Mana Pool Snippets - The Job

Part 4

"Pardon me while I repeat your stupidity," said Lieutenant Wringheart, the senior engineering officer, and a major thorn in my back. "You went to see a Gnogal supernatural scientist, attacked him, got hit by his kinetic cannon ball, damaged restaurant property, got the living shit beaten out of you by a Caducera bouncer, and thrown out the door, just to hear this harebrained job. Anything else?"

Can you hear the enthusiasm in her voice? She just loves to see me suffer. You'll meet her when you see Brill.

I pressed the ice pack to my swollen right eye, cheek, and jawline and spat red blood on the Endeavour's hanger bay floor. I was covered in bruises, I think I had some cracked ribs too. I refused any treatment from the ship's medical officer, Sergeant Russ Decathan (good man) because Halcunacs heal fast, and he had better things to do then heal me.

I looked up at that brown, red, and blue canine Vyroka taur, her arms crossed over her bosom, and an icy stare on her face.

"Ow, crap," I said with chest pain. "Good to see you again." I smiled to annoy her.

"Captain, explain why we still care for this jerk?" She asked. "Every time I see him I remember Diremoon's broken heart."

Standing beside her was my good friend, Captain Brill Secambre, the short grey-skinned Rezuma, leader of the Endeavour and commander in chief of Nova Company. He stood before me, wearing the same pressed officer uniform of the battlegroup as always.

Wanna hear something funny? Humans call Rezumas "Roswell Greys." What the heck is Roswell?

"It depends, lieutenant, but have sympathy for a fellow gunslinger," he said. "We are all dealing with a low point. It's not like this is the first time his arrogance controlled him." I always admired his fatherly ideals.

"I can name several." Wringheart glared hard at me.

"Oh so wha...Ow. I'm in pain, woman," I said.

A supply trolley passed by and a familiar amphibious driver waved. "Welcome back, Jaruka," he said. I waved back. Yeah, welcome back indeed.

"Lieutenant, can we have a moment alone?" Brill said. "Go...update the Slipspace guidance system or something."

The taur sighed. "But captain..."

"No buts. Not now," Brill said as he approached me.

"Yes, sir. Message me when he's gone." Wringheart sighed again.

"Oh don't be such a pushover," I said. "I'm here ain't I? Am I allowed to swap war stories with friends? The least I can do is muck up your guidance system to not find me and kill me."

I wasn't able to track Wringheart's hind legs as they swung up to sock me in the chest and right shoulder, instantly causing me to fall off the creates I was sitting on. The pain was great, but laughing was too.

"Nice talking to you!" I yelled.

Wringheart walked away.

"She needs to drop that ego," I said. "It's not like she was the one I pissed off."

"She can hold a grudge for others, especially for other Vyrokans. By the way, you still need to apologize to Amber." He helped me up with his telekinesis.

"You know her. She started it."

Wringheart's kick aggravated the fading bruises, but it was nothing new. I sat back down on the crate.

Brill sat beside me and took off his black and red navy hat, setting it on an adjacent crate.

"Terra Firma," he said, reading word for word from the paper I smuggled. "Four months monitoring the asteroid and sending survey reports every twelve hours. Half of total pay up front, the other half afterwards. Must not leave or second half will be denied." He stopped. "If it was a different planet, I would take it."