Claimed: Unchartered Territory Read Free Page B

Standard time zone, but she was up well passed her bedtime. A couple hours of downtime should give her tired eyes and body the rest it needed to approach the data again.
    “Mission control I’m going to get a few winks, someone make sure Bobby does the same.”
    There was an unidentified chuckle from the other end. “Roger that Dallas.”
    Dallas abandoned the command area for her nearby bunk compartment. It was close quarters but contained the one essential item she needed. Settling on the bunk she could almost hear her body thanking her for the coming reprieve. No sooner then she laid her head on the pillow her heavy eyelids drifted down and sweet sleep claimed her.
    ***
    It was a dream, of that she was certain. She knew it because only her mind could drudge up such a spectacular looking creature. She smiled in recognition. He’d starred briefly in a few dreams since her departure. Part man and part… well whatever he was it made for a perfectly decadent dream. Not like that time she’d dreamt about her third year chemistry professor with the bad hair augmentation.
    She shuddered.
    This man… creature was pure fantasy. His face, although interesting, was inconsequential. Even his odd coloring didn’t give her pause. He was, after all, a figment of her imagination. All that mattered was the business he had going on underneath those fitted leather pants. She let her gaze linger on the growing bulge that was right where it was supposed to be. He made an unrecognizable sound which drew her attention away from her area of interest.
    “Did you say something big fella?” And boy was he big. Like get a major crook in your neck big if he stood too close.
    He uttered something else completely unintelligible to her.
    “Sorry sweetie, I speak four languages and Wookie isn’t one of them. But I don’t think that should matter much since neither one of us are here to discuss the origins of the universe. God, I hope that’s not what we’re supposed to be doing.”
    He made a deep throaty sound she interpreted as laughter before closing the small span of space separating them.
    She was right, they didn’t need words. And Dallas had to admit she liked his style. Firm hands on her ass hoisting her up to bring them eye level.
    “Now there’s something you don’t see every day,” she whispered at seeing dark lavender eyes staring back at her. So close there was no mistaking the raised flesh between his brows making him look dangerously wild.
    Exciting.
    This was going to be fun.
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Three
    Whoever thought to call an emergency drill right at the beginning of the best damned dream… ever, was definitely in for an earful.
    Her weary body protested as Dallas pushed the fuzzy cloud of tiredness from her mind. She swore it felt like she’d just closed her eyes. The haze faded as she registered the internal flashing lights accompanying the high pitched warning signal.
    “Ah hell,” she muttered stumbling from her quarters and down the short distance to the command deck. Her ship blazed red with warning lights. Drill or not it was definitely the boost of adrenaline she needed to come to full alertness. She slid into her seat letting fingers fly over the controls to run system checks, absently remembering to slip in her ear piece.
    “Juno to mission control.”
    No response.
    She tried again.
    Still nothing. There wasn’t a chance for a third attempt.
    The ship quaked, jostling her in her seat.
    “Well that wasn’t a simulation.” She flipped the switch to raise the shielding from the observation windows. Her heart raced at the thought of having been hit by space debris or worse an asteroid.
    How had her sensors not detected anything? Why hadn’t her shielding deflected the object?
    There was only the briefest seconds of relief at seeing unobstructed air space before the ship quaked again. Only this time the shaking didn’t stop.
    The combination of rattling and warning signals merged into