Operation: Marauder
Chapter 15

Rowan glanced over his shoulder one more time before boarding the Marauder with the rest of his men. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach. It usually came around when trouble was on the horizon and he didn’t want that trouble to replace Zoey.

Somehow, he had managed to keep his distance from her, resisting the burn ripping him apart. Only just, though. He often wandered the halls late at night with no destination in mind, he just needed to be alone--as alone as he could be on a military base, anyway. Yet he still managed to replace himself outside of Jack’s door and sometimes the hangar, though he didn’t know why he would go there. He supposed Zoey’s scent still lingered from when she had first arrived. Even now, as he threw his bag over his cot in the Captain’s Quarters, he could smell the intoxicating bouquet of lilac from her yard with a hint of automotive from the garage she worked in. It was enough to elicit an erection.

Growling, wishing for the last four days of his Fever to be done with already, he promised himself to take care of it later. For now, he had to focus on the mission: mine some Terbium from XMS-332, a planet two days out from Earth. Maliki reckoned there was enough of the mineral to fix the sensors--and maybe even a little more to speed up the repairs of the hyperdrive. With the sensors back in action, they could replace the Wraythe much more efficiently.

Cas was outside his door as he stepped out; he clapped his back with a sympathetic smile. “Need anything, boss?”

Zoey was the first thing that came to mind, her soft skin, her smooth hair, her delectable scent. He could only imagine how her lips would feel against his, how warm she would be around his cock.

His erection throbbed painfully.

“Fuck. A few days off this planet is exactly what I need.” No females to torment him. He could power through it as long as he didn’t see a pair of breasts or a squeezable ass.

Cas patted his back. “Let’s get settled, then, so we can leave.”

Nodding, Rowan followed him to the main deck where Knox, Jack, and Maliki were already strapped in. Rowan peered up to the cockpit, half-expecting Mave to complain about not having a co-pilot to help with the launch sequence and trying to guilt one of them into doing it.

“Preflight check complete, Captain,” Mave called over the speaker. “We are ready on your order.”

“Let’s go, Mave.” Rowan couldn’t wait to get off this fucking planet. Even if it was only for a few days.

The humans had granted them a five day leave, as long as Jack went with them and documented everything. He had several scientists swarming him the past couple days, asking him to collect samples from SMX-332, showing him how to collect said samples without compromising them, and to take pictures. Of everything. Rowan almost felt sorry for him, except he was sure that if it hadn’t been for the scientists constantly harassing Colonel Shaw, they wouldn’t have been allowed to leave in the first place.

Jack watched the ramp close mournfully.

Knox bumped his knee with a grin. “She’ll be okay, buddy.”

“I know, it’s just. . . I didn’t get to say goodbye. I always tell Zoey I’m going off grid for a few days, but she wasn’t in my room when I went to tell her. I don’t want her to worry.”

Knox snorted. “I think she’ll be more pissed than worried. Here you are, going into space, actually allowed to leave the base, and she’s holed up in your room with no one but Timber to keep her company.” He made it sound like Timber would also be the one to entertain her, and the irrational, Fever-driven part of Rowan wanted to stop Mave from taking off so he could tear Timber’s head off real quick.

Jack laughed. “I feel bad for him. Hopefully she doesn’t put him through too much shit.”

On the other hand, Rowan hoped she pulled the man down to the Underground, Arthonian’s version of Hell, and back. He smiled at the thought. It almost made being apart from her worth it. Except nothing, but avoiding being the cause of her pain in the future, was.

How did this happen to you? He wasn’t one for attachment. He couldn’t afford to be. With his job, he moved around the globe and half the time he wasn’t even home. The only people he cared about aside from his parents were in this ship, stranded on Earth with him. And the woman he would eventually leave behind. By the Architect, if he felt this shitty about it while only leaving for five days, what was it going to do to him when he left for good?

Jack’s right. It’s better to leave her be. For her and for him.

“All clear,” Mave’s voice came through the speaker, allowing them to move around the ship freely now that they had left atmo.

The crew ran on autopilot, going over to their stations to make sure their equipment hadn’t been too jostled as they broke through the atmosphere. Even Jack, who hadn’t been on a mission like this, had his own station to attend to and did so silently.

Usually Mave would have jumped out of the cockpit to complain to at least one of them, but he remained hidden behind the door. Rowan supposed it had been just over a year since they had truly been in space. After being stranded for so long, he understood Zoey’s excitement for space, and even wanted to have a look out the window, just for her.

Except the cockpit door was locked.

Frowning, he waved his hand over the sensor on the side one more time. Nothing.

“Mave? Can I come in?” He shouldn’t even have to ask. This was his ship.

“No,” Mave snipped from the other side. “I don’t want you to mess with my console because you saw something that turns you on then pisses you off because you’re sexually frustrated.”

“I’m in control, Mave,” Rowan promised, suddenly itching to go in the cockpit. “Come on.”

“No.”

Growling, he punched the door, annoyingly proving Mave was right, and left to go be miserable in his room. For the next two days, it would be safer for everyone if he kept to himself.

Zoey was pissed. What had Mave been thinking when he brought her along? She wasn’t combat trained--had no intention of learning--could barely fly this ship, and Timber was definitely going to know she hadn’t gone to the bathroom like she had told him. She figured she would be back a few hours later and could have played it off as getting lost. Being gone for five days, as Mave had informed her, was definitely not passable as getting lost.

To top it off, she didn’t want to be hidden away in the cockpit for the entire time while he could freely leave as he wanted. It was worse than being stuck on the base.

Well. Almost as bad.

She couldn’t deny the view was gorgeous. Once they passed Mars, most of it was just a whole lot of nothing. It was only them in the vast cosmos and the stars in the far distance. She could gaze at the Milky Way band all day. She would have if Mave hadn’t declared her the pilot for this adventure--he was merely there to observe and advise--she had monitors to check in on, gauges to evaluate, cameras to spy on Rowan as he paced from one end of the ship to the other, looking ready to murder someone while everyone was asleep.

At least once an hour he would stop outside the cockpit, and every time she swore he knew she was in there. He would look up at the camera just outside of the door as if he knew she was watching; she knew he wasn’t looking at Mave just by how his eyes softened when he gazed at her--the camera, she had to remind herself. There was no way for him to know she was on the ship. . . was there?

She’d wonder every time she saw him pace around the ship. And then she’d wish he’d go to bed so she could go to the bathroom. Her bathroom breaks were few and far in between, with very little privacy since Mave had to stand watch outside in case someone was in the hallway when she was ready to leave. This whole thing was ridiculous, but Zoey wouldn’t get him into trouble by revealing herself; she owed him everything for bringing her, letting her live her dream.

Then she saw the planet they were going to mine Terbium for. Another alien planet! It was as amazing and gorgeous as Earth, except instead of blue and green, the planet was brown with speckles of orange.

Zoey turned to Mave as he took over for the landing. “What kind of biomes are on this planet?”

While not losing focus on manually taking them in, he tossed a tablet into her lap, dragging his finger across the screen. She stared at the symbols matching the ones on the compass; there were graphs and statistics, clearly giving her the information she had requested. Except, “I can’t read this.”

For a second, he glanced at her. “Oh. Right. You don’t have a UT.”

She wasn’t given enough time to ask what that was; he took the tablet again, throwing it over his shoulder on the third seat Zoey had been sleeping on for the past two nights. She watched in fascination as he flicked switches and turned knobs while also holding the stick steady as they broke through the atmosphere. The man was a marvel in the cockpit.

The clouds were the same white poofy ones she was used to, but the sky wasn’t blue, it was purple with an orange hue; Zoey would have said it looked like a sunset if it hadn’t been for the sun high in the sky.

They landed on a bog, a few kilometers out from a settlement, to Zoey’s disappointment. She wanted to see the residents of this planet, was curious what life on another planet was like.

Mave shut that down instantly. He gave the crew the all clear then turned to her. “Stay on the ship. We’ll be gone for a few hours.”

She couldn’t fight the pout. “But-”

“This is an unknown planet to my people. I don’t know what the residents are like and it’s best you’re not the one who replaces out.”

She sputtered. ”Your people?”

Why hadn’t she seen it sooner? Of course he was an alien! He flew the ship like he had been doing it all his life. Because he had. He didn’t bat an eyelash to the wonders of space, of this ship, because it was nothing new to him.

“Wait. Does that mean Rowan. . . Mave!” she hissed after him when he stood up and turned for the door.

“Hush,” was all he said, then he opened the door.

Habitually, she hid behind the back of the chair until the familiar clunk of the door closing told her she was clear. She watched on the cameras, silently cursing Mave’s name, as the crew suited up. They all wore dark green to match the foliage outside, though Jack was the only one to put a coat on. Now that Mave had revealed to her he wasn’t from her planet--leaving her with many, many questions--it made sense to her. Sort of. Clearly whatever blood they had coursing through their veins made them less susceptible to the cold.

They strapped weapons to their hips, a SMG held steadily in Knox and Rowan’s hands, while Maliki and Cas carried something that looked like a condensed mining drill. Jack was the first one to step onto the boggy lands, and a wave of envy enveloped Zoey. Her brother had kept this secret from her--albeit, the fact he worked side by side with a crew of aliens was a worthy secret to keep--and lived her dream, while she remained hidden on the ship, never knowing what air from another planet would feel like.

The crew faded in the distance, on the other side of a small slope, unknowingly leaving her behind. Unsupervised. For a few hours. No one to stop her from doing a little exploration of her own.