3013: CLAIMED (3013: The Series)

by Roma, Laurie

  Serra took another sip of her coffee, then frowned down into her cup. Her lashes fluttered in surprise when Sully ran a finger lightly over the crease in her brow.

  “I don’t like seeing you frown, baby.”

  She smiled at him as she leaned into the large hand that cupped her cheek. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

  “About?” he prompted.

  “I know that Arik and Dominic are your friends, but I find something…unsettling about Dominic.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Jax said so matter-of-factly, it startled her. “Dominic Stryker is a good man, but he can be intimidating.”

  “Says the commander who strikes fear into the hearts of all.”

  He grinned at her. “You don’t fear me.”

  “That’s because you’ve never turned the wrath of Jax on me.”

  Jax’s smile turned to a frown as he glared at Archer, who simply laughed. “Do you know how annoying that is?”

  Archer sent him a droll stare. “Live with it.”

  Jax ignored his best friend and turned back to her. “Anyways, I think Dom makes you uncomfortable because he’s part Tarin.”

  Her eyes widened. “But he’s human!”

  “He is, but one of his ancestors was Tarin,” Archer explained. “During the war with Earth, Dom’s great, great-grandfather or whatever saved a Tarin woman and took her as his consort when he ended up falling in love with her. A consort is like their version of a claiming.”

  That brought a smile to her face. It was nice to hear that the couple had found love after suffering the pain of war. Centuries ago, when Earth had gone to war with the Tarin, many of the female Tarin took the opportunity to flee due to their having little more than slave status on their home world. Many things had changed over the years, but it was still a struggle that led to Tartarus engaging in a civil war that was still being fought.

  Serra nodded. “Just thinking about the Tarin makes me unsettled.”

  Sully reached out and stroked a hand over her arm. “After what was done to you, I’d be surprised if you didn’t feel that way.”

  “Having your mind fucked with that way would put anyone off,” Jax added.

  She blew out a slow breath, pleased that they seemed to understand. “But he’s your friend, so I’m sure I will like him once I get to know him. Can you tell me a little bit about him? I know Arik through the mind scan he did on me, but Dom is still an unknown entity.”

  “The men in Dom’s family have been part of Earth’s military service, dating back all the way to the early twenty-first century,” Jax explained. “There aren’t many men, if any, that I trust as completely as Archer, but I would trust Dom with my life. Even more important, I would trust him with yours.”

  That was all she needed to hear. “Okay. If you trust them, then so will I. Until or unless he does something to disprove that confidence.”

  “That’s all we can ask for,” Jax agreed with a smile.

  Archer stood up and programmed the food console to replicate various items for their breakfast, and came back to the table carrying multiple platters of food. “You think this will be enough?”

  “Are you kidding? That’s enough to feed an entire unit in space for a month!” Serra gasped.

  Jax shrugged. “If we need more we can program it.”

  She shook her head. “I’m surprised you don’t have helpers here in your home, either human or android.”

  “It’s your home now, too,” Jax reminded her. He waited for her to nod in agreement before he explained. “We have a few droids, but we rarely use them. We also have enough assistants following us around all damn day that we don’t want anyone around when we’re at home.”

  “That makes sense. I was just curious. As you know, I don’t like having too many people around to function at full capacity myself.”

  “We know, hummingbird,” Archer said as he sat back down, then he leaned in to brush his lips against hers before settling back in his chair. “We’ll do whatever it is you need to make you comfortable in our home.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Stop thanking us,” Jax snapped, making her laugh at the irritation in his voice.

  “So,” Serra began as she set her cup back down on the table. “After this meeting is over I want to go in and get my birth control deactivated.”

  Sully sputtered as he choked on the coffee he’d just taken a sip of. “Damn it, woman. Give a man some warning, would you?”

  “Is that something you’d like me to wait to have done? Is it too soon?”

  “No, sweetheart. I think it’s a fantastic idea,” Jax whispered as he reached out and stroked a hand over her hair. Just the thought of seeing Serra swell with their child had him going hard as stone, making him shift in his chair to alleviate the pressure of his pants pushing against his straining shaft.

  “It’s been something that I’ve been thinking about for quite a while now. I’ve always wanted to have children. I believe I would be a good mother, and I think with our genetics, we would make an exceptional child.” She lost her smile for a moment, and an almost desperate look filled her eyes. “I won’t be like my mother. I know I can be too analytical, and I’m not—”

  “Stop. Serra, I don’t ever want to hear you saying something like that again. You are perfect just the way you are. You would make a wonderful mother. You will be a wonderful mother,” Jax said with fervor. “I thought we’d have to wait until you were more at ease with us, but I’m ready if you are. We can take you to medical right after our meeting.”

  She beamed at him, and ran her foot up his leg under the table until it stroked over his cock. “Hmm…now I can’t wait to get started trying.”

  Jax jerked her head forward and took her lips in a heated kiss. Passion flared to life as their tongues dueled together. He couldn’t get enough of her. Her taste, her scent, everything about her aroused him to the point of pain.

  “Damn it, now I’m hard as hell, and I can’t do anything about it,” Archer muttered as the door chime sounded, announcing that their visitors had arrived.

  Jax released Serra and she sat back in her chair with a sigh that instantly changed to a yelp as Archer plucked her out of her seat and settled her on his lap. “You can’t kiss Jax like that and not give me some loving, too.”

  She smiled at him and wound her arms around his neck. “We can’t have that now, can we?”

  She kissed him as Jax checked the outside monitor to make sure it was Dom and Arik at their door. He let them in by imputing a code into the tablet on the table, then called out to their guests to inform them where they were.

  When Dom and Arik walked into the room, Dom immediately scowled. “Damn it. Do we need to leave?”

  Archer chuckled as he helped Serra back into her own seat. “Calm down. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

  After greetings were exchanged, Dom and Arik took their seats and all the men immediately started filling their plates with food. Serra looked up as Sully set a special plate in front of her filled with a variety of offerings. It was white just like the rest of the plates, but this one had slightly raised partitions on it, so each item of food was in its own little compartment. He winked at her. “I know you don’t like for your food to touch,” he whispered after he sat back down.

  It moved her that both he and Jax did so many little things they knew would make her feel more comfortable. Because her brain didn’t function like most, she had come to learn to accept that she was different, but people still though she was weird. Sully and Jax knew her idiosyncrasies, and still cared for her. In fact, they somehow saw her differences as something that made her special…in a good way.

  How amazing was that?

  As they began to eat, she took a moment to center her thoughts by taking a sip of coffee before she addressed the group. “I know that you’re here to discuss the issue of someone trying to steal the stealth tech that I’ve created. Since we all know it isn’t me, I’m assuming the goal wou
ld be to track down who is really planning this potential sale?”

  “I’d say that is accurate,” Arik agreed.

  She smiled at the handsome D’Aire male, then had to stop from rolling her eyes as Jax bristled next to her. “Since that is the next step, I’d like to share a plan I’ve come up with. Since learning about this disturbing scenario, I’ve been trying to figure out who would be involved in this, but I just don’t know of anyone who would do such a thing.”

  “It’s not your fault, Serra,” Archer said, putting his hand on her arm. “There is no way you could have known this was happening.”

  “Someone who is willing to sell our tech on the black market would be good with hiding their identity,” Dom added, darkly. “He or she wouldn’t give a shit—sorry, I mean they wouldn’t care what rules they had to break to get the deal done.”

  Jax filled her cup with more steaming coffee. “Don’t worry. You’re clear of this, sweetheart. We’ll catch whoever is behind this, and make sure they pay.” He turned to Dom. “You guys have eyes on Serra’s other guards and her mother?”

  “We do.”

  “Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I don’t think my mother had anything to do with this. That’s not emotion talking. She just isn’t capable.” She laid out her reasoning for them, and got a nod from Arik.

  “I agree. From your memories of your mother, she does not seem a likely suspect. She is more than capable of doing all kinds of immoral activities to ensure she is able to live in the style of which she has become accustomed. However, her time is spent on selfish endeavors that would not allow her to put something like this together.”

  “You may be right, but we still have to keep her under surveillance until we figure out who is controlling the sale. She could be working with someone,” Archer ordered, then winced as he looked back at Serra. “Sorry, hummingbird.”

  “It’s all right. Nothing she does would surprise me now.”

  He lifted her hand to press a kiss to her palm before addressing the rest of the table. “But the question is, are they after the finalized schematics or the actual prototype for the stealth tech?”

  “The prototype is being tested on the base right outside of Light City. Serra wouldn’t be authorized to take it off the premises,” Jax replied. “But what I don’t get is if someone had a backdoor into her data unit, why not just steal the specs before now? Why wait?”

  “Because they couldn’t,” Serra said softly. “All of my notes and schematics are in code.”

  “Explain,” Jax demanded.

  She shot him a frown at his barked command. “When I’m working on an experiment, it is easier for me to work in a sort of shorthand. It allows me to recalculate without backtracking as much. I started using it when I was a teenager, since I was tired of the older scientists stealing my work.”

  “Did that happen often? People stealing your work?” Archer asked, sounding outraged.

  She nibbled at her lip before answering. “Yes and no. When I was young, many of my instructors would study my work to try and disprove it. Sometimes they ended up using it as a springboard for something they were working on, while other times I was put on a team to help with something they were stuck on.”

  “That must have been frustrating for you,” Arik said with a kind smile. “Being more intelligent than your trainers would not have made for a comfortable work environment.”

  “It wasn’t. It didn’t bother me that I didn’t get credit for what I helped them with, but I had my own projects I wanted to work on. And when I refused to do their work because I wanted to work on my own, it was difficult, but I got clearance so there was nothing they could do.” Her eyes widened as she looked at her bonded. “Did you—”

  “We can’t take credit for that one,” Archer said around a mouthful of food. “Regent Spartan took care of that for you.”

  She smiled at them, knowing the regent would have never thought to do it if her men hadn’t asked. “What was I saying? Oh, yes. Once I began working on my own projects I just adapted the code since it’s what I’m used to. The only other person that can understand it is my main assistant. It took him years to learn it, and he still has issues at times. That’s why whoever is after the tech needs to wait.”

  “I still don’t get it,” Dom said. “Dumb it down for us, Serra.”

  Excitement bubbled inside her as things began to fall in place. “Don’t you see? Once I was ready to bring the concept to the Alliance, I transferred the specs on site for the team in Light City. Whoever is after the tech didn’t understand my code and couldn’t break into their system, so they had to wait until after the prototype was created and the final tests are run. They have to be waiting for me to be given the finalized schematics, which I will once we calibrate the prototype for anything we find during testing. That’s what they’re waiting for, I know it is.”

  “So, why don’t we just destroy the link on the data unit?” Arik suggested.

  “Or postpone the testing until we catch these fuckers.” Dom amended.

  Serra shook her head. “We can’t do that.”

  “We can,” Archer countered. “You’re clear of this and we want you to stay that way. I’ll be damned if someone is going to try to use you to commit treason. And they were. Whoever is behind this was setting you up to take the fall.”

  “And when I find the son of a bitch behind this, I’m going to make him wish he decided to boot his own ass out of an air lock in space instead of dealing with me.” The threat was said in a voice so filled with rage that Serra had no doubt Jax was serious.

  “Now, this is going to be fun,” Dom said, his dark eyes glittering with anticipation as he refilled his plate with food. “It’s been a while since I’ve gotten down and dirty with you, Jax. Arik here is of a more peaceful nature.”

  “Logical. You mean logical. You can’t just go around killing suspects. If they’re guilty—”

  “They signed their own termination orders as soon as they got involved with this,” Archer argued. “We’ll get the information we need first. We always do.”

  The smile on the men’s faces sent a shiver down Serra’s spine. “I think I’ve come up with a plan that will help us catch whoever is behind this without beating confessions out of people.”

  “You aren’t getting anywhere near these assholes, Serra,” Jax ordered harshly.

  “Listen,” she said in a rush, wanting to pitch her idea before he argued anymore. “While I was swimming yesterday I figured out how to build a track and trace program that will stop the data flow to the outside source on an outgoing relay basis. We can use it to filter whatever information we want, like faulty schematics so that they will think they have the finalized plans, but I can ensure it won’t work. If those plans are transferred, we can tag it with a digital marker that will lead us straight to the buyer, but this will only work if the tests are completed as scheduled. If you pull me out now, they’ll know we’re on to them.”

  She waited for a response, but was only met with silence. Looking around, she saw that all of the men were gawking at her. Sully and Dom’s hands were frozen in mid-air, their forks halfway to their mouths. Arik had a small smile on his face, while Jax simply stared at her. “What?”

  “How long was your swim?” Dom asked incredulously.

  “About a half an hour, give or take a few minutes.”

  Archer smirked at Dom. “Our woman is wicked smart.”

  Serra preened a little bit from his compliment, but tried to hide it. “Thank you. You know this is a better plan, and it will allow us to follow the seller back to whoever their contacts are on the other end. In order to create the program, I’ll need access to a lab with better equipment then you have here. Speaking of, you know none of this would have happened if I’d been allowed to build my own data unit instead of using the Alliance crap they give everyone.”

  “Let it go, baby,” Archer said, patting her knee.

  She glared at him. “I nee
d my assistant, too.”

  “No.”

  “Non-negotiable, Jax. I need Troy Takeshi to do this.” She held up a hand. “Don’t even start with me. I know he works for you, too. If you didn’t trust him, you would never have assigned him to me four years ago.”

  Jax let out a weary sigh. “How did you know?”

  “Maybe it was the way he never once looked at me as more than a colleague, or maybe it could have been how he turned into a freaking ninja every time someone bothered me. Science geeks usually aren’t trained to know a hundred ways to kill someone with a coffee cup.”

  Archer, Dom and Arik laughed, but Jax glared at her, not amused. “Who exactly was bothering you and why didn’t I hear about this?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Probably because the situations were taken care of, and it was nothing for you to be worried about. Like last month for instance, when we were on our way to The Black Hole on Alpha Station: X2 when those—”

  Archer lost his smile “You went where?”

  “What the hell were your guards thinking letting you go there? The Krytos who own that bar are fucking crazy!” Jax exploded. “Not to mention all the other scum that take refuge in that sanctuary! And Officer Takeshi was with you? That’s it, I’m busting him down to—”

  “You will not,” Serra ordered. “Besides, it’s not his place to tell me where I could go. He was and is my assistant, not my keeper.”

  “You always were stubborn,” Jax muttered.

  Serra let out a delicate snort as she speared a fresh berry with her fork. “I am.”

  “Why were you going to the Black Hole, Serra? That place is too wild for you, and I know you don’t like crowds,” Archer added.

  “I was having lunch with Alexis Tesera-Volis and her four, very large, very skilled dragon warrior mates. X2 may not be the calmest station, but you know as well as I do, once I passed through the doors of The Black Hole, the owners would have never let anything happen to me. I’ve remained friends with Alexis since we were in the Academy together.”