The Cassini Mission Read online

  “This is… bland,” he grumbled with a frown after swallowing his first bite of something that resembled scrambled eggs.

  “Eat up. It’s good for you,” I said while trying to keep a straight face. “You’ll need the nutrients when they put us under.”

  “Don’t remind me.” Kenji shuddered exaggeratedly before he looked past my shoulder. “Jesus,” he whispered. “Those guys are scary.”

  I turned my head to see the Marines moving to sit together, taking up two of the tables. They were talking loudly and laughing amongst themselves. They were definitely a rowdy bunch, but my eyes were drawn to one of them in particular. I had just settled on Robertson when he caught my gaze and I quickly turned back to Kenji. My cheeks were a little flushed at having been caught looking.

  “I know,” Kenji said as he shook his head. “The way they talk. All that cussing. My mom would have a heart attack.”

  “Yeah.” I chuckled. Kenji thought my blush was due to their language. I didn’t correct him.

  After lunch I wanted to take a tour of the ship. I thought maybe if I got a look at the Cassini, I would feel more comfortable traveling on the ancient vessel. I asked Kenji to come along, but he wanted to take a nap.

  My first stop was sickbay. I wanted to see the science lab, which was connected to sickbay on this class of starship.

  The medical equipment was nowhere near state of the art, but at least it had been upgraded since the ship launched. The sickbay was likely refit with discards from newer ships that were decommissioned or upgraded.

  “Can I help you?”

  The approaching man was around six feet tall with an athletic build. He had a thick head of black hair and a dark complexion that gave away his Indian ancestry. The green striped accents on his uniform indicated he was in the medical division. His rank indicated that he was ship’s senior medical officer.

  Judging from the scowl on his face, he did not appreciate me invading his space.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Adler. I—”

  “I know who you are.” His voice was cold and his eyes were even colder.

  I ignored his attitude. I dipped my head towards the door that led to the laboratory. “I wanted to take a look at the lab space.”

  “The Cassini labs are for authorized personnel only.” The good doctor then turned his back to me.

  “Right. Thank you for your time.”

  Resisting the urge to punch the smug bastard, I kept my head high, turned and walked out with my dignity. I continued my tour with a stop at Engineering.

  After the repeated disgusted looks and under-their-breath comments from the ship’s crew, I decided to head back to my quarters. It seemed my reputation had already been discussed amongst the crew. My side of the story didn’t matter. It never did.

  Lost in my thoughts, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. I turned a corner and ran smack into Corporal Robertson, tripping over his extended foot.

  He was leaning against the corridor wall, looking huge and intimidating while simultaneously looking casual. As if hanging out in the hallways was a perfectly normal thing to do.

  “Excuse me, Corporal,” I muttered, moving around him, trying not to stare at him and all of his hotness.

  “So, what was that about?”

  Caught off-guard by his question, I stopped and turned back to him. “What?”

  “I heard the engineers talking after you left.”

  It really got under my skin that Robertson was hearing gossip about me. I would have preferred him to judge me based on reality and not the whispered words of people who knew nothing about me or my situation. “I’m sure if you ask around, someone will tell you everything.”

  “If I wanted to hear it from them, I’d ask. I want to hear it from you.”

  Oh. Maybe I jumped the gun. Maybe I too was guilty of judging him without getting to know him.

  Robertson’s eyes hungrily roamed my body. He pushed away from the wall, tilting his head so he could look behind me.

  “Nice,” he said, blatantly staring at my ass.

  I moved back, feeling uncomfortable because of his overt ogling. Even though I was very much attracted to him, his boldness made me more than a little nervous.

  Turning so that he no longer had a direct view of my ass, I clasped my hands in front of me and stood up straight. “Are you going to be running the combat training, Corporal?” I asked, attempting to change the subject to something more professional.

  His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched me, but he didn’t comment on the change of topic or my demeanor. “No. Corporal Green will be handling today’s training. Bring your ‘A’ game.”

  “I always do.”

  “He won’t pull his punches.”

  “I understand. Thanks for the advice.”

  “Anytime, Lieutenant.”

  As I walked away, I glanced back over my shoulder. Robertson blatantly stared at my ass.

  I didn’t mind.

  By the time I got back to my room, I was tired. Dealing with self-righteous assholes can be exhausting. And maybe I could work off a little steam with my right hand since Robertson had me hot and bothered.

  Before I could lie down, the door chimed. With a sigh, I got up and zipped my uniform back up. I pressed the button to open the door and found Kenji on the other side, anxiously shifting his weight between his feet.

  “Hi,” Kenji said. “Can I come in?”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  I let Kenji in and we sat down.

  When he was silent, I finally asked, “What’s up?”

  “I have a bad feeling about this mission, Aron,” Kenji said quietly, leaning in close as if we could be overheard.

  “Yeah. I do too.”

  “I think Bradley knows more than he is letting on.”

  “I agree. Let’s go find Bradley.”

  Kenji looked unsure, but got up and followed me out. Bradley was assigned quarters two doors down from mine. I hit the chime control on Bradley’s door.

  He opened the door, zipping up the front of his uniform as he let us in. “What do you guys want?” he asked as he smoothed down his hair.

  As soon as the door shut, I leaned against the wall and folded my arms across my chest. “What’s going on, Bradley?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You know what’s going on, Bradley,” I insisted. “Don’t deny it.”

  Bradley narrowed his eyes at me while puffing out his chest. “Excuse me, Lieutenant? I don’t think I like your tone.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Please. Don’t pull rank with me, Bradley.”

  “I suggest you leave now before I report your insubordination.” Bradley walked to his door and slapped his hand on the control. The door opened with a swoosh. “Get out.”

  Kenji scurried out of the door. I reluctantly followed him.

  When the door shut behind us, I turned to Kenji. “He’s lying.”

  Chapter 4

  That afternoon we reported as ordered to the cargo bay for combat training. Even the normally cocky Bradley looked scared shitless as Corporal Green moved out in front of us with an evil sneer on his face.

  With his hands clasped behind his back, Green looked us over and shook his head, his expression reeking of disappointment. “You three runts look like fucking lost causes as far as combat goes, but why don’t we start off easy with a little hand-to-hand. Let’s see what you can do.” He settled his eyes on me. “You.”

  Green pointed to me and then pointed to the mat laid out in the center of the room. He turned back to the line-up of Marines. “Villanova.”

  The large Puerto Rican man stepped forward. He and Green had matching sneers on their faces.

  We crouched into position and Villanova motioned for me to come forward with his fingers. Keeping a lock on his dark unreadable eyes, I had barely taken a step to circle around him when he swiftly moved forward, grabbed my arm and pulled me into the air. He flipped me over his shoulder and slammed me dow
n onto the mat as hard as he could.

  He completely knocked the wind out of me. I coughed painfully as I tried to draw air into my lungs. Bradley and Kenji winced as the Marines all snickered. My eyes focused on Robertson’s back as he slammed his fist on the door control and then exited the cargo bay.

  Thanks for the help.

  “Again,” Green barked.

  I rubbed my sore shoulder, dusted myself off, and stood up for round two.

  The combat training was simply an excuse for the big men to beat the shit out of the three of us. They did nothing to teach or practice. It was all about putting us in our place, showing us that they had the bigger dicks.

  “This is not what I signed up for,” Kenji whispered as we returned to our quarters. I could see tears in his eyes and he was struggling not to cry. He was as bruised as I was, maybe more. I thought he was going to pass out from that last hit to his nuts by Private Asmar. Talk about a low blow.

  “Goddamned frog man,” Kenji cursed the Aquilan private under his breath.

  * * * *

  The next afternoon, we had survival training with Corporal Robertson.

  “I’m Corporal Robertson. Welcome to survival training. I’m sure you took a survival training class at the Naval Academy, but today we’re gonna learn to survive in the real-world.”

  Kenji gave me a quick side glance.

  “First we’ll start with calming techniques. It’s critical when in a survival situation that you remain calm, cool and collected. Once we’ve mastered this, we’ll move onto navigation without electronics, then we’ll go over finding shelter, fire starting, then CPR and basic first aid procedures. We’ll end with water reclamation.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Robby, nice try, but we’re not drinking our piss,” Corporal Green joked and the other Marines snickered.

  Robertson was tough, but at least he didn’t try to kill us like Green did. In fact, I felt like I learned a great deal about surviving in the real world.

  But being up close with my new infatuation had me on edge. Today he was operating in full-on soldier mode. I couldn’t read his face. He gave no indication that he noticed my glances or that he even returned my desires.

  I really needed to start acting like a professional. From now on, I would concentrate on the mission. Once it was done, I could get back to my life and my work.

  I left training with a sigh.

  When I reached my assigned quarters, I flopped down onto the bed in exhaustion. Even though I was more tired than I had been in ages, I couldn’t fall asleep. I stared up at the ceiling, my thoughts drifting back to Corporal Robertson.

  I hadn’t been with anyone in that way in quite some time. Almost three years now. And that last time happened while I was in prison waiting on my court-martial.

  Fucking Admiralty. Denied bail, they forced me to serve time while waiting for trial in a prison with common criminals. The trial was delayed numerous times, keeping me locked away for nearly a year. When all was said and done, the judge thankfully sentenced me to time served, so I was free after the trial ended.

  Anyway, that man would not have been my first choice by any stretch of the imagination, but I was terrified the big guy would have killed me if I said no. He was actually quite gentle—for a murdering space pirate—and he did keep me safe from the other prisoners. But still….

  Until I laid my eyes on Robertson, my sex drive had been practically non-existent. The thing is, he wasn’t even really my type. I usually went for guys around my own size, maybe a little bigger or more muscular, but not tanks like Robertson. I also liked my guys more intellectual, someone I could talk research or science with. Robertson was a career Union Marine. He wasn’t my type.

  Then how come I can’t stop thinking about him?

  I tossed and turned and then got up. Maybe a hot shower would help me sleep. After a quick pit stop to the head, I made my way to the shower room. As old as the Cassini was, I was not surprised in the least that the showers were old school aqua units. Any ship built in the last few decades would have used sonic showers. They were fast, efficient and left you dry when the cycle ended after sixty seconds.

  I stripped off my uniform, down to my regulation tank top and boxer briefs. Pulling those off, I stuffed everything into an empty locker. As I passed the rack stacked with clean towels, I grabbed one and moved into the shower room.

  The room was completely open, with shower heads along the outside walls. There were two pillars in the middle, also with shower heads. It could easily fit two dozen men at once. I sighed in relief that the room was empty. I picked the furthest corner and turned on the water. I adjusted the temperature to a comfortable setting and proceeded to get myself clean as quickly as I could.

  Damn, the hot water felt good running down my bruised body.

  As I was rinsing the soap from my hair, I heard someone walk in. After I hurriedly rinsed off my head, I opened my eyes to take a peek.

  Corporal Green was standing against one of the pillars blatantly watching me. His right hand lazily tugged at the foreskin of his giant cock as he stared lustily at me. His body was scary huge with not a single ounce of fat. His musculature was over-engineered with snaking veins bulging underneath his skin. Shit, even his muscles had muscles.

  The look in his eyes creeped me out. I had seen that look before—while I was in prison.

  I needed to get the hell out of there, immediately if not sooner. After a final quick rinse, I turned off the water and looked down at my feet as I rushed past him. Before I could exit the shower room, he stepped in front of me.

  “What’s your hurry?” he asked, pressing a finger into the middle of my chest.

  I looked up at him and set my jaw, trying to look tough. “Please move out of the way.”

  When he didn’t move, I tried to move to the other side, but he blocked my path again.

  “Aw, come on. Let’s have a little fun, just you and me.”

  He glanced downward and my eyes darted down to where he gazed. The veiny organ between his legs was rapidly hardening and growing in size. Panic rose inside me and I tried to push him out of the way, but he grabbed my wrist and twisted it around my back. Effortlessly, he pushed me against the shower wall.

  He laughed in my ear, his breath hot against my skin. “I think you need a little more hand-to-hand practice, boy.” His paws roughly turned me around and pinned my back against the wall. “Or maybe we can put your mouth to use instead.”

  “Let go of me!” I shouted as I bucked against him, hitting him as hard as I could.

  Green let go of my arm with an annoyed huff. “Aw, come on. Lighten up. I’m just playing. You don’t think I’m gonna fucking rape you, do you?”

  He sounded sincere and I softened my stance a little bit. I was judging him based on what happened to me in the past and that wasn’t exactly fair. Still, he was coming on way too strong.

  He ran his finger along my jaw, then moved his hand to the back of my neck. “Suck my cock.”

  I squirmed away, knocking his hand away with my fist. “I’m sorry,” I snapped. “I said I’m not interested.”

  A noise coming from the adjoining locker room made Green step back. I let out a sigh of relief as Bradley walked in. I rushed past Green and grabbed Bradley’s arm.

  “Come on,” I hissed.

  Bradley ignored me. He was staring at Green’s cock with his mouth hanging open.

  Green smirked. “Come here, boy.”

  Bradley pulled out of my grip and walked over to Green. “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s more like it,” Green growled as he shot me a smirk.

  I looked between the two of them in shock.

  “Oh, geez,” I said as I shook my head and shuddered at the thought.

  As Green’s hands moved to Bradley’s shoulders and pushed him down, I rushed out of the shower to my locker. I quickly pulled on a fresh tank top and boxer briefs. Not bothering to get fully dressed, I wrapped a towel around my waist and gathered up my things. As I
left the shower room, I heard Green grunting rhythmically.

  As I exited the shower room, I ran straight into Robertson.

  God, did he just hang out in the hallways or what?

  “Whoa. You okay, Aron?” He gripped my arm to help me regain my balance.

  “Yeah,” I squeaked, totally flustered at running into the object of my lust. His face was expressionless, and it only made me feel like an even bigger fool for lusting after him. I pointed at the door. “Uh, you probably don’t wanna go in there.”

  As I hurried down the hall to my quarters, I realized that Robertson had called me by my first name.

  I was so going to jerk off when I got back to my room.

  Chapter 5

  The next morning at breakfast, Kenji and I showed up early. We were both starving and we wanted to make sure we had a decent, filling meal before cryosleep. Well, “decent” would be a stretch, but at least our stomachs would be full. Today’s breakfast was specially formulated to supply us with the boost of nutrients we would need for the sleep.

  “What’s up with that?” Kenji asked nodding his head towards one of the tables. I looked in the direction he indicated to see Bradley sitting at a table alone with Corporal Green.

  “You don’t want to know,” I muttered. “Have you ever gone into cryosleep before?” I asked Kenji before scooping a forkful of synth-eggs into my mouth.

  “No. You?”

  I shook my head and choked back a cough as I swallowed down the eggs. Picking up the pepper shaker from the middle of the table, I liberally sprinkled it over my bland breakfast. “No. I’ve been off-world obviously, but never this far out.”

  “The furthest I’ve been from Earth was when the Artemis spent three months studying Sagittarius A at the galactic center. What is this supposed to be?” Kenji picked something up from his tray. It looked like a large candy bar coated in chocolate.

  “I think it’s a protein bar. Eat it,” I urged him, wanting him to be the guinea pig.

  Kenji took a bite and shrugged. “Not bad. It’s a little chalky, but tastes pretty good.” He took a second bite.

  Satisfied, I gave the protein bar a try and agreed. It was pretty good, for what it was. I was sure it was pumped with all sorts of vitamins, minerals, and chemicals that would be needed during our cryo-sleep.