Last Flight of the Ark (2 page)

The
Ark
carried herds of white-tailed deer, antelope, and a handful of predators: bears, wolves, and puma. Everything had been precisely timed and balanced, like the keystone at the top of an arch. If one thing fell out of place, their hundred-year project would crumble into ruin. The most delicate part of the mission, the introduction, would start with the
Ark
, but it was only the beginning.

They’d scheduled it in waves. More ships would arrive soon. In four months, two ships carrying colonists of all job skills. Builders, medical, teachers; the list went on and on. Any skill found on Earth would soon be found on Terra II. Then, every eight months, more animals would arrive, each ship carrying different species for different climates, everything from birds to insects. One ship would carry whales, dolphins, and various tropical fish and sharks to stock the seas and oceans. Within a matter of years, the world would be complete, utopia created.

The cities on Terra II would be solar and geothermal powered. All the designs for the installations had been drawn up and supplies and building materials sent remotely more than a year before, waiting for the researchers and colonists. A station that orbited the planet relayed data and ensured the city was powered up for their arrival. Their quarters were prebuilt and needed only to be set onto a foundation once the residents arrived. Every vehicle, every tool, was solar-powered.

The vegetation was mature and lush, and the climate, unbelievable. No serious storms or seismic activity. Mild everything. The world was a hell of a lot more stable than Earth. Terra II was a thing of beauty and he’d be one of the first men to live on her. Well, one of the first men with two cranky team members. But that would all change once they set their feet on soil.

Kaleb made his way to the bay and the various cages of his cargo.

His com beeped. “Sir,” Jessica said.

“Yeah.”

“Sheba’s having a fit. She’s already taken a bite out of Lobo. I can’t get to him. Every time I try to open the door, she rushes me.”

“Sedate her.”

“Can’t. She’s just come out of sedation. There’s a good chance we’ll kill her if we dose her again.”

“Super. Try to keep her off him and I’ll be right there.”
Here we go again
. That damned alpine wolf. She’d been nothing but a pain in his ass since they’d pulled her out of cryo a week ago. If not for the sector-two malfunction, she and her mate would still be in the deep freeze and not be a problem.

But as he was beginning to learn, nothing about this mission was easy. Sedating her had become a daily requirement. He’d no doubt she’d survive the planet; it was the next couple of days and Lobo he was concerned about. She didn’t like the trip and had been taking it out on her mate. Poor bastard.

He never understood why the alpha let her get away with it. Perhaps space induced bitchiness in all females and Lobo knew he wouldn’t win the round by fighting back. Kaleb had to agree with him. If there was one thing he’d learned from his experience, it was
don’t argue with the females
. They’d make your life hell. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”

“Sir?” Jessica inquired over the com, reminding him he’d forgotten to deactivate the link.

“Nothing. Talking to myself.” He pressed his hand into the gel lock, popped the hatch to the bay, and stepped onto the lift, activating it. It lurched and dropped, descending into the belly of the ship.

He could understand Lobo’s tension. He’d felt a little tense himself lately. He was a healthy male and had gone without sex for eight months. His hand helped, but that went only so far.

To make the situation worse, Jessica had taken to going around the ship with her jumpsuit unzipped and nothing but a white tank underneath. No bra. Often when he saw her, the top of her jumpsuit was peeled down and hung around her waist. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was trying to get him to look.

He’d kept his mouth shut. All he needed to do was open it and misery would be visited upon him tenfold. He was tense, not stupid, and knew a trap when he saw one.

Then there was Melissa, with a body that belonged in a magazine, not a cockpit. Double-D cups at least, and legs that stretched to the stars. When she ran around the ship for exercise, she wore these little gray shorts that showed a little bit of cheek on the backside. He made sure to avoid the corridors when Melissa ran. Every time he’d caught her
exercising
, he had to go to his cabin to exercise his hand.

And her lips…. Better not think about them. He had a wolf to attend to, a freaky purple cloud blocking their route, and no time for a cabin visit.

The lift clanged to a stop and the door slid open. He stepped into the bay and headed for the quarters that housed the predators and his nemesis, Sheba. In a few hours, he could turn her over to the planet’s care and she’d no longer be his problem. It wouldn’t be soon enough.

He walked up on Jessica, peering over her shoulder into the cage at a snarling Sheba. The bitch caught sight of Kaleb and backed up with a whine, sinking to her belly.

“I’ll be,” Jessica muttered. “She’s submitting to you.” Her ponytail smacked him in the face as she turned. He flinched and knocked it out of his eyes.

“She’s not stupid.” He glared at Sheba, whose tail thumped against the floor. Her golden eyes studied him. “She knows I mean business.”

Jessica grinned. “I don’t think that’s it. I think she’s got a crush on you. She likes you.”

“What?”

“Sheba’s the alpha female. She doesn’t submit to anyone but the alpha male. Hence the reason she bit Lobo. He’s not alpha enough.” Jessica eyed Kaleb. “Apparently you are, sir.”

“Will she let me in the cage?”

Jessica shrugged. “She’s not growling, and we’ve got to try something. I’d hate to tranq her again. Use that catchpole over there with the loop in the end.”

He nodded and snagged the pole. One way or another, someone had to go in there. If Sheba liked him, it might as well be him. “Open the door when I say and get the tranq gun in case she gets ugly. First sign of aggression, put her out. I’d rather keep my arm.” He’d request they import another if this didn’t go well. He eyed the wolf. “Sorry, sweetheart, I have priorities. Just be a good girl, and everything will be fine.”

Jessica loaded a cartridge into the gun. “Ready?”

Kaleb nodded and Jessica opened the door. He stepped inside and it clanged shut behind him. “Hey, girl.”

With a growl that sounded more like a roar, Sheba launched from the corner. Her paws landed on his chest, knocking him to the floor. Kaleb only had seconds to register her open jaws and large teeth. He threw his forearm over his throat. Sheba latched on, sinking into flesh. A crunch and then sharp pain shot up his arm. Oh, God. Her teeth had pierced bone.

“Shoot her!” The bitch shook her head side to side, shredding flesh, and wouldn’t stop until she’d ripped his arm off or torn out his throat. “Anytime…ahhh.” Crunch. Easing her grip and then clamping back down on another part of his arm, she backed up and tried to pull his limb from where he’d blocked her access to his jugular. It was the wolf or him. “Kill her!” Little flickers of light swam before his eyes as pain exploded through his body. “Now!”

The tranq popped and was followed by a yelp from Sheba, who released his arm and staggered back. Blood dripped from her muzzle and stained her white fur. She swayed and dropped to the floor with a snort. Her front paw dug at air as she fought the drug.

“Omigod.” Jessica threw the door open and rushed to his side. “You okay?”

Kaleb glanced at his blood-soaked sleeve. “She likes me, huh?” He cringed as pain radiated from his fingers to his shoulder. Last time he’d trust a smiling female. They were all trouble.

Jessica helped him to sit up and ripped his sleeve open, staring at the bite. Blood pumped from the wound and formed a puddle on the floor. “Can you walk to the med-bay?”

“Does it look like she bit my leg?” he snarled.

“It just looks like a lot of blood. Calm down or you’ll make it bleed faster.” Jessica glanced around for something to stanch the flow. Eying the heavy, water-resistant fabric of his jumpsuit, she groaned. “Where’s a bandage when you need one? Turn your head.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

Kaleb looked away and Jessica unzipped her jumpsuit. There was a rustle of fabric and he heard her zip back up. She pressed her tank against his arm. “Deluzio!” she called into the com. “I need you down in the predator bay, pronto.”

“No can do. Seems the debris is moving. We’ve got a minute before it’s on top of us. I have to launch this ship now or we’ll be soaking in radiation.”

“Roger.” Jessica rose and helped Kaleb to his feet. “Looks like we’re going to have to ride the jump out here, but we should be on the other side of these bars. If Lobo freaks, we could both be bleeding.”

Once outside, they leaned against the wall and braced for the Gs that would accompany their jump through hyperspace. Kaleb eyed the shirt Jessica held against his arm. “When we get through this jump, we’re going to have a conversation about what you’ve been wearing.”

“Why’s that, sir? This jumpsuit is regulation.”

“Going without a bra isn’t. That undershirt isn’t.” He glanced at Sheba’s sleeping form. “It’s damned distracting.”

“Oh. Right. You’re lucky I wore that shirt today. The fabric in our uniforms is too high-tech to absorb a damn thing, the bra is the most uncomfortable garment you can think of, and you don’t have to wear one. So are you out of regulation because you’re braless…sir?”

“You know damn good and well….” He turned to Jessica, who had raised a brow and now stared. At the moment, he felt like Lobo: FUBAR. Fucked up beyond all repair. Any amount of arguing would only dig him deeper. Next, she’d be asking him why he’d been looking. “Forget it.”

“Forget it? I don’t think so. You brought it up.” The ship lurched and slammed them back into the wall, knocking Jessica’s next words down her throat, where Kaleb hoped they’d stay. He really didn’t feel like explaining how or why he’d noticed. Some might consider that sexual harassment.

FUBAR. Yeah, that summed him up.

Kaleb groaned. He lifted an eyelid and stared at the flickering lights of the bay. Every joint in his body bitched and his bladder demanded he get the hell up and attend to it. He rolled his shoulder in an attempt to ease a cramp and turned his head.
Not a cramp
.

Jessica slumped next to him. Her head rested on his shoulder and a little string of drool attached the corner of her mouth to a pool on his chest. He nudged her with his elbow. She sighed, wrapped her arms around his good arm, and snuggled closer.

What the hell happened?
He hit his com. “Deluzio?”

There was a moan in response.

“Captain, report.”

“Here, sir.” A weak voice creaked back through the com. Whatever had affected them seemed to have gotten to her, too.

“What happened?”

“I’ve no clue.”

“Unacceptable answer, Captain. What happened?”

“I hit that debris and that’s all I remember. The good news is we’re in orbit around Terra II.”

“I thought it was twelve hours out?”

“It appears we’ve been asleep for the remainder of the trip. I’ll run a diagnostic to make sure we didn’t fry any of our critical operating systems, but I don’t know what it might have done to us. Hold on for a bio screen.”

The chip in Kaleb’s hand buzzed, indicating she’d activated the scanners.

“Looks like we’re all clear. I don’t see any negative effects from the radiation, which is bizarre. We took a hefty dose.”

“Yeah.” Kaleb glanced down at the blood-encrusted shirt. “Maybe we just got lucky.”

“Come up to the med bay. Maybe we better take a closer look at everyone. We’ll do an examination the old-fashioned way.”

He could do that. He didn’t need Melissa noticing the bloody shirt around his arm, or more to the point, what might or might not lie under it. Besides, there were other more pressing matters. The cargo and its status, for one. If the debris field had smacked the crew the way it had, how were the animals doing? “I better check the cryocells and make sure they’re still charged.”

“Come up to med first.”

“All right.” Nothing like feeling like a jackass for lying. Until he had a better grasp as to why his arm seemed almost normal and a chance to look at what sat under the shirt, he’d rather not have a documented examination in his file that could be transmitted to Earth Command, ending the mission before it started—or worse. Kaleb moved his injured arm again. He was certain Sheba had fractured it, but that didn’t appear to be the case, even if there had been a frightening, audible crunch. Twice. Jessica’s undershirt-cum-bandage had dried to a bloody crust on his arm, another good sign. He could’ve have easily bled to death while unconscious. He elbowed Jessica again. “Rise and shine. Stearns, we’re home.”

“Mumf,” Jessica mumbled.

“Wake up. You’re drooling on me.”

“You certainly know all the right things to say to a girl. Come on now, is that the way to talk to someone you just slept with?”

“I’m not touching that.” The word
trap
flashed through his brain in big, bold letters. There were times to joke and times to keep his mouth shut. This called for silent diplomacy. “Deluzio just scanned our bios. We’re good to go.”

“I might be, but your arm isn’t.”

“It’s fine. Not as bad as we thought.”

“I don’t understand. I saw the mess she made.” Jessica lifted her head and rubbed her cheek where the zipper in his collar had left an imprint.

Kaleb wiggled his fingers and made circles with his wrist to demonstrate. She scrunched her nose and narrowed her eyes, staring. “Okay, so it’s not as bad as we thought, and the scanner said it’s good to go, but maybe we better check it out, just to be on the safe side.”

“No. I’m fine. It was a flesh wound. We need to get things prepped for the off load and make sure the animals weathered that radiation as well as we did.”