Chapter 3

Brook swallowed around the lump in her throat as subtly as she could. She didn’t appreciate the expression on the alien leader’s face at all. There was no doubt that he was the leader within the small squad before her. He was slightly taller than the other two, his entire demeanor projected command and dominance. Her stomach tightened in a way that made her want to blush, but she forced herself to remain in control. She was a scientist. It was simply the excitement bubbling up inside of her at their finding.

The male stood ramrod straight, his skin a curious mint green color, but beautiful somehow. There was nothing little about the “little green man” though. He was taller than most humans she knew, and his body was a mass of muscle tone and restrained power.

His eyes were as black as empty space. His nose was prominent and straight, leading to lips that were compressed in what she imagined was barely repressed rage. The clothing he was wearing was strange, made out of some kind of natural plant fiber. It consisted mainly of a skirt of sorts that fell to his knees in braids, with two thicker braids climbing his chest. At his shoulders the braids displayed an intricate knot. The rest of his massive body was bare.

Brook concentrated on her breathing, her eyes boring into the alien leader. I will not back down. Why the fuck are you so hot? I will not back down.

If she gave in now, the aliens would walk all over her. Hell, they likely would anyway, given their advanced technology and weapons. Regardless, she would stand up for herself and her crew, ensuring that the foreign being before her knew she meant business. It was her duty to keep those under her command safe, and to complete her mission.

And she would, by God, accomplish those goals, despite any resistance from her new discovery.

The leader’s eyes narrowed as he met her gaze and held it for a few minutes. He broke the connection finally, turning to his companions and giving a short nod. The energy pulses that were rippling across their bodies faded away.

Brook let out the breath she was holding. Round one - humans.

“Power down your robots,” the leader barked, his voice as hard as steel.

She didn’t like giving up her advantage, slim as it might be, but she had to make concessions as well. It was only fair. “Lieutenant Brunt, power down the FIDOs.”

Talia stood just behind her, and moved up as Brook turned to pin Brunt with a stare. Talia lifted to her toes and murmured close to Brook’s ear, “You sure that is a good idea?”

Of course not. It’s the dumbest idea I’ve had in years.

Behind her, Brunt was at the console, inputting the commands to deactivate the FIDOs. The face displays of the units blinked from red to blue, and the robots turned and headed down the corridor and back to the cargo bay where they were stored.

Brook turned back in time to see the leader starting to speak, but she jumped in first, not wanting to give him the chance to take control of the situation. “Do you want to explain to me why you captured my ship and boarded her without permission? We’ve done nothing to provoke such a response.”

The leader gave her a tight smile as his eyes moved across her face. “You were nearing the Zantharian defense perimeter. We’re on high alert and scanning all ships entering our system.”

“Scanning doesn’t mean boarding.”

The hair on his head started to move suddenly. She was riveted and couldn’t speak for a minute as she stared at him. She’d assumed the alien had hair similar to her own, but now she realized it was something more akin to tiny tentacles. And they’d started to ripple.

He didn’t answer, but asked a question of his own. “What are you doing here? Explain yourself. Now.”

Brook’s face tightened. “Explain why you boarded my ship.”

Letting out a large sigh the alien took a step forward. “I already told you. Keep up and don’t waste my time.”

Alvarez, who had been standing next to her on the left, lifted his laser pistol, aiming it at the lead alien who scoffed and turned his attention to her crewmate and then back to her.

“I thought we were past brandishing our weapons at one another.”

Brook put her hand on Alvarez’s pistol to push it back toward the floor. “If that’s the truth, then you should release my ship and stop talking to me like I’m a child. It’s not going to get you anywhere with me.”

The alien’s face hardened until it looked carved from jade. “I can’t do that. Not until you explain what you’re doing here.”

Brook let out a heavy breath. Someone had to be the first one to capitulate. The alien seemed to be meeting her halfway, so she supposed it was time to give a little.

“One of our people was investigating a nearby planet, classified as JL-398. We lost contact with her when she entered the planet’s atmosphere and haven’t been able to re-establish communications. My crew was sent to try and locate her.”

The leader nodded as if he’d been expecting her answer. “And is this the entirety of your crew?”

Brook frowned. “The Earhart currently has a complement of eight crew members, including her captain.”

“I suppose you’re the captain?” He eyed her up and down as if it was humorous that a woman was captaining a ship.

She wanted to slam her fist into his arrogant smirk, but instead she nodded and pursed her lips momentarily. “Captain Brooklyn, at your service. Now you know why we’re here, so you should be able to release my ship.”

The alien shook his head. “I am Major Ontarii, commander of the Zantharian defense fleet, and I’m afraid we’ve detected a threat aboard your ship, so releasing you isn’t a possibility.”

Heat rose in Brook’s chest and coated her insides. “What threat? We’re no match for you. Shit, you said so yourself.”

“You humans are not a threat,” the alien said, as he scanned the crew gathered behind her.

“Well, we humans are the only ones aboard this ship, other than the robots, which we turned off. You must be mistaken about your supposed threat, or you’re looking for an excuse to invade the ship of an innocent species.”

“Innocent?” he said, cocking a dark eyebrow at her and taking another step forward so that she had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. “That remains to be seen.”

Something about his tone of voice set off a strange shiver down her spine. She stifled the shake and let the odd feelings burn into anger. Anger was safe.

Frustration. Anger. Not lust. Just not lust. It wasn’t turning out to be what she’d expected her first contact between humans and an alien race would be like. Off to a bad start. This is going to look like shit on my record.

“Look,” she said, her tone now brooking resistance. “You either tell me what you think this threat is, or you get the hell off of my ship.”

He scowled down at her, his jaw locking as if she were the biggest pain in the ass ever. His skin, which had been a light green, had started to shift slightly. Yellow striations appeared across his skin’s surface, the change quite striking and unexpectedly beautiful.

“Human, I am not in the habit of explaining myself to my subordinates,” he snapped at her and looked down his nose at her.

He was angry, but it couldn’t match the fury boiling over inside of her at his statement. “Subordinate? That’s no way to refer to a member of species you’re meeting for the first time.”

He rolled his eyes, and she barely stopped herself from kicking him in the shin or kneeing him in the crotch. If he had a crotch to knee him in.

As captain, Brook had had to keep her cool in much more high stakes situations than her current conversation, but for some reason she was having problems keeping her temper in check with this particular elitist asshole.

“You aren’t the first human I’ve met,” he said. “I’ve studied your species, and believe me, my assessment of Zantharian superiority is well founded.”

That was it.

Brook closed the space between herself and the alien until her breasts pressed tightly to his hardened chest. She lifted on her toes, and even though he was still several inches taller than her, she was as close to being in his face as she was getting.

Purposefully making her voice firm with an appropriate dash of anger, she bore an angry stare at him and whispered low and dark, “You and your Zantharian superiority can go fuck yourself. Get the hell off my ship before I physically remove you from it.”