REBELS AND SAVIORS

Clotho and Abydos

Michael rushed to the Bridge. Max was drinking his morning coffee and checking overnight sensor reports and intra-ship logs.

“Problem, brother?”

“Where is she?”

Max just kept on reading. “Maria?”

Michael smacked his hand down hard oh his brother’s chair.

“Don’t pull this bullshit on me, Maxwell! You know I mean Maria. I checked my sensors. No sign. I checked her ship. It’s gone. And the personal transmitter I planted on her isn’t giving me a reading.”

Max just calmly sipped his beverage and looked at his brother with interest. “That’s an invasion of her personal space, Michael.”

Michael made a 'Like I Care' face. “Where is she?”

“Gone.” Max got up and nodded to his officer to take the Conn. Michael scowled at his brother’s back, and then followed.

“Gone?”

Max just nodded. “She woke me real early this morning and told me she needed to leave immediately, and that she would be in contact with us. She's going to rendezvous with us later.”

“You should’ve woke me up. You should've stopped her.”

Max entered the galley and headed straight for the coffee. Leaning back against a table he looked at his brother critically. Usually nothing ever seemed to bother Michael, but this morning he looked very upset.

“Want to tell me about it?”

Michael put both his hands on the wall next to Max and leaned into them rubbing his face in his arm. His voice was so low, Max had to listen carefully.

“We sort of had a fight.”

“A fight.” Max drank his coffee thoughtfully. “You fight all the time.”

“We disagree. This one was a little different. We went to sleep with things unresolved, and I woke to find her gone.” Michael just closed his eyes. “Did she say when she would be back, or where she was going?”

“No.” Max rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, if you want to move back in with me...that’ll be fine.”

Michael just shook his head no. If he walked away while she was gone, then their entire relationship would be over from the moment she stepped back on the ship and found he had vacated their quarters.

“I’ll wait.”

Max looked at Michael and frowned in confusion. This was certainly different. “Okay, but you can always come back if you change your mind.”

“Captain?” Max moved away to the nearest com to respond to the call.

“Yes, Jonesy?”

“Phloth II has acknowledged our hail, and we’ve been granted orbital status. Docking of transport ships may begin immediately at the designated docking bays. Phloth II would like to remind us that all incoming docked ships will be inspected both when they arrive and also at departure.”

Max looked at his brother. “Alert the first transport and have them ascend to planetside docking. Tell the commanders that I don’t want any trouble this time.”

“Aye, Captain.”

Max closed the link. “Weren’t you scheduled to go on the first transport?”

“Yeah. I better take off.” He headed for the door.

“Michael.” Michael stopped in the door. “Don’t get into any trouble.”

“Right.”

Max watched him go and then looked out the port window at the planet below. If he was smart he’d go down to the planet and keep an eye on his brother, but he was too busy for that. Max turned to leave when he ran into another form of wasted time.

“Captain.”

“Lady Isa...no, it’s Lonnie.”

She smiled. “Yes it is. Do I not rank a Lady Vilandra, or at least a Lady Lonnie title?”

Max sighed, but put on his most charming smile. “Of course, My Lady.”

“So polite.” Lonnie sat down in a chair and motioned for Max to join her. He looked around before sitting down. “She’s in our rooms.”

Max just ignored the comment. “How can I help you?”

“Sean tells me that you are restocking with essential supplies.”

“Phloth II. The first transports have already left.”

“And Sean?”

“He would be on the first transport along with my brother and the doctor.”

Lonnie swore under her breath and smiled at Max’s reaction to it. “Sorry. I was hoping to convince you to let me go to the planet with Sean.”

“That is quite impossible. I’m sorry, Lady Vilandra, but there is no way I could guarantee your safety.”

“Perhaps I could travel with Maria?”

Max sighed. “I’m afraid that Maria is no longer on board. She left this morning in her ship. She’ll rejoining us in a few days.”

Lonnie smiled bitterly. Her amount of envy for Maria had just increased. She and Maria had found a sort of friendship since they met, but in truth they were polar opposites in many things. Isabel liked Maria as well, but Alex seemed to adore her, and perhaps that was part of the reserve she kept and the envy she felt towards the woman. Maria was free.

“I guess there is no possible way I could convince you?”

“Not likely. Maybe you could tell me what it is you need from the planet, and I’ll contact a stocking crew to acquire it for you.”

Lonnie needed fresh air, open spaces and freedom. Everything that Max and his band of happy space campers took for granted, but couldn't offer her.

“I just wanted some herbals and other supplies. Alex’s nausea is worse and he won’t take medications because of the baby. So I was going to mix a home remedy that pregnant women on our home world take.”

So.... Alex had told them.

“The baby. Alex is doing okay?”

“He has a fever most the time and sleeps a lot. It is strange to see him so sick. He’s never sick.” Max just nodded, his eyes dark and probing. “I don’t know that I can describe the herbals. I really need to see them.”

“Not even to Kyle?”

“No. They are common enough, but every Planet names their own flora, so it takes looking at what is available and selecting the correct ones.”

Max just shook his head no. “I understand, but in truth I can’t protect you down there. The authorities are searching and scanning all ships. If they scan you, it’s over.”

“But...”

“The best I can do is set you up with the interplanetary formulary and plant taxon...there will be pictures within the library. Once you load and identify all the plants you need, I’ll transmit the information to Kyle, and he’ll get you all that is available.”

“Captain...”

“Let me escort you back to your quarters. I’ll send a technician from hydroponics to your quarters.”

Lonnie understood defeat. “Thank you.”

Isabel stood up when Lonnie and Max entered the rooms. Lonnie just continued to walk past her twin and stormed into her room, shutting the door.

“Said no, huh?”

Max nodded, and then shrugged. “I’m sorry. I wish I could find a way not to make this less of a prison for her.”

“Lonnie’s mind is her biggest prison.” Isabel said quietly. “It always has been. She thought Pierce was going to take her places, find her new freedoms...but he, like the others, felt we needed to remain hidden.”

“Pierce. He was the other Eminent One. The only other remaining one and the person who betrayed your existence.”

“Yes. Lonnie and he...they were...they had an understanding. He seemed to understand it more than she did. Lonnie was only just eighteen when they became involved. Pierce...Pierce was not...”

“I see.”

Isabel just smiled sadly. “I don’t think you do. For her it was a match of the heart, soulmates. For Pierce it was something else. What that was, even I’m uncertain.”

Max nodded. Some relationships were so entangled that even the participants were sometimes left floundering. That was the beauty of being ‘bonded’. There was little to no unanswered questions, and very little mystery. That was also the horror of being ‘bonded’. No mystery. Nothing left to chance. Just a pre-ordained destiny that didn’t always satisfy.

“I can’t let either of you go down to Phloth II, but I will arrange for a technician to help you determine what herbs are needed, and one of the stocking teams will make sure to acquire the materials.”

“Thank you, Captain. You’re being more than a little accommodating.”

Max just nodded and started to leave.

“Alex...is he feeling better today?”

Isabel stood to walk him to the door. “I think it comes and goes. I understand now why you refused to tell me when I asked. It was not the type of information to just disclose. It was Alex’s right to tell. I really think he should just transfer the baby to either me or Lonnie, but he refuses.”

“We all want to keep you safe, but that is no guarantee that Khivar still will not board the ship and find you. This baby...it must be special.”

“I feel that too. I suggested that Alex house the baby in one of us until he could find a real surrogate - even Maria has offered. But he refuses. He’s afraid that there is one window of opportunity to transfer, so if he transfers even to a temporary vessel, he won’t be able to effect the transfer again.”

“So he's taking it easy and resting until Kyle can find him a proper surrogate?”

Isabel nodded as they reached the door. “Alex is worried. He is feeling a disturbance in the matrix. He’s afraid it is Pierce searching out Kathleen, trying to find her or her fate.”

“She’s gone.”

“No, she’s not.” Max’s eyes narrowed and he gestured for Isabel to explain. “Alex thought she transferred her power to him, that he held two-thirds of the Eminence. He was wrong. Alex is holding the power, but it belongs to the baby. If Pierce was to search for Kathleen, which he is doing, he will find the baby...or know of its existence.”

Max rocked on his heels in thought. “We’ll know when we hear word that Khivar is searching all pregnant women.”

“Yes, and that makes finding a surrogate even harder. The baby won’t be able to connect with the Great Understanding until after it is born, but its mere existence leaves a ‘touch’ or trace...a trail.”

“Alex knows this for fact?”

“Yes, he is seeing the changes himself. He says that the grass grows and the tiger hides, but the prey is swift.”

Max smiled at that. Whatever that meant.

“He sees a change in the ‘aura’ of the Great Understanding. When Kathleen transferred her power, she stopped a tear in space. Khivar and Pierce were waiting for this tear. It didn’t happen. So they know that either Kathleen still lives, or she found a way to transfer the power. Eventually Khivar will be forced to seek out Alex, to see if he is holding Kathleen’s power as well as his own. Alex must transfer the power before that happens, or Pierce will know.”

Max stroked his face, fingering his scar.

“Khivar has taken too much already. It is time to stop the bloodshed. My own people are imprisoned, forced into service to Khivar. Your people were exterminated and cultivated for their genetics, Maria’s homeworld was destroyed, and Kyle’s people remain pressed into service, using their empathic abilities to scan other races for Khivar.”

“I don’t think he can be stopped, Max.” Isabel said quietly. The war had started when she was eight, and in those years Khivar was the only concept of pure evil she ever understood. He was the monster that would not die. “He almost destroyed all of the Eminents, and they were the most powerful beings in our known universe.”

“No, they were not. Maria’s people were. How, no one was sure. All that was known was they protected and helped those around them. The rumor is that Khivar took something from their planet and then used it against their own sun, thereby destroying them. It is this 'thing' he took that is his weapon of mass destruction, the very thing that holds us hostage, as all the worlds of our universe bleed at Khivar’s command.” It was what Maria was trying to retrieve.

“What will be come of us if we fail?” Isabel asked quietly.

Max’s darker brown eyes meet her lighter colored one, and for a moment they shared a common fear.

“We won’t fail. We cannot.” Max started to leave, but Isabel grabbed him back quickly.

"Captain...Max, I really need to thank you for what you are doing for Alex. And us."

Max turned to face her. “Alex is my friend. I owe him my life, and the life of my friends and my brother.”

She reached out one hand and gently stroked the side of his face along the scar, then ran one finger gently over his lips. Max groaned to himself. He had known that the twins were going to be trouble, but never dreamed that they would be trouble for himself. He was helpless to stop himself, and his arms reached out and pulled Isabel in.

The first kiss was gentle, chaste. They pulled apart, Max hesitant to go further. But the smile on her face was all the encouragement he needed. He leaned in again and this time lips parted and the duel began. Max's tongue investigated every inch of her mouth, the sweetness, the richness...and he, who hadn't touched anyone in months, found himself ready to do just that. He could stay in this warm, wet cavern for ever. His brother wasn’t the only one that really enjoyed kissing.

Isabel was feeling the same feelings...God, how Max could kiss!  Lonnie was going to pissed off and Alex disapproving, but surprisingly that didn’t faze Isabel in the least. It did faze Max.

He put his hands on her upper arms, and pushed her away from him. Looking at him through narrowed eyes, she was unable to read his thoughts or understand why he stopped.

“Pardon me, Lady Isabel. I must return to my station. The technician will be here shortly.”

Isabel watched in confusion as he quickly left without another word.

~~~

Michael watched the Bay Control Guardians search and scan their cargo holds, and conduct a full internal scan of the structure. They were forced to submit blueprints for their runabouts while empathic scanners searched for hidden cargo holds and contraband. Michael leaned up against some crates, watching the process. The initial scan was finished and his people were released to go and begin collecting the supplies they needed.

Sean stood beside Michael, watching as well. The guards were thorough, but Sean had bet good money that they wouldn’t discover the hidden subfloor deck beneath the main deck. It was small, and ran the length of the runabout. There was nothing in it, but it was a smuggler’s hatch.

“Five hundred credits.”

“Forget it, Sean. In the last six times we’ve been here they’ve never found it.”

Sean just laughed. That was true, but members of the crew still bet him.  “Why do you think the empaths don’t pick up its location from us?”

Michael just shrugged. “They’re empaths, so they locate things by feeling our emotions and anxiety. None of us feel anxious enough to alert them, I guess.”

“That might change if we had something hidden in it.”

“True.” Michael watched the Captain of the Guardians signing papers and sending them over to him. It was done.

“So you want to tell me what the hell you did to our beautiful Maria?”

Michael just grunted and ignored Sean as he signed the release papers. All their supplies would be searched before they left, and the ship would be scanned again.

“Must’ve been bad if she literally took off in the middle of the night.”

“Shut up, Sean.”

Sean sucked in his top lip in thought and rocked on his feet regarding Michael in amusement. “Told her about getting laid, huh?”

Michael just growled and looked at his friend.

“Careful. I could always take you.”

Sean just laughed at the threat. “Sure ya could.” Sean slapped Michael on the back as they left the landing bay. “I know you didn’t tell her. Even you wouldn’t be that stupid.”

Michael avoided Sean’s eyes, and sped up his walk. Sean studied him closely and then whistled under his breath. “No shit! You did!” He laughed in shock and amazement. “Dammit, Michael! You’ve got the sense of a baby.”

“Sean, don’t make me kill you.”

Sean then nodded in sympathy. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Michael sighed. “I had no intention of telling her a damn thing, but she wheedled it out of me. You know Maria.”

“Aye, that I do. She’s a fine one. Smart beyond belief, and the trouble she finds? Who’d have thought?”

Michael closed his eyes briefly. Exactly. Maria was a trouble magnet. And she was gone to somewhere unknown...no doubt in trouble.

“That’s not the half of it.”

“So what did she say to your picking up 'company'?”

“She hated it.”

Sean laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s understandable.” Michael looked at Sean, confused. Obviously he was missing something. Sean laughed again. “Come on! Damn, Michael, think of it! You’re planning to pick up a whore, and then calmly come home to her bed? No woman would take that easily.”

“It was your suggestion!” Michael said indignantly.

“Do it. Don’t tell her about it!”  Sean just snickered as his eyes lit upon his favorite gaming house. “How’d you like it if she picked up a strapping male companion for a few hours of relief, and then came to sleep with you as pretty as you please?”

Michael didn’t say a word. But the point was well-received. He’d hate it. No. No, he’d more than hate it. He’d be so pissed off! The thought of someone else’s hands on her...touching her...and the residual feeling of her being covered in disease would remain.

“Think you could’ve mentioned this yesterday? Before I told her?”

Sean just patted him on the back. “I’ll buy you some literature or something. But until then, let's get a drink and you can check out the possible pickups.”

Michael just snorted. “Max said to stay out of trouble.”

Sean looked hurt. “What kind of trouble would I be getting into with you watching me?” Michael didn’t even want to think about it.

~~~

Maria approached the star system in a burst of energy, quickly pulling back to impulse power. She had transversed the universe in a very quick trip. Pushing her scanners to maximum range, she searched the star system for lurkers. It was an ancient system, long since uninhabited. The original people had migrated to other worlds when all the raw resources on these planets were exhausted. That had been over three centuries ago, and since then the natural bio-filters of the uninhabitable worlds had reversed the damage.

Maria plotted her course to the third planet. Karnak.

Navigating through the opener atmosphere, Maria located the ruins of the once great temples of Karnak. It had been her home for ten years. It had been over six years since she left it. Docking her ship in the protective bay where she had built it, she left the hidden cave and slowly walked up the long winding stone stairs carved in the hillside, to the temple at the top. Stopping to look at the great civilization now in ruins, she felt the hush of winds and the silence of solitude.

Crossing the torii to enter the Temple of the Sensei, she walked through the time corridor. The place was suddenly alive with activity as monks and acolytes rushed from place to place. All ignored her, except to bow in regard.

Maria went to her old quarters, and found her familiar bed, still fresh and waiting as if she had never left. She slept for half a day, enjoying the sweet warm breeze entering the window of her chambers. Here she was protected. Here she was safe.

Maria woke to find the Seer sitting in her room. Few of the monks could or did talk, but the Seer did. He was the Master of the D’Jesuit. And her mentor.

“Princess, your presence opens the heart.”

“O’Jah.” She bowed her head slightly to her mentor.

“You seek knowledge?”

Maria sat up, and pushed the hair off her face. “I seek the answer to a riddle. It requires the Map Room.”

“Knowledge is through the door.” Maria smiled at that.

“Thank you.” Maria waited until he left her room before she got up.

The Hall of Knowledge was where she had studied for ten years, using crystals containing information and knowledge she needed to know. The Map Room was a holographic room mapping the known universe and others as well. Maria took her customary seat on her knees before an altar lined with crystals and a control panel. Taking the first recovered manuscript from her bag, she entered the five known coordinates. Running a program of extrapolation she entered a request for all palindrome coordinates using her now-destroyed home planet as the point of origin and the sixth missing coordinate.

“Your fate is your hands, my Princess.”

Maria nodded. As it was. “He told me that our relationship runs the same from front to back, and the manuscript alludes to mirrors. In a palindrome, if a mirror was placed at the center, the end would read the same as the front.”

“Harmony is its own Deuteronomy. There is a cleanness in the balance.”

“Cleanness? White?” Maria looked at O’Jah. “As in purity?”

“You search for answers that have no ready solution except those already known.”

“O’Jah. I brought you ‘chocolate’, and if you could see clearly enough to stop speaking in parables and answer my inquiry, I’ll give you a treat.”

The older man just stood with his feet slightly apart and his hands inside his sleeves, but he made no effort to answer her question. The concept of pleasure...even from something like chocolate...had been beyond him since his ascension.

“I know.” Maria made a gesture of dismissal and irritation. “I know. I am the Acolyte de Prin’c.” He just gestured his agreement. “Honest, Jonnie, I can’t see how I’m to do this all alone. What if I fail? What if I translate or do it wrong?”

“Lighting flashes, electricity brightens the mind and in one blink of your eyes you have misseen.”

Maria laughed at that. “That is so helpful. Thanks. I feel less alone now.” Maria continued to enter all information she found in the translation.

“When the mind is enlightened, the consciousness is freed and the body matters not.”

“Hmm, well I am sharing a bed with a man. How’s that for enlightenment?” Maria asked off handedly.

“A tall man cannot hide in the short grass.”

“Yeah, I know. Boy, do I know. His tallness is pointing me to death all night long. God, I hate space travel. Why do you think people are insane enough to really want to leave a nice warm planet for the coldness of space? It’s deranged.” Maria entered and removed a crystal and replaced a new one. Her voice lowered. “He’s going to go join with another because, though we share body heat, we don’t...”

“One cannot reach enlightenment by running from truth, and all journeys begin with a step.”

“I’m not running, O’Jah. I’m seeking.” Maria looked at her mentor. “I see no reason to invest in something that can never be.”

“Many roads lead to the Great Path, but only the willing will find their way.”

“What does that mean? That my path is with him? If this is my end, the journey’s end is my end. What good does it then do me to tangle him in something that cannot be changed? This universe has been big ongoing pain, and he’s had his share. I can’t be another source of it.”

“The future is never certain.”

“I thought there was a Destiny. My Destiny, and maybe one of his own.”

“Destiny is the ends to the mean. A purpose. But the journey is determined by choice. The Destiny is to try, but the success and the journey’s end remain unknown.”

Maria frowned and looked at the large empty room, and then at her mentor. “I live in the past, and talk to ghosts. I can’t even touch you, or be touched. My parents are gone. My people as well. It is our duty to fix the wrong that we caused the universe, although unwittingly. It is my life's mission...all of my life.” Maria looked at the man who was nothing beyond the specter of his body. The Master’s presence was powerful, and all the knowledge of those halls had remained protected by its existence in the past. “I am dishonest with him. I don’t want to lie to him, but the answers I’m able to give he may not want to know. He’s different, but I can feel his goodness, along with the goodness of those he calls friends.”

“The river tells no lies, and though standing on the shore, a dishonest man still hears them.”

“Okay, so he’s a terrible cook, and I told him his stew was good...”

O’Jah actually laughed at that.

“You would laugh at that! After all those years and all the jokes I told you, and this is what you find funny? The D’Jesuit order steals everything from you, especially your humor.”  Maria looked at the monitor. “That’s it. All that I know is programmed. Either we locate the first world of the first gem, or all is lost.”

“The first spins the thread. It is the fabric of the journey.”

“Stop flirting with me, O’Jah! I told you, I’m in a strange relationship that looks stranger and more tangled every day. You had your chance, but I’m afraid that you and me...we never stood a chance with you being all ‘spiritual’ and ascended and all.”

“Because it is so clear, it takes a long time to realize it. If you immediately knew that the candlelight was fire, the meal was cooked long ago.”

Maria started for the Map Room to see where the location of the first world was, but stopped at his words.

Quietly, she had to ask. “I’m that obvious?”

“Only to me, child.”

Maria nodded. Small comfort. Damn that Attilaan killjoy! He was rewriting her life. They entered the Map Room, and Maria walked among the holographic stars, stopping to stare at her homeworld as it had been.

“I still hear their voices.”

“I know, my Princess.”

“I feel...” Maria brushed a tear away. “I feel unworthy.”

“A man who can not find his own worth, cannot enter the Great Path.”

“It's just too much…” Maria looked at her mentor again. “All the knowledge, all the preparations and the learning...all that I am...and I could not save them. They could not save themselves. And in their death, the Universe bleeds. There isn’t even a physical point to hold the specters of their essence.”  Maria walked to the man and passed her hand through his body as she tried to touch his cheek, feeling the prickling of his energy force. “When did I get so small?”

“The Universe is so vast, and we are so small. There is only really one thing we can control.”

“What is that?”

“Whether we are good or evil.”

Maria looked down at her small hands and opened them up palms forward. “What if I fail?”

“The end is not what matters, Princess. It is the journey. When the time comes, the path will be revealed.”

“Are we talking sex?”

“Walking the Great Path comes with great responsibility. You cannot waver or weaken your resolve.”

“Dammit, Jonnie, if that means no sex, I’m going to be very disappointed.” Maria laughed at the man. “I know what it means. I will not waver. On my  honor.”

The Seer bowed his head in acknowledgement as Maria located what she was looking for.

“Abydos. The yellow gem is on Abydos.”

The Master bowed his head. “Then it begins.”

~~~

“Captain?”

Max looked up at his helmsman’s hail. “Sam?”  The man gestured towards the door entering the Bridge. Isabel stood there.

“Sam, take the Conn.” Max quickly left the Bridge escorting Isabel off by the arm.

“Lady Isabel. Is there something?”

“I sorry. Oh god, I’m so sorry!”

Max paused. “Just tell me what's wrong.”

Isabel grabbed Max’s arm hard. “It’s Lonnie. She’s gone.”

Max looked at the woman, and then suddenly swore. Taking her arm, he led her back onto the Bridge.

“Captain’s on the Bridge.”

Max took the security station that Michael usually manned, next to the working Lieutenant. 

“Liander, scan the ship for Lady Vilandra. All posts are to report and activate the internal scans for her.”

Max turned to look at Isabel. “How long has she been gone?”

“I think she left just after you did earlier. I went to sit with Alex, and when I went to check, she was gone, as were her outer cloaks.”

Max went still at that. “Her outer cloaks?”

“Yes. The ones we use when we travel. I would’ve discovered her missing sooner, but the technician you sent finally arrived and I couldn’t find her.”

“Sam, how many more transports are scheduled to go down?” Max asked his helmsman.

“Three more in the aft bay six, number four just left, and three are on planet.”

Max grimaced. That was three already out of his reach. “Call back the one in flight, and contact ground crews and advise we’ve got a rogue stowaway. Let Michael know immediately.”

“Aye, Cap.”

“Liander, tell bay crews to search the three in holding bay, and the one when it redocks, especially the smuggler’s keep.” Max took his command chair and Isabel, uncertain what to do, stood at his side.

“What do we do now, Max?”

Max checked his command consul and reports came in and finally looked at Isabel. “We wait.”

And they waited.

“Captain, all stations report no sign of Lady Vilandra. Internal sensors have scanned the ship for identical life signs as Lady Isabel. It appears she found a way off the ship.”

Max turned in his chair, his jawline clenching and unclenching. “Make the call. Inform his Eminence.”

Isabel looked at him sharply. “Max, no.”

Max ignored her. “Any word from the ground crews?”

“First crew has completed its restocking mission and is on its way back. But it was ordered by the Commander to leave without him.”

“Does Michael know the situation?”

“Transmitting specifics now, Sir.”

Isabel frowned at Max. “You don’t have to tell Alex.”

Max finally turned in his command chair to address her. “Yes, I do.”

“But...”

“But nothing. Your sister is putting my men in danger, along with herself and this ship, including your brother, you and your unborn niece or nephew. I’m sorry for her unhappiness, but that can’t be my concern right now.”

~~~

Michael looked in his glass and frowned. It had been full just a moment ago. Listening to loud laughs and increasing noise levels, he found Sean in the middle of it. Figures. Sean was usually the center of most chaos and ruckus happening at any given time.

Sean caught Michael’s eyes and wiggled a brow indicating one of the young females sitting on his lap. Michael just grimaced at him and pushed his empty glass across the bar at the tender to fill again. He should have known Sean would find twin whores with beards to pick up, and then try to use them to tempt him out of his brooding mood. Wasn’t going to happen. Michael downed the next drink just as fast as the previous one and pushed it back for yet another refill.

Maria. Pain in his ass, Maria. Tossing down another, he rolled the empty glass across his forehead and wondered where the hell she went, and with whom.

It took a few moments and several rings before he realized that his com badge was hailing him.

“Yeah, go. I told you to leave without me.”

“Commander. What’s your situation?”

Michael sighed and sat up straighter. It wasn’t the transport waiting for him and Sean after all. It was Shiva.

“Currently tasting new beverages.”

“The Captain asked that I inform you of a situation...”

“Michael.” Michael swore under his breath when Max’s voice came on.

“Maxwell.”

Michael waited for Max to ask if he was drinking, but he was surprised when Max did not.

“Lady Vilandra has flown the coop. She went rogue and hopped a transport.”

Michael swore again. Crap. “She’s not aboard the Shiva?”

“No, all stations have reported and internal sensors say no.”

“Run a scan on frequency three-zero-sixty. I encoded her with a micro-transceiver to keep track.”

Michael could hear the pause in Max’s voice. “Michael...”

“Yeah, yeah, I know...invasion of privacy...Blah, blah, blah...Thank me later.” Michael looked for Sean, but the man and the two bearded twins were off somewhere. Michael scowled. Great. Just frickin' great. If Sean accidentally almost got married again, it wouldn't be Michael’s fault.

“Give me a few to find her. I’ll call you back when I do.”

“Understood.”

Michael paid his bar tab and started to the back room to get Sean. He wasn’t going to be grateful for the interruption, but then again the two women were Kelbian, so not only did they grow facial hair, but hair in other places, and...they were hermaphrodites. Michael actually paused and wondered if Sean knew that. Well if he didn't before, he sure did now. Shrugging, he continued on to find Sean. No time for all this crap, they had a job to complete.

Michael stood outside the room for a moment hearing the noises coming from within the cubicle. Pausing at the door, he was just about to knock, when suddenly he put his hand down and left Sean alone with his conquests. There was no way in hell he was entering that room. He had enough nightmares left over from the war, and was reluctant to add any more.

Returning to the landing bay, he found that the transport he had arrived in had left, but two others remained and were being searched. Commandeering an officer from one of them, he received a report. Their supply mission was completed, but the Captain had ordered them to wait for Michael. The other ship was to leave immediately when cleared from inspection.

Michael nodded, and quickly went into the transport to retrieve a electronic information pad and sensor that would allow him to track the frequency of the emitter he had clandestinely embedded under Lonnie’s skin. He had implanted them on Maria and Isabel as well. They were small mico-mitters. He had taken the opportunity to "accidently" bump into all three women at different occasions, leaving a stinging sensation on their skin that he blamed on an open pin. The transmitter's range was limited, but it was sufficient for the ship.

Methodically working from the landing bays and outward, Michael scanned the surrounding area. Eventually he would cross into range, but if Lonnie was beyond the city’s gates...

It took him two hours of searching and wandering the city before he found her signal. Standing behind the wall of a neighboring building, he watched the large imposing structure of the Precinct of the Guardians. She had been captured by the Master of the Guardians, and it would be only a matter of time before they scanned her genetics. That information would be sent to Khivar immediately, and this world would be rewarded by untold riches. Cussing non-stop, Michael made the call and waited, keeping watch.

~~~

“Michael.”

Michael looked to his right as his brother approached. Max had left the Shiva to come to planetside in response to Michael's call regarding the capture of the errant Lady Vilandra.

“Maxwell.”

“She still in there?” Michael nodded and passed his sensor to Max to read.

“They detained her for lack of papers. So far, I don’t believe she’s been scanned, but it’s only a matter of time.”

Max just shook his head. Phloth II was a strict world. Lack of papers was punishable by enslavement, and that required a full health scan to assure freedom of disease for the prospective buyer.

“I should leave her annoying ass to fry.”

Michael looked at his brother in wonder. That sentiment was his own, and was one that would normally have came from his mouth, not Max’s. Max was too authoritive, too in control to let things irritate him, much less to demonstrate his irritation in public. Michael frowned at the change in his brother and wondered what the hell was going on.

“Let’s go.”

Michael followed Max, but hesitated. “What’s the plan? The two of us can’t break her out of the fortress.”

“We’re not. We’re going to file a Missing report.”

Michael scratched the back of his neck. Walking into a fully fortified prison wasn’t on the list of stupid things he was planning on doing that day.

“Great.”

Max just sneered.

It took almost an hour before they were called to the Offices of the High Precinct, Master of the Guardians. Max refused to look around the office, but made eye contact with the man behind the desk and did not waver. Michael on the other hand picked up various objects in the room, replacing them with a cold disdain, besmirching the quality or worth of those objects. His general attitude was one of being highly bored and utterly unimpressed.

“I understand that you’re missing a member of your crew.” The man sat back and steepled his finger together in front of him.

“That is incorrect.”

Michael continued to paw things around him as the Master stood up, unhappy with Max’s reply.

“It would seem I was misinformed. My assistant tells me that you’ve filed a Missing report, and claim that you tracked the missing person to my Offices.”

“That is correct.” Max kept his answers short and clipped.

“Then, pray tell, what is the part that I have wrong?” The man's irritation with Max’s attitude was beginning to break through.

“The Missing is not a crew member, but an indentured slave.”

The man sat back down and looked at Max with interest. “Slave? Strange that she did not say so.”

Max just snorted in derision. “I found her barely alive, the lone survivor of a ship attacked by raiders. She begged my protection and transport to a world far away. I granted her wish for indentured payment. She was to work the galley of my ship, clean and carry, and I’d protect her until we got to her world.”

The man shrugged. “Sounds a fair trade.”

“It was not. I was cheated. She can’t cook, clean or do anything useful. Physical labor is not to her liking, and she is lazy. This is the third time she has run away trying to nullify our agreement.”

“If she is so terrible, then why track her? Just let her go.”

Max voice raised in anger. “I will not! She owes to me a debt...one she will repay. It was an honorable agreement.”

Michael moved closer to Max as his voice raised in anger. “Captain...” he warned.

Max just shook it off. “She has disrupted my crew, turned a simple restocking expedition into a day-long fiasco, and my galley needs to be fixed from the last fire.”

The Master of Guardians seemed fascinated by Max’s tale of woe and anger. It was the entrance of Lonnie under guard that diverted his attention.

“The problem is that this slave has no papers or markings to show her entrance into port. That is a crime in these providences.” The man sized Max up as if to determine how much of a fee or penalty he could charge. “There is the matter of proving she is indeed your slave.”

Michael noticed the startling of Lonnie’s body at the word ‘slave’, and he hoped she wasn’t so stupid that she didn’t hold her tongue. Lonnie bowed her head and waited.

“Michael.”

Michael nodded and handed the sensor monitor to the Master of the Guard. “This is a tracking sensor to monitor her movements. Embedded under her skin a small iso-linear micro-transceiver modulated at a frequency of three-zero-sixty.”

The man took the pad and read the sensor. Lonnie looked up and watched him.

“So this is how you tracked her?”

“Yes.” Michael took the scanner back.

Max remained silent and ignored Lonnie, and Michael backed up behind Max and stood quietly and in respect. The man looked at the group, his eyes wary and narrow in speculation.

“You may have your property back for five thousand credits.”

Michael kept his tongue, and careful not to show emotion, kept his eyes on his  brother’s back. The man suspected that Lonnie was more than an indentured slave. He was testing Max.

Max calmly looked at the man, and without blinking went to stand over Lonnie. In a flash of an eye, he backhanded her across the face hard, causing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

“Keep her. She’s more trouble than I need, now or in the future.”

Max and Michael both turned and started to leave, without looking back.

“Wait.” Max slowly turned and fingered his scar. His use of Phloth II as a trading planet, along with supply acquisitions was well known. This man knew that if he removed Max’s slave without compensation, that the Shiva would no longer use their facilities. “Fifty credits...fine... and she is to be branded.”

Max shook his head no. “Twenty-five credits, and I’ll not put my brand on this worthless cow. I wouldn’t want the universe to know I once owned her.”

The man stared a dispassionate Max down, and finally he caved. “Thirty-five, and no brand.”

Max nodded. “Done. Have your men deliver her to my transport.” Max and Michael left without even looking at Lonnie still huddled on the floor, holding her face where Max had hit her.

They left the building without a word. It was many blocks later that either of them bothered to speak.

“The transmitter was a good idea.”  Michael just grunted. “You know where Sean is?”

“Unfortunately.” Max looked at Michael in inquiry. “Kelbian twins.”

Max just grimaced. “As the Captain, my decision is...you go in.”

“Prick.”

By the time they retrieved Sean and returned to Max’s transport, the Office of the Guardians was returning Lonnie. Max had released the other transport when he came down, so they were the last on planetside. Max ignored the men with Lonnie, and motioned for Michael to take care of all the physical paper work and transfer of credits.

They were in a hurry, but had to appear casual. It wouldn’t take long for the Guardians to start to wonder how Lonnie managed to not only get aboard a transport, but also make it to Phloth II undetected by the transport crew, while evading scanning by the ground crews of their world. The smuggler holds would be discovered, and that came with an even stiffer penalty than being on this world without papers. It was a double offense because the Rules of Full Disclosure had not been obeyed.

Once they broke lower atmosphere and were almost home, Max and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Max looked at Michael and nodded him to go see to their guest.

Max closed his eyes and said to Sean, who was reclining in his seat in exhaustion, “Kelbian twins?”

Sean just smiled.

Michael snickered on his way to the back compartment. Finding Lonnie where the Guardians had left her with the cargo, still shackled and not looking very happy, Michael released her and helped her up.

“You okay?”

Michael wasn’t surprised when she turned angry eyes on him. “He hit me!”

Michael checked her wrist for wounds. They were red, but hadn’t broken the skin. Pushing her not so gently into a seat, Michael turned taciturn eyes on her.

“He saved your life.” Lonnie ignored him and just huffed. “He came down and retrieved you. If for even one moment he had appeared to care about you and your welfare, they would have suspected you were more than a slave.”

Lonnie continued to ignore him, seething. Michael moved her face around and looked at where Max had hit her. It was bruised and still red. It would fade, but Michael hoped she had learned something from this near-disaster. The humiliation and pain could be a valuable lesson for her.

“He had no right!”

“He had every right. You risked more than just yourself today. You risked us all. If they had scanned you, which they were mere seconds from doing, you think they would ever have released you? Khivar would pay untold riches to a world that found you.” Lonnie still ignored him, avoiding his eyes. Michael grabbed her jaw and forced her to look at him. “But they wouldn’t have just found you would they, Lonnie? They would have found your twin, your brother’s unborn child, and maybe even Maria, if she were still aboard. And Shiva...and all her crew? They would have annihilated us all for harboring you.”

“He could have just paid the fine they asked for. He didn’t have to get all nasty and cold, hit me and say those nasty things about me.”

Michael couldn’t believe she was so stupid, so unaware. “Yes he did. They asked for more than three times the worth of any slave. If Max agreed to the price, they would’ve known. It was a test. To pay the asking price meant you were more than just a slave, and they would’ve wanted to know why. By refusing and threatening to walk away, Max left them in a position to lose our business for all time for a worthless slave, barely worth the price of paper. Hardly a good enough trade off.”

“But...”

“No buts! There is nothing but the fact that you owe my brother an apology and a heartfelt thanks for saving your ass!” Michael had had more than enough of her. He turned to return to the front cabin. “You were lucky. If Max hadn’t come for you...” Lonnie looked at Michael. “I’d have left you there to your fate.”

Lonnie remained silent as Michael left her alone to think.

Michael avoided witnessing the reunion of the Eminent's family. He went to his station on the bridge and worked long hours, running diagnostics on his sensor array and operating systems. Finally it was Max who tossed him off the Bridge, after he had been awake for two days.

Returning to his and Maria's rooms, he finally had to face what he had been trying desperately to avoid. She was gone.

Moving around the rooms, he found himself picking up her things and putting them away. Finally he went to bed. The room was cold without her, the bed too large without her stealing all the space and covers, and surprisingly his body felt alone without her constant touch…

He didn’t sleep. He just lay there with his head resting on his folded arms staring at the ceiling.

~~~

Maria left Karnak and plotted a course to Abydos. It was Outworld, the brushing edges of Khivar’s Imperial Federation. Abydos was a world trying desperately to comply and become part of Khivar’s protected worlds. After the war, members of the Royals fled to outlying areas to avoid prisons, death and being pressed into service to Khivar. Abydos was one of the worlds they fled to. Over the past six years that world was in turmoil, becoming a haven for cutthroats and raiders. The governments of the world needed order, and for that they petitioned the Imperial governments for admittance into the Federation.

The first sensor net was easy to avoid, but as she got closer there were more and more. The final ones before high orbit of Abydos were manual stations. Her ship could avoid the automated ones, but it would be hard to explain to a real person why they could see her ship, when it hadn't shown up on their sensor screens until it had reached the manual nets.

Maria quickly backed away. She was going to need information and then help.

~~~

“Okay, give me the symptoms again.” Kyle ran his medical scanner over Michael one more time. Nothing. He was perfectly healthy, but even Kyle could tell that Michael was anything but that. The man looked tired, on edge, thinner, and his hands hadn’t fidgeting since he entered Sickbay.

“I don’t know! I just think I have a cold or something. Maybe one of those bugs that make you puke your guts out.”

“You’ve been throwing up?”

“Technically, no.” Michael thought about it for a moment. “Would it help if I did?”

Kyle just shook his head and put away the scanner.

“You need sleep, Michael. When’s the last time you really slept?”

Michael just shrugged. It wasn’t high on his priorities.

“Okay, when’s the last time you ate?”

Again. Not really big on his ‘to do’ list.

“Michael.”

Losing patience, Michael jumped off the medical bed. “Just fix me! I don’t have time for this. I can’t sleep. I have no appetite. I feel sick inside, and my body feels hollow. I get headaches, and I don’t feel like doing anything except work.”

“And this started when?” Michael just shrugged, but Kyle had a suspicion. “Say, about a fortnight?”

“About that.”

Kyle nodded and perched his lips rocking on his feet. “When Maria left.”

Michael stalked around the Sickbay, agitated. “This has nothing to do with her!” Kyle just watched as Michael worked himself into a frenzy. He could feel his friend, feel his emotions and his confusion.

“You’re in love with her.”

Michael stopped pacing and hopped back on the bed. “Great. You figured it out. So fix me.”

“Michael...”

“Just give me damn shot for it or some medicine so I can go back to work.”

“It’s not that easy.” Kyle sighed at the confused look on Michael’s face. “There’s no treatment for being in love, Michael.”

“So it’s an incurable disease? I’m going to die?”

Kyle laughed and sat next to his friend. “We’re all going to die eventually. But no, this isn’t a disease. Not really. It does resemble an illness at times because it can make you miserable, but at other times it actually feels great.”

“No shot then?” Kyle just shook his head no. “Okay, then get it to the point where it feels great.”

“I can’t. That’s a place you just get to on your own.”

Michael rubbed his forehead. “This love thing...does it go away?”

“Sometimes we learn to live with it, and it pains us less and less, but in true love matches? It never goes away. If it did, then it’s not love.”

“I heard of this ‘love’ thing. It makes no sense to me. I always thought it was like a stomachache.”

“Does your stomach hurt?” Michael nodded. “Then there you go.”

“She did this to me. This is her fault.”

“Maria?”

“Who else?  I should’ve made sure she was disease-free before I agreed to sleep with her. She probably knew this was going to happen, and after infecting me, she left.”

“Michael, it’s not something you catch. It’s how you feel.”

“About Maria?”

Kyle just nodded. It was too hard to explain a concept to a person who had no frame of reference to compare it to. Attilaans didn’t understand the concept of love. It was the one conflicting violent emotion they seemed not to have, or maybe they just refused to admit they had. Attilaans understood anger, hate, revenge, and even friendship and loyalty. But love was something they couldn’t understand. They had never given it a term, almost as if having a meaning for how they felt about the strong ties they built with their friends and family would weaken them. So 'love' on their world became something they ignored. This evolved over many generations, around the time they started the bonded mating ritual. They couldn’t have bonded pairs broken because one of the members of the bond was ‘in love’ with another.

“I’ll tell you how I feel about Maria. She’s a royal pain in my ass! She is strong and opinionated, stubborn and unrelenting. Her hands are everywhere. She can’t understand the concept ‘don’t touch’ or even ‘no’. She gets up in the fucking middle of the night, and just leaves! Not even a word, or a goodbye. She just left. I don’t know where the hell she is, if she’s okay, or even if she’s coming back...”

Kyle remained quiet as Michael jumped off the bed and began pacing again flopping his arms around.

“She is incredibly untidy. Her crap is all over our place. I’ve been picking up after her since she left. Her clothes were all strewn about and they all smell of her. I can even smell her in our bed.”

“Change the sheets.” Michael scowled at Kyle. Change the sheets? Then it would be like she really was gone.

“That’s not the point.”  

Kyle laughed at that. There was a point?

“Shut up, Kyle! Dammit, just give me something to help me sleep, or get her off my mind, or...anything! There has to be something you can do.”

“Sorry, Michael.”

In exasperation, Michael rubbed his forehead and then looked at his friend.

“Your people...they feel this ‘love’ thing all the time?”

“We wait our whole lives wanting it, wishing for it and welcoming it.”

Michael just shook his head and decided to leave. “You’re a sick people.”

Kyle just laughed as Michael left. After he was alone again, his laughter subsided, and the smile left his face. His poor friend. He had no clue what he was in for.

~~~

Michael and Sean were heading for the Bridge.

“So you want to play three tier poker tonight?” Sean asked.

“No.”

“You wanna play a different game?”

“No.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Nothing.”

Sean just made a noise of disgust. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Kyle says I'm stricken with the ‘love’ thing.”

Sean stopped in his tracks. “Oh damn, Michael. I’m sorry. How long?”

“Forever, if Kyle is to be believed.”

“Can’t he cure you, or make it go away?”

Michael just shook his head no. It was nice to finally have someone who could commiserate with him.

“Kyle says it’s something most species want.”

Sean just slapped Michael on the back. “Sick bastards.” Michael had to agree. “You tell Max?”

“No way! He’ll just make fun of me. I’ll be more of a walking poster child. Bad enough I was unbonded my entire life, but now this...”

Sean just silently supported his childhood friend. He couldn't imagine anything worse than a malady that made you not to want to eat and uninterested in gambling. It was the deadliest of diseases.

~~~

“Captain, I’ve got a distortion field opening up off the starboard nasails.” Max nodded at his helmsman.

“Michael?”

“I’ve got it. We’re clear of it, but I’ve never recorded anything like this.” Michael looked at the science station that had a quiet Alex. “Alex?”

“It’s almost like a slipstream corridor. Different, but I think the same principle. More like a wrinkle.” Alex checked his data output. “We’ve got a ship coming out.”

“Michael.”

“On it, Maxwell.” Michael quickly raised shields increasing power to all shields along the hull plating of essential areas. His weapons were powered and standing ready.

“Bring us about, helmsman, and then full stop.” Max watched as the small ship came out of the drift.

“Captain, we’re being hailed.”

“Open channel.”

“Shiva, this is the Zephyr. Request permission to dock.” Maria’s voice filled the Bridge.

“Power down, Michael. Com, open a channel.” Max waited as the communications officer established a connection to Maria’s ship.

“Permission granted, Zephyr, and welcome home.” Max turned to his operations officer. “Inform fourth level aft bay that the Zephyr is docking.”

Alex looked up from his station. “Max, Maria just transmitted some coordinates to my station.”

The two men looked at each other. Max nodded.

“Transmit them to the helm. Sam, lay in a course once you receive the information. Once you plot, open us a slip stream.”

“Aye, Captain.”  Maria found them their first location.

“Maxwell.”

Max turned in his chair and looked at Operations, and Michael’s station. “Go.”

Michael didn’t even hesitate. He was off the Bridge.

By the time he got to the docking bay, she was already docked and gone. Quickly moving from the bay to the nearest lift, he went to their quarters. Her bags were by the door, almost like she couldn’t carry it another step, but the rooms were dark.

He found her.

Maria was curled up in the middle of their bed, sound asleep. She hadn’t even bothered to change. It was like she immediately went to sleep the moment she hit the bed. He stood looking at her, his eyes wandering over her entire body checking for marks and signs that she hadn’t taken care of herself.

Finally, he went to the bed and slowly removed her clothes. She was already shivering, so he quickly undressed her, and slid her under the covers. Leaving the room, he went to retrieve the bags she had dropped and called Max.

“Maxwell.”

“Take the time off, Michael. Get some sleep. I’ll have a call put through to you when we reach the coordinates Maria gave us.” Max disconnected.

Michael stretched in tiredness. Taking her bags, he dropped them on a chair in their bedroom. Slowly taking off his clothes, he never once stopped watching her. When he climbed into the bed, she turned to him naturally seeking his greater warmth. Michael closed his eyes and sighed when she nestled up against him making a soft sound in her sleep. For the first time in over two weeks he could sleep too.

~~~

The sound from the com system was annoying and unwelcome. Maria turned in her sleep and burrowed even more into Michael's body, trying to block out the annoying sound. Michael, a normally slow starter, couldn’t believe he was living with someone even slower than he was. He reached across her to answer the hail.

“Yeah?”

“Commander, we are approaching the set coordinates.”

Michael yawned. “Understood.” Closing the connection he looked down at his sleeping bedmate. “Maria? Maria, wake up.”

“No.” Her voice was low and slurred against him.

“We’ve entered the system.”

Maria slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. “When?”

“Just now. You want to get up and tell us what’s going on?”

“Yes. No.” Maria sat up a little and looked at him. “First I want to say hello to you.”

She pulled his head down to her, but Michael took control. He set his mouth on hers and opened wide, thrusting his tongue in her mouth, aggressive and burning hot. She didn’t protest, just moved around in his arms, further up his body making a noise in her throat. What she did was kiss him, long and deep - kiss him like someone whom she knew well.

Michael rested his forehead against hers breathing deep. “I’m fucking pissed at you.”

Maria moved against him, wrapping an arm around his neck. “Why?”

“You left without telling me, or even saying goodbye.”

“I did.”

“You didn’t. I woke up and you were gone.”

“Technically, you woke up before that. I tried to wake you, but you kept making these shushing noises. So I just covered you up and left you with a kiss on your head.”

Michael was quiet for a moment. “Really? You should’ve left me a note. I thought you just left.”

Maria frowned at him. “I wouldn’t do that. Of course, if you didn’t cling to sleep so deeply I’d have been able to wake you.”

“I was tired.”

Maria sat up in bed and looked at him. “Why? Why did you think I’d just leave?”

Michael was silent for a moment, then just shrugged. “You weren’t really too happy with me before you went to bed, and...”

Maria remembered the conversation. “So did you take care of ‘business’?”

“I went down to the planet, but if you're asking if I picked up a whore, the answer is no.”

Maria looked down at the bed in relief. “I’m...” Stopping before she said more than she knew or could say, she looked at him again. She smiled slightly, and then leaned down and kissed him again.

Michael liked it when she kissed him, instead of him doing it all. When they first started sharing a room he was always the one kissing her, but over the past few weeks that had changed. So he just leaned back and let her lead. She leaned over and kissed his mouth generously. Opening up to the kiss, he felt her tongue lick inside, just their mouths were touching, nothing else. He lifted upward and forward, angling his head so they could go deeper. They lay there on the bed, not touching, but making out - just with lips and tongues and teeth. Maria hummed a little as she pulled away, and Michael could see the flash of her brilliant green eyes and her bright smile in the dim light.

“So we should go?”

Michael groaned. Yeah they should go. “Shower first.” Michael was off the bed heading for the bath, dragging her behind him.

“Did I ever tell you that you have a nice ass?”

Michael looked at her while adjusting the temperature of the water. Pushing her inside under the spray, he laughed at her small shout as the water hit her skin.

“Don’t mess with me. We’ve got places to be.” Michael crowded in behind her, and reached around for some soap. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, “You have a very nice ass as well.”

Maria laughed and looked over shoulder down her back. “Really?” Michael cruelly pushed her directly under the water and laughed at her, “Hey!”

~~~

Maria was frowning in her coffee cup. Blasted thing was empty again, and she didn’t remember drinking it. Looking over at Michael to her left, she became suspicious when he was still sipping on a cup. Glut boy. No way she beat him through. He had to have switched their cups.

“Maria, you want to tell us what planet in the system we’re going to, and why?”

Maria nodded at Max. “Abydos is the fourth star in a binary star system.”

“This is Outworld.” Alex said quietly.

“True. The planets in these joint systems have been trying to get admittance into Khivar’s Imperial Federation. The rules and regulations are very strict. Last few years they had systematically submitted all inhabitants' genomes for consideration. It caused an explosion of violence and civil unrest.”

Alex frowned. “The Kronoss system lords have been in dispute for almost five years. This part of Outworld was declared a war zone two years ago. Most inhabitants fled to other stars to avoid the dispute.”

Sean knew the dispute well. He and the others first landed in Outworld when the war was first over, but it proved too volatile, so they took to better worlds and systems with better opportunities. Kronoss was the name given a Rebel Federation of five large ruling systems that struck a peace after the war, but jealousy and greed tore their alliance apart.

“Do you blame them? Most of the inhabitants that settled this region were Royals fleeing genetic purity under Khivar’s reign. Now their new governments are forging an alliance and giving up their genomes, all against their will.”

“It is very unstable, but Abydos is where I must go. The first gem is housed there. And, with the first gem is the translator key I need to translate the next book, the red manuscript.”

Michael looked at Maria sharply. “How do you know?”

“Pardon me?”

Michael spoke slowly and very exact. “How do you know the region is unstable?”

“I staked it out for over a week.” Michael sat up straighter cussing under his breath. He knew it! Or at least he suspected it. She was out messing in dangerous places, and then acting like it was nothing.

“Michael, settle down.” Max turned to Maria. “What did you learn?”

“I couldn’t attempt to land on Abydos. The scanning arrays aren’t very sophisticated, but the atmospheric ones are manual. My ship would have been seen, not detected. I couldn’t take the chance. Otherwise, I’d have landed and found the gem without your help.”

Michael sneered at that. She was still pissing him off. Independence was fine, as long as he knew what she was doing - and he was with her.

“How unstable we talking, Maria?” Maria just shrugged. Looking at Alex, they shared a silent communication.

“Full scale war. The civil unrest is strong enough to make the Imperial guards assigned to this region a little trigger happy. Their techniques are brutal and very exacting.” Maria held her coffee cup out as Sean walked around refilling them. “Three days ago the main citadel of the Capital city of Kios on Abydos was split into two factions. The controlling Imperials were fighting against the Royal terrorists entrenched in the city.”

Kyle sat sideways looking out the port at the stars and discreetly watching his patient, Alex. He had remained silent until that moment.

“Where do you need to go, exactly?”

“Kios.” All the men in the room moaned. Kios - the city under siege and split.

Max looked at the woman whom they had pledged their help. “What are we looking at?”

“They have sensor grids layered in a tier formation ranging between the different stars. The Imperial government will allow us to land, but only after scanning the ship.”

“You can’t go.”

Maria ignored Michael. “I have to go, or there’s no reason to go at all.”

“This is insane. They will scan you, and that will be it.”

“I have a plan.”

Michael just groaned and rubbed his face. Of course she did.

~~~

They had just been cleared to land in an Imperial part of the city. Michael was in the pilot seat and Maria was in the co-pilot's. The others were in the back compartment, except Alex who couldn’t take a chance going down to the surface.

“They’re scanning us now.”

“I know.”

“Maria...”

“Don’t worry. I told you I could mask my life signs.”

Michael just shook his head. “But when we land, how do...”

Maria looked at him. “You're Attilaan, correct?” Michael just nodded. “I’m your mate.”

“Technically...”

“I’m your mate. They know that Attilaans don’t mate outside their species, so they will assume that I am...”

“Attilaan.” Michael could understand her reasoning, but it still didn’t mean they wouldn’t scan her. “We should’ve landed on the Royals' side. We’re Royals, and...”

“They don’t trust that easily, and the place we need to go is on the Imperial side.”

“I hate this! This is stupid!”

“So you said. Dammit, all these negative vibes. I swear...if we get caught, it will be your fault.”

“My fault? Your plan sucks, and it’s going to be my fault?”

“You could be a little less negative about it. I can read you as positively negative from here. They’re going to take one look at you, and just know.”

Max and the others in the back runabout rolled their eyes. The arguing continued non-stop until finally they landed.

Michael and Maria were still arguing when they stepped from the runabout. The scanning crew entered the ship to scan for hidden cargo and stowaways. The chief of the scanning crew was waiting for Michael’s papers. He didn’t look at the man, just tossed them over his shoulder.

“Next time, I get to make the plan.”

Maria practically stomped her foot. “What the hell is wrong with my plans? They are simplistic and easy to execute.”

“They’re too simplistic and obviously going straight through the most dangerous areas. A little caution, and...”

“Caution? For how long? We could die of old age waiting for one of your plans to come about.” The man tried to interrupt them. Maria just stared him down. “Excuse me! Do you not see me talking to this infuriating ratmonger!”

“Ratmonger?” Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I like you better when you’re asleep. And my plans are not safe!”

Maria just snorted.

“They stink of caution. When the hell did you get to be so old? You’re like a pasty little...” The group ignored Maria high pitched squeal when Michael grabbed her.

The man turned to Max, who handed over his papers. “Attilaan?” Max nodded. “This man has the same clan and family name as you.”

“He’s my brother, and that’s his mate.”

“Oh!” The man stepped away from the arguing couple. Attilaan mates were noted for their volatile natures, and only an idiot came between them. The man turned back when the arguing stopped to find them no longer fighting, but kissing passionately.

“Um, the nature of your business in Kios?”

Max took back his papers and Michael’s. “They’re renewing their marriage vows.”

The group left the poor confused man, all the while snickering and making rude comments. Max paused to pull Michael away from Maria and escort her from the docks.

“That went exceptionally well.” Max said.

“Told you.” Maria beamed a smile at the group, until her eyes came upon Michael, then she just sneered.

Maria left the group for a moment, and stopped a woman in the street. They watched as she conversed with the woman, and the directions were given and pointed out.

They proceeded to the center of the town, towards the main citadel. The closer they got to their destination, the more ruins there were.

“She said we must be careful. That this area of town is often raided, and the terrorists set out landmines and attack at random times.”

“Great.” Michael pulled his weapon and checked his active rounds.

Kyle watched the streets, not liking how quiet the area was. “Captain...”

“I feel it.” Max looked around. “Kyle, you and Sean come up to the rear. Michael you take Maria into the sanctuary, and I’ll cover the front.”

They cautiously separated at the front of Temple of the Immaculate. Part of the outer structure showed damage from the war. Entering with Michael, Maria pulled her weapon as well.

Stopping in the door, she quickly laid her weapon to the ground and pulled off her boots. Standing in bare feet, she waved her hand over the sacramental waters in the sanctuary, and Michael heard chimes sounding in the background.

A hushed voice came from their left. “You seek knowledge?”

Maria remained staring straight ahead. “I seek enlightenment in the House of the Immaculate.”

“Your journey is long?”

“My journey has just begun. I seek the weaver of the voyage.”

Michael watched as a group of cloaked men came out of the shadows. He watched as Maria dropped to her knees, and bowed her head. Neat trick. He wondered if he could get her to remember to do that for him.

“The path is set. If you can walk it, then your way is clear.”

Michael watched as Maria quickly stood and walked down the long aisle to the front cathedral. He tried to move after her, but he could not. His feet felt cemented to the ground.

“The path is for the One. You are not sanctioned.”

Michael looked at the man, and then after Maria. Looking down at where he stood, he noticed the ornate crest in the floor, the stones demarcating the separation of the Temple. Placing his gun to the ground, he quickly removed his boots as Maria had done.

“Why do you seek to enter?”

“I follow the loud-mouthed opinionated one.”

The man looked at him. “You follow the One?” He looked at his brethren. “Perhaps the path is clouded, or the walk too long? You seek what is there, but you follow no one.”

“Yeah, whatever. I just need to go with her.”

“Why?”

“Well, if you knew her better, you’d wouldn’t ask, nor would you allow her to enter your Temple without restraints and supervision.”

“Then she is yours to guard?”

Michael didn’t get it, but he understood her being his responsibility. “Yeah, just born lucky that way.”

They bowed away, and Michael looked at them for a moment before stepping over the crest stones into the main Temple. Moving quickly, he found Maria in a room of lit candles. Outside Michael could hear the sound of voices rising, the sounds of blasters being discharged.

“Maria.”

“I hear. Shush.” He looked around, and reached for his weapon, but his holster was empty. He had left his weapon on the floor as he entered. Idiot.

Maria walked forward between lines of candelabras, to stand in a middle of a circle of lit ones. Slowly circling, she withdrew a medallion she wore around her neck, and she slowly opened her palms out and upward.

Michael didn’t hear the wall move, but suddenly in the dim light stood a woman wrapped in full cloaks of yellow. She stood quietly and almost timidly. Her voice was young, and lacking inflection.

“Princess.”

Maria stopped and walked towards the woman. Taking her arm, she gestured to Michael to follow.

Michael rushed after Maria, looking back at the room of candles. What the hell? Where the fuck was the gem?

“Who’s the girl?”

“Michael, no time. We must leave.”

The sounds of a battle increased outside. Maria and Michael quickly stopped to put on their footwear, and pick up their guns. Michael reached for the young woman’s arm, but Maria stopped him.

“Don’t touch her! She cannot be touched.”

“Okay, then you touch her. Hurry her ass along!”

They exited the Temple in time to see a structure close to them explode. Michael couldn’t grab the young woman, so he grabbed Maria instead. He pulled her along with him, and she pulled the young woman. They sheltered by a low wall, as Max came to join them.

“Did you get the gem?” Max asked breathing harshly. He looked over the wall and saw Sean and Kyle clearing the way towards the only road out of the citadel. They were bottlenecked in and being threatened by impinging fire.

“Yes,” said Maria, as Michael said no. They looked at each other.

“This is the gem.” Maria pointed to the woman.

Michael and Max shared a look. “Your gems are women?”

“Yes.”

Max swore. “You might have mentioned that! I take it she has no papers?”

“Doubtful.”

Michael swore as well, and Max just cussed a blue streak. Michael looked at Maria as if she was insane. “How the hell do you expect us to get her on board without papers, or without her being scanned, Princess?”

Maria’s face became dark at Michael’s question. “Don’t call me Princess! She’ll wear my dampening field emitter. We’ll create a diversion, and while no one is watching, she will go aboard.”

“Right! We’re screwed!”

“Stop with all the negativity. I’m telling you it’ll work!”

Michael saw the break in the fighting, and Sean was gesturing for them to quickly follow. He roughly pulled Maria to her feet, and dragged her with him.

“And what if they scan you without your dampening field, Princess?”

“You’ll just have to make sure they don’t!”

Max went ahead of them to see if the ship was through being scanned. Kyle and Sean couldn’t stop watching the cloaked figure. She was covered from head to toe in a soft yellow wrap, and she kept her head down.

“What about your translation key?” Michael asked quietly.

“She’s the key.”

Michael snorted. Great. “I thought she was the gem.”

Maria reached out and took the woman’s arm. Pushing the cloth away, she showed Michael a tattoo on the woman’s forearm of symbols.

“The translation key.” Maria covered the arm. “Satisfied?”

Michael just grunted as Max came back to join them. “The ship's ready. We just need to have any packages we have searched.”

Maria nodded. “Max, you take…” Maria looked at the devote. “Your Holy Immaculate, is there a name you go by?”

The woman looked up with soulful brown eyes. “Liz. They call me Liz, Princess.”

TBC: CHAPTER 5: AGAPE