KAVOK

XILTRI SECTOR WARRIORS: BOOK ONE

AVA YORK

STARR HUNTRESS

CONTENTS

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Kavok

Helena

Epilogue

Are you a STARR HUNTRESS?

Opening Move: The Alien Games

Rogue Mate

Kazan

KAVOK

Raxor stalked over to the bar and slammed his mug down on it. The sight of a seven-foot-tall, orange Vaznik warrior apparently demanding more booze was too much for the white-furred, Hothian barkeep. The barkeep squealed, hurrying to refill Raxor’s mug. Raxor’s horned head didn’t even turn toward the Hothian before the fellow Vaznik warrior returned to our table.

Raxor wasn’t angry at the barkeep. He was angry at me.

“All I’m saying is, there were dozens of humans and Kimisusian in that research center on Yimïk III.” He settled into his seat, fixing me with a steely gaze. “Something happened to them.”

“Yes, maybe a solar flare took out their comms relay.” I was still nursing my first mug of ale as I returned his glare, spark for spark. “Or there was a gamma-ray burst, or some other explanation.”

“Or maybe it was pirates. Or Suhlik.”

I gave him a long, searching look.

“Raxor, do you really think they’ll dispatch the Honor's Blade to a forsaken swamp all the way at the edge of the Xiltri Sector?”

“Don’t you want a chance to earn yourself some honor?”

I tapped my blue fingers on the table and sighed. “You really think there’s honor to be had in a swamp—”

Our comms flashed, and a general communique came through.

“All hands of the Honor’s Blade, Nova, and Sunder are to report to their ships immediately. This is not a drill. And before any of you pansies whine about it, yes, I’m canceling your shore leave. Now MOVE.”

“Sounds like the admiral’s mate made him sleep on the sofa again.”

I stared at him as we rose from our seats and jogged into the streets of the space port.

“On the sofa?”

“It’s a human thing.”

I laughed as we rounded a corner, startling a pair of Akle. They trumpeted at us in annoyance as we jogged past.

“You ever think what it might be like if your match comes up in the lottery, Raxor?”

“Absolutely not,” he said. “It’s statistically unlikely to occur, so I don’t bother even considering it.”

Captain Soanzo greeted me as I stepped into the cargo bay, often used for crew muster because of its convenient size.

Soanzo was an older Vaznik, the red of his skin fading to a dull pink. Don’t tell him that, though, unless you want his pink knuckles in your mouth. He stood nearly as tall as Raxor and I, but had a bit of a stoop to his back due to his age.

“Kavok,” he rasped in his growling, take-no-shit voice. “Have you kept up with the situation on Yimïk III?”

“I heard the Hep Tháblois Bouhek Research Center ceased all communications with Mahdfel HQ a few days ago.”

“He heard that from me, actually, captain,” Raxor said. I shot him a dirty look, but Captain Soanzo wasn’t in the mood for any of it.

“I want you to assemble an away team and investigate when we reach the planet.”

“Yes, captain.”

He stood there, staring at me for a moment.

“I meant now, Kavok,” he snapped.

“Yes, captain.” I turned to Raxor. “Here’s your chance for glory if you want it.”

“I’m in. I knew it’d be a thing.”

“Yeah, don’t break your hand patting yourself on the back.”

He gave me a look, then twisted about, trying to touch his own massive back.

“What does that even mean?”

“It’s a human saying. It means don’t expend too much energy congratulating yourself or you might be injured.”

“Humans are so barbaric. ‘Eye for an Eye.’ ‘Break a leg.’ ‘Break a heart.’ There is no end to their cruel metaphors.”

“I’m not sure the first one was a metaphor. I think humans actually did that in the distant past.” I considered him for a moment. “Also, you might want to tone down your anti-human talk, seeing as they’re the newest species to be part of the mating treaty.”

“Yeah, yeah, I feel you. So who’re we bringing?”

“I’m thinking of Sakor, Vrako, and Jakar.”

“Sakor? But his breath smells like Toyolian cheese.”

“He’s a hell of a shot with a plasma rifle, and he never complains. Unlike someone I know.”

“Yeah, you’re a laughing riot. You should try being one of the human’s stand-up Canadians.”

“Canadian?” I shook my head. “It’s stand-up Kardashians.”

“Whatever. Let’s go collect the team so we’re ready to go when we arrive at Yimïk III.”

I felt the engines throb through the deck plating. We powered up the faster-than-light drive. It wouldn’t be long before we arrived at Yimïk III, along with our twin, Cruiser-class escorts.

Despite what I’d said to Raxor earlier, I was quite eager to distinguish myself with excellent service. Most likely, it’d turn out to be a false alarm.

But if it wasn’t, then I’d show the galaxy what Kavok, the Vaznik warrior, was capable of—

“Kavok.” My comm buzzed. “Change of plans. Report to administration immediately.”

“Admin?” I blurted.

“That’s an order.”

“Yes, captain.”

Raxor and I exchanged glances. Whatever they wanted with me at admin was likely to be trouble.

I just hoped it wouldn’t interfere with my honor and glory, whatever it turned out to be.

HELENA

“You know you don’t have to do this, right?”

There was the slightest tremor in his voice. I always hated when Dad worried about me.

“She will be fine, Charles. She’s not six anymore, you know.” Mom wrapped her arms around him, smiling as she used her hug to shake him a bit.

Dad gave in and let Mom shake the stiffness out of him. His worried face slowly turned into his goofy face. He had never won a single argument with my mother. Somehow, Mom’s ideas always had everyone’s best interest in mind and who’d want to fight with that?

I watched my parents as they comforted each other in their own way, hoping a genetic match meant more than just biological compatibility. Just a little of the magic my parents shared would be more than I’d hoped for.

No time to go all mushy cakes now, Helena. We’ve got things to do! Focus!

“All right you two, thanks for not making out and making my last memory of you totally awkward.”

Dad laughed. Mom winked.

“We’re saving that for when you’re gone.”

“OH MY GOD, MOM! Why would you tell me that?”

She flashed the impish grin we shared, the one letting you know she was about to play dirty.

“Charles?”

“Yes, Madeleine?”

“Since we’re sending our child off to consort and bear children with an alien species, do you think we should finally have a chat about the birds and the bees? It’s our responsibility to make sure she’s prepared, isn’t it?”

Dad took one look at my face and busted out laughing.

“MOM!”

“Come on now, Helena. I’m pretty sure little Jacob hadn’t got too far when Dad caught you in the shed that one time.”

“Mooooommmm! That was years ago! Here I am, leaving to explore the galaxy and…”

“See, Charles? She’s perfectly fine with her decision. She’s not even one bit nervous when she says it. She won’t even miss us one bit.”

Her face softened into a sad smile and her eyes had tears in them. Mine did, too.

“Oh, Mama.”

“My baby girl. I love you so much and I’m so proud of all you’ve done, and I’m so hopeful for your future.”

I don’t think I’d ever hugged my parents so hard as that moment, just before they got back in the car and watched me head into the testing center.

I’m doing the right thing. I’m doing the right thing.

When I get back, I’ll have so many worlds to create, missions to plan and evil to destroy! This whole experience is going into my next game design! Adventuring in space is exactly the experience I need.

No turning back now.

I stepped into the lobby, hearing the soft swoosh of the doors close behind me. A kind-looking lady was at the reception desk.

“Hello, young lady. Are you here to volunteer?”

A noise sounding more like a squeak than a word came out of my head when I opened my mouth.

“Yeuu..chsss maaaaeem.”

Get a grip, dammit. I cleared my throat and tried again.

“Ahem. Sorry about whatever that was, ma’am. My name is Helena James, and I’d like to volunteer to be tested for the Mahdfel program.”

“I understand. I need to remind you, if your birth date has not been called, you don’t need to volunteer, and you can still change your mind.”

“I understand, ma’am. I’ve made my decision and I’m ready.”

“Alrighty then, please follow me.”

The kind woman led me past another set of doors into a hallway with rooms on either side. She stopped and motioned me into Room 9.

My lucky number! See? Good signs are already happening!

“The proctor will be right with you. If there is a match, we’ll know very quickly.” Before she closed the door behind her, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of candy.

“You look like a good kid. Eat this. It's ginger candy. It will help your stomach later.”

“Oh! That’s very kind of you- Ms.—”

“Betty. Everyone calls me Betty. You go have yourself some adventures now, ya hear?”

“Yes ma’am, Ms. Betty.”

Betty hadn’t been gone long when the proctor came in. He hurried around the room, turning things on and gathering a few supplies.

“If you’ll just have a seat and hold out your hand, palm side up, please?” He swabbed a fingertip with alcohol and used a needle to prick it, taking a tiny blood sample. He placed the sample on a slide and placed the slide into one of the machines he’d turned on.

He said nothing while the machine did its work. Within just a few seconds, the machine dinged, and a green light turned on.

“Looks like we have a match. If you’ll please walk to the wall with your belongings? Yes, just like that. Now turn and face me. Deep inhale and…”

He jabbed something into my temple.

A second later, my mind felt like it was in one of those twisty-turny movie effects. When it was over, I found myself in what I could only describe as a control room. My knees turned to jello, and I, with all the grace of a drunken ostrich, crumbled to the floor.

I heard voices and noises, but everything blurred together, and I couldn’t make sense of it.

I was about to pass out when I felt strong arms wrap around me and heard a sound that felt like velvet to my ears. I opened my eyes and looked into eyes I’d somehow known.

“Are you well? What is your name?”

Oh, thank goodness! I can hear again!

Some more noise in the background- another voice, maybe?

Okay, maybe it’ll come back after I take a nap. I felt my head bob.

“Is your name Helena James?” kind eyes asked me.

“Yes, my name is Helena. What’s yours?”

“I’m Kavok.”

“Kavok. That’s a cool name. You have kind eyes.” I put my hands on his arms to try to help myself up and his tattoos changed color.

“Hey Kavok, your tattoos are glowy. Cooooool.”

I think I smiled at him, or at least tried to, but I probably looked like a drooly idiot because he didn’t smile back at me when the lights went out.

KAVOK

“Helena Jones!”

The human crumpled toward the floor. I moved in a blur, catching her before she hit the deck plating. I cradled her in my arms and rushed her to the med bay.

My tattoos flashed. She was my match for certain. I couldn’t wrap my head around the implications because I was concerned for her safety. The only thing I knew for certain was she seemed both pretty and sweet. She told me I had kind eyes.

Dr. Ikari’s eyes widened when I walked in, carrying the woman.

“Well,” he said, gesturing toward the nearby exam table. “I’d just been informed we were getting another passenger, and a human at that. Is this your match?”

“Yes,” I said, laying her carefully on the table. I brushed a soft ebony lock of hair out of her eyes.

“Congratulations.”

“That may be premature. This human appears to be defective.”

“What happened?”

“She collapsed.”

“Between being matched with Vaznik warrior, the trauma of the translator implantation, and instantaneous matter transportation, it’s quite normal her system was overwhelmed.”

He ran a scanner over her. I waited nervously nearby, trying to peer over his shoulder even though the readings meant almost nothing to me. I recognized blood pressure—humans had a naturally lower rate than us, I noted—and her heart rate, which seemed slow but steady.

“Her vitals look good. I think after a brief rest, she’ll be back on her feet in no time.”

I sighed, letting out a lot of tension with the gasp of air. My match would recover. The doctor said it was all normal.

“Thanks, Doc.” I turned toward the door to leave. “I know she’s in good hands.”

“Where are you off to?”

“I’m leading an away team down to the planet’s surface.”

“Glory and honor be yours,” he said, bowing his head.

“Glory and honor,” I replied.

I met my team in the shuttle bay next to the supply lockers. They were gearing up already as I joined them.

“So glad you could make it, fearless leader,” Raxor said with a grin.

“I had another matter to attend to,” I said.

“Oh yeah,” Vrako, a lanky, yellow Vaznik who always thought the things he said were wittier than they actually were. “I heard Kavok here got matched.”

“Holy shit, congratulations,” Raxor said.

“Is she pretty?” asked the big, stout, red Sakor.

“In a word, no,” said Jakar, our blue final member. “She’s a human. They have that smooth skin, no horns. I mean, did you know they’re all hairless primates?”

“And we evolved from a creature that used to nest in dung piles. What’s your point?” I snapped. I didn’t like him saying things like that about my mate even though we’d just met.

“Um, I don’t have a point,” Jakar said, holding his hands up. “Easy, Kavok. Easy.”

I stopped bristling and turned toward the lockers.

“Everyone pack an extra med kit. We have no idea what we’ll encounter in that station. They could be wounded.”

“There could be hostiles,” Raxor added.

“There could be Suhlik.”

“There could be nothing,” Taxan said.

“True, but I’d rather bring the extra gear and not need it than be fucked once we get to the station.”

“What were they researching here anyway?” Vrako asked, securing an extra med pack to the brown, animal-hide webbing on his uniform.

“From what I understand, there’s some kind of ancient ruins of an unknown race. It’s an archeological dig. Boring as fuck, most likely.”

“Yeah, but I heard Drayk saying some of the artifacts were still active and powered up, even after tens of thousands of years.”

“That’s wishful thinking on Drayk’s part,” I said. “You know how much he loves a good fight. I still think we’re going to go down there and find out they have a busted comm unit or something.”

“Maybe we should do a pool?” Raxor asked.

“That’s a great idea,” Vrako said. “My creds are on some kind of savage alien life form with acid for blood and a xenophobic outlook.”

“Damn, that’s what I was going to say,” Sakor said.

“I bet there’s some kind of interstellar gate that taps into a dimension where time moves slowly, and everyone is frozen in place.” Jakar said, pantomiming being stuck in time.

“That’s also what I was about to say,” Sakor said. “Damn it, dude.”

The doors slid open behind me. I had my back to them, but from the way the rest of the crew stood at attention, I figured it must’ve been an officer.

I turned around to stand at attention as well. The sight of Captain Soanzo didn’t surprise me. He often stopped to give last minute instructions to away teams.

The surprise turned out to be Helena Jones, my match. She’d recovered, apparently, which was of great relief to me. She no longer wore her civilian clothing, but one of the non-military crew flight suits. The body-hugging garment accentuated her curvy figure well. I took a long moment to appreciate just how well, when Captain Soanzo spoke.

“At ease, warriors.”

“What’s she doing here, captain?” I asked.

“Admiral Aussym’s orders. He doesn’t want any matches separated so soon unless absolutely necessary. Something about stress bonding”

“It is absolutely necessary in this case,” I said, confused. “We’re about to go on a mission.”

“Of course you are,” Captain Soanzo snapped. “I’m the one who ordered you out.”

“But, captain,” I said. I was focused on the job. It’s not that I didn’t want to spend time with Helena Jones—I wanted to very much—but I didn’t think going down to a potentially hostile planet was a great idea for a first date.

“This isn’t a discussion. She’s going with you. Unless you want to bring it up to the admiral?”

Helena Jones seemed quite pleased about the turn of events. The captain took his leave, and I turned to her. It was difficult not to be distracted by her physical charms. The way she looked at me was…invigorating.

“All right,” I said in my best parade voice. “Here’s how it’ll go. I have to take you with us, but you have to listen to every word I say. If I say jump, your duty is to inquire about the vertical measurement of said leap.”

I stumbled over the human phrase, and I must’ve gotten it wrong because she chuckled. Embarrassed, I tried to forge on and recover my lost dignity.

“You’ll keep your head down and stay out of the way, and once we establish a base camp, you’ll remain there in concealment. Is all of that clear?”

She looked up at me and laughed while the other Vazniks hid grins behind their hands.

“Yeah, I’m just not into being snapped at. I’m not one of your warriors.” Her eyes sparkled. “Want to try again, but asking nicely?”

HELENA

The big alien in front of me stared with open-mouthed amazement. His fellows stifled laughter.

“You may not be in the chain of command,” he said icily. “And I may not have the right to exclude you from this mission, but might I suggest you at least consider listening to what I have to say, as it may well keep you alive. I don’t mean to offend, but you have, to my knowledge, little experience with this sort of situation.”

“Well, okay, when you put it that way, I’ll listen to what you say.”

He tilted his horned head to the side, looking at me quizzically.

“Now you’re compliant?”

“Now that you’re being reasonable, I am,” I said, mimicking his posture. “I knew you had it in you from the moment we met. It was in your eyes.”

One of the aliens couldn’t stifle his laughter any longer. Kavok shot him a withering glare.

“Since you’ve got so much extra energy, Taxan, you get to run down to the armory deck and grab a human-sized PV and helmet.”

“What’s a PV?” I asked as the alien jogged out of the shuttle bay.

“Protective vest.” He unstrapped what, in his hands, looked like a modest-sized, pistol-type weapon and handed it to me. It was so heavy, I almost couldn’t hold it up with one hand.

“I’ve only shot a gun a couple times, and that was laser tag.”

“Laser tag?” His eyes lit up. “I had no idea humans participated in war games for leisure. You surprise me, Helena Jones.”

“You don’t have to say my surname.”

“Right, of course.” His brow furrowed in confusion. “Which one was your surname again?”

“Jones. Just call me Helena, okay? You don’t have to be so formal.”

Even under his battle gear, his powerful physique was obvious. I remembered that moment when I’d touched him and his tattoos flashed. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought our attraction was a two-way street.

Taxan returned with a vest and a helmet, and then went to put them on my body.

“Touch her and I’ll rip your arm out of its socket and beat you with the bloody stump,” Kavok sputtered. He snatched the armor away from his subordinate and proceeded to help me don the vest. I was surprised to find the dull, gray, metallic vest proved to be lightweight.

The helmet, on the other hand, was both heavy and cumbersome. It might have been human-sized, but not this human. In the end, we traded it out for a thinner cap made out of some mystery metal.

“All right,” Kavok snapped. “Everybody on the shuttle. Vrako, you’re on the stick.”

“I can fly us,” Jakar said with a frown. “I’m the one who served in the Air Corps.”

“Jakar, the last time you tried to take us down into an atmosphere, we all puked on our boots. Your ass is on copilot.”

“Aw come on, the atmosphere of Hawking II moves at three-hundred miles per hour in a constant storm. We got down in one piece, didn’t we?”

“What about Rikov? He flew out a hole in the hull a thousand feet from the surface?

“Um, he told me he was really depressed anyway—”

“Just get in the co-pilot seat, Jakar,” Vrako said.

I could tell that despite their nattering, the Vaznik were as one. They had each other’s backs. I couldn’t help but feel like I was the intruder somehow, and yet, I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to visit an actual alien planet.

We climbed into the shuttlecraft, resembling a metal teardrop. The seats were arranged around the walls in a circle. In the center, laid the controls. The pilot’s chair had scarlet upholstery, while the co-pilot chair was done in blue.

I sat down next to Kavok, feeling like a little kid next to these seven-foot warriors. He helped me secure my crash webbing, and then Vrako powered up the engines. The teardrop lifted off the deck plating via anti-grav, and rotated around to the shuttle bay doors, mounted on the floor.

An alarm sounded as the doors drew back. A force field kept the environment stable inside the cargo bay, but I guess it was a safety protocol just in case. The teardrop dropped through the force field and sped toward the green-and-white marble below.

The shuttle shook on the way down as we sluiced through the atmosphere. Vrako made minor adjustments to the controls on a nearly continuous basis, his eyes carefully checking the readouts. Jakar sullenly assisted with the readouts, occasionally calling out the readings to Vrako.

The descent proved mercifully brief, if intense. Sweat beaded on my brow by the time we touched down.

When the hull cracked open to allow our exit, hot, humid air filtered inside. The smell of living and rotting vegetable matter and brackish swamp water concocted an aerial tea, clinging to my tongue like a fur coat.

“Welcome to Yimïk III, we hope you enjoy your stay,” Vrako quipped like a commercial shuttle driver.

“Oh, what the fuck, Vrako?” Jakar snapped. “The damn gangplank is in the soup.”

“It was the most stable ground I could find to land on. The pylons are extended all the way, but you’re still going to get your feet wet. Best I can do.”

“Can the chatter.” Kavok’s voice brooked no argument. “Sakor, you stay here and guard the shuttle.”

“Aw man, the whole shuttle’s going to smell like cheese on the way back up.”

“Fuck you, Vrako.”

“No, fuck you. You ever heard of oral hygiene?”

“Shut it,” Kavok snapped. I think he was embarrassed they acted that way in front of me, his match. He needn’t have worried. I was fascinated by the planet itself.

We’d touched down in a swampy jungle, with gnarled tree-like vegetation featuring ash-gray, fuzzy bark, sort of like a coconut. The leaves tended toward dark green, like most common photosynthetic life forms.

The whole place was alive with sound. Insectoid, exoskeletal invertebrates buzzed through the air on membranous wings. One of them landed on Vrako’s shoulder and appeared to consider him for a moment, rubbing its forelegs together. When he turned his head to see, the thing buzzed away.

Avians similar to Earth birds were in the trees as well. As we made our way down the gangplank into ankle-deep water, something slipped away beneath the mud, startled by our arrival.

We didn't have to walk through water for long. Jakar took point, trailblazing for the rest of us. I found their longer stride made them faster than me, but on the other hand, the Vaznik had to slow down to weave their bulky frames through areas I could just walk through. I was able to keep from getting left behind.

Not that my match would let that happen. He continuously kept his head on a swivel, checking on me, the jungle, and what lay ahead. I found him fascinating on a lot of levels. Just the way he moved, so graceful in spite of his massive body, appealed to my baser instincts.

Now is not the time to think about doing the baby-making mambo. You’re in a possibly dangerous jungle, about to go to a research facility that has gone dark for weeks.

“Are there any dangerous life forms in this jungle?” I asked, a bit wary.

“A few venomous creatures, but they tend to stick to the jungle canopy. Most of the ecosystem here does. On the ground, though, we do have those giant, carnivorous, toad-like creatures.”

“Giant…carnivorous…toads?”

I swallowed hard, a lot more wary of what was going on around us.

“Facility is dead ahead, boss,” Jakar called back.

“Everyone fan out and stick to the tree line until we get a decent scan. Vrako, that’s your job.”

“I’m on it.”

We crept forward through the underbrush until we reached the edge of a clearing. The trees and vegetation had been scorched in a wide area, then thick, ceramic panels laid on the ground. In spite of their efforts, the jungle was already in the process of snarling the panels in its vines. Some of them had heaved up from the ground and stood in disarray.

Beyond the attempt at creating a courtyard, lay the research facility itself. One large, semi-domed building. Sort of like an opera house from historical movies. Big solar panels dotted the roof, and dark marks marred the exterior.

“That looks like plasma scoring, boss,” Jakar said.

“It sure as fuck does.” I wondered what word the translator substituted in my ear for ‘fuck.’ They sure said it a lot. “Vrako, how’s that scan coming?”

“Not good, boss,” he said, his face tight and grim. He turned to look at us with cold eyes. “I’m not getting any life signs big enough to be a human or a Kimisusian at all.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It means,” Kavok said in a tight voice, “that either the research station is abandoned—or everyone inside is already dead.”

KAVOK

I turned to my match, feeling the cold stab of fear in my core. Not for myself, but for her. If someone attacked the facility, there was a chance danger lurked within still.

“We’re going to approach the facility now. I need you to stay as low as possible and move as quickly as possible. Try to step where we step.”

She nodded gravely. Her flip attitude had vanished, and she was all business. I decided I liked this human woman very much. She had the heart of a Vaznik.

There were no life signs on the scanner Vrako used—yet, there were ways to defeat scanners. Stealth tech, thick wall plating, and scientific equipment could all foul the readings.

“Jakar,” I said in a low voice, touching my finger to my throat to activate my head-to-head comms. “Do a recon of the interior. Quiet and slow, and do NOT fire unless your life depends on it.”

“On it.”

Jakar moved up further than the rest. The domed structure loomed overhead, light from Yimïk III’s twin moons reflecting off the smooth glass. He stepped up to an entry point and tried the control panel beside it. It didn’t respond.

A moment later, my comm buzzed with his voice. “Power’s out. The door won’t open.”

“Then you’ll have to get creative. Just don’t make too much noise on your way inside.”

“On it.”

Jakar moved around the building and out of sight.

Helena stared at the scorch marks on the outside of the facility. “It seems like the building took a lot of fire,” she said.

I nodded.

“Good eye. Multiple attackers, I’m thinking. With some training in small unit tactics.”

“You can tell all that by scorch marks on the wall?” She didn’t keep a tone of doubt out of her voice.

“Yes. You see how most of the fire was concentrated on the power coupling links there, and there?” I pointed with my blue finger. “In order to make the system blow out, they’d have to have targeted both couplings simultaneously. That takes coordination and skill.”

I gestured to the flagstone covered ground ahead of us.

“If you look carefully, you’ll see where their transport touched down. The vines are flattened in that area, and you’ll see scorch marks from engine thrusters rather than weapons fire.”

“You’re like a combat Sherlock Holmes,” she said. “Or like Candy Wakefield in the Hexing Good Time books.”

“I know of this Sherlock Holmes person,” he said. “I saw a holo vid. I’m most flattered. But tell me, who is Candy Wakefield?”

She blanched a bit, and I prompted her again.

“Is he a bad ass?” I asked before she answered.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling despite the heat and the danger. I really liked this human female. “She’s a total badass.”

“But hexing… that is a combat form I’m unfamiliar with. You’ll have to explain it to me further.”

Jakar reported back in. “It’s safe to come in,” he said, but there was a tightness in his voice coming out even over comms.

“All right, let’s move.”

You might think I’d have felt she was safer once we were inside the structure. You’d be mistaken. After Vrako used a plasma rifle to power the servos and get a door open, I was treated to a ghastly sight.

The huddled, supine masses of human and Kimisusian bodies lay about the main entrance hub. The air was sick with the smell of putrefying flesh. The environment had been sealed, but somehow insectoid life had managed to make it in. Some of the corpses featured a blanket of fly-like creatures buzzing in annoyance if you got too close.

Helena put a hand in front of her mouth at the sight of the bodies. “What happened here?” she asked in a small voice. “You’re going to need a forensic team to sort this all out.”

“It looks like they died defending themselves,” I said slowly. “Their bodies are all behind scorch-marked defensive positions.”

Scientists gave me the creeps. Always experimenting with weird, dangerous chemicals and substances, always wanting to capture the most dangerous wildlife alive for study. And those lab coats—it’s like they were in some kind of cult.

Not only that, but they always ask WHY. You don’t always need to know why. Sometimes you just need to know which end of your gun to point at the enemy and which end to jam a new magazine into.

But still, nothing could explain or justify what had happened here.

I took out my communicator and opened a channel with the Honor orbiting overhead.

“Kavok to Honor.”

“Honor here,” said the junior comms officer. “Do you need assistance?”

“Yes. Please inform Captain Soanzo we need a full-spectrum science team down here. Forensics training would be a plus.”

Helena seemed surprised that I had taken her advice into consideration. Well, it was good advice. I wasn’t trying to suck up to her. Honest.

While we waited for the forensic team, we completed our sweep. Vrako had the grim task of doing a headcount and accounting for all of the missing and deceased staff.

“I’ve used the DNA scanner and I’ve accounted for every one of the staff with the exception of one. Dr. Garcia.”

He showed me a holo image of a human woman, middle-aged, with big, horn-rimmed glasses perched on a slightly turned-up nose. She looked a little crazy, but then again, all scientists looked a little crazy to me.

“It looks like she left with the attackers.”

My jaw set hard.

“Willingly?”

“I don’t have enough to go on.”

I sighed.

“You know what I’m getting at, Vrako.” I gestured toward Helena. “You don’t have to worry about insulting a member of her species.”

His features grew taut.

“I don’t know if she worked with them or not. Maybe the science team can help.”

“Working with them?” Helena’s tone was aghast. “Why would she do that?”

“I don’t know,” I said, considering the grim scene. “But as of right now, she’s the only one who knows what really happened here, besides the killers. And they kept her alive for a reason. We just don’t know what that reason is yet.”

I hoped the doctor hadn’t gone bad. But if she had…

I was a Vaznik warrior and would do my duty.

HELENA

I know they say truth is stranger than fiction, but fuck my life if it didn’t feel like one of those mystery books I’ve read.

I should’ve been more careful with all that adventure I’d wished for.

“Helena?”

Kavok’s voice cut through my train of thought.

Oh shit. Has he been talking to me the entire time? Fuck. Get it together, woman!

“I’m so sorry, Kavok. I kinda zoned out there for a moment. It’s a lot to take in. I’ve only ever read about these things in books or seen them in movies.”

“You can teleport your mind to another place and remain physically present? Isn’t that dangerous?”

I chuckled, shaking my head.

“Oh, god no. It’s a human saying meaning I was caught up in my own thoughts and not paying attention to what was going on around me.”

“Definitely dangerous then. That could get you hurt or killed, Helena.”

The look on his face was identical to the one I remembered just before I passed out in his arms that first time. My heart warmed. I smiled at him

Maybe there is more than just biological compatibility in the matching after all.

“Helena?”

“Mm-hmm?”

“Why are you smiling? Do you look forward to pain in battle? A glorious death?”

“What?! Oh no, I… well, I was thinking about the moment I met you.”

“When you lost consciousness?”

“No. Just before that. I thought your expression now is the same as that moment.”

Kavok shook his head. He rubbed his temple with one hand and scrunched his eyebrows together. He looked as if he were trying to solve all the mysteries of the universe.

“I’m sorry, Kavok. I didn’t mean to confuse you with my explanation or ignore what you said. Would you please be so kind as to repeat what you were originally saying?”

He went from confused to collected so fast, I was caught off guard.

“I said now that the scientists have been summoned, we should report our initial findings to Soanzo.”

“I’m not familiar with Vaznik protocols, so please lead the way.”

Kavok nodded, and we walked together in silence towards the research facility’s teleportation pad.

“I hope I don’t pass out this time.”

“That’s only the first time,” Kavok assured me.

I fought the temptation to point out he was now the one “zoned out” and just enjoyed the tension I felt being around him.

Biology, shmmm-iology. This is some potent stuff. A girl could get into some big trouble if they ever bottled it.

I used my peripheral vision to sneak a better look at Kavok’s body and felt myself get warm. I deliberately walked close, so my arm would softly brush his and felt delicious waves of desire run through me. I bit my lip.

Mmmmm… Big trouble, but really, really, gooooooood trouble.

When we got back to the Nova, Kavok was informed Soanzo was in a high priority meeting with the Admiral. Kavok was to make his report first thing in the morning.

Neither of us had realized how long we’d been at the facility. My stomach growled and I realized the last thing I’d eaten was the ginger candy Ms. Betty had given me.

“Kavok, I hate to bother you, but could you show me where to find something to eat? I’m starving.”

“It’s no bother, Helena. You’re my match and I have a duty to care for you and make sure your needs are tended to. That’s our way.”

That last part stung like hell. I didn’t want to be just his “match” or one of his “duties.” Fortunately, right at that moment, my stomach growled loudly enough to remind me my hunger was far more important than my pride. He cocked his head and looked at me curiously.

“When was the last time you ate, Helena?”

“Umm…I’m not exactly sure.”

“I thought humans had to eat often?’

“Well, typically we should eat a few times a day, but life gets in the way, and we sometimes don’t. I’d heard about post-teleport sickness and thought I’d avoid embarrassing myself by not eating anything after 6 p.m. the night before testing.”

“How long was that?”

“Ummmm… about fourteen Earth hours or so?”

“Then you haven’t eaten in about twenty-six hours, Helena.”

“Oh. I guess I was so excited about the mission, I didn’t think about it.”

My stomach gurgled louder than before.

So much for romantic moments. Sheesh.

“Do all humans make that sound when they are hungry?”

“Some do. Some don’t. Do Vaznik bodies do that?”

“They might have, a long time ago, but our species was bred for battle, not allowed to naturally evolve like humans. Anything not contributing to our purpose was culled from our genetics long ago.”

He sounded sad about that. I remembered learning about how the Mahdfel came to exist, how their people had been abused and kidnapped as fodder for endless wars.

I had often wondered if the Mahdfel had something akin to our idea of “humanity.”

Kavok’s obvious concern for my well-being told me they did.

Duties my ass. He likes me a lot more than that.

I couldn’t help but grin up at him.

Good trouble, indeed.

“Kavok, it’s traditional for humans to share a meal on a first date. I’ve been with you all day, so I know you haven’t eaten either. Know anywhere that serves food we can both eat?”

“First date?” Kavok gulped, turning a paler shade of blue.

“Well yes, of course. Just because we are matched doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy each other’s company too, right? And I’m having a fabulous time so far, aren’t you?”

“A what?!”

“A fabulous time, Kavok. I mean, other than the bodies.” I swallowed hard. This was my life, at least for now. And apparently, that meant being able to deal with real people getting hurt, dying, not just on a screen in a game.

I could do this. Probably. And now I had another kind of mission.

Shoving the danger to the back of my mind, I looped my arm into his and started walking. Kavok, still confused, just started walking with me. I chose a random direction and talked while I waited for him to come to.

In just a couple of minutes, Kavok changed our course, and I happily let him lead me.

“There’s a place I’ve wanted to try but haven’t had company to enjoy it with.”

“That sounds fun. But I have to ask, why not ask your men? You seem so close, almost like brothers.”

Kavok shrugged and grimaced.

“My men are my brothers and we’re the only family we know. It’s just that, well… this place is what you’d say is ‘not their style’.”

“Ohhhhh, I see. Now I’m definitely intrigued! Don’t tell me, though, I want to take it all in with you.” I peeked through my lashes to see if he caught my double meaning. He looked like he was trying to figure something out, and I knew he had.

Gotcha. It’ll be fun!

We made small talk as we walked to our destination, either going over the details of the scene we had just left, or Kavok pointing out places I’d need to know while aboard the ship. We paused only once because Kavok was alerted to the scientists’ arrival at the scene and had to check his communicator.

I was practically giddy when he automatically reached for my arm when he was done. Even more so when I found out the place he’d wanted to try was a Chinese restaurant, complete with red paper lanterns and chopsticks.

I helped him choose foods to try out, taught him how to use chopsticks, and laughed with him over warm sake.

When he finally walked me to my cabin, I was sad our evening was over. It’d been amazing being with him. Seeing the non-warrior side of him. I didn’t want it to end.

He lingered at my doorway.

“Helena, I had a very good time today.”

“Me too, Kavok. I’d like to do this again.” And again, and maybe more.

He smiled at me, and before I knew what was happening, I got on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Then panic set in.

“Errrmm… Good night, Kavok. See you tomorrow!”

I hit the button to shut the door and held my breath. When it was closed, I leaned against it, sliding to the ground so my heart would stop racing.

Well alrighty then. Here we go.

KAVOK

“Helena, I love the taste of you.” My fingers dug into the pale silk of her thighs.

“Kavok, don’t stop.” Her gasps fanned my desire to rage.

“I won’t. I can’t. I love—”

Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang!

Clang! Clang!

I jumped up, ready to fight my unknown attacker.

“The time is oh five thirty. Oh five thirty. Oh five thirty.”

“Zhtask!”

She was gone and I was in my bedroom alone, with a raging hard-on and a headache. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. I hadn’t been awakened by my alarm clock in years.

“Computer, end wake up call.”

“Confirmed. Wakeup call ended and reset. You have a meeting with Captain Soanzo in one hour and thirty minutes. Have a good day, sir.”

“Thank you, computer.”

Snippets of the dream I’d been jarred out of flashed through my mind. Helena’s face flushed, lips swollen and rosy from my kisses. Helena’s nails in my back. Helena sighing my name.

As if that small kiss has imprinted her on my soul.

My head pounded and I guessed that sake was much like the Earth gin I’d been warned about. I couldn’t remember the last time I was hungover, but here it was.

That grin of hers will be the death of me, but what a glorious way to go.

I smiled, bumbling my way into the bathroom to get myself cleaned up and prepare for the day. Captain Soanzo wasn’t one for tardiness nor frivolity, nor did he tolerate that in the men under his command.

By the time I walked into his private waiting room, my mind was clear and my head had stopped pounding.

“Kavok, the captain will see you now.”

It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m perfectly the same as always. I’m a model Vaznik warrior.

What the zhtask is wrong with me?

“Kavok”

“Sir.”

“At ease, Kavok.” Soanzo looked behind me. “You didn’t bring your mate?”

“No, sir. I didn’t think you’d want anyone else to be here while I made an official report.”

Captain Soanzo’s expression became pensive, then suspicious. He walked closer to where I stood and sniffed.

“Tell me, Kavok, was last night’s frolic because of your mate, or with her?”

“Sir?”

“You are a good man, Kavok. Try to relax and have a little fun- within reason.”

The old man smiled and turned, looking like he was reliving happy memories of his own. I was surprised… and impressed.

That wily old –

“Your report, Kavok?”

I spent the next hour going over the holos and information we’d collected. Soanzo nodded and occasionally asked how we’d come to those conclusions.

“And you’ve already requested a scientific team continue with the necessary forensics?”

“Yes sir. They arrived at the secured scene just as we returned to the Honor.”

“Good work, Kavok. Once you have their next set of data, I want you to lead the mission to find Dr. Garcia. If she is with whoever committed this atrocity, she’s either part of the conspiracy, or a hostage with knowledge they find valuable enough to let live. In any case, she can’t remain in enemy hands.”

“Sir, yes sir. I’ll assemble a team and head out immediately, sir.”

The old man shook his head again and chuckled.

“Oh, to be a young warrior again. Youth is truly wasted on the young.”

“I beg pardon, sir?”

“Kavok, you are a model Vaznik warrior, I daresay one of the best I’ve ever had the privilege to command, but you’re being quite the dunderhead.”

I stood, silent and shocked. Soanzo never spoke to anyone like this. I didn’t know whether to be proud or insulted.

“Kavok, I can’t believe I have to give this order, but I’m going to. You may assemble your team and leave tomorrow. The science team needs time to analyze the data. Besides, you have another mission to attend to today.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Woo your mate. Unless you’re saying you’re incapable.”

Rage I’d never known rose inside me. I mustered all my decorum when I spoke.

“That won’t be necessary, sir. She’s my mate. Mine.” The last came out like a snarl.

Soanzo raised a brow, cracking a smile that knew too much.

“It’s good to know you feel that way, Kavok. Not every Mahdfel is so fortunate as you, and I expect you to rise to that occasion. If I find you’re failing, I’ll have no choice but to remove everything I must from your plate in order to address that. Understood?”

“Yes, captain. I won’t fail you either, sir.”

What I said next would forever change my image in his eyes.

“Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“If you think you haven’t been, I suppose now’s as good a time as any.”

I winced from his reprimand, knowing what I was about to do.

“Have you ever heard of a character called Candy Wakefield?”

“Son, I cannot say that I have, although I know there are precious gems by that name. Why do you ask?”

“Just hoping, sir. I thought it’d be helpful with the courting rituals.”

Captain Soanzo threw back his head and laughed until tears ran. I was mortified.

“Kavok, son. I suspect you are already on the right path, but do yourself a favor and just enjoy your time together. Take her to dinner. Show her around the ship- especially if she’s never been off her home world. Share things you like to do with her. Maybe even take her dancing.”

“Dancing?! Do human females enjoy dancing?”

Soanzo’s belly laugh was a sight to behold. He took my elbow and walked me to the door, patting me on the shoulder as I exited.

“Kavok, I’m an old man, so I won’t lie to you.”

“Sir?”

“I’m really going to enjoy watching you on this mission. Now out with you. Can’t keep me busy all day, I have a ship to run.”

The door shut in my face, and I heard the captain still laughing behind it.

HELENA

Arghhhh. What’s that sound?

I slightly opened one eye.

Why is it so dark in here?

I must’ve said that out loud because the room slowly lit up.

Oh yeah. I’m on a ship somewhere in a “galaxy far, far away.”

I giggled at my own joke and stretched long and loud. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept so hard. I could have slept for a week.

How would I even know how long that was? What do they even call jet lag in space? Space lag?

I shook the sleep off and looked around the room. It was pleasantly decorated and much less sparse than I expected it to be. I dropped my clothes in the processing machine for cleaning and went over to the shower. A long, hot, wonderful shower was just what I needed.

Since I had nowhere to be, I took one of those extra-special, long showers. By the time I was done moisturizing and drying my hair, I felt much better.

I bet mom would love this lotion- it smells like tea, roses, and sandalwood.

Holy shit! I haven't called my parents. They must be wondering what on Earth happened to me!

I composed a video message to send to them. I couldn’t tell them everything, but I wanted them to know I was safe and, except for missing them, happy. I shared that I'd stumbled into something really cool, met my match and I thought everything would work out better than I’d hoped.

“I can’t really say much more, but I’m safe and happy and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I love you forever, Mom and Dad.”

I blew kisses at the screen and sent the message. I didn’t even know how long it’d take before they saw it.

Well, now what?

I had nothing to do. I was pretty much stuck in my room and I didn’t know where on this ship I was.

Could I wander around the spaceship without getting lost? Or should I just wait for Kavok to show up?

As luck would have it, that’s the moment the doorbell chimed. I looked at the video feed and saw Kavok’s rugged profile.

How does he get more handsome every time?

Looking at him made me positively giddy. I was nervous and I swear my palms started to sweat. The doorbell chimed again.

“Helena, are you ok?”

“Umm. Hi. Yeah. I just need a few more minutes and I’ll be right out. Five minutes, okay? Please?”

For crying out loud, woman, you’re 24 not 13.

Yeah, but he’s so dreamy and hunky.

Yeah, he is.

What are we gonna wear?

What? Oh. Fuck! How are we supposed to be cute in the same set of clothes he’s seen me in already!

I rummaged through my bag and thanked God Mom insisted on me packing some travel-sized beauty essentials. I wasn’t much of a glamor girl, but a bit of pinky-nude lip balm, tinted moisturizer, a little mascara, and a spritz of perfume did the trick.

I saw Kavok getting impatient, so I hit the door comm again.

“Almost done! Just a few more minutes.”

I pulled my hair into a messy bun and pulled out some tendrils to soften the look. One final mirror check for anything out of place.

You got this, Helena. You’ve already made a good impression. All you have to do now is not be weird.

I walked to the door and tried to position myself so I’d look casual when the door opened.

Breathe in. Smile. Don’t be weird. Okay. Go!

The door opened and I stared right into Kavok’s back. It looked like he was reading something on his comm device. I maintained my casual pose and cleared my throat, trying get his attention.

“Ahem. Umm. Well, hello there, Kavok. Fancy seeing you here.”

Well, that was a totally normal thing to say, weirdo. Way to go.

“I’m not sure what you mean, Helena. Where else would we meet?”

“Uhhh. I don’t know. That’s just something we say as a joke.”

The silence between us was mortifying. I still hadn’t moved from my pose, and it was more awkward to stay that way.

“I see. Did you do something different today? You smell nice.”

“Thank you. Just a little something I like to wear on special occasions.”

“What’s the occasion?”

Busted. Think of something fast!

“Well. Today is my first day to explore a ship.”

“We explored it last night.”

“Yeah, but I was tired, so I don’t remember it all.”

“I see. You were zoned out.”

This is going nowhere. Do something!

What would Mom do?

“Actually, I thought I could find a bank to grab some credits from and do a little shopping? I didn’t get to bring much with me and I’d like to have some additional clothing. What I have isn’t exactly great for crime scene investigation.”

“If you’d allow me to accompany you, I’d be happy to purchase whatever you need. It’d be my first gift to you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you’re sure? I only need a few things since I don't think we'll be going to anything crazy. Or that requires black-tie formal wear.”

“What is black tie?”

Kavok looked at me suspiciously now. I laughed. Today would be a real adventure for both of us.

We left the Honor's Blade with a spring in our step. Kavok was proud of the ship and he told me all about her - how there were a hundred and fifty Vaznik warriors, plus a host of labs, scientists, and civilian contractors who made up the bulk of the living beings on board. The Honor was an Explorer-class vessel.

Which also meant the Honor’s Blade had her own galley, Twenty-backward, as well as an arcade and even a holo theater. Pretty much anything troops on leave might want.

In exchange for Kavok being so amazing to spend time with, I decided to give him a fashion show and ask his opinion. I threw in a few ridiculous options just to mess with him, though.

I couldn’t help but shake a little booty when I tried on the neon-blue footie pajamas with antennae that lit up in sync with the music playing in the fitting room. I had no idea what I was dancing to, but the look on his face was priceless.

I wonder if it was the outfit or the booty shaking?

I chose a few versatile pieces, some new underwear, a pair of tennis shoes, fuzzy pink bunny slippers, and a pair of boots Kavok said were suitable for most gravity conditions. He paid for my selections and arranged for everything to be delivered to my cabin so we could eat and explore the ship together.

“Is this all you need?”

“It is. I don’t think I’ll need much more here. Besides, quality is always better than quantity. But could we find something to eat? I’m starving again.”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“Last night you pointed out a gaming complex broadcasting a holo of a real-time virtual reality game. Do they serve food there?”

“They do, actually. You sure you want to go there and not somewhere more refined?”

“Unrefined is always more fun, don’t you think?”

Kavok smiled and took my arm.

“Unrefined it is, then. Shall we?”

KAVOK

Shopping wasn’t the worst thing I’d ever done and getting to watch Helena try on all the different outfits had made the time worth it. I knew she was teasing with some outfits and had a set of neon blue pajamas added to her selections as a special surprise.

She might’ve tried being silly, but there was no denying how happy they made her. I wanted to be the one making her smile like that every day.

Now we were on our way to the arena.

Soanzo is going to kill me.

Look at that smile though. Can’t say no to that.

But you’re taking her to the arena.

So? She wanted to go. She asked to go.

She might not have, if she knew it was basically a casino full of degenerate VR gamers who enjoy drinking, fighting, and betting on each other to lose.

We walked in and I found a semi-clean, high-top table for us to sit at. There was a tournament starting soon and several competitors were doing practice rounds to prepare.

I ordered for us while Helena watched the gamers. She looked enthralled.

“Kavok, can you explain the game to me?”

“This game is called Kertzav. There’s not a lot of strategy or deep thought involved in the game. It’s a role-playing game where the first-person shooter must capture the flag, while conquering obstacles and collecting weapons to kill their adversaries. Players connect into the VR holo through their translator implants so they can play from anywhere without having to physically move.”

“I see. But you disapprove.”

“Bets can be placed on players and outcomes, so the game, the gambling, or both, become addictions. The line between reality and the virtual world can get blurred quickly.”

Helena took a sip of her drink.

“Have you ever played Kertzav?”

“Of course. Even Vaznik need distraction.”

“Will you teach me?”

“I don’t see why not.”

The look on her face was worth all the neon blue pajamas in the universe.

We sanitized our sets and I showed her how to link her implant to the VR set. Once she mastered transmitting signals without moving, she blazed through all five of the tutorial levels.

Our food arrived, and we ate, chatting about the players who were currently practicing. Helena’s analysis was spot on each time. She was a natural strategist.

The lights flashed to let everyone know the tournament was about to start.

“Kavok, how much does it cost to enter the tournament?”

“Not much at all. Why?”

“I’d like to play.”

She wiggled up and down in her chair. How could I deny her this one thing?

She’ll probably get eliminated in the first round, anyway. What’s the harm?

I paid the five-credit entry fee and smiled at her.

“You have a few minutes to enter your player name and build your character. When the lights go out, the tournament begins. Good luck, Helena.”

“I’m so excited! Thank you Kavok! You won’t regret it.”

She dropped the VR shield over her eyes to prepare.

Why is she grinning like that?

Fifteen minutes in, she had leveled up 67 times.

Thirty minutes in, and all the lower-level players were out except for her.

Forty-five minutes in, and only she and 4 other players remained.

Helena played like a virtuoso. She’d watched the other players practice and was using that to position the other players to take each other out.

She had her opponents so focused on trying to eliminate her, they weren’t paying attention to each other’s positions. The entire bar had stopped just to watch her draw her enemies in.

She dropped an explosive to get the opponent in front of her to turn and fire, then jumped out of the way to let his blast eliminate the player who she’d drawn to her flank. The player shadowing him ran into the frame and shot the one surprised by the explosive. Helena slid across the frame and shot him from the ground.

The last player appeared in the spot she’d been hiding and shot. Helena rolled out of the way, taking some damage. Then she triggered the explosive she had left in her nook.

There was shock and silence while everyone watched in awe. Then the entire arena burst into cheers, including myself. Holo fireworks exploded around her player name, H+K4evah.

Helena removed her visor and laid it on our table. She sported that special grin, albeit with a bit more smugness than before.

She forgot to unlink her translator, so the next thing everyone saw was Helena pumping her fists and jumping up and down. Having accidentally disclosed her identity, several congratulatory drinks appeared at our table.

Our servitor delivered her prize money and announced our account was settled courtesy of the house.

My mate is beautiful, smart, and skillful. How could anyone be so fortunate?

We left the arena and realized how late it was. The simulated night sky was dark except for the stars. We walked through the agriculture decks, taking in the fragrance of nocturnal flowers, excitedly rehashing the details of her strategic conquest.

Her mind is brilliant, and her energy is contagious. How could I love her more?

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Maybe it was that, or maybe it was the luminescent flowers around us, that finally calmed her enough to take a breath and relax. She let out one last sigh and looked right at me, then looked around us.

“I know it’s synthetic but it’s really beautiful, isn’t it? Just think, someone took the time to create such a detailed simulation just so the rest of us could benefit from it. They’ll never know who we are, and we’ll never get to say thank you, and they did it anyway.”

“I’d not considered that. The simulation’s primary function is to support the life functions of the plants on their decks.”

“True, but they took the time to make it aesthetically pleasing, too. Like they realized that function isn’t the only important thing about it.”

She stared into my eyes and I swear she touched my soul. She took my hand and put it to her cheek.

“I suppose it’s like being mates. There’s something just as important and meaningful as our biology.”

I had no words. She just grinned her grin and started walking silently. I followed and didn’t realize she was holding my hand until we reached her door.

She turned and looked up. Her eyes looked like reflecting pools of gold-speckled magic. There was no other way to explain how mesmerized I was by her.

“I had the best night of my entire life tonight, Kavok. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“Helena, I, errr. I had a great time too.”

What the hell is wrong with me? Why am I so nervous?

As if some mystical force lifted her, Helena rose high enough to kiss my cheek. Her lips were warm and moist and magical. I felt as if she’d branded me with some invisible enchantment.

“Good night, Kavok.”

The door to her cabin shut behind her, leaving me alone on the pathway.

“Good night, Helena,” I said to the closed door.

I don’t know how long I stood there. Everything and nothing ran amok in my mind. The only clear thought I had was I was hers and I’d do whatever it took to make her want to be mine.

Ready or not.

HELENA

My fingers brushed my lips the moment Kavok left after our date. I’d kissed him again. Still, it was only on the cheek, but I kissed him.

The date ended with a kiss and a belly full of warm fuzzies. In a big family, like the one I grew up in, you hear a lot about people’s relationship woes. You know, like Aunt Maria made Uncle Mike sleep on the couch the other night. That type of deal.

But I also got to hear a lot of stories about how things went right. The tickly, butterfly feeling in my belly was a good thing, according to family lore.

I brushed my hair out and laid down ready for bed, but my mind kept racing with thoughts of Kavok. I played our date back in my mind, smiling at my favorite bits.

When I finally went to sleep, it was with an image of his face glowing in my mind.

The next morning, I rose a half hour earlier than normal. My instincts turned out to be spot on, because I’d barely finished my morning routine when the door’s signal went off. I looked up at the LED screen. To my surprise, Kavok stood there in his standard on-duty uniform.

I wrapped the robe around me a little more tightly and opened the door.

“Kavok,” I said, a question tingeing my greeting. “Good morning. I wasn’t expecting to see you so early.”

“My apologies.” His eyes ran up and down my form subtly before returning to my face. “I thought you might want to join me for breakfast before we head to the dig site.”

The dig site was located a short distance from the research facility. It’d been found as a secondary site to the original, and appeared much more intact, if difficult to explore. The researchers had set up a base camp in the area to assist in the exploration of the alien ruins.

“I love this idea.” I wasn’t just being cute. My belly did flip flops to make a gymnast proud at the mention of breakfast. It also let out a growl like a ravenous animal. “Just let me get dressed.”

I stepped back and let him into my modest quarters. I headed into the bedchamber and slipped into practical gear I could easily move around in. It included hiking boots with a reinforced sole that also added an inch or so to my height. Not that my match wouldn’t still tower over me.

I figured makeup was a bad idea in a sweltering jungle, but I wanted to look cute for Kavok. I braided my hair in an easy-to-achieve but elaborate-looking style, gathering it up and keeping it off my neck.

I guess I did a good job, because Kavok’s eyes bulged out of his head when he saw me.

“You look fantastic.”

“Thanks.” I felt my cheeks burn. I hadn’t expected to feel that way for him, especially not so soon, but what can I say? It was a great first date.

He escorted me to the ship’s galley, and I saw we weren’t the only ones looking to grab chow before duty. The place was crowded with both Vaznik warriors and members of other species who worked on the Honor as civilian contractors.

“We’re lucky to be on an Explorer-class vessel. We get several food choices, instead of whatever the ship’s cook feels like doing that day.”

“These are commercial restaurants?”

“Yes. They operate on the ship in a for-profit capacity. However, the fleet pays for a decent amount of your meals every month. Food is one of the few comforts a soldier has on a long deployment.”

I nodded.

“That makes sense.”

We got some Kelvorkian noodles, which were cooked with deep fried starfish-like crustaceans that broke apart and looked like peppercorns. The sauce was divine, savory but not excessively salty or over spiced. It came with strips of a rice-analog toasted bread served on metal skewers that you could take a skewer and dip your bread in the broth, then take a bite.

“So what can we expect at the dig site?” I asked, dabbing my mouth with a napkin.

“The authorities found the wreck of a downed spacecraft of unknown origin.”

“A crashed ship? Underground?”

“Immense time had passed since the crash. You’ve seen how quickly the jungles of Yimïk III try to reclaim structures left to their own devices.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing. I’ve never seen such aggressive plant growth.”

He wiped his hands clean with a napkin, grabbing his data pad.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“The duty roster. I need to pick a team.”

“How many are going?”

“You, I, two soldiers and a scientist.” His brow furrowed with deep thought. “The ancient spacecraft contains some areas which are still active. They interfere with most computer-operated systems, so we’ll have to walk part of the way.”

“What kind of interference?” I was a software engineer, not a hardware tech, but I still had some professional interest.

“They’re not sure. I’m not a scientist, but it may have something to do with quantum particles and whatever the ship used as its power source.”

“So we have a mystery within a mystery,” I said. “Oh, no, wait, we have a mystery within a mystery within a—”

I noticed him looking at me, and I trailed off into nervous laughter.

“Sorry about all the rambling. It’s just I’ve read about mystery-solving heroines in all those books and now, I sort of get to be one.”

“Don’t apologize for your passion, Helena,” he said in a voice, deep as the ocean and more confident than God. “Besides…I rather like the way you ramble.”

I felt a tingle run through my body, and a smile stretched my lips.

“Thank you,” I said, the butterflies awake and on a rampage in my stomach. They’d expanded to the size of pterodactyls and threatened to upend the breakfast I’d just stuffed my face with.

“Well, then.” Kavok rose from the table, offering me his hand. “Let’s go solve the mystery.”

I took his hand, and it felt like the start of a grand adventure indeed.

KAVOK

It proved hard to keep my mind on the business of our search team with my match so close. As much as I’d protested to Soanzo about the importance of our bond taking precedence over my career advancement, I had to admit, I was glad she’d be near me.

Of course, the steamy jungles were fraught with peril, and we had no idea what we’d find when we got to the dig site. I’d have to be extra cautious to ensure her safety.

I filled out my team with her safety in mind. Zaen, a red Vaznik specially trained in security, seemed a logical choice. Zaen was a natural-born leader who’d probably wear an officer’s uniform someday, a rising star, and someone I’d trust to watch over all our backs.

My other Vaznik squaddie was Irev, a purple warrior as big and stoic as a mountain. A lot of people think Irev is slow-witted because of his size and patience. The truth is, he just puts a lot of thought into what he does—except in combat. There, his reflexes were on par with warriors half his size.

Irev, Zaen, and most importantly Helena, escorted me to the science lab. The scientists—the weird little cultists—existed outside the command structure. They answered to the fleet as a whole, but I didn’t necessarily have the ability to pull rank on them. This made for a confusing dynamic making me want to avoid them altogether.

I needed one, though, and I had to put up with their creep factor.

“So who’s going to be our scientist?” Helena kept pace beside me, while Irev and Zaen trailed behind.

“We’ll try to find the most normal, well-adjusted scientist here who’s the easiest to work with,” I said.

“Shouldn’t we look for a specialist in ancient technology, or quantum physics, or—”

“Look, we need someone in a lab coat, and finding one I can deal with is a lot more important to me than what classes they cheated their way through in the academy.”

I spotted a human wearing glasses, cutting nearly as stoic a figure as Irev. He studiously wrote notes on a tablet as one of his fellows spoke.

The weirdo scientist doing the talking was a Galfian, an aquatic species whose vast intelligence belied its appearance. They looked like palm-sized mollusks without shells. If you’re being generous. Or, like balls of phlegm with eyes and tentacles, if you aren’t so generous. They piloted advanced ambulatory suits of about human height, and they always think they’re the smartest invertebrate in the room.

I wanted to avoid bringing a Galfian along at all costs.

“How about him?” I asked, indicating the stoic human. “He looks like a good catch. One of the ones I like—a quiet one.”

“You’re the boss, cowboy,” she said, favoring me with one of her dazzling smiles. I forgot where I was for a moment as I got lightheaded.

I shook it off and approached the bespectacled human. I interrupted the diatribe of the Galfian stepping between them.

“Pardon me, sir,” I said with as much respect as I could muster. “I’m Kavok, and I’m to lead a scouting team to the ruins of an ancient alien spacecraft. I can’t promise it won’t be perilous, but I can promise the chance to make the discovery of a lifetime. Will you accompany us?”

The man looked confused. He stared behind me as I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Hey, Vaznik,” the Galfian ‘said’ through the cerebral interface containing his voice production module. Why in the galaxy would he set it to sound so grating and annoying? “Why don’t you try asking an actual scientist, instead of that chump.”

“Chump? But he’s wearing a lab coat, and taking notes—”

“Everybody who works here wears a lab coat. It’s policy. Look, even my armature has one, see?” He laughed, and the mollusk inside the globular water tank in place of a ‘head’ looked at me with what I assumed was amusement. His black eyes narrowed and crinkled. “Do you think every person you see in a white lab coat is a scientist? This is Jerry, my assistant.”

“But the notes—”

“Notes? He’s taking down the lunch order. I just thought I’d regale him with my work on quantum entanglement networking. Would you like for me to tell you about it?”

Jerry shook his head subtly.

“I would, had I only the time. If you’ll excuse me, um, sir, I need to find a scientist to take with us—”

“Why, look no further, for you’ve found one. I’m Dr. Bildeploop, but you can call me Dr. Bill.”

“Dr. Bill,” I said, feeling my stomach sink. “Are you sure? It’s likely to be fraught with peril.”

“So I heard. I’ve studied the few notes you were able to recover from the research station. I’m confident I can help you.”

“Sounds great,” Helena said before I thought of an excuse Bill couldn’t come. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Bill.”

“Why, hello there,” he said, taking my mate’s hand and kissing it. Or rather, his humanoid, robotic body took her hand. My blood boiled, but she just kind of giggled.

Not that I was jealous. She wouldn’t be interested in a blob of snot inside a snow globe. Would she? I’d heard those Galfians were slick talkers.

“Let me get my equipment pack, and I’ll meet you at the shuttle bay,” Dr. Bill said.

“Hey,” I snapped. “I’m leading this expedition, and I give the orders.”

“Oh,” Dr. Bill said. “I’m sorry. What did you want me to do?”

“Well, I—um,” I said, clearing my throat. “I want you to grab your equipment, and meet us in the shuttle bay.”

My mate snorted with laughter, and I ground my teeth in frustration.

In short order, we descended through the atmosphere in a shuttlecraft. I felt Helena beside me the entire time, her warmth close and sweet and tempting to touch.

The shuttle set us down about fifteen miles away from the research facility. Irev managed to find us a better landing spot than that jerk-off, Vrako, so we didn’t have to get our feet wet.

One of the carnivorous toads glared at us, six eyes closing and opening independently of each other, when we came down the gangplank. It squatted on a rotted log a hundred feet away, so I felt it was no threat. Still, I put myself between it and Helena.

Zaen squatted down and checked the ground.

“Looks like riders on some kind of bipedal mounts went through here.”

“Yeah, I heard the researchers managed to tame some of the two-legged avians dwelling in the swamp and use them as mounts. Unfortunately, they didn’t leave any notes on how they did that, so we’re going on foot.”

“How far away is the dig site?” she asked.

“Less than ten miles.”

We set off through the jungle, guided by Irev’s keen woodcraft. Our instruments were fussy, going out at odd times and giving odd readings. That was one of the reasons I’d taken him along.

A few hours of hard trekking later, we arrived at the dig site. My mouth dropped open in awe, because while I’d heard the scene described to me, the actual sight was something else. I’d heard the ship had crashed into the side of a sheer cliff. What I hadn’t been told was how intact the ship seemed to be.

Huge, circular structures faced us, some of them excavated partially from the rock. They had a tiered, conical shape to them, and showed remarkably little wear for their longevity.

“Are those entry ports?” Zaen asked.

“I think they’re a thruster array,” I said.

“We’ll enter the dig site through the thruster array?” Irev said in a rare verbal moment.

“Hopefully, nobody turns the engines on while we’re trying to get in,” Zaen quipped.

The researchers had set up scaffolding and a stairway system to get up the hundred or so feet in the air to reach the thrusters. I could tell which one they'd used the most, and led us to it.

“We’re really high up,” she said, her eyes staring over the edge of the scaffolding. “I hope they built this scaffold well.”

“If you start to fall, I’ll catch you.”

I offered her my hand. She took it, and I pulled her up to the next level beside me. She stumbled a bit and bumped into me, her hands on my chest.

For a long moment, I stared into her eyes. Her lips parted slightly, and I felt like if I tried to kiss her at that moment, she’d let me.

“Hey, Kavok,” Zaen said. “Does this fart smell like fungus?”

I glared at him for killing the mood while Helena stifled a laugh.

“Let’s just get moving. And keep your senses sharp, boys.” My eyes narrowed as I stared at the entrance to the ship, less than a dozen feet above us now. “There’s no telling what nasty surprises might be inside.”

HELENA

The cool darkness of the ship's interior enveloped us as we stepped through the thruster array cone. I hadn’t seen many examples of alien spacecraft, but there was something eerie about this one. The metal absorbed the sound of our footsteps like a thick carpet, making for a disturbingly silent trek inside.

“Let’s deploy the illumination units,” Kavok said.

I reached into my side pack and withdrew a small disc. Most of its saucer-like shape was metal, but a translucent white panel made of synthetic material showed circuitry inside.

I pressed a small, recessed stud and activated the disk. It levitated out from my palm, tethered to the remote control in my pocket by a wireless signal. It floated up to about four feet over my head and sparked on, bringing light to the darkness.

The others deployed their own lighting discs, except for Dr. Bill, who said his chassis-mounted spotlights were superior. Maybe for him. Every time he looked my way, it damn near blinded me.

We moved through the thruster array and into a chamber beyond. It seemed bereft of all features, with smooth, convex walls.

“What do you think this was for, Doc?” Kavok asked.

“Probably where whatever they used as a fuel source was stored, perhaps mixed, before being injected into the thruster array. Of course, there’s no way to be certain.”

“Just stay sharp, everyone.” He turned to Irev. “You’re on point. Don’t touch, turn on, or activate anything unless the Galfian says it’s okay first.”

Irev grunted and moved ahead, and we crept along behind. I couldn’t blame Kavok for being on edge. There was something about the ruined ship setting me on edge. It had exactly the same feel as a haunted house. There were ghosts here, even if they were just bits of lost or corrupted computer code.

“Kavok,” Irev said from up ahead of us. “There’s something you should see.”

Kavok moved away from me, eating up the terrain with his long legs. He joined Irev in the corridor ahead.

The pool of radiance cast by the lights shone down on a scorch mark on the floor. It looked vaguely human-shaped, to my eyes.

“Scan it,” Kavok said.

Irev used a hand-held device to scrape a small bit of the scoring and deposit it in the analysis slide. He shoved the slide into the scanner unit and squinted at the readout.

“I’m getting human DNA. The cells have been shocked by something. My guess is intense heat, but I think acid might be just as good a bet.”

“I think it was heat generated by electricity,” I said, pointing up at the wall. Scoring around a small, blackened hole matched that on the floor. “It looks like there was something plugged in here. Maybe this researcher tried to unplug it? And it caused a short or something?”

“Just another reminder not to touch anything,” Kavok said.

“Kavok.”

He turned his gaze on me.

“On Earth, sometimes ancient ruins were riddled with fail safes to discourage would-be grave robbers. Booby traps.”

His eyes widened with understanding.

“I see. Keep your eyes open and let’s keep searching for clues.”

“I think our missing scientist was here.”

We glanced over at Zaen. He held a small bit of metal and plastic in the palm of his hand.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a broken battery pack for one of the tablets those scientists were using. Maybe it has nothing to do with it, but…”

“Hang onto it,” Kavok said. “It warrants a deeper look at these ruins, however.”

“No pun intended,” I said with a grin.

Despite the danger, I found the experience exhilarating.

Or terrifying. I took a moment to say a prayer for everyone who had been killed, and worried about the missing Dr. Garcia.

This wasn’t a game, even if it was an adventure. Exploring the ruins of an alien spacecraft was exactly what I’d wanted to do when I’d gone to meet my match. I wondered what kind of central processing unit they utilized. Or if they utilized similar tech to us at all. Their technology was nothing I’d ever seen.

The tunnel we were in opened up into a wider chamber. Low lying consoles covered with milky, silicate domes dotted the walls of the room. Kavok looked about in confusion, and then turned to the doctor.

“Your opinion?”

“Hmm,” he said. “I think your nose is a little too big, but I’ve seen less handsome members of your species.”

I stifled a laugh. Kavok bristled.

“I meant your opinion on what this chamber might have been used for, genius,” he sputtered.

“I was only trying to lighten the mood. I understood the context.” Dr. Bill turned his ‘head’ around. It meant I had to throw an arm up over my eyes to avoid being blinded by his stupid spotlights. “My best guess is it’s their engineering deck.”

“Can you imagine having to work with these tiny consoles?” Zaen squatted beside one. “These aliens must have been very short.”

“We could be here for days engaging in supposition like that,” Bill said. “After all, you’re assuming they come from a standard-class planet. What if their world has very low gravity, and they float, upside down, over the consoles to use them? Or perhaps they have a telepathic interface? The possibilities boggle my mind.”

“Seeing as it’s the size of a pea, I figure that’s not such a big deal,” Kavok muttered, but Bill didn’t hear him.

Suddenly, one of the domes lit up brighter than a Christmas tree.

“What did you do?” Kavok snapped at Zaen. “I told you not to touch anything.”

“I didn’t! I just looked at it when it turned itself on.”

“It might be telepathically activated after all,” Bill said eagerly. “Everyone, blank your minds, think of nothing—”

“I can’t think of nothing,” Kavok said. “It’s too hard—”

All of the consoles came on at once, and I felt a lurch in my stomach. My mouth flew open as I realized a ten-foot, circular section of the floor—upon which I happened to be standing—was withdrawing, recessing into the floor.

“Kavok!”

My desperate cry drew instant action. Kavok’s gaze darted my way when I was about chest height with the main floor. He leaped over the edge, landing on the circle beside me as we plunged down into deeper darkness.

A whirring noise heralded a heavy clunk. The floor stopped descending at last, and we found ourselves in a small circular room.

“What was that noise?” I asked.

Kavok grimly commanded his light drone to flip over in midair and illuminate the ceiling.

“It was a hatch closing behind us,” he said as the light revealed a seal of seamless dark metal.

“Oh, no,” I said, panic rising in my chest. “Then that means we’re cut off from the others.”

I had to swallow my heart back down my throat. We were trapped in the darkness.

KAVOK

She’s terrified.

I tried my comm but only got static. I commanded the drone to knock on the ceiling, but heard only a deep thud. After a minute of no reply, I knew the metal was so thick, my team couldn’t hear us, else they would’ve knocked back.

“Kavok, I’m so sorry. I think I’m the one who telepathically engaged with the console.”

“Helena, why would you think that?”

“The engineering deck reminded me of a VR game I played before. It’s part of the player’s mission to figure out how to engage with the machinery. You have to turn the right console on to open various doors and rooms you’ll need to enter later in the game. I wondered what secret chamber the deck was connected to, and then the console turned on.”

“Helena, if that’s true, then it’s a good thing. In fact, it’s our first good piece of intel.”

“I don’t understand how trapping us helps.”

“It means you can communicate with the ship’s controls and that’s very lucky for us.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Just promise me you won’t turn the thrusters on while we’re here, okay?”

“What? I’d never! I- ohhhhh… I see, you’re making fun of me.”

“I wouldn’t use you for mere entertainment,” I said, pretending to be obtuse.

She laughed and put her hand on her chest.

“Touché, Kavok. Touché. But what do we do now? We have to find our way back to the team.”

“What would Candy Wakefield do?”

“This is more a Judge Dee thing.”

“Another badass character?”

“More Sherlock than Candy, but still very cool. What do you know about these types of ships?”

“They have fairly standard layouts, but the operations and facilities are modified to accommodate the species on them.”

“Good. So, if we’re below the engineering deck, and this room is thick metal and communication-proof, where are we? Some kind of safety room?”

“That’s probable.”

“Okay, so let’s say the engineering deck gets blasted by some issue from the thruster array and the crew ends up in this safety room. They can’t go out the way they came in, so there must be a way out of this room, too. What do emergency evacuation protocols look like for that?”

“Once the sensors establish it’s safe for them to be rescued, the ship would receive an ‘all-clear’ signal and the extraction team could open the release panel from the outside.”

“Can’t use that option. What happens if the rescue team can’t access the panel? Is there an emergency exit the crew can use?”

“Vaznik warships were built for different ends, but I believe those are part of the standard, secondary protocols”.

“So there’s a way out. That’s good to know. Now, how to find it?”

“If the engineering deck connected with you to get here, perhaps you can do it again for the secondary extraction hatch.”

“What would it look like? I was thinking in pictures when I connected with the console.”

“Small, about half your height, and as tall as it is wide.”

Helena closed her eyes, inhaled, then exhaled deeply.

Nearly a full minute passed without event. I was about to knock on walls when I heard a faint, metallic rasp.

“Did you hear that, Helena?”

“I think it’s somewhere on the floor.”

I brought the drone closer to our feet and had it explore in a grid pattern for irregularities.

“There.”

The drone settled above a panel near the wall behind me. With a little push, the panel gave way. I sent the drone into the new tunnel to scan the area before we descended. The holo scan showed another large room with several openings leading into the ship.

“Nothing’s moving, nothing’s on fire, no radiation, and it’s safe to breathe. That’s a good start.”

“Is there light? I’m really not a fan of the dark. My mind imagines things and that’s how we ended up here.”

“The emergency lighting is dim, but it should be plenty to let us see our surroundings well enough to navigate up two floors and back to the engineering deck.”

She’s not convinced.

“Helena, we’ll be fine.”

“I’m trying to be. This is different from just looking at images or holos.”

I took both her hands in mine.

“Helena, do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know I’d die a million times over, before I saw you harmed?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I’ll go down first. Wait until I call for you, and then come down. I may have to clear some debris away so you can land safely.”

And make sure to kill anything that might attack.

She nodded and I dropped to the floor below. There was debris of all kinds strewn about. The air smelled like electrical fire and rotting food.

It isn’t rotting bodies. That’s one good sign.

A few moments later, I called for Helena to come down. I was rewarded with a lovely view of her legs and backside as she came over the edge. She landed softly in my arms, and my tattoos glowed.

“Kavok, why does that happen?”

“It signifies the mate bond. Each Vaznik has their own pattern of markings and, when our mate is near, they glow white.”

She traced one with her fingertip and white-hot desire raced through me.

“They’re beautiful.”

I could lose myself in her eyes. Forever.

“Ummm… Kavok.”

“Yes, Helena? “

She’s finally going to let me kiss her properly!

“What’s that smell?”

“Smell? Oh. If I guess right, we are near the recycling decks. When the power went out, the systems that process and upcycle waste stopped and…”

“Now it stinks to high heaven!”

She’s cute when she scrunches her face like that.

“We should get moving. If there are any scavengers nearby, this is one of the places they’ll head to first.” I started walking, Helena still in my arms.

“Are you going to put me down, so I can walk?”

“Do you want me to?” I held my breath.

“Not really. Not yet, anyway.”

She laid her head against my chest. I felt like the mightiest warrior in the universe.

HELENA

If this is wrong, I don’t want to be right

I could walk, but I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to nestle up on him. Being in his arms was the strangest, most wonderful feeling. A combination of sensuality, safety, freedom, and a deep sense of belonging all mixed into one.

This is what it must feel like to purr.

Kavok was just as quiet, but a stolen glance at him caught his shit-eating grin and I knew he felt the same way. Here we were, in the middle of a very smelly, sci-fi horror scene, and we acted like love-struck teenagers afraid to get caught making out on the couch.

And it’s fucking glorious.

“Helena? Which way should we go now?”

“Huh?”

“We’re at the end of this passageway. We need to figure out where to go.”

I looked around and we’d reached another round chamber. This one had four new hallways branching out of it.

“Maybe we should explore the area a bit? If you let me down, we can split the work up.”

He looks as disappointed about that as I feel.

“I’ll take the ones on the right, and you take the ones on the left. If anything happens, run back here as fast as you can.”

“I promise I’ll be careful, Kavok, and if anything happens, I’ll find you.” I put my hand up to caress his cheek. He turned his face into it and kissed my palm.

“Okay. Helena. Let’s hurry. We’ll need to camp soon, and this isn’t the most defensible spot to do that.”

Dear knees, don’t fail me now.

It took me a few moments to recover my balance after Kavok turned to investigate. This was way more than just butterflies.

I turned to explore the other corridors.

This shouldn’t be too hard. There should only be a few broom closets, offices and maybe a couple personal cabins. What would want to be in any of these with all that food just a few minutes away, right?

I started with the furthest one on the left. I decided to open the doors slowly and just peek my head inside, in case I needed to close the door quickly. The first was a supply closet that’d seen better days. The next one looked like a reception area to an office. The third and fourth doors were offices, too.

The last door was to the stairwell, or what used to be one. Looking up, I saw railings along the walls, and entire chunks of stair flights missing or hanging off bent metal rods.

Telepathic crew and stairways? That’s weird. Why would such an advanced species still use stairways? Looks kinda like an Escher drawing and a Poe poem had a baby.

I made a mental note to ask Kavok, found its mirror on the other side and walked back to the chamber to start the other hallway. I felt more confident that we were alone, so I hummed to myself. Just a random tune I made up as I went.

The first room was a cleaner broom closet than the one in the other hallway. The second was a waiting room with clear windows looking into some sort of conference room. The third was another office, but this one had one of those control consoles and lots of monitors on one wall.

Security room or an observation room, maybe? Even recycling required quality control. There really wasn’t any job on these ships not requiring constant monitoring. If one system went off balance, the whole ship would be affected.

I opened the fourth door, expecting to find another office or storage space. The door was stuck a little and I had to push harder to get it to open. When the door finally gave way, alarms blared, and sirens flashed.

I closed the door, but everything kept going. My translator implant felt like it was on fire. I fell to my knees and crawled out of the hallway, toward the chamber.

I saw Kavok running toward me, fury in his eyes. I tried to speak, but the pain in my temple wouldn’t let me. He grabbed me and ran across the chamber, kicking a door open, locking us in.

“Helena, are you all right? Your ears are bleeding!”

I watched him dig through his supplies and find a med pac and first aid scanner.

“Where does it hurt?”

I was able to lift my hand to my head. Kavok scanned my temple and mumbled something I didn’t understand. Then another thing I also didn’t understand.

Oh shit! Please tell me my translator isn’t fucked!

Kavok said something else I didn’t understand. I just shook my head. Then the tears came.

Kavok held out a pill and canteen. I accepted both, took the pill and chased it with a little water. Within a few seconds the tightness in my chest lifted and I felt sleepy.

I panicked again, and the implant pounded my skull like a drunken bongo player. I wanted to scream, but all I could do was cry and reach for Kavok.

Whose face looks just as scared as I feel.

He took my hand and pulled me into his embrace, rocking me slowly. When I had relaxed some, he lifted my chin so I could see him.

He made a sign to be quiet and go to sleep. He pointed at his chest and then lifted his arm and flexed his muscles.

He wants me to sleep, and he’ll protect me.

I pointed at myself and mimicked his sleep sign. He nodded. I pointed at him and made the same arm signal. He nodded.

I’m not going to die. He just wants me to rest. He loves me. And I love him. Ain’t that some shit?

When my eyes opened again, the room was dark and cool. The drone glowed enough so I could make out our improvised camp site. I started to sit up, but a wave of nausea stopped that.

Kavok was right beside me. He cradled my head with his hand and laid me back down. I touched my lips, and he raised the canteen for me to drink from. I fell back asleep looking into his eyes.

I’m so lucky, even now. I hope he can see how much I love him and how happy our future will be.

At some point, the pain stopped, and the fog lifted. I was in the same place, and so was Kavok. This time when he spoke, his words were crackly, but I heard them.

“Helech naw. Cam eeech owheeer meech?”

I nodded. He looked so relieved.

“Are yowk dicht schee?”

I shook my head.

“Eeeyowr traisnch leedor wask dashm asched.”

I nodded.

“Weeck neetsh towk gitsch yowk tau ach Shtockt roar.”

I nodded.

“Kinsh yowk wokt?”

“I think so,” I whispered. I rose to standing without dizziness. I was a little weak, but I was steady. The translator’s self-repair circuits would have it working again soon, I hoped.

Kavok had our gear packed and ready to go in seconds. He held out his hand and I placed mine in it.

He led us down the corridor, and I noticed the alarms and sirens weren’t on anymore. We walked past the chamber and down the next hallway to the door I’d guessed would have a stairwell.

This one was in much better shape than the other, but I still didn’t trust it. Kavok didn’t seem to, either.

He pulled out a cool-looking rope with a grappling hook and tossed it so that it caught a handrail. Then he put all his weight on it until the entire section fell.

He repeated that until the flights to the next two levels were cleared away, then tied a rope around my waist. I had no clue what he was doing, until I saw him free climbing up the interior of the stairwell.

The man is a beast.

It was as if he’d done it his entire life. When he reached the second level, he lifted himself through the open door and tugged the rope to let me know it was my turn.

Well shit. This oughta be fun.

My climbing was a lot more awkward, but I made it. When he finally pulled me into the corridor with him, I was so relieved, I laughed. Then he joined in.

We unyoked ourselves and walked back in the general direction of the engineering deck. When we finally found it, Kavok hot-wired the control panel and the door whooshed open, surprising the crew.

Irev and Zaen had instantly drawn weapons, but lowered them when they saw us. Everyone cheered. Even Dr. Bill looked impressed.

There was a lot of chatter I didn’t understand, but I didn’t care. We were safe and so was our crew.

KAVOK

After our adventure into the labyrinthine bowels of the buried alien ship, I figured we’d done enough damage for one day.

“Let’s pack it in.” I gathered my team in with my gaze as we gathered in the fuel injection chamber. “Time to get back to the ship.”

“Pack it in?” Dr. Bill scoffed. “You must be out of your mind. We have not even scratched the surface of what’s at work here.”

“Listen up, Doc,” I said, eyes growing narrow. “We came here with a specific objective in mind. That objective was to ascertain if we could find any clues to the whereabouts of Doctor Garcia and the unknown forces who’ve absconded with her.”

I spread my hands out wide, as if drawing a line.

“That’s it. We don’t know much of anything about this place, I agree. I agree it’d probably be a good idea for someone to poke around and figure out what’s going on with it. But our objective is complete.”

“How can you say they aren’t here if we haven’t searched all of the dig site?” The little mollusk swam in fast circles inside his glass globe of water. I supposed that meant he was agitated. “Answer me that, will you, please?”

“I can’t say for certain they aren’t in there somewhere.” I cocked my eyebrow. “I think, however, it’s not very likely. If someone had gone in before us, they’d have likely triggered the same booby traps we did.”

“He’s got a point,” Helena piped in.

Dr. Bill sighed.

“Very well. Let me gather my things.”

The metal body moved off into the previous chamber with its usual mechanical and efficient stride. However, the body inside the globe seemed droopier than normal.

While he gathered the equipment, I took some holo-recordings of the thruster array. Maybe one of the eggheads back at the ship would recognize the design or something.

Dr. Bill finished up and joined us at the foot of the scaffolding. We marched back to the shuttle, fending off clouds of viciously biting insects and the oppressive heat of the jungle.

The sun kissed the horizon, turning it into a red-gold blob. A slight breeze stirred the leaves, and they rustled against each other in a sound both familiar and alien.

At last, we returned to the clearing where we’d parked the shuttle. The sun was only a faint glow on the horizon, and both moons had risen high in the sky. Stars dotted the celestial tapestry overhead, but it couldn’t compare to the beauty of my Helena.

We climbed inside the shuttle and strapped in. She smiled at me, exhausted from the long marches and adventure underground, but happy.

“You should feel special,” I told her. “Few beings in the galaxy get to explore an ancient spacecraft like that.”

“You make me feel special.” She batted those big, beautiful, human eyes of hers and I felt my heart beat faster. As if it wished to burst out of my chest to be even closer to her.

“Get a room,” Dr. Bill said with a scoff. “It’s scattering precious stones before the grunting, snorting, split-hooved porcine, but very well.”

Helena looked at him in confusion for a long time. I had no idea what he was getting at, but I suspected it was some kind of secret scientist jargon. Damn their cult anyway.

“Oh,” Helena’s eyes lit up with the light of realization. “Are you trying to say ‘pearls before swine,’ Dr. Bill?”

“Yes,” the mollusks’ dulcet, mechanically produced voice intoned. “Isn’t that what I said? My translator circuit’s been off lately.”

Irev took the controls on the way back up. The shuttle rattled as the engines powered up. We lifted into the air, leaving the steaming night jungle to dwindle below.

“This part still kind of freaks me out,” she said. “Why is it so rough?”

“Commercial shuttle craft use gyroscopic balancing to give a smoother ride,” I said. “Military-class shuttles have no room for such luxuries, because we expend that space and weight on armor and additional fuel. We always bring extra.”

“Vaznik triple up on everything,” Irev said proudly.

“Yeah,” Zaen said with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Just last week some guys ‘tripled up’ on Irev’s mom.”

Zaen looked at Helena in query while Irev’s gaze promised him a long, slow death.

“Did I get it right? The ‘yo momma’ friendly jibe and insult?”

“You did it just fine,” Helena said. “However, maybe we should explain the cultural nuance to Irev.”

“Why?”

“Because if we don’t, I think there’s a chance he might throw you out the airlock.”

“Ridiculous,” Irev said, manning the controls. “There’s no airlock on this vessel.”

He cracked a smile for like the second time since I’d known him.

“If I wished to kill Zaen, I’d reroute the polarized ion radiation into his crash webbing and electrocute him. I’d even make it look like an accident.”

“Um,” Zaen said as Helena laughed and I grinned. “Did I say your mom? No, I meant Raxor’s mom. Your mom is a saint, Irev. A saint.”

Irev got us up to the Honor in one piece—even Zaen. I parted company with my match, but I assured Helena I’d call on her after I reported in.

Captain Soanzo listened gravely while I gave him the run down in his ready room. He only stopped me at one point to explain how I’d been separated from the group.

“The alien vessel presents a problem which needs to be solved—but not by us. We’ll remain in orbit until the forensics team completes their analysis, then proceed based on what they can tell us.”

“Do you think Dr. Garcia and the people who maybe abducted her—or maybe not—have fled the system, sir?”

“I think it’s quite likely. I have top men on it.” His eyes widened slightly. “I didn’t actually call you up here to get a mission debriefing in person. I could have just read your report.”

“Oh,” I said. “Then why’d you ask me up here?”

“Admiral Ausym wants to know if you and the human woman are in love yet.”

“What?” I blurted. “Are you kidding? We’ve barely met, and had but one date—”

“Then get your ass in gear. We need you to start making babies.” Soanzo’s brow furrowed. “Have you washed your private area? Human women are repelled by poor hygiene.”

“Sir, please,” I sputtered. “This is hardly an appropriate officer-subordinate conversation, and besides, my hygiene is impeccable. Ask anyone.”

“I heard your breath smelled like old cheese.”

“Oh, for the love of—that was Taxan!”

“Oh. Well, good. I’ve transferred some funds into your account. Why not take your match somewhere nice to eat while the scientists analyze what they found? Maybe take her shopping?”

“Another date?”

“You have an objection?”

“Of course not, but—”

“Good. It’s settled.” He went back to messing with the data pad in his hands. After a moment, he looked up at me. “Dismissed, Kavok.”

“Yes, sir.”

There was a spring in my step as I left his ready room. In a short period, spending time with my match went from something I dreaded to something I looked forward to.

I just hoped things continued to go smoothly between us.

HELENA

I’d read up on the specs of the Explorer-class vessels after I’d found out I was on board one. It took me somewhat aback to learn that a full deck had been dedicated to privately run commerce.

The Bazaar was the catch-all name for the Goods and Sundries deck. I didn’t realize how big a deal it really was until Kavok took me there.

As soon as the doors to the turbo lift slid open, the smell of exotic spices and the body odor of dozens of different species hit me all at once. I can’t say it was a bad smell, but on the other hand, it really wasn’t good, either. It was just kind of there, an omnipresent seasoning to the aerial stew.

I gawked and rubbernecked in a way that was probably quite rude. A four-legged, eight-limbed alien, taller than Kavok, operated a hibachi-type grill to our left. Steam rose from the sizzling meat on the searing hot metal grill, and the smell seemed strangely familiar.

“Did he catch some of those winged fish things in the swamp and grill them?” I asked.

“Probably. Did you want one?”

“No,” I said, my stomach turning. “I don’t.”

He chuckled. “The merchants are given free rein to go down to the surface in their own shuttles and gather what resources they may, so long as they’re not bringing in dangerous life forms or artifacts better left studied by experts.”

We continued our stroll, and I was left with an impression of the street bazaars in some places on old Earth. A human woman tried to sell me hair extensions, with a light-up bioluminescence guaranteed to last for years. Another merchant displayed rich, decadent desserts, which smelled good—but the antennae and legs thrusting out the side of the chocolate shell kind of ruined the gastronomic experience for me.

I stopped at a booth where the alien proprietor offered small ceramic bits painted with stunning detail. One of them featured a bird or dragon-like creature, standing in front of a sunset.

“Excuse me,” I said to the three-eyed, three-legged proprietor. “Can I get this gift wrapped?”

When I say they had three eyes, I don’t mean all on one side. It looked like a tree stump with legs with eyes and limbs placed equidistant around the trunk. Two of the arms wrapped up my purchase in metallic golden silk and handed it to me.

I transferred the credits and stowed my purchase.

“My dad will love this. He collects stuff with birds on it.”

“You must be close to your family.”

“I am, but we’ve always kind of had a laid-back kind of dynamic. They’d kill me if I didn’t send them a few souvenirs, though.”

“Then do you want to shop for a gift for your mother as well?”

“That’s a great idea.” I paused, giving him a look. “Um, this might be an awkward question, but are your parents still alive?”

“Yes, they are,” he replied. “It’s not awkward at all. My father is a gunnery tech on a Cruiser-class vessel.”

“Are he and your mother still married? Or mated, however you refer to it?”

Kavok’s booming laugh almost startled me. “They fight like cilkian wildlings. And he worships her. A little time apart when he’s on duty seems to work well for them.”

He slipped his hand into mine, in the human fashion. It felt electric. A signal to all others that we were a unit, exclusive to the rest of the galaxy.

We paused at another stand, this one selling a translucent tea service of sorts made from a translucent aquamarine glass. Of course, I didn’t imagine my mother would have a live fish swimming around in her teapot when she used it, but I figured she’d appreciate the aesthetic, if nothing else.

Kavok was a perfect gentleman on the date. He didn’t complain about how long I lingered in any of the shops, and carried my growing purchases without complaint.

Then, a merchant, who looked like the love child of a brussels sprout and an alligator from Earth, stepped up and showed us a bolt of shimmering fabric.

“Good day to you both,” he said. “I can tell from the glow on both your faces you were recently matched.”

“Yes, we were,” I said. At the same time, though, Kavok said—

“Who wants to know?” He jutted his chin out defiantly.

“My good sir, I didn't mean to give defense.” He bowed his green, frond-covered head. “I am Bokchoi and I am your humble servant in all matters of fabric, fashion, and fabulousness.”

“Oh, thank goodness we ran into you, Bokchoi,” I said. “This guy needs some fashion sense in the worst way.”

“I beg your pardon?” Kavok frowned down at himself. “I consider this one of my snazzier outfits.”

I considered him for a long time, trying to pick my words tactfully.

“Well, normally people don’t pair a technicolor, zig-zag tank top with blousy, metallic, tartan pants.” I pursed my lips. “I think maybe we need to ‘simplify’ your look.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Bokchoi said. “By the way, I love the way you’ve braided your hair.”

“Thank you.” I beamed. “I love your, um…robes.”

I gestured to the voluminous, purple toga he wore.

“It’s called a shanɨ̜ ifu̜. I’m glad you like it.”

He turned to Kavok and pursed his lips, eyes narrowing with concentration.

“Mmm. Broad shoulders, barrel chest—let’s throw a dead animal on you. I’m thinking Kyrinthian leather in burnt orange, to really offset your lovely, sapphire skin—”

“Lovely?” Kavok said.

“Hush, let the professional do his work.”

In short order, I had my match dressed up like a living doll. He now wore stylish garments which, while alien, complimented his form perfectly.

“Thanks for being a good sport,” I said.

“Do you like how I look when dressed like this?”

“Mmmm.” I ran my gaze up and down his body. “Yes I do. I like it very much.”

He grinned.

“Then it was worth the effort.” He held out his hand. “Would you care for some dinner?”

“I’d be delighted.”

I put my hand in his big hand, and we walked away together.

KAVOK

I had to admit, the new garments Helena insisted I purchase fit my form well. I actually had several beings compliment me on my dress, which had never happened before.

We settled into a Kimisusian restaurant on the edge of the bazaar. More of the weird flying fish wound up on our plates after all. The restaurants like to use local produce and proteins whenever possible.

Time seemed to have little meaning when I was with Helena. I barely even tasted the food because I was so enchanted with her.

“So,” Helena said, setting down her drinking vessel. Purple liquid sloshed viciously in the glass bulb as she fixed me with a grin. “There’s all kinds of entertainment on board an Explorer-class vessel, right?”

“Indeed.” I leaned back in my chair, fixing her with a quizzical look. “What’d you have in mind?”

“I was wondering what you do on your off hours, then?”

“I’ve spent them all with you.”

I chuckled.

“No shit, Sherlock. I mean, what’d you do on your off hours before I showed up?”

“Well, I worked out in the gym, practiced at the firing range, drank at the pubs…I guess that's about it.”

“You really don’t know how to have fun, do you?”

“Fun is largely a human concept. We Vaznik find a great deal of satisfaction in duty and honor. Plus, we try to find ways to enjoy our daily life.”

“Mostly by fucking with each other,” I said with a snicker. I fixed him with an amorous gaze. “So, I think it’s time you learned to lighten up a little bit.”

I frowned, then glanced down at myself.

“You don’t like the natural shade of my skin?”

She ran a hand down her face. The translators were a miracle, no doubt, but they often missed little nuances.

“No, it’s a human expression. It means, you need to relax and take things less seriously.”

“But I’m a Vaznik warrior. We take everything seriously.” My eyes gleamed. “We have no words for retreat or surrender in our language. We use Suhlik words for them instead.”

“I bet you’ve got a lot of words for heartburn and stress, though,” she muttered.

“Over seventy-six,” I said.

“Then I need to show you at least seventy-seven ways to have fun.” She stood up and offered me her hand. “Come on, you big ape. Let’s go find something silly.”

I led her to the turbo lift and we traveled down a few decks to the commercial center. Once there, we walked to the gaming center. It was a combination micro sporting arena and virtual reality arcade. As we walked, we watched as two, three-man teams played Aquaball inside a gravity-suspended bubble of water. I noticed the defense on the red team was quite shoddy, and wasn’t’ surprised to see them trailing by double digits in the score.

“Oh, I love this game.”

Helena tugged me over to a booth with two open spots.

“Dude Trapped in a Computer?”

“Yes, it’s a fun game. It involves riding speeder bikes.”

There was something about her gaze I couldn’t interpret. I frowned, but nodded my head.

“It sounds amusing.”

I pictured some kind of fun-filled romp over the hills of a dusty planet, powerful engines throbbing beneath us.

Instead, once I donned the headset and my mind was granted access to the virtual world, I found myself standing on a strange plain made of glowing grid work.

“Helena?” I turned to her and saw she now wore a strange, glowing, skin-tight outfit. My eyes bulged out of my head from how it hugged her curves.

“It’s me,” she said with a giggle. “You look like a big dork.”

I stared down at myself and found I wore pretty much the same outfit in reverse colors. I had to laugh.

“So I don’t see any bikes,” I said.

“Oh, they’re right here.” She patted her thigh, then drew a glowing metal rod from a sheath dangling at her side.

I drew mine as well, and considered it.

“I don’t get it.”

“Oh, you activate it like this—and remember, don’t run into a wall.”

“What?”

She bent forward and a lighted grid expanded from the metal rod. A sleek motorized cycle formed around her in a shell. She flashed me a smile, and then took off like a rocket.

I quickly activated my own motorcycle and gave chase. The controls were simple, but it still took me a moment to figure them out. By the time that I did, she was well ahead of me in the race.

“We’ll see about that, you cheater,” I said playfully, opening up the throttle. My bike shot off like a bolt of lightning. I soon began to gain on her.

Funny, even though she told me not to run into a wall, I didn’t see any on the plane. It seemed to go on forever. Now, the streak of light she left behind sort of looked like one—

Suddenly, Helena jerked her control stick to the right, cutting me off. The streak of light she left behind her turned as well—at a right angle, forming a wall which I had no time to avoid.

I screamed, and then my bike exploded into a million pieces. A moment later, I yanked the headset off and gave her a look. Helena was laughing her ass off.

“You cheated,” I said.

“Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat.” She stuck her tongue out.

“I demand a rematch,” I said with an eager grin.

Suddenly, my comm unit flashed.

“Kavok, this is Soanzo. Report to the conference chamber on the bridge immediately.”

“I’m on my way, captain,” I said, disappointed I’d have to cut my date with Helena short. “What’s going on?”

“The forensics team has finished their investigation. We know where Dr. Garcia has gone.”

HELENA

I guessed that the Vaznik were quite serious about me and Kavok being together as much as possible, since I was allowed to sit in on the briefing on the bridge.

The briefing room is on the starboard side of the bridge, literally across from the captain’s ready room. I entered behind Kavok’s hulking form, feeling more than a little nervous. The interior proved to be roughly circular, with a round table and a holo-emitter built into the center.

I took my seat, feeling like a child sitting at the adult table at Thanksgiving. We were joined by Raxor, Irev, Zaen, and Captain Soanzo. There appeared to be a star map up on the holo emitter. I recognized Yimïk III, and three points of light which represented the Honor and her two cruiser escorts.

“Hey, what’s she doing here?” Raxor asked. He turned to me and winked. “No offense, it’s just unusual.”

“Admiral Ausym wants all new matches to be inseparable.” Soanzo said. “That’s good enough for me, and that means it’s good enough for you.”

“Yes, captain.”

“Besides, Kavok’s report noted her intelligence and perceptiveness were useful to the away team. And she’s one of only two people who’ve been to both sites.”

I straightened up a little bit, and shot a smile at Kavok. I’d no idea he praised me in his report.

“Are we going to get started now?” Irev asked. “I’ve got a rotation on guard duty coming up.”

“Your rotation is canceled,” Soanzo growled. “And we’ll start when the admiral gets here—”

As if on cue, the door slid open and a Vaznik with yellow skin and a very decorated uniform strolled in. Immediately all the other Vazniks rose to their feet, standing at attention. Sheepishly, I followed suit a moment later.

“At ease,” the new Vaznik said. A warm, almost genial smile creased his face. His eyes fell on me and his smile widened by a good measure. “Ah, Helena.”

He came over to me and I got the distinct impression I was being fawned over by a doting grandparent. I couldn’t help but smile, though I wanted to show respect.

“How are things going on our fine ship?”

“It’s been great,” I said as he took my hand in his and squeezed it warmly. “Everyone’s been so nice, and I have to admit exploring alien ruins was sort of on my bucket list.”

“Bucket list?” Admiral Ausym—who else could it have been?—turned to Soanzo, as if for an explanation. I kicked myself for using another Earth idiom that wouldn’t translate well.

“An Earth custom whereby one attempts to achieve a list of goals before one’s own demise, sir.” Soanzo cleared his throat. “It’s based on the human saying ‘kick the bucket’ as a euphemism for death.”

“Fascinating,” Ausym said, but his smile faded just a bit. “However, I don’t want you to focus on death, my dear. I want you to focus on life. As in, living it to the best of your ability.”

As in carrying it in my womb, I thought but didn’t say aloud. I decided I still liked the admiral. He was the space-lizard grandpa I never knew I wanted or needed.

Ausym turned a stern gaze on Kavok. “And I trust my man has treated you with the utmost respect?”

“Kavok has been amazing,” I said without hesitation or having to lie. “I have no complaints.”

His smile returned, and he nodded to Kavok as if to say ‘atta boy.’ The admiral took up a seat next to Soanzo.

“Please, proceed with the debriefing, captain,” Ausym said. “Just pretend I’m not here.”

Yeah, fat chance of that. We all remained keenly aware of his presence. Like when the teacher sat at the lunchroom table when I was at school. All of us kids were on our best behavior.

“Our forensics team discovered something, breaking our investigation wide open,” Soanzo said. He clicked with his remote control, and the holo image gained a smaller subsection. Within the subsection appeared the image of a handwritten journal. I was shocked by that. Paper was expensive in space. Most people used electronic and digital mediums.

“A book?” Zaen asked incredulously.

“Not just any book. The good Doctor Garcia’s journal. In it—along with some rather, um, colorful invectives she invented for her co-workers—we found her itinerary. On the day of the attack, she wasn’t at the base at all.”

“So, she wasn’t kidnapped?” I blurted. I shrank down in my seat when a bunch of alien gazes turned my way. “Sorry.”

“She wasn’t at the base when it was attacked,” Soanzo said. “We don’t know her current status, but according to her journal, she was on a mini-expedition to one of the moons in the Yimïk system.”

He changed the holo display again. It rotated, expanding outward, to show the other planets in the system. A red marker appeared near one of the larger planets, a big, green and purple gas giant.

“Doctor Garcia intended to take a transport craft to Yimïk VI’s biggest moon, SAT-13.”

“What was she hoping to find on the moon?” Kavok asked.

“She believed there may have been a secondary crash site.” Soanzo expanded our view of the moon, SAT-13. “The moon has a breathable atmosphere, and a diverse ecosystem, though it has yet to evolve intelligent life.”

“That we know of,” Ausym said. “Once on Kerpluk 47, they discovered a microbe that now teaches Art History at Duborulax University.”

Soanzo nodded sagely. I tried not to laugh.

“Kavok,” Soanzo said, and the tightness of his voice said he tried not to laugh, either. “I want you to put together an away team and investigate this possible second crash site.”

Kavok nodded his assent.

“Yes, Captain. I should get a science team to accompany us.”

“An excellent idea. I think Dr. Bildeploop will be an excellent choice to lead the science team.”

Kavok stiffened up.

“Perhaps another choice might be better—”

“You have your orders, Kavok,” Soanzo said.

“Yes, sir.”

I hid my smile behind my hand. I was both excited and intrigued. Another crash site? What would we find there?

Probably danger, but I was too excited and jazzed up on my date with Kavok to care.

KAVOK

While the Honor remained in orbit around Yimïk III, my team and I—including Helena—transferred over to the Sunder. The cruiser took us for the short jaunt to the Yimïk system’s sixth planet. The Honor remained in orbit, standard protocol for an exploration vessel.

Once we were in orbit around SAT-13, the largest moon, my team and I reported to the shuttle bay. The purple and green sphere of Yimïk VI loomed so huge and close it was hard to tell it had curvature at all from our point of view. The moon seemed a tiny brown and green and blue dot by comparison.

I let Jakar pilot the shuttle to the surface because I’d grown tired of his constant complaining. Of course, then he was relentlessly teased by his mates for every little bump of turbulence or flashing warning light on the way down. I figured that could be his penance.

Beside me, Helena seemed to grow anxious during the descent into the atmosphere, but she managedit better. Her knees bounced up and down almost the whole way.

“Are you all right?” I asked her when we’d begun to break through the moon’s cloud cover.

“I’m hanging in there.” She shot me an anxious grin. “I think I’d totally be flipping out if you weren’t here with me, though.”

“Just hang tough. We’ll make you a hardened space explorer yet.”

“Hardened exploration,” Vrako quipped from across the shuttle. I shot him a withering glare. He had the good grace to lower his gaze—and shut his mouth.

The truth was, I felt pressured by the admiral, Vaznik command, and our own societal mores with regards to my relationship with my match. Everyone wanted us to connect so badly. We were connecting, but at our own pace. I wished they would simply back off a little bit and let us breathe and just be.

The teardrop shaped shuttle plunged through the misty clouds and we got our first look at the moon for the first time. It proved to have young, jagged mountain ranges dotted with photosynthetic vegetable life.

“It almost looks like pine trees from Earth,” Helena said, staring out the porthole.

“Nature tends to use the most efficient patterns when creating life. It stands to reason that two similar environments would create life forms with at least some things in common, whatever the distance between them.”

She laughed, a musical sound making my soul hum.

“On Earth, they used to have entertainment shows where the budget was too low to depict an alien planet, so everything looked suspiciously like the Canadian wilderness.”

She shook her head.

“Only, it turns out they weren’t all that far off the mark.”

The shuttle set down on the shores of a jade green lake. Placid water gently lapped the pebble strewn beach a stone’s throw from a stark white, domed shelter. A folding table lay on its side near the shelter, equipment scattered on the ground.

“Kavok,” Irev said, crouching beside the debris. “Take a look.”

I squatted down beside him, spotting a distinct footprint in the pebbles. I put my own foot next to it, and they were of a similar size.

“I don’t think the good Dr. Garcia left this track.”

Helena poked inside the shelter.

“Someone was definitely sleeping in here,” she said upon exiting. “Probably our missing doctor.”

“I have a question,” Zaen said. “Where’s the wrecked ship?”

I frowned.

“An excellent question.” I turned to Dr. Bill, who stood near the wrecked table. The mollusk inside the domed helmet swam about excitedly in circles. “Where’s the ship, Doc?”

“We’re not far from it,” he said, pointing a scanner toward the water. “I believe it’s under the waters of this lake.”

“That makes sense,” Irev said. “Look.”

He picked up a rebreather which had been snapped in half, possibly when it was stepped on.

“All right,” I said. “Seal up your suits and let’s go diving.”

“Way ahead of you.” Dr. Bill walked right into the water. Little propellers sprang out of his back, churning the water. I supposed an aquatic race would want their armatures to perform underwater.

The rest of us joined him, albeit a few moments later. I stepped beneath the water in my pressure suit, walking along the bottom, instead of swimming. Vaznik warriors can swim, but our dense bodies make it a tiring pursuit. Add in the weight of equipment and it was simply more efficient to walk along the sandy bottom.

Under the green surface, the water proved silty and difficult to navigate. We had to rely on sensors, even though the energy field emanating from the wrecked ship made them somewhat wonky.

“Our equipment is on the fritz again,” Helena said, paddling the water with long rubber flippers on her feet. Humans take to water like few other non-aquatic species. It’s like they become one with the water. I felt as if I had my own angel flying around me.

“Not as bad as before, however,” I said over comms. “I suspect it’s because this wreck is smaller. I mean, this lake isn’t that deep.”

A shape loomed ahead, roughly the size of three of our shuttles put side by side. Dr. Bill crouched down and activated a force-field generator.

A small bubble appeared near the box-like device, and then expanded slowly, pushing the water away. Soon, we stood on the damp pebbles of the lake bottom, surrounded by a globe of air which encompassed the entire wreck.

I got my first good look at it. The strange dark metal appeared covered with barnacle-like growths and heavy algae. A fish-like creature with jagged teeth flopped around helplessly on top of the moss. Irev grabbed the fish in a gloved hand and tossed it out of reach of the force field’s influence. It swam away in a hurry, disappearing into the silty green murk.

“Well,” Doctor Bill said. “Let’s go inside and see what awaits.”

HELENA

I stepped onto the deck of the small alien craft, again mesmerized by the way the black metal seemed to absorb almost all sound. Dr. Bill moved to one of the low-set consoles and powered it up with a portable generator.

“Don’t fuck things up again,” Zaen growled.

“I’m only touching places where the dust has been disturbed, on the grounds Dr. Garcia did so ahead of me.” Dr. Bill chuckled, a strange sound coming from his voice-production box. “Besides, I hardly think that this ship is large enough to get lost in.”

He wasn’t wrong. The ship struck me as a transport shuttle, rather than an interstellar craft. Given its design, it was essentially one long corridor with a cockpit at one end, an engine room at the other, and a few rooms off to the sides.

A blind man couldn't have gotten lost in such an environment, but I understood Zaen’s trepidation. At least he hadn’t been trapped in the bowels of the other ship, like I had with Kavok. Not that it hadn't turned out well. Kavok had really opened up to me on that trip.

I cast a glance at my hulking alien paramour. He looked so sexy being large and in charge. Yet, when his eyes fell on me, they softened noticeably.

“I think I’ve found a message left by the original crew.” Dr. Bill turned his ‘head’ to face Kavok, who immediately threw a hand over his eyes.

“Turn off the damn spotlights,” he snapped.

“My apologies.” The lights dimmed noticeably. “The data is badly corrupted, but I think I can play at least some of it.”

“Great, Doc, but how will that help us find the missing doctor?”

“I believe our good, missing doctor played the same message.”

“Then it might give us a clue,” I blurted. A lot of gazes snapped my way. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s an excellent point.” Kavok nodded to Bill. “Go ahead, play the message.”

My heart skipped a beat, because it was my chance to see a hitherto unseen alien species. Unfortunately, the corrupted data meant the holo-image was so grainy it was hard to make out details. What looked like a central, blobbish mass and a silhouette of tentacles were the best I could determine.

The alien spoke in a tongue that the translators had not yet encountered.

“What’s it saying, Doc?”

“How should I know? I’m no linguist. The translator circuits will eventually decode it—possibly.”

“Hey, I recognize this, though,” I said, gesturing to the end of the message where a series of numbers appeared. “They’re stellar coordinates.”

“She’s right,” Doc said. “How did you know that?”

“My roommate in college was an astrophysics major.”

“Hey, these coordinates aren’t too far away, just a little further into the Xiltri Sector,” Jakar said. “Should we go check it out?”

“I think it’s safe to assume Dr. Garcia would’ve gone there, as well,” Dr. Bill added. “However, I must return to the Honor's Blade before going on any additional jaunts. I have delicate experiments which must be attended to.”

“All right, we’ll run him back to the ship and then investigate,” I said eagerly.

Kavok turned a frown my way.

“I’m not sure we should just go rushing off to these coordinates. After all, we have no idea what’s waiting for us when we get there.”

“I bet there are more answers there than we currently have,” I countered.

“There’s still so much we don’t know.” His jaw set hard. “It could be dangerous, Helena.”

“Hey, everything about being in space is dangerous.” I shrugged. “I knew it’d be dangerous, but you know more people die slipping on soap in the shower than they do during interstellar travel.”

“Yes, but you can catch yourself if you start to fall,” Kavok replied. “If your hull ruptures in the wrong place, everyone on board will likely die.”

I cocked my eyebrow at him.

“I’m pretty sure Admiral Ausym said you’re supposed to take me with you.”

He laughed softly. “He did, indeed. But since we have to return to the Honor anyway, let us gather a proper expeditionary sortie while we are there.”

“Okay,” I said. “That’s reasonable. Besides, maybe the transistor circuits can make more sense of this gibberish before we leave.”

We headed out of the ship. Dr. Bill powered down the field generator, causing the bubble to shrink slowly. The water pressure returned by small degrees so we wouldn’t be overwhelmed. My ears popped as the bubble of air faded entirely, and the feeling of weightlessness returned.

I swam, they walked. We waded out onto the rocky shore and took off our pressure helmets. I swept the hair stuck to my neck with a sheen of sweat out and away, sighing in relief.

We returned to the Sunder, which subsequently jumped back to Yimïk III. After a teleporter journey back ‘home,’ Kavok and I found ourselves with several hours to kill while the details of the mission were put together and approved by the captain.

“Would you like to join me for dinner, Helena?”

I looked up into his handsome, sapphire face, and felt my knees get a little bit weak.

“Yes, I’d love that.”

“Maybe we can have some of that dessert you wanted to try.”

“Yes, that sounds nice.”

And maybe, I thought to myself, I can finally get that first kiss I’ve ached for.

KAVOK

I parted ways with Helena, her scent still heavy in my nostrils. I felt the golden threads entwining us all the tighter, regardless of distance.

The extra spring in my step propelled me along the corridors of the ship. Some of my fellow Vaznik, who knew I’d found my match, gave me encouraging smiles. I was doing it. I was helping to save the species. Glory to me.

Only, I didn’t care about any of that. All I cared about was spending more time with Helena. I raced back to my quarters and shimmied out of my uniform. I used the sonic shower to clean and buff myself to a shine.

I then stood naked in front of my closet and considered my options for the evening. I recalled how much Helena had enjoyed seeing Bokchoi dress me up in fancy clothes.

I wasn’t a fashionista like that guy. I was, however, a confident Vaznik warrior who felt like he could do just about anything. Helena had my whole body feeling supercharged.

I went through the clothing I had and decided it would never do. I hopped on the turbo lift and headed to the Bazaar. Bokchoi had closed shop for the day, but there were other clothiers open. I sized up only the fanciest of garments.

As a stroke of luck, I found a shop who specialized in Earth formal wear. I passed through the door and found myself transported to another world, metaphorically speaking. I mean, there wasn’t literally a teleport pad inside the door.

The shopkeeper was a Kimisusian male on the older side. Still, his eyes lit up when I came inside.

“You,” I said, “I need only the fanciest of Earth formal wear. Do you hear me? Only the fanciest will do.”

“You’ve come to the right place, good sir. Might I interest you in these fine, powdered wigs?”

“Powdered wigs?” I considered them. “Yes, I think I’d like one of these.”

“Very good, sir. I’ll have it wrapped for you—”

“Oh, I’m not done. I need to cover the rest of my body, as well.”

“I’d say you can’t go wrong with a rhinestone-studded, glow-in-the-dark jumpsuit from an era on Earth known enigmatically as ‘the seventies’.” He held up the sparkly garment and I nodded.

“If it’s human and fancy, I’ll take it.”

“One needs the proper footwear as well.” The proprietor went to a rack and drew out what looked like two angry reptiles with sharp teeth. It took me a moment to realize they were inert, stuffed lizards changed into a pair of boots.

“What in the world is this nonsense?”

“I have it on good authority that humans consider alligator shoes to be the height of fashion and luxury.”

“Very well,” I said. “I feel as if I can trust you fully on this, without the need to check up for myself.”

“If I may, sir, no human formal event is complete without a big, fur coat.”

“A fur coat?” I frowned. “I’m not a Hothian. And anyway, the ship is climate controlled.”

“Humans love extraneous things. The fact you don’t need it makes it all the more luxurious.”

I was still learning the ways of the humans, but it made sense to me.

“Very well, show me your finest fur coat.”

Soon, I stepped out of the shop and strolled down the corridor toward Helena’s quarters. The metal end of my gemstone-tipped cane tapped the floor, mingling with the sound of my alligator shoes.

Some of my fellow Vaznik stopped to gape at me. Others immediately smiled. I tipped my powdered wig to them and smiled back. Clearly my keen fashion sense was appreciated.

I stopped in front of her door and rang the chime. Instead, I had a flash of inspiration and used the cane to rap on the door.

Nothing happened, so I rapped again. I was about to do it a third time when the door opened.

“Why didn’t you use the chime? I thought we were going through an asteroid field…”

Her voice trailed off as she beheld me in all of my human finery. Her nostrils pinched together as she sucked in a tremendous breath of air.

The poor woman. I’d clearly taken her breath away with my fashionable ensemble.

Helena’s lips pursed together. A blubbering sound escaped them as the muscles in her face flexed.

“Helena,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “Are you—are you trying not to laugh?”

She shook her head, but a snort escaped her mouth. Her face began to darken.

“I’m told my sweet outfit looks even better when I do a human dance called the ‘vague.’ Observe while I strike a truly glorious pose.”

I used my hands to frame my face and made an expression like I’d just stepped in a steaming pile of excrement.

“Vague,” I said.

She doubled over, laughter escaping her at last. Tears streamed down her face as she continued to guffaw.

“Oh, my god,” she gasps. “I’m so sorry. I appreciate this. I really, really do, but—who told you this is how humans dress for formal events?”

“A clothing shop proprietor.”

“A human clothing shop proprietor?”

“No—”

“Say no more.” She smiled. “Don’t worry, I think I can match this, believe it or not. I hope I still have the fabrication pattern for my dress from the Rock Me, Amadeus Ball on a storage drive.”

She pulled a small drive out of her tool belt and displayed it.

Helena invited me into her quarters, then vanished into her bed chamber. I heard her using the fabricator. I found the outfit she had on—a modestly cut black dress which nonetheless hugged her curves nicely—looked just fine.

A bit later, she stepped out, wearing a flared dress with a plunging neckline and a belt device which pinched her waist into a narrower configuration. It put her alluring breasts up on a shelf. She also wore a powdered wig, one piled up on her headed like the warhead of a missile.

“All right,” she said. “I don’t suppose there’s anywhere you can take a girl for a romantic walk on this ship?”

She batted her dark lashes, and I felt my pulse quicken.

“The arboretum is quite lovely. Though not as lovely as you.”

I reached out and took her hand. Every time, part of me expected her to step away. But she didn’t recoil, instead her fingers curled around my palm and I felt a giddy warmth spread through my chest.

Hand in hand, we walked through the corridors, turning heads and sharing laughs. My outfit might not have been authentic, but the date was off to a fantastic start anyway.

HELENA

We rode the lift up to the higher decks, where the arboretum was to be found. I was thrilled at the feeling of Kavok’s huge hand enveloping my own. My heart went pitter patter in my chest.

He looked so ridiculous, with his ‘Earth finery’ ensemble. And yet, somehow glorious. The white, powdered wig was a few sizes too small, perched upon his scalp like a shower cap. The fur coat formed a V as it split down his middle, showing off his brightly-glittered, disco-style jumpsuit.

And the shoes…I had to stop looking at the shoes, because I couldn’t help laughing every time I saw them.

“I have to ask, why are you wearing lizards on your feet?”

“These are alligator boots,” he said, a bit defensive. “They are considered the height of footwear fashion.”

That did it for me. I doubled over with laughter again. Only one problem; you’re not supposed to double over in a getup like the one I’d poured myself into. My boob popped out, and a flash of nipple greeted Kavok’s gaze before I swiftly got the girls under control.

His eyes widened, and I saw him stiffen like a board. It took a few moments, but he managed to control himself.

“The arboretum is lovely,” he said, as if nothing had happened at all, though his voice squeaked.

His awkwardness made him more endearing somehow. Just the sight of my nipple was enough to discombobulate him. I resisted the urge to tease him. It was too early for that. Oh, but soon, I’d put him in my crosshairs.

The lift let us off middeck, and we threaded our way through the milling throng outside the arboretum doors. It was a kind of informal gathering place, and eventually the command structure had installed tables and chairs, and even a small café near the entrance.

The arboretum doors slid open as we entered. The smell of fresh, verdant plants wafted into my nostrils. There’s something special about being able to smell a garden in outer space. Not only was the arboretum pretty, but it was also practical as well. It helped provide a natural filter to the ship’s air, as well as bolstered the oxygen production.

Exotic plants I’d never seen bore forms both utterly alien and yet somehow familiar. Purple, clinging ivy with blossoming, star-shaped, silver flowers. The stamen glittered with something akin to stardust.

“It’s beautiful,” I said with a sigh. To my surprise, a red and white striped insectoid crawled out of the silver flower, covered with the dust I now knew to be a pollen analogue. It buzzed away, its heavy teardrop-shaped body barely borne aloft by blurring, stubby wings.

“You have insects here as well?”

“They help keep the plants healthy and help them propagate. None of them are particularly dangerous, so don’t fret.”

“Particularly dangerous?”

“Beware walking off the path, because you might step on a particularly toxic slug. Other than that, you’re okay.”

I gave him a look. His smile seemed tight. I think he tried to stop himself from laughing.

“You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?” I said, putting my hands on my hips and glaring at him.

“I am, indeed,” he said with an apologetic shrug.

He led me up the shallow, elegantly carved steps of a bridge. We crossed over a silver stream, a water feature which irrigated the arboretum.

“Look,” he said, leaning on the rail and pointing into the trees. I looked up and saw something blinking much like Earth fireflies. Only, instead of a dull yellow or green glow, these creatures pulsed in a many-hued pattern, going through all the colors of the spectrum in a hypnotic dance.

“Wow,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “It’s beautiful. What are they?”

“Starflies,” he said softly. “This is their mating dance. A female won’t allow her eggs to be fertilized by just any male. They must be able to generate a wide variety of colors and patterns.”

I felt his arm slide around my shoulders. I sighed, leaning into him. The chemistry was perfect.

“They fertilize the Purnian fireplant. They’re very rare outside their home system, so our arboretum is lucky to have them.”

“No kidding.”

I watched with wide-eyed wonder as they pulsed in neverending patterns of dynamic color. From time to time, a smaller, brownish shape would land near one of the pulsing insectoids. Then the glow would fade away, only for another insectoid to take its place.

“Every female will mate with multiple males, and vice versa.”

“Where’s the romance in that?” I rubbed my cheek on his chest and sighed. “I think this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t,” he said softly. “Nothing is more beautiful than you.”

I looked up at him with a start. I turned into him, staring into his eyes. My hand swept up his chest and caressed his cheek.

He leaned in slowly, his lips parting. Kavok paused, leaving us on the cusp of our very first kiss. This time, there was no one to interfere, no one to stop us from exploring the rampaging yearnings inside of us.

“Helena,” he breathed, his hand sweeping down my hair to the crook of my back. He pulled me in tightly to him, and our lips met.

It felt as if I’d put my mouth on the conduit of life itself. An electric thrill tingled through my lips and into the rest of my body. I felt golden threads gathering about us, slowly entwining us as one.

His tongue entered my mouth, and I was so ready for it. I eagerly lashed my own against it, melting into his embrace.

Best. Kiss. Ever.

KAVOK

My senses reeled from our kiss. I felt as if I were standing on the uppermost hull of a star ship that had just gone to faster-than-light speed. The universe and its secrets lay spread out before me, and all I had to do was stretch out my hand and grasp them.

With great reluctance, we pulled apart. I gazed into her eyes and felt as if I wanted to fall into their limpid pools and drown my soul.

We were silent as we returned to the residential deck. Words would have broken the moment.

“Good night, Kavok,” she whispered softly, as we arrived at her corridor. Her hand brushed my cheek, and then she was gone, vanishing into her own quarters.

I stared at the doors after they shut for a long moment, my fingers brushing over my lips. I’d never had such a profound, surreal experience in all my life. It was like, for a moment, the eye of destiny stared down at us, and never blinked once.

I stretched out my hand and brushed my fingers down the smooth metal of her door. A smile blossomed on my lips, and then I turned—reluctantly—and headed down the corridor.

I believed I could get very used to this dating thing. Very used to it, indeed. I’d never enjoyed spending time with anyone so much before, not even my best friend, Raxor.

It was as if we complemented each other, Helena and I. She was round where I was sharp, smart where I was strong. I felt we made a good couple. How could I not, after such an experience?

I’d heard of the golden threads experience before, from those Vazniks lucky—or unlucky, depending on their temperament—enough to have been matched with a human mate. Nothing I ever would’ve imagined even came close to what I felt when I’d kissed Helena.

I was most of the way back to my quarters when I ran into Raxor. He stopped, stared at my getup, and burst into laughter.

“What in the fuck are you supposed to be?” he said. “A Hothian? With a personal designer who’s blind in all their eyes?”

I harrumphed and stared down at myself.

“Helena liked it,” I said stiffly.

“Helena? Wait, were you wearing this for—is this a human thing?”

I thought about it for a moment.

“Yes,” I said with utter confidence. “In fact, humans consider this to be the very height of elegance, sophistication, and fashion.”

“You look like technicolor barf smeared over a fuselage,” Raxor said. “But hey, what do I know about human customs? Come on, let’s go.”

“Let’s go where?”

“To the pub, of course. You have to tell us all about your date.”

“Us?” I balked, stopping in the corridor dead. “Who else will be there?”

“Oh, just, you know, Irev, and Vrako, and Jakar, and Sakor, and—”

“I get the point. Pretty much everyone.”

“You owe it to those of us who haven’t been matched,” he insisted. “You need to help us understand how it feels to be with a human woman.”

“I haven’t—” I started to say I hadn’t been with her in the mating sense as of yet, but I cut myself off. They didn’t need to be privy to all the permutations of our relationship.

I allowed him to drag me to Twenty-Backward. The gang had taken over two tables near the curving portholes looking out on the celestial tapestry of space. They sat me down in the middle of them, shoved an ale into my empty hand, and proceeded to grill me.

“What does human hair feel like?” Sakor blurted.

“You would ask the creepiest question imaginable,” Vrako said with a glare.

“It felt like spun silk,” I said with a sigh. “A gossamer wisp of an arachnid’s web, softer than a baby’s breath...”

The Vaznik all sighed.

“That’s what I thought it’d feel like,” Taxan said wistfully.

“How about her skin?” Vrako crowded in on me, his eyes alight with eagerness. “Was it weird?”

“No, it wasn’t weird at all,” I said. “In fact, it felt like the smooth flesh of a fresh Turelian Peach.”

Vrako almost couldn’t contain himself.

“I knew it. Did you know the hairs on a human’s head are just modified scales?”

Jakar reached over and rapped on Vrako’s dome with his knuckles.

“Nope,” Jakar said. “Not quite ripe yet.”

“Fuck you.”

“No, fuck you.”

“Guys, shut up,” Raxor said. “I can’t even hear Kavok here speak. So…”

He leaned in very close, his knees bouncing with excitement.

“Did you hold her hand yet?”

“Hold her hand—why would he do that?” Taxan asked.

“It’s a human bonding ritual. The male and female of their species link hands and combine energy, or something like that.”

I puffed out my chest “I’ve indeed engaged her in the hand-holding ritual.”

A series of gasps went around the table.

“Kavok,” Raxor said, clapping me on the shoulder. “You dog!”

“I never knew you were such a fast worker, Kavok,” Taxan asked. “What’s your secret?”

“Well, it’s really about these two human concepts known as charm and savoir faire.”

“Charm and savoir faire?” His face scrunched up.

“I haven’t the slightest, yet I know I possess each in abundance,” I replied with confidence.

“How do I get charm and savoir faire in abundance?” Taxan asked.

“In your case, I’d focus on better oral hygiene first,” I said. “One thing at a time, Taxan. One thing at a time.”

“What I want to know,” Raxor said, homing in on me again, “is…have you kissed her yet?”

I fixed him with a grin, and the others howled with excitement.

“You did, you cur!” They all slapped my back and shoved drinks into my hand. I went over every little detail of my date with Helena several times. I knew it was temporary, but I enjoyed being the center of attention.

It had been a very good day indeed.

HELENA

After the door closed behind me—officially bringing my date with Kavok to an end—I spun in a happy circle, laughing like a character in a musical holo-novel. I flopped down on my bedding, staring up at the ceiling. My cheeks hurt from all the smiling I’d done.

My fingers reached up and caressed my lips. What. A. Kiss. It had been sweet, and hot, and wonderful. I wondered at the strange golden threads I’d hallucinated. Were those normal for dating a Vaznik warrior? Like his tattoos flashing?

All I knew was that my heart sang with happiness. It’d been a long time since I’d had so much fun just hanging out with someone. I felt as if Kavok and I had chemistry in all of the right ways. Even if I hadn't wanted to jump his bones from almost the moment we met, I’d still be able to hang out with him as a platonic friend.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I was like, thank the stars I didn’t have to treat him just like a friend.

Kavok’s sweet awkwardness only made him all the more charming. I realized that, if he hadn’t had that goofy edge to him, he would’ve been insufferable. Kavok was intelligent, handsome, and athletic. It was a good thing he could be awkward. It humanized him, even though I’m well aware of the irony of that particular term.

I played the date over in my mind, from beginning to end. When he’d shown up in that outfit—oh, my god. The shoes. The powdered wig. The shoes. THE SHOES, oh, my god, they looked like they were laughing all night—

I burst into laughter which bordered on hysteria. I felt almost manic, possessed of an incredible energy. I felt as if I could climb a mountain, and yet at the same time I only wanted to lay there and think about Kavok.

The clothier who’d swindled him into that…outfit…probably thought he was helping. There’s a lot of nuance to human culture. I didn’t blame him for getting it wrong. I sure wasn’t going to NOT laugh at how badly he’d failed, however.

It hadn’t been all bad, though. When I put on my old-timey dress, with the corset and plunging neckline, his eyes had nearly fallen out of his head. Speaking of the corset, I realized I still wore it. No wonder I was lightheaded and giddy. I couldn’t fucking breathe.

I loosened the snaps and pulled it off of me. My belly sagged in instant relief. I rubbed the indentations left behind by the tight garment and realized I still felt just as giddy. It hadn’t been the corset or a lack of oxygen making me feel this way.

I sat up on the edge of the bed and slithered out of the dress. My cheeks burned when I remembered popping out of it. It’d been hard not to stare at the incredible growing bulge in the crotch of his pantsuit.

Very hard indeed, pun fully intended.

I laid there for some time, drifting on the edge of sleep, my lips often stretched in a smile. For the first time in a very long while, it felt like I could afford to be optimistic about a man.

Even if Kavok wasn’t, technically speaking, a man. His alienness didn’t bother me. I couldn’t envision him any other way than what he was.

And what he was, was horny. Not like I had any room to judge. I replayed the moment in my mind when he’d stared at my briefly exposed nipple. He’d been so nervous, so anxious…

I felt the urge to tease him relentlessly. I laughed softly, coming more fully awake as the seeds of the plan formed in my mind. Yes, I’d tease him. Poor Kavok. He had no idea how over his head he truly was.

I finally drifted off to sleep sometime late. My dreams were filled with thoughts of Kavok. I dreamed of introducing him to my parents, and the rest of our extended family. Family reunions would never be the same…

I awakened shortly before the alarm I had set. I increased the illumination level in my quarters, and rose for my morning routine.

I remembered my plan to torment Kavok with a mischievous grin. I picked out my clothing with care. We’d be traveling over to the Nova via the teleportation pad, but I had no idea what we might run into during our investigation into the doctor’s disappearance.

I couldn’t dress for pure sex appeal, my outfit had to be practical. That didn’t mean I couldn't look cute. I chose a sleek, full-body jumpsuit designed to be worn under pressure or encounter suits. It hugged my curves like a glove, yet was practical enough to pass muster for the mission. It also featured a baby-doll neckline, meaning I had a good amount of cleavage to tease the big Vaznik with.

I put a cropped jacket over my outfit, providing a little bit of mystery. Plus, whenever I moved, it’d cause the jacket to pop open, showing more skin.

After a moment, I added the corset to my outfit, putting it on over the top. I just didn't lace it as tight as I’d had to for the period costume.

I stood in front of the mirror and whistled. I looked like the heroine of one of those sci-fi holo novels. Except I hadn’t done my hair or makeup yet and I had on sensible, flat-soled boots.

I finished my cosmetic enhancements just when Kavok arrived to take me to breakfast. When the door slid open and he saw me, Ido think his life flashed before his eyes.

“Good morning,” I said sweetly.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, unable to tear his gaze from me.

“Let’s go, I’m starving.”

I hooked my arm into his, pressing my body up against him. Then we walked to the galley together. He hardly looked away from me the entire time.

Oh yeah, he didn’t have a prayer.

KAVOK

I stepped off the teleport pad, turning to offer my hand to Helena. She took it readily, her fingers lingering on my skin as she stepped down. The platform was sized for our kind, meaning it was a bit high and awkward for her.

“Thanks.” Her voice was a caress on the hearing center of my brain. I found myself smiling as she joined the rest of my expeditionary force.

We’d been joined by Taxan—who I couldn’t help but notice had brushed his teeth—Jakar, the self-proclaimed best pilot in the fleet, Irev, the stoic warrior, the quick-witted Zaen, my blood-brother, Raxor, and a new warrior I didn’t know well.

Drayk’s emerald skin shimmered and stretched over obvious muscle. He’d transferred from another ship a month or so ago and had already distinguished himself. During the all-fleet games, the gigantic warrior won the top prize in wrestling, three years running.

Captain Soanzo had suggested I bring Drayk on my expeditionary force and I was more than eager to agree. When shit goes down, you want a warrior like Drayk around. I’d heard he was simple, if not necessarily slow, but he didn’t need quick wits to be on rear guard. He just needed to be tough, and he certainly was that. Even for a Vaznik.

Other than the soldiers, I also had a half-dozen scientists with me. Dr. Bill was in charge, joined by some of his peers, including Jimmy, the assistant.

Finally, rounding out our expedition were the merchants. They had salvage rights on anything deemed not of direct military use, and you’d be surprised how often having a merchant around was useful. I’d read of several ‘commercial diplomacy’ events at the academy.

We were greeted at the teleport pad in the cargo bay by the captain of the Nova, Datgouy. His silver skin and dark eyes marked him as venerable, but his quick stride and obvious physicality made me think he’d give Drayk a run for his money.

“Captain,” I said, sharply enough everyone could hear me as I saluted. “Permission to come aboard for my expedition force?”

“Permission granted.” He smiled with teeth, yellowed by age. “Welcome to the Nova. You’ll find it’s not quite as tricked out as that luxury liner you’re used to, but we get the job done.”

“She’s a fine ship, captain,” I said. “I’m impressed by the honor and efficiency of your crew.”

Zaen held his hand up in front of his mouth and made soft sucking noises. Drayk clapped a hand on his shoulder. That’s all he did. Just a hand. His fingers hadn’t even curled in for a painful grip. Zaen shut his hole instantly.

“Captain Datgouy.” Dr. Bill interjected himself between us—physically and metaphorically. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you at last. I understand you were on bridge duty my last time through, but I wanted to say, while I had the opportunity to tell you, I find your career to be beyond adequate.”

Datgouy’s lips grew thin and tight as he shook the doctor’s mechanical appendage.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t around to hear that…gushing praise, but I’m pleased to meet your acquaintance.”

“Of course, when you write up your report, captain,” Bill continued, in full-on suck-up mode. Now I wanted to make the dick-sucking motion. “I’m sure you’ll give credit where it is due, instead of focusing on the more military aspects.”

The mechanical voice didn’t waver, but when he said ‘military aspects’ the mollusk floating in the helmet turned a baleful glare on me. At least, I think it glared at me. It’s hard to tell with Galfians. Before they got the suits and the translators, we used to eat them, though, so I can’t blame them for being a little bit sensitive to getting credit for their smarts.

“Follow me.” Datgouy turned, leading us through the cruiser. Though she was smaller than the Honor, the Nova had plenty to offer, including a tap room.

Datgouy himself tapped a keg of Nublonian Ale, drawing a mug for each of us. While Soanzo was more or less a formal captain, I could tell Datgouy was more of a commander you could have a brew with. I wasn’t sure I liked that. I tend to get loose-lipped when I’m drunk, and I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and end up on report for telling my boss to piss off.

Piss off. Now there’s a curious human phrase. When I first heard it, I assumed humans had some ability to achieve vertical take off through the pressure of their urination. Now I know it’s yet another way to tell someone to go away.

I settled down beside Helena as she stared dubiously into her mug.

“Um,” she said. “Something’s moving in my mug.”

“Yes, that’s the Nublonian worm. It’s considered a stroke of luck to get one in your mug.”

“Am I supposed to drink it? Like a tequila worm?”

“The worm would certainly appreciate it if you did. You see, they need to be dissolved in stomach acid in order to transcend to a pure energy state and achieve the next level of consciousness. That’s why they create the ale in the first place.”

“It’s symbiosis,” Dr. Bill said. He used a straw to drink his brew, the little mollusk on the bottom of the bowl with its…I guess its mouth…pressed around a tube.

“Aww,” she said. “It’s so cute, you’re drinking with a straw.”

Dr. Bill was aghast. At least, the mollusk swam around in agitated circles.

“It’s a liquid. Induction. Port.”

“Doc, come on,” I said. “It’s a straw.”

I shared a laugh with Helena. I risked putting my arm around her shoulders. She responded well, scooting over to lean against me. It felt right. Natural.

“Hey!”

We all looked down to the little worm sticking its head out of her mug.

“Are you going to eat me or what? It’s cold outside the keg.”

HELENA

I stared at the worm in my mug, then shrugged. When in Rome…

I became aware that every eye in the place was centered on me. Not the worm, though. The worm didn’t have eyes. I wondered if the translators had managed to decipher its speech accidentally or on purpose.

“Drink it,” Zaen said, pounding his fist on the table. “Drink it, drink it, drink it…”

The other Vaznik took up the chant.

“Drink it, drink it, drink it…”

They pounded their fists on the table so hard, the cutlery rattled. I couldn’t help but laugh, nervously to be sure, but also because I was having a good time.

Even Captain Datgouy was in on the pounding and the chanting. Finally, my match couldn’t help but join in the fun. He gave me an apologetic shrug,then pounded his fist on the table.

“Drink it,” he said, adding his voice to the chorus of Vaznik voices. “Drink it, drink it—”

I narrowed my gaze at him, snatching up the mug. The worm plunged its head back beneath the surface, presumably preparing itself for the next level of ascension. The rim of the cold mug touched my lip, and I spilled the ale down my throat.

I swallowed, gulping down the beverage noisily and swiftly. I didn’t even feel the worm slide down my throat. I had to check my mug to make sure it was empty afterward.

The Vaznik gave a great cheer, thrusting their fists in the air. They took up a new chant—my name.

“Helen-a, Helena-a, Helen-a,” they chanted. I put my hand on my belly and shook my head, feeling both light headed and a little…strange.

I let out a noisy, satisfying belch, which came out as a visible cloud of prismatically electric gas. My eyes widened, and I threw a hand over my mouth as I watched it drift upward.

“The worm has ascended,” Captain Datgouy said. “Congratulations. Perhaps you’ll meet again in the next elevation.”

“Goodbye, little worm,” I said, offering the cloud of prismatic glass a toast. “We barely knew thee.”

I guess the joke translated, or everyone was still high on my feat, because they all laughed. I noticed Kavok staring at my chest, trying to be slick about it.

Well, that’d never do.

“Is it hot in here, or is it just me?”

That’s what’s great about hanging out with aliens. All the old cliches are new again.

I stood up to doff my jacket, brushing my ass up against Kavok’s arm. He glanced sharply at me, licking his lips and staring intently at my bottom as I shimmied out from behind my chair.

I slid out of the jacket, pretending to get my hand stuck in one of the sleeves. When I yanked and tugged on it in mounting ‘frustration,’ the girls bounced like a bowl of jelly. Kavok squirmed in his seat, suddenly closing his legs together for some reason.

“That’s better.” I hung the jacket over the back of my chair and did a long, cat-like stretch. Kavok’s blood pressure must have jumped up into the triple digits at that moment. Poor bastard. It was almost enough to make me want to show him some mercy.

Almost.

I settled back into my chair, crossing my legs. My foot rubbed up against his thigh during the movement. He glanced over at me, swallowing hard.

As if the gods themselves tried to aid my endeavor, what should come out but finger food that had a definite phallic appearance. Or maybe I just had a dirty mind.

“Ah,” Captain Datgouy said as the dish arrived. “Have you ever had frozen Trufula fruit, my dear Helena?”

“No,” I said, looking at the fruit. A bit of mist curled up from its purple skin, which featured pink starburst dots here and there.

“Then you are in for a treat,” he said with a grin. “Many species across the galaxy consider it to be one of the most exquisite of fruits, with a deep and varied flavor which goes well with alcoholic spirits.”

It also looks like a big, knobby, purple and pink dildo, but I won’t tell any of you that.

“There’s an old saying in our world,” Kavok said. “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Trufula fruit? The joke being that nobody ever finds out because sooner or later they take a bite.”

“Oh, that sounds like a challenge,” I said. “What’s at the center?”

“The seeds, which is where the flavor is most concentrated. I’ve heard other humans describe the flavor and texture as similar to a ‘snow cone.’”

“Color me intrigued,” I said, picking up the Trufula fruit. I made eye contact with Kavok and stuck my tongue out, licking it slow and sensuously around the tip. My eyes fluttered closed.

“Mmmm,” I sighed, tossing my hair back over my shoulders. “It’s so good.”

I licked it again, once more holding his gaze with my own.

“That’s two,” I said, licking the melted juice off my lips. “Are you keeping track? I want to solve this old parable of yours.”

“Uh? Wha?”

I arched my brows at him, and then put the tip in my mouth and sucked. I let out a moan of pleasure as I did so, the juice trickling down my throat.

Kavok’s Trufula fruit oozed between his fingers as he clenched his hand into a fist around it. The circumcised top flopped off his hand and landed in his lap.

“Oh no,” I said. “Here, let me help you.”

I kept waiting for his head to explode. No luck yet, but the night was young.

KAVOK

I struggled to think as Helena bent herself to the task of cleaning off my lap. First, she plucked the bit of my fruit off my lap and popped it into her mouth, her gaze smoldering into my own.

Then, she used a napkin to wipe away the juice and bits of frozen fruit off my trousers. The way she bent over meant I saw right down into the valley between her generous breasts.

Her fingers brushed over my ever-hardening cock during the cleaning process.

“It’s really hard,” she said.

My heart caught in my throat.

“Getting this juice out, I mean,” she said. “It's really hard.”

She patted my thigh.

“All cleaned up,” she said sweetly.

I only then realized my hand was still covered with Trufula fruit pulp and juice. I went to grab another napkin, but she caught my wrist.

“What are you doing?” she asked, aghast.

“I’m trying to clean my hand.”

“And waste all that tasty, sweet fruit?”

She pulled my hand over near her mouth and enveloped my thumb with her soft lips. My cock twitched hard, and it was all I could do to maintain consciousness. All the blood in my body rushed elsewhere, if you understand my meaning.

“Mmm,” she moaned, sucking on my skin to get every last drop of Trufula fruit. She moved on to the next finger, moaning softly again as she licked it clean.

My fellow Vaznik sat and watched as if this were the most entertaining thing they’d ever seen. They knew full well how she teased me, and they’d not one ounce of pity or sympathy. I was merely a show for their amusement.

I found it hard to care. All I thought of was the sweet, rounded warmth of her body so very close to my own. The sweep of her soft pink tongue, the delicate suckling of her lips. I imagined those lips on other parts of my body....

“I’m curious about some of your more human habits, if you don’t mind, Helena,” Captain Datgouy said.

She turned to face him, still holding onto my arm. Now her breasts rubbed across the skin on my forearm. I found it very hard to concentrate.

“Why, I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have, captain.”

“I’ve heard you humans like to take baths in solar radiation.”

She burst into girlish giggles that only made me want to stuff her full of cock all the more.

“Oh, that’s silly. We call it sunbathing, but all it really means is exposing your skin to the sunlight. It’s not literally bathing in the corona of an active star or anything extreme like that.”

Laughter rippled around the table. I took a long drink from my mug, barely tasting the ale. I squirmed under the heel of my own raging desires, and her intense, relentless teasing.

“You expose your skin to the sun?”

“Oh yes,” she said. “Often, one will wear a swimsuit to do so.”

“What’s a swimsuit?”

“The bare-minimum amount of cloth you have to wear to avoid being arrested for indecency,” she said with a wink. “Of course, I prefer to do my sunbathing on clothing-optional beaches.”

“Clothing…” I swallowed, hard. “…optional?”

“Yes,” she said, beaming a smile at me. “Also known as nude beaches.”

I lifted my mug with a shaking hand, only to find it empty. I set it back down and tried not to lose my mind.

“So you’d expose your skin to the rays of the sun, with no barriers? Fascinating,” Captain Datgouy said.

“Well, there was a barrier,” she said. “We call it suntan oil. It creates a sheen on your skin, helping you get the full benefit of sunbathing. I’ve spent a lot of time just lounging on beaches, naked as the day I was born, glistening in oil.”

“Do humans often bathe in the sun nude?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘often’, but a lot of people do, in places where the weather is nice.” Her eyes widened. “Oh, we should go sunbathing sometime, Kavok. What do you think of that idea?”

She batted her eyes at me, and my breath caught in my throat. The golden threads were back in a glorious nimbus surrounding us both.

“Um, I think that the, um, the bathing-in-the-corona-of-an-active-star thing,” I stammered, lost in the depth of her lovely eyes. “I think that it, um, you know, I think that it could be…perfect.”

Vrako burst into laughter, slapping his leg.

“I propose a toast,” he said, standing up. “To our dearly departed friend, Kavok. May he rest in peace.”

“He died doing what he loved,” Jakar added.

I couldn't help but join them in their laughter. Helena shot me a mischievous grin saying she knew exactly how much of an effect she had on me.

I slipped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her in closer. Her eyes darted down to the bulge in my lap in what she probably thought was a subtle glance.

I grinned. It was only just and fitting that she got to see the fruits of her labors.

“Attention, Captain Datgouy,” said the voice of a Vaznik over the comms. “We’re approaching our destination.”

I looked over at Helena. The time for levity was over.

But we’d have more chances. And maybe next time, I’d do some teasing of my own.

HELENA

As soon as I’d heard the announcement that we were closing in on the coordinates, I abandoned my—admittedly fun—game of relentlessly teasing Kavok.

The ‘plot’ of this little mystery had thickened considerably when we’d arrived on the moon of Yimïk VI. The sunken vessel had given us a message we couldn’t comprehend, but also a set of coordinates. It was safe to assume our doctor friend had gone there as well.

My only question was: had she gone on her own power, or had the entities who’d attacked the research station in the jungles of Yimïk III been responsible? Was she under duress—or a willing participant?

I brought it up with Kavok as we made our way toward the bridge.

“I wish we knew if Dr. Garcia was in trouble or not.”

He glanced over at me, shortening his strides to match my own.

“What do you mean, Helena?”

I loved the way he said my name. There was something about it, a timbre or pitch that sent shivers down my spine. I pushed aside my puddling thoughts and turned to the business at hand—solving the mystery.

“I mean, is she a prisoner of the people who attacked the station? Or is she in league with them?”

“I see.” He sighed. “In either case, I’d say she’s in considerable trouble, wouldn’t you?”

“That’s true, but we may or may not have an ally at those coordinates. It’d be nice to know which.”

I gasped as we turned the last corridor before the bridge.

“I just thought of a third possibility. What if she has no idea what happened at the research facility?”

Kavok stopped mid-stride and turned a confused expression my way.

“Wait, how could that even be possible?”

“You said the attackers overloaded the power relays first, right? Maybe they took out the comms before anyone could tell Garcia they were under attack.” My eyes narrowed, and my voice grew tight. “If she ran into the attackers on SAT-13 by the lake, maybe they lied to her and said they were a rescue team or something?”

“I hadn’t considered that possibility.” Kavok’s teeth bared in an angry snarl. “When I catch up to those cowardly murderers who attacked the station, I’ll show them the meaning of fear. It’s not so easy to gun down a Vaznik Warrior with his eyes facing forward.”

I patted his arm. “I feel sorry for them already.”

“You what?” He looked aghast. “You’d pity those who have committed such heinous acts?”

I wiped a hand down my face and sighed deeply.

“It’s an Earth expression. It means, loosely translated, ‘I know you’re going to kick their asses so badly the outcome isn’t really in doubt.”

“Oh.” He visibly relaxed. “That’s a relief. I was worried you’d try to stop me from teaching them the error of their ways.”

“Not in the slightest,” I said, remembering the horror of the research center on Yimïk III. “Those monsters have it coming.”

We joined the others on the bridge at last. The cruiser’s bridge wasn’t arranged near the top of the ship like on the Explorer-class. Rather, it was tucked into the middle decks, recessed behind a big shield emitter. What looked like a big window looking out on space was actually a really large display screen. A window would’ve been a structural weakness, a big no-no on a ship designed for battle.

The bridge itself assumed a half-moon shape with the flatter point the viewscreen. Consoles lined both sides of the semi-circle, with the captain’s chair in the center. He was surrounded on all sides by an array of control consoles floating on anti-grav emitters. They cycled around as he needed them, floating as if of their own volition.

“So glad you could join us,” Captain Datgouy said. “We’ve nearly arrived.”

“Less than .00009 light years from the target coordinates, captain,” called out the helmsman.

“Good. Drop us out of faster-than-light and we’ll proceed cautiously from here.”

“Yes, captain,” the helmsman said. The stars ceased to be long streaks of light and assumed their normal, twinkling appearance.

Except for the binary stars of the Atreyu system, of course. They gleamed on the viewscreen, a smaller, red globe being slowly consumed by a larger, yellow one.

“I want every parsec of this system scanned down to the last microscopic particle,” Datgouy said. “Helm, take us toward the coordinates at half impulse. And let’s deploy the cloak.”

The ship moved through the solar system, the lights dimming and some consoles going dark as it went to stealth mode. The ship didn’t vanish into invisibility, but rather masked as much of its energy signature as possible.

“Captain,” the helmsman said. “It appears the coordinates will take us to a point midway between the third and fourth planets of the system.”

“Steady as she goes, Helm,” Datgouy said. “Let’s be prudent.”

I waited with bated breath. What would we find when we got to the coordinates?

“I wonder what’s out there,” Kavok mused.

“Between two planets?” I shrugged. “Has to be a ship, right?”

“What would a ship be doing out here? Atreyu has no planets capable of sustaining more than the most rudimentary life.”

“Hey, I’m not Candy Wakefield. I haven’t figured it out yet.”

But maybe, if we find the right clues, I might be able to once we reach the coordinates.

KAVOK

The mood on the bridge of the Nova thickened with tension as we closed in on the coordinates gleaned from the wrecked ship at the bottom of the lake on Yimïk VI’s moon.

The old stealth silent running protocols took root in my mind. Even though noise couldn't carry over the vacuum of space, we all grew very quiet, our voices and movements hushed.

It was prudent to be careful. One wrong input on a command console, and we might end up breaking our stealth because someone fired a maneuvering jet when they weren’t supposed to.

“Anything on the sensors?” Captain Datgouy glanced at his operations officer.

“Nothing yet, sir. The radiation from the binary star is interfering with our scans.” He swiveled his seat around to face his captain. “I’m afraid we’ll have to be almost right on top of something before we can scan it properly, sir.”

“Helm, decrease speed to one-quarter impulse.” Datgouy leaned forward and rested his hand on his chin. For the third time since I’d been on the bridge, he went to drink his stimulant brew and found the cup empty.

Helena moved forward, taking the cup, and refilled it at the station on the side of the bridge. The fact Captain Datgouy had a coffee-making center on his bridge spoke volumes of his reliance on the brews. Well, when I got to that age, I supposed I might need to drink human coffee to keep going, too.

“Thank you,” he said, beaming a smile at Helena as she handed it over. “If you get tired of that luxury liner and want to serve on a REAL vessel, let me know.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the offer.”

I grinned, feeling not the least bit jealous. Nothing could come between me and Helena, and seeing her comfortable with the other warriors only proved how perfectly she was adapting to our way of life.

Perfect, in every way.

“Captain,” the helmsman called. “We’re approaching an asteroid field.”

“Take us around it, helm.”

“It will add a quarter hour to our transit.”

“That’s fine.” He leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know what’s waiting for us, but I don’t even want a minor collision if we’re about to go into battle.”

I set my jaw hard. We had no idea who’d attacked the research facility, why they’d done so, or what their ultimate goal was. It literally could’ve anyone or anything waiting for us at the coordinates.

I wondered at Helena’s assessment. Would there be a ship or a station there? What else could there be between planets?

“Do you really think it’s going to be a ship?” I asked. Not just to make conversation, or because I was nervous, but because I genuinely valued her input.

“I’m not sure what else it’d be. I suppose it might be an asteroid, or a man-made satellite of some sort. A rogue planet is a possibility, too, but anything of decent size would’ve shown up on the gravimetric scan.”

“I wonder if it’s a ship, will it also interfere with our systems the way the others have?” a voice asked.

I turned to Captain Datgouy. “Were you listening in, captain?”

“I was.” He nodded sagely, turning to his tactical officer. “Dorn, can you look at modulating our shield frequencies to keep out as much of that interference as possible?”

“I’ll give it my best, captain.”

“Excellent. Kruzer, you and Faloge give him a hand. The last thing we need is for our systems to be on the fritz this far from any vessels capable of rendering aid.”

The three Vaznik crowded the control console, putting their heads together on how to defeat the analogous signals.

You could just see the edge of the asteroid field on the viewscreen as we passed ‘over’ it. The asteroid field had likely once been a planet, now flattened out, into a disc of rubble by time and impetus as it slowly spun away from the binary stars.

“We’ve cleared the asteroid field, captain. Should I resume full impulse speed?”

“Negative, Helm,” Datgouy said. “Let’s take it slow and steady.”

“Just like I did with Irev’s mom.”

“I’m going to tell him you said that, Zaen.”

“Go ahead, Irev knows I don’t mean it—”

“That’s enough,” I snapped. “The bridge crew can’t do their jobs with you two prattling on.”

“It’s all right, Kavok,” Datgouy said. “We’re well used to distractions here. My people are professional.”

“Just the same, I apologize on my crew’s behalf.” I turned a glare on them both. “It will NOT happen again.”

“Captain,” the Helmsman said. “I just got a ping back.”

Datgouy sat up straighter and everyone turned their eyes toward the view screen.

“I’m detecting an object roughly twice the size of the Honor, sir.”

“That’s huge,” Helena gasped. “What is it?”

“I’m not sure. Sensors are struggling to make sense of the incoming data.”

Datgouy turned to his tactical officer.

“Dorn?”

“Almost ready with the shield modifications, captain…try it now, Helm.”

“There we go,” the helmsman said. “I’m reading metallic alloys, burned-out plasma conduits, residual radiation…I think it’s a derelict ship ahead, captain.”

Datgouy’s eyes narrowed to slits.

“Let’s remain cautious and approach slowly. I’ve nearly been spaced on the approach to ‘derelict’ ships in the past.”

Helena slipped her hand into mine and squeezed. We exchanged anxious, but eager glances.

It wouldn’t be long now.

HELENA

I stood on the bridge, my hand enveloped in Kavok’s much larger one. Tension lay heavy and thick in the air. All of us waited and watched the viewscreen intently, eager for our first glimpse of the alien vessel.

“Do you think it’ll be the same type we encountered before?”

Kavok couldn’t tear his eyes away from the viewscreen, but he answered me.

“I don’t know, but it stands to reason it might be manufactured by the same ancient race.”

“Approaching the coordinates, captain,” the helmsman said. “Less than a quarter parsec away.”

“Slow us down to a crawl, Helm. One-tenth impulse.” Captain Datgouy stood up, his hovering consoles moving out of his way of their own volition. He walked up to the viewscreen, staring up at it with wide eyes.

“Come on,” he muttered under his breath. “Show yourself.”

At first, I wasn’t sure I saw anything other than a trick of the light. Then, I noticed a patch of screen where the stars had been blotted out. It loomed closer, resolving itself into a great, silent hulk.

“There you are.” Captain Datgouy considered the viewscreen for a moment. “Full stop, Helm. Let’s keep our distance until we know more about this artifact.”

“I can send out some Class-4 drones to probe the ship, captain,” the science officer said.

“Excellent idea. Let’s get some eyes on it.” He turned to his sensor tech. “Are you detecting any life signs?”

“None, sir, but quite frankly, the interference and the radiation from the binary stars are still causing us problems.”

“Try and clear it up as best you can. At least we can most likely trust the robotic eyes of our probe drones.”

“Drones are ready, captain,” the science officer said.

“Launch them at will. Send the telemetry directly to both the science station consoles and my own.”

Datgouy returned to his chair. It was one of those epic moments, encountering a ship of unknown design. I was glad to have come, and not just for the adventure. I was glad for the big Vaznik holding my hand, as well.

Dozens of drones zipped out away from the bulk of the Nova. Four of the larger ones took up a position near the Nova’s nose and clicked on glaringly bright spotlights.

“Take us out of cloak,” Datgouy commanded. “If there are hostiles on that ship, I suspect they’d have come out already.”

The bridge lights came back up. We moved forward and I got a better look at the ship. Definitely the same black metal as before, and a similar, chunky aesthetic. It had a vaguely tapered-cigar shape, a silent behemoth floating in the abyss.

“Do you think we’re looking at the aft or fore decks?”

“I don’t know.” Kavok shook his head, eyes wide with awe. “I’m confused, because I don’t see anything that looks like a bridge.”

“I don’t see any weapons, either,” Datgouy added. “If anyone would care to speculate as to why that is, I’d like to hear your theories.”

“Perhaps the weapons are recessed beneath some kind of hull plating?” Dorn asked.

“A possibility, and the probes might confirm it. Anyone else?”

“It could be that this race is so ancient they never thought they’d encounter other intelligent life,” offered the, as yet unnamed, science officer.

“Preposterous,” Dr. Bill said in his mechanical voice. The mollusk in the glass globe pressed its spongy body up against the helmet’s convex edge. “Obviously, they’re so highly advanced in intellect, they no longer believe in the use of violence to solve their problems.”

Some of the Vaznik grumped at that, but I was struck by an idea I couldn’t keep quiet.

“What if it’s a colony ship? And it had an escort of military vessels for protection?”

I shrank closer to Kavok as Datgouy turned his gaze on me. For a second, I thought I’d made him mad. Then his face split into a yellow-toothed grin.

“Your match is a sharp one, Kavok. I think, given the size and design of this vessel, a colony class designation is probably most likely.”

“We’ll know more, once the probes are finished.”

“Why can’t we just go over and take a look in person?” I asked.

“Because protocol is a real killjoy,” Kavok muttered.

“Ah, it seems simple, but it is not. Just put on some pressure suits and you’re good, yes?” Dr. Bill scoffed. “Not quite. You see, my lovely Helena, there are so many factors one must consider when attempting to board an enigmatic vessel such as this one. There’s radiation to consider, not to mention there aren’t any micro meteorite shields on that old hulk. It might be perforated by debris no smaller than a single grain of sand—”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Captain Datgouy said. “We very much appreciate your input.”

He turned to his science officer.

“Maray, how long do you think it’ll take for our probe drones to finish their scan and return to the Nova?”

“A few hours, most likely. That ship is huge, and there’re many things that must be investigated to ensure it is safe for an away team.”

“All right, you heard Maray. Kavok, I suggest you spend a few hours getting some R and R before you take your team over. It might be your last chance for a while.”

“Thank you, captain.”

Kavok turned to his team.

“Keep your comms on. I want to deploy as soon as possible once the drones deem it safe.”

The other Vaznik shuffled past us and left the bridge. Kavok turned to me and offered his arm. “Are you hungry?”

A flight of butterflies launched in my stomach.

Teasing was one thing.

Now it was time to follow up.

“Not for food,” I whispered, trailing one finger down the edge of his neck, watching the muscle in his jaw jump as the meaning of my words sunk in.

“Ready?”

KAVOK

Helena slipped her arm around mine, the promise of what was to come dancing in her eyes.

I licked my lips and swallowed hard. My heart thudded a steady rhythm in my chest, so loud, I thought for sure she’d hear it.

I wasn't about to argue with her. Not after all that relentless teasing earlier. She practically dragged me off to her cabin, and I thanked all the fates for the guidance lights getting us there quickly.

The door opened, then we stepped inside. As soon as the door shut behind me, I almost lost my nerve. She was so wonderful, so delicious, so beautiful, so brilliant. She was…perfect. How do you dare to touch perfection? How do you bring yourself to sully its grace with your crude, corporeal hands?

Her brows arched in a silent query, spurring me from my fugue of indecision at last.

“Helena,” I said, my voice a throaty whisper. “I have something I want to say to you, but I’m afraid of what it might mean.”

Her eyes widened slightly, and she toyed with her hair, twirling a lock around her finger.

“Afraid?” she asked softly. I was mesmerized by her sensual mouth, and the way it moved when she spoke. “I thought Vaznik Warriors were immune to fear.”

“Only fools have no fear,” I said with a smile. “It is perhaps better to say that, when confronted with fear, a Vaznik warrior will face it, and overcome it.”

“I see.” Her lips stretched in a slight, coy smile. “So why don’t you face your fear and tell me whatever it is you’re so afraid to tell me?”

“I—” I swallowed the lump in my throat, taking her hand in both of mine. I felt my limbs tremble, and it was as if I couldn’t keep my voice steady. She sent me reeling, knocked me sideways with just a glimmer in her gaze.

“Helena,” I said, trying again. It wasn’t easy for me to express myself like that. I had so little practice. Yet, I meant what I wanted to say. I felt it, embroidered on the fabric of my soul. At last, I let the words tumble out of my throat.

“I think I really like you.”

She laughed and traced her finger along my chest.

“Well, I should hope so. I really like you, too.”

“It’s more than just that,” I said intensely. It was important, so very important, that I make her understand how profound my feelings truly were. “I didn’t think it’d be like this.”

“Like what?” she asked softly.

“Easy,” I said with a laugh. “I never thought it’d be so easy to be with you. It’s like you fill my lungs with the sweetest, freshest air every time I breathe.”

Her pupils dilated. Helena bit her lower lip, her eyes devoured me, drawing me, mind and soul, into her embrace.

“Helena,” I continued, swept up in the moment. “I may only be half as clever as you, but I’m smart enough to know when something good walks into my life.”

Her smile faded, and tears welled at the corners of her eyes.

“Oh,” she said. “That’s…that might be the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“Really?” I asked, my heart leaping with joy.

“Yeah, really,” she said with a sniffle.

“It’s all true,” I said. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I felt like this was destiny’s inexorable pull.”

She laughed anxiously, looking away almost in a shy manner.

“You might have the body of a warrior, Kavok,” she said softly. “But you have the soul of a poet.”

“And the heart of a lover,” I said.

Her eyes met mine, and she laughed again.

“And here, I thought you were going to tell me you wanted to make love to me.”

My heart stopped beating for a very long moment. When it beat again, it did so as one heavy, powerful thump. Then it raced.

“Wait a moment,” I said. “You thought I was going to ask you—that—and you still let me come in here with you?”

“Well,” she said, twirling hair around her finger.

I couldn’t take it any longer. I took her in my arms and I kissed her again. It wasn’t as good as our first kiss.

It was even better. My breath sucked away as I exulted in the taste of her. Helena. My Helena. She wanted me to make love to her. My sweet, sweet Helena…

My tongue lashed against hers, our lips sweetly smacking together. I drew back, and held her with my gaze.

Then I kissed her hard and deep, my hands roaming freely over her body. I swept my palm down the curve of her spine to the slope of her ass. Then I kept going, touching the sublime, pliant softness I’d yearned to stroke for so long.

“Oh god,” I groaned. “It feels so good.”

“Do you like my ass?” she asked, somehow managing to make the dirty query sound sweet as nectar.

“Yes,” I gasped. “So much. I love all of your curves. But this…”

I snapped the corset away from her body.

“…is not needed. I love your softness. I love every inch of your body…”

I kissed her again, my hands once more feeling her up. My heart thudded in my chest. My blood burned through my veins. Every ounce of my being desired this wonderful creature fate had so kindly deposited in my arms.

And far be it from me to fight fate.

The air grew thick with the smell of her sweet musk. I clutched at her soft breasts, marveling at the way the soft flesh, so pliantly, bulged between my fingers. Her mouth flew open in a sharp gasp.

I slid my hand down, down, down, between the pillars of her snugly clad thighs. My fingers brushed over the top of her pussy. The heat burned through her leggings, and I felt a distinct dampness.

“I want you so much, Helena,” I rasped.

“Then take me,” she moaned. “Take me, Kavok. Take me NOW.”

HELENA

Kavok’s fingers moved in blissful, slow circles over my mound. His fingers found my swollen lips and caressed upward. The tips ran over my clitoris, and a spicy, sweet tingle streaked through the rest of my body.

He clasped me to his body, one hand clutching my breast, the other fondling my pussy. I leaned into him, feeling his hard cock pressed into my rear. I wriggled enticingly, smiling as I felt his member give a hard twitch. I still teased him, even though he had me firmly in his grasp.

Kavok’s mouth was at my neck, kissing softly. His big, soft tongue licked down the curve of my neck, alternating with kisses as he worked his way out to my shoulder. Slowly, he drew the jumpsuit down from my shoulders to my elbows, exposing my flesh.

He continued to kiss his way downward, ever downward. I shivered as his lips ran down the curve of my spine, to the slope of my ass, and then to kiss my rounded cheeks with exquisite carefulness.

“I’m in awe of you,” he gasped, mumbling into my skin. He roughly spun me about to face him, his breath warm on my belly. His eyes peered down between my legs, where he’d made me so wet, a damp spot had shown up on the jumpsuit.

Kavok pulled the jumpsuit down to my hips, and then to my thighs. I stepped out of the leggings, bracing my hand on his shoulder for balance. As soon as my bare feet touched the floor again, he hooked his fingers in the hemline of my panties.

I felt a tingle run through my body as he dragged them down as well. His eyes widened at the sight of my pussy, naked and exposed to him for the first time.

His nostrils flared.

“You smell so sweet,” he gasped. “I must taste you.”

He seized me about the waist and drove me backward onto the bed. I cried out, but not from pain or fear. He shoved my thighs apart and pushed his horned head between my legs. My mouth flew open as his big, nimble tongue slathered my folds with plenty of attention.

I remembered his horns were more than just impressive. They were an erogenous zone. I reached down, careful, oh, so careful. Like trying to pet a wild animal. I didn’t want him to bolt. Not now, that he finally had his face in my crotch, where I’d longed to have it.

My fingers stroked across the hard, bumpy surface of his curled horns. He started, a happy moan escaping his lips. He mumbled into the soft folds of my body.

“That feels nice.”

Encouraged, I caressed his horns, even as my eyes rolled back in my head. Kavok enveloped my engorged labia in his mouth. He sucked and mouthed and licked, tugging and stretching my flesh. The sexy grunts and growls he made drove me crazy. He didn’t just enjoy eating my pussy, he reveled in it.

I increased the pressure as I stroked his horns, making him even more eager and enthusiastic. His ministrations took on a new intensity. I cried out as he smothered my clitoral mound with kisses and licks. My high-pitched scream split the air when he took my clit in his mouth and sucked.

I flopped back onto the mattress, my fingers curling around his horns. I came hard, squirting in his face and writhing about like a live current ran through my body. Still, he licked and sucked and grunted, his breath hot and sweet on my skin.

“Kavok,” I whimpered. “Kavok, give me your cock. Please.”

“You want my cock?” he whispered. He reared up in bed above me, his perfectly chiseled physique a work of natural art. One of the wonders of the galaxy. I ran my gaze from his handsome face over his muscular torso, down to the perfect hard length between his legs.

His cock was up and raised for the encounter. I reached out and stroked it with my fingers. His eyes squeezed shut, and a tiny moan escaped his clasped lips. My efforts were rewarded with a pearlescent drop of moisture at the tip of his cock.

Kavok’s hand went to my shoulder, caressing, squeezing—and then suddenly shoving. He pushed me back onto the bed and nudged my thighs further apart. He gripped the shaft of his cock, his face crossed with an expression of pure desire. The fact he was going to vent all that desire on me pushed me inexorably closer to the precipice of a truly thunderous orgasm.

“Oh, Helena,” he gasped. “Helena, you’re so beautiful.”

He ran the tip of his cock between my swollen, glistening lips. I threw my head back and moaned, yearning to feel him inside of me. I bucked my hips, trying to force him inside of me.

He leaned into a thrust, gliding his cock obligingly deep into me. I gasped as he filled and stretched me inch by throbbing, veined inch.

“Oh god,” I gasped. “Kavok…I feel so full. I’m so full. It’s wonderful.”

“It’s only just begun, my sweet.”

He grasped my hips with his powerful fingers. My mouth flew open in a sharp cry as he thrust into me. His hips slapped into my body in a series of rhythmic impacts. Every time his weight pressed down on me, his cock drove that much deeper into me.

My eyes rolled back in my head. I moved my body in concert with his. We searched for perfect synchronicity, that sublime moment where we ceased to be two separate entities and truly became one.

I cried out when we reached that point, his body straining against me, taut as the surface of a still pond. He came inside of me as I groaned and howled out a massive climax. I lost all control, shaking and shivering as pulse after pulse of ecstasy thundered through my body.

He collapsed on top of me, and I clung to him with all four limbs, as if I couldn’t hold him tightly enough.

“That was incredible,” I sighed.

“I’ve never experienced such amazing pleasures,” he said in a weary, but loving voice.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” I giggled, snuggling up closer.

KAVOK

Since we had no idea what we might encounter on the derelict vessel, we took an armed transport shuttle. In addition to the team I brought with me, Datgouy provided a small unit of Vaznik warriors for extra muscle.

The cabin of the shuttle was filled with Vaznik warriors, a few human scientists, and one Galfian in a mechanical suit. And of course, my sweet Helena joined us as well.

I’d never considered how our encounter would bring us closer together in the heat of the moment. I’d been focused on other things. Now, however, I felt as if there were a gravity between us, drawing us together as inexorably as the dawn.

Perhaps because I was so worried, I fussed over the seals and specs on her full Encounter Suit. The armored space suit would protect her from the ravages of cold and vacuum like a conventional one. It could also take some pretty heavy hits from most small-arms fire without breaking.

“Kavok, no offense, but I know how magnetic boots work.”

“Right,” I said, standing up straight. “Sorry. Let’s move on to some other systems. You’ll notice your remaining oxygen supply on the HUD—”

“Kavok, come on,” she sighed.

“Okay, sorry again.” My eyes lit up. “Now here’s something I bet you haven’t encountered before: The wrist-mounted photon emitter.”

“I have a space laser?” she asked eagerly.

“A photon emitter,” I said. “It produces a focused beam of highly intense light which works quite well in non-atmospheric conditions.”

“So…” she said, arching her brows over her lovely eyes “it’s a space laser.”

“I guess it is,” I admitted with a laugh. “Press twice on the stud here to activate it.”

She grimaced as she did so.

“It’s hard to push.”

“By design. That way you won’t burn a hole in your own foot by accident.”

“I think I’ve got it—there we go.”

The shell surrounding her wrist assembly bifurcated, twin panels sliding aside to allow a small hump of glass to raise up.

“Good. Don’t push the trigger stud again, unless you want to kill or burn something.”

“Right. How do I deactivate it?”

“The stud to the left. Can you feel it in your glove?”

“Yes…there.”

The photonic lens sank back out of sight.

I spent a few more moments showing her how to use the maneuvering jets located on her backpack. She was a good student, asking the right questions and only interrupting when she needed clarification on something.

“Kavok,” Jakar said from the pilot’s chair. “We’re lined up with the ‘shuttle bay.’”

“Take us in, Jakar. Slow and steady.”

“That’s just how I—”

“Zaen, if this is another human ‘your mother’ joke, I’m going to space you, myself,” I growled. He took the hint and closed his mouth.

I turned my attention to the cockpit, where Jakar guided us between bulky flanges. We entered the ship, or at least part of it. Our scientists hadn’t been able to determine the utility of the open space we’d dubbed the ‘shuttle bay’, but they agreed it was probably safe to park there.

“Magnetic pylons deployed,” Jakar said. We settled down—relatively speaking, since we were in outer space—and the shuttle rattled as the magnetic locks snapped us tightly to the strange metal. “Thank goodness this weird alloy is ferrous, right Kavok?”

“Let’s not assume the whole ship will be like that.” I took in everyone with my gaze. “Everyone needs to have second, third, and fourth thoughts before you touch or activate anything. Is that clear?”

The Vaznik all nodded, but I turned to glare at Bill.

“That goes for your team, too. The last thing we need is a repeat of what happened on Yimïk III.”

“I’ll be careful, I assure you,” Dr. Bill sniffed.

I ordered all but four of the additional Nova soldiers to remain with the science team.

“Jakar,” I said, clapping my hand on his shoulder. “Stay on the shuttle and coordinate communication between the teams.”

“Right,” he said, nodding firmly. “Good luck out there, Kavok. Try not to get your match killed.”

I grinned at his attempt at a joke, but the truth was, the thought of something happening to Helena filled me with a nameless, ancient dread. Funny, a few weeks before I’d never even known that she existed.

Now, I couldn’t imagine—or was afraid to imagine—a galaxy without her in it. It seemed as if it’d be a dark and bleak universe without Helena.

The gangplank deployed, and our teams tromped down it. When we hit the onyx metal, the magnetics held just fine, but I couldn’t afford to relax.

We walked along the wide, flat, metal plain until we reached what looked like a similar door to the ones we’d encountered back at the dig site on Yimïk III.

“Doc?” I asked.

“Let me see,” he said, mechanical body sealed inside a pressure suit like the rest of us. At least he couldn't use those damn spotlights. He connected a wire from the computer pad in his hand to a small opening beside the door.

“Just need to feed it some power and—there we go.”

The doors slid open. Inside, the interior of the ship beckoned like a yawning, cavernous maw. We walked onto a metal gridwork of sorts, following it down a hallway so narrow, we could only walk two abreast.

“Anything on scans, Irev?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said, face a mask of annoyance. “The damn interference makes it next to useless.”

“Then we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way.”

“Kavok,” Helena said with a gasp. “Look at the dust.”

“Someone’s been here before,” I said eagerly. Most of the prints were the same size as we’d seen on Sat-13, but one in particular stood out.

“Is that the right size for Dr. Garcia’s boot print?”

Helena stepped forward and put her foot next to it.

“For a human woman, yes. But do we know it’s hers?”

“Kavok.”

I looked up from where Irev crouched on the floor, a glistening pool of liquid at his feet.

My heart thudded in my chest. A trail of scarlet led off into the darkness.

“Is that…blood?” Helena asked in a tight voice.

I nodded grimly.

“Stay behind me. We’re not alone out here.”

HELENA

I followed along behind Kavok, trepidation mounting in my belly. The blood trail proved intermittent, a few drops here and there, though sometimes it would gather and pool.

The sensors were still on the fritz from all the interference, so we couldn’t tell if it was human blood or not. I worried for Dr. Garcia’s safety. Even though I didn’t know for sure if she was a captive or an ally of the ones who attacked the base back on Yimïk III, I still worried about her.

Maybe I just wanted to believe my fellow human being couldn’t be capable of the savagery we’d seen evidence of at the research facility. I couldn't be sure. The only thing I knew was that I was scared.

The Vazniks all changed their demeanors. Gone were the flip comments, the snide remarks. Even Zaen was being somber. I tried to match suit, and fingered the trigger stud inside my glove. If I had to use the laser, we were probably all fucked anyway, but I felt better knowing it was there.

The Vaznik warriors all had additional arms in the form of blaster pistols and vibro knives. We moved along through the darkened ship, ever alert for danger or the missing doctor. I realized my heart rate was insanely high, and tried to calm myself down.

It was a good thing I did, because we crept along the alien ship for a long time. There seemed to be no end to the corridors. Whenever we reached a junction, Vrako would use his vibro knife to make marks on the wall to guide us back to the shuttle. I took comfort from that, hoping it’d keep us from getting lost.

At last, we reached a place where the ceiling suddenly retreated far overhead and the walls widened out to the point we could barely see them.

“What is this place?” I asked, turning my gaze about.

“Cargo storage?” Kavok shook his head. “It’s hard to tell. I do know we’re too exposed here, so let’s keep moving. Irev, you picking up anything on heat sensors?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Keep at it. It’s the one sensor we have that’s not fucking up, thanks to the interference.”

I peered about in the darkness and we continued on our way. There’d been something bothering me from the very beginning, since we’d first set foot on the ship. I finally was able to put words to it.

“Where are the crew?”

“What was that?” Kavok asked.

“This ship is huge, so where are the crew? You’d expect to find someone, but so far…nothing.”

“Maybe they all died?”

“Maybe, but we haven’t seen any bodies, either.”

“They might be only dust now.” He shrugged. “We don’t know anything about their physiology. If they lacked bone structure, like Doctor Bill, then there might not be anything left of them at all.”

“Except for ghosts,” I said, feeling a tiny shiver. Unlike Candy Wakefield, I wasn’t a witch who could dispel the undead. The ship gave me the creeps. I wondered if I were being punished for wanting an adventure.

Having some fun now, aren’t you?

“Hold,” Kavok whispered over comms. “Everyone, power up weapons. Irev sees something.”

Irev held his hand out for the rest of us to stop, then glanced back at Kavok.

“Three signatures, Kavok. They were only there for a second, but I know what I saw.”

“I believe you.” Kavok turned to me. “If people start shooting, I want you to find cover and stay there. Don’t try to be a hero, do you hear me?”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m scared shitless. No way will I be the one to play the hero.”

He nodded. Kavok glanced at the massive Drayk who trailed behind us as the rear guard. I think he took some assurance that the big man would be there to protect me.

Big man. They were ALL huge compared to me. Everything is relative.

Irev signaled for us to start moving again. For a time, the only sound was my own breathing as the others maintained radio silence. I felt the trigger stud with my finger and hoped I wouldn’t have to use it.

“They’re back,” Irev snapped. “And they’re not alone—”

A sizzling burst of green flashed up ahead. A beam shot down the corridor and narrowly missed my suit’s shoulder by a few inches.

“Find cover and return fire,” Kavok snapped. “Drayk, keep watch and make sure they don't come around and flank us.”

Find cover? I didn’t see any cover. It was a featureless hallway. I saw the others getting down low and plastering themselves as close to the wall as possible, so I did the same.

Kavok kept trying to put himself between us and our as yet unseen enemies. I occasionally saw the outline of a pressure suit in the flash of energy beams, but I never got a good look.

For a few moments, the hallway sizzled with energy beams fired by both sides. The strange black alloy seemed to absorb the stray hits without noticeable damage. The air heated up from all the discharges to the point where my suit cut back on providing warmth from its generator.

“Kavok,” I shouted above the din. “Don’t worry about me. Your men need you.”

“But—”

“It’s all right,” I said. “I’ll be fine; I’ve got Drayk.”

He grimaced, and then clapped me on the shoulder.

“Stay low, and if they get past us—surrender. It might be that they’ll spare your life.”

Then he took off, screaming as he fired blast after blast from his pistol. I tried to stay low, and do what I could to survive.

I heard a blast from behind me, and a cry of anguish over comms. I turned to see Drayk staggering forward, a smoking scorch mark on his armor. Another green blast hit him and he stumbled to his knees.

Behind him, a six-and-a-half-foot tall figure, wearing onyx-hued armor and a tinted faceplate, appeared in the hallway. The stranger did something to the pistol he carried and a series of green lights flashed on the side.

I don’t know what he was up to, but he pointed the pistol at the downed Vaznik and prepared to fire.

Without thinking, I hit the trigger studs twice and activated my photonic—my space laser.

Sorry, Kavok. Guess I AM going to be a hero after all.

KAVOK

I heard Helena call out over comms and spun around just in time to see her fire a pure white beam from her wrist-mounted…okay, from her wrist-mounted space laser.

It struck one of the onyx-suited enemies in the lower abdomen. Helena’s aim scored a long, burning trail across his body. The beam contacted the seals between helmet and armored neck, and a hissing cloud of steam shot out.

The enemy died, its magnetic boots holding it in place as its body sort of drifted. The gas expanded in all directions, temporarily filling the hallway with white, diffused mist. It froze into a glaze of ice on the walls as I checked on Drayk.

“You hit?”

“Minor damage to my suit,” he growled. “I can fight.”

It was a damn good thing he could. According to Irev’s frantic cries, the heat signatures numbered more than twice our own number. I fired over Drayk’s shoulder and sent another onyx-suited warrior scrambling for cover. Meanwhile, he fired under my arm at an adversary I couldn’t see.

“Thanks,” we said at the same time.

I checked on Helena. She stood there, staring at the dead alien in his ominous black suit. Her eyes were wide behind her face plate, and I sensed the early onset of shock. I had to help her.

“Helena,” I said, going to her side. “Snap out of it.”

“I—I killed him,” she said.

“Yes, you did!” I said enthusiastically. “Soon the gates of hell will be lined with your victims…”

I noticed how she was not, in fact, feeling better by my words.

“…that is, he gave you no choice. You only defended your own life, saving Drayk. It was the enemy or you.”

That seemed to help. What helped even more was when three more of the black-suited warriors appeared. I turned my pistol on them, scoring hits in the abdomen of the one in the lead. The armor was tough, but after the sixth shot I penetrated it. Blood burst out in a globular mass from his midsection, and he drifted toward the ceiling, having been in mid-stride.

One of his fellows stepped into place, taking the gun from his fingers and turning it on me. Fortunately, Drayk blasted the gun away—and the hand holding it. Environmental seals slammed shut on the wrist, saving the enemy’s life—

Until I shoved the barrel of my pistol right up against his faceplate and pulled the trigger. His head snapped back, and he fell over backwards, weirdly looking like he was doing a limbo dance, due to his anchored boots.

And still his cohorts came on. I turned off my magnetic boots and leaped into the air, tucking my chin to my knees and pitching into a somersault. When I came out of the flip, my magnetic soles slammed down on the ‘ceiling’ of the corridor.

I had the advantage of the high ground now, and I used it to the fullest. I unloaded with my pistol, taking down two of the enemies before they even drew a bead on my new position.

I saw one of them coming through a junction out of the corner of my eye. I turned to engage, knowing I’d be too late, hoping my armor would absorb the damage.

Then, a piercing white beam of light shot out and sizzled through the still vacuum. It raked a line across the new assailant’s front. The beam hit the energy magazine of my enemy’s pistol and it exploded in a violent burst that sent me ‘falling’ backward until I was caught by my magnetic boots.

Helena wasn’t so lucky. Her magnetic boots must’ve been disengaged or shorted out by the explosion. She flew down the corridor, past our defensive ranks and right into the middle of a half dozen of our foes.

My mouth flew open in horror behind my face plate.

No.

I slammed open all of my maneuvering thrusters facing the rear and disengaged my magnetic boots. I shot out like a rocket down the hall, clipping Zaen on the way and knocking him over.

I opened up with my pistol, scoring several hits on my foes as I approached. My pistol ran out of ammo, and I chucked it and drew my knife instead.

The humming power blade took the head clean off one of my foes as I landed protectively over Helena. I slashed with the knife, failed with my empty fist, and kicked out with my heavy boots. All the while, a raucous scream ripped from my throat. I just kept saying ‘no’ over and over again.

“No,” I whispered at last, my knife covered with blood. Droplets lifted into the air and floated, filling the area around me like stationary, red rain.

I looked down at Helena and gently picked her up. We seemed to be safe—for the moment.

“Are you all right?” I asked, pulling her to her feet. I felt terrible fear until her face plate turned and I stared into her rapidly blinking eyes.

“I think so,” she said. “I’m a little banged up inside this armor, but I didn't take any hits.”

“Neither did I,” I said in surprise. I had fully thought I’d have to sacrifice my life to save hers.

“Did you see that?” Vrako came up, slapping me on the shoulder. “That was incredible.”

“Glory and honor to Kavok,” Raxor added. “They chose the right man to lead this away team.”

“Hey,” Irev snapped. “Before you both start sucking his dick, you might want to do something about the enemies coming our way.”

He showed me the screen of his scanner. Red dots appeared all over it.

“Look alive, team,” I shouted over comms. “This fight’s not over yet.”

HELENA

Let’s just say I was glad for the liquid collection aspect of my Encounter Suit when I saw all those myriad red dots moving across the screen on Irev’s scanner.

“All right,” Kavok snapped. “We’re outnumbered and outgunned, but we’ve got the advantage here because we know they’re coming, but they have no clue about our ambush... Irev, Vrako, Raxor, Zaen, you guys set up a crossfire. Get up on the walls, high as you can.”

He turned to Drayk.

“You hanging in there, big guy?”

“I’m fine, Kavok. My suit wasn’t breached. What do you need?”

“I need you to hold yourself in reserve and pick off any survivors of the crossfire.” Kavok glanced over at me. “You set up next to him. It’ll be the safest place in the battle.”

“What about you?” I asked.

“I’ll join the others on the wall—”

“Kavok,” Irev said. “They’re moving away from us.”

“Then we’re in luck,” I said.

“I’m afraid not,” Irev replied. He’d adhered himself to the wall about ten-feet up, his gun in one hand and the scanner in the other. “Based on where they’re headed, they’ll wind up right on top of the science team.”

“They’re minimally armed,” I said.

“Then I’m not joining the others on the wall.”

“What are you doing?” I asked, frightened by the look in his eyes.

“This ambush is a trap. And every trap…needs bait.”

He placed his hand on my shoulder. I couldn’t move my metal-clad hand up to reach it. Like I could’ve felt it through the heavy, armored gloves anyway.

Kavok vanished through the passage ahead, abandoning stealth for speed.

Drayk motioned for me to follow him. We took up position behind some sort of appliance. It resembled an air purifier, or at least was as boxy as one. I could only guess at its function.

I knew it was thick, tall, and provided plenty of cover for both of us. I kept back, just able to peer around the sharp corner.

My heart leaped up into my throat when I heard the sounds of weapons fire coming from the direction my match had flown. I pressed the trigger stud and my space laser sprang into view.

Drayk glanced over at me.

“Aim low,” he said. “And you don’t have to fire a continuous beam. Your battery will last longer if you fire in bursts.”

“Thanks for the tips,” I said. “I’ll do both of those things.”

I couldn’t believe I sounded so calm. I was totally freaking out. I’d barely survived the last battle by a mix of luck and Kavok going full-on Rambo. How would I fare this time? Oddly, I was more worried about Kavok than myself.

Speaking of the devil, he ran into the room and kicked off the floor, disengaging his magnetic boots.

“Incoming,” he shouted over coms as his leg muscles and maneuvering jets propelled him toward the ceiling.

A moment later, the onyx-garbed warriors appeared, preceded by a green blast of energy. I almost jumped the gun—no pun intended—and fired, but I held steady. I wasn’t supposed to fire until Drayk did.

The warriors rushed into the room, fanning out to search the room. No doubt, they were confused, as there was no one there.

Then, one of them seemed to spot Drayk and I. Before he raised an alarm, energy blasts rained down from the men adhered to the walls. The onyx warriors fell, one by one, cut to ribbons by the searing rays of energy. Some of them fired back, missing badly because they assumed their foes would be on the ‘main’ floor of the ship, as they were.

A few of them somehow managed to survive the onslaught and tried to flee back through the tunnel. That was Drayk’s and my cue. He stepped out from behind the block and fired two pistols at once. He took up so much space, I couldn’t get a clean shot, so I dropped to my belly and aimed between his legs.

He started when I fired my blast, severing the foot of an onyx warrior at the ankle. Drayk took a step to the side, pointedly checking his groin to make sure it was intact.

“Sorry,” I said, as the last onyx warrior fell.

“That’s the last heat signature within scanning range,” Irev said. “Coast is clear.”

“Anybody hurt?” Kavok asked.

After a moment of silence, he nodded. His gaze fell on me and softened.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m in one piece,” I said, my voice a little shaky. “I’m ready to get on with the mission.”

The mission. Ha! Listen to me going commando, like I know what I’m doing.

As we moved out to follow Irev, Drayk stopped to look at me. I thought he’d berate me for shooting between his legs. Instead, he surprised me.

“You’re an asset, Helena. You and Kavok will have strong children together.”

Then he clapped me on the shoulder, and even in zero G, I almost toppled under the force of the blow.

I followed along, bolstered by Drayk’s vote of confidence. I was really doing it! I was on my own space adventure, in pursuit of a mystery like one of the cozy witch heroines from my favorite books.

My mood plummeted as my stomach sank down to my boots.

Only, there were real weapons, and we were following a trail of real blood. I felt a shiver run down my spine as I passed one of the eerily standing onyx warriors, still adhered to the floor by his boots. I kept expecting him to come back to life and attack.

“Hey,” Irev said. “You should check this out.”

He stood up to his full height, and disappeared into a warm, orange-tinged glow. I took his posture to mean the danger was passed, at least for the moment, and let go of a breath I hadn’t known I was holding.

We entered a roundish room roughly the size of one of the restaurants on the Honor. Thick, raised sections of the floor thrust out from the walls like the spokes of a wheel. They converged in the center, where a circular, raised dais glowed with the orange light.

“What’s this?” Kavok walked forward, peering at it.

“Not sure,” Vrako replied. “The scanners are going crazy. I bet these things—”

He kicked one of the spokes.

“—are power conduits to make that thing work. Whatever it is.”

Kavok turned to me.

“I know you’re not a hardware engineer, but you’re the only scientist we have right now.”

“I’ll take a crack at it,” I said with a shrug. I crouched down and stared at what I took to be a control panel. A small screen with lit symbols scrolling over it hovered beneath diamond-shaped buttons set in a staggered pattern.

I couldn’t make out the symbols, but I recognized a matter-energy conversion matrix when I saw one.

“I think this is a teleporter,” I said.

“A teleporter?”

“Yes,” I said. I touched the screen with my gloved hand. “It’s been used recently.”

“By Dr. Garcia?”

“I think so. These reconstruction patterns look human.” I sighed. “I wish I could make out these symbols, though. Maybe then we could at least figure out where they went.”

“Try the translator,” Kavok suggested. “It may have figured out at least some of the language by now.”

“Maybe. It does tend to focus on numeric symbols before those governing phonemes…Eureka!”

“What?” Kavok tilted his head to the side. “That didn’t translate.”

“Sorry, I’ve always wanted to say that. I can read these coordinates.”

“Then, that means—”

“You bet your ass.” I grinned at him. “We can use these to find out where Dr. Garcia has gone.”

KAVOK

“Pack up all your gear.” I pitched my voice to carry through the expensive teleportation chamber. “Don’t leave anything behind. Not even a spent magazine.”

I looked about the teleportation chamber as the other Vaznik warriors busied themselves with clean up. Irev gathered up the bloodied bandages and empty medi-gel packs into a little pile in the hallway. He fine-tuned his energy pistol to disintegrate the pile into ash without damaging the deck plating. If anything could even damage it.

It’s the Vaznik way to leave no trace behind. If our enemies found a spent cartridge or broken pistol, they could reverse engineer them, or find weaknesses to exploit.

Everyone finished their tasks and formed up ranks near the exit. I looked about and saw Helena had failed to muster.

“Helena?” I moved deeper into the chamber. “It’s time to go.”

“Hang on,” she said, crouching beside a console. Her arm disappeared into the service separating console and bulkhead. “I see something.”

“What is it?”

“A memory crystal.” Her straining face suddenly crossed with a look of triumph. “Got it.”

She extracted her arm, revealing a small, aquamarine, crystal memory chip in her palm.

“What’s on it?”

She pushed the chip into her compad. The display came up with distorted gibberish.

“It’s encrypted,” she said, “but I think these lines of code are dates, and these are a text summary.”

“Text summary of what?”

“Of her life.” Helena’s eyes shone with an eager light. I found her intensely beautiful at that moment, and longed to crush my lips on top of her own. “I think it’s another of Dr. Garcia’s journals.”

I gasped, my heart thudding hard in my chest.

“Then we must get this back to the fleet straight away. Soanzo and Ausym will want to see it.”

She tucked the memory crystal away in a protective pouch and secured it to her webbing.

“All right, let’s go.”

“Irev, take point. Drayk, rear guard. Everybody else, hold your fire unless they spot us. We want to avoid fights at this point.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Sakor griped.

“We’re not here for fun, Sakor. We’ve got precious cargo—”

I looked at Helena, and while the men thought I meant the memory chip, I really meant her.

“—and it’s our duty to get it back. There’s your glory, Sakor. Get the stupid memory chip back to command. It’s not as invigorating as dismembering our foes, I agree, but we’ve lost enough good people today.”

I’d gotten a report that all of the science team had made it back—but the Nova soldiers had sold their lives for the escape. I’d sent the Nova men in my personal unit back to recover the bodies.

“Who’d you think those black armored freaks were?” Raxor asked as we made our way back to the shuttle.

“I’m not sure. I got the impression that while they were battle hardened, they didn’t have any formal combat training.”

He nodded. “I got that impression, too. They just walked into our ambush in a nice cluster so we could mow them down.”

“That trick probably won’t work on them twice.”

“You think we’ll see them again?”

“Oh, yes.” I nodded grimly. “I think we will. Which begs the question, who are they and what do they want?”

“If they’re seasoned in battle, but not formally trained, then that leaves only one possibility.”

“Some kind of criminal enterprise,” I agreed. “But well-armed, and well-funded. Those Encounter Suits they wore were tough, at least equal to our own.”

“Their weapons were higher output than ours, too.”

“Yes, but which of us is still standing?”

“Kavok,” Irev called over comms “we’ve got heat signatures ahead. Looks like more of the Faceless guys.”

“Let’s nail the bastards,” Raxor growled.

“No,” I said, glancing over at Helena. “That would give them a chance to recover the memory chip. We can’t risk it. The mission was to find Dr. Garcia, not defeat the enemy by attrition. We need to get the coordinates and the doctor’s notebooks back to command.”

“All right, take it easy. You’re right, it just doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Maybe one of the drones managed to get some footage of their ship.”

It went without saying that the unknown soldiers, the Faceless, as Irev had dubbed them, needed a ship to get to the derelict vessel.

“I hope so. We’ll make them pay for killing our allies at the research facility, blood for blood.”

“Blood for blood,” I agreed. “Irev, can you find us a path around them?”

He flinched inside his encounter suit.

“I can.” His tone suggested it was utterly preposterous to consider, however.

“Then do it. We get the data back to where it can do the best, and we sate our bloodthirst another day.”

The other Vazniks nodded grimly. They did not argue because they knew I was right. That didn't mean they had to like it. I didn’t like it, either, quite frankly.

But all I had to do to know it was the right decision was look into the eyes of my sweet Helena. Respect shone in her eyes, genuine and, dare I say, loving.

We picked our way through the labyrinthine corridors of the derelict vessel, avoiding fights and patrols of our enemies along the way. When we returned to the shuttle, I was surprised to see scoring from weapons fire on the hull.

“Jakar, it looks like you had some fun without us.”

“Sorry, Kavok. If it’s any consolation, it wasn’t all that much fun, their pistols versus the ship’s autocannon. I feel, in fact, rather unsportsmanlike at the moment.”

“Fire up the engines,” I said. “Let’s get back to the Nova.”

HELENA

“Steady as she goes.” Kavok’s voice sounded oddly muted in the whisper-silent cabin. I felt very small among all the hulking warriors. We were all coming down from our adrenaline highs, and a sort of fatigue had settled in. I wondered if it were like this for all people involved in a violent conflict, veteran or not.

“I’ve got it,” Jakar said defensively, easing our shuttle out through the same open flange we’d come in. “I know what I’m doing.”

“I know, I know, you’re the best pilot in the fleet.”

The shuttle eased out into open space. Jakar engaged our sub-light engines, and I felt acceleration pressing me back into the seat.

The shuttle’s artificial gravity seemed heavier than I remembered. I supposed being in zero G for hours had made my body used to the sensation. We docked with the Nova and disembarked at last.

Kavok helped me out of the Encounter Suit. The pressurized suit came off by degrees, and every time, I gasped in relief. I didn’t know how the Vaznik seemed to walk around in them with no problems.

I had seam indentations on my arms after I pulled the gloves off.

“Ouch.” I winced as my finger stung upon contact with the air. I looked at the bloody fingertip, realizing I’d hit the trigger studs for my space laser so much it had resulted in a blister. Then, I popped said blister and made a nasty mess inside the glove.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “We’ve got civvie tech crews whose job it is to break down and maintain the armor after every operation. Let’s get you to med bay.”

“Just put some medi-gel on it and a bandage, and let’s go report in.”

“She’s a tougher soldier than you are, Kavok,” Vrako said.

“Shut up, Vrako.”

I sprayed some of the medi-gel onto my finger and gasped in relief. One adhesive bandage later, I joined Kavok as we headed to the bridge.

Due to the importance of our mission, we made our report via holo comms to Admiral Ausym directly, though Captain Datgouy attended as well.

“So you weren’t able to identify the mysterious attackers?” Ausym asked, his face creased in a worried frown.

“No sir,” Kavok said, shaking his head. “Their ship, species, and allegiances are as yet unknown.”

“We do know that at least some of them teleported, along with Dr. Garcia, away from the derelict alien craft, admiral,” I added.

“Do we know if Dr. Garcia did so under duress?”

I shook my head.

“I haven’t been able to decode her notes yet. It might be a matter best handed to a cryptography program.”

“Do all humans write their journals in code?”

“Not all of us, no, but a lot of the really smart ones do. Like Leonardo da Vinci. And, apparently, Dr. Garcia.”

Dr. Garcia’s work was the buzz of academic circles, so for all I knew she was some kind of Da Vinci genius.

“It would seem,” Ausym said slowly, “that every time we answer one question, two more spring up in its place.”

“Like the mythical Hydra,” I said.

“The what? The dragon-snake?”

“I guess that didn’t translate well. The Hydra was a dragon with eight heads—initially. Every time you cut off a head, two more grew in its place.”

“What a glorious beast,” Ausym exclaimed. “To defeat one would be a magnificent feat.”

“They don’t actually exist, as far as I know.” I laughed. “But I agree. My point is, this conspiracy seems to have a lot more facets to it than we ever realized in the beginning.”

I knew it wouldn’t be solved overnight and had resolved myself to the fact.

“We’ll find the good doctor,” Kavok asserted, slamming a fist into his open palm. “I swear on my honor. And we’ll either liberate her or bring her to justice, whichever is appropriate.”

“I agree,” Ausym said, “but I’m afraid your mission parameters have changed.”

“Changed?” Kavok said, tilting his head to the side like a confused puppy.

“Yes.” Ausym grinned. “For the time being, you’re going to be furloughed.”

“Why? Haven’t I done a good job?”

“You’ve done an exemplary job, sergeant, but I’m afraid duty calls elsewhere.”

“I don’t see how—wait a moment. Did you just say ‘sergeant’?”

“Yes, you’ve been promoted for your outstanding work, didn’t Datgouy tell you?”

Datgouy shrugged sheepishly. “I thought you wanted to tell him, admiral.”

“Oh. Well, congratulations in any case. Here’s your promotion. Now you need to get to work on the most glorious mission of all—wooing your mate.”

“That’s right,” Datgouy said. “When we get back to the Honor's Blade, the two of you are going on your all-expenses-paid honeymoon. Congratulations, on both your promotion and your exciting new journey as life mates.”

I laughed. “A honeymoon sounds great, but where will we take it?”

“Well, you can’t actually go anywhere while we’re out here in the Xiltri Sector, but the Honor has numerous holographic entertainment bays which can ‘take’ you anywhere in the galaxy at the touch of a button.”

I grinned, giving Kavok a long, sideways look.

“As long as I’m with you, I don’t care where I am.”

“Great, it’s settled.”

At the teleportation pad, we paused long enough to say so long to our crew. Drayk gave me a fist bump, for which I felt quite honored.

“…and that’s pretty much all that I know,” Kavok said to Raxor. “You think you can handle being in charge of this gang of idiots?”

“Don’t remind me,” Raxor grimaced. “I liked being the plucky comic relief, now I have to be the hero and all that. Bo-ring.”

“Your cape is in transit, hero.” Kavok clapped him on the shoulder, taking my hand. “Farewell, my friends. May glory find you.”

“And may no sleep find you on your honeymoon,” Raxor said with a wink, right before we teleported away.

KAVOK

I finished my input command sequence to the holo-suite, then hit the run button. A chime indicated the program I’d input into the processors was running and ready for us to enter.

“So, this is different from the VR, I take it?”

I turned to her, my breath catching in my throat at the sight of her. She wore something called a ‘bikini’, standard beachwear for Earth. The garment was only a suggestion of modesty. I rather liked it on her. I had a feeling I’d like it off of her even more.

“Much different. The ship uses solid light photons to create everything from the sand under your feet to the scent of sea breeze coming off the ocean. Observe.”

The doors slid open, and beyond the portal lay a pristine, pink-sand beach on Ralius V. Crystal clear waters lapped onto shore in a gentle surf. Avians cawed as they flew from one of the tropical trees to another.

“It looks so real.” Helena’s eyes widened as she took it all in. Wordlessly, she stepped into the simulation. “Ouch!”

She pulled her bare foot back.

“The sand is hot,” she said.

“Don’t worry, the holosuite has safety protocols to keep you from being burned.”

“Um, no offense, but my software engineer sense is tingling. Did you by any chance make sure the safety protocols were lowered to human standards?”

My face fell, and I quickly made a few adjustments.

“Is this better?”

She put her foot on the sand and smiled.

“Yes, much better. Nice and warm without being painful. I like to keep the skin on the bottom of my feet. I guess I’m picky that way.”

I stepped into the simulation with her. The doors closed behind us, and for all the world, it looked as if we were no longer on a ship flying through space at all.

I spread out our blanket, then set out the picnic basket our chef had prepared. She settled onto the blanket, looking as beautiful as a sunset.

“I’m very glad I matched with you, Helena,” I said softly.

She glanced up at me, her lips slightly parted. I knelt on the blanket beside her and caressed her cheek with my palm. Her eyes closed, and she let out a soft sigh.

“I love you,” I murmured into her ear, as delicately sculpted as a seashell.

Helena gasped, her eyes fluttering open.

“I love you, too.”

I leaned in and pressed my lips against her own.

“You’re mine,” I whispered. “And I’m yours.”

The kiss deepened, intensified. I pushed my tongue inside her mouth, exulting in her taste. Her hands roamed over my back as she filled my mouth with soft cries and moans.

I laid down on top of her, pinning her to the beach. Her warm, soft body felt good pressed against mine. I continued to kiss her, my hands exploring her body and conquering the peaks and valleys. My hand clutched her breast, thumb and finger pinching the nipple through the thin membrane of cloth protecting it. I felt it harden, more so when my other fingers caressed her silken folds through the bikini bottoms.

“Helena,” I gasped as my cock throbbed into an almost painful stiffness. “I adore you.”

I kissed my way down her neck as she gasped and writhed. Her hands stroked my horns, and I gritted my teeth against the pulse of pleasure rippling through them and into the rest of my body.

The bikini proved a conveniently easy garment to remove. Her soft bosom was mine to explore, unhindered by any barriers. I pressed my face into her exquisitely pliant, plump bosom, losing myself in the sensation.

I sucked on her nipple, my tongue flicking over the nub. I lifted my head, stretching out her breast into distended glory before it popped out of my mouth. I licked her smooth belly, eliciting a sharp gasp from her throat.

My tongue circled her navel, then moved below, taking the trail toward its inexorable conclusion. I hooked fingers into the thin string of her bikini and tore it asunder. I could always wrap her in the towel on the way back to quarters if I had to.

She gasped at the sudden exposure. The smell of her sweet aroma sent my raging hard on into a throbbing frenzy. I thrust my tongue out and ran it through the pink valley between her swollen nether lips, moving it slowly upward.

Her hands grasped my horns, fingers caressing, squeezing, sending pleasant sensations pulsing through my body and mind. I wrapped her clitoral mound on my lips and gently mouthed it.

She writhed under my attention. The moans and whimpers and cries filled the air like a veritable symphony. I slipped two fingers easily into her dripping wet pussy, while my lips busied themselves with her clitoris.

I lapped hard, moving my fingers inside and hooking the ends. I worked her G-spot while my mouth sucked like a greedily on her breast.

I wanted her to feel the ultimate pleasure, because she deserved to. Helena was a wonderful woman, and the best day of my life had been when I was matched with her.

No, I was wrong. This was the best day of my life, here, consummating our love on the beach. The ocean and sand may not have been real, but the passion? That was as real as it got.

Helena cried out, her scream piercing my ears. Her hands tightened their grip on my horns as her body strained against me.

Her touch, her sounds and scent made my cock even harder, desperate to be sheathed within her tight channel.

Then she flopped onto her back, spasming about like a woman possessed. Her fluids gushed into my face, and I eagerly lapped up the fruits of my labor. Helena still quivered with aftershocks as I lifted my face from between her thighs.

“Are you ready?” I growled. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold back.”

“Yes, Kavok,” she moaned, arching her back and displaying her body enticingly. “I need you, all of you. Now.”

How could I say no to such a generous offer?

HELENA

I stared up at Kavok’s chiseled sapphire body. My eyes traveled from his handsome face, down the hard lines of the tendons in his neck, to the sculpted convex planes of his chiseled chest. I continued down, over the hard knots of muscle in his abdomen, until my journey culminated at the rigid staff between his legs.

I remembered how good it had felt to have Kavok’s cock inside of me. I rolled my eyes up to meet his gaze, the shiver of an orgasmic aftershock making my body tremble. The smoldering look in his eyes melted me into a metaphorical puddle of goo.

“Your pussy tasted so good, Helena,” he rumbled.

I gasped, my eyes squeezing shut for a moment. When I opened them again, he had the shaft of his monster cock in his hand.

I moaned as he ran the head between my folds. My soaked lips enveloped the tip, as if eager to take him inside. When it slipped back out, his crown glistened with my pussy juice.

He stroked my pussy with his cock in such a manner for several moments, his body trembling with desire. At last, he couldn’t hold himself back any longer, no matter how much he wanted to tease me.

Kavok pushed his throbbing crown between my pussy lips, then leaned his hips in. I cried out as his cock stretched and invaded me. I felt a tiny bit of pain as he slid in all the way, almost like a pinch, followed by a spreading ripple of ecstasy that had my breath coming in heavy, hot pants.

“It feels so good to be buried in your pussy,” he gasped. He grasped my breast in one hand, planted the other beside my head. Kavok thrust his hips down in a powerful stroke. My cry split the air as his cock thrust deeper inside of me.

Kavok pumped his hips like a piston, little grunts coming from between his clenched teeth. His face gleamed in the sunlight of the faux beach as he lowered and raised himself atop me.

His cock thrust in and out, in and out with a steady rhythm that drew a sharp scream from my throat. I plunged over the precipice of orgasm and slid down the other side into a conflagration of ecstatic spasms. I lost all control, writhing about beneath his powerful body like I’d been possessed.

Still he slammed his body into mine, fucking me with his big, raging cock. My eyes fluttered closed as a tsunami of delight swept me along toward the precipice of another climax. I saw it coming, and knew my inevitable plunge would be soul expanding.

I whimpered a little, knowing it would be intense. He leaned in and kissed my neck, his lower half raising and diving in a series of rhythmic thrusts.

My mouth flew open as I sucked in a ragged breath. I let it out as a scream, my orgasm thundering through my body. I felt his body strain against my own, and then he gasped in relief as he filled me with his hot seed.

I thrashed about as much as his bulk would allow, gathering up the beach blanket beneath us. My gyrations caused the basket to spill over, sending some of our goodies onto the blanket. I wasn’t in a head space to care about it, however.

I wasn’t even in my head at all. I’m pretty sure my soul floated over both of our sweating, heaving bodies there for a few minutes.

When I came somewhat to my senses, I kissed him on his horns, first one and then the other.

“I love you,” I sighed.

“I love you, too.” He looked over at the toppled basket. “Oh no, our repast…”

He grinned, taking a rounded, crispy, alien cracker and topped it with a savory spread. I leaned forward and took a bite from his hand. My eyes closed as I exulted in the myriad flavors spreading over my tongue.

“That’s delightful,” I said as he poured me some wine.

“You’re delightful,” he said.

“Careful with that talk,” I said. “It might get you into trouble.”

He swallowed the bit of cracker in his mouth and then arched his brows.

“What kind of trouble? You should know I don’t run from trouble. And if I were to run when there was trouble, it’d be toward it, not away from it.”

I laughed at his preening machismo, tongue in cheek as it was. Then I reached out and gripped his semi-flaccid shaft.

“This kind of trouble,” I purred, caressing it.

“My favorite kind of trouble,” he growled.

I stroked his shaft, feeling it engorge and harden under my fingers. I saw in his eyes he couldn’t hold back much longer. Sure enough, he suddenly seized me by the shoulders and threw me onto the sand. I cried out as he flipped me onto my belly as if I weighed nothing.

Kavok grabbed me under the hips and lifted my ass in the air. I got up on all fours, thrusting my bottom toward him in what I hoped was an enticing manner.

It worked. I felt his cock push between my swollen labia and nestle deep inside my dripping wet pussy. My mouth flew open in a sharp cry as he thrust into me the first time. The sound of his hips slapping into my ass mingled with my sharp moans and cries.

He clapped his big hands on either side of my hips and his fingers dug into my soft, pliant flesh. His big body slammed into mine again and again, his cock driving deep with each thrust.

I flew over the cliff of orgasm, my scream ragged and breathless. Fireworks exploded behind my eyes as Kavok held me steady in his powerful grip. I collapsed onto the sand, limbs unable to support my weight.

Kavok rolled me over gently and cradled me in his arms. He stroked a finger down my cheek, soft as a moth’s wing, and kissed me deep.

“I love you, my sweet Helena.”

“I know,” I said with an impish grin, lounging in his grasp. “And I love you, too.”

EPILOGUE

The computer-simulated environment proved capable of creating almost any experience. We paraglided off the shores of California, rode hovercraft through the great red canyons of Mars, and bathed in the Crystal Fountains of Garborelia.

As much fun as all of that was, I found I enjoyed spending time with my mate most of all.

Now, we’d directed the program to take us to the sandstone cliffs of Hebijaebi. The technicolor strata of the rock wall before us bore numerous natural-looking, yet utterly programmed hand and foot holds.

It was rated as a low challenge climb, but it seemed pretty daunting as I stared up its fifty-foot slope.

Kavok secured my safety harness around me, looping the strap between my thighs. His hand ‘accidentally’ rubbed my crotch, and the strap somehow nestled its way in as well.

“If you keep that up, we’re never going to get to the top,” I said. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“I just want to make sure the fit is—” He yanked on the strap, tightening it against my pussy. My mouth flew open in an involuntary gasp. “Snug.”

He patted my bottom, securing the line to the harness. I stared up at the cliff, pitons securing the rope to the wall.

“Say,” I said as he checked his own harness. “How will this work from now on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, obviously I’m moving into your quarters.”

“Oh, I see.” He looked up at me and nodded. “That seems most logical.”

“So, when it comes to keeping the quarters clean, we should share in the responsibility.”

He paused, as if he’d never considered it before. Then his massive shoulders moved in a shrug.

“That sounds both logical and fair. It’s so in the barracks.”

“Cool,” I said with great relief. My friend Kathy had married a man who insisted housekeeping was ‘woman’s work’ and refused to help. I was pleased my new mate would be more than willing to pitch in.

He looked at me for a long time, the wind blowing my hair into my face. I swept it away, marveling at the attention to detail. It really felt like I was standing outside on a windy cliff side.

“What is it?” I prompted when he didn’t say anything.

“You’re brave, brilliant, and beautiful,” he said with a sigh. “I thank the kind fates for bringing us together.”

“You say the sweetest things.” I moved over to him and splayed my fingers on his chest. I tilted my head back and smiled up at him.

He took the bait and leaned in for a kiss. His lips were warm and wonderful on mine, and I forgot we were supposed to climb a rock wall at all.

His hand slid down the curve of my spine and then grasped the crotch strap. He tugged up on it while kissing me, which just wasn’t fair.

“Stop it,” I said with a giggle. I pushed him away playfully and pointed to the top. “Would you like to race me to the top?”

He grinned, and then returned his gaze to fixing his harness.

“I’d be delighted. Give me a moment to fix this—”

I didn’t hear what else he’d said, because I was about six feet up the wall at that point. My pulse pounded in my ears, mixing with the sound of my exerted breaths and the scrape of my feet on the stone.

“Hey!” he cried out as I scampered up the cliff side like a monkey. “Cheater.”

“You said yes,” I called out over my shoulder. He still fumbled with his harness. “Kiss my ass.”

I wriggled it around for him, which distracted Kavok in his efforts to secure the harness. I laughed as he dropped the bundle to the ground and went back to climbing.

I was twenty feet from the top when I heard him scrambling below me. I risked a downward glance and saw him clawing his way up at an alarming rate. His longer reach and superhuman strength and agility meant he had a huge advantage.

I glanced over at one of the pitons holding his rope. I gave it a good kick, then another, and it came loose.

“Hey,” he cried, laughing so hard he nearly fell off the rope. “You’re such a cheat!”

“I have to cheat, you’re like a superhero.”

I put my hand on the top of the cliff a split second before he did. Our bodies pressed against each other as we tried to scramble up first. I planted my foot on his thigh, then put the other on his shoulder, and climbed him like a ladder.

“What the fuck?” he said between peals of laughter.

“I win.” I thrust my hands into the air. “Victory is sweet.”

He hauled himself up beside me. We stood there panting for a moment enjoying the spectacular, if computer generated, view of a river valley.

“I told you this was a lovely program.”

“It is,” I said. “Maybe we could visit this place in person someday.”

“I wish we could, but it has been destroyed for thousands of years.”

“Well, I’ll enjoy the simulation then.” I turned to him. “Do you think that we’ll find Dr. Garcia before it’s too late?”

“I hope so. It’s in Raxor’s capable hands now.” He stroked his hand through my hair. “I love you so very much, Helena. My heart learned to sing the day I first met you.”

“You’re so sweet,” I said, kissing his cheek. Then I kissed his warm lips, and he took me in his arms.

“I love you, too,” I gasped when he came up for air. Our beating hearts thudded mere inches from each other. I ground my body against him, and he started toying with the crotch strap again.

He unsnapped it, and the harness slipped around my ankles. I stepped out of it, and then my garments as well.

I’m not sure if I believe in a heaven or not, but if I did—this’d be it.

Turning to my mate I smiled, secure and confident, letting our love bloom around us, forming a bubble that nothing, not even the chaos of space could break.

Inseparable, now and always.

* * *

Next up? Raxor, book two of the Xiltri Sector Warriors.

Click here to get it now!

Raxor has always been happy to be in the background.

As the new leader of the team investigating the mystery of the Xiltri Sector, that’s not an option.

And now he has a new mission - winning his human mate.

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And finally, if you loved the book, please don’t forget to leave a review. Readers love to hear from other readers, so your opinion matters!

XOXO,

AVA

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OPENING MOVE: THE ALIEN GAMES

This surly, arrogant giant blue gladiator says he needs me to survive. Say what?

I've been ripped away from Earth to play a lethal alien game.

If we win, we get our freedom.

But my sister won't make it out alive.

My alien partner is a savage wall of muscle. But with every dangerous obstacle in our path, I'm beginning to see a different side of him hidden behind the violence.

He's brave. Unexpectedly sweet. And soon its not just the effort of winning the game that has me hot and bothered...

Read this hot alien abduction romance and let the games begin!

Welcome to the Alien Games! Each book features a HEA for the couple, but please note -- there's an overarching storyline that carries through all five books!

Click here to get it now!

ROGUE MATE

Science fiction romance is the destination of the Rogue Star…. Hop on board!

Our rescuers are a group of pirates. Or smugglers. They're not exactly answering questions, either.

More importantly, they're giant, golden skinned aliens...

And their rogue of a captain seems very interested in the little human commander.

Me.

Rogue Mate is the first in the Rogue Star science fiction alien romance series. Click now to start the adventure!

KAZAN

A mate is the last thing on my mind.

Especially one as sassy as the human female they say is my match.

Even if her lush curves call for my touch, and her fiery spirit is equal to my own.

I will endure the thirty days demanded by the Protocol.

But with every look, every word, I can feel us bound closer together.

Will I be able to leave her, even for her own safety?

Kazan is the first book of the Jorkan Protocol Mates. Click now to spend the night with this perfect steamy, funny science fiction romance escape. There's no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA for each alien warrior and his mate!

Copyright © 2022 by Ava York

All rights reserved. These books or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the Author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.