One day was all the kindness Roys had to offer. Over the next week, we set out at 0600. The droids had the rovers ready to go. We used them through the paths cut previously through the flora, going out to where the team stopped yesterday before parking to continue the inspection.

The cradle had been used a lot for all the unfortunate bastards who stumbled on a flora that thought they’d make a nice snack. However, no one had died, yet, and the east and south sides of the habitat would be cleared by the end of the day, seeing as the other half of the troops continued their work during the incident last week. The north and west would need two days to clear, so long as nothing else went awry. Roys didn’t look at me when he mentioned that earlier in the day. In fact, he rarely looked at me.

I lost count of all the times I stepped into his path, chuckling as he pivoted in another direction. Or when I went to his office and he found an excuse to dart off. Or how he always had me monitoring from the back of our group, keeping us far apart, when he scheduled himself on our team. Among other equally amusing encounters.

The landscape didn’t change much over our travels. The flora remained relatively the same, though based on scans of The Planet there were varying climates. The habitat was situated around the equator where the weather was habitable. To the north and south, there were raging storms that left the caps under perpetual cloud cover. The rain fell at such speed that it could cut. To the east there swamplands that the survey team would likely look into later, but it seemed too much of a hassle to go there yet. Far to the west, there were hundreds of active volcanoes. Magma flowed, slowly, but the eruptions happened eons ago and the cloud cover dispersed, leaving the area arid but not entirely out of our reach. 

There were talks of a second survey team landing closer to observe the activity, though corporate may have wanted to avoid two teams down on The Planet. If one died, the other one probably would, too, and they didn’t like being tied up in legal battles. Even if a lot of the people who took them to Intergalactic Court retracted their statements or mysteriously disappeared.

We wouldn’t go near the translucent flora, even the smaller ones. Our seats had been ruined and we took to sitting on the ground during the few breaks we were afforded.

In the afternoon, we traversed a forested area with less shade than the previous ones. The flora had thinner stalks but with more branches with swaying leaves. Sweat poured off us in droves, forcing me to tug myself free of the cursed exoskin, fuck it, and my shirt.

“Clothes stay on,” Roys said from the front of the group. He cut aside the flora we learned wouldn’t give any trouble.

“It’s fucking hot and the exoskins aren’t doing shit. These are ancient, aren’t they? I bet they haven’t been updated in decades,” I said while attaching my visor to my belt.

“Centuries, more like it,” said Arana.

“Don’t complain when you get burned,” Roys warned, as expected.

Grinning, I cut the space between us, passing by Iylene and Lilea to do it. Roys had me carrying the back of the group again, claiming I could handle anything that came at us from behind. He wasn’t wrong there, but we both knew he was full of shit. He wanted me as far from him as possible, as he had done the last eight days. Five of those he scheduled himself on other teams. I played along, but the game was starting to dull. I was getting bored.

Roys stiffened when I came up behind him to whisper, “Are you concerned about me, Captain?”

“Get back in position.”

“What if I don’t? You gonna grab me by the throat again for the whole team to see?”

Roys rammed the butt of his blaster against my ribs. Didn’t expect that.

“Unless you want to be scrubbing the toilets tonight, get back in position,” he warned in his favorite authoritative tone. It wasn’t so dissimilar from his tone in the cavern, the gravel in his voice, the warning.

“Careful using that tone, it turns me on.”

Roys’ nanomites flashed in rapid succession.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Sending commands to the droids not to clean the restrooms. A private has decided to take care of them.”

I leaned in closer, smelling that cherry candy, seeing it pressed against his cheek. Still, he wouldn’t look at me when I whispered, “You were more fun with your cock in my mouth.”

Snickering, I fell back and tugged a smoke out of my pocket. Ryker gawked. “You’re having a smoke here?”

“Why not?” I shrugged and took a light to it.

“It’s hard enough to breathe already. My visor is the only thing keeping me going.”

“Weak.” I blew a plume of smoke at Ryker, smiling when he waved it off before giving me the finger.

The smoke certainly didn’t help but sleuthing around got boring. That wasn’t to say I wanted another rabid flora encounter but a man was allowed his vices and smoking was mine.

Another, apparently, was the unruly captain. At least being at the rear rank meant I could stare at his ass, so maybe there was a perk to his so-called discipline, or whatever he considered this to be. Maybe that was his kink. Get off, play hard to get, be annoying, then jump your bones later. That was fine. I had other opportunities.

The group stopped momentarily for Zavir, who knelt by a small flora, using the commlink to scan it. Another member of our troop had it catalogued already as a young plant. I saw it on the holo screen from where I stood behind him. Though I spoke to Zavir, I watched Roys across the way. “Hey Zavir, when we get back to base and cool off, wanna fuck?”

Roys hesitated in grabbing his canteen, then took a drink.

“Sure.” Zavir stood and stretched all four of his arms.

My favorite thing about U’sek’s was that they didn’t do relationships. None of the cuddling or pillow chat expectations, no worries about one getting too attached or thinking it was more than a fun time. Their species considered sex to be for pleasure and reproduction. They didn’t do relationships in the same way humans did and, frankly, I didn’t understand most of it because Zavir always struggled to put it into words we could understand. Regardless, I appreciated their laidback style, and the four arms. Zavir got me in positions I didn’t know I could do, and somehow my muscles thanked me for it in the morning.

“You have no class, Lucky,” Ryker said, shaking his head.

I flicked ashes at him. “Says the bastard who messages me asking for details anytime I leave with anyone.”

“Those messages are private. Between two friends. It’s entirely different.”

“We’re mostly friends here, so it’s fine.”

We both glanced at Roys, who walked ahead. Everyone followed with Ryker stepping slightly out of position to trek closer to me.

“I’ve never done a tour with a survey team,” he said, holding out a hand for the last of my cigarette. I knew he’d give in and handed it over. He knocked his visor off for a moment. “Our tours were always…” he waved a hand toward the sky. “Up there.”

Guard duty for me, mostly. Ryker joined the militia three years ago. Took two years to go from a cadet to a private. Cadets were essentially the testing phase to see where they would place best. Ryker was a glorified stock boy on cargo ships. I spent most of my time in a speeder. Not much fighting, unfortunately. We were tasked with flying alongside diplomats or protecting the cargo guys, like Ryker.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved flying. I understood a speeder better than my own mind. It was an extension of my body. However, after flying around in space, passing planet after planet, eventually, I wanted to be on one. I sat in the cockpit staring out into space to see another planet, a home for many, and wondered what it would feel like to be down there.

Gravity was a bitch though. Being born on a Colony and living my whole life in space, I had to do a year of hard gravity tests as well as a strange concoction of meds to ensure I wouldn’t die in the atmosphere. It was worth it, though.

“What are they going to do, exactly?” Ryker asked before finishing the cigarette. He coughed and tugged the visor back on.

“Survey, apparently,” I replied.

“You know what I mean.”

“Our survey team is made up of ten individuals, two geologists, a mineralogist, an engineer, four botanists, and two assistants. Their jobs are to ascertain whether The Planet will be a habitable one that will then be prepared for settlers or if The Planet would be one of resources. Regardless, they will conduct tests on the environment and report back their findings to the Intergalactic Court,” Roys explained.

“That bitch was eavesdropping,” I said, causing Ryker to laugh.

“Okay, but how do they know from a few tests done in three months whether The Planet is habitable? They cannot possibly learn everything there is to know in that time,” Arana argued.

“The survey team doesn’t make that decision. Once the Intergalactic Court receives their information, they will determine whether it’s viable to not only prolong but also expand the survey team. Eventually, there could be up to ten separate teams on The Planet. After a year or so, the Intergalactic Court will make the final decision,” Roys replied, cutting another stalk. Even with that exoskin on, his muscles flexed.

“How many tours have you been on like this one?” Lilea asked. Her neck stretched further when she got curious.

“Three. It’s rare to come across habitable planets that aren’t already, well, inhabited.” Roys stopped at a scurrying noise.

All of us raised our flamethrowers. The flora beside Ryker and I moved. We prepared ourselves. A little rat creature waddled out with six legs, a blossom on its head and little tendrils for whiskers. The rat nibbled on the bud of a plant and wandered back into the forest.

“As I was saying, the militia will stay for the first few months. If the planet is inhospitable danger wise, then the survey team leaves with us. If it proves hospitable, a small military team will come to live on The Planet long term with the survey team,” Roys said.

“Which would never be any of us,” said Iylene.

“Correct. We would be reassigned and another team will descend.”

“This may be the most I’ve ever heard the captain speak,” Arana said over her shoulder at me.

I heard him say a lot. None of it for their ears.

“Them are the cushy jobs then, likely for the colonels and their favorites,” Ryker added.

“Yes, we’re lucky, too, in a sense. The Planet isn’t the worst I have seen.” Roys cut aside more flora, tossing the remnants of them into the jungle.

“Weren’t you nearly eaten by a flora the other day?” Zavir asked.

“Like I said, not the worst I have seen.”

“Details,” Ryker demanded, as he would. He was the nosiest bastard.

“Careful, Ryker, you’re asking a lot of our captain. We keep pushing his buttons, who knows what will happen.” My chest warmed thinking of that right eye of his twitching. No doubt it was because he was trying extra hard not to look my way.

“I’m not pushing buttons. I’m curious. This is our first planetary tour.” Ryker knocked his hand against my chest. “Iylene has been on two. Lilea, Zavir, and Arana have been on one, and Captain on…?”

“Didn’t you stalk his info?” I whispered, yelping when Ryker pinched me.

“Six,” Roys answered.

“And that’s just the planetary ones. Lots of soldiers die on these, remember? They had us watch that damn video,” Ryker said. The whole group shuddered. Even Roys knocked his head to the side.

“All the ways you may die on the job,” Ryker mocked in that damn droids voice that manned all the mandatory vids we watched.

Arana hugged her torso and swayed like she was sick. “Why the fuck would they show us that? I still have nightmares about that U’sek’s dick piercing getting cau—”

Zavir cut Arana a warning look that had her giggling apologetically. U’sek’s had a lot of piercings, a rare few I knew the meaning of. They got one at birth, after their first breeding, first offspring, probably a promotion at work, I wasn’t too sure. Just a lot.

“Yeah, none of us liked that.” Ryker cleared his throat. “Details, cap, if you’d please.”

“Xenothasyllius-673 was the worst,” Roys replied. He mentioned that one in the caves. “A volcanic planet we knew was inhabitable from the jump. Straiers were there in droves, though, and the Intergalactic Court wanted to know why. A team was sent in to investigate and annihilate, if need be. It was hot, hotter than this.”

Arana gagged while Iylene made a pleasant humming sound. They quite liked warm weather. Their species often sunbathed in the nude, though it wasn’t much different than them clothed. They didn’t have genitalia after all, just abnormally long tongues that I thought was gross until one used it on me.

“It was a bloodbath.” Roys tossed aside more ferns, taking a break afterward to get his drink. We did the same, listening as he went on. “Garethrinorope-01X is a close second.”

That was such a dumb name. Why? Name the planets something normal!

“Another uninhabitable. Our scans showed potential for valuable minerals beneath the surface. Didn’t want to waste the scientist and most of the droids couldn’t withstand the temperatures. Mornings were below freezing. Nights were worse and the creatures even more deadly. They were hidden from our radar by the same minerals we were looking for underground. On the third day, we were attacked, blocked in, had to survive six days before reinforcements were sent in. They don’t always send them.”

“Hah?” Ryker coughed.

“Reinforcements.” Roys took to cutting again, speaking as if he mentioned the weather. “If the militia finds it a waste to send a rescue team in, they’ll leave you.”

“Thanks Mom’s,” Ryker whispered under his breath even if we all knew that. Suspected it, I guess. We were expendable. No one would be foolish enough to enlist otherwise.

Roys didn’t say more after that. No one asked. We had our own stories to share. I couldn’t remember all the people I met. The militia ate through us like a rabid hound, feasting upon offered flesh that had already been beaten and bruised by the world beyond its cage. Then there were the ones before I left the Colony. I didn’t like thinking about that, sure as shit wouldn’t share it. The others didn’t want to share theirs either, so we spent the rest of the day in silence.