In the Months That Follow

By A.R. Moler

Terran Alliance Marine pilot, Ben Magnys, spends half his days getting shot at by the Ssaanth. Occasionally those shots hit their mark. Injured in a dog fight, Ben gets patched up by Marine medic, Caden Roth. Caden’s never met a Gaddite before. Gaddo IV is remote, and has such extreme environmental conditions that the colonists there were forced to alter their genome in order to survive and to ensure a healthy gene pool.
After the kind of bad day that only emergency medical people can have, Caden and Ben meet again for a drink. One thing leads to another and they end up in bed together, which eventually evolves into a fledgling relationship. However, antibiotics and altered genetics throw the new lovers a definite twist. Danger isn’t done with them yet. Can they survive a Ssaanth raid on the space station too?

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.R. Moler
• Release date: Mar 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463152553

A.R. Moler

A.R. Moler is a chemistry professor at a community college, a homeschooling mom and an avid science fiction fan. She is a devotee of first hand research for her writing whenever possible and to this end has - learned to fire a handgun, been rappelling, ridden with both EMS and the police, flown a helicopter, bought a motorcycle and learned to ride it. She has traveled to nearly all the places where her stories are set and taken hundreds of photos for documentation. She has been writing since her high school years, but only recently has become published. Her website can be found at http://armoler.com

Book preview

In The Months That Follow

by

A.R. Moler

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2016, 2019 by AR Moler

Cover illustration by P.E. Ash

Chapter 1

Raids by the Ssaanth were bad news. Those reptilian pirates had been attacking anything humanoid for the past year and a half. Reports were coming in that at least two of the station squadron’s craft had been hit while on patrol protecting Terran Alliance Space Station 24.

The fighter-craft skidded a little as it pulled into the landing bay. Smoke and fumes leaked from the badly scorched wing. Medic Caden Roth of SRS division counted to ten in his head. If the pilot didn’t pop the canopy release soon, he needed to climbed up there and see how badly the man was injured. The tablet computer in Caden’s hand indicated the pilot was one Benjamin Magnys Lieutenant JG.

The canopy made a thud and hiss sound as it began to open. Good, the cabin had maintained at least partial pressure despite the damage. Caden set the tablet on the floor beside him.

The pilot hoisted himself up out of the seat and slowly flung a leg over the edge of the cockpit. Caden saw black burn marks along the pilot’s shoulder. The skin-tight compression flight suit was navy blue and the darkness of the fabric probably hid the burns to a degree. It was uncertain from this angle how much of the heat and impact had been absorbed by the suit. Caden gave himself a little mental kick for also noticing what a tight well-muscled ass the pilot had.

Magnys made it to the deck somewhat unsteadily, gripping the under strut of the wing as he finished climbing down.

Caden put an arm around the pilot’s torso. Easy, how bad are you hurt?

The pilot held up a hand indicating Caden needed to wait a moment, and stripped off the full face helmet. Beneath it, he wore a tight knit skull cap of matching navy blue. Light brown curls haloed the edge of the cap.

It hurts a little, but I think it’s just a superficial burn, said Magnys. He had a long straight nose and a sharp angular face. A light moustache and goatee framed Magnys’ mouth and Caden was immediately attracted. As Magnys fully met Caden’s gaze, Caden noticed the guy had vertical pupils. Wow, that was different.

Okay that’s good. Come over here and sit down so I can have a look. Caden guided him toward a long metal bench at the end of the landing bay slot. Up close now he could see at least one strip of seriously burned skin.

Magnys sat down and Caden pulled out a pair of shears and began to slit the sleeve of the compression suit starting at the wrist.

Hey, that’s my flight suit! Magnys protested.

Which is already damaged and that renders its ability to do its job null and void.

Oh… yeah.

Caden suspected the guy was a little more rattled by the attack on his ship than he was willing to let on. He cut the flight suit up the entire length of the seam from wrist to neck, and carefully began to peel the fabric back. The thick stretchy fabric stuck to one long strip of skin running down the back of Magnys’ shoulder, melted onto the flesh. There was no way that was coming off without some solvent. Unfortunately this was an all too common type of injury lately and Caden quickly opened a med-kit, placing it on the floor beside the bench.

I’m going to spray you down with some ethyl chloride and then maybe I can peel the melted part off without sending you screaming. Caden picked up the spray bottle.

It doesn’t matter. I can handle it.

Yeah, well, I don’t want to make the burn damage any worse either.

Magnys was silent as Caden carefully worked the piece of fused fabric loose. A deep layer of skin came with it despite his best efforts.

You’re making a face. Is it bad? It doesn’t hurt that much, said Magnys.

The edges are just first degree but there’s a section that’s third degree. You may need some stem cell therapy to get this to heal without significant scarring.

I doubt it.

Caden gave the pilot a long look. The vertical pupils were distracting, and really kind of hot. Are you into the battle scars thing?

Nope, not particularly. You do realize I’m a Gaddite don’t you?

Oh, that would explain the cat eyes. Caden wasn’t all that familiar with what other genetic modifications the average Gaddite had, but he knew there were some. Gado IV was a mining colony on the outer edges of the Terran Alliance. It supposedly had crazy harsh climate issues and back before translight drives became available, it took a decade to get out there, or back. Fending for themselves pretty much, the colonists did a lot of genetic tinkering to enhance survival. According to the limited information Caden had read, some of those mods had been epically beneficial and some had been lethal.

Um, I did wonder about the eye thing. Caden felt vaguely embarrassed.

They improve my low light vision a great deal. I also heal a lot faster than average, even fairly serious injuries. On Gado, medical help isn’t always readily available. The ability to survive anything more than a minor injury is important.

What exactly does that translate to in terms of your burn?

In two days it’ll likely be down to the peeling and painful itching phase, in four it’ll just be a shiny pink mark. Chances are in a week it’ll be barely visible, said Magnys.

Even the third degree part?

Probably. Every injury’s a little different, but I can usually guess how it’ll heal.

Impressive. Caden bandaged the burn with a dressing and antibiotic gel and taped it all down. Just to be on the safe side then, try not to get it wet for twenty-seven hours and swing by the med-bay sometime tomorrow to have someone take a look at it. One of the staff will check it and make sure it’s not getting infected. They’ll change the bandages too.

Okay. Thanks. Guess my next stop will be to requisition a new flight suit and ask how long it’s going to take to repair the damage to my Stinger. Magnys picked up his helmet and gave Caden a smile before he walked away.

~

There was going to be a hellish amount of forms to fill out, as well as a post-event report. Ben Magnys really just wanted to go to his quarters and sleep. He’d been shot at by the Ssaanth before but this was the first time his Stinger had been more than just grazed by the plasma bursts of those cold-blooded, forked-tongued monsters.

He supposed that his CO would cringe a little at him calling his fighter craft a Stinger but Stanislaw Intergalactic Gradient Engine Raptor was too damn much of a mouthful. Some of the pilots from the worlds closer to Terra called them Raptors, but out on Gado he’d always heard them referred to as Stingers so the name was embedded in his head.

Ben shrugged his aching shoulder. He hadn’t lied to the medic guy; the pain wasn’t really that bad, but neither was it particular fun. When he reached his quarters, he stripped out of his mutilated compression suit and knee high boots and put on his regulation coveralls. Belatedly he realized he was still wearing the skull cap and tossed that on the bed too. His hair was damp and sweaty and he ran his fingers through it trying to alleviate the sticky feeling. Whatever. He’d come back and take a shower after he’d dealt with the reports. Fuck, he was probably going to have to cruise by med-bay to get something water proof to put over the burn if he wanted that shower.

Heading toward the center of the space station where all the Marine offices were located, he vaguely wished he’d asked the medic what his name was. The guy had been polite and helpful and hadn’t freaked when Ben had told him he was a Gaddite. Okay, realistically, not that many people freaked, but Ben had suffered a lot of uncomfortable stares and weird murmurings behind his back in the Academy. Everyone wanted to know what a Gaddite was doing becoming a Terran Alliance Space Marine pilot. After all, Gaddites were strange and antisocial and held all sorts of crazy opinions, or so the general populace seemed to think. Ben swallowed and tried to push unpleasant