Page 17 of Uprooted

Aro

I still feel the imprint of Elowen’s perfect round ass pressed up against me.

She absolutely did that on purpose. There’s no other way that little human could have brought me down.

In that position she could have made me forget my own name.

Now is not the time to think about her on top of me, with her coveralls unsnapped and gaping open.

That spark in her eyes when she looked down at me is seared on my brain.

I would conquer worlds to have her look at me like that again.

I was definitely getting the go-ahead until she jumped off of me. Is this what rejection feels like? Things are usually so much more straightforward. She's totally interested in me. I know what that feels like. I know it's there. So why did she stop? It doesn’t make sense.

There's got to be a reason I've felt this pull towards her since the first moment I saw her across the crowded ballroom.

She seemed uncomfortable that night. I noticed every fidget.

I was completely distracted the entire time.

I should have been paying attention to the important discussions of planetary policy around me, but I couldn't bring myself to care about anything except getting her attention.

At one point we made eye contact, but her eyes darted away before I could do more than raise my glass.

There was a hint of that same unease earlier last night, but it faded away pretty quickly.

Elowen is this little puzzle I'm determined to figure out—starting tomorrow.

“Captain!” Commander Rialto’s stern voice snaps me back to reality.

“Yes, sir. ”

“We’re waiting.”

I step up behind the podium and clear my throat.

“Good news, boys. Today is Tactical Ground Operations Training.” I love T-GOT, especially today.

It’s a perfect time to get out of the dome and do something physical to keep my focus on work and not on the apprehensive feeling weighing on me from last night.

“T-GOT!” I hear from the back of the room.

“Check your yuriOS for team assignments, and whoever takes down the target will get an extra day of paid leave, courtesy of Deputy Commander Petrok.” Almost in perfect unison the unit looks down at their devices and starts murmuring about their roles for the training.

“You said you needed that day for a private matter.” Petrok crosses his arms and frowns at me.

“Oh yeah… I got it from here, boss,” I tell him with an awkward smile.

“Hey, Aro—I’m going to need your sister’s number so I can take her out on my day off!” Locke yells over the loud group.

“That’s never going to happen.” Someone in the back yells, “Dayum!” Locke can’t handle Kiera, and he’d be too hard to replace after she kicks his ass for saying something asinine.

“I look forward to beating you all for the—what is it… sixth consecutive time?” I can’t resist taunting them a little.

“Fifth,” Tai mutters under his breath.

“Let’s go, it smells like desperation in here,” I say and grab my yuriOS. “You’ve got five minutes to report to your rally point. Training begins at 0700.” I’ve barely finished my sentence when the room erupts, everyone rushing to their assigned posts.

“What team are you on?” Tai asks as we leave the briefing room.

“Alpha Recon.”

“Just like old times. Who else is with us?” he asks.

“Maak and one of the new guys, Lugo.”

“The one Maak messed with during barracks inspection?”

“One of many. I've paired them up for the day.”

“Good. It serves him right for being a dick,” Tai says.

Everything we need for the training is waiting for us at our rally point in the cargo bay. Tai shoves supplies into his pack while I inventory the weapons in our pile .

“You need to find someone else to entertain Bri next time,” Tai says.

“What? You got off on such a great start!” It was fun to watch them bicker.

“She’s a cheat,” he says.

“That’s a pretty serious accusation. I think you’re just a sore loser.” He flairs his nostrils at me. I’m sure the truth is somewhere in the middle. I wouldn’t put it past Bri to cheat, and I know firsthand that Tai is a sore loser.

"What's going on with you and the female?” Tai asks as he straps blaster cartridges to his belt.

“I don’t think they like being called that,” I correct him.

“Whatever. What’s going on between you two?” he asks again.

“I don’t exactly know,” I answer honestly.

“I’m not complaining. At least your mood has improved." He looks up at me with an accusatory stare.

“Oh, come on. I wasn’t that bad.”

“I know I don’t need to remind you of the rules, and we both know you’ll just do whatever you want anyway. Just be careful. A lot of shit could hit a very large fan,” he says, using one of the human phrases we learned before they arrived.

“I’m aware. I’ll be careful.” I say what I think he wants to hear. Tai's not wrong, but I'm not about to admit that to him. The door behind us slides open and Maak walks in, catching Tai’s comment.

“Careful about what?” Maak asks as he crouches down and carelessly shoves supplies into his bag.

Lugo’s eyes go wide the moment he steps through the door and sees that he’s on the same team as Maak.

“Don’t worry about it, brother. I’m always careful,” I tell Tai. He doesn’t need to be worrying about me.

“Ha!” Maak lets out, interjecting himself into our conversation again.

“I say we go for a good old-fashioned rope-a-dope,” I suggest to the team once everyone is packed and ready to head out.

“Rope-a-dope, sir?” Lugo asks.

“Come on, noobie,” Maak grunts.

“Maak, knock it off. This is what training is for,” Tai says and roughly hands Maak the loaded pack, hitting him square in the gut .

“You and Maak are Team Alpha, Tai and I are Bravo. Once we locate the enemy, Alpha will set up a defensive position and draw them out. Once Special Forces arrives, we will attack from the rear after they’ve used up all their ammo on you two,” I explain.

“Yes, sir,” Lugo says, sounding every bit the fresh recruit. Maak shakes his head and steps out of the cargo bay. I like the new kid. He reminds me of myself. Even though he’s young, he hasn’t complained about Maak’s hazing. He’s tougher than anyone gives him credit for.

I drag in a deep breath of fresh air. My head feels clearer and more focused right away.

Using the trees for cover, our team moves in opposite directions out of the dome.

The weight of the weapon feels good in my hands.

This is where I like to be. Something about T-GOT just feels right.

It’s like time slows down and every movement matters.

It switches on that ancient part of my brain that’s trained for survival, the one that still lurks after all these millennia.

The muradome is in a secluded part of pt’Clanik. There is nothing between here and the military base, and it’s about half a day by porter to get there. We’re smack in the middle of a forest, a perfect place to train the unit on how to move around without being detected.

We get to the expansive grassland beyond the trees. Elowen would like it here. No—focus. I’m not thinking about her right now. I’ve got a record to defend.

I extend my arm and pat the air down, ordering the unit to get low to the ground.

The tall grass gives us some cover as we keep moving forward.

I direct them to follow me as I take a sharp turn, heading north instead of east like we had planned.

Going north will give us the high ground.

Maak audibly huffs from the back. I snap my head back and glare at him.

If he gives our location away now, we might as well pack it in.

We continue north until we reach the destination I set us toward.

A singular tree at the top of a rolling hill.

Down below a sea of flowers and grass swirl around.

This is where I would bring Elowen if I could.

I shake my head and bring my thoughts back to the present.

We spread out along the ridge to scope out the valley below.

I tap my visor at my temples and rest the plexi on the bridge of my nose.

I focus my eyes on the tree line in the distance and the visor automatically zooms in, giving me a better look.

We scan the landscape for a while, looking for any signs of where to go next .

“Target located,” I hear in my earpiece. Shit—we should have just gone east. Maak rips his visor off and throws it into the ground.

“Alright, let’s go.” I drag myself up off the ground.

“What were you thinking dragging us up here?” Maak asks, visibly upset.

“I thought this was a good vantage point.” My excuse sounds lame even to my ears. The truth is: I wasn’t focused.

“I could have used an extra day off.” Great—now even Lugo has turned on me.

We head back to the dome in silence, the tension thick between us. I feel guilty for letting them down. And there goes my winning streak.

“What’s that?” Lugo asks, sniffing the air when we are about halfway back to the dome.

I take in a deep breath. The smell burns my nose as we get closer.

Maak stops in his tracks and crouches down.

I look past him and see black ooze spreading over a tree.

Tai’s ears twitch and his head turns as he tries to tune his hearing to anything around us.

The four of us freeze in place, watching and listening.

I order the other teams to fan out and search the area to find whatever made this mark.

All other teams report back—nothing.

I scoop up some of the sticky black sludge into my empty canteen and seal it shut, hoping it might help us figure out where this came from.