ROGUE’S PLAY

ROGUE STAR: BOOK EIGHT

AVA YORK

CONTENTS

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Epilogue – Skadi

Letter from Ava

Rogue’s Mask Sneak Peek!

EMMERY

“All personnel report to the crew dining hall,” a disembodied voice said through the speakers. “I repeat, all personnel report to the crew dining hall.”

The klaxons weren’t blaring, and there was no urgency to that voice, so I stretched my back lazily and only then swung my feet off the bed. I had no idea what was going on, but I wasn’t in a hurry to find out, either. These days there was always something happening.

I stood in front of the small mirror I had hung right beside the bed, finger-combed my hair before deciding to tie it into a bun, and then punched the panel that unlocked the door. I stepped out of my cramped quarters to see an ocean of people walking down the corridors and toward the crew dining hall, and I joined them without thinking twice about it.

“Any idea what’s going on?” I asked Xyla as she appeared beside me, a spring to her step.

“I have an idea, yes,” she said with a wink.

She used to have such a closed-off character, one that I had grown used to, but the past few weeks had changed her. And all because of Gallus, a bronze Shein that was one of the ship’s engineers.

The two had grown...intimate. At least the sounds coming out of her new quarters seemed to point at that.

She wasn’t the first one to change because of the Rogue Star crew and, unless I was mistaken, she wouldn’t be the last, either. There was something about this race of burly aliens, the ones in command of the ship I now called home, that attracted the female members of the crew.

To be honest, I didn’t really know what to make of it. While some were nice, I had never really developed a close relationship with any of them. The way I saw it, they were nothing but my coworkers. Although, to be fair, coworkers weren’t supposed to drag your ass halfway across the galaxy and put you on a warpath with one of the most powerful forces in the universe.

“Does this have anything to do with the Gaed?” I asked Xyla, but she merely looked back at me over her shoulder to offer me a sly smile.

I would get nothing out of her.

Still, I was pretty sure that this prospective Gaed rebellion was the reason behind this shipwide meeting.

Either that, or the Dominion had found us and were en route, which I thought to be a pretty unlikely scenario. Even they wouldn’t be so stupid as to threaten war with an independent system like the Ya-sin.

Probably.

To be honest, ever since the crew-wide meeting in the park, my mind had been spinning.

Ever since Persephone Station, I’d stayed back, didn’t want to risk getting involved.

But maybe that wasn’t an option anymore.

When Xyla and I finally got to the dining hall, we found the place completely packed. The entire crew of the Rogue Star had answered the call, it seemed.

At the center of the room were Kalyn, the woman that used to be our commander back at Persephone Station, and Dejar, the Rogue Star’s captain. Commander Aavat stood close to them.

“Please, don’t tell me we’ll have to go on the run again,” I muttered under my breath.

Xyla said nothing, but she laid one hand on my shoulder and squeezed it softly. Then, to my surprise, she started walking toward Kalyn and Dejar.

“Thank you all for being here,” she started to say, addressing the whole room. “A few of you have your suspicious about the reason behind this meeting, so let me be straightforward with you: if you thought you’d be coming here because of the Gaed rebellion...then you’re absolutely right.”

Damn, I knew it.

Wrapping a loose strand of hair around my finger, I considered my next move while Xyla, Dejar, Aavat, and Kalyn went through the steps of the plan again: power core, schematics, funding, better shielding, new allies.

And all the work, the small steps that would add up to those milestones.

As a programmer and hacker, I had the know-how when it came to network systems.

I’d been better than good. I’d been amazing.

The only reason I was caught and sent to Persephone Station was a client rolled on me, gave my name up in return for a better deal.

I hadn’t had the opportunity to try, but I’d bet I could infiltrate the Dominion systems.

Create those false identities for the teams we’d send in these covert-ops everyone had been talking about, that Xyla and the others were laying out in more detail.

But I barely listened, wrestling with myself.

When we first came on board the Rogue Star, I’d kept my head down.

Didn’t volunteer any information.

Even if it might have helped, the Shein were aliens. Strangers.

Commander Aavat had put me on to scrubbing pipes.

Boring, but safe.

Now we were all in danger. And the crew weren’t strangers anymore.

These were my friends.

Maybe, maybe this was worth standing up for.

It’d be a lot of work, but what the hell.

“Alright,” I said, taking a step forward. “I’m in. Even if I regret it.”

ZADDEN

I’d been a bit surprised when none of the crew decided to leave after the meeting in the park.

After the events of the past year, there had been some talk about leaving the Rogue Star, finding another ship.

While everyone had been prepared to fix some paperwork, do a little bit of a song and dance to get around customs, even deal with pirates if needed, this was different.

From the moment we’d jumped into the Terran system, working on the Rogue Star had become something different.

More dangerous.

But not a single member of the crew took the opportunity to leave.

I wasn’t too surprised.

We’d seen too much of what the Dominion was willing to do to maintain power.

We were all ready for a fight.

Which was great, but personally, a bit of a hassle.

I’d already come up with new duty rotations and a list of potential security issues in anticipation of losing nearly a quarter of the crew.

Wasted time. Wasted effort.

Ah, well.

The meeting was long since over, but people were still milling around, making plans, speaking with the captain and the commander, volunteering their services or asking for clarification of things.

The usual chaos.

As for myself, I went back to my duties.

I had been hired on three years ago as part of the security team.

I did my job, did it well.

But really, I’d been looking for something else.

Something with fewer ghosts.

The small crew roster on the Rogue Star allowed for cross training. Before the women came on board, it’d been almost mandatory. Too many jobs, never quite enough hands.

I’d worked my way around the ship, looking for something that clicked.

To my surprise, I’d finally ended up spending most of my time in the kitchen when I wasn’t on security detail.

Cooking was relaxing. An intricate dish required a level of planning, of focus, that could match the most complex of ops.

The reward was the pleased smiles of the crew. And if something didn’t turn out quite right, you could match it with another ingredient, salvage the dish, start again.

Nobody died.

Relaxing.

I was in the process of prepping the night’s dinner with Sars when Dejar popped his golden head through the doorway.

“Zadden?”

I looked up from my station where I was preparing the fish. “What can I do for you, Captain? Special request for dinner tonight? We’re having braised nodon with a citrus broth.”

He gave me a brief nod of approval before responding. “That actually sounds very good. Where are you getting the nodon?”

“Right here in town,” I answered. “Apparently, nodon is a very prominent fish on this planet.”

“Did not know that,” he said. “But, to get back on topic, I was really looking for you. Can we talk? In private?”

I motioned Rassic to take over preparing the finicky fish for me. It couldn’t be left sitting for too long or it just wouldn’t cook right.

After giving Rassic some quick instructions and wiping my hands clean, I followed the captain. He led me to a small room near the dining hall, holding the door open for me.

I was a bit apprehensive, but walked into the room and took a seat in one of the two chairs inside.

The room was sparsely decorated with the two chairs, a small desk, and a couple of pictures on the walls.

When we’d redecorated months ago, planning for more passengers, legitimate clients, this was meant to be a private dining area.

We hadn’t gotten the table in here before everything went sideways. The Haven had a lot of things, but not spare dining tables.

“I know you’re getting ready for dinner service,” Dejar started. “The timing isn’t the best, and I apologize for that.”

That was certainly odd. While Dejar had never been the most restrictive person around, he didn’t apologize often, unless it was truly warranted. Even after the women became part of the crew and Dejar connected with Kalyn, he still didn’t apologize, at least not where I could hear.

He was still talking. “I know you came here to try to slow your life down a bit,” he said as he sat in the other chair. “And, if I’m not exceedingly mistaken, you’ve been happy to be a part of the crew. Correct?”

“I have been, sir,” I answered. Then, with the slightest of shrugs, “The last year has certainly cancelled the slow monotony of things.”

He laughed. “True, very true. This past year has certainly been much different than any of us could have anticipated.” He cocked his head to the side. “But you decided to stay.”

I nodded. “There’s too much at stake, and if this rebellion does get off the ground, it’s going to turn into a war that’s going to suck everyone in anyway.” I leaned back slightly. “Figured that I might as well stay right here in the middle of things.”

He rubbed his hands together as he leaned back in his chair. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m assuming you heard everything at the meeting in the park, as well as earlier?”

I nodded.

“Good. Then I need a favor. The power core that we need for the shields that the Gaed have created, I want you to be the one to get it.”

I’d known this was a possibility.

All those ops.

All those moving parts.

They’d need everyone who had that sort of background.

And even as I protested about coming out of retirement, a small part of me sat up excitedly.

I’d been good at this. I couldn’t deny it.

Maybe it was time to stop relaxing.

Still, I had questions.

“Why me for this job?” I asked. “If you don’t mind my asking,” I quickly added.

“I know what you’re capable of,” he answered. “I ran an in-depth background check on you when you first came to me.” A half-smile twisted his lips. “I know about your past, at least enough of it to know that you’re more than capable of doing this and that I can trust you.”

I kept my face as impassive as I could.

I was never sure how far back into my history he had been able to dive. There were some things I had done that were not terribly nice, or even remotely ethical.

As a matter of fact, there were a couple of jobs I pulled when I was younger that very nearly had me on the ‘Wanted’ lists of at least nine sectors, maybe more.

But whatever he’d found, didn’t seem to give him concern.

I nodded, slowly. “How many people involved?”

“I’ll leave it up to you,” he answered. “But I would say no more than six or seven.”

“Do we know where this power core is?”

“A small rocky moon near Karben.”

I spent a few brief moments thinking about it, weighing the options. “And I get to pick the team?”

He nodded.

“Okay,” I answered. “I’m in.”

“Thank you,” Dejar said. The heaviness in his voice pulled my eyes to him, studying him closely.

He looked older than he was. Older than he’d seemed even a few weeks ago.

This potential rebellion was weighing on him. He looked as though he hadn’t gotten much sleep for a long time.

This was not what he had wanted, either, I was positive of that.

He had been much like me, looking for something to keep the boredom away but also not tied to a daily threat of death, beyond the normal ones associated with space travel.

There was a difference between worrying about whether or not the ship was going to hold together through normal usage, and whether or not the next ship you saw was going to shoot you down.

“How long before I go?” I asked.

“That depends on how long it takes Emmery to make false identities for everyone. If you’re caught in Dominion space, we need to make sure you’re not discovered as part of this crew.”

Emmery.

An entirely different part of me started paying attention.

Dejar got up and stretched, holding his lower back as he did.

“As soon as she’s done making identities that we’re confident in, we’ll get you a small ship and send you and your team out.”

I hadn’t known that about her. And now I wanted to know everything.

I kept my voice level. “Reasonable plan. I’ll keep you posted on my choices.”

“Save me some of that nodon,” he called back as he reentered the dining hall, leaving me to my own thoughts.

I had given up the mercenary life.

I had given up the stress of private security.

This time, I would be working for something that was worthwhile.

But Emmery was involved.

Nothing relaxing about that.

Nothing at all.

EMMERY

“How’s it going?” Xyla asked, poking her head into the small room Dejar had assigned me.

Near the engine room, it was so tiny I could almost touch opposite walls if I stretched my arms.

My guess was that it had been some kind of janitorial closet, but Dejar had it converted into a one-woman workshop: someone had miraculously managed to place a small desk inside the room, and six computer monitors had been bolted to the wall.

It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable of places, but I didn’t really mind it. I’d certainly worked in worse.

Just as long as my fingers were flying over the keyboard and I was in the zone, my surroundings were meaningless.

Except, of course, my fingers were not flying over the keyboard and I was definitely not in the zone.

“I’m so damn bored.” I leaned back in my seat and propped my feet up on the desk. The cup I had sitting nearest the keyboard wobbled slightly, but it stopped before my coffee became a puddle on the floor. “I feel like ripping my eyes out. Do you have a spoon I can do it with?”

“Wow,” Xyla laughed. “You’re in a good mood, aren’t you?”

“I was.” Lacing my fingers behind my head, I glanced at the small army of computer screens in front of me and sighed, the information plastered there reminding me of the brewing headache between my eyes.

Getting into the Dominion identification systems had been easy.

I’d been practicing, learning the new, alien information architecture, coding paths, all of it, the entire time we’d been on board the Rogue Star.

It made the autotutor modules worthwhile, even if I wasn’t really planning on doing anything with it.

And mindless scrubbing during the day gave me plenty of time to memorize command structures, how script loops were called here.

It was like my first mentor had always said. As long as you can make yourself think like the computers do, understand how the databases interact, learning a specific programming language is just a detail.

Too bad she’d never know the extremes to which I’d taken her philosophy.

I had made it look as if my point of access was somewhere in the Dominion, masked my virtual ID, and then it was only a matter of hacking my way into government databases.

All with the help of the best translation software I had managed to find. I had gotten all the information I needed to forge new identities for the team Dejar had assembled, but now I was struggling.

“Seriously, I need an assistant or something. I have all the information we need, now it’s only a matter of going through the motions and crafting these IDs. A well-trained monkey could do this part of the job.”

“I don’t remember seeing any monkeys around these parts except for Qal’s pet,” Xyla said kindly, but I found myself frowning all the same.

I was having to juggle a mountain of databases—I had to insert the information from these new identities in every official Dominion database, as I didn’t know which they would use during a particular ID check—and there was so much minutia to input, check, and double check, that I no longer felt like a hacker.

More like a glorified data-entry assistant.

“Really funny, Xyla,” I told her as I pulled my feet from the desk and sat straight once more. “When I volunteered, I didn’t know I’d be stuck in a broom closet, you know? This is a rebellion, right? It should be dangerous and exciting and—”

“And you’re safe in here.”

“We’re trying to overthrow the Dominion. That’s not the definition of safe, at least last time I checked,” I argued. “Besides, it’s not like I’m asking to be sent to the front lines. Trust me, I’d rather be behind a keyboard than facing the Dominion soldiers. I just want to start working on the more interesting parts.” I sank my head into my hands, resting my aching eyeballs.

“I’ve laid the groundwork on these fake identities, and while there’s still some work to be done, I want to move on and start doing what I’m good at. I want to get into the Dominion central.”

“I’m sure that’s part of Dejar’s plan. You’ll just have to be patient and keep at it.”

“Are you sure?” Drumming my fingers against the desk, I eyed the computer screens again and sighed. “I don’t really know what Dejar’s plans are, to be honest. He keeps things close to his chest, and it’s not like I’m part of the inner circle. Unlike a certain someone I know, a smart and persuasive woman who could—”

“No way.” Raising both her hands up, almost as if I was pointing a gun at her, Xyla took one step back. She was already opening her mouth to say that she wouldn’t help me under any circumstance, but I was faster than she was.

“C’mon,” I insisted. “All I’m asking is for you to put in a word in my behalf. Hell, Dejar might not even know I can hack into the Dominion central. All you have to do is remind him of that, and maybe I can finally start helping the rebellion.”

“You are helping the rebellion,” she sighed. “These fake IDs are essential.”

“I know, but—”

“And are you even sure you can hack into the central?”

“Now you’ve offended me.”

“Alright, fine.” She shook her head and, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, finally gave me a nod. “I’ll talk to Dejar and remind him of what you can do for us. God, you’re impossible.”

“You know me.” Jumping out from my seat, I closed the space between us and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Xyla, I really appreciate you doing this. I’m dying of boredom in here.”

“I’m going to try,” she said. “No promises.”

“That was all I was asking.”

THE NEXT FEW hours were a slog.

I spent them hunched over my keyboard, furiously typing away endless lines of code and trying to create real persons out of the information Dejar had given me.

Although some parts of the job were interesting—especially when it involved sneaking in and out of databases to insert the information—others were so boring I was actually surprised I hadn’t fallen asleep at the desk.

Still, I kept at it.

Even though I had complained to Xyla, this sure was better than just being sent around to clean random things.

And it was definitely more agreeable than being the designated tech person on a station like Persephone. I snorted at that thought. I didn’t know who had thought to call that shithole a station—probably Kalyn’s mother—but I had thought of slapping that person countless times, were I ever to meet her.

Located on the fringes of the solar system, Persephone was one of the places Terrans used to send their pariahs. People just like me. I still remembered the day the judge banged his gavel and told me I was being sentenced to five years of service at the Persephone Station for my “antisocial behavior and criminal tendencies”.

In truth, while my social manners were sometimes lacking, I had never been a criminal. Sure, I had hacked into highly secured systems and accessed confidential information, but I hadn’t done it out of malice. I’d done it out of boredom.

Mostly.

“Alright, I’m done here,” I sighed, pushing my chair back. I hadn’t eaten anything since morning, and it was already time for dinner. I secured all the information on the terminal, ensuring no one would be able to retrace my steps, and then turned on the security on my computer.

No one but me could access it.

I narrowed my eyes into slits as I stepped out of the room, the bright lights of the Rogue Star’s corridors a stark contrast to the darkness I kept in my new office, and made my way toward the dining hall at a lazy pace.

Xyla sat by herself at one of the corner tables, and I made my way toward her before picking up any food.

Dinner could wait a few more minutes.

I took over the seat across her and she raised her head to face me.

“Emmery.” She kept on chewing her sandwich as she spoke, and she looked as if she had been lost in thought before I sat down. “Are you done for the day?”

“I think so,” I shrugged. “Maybe I’ll head back to check on some more stuff, but I don’t plan on working late tonight. Why? Does Dejar need me? Have you talked with him?”

“Alright, slow your horses,” she sighed, wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. “I did go and talk to Dejar—”

“And?”

“And he told me he wants you to focus on those fakes IDs. He’ll give you the final details for the identities once the whole team has been assembled.”

“Are you serious?” Raking one hand over my face, I did my best not to raise my voice. “I mean, there’s so much we could do if we hacked into the Dominion central. Just imagine, we could start messing with—”

“Look, I get it,” she cut me short. “I understand that hacking into their central would be a major victory for us, and I think Dejar understands that, as well. Thing is, the priority right now is to have those fake identities sorted out. Once you’re through with that, maybe Dejar will start thinking of more stuff for you to do.”

“What am I supposed to do in the meanwhile?”

“Have you been listening to me? You have to get those IDs done, Emmery. So that’s what you’re going to do while you wait for your dream job.”

Shrugging, she then offered me a smile as way of apology. “You’ll be out of that broom closet soon enough, I’m sure.”

“I don’t mind the closet,” I admitted. “I just want to help out.”

“You’ll have your chance,” she shrugged. “And maybe sooner than you think.”

ZADDEN

It wasn’t that what we were doing was bad, or even boring, it was just getting monotonous.

This was the third, maybe fourth—or was it the fifth, I couldn’t remember—time that we had gone about changing the way the Rogue Star looked.

Remove one panel here. Replace a panel there. Paint these panels over there. Reconnect wiring there. We couldn’t change the overall shape of the Star, but we could make her look a little different.

She was a dwarf-cruiser class Moray Mark IV, a smaller version of the Mark III, a vessel meant for long-range exploration and transport.

The Mark IV, meant to be faster than the III, was originally commissioned by the Dominion military. But just as they were rolling off the production line, some bright manufacturer had produced the Nexus series, with thicker armor and a stronger engine.

The Dominion snapped them up, but that left thousands of Mark IV models mothballed. Moray Corp, desperate to make back the money from the canceled contracts, sold them to businesses, individuals, anyone who could scrape together the cost.

It was a brilliant decision, in retrospect. Mark IVs were loved, plain and simple. The somewhat simplistic design of the ship, a circular main body with two “appendages” that came out of the front, let owners modify the ship for practically anything. With many of the Mark IVs going into the shipping business, it was common to see Mark IVs with cranes, claws, or some form of netting attached to the “appendages” to carry more than the cargo bays could hold.

Any pirates that got hold of a Mark IV turned the appendages into battering rams, or placed extra weapons on them, or whatever else they thought would be useful.

I had even heard of one owner that had added engines to the appendages so they could fly the ship in any direction without having to turn around.

Sounded insane to me, but people often were.

As to how Kovor managed to find one for sale, I never figured that out. Mark IVs were coveted, and if one ever made it to the open market, they were snapped up in seconds. They were much better than the Nexus ships the Dominion had chosen over them. While the Nexus ships were more military, the Mark IVs had better maneuverability and were easier to modify.

Which was why we were changing the Star’s looks all over again.

Thanks to a small shipyard not far away, we were able to make the changes to her more easily than the last few rounds.

Easier, but still tedious.

But it allowed me to think about the job Dejar had asked me to undertake. Cooking was like that, too. The repetitive motions, the comfortable routine.

And under the surface, the rest of my mind was planning, considering.

Sorting through options for the job. Hopefully to come up with a solution that would minimize the risk.

If that was even possible.

I was in the middle of replacing broken and battered panels on the starboard underside. I had to remove one, measure the hole, then find a panel that fit. The hole I was working on now was an odd shape, probably from the last time we did this, and now we didn’t have a matching panel.

With a heavy sigh, I manipulated my small hover platform down to where our replacement panels were organized. Nothing was the right size.

Using the hover platform’s onboard magnet, I picked up a panel that was slightly too large and floated it over to my workstation. The table groaned under the weight of the panel, but held.

I quickly measured out what the dimensions of the panel should be and fired up the laser torch. It wasn’t going to cut through the panel, but it would give me a nice guideline to follow with the plasma torch.

With my eyes protected by tinted goggles, I made my lines. A little shave of paneling here, a corner cut there, and three inches to be cut off on the long side. After twenty minutes of near blinding work, even with the goggles, I turned off the laser torch and blinked my eyes until the blue dot in the middle of my vision finally disappeared.

Hot, thirsty work.

But in the back of my mind, I could feel the pieces of a plan beginning to form.

A few yards away was a large water barrel made from a polymer that I had never heard of before, but it was amazing. It kept the water nice and cold, even in the sweltering heat of the day.

I took out a dipper of water and poured it over my head, holding back a shout as I sluiced my overheated skin with the ice-cold water. I got another dipperful of water and drank it slowly, relishing the coolness as it traveled down my throat.

After another dipperful of water over my head, I walked back to the panel and put my goggles back on. As much as I didn’t want to put on the jacket, considering the heat, I had to.

The plasma torch sent sparks and liquid plasma flying, but it was the easiest way to cut through the panel and get the work done quickly. I cut along the lines I had made, hopping to the side as the three-inch-wide section fell. Cutting off the torch and taking off the jacket, I admired my work as it cooled.

Once it was cool, I used the magnet and the hover platform to bring it back to the ship and went about welding it on.

The Gaed had a magnificent little welder that was cleaner than anything we used, as well as several times faster. It only took me a few minutes to have the new panel in place. I took a small step back to admire my work.

Another one down, and... twelve more to go.

Just in this section.

Scro.

While I privately doubted the change in looks was going to do us much good, I did understand that even a second of confusion could be the difference between life and death.

Plus, these panels were stronger than our own, so that could give us an extra few seconds of protection during a firefight.

It would be worth it, just annoying.

My biggest concern was with what Orrin and Maris were working on. Changing registration tags and our energy signature sounded simple enough, but they had to find a registration tag that wasn’t being used, switch it to fit our ship, and make it look legal enough that it wouldn’t be checked, and that meant that they would have to make sure that the new tag looked like it had belonged to us for a long time.

Then, changing the energy signature meant messing with the engines. While I knew that the two of them loved tinkering with them, messing with all four of the engines to change their output was always long and daunting.

At least they’re doing something that they love doing, besides each other.

I had been hanging around Qal too much.

“Hey, Zadden!”

Ah, I speak of the durvash and he appears.

“Qal. What are you doing here? I thought you pilots were allergic to the outside of the ship.”

“Ha, ha,” he said in mock indignation. “How are you doing on the panels?”

“Slowly,” I answered, not bothering to hide my frustration. Not that I was really frustrated, just tired, hot, and, well, slightly frustrated.

“Ouch,” he said in mock sympathy. “Glad I’m not doing that. I only have painting duty, so I got it easy. Anyway, it’s Shenna’s birthday and we’re throwing her a party tonight. Wanted to let you know, and to remind you to get her a present.”

I let out a groan as I dropped my head and shook it. “Another animal?” I asked.

“No,” Qal said. “We’re all thinking of some better toys and homes for the animals she already has on board. Aavat is giving her one of the old training rooms that no one uses as her very own animal sanctuary. He says it’s so he can have his bedroom back.”

“You believe him?”

“Have you seen how many animals she has?” he shot back with a laugh. “I’m surprised he can even move in their room.”

“What about your little friend, Neela? How does Manda feel about splitting your attention with your little blue friend?”

He shrugged. “Eh, Neela spends most of her day playing with Persephone and running around the town these days. She sleeps under the desk, all wrapped up in a tiny little cave she made out of blankets and things.”

“I noticed you didn’t answer my question,” I said back to him as I cut through the weld of the next panel. This one was simple. I already had a small stack of replacement panels pre-cut to fit.

“Yeah, well, Manda’s been busy working with Xyla. We haven’t exactly talked much the last couple of weeks.”

I stopped, looked at him carefully.

For the first time since I’ve known him, he looked upset. Not a joke waiting. No mischief ready to hand.

“Everything okay?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a shake of his head. “She’s been busy and not terribly interested in talking to me. I don’t know what to do.”

I considered it for a minute as I finished cutting through the panel and using the magnet to lower it onto the platform.

I brought the platform down, set the bad panel onto the pile of broken panels, then grabbed the replacement. As I went back up to attach it to the ship, I thought of something.

“What if she’s just caught up in what we’ve been doing?” I shifted the panel again. There. “Everything we’ve been through, it’s hard, harder if you’re not prepared at all.”

“I thought of that. I’ve asked her, but she says that’s fine, she’s ready to fight. I just,” he hesitated and shuffled his feet. “When she’s not working, she’s in the bathroom. She says that she’s fine, but she won’t tell me anything.”

Oh. I smiled. “She’s pregnant, stupid.”

His eyes went wide and he nearly choked. “Wha—wai—but,” he coughed and fell to his knees. He opened his mouth four or five times before breaking out into laughter and a smile wider than I’ve ever seen. “You think?”

“Figured one of the crew that wasn’t all tangled up needed to know what to look for, so I talked with Lynna months ago. If she’s sick in the bathroom, she’s pregnant. If she’s just in the bathroom, it’s your cooking,” I answered.

“I don’t cook.”

“Well, then,” I let it hang a bit.

“Ah!” His face lit up, and he took off running, yelling something back at me.

After my shift was over, there was a lot of commotion in the dining hall as Manda and Qal broke the news to everyone.

Everyone looked happy.

Except Emmery.

She was pleased for Manda. Her words were sincere as she congratulated the couple, but as she walked away, something was bothering her.

I noticed.

I always noticed her.

She was beautiful. I had watched so closely I felt I knew her thoughts based on her facial expressions.

And this time I knew I could do more. I wanted to do more.

I just needed to know more.

So, I listened in as she sipped her drink, scowling at Xyla across the table. It wasn’t creepy, not if I was trying to help her, right?

“But, why not?” she asked Xyla.

“We just don’t need you at the moment. Jial already has someone on the job and he trusts them,” Xyla answered.

I walked around the edge of the table to sit next to Emmery. “You okay?”

She looked startled, then sank back into her slump.

“No. I want to help, really help, but they don’t want to use my skills. It’s frustrating. The only thing they want me working on are these damn fake identities.”

Her skills. I glanced at her fingers, imagining them dancing over a keyboard. Then moving in other ways.

For a brief moment, a flash of heat ran through me. I smothered it quickly, swallowing.

That wouldn’t help her.

But I had an idea of what might.

EMMERY

“Then take the night off,” Zadden said. “I have something that’ll help you get your mind off things.”

Xyla almost choked on her sandwich, and both her eyebrows shot up.

To his credit, Zadden didn’t notice any of her performance.

Either that or he simply didn’t care.

“What are you talking about?” I wasn’t sure of what he was hinting at and, unlike Xyla, I knew for a certainty that there was no innuendo to his words.

Which was a shame — even though I had never developed a relationship with any of the Shein, I could definitely see the appeal.

Tall and with well-toned muscles, they were a terribly handsome bunch. For a moment, I found myself wondering if there was more to them than just their looks. I mean, everything about them seemed big, so…

Get your mind out of the gutter, I chastised myself.

Sitting straight in my chair, I held Zadden’s gaze as a grin spread across his lips.

“Why don’t you put those skills to the test? I have something I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to hack your way into.”

Arching one eyebrow, I folded my arms over my chest. “You really have a way with words, don’t you?” I asked.

Xyla immediately reached for her water as she tried to stop herself from laughing. She was enjoying this little scene, no doubt about it.

“What do you mean?” Zadden asked, looking completely clueless.

“Never mind,” I shook my head. “Alright, I’ll take you up on that. Let me just grab a quick bite. I haven’t eaten all day.”

Without waiting for a response, I got up to my feet and joined the line. By the time I returned to the table, Gallus had already joined Zadden and Xyla. His right arm was under the table, and I was pretty sure that he was holding Xyla’s hand underneath it.

It was slightly disconcerting to see a person as headstrong as Xyla so enamored with someone, but I felt happy for her.

Besides, getting laid really did wonders for her personality.

“Ready?” Zadden asked me, and I nodded my assent as I wolfed down one of the sandwiches. God, I was hungry. Waving my goodbyes at Xyla and her new boyfriend, I started unwrapping the second sandwich as I followed Zadden out of the dining hall.

“Where are we going?”

We made a sharp left at the end of one of the corridors and, instead of heading toward one of the workshops, we started making our way toward the personnel’s private quarters.

“My room,” he said matter-of-factly.

Walking a few paces behind him, I let a small smile tug at the corner of my lips. Any other man would be preoccupied with his words and the situation at hand, but Zadden seemed so enthusiastic about whatever it was that he had to show me that he didn’t even care.

That was refreshing to see. Unless, of course, this was nothing but a clever ploy to get me in a room alone with him. If it was...well, it was working.

I cleared my throat then, an attempt at scattering those thoughts, and that just earned me a weird stare from Zadden. I waved at him to go on, but I could already feel the sting of warm blood in my cheeks.

I had to take a deep breath to return my face to normal, and that just in time to see Zadden open the door to his room.

“Sorry about the mess,” he told me as he stepped to the side and invited me in. I was ready to see dirty clothes, an unmade bed, and a mess of empty coffee cups littering a small desk. What I found was the exact opposite.

His quarters were small, probably even smaller than mine were, but they were absolutely spotless.

Aside from a pair of heavy combat boots that lay at the foot of his bed, I had never seen such a well-organized room. For a man that towered over me and that could pop my head off with just his thumbs, he behaved just like a well-mannered housewife.

A very intimidating housewife. And it was endearing.

“So, what do you think is going to be a challenge?” If he thought he could show me something I couldn’t hack my way into, he was in for a surprise.

The government on Mars also thought no one could access their most secure servers, and look how that worked out for them...sure, I ended up serving a five-year sentence on Persephone, but at least I had a smug smile on my face on the way there.

“This.” Pulling the chair behind his desk back, he sat and booted up his comm unit.

The load screen didn’t seem to be a part of the Rogue Star’s internal system, but, even though I found that odd, I didn’t say a word.

He tapped a few keys and the two screens went dark, a blinking green cursor the only thing I could see.

“What am I looking at?”

“This is my private security system,” he explained, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms over his chest.

A confident grin spread across his lips. He clearly thought that whatever clever system he had designed would be enough to stop me. “I dare you to try and access my computer.”

“Are you serious?” I laughed. “I’ve hacked into governmental servers, and some of them were the most secure in the solar system. What makes you think your own personal system will be a problem?”

“Just try it.” Leaving his chair, he gestured toward it and invited me to sit down. Sighing, I took my seat and reached for the keyboard.

I had been expecting a challenge, something fun, so this was disappointing. I doubted I would need more than three minutes to access his computer.

Feeling smug, I wrote a simple command line that would allow me to bypass any login window, and then the whole system went berserk.

Lines of code started cascading down the screen at such a furious speed that my eyes couldn’t even keep up with them.

I tried to input another command, but that just made matters worse. Numbers and letters danced on the screen at blinding speed, most of them making absolutely zero sense. I didn’t know if I was looking at code or some kind of cryptographed bullshit.

“Is this a trick?” I frowned, swiveling in the chair to stare at Zadden. He was sitting on his bed, his datapad nestled in his hands.

The asshole was reading a book. “What the hell’s going on with your computer?”

“I thought you were the hacker.”

“Fine,” I pushed past my gritted teeth. Why had I ever thought he was cute?

I wanted nothing more than to pepper him with questions, but there was no way I’d give him that satisfaction.

I would break his stupid security system in half and wipe out his smug smile.

Easier said than done, of course.

I spent the first hour trying to make sense of the thousands of lines that littered the screens and, when I thought I was starting to make sense of it, the code seemed to adapt a different syntax altogether.

It was like trying to read the first chapter of a book in a given language, only to discover that the language changed every three pages or so.

I tried running the code through every bit of translation software we had on board, just to check if my language was the barrier, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

This was all about the programming language.

That made things a thousand times harder, but I smiled all the same. I couldn’t remember the last time I had faced such a challenge.

Of course, my excitement started fading three hours later. Zadden sat silently on his bed, casually swiping his thumb across the screen as he read.

I tried to ignore him as much as I could.

“What the hell are you even reading?” I finally snapped.

“It’s a book about a hacker,” he smiled. “You’d like it.”

It took all I had not to flip him off.

Returning my attention to the computer, I took a deep breath and nodded to myself. I was trying to approach the whole thing in a logical way, but what I needed to do was rely on my instincts.

Even though the code didn’t seem to make much sense, there had to be a pattern to the way it changed. Time seemed to stretch as my focus increased, and I finally gave up checking the clock.

I would only stop after cracking this, sleep be damned.

“Alright,” Zadden said after a while, throwing his datapad to the side and sitting on the edge of the bed. “I think it’s time you quit, Emmery. See, I kinda cheated here. That system is uncrackable, and it’s impossible for anyone to—”

“I got it!” I cut him short, barely hiding my excitement as my fingers hammered down on the keyboard. My wrists were killing me, but I didn’t let that slow me down.

I could finally see a pattern in the code.

I could finally see a way out of the walls imposed on me by it, and I could worm my way out. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening. What were you saying? That this system was uncrackable, right?”

With a smile as wide as the world on my face, I looked straight into Zadden’s eyes and pressed a key on his keyboard.

Just like that, the dark screens were replaced by his desktop, the system greeting me with a warm welcome.

ZADDEN

“I mean it, that was impressive,” I told Emmery as she smiled back at me.

Even better, it had been a chance to study her, soak in every feature, while she was so absorbed in her task.

Her thin and slightly pointy nose accentuated her small, almost almond-shaped eyes beautifully.

Her wavy hair that stretched down to just below her shoulder blades was brown with streaks of red. Her alabaster skin fairly glowed in the lights.

She was attractive, of that there was no doubt, but at the moment, I wasn’t only interested in her for her looks.

I was interested in her abilities with a computer. My own security system had been created with programming more sophisticated than that of the Star’s own.

My system was mine, as were the reasons for me having the protections that I did.

And she had cracked it fairly easily.

Okay, maybe ‘easily’ was the wrong word, but she persisted and broke into the system, and even though she struggled a bit with it, she got through faster than I thought she would have.

She glowed, feeling proud of herself, and she should. I looked at the light in her eyes with pleasure at her accomplishment, and I found myself wanting to find some small reason to touch her… yet no hair needed to be brushed from her face.

There was no reason for me to trace her jawline. Instead, I looked at her and simply smiled.

“Yeah?” she asked, still beaming with pride. Her bright eyes shone. They caught mine and I felt myself stuck in the moment with her.

No one had ever had this effect on me before.

I nodded. “Don’t doubt yourself,” I said. “That was good. That was a system developed by one of my former clients whose privacy is a matter of galactic importance.” As soon as the words escaped my mouth, I was angry at myself. I wanted her to be proud, to know what she’d done was amazing, but I hadn’t meant to say that. I didn’t want her to know that. Now, there might be a chance that she would try to dive into my past, and that was certainly something I didn’t want.

She had me tied up in knots.

“Really? And I broke into it?” She was in total shock. “Wow. I mean, I knew I could hack into different systems, I’ve done it before, but this one had me worried that I wasn’t good enough.” She took a few deep breaths before continuing on. “This one had me thinking I wasn’t good enough anymore.”

I shrugged slightly. “I guess we know better now, don’t we?”

She nodded. “But, what does it matter? I’m still working on fake IDs instead of doing this.” Her shoulders dropped and her enthusiasm and pride vanished.

“I can talk to command,” I said. “If I show them what you were able to do, they might change their minds.”

“You would do that for me?”

I nodded.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I really appreciate that. It means a lot to me.” She hit me with her golden eyes and I noticed what looked to be a small green burst of color around each iris.

I could stare at them forever, if I was interested in doing so.

It wasn’t something I would normally think I wanted for myself, but each golden shimmer of her eyes threatened to change me forever.

I hoped it didn’t show on my face. That would be inappropriate.

I wanted to help her, see her happy.

That was all.

I inhaled slowly, mentally clearing out my mind of such strange affectations.

“You’re quite welcome.” I let myself peer into her eyes once more and then inhaled again. “Come on, let’s talk with Dejar,” I said as I helped her to her feet. As we went through the halls of one of the lower decks, we crossed paths with Kovor.

“Ho, Kovor,” I said in greeting.

“Zadden. Emmery. How are the two of you this evening?” he asked us in return.

“Doing fine, sir,” I answered. “We were actually on our way to speak with Dejar.”

“Oh?” he asked as he pressed the button for the lift. “Anything I can help with?”

“Maybe,” Emmery answered before I could. “Zadden just had me hack into his security system and now he’s going to try to talk Dejar into letting me help with the hack into Dominion systems.”

I simply nodded in agreement when Kovor looked at me. The doors to the lift opened and we all stepped aboard. As Kovor called for the bridge and the doors closed, he looked at us. “Is that so?” he asked when the doors were shut. He looked at me. “I know your system, Zadden. She really broke into it?”

I nodded. “That she did, sir.”

“Impressive.” He looked at Emmery for the rest of the ride to the bridge. As the lift slowed, he pressed the button that held the door closed. “Do you think you can get into the Dominion’s system?”

Her head bobbed up and down quickly in answer.

“Okay. Let’s go talk.” With that, he released the button and the doors opened. He stepped off the lift and led us to Dejar’s office.

We entered Dejar’s office to find him leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. At the sound of his door opening, he opened his eyes and looked at us. “If you’re here with a complaint or a problem, please, not right now. I’ve got enough on my plate with everything else,” he said gruffly.

“You do know I can help with that, right?” Kovor said as he poured a glass of water. He set the water down on Dejar’s desk, then pushed him back a bit so he could get into Dejar’s desk.

“What are you doing?” Dejar asked.

“Looking for some of that stuff the women call ‘aspirin’. Simple, but it does wonders for headaches without getting into the full effects of a blocker,” Kovor answered.

“I know. I took some twenty minutes ago. They haven’t started working yet.”

Kovor looked up. “Oh,” he said as he closed Dejar’s upper desk drawer. “My apologies.”

“Uh huh,” Dejar mumbled as he rolled his chair back to where he was before. “Now, what can I do for you? Unless it’s a complaint, then get out.”

Kovor looked at me and motioned for me to answer. “Sir, Emmery wants to help with the hack into Dominion systems,” I said.

“I know, but we already have someone,” Dejar answered as he hit me with a why are you doing this to me look.

“I understand that, but what you don’t realize is that I believe Emmery’s better than who you have working on it. She’ll get you in faster and safer.” I made sure to add a little pride to my voice. I also fitted him with a don’t be stupid and ignore this look.

“Oh, really? And how do you know this?” he asked.

Kovor coughed as he took a seat in one of the other chairs in the room. I indicated that Emmery should take the other one as I remained standing.

Kovor answered for me. “Because she hacked into Zadden’s security system.”

Dejar’s eyes went wide as he looked back and forth between the three of us before settling on Emmery. “Is this true?”

She nodded.

He looked at me and I nodded, as well. Yes, she did this. Yes, be proud. I was.

“No scro?”

I hid my mirth. “She did,” I said with pride. “She got through in a matter of hours.”

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me, and when finding no hint of lies, he looked at Emmery in wonder. “You? You cracked his system?” he asked as he pointed at me. “His system in a few hours?”

It was no secret that I had my own security system in place for my information and details, but the fact that they knew how hard it was to crack had me a bit surprised.

“How do you know about my system, sir?” I asked.

He waved me off. “In a minute.” He turned his attention back to Emmery, leaning forward on his desk as he did. “Be truthful. How hard was it and are you sure he didn’t let you in?”

“He didn’t let me in, I promise. As to how hard it was, it was a bitch to break into,” she answered him. “I’ve hacked into some difficult things before, but his system had me thinking I was worthless. It was hard to break into.”

“And you did it? In only a few hours? How?”

She sheepishly shrugged as she opened her mouth to answer. She shut it, then opened it again to take a deep breath. “It’s hard to explain, but the basic gist of it is that once I started to recognize the pattern of the programming, I was able to work my way through it.”

“The ‘pattern of the programming’,” Dejar repeated quietly.

“Mm-hmm. Every program, every DNA sequence, every everything has a pattern to it,” Emmery said. “Once you see what the pattern is, it’s pretty straightforward. I’m not saying that it’s easy, but what used to seem impossible suddenly becomes possible.”

“His system?” Dejar asked, pointing at me again.

She nodded, as did I.

“Umbba,” Dejar said as he leaned back in his chair, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Okay, you’re in.”

“What?”

“You’re in,” he repeated. “I want you on the team that hacks into the Dominion system.”

“Oh, thank you, sir!” she exclaimed as she jumped from her chair. “Thank you.”

“Whoa, hold on a minute, please,” he said as we all recovered from her jumping up. “You still need to finish the false ID’s. Without those, we might as well announce our attentions and plaster our faces everywhere.”

“Oh, of course,” she said quickly. “I’ll go finish those off right now. Thank you.” She turned and gave me a quick hug, then rushed out of the office.

“That was different,” Kovor said.

“That it was,” Dejar agreed. “Now I want the truth, Zadden. Did you make it easy for her?”

I raised an eyebrow, and waited.

“Okay, then,” Dejar chuckled. “Ask a stupid question. I should have known you wouldn’t risk the mission, not even to make a pretty woman happy. Have you picked out a team for your job yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. I’m going over the information that Jial gave us about his people, reviewing options, see who fits. I think I’ll take a couple of the Gaed with me to help sell the idea that we’re just a group of delivery personnel.”

He nodded. “Okay, then. Get to it.”

“Sir.”

With that, I left his office and made my way back to my quarters.

EMMERY

The next morning, my first thoughts darted straight toward Zadden.

I barely knew him, and had never thought of him as anything other than the silent worker he portrayed himself as, but there was no denying it: the moment he had sat at my table, we hit it off immediately.

It also helped that he hadn’t been kidding when he said he could challenge me. His personal security system had been the most difficult I had ever hacked, and I felt a renewed sense of energy after somehow pulling it off.

The cherry on top of the cake was, of course, how he had managed to convince Dejar to let me join the team that would be getting into Dominion central. I still had to finish up my work on the fake IDs that were needed, but, now that I knew I’d be moving onto something far more interesting after that, I was more than ready to refocus.

I left my quarters with a spring to my step. I found myself heading toward Zadden’s quarters instead of following my regular route to my tiny office. I stopped in front of his door, hesitated for a small moment, and then held my breath and rapped my knuckles against it. It took me a few seconds before I heard anything from the inside, and I was about to turn around and leave when the door finally slid back into its partition, revealing a bare-chested Zadden.

“Emmery?” He sounded surprised. “Are you alright?” He stepped out to pull me against his broad chest, tucking me slightly behind him as he did a quick sweep of the corridor. “Is anything wrong?”

“Just thought I’d come and see if you were working today,” I said, doing my best to keep my eyes on his face. It was hard to do, the perfect contour of his pectorals and his chiseled abs calling to me, but I did my best.

“It’s actually my day off,” he said apologetically, retreating to his doorway, almost as if he was embarrassed by the fact he had a free day. “I’ve been working double shifts for a week now, juggling my kitchen duties and helping with the retrofitting of the Rogue Star, so Dejar pretty much ordered me to take a break.”

“Oh, I see.” I felt stupid, standing in his doorway and not knowing what to say. I had had a plan when coming here, but now that I knew he had been working relentlessly, I was hesitant to rob him of his downtime.

“Did you need anything?”

“I swung by to see if you wanted to help me, or even just hang out while I worked,” I admitted, the tip of my nose already starting to itch. I resisted the urge to scratch it, a nervous tick of mine, and merely ran the tip of my tongue over my parched lips. “But you’ve been working nonstop, so I’m sorry that I—”

“Let me just put something on.” Cutting me short, he spun on his heels and grabbed a shirt from the small partition behind the bed that served as a wardrobe. My eyes widened as I watched him do it, the muscles on his back moving in perfect harmony as he put on a tight-fitting black shirt, and I had to bite on the corner of my bottom lip just so I didn’t lose my focus. “What do you need my help with?”

“Are you sure it’s fine?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “I prefer to be busy. I’m only taking a break because Dejar ordered me to.”

“Well, if Dejar ordered you to—”

“Never mind that.” He cut me short with a quick wave of his hand, and then offered me a smile and stepped outside his room. The door slid shut behind him and he gave me a short nod. “So, what do you need my help with?”

“I’m close to being done with the fake IDs,” I admitted, “but the work would go so much faster if I had someone to assist me.”

“I’m not sure I’m the best person to help you with that.” Scratching the back of his head, he rocked back and forth on his heels slightly and, for a moment, it almost seemed like he regretted what he had just said. “I mean, I’m more than happy to help, but my programming knowledge isn’t as good as yours.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Now was my turn to smile. “You don’t have to do any programming or hacking. Leave that to me. All I need is for you to input the information I need into all the databases. It’s tedious work, really, but I’d be super thankful if you could lend me a hand. Besides, since you’re going to be heading one of the teams, I think it’ll be good for you to familiarize yourself with the details.”

“Then lead the way.”

We headed straight into the bowels of the Rogue Star, Zadden trailing after me, and I found myself apologizing in advance for my tiny little office.

“Don’t worry about it,” he quickly brushed me off. “This ship doesn’t have a lot of spare room to go around, so it makes sense Dejar would retrofit one of the old storage rooms for you to use.”

“Right,” I nodded, using my magnetic key card to unlock the door. It slid open with a whoosh to reveal my cramped workspace, and I frowned as I realized I hadn’t taken into account Zadden’s size.

The room was small, but manageable enough for a woman like me, but I had no idea how Zadden and I would be able to work side-by-side in there.

“That’s a nice setup,” was all he said, as he nodded approvingly at the server I had running on the side, a large block of metal with innards of tangled wire and blinking lights, and the six computer screens that had been hastily bolted on the wall.

“Thank you,” I smiled, grabbing a spare keyboard from one of the drawers and hooking it up to the system. I pushed it to the far side of my desk—its surface went from one wall to the other—and pushed my own stuff to the other side.

We’d be working so closely that we’d have to keep our elbows tucked, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. “Sorry, this might become a bit uncomfortable.”

“You worry too much.” Taking his own seat, he cracked his knuckles and laid his fingers on the keyboard. “So, what do you want me to do?”

Sitting down, I tapped my keyboard a couple of times and made my own notes jump onto one of the screens. “See that? That’s a list of all the databases I need to insert the fake information about the IDs into. I’m going to be bypassing Dominion security and gaining access to the databases, and all you have to do is fill the electronic forms in those databases. Stuff like names, dates-of-birth, ID numbers, and so on. It’s really boring.”

“I’ve been painting and changing panels on the Rogue Star’s hull for the past few days,” he smiled kindly. “That is boring. This is just a good change of pace.”

“Let’s see if you still feel like that after a couple of hours at it.”

We started right away. The sound of our fingers pecking at the keyboards filled the whole room for hours, and we barely said a thing as we littered the various Dominion databases with all the needed information.

Zadden worked fast and, true to what he had said before, he didn’t complain once. He was tireless and efficient, and I was thankful for his presence.

Not only did it help ease the loneliness of the job, it also made things go much faster. And more, there was a feeling of satisfaction in our dual work that I had never experienced before, and it delighted me to share it with Zadden.

His company was something I could easily get used to. In all sorts of ways.

“You’re pretty good at this, Zadden.”

“At what?” he laughed. “Data-entry? I did nothing. You’re the brains behind this operation.”

His eyes steadily regarded mine now and I felt a warmth that pooled in my belly as I watched and listened to him speak.

The masculine timbre of his voice was comforting and… stimulating. And his gaze fixed on mine…

I shook myself, tried to refocus.

“Don’t sell yourself short. This would’ve taken much longer if you hadn’t been here to help me. Thank you for that.” I swiveled my chair around so that I could face him better and not just share glances from the corner of my eye, and my arm brushed against his as I did it.

I felt the warmth of his skin seep into my body, and it didn’t take long before it felt there was a hidden furnace underneath my cheeks. Thankfully, the room was only dimly lit, and I doubted Zadden would be able to notice my red cheeks.

“No need to thank me,” he said, his eyes on mine. I felt my heart speed up, and the room suddenly grew much warmer than it had been all day. This time, though, it had nothing to do with how close we were to the engine room. “Actually, I’m happy you asked me for my help.”

“You are?” I was shocked to hear him say that.

“Sure,” he shrugged. “I get restless whenever I’m not doing anything.” His words were simple, but somehow, they felt like a continued blanket of warmth around me, and they created this tingling in my stomach.

“Is that why you’re always in the kitchen?” I couldn’t resist asking. Even before getting to know him like this, I had always noticed him as the one guy that never seemed to take a day off.

It was something I could respect and admire, but it also made me wonder if he didn’t get tired or if those long, unending hours were perhaps lonely.

What went on in Zadden’s mind while he was keeping his body busy?

The way I thought it made me bite my lower lip again.

“Pretty much,” he said in return nonchalantly, but I found myself trying to read into his words. “Besides, I like cooking.”

“And were you always a cook?” I had to prod, if only so I could hear him talk more about himself. I was highly intrigued by Zadden.

“No,” he laughed. Leaning back in his seat, he looked up at the ceiling as if he was remembering a past life of his. “I used to work private security. Powerful clients, high-tension jobs. You know the drill,” he sighed.

I knew what he meant, of course. But this conversation was equal parts sharing information and, at least on my side, it was about getting Zadden to talk more about himself, and give me some insight into him.

“And how did you end up here, aboard the Rogue Star?” I had to ask. I figured I didn’t need to beat around the bush.

“I guess I just got tired of being a gun for hire,” he admitted.

I appreciated that he was as forthright as me, but my concerns about his loneliness only increased. Not my business, I reminded myself. But why did it feel like it was?

I looked at him as he continued, searching his face for emotion, though it mostly stayed in his voice. “I wanted a place where I could just live and help the crew out with my skills, not have to look over my shoulder constantly.”

The distant sensation his earlier words had created only thickened. There were worlds in his past and more than a small fraction of my mind wanted to know more about them, if only to understand Zadden better.

He had me so wound up, in ways I didn’t know a man could make me.

“I guess this Dominion thing kinda threw a wrench into our plans.” I commiserated with him because it was like the verbal version of closing my hand over his, something I found my fingers tingling to do.

I ignored the urge, swallowed, and listened to him.

“Somewhat, yes.” He hesitated for a moment, almost as if he was turning his own thoughts around inside his head, weighing them and seeing how much they were worth. “I’m not too happy about being sucked into this rebellion, but I like the fact the Rogue Star’s crew has grown. I like it that we’ve become a family.”

“So do I,” I said in what I realized was just a whisper, and only then did I realize I had been holding my breath as Zadden spoke.

To learn about his past, even these crumbs, had been something I wasn’t counting on, but I was happy the conversation had led there. I was happy I was getting to know him, and that we were spending time together.

Focus, Emmery, I scolded myself.

Clearing my throat, I looked away from Zadden and directed my focus to the multiple screens in front of us. “Alright, we’re almost done. Now all we need to do is assign pictures to all these identities we’ve created, ensure they match up with real records, and we’re good to go.”

“Great,” he nodded. “Which one of these IDs am I going to get?”

“That one,” I replied, pointing toward one of the names on the corner of my screen.

I had to stifle a laugh as I saw both his eyebrows shoot up.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

ZADDEN

“You really decided to name me Mazkel Goodbar? At random?”

Emmery looked at me as though my question made no sense. “Is there something wrong with that? It was on the list of names Kovor generated as plausible.”

I shook my head, and put it behind me. “Do I have a history behind this name?”

Emmery tilted her head to the side a bit. “You’re a distributor from Reef, a planet on the outskirts of the Philaxian far side, and you’re running shipment orders,” she told me as I read over my credentials.

They all looked good, and she had gone into some serious detail. “I just need to know who your team is going to be and I’ll get their identities finalized.”

I nodded in understanding. “Okay. I’ll put the team together, then we’ll come back to see you.”

“I noticed you didn’t answer my question,” she said as I started to leave her little workstation.

“What question?” I asked as I turned back around.

“I asked if there was something wrong with your identity,” she answered.

I looked at my new ID, then back at her. “No. Everything’s fine.”

“Then why did you complain about the name?”

I chuckled lightly. “You caught that, huh?”

“Eh, it was about as obvious as Qal’s smile.”

With a nod and a short laugh, I looked at her. “The name’s fine. Just reminded me of a childhood friend. His name was Mazkel, as well. It was a surprise that you picked that for me, out of all the others.”

“Wow. I didn’t know,” she said as her eyes went wide.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I better get my team together. Be back soon.” I left and went to where most of the crew and Gaed could be found when they weren’t working on the ship.

A Tutahn named Splash that had been living amongst the Gaed for the past forty years had a small food shop nearby, and ever since we agreed to be part of the rebellion, his business had been non-stop busy.

His food was spectacular, and he was more than willing to listen to suggestions.

A couple of the women had taught him how to make something called Thai food and something else called Texas Barbeque. The flavors were intense, especially when you ate them together.

I walked into the small shop and was greeted by Wip, one of the pilots of the Star. He usually flew the overnight shift, working when Kovor was captain.

“Ho, Zadden. How goes everything?” he asked as he slurped up some noodles.

“Pretty good, Wip,” I answered him. “As a matter of fact, you’re exactly who I was looking for.”

His eyes went wide. “Why me?”

“Because, other than Qal, you’re the most insane, fearless pilot we have,” I answered. “Exactly what I need.”

He gulped down his food. “And what exactly do you need a pilot for?”

“We’re going after a power core that the Dominion has been using lately,” I told him. “We need either a core or the schematics, preferably both. There’s a pretty good chance we’ll need to get out in a hurry, and that’s where I need you. If we end up running, I want a pilot that’s worth something.”

Over the years, I’d found that a bit of flattery and conversation made for a much better team than just straightforward orders.

Everyone liked to feel like they were special. Like they brought something important to a job.

And even if it had been I while, I hoped the tactic still worked.

It did.

He snorted. “Okay,” he said before taking a drink of water. “I’m in. If we can mess up the Dominion in any way, I’m good with that. Just the two of us?”

I shook my head. “No, at least two more, just in case the cores are too big for one of us to carry,” I explained. “As a matter of fact, they’re two of your newest friends, Lyari and Elisen. Have you seen them?”

He nodded over another bite. He then pointed to a corner of the shop. I looked over to see two Gaed men. Lyari was about my size and even more defined muscularly, with dark hair and a full beard, while Elisen was svelte with his flat-top hair dyed blue against his dark green skin.

“You think they’ll be willing to go?” I asked Wip while checking out the two Gaed.

He barely held back his laughter. “They’re ex-militia, with scores to settle. I think they’ll be okay with the idea of going into a fight.”

With a roll of my eyes and a nod, I made my way over to the two men. “Hello. My name is…”

“We know who you are, Zadden,” Elisen said in his surprisingly deep voice. “Wip told us that you had been put in charge of raiding those Dominion cowards for a power core.”

I looked back at Wip, a little curious as to how he knew. He raised his water glass to me and smiled. With a shake of my head, I turned my attention back to the two men. “So, are you interested in going?”

“That depends,” Lyari said.

“On what?”

“When are we leaving? I have a date tonight with one of your human women and I would hate to miss it,” he said.

I wasn’t sure if he was lying, or trying to be funny, but the issue was moot. “We’re leaving tomorrow, after our ship has been outfitted and loaded. We’re shippers delivering orders, so Jial and Aavat are making sure that the ship is properly registered.”

With a shrug that told me he could have cared less for my explanation, Lyari turned his attention to his drink, a green liquid releasing some steam from a bright yellow mug. “Then I’m good. I’ll be at your ship at first light. What about you Elisen?” he asked as he sipped from his mug.

“I will be there, as well,” Elisen said.

“Good. I’ll see the two of you then.” I turned from them and went back to Wip. “They’re in, but I’m guessing you already knew that, didn’t you?”

He shrugged as he leaned back in his chair. “We’ve done a lot of talking the past few days and we were hoping you’d pick us to go.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Look, while I don’t have as vested an interest in the women as many of the others, I care about them. They’re my friends, and nobody messes with my friends. Those two,” he nodded towards Lyari and Elisen, “those two have personal reasons to go against the Dominion.”

“Okay. Meet me outside the ship at first light tomorrow,” I said, then turned to leave. “Oh,” I said as I stopped at the door and looked back at him. “How did you know that I was the one going after the power core?”

“I was sitting behind Dejar and Kalyn when they were talking about it the other day.”

I shook my head and made a note to talk to Valtic. He could have the job of talking to everyone about security. We were too used to the Rogue Star being safe.

Our crewmates were all secure, trusted.

But we had more people involved now, and much more on the line.

Last item of business was to talk to the captains about letting me take Emmery. There was a possibility that we would need to hack into Dominion computers to get the schematics, and after seeing what she was capable of, I wanted her there with me.

“Absolutely not,” Aavat declared. “I get why you want her to go with you,” he said with a hand up to stop my immediate protest. “She’s very good at what she does, but that’s the point. She’s good, and we need her here hacking the Dominion systems.”

I opened my mouth to say something, then clamped it shut.

He was right. She would be better suited here, out of danger, working on getting us into the system. As much as I wanted her there, she was needed here more.

And here, she’d be safe.

I could always talk to Valtic about getting one of his hacker disks. We had programs, codebreakers that could run automatically. Not as flexible, but it would do.

The hacker disk was a small, circular device that could be plugged into an entry pad, a computer, or whatever we needed to plug it into, and it would worm its way through the programming to give us access.

The other downside to the disk was that it was older, and potentially out of date.

“Understood, sir,” I said to Aavat. “What is the progress on the ship we’ll be using?”

“Well, it’s a Philaxian cargo vessel with some,” he hesitated a bit as he rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “It has some slight modifications to it. Apparently, the ship was donated to us by someone that had used it for racing purposes.”

“That means it should have a faster engine in it, correct?”

He nodded. “We’ve rebuilt the interior and we’re currently in the process of having it loaded with random things. Jial has someone creating a manifest and an order history to sell the lot. But, as for what the ship can do, I’ll just say that Qal is jealous that you decided on Wip instead of him.”

I didn’t bother to hide my smile. “I figured he’d be better suited to stay here in case the Star needs to get away for whatever reason.”

“You can tell him. And make sure Wip brings all of you back alive.”

EMMERY

“Talk about an upgrade,” Xyla said, sipping on her tea as she nodded approvingly at my new office.

Dejar had me moved out of that tiny little office near the engine room and moved me into a slightly larger space—and I had filled every corner with servers, computer screens, and, already, an obscene amount of coffee cups.

“I’m livin’ the life.” Folding my hands over my head, I turned in my chair and faced Xyla. She stood by the doorway, her steaming cup in her hands, and there was a proud look on her face.

“I told you. It was only a matter of time.” Taking another sip, she then winked at me. “Of course, your new friend also helped move things along, didn’t he? He seems to like you.”

“Who are you talking about? Zadden?” I frowned, but I figured that wouldn’t be enough to hide the way my cheeks had started turning red.

Doing my best impression of someone completely unaffected by Xyla’s comment, I turned my attention toward the computer in front of me and started typing random lines of code. “He’s cool, but he’s just a friend.”

“Of course,” she chuckled softly. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. I’m going to meet Gallus. He’s also my friend, you know?”

I could already feel a biting remark clawing its way up my throat, but Xyla didn’t give me enough time to voice it. Instead, she took a step back and closed the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts inside the office. Sighing heavily, I let my mind wander back to Zadden again.

I didn’t like the fact Xyla thought there was something between Zadden and me, but it couldn’t be helped. We were two loners who, all of a sudden, had started spending a lot of time together. If I were on the outside looking in, I’d have my suspicions about the situation, as well.

But there wasn’t anything between us.

Not really.

Even if the glance I’d had of that broad, copper chest haunted my dreams. The sound of his voice still echoed in my mind, even though I hadn’t seen him all day.

None of that mattered, anyway.

Zadden would soon be leaving on his mission, and I’d have to keep my focus on hacking the Dominion.

As much as I enjoyed spending time with him, I couldn’t let that distract me from work.

Besides, I didn’t have any guarantees he’d survive his mission.

As grim as that thought was, there was no denying just how dangerous his job would be — how many people had tried to infiltrate the Dominion and died in the process?

I didn’t want that to happen to him.

Already, just the thought made my throat close, a band tighten around my chest.

And he was just a friend. That was all.

What would happen to me if I let him in further?

Nothing good.

No good for me, no good for him.

Running one hand through my hair, I tried to push all those thoughts to the back of my mind.

They wouldn’t help me get into Dominion central faster, and I needed to be fully focused on the task at hand. Sucking in a deep breath, I reached for one of the cups to my right and drank a large gulp of cold coffee.

With caffeine once more running through my veins, I went back to work. I looked at the reference schematics on the screen to my left and spent the next four hours writing hundreds of lines of code.

I did it slowly, careful not to screw up, and only then started readying myself up for the hack itself.

I had studied the Dominion network and its security protocols and, with the special piece of software I had coded, I was more than ready to throw the dice and see if lady luck would be favorable with me.

“Alright, you Dominion bastards,” I muttered under my breath, my fingers flying over the keyboard as I tried to connect my own secure servers with those of the Dominion. My software overrode their initial security protocols easily enough, and I let out a sigh of relief as I saw a green icon pop up on one of my screens, indicating that a connection had been established.

I tried to keep my nerves under control, but it became increasingly harder to do. I started becoming more and more excited with each level of protocol I evaded, and it took me only an hour before I had made my way through the various layers of the Dominion network.

Finally, a prompt appeared on my screen asking me if I’d like to access the central system.

Holding my breath, I pressed a key.

That was when things started going sideways.

Every single one of my screens went dark.

A prompt flashed.

Warning.

Shit.

Breathing hard, I backed out slowly, covering my tracks, looking at all the ways this could have gone pear-shaped.

There was one thing it could be.

And I really, really didn’t like it.

I had rerouted my traffic through a series of fake servers, hoping that would be enough to fool the network into believing I was working out of a Dominion computer, but it seemed like my efforts had been for nothing.

I needed to access a physical terminal to implant sleeper software that would allow me to remotely access the central.

If I wanted to hack the central, I would have to do it on a Dominion computer.

And, of course, that was only possible in Dominion territory.

Shit.

Jumping out of my chair, I moved as fast as I could and started unplugging my servers out of the Rogue Star. I was almost sure it’d be impossible for anyone to track my location, but it always paid to be careful.

And I didn’t want to take the chance that an alert had appeared on a Dominion computer by now, saying that someone had tried to gain unauthorized access to the mainframe.

“Crap,” I said through gritted teeth, sinking into my chair and raking one hand over my face.

I had wanted this job more than anything else, and now I couldn’t pull it off. I could only penetrate the Dominion network to a certain extent if I were working out of the Rogue Star, but for me to venture into Dominion territory would be pure madness.

Unless…

Still not believing what I was about to do, I marched out of my office and locked the door.

Letting a mask of determined resolution cover my nerves, I ventured down the corridors with one destination in mind: Dejar’s office.

Knocking on his door, I nervously shifted my weight from one foot to the other. When the door slid open, my heart was beating so rapidly that I was starting to sweat. I only relaxed that when a feeling of surprise replaced that of nervousness.

Zadden was sitting in front of Dejar, and the two of them seemed to be looking at flight charts and planetary schematics.

It took me a while before I finally pieced it together and realized the two of them were probably going over the details of Zadden’s mission.

“How’s it going, Emmery? Any good news for us?” Dejar asked, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands over his lap.

Intimidating and a bit regal, Dejar still managed to act friendly toward anyone aboard the Rogue Star, a fact that made his leadership uncontestable.

And he had faith in me.

Shit.

Deep breath.

“We have a problem,” I said, deciding to be straightforward about things. “The software I designed works just fine, but there’s no way to remotely access the central without first having physical access.”

“We need physical access to the central?” His eyes went wide and he sat straight on his chair. “You do realize that’s practically impossible, don’t you?”

“The captain’s right,” Zadden added, a conflicted expression on his face. “If we can’t do this without sneaking into the central, then—”

“No, no,” I cut them short. “We don’t need to go that far. All we need is to access the central from an authorized terminal in the Dominion. There must be thousands of them in their territory.”

“Alright, Emmery.” Drumming his fingers against the desk, Dejar looked straight at me. “Explain this to us. What does this mean?”

“It means I have to be part of Zadden’s mission,” I finally admitted, a single bead of sweat rolling down my spine as I said it.

Dejar made me nervous. The mission made me nervous.

For a brief moment, I kinda missed scrubbing those pipes, safely out of things.

“We can’t hack the central without getting into Dominion territory, and since that’s where Zadden’s going…”

“Do you have anything to do with this, Zadden?” Dejar asked, arching one eyebrow.

But why would Zadden have anything to do with it? Unless, of course, he had requested me as part of his team. The thought distracted me from my nerves in the moment because I liked the idea of him requesting me.

He’d wanted me to go with them.

Wanted me.

This whole situation was such a whirlwind, but I found the idea of Zadden’s continued company… reassuring.

Pleasant.

More than pleasant.

Something I wanted to continue appreciating. I swallowed and returned myself to reality.

“No, sir.” Sitting straight in his chair, his posture mirroring that of Dejar, Zadden cleared his throat. My eyes watched him for a brief moment before returning to Dejar. I was glad neither Dejar nor Zadden could read my mind. “I can assure you, I had no idea that—”

“Alright, alright.” Waving one hand in a casual manner, Dejar shut Zadden down. “Are you sure there’s no other way to do this, Emmery?”

“No, sir. If I try to brute-force my way into the central, I risk setting off nearly a dozen firewalls and security protocols they have in place to retaliate against a breach. And I assure you, we don’t want that.”

“Fine,” Dejar sighed. “I don’t like it, but if you say that’s the only way… pack your bags. You leave in the morning.”

ZADDEN

The alarm that I had set to ensure I would be awake early enough to get things accomplished hated me this morning.

It went off an hour before it was supposed to, then started going off every minute after that until I finally removed the small battery. Just to be safe, I threw the alarm against the wall and reveled in the sound of dozens of tiny little components raining down on the floor.

I lay in bed for another few minutes, trying to stretch the kinks out of my neck and shoulders, then decided to just get it over with and get up.

I got out of bed, quickly dressed, and made my way to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. It was at least two and a half hours before sunrise, so I took my time and made myself a large and tasty breakfast.

Might as well enjoy it, might be my last.

As I sat down to enjoy my breakfast just over forty minutes later, Wip and Emmery stepped into the dining hall.

“Mmm, what’s that amazing smell?” Emmery asked as she sniffed the air.

“Oh,” Wip drew out slowly. “Zadden’s making breakfast.” I watched him sniff the air exaggeratedly. “I smell, wait for it, I smell Crickelian potatoes, Mitherka onion, various spices, a hint of that citrus stuff you ladies like, and Ardanio beef.”

“Yeah, yeah. You two hungry?” I asked.

“Starving,” Wip said as he planted himself quickly in the seat next to me and reached out for some of the food. He grabbed a little bit, and after some hissing about how hot it was, put it in his mouth and ate. “Oh, uh. This is so good,” he mumbled.

I shook my head and slid the plate over as Emmery sat down, as well.

The delicate way she ate shouldn’t have caught my attention as much as it did. She was a small creature, intelligent and skilled, but so, well, the word that came to mind was soft.

I found the way her fingers touched things and how her mouth closed over her food far more interesting than I should have, but it was.

I wondered what Emmery thought of my cooking skills. Had some other male in her past done a more adequate job with flavor or nutrition in providing her sustenance?

The idea of someone else providing for her, caring for her, set a low growl at the back of my throat.

Ridiculous.

I brushed the thoughts away, having finished my food sooner than them and wanting to distance myself from this strange preoccupation with Emmery I seemed to have developed.

As they ate the breakfast I’d prepared, I went back to the kitchen and made myself another plate.

“Are the two of you ready to do this?” I asked as we all ate.

Over a mouthful of food, Wip nodded. “When do we fly?” he mumbled.

I held back a chuckle. “As soon as we’re told to. We need to double check everything, including the flight controls.”

“It should be pretty straight forward, right?” he asked. “I’ve gone over it once, no big deal.”

I shook my head. “The original owner not only modified the engines, he modified the controls, as well. You’re going to need to look at them again. Let’s not risk our asses because you thought you knew where everything was.”

With a heavy sigh, he finished up his portion of the breakfast and excused himself, leaving Emmery and me alone, for now.

“How are you holding up?” I asked her. As far as I knew, she had never gone on a mission anywhere like this one, and I was a little worried about her freezing up.

“If I’m honest with myself, I’m absolutely scared shitless right now, and we haven’t even left yet,” she answered.

I could see her hand whenever she brought food up to her mouth. It shook slightly.

Scro. She shouldn’t be going. She should stay here, safe.

I could keep her safe, if she stayed next to me, the apparently mad voice inside my head chimed in. Nowhere safer.

“You don’t have to go, you know,” I told her. “You can just tell me how to do it. I have a reasonable bit of experience with computers and security systems.”

She shook her head, perhaps a little too vigorously. “No. I can do it,” she said, her voice firm. Mostly. “Besides, if anything goes wrong, you won’t be able to work your way through it. It has to be me.”

I admired her tenacity. She was pushing through her obvious fear and nervousness in order to get things set up for the long-term play.

I hated to admit it, but she was right. If anything went wrong, if there was any tweaking needed to the coding she had done, it meant that she had to be there. There was no way I would be able to do it, not quickly enough.

“Okay. You ready to get on the ship and check it out?” I asked as we took our last few bites.

She mumbled something as she nodded. We got up, put away our dishes, and made our way to the other ship.

Lyari and Elisen were waiting for us on the dock outside the Rogue Star as we exited the ship. “Are you ready?” Lyari asked.

“Let’s go,” I answered. “Wip should already be inside the ship.”

They stood aside and let us by, then fell into step behind us. The small ship, the Bright Comet, was docked three spaces over, and it certainly was a small thing. It was just about the right size for a small crew of five.

She looked like a bullet with wings. She had a cylindrical-like shape to her, with two sets of wings. The larger wings at the front had small engines attached to each tip, as well as a small cannon in the middle of each wing. The rear wings at the back were half the size of the front wings. At the back of the ship were the engines. Two of them.

Which wasn’t normal for a ship this size, but might be useful.

Dual thrusters had been installed at the back, between each back wing, and they looked like something that would have come off the Star. Her rich blue paint job set her apart from the surrounding ships that were all gray, or black, or green.

“Well, we’re definitely going to stand out, aren’t we?” Emmery asked from next to me.

“A bit,” I agreed.

“Now what?” she asked.

I looked down at her as I answered. “We familiarize ourselves with her, you get yourself into a disguise in case we’re boarded by the authorities, and we wait for the okay to leave.”

Her face dropped a bit. “I hate having to put on all that makeup. It takes forever and it’s uncomfortable.”

“And I apologize for that, but if we’re hailed by officials, then we need to make sure you’re not recognized as human. It’ll sort of ruin our whole mission,” I smiled down at her.

“Okay,” she said, sounding upset but accepting. As we made our way aboard the ship, I did a quick walk-thru. There were two sleeping quarters, a small cargo bay, the engine compartment, a ridiculously small eating area, and a hallway that led to the cockpit. The bathroom was in the cargo bay.

We looked like a cargo ship. As part of our story, we were part of a shipping company that prided themselves on speed, hence why we had the modified engines that didn’t seem natural on a cargo ship. The five of us were independent contractors working for the shipping company.

“Alright, lady and gentlemen,” I said after I had called them all together in the cargo bay. “You all have your identities. Make sure you use them if we’re contacted or boarded. Any kind of a slip will cost us. Wip, Lyari, Elisen, the three of you have your real first names, but your surnames have been changed. Also, Wip, you’re a mute.”

“What? My paperwork doesn’t say that,” he argued.

I smiled at him. “Can you fault me for trying?”

“You kouting bagnar,” he shot back at me, a smile on his own face.

I looked at Emmery. “You, my dear, are an Ardanio. This allows us to not have to rely on as much makeup, as Ardanios are roughly similar to humans. They have bright skin colors, even brighter hair, and bright white eyes. The women are even the same general size as you, no prosthetics needed, no scales, no third eyes,” I explained.

“Okay,” she said. “I apologize now if this takes me a while to get on.”

“No worries, young friend,” Lyari said. “We still have much to do before we are cleared to leave.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Hm.” She merely nodded and left for one of the sleeping quarters. A minute later, Lynna and Shenna came aboard with the makeup, Shenna flashing a smile as they walked by.

As they left the cargo bay, I finally had a moment to take a breath. It was then that I realized I was looking forward to this.

I could feel my heart beating just a touch faster. I could feel that slight bit of nervous anticipation, almost anxiety, as we went through our final checks on the ship and our ‘cargo’.

The last time I had felt this level of excitement was my last job as private security.

I had been hired to escort a politician to his planet’s primary government building. The reason he needed me was that he was completely against his government’s traditions and wanted to make drastic changes. They, keeping with traditions, wanted him dead.

It was an interesting mission, and also why I got out of the job. It had been intense, and both of us had almost died.

To cap it all off, even though I got him to the building and he was able to make that speech, he died a week later anyway.

Neither one of us knew he had been sick the entire time.

What I felt then in preparation for the mission, I felt again now.

Almost an electrical hum, running under my skin. Everything felt brighter, keyed up.

With a deep breath, I forced myself to work.

Three hours later, we launched.

EMMERY

The launch reminded me of my horrible, terrible voyage between Mars and Persephone.

I never, ever wanted to do that again.

The cramped cargo shuttle we were in didn’t have the little luxuries and comforts I had grown used to aboard the Rogue Star. Its fuselage rattled in a scary way as we ascended into the upper levels of the atmosphere.

The extra engines and thrusters added to that feeling, as the neck-breaking speed the shuttle acquired seemed to be slightly above what a cautious flight engineer would recommend.

Still, we made it past the atmosphere without becoming a giant ball of liquid fuel and flames.

If I were to die during this mission, I would have hated for that to happen during my initial seconds of activity as a covert agent.

“How are you holding up back there?” Wip asked, not bothering with looking back at the ship’s tiny crew as he manned the controls.

As we got rid of the pull of gravity, he swiveled his chair around and got busy with the ship’s computer, working his way through an array of coordinates with a kind of dexterity a programmer would approve.

“We’re breathing, so that’s gotta count for something,” I said, trying to fight back against nausea. I felt like someone had pushed me into a barrel and then kicked it down a steep hill that went on for miles. Not a pleasant feeling.

The two Gaed rebels, Lyari and Elisen, didn’t seem particularly concerned with how turbulent our takeoff had been, and they were busy discussing the date one of them had gone on the previous night.

According to what Zadden had told me, these two had been part of a Gaed militia, and so they were probably accustomed to dangerous situations.

“Smooth takeoff, Wip,” Zadden said, undoing the clasp on his seat belt and stretching his back. He got up from his seat and went toward the pilot’s chair, where he clasped Wip’s shoulder in an amiable way. “Good job.”

“That was smooth?” I asked, not sure if I had heard right. “I felt like I was on a rollercoaster.”

“A rollercoaster?” Zadden looked back at me over his shoulder, a curious expression on his face. “What’s that?”

“Well, it’s something you can find in amusement parks. You ride this little train, and the tracks are super crazy. They loop around until you feel sick, and there are steep inclines and descents. People ride those for fun.”

“Thank you,” Wip beamed at me, taking a moment to look away from the ship’s main console. “A lot of people have told me I’m pretty easy on takeoffs and landings, but I never had anyone tell me they had fun.”

“That wasn’t what I meant,” I muttered under my breath, but quickly decided it was better not to let the others know how sick Wip’s takeoff had made me feel.

As it was, I was still the only one with my seatbelt on, my hands gripping the armrests so tightly my knuckles had turned white.

I remained like that for at least ten minutes, breathing through my nose, as I tried to focus on the conversation Lyari and Elisen were having.

One of them was, apparently, dating one of the women of the Rogue Star’s crew.

“Did you volunteer to come on this mission?” I found myself asking them, curious about their reasons. I knew Zadden and Wip were merely following orders—although I also knew they were personally invested in this rebellion, with them being a part of the Rogue Star’s crew and everything—but I found myself wondering about my new Gaed colleagues.

“More or less,” Lyari shrugged.

He looked at me attentively, as if that was the first time he was really seeing me, and then smiled. “Jial and Dejar picked us for this mission, but we had already offered our services in case they were needed. We can’t wait to wreak havoc on the Dominion. I fought in the Border Wars against them, and you can trust me when I tell you that those assholes have it coming.”

“That they have,” Elisen agreed, his tone a somber one. His deep voice added a dramatic flair to his words. “No one has ever stood up to them, and they’ve always done whatever they wanted. They don’t care about those under their rule, or those that are directly affected by their plans. All they care about is their objectives. It’s time we put a stop to that. We can’t allow the Dominion to put its foot down on the galaxy’s throat.”

Elisen dove into a tirade against the Dominion, something which only made me feel even more nauseous.

His story was a tragic one. He had fought with Lyari in the Border Wars, as well, and the two of them had become blood-brothers of a sort. His hatred toward the Dominion (as well as his reason for enlistment in the militia) was easy to understand—while he had been off-world, working on an asteroid mine, his homeworld had been destroyed by the Dominion. It was that event, the destruction of the small moon colony of Sark, that prompted the Border Wars.

Elisen tried to explain to me more about that conflict, but I was having some trouble grasping it all. I tried to follow along, and even started nodding politely whenever it looked like he needed my approval, but my nausea rendered my attention useless.

Thankfully, Zadden came to the rescue.

“You should go and get some rest, Emmery.” Standing beside my chair, he kindly reached for my waist and unclasped my seat belt. He offered me his hand then, and I grabbed it as I awkwardly got to my feet. “Our quarters here aren’t much, but let me show you what we have.”

Swaying like a tall blade of grass in the wind, I followed after Zadden. The moment he slid open a panel to reveal one of the sleeping quarters, I immediately bolted inside and threw myself on top of the bed. “How are you feeling?” I heard Zadden ask, the mattress shifting under his weight as he sat next to me.

“Sick,” I muttered. I made an effort to sit up straight, but Zadden just placed one hand on my shoulder and forced me to remain lying down. “That takeoff nearly killed me.”

“That’s because you’re not used to Wip’s piloting,” he chuckled, gently squeezing my shoulder. “Here, take this.”

He handed me a tube of something cold and liquid.

“I can’t guarantee it’ll be as good as anything out of my kitchen, but it should settle your stomach.”

I sat up slightly, took a tentative sip, and grimaced. “You’re right.”

“Better?”

“No, it’s awful.”

He laughed, and for a moment I forgot everything, just caught in how his face could change.

“Drink it down anyway.” As I complied, he leaned against the wall. “Wip’s a pretty experienced pilot, but this ship is a challenging one. He had to learn how to handle the extra thrusters and engines on the fly, not to mention that he’s not familiar with the way the controls have been set up.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

“See, Wip is a bit of an escapist. That’s why you might find his piloting a bit too rough around the edges.”

“Escapist?”

“He used to have some run-ins with the authorities,” Zadden shrugged. “And I guess that’s part of the reason he joined the Rogue Star. He was probably tired of facing it all alone. But trust me when I tell you he’s a good pilot.”

“I trust you,” I muttered as I rolled back into my pillow, “and I’m starting to feel slightly better already.” Groaning, I finally sat all the way up on the bed and leaned back against the wall.

Opening my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath and smiled as I realized that the nausea was finally receding. “Are you afraid?”

My question seemed to catch him by surprise. He pursed his lips slightly and looked away from me, considering my question, and then a gentle smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Of course, I am. I might have been in some trickier situations than you have, but that doesn’t mean I’m not cautious. Hell, we should all be scared.” Reaching for me, he laid one hand on my knee.

A shiver ran up the length of my spine, and I felt my breath catching in my throat. My body seized in shock, then shivered in delight at the fire his touch ignited in me.

I’d never reacted to anyone the way I did to Zadden.

It was strange.

Stranger yet was that I didn’t want it to stop. I liked the way his hand felt on me.

I liked the way he made me feel.

“I know, it’s just that…” I hesitated, not knowing what to say, caught between my fears and his intoxicating presence.

I swallowed, then looked into his eyes. I had been the one volunteering for this mission—hell, I pretty much forced Dejar into sending me into Dominion territory as part of Zadden’s team—and now I was almost regretting my rash decision. The keyword being almost.

Zadden made it all easier, and his touch was enough to soothe my nerves. Before I knew it, I was returning his smile, a wave of newly found confidence washing over me. I laid my hand on top of his and squeezed it.

“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered. “Now get some rest. The trip is going to take a couple of hours, and then we’re going to wait till it’s dark on the planet’s surface before we make our descent.”

“I’ll be ready.”

“I know you will.” With that, he finally got up from the bed and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I lay myself down once more and, with a smile on my face, I finally allowed myself to drift off to sleep.

And if the feel of his touch, his skin under my hand, joined the memory of his chest in my dreams?

Well, that was my business.

ZADDEN

“Are we sure we want to do this right now?” Wip asked as we entered the atmosphere. “That’s a lot of traffic.”

“It’s not going to get any better,” I shrugged. “Just follow the plan and start to follow the flight path they gave us. According to their instructions, it should take us nearly twelve hours to get to our supposed delivery location. That should give us time to set down, recon, steal, and leave.”

Wip snorted. “Keyword there was ‘should.’ You want to give me odds on this going badly?”

“Shut up,” I said. His attempt at humor rankled me at the moment. Scro. Was this what Dejar had to deal with when he tried to work with Qal?

When we officially made it into the atmosphere, Wip opened the ship’s protective shielding and we got our first real glimpse of the tiny planet.

Thanks to Wip’s perfect flying, we had a clear view of the manufacturing plant for the power core we needed.

The area surrounding the plant was empty, almost as if it had been paved over. It made sense, in a fashion. They had to have room for vehicles to park, and the Dominion was known for making sure many of their facilities had empty space around them.

It was a good choice.

Easier to defend.

Pain in the ass for us.

The land around the plant was rocky and mountainous, and that made me happier. Mountainous terrain meant there were plenty of spaces to hide a ship. “Lyari, run a scan of the surrounding mountains,” I ordered. “See if you can find us a place to hide.”

“Understood.”

As he started his scan, I leaned in closer to Wip. “Keep us on track, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves, but keep an eye on our traffic. If there’s a moment for us to hide, we need to take it.”

He nodded as he slowly turned us to the right, following the flight path the traffic control provided.

We’d been lucky.

There was an incoming ion storm, and all traffic had been ordered to fly lower, in atmo proper, to avoid computer errors.

“Zadden,” Elisen said. As I looked over to him, he pointed outside. “Looks like our traffic is clearing up, but we have a tail.”

I looked outside. He was right. Most of the Dominion ships were leaving, but we did have one mimicking our flight path. “Ideas?”

“I could do something to one of the engines, make it look like we’re having troubles. When Wip starts to land us, if the ship follows us, we deal with them. If they continue on, we’re in the clear,” he said.

“Do it.”

With a nod, he left the cockpit and made his way to the back. As he did, Lyari called to me to show me something. “There,” he said as he pointed at his screen. “There’s a large cave system in this area. If there’s an opening large enough, we may be able to hide in there. It’s a bit of a hike to the plant, but it’s our best bet.”

“Okay. Wip?”

“I see it,” he said with a sidelong glance. “As soon as we lose our friend back there, I’ll get us hidden.”

Before I said anything in response, the ship jerked and we suddenly slowed down. “That’s just me!” came Elisen’s yell from the back.

“Land us,” I instructed Wip. As he quickly moved us towards a flat patch nearby, our follower followed. We landed, and as Elisen and Wip pretended to deal with the problem, Lyari and I stepped outside while Emmery hid herself in one of the bunk rooms.

Our follower looked like a small cargo shuttle. Someone exited the ship, and approached. He was a grizzled old man with yellow skin and a peg leg. “Er-thing okiy?” he asked with a heavy accent. “Yer ship done blew something en it sterted smokin’ perty hard.”

“We blew a couple of gaskets is all,” I answered with a smile. “We were trying to get to Ulgar for a delivery and some replacement parts.” I extended my hand out to him and introduced myself with my fake name.

“Pleased to meetcha. Name’s Dank,” he said with a hearty handshake. “Didja need some hep?”

It took a split second to parcel out what he said. “No, thank you. Our pilot and mechanic are already working on it. They’ll get us back up in the air in a few.”

“Alright.” With that, he turned back to his ship and flew off.

With a look at Lyari, we got back on the ship. “We’re in the clear. Get us flying,” Lyari called to the back. Within minutes, we were back in the air and headed for where Lyari had found the cave system. We found one that worked for us, possibly.

There had been some discussion over whether or not the cave would be big enough for us before Wip ended the argument without a word, slowly lowering us down the stone chimney.

As the ship bumped to a stop on the floor of the cave, he looked at us all smugly. “There.”

I shook my head at him. “How far away are we?” I asked Lyari.

“Well, Wip’s impulsiveness ended up better than expected,” he answered. “There’s a small trail that leads to the facility, about an hour’s worth of a hike. It’s small, though, and there are some parts that might be overly difficult to traverse.”

“I’ll deal with it. I’m going out for recon.” I didn’t wait for any more arguments. I walked away, grabbing my small pack as I headed for the airlock.

“When will you be back?”

Her voice struck me.

She’d be safer if I kept her with me, I thought, then forced it down.

Nonsense.

“A couple of hours,” I said, turning and keeping my voice level. “I need to make sure we can get into the place first.”

She nodded and swallowed hard. She looked better, now that she wasn’t sick.

Who was I kidding? She always looked perfect.

Emmery gave me a small wave as I left. The cave we were in was massive, and filled with stalactites and stalagmites that stretched from floor to ceiling. It was beautiful. There was a light glow to the place. If we weren’t about to risk our lives, I’d want to take Emmery out to explore it.

I left the cave and started making my way towards the facility. Lyari wasn’t kidding when he said there were some spots that were hard to traverse. There was a portion of the trail, only a hundred yards from the cave, where the walls closed in so much that I had to climb ten feet up one of the walls to make it past.

Then, in about the middle of the trail, one canyon wall curved away, leaving me a small ledge to walk on. It was maybe five or six inches wide, and there were a few parts that cracked and crumbled under my feet. It wouldn’t have been that bad except for the four-hundred-and-some-odd-foot drop that ended with rock spikes and debris at the bottom. A fall was guaranteed to kill me.

“This is fun,” I whispered as I inched my way slowly through that part. Once on the other side of the skinny part, things improved dramatically. The trail was easy to walk, with the hardest part a small tunnel that I had to take on my hands and knees.

Once I got to the end of the trail, I found myself a few hundred yards from the facility, wondering how we were going to get close to it.

Surrounding the open area were many rock formations from the surrounding terrain, so I stayed hidden behind those as I circled the facility, looking for a way to get close.

As I got to the other side of the facility, almost completely across from the trail, I found a small run-off trench. It was shallow, but I could hide in it and use it to get to the facility.

As I hid, I watched the security guards.

They were lax in their duties. It was obvious they didn’t expect any kind of trouble, probably relied on sensors and the design of the facility itself, so they weren’t as vigilant as they should have been.

Stupid of them, but good for us.

I watched for an hour, keeping track of their patterns and how they rotated. Within that time, I counted fifteen total guards that alternated keeping an eye on the outside in tiny vehicles and guarding the entrance.

Each was armed with a small rifle and a handgun, although I did see that there were a few extra weapons in the three vehicles that drove around the building. There was a four-minute window between each vehicle passing a certain point, and that was only a hundred yards away from my current hiding spot.

I also spotted several exterior panels that looked like either electrical panels or communication panels. Either way, Emmery might be able to use one of them.

The massive building towered over me, and my hope was that we wouldn’t have to go to the top of the building to find a computer, or the core schematics. If we did, it would be difficult to sneak in and out quickly. Many of the lights were still on inside, making me think there was a night crew working the facility.

After another hour of watching, counting, and memorizing patterns, I finally decided it was time to leave.

I just hoped Emmery was up for the trek. We needed to get her connected to a computer.

And I’d been away for too long.

EMMERY

I paced the ship for what seemed like hours.

I did my best not to grow desperate. That was, of course, almost impossible to do. After all, Zadden was making his way straight into our enemies’ facility, and there was little we could do in case he was captured.

Finally, tired of walking around in circles, I sat on a flat rock near our ship, my eyes peeled for any sign of Zadden. From inside the ship came the voices of Wip and the two Gaed, the three of them merrily arguing the fine points of a card game I didn’t know.

They didn’t seem concerned about Zadden, and that made me feel slightly better. If battle-hardened men weren’t concerned, then why was I acting like a nervous wreck?

Because Zadden was gone. And I didn’t like it.

Which was ridiculous, wasn’t it?

Surely there was something productive I could be doing.

Nodding to myself, I jumped off the small rock I was sitting on and made my way back inside the ship.

There, I grabbed my datapad and locked myself inside one of the sleeping quarters. I went through my code line by line, ensuring for the hundredth time that my program would work, and that was when I heard the ship’s ramp unlock.

Throwing the datapad to the side, I rushed out of the sleeping quarters and bumped straight into Zadden. “Whoa there,” he laughed, one of his hands casually landing on my waist. I held my breath as I felt his fingertips against my skin, right in that gap between my shirt and my pants, and let a nervous smile spread across my lips. “Where are you going in such a rush?”

“I just wanted to see if you were okay,” I admitted, his touch somehow making the filter between my brain and my mouth weaker. “That took you a long time.”

“I had to be cautious,” he shrugged. He didn’t look like a man who had just evaded death. He looked like a man who had gone on a walk during a sunny afternoon. “What matters is what I found. I know a way into the facility, and I know how to bypass the security.”

“Did you have a look inside? Did you see any terminal we can use?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “I didn’t manage to get inside the facility itself, and I’m not entirely sure we can pull it off. But don’t worry, I have good news. There are a lot of panels strewn across the outer walls of the building, on the ground floor, and I’m more than willing to bet some of those are communication panels.”

“That might work,” I muttered under my breath, already trying to think of a way to use those panels. I had studied the way the Dominion ordered its buildings to be wired, so I was pretty confident I could use whatever I found inside one of those panels.

I’d have to take my datapad, since I wouldn’t be working out of a terminal itself, but that wasn’t going to be a problem.

“Great.” His fingers seemed to burn against my skin, and I fought to focus on his words. “Then let’s get going. No time to waste.”

“What do you mean, ‘let’s get going’?” I repeated, my heart suddenly beating at a thousand miles per hour. “I mean, shouldn’t we go over the plan again? Maybe talk with the others and see what they think?”

“Hey, honey, it’s alright.” Lowering his voice to a whisper, he looked straight into my eyes. “What we’re about to do is dangerous...and like I said before, you don’t have to do it. I can wear an earpiece and all you have to do is walk me through it.”

“That wouldn’t work,” I forced myself to say. I was nervous, yes, but I wouldn’t be a coward. “I need to be there and handle the code myself. If you think we should head there now, then that’s what we’ll do.”

“I’ll let the others know,” he said, and then leaned in and kissed my forehead before heading off.

As I heard him talk with the others, I unconsciously reached up and touched my skin on the exact place his lips had been.

What was that about?

I couldn’t tell anymore - was my heart racing because we were about to start the real part of our mission, or because of …

“Ready?” Poking his head into the hallway, he offered me his hand. I took it and, like a damsel being helped down from a horse, I let him lead the way down the ship’s cargo ramp. “It’s going to be a tough trek.”

I merely nodded, pulling my brain back into the game.

The path out of the cavern was just as Zadden had promised, and I found myself drenched in sweat when we finally arrived at the cave’s mouth. I trailed after him as we made our way through the trail, and my stomach lurched as the facility finally rose in the distance.

Even from this distance, I could spot the security officers on their patrol, walking around the building with rifles in their hands.

“Are you sure we can get there?” I asked him in a low whisper. “Security seems pretty tight.”

“Don’t worry about them,” he grinned. “These guys have grown lazy. They’re mostly walking the grounds for show.”

“If you say so.”

I trusted him. I had to.

Following Zadden as he rushed between rock formations, the shadows keeping our figures hidden from sight, I did my best not to panic.

I was way more comfortable behind a desk and with a keyboard under my fingers. But I needed to do this. I had to get the power core schematics. The future of the rebellion hinged on it.

We circled the facility in complete silence, and then Zadden led me into a shallow trench. “We can get to the building from here,” he whispered. “Can you hear that vehicle?” I nodded. The sound of its engine was still faint, but it was growing louder. “We’ll have to make a run for it after it passes us. We have four minutes, tops, before another patrol swings by this exact location. Do you think you can work with that?”

“Four minutes,” I repeated. “Yes.”

I held my breath as the sound of the vehicle’s engine grew louder and louder, only to grow faint again.

“Let’s go,” Zadden said, one of his hands on my shoulder. I nodded at him and the two of us started rushing toward the massive building, a tower that jutted out from the rocky ground and seemed to reach toward the open skies, like a spaceship about to takeoff.

I ran fast, as fast as I had ever run, and it took us less than a minute before the rocks and pebbles on our way gave way to paved grounds. “There, I see them,” I pointed toward one of the panels on the massive ground floor wall. We made our way toward it and Zadden quickly removed the panel and uncovered a mess of wires and cables.

“Is this what we need?”

“Yes,” I said, my hands already hard at work. Doing it as fast as I could, I cut one of the purple wires inside the panel box and hooked it up to a special piece that would allow me to make a physical connection to another device. Then, I removed my datapad from my belt and connected the cable.

Code immediately flowed across the small screen, and my fingers tried to match the pace of that torrent of digital information. I was gently biting my lip as I scoured for weak points.

“Crap,” I hissed. “I can’t plant the program from here. This allows me to access the facility’s network, but I can’t use a terminal’s authorization credentials from this spot.”

“Let’s fall back, then,” Zadden whispered. “I’ll try to think of a way to get us inside that building. We don’t have much time, anyway. Our four minutes are almost up.”

“Just gimme one more second,” I told him, my heart beating so fast it seemed like a ticking bomb about to go off. I couldn’t plant my software, but I wasn’t completely useless. Gritting my teeth, I worked as fast as my fingers allowed me to. In the distance, I could already hear an engine’s growl.

“Emmery.”

“I know, I know. One more second.”

“We have to go.”

“I’m almost done.”

Moving frantically, I removed the cable from my datapad and helped Zadden put the panel back into its place.

We could already see the headlights of the vehicle moving toward us but, with no other choice left to make, we hoped the shadows would be enough to conceal us and made a run for it.

We jumped into the trench right before the headlights passed over us.

“That was close,” Zadden breathed out with relief. “What the hell were you doing back there? We were almost caught.”

“I was doing my job,” I grinned.

“But you said you needed to access a terminal.”

“And I still do,” I continued, “but I got us something that will help us. I got us this facility’s schematics.”

ZADDEN

“So, I’m recommending that we wait a day or two before infiltrating,” I said during our meeting after Emmery and I returned.

“Why? We should go in soon, minimize the chances of us being found out,” Elisen countered.

“And normally I would agree,” I answered back. “But from what I was able to see of the schematics of the facility, the nearest location for Emmery to connect to a computer is going to be in one of the offices on the third floor, and I don’t know what the interior guard situation looks like.”

Lyari placed his hand on Elisen’s shoulder. “He’s right, my friend. We must learn more before we infiltrate. We study the facility as much as we can tomorrow, then go in the next night. It is the wisest choice.”

“It might be prudent and all that,” Wip chimed in. “But, there’s going to be a report made eventually that we never arrived in Ulgar. What if they start sending ships out to look for us? What then?”

As much as I hated to admit it, it was a good question that I hadn’t spent long thinking about. “As long as we stay hidden in the cave, we should be fine.”

“Really? Lyari found this system doing a scan, why can’t they?”

Lyari cleared his throat. “Actually, I looked up old maps of the region. My scans didn’t find the caves, just the canyons and trails.”

Wip thought about it for a moment, then gave a short head nod. “Okay, but that still doesn’t leave us in the clear if they do find us. And nothing says they don’t have access to the same maps.”

“Which is why you stay with the ship, Wip,” I said. “If anything starts to get too close, you get the kout out of here and whoever is left behind will find a way to get off-world.”

“You want me to leave you behind?”

I nodded. “If you must, yes. While the power core is a necessity, it’s not worth losing all of us and the ship. If it comes down to it, get out of here and make your way back to the Star. Dejar and Aavat will figure something out from there. Whoever is left behind will have to manage.”

Wip’s eyes were a bit wide, but only for a moment.

Kout.

Emmery looked terrified. She knew that we were going to take her, and the prospect of being left on the planet obviously scared her.

Of all the possible outcomes, that wasn’t going to happen. Not a chance.

I tried to dial up my most comforting voice. “We’ll make sure you’re safe, I promise,” I said to her.

She nodded, but I was positive that the nod was simply an instinctive reaction instead of one of understanding.

Lyari decided he wanted another recon at the facility while Emmery and I got some sleep.

When I woke up six hours later, Elisen told me he was heading out to replace Lyari.

I nodded, then proceeded to pull up the schematics of the facility that Emmery had downloaded. I’d seen everything I needed from the outside.

The interior would be the challenge now.

The facility was a beast of a building, with five different manufacturing centers, nine floors of offices and computer hubs, and eight cargo bay doors for deliveries and shipments.

The place was huge.

There was simply too much space and too many places to defend it properly with the number of guards I’d seen.

That was a good thing for us. The more space they had to patrol, the less likely they would actually patrol it, and that meant some sort of surveillance system instead. With a surveillance system, Emmery could hack into that and keep us hidden.

While computers and electronics certainly made things easier and more convenient, it also made people lazy and much less observant. That could work in our favor.

As Wip and I stared at the schematics, coming up with at least six different ways in and back out, I thought about what Lyari and Elisen were going to find.

The hope was that what I had seen last night was the norm, and that things would improve with this being the end of the work week.

My planning came to a screech as Emmery wandered into the cargo bay, stretching and yawning. She was in a small shirt and shorts that accentuated and showed off her smooth legs.

Those legs, they gave me… ideas. They weren’t unwelcome ideas, even if this wasn’t the best timing.

The soft skin behind her knees… was it as delicate to the touch as it looked? How would it taste?

She started to speak and I quickly cleared out my thoughts.

“Hi, guys,” she said as she padded her way over in bare feet to where we were using some crates as a table. “I was thinking about something.”

“What about?” Wip asked with a smile.

I didn’t like it. His eyes spent a little too long on her curves, and even if seconds ago I’d been doing the same thing, suddenly I found myself imagining his face bouncing off one of the walls.

I shook my head as Emmery answered.

“I was thinking about the whole issue of them coming to search for us when we don’t show up in Ulgar. We could always say we were staying here in order to fix the engine and avoid bandits or whatever.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “The only thing I find wrong with it would be the ‘bandit’ portion, and it’s not because the idea of bandits is a bad one, it’s because it’s unlikely that there would be bandits here, not with the security around the planet.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she said dejectedly.

I suddenly felt like a jerk for making her feel bad.

“It’s still a good idea, though,” I said. “We could come up with something if we had to. Maybe you can look up the information for the guy who saw us land, and we can build a backup alibi with him, if we needed.”

“Oh, right!” She bounced back. “Dink, Dang, Dank? I can find his registration from the cameras, I’ll bet. He’d be able to say we went down here.”

“I’m sure he would,” I echoed, unable to resist her.

While it wasn’t a full smile spread across her pouty lips, at least it was something. Warmth spread through my chest just looking at it. I glanced at her golden eyes to see if they shone again.

Closer.

I’d take it.

Later that night, it was my turn to watch and observe, and as I had hoped, the end of the work week offered fewer people working at night. That gave me hope that tomorrow night’s attempt would work better in our favor.

Emmery waited for me, legs swinging off a crate in the hold.

“You’re up late,” I said.

“I couldn’t sleep, gave up after a while,” she replied back.

“Nerves?” I asked.

“Excited,” she replied, her eyes gleaming. “A little scared, but I trust you.”

Her enthusiasm was infectious.

And her trust?

Intoxicating.

Her body radiated a heat that brought me to her side.

“Aren’t you excited?” she asked me, her eyes travelling up and down my body.

“Before a job, my energy is always up,” I answered, “not sure excited is exactly what I’d call it.”

She slid off the crate to stand in front of me, so close I could feel her breath on my chest.

“Any words of advice?”

“Be careful when you go in,” I said to her, drawing my finger down the edge of her cheek, unable to resist touching her anymore.

“I always am,” she replied. “But you’ll be with me to watch me, right?”

That was all.

The words could have been innocent, empty of any other meaning.

But her heavy-lidded eyes spoke volumes on their own. My hand wrapped around the back of her head, fingers twining through her hair as she tilted her face up to meet mine.

I brushed my lips over hers, silk, tempting.

The lightest touch sent a pulse of electricity down my spine, the feel of her hands on my chest, fists clutching the fabric of my shirt, nearly enough to push me over the edge.

I broke away, breathing in the scent of her, until panting, she stepped away.

“Maybe I’ll try sleeping again,” she said, with a wink, smoothing out my crinkled shirt front. “It’ll be easier, knowing you’re here.”

I watched her as she left, every fiber of my body urging me to follow her.

Later.

Now, she needed rest.

Later there’d be time, time for everything.

IT WAS FINALLY TIME.

I led Emmery and Lyari to the facility, keeping as quiet and low as possible as we made our way around to the trench. I looked back at Emmery and her painted skin to help her stay better hidden.

She looked nervous, but determined, a small black bag strapped over her shoulder carrying her tablet and tools.

Behind her came Lyari. The man was a walking arsenal, against my protestations. He had wanted to bring several weapons, and I had agreed, to a point.

I carried two handguns and a rifle, as well as my two knives. Lyari had his rifle, a second one, three handguns, and another pack filled with ammunition.

I wasn’t happy with his choices, but he had been insistent on making sure we had enough firepower to get out if we needed to.

With a shake of my head, I motioned for them to get low as we crawled forward to the end of the trench.

As we waited for the guards to make their pass, I counted my heartbeats to remain calm. As the guards rounded the corner, we made a break for the nearest door with an access panel near it.

Emmery quickly unstrapped her tablet and hooked it up to the panel as Lyari and I waited with our rifles at the ready.

“We’re in,” she said after a few seconds. The door popped open and we flitted in quickly, closing the door soundlessly behind us.

“Ready to go up?” I whispered.

“Third floor,” she nodded. “Closest office with a computer connected to the outside.”

We’d drilled over the schematics of the facility, until I knew she was as familiar with it as her own code.

She’d be fine.

As I took point, we stayed low and made our way through the back hallway to the main floor. When we were on the main manufacturing floor, it was a sight to behold.

Machines were everywhere, covering every conceivable inch of flooring that wasn’t needed for movement or storage. And to think, there were five of these rooms inside.

Luckily, we had managed to pick the right night for this. There was one person working the floor, and they never looked back towards us. We made our way to the stairs and slowly made our up them, and still we saw no one. It was easy, and that worried me.

“This is far too easy,” Lyari whispered behind me. I nodded to show that I had heard him, but didn’t answer. I didn’t want to risk too much noise if possible.

We found the office, but it was locked with an old-fashioned mechanical device. Lyari and I switched places, a small string of quiet curses filling the air near me. I risked a quick look back. Lyari knelt in front of the door, mouthing out a string of curses and threatening the door.

Finally, he smiled as there was a small click, and he winked at me as he opened the door.

“And we’re in,” he mouthed. I tapped Emmery on the shoulder and she scooted into the office. I followed right behind and Lyari followed me.

“Okay, it’s all on you now,” I whispered. Emmery swallowed hard and got onto the computer.

Lyari quickly pulled a small blanket from his pack and put on the floor, filling the gap between the door and the floor in order to block any light from getting out.

“How long?” I asked as quietly as I could as I came up next to her.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “Hopefully, not very long. All of my tests have this taking an average of nine and a half minutes, with some taking as little as six minutes and some taking nearly seventeen.”

I took a deep breath, focused on the door, and settled myself for a long wait.

EMMERY

It was hard to focus with so much adrenaline coursing through me.

“Come on,” I muttered under my breath, watching as strings of code cascaded down the screen in front of me. It took me almost two minutes to establish a solid connection, but then I was unstoppable.

I started bypassing the first security protocols, just like I had done back at the Rogue Star, and I was even faster than I had expected. Without having to reroute my traffic—no need for it since I was already working out of a terminal on Dominion space—getting into the main network was a piece of cake.

The real challenge, of course, wasn’t the main network. The real challenge would be gaining access to the deeper levels. I didn’t let my nervousness show. Instead, I used it as leverage to get me motivated to hack even faster.

And that’s exactly what I did.

I barely blinked as I worked, afraid I’d lose an important piece of code, and my fingers were like bullets hitting the keyboard. Zadden threw me nervous glances as the clacking sounds of the keyboard filled the whole room, but I just gave him an apologetic smile and continued.

There wasn’t much I could do about it.

“How’s it looking?” He whispered beside me, his proximity enough to make me slow down. I didn’t know what it was about him, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate whenever he stood too close.

That wasn’t a complaint, of course.

Far from it.

“Five more minutes, I think.” I didn’t peel my eyes away from the computer as I spoke, doing my best to keep my undivided attention on the task at hand.

Zadden picked up on that and didn’t say another word. He merely took a step back and gave me enough room to breathe. Lyari, who was still by the door, didn’t say a word either. I took that as a good omen.

He didn’t seem too preoccupied with the security on this place, and that probably meant we’d be able to sneak out of the facility just as easily as we had sneaked in.

“Alright, I’m in,” I whispered after a few more minutes. Getting access to the deeper levels of the network hadn’t been exactly easy, but I had managed to do it in record time.

Now it was only a matter of implanting my software worm and plowing a way for it through the system. If all went well, the embedded sleeper process on my worm would go live once I sent it a specific command, and we’d be able to get the information we needed. Suddenly, returning to the Rogue Star with the schematics for the power core didn’t seem like such an impossible task.

I had been nervous at first, yes, but now the prospect of success was making me relax.

And that’s when things went sideways.

I was almost done when the sound of alarms echoed throughout the whole building, and that so suddenly that I jumped to my feet, knocking the office chair back.

Outside, a chorus of angry voices took over the atmosphere.

Then, gunfire.

My eyes widened, confusion washing over me like an ice-cold wave. I had no idea what was going on. Why had the alarm gone off, and who was firing against who? It didn’t make any sense for any of it to be happening.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zadden went toward the door and cracked it open just enough for him to peek outside. “Keep her safe,” he ordered Lyari. “And give me some ammo.”

The moment he had the ammunition he wanted, he left the office and closed the door behind him. Fear coiled itself around my chest like a snake ready to devour me.

He was out there.

Keeping me safe. But… I would have given almost anything to have him still by my side.

“What do we do?” I asked, my breathing becoming shallow as fear turned into panic.

“We stick to the mission,” Lyari replied, gripping his rifle loosely and backing his whole body against one of the walls. He looked more than ready to greet anyone that dared step into the office with a rain of bullets.

“The mission, right,” I nodded. Clenching my jaw, I tried to swallow down the panic I was feeling and went back to the keyboard. I didn’t even bother with the chair and kept on coding standing up. That only changed when a random bullet hit one of the office’s windows and ricocheted on the wall behind me. I let out a small yelp and, holding the keyboard in one hand and my tablet on the other, dove under the desk.

I kept on working through the noise and confusion, breathing so rapidly that my lungs felt like two balloons about to pop. My fingers and wrists were already starting to ache, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through.

Even if I died, I would get the job done and get those damn schematics. Even if I didn’t survive a shootout on the way out, at least Lyari or Zadden would be able to get back to the ship with the plans.

They were risking their lives to buy me time.

I’d make sure it was worthwhile.

It was with that sole thought burning in my mind, its flame fierce and bright, that I finally typed the last command line. I gained access to the facility’s main frame and, with my heart so tight I wouldn’t have been surprised if it burst, I looked through the thousands of folders in search of the schematics I needed.

All of a sudden, a loud explosion seemed to rock the whole place, and the windows rattled in their frames before the glass exploded, littering the whole office with tiny little shards. Hidden underneath the desk, I was barely hit, and my fingers never stopped moving.

“I got ’em!” I cried out loud, raising one fist up in the air and hitting the desk. I crawled out from underneath it and presented the Gaed with a large smile. “I got the schematics! We can get out of here.”

“Good,” Lyari said. He didn’t seem particularly excited. He was behaving like a well-oiled machine, one that knew its purpose but refused to react to it before its completion.

Like a true soldier. Pressing a button on his comm, he then opened a line of communication with Zadden. “We’ve got the plans. We’re leaving.”

“Wait,” I said, and Lyari looked up at me with a questioning glance. He was already heading toward the door before I spoke. “We’re not leaving without Zadden, are we?” He pursed his lips tightly and I had my answer straight away. “No. We can’t leave without him.”

“This isn’t about what we can do,” he said, and his tone was more patient than I had expected. “This is about what we should do. We can’t compromise the mission, no matter what. Zadden knows that we’re here for the schematics, and he understands that the most important thing is getting them back to our base.”

Rationally, I knew all that. And yet, the thought of leaving Zadden behind left me sick to my stomach.

“You worry too much,” he insisted, this time adding a smile to his patient tone. “Zadden is an experienced warrior. He knows that his best shot is to make it back to the ship, so we’ll probably just arrive there to find him waiting for us. Or we might come across him on the way out. Either way, I don’t think we’ll have to leave him behind. That’s the worst-case scenario.”

I merely nodded at that, my throat so dry it was already starting to hurt.

“Alright, Emmery,” Lyari then said, one of his hands already reaching for the door. “Are you ready for this?”

Taking a deep breath, I found the answer easily.

“Bring it on.”

ZADDEN

Things were going magnificently.

Then the umbba alarm went off and we could hear the panic and confusion beginning inside. Shouts filled the air, then gunfire joined in.

I went to the office door and opened it slightly. I could hear the guards yelling, and a woman’s voice shouting out orders.

We hadn’t seen a single female guard, so either she was part of what caused the alarm, or one of the workers.

But that didn’t sound like a worker, snapping commands like that.

I looked back at Lyari, keeping my eyes away from Emmery’s pale face. “Keep her safe,” I ordered. “And give me some ammo.”

He didn’t look happy, but he followed orders. He fished in his bag and handed over four clips. I attached them to my belt. “Watch over her. I’m going to see how bad things are. When she’s done, get her out of here.”

Without waiting for a response, I exited the office. As I started to close the door, I could see who was attacking the facility. Kouting space pirates.

Those bloodred sashes announced to the universe which ship they belonged to.

The Gray Hawks.

Scro.

I let out a string of curses at our luck just before there was a small explosion from below. I slammed the door shut and made my way down the hall towards the stairs.

To my right was the open interior of the facility, and I could see the chaos unfold. The captain of the Gray Hawks was a woman named Teg. Ruthless, competent, and brutal when she needed to be to get what she wanted.

If she and her crew were here, our problems just multiplied steeply.

Two guards came out of an intersection just ahead of me. They looked confused at first because I didn’t look like one of the pirates, but that confusion only lasted a moment before they brought their weapons up.

I was faster.

Two shots took them down with both shots hitting center mass. I raced past them and rounded a corner that led to the stairs. I could see several of the pirates pulling carts loaded with the already made power cores. I had to get one before they took them all. Halfway down the stairs, one of the pirates appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

I didn’t wait.

I fired first, hitting him in the shoulder. He dropped his weapon and slumped against the wall. I raced down the stairs and punched him, knocking him out and down as I ran by.

Two more pirates showed up, forcing me to dive behind one of the machines.

“I’m not against you,” I yelled out to them. “Do I look like an umbba Dominion guard?”

Their only answer was to shoot at me, forcing me back behind the machine. I shook my head. I didn’t want to fight them. I had no issues with them. All I wanted was one core.

A shot ricocheted off the machine next to my head, causing me to drop as low as I could. I could feel the stickiness of my own blood on my cheek. A small piece of the ricochet had cut me by my left eye. A fraction to the side would have made this a quicker evening than I had planned.

I looked up to see three guards coming at me. One was aiming his rifle before he was forced to dive to the side as the pirates opened fire on them.

I took advantage of the confusion and crawled away, ducking behind a different machine. Peering around the machine, I wiped blood away, rechecking for exit points. There was a clear path along the wall to one of the storage rooms where I could see several pirates. They were guarding the door just as another one exited.

A quick barrage of gunfire sent them running, right at me. I ducked back and made my way around the other side of the machine. A pirate and a guard both opened fire at me.

I shot back, hitting the guard in the leg. But as he stumbled, another bolt caught him in the head, snapping it back.

One scroing thing after another.

Teg was the type to hold a grudge for a very long time, and she liked to respond heavier than the infraction against her.

I raced around the machine as more and more gunfire filled the air. Another explosion blew out a wall to my right and it was immediately followed by screams and cursing.

I could hear Teg yelling at her people.

I made my way to the storage room, to see four power cores lying on the floor. They were big, as big as my torso, and I assumed they were going to be heavy. I stepped into the room, but didn’t make it three steps in before I was tackled from behind.

A hairy arm snaked around my neck and started to squeeze. I couldn’t breathe, and whoever was on me was heavy. I couldn’t shake them off, and my vision was starting to blur.

As things started going dark, I reached down to my leg where I had a knife strapped, unsheathed it, and stabbed up behind my head. The arm tightened sharply, then let go as whoever was on top of me slipped off. I rolled away and coughed as I tried to bring air back into my lungs.

I rubbed at my neck as I looked over to see one of the pirates lying there, my knife stuck in his eye.

His body still twitched and his mouth moved as if he were trying to talk, but no sound came out. It was the weirdest death scene I had ever seen. As I coughed and cleared my throat, I got up and retrieved my knife.

Eyeball goo. Ick.

I quickly wiped off my knife, sheathed it, and grabbed a power core.

It must have weighed nearly half my own weight. I grunted as I hefted it, then made my way out of the room. I tried my best to stay as hidden as possible, but when I came around one of the machines, I found Teg standing there, her gun pointed at my head.

“And who are you?” she asked. Her orange hair was vibrant, and a perfect complement to her gray eyes and gray jacket.

“The name’s Zadden,” I answered. “I’m not part of the Dominion.”

“No, scro,” she said flatly. “I figured that out when I watched you shoot a couple of guards. But, you’re not part of my crew, so that makes you competition. What do you want with that core?”

Dancing on a knife edge, I rolled the die.

Lie, and have her wrath directed against me and the Rogue Star if it were uncovered.

She had no love for the Dominion. The truth, oddly enough, seemed the safer bet.

“I’m part of a group that’s trying to rise up against the Dominion. We need a core so we can copy it to power some new shield tech we’re using. I only need the one.”

Two more pirates came over. “We must leave, Captain,” one of them said. He was a Tutahn of incredible size, and each of his four arms held a massive weapon with ease.

She nodded. “Hand over the core.” To emphasize her words, she pulled a second weapon from her waist and pointed it at me. Her two companions copied her actions.

I was never so happy to not be an idiot. “Okay,” I said without a moment of hesitation.

I set the core down and backed away.

She smiled at me as she instructed the Tutahn to pick up the core. He did, with one hand, and they walked away. Teg winked at me as she left. I didn’t stick around. I ran back to the storage room, grabbed another core, and ran as fast as I could, shouldering a guard into a wall as I raced.

Lyari had better have gotten Emmery out.

As I reached the middle of the facility, I reached for my comm just as explosions rocked the entire place, forcing me to stumble.

I found a way to keep my feet and ran even harder. If Emmery had implanted her sleeper program and found the plans for the core, this would be a bonus, but I couldn’t run the risk. I had a power core in my arms, and that was something tangible. Hoping for Emmery to have succeeded wasn’t a guarantee that she had.

I was knocked to the ground by another explosion, the core rolling away from me. I scrambled to my feet and raced to retrieve it. Another explosion, bigger than the rest, sent a painful wave of heat into my back as I grabbed the core and ran.

“We’ve got the plans. We’re leaving,” Lyari’s voice crackled over the comm.

I allowed myself a small smile as I ran faster, holding onto the core, heading for the exit.

EMMERY

“Keep your head low,” Lyari warned me as we stepped out of the office. He didn’t look as relaxed as before, but he didn’t look exactly nervous. Just watchful, alert.

“And in case we get separated, just try to find your way back to the ship.” We’d gone over this, every bit of the plan, countless times before we arrived. But the reminder didn’t hurt.

Following after the Gaed man, his posture fearless, I went down a corridor and then made a sharp right, one that led straight onto a balcony that overlooked the manufacturing floor.

Flames licked the side of some of the machines, and guards ran around the floor like scared mice. Another group, strangers, was preying on the guards with a kind of brutality that chilled me to the bone.

I saw three of the newcomers, all wearing bright red sashes, corner a young Dominion guard, who quickly threw his weapon away and went down on his knees, and they showed him no mercy.

One bullet straight between the eyes and that was it.

Chaos had descended upon the facility, and we were right in the thick of it.

“Who the hell are those guys?” I asked Lyari, and his frown immediately let me know I wouldn’t be too happy with his reply.

“Pirates,” he grunted. “They’re probably after the power cores as well. These things ought to be worth a nice sum on the black market.”

“Pirates? That doesn’t make any sense.” Who would be insane enough to make a frontal attack on a manufacturing station like this? The Dominion reacted disproportionately even to a mere slight, so something like this would have the Dominion bring hell to the offenders.

Plus, the only pirates I had ever met till this point would have been the nice ones back on Haven.

Pirates just couldn’t be the answer.

“Teg’s crew,” he continued with a snarl. Clearly, he wasn’t a fan of this Teg person. “She’s the only pirate with the balls to go against the Dominion like this. She’s batshit crazy, and she’s relentless.”

“If she’s against the Dominion…”

“Forget about that,” he cut me short. “Teg wouldn’t care about a rebellion or any of that. The only thing she cares about is money. We’ll have to avoid her crew on the way out. Those assholes won’t hesitate before pulling the trigger.”

I said nothing at that, my stomach lurching as I started anticipating the next move.

Having to sneak out would have been hard enough, but now we would have to find a way out while space pirates and security battled it out.

And where the hell was Zadden? He had left the office more than five minutes ago, and there was no sign of him.

Keep it together, Emmery, I thought to myself. He’s fine. He’s good at this.

Panic wouldn’t help me survive the day, and so I needed to remain focused. Keeping my head low as instructed, I followed after Lyari as he retraced our steps. Security officers were pouring through the door we had used to sneak into the building, but Lyari spotted it ahead of time and kept us out of sight.

“We’ll have to go through the manufacturing floor,” he said, his voice firm enough for me to understand his decision wasn’t up to debate. Ensuring that his rifle was fully loaded, he then looked at me and gave me a comforting little nod before we made our way down a flight of service stairs.

I trailed after him quickly, my heart beating so loudly that its sound was starting to blend in with the firefight that had taken over the ground floor.

“Halt!” A voice said right behind us, atop the stairs we had just descended. Lyari merely spun on his heels, rifle at the ready, and squeezed the trigger faster than I could process what was going on.

When I turned to see who he had shot, I saw the lifeless body of a Dominion security officer tumbling down the stairs.

“Let’s go.” Lyari didn’t stop. He simply continued walking down the manufacturing floor, leading us through a maze of machinery and heavy looking crates, his steps careful but firm.

He had to open fire twice—and both times against the pirates that were crawling all over the facility—but even that wasn’t enough for us to slow down.

“There!” Grabbing Lyari by the shoulder, I pointed toward a small service door on the far side of the room, one that seemed to lead straight to the outside. “We can go through there.”

“Good catch,” he said. We were already on our way there when even more pirates burst through the door, the majority of them sporting savage grins. The moment they laid their eyes on us, they didn’t hesitate: they leveled their guns at us and opened fire.

Shoving me to the side, Lyari forced me to take cover behind an overturned crate. He dove after me, clutching his rifle against his chest. “There are too many of them,” he said with a growl, already busy reloading his rifle.

Grabbing one the grenades that hung from his belt, he removed the pin with his teeth and, after waiting for no more than a couple heartbeats, tossed it toward the door the pirates had stepped through.

The explosion was enough to leave me disoriented, my ears ringing so hard I thought they had ruptured, but Lyari didn’t give me a minute to catch my breath. He grabbed my hand and dragged me out from behind the crate, our feet once more carrying us toward the exit.

The floor was littered with corpses of pirates, the explosion having left their bodies charred and mangled. I gritted my teeth, making a mighty effort not to vomit, and rushed toward the door as fast as I could.

“Get down!” I heard Lyari say, but it was already too late. Someone was firing at us from the balcony overlooking the manufacturing floor, and I could hear the bullets zooming past my ears.

Lowering my head even more, I kept on running toward the door.

Then there was pain.

Fire exploded in my leg, and I saw the ground rush up to meet me. I fell on the floor like a puppet whose strings have been cut, and I immediately clutched my leg. A red stain was already starting to cover my pants, and I didn’t even react as Lyari dragged me behind another crate.

Using his knife, he cut a hole in my pants and looked at my wound with an appraising expression. “You’ll be fine,” he said, the relief in his voice clear. “It went through.” From his pocket, he grabbed a small can. “This is going to sting, but it’ll do for now.”

I smothered my yelp as a stream of foam covered the wound, sealing it with a flexible bandage.

He continued. “But we have to get out of here now. We’re going to be surrounded soon enough.”

Nodding, I tried to stand up. The pain shot up my leg once more, and I went down on my knees. “I don’t know if I can walk,” I admitted. Frowning, Lyari slung his rifle over his shoulder and had me place one arm over his shoulders.

“I’ll carry you, Emmery. It’ll be fine.” He stood up then, but his body went limp a fraction of a second later.

Only then did I hear the sound of gunfire.

Only then did I see blood.

Lyari was dead, the gaping hole in his forehead a stark reminder of how everything had turned to shit.

I felt tears sting my eyes, and I clutched Lyari by his jacket, almost as if somehow that would make him return to life. Only when bullets started hitting the wall behind me did my brain decided to react.

Throwing myself on the floor, I hoped the crates around me would offer some protection and started crawling toward a safe spot.

I didn’t know if one existed inside the facility, but at least I had to try. Holding my breath, I crawled past dead bodies and debris, oil and blood, and somehow found an overturned crate I could hide in.

Not knowing if that crate would end up being a safe place or my coffin, I climbed in and placed its wooden lid on top.

And waited.

ZADDEN

I topped the nearby rise, and set the core down to take a quick look back at the facility. It was engulfed in flames, and four ships were parked around it. Each one was about two or three times the size of our little cargo ship, and bristling with weaponry.

I had to marvel at Teg’s clan. They certainly knew how to put up a fight. As the building burned, I could see several carts being pulled onto the ships, each one loaded with cores.

There weren’t a lot of ways to get out without being seen, but I could see that there was no one near the trench. If Lyari had gotten Emmery out, he would take her there, then back to the cave.

I grabbed the core and made my way towards our meeting place. What had been a relatively simple thirty-minute hike took me nearly an hour to complete. I nearly dropped the core down the ravine twice, and the second time almost took me with it.

As I got back to the cave, Elisen came out to help me with the core. “Where are the others?” he asked.

I froze. “Aren’t they here?” I tapped my comm. Scro. It was silent. A hairline crack showed.

Ice crept through my spine. “Last I heard, they were getting out of the building. We were attacked by pirates, so things went straight to kopa in a hurry. My comm fell out and broke on the way back.”

“Sek,” he cursed. “We haven’t heard from them since your arrival.”

My heart started pounding again. Elisen and I quickly carried the core onto the ship. As we set it down, Wip came into the cargo bay. “Where are the other two?”

“Not here,” I told him. “Get me a new comm unit, quick.” He nodded and raced back into the heart of the ship. Elisen and I opened up the secret compartment and started moving the core into it.

“Here, I’ll get that,” Wip said as he jogged back in. He handed me the comm, then took over carrying the core. “You go get the others, and leave your comm on. We’ll get things set up here.”

I nodded. “Don’t fire her up until we’re close by. Dominion ships are going to be swarming the area soon enough thanks to Teg’s little visit.”

He nodded, and I quickly turned around and made my way back towards the facility. I had to force myself to take it slowly. If I tripped and fell on the way back, it was likely I wouldn’t survive the fall.

I tried not to, but all I could think about was Emmery. Everything that she was played through my mind.

She was a tiny little thing, but she was feisty. Her slightly pointy nose worked perfectly for her. Her almond-shaped eyes, golden brown in color, always seemed to shine when she was working, when she cracked something particularly clever.

When we talked.

When I’d kissed her.

I had to get her back.

I shuffled my way across the thin ledge, angry that I had left them behind without making sure they were safe first.

I had been stupid. I knew we needed the core, but I shouldn’t have left them behind. I shouldn’t have left them on their own.

I could have hidden the core along the path and gone back for them. I should have hidden the core and gone back for them.

I was still cursing myself for my stupidity when I got back to the small rise overlooking the facility. I was surprised to see the pirates still there.

They were loading up more cores. Teg must have taken on a big order from someone wanting them. That was the only explanation I could think of. Why else would she risk staying here so long?

If the Dominion ships arrived soon, she would be in serious trouble.

Then, something else came to my mind. It had been nearly three hours since the attack first started, and there still weren’t any Dominion ships, or even local ships, anywhere around. Either something else was taking up their time, or Teg and her people had already dealt with them.

I filed the thought for later. It might be something useful, but right now, it didn’t matter.

I had to find them. I had to find Emmery.

She made me feel comfortable with life. I felt a sense of comfort talking to her that I didn’t feel with anyone else, and I was happy working with the crew. Emmery simply made me feel more relaxed and at ease than any of the others.

I thought back to when they had first come aboard the ship. I had noticed her, of course, because I noticed all of them.

She hadn’t stood out compared to the others. Honestly, it was if she’d tried to fade away, avoid attention. The only thing that made me notice her more than the rest was her hair. When the human women had first come aboard, her hair was the light golden brown it was now, but instead of the streaks of red in it, it had streaks of purple.

Over the next few months, the streaks in her hair changed from purple to white to green to blue to silver and finally to the red that she had now. But she never did anything else to set herself apart from anyone, not until we decided to join the rebellion.

Then she stood up.

But I’d noticed her before that. More than simply the changes in her hair color. How she played with her ear, specifically her left ear, when she was a bit anxious about something.

When she ate, she liked to separate her vegetables from the rest of her meal. When she thought no one was watching, she did a little dance when she was in a good mood.

And I had every intention of seeing that little dance again.

I made my way down off the rise and around the facility, doing my best to stay hidden behind the rocks.

I made it to the trench, and made my way down it. The heat coming from the burning building was intense. The door that we had used to get in was hanging by a hinge, blown open from the inside.

Staying well back, it was clear three of the ships had powered up their engines, sealed their bay doors. I gritted my teeth.

If Emmery and Lyari had been taken prisoner, it was too late.

I’d get her back, but it would take time. And during that time...

Until I knew for sure she’d been taken, I had to assume she was still down there.

Somewhere.

As they began to take off, their landing lights came on.

In the lights, I saw numerous crates, and someone crawling into one of them. I pulled out my scope and took a closer look.

It was Emmery, and she looked hurt.

Where was Lyari? Where was that massive Gaed soldier?

Then something caught my eye. I moved my scope and brought it into focus.

Scro!

One of the pirates had spotted Emmery and was coming towards her, loading her weapon as she walked.

As gunfire continued to ring out around me from more guards running out of the building, time seemed to slow down. The ships continued their ascent, but the debris from their propulsion systems floated instead of flew. The pirate that was coming down on Emmery moved with agonizing slowness.

I pushed myself out of the trench, but I felt as though I was stuck in tar. I felt the ground slip from beneath my feet as I tried to gain traction. I could hear each weapon firing, the crackle and snap of the fire as it devoured the factory, and each individual yell and scream of the guards, workers, and pirates from the fourth ship still on the ground.

I had to reach Emmery. I had to save her.

As the pirate raised her weapon with deliberate, almost taunting slowness, I reached for my own weapon, knowing I wouldn’t get it out fast enough.

EMMERY

I hid in the darkness for a lifetime.

At least that’s what it felt like. The crate grew hotter with each passing minute, the fire that had started raging all around the compound becoming fiercer and wilder, and I still hadn’t decided how I preferred to make my exit.

As far as I could tell, my only options were burning alive or being mowed down by the pirates.

Not an easy decision to make.

Closing my eyes, I leaned back against the crate and whispered a silent prayer to whatever gods resided in this corner of the galaxy. I clutched my tablet against my chest, frustration and anger slowly blossoming inside my chest. We had been so close to making a success out of the mission, and then the pirates swept in out of nowhere and ruined it all.

Zadden was missing, Lyari was dead, and there was no way I could deliver the power core schematics to the rebellion.

I was trapped inside this stupid crate, waiting for my turn to die, and there was nothing I could do about it.

And even though there must have been some sort of painkillers in that foam bandage, my leg hurt.

“Fuck,” I cried out in frustration, nearly kicking one of the crate walls with the heel of my boot. I had gotten the schematics, installed the worm that would give us remote access to the Dominion central, and all of it had been in vain. The rebellion was doomed to fail, and all because I hadn’t been good enough.

I should’ve been more than just a hacker.

Had I known how to fight, maybe Lyari would still be alive.

I let the tears stream down my face freely, a violent sob shaking my whole body. When I first left Mars and headed to Persephone Station, I immediately knew my life would never be the same.

I just never thought I would die scared and alone, hiding inside a box while the fate of thousands rested on my shoulders.

“I can’t die in here,” I whispered to myself, the loud noises outside the crate drowning out my own voice. “I refuse to die in here.” Without allowing myself enough time to reconsider my newly found choice, I rammed both my feet against the crate’s lid and kicked it open.

I was greeted by a scene straight out of a nightmare.

The few fires that had started on the ground floor had already turned into a raging inferno, one that consumed everything in its way.

Pirates occupied the few places that hadn’t been ravaged by the fire, and they seemed to be hauling all the power cores they could find to a couple of spaceships outside. One of the facility walls had been blown open, a hole large enough to fit a small cargo shuttle allowing me to see the scene outside.

Holding my breath, I started making my way toward the hole in the wall, hoping to escape the facility through it without being seen. I kept a slow, steady pace as I ducked between the hundreds of overturned crates that were strewn across the floor, some of them already starting to burn.

Apparently a small contingent of Dominion officers still fought against the pirates on the far side of the building, the sound of gunfire somehow reaching me through the fire and smoke, but I paid it no heed and kept my whole attention on the gaping hole in the wall.

A few pirates were close by, but I somehow managed to be silent enough not to be detected. As two of them carried a power core through the hole and started loading it on one of the ships, I ducked between a row of crates stacked high and managed to slip outside.

The wind blew cold outside, whipping my hair back and chilling my warm body, but I just ignored the discomfort. My life was on the line right now, and being cold was the least of my concerns.

“Where am I?” I muttered under my breath, peering around as I tried to look for a reference point. Despite all the time spent studying the schematic for the building, all the running and ducking had disoriented me, gotten me turned around completely.

Clenching my jaw, I realized I was on the wrong side of the building. If I wanted to retrace my steps and return to our spaceship, I would have to make my way around the facility and try to find the trail Zadden had shown me.

Moving under the cover of what shadows I could find, I started running as I tried to put some distance between the pirates and myself.

“Stop right there!” I heard a shrill voice call after me, and I looked back over my shoulder to see a tall, thin woman pointing a rifle toward me. Knowing I was an easy target, I made a beeline straight toward a loading area outside facing the trench we had used to get inside the outer perimeter.

The area was filled with tall towers of crates, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to evade this particular pirate.

She sounded determined.

As I reached the loading area, the woman opened fire and wood splinters exploded all around me as bullets hit the crates. Keeping my head low and praying I wouldn’t have an ending like Lyari, I hid behind one of the crates on the far side of the loading area and held my breath.

“Where are you, li’l bird?” the woman called, the sound of her footsteps echoing all around me. My heart raced, my hands were clammy with sweat, and my leg throbbed.

And still, I didn’t feel like I was ready to give up. I knew I could make it back to the ship. All I needed was a little bit of luck.

That was all I was asking for. “Li’l bird! Come out and play!”

More gunfire followed her words. Since she couldn’t see me, she had decided to start firing at random.

I flattened myself against the ground once more and, with my heart pounding against my throat, I started crawling toward an open crate, its recesses cast in deep shadows.

Once there, I climbed inside it—it was empty, as I had hoped—and prayed for the woman to simply give up and continue on her way.

My luck didn’t stretch that far.

“And here you are,” the woman grinned, resting the muzzle of her rifle on the edge of the crate. She peered inside it with a self-satisfied grin and, even though I was as terrified as I had ever been, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. Her hair was auburn and wavy, and she had a smooth, unlined complexion that contrasted with her rough attire.

Her grin, though, was a vicious one, and it ruined whatever beauty her other traits held. “Tell me a story, li’l bird. Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”

“I’m no one,” I found myself saying, so nauseous I was surprised I still hadn’t thrown up. “I just got caught in the crossfire and—”

“Alright, screw that shit,” the woman chuckled. “I truly don’t care about any of that.”

I stared into the barrel of her rifle for a second, the darkness it held inside somehow soothing my nerves.

So, this was it.

This was how my story ended. With a bullet. At least I had tried to do the right thing.

Yes, I thought, I’ve failed...but at least I tried to make this universe a better place.

Taking a deep breath, I finally looked into my executioner’s eyes and smiled.

“Do your best,” I said, the coolness of my own voice surprising me. I was staring at death itself, but I was no longer afraid. All the fear had been run out of me.

“Suit yourself,” the woman shrugged, her finger on the trigger. She drew a deep breath, started squeezing the trigger, and—

Her head exploded before she fired, a thin mist of blood hanging in the air as her body dropped to the ground.

I heard the sound of the shot a fraction of a second later, and I had to do a double take before I could comprehend what had happened.

Still stunned, I slumped down in the crate and closed my eyes, just for a moment.

Somehow, my prayers had been answered.

ZADDEN

I was too slow.

I watched in horror, unable to move, as though something was holding my hand back, pulling on my arm.

As the pirate raised her rifle and took aim at Emmery, everything in the world snapped back to real speed and my arm shot forward.

I fired, missed, pulled the trigger again, three more times.

Until the would-be assassin’s head exploded and her body crumpled to the ground.

Racing across the broken pavement, I hurtled over the wreckage of a burning air car and pulled Emmery from the crate.

“Are you okay?” I asked her quickly. She was in shock, and I could see blood oozing from a poorly patched hole in her leg.

She’d been shot.

My Emmery. Had been shot. And I hadn’t been there.

“Can you move?”

She nodded, but it seemed more mechanical than anything else. I picked her up and cradled her in my arms. “I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

It didn’t seem to work, though. Her eyes looked dead to me. I took a quick look around, then ran as fast as my legs would carry me. Shots continued ringing out from behind us, a few even ricocheted off the ground to the side.

That just spurred me on.

I had to get her to safety.

I didn’t bother trying for the trench, I headed straight for the rocks. My hope was that in there, the rocks would protect us and we would be able to either hide or use them for cover.

I raced into the rocky area and started up the rise, weaving in and out of the rock formations as I did so. A quick look back showed that we weren’t being followed, so after a few more yards, I found a small outcropping in the canyon wall that we could hide under and we stopped there.

I set Emmery down gently. “How are you? Are you okay?”

She shook her head, tears shining in her eyes. “My leg is starting to hurt again,” she said through a grimace. “And Lyari-”

“First things first. Let me take a look at that wound,” I said. I quickly set down my pack and looked at her leg. The foam bandage had held well enough, but it wasn’t designed to be anything more than a temporary, emergency fix.

“Let’s patch you up, and head in.”

She closed her mouth and nodded slowly. “How will you do it?”

Lynna would be able to take care of her better when we got back to the Star, and I would be able to do better work back in the cave.

But for now, another round of foam would keep her from bleeding, and the mild analgesic would dampen the pain.

Somewhat.

She hissed as the cold foam hit her skin.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, gathering her into my arms. She burrowed into my chest as I stroked her cheek, murmuring nonsense to her.

She pulled away from me after a few long moments. “We need to get back to the ship,” she said.

“We will, but,” I hesitated, almost certain of the answer that I didn’t want to hear. “What happened to Lyari.”

She closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath. “He’s dead,” she whispered. “He was killed trying to prote—” she let out a gasping sob as she spoke.

“Shh,” I whispered. “It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s not your fault. We all knew there was danger involved in this. Let’s get you back to the ship so his death isn’t wasted.”

She nodded as she tried to fight back the sobs. I stood, then helped her up. She stood gingerly on her leg, but managed to put some weight on it. “I’ll probably be slow,” she said apologetically.

“I’ll help you, as best as I can. I promise,” I told her as I quickly gathered my stuff. “Stand still,” I said as I grabbed the wrap. I quickly wrapped her leg tightly, hating myself when she grimaced in pain, but I had to keep it tight for now. It would help her walk if we kept it compressed.

“Ready?” I asked.

She nodded. We made our way down the trail, her using me as a pseudo-crutch until we arrived at the ledge. I went first and held her hand as I gently pulled her across next to me. She slipped once, but we made it across easily enough.

Her hand felt so small in my own. Her hands were tiny, yet powerful.

Tonight, she’d struck a blow against the Dominion, harder than I’d ever dreamed.

She adjusted her grip on my hand and I found myself imagining those nimble, clever fingers on my back, running up and down it as she lay next to me.

I had to shake my head to get my mind back on what we were doing. We neared the final, trickiest part of the trail.

I dropped lightly to the ground in front of her and helped her out of the shaft and to her feet. “How are you doing?” I asked.

“My leg still hurts,” she said.

“We need to keep moving,” I said. “Come on. You’re tougher than that.” I held out my hand and she took it.

“That wasn’t a very nice way to encourage me,” she said quietly as she limped along next to me.

I shrugged. “What can I say? I’m not a nice person.”

“Bullshit,” she said firmly. “You’re one of the nicest people I know. You’ve always been kind to me, and you’re the one that got me doing something other than sitting on the ship.”

I said nothing. We entered the cave and boarded the ship. A quick shake of the head told Elisen all he needed to know about Lyari.

He busied himself in the cargo bay as I led Emmery to her bunk. “Rest. I’ll be back to check on your leg in a few. Use this blocker.”

“But,” she started to protest. “I need to-”

“No,” I said with as much firmness as possible. “You need to rest the leg, and use the blocker. I’ll be back.”

I headed to the bridge.

“Wip, we’re back. Get us out of here,” I called as I walked in.

He shook his head at me and pointed up. When I raised my eyebrow in question, he clicked on the viewscreen.

Scro.

Teg’s ship hovered at the top of the shaft we had used.

“Umbba.”

EMMERY

The hiss of the blocker echoed through the small chamber, and with the release of pain, I leaned back against the wall.

It was done.

It was over.

But the engines hadn’t started powering up.

Gingerly, I slid out of the bunk, testing my leg. Better. With each step towards the bridge, the pain faded.

Now I was just worried.

“What do we do now?” Wip asked, deep creases of worry slashing across his forehead. “We’re not getting out through that shaft anytime soon. Teg and her pirates have us trapped.”

“I know,” Zadden hissed, raking one hand over his face as he stared at the viewscreen.

The ship hovered on top of the shaft with a kind of ironic grace, as if she knew she had us trapped. For a moment my imagination ran away with me. I could see pirates climbing down the rock chimney to start rushing down into the cavern, but none of that happened.

Apparently, Teg, whoever she was, wasn’t in a hurry to get to us.

“Maybe we can negotiate our way out of this.” Zadden offered.

“Negotiate?” Wip arched one eyebrow. “You do know that we’re dealing with Teg of the Gray Hawks here, don’t you? She’s not exactly the most reasonable person on this side of the galaxy, and we don’t really have much we can use to bargain with her.”

“I say we throw all we have at her,” Elisen growled, gripping his rifle so tightly I feared he would break it in half. I could tell he hadn’t taken the news of Lyari’s death well, and his eyes shone with a kind of deadly light, one that spoke of vengeance and little else. “If we’re going to die here, then I say we drag her into the darkness with us.”

“Trust me, my friend,” Zadden said, quickly turning around and laying one hand on the Gaed’s shoulder. “I know that Lyari and you were close, but we can’t abandon the mission now.”

“What mission?” he cried. “We’re trapped in here!”

“We’ll make it out of here,” Zadden insisted. “Alive. Lyari’s sacrifice has already happened...don’t let it be in vain.”

That seemed to finally convince Elisen. Even though he didn’t put his rifle down, his fingers finally relaxed and he let out a sigh. Shaking his head to himself, he sunk into his chair.

“Then what the hell do we do now?” he asked, looking around the small bridge. Zadden took a deep breath before replying, and I could tell he was trying to untangle all the possible solutions he could see to our problem.

“Wip, reach out to Teg and open a line of communication between our ships,” he finally said, his voice firm and resolute. “I know the odds are against us, but we’ll have to try and talk our way out of this.”

“No harm in trying, I guess,” Wip shrugged, already tapping the console in front of him, then swiveled his chair around and looked at Zadden as a woman’s voice filled our cockpit.

“Ready to surrender?” she growled, not bothering with any kind of niceties.

Whoever this Teg was, she certainly didn’t seem the kind of woman that liked negotiations. “You don’t have many options right now. It’s either me or the Dominion,” she continued.

“Look, this is all a misunderstanding,” Zadden started. He stood behind his own chair, gripping the headrest so tightly I could almost hear his muscles flexing. “We might have traded a few shots, but that doesn’t mean we’re here to stand in your way. You came after the power cores, and now you have them...just let us go. It’s not like we’re going to reach out to the Dominion and tell them about you.”

“I don’t give a scro about the Dominion. Do you think I’m afraid of them?”

“I know that you don’t like them. We don’t like them, either. We’re just trying to—”

“Aye, you’re trying to start a rebellion or some nonsense like that,” she cut Zadden short. “I don’t know who you guys are, but I respect the fact you were crazy enough to infiltrate a Dominion facility. Congratulations. Thing is, I was inclined to let you leave, but then I was told you murdered my first mate.”

“Your first mate? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know,” she hissed, the tension in her voice making it crack like a whip. She cared about her first mate, and that in a way that went beyond the comradery of a space pirate. “You know because you put a bolt in her skull.”

“I don’t…” Zadden trailed off then, his eyes widening as he suddenly realized who Teg was talking about.

He turned around to face me, and I immediately realized that Teg’s first mate had been the woman trying to kill me.

This wasn’t good. “Your first mate was about to murder one of my crew. I did what I had to do.”

“Aye, don’t we all?” she replied, a thin layer of amusement coating her thinly veiled anger. It was good we were deep in the cavern, because I was sure she’d blow us all to smithereens if we were within range of her weapons system.

“What do you want, then?”

“I want the power core that you have.”

“We can give you that.” Clenching his jaw, Zadden had to push the words past his gritted teeth. He had hauled the power core all this way only to give it away. At least we still had the schematics.

“That’s very agreeable of you,” Teg chuckled, her voice just like that of a predator toying with her prey. “But more than just the core, I want you, as well. You’re the one with blood in your hands, aren’t you? Give me the power core, surrender yourself, and I’ll let the rest of your crew go.”

Zadden didn’t say a word for a couple of heartbeats. He was struggling with his next words, and the mood inside the cockpit went from hopeful to somber.

“No, no way,” I whispered as my heart tightened, but Zadden just placed one hand on my shoulder and lowered his head. He was ready to sacrifice himself just so we could escape.

“We have a—”

I didn’t let him finish his sentence. Instead, I ducked under his arm and reached for Wip’s console. Before anyone could stop me, I closed the comms line between us and Teg’s pirate ship, the sound of static replacing her voice. “We’ve already lost one of us,” I said, remembering the confident and resolute way Lyari used to speak. “We’re not leaving you behind, Zadden. We’ll all return to the Rogue Star, as a crew, or we all die here tonight.”

“That’s a cute thought,” Wip said, “but I would really prefer not to die here, you know?”

“Then get us out of here,” I said.

“And how am I supposed to do that? They’re blocking the exit.”

“Zadden told me you were one of the best pilots in the galaxy,” I interrupted, never taking my eyes off his. “He told me you’ve been in situations like this before. He told me you were never captured. So don’t tell me you can’t get us out of here, because you can. Just get us out through the ground entrance.”

“The ground entrance?” Both his eyebrows shot up and his jaw grew slack. “That’s too tight. I’d have to keep the ship no more than a foot off the ground.”

“Are you telling me that you can’t do it?” I shrugged, turning my back to him. “I guess all those stories were just exaggeration.”

“I can’t believe I’m gonna do this,” he muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he turned back to the ship’s console. “And just so you know, I’m not an idiot. I know what you’re doing.”

“As long as it gets us out of here, I don’t care,” I snapped.

He grunted, fingers flying over the panel as he turned on the engines, and the whole fuselage started to rattle as energy poured into the thrusters. “Buckle up. This is going to be one wild ride.”

I rushed to my seat and, as I fastened my seatbelt, Zadden stood beside me. “Are you sure about this, Emmery?” he asked me, his face like a clear pool of water, his worry stamped on each line of his skin. “If I turn myself over to Teg, then maybe—”

“Then maybe she kills you, and then decides she wants to kill the rest of us, as well.” Reaching for his hand, I gave it a gentle squeeze. “It’ll be fine. Wip will get us out of here.”

With one quick nod, Zadden went to his seat.

Once Wip was sure everyone was sitting down and belted in, he gradually lifted the ship off the ground and started easing it toward the ground entrance. The pace was glacial, and I could tell Wip had never focused like this before.

Beads of sweat trickled down his neck, and he wasn’t even blinking. He was gripping the controls tightly, his whole body as tense as a nocked arrow.

“I see it!” he cried out, the ground entrance right ahead of us.

I held my breath until my lungs sobbed, afraid to do anything that might distract him. On the screens, we all watched the walls of the cavern as they closed around our hull, tighter and tighter.

Then finally, with a burst of speed, we were free.

The moment we were out of the cavern, Wip smashed his hand over the control panel and ordered the dual engines to unleash hell.

G-forces smashed me into my seat as we tore from the surface and headed straight for the upper atmosphere, the pirate ship on our tail.

“Hang on,” Wip shouted, his voice almost drowned out by the barrage of laser fire that chased us.

One lucky shot must have grazed our hull, and we shuddered, the power flickering as the shields faltered, then held.

“That was too close,” Zadden growled.

“You want to try flying this rust bucket?” Wip snapped as he flipped us into a series of barrel rolls, slowly, so slowly, getting distance between us and our pursuer.

“And that’s done it.”

The view screen filled with the twinkling lights of what looked to me like an entire Dominion fleet, bristling with guns.

But with a wrench of the controls, Wip took us vertical, straight into the blackness.

The Dominion fleet and the pirates started firing at each other mercilessly, and as we folded away, I let out a relieved sigh.

Somehow, we had survived.

ZADDEN

As my stomach returned to its natural position, I looked at Emmery strapped into her seat. She was a bit paler than usual, and her hands were gripping the arm-rests with such force that her knuckles were white.

I looked more closely at her and saw that she was clenching her jaw so much it shook slightly.

But she was here. She was alive. Everything else could be fixed.

“How are you holding up?” I asked.

The air fairly exploded from her lungs as she forced herself to breathe again. She looked at me with a bit of embarrassment and gave me a slight smile. “That was scary as hell,” she whispered, her voice not completely back yet.

I grinned a bit in agreement. “Wip is not necessarily known for his gentle flying techniques, but the only one that I know that’s better than him is Qal.” I wiggled my eyebrows. “And even that might be up for dispute.”

She just nodded as she tried to catch her breath.

I reached out and grabbed her hand reassuringly. “We’re safe now. Now it’s just a matter of getting back to the others.”

“Mm-hmm. Excuse me,” she said as she quickly unbuckled herself and ran to the back. She rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

I looked at Elisen, who managed a nod, then turned back to his thoughts, his expression falling. Lyari had been his closest friend, his brother, and he hadn’t been with him on our mission. The two of them had fought together, and Lyari had been killed away from him.

I tried to imagine what Elisen was feeling, but I couldn’t.

I had never had anyone that close to me. I had never allowed myself to let anyone be that close.

I never wanted to deal with the pain of losing them. It just wasn’t something that I wanted to deal with.

The concept of being that close to another person, it just seemed like something that was setting you up for pain.

I had no problem with having friends, but never friends that took up my thoughts and feelings to the point that I would lose control over myself.

But now there was her.

It was absurd to let yourself feel for another person so closely. If they were hurt, it compromised your feelings. If they were killed, it shut you down and made you ineffectual. If you somehow managed to continue with your duties, your effectiveness was hampered.

Like I’d been, when I thought I was too late to save her.

And now Elisen was torn. Bereft.

I might not have been close to Lyari, or known much about him, but any loss in the line of something honorable was a hard death to deal with.

And that’s what this was, an honorable mission. We were trying to end the Dominion’s arrogant, twisted control of the galaxy.

There was nothing I could do, nothing I could say, to help Elisen. And my mind wouldn’t leave the image of Emmery, her pale face stark against that crate.

Death moments from claiming her.

I’d almost been too late.

And we would have lost them both.

Shaking myself free from my thoughts, I went to the back to check on her, to see if she had gotten over her motion sickness. I found her in her quarters, sitting on her bunk, tears in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

She sniffled and rubbed at her eyes before looking up at me. “Nothing,” she answered. “I’m just, I don’t, I’m not really sure why I’m crying.”

I sat down next to her. “Everything’s catching up to you, huh?”

She nodded quickly.

“It’s okay,” I said as I patted her uninjured leg, fighting the urge to stroke it. “You were in your first real firefight, and you were hacking into a secure system, and you had a gun pointed at you, almost all at the same time. It’s natural to have a moment or six of panic after everything’s done.”

She bit her lip. “I was so scared when she pointed that gun at me. I was so sure that I was going to die.”

My chest tightened, remembering. “I know. But you didn’t. And that’s what you need to focus on.

She nodded and looked at me. I could see her struggling to hold her emotions in check, then she just couldn’t anymore. She began sobbing.

“Whoa, what’s the matter?”

Between sobs and gulps of breath, she gasped, “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m why Lyari is dead. I’m the reason he’s not here anymore. It’s all my fault.”

I grabbed her by the shoulders and held her gently. “No. No, you’re not the reason. I promise you.”

“He died protecting me,” she mumbled.

“And that was what he was supposed to do,” I said firmly. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine. I’m the one that left the two of you. But, to be honest, it’s not your fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not even Lyari’s fault.” Her chin quivered, but she needed to understand. “Yes, he could have done better at observing what was happening all around,” I said as I let her go and stood up. “But no one is ever perfect. Casualties happen in a firefight.” I looked down at her. “The real person at fault is whoever pulled the trigger. Not you, not me. Do you understand?”

She looked away from me and I could see that she didn’t believe my words. At least, not yet. “Did you get the schematics?” She nodded. “Did you plant the worm you needed to plant so we could access Dominion systems?” Another nod. “Then, the mission is a success. All we have to do is get back to the others and we’ve done our jobs.”

“But, someone DIED,” she yelled at me. “And they died keeping someone as insignificant as me alive.”

I had had enough. I reached down and pulled her to stand in front of me. “Don’t you dare do that. Don’t you dare,” I growled her. “You are not insignificant. Do you realize what you have just accomplished?” Her wide eyes refused to admit what I knew. What she knew. “You just gave us a back door into the Dominion computer systems, and at the same time got the schematics for a tool that will help protect us all. That’s something none of the rest of us could have done. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to take the next steps. That makes you extremely important to the team, to all of us.” I swallowed, throat tight. “To me.”

I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but her eyes told me the story. She didn’t believe me.

I needed her to believe me. I needed her to believe in herself and, for some reason, she didn’t.

She didn’t feel like she was significant, like she was worth something to us and to the rebellion.

I could see it in her eyes, and it rankled me.

My clever, beautiful mate.

She was worth everything. Worth every risk.

If words wouldn’t convince her, I’d have to keep trying.

Slowly, I lowered my face to hers, eyes fixed on her every expression. Her mouth opened, just a fraction, and a tiny pink triangle of tongue came out, licked her lips.

And I cracked.

My lips pressed roughly against hers, my tongue reached through and eased the seam of her mouth open, plunging into her sweet taste.

As our tongues wrestled against one another, rubbing, pulsing, I found myself wanting more.

Needing more.

I kissed her harder, as if I’d devour her, let my hands range over her back, down the soft curves of her sides.

I wanted all of her. To touch every micron of her skin. Taste her.

As I pulled her tighter against me, she shifted her weight, and I remembered.

Her leg.

Scro.

I broke away, panting.

“I’m sorry, Emmery. That was uncalled for.”

Her unfocused eyes blinked as I pulled myself back together, then stomped into the cargo bay and went to where we had hidden the power core.

How could I have lost control like that?

How could I have let myself do exactly what I had just condemned others for doing?

I had allowed myself to develop strong feelings for someone, and they were feelings that had made me want her and her alone.

That was a weakness. A vulnerability that I couldn’t afford.

That she couldn’t afford. Lyari’s death had shocked her. It would be selfish of me to tie her to my side, when at any time I could be the one that didn’t come home from a mission.

It would hurt her.

I couldn’t do it, wouldn’t do it.

I scrubbed my hand through my short hair, pulling my thoughts together.

I had to get away from her when we returned to the Rogue Star.

I’d keep well away, volunteer for every security mission, force my concentration to the work at hand.

Until then, I would focus my attention on what we needed to do within the ship until our return. I pulled the core out of the hiding place, grabbed a scanner, and started running tests on it.

Every test I ran, every measurement I took, would be transferred to one of Emmery’s computers, giving us more data and more information to play and learn with. This was useful.

Useful was good.

In the middle of one of my scans, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around.

Emmery stood there, regarding me with an unusual look in her eye.

Then, before I could say another word, she slid her hand up my chest, her fingers trailing fire.

“I don’t think we’re finished,” she breathed. “Do you?”

EMMERY

My mind was on fire, and so was my body.

I didn’t know what I was doing, but that didn’t really matter. My heart still felt heavy from the loss we had suffered, but Zadden’s lips had awoken something else inside me.

He had kissed me out of an impulse he was now regretting, that much I knew, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

I’d tried. I’d stayed in that cabin, trying to talk myself out of this. But it didn’t work.

I wanted him. And, more than that, I needed him. So, I followed him.

I felt his hands run down the sides of my body as we kissed, his tongue dancing in circles around my own. His touch was soft and gentle, but I could feel a kind of urgency lying dormant underneath that gentleness of his.

He wanted me just as much as I wanted him.

Pulling back from him, I rested my forehead against his chest and let a small smile spread across my lips. I didn't even open my eyes. I merely enjoyed the closeness of his body, and the way his large hands seemed to fit just right when lying on my hips.

“What are we doing?” he asked me, his voice nothing but a faint whisper against my hair. The sound of his words was enough for the hair on the back of my neck to stand up. He was still struggling, not sure how to reconcile what he wanted to do and what he thought he should do.

“Does it really matter?” I asked him in return, my eyelids fluttering open.

“We're here. We're alive. That's all that matters, right?” With that, I crushed my mouth against his once more. This time, there was nothing gentle about the way we kissed.

We surrendered to the sweet fire of desire, the smooth dance of our tongues quickly turning into a wrestling match, and my body started feeling like a furnace. I was boiling from the inside out, each cell inside my body begging for more of Zadden.

Where had such a desire come from?

Was I acting like this because I had stared death in the eyes and lived to tell the tale? Was this my way of releasing all that pent-up adrenaline inside me? Even though those explanations were the logical ones, I knew there was more to it all.

It started on that day when he first sat down next to me and issued his challenge. I ended up in his bedroom, coding like a maniac while he read, and I enjoyed every damn second of it.

It had been a simple start to our relationship but, somehow, it had also been the start we needed. Zadden was the kind of man I needed, one that pushed me to grow and was there to support me every step of the way.

My body wanted him, yes...but so did my heart.

His arms went around my waist, and I let out a small moan as his fingers dropped over the curve of my ass. Digging his fingers into my flesh, he pulled me into him, and I felt the hard length of his cock press against my belly.

My moan became deeper, the desire that burned inside me growing more violent with each passing second. Allowing that urgent desire to guide my movements, I put one hand to his waist and carefully traced the contour of his belt. I held my breath as I reached between his legs, and my heart became as tight as a fist as I finally pressed the open palm of my hand against the hard shape straining against his pants.

"I want you, Emmery," he growled, and I felt a shiver run up my spine as I processed his words. There was something about his tone of voice that left me in such an irrational state, one I was pretty sure I had never experienced before. With his cock still in my hand, I curled my fingers against the fabric and started moving my wrist, building up a rhythm. My hand ran up the whole length of his cock, from the base to the tip, and I felt my eyes roll in their orbits as I imagined how it would feel to have him inside me.

He was longer and thicker than any other man I had ever seen in all my teenaged “research”. And there was something different, something I could feel through the fabric, but couldn’t quite mentally picture.

Sure, I’d heard gossip. Anyone who hadn’t paired up with one of the Shein crew members had heard enough to know there were… differences.

But suddenly, I felt very, very uninformed.

I didn't even know if my body could physically handle Zadden. Not that I cared much about limits. If there were any, I wouldn't stop before I found them out. I simply wouldn't allow anything in the world to pull me apart from him.

I needed to have him, and I needed him to have me.

With both his hands back on my hips, Zadden suddenly pushed me until I had my back pressed against the wall. He closed the distance between the two of us fast, and once more he leaned into me. This time, though, his lips didn't come for mine. They landed on my neck, and he traced its contour with the tip of his tongue, going down until he reached my collarbone.

Laying soft kisses on my skin, he then grabbed my shirt by the hem and pulled it over my head. He took a step back to look at my half-naked body, flames of lust dancing in his eyes, and I reached for the clasp of my bra without thinking twice about what I was doing.

“I'm here,” I whispered as I undid the clasp, the cups of my bra falling from my breasts, “and I'm all yours.” Tugging on the bra, I let it float down from my chest to the floor, and it landed right at my feet. Pushing it away with the tip of my right foot, I then took one step toward Zadden and returned the favor, helping him pull his shirt over his head.

My eyes widened as I saw the muscles on his chest, all of them like the perfect creation of a master sculptor, and I felt a maddening heat take over the space between my legs. Had I ever wanted a man as much as I wanted Zadden? I doubted that. There was simply something about him that drove me completely mad with desire, and I was just surprised that I hadn't acted on that desire before. But now...now I wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste. No, I would seize it and make the most out of it.

"Are you sure that you—?"

"Hush," I whispered, placing my index finger over his lips. "We don't need to say a word." With that, I leaned in and started kissing his bare chest, feeling the contour of his pectorals with each kiss. I kept on going further down, my lips brushing against his wall of abs during their hike, and it didn't take long before I found myself down on my knees.

My nipples hardened as I looked at the massive shapes tenting his trousers, and something inside me compelled me forward. Without thinking twice about it, I reached for his primary cock and pressed on it with the open palm of my hand, feeling it throb against my fingers.

I dragged my teeth across my bottom lip and then, doing it as fast as I could, I hooked my fingers on his waistband and tugged his pants down, kneeling as I did so. His cock sprang free as his pants slid down his legs to his ankles, and my heart started racing so much its pounding resembled that of a war drum.

"You're so..." I trailed off, not even knowing how to put it into words. He was absolutely massive, his size unlike anything I had ever seen.

And there were two of them.

That just made me want him even more.

Curling my fingers around his thickness, I let out a small moan as I felt the warmth of his skin against mine. I leaned in and, reaching for him with the tip of my tongue, I lapped at the tip of his cock, as the smaller, more flexible, length writhed against my touch. I tasted the saltiness of it and, just a couple of seconds later, I had my lips wrapped around him. I wasn't even sure if he would fit in my mouth, but I didn't let that stop me.

Imagining what that would feel like when he was deep inside me, my breath caught, and I shuddered, a wave of pleasure spreading through me just from my imagination.

I rolled my lips down his whole length until I felt his tip pressed against the back of my throat, and then I grabbed his cock by the root. Bobbing my head up and down, I devoured it as I stroked him.

Resting his hands on top of my head, he guided my movements softly, ensuring I wasn't going too fast or too slow. I quickly settled into the perfect rhythm, and the sound of his lustful groans soon started filling the cramped cargo bay we were in. That made me go faster and faster, and now, he didn't try to impose a rhythm.

My mouth drove him to the edge of pleasure’s cliff and, once his cock started throbbing against my tongue, I knew that he was close. I was more than ready to push him down that cliff, to have him explode in my mouth, when he gently slid his cock out of my mouth. I looked up at him and found nothing but hunger in his eyes.

“Tired already?” I teased him, running my fingers up to my breasts as I spoke. He watched me do it with his lips slightly parted, his eyes wide and unfocused.

“Not tired,” he finally replied. “We’re just getting started, Emmery.”

ZADDEN

I knew it was wrong.

My mind warned me against it, my thoughts whispering that I should pull back and run away, but my heart and body ensured I remained firmly rooted in place. I couldn't move away from Emmery, not after she had offered me a kind of pleasure I didn’t even know existed.

Now all I wanted to do was return the favor.

I would deal with the fallout later.

"Come here," I said, holding her by the hand and pulling her up to her feet. She rose gingerly, pushing her hair out of her face with one hand, and her eyes immediately landed on my lips. I placed one hand on the nape of her neck and pulled her toward me, my lips immediately rushing down to meet hers. I gave wings to the frenzied lust that had taken over me as I kissed her, our tongues meeting once more.

My hands roamed up and down the sides of her body as we surrendered to our frenzied kiss, and I savored the smoothness of her skin with nothing but my fingertips. It didn't take long, though, before my hands were drawn to her perfectly shaped breasts. I brushed the palms of my hands against her hard nipples, my fingers gently massaging her tender skin, and I quickly realized that my hands wouldn't be enough to experience the tender pleasures of her breasts.

Forcing my lips to leave hers, I laid gentle kisses down her jaw and neckline as I traced a downward path toward her rosy nipples. I climbed the rising curve of her breasts with the patience of a man that knew he had all the time in the world, but it didn't take long before I had my lips wrapped around her right bud. I sucked it into my mouth easily and, using the tip of my tongue, I lapped at it as if I needed to do it in order to survive.

She let out a small moan as I caressed her nipple, and that just drove me even crazier than I already was. Just the sound of her voice had a powerful effect on me, and I didn't know what to make of it. Somehow, Emmery held more power over me than she imagined.

How could she not? She was perfect.

From the barely noticeable freckles that dotted her nose, to the way slight dimples formed on the corner of her lips whenever she smiled, she was the most beautiful woman to ever draw breath in this cursed universe. I knew it deep in my bones, and no one would be able to convince me of the contrary.

Giving wings to that crazed lust inside me, I reached between her legs and pressed my hand against that sweet spot. She moaned once more, her whole body trembling slightly, and I decided to go one step further. Sliding my hand under the waistband of her pants, I brushed my fingers against her underwear and smiled as I felt the fabric was completely drenched.

I pushed the thin barrier to the side without a moment's hesitation and ran my index finger up the length of her wetness until I found the tight bundle of nerves at the top. She gasped with pleasure, and that just motivated me to hear more of her voice. I wanted to make her gasp, moan, and scream. I wanted to conduct her voice like one would conduct a symphony. I wanted her to experience so much pleasure she wouldn't even believe that this was happening for real.

And the best thing was, I'd only be returning the favor.

"More," she groaned. "I want more. I want it all."

"And you'll have it," I said, removing my hand from her pussy and grabbing her pants. She kicked off her boots as I tugged her pants down and, as she stepped out of them, she took a step back and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Like what you see?" she asked me while, at the same time, she started pushing her panties down her legs. She swayed her lips as the wet fabric of her underwear made its way toward her ankles, and then she ran the tip of her tongue over her lips in a teasing gesture.

"What do you think?" I said in a low whisper, the thrill and fire of desire coating every word that left my lips. My gaze took in every single detail of her nakedness, from her tapered waist to the way her inner thighs glistened from her juices, and I inevitably found myself drawn to that sweet patch of pink skin right between her legs.

Without a word, I closed the distance between us. My hand returned to her pussy once more and, pushing all hesitancy aside, I parted her lips with one finger and slid it inside her. I curled it upward like a hook, only stopping when I found a sweet spot hidden inside her, one that made her cry out in ecstasy.

She grabbed my wrist then, instinct controlling her, and urged me to push one more finger inside her. I did it willingly, pressing both of them against that hidden crevice inside her body, and I quickly found her pussy tightening around my fingers. Her whole body was as warm as a bonfire, and the way she moaned against my chest was the most beautiful thing I had ever experienced.

Using my thumb, I started massaging her clit while my two fingers kept on stroking her insides. She swayed her lips in an out of control manner and, when she finally held my wrist with both her hands, I knew she was about to come undone.

And come undone she did.

"Fuck," she breathed out, throwing her head back and closing her eyes as she came around my fingers. I grinned as I felt her inner walls twitching strongly against my fingers, and only when I was sure her wave of pleasure had already started to recede did I pull back from her.

"We're not done yet," she told me right away, almost as if she was afraid I was about to leave. I wasn't.

"I know that," I said. “We’re far from being done.”

A wild grin took over her lips then, and she took one step toward me. Before she could close the distance between us, I rested both my hands on her hips and pushed her back until she was once more pinned against the wall.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I whispered into her ear, and the moan she let out as a reply made a white heat spread all over my body. I nibbled at her earlobe gently, tugging at it with my teeth, and then allowed my lips to wander down to her neck. I traced its fragile contour with as much delicacy as I could, relishing her scent and flavor, and found myself growing increasingly hungrier. I needed all that she had to offer. I needed to devour her.

Laying gentle kisses on her collarbone, I made my way to her breasts, her hard nipples calling to me. I slid the tip of my tongue over the rising curve of her right breast, and then closed my eyes as I wrapped my lips around her nipple and sucked it into my mouth. I lapped at it with my tongue, enjoying how it grew ever harder, and used one hand to carefully massage her left breast, my fingers shaping her tender flesh.

“So good,” she breathed out, her tone a mellow one.

“And it’ll get even better,” I promised her. Allowing my tongue to slide down from her breast, I then went down on one knee and brought my mouth to her belly. With her milky skin being the only landscape my eyes could see, I felt my two cocks become so hard that it started becoming hard to think straight. I forgot all about the dangers we had been through, I forgot all about the mission…the only thing that mattered in that moment was her body. It was pure perfection, the one true temple to whatever beauty existed in the universe.

“Yes,” she moaned softly, both her hands now resting on my head. I could feel the barely noticeable pressure of her fingers as she urged me to keep on going further down, and I didn’t dare resist it. I inched down from her belly as slowly as I could, my tongue tracing a downward line to that sweetness between her legs, but then I made a quick detour. I went straight to her inner thighs, careful to avoid what I really wanted to taste, and used my tongue to tease her. I kissed her skin, nibbled at it, but never went for the kill. No, I wanted her to need it as much as she needed the air to breathe.

It didn’t take long.

Thrusting her hips forward, she tried to control my head by holding it with both her hands This time, I offered no resistance. Except, instead of rushing in like I really wanted to do, I decided to keep my slow and tender pace. Using nothing but the tip of my tongue, I brushed it against her delicate pink folds and ran it across their length, only pulling away when her voice turned into a quivering gasp. Knowing I had hit her clitoris, I pressed down on it with my tongue and pulled back once more.

“You’re the most wonderful thing I’ve ever tasted,” I told her, looking up and into her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered open for an instant, and that was enough for me to know it was time for me to stop holding back. She needed me to devour her, and there was no time to lose.

Allowing a grin to tug at the corners of my lips, I opened my mouth wide and pressed it against that sweet wetness of hers. I closed my eyes as I sucked her inner lips into my mouth, the flavor of her juices coating my tongue like a true delicacy.

Keeping one hand on her ass, just to make sure I controlled the movement of her hips, I let the other move to my primary cock. I felt it throb almost violently against my fingers and, no rhyme or reason to what I was doing, I started stroking myself as I used both my lips and tongue to devour her. My tongue ran up and down the length of her pussy, my lips sucking on her folds, and all that while I kept my mouth tightly pressed against her.

I stroked myself so hard that I could see flames dancing behind my shut eyelids, and I only eased up when I felt myself on the verge of coming. It was hard to stop, but somehow, I managed to control myself. It was pure bliss to eat her sweet little pussy, but I knew this was nothing but an appetizer. The main meal would come later. Still, even though I didn’t want to come just yet, that didn’t mean she couldn’t.

Taking my hand off my cock, I pressed my forearm against her waist and let my hand drop down to between her legs. I reached for her clit with two fingers and, massaging it while I kept on lapping at her pussy, I controlled the ebb and flow of all that pleasure swirling inside her.

Arching her back, she let out a throaty scream. She thrust so wildly that I knew she was about to plunge headfirst into an ocean of pure ecstasy, and the only thing she needed was a little push. I was more than happy to give her one.

Ravaging her with my mouth, I brought my free hand to her pussy and, without a moment’s hesitation, slid two fingers inside her. Her body tensed up in a fraction of a second, almost as if lightning had struck her, and then she went limp all of a sudden. Still with her juices inside my mouth, her flavor enough to make me dizzy, I quickly stood up and held her before she fell.

“Are you alright?” I asked her quietly, pushing her hair away from her face. She took two deep breaths before opening her eyes, and only then did she reply.

“I’ve never been better.” Her words came out as a whisper, her words as mellow and sweet as honey. “Now I want the real thing,” she continued, reaching down to grab one of my cocks.

That was it for me.

I couldn’t hold back any longer.

Looking straight into her eyes, I pushed her against the wall and rested my forehead against hers. Then, allowing my hands to go down the curve of her ass, I dug my fingers into her flesh and pulled her up and toward me. Reacting on pure instinct, she laced her legs around my waist and threw her arms around my neck.

I pinned her against the wall, holding her up with nothing but my hands, and held my breath as I felt the tip of my primary cock brush against her inner lips. Knowing exactly what I had to do, I started lowering her over my cock, my thickness pushing her pussy open as I started easing myself inside her, the secondary cock rubbing back and forth against her clit.

She didn't even moan or gasp. She just threw her head back once more and, even though her mouth was open, no sound left the space between her lips. Her expression was one of pure ecstasy, the wrinkles around her eyes growing deep as the sweet agony on her face took over.

"I want you so much," I whispered against her lips as I sheathed my cock to the hilt.

"Then prove it," she breathed out.

Smiling, I didn't reply.

At least not with words.

I started building a rhythm with my hips, thrusting while I kissed her, and did my best to ensure every single second of those moments would be permanently engraved on my mind. I didn't know what the future held, but I was absolutely sure that it'd be a sin to forget moments like this.

Neither of us said anything as our bodies became one. Our senses of self vanished like they had never existed in the first place, and our bodies quickly synched up their rhythm as that feeling of sweet surrender blanketed us. I took over her body in the same manner a man would throw himself into a pool of clear water after a long journey across the desert. And she...she took over my soul, every moan that left her lips like a sharp hook that lodged itself deep inside me.

Closing my eyes, I let all thoughts that still lived inside my head fade into nothing, and I let the moment carry me away. I could already feel her inner walls becoming tighter and tighter around my cock, the crazed sway of her hips a powerful aphrodisiac, and I quickly realized I wouldn’t last long.

“I’m going to come,” she warned me, her lips against my ear.

“Then come. Come for me.”

We both exploded at the same time, our voices blending into a chorus as pleasure turned into sound. My cock twitched against her inner walls as I spilled my seed inside her and, in that moment, I realized I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t even care if all of it was a mistake, or if I wasn’t the kind of man Emmery needed in her life

“Zadden,” she whispered, her skin glowing with a beautiful afterglow. “That was…”

“Perfect,” I finished her sentence. “That was perfect.”

“Yes,” she nodded, smiling. “It was.”

EMMERY

“We’re landing in five,” Wip announced over the ship’s intercom. “Time to strap in.”

Zadden and I were lying down in bed in one of the sleeping quarters, while Elisen rested on the other. We were already dressed, but that didn’t mean there was no longer any intimacy between the two of us. My body was pressed tight against his and my head was resting on his chest.

Slowly, Zadden ran his fingers through my hair, his touch soothing and relaxing.

“Almost there,” he whispered, and I slowly pushed myself off the mattress and sat up. Looking at him, I offered him a smile and laid my hand on top of his. He returned my smile, but I immediately noticed something odd in it. Was it regret? I knew Zadden had fought against his urges before he finally surrendered to what we both wanted to do, but now I wasn’t entirely sure of what he was thinking.

“Almost there, yes,” I echoed, no longer sure what I should say. The only thing I was sure of was that I needed more of him. I wanted to share my bed with him, and I wanted to offer him both my body and heart.

I wanted this partnership to last.

I just didn’t know if he wanted the same.

An answer for that would have to wait, though. Wip was an extremely good pilot, no doubt about it, but we still needed to strap ourselves in before he could start our descent through the atmosphere.

We left the sleeping quarters together, and warm blood rushed to my cheeks as we met Elisen in the cramped corridor that led to the cockpit. He didn’t seem to care about the fact he had just seen me and Zadden leave a room together. His eyes were hazy and he looked tired. It would take him some time to process Lyari’s death, that was for sure. I couldn’t blame him. Lyari’s death and sacrifice were something I would never forget.

The three of us made our way to the cockpit together and, once we were strapped in, Wip started his descent. The ship rocked heavily as we cut through the atmosphere, but this time I no longer felt nervous. I had seen what Wip could do and I trusted him as a pilot more than anyone else.

Once we cut through the clouds and burst into skies of the purest blue I had ever seen, I let a smile spread across my lips. What had looked like a suicide mission had, against all odds, turned into a massive victory for the rebellion. The Gaed now had a fully functioning power core and the schematics needed to build more of them. Not only that but, if my sleeper software worked as planned, we would soon be able to access the Dominion’s central computers remotely. I didn’t know what kind of information we would gain by doing that, but I was positive that we’d find something juicy that would justify the shitstorm we had been through.

Small Gaed ships, all of them part of the military, suddenly appeared around us. I tensed up for a second, but then relaxed as I realized they were only there to ensure we weren’t being chased by the Dominion, and to escort us to the hangar.

Patiently, Wip followed after them and, just a few minutes later, we were docking right next to the Rogue Star.

I unfastened my seatbelt with trembling fingers, barely believing I had returned alive. I had survived a firefight between the Dominion and space pirates, had a gun pointed at my head, and had been shot in the leg. And yet, here I was. Alive.

As Wip lowered the ramp, our tiny crew headed out of the ship. We were all exhausted and still grieving for Lyari, but the expressions on our faces told the group waiting for us in the hangar that we had accomplished our mission. There was a small crowd waiting for us but, aside from Dejar and Aavat, everyone was a Gaed.

“Where’s Lyari?” Dejar asked us as we finally climbed down the ramp, and Zadden merely looked down and shook his head. Addressing the Gaed, Elisen took it upon himself to deliver the news. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, especially for him, but I knew he felt it to be his duty.

I wanted to say something to Zadden before he had to go and file his report, but Dejar started dragging him toward the Rogue Star before I could do anything. Aavat remained behind, though, and he made a beeline toward me. “Please tell me you’ve got the schematics,” he said with an anxious expression. He only relaxed when I smiled.

Sure, my leg throbbed, just a bit, enough to remind me that I really, really needed someone with actual medical training to take a look at it.

But right now, it felt too good to be needed. To have done my job, and done it well.

“Not only that, but we also brought a fully functioning power core with us. Zadden had to drag the damn thing out of the facility during a firefight.”

“That’s amazing,” he sighed with relief. “What about the Dominion central hack? Any progress there?”

“What do you think?” I found myself saying. I had never been confident around the aliens, even after we’d been with the Shein for months. But, after being through hell and back, I simply couldn’t help having a little of my old sass back. “I left my worm in their network, and now all we have to do is activate it. We’ll have full access to the Dominion central as soon as you want me to do it.”

Aavat glanced at my leg appraisingly. “When would you be ready?” I snorted to myself. It wasn’t like I was some sort of action hero, too tough to get hurt.

And Aavat, if the whispers I’d heard about his past were true, would certainly be able to see through my bravado.

Still, some things were important. Too important to wait.

“What about now?” Without waiting for my reply, he placed one hand on my lower back and started nudging me toward the Rogue Star. I might have preferred a shower and a meal before sitting down behind a keyboard once more, but I wasn’t really bothered by Aavat’s urgency. I knew that the success of the rebellion hung in the balance, and we simply couldn’t waste any time.

I followed Aavat into my small office aboard the Rogue Star, and it only took me a few minutes to boot up my system. Cracking my knuckles, I started doing all the prep work I needed to do before activating the sleeper software in my worm.

“You’ve got skills,” Aavat nodded approvingly as he watched me work. I smiled at his words, but my fingers never stopped hammering at the keyboard.

“Thank you,” I muttered, finally gaining access to the worm I had left behind. “We’re all set now. Say the word and I’ll activate the sleeper program.”

“Do it.”

With one push of a button, I forced the program to start working and marveled as it gained access to the Dominion’s central network and started attaching itself to every file and piece of information it could. Numbers littered my screens as the information we unlocked started appearing, and I let my smile turn into a proud grin.

I had done the impossible. I’d been mostly sure I could pull it off. Almost mostly sure.

But it had worked.

“This is amazing,” Aavat said. “I can’t believe you pulled this off.”

“I did what I could.” I did my best to sound humble, but it was almost impossible to do. I was super-proud of what I had managed to do, and happy about the fact that my work would help the rebellion move forward with its plans. “Now, this doesn’t mean we’ll have access to everything in the Dominion. Their central is only used for non-military purposes, as they keep their military network completely isolated, but I think you’ll find a lot of useful information in here.”

“You think?” he asked me with a chuckle. “I’m pretty sure we’ll have more than just a lot of useful information. This is a gamechanger, Emmery.”

Mission accomplished, I thought.

Still smiling, I took a deep breath and leaned back in my seat, and just then, my leg reminded me that brilliant code or not, there was something I still needed to do.

“If you’ll excuse me,” I said getting up from my screen. “I have to go to see the doctor about some wounds.”

ZADDEN

“Welcome back,” Dejar said, sitting down heavily at his desk. He looked tired. It had been a long time since our biggest worries were smuggling cargo, or sneaking past a patrol. “I read your report.”

I nodded. There was nothing more to add.

“It looks like you went in more than once at great personal risk to yourself,” he said, leaning back.

“I was the leader,” I said to him. “I did what you would do.”

“And yet, each time you risked yourself, it was for the same person.”

I looked to the floor.

“Emmery,” Dejar said simply.

I looked up at him.

“There was no way I was leaving her behind!” I exclaimed. “I had to do what I had to do--”

“When you realized you loved her,” Dejar said simply.

I paused, shocked by what he said.

“You love Emmery. It’s as clear to me and Aavat as the rules on the wall of a Tyosian nightclub. You may not acknowledge it yet, my friend, but you’re so in love with this woman it’s coming out of your skin.”

“That bad?” I asked.

Dejar smiled.

“You tell me if that’s a bad thing.”

I thought for a moment.

“There may be instances where a mission is put in danger if it’s a choice between the mission and Emmery,” Dejar said to me. “What kind of choice would you make in that instance?”

I thought hard on his question.

I would never risk or give up the safety of my crewmates.

But the more I thought about Emmery, the more I realized that I would do anything to protect her. Here was a woman that I did not like looking upset, so I had invited her to crack my personal security protocols. Would I risk dropping everything and everyone for her?

“It’s a hard question, isn’t it?” Dejar said with a smile.

“What would you do if Commander Kalyn were involved?” I asked.

Dejar smiled ruefully.

“I’d like to say that by privilege of sitting in this chair I can get away from answering that question, but I won’t,” he said to me. “Because it’s entirely valid for everyone that relies on us, Zadden. If Kalyn were hurt or anything were to happen to us, I have no idea if I would even be in the right mental state to command this ship. Who knows if I would be thinking rationally? I certainly don’t think I would be.”

“So, having a relationship in this type of proximity is not a wise decision?” I asked, shoulders slumped. I’d been wrestling with this ever since we’d gotten back.

Spending time with Emmery, being lucky enough to be near her, to touch her, was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

But if my emotional entanglement put her or the rebellion at risk, I should stay away.

“Being with Kalyn is probably the wisest thing I’ve done in my life,” Dejar retorted with a laugh. “I’d be nowhere without Kalyn. She challenges me on a level that I can tell has made me a better man. We fit so well together that I know the ship and crew have benefited.”

I was confused. It seemed like a relationship wasn’t a good idea. Until it was. Until it wasn’t.

“I can’t tell you not to pursue a relationship with Emmery,” Dejar said to me. “It’s not my place as your commander, and as your friend I would never do that. But it’s important you understand the dangers and risks that you face as you go into it. Like it or not, our lives have gotten a lot more dangerous. That means that you expand the target by another person when you choose to entwine yourself and fall in love with another being. There’s more chance of getting hurt.”

I nodded.

“But,” he continued, “you’ll find yourself stronger. You’ll find yourself more like you than you’ve ever been before. When it really works out with two people, the results are nothing short of extraordinary. You take the very best of both people and you create a force of nature that nearly nothing can stop. No obstacle becomes insurmountable. No problem is too big.”

“The greater the risk and the greater the reward,” I said to him.

Dejar nodded.

“You gamble with your heart,” he replied. “If you lose, it’ll break. But if you win, then everything changes. It’s an endless adventure that you will never experience no matter how far and how long you travel in space. It will change your life. Forever.”

I sat back.

That was quite the pep talk that Dejar had given me.

“I wanted to make sure that you knew all the facts going in,” he said with a wink.

“Thank you,” I said with a snort. “I’m well aware of the facts of life.”

Dejar laughed.

We had fallen out of the momentarily solemn and serious mood we had fallen in.

“I’m sure you are. For now,” he said slowly. “Get some rest. I’ll discuss your report with Aavat, Jial, and the Gaed officials and inform you of what we decide.”

“Sir,” I said as I stood and left the office. I headed to my quarters and sat down on my bunk, my head in my hands.

We had succeeded, but it cost us.

Had my decisions been clouded by my attraction to Emmery?

Would I have made the same decisions if it had been someone else on the mission in lieu of her? Would I have gone back? Would I have fought as hard as I did? If it came to a point where I had to sacrifice a team member for the good of the mission, would I have done so if it had been her?

Those were the thoughts that clouded my mind as I lay down to sleep. They made me question whether I was a suitable leader. Would I ever have the mental fortitude to continue leading missions in this war against the Dominion?

And then, the fog of doubt cleared. At the end of it was clarity.

And Emmery.

I was fighting for her.

I was fighting for us.

EMMERY

“Are you looking for Xyla?”

I spun on my heels to see Hanna looking at me with a curious expression on her face. One of the youngest members of the Rogue Star’s female crew, she was one of the few women I still didn’t know that well. Reserved and quiet, she usually kept to herself. The few times I had talked to her, though, she had always shown herself as someone sweet and kind.

“I am, yes,” I nodded. I had been looking for Xyla all over the Rogue Star, anxious to tell her about everything I had been through, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. Hanna had caught me standing outside Xyla’s door right after I had knocked on her door again. “I can’t seem to find her anywhere.”

“That’s because she isn’t on the ship.” She smiled as she said it, her smile a sweet one. “No one really knows where she went, though. Sorry.”

“Really?” I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, trying to process what Hanna was telling me. Why would Xyla leave the Rogue Star? Maybe her new boyfriend would know about her whereabouts. “What about Gallus? Is he around?”

“No, sorry.” Scratching the back of her head, she hesitated before continuing. “All I know is that Xyla left with Gallus, Aryn, Kovor, and some of the Gaed. No one really knows where they went, but rumor has it that they went on a mission to secure some help for the rebellion.”

“Oh, I see.” Pursing my lips, I ran one hand through my hair as I digested that piece of information. It made sense for Xyla to be sent on an alliance-building mission. She had been the face that had set this whole thing in motion, and she would make a kickass diplomat.

I was sad she wasn’t around, but I was also satisfied with the fact that she had found a role she would enjoy. Besides, if she was with Gallus, I was pretty sure she was having the time of her life. No matter how much she tried to avoid telling me what was going on, everyone knew those two couldn’t be apart for more than a night. “What about—”

“Paila? She left with Wyann.”

“On a mission?”

“I have no idea,” Hana shrugged. “No one really knows where those two went, but I guess that you’re right. They must have gone on a mission of some sort. I figure Dejar is trying to keep a lid on things, you know? Just so that we don’t have the rebellion’s plans being known by the whole galaxy. Makes sense, if you ask me.”

“I suppose it does.” I felt sad that I wouldn’t have any of my close friends around to share my story with, but it couldn’t be helped. They were some of the most capable persons I knew, and the rebellion needed people like them. If we were to have a real shot at toppling the Dominion, everyone would have to pitch in and do their best. “Thank you, Hanna. See you around?”

“See you around,” she nodded happily, and then disappeared down the corridor with a spring to her step.

It was amazing how we, the women of Persephone Station, had adapted to our new lives. While we had been scared at first, we had now found enough courage to make a stand for what we believed was right. Even though fate had made a lot of choices for us, we were finally calling the shots once more. We were no longer on the defensive...now we were going on the offensive.

Smiling at that thought, I turned my back to Xyla’s door and started making my way to my own quarters. Once inside, I threw myself on top of the bed and stared at the ceiling, my muscles as heavy as lead. There was a bandage wrapped around my leg, a gift bestowed upon me by a Gaed doctor that was lounging by the hangar, and I touched it with my fingers. There was still some pain, but I was confident it would go away in the coming days.

What I was sure wouldn’t go away were my feelings for Zadden.

What had happened between the two of us was proof that we both wanted the same, and yet...I still hadn’t seen Zadden after our return to the Rogue Star. I knew he was probably busy, what with Dejar wanting to know every single detail of our operation, but I couldn’t help but think that he was also avoiding me.

But why would Zadden do such a thing?

I knew that he cared for me, and I knew that he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. Unless, of course, I was looking at things through rose-colored glasses and what had happened had been nothing more than a one-time thing. My stomach lurched as I thought of that. Could it be possible? Yes, of course it could.

Sighing, I got undressed and then slid underneath the covers. The warmth of my bed made me relax slightly, but I was still feeling anxious about Zadden. Even though I was so exhausted my whole body felt as heavy as the Rogue Star itself, I still found it hard to fall asleep. Every time I closed my eyes, my mind immediately drifted back to Zadden, and the memories of those moments we had shared in the cargo bay lit up my mind like lightning cutting through the darkness during a furious storm.

What if he was mad at me?

Maybe it was something I had done? Maybe, despite his kind words, he blamed me for Lyari’s death? No, that couldn’t possibly be it. Even if Zadden didn’t feel the same thing I did, he wasn’t the kind of person to tell me something that wasn’t the truth. I had no idea what was going through his head, but I trusted him to be the man I had gotten to know.

The man I had fallen in love with.

ZADDEN

It was morning, but I had already been awake for a few hours, lying in bed and thinking.

What was I supposed to do? I had fallen asleep thinking about Emmery, had dreamed about her, and woke up thinking about her. She was unlike anyone that I had ever come across, and that worried me.

I had silently judged other people for doing exactly this, for allowing themselves to feel so strongly for someone that that person occupied all their thoughts. I had chastised my compatriots to myself over the last year for allowing themselves to become so enamored with a single person that they took themselves away from others.

I had always thought people like that were fools. And now I had joined their ranks. I was a fool.

And, for some reason, I was happy with the idea.

The concept of being with Emmery suddenly was the only logical choice. I had originally thought of her just as another woman, just someone that I might take out one night.

But, the more I got to know her, the more I got to spend time with her, the more I started thinking about her as someone different.

Someone special.

Mine.

And that was worth getting out of bed for.

Once I was clean, I made my way to the kitchen and started helping Sars out with the morning meal. As we cooked, I tried my best to keep my mind off Emmery and on what I was supposed to be doing. I knew that I was still facing the possibility of punishment for my decision that resulted in Lyari’s death.

I focused on cutting the vegetables, making sure that they were all cut as evenly as possible so they would cook properly. Once they were finished, I moved on to the preparation of the eggs and the biscuit batter. If the batter wasn’t constructed correctly, the biscuits wouldn’t rise properly and would become thick, chewy, and undercooked in the center.

Once I was finished with the batter, I made sure that the eggs were properly prepared, with several bowls of egg whites for those that had been converted by the women, lots of pre-scrambled, pre-seasoned, and basic eggs.

Sars was busy preparing the various meats that would go into the breakfast. He was very good at what he did, and it was a sincere pleasure to watch him work. I was good with a knife and was able to filet and cut every cut of meat handed to me. Yet, no matter how good I was, Sars was faster, more precise, and somehow knew exactly what spices went together for each cut of meat. Plus, he also had most of the crew’s preferences memorized, so when we came for our food, it was already flavored and cooked the way we liked.

“Zadden.” I turned to find Aavat leaning into the kitchen. “When you’re done, or when Sars lets you go, come sit with me.”

I nodded, then looked at Sars. He shrugged. “Cook up his food and yours, then go talk. I won’t leave one of the leaders waiting.”

I grinned. I turned back to Aavat. “Just a few minutes,” I said. He nodded and left as I began firing up the grills and griddles. “Full flame?”

Sars looked at the clock on the wall. He nodded. “Yep. We’re a few minutes behind schedule, better get that grill good and hot quick.”

When Sars first let me work with him, we stepped all over one another and argued. But after a few weeks, and a few minor concessions from each of us, we learned one another’s little idiosyncrasies and started to work like a machine.

As crew began to shuffle in for their food, very few of them had to wait for their food, and those were the ones with the special orders. Otherwise, the food was almost always out quickly, and always fresh off the flame.

As we got ourselves into that flow where Sars could handle it with minimal help from the rest of the kitchen crew, I quickly finished cooking up Aavat’s and my meals. When they were finished, I took the food into the dining hall and sat down with Aavat.

“Thanks,” he said as he looked at his meal. “Treme mushrooms? Where did you find Treme mushrooms?”

I shrugged. “I didn’t. Sars must have gotten them.”

The smile that hit Aavat’s face as he rubbed his hands together before grabbing his cutlery and diving into his meal was infectious. I let out a light chuckle and began eating, as well.

“We need to talk,” he said through a mouthful of food.

I nodded over my own bite. “I accept any punishment you deem fitting.”

He stopped chewing and looked at me as if I had said something weird. Then, he seemed to catch on and shook his head. “Get over that. It happened. It’s sad, but we need to move on. I wanted to talk to you about another job.”

I tried to say “Oh?”, but failed as I nearly choked on some of my food. Aavat snorted just before he took another bite.

“Let me know when you learn how to eat again,” he said. “Until then, listen. Your lady found some extra information when she got the power core plans and we were able to decrypt one of the files. It’s a communique between a Dominion official and a manufacturer about a new type of ship, a small fighter-type that’s supposed to be heavily armored yet nimble as kopa.”

“No plans?”

He shook his head. “Just communications and a payment schedule so far. We’re assuming that the plans for the fighter are with the manufacturer.”

“Why me?”

“He’s an old client of yours,” came the answer.

Before I could respond, Qal came running over. “Aavat, we may have a problem,” he said as he caught his breath.

“What?”

“Reports have just come in. Zolla-T isn’t answering hails.”

The news hit all of us within range of his voice like a slap to the face. As the news cycled through the dining hall, murmurs of anger and confusion began to fill the air.

Zolla-T might not have been a paradise, but it was known as a place where you could go for good food, better parts, and miserable treatment from Zolla. But, if you really knew Zolla, you knew that if she treated you nicely, it was because she didn’t like you and wanted you to leave.

Her rashness, her bad behavior, her threats—those were all acts of, well, you couldn’t really call them love, but they were her ways of loving you. She always wanted you to be better and not be stupid, so she yelled at you to not be stupid.

“What’s going on?” Aavat asked.

Qal shook his head. “Reports are conflicted. Lots of rumors.” He looked down. “One story’s that it burned, and no one made it out.”

“Kout! Kouting scro!” I quietly echoed Aavat’s curses. This was bad.

“Any reports of who, or what, is responsible?” I asked.

Qal shook his head. “No, nothing yet.”

Aavat looked at me. “We’ll finish our conversation later.” I nodded. He got to his feet and left with Qal.

The dining hall was filled with curses, promises to get revenge, and accusations against the Dominion, who obviously had to be responsible.

I wasn’t entirely against the accusations, but I also knew that there were other possibilities, even if they weren’t terribly likely.

I glanced around the hall. Emmery sat with a group of other women, but her eyes were fixed on me.

My chest pulled towards her, as if we were tied with a physical bond. “Zadden. Is it true?” she whispered as I sat down next to her.

“Qal’s finding out,” I answered. “But it sounds like something did happen, yes.”

“Oh my god, that’s terrible.” She bit her lip. “Who would do that? What if someone is going after our friends?”

“Then that gives us all the more reason to shut down the Dominion.” She nodded, and I covered her hand with mine. “Listen, I want to apologize for yesterday. I wasn’t trying to avoid you, I was just caught up in everything that needed to be done after we returned. How’s your leg?”

“It’s okay,” she said. Her voice sounded sincere, but her eyes betrayed her feelings. She wasn’t okay with it, and it was clear why.

We had slept together on the ship and as far as she could tell, I completely ignored her upon our return.

What if she felt for me the way I had suddenly felt her?

“No, it’s not,” I said as I laced my fingers with hers. “I shouldn’t have disappeared like, and that is something I don’t intend to do again.” I brought her hand up to my lips and kissed it.

Her cheeks flushed a bit, and several of the women around us had stopped talking to watch us, but I didn’t care.

“You are an amazing woman, and I enjoy spending time with you,” I continued. “I make you a promise now, I will do my utmost best to not disappear into work, to always praise you for your good work and your abilities, and to support you when you need support.”

The look she gave me made my heart skip a beat, and I was fine with that. Her smile was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I wanted to make sure I saw it every day.

Then she forced her lips into a frown.

“One more promise.”

“Anything.”

“You cook dinner.”

EMMERY

His words had made my heart do a somersault inside my chest as he followed me out of the dining hall into the corridor.

Reaching up to him, I placed my hands on his cheeks and looked straight into his eyes. “I don’t know why I feel this way toward you, Zadden, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I didn’t even have to think about my words. They just poured out of me effortlessly. “I didn’t even know I could feel like this. This is...new to me. And you’re not even human.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No, of course not,” I quickly shook my head, allowing a smile to tug at the corners of my lips. “In fact, it might just be the opposite. Human guys can’t really compete, you know?” Running the tip of my tongue over my lips, I tried to take my mind out of the gutter before continuing. “I don’t know much about anything, Zadden, but I know that I like being with you.”

“Then that makes two of us,” he admitted with a whisper, his eyes never leaving mine. “I had never thought about having a real partner before, one I could share my life with. But now that I’ve found you...I think I’m reconsidering that old belief.”

“Please do.” Grabbing his hand, I squeezed it gently before going up on tiptoes. I brushed my lips against his softly, and then wrapped my arms around his torso. Zadden wasn’t the kind of guy that had an easy way with words, but what he had told me had been enough to make me the happiest woman aboard the Rogue Star.

“Follow me,” I whispered. Still with his hand in mine, I turned on my heels and started leading the way toward my room, my heart beating happily inside my chest.

Once I unlocked the door and stepped inside the room, I didn’t let him say a word. I just threw my arms over his shoulders and crushed my mouth against his, eager to experience his body once more. He didn’t waste time. His hands darted straight to my ass and he pulled me against him, his cocks already hardening. I could feel them throbbing against my thighs, the thickness a sweet reminder of just how good Zadden was.

It wasn’t just how good it felt when he touched me, it was that when we were together, working at the keyboard, running for our lives, or in a crowded room, he saw me.

Saw all of me. And wanted more.

Crazy with lust, I unzipped his pants and freed his erections, exhaling sharply as I felt his heavy cocks against the palm of my hands. I started stroking him as we kissed, my fingers running up and down his whole lengths, and I was about to go down on my knees in front of him when he pushed me back toward the bed.

I fell on top of the mattress with a slight push from Zadden and, moving like an apex predator, he climbed on top of me and started peeling the clothes off my body. I moaned softly as he pulled my shirt over my head, his knuckles brushing against the skin on my belly as he did it, and I held my breath as he tugged my pants down. Laying down in nothing but my underwear, I felt a shiver run up my spine as his hungry gaze seemed to devour me.

“Are you just going to look?” I teased him, and I got a devilish grin as my response. Reaching for me, he quickly unclasped my bra with a flick of his fingers. Then, laying both his hands on my knees, he pushed my legs apart and dove in. His open mouth thrust against the drenched fabric of my underwear, and I arched my back as pleasure crashed against me like a tidal wave.

This time, Zadden didn’t even bother with taking off my panties. He simply hooked his fingers in the elastic band and, pulling on it harshly, ripped the panties off my body with a kind of brutish elegance. The moment my pussy came into sight, he didn’t waste a single second. He brought his mouth down on me in a fraction of a second, and I closed my eyes as I felt the sweet touch of his mouth.

He struck first with his tongue, using nothing but its tip to caress my inner lips and explore my insides. Then, he allowed it to dance in slow maddening circles around my clit, my body burning from the inside out with each stroke. I didn’t know exactly how he was doing it, but he was more than just an expert at it. All he needed was his tongue to drown me in pleasure. Lucky for me, he was more than happy to give me more than just his tongue.

But that would come later.

Right now, all I needed was his mouth.

“You’re so…good,” I moaned softly, my voice bouncing off the walls and returning to me as if it belonged to someone else. Each time Zadden ran his tongue down the length of my pussy, he did it as slowly as he could, but then he brought it up again as fast as he could. He did it over and over again, but he never failed to draw a quivering moan from between my lips. He knew exactly what he was doing, and that just made me even wetter.

Arching my back, I felt my eyes roll back. I dragged my teeth across my bottom lip and surrendered to the onslaught of pleasure coming my way. The mattress felt like a cloud against my body, and I truly felt as if I were in Heaven. God, I couldn’t believe it had taken us so long to act on what we both felt.

“I can’t get enough of you,” Zadden growled while, at the same time, he placed both hands behind my knees and pushed my legs up. I didn’t resist it, especially when I realized all he wanted was better access to my pussy.

Opening his mouth as wide as he could, he placed it over my dripping pussy and ravaged me in a way I didn’t know to be possible. His tongue and lips worked as one, and he played me in the same way a virtuoso would play his instrument of choice.

My insides were clenched tight, and even my spine felt like a burning tower. Every single bone inside my body seemed to be throbbing, as well, every fiber of my entire being coming alive at once. Gritting my teeth, I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to steady myself. I bit the inside of my cheeks, and that seemed to help me regain my focus.

I wanted to come, no doubt about that, but at the same time, I wanted to keep on experiencing this maddening crescendo. Each time Zadden flicked his tongue against my clit, I felt like a bomb about to go off, my soul swelling up until my body felt as if it couldn’t hold it in any more.

“You taste so good,” Zadden whispered at me, momentarily pulling away from my pussy. Propping myself up on my elbows, I looked at him and felt my heart skip a beat as my eyes met his.

“Then why don’t you give me a taste?” I found myself asking, my voice sounding foreign to my own ears. A grin spread across his lips as the words rolled off my tongue and, before I could even understand what was happening, he climbed on top of me and crushed his mouth against mine.

I moaned softly against his glistening lips, my juices coating them, and grew dizzy as I tasted myself in his tongue. Even though I wasn’t exactly an inexperienced girl, I had never felt as free as I did with Zadden. I felt free to explore myself, to explore my limits…and then go beyond them.

“See why I’ve become addicted to that pussy of yours?” he asked as he pulled back from me, but I was so out of it that I couldn’t even muster up a decent reply. I just gave him an awkward nod, and then shut my eyes as he started kissing his way down to my pussy once more.

This time, he was even more merciless than before.

He went in for the kill right away, sucking my clit into his mouth while using his tongue to whip it at the same time. He redoubled his efforts, moving his mouth in a way that could only be instinctual, and I simply fell back on the mattress and allowed that all-consuming fire to take me whole. Energy pooled on each of my nerve endings, electricity crackled under my skin, and even my brain seemed like a balloon about to pop.

I was alive with pleasure, and I still hadn’t even come.

Using his lips and tongue to devour me, Zadden pulled me down into the depths of an ocean of pleasure and didn’t let go until I drowned. His tongue danced around my clitoris in a way no other man would be able to match and then, to seal the deal, he slid two fingers deep inside me and pressed them against that sweet hidden spot.

All that energy that had been building inside me grew to a point that made its release an inevitability. His lips, his tongue, his fingers…all of him working with one simple objective: my pleasure. Maybe that was what made him so irresistible.

Whenever we were together, he always seemed to act as if his own pleasure was nothing but a detail, an afterthought. He made me feel as if I was the only woman left in the universe, and he treated me exactly like that. In his arms, I felt like the sexiest woman that had ever lived. I felt like a queen, and I felt like a whore…and I loved every second of it. I wanted to his queen, and I wanted to be his whore.

I wanted him to be mine, and I wanted to be his.

But, above anything else, in that moment I merely wanted to let that inevitable wave of pleasure wash all over me. Gritting my teeth and unable to control myself, I let out a scream so loud I was pretty sure anyone walking by my quarters would have been able to hear it.

I didn’t care.

I took a moment to catch my breath, but I didn’t let the moment pass me by. Zadden was still pulling back from me when I placed both hands on his chest and pushed him down onto the mattress. Before he could react, I jumped on top of him, my knees on either side of his waist. I reached for his primary cock right away and curled my fingers around it, angling it so that its tip was brushing against my inner lips.

“Emmery,” he breathed out, his hands cupping my ass.

“I’m right here,” I moaned as I lowered myself over his cocks, my eyes fluttering closed as his thickness stretched my inner walls. I only stopped once all his inches were inside me, the slender, secondary cock teasing and taunting my clit, my mind abuzz with anticipation. Slowly, I started swaying my hips as I tried to build a rhythm, but it didn’t take long before the two of us succumbed to a frenzied dance.

I rode him as hard as I could and, not one to simply lie back and enjoy the ride, Zadden matched me by thrusting upward in a frantic rhythm. The sound of flesh on flesh echoed in the room, and I couldn’t resist to add a few moans as a counterpoint.

“Harder,” I whispered into his ear, nibbling at his earlobe between words. “I want you to give me all you’ve got.” I didn’t even know if I could handle all his might, but I knew I had to try. With Zadden, I wanted to explore my limitations...and fly past them.

Without a word, Zadden fulfilled my request. He started fucking me with intensity that, for a moment, I thought I would collapse from the effort. His cock flew in and out of me at a frantic pace, every single nerve ending in my body burning up, and I realized I only had a few minutes before I exploded. But if that was going to happen, then I wanted that sweet explosion to engulf us both.

Matching his rhythm thrust for thrust, I rode him so hard that I became covered in sweat in less than a minute. Locks of hair were now plastered to my face and forehead, beads of sweat rolled down my spine as I rocked my hips against his. I didn’t let any of that stop me. Instead, I used it all as fuel. With Zadden, I could be free to explore my feelings, my body, and everything else I wanted. And, by god, what better way to start exploring than with a mighty orgasm?

Gritting my teeth so hard that pain shot up my jaw, I finally felt his cock twitching inside me. That was enough to set me off. My pussy tightened around his cock like a vice and, as he thrust upward with all his might, I finally stopped moving. A wave of ecstasy crashed against my body and, for a second, I couldn’t hear or see anything. I couldn’t even think. All my brain could process was the pleasure that now coursed through my veins at breakneck speed.

I moaned even louder as I felt him come, his warm seed gushing inside me like a raging river.

We embraced as we shared that one orgasm, our exhausted bodies finally united in a bond that transcended the physical realm. That was no longer about lust, or about satisfying the demands of our bodies.

That was about...love.

ZADDEN

For about two days, I tried to figure out why my cheeks hurt so much. I’d never smiled so much, and it was all because I had thrown away my ridiculous notion that people that gave themselves to a single person were stupid.

I had been the one that was stupid.

I had been the one that had been mistaken. Living a life where you refused to tie yourself down, refused to risk your heart was fine.

It did prevent you from putting yourself into a situation where you would be devastated by the loss of someone close to you.

But it also kept me from feeling this sincere level of happiness. There was something special about being with a single person, especially if that single person was someone that made your heart beat and your mind race like nothing else in the universe. And, as much as I had fought it, as much as I had sworn that I would never be that way, I had found that person in Emmery and I was happy with it.

She made me smile. She made me happy, happier than I had been in my whole life.

Having her in my life made everything worthwhile.

Then again, even with her in my life, it was hard to deal with what happened to Zolla and her people.

I was sitting with Valtic in his office, working with him on trying to figure out what had happened, and who was responsible.

There was so much speculation out there. Some factions insisted that the Dominion had done it, was cracking down on some of the shadier stations.

Others argued it was one of the fringe groups that were neither pirates, nor independents, but simply raiders and criminals.

Teg and her crew might have pulled off something like the attack, but that’d be stupid. Teg was bloodthirsty enough, if she felt like she was insulted, sure. I’d seen that first hand.

But even Teg needed a place to put in for repairs from time to time. There weren’t enough places that a ship on the run could go in Dominion space.

And that was worth putting up with a lot of rudeness.

Teg wasn’t stupid. It wasn’t her.

There was even a rumor that a small ship, big enough for only a handful of people, had been responsible. That didn’t seem likely, as Zolla always had nearly a dozen people employed as guards, and each was an experienced fighter.

The thought that anything smaller than a full-out assault could have killed Zolla and her people, and set her entire outpost to flame was extremely unsettling.

“Have you found anything new?” I asked as I leaned back, rubbing my eyes.

I heard his chair creak and moan as he let out a long groan. I could see him stretching and heard his shoulders pop as he did so. “No. Same stuff for the last two days. Right now, the odds-on favorite is one of the fringe groups getting ticked off at her attitude towards them.”

“That seems almost right,” I said. “It just feels wrong to me, though. Everyone knows how cranky she is, so why go after her now?”

“Maybe they just had enough of her scro,” he said as he moved his head around, trying to stretch out his neck. I felt his pain; my own neck was screaming at me from staring at the screens so long.

“True, she was a difficult woman to be around.”

“Hey, do you remember that one time, a few years ago, when we showed up and she greeted Dejar with a slap that knocked him flat?”

“Which time, and isn’t that how she usually greeted him?” I asked, a smile creeping onto my face.

“Well, yeah, but I was talking about that one time where she seemed happy to have us arrive over comms, then as soon as Dejar was off the ship, he’s laid out by one of her slaps.”

An even bigger smile hit my face. “Oh, yeah. I think that was the moment we all knew that Dejar was one of her favorites. Wasn’t that the time he asked her for money?”

“The one cardinal sin in her books? Yeah, I think it was,” he laughed. “The look on his face while he looked up at her. Here, look.” He started pushing some buttons on a keyboard and brought up a video of that moment. “Watch.”

There it was. Valtic had been recording the entire time from one of his outer cameras. The door opening slowly. Zolla arriving on a small hover cart with two of her workers, massive men that I still couldn’t identify. Dejar stepping off the ship, a smile on his face.

Then came the moment when he bent down to give her a hug and her arm snapped forward. Oh, Valtic had done something with the video. It suddenly zoomed in and slowed down. We watched as her hand made solid impact with Dejar’s left cheek and, in slow motion, his cheek seemed to fold in on itself and ripple as her fingers dragged across it.

Then the video quickly jumped back a second and returned to normal speed and Dejar dropped to the ground like a rock. The look of absolute shock on his face, barely covered by his hand holding his cheek, had me sucking in my lips to keep from laughing.

Valtic didn’t even bother hiding his mirth.

His laughter echoed through the room, booming off the walls, and quickly drew me in. I started laughing, as well, and we continued to laugh as the video repeated itself twice more before he managed to reach over and stop it.

With tears streaming from our eyes, we looked at one another and immediately erupted into more laughter. It felt good to remember Zolla that way.

“My face still hurts from that slap, you know.”

We snapped our heads around to see Dejar and Kalyn standing at the door. Kalyn’s eyes were wide, her jaw practically dragging on the floor as she stared past us. Dejar had his hand up, rubbing where the slap had left a welt on his face for nearly a week. “Have you found anything?”

Stifling another laugh, I shook my head and tried to remember how to breathe. “No,” I started, but had to clear my throat to continue on. “No, sir. Just the same stuff.”

He nodded. “Okay.” He looked at Valtic. “You really recorded that?”

Valtic shrugged sheepishly. “Something seemed a bit off when she seemed happy to see you.”

Dejar shook his head and chuckled to himself. “And how many people have seen that video?”

“Counting the three of you? Eight,” Valtic answered. “The four of us, Lynna, Kovor, Orrin, and Maris.”

“Uh-huh,” Dejar sighed. I was still struggling to hold back my laughter. Every time I looked at him, all I could see was that look of absolute shock after Zolla had dropped him. He glared at me for a moment, then shook his head again.

“Zadden, after talking with everyone, you’re in the clear. No punishment. Scro happens, and we all know that. This thing with the Dominion is going to get bloody, and there’s a chance some of us don’t make it out before it’s over. We need to be prepared for that, and your decision to retrieve a core was the right one. The actual working core gives us a jumpstart in interpreting those plans, and that’s a big help. Good work.”

Before I could say anything, he and Kalyn left. I could hear her asking him if the slap hurt as much as it looked.

I looked at Valtic, who patted me on the shoulder. “Told you,” he said. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Just feels like I did.”

“Yeah, well, tough,” he said as he started searching the nets again. “Like the boss said, scro happens. People die. If we get upset over that every time, we mess ourselves up so bad that we can’t function. We need to be able to mourn the loss of our friends and allies, but use their loss as fuel. Don’t let their sacrifice go to waste.”

I nodded. He made sense. I had to make sure that I pushed harder to do better, and to make sure that we used the information we’d retrieved to make Lyari’s actions worth it.

“So, how are things with you and Emmery? Tell her you love her yet?”

I snapped my head towards him. “What?”

“Have you told her that you love her?” he asked slowly.

“What are you talking about? I don’t love her, I just appreciate her and like her more than others, especially a certain security guard I know,” I shot back.

He chuckled. “Okay, if you say so. I’ve seen how you look at her, and those looks have only increased in intensity since you guys came back. Not to mention the whole promising not to ignore her and kissing her hand bit.”

“You saw that?”

“I was sitting at the next table,” he said in exasperation, his arms all akimbo. “You’re telling me you didn’t see me?”

I had to be honest, I hadn’t.

He burst out laughing. “As Lynna would say, ‘oh my Jiminies’. You really are in love with her if you could miss me and several of the guys sitting three feet away from you, cheering you on.”

“You did what?”

He nodded. “Yeah, as soon as you kissed her hand, we did that whole ‘oooh’ thing and cheered. It’s about umbba time you stepped up. You’ve only been staring at her for the last year.”

I clamped my mouth shut. Dammit, he was right. I had been pining over her the whole year. I was in love with her. I thought about her at day’s close, at day’s start. I wanted to spend my life with her. Her needs seemed more important than my own in all things.

But I wasn’t admitting those things to him.

“Get back to work,” I told him.

“Aww, you’re so cute when you’re in love.”

Cute? I scoffed. “Shut up.”

EPILOGUE – SKADI

The old bitch had been tough. She was stubborn beyond the definition of the word. Zolla hadn’t cracked, at all.

That’s why she had to die. Skadi thought back to how she had managed to get Zolla alone. Of course, it hadn’t been too hard to get into Zolla’s good graces and keep her guards away. She played the part of a tough girl fallen on hard times just perfectly enough to get the men to go work on her ship while Zolla brought her into the building for something to eat.

To go along with Zolla’s stubbornness, she also knew how to spot talent. Whoever her cook was, she was good. Skadi couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a good meal. Then again, she was only six years old, but had had her growth accelerated so she looked, thought, and felt like an adult.

Of course, she never knew what it was like to be a child, so she had nothing to base her feelings on. After eating a quick meal with Skadi, Zolla had excused herself to work on paperwork. Skadi watched what direction she went, then followed the signal of the small tracer she had planted on the old woman. The skills that she had learned had been artificially taught. But they were almost a secondary, instinctive nature to Skadi. Muscle memory had been implanted in her, and she had countless times marveled at being able to bypass the long hours and boredom of having to learn things for herself.

It was so much more convenient to be given skills. It avoided the messiness of making friends and having to respect mentors and teachers. Skadi had very little respect for most beings she encountered. They were either useful to her for her immediate or long-term needs, or they were useless.

What happened to the useless was not her concern. She couldn’t devote precious brain space to garbage.

Garbage could be taken out. Burned. Or discarded.

And those who were no longer useful?

They were worse than garbage.

As she rubbed at her cheek, she marveled at how feisty and fast the old woman had been. When Skadi walked into her office, Zolla immediately attacked, catching Skadi in the face with a quick smack from her cane. That was the only shot she managed as Skadi caught the next swing in her hand, yanked hard on the cane, and drove her fist into Zolla’s midsection.

As Zolla huffed and puffed and coughed on the floor, Skadi locked the door and moved a heavy filing cabinet over to block it. “Talk to me about the crew of the Rogue Star,” she said calmly at Zolla’s heaving form.

“Go kout yourself,” the old one spat back.

Skadi shook her head. Why did they always have to play so tough? Why couldn’t they crack and save everyone time? They knew they were at the end of their existence. It was really just a matter of consideration for others. “Why?”

“What?”

“Why would you attempt to anger me?” Skadi asked in her almost musical voice. “I have you trapped, it’s plain as day that I’m the superior being and that you are at my mercy. Why would you try to anger me? It’ll just make your death all the more brutal. If you answer my questions and keep me from getting angry, I’ll be merciful and kill you quickly and painlessly.”

“I’m not going to tell you anything, you psychotic whore,” Zolla spat as she sat up. “Do what you want, but I won’t tell you anything.”

So, Skadi did just that. She tortured the woman. Yet, despite everything she did, Zolla didn’t speak. She screamed. She screamed like a beast in pain, howling to the heavens, but she didn’t speak.

The door behind Skadi was being pounded on, the cabinet rocking as Zolla’s men slammed into it. “You do realize that I’ll simply kill all of your men, as well,” she whispered calmly. “I’ll take every one of them and kill them slowly. Do you want that kind of pain for your men?”

Zolla spat at her. “I won’t tell you anything, and you won’t kill my men.”

“My, you truly are a stubborn woman. If I wasn’t inclined to end your life, I believe we could be friends,” Skadi said as she gently brushed Zolla’s cheek with the back of her hand.

“You could never have friends. You’re too umbba psychotic. And ugly, too.”

“Ah,” Skadi said, putting her hand on her chest in mock indignation. “You strike me hard with your words, madam Zolla. Let’s try one last time. Tell me about the…”

“Go kout yourself sideways!”

As Zolla lay on the floor, moaning in pain, Skadi pulled out her knife.

Zolla eventually passed out from the pain, but she wasn’t dead. Skadi shrugged, shot a couple more rounds through the door, then broke the window of Zolla’s office. She kicked off the bars that blocked her exit, then turned and grabbed Zolla’s almost dead body. She carried her through the window. After a few yards, she could hear yelling coming from behind her. She callously dropped Zolla to the ground, pulled a second handgun, and opened fire on the men.

The fight with them didn’t last long.

Skadi was laughing the entire time.

When the carnage was finally over, two of Zolla’s men lay on the ground, their faces buried in the bloody dirt.

That left Zolla. A clear shot, and she was dead.

Then she returned to the compound, repaired the ‘break’ in her engine, and fired it up. Before she left, however, she went to the kitchen where she found the cook cowering in a corner, cringing in fear.

“You have nothing to fear. I actually want to commend you on your cooking. You truly have talent,” Skadi said to her. “I’m giving you an opportunity to leave. I suggest you take it. You can either join me, or you can take one of Zolla’s ships and run. I’ll respect either decision. A talent such as yours should not be wasted.”

The cook, with her three eyes nearly bugging completely out of her head, scrambled to her feet and ran. Without waiting to see where she went, Skadi turned on the grills and set fire to the diner. As she left, she saw a small vessel shooting off into the stars. She was a bit disappointed that the cook didn’t choose to go with her, but she shrugged it off.

After setting fire to the rest of Zolla-T, she got into her ship and left.

The Rogue Star and her crew were in Gaed space, that she knew, and that was why she couldn’t get them. Too many people around to keep them safe. However, there were people that had come to the aid of the Rogue Star, and they would have information. Skadi wanted to know habits. She wanted to know tendencies, likes, dislikes, anything that she could use to lure them out or use against them.

She set a course for the Sanctuary. They had stayed there for several months, so the people there would know something about them. Then they would pay for giving aid to an enemy of the Dominion. Her masters, her creators, had asked her to find a way to eliminate them, and that was what she planned to do.

As Zolla-T burned behind her and the Sanctuary loomed in front of her somewhere out there in space, she thought back to how hard it had been to deal with Zolla. She truly had been a woman to admire, someone to emulate in terms of toughness and ruggedness. However, her reluctance to look out for herself and her people had cost her.

Perhaps the people of Sanctuary would be smarter.

And if they weren’t, that didn’t bother Skadi at all.

LETTER FROM AVA

The stakes are getting higher for our crew.

And some prices are hard to pay. But that’s not going to stop them - either in the fight against the Dominion, or in finding their mates!

Paila’s talent is a little different than most of our ladies, but she has her story - and her mate has been waiting…

I've always had an active imagination.

That tightness in my chest whenever he's close?

Anger. That's all.

The heat, low in my belly? Nerves.

What else could it be?

He doesn't want me on this mission.

Thinks my skills are a waste of time.

I'll prove him wrong. I'm the only one who can get those files, and he knows it.

When the agents of the Dominion are hot on our trail, I'll have to trust him to see us through. And the man beneath the mask?

Much more than I ever imagined.

Read on for a sneak peek of Rogue’s Mask, or click here to go to Amazon for your copy!

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And please, don’t forget: Readers rely on your opinions, and your review can help others decide on what books they read. Make sure your opinion is heard and leave a review where you purchased this book!

XOXO,

Ava

ROGUE’S MASK SNEAK PEEK!

Paila

“SIGH NO MORE, ladies, sigh no more, men were deceivers ever.”

I paused for effect as I looked around the room. My pose held steady so that I could slip back into the reading without breaking character, not that it seemed to matter much to those gathered. “One foot in sea, and one on shore, to one thing constant never.”

Silence met me as I turned to my “audience” once more.

I could see the confusion etched into the fine lines of their faces, my words nothing but a slight annoyance to them as they tried to enjoy their evening. It didn’t really bother me that they thought me strange, or that the words I spoke meant little to them, it was simply a way for me to flex my acting muscles once more.

For some their passion lay in captaining a ship… or say, leading a rebellion… but for others among our group, it was about navigating life’s struggles beyond the battles.

Unperturbed by the echoing of awkwardly cleared throats, I pressed onwards. “Then sigh not so, but let them go, and be you blithe and bonny, converting all your sounds of woe into hey nonny, nonny.”

My delivery was as clear as ever, my voice carrying all about the mess hall so that everyone, no matter how much they tried to cover their ears, could hear me. In truth, I could have recited any old rubbish at them and they’d have reacted in the same way — this night was about coming together, through whatever means, to make Friday night a little less dull.

I was cheating with my Much Ado About Nothing piece in truth, seeing as it wasn’t my own to improvise with in the first place. But my thinking was that William Shakespeare wouldn’t be giving my stealing of his work much thought, what with being dead and all. He hailed from the same town that I had lived in for much of my life, and from an early age I had fancied myself living in the wrong era.

A small giggle broke through my lips and escaped, its tittering sound hanging in the air between myself and the others, all their faces a tapestry of bewilderment. They couldn’t tell if I was laughing because what I’d said was funny or if I’d decided to go mad halfway through my reading; their uncertainty made me giggle all the more.

With my mind struggling to place the next few lines — something about ditties and the fraud of men, or words to that effect — I skipped ahead to one of the other characters. To better suit the next set of lines, I altered my speech so as to sound more noble, just as a fictional prince should when addressing those in his company.

“By my troth, a good song.” No sooner had I spoken my lines than I was flitting back to my original character, his voice much deeper and gruff. “And an ill singer, my lord.” I went back and forth like this for several verses, a lot of those who’d gathered to watch laughing as I switched from one to the other. They were slowly coming to expect outlandish when it came to me.

The mood was light, it was cheerful, it was exactly what we needed with such an arduous task ahead of us.

Waving my hand in the air while giving a curtsey, my pressed locks stiff in their movement as I lapped up the cheers and clapping, I felt the picture perfect. Just like the stars of old.

None of them knew what they were clapping for, however it was good of them to feign being as pleased with my performance as I truly was. Giving one final wave, I sashayed away to rejoin the audience, the next “performer” already taking to the head of the room to begin their act.

I longed to already be back up there in front of them all, the star of the show, everybody’s attention focused on me. But I knew it was greedy ambition that made me crave it, the same way my cravings had me pining for the life of celebrity.

It wasn’t even the title of celebrity that had me so enamored with that lifestyle, it was the good I could do with it. Far too many today used their fame for nothing more than a way to pitch themselves to the public — they primped and preened, but they never tried to help the little people to see what was truly going on behind the closed doors of government. It was easier to pretend all was well.

This was what needed to change. And I had wanted to be the one to do it.

Everyone aboard had already done so much to get us into such a prime position, the Dominion desperate to stay our tongues for fear of what we might say next, and still it wasn’t enough.

There was more we could do, that we needed to do, that I wanted to do.

I was a chameleon, able to be part of a scene, undetectable because of how effortlessly I blended in. Then, within an instant, I could strike, revealing myself to be more than I what I’d appeared. It was a gift, one I’d begun fine tuning the moment I’d decided my passion project for life would be acting. As cliche as it sounded, the world truly was my stage no matter where I found myself, even in times like this when hurling about through space, our destinations always decided upon by more than the whims of fancy. A metal bird though the Rogue Star might be, it was one I’d use as a platform to get myself to where I wanted to be, my ambition unable to be sated by anything less than my desired end goal.

A deep sigh ran through me.

Maybe I overthought everything. Maybe my accent was different from the Common Dialect tones and words used by the rest of the crew. I was Shakespearean. I was British. And one day I would get my chance to be an actress.

My role currently was a small one, hardly anything worthy of note if you were skimming through the credits; my life had been changed, and the ones who had saved me had made waves all throughout the universe, for good or ill, but it wasn’t me who people remembered. When I’d spoken in front of the cameras with Jial, my testimony being sent out to cast a blinding light of truth upon the heinous acts of what our so-called benevolent leaders were doing, it had felt incredible.

There’d been no glitz and glamour, nobody running around making me up like a starlet of Old Hollywood, there had just been my words between Jial, myself, and the camera. Connected to hundreds of thousands of viewers.

In that moment I’d touched the lives of everyone watching, had been able to give my two cents about what the Dominion should be doing compared to what they were actually doing.

Within that small window of time, I’d been in control of my life instead of an unbending authority unwilling to hear the pleas of their people — I’d been so very free.

I’d give anything to be back in that position again.

Realizing that another performance had finished, my hands absentmindedly clapped in praise, although I had no clue for what or who I was clapping. It had sounded wordy, much like my own, it had been delivered gracefully, though not as polished as mine, and they’d plucked up the courage to do it in the first place. They deserved to be applauded.

Before long we’d be thrown into chaos again, and while done in a bid to liberate us from the bondage of the Dominion, to give us a regime dedicated to truth and not sinister secrecy, it would be a hard, grueling task. Not all us would make it. I was willing to take that risk, as were all others aboard the Rogue Star, even if they weren’t aware of their dedication; where some directly shape the tides, others indirectly propel us forwards. Such is the nature of life, and, unfortunately, of war.

The commotion of the mess hall began to fill my head too much, the pressure it was exerting only adding to the growing boredom I felt. Similar to a niggling headache, the way certain sounds rose and fell in my ears only worsened how I felt the longer I sat there.

It was fun when I’d been captivated by the shows alongside everyone else, but now that my interest was waning, I felt the room was too lifeless. My soul longed for more tangible pleasures. I wanted to be adorned with colors so vivid that my eyes couldn’t be torn away from the image…

I smiled.

I knew what I had to do.

Bowing out of the mess hall quietly, so as not to disturb the slapstick comedy underway — awfully executed, might I add — I headed to my own personal hideaway, one of the few this ship offered. It wasn’t that the vessel was small, there were a lot of us craving out an existence on it after all, but it was more that so many of the rooms failed to give you enough privacy. Despite my love of being in the public eye, so overjoyed to be the center of attention, I also savored the moments when I could tuck away and be alone with myself.

Slipping through the crack in the door, so that from the outside it looked undisturbed, I went about unpacking the stacked boxes of pots, their glass chinking as I handled them. It was a soft sound, one that already started to soothe me back to my normal self, the boredom ebbing away as I busied myself with all sorts of whimsical ideas.

Wyann

“Your insights into the inner workings of the Dominion have been invaluable, Wyann. The crew may not know it, but they owe you a great debt. We all do. If the rebellion succeeds, the rest of the known universe will as well.” The captain and I stood as our meeting came to an end.

“I owe the universe a debt already, for the things I’ve done. If our rebellion is successful, I’ll consider us even.”

Dejar came around his minimal metal desk and clapped me on the shoulder with a strong golden hand. He fixed his glittering golden eyes on me sternly, but there was also warmth in his expression.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. All of us have ended up on the Rogue Star through one misadventure or another. None of us are innocent.” He smiled mischievously and lowered his voice. “Even most of the human women have stories of some mishap or disaster that led them to that desolate base at the edge of their galaxy. From what Kalyn tells me, it was not a desirable post.”

“I’m sure, sir.” I smiled and nodded, though his assurances did little to lift my spirit.

He leaned back against his desk. “I still say that the rest of the ship leadership and the crew would be more forgiving than you think. They’re not the type to hold grudges, at least not against those who have repented, and especially not against a man willing to risk everything to right his wrongs. I know I’ve said it before, but I really think you ought to give them a chance.”

“With all due respect, sir, I’d just as soon forget about the past. The only reason I’m willing to discuss it with you is for strategic benefit. Otherwise, I prefer not to think about it at all.” I regarded him coolly, hoping that he wouldn’t press the issue further.

He raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips, but nodded his acceptance. “Very well. I do appreciate your willingness to delve back into what must be an unpleasant trough of memories. As always, what has been discussed here will remain between us alone. Well, the source of it, anyway.” He smiled his charming, easy smile. “Of course, the information itself will be relayed to the relevant parties for implementation into our operations.”

“Of course. Thank you, sir, I appreciate your discretion. Is that all?”

“I believe so. You have your orders, yes?”

“I do, sir. As soon as I leave here I’m heading to my station to start the verification process for the false identities Emmery created. The one’s for Zadden’s team are first priority, and they’ll be delivered to Zadden’s people as soon as they’re done. Shouldn’t be more than an hour or two.”

“Excellent. Best get to it, then.”

“Very good, sir.” I turned to leave, but Dejar caught me before I was out the door.

“Actually hold on, Wyann. There is one more thing.” He paced over to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

“Sir?”

“Try to lighten up some, huh?” He patted me on the chest good-naturedly, smiling at me warmly. “For instance, I appreciate your respect and discipline and all that, but you really don’t need to call me ‘sir’ every time you address me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I mind the reverence or anything. It’s just, I want my crew to feel comfortable. I like to think of us more as a family than a hierarchy. Of course, there has to be a chain of command. But I like the crew to have a certain sense of autonomy, as well. You understand?”

“I think so, sir.”

He gave me a puzzled look, then laughed. “Was that a joke, Wyann? Did you just make a joke?”

It was my turn to look puzzled. “No, sir. Was there something amusing?”

He stopped laughing abruptly and gave me a serious look, searching my face. He clapped me on the back, shaking his head and smiling to himself.

“You’re a funny guy, Wyann, whether you realize it or not. I’ve decided I do have another order for you.”

“Sir?” I raised my eyebrows in question, awaiting my directive.

“This is your new objective. After you’ve delivered the verified false I.D.’s to Zadden and his team, I want you to engage in a minimum of thirty minutes of leisure activity.”

“Leisure activity, sir?” I tilted my head at him, unsure of his meaning.

“Yes, leisure activity.” He smiled wide, growing animated. “That means that after Zadden’s team is ready to go, you’re to find something to do that is completely unrelated to work.” He held up a finger, struck by a thought. “And eating doesn’t count. Neither does using the bathroom. It has to be a non-essential activity that serves no purpose other than your own enjoyment. Think you can handle that?” He smiled at me broadly, apparently amused by his own brilliance.

“Uhm, I’m not sure I understand the purpose of that, sir.”

His face went stern and he responded with a raised, authoritative voice. “Your role is not to understand the purpose, soldier. Your role is to get the job done. No matter the cost. Do you understand?”

“Are you being funny, sir?” I tried to read his face, but his expression was serious and betrayed nothing.

“This is a direct order from your Captain. Do you intend to disobey?”

“No, sir.”

“Good.” His face relaxed and he shot me an easy smile. “Then please, enjoy yourself. I expect a full report detailing the type of leisure activity, the inclusion of any affiliated parties, and confirmation of the duration of the engagement on my desk by the end of the day.”

“All right, sir. I’ll uh, get it done. I guess.”

“Wyann, I’m kidding about the written report, you know.”

“Of course, sir.”

I turned and ambled out of Dejar’s office, a little confused about the directive. I decided to focus on what I did understand, for now, which was verifying the false I.D.’s for Zadden’s team.

I headed back toward my work station, going over my conversation with Dejar as I went. He was right about my intimate familiarity with the least savory portions of the Dominion being immensely useful to our current noble objectives, but that did little to comfort me about the skeletons in my closet.

My time working espionage for the Dominion had left scars on my soul. The things I saw, the things I did in order to complete my missions, they still flooded back to me on occasion when I closed my eyes for sleep shift. I can’t count the number of times I’ve woken in the night so drenched in sweat that I had to recycle the sheets and get fresh ones out of the closet.

Dejar had tried to ease my guilt, reasoning that everything I’ve done has led me to this point, so it was all for a greater purpose in the end. It’s a pretty thought, but the faces of the dead still haunt my dreams. Besides, the Dominion used the ‘greater purpose’ argument to justify scores of atrocious deeds.

I slipped into my room and waved on the console, bringing up Emmery’s falsified identities and clearing my mind of the past. Working always proved the best medicine. Whatever troubles ate at me, I could always focus on a clear task.

I scanned through the I.D.’s for Zadden’s team, checking and rechecking them for continuity errors. I ran each one through a dummy Dominion security program. None of them got flagged for inspection or tripped any security threat alerts. Emmery had done a thorough job.

The false records should be plenty to keep their small team from drawing unwanted attention. As long as no automated alerts were tripped, no one should give them a second look. The only way they could be detected would be a physical inspection, but without a computer-generated alert there would be little chance of that.

I thought back to Dejar’s comment about some of the human women having questionable pasts. It would seem he was right about that, given Emmery’s skill at digital forgery. Her past transgressions were proving useful, like mine. I couldn’t help but wonder if hers had hurt people, though.

Did her past haunt her sleep as mine did?

I shook off the thoughts, turning back to my work. I waved the verified I.D.’s onto Zadden’s console. My own unit dinged, confirming their delivery and acceptance. I was about to begin verifying the rest of Emmery’s forgeries, when I remembered Dejar’s second order.

I had no idea what to do for leisure on this ship. There was so much to be done, it seemed like an inefficient use of time. I could always work out, but I suspected that was not what the Captain had in mind. I headed to the mess hall to scare up some food while I chewed over the issue.

I shoveled down some flavored gruel, accompanied by an augmented synth-juice that some of the other crew said came very close to passing for real eureka fruit from Tajra. I took their word for it, having never been there, but it was decent nonetheless. I dumped my tray and glass in the recycler and wandered down the hall.

I drifted toward one of the common areas to see if anyone was hanging around. I couldn’t remember the last time I had played a game of tact-sim, but I thought I remembered hearing a few of the crew mention there was a unit somewhere onboard.

I had probably been a boy when I last played, but that could be a tolerable way to waste half an hour. Dejar would be satisfied, and I could justify it to myself in that it was a game meant to exercise military engagement tactics. So not a complete waste of time.

Before I reached the common area, however, a soft, delicate sound drifted to my ears.

A woman’s voice, singing an unfamiliar melody that somehow struck me and called to mind my boyhood.

Transfixed, I followed the sound, and found myself in front of a half-open door.

Paila

IT ALWAYS AMAZED me how nobody wanted to have any fun with all of these paints, so mesmerized by their bold hues was I as they shimmered under the fluorescent lights.

I knew they were meant to be used upon the body rather than canvas, but without other resources to hand, and my mind eager to feel fulfilled instead of painfully bored, they’d become my reliable outlet.

I could pour my heart and soul out onto the page and it would all be transformed into a masterpiece. Or, at least, how close I could come to that level of talent, having never been particularly skilled with a paintbrush. Still, how could they not be seen as anything but brilliant? They were capturing the memories of the old silver screen, the posters which had advertised their coming showings my latest muse; I occasionally dabbled with newer movie posters as my starting point, but they lacked the depth the older ones had.

A girl born into the wrong time, that was me.

My collection of vintage memorabilia had been quite a sight to behold, the intricacies of some of the more delicate pieces having always been a favorite with many of the other women. But since finding myself in need of traveling light, I’d not been able to carry them about with me.

I’m certain Kovor wouldn’t have minded me bringing all of my personal effects with me, however it had been less about his allowing of it and more to do with a lack of time, frantic survival, and an otherwise less than ideal means of living.

In short, time and circumstance hadn’t been on our side.

Few things had been, on that day.

And those thoughts had no place here.

Picking up yet another pot, the liquid inside a royal blue, the richness of its color manipulated under the lights so as to look darker or more pale depending on where I placed it, I decided to begin. There was a small pop of air as I wiggled off the lid, the smell of the paint assaulting my nose as its fumes invaded the small space I occupied. It wasn’t an unpleasant smell, but for some it would be too strong — not for me though, I loved the way it roared upon opening, that first whiff always reminding me of the theatre.

My fingers wound around the handle of a thick, heavyset brush, its bristles slightly tinged from the last round of painting I’d subjected it to. With the smallest of sighs, I turned to grab an empty jar and go about filling it with water, not too much, just enough that it would help me better clean my brushes. A lot of the time, I relied on simply dry cleaning the brushes with an old, raggedy looking cloth, however it didn’t always do the trick of giving me that clean base to work with.

A couple more clinks of the glass while I cleaned my brush off, and I was ready to go, the whiteness of the canvas willing me to cover it. In a flurried rush of movements, my hand went about dipping from the water to the paint and then the canvas, hardly slowing its journey as I did so. I was lost to the whirl of it: the smells, the sounds, they all transported me off of this ship and into my own little world. I was safe inside my bubble, my boredom a forgotten fragment of my emotions.

The way the blue flooded all over, turning every inch of the brilliant white a shade reminiscent of the night sky, caused me to give a little wiggle of my hips in giddy excitement. It was that first step in making something wonderful — it always gave me a tingle of glee. I became like a child so taken by their new toy that they couldn’t help but squeal in delight as they played with it.

Instead of squeals though, I started to merrily hum. My tone was low at first, but the more I worked at my painting, the louder the tune became, the melody one I’d heard on the radio years ago. It had always stuck with me, and was the one song I would gladly listen to on repeat without ever tiring of it.

As I worked away while choosing my next color, my eyes drawn to the magenta pot while my finger hovered over all the lids, my humming turned into singing. Nothing loudly obnoxious, only the gentle purring of words able to fill me with happiness, arguably the ideal accompaniment to the contentment I found myself immersed in while painting. So engrossed was I in my labor, that I failed to hear the door behind me open wider as someone approached. Finally I looked out of the corner of my eyes, prompted by the uneasy prickling at the back of my mind that someone was near.

“Oh my goodness!” I gasped, startled by Wyann’s sudden appearance. Considering his muscular build, he’d moved with quiet grace; I was impressed. So large in stature that he towered above me, his strapping physique taking up a lot of the room and blotting the door from view.

I didn’t mind at all.

“I didn’t even hear you come in, Wyann.” I dithered, laughing to ease the stillness between us. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t say a word, he just grunted in agreement.

Slightly uneasy in not knowing how best to talk to him, I turned towards my painting to offer an explanation for my enthusiasm. “I simply adore painting — not that I’m very good at it, but it soothes me and allows me to get creative,” I gave him a massive smile. “I suppose such is the heart of the creative: we’re always on the search for more ways to express ourselves.”

“How can you enjoy it so much if you’re not, by your own admission, good at it? You’d be better suited to a craft you’re well adjusted to.” I could tell his opinion wasn’t to be taken disrespectfully, for he was simply curious as to how the two married together so seamlessly for me.

After all, it was clear to me that he was a man who only did what he felt he excelled at, rather than doing anything merely for the fun of it.

To try and better explain myself, I motioned for him to come to the other side of the room; there in the corner, tucked away from view, were all the paintings I’d previously finished.

I pulled them out one by one, eventually decorating the entire wall with them as I leaned each piece up against the sparse furniture of the room. Wyann still looked puzzled. I couldn’t help but laugh again, though this time it wasn’t a nervous sound but one of genuine pleasure. He was an odd one, but so was I to him, and so we worked well together in our own strange little way.

Finally, after much quiet reflection of my actions, he spoke. “I’m sorry, but I still don’t see your point?”

“I’m not doing a very good job of explaining myself, so all is forgiven.” I jested, though it didn’t seem like he understood why he’d need forgiving; whatever his life had been before finding his way aboard the Rogue Star, it wasn’t a life that had been filled with humor.

“All joking aside,” I began saying, in an attempt to move past his confusion. “The point I’m trying to make by showing you all of these is that it passes the time, it gives me a way to occupy myself, and when I’m doing that I’m happy. Does that make more sense?”

I was genuinely interested in whether it did, part of me concerned as to whether I was seen as such an oddball by the crew because of how I behaved or because of my speech as well.

Wyann fixed me with an intense stare, his eyes having shifted from roaming over my art to looking back at me. His eyes still roved, only now I was the subject of his scrutiny instead. I didn’t mind his observations though, as there didn’t seem to be anything untoward or unfriendly about them — he was simply trying to figure me out.

“Honestly, and without causing offense, I don’t understand more now than when we started.” I offered him a gentle smile in an attempt to show him that I wasn’t offended in the slightest, but he only frowned and continued. “I’d either want to be good at it in order to enjoy it, or I’d have to stop if I didn’t develop better skills. To do it for amusement, without any gain, seems a pointless exercise.” I must have looked crestfallen at this, as he added for my benefit, “Again, not meaning to cause offense.”

Oh. Well.

“We are different creatures, are we not?”

“Quite.” With one last sweep of the room, almost like he was trying to detect possible weak points in security rather than giving my art a final look over, he went to leave. “I’m sorry to have bothered you, Paila, I’ll leave you to your… exercise.”

“Don’t be a stranger, Wyann,” Picking up the paintbrush once more, I waggled the excess water off of the bristles as I spoke. “I’m always happy to show people the wonders of art, even the most reluctant of students.”

I could tell he didn’t get my meaning, choosing to take my offer as if I really intended to act as his teacher when, in fact, my offer had been to extend a hand of friendship.

He intrigued me.

I so wanted to know more.

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Copyright © 2019 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.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Contents

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Emmery

Zadden

Epilogue – Skadi

Letter from Ava

Rogue’s Mask Sneak Peek!

Copyright