6: Debriefing

{Secret Cove, California, Earth}

(Quinten's POV)

"Bitch!"

He sat up with a start, then winced at the pain on the topmost part of the back of his head. He reached up and rubbed it. Besides being tender, there wasn't any blood. He let out a grunt and started to move.

"What happened Colonel?"

"Jesus!" He let out, jumping a little. He then sent a glare to Mandy, his eyes narrowed at the small doctor. "Remind me to put a bell or something on you."

Mandy rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Yeah, yeah. Now, you gonna answer my question?"

He grunted. "I remember sitting on the ground in the new world, watching Miss Nerdy Ass make googly eyes at some weird guy. I said something, and she kicked me. Then I started to say something else…" he frowned, not remembering after that.

"You were calling me a dumb bitch, to which earned you a smack to your head by the God of War."

He turned to see Jennifer standing next to the bed, still dressed in the weird clothes from the other world. He frowned.

"What happened princess? You and your new boyfriend didn't work out?" He smirked, to which he got a glare from her.

"I'm so tired of your attitude towards me, Quinten. He's not my boyfriend. He's not even my type! You're lucky I stepped in or he would have cut your head off!"

He grunted. "That wuss? Who listens to a woman far beyond his own boot clasp? Yeah, right. I suppose you want a thank you for supposedly saving my life?"

She frowned, turned on her heel and walked out of the infirmary. He gave another grunt before looking away to see Jenkins having joined Mandy in watching the entire spectacle. "What?" He growled.

"She really did save your life, Quinten. If she hadn't stepped in, I believe he really was ready to cut off your head."

He grunted. "She's probably got you fooled too." He then let out a soft yelp as Mandy smacked his head with the tablet. "The fuck was that for?!"

"You have such a way with women. No wonder you don't have a girlfriend. Or haven't had one for a while. You've got a clean bill of health. Now, get out of my infirmary."

"With pleasure if I'm just going to get beat up."

On those words, he stood and walked out, rubbing the back of his head. He just didn't like Jennifer, so what was the big deal about that? He also didn't need to explain himself so no one asked why he didn't like her. Shaking his head, he walked to his room to change, and paused when he heard a noise. He looked around his room before popping his head out. He saw another officer with another soldier, just talking. Rolling his eyes, he went back to changing.

{Twenty minutes later}

He walked into the conference room to see Jenkins seated on one side, the General in the middle at the head of the table, and Jennifer on the other, her arms crossed as she leaned back.

"Ah, Colonel. You're just in time for the debriefing. Have a seat."

Quinten moved and sat, leaning back.

"So, tell me… what was it like going back?"

"Well, sir, it was a lot calmer. We went right to the ruins and Jennifer found an interesting bit of information. The temple ruins did belong to Zeus and his followers, and she made an educated guess on who destroyed it."

The General looked to Jennifer who softly said, "Ares and his Legion."

"Ares? The Grecian God of War?"

"Yes!" Jenkins spoke excitedly.

"Then she started spouting off a story about Zeus taking Hera as a wife. After that, she claimed to have heard some horns and we walked for an hour and a half before finding some village, though I told her we needed to go back through the gate."

General Whitaker raised his brow at Quinten, and noticed how secluded Jennifer had become. "Proceed…"

"We found this village and this child threw a toy, which ended up at her feet. With her kindness, we met the village elder who treated us to a feast. Jennifer translated everything so we knew what was going on until a chariot appeared."

"Her perfect tall, dark, and handsome appeared and called himself Dorion." Quinten grunted. "He pointed his sword at me, she stepped in like an idiot, and he bashed me over the head."

"With all respect, General, Quinten did have it coming…" Jenkins spoke. "He called her a couple of rude names. I think Dorion really just kinda liked her. He was defending her honor. After Zeus showed up and started talking to Dorion, Jennifer helped me to get Quinten to the gate before she went back."

He frowned at Jenkins as all three looked at Jennifer, who leaned more in her chair. "Well, princess? Are you going to tell us what happened?" To which Jennifer just completely ignored him.

"Miss Mack, can you tell me what happened after that?" Whitaker asked, to which she nodded.

"I went back to see Zeus and Dorion," she used air quotes on his name, "were fighting. Dorion was actually Ares, checking us out to see if we were a potential thre-"

"See, now she thinks a God likes her. Why did we hire her again?" He smirked as he asked the General.

Jennifer slammed her hands into the table and walked out, slamming the door behind her. General Whitaker stood up and scowled at him.

"Colonel Quinten Frost, what is the matter with you? You have done nothing but berate the poor woman for doing her job! Do I need to give you a warning about insubordination? Or maybe unpaid leave will set you straight!"

"What for?! Do you honestly believe that a literal God on another planet would be interested in her? For crying out loud, even the village elder compared her to pudding!" He responded.

"I don't want to hear it! You are confined to your quarters until I release you!"

That was the point that Quinten scowled himself, got up, and left the conference room. On his way back to his quarters, he stopped outside of Jennifer's room. "Why do I have to say thank you or apologize to you? You don't deserve it." Skulking back to his room, he shut the door.

(Jenkins POV)

"Well… that went well, don't you think?"

Whitaker looked at him with a look, and he could only laugh.

"Seriously, where does he get the idea that he can just be that rude to her? She hasn't even been on the team long enough to do something he doesn't like."

He sighed. "I know General. I think if it's anything to do with nerds, he just doesn't like them."

"Mandy is a nerd and he tolerates her."

"Maybe we've got the unicorn? He actually does like her and he doesn't know how to express himself?"

"Aaron…"

He chuckled. "You never know. I mean, I like her. As long as you're nice to her, she's nice to you." He then shrugged. "She did tell me what happened after she went back to the village."

"What happened?"

"What she told me is that when she got back to them, both were bloody from fighting. She tried to stop them and when Ares made a comment, she found this metal pole of sorts and smacked his temple. Then Zeus made a comment and got him in the nuts."

Both men winced and flinched. "Damn."

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to piss her off."

"What happened after that?"

"She said she was nice enough to put Ares in his carriage and send him off. When she apparently turned around, Zeus was already gone."

Whitaker nodded as he sat there. They both sat in silence before he spoke up again.

"For what it's worth, General, she's a good person and she makes her job seem easy, even though I'm sure it's not. Hell, I couldn't translate anything said, and my grandparents are Greek."

Whitaker chuckled and shook his head. "Aaron… your grandmother would smack you."

"I'm sure if she was there she would."

Both men chuckled for a moment longer before Whitaker shook his head. "Well, it's only fair if she gets to name the planet since she's the one who made the best impression. Has she talked to you about it at all?"

He nodded. "Yeah, she has. She's decided on Onenides."

"Sounds fitting."

"Let's just hope we didn't cause any trouble for the people back there."