Resident Alien: Department of Homeworld Security, Book 2

by Cassandra Chandler

  “Good work,” General Serath said.

  “Sir?” Kira could feel her eyes bugging out of her head. Good work? It was just her duty. Why would he praise her for that? The blonde woman smiled and shifted closer.

  Cygnus-X…

  This time, he caught Kira’s stare and grimaced. “And?”

  Kira cleared her throat. “We’ve determined that the Planetary Liaison had falsified my assignment to get me on the listening station so that he could scrub the reports before sending them to the Coalition.”

  “And where is the listening station?”

  Moons. She stood straighter. “Destroyed, sir. It was boarded by the Tau Ceti. I initiated a self-destruct in an attempt to disable their ship and take out as many as I could while preventing them from obtaining the data they sought.”

  Please, let them never find out how…

  “You did more than disable their ship,” Sorca said. She had a grin that was nothing less than bloodthirsty. It somehow made Kira like the woman. “You destroyed it. We scanned the debris field.”

  Kira nodded, her stomach tight. Taking out a Tau Ceti vessel wasn’t an easy feat. She had done it with a listening station. An odd emotion bubbled up inside of her. Was this what pride felt like?

  General Serath was staring at her. She tried not to fidget.

  “We also have obtained additional information,” she said.

  “We?”

  Her stomach seemed to drop through the floor. “I was assisted by—”

  “Brendan Sloan.”

  Brendan held up his hand, splitting his fingers in a “V” shape again. She’d have to ask him about that later—if they had a ‘later’.

  The woman at General Serath’s side laughed and returned the gesture.

  “I knew I recognized a fellow nerd,” Brendan said.

  “And proud of it. I’m Evelyn Chambers.”

  “Very pleased to meet you.”

  “Since Earth has different customs with introductions, allow me,” Evelyn said. “The big blond guy is Khel, second-in-command of the Arbiter, which is this totally amazing spaceship. That’s Sorca, head of security. And this is General Serath, but on Earth, he goes by Adam Smith.”

  General Serath grimaced, but nodded to confirm her statement.

  “Ma’am. Aliens.” Brendan tapped his forehead twice in an odd gesture that made him seem he was wearing an invisible hat.

  Evelyn grinned again.

  He nodded toward Kira and said, “Kira made contact after her station was destroyed. She explained that she’d been monitoring a transmission I was sending into deep space and knew I had equipment that could help.”

  Her stomach filled with butterflies. He was protecting her again. It just might be possible that she would get out of this with all her secrets intact—talking to Brendan, her aberration, falling for an Earthling.

  But she didn’t want to get away with it. She wanted to stay.

  “Sir—”

  Everyone in the room turned to her when she didn’t continue. She wasn’t used to being at the center of so much attention. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she took Brendan’s hand.

  “That’s only part of what happened.”

  Khel let out a chuff of breath and stalked to the door, leaning against the wall next to it. Sorca’s eyes widened, but that grin came back.

  The General—Adam—scowled.

  Kira could feel her heartbeat in her throat. Adam was very likely to order a mind-wipe for Brendan. It was protocol. Being free or being in prison didn’t really matter at that point. Either way, she would have lost the most important part of her life—Brendan’s love.

  “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

  Evelyn jabbed Adam in the rib, hard. He let out a little grunt, then sighed. “I’m going to regret this. Permission granted.”

  Speaking her mind to one of the greatest Generals the Coalition had ever seen. Kira wasn’t sure what to say, how to begin.

  Brendan squeezed her hand. She looked up into his eyes, brimming with warmth and love.

  “Tell him.” Brendan shrugged. “Just tell him.”

  She took a deep breath and stared at the ground for a moment while she collected herself. “I didn’t excel at anything in the pod where I was raised. I didn’t…suck.” She smiled at Brendan, and he smiled back. Just that simple act was infinitely reassuring. “But I didn’t have anything anyone was looking for. That’s why they put a nanNet in me. To make me good for something.”

  She felt Brendan’s grip tighten, could sense the tension coming off of him. And she knew in that moment that he still would have fallen in love with her just as she was. He would have accepted her—cherished her—without trying to change her. How could she possibly let go of this?

  “I thought it would finally mean a good assignment. A ship, a crew. Colleagues. Friends.”

  Pain rose up from her gut, strong as a gravity well. It pulled at her, trying to draw out her hope, to crush her with the weight of the memories of loneliness. She wouldn’t let it.

  “Instead, they put me in a listening station. Single-unit orbiters. I have the data storage, why not. And it turned out, I was good at it. I am good at it. Listening. So they kept me on assignments. For four years I have been alone, orbiting worlds with sentient beings as alien to me as…” She shook her head. “As the people who raised me.”

  “That’s not protocol,” Khel said. “You should have been assigned rest-cycles for months between assignments.”

  “When has protocol stopped anyone from doing something that’s easy?” Kira said. “I didn’t speak up. I accepted the assignments, one after another, because I wanted to feel useful. I wanted to help. And then, I heard Brendan. And…I broke protocol myself. I answered him. But I had to.” She looked pointedly at Adam’s hand, gripping Evelyn’s tight. “You of all people have to understand what it’s like to finally find that person you can connect to on a…human level. How can I let that go, sir? Could you?”

  “What are you suggesting?” Adam asked.

  “I want to stay.” She was surprised and gratified at how strong her voice sounded. Inside, she was shaking.

  “You know what this means.”

  Kira wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly. Was he actually thinking about letting her stay?

  “Revoking your citizenship,” he said. “Never being allowed to leave the planet.”

  She could handle that. “Yes, sir.”

  “And having your nanNet permanently disabled.”

  Her heart seized. For a normal augmented person, they might be upset to lose the extra functionality. For her, it meant losing the only companions she’d had during her long years of isolation. Before Brendan.

  “No,” Brendan said. “No freaking way. You’re not taking that from her.”

  She squeezed his hand to warn him. It wouldn’t make sense for her to be too upset about it. She had explained her aberration to Brendan while they waited for the Arbiter to return, including the danger of others finding out about it.

  “It’s protocol,” Adam said.

  “Protocol would be to give the Earthling a mind-wipe and throw Kira in jail.” Everyone turned to Sorca. She shrugged one shoulder, then grinned. “I’ve never been a fan of protocol.”

  Brendan gestured to Sorca. “What she said. I’m not getting a mind-wipe, whatever that is, and Kira’s keeping her nanNet. And her citizenship.”

  Adam arched an eyebrow.

  “I’m not asking your permission to play Little House on the Ignorant Prairie.” He turned to Kira and said, “This isn’t just about us.”

  Right. Kira nodded. “The Tau Ceti aren’t just setting up pockets of their habitat on Earth. They’re feeding on Earthlings.”

  “What?” Evelyn stepped forward, glancing to Adam.

  �
�Those guys on the floor?” Brendan said. “They’re vampire space frogs.”

  Evelyn laughed until she noted Brendan didn’t join her. “Oh, you’re serious.”

  Adam wrapped his arm around her as she shifted closer.

  “They’re siphoning off oxytocin and other hormones from humans,” Kira said.

  “So they get a hit like Coalition citizens and Balance.” Sorca flinched ever so slightly, glancing at the other soldiers. When she and Kira met gazes again, she knew Kira had picked up on the hidden data in her statement. Kira could see the nervousness in Sorca’s eyes. Sorca didn’t use Balance, either.

  “Don’t get me started on that,” Brendan said. “I’ve learned enough about your government to have serious concerns about you making decisions for my homeworld. It ends now.”

  “What are you suggesting?” Adam said.

  “I’m not suggesting anything. It’s done.” Brendan wrapped his arm around Kira’s waist, mirroring Adam’s posture with Evelyn. “I don’t care what the Coalition thinks about Earth’s level of development. We’re forming the committee for pre-First Contact work. The Department of Homeworld Security. You want to make a decision about my people, you’re going to talk to us first.”

  “I see Kira has explained quite a bit about our society.” Adam fixed her with an uncomfortable stare. “But she seems to have neglected to inform you that you’re not in the position to make demands.”

  “Oh, she didn’t have to. I inferred from what she told me and set up some things while she was out of the room.”

  “What did you do?” Kira’s heart sank. She had only left the room for a few minutes to use the bathroom. What could Brendan have set up in that time?

  “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it first, but I wanted you to have plausible deniability.”

  Sorca said, “I doubt an Earthling has the resources to do anything that could possibly impact the Coalition.”

  “I guess I forgot to mention that I work with my own government,” Brendan said. “And while I agree that they aren’t ready to handle all this alien stuff, there are a few of us that can pool our resources and help to guide the Coalition into making better choices for our planet.”

  “Such as?”

  “Like making Kira the planetary liaison.”

  Kira’s stomach lurched. Brendan hadn’t mentioned this when they talked before.

  “I’m not going to tell you what I’ve done, because it’d make it that much easier for you to try to stop me. Frankly, though, I’d rather we work together. These space vampires are feeding on my people and destroying our ecosystems. That has to stop.”

  “Agreed,” Evelyn said.

  Adam nodded. “Agreed.”

  Kira thought Adam was only referring to their goals, but then he said, “Kira will be the new planetary liaison for Earth. I’ll see to it.”

  Kira felt her jaw drop. Her gaze met Evelyn’s and the Earthling smiled so warmly that Kira couldn’t stop herself from returning it.

  She was going to be Earth’s next planetary liaison… She could stay with Brendan, help protect his homeworld. Finally, she could make a difference. And she wouldn’t be alone.

  “One last matter,” Brendan said. “My sister might be in the line of fire. She’s an environmental scientist whose work is somehow tying her in with the ecosystems the Tau Ceti are messing with. I want a bodyguard for her. Someone who can stand up to space frogs.”

  Adam nodded. “Khel.”

  “No no no. I am not sending Thor here to watch over my baby sister.” He glared at Khel and said, “Kira, please tell me this isn’t one of the guys you used Coupling with.”

  Khel looked shocked for a moment, then launched himself at Brendan. Luckily both the couch and Adam were in his way. Adam grabbed Khel and pulled him back as Kira stepped in front of Brendan. The revulsion on Khel’s face was unmistakable.

  “I’ve never used Coupling in my life!” Khel said.

  “He didn’t understand the insult,” Kira said. She tried to keep her voice level.

  Brendan’s eyebrows hitched up his forehead, then he grinned. “My bad. I take it back. This guy’s the perfect bodyguard for Paige.”

  There was a moment of awkward silence, then Evelyn laughed. When everyone turned to her, she shrugged. “I was just thinking, Kira’s going to be living on Earth now. That makes her a resident alien.”

  Brendan laughed, then turned to Kira and kissed her, passionately—in front of everyone.

  “Welcome to Earth,” he said.

  About the Author

  Cassandra Chandler has studied folklore and mythology for her entire life and been accused of taking fairy tales a bit too seriously. In her youth, when not reading or watching science-fiction movies, she could be found running through the wilds of Ohio and Florida. Raised in a household where tarot readings and viewing auras were considered mundane, she spends her time writing and trying to appear normal. At least the writing is working out.

  Her romances range from sweet to scorching, set in extraordinary worlds and driven by characters searching for a deep and lasting love. Her sincere hope is to make her readers look twice at that knobby old tree and perhaps decide to keep salt packets within easy reach, just in case…

  She has always seen the starry sky as a destination rather than a matte painting. Her primary residence is on earth, where she lives with her amazing family and a wide variety of stuffed animals, many of whom have multiple PhDs. You can follow her thoughts on writing, life and mostly writing at www.cassandra-chandler.com or see her real-time ramblings on Twitter (@casschandler). She loves to hear from readers through email at cassandrachandler15@gmail.com!

  Look for these titles by Cassandra Chandler

  Now Available:

  Department of Homeworld Security

  Gray Card

  Resident Alien

  The Summer Park Psychics

  Wandering Soul

  Whispering Hearts

  Coming Soon:

  Lingering Touch

  Don’t miss the other titles in Cassandra’s Chandler’s Department of Homeworld Security Series

  Her heart is in the stars…and he’s the man who can take her there.

  Evelyn Chambers is a nerdgirl and damned proud of it. Always the odd girl out, she’s found a home in academia, channeling her fantastical imagination and love for the stars into getting a PhD in astronomy. And at last it seems those stars have aligned to send her a match.

  Vacationing foreigner Adam Smith gets her, from her field of study to her offbeat sense of humor. He’s also drop-dead gorgeous—and woefully ignorant of the world of science fiction, which she’s only too happy to remedy.

  Adam knows more about the stars than he dares reveal. As commander of a starship for the Coalition of Planets, he’s been there.

  With his shore leave over, it’s time to return to the coldness of space—unless he takes Evelyn up on her offer of marriage. But he doesn’t want a green card. He wants Evelyn, and he’ll do whatever it takes to stay at her side. But if she discovers his secrets, he has to hope she’ll believe aliens—and his love for her—are real.

  Warning: Contains terrible puns, intergalactic nerd-love, and plenty of probing.

  Don’t miss these other titles by Cassandra Chandler

  A leap across time is easy...if you throw your heart first.

  A woman with a secret…

  Elsa Sinclair’s ability to bring stunning realism to her historical novels is a secret she must never reveal. She does her research first-hand—by traveling back in time.

  When she stumbles across the man behind the legendary Phantom of the Opera, she is moved by his strength, his kindness…and the moments when his solitary existence seems unbearable. She can’t simply sit by and leave him to his fiery fate.

  A man out of time…r />
  Dante Lucerne is shocked to find himself pulled from certain death and carried to another time and continent. The new world is full of wonders, not the least of which is the woman who saved him.

  A darkness threatens…

  As Elsa helps Dante adjust to his new world, she makes a terrifying discovery—she is falling in love. And it is Dante who must find a way to help her let go of secrets that run deeper than her power. Into the very heart of what they could lose if he fails…

  Warning: Contains a fiery heroine, a brilliant hero, and a love passionate enough to span a century.

  If he can’t defeat the ghosts of her past, she could become one of his.

  The Summer Park Psychics, Book 2

  No one would guess Rachel Montgomery is plagued by a clairsentient talent she can never turn off. She can see and hear ghosts, and ever since she had to kill serial murderer Michael Angelo to save herself, it’s only gotten worse.

  The ghosts of all Michael’s victims are making Rachel’s life hell. Worse, every ghost in Summer Park wants her to help them find peace. Desperate to get away, she grasps for a lifeline—even though the other end is held by a man she can never have.

  Dr. Garrett Wolfstrom has always suspected something is different about Rachel, but when she starts hanging poppets in all his windows, he makes one last-ditch effort to get the woman he’s always loved to open up to him.

  Their mutual attraction reaches a flash point just as Rachel’s ghosts catch up with her. If they can’t find a way to trust each other with their hearts, the most dangerous ghost of all could find a way to settle the score—permanently.

  Warning: This book contains a sizzlingly sexy doctor, a psychic just coming into her power, and a passion hot enough to beat the summer heat.

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