The leaves of the alien planet where a deep mauve in color shot through from stem to point with veins of electric blue. The bark, or what served for bark, on the trunks and stems of the tree-like plants were ashy gray and lined with little bubbles of light yellow syrup which leaked from gashes in the tree's sides. The syrup was edible, sort of sweet and citrusy and was actually pretty good when spread on toast, a fact that had become apparent only by way of happy accident and more than mild idiocy.
Still it was a little less stupid considering no one had been poisoned, and the camp that morning had been one of eager, bright-eyed optimism much to the chagrin of the night owls in the camp, forced to get up and go to work with the dawn.
The man knelt in the mud, rich and black with minerals, working gently with his hands to clip samples and take scrapings from the leaves and flowers of any strange plant that caught his fancy. He had laid out a few insect traps for good measure, and planned on waiting for a half hour or so before moving on to his next location.
While he waited, he broke out a field microscope, more compact and better suited for field work than the large and rather cumbersome laboratory style microscopes. He glanced through the lens jotting a few notes in a field notebook as he worked. He could have used the built-in note taking tool on his field HUD, but he had always preferred taking notes by hand, the work seemed more tangible that way.
It had been a little over ten years of work, and he had probably filled a couple hundred notebooks by now, each one dedicated to the flora and fauna of every new planet he came across. Ever since Armageddon, the universe around them was growing rapidly, every day more and more colonists set out to make a living for themselves on far flung planets. The population boom had been incredible for almost all the species.
There were now more colonies than there were central planets almost ten times over, some of them were corporate owned, used for mining or agriculture, but many of them were bought privately. Anyone could buy a planet if they had enough money, and were willing to sign documents promising they would protect the planet's natural beauty and resources. They didn't always follow through with their promises, but still, the GA did its best to keep things in line.
This reality was good for business, after all, every time a corporation found a new planet, they needed someone to go down and take a look. Partially it was to catalog the natural resources, determine habitability, but mostly, they were here to make sure no one else had already claimed the planet.
There was always the chance that there was some kind of sapient species inhabiting the planet, and that had happened to them a few times , however patients tend to leave behind a record of themselves, usually through the lines of infrastructure or sometimes even a satellite grid. That had happened to them at least three times in the past ten years, two of those species already having joined the GA while the third was still in talks.
Despite the mostly friendly nature of those encounters, it paid to be vigilant.
A twig snapped somewhere in the bushes behind him.
The man did not stop working, continuing along with the steady movement of his hands as he made methodical work of the plantlife before him. Making as if to place a sample in his bag, he slipped a hand through the open flap of the canvas, dropping the sampling container gently at the bottom while simultaneously moving his hand to brush cold metal.
From the back he looked like any other field scientist.
Having ditched the environmental suits some days ago, he now wore long pants laced beneath calf high boots to keep out alien bugs. His arms were bare from the biceps down past the simple black T-shirt and his head was bare of protection. He must have looked like an easy target from behind.
He almost felt sorry for the predator sneaking up behind him, for if they had known anything about the thin line of metal that ran its way up the back of each of his arms, and onto his hands, it would have known he was no ordinary scientist.
His HUD blinked.
A small cartoon dog popped up superimposed over his vision, and it growled.
His early warning system was going off now, just a few seconds shy of his human instincts.
The forest around him had gone silent, never a good sign.
His hand closed more firmly around the cold of the weapon
And then the bushes behind him erupted with a roar.
He spun in place, whipping the collapsable spear from his bag and diving to the side, fast as lightning.
The shape came charging into the clearing, nothing more than a streak of blue chitin, impossibly fast, the blade of the spear it held even faster.
He slapped the blow aside with contemptuous ease, falling into an easy pattern of blows, spinning the spear this way and that to defend from a flurry of attacks so quick it shouldn't have been possible. Metal sparked and clashed filling the silent forest with the sound of sudden battle. Small animals fled from the brush in all directions sending up a cacophony of scurrying.
Caught up in the ease of his defense, he moved forward with confidence, ready to-
And then his arrogance caught up with him.
The attack switched up suddenly just as his foot came down on a loose pebble, and before he knew it he was on the ground, something hard and heavy pinning him in place. A large hand was clamped around his throat, and something hard and painful jammed itself into the junction of his thigh and pelvis. Both of his wrists had been pinned. The hand holding his wrist squeezed forcing him to drop the spear which rolled away across the dirt.
He looked up, finding himself face to face with two large golden eyes.
Sunny hummed in amusement, "You know, you're cute when you're helpless." She said pressing her knee down just that much harder into the junction of his leg.
Adam tensed slightly causing her to laugh again.
"Well, are you just going to sit there and gloat, or are you going to teach me a lesson?" he said, raising an eyebrow.
Sunny looked him over with her cool golden eyes, one of them suspiciously more metallic than the other. She hadn't changed much in the past decade and a half or so. Violet light spilled down from the canopy brightening her electric blue chitin in burning pools of blue. The smooth gray skin of her exposed throat rose and fell in time with her breathing.
She leaned in a little the edge of her mouth brushing ever so lightly against the line of his jaw. He shivered once but then she pulled back, cutting the moment off abruptly, "No, I don't think I need to."
He frowned, "Now you're just being mean."
She hummed, "Unfortunately for you, the interns are looking for Dr. Vir to ask him a question."
Adam smirked, "I like it when you call me doctor."
Sunny huffed and stood, pulling him to his feet with one of her free hands, "I know you do." Adam reached over, and snatched his pack from the ground, accompanying Sunny through the tropical foliage and back towards camp. Overhead, little patches of blue sky could be seen through the violet canopy. Adam took in a deep breath of fresh air and closed his eyes.
Who could ask for more than this?
Adam had once worried that one day, his adventures would be over, that he would be forced to settle down to a stuffy nine to five and stare up at the stars with longing. The possibility of that future had plagued him for as long as he could remember, but now, when the future had finally come, he found himself still armed with a fleet of ships, and a new job that gave him every excuse to go out and touch all the weird alien things.
It had taken him a few years after Armageddon for him to acquire his doctoral degree, but he had needed something to do while recovering from the injuries sustained at the hand of Kazna. The nerve damage to his spine alone had been horrific, and were it not for Krill, Adam might not have regained feeling in his lower extremities.
Even so, his human leg below the knee sometimes felt oddly numb, and his left fingers tingled sometimes when it got cold. Following the battle, he had stepped down from politics and moved on instead founding a private xenoexploration company for hire, specializing primarily in planetary first contact. Generally, he advertised their non-sapient collection capabilities, but there was a reason they had both an active diplomat and xenolinguist on the payroll, not to mention private security that doubled as a small army.
They came out of the trees just then and into the camp a little to the south west of the security shuttle. The ship was large for a shuttle and had Big bold letters running along one side reading: Seraphim Security.
Seraphim's co-director was standing next to the ship, as annoyingly handsome as ever, barely having aged a year despite the past decade and a half. He had tousled dark hair, honey amber eyes, and had no compunction about telling anyone and everyone about the two silver medals he had won in the winter olympics.
Angel Ramirz had been Arcadia's first medalist in Arcadia's history and did not want to shut up about it.
"Ah we were beginning to think you might have been kidnapped." Ramirez said with a smirk.
Adam frowned, "It has been over fifteen years since I was last kidnapped thanks.
The smirk did not go away, "Wrong, there was that time on Scorpius b."
"That was a misunderstanding and they apologized."
"A polite kidnapping is still a kidnapping." Ramirez said, stepping aside to allow Adam into camp, where the interns were waiting nervously around the campfire. Meezin, as per usual, was waiting nervously at the edge of the group, clutching his field bag.
"Alright, where's the fire?" Adam asked as he walked up.
Meezin looked behind him towards the flames and then back at Adam with a puzzled expression. It wasn't that the Thoruks didn't understand sarcasm, it was just Meezin. The big intern had four left feet, and a left trunk, if Adam was honest. At seven feet tall, and well over three hundred pounds, Meezin was a health and safety hazard and had a horrible habit of nearly tripping into the fire every other day. The Thoruck was tall, and built like a tree, with two sets of thick legs, the front set longer than the back set, with bright orange skin, and two trunks he used for articulation. In a way he reminded Adam of an elephant.
"What's the problem?"
It wasn't Meezin that answered, instead Adam's head was turned as a light thud alerted him upwards to where the second Co-owner of Seraphim Security had just dropped from a nearby tree, and onto the shuttle roof.
Maverick's short blind hair caught up in the wind as the four, bone white, spidery, articulated legs retracted back through her suit. Her gray/gold eyes were eager as she crouched, low to the shuttle rooftop.
"Remnants, the intern found his first remnants."
Adam's eyes widened a bit, "Sapient?"
"Unless you know of any sloths that can build a thatch hut, then It might just be."
Adm smiled, an eager gleam entering his uncovered eye, "Ah, first contact it is then." He cracked his knuckles, "This is always my favorite part."