Savage World (Babel Series Book 1) Read online

  “Well, who do you think would win?” Ozzy asked, just to get her goat.

  “Ren toss me my gun!” Shiny called out. “You're nearest to the weapons locker.”

  Ren laughed and then spoke up. “Don't worry Shiny, you won't need it. I already know who's going to win.”

  “Who?” Everyone looked at her.

  “Shark chicks armed with blast rifles.”

  Tom laughed as Ren received a chorus of cheers from the handful of Shark females before tilting his head at Derick and whispering, “We'd be fucked for sure.”

  “Yeah, we are,” Derick snorted, gaze lingering on Ren for a moment before he went back to the book he'd stuffed into his pack.

  “Hey Major,” Jazz asked, slapping Linus' helmet “Any chance we'll see people down there?”

  “Negative, mate,” Tom replied, having read the mission briefing Connor sent him beforehand. “Lots of beasties, but no people.”

  “Sorry, Pookie,” PFC Tonie Edwards, a perpetually cheery blond, sang out to the tall Pacific Islander fastening the strap on his battle harness. “No alien princesses for you today!”

  “Blondie, I swear, you call me that again I'm going to shoot you!” Private Kenan Pookalani warned, miserably aware he was stuck with the unfortunate nickname for all time. “Besides, you don't know where an alien princess has been. That's why it's best to eat local,” he winked at her with a shit eating grin.

  “If there's any shooting of my Sharks, it's going to be me shooting you all for threatening to shoot people,” Derick retorted good-naturedly, glancing up from the pages of his book.

  “Yeah!” Tonie stuck out her tongue at Kenan and then added, “I'm saving myself for marriage!”

  “So that Fleeter you were doing in maintenance doesn't count?” Private Evan Chu, one of the Betas, rose immediately to the defence of his buddy, Pook…uh Kenan.

  “Of course not,” Tonie said with a smirk, “Fleet never counts.”

  Even though he maintained his typical scowl, Tom was glad to see them laughing and mucking about as they waited for the flight to begin. It felt like things were starting to normalise again after the last few months on the Rutherford. Carrying out a mission suited to their expertise instead of playing policeman to a ship full of dissatisfied and angry people would do a world of good for their morale.

  With any luck, this operation would be the beginning of a new chapter for all of them.

  V

  Olympus

  On the hangar deck of the AS Olympus, the largest battleship in the Alliance, the scientific team chosen by Dr. Nakamura made the final preparations for their survey mission to Gaia. With anticipation running high, the expedition was the tonic they needed after months of confinement and grief. Like the Sharks escorting them, they were eager to get underway. Discoveries awaited on the planet below and every second they spent waiting to leave felt like time squandered.

  Most of them were experts in their fields of study, mined from the numerous refugee ships trailing the Olympus, after it finally sighted the planet Gaia. Nakamura assembled the team with the aid of an experienced expedition leader, Dr. Olivia Hall. A foremost expert in the field of planetary surveying, her place in the fleet was secured long before they left Earth. Dr. Hall was essential for the colonisation of Gaia, and the Alliance was not about to let her take her chances with a lottery, no matter how poorly that sat with her.

  Their survival depended on it.

  For almost twenty years, Olivia was present for nearly every colonisation project in Sol. From Miranda to Neptune, whether it was a gaseous rock or an icy wasteland, Olivia and her team were there first, laying the groundwork to ensure the successful colonisation of the new frontier. Thanks to her contributions, humanity spread across Sol, beyond Earth and Lunar.

  In Nakamura's opinion, there could be no one better to determine if Babel was safe for humans.

  Sadly, due to Sol's premature destruction, not all of Olivia's survey team reached the fleet in time to escape. As a result, there were visible gaps in her team's roster and working together, they had cherry picked the best candidates from what remained of humanity's academic pool. Some had the skills necessary to be of value in the expeditions. Others were chosen because there was no one else left.

  It was a painful reminder of just how many brilliant minds were lost.

  * * *

  “So, your brother doesn't know you're on this mission?” Dr. Tamara Adelaide, specialist exobiologist, asked Engineer Luke Rickman as he secured their scanning equipment in the appropriate cases.

  “Nope, “Luke snapped the metal lock into place and ran his hands along the seam of the case to make sure he got the others as well. “We spoke to each other a few weeks ago but not since. You know what com traffic is like.”

  She did. Once the list of survivors was released across the fleet, there was an unholy swell of people demanding to talk to loved ones after discovering them on other ships. All were desperate to regain the sense of family the nova had so effectively destroyed. Unfortunately, this meant the com systems were running around the clock and people were stuck on waiting lists that were days long for the chance of any link time.

  Luke knew he was lucky.

  When news of the nova first became public, Luke was working on Haumea, one of the planetesimals in the Kuiper Belt, as an engineer. Like the rest of the station's contractors, he'd headed home immediately because family was where you wanted to be when the end came. He made it as far as Ganymede when the sun went nova prematurely without ever seeing his parents or siblings again. In the last days of Sol, communication traffic was so frenzied, with everyone trying to contact their loved ones, Luke was barely able to call home before it was too late.

  When he did speak to them, he was allotted a savagely short five-minute transmission to say goodbye to his parents and sister Lily. At that point, he had no idea what happened to Derick.

  A month after they passed through the Ribbon, when Luke was still devastated from the loss of his family, he learned his older brother survived the destruction of Sol. It was a miracle he was not about to question because, until he saw Derick's name appear on the survivors list, he truly believed he was all that was left of his family.

  When he spoke to Derick for the first time a few weeks later, the sheer rush of emotion at hearing Derick's voice almost moved him to tears. Even Derick's typical Marine bravado had crumbled. For one moment, they were two siblings taking comfort in each other because everyone else they loved was dead. Now, all they had was each other and those bonds never felt more desperately urgent than now, when they were on the edge of everything.

  “I'm glad,” Tamara's soft voice hid the sadness of her own loss, even if she was happy for him. Her mother and brother died together in their family home at Okinawa. If not for the appointment to Dr. Hall's team, she would have died with them. She was fully prepared to. However, Matsuko Adelaide, ever the pragmatist, insisted she accept the lottery ticket. A chance at life should never be squandered, she said.

  Tamara liked to think Matsuko and Aaron spent their last days together as if they were celebrating the holidays, by sharing memories and giving thanks to God for all the good times.

  The flutter in her voice made Luke pause immediately and glance over his shoulder. “You okay?” He eyed her with concern.

  “Yes,” she nodded, wondering how odd it was they'd forged this friendship when in the beginning she could barely stand him.

  They met on Ganymede. Luke was trading his expertise on ships for passage back to Earth and his family while Tamara was leaving hers to join Dr. Hall's team. To her, he was nothing more than a skirt chaser who bedded every woman in sight. Tall, handsome, and broad shouldered, Luke's blue eyes and charming smile could have been labelled a weapon of mass attraction. Tamara remained uninterested, finding his cocky, arrogant swagger obnoxious instead of charming.

  Everything changed with Earth's destruction and they found themselves on the same ship, sharing the same grief. Pai
n had made them friends. Throughout the next five months, their sorrow forged the friendship she now came to cherish. He was her best friend and filled the void left behind by Aaron and her mother.

  “We're going to get through this, right?” He stood up and rested his hand on her shoulders, making sure she looked up when he spoke.

  She was such a little thing, he thought, standing over her. Just an inch over five-foot, she was a porcelain beauty with Asian and Caucasian parentage. Hidden behind the nerd-girl-chic glasses was a beautiful woman who reminded him of Lilly. As any big brother would, he'd slotted Tamara into the role of little sister and saw it as his duty to protect her from the meaner things in life. Taking care of Tamara during the voyage through the emptiness of space saved him from going crazy.

  He didn't want her to think she was any less important to him just because Derick was still alive.

  “Yes,” she rewarded him with a grateful smile. “We will.”

  “Good,” he lowered down and planted a soft kiss on her forehead, “You'll meet Derick, and then it will be three of us, just like the Three Musketeers. All for one and one for all.”

  Tamara laughed, finding his enthusiasm infectious. “Right,” she beamed. “One for all and all for one.”

  * * *

  Something about guiding a smaller ship onto a larger one, while going approximately a billion miles an hour NEVER got old. It didn't matter if the smaller ship wasn't a Zephyr or a fully decked out troop carrier. To Jules, flying was familiar and welcome. After months of pulling decisions out of her ass (or so it felt), it felt satisfying to do something she knew she was good at.

  It was certainly a far smoother ride than the last time she put a hopper on a ship.

  “Firefly, this is Olympus Flight Deck, Chief Edmund at your service.”

  Jules smiled as she tapped her headset to activate the link and leaned forward. A busy landing bay loomed overhead and there was a single figure standing on the edge. The man's arms were in the air, a glow light in each hand above his head. “I see you, Chief.”

  “Roger that, Captain Curran. Once you breach the barrier, proceed to slot eleven.”

  “Slot eleven, aye, Chief.” Yep. Familiar felt good.

  * * *

  Despite the Olympus being larger than the Rutherford, Jules could see they suffered the same lack of space. Crates, crates, and even more crates lined the walls of the flight deck, secured into place all the way to the overhead ceiling. On her ship, most storage lockers were converted to habitable space and the cargo was stuffed anywhere they would stay put. She suspected it was the same here.

  Catching sight of cots lining the back of the flight deck, Jules realized they must be for the deck crew. The Rutherford's crew did the same, giving up their berth for the passengers. Hell, they even had people living in some of the hoppers. She made sure every single one of them was acknowledged for their sacrifice with letters of recommendation. For whatever it was worth.

  Following the crew member's hand signals, again so familiar, Jules waited until his gloved hands fisted before she started the landing sequence. The Firefly bumped softly against the deck and, 3.2 seconds later, a light blinked green on her console. The maglocks were in place and they were secure. She popped her harness and reached for the intercom.

  “Major Merrick, we are on deck. You're clear.”

  Popping his harness, Tom keyed his headset to respond. “Thanks, lu… uh Captain,” Once again Tom kept himself from finishing the word and cleared his throat, ignoring Derick's pointed smirk. “I don't imagine this will take long. We'll give the squints some help loading up and then we'll be off. General Connor wanted us to get down there quick smart. Keep the engine running,” he said into his headset as he moved towards the hatch.

  “I'll keep her hot,” Jules grinned as she got to her feet to stretch.

  * * *

  On Earth, Olivia Hall hadn't had much of a family. No husband, no kids… not even a goldfish. Well, she did try to make a husband work once but Sayed felt he had to compete with her job… and how could he, when the thrall of visiting unknown worlds had such a hold on her?

  They hadn't lasted long, and she'd gone back to the people she was more comfortable with. Her team was hand-picked and while some of them were young, they were ambitious and knowledgeable in their fields. Some, like Luke Rickman and Tamara Adelaide, she considered her 'kids'. Others were sisters and brothers, their loyalty earned by the shared dangers of their adventures.

  Standing in the prep area they'd been given on the flight deck, Olivia watched her team check and recheck their equipment. Clad in a version of the Sharks field fatigues, they were energetically conversing, stuffing things in pockets, and running last minute calibrations.

  Finally, her dark gaze fell on Luke and warmed. At first, she had debated on bringing him on this trip. What if any of the 'projects' his genius level IQ started was a cure for cancer or a way to feed everyone and she was keeping him from that? The scientist in her wanted to make him stay put.

  The 'auntie' she was to him had cashed in a favour to learn his brother would be one of their Shark escorts. Despite being brothers, they were adults and had not been reunited. A fuel conservation mandate limited travel to only emergencies and reuniting minor children with their family members. Anyone else, like Luke and his brother, would have to wait until they made Gaia.

  Olivia wasn't about to consider 'if' they made Gaia.

  “Dr. Hall?”

  “Yes?” She looked up to find a young crewman standing before her.

  “Your ride's here, ma'am. Bay eleven,” he indicated a just-landed shuttle on the other side of the loading bay.

  “Wonderful. Thank you,” Olivia smiled, a soft hint of Georgia peach in her voice and turned to address her team. “Ladies and gentlemen, our limo has arrived,” she announced, glad to see the team perking up even more at the news. She couldn't blame them. They weren't the only ones counting the hours until they could put boots on the ground and breathe fresh air. “Dr. Akiyama?”

  The Japanese oceanographer looked up from the case she was securing. “Yes, Dr. Hall. Ready!” Hanae shot her a grin that belied the natural serious countenance of the young woman's face.

  “Good. Dr. Adelaide?” Olivia smiled warmly at the other younger woman. “Ready?”

  “Uh, yes ma'am. I mean, Dr. Hall,” Tamara piped up, pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose. “We're all packed here, now, thank you.”

  Luke winced and shook his head. She was quite painful to watch sometimes. “It's secured, Liv!” He grinned with a wave, winking at the woman and telling her he was still not above chasing cougars.

  Olivia shot him a wry look. “Put your crazy back in, boy,” she told him affectionately. He and Tamara Adelaide made an odd pair of friends and she wondered how the two came to such a relationship. Dr. Adelaide was like a younger version of Olivia and Luke… well. She'd known tomcats with more shame. She just hoped his brother wasn't such a flirt. “Let's go, we don't want to keep them waiting.” Speaking of the other Rickman, Olivia turned back to her own gear so she wouldn't give away her surprise.

  Tamara waited until Olivia's head was turned before she reached out and swatted Luke on the back of his head.

  “Ow! What the fuck…?”

  “She's old enough to be your mother.” Tamara shook her head and picked up the case at her feet.

  “She's not my mother and I'm not ageist.”

  “Oh, my god,” Tamara's jaw dropped open, staring at him aghast. “You're a total man whore, aren't you?”

  Luke snorted. “What, you just figured this out…?”

  * * *

  When the ramp extended outwards, Tom and Derick stepped out of the hatch first and scanned the bay, seeing the same desperate situation playing across the ships left in the fleet. From the files he'd read before the mission, he knew exactly which one Dr. Hall was and, while he wasn't a regular subscriber of Scientific Sol, he knew her by reputation. If they were going
to survey the planet destined to be the new home of mankind, at least they had the best person for the job.

  “That's Dr. Hall,” Tom pointed her out. “She's surveyed more new sites than I've been on missions. Logged a fair bit of space time, which means she won't be a complete pain in the arse.”

  “Cool.” Derick's gaze homed in on the dark-skinned woman. She was wearing fatigues, more generic than the Sharks. As appearances went, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. Shouldn't someone in her line of work have a fedora and a bullwhip, like some kind of Indiana Jones? His gaze didn't stay long on her, shamelessly half-listening to Tom as he surveyed the deck.

  Derick couldn't help it. He was on the Olympus, so close to…

  “Luke!!!” Giving up all pretext, Derick jumped off the shuttle ramp and broke into a run, shoving his way past the flight deck crew and other people.

  Luke forgot what he was doing the instant he saw his brother and dropped the case he was carrying onto the deck with a clang. Breaking into a wide grin, he didn't realise he was running forward until he saw Derick inches away from him.

  “Holy fuck! Brainiac!” Derick swept Luke into a bear hug and nearly lifted off his feet as he hugged him tightly.

  “Bigfoot!” Luke bit back, laughing at the nicknames their big brother Chris had bestowed on them as kids. Even though he was grinning from ear to ear, his eyes were moist, unprepared for the swell of emotion gripping him at seeing Derick face to face. There was so much to say, so much to mourn, but it could wait for now. Later, they'd get drunk and talk about the losses. For now, they were together, and it was all that mattered.

  * * *

  Tom was smiling as he watched the meeting between Derick and his brother. He was happy for the big bloke. Derick had been close to his siblings, and the death of almost all of them affected him more than he let on. To Tom, Luke was as much family as Derick, but he chose not to intrude on the reunion. Instead, he headed towards the head squint, a woman who demanded respect, even from the likes of him.