Out of Bight, Out of Mind

Deep Space Mission Corps -4

by

Tymber Dalton

Prologue

From the personnel files of Dr. Louis Graymard, Deep Space Mission Corps Chief Personnel Acquisitions Officer:

Mission Debriefing Summary #1

File #20-8720.2

Ship: DSMCV Tamora Bight

Base of Origin: New Phoenix, Arizona, Earth

Crew: Captain Aaron Lucio; First Officer Caphis Bates; Mate Ford Caliban; Medical Officer Dr. Emilia Hypatia

Following a stint of R&R on the Martian base, the crew was sent out on an exploratory mission. Unfortunately, a distress call and request for assistance from a Kal’moran ship diverted them. They towed the ship back to the Kal’moran space station. Through a series of events, the Moran leader asked them to the surface. Having been ordered to indulge diplomatic interaction, the crew went.

Apparently, the daughter of the Moran leader constructed a plot to frame Bates and Caliban in an attempt to take ownership of all three men from Dr. Hypatia. Fortunately, Dr. Hypatia perpetuated a ruse during the fight that allowed her to win and exposed the charade. All four crew members were released and allowed to return to their ship. The Kal’moran leader issued a recommendation that the crew be given commendations for their work, which under the circumstances we certainly will take under advisement.

Their next mission is to…

Chapter One

When sorrows come, they come not single spies,

But in battalions.

—William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Before her, the greenish-blue swirls of Daxious Theta 2 resembled a marble suspended in the middle of a sea of black velvet. Dr. Emilia Hypatia sat in the command chair and stared out at the planet. Having the bridge of the Tamora Bight all to herself during nighttime watch allowed Emi plenty of time for contemplation. The planet, the fourth from its sun, was only five percent larger than Earth, had an iron core, a healthy mix of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and other gasses for its atmosphere, and was only fifty percent saline ocean. Also, the largest life-forms on the planet were mammals equivalent to bears back on Earth. No intelligent life-forms.

In other words, it looked like a valid prospect for a settlement colony.

Emi knew somewhere on the backside of the planet orbited the Kendall Kant, another Deep Space Mission Corps exploration vessel that had arrived hours earlier to assist with the mission. On board, her best friend and roommate from college, Dr. Donna Stephens.

Emi wouldn’t mind the company. After their past couple of assignments, she looked forward to having backup close at hand in case something went wrong. It also didn’t hurt that she and Donna would be able to chat in real time instead of back-and-forths delayed by hours, or even days in some cases.

All three of Emi’s men were asleep in their shared quarters. Emi had volunteered to take the night watch once they’d stabilized their orbit around the uninhabited planet. Her scientific curiosity wouldn’t let her fall asleep. This wasn’t the first planet she’d been to outside of Earth, but it was her first true exploration mission. She enjoyed watching the automated scanner output screens and paused the results every so often when something caught her eye.

This was what she’d signed on for. What she’d trained for. It didn’t matter where in the universe the DSMC sent them, as long as they were together.

Her men, her family, were her home. The Tamora Bight was her home. Nowhere had truly felt like home since Bozeman, Montana, where she grew up with her parents. Before they were killed in an accident at their lunar research station.

Since then, emotionally, she’d been adrift and wrapped in her studies.

Now, she had a family.

Home.

And after their tenure in the DSMC ended and the Bight wasn’t their home any longer, that would be okay, too. Together, they were home, regardless of where they lived.

She drifted into thoughts about Bozeman, about tending the small garden they’d had at their house. Looking back on her childhood always made her smile. And made her miss her parents that much more.

The com link let out a whistle, startling her from her reverie. She hit the button. “DSMC Vessel Tamora Bight. Dr. Hypatia speaking.”

A woman’s voice sounded over the link. “Tamora Bight, this is DSMC Vessel Kendall Kant. Hey, girl. Whassup?”

Emi giggled. “Chicken butt.”

From somewhere on the other side of the planet, Donna also giggled. “I’ve missed that.”

“Now all we need is Sophie and none of the guys stand a chance,” Emi said. Sophie being Dr. Sophie Vanderlin, now assigned to the Braynow Gaston. Sophie and her three men had been sent to Earth for training since Sophie joined them after Emi solved the crisis at the Aroykin colony. In the short time they’d known her, Emi and Donna had become fast friends with the woman. “You have night watch?” Emi asked.

“Yeah,” Donna said. “I had to order my hubbies to get their cute asses in bed. They don’t mind sharing a bunk if I’m there, but they still get a little weirded out sometimes if they have to all sleep together and I’m not there.” Emi had signed up for the DSMC before Donna. She had also met—and rejected—the crew of the K-2 due to their boorishly militaristic attitude.

Emi thought the condition’s medical term was acute stick-up-the-ass-itis, but she might have been mistaken. Fortunately, Donna had a more compatible attitude, allowing her to whip her former ISNC military men into a friendlier lot. It didn’t hurt that Dr. Graymard of the DSMC had sat the men down and had a heart-to-heart talk with Rob about them being assholes, and showed them videos of their sim sessions.

Donna had also demanded they build a group cabin for them to all share, much like Emi and her men had. It made sense for Emi’s guys, because they had been lovers with each other for years before Emi joined them.

The crew of the K-2…not so much. It had been a pretty big adjustment for Donna’s hunky hetero men.

Not for a lack of trying on Donna’s part. Even her considerable powers of persuasion apparently had their limits. At least they’d entered into a group marriage with her.

“They’ll get over it,” Emi assured her with a grin she was glad Donna couldn’t see. “It’s only been a few months. Go easy on them.”

“Yeah, I know.” Emi heard Donna let out a wistful sigh. “So, what’ve we got down there?”

“I’m doing the prelim scans now. So far, the data I’m seeing backs up what’s in the records from the primary expedition party that orbited the planet.”

“This is so cool,” Donna said. “We are in fricking space!”

Emi smiled at her friend’s excited tone. “The ships weren’t a clue? And you’ve been in space for a while now.”

“Yeah, but Aroykin and Mars don’t count. This is exciting! This is the last fricking frontier. This is what people hundreds of years ago felt like settling the Old West back on Earth. When do we get to go down there?”

A cold chill swept through Emi. She rubbed her arms to smooth the gooseflesh rippling up them. “Not yet.” She couldn’t help but think of the terrifying spiderlike tals’tophk creatures she’d seen up close and personal, which inhabited the areas outside Kal’moran’s protective city walls.

Deadly poisonous. Even though it was five weeks earlier, she could still hear the creature’s dying screams in her memories.

“We have to take precautions,” Emi continued as she shoved that horrifying memory away. “Believe me, I’ve seen bad critters firsthand. We won’t know more about the fauna until the drones and robotic landers do close-up scans. We also have to test the flora. Make sure it’s not poisonous.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Despite Donna’s brains and beauty, patience didn’t even make the top ten list of her strong points.

“You’re not bored, are you?” Emi asked.

“No, not bored. I just want something to do besides stare at a computer screen from several miles above the planet’s surface.”

“Don’t worry. We have four weeks here. Once we finish our scans and topography studies tomorrow, we’ll start sending down the drones.”

Donna’s voice softened, her tone growing serious. “So…how bad was it on Kal’moran? We really haven’t had a chance to talk about it. Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

Heat filled Emi’s face. Her stomach churned before tightening, threatening to send the remains of her dinner back up via express elevator.

She picked up Bucky, the rubber spider, from where it sat on the command console. She rarely let Bucky out of her sight. The good luck charm had allowed Emi to save her men from the treacherous Kal’moran who’d tried to take them from her.

To save her family.

“I’m okay,” Emi softly said. “Maybe later. Face-to-face. Not like this.”

“Fair enough, girlfriend. Fair enough.”

* * *

They spent most of their night watch talking. Ford showed up first the next morning to relieve Emi. Of course he brought her a cup of coffee.

She cupped her palms around the warm mug and blew across its steaming surface. With enough creamer to turn it the color of caramel, and sugar, he’d fixed it exactly the way she liked it. “Thank you.”

He leaned against the command chair with one arm, his other hand holding his own mug. A delicious smile curved his lips. “No problem, babe. You really think I’m going to show up here with no coffee? That’d be like taking my life into my hands, wouldn’t it?”

Emi smiled at him over the top of her mug. “I love you so much.”

“Ah, you just love me for my caffeine.”

“And your cock.”

“Well that’s good to know.” He grinned, his blue eyes playfully lit with good humor. “I thought it was my witty conversation.”

“You are a chatterbox, but I love that about you, too.” Slightly slimmer in build than Aaron, his lean, catlike body always turned her on.

“Also good to know.” He tipped his head toward the screens, where the sensor scan readouts still scrolled. “Anything interesting?”

“It’s all interesting to me.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “You know what I meant, babe.”

“Nothing unexpected or extraordinary, if that’s what you meant.”

“That’s what I meant.” When she slid out of the command chair he took her place. “Nothing to catch me with my drawers around my ankles?”

“You mean besides Caph?”

“Ah, good one, babe. Nothing I need to worry about, then?”

“Nope. Donna and I had a good chat last night. She had their night watch.”

“Never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad Rob and his crew are here with us.”

Emi reached over, grabbed Bucky off the console, and pocketed the rubber spider. “You and me both, Ford.” She gave him a kiss and wandered down to the galley. There she found Aaron toasting himself a bagel.

“Good morning, Em.” He leaned in and kissed her. He hadn’t shaved yet. The stubble on his cheek brushed against hers. “Boring night?”

“Got lots of data pouring in.”

“So that’s a yes?”

She shrugged. “It’s not boring to me. Am I the only one on this boat who enjoys looking at scientific data?”

“Maybe. My job is to get the data and keep my ship and crew safe.”

She bumped him with her hip. “And here I thought you were a renaissance man. How many times have you read Othello and Hamlet?”

“I am. If we discover an opera or Shakespearean theatre company down there, they’ll have my full and undivided attention. Until then, it’s just a job for me. I’ll leave the science stuff to you and Ford. I have a ship to take care of.”

She was toasting a bagel of her own when Caph swooped into the galley, grabbed her, and kissed the side of her neck. “Hiya, babe.” She felt his semi-stiff cock rubbing against her through his uniform trousers.

“What’s wrong, big guy? Didn’t Aar and Ford take care of you last night?”

He grinned. “They did, but I missed you.” He went after her neck again, making her squeal with giggles as he dry-humped her hip. Caph was her big, playful goofball. His shaggy blond hair and green eyes were the decorative bows on his total package, which included a large body, broad shoulders tapering off to a narrow waist, and a positively bitable, tight ass. Aaron referred to Caph and Ford as the twins because of their habit of speaking at the same time, not because they were related or even looked remotely alike.

Aaron smirked from where he leaned against the counter and ate his own bagel. “You know how he gets, Em.” She felt his amusement, echoed by the light in his sweet brown eyes.

Right now, what she felt from Caph was horniness and a desire to talk her back into their bunk.

She patted his hands. “Maybe tonight, sweetie. I need to do some work in the hydro lab before I get some shut-eye of my own.”

He nearly pouted. All he needed was a boo-boo lip to complete the look. “Aww. All right.”

She gave him a final kiss before disengaging herself from his arms. If he got her into bed now, he’d fuck her to sleep, and she’d never get everything done on her to-do list. “Not that I’m not willing, but you know the drill. I have to get my chores done. So do you.”

“Yes, he does,” Aaron concurred. “And he’s got tests to run on the drones today down in cargo.”

Caph poured himself a cup of coffee. “I know, I know,” he grumbled. “You can’t blame a man for trying.” He tugged at his trousers, which now sported a full bulge.

“No, you can’t,” Emi agreed with a smile. “And we know you’re always willing to try.” After smearing cream cheese on her own bagel and wrapping it in a paper towel, she refilled her coffee and picked up her mug and the bagel. “That’s why the rest of us have to be on our toes, or you’ll always have us on our backs.”

She left both men laughing.

Down at the entrance to the decontamination chamber that led to the hydro lab, she took a deep breath before stepping in. No matter how many times she rationalized to herself that there was nothing to fear, she couldn’t forget how she nearly lost her life there.

When the decontamination cycle ended and the door opened to the hydro lab, she let out the breath she’d been holding and stepped inside.

This was her sanctuary. The refit team had done a brilliant job of repairing the damage done by Eckhart’s attack. They’d even made some changes for her at her request. It was, literally, a whole new hydro lab. She had vines trellising up wires crisscrossing the lab. In a few weeks, the entire ceiling would be concealed from view. Two large vid screens, one on each side, could display whatever Emi wanted, whether a window scene, a duplicate of the bridge view, or even vids from their exhaustive library.

Today, she chose to set them up as window sims. She looked through one and saw Bozeman, Montana, in the spring, as she remembered it from her childhood. If she closed her eyes she could almost smell the pines. The other showed a similar view, just from a different angle.

She set her coffee and bagel on the small desk in the back. She leaned against it while she finished her bagel and studied her hydro lab. Not just pretty, but functional. It provided them fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as helped augment the air scrubbers. All the air in the ship passed through the hydro lab.

Down here, she also had a brief respite from her men. Not that she didn’t want to be around them, because she did. With her empath skills, however, it sometimes grated on her nerves if she didn’t get the occasional break. Fortunately their emotions tended to run to the loving, and horny, end of the spectrum, making it easy to spend lots of time in close quarters with them.

Emi busied herself with her hydro tables. She pruned, harvested, started seeds and transplanted seedlings, and tidied the place up. After two hours, she caught herself yawning.

The basket she kept down there for fruit and veggies nearly overflowed. Bananas, peppers, tomatoes, and beans had ripened. After toting it back to the galley, she headed to their quarters to grab a shower and go to bed to grab a few hours of sleep before dinner.

When she emerged from the head, Caph lay stretched out in the middle of their shared bunk, a playful grin on his face.

Fortunately, he was clothed.

“Hi, babe.”

Emi had pulled on one of the men’s shirts after getting out of the shower. It hung to her knees, giving her a little protection against her horny hubby.

“Hi, Caph.” She crawled under the sheet. “Still too tired, babe. Sorry.”

“Aww, I just wanted to spend a few minutes with you.”

“Uh-huh. Suuure.”

He stretched out next to her, on top of the covers. “No, seriously.” He kissed her on the forehead. Then he laced his fingers through hers. “Scout’s honor.”

She nuzzled close and closed her eyes. “Good, because I’m wiped out.”

When she opened her eyes what felt like mere minutes later, Aaron lay stretched out where Caph had been. She yawned. “When’d you get here?”

“A little bit ago.”

“Is it dinnertime yet?”

“Nope. A few hours. You don’t need to get up yet.”

She snuggled closer to him and closed her eyes agin. “Good, because I don’t feel like it.” Before she knew it, dreams filled her head again. Bad dreams. Specifically about the fight on Kal’moran, where she had to play dirty to beat Rawin in the arena.

Only this time, in Emi’s dream Rawin wrapped her arms around Emi and started squeezing. Emi struggled, trying to get away—

“Hey, Emi. Wake up. You’re having a nightmare.”

Her eyes popped open at the sound of Ford’s voice. He was sitting up, holding her with his arms wrapped tightly around her. As she struggled to get her pulse under control, she broke down crying against his chest.

“Shh, it’s okay.” He gently gathered her against him as she cried. “You need to get it out of your system. You’ve been holding on to it for too damn long. I wondered how long it would take you to finally get around to it.”

“Please don’t tell Aaron and Caph. I don’t want to worry them.”

“Um, that’s a hell-no-can’t-do, babe. Remember the reaming you gave me for keeping mum about Aaron’s nightmares?”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

She thought about it. “Because I said so.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Sorry, babe. Cap trumps doctor. And we all trump that as husbands.” He held her close. “You don’t get a pass on this one. You need to talk it out. Get it out of your system.” He let her have a moment. “How many of these have you had?”

“Too many.”

“That’s what I thought.” He made her meet his gaze. It felt like his blue eyes peered down to the bottom of her soul. “We’re going to have a family meeting. And you will tell them.”

She knew arguing with him would prove futile. Besides, she knew he was right.

She nodded.

“That’s my good girl.”

Chapter Two

Ford took a watch during dinner, but Caph took the night duty. As Emi snuggled between Aaron and Ford in their bed, she hoped they’d go to sleep without her nightmares coming up as a topic of conversation, but Ford had other plans.

“You want to tell him yourself,” Ford started, “or should I?”

Aaron’s brow scrunched up as his brown eyes narrowed. “Tell me what?”

Emi burrowed herself a little deeper beneath the covers. “I’d rather go to sleep,” she muttered.

“Yeaaah, no,” Ford said, tugging the covers down. “Don’t even. Spill it.”

Her gaze skittered from Aaron’s brown eyes back down to his mouth.

“Don’t make me order you, Doctor,” Aaron said, his tone belying his words.

She threw a glare over her shoulder at Ford. “Fine.” Get it over with.

She wasn’t, however, expecting to burst into tears as she told him about the nightmares she’d been having. By the time she finished, both men had surrounded her, holding her.

“You’ve got to let it out, Em,” Aaron softly said. “That’s what you told me, and you were right. Don’t hold stuff in.”

“But I won. I don’t understand why I’m having these nightmares.”

Aaron tenderly kissed her forehead. “Because you’re human.”

“You don’t need to be strong all the time,” Ford added. “That’s why we’re here. All three of us. Lean on us.”

“And don’t you feel better?” Aaron added.

And she did feel a little better for the telling. Instead of answering, she snuggled tightly against them, tipping her head back so she could kiss Aaron.

“I think that’s a yes,” Ford said.

Emi plunged her hand into Aaron’s brown hair, hooking her leg around his as she did. He obliged her by pressing his thigh between her legs and offering her the perfect angle for her to rub her clit against his flesh.

“That’s it, baby,” Ford whispered in her ear. He trailed kisses down her neck, along her shoulder, as he reached around her with his arm and cupped her right breast in his hand. “Show us how much you want a good, hard fucking.”

Emi let out a soft mewling cry as Aaron grazed his teeth along her throat. “Both of us,” Aaron rumbled against her flesh. “We’re going to fuck your ass and your pussy and not let you go until we’ve made your eyes roll back in your head.”

Her hips rocked harder, faster, more insistently. Hell, if they kept up the dirty talk, she’d be creaming all over Aaron’s leg at that rate before they even got around to actually fucking her.

“I think,” Ford said, “that next time we’re in port, we need to hunt down a butt plug and a dildo for her. Get a harness and strap them on her and make her stay naked like that all…day…long.” He punctuated the last three words by tweaking her nipple between his thumb and finger.

Electric heat shot from her nipple straight down to her clit. Another gush of moisture flowed into her aching pussy. Now the hard feel of Ford’s cock pressed against the seam of her ass. She frantically rubbed herself against Aaron’s thigh, wanting release right now, dammit!

Aaron chuckled. “Is mean old Ford teasing you?” The playful energy washing from both of them served to push her need higher up the scale.

“Yes. You both are, and you darn well know it.”

Aaron rolled onto his back, pulling her with him. He grabbed her hips and thrust up, his cock easily sliding between her drenched pussy lips and deep into her cunt. He looked up at her with passion smoldering in his brown gaze. “Get comfortable, baby,” he said. “We’re not letting you go anytime soon.”

Her insides fluttered at his commanding tone. The security and safety she felt both in his arms and knowing he was in charge of them. He pulled her down and kissed her, a fist firmly planted in her hair to hold her in place.

Not that she wanted to go anywhere.

She felt Ford get up and quickly return. Then Aaron’s hands drifted down to her ass, pulling her cheeks apart and drawing a happy sigh from Ford.

“That’s a beautiful sight.” His fingers pressed against her puckered rim, warm and sure, massaging her and sending another cramping wave of need through her body. She wanted to be fucked hard and fast, and the men were determined to take their time.

After a few minutes of her squirming and begging, Ford finally took pity on her and began working lube into her ass. The walls of her pussy clenched around Aaron’s cock as Ford slipped first one, then two fingers inside her, slowly scissoring them, stretching her, getting her ready for his cock.

Once he felt she was ready, his fingers disappeared, replaced by the head of his cock pressing against her rim.

Emi let out a soft moan as he slowly worked his cock past the tight ring of muscle. When she began rocking against them, trying to rush him, he grabbed her hips.

“No you don’t,” he playfully warned. “We’re in control tonight. You let us do the driving.”

Lust rocketed through her at Ford’s tone. All she needed now to make this moment perfect would be Caph’s cock in her mouth.

Ford took his time completely seating his cock deep inside her. Once he bottomed out, he pulled her up into a sitting position, one arm hooked around her waist and his other hand buried in her pussy. “Now you’re going to give us at least two, baby,” he murmured in her ear. “Start moving.”

She slowly began rocking against them. Aaron reached up and rubbed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples, drawing another moan out of her. Between their relentless and skilled fingers, combined with the pleasant feeling of being completely filled by their cocks, it didn’t take long for the first orgasm to spiral through her, arching her back as she let out a cry.

“That’s it,” Aaron encouraged, applying more pressure to her nipples and turning the stimulation into a delicious bite that fine-tuned the exquisite pleasure. “One more, and then we’re going to fuck your brains out.”

She draped an arm around Ford’s neck for support as she laid her head back against his shoulder. Ford’s fingers plucked at her swollen clit even as she felt Aaron’s cock rubbing against her G-spot. Emi found a rhythm that Aaron matched by tugging on her nipples even as their cocks bottomed out inside her.

Swirling around her and amping her pleasure, the rich, pure colors of their passion and love cloaking her in sweet, endless clouds of desire. As her climb started again, she bounced against them harder, faster, wanting to ride that knife’s edge between too much and not enough she always craved with her men. And as her cunt and ass spasmed around their cocks again, both men felt it. Aaron pinched her nipples hard, and Ford followed suit with her clit. White heat exploded inside her, shattering her will. She let out a keening cry as they began moving with her, fucking her, taking over again and rushing to finish with her in a blazing, brilliant rainbow of emotions that threatened to overwhelm her.

As they collapsed onto the bed, both cocks still buried inside her, Emi struggled to catch her breath even as the last tendrils of her climax still shuddered through her body. Aaron wrapped his arms around her and Ford as she deliciously slipped into the welcomed embrace of a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

She awoke in the middle of the night. Without disturbing Ford or Aaron, she carefully climbed out of bed and found her bathrobe. After stopping by the head, she left their quarters. After padding through corridors with lights dimmed for nighttime, she found Caph on watch on the bridge, lounging in the command chair and reading a book with his feet propped up on the console. He smiled at her appearance.

“Hey. I figured you’d be asleep.” He set the handheld aside and patted his thigh.

“I was.” She crawled into his lap and deeply inhaled his scent.

“Then why are you here? Not that I’m complaining, mind you.”

With her eyes closed, she got it over with, confessing her nightmares about what happened on Kal’moran.

When she finished, he didn’t speak. He kissed the top of her head and held her close with his chin resting on her head. She felt his energy and feelings shift to concern before slowly returning to his normal calm tenderness. “Thank you for telling me, babe. They’re right. You chewed Ford a new one for not telling you about Aaron’s nightmares.” He kissed the top of her head again. “We can’t help fix what we don’t know’s broke.”

She let out a deep breath of relief. Part of her had worried it would hurt him to know she’d had nightmares. He couldn’t hide the fact that, despite it not being their fault, he still felt a little guilty for her having to fight to save them.

That it was his role to protect her and fight for her, not the other way around.

But he wasn’t hurt, and for that she felt thankful.

“I know,” she mumbled, already feeling like dozing off in his arms.

“You falling asleep, babe?”

“Uh-huh.”

“They fucked your brains out tonight, didn’t they?”

“Uh-huh.”

He chuckled. “You have that deliciously well-fucked scent I love so much.”

She snuggled more tightly against him. “Want me to sleep late and wait for you?”

He nibbled on her ear. “I think I’d love that.”

She stirred a little when she felt the world gently swaying. She opened her eyes enough to recognize she was still safe in Caph’s arms, and he was carrying her back to their quarters. When next she opened her eyes, she was snuggled tightly in his arms in their bed.

She wiggled her ass against him, making his cock spring to life along the seam of her ass.

“That’s dangerous, babe,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“You’re going to get yourself fucked if you keep that up.”

“That was my plan.”

He sounded a little more awake. “Oh, well in that case.” He wrapped his arms around her and shifted position, releasing her only long enough to line his cock up with her pussy lips before pressing for entrance.

She sighed as he filled her cunt from behind. One beefy hand slid between her legs as he slowly fucked her, his other hand palming her breast. With her nipples still a little tender from Aaron’s earlier attention, it wasn’t long before he’d fired her libido up again.

“Wow, you’re wet, babe. They did fuck you good.”

She squirmed against him. “Uh-huh!”

The hand between her legs moved faster, harder, even as his cock swelled and thickened inside her. When he was like this early in the morning, it never took much to get him off. “Come for me, babe,” he raggedly whispered.

She quickly complied. And when he felt her pussy contracting around him, he rolled her onto her stomach and fucked her hard and fast, pulling another unexpected orgasm out of her that left her gasping into the pillow as his last hard strokes, the sound of their flesh slapping together filling the room, drove his cock deep inside her before he filled her with his cum.

He took a few gasping breaths before limply falling back onto the bed next to her. She rolled into his arms and crashed into sleep again. When next she woke, she was draped over his chest.

He chuckled when she pressed a kiss to his flesh. “You awake?” He certainly sounded that way.

“I think so.” She was pleasantly achy in all the right places, that much she knew.

“Ready for the shower?”

“We have to get up?”

“Yeah, it’s nearly lunchtime.”

That woke her up. “Holy crap!”

He laughed. “Yeah, Cap came by to check on us and didn’t have the heart to wake you up. Said you’d had a hard night last night.”

She tipped her head up and spotted his playful smirk, which earned him a light slap on his arm. “You three were the ones who had a hard night last night. I was just along for the ride.”

“And got yourself well ridden.”

“I’m not complaining.”

“Neither are we, babe. Neither are we.” His expression turned serious for a moment. “Are you okay?”

“What? Uh, yeah. Takes more than a playful night with you guys to wear me out.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “That’s not what I meant.”

She knew what he meant from the feel of his energy. That didn’t mean she wanted to talk about it. “I’m fine. Really.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Good. No more secrets or we’ll spank your ass.”

“You and what army?”

He unerringly found her pussy and slipped two fingers inside her before she could object. In just a moment, he had her breathless and squirming on the bed. “Me and this army of ten,” he teased. “You might be able to officially molest us as part of your crew duties, Doctor, but we have wiles of our own.”

When he withdrew his hand, she whined in protest. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and slowly licked her juices off them. “What’s wrong, baby?” he innocently asked.

She sat up. “You’re mean!”

He pushed her back onto the bed, grabbing her legs and spreading them with his shoulders. He buried his face in her pussy and took his time laving her labia and clit with his tongue, making her moan and not giving her relief. He sucked and pulled at her clit, driving her crazy without release.

Only when she was tearfully begging him to make her come did he slide three fingers inside her, fucking her hard and fast with them while he licked her clit.

She grabbed his hair and cried out, sobbing with the force of her release, then begging for him to stop when he wouldn’t quit teasing her overstimulated nub. Only once he’d forced a second orgasm out of her did he relent, sitting up with a smile on his face.

“That’s my secret weapon,” he said. His cock rigidly jutted from his body. He grabbed her ankles and slung them over his shoulders before fisting his cock and lining it up with her pussy. She was helpless to do anything but lie there and enjoy him fucking her, hard and fast, until he came again.

As he recovered, he leaned in and tenderly kissed her. “And I have no problem pulling out that weapon whenever I think you’re holding back on us and I need to tease information out of you.”

“I could be hiding lots of things,” she said.

A blond eyebrow arched skyward. “Oh, really? Such as?”

She wiggled her hips at him. “I don’t know. I’ll think of something. Something requiring a full-body cavity search.”

He threw back his head and laughed.

Chapter Three

On day five of their orbit, all four of them gathered on the Tamora Bight’s bridge, where the vid screen displayed the drone’s point of view. As it descended to the planet’s surface, Emi felt nervous energy wash through her, both her own and that of her three men.

The tip of Caph’s tongue stuck out the left corner of his mouth as he carefully worked the drone’s controls, guiding it toward the beach they’d selected for its landing point. Wide open and on the water, they could get samples of the ocean and see if there were any beach predators they’d have to worry about when they sent a larger lander down.

Several nervous minutes later as the drone touched down onto the pure white sand, a round of cheers erupted through their com link with the K-2. Aaron had patched them in to the video feed so they could follow along.

“Great flying, Caph,” Rob Elloy said over the com link.

Caph sat back, wearing a pleased grin. “Thanks. You wouldn’t know it was my first time, huh?”

Emi and Ford both patted him on the back as Aaron walked over from the command station. “You did good, big guy,” Aaron said. “Ford, now it’s your turn. He did the hard part.”

Ford blew a raspberry at Aaron, but he slid into his own chair at the console and started guiding the drone through taking air, sand, and water samples.

As he did that, Emi stretched. “If this is the kind of stuff the DSMC will have us doing for the next five years, I’m happy to do it.”

“I know, right?” Aaron commented. “I really do enjoy this kind of stuff, even if I don’t understand all the finer details.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and snugged her close. “That’s your department, babe.” He planted a kiss on the top of her head. “I got us here.”

The rest of the day’s activities were filled with more drone reconnaissance missions, taking samples, and filing reports. From the extensive list of requirements jointly issued by the DSMC and the ISTC—Interstellar Treaty Coalition—so far this planet looked like a good settlement choice. Very little terraforming would be required to make it habitable as a settlement outpost, which would grow first into an official base, and possibly a new pilgrim planet.

It was late in the night when Emi finally left the bridge, and even then only after Aaron ordered Caph to physically remove her.

He grinned. “With pleasure.”

She let out a yelp as he tossed her over his shoulder and headed toward their quarters. She glared at Aaron, who followed close behind. “What’s the big idea?”

“You’re tired, you’re being stubborn, you’ve already ignored three suggestions from me to go to bed, and me and Caph are fucking horny. So you can either help and get some yourself, or lie there and watch us, but either way you’re going to bed.”

“Hmph!”

She read his amusement. He knew she wasn’t really mad at him.

Back in their quarters, he gently set her on her feet before he turned and started undressing.

Aaron pulled her in for a kiss. “If you work yourself to death, who’s going to take care of us?” He started undressing as well.

She followed suit. “I can’t help it. I’m excited about what we’re doing.”

“And the planet will still be there tomorrow, babe,” he assured her. “And for the next couple of weeks.” He disappeared into the head.

Caph, now naked, dropped onto the bed with a playful smile. “So, are you in the mood?”

“If I’m not, I’m sure you can get me there.” She joined him, straddling him and kissing him.

When Aaron emerged from the head a few minutes later, Caph was on top of her sixty-nine, his face buried in her pussy while she sucked his cock.

“Mmm. That’s a nice sight, although you started without me.”

Emi felt the mattress dip behind her head. A moment later, Caph froze, letting out a deep moan of pleasure as Aaron worked his cock up the big man’s ass.

She reached back and stroked Aaron’s sack, cradling the soft weight in her palm and making Aaron let out another moan.

“Jeez, baby, don’t stop. That’s fantastic.”

Caph’s tongue burrowed deeper inside her pussy, making her squirm. Every time she let out a moan, his cock grew harder and thicker against her tongue.

Before long, Aaron and Caph had settled on a rhythm, and Emi curled her fingers around the base of Caph’s shaft as he started fucking her mouth in time with Aaron’s strokes. Right above her, she watched their thighs slapping together as the heady scent of their arousal and her own filled her senses. Their emotions, a rich purple and green swirling together as they made love to her and each other, helped push her closer to the edge of her own release.

In a strained tone, Aaron said, “I’m close. I can’t hold back much longer.”

Caph’s body on top of her rubbed against her nipples, pebbling them and adding to the pleasant jolts shooting straight for her clit. Then Caph pressed two thick fingers inside her, hooking them perfectly against her G-spot.

Being held immobile beneath them only amped her pleasure as her orgasm spiked through her. As her moans vibrated through Caph’s cock, combined with Aaron pounding his ass, it set him off, too. She let out another moan as his sweet juices filled her mouth and she struggled to swallow fast enough to keep up with him.

“There you go,” Aaron said. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” He took another few fast and hard strokes before she felt his sac draw tight in her hand and his cum emptied into Caph.

None of them moved for a moment, too busy trying to catch their breaths and recover. Aaron was the first to untangle himself, stepping into the head to clean up and coming back with a warm, wet washcloth for Caph, who’d flopped off Emi and onto his side.

She turned and curled up against the big man, draped across him as Aaron nestled in behind her with his arm around her waist. “Okay,” she mumbled. “I rested. Happy?”

Aaron chuckled and kissed her shoulder. “For now.”

* * *

One benefit, although some might call it a drawback, of being a secondary explore was they could venture down to the planet’s surface in a lander, if it was deemed safe enough. Ostensibly for gathering firsthand samples with small, robotic rovers.

In special cases, they could even exit the lander and set foot on the planet.

Emi was glad this was an extra-special case, and Aaron and Rob had decided to take the women down to the planet for an impromptu picnic.

With excitement, Emi sat on the edge of their seat as Aaron guided the lander through orbit toward the Kendall Kant and their hangar bay. She kept touching her trouser pocket, where Bucky created a bulge.

She knew Rob and Aaron would never think of jeopardizing any of their crew if it wasn’t absolutely safe. It didn’t hurt that she’d get to see her best friend in person again.

It definitely didn’t hurt that Aaron had teased Emi a little about maybe some afternoon adult playtime, if the situation warranted it.

It felt like ages since she’d been on a planet. Life in the Bight was good, but she’d been raised in Montana. She wouldn’t deny that the opportunity to go to a planet’s surface without worries about solving a health crisis, like on Aroykin, or fighting for her men, like on Kal’moran, greatly appealed to her.

Fun time.

Me time.

Well, correction, sexy time with Aaron.

Once Aaron had landed in the K-2’s hangar bay and the compartment had been pressurized, he opened the door. Donna immediately rushed in and hugged Emi with a happy squeal.

“I made a decadent chocolate cake for dessert,” Donna said by way of greeting.

“I made a fruit salad,” Emi said. “Fresh from our hydro lab.”

Rob Elloy stuck his head inside the lander and laughed. “Donna isn’t exactly the hydro lab kind,” he said. “But then again, I don’t need to tell you that, do I, Emi?”

Emi laughed and shook her head. “Nope. She can kill fake plants. She’s worse than Ford. At least he tries to keep things alive. He’s just cursed with a black thumb.”

Donna stuck her tongue out at them. “I’m a doctor, not a gardener.” She looked at Emi. “Gregor handles the hydro lab. I swapped out life-support maintenance duties with him.”

After quickly saying hello to the other two men of the K-2, the four of them got under way to the surface of Dee-Tee, as they’d dubbed it for the duration of their mission. Emi and Donna sat behind Rob and Aaron. Aaron manned the controls and within two hours had gently set the lander down on the same sandy beach Caph had landed the drone upon.

“Do you really think it’s safe out there?” Donna asked with trepidation as she stared out the front windows.

“Safe enough,” Rob said. “I thought you were eager to get out on the beach?”

“I am,” she shot back. “I just want to make sure I don’t trade a tan for a toe tag.”

Emi studied the sensors. “Still not showing any large wildlife in this area. Should be fine.”

Donna chewed on her bottom lip. The waves of tentative fear washing off her friend nearly made Emi dizzy. Donna was a ballsy woman, yes, but sometimes with more than her fair share of bravado.

“Yeah, but what about those spider things you were telling me about that you ran into on Kal’moran. Could there be something like that here?”

“Scans aren’t showing anything we have to worry about,” Aaron assured her. “Besides, we’ll have energy shields up. We’re having a picnic, not a long-distance marathon through the jungle.”

Donna’s smile brought out her dimples. “I brought my bikini.”

Rob laughed and turned to face her. “Who says I’m going to let you wear anything?”

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“Not like Emi hasn’t seen you naked before. You were roommates, right?”

Donna let out a squeak.

Emi and Aaron both laughed. “I think he’s got your number, girlfriend,” Emi said.

“Oh, she’s a handful, all right,” Rob agreed as he reached for Donna and pulled her into his lap, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Rob didn’t really make Donna go in the buff. Aaron and Rob set up a robotic rover and programmed it to run along the beach and collect samples and video. While they did that, the women laid out a blanket in the shade of the lander and stretched out on it to await their men. Nearby, stands of what resembled palm trees housed groups of singing birds, light blue in color with long, graceful tails.

Emi closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “This reminds me of spring break our junior year,” she said. A pleasantly cool salty breeze took the edge off of what would otherwise be a hot afternoon.

Donna giggled. “Ah, yes. Sarasota. Damn, that bartender was fucking hot.”

“Yeah.”

She felt Donna’s energy shift and knew what was coming when her friend lowered her voice. “You okay?”

Emi thought about it. “Yeah. It’s over and done. I’m pissed at myself for not keeping the guys closer to me while we were on the planet. I should have grown a set and realized ‘diplomatic’ doesn’t equate with doormat. I also feel badly that they feel guilty for me having to fight.”

“Eh. They love you. Anything that causes you pain, physically or emotionally, is going to stir their dander.” She shrugged. “It’s what we crazy humans do when we’re in love.”

“Like switching out hydro lab duties?”

A sly grin spread across Donna’s face. “Seriously?” She held up a hand. Her finely manicured nails were a deep pink with prismatic holotones. “I can wear gloves for swapping out scrubber filters. I’m not about to spend my days with my hands stuck in planting media.” She stared out over the ocean. “You always were better at that stuff than me. You have the special touch. More importantly, you enjoy it.”

Emi glanced to where the men were fussing over the rover’s controls a few yards away. They’d dropped the energy shield in lieu of the high-powered sensors, which could raise the shield with the touch of a button on the remote Aaron wore around his neck.

“Boys and their toys,” Emi joked.

“So, seriously,” Donna pressed. “You okay?”

Emi’s hand automatically touched the bulge in her pocket where Bucky securely lay. “Yeah. I think so.”

Donna tipped her head back, letting the sun shine on her neck. “You always did like to keep stuff close to the vest. Not always good for you.” She let out a content sigh as the sun warmed her flesh. “I really need to go through empath training. You’re a tough nut to crack.”

What Emi really wanted to do was change the subject. “DSMC said we can name some of the larger features, like the ocean and continents, if we want. Any ideas?”

Donna snorted as a grin filled her face. She pointed out at the water in front of them, where gentle rollers broke upon the white sand. “How about the Amazon Ocean.”

“Huh?”

She giggled. “In honor of you, for kicking that woman’s fucking ass.” She paused, thinking about it. “And for kicking Eckhart’s ass, too.”

Emi steered the topic of conversation back to less deeply contemplative things. They spread out lunch for the men once they’d been satisfied that the rover was performing as required. But after lunch, with a full tummy and the warm sun, Emi found herself drifting off to sleep.

Aaron gently shook her awake. The first thing she noticed was how much cooler it felt than it had. “Hey, sleepyhead. How was that full-tummy coma?”

She sat up. Donna and Rob were nowhere to be seen, and the star at the center of the Dee-Tee’s solar system looked lower in the sky than it had following the picnic. “How long did I sleep?”

“Three hours. It’s getting late.”

She glanced around. The rover had returned and was parked next to the cargo ramp, ready to load. “Where’s Donna and Rob?”

He hooked a finger over his shoulder at the lander. “Inside. From the sound of it, they’re finished.”

A wave of disappointment, her own, flooded her. “I’m sorry. I’d kind of had that in mind for us, too.”

He smiled. “It’s okay, babe. I’d rather you get the rest. You looked more peaceful sleeping there than I’ve seen you look in a while.”

She stood and helped him shake the sand out of the blanket before folding it. “This has been a beautiful afternoon,” she admitted. “I’m sorry I fell asleep on you, though. And I wish the twins could have been here to enjoy it with us.”

He hugged her to him. “It’s okay. We’ll have lots of opportunities for these kinds of days.”

She inhaled his scent and let the feeling of his love for her wash through her soul. “I don’t ever want to forget days like this.”

He snickered. “I know Donna and Rob won’t.”

“Why?”

He looked down at her with an evilly playful grin. “He forgot the vid recorders were running inside the lander. Their sex tape is now part of the official exploration record.”

Chapter Four

And giddy Fortune’s furious fickle wheel,

That goddess blind,

That stands upon the rolling restless stone.

—William Shakespeare, Henry V

Emi enjoyed the rest of their time in orbit doing detailed scans of the planet. They performed two more landings, in different areas, allowing all the men from both ships opportunities to set foot on the planet.

Donna refrained from getting sexy with her men on the other two landings.

Two days after their departure from the orbit of Daxious Theta 2, and just hours before they were to engage their jump engine to head for their next destination, Caph was on night watch when he called their quarters.

“Hey, Aar?”

Emi heard his voice first and rolled over from where Ford had his arms around her to find Aaron. She poked him in the shoulder. “Hey, you,” she mumbled.

“What?”

She was about to say something when Caph’s voice sounded over the intercom again. “Aaron, hey, wake up.”

Emi heard Aaron let out a sigh. “What is it, Caph?”

“Need you up here on the bridge. Official order override from DSMC.

Emi blinked at the sudden shift of Aaron’s energy from relaxed sleepiness to high alert, feeling almost a spike through her senses, as he jumped up from their bed and ran from the room without bothering to pull any clothes on.

Ford lifted his head from his pillow. “Huh?”

She reached over and patted his shoulder. “Go back to sleep.”

“Mmkay…”

He was already breathing deeply again as she crawled out of bed. She pulled on her bathrobe, grabbed Aaron a pair of shorts, and headed for the bridge.

Aaron was leaning over the command console, reading, with Caph standing behind him looking over his shoulder. In the dim bridge light, the screen threw up a bluish glow over his face.

She didn’t like the feel of the irritated buzz through their souls. “What is it?”

Caph looked up. “We’re being pulled.”

“What?”

“From the mission. They’re yanking us.”

“Why?” She looked at Aaron.

Aaron rubbed his forehead. “They want us to proceed to the Robards Alpha space station. They have an assignment change for us. Want us to take on a temporary crew member to test some special equipment.” He took his shorts from her and pulled them on.

“Crew member?”

He flashed her a comforting smile. “Don’t worry, babe. Temporary assignment, and no, not like that. They’ll only be with us a couple of months before we drop them at Mars.”

“Them?”

“Him or her. DSMC didn’t identify who it was.” He stretched. “They’re not really pulling us from our mission. They just want us to divert to pick up this person and their equipment and help them finish testing it. The other ship had some mechanical problems and couldn’t complete their mission. Two-week jump to the station from here. We can grab the guy, help him finish his testing, then drop him off at Mars and head back out to where we were originally going. Easy-peasey.”

His energy suggested to her he was only saying that to placate her. “Then why aren’t you happy about this?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t like our missions getting interrupted. For once I wish they’d pick on someone else.”

“Hey,” Caph said, “it just means they trust us to get stuff done.”

Aaron scrubbed his face with his hands. “Yeah, but it’s a pain in the ass for us. Anyway, Emi, you and I can go back to bed for a few hours.” To Caph he said, “Please punch in the course changes to nav. We’ll do the jump in the morning like we planned, only this time to the station.”

“Sure thing.”

* * *

Emi broke the news to Donna when she woke up the next morning. “So this will be the last time we get to talk live for a while.” She played with Bucky while she talked with her friend.

“That’s okay. Maybe you’ll get assigned a hottie.”

“We’re not looking to expand the family.” She knew Donna didn’t mean it seriously, but after nearly losing her men on Kal’moran, she didn’t take them for granted.

“No, not that. Sheesh. I meant eye candy. You’re married, not dead.”

She let Bucky sit on her thigh. “Well, that’s true.”

“And you have to promise to send me pics if he’s hot.”

Emi let out a laugh. “If he’s hot, we’ll see if we can get him transferred to your boat.”

“Promise? Don’t tease me, girlfriend.”

“Absolutely.” She tried to swallow back the sad feelings “I’m going to miss talking to you. This has been like being back in school.”

“Yeah. Only with multiple hunks of our own and plenty of raunchy sex.”

“Hey, our sex isn’t raunchy.” Emi couldn’t suppress her smile.

“Um, girl? We have three husbands each. That is, by default, raunchy. I didn’t say it was bad raunchy. Good raunchy can still be raunchy.”

“I’m going to miss you,” Emi said again. During their time in med school, Donna had become more than just a friend to her. She’d been a surrogate sister and the closest thing to a family. A complete extrovert, Donna had refused to let Emi withdraw and have zero social life. She always made sure to include Emi whenever possible.

Donna had been a big part of her working through pent-up grief over losing her parents.

With the newness of meeting and marrying her men, Emi’s life had been a whirlwind of activity, training, and trying to survive their two previous missions. Now, with their renewed time together, Emi remembered all the good times they’d shared. She would miss this close contact with her friend.

She heard Donna sigh. “I’m going to miss you, too. Wish I could give you one more hug before you guys go.”

“Aar says we’ll be back soon.”

“We get onto our next rock,” Donna said, “I’m throwing us a girls-only picnic.”

“Deal.” She picked Bucky up and made his rubberized legs wiggle. She couldn’t help playing with the rubber spider.

* * *

To Emi, the Robards Alpha space station looked nothing like the one at Kal’moran, or the one they’d docked at on Earth before they headed to Mars. It reminded her a lot of the Martian base, only a lot slummier.

Had it been a person, she would have described it as rode hard and put up wet one too many times, to use the old idiom.

As they walked toward the dockmaster’s office, she felt Aaron’s nervous tension thrumming through him even stronger than before. He’d borne a tense wave of energy ever since receiving their change in orders. As they walked he stroked her knuckles with his thumb the way he always did when he needed to soothe his own nerves.

“You okay, Aar?”

“Yeah, just…” He blew out an aggravated sigh. “Like I said, I don’t like them interrupting our mission like this. Look what happened the last two times.”

She opted for levity, even as her free hand sought out Bucky’s comforting presence in her pocket. “Think positive, right?”

He cast a glance at her but didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. She felt his worry washing off him in dark waves.

“So why is this space station so important?” She indicated a line of dark scuff marks along the other wall. “Doesn’t look like housekeeping is on the job.”

“Everyone loves this station.”

“But why?”

He slowed, then stopped. “Aw, what the hell. They called us here. They can wait on us.” He looked rather pleased with himself as he turned without releasing her hand and headed in the opposite direction.

Emi followed, feeling his mood lighten somewhat. “Where are we going?”

He grinned. “I want to show you something.”

He wouldn’t tell her what. After winding through several dingy hallways, they took a lift down several levels. The car opened onto an opulent lobby. Emi was almost afraid to step out of the lift car.

Aaron had to coax her. “Come on.”

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Even the ornately sculpted and painted ceiling had been decorated to resemble a luxurious old-Earth palace. “This doesn’t even look like it’s part of the same station. Is it a sim? It’s not a sim, is it?”

“It’s not a sim. And we’re in the right place.” He led her over to a check-in desk, where three smiling women in immaculate uniforms greeted them.

“Welcome to Robards Alpha Luxoria.”

Emi snickered and bumped Aaron with her hip. “Tripletspeak,” she whispered.

Aaron smiled at Emi as he removed his security pass from the plastic sleeve and handed it across the desk to the woman in the middle.

She scanned it and returned it to him with a smile even larger than before. “Thank you, Captain Lucio and Dr. Hypatia. Will you be needing a room, or just a day pass?”

“Day passes. And two for Bates and Caliban as well. Three days.”

“Of course, Captain.” She typed into a computer terminal. Emi heard a whirring noise. The woman reached down behind the desk, then handed over four plastic cards to Aaron. “If you change your mind about a room, you can access our reservation system through any terminal in the station.”

“Thank you.” Aaron handed one to Emi, slipped one into the sleeve holding his security pass, and pocketed the other two.

Emi looked at hers. A purple logo for Robards Alpha Luxoria on one side. On the other, a magnetic stripe, a bar code, and a small thumbnail of Emi’s pic from her crew roster file. She tucked it into her security pass sleeve.

“Thank you,” Aaron told the ladies before leading Emi from the desk and down a hallway to the left.

“What is this place?” Emi asked in hushed tones. The lush carpet and wall coverings made her nervous.

He grinned. “Why are you whispering?”

“Seriously? Where are we? And can we afford this?”

He shrugged as they stopped before a closed door. “This is one of the best five-star resorts in the known treaty space.” Aaron held his day pass up to a scan pad, and the door opened with a whoosh that even sounded too rich for her blood. “And we don’t have to pay a cent for it.”

Emi hurried to follow him. “Huh?”

He looked down at her. “This is on the DSMC’s tab. There aren’t any approved R&R planets around here. We get credits based on mission lengths and locations.” He laughed. “You didn’t read all the fine print?”

She did remember something in her contract about paid R&R, but she didn’t realize that meant they paid for it. “I thought it meant they paid for our time.”

Aaron let out a snort. “Hell, no. They pay for our vacation. We haven’t even used up a fraction of our time yet based on how long we’ve been out and the shit we’ve gone through already.”

“Oh. Oh! Cool!”

They stopped before another door. Aaron opened it and they walked into a short tube that led into a huge room where…

Emi gasped. “Is that a swimming pool?”

He smirked. “Yes, Em. That is a swimming pool.”

“It’s…huge!”

The water and pool lights reflected the light blue of the pool’s bottom up into the rafters of the enormous facility. Far larger than the pool dome at the Martian facility, at least a hundred people were in the pool and scattered around the edges on loungers, underneath personal sun lamps, but it still managed to feel uncrowded between the pool’s unusual rounded L-shape and strategically placed vegetation. Some of the pool had a traditional deck, while part of it resembled a lush tropical beach.

Aaron swept an arm across the expanse in front of them. “And now you can see just one of the reasons this space station is kept quite busy. The resort takes up six full levels, and portions of two others. They have a deal to provide food services and facilities to station personnel, in addition to paying a hefty fee for the privilege of being here. In return, they make a buttload off visitors from all over the place who stop in for a little fun.”

“Wow.”

“You haven’t even seen the full facility yet. It’s a complete top-notch spa with all the amenities. And, yes, unless they give us a direct order to ship out immediately, we will be spending a full three days here.” He took her hand again and brought it to his lips. “And you haven’t even seen the clothing-optional section.”

She laughed at the wicked glee in his eyes.

Until she realized he was serious. “What do you mean ‘clothing-optional’?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he turned and headed out of the pool area.

She hurried after him. “Aaron?”

* * *

He wouldn’t elaborate, delighting in keeping her in suspense. He led her out of the resort and back up to the level they’d left before.

It looked like even more of a dump after seeing the resort level.

“Then why don’t they make an effort up here to make it look presentable?”

He shrugged. “It’s just cosmetic. This is a working space station. Cargo and freight services, passengers, repairs and retrofits, the works. They get an average of over twenty thousand souls a day tramping around here, and that’s not including staff or resort visitors. Some of the passenger tour services use this station and others as stopovers, since they can’t always let passengers debark planetside. So they make good money that way, too, at the resort.”

They had to step to the side to let a hover cart towing a trailer overflowing with cargo crates pass. “See?” Aaron said. “That’s a small cart, and look how big it was. This is a service throughway. The residential and commercial sections are better.” He shrugged. “The theory likely is, if we paint it, it’ll just get scuffed up again.”

Emi still had difficulty processing the vast differences from what she’d just seen in the resort to…this. By comparison, it made the dingy hallway look even worse.

They finally reached the administrative offices. A receptionist there directed them to an office down several hallways.

Emi followed Aaron, who seemed at ease deciphering codes on the walls at each juncture. When he caught her looking up at him, he shrugged. “Been in space a long time, Em. The Merchants use these stations, too. They’re standardized among the different branches.”

They reached their destination and entered. The door silently slid shut behind them.

Another receptionist greeted them with a smile. “Commander Dobros is waiting for you, Captain Lucio.”

“Thanks.”

Emi didn’t miss how he laced his fingers through hers and began stroking her knuckles with his thumb again as he led her into the inner office. And his stress levels had risen off the charts, making his previous state of mind appear nearly catatonic by comparison.

Commander Dobros looked to be in his mid- to late-fifties. He wore a crisp ISNC uniform and an invisible cloak of uncertainty that Emi wasn’t sure how to process. His dull blue eyes, downturned at the corners from years of heavy worries, didn’t match his practiced, efficient smile. “Ah, Captain Lucio. And you must be Dr. Hypatia,” he said to Emi.

“I guess I must,” she muttered, still concerned about Aaron’s high level of anxiety. At a sudden wave of darkness assaulting her empathic senses, her attention sharply shifted from the commander to another male in his office, who stood at their entrance.

Not a human, the F’ahrkay wore a loose-fitting pair of tan trousers and matching tunic. Tall and willowy, standing over seven feet tall, he would dwarf Caph in height, although not in overall beefiness. His blue-tinged skin immediately branded him as nonhuman, while his dark eyes, with irises as black as the pupils, gave him an eerie look.

Emi realized she’d involuntarily tightened her grip on Aaron’s hand.

The strange, dark wave she felt came from the F’ahrkay. She didn’t know how to interpret it, and wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to.

All she knew was she didn’t trust him on sight.

“This is Kayehalau,” Commander Dobros said. “The DSMC ship he’d been assigned to unfortunately developed mechanical issues and was unable to complete its mission in a timely fashion. So he is being temporarily assigned to your vessel—”

“No.” When the two men and the F’ahrkay looked at Emi, her face reddened when she realized she’d said it out loud.

She didn’t know why, but the last thing she wanted or needed was a F’ahrkay on the Bight.

Correction, this F’ahrkay. It wasn’t that he was nonhuman. It was him. Something horribly off and pulling at her empathic senses in a dangerous way.

“Em?”

She looked up into Aaron’s questioning gaze. She clenched her jaw and gave him a tiny shake of her head. He let out a breath and gently squeezed her hand.

Commander Dobros, apparently not used to hearing refusal to orders, cleared his throat and continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “He is to accompany you to your next planetary scan, then you will return to the Martian station where he will debark. He has equipment he needs to test, and the Tamora Bight is the perfect—”

“No.”

Aaron squeezed her hand again, silencing her. She caught his eye and the slight tip of his head and knew his meaning.

Not here, and not now.

Dobros cleared his throat again. “It’s the perfect vessel from which to test his equipment. He is working in conjunction with the DSMC and ISNC. His services are on loan from—”

Unable to take it, Emi dropped Aaron’s hand, turned about-face, and practically bolted from the room.

Aaron followed her as she stood, trembling, in the outer office. She bent over and put her hands on her knees to keep herself from falling over. The way her stomach churned, she wasn’t all too sure she might not toss her breakfast all over the floor.

“Em, what the hell?”Aaron whispered. He wasn’t angry, but he was irritated at her unprofessional behavior in front of a superior officer.

She couldn’t speak. All she could do was stand there and shake her head. She was afraid if she opened her mouth she would definitely hurl.

He let out an aggravated sigh. “Wait here.” Then he returned to the office.

Emi waited until she heard the door shut behind her to try to return to a standing position.

“Dr. Hypatia?”

Emi glanced up at the worried expression of the receptionist.

“Can I get you some water or something?”

The wave of genuine concern she felt from the woman from across the room magically settled her stomach. After a deep breath, she shakily straightened and nodded.

The receptionist hurried out of the office while Emi backed into one of the three chairs along the wall and sat.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

She didn’t know. All she knew was something about that F’ahrkay was more than wrong.

He was dangerous.

* * *

Emi still sat and held her paper cup with trembling hands as she slowly sipped the contents when Aaron emerged from the commander’s office ten minutes later. She caught a flutter of aggravation from him before he tamped down on it and concern flowed through him when he looked into her eyes.

He knelt in front of her. “What’s wrong?” he whispered as he rested his hands on her knees.

Chewing on the inside of her lip to keep from bursting into tears, Emily whispered the feelings she’d gotten from the F’ahrkay. “There’s something wrong with him, Aaron. I don’t know what it is, but he can’t come with us. He’s dangerous.”

“Em,” he gently said, “we don’t have a choice.”

“I thought being bonded crew meant we could refuse crew assignments?”

“Permanent crew assignments, yes. This is a temporary one, for one specific purpose. There’s too many alphabet-soup players mixed in on this one. The guy’s father is on the ISTC council.”

She stared at him, shocked. “They’re forcing us to take him?”

He took the cup from her and set it on the floor. Then he took her hands in his, gently massaging them. She tried to draw strength from the love flowing through him. “What’s going on?”

She vehemently shook her head. “I felt it. He’s bad news. There’s something really bad about him.”

“How can you be sure?”

She stared at him, dumbfounded. “How can you ask me that? I’m a trained Class 2 empath!”

He glanced down for a moment as he took a deep breath. She knew that gesture. He was trying to stay calm. He looked back into her eyes again. “You know how you always get the heebie-jeebies with the jump engines, but me and the other guys never feel it?”

“Yeah, but—”

“And we just went through that bullshit on Kal’moran,” he added, cutting her off. “It would make anyone a little xenophobic.”

She bristled. “I am not xenophobic, Aaron.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Dobros showed me the guy’s dossier. He’s got an excellent record. He’s crewed with Merchants, with ISNC ships, and even with NSI crews. He’s received commendations from five different captains. He holds three doctorate degrees in his fields.” The Interstellar Naval Corps and National Science Institute both had high and exacting standards.

She knew what Aaron was doing. He wanted to convince her she was wrong and that the F’ahrkay dude was a gee-whiz good guy.

She wasn’t buying it. “I don’t give a rat’s ass how many degrees he has, or who his daddy is, or how many asses he’s kissed on other ships. There’s something wrong about him!”

Aaron closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking at her. She read the sadness and resignation in his face.

“Well, why the hell can’t they put him on Rob’s boat? Why’s it have to be us?”

“Because the Bight is a full heavy. The K-2 is a med-hev. We’re the only available ship with the technology, capabilities, and enough cargo space to take on his equipment.”

She also read that he wouldn’t back down. “You don’t have a choice,” he said. “He’s shipping out with us.” As she tried to stand, his grip tightened on her hands, holding her in her seat. “Babe, please, listen to me. It’s only for eight weeks. He will be sleeping in the cargo bay. He has his own special pod that is his quarters. He’s chipped, not that it matters because they aren’t equipped like humans anyway. He has an exemplary record. I have no legitimate grounds to refuse his assignment.”

“You told me you could boot anyone for cause.”

“I have no cause!” His mouth snapped shut and he lowered his voice. “Listen to me, Em. Babe, I love you, and I trust you and support you, but I really think the issue here is you’ve never dealt with a F’ahrkay before. For all you know, they all might feel like that to you. That might be his normal. Whatever it is you’re feeling, you might feel it with any F’ahrkay you meet.”

“Then get a group of them together so I can see and we’ll test your theory. If you’re right, I’ll suck it up and deal with it.”

“I can’t, and yes, I already thought of that and asked. He’s the only F’ahrkay on the station.” He took a deep breath and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Em, baby, please, don’t make me order you.”

She caught the sob and forced it back down her throat before it could escape. “Then I’ll stay here and you can pick me up on the way back.”

He smiled sadly. “Hon, we can’t do that.”

“Then call Rob. Get his ass over here. He can pick me up. Donna will find me bunk space.”

He stood, then bent over to get her cup. He threw it away before returning to her. Without another word he took her hand and made her stand.

In silence he led her from the office. She wasn’t paying attention to where they were going until she realized they were stepping off a lift into the resort’s lobby again.

Aaron let go of her hand and walked up to the desk where the same three clerks stood. After a few minutes, he had four room key cards and returned to where Emi still waited, sulking, outside the lift.

He held up the key card. “I’m taking you to our room.”

“Our room?”

He nodded.

“I thought we weren’t getting a room.”

“Change of plans. I have to go back to the ship for a few hours. If I’m not back first, one of the twins will be. The four of us will spend three days here. Dobros said we can take that. I’ll tell Kayehalau he needs to spend the bulk of his time during our assignment in cargo unless he clears it with me first. When he needs to be on the bridge, I’ll warn you, and you can go spend that time wherever you want on the ship to stay away from him. You’ll have minimal contact with him. Okay?”

“How do you know he’ll agree to that?”

Aaron shrugged. “I am still the captain. He has no choice.” He glanced away from her and down at the carpet. “And he was the one who suggested it in the first place.”

Emi felt boxed in. At war with that, a tiny, logical particle telling her she was being silly.

No, not silly.

Childish.

But her empath training had never let her down before. She trusted it far more than a computer full of commendations and recommendations about someone.

Hell, look at Mauri. She didn’t want us writing a bad report about what happened, so she had no problem whitewashing everything to make us and her look good.

Reports could be falsified or manipulated. People lied.

Kayehalau was dangerous. She just had no way of proving it.

Chapter Five

She silently followed Aaron to their room, where he used the key card to let them in. Once the door closed behind them, he pulled her in for a hug and she avoided looking up into his eyes.

“Babe, you have to believe that if there was any way I could—”

“Stop, Aaron. Apparently you can’t. So just leave it.”

She felt badly about being a bitch, but another memory had popped into her mind. In the initial pairing sim, she’d gone to a bar with the twins. Before a bar fight had broken out, she’d nearly been raped by two men from an unchipped crew. The chips did more than allow emergency crew location and prevent unwanted pregnancies—they ensured rape or infidelity could not occur.

The nasty feeling in her gut when she met the F’ahrkay reminded her of that same feeling, simulated or not, that she’d experienced that night in the bar. Someone wanting to do something to her against her will.

Aaron kissed the top of her head before releasing her. He walked over to a console and pulled up a menu. “The resort map and shopping directory are here. There’s also the dining and spa service directory. Go shopping, enjoy yourself—”

“I’m not a child, Aaron. Buying me things isn’t going to make me change how I feel.”

A wave of irritation washed toward her from him. She felt him immediately trying to reel it in. “Em, babe, I love you. I know you feel something. I can’t fix that, and believe me, I wish like hell I could make it better for you. All I can do is try to help distract you. I’m sorry.”

When the door closed behind him, she felt like shit. He did feel bad that he couldn’t fix this for her. And he felt bad that she felt bad.

And she felt bad that, deep in her soul, she knew she was right about this and couldn’t just blithely go along with it.

She also hated feeling like a childish, spoiled brat.

Collapsing on the bed, she tried using mental and intellectual exercises she’d learned during her empath training to get past this huge mental block.

It didn’t work.

Maybe there is something wrong with me. After she pulled herself together she got up and went over to the console at the desk. From there, she grabbed a secure connection to her computer on the Bight.

The F’ahrkay’s file was already there, uploaded for her convenience.

Correction, Kayehalau. I suppose I should at least address him by name and not just “Hey, you, asshole.”

There was nothing in the F’ahrkay’s file to show him to be anything other than a dedicated scientist and excellent crew member with an enviable record. Any captain would be happy to have him on their ship.

And oh, crap, I have to examine him because he’s a new crew member.

The trained doctor and scientist in her warred with the trained empath. If it wasn’t for the feelings she’d got when she met the F’ahrkay, she would have welcomed the chance to have him on board their ship temporarily. It would be a great learning experience for her.

The empath in her shuddered at the thought.

After several minutes she logged off from the ship’s computer and explored the resort’s directory.

Maybe I should do a little retail therapy to get my mind off this. She realized what she just thought. I’m sure Aaron will laugh his ass off.

An hour later, she ended up in the resort’s spa, receiving the best massage of her life that wouldn’t end with a happy finish from a chatty woman originally from Mars. Emi didn’t mind the woman’s nonstop banter, because her wonderfully warm, friendly aura helped Emi forget about the gross, dark energy clinging to her memory of her first meeting with Kayehalau.

She was lounging by the pool in her new bathing suit and sipping a Martian Muumuu when Caph found her an hour later.

He plopped down onto the lounge next to her with a playful smile. “Lady, we have to quit meeting next to pools like this. People will talk.”

Emi giggled, more from the effects of her third M-squared, as they called them. “Maybe I like people talking about me.” She ran her tongue over the tip of her straw in what she hoped appeared to be a seductive and not inebriated way.

He reached over and took the glass from her and took a sip, nearly choking as he got a taste of the frozen concoction. “Holy crap, babe. How many of these have you had?” He handed back the purple, slushy drink.

She stuck her tongue between her teeth and looked up at the ceiling, which was a huge sky sim. “Umm…” She took another sip and held up two fingers.

“That’s your second?”

“No. I already had two.”

“That’s your third?”

“Unless I’ve forgotten one.”

He closed his eyes as he tried to hold back his raucous laugh. “You’re drunk, Doctor.”

“Not yet. Getting there.”

He lay back and rolled onto his side to look at her. “You okay?”

She nearly hiccupped into tears, but managed to swallow them down. “Yeah. Don’t harsh my buzz.”

He reached across to her lounger and stroked her arm. “It’s okay, babe. Stick with me. I’ll take care of you.”

“Thanks, big guy.”

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for.” He smiled, his green eyes playfully shining. “Well, that and to fuck your brains out. Ford threw rock to my paper or he’d be here. You’d think he’d learn.”

“You’d think. What’s he doing?”

“He’s helping Aaron handle stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Aaron told me what happened, hon. Let’s just say they’re handling stuff. All right?”

She let out a sniff. “Is that guy going to be roaming our ship while we’re here?”

“You really want to talk about this?” When she didn’t respond, he let out a sigh. “Naw. They’re just loading his equipment right now, that’s all. His cabin pod will be loaded before we ship out.”

She nodded. “Good.”

“Can I say something serious, and then I promise not to mention it again?”

“Okay.” She sipped her drink and prayed her eyes didn’t start watering. She didn’t want to cry in front of him. Although she suspected she was far drunker than she’d let on. She wasn’t sure she could even walk at that point.

He lowered his voice. “If you think something’s wrong, I believe you. Yeah, on paper he looks great. I met him and he seems like a nice enough guy. But you’re my wife and I will always have your back.”

That finished her. She felt him take the chilled glass from her hand as tears filled her eyes. He shifted her over so he could lie on her lounger with her, holding her against his chest as she quietly wept. “I don’t know why I feel like this,” she whispered. “I don’t want to feel like this.”

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Because you’re drunk.”

“No. Not that.” She sniffled again. “I know I’m being irrational about this guy. And I hate that I can’t be objective. I should be better than this.”

“Hey, you’re a trained empath. No telling what it is you sensed. I trust you. I know you, and you’re an intelligent woman. If you think something’s wrong, it’s wrong. Look how it saved your life against Eckhart.”

She snuggled up against his chest. “Yeah.”

“I wish I could fix this for you, but Cap’s right. It’s a direct order from higher up, and unless the guy does something to allow us cause, we can’t boot him or refuse the temp assignment.” He gently tipped her chin up so she had to look him in the eye. “We’re not choosing him over you. I just want to make sure you understand that. The three of us feel like crap that we can’t refuse the order and make him go away.”

“I know. I hate I’m feeling like this. It’s so childish.”

“No, don’t hate it. It’s part of what makes you so beautiful, inside and out, babe.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Look how you healed Aaron. All of us. It was that special part of you, the empath part of you, that made you perfect for us.” He nuzzled her nose with his. “And if it means there are times you have conflicts with others because of it, I’m okay with that. I’ll always trust your instincts over anything else.”

She took a deep breath, held it, and let it out again. “Thank you,” she whispered.

He kissed her forehead. “I love you. You don’t need to thank me.”

“Okay.” She listened to his heartbeat rumbling in her ear through his shirt. “Caph?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Can I have my drink back now?”

“I’m not sure. You feeling okay?”

She started to say yes when she broke down crying again. He cradled her against his large, comforting body. Maybe I am drunk.

No, she knew it was a mix of the inevitable, along with hating herself for feeling like this.

Okay, maybe a little of the M-squareds.

After a few minutes, she sniffled and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “I’m okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” She sniffled again as she looked at his attire while he untangled himself from her and stood. Still in his casual crew uniform, he didn’t exactly fit in with the other resort patrons surrounding the pool. “Did you bring a bathing suit?”

“Yep. I brought yours, too, but looks like you beat me to it.”

“Aww. You packed for me?”

“No, Ford did.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll go change and be back in a little while. Don’t go anywhere.” He started to turn to leave, but he reached over, picked up her drink, and handed it to her. “And don’t get too shitfaced, sweetie.”

“I’ll be waiting right here.” While he was gone, she hurriedly finished that one and ordered herself another drink. She might regret it the next day, but it was rare she could totally slough off her duties and just be a normal human.

And she needed that now more than ever. Especially since she knew what was coming after her three-day mini-vacation ended.

By the time Caph returned, she’d lowered the level of her fresh drink to match the one he’d last seen her with. He sat on the lounger next to hers.

Resplendent in swim trunks and nothing else, his abs rippled, a blond dusting of curls scattered across his chest while a treasure trail headed south from his navel, disappearing under his waistband and leading to what she knew to be a large, delicious cock.

He smirked. “You sure you’re okay, babe?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why don’t I believe you? You look a little out of it.”

She settled back onto her lounger and lowered her sunglasses over her eyes. She felt around for the sunlamp button on the lounger’s arm. Above her, a directed beam of UV light soaked her skin at nearly Earth levels. “Just enjoying myself.”

He signaled a waiter. “Bring me one of those,” he said, pointing to Emi’s glass. The man nodded and hurried off. Caph settled back in his lounger and activated his sunlamp button. “Well, don’t enjoy yourself too much. I have plans for you later.”

* * *

They spent another two hours there before Caph convinced Emi it was time to return to their room. When she wobbled upon standing, he laughed and slipped an arm around her waist.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, but the room’s moving awfully fast.”

Caph kept a supportive arm around her waist during their slow trip back to the room. “Why won’t the corridors hold still? What’s wrong with this place?”

He laughed. “They’re holding still for me, babe.”

“Ppphhppt.”

He didn’t let go of her as he fumbled for his room key with his free hand. When the door opened, he ushered her through and closed it behind them. “I think we need to get you into the shower and then into bed.”

She stepped away from him. “You always want to get me into bed. You know that?”

“And what’s wrong with that?” He turned away from her to put his pass and key on the dresser. Suddenly, as she took a step toward the bed, the floor swooped up to meet her.

“You okay?”

She held up a hand to ward him off. “I’m fine.” She settled in against the carpet, rubbing her cheek against it. It felt soft, soothing.

“Then why did you trip?”

“I didn’t trip,” she mumbled against the plush carpet. Damn, the carpet smelled as wonderful as it felt. Like jasmine. She deeply inhaled the sweet aroma.

Caph walked over to her. She didn’t look up. His bare toes were inches from her mouth. She tried sticking out her tongue to lick them, but he stood too far away for her to reach.

“Then what happened if you didn’t trip?”

Emi thought about it for a moment. “The floor attacked me. Very rudely. We should complain.” She deeply inhaled again.

He grabbed her under the arms and lifted her from the floor. “Uh-huh. I’ll get right on that.” He easily shifted her so she lay in his arms. She fumbled for and found his neck, draping her arms around him as he carried her over to the bed. “I think maybe you need the bed before the shower after all.”

“Do you think they’ll believe me?” She struggled to focus on him.

“About what?”

“That the floor attacked me. They really should warn people.”

“Oh, sure.” He gently put her down onto the bed, which was even softer than the carpet. “I bet they get reports about the floor attacking guests all the time.”

“Then they should do something about that.”

“I’ll make sure they do.” Even in her blurry-eyed state, she caught his playful smile.

She stuck out her bottom lip. “I’m not drunk.”

“No, babe, you’re not drunk. I’m an expert in drunk. You left drunk back in the dust about three hours ago. You’re far closer to the ‘apocalyptically toasted’ than the ‘drunk’ end of the inebriation scale. I’ll make sure Ford brings the bar fight kit with him.”

“I wasn’t in a fight. Well, except with the floor. And it cheated. Otherwise, I would have kicked its ass.”

“I’m sure it did, and I’m sure you would have. We keep the hangover supplies in the bar fight kit. You’re going to need them.”

He disappeared into the bathroom, where she heard water run. He returned a moment later and scooped her up off the bed. “Come on. Into the tub with you.” He’d not only started filling the large, sunken tub, but he also added bubble bath to it.

“Oooh, pretty.” She giggled as he set her into the tub, bathing suit and all. He dropped his swim trunks and climbed in with her, peeling her suit off her and dropping it to the bathroom floor with a splat.

Emi draped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips. She bounced up and down on his lap. “I wanna pony ride!”

He brushed a wet tendril of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. “I was wrong. You’re not apocalyptically toasted. You’re supernova-shitfaced.”

She wasn’t, however, too drunk to reach down and find his cock. She stroked his shaft, letting out a happy sigh as it grew in her hand. His eyes dropped closed while she continued the hand job, his hips bumping in time with her motions. She was about to mount him when he reached over to the faucet and shut it off.

He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up effortlessly. She tried to complain, but he cut her off with a smile. “Stop. Just hold on.” He slid a little lower in the water, positioning himself on the built-in ledge before lowering her down onto his cock.

She wiggled, impaling her pussy as deeply as she could and enjoying the way his girth comfortably stretched her. His hands drifted up to her breasts. He cupped them in his hands, her nipples growing hard and pebbling against the flesh of his palm.

“There you go. Better?”

She nodded and braced herself against his shoulders.

“Now you ride all you want.”

She closed her eyes and threw her head back as she struggled to find that perfect sweet spot, where Caph’s cock could hit all the right places and trigger her orgasm without any other assistance needed.

She perceived her men’s emotions in different ways. Caph, like this, calm and sexy and enjoying himself, came across as a verdant green nearly the color of his eyes. When she felt this from him, she knew he was completely centered in the moment, enjoying himself one hundred percent, his love for her or the other two men at the front of his mind and heart.

This was the major upside of her empath training. And the longer she spent with her men, the stronger her skills grew in this way.

Emi leaned forward, still seeking the holy grail of fucking with Caph. Then a small burst of heat went off inside her and she knew she’d found it.

Caph sensed it, too, she felt. He didn’t talk, barely moving for fear of ruining her rhythm. He gently kneaded her breasts, rolling her nipples in his fingers and making her cunt clench even more tightly around his cock. Each stroke of his cock inside her hit that sweet spot perfectly, stoking her need and driving her closer to orgasm.

The weight of her body on top of him buried his cock deep in her cunt. She forced herself to focus on his green gaze, to not close her eyes or close herself off from him. The world disappeared around them, time slowing as her pleasure built and his cock grew even harder inside her.

One more slight shift in angle, and her swollen clit also received a little more attention. It sparked her tumble over the cliff. As she dug her fingers into Caph’s shoulders, she let out a cry of relief and love and passion. His hands dropped to her waist as he pounded his cock into her, hard, slamming deep and intensifying her release.

Her body went limp, and as she started to collapse against him, she realized he hadn’t come yet. She made no protest as he picked her up and turned her around, leaning her over the edge of the tub. He fisted his cock, lined it up with her swollen pussy lips, and shoved it in hard and deep and drawing another cry of pleasure from her.

He grabbed one of her shoulders, the other arm going around her waist as his fingers found her clit. “Give me another one,” he ordered as he started fucking her, hard and fast.

Emi’s eyes dropped closed as his fingers pinched and rolled her clit. The pleasurable pain in her sensitive nub made her cunt once again clench around his cock. She grabbed hold of the tub’s edge, helpless to do anything but hold on as he fucked her into another orgasm that left her limp against the cool tile.

Apparently satisfied that she’d finished, both his hands dropped to her hips and he slammed into her, his thighs slapping against hers. “Yes!” he gasped. He fell still, buried deep inside her, his fingers digging into her flesh as his cock emptied his cum inside her.

Emi wanted to do nothing but fall asleep in his arms. The sound of his ragged breath filled the room. When he pulled her up into a standing position, she assumed bed was their next stop, but Caph wasn’t about to waste their time alone together. He sat her on the edge of the tub and forced her legs apart with his body. Sinking to his knees in the tub, he draped her legs over his shoulders and buried his face in her pussy.

“Sweetie, I’m too…” Emi’s protests stopped as his tongue plowed her well-fucked cunt. Nothing tender or gentle about it, he devoured her, grabbing her clit with his lips and flicking it with his tongue. She let her eyes drop closed again and buried her hands in his shaggy hair. She dug her fingers in, enjoying the sound of his pleased grunt when she wasn’t gentle either. He wrapped his arms around her thighs and held on tightly, refusing to let her go or escape his oral onslaught. And when he grazed her clit with his teeth and another orgasm hit her, he sucked on it, long and hard, making her scream with pleasure.

He pushed her back onto the floor and climbed out of the tub. With her legs over his shoulders, he drove his cock, which had grown hard again, into her pussy.

She felt something in him she wasn’t used to—possession, need, desire.

And wanting to show her how much he loved her.

He felt guilty he couldn’t fix the situation for her, so he was determined to distract her.

He laced his fingers through hers and pinned her hands above her head. And like that, sprawled on the plush bath mat, he fucked her hard and fast, holding her immobile in his grasp.

“I love you,” she whispered.

The corners of his eyes crinkled. “I love you, too, babe. And I’m going to fuck the stuffing out of you while we’re here.” He pressed his weight on top of her as he crushed her lips with his. Every thrust shoved them a little farther across the floor until he let out a cry of his own and his body went rigid and still.

Pinned beneath him, she couldn’t move until he did. After a moment he took a deep breath and eased her legs down before rolling onto his side with her in his arms.

Content and sated, she draped herself across his broad chest. “Better?” she whispered.

He chuckled. “You have no idea. How about you?”

“I think we just taught the floor who’s boss.”

He picked her up and carried her in to the bed, where he crawled in with her. She snuggled up to him again as he found the remote control and switched on the vid screen. “Do you mind if I take a nap?” she asked. She wanted to bask in her buzz and the pleasant ache in her well-fucked pussy, as well as the feelings of love and satisfaction flowing from Caph.

He kissed the top of her head. “Not at all, babe.”

* * *

Caph held her in his arms and watched as she crashed into a drunken sleep he knew she needed for more than one reason. It ate him up that he couldn’t fix this for her. Whether or not she really sensed something bad from their new crew member was irrelevant to him.

The fact was, Emi believed it, so deeply that he didn’t have to be an empath to see how badly it was tearing her up inside.

And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

He hated feeling helpless. He hadn’t felt this helpless in decades. Since…

No. I won’t think about that.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. He didn’t want to think about losing Kels, about trying to nurse Aaron back to health.

Caph didn’t look up when he heard the door open. Ford started to speak, then obviously caught sight of them on the bed. He walked around to the far side, a sad look on his face. “How is she?” he whispered.

Caph shrugged.

Ford silently undressed and slipped into bed on the other side of her. He reached across her and laid a hand on Caph’s arm. “How are you doing?”

Caph shrugged again.

“Some things you just cannot fix, big guy.”

“I know.” He kissed her forehead again, closing his eyes so Ford wouldn’t see how close to tears he was. “I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t say you’re stupid, Caph.”

“I hate seeing her like this. So upset. She’s going to have one hell of a hangover when she wakes up.”

“Wow. Really?”

“Yeah.”

He finally opened his eyes and looked across at Ford. Ford’s blue gaze pierced through him. “What do you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“You met the guy. What do you think?”

“He’s not human. I can’t gauge myself by my first impression. Why?”

“It’s just I’ve never seen her act like this before, either. Part of me wants to judge the situation by my experience and common sense and say she’s being overly sensitive.”

“And the other part?”

Ford focused on Emi’s peaceful face. “The other part of me wants to disable the jump engine so we’re stuck in drydock for a few months and they assign the guy to another boat.”

“Wouldn’t take much,” Caph offered, feeling relief that he wasn’t alone in his feelings of uneasiness.

“Yeah, but we have a job to do.”

“We have a wife to support.”

“Someone who’s been through a lot in a short amount of time. Someone who doesn’t have the experience we do. And no matter how much I love her and want to fully take her side in this, there’s still that part of me saying maybe…”

When he didn’t go on, Caph prompted him. “Maybe what?”

Caph heard Ford’s sad sigh. “Maybe,” he whispered, even lower than before, “just maybe Cap’s right and it is all in her mind.”

Caph rested his cheek against the top of her head. “What if it’s not all in her mind?”

Ford didn’t respond.

Chapter Six

She startled awake at the feel of a pair of warm lips and a tongue between her legs. After confirming she was still snuggled against Caph, she reached down to find Ford.

Opening her eyes, she lifted her head. He looked up at her without bothering to stop what he was doing.

“Carry on, soldier,” she teased as she let her head drop back onto her pillow.

Caph rolled onto his side and took one of her breasts into his mouth. She wanted to protest, to tell them she was tired and sleepy and drunk and there was no way in hell she’d get over again. But the hot, sweet pull of Caph’s lips on her nipple, combined with Ford’s tongue on her clit, robbed her of speech. She spread her legs wider, giving him better access.

Caph palmed her other breast. Emi let out a satisfied moan as her body responded. Her body started a climb toward release, then hung up, unable to get over. She was about to pat Ford on the head and tell him to stop when he slipped two, then three fingers into her wet cunt. Caph in turn used his teeth on her nipple, and the sharp bite of pain, combined with the fullness in her pussy, did the trick. Her back arched and she fisted the sheets as waves of pleasure rippled through her. Before she’d even finished recovering from that, Ford had climbed between her legs and started fucking her.

“That’s it, baby,” he said. “You just let us take care of you.” She wanted to answer him, but then Caph sat up and shifted position, lining his reawakened cock up with her lips.

Without hesitation she opened, licking the drop of pre-cum off the head, where it had pearled at the slit.

Caph plunged a hand into her hair and held her head in place. “Such a good girl,” he murmured.

Something in her let loose, unhinging in a good way. She didn’t know if it was the booze, or her men’s talented tongues, or the taste of Caph’s cock in her mouth, or Caph slipping his free hand between her legs to play with her clit, but another orgasm rippled through her.

“Holy hell,” Ford said, “she came again. Jesus, that feels so good when she does that.”

Caph gently cradled her head in his hands and slid his cock between her lips, fucking her mouth but taking it easy on her. “If I don’t come before you’re done, one of you is getting fucked with this.”

“Ooh, pick me!” Ford quipped.

She looked up to watch Caph lean over and kiss Ford. The sight took her breath away. She lost herself in the bubble of emotions boiling over from both men, spilling onto her like a sweet, beautiful wave. And the way Caph’s erection grew harder and hotter against her tongue made her think Ford wasn’t going to get his wish.

Until she felt him coming.

Her eyes popped open as Caph made her relinquish his member. “Stay right there, both of you,” he ordered.

The commanding hint in his voice thrilled her. Then Ford was kissing her, even as his cock grew limp inside her. She didn’t have time to wonder where Caph had disappeared to, because Ford kept her more than busy with his tongue.

A moment later, the end of the bed dipped and Ford let out a loud moan. His head limply fell to her shoulder as he rocked his hips against her. “Oohhh, fuck yeah,” he mumbled.

If she cocked her head, she could see Caph kneeling behind him, working lube into Ford’s ass. And already his cock was growing hard again. When Ford quit moving, holding still, she knew Caph was sliding his delicious cock deep up his tight channel.

And the groan the larger man let out confirmed it.

“He hard again, baby?” Caph asked her.

“Uh-huh!”

He lightly slapped Ford’s ass. “What are you waiting for? Get moving.”

Ford’s teeth grazed her shoulder as he lightly bit down, but his hips started rocking, slowly at first, then gaining speed until he was fucking himself back and forth between her pussy and Caph’s cock.

Emi drew her knees up, giving Ford better access and enjoying the way her swollen, sensitive clit rubbed against his body at the bottom of every stroke. Not enough to get her over, but enough to revive her interest in maybe trying for one more.

“That’s it,” Caph encouraged, his voice sounding strained. She could tell he was holding back, struggling against a dam about to explode. “Hurry up, buddy.”

Ford pushed up on his arms for traction, and the whole bed shook as he seesawed between them.

She grabbed his head and kissed him and that was all it took to shove him over the edge. She swallowed his moans and felt her heart leap with the feel of his orgasm spiraling through him, soon followed by Caph.

As the three of them collapsed onto the bed in a sweaty tangle, Ford lifted his head so he could look at her. “Hiya.”

She giggled. “Hiya.”

They were all startled by the sound of clapping. They looked over to see Aaron leaning against the wall next to the door, a grin on his face and a huge bulge tenting his trousers. Another suitcase sat on the floor next to him.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” Caph said.

He laughed and pushed off the wall to walk over to the bed. “No, because you three were busy coming.”

Emi faked a pout. “I didn’t come.”

“What?” Caph and Ford said in unison.

“You most certainly have come today,” Caph said as he sat up, hands on his hips.

“Yeah,” Ford said. “I got at least two out of you.”

She still feigned poutiness. “Not that last time. You both came without me.”

Aaron smacked Ford on the ass. “Move it. Both of you go clean up.” He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his shirt, and started working on his trousers. “I’ll take care of her. And I’ve got something she can take care of, too.”

Emi licked her lips in anticipation. When Aaron crawled into bed on top of her, he kissed her, his stiff cock rubbing between her legs. “So they didn’t take care of you, huh?”

She shook her head. “Not that last time. Well, okay, they did make me come, but that last time they came without me.”

“Want me to issue them demerits?”

She loved the wicked, playful gleam in his eyes. “Yeah. And while you’re at it, issue one to the floor, too.”

“Huh?”

“It attacked me. Rudely.”

“She’s drunk,” Caph called from the bathroom.

“Am not!” she shot back. “You said I was supernovically soused.”

He stuck his head out of the bathroom. “No, I said you were supernova-shitfaced.”

“Oh. Well, whatever.”

Waves of amusement washed off Aaron. She loved feeling that from him almost as much as she did his love and affection. “So our little doctor is drunk, huh?”

“Not as much as I was earlier,” she said. “I think I slept a little of it off.”

“So that explains the bar fight kit.”

She crossed her arms over her breasts. “Did you want to sit here and talk, or fuck?”

She let out a yelp as he flipped her over and pulled her up onto her hands and knees. Without further ado, he rubbed his cock between her soaked pussy lips before sinking home inside her. “What do you think?” he rumbled in her ear.

He pushed her shoulders down onto the bed, pinning her there with a hand between them. With his other, he reached around her and found her clit.

“Hey, you’re copying me,” Caph said from somewhere behind them.

“What?”

“I nailed her like that earlier.”

“Shut up and fuck me!” she moaned as she clawed at the bed.

“She’s mouthy,” Aaron said. “Someone do something about that.”

She heard a noise and looked over in time to see Caph and Ford fighting each other to climb onto the bed. Caph won, and she found herself rewarded with his only slightly stiff cock in her mouth to suck on.

Ford took the alternate track and shoved himself underneath her, finding her clit with his mouth.

Aaron withdrew his hand and grabbed her hips. “Let’s see if we can get at least one more out of you, sweetheart.”

She closed her eyes and let their hands and cocks and mouths send her flying. The three of them together, their emotions were as intoxicating to her as the drinks she’d sucked down earlier. Someone, or more than one of them, began playing with her already-sensitive nipples. Caph’s cock had apparently reached its limit, because she couldn’t get him hard again. But he still filled her mouth nicely and gave her tongue something to do.

Ford, on the other hand, went to town and had her screaming around Caph’s cock as he relentlessly pulled one more climax out of her.

“That’s…it!” Aaron grunted before falling still.

Limp, she flopped onto Ford, who finally managed to drag himself out from under her. Aaron curled up behind her on the bed, and Caph stretched out in front of her.

“I’m assuming we’re doing room service tonight,” Ford quipped from the end of the bed.

“You assume right,” Aaron said. “Why don’t you get on that. Then if you want, you can see if you can get me up again and I’ll fuck your ass for you before dinner arrives.”

Ford pumped his fist. “Yes!”

* * *

Emi wanted to kill whoever the fuck it was pounding on the walls in such an annoying, rhythmic way without pause.

THUMP-thump…THUMP-thump…

As she tried to roll over and it felt like her scalp was about to detach from her head, she realized the pounding was her pulse. She also stopped moving for fear of her limbs detaching from her body.

Someone touched her lips. “Open, babe.” Ford.

She tried, but they felt like they’d been glued together. And shoving her tongue out between her jaws to loosen them hurt like hell.

He chuckled, but her agony wouldn’t let her smack him.

A wet, cool finger touched her lips. Finally, she could get them pried apart with her tongue, which felt like it was coated with rancid polar bear fur.

Not that she knew what rancid polar bear fur tasted like, but she imagined it was something along these lines.

A straw appeared and when she managed to suck some water through it, it felt like heaven. She took a few swallows and moaned in protest when the straw disappeared.

“Hold on.” Something else touched her lips. Then the taste of mint and medicine filled her mouth. “Swallow.”

She did, barely. The straw immediately reappeared and she drank.

When the straw disappeared again, a moment later she felt the sting of a hypo in her upper arm.

Blissfully, the thumping of her pulse in her ears disappeared. And her head started to feel better. Not perfect, but good enough she could roll onto her back and force one eye open.

Ford stood next to the bed, a wry smile on his face. Behind him on the desk, she saw the bar fight kit lying open, with items on the table.

“Good morning, babe.”

She closed her eye again.

He laughed, but since she was already starting to feel more normal, she didn’t begrudge it.

“What the hell did you drink anyway?”

She carefully licked her lips. “Martian Muumuus,” she croaked.

“Oooh. Those things’ll fuck you up royally. They go down easy but last a long time, with a helluva delayed kick. How many did you have?”

She couldn’t remember exactly. She held up two fingers, added a third. Then after thinking about it, added a fourth. Most of the previous day was a blur. She remembered some achingly hot sex, and then…

Her blood ran cold at the memory of meeting the F’ahrkay in Dobros’ office. Okay, shove that thought into the background or it’ll make me puke.

He laughed. “Yeah. That’ll do it. Aar and Caph are out getting breakfast. They’re going to bring us back something. You ready for another dose?”

“Of what?”

“My own special concoction. Mint, sugar, lemon, garlic, ginger, and a few other things thrown in. Helps settle the stomach enough that the other stuff I shot you up with won’t make you puke.”

“And what was that?”

“Enough diproxin sodium to take care of a Caph-sized hangover. Although the big guy’s usually smart enough not to have four M-squareds at one time.” He helped her sit up and let her sip another shot of his minty concoction from a small oral syringe, followed by another few swallows of water.

Already, her stomach felt settled and solid, and the headache began melting away.

“You need to drink a lot of water today, babe. And no more booze. You need to flush that shit out of your system before you pile anything on top of it. Seriously, you would have been better off drinking a gallon of bourbon straight from a bottle than those M-squareds.”

“I’m getting the picture.” She took the cup of ice water from him and held it so she could sip some more.

“No, you’re not. You might be a doctor, but I’m an experienced drinker. Those things will boomerang on you in a few hours if you don’t keep up the fluids. They make those things with Castian rum. That shit will fuck you up ten ways to Sunday. This is just a temporary fix to mask the symptoms so you can function and not want to vaporize your own brain in your skull to get rid of the hangover.” He frowned. “I’m surprised Caph let you drink that much.”

“He wasn’t there for most of it.”

“Oh. Wow. You did get started early.”

She put her feet on the floor. Ford steadied her while she walked into the bathroom, then gave her a few minutes of privacy until he heard the toilet flush. He started the shower and helped her in, stepping in with her to take care of her before lathering himself.

“We’re back,” Aaron called from the room.

“Thanks,” Ford called back.

Emi winced from where she had her forehead pressed against the cool tile wall. “Shhh,” she said.

“Ah, see? It’s already trying to rebound on you. Let’s get you out of here and get some more fluids and stuff into you.”

An hour later, she’d managed to eat and hold down pancakes and scrambled eggs, and did feel better. Her three men sat there watching her eat.

She felt their concern and it both warmed her heart and annoyed the piss out of her. “You don’t have to sit there staring at me.”

“We’re not staring,” Aaron assured her. “We’re waiting.”

“For what?”

“For you to fess up,” Caph said.

She stared at the remnants of her breakfast. “Okay, I can’t help what my empath senses say. I’m not happy about him being assigned to our boat. I won’t be happy about anything but him leaving for the duration of his stay. Yes, it’s childish and unprofessional, but there you have it. I will find a way to suck it up and deal with it. Happy?”

Aaron leaned in and kissed her. “All I’m asking is you do your best. And that’s the last time we’ll mention it while we’re here. Okay?”

She let out a relieved breath. “Okay. And thank you.” She looked up at Ford. “Especially thank you.”

“Why?”

“For keeping my internal organs from galloping off without me this morning.”

He smiled. “Babe, we have so much to teach you about proper drinking techniques.”

Chapter Seven

Their third morning at the resort, Emi awoke before her men and wished she could petition for another three days of R&R. They’d have to check out in a little over eight hours and return to the Bight to begin their mission.

But she knew trying to forestall the inevitable would be a futile effort and only make life harder on Aaron and the twins. They felt guilty enough about her discomfort, and that made her feel guilty.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was just a fluke, and when I meet him again, I’ll feel fine.

She didn’t believe it for a second, but it was something she held tightly in her mind to soothe her nerves.

She also realized she was obligated to give the F’ahrkay an exam, as per DSMC orders, because he was a new crew member. And set his chip to their frequency.

The thought of having to be on board the same vessel with him, much less touch him, turned her stomach.

She’d beg Ford to help her. Hell, he’s a medic, he can do the exam for me while I sit at my desk and pretended to supervise. How unhealthy could the guy be if he just got off another ship?

She carefully climbed out of bed without waking her men, pulled on a robe, and went to the terminal at the desk. There she accessed DSMC records and looked up F’ahrkay physiology.

The humanoid species was different than Terran humans, but not drastically so. They could eat a lot of the same foods and breathe the same air as humans. They had iron-based blood that acted nearly identically the same way human blood did to deliver oxygen throughout the body.

Their reproductive systems were the largest physiological difference. While some F’ahrkays were born female, most were born male. It didn’t matter, however, because for reproduction, they were basically asexual. It was a type of parthenogenesis, only with a male instead of a female. The males fertilized their own eggs, which were then deposited into a partner, male or female, for incubation. However, before the eggs could detach and be deposited, DNA from the partner was merged with the eggs, making them viable and allowing them to detach.

The records didn’t specify exactly how that happened. A notation indicated it was a culturally sensitive topic that the race didn’t like to talk about outside of their own.

Unfortunately, if F’ahrkays didn’t fertilize and transfer the eggs once they fully developed and were ready for the process, it meant they would die in less than two weeks. They had no control over that once the process started. Although it took the better part of a year from when the eggs began to grow and reached the point of fertilization and transfer.

F’ahrkays didn’t have traditional mates like Terrans, although they frequently had partners they entered into agreements with to cross-incubate eggs for each other. Out of each clutch of twenty to thirty eggs on average, usually less than five survived the transfer and incubation. Of those that survived, less than fifty percent made it to adulthood.

Emi closed the file and pinched the bridge of her nose. She still didn’t know a lot about the process, but what little she did know she considered too much information.

If she didn’t have to deliver any F’ahrkay babies, that was fine by her.

* * *

They spent the afternoon enjoying the spa and doing some last-minute shopping for little luxuries they didn’t normally have access to, like booze, makeup, and specialty foods. As they packed and prepared to check out that afternoon, Emi did her damnedest to put on a good front for her men.

I will suck this up. I will suck this up.

With her nerves increasingly on edge, Emi returned to the Bight with her men, unable to stop looking around her for any sign of the F’ahrkay as they approached the gangway leading to their ship.

“He’s not here yet,” Aaron finally said.

Heat filled her face. “What?”

He brought her hand to his lips and feathered them across her knuckles. “Kayehalau. He’s not here. He’s getting the rest of his personal effects from the other ship. He won’t be here until later this evening, when we do the final load and get his pod situated.” He pointed to what looked like a large, rectangular storage container, approximately twenty feet long and ten feet wide that sat with several other cargo stacks waiting to be loaded into the Bight’s hold.

“Oh.” Relief, followed by annoying embarrassment flooded her. I hope my face isn’t red.

She had to get a handle on this.

After they were aboard and had stowed their things in their quarters, the men began working through their departure checklists. Emi hunted Ford down in engineering, where he was checking the jump engine relays.

“Can I ask a favor?” she muttered.

He frowned. “Okay, spill it.”

“What?”

He rolled his eyes at her. “You don’t need to go through any convoluted preamble with us. You should know that by now.”

“Will you please do Kayehalau’s new crew exam for me?”

“Huh?”

She nodded.

“That’s sort of against regulations, isn’t it?”

She arched an eyebrow at him.

“I mean he’s not one of us. He’s a perfect little altar boy, from the looks of his record. I’d hate him to report us for that.”

“You’re a medic. I’ll sit there in the office and supervise.”

“By supervise, you mean try not to run for cover?”

“Please?”

He nodded. “Yeah, of course I will.” He shook the wrench in his hand at her. “I am not, however, digging around in his prostate, or whatever they have.”

She vigorously shook her head. “They don’t. And you don’t have to. I just need vitals and a basic, quick exam.” She ran her hands up and down her arms. They’d dropped the temp in the non-quarters parts of the ship already in preparation of being detached from the station’s utility umbilicals. She’d have to start wearing her sweatsuits again to keep warm. “I just…please?”

He pulled her in for a quick kiss. “Of course. We’ll say you wanted me to have experience with non-Terran species.”

“Hey, that’s pretty good!”

He laughed, releasing her with a gentle swat to her bottom. “Who do you think usually had to talk us out of trouble with the MPs?”

* * *

Emi didn’t have to be on the bridge when they departed. She shut herself in the hydro lab and forced herself to keep her mind off their new crew member.

Occasionally she felt glimpses of the dark dread, but nothing nearly as overwhelming as in Dobros’ office that first meeting.

Maybe it will be okay. Maybe she just needed a few days off to clear her head, and next time she met Kayehalau, she wouldn’t have a bad reaction.

Maybe I’ll start growing unicorns that can shit rainbows, too.

She cut off that line of thought.

When Ford called her on the ship’s com link and told her it was dinnertime, she forced a cheery tone she didn’t remotely feel as she told him she’d grab a bite to eat later.

When Aaron called her a minute later to tell her the same thing, she knew from his tone he wasn’t informing.

He was ordering.

Grumbling, she slowly made her way up to the crew area to the galley. The closer she drew, the worse she felt. Dark, ominous clouds filled her senses, growing stronger and stormier with every step she took toward the galley. When the doorway came into view, she spotted an extra chair now at their table, Kayehalau seated in it.

Caph spotted her first. He swooped in, grabbed her hand, and led her to the table. “Hon, eh, Dr. Emilia Hypatia, this is Kayehalau.”

She preemptively raised her hand in greeting to avoid shaking with him as she sat as far away from him as she could. Forcing a smile, she said, “Nice to meet you, Kayehalau.”

Not only did she still feel what she’d felt in the commander’s office, it felt ten times worse.

How the fuck am I supposed to share a ship with this dude for weeks?

She refused to cry in front of him and kept the smile plastered to her face.

“Dr. Hypatia, Captain Lucio has spoken with me about your discomfort. I apologize for that. I do not wish to add to it.”

Great, let’s toss guilt onto the pile that he wants to be nice to me. The F’ahrkay’s voice sounded placid, calm, and with little intonation. She wondered if they always sounded like that, or if he was just making an attempt not to freak her out even more.

“It’s okay. It’s not your problem, it’s mine.” She reached for the salad and scooped some onto her plate as another feeling hit her senses. Worry.

Glancing at her three men, she realized they had intently focused on her. “Guys, dinner. Eat. I have a lot of stuff to do.”

As one, her three men relaxed.

Okay. I’ll fake it ’til I make it.

But she still wasn’t examining him.

* * *

Emi decided the best way to handle it was to get it out of the way as soon as possible so it wasn’t hanging over her head. After dinner, once the galley was cleaned up, she told Ford and Kayehalau to meet her in sick bay. She sensed Aaron’s curiosity over that, but he didn’t question her.

She had come up with the perfect reason, besides Ford’s ready excuse, not to do the exam herself. When the two arrived in sick bay, she had the drug synthesizer opened, with several cases of supplies stacked around it.

“Um, Emi, what are you doing?” Ford asked.

“We picked up more supplies from the base. I need to get them added.” She nodded to her desk, where a medchart handheld sat on the corner. “There’s his file. Just the basics.”

She didn’t turn around all the way to look at Kayehalau when he spoke. “You are not performing the exam, Dr. Hypatia?”

Fighting tension in her neck and shoulders that bordered on painful as she struggled against the foreboding emotional cloud now filling her sick bay, she forced a light tone she didn’t remotely feel. “I need to get these loaded. Perishable, you know, once they’re opened. Ford is completely capable of doing the exam. And he’s been wanting more experience with non-Terran species.”

Now she looked, playing her ace. “That’s not a problem, is it?”

“No, Doctor. That is not a problem.”

If she wasn’t already struggling to hold on to her composure, his eerily placid tone would have freaked her out.

She listened while Ford performed the exam, following the chart she’d left open for him for reference. At first, she didn’t realize Kayehalau had spoken to her.

“Emi,” Ford said, “did you hear him?”

“Sorry?”

“Is that a Corghistall Minax 80 synthesizer?” Kayehalau asked.

Something to talk about that doesn’t freak me out! “Yes. Does everything from analgesics to antipsychotics, narcotics, antibiotics, IV solutions—everything. Limited quantities on the rarer compounds, of course, due to the range it covers, but for a small crew, it’s more than enough.”

“Interesting. I have heard of them, but have yet to serve on a vessel with one. The other vessels all had smaller synthesizers and some premixed drug stocks.”

“Can’t hop over to a drugstore on an explore. We are, in essence, a hospital as well as a research lab.”

“May I have your permission to study it further later? When you are finished, of course. I do not wish to interrupt you. Or I would be most happy to help you if it would be of assistance.”

Guilt, guilt, guilt. Despite not getting used to the dank cloud, Emi tried to hold on to rational thoughts that the guy really was trying to be nice.

“Sure, no problem. The manual is in the general crew computer, medical folder, of course. You can access it at any time. The machine, too. I don’t keep it locked because we’re a small crew. That way the guys don’t need me if they need an aspirin or something.” She cleared her throat. “And, of course, if there’s something you needed, you could get it.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Dr. Hypatia. I shall avail myself of that. They have always fascinated me.”

Ten minutes later, Ford finished up, and Kayehalau departed for his quarters. Emi felt like fainting with relief as the dark cloud disappeared with him. As she blew out a long breath, Ford knelt next to her on the floor. In his eyes, as well as in his soul, she read concern.

“You all right?”

“I’ll live. Maybe.”

He brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead. “It’s not permanent. Once the assignment’s over, he’s gone.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.”

* * *

She’d hoped Kayehalau had merely been making small talk in an attempt to put her at ease, but over the next several days, it seemed like every time she turned around in sick bay, he was there asking her questions about the synthesizer until she couldn’t take it anymore.

Four days in, not only had the darkness she felt around Kayehalau not eased up any, it grew worse. Until one afternoon she’d just settled in at her desk to write up her daily report when he showed up.

Before conscious thought hit her, she found herself on her feet and out the door. She fought her tears all the way back to their quarters, nearly at a dead run by the time she arrived. She let out a startled squeak as she almost ran face-first into Caph, who was on his way out the door.

He grabbed her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

She shook her head and tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. “Honey, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

Hating herself, she shook her head and choked back tears. Yes, there was something twelve kinds of wrong about Kayehalau, and she couldn’t put into words exactly what it was. But it didn’t mean the professional side of her wasn’t pissed off at herself for not being able to get past it.

He effortlessly scooped her into his arms and carried her over to their bed where he snuggled with her until she could speak. When she finally pulled herself together, she felt like even more of an idiot, not to mention she’d left a huge snot puddle on the front of Caph’s fresh uniform shirt.

He brushed her hair away from her face. “You ready to talk about it now?”

“I can’t help it. I can’t help the way I feel around him. I know I’m a doctor and should be above this, but the trained empath in me says fuck that, he’s bad news.”

She didn’t miss his sad sigh. “It’s okay, babe.” He gently rocked her against him. “I know this is bothering you in more ways than one. We don’t expect you to ignore what you’re feeling. And we know you’re trying your best. It’s all we can ask of you.”

* * *

Aaron had a talk with Kayehalau about giving Emi some space and not going to the sick bay unless he really needed something. But then it seemed no matter where she was on the ship, she inevitably ran into Kayehalau.

She started hiding in the hydro lab and sick bay when she wasn’t in their quarters. She didn’t want to be anywhere near Kayehalau. Something about him didn’t just rub her the wrong way. It felt as if she was trying to pet a porcupine backward. The black cloud around his aura didn’t get easier to tolerate. If anything, it grew thicker, darker, and harder for her to tune out as the days passed.

She didn’t want to think she was racist—or xenophobic, as the case might be—but she couldn’t help it.

Unless Aaron gave her a direct order to work with the guy, she would stay holed up in her secondary sanctuary of the sick bay, or her primary sanctuary, the hydro lab. But it seemed pretty much every time she headed down to the hydro lab now, she invariably ran into Kayehalau in the corridors and was forced to deal with him.

Bucky sat where she’d placed him on her desk in sick bay and stared at her with sightless eyes. She picked him up with a sigh, for once wistfully wishing she had one of the Kal’moran’s deadly spiderlike tals’tophk to sic on Kayehalau. “If only I could get rid of him that easy, dude.” She stroked the rubber spider before returning it to his place on her desk.

Ford brought her an afternoon snack on day six of the siege, as she was beginning to unkindly think of it. “You want some company, babe?” He set the plate on the desk for her.

She reached out for the cookies and snagged one, her stomach grumbling as she nibbled at it. “I’m sorry I’ve been scarce.”

“Scarce, nothing. You’ve been practically invisible.” The cookie was delicious, moist and sweet and fruity.

“These are good. What are they?”

He shrugged. “Kayehalau made them for us.”

Her stomach rolled and she dropped the cookie back onto the plate before rubbing her hand on the leg of her uniform trousers. “No thanks.”

“Come on, babe. How long are you going to be like this?”

“Until he’s off our freaking ship. I’m telling you, Ford, there’s something wrong about him.”

She heard his unmistakable sigh. “Babe—”

“No, I’m not overreacting.”

“You’re more sensitive than me and Aar and Caph. Is it possible it’s just your empath senses wigging out because he’s an alien? And we’re jumping right now. You always feel on edge during a jump. Plus, you haven’t had any real-life experiences with F’ahrkays. Maybe your mind keeps thinking back to the sim session, or to what happened on Kal’moran.”

She frowned despite grudgingly knowing he could be right. “You don’t think I hadn’t thought about it like that already?”

“I’m not saying you have to be bosom buddies with the guy, but he’s only here to do his job. You’re a professional. Try cutting him a little slack.”

Her stomach grumbled again. She’d done an about-face and missed lunch when she’d heard Kayehalau talking in the galley with Caph earlier.

She tentatively reached out for the cookie she’d nibbled on and took another bite. “They are good cookies,” she said.

“He knows you’re nervous around him. We explained the bare-bones basics about what we went through in the sim and on Kal’moran, and that it could be coloring your attitude. Also, about how your empath sensitivity sometimes makes situations uncomfortable for you. He understands. He’s really a nice guy.”

She slowly chewed the cookie as she glared at him. “You on his payroll now or what?”

“No, I just want you happy. Every time you’re out of this room or our quarters it’s like you’re looking over your shoulder. He’s trying to be nice to you.”

“Yeah, well, tell him to lay off. I’d prefer he not hunt me down every time I try to go to the hydro lab. It wigs me out that I’m always bumping into him. Aaron said he’d give the dude orders to stay away from me.”

“I’ll ask Aaron to have another talk with him. I’m sure he’s not doing it on purpose.” He put on the sad puppy dog eyes. “Please, babe?”

“All right, fine. I’ll try harder.” She suppressed an involuntary shiver, but she reached out for another cookie after finishing the first one. “See? Tell him I said they’re yummalicious.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, babe.”

“Yeah, well, count it as me attempting to be nice.” She took another bite. “It’s all you’re going to get for now.”

Chapter Eight

By the end of Kayehalau’s second week on board the Bight, Emi found herself indulging in fantasies of sending him out an air lock, or forgetting him on a planet’s surface.

She also didn’t like that even though he was chipped, she couldn’t effortlessly track his movements throughout the ship like she could her men. She had to use one of the ship’s scanners to find him. Even when they emerged from the jump to take up orbit around the planet where Kayehalau would test his equipment, the ominous feeling didn’t abate.

Answers that question. It meant it was Kayehalau and not the jump drive.

As the days passed, Emi grew more resentful of not being able to be herself in what she considered her home. She also hated that in the nearly three weeks since Kayehalau joined their crew, she’d apparently lost her sense of equilibrium on board. She felt scattered, on edge. There were even some nights she lay in bed and it felt as if the darkness hovered in the corridor on the other side of their door.

As if it were stalking her.

As if he were stalking her.

It doesn’t make sense. The scientist tried to maintain her calm. The empath, however, wanted to run, screaming, for safety.

She tried to put all that aside in the name of science and following orders. That didn’t end the war between her two selves, which seemed determined to destroy each other at the sake of her own sanity.

One day, Kayehalau had spent the entire day down in the cargo area working on his equipment and doing tests. Emi had enough of a respite from trying to shield herself from the nasty feelings she got round him that she almost felt playful.

At dinnertime, Aaron and Ford were in the galley cooking while Caph stood watch on the bridge. Emi wandered into the galley and wrapped her arms around Aaron’s waist from behind.

He looked over his shoulder at her and noted her smile. “You look like you’re feeling good.”

“I wouldn’t say good. Better. At least for today.” She stood on tiptoe and nibbled on the back of his neck.

“Ooh, I think someone’s feeling frisky, he says hopefully,” Ford teased.

“Yeah, actually, I am.” She ground her hips against Aaron’s ass. She hadn’t felt like making love with them in over two weeks, usually curling around a pillow and simply watching despite them gently trying to get her interest.

Ford finished chopping potatoes and dumped them in a pot of boiling water to cook. Then he wiped his hands and grabbed her, pulling her to him and running his hands up under her shirt. “Well, what do you know about that?”

He kicked a chair out from under the table and sat in it, pulling her onto his lap, facing him. He pushed her shirt up and pulled it off over her head. He let it fall to the floor and cupped her breasts through her bra. “Hello, buddies. I’ve missed you.”

She giggled and threw her arms around his neck. He freed both her breasts and bent his lips first to one, then the other, sucking on her nipples and drawing them into tight peaks.

Aaron put the casserole he’d been assembling into the oven and walked over to stand behind them and join them. She looked up at him as he pressed in behind her and gathered her hair in one hand.

“Hi, Cap.”

Aaron smiled down at her. “Now you’ve gone and got me all horny. You realize that, right?”

“I hope so.” A sudden darkness flitted across her mind, but she shoved it away. She didn’t want to think about Kayehalau right then. “Getting you horny was kind of my plan.”

“Mmm, I love a woman with a plan,” Ford mumbled around one of her breasts.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Ford,” Aaron chastised. He tipped her head back so she could feel his hard erection through his trousers. “You feel like taking care of that, too?”

“Of course I do.”

Aaron prompted her to stand, disappointing the hell out of Ford.

This was something else she’d missed, their playfulness with her and with each other.

I haven’t been good company lately.

For that she did feel guilty. Determined to try to make it up to them a little, she started doing a sexy striptease for them, working on her bra, removing it, and dropping it in Ford’s lap. Then she kicked off her shoes and started unfastening her uniform trousers, sliding them down over her hips until they lay in a puddle on the floor, and she was left standing there in her panties and socks.

Another wave of darkness, thicker than the last, tried to push in. She pushed back just as hard and hooked a thumb into the waistband of her panties. She turned her back to her men and was about to pull her panties all the way down when an overwhelming darkness pressed in. She looked over her shoulder and spotted Kayehalau walking toward the other doorway.

With a terrified shriek, and before her men could question her, she bolted out of the galley and to their quarters, where she locked herself in, Ford and Aaron calling after her.

* * *

Confused at first, Aaron fought back a wave of irritation and anger when Ford scooped up her clothes and followed Emi back to their quarters. He waited until Ford was out of earshot to turn on Kayehalau.

“No offense, but you have really bad timing.”

The F’ahrkay stood there, his expression never changing from calm serenity. “I beg your pardon, Aaron?”

Aaron blew out an aggravated breath. “Nothing. Never mind. What did you want?”

“I came up to see if I could be of assistance preparing the evening meal.”

He started to say something when Ford returned, looking sad. He caught Aaron’s eye and shook his head.

Fuck.

“Look, we appreciate you wanting to help, but it’s not necessary.”

“Did I hear Dr. Hypatia in here earlier?”

“Yes, you did. It’s nothing personal, but she’s a trained empath. Whether it’s something she’s picking up from the equipment, or because she’s not used to dealing with a F’ahrkay, or whatever it is, she is extremely uncomfortable around you.”

“I apologize for that. That is not my intention.”

Now Aaron felt like shit. Caught between a temp crewman and his wife, he was responsible for both their safety and well-being, but his loyalty lay with Emi. “I know that. But like I told you before, this isn’t something that she can just get used to and it’ll get better for her. It seems to get worse as time goes on.”

“So she was in here?”

“Yeah,” Ford grumbled as he checked the potatoes. “And we were about to get some from her for the first time in—”

“Ford!” Aaron snapped.

Ford’s head whipped around as he met Aaron’ gaze. Then his eyes glanced over at the F’ahrkay before returning to meet Aaron’s. He slammed the lid back onto the pot. “Fuck this shit,” he grumbled then headed back down the hall to their quarters. Aaron leaned around the corner enough he spotted Emi’s clothes in a pile in front of their door. Ford knocked and pleaded with her, finally resorting to using the override panel and punching in an access code to force the door open.

After shooting a final glare Aaron’s way, he scooped Emi’s clothes up and went in, closing the door behind him.

Aaron drew in a sharp breath through his teeth and turned to the F’ahrkay again. “Please, let’s just make this easy on everyone, okay? If you want to know how you can help, then get me on the ship’s com link before you come up here, and I’ll give you the all clear if it is.”

“I am sorry I am a burden, Aaron.”

He scrubbed his face with his hands. “You’re not a burden. You have to understand my position, however. I’m not trying to keep you isolated and alone for the whole damn trip, but she’s our med officer and our wife. And she is physically and emotionally uncomfortable when you’re in close proximity. So I’m doing my best to walk a fine line between keeping her needs met as well as not making you a pariah. But I need a little help here, okay?”

“I understand, Aaron. I apologize for causing her discomfort.”

Kayehalau’s tone and inflection made Aaron pause at first, but then he walked over to check the casserole. “Not your fault,” he mumbled as he peeked into the convection oven. “Just…just give her breathing room. Stay away from the hydro lab and the sick bay, because those are her domains.”

“I will do as you ask, Aaron. And again my apologies for her reaction. If there is anything I can do to make it up to the doctor, please let me know. I would appreciate the chance to alleviate her discomfort.” He turned and left the galley.

Aaron didn’t try to figure Kayehalau out. Maybe it’s just the way they are. He busied himself finishing dinner preparations.

* * *

Ford wanted to rip the F’ahrkay’s head off at his shoulders for interrupting their sexy time.

Correction, for making Emi uncomfortable and terrifying the crap out of her. Hell, it was the first time she’d come out of her shell in nearly two weeks and had acted almost like her normal self.

When he followed her the first time, she’d locked the door and at his knock yelled at him to go away. Then he had to get out of the galley, away from Kayehalau, and went back to their quarters.

This time, he wouldn’t be refused. Especially when the sound of her sobbing on the other side of the door nearly ripped his heart out of his chest. “I’m coming in, Emi.” He opened the override panel and punched in the code. Gathering her things, he walked in and shut the door behind him, locking it.

His heart nearly broke at the sight of her curled into a tight ball and sobbing in the center of their bed. “Oh, sweetie.” He dropped her things and rushed over to her. Pulling her into his arms he held her, rocking her. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “Let it out. It’s not your fault.”

“Why do I feel like this?” she sobbed. “I hate this. I hate feeling like I’m out of my fucking mind!”

“I know, baby. I know. It’s okay. I’m here.” Now wasn’t the time to talk. He only wanted to console her, get her through this, until she felt more stable. Hell, if she wanted, he’d move down to the hydro lab with her, if it meant that she’d have some measure of peace.

When Aaron knocked on the door a half hour later, Emi had dozed in his arms. He gently untangled himself from her and let Aaron in. He carried a large tray with their dinners and glasses of iced tea on them.

He set the tray on a dresser, looking sad when he spotted Emi curled up on the bed. “How is she?” he whispered.

Ford shrugged, then waved Aaron into the head so they could shut the door and talk without her hearing them.

“She’s wigged out. And what’s worse, she knows it’s not normal for her to feel like this. It’s tearing her up inside that she can’t get past it. She feels guilty and horrible and childish, but she can’t ignore what her empath senses are telling her.”

Aaron crossed his arms and stared at the floor. “For what it’s worth, I talked to Kayehalau again. He says he’s sorry for the effect he’s having on her.”

Ford snorted. “That and five credits won’t even get your cock spit on in a brothel.”

“What the fuck do you want me to do? I can’t boot him simply because he freaks her out. And it’s not fair to him for me to banish him to the fucking cargo hold when he hasn’t done a damn thing wrong. He doesn’t have as much as a poor performance review in his file. Tell me what the fuck I’m supposed to do, Ford. You think this job is so fucking easy? I’m the goddamned captain. I’m not about to put him through shit just because of her issues. You’ve been on the wrong end of an asshole captain, and I refuse to be like that.”

Ford threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t know what to tell you. All I know is it really fucking sucks seeing her in so much pain and being helpless to do anything about it.”

“Don’t you think I know that? I’m not a heartless bastard.”

“I didn’t say you were.”

“Then cut me some slack here and help me figure out what the fuck to do.”

“I don’t know what to do, Aaron! She doesn’t even know what to do, and she’s the damn doctor. If she knows she shouldn’t be feeling like this, don’t you think there’s a bigger problem here?”

“Yeah, but all I know is we have orders to follow and unless she’s in physical danger from him, which she’s obviously not, I can’t kick him off just because he makes her uncomfortable. We all need to just suck it up and help her through it the best we can and not be dicks to the guy.”

Aaron left to clean up the galley while Ford went to wake Emi up for dinner.

* * *

Emi awoke with a start from a bad dream when Ford gently shook her. “Hey, babe, dinner.”

She pulled the sheet around her, nervously scanning their cabin.

“It’s okay. We’re alone.” He handed her a plate. “Aaron brought it for us.”

She felt guilty. “You stayed here with me?”

He sat across from her. “Of course. I’m not going to leave you alone feeling like that.”

She tried to make herself eat despite no appetite. “How do I get through this?”

“I wish I had an answer for you. Maybe the three of us can gang up on Aaron and make him order the guy to cargo for the duration.”

A wave of guilt swept through her. “No,” she mumbled. “Don’t do that. That’s not right. The problem is me, not him. Since I’m obviously the only one who has a problem with him, I need to be the one to deal with it, not him.”

“I wish I could fix this for you.”

She looked into his blue eyes, which held nothing but love and concern for her. “Me, too.”

Chapter Nine

By the end of the fourth week, Emi struggled to maintain a professional façade when outside their quarters. She swore she’d suck it up and deal with it.

Forget sharing my feelings. They know how I feel. I need to deal with it.

They’d finished testing Kayehalau’s equipment on the first stop, and had left orbit the night before. This afternoon, once Kayehalau finished confirming his readings, they would jump to the next destination, do the testing there, and then they could dump him at Mars.

Four more weeks. I can make it four more weeks.

She hoped.

She also told Aaron not to order the guy to stay in cargo, but to please ask him to avoid the hydro lab and sick bay whenever possible.

It wasn’t easy. No matter how hard she tried, she felt a sickeningly dark aura from the F’ahrkay anytime she was within close proximity of him. She was the last one out of their quarters that morning, Aaron having taken the night watch. From the galley drifted the delicious aroma of bacon, eggs, and something she couldn’t place her finger on, but that had a decidedly fruity aroma.

With her stomach now grumbling, she dressed and headed out to the galley. But when she got there, she stopped cold in the doorway. Aaron and Caph were sitting at the table and eating.

Kayehalau stood at the stove, cooking. Eating cookies or other food he’d made for them ahead of time was one thing. Having to stand there with him cooking was more than she could handle.

She turned on her heel, but Aaron was faster. “Emi, come on and eat with us.”

She froze, the muscles in her neck and shoulders tensing up. “I’m good, thanks. Going to do inventory—”

“Come on, babe,” Caph chimed in. “You can grab breakfast with us. Please?”

She closed her eyes and only through sheer force of will did she force back her tears. The hopefulness she felt from Aaron and Caph barely overriding the nasty darkness she felt from Kayehalau.

Slowly turning, she kept her gaze directed at the floor so she didn’t have to look Kayehalau in the eye. “Really, guys, I’m okay. I’m not hungry.”

“It is all right,” Kayehalau said. “I shall take Ford’s plate to him on the bridge.” He picked up one large plate, and a mug of coffee, and headed out the other way.

She took a deep breath as the darkness left with him, only looking up once she knew he was gone.

Aaron’s brown gaze held concern, while Caph’s green eyes had filled with worry.

She started to head for the counter to grab herself a bagel when Aaron stood. “Em, please. Sit down. I’ll fix you a plate.”

“No, it’s okay, I—”

“That wasn’t a request, sweetheart.”

She swallowed hard and looked at him. I will not cry. I will not cry, dammit!

“Please? I would be so proud of you if you did.”

Not wanting to disappoint him or make herself feel even worse for not being professional, she gave in. Aaron walked over to her and gently led her to the chair next to Caph. When she sat, Caph immediately slung an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “It’s okay, babe. Please eat with us.”

“He cooked?”

“He’s a good cook. Not the first meal he’s cooked for us, either. You’ve liked the other stuff he made. We just never told you he made it.”

She’d deal with that betrayal later. “I didn’t have to stand there while he made it, either.” Aaron brought her over a plate. She studied it. “What is it?”

“Bacon, eggs, and crepes with fruit and cream cheese fillings. He’s obviously not poisoning us.”

She glared up at him.

“He’s trying. He’s really, really trying. He understands how you feel, and he’s completely sympathetic to it. Under the circumstances, I’d say he’s being damn generous. You’ve done nothing but avoid him, and he’s cooking breakfast trying to make you feel more comfortable.”

She clenched her jaw to hold back the scathing retort she wanted to scream at him. That they weren’t feeling what she felt. That they had no idea what she was going through around him.

And how much she hated herself for not being strong enough to just put those same feelings aside and ignore them. She felt worse than guilty.

She felt like a failure as a doctor and an officer.

Aaron sat back down with them to finish his food. The three of them were still sitting there eating when Kayehalau returned from the bridge. She felt his approach before he ever entered the galley.

He didn’t smile or make any other facial expressions at them, which she’d learned was normal for their kind, but he did slowly bow his head in her direction.

“I hope it is to your pleasing, Dr. Hypatia.”

She also noticed he used the men’s first names, but always addressed her by her title or last name.

She took a deep breath, her stomach threatening to rebel against the food she’d just eaten despite how good, in fact, it was. “Yes, Kayehalau. It’s very good. And…” She swallowed hard. “Please, you can call me Emi. I’m sorry I’m not handling this very well.”

“It is all right, Doc—Emi. Thank you. I understand. Aaron has explained to me your empath senses. I am truly sorry my presence causes you distress.”

Now she felt mega-guilty in addition to wanting to hurl, despite how his creepy, flat tone of voice always wigged her out. “I’ll get through it. It’s all right.”

He looked at her plate. “Oh. You did not get any of the compote.” He grabbed a small pot off the stove’s back burner and carried it over to the table, a small ladle in his other hand. “It is strawberry. From the ones you brought up from the hydro lab. It is supposed to go on top of the crepes. Would you care for some?”

She glanced first at Aaron, then at Caph. She nodded. “Thank you. That would be nice.”

He bowed his head to her again and ladled some of the compote over her remaining crepe. Under the table from either side of her, both Caph and Aaron patted her thighs. The happy feelings she felt from them for her making the effort almost helped counteract the ominous cloud.

Almost, but not quite.

* * *

She somehow survived breakfast. Yes, the food tasted great. Good, it didn’t poison her. But she still felt even more than out of kilter. As she sat in sick bay and tried to focus on reports, she had trouble pulling her thoughts together. Like she’d developed a sudden case of the scatterbrains.

Then again, she had felt out of sorts ever since leaving Robards Alpha.

Must be the stress of dealing with the guy.

It had grown more pronounced every day since their departure. She could walk down to get something from a storage locker, and then get there without a clue as to why she’d gone in the first place. To the point she’d started making herself little notes on her handheld.

She knew the paranoia was in no small part a result of the stress she felt over Kayehalau’s presence on their ship. But even she was beginning to wonder if maybe she needed a checkup of her own.

When she thought about her breakdown a few days earlier, after Kayehalau walked in on her little striptease, she sat back and closed her eyes and tried to firmly pull her mind into objective doctor mode.

If this were any other patient, experiencing symptoms that appeared to grow progressively worse, she’d order blood work, scans, and a complete physical to see if there were any abnormalities.

Okay. That I can do.

Having something to focus on made her feel a little better. She walked over to the exam room and prepped a few things. Then she shoved the sleeve of her sweatshirt up past her elbow and tied on a tourniquet. She quickly drew three vials of her blood, shaking each vial to mix the blood with the medium inside. Finished with that, she stuck a bandage on her arm and hooked the vials into the computer for testing.

One down.

It would take a couple of hours for the computer to complete the battery of tests she’d selected, over sixty, which would give her a thorough starting point.

Something deep inside her intuition told her the answer didn’t lie there, but she’d do it anyway.

Kayehalau didn’t appear during lunch, but he’d prepared them a delicious spinach and cheese quiche and left it cooling on the counter. Aaron had already taken a piece and headed back to the bridge. Emi eyed it with suspicion, waiting so long that Ford finally fixed her a plate and forced her to take it.

“You know, you need to take it easy, babe,” he said. “I can feel your tension, and I’m not even empathic.”

She glared at him as she sat at the table. With an acerbic retort on the tip of her tongue, she stopped, took a deep breath, and forced herself to relax. “I’m not feeling very good.”

Caph looked concerned. “You all right?”

“I don’t know.” She picked up her fork and stabbed at the end of the piece of quiche. “I did a blood draw on myself a little while ago. The computer’s crunching through it now.”

“What’s going on?” Ford asked.

“I. Don’t. Know.” She caught herself and tried again. “Maybe it’s more than just Kayehalau. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. I don’t know.”

Ford took her hand in his. “Hey, why don’t you come down to engineering with me after we finish eating? Kayehalau won’t be anywhere around, and I’ll go over the jump engines with you.”

She mustered a smile. “Again?”

He grinned. “Again. I’ll explain them to you a million times if you want me to.”

She took a deep breath and picked up her fork again. The quiche did taste delicious. “All right. Deal.”

Chapter Ten

She spent over an hour with Ford down in engineering, using a voice recorder to capture what he said. No matter how many times she tried, she couldn’t wrap her mind around the physics and mechanics that were the jump engine. That didn’t mean she didn’t want to try to understand it. The Tamora Bight was her home for the next several years, and she wanted to know as much about it as she could. She wanted to be an asset to her men for more than just her medical skills and training. She wanted to feel useful.

She wanted something complicated to focus on that might take her mind off Kayehalau’s presence on board.

“You good?” Ford asked, concern in his voice and washing from him to her as they left engineering and emerged in the cavernous cargo hold.

She nodded, despite feeling the whiff of Kayehalau’s presence somewhere nearby. He was on the move, she sensed that, but where he was she couldn’t tell. Hopefully he was heading to the bridge.

Ford pulled her close and kissed her, cradling her cheeks in his palms. “It’s going to be okay, sweetheart,” he whispered. “We’re halfway through the mission. I know this has been rough on you, but we’re so proud of you.”

She nodded, blinking away the prickle of tears threatening. “Thanks.”

“Love you.”

She forced a smile she knew didn’t fool him in the least. “Love you, too.”

“I have to get back up to the bridge. You want to walk with me?”

She started to say yes, then hesitated. “I should hit the hydro lab.” It would keep her away from the bridge, where she knew Kayehalau would be to observe the jump.

“Okay.” With one last, quick peck on the lips, he turned and walked away.

Emi slipped the voice recorder in her pocket and realized with a wistful pang that she’d left Bucky sitting on her desk.

She’d go over Ford’s jump engine explanation again later. She loved listening to him explain things, between the warm, soothing tone of his voice and how gently he spoke. Not that Aaron and Caph weren’t good at it, too, but as Aaron often said, Ford just had that special touch.

She looked up at the cargo hold ceiling as Caph’s voice sounded over the com link. “Five minutes until jump.”

Hydro lab it is. Especially since she felt Kayehalau’s presence closer than before. She began picking her way across the cargo hold, toward another corridor that would lead her a back way to the hydro lab without her running into Kayehalau.

Unfortunately, when she turned around one stack, she felt the darkness bloom, spreading and strengthening, and she nearly screamed when she walked into Kayehalau. “Jesus Christ! You scared the crap out of me!” With her heart racing, she drew away from him. When she tried to walk around him, he reached out and grabbed her left wrist.

It took Emi a second to realize he had his hand on her. That was when an even more sickening feeling washed through her, worse than the normally dark cloud she felt at his presence. She slipped her right hand into her pocket and activated the voice recorder again. She would finally have solid proof she could show to the men.

Then they’d kick this creepy guy’s ass to the curb at the closest stop.

“Let me go, Kayehalau,” she ordered. “Get your hands off me.”

“No, Doctor,” he said, his voice still sounding calm and devoid of any hint of anything other than bland serenity. “I am regretful that I cannot do that.” His long fingers tightened around her wrist. “Not until I finish what I have started.”

“What are you talking about?” She forced herself to look up into his face. His complacency scared her more than anything. He’d planned something. He wasn’t anxious or worried.

He knew her men were busy on the bridge with the jump sequence, giving him at least twenty uninterrupted minutes.

Despite her struggles, he pulled her along with him, down the cargo hold’s main corridor toward aft, to a far corner near his cabin pod. “I have prepared, Doctor. Do not worry. This will not hurt. I assure you, you will not remember anything. It will not take long.”

She futilely fought against him. Despite his willowy appearance, he was strong as fuck and solid. “Let me go! What are you doing?”

“I must reproduce. It is my time. I only have seven days left in my cycle.”

Horror replaced her fear in an instant as his plan finally became clear to her. “You need an incubator!”

“Yes, Doctor. If I do not, I will die.” As they rounded another cargo stack, she saw he’d set up a makeshift medical area just outside his pod quarters.

Emi screamed, fought, kicked. His iron grip proved unbreakable, his tough flesh seemingly impervious to her blows.

“I apologize for giving you the drugs, Doctor. It was necessary. I have been surreptitiously administering you compounds I synthesized. Some, which bring on mildly psychotic illusions, so your men would think you are experiencing space sickness. And others that impair your memory and will facilitate what must happen, as well as make temporary changes to your reproductive anatomy to suit my purposes so I can make a DNA transfer. Once I harvest the eggs, I will reverse the effects of the memory and DNA compounds so you will not experience any permanent damage. The hallucinogenic drugs will wear off on their own. You will believe everything was delusions, simply brought on by space sickness and perhaps an ill effect of the jump engine.”

“Drugs?” It made perfect sense now. Triumphant, she said, “Well, you’re shit out of luck, asshole. I’m running a full blood work panel on myself as we speak. The computer will find whatever it is you used, and I’ll have my goddamned proof, so you might as well let me go now, asshole!”

He cocked his head. “Yes. I will make sure I destroy that evidence while I have you incapacitated during the jump initialization.”

“Two minutes until jump,” Caph called out.

Horrified, Emi tried to pull away, but he was far stronger than her and continued leading her toward the table he’d set up. Complete with restraints, she noticed with ever-growing horror. “I will not be your incubator! How dare you?”

“I do not wish to die, Doctor. Would you want to die? I have carefully planned. I promise you, you will remember nothing, including the harvesting once the eggs are viable. I apologize for this and wish there were a better way, but I could not secure someone before we left on our journey. I thought I would be back at Mars before now. The other ship’s breakdown, unfortunately, ended my plans.”

Emi needed to stall for time as she fought. “Why the fuck didn’t you just ask to go straight to Mars?”

He stopped and turned. “Because my sire, had he known I was about to reproduce, would have forced my return home. I am his only surviving offspring and he wants to ensure his line continues. I am not yet ready to relinquish my career.”

“Fuck you!” she lunged at him, clawing at his eyes and taking him by surprise, startling him enough he loosened his grip. She broke free and ran, twisting and turning through the piles of cargo. She wanted to get to a com link panel, but didn’t see one. Then she found herself in a dead end, except for the port leading into the small auxiliary lifepod against the hull wall.

Seeing her only chance, she dove through the lifepod port and slammed her palm against the hatch control button, immediately sealing herself in.

He caught up with her and peered into the pod through the view port. After examining the port, which could only be operated from inside the pod or from a switch on the pod’s external hull, inaccessible from inside the Bight, he spoke through the lifepod intercom. “You have to come out of there sometime, Doctor. I will simply tell your men you had another emotional episode, worse than the one you just had. I will tell them you tried to attack me. They will restrain you in sick bay for your own safety and I will still complete my purpose.”

She shook her head at him. “Fuck you! I am not letting you incubate anything in my body, you son of a bitch!”

“I assure you, the process will not harm—”

“It’s rape, asshole. Punishable by death, if you weren’t aware.”

“We do not reproduce like that. I have prepared an insemination syringe so you will experience minimal discomfort.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Emi studied the lifepod’s control panel. Then she stared at Kayehalau through the view port. His placid expression never changed, his dark eyes peering in at her.

“Fuck you!” she screamed.

“Doctor, please do not be unreasonable. Come out of there and let me do this. I promise, you will retain no memories of the experience and you will not be harmed. Afterward, I must administer the antidote drugs to reverse the process so you do not lose your memory and to return your body to its usual state. And I will die if I do not reproduce. You know this. You are a doctor. You are supposed to save lives. Please think about your oath to heal.”

“I hope you go straight to hell, you bastard. I knew from the moment I met you there was something bad about you. And I was right!” Although her vindication proved cold comfort to her right now in her current predicament. Emi fought a losing battle against her panic. If she gave in now, he’d win.

“Thirty seconds until jump,” Caph’s voice called out.

Kayehalau stared at her. “This was never my plan, Doctor. If I had made it to Mars as originally scheduled, I have an arranged human partner there whom I paid to take care of this. I must complete the transfer process, or in five of your days, I will die. I have far too much to offer science to allow my life to end in this way. And I will not allow my career to be ended by my sire.”

“Screw. You.”

“Surely you can see my point of view, Doctor. You are trapped in there. You have no place to which you can escape.”

No, he’s wrong about that.

Dead wrong.

She shifted position so her body blocked his view of the control panel. Reaching behind her, she felt around and flipped open the pod launch switch’s protective cover. Once the Bight’s jump started, it couldn’t be reversed. If she hit the switch too soon, they would be able to stop the sequence and find her. If she tried to eject after the jump, it might rip the pod apart. At the very least, if she and the pod survived the sudden deceleration, it would send her streaking in any direction away from the Bight with little hope of someone being able to find her.

It was a nine-day jump. That meant a minimum of eighteen days before the Bight could make it back.

Kayehalau would long be dead by then.

The lifepod had been equipped to keep four people alive for at least a week. With just her on board and carefully rationing supplies, it should be a cinch to stretch that time.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Doctor, please, come out and be reasonable. You will lose your memory if I do not administer the antidote. You cannot stay in there forever.”

If only he showed emotion, any emotion.

None whatsoever.

“Fifteen seconds.”

“Go to hell, asshole. I’m not coming out.” Still working by feel, she slowly slid her hand over the switch.

“Ten.”

Then, the slightest arch to his brow as he studied her posture. The nearest main com link panel to talk to the bridge lay several meters away, past cargo stacks. He couldn’t make it in time to warn her men.

“Five…four…”

“Have a good death, asshole.” Emi reached up with her free hand and grabbed a handrail to brace herself. She waited until Caph’s voice counted two seconds before she hit the jettison switch.

Ah, emotion. What looked like shock and perhaps horror flashed across Kayehalau’s face as the explosive mounting bolts fired and the lifepod broke free from the Tamora Bight’s hull.

She threw herself across the pod to the view port. The Bight was there, from her perspective appearing to quickly fall away from the lifepod as the blast rockets carried it clear from the hull…

And then, after a brilliant orange flash of light, it wasn’t. The space where the Bight had been now appeared filled by a sea of inky black velvet, with distant stars dimly twinkling in the background.

Emi gasped, trying to suck air into her lungs before she sobbed as the full ramification of her actions slammed home.

I have no idea what the son of a bitch dosed me with. With trembling hands, she fished the voice recorder out of her pocket and played it back, sobbing again, this time in relief when she realized the full evidence of his treachery had been recorded.

She remembered what Kayehalau said about her memory. How long until it totally disintegrated? It explained why she felt small gaps, problems reaching for information she should know without thinking. It also explained why she felt so fuzzy-headed the past several days, and especially that morning.

Episodes especially worse after eating the breakfast he’d made for them that morning. And then the lunch.

She closed her eyes and tried to think. Whatever it was, it must only work on women, not men, because Aaron, Ford, and Caph weren’t affected.

Emi moved back to the control panel. The small auxiliary pod didn’t have a steering or thrust system, only the breakaway rockets to blast clear of the ship and a magnetic shield that helped bounce it off obstacles to prevent collisions and served as a minor gravity field for passengers in the pod.

She was adrift.

She closed her eyes and tried to recall the procedure for abandoning ship. She knew this.

She used to know it.

Dare I start the emergency beacon?

Her finger hovered over the button as she hesitated. Then she activated the scanners and found no local ships.

What if a raider finds me first? Aaron had said there were reports of them in this region. They wouldn’t dare mess with a vessel as large and well-armed as the Bight, but a small lifepod?

Reluctantly, she decided against the beacon. She couldn’t take the chance. Not yet.

Afraid the voice recorder’s batteries might die and not wanting to charge it up and waste the pod’s energy reserves, Emi moved the contents, including Kayehalau’s confession, into the pod’s databanks. She started to delete everything, then decided to leave Ford’s talk on the voice recorder.

If she didn’t play it, it would hold a charge for a long time.

She returned it to her pocket. Then she clicked the pod’s recorder and started a log. “First entry. This is Dr. Emilia Hypatia of the DSMC research vessel, Tamora Bight. I have included a record of a confession by Kayehalau, a temporary crew member assigned to the Tamora Bight against my wishes.” She choked back a sob when the thought came to mind that this might be the beginning of the last words she ever said to anyone.

“I escaped in the auxiliary lifepod two seconds before the Tamora Bight activated its jump engine. I had to, or Kayehalau would have used me as an incubator. An audio copy of his confession is on file in the databanks for the official record. The jump is supposed to take nine days, so I anticipate at least eighteen days before my ship returns to this area.

“Meanwhile, I do not know what will happen to my memory. I have no idea what drugs I was given, but he said I would lose my memory if the antidotes were not administered. And for the past several days, including this morning, I have noticed memory gaps. So I feel the need to say this all now, in case I can’t remember later. Or…”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Or in case I am not found alive. My shipmates aren’t just crew, they are my husbands. Official crew roster is Captain Aaron Lucio, First Officer Caphis Bates, and Mate Ford Caliban. I want them to know…”

Emi took another deep breath to steady her voice. “I want them to know, I love you, guys. It’s not your fault. He planned it all, down to the letter. He’d set it up to pull this off during the jump sequence while you guys were busy. He apparently gave me drugs for several days and tried to play me off you guys to make it look like I was sick. I don’t blame you. Please, don’t feel guilty about this. This isn’t your fault.”

She paused the log for a moment while she composed her thoughts and tried to get her emotions under control. “Aaron, please take care of the twins. Don’t let them get into trouble. I know that’s hard to do, but if anyone can do it, you can. Caph, they need you, big guy. Ford, you won’t let them run themselves into the ground.” She hit pause again, unable to continue as her tears hit. This was a very real possibility, that they might not find her in time…or at all. No telling how far the pod would travel from the jump point.

When she felt she could continue, she did. “And please tell Mom and Dad I love them. And Donna, Sophie, and their guys.” She choked back a sob. “You are my men, and I love you so much. Please stay together. Please don’t blame yourselves or each other. None of us knew what this guy was up to when he did this. I hope I get to listen to all this again with you, but if I don’t, never forget how much I love you and how wonderful our time together has been.”

She had to stop again. Her emotions took over, and she let herself cry for over an hour before she calmed down. Then she forced herself back into official mode to continue the entry.

“The lifepod is equipped to support four crew members for a week. If I conserve my resources and turn down the temperature, I can stretch that to at least two weeks, quite possibly longer. Food isn’t a problem. Water and air should last a month with the recyclers on board. My main concern is power and life support. I’m really far from the closest solar source, so recharging the pod’s systems might be an issue.” Emi took a deep breath. “End of log entry.”

She tweaked the systems to conserve energy. A cooler temperature was doable. She was used to it on the Bight anyway. Thank the gods she’d worn a warm sweatsuit and jacket instead of a crew uniform. Emergency blankets in the pod would help keep her warm, and the cooler temperature would slow her metabolism anyway. She adjusted the oxygen levels down a little as well, yet not enough to make her cyanotic and induce hypoxia. It made the air slightly thinner, but would stretch out her supply reserves and reduce the power usage by the scrubbers. And it wasn’t like she was doing heavy labor. She also tweaked the grav settings. With just her in the pod, she didn’t need them.

After locating the blankets, she stretched out on a bunk, strapped herself in to keep her and the blankets from free-floating, and stared out the small view port.

Nothing. Black, open space punctuated by distant stars.

Chapter Eleven

“What the hell was that?” Aaron watched as Ford frowned at his console, which had turned into a blaze of red warnings as alarm Klaxons sounded.

“Abort jump!” Aaron barked.

Caph shook his head while his fingers flew over his console. “Too late. Jump engine’s engaged.” Both his and Ford’s hands raced across their consoles as they tried to figure out the problem.

“What the fuck just happened?” Aaron yelled over the alarm. “Did the jump engine short out?”

Ford’s face went white as he found the answer first. He turned to Aaron. “We lost a lifepod.”

“What?” Aaron pulled up displays on his command console. “What the fuck?”

Caph grimly confirmed it. “It jettisoned at two seconds pre-jump. The aft pod. The small, auxiliary one. It’s gone.”

“How?” Aaron stared at his console. “They can only be launched if someone’s inside.”

Ford looked at Caph, then Aaron. “Where’s Emi? And where’s Kayehalau? He was supposed to be up here for the jump. Said he wanted to watch.”

The men went silent. Aaron slammed his hand onto the com link button. “Em? Call the bridge immediately.”

The men sat, collectively holding their breath.

“Kayehalau, contact the bridge immediately!”

Nothing.

With a frantic edge to his voice, he tried again. “Em, this is an order!”

Silence.

Aaron shouted into the com link. “Doctor Hypatia, where the fuck are you? Quit screwing around and call the goddamn bridge! Kayehalau, call the bridge right fucking now!”

Ford pulled up the ship’s scanners and desperately tried to locate Emi.

Caph stood and walked over, reading the screen over Ford’s shoulder. “Shit,” he softly whispered.

Behind them Aaron still screamed into the com link, his voice cracking in desperation. “Em! Call the bridge right now!”

“She’s gone,” Caph whispered. “She was in the pod. It’s her last registered location. They were down there in cargo together, and now she’s gone.”

Aaron jumped from the command chair and bolted from the bridge, the other two men on his heels. They didn’t pass Kayehalau in the corridors as they made their way to aft cargo and stared at the closed lifepod port.

“We’ve got to stop the jump,” Aaron hoarsely whispered. “We’ve got to get back to her.”

Ford slowly shook his head. “We can’t. You know that.”

“We have to!”

“We’d destroy the jump engine and likely fry the whole ship’s power grid in the process. Aaron, you know that. It has to complete the jump cycle before we can do an immediate turnaround.”

He turned on Ford and screamed, “She’s out there alone!”

“Don’t you think I know that!” Ford yelled back, in Aaron’s face.

Caph stepped between them and pushed them apart. “Where’s that fucking Kayehalau at?” he softly said. “We’ve got to find him. He was down here with her when it happened. See if he knows what the fuck’s going on.”

Aaron got on the com link. “Kayehalau,” he barked, “this is Captain Lucio. Report immediately.”

Nothing.

“Find his ass,” Aaron growled at Ford. “I want it on a fucking silver platter.” Kayehalau’s words to him in the galley after Emi’s interrupted striptease came to mind. How he apologized for causing Emi’s discomfort, but how the tone of the words at the time had hit him wrong.

Maybe Emi had been right all along.

Cold dread flooded Aaron’s gut. “Find him. Now.”

Ford logged in to his console from the cargo bay override panel. “He’s in sick bay. Alone.”

The men raced from the cargo bay. Five minutes later, they charged through the door of sick bay.

They stopped at the sight of Kayehalau’s lifeless body stretched out on the bunk. A voice recorder lay on his motionless chest. A hypo with an empty bolus, and two additional empty boluses of potassium lay on the bunk next to him.

“Fucker killed himself,” Ford said as he picked up the hypo, which held a third, now-empty bottle of potassium. “Shit. He was alive when I tracked his chip.” He reached over and touched Kayehalau’s arm. “Warm. He just did it.” He looked at Aaron. “Want me to try to revive him?”

“If you do, I’ll fucking beat your ass.” Aaron reached out, grabbed the voice recorder, and hit play.

Kayehalau’s placid voice filed the sick bay. “Dear Captain Lucio. By the time you find this, you will have discovered Dr. Hypatia’s untimely departure. I am afraid this is my fault.” He went on to detail what he’d done, indicating notes he’d left on the sick bay computer for synthesizing the antidote to the drugs he’d given her in case they found her alive.

“She was right all along in her assessment of me, Captain. I did not count on her empathic abilities overwhelming the effects of the drugs I gave her. I never intended to do her harm. I certainly never intended for this to happen. Since I am going to die anyway, the only honorable thing I can do now is end my life. I hope you find her safely before irreparable damage is done. My most humble apologies for what I have caused. Please use this at any official inquiry as evidence against me. I fully admit my part in this, and my guilt. I alone caused this.”

Aaron felt the strength leave his legs. Fortunately, Caph caught him and eased him into a chair.

“She was right,” Aaron whispered. “Son of a bitch, she was right the whole time. She didn’t want him on board from the second she met him in Dobros’ office. She begged me to refuse the assignment.” He closed his eyes. “I didn’t listen to her.” He cradled his head in his hands. “Oh, no, I didn’t listen to her.”

Ford tapped into the sick bay computer. “Found them. Here’s his notes.” He transferred a copy to his personal handheld. “Motherfucker had it planned down to the second. He was going to transfer them to her, then remove them from her when we emerged from the jump. Fucker was going to use her as his incubator.” He slammed his fist against the desk. “Son of a bitch! She said she didn’t trust him. Why the hell didn’t I believe her? Why the fuck didn’t I listen to her?”

“Because he planned it,” Caph softly said. “He planned it that way so we wouldn’t. He wanted us to think she was going through space sickness. He didn’t want us to believe her.” He turned and walked out of sick bay. From the corridor, the other two men heard Caph’s long, anguished wail and a loud crash as he kicked or punched something.

Chapter Twelve

Emi struggled to focus. After five days in the pod, she knew without a doubt she was losing her memory.

At times, she just couldn’t remember why.

She’d made notes that auto-displayed on the pod control panel to remind her to do things like completing a log entry. And a trigger to instruct her to jettison the data buoy and activate the beacon if it looked like rescue wasn’t coming.

By day six she’d forgotten Caph’s last name and had to listen to her log notes to remember why she was there. And it was cold. So cold. In a moment of clarity, she caught herself bumping up the temperature yet again and included a reminder why she had to keep it cold. When she later realized she was ignoring that order and turning the temperature up anyway, she locked the thermostat down with a password.

Not like I’ll remember the password to unlock it, at this rate.

A nearly panicked giggle escaped her at that thought.

Out loud and silently, she repeated a mantra. She didn’t want to ever forget her men. Aaron, Caph, Ford.

Aaron, Caph, Ford.

By day nine, it had become a multisyllabic one-word chant. Aaroncaphford. At times she wasn’t sure what it meant, only that it was desperately important she try to remember.

By day twelve, Dr. Emilia Hypatia didn’t know her own name, much less what the small boxy thing was in the pocket of her sweatpants. She suspected some sort of instrument, but the reminder that kept popping up on the control panel screen said she had to leave it in her pocket. Then she had to follow more instructions to activate a beacon and dump a buoy, whatever those were. When a prompt asked if she wanted to clear the lifepod’s databanks after the buoy was jettisoned, she selected yes, since there were no instructions not to.

She also felt afraid. So afraid. And fucking cold! There didn’t seem to be a way to make it warmer. The thermostat setting had been locked by some goddamned doctor.

Why would a doctor want to keep it cold in here? Fucking bitch.

She wrapped the blankets around her more tightly.

* * *

Where was she? She couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten here, only that she’d escaped, and at the time she’d been very afraid.

The rings on her left hand meant something, but she couldn’t quite remember what. Aaroncaphford.

Was that her name?

She spent her time staring out the view port into the inky blackness.

Chapter Thirteen

The woman lay on the bunk and shivered despite the four blankets securely strapped around her. She had no idea how she’d gotten there, or where she was. Only that it was cold.

And she was scared.

Aaroncaphford. She had no idea what that meant.

She didn’t even know her own name.

There was very little food. She suspected she’d better not eat unless she had to. Water also seemed to be at a premium. She guessed she might be in space based on what she saw through the small ports and the fact that if she released the strap holding her down to the bunk, she and her blankets wanted to float off.

Why is it sooo cold?

Aaroncaphford.

Was that where she was from? Going? Her?

She closed her eyes again and prayed whatever was going to happen happened soon.

Aaroncaphford.

Chapter Fourteen

The woman forced her eyes open and stared out the small view port. She had no idea where she was, how she got there…or who she was. All she knew was that she wished she had a bunch more blankets than she did.

Stars winked at her from outside the port.

Aaroncaphford.

She closed her eyes and let the blackness envelop her.

Chapter Fifteen

When a man is out of sight, it is not too long before he is out of mind.

—Thomas Kempis

The head scanner tech on the Beyant battle cruiser B’autachia normally spent his tedious shifts daydreaming about getting home. After this mission was over, he and his p’agdtein could stay home for the rest of their careers, take assignments on Beyantaeux, and enjoy their lives together. At least this last mission wasn’t one they’d have to worry about their asses getting shot off over.

By contrast, it was long and boring.

Then a wrinkle in his monotonous routine stirred him. An unexplained blip on the edge of their scanner’s reach, a regular signal, like a beacon of some sort.

“Sir?” He waved the commander over.

Commander Raoulx looked over his shoulder and frowned. “It just appeared?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Distress signal?”

“Unknown, sir.”

The commander studied the signal for a moment before he finally gave an order to the navigator. “Change course. Close distance. Slowly. Scan. And send someone to inform Ambassador Raoulx.”

“Yes, sir.”

Within a few hours, as they closed the distance, the regular repetition of the pattern made it obvious it was a distress beacon, although one they weren’t familiar with. After a little research, Commander Raoulx discovered it was an ISTC Terran vessel’s distress beacon.

The commander scowled. They had no ISTC treaty—yet—and technically couldn’t get involved in matters with treaty races. But if it was a distress beacon, he could not in good conscience turn his back regardless of any repercussions.

The ambassador concurred as he studied the scanner signal when he arrived on the bridge. “It is a tiny thing,” the ambassador said. “Smaller than our own escape ships. It must be an escape ship. It certainly can’t be much of a threat for a fully armed Beyantaeux battle cruiser.” He nodded, as if to reassure himself. “Intercept immediately.”

The commander bowed his head. “Yes, Father.”

They drew within tractor beam distance of the small vessel. Upon making visual contact and magnifying the view, it definitely looked like an escape vessel. They could clearly see DSMC markings visible on the side.

“Scanners,” the commander ordered again. “Fine gain, magnification 800.”

“One life-form, sir.”

“Alive?”

“I…I think so. Barely.”

The commander looked at the scanner readings. “It certainly appears to be Terran. I believe it is a female.” The commander had had limited contact with Terrans, but they were similar enough in biology one of their kind could survive in Beyant environment.

Feeding her might be an issue.

He’d deal with that once he got her on board. “Tractor beam, lowest strength setting, slowest return. Bring it into Landing Bay One. Carefully,” he warned. “Gently. With utmost care, as if it is your own child on board. We will do nothing to trigger the ire of the ISTC or the Terrans this close to treaty signing.”

“Yes, sir.”

Once the small craft, almost certainly an escape vessel from the looks of it, was safely stowed in their landing bay, the commander and a group of security forces converged on it. He looked through the small window and saw what did in fact appear to be a Terran female inside. Unconscious, or asleep.

He studied the markings on the craft’s exterior. He could speak several Terran languages to a certain extent, learned in preparation for their negotiations, but reading them was a different matter. They used complicated combinations of letters that sometimes made no sense to him. He tried a few things, then discovered a recessed panel that opened under his touch. A green button inside seemed their only option.

He pressed it.

The port slid open.

No reaction from the Terran.

He signaled for a ladder and drew his sidearm before he crawled inside.

The interior of the tiny vessel felt unbelievably cold. And the air tasted flat and stale, as if the scrubbers weren’t working.

The Terran lay cocooned in blankets and strapped to a bench. He suspected that meant either the escape vessel had no artificial gravity capability, or she’d turned it off to conserve energy.

She looked fragile, vulnerable, emaciated. Her flesh had a slightly bluish tinge that couldn’t possibly be normal or healthy based on other Terrans he’d seen. When he touched her cheek, she felt cold, much colder than he knew Terrans should normally exist. But the telltale throbbing of her pulse was visible in her neck.

He holstered his sidearm and began unfastening the straps securing her and her blanket cocoon to the bunk. “Bring a stretcher,” he called to his men. “Immediately! And alert Pachya to prepare sick bay.”

At the sound of his voice, her eyes fluttered open. Sunken, grey eyes full of fear.

He barely heard and didn’t understand the soft word she spoke before she fell unconscious again. “Aaroncaphford.”

* * *

There was nothing in the escape vessel that could help them identify her. He also didn’t want to be caught with DSMC equipment on board his ship, even if it was an emergency. Having an undocumented Terran on board would be bad enough. At least they’d video recorded the events in minute detail, so if there were any questions later they could prove they didn’t forcibly abduct her and that they had no hand in her condition upon arrival.

He just prayed she survived.

After removing everything they could from the lifepod and finding the computer’s databanks empty, they resealed the pod and jettisoned it.

Their medical officer, Pachya, was useless with Terran physiology. Other than warming her body’s core temperature to a more acceptable level, his hands were tied.

“You are more familiar with Terrans than I am, Commander,” he said. “I scanned her and took a blood sample. I’ll go try to figure out her food needs.”

With Pachya declaring there was nothing more he could do for her directly at that time in sick bay, they moved her to a small guest cabin near the commander’s own cabin, where they could increase the room’s temperature for her comfort.

Raoulx pulled up a chair and sat by the bunk as he studied her sleeping profile. They’d tucked several warm packs under the blankets with her, as well as added several more blankets. As a result, her core temperature had already risen a few degrees.

He settled in to wait. As the ship’s commander, he needed answers. He wouldn’t leave until she awoke…or died.

Hours after they found her, she opened her eyes again, starting in fear as she saw him.

* * *

The woman stared at the figure in the cabin. Did she know him? She felt fear thrum through her body, but wasn’t sure why.

He made no movement toward her. His dark skin, a reddish, almost orangey hue, looked alien to her, although she didn’t know why. His blond hair hung to his shoulders, and his large, black eyes peered at her.

“Hello.”

She frowned, not sure if she was expected to respond or not, although she recognized it as a greeting.

“Comment allez-vous?” His voice sounded deep, rich, and full of cautious warmth. The words, however, made no sense to her.

She stared at him, not understanding what he said.

He tried again. “Cómo estás?”

That almost sounded…familiar. She cocked her head to listen, studying him. The longer she stared at him, the more sure she grew he meant her absolutely no harm. In fact, she had the distinct impression that he’d saved her life.

She just didn’t know how she knew that.

“How are you?” he asked.

Her eyes widened. That she knew for certain she understood. She nodded.

“You do speak English standard, then.”

She stared at him. The words made sense to her. She licked her lips, which felt dry. “I…think so.”

His brow arched in surprise. “You think so? Why did you not answer me the first time?”

She stared at him.

“Who are you?”

That was a harder one. She spoke the only word that immediately came to mind. Speaking it felt right. “Aaroncaphford.”

“Is that your name? You said it earlier.”

In her brain, a deep, dangerous blackness swirled. Inside the whirlpool thoughts streamed by, too fragile, too tenuous to grasp and pull into her mind. “I…don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“How did you get in the escape vessel?”

“The what?”

The man sat back and studied her. “I believe Terrans call them ‘lifepods.’ We found you in such a vehicle. It bore DSMC markings on it. You were alone inside.”

“What is the DSMC?”

“You do not know?”

She slowly shook her head.

He frowned. “What happened to your ship?”

“My ship?”

“Your ship.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. Was I on a ship?”

He frowned again and leaned forward, but she didn’t feel threatened. She felt confusion and frustration from him that mirrored her own.

“What do you remember?” he asked.

She struggled to make sense of the gaping, black void in her mind. Things she knew she should know, images that swirled out of her grasp once again before she could make sense of them. Tears prickled her eyes, stinging, and she blinked them away. “I don’t know.”

She felt a wave of compassion from the man. Was that normal? She still didn’t feel threatened. In fact, while she could remember being afraid, being scared before, now she felt safe. This man wouldn’t hurt her. He didn’t want to hurt her. Although she didn’t know how she knew this either, she sensed he’d taken a big risk to rescue her.

“You have no memory of how you came to be in the Terran lifepod?”

She shook her head and started to cry. “No. Where am I?”

“You are on the Beyant battle cruiser B’autachia. We are en route to final treaty talks and signings.”

When the door opened and another, older man walked in, she tried to pull herself together and stop crying. His appearance seemed very similar to the man she was already talking to, with only slight differences in height and build, although his uniform looked different.

The two men conversed in their language for a moment. The older man looked at her with pity and sadness on his face. Then he spoke to her, although she couldn’t understand him.

The first man spoke again. “This is my father, Ambassador Raoulx.” The way he said the name sounded like rux to her. “He said he wants me to tell you we will guarantee your safety and well-being. And, as soon as we are able, we will leave you at a safe space station where we can turn you over to DSMC authorities. Hopefully they can help you with your memory.”

A twinge of fear ran through her as she sat upright. “I can’t stay here?” Here felt safe, even though she didn’t know exactly where here was. And considering what little she could remember of her life up to this point seemed filled with fear, she didn’t want to give up this newfound safety.

The younger man translated her question for his father. The ambassador looked thoughtful for a moment before he smiled at her and replied in their language.

The younger man translated again. “He said depending on how the treaty talks go, you might have no other choice but to stay with us. But if you wish to stay, we will not make you leave, nor will we force you to stay should you wish to go.”

“Will I get my memory back?”

“I am not a doctor.”

“What is your name?”

“I am called Commander Raoulx, but because you are not military, you may call me Yanna.”

When he stood, she realized how tall he was, over a foot taller than his father. The two men spoke for a moment in their language before Yanna turned to her again. “We need to get you something to eat and drink now that your body temperature has stabilized. We have no idea how long you were in the lifepod, or when you last ate or drank. Our ship’s medical officer took samples from what we found in the lifepod, and of your blood. Our water is close enough in composition it should not harm you. We need to be careful with food, however.”

She slowly swung her feet over the bunk’s edge, but didn’t feel strong or steady enough to stand yet. “Why?”

He smiled. It looked friendly. Like…

The strange word with no meaning drifted through her mind again.

Aaroncaphford.

“We do not wish to harm you,” he said. “I know some of our foods are not tolerated well by Terran bodies.”

She tried to stand, but her legs felt weak and she wobbled. Yanna caught her, lifting her into his arms as if she weighed nothing. “Come. I shall take you to our medical officer. He is in our lab. You must eat something.”

The ambassador followed as Yanna carried her through the corridors of the ship. It looked totally unfamiliar, and yet it reminded her of something.

She couldn’t remember what. Did she live on a ship like this?

“We need to call you something,” Yanna said. She felt the affection in his voice. Was that something special she could do, or could everyone do it?

“What?”

“You need a name.”

“A name? Why?” It frustrated her that she felt she should know all of this, and at one time that she did.

“We simply cannot go around calling you ‘Terran woman we found in a lifepod.’ I am no expert in Terran culture, but I suspect that would not be right. Plus, it is too long a name to remember.”

He had a sense of humor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stared into his comforting dark eyes. She felt no fear of him, although the circumstances surrounding her arrival here in his arms terrified her for reasons she didn’t know and couldn’t fathom. “What should I be called?”

“What was that word you said before?”

She thought about it. “Aaroncaphford.” It was the only thing she was sure of, even though she had no idea what it meant. He nodded as they rounded another corner. How big was this ship?

“Do you know how to spell it?” he asked.

She shook her head.

“I will look up my English lessons and see if I can figure it out. I believe I have heard of a female Terran name, Erin. And Terrans tend to use a given name followed by a family name. Erin Cafford. That would make sense. Do you approve of it?”

She nodded. It sounded as good as any.

“Very well then. We shall call you Erin Cafford until you can regain your memories and tell us otherwise.”

They entered a lab. Yanna carefully set her on her feet, but sensing her weakness, kept an arm around her waist. “Erin Cafford, this is our medical officer, Pachya.” He spoke in his language to the medical officer.

To her, the medical officer looked very similar to the other two men, only he was shorter and even older than the ambassador, more portly. He talked to Yanna for a moment and pointed to a work bench and a stool.

Yanna helped her onto the stool. The medical officer set two carafes of liquid in front of her. One was clear. Water, she thought. The other looked very similar although it had a slightly cloudy tint. It looked like tea, although as she thought about it, she wasn’t sure exactly what tea was.

Pachya spoke to Yanna, who then translated. “The clear one is a sample he tried to synthesize based upon what was in your lifepod. The cloudy one is what we normally drink. Apparently, your water has far fewer minerals in it than ours. There are no harmful microbes or living organisms in it, however. Nothing that will harm you. So in that respect it should be safe. He said he does not believe drinking our water long-term will harm you, but if you cannot drink it, he will have to filter some for you on a daily basis.”

She nodded and took a sip of the clear liquid. It tasted a little stale, but okay. She tasted the cloudy liquid and while it had an odd, strange flavor, it wasn’t objectionable.

Nothing that worried her.

“I think it’s okay.”

Pachya and Yanna exchanged comments. “He says if you want, he will still filter some for you until your body gets used to it.”

“Thank you.”

Pachya brought a plate of food over and talked to Yanna. Yanna explained. “He said based on the samples of food you had, he is sure these will be safe to start with. Until he can run more tests, he wants you to limit yourself to these items.” Yanna pointed to the different foods. “Tay is similar to what Terrans call pasta. Patu is a plant protein similar to what I believe you call tofu. And this is a fruit preserve made from a fruit called hana that we use for many things, but you might find it similar to what you call apples.”

She cautiously tested each, her stomach growling as she realized how hungry she was. It felt like she hadn’t eaten in days. Her clothes felt loose on her, like she’d recently lost a lot of weight. She began heartily eating.

The doctor said something, and Yanna laid a hand over hers to stop her. “He said you may need to eat slowly. You look like you have been starving for a while. You might make yourself sick if you eat too much too quickly.”

After thinking about it, she nodded. He pulled his hand away. He was right, although she didn’t know why or how she knew that. She slowly tasted and chewed. All three foods, while not spectacular, were edible. After twenty minutes she felt a little full and then realized she had another issue.

“Do you have a…” She thought for a moment. There were two words juggling for importance in her mind, but she didn’t know which one to use. “A…bathroom? Or a head? I have to go.”

“Go?”

She closed her eyes and struggled to make the words fit together in order. “Eliminate waste. Use the bathroom.”

Yanna looked at her, puzzled, then at Pachya. They exchanged a few words and Yanna nodded with comprehension as his eyes widened. “A sanitary facility. Over here.” He took her to a door, opened it, led her inside, and explained how to use the facilities. He then left her alone inside, closing the door behind him when he left.

With relief she dropped her sweatpants and sat there for a few minutes relieving herself, studying their version of what she knew she called a sink. Strange writing covered small placards around the room, including labels she couldn’t begin to decipher.

Oh boy.

Other than the facilities themselves, nothing looked familiar.

After she used the toilet, she stood at the sink and stared into the mirror. Grey eyes, although sort of sunken and lined with dark circles at this point. Pale skin, especially when compared to the men she’d seen. Auburn hair, currently a stringy mess, that hung well past her shoulders.

Who am I?

She stared into the mirror. “Erin Cafford,” she whispered to herself.

It didn’t feel right, although the word itself did when she said it the only way she remembered.

“Aaroncaphford.”

That made her heart ache in a sad way she didn’t want to contemplate right that moment.

When she finished washing her hands she returned to the lab. She felt a lot better, stronger, although still exhausted. “What now?” she asked.

Yanna studied her. “We will give you crew uniforms to wear, some personal supplies, and I will take you back to your quarters. You probably wish to clean up.”

She nodded.

He smiled, and it comforted her deep within her soul. “Well then, Erin Cafford, let us get you settled.”

* * *

Erin felt strong enough to walk as she followed Yanna through the ship to gather the spare uniforms for her and supplies. He appointed a guard to stand watch outside her cabin and left him instructions to bring her to him when she was ready.

“My cabin,” Yanna said, “is right over there.” He pointed to a door across the hall and two down from hers. “But I must return to the bridge for my duties. Take as long as you need, or even nap if you must.”

“Thank you.” Alone inside the room, she thought she might want to take a nap, especially after Yanna had encouraged her to do so. But after taking a shower with real water—why that felt like a rare treat she didn’t understand—and donning the slightly oversized uniform, she wanted to be back with Yanna.

Safety.

Was someone missing her? Now that her initial fear had slipped away, she wondered if there was someone who loved her, someone who was looking for her.

Or if the reason she was in the lifepod meant they were dead. Was she truly alone? Why did the possibility of Yanna leaving her somewhere fill her with fear? Was she on the run? Was she a criminal?

The guard, Pabo, smiled when she emerged from her cabin. He was friendly. She felt that from him. Yanna had told her that Pabo was his personal guard.

Can everyone feel emotions?

“I’m ready to go,” she said.

He returned her smile, but shrugged, held up his hands, and shook his head.

She suspected that was a universal sign for, “I have no clue what you’re saying.”

Pabo turned and waved at her to follow him. He led her to the bridge where Yanna sat in the command chair and directed operations. He smiled when he spotted her.

“Erin. I have something for you to listen to.” He stood and led her to a private office just off the bridge, closing the door behind them for privacy. “You had a device in your pocket when we found you. It appears to be a voice recorder. I made a copy of the recording onto one of our…” He hesitated, searching for an equivalent word. “We use them for voice notes, reading, sensors—”

“A handheld?” The word burst like a bubble from the blackness of her memory.

His eyes widened as he nodded. “That sounds like a very good word to use.” He handed her the small device and showed her how to use it.

The male voice spoke English standard. “The grav plate systems mess with your empathic senses, babe, that’s all. Combined with the jump drive…”

She closed her eyes and listened, her heart feeling like it would explode. She loved this man, whoever he was.

He said, “I’m heading to the bridge for the jump.” The sound of a kiss. “Love you, babe.”

“Love you, too, Ford.” Her own voice.

“See you on the bridge in a few.”

“Okay.”

Aaroncaphford.

She swayed on her feet and had to reach out to steady herself against the desk. The recording stopped. Yanna handed her another device. This one felt right in her hand and struck a familiar tone deep within the inky miasma of her memory.

“That is what you had with you,” Yanna explained. “I felt you should have it, but you can play the recording back on our device so the…” Another search for the word. “The batteries in your device, the power source, it is not compatible with our systems. I did not wish to ruin it trying to charge it.”

“Thank you.” She felt tears rolling down her cheeks.

He looked concerned. A matching wave of emotion flowed from him to her. “Are you all right, Erin Cafford?”

On her left hand she wore two rings. She touched them. “Was that my husband’s voice?” she whispered.

Concern shifted to sorrow on her behalf. “I do not know, lost one. All I know is what you heard. Did you remember anything?”

“Aaroncaphford.”

He slowly nodded. “In the recording, I believe the woman speaking is you. And you called the man ‘Ford.’”

She finally looked at him. “That would make sense, wouldn’t it?”

He nodded as he slid his tall body behind his desk. “Our race is currently in negotiations to sign treaties to be recognized by other treaty races. While we have never been hostile, we still must follow the ISTC protocols. We do not have communication privileges, except to declare emergencies with our ship, while in this territory. We are under orders to proceed to our initial rendezvous point at a space station, where we will pick up a diplomatic escort to take us to Mars.”

Mars! It felt like her heart raced a little, in pleasant anticipation, perhaps, at that.

He studied her reaction. “Is that familiar?”

Erin, as she was already thinking of herself, struggled to remember. “I…think so.”

“Then perhaps it is best you remain with us until then. As I said, we had originally thought to leave you at our first stop—”

“I’d rather stay here.”

He sat back and studied her. “Why?”

She had no reason to say anything but the truth. She shrugged. “Because I feel safe here.”

Chapter Sixteen

If this were play’d upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.

—William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night

On board the Tamora Bight, nine days passed like nine torturous centuries. The men barely spoke to each other outside of necessary command functions to keep the ship running. They withdrew from each other, all of them feeling guilty and grief-stricken.

Caph refused to let go of Bucky, keeping it with him at all times.

As soon as they emerged from their jump, they sent an emergency message to the DSMC and ISNC. Without waiting for a reply they turned around and immediately set a return jump to their point of origin. When they reached it, they received a message from the DSMC that backup and search assistance was en route, including the Kendall Kant and Braynow Gaston.

Their scanners showed nothing. Based on the trajectory of the aft pod, Ford plotted out the most likely search area and they started scanning for her, for anything. Any sign.

Three days after their return, they received notice from the ISNC that the data buoy signal had been retrieved. The men huddled around the command station, listening as they played the audio and log recordings.

All three cried.

A week later, the K-2 found the pod.

Empty.

Caph shook his head as he listened to the message they received from Rob, tears streaming down his cheeks and Bucky tightly clenched in his fist.

Ford, however, felt encouraged. “Guys, that means she’s not dead!”

Aaron’s brown eyes looked dead, lifeless. “No. It means she wasn’t inside the pod when it was found. It doesn’t mean she’s alive. Rob said they didn’t even find supplies.”

He stood to leave the bridge.

“Aar, goddammit, can’t you think positively?” Ford desperately screamed.

Aaron turned. In a quiet voice he said, “This sector is notorious for raiders, Ford. She didn’t stand a chance.” He nodded toward Caph. “Quit getting his hopes up when you know the truth. She’s gone. And it’s all our fault for not protecting her.”

He walked off the bridge.

Caph sobbed. Ford hugged him, comforting him as the large man sank to his knees and cried.

“She’s not dead, big guy,” Ford insisted with his arms tightly wrapped around his lover. “Aaron’s wrong. I feel it. If raiders got her, they would have kept and stripped the pod, not turned it loose. Or left a ransom note. She’s a DSMC fleet officer. They wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to ransom her, or at the very least pretend she’s alive and leave a note. She’s not dead!”

It didn’t comfort him. Ford stroked Caph’s hair, rocking him as the force of Caph’s grief overwhelmed him, too.

* * *

Donna sat in the K-2’s cargo bay and stared at the empty lifepod. When Rob tried to get her to come back up to their quarters, she angrily slapped his hand away.

He knelt next to her. “Hon, there’s nothing you can do but torture yourself sitting here.”

“Maybe I’ll feel something.”

“You’re not a trained empath.”

She turned and sent him a “fuck you” look.

“We went over every inch of it.” His voice softened. “We found nothing.”

She clenched and unclenched her fists to keep from slugging him. “That’s right. Nothing. No blood, no signs of a struggle, no signs of her being injured or killed. Do you think Emi would go without a fight?”

She refused to give voice to the common sense answer, that perhaps Emi had died before someone else found the pod.

“Raiders would have kept the pod,” she rationalized. “Or scavenged it. Or tried to ransom her.” She returned her gaze to the pod. “I’ll come up when I’m ready to come up and not a second earlier, Captain.”

He held up his hands in supplication. “Okay, babe. You win. Just remember, me and the guys, we love you and we only want to help you. To be there for you when you decide to let us back in.” He stood and left the cargo bay.

She jumped when she heard the door slam.

Wiping at the tears now streaming down her face, she stared at the pod.

We’ll find you, Emi. I promise. I know you’re not dead.

* * *

With the help of Yanna, Pachya, and Pabo, Erin soon found herself learning the Beyant language. Idioms were hardest for her to grasp, but at least by the end of her first week she could navigate her way through the ship without getting lost and could ask for basic directions. She started learning the names of the crewmen, who all acted helpful and friendly. The ambassador took special interest in her and also helped with her language studies.

By the second week, she and Pachya discovered she had a knack for science and experimentation. With Yanna carefully translating, Erin was able to help Pachya test and discover not only more safe foods, but identify ones potentially harmful to her.

“Perhaps you are a scientist?” Yanna helpfully suggested.

“I don’t know.” She thought about it. “That sort of feels right, but not quite.” She played with the rings on her hands. She’d cut her hair short, to just above her shoulders, when the water made it frizzy and weird and she realized it was starting to change color at the roots. Most likely an effect of the Beyant water, but she would feel better when it was all a similar blond color as her shipmates’ hair. She would feel even more at home then, like she belonged.

Like they were family.

By the third week, Erin was speaking a sometimes hysterically funny jumble the men had dubbed “Erant.” A mix of English and Beyant, she fluidly slipped back and forth between languages as she talked and didn’t know a word in her new language. She was the only female on board. While she suspected in some cultures this might be a bad thing, she felt one common emotion from the nearly one hundred men—they felt responsible for and protective of her, like a sibling or a child. Every male greeted her with friendly affection that sometimes threatened to overwhelm her in a good way.

They had welcomed her as one of their own.

It wasn’t until her fifth week on the B’autachia, as she learned the ship was called, that she found out why. “My sister used to serve with us,” Yanna explained over dinner one evening. He could now speak mostly in Beyant to her. Erin found it helpful to be immersed in their language at this point. If she didn’t understand something, she asked him to repeat it. For the most part, she comprehended. “She was a healer,” he said.

“A doctor?”

“Not exactly. Pachya, he can heal a body or run tests to find out what is wrong physically. A healer, in our culture, they work on the why, not the how.”

She tried to feel his emotions for clarification. She’d learned from the men it wasn’t a common ability, but a highly respected one. “A…psychologist?”

He frowned, not understanding her English word. She reformed the question in Beyant. “A healer focuses on the mind and emotions instead of the body?”

He smiled. “Aha! That’s exactly it. They can also heal bodies, but they do more than that.” A brief wave of sadness trickled from him. “You remind us all very much of her.”

“What happened to her?”

He frowned. The dark expression didn’t fill her with fear, but grief tinged with anger. “She was killed in an unprovoked attack by raiders. She had long wanted our people to sign the treaties, but we had always held back, afraid to get pulled into other planets’ conflicts that were not our concern. Her legacy is that we fulfill her wish to sign the treaties and join the Interstellar Treaty Coalition and become stronger so no one else hopefully dies by these lawless animals.”

Raiders.

Erin felt a twinge of fear of her own. He set down his utensils. “What is it, Erin?”

She shook her head. “I thought I was remembering something.” It fully slipped away the more she tried to focus on it. Erin finally looked up at him and smiled. “So I’m a little sister, huh?”

He returned her smile. “A very cherished one.”

* * *

Two months after her arrival, Erin rarely needed to speak English standard anymore other than the lessons she gave to the crew. She worked side by side in the labs with Pachya, learning Beyant physiology and teaching him what she could remember about hers. They had discovered a tiny electronic chip in the back of her neck, just under the skin, near her hairline. With her permission, Pachya gently removed and preserved it for closer study. She felt she should know why it was there and what it was for, but as with nearly everything else in her past, she couldn’t remember.

She couldn’t recall any useful information like that, although the periodic table of elements popped into her head one day while they were testing more food for her.

Her hair had completely grown out in the new color, a darker shade of blond than the men, almost honey-colored, but much lighter than it had been when she arrived. She kept it cut short enough it wasn’t in her way, but not so short it looked strange to her in the mirror. Yanna, Pabo, and Pachya approved when she did it, telling her it looked good.

They would reach their rendezvous point in three more months. While part of her looked forward to the event, part of her felt nervous and scared. She listened to the recording every night before she went to sleep. The mysterious Ford’s voice soothed her.

Is he my husband? She had dreamed several times of three men, handsome men her heart seemed to ache for. One very large, almost as tall as Yanna, with shaggy blond hair and playful green eyes. One shorter, slimmer, with dark hair and blue eyes. The third, in the middle height-wise, with brown hair and sad, brown eyes.

One thought always accompanied those dreams. Aaroncaphford.

She wished she could figure out what that meant. Was one of those three men the Ford in the recording? Were any of them? Was he, or they, alive or dead?

Did the fact that she called the man Ford in the recording match with the mysterious Aaroncaphford word?

Nearly three months after her arrival, she caught herself thinking in the Beyant language. She had finally mastered their alphabet and while not totally fluent in the written form, she could now read and write well enough in it to help with status reports.

That was when her sense of safety shattered.

An alarm sounded while she was on the bridge with Yanna. Yanna, the ambassador, who was a retired ship commander, and several guards raced through the ship to the engine room. Erin followed. In the tangle of orders and information exchanges, she realized an electronic relay had overheated and short-circuited, causing a flash fire that burned two crewmen. Before they could shut down the electrical panel, a small explosion rocked the room, sending a computer section tumbling onto the ambassador.

He screamed with pain. Erin ran to his side. His leg was trapped, but a jagged piece of metal had sliced through his thigh and into a vital artery.

“Move this! Now!” she screamed at the men as she pressed her hand to the wound. They freed him, and she kept her hand on his leg, trying to staunch the bleeding as they carried him to the sick bay.

Erin felt something instinctive kick in. She barked orders to the men without hesitation, ordering implements, supplies, and other needed items as she had Pabo rip the ambassador’s trouser leg open. Pachya gave him anesthesia while she immediately started repairing the wound. It wasn’t until an hour or so later, after she’d completed the emergency surgery and while she sat in a chair next to the bunk and watched the ambassador’s vital signs, that she realized the other Beyant men stared at her in awe.

“What?” she asked, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious.

Despite her being covered in his father’s blood, Yanna grabbed her from the chair and nearly crushed her against his chest. His immense feelings of gratitude threatened to overwhelm her. “You saved him!”

“I’m a doctor. That’s my job.”

She froze as she realized what she’d said. He looked down at her, a grin on his face. “And now you remember!” He laughed. “Doctor Erin, the medical healer.”

Amazed, she realized she did remember, but not how she got those skills. “I knew what to do. It felt instinctive. I don’t remember anything else, though.”

He whirled her around before crushing her to his chest again. “You were amazing, a’tein!” A’tein was, she’d learned, the affectionate Beyant term for sister. Yanna had started calling her that a few weeks earlier.

“How are the others?” she mumbled against his chest.

He finally set her back on her feet.

Pachya nodded at her. “Minor injuries. They will recover.” He studied the ambassador’s leg. “I doubt I could have done a better job. That was very skilled and extremely impressive. Will you please teach me how you repaired the nerves?”

She nodded. “I’ll try.” She looked down at the front of her shirt, which was stained dark rust by dried blood.

“Go,” Yanna told her. “Clean up. We will wait here.”

She returned to her cabin and stripped off the soiled uniform. After a quick shower, she dressed and returned to sick bay. The ambassador was already sitting up and talking.

Despite his pain, he broadly smiled when she entered. “There she is! My little cay’tein!”

She looked at Yanna, wanting help with the unfamiliar Beyant word. He grinned. “Daughter,” he said in English standard.

It wasn’t just a term of endearment. The ambassador officially adopted her, making her part of the ruling family, meaning she had diplomatic privileges and immunity. It would also smooth the way if any potential complaints arose from them having her with them for so long.

But who was she kidding? The dreams of the three handsome, mysterious men had mostly stopped, even if the ache in her heart and soul had yet to ease. She hadn’t listened to the recording in weeks, the pain of longing for the strange voice of the man named Ford now too much for her soul to bear.

Until she could find out who she had been, who they were, and if they were even alive, she decided to be content with who she currently was.

Erin Cafford Raoulx, the Beyant ambassador’s daughter, and the commander’s sister. Healer.

Doctor.

Not a bad thing to be, she decided.

Not bad at all.

Chapter Seventeen

All days are nights to see till I see thee,

And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.

—William Shakespeare, Sonnet 43

Ford sat up as a message icon blinked on the command console. Aaron hadn’t been to the bridge in days. He was holed up in the hydroponics lab. Caph could barely function and would spend hours sitting on the bridge with Bucky in his hand as he stared at the vid screen. Ford had taken to slipping antidepressants into Caph’s morning juice to keep him vertical and out of bed.

Ford couldn’t remember the last time either of the other two men spoke.

Ford, however, refused to let go of his hope that they would find her one day. That she would come back to them.

But he had quit speaking of it. It angered Aaron and saddened Caph, both of whom wanted to sink into their grief and guilt.

Still, he wouldn’t accept it. Not when he felt in his soul she was alive.

He opened the message. They were to proceed to the Robards Alpha space station for supplies and a debriefing. A DSMC psychologist would meet them there to evaluate them so Graymard could decide if they would be pulled from duty or not.

Aaron originally swore he would refuse to relinquish their ship, wanting to keep searching for Emi, but Ford knew the new truth—Aaron might not have the heart to stay. The Tamora Bight was full of memories, everywhere they turned, of Emi. Ford was the only one who could set foot in the sick bay. Caph refused to go to the hydro lab, where she’d spent a lot of time working and enjoying the plants.

Ford couldn’t look at the Java Max Excel 10k coffeemaker without wanting to cry when he made his coffee every morning. Several mornings he had caught himself before he fixed Emi’s cup first, like he used to do.

Ford confirmed receipt of the message and signed Aaron’s command code. Aaron had, in every way but officially, turned over his captaincy to Ford. Caph had already changed the log to appoint Ford the first officer and himself the mate.

How did he keep the two men going?

At least when Kels had died, they had a focus, Caph and him, to keep Aaron alive and heal his body and mind. Without that, they were all adrift.

The station was too close to make a jump practical. Ford set course. It would take them nearly two months to get there.

He didn’t bother to tell Aaron about it. He’d find out eventually.

* * *

Ford sat in the command chair while Caph manned the nav console. “Robards Alpha Dockmaster, this is DSMC Vessel Tamora Bight. Where you want us?”

“Welcome back, Captain. We’re putting you in berth A-12 because you’re a full heavy and it’s the only berth I’ve got available right now that’s big enough to hold you. Congrats, you get the VIP quarters.”

Ford didn’t bother correcting the dockmaster’s use of “captain.” “Say again?”

“We have to put you next to the Beyant emissary vessel, B’autachia. They’re a battle cruiser. Be prepared for a pretty significant security presence in the station, but they’ll be gone in a few hours. They’re heading for Mars after they pick up a diplomatic escort convoy and some supplies. Our newest treaty race. Well, they will be once they get to Mars and sign on the line.”

“Roger that. Locking on nav beacon now.”

Ford sat back and let the auto systems take over. Caph passively watched the vid screen and said nothing.

In his hand he held Bucky.

Caph hadn’t said anything in the past week. Ford had consulted with the computer references and tinkered with his med doses, wanting him fully functional for their talk with the shrink, but he thought he might have to bump the dosage up even more after today.

Caph was a large man with an even larger well of grief.

Aaron had taken to sleeping in the hydro lab. They hadn’t seen their other lover in nearly two weeks. Ford only knew he was okay because he checked him with the scanners several times a day, tracking him through his chip. Aaron timed his galley visits for when they were on the bridge, and left messages for them for when he would take watches. He always waited until they left the bridge, and he departed the bridge before the next man went on duty. Baskets of fresh fruit and vegetables would appear on the galley counter once or twice a day.

Ford wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation he knew was coming.

An hour later they were docked, and their umbilicals and main and cargo gangways had been connected and secured.

“Feel free to debark when you want,” the dockmaster said, “but you will find a guard when you come out. He’ll escort you to the office here so you can get special security access passes.”

“Roger. Tamora Bight out.”

Ford took a deep breath and headed for the hydro lab. When he entered, he found Aaron sitting on a mattress in the back of the room. He was staring at the ceiling, which was barely visible now for all of the vines growing up trellising wires that crisscrossed the room.

He’d set the window sims to show Bozeman, Montana. Emi’s favorite setting.

Ford sat on the floor in front of him and waited for Aaron to finally look at him.

“What?” Aaron softly asked.

“We’re here, Cap.”

“Where?”

“Robards Alpha station. Talk with the head shrinker. You need to get your head on straight, or we’ll end up losing the TB and getting a one-way return ticket to Earth.”

Aaron’s eyes swiveled back to the ceiling. “Em loved it here.”

Ford knew now was not the time to have an in-depth discussion with him. “If you want to keep it, for her, I need your help. I’ve got to get the big guy talking again. I’ve already got him dosed up enough to make an asteroid sing and dance, but it’s not working. I can’t do this without you. You’ve got to pull your weight, Aar. I need you. Caph needs you.”

Aaron slowly nodded. “I’ll be up in a while.”

He’d also said that three weeks earlier, the last time Ford had tried to coax him up from the hydro lab.

This time, Ford was pleasantly surprised when Aaron showed up on the bridge fifteen minutes later. His eyes looked red, like he’d been crying. He walked over to Caph and laid a hand on his shoulder. “How you doing, buddy?”

Caph stared out the front vid screens and shook his head. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

Aaron knelt next to him. Ford knew it was an award-winning act Aaron put on for their lover. “Hey, Caph,” he gently said, “I need you. Motormouth has been pulling our share of the weight. But as bad as this is, I don’t want to get stuck on a rock. We can’t do anything for her stuck back on Earth. We can’t let Ford down, okay?”

Caph nodded. Aaron hugged him as Caph cried against his shoulder. “I miss her so much, Aar. I dream about her every night. I wake up thinking about her.”

Ford forced himself not to join their group hug. He stood back and watched, his own tears flowing.

“I know, buddy,” Aaron soothed. “Me, too. I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you. I’m here now, I promise.”

“Can we…can we get her a place by Kels? On Mars? I mean…” He sobbed. “I know she’s not there but it’s something.”

Ford spotted Aaron’s tears as he stroked the large man’s hair. “Yeah, of course we can. Absolutely. Whatever you want, big guy.”

Caph’s anguished cries ripped Ford’s heart. He sensed his two lovers needed this together, would never heal if it was simply him trying to bring them back together.

Eventually, Aaron looked at Ford and held out a hand to him. Ford took that as his cue to join them.

Aaron kissed him. “I’m sorry, man,” Aaron whispered. “I’m sorry I checked out. What would we do without you taking care of us?”

Ford closed his eyes. Maybe now they could heal together. It would always hurt, and Ford would never give up hope, but maybe a tentative healing was possible. “I love you guys. I can’t not take care of you.”

They all debarked, received their passes, and went to their appointment with the shrink. After three hours, he deemed them duty-worthy and released them. Graymard had left word to allow them another two months of search time, if they wanted to take it, before their next assignment. Or if they wanted R&R, they could spend it at the resort.

To accomplish that feat, the three men had lied through their teeth and told the shrink what Ford had prompted them to say, the key points he knew the shrink would look for to determine emotional fitness, but it worked.

Aaron and Caph returned to the Tamora Bight, while Ford wanted to explore. The station was a distraction. He needed to look at something besides the same walls.

He really needed a fucking drink.

* * *

Erin nervously clung to Yanna’s side as they were led through the space station. Things looked familiar in shops. She could read many of the signs in standard, but nothing jogged her memory even though it felt like she’d been there before.

They met with the representatives from the Interstellar Treaty Coalition in the station commander’s office. Despite the growing feeling she’d definitely been there in that office before, Erin ignored her increasing discomfort while she and Yanna translated for the ambassador. She noted the confused stares of the men on the coalition committee, as well as the station’s commander, and felt their overwhelming curiosity over her appearance.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” she finally asked. Only one of the ISTC representatives, the one from Earth, was Terran, although they all spoke excellent English standard.

The Earth representative spoke. “You’re…not Beyant. Are you?”

Her skin had darkened a little due to the minerals in their water, but was nowhere near the orange tint of the men. “No, I’m not.”

“Terran?”

Yanna spoke up. “But she is my sister. Adopted. She is part of the official diplomatic party, as defined by treaty protocols.”

“And your name?” the Earth ambassador asked her.

“I am Erin Cafford Raoulx. Ambassador Raoulx’s daughter. Why?”

Commander Dobros, who ran the station, shook his head. “You look vaguely familiar.”

He, however, didn’t personally ring any bells in her memory despite her feelings about the office itself.

She had asked her new “family” not to mention how she’d come to be with them, and they respected her wishes. Erin wanted nothing to interfere with the Beyant treaty process. She feared the revelation of how she’d joined them would at the very least be a distraction. At the worst, it could potentially derail the process, regardless of how good their intentions had been.

Especially if it turned out she’d been on the run, an interstellar criminal. She suspected she’d been running from something. That was one of the few things that felt certain in the nebulous dark region of her mind that refused to give up its secrets.

And the uneasy feeling that filled her from being in the station commander’s office only reinforced that.

She wanted to wait until they reached Mars to reveal the truth to Terran authorities and research her past. Then she would be protected no matter what she discovered.

The trip to Mars would take four months Earth time, and in her heart it felt like a safe place to go. Perhaps even a familiar place. She couldn’t explain why it seemed that way to her, but she didn’t want to be separated from her new family in space. Surely she could stay missing a little longer.

These men had taken a huge risk saving her life. She wanted to pay them back by helping them sign the treaty and join the ISTC.

She remembered all too well the nasty taste of fear in her mouth when she first awoke on board the B’autachia. She had felt no fear since, except when trying to coax meaning from her hazy early memories. And when racing to save the ambassador’s life.

She felt safe with the Beyants.

She felt like she was home.

She felt like she had a family.

She wasn’t willing to trade her safety and the love of these men for anything. Not even for the disembodied voice of the man called Ford that she couldn’t bear to listen to anymore because it hurt too much to miss someone whose face she couldn’t even recall.

She still wore her rings. She’d confirmed it meant she had likely been married. Who knew if her husband was even alive?

These men needed her. Her fluency in Beyant and in English standard meant their final negotiations would go much faster and easier and with far less risk of misunderstandings or delays.

The ambassador returned to the ship while Yanna wanted Erin to have a chance to see the station in the hopes it might help jog her memory. On their way through the station, she smelled something, stopped, and grabbed Yanna’s arm. “Yanna, wait.”

Everyone stopped. “What, a’tein?” he asked.

She deeply inhaled, a word magically coming to mind. “Cheeseburgers!”

He laughed, obviously amused. “What?”

Their Terran security escorts watched as she excitedly discussed the restaurant in Beyant with Yanna. Then he turned to the guards. “She wants to eat. There. Is that permissible?”

The men quickly conferred with their commander, who said as long as the Beyants didn’t interact directly with anyone but their guards, they would allow it. They had already set up an expense account funded by Beyant money and converted to coalition currency.

Erin clung to Yanna’s arm as she read the menu, her eyes wide with excitement. She realized she recognized all the offerings. She spoke to the security officer in charge. “A cheeseburger, rare, with cheese and mayo and ketchup. And french fries! Oh, and a salad! And a vanilla shake and water!” She laughed. “Oh my gods, I can’t believe it. I know these things!”

The security officers didn’t try to make sense of her joy. They simply ordered for her. She knew a few of the things were safe for Yanna and let him taste those while she savored her meal.

Yanna sat across the table from her while the security force stood around, keeping a perimeter around the Beyants. The Beyants watched her eat, amused by her joy.

“If you enjoy these things, a’tein, I will never begrudge you having them,” Yanna said.

She chewed and swallowed a french fry. “You don’t like it?”

He shrugged. “It is all right. It is not what I am used to.” He thought for a moment, then turned to the security officers. “Can you add items our cargo list?”

“Sure.” He pulled out a handheld to make notes.

“Can you arrange to get us a variety of Terran food for her? I am sure she would love that.”

Erin was too busy slowly chewing her cheeseburger to pay much attention.

“Yeah. We can do that. That shouldn’t be a problem. How much and what?”

Yanna pointed to Erin. “Whatever common Terran foods someone might enjoy, enough to well supply her for our journey to Mars and then some. And a portable Terran water filtration system, if possible.”

“You got it.” He tapped notes into his handheld. A moment later, he nodded. “Confirmed. They’re compiling an order for you now. Do you want to approve it before it’s finalized?”

“No, that is not necessary. Thank you for your assistance.” Yanna smiled at Erin. “It is good?” he asked her.

She sighed, happy and quickly growing full. “It’s very good.”

* * *

Ford found a bar and quickly drowned his sorrows. He kept enough senses about him not to get so drunk he couldn’t get himself back to the Bight alone.

On his return stumble to the hangars, he encountered a crowd in one of the shopping and dining districts. He asked one of the men standing on the outskirts what was going on.

“Beyants. Apparently one of their gang loves Earth food. They’ve taken over a restaurant. Security’s keeping a cordon around them since they’re pre-treaty. They’re almost done.”

Ford edged around the crowd, trying to get past, not caring about the stupid political bullshit. As he moved by the last guard, he thought he caught the sound of a woman’s voice.

His heart nearly seized in his chest.

Emi.

As he listened, he realized it couldn’t be her. The voice wasn’t speaking English. He didn’t know what she was saying. While the sound crushed his soul, he knew it couldn’t be her.

However, he still found himself unable to resist seeing who she was. He turned and watched the Beyant party, surrounded by both Beyant guards and station security forces, leave the restaurant. A tall Beyant man walked in the middle if the group, his head bent as if listening to someone much shorter walking with him on his far side.

The woman’s voice grew louder, clearer.

“Emi.” He realized he’d spoken out loud. It had to be her.

He spotted the woman, finally, but…

Part of him wanted to dive into the group and get a better look. Same height, but her hair was a different color and shorter, her skin tone different.

But she even gestured the same way Emi did as she talked. The Beyant man smiled and hooked an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him and laughing as he did. She was Emi’s height and build, although looking far thinner and more gaunt around the face.

As if Emi had lost a lot of weight. Maybe from time spent starving in a lifepod?

Stupidity won out. Ford took a step toward the group, but a station security guard stopped him. “No way, buddy. Diplomatic party. No contact with them until they get their treaty signed.”

“I’ve got to talk to her!”

“To who?”

“That woman!”

The guard looked at the departing group. “Her?”

“Yeah! That’s my wife, I know it! She’s been missing over five months!”

The guard snorted with amusement as he got a whiff of Ford’s breath. “Go sober up, buddy. That’s Erin Cafford Raoulx, the Beyant ambassador’s daughter.”

The guards let people through after the diplomatic group had left the area via the VIP high-security lifts. Ford raced to the hangars and got there in time to watch as the group disappeared into the Beyant vessel.

Before they did, he heard the woman laugh.

Emi. He’d swear it.

His security pass allowed him to freely move about the docking area. He had to get into the Beyant ship, find her, talk to her.

And he didn’t have time to get Caph and Aaron.

He spotted one of the dockhands, one he’d met before during their last stay at the station, bringing a large cargo palette into the docking area. Ford tried to look nonchalant as he walked over.

“Is that for us, Max?”

“Naw, this is for the Beyant vessel. Weird last-minute order of Terran food and supplies.”

“Here, let me help you.”

“Thanks, Ford. I appreciate it.” Ford, walking on Max’s far side, helped him navigate the large palette up to the cargo gangway. The security guard glanced at Max’s pass, didn’t look closely at Ford’s, and waved them in.

The Beyant cargo bay was deserted. Desperate, Ford looked around as he helped Max move the palette over to a glowing position beacon next to several other cargo stacks. “Is this the only one?” Ford asked.

Max glanced at his holo tag. “Two more besides this one.”

“Hey, look. Why don’t I grab one while you get the other? Get it done faster.” He forced a laugh. “Means you can get us loaded more quickly.”

Max smiled. “I wondered what was up. You in a hurry to blow this pop stand?”

“Yeah, you might say that.”

“Okay. I’ll get this one secured if you want to go grab the next one for me.” He handed Ford a holo tag key for the palette. “That one.”

On his way out of the cargo bay, Ford made sure his pass was lying backward against his shirt. He held up the holo tag key to show the guard as he walked out. “Gotta get another one.”

The guard nodded, unconcerned.

Ford quickly found the palette, passing Max on the way back to the ship. “I’ll go dump this one for you and then I need to get back to the Bight. I’ve gotta use the head really bad.”

“No problem. Thanks for the help, man. I appreciate it.”

Ford swallowed back his nerves. “No problem.”

The guard was busy talking with another guard and didn’t even look as Ford walked past him and into the cargo hold. Inside the cargo hold, Ford quickly positioned the palette, then ran for the far side of the cargo bay, near what he assumed was a bulkhead door leading to the rest of the ship. He tried it and found it open. No crew in sight, he spied a small hatch nearby in the interior hallway and found a storage locker. After confirming he wouldn’t get locked in, he crawled inside and buried himself behind a pile of what he guessed were spare air scrubber filters.

Then he turned off his personal com link and waited.

* * *

Aaron stared at the command console. Ford had been gone over four hours. This wasn’t like him.

He looked up as movement on the vid screen display caught his eye. The Beyant ship had been released from dock and was pulling out.

After briefly checking the ship’s scanners to make sure Ford wasn’t on board, Aaron paged Ford’s personal com link. “Aaron to Ford, over.”

Silence.

After a minute, he tried again. “Ford, this is Aaron. Where the hell are you? Over.”

Ten minutes later, and still no reply. Aaron paged the dockmaster’s office. “This is the Tamora Bight. Is my first officer there? Ford Caliban?”

“Sorry, Captain. Haven’t seen him.” Aaron heard muttering in the background. “Oh, wait, sorry. Max did see him. He said Ford helped him load a couple of palettes onto the Beyant ship, then said he was returning to the Bight.”

“Thanks.” He activated the ship’s scanners again. Still no Ford. Caph was taking a nap in their quarters, his exhaustion, grief, and copious amounts of antidepressants catching up with him.

Aaron didn’t want to do it, but he paged the station’s security office via video com. “This is Captain Aaron Lucio from the Tamora Bight. Do you have one of my guys there? Maybe sleeping one off?” Wouldn’t be the first time MPs had brought Ford or Caph back.

“No, Captain. Sorry. Why, you missing someone?”

Aaron didn’t want to admit it, but he’d run out of options. “Yeah, my first officer’s missing. It’s not like him to lose contact like this.”

“What’s his name?”

“Ford Caliban.”

“Hold on a minute.” The security officer looked something up. “I have record of his pass going out to C level, staying there for a while at one of the bars, then returning to the hangar over two hours ago.”

What the fuck? “Two hours ago?”

“Yeah.” The officer’s expression turned serious on the video com. “You’d better patch me in to your personnel chip array system.”

Aaron did, allowing the security officer emergency access to the frequencies on their chips. “I’m seeing you and a Caphis Bates on board your vessel. No Ford Caliban on your vessel. But…” The security officer frowned. “Who’s this other one?” he asked.

“What other one?”

“This other chip. Dr. Emilia Hypatia. We only issued you three security passes. Why wasn’t she listed on your crew roster?”

Aaron swallowed back a dangerous lump that threatened to choke him. “She is…was our wife and med officer.”

“Captain, that’s a serious security breach. You’re required to have all ship’s personnel registered with the dockmaster’s office. Regardless, she’s with Caliban. Well, they’re on the same vessel, anyway.”

Aaron couldn’t suck in air. “What?”

“Yeah.”

“Impossible.”

“Not according to my sensors. And…wait. Ford Caliban and Dr. Hypatia are no longer on the station. I’m catching a faint blip of his and Dr. Hypatia’s chips. Damn. They just left range.”

Aaron forced breath into his lungs. “What? That can’t be. She’s been gone for months.” He felt pain in his hand and looked down to see his fingers digging into the arms of the command chair. He let go and flexed his fingers.

On the video screen, Aaron watched the security officer shake his head. “I’m showing Dr. Hypatia was in the station for several hours. She got here before you did, according to our security records. Never left the ship. She stayed on board the whole time, but departed when Ford Caliban did. Same vessel.”

Aaron’s composure fractured. Control escaped him. “She’s dead!” he screamed. “We lost her five months ago! What kind of sick fucking joke is this?”

“Calm down, Captain. She can’t be dead. The chip was active, although now that I’m looking at the readings, it looks like it might have been removed from her. But no doubt about it, it’s her chip.”

“Where. Is. Ford?” he demanded through clenched teeth.

The security officer checked his screen. “Looks like…oh fuck. Only one vessel it could be.”

“What?”

“Well, based on Dr. Hypatia’s time of arrival and on how they both left range together, they must be on the B’autachia.”

* * *

Caph, roused from sleep by Aaron screaming at him over the ship’s intercom, came pounding onto the bridge. “What the fuck? What’s wrong?”

“Prepare to leave. Now.” Aaron punched the com link to the dockmaster’s office. “This is the Tamora Bight. We need to depart now. Emergency.”

“Whoa, Captain. Cool your jets. You’re not scheduled to go for another hour.”

“Do not argue with me, dammit. We have to leave. Now. I don’t have time to explain.”

“Sure, calm down. We’ll get you unhooked. I’ll dispatch a crew. Give us fifteen and give the ’tude a chill, why doncha?”

Caph slid into his chair, set Bucky on the console in front of him, and started going over his assigned preflight checklists. “Where’s Ford?”

Aaron didn’t answer him as he overrode Ford’s terminal and frantically punched commands into the ship’s computer in preparation to depart.

Caph turned to him. “Aaron, did you hear me? Where the fuck is Ford?”

How do I tell him? That apparently Ford ran off on some sort of wild chase? It couldn’t be a coincidence that Emi’s chip was sensed on the same ship Ford left on. He couldn’t tell Caph that, not when the big guy was finally showing signs of coming out of his grief. “I think he cracked under pressure, got drunk off his ass, and found his way onto the wrong ship. We have to go after him.”

“Oh, fuck. What ship?”

“The Beyant battle cruiser.”

Caph stared at him for a moment, jaw gaping. “Holy fuck.”

Aaron and Caph quickly got under way. It took them two hours to catch up to the convoy’s trailing security vessel. “Pan, pan, pan. Emergency hail. This is Captain Aaron Lucio of the DSMC Vessel Tamora Bight to the rear ship in the Beyant escort security crew.”

A few seconds later, a man responded. “Tamora Bight, this is Commander Jared Logans, ISNC Vessel Praunglia. What can we do for you, Captain Lucio?”

“I’ve got a missing crewman who apparently found his way onto that Beyant battle cruiser. I need to get him back ASAP.”

Aaron heard a flurry of garbled talk before the commander returned to the com link. “Um, sorry, no can do, Captain. I doubt that happened, but even if it did, they’re untouchable until we get to Mars.”

“It did happen, because the station security office tracked his chip. And what do you mean they’re untouchable until Mars? I’ve got to get my man back.”

The other man’s voice grew hard. “They are not officially a treaty race yet. To prevent any misunderstandings they are required to maintain radio silence and be in a no-contact status, unless they have an emergency on their vessel requiring them to ask for assistance. Meaning only in the case they need to abandon ship. Likewise, we are not allowed to contact them for anything other than official communiqués. If you’ve got a runaway crewman, he’s stuck there until Mars. All we are allowed to do is transmit navigational info, coordinates, and docking info to them via official and secured channels.”

Aaron felt a tension headache threatening. A dangerous throbbing pounded behind his eyes. “How long until we get to Mars?”

“At this speed? Nearly four months. You’re welcomed to tag along behind our convoy, Captain. Or go ahead and meet us there, if you’ve got jump-cap. But be warned, if you try to interfere with this convoy in any way, we will be forced to disable your vessel and take you into custody.”

Aaron signed off and pounded on the arm of the command chair. “Fuck!”

Chapter Eighteen

Doubt thou the stars are fire;

Doubt that the sun doth move;

Doubt truth to be a liar;

But never doubt I love.

—William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Yanna sat across the mess hall table and smiled with amusement as Erin closed her eyes and slowly chewed, savoring the Terran food.

“This. Is. Heaven,” she whispered.

“Good?”

“Great! You are the best big brother ever.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

“You can’t remember if you had a big brother or not. How do you know there’s not one better than me?”

“Any brother who would do this for me has to be the best ever.” She finished her food and let out a burp. “Excuse me.”

“That sounds like an approval.”

“You have no idea how good that was. Not that your food isn’t good,” she quickly added, “but…” She shrugged.

He nodded. “I completely understand, a’tein. I am sure I would feel the same way in your situation.”

She accompanied Yanna to the bridge for a little while, then went to her cabin to take a nap and sleep off her full tummy. They were on their way to Mars, finally. Possibly on the way to finding out who she was. As soon as they had the treaty signed, she would be protected, as would the Beyants, by the treaty. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about the men facing any sanctions for not turning her over immediately.

And if she couldn’t figure out who she was, or didn’t like what she found out, she would be free to remain with them for as long as she wanted. No one could force her to stay on Mars if she didn’t want to. She was officially a Beyant.

Maybe selfish on her part, but she wasn’t about to give up a sure thing for a wispy, scary what-if past.

* * *

Ford belatedly realized maybe the whiskey had played too much of a part in his decision. As he sobered up, his head throbbing with pain from the hangover, he realized how badly he’d fucked up. They were under way. A few times he’d heard crew walk past his hiding spot.

Aaron and Caph had to be panicked by now.

But that woman was Emi. He was sure of it.

The only way to know is to find her for myself.

He carefully moved the filters out of the way and listened at the locker hatch. Silence. Working slowly, he carefully opened the hatch and climbed out into the deserted corridor.

He had no idea where to go, and the occasional placards on the walls were written in Beyant. Praying they wouldn’t kill him outright or dump him out an air lock before he found Emi, he slowly made his way down the large corridor until he rounded a corner and nearly walked headlong into a Beyant crew member.

Ford didn’t know who was more shocked, himself or the Beyant.

Ford held up his arms in what he hoped was a universal sign of surrender. “Emi. Dr. Hypatia. Please, take me to her.”

The Beyant looked terrified. He screamed at him while pointing at the floor. Ford slowly sat, keeping his arms over his head as the guy ran over to a panel and paged someone. Within a minute he was surrounded by armed Beyant guards who nervously trained their weapons on him.

“Emi,” he begged. “Please. Just let me see her. I know she’s here. Please?”

One of the guards stepped forward. “English standard?” he said, his accent thick.

Ford nodded, relieved. “Yes, I speak English standard.”

More agitated jabbering amongst themselves in Beyant before another man showed up. The new guy pointed to himself. “Pabo.” He pointed at Ford. “Your name?”

“Ford Caliban.”

“Ford?”

He nodded.

More jabbering and conversing over their com system between Pabo and someone else.

Finally, Pabo pointed at him. “Up. Now.”

Ford kept his arms up and slowly stood. They frisked him and let him keep his wallet, handheld, and picture card, but they kept their weapons trained on him.

“Arms down,” Pabo said, waving at him.

He lowered his arms. “Please, take me to Emi.”

“Who?”

“Emi.”

Pabo looked confused. “Who Emi? No Emi here.”

“She’s a woman. A human woman. I know she’s on board, I saw her.”

Pabo shook his head again. “Only one woman. No Emi.”

“But I saw her with you guys on the station. I know it’s her.” He pointed to his left hand, where he still wore his wedding band. “Emi. My wife. She has to be here. I saw her get on board with some of your guys.”

Pabo’s eyes widened. He grabbed Ford’s hand and stared at the ring as he jabbered at another Beyant guard. Then, in standard, he asked, “What this mean?”

“It’s my wedding ring. The woman with you, Emi. Does she have one, too? Like this?” The distinctive and unique pattern was a matched set. Emi’s ring matched all three of their bands. He pulled out his picture card and scrolled through it, stopping at one that showed all four of them. He pointed to her. “That’s Emi.”

The man shook his head as he stared at it. “No Emi. Erin.”

Ford struggled against his hangover and frustration. “No, that’s not Aaron. That’s Emi.” He pointed at Aaron. “That’s Aaron.” He pointed at Emi again. “Emi. She’s my wife.”

“No. No Emi. Erin,” Pabo said.

Ford’s patience hung by a thread, compounded by his throbbing headache. It’d be worth attacking these guys just to get himself killed and put out of his misery, but he had to find out for sure. “Eh-meee,” he slowly said, tapping the picture card again. “Not Aaron. Emi. A Terran woman. Aaron’s a man. Emi is my wife. Aaron is my husband. That male there.”

Pabo shook his head. “No,” he said with every ounce of the conviction Ford was feeling. “I tell you. No Emi.” He pointed at Emi. “Erin. Erin Cafford Raoulx.” He frowned, looking suspicious. “What you want with Erin?”

Ford cried, unable to hold back any longer. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? That’s not Aaron! Aaron is on our ship. He’s a man, with a dick and testicles.” He shook the picture card. “This is Emi. Please, Emi is our wife. A human woman. We thought she was dead. If she’s here, take me to her. Please.”

“I know what woman is. I know what man is. Erin is ambassador’s daughter. Woman, not man.” Pabo herded Ford along the corridor ahead of him. “Come now. This way. Bridge. Talk to Commander Raoulx.”

* * *

When the guards led Ford to the bridge, the tall man Ford had seen on the station was pacing the deck. Up close, Ford could tell the Beyant stood even taller than Caph.

And he wasted no time crossing the bridge and getting in Ford’s face, towering over him. “Who are you? How dare you stow away on our ship?” His English standard was far better than the other man’s.

Ford held up his hands. “Please, I just want to see Emi.” If he was wrong, he’d let them kill him. He didn’t care anymore. “My wife, Emi. I know she’s here. I saw her with you on the space station.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the photo card again. “See? Emi.” He glared at Pabo. “That idiot keeps asking about Aaron. Aaron’s our husband. This is Emi. My wife. A Terran female. Woman.”

He didn’t miss the look of shock in the Beyant commander’s face as he stared at the picture card. Before Ford could react, the Beyant grabbed Ford’s shirt and hauled him up to his toes. “What do you want with Erin?” he growled in Ford’s face. “Why do you want her?”

Ford felt what little remained of his control dissolve. He either wanted to be reunited with Emi…or he wanted these guys to just put him out of his misery. “Fuck! What the hell is it with you people? Why do you keep calling Aaron a woman? You speak standard. I’m a man. Aaron is a man. Emi is a female, a woman.” Tears streaming down his face, Ford babbled out the story as best he could, ending with seeing Emi with them on the space station. As the story progressed, the Beyant’s expression softened. He eventually released Ford and turned away from him.

Ford sank to his knees, holding the picture card up to the commander as if in prayer. “Please! If she’s here and she’s alive, please, take me to her.” He pointed at the picture of all of them. “This is our family,” he said, showing it to the guy. “That’s me and Emi and Aaron and Caph.”

The Beyant turned, his brow scrunched. “What was your name again?”

Ford struggled to hold on to his fraying sanity. “My name is Ford, for chrissake. I’m Ford.”

“And the other two men? What did you call them?”

“Aaron and Caph.”

He looked thoughtful. “Aaroncaphford?”

Ford nodded. Finally, this guy was starting to get it. “Yes! Aaron, Caph, and Ford. I’m Ford.”

The Beyant walked over to one of his men and spoke to him. The man nodded and his fingers flew over the console. Ford heard his own voice, and Emi’s, drift from a speaker.

That afternoon before all hell broke loose, when he was explaining the jump engine to her. She’d recorded it to play back later.

He nodded, his heart racing. “Yes! That’s me talking to Emi. Please, where is she?”

The Beyant spoke again, indicating he wanted the playback stopped. Then he pointed at a video screen. Ford watched the video. On it, their auxiliary lifepod was slowly and carefully brought into one of the Beyant hangar bays. He watched as a team of armed Beyants surrounded it, led by the commander. Ford held his breath as he watched them remove an unconscious Emi from it. It looked like the Beyant commander personally carried her from the pod, handling her gently and with care as they laid her on a stretcher.

Sobbing, Ford scrambled to his feet and ran over to the screen, pressing his hands to it as the picture froze.

“She is alive! You found her!” Without thinking about the implications, he turned and raced over to the commander and threw his arms around the Beyant’s neck, hugging him. “Thank you! Oh my gods, thank you! Thank you!”

The Beyant peeled Ford off him and handed him over to Pabo. “You wait here. I will return.”

* * *

Yanna’s head spun as he stormed off the bridge. He had no reason to doubt the Terran’s story. Any man crazy enough to sneak onto a military vessel in search of a woman, and then hug his captor, must be desperate.

The picture didn’t lie, either. It looked like Erin in a much happier time, with a beautiful smile on her face, surrounded by three men.

Including the crying one now blubbering on his bridge.

And he wore a matching ring. That could not be mere coincidence.

He hated to disturb her nap but knew he couldn’t let this wait. He owed it to her, not to mention he worried that if kept waiting too long, the silly Terran man might accidentally hurt himself or one of his men in his quest to find Erin.

Her soft voice replied to his page. “Come.” She sat up, sleepy, as he walked in. “What’s wrong, Yanna?”

“I need to bring you to the bridge to show you something, a’tein.”

A tired smile curled her lips. “More food?”

“Not quite.”

He held her hand for the walk to the bridge. How would she react? When they reached the bridge, he stopped before they entered. “I want you to hold on to me if you need to, a’tein. All right?”

She nodded, obviously confused. “Okay.”

They walked in.

* * *

Ford thought his heart would stop. Her hair looked different, and her skin had turned a different shade, and she’d definitely lost a lot of weight, but it was her.

Her unmistakable grey eyes.

His jaw gaped. “Emi!” he gasped. He started to step forward, but Pabo grabbed his arm and held him.

“She recalls very little before she arrived,” the commander told Ford. “Her memory is almost completely gone about her past.”

She froze, then started speaking in fluent Beyant to the man Pabo had told him was Commander Raoulx Yanna.

The commander spoke with her as she stared at Ford. The commander walked with her, holding her hand as she took a few tentative steps closer.

She asked Ford something in Beyant. He shook his head. “I don’t understand, babe.” She looked like she was in shock.

He could sympathize.

The commander made a motion and Pabo released him. Then the commander spoke. “She asked who you are.”

“Babe, I’m your husband, Ford. Ford Caliban. The drugs that guy slipped you, it made you lose your memory.” He pulled his handheld out of his pocket and scrolled through it to the notes, then held it up to show her. “I can synthesize the antidote, but I don’t know if it’ll work this many months later. He left the instructions before he killed himself.”

Alive! She was alive!

She stared at him.

“Emi, I love you. I never gave up hoping we’d find you. Me and Aaron and Caph, we’ve missed you so much.”

She released the Beyant’s hand and stepped closer, studying his eyes. “Aaroncaphford.” She said it as if one word, like the Beyant had earlier.

He nodded and showed her the picture card. “Aaron, Caph, Ford. Aaron Lucio, Caphis Bates, and me, Ford Caliban. We’re your husbands.” He held up his hand, pointing to the rings on hers.

She grabbed his hand and looked at his wedding band as tears spilled down her face. She said something in Beyant.

He didn’t miss the fact that she still wore her rings.

The commander translated. “She said tell her about the jump engine.”

Okay, weird, but anything she wanted, he’d talk about. In his shock, he couldn’t recall what had been on the audio playback the Beyant had provided earlier. He tried to remember what he’d said to her that day, all the other times he’d patiently explained it to her. Her eyes locked on his as he talked, her hand tightening around his until he’d finished.

“Ford?” she whispered.

He nodded, his vision blurring through his own tears. “That’s right, babe. Ford. When they first paired us, after the original DSMC sim and we realized you were real and you realized we were real, you said to me, ‘Give me some sugar, baby.’ Do you remember that?”

Her brow furrowed as she concentrated. “Hurry up, Cap. There’s a line.”

“You said that to Aaron later.”

She threw her arms around him, sobbing. He held her, wanted to never let her go, and sank to the deck with her protectively cradled against him as they cried together. “Oh, gods, babe, I love you so much. I worried I’d never see you again, but I knew you weren’t dead, I just knew it.”

The commander knelt in front of them and dropped his voice. He spoke in standard. “Not here. Bring her. I will take you to her cabin.”

Ford helped her to her feet and kept an arm around her as he followed the commander. Ford thought the Beyant would leave them alone, but he entered the cabin with them and apparently ordered guards to stand by outside. He took a seat on a chair on the other side of the cabin.

Ford sat on the bunk with her, unable to keep his hands off her, wanting to touch her and assure himself she was real. He showed her the picture card again, pointing everyone out. “Aaron and Caph.”

She took it from him and stared, touching it. “Aaroncaphford.”

He’d wondered if she could really remember how to speak English anymore.

Then she spoke, disproving the theory. “I didn’t know what it meant. It was the only thing I could remember.” She looked at him. “What happened to me? Why can’t I remember anything? Why can’t I remember you?”

He told the story again, from the start, with all the details. When he finished, both of them were crying. “I’m so sorry we didn’t understand and believe you, babe. He was playing all of us to use you. We didn’t know.”

The Beyant spoke up. “All three of you are her mates?”

Ford nodded. “Yeah. That’s another long story. No offense, but I’d rather tell it to her alone first, and let her tell you the parts she wants to tell.”

The cabin door opened and an older man entered. He barked something in Beyant at the commander, who didn’t rise. The commander and Emi both spoke to the man in calming tones.

On top of everything else, her obvious fluency in their language surprised him. She was skilled in many areas, but as far as he knew, she’d only spoken English standard and very bare-bones Earth Spanish. And that she’d picked up from her time in New Phoenix and Tempe while at school.

When she finished talking to the man he seemed soothed but continued eying Ford with a less-than-pleased look. “We told him what happened,” Emi explained to Ford.

Ford couldn’t stop touching her, her arm, hair, face, ensuring she was real and not a dream. “What I’d really like right now is some time alone with you,” he softly said.

That’s when he caught the hint of fear in her face. He was still a stranger to her, even if his most cherished dream had finally come true.

Emi had told Ford to call the commander Yanna. Apparently also sensing her fear, he spoke. “Erin?”

They knew her as a different person. Erin.

It was funny in an ironic-twist-of-fate sort of way. And explained what he thought was idiocy on the part of the Beyants. For her new identity, she’d taken on the names of her three husbands.

She nodded and spoke to the Beyant men again. After a moment, Yanna stood and kissed her forehead in a brotherly way. Ford bit back his jealousy. Obviously the man cared a great deal about Emi. Even the way Ford had seen him carry her from the pod in the vid showed his tenderness.

But as Yanna left the cabin, he shot Ford an unmistakable look with a universal meaning—Don’t hurt her.

The older man, the ambassador, also kissed her forehead and glared at Ford before leaving the cabin.

Alone. He stared, drank her in. Now he understood what the hell that phrase meant, because he felt like he’d been thirsty for years and now she was the only thing to quench the unslakable craving.

“Emi,” he whispered, not daring to try to kiss her. “I love you so much. I never wanted to give up hope. I refused to believe you were dead. I could feel it in my heart.”

She touched his face, exploring. He’d shaved that morning, over ten hours earlier, before they docked. He knew she felt the stubble there. Her fingers brushed through his hair, feeling it.

Then she leaned in and laid her head against his chest. “Can we just lie here?”

They settled on the bunk together, Ford’s arms around her. “Yeah,” he said, his voice so choked with emotion he could barely speak. “I’d like that a lot.”

* * *

Erin closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the man’s heart pounding in his chest. The waves of emotions from him had nearly flattened her with their intensity when she stepped onto the bridge. He loved her, of that there was no doubt. His crushing grief exploding into brilliant joy when his eyes met hers on the bridge.

Her husband.

One of them.

Aaron. Caph. Ford. She silently rolled their individual names on her tongue. They felt right.

He was not lying. There was no way he could be lying, not from what she felt from him.

“Why can I feel emotions?” she quietly asked.

“You’re a trained Class 2 empath, babe. And a kick-ass Alpha-ranked healer. That’s a doctor. You graduated top of your class. You also have a degree in psychology.”

Erin took a deep breath. It would take time to get used to her new—old—name.

“What did you say my name is?”

He nuzzled his face in her hair. She could easily get drunk feeling his happiness. He slowly spoke as if savoring the words himself, pressing his lips to the top of her head with each word.

“Doctor. Emilia. Hypatia. We call you Emi, but Aaron calls you Em a lot of the time.”

“How do I love all three of you?”

He told her their story, starting when the men first met years ago and ending before her nightmare began. He hadn’t shifted position, his arms gently unmovable around her. She suspected she might have to beg him to let her out of his sight, much less his arms, as he was so desperate not to lose her again.

“You’re not jealous of them?” she asked.

“No! Never. I love them, they love me, and we all love you. There’s nothing to be jealous about.”

“Do we all…sleep together?”

He chuckled. “Oh, yeah.”

She suddenly felt a wave of fear from him and immediately pinpointed its source. “No, I haven’t had sex with anyone,” she said. “No one’s harmed me. They took me in and saved my life. They treat me like one of their own. They’ve all been very sweet. I’m like a daughter or sister to them all.”

He laughed, the sound warming her heart even as she felt his warm breath against her scalp. “Gods, I missed that.”

“What?”

He shifted her in his arms so he could look into her eyes. “Your empath skills. Being able to almost completely read my mind like that. I can’t wait to talk to Aar and Caph. We have to call them right now. They’re going to be so happy.” He grinned and nuzzled her nose. “After we get out of bed.”

She hated to be the bearer of bad news. “We can’t.”

He sat up. “What? We have to! They’ve gotta be going crazy that they can’t find me. They have no idea where I am.”

“Not until after we reach Mars. We have to sign the treaty first.” Then she explained the situation to him.

His face fell. “Doesn’t this qualify as an emergency?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Life-threatening emergencies only.”

He groaned. “I’m a stupid fuck, that’s what I am. But I saw you, heard your voice on the station. I couldn’t wait and knew I had to find you. I was afraid you guys would leave and that Aaron might overrule me trying to find you. I had to be with you.”

He was a handsome man. She reached out and touched his face. “I’m glad you came after me.”

His sweet blue gaze never left hers even as he pressed a soft kiss against the flesh of her palm. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She leaned in, closed her eyes, and kissed him.

Something exploded inside her. Not memories exactly, but more like experiences, emotions. Her body and soul remembered his love even if her mind didn’t. She felt desires she hadn’t felt since…well, ever, that she could remember.

He broke their kiss and touched his forehead to hers. “Babe…if you don’t want to do this right now—”

She shut him up with her mouth, her lips slanted over his.

He grabbed her and rolled her over onto her back, now desperate to love her, to make love to her, wanting not to satisfy himself she felt, but to show her his love for her.

He opened her shirt and kissed his way down her chest, between her breasts, his tongue lapping at her navel. “I’ve missed you so much.” She felt warm wetness against her skin that she knew were his renewed tears.

She wrapped her fingers in his hair. “I’m here. You’re here.”

They shed their clothes and he kissed her all over, tasting her, loving her. Even if her mind didn’t remember him, her body had obviously been eagerly yearning for this reunion. She responded to everything he did and instinctively loved him back as if it were the most natural thing in the universe. As if they’d spent lifetimes loving each other in this very way.

He slipped his fingers between her legs, filling her pussy. She arched her back, softly moaning as he caressed and teased her. Then he lowered his mouth to her sex, his tongue expertly flicking her clit. She exploded immediately, crying out, sobbing his name. As she came down from her climax he raised up on his arms over her and gently slid his stiff cock inside her.

She thought her heart would break from the joy she felt in him. His hope, living for this moment, her back in his arms, was the only thing that had kept him alive all these months.

Her.

His love for her.

His conviction that, somewhere, she still lived.

He held still, his blue eyes searching hers. “I love you,” he said, his voice sounding choked. “Even if I’d never found you again I would have loved you so hard it hurt until the day I died. I never would have given up hope. I never would have given up faith. And I never would have loved any other woman but you.”

She pulled his head down and kissed him as he slowly thrust, trying to savor it, but she wrapped her legs around his hips and held on. “Harder,” she whispered in his ear. “As hard as you want.”

He dropped his head to her shoulder and thrust, moaning when his release took him as he buried himself inside her one final time, holding still and relishing the feel of their flesh joined together.

“I love you,” she said. She knew as she spoke the words that they were branded on her soul. She did love him, and the other two men.

He burst into tears. With his face pressed against the side of her neck and his body wracked with sobs, he cried out his grief and fear as the truth of their reunion soothed the deep pain in his soul. She stroked his back, gently whispering his name in his ear. That, and, “I love you.”

Aaroncaphford. The one encompassing fact she did not forget, even if she couldn’t remember.

Her men.

She drifted to sleep in his arms.

Chapter Nineteen

She awoke with a start in the dim cabin. The lights had automatically turned down at their usual time. She inhaled and smelled Ford, his arms still protectively wrapped around her. His scent wafted familiar to her soul and body, comforting her, even if she couldn’t remember it before that night.

Even in sleep his emotions boiled over. Was he always like this or had joy overwhelmed him?

He awoke and nuzzled his chin in her hair. “You awake?”

“Yeah.” Now she realized she had to think to speak English. She’d never considered it before. Her thoughts naturally flowed in Beyant, because in the course of a normal day, that’s all she spoke with rare exceptions.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He brushed his fingers along her arm, gently stroking. “Do you remember anything? From before they found you?”

“Not really. Just feelings. Emotions. Skills. The occasional tiny thing.”

“Nothing?”

She looked up at him. “Not really. Only things like that I love you and them, even though I can’t remember them.”

He smiled. “Aaron and Caph are going to kick my ass when we get to Mars and I get in touch with them. But it’ll be worth it to see their faces when they get a gander at you. Cap’s blamed himself all this time. The big guy, he’d just about given up on living. I was really worried about him.”

“Cap? Big guy?”

“Aar. He’s our captain. We also call him Cap. And Caph’s nickname is ‘big guy.’” He stroked her cheek. “Why is your skin that color?”

She’d noticed, compared to Ford and the other humans on the space station, how orange her flesh looked although she was pale compared to the Beyants. “I think it’s compounds in the water and the food.”

“The hair, too?”

She nodded.

“I don’t care,” he said as if anticipating her next question. “I wouldn’t care if you were bald and blue-skinned, just that you’re back.” He kissed her. “Four months alone with you. I wish I could talk to Aaron and Caph and tell them, but man, I’m going to remember every second of this time.”

“I just wish I could remember my time with you before.” At that he looked sad. She wished she hadn’t said it.

“Me, too, babe. Me, too.”

“Will my memory come back?”

“I don’t know.” He reached over the edge of the bunk to the floor, where his pants had ended up. He showed her the handheld again. “I copied everything so I’d have it in case I needed it. Thank the gods!” He scrolled through the device and handed it to her. “Can you synthesize that on board?”

She frowned as she studied the list. “I’m not sure what some of these are.”

“You don’t know what they are, you don’t remember what they are, or you don’t know how to translate them into Beyant equivalents?”

When she looked at him, surprised he sensed her thoughts, he arched an eyebrow at her. “You and me, we always had a special little thing like that. You have something different with each of us. You and me, we were always attached at the brain.”

She laughed. “What about the other two?”

“Caph’s your big buddy. He’s a really big guy, almost as big as Yanna, but he’s got this heart that’s really sensitive and fragile. He’d kill anyone who tried to hurt you. If that asshole hadn’t killed himself first, me and Cap would have had to hold Caph back.” He frowned. “Well, we’d all have been fighting for the right to kill the guy, but same thing.” He sighed. “Caph and you, he’s a big guy, but he’s a little puppy dog around you.”

“And Aaron?”

“He’s your rock. All of us, but especially you. You healed his heart when we met you. I never thought I’d see him happy again, then we met you and after that first sim session, it was like he was a changed man. He loves me and Caph, but since you came into our lives, he lives for you.”

* * *

The com in her cabin whistled. She reached over and pushed a button and answered in Beyant. They spoke for a moment. Then she smiled and ended the conversation.

Ford wondered if she’d felt like this in her first days and weeks with the Beyants. Alone, in an alien culture, unable to understand them.

“They were reminding me it’s dinnertime,” she said. His stomach growled in response and she laughed again. “Exactly.”

“How did you learn to speak their language so well?”

She shrugged. “Yanna could speak fairly good standard. They worked with me, and I worked with them. After a while, it became second nature. I’ve taught most of the crew basic standard since I’ve been with them.”

“Can you read it, too?”

“Mostly.” She sat up and kissed him. “I’ll teach you.” She stood and took his hand, coaxing him from the bunk and leading him to the head. “They call it a facility,” she said, then pointed out the various features and how to use them. It wasn’t too different than a conventional head. She explained the placards and translated for him. Then she pulled him into the shower with her and he jumped, startled to find it wasn’t a sonic shower when the warm spray hit his skin.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He laughed, holding his hands under the water and watching the drops bead against his flesh. “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had a water shower?”

“The engines produce water as a by-product of their cycle. It’s condensation. It’s reclaimed for sanitation use and maintenance. Drinking water is different and purified through filters.”

He pulled her to him, holding her under the water, kissing her. In a few minutes he’d pressed her against the wall and was entering her again, taking her there in the shower and using his fingers on her clit to make her come before he finished inside her with a hard thrust.

Shaky, she held on tightly, her head resting against his chest. “Is making love with you always that good?”

He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “With us? Babe, this is the tame end of the scale. It’s usually far better.”

They finished and dressed. He was happy to see she wouldn’t let go of his hand as she led him out of the cabin. Two guards, Pabo and another she introduced as Gwan, fell into step behind them.

“They’re jealous,” Ford whispered in her ear as he draped his arm around her shoulder and snugged her close to him.

She smiled. “No. They’re protective. They treat me like a little sister.” Her smile faded. “They saved my life. If they hadn’t found me…”

He stopped and turned her to face him. “Honey, if you want, I’ll get down on my knees and kiss every last one of their feet and thank them for saving you.”

That earned him a soul-lifting laugh. “I don’t think they’ll make you do that.” She looked at the guards and said something to them. They both nodded and smiled at Ford.

Ford held out his hand first to Pabo, who eventually shook, and Gwan. Then Ford hugged them both.

The Beyants awkwardly hugged him back while Emi looked on, smiling. Then Pabo said something that made her laugh.

“What?” Ford asked.

She stepped close again and he put his arm around her as they started walking. “He said they appreciate the gesture, but all you had to do was say thanks.”

“Now they tell me.”

* * *

The DSMC and ISNC wouldn’t intercede, said it was ISTC jurisdiction. The DSMC gave Aaron permission to follow the convoy to Mars and arranged for them to dock in the diplomatic hangar, but beyond that, there was nothing they could do other than be sympathetic.

Graymard also issued Aaron strict orders not to attempt to contact the diplomatic party until after the treaty signing. After that, it didn’t matter.

“This is total bullshit! It makes absolutely no sense!” he argued with Graymard over the com link.

“It’s the law. Remember the Corsarican Massacre? Eighty years ago, a misunderstanding with a poor translation led to a huge battle and innocent lives lost. Now, until the treaties are signed, there is to be no communication beyond very strictly controlled and limited circumstances. It’s safer for everyone,” Graymard explained. “Their willingness to comply is seen as a sign of good faith. Our escorting them, unmolested, to the treaty signing is also seen as such.”

Aaron thought it was bullshit, but he was helpless to do anything about it.

He was also finally forced to admit the truth to Caph, about what the station security officer had told him regarding Emi’s chip. He worried Caph would get upset, but instead it seemed to relieve him.

“I knew that was bullshit, Aar. Ford wouldn’t get so drunk he ended up on the wrong fucking ship. You know him better than that.”

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want you getting your hopes up.”

Caph shook his head, quiet resignation on his face. “If he did it, he had a good reason. All I know is I want Ford back. We’ll deal with the rest of it later.”

The Beyant ship was too far away and too well protected by defense shields for Aaron and Caph to scan it for any sign of Ford.

Or Emi.

Aaron tried to check his anger. Something else happening that was his fault. Had he been around the past several months and not dumped everything onto Ford while absorbed in his own grief, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Ford must have snapped. What other explanation was there?

As the weeks ticked by and they drew closer to Mars, he focused on his work, on his ship, and on Caph. They really couldn’t spend much time together, other than overlapping watches on the bridge. He worried for the big guy, knowing he usually needed contact, needed the downtime to talk or relax with one of them.

“Are you okay?” he asked him one day as Caph appeared on the bridge to take the night watch.

“Yeah.” He looked at Aaron. “Please promise me you won’t leave me,” he quietly said, his gaze focused on the deck.

He hugged him, hard. “Never. You’re stuck with me, buddy.”

“I’m tired of losing the people I love, Aar,” he said as his voice choked with emotion. “If I lose you, too, I swear to the gods I will kill myself. I don’t want to be alone. I can’t stand this.”

“We’ll get him back, Caph. I promise. I’m sure they won’t hurt him. They’re diplomats. They can’t risk an interstellar incident over something like that.”

“You think?”

“Yeah, I think. I know.” In fact he wasn’t sure, but no way in hell would he admit that to Caph.

Chapter Twenty

Over the next couple of days, she grew to think of herself as Emi and not Erin. She still answered to both names. The longer she spent with Ford she didn’t gain much in the way of memories, just a stray snippet here and there, usually the memory of someone saying something. But she quickly came to fall in love with Ford all over again.

They didn’t try to synthesize the antidote despite finally deciphering and translating Beyant equivalents. Ford was afraid what might happen if they used the wrong things or in the wrong combinations. She agreed that under the circumstances it was best to wait. Considering the time that had already passed, they presumed it might not make any difference anyway.

Ford struggled to learn the new language. “You know,” he said one afternoon, “I’m never going to be an expert in speaking Beyant.” But by the end of the first month, he knew enough to keep up with conversations. Deciphering the written version was a different matter. He still relied on Emi to translate that. Yanna, the ambassador, and the others came to trust and even like Ford.

One evening at dinner, the ambassador spoke up. “I have been thinking. Because you are the husband of my daughter, that means you are my son-in-law and should be officially recognized as such.”

Ford looked at Emi in confusion. “Huh?”

She smiled. “Yes, that’s what he said. You’re his son-in-law.”

Yanna, his father, and the other Beyants in attendance all lifted their cups to Ford in a salute.

Ford smiled and kissed Emi. “Welcome to the family, huh?”

“Yeah.”

* * *

They made love almost every night, Emi as eager as Ford to make up for lost time. She couldn’t get enough of him. During the day he worked with her and Pachya in the labs, or spent time on the bridge learning about their ship’s systems. Two months into their journey, while taking a turn on the scanners, Ford practiced by looking at the escort ships in the convoy accompanying them to Mars.

The last one caught his eye. As he fine-tuned the frequency to read the ship’s beacon code, he let out a whoop of joy that scared the crap out of the other bridge crew.

Yanna and Emi ran over. “What is it?” Emi asked.

Beyond excited, Ford pointed at the signal and reverted fully to standard, unable to think of the words fast enough in Beyant.

“There she is! It’s them! There she is!”

Confused, Yanna turned to Emi for clarification. “Ford, who?” Emi asked. “They? She?”

He grabbed her and hugged her, smiling from ear to ear. “The Tamora Bight! Look, that’s our DSMC beacon code! Aaron and Caph, they’re following us. I never should have doubted them being able to find me. They know I’m here. They’re following us to Mars!”

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the scanner signature. She reached out and touched the screen. “Aaron and Caph.” She’d only seen their faces in the photos on Ford’s picture card and in her dreams. Their voices still wouldn’t come to mind.

So close. So close she wished she could touch them.

Her fingers stroked the screen as her tears flowed.

Ford saw. “Hey, this is good, babe. What’s wrong?”

“Will they still want me?” she asked softly enough only Ford could hear.

He frowned. “What? That’s crazy. Why wouldn’t they still want you?”

“I’ve been gone so long.”

“Honey, a day away from you is too fucking long. Seven months is torture, believe you me. But abso-fucking-lutely they want you back. I’ll be lucky I can get so much as a passing glance from you for the first few weeks we’re all back together. They’re not going to want to let you go.”

He enveloped her in his arms, drawing her close and stroking her back. She always felt safe with him.

As safe as she’d felt on the B’autachia.

“I’m scared,” she whispered against his shirt.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Those are the last two guys you have to be scared of.”

“Of never remembering.”

She felt his melancholy as he hugged her more tightly. She wasn’t sure if it was possible for him to feel truly sad now that they were back together. “Babe, even if you never remember, that’s okay. We’ll make new memories. All four of us together. I promise.”

* * *

Aaron and Caph barely spoke. Not because they were upset at each other, but running a ship as large as the Tamora Bight with just the two of them took its toll, especially when combined with sleeping alone every night and compounded by their existing grief over losing Emi.

Aaron didn’t let himself think about the possibility of Emi also being on that vessel. Dead or alive. It would hurt too fucking much if he was wrong.

He would kick Ford’s ass, then fuck it, then kick it again once they got him back. Maybe not in that order, but close enough. In what little time he and Caph could spend together, Aaron tried to hold the other man, not that they could or were in a mood to do much more than cuddle. When they reached Mars, they would get Ford back and the three of them would go to a Martian resort for a couple of weeks.

And then maybe he would talk to them about giving up the Bight for good. Graymard, under the circumstances, would give them Earth-based jobs. They could do training. They had the experience.

He didn’t want to lose anyone else. Death was always an inevitable part of life, but Caph was right. It wasn’t worth losing those you loved to space. First Kels, then Emi.

Now their chatterbox.

He never thought he’d miss the twinspeak, but he longed for the days when he had to order only one of them to talk around him.

They can talk themselves hoarse if I can just have Ford back. Please, gods, please let us get him back safely.

Chapter Twenty-One

The closer they drew to Mars, the more anticipation Emi felt from not only her shipmates, but from Ford as well. He also spent more time talking in Beyant with her, although sometimes they spoke a confusing jumble of her in Beyant, with him replying in English, that they both understood yet left their Beyant shipmates at times scratching their heads.

They were less than three weeks out from Mars when Emi awoke before Ford in the wee hours one morning. She lay there in their bunk, tightly cuddled against his warm body and wishing for sleep to return.

Unfortunately, her stomach wouldn’t comply. She barely had time to roll away from Ford before jumping up and racing to the facility, where she threw up the remnants of her dinner from the night before.

Immediately, Ford rushed in behind her, pulling her hair back away from her face and holding it for her. “Are you all right, babe?”

She spit into the bowl, eyes closed, and shook her head. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Maybe something last night didn’t agree with you?”

“I don’t know.”

“We’ve been in space too long for it to be space sickness. You went through that pretty bad when we lifted from Earth, but once you got over it, it never came back.”

In her limited recollection, she ran through a list of symptoms and ailments and tried to narrow down the possibilities. Something was wrong with her, of that much she was certain. She’d felt a lot of fatigue in the last few days that wasn’t normal for her. And now the vomiting.

Her eyes dropped closed as she tried to think of the last time she’d had a cycle and she couldn’t. It had been after Ford arrived, but she was now overdue if the four-week pattern was normal for her.

“Babe?”

“Can I ask you a stupid question?”

“You can ask me anything you want. I don’t know if I’ll have an answer for you.”

She switched to English, because in her state, it made her stomach twist to spend that much energy trying to come up with Beyant equivalents. “You said you’re a medic.”

“Yeah?”

“Medical knowledge?”

“Yeah, sure. Not a brain surgeon, but I can hold my own on the basics. Why?”

“What do you know about reproductive organs?”

“Um, Emi, you’re scaring me.”

She looked up into his blue gaze. “How often do I have…” She struggled for the phrase in English until it finally popped into her brain. “Menstrual cycles. How often do they happen?”

He blinked a few times. “You’re really starting to scare me now.”

She didn’t answer, just waited for his reply.

“Every four weeks or so, I guess. I think. Why? Do you think this is your period doing this?”

Period. That was the word that had escaped her. “What happens when a period is late?”

He snorted. “Nice try, sweetheart. We’re both chipped. It’s a lot of things, including birth control…”

She must have looked horrified, because he stopped, staring at her.

Eventually, in a whisper, he said, “Please don’t tell me your chip’s gone.”

“Back of the neck, under the scalp?”

He closed his eyes. “Fuck!”

* * *

Once she got her stomach under control they awoke Pachya, who removed the small specimen container from his locked storage cabinet and showed it to Ford with a questioning look. “This?” He stood there in his bathrobe, which was definitely not how Emi was used to seeing the medical officer.

Ford took the specimen container, a mixed soup of emotions flooding from him so fast that Emi couldn’t keep up.

She reached out and touched his arm. “Please, what is it?” She suspected she knew, but she prayed with her ruined memory that she was mistaken.

He leaned against a counter as he stared at the tiny chip. “This,” he said, “is a crew pairing chip. We each have one. They do a lot of things, like ensuring the crew stays sexually faithful to each other, if they are paired that way.” In his distress he spoke standard. Emi struggled to translate as best she could for Pachya, who stood there listening with a frown on his face and his arms crossed over his chest.

“It keeps people from raping each other on a ship,” he said. “It didn’t protect you from that fucker on the Bight because he technically wasn’t raping you in the way normally registering on the chips. It was, from his end, a medical procedure, even if against your will.

“The chips also allow for tracking crew members in emergencies. It’s probably how Aaron realized I’d ended up here and followed us. He likely had the station’s security office track me via my chip, and it showed where I’d gone.”

She waited for him to continue, but he stared at the chip.

Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. “What else?”

He let out a sigh and slowly turned his head to look at her. She still couldn’t decipher exactly what it was he was feeling, but suspected he couldn’t, either. “It’s birth control. Female birth control. It means when you’re chipped, we can’t accidentally get you pregnant.” He handed the container back to Pachya, then pulled her to him and kissed her. “It means there’s a good chance that this”—he laid his hand on her belly—“means you’re carrying my baby.”

* * *

Ford kept the other half of the equation from everyone else as news spread throughout the ship and the ambassador and Yanna both joyously congratulated the couple. Until he knew he was right, he refused to say anything that might dampen the happy mood.

Besides, he didn’t know what havoc, exactly, the things Kayehalau had given her had wreaked on her body. He also didn’t know what kind of effect the Beyant water or foods she still sometimes ate would have on the baby. He also had no way of giving her any kind of prenatal care, or scanners he could use to evaluate the baby’s health.

He couldn’t even confirm she was pregnant other than helping her through her morning sickness every day.

He struggled as his emotions continually cycled between joy at them expecting, trying to temper his joy for fear of something being wrong with the baby, and sorrow that Aaron and Caph weren’t there with them to share this moment.

But as they drew closer to Mars and Emi began to recall more things from her medical school training, she looked up at him one day from where she’d lain down on their bunk after lunch to rest.

“I don’t feel good.”

He got up and walked over to her, sitting next to her. He rarely let her out of his sight. Yanna and the ambassador had been extremely gracious about not letting them be separated. “What’s wrong? Want me to get you a damp cloth for your head?” Sometimes when she experienced nausea from her poorly named morning sickness, that struck her at all hours of the day, a cool, damp cloth for her forehead helped her feel better.

“No.” He admitted her color looked paler than it had, and not in a good, normal way. As in she bore a greyish tinge to her flesh that he hadn’t noticed before, and her face, her features already thinner from the weight she’d lost, looked pinched.

“What’s wrong?”

“I hurt.” She touched her abdomen. “Here.”

“Right or left side?”

“Left.”

He raised her shirt and gently palpated, but while she let out a low hiss of pain when he probed the lower left quadrant of her belly, she didn’t show any obvious signs of appendicitis. “I don’t know what to tell you. If we were on board the Bight, I could get the scanners out and give you an immediate answer.”

“Something’s wrong.”

Her soft, certain tone chilled him. “What? Are you cramping? Have you spotted?”

She shook her head. “I just know something’s wrong.”

The pain came and went over the next week, until it began to grow more insistent, still located in her lower left abdomen.

One afternoon, after she awoke from a nap, he spotted her tears. “What’s wrong, babe? Is the pain worse?”

“I had a dream,” she said.

He gathered her into his arms. “What kind of dream?”

“I was in a room of people. Like a classroom. I’ve had it a few times, but this was the first time I could hear what they were saying.”

“What was it?” Dread built in his heart. “What did they say?”

Her grey eyes looked too bright, like she was close to tears. “What is a ‘tubal pregnancy’?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Aaron angrily paced the bridge. The B’autachia had berthed beside them. Graymard warned the ISNC to place guards at the Tamora Bight’s gangway to keep Aaron and Caph on board until after the treaty signing ended.

Finally, forty-eight hours after their arrival on Mars, their com link buzzed.

Aaron hit the button as Caph raced to the bridge. “Captain, this is the dockmaster. You’ve been cleared to debark.”

“’Bout fucking time.” He and Caph ran to the main hatch and bolted through it. Graymard himself awaited them at the end of the gangway

“What the fuck is this?” Aaron demanded. “Where’s Ford?”

“Calm down,” Graymard said. “I’ll take you there now.”

“Is he okay?” Caph asked. “Did they hurt him?”

“I haven’t spoken face-to-face with him yet, but I did talk with him over a com link. He assured me he’s fine. He’s healthy and wasn’t harmed in any way. He said they treated him like one of their family.”

There was something more Graymard wasn’t telling them, but Aaron didn’t bother pushing to find out. All he cared about was getting Ford back and getting on with their lives.

Caph didn’t say anything else as they followed Graymard. Aaron watched Caph as the big man clenched and unclenched his fists during the twenty-minute walk. Caph felt upset, but Aaron knew once Ford was safely back with them, they could both finally relax.

Then they could all get on with mourning Emi together.

His throat grew tight and he swallowed hard to push back the tears wanting to break through. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—break down now. That was private, only for Ford and Caph to witness. He would not share his grief with anyone but them.

The ISNC guards at the entrance to the diplomatic chambers nodded to Dr. Graymard and held the doors open for the men.

“I want to talk with all of you after you’ve reunited,” Graymard quietly said as he led them to a private office. Outside the door, he stepped away but held his hand out, indicating they should enter.

Aaron and Caph looked at each other, then the door.

“I’m gonna kill him for scaring us,” Caph muttered, but he sniffled.

Aaron forced a smile and clapped him on the back. “Let’s go get our motormouth back.”

They pushed through the door, which Graymard closed behind them. Before them stood a man even larger than Caph. A Beyant, Aaron assumed.

The man spoke. “Captain Aaron Lucio?”

Aaron nodded. The man’s standard sounded strangely accented, but understandable.

“Caphis Bates?” he asked, looking at Caph.

Caph nodded. “Where’s Ford?”

“Please, wait here.” The Beyant disappeared through another door. He returned a moment later with Ford following him. His skin looked a little orangey, and his hair a little lighter than it had, but it was him.

Caph and Aaron both let out joyful shouts and rushed to engulf him in their arms. Now Aaron didn’t even care the Beyant saw him cry. Ford was back.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” Aaron muttered in Ford’s ear as he pressed another kiss to the side of his husband’s neck. “You scared the crap outta us! Jesus it’s good to have you back.” He kissed him on the lips.

Caph pulled him close. “You asshole!” He kissed him. “What the fuck you think I’m gonna do without you?”

Ford looked happy and sheepish and proud of himself all at the same time. “Wow. Did you miss me?”

Aaron fought the urge to strangle his lover. “Let’s get back to the ship so we can show you. After we kick your ass.”

Ford shook his head. “We…uh, can’t yet.”

Aaron glared. “What do you mean we can’t? Me, captain. Ship, now. That’s an order. Don’t make me go captain on your ass.”

Ford waggled his eyebrows at him, then turned and spoke to the Beyant in…

Beyant?

The Beyant answered him in what Aaron presumed to be their native language. The alien smiled.

“You can understand him?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah. Now I can annoy you guys in two languages. I have something I need to show you.” His face turned serious. “Just…please don’t freak out, okay? I need you both to promise me you’ll stay calm.”

Aaron wanted to get back to the ship five minutes ago. “What the hell?”

“I’m serious, Aaron. You have to stay calm.”

He exchanged a confused look with Caph, but nodded. He refused to hope and shoved back the memory of the station officer talking about Emi’s chip.

“Come with me.” Ford opened and led them through the door he’d used to enter the room.

Aaron and Caph followed.

There was someone standing at the window sim with their back to them. A woman, Aaron realized. A Beyant, she had their blonde hair and…

She turned around when Ford walked over to her. Ford slipped his arm around her shoulders as she nervously looked from the floor up at them.

Aaron glanced at Caph and saw his jaw also gaped in stunned disbelief.

“Tell me I’m dreaming,” Caph said in a hushed tone. “No, wait, don’t tell me if I’m dreaming. Just fucking kill me so I don’t wake up. I don’t want to wake up. Seriously, just fucking kill me now because I don’t want this to end.”

“No,” Aaron said, “because I know I’m not dreaming.”

Ford quickly filled the gap. “The drugs the fucker gave her totally wiped her memory. The Beyants found the pod. They rescued her. They let the pod go because they were afraid to be found with DSMC property before the treaty was signed. I saw the film and believe me, they didn’t hurt her. They saved her life. She was nearly dead when they found her, starved and nearly out of supplies. They took damn good care of her, too. The ambassador adopted her.”

He nervously coughed. “And by the way, all three of us guys are now officially Beyants, too, because we’re her husbands. The big guy out there is our brother-in-law, Yanna.”

Aaron couldn’t pull his gaze from hers. “Em?” he whispered. “Is it really you?” Tears filled his eyes as he crossed the room in three strides, barely beating Caph to her. He touched her and looked at her in disbelief. Her skin had an orange tint, and the hair…

But it was her.

He heard someone sobbing and realized it was him. He pulled her into his arms and tightly hugged her as Caph wrapped his arms around both of them.

“Jesus, Em, babe. Oh my gods.” Aaron closed his eyes and wept.

Ford was still talking, Aaron realized. “Her skin and hair should change back. But her old memories are fried.” He stroked her hair. “We were afraid to try the antidote on her because we didn’t know if we had the right stuff. Her med skills are all intact though. She saved the ambassador’s life when they had an accident before I got there—”

“Shut up, Ford,” Aaron whispered as he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. “I’ll kick your ass in a minute.”

Ford laughed. “Yeah, yeah.”

Caph cried so hard his whole body shook as he held Emi and Aaron, nearly crushing them against his body. “I love you,” he repeated over and over again.

* * *

Ford remained silent for a few minutes, allowing Aaron and Caph to get through their initial shock. When he felt he could continue, he took a deep breath. “I need to tell you something else.”

Aaron wouldn’t lift his head. He had his face buried in Emi’s hair. “What?” he mumbled.

“I don’t think we can give her the antidote now even though we’re back.”

“Why not?” Caph asked as he looked at Ford.

Ford felt his face grow hot. “I need you guys to stay calm. You promised.”

That was enough to get Aaron’s full attention. He lifted his head to look at Ford. “What’s wrong?”

“She’s pregnant.”

Caph’s mouth gaped. Aaron stared, stunned. Ford quickly continued. “I didn’t know her chip was removed. When she was with them, they found it and she let them take it out so they could study it. She thought it might give them a clue to who she was. I didn’t know about that until after she started showing symptoms.”

Aaron’s voice sounded choked. “So the baby is—”

Ford nodded. “Mine. Without question. I told you, they didn’t hurt her or…anything else.”

Aaron glanced at Yanna, who’d followed them into the inner office and stood guard by the door. Ford didn’t need to be a mind reader to sense Aaron’s unspoken question. “Dude, they didn’t touch her. I mean it when I say they literally adopted her. If we had to pick someone to take care of her, we couldn’t have found better guys if we tried. They’d have been the first to kick anyone’s ass who even looked at her cross-eyed. They’ve treated her like a princess. Beyants practically worship their women. Yanna calls her his little sister.” He stroked her hair. “If she’d gotten mad at me, they would have tossed me out an air lock without hesitation at the snap of her fingers, trust me.”

Emi smiled, even though her eyes remained closed as she kept her arms around Aaron and Caph. “I wouldn’t have done that to you.”

“How far along is she?” Caph asked.

“She is standing right here,” Emi said.

He tightly hugged her. “Sorry, babe.” He burst into tears again. “I can’t believe you’re back.”

Ford took over again. “Graymard wants to talk to us. We need to get her to the med facility here on Mars and have her checked out. I think she’s a little over six weeks.” He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “Then the three of us need to sit down and talk with Graymard.”

“I don’t want to talk,” Caph said. “I just want to curl up with all of you and sleep for a month. I’m so fucking exhausted and now I can sleep again. I never thought I’d ever be this happy again in my entire life. You’re both back. Just sleep, nothing else, that’s all I want. I just want to fucking sleep again with my whole family.”

Ford leaned in and kissed him. “I missed you, too, buddy. I’m sorry I bugged out like that. I let the whiskey do my thinking for me and didn’t have time to come up with a better plan when I saw her. I didn’t know I’d be stuck under radio silence once I got onto their ship.”

Yanna had stepped out, but he returned. “Dr. Graymard says they are ready for her at the medical facility.”

“Thanks.” Ford waved the Beyant over. “By the way, Yanna, I know you sort of met, but this is Aaron and Caph.”

The Beyant smiled and shook hands with the two men. “I am sure a’tein is in good hands if Ford is accurate in speaking of your character. If you love her half as much as he does, I am happy that she is well cared for and loved.”

Aaron glanced at Ford for an explanation of the strange word.

“A’tein basically means little sister,” Ford explained. “Look, let’s get her taken care of and I’ll fill you both in later.” Ford let Aaron and Caph hog Emi as they followed Yanna out to the main corridor. Dr. Graymard led the way as a group of Beyant guards surrounded them to escort them across the complex to the medical wing. Graymard personally took charge of her care. Yanna stayed with them.

Aaron pulled Ford aside. “Why are they still with us? Can’t we get rid of them? Have a little privacy?”

“I told you, he’s family. We’ve officially been declared part of the Beyant ruling family. We’re married to the ambassador’s daughter. That’s the ambassador’s son. He’s our brother-in-law.”

Aaron lowered his voice so the others couldn’t hear. “What else aren’t you telling us?”

Ford glanced across the room. Emi lay in her hospital bed, where Caph held one of her hands while Graymard talked with her. He put his arm around Aaron and turned him so they were facing away from them. “We think it’s a tubal pregnancy,” Ford quietly admitted. He tried to hold back his emotions. “All the stuff that asshole gave her to fuck with her body so he could do his thing, I think it did something to her. She’s been having a lot of pain the past several days. It’s getting worse. We didn’t have access to the testing equipment we needed, obviously, and they didn’t have stats on human anatomy other than what they’d been able to gather on us already. Their scanners don’t work on us like they do on them, but from what we could see, we think that’s what it is. I wanted to declare a medical emergency and have her evaced from the ship to one of the escort vessels, because it would have fallen under one of the exemptions about contact, but she wouldn’t let me. She was afraid what might happen if she was wrong. She insisted we had to finish the treaty signing first.”

“What’s a tubal pregnancy? What does that mean?”

Ford took a deep breath. “It means if it’s a tubal pregnancy, they’ll have to operate and… She’ll lose the baby. Otherwise, if they leave it, she’ll die.”

* * *

Based on what Ford had told him, Aaron didn’t hold out much hope as Graymard and his staff ran extensive tests and scans on Emi.

He considered his hope used up on the miracle that was Emi returning to them alive and reasonably well, even if she had a lot of recovery time ahead of her.

Then Graymard called the men into a conference room while Yanna stayed with Emi in her hospital room. It was only with a lot of not-so-gentle coaxing on Ford and Aaron’s part that they got Caph to leave her side.

Graymard removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Ford, how much do they know?”

“I told Aaron everything.”

Caph, bless his heart, stared at Graymard in confusion. “What?”

Caph had sat between Ford and Aaron. Ford hooked an arm around Caph’s shoulders. “There’s a problem, big guy.” He looked at Graymard. “Am I right?”

Graymard nodded. “I’m so sorry, Ford. You were correct in your assessment.”

“What’s wrong?” Caph asked.

Graymard spared Ford. “The pregnancy isn’t viable. It’s an ectopic tubal pregnancy. We need to operate, as soon as possible, to save her life. We think we can reverse the changes the drugs did to her reproductive system so she can one day get pregnant again, but it will take some time before we know for sure.”

Caph stared at him. “What do you mean? Will the baby be okay?”

Aaron also slipped his arm around the larger man. “No, buddy. I’m sorry.”

Stunned, Caph went silent for a moment as he tried to absorb the news. “You’re telling me my wife, who I just got back, is pregnant. And now you’re telling me what that son of a bitch did to her is going to make her lose our baby?”

Despite his own pain, Aaron ached for Caph. Caph wasn’t the least bit possessive or jealous of Emi when it came to the three of them. Any child they might one day have, regardless of which man fathered it, would still be one hundred percent his, in his eyes.

“That’s correct, Caph,” Graymard confirmed. “I’m so sorry.”

Caph shook off the other men’s arms, stood, and walked over to the window sim. Tears rolled down his face but he didn’t say anything.

“We’ll get her prepped and operate soon,” Graymard told Ford and Aaron. “She’ll need a few days to recover. We will try the antidotes Kayehalau formulated and see if they will reverse the changes and her memory loss. It might not be possible to retrieve her old memories. New memories apparently are not impacted, but she has been unable to retrieve older ones.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Ford corrected. “She remembers little bits and snips. The memories are still there, she just can’t usually make the neural connections to fully access all of them when she wants to.”

Aaron felt pain in his palms as his fingernails dug into his flesh. He unclenched his fists. He couldn’t let his anger get in the way right now. Emi and Caph both needed him. And so would Ford. “What about using sim sessions? Maybe all of us reliving things with her might help.”

“That is an option I’d already considered,” Graymard confirmed. “But let’s get her through the next few days first.”

* * *

The men returned to her hospital room and surrounded her. They’d already started an IV and had given her medication to keep her relaxed and help with her pain. She reached for Caph’s hand as he crowded close and kissed her forehead.

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

A ragged laugh escaped him. “You’re in the bed asking me if I’m okay?”

She worried about him. There was no doubt in her mind these two men loved her as much as Ford did. She worried most about Caph though. His initial joy at their reunion had been compounded by Ford’s revelation of her pregnancy. He returned from their talk with Graymard full of grief and heartache.

Aaron moved a chair over to her bedside for Caph and took up a chair on her other side. Emi squeezed Caph’s hand. “It’s okay, big guy. I’m going to be okay.”

More tears rolled down his face. “But the baby…” He rested his head on the bed and cried as she stroked his hair and Ford rubbed his shoulders.

She hurt, inside and out. Emotionally and physically. She’d hoped their reunion could be nothing but joy. When she’d recognized her symptoms, she’d understood that fantasy would be impossible. What hurt even more was that this gentle man was in more pain than before, after a teasing moment of unbounded happiness, his first joy in months.

Aaron stroked her hair. She’d started letting it grow out again after Ford’s arrival and seeing what it had looked like in the pictures of herself. She reached up with her free hand and laced her fingers through his. “Are you okay?” she asked. He felt full of a different kind of pain. Grief, anger at himself, and guilt.

“Yeah. I just want to get you healed up so we can all be together again.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know. I didn’t know what the chip did.”

He nodded, but she felt how unconvinced he was. “I know, babe.”

When they came to take her to surgery, Caph didn’t want to let go of her. He begged Graymard and the staff to let him come, too. It took Yanna’s help and a large dose of sedatives to calm Caph enough that they could take Emi. Ford and Aaron sat on the sofa in her room with Caph sandwiched between them, his head in Ford’s lap, as he stared at her empty bed.

Yanna sat in a chair close by, ready to help restrain Caph again if necessary.

Ford stroked Caph’s hair. “I really missed you, big guy.”

Caph’s eyes had glazed over from the medication. “If she dies, kill me,” he moaned. “Just fucking kill me. I don’t want to live if she dies.”

Aaron patted Caph’s thigh and left his hand there. “She’ll be okay. She’s not dying on us. They’ll take good care of her and give her the antidote, and she’ll be fine. You think she survived all this bullshit just to die on us now?”

“She is very strong,” Yanna agreed. “She will be okay.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Emi awoke, at first frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings when she couldn’t recall immediately where she was, and then comforted when she felt the presence of the four men. Caph, sitting in a chair by the bed on her right, but asleep with his head on the mattress by her knees. Aaron, sitting on her left side, awake and watching her. Ford, lying on the sofa and dozing. He hadn’t had much chance to sleep over the past couple of days, so she was glad he could now.

And Yanna. He stood by the door, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed as he stared at her.

Aaron leaned in and stroked her forehead as he smiled at her. He started to say something, but she put her finger to her lips to hush him and pointed at Caph.

He kissed her, nuzzling her nose with his as he let out a long, relieved breath.

His sweet brown eyes. The ones from her dreams. She didn’t have a conscious memory of him before this day, yet she felt him in her heart and soul. And Caph, too. Her heart and soul once again felt complete.

This was the way things should be, her and her three men.

Now if only her memories would fall in step.

Yanna stepped around Aaron and leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “I shall go tell Father you are all right. I will return in a couple of hours. Pabo will stand watch outside with the others. If you need me, tell him.”

She nodded. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before he left.

She searched Aaron’s face and feelings for any sign of jealousy and found none. He was too relieved to have her back. He rested his head on the bed on her pillow and laced his fingers through hers. She felt him studying her hand, the rings on her finger.

She ran her thumb over his matching wedding band. She knew so much about this man from Ford’s words and what she now felt from him, and yet she had so much to learn. Or relearn.

But she knew for certain the only thing she needed to know about him, and Caph—she felt safe and beyond loved.

“Go to sleep,” he whispered in her ear. “I love you.” He squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. She hurt and felt exhausted and was more than happy to take his suggestion.

When she awoke again, Ford was sitting next to her, awake and watching her, with Aaron dozing on the couch.

Caph was still asleep on her other side, his mouth open as he softly snored, a thin string of drool running down his cheek and puddling on the bed.

Then a long, low, rippling fart from him broke the silence.

Despite the pain, she suppressed a laugh. He was so cute. They’d given him enough drugs to keep him knocked out all night, at Dr. Graymard’s orders. Probably the first good sleep he’d had in months.

Ford followed her gaze and smiled. When he looked into her eyes, she read his sadness. They’d both understood, once she realized the probability of the situation, that their short-lived happiness couldn’t be. That hadn’t stopped either of them from hoping.

As upset as Aaron and Caph were, it had still been Ford’s baby.

She’d been wrong about Ford likely never feeling sadness again. Despite being reunited as a family, his grief broke through. He tried to keep it from her and couldn’t. Emi understood her own need to grieve, with him and alone, but she wanted her focus to be her men and getting through the next few days.

Of reuniting as a family.

He touched his forehead to hers and kissed her before resting against the bed.

She closed her eyes and, feeling safe and loved, let the darkness envelop her.

* * *

Aaron awoke when Yanna returned after midnight. Before he could wake Ford, the other man sat up and stretched, then locked eyes with Aaron and tipped his head toward the door.

Aaron nodded and patted Yanna on the shoulder as he and Ford left the room while Yanna took the seat next to Emi’s bed. Caph would, hopefully, sleep for several more hours.

Two Beyant guards fell into step behind them.

Aaron turned. “You guys don’t have to come with us.”

“Yeah, they do,” Ford said. “You haven’t fully grasped the situation. We’re under diplomatic protection now.”

Aaron felt too tired to contemplate or argue it. They returned to the Tamora Bight and the two guards stayed outside at the hatchway. Once the two of them were safely sealed, alone, inside their ship, Aaron pulled Ford to him and hugged him. Then he crushed his lips against Ford’s, backing him against the wall as he ravaged his mouth with desperation and relief.

“I will kill you, you son of a bitch, for putting us through this,” he rumbled when he finally lifted his head.

Ford laughed. “Sorry, Cap.”

He slammed Ford against the wall again, hard, knocking the wind out of him before enveloping him in a crushing bear hug. “You don’t need a fucking chip, you need a goddamned leash.” He finally released him and stepped back. “I’m sorry.” He turned and started for their quarters.

Ford quickly fell into step beside him. “Sorry for what? I kinda think I deserved that, actually.”

“For not having faith like you did,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to believe she was dead, but I didn’t see any hope. You had hope for all of us.”

They reached their quarters. Ford followed Aaron into the head where Aaron stripped, dropping his clothes to the floor, and stepped into the shower.

“Get your ass in here,” he said, holding the door for Ford.

Ford smiled, stripped, and stepped inside with him. Aaron started the water.

“Ah!” Ford sighed. “Clear water.” He let it run over him as Aaron wrapped his arms around him from behind and showered kisses along his shoulders.

“I missed you. We lost her and then you were gone.” He sniffled.

Ford turned and hugged him, held him. “Hey, I’m back. You and me, we’ll get the big guy through it, and we’ll get her through it, and we’ll get to live our happily ever after.”

Aaron rained more kisses along the side of Ford’s neck. “I’m sorry about the baby,” Aaron softly said.

Ford’s expression darkened as he stepped away, back under the water, his eyes closed against the spray. His voice sounded choked. “Yeah. If I’d known she could have gotten pregnant, I would have been careful and not let it happen. It’s my fault. She could have died if it’d happened sooner and farther from Mars. I’m a medic, not a surgeon. I couldn’t have saved her with their technology. I don’t know anything about pregnancies or babies except how to make them.”

“Are you okay?”

Ford found the shampoo and lathered his body. “You want the truth?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“No. I’m not okay.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

Ford wouldn’t open his eyes to look at him, just shook his head.

Aaron didn’t feel the slightest bit romantic. He suspected Ford didn’t either. After their shower, they crawled into bed together, entwined in each other’s arms.

“Oh, jeez this feels good,” Ford sighed. “Home sweet home.”

Aaron kissed Ford. “You two aren’t going anywhere alone for a long time, you realize that, right? Caph and I aren’t letting you out of our sight.”

Ford patted his arm. “Believe me, I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to get her healed up and not even think about the future right now.” He paused. “You realize the antidote might not bring her memory back, right?”

Aaron hugged him more tightly. “I don’t care. She’s alive. That’s all I care about. She’s alive, and the four of us are together again.”

For the first time in nearly a year, Aaron slept deeply and without interruptions.

Or nightmares.

* * *

Donna sat alone and cross-legged in the command chair on the bridge of the Kendall Kant. The men had learned not to press her to talk, or to argue with her when she took most of the night watches now, such as she had tonight. Encapsuled in her grief, she sought out their company only when she felt strong enough to handle it.

She was, in fact, so engrossed in her book that she almost reached out to hit mute on the communication alert until it finally struck her that it indicated an official communiqué from DSMC.

With a resigned sigh, she bookmarked her page and shut down the handheld before turning to the command console. “Why the fuck can’t they just leave us alone?” she muttered.

They’d received several bullshit notifications from the DSMC headquarters over the past several days. It did nothing but interrupt their surveys.

Her eyebrow arched when she realized this wasn’t just a message, but a video. Directly from Dr. Graymard.

And it was marked to her personal attention, requiring her code to unlock and view it.

With a hard, frozen ball of cold dread congealing in her stomach, she hesitated.

She didn’t want to know. She wanted to hold on to the faith deep inside her that, someday, Emi would be found alive.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d have to watch it eventually. It would keep nagging at her until she did. And if not her, one of the guys would see the notice when they came on duty and Rob would override her and watch it.

With a trembling finger, she punched in her code and hugged her knees to her chest.

The delivery code indicated it had been sent from Mars. Dr. Graymard’s smiling image appeared on the screen. “Hello, Dr. Stephens. I hope this finds you well. I wish there were some better medium to deliver this news to you.”

Her tears started flowing. Certain of her friend’s death, Donna barely heard his next words. “Fortunately, it’s happy news I bring you. Dr. Hypatia has been found alive and well.”

As she sucked in a gasp of air she choked on her own snot. She coughed while slapping at the controls to pause the video. Staggering out of the command chair, she stumbled to the head, where she poured herself a glass of water and tried to quit choking. When she finally made it back to the console, she restarted the video.

“…The lifepod was found by a Beyant battle cruiser on its way to treaty talks. Her memory, unfortunately, has been impacted by the drugs she was given by her assailant. She is now back on Mars, and has been reunited with her husbands. We will be transferring them to Earth shortly. I wanted to let you know so you could, if you wish, suspend your mission and change course to make your way to Earth and help with her—”

She stopped the playback again. Tapping into the nav computer, she plugged in information to break free of orbit and head away from the planet so they could jump. Then she reached over and smacked the intercom button and screamed into it. “She’s alive! They found her! Get your asses up here right now, boys. I’ve already plugged in our new course. We’re heading to Earth!”

She started the video again, giggling, which turned to laughter and then tears running down her face as she watched it from start to finish. That’s where her three men found her moments later as they all ran, butt naked, onto the bridge. Rob pulled her into his arms.

“Donna, babe, what’s going on?”

She blubbered and pointed at the video display. “They found her. She’s alive!”

* * *

Emi opened her eyes and looked around the room. Daylight streamed through the window sim. Caph was still asleep, the damp spot on the sheet under his cheek even larger than before. Yanna occupied the other chair, and Ford and Aaron were missing.

Yanna patted her hand. He sat up, leaned in, and softly spoke to her in Beyant. “They will return soon. They left a few hours ago. Went to the ship to sleep.”

A nurse came in, checked Emi’s vitals, administered her morning medication, and left them alone again.

“It’s going to be strange starting over,” Emi softly admitted. “Leaving the B’autachia. It’s the only home I remember.”

“You don’t have to leave, a’tein. You and your husbands can stay with us.”

She felt his anguish, that she would leave them. “You are the best big brother ever.”

Yanna smiled. “You never had a brother, big or little. Ford said so.”

“Well, if I had, you still would be.”

“I am honored. Father has made a request.”

“What?”

“If you stay here, he has asked if I could stay with you. Pabo and myself, to protect you and your men. Considering the complicated diplomatic situation, the Interstellar Treaty Coalition, and the DSMC, has agreed to allow it, if you wish.”

“Stay with me?”

“Yes. Cultural exchange. Father has already extended an offer to allow human crew on the B’autachia.” He smiled. “Besides, he wants me to keep an eye on any potential heir to his ruling house.”

Maybe it was the drugs, because that statement confused the hell out of her. “What?”

“You are Father’s only daughter. Our ruling houses are controlled by the lines of the women. Adopted or not.”

“But I’m not Beyant.”

“It does not matter. Even if I could produce an heir…” He blushed, his face turning an even darker shade of orange, before falling silent.

“What are you saying? Why couldn’t you produce an heir?”

“Unless the Goddess of All creates a miracle, it is doubtful Pabo or myself will ever become female.”

If she didn’t hurt so much, she would have sat upright in bed. “What?” Caph stirred a little. Emi lowered her voice, rapid-fire Beyant spilling out in her agitation. “What are you talking about, Yanna? You and Pabo? What do you mean?”

“Did you not know?”

“Know what?”

He softly laughed. “Pabo isn’t just my guard. He is my p’agdtein.” When she obviously didn’t understand the word, he clarified. “My mate.” He pointed to Caph. “My spouse. Like you and him and the other two.”

It took her a moment to absorb that info. Sure, Pabo shadowed Yanna when he wasn’t assigned to watch her, and he slept in Yanna’s cabin, but she assumed that was because he was Yanna’s personal bodyguard.

Yanna must have recognized the shocked confusion on her face. “A’tein, all of our crew are p’agdtein…mated. Well, except for Father, of course. Mother died years ago and he’s never remated. We knew this would be a very long mission and only chose male mated p’agdtein pairs so they would not get lonely. We did not want to risk sending women on this mission. You did not know that?”

She laughed. “Um, no. You must have missed telling me that somewhere along the line.” She tried to think of any signs and remembered none. “There were no signs. You guys are really deep in the closet.” No wonder the Beyants hadn’t seemed shocked about Aaron and Caph also being married to her and Ford.

He didn’t understand the English idiom translated into Beyant. When she explained, he smiled. “We strictly adhere to protocols when on duty. We do not like to publicly display our romantic affection. It does not matter if it is a female and male or two males or two females. We all know things go on in private. We simply do not wish to see how others do them.” He sat back. Sadness shadowed his face and soul. “When my sister was killed, besides our grief, Father sensed the inevitable end of our family line. She had not yet found a p’agdtein or had children. Women in our culture are highly cherished. It is rare one is ever available for adoption outside of her own family. Until you came along,” he added.

Caph stirred and lifted his head. He briefly glared at Yanna before his eyes settled on Emi. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

She smiled and answered him. It was only when he looked totally confused that she realized she’d spoken Beyant. She tried again in standard. “I’m okay. How did you sleep?” She stroked his hair.

He nodded and laid his head back onto the bed. He found her other hand under the sheet and laced his fingers through hers as he stared at her, like a lost puppy reunited with his mistress.

Yanna spoke Beyant. “He loves you very much. He did not move all night.”

She switched back to Beyant. “He was drugged to the gills.” At Yanna’s confusion, she realized she had to explain that idiom, too.

“He needed it. He is very devoted to all three of you, but especially to you, it seems.”

Caph lay there and watched them talk without interrupting or asking for a translation. She felt his relief. He was content to simply be there with her. Gods help the person who tried to keep him away from her at that point.

Gwan and another Beyant guard entered the room with a cart and food trays. They’d brought one of Beyant food for Yanna, and two of Earth food for Emi and Caph.

Caph sat up and stared at Emi. She felt he was still woozy from the sedative. “Go ahead and eat,” she assured him.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m okay.” Caph and Yanna helped her sit up in bed, but she ate unassisted. By the time they finished, Graymard, Ford, and Aaron had all arrived. Ford was dressed in a fresh Tamora Bight crew uniform. Aaron carried a duffel bag with a change of clothes and toiletries for Emi, and for Caph, so he could take a shower there in the room. The Beyant guards quickly brought two more trays of Earth food for Ford and Aaron.

“We need to discuss this situation,” Dr. Graymard started. “You four are under contract to the DSMC, but with the circumstances, we would release you if you asked it. But then we also have Ambassador Raoulx’s offer to consider. It would be a huge boon to our knowledge base to have personnel placed with the Beyant, if you were open to them joining yours. Not to mention it would help strengthen the Beyant relationship with the Interstellar Treaty Coalition.”

“Would the DSMC allow Yanna and Pabo to join our crew?” Emi asked.

Graymard nodded. “Because they are now a treaty race, you could even add them to your bonded crew status.”

“Whoa.” Aaron held up a hand. “Can we please back up a few steps?”

Emi filled him in. Ford nodded. “I’m for it.”

Caph looked puzzled. He was still woozy from the sedatives. “I’m not sharing her with them. And I’m damn sure not doing them!” He pointed at Yanna.

Emi laughed. “Calm down, big guy. That’s not what he meant.” She translated what Caph said to Yanna, who hadn’t understood the phrase.

“Do not worry, Caph,” Yanna assured him with a smile. “You are not my type. Also, I have no desire to sleep with my sister or my sister’s husbands.”

“Bonded crew status would make the paperwork easier,” Graymard assured Caph. “Bypass diplomatic red tape. It’s not just for romantically involved couples, but families, too.”

“Oh. Okay. I didn’t think about it like that. Yeah, sure. If you guys are okay with it. But that means a retrofit to add a new cabin for them and stuff.”

“That wouldn’t take long,” Aaron said.

“First, she needs to recover,” Graymard said. “We need to treat her, see if we can recover her memory. The four of you need time together to emotionally heal. We may need to bring her back to Earth to the base there for intensive treatment in the sim unit.”

Ultimately, as captain, Aaron had the final say. “I don’t mind. If Emi wants Yanna and Pabo with us, then they’re welcome.”

“Then that’s settled,” Graymard said. “I will coordinate with Ambassador Raoulx and get the paperwork started to make it official.”

* * *

Caph really needed a shower and shave, but he didn’t want to leave Emi’s side. With her surgical wounds bonded and safe to expose to a shower, she reached for Caph’s hand and sat up. “Help me up, big guy. You can take a shower with me.”

More than a shower, he needed time alone with her. Aaron would need that time, too, but in this way, she sensed Aaron was stronger and could wait.

Caph needed her attention immediately. She needed to reassure him she was healing despite her pain. The surgeon had removed several fibroid tumors from her uterus and abdomen during the surgery. Apparently they’d formed due to what she’d been drugged with. They’d administered some of the antidote and noticed immediate changes in her reproductive system as it responded to the medication. The general consensus had been to close her up and monitor her progress with abdominal scans to see if her healing continued.

Caph looked down at her, his green eyes full of sadness. “I missed you so much, baby. I never thought I’d see you again.”

“I know. It’s okay.” She shrugged off her hospital gown and stepped into the shower. He stripped and stepped in with her. He wanted to bathe her, but she made him sit on the fold-down seat. “No, I want to do this.” She slowly washed him, holding him as she did. He draped his arms around her hips and rested his forehead against her chest as she stroked his hair. “I’m back for good. You won’t lose me again.”

That was when he started sobbing. As the bathroom steamed up, she held him, soothing him, rocking him to comfort his grief. After several minutes he finally pulled himself together. He gently touched her stomach, where the faint pink line from the surgical wound was visible.

“Maybe we should quit the DSMC.” He kissed her tummy. “Stay on Earth, get a house. We’ll get a big house, and Yanna and Pabo can live on the other side and study Earth from Earth. We can sleep late every day and raise a houseful of kids.”

“You wouldn’t be happy on Earth.”

“Yeah, I would. With the three of you, I’m happy no matter where we are. That’s all that matters to me is you three. You all are my home.”

After a while he stood and she shaved him. Then he bathed her. Nearly an hour had passed by the time they dressed and emerged from the bathroom.

Her hospital room was empty, but she sensed Pabo’s protective, watchful presence guarding the door outside.

Caph helped her back into bed and once again took up the chair on her right, holding her hand while they watched a Martian news program about her return and the Beyant treaty signing on the vid screen.

The ambassador and Yanna showed up a while later. The ambassador carried flowers and scowled a little at Caph until Yanna explained who he was.

The ambassador’s English wasn’t very good, so he preferred to speak to her in Beyant. “I was told this is a Terran tradition,” he said as he leaned in to place a kiss on her forehead. “To bring flowers to the ill.” A nurse brought a vase in for her, then left again after taking her vital signs.

Emi smiled as Yanna arranged the flowers on the dresser. “Thank you, rah’tein,” she said. “They’re beautiful.”

Yanna sat on her other side and tipped his head toward Caph. “Does he always look at you so intently?” he asked.

She smiled. “He has since I’ve been here.” Her smile faded. “He’s very sad about the baby.”

Ambassador Raoulx agreed. “Even I can see it. He loves you very deeply.”

Caph rested his head on the bed again and stared at her. He brought her hand to his lips, kissed it, then cupped his other hand around it, too.

“Do you need to translate for him?” the ambassador asked.

“I don’t think he honestly cares what I say or what language I speak as long as he can sit here and listen to me.”

The ambassador laughed. “I would concur with that assessment.”

Yanna nodded. “He would sit there all day long and listen to you, I’m sure.”

“I think I like him,” the ambassador said with a decisive nod. “He seems worthy of you. I believe you are in very safe hands with him. And the others, of course.”

Emi smiled and turned to Caph. “He likes you,” she told him in English.

“I don’t care if he likes me or not. Who the hell is he?”

“Your father-in-law, Ambassador Raoulx. Yanna’s father. You can call him rah’tein.”

Caph blushed a little. “Oh. Tell him it’s a pleasure to meet him.”

She translated. The ambassador smiled as he extended a hand over the bed toward Caph. Caph reluctantly let go of Emi’s hand and shook with him before taking her hand again.

“Is it normal for a Terran male to be so…clingy?” the ambassador asked her.

“I think he will be clingy for a while, rah’tein.” She squeezed Caph’s hand and smiled at him. While she still had no clear memories of him, her heart and soul did remember the feelings she’d had for him. And without a doubt, she knew how much he loved her. “And that’s fine by me.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Emi was never left truly alone. If one or all of her men weren’t in the room with her, then either Yanna or Pabo were. If given privacy, at least two men guarded the door of her room. And Aaron, Caph, and Ford usually all spent nights crammed in the room with her, taking turns on the pullout sofa and sitting in a recliner chair next to her bed.

On day three of her stay in the medical unit, Aaron arrived with an older man and woman Emi knew from Ford’s pictures were Markkus and Delaney D’ambroise.

Kelsey’s mother and father.

Aaron introduced them anyway. “Em, they really wanted to come see you.”

She sensed his worry, that she would be overwhelmed, and she offered him a smile. “It’s okay. Thank you for bringing them.” She also knew he had a lot to do, between catching up on overdue maintenance on the Tamora Bight, as well as paperwork, filing incident reports, talking to tribunal representatives over Kayehalau’s attack on her and his subsequent suicide. “If you have a lot to do, it’s okay.”

He kissed her. “I’ll be back in two hours for lunch.”

Emi felt a wave of parental concern from both of them as they leaned in to hug and kiss her. Tears glistened in Delaney’s eyes. “Sweetie, it’s so good to see you.”

“Thanks, Mom.” It did feel a little odd calling her that, but she knew that like everything else, she would grow used to it. “I’m sorry I don’t have any memories of you. Ford told me all about you, though. And Kelsey.”

Markkus was easily as big as Caph. “We know. They warned us.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose. His eyes looked red, as if he’d been crying. “It’s so good to see you alive. You have no idea.”

She wanted to cry for them, for their joy as well as their renewed grief over losing their daughter. Her ordeal had dredged up a lot of memories for them, and not all of them good ones. “I wish we were getting together under better circumstances.”

Delaney patted her arm. “These are fantastic circumstances. You’ve come back, alive and…well.”

Emi didn’t miss the slight hesitation in the woman’s voice, the way she skipped, nearly tripping, over the subject.

“It’s okay. Dr. Graymard says we’re going to be transferred back to Earth for a while. They’re going to see if they can restore my memories.”

Delaney opened her purse. “I brought pictures and videos with us, if you’d like to see them.” She withdrew a handheld.

“Yes, please. That would be wonderful.”

Markkus and Delaney helped her out of bed and over to the sofa, where they sat flanking her. They were still sitting there when Aaron returned. Emi had laughed and cried with the couple, asked them countless questions about her men as well as Kelsey, and even felt the slightest glimmer of recognition when retelling events involving her.

“Do you want to have lunch with us?” Aaron asked them. “Caph and Ford are on their way, too. Caph would have blown off the tribunal wonks if I hadn’t ordered him to talk to them.”

Emi grabbed their hands. “Please, stay?” She felt eager to talk with them, thirsty for more details and memories.

Learning about herself and her past through her men wasn’t bad. But hearing about them from someone else’s point of view was priceless.

Not to mention the longer she stayed with them, the more loved by them she felt, and she wasn’t ready to relinquish that yet. In a world where her life had, in essence, started only months ago, she felt desperate to fill in the gaps, even if it was just in emotions and not in actual memories.

Feelings also served to feed her soul.

* * *

They stayed not only for lunch, but through dinner as well. Emi felt a little guilty about that, keeping them there all day, but the sincere reassurances Markkus and Delaney gave her soon eased those concerns. And that Delaney was the first other empath she’d met also gave Emi reason to not want them to leave.

“So when is the hearing?” Markkus asked Aaron.

“In two days. It’s just a formality because at least the guy left a confession.”

“I want to go,” Emi said.

Everyone looked at her.

“What?”

“Are you sure?” Caph asked. “They aren’t going to call you as a witness because your memory isn’t intact. They’re using the logs recovered from the data buoy. All they need is for us and a DSMC technician to confirm it’s your voice.”

She firmly nodded. “I want to go. I want to be there for all three of you. Besides, we’re family as well as crew.”

Delaney patted her hand. “If you want, we’ll come sit with you in the audience.”

“I’d like that a lot.”

* * *

Although Emi had been briefed on what to expect, she still felt nervous, both from her own anxiety and the tension she picked up from her men the morning of the hearing. As the tribunal assembled in the small conference room, they sat at one end of the table while Aaron, Ford, and Caph sat at the other. Dr. Graymard joined Emi, Markkus, and Delaney, the only spectators in the gallery of twelve chairs.

As the tribunal convened and the men were walked through their testimonies, Emi kept her eyes closed and welcomed the protective energies of Markkus and Delaney, who sat on either side of her and kept firm grips on her hands.

When the audio recording she’d made of the attack was played, she closed her eyes. Her pulse quickened as she listened to her voice and the calm, emotionless tone of her attacker. Fear trickled through her, faster, as the events unfolded, until she was reminded of the initial feelings of terror embedded in her soul upon her arrival on the B’autachia.

Even worse, she remembered the dark, ominous cloud she used to feel around Kayehalau after he joined their crew.

As the tape of his confession played, she kept her eyes closed and focused on the support of Markkus and Delaney, their warm love.

Her adopted family.

By the time the hearing finally ended three hours later, she felt weak and exhausted, physically and mentally.

Delaney handed her over to Aaron, Caph, and Ford. “Take her back to her room and let her rest. She needs it.”

Emi felt a flash of irritation from Aaron, directed at Graymard. “Why can’t we take her home, to the Bight?” he asked the man as he stepped in close.

“Because we need to closely monitor her for the next couple of days to see what effects the antidote has on her.”

“It’s okay, Aaron,” she said.

As they returned to the medical center, she noticed how Aaron stroked her knuckles with his thumb.

Something stirred in her memory, a thought, a feeling, too brief for her to grasp.

But as they walked, she also realized the motion soothed him, comforted him. She laid her head against his arm as they walked and felt his energy shift even more, calming, settling.

Happy to have her home, and still not quite satisfied that they couldn’t take her back to the Bight yet.

“It’ll be okay,” she whispered to him. “Just another couple of days.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Before finally being discharged from the medical center once Graymard was satisfied that her physical healing was progressing as well as could be expected, Emi was refitted with a chip by Dr. Graymard. Then her men escorted her, Yanna, and Pabo to the hangar.

Even though she’d seen pictures and vids, the size of the vessel staggered her. “I’m going to get lost.”

Caph laughed, a sound that, when combined with the lightness returning to his soul, uplifted her. “You used to say that all the time, but you learned your way around her.”

Ford smiled. “You also used onboard maps a lot.”

While some feelings teased her mind, no true memories returned during their walk to the crew area. Yanna and Pabo left them alone to continue on to their quarters.

She moved around the cabin, examining things as her men watched. She put her hand on one dresser. “This was mine?” On top sat a horrifically ugly rubber spider.

Caph hurried over, smiling, and picked up the spider. “This is Bucky. He’s your good luck charm.”

That teased another item somewhere in the dark, swirling recesses of her conscious. As she fingered the toy, she concentrated, but the item swam out of reach before she could latch onto it. “Is this what I used to win the fight on Kal’moran?”

“Right,” Aaron said. “You scared the shit out of her with it.”

Without putting it down, she turned to the room. It was late, and she was tired. “Will we have dinner soon?”

“Whenever you want, babe,” Ford assured her.

She nodded. “Thanks.”

* * *

Emi felt comforted that Yanna and Pabo’s cabin lay a few yards down and across the corridor from theirs. Not because she worried about her men, but because she’d grown to depend on Yanna’s presence for feelings of security.

I will have to allow my men to take that role back. And she felt confident that one day they would.

But for now, she’d gladly take all the comfort she could get.

Dinner was a cheerful affair even though she sensed how desperate Caph was to get her back to their cabin. Not even for sex, she knew, but for another step in the return to normalcy, to have her back where she belonged, setting their world right even if she still had a long walk ahead of her in her recovery.

They could all spend the night together because their launch wasn’t scheduled to happen until the next afternoon. So after cleaning the galley and Yanna and Pabo bidding them good-night, Emi and her men retired to their quarters.

She kicked off her shoes, but left her sweatsuit on, and stretched out on the bed. “Oh, it’s really comfy.”

All three men watched with renewed anxiety. Ford took the first step, literally, going to sit next to her. “Yeah, nothing but the best.”

She looked at Caph and Aaron and waved them over. Once all three men sat in bed, still dressed and surrounding her, she felt their tension begin to wane a little. She sensed what they wanted, and what they feared.

She also couldn’t deny the delicious demands of her own healing body to have all three of them to herself. If Ford was just a sample of how wonderful their sex had been together, she couldn’t wait to experience all three of them at once.

“Ford told me he didn’t think you two would let him get close to me when we were all together again,” she tried by way of joking.

After seeing the confused looks on Aaron’s and Caph’s faces, she tried again. “That you’d hog me.”

That finally earned her a gorgeous smile from Caph. “Yeah, he always did bitch about going last. Stingy bastard had you all to himself. That should count for something.”

“Well,” Aaron said, his tone playful, “he is still listed as first officer and you’re listed as mate. Technically, you’re now the one who has to wait.”

Caph’s shaggy eyebrows scrunched up. “Hey, that’s not fair!”

Ford laughed. “Don’t worry, big guy. Now that you’re back to your old self and the crew is reunited, I’ll be happy to take back the mate title.”

The ice now broken, she made a request. “While we’re here, can you guys show me how to play strip poker again?”

Aaron’s brow furrowed. “Honey, are you sure? We are happy to wait as long as—”

“I’m sure,” she insisted, looking at Caph.

His jaw momentarily gaped before he was up like a shot. He returned a moment later with a deck of cards. “Let’s do it.”

Aaron helped her with her cards and kept telling her they didn’t expect her to get naked if she didn’t want to, even as she removed each article of clothing in turn when she lost a hand.

Before long, everyone was losing on purpose and the men were down to their briefs while she wore only panties.

She grabbed the cards and put them aside. “Okay, boys. Someone turn the lights down and put some music on and let’s quit delaying this. I want you to make love to me.” Ford got up to do it.

“All of us?” Aaron asked.

She took his hand and brought it to her mouth. Slowly, seductively, enjoying the feel of his rising passion in his soul as she did, she laved each of his fingers with her lips and tongue.

She also enjoyed how his stiff cock tented the front of his briefs.

“All of you,” she softly confirmed as she met his sweet brown gaze. “All of you, right now.”

Caph fell over on his back as he tried pulling his briefs off without standing up first. Aaron opted for cradling her in his arms and lowering her to the bed, kissing her.

She was vaguely aware of Ford being completely naked when he rejoined them in bed. He and Caph worked on her panties, slowly pulling them down her legs until they were discarded somewhere to join the rest of their clothes on the floor.

Emi basked in the feeling of their love. It flowed around and through her, warming her as surely as any fire. The feel of Aaron’s soft hair as she ran her fingers through it, the gentleness of Caph and Ford’s touch, the sound of their breath quickening.

The smell of their arousal.

Caph and Ford each latched onto her breasts, the wet heat of their lips pulling at her, filling her with need and passion that made everything else pale in comparison. She closed her eyes as Aaron devoured her mouth with his. Each breath she took tasted sweeter than the last, until she finally shoved her brain out of the way and let her body feel and experience and enjoy.

Caph and Ford both gently stroked her legs with their hands, until Caph slid his all the way up her thigh and began stroking her labia. She spread her legs wider, inviting him in and never wanting any of them to stop loving her.

Even if she never regained her memories, she would gladly spend the rest of her life basking in the glow of love from them.

When Caph’s fingers carefully probed for entrance and found her wet, her eyes popped open and she gasped at the pleasant sensation of him pressing for entrance. Aaron lifted his head to look into her eyes, at first concerned but then recognizing her passion and pleasure.

“Come for us,” he whispered, nibbling on her ear. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard you do that.”

He palmed her cheek and leaned in for another kiss. “Come for us, baby.”

It didn’t take long. The feeling of their combined love was like the universe’s strongest aphrodisiac. White heat blossomed in her clit, rapidly spreading throughout her body as Caph’s fingers brought her to two explosive orgasms in quick succession.

Aaron sat up, shucked his briefs, and changed places with Ford. “I never thought I’d ever be here with you again,” he admitted, the briefest of grief darkening his soul before love and passion took over again.

She wrapped her legs around him, reaching up for him as he lined up his rigid cock with her drenched pussy. “Now,” she gasped. “Please!”

He slid in, deep and hard and fast before falling still with his forehead resting against her chest. She tried to make him move, but he wouldn’t. “No, I want to feel this,” he said. “I never thought I ever would again.”

Cradled in Caph’s and Ford’s arms, Emi wrapped her arms and legs around Aaron and waited until he composed himself. Then he touched his forehead to hers, his eyes closed as he struggled to keep his strokes slow and deep.

She let him set the tempo despite wanting him to fuck her hard and fast. He needed this, and there was no way she would deny him.

As he slowly grew closer to release, a beautiful rainbow of emotions swelled within his soul, even as his cock stiffened inside her. When he finally allowed himself to let go and come, the bubble exploded even as his cum emptied inside her, making her gasp with pleasure over the intensity of his emotions.

She held him tightly to her, his face pressed against her shoulder as she stroked his back, his hair, the stubble on his cheeks.

And even though she knew Caph was yearning for his turn, he didn’t rush his lover, his husband, letting him draw healing from her as he slowly recovered his senses.

Aaron kissed her deeply as he pushed up on his arms. “I love you,” he said.

She smiled. “I love you, too.” Without even thinking about it, she looked at Caph and kissed him. “And I love you.” And then Ford. “And I love you.”

Aaron let out a happy sigh and sat up. “I’d better move before Caph tackles me.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Caph said, “but yeah.”

Emi giggled. She shared a wink with Ford, knowing he was more than happy to wait until last this time. He’d had her all to himself and wanted his husbands to have this time with her.

Caph kissed her, different than Aaron, but his energy held the same happy glow of Aaron’s. “Hi.”

She smiled. “Hi.” When she sensed hesitancy from him as he worried about hurting her, she reached between his legs and grabbed his cock. Rubbing it up and down between her labia, now soaked from her own juices and Aaron’s, she said, “I think this is what you want to do.”

With a groan, he sank home, his entire body trembling with the effort of holding back.

She made him look down at her. “As hard and fast as you want. You won’t hurt me.”

His sweet green eyes widened a little, but he took her up on it, not bothering to hold back once he had her assurance.

She felt his release building fast, explosive like a force of nature. And when his balls drew up tight before adding his own juices to her, he burst into tears and collapsed on top of her.

All three of them comforted him, but she knew he needed this, to get the pain out of his soul before it ate away at him. The big man with the even bigger heart.

And then it was Ford’s turn.

Instead of positioning himself to fuck her, he lay between her legs and began laving her pussy and clit with his tongue. When she finally begged him to stop three orgasms later, he sat up wearing a wicked grin. His cock jutted out from his body. “How was that?”

She nodded, beyond speech.

Caph moved with incredible speed for a man his size. He leaned over and wrapped his lips around Ford’s cock, almost knocking the smaller man over as Ford had to brace himself against Caph’s shoulders.

She snuggled against Aaron and enjoyed watching them together, the way Caph eagerly bobbed his head up and down as he worked to drain Ford’s sac of his cum.

“He’s got a very talented mouth,” Aaron softly whispered in her ear. “And he’s been beyond wanting to put it to use.”

She giggled. Ford had given up trying to stay vertical. He fell over on his side, Caph moving with him and never releasing Ford’s cock from his mouth. When Ford grabbed Caph’s head and started fucking his hips in time with Caph’s motions, Caph let out a happy moan of his own.

And then Emi watched Ford’s fingers tighten in Caph’s shaggy hair, his body tensing as his orgasm hit him and Caph fell still, his throat working while he swallowed.

“Better?” she said once Ford had once again opened his eyes.

He nodded. “Oh, yeah. Jesus, I missed that.”

She felt her eyelids already growing heavy as Caph returned to snuggle next to her. Ford, satisfied with spooning Caph from behind, completed their group.

“Okay,” Aaron mumbled, already falling asleep. “Captain’s orders. Everyone sleep late.”

The twins both said, “Aye, aye, Cap.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Dr. Graymard placed his hands on his desk and looked at Emi. “I cannot guarantee you we will be able to retrieve all your memories.”

“I know.”

She heard his sigh and didn’t know if he was more worried for her, or worried about her men. “Promise you won’t try to hit me this time when you come out of the sim?”

She didn’t understand his quirky smile. She must have looked confused, because a brief wave of sadness replaced his concern. “The very first day when you came in to be evaluated for the program,” he said, “you were put through a sim session to match you with Aaron, Caph, and Ford. When you came out of it, you hit me because when it ended, you thought Aaron was going to his death.”

That tweaked something in the dark, murky recesses of her brain, but it flittered away again before she could hold on to it. She wasn’t sure what the proper response should be. “Oh. Sorry?”

The wave of sadness washing from him didn’t match his smile. “It’s quite all right. I’ll gladly take another punch if it means you do get all your memories back.”

“What do we do next?”

“What I’d like to do is put you through a replay of your initial sim session with your men. Not with them. However, Dr. Stephens has volunteered to go through it with you as an active observer, if you’d like.”

“To hold my hand?”

“You can say no, if you wish.”

Emi thought about it. Looking at pictures and vids of her past with Donna Stephens was another pleasant trigger in her memory, in a different way than her men.

“Okay. Is she here?”

“Dr. Stephens and her men are on their way down from the orbiting space station now. They’ll be here in less than an hour.” He glanced down at his desk. “She’s very concerned about you. They all are.”

Emi had read through the files, both their professional files and Emi’s saved personal correspondence with her. “Dr. Stephens—Donna—and I were very close, weren’t we?”

“You were roommates in college. You went to school together. She joined the DSMC after you left Earth. She is your best friend. Both her and Dr. Vanderlin. Although you both met Dr. Vanderlin at the same time and haven’t known her as long.”

Emi took a deep breath. “Why don’t you want me going through it with my men?”

“You can, but I’d like you to go through it first as just an observer. I think it would be better for you to be able to watch it without the emotions of your men influencing you the first time. They might be overwhelmed watching it. It will play for you and Dr. Stephens like a vid. But the two of you will be able to interact with each other. That she volunteered to do this shows how much she loves you as a friend.”

“Why?”

He smiled and rubbed his jaw. “Because she swore she’d never get into another sim. She also packs an even meaner punch than you do.”

* * *

Emi looked up from the handheld she’d been reading when the door opened. A woman looking like the file pics and vids Emi had watched walked in.

When she spotted Emi, she smiled and rushed over to her, enveloping her in a huge hug.

“Emi, oh my gods!” She leaned back to look Emi in the eyes. “Jesus, when Ford told us what happened, I thought I’d never see you again. And then we were the ones who found the pod…” Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Then when Graymard got hold of me when you got to Mars with the Beyants…” She hugged Emi again, sobbing against her shoulder.

Donna’s mix of old grief, relief, and joy threatened to overwhelm Emi. She returned her embrace, unsure what to say and feeling guilty for not having the memories of the deep bond they’d so obviously shared.

Finally, Donna composed herself and put on a smile for Emi. “Hey, I said I’ve been wanting empath training. Graymard said I can use the time here to do it, if I want. Work with the techs who will help you. He said we can stay here as long as I want, or until you’re returned to duty, whichever comes first.”

Graymard hadn’t told her that part, but Emi welcomed Donna’s company. Already, little snippets of things about Donna wanted to tease at Emi’s brain, as if memories lurked on the backside of windows clouded by soot and were knocking for recognition and release.

They grabbed lunch in the DSMC complex’s cafeteria before the afternoon sim session would begin. Emi noticed how Donna couldn’t quit smiling, the last tendrils of her friend’s grief finally working their way out of her system as she came to accept Emi was well and truly alive. “Rob, Sam, and Gregor wanted to know if you all would like to come over to the K-2 for dinner tonight.”

“K-2?”

“Oh, sorry. The Kendall Kant. Our ship.” She smiled. “They docked us right next to the Bight. Sam hit the motor pool ten minutes after they secured and cleared us and headed out for a great organic market in New Phoenix. They’re really looking forward to seeing you guys again.”

Emi didn’t miss Donna’s hope. “It sounds great. I’ll send Aaron a message about it before we go into the sim.”

Donna had something else she wanted to say. She looked down at her tray, reluctance briefly flashing through her before being replaced by determination. “I don’t want you to feel embarrassed or bad by anything you see in the sim, okay? I never told you this before, because I never really thought it mattered, but Rob told me how badly they’d treated you in the initial pairing sim. I made Graymard show me. So please, don’t be embarrassed or anything on my behalf when you go through it. I already saw what happened.”

Another piece clicked home for Emi. “Graymard doesn’t want Aaron, Caph, and Ford getting angry at Rob, Sam, and Gregor.”

Donna touched her finger to her nose. “And there’s something else. After we learned they found you, and about your memory, Rob told me something. He pulled you aside at the Halloween party last year and apologized again in person about what happened. He also told me that, if you want, he’ll go through a sim session with you if you want to recover the memory and otherwise can’t.”

Graymard was far smarter than Emi ever realized. It wasn’t just for moral support and assistance that he’d brought Donna and her men to Earth. He was determined to do his part to make sure current relationships between the crews weren’t ruined by revelations of past incidents that no longer mattered.

Emi nodded. “Okay. Let’s see what happens first and go from there.”

* * *

Emi slogged through the process day by day, at times elated at her progress in some areas and frustrated to tears in others. Regaining her memories of life with her men from the moment they first met were easy. Recalling much of her college days, with Donna’s help and guidance, also relatively easy.

Elusive remained some of the memories she treasured most, and yet still couldn’t find a way to access—her childhood, and her parents.

Sure, she had pics, vids, and recorded messages from them she could play. Little teasing particles of memories would emerge as if called out from a children’s hide-and-seek game.

But a large void remained. As painful as she knew it would be, it was one she was most desperate to penetrate and untangle as much as possible.

One day, after a long and frustrating sim session where she made no new progress despite trying all the mental tricks she’d learned and modified to regain other memories, Emi went to bed early.

She did not sleep.

Later that night, after she was certain her men deeply slept, Emi slipped out of bed and dressed, grabbing her handheld as she headed toward the main hatch. By the time she reached the sim lab, Graymard was waiting there for her, dressed in jeans and an Arizona Cardinals T-shirt.

She stopped short at the sight, not used to seeing him in anything but a uniform and a lab coat. “Thank you for coming back,” she softly said to cover her initial confusion at his appearance.

He offered her a tired smile. “I’ve been staying here in one of the guest suites since we started the process. I didn’t want to venture too far afield and not be available to you.”

She felt guilty over that, that his life was upended over her. “I’m sorry.”

He waved her apology off. “Don’t be. This is part of my job. I’m not married, and my dog doesn’t care where we sleep as long as I feed and walk him on time.” He kindly smiled. “I know we were never what one could call close before, but I’ve been rather fond of you since the day you first walked into my office for your initial interview. Seeing how you interacted with Aaron, Caph, and Ford in the sim only reinforced that opinion.”

She blushed. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

“I’ve prepared the playback series you asked for. Are you sure you want to do this alone? You don’t want to wait for Donna or your men to accompany you?”

She nodded. “I know it’s going to hurt. But I also know it didn’t really happen.”

He shrugged. “Very well.” He led her over to the closest sim bed and helped get her settled before he attached the sensor leads to her forehead. He put a button in her hand. “I’ll start you out as an observer. I won’t immerse you until you tell me to. Remember, if it’s too intense, hit that button and everything will pause and you’ll feel like you’re standing in a sim room watching it instead of being part of it.”

She nodded, holding a deep breath as he closed the lid of the sim bed, waiting to let it out again until she sensed him move away toward the control console.

She closed her eyes and waited for Graymard’s countdown to begin.

His soft voice filtered into her consciousness. “Sim to begin in three…two…one…”

Mentally she opened her eyes and found herself standing on the bridge of the Tamora Bight. In the command chair, she saw herself sitting there, reading with her legs drawn up under her. Emi felt her own heart jump and begin to race as her sim-self sat up at the sound of an alert beep. With shaking fingers, her sim-self reached over and touched the screen, where a message box popped up.

Emi took a deep breath and softly spoke. “Full immersion mode.”

Graymard immediately replied, although her sim-self didn’t react. “Full immersion mode, commencing…now.”

Emi experienced a brief moment of disorientation as she found herself now seated in the command chair and reading the alert message. Her heart raced as adrenaline flowed through her body.

She relived the events as they had originally happened to her in the first sim, struggling to remember that it was just a sim, even as the very first one had been.

Still, the emotions, the fear felt real.

The terror.

The grief, thinking she was going to lose Aaron to an alien. That he voluntarily went to his death to save their lives.

As the four of them stood in the Grantz executive vessel and received the ultimatum that one of them would stay or all of them would die, Emi didn’t care that it was a sim of a sim.

She had started to plead with Aaron to reconsider his decision when everything went black. She felt a rush of air against her face and heard the outraged voice of a man screaming.

“…you goddamned motherfucker! We told you we didn’t want her going through this part alone!” Ford.

She opened her eyes to see Ford leaning in over her, his face filled with worry as he started removing the sensor leads from her forehead. “Babe, are you okay?”

She burst into tears as he gathered her into his arms and helped her sit up. He cradled her against his chest, his anger at Graymard white-hot and volatile.

“She’s an adult, Ford. She asked for this.”

“We fucking told you! You promised!”

“Please don’t be mad at him,” she whispered. She felt Ford’s anger begin to settle, to shift from supernova to violet, then orange, eventually settling into the hot grey of embers, stable but able to be stoked at a second’s notice. “I asked him to do this. I needed to.”

A little more of his anger dissipated as confusion crept in. “Why, babe? We told you how rough it was. Why would you want to go through this alone when we could help you? Especially since technically it didn’t happen.”

“I needed to.” She sat back and wiped at her eyes as she met his blue gaze. Some of her recalled past still felt hazy, as if she’d watched it in a sim.

“But why?”

For the very reason she’d suspected, and the painful sim experience had confirmed. “I had to feel it,” she whispered. “I had to feel the pain.” It wasn’t the only pain that now flooded her soul. “I needed to feel it. I needed it to break through the final barriers.”

Graymard still stood by the console. He nodded to her. She knew he understood.

She returned her focus to Ford. “I needed to feel what grief did to me, deep inside me.”

Ford slowly shook his head, confusion now further dampening his fading anger. “Again, why?”

She took a deep, hitching breath. “Because it was the only way I could make the neural connections and remember what happened and how it felt when I lost my parents.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.

—Orson Welles

Recovering the remainder of her memories was an agonizingly emotional process, but one Emi refused to shy away from. With the combination of the sim sessions, guided meditation tricks, and a lot of crying on the shoulders of Donna and her men, Emi quickly struggled her way through it to the amazement of Graymard and his staff.

And since having met other F’ahrkays without feeling the same darkness she had before, she realized more than ever how spot-on her empathic senses had been about Kayehalau and his intentions.

Her men swore to never challenge her again on that point.

They wouldn’t dare. Not after what happened.

The ISNC and DSMC also instituted new regulations that trained empaths could overrule the assignment of a crew member to a ship of less than ten permanent crew members without other cause. More than ten members, the captain and medical officer, if the med officer wasn’t the empath, also had to sign off on the refusal.

Five months after returning to New Phoenix and three months following the night of Emi’s breakthrough in the sim, what few holes remained in her memories amounted to little more than the smallest of moth-made wounds in the largest of tapestries.

In other words, she could live with it.

With her skills completely intact, and her knowledge of the Bight’s systems as strong as ever, Graymard cleared her to resume her duties. She asked for, and was granted, an extra week to take care of a few Earth-based errands.

Emi and her men, along with Donna and her men, and Yanna and Pabo, had a quiet celebratory dinner at the same expensive hillside resort with the great view that Emi and her men had stayed at before leaving on their first mission.

Before they started eating, Aaron held his champagne glass up in a toast. Emi looked into his sweet, brown eyes and enjoyed the flow of love from him as well as Caph and Ford.

The happiness that they were once again a whole family.

“Life is short,” he said, his voice choking up a little. “Too damn short. So to family. And to friends who are every bit as good as family,” he said with a nod toward the K-2 crew. “And to never, ever giving up hope. Crew first.”

They all repeated it. “Crew first.”

He leaned in and kissed her after they drank to the toast. Nuzzling his forehead against hers, she felt more than just love flowing from him at that moment.

He was as horny as she was. For that matter, so were Caph and Ford.

They made it through dinner without ripping their clothes off in front of Donna and her men. But from emotions Emi felt from that foursome, they wouldn’t be dawdling long at the dinner table either.

When Emi and her men returned to the room, she started ripping her clothes off as soon as she stepped through the door. She enjoyed the identical looks of pleased shock her men wore as she bounced, naked, onto the center of the bed.

“Come and get me.”

They swarmed her, eager tongues and fingers and the feeling of their passion filling her senses like a drug. One thing she would always be thankful for, she realized that either her empath senses were now far stronger than they ever had been before, or she’d become more skilled at using them. But it was hotter than hell feeling how badly her men wanted her.

Caph somehow managed to shuck his pants and underwear first, even though he still wore his shirt. His cock easily slid home into her well-lubricated pussy as Aaron and Ford still struggled to get naked.

“Hey,” Aaron playfully complained. “That’s no fair. He’s still got his shirt on.”

She held on for the wild ride as Caph slammed his cock into her, each thrust driving her up the bed until he finally came.

She clung to him, breathless and even more horny than before.

“You all right, babe?”

She loved that he’d finally put aside his timidity regarding her. He knew she wasn’t going to break. “No. I didn’t come.”

“Aww. Sorry. Here, let me make it better.”

She let out a squeal of laughter as he threw her legs over his shoulder and went to town. Her squeals soon turned to moans of pleasure as Aaron and Ford each latched onto a nipple and began sucking.

And when she came, she thought the top of her head would come off.

Caph sat up, a pleased look on his face. Then Aaron shoved him over, making him fall onto his side. “Move it. Horny captain coming through.”

“And coming,” Emi joked.

By the time they finished fucking each other exhausted an hour later, Emi was ready to fall asleep. Sated, happy, and even better, tendrils of her husbands’ love for her still flowing through her, she drifted off into a happy, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Two days later, Emi and her men took an air transport to Montana, where they rented a car and drove. The quiet hillside overlooked the valley where the city of Bozeman lay below. Emi didn’t need to stop at the office to know where to go. Her feet knew the way.

From memory.

The men hovered behind her in silence, following her through the rows of grave markers until she stopped in the shade of a silver maple tree. A small, engraved granite marker with two notations side by side, with different birthdates…

And the same date of death.

Dr. Jasper Hypatia, and Dr. Melinda Ellingham Hypatia — Beloved parents.

Emi dropped to her knees in front of the markers and set the small vase of daisies and marigolds in a notch on the bottom of the marker. She kissed her fingers and first touched her mother’s name, then her father’s.

The men stood alert, but respecting her need to do this despite them wanting to hover and comfort her.

“It was raining the day of the funeral,” she softly said after several minutes of nothing but the sounds of birds and the wind to break the quiet. “The headmistress of the school brought me. She was really nice. Mrs. Attwater.” Emi ran her hands up and down her arms against the crisp chill in the air. “She let me stay as long as I wanted. She didn’t try to rush me to leave when it finished. A lot of people showed up. They were well known in their field.”

She sniffled, the memories flowing faster, harder, the dam completely gone. “I sat here in a rain poncho while Mrs. A stood under the tree with an umbrella. I didn’t want to use the umbrella she brought for me. Several of their colleagues offered to let me come stay with them, but I told them no thanks.

“When it was late and I was ready to go, Mrs. Attwater drove me down into Bozeman so I could see the house one more time.” She laughed. “I remember when we first moved there when I was little, I wanted to paint it pink. Mom and Dad told me we couldn’t do that, but they let me paint my bedroom pink.”

She closed her eyes and tipped her head back so the breeze could dry the tears on her cheeks. “I loved it here when I was a kid. It was a great place to grow up.” She let out a sad sigh. “You know, I really miss my garden.”

Aaron stepped forward and gently rested a hand on her shoulder. “We can move here, if you want, babe. Get a house and a garden. Whatever you want.”

She smiled without opening her eyes and patted his hand. “I meant the hydro lab. I want to go back to the Bight now and get on with our lives.”

He squeezed her shoulder. “Okay.”

“Go ahead to the car. I’ll be there in a minute.”

She waited until she sensed rather than heard the men walk away. Then she removed a small bronze vial from her coat pocket. Choking back tears, she used her fingers to pull back a small section of sod at the base of the marker, until she reached bare dirt. There, she dug a small indentation in the dirt.

Carefully, she twisted the top off the vial and gently tapped the ashes into the small depression she’d made. Then she covered it, put the sod back in place, and pressed her fingers over it. “Take good care of Grandma and Grandpa,” she whispered. “Tell them I love them.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

With excitement and trepidation, Emi sat at her console on the bridge and watched as the hover lifts slowly moved the Tamora Bight from the hangar to the launchpad. There was something comfortingly familiar about the feelings washing over her from her men. Their pleasure and excitement over returning to space, combined with their contentment that their family was not only complete again, but expanded with the presence of Yanna and Pabo on board.

“It is a very slow process,” Yanna noted as he looked out into the distance where the heavy tugs awaited them on the launchpad were visible through heat shimmers rising off the pavement. “It did not take this long to lift from Mars.”

“Yeah,” Aaron said. “Gravity, atmosphere, and population densities.”

Next to them, another set of hover lifts were being set up to begin the process to move the Kendall Kant.

I wonder if Donna feels like this before a lift.

“I can’t wait to get the hell off this rock,” Emi said. It wasn’t until she realized Aaron, Caph, and Ford were looking at her with smiles that she said, “What?”

Caph leaned over from his station at the console and kissed her. “I never thought I’d ever hear you say that again. Damn, is that good.”

* * *

After two days at the orbiting hub, they headed out for Mars for resupply before their next assignment. Their first evening away from the hub, Emi sought out Ford on the bridge, where he had night watch. Without a word, he held his arms open to her and helped her snuggle into the command chair with him. She laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as she felt him wrap his arms securely around her.

Safe.

The safest place in the world. Not that Aaron and Caph didn’t make her feel safe, because they did. But she’d never admit a tiny little part of her held an even more special bond with Ford for what they went through on the B’autachia. The first few snippets of memories she recalled were with him, in his arms.

It didn’t make her love Aaron and Caph any less, but it made her appreciate even more how fragile life could be.

And the other shared grief they had in common would always bind them more tightly together.

He kissed the top of her head. “You all right?”

“Couldn’t sleep,” she mumbled against his shirt. She belatedly realized they were both speaking Beyant.

Something else they would always have in common.

He gently stroked her back and remained silent.

After a few minutes her stress melted from her. “I don’t know what to do.”

“About what, babe?”

She kept her eyes shut as she aimlessly plucked at the front of his shirt.

He let out a sad sigh as he rubbed his chin across the top of her head. “We’re all still young. We have plenty of time to try again later.”

“They won’t force us out if we do. I looked it up in the regs. We have seniority and we’re not in battle.”

“No, but do you really think this is the right environment to have a baby? We’re not supposed to be in dangerous situations, but look what we’ve been through so far.”

“I know.”

His melancholy always tinged his blue aura with a green somewhere between melon and fern, different than the green of Caph’s content state. She felt it now. Not quite sadness, but not completely happy either. The little girl who never had a chance, even with their advanced technology.

His baby.

Their baby.

As she sat there in his arms, she felt the range of emotions flow through him as his thoughts bounced from one thing to another. The melancholy, the sadness. The grief that flowed into anger over what Kayehalau had done not just to her, but to all of them. Of the time he stole from them, her memories.

Their baby.

Eventually his feelings settled into a royal blue, his normal relaxed state, a mix of love, his mind partially on his duties, and tinged with a little lust over the way her bottom rubbed against his cock through his trousers.

“We’ll try again one day,” he softly said, still speaking Beyant.

“I know.”

“And it’s not the DSMC we have to worry about when we do.”

Confused, she opened her eyes and tipped her head back so she could look into his eyes.

He smiled down at her. “Rah’tien. Duh. Do you honestly think he’d let his little girl stay in space if she was expecting?” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Yanna would rat us out to him faster than we could blink.” He settled his hand flat over her tummy as he let his forehead touch hers. “I doubt he’d force us back to Beyantaeux, but he’d ground our asses on Earth or Mars or somewhere. And wherever that new somewhere was, he’d immediately get busy building an embassy station there to keep an eye on you.”

“He reminds me of my dad,” she whispered. She knew she hadn’t talked about her family much with her men before everything that happened. The trip to Bozeman had been her first time visiting their graves in several years. Going through the sim while retracing and regaining her memories had also unearthed a fresh harvest of grief and loss to work through.

Or, maybe she never had completely worked through it before.

“Oh, sweetie. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She laid her hand over his and laced her fingers through his. “I’d like to go visit Beyantaeux sometime.”

“So would I. The pictures and videos are gorgeous.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, her ear pressed against his chest and his pulse thrumming through her. “Can we go to Kels’ grave when we stop at Mars?”

He kissed the top of her head again. “Of course we can.”

She lay there a little longer. “Can I ask you something else?”

“Of course.”

She switched back to English standard. “What the hell is an M-squared, and why does the thought if it absolutely turn my stomach?” It was a small thing that had been bugging her, a question she’d never remembered to ask before, but knew it was one of those tiny missing pieces in her mind.

He laughed and kissed her again. “Oh, babe. I get to teach you the right way to drink this time.”

THE END

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Content

Out of Bight, Out of Mind
Deep Space Mission Corps -4
by
Tymber Dalton

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight