Free Chaos by Viola Grace Page A

it didn't have the equipment and lab that she needed.
    She stomped up to their shuttle and pounded on the door. "Oy, Oefric. We need to have a talk."
    Zora stood back as the door opened and the stairs descended.
    Two men emerged and she had to stomp on her hormones ruthlessly. She had seen gorgeous men before. Interest in Terrans was usually fleeting. She was more of a novelty notch in the bedpost to most of them.
    She crossed her arms and scowled at their ridiculously handsome faces. "Which one of you thinks it is a better idea to take your shuttle? Mine has all the equipment I need to run the scans your people want."
    "I am General Carser, this is Captain Wayk. We will move your equipment and supplies for you. Our shuttle is superior to yours and is faster as well."
    "Two hours late? Tell me how it's faster. Were you doing each other's hair?" Her hostility made them both wince.
    They both had dark brown hair and what Zora would classify as tanned skin, but Carser's eyes were dark brown and Wayk's were a bright green. Each of them had strange pupils, but she couldn't pinpoint the animal they reminded her of. She only knew they didn't look quite human.
    "I understand your irritation, but there was a delay at the jump point. We had to wait until there was a ship that could transport us." The general was walking toward her shuttle and she stomped along with the captain behind her.
    Her palm was all the key she needed and as she entered the shuttle, they were on her heels, making the space seem tiny. Reluctantly, she could see their point. She was five ten, but they had to be over six and a half feet tall. Her shuttle was about a third of the size of theirs. Silently, she started to haul the instruments out and they loaded their arms and disappeared with her treasures.
    They kept the unloading process going at a remarkable pace, but eventually, they had cleaned out the interior of her exploration vehicle, right down to her personal recorder and her duffel.
    Sighing, she sealed the shuttle and walked to the com station. "Flight control?"
    "Yes, this is flight control."
    "This is Bio-assessment Officer Zora Berger. I am leaving with the Oefric contingent and leaving my exploration shuttle behind. Acknowledge."
    "Acknowledged. We will keep it safe for you, Officer Berger."
    "Thank you." She grunted to herself as she stomped back to the Oefric shuttle and marched into their home base.
    Her temper was frayed by waiting and she knew that she should be calmer and more relaxed with her hosts, but she just couldn't stop being grumpy. It was her defining characteristic.
    A hair-trigger temper had not always been part of her makeup, but since leaving her friends and family back on Earth, she had begun to feel the strain of being a woman without a home world she could go back to.
    "Please have a seat, Officer Berger. We will leave for Pakrik as soon as we get clearance." General Carser gave the order in a polite tone. His low voice rumbled over her nerves, soothing her.
    She shook her head to clear the hypnotic effect and took one of the seats in the four-person cockpit. The captain was at the navigator station and he was entering coordinates as well as running the pre-flight checks.
    The general ran through the details of the flight with flight control as well as a pick-up schedule for seven days later. If there were any delays or emergencies, a beacon would be relaying the information that the other party needed to receive.
    Zora tried to remain as calm as she could, but still gripped the armrests tightly as the shuttle lifted from the hangar floor, gliding soundlessly to the launch tunnel. The colour-coded count down made her breath come faster and before it keyed them for launch, she was almost hyperventilating.
    She was pressed back in her seat as the shuttle was pushed out of the warship by a magnetic pulse and she held tightly to the seat as her consciousness faded.
    Waking on the bunk was embarrassing, having the Oefric watching her