Reconnaissance: Paradise Reclaimed, #2

By Aubrie Dionne

Nova Williams has lost her one shot at Lieutenant hood and at love. Lieutenant Crophaven has promoted her rival, Andromeda, all because her lifemate, Sirius, sacrificed their mission to win back Andromeda’s love. 

While sneaking out to prove Andromeda is a fake, Nova finds an alien ship hovering over their colony. Lieutenant Crophaven assigns her to a reconnaissance mission, giving her a second chance to redeem herself. Sirius must fly her and a research team to the vessel to decide if they are a threat. Thrown together with the lifemate that betrayed her, she battles with her own jealousy while her team battles for their lives. 

Can she forgive Sirius in order to save her team and warn her colony?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inkspell Publishing
• Release date: Aug 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781939590053

Book preview

Chapter One

If You Mean It

Bile rose in my throat as Lieutenant Crophaven pinned the platinum medal on my arch-nemesis, Andromeda Barliss. We stood in front of the congregation, like puppets, on the ceremonial viewing deck of the recently retired New Dawn. Behind us, the lush tangle of Paradise 21 clogged the main sight panel.

How did I let this primitive planet defeat me?

The violet sun illuminated Andromeda and the lieutenant as if the world had chosen its conquerors. Fate claimed me its victim.

The lieutenant whispered into Andromeda’s ear and she smiled like he’d given her some tantalizing secret I could only guess at. They turned to face the congregation, and applause roared around me, mocking all the years I’d busted my butt to score high on the tests, to get him to notice me.

I glanced over at Sirius, my lifemate. This whole ridiculous charade was his fault. He’d deviated from our scouting mission, putting us all in danger to follow Andromeda’s orders.

Because he loved her.

Even now, as Andromeda stood hand in hand with Corvus, her lifemate, Sirius gawked like a sad, sick puppy. He stared at her with such longing. I died a little inside.

This was what my life had become: reduced to a bronze-medal runner-up, standing in the shadow of the girl who’d slacked off her whole life, with a lifemate who loved the person I hated most in the world.

Next came a slew of long, agonizing speeches about how Andromeda had saved the colony, how Andromeda had what it took to be a leader, how Andromeda was promoted to the lieutenant training program. At one point, I had been the rising star, but life was a fickle beast, and if you weren’t careful, the universe could swallow you whole.

I threaded my fingers together and squeezed until parts of my skin turned bone white and other parts blood red. If Andromeda completed the program, only one lieutenant position was left in my generation, and I had to have it.

The ceremony ended with an exaggerated account of how Andromeda had figured out the planet’s plant pods released poison and that an entire field of them grew behind the ridge. Apparently, she had the ability to see ghosts of a failed colonization attempt, ghosts who’d warned her of the danger.

Really?

I didn’t buy it for one millisecond. She’d probably cheated, like she did in every other aspect of her life, using her connections to get ahead. It seemed suspicious that the commander’s floundering great-granddaughter would suddenly rise up from her C average and be responsible, even resourceful, for saving the entire colony. The whole thing was a setup, and I’d get to the bottom of it.

Maybe then Sirius would throw away those rose-colored glasses he wore whenever she walked into the room. Maybe then I’d have half a chance at love.

Superfluous applause erupted at the end of the narrative as Andromeda and Corvus held up their linked hands, their identical corn-straw hair making them look like the perfect pair. Why couldn’t Sirius see she was taken?

Everyone stood, gravitating toward the trays of giant, succulent grilled vegetables grown in Paradise 21’s filtered, ultraviolet sunlight, with enhancement crystals our people had ground into the soil.

I turned to leave, but someone tugged on my arm. Who dares to speak with me at a time like this? I whipped around.

Congratulations, Nova. Andromeda stood before me like a tiny forest fairy, a whole six inches shorter. Her waist was the size of my leg.

Was this a peace offering or was she shoving her platinum medal in my face?

Congratulations, yourself. My voice came out more sarcastic than sweet, and I pushed by her, embarrassed for allowing a slacker to get the better of me.

My cheeks burned, and hot, bitter tears brimmed in my eyes. I couldn’t stay in the room a second longer, or I’d explode into a weeping mess. Wiping my eyes on the sleeve of my uniform, I cut through the crowd. A hundred bodies stood between me and the portal.

Nova, wait.

I knew that voice anywhere. He was the last person I wanted to talk to after such a demeaning day. I pushed ahead, pretending not to hear him. Ducking underneath a tray of food, I found a hole in the crowd and zigzagged to the portal.

Almost there.

An old woman wearing white, civilian clothes caught my arm with a surprisingly vise-like grip. She craned her head, gazing up at me like I was some giant trampling on her village. There’s someone trying to get your attention, my dear.

I know. I need to leave. I was being rude, but if I lingered within the congregation any longer, I would have hurled in the old woman’s face. The bodies pressed in on me, conspiring to keep me in place, and sweat dribbled down my chin. I pried her fingers off and threw myself at the portal. Thank goodness the particles dissolved in time.

The hallway was several degrees cooler and gloriously empty. Leaning against the chrome wall and slumping to the floor, I sucked the recycled air into my lungs. In two seconds the portal would rematerialize, and all those people would disappear.

I stared at my reflection in the opaque chrome across from me. My wavy, auburn hair looked dull brown in the fluorescent light, and the curves of my breasts and hips bulged against the fabric covering them. I was everything Andromeda was not. If Sirius loved her, how could he ever like me?

Sirius bolted through the particles just before they rematerialized. His black hair whipped around as he scanned the opposite end of the corridor before turning to me. There you are.

His simmering dark eyes caught me, turning me into molten lava, and I couldn’t run anymore. If I hadn’t been so cold when the pairing announcement was made, maybe he wouldn’t have turned back to his best friend. Maybe now he’d truly be mine.

Leave me alone.

What are you doing out here? He sounded like he was scolding a young child.

I need some air.

His eyes flicked nervously toward the portal. We’re supposed to stand together when the toast is made.

Who cares? The whole event is a giant sham. We both know standing side by side is a front.

His eyes grew soft, his features charming. Nova—

I knew better than to bend to his handsome face. He manipulated the game to get what he wanted. Heck, he even told me he’d swayed his answers on the test to be an aviator. He could pretend, but I couldn’t. I heaved myself up and turned away. Tell them I got sick.

I’ll cover for you this time, but one of these days, you’ll have to stand by me. His voice was weary, resigned.

I whirled around, my jaw jutted out, tense. Only if you mean it.

The ugly truth of my words silenced him, and he froze like some old Grecian statue. His inaction told me what I already knew, but it still hurt like an empty ache in my chest. Even more so in his presence, I felt like a consolation prize.

I threw myself down the corridor, not knowing where I headed. Anywhere to get away, as if I could outrun the hurt, until I’d spent my energy and had nothing left to feel pain. I gravitated toward the main deck. Because of the ceremony, the portal to Paradise 21 had been left unguarded. I waited as the computer scanned the locator embedded in my arm and logged me in. The panel dissolved into jungle and hazy violet light. A waft of sweet humid air hit me, and I welcomed it with open arms.

Since biologists had removed all the pod plants within kilometers of our landing site, Lieutenant Crophaven had deemed Paradise 21 safe within a two-kilo radius. I was desperate, but I wasn’t stupid. Jogging down the platform connecting the ship to the black, crystal beach, I tied back my thick hair in a knot. As a team expedition leader, I knew how to deal with the humid heat and dense atmosphere.

I headed toward the excavation site, where construction crews had unearthed remnants of a lost civilization. The alien ghosts Andromeda claimed helped her save the colony had lived there in centuries past.

I was running from my status, my lifemate, my hate, but I was also looking for answers. Sirius might not favor me as much as Andromeda, but he wouldn’t tell anyone I was gone. I knew too much about his tampering with the system by swaying his answers on the tests.

Construction equipment lay parked in neat rows, the tractor’s blades dull from cutting through layers of crystal. Trucks filled with shards stood in a line, ready to transport the crystals to the greeneries to enhance the soil. I walked between behemoth vehicles, feeling tiny and inconsequential in such a giant world.

White turrets, slender as pinpricks, poked up from the crystal. The ivory reflected the violet rays of sunlight in prisms. I walked to the nearest building and smoothed my hands over the strange hieroglyphs of trigonometric shapes and concentric circles carved into the side.

Why contact Andromeda and not me? What does she have that I don’t?

No answer except for a light breeze. The ivory was cold underneath my fingertips. Cold and dead like the creatures who carved it. I was being silly. Did I really believe the ghosts of this failed colonization contacted Andromeda to warn us about the pods?

Maybe she found the answers in the buildings themselves. I checked over my shoulder to make sure no one had followed me. Scientists still analyzed the ruins, prohibiting any civilian contact. I wasn’t a civilian. I was a team expedition leader, soon to be a lieutenant.

I hoisted myself to the ledge and squeezed in through one of the triangular windows. The air inside was cool and dank, and I stifled a sneeze as I lowered myself to the floor. Crystal dust wafted around me. Coughing, I waved my arms until the cloud dispersed.

Pedestals rivaling my height rose from the floor like giant mushrooms. Each one had been elaborately carved in fractal patterns, reminding me of frost on glass. Chunks of crystal cluttered the floor where the excavation team had cut away the fossilized layers. I kicked the chunks away, stepping into the shadows where the light barely reached.

A platform that could have been the foundation for a bed rested in the corner. Fossilized bones melded into the surface. Several small tools and sand brushes littered the floor. They must have recently unearthed this particular specimen.

I walked over, tilting my head to see the whole outline: a creature with long branchlike fingers and wings curled in a fetal position. One wing lay collapsed against the creature’s back, and the other lay spread out behind it in a five-foot span. Tiny bones linked together formed the outline of the wing.

A deep sadness settled in my core. To come so far and fail...the scientists concluded the creatures had died suddenly, like we would have if the pods had released their burrowing microbes in the air. The findings tied in with Andromeda’s story. It all made sense—except the part where Andromeda discovered their ancient secrets and not me.

Why?

I reached out to touch the fossilized bones. My fingers shook and I wondered how something dead for so long could still have an effect on me. It was as if I expected the bones to reassemble and the creature to manifest before me, asking me to save it.

A drone, as deep and low as the growl of a primordial beast, resonated in my gut and I yanked my hand away. My heart sped like someone had fired a starter gun to a race, and my chest tightened until I couldn’t breathe.

That blaring blasphemy wasn’t from my ship.

The sound tapered off, leaving me in silence. I stared at the bones, wondering if I’d imagined it, or if I should hide here in the ruins in case the sound came back.

What am I doing? I’m a team expedition leader, for crying out loud!

I pulled myself back together. Everyone else was attending the ceremony on the ship. The thick hull, designed to protect us from deep space, blocked all sounds from the outside world. I was the only one who would have heard it. The only one who could investigate. I thought about going back for help, but every second I delayed, the source of the sound could disappear. Besides, I didn’t want the credit taken away from me. Not this time.

I scrambled to the window and climbed over the ledge, throwing myself down so fast my ankles exploded in pain. Cursing, I hobbled up the embankment of the excavation site. The sound boomed around me, vibrating the crystals underneath my feet. I fell to my knees and covered my ears. It reminded me of warping metal, growling monsters, and screeching alarms all at the same time.

The sound came from the jungle. I pulled myself up the incline and peered over the edge. A dry, fiery breeze blew my hair back, and I looked above the rustling canopy.

My heart stammered then beat into a frenzy. A massive ring of a ship, twice as large as the New Dawn, hovered over the jungle. Spires jutted from the top and the bottom, like a two-sided pin cushion. Blinking reddish lights adorned the ends. The hull was a dull gray shield of impenetrable metal with no sight panels or markings of any kind.

The buzzing sound made my eardrums throb. I pressed my nose up against the crystal ledge and peered over as my whole body shook. The lowest spire, thick as a nuclear reactor, lengthened from the belly of the ship until the tip hovered a meter from the jungle canopy. A trap door opened, and a beam of white light seared a hole in the foliage. The smell of burnt vines choked my throat, and I cowered against the side of the ledge.

I have to warn the ship.

Chapter Two

A Chance at Redemption

I sprinted through the excavation site, crystals crunching under my boots.

Would the alien ship fire its laser beam and burn me to dust before I reached the portal? My back tingled with the thought of an army of alien eyes watching my escape.

Don’t look back.

I jumped across the foundations of buildings set by the construction crew, making a beeline for the ship. I was able to use some of the partially built walls for cover, but not all of the walls were complete. My heart stuck in my throat as I slipped in between the open patches. I still had to cross the naked expanse of the beach.

The New Dawn had no great weapons of mass destruction. Yes, we had lasers, but nothing like that giant frying beam. Old Earth had been destroyed by weapons, among other things, so the Guide dictated we lived in peace. Too bad the founders of the colony hadn’t thought this far ahead.

My feet skidded across the black crystal beach. The tiny granules didn’t give me much traction, and I half-slid, half-fell toward the ramp connecting the ship to the beach. I hauled myself up and winced as my boots thumped loudly on the hollow plastic suspended above the ocean. It definitely wasn’t designed with stealth in mind.

I thrust my locator to the panel and waited agonizing seconds as the New Dawn