Page 42 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

Grace

The dwarf planet that the Song of Retrieval set their colony on was one that had been terraformed for generations now.

As a result, it was absolutely covered in life.

As they approached in the Humility’s shuttle, Grace got to stare out the small window beside Garnet and Goldie, the three of them ooh-ing and aww-ing over the incoming planet.

It was nothing like the factory world they’d visited before, and they were all so excited.

They were talking over each other, trying to point out everything at once.

The planet had been named Flowers of Eternity, and it was the passion project of a very wealthy farasie family.

Just like the billionaires on Earth, the ultra rich in the Coalition had hobbies that others would find to be extreme.

Terraforming planets or asteroids was to the uber wealthy what a dollhouse hobby would be to a regular person.

It was a vanity project, a total money sink, and, for the first few decades, if not more, would not yield anything useful.

But bragging about a planet that you designed in your own image, to your own specification, was a flex for exactly that reason.

It meant you had that much money to burn, and that much power to sling around.

Flowers of Eternity was so named because it was like a massive, tropical greenhouse.

The entire planet was green – but a vibrant, yellow green not all that similar to Earth’s cooler, emerald green.

From above, the singular ocean that only took up about a fourth of the surface, sparkled extremely bright blue, almost like it was glowing.

It was a planet filled with flowers and plants of all different types.

The owner had made sure to separate them by planet of origin, creating distinct, banding zones that could be seen from space.

There was only one colony on the planet.

The Song of Retrieval was big enough that they could see it sprawling out, like a city, on a bright blue bay.

The sparkling, nearly white, limestone buildings covered a large surface area of the planet, but it was relative since the planet itself was only about the size of Earth’s moon.

But even from here, as they were coming in on approach, she could see the obelisks that formed the perimeter of the city. Their edges were glowing a very soft purple, indicating that they were on and fully functioning.

Grace explained terraforming – what she knew of it – and rich people passions projects and whatever other little tidbits she could remember to the girls as they aimed for the space port. Being the one who knew things was strange, but she didn’t dislike it.

Of course, the guys were also there. Sway and Loyalty, yes, but the others had come along as well. The entire crew had jammed themselves into the shuttle, almost without enough room for everyone thanks to Tanin’s monohov that was against one wall in its charging port.

They were all going down. Garnet said that the ship’s AI was going to be watching things while they were gone. Grace felt like they were putting an awful lot of trust in a basic AI, but it wasn’t her ship, so she accepted the decision without comment and instead focused on the crew themselves.

It was the first time she’d seen them all together. The overall effect was… scary.

Sure, Sway automatically seemed harmless thanks to being a farasie, but he was the most harmless looking of the bunch.

Everyone else was intimidating in their own right.

Rok, though he smiled sweetly and tried to look smaller, couldn’t hide the fact that he was the biggest guy here.

Vytln, the lvtl male, was almost just as big, and he had a deep scowl on his hard face that did not, at all, encourage any sort of interactions.

The avanava males, standing in the back since there were no more seats, both had icy, closed off expressions on their faces.

The very air around them seemed colder. Trove, for all that he was smiling, was still a domini, a species notorious for loving a good fight, and he kept a hand on his plasma pistol like he was a gunslinger from the old west, ready to shoot at will.

Tanin was probably the second least intimidating at first glance, but she knew that the s’skree people as a species, though they were considered small on average, were incredibly strong.

And the longer you were around Tanin, the more you came to realize just how in control of everything he was.

Everyone on this ship, she realized looking around, was a problem. Individually, they might not appear like the threat she knew they must be, but together, their auras were compounded. If she saw them in a bar, she’d immediately steer clear, knowing they must be trouble.

That was probably why it felt so weird to sit amongst them. She’d never been part of any clique, much less the clique you didn’t fuck with. But that’s exactly what this was.

She also didn’t know why Sway insisted they weren’t friends. Looking at them all together, seeing them interact with each other, they couldn’t be anything but the best of friends and brothers.

There was a comfort amongst them that only years together could forge.

They didn’t need to speak to each other to know where they were sitting, who would remain standing, or what role they needed to play.

They didn’t bother with niceties like ‘please’ or ‘excuse me’, they just made space for each other, were comfortable squished into each other.

And they made room for the females.

Grace had been in space for years. She was familiar with the deference that males naturally paid females out here, but that didn’t really mean she was used to it.

It was like what the ideal of gentlemanly chivalry was romanticized to be.

There was some variation based on species, but on the whole, females were catered to more than she was accustomed to on Earth.

Covor was an odd exception. She hadn’t experienced anyone like him since leaving her home system.

An exception only made more stark when she compared him to the guys around her now.

None of them sat down until the three of them did.

They made sure to give them room at the window they chose to crowd around, then they all sat around them.

They weren’t staring, but they had their attention.

They weren’t talking to each other but instead were just letting the girls be excited without comment.

They didn’t all have to come. The delivery itself could be handled by just a few of them, but they weren’t even making the delivery yet. Tanin had to meet with his contact first to confirm he was the recipient and finish out payment. That didn’t require the whole squad.

But the girls were all going, and, in Grace’s experience with groups, that meant the guys would all be going as well. The colony should be safe, but they were still unknown, and the females were the weakest, most vulnerable of their party. The guys just naturally gathered around them.

And they would do it on the surface too. Regardless of where they went. Did Garnet and Goldie even notice yet? It was clear to Grace, but that was only because she’d been away from Earth for so long, and she knew how males operated out here.

What really surprised her was that they were doing it at all.

These were thugs from Rik-Vane. They looked dangerous, especially all gathered together.

There was an edge to each of them that couldn’t quite be disguised.

Sway alone looked harmless, but that relied heavily on his species and the inherent assumption of pacifism that being a farasie brought him.

When he was with the others, seated amongst them like he belonged, and she stopped judging him by his species, Grace could see what she had been blinded to before.

Though Sway had a polite smile on his face, there was an awareness to him. The rough skin of his knuckles was just a bit too calloused. His body too muscular. His gaze too sharp. At first glance, and especially alone, he didn’t give off any red flags.

But sitting with the others, blending in with them, there was an air about him that seemed just as dangerous as everyone else. Maybe even more so in some respects, specifically because your initial thought would be to discount him.

He caught her staring and cocked his head curiously. She smiled back at him before focusing through the window on the approaching space port.

It was a small thing, meant exclusively for landing shuttles. This kind of place wouldn’t be able to accommodate proper starships, even ones that typically had planetary capabilities. Tanin, up front, was communicating with the ground team who were guiding him in for a landing.

The beautiful, glittering white buildings, practically glowing in the light of day, surrounded them as they came in towards the landing pad. Grace and Garnet and Goldie were all gathered around the window, each of them trying to see as much as possible but still be courteous of the others.

After they touched down, and the view was blocked by the landing shuttles around them, no one moved to leave at first. They waited until Tanin stood, turning to give them orders.

“Welcoming party is en route,” he said, stepping past everyone, needing to turn sideways to make it through them.

The others automatically moved out of his way, giving him room.

“My contact is going to be with them. They’ve agreed that we can linger on the planet.

I told them that Sway is a former trafficking victim that freed himself and is interested in learning about their group.

They won’t ask questions for fear of poking at your trauma, so that much of a backstory is enough of a cover. Keep us updated if you expand on it.”

“Yes, captain,” Sway said easily, accepting the cover story without comment. Not like it was even really a lie.