Operation: Marauder

As Rowan walked through the dull, concrete hallways of Connaville Army Base, humans turned their heads, sometimes stopping mid-conversation, to look at him, watch him. Study him. He thought after cooperating with them for a year, he'd get used to the stares. He hadn't. He had travelled a fair distance in his lifetime, visited a few galaxies and more than enough planets. No species stared more than humans. He blamed it partially on their ignorance and partially on their curiosity.

When his crew had first arrived on this planet, they had been shocked to find a species so similar to their own. He had run into many bi-pedal species in his time in space, some bore scales thicker than his own, while others lived only underground, so their eyes were larger than his fists. Some had four arms and were twice his size, sharing a similar bone structure to the apes on Earth. The Scad were known for their long, sinewy tails which helped them traverse the perilous jungles of Adoni. Humans had the closest physiology to Arthonians he had come across so far. So close, in fact, that they could be mistaken as humans themselves, which was why he and his team were finally allowed to leave the base--under very strict conditions.

What Rowan found humorous was that the females seemed to prefer his men over their own species. They were taller than the average human, stronger and fitter than every male on base, which seemed to house the most physically capable humans he had seen so far. In his culture, females favored the strong over the weak; it appeared to be the same on Earth. He found that the females on this base stared after him more than the males. Unsurprising. Once they were released from their cells from when they had first arrived, Cas ran tests, which the human scientists were more than enthusiastic to help with, to see just how similar their species were. Minus a few things like the regenerative capabilities of Arthonian blood, their thick hide, and humans' inferior senses, they were remarkably similar. Cas even took it upon himself to see just how compatible humans and Arthonians were. After he reported back that human and Arthonian reproductive systems were identical, Maliki and Knox volunteered to put his findings to the test. They were explicit in their findings.

At the time, Rowan hadn't seen the appeal in fraternizing with humans more than he had to--anything to avoid going back to those cages they called cells; they might have been an adequate size for a human, but it was tiny for an Arthonian. He was more keen on getting their ship fixed as fast as possible so they could go home. Fixing the hyperdrive was already going to take longer than he had hoped. They needed the material humans called Terbium, but, unfortunately, it wasn't as prevalent on Earth as it was on Arthos. Maliki said it could take years before they had enough to get the ship back in order again.

The news had been a blow below the belt. They had careened into despair, and it was Rowan who picked them back up, promising them they would return home one day. Since then, they had made a deal with the military, to share some of their technology and help them on special operation missions. In return, the humans would give them unlimited resources and help them gather enough Terbium to fix the Marauder. However, after a year of being stranded and seeing how little Terbium they had gathered, he was beginning to wonder if the humans were holding back the Terbium they promised so they could study their technology a little bit longer, abuse their expertise in the field for as long as they could.

The only human he trusted was their liason. Or "babysitter," as Knox called him. Rowan liked Jack. Despite how annoying it was to have someone tell him, a decorated Captain in the High Command Fleet, what to do and how to do it, Jack helped him and his men assimilate into human society. Without him, they would have been lost and in far more trouble than they were right now. The human had proven himself worthy in the heat of battle and more than trustworthy.

For the first time since Maliki had broken the news to the crew, he was okay with staying a little longer. After going through the motions for so long, keeping his men safe, learning all he could about human culture, scanning for any sign of the Wraythe entering the Earth's atmosphere, he never once stopped to enjoy the simple pleasures on Earth like his crew members had. Then he met a petite pilot, who was also a mechanic, who wanted to see the stars. Zoey Adams was unlike any human he had come across so far. Whenever he overheard humans talk about space, it was always "when the aliens attack" or "I got probed last night!" or "They were here! I found crop circles in my corn field this morning!" But not Zoey. She admired space for the beauty it was--something he had taken for granted. There had once been a time, in his youth, when he marvelled over the stars and nebulae around him, their beauty, the adventure they promised, but they soon blended into the cold, dark void of space.

Now he was trapped and suddenly reminded of how lucky he had been. Seeing all the photographs in Zoey's office broke his hearts a little. Her passion for space was splayed over her walls for everyone to see. She'd explore to the edge of the universe if she could. He half-heartedly wondered how she would react if he told her he wasn't from this planet, this galaxy even.

Now he had to wait two fucking weeks before he could learn more about the curious creature that was Zoey Adams. Not that he blamed her for making him wait. He respected a female with rules. His life was based on rules. He had to follow them here, back home, on missions. Each solar system had their own set of laws that had to be obeyed no matter where he came from; he had to learn them all before he was given the command of a squad--or a platoon if he hadn't turned it down.

No, he would wait. It was just a pain in the ass.

Knox dropped his book on the table, raising a pair of skeptical eyebrows at him as he walked into the kitchen of their shared quarters. It was a little steel box shoved deep within the base. Necessities only. No windows. No warmth. No comfort.

"What are you grumbling about?" the Arthonian quizzed excitedly. "You never grumble. You get mad when we grumble." His keen red eyes scanned the civilians clothes he wore suspiciously. Rowan very rarely left the base and thus hadn't bothered upgrading his wardrobe passed the standard casual clothing the base provided, which mostly consisted of camo pants, green or brown t-shirts, and hoodies with ARMY stamped on the front. Not exactly appropriate for an alien trying to blend in with the public. He purchased the blue long sleeved shirt, jeans, and sports jacket before he paid Carlisle's garage a visit.

"Nothing," Rowan grunted, steering clear of his fellow warrior. If he didn't talk about it, he wouldn't get more frustrated over the situation--and he could forget about the fact he hadn't been with a female for almost two years.

However, the thick wall of muscle stepped in front of him and gripped his shoulder with a look Rowan's mother would give him for being so aloof. All it took was one glare for Knox to retract his hand as if he'd been zapped. "You're tense. Seriously, brother, find a nice female to shack up with and you'll feel much better. Humans are soft and supple. You'll love it."

It took more self control than Rowan wanted to admit to not throw his crew member to the floor and step around him. He ground his jaw instead. He'd been reminded plenty of times of how lovely human females were to keep company. "Where's everyone?" he asked instead of acknowledging Knox's attempt to make him feel better.

Knox looked up at the ceiling, ticking everyone off one finger at a time. "Cas is in the middle of a physical, Maliki is in the hangar, and Mave is in surveillance. Jack mentioned something about plans and ran out of here as soon as it hit seventeen-hundred hours. How'd it go at the shop?"

He sighed. There appeared to be no avoiding the topic of his curious female.

Knox plopped down in his chair, watching as Rowan made his way to the fridge to pull out a beer. Human alcohol did nothing to him, his body's metabolism was too fast, but he liked to think if he drank enough, his body would eventually get the message and let him get intoxicated. Even if it was just once.

"The vehicle will be done in two weeks," Rowan informed him, keeping it strictly business. "She seemed confident she could do all the modifications we need." An impressive feat; she didn't even bat an eyelash at Maliki's blueprints for a particular mod he wanted on the vehicle. He had to make some adjustments to the device so she could make it with the limited technology Earth possessed. It wouldn't be as powerful as the Marauder's, but Rowan was curious to see if she could make something even remotely similar.

Knox perked up. "She?"

"Don't." It was more of a growl than a warning. He wanted to have her all to himself.

Knox shrugged at his tone and switched gears. "Two weeks? That's impressive. We should have it by the time we see any Wraythes."

"That's the plan." Rowan tossed him a beer then joined him at the table. "With the modifications, they won't be able to tear it apart."

"How about everything else?" He had shifted to hunter mode, which Rowan was thankful for. "Regular bullets aren't going to cut it."

"Maliki is working with their technicians to develop better incendiary rounds. I want our weapons as a last resort. We need more Terbium to make more rounds, so what we have is all we got. I want all the Terbium we get to go to the repair of the hyperdrive."

Knox nodded in thought then chugged back his beer. He exhaled when he finished, moving his tongue around his mouth to get rid of the yeasty aftertaste. "There's still no sign of them."

"They'll come." Several months ago, the humans followed a comet breaking through the atmosphere. Rowan's gut knew better than to write it off as a comet. With their level of technology they wouldn't have been able to pick up the propulsion fumes from the jets, but it had to be the escort ship. They landed in another country and Rowan had wanted to investigate. The humans shut him down. Didn't want to break any treaties, because, for some reason, the humans were divided. If they had any hope of exploring space, they had to unite and share resources.

His mind drifted back to Zoey, feeling guilty that she would never get to see the universe as he saw it, even if he had forgotten it was so much more than planets and galaxies. There were people in it too. People like Zoey. So young and full of potential--held back because their civilization wasn't developing fast enough.

Their quarter's door flew open, Maliki leaning on the frame, panting for his life. Of all his men, he had the smallest frame--made it easy to traverse the bowels of the ship--but the standard issue army t-shirt did a fine job showing off the lean bands of muscles around his arms. His thick, dark green hair stood up on its ends, supported by the grease staining his hands. "I have something!"

Rowan instantly went on the alert. This "something" he spoke of could be anything from detecting Wraythe activity to an update on the ship. "What is it?"

"Come with me." He turned and hurried back down the hallway he'd come from.

Knox glanced at Rowan, just as surprised by his abruptness, then went after him. Having no idea what to make of it, but in desperate need of a distraction, Rowan rushed to catch up with them.