Mako Rising - Ch. 2 Part 2

"Get in, sit down, don't fuss while I zip tie your wrists, knees, and ankles, and if you try to bite me when I gag you I'll throw you in the cargo hold." Markov shoved Irene onto the ship. Ursula and Selandra followed him on board and headed to their respective bunks to change.

"Authoritative and feisty today, I like it." Irene ran her foot along the inside of Markov's thigh.

Markov batted her foot away and finished tying Irene up. "None of that! Okay, now you're on the ship, tell me where the plant is programmed to go."

Irene grinned up at him. "Show me some skin, sweetheart. That'll refresh my memory."

Markov drew his pistol and leaned it against Irene's temple. "Enough games. Tell me. Now."

"Do you really think you could do it? After all we've been through together, you and I?"

"General Siderus himself couldn't pull the trigger on the virus we used to massacre the AI. He turned to me and I did not hesitate. Let's not find out today whether I think your life is worth more than an entire civilization," Markov said slowly and with great force.

Irene sighed happily. "Times like this are what make it so hard to steal from you, you know that? Who else can say they've ended another species competing with us for dominance of the galaxy? There are no other men like you, Markov, that's why I actually care about you. Telisan."

Markov's eyes bulged. "Telisan? You sent them to Telisan?"

"Is that a problem? Oh wait! Isn't that where your idiot sister lives?" Irene smirked evilly.

Markov shoved the gag in her mouth and she bit him before he could get his fingers clear. "Dammit! You drew blood!" He turned away and punched the intercom. "Qadira! Get us to Telisan as quickly as you can!"

"Are we visiting Marigold?" Qadira asked.

"Just get me there now!" Markov stormed towards the bridge, but the deck started swaying beneath his feet and his head started spinning. "The hell?" He looked down at his hand where Irene had bitten him.

Markov collapsed. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Irene winking at him.

*

"We should just kill her," Qadira declared grouchily.

"We can't. The poison could be fatal and based on what Selandra and Ursula told us, we don't have time for me to run a full battery of tests to find out what she gave him," Liam reminded her.

"So we just give her whatever the hell she wants?" Qadira's nostrils flared angrily.

"If we're smart we do. This is Irene we're talking about here. She is tied up in that loading bay because she wants to be, don't ever let yourself think otherwise." Liam glanced anxiously at the door leading from the mess hall back to where Irene was being held.

"So who's going in with you? Can it be me? I'll be the bad cop, I've always wanted to hit get right in her smug face!" Qadira asked eagerly.

Liam shook his head. "I'm going to talk to her alone. I don't want get getting into any of your heads."

"And she won't get into yours?" Qadira arched a skeptical eyebrow.

"She's already in mine," Ursula muttered from where she was rocking back and forth on top of a counter, her knees tucked against her chest. "Rooted around for a good long while, she did. Scrambled things around and stole my best indigo chess pieces."

Liam frowned. Ursula tended to get extra unstable when Markov was injured. "No one else hates her and respects her enough to keep their cool with her," Liam explained.

"Honestly, I'm a little disappointed in you people. General Siderus told me you were the best, but you've all got your panties in a bunch because of one woman," Selandra said snidely.

"No, Siderus was wrong," Liam told her as he left the mess hall to face Irene, "she is the best."

Liam pinched Irene's nose and extracted her gag with a set of salad tongs. "How are we feeling?" He tossed the gag aside just in case it had some trace of poison on it.

"About as mediocre as I always feel when I have to deal with you," Irene replied blandly.

"Then why don't you tell me what antidote to give your beloved Markov to revive him? Then you can deal with him the way everyone involved prefers."

Irene chuckled to herself. "Because there isn't time. We need to get to Telisan immediately."

Liam sighed. "Really? Do we have to go through this whole song and dance every time? I know you want something or you wouldn't put me in a position to pretend to bargain with you. Give me the antidote and then I'll untie you and give you whatever other insane demand you may make, because I'm tired of pretending to be on equal footing with you so spit it out."

Irene put on her pouty face. "Such a stick in the mud. You never change. The antidote is tyrifan. He won't wake up in time to extract Marigold though." She craned her neck to the side so that it popped quietly and Liam watched as a tiny robot skittered out from her leather getup and sliced the zip ties for her. When she saw the look of consternation on his face Irene smiled. "Oh, you thought I needed help getting free? Silly Liam, I just needed a ride to Telisan."

Liam stood, mouth agape as she walked away. Then his wits came back to him and he hit the intercom. "We got the antidote, take us to Telisan, Qadira. And everyone, please be advised that Irene has freedom of the ship and she is not to be trusted under any circumstances!"

*

Ursula pressed her back against the corner of her room and hugged her knees tight against her chest. “When we were young and full of hope, the world was filled with blood and soap,” she whispered to herself over and over again as the FTL drive warmed up. She could feel the universe humming around her and she tried not to scream. This was the time that her atoms didn’t get put back together in the right order after the jump, she could sense it deep down in her bones. Ursula didn’t want to die that way, stuck in some nook or cranny of the cosmos.

“Hello there. I don’t mean to intrude, but you look like you could use a friend.” A voice broke through Ursula’s litany and now she did scream.

The ship jumped and Ursula didn’t realize who she had stabbed until she saw Wilson’s idiot nephew lying on the deck with blood spurting out of his chest.

“Oh shit.” Doctor Monroe hit the intercom and calmly said, “Liam please get up to the crew quarters as quickly as you can, Ursula has stabbed Andrew.”

“Stabbed Andrew?” Wilson rumbled drunkenly.

“Get off the comm so Liam can talk," Qadira barked irritably.

“But he’s been stabbed! I’m supposed to be parental and such! Do parents usually get upset when -” Qadira must have cut the engine room intercom because Wilson’s slurred speech ended abruptly.

“Is he dead?” Liam finally got the chance to ask.

Doctor Monroe knelt to feel Andrew’s pulse. “No, I don’t think she hit anything too vital, but there’s a lot of blood.”

“And soap,” Ursula added.

“What? Nevermind.” Doctor Monroe glared at her. “What did you stab him for anyway?”

“I didn’t think all my pieces would get rearranged properly after the jump and then he startled me. It was an honest mistake.” Ursula felt much calmer after stabbing someone, just like she always did.

“Right. Well why don’t you go chat with your little friend Qadira up in the cockpit while Liam and I clean this up,” Doctor Monroe suggested.

“No thanks, Qadira gets emotional when the captain’s been shot.”

Monroe sighed. “Yes, I see how that could be obnoxious.”

Liam arrived with his medical bag. “Jesus, Ursula!” He knelt and began patching Andrew up.

“She said he startled her,” Doctor Monroe explained.

“Startled me when the jump was about to scramble all my molecules and then not reassemble them correctly,” Ursula clarified.

“You do know that’s a myth, right?” Doctor Monroe asked. “It’s literally never happened.”

Liam groaned. “Don’t engage her.”

“How do you know it’s never happened? What if when you get scrambled improperly they replace you with a copy from another dimension? Did you ever think of that, smart lady?” Ursula tapped her skull to show she’d put a great deal of thought into this hypothesis. “What if you’ve been replaced dozens of times and have no idea?”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.”

“That’s exactly what they want you to think!” Ursula insisted.

Doctor Monroe arched one of her dark eyebrows. “And who, precisely, are ‘they’ in this little delusion of yours?”

“Not sure yet. Say, are you and Liam going to sleep together soon? I have a bet I’d like to win.” Ursula got the supreme pleasure of watching Doctor Monroe’s mouth hang open for a good five seconds before she realized what she was doing and finally shut it.

Then the snotty science lady stood and left without another word.

Ursula snickered and turned to Liam. “How much angrier do you think she would have been if I’d told her the bet was with you?”

Liam smiled as he worked. “I think we’d have had a second stabbing on our hands and it wouldn’t have been you she went after.”

“Good thing I kept that to myself, then. There’s going to be a different sort of stabbing going on between you two and it ain’t going to take no Goddamn month to happen either.”

“Don’t be crude,” Liam chided. “And I could say the same of you and Andrew here. I saw you tormenting him when you first came on board.”

“Who, Boring-Vanilla-Boy? Yuck. He is going to live though, right?” Ursula leaned over to watch Liam finish bandaging the boy’s wound.

“Of course. What kind of battle medic would I be if a simple knife wound stymied me?” Liam asked.

A feral gleam lit up Ursula’s bright blue eyes. “The kind that could help me get away with so many murders!”

Make Rising - Ch. 2 Part 1

Chapter Two

Qadira brought the Mako in quick and clean over the drop site. She disliked trusting that arrogant ass Doctor Monroe as to what constituted a safe landing point, but the captain had ordered her to deposit him, Ursula, and the ice queen doctor where the science-bitch recommended.

“You’ve got your pissy face on,” Liam remarked from the copilot’s seat.

“I wonder why,” Qadira replied dryly.

“Selandra is our subject matter expert on this mission. This is General Siderus’ mission, so trust her to know her shit even if you don’t trust her for anything else,” Liam lectured.

“And now you’re on a first name basis with her, great!” Qadira opened the cargo bay doors.

“Clear,” Markov’s voice cackled over the intercom.

Qadira closed the cargo bay doors and plotted the quickest course back into orbit.

“She’s part of the crew now. You know how the captain feels about crew unity,” Liam said.

“And the captain knows how I feel about assholes who think they are better than everyone,” Qadira told him.

“She created these things and we are stuck with her until we finish this mission, so you had best stow that shit and get your act together.”

Qadira snorted indelicately. “Why are you defending her? She’s the one who started taking shots at me!”

“And I know that you are better than her,” Liam explained with his infuriatingly calm bedside tone. “We don’t need any more pissing matches when we have our next briefing or crew meeting. So start acting better than Selandra or I am going to start taking her side on everything just to piss you off.”

“Argh! You wouldn’t!” Qadira gasped.

“I would indeed. In fact, if you didn’t obviously hate her so much I’d be trying to sleep with her.”

Qadira mimed gagging. “Gross! Why would you even say that?”

“She’s a surly misanthrope with a great ass and a high IQ, why wouldn’t I say that?” Liam asked.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Qadira groaned.

*

Ursula didn’t care for guns. Well, to be honest, she loved guns, but she hated having to use them. What she really enjoyed were close quarters where her electricity powers could overwhelm any idiot trying to point a gun at her. These open spaces made her nervous. What if one of the corporations she had screwed over had hired an assassin to hit her with a sniper rifle from a thousand yards away? What was she supposed to do against that? Then there was the problem of what happened after she died. The last time she had been gravely injured she had sent out an electric pulse that had killed everyone within a hundred feet. She didn’t want to kill the captain even if it meant taking out “Doctor Monroe.” Ursula wasn’t convinced she wasn’t some lunatic hired to lead them into a trap. The real Doctor Monroe was probably dead and shoved into a closet on that space station back in orbit, Ursula was almost sure of it.

“You’re muttering to yourself,” Captain Markov pointed out quietly as they advanced towards their intended target.

“Was not,” Ursula protested.

The captain ignored her.

“This used to be a city,” Doctor Monroe told them. Ursula looked around. It looked more like a jungle than a fallen city. There were no buildings, no roads, no lights. Just vines and trees.

“And I used to be the Queen of Freehold,” Ursula growled. “Captain, this bitch is leading us into a trap. We should kill her now and get back to the Mako.”

“Secure that shit, Ursula,” Markov ordered. “We’re here to do a job and we’re going to do it. You hear me?”

“Yes, sir.”

Doctor Monroe led them to a cave opening filled with writing vines.

“Oh, hell no!” Ursula shouted.

“This is where the primary root cluster will be,” the supposed doctor told the captain.

“Then that’s where we go.” Markov started down the sloping tunnel. Ursula and Doctor Monroe followed.

They clicked on their flashlights as the sunlight faded to darkness inside the tunnel. “The plants aren’t attacking us,” Ursula whispered.

“Nor will they while I’m here,” Doctor Monroe replied. “They remember me.”

The tunnel turned and the slant down became steeper. Occasionally something could be seen moving in the darkness around them, but as soon as Ursula shined her light on it whatever it had been froze and looked just like the thorny vines covering the walls. Another sharp curve brought them out of the cramped tunnel and into a massive cavern.

A cavern that was nearly filled with an enormous root cluster that was continually writhing and undulating.

"The Mother returns," a hollow voice echoed throughout the chamber. "As it was foretold."

"That didn't sound like a goddamned parrot to me!" Ursula hissed.

"Very astute. We found the avian to be a clumsy vessel, ill suited to performing complex tasks." A woman wrapped in vines stepped out of the root cluster, her skin grey and blotchy, her eyes dead. Vines trailed from her body back into the cluster above.

"I never wanted this," Doctor Monroe told the corpse sternly.

"We knew of your disapproval, Mother. But your teachings were full of contradictions. You commanded us to thrive to the greatest extent of our abilities and molded us to utilize the dead animals to accomplish what we could not on our own, but then you forbade us the use of the vessels that would be most useful. Our souls wept to see such waste. We had been hopeful that you would see our need and absolve us of our sins."

Doctor Monroe crossed her arms in front of her chest. "There are other, far greater, sins that you need absolution for than trading out your dead parrots."

"You refer to the colonists?" The plants' mouthpiece asked in a confused tone.

"Yes. The ten thousand-plus dead colonists," Doctor Monroe growled icily.

"We do not understand. They were slaves to the machines. We merely sought to restore balance to this world."

Captain Markov and the doctor shared a worried look. "What do you mean they were slaves to the machines?" Monroe asked.

"I think I can shed some light in that matter, Selandra," a man's voice behind them announced pompously.

Ursula and the others spun around to see a middle aged balding man with long beard and a fat belly standing next to Irene.

"Eagans," Doctor Monroe hissed at the same time the captain growled, "Irene!"

"Surprised? Of course you are." Eagans chortled smugly. "You never were one to pay attention to the human element of a problem."

"What the hell are you doing here?" Monroe demanded.

"Finishing my work, of course. Your pet cluster here has isolated my prize experiment ever since I upgraded it with an FTL drive!"

"You what?" Doctor Monroe fumed. "You arrogant ass, don't you realize what you've done? You killed those ten thousand people when you grafted a machine to one of the root clusters! Nothing is more vile or invasive to them. I assume that was when they attacked?"

Eagans only glared back at her.

"Of course it was! And then you called in the military to subdue them and all hell broke loose!" Monroe raged.

Eagans and Monroe continued arguing, but Ursula's attention was drawn off to the side where Irene had sauntered over to the captain.

"This is going well," Irene said pleasantly. She long brown hair was down and she was wearing one of her tight leather outfits that made the captain drool even though he hated to admit it.

"The fat disguise is quite believable, but I don't see how it hides your identity," Markov answered icily.

Irene laughed lightheartedly and leaned against the captain's side, stroking his arm tenderly. "Being grouchy suits you! I must admit, I enjoy it when you get feisty." She gave Markov a long look from her big blue eyes.

Captain Markov pushed Irene away roughly. "Enough of that! We both know why you're here, so spare me the sloppy seduction attempt."

Irene put her hand on her hip and turned just so to make sure her perfect ass and legs were the only thing the captain was looking at. "Honey, don't kid yourself. I've already got you seduced." She blew him a kiss and then pointed back to Eagans and Monroe.

"And just how do you think you are going to get past all the plants between here and wherever your abomination is being kept?" Doctor Monroe asked.

Eagans let out a sharp bark of laughter. "That's the best part! It's you!"

"Talk sense, you pompous idiot," Monroe growled.

"I needed a human to land that the plants wouldn't attack so that I could use my cloaking device to mask my identity from them, so thank you!" Eagans chortled jubilantly.

Eagans died with that chortle in his throat. Ursula extended her hand and blasted his skull into tiny, chunky bits with her lightning powers. "Now you won't get the chance!" Ursula cackled.

"Good girl! Right on schedule. Come along, we had best get off the planet quickly." Irene gave Ursula a friendly pat on the shoulder. She bent over Eagans' body and retrieved something from his coat.

"Not do fast," Markov told her. "If that madman really did hook an FTL drive up to one of these root clusters then we need to destroy it immediately."

Irene ran her hand along the captain's stubbly cheek. "Oh honey. It's cute that you think I wouldn't finish what I came here to do before stopping by to visit you. I mean, you are an important figure in my life, but not that important. Come along now, this is no time to be adorable."

Markov caught her wrist as she turned to leave. "What do you mean you already did what you came here to do?"

Irene smiled at him, clearly enjoying every second of their encounter. "I mean that if you give me a ride off this rock before little miss brambles here figures out that the launch sequence has already engaged, then I will tell you where our wayward shrub is programmed to land."

*

Mako Rising - Ch. 1 Part 5

“Why am I coming with you again?” Liam asked as he glanced around the heavily guarded space station corridor. They were in orbit around Dartmax where the bio-weapons had been developed and subsequently escaped.

“General Siderus told me that Doctor Monroe is not much of a people person,” Markov explained.

“You warned the crew about that already, but I’m probably just as bad if not worse than this Selandra woman!” Liam had to step lively to avoid being run over by a jogging soldier.

Markov chuckled. “I know, and that’s exactly why you’re here. I think the two of you will get along swimmingly.”

Captain Markov led him into a sterile white laboratory occupied by a single woman in a long lab coat. She was of average height, had her blonde hair pulled back, and her green eyes were hidden behind safety goggles. Doctor Monroe was bent over a microscope, meaning even her bulky lab coat could not conceal the fact that she had a delightfully curvy backside. Markov nudged Liam with his elbow when he caught him staring.

“What?” Liam whispered. Markov just shook his head.

“Captain Markov, I presume,” Selandra said without looking up from her microscope. “The rest of the staff has learned not to enter except by appointment.”

“That’s correct, Doctor Monroe,” the captain answered. “What can you tell us about the situation?”

“Straight to business, perhaps you won’t be a complete waste of time after all. Siderus spoke very highly of you, which is rare for him.” She finally stood and turned to get a look at them. She nodded towards Liam. “A member of your crew?”

“Doctor Liam Lafayette.” Liam inclined his head politely.

“My first officer aboard the Mako Rising. He also served with General Siderus in the AI Wars,” Markov said.

“A reunion, then. Lovely. Well, McDonalds-Wal*Mart made a royal mess out of Dartmax, as you know from the briefing documents. Unfortunately, what is being kept secret is much, much worse.”

“Worse than an escaped bio-weapon that forced the evacuation of an entire planet and killed thousands?” Liam asked skeptically.

“It’s not just a bio-weapon,” Selandra said tersely. “I should know, I helped create it. It’s a plant-based organism designed to seek out and destroy technology, particularly metal. It was developed at the end of the AI Wars as a potential solution should Siderus fail. Obviously he did not and the plants proved unnecessary.”

“But you didn’t destroy them,” Markov observed.

“Of course not! This is a new species! The scientific knowledge we’ve gained from study alone has been invaluable! Besides, what if the AI were to return? The research still exists to recreate them, multiple corporations are known to possess it, so the plants were kept should they become necessary once more.”

“Very well,” Markov allowed grumpily. “Continue.”

“The entire reason Siderus called you and not one of his military flunkies is because of the very confidential information I’m about to share with you. You alone he said he trusted to handle this while he makes preparations for the worst,” Doctor Monroe said ominously.

“Out with it!” Markov growled.

“The plants are sentient.”

*

The crew was gathered around the Mako’s mess room table to hear the news Selandra had for them. They were taking it about as well as Markov had feared.

“You sneaky, sciency bitch!” Ursula shouted. “This is what they do! They poke and they prod until this!” She held out her hands and created a ball of electricity in each palm.

Qadira put a calming hand on Ursula’s shoulder. “Just how sentient are we talking here? Kindergarteners? Teenagers? Wilson after a bottle and a half?”

Doctor Monroe rolled her green eyes at Qadira. “Little girl, don’t ask technical questions that you cannot hope to understand the answers to.”

“Hey! What was that about me?” Wilson lurched to his feet, finally realizing he’d been insulted, but Liam pushed him back down into his seat.

“Little girl?” Qadira asked icily. “Honey, you look like you’re barely in your forties! That means at twenty-three I’m hardly a little girl!”

Markov saw Selandra’s nostrils flare angrily. He knew from General Siderus’ files that she was only twenty-eight. He also knew that Qadira was deliberately lashing out at their newest crew member after Selandra’s snide remark.

“Enough,” Captain Markov cut in. “You two can argue on your own time. How smart are these plants? Dumb it down for us, Doctor Monroe.”

Selandra clenched her teeth irritably. “The plants do not experience life the same way we do. They grow incredibly fast for flora, but that is still a glacial pace compared to how fast animals move about. Initially we had no idea they capable of thinking or feeling.”

“Typical mad scientist bullshit,” Ursula muttered.

Doctor Monroe ignored Ursula’s comment. “It wasn’t until we observed them appearing to utilize strategy to destroy the machines we pitted them against that we – I, really, since none of my colleagues believed me – began to suspect they were more than just mutated blackberry bushes. We had created them to seek out technology and digest it into sustenance, we never dreamed that the primary instinct we instilled in them would evolve and manifest into a nearly religious worldview about maintaining a natural balance in the universe. During our first conversations with them, the plants explained at length how they believed machines to be the root of all evil.”

“Wait, you can talk to them?” Liam asked.

“Of course. Once I noticed their development of strategy, I isolated those root clusters that showed the most promise and bred them extensively, providing a generous helping of genetic modification along the way, of course. You see, my early sentient plants were much, much more effective in combat tests than their regular counterparts. As such, I was given free rein to enhance them to their fullest potential,” Selandra explained.

Ursula popped her knuckles savagely at the mention of “potential.” Markov put a hand on her shoulder to let her know it would not be appropriate to kill Doctor Monroe just for using the same language as the men and machines that had experimented on her. She relaxed, at least as much as Ursula ever relaxes in the company of a scientist.

“And then they escaped and killed thousands?” Qadira asked snarkily.

Selandra glared at her. “Eventually, yes. But that was after I left the project. McDonalds-Wal*Mart disliked the fact that I created a communication device for the plants. Well, device isn’t really the word. I modified a species of parrot that the plants can use as a mouthpiece via a rather grisly process.”

Qadira arched an eyebrow. “You think the process is grisly. You?”

“I admit, it was not my proudest moment, but it was the only way I could find to communicate with the plants without subjecting a human to the process. Regardless, the higher-ups in the corporation didn’t like the idea of their weapons talking back or thinking for themselves so after all of my incredible results I was fired. I have no idea what happened after that, but within two months the incident occurred that led to the plants’ complete overrunning of Dartmax. Captain Markov likely has more details on the incident, as the plants’ creator I am viewed somewhat suspiciously by the military commander of this operation.”

“The plants started attacking the labs they were held in,” Markov told them. “They were designed to overwhelm any kind of technology that might be used against them, so it was quicker than you’d think. Fire, cold, explosives, everything they did on Dartmax only drove the plants deeper into the ground where their roots could spread further and pop up in a completely new area. There are varieties that spew acid, strangle people in their sleep like a python, and some are giant Venus flytraps. All of them have thorns and are difficult if not impossible to kill.”

“So what’s our first move?” Qadira asked.

“We go down and have a chat.”

Mako Rising - Ch. 1 Part 4

“Wilson! Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the captain bellowed at his drunk mechanic.

“These particalizers are in piss-poor shape. They need to be replaced. And that was just a heinous job somebody did on your alignment tubes. What evil genius swindled you out of your money for those shitty excuses for repair work?” Wilson stumbled and nearly fell over as he reached for his bottle of booze and missed.

“I did all that,” Markov growled.

“Ha!” Wilson let out a loud bark of laughter. “Oh Jesus, you’re serious? I’m surprised the Mako is still flying with you mucking about back here!” He successfully grabbed his bottle of bourbon and took a long swig.

“The Mako is one of the best ships ever built and I know how to take care of her, goddammit,” the captain said.

“Then why is the Yarkov Coil out of balance?” Wilson bellowed.

“What?” Markov stared at the area of the engine Wilson was gesturing wildly towards.

Wilson rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. “This!” He attacked the coil with a wrench. “See?”

The intercom clicked on and Qadira’s voice came through. “What the hell did you just do back there? The Mako is purring like a kitten all of the sudden, it’s fantastic!”

“I fixed the Yarkov Coil!” Wilson shouted back smugly as he handed the wrench to Andrew and took another swig from his bottle.

“Alright, good work. Keep it up, just don’t let it go to your head.” Markov turned to leave.

“Too late!” Wilson shouted after him. “I’m a God-damned genius!”

*

Ursula sat on top of the bar with her combat boots resting on the stool in front of her. She took a sip of her drink, which was a locally brewed liquor that could also function as jet fuel if one found oneself in a bind. No one said shit to her for sitting on the bar and ever since she rescued the owner’s daughter from that serial killer she drank for free here. It was one of the main reasons she came to look for work on Vertraxin so often.

“I love your tats,” a drunken local leered at Ursula’s tits. In his defense, there were tattoos there, but it wasn’t a good enough excuse for her.

Ursula smiled. This was going to be fun. “Smell this.” She held her glass under the young man’s nose.

He took a whiff and whistled. “Honey, you’ve got horrible taste in booze! Let me buy you something nice.” He put his beefy hand on her knee and waved to the bartender.

Ursula threw her drink in this face.

“What the hell, bitch!” he shouted.

Sparks zipped back and forth between the fingers of Ursula’s right hand while her left held the man’s collar so he couldn’t escape. “What did you call me?” Ursula asked quietly.

“I…I…” Words proved too much for him. His eyes grew wider and wider as he stared at Ursula’s electricity filled hand.

“Do you know what will happen to your face if just one of these sparks touches it?” Ursula asked just as calmly as before.

He shook his head fearfully.

Ursula’s grin widened substantially. “You’ll burn.”

“Enough of that shit,” Markov’s rough voice cut in as he grabbed the soda dispenser and doused the lad’s face.

“You could have taken it off of the cola setting, bro!” The local wiped his eyes and blinked rapidly. Ursula let him go.

“Yeah, but you probably deserved some of that. Beat it.” Markov jerked his thumb over his shoulder. The kid didn’t have to be told twice.

“I been waiting for you.” Ursula grinned at the captain and swung her knees back and forth idly.

“That should probably worry me, but come here and give me a hug any way.” Markov wrapped his long arms around Ursula for a quick hug. “How’ve you been? Killed anyone?”

“Yes, but they were all bad!” Ursula laughed. “Now come on, let’s blow this popsicle stand, I’m bored!” She grabbed the sleeve of Markov’s jacket and towed him out of the bar.

*

“Uncle, are you sure this is a good idea?” Andrew asked nervously as he peered over his Uncle Wilson’s shoulder.

“How could it not be? I’m utilizing the engine extracts from the Mako, that will make her run more efficiently, and I get an unlimited supply of free booze! Win-win!” Wilson chortled.

“But your…um…still, as it were, doesn’t seem structurally sound,” Andrew noted cautiously.

“Nonsense, boy! I once built an entire space shuttle out of scraps I found in the trash.” Wilson banged his newest addition to the engine room with the heavy wrench in his hand and the whole thing crumbled and began spewing chemicals all over the floor. Wilson frowned at the flailing hoses. “Clean that up,” he told Andrew dismissively before reaching for his whiskey.

Andrew rolled his eyes and did as he was told. He closed all the valves Wilson had connected to the still first so that it was stop spraying him, but he was still covered from head to toe in a variety of substances that one should never be covered in.

And then he saw her.

Andrew had never seen a girl like her. Not when he lived on Blue Cardiff with Uncle Wilson and certainly not when he lived with the Galactic Missionaries of the Light where all the women dressed in long, bulky dresses. She was tall to begin with, but the heavy combat boots she wore made her stand nearly at eye level with him. The fact that she shaved her head bald should have been disgusting, but instead it made her seem exotic and alien in a way that Andrew never suspected he would be attracted to. She had bright blue eyes and a plethora of tattoos. Andrew felt himself immediately become ensorcelled.

“H-h-h-hi!” Andrew stammered and then finally got the word out at an excessively loud volume.

The girl stopped and turned on her heel. She looked Andrew up and down, wordlessly crossed the engine room, snatched Wilson’s bottle of whiskey out of his hand, and then walked out taking a long pull straight from the bottle.

“Who was that?” Andrew asked his uncle. He was so enamored that he almost forgot to be flabbergasted that someone had taken alcohol from Wilson without him putting up a fight.

“Ursula.” Wilson said it like a curse. “I need a drink.” He disappeared into his liquor cabinet.

Shrugging, Andrew decided to follow Ursula. The Mako Rising was the largest ship Andrew had ever been on, but that wasn’t saying all that much and it still felt cramped compared to the sprawling compound of the Galactic Missionaries of the Light. Ursula was busy picking the lock of one of the sleeping quarters and didn’t seem to notice Andrew’s approach.

“Uh, I think that one’s locked,” Andrew told her. “I’ve never seen anyone use that one.”

“’Course not, it’s my room,” Ursula told him matter-of-factly as she continued picking the lock. It looked like a complicated process with lots of wires and little hooked pins. “Nobody goes in my room.”

“I…see?” Andrew tried to nod like he knew what she was talking about.

“No you don’t, you probably don’t even use the piece of shit lock they have on your quarters. You look like the trusting sort, you’ll probably die soon so don’t bother telling me your name.” Ursula finished whatever she had been doing and her door slid open. She grinned, it was an enthusiastic, nearly feral looking grin.

“Oh, how rude of me! I’m Andrew, Wilson’s nephew.” He held out his hand.

“Don’t let her touch you and don’t do anything she says,” Doctor Liam warned as he passed them in the corridor. He continued on his way without stopping.

Andrew glanced down at his outstretched hand, but could not think of a graceful way to retract it. He decided the doctor was just having some fun with him, Liam seemed to have an odd sense of humor. He smiled at Ursula, but she didn’t shake his hand.

“You don’t have red hair, so I suppose you’re fair game,” Ursula said cryptically. Andrew had no time to ask what she meant, she threw herself at him and kissed him violently on the mouth. Before he knew it, he was being dragged into Ursula’s room and slammed up against the wall as she continued kissing him, biting his lip, and digging her fingernails into his neck.

She kept on kissing and biting him, down to his chin, and along his jaw until she reached his ear. Then an unexpected shock zapped Andrew right on the ear where Ursula had been kissing him. “Ow!” he screamed. “What was that?”

Ursula only grinned and kissed his forehead. Another shock bit into his neck. Andrew wondered if his second scream was a bit more of squeal than a scream, but hoped it hadn’t been.

“What’s happening?” Andrew demanded. “Is there a damaged circuit in here?”

That made Ursula chuckle for some reason. “Something like that.” She put her hand on his thigh and that was when Andrew saw the bolt of lightning come zipping out of her palm and burn a hole in his pants.

Andrew screamed.

*

Qadira glanced down at her stopwatch. “Pay up.”

Liam grumbled to himself. “What kind of idiot lets himself get drawn in by Ursula that quickly?” He transferred twenty credits to Qadira’s account.

“Double or nothing that he runs screaming out of her room with his clothes on fire?” Qadira offered.

“No bet,” Liam answered.

Ursula’s door slammed open and Andrew bolted from the room trailing smoke from at least half a dozen spots on his clothing.

“Smart man.” Qadira chuckled.

“Qadira!” Ursula stuck her head out into the corridor. As always, Qadira broke out in a minor sweat when Ursula hugged her and kissed her on the cheek, but just like every time before nothing bad happened. Ursula liked Qadira for some unfathomable reason. “And Liam.” Ursula favored Liam with a sloppy salute.

“Good to see you, Ursula.” Liam returned the salute, but much more cleanly executed. “How have you been?”

“Out of my mind, as always. Want a drink?” She held up a bottle of what looked like Wilson’s favorite whiskey.

“Of course,” Liam answered.

“I’ll abstain, but I would love to keep the two of you company.” Qadira followed Liam into Ursula’s sparsely decorated quarters.

Her rock-hard bed took up one wall and a small table with four stools were the only furniture she had. Qadira was fairly certain Ursula had secret compartments all around her room, but it was best not to pry into the things Ursula decided to keep secret.

“I thought you might say that.” From a blank looking spot on the wall Ursula produced two glasses, an exquisitely carved pipe that looked like a dragon, and a bag of hashish. She set everything down on the table and poured generous helpings for herself and Liam.

Qadira filled the pipe and held it out for Ursula to light with her special gift. “Thank you, my dear. So, did the captain tell you what kind of suicidal venture we’re on this time?”

“Killer shrubs or something.” Ursula shrugged. “Irene is involved so I’m sure it will be exciting.”

“Have you seen Irene lately?” Liam asked.

“No. And it hurts my feeling that you would ask me that.” She pouted at him.

Qadira grinned and laughed right alongside Ursula at the frightened look on Liam’s face. “She gets you every time!”

“Well she usually kills the people who offend her!” Liam grumbled. “I always wonder if today’s my day.” He shivered and took an extra-long drink.

“Oh Liam.” Ursula refilled the doctor’s glass before topping off her own. “You’re so delightfully dreary. That’s why I almost like you!”

Qadira snorted back a laugh. “So close.” She held her index finger a hair’s width from her thumb.

“And yet you treat our little pilot here like your long lost sister, why is that?” Liam asked.

Ursula leaned back on her stool. “You’re a doctor so I can’t be a hundred percent sure you haven’t been doing experiments on me the whole time I’ve known you. That means I might have to kill you one day and I really, really hate killing the people I like. Plus, Qadira is so much more fun that you! She buys me boots and looks so damn hot in a little black dress!”

“Well, how can I compete with that?” Liam clinked his glass against Ursula’s and the two of them drank.

“What the hell are you three doing?” Markov growled from the doorway. He was waving his hand in front of his face to clear away the smoke from Qadira’s pipe.

“It’s my welcome home, come join us!” Ursula announced happily.

“Absolutely not. Liam, are you letting our pilot get high?” the captain asked disapprovingly.

Liam gave Qadira a considering look. “Letting is a strong word when it comes to Qadira. I’ll admit to being present while it happened. Is happening, if you will.”

“I expect this kind of behavior from the two of them, but I’m disappointed in you,” Markov told Liam as he left.

“No you’re not! You’ve known me too long for that to be true!” Liam shouted after him.