Burning Love [Flights of Fancy 1] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (3 page)

Since the planet had no video capabilities, the contact was voice only. After going through a couple of flunkies on the ground, the communicator hissed and Krell's familiar voice came through with its slightly musical, singsong qualities. His English improved each time she spoke to him, and the Hendri clearly had a much better aptitude for languages than humans.

"Yes, Lieutenant? It's good to hear from you."

"Good morning, Krell."

"Will you and your team be arriving soon?"

"There's a small problem you and I need to discuss first." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "About six hours ago, we detected a small firefight southwest of the city along with life signs of both Hendri and Rangor. I'm hoping you can explain that to my captain and me."

His voice didn't hesitate at all. "Of course, Lieutenant. Sometimes the Rangor raid the granaries outside of the city, and they chose last night to do so. Looking back, I should have told you about these occasional confrontations."

"That would have saved us a good deal of concern up here." Captain Davis slid a note across the table to her, and Star read it quickly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I don't mean to insult you, but have you told me about the battles and wars your kind fight? Looking at your ship through our telescopes, it's clear the design is based on a warship. Your structure of command also hints at a military underpinning. You haven't concealed your warlike nature, but you have hidden the details."

Star thought quickly. "But we haven't hidden the nature. There's a good argument that you have."

"Not really. We can see your ship." He laughed. "We have no ships for you to look at, but surely your scans have seen our defensive structures."

The scans by the science and tactical stations had indeed identified probable defensive structures and even small gun emplacements, but nothing too alarming to anyone. Star looked at Captain Davis, and she only shrugged. "Alright, you have a good point there. I'd like to discuss this in more detail when I arrive."

"I'll be happy to talk about the Rangor and all your other questions. When can we expect you?"

The captain nodded at her.

"In about an hour. Goodbye for now." Star closed the link and wondered just what she had gotten herself into.

* * * *

"I want it perfectly clear that while you're in nominal command of this mission, if things get tense, I'm in command. If I say 'jump', the only thing I want to hear from you is bouncing noises."

The sound of Spence's voice made Star snap out of her ruminations about her small command. In addition to Spence and his four warriors, she had a linguist, a science officer, and two other diplomats. The idea of being responsible for ten souls, including her own, gave Star a bad case of butterflies in her stomach and an even worse case of shaky knees.

"I understand, Spence." She smiled at him. "Thanks for coming along yourself."

He looked good in his battle armor. Solid flat-black, it covered him from neck to feet, and down both arms to meet the gloves. Made from a material that flexed easily as he moved and hugged his body like a second skin, the armor accentuated the bulging muscles of his arms, chest, and legs. Under impact from projectile or energy weapons, the armor changed to a rigid, nearly-impenetrable barrier to protect the wearer.

A helmet with a visor, now flipped up, covered his head and bristled with sensors, cameras, and communications gear. The helmet completely hid his hair, jet black and short even for a Marine, and Star was sorry for that. She missed the way his black hair and gray eyes played off each other.

For some reason, 'delicious' was the adjective running through her mind.

He smiled, and his eyes twinkled like glittering jewels. "I couldn't let my favorite diplomat go down there without someone to keep an eye on her." Spence pulled a formidable rifle from its holster on his back, and it was far from delicious. He checked a few things on the gun as she watched.

"Well, thanks anyway."

"You're welcome." He stared at her just long enough to make Star feel a little uncomfortable before he turned to his small detail of Marines. "Come on, you apes! Do you want to live forever?"

"Oohrah!" The soldiers ran up the ramp and into the waiting landing craft where the rest of the team had already taken their seats.

She and Spence followed them into the small ship.

* * * *

He caught himself fidgeting with his armor as the landing craft dropped away from
Daedalus
in a gentle arc that would take it into the planet's atmosphere. He toyed with the straps and, despite the environmental controls in the suit, he could feel sweat running down his body and soaking his armpits. Star sat directly across from him, and, without forcing himself to look elsewhere, she was all he could see. Not that the view was bad at all.

Ever since he'd met her just six months ago, he'd secretly laughed about her name. In his mind, a name like 'Star' invoked an image of a small girl, not much more than a child, petite and pretty. Instead, Star stood only a little shorter than his own 188 centimeters, and the rest of her body had the perfect proportions. Well, except maybe her boobs. Large, firm, and high, he sometimes wondered what her breasts would look like in zero-G. Nude.

She made a move he'd grown accustomed to, even if it did still grab every fiber of his attention and made his mouth want to drop open like a trapdoor. Her hand came up to flip her long red hair over her shoulder. That one simple motion, that casual thing she did so often and probably never thought about or even knew she did, blocked out everything else in his mind, from the mission, to the strange planet and people below, to the screaming whine of thin atmosphere against the hull of the landing craft.

She turned back from looking at the cockpit and caught him staring. Spence checked to make sure his mouth wasn't hanging open.

Star smiled at him. "What's wrong?"

Her eyes sparkled when she smiled, the green irises throwing fire around the compartment like some kind of wildly beautiful laser light show. Making another quick check, Spence thought his mouth might have enough moisture to talk without squeaking. "My armor was just a little tight."

She laughed softly. "Can't have that."

The window beside her lit up with the fiery glow of plasma as the landing craft started its meteoritic entry into the heavier atmosphere, the colors changing as different elements in the ablative heat shield flashed to ultrahigh temperatures. She turned to watch the tongues of flame licking just a few centimeters away, presenting her profile for him to admire.

Her small nose, turned up slightly at the end, sat in the perfect position below the amazing eyes, and just below that, her full lips curled into a gentle smile.

Spence shivered, shaking himself out of his daydreams. This wasn't the first time he'd had daydreams about Star. Far from it. He'd found himself dreaming about her a lot the last six months, both during the day and at night. For some reason, the thought troubled him a little.

He wasn't sure just how old she was. Thanks to modern medicines, transplants, and prosthetics, the average person today could expect to live about 500 years, looking young until around 300, and only middle aged until well past 400. Spence himself was nearly 150, and yet he looked about the same as he did at thirty. Based on the visual evidence, Star could be anyplace between twenty-five and fifteen times that.

He frowned. Why hadn't he looked up her personnel file? He had access to the files, and he'd done just that with some women in the past. Why did the idea of looking in Star's file feel wrong?

His frown deepened. For that matter, why did he find this woman so fucking attractive? He remembered the day he first met her back at the Jupiter Yards. He remembered thinking then that she was pretty, but not devastating. Spence recalled thinking he'd seen a lot of women prettier than Star. As a 100-plus-year Fleet veteran, he'd been around the Empire a time or two, and he knew a lot of women. In the Biblical sense. He remembered thinking there was nothing special about this new one.

Someplace over the last six months, something changed.

As he sat watching her watching the plasma streamers play over the hull, he couldn't remember a woman any prettier than the one across from him right now. He couldn't remember one even close to being as pretty as Star. And none of them were in her league when it came to just plain sexy.

The landing craft came to rest with a slight jar and thump more felt than heard, and Star was ambivalent about the trip being over. She was nervous about the fact that she was now totally on the spot for the mission, but she'd been enjoying the view of Spence sitting across from her. The skintight armor hid nothing of his form, and the big gun resting between his legs only partially hid the protective cup covering the bulge in his groin. On the other hand, he stared at her for the entire trip down, and it made her feel a little self-conscious and embarrassed.

He smiled at her for a moment. "Looks like you're on."

"Yeah, it does." She swallowed and went to the hatch, waiting as the crew prepared to open the door. When the seal was broken and the door opened, a small group waited for her on the tarmac.

Clearly not human, the people were humanoid in the traditional sense with two arms, two legs, and a head with sensory organs. They were all tall, maybe 220 centimeters, and thin, most not massing more than seventy kilograms. Their skin looked like soft leather in a sort of bluish-gray color, and Star could see only blue-black hair on their heads. With small mouths and noses and large dark eyes set far apart on their faces, she recalled some of the old stories from before the Doom Time of aliens as portrayed in movies and books. These people were far from hideous or comical, though, because unlike the theatrical aliens of millennia past, these people were well designed and evolved for a real world and a real environment. The environment here was hot. The sensor display beside the door read thirty-nine degrees.

As she studied the group, her first thought had been that they all looked alike, but now she saw differences in the individuals. One of the group, slightly taller than the others, and his skin just a little lighter in color, stepped forward to the foot of the ramp.

He bowed slightly. "Welcome to Hendri City. I am Krell."

She instantly recognized the voice, the regular rhythm having a soothing quality to it, and not monotonous at all. She walked down the ramp to stand in front of him. Even though taller than most men she knew, Krell towered over her by at least a head even bowing, but he couldn't mass much more than she did.

She smiled. "I see you've learned something of human habits from the videos and books we sent you, but bowing is reserved as a show of respect to the Emperor and royal family, not something between friends." Star held her hand out to him. "I'm Star Hawking."

He straightened and took her offered hand in his. The touch of the large hand with long, delicate fingers having an extra joint that humans lacked, sent a shiver through her body. The skin felt as soft as it looked, like the finest of kid suede, and his grip was firm yet gentle. But his skin felt hot, almost too hot to touch. It definitely felt a little uncomfortable.

"It's very good to finally see you, Lieutenant. Please, have the rest of your party come out to meet us."

While the introductions were uneventful, the Hendri delegation seemed amused by the Marines. When Star asked him, Krell chuckled. "We are a peaceful people, in spite of the minor conflicts with the Rangor. You have no need for warriors here, Lieutenant."

"Please, call me Star. I understand, but this is part of our protocol for first contacts."

He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "It doesn't matter. Your people will simply be bored and have nothing to do while you are here. Perhaps additional scientific or diplomatic personnel would be of better use for you."

"Perhaps so, once Major Spencer and Captain Davis feel comfortable."

"We shall endeavor to make them so." He glanced around the landing pad for a moment. "Come, let's go to my office and we can talk more comfortably about your concerns and the future for humans and Hendri."

Krell extended his arm to her, and she placed her hand on his elbow. She again felt the slight chill despite the fact that the air was nearly forty degrees and his skin much hotter.

* * * *

"So you see, Star, the small fight your ship saw was nothing more than our police force protecting our food supplies." Krell shrugged, a movement that made him look even taller while sitting at his desk. "The Rangor are little more than animals."

She nodded, brow furrowed in thought. "But if they're animals, how do you explain the fact our sensors showed them shooting back?"

Spence felt a wave of pride. Even though she wasn't a command or combat officer, Star caught that part. He sat near the door of the office, his weapon across his lap, as he watched the two diplomats play the political games.

"Perhaps animal isn't the right word in your language." Krell thought for a moment. "But I know of no other from my studies of English so far. They are capable of learning and using tools, but they lack any kind of rational thought processes and have only limited problem solving skills."

"Something like an ape or dolphin."

Krell glanced at some papers on his desk for a moment. "Yes, like those creatures. There is no doubt they're intelligent in the strictest sense, but they are not our equals."

Something about Krell didn't sit well with Spence. He wondered if maybe he'd spent too long fighting wars and killing people, but Spence just didn't trust him. If he had to, he couldn't point to anything concrete to show anyone else why he felt suspicious, but his gut told him that Krell, and the rest of the Hendri, were lying to them.

* * * *

The rooms provided for the landing party were spacious and comfortable, especially after she explained that the heat bothered humans and Krell arranged for the installation of some kind of air coolers. Another detail Krell dealt with was the moving of one of the two beds from each bedroom to the sitting area of the suites. Originally laid out with two beds in the bedrooms, the problem that Star and the science officer were women and all the Marines were men came to light. It seemed more appropriate to separate the beds. Right now, Spence paced the sitting room while Star sat on the sofa and watched him.