Title: Space Station Aires

by Paula C.

fandom: The Monkees

Pairings: Mike/Micky Mandy with each guy

rating: this one G (future chapters R/NC-17)

chapter: 1/30

summary: AU Monkees on a space station and with different jobs. Micky helps Mandy learn about the space station and help her find her
brother.

disclaimer: I don't own them, just borrow them to play with. Please don't sue, I'm a single mom.

feedback: bbi_tommyboy@yahoo.combbi_tommyboy@yahoo.com



Space Station Aires aka Monkees in Space
Novel by Paula Collins
first written in November 2001
in the NWOA novel writing challenge

Chapter 1: Coming Home

Looming before a trooper ship, the space station was growing larger as it made its final approach. An announcement over the ship's intercom announced that the ship would be docking within the hour.

While most of the recon members started gathering their personal effects, one soldier left the common area and entered another room, away from the others. On the far wall of the room was a space window. Before him was Space Station Aires, his home of three years.

For a few minutes, the soldier stood before the large window, and watched the space station grow in size as the ship made its approach. Moving, he sat on the conference table, letting his booted feet dangle above the floor. Dressed in army fatigues, he was glad that he would be in civilian clothes soon. He brushed off the imaginary lint that adorned the front of his shirt. On the left pocket was his squadron patch, Alpha Recon of Aries Station with a picture of the space station in the background. Over this right pocket was his name patch, M. Dolenz. He then ran his hand through his curling hair. He was happy to see it come back to its wild mass from having his hair cut before leaving twelve weeks ago. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, thinking he was nearly home and that he was glad that he was alive.

He let his mind wonder for a few minutes thinking back on the mission that he had just completed and what he had to look forward to.

The mission had been the hardest he had ever been on. If anything could be categorized as going right, in his opinion, that would be the newbie that he was assigned to train. For a girl, she held her own when the going got tough. She saved his neck several times when things were close. But the mission, to create a zone that could be occupied by scientist to do research on the planet, was met with opposition by the planet inhabitants. With several fatalities and casualties, the mission cost the recon patrol dearly. They started with a force of thirty but twenty were returning. He was thankful that he was one of the lucky ones coming home.

Home was his apartment that he shared with his friends. He lived with three guys. His first friend, Mike, was now enjoying a desk job with the space corp. After surviving his five years in recon, he got promoted to a communications job at the station. Then there was Peter, a civil engineer who was working on redesigning unused space on the station. And last, Davy, who could be described as man who could barter anything. If you wanted or needed something, he was your man to find it and get it at a bargain.

The young man smiled, he was starting to feel better. Thinking of his friends always gave him a lift in his heart. With them, they created a band that played at different bars and clubs at the station. It was his outlet for the insanity he lived through while on assignment. With recon assignments, you were out for twelve weeks at a time on a mission, and home for ten weeks.

Looking out the window once more, home was closer now. The station grew in size and was making him feel smaller as they approached.

He looked down at his hands. He wore black leather fingerless gloves, partially from habit of playing drums in the band but they protected him from the outside elements. They had come in handy in climbing a cliff wall, keeping his fingers secure. He thought back to the incident on the planet that he and his partner had been cornered by two planet dwellers. He scrambled up the cliff side then helped her up. The aliens didn't have fingers that could let them climb easily. Score one for himself on that part, he thought.

Having the rank of lieutenant, gave him the luxury of not playing a true soldier. His best asset was recon beyond the group, and the two captains of the patrol knew that. He was the first to have a run in with their unwilling host aliens and it nearly cost him and his partner. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

Thinking of the unpleasant experience, he again ruffled his hair trying to conjure up something different. He didn't want to think of what happened back there, at least not yet. He wanted to go home so bad, to find the comfort of surroundings. He needed Mike. Mike understood what he was going through, he himself having survived his tour of duty. Only Mike knew how to listen to him and let him get his grief out and help him recapture what made him, Micky Dolenz, whole again.

He heard the door swish open and close behind him. He didn't bother looking. Most everyone knew that he was a bit standoffish, the loner of the group. Only one dared to be near him at any time on this mission, his current partner, Mandy.

"So this is where you're hiding." She came to stand beside him. She looked out the window and saw the space station looming before them.

"Watching final approach. Welcome to Space Station Aires," Micky announced.

Micky looked at his mission partner. Outside the ranks of the patrol, she would be easy on the eyes to look at. Standing 5'8" she had a bit of muscle on her but it did not detract from her. She had brunette hair that was cut in a bob with blond hi-lights. She was dressed in army fatigues with her own name tag of M. Dawes over her right pocket.

"So that's what it looks like up close." She moved a chair out from the conference table and sat down. She moved her left arm gingerly up to rest on the arm chair.

Micky didn't let the movement go unnoticed. "Didn't you see Aires when you arrived before?"

She looked out the window. "I came in on a freighter with thirty other soldiers. I was lucky I had a space to sleep in."

Micky had talked with her at different times on the mission but there was still much to learn about his new partner.

Micky chuckled at that thought. He had hitched rides on freighters in the past when he needed to get somewhere cheaply. It was taking your life in your hands, you didn't know who was on board with you and didn't know if you would wake up the next morning. "Been there myself," Micky commented. "How's the arm?" he nodded toward her and her stiffened arm.

"It hurts like hell and looks worse. Once I find a place to bed down, I'll go to the infirmary."

"Bed down? Don't you have a place to stay?" That was one of the topics they hadn't discussed.

"I arrived two days before shipping out. I slept in the dorms then." She sat back in the chair and swivelled to look out the window. "I doubt I'll be able to find a place that easily."

Micky liked her and knew what dorm living was like. Remembering his time, there was no personal space and always keeping your stuff to a minimum for lack of space in the barracks. Micky thought for a moment, he had enough room in his bedroom to share for a while.

Peter had designed them a living space that had a shared common area but gave them each their own bedrooms.

"I got an idea. Why don't you come and stay with me and my mates for a spell?"

She moved to look at him with a speculative look. "At what price?"

Micky tried to look shocked, but he didn't have the energy to pull it off. "No price. I know what the dorms are like and since you haven't been here before, I think someone needs to show you the ropes so you won't be taken in by the bad elements of the station."

"You don't think I can handle myself?" She smiled knowing he knew what she was capable of from their mission.

"I know you can handle yourself, believe me, I remember what you did to that Tulog. I'm offering you a place to get some rest and let you get familiar with the base before throwing you out into the harsh reality of the station. And if you take me up on my offer, my friend can fix that arm of yours better and faster than any infirmary robot tech."

"Okay, I'll take you up on your offer. You're sure your friends won't mind?"

"Won't be the first and won't be the last time I brought a friend home. There's plenty of room."

They watched as the ship pulled alongside the Aires and latch on, making itself very small in comparison to the station itself. They heard the docking hooks clamp into place.

The door opened to the room and another soldier stepped in. "Micky, you take the third group through decontamination and the air lock."

"Got it Captain."

The man walked over to Micky and Mandy. He looked at Mandy. "I may not have said it during the mission, but we were lucky to have you. I'm glad to see a positive addition. I look forward in seeing you on the next mission."

"Thank you Captain Snow."

"I'll see you both at debriefing." With that said, he turned and left the room.

"Decontamination?" Mandy asked with a quizzical face.

"The joys of being on a foreign planet. Never know what little bugs we have on our bodies.

"The airlock is built for a cleansing phase. It doesn't hurt, well, it doesn't hurt that much," he conceded. "The air lock only holds ten at a time. Between what is left of our recon group and the support crew for the ship, I say we have thirty-five on board."

Micky looked out the window. "Makes you feel small doesn't it?"

Mandy looked out the window and agreed. "Sort of puts us in our place."

Micky slid off the table and headed for the door. "Come on, it takes each group ten minutes to go through. I imagine the captains have had their problems telling some of the families that their loved ones didn't come home. And then the others rejoicing that theirs did."

"Anyone for you?"

Checking his watch, Mike would be getting up from his sleep from working third shift, Peter would be at work, and Davy could be anywhere but doubt that he would come up to the base. Micky shrugged, "I don't know. Doubt it."

They saw that the second group was just entering the air lock. Micky looked around a saw that there were three others of the team left, single like himself, so they didn't rush to get out. "Hey Kyle." Micky called out to one of the veterans of the group. Kyle had six months left. He was stocky in build but he was good in munitions, one of the best in the recon squads at Aries at the moment.

"Hey Micky. You did some nice work back there. Thanks."

"You would have done the same for me," Micky told him.

"I don't think I would have thought that quickly. That was one bad venture."

"It's over. Now we can go rest for a while and get it behind us."

"Till the debriefing." Kyle shuttered. "I'm not looking to be reliving that hell."

"Maybe we can convince them to give us the memory nullifer for this one."

"It would be nice."

Micky picked up his duffel bag and saw Mandy putting a strap over her shoulder then moving to pick up a second one. He went over and took the second from her hands and put it over his shoulder. "Two bags?"

"I didn't know anyone to leave my stuff with," she replied simply.

Micky understood that and nodded.

A green light turned on by the air lock door. "We're up." Kyle and a few others were ahead of them into the air lock.

Micky showed Mandy to stow her duffel bag along the side of the compartment and secure it to the wall by webbing. In the middle of the room there were low straps. She saw Kyle put his wrists through two of them and get a good hold. Micky came up behind her. "Do what Kyle is doing and hold on." She did as she was instructed, her arm aching from being held up so high. "Close your eyes tightly. There will be an intense light and a burning sensation, like a sun lamp on high. Then the room will suck out all the air. I'll tell ya when to open your eyes."

Micky took a spot in front of her and she looked up at him. He gave her a cocky smile, the one that she had rarely seen, but at times it provided inspiration to continue on.

A claxon rang in the room and a red started flashing.

"Close your eyes," Micky told Mandy.

Closing her eyes, she held onto the straps, thinking perhaps her life depended on it.

The heat rose quickly in the room. The energy was all around her. She could feel the heat on her face. She was glad to have been warned by Micky to have her eyes closed. The heat turned a notch higher above being comfortable. Then it turned off. She gave a sigh of relief then she felt the pull. The air around them was being pulled out of the room. Her body shifted going with the pull. She kept a tight hold of the reigns. Her feet left the floor. Then the pull stopped, dropping her feet back to the floor and a different claxon rang through the room.

"Open your eyes Mandy."

Mandy opened her eyes and saw Micky letting go of his straps. He reached over and helped her dislodge her battered arm from the strap. "Looks like you survived your first decon."

"Thanks for the warning."

"I go by the motto, treat those around you the way you want to be treated. When I did it my first time, no one told me. I was sucked across the room."

Mandy gave a small laugh at the thought of him being pulled across the room.

Mandy took her one duffel bag and Micky picked up his and her second and headed out of the air lock after the others.

Entering the reception area, Mandy was glad they had waited. It was small area that would have been overwhelming with family waiting to see their loved ones. "Glad we waited," she commented.

Micky nodded and then smiled when he saw a familiar face. A tall soldier, dressed in camouflage was leaning against the back wall, talking to two other officers.

"Mike!" Micky yelled.

The man looked over and said his goodbyes and walked over to them.

Dropping the bags, Micky took Mike in a bear hug embrace. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Had to pull some overtime. I heard the reports. I'm glad to see you."

Micky pulled back and smiled at his friend. "You don't know how happy I am to see this place." He heard someone clear their throat by him and remembered his manners. "Oh, Mandy. Mike this is my new partner Mandy, Mandy, one of my roommates and best friend, Mike."

Mike extended his arm out and noticed that she hesitated when she took his hand. Holding on to her hand he moved the sleeve up to see the nasty red gash that ran up her forearm. He whistled looking at the wicked cut.

Micky looked at Mike as he ran his finger along the welt. "Think you can help?"

"When we get somewhere safe," he answered.

"I invited Mandy to crash at our place. She's new to the station and doesn't have a home yet."

Miked nodded. "Then let's head home." He stopped to pick up Mandy's bag. "Allow me."

Micky picked up his two bags and followed Mike and Mandy to the bank of elevators that led through the core of the station, or what some called the heart of the station. He smiled as he followed them, thinking how good it was to be home.


END