.
His voice sounded familiar but Eric couldn’t figure out why. He’d traveled to the clinic so he wouldn’t meet anyone he knew. His contemporaries would realize he’d had work done, but that was very different from them actually seeing him in a hospital gown with his ass out. Seeing him weak.
“I’m not telling his sister we let him die on the table. Do what you need to.”
Oh man, the poor guy… Eric’s sympathy for his fellow patient scattered as the comforting darkness rose up once more to claim him. He surrendered to it. When he woke up, his eyes would be fixed and he could get back to work.
Eric woke up in the Sprite’s tiny medical bay.
It wasn’t like the labs he was used to. For one, it was much smaller, even though it had two full medical beds and an auto-unit crammed into the small space. It also had the scorch marks from where Zero and Talent had apparently blown it up a couple of weeks ago.
He frowned as he looked at the tiled ceiling. He knew all that, remembered being told about the explosion, but for the life of him he couldn’t remember why he was in here. The last thing he remembered was the attack on the pits. He… and he gasped as he tried to sit upright.
“Hey, handsome,” a soft feminine voice said as a hand on his shoulder pinned him into place. “You might want to stay lying down. You were in a fight. Took some real nasty injuries.”
“I was…” he asked in confusion as he looked up into the face of an angel.
The woman bending over him was beautiful. Tall and dark haired with haunting features, he took one look at her and couldn’t look away.
“You were.” She smiled.
“That was you. Wasn’t it?” he asked in a whisper, his voice rough as though he hadn’t used it for a while. “The screams I heard.”
She smiled that mysterious half smile again. “Yes. And you came to my rescue. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he muttered, exhaustion washing over him.
He should stay awake, ask her name… talk to Talent and find out what was wrong with him, but instead his head dropped back to the pillow and his eyes fluttered closed.
The last thing he remembered as the darkness closed in was the gentle brush of her fingers over his cheek and her soft voice in his ear.
“I’ll be here when you wake up, Eric.”
The trouble was, he had absolutely no idea who she was.
The next time Eric woke up, Talent was shining a light into his eyes.
“What the fuck?” he exclaimed, squinting as he pushed the guy’s hand away. “Seriously? All this advanced medical technology and you have to half blind me?”
The medic moved back, watching him with an implacable expression that must have been genetically bred into doctors or something.
“I was checking your pupil reaction,” he explained, but Eric waved him off.
“Yes, yes, I get the theory. Can’t you just scan me or something?” he grumbled.
“Why would I do that when a simple test would suffice?” Talent raised an eyebrow but snapped the penlight off and slid it away in a pocket. Like the rest of the Warborne, he wore a tactical rig rather than the white coat humans were used to seeing on their doctors. “It doesn’t matter, though. I can see your cognitive function is just fine.”
“Damn straight it is,” Eric said, trying to sit up. Pain flared through his stomach with an unpleasant pulling and pinching that warned him further movement was a bad idea.
“He’s a grumpy fuck when he’s ill,” a voice said from the doorway. “Just clip him across the ear if he gives you any shit.”
“Thank you, Eris. I love you too,” he snapped, collapsing back on the pillows weakly. Lifting the sheet, he looked down at himself. Naked to the waist, his torso was covered in dressings and his left arm looked like something out of an old mummy holo-movie.
“What happened?”
“You don’t remember?” Eris asked, coming into the room fully.
Talent nodded to her, wiping his hands on a cloth before throwing it at the disposal chute as he left. The medbay on the Sprite was tiny, so whenever anyone visited someone in here, the medic left to give them space.
“You didn’t need to be a shit to Tal either,” she hissed, punching him lightly in the arm without the bandages.
“Hey! Patient here!” he complained, trying to shield his right arm with the other, but it wouldn’t move correctly. The same pinching and pulling warned him that if he did, he would regret it.
“Patient smachient,” she threw back, sitting on the edge of his bed. Given the auto-unit was constructed for the bigger builds of the Lathar, there was plenty of room even with the two of them on it. “You’re an ass and you know it.”
“I’ll have you know doctors make the worst patients. It’s a well-known fact.”
“Pfft. That’s medical doctors. You’re not a medical doctor.”
“Same difference.” He glared at her. For saying they had the same coloring and lean build, they were completely different in every other way. “Did you come here just to piss me off or did you have something constructive to say?”
“Can’t I just come to see how my big brother is doing?”
He watched her suspiciously, but the look in her eyes was level and calm. Too calm. Professional calm.
“How bad was it?” he asked suddenly, holding her gaze with his.
He’d learned that over the years. People were weird creatures. He knew he missed the social cues, and he could be too blunt for them. So he’d learned to use that—to be blunt and stare until he got the answers he wanted. It worked from interns right the way up to project directors. Unfortunately, it had worked until it hadn’t, and mercenaries had come to kill him. No amount of staring could match a bullet.
But Eris was a different matter. He could bully her. She was his sister. She loved him. He knew that, even if he was confused at the way she showed it.
“Bad,” she admitted with a sigh, scooping her hair away from her face with a shaking hand.
Suddenly the conversation when he’d been half asleep made sense. He hadn’t been at Ashfield Clinic after all. That had been years ago, and his memories were muddled. He’d been here, in the medbay, all the time.
“You got hurt in the attack on the pits. You were helping one of the fighters and got hit by a bunch of Krynassis. They clawed you up pretty bad.”
He nodded, snatches of memory coming back. Dark corridors, stone ceilings above him as he was carried out. His own hand sheathed in blood. A woman’s worried face.
“Is she alright? The woman?” he demanded, reaching out to grab Eris’s wrist. His own injuries forgotten, he needed to know if the woman he’d heard screaming was okay.
“Zadaenae?” Eris frowned. “Yeah, she’s fine. She was the one who got you out.”
“Thank god.” He flopped back down onto the bed and closed his eyes as more of his memories flooded back. “I remember her screaming. Rushing through the corridors to find her. Then… nothing.”
“You pulled a full-on white knight, you daft twat.” Eris snorted. “Fuck all combat experience and you piled in there like you’ve been in spec ops for twenty years.”
“Yeah?” He perked up a little at that. “I… it worked then?”
Eris looked at him straight. “If by ‘it worked’ you mean you stopped the scaled assholes from killing the woman by letting them fill you full of holes, then yeah, it worked.” She sighed and then added, “Dipshit.”
“Uggh.” He closed his eyes, shame washing over him. He’d bet none of the others would have gotten their asses handed to them on a plate like that. They’d have taken on the lizard-men single-handedly and then swept the woman off her feet.
His eyes snapped open. “She was here. Wasn’t she? In here? She said she’d be here when I woke up.”
Eris nodded. “She’s been here on and off since you were brought in.” She looked up and to the door. “I think she went back to help at the pits. I can fetch her, though, if you’d like?”
“No!” He grabbed her wrist, stopping her movement toward the door. Well, ego told him he’d stopped her but in reality he knew that right now, he’d lose a wrestling match with a kitten. His weakness went bone deep and further. The pain feeding back from the wounds all over his body told him he should be dead.
“Please… don’t.” His gaze clashed with that of his twin. “I… don’t want her to see me like this.”
“Hey, sexy. How’s it going?”
Zad paused halfway up the boarding ramp on the Warborne’s little ship and looked up. One of the mercenaries leaned against a support strut, arms folded against his chest as he watched her. The top half of his ship suit was down and tied around his slender hips, revealing a leanly muscled torso and dark tattoos wrapped around his upper arms in thick lines. Like the male who had almost gotten himself killed in the attack on the pits, this was a smaller Lathar-like male. Now she knew they were human, like Nat.
She wasn’t impressed and let him know with a hard look back. “Really? Do you plan to flex next and show off?”
The ghost of a smile crossed his lips. “Would it help?”
“What do you think?”
He shrugged. “Well, you never know. Thought I’d try my luck.”
She arched her eyebrow. “You are aware what I am. Right?”
He grinned broadly and pushed off from the strut, walking down toward her. “Oh yes. You’re fucking gorgeous and dangerous as fuck. Just what gets my motor going.”
She rattled a warning in the back of her throat. “Touch me and I’ll rip your vaarking arm off and feed it to you.”
Unlike Eric, the male who’d almost gotten himself killed and who’d called her armor from under her skin, she had no such reaction to this one. The only thing she felt was vague irritation and an overwhelming desire to rip his head off.
“Sparky!” a female voice called out from within the belly of the ship. “Fuck off and irritate someone else. Okay? The lady’s not interested.”
“Maligned and put upon, that’s what I am!” The male grinned, apparently not bothered in the slightest as he sauntered down the ramp. “I’ll take my sexy ass where it’s appreciated!”
“You do that, Sparky,” the female called out after him. “And remember what T’Raal said. No more sexual harassment suits. Okay?”
The male just waved over his shoulder and continued on his way. Zad watched him for a second before turning to the female. She had the same Lathar-like appearance but smaller, and since the Lathar had no females themselves… she must be human as well.
A sense of familiarity prickled at the back of Zad’s mind as she studied the female. There was something about her but she couldn’t place it. She was shorter than Zad, but that wasn’t unexpected. Krynassis females were generally tall and leanly muscled. This female seemed to be packing just as much muscle mass, and from the way she moved, she knew how to use both it and the pulse pistol holstered on her hip. Not a surprise, not when she wore black combat clothing with the distinctive Warborne logo emblazoned on the front. Something in her eyes warned Zad that small or not, it would be a mistake to take this female on.
It was more than that, though.
She let her gaze wander over the female, her eyes narrowing. Had they met somewhere… Possibly before she’d fallen afoul of an allatorian lawmaker and ended up in the pits? She’d been in there more than five years, though, and from what Nat had told her, the Lathar had only found humanity a year or so ago. So it couldn’t be that.
“I’m Eris. The penny will drop in a moment,” the female said with a small smile and then Zad had it. Not in the smile, but in the way the woman moved her head.
“You’re Eric’s sister.”
“Bingo.” Eris winked. “Talent said you were a smart one. Although, not so smart if you’re sniffing around my brother. He’s a grade-a jerk.”
Zad bristled, the scales rustling along the backs of her arms in warning. “A grade-a jerk who came to my defense when no one else did.”
“Yeah, and almost got himself killed doing it.” There was no condemnation in Eris’s voice, just a vaark-load of concern. It was easy to see she loved her brother. “He’s always been like that, ever since we shared a womb. Always had to prove himself.”
Zad blinked. “You’re twins?”
Eris nodded. “Yeah, for my sins. He’s older, by three minutes. Asshole never lets me forget it.”
The fond smile on Eris’s face fascinated Zad and she took a few steps closer. Relief filled her that Eris didn’t seem to blame her for Eric getting hurt. “Is that common for humans?”
“Brothers being assholes?” Eris asked and then grinned. “Yeah, pretty much. Do you have siblings?”
Zad shook her head and then stopped. “Yeah. A couple of thousand male siblings, probably more by now.”
The human’s eyes widened.
“Woah! Shit… your mom…” she choked her words back. “Yeah. That’s a lot. My mom said giving birth to the two of us was more than enough. Thousands… fuck. Your mom’s vajayjay must be made of fucking steel or something.”
Zad chuckled, easily working out the human’s odd way of speaking. They talked in circles, a bit like the Xian did.
“Possibly. She’s a hive queen. I think she was birthed from a diamond or something. But no… my species very rarely has live births. Males are hatched, usually only females are born.”
“Oh, that makes sense. Especially with those sorts of numbers. I was crossing my legs just thinking about it.”
Eris grinned and Zad felt a sense of camaraderie with the other female. That was… odd. Not something she’d felt before, except with Nat. Perhaps it was something about human females… pheromones or pack bonding scents at work or something. If so, it was cross-species or it wouldn’t have worked on her. Hell, it shouldn’t have worked on her anyway. Hive queens, even those who hadn’t come into their power, were shielded against pheromone attacks.
She slid Eris a circumspect look, studying her features. She hadn’t seen much of her would-be rescuer in the corridors, but she’d sat with him late at night while he lay in the medical unit aboard the ship. Always when no one else was about. She’d avoided most of the Warborne since it was technically her fault that Eric had gotten injured, but the healer aboard had taken pity on her and allowed her to stay.
So it was easy to see his features written in feminine form on his sister’s face. She’d never gotten to know any of her brothers, so the fact the two humans were close was new to her.
“Is he okay? Eric?” she asked, unable to hold the question in any longer. Every time she’d visited, Eric had still been unconscious.
Eris paused for a second, remembered pain stark in her eyes.
“He is now, yes.” She managed a smile. “I’m not sure if I should thank you for getting him to help so quickly or ask you why the hell my brother stormed to your defense on his own like that.”
Zad paused, her mouth partly open as she tried to formulate a reply, but she couldn’t. She’d only met four humans, including the two today, so their drives and motivations were completely beyond her.
Her confusion must have shown on her face because the human gave a wry smile. “I should put that in context. Eric is… not a fighter. Definitely not a fighter.”
Zad returned her smile. “I did kind of work that out for myself. His entire attack strategy seemed to be yelling and running at his opponents. Does that work for human males often?” she asked curiously. “I’ve never seen one fight before. Only a female. And she could fight. That one…” She turned to nod the way the tattooed human had disappeared. “He seemed the same.”
“Oh no, they…” Eris laughed, an easy smile on her face as she flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder. It was the same color as Eric’s. “That is definitely a case of chalk and cheese. Sparky is… well, fucking dangerous. Eric? Well, I’d say he’s more a lover than a fighter but I’d be lying. He’s not a lover either. At least, I don’t think he is.”
Her nose wrinkled, her expression appearing to be one of distaste at even the thought of her brother’s romantic life. “No, he’s too arrogant for any woman to put up with him. He’s a scientist.”
Zad frowned as her translation matrix failed on the last word. She’d noticed that with Nat. Not all human words had direct translations into any of the languages stored. And, to be fair, her matrix was five years old, and the pits never bought top-of-the-line tech for fighters anyway. Why bother when most of them would end up dead anyway?
“What is this word… scientist?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
Eris blinked at her in surprise. “Scientist? They study things and concepts, make up theories and test them against other things. Most of what Eric does makes my brain hurt to be honest.”
Zad’s expression froze. “He must be very clever.”
Eris gave her a bright smile, pride practically oozing out of her pores. “He is, but don’t tell him I said that. He’s a doctor of a couple of things.”
The word “doctor” came through Zad’s matrix as healer. “The Warborne have two healers?”
It wasn’t unknown for a mercenary crew, just unusual. Merc healers were in high demand, given the risks involved in the field of work.
Eris shook her head. “No, not that kind of doctor. More… in our cells and DNA or something. Why our bodies do what they do and all that. Makes my head hurt.”
“Oh… we don’t have anything like that.” Zad covered her lack of knowledge with a smile. “Can I see him? I feel bad because he got hurt helping me.”
Eris studied her for long moments, her expression giving nothing away. It was like she was looking for something although Zad had no idea what. They were from worlds literally a galaxy apart, different species. What would Eric’s sister be looking for, and, more importantly, why did it worry her that she might not find what she sought in Zad?
Then the human female smiled. “You know what, yeah… come on. I’ll take you to him.”
