Light spilled into the dim container, silhouetting a tall, broad-shouldered figure. With the light behind him, I couldn’t make out any of his features. I wasn’t even entirely sure he was male, but his body shape suggested he was. But even without being able to see his face, every sense I had locked ontohim, memorising him, imprinting on him, making sure I would be able to identify himanywhere.
“Master,” I breathed, feeling almost lightheaded.
The man stared at me for a long moment, and then his body sagged, and he spoke two words. The translator implanted behind my right ear hummed for a moment as it sorted through the hundreds of available languages, attempting to identify the one the man had used. Two seconds later, it gave a muffled beep, then translated what he’d said. And when I heard the words, they ripped my heart clean out of my chest. He’d said “Oh, fuck…”
My body went rigid. I clamped my mouth shut, eyes locked on the floor. Stars help me, what had I possibly done in all of three seconds to disappoint him so horribly? I stood motionless, hoping that he would tell me, desperate for him to give me an order, so that I could prove I wasn’t worthless, so that I could have a second chance at pleasing him, after the first impression had gone so terribly wrong. Then he spoke again. “You’re Vangravian, aren’t you?”
For a moment, I was shocked. How could he not know that I was Vangravian? But a split second later, I dismissed the pointless question. He was my master. My only job here was to obey him. To answer him. “Yes, Master,” I replied. If I was lucky, my master wouldn’t notice the slight hesitation. Hesitation equalled disobedience. And I was not disobedient.
“Shit. Well, I don’t know who…” Anything else he might have been about to say was cut off as a gunshot cracked out of the forest and a deafening ‘ping’ echoed through the container as a bullet hit the doorway, not a hand’s breadth from my master’s head.
He moved like lightning, launching himself inside the container and plastering himself against the half of the door that was still closed. “Get down,” he yelled, waving a hand vaguely in my direction, while he drew his gun with his other hand. Or rather, one of his guns. He had what appeared to be a rifle slung over his shoulder, while a pistol was now in his hand.
I darted sideways, away from the doorway and into what cover was available. My master dropped to the ground and took a careful glance out the doorway. “Fucking assholes ruined a perfectly good fucking day,” he muttered, right before he fired three shots in rapid succession.
Should I go and help him with whoever was shooting at him? A part of me desperately wanted to. He was my master, and protecting him was as instinctive as breathing. But firstly, I didn’t know who was shooting at him. It was possible he had allies out in the… forest? I guessed, as I caught a glimpse of the greenery outside the container. And the last thing I wanted to do was inadvertently shoot his comrades. And secondly, he hadn’t yet given me any orders, aside from ‘get down’. Protected by the thick metal door, he seemed to have the situation handled for the moment, so I waited, alert for the slightest instruction from him as to what I should do next.
His focus was laser sharp on whatever was outside the door, and he lined up the next shot, leaned a fraction to the right, and pulled the trigger.
The forest went quiet, the thunder of gunfire fading out. I waited for him to give the all clear… or maybe to tell me to go and check our surroundings. But he did neither. Instead, he lifted his wrist and tapped at the comm strapped there. I didn’t have a comm of my own – few dimari ever did – but I’d seen enough of them to know what it was.
“I know who’s trying to kill us,” he said into the device. “It’s the Culrads. Over.”
There was a pause, and then some static. “Roger,” a tinny voice said. “Are you okay? Over.”
“A little deafer than I was five minutes ago. But I’ll live. I’ve taken out two of them, but there are bound to be more skulking around, so keep an eye out. Oh, and I’ve picked up a plus one. He’s Vangravian. So when I get to the rendezvous, do me a favour and don’t shoot him? Over.”
There was a longer pause. “Vangravian?” the voice asked, then added a belated, “Over.”
“One of the Eumadian crates had a dimari in it,” my master said, glancing back at me. “If we don’t run into any trouble, we should catch up with you in about three hours.”
“Understood,” the other man replied. “See you soon. Over.”
“Hill out,” my master said, then cut off the channel. He stood up, then glanced at me again. “Stay here,” he said, then eased his way out of the container. I desperately wanted to go with him, but he’d given me a direct order. But even so, I edged over to the door so that I could follow his path with my eyes as he stepped cautiously across the small plateau the container had landed on. If he was just checking for more assailants, he might need backup at short notice. But I was also aware of a far less pleasant possibility. Perhaps he’d decided I was too disappointing to bother with and was going to abandon me.
But no, he’d said – or at least, he’d implied – that he would be taking me with him to meet whoever he’d spoken to on the comm. So it would be fine. Everything was fine.
I waited. I breathed. I made an effort to relax my overly tense shoulders. Then finally, he glanced back at me and called, “We’re clear. Come on out.”
Thank the stars he wasn’t leaving me here. I grabbed the backpack that contained all the essential supplies I’d been sent with and stepped cautiously out of the container.
The air outside was humid and cool, with grey storm clouds lingering in the distance, while directly above us, the sky was clear and blue. It was a beautiful sight, after so many days inside the Eumadians’ ship. I quickly determined that ‘forest’ had been an underestimation of our location. The towering trees and swirling vines made ‘jungle’ a more apt description.
My master’s back was towards me, but I could see that he was about the same height as me, though maybe a fraction shorter, and he had the same muscular build. He was wearing military fatigues, but that was about all I could tell from this angle. He was fiddling with his comm again – perhaps doing a scan of the trees? – and I waited patiently for him to finish.
Finally, he nodded to himself and put the scanner away, then he turned to face me… and my breath caught in my throat. Stars above, he was beautiful. Brown skin, dark brown hair peeking out from under his cap, and eyes that I could just drown in. I felt a rush of desire, followed rapidly by a wave of shame. He’d taken one look at me and found me lacking. But then he spoke, and the soothing tone of his voice caught me off guard.
“Are you okay? Are you injured?”
Such care and concern for someone so far beneath him. My heart stuttered as I fumbled for an answer. “No, Master. I’m well,” I told him. I kept my gaze on the ground, not wanting to displease him any further with unintentional insolence.
He nodded and took a deep breath. “Sorry about the rough introduction. We’re in the middle of a mission that’s going sideways rapidly, so I guess I wasn’t quite prepared for running into you. These bastards killed two of my teammates earlier today, so I’m not having a great day.”
Relief washed over me. Oh, thank the heavens. He wasn’t disappointed inme. It was the whole situation that had him on edge. And if Culrads were trying to kill him and his team, then I could certainly understand why.
“My condolences,” I said, not quite sure whether it was the appropriate thing to say, but not willing to leave that sort of news unacknowledged.
“I’m Lieutenant Aiden Hill, Alliance Military,” my master introduced himself. “What’s your name?”
