Read Scorcher for Free Online

Anders, we are addressing you.”
    “And aft would be?” Her lips were twitching in amusement. Playing with air traffic control was one of her hobbies, that and she hated being called a scorcher.
    “Follow the red beacons. They will lead you in.” The deep sigh of disgust on the other end of the com was enough to send her into giggles the instant that they disconnected.
    It was another Nyal battle cruiser and it made her nostalgic for Athon. He would have been out of the tank months ago by her reckoning and was probably living a contented life somewhere in the Nyal Imperium.
    She manoeuvred smoothly into the bay that was outlined by the flashing red lights and dropped the shuttle lightly on the landing site. Now it was time for the carwash.
    Fire cleansed the outer hull until the temperature cycled the same way it did on the surface. You couldn’t interrupt the cycle. More than one pilot had panicked when engulfed by flame and tried to escape. Unsuccessfully. It was a messy way to die.
    While the fire cycled on and off, scrubbing the plague traces from the exterior, Sarah looked down at her pyro suit. “Damn. I need new clothing.” It was time to shop so she was going to request that the Captain of this warship drop her somewhere that she could make it happen. Preferably somewhere near Alliance space.
    A rough banging on the door startled her. She grabbed her bag and opened the hatch. She dropped to her knees in surprise. Hands reached inside to pull her out and she went without a word being spoken.
    Audril hissed, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “I didn’t know until I was planetside. I was on assignment so I couldn’t leave until then.” She lost her footing on the decking, “Can you slow down? I am stumbling for two here.”
    “My grandchild. How could you not know?” They were drawing the stares of passing crewmembers. Captain Lannick was not usually seen in such an agitated state.
    “My species isn’t too quick with identification of pregnancy. It takes us a few months to figure it out, especially if we have experienced unusual stress.”
    “Wasn’t the sex a clue?” The words came out in a snarl.
    Sarah stopped and blinked, pulling the frenzied captain to a halt. She pitched her voice up hard and strong, more than loud enough to gain attention from passersby. “Do you want to do this here? Because frankly, if you had followed protocol and run me through any kind of medical testing when I got here, it would have showed up then. I had to figure it out alone on Danyo and then call it in to the Nyal satellite, which then passed it to the Alliance. They told me to continue on with my assignment. Every day I worried about what my talent was doing. Don’t you dare bring your temper near me or my baby!” Her hands cradled her belly and the kick that greeted her made her smile.
    The little one agreed with her.
    Audril noted the movement and her hand reached out to touch Sarah’s belly before she could stop herself.
    Sarah sighed. She couldn’t hold onto her temper now. “Come on, little one. Meet your cranky Grandma.” She reached out to Audril and slapped the dhemon’s palm against her belly. The baby obliged with another series of healthy kicks that made its mommy groan.
    The cranky grandma in question leaned forward and pressed both hands against the pumpkin curve of her belly. “I…it seems healthy.”
    “Yes. It does.”
    “Do you know the sex?”
    “Well, I have a hunch it is either a boy or a girl.” She smiled at the face Audril pulled. “My species doesn’t have another option.”
    Reluctantly it seemed, the Captain pulled herself away from her grandchild’s   mother. “Please come with me, Sarah. We are going to jump and I want you comfortable.”
    “Jump? Oh hell. Where do you want me?” Jumping while pregnant was not going to be fun. Hell, jumping while normal wasn’t comfortable. It was a nightmare for the talented.
    “This way. I have set the proper quarters aside.”