me?"
"A ship can land… well, crash land to be more precise, but due to some sort of gravity anomaly can't take off again. We need to know why.” Penn felt depressed looked at the tacky green walls of the office, and said nothing, digesting the information.
"We believe there is a device causing this effect inside an unusually large building on the surface. Your mission is to go down there, get to the building, find the controls, and turn it off. If you can't turn it off, destroy it.”
On the surface the mission sounded simply, yet what wasn't the Tandy telling him. More importantly, why come to him with the problem. There were a lot of people in the Empire willing to do the Director's dirty work, including other human's, so why him?
"And if I can't turn this device off, or destroy it?”
"The planet is similar to your own. Oxygen, nitrogen atmosphere, animal life, jungle. If you can't turn it off, you would be no worse off there, than if you were in prison here.” If the General thought that was a telling point, he was wrong.
“Captain. Ask the Sub-Major to come in.”
“Yes, Sir.” Captain Carras answered.
While they waited, Penn thought about Tandy’s words. Here, he had a chance to escape, and escape meant he could do more damage to the Empire before they killed him. If the General was telling the truth, which he doubted. Once on the planet surface there would be no escape. But, how did he know that was true? The one constant in all this was, the Empire would lie, steal, cheat, kill, and do anything in its power to get what it wanted. It still left the question of why him, unanswered. Penn brought his attention back to the door, hearing footsteps, light ones, and his nose detected something… Whatever it was it compelled him to turn, feeling as if his system was going into combat mode. Penn sucked in a breath of air as a human female in her early twenties walked into the room. One look at the uniform was enough to bring a savage snarl from Penn. For a moment, he clenched his fist before forcing himself to relax. General Tandy's eyes narrowed, seeing Penn's reaction to the woman as she walked across the carpet toward him and came to attention.
"Sub Major Ellis reporting as ordered, Sir!” The Sub Major snapped a smart salute to the General, who returned it with a dismissive wave, feeling even more uneasy with two humans in the room.
"At easy Sub-Major.”
* * * * * *
Sub Major Ellis took the at ease position, still ramrod straight, her eye fixed on the wall. Not that she was unaware of the other two people in the room. The moment she walked in, she identified the odd scent that bothered her while standing outside waiting for the General's call. Another human, and two males. She dismissed the Oxian Captain, both as a threat, or a friend. Her acute senses of smell locked onto the human. Pheromones can be a bitch, and the one thing she didn't need in her life right now, was some stiff prick macho male asshole sniffing around her like she was a bitch in heat. The fact her body responded to the siren call of the pheromones was something she was fully aware off, promising herself a heavy workout in the base gym as soon as possible. Some poor soul was going to get the crap beaten out of him just so she could work off the surge of energy she felt.
It was bad enough having to put up with non-human asshole's like General Tandy eyeing her up as if she were a piece of meat for them to use. General Tandy's appraisal of her body didn't go unnoticed. Knowing Var and senior officers as she did, she suspected the thoughts behind it.
* * * * * *
“Penn, this is Sub-Major Ellis, the ground Commander
"A ship can land… well, crash land to be more precise, but due to some sort of gravity anomaly can't take off again. We need to know why.” Penn felt depressed looked at the tacky green walls of the office, and said nothing, digesting the information.
"We believe there is a device causing this effect inside an unusually large building on the surface. Your mission is to go down there, get to the building, find the controls, and turn it off. If you can't turn it off, destroy it.”
On the surface the mission sounded simply, yet what wasn't the Tandy telling him. More importantly, why come to him with the problem. There were a lot of people in the Empire willing to do the Director's dirty work, including other human's, so why him?
"And if I can't turn this device off, or destroy it?”
"The planet is similar to your own. Oxygen, nitrogen atmosphere, animal life, jungle. If you can't turn it off, you would be no worse off there, than if you were in prison here.” If the General thought that was a telling point, he was wrong.
“Captain. Ask the Sub-Major to come in.”
“Yes, Sir.” Captain Carras answered.
While they waited, Penn thought about Tandy’s words. Here, he had a chance to escape, and escape meant he could do more damage to the Empire before they killed him. If the General was telling the truth, which he doubted. Once on the planet surface there would be no escape. But, how did he know that was true? The one constant in all this was, the Empire would lie, steal, cheat, kill, and do anything in its power to get what it wanted. It still left the question of why him, unanswered. Penn brought his attention back to the door, hearing footsteps, light ones, and his nose detected something… Whatever it was it compelled him to turn, feeling as if his system was going into combat mode. Penn sucked in a breath of air as a human female in her early twenties walked into the room. One look at the uniform was enough to bring a savage snarl from Penn. For a moment, he clenched his fist before forcing himself to relax. General Tandy's eyes narrowed, seeing Penn's reaction to the woman as she walked across the carpet toward him and came to attention.
"Sub Major Ellis reporting as ordered, Sir!” The Sub Major snapped a smart salute to the General, who returned it with a dismissive wave, feeling even more uneasy with two humans in the room.
"At easy Sub-Major.”
* * * * * *
Sub Major Ellis took the at ease position, still ramrod straight, her eye fixed on the wall. Not that she was unaware of the other two people in the room. The moment she walked in, she identified the odd scent that bothered her while standing outside waiting for the General's call. Another human, and two males. She dismissed the Oxian Captain, both as a threat, or a friend. Her acute senses of smell locked onto the human. Pheromones can be a bitch, and the one thing she didn't need in her life right now, was some stiff prick macho male asshole sniffing around her like she was a bitch in heat. The fact her body responded to the siren call of the pheromones was something she was fully aware off, promising herself a heavy workout in the base gym as soon as possible. Some poor soul was going to get the crap beaten out of him just so she could work off the surge of energy she felt.
It was bad enough having to put up with non-human asshole's like General Tandy eyeing her up as if she were a piece of meat for them to use. General Tandy's appraisal of her body didn't go unnoticed. Knowing Var and senior officers as she did, she suspected the thoughts behind it.
* * * * * *
“Penn, this is Sub-Major Ellis, the ground Commander
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