Chapter 43 - The First Night

They headed back down the slope together. The discovery, the kiss, the fact that she'd kissed him back and he hadn't imagined any of it, all of it had him buzzing. Emily kept glancing over at him with this look on her face, half smile, half something else, and he was pretty sure she was feeling it too. But as they reached the bottom of the slope, her grip on his hand tightened.

"Luca." Her voice came out strained.

He turned just in time to catch her as her knees buckled. She was still holding his hand, but her face had gone pale beneath the flush of excitement.

"Em? Hey, you okay?" He steadied her, both arms around her waist.

"Just... tired," she managed, leaning against him. "I'm fine. Just ran out of steam all at once."

His stomach dropped. For one bad second he was back on the Triumph, watching her go gray under medbay lights, monitors screaming numbers he didn't understand. Then the logic caught up. The radiation poisoning was cured, but she was still recovering. The climb and the adrenaline had hit her all at once.

"Come on," he said gently, helping her walk the last few yards to the Peregrine. "Let's get you somewhere you can rest."

The rest of the crew looked up as they approached, their earlier excitement shifting to concern as they saw Emily leaning heavily against Luca.

"What happened?" Joey asked, immediately moving toward them with his medkit.

"She's fine," Luca said quickly. "Just overdid it a bit. Still recovering, remember?"

Emily gave them a weak smile. "I'm okay, really. Just need to sit down for a minute."

The crew gathered closer, forming a tight circle around them. Joey's eyes narrowed as he watched Emily drink from the canteen he'd just offered her. Luca recognized that look. Joey had caught on to the same thing.

"Good thing we're setting up camp then," Ryan said. His voice was casual but his jaw was tight. He wasn't fooling anyone.

Luca nodded, helping Emily sit on the Peregrine's ramp. "Alright, everyone. Time to deploy the outpost. Give me some space."

The crew backed away as he moved to the control panel. The Peregrine shuddered under his feet when he hit the deployment sequence, then started doing its thing. Stabilizers punched into the alien soil hard enough that he felt the impact through his boots. The hull groaned and expanded, armored plates shifting outward, and the whole vehicle tripled in size in about thirty seconds. It sounded like a building being assembled by robots, which, technically, it was.

"I'll never get tired of seeing that," Ryan said, watching the last plates lock into place.

When it finished, they had a proper base camp. Common area, kitchenette, a sleeping section with four cots and one larger double bed. Not exactly luxury, but it beat sleeping in the dirt.

"One more thing," Ryan said, moving to a secondary control panel. "Let's get the basecamp shield online." He flipped a series of switches, and with a soft hum, a shimmering blue energy field began to emanate from the Peregrine's hull. The translucent bubble expanded outward and upward, creating a protective dome that encompassed both the expanded vehicle and the Percival dropship.

"There we go," Ryan said with satisfaction, watching the blue shimmer settle into place. "Should keep out any unwanted animals. Nothing's getting through that without us knowing about it."

"Home sweet home," Chris said, stretching his arms wide. "Not bad for alien real estate."

"Alright, everyone," Luca called for their attention. "Quick briefing on what Emily and I saw from the hilltop."

"Just the fauna, right?" Zoe asked with a wicked grin. "Or are we getting a full report on... other activities?"

Ryan snorted. "Yeah, Cap, we all saw you two coming down that hill looking pretty cozy."

Luca felt his face heat up, but Emily just laughed. "The fauna, you perverts," she said, though she was still smiling.

"Damn," Chris muttered. "And here I thought we were getting the juicy details."

"Guys," Luca said, though he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He gestured toward the ridge they'd climbed. "We've got major animal action out there. Six-legged grazers, armored and massive. Something serpentine, at least thirty yards long. Pack hunters with natural armor plating, and aerial predators circling above."

Danny looked up from the workstation where he'd been monitoring feeds. The satellite dish mounted on the Peregrine's roof was already online. "I can confirm that," he said, studying the displays. "Satellite is online and feeding from the Triumph. It shows the local fauna is keeping its distance from our landing site. Whatever's in our immediate area seems to be staying away."

That was good enough for him. It was one less thing trying to kill them tonight, so Luca filed it under "wins" and moved on.

"Good," Chris said, leaning back against one of the cots. "If the local critters are staying away, maybe the predators will too. They'll follow the food sources."

Zoe shook her head, checking her rifle. "I wouldn't count on it. Predators are curious. They investigate new things in their territory." She looked toward the shimmering blue shield. "Good thing we've got Ryan's force field."

"Exactly," Luca said, his expression turning serious. "Which brings me to our next order of business."

He moved to the weapons locker at the back of the Peregrine. "Everyone gets two energy cells. One for your weapon, one for your armor suit. And nobody, and I mean nobody, goes anywhere alone. We buddy up for everything outside the shield perimeter."

Danny nodded, turning back to his scanner. "The biodiversity readings are incredible, though. I want to get started on those samples first thing tomorrow."

"We'll start the survey work tomorrow," Luca said. "Now, let's get set up and pick bunks. We'll get dinner going after."

“Hey, Luca,” Zoe called out, snapping him back to reality. “How about a bonfire? Just like our camping trips back home.”

A bonfire, flames dancing in the cool night air. Yeah, that could work.

He grinned. “Now that’s an idea I can get behind. Let’s do it.”

Danny, who had been collecting soil samples like a kid in a candy store, visibly frowned. “Is that really necessary? We’re going to pollute the air just as we arrive? I need to take my samples.”

“We can take samples tomorrow,” Luca replied, a little annoyed. “We’ll do some traveling, and you can get what you need.”

Danny scowled but sighed, relenting. “Fine.”

Ryan clapped him on the back. “C’mon, man. Live a little.”

“I am living,” Danny grumbled. “That’s why I want to make sure the planet isn’t trying to kill us.” It was a valid concern. Still, they had a fire to build.

Joey was fussing over Emily, checking her vitals with a handheld scanner. "You sure you're feeling okay? Heart rate's still elevated."

"I'm fine, Joey," Emily said, though she didn't push him away. "Just excited, and exhausted. It's been a long day."

Luca turned toward the treeline. The trees were weird, their bark almost purple, with thick curling leaves hanging low. No dead branches, no obvious kindling, but fallen logs dotted the forest floor.

“Chris, Ryan, Zoe,” he called out. “Let’s grab some of those fallen logs, just don't wander too far. We’re making a fire.”

Zoe cracked her knuckles. “Hell yeah. First fire on an alien world.”

Chris, predictably, smirked. “First thing we do on a new planet? Play with fire and attract the predators. Humanity in a nutshell.”

Ryan shrugged. “If it works, it works.”

Emily sighed. “Let’s just try not to burn the place down.”

Luca grinned. He made no promises.

Emily settled down next to him. "Beautiful night," she said. She wrapped an arm around him, and even through the bodysuit, he could feel her warmth. "Hard to believe we're actually here."

He nodded, an arm around Emily, holding her closely. He looked up at the sky, the stars and constellations so bright and clear it was almost overwhelming. The rings of New Dawn hung faintly overhead, their ghostly arc barely visible.

"It's incredible. Though I can't shake this feeling that we're so exposed out here." The Peregrine would keep them safe. He knew that. But the whole planet stretched out in every direction with zero walls and zero ceilings, and it was definitely cramping his style.

"How are you feeling? Honestly," he asked her.

She looked up at him, fatigue evident in her eyes. "Better now that we're not about to be eaten by alien predators."

"That was never going to happen," he said with a smile. "I wouldn't let anything eat you before our second date."

"Is that what this is?" she asked, gesturing around at their fortified position. "A date?"

"Alien world, open sky, bonfire." He shrugged. "Beats dinner and a movie."

---

Luca stretched out on the Peregrine’s ramp, the cool metal beneath him a welcome contrast to the humid alien air. Overhead, the alien sky blazed vivid and chaotic, impossibly infinite. Somewhere out there was the Solar System, and somewhere in it was Earth.

It made him feel small in that holy shit, I’m really here kind of way. Like he’d somehow snagged a front-row seat to the greatest show in the universe and still couldn’t believe he had the ticket.

But what really got to him was the quiet, because the quiet was wrong.

He frowned, looking toward the darkness beyond their camp. There were shadows out there, creatures lurking at the edges of the treeline, probably sniffing them out, and that part was expected. That part was normal.

But where were the mobs? There were no portal signatures, no hostile spawns, and the System hadn't said a thing.

If this were anywhere in the Solar System, they’d have been jumped by now. The moment they stepped foot off the Peregrine, they should have had some kind of threat, a scout party, an ambush, something.

Instead, there was nothing, and that was the part that pissed him off.

The whole point of coming here, the real point, was the level 60 cap. They were supposed to break through it, find whatever the System had waiting out here, and grind past the ceiling that had kept every human on Earth locked down. But if the System had never reached Alpha Centauri, if there were no portals, no mobs, no way to level... then they’d crossed four light-years for nothing.

He chewed on the inside of his cheek hard enough to taste copper.

Maybe the portals were just hidden. Maybe they just needed to find the right place. But the fact that they hadn't stumbled onto anything yet didn't sit right with him.

The quiet gave him space to think about the crew, about Emily, about how stupidly lucky they were.

He’d been putting this off long enough, but the idea of walking into the Peregrine and laying his sleeping bag on the floor still didn’t sit right with him. A captain sleeping on the floor wasn't exactly inspiring, but, you know, “first come, first served,” and he’d decided to make himself the last to come in. Totally strategic, not humiliating at all. Not like anyone would care, but still.

---

A shuffle of footsteps broke his train of thought.

Emily appeared, her silhouette outlined by the soft glow of the Peregrine’s interior lights.

"You coming to bed, Captain?" Emily leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, that knowing smirk on her lips. She always knew how to get to him.

He groaned, hauling himself to his feet. "Yeah, yeah. Just appreciating the scenery." He stretched, joints popping. The day’s work had caught up with him. "Besides, don’t you think the captain deserves some alone time? Keeps me mysterious."

Emily rolled her eyes, but there was a smile there. "Come on, before Zoe hogs all the blankets."

Once inside, he made a beeline for the forward compartment, rummaging through their stash of gear for his sleeping bag and blanket. The place was cramped as hell, but they would make it work the same way they always did.

He spread his blanket on the floor, wedging himself into the tight spot between the kitchenette and the bunks.

He glanced around. The four cots were already claimed. Chris, Joey, Ryan, and Danny had called dibs the second the Peregrine finished expanding. That left the queen bed, which he assumed Zoe and Emily would share.

That left exactly one spot for him, and of course it was the floor.

Not exactly a luxury suite, but at least he wouldn’t have to deal with anyone kicking him in the face in the middle of the night.

He muttered to himself, cursing his own stupidity for not grabbing a bed earlier. What the hell was he thinking? Obviously, he hadn't been thinking at all, and now here he was, slumming it on the floor.

---

“What are you doing?” Emily’s voice cut through his pity party, and he looked up to see her standing there with her arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. That eyebrow was deadly; it had this uncanny ability to make him feel like a total idiot with one lift. And yeah, it was working.

“Uh, what does it look like?” he said, gesturing to the floor like it was the peak of luxury. “I’m sleeping here. Floor’s good for the back. Builds character.”

She gave him that look, the one that screamed are you kidding me right now? “No, you’re not. Come on, we’ll share the big bed.”

His face went hot immediately. “You’re joking.” She couldn’t be serious. A shared bed? His pulse did something stupid and his brain temporarily forgot how sentences worked. But a prize this perfect never came without a complication, and that complication was Zoe.

She arched a brow. "Do I look like I’m joking?"

Before he could respond, a loud cheer erupted from the bunks. Right, the rest of the crew had been listening in, hanging on every word like the nosy bastards they were.

“For fuck’s sake, you guys,” he called out, throwing his hands up. He could already feel his face heating up, but he couldn’t stop the grin tugging at his lips. “Don’t you have something better to do? Like, I don’t know, sleeping?”

Ryan called out over the laughter, sounding jealous, probably. “Way to go, Captain! Don’t mess it up!”

Luca rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, “You’re just jealous.”

Chris laughed. “Mess what up? He’s already won.”

“Alright, alright,” Luca said, standing up and holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Get your heads out of the gutter. Go to sleep, all of you. Some of us have standards.”

As he turned back to Emily, she was grinning at him like she’d just won the lottery. And yeah, maybe she had. Or maybe he had. Either way, he wasn’t about to argue anymore.

The teasing subsided into muffled laughter as he followed Emily to the bed. Emily had claimed the middle. Zoe was already cocooned in her blanket, dreadlocks sticking out, looking like she deeply regretted all her life choices. This was going to be a long night.

"You owe me," Zoe muttered as Luca clambered onto the other side of the bed. "She snores." Her grin was pure mischief, and she wasn’t even trying to hide it.

"That’s a damn lie, and you know it," Emily shot back, rolling her eyes with a smirk.

"Sure, sure," Zoe said, all wide-eyed innocence, as she snuggled into her own spot. "Let’s see if you’re still saying that by morning."

He adjusted his position on the bed, trying to get comfortable. Emily was tucked securely in the middle, her back pressing lightly against his chest, and Zoe was on her other side, sprawled out like she owned the place. He wasn’t sure if Emily had picked the middle spot to act as a protective barrier or if she just liked being the center of attention.

Emily shifted slightly, pushing against him. His arm, draped over her waist, refused to feel natural. It was just there, too aware of itself. His entire body was wound tight.