AwayTeam (9 page)

"I'll bet my left nut you've got something planned, haven't you?"

"Sure have. What fun would it be if I didn't? Let me just say we'll need to be at our best for the next time we get intimate."

"I can't wait. But you're right. At the moment I couldn't think of anything more perfect than lying here in your arms."

Ely did feel tired. He'd only had a short nap between shifts. He felt his eyelids get heavy, unable to do anything but let sleep overtake him. He did so in Emerson's arms, his dreams filled with the wonder they had just shared.

Chapter Ten

When Ely and Emerson were woken six hours later, they showered each other and then dressed. After eating a small breakfast of ration bars, full of all the nutrients the body needed, and ship issue coffee, they reported for duty.

Commander Okinawa led them to the cockpit. When there, the man barked at Kale and Braden to get some rest, before adding, "I know you have a class one pilot's license, Cadet Emerson, so you'll be in control of the shuttle for this rotation, all right?"

Emerson saluted and replied, "Yes, sir. Ely, can you assist me?"

"Sure thing." Ely sat at the co-pilot's chair. "What do you want me to do?" Ely had no idea about the workings of piloting anything, let alone a shuttle whilst in the wake of a starship's engine emission. The view from the screen was a dazzling white, even with the sun filter on and shields enhanced beyond maximum. Ely couldn't help but think of the energy field, and how it was helping to keep them in position. He understood that a lot more than all the readings in front of him at the moment. To him it looked like they were flying blind, which in a way, he supposed they were. A schematic lit up as soon as Ely sat, showing the ship's relative position and everything close to it, including the
Mandrake
.

"Just tell me if any reading on the panel in front of you goes into the red. I can do the rest," Emerson said.

Ely couldn't help but catch the smirk on Kale's lips and a flick to Braden with his gaze as the man vacated his seat for Emerson. He also couldn't help but wonder if Braden's appetite for dick would extend to Kale's fine piece of equipment. He sure hoped it did. It would be nice if they became a couple, too. Then again, Braden did have Carl.

Kale and Braden left the cockpit.

"We need to set up a computer link between us and the
Mandrake,
" Commander Okinawa began. "The shuttle's sensors may be working, but the diagnostic power on the bridge is far better equipped to deal with such a strange phenomenon. I have spoken with the captain and he is in agreement. Cadet Emerson, can you start the sensor sweep? Cadet Ely, patch us in."

Ely and Emerson acknowledged Commander Okinawa, but continued with their study.

At first Ely was overwhelmed by the strange layout and function of the station in front of him. Sure, during basic training he had been shown many flight panels, but for the here and now, when the situation was tense already, any confidence he felt had slipped away as he carried out his commander's orders. A mistake in training meant a black mark on a record somewhere. A mistake now could mean no more cuddles with Emerson.

Many times he had to stop and pause, think about what panel or sequence of panels did in relation to each other. All the while keeping an eye on any readout that nudged into the red so he could inform Emerson.

Thankfully, Emerson was in the pilot's chair and in control, the co-pilot only there for backup and support. Otherwise, Ely was certain he would have pressed a series of panels that would have sent the shuttle
Phoenix
right into the back of the
Mandrake
as he tried to activate a patch.

After a rather tense moment, the sweat beading on Ely's brow, for he could feel the stare of Commander Okinawa bore into him from behind, Captain Holloway's face appeared on a floating holovid screen in front of him. Ely sighed relief. That meant one thing, the patch had worked.

"I hear you're flying under difficult circumstances, commander," the captain said with his booming register, coming closer to the screen. His rugged features, thick black eyebrows and Roman nose, dominated the link screen.

"Yes, sir. But thankfully I have a good crew of eager and knowledgeable cadets to back me up."

Ely couldn't help but smile when he heard those words. Commander Okinawa was a great man, made evident by the fact that any credit given was shared amongst his team. In that moment, Ely was pleased he had chosen engineering as a career path. Pleased he had found himself where he was in life even though there was no way of telling if the
Phoenix
could ever get back to the
Mandrake's
shuttle bay. Was the energy wave that surrounded them a permanent thing?

"That's good to hear," the captain continued. "Have you started the sensor sweep yet? I'll get my men on it as soon as you transmit the first data stream."

Commander Okinawa asked, "Cadet Emerson, has the sweep been activated?"

"Yes, sir," Emerson replied.

"Good." Commander Okinawa paused, more for etiquette than anything else, making sure the distinction between him talking to Emerson and the captain could be recognised. "Yes, captain, the sensors are active. We have calibrated them to report directly to the bridge, so you should be receiving at any moment."

The captain turned his attention away, nodded to someone out of screen shot, then came back to look at them, a smile on his weathered lips. "Yes, we're getting some information now. Give us a moment to start making sense of it. Until then, over and out."

The screen went blank.

Commander Okinawa let out a sigh, the first time Ely had heard the man do such a thing. "Looks like we all we can do is sit and wait and hope that the shuttle can hold its position until we learn more."

Ely pressed a panel to make the link screen disappear, the schematic of the shuttle's relative position taking its place.

"I don't mean to sound out of line, but are you all right, sir?" Emerson asked, swivelling around in his chair so he could face the man.

"You're not being out of line. The welfare of an away team is paramount to its success. No, I'm just a little tired, that's all."

Ely knew that the commander had been working non-stop since before he arrived for work yesterday afternoon. Had the man worked all those hours without sleep?"

"Why don't you get some rest, Commander Okinawa. I'm sure cadet Ely and I can handle things. If something comes up that you need to know, we'll wake you immediately."

"It's highly irregular for a command officer to leave two cadets in charge of an away mission."

Ely said, "I think this is a highly irregular mission, sir."

Commander Okinawa let out a chuckle. "On that there will be no dispute." There was a moment of silence, before he added, "I'll be in my cabin. But if anything happens, you are to fetch me immediately. Am I clear on that, cadets?"

Ely and Emerson saluted, and said, "Yes, sir."

When the commander had left the cockpit, Ely turned to Emerson. "What's this surprise you've got in store for me later?"

Emerson's lip curled up, that twinkle in his eye Ely loved, returned. "Keep your attention on the panel. I don't want anything wrong happening while we've been given the responsibility of the mission."

Ely snapped his gaze back to the lights and dials at the touch of his fingertips. He loved it when Emerson got all stern and duty bound. Made him as sexy as all hell. "Soooo what is it?"

"I'm not telling you. It won't be a surprise then, will it?"

"No, but it'll get me prepared."

"Oh, you'll need preparing, that's for sure." Ely wasn't certain, but he swore Emerson was chuckling to himself. The groans and strain of the shuttle trying to maintain position between being ripped apart by the energy field or burnt to a cinder in the
Mandrake's
emissions were too loud for Ely to be sure. He'd bet his left nut that Emerson was enjoying every second Ely had to wait.

"Now you're just being a tease."

This time Emerson did laugh, one full and loud. "Oh, there will be teasing, too. Mark my words."

A readout flashed red, distracting Ely for a moment. It was the forward assembly stabilisers. "Sonny, I've got a red here."

"What? Where?"

Ely swallowed hard. "Looks like the stabilisers are getting a beating from all that exhaust."

"Do we need them?"

The question floored Ely for a moment. The forward stabilisers assisted in landings and lift-off, and seeing as neither was needed for the here and now, Ely would have to concur that they were a redundant piece of equipment, for now. "Not unless you're going to land the Phoenix inside the exhaust flutes of the
Mandrake
."

Emerson pressed panels and flicked a few switches, before he said, "They've been deactivated. Your panel should be a green now."

Ely breathed a sigh of relief. It was true. His panel for that section of the shuttle did indicate an all go. Ely returned his attention to the conversation before this minor crisis. "What will I need preparing for? And before you tell me you won't tell me, how can I get prepared for something I need to get prepared for if I don't know about it? Hmm?"

Again Emerson laughed. "No use trying to use that sort of logic on me. It won't work. You'll just have to wait and see, all right?"

"Fine. But I so want to rip your clothes off and tickle you all over for being such a cock tease, you know that?"

"That's the idea."

For the next few hours, nothing much happened expect the continual banter between Ely and Emerson. All that achieved in the end, was Ely wanting to get naked with Emerson and showing him just what someone could do when provoked all day. Images of Emerson writhing with pleasure underneath him, while he was inside him, dominated his thoughts.

Then a hail came through.

It was Captain Holloway, the man's face unmistakable. "We have some preliminaries from the scan. I'm sending them to you now."

Emerson snapped to attention and saluted. "Yes sir."

Ely did the same.

The captain smiled. "At least we know where we're going and when we'll get there."

"Sir?" Ely asked.

"It's all there for you to analyse, but from what we can figure out the energy field is distorting space. I'm not the best man to explain it, but suffice it to say, the alien signal we have been heading for is the cause of all this ruckus."

"So we're going to get to our intended destination a lot quicker than expected then, sir?" Emerson asked.

"That's about the sum of it. Anyway, it's all there. You'll have a day or so to go through it, get yourselves acquainted before we arrive. Holloway, over and out."

Emerson turned to Ely when the hail screen went blank and dissipated. "Do you know what this means, Ely?"

"No. What?"

"We're going to make a nine month trip in two days. The alien signal was coming from somewhere in the vicinity of Neptune. My, God, how exciting is this? We're going to be the first humans to ever see anything alien, and what's more, we're being pulled there, too. Seems we're wanted for something, don't you think?"

Ely shrugged his shoulders. He really couldn't care less about aliens. He joined the military for the sheer thrill of working on really big engines. The more powerful the better. "As long as all that excitement doesn't wear you out for tonight, I'm as happy as you are, Sonny."

Emerson smiled. "The news of this has only made me want to share what I have in mind with you even more."

"It has?"

Emerson nodded. "You'd better go wake up Commander Okinawa. He'll want to know about this."

For the longest moment, Ely was frozen. His mind was ticking over all the possibilities of what Emerson had planned. Or was he a real tease and had nothing planned? Ely just didn't know him well enough to work him out, and in the end that frustrated him. He wished he had asked Emerson out months ago.

Ely got up of his seat. "You're right, I'll go get the commander."

Emerson leaned over, grabbing Ely by his hand. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"You'll see."

Chapter Eleven

Commander Okinawa decided to wait until Braden and Kale were rested and ready for duty before he announced that there would be a briefing. Ely knew that the meeting was about the sensor findings. The computer had received all of the data back and the picture of their predicament was all that much clearer now.

When all were present, and Ely couldn't help but notice that Braden and Kale seemed to glow with the unmistakable aura of a couple who had just engaged in some intimate time, Commander Okinawa pressed the holovid display panel on the centre of the briefing table. A diagrammatic representation of the solar system came into view, the location of the
Mandrake
also pin-pointed.

 Kale was the only one not able to join them, he had to relieve Emerson and maintain the shuttle's position. If all of this information could tell them one thing, they didn't want to miss out on arriving at the alien signal with the
Mandrake
.

In fact, Ely could say the atmosphere inside the shuttle was electric, filled with anticipation. Even he couldn't help get a little curious about meeting an alien, if there was an alien waiting for them in the first place. A signal didn't necessarily mean that a ship was transmitting it. Then again, something had to be drawing them in. Ely just hoped that whatever it was, it was friendly.

"As we can see here, gentlemen," Commander Okinawa began as the diagram zoomed in on the
Mandrake
, "The energy field is folding space, causing the
Mandrake
, and indeed us, to move from one point to the next without the inherent problem of having to travel great distances." He paused, more for effect than anything else. "This all begs the question, what's pulling us in? We won't find that out until at least tomorrow morning when our sensors can get a better resolution of what it is in the orbit of Neptune."

Braden stood to attention. "If this thing has pulled us in without our consent, doesn't that make it a hostile, sir?