The Cassini Mission Read online

  On his right breast, his last name was stenciled on a patch. The bottom border of the patch was stitched with a steel blue piping that ran the length. That piping matched the blue stripes at his shoulders and around the cuffs above his wrists. The color blue indicated he was in the science division.

  Before I was drummed out of the Navy, I wore the same uniform.

  Kenji glanced around to make sure we were alone before he asked quietly, “So why do you think they need a geneticist and an exobiologist on this supposed rescue mission?”

  I shrugged. “I really don’t know. I didn’t get briefed before I was assigned to the mission.”

  “Yeah.” Kenji looked uncomfortable for a moment. He was unable to meet my eyes as he fidgeted, shifting his weight between his feet. “I… um… I heard about what happened to you. My ex served on the Orion with you, back before we broke up. He’s an engineer.” He looked up and met my eyes. “For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing. Blue team’s got your back.” He tapped the blue stripe under his name with his fist.

  Reaching out to squeeze his shoulder, I gave him a grateful smile. It was a very rare event when someone actually sided with me. In fact, I think it was the first time. “Thanks, Kenji. That really means a lot to me. So where are you stationed these days?”

  “I was serving on the Artemis before I got recalled for this mission.”

  That was a plum assignment for a Navy officer. The Orion and the Artemis were sister ships. Both Epsilon-class cruisers represented the state of the art flagships of the Union Navy. Kenji had done well for himself since I last saw him.

  Another voice interrupted our reunion. “Well, well… Look what we got here.”

  Kenji and I turned to see Bradley Brimley strutting up to us. He pushed the handle of his foot locker in and let it fall to the ground. He propped one booted foot on the locker.

  Bradley looked me up and down, distaste written all over his face—I could only assume it was due to my uniform. “Slumming with the labbies now, Aron?”

  God, Bradley was a smug bastard. I never really liked him and right now I wanted to slap that smirk off his face. It figured that he would be involved in this train wreck. I also didn’t want to admit how good he looked. Since I last saw him, the blond-headed, blue-eyed man had put on muscle weight, filling his uniform in a very nice way. Too bad he was a complete ass.

  “Bradley,” I said with a polite nod, then turned to introduce my new teammates to each other. “Kenji, this is Bradley Brimley. Bradley, this is Kenji Kanataka.”

  Kenji and Bradley shook hands.

  Bradley wore the same Union Navy jumpsuit as Kenji, but his three rank pips indicated that he held the rank of commander. I was slightly taken aback by that, given that Bradley and I were close to the same age. Not many people our age were that advanced in their careers.

  We were both freshly promoted lieutenants when we served on the U.S.C. Orion together, both of us officers in the science department. In the two and half years since I last saw him, he had made commander, a full grade above where I had been reinstated. That he had done so well for himself while I was “slumming with the labbies” bruised my ego more than I cared to think about.

  “What are you doing here, Aron?” Bradley asked. “You’re a civilian.”

  “I’ve been reinstated,” I said simply.

  Bradley frowned and opened his mouth to say something. His lips then snapped shut and he pursed them together.

  “What’s your specialty, Bradley?” Kenji inquired politely.

  “Cybernetics and Information Systems. You?”

  “I’m a geneticist. Do you know what’s going on?”

  “No idea.”

  Bradley’s shrug seemed quite disingenuous, but we were interrupted before I could press him for more information.

  The intercom binged and the female computer voice echoed through the room: U.S.C. Cassini docked on platform 24A. Ready for boarding.

  “Let’s go, team,” Bradley ordered. He pulled out the handle of his foot locker and strutted down the causeway.

  Kenji and I exchanged glances, then followed suit. Even though he technically outranked us, it really ruffled my feathers to be taking orders from him.

  When we reached the platform 24A airlock, the door was secured with a security scanner. The scanner panel display to the right of the door showed a pulsing, scarlet-red icon of a humanoid hand, indicating that it was waiting for a print scan. Bradley pressed his right hand on the security scanner. The scanner dinged and turned green as the computer announced: Commander Bradley Brimley; access granted.

  The doors opened with a hiss and Bradley entered the spaceway.

  Kenji stepped forward and pressed his hand to the scanner. Lieutenant Kenji Kanataka; access granted.

  I followed last. Lieutenant Aron Adler; access granted.

  The announcement was familiar, yet foreign at the same time. I’ve heard “Doctor Aron Adler; access granted” announced by the computer for the past two and half years. Hearing my old rank was a little unsettling.

  “Oh, hell no. This is not right,” Kenji murmured as we walked onto the spaceway.

  I looked up to see what Kenji was talking about. My mouth fell open in shock as I stared out the overhead transparent windows at the ship our spaceway was connected to.

  The U.S.C. Cassini was a rust-bucket!

  The small, arrowhead-shaped scout ship had three decks. It was nothing like the U.S.C. Orion, one of the Union’s top of the line space cruisers, the last ship that I served on. Where the Orion had sleek lines and curves, the Cassini was angular and outdated. The missing tiles, hull scrapes, and scorch marks told me the ship had definitely seen better days. It was clearly in desperate need of maintenance… maintenance we were not going to get before we left.

  If the name CASSINI hadn’t been visible on the side of the ship in large, block lettering, I would have thought we were at the wrong dock.

  “Can that thing even fly?” Kenji muttered. “It’s gotta be close to a hundred years old.”

  “This makes no sense,” I said as I shook my head. “This ship should be on its way to the scrapyards.”

  Bradley grunted. “Quit bitching, the both of you.”

  The three of us stood by waiting for the Cassini airlock to open. The airlock finally hissed open and we entered the ship. We stood in what appeared to be the main cargo bay.

  An ensign who appeared to be fresh out of the Naval Academy stood at the airlock controls. “Welcome to the Union Space Cruiser U.S.C. Cassini,” he said with a wide grin. “I am Ensign Yates.”

  Yates’s gold uniform accents indicated that he was in the command division. The three of us introduced ourselves to the brown-headed, hazel-eyed young man.

  I looked around the room at the old, barely maintained equipment and tried not to grimace. Oh, crap, is that rust?

  “We are so gonna die in this thing,” Kenji whispered to me.

  I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing out loud. It was either laugh or cry.

  An older dark-skinned man entered the cargo bay. I didn’t have to look at his rank insignia to know that he was the captain of this ship. It was evident in the way he walked. He may have one of the oldest ships in the fleet, but it was apparent that he was proud of his commission.

  He stood in front of us and looked at each of us in turn.

  “I am Captain Yoruba. Welcome aboard the U.S.C. Cassini,” he said in an African accent. West Africa. Most likely Nigeria.

  “Thank you, Captain,” Bradley responded for us.

  The thumping sound of boots marching echoed through the spaceway, making all of us turn our heads to see what was going on.

  A unit of Union Marines walked into the cargo bay in two single-file lines. There were ten of them in total and they were all enormous. The tallest man was a full twelve inches taller than my 5’9”. While made up of various ethnicities, every man in the unit was very big and very muscular. Two of them were non-Eart
h humanoids, a Regulan and an Aquilan. The rest were human.

  “Shit,” Bradley muttered as he leaned towards me. “Marines. You think they’re GEMs?”

  Kenji and I both shot him a look that told him to be quiet.

  It was obvious that they were all Genetically Enhanced Military Units. Humans just didn’t grow that big without a little bit of help. The Marines were followed into the cargo bay by dock workers carrying in large crates of military gear on hover pads.

  “Is that a Regulan?” Bradley whispered to me, motioning towards one of the aliens.

  “Yes,” I said. “The red skin and tail are kind of a giveaway.”

  Bradley rolled his eyes at me and turned back to the Marines.

  “The green-skinned one is an Aquilan,” I whispered to my colleagues, nodding towards the green-skinned amphibious-looking man. Kenji nodded that he already was aware of this.

  While the other Marines double-checked their gear, one moved out from the crowd and walked towards the captain. The dark-skinned man was followed by two other men, who walked a step behind, in formation on either side. They both held a large phase rifle to their chests, the barrel pointing over their left shoulders.

  My eyes were drawn to the one on the left of the leader.

  Like the others, he was very tall, standing six-and-a-half feet. He was quite muscular, but not over-engineered like the colleague to his right. Handsome in a rugged and masculine way, he had a dark, olive-skinned complexion, giving him an indeterminate ethnicity. A stripe of black hair cut tight on top of his head, almost like a mohawk. The rest of his head was completely smooth.

  He sported a trimmed goatee on his chin and his square jaw was shaved smooth. A crescent-shaped scar around his left eye socket from his eyebrow to his cheek marred his face, giving him an air of danger. His charcoal gray uniform was stretched to the limit over his huge frame. He was pure man. Masculinity and sex just oozed from him. My eyes wanted to drift lower to his crotch, but I was able to resist the temptation. As if he knew I was staring, his eyes cut sideways towards me.

  I found myself staring into eyes of gray with a hint of blue.

  Beautiful.

  My heart jumped and my pulse quickened. When my palms started to sweat, I tried to casually swipe them against my white pants. My dick twitched inside my pants, noticing a physical sexual attraction for the first time in years.

  Before this mission is over, you’re going to let that man fuck you. The vulgar, uninhibited thought caused my heart to leap into my throat. Still, I could not look away.

  I saw the corner of his mouth twitch. Maybe it was a tiny smile. Fearing my thoughts were splashed openly across my face, I swallowed nervously and finally averted my eyes back to the unit leader.

  The dark, muscular man with a neatly trimmed mustache stood at attention in front of the Cassini’s captain. “Sergeant Willis reporting for duty, Captain. Corporals Green and Robertson.”

  Green and Robertson nodded in turn as Willis introduced them.

  My eyes briefly moved back to Corporal Robertson, the object of my lust. He stared straight ahead, acting like the professional soldier that he was. I should take a lesson from him.

  That’s not the kind of lesson you want.

  His counterpart, Corporal Green, was a huge man as well with a pronounced brow and a severe lack of neck. His crew cut hair and beard stubble were a dark auburn color. Green had a permanent scowl on his face that gave him an air that said you didn’t want to mess with him. I knew well enough to avoid guys like that. I quickly averted my gaze before he even suspected that I might have looked at him.

  Captain Yoruba acknowledged Willis with a dip of his chin. “Welcome aboard the Cassini, Sergeant. Once your cargo is secure, we will leave spacedock.”

  The Captain turned back towards us. “My aide, Ensign Yates, will show you to your quarters.”

  The young Ensign at his side nodded his head once. “If you gentleman would care to follow me.”

  Bradley, Kenji and I followed Yates down the corridor to the turbolift. We got inside and Yates hit the button for Deck 2. The lift came to life with a loud crack and a whir. Kenji gripped the railing so hard his knuckles turned white. I knew how he felt, because I did the exact same thing. The entire lift vibrated as if it was about to fall off its rails.

  “The Cassini has three decks,” Yates explained, raising his voice above the grinding metallic squeal of the turbolift. “The cargo and shuttle bays and Engineering are on Deck 3. Crew quarters and mess hall are on Deck 2. Sickbay is also located on Deck 2 at the ship’s fore. The bridge and observation lounge are on Deck 1. Due to the extended cryosleep and mission classification, we are operating on a skeleton crew. Normal crew complement is forty-two.”

  We got off the lift and followed him down the hallway. He pointed to a doorway on the right. “This is the aft head and shower room.”

  Kenji looked at me wide-eyed and shook his head. He was thinking the same thing as I was. Surely we had our own bathroom in our quarters.

  Yates stopped in front of door 2-18. The stenciled plaque on the door read: LT ADLER A.

  “This is you,” Yates said to me. “Report to the mess hall at 1100 hours. It’s in the center of the ship straight ahead. You can’t miss it.”

  I pressed the button to open the door and stepped inside the room. The small room had barely enough room for a twin-sized bed, a locker and a small desk. There was a full-length mirror next to the locker. Unfortunately, there was no bathroom as I already suspected. At the very least, I was grateful for the fact that I didn’t have to share a room with anyone else.

  At least the room had a porthole. I looked out the small rectangular window. I could see the edge of the orbiting space dock and beyond that, the surface of the moon.

  I secured my footlocker into the built-in lock mechanism on the floor at the foot of the bed, then sat down on the bed with a sigh.

  Crap. How did I get myself in this mess?

  * * * *

  I joined Kenji and Bradley in the mess hall just before the designated time. I spotted Corporal Robertson among the other Marines checking me out from across the room. He dipped his head ever so slightly in acknowledgment. I gave him a quick smile and turned away when Kenji started complaining about our quarters. When I glanced back at Robertson, he was engaged in conversation with Corporal Green.

  Captain Yoruba entered, trailed a step behind by Ensign Yates and several officers on his staff. Yoruba took the middle of the room and everyone quieted down and gave him their undivided attention.

  “In seventy-two hours, once we clear the solar system, we’ll prepare for cryosleep for the six week trip. Once we are in orbit around our destination, you’ll be fully briefed on the exact details of the mission.”

  One of the Marines, a Hispanic Earth man, interrupted with a raise of his hand. Puerto Rican, judging by his accent. The Marine private was very handsome with dark eyes and long lashes. A permanent five-o’clock shadow covered his strong jaw. “Is this a rescue op? Or are we here to babysit?”

  All of the Marines turned and looked pointedly at the three scientists: Kenji, Bradley and myself.

  The Captain cleared his throat to get their attention. “What I can tell you now, Private, is that this mission is highly classified and highly dangerous. Do your jobs and no one will get hurt. I expect everyone to be on their ‘A’ game. I won’t tolerate anything less.” Yoruba’s steely gaze then fixed directly on me. “If you have a problem following the chain of command, you’ll find yourself out the airlock.”

  I could feel the entire room’s eyes burning into me, and I swallowed hard. I felt my neck and face flush, but I held my head high.

  The Captain turned back to the room and continued. “We will schedule combat and survivor drills over the next three days and again when we reach our destination.”

  Kenji cut his eyes towards me and raised a brow.

  “Dismissed,” the captain said, but then turned back to me once more. His ey
es looked me up and down with open disdain. “Lieutenant Adler. You are out of uniform.”

  “Aye, sir,” I replied with a nod, but he had already turned to leave.

  As we walked back to our quarters, Kenji was shaking his head. “That comment about the airlock was completely uncalled for.”

  “I’m used to it,” I said with a sigh.

  “Yeah, well, it’s not fair. I still don’t get why we’re here. I mean, survivor drills and combat training?”

  “You already had those at the Academy.”

  “I know, but we’re scientists, not soldiers. And this is for real. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

  I knew exactly how he felt. We were in over our heads.

  Chapter 3

  I looked at myself in the mirror and frowned.

  Tugging at the neck of the blue jumpsuit, I tried to give myself a little more breathing room. Never in my life did I imagine that I’d be wearing a Navy uniform again. I ran my hand over my ID patch stenciled with ADLER and its blue stripe.

  The snug garment didn’t leave much to the imagination. More than ever I was grateful I kept myself in shape even after I was discharged.

  I ran my hands down the front and turned to the side. Wow. My ass looked pretty damned good in the jumpsuit. Okay, so I still filled the uniform well, for a guy in his mid-thirties. I always kept my reddish-blond hair regulation short, so at least I wouldn’t get called out for that. I hadn’t realized how totally frumpy I looked in the loose-fitting white Research scrubs until now. The steel blue accents on my uniform complemented my blue eyes.

  Sitting down on the bed, I pulled on my black standard-issue uniform boots and laced them up. After I tucked my secondary hand-held comPad into the pocket on my right thigh, I left my quarters to grab a bite to eat.

  I joined Kenji in the mess hall and we sat down to eat lunch together.

  “Look at you,” Kenji noted as he looked me up and down. “You look completely different in uniform.”

  I shrugged, tugging at my collar. “I’m still not used to this.”