Page 46 of Alien Mercenary's Wife
They made their way through corridors with dark metal walls and mesh flooring showing pipework and ducting underneath. It'd feel claustrophobic if not for the size of the passages, built for T'Raal and other huge non-humans.
As they rounded a corner, they passed a man almost as big as T'Raal in combat pants, heavy boots, and a sleeveless vest. Rippling scales covered his muscled arms, and he had glasses perched on his head as he read from a dataflex. He grunted as they passed.
"Isn't that...?" Reese began.
"My brother, yeah," Eris replied.
Reese half-turned, but he'd already disappeared. "He wasn't..." There was no way that man was human, so how could he be Eris's brother?
She turned to find Eris grinning. "Eric likes playing with DNA, especially his own. He's half lizard now."
They made their way through corridors that felt familiar now, past crew quarters and maintenance areas Reese was beginning to recognize.
"Down here," Eris said, leading her past what looked like control panels and machinery. "Tucked behind the engine area."
The communication room was cramped, barely big enough for the display panels and two chairs. The place smelled of metal and ozone, with alien duct tape covering splits in the chair arms. Eris left the door open, and Reese was glad for the extra space the corridor provided.
Reese snorted and pointed. "Some things are universal, huh?"
Eris snorted. “Yeah, same old, same old. Tape’s probably made in the same place as well.”
"This looks complicated," Reese said, studying the alien interface with its shifting symbols and controls she didn't recognize.
Eris settled into one of the chairs and activated the system. Symbols flickered across the holographic display. She looked up. "Do you have your contact codes?"
"Hughes first. He was my comms specialist." Reese nodded, reciting the memorized sequences.
The connection established with a soft chime. Hughes's face materialized on the screen, and relief flooded through Reese. He looked older than his years, but he was still breathing, and that was all that mattered.
"Captain?" Hughes's voice cracked, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping. "Jesus Christ, we thought you were dead. The metro explosion?—"
"I'm alive," Reese said with a shrug. "Is this channel secure on your end?"
"Secure as I can make it." Hughes leaned closer to his screen. "Where the hell are you? We've been trying to reach you for days."
"Somewhere safe." Reese nodded to Eris, who initiated connections to the other survivors. "I've got help now."
Additional screens populated with familiar faces. Ryans appeared first, followed by Williams, who was hunched in what looked like a makeshift bed.
"No fucking way," Ryans breathed when he saw her. "Captain? You're alive?"
"We heard about the metro bombing," Griffin added. "Thought they'd finally gotten you."
"Very much alive. And I found someone you might remember."
She gestured to Eris, who leaned into view of the cameras.
Silence stretched across the channels. Hughes's mouth fell open. Ryans stared like he was seeing a ghost. Griffin's eyebrows rose in shock.
"Holy shit," Williams whispered. "Tank? But you're—you're supposed to be dead."
"My death was greatly exaggerated," Eris said dryly.
The last screen finally activated, revealing Mason's face—ice-white hair, a jagged scar cutting across her left cheek. She leaned forward, frowning.
"Wait," Mason said. "Is that—Tank?"
Eris grinned. "Hey, Mason. Miss me?"
