Duncan.

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As he pulled himself down with a rope, Duncan saw Terra and Jessie in the distance. He had to admit, he was proud of her. She had been able to hold off two monsters that had been within the shield. But the attack only made this planet that much worse. Even the trees could hold something that could kill them now. Every tree they passed by, could become a threat at any time. From now on, they would need to watch and scan all pod trees just to be sure. There was no other choice.

Putting weight on his healing leg, he smiled as he felt the weight and didn’t feel pain. That was good, he had thought it was being healed but now he was sure.

With a spring in his step, he walked over to them. As they all reached each other, Duncan grinned. “So I hear that you two had an adventure or two. Well, well. You even find something to do in this shied?”

Duncan heard Terra splutter and he just only chuckled.

“Sir, it was a bit more than that!” Terra said as Jessie only laughed a bit. She looked at him and scowled. “Jessie!”

“What? An adventure is only called as such if you live through it! We’re alive, and that’s just what makes this an adventure!” Jessie said with a grin.

Duncan nodded and stopped chuckling. “Well, that’s enough of that. What happened?”

“I don’t know how to start. I don’t even know what happened. Maybe we were too loud, but we were all talking about what to do next. I mean, look,” Terra said as she pointed at the closet pit.

Duncan looked down and scowled. “Oh. Those don’t look like normal heat shields at all.”

“And like I told you, we don’t have any idea what civilization made this thing! It could be anything, and I mean anything at all. We’re still in possible danger sir,” Terra said, fear in her voice.

“And there’s the fact that there are only two of those. One way was open,” Jessie said and shrugged as they looked at him. “Personally. I think this is a dock of some kind. All in all, we need to get in.”

Duncan only sighed and looked at Terra. “So our volunteer has had no luck at all?”

“None. She thinks, and I agree with her. The hardware and the software are set up so that the ship's systems are apart. Whatever’s running the hull? We can’t access it using that system as a middleman. It’s just impossible,” Terra said, anger and fruition in her voice.

Duncan nodded, and then he looked at the missing part of the shield. “So how long will that take to fix?”

Jessie coughed and Duncan turned his head at him.

Jessie looked into Duncan’s eyes, and Duncan saw the truth in them. So when Jessie spoke, Duncan listened.

“I won’t hide, it’ll be fast,” Jessie admitted and then he sighed “I’ll be honest, the most work will be the physical labor to set it up. I just need a replacement console to tie into the system. Once that happens and all the systems exchange ‘handshakes’ it’ll be up. So maybe half an hour once I get to work.”

Duncan nodded and then he shook his head in awe. “I’ve worked with mechanics before. And some during battle. They’d take an hour, at least.”

“Since the war, the tech’s come a long way. The fact it took so long was the reason the company made this model. At least, that was what I heard once,” Jessie said with a mocking grin.

For a moment, Duncan just stared, then he grinned and chuckled, shaking his head in awe.

“Must have been from some source in the company then. That’s how all rumors start,” Duncan said completely straight-faced.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Duncan had never thought much of the rumor Bounty Hunters were sometimes called in as guards. But it seemed there was more truth there than he had ever known. The things that this man had seen, it was just something beyond all he could ever know.

But then Duncan’s mood fell as he looked at the monster’s carcass. “But that fool, Leo1 is going to give me problems about this. Bleeding heart fool.”

“They were trying to kill us, and they struck first. Jessie figured a biosample would make that one calm down. But maybe the fact that one ran away can be painted as a mad one forcing the other one to follow it. Maybe we could even say we saved the second one. Maybe even release it to the wild?” Terra asked.

Duncan looked at her, opened his mouth, and then closed it. He had to admit, that was possible. The fool might even buy that idea. Yes, the more that he thought of it, the better it sounded. All they needed to do was present it in the best way possible.

But then there was something else to think about now. They were in danger, and that was going to attract predators. If any of his experience with wild beasts in the zoo aboard the ship was anything to go on, then this might have been the dinner bell. But could they afford to contain that threat when there was that might be building beneath them? “No choice here, no choice at all.”

“Sir? What is it?” Terra asked and Duncan looked at her and sighed.

“What’s going on is I’m being a realist. Focus on the shield, get it good and strong. We’ll head into the whatever it is tomorrow. That has to be the orders,” Duncan said gruffly.

As Terra looked at him, Duncan saw Jessie nod in agreement. At least that one understood the problems before them.

“I’ll have Bradford tell Leo1 the order of what happened. That way, the best diplomat we have could work on him. Let us below know when the shield’s back in one piece. Good luck!” Duncan said as he saluted the two of them.

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Terra

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Terra looked at Duncan’s back as he walked towards the capsule. She had expected the orders would be what he had commanded, but they were the best case. There was just as much of a chance that Duncan would say to focus on whatever was beneath them all. But the chief was practical, that much could be said about him.

“So, half an hour? That fast?” Terra asked, turning to Jessie.

“Like I said, that’s all. So should I go and do it?” Jessie asked and Terra nodded.

“Yeah, but not alone. Dalila! Get over here!” Terra called out once she saw Dalila moving around the broken perimeter. She looked at Jessie as he looked at her. “You’ll need help, and she’s good.”

Jessie just kept looking at her silently as Dalila walked over, and Terra knew he disagreed with her. But there was an old saying, two minds were better than one. Getting the shield up was all that mattered. Feelings had to be put on the back burner, results were all that mattered now.

“What’s up?” Dalila asked as she reached them

“Your job’s over. I want you to go with Jessie, and help him set up the shield. That’s what’s important right now,” Terra said and Dalila nodded.

“Not the first time the universe has forced my plans to change. So after you senior,” Dalila said with a smirk.

Jessie looked at Terra and she saw a slight edge in her eyes. He nodded after a moment, and then he nodded. “Come on girl, follow me. Maybe we can get everything set up before we leave the capsule.”

As they walked away, Terra looked around and nodded, trying to get a handle on this. The pack of things that had attacked them had been because they had intruded into their territory. That was the one thing that explained why they had chased Jones. But here they were, and the shield had already attracted a swarm of those Flying Worms. The chance that something else would come at them because they were at risk? She didn’t want to even think about what the chances were. But she could see that they were pretty high.

“Excuse me, Terra? Do you have a few minutes to talk?” A soft female asked from behind her.

She turned and saw Qiana standing there looking a little worried.

“Qiana, of course. There’s always a bit of time to talk when nothing’s happening. What can I do for you?” Terra asked with a small smile. She knew that what had happened since the crash was bothering a lot of people. And sometimes people needed to talk, especially medics who saved people. “Is this about our prisoner?”

“No, nothing about him. I just…. I needed to talk to you,” Qiana said as she started to look around, her eyes a bit wide.

Terra was starting to get worried, and she couldn’t understand why. “Okay, okay. I can talk about anything.”

“It’s Jessie,” Qiana said with a soft edge to her voice.

Terra blinked, not expecting that. Then she remembered that Qiana had gone towards Jessie after the monster escaped. “Oh, is this about how Jessie was working after what happened to him? Trust me, he knows when he has to step back. He’s…..”

“He should be dead,” Qiana whispered.

Terra blinked and looked at Qiana, her heart freezing. “What?”

“People hitting shields at that speed? They get hurt! And he hit it head-first! People die from that!” Qiana said with a hard edge.

Terra blinked, and then she looked into space. This wasn’t the first time that she had thought that there was more to her friend. But he was a Bounty Hunter, and they had one type of special nanite. The chance that they had more, wasn’t a stretch. But one that could heal people? No. The Guilds would never keep that hidden away. There were ways to explain them, and to share them!

No, if something saved Jessie then it wasn’t something that the Guild had given him. It had to be something else. And the best thing that she could do was keep Qiana from looking into it more!

“Look, what do you think he is?” Terra asked and she hoped that Qiana had something that Terra could disprove. A lot was riding on making sure that a mob didn’t attack Jessie or the other deckhands.

“I think he’s special forces, that’s the only thing that makes sense,” Qiana said with a soft voice.

Terra blinked, and then she almost laughed. Jessie was a Bounty Hunter, not special forces! But then she remembered the rumors about Special Forces and she almost laughed. “Okay, you mean how people say their given Gene work to make them harder? But what would a Special Forces operative be doing here?”

“That’s what I can’t figure out! I mean what could have been on our ship?” Qiana asked with a strange edge to her voice.

Terra looked at Qiana, and then she nodded. That was something to be said about that. The ship was just a normal cruise ship, and it was perfect to escape the reality of the universe. A few months or a Rejuvenation Cycle to just relax. People did strange things to handle the weight of the years since Rejuvenation. And Purpose was just something that a lot of people tried to find. That was why she was here, and maybe that was why Qiana was here too.

Terra grinned as a perfect lie suddenly appeared in her mind. That was perfect! It played on what Qiana thought she knew, and that explained everything! “Qiana, think. Everyone needs something to recover. And the company has a lot of good press with the Government. Think what that means, he’s probably here for a vacation. Spend some time and work his way up to security. Then when he’s needed or ready, he can just go back.”

Qiana just blinked, and then she laughed a little. “Oh, Nova! I thought that maybe he was here to kill someone! That makes so much sense!”