REBELS AND SAVIORS

Agape

“Liz! Go with the Captain. He’ll protect you.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Maria grimaced. “Maria. Call me Maria. Now go.” Maria quickly grabbed Max’s arm. “Do not touch her. She’s an Immaculate.” Max nodded and gestured the woman to follow him.

Michael watched them go. “Now what, Princess?”

Maria glared at him. “Now we create a diversion.” She looked at Kyle and Sean, “You go first. Commander Negativity and I will follow.”

Sean was worried. “What’s the diversion?”

Maria just snorted. “Michael and me.”

Kyle just laughed as he and Sean went towards their transport. Answering questions, they assured the security guards that they hadn’t purchased or acquired anything while on this world, that they had simply come for a wedding.

Michael watched them, and then turned to Maria, “So what’s this diversion?”

“Kiss me. And don’t stop.”

“Just kiss you? That’s supposed to be distracting?”

Her eyes traveled the length of him taking in all his details, from his boots, to his chest to his golden brown eyes. Michael squirmed under her regard and the darkening of her brilliant green eyes. She was living energy - alive.

Michael decided it was no hardship to comply. Reaching out he pulled her towards him. Lowering his head his lips brushed hers.

Once.

Twice.

She didn’t want to play. This was hardly going to create a commotion.

Suddenly she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down, plundering his mouth, biting his lips and then sucking the hurt away. Trailing her lips across the raspy hair on his cheek she nipped his earlobe, the one with the tiny silver hoop earring.

“A kiss doesn’t have to mean anything,” she said simply.

“Not unless you mean it.”

Maria looked at him sharply, her eyes narrowing and darkening even more. “Then put something into it, Commander. Let’s create a sensation.”

Michael looked up and noticed a few of the Guard’s ground crew noticing them. Right...a show.

Growling low, he pushed her back against a small wall of crates and stood between her legs. Grinding against her, he let her feel how hard he was. He could smell her arousal; it wove its way around him, pulling him further into her web.

She lifted one leg up and hooked it around his thigh. Pulling his head down she ravaged his lips while taking her pleasure from him. He gave her control, relinquishing it gladly. She bucked against him, more into it than she was ever going to admit. Offering her neck to him she moaned as he sucked, nipped and tasted. His hands moved up to frame her small breasts, kneading, massaging, and letting his thumb rub over her nipples through her tight leather shirt.

Pushing against him she rode him harder and faster, straining for the orgasm she could feel beginning. Allowing herself to be very vocal to attract more attention, she bit the side of his neck.

“You could help me here by adding to the sound effects...” Her breath was raspy and coming in gasps.

Following her cues, he lifted her and pulled her other leg over his hip wrapping both around his waist. Increasing his speed he bucked into her, driving his hardness against her. Pulling at her nipples and biting her neck he slammed into her harder, faster until he felt her legs tighten around his waist and her voice cry out in pleasure, adding his own vocal encouragement.  Without looking, he knew they were the only show anyone in the landing bay was watching.

Minutes passed, both of them regaining some control. Her hand drifted to the front of his leather pants, caressing the bulge still there. He grabbed her hand, smiling ruefully at her obvious tease. This might be all for show, a distraction, but he still had to sleep with her. Chastely.

Pulling his head down, she whispered in his ear," Let's try this without clothes some time."

Michael looked at her in shock, as he noticed his brother standing in the doorway of their transport signaling him to hurry. He kissed her again, and then whispered in her ear, “Keep kissing me wildly; we’re heading for the transport.”

Maria just nodded, keeping both her legs wrapped around his center and her arms around his neck, as he carried her towards the transport, kissing her passionately the entire time. They didn’t stop for anyone, and no one tried to detain them. Finally once they entered the transport, the bay broke down into a large display of applause, catcalls and suggestions that were best ignored. Locking the transport door, Michael gazed at the bemused Maria.

She had never looked more gorgeous. Her hair was everywhere, her mouth swollen and red, and she was still trying to catch her breath. Okay, he had to admit it, her plan was a stroke of genius. Maybe all her plans didn’t exactly suck.

“How are you getting past the outer marker scanners with your gem wearing your dampening emitter?”

“I just need to touch her. The emitter will extend to include us both.”

Michael nodded and led her to the smuggler’s hold where Max must have stashed their newest passenger.

Max and Sean were getting ready for take off.

“They sure know how to hold the attention of an audience.” Sean said with not just a little amusement. Max just grunted his agreement.

“They do.”

“No one even noticed you walking the woman onto the ship. All eyes were watching the dry-humping, out of control lustbunnies going at it against crates in the bay.”

“I noticed.”

“One guy started chanting, ‘Take off her shirt, take it off...’, and damn if I didn’t join in.”

“Perverts usually do.” Max said casually, though he had to admit that watching Michael and Maria getting it on was...stimulating.

“You know, she could’ve volunteered me to act as a diversion.”

Max piloted the transport clear of the open bay, and lifted off towards Shiva. “Sure she could have. I think the sight of you and Michael dry-humping in the bay would have had the same needed distractive quality to it.”

“I didn’t mean with Michael!”

Max just laughed. “Sure you didn’t.”

~~~

Maria helped Liz settle into a set of rooms. The woman hardly spoke unless spoken to, and she seemed timid.

“This is a communicator linked to my quarters. You may contact me if you need anything. The mobile dampening emitter I’ve given you needs to be worn at all times.”

The woman touched her lapel and the small device that Maria had attached.

“I’m not sure what you need for your daily routine or what your eating requirements are, so I’ve had Sean install a replicator in your rooms.”

“Thank you, My Princess.”

Maria sighed. “Really, please call me Maria. The whole Princess thing? It seems silly when there are no people left to rule.” Maria smiled at her slightly, “Plus, I was never that type of Princess. It’s just a title.”

The woman bowed in respect. Maria just flopped her arms and gave up.

“Do you need anything else?”

“No. I am fine.”

Maria was reluctant to leave the woman alone. “I know the rooms are large and empty, but tomorrow we’ll begin translating the red manuscript, using the translator key on your arm, and soon you’ll have a roommate.”

“Thank you, My Princess.”

Maria had already given up on the Princess-thing. “Then I’ll say goodnight.”  She stopped and looked back at the woman. “I know that your entire life has been one of service, and remaining devout. But there isn’t a reason you couldn’t come out of the rooms and interact with the members of the crew and maybe eat with us, because someday this will be over. You might wake up one day no longer required to be devout, and the option to pursue a different life might awaken.”

When Maria got no response, she left.

~~~

Max was standing by the coffee when Maria walked into the galley. He calmly poured her a cup as well.

Maria smiled and took a drink. “Careful, Michael made this batch.” She quickly spit it back in the cup, and looked up to see Michael’s dark regard.

“Um, it tastes...lovely.”

Sean suddenly perked up. “Speaking of lovely, where is our new female on board?”

“In her room doing her daily devotionals.”

Sean’s smile faltered. “Devotionals?”

Maria just nodded and doctored her coffee with anything to take out the acid taste. What the hell did that man do to perfectly good coffee beans?

“Yes. She is a member of the Holy Order of the Immaculate. Since birth, she has been cloistered in solitude to prepare for her journey, and she alone can touch and hold the yellow gem. It is through purity alone.”

“Purity?” Sean cussed. “Are you saying she’s a nun?”

“Yes.”

Sean and Kyle shared looks and both just groaned. They already had a bet over who could talk her into a date first.

“So there is a real gem?”

Maria finished fixing her coffee and went to sit next to Michael. “Yes,” she answered him.

“Worth much?”

“Priceless. It is a special crystal not found in this Universe. It resonates at a pitch unrecorded. A normal man or woman would not be able to hold it in their hand. Legend has it that the devotee assigned the crystal once broke her vow of chastity, and when she touched the crystal her body winked into nothing. Imploded.”

Sean sat up at that. “Cool. Can I get a look at this crystal?”

Maria just laughed. “I don’t trust you not to try to touch it. You wouldn’t be able to resist. Even I can’t touch them. I’m only the Acolyte de Princ, so my job is to protect the Immaculate, guard them and complete the journey.”

Max asked quietly, “So all these gems are women?”

Maria nodded, stealing a piece of food from Michael’s plate. “The next is Patience...the red gem. I should know the location once I translate its manuscript.”

“And from that gem, you get the location of the last one?” Max asked and when Maria nodded again, “And then what?”

“Then I and my gems go to Khivar.”

Alex entered the room and stood silently at the door. “Why, Maria?”

She looked down in her cup, not wanting to explain, but their lives would be forfeited if she failed.

“The weapon that Khivar has, the one he uses to hold the Universe hostage...that's not what it was designed for. He took it from my world along with the manuscripts, in the hope of one day understanding its use. He could not. So he sent the manuscripts with the rest of the ill-gotten treasure on the Saratoga.”

“And this 'thing'? It is not a weapon?” Alex asked. He mentally visualized it. It was a large device made of a metal unknown to him.

“No. It can channel immense energy, create a field. The mistake that is made is believing that time is a linear thing, that it only exists in one plane. Time is fluid and ever-changing. As fast as it runs one way, it can easily reverse.” Maria looked around at her audience to see that Max and Alex were following the subject, but the others were not.

“Space, or the concept of space, is seen as origins and destinations. And in that thought there is only so much space or distance that can be covered in a span of time.”

Sean was suddenly more attentive. Maria had traveled distances in a few days beyond what they could travel in a week, or even a month. He’d love to understand and convert to that technology.

“So this thing that Khivar stole...”

“It creates an energy barrier or ribbon, a wrinkle between Universes, so you can travel there in a blink of an eye. If you find two points in space, and they are separated by immense distance, the Granilith could open an energy corridor that takes you from one point to the other instantly.”

Alex sat down. “So it was never a weapon?”

“No. It is like your slip stream technology. The same, but different.”

“Does it fold space?” Sean asked.

“No. It is as if space does not exist on dimensional planes, but is rather interwrapped and laid upon itself. That at  any given time, multiple planes touch and intersect, but due to phase variance, they do not ‘perceive’ each other. The Granilith opens up an energy field that allows for the crossing from one plane to another.”

“The distortion field that we saw when your ship rejoined us. It was like a slip stream, but different. Is it the same thing?” Alex also wanted to understand the technology.

“On a much smaller scale than what the Granilith does, but yes, the same principle.”

Max sat on the table beside Michael. “So Khivar stole a simple device from your world, one used to travel, but because he had no concept how to use it, he activated and used it in another manner that was destructive.”

Maria nodded. “Yes. My people would’ve stopped him. They would’ve gone for the Granilith, but his first act of destruction was to destroy my people and my world. I was at Temple learning about my duties as the Guardian of the Granilith. Once they were silenced it became my obligation - my legacy - to restore balance to this Universe. My regret was that I was so young in my training that I couldn’t begin sooner. It was never my people’s intention to allow something as strong as the Granilith loose. That is why the ‘gems’ were hidden and separated from the Granilith. They were a Holy Order, the Immaculate - very much like the teaching order of the D’Jesuit. They trained and prepared for centuries for the moment that they would be called in service to return our people home, to the ancient worlds.”

“Your people were not from here originally?” Alex figured that explained a lot about how one planet in an entire system could be so evolved above the rest.

“No. We were not.” Maria paused in how much to reveal. “But in time we blended our genetics with those indigenous to our star system. Over so many hundreds of thousands of generations we now belong more to this system than to our old one.

“What happened to the ships your people used to travel here? Rumor was that your people did not travel in ships, but traveled in winks.”

“That is true. They were able to use the Granilith to create instant travel between one world to another in a wrinkle of time and space. However travel became less and less necessary as those worlds evolved and became technologically more advanced. We considered it ‘rude’ to merely appear on another world. So the technology was adapted to be used in ships much like mine. It gave us the ability to travel in less time, and in less exposure to the cold of space.”

Alex was silent in thought, when suddenly it occurred to him what she had avoided telling them, or had purposely skipped the answer.

“Maria, what became of your ancestors' ships?”

They stared at each other for a moment, and finally Maria shrugged. “They did not come in ships.”

The rest of the room became silent, listening.

“My homeworld, Anterra, was the ship. They transported an entire world through the barrier, and it became trapped in the star system in which you have always known it to exist. That is how powerful the Granilith is. It can move worlds.”

~~~

“You haven’t said much.”

Michael looked over at the bed where she was lying waiting for him to join her.

“I know.” Michael looked down at his hands resting on the counter with her family photos. “Your mission...what is it?”

“To remove the Granilith from Khivar.”

“How will you do that?”

“I will use the ‘gems’ and activate it to its real potential power, and then I will feed it into a phase shift loop. It will wink out of existence.”

Michael turned and looked at her. “Why do you expect to die?”

Maria just sighed and shook her head. “Don’t ask me to tell you of my demise.”

Michael came to sit on the bed. “Tell me anyway.”

“Michael...” Maria looked away from him and at her family. “It is what I must do.”

“I can’t...I don’t want to...” Michael paused. No words. There were no words. “Just tell me.”

“My people. The Ancient Ones. The ones that first came to this Universe...they were fleeing a Universe that had destroyed its own fabric of space because it had evolved too fast for its own technology. My people never meant to stay here, but once they became trapped by the sun of our star system and the entire ecos of that system changed to admit them, if they had left it, it would have wreaked havoc on all the other planets in this Universe. So my people never intended to leave, but on the other hand they couldn’t live here. It took hundreds of generations before they noticed the start of their physical breakdown. The original Ancients could phase shift, so traveling in winks was okay, but they were slowly losing cohesion. Some went through a process of ascension, where they left their corporal bodies and became pure essence. Others joined with the indigenous people of this system to create those that you know.”

“That's what you are?”

“Yes. But I am the last in a long line of first families. My bloodline is direct and pure, or as pure as it could possibly be. That was why I was chosen to be the Acolyte de Prin’c. It takes ancient blood to be able to withstand the power of the Granilith. They used to phase shift with it, and that was how they survived.”

“And you are destined to die because...?”

“I can’t phase shift. If I shift there is no strong matrix to hold me, or to bring me back. I will either ascend, or I will wink out of existence along with the Granilith.”

“I don’t understand.”

“For me, phase shifting comes with a price. My physical form. Without my physical form or an anchor, I cease to exist.” Maria looked at him solemnly. “The only way to activate overload in the phase shifting generators is to do it within the core. There is no way for me to activate and get out at the same time. I will be stuck there.”

Michael was silent for a moment. If she did not take the Granilith from Khivar then the Universe would continue to suffer. But if she did, it would mean her end...the ultimate sacrifice.

“Maria...”

“Let's not talk about this anymore, okay?” Maria pulled him into the bed, covering them up. “What has to be, can’t be changed.”

Michael held her close and in his arms, enjoying having her back. Love. The concept still had no meaning to him, but he felt a burning need to protect her, to keep her, and to have her stay next to him forever.

~~~

“Captain?”

Max looked up from his work, and frowned at the two women on his Bridge. Isabel and Lonnie. Masking his irritation, he politely stood.

“My Ladies.”

Isabel discreetly pushed her sister forward. Lonnie looked back at her in irritation, but continued anyway.

“I just wanted to thank you for coming for me on Phloth II.”

Max just nodded, but remained unyielding. “You shouldn’t be out of your quarters.”

“Maria made us mobile cloaking fields, and modulated them to read as other species. I’m a Tellarian. I like that they have three stomachs and can eat all their food for a week at one sitting.”

“Maria?” Max should have known. Their resident little fix-it genie was fast at work meddling, and now he’d have the twins to run after as well. “Clever little thing she is.” Both Isabel and Lonnie nodded their agreement.

“I, um...” Lonnie looked at her sister for encouragement. “I wanted to offer to help around the ship, to do something to pay you and your crew for saving me, and all the trouble I caused.”

Max looked at her thoughtfully. “What can you do?” His tone indicated that he doubted she was worth much or capable of doing anything.

Isabel shot a look of anger at him. It wasn’t easy for Lonnie to come to him and offer her services, and he wasn’t helping.

Max just shook his head a little. The twins. His downfall. “Maybe I could use your help.” Max refused to see Isabel’s look of thanks and encouragement. He didn’t need a mother hen.

“Where? I’m not really trained for anything, and...”

“You seem to understand herbals and plants. I think hydroponics and Sickbay could use you in some capacity.”

Lonnie’s face suddenly cleared and brightened. “Really? Oh that would be excellent!”

“Why don’t you go to Sickbay and talk to Kyle. Tell him I said he should find something for you to do, and then have him take you to hydroponics.”

“I’ll do that!” Lonnie turned to rush from the Bridge, but suddenly rushed back to Max’s side and quickly kissed his cheek before rushing off the Bridge.

Isabel watched amused at the look of discomfort moving over his face. Max was trying to regain his composure while his crew watched him with interest.

“Thank you. Between you and Maria, Lonnie might actually survive this ordeal.”

Max nodded, and watched Isabel turn to leave the Bridge. Against his will, he motioned for Sam to cover Conn until he returned.

“Lady Isabel?”

Isabel stopped and turned back towards him. She waited.

“Was there something you wanted to do as well?”

Isabel just smiled. “My life isn’t a prison to me, but if you need help, I can cook.”

Max smiled at that. “Finally! I let someone on board who can actually create something edible? Shocking. Go to the galley and talk to the Steward in charge. He’ll install you into the cooking schedule.”

Isabel smiled and nodded.

“Your sister, can she cook?”

Isabel just laughed. “If you value your life and health? No.”

Max gave a shudder. “Thanks for the warning. I’ve already got Maria, Sean, and Michael on the cooking schedule, and the three of them have the crew on the verge of mutiny, especially Michael and Sean.”

Isabel just laughed. Looking around the corridor on the deck outside the Bridge, it was surprisingly free of people. Moving closer to Max, Isabel studied him critically. He was a strange silent man. Commanding and domineering without a word, his mere presence was enough to demand respect.

“I never thanked you for saving my sister, and not taking it out on her.”

Max groaned under his breath. She was moving too close. “Lady Isabel...”

He never got to finish.

Making sure they were alone, she pulled him to her. Using her hands, she lowered his mouth to hers and kissed him. He was gentle at first, but quickly became more demanding as the passion began to take hold. She matched him, opening her mouth and meeting his tongue with her own.

As his arousal began to escalate, his hands began to move. Slowly, he let his fingertips glide over her, learning her contours. After a few minutes of this, she broke the kiss and stepped back.

Taking his hand from her body, she turned to see Michael watching them.  "I should go."

Max watched bemused as Isabel quickly left, nodding at Michael along the way. Michael watched her for a moment and then looked at his brother. His eyes narrowed and he searched his brother’s face.

“Want to tell me about it?”

Max’s jawline clenched. “Nothing to tell.”

“Maxwell, that didn’t look like nothing.”

“Michael,” Max warned.

“She’s not Serena, but she seems to be into you, and you weren’t protesting.”

“I’m married.”

“No, you’re not. Not anymore.” Michael stopped next to his brother. “I don’t understand much, but I know that things are changing. We’re changing, and you aren’t unaffected by that woman.”

“Michael,” Max rubbed his face. “You don’t understand. She’s Alex’s sister, and I can’t offer her anything but an affair. And if we take down Khivar, for the first time in her life she’ll be free to live. I’m a scared old space dog who has lived ten lifetimes in one. And every night, I still fuck my dead wife in my dreams.”

“Those dreams. Lose them. Let them go, Maxwell. You’re holding onto Serena as if she were your only chance at life. But fucking her in your dreams doesn’t make you less lonely or needy, and it will never bring her back.”

Max laughed bitterly. “I’ve tried. God knows I’ve tried. I hated my wife most of the time. She was one hell of a bitch, but she knew me. She understood me, and parts of me mourn her, mourn the common understanding we shared. I will never bond to another, and somehow she left something in me. I can’t get her out of my mind.”

“You must be in love. It’s a horrible affliction, but I didn’t know you felt that about Serena.”

Max just laughed. “In love? Damn, you’ve been hanging around Kyle way too long. If this is love, then kill me. I’ll have none of it.”

“Amen, brother. Amen.” Michael followed his brother onto the Bridge. He had just lied to his brother. The longer he felt the emotion of ‘love’, the more he was coming to realize that he’d do anything to keep it, despite all the pain and anguish it caused him. For the first time in his life, he felt truly alive.

~~~

Alex was being weighed when the message came through. He was finally getting used to the changes his body was undergoing from the pregnancy, and despite needing a surrogate mother, he knew he would miss being pregnant.

“Alex, there is a message for you.”

“Thank-you, Kyle.”

Alex took the com and read the message that came over the screen. Frowning he reread the message and then shrugged. Sending a reply, he waited for an acknowledgement.

Kyle looked up from his work when Alex rejoined him. “Is everything okay?”

Alex smiled. “I am perhaps supposed to ask you that.”

“You look good, Alex. Or as good as a man can look who is pregnant and who can't carry a child.”

“The baby?”

“Healthy. But time is short. We need that surrogate soon.”

Alex sighed. “I know. For some reason I am reluctant to turn over my child to just anyone. It is not that Maria, Lonnie or Isabel would not be good surrogates, but something gives me pause.”

Kyle stopped to look at the man. “Pause? Why?”

“The path is set and the walkers have begun. It is impossible to change the path of thought once the idea has sparked.”

Kyle nodded in understanding. “That makes no sense to me. Okay, once again in human language and not Eminent talk.”

“Sorry. I mean that once a rock begins moving down a mountain, its path is chosen.”

“Again. But I think I understand. Maria, and even Lonnie and Isabel are already on a journey, and that journey is not carrying your child.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then you know what? We need to get you language lessons.”

Alex just laughed. No one knew why or when the Eminent Ones began talking in rhymes and parables. But it was like a sense of understanding that made sense to a simple man, but confused the hell out of everyone else.

“I wonder about my fate and what I am sometimes, Kyle.”

“Now? For a long time?”

“Recently. Since meeting Maria.”

Kyle laughed at Alex. “Maria makes people think and wonder a lot. She is...dynamic.”

“Yes. But it is not just her personality or her intelligence. It is her people.”

“I don’t understand.”

Alex puzzled over what he knew, and all the things he did not. “When my genetics were altered, and I was created to be an Eminent, it was from a template.”

“Template. Alex, how can they have a template for something that never existed?”

“It did exist. They existed. Maria’s people. The ones called 'the Ancients'. They were advanced far beyond anything in this Universe. The Council approached the Elders of her world, and asked for a genetic comparison. At the time, the Anterraans had no reason to refuse.”

“So you are like Maria, like her people?”

Alex just shook his head no. “Not really. They had multiple base pairs and extra chromosomes. All the ones we had, but multiple ones, woven and thickened. They coded and processed proteins and enzymes beyond what we could understand. The closest we could come to replicating their genome was finding individuals with genetic anomalies of multiple chromosomes, and with us they use a retrovirus to imprint the Anterraan genome to ours. It was similar, but not the same.”

“So you did what Khivar wanted to do.”

“Worse. Khivar was on the original Council. He was unhappy that no matter how they proceeded that they could not produce an Ancient. It was believed that within their code was the understanding of many things, and when we, the Eminent Ones, talked in parables they felt they were close. But we were still a failure.”

“So Khivar went back to Anterra.”

“Yes, but by this time the Anterraans began to understand how we were altering the fabric of this space, how every created Eminent connected to the very matrix, and after talking to Maria, I understand why they refused to help in the project.”

“Because her Ancients came here, due to the fact they had ripped apart their own Universe’s fabric?”

“Yes. They must have seen that we were striving to advance beyond our limits too fast, too recklessly, and that this Universe would suffer for it. So they refused.”

“And Khivar took?”

“His intent was to hold their Holy Relic, or what he thought was a Relic, hostage, but instead he found something much more powerful.”

“So Maria was wrong. This didn’t start with her people losing control of this Granilith.”

“It started because we, the members of the Council started it. They created Khivar, gave him the beginnings of his power.” Alex laughed sarcastically. “We had no right to play in God’s sandbox, to change what nature had created. But we did.”

Kyle felt the futility of it, the anguish. A pregnant Alex was out of control. His emotions were everywhere, and Kyle watched him in awe as the very air around them shimmered in energy.

“Alex? Maybe you should calm down a little.”

Alex looked at the wall and noticed the distortion field starting to form. He pulled it back.

“What the hell is that, Alex?”

“I have no idea. I’ve been doing it a lot lately.” Alex responded.

Kyle’s com sounded, and not taking his eyes off his patient, he answered it. “Sickbay.”

“Kyle, my security sensors have a recorded sub-space fluctuation.”

“It was Alex. Sorry, Michael.”

Kyle and Alex could hear the silence at the other end. Finally Max’s voice came over the com.

“This something we need to worry about?”

“No, Captain. I think we’ve got it under control.”

Max’s voice was firm and brooking no refusal. “I’ll see Alex in a few moments.”

“Sickbay, Captain.”

Kyle disconnected and looked at his friend. “You’re in trouble now, buddy.”

~~~

“Alex, explain.”

“It is hard to do so.”

“Try.” Max sat next to Alex while Michael leaned up against a wall. “I had security sensors going off all over my Bridge, a sub-space distortion forming in my ship and the integrity of my warp field was being compromised.”

Alex was startled at the results. “I am sorry. It has only happened a few times. The only stable one I created was the day Leena died. I created this distortion and walked through it to the outside of the city, and there I buried her. Later I created another one and came out near my ship.”

“How?”

Alex was helpless to say. It was beyond him. “I do not know. I just thought of where I needed to be, and it opened. I tried to do it again to get to Michael and Maria when they were dying in the Bridge of the Saratoga, but I could not.”

The men looked at each other. Alex was becoming more and more a stranger in his own body, what with the increase in his power from Leena and the baby, coupled with the physical issues of the pregnancy, he was just as confused as the rest of them.

“This last incident?” Max asked, uncertain if he really wanted to know.

“Emotions. He was emotional.” Kyle took the initiative from Alex.

Michael just swore and Max stood up and paced. “Let me get this straight. I’ve got a pregnant male on my ship that is suffering from hormonal and hot flashes, and with strong emotions he can open up a distortion field between my stable decks and the space outside, decompressing my ship?”

Alex rubbed his face. “That is approximately the half of it.”

They all watched as Max lost his usual control and started cussing, making his brother smile to himself. That was the Max of their childhood, long before he lost Serena and took on the responsibility for the welfare of others, which had made him dour and reserved.

“Kyle, find a damn surrogate! And soon! We need Alex to deliver this baby before his raging emotions blow up this ship.”

“Aye, Captain.”

“Dammit! Don’t ‘Aye Captain’ me! Just do it!” Max looked at his friend and partner. “And you...” Alex actually smiled at the firm Max. “Think about flowers or some pansy shit! Relaxation techniques, or something.”

“Aye, Captain.” Max just swore, and stomped to the door. “Michael!”

“Max, wait.” Max stopped at the door and turned around at Alex's request. “I just got a communication from the Etruscan system. Their system would like to hire us to retrieve salvage lost in the neighboring Nebula during an ionic storm.”

“They can’t do it themselves?”

Alex shrugged. “Apparently not. Their ships aren’t equipped to handle the ionic disturbance that still exists, and raiders are bearing down fast.”

“You drink tea, and practice flower arranging, and I’ll plot a course to the Etruscan system.” Max perched his lips, and rubbed his scar. “I’m assuming you already accepted the job.”

Alex looked at Kyle, and both men started laughing. “Yeah. Thought we could use something normal to do.”

“Damn straight. By the way, Lonnie is working in Sickbay with Kyle, and Isabel has offered to do shifts in the galley.”

Alex just smiled. He had known this. Since Maria set his sisters up with mobile cloaking fields, his life was less strained.

~~~

When Michael's shift ended, he went to find Maria. She was in their quarters with Liz, working on the translation of the red manuscript. As soon as he entered, Liz quickly excused herself and scurried out.

“What did I say?”

“Nothing. Liz has spent years in isolation. It’s hard for her not to feel out of her element around others, and especially around men.” Maria quickly stacked the manuscript and pages into neat stacks. Michael hated the clutter.

He went into their bedroom and then to bathe. Maria could hear him moving around, and knowing the time, he was back early.

“Is it your turn to cook tonight?” Maria cursed herself under her breath for not paying attention. If she had to eat Sean and Michael’s cooking, she might just have to kill herself.

“No. We picked up a new wreck. I’m on duty for salvage, so I’ve got time off until then to rest.”

“Really? What system?”

Michael leaned back in the bath and shut his eyes. “Etruscan.”

“Been there. They aren’t an admirable people. They would sell their own organs for extra credits.”

Michael just huffed. “Sounds like another mission where I’ll have to keep an eye on Sean. Sounds like his type of people.”

Maria slowly walked to the bath and unfastened her clothing. The sound of rustling made him open his eyes as her garments dropped.

“Are you going to share?”

Sleeping with her every night, he was coming accustomed to her nude form, but in the dark and at night, it lacked the impact of seeing her standing unabashed in front of him.

Moving back, she shook her head no. “I want the back. I’ll wash you.” He moved forward and felt her slide in behind him.

“This is getting difficult, Maria.”

She picked up a sponge and slowly made movements across his skin. He leaned his head forward and moaned. He was so gone. She knew exactly what she was doing.

“I hate it when you tease me.”

Maria moved closer to him whispering in his ear. “It doesn’t feel like teasing to me.”

“Then what does it feel like?” Michael asked softly, “because to me, it’s damn close to torture.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean...” Maria rested her head on his wide shoulders. “I don’t mean you harm, but every day this compulsion to touch you gets stronger and stronger, and perhaps I am weak.”

Michael just snorted at that. “And I am interested in becoming Sean’s lust interest.”

“Really?”

Michael turned and made a threatening look at her. “Maria,” he warned. She just laughed and went back to washing his back.

Michael reached behind him and grabbed her hand and the sponge. They stared at each other unmoving. Michael refused to hesitate.

“Sooner or later, this...courtship will end. You know that don’t you?” Maria tried to avoid his eyes, but he grasped her face and forced her to see him. Only him. “We can’t go on like this forever on the verge of something else. And it's getting closer every day.”

She didn’t say anything, simply taking the sponge back to continue washing his body.

When Michael woke hours later, it was early morning, but the bed was empty on her side and the rooms silent. She had left again.

Cussing, he was up and out of the room, stalking to the landing bay holding her ship. Standing in the doorway, he was relieved to see it was still there. She hadn’t left the ship.

Max didn’t even look up when Michael entered the Bridge.

“She’s in the gym.”

Michael didn’t even acknowledge his brother. He left and headed for the gym that they used for combat training and exercise. Standing in the door he watched her for awhile. She was blindfolded and moving in a flash of fluid motion. The movements reminded him of his childhood lessons of self-defense. They were fighting movements, but she performed them with an unconscious grace and movement.

On his world, the movements were swift and violent. She did them slower, with the precision and a grace of a dancer.

“What are you doing?”

Maria took off her blindfold at his voice. Looking at him, she motioned him forward.

“Exercise.”

“I woke up and you were gone again.”

"So you ran to check on me?" she demanded, surprised and a little hurt.

"Yeah," he answered angrily. "I thought I'd better make sure you were still on board, and didn’t just run away when things were tough."

“I didn’t run away last time.” Michael’s look of disbelief made her admit that part of her did. A guilty look crossed her face, she hadn't intended to worry him, "I'm sorry."

Michael shook his head. "That's not good enough, Maria. You don't say good-bye, you don't let me know you’re okay, and you're sorry? The only thing you're sorry about is that I keep crowding you, and making you want to run again."

"That's not true!" she insisted. "I came back as soon as I had the information I needed. I’m not running again. I’m just exercising."

Michael refused to back down. The disbelief in his face was apparent as his arms crossed his chest and his stance became unyielding. Watching his jaw clench, she had a desire to kiss it, to kiss him.

Michael glanced at room appreciating the emptiness except for them, but he didn't move. "Why, Maria? What’s happening between us? We both want it, but we can’t go any further. What the hell is going on?"

"I got scared," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Of me?" Michael was shocked. If she could control him any better he would be her personal whipping boy.

"Of us," she answered. "I woke up this morning and I wanted to touch you, to run my hands all over you, taste you and never stop. I panicked."

Michael's mouth twitched, but his voice was very even, "Let me get this straight. You left because doing something I’d kill for, something you desire as much as I do, scared you?"

A half-smile crossed her face at that, but she shook her head. "I left because I suddenly felt like I was..."

"Like you were what?" he asked when she didn't finish, "Being smothered?"

"Like I was... yours."

Michael looked at her in shock, there was some sadness in his voice as he asked, "Would that really be so terrible?"

"At this time, right here, right now? The thought absolutely terrifies me," she responded.

"Then explain this to me," he said, puzzled. "Why do you stay with me and sleep with me if I scare you? Why don’t you cut me off? Are you feeling guilty?"

"No! I was feeling lonely," she answered softly. "I missed you so much when I was gone! A few weeks ago, the thought occurred to me that I could destroy us both by giving in to these feelings I have for you. That you'd probably not appreciate me throwing it away. But I’ll have to do that, Michael. My destiny...what I must do...is very clear, and I can’t stand the thought of losing you, of leaving you, but I will leave you. I will lose you. These thoughts scared me a lot more than the thought of being with you. I realized that you have enough power over me to make me want to choose you over my duty. To stay with  you. I’m afraid if I give in to this, if I’m with you for a moment, that it will be a moment too much. I wanted to explain and try to get you to forgive me..." she stopped for a moment, then went on, "I'm crazy about you, and you make me regret not being born Attilaan, not being born free. Regret my duty, even thought I know my life will end soon."

"And that's it? I’m supposed to just let you decide for the both of us? I'm supposed to open my arms and welcome you to sleep with me, touch me, tease me with no chance of ever having you?" Michael asked, sarcastically.

"No. I know it's not going to be that easy. I'm going to be here for a couple of months. I was just hoping we could see each other a little. But, I guess I’m coming to understand that it’s impossible, and I’m being unfair to you. See if there was ever any chance..."

"Go to hell!" he said, very deliberately. Turning on his heel, he could hardly wait for the door to open and started out.

Halfway through the door, he stopped. For a full minute neither of them moved. Finally, he stepped back into the room and watched as the door shut again.

“FUCK!" he shouted, still facing the door. Turning around, he said in a bewildered voice, "What do I see in you?"

"I have no idea," she replied.

At that, he chuckled and leaned back against the door. "Dammit, Maria..." he said softly.

She walked toward him, hesitantly, afraid he would reject her. He didn't move as she came closer. She continued walking until she was pressing him into the door and then, raising up on tiptoe, she kissed him tenderly. He didn't push her away, but he didn't respond either.

After a moment, she moved away from his mouth, kissing and nibbling on his neck. Completely passive, he let her do as she liked.

Giving up, she pulled away, "You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?"

"No," he responded. "Why should I?"

"Are you going to stop me?"

He smiled at that, "No..."

"But, you're not going to help."

"What do you want from me?" he demanded.

"I want you," she answered. “I want you to make me forget that there can never be a forever for us. I want you to be with me no matter how long, and not stop me from doing what I must when the time comes.”

"Fine," he answered, flatly. "If that's what you want." He noticed she hadn't moved. Trying to keep a straight face, he looked at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked innocently.

"You really are a bastard, Commander," she commented. He wasn’t supposed to accept it so matter of factly. Her short life and imminent death should mean more than an end to sleeping together, being together.

"Not exactly what you had in mind, huh?" he asked, still trying to keep the humor out of his voice. "How about this?"

With a single movement, he reached out, took her arm and swung her around. Turning with her, he pressed her into the door. As he moved against her, he reached down and tugged her leg up, guiding it over his hip. The entire maneuver had taken less than two seconds.

Smiling at her gasp of surprise, he leaned into her. "Better?" he growled softly.

When she nodded, he captured her lips with his own. As their kiss deepened, he reached behind her and tugged the jumper of her exercise clothing down. Once the jumper was lowered her shirt was open, he pushed it off her shoulders, then followed the material with his lips and tongue as it slid down.  He didn’t stop until he had her breasts exposed.

Catching a nipple between his lips, he teased it gently, enjoying her soft whimpers of desire. Feeling her pull her leg away from him, he raised his head, wondering what was wrong. She looked at him with darkened green eyes, serious and emotional. Realizing that she was still afraid of what they were becoming, he bent down and took her mouth in another deep kiss not giving her room to worry or even breathe. 

Leaning toward her, he nuzzled her gently, inhaling her scent. He reached for her, planning to pull her into his arms and open her to him, but she reached down and pushed his hands away.

"Don't," she whispered, "Please... I want you, but not this fast." She had to be kidding. If they went any slower, they would be standing still.

Standing up straighter, he started to lean back into her. She put her hands up, holding him away. When he held still, she moved one hand lower, caressing him through his pants. After a moment, she lowered her other hand and quickly unfastened his slacks and freed him. Moving her hand inside to stroke him. He closed his eyes and groaned.

Watching her through half closed eyes, he smiled when she caught her tongue between her teeth. “Don’t stop. You’re doing fine.”

Hard to imagine her needing any encouragement. Her hands in her sleep had mapped and moved over his body for weeks and weeks. She was a demon in her sleep. Looking at her serious face, his smile faltered.

“Maria, is this what you want from me?”

“I’m not certain what I want, and what I can have.” She moved away from him and refastened her clothing. “I never thought to be in this situation. I never thought to find anyone that could make me wish not to have my duty. You...you confuse me. Confuse things.”

“You want to stop?”

She started at that. “No! No, I don’t. I want to go on with you, but maybe slowly. We talk, we kiss, and we sleep together, so maybe we could add touching, or more touching, and see where that leads...”

“I could draw you a diagram where I want it to lead.”

Maria laughed at that. “I think a diagram isn’t necessary. I’ve very clued in here.”

Michael refastened his pants. She was good. She had him unfastened in seconds flat, and that was nothing if not encouraging.

“Okay, we do this your way. Slowly. But, I need a promise from you.”

“What?”

“No more running away.”

Maria laughed at that, “Okay. I’ll leave at least a note.”

Michael didn’t smile back, instead he grabbed her roughly and up tight against him. “No notes. You wake me. You talk to me. I might have to give you up sooner or later, but until then...you’re mine.”

Maria said solemnly, “Partners?”

“Partners.”

“Okay. So how do we start?”

Michael thought about it for a moment. “How about you tell me about this exercising you were doing?”

“Kataan? It is a dance form. It teaches strength, balance, harmony and concentration.”

“It looks like battle stances and movements from my world. But you move too slowly.”

Maria frowned. “I don’t!”

“You do. An opponent could overwhelm you with a simple movement.”

Maria just snorted. “You equate greater strength and size with success and power. Any person’s strength and size can be used against them.”

Michael’s eyebrow raised. “Really? Then show me.”

They spent the next hour having Maria toss Michael around the mats easily and without effort. He was breathing hard and she was hardly sweating. He remembered when they first met, she unhanded him and tossed him easily.

“How are you doing that?”

“The bird that fights the wind, falls to the downdraft.”

“Oh shit, no Eminent parables from you as well!”

Maria laughed. “Sorry, that was from my mentor O’Jah. To fight a strength greater than your own is to fall under its power, but to channel your opponent’s strength against them, makes them forced to do the work, while you reap the benefit.”

“Okay, no riddles. Just show me.”

They worked for another hour as Maria and Michael practiced the moves together, moving fluidly and in tandem. Sean found them and watched, amused. They looked so strange. Michael was so large with Maria so tiny, moving in identical movements.

“You’re moving too slowly.” The two of them stopped and looked at Sean. Almost in agreement, they both moved towards the door to leave.

“You think?” asked Michael.

Sean just charged, not giving Michael a chance to retaliate. Michael easily flipped Sean with barely a flick of his wrist. Looking at Maria, he was surprised to see her approving look. Who would have thought?

Michael snickered at his downed friend as he led Maria out of the gym.

~~~

Kyle read his communication and called Max.

“Max, how much time do we have to do this new salvage?”

“We’re heading there now. We should be entering the Etruscan system in about thirty-six hours.”

Kyle thought about it. It was a tough call. “Did you inform them of our arrival?”

“No. We gave them the usual two week estimate.”

“I’ll come to the Bridge.” Kyle disconnected and gave instructions to his assistant.

Max swiveled in his chair when Kyle entered the Bridge.

“What’s up, Kyle?”

Kyle looked at the Bridge staff, and gestured Max to his private conference room. Max nodded and followed.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“We need to detour to my home world.”

Max interrupted him immediately. “We’ve got a salvage, Kyle. Can’t we stop there afterwards?”

“I found Alex a surrogate.”

~~~

Max found Alex on the upper observation deck. Very few people were aware that Alex didn’t sleep much, and when he couldn’t sleep at night he went here. The baby changed his sleeping cycle somewhat given that he was tired, but sleep was still a problem late at night with nothing but memories and regrets as his only companion.

“Max.”

It never surprised him that Alex knew he was there before he even spoke. Alex could sense people much like Kyle, who read their emotions. But Alex was different. He felt peoples' presence like a fingerprint.

“We’re detouring to Agape.”

Alex frowned. “Kyle’s homeworld? Why?”

“He thinks he has a surrogate for your child.”

“An Empath. That is wise. Empaths connect to the Great Understanding in a way. It is part of the nexus, the power of the mind. They leave signatures in the matrix like Eminents do, just not as strong.”

“Your child in an Empath’s body would be expected to create a disturbance. It would be considered natural.”

Alex thought about it. He couldn’t explain his reluctance to give up his child to a surrogate, except to say he had bonded with it. The child, if hunted, would cause all women around six weeks pregnant to be targeted.

“If they begin to look for a pregnant woman carrying my child, they will look at all women around six weeks pregnant.”

“This woman is over three months. Kyle just finally received the communication of the news. It took a while for it to find us.”

“That is impossible. That means the surrogate's child will want to be born before my child.”

“No, it won’t.” Max and Alex turned to Kyle’s voice. “The empathic child will bond with your child, and together they will synchronize their birth with the empathic child delivering late, and your child early.”

“Can you be sure of that?”

Kyle just shrugged, but he looked convinced. “Everything about this birth is hypothetical. There aren’t any guarantees.”

“What woman would want to remain pregnant longer than she must, or what woman would want to share her womb with a stranger’s child and her own?”

Kyle smiled. “My mother.”

~~~

Michael just turned when the com unit sounded. Maria made mewing noises and pushed herself harder into his back. Neither of them was willing to wake up and answer the hail, until finally Maria gave in.

“Yes.”

“Michael?”

Maria sighed. Figures. “Michael...Michael, it’s for you.”

He just made a noise and refused to wake up. Dammit, he always did this!

“Just a second.” Maria told the person on the com.

Moving up close and personal to his back, she kissed the back of his neck, and moved her hand around from his back to his chest, and downward. She knew the moment he became more awake. He held himself still, seeing how far she’d go.

“Stop faking. The com is for you.” Michael groaned, and turned to reach over her.

“We’ll finish this later.” Maria just giggled at his rough voice. “Yeah?”

“Michael, I need you in the command room.”

Michael groaned. Max. Of course, it would be Max. His brother had little regard for his sleep.

“I’m on my way.”

Maria started to get up as well. Michael pushed her back into the bed.

“Uh uh. You go back to sleep.”

“I’ll freeze without you. I’ll just come along.”

“Maria, go back to sleep. I’ll tell you what it’s about later.”

“Partners, remember?”

“Not that kind of partners, Maria.”

“I’m going.”

“You’re not.”

“Am.” 

They argued all the way to the command room.

Max showed extreme patience until finally he interrupted them. “If you wouldn’t mind, this needs to be decided soon, and your personal squabbles need to be shelved.”

Michael looked at Maria nastily. “See? See what you did?”

“Me? You said partners! And partners means...”

“Enough!” Max’s hand hitting the table hard had them jumping. “There is no time.”

“Sorry, Maxwell. Continue.” Michael gave Maria a warning glare.

“We need to detour to Kyle’s world of Agape, but I want to send the first salvage team ahead to the Etruscan system.”

“Why separate us?” Michael asked with a curse under his breath, as Maria kicked his ankle under the table when he purposely turned in front of her blocking her view, and thus her ability to participate.

“A ship caught in an ionized Nebula as a salvage operation needs immediate attention. I can’t not go there immediately, but Alex’s child is more important. I could send Alex on alone, but he will not leave his sisters, and Maria’s cloaked ship can only hold one passenger, Alex.”

“You found a surrogate,” Maria said softly.

“Yes, and with Alex opening distortion fields when he is emotional, it's time to find a safe place for his baby.”

“Excuse me? Distortion fields?” Maria asked with considerable attention to detail in each word.

Michael said to her in a quiet voice, “Don’t know everything, huh?”

Maria whispered back in not so soft a voice. “I was so going to fuck you, but now, I think I’ll do Sean instead. He’s nicer.”

“I am,” piped up Sean.

Michael just glared at his friend. Max just gave them both a warning glare.

“Michael, you and Sean take the Vishnu. We will meet with you on the Ruling planet of Zion, or seek you in the Nebula.”

“Full recovery team?”

Max nodded at his brother. “I’d send more, but I don’t want that many men out there unprotected.”

Michael nodded. Pirates, raiders, and generally nasty individuals would be after them, and without the Shiva as an overseer protecting the Vishnu, it could be a bumpy ride. They would have to try to recover the ship itself, or at least the cargo. They wouldn’t know what the Etruscan people wanted until they arrived.

“I should go with them.”

Both Sean and Michael said ‘no’ at the same time and emphatically. Michael looked at Max and shook his head.

“Sorry, Maria. Michael is the commander of this mission, so you stay here.”

“Fine.” Maria said refusing to look at Michael. She tuned out the rest of the talks about the recovery and the rendezvous. Making eye contact with Alex, she discreetly gestured him to follow her out. “Since I’m not involved, I think I’ll go find somewhere to sleep. Excuse me.”

“Maria!”

She kept walking ignoring Michael calling after her. Leaving the command room, and walking through the Bridge, she waited for Alex to join her.

“Are you all right, Maria?”

She smiled ruefully. “I’m fine. Look, Alex. Tell me about the distortion fields.”

“Why?”

She hooked her arm through his and led him to the lift. “Just humor me.”

~~~

Michael finished making plans with his brother, and followed Sean out of the conference room. Looking around on the Bridge, he had hoped to find Maria there, messing with sensors, pushing buttons and creating havoc. She was not.

“Sean, I’ll meet you and the team on the Vishnu.”

“She’ll be ready to deploy in less than an hour.” Sean patted Michael on the shoulder. “Go find her.”

“Right.” Michael walked off fast to find Maria, hoping she went back to their quarters. Sean watched him leave and just shook his head. This love crap was a curse.

Michael didn’t find her in their rooms. They looked exactly the way they had left them. Quickly changing and finding his gear, Michael ran a scan of the ship looking for her. Nothing.

Oh, no way! He left their room in a run, and quickly went to her ship. Breathing in relief, it was still there. Michael couldn’t help but feel suspicious. Going to the Vishnu, he boarded.

Sean seemed surprised to see him there. “That was quick. You smooth things over?”

“I couldn’t find her.”

Sean laughed. Maria was a slippery customer.

“Have someone check the smuggler holds and other areas before we take off. I don’t want to find her a stowaway.”

Sean laughed to himself. “Done.” Looking at two of his men, he sent them on the Maria search. “Jonesy, you and Reis check us for stowaways.”

“Lady Vilandra?” Jonesy asked curiously.

“No. Maria.” The two men looked at each other, crestfallen, but they went off to quickly comply.

“What the hell was that about?” Michael could feel his irritation level rising.

“Most of the men think of her as a sort of mascot. She is into things, but she has a way of finding workable solutions, and they like that.”

“Great.” Michael grimaced. Who the hell were they working for anyway?

“Don’t sweat it, my friend. I’m sure she’s just avoiding you, and not sleeping with anyone else.” Michael just growled at the suggestion.

~~~

“Alex, I should put you to bed.”

“Thank-you, Maria, but I am fine. Just tell me why you wanted to know about the distortion fields.”

Maria finished replicating them some tea, and went to sit next to him. Both Lonnie and Isabel were obviously asleep this late in the night.

“You never opened a corridor before Kathleen died?”

“Never.” Alex took the tea and grimaced at the herbal taste, which to him tasted of weeds. He preferred coffee.

“Creating a corridor is something my people did. It is a form of phase shifting.”

Alex stopped drinking. “What are you saying?”

“I don’t think it was you, not consciously.” Maria moved forward in the chair. “It happened once the baby was embedded in your sub-dermis, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Think Alex. Eminents speak like our D’Jesuit priests, and they are ascended. Their essences are all that is left of them. They left their corporeal bodies, and transcended to another plane of existence. Before that, they phase shifted until they lost cohesion, the ability to retain a physical form.”

“Maria, it is late, and I am tired. Could you just say what you are planning to say?”

“Distortion corridors are the first in the step of phase shifting. What if your child is an evolutionary step, advanced beyond you and Kathleen? What if the combination of your powers and energies ‘kicked’ your child to the next level?”

“More like your people?”

“Eventually, yes, but something more advanced than anything naturally occurring in this Universe.”

“You are advanced.”

Maria just shook her head no. “I’m more like you, all of you, than I am like the Ancients. They have been gone for so long, and so much of what they were and the things they understood were lost. It wasn’t until the D’Jesuit order began that we were able to collect all the remaining knowledge we had and safeguard it for our futures. We took a step back, and we were finally beginning to evolve upward towards where we once started, when Khivar came.”

Alex couldn’t comprehend what could have been lost. Maria was a mythical woman, one that at times seemed to hold so much knowledge and understanding, and at other times was such a child, unknowing and curious.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Because if you have gained this power from your child, and you retain it after releasing the embryo to a surrogate, I can teach you how to use it.”

Alex was suddenly interested, and not so tired. “You can open distortion fields?”

“Since I was about three. It was one of the signs I displayed that made me the Acolyte de Prin’c. I can do so much more as well, and I also have so much that I cannot do.”

“And if I do not retain the ability?”

“Then it is all your child’s, and you only borrowed the power while carrying the fetus. That would make your child something beyond you.”

Alex looked down at his hands. “Would my child ascend?”

Maria was sorry to make him unhappy. “I don’t know. I can’t know that at this time.”

Alex stood up and paced the room, picking up objects as if to test their weight to throw. He sat them down, and slowly breathed to calm himself before he lost control of his emotions and opened a distortion field.

“I wanted a family. A normal life watching my children grow, and loving Leena until I died. It was a dream I had. The only dream. I used to dream of stopping Khivar, freeing our universe, but now...all I dream about is Leena and my child.”

“Nothing is certain, Alex. Nothing is written.”

“I want my child to be with me. To be like me. And I want to give it a normal happy life free of oppression, free of fear, and free of Khivar.”

“I’m sorry to upset you. I thought you should know. If what I think is happening is true, then this child is very special. Khivar would want it more than anything in this universe.”

“The child is mine. It is my future, and Khivar will die by my own hands before he ever sets a glance upon my child.”

Maria stood up to leave. Kissing the top of his head, she squeezed his shoulder. “Rest.” Maria started to leave, but stopped suddenly.

“Alex, can I touch the baby?”

He just made a face at her. His pregnant state was a source of fascination for everyone. He hardly went a day without someone wanting to pat his stomach, and for an Eminent that people use to be afraid to touch, this was such a turnabout. Alex couldn’t decide what he preferred more.

~~~

Maria wasn’t surprised to see Max outside in the corridor when she emerged from Alex’s rooms.

“Max.”

“I wondered where you went.” Max followed her into hers and Michael’s quarters. “Michael looked for you.”

“More like he wanted to make sure I didn’t stowaway on his precious mission.”

Max made a face. This was true. “Give him a break. He’s just trying to keep you safe.”

“And who keeps him safe? The Shiva won’t be there to help him out if raiders attack.”

“What are you suggesting?”

Maria just smiled at the man. “Since you asked...”

“Just tell me what your plan is.”

Maria laughed. She was obviously becoming very predictable to this man.

~~~

They made Agape in good time, but even if they left immediately, it would be forty hours to make the Etruscan system. Max went with Kyle and Alex to the surface, and despite their belief that Max would refuse, Lonnie and Isabel went as well.

The capital city of Damascus was both thriving and quiet. The city itself seemed to reflect the inner calm of its people, and Kyle seemed happy to be home.

Their people were pressed into service for Khivar, but only one child from each family was forced to serve, so that left much of the population intact.

Kyle’s parents were members of the University, both of them Professors. His mother, Amy was a Professor in Synergic thought and Mind Discipline. His father was a Professor of History, especially their military history.

Amy was already three months pregnant, and for Kyle this was his eighth sibling. His people lived long life cycles, up in the two hundred year mark, so families reproduced for many generations, spacing their children so they didn’t harm each other empathically. At twenty eight, Kyle’s older sister was thirty-four, and older brother, forty-two. Kyle was the third in nine children, so the younger children ranged below him in age, with one set of twins.

“Kyle!”

They all stopped to watch a radiant woman who looked too young to be Kyle’s mother embrace him. Waiting for introductions, all of them were shocked to discover that the woman was indeed his mother. Except Max who had met Amy before.

Kyle placed his hand on his mother’s still flat stomach and smiled.

“A girl!”

“Yes. We’re all excited.” There were already six boys in the family and so a new female was welcomed. Amy turned to look at the group and smiled.

“Max!” She hugged the man with great enthusiasm, which made Isabel’s eyebrow rise as she noticed a red flush rising on the back of Max’s neck. She couldn’t believe it.

“Mom, let Max go. And I’ll introduce Alex and his sisters.”

Amy laughed charmingly, and looked at the other three. “Well, Alex is obvious, being a male, so that leads me to distinguish Lonnie from Isabel.” She paused and looked at them thoughtfully.

“This is Lonnie on the left, and Isabel is on the right.” Amy said with certainty.

Lonnie just stood in amazement. “How did you know?”

Kyle just chuckled. “Parlor trick. People tend to have an emotional response when their name is mentioned. You’ll notice she paused between the names.”

“I didn’t, but I will next time.”

Kyle took Lonnie’s arm and escorted her into their family home. “Where is Dad?”

“Oh Kyle, I’m sorry. Jim so wanted to be here to meet your friends, but he was detained by a committee meeting. He asked me to send his apologies, and tell you that he’d be home as soon as possible.” Amy looked at them all. “I hope you can stay.”

Max shook his head no. “Actually, Amy, we need to leave as soon as possible. I’d just leave the girls and Alex with you, but we need to rendezvous with Michael and a salvage team. And we don’t dare come back here until the baby is ready to be born. It’s too dangerous.”

Amy understood the sense behind that. She could feel Max’s anxiety level for his twin, and smiled kindly.

“Let’s have refreshments while we wait for Jim, Kyle’s father, and you can tell me all about your latest travels.”

They didn’t have to wait long before Jim arrived. He was a larger man than Kyle, but not by much. It was hard not to respond to the twinkle in his eyes when he saw his son.

“Kyle, it is about time you came home to see your mother.”

“Dad.” They hugged.

“There is much to discuss, but I know that time is short.”

“It is. If you and Mom could...”

“Of course.” Jim reached for Amy’s hand and led her from the room taking Alex with them.

Max frowned and looked at Kyle. “Shouldn’t you go too?”

“They’ll call me if they need me. Otherwise for my mother’s modesty, it is best that she only have Alex and my dad there.”

“Are your mother and Alex going to have sex while your father watches?” Lonnie asked in a shocked voice.

“God no!” Kyle didn’t even try to keep the horror out of his voice.

“Lonnie!” Isabel’s embarrassment was apparent, but Max just seemed amused.

Lonnie ignored everyone and picked up a sandwich and nibbled on it delicately. “I like these sandwiches. What are they?”

~~~

Alex sat back in defeat. He couldn’t do it.

“I am sorry, Amy. You and Jim are being kind, but I am not sure how Leena transferred the baby to me. I thought I knew, but...”

Jim just patted Alex on the back. “It’s okay. Just rest a moment.”

Amy was sitting in a chair, lounging back with her stomach still exposed where Alex had joined his to hers. They had tried three times, but Alex was unable to transfer the baby.

“You  know, Alex. My son, Kyle... He was born with two hearts. A very unusual condition among our people. It denotes a special ability, a special empathy beyond all others. We knew what Kyle would become the moment he was born.”

Alex politely listened to Amy talk about her son.

“When the war began, Jim and I begged him not to go. Our species do not survive that type of trauma well. It is almost unheard of us surviving all the blood and chaos. And Kyle suffered many times before it was over.” He stilled suffered, but Amy didn’t feel the information was germane to the discussion.

“I know.” Alex remembered the first time he met Kyle.  He had rescued him with the rest of the crew and Kyle had to be confined to protective quarters to regain his controls and to find peace.

“I know you do. Because you were there.”

Jim sat next to Alex. “In all these years, we learned to trust Kyle’s instincts, his hearts. He believes that you have all the power necessary to save your child inside you, and so do we.”

Alex looked ashamed. “I do not...”

Amy took his hand. “Yes, you do. I sense that you are reserved about transferring the baby. You’ve bonded, and a part of you is afraid that the baby will consider itself more mine than yours.”

“I am sorry.”

She patted his cheek. “Don’t apologize. If I were to do the same, I too might have a reluctance to give up my child for another to birth. I can only reassure you that this is your child, and that I’ll protect it with my life, as if it were my own.”

“Thank you.” Alex knew it was time. Mating his stomach to Amy’s he concentrated. Suddenly he opened his eyes. “I need to warn you, the sensation was not pleasant. It was like a hot searing feeling of white fire that burned.”

“It’s okay. We’ll survive.”

Alex nodded and once again concentrated. The transfer was as painful as it was with Leena, but this time he understood what was happening. Reaching out a hand, he touched Amy’s stomach, and he smiled. He could feel his child.

“Your son will be safe with us.” Alex looked at Amy sharply.

“Son?”

“Yes. Didn’t you know?”

He shook his head. “Thank you.”

They stayed as long as they could, but it was finally time for them to return to the Shiva and head towards the Etruscan star system.

Alex was planning to follow Kyle back to Sickbay to let him check him out, but once they stepped foot on the Shiva, a flight officer intercepted them.

“Captain!”

“Yes, Ensign.”

“We’ve received a distress signal about the Vishnu. She was under attack. Captain... she went down.”

TBC:  CHAPTER SIX: ARMADA