Free Omega Force: Savage Homecoming by Joshua Dalzelle Page A

continuing.
    “When Earth was attacked , I began to realize that all his adventures were real. And if they were real, all of you were real as well. He’s told me how many times you’ve saved his life, so on top of an apology I owe you a heartfelt thank you.”
    “He may have exaggerated my role a bit,” Crusher said, uncomfortable with the direct praise. “We all do make a formidable team though.” She smiled at him and laughed lightly at how someone so strong could squirm from something as small as a compliment.
    “So your name is not really Crusher is it?” Crusher seemed genuinely taken aback by the question.
    “Well … no, it’s not. But it fits me. My true name, and identity, could be problematic for a number of reasons, so for now Crusher works,” he said. “I’d appreciate a certain amount of discretion with that information,” he added quickly.
    “Your secret is safe with me,” she said with a wink, causing Crusher to laugh out loud.
    “What’s so funny?” an irritable Twingo grumbled as he walked into the galley.
    “Nothing,” Crusher said. “Why are you so moody?”
    “I can’t sleep well in my quarters when the engines are wound up so high,” he said as he grabbed his breakfast and sat down to Taryn’s left. “The leakage from the field emitters messes with my implants and I keep getting vertigo. I woke up thinking I was falling out of my rack earlier.”
    “Haven’t you ever thought about just grabbing a bunk in berthing?” Crusher asked him. The blank look on the engineer’s face plainly showed that he’d never thought of it. The quarters for the chief engineer aboard a DL7 were located back directly off of one of the engineering bays, near the high-energy plasma conduits that fed into the gravimetric emitters that were along the trailing edges of the wings. Normally it wasn’t an issue, but when they were pushing the ship so hard there were some interesting side-effects.
    “Good morning everybody,” Jason said as he walked from his quarters, fully dressed and cleaned up. “You eat already?” he asked Taryn.
    “I was waiting for you,” she smiled sweetly at him.
    “Awww,” Twingo said as he looked up from his meal. “How cute.”
    “You want to eat that tray along with your f ood?” Jason asked him pointedly while grabbing a seat across from Taryn and next to Crusher.
    “Why would you say something so mean to him?” Taryn admonished Jason before Twingo could defend himself, patting the alien’s hand. Twingo assumed a disingenuous hurt expression and laid his ears flat against his head.
    “Sometimes he beats me.”
    “JASON!”
    “That little blue-skinned bastard is a liar!” Jason nearly shouted as he pointed at Twingo. “I’ve never struck him.”
    “That’s not technically true, Captain,” Kage said as he ambled through the area on his way to take his turn at the processor. “Remember when— ”
    “I’ve never hit him out of anger,” Jason amended quickly, glaring at Kage as he did. Crusher just chuckled and stood up to leave.
    “I’ll go prep our gear, Captain,” he said. “Set us up for the worst?”
    “Yeah, you’d better go ahead and do that,” Jason said seriously. “No telling what we’ll see when we mesh in. I’m staying on the bridge, but I want you and Lucky in the cargo bay ready to rock and roll.”
    “Will do.”
    “Set up for the worst?” Taryn asked.
    “The information on this planet was almost non-existent,” Twingo explained. “The ground team will arm up for a full-out assault so we’re ready for anything when we drop out of slip-space.” As he was explaining this he was giving Jason an odd look. He had never known him to opt out of a possible ground operation to the point of not even getting into his armor before they meshed in.
    Jason could see the gears turning in his friend’s head , and if he was honest with himself he’d have to agree with him; he was making uncharacteristic decisions based on Taryn being