by Laurie Roma
“I seriously worry about you sometimes.”
“I do, too. How can I avoid it if people are bonding or mating every time I turn around? And now, they are even popping out kids left and right. First, Alexis, then Ivy—who was infertile before she crash-landed on Xenthian—had a baby,” Matt added, mentioning the former Alliance commander. “I don’t even understand how that happened. Oh, and Katra just had twins a few days ago.”
“That was...fast. Are they well?”
Matt nodded. “Reva told me that it only took a minute or two, then boom, Katra was fine, and the twins were there smiling at everyone. Reva had to be exaggerating, but...maybe she wasn’t. I’m not sure about these things. I don’t want to think about it, either. I tell you, we live in chaotic times. It’s all some crazy shit.”
“Speaking of babies...” Roman murmured as he glanced toward the doorway again.
Serra Spartan-Archer waddled into the room with one hand on her pregnant belly while her other hand held onto Jax Spartan’s arm. Serra’s long, dark-brown hair was wrapped on top of her head in some sort of knot, so the ends stuck out in every direction, and her light-blue dress was loose, allowing room for her ever-expanding belly.
Sullivan Archer and Tavius Adaro strolled in behind them. With his shoulder-length, dark-blond hair, Archer didn’t look like an Alliance commander, however, he had an easy-going demeanor that made him a favorite among the officers. It never appeared to bother him that Jax had moved past him in the ranks. Actually, it seemed like Archer preferred it since it gave him more time to work with Serra on her various projects. He couldn’t keep up with her genius brain, though, no one could, but he helped out whenever he was needed.
Serra beamed a smile at Roman and Matt as they respectfully got to their feet. “We were just on the command deck looking for you. Are we interrupting?”
Roman smiled back at her. “Of course not.”
“You’d say that even if we were,” Serra teased. Jax and Archer helped her sit down slowly, then they took their seats in the chairs next to her, flanking her on both sides.
Tavius Adaro sat down next to Roman. As the youngest Adaro brother, and the most diplomatic of the trio—if there was such a thing for a Krytos—he had been chosen to come to the meeting. Since the Krytos were scattered throughout the known galaxies, Tavius was the perfect choice to represent their race since the Adaro brothers could pass on any information they had through their far-reaching network.
While Maddox and Daimon had been taking care of New Vega and supervising the start of the Baxxtora Tournament, Tavius had been spending time with their mate. He wouldn’t see Mya for as long as the meeting lasted and being away from her wasn’t something he wanted to do for very long, so he was anxious to get it started...and ended.
As the only Krytos in the room, he stuck out in black leather pants and a matching tunic that had several, black metal buckles on the long sleeves. A knife was sheathed at his side, and at his waist was a belt that had a symbol as the clasp. It was thick metal that made an incomplete triangle inside a partial circle that was the crest of the Adaro pack, and he wore it with pride.
Tavius noticed Roman looking at the buckles on his sleeves. Leaning closer, he said, “There are small, jagged edges underneath each buckle, like tiny knives. So, if someone tried to grab onto my arm, they’d come away bloody.” He held a hand close to his sleeve, tapping it lightly. “Mya made it for me. If I didn’t love my mate already, I would’ve fallen for her devious mind.”
Roman didn’t know what to say to that, so he went with, “Uh huh.”
Archer took one of Serra’s hands in his as he addressed the group. “So, did you know High Commander Clay-Kingston is in command of the Delta Station? I haven’t seen her since she taught evasive maneuvers back in the Academy. I had a hard time paying attention in that course. It was the only one I almost failed.”
“Because she is beautiful, and all the boys, and some of the girls, had that problem. I heard that was one of the reasons she was reassigned,” Serra told them. “That, and her course was so difficult people had a hard time passing even when they did pay attention. Not that I would’ve had any trouble if she’d still been instructing when I was there.”
Archer laughed. “Baby, there wasn’t anything you didn’t get top marks in.”
Jax sent her a warm smile. “Our little genius, even back then.”
“You are meant to fail that course, at least in the beginning,” Roman told them. “You’re supposed to question your abilities, so you can learn from your mistakes.”
Matt rolled his eyes. “Yeah, we know that now.”
Roman glanced down when his wrist unit vibrated, and he looked at the brief message on the screen. “The Helios chancellor should be arriving at the Delta Station tomorrow evening.”
“That’s earlier than expected,” Archer commented.
“Seems like everyone decided to come early, except for Sarros Ve,” Roman explained. “Our esteemed Reema Chancellor expressed his sincerest apologies to Megara instead of contacting me directly. They should arrive around midday in four.”
“Even if he has four days to get there, you know he’s going to be late,” Jax said darkly. “This is going to throw off the entire schedule!”
Roman shrugged. “Then we’ll start without him.”
“What I don’t understand is why Clay-Kingston won’t let the Stargazer trail the station. It’s bullshit,” Jax groused. “How are we supposed to protect everyone if we don’t have our damn ship?”
“I thought vessels were not allowed to follow the station,” Tavius stated.
“They aren’t.” Serra poked Jax’s arm. “Get over it.”
“We’ll have two Strike Force Teams on board. What more do you want?” Matt asked.
“A fucking ship to protect the Delta Station,” Jax bitched.
Rolling her eyes, Serra poked his arm again. “Language. The baby can hear you.”
“Shit.” Jax hunched his shoulders when she glared at him. “Sorry, sweetheart.”
“The Delta Station has the latest tech, including stealth shielding, and a fully loaded weapons system similar to New Vega,” Tavius stated casually. “Isn’t that why important meetings are held there?”
“How did you—never mind.” Archer shook his head.
“It’s safer if no one knows the Delta Station’s location,” Roman told them. “We’re going to have enough to deal with considering we still don’t know who the Xenon are sending, or if they’re going to get along with the other races.”
Jax sat up in his chair. “Wait a—I thought Ivy was bringing her king.”
“She sent word that someone else would be coming.”
“Damn it! I wanted to mess with her in person about crashing her ship. Especially when she didn’t know the planet was there before she went down.”
“I don’t think you need to bring that up, Jax,” Serra protested. “It’s not something you should tease her about considering she didn’t crash on purpose. She was shot down.”
“Yeah, by an unknown ship we still have no information on. Please, don’t get me started on that again,” Jax grumbled.
“After investigating the attack, we’ve got nothing,” Archer admitted. “No one has taken credit, and there has been no chatter about it.”
“We’ve never seen a ship like Ivy and her crew described. No one has. And there was no wreckage left behind. That’s something we need to discuss during the meeting.” Roman’s jaw clenched with anger. “Whoever it was, at least Ivy and the Dreamweaver crew survived.”
Jax finally smiled. “Then, she crashed onto an invisible planet.”
“It’s just this thing he and Ivy have been doing since the Academy. They take competition to a whole new level,” Serra explained to the group before she focused back on Jax. “You and Ivy really need to stop trying to piss each other off.”
“Never.”
“She is the queen of a world now,” Archer reminded.
Matt jumped in with, “And her soulmate has magic. She does, too...sort of. I think.”
“Never. Wait, what? She has magic? Damn it!”
“You’re going to have to worry about this later. Perhaps when you speak to her in person. Ivy just had her baby, so she can’t travel.” Roman paused before adding, “Perhaps you should plan a trip to Xenthian to have that conversation with her.”
“Funny.” Jax scowled at the dig. “I still don’t understand how she had a baby if she was infertile.”
“She’s obviously healed.” Roman began to say something else, but the glare Matt sent his way told him that he might want to wait for a better time to mention the news about Jaden and Katra’s babies...or anyone else’s for that matter.
Tavius drummed his fingers on the armrests. “A cure would be very interesting.”
“I agree,” Serra murmured as she rubbed her own pregnant belly. “I wonder if they can use their magic to reverse the Zyphir virus completely, or if it is something about their planet that cured Ivy.”
“We’ll have to ask the Xenon chancellor. If there is a cure for the virus, we need to find out. That is, if they will share that information with us,” Roman amended.
“I met Ivy’s soulmate when we went to Xenthian,” Matt explained. “Kai Blackthorn is one intense dude, but I can’t see him blocking us if they have a potential cure. Besides, I think all Ivy would have to do is ask him to help. He might bitch about it, but I don’t think he would deny her anything she asked for.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting the Xenon,” Tavius announced. “I will ask this during the meeting, but we want to make sure that we’ll be allowed to expand New Vega’s course closer to X21 and Xenthian...without the Xenon firing on us, of course.”
“That would be a good idea. We also want permission to build an outpost on Xenthian,” Jax said. “It will help us better understand their race.”
Tavius scoffed. “Like we know anything about them now. The Xenon have magic, and they remained invisible to the rest of us for centuries, so why in all the worlds would they let you build an outpost on their planet?”
“Good question,” Archer said. “But it’s our job to convince them. Somehow.”
Tavius laughed. “Good luck with that.”
As the others continued to discuss the Xenon, Roman glanced out the windows. He saw that the ship was moving through the inky black toward a collection of gases, plasma, and dust that broke the unending black with pink, purple, and white interstellar clouds of light. The vibrant display was one of the reasons Roman missed being stationed in space, but he didn’t miss the gravity issues or the unending travel.
Hovering right in front of the clouds was the Delta Station. Since they were still a distance away, he couldn’t see the weapons that were positioned around the hull of the vessel, but Roman knew there was an additional arsenal that remained hidden unless needed. At its core, it was a destroyer-class vessel built to withstand war, but inside, it was made for peace.
He stood up, and the conversation halted. “Looks like we’re earlier than we anticipated. We are here already. Is all the cargo on the shuttle?”
“We’re ready to go,” Jax confirmed as he and Archer got to their feet, then they both turned to help Serra stand. “Hopefully, all of the chancellors will be early. If we can finish this up quickly, we can be back on New Vega in a few days.”
Matt jumped up and announced, “I’ll go make sure my team is ready, but about the chancellors...” Everyone turned to stare at him. “I tried to tell you earlier.” He glanced at Roman as he cleared his throat. “Alexis isn’t coming. Someone else will be representing the Dragon Warriors.”
“Who?” everyone asked at the same time.
“Ah. Oh, just...Amari Nazira.”
Jax’s eyes widened. “The Dragon Warrior that we met on New Vega? The wild one who went to Xenthian without telling anyone? The one who fucking killed a Reema in the sanctuary on X21?”
“Well...yeah, I guess she did that,” Matt admitted reluctantly. “But she didn’t know the rules of the sanctuary when it happened. She’s really pretty frosty after she stops being so terrifying.”
“Oh, well, then,” Jax bit out. “Fuck!”
“Jax, language!” Serra fumed for a full two seconds before she gave in and sighed. “That is definitely going to be our daughter’s first word because of you.”
Jax opened his mouth, then simply shut it again.
Her lips twitched as she fought to keep her expression neutral, but Serra’s pale-green eyes sparkled with amusement as she said, “I liked Amari...a lot, actually.”
“Of course, you did.” Archer leaned down to kiss her forehead. “We didn’t get to speak to her much, but she seemed fascinating when we met her on New Vega. It should be interesting to see what she has to say now.”
“Fascinating, right,” Jax scoffed.
“She was essential in tracking down and defeating Quilla,” Matt defended.
“Oh, yeah. Was that before or after she visited the planet Vexar, found a secret base, and took a jump drive for her own collection?” Tavius asked with a grin.
“She what?” everyone else asked incredulously as Matt winced a little.
“How the hell did you know about that?”
“I have my ways,” Tavius said innocently.
Jax rubbed his temples. “I think I’m getting a headache.”
Serra leaned against him, and whispered, “Poor, baby. I’ll help you with that later.”
“You better, woman.”
As she took hold of Archer’s arm, Jax hung back and waited as they all made their way out of the room. “Roman, could I have a minute? I was going to speak to you last night, but...I wanted to apologize for asking you to meet us on New Vega. I didn’t—”
“Jax, sometimes you irritate the hell out of me, but if you ever truly piss me off, you will find my boot up your ass. Got it?”
“Yes, sir!” Grinning, Jax saluted, slapping his hand over his heart.
Roman shook his head, then strolled out of the lounge.
CHAPTER NINE
“Welcome to the Delta Station.”
High Commander Megara Clay-Kingston stood in the stark gray docking bay with her two bonded, Commander Seth Kingston and Commander Russell Clay, flanking her. Several officers were in the background, all standing at attention and saluting. The regents saluted back, as did the rest of their group, except for Tavius, who bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment and greeting.
Unlike most space stations, the docking bay on the Delta Station was a single, cavernous area that ran the length of the lowest level, and there were four entrances leading to an antechamber that did a scan before any vessel could enter the main area. Once they had been cleared to enter the bay, the shuttle had continued over to where the Delta Station crew waited. The far end of the bay was lit by a faint blue glow, while the blue and white lights where they stood were on full and bright.
Megara, Seth, and Russell stepped forward to greet Roman and Ian Spartan first. The high commander was a beautiful woman, with dark-brown hair that was pulled into a severe bun, and hazel eyes that were clear and direct. Her mocha-colored skin was flawless, except for the small star tattoo next to her right eye and the initials near her left.
Russell Clay was shorter for an enhanced male, around the same height as his chosen, though, she was tall for a human female. His sunny blond hair was cropped, and the pallor of his complexion hinted at the fatigue that came with extended space travel, but his brown eyes were warm with welcome, even though his expression seemed neutral.
Seth Kingston rivaled Roman in size, but he was taller by an inch and not as heavy with muscle. His perfectly shaved dark head gleamed mahogany under the lights, and his iridescent blue eyes were Seth’s heritage from his D’Aire mother. Unfortunately, he hadn’t received the majestic wings that some hybrid children were born with, but only his closest friends knew that was a sore subject for him.
Megara smiled. “Regents, we are pleased to have you on board.”
Roman waited until Ian had a chance to greet her before taking his turn. They had been friends for many years, so his smile was genuine as he shook her hand. “Good to see you, Megara.”
“And you, Roman. I know we spoke after your promotion, but let me say it again, I’m glad that you are on the council. No one is more deserving of the position.”
Touched, he murmured, “I appreciate that.”
As Megara moved away, she tapped her wrist unit, then said, “Simmons, raise shields and commence course to our next pick-up location.”
“Right away, High Commander. Commencing, now.”
Seth murmured in a low voice, “We’ll run stealth once we have everyone on board.” He shook Roman’s hand and added, “Stars, man. You don’t get any prettier with age.”
“Neither do you, Kingston.” Roman grinned at him, then turned to shake Russell’s hand. “Good to see you, Clay.”
“It’s weird seeing you in that uniform. At least, now we can contact you instead of ever having to deal with Regent Marks again,” Russell said softly after checking to make sure Regent Spartan was busy speaking to the other officers.
Roman snorted. “If I got a credit every time I heard that...”
“You’d be fucking rich,” Russell finished, slapping Roman on the shoulder, then he moved off to greet the others.
Seth lingered to say, “Sorry about moving the pick-up location so many times. We weren’t trying to be assholes. There was a debris field near the first spot, and we noticed a Reema mining vessel close to our second location. You know our policy.” His voice lowered. “Everyone on board is on high-alert. We’re taking this meeting very seriously.”
“I had no doubt.”
The Delta Station’s prime directive was using stealth to complete covert assignments, but the ship was also home to an exceptional laboratory and research facility that made up a few of the higher levels of the vessel. They selected items of interest from various planets, asteroids, moons, and stars to study, and those experiments were also top-secret, making it necessary to protect and preserve the findings.
