REBELS AND SAVIORS

Palindrome

“Michael, we’ve cleared the sensor array.”

Michael was too stunned to respond to Max’s voice. Staring at Maria, he wasn’t sure what to say. Her bedmate. That meant sleep with her...in her bed...mate.

Maria released the hatch and powered down her ship. Sitting up, she quickly got out and looked at him, still lying there stunned.

“You don’t have to answer right away. But I’m really in need here, and you fit my requirements.”

“Requirements?” Michael could believe his voice actually squeaked. What the hell? Anterraans had requirements?

“Yes. I think you’d be perfect, and I know that I don’t have much to offer, and I’m asking for a tremendous favor, but...”

“You seem very...um,” Michael cursed under his breath. He could feel the heat of embarrassment rising up his neck, and now she had him stuttering. “I just mean you seem to have quite a bit to offer.”

Maria smiled at that. “I was hoping you would think so! I mean...I know you share a room with Max, but my rooms are larger I gather, so you’ll be trading up for more space. I noticed my bed is much larger than the standard bunk, so the room factor added in as well should be a bonus.” Maria reached over and slapped his chest lightly. “And...and there’s an online replicator!”

Michael just nodded. All those were definite benefits, but she was missing the most obvious one. Sleeping with her. Michael had never had a steady bedmate or relationship before, so he remained silent. Part of him didn’t want her to know how inexperienced he was at this, and her forthright attitude made him believe that this was a common occurrence among her kind.

Maria jumped down and waited for Michael to join her. After he closed the hatch, they headed out of the landing bay. Michael was quiet and Maria kept looking at him as he walked her back to her quarters.

Maria frowned. “Look, you don’t have to say yes, or even agree right away. I mean, I’m being a fool thinking that you don’t want to continue to share quarters with Max.” Maria placed her hand on the pad to open her door, and moving to stand in the open doorway, she was silent. “Just think about it.”

Michael nodded and started to leave. He heard her sigh. He reached out and pulled her close. Looking down in her wary eyes, he quickly moved in and pressed a kiss against Maria's mouth, tongue searching, exploring then tasting her tongue against his. The passion began to burn, building up to a roaring inferno. Michael was starting to be rough, more than he wanted to be, but something drove him to it. He held Maria pinned to him, devouring her with his mouth. She took it, seeming to thrive on it just as he did, almost lost in the moment, until just as suddenly as he started kissing her, he stopped.

“Yes,” he said, and walked away leaving Maria holding onto the side of her door for support with her other hand touching her mouth.

“Yes?” Her voice actually breathed a little in whispers. “Um, Michael? Yes?” He was gone.

Dammit. Maria went inside and sat down, to quickly stand up again and pace. What the hell was that kiss about?

~~~

Alex wandered around in his dark rooms. The nausea had become worse since they passed the sensor array. Kyle had barely started a full diagnostic physical on him when he was alerted to the approaching array. He had rushed back to his quarters to make sure that both Lonnie and Isabel were safe.

Alex’s hand hit the wall in a loud smack as dizziness and nausea hit him again. Rushing into the bathroom vomited again. Sitting on the floor he rested for a short time trying to get his stomach under control.

“Alex?”

Alex just groaned as his sister Lonnie came through the door and found him. Rushing to his side, she crouched down beside him.

“Alex, oh god...are you okay?”

Wincing, Alex stood on shaky legs. “Yeah, just a little unsteady.”

Lonnie helped him to his bed. Watching him roll over and place an arm over his eyes, she rushed back into the bathroom and rinsed out a cloth with cool water. Sitting on the side of his bed, she slowly washed his face.

“You’ve been sick a lot these last few weeks. Iz and I are concerned.” Lonnie frowned. Her relationship with her brother had been strained since she had accused Kathleen of betraying them. Learning that Pierce had actually been the betrayer had been a bitter pill to swallow. At best, she and Alex had been civil around each other.

“I went to see Kyle earlier, but was interrupted.”

“The alert?” Alex just nodded. Lonnie reached down and took the covers and pulled them over him. Kissing his cheek, she left him to sleep. It wasn’t a surprise that Isabel was standing in the door watching them.

“Sick again?”

Lonnie nodded. Looking at her sister, she suddenly looked down at the floor.

“I’m a terrible person, Iz.”

“No you’re not.”

“Yes...yes I am. I hated her. Kathleen, I mean. I hated her because she was one of them...everything. And when I learned it was Pierce and not Kathleen who told Khivar about us, it was like another slap in the face.”

Isabel pulled her sister into the other room and sat with her on the sofa. “Lonnie, god, you don’t want to be like them...like Alex. Look at how lonely his life is. He loved Kathleen for almost twenty years, and they could never be together. They stole his life, his love and his future. He wants children so badly and that's the one thing he will never have. They stole that from him too. They let him see her, his child, just long enough to love her, and then he had to watch her die.”

“I know.” Lonnie just looked at the dark bedroom. “I guess part of me felt that if I was ‘more’ that Pierce would have loved me more, or at least enough not to betray me, us.”

“I know. But don’t wish to be Alex. Since the day the elders realized he had that extra chromosome, his life changed. They altered his genome, who he was and made him someone else. His life stopped being his that day, and he sacrificed everything when he realized that we had the same anomaly.” Isabel grabbed her twins hands. “Don’t make his sacrifice be for nothing.”

Lonnie wiped away tears from her cheek. “I’m just angry. Angry that we’re hunted. First they wanted to kill us, then they wanted to rape us of our genome, and now they want to make us into what Alex is. It’s just been so long since I’ve been anything or anyone. We’ve lived in fear all our lives, and now with Alex sick...who will protect us if he dies?”

Isabel took Lonnie’s shoulders and shook her. “He’s not dying!”

“Since Kathleen died, it’s as if...” Lonnie stopped herself. No. Isabel had to be right. “You’re damn right. He’s not dying.” Lonnie stood up, and wiped her face again.

“God, Lonnie. What are you going to do?” Isabel wringed her hands together. Her brother and sister were tiring. Lonnie might be her twin, but she was more like Alex.

“I’m going to go find this Kyle person, and you’re going to stay with Alex.”

“You can’t go out! Alex will be upset, and he’s already not feeling well...”

“I don’t care. What if he dies? What then?” Lonnie hesitated for just a moment, and then headed for the door. “He’s all we’ve got left, Iz. If we lose him, then we’re all alone.”

“Lonnie!” Isabel watched the door shut behind her sister.

Maria heard the scream and came to look outside the door. She saw the tall blond woman leave Alex’s quarters across from her own. Frowning and uncertain what to do, Maria did what she always did - she barged into a situation that had nothing to do with her.

“Can I help you?”

Lonnie turned to look at the small, more delicate blond standing in the doorway. She was like a perfect picture of delicate bones and features offset by startling green eyes. Lonnie just shrugged.

“If you know a doctor named Kyle, then yes, you may help me.”

“Then you are in luck, because I very much know a doctor named Kyle.” Maria smile faded. “Are you sick?”

“No. Not me.”

“Then your sister or Alex?”

Lonnie straightened to her full height and looked at the doll-like creature down her nose, imitating her sister’s most haughty of looks.

“You know of us?”

“Of course. Alex promised to introduce me to his twin sisters. So you’d be either Lonnie or Isabel.”

“Vilandra.”

Maria smiled and held out her hand. “Vilandra. And I’m Maria.”

“I need to find this Kyle person...fast.”

Maria took the woman’s arm and led her into Alex’s quarters. When they entered, Isabel stood. Maria just muttered under her breath. "Yea, though I walk in the Valley of tall amazons, I’ll not let them eat my rations..."

Maria hit the com system. “Kyle?”

“Maria? Another headache?” Maria smiled at his voice.

“No. I’m in Alex’s quarters. One of his sisters insists you come immediately.”

Maria looked at Lonnie and gestured to the com.

“It’s my brother, Alex. He is sick. Very sick.” The woman shared a look with her sister. “I think he’s dying.”

Kyle swore. “I’m on my way.”

Maria rushed into the darkened room and searched for Alex on the bed. Placing her hand on his forehead she was concerned at the clamminess of his skin. He was sound asleep and didn’t seem to know she was there.

“Maria.” Maria stood when Kyle called her name.

“He’s asleep.”

Kyle approached the bed with caution. He was reading the sleeping Alex, and the tiredness and nausea was overwhelming. The headache was like a mini explosion in the back of his head moving forward. Maria quickly stood and grabbed Kyle before he fell.

“Kyle?”

He just shook his head to clear it, and quickly put up a mental shield from Alex’s emotions. It was wrong. Alex was normally impenetrable, too hard to read, but his emotions were all over the place. Confused.

“Maria, could you...” Kyle gestured for her to leave him with his patient.

“Of course.” Maria started to leave, looking back in concern. “I’ll just...go. You know, I think I’ll take his sisters to the mess and threaten them with food poisoning, giving you some time with Alex.”

“Thanks.”

Kyle waited until Maria left the room before injecting Alex with something for nausea and his headache. He then woke the man.

“Kyle?” Alex slowly opened his eyes.

“Hey. So I take it that we need to finish looking at you.”

Alex sat up a little feeling a little better. “What? How?”

“Your sisters and Maria. I guess one of your sisters took off out of here to find me, but found Maria instead, who returned them to your rooms and called me.”

“Lonnie. It had to be Lonnie.”

Kyle just shrugged. One sister looked like the other on the outside, but given a little time to talk to them, Kyle would easily tell them apart.

“Perhaps. Anyway, let's get you to Sickbay for that physical.”

“My sisters...”

“Maria has them. She’ll show them a good time to keep them from worrying, and bring them back safe and sound.”

“They are outside?” Alex sat up in alarm, pushing himself off the bed.

“Whoa, calm down! You didn’t think you were going to keep them hidden away forever? They’re with Maria. She’ll keep them protected.”

“But...”

“No buts about it, let's get to Sickbay before the medicine for nausea wears off.” Alex stood up and weaved on his feet as Kyle steadied him. Kyle was right. His empathy must have alerted him to the fact that Alex’s body was already clearing the drug.

~~~

“Alex isn’t going to like this.” Isabel protested, looking around in interest despite herself.

Maria chuckled as the woman put on her disdainful look and appeared unaffected by being out of her quarters for the first time in over six months. Lonnie...Vilandra... was the opposite. She was all over the place, looking at everything and asking many questions.

Maria watched them talk to the mess crew and get food, before she put a call through to Max.

Max’s no-nonsense voice over the com actually made Maria smile.

“Go.”

“Max, it’s Maria.”

There was a moment of silence. “You're not coming back to my Bridge, are you?” Max asked cautiously.

Maria swallowed her immediate indignant retort and instead, responded to the humor of the situation.

“Not immediately, no.” His sigh of relief had her eyes narrowing. Those twins might not look alike, but in so many ways Michael and Max were the same.

“Did you need something?”

Maria decided not to take offense until later. “Actually, this is just a call for your edification. I’ve got the Eminent twins and I refuse to give them back.”

Max frowned at his com and then looked at his brother. The woman was a loon. “What?”

Maria just laughed. “I just wanted to let you know that Alex’s twin sisters are with me in the dining room, and outside their normal protected quarters.”

“Understood.” Max rubbed his face and fingered his scar. “Where is Alex?”

“With Kyle. He’s sick.”

That made Max stand up and take notice. “I’ll check on the situation. Thanks for the information.”

“No problem.”

Max looked at his brother and frowned. Michael? A normal Michael reaction would’ve been to immediately insisting on rushing to the crew mess to stand guard over Alex’s sisters just in case of trouble. Instead, his horndog brother seemed preoccupied and lost in his own thoughts.

“Michael?” Max frowned deepened when his brother had to force himself to pay attention.

“What?” Michael's distracted voice was bothering Max.

“Let's go check out the situation.”

Michael nodded and followed his brother from the Bridge. “What situation?”

Max stopped. “Okay, what’s going on?”

Michael just grimaced and shrugged. “Nothing. Why?”

“Why?” Max laughed at that. “First, Alex’s sisters are out and about on the ship, and you aren’t there, Mr. Johnny on the Spot, to check them out. Then Alex is sick, and you’re not your usual...space herpies...it has to be. Instead you’re distracted, I’d even say daydreaming.”

“Daydreaming? I don’t daydream!” Michael and Max continued walking. They took the lift to Sickbay. Michael stopped his brother outside the door. “I’m moving out of our quarters.”

“What?” Max stared at his brother as he entered Sickbay.

~~~

Kyle ran the full scan twice while Alex tried to resist the nausea. He failed.

“Oh god! I am sorry.” Kyle patted his friend on the shoulder and handed him an emesis basin.

“Don’t worry about it. We get a little of everything in this place.” Kyle caught one of his assistant’s eyes and they acknowledged his need for a cleaning crew.

“I do not remember the last time I was sick. Maybe when I was a small boy, before the change?” Alex laid back and put his arm over his eyes. “I do not remember it being this miserable.”

After the mess was cleaned, Kyle stood beside his friend and watched him with a slight apprehension. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Alex, tell me what happened the last time you saw Kathleen, before she died.”

Alex closed his eyes as if remembering. “I tracked her down when I felt a disturbance. She was sick. Dying from poison. I think she might have been able to hold off the effects for a long time, but she had another purpose.”

“Purpose? What purpose?”

Alex sighed, almost as if he was in pain and resigned to it. “When one of us dies, our energy...our essence seeks out the remaining members of our kind. Leena knew she was poisoned and that one of her murderers was Pierce, the only remaining Eminent other than myself. She released her life early, and melded her essence into me, so Pierce would not benefit for his treason.”

Kyle moved his mouth around in thought and crossed his arms in front of him. “So instead of holding fifty percent off all the essence of the Eminents, you hold two-thirds?”

“Yes.”

“How did she transfer her power?”

“Kyle...”

“Alex, just tell me.”

Alex closed his eyes. “We made love. During, well more during the end...”

“When you reached completion, during the orgasm?”

“Right. During that time, there was this burning, almost searing pain. And I could feel her moving into me, almost like being too full, to the point of having my skin peel. It was unsettling, but then it evened out and dispersed.”

“What was the point of contact?”

Alex snorted. “I told you, we were in the middle of it. Pretty much every part of our bodies that could be in contact was.”

“No. The searing pain. At what point did it emanate?”

“My stomach...low.”

Kyle lifted Alex’s shirt. His stomach was flat and there was little to no indication that Kathleen’s power entered him there, except for...

“Alex, you have the ability to sense things. Place your hands on your stomach and tell me what you feel.”

Alex complied. In a rush of sensation he felt her, his wife. Leena was in him, all concentrated in his lower stomach.

“It is Leena. But I have felt her every day since she died, and dreamt about her every night.”

Kyle sighed and sat next to Alex. There was no easy way to tell him, no way to take away the shock.

“It’s not Leena, Alex.”

“It is. It is her essence.”

“No, Alex. No.” Kyle placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s an embryo. A baby.”

Alex just shook his head.

“You’re pregnant.”

“What?” Both Alex and Kyle turned to look at Max and Michael when Max’s astounded outcry rang through the Sickbay.

Kyle looked around and quickly dismissed his staff for a short break.

“That is impossible, Kyle. I am not equipped to carry a child and nurture it to maturity. And I do not have a womb.”

Kyle rubbed his neck. “I know. The embryo is so small, almost like a cyst beneath your skin, actually beneath a subcutaneous fat layer.”

Michael and Max just stood there silently, neither knowing what to say. The first pregnant male that they knew of, or that they knew of that didn’t naturally carry their young.

“I do not understand how this can happen.”

“That short period of time you were together,” Kyle ignored Alex's reaction to the word ‘short’. It was more like a full night. They had lost time. It took him a while to realize that they had lost about six hours during the time they were making love. “She must’ve transferred the fertilized embryo when she transferred her power.”

“She said it was a gift for me from her.” Alex couldn’t grasp the concept. He was pregnant, to be a father again. Reaching his hands over his lower stomach he felt it again, and this time he looked for more. Kyle was right. It wasn’t just Leena, but himself as well.

“You’re right though. You aren’t equipped to carry this child. Already an outer cystic layer is forming around the child, almost like a placental protective unit with an incredible increase in innervations and vascular activity. The release of embryonic hormones into your blood stream explains your illness, nausea and vertigo.”

“What can be done?” Max asked quietly.

“Alex can carry it for a little while, but we need to find a surrogate mother soon.”

Alex sat up and moved to sit on the side of the bed. Rubbing his face, he tried to take in everything Kyle was saying.

“I cannot do it again, Kyle.” Alex saw the three men stare at him. “I cannot watch another child of mine die.”

“Alex, I think this could be different.”

Alex just shook his head. All he could see was his small daughter, crushed and tortured during her short life.

“How? How can this be different?”

“Khivar engineered your last child. He did the insemination artificially, correct?” Alex nodded. “But this time it was natural.” Kyle ignored Alex’s snort of derision. Okay, Kathleen transporting her child into Alex wasn’t quite natural, but still... “I mean the impregnation was natural. The burst of Eminent energy and power might make the difference.”

“You do not know that.”

“No, no I don’t. But Alex, are you asking me to remove the baby and let it die now rather than take the chance?”

Alex shook his head, horrified. He could never willfully destroy his own child, a life he had created with Leena.

“No.”

Kyle didn’t think so. “Okay, so you get to be pregnant until we find a surrogate mother.”

Michael looked at Alex’s flat stomach and frowned. “So you’re going to surgically transfer the baby to another?”

Kyle shook his head no. “I think Alex can do it like Leena did. That would be best for the baby.” Alex listened attentively. He had to agree with Kyle on all matters concerning the baby. Alex moved his hand over his stomach again. Oh god.

Max listened quietly. “How about one of his sisters?”

Alex shook his head no. “That is not a possibility. They have my genetics, and would be perfect under an ideal situation. But, not now. Khivar is actively looking for them. He knows they exist. I can’t take a chance that they will be discovered while carrying my child.”

“Maria?”

Michael’s reaction was surprisingly brisk and almost violent. “No! Absolutely not!”

The other three men looked at him in confusion at his intense response.

Michael scratched his forehead and frowned. The thought of Maria carrying another man’s child, even as a surrogate mother, stuck in his skin like an irritating burr.

“Maria’s genetics are equally unique. If Khivar ever scans her, she’ll be hunted. Losing the entire Anterraan genome was a devastating loss for him, and Maria is like a glimpse of dessert. Your child would be icing to that cake.”

“Michael is right.” Alex laid back to rest and think. “Sooner or later, Pierce will sense the presence of another. He will think it is Leena still alive, but once he realizes that Leena is gone he will know there is a baby.”

Kyle nodded. “We need to find a surrogate above reproach. This is difficult. It has to be someone protected or that Khivar and Pierce will never suspect.”

Max looked at his sick friend. “How long does Alex have, Kyle? How long before the embryo needs to be transferred?”

Kyle just shrugged. It was unprecedented. There was no way to tell, but one thing was certain, Alex was going to get sicker.

Max and Michael left Sickbay as Kyle and Alex planned daily appointments, diet, exercise, and when the words ‘prenatal vitamins’ were spoken, Michael was gone.

“Michael?”

“Hmm?”

“Do our lives seem a little strange lately? Two hidden twins, the last remaining member of an unknown advanced race, a pregnant Eminent, and now you’re moving out.”

Michael just scratched his brow. “I don’t know. Sounds kind of normal, or same-old stuff. We’re setting down on Phloth II in about ten days, and things should look a little more routine.”

Max just laughed. Phloth II was their next scheduled supply stop, and it was anything but routine. The last time they had stopped there, Alex had gone missing and Sean almost got married without realizing it. Kyle had shacked up with a native healer who ended up wanting one of his two hearts.

“You’re avoiding telling me, aren’t you?”

“What?” Michael looked at his brother and then grimaced. “Okay, maybe a little.”

“What’s going on?”

“I’m moving in with Maria.” Max stopped dead in his tracks, and just stared at his brother. “Hey, she asked me! I swear.”

“You two fight and bicker constantly, and you go out of your way to irritate her.”

“That’s not true. She’s just such an irritating person at times.” Michael said brooking no argument, but she did have some redeeming qualities. “Though her ship is totally worthy of worship.”

Max just shook his head and continued to the crew dining room. That explained Michael's sudden lack of interest in Alex’s sisters. Maria? Max just added this to his list of strange and bizarre events.

Then he met the twins again and added them to his ever-changing bizarre life. They were in the dining room laughing and talking to crew members, the most prominent being Sean. One twin was quiet and polite while the other was flirting outrageously with Sean.

Michael quickly looked around and found Maria in the kitchen having a very private intense conversation with the cook. He went to find her.

“No, I’m positive that they baked them on a bed of salt, and after they were done, rubbed them with a cloth that removed the outer peel. Then they sliced them up and served them in the green salad.”

“My mother always peeled and boiled them.”

Maria pointed at the man’s hands. “I understand that following old traditions is important, but the bleeding beetroot leaves stains everywhere if you try to peel it before cooking it.” Maria gestured to the man’s red stained hands. “Supposedly the salt bed you bake it on absorbs the red liquid and keeps your pan clean.”

Liander looked at her and tipped his head in speculation. “I thought you didn’t know how to cook?”

“I don’t! Really, I don’t, but I’ve always been curious and took great pains to watch how people do things.” Maria smiled her most engaging smile. “Aren’t all these different cultures and ways of doing things so much fun?”

“Fun?” The man looked at her skeptically, but her smile disarmed him and he soon found himself smiling back. “So just wash them and bake on a bed of salt in the oven? Then rub off the peel?” She smiled and nodded.

“What are ya doing?” Maria turned to see Michael and quickly lost her smile. Shuffling on her feet, she decided not to let him bother her.

“Just talking shop.”

Michael grimaced. “I’ve seen your cooking. This can’t be shop, but an intent on making mischief.”

“Not true! I was offering some sage advice gained from my last six years of traveling.”

“Uh huh.” Michael took her arm and helped her from the kitchen. “Let's just keep your cooking to your assigned night.”

“I was just observing.”

“Uh huh.”

“I hate it when you do that!”

Michael stopped and looked at her confused. “Do what?”

“That, ‘uh huh’, Maria is getting into trouble. ‘Uh huh’, she is touching things again. ‘Uh huh’, now I’m going to have to put her in a corner and keep an eye on her.” Maria jerked her arm away. “Stop being so condescending and preachy. You’re not my father!”

“I know that. And I don’t act anything like a father to you.”

“Do too! All ‘pooh pooh’ there goes Maria again stuck in the access panel between deck three and four, or...or ‘Maria, I want you to wear this anklet which will give you an electrical jolt if you should enter areas where you will cause problems.”

“The anklet was a good idea, a sort of learning device.”

“I’m not a pet needing training!”

Michael just made a snort of derision. “I’m just trying to keep you out of trouble and hurting yourself.”

“I’ve lived twenty-eight cycles still functioning fine, thank you. I think I can handle it.”

“Oh!” Michael looked at her menacingly. “What about the airlock in the forward manifold array?”

“That was an accident! I told you, I tripped and grabbed the lever to save myself.”

“And almost blew yourself out of the airlock.”

“I held on!”

“The access crawl space...”

“I wasn’t stuck! I told you, I was just realigning some power couplings.”

“Did Sean ask you?”

“No, but...”

Max watched his brother and Maria for a moment and just shook his head. Impossible. They would kill each other in no time, or he’d find Michael back in their quarters, bitching.

“Do they always fight like that?”

Max looked at the woman standing next to him. Isabel. It had to be Isabel. She was quiet and discreet.

“Pretty much. Not really fighting as much as disagreeing violently.”

“They do it well. How long have they been together?”

Max frowned and shrugged. “They aren’t together, well at least they weren’t until today.”

“Interesting. It seems like he’s trying to protect her, and she’s trying to get him to give her some space.”

“Something like that.” Max smiled at the woman momentarily. “You really shouldn’t be out of your protective quarters.”

“I know. But Maria said that she was in danger too, and no one pushed her into a large dampening field, and that if things became a problem the big bore butt would find us.” Isabel actually laughed. “I take it that he is ‘the big bore butt’?”

“Evidently.” Max scowled at the arguing two. They seemed to be enjoying themselves too much. “I guess I need to take some precautions with Maria as well.”

Max turned to see his Chief Engineer whispering in the other twin's ear. Great. He was floating a crate full of giggling couples.

“Sean, I hadn’t realized you were off duty yet?”

Sean quickly got to his feet at Max’s words, and sheepishly looked around. “I was just getting a quick cup of coffee...”

Max’s eyebrow went up.

“And now that I have, I’m on my way back to work.” Sean smiled at Lonnie, and was quickly out the door taking a few of his men with him. Lonnie just sat, sullen and pouty over the loss of her companion.

“That wasn’t very nice.” Isabel observed noting her twin's displeasure.

Max just shrugged. He was running a ship, not a dating service among the stars. “Job description for Captain didn’t list being nice as a prerequisite.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t cultivate an obvious good trait.”

Max looked at her again and figured his scar. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Do that.” Max managed not to smile at her haughty tone. She was a piece of work, refusing to concede to anyone.

“So I just came to check on you and your sister, and let you know your brother was heading back to your quarters.”

Max smirked as he watched racing emotions across the woman’s beautiful face. She had forgotten her brother.

“Lonnie! We need to go.” Her sister pointedly ignored her. Isabel quickly excused herself and went to go talk to her sister.

Max critically watched the sisters noting the differences in their mannerisms. As a twin himself, he appreciated how different they were, considering they were identical twins whereas he and Michael were fraternal twins. They both had the same beautiful face with long straight blond hair, and brown eyes. Their height was impressive and neither of them were small delicate women, but despite physical attributes, they were different. Isabel was quiet, but she held a reserve of strength, and Lonnie who appeared more brash and self-assured seemed to need attention and reassurance.

“I don’t want to go back. I like it here.”

“Lonnie, Alex is on his way back to the rooms. I want to know what’s wrong with him.” Isabel tried to keep her exasperation from her voice, because it only made Lonnie even more stubborn than usual.

“Okay, okay. But let me finish my drink. I can’t believe that after all this time all you can think about is returning to our prison.”

“I’m not! I don’t want to go back either, but Alex isn’t feeling well, and...”

“Save it.” The sisters stared each other down, but they knew that they would return to their rooms.

Max just silently watched.

Michael looked at Maria and frowned too. She was in as great a danger as Alex’s sisters. They had all lost too much to Khivar and his genetic purity. None of them were willing to lose more.

“You should be behind a dampening field as well, and not allowed to roam the ship unprotected.”

“Too bad. I don’t care. I won’t become a prisoner in that cold crypt.”

Michael grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. “You weren’t there. You have no idea what he does to those whose genetics he strips. If you did, you’d have more fear.”

Maria removed his hand from her. “I know enough. True I didn’t live it day by day as it was happening, but I came home to it. I almost steered my ship down the black hole that was once my world, my people and my parents.” Maria shoved a finger into his chest. “Don’t tell me that I understand nothing of pain and what this war cost.”

“Maria...”

“God! You piss me off.” Maria started to move away when he stopped her.

“So I take it that you no longer want me to move in with you?”

Maria was startled at his question. “I didn’t say that. I...of course I want you. To move in, I mean.” Closing her eyes, she leaned her forehead on his chest unaware of his softening regard, but feeling the hand he moved over her bent head. “I’m alone and it’s the way it has to be, working to restore and fix what has already cost too much.”

Michael lifted her head by her chin and looked in her eyes. She was tired. He could see it in her eyes, and feel it in her body. It wasn’t defeat, just weariness. What weight she carried, he didn’t know. But it was a heavy burden.

Lowering his head to kiss her, Michael's face had moved closer until his breath was a warm, moist touch on Maria's lips.

"You’re right, and I’m sorry." Michael said just as his mouth moved to cover those full, glorious lips. Any hesitation that might have been present disappeared at that exact moment. One of Maria's hands came up in protest, but soon slid down to a muscular shoulder and began to knead as the other moved to cradle the back of Michael's head. Michael’s hands moved to rest around the slender waist pulling her closer to his body. 

Tongues met finally as mouths slanted, grips became tighter, breathing became unnecessary, and the first taste caused an addiction Michael didn't ever want to rid himself of, even if he could. God he loved to kiss! It was almost the only thing he had been permitted to do when he was younger. No woman on his world would’ve dared to become more intimate than that because they were already promised to a bond mate. But a heavy kissing and petting session with him was like being bad, and there were lots of girls who wanted to feel that way.

Maria was different. She didn’t need him to make her feel anything, and somehow there was something much more honest about the way he could overwhelm her. He felt as if Maria was discovering every nook in his mouth, and so he proceeded to do the same thing to her. It became something akin to a race to see who could feel every surface, find every dark corner first.

When blackness began to fall, Michael felt her pull away to pant into his mouth. A low moan of passion mixed with a pout of chagrin, and he pulled her head the last inch forward so their foreheads were resting against each other. They panted together for a few more seconds, slowly calming down as they ran their hands across each other's body. Michael knew the moment that Maria began thinking again, and he waited for her reaction. It didn’t take long.

 “What is...” Maria cleared her voice to try to remove some of the husky sound. “What’s with all the kissing?”

“I like kissing.” Michael said releasing her when she moved away from him. “Anyway, you started it.”

Maria’s brows furrowed. “I did not! You kissed me once before and you just did it again.”

“You kissed me first in Sickbay!” Michael’s eyes narrowed, suspecting she was going to just shrug it off. “You ravished me!”

“What?” Maria looked at as if he were insane. “It was just a kiss.”

“Then you admit it!” Michael snorted. Just a kiss? He’d like to see what she considered more than a kiss.

Maria literally stomped her foot. “I admit nothing. You’re delusional.”

“I’m delusional? And you’re afraid.”

“Afraid? I’m...”

“Hello?” They both stopped and looked at Max who was standing there watching them as was everyone else in the room.

Maria felt the rush of blood to her face. She had completely forgotten where they were and how public it was.  Shooting Michael a look of pure fury, she just walked off.

“Think we can escort these women back to the protection of their rooms?”

Michael was confused for a moment, and then realized Max was talking about Alex’s sisters.

“Yeah, whatever.”

After they deposited the twins and Maria to their respective quarters, Michael and Max headed back to work on the Bridge, for which Max was eternally thankful. All this little stuff was giving him a headache.

“So you're really going to move out?”

Michael just grunted.

Max laughed to himself. An hour ago he would have sworn it was a bad idea, and probably could’ve given detailed reasons for why it was wrong. But after watching them fight and then kiss in the dining room, both oblivious to everyone else, Max actually felt happy for his brother and envious at the same time. Michael had never had anyone to lose himself in before, and even though Max had had Serena, it was never that type of relationship.

~~~

Maria's sitting room was covered in her translations. They were finished, but still gibberish. Fussing with the order of the words, she tried to unravel the location of the first gem, but it still eluded all possible combinations. She had unearthed some of the locations and coordinates, but the final ones were still undeciphered.

Maria had searched her possessions for a holographic helper. It was a computer-generated star map that allowed her to plot the possibilities along the way as she translated. She thought she had located five known points, but she was missing the remaining two.

It was the opening of her door that made her stop working. Michael stood there with his bags over his shoulder looking at her, waiting.

“If you’re coming in, then you’ll need to walk over the threshold.”

Michael entered and tossed his bags on the floor. Maria was curious and stretched forward to see what he had. Michael just knocked the stuff aside and out of her reach and view.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“No. There’s more in my old room, but I’ll get it later.” Michael didn’t mention that he didn’t see any reason to drag everything with him just in case this didn’t work out. It was easier to pack his smaller bags and leave, than to walk away with half his crap still in her possession.

“Well I cleared some space for you in the bedroom. Just help yourself. I’m almost ready to stop working on this today. I was actually going to use the replicator tonight.”

“That’s fine.” Michael took his stuff into the bedroom and looked around. She had definitely moved in. Her stuff was everywhere with pictures and trinkets on the bureau.

“You can move my stuff and put out your things too.”

“Thanks.” Michael cringed at the conversation. He thought she would be more at ease, and he could take his cues on how to act from her, but she seemed equally nervous.

Michael picked up a picture and stared at the woman and man in the photo. Showing it to Maria he waited.

“My parents.” Maria joined him and looked at their faces smiling. “They were quite the pair. Always so alive. I was their only child, given to them late in life. They had assumed that they would never have any children, and then I was born. My father use to threaten to tie a strap to me so he could keep track of my movements.”

Michael could understand the sentiment. Putting the picture down he looked at other ones of her with her parents and other people. Strange. All the pictures of Maria were of her as a child.

“There are no older pictures of you?”

“No. I was sent to Temple to train when I was twelve. I never saw them alive again.” Maria touched her parents faces and didn’t even bother to wipe away the tears that naturally came to her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s strange. We think of life as something discreet and full of proof...just there. But once it is challenged, questioned, or even threatened suddenly it takes on so much more meaning. I left home mere months before the end. If my birth had been just delayed by a few months, or if my father waited until my mid-cycle to send me, I too would have perished.”

“Your teachers. They weren’t your people?”

Maria just shook her head. “No. They were, but they were not. They were something else, born into the sect...into a calling. Being a D’Jesuit Priest was the highest honor, and their families watched with great pride at their ascension.”

“Weren’t there other children your age also training at Temple?”

Maria shook her head. “No, of course not. Temple is only for the Acolyte de Prin’c.”

“The what?”

“Princess.” Maria walked out of the room, unwilling to talk anymore.

Princess?

~~~

Max lay down in his bed and just stared at the ceiling. Michael had been gone for less than an hour, and already he was bored and lonely. He hadn’t realized how much space Michael filled in his life. Looking at the empty bunk on the other side of the room, he considered having it removed and installing a larger bed to replace the two singles. But what if Michael came back? Thinking of Michael and Maria fighting, Max smiled to himself. Michael would be back.

The chime announcing someone at his door startled him. Michael would’ve just entered, and almost everyone else called him on the com if they needed something.

Isabel.

“Captain. I’m sorry to disturb you.”

“You aren’t.” Max stood aside and gestured her into the room. “Lady Isabel, it appears you have left the protection of your rooms again.”

“Shocking. I know.” Max just smiled at her tone. “Alex was asleep.”

“So when the Eminent sleeps, am I going to need to monitor for the two of you running wild on the ship?”

“Lonnie’s asleep as well.”

“I see.” Max said, but he really didn’t. “Can I be of assistance?”

“Yes.” Isabel fidgeted some, but finally turned and looked at Max. “What is wrong with my brother? You know.”

Max fingered his scar. That was a nice trick. She didn’t really know if he knew, but she stated it as a fact and then stood waiting for him to give up the information.

“Do I?”

“Captain...”

“Max.” At her confused look, he sighed. “My name. You may call me Max.”

“Capt...Max, will you not tell me?”

“Why do you assume I know?” Max stared her down. He liked the way his intense unwavering regard made her nervous.

“You’re the Captain. You must know everything happening on your ship.”

“The ship belongs to your brother.” Max said casually.

“That’s not true. You’re his partner. You, your brother and a Kyle person.”

Max just shrugged. It was true. He, Michael and Kyle had bought into equal partnership with Alex over a year ago. Sean was going to do so as well, but Sean had a hard time keeping his credits long enough to buy in his partnership. There were just too many gambling tables along the way for him to drop his shares. This last large haul from the Saratoga looked like Sean’s chance to become an equal partner. Even though he hadn’t bought into the partnership yet, they all still treated him like he had. Sean paid in other ways. He was their resident miracle worker. He had redesigned, rewired and kept the ship running. A ship was nothing without the engineer that maintained it.

Max conceded the point. He did know. And she knew he knew.

“I can’t help you, Lady Isabel.”

“Why not?” Isabel could feel her irritation rising. They had gotten back to their rooms to find a sick Alex heading for his bed. He hadn’t moved since.

“It’s not my place to tell. I’m sorry.”

She put her hands on her hips and stared at him with narrowed eyes. It was hard to face down loyalty that was protecting her brother, but she still needed to know. However, looking at his dark guarded face, the wicked scar that marred the perfection of his looks and that in some way made him even more perfect, she knew that it was futile. This wasn’t a man that would budge.

Unshakeable loyalty. Damn Attilaans. They felt nothing for anyone but their own special loyalties, which didn’t always equate to family, but rather the family they chose. They turned away from anyone else, however those they had built blood bonds with they protected with their dying breath. There was nothing she could learn from him. The doctor would be equally fierce in protecting her brother’s privacy. That damn doctor’s oath of patient-doctor confidential and privileged information.

“Thank you anyway.” She noticed his amused look when she didn’t say it sarcastically. “You’re surprised. You thought I would try harder or be bitingly nasty when I didn’t get my way?”

“I’m a little confused.” Max only had Serena’s behavior to really judge by, and Serena had had her own ways of extracting information. Unfortunately, not all of them were pleasant, but they did remain memorable.

Isabel went to stand close to him. Real close. Looking at his face, her eyes followed the line of his scar. Reaching up a hand, she startled him by running her fingers down the scar in an almost caress.

“I could never fault a person being loyal to my brother.” Max held still under her hand. “Does this pain you?”

“At times.” Max cleared his throat. “Lady Isabel...”

“Even after all these years?”

“Yes.” Max didn’t know what to do. No one in all those years had ever actually touched his scar. Reaching up, he grabbed her hand and pulled it away. “Let me escort you back to your...”

“That’s alright, Captain. I know my way.” She turned and left his rooms.

Staring at her, he caught himself fingering his scar again. What the hell was that about?

~~~

Michael finished putting away his belongings and then showered before he went to find her. Standing in the doorway he watched her, and despite his nature, he found himself smiling. Leaning against the door he enjoyed the show. Maria versus the replicator, and for all accounts, the replicator was winning.

“It’s already programmed.”

Maria looked up at his voice. “It won’t give me hot tea. I say ‘tea, hot’ and it’s always the same temperature.”

“You have to tell it what temperature...like 100 degrees, or 120 degrees. It needs more detail.”

“So for food, do I specifically have to tell it how to cook it?”

“You’re just making it more difficult than it needs to be.”

“I’m not.” Maria just sighed. “My replicator is so much easier. I say ‘tea, hot’ and I get hot tea. Pheasant roasted with potatoes, red...and that’s what I get.”

“This does the same.”

“No, it doesn’t!”

Michael moved her aside. “Pheasant, roasted with potatoes, red.” He waited and the replicator asked which portion of the pheasant or the entire pheasant. “Breast and legs only.” Then it asked if potatoes with skins or without. “Without.” Then it asked if he wanted the potatoes roasted with the pheasant or cooked another method and served with the roasted pheasant. “Just give me the damn pheasant and some potatoes!”

“Now who’s being difficult?” Michael just snarled and she watched him fuss and fight with the replicator until they finally had their dinner.

“Where did you get your ship?”

Maria just shrugged. “It’s always been mine. Why?”

“It’s a beauty. It handles like a dream, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s the fastest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“More than likely.” Maria finished her meal then eyed some of his remaining potatoes. “Um, are you going to finish those?”

Michael just pulled his plate closer and continued questioning her.

“So did your people build your ship?”

Maria just ignored him and went to the replicator and fought with it over a few moments, then came back with something whipped and chocolate. Michael watched her eat, suddenly silent.

“No, my people did not build my ship.”

Michael went and programmed himself some dessert as well, cussing under his breath. She was being enigmatical on purpose. Damn Anterraans were impossible to get to discuss their own business despite their willingness to help others.

“If not them, then who?”

Maria suddenly looked suspicious. “Why? Why is it so important?”

“I like the ship. I’m curious. Nothing else.”

“I built the ship.”

Michael snorted. Sure she did. She was a terror, with her hands on everything at once and her endless questions. He couldn’t imagine her fixing or designing anything that complex, and yet so elegantly simple.

“You don’t believe me?”

“I know your people were legendarily noted to be more advanced than people realized, but you're hardly are old enough to have finished school.”

“I spent over ten years learning, and I’m twenty-eight. I’m hardly a child.”

“Still...”

Maria went to a drawer and took out a small toolkit. Going to the replicator, she opened the access control door and began to make changes and repairs on the unit. Going to another drawer she pulled out another small kit full of microchips and small electronic units.

“What are you doing?”

“Upgrading your archaic system.” Maria said simply.

“That replicator is top of the line.” Michael frowned at her. Replicators were luxurious and costly in both power and in purchase credit. The Shiva had a limited amount. “I don’t think you should be messing with it.”

Maria ignored him and continued working.

“Maria, I said...”

“Finished.” Maria replaced the panel and gathered up her tools. “Let's give it a try.”

“We’ve already used it numerous times tonight. The power drain.”

“Is now negligible. I looped the internal power conduits into a self feeding loop. Whereas once it took so much power to replicate, now it takes seventy-three percent less.”

“That’s impossible.”

“And yet...” Maria gestured at the machine. “It’s simple. To replicate and synthesize the food, the unit lost much power into transformed energy, but a large portion was lost in heat. By building a self-feeding loop, that transferred energy is fed back into the system. Since heat is the last energy state entering chaos, it has to be interrupted before the transfer can be completed, so I tripped the system before that schematic and...”

“Okay...okay. Not so much detail. Prove it works better.”

“Then come here.” Maria waited until he was standing next to her. “Order something...something unique and hard. Clear your mind, imagine the food...the taste, the smell... and then order.”

Michael was skeptical, but he ordered anyway. Thinking of a food that he knew wasn’t programmed into the food replicators, he ordered his boyhood favorite. Tarrok root pie with extra whipped cream. It was an orange tuber that grew on his planet exclusively. It was sweet and flavorful. It was also impossible to find since a blight took out all the large crops almost twenty years ago.

Michael took the pie from the replicator, and hesitating, he took a bite. Then he took another, and another. It was good! Just like Mom made...actually, just like Sean’s mother made. Michael’s mother’s pies usually tasted like dirt.

“How?”

“I added a scanning chip to the relay and power matrix.”

“It reads your mind?”

Maria made a gesture of acknowledgement. “Sort of. You know the new targeting controls in all fighters?” Michael nodded. “They anticipate the pilot’s command through a neural interface, which at first had to be physically made, but later was done through scanning. This chip is the same kind of neural interface scanner.”

“Elegant technology to waste on a replicator.”

“Do you like your damn pie, or not?”

“It’s good.” Michael smiled at her huffy attitude. “I think you should try a bite.”

Maria just shook her head no, and backed up. “I’m not real fond of pie, especially pies made from roots. They taste like weeds and dirt.”

“This doesn’t.” Michael shoved a bite at her, but Maria kept her mouth closed and still refused. “Stop being a baby, and take a bite.”

“I don’t usually eat sweets unless they’re chocolate...”

“Just try it!”

He wasn’t going to stop, so she gave in to the one bite. Michael watched her closely as she opened her mouth to take the bite. Her tongue came out a little to taste the food before it entered her mouth. Michael’s eye narrowed as he watched her. He moaned when she closed her eyes to savor the taste.

“Okay, so it wasn’t that bad...”

Maria couldn’t say another word. Michael’s mouth was interfering with her normal speech as he kissed her. Her hand moved up his front to push on his shoulder, but instead ended up around his neck. Opening her mouth more, she stepped into his arms and leaned into the kiss liking the sounds he made in his throat. Pulling back, they both stared at each other while trying to catch their breaths.

“You keep kissing me.” Maria stated the fact in a small whispery voice.

“I do.” Michael bent his head again to do it again.

Maria stopped him with a hand to his mouth. “Why?”

“I like kissing. Actually, I like it a lot, and over the past few years I haven’t had the opportunity to do much of it.”

“I don’t understand.”

Michael just shrugged. “I’m Attilaan, an unbonded Attilaan. Women on my world liked to kiss me, make out, and stuff, but nothing else. When I left my world in my seventeenth year to join the war, all my encounters since have been with women who basically do things for credits.”

“Whores?”

Michael just nodded. “Basically. Anyway, they’re not the type of women you kiss. So it's been a long dry spell.”

“And I look like the type of woman you could kiss.”

“And then some.”

Maria removed herself from him, and leaned her head to one side in speculation. “I think I’m sort of flattered and insulted at the same time, but really it doesn’t matter. I mean...the kissing, it’s...good.” Maria ignored the twinkle in his eyes and the suggestive raising of his brow. “But I think it’ll complicate things, and make them harder.”

“I don’t see how.”

“You don’t?” Maria’s faced clouded. “Kissing. Us kissing...it isn’t going to change anything between us, right?”

“Right. The only difference will be that we kiss. I don’t see a problem.”

Maria just shrugged and then sighed. “Okay, if you’re sure. I sort of enjoy kissing you, and as long as you don’t get any ideas, then...”

“What kind of ideas? Exactly?”

“Just that we...” Maria gestured between them, “will never have a real future. We can’t.”

“That’s okay with me. Attilaans don’t mate outside their race.”

“I've heard that. Good. I don’t mate at all. Never will.” Maria smiled at him without humor. “Anyway, I’m going to go bathe before bedtime.”

Michael grabbed her arm. “Why never? You’re young and beautiful, and the last of your kind. I’d think that eventually you would want to ally yourself to someone permanently and have children to continue your race.”

Maria took his hand off her arm. “Never, because I won't survive this adventure. My only hope is to complete the task before I die.”

Michael’s eyes became hard and intense. “You’re dying?”

“Technically we’re all dying. But, no. I’m not diseased or at the end of my life cycle. Actually, I have an incredible life cycle if left unhindered to live it. But what I’m planning on doing...my mission...is such that there is almost no chance for survival.”

“This is going to kill you?”

Maria just nodded. “We’ll be lucky if it doesn’t kill us all.” Maria started to walk away. But stopped. “I haven’t told you much. There is more to tell, but I feel I can trust you. When I...if I don’t make it, I’ll need someone to finish what I could not.”

“Me?”

“We’ll see.”

Michael stood there silently as she went to get ready for bed. Looking at the modified replicator, thinking of her ship and her people, he couldn’t take the thought of her not surviving. She was a pain in the ass, loud, opinionated, and at times seemed to have eight arms, all of them reaching and pushing wrong buttons at the same time, but she was unique and this universe was fast losing that very quality.

Lying in bed, Michael couldn’t stop thinking of her words. She was right. Kissing complicated a sexual relationship. It denoted some higher emotion, but in truth, he didn’t want to give it up. And thinking of her imminent death, he realized that he was unwilling to give her up either. There was a part of him that assumed that if and when she died from situations other than natural causes, that he would be the one murdering her out of sheer exasperation.

“Oh, good. You didn’t take my favorite side of the bed.” Maria emerged from the other room, and Michael didn’t mention that he always slept as far from the com link as possible since his body resisted being disturbed. He happily gave her that side of the bed.

Michael didn’t know what to say when she suddenly dropped her robe, and joined him in the bed. She was naked. So was he. Moving his arm out, he let her slide in close to his body.

“God, you’re so warm. I knew you would be. This is going to be the first full night's sleep I’ve gotten since I came on board.” Maria looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Thank me later.”

Maria just chuckled and burrowed closer to his body. Michael was still trying to decipher the ‘sleep’ comment, when he suddenly became aware that she was still. Looking down, he couldn’t believe that she was already asleep.

Three hours later, he had classified all the different tortures he could think of, and none of them equated or even came close to 'sleeping with Maria' torture. First, her body was nude, soft and silky, leaving him more than just a little disturbed. Second, she had a habit of moving constantly, not a little but a lot in her sleep, which added to the already mentioned disturbed feeling. Finally, she talked softly to herself which normally wouldn’t bother him too much, except her mouth was on his chest. She was resting on his bare chest, and the hushing rush of her warm breath over his body was once again adding to the disturbed feelings mentioned yet again.

It was her hand moving down and over his body that broke his resolve not to wake her. Holding still, he tracked her movements as her hand passed his stomach and continued even lower. He consciously sucked in his breath to keep from disturbing her, while he mentally encouraged her to go on, and once she had him in a good grip, he encouraged her even further by moving his hips. She was definitely much better at this than he was, even completely asleep.

His breath was coming in fast shallow pants, and he moved his hand down her back, pulling her smaller frame to his, letting her rub up against his full body. Losing control of the moment, he forgot where he was, and lifted her mouth and kissed her.

It was the stiffening of her body, the stillness that clued him in that she was awake. Gasping, she quickly moved off his body and half sat up in the bed.

“Don’t stop! I was damn near complete.”

“What?” Her husky sleep-thickened voice did terrible things to his control, or what little he had left.

Pulling her back down on him, he kissed her again, sucking her tongue into his mouth and feasting on it. Hunger. It felt like hunger, deep and painful, residing in the pit of his stomach. If he had ever eaten in his life, he didn’t know, because his body was telling him no.

“Honey, don’t stop working me over. I’m damn near ready to pop.”

“Honey? Don’t call me that! Pop?” Maria sat up again and moved away from him. “You mean...OH!”

“What?” Michael sat up confused too. She was turning red as best as he could tell in the dark, and her tone was horrified. “I admit, I would rather have had you awake, or not falling asleep on me, but this worked too.”

“I...grabbed you?” Maria actually put both her hands on her cheeks feeling the heat rising, and rubbed violently until suddenly she remembered where one of her hands had been. “Oh, oh...I’m sorry!”

“Yeah, me too.” Basically sorry that she stopped, sorry that he had woken her up. Note to self...'do not wake her up, or at least not until the moment of release.'

“I mean...oh damn, what you must be thinking! I never meant to use you or abuse you...I really only meant to have you sleep with me as a warming stone...exchange of body heat... and...and now this!”

Michael’s brain short circuited. For once in his life, he kept his tongue quiet and listened to her mortified rant and self-castigation. Okay, he had it wrong. Just sleep together...no sex. She wanted his body heat, not his body, or at least not in that way. She was upset thinking she abused him. The dark kept Maria from seeing the twinkle in Michael’s eyes. No way he was heading back to his old room, and then having to explain the misunderstanding to Max. Nope. No way. Not going to happen.

Michael could start to see the possibilities. The benefits to his new found knowledge.

“Look, Maria...” He paused as she continued talking a mile a minute. “Maria! Calm down! It was no big deal, okay?”

“Really? I mean I didn’t...hurt you?”

“Well I’m a little ‘uncomfortable’ right now,” Michael saw her body stiffen to his words, “but it happens. Things will settle down quickly enough.” Especially if she offered to finish what she started. “So don’t worry about it too much.”

“I...” Taking a deep breath. “I'm just so sorry. Maybe it was the kissing...or maybe it was...”

“I’m sure it was just a fluke. No big deal. The kissing? No. I don’t think it was that.”

Michael didn’t mind tormenting her a little, but he didn’t want to lose any more ground than he already had. He had moved in thinking they were going to be bedmates and roll around in the sheets like out of control fuck bunnies. Now he finds out that it was the furthest from that. That her cold-blooded body needed a nice warming stone to sleep up against, and for some reason, he fit her ‘requirements’.

“Are you sure?” Maria chewed on a nail and looked at him suspiciously. He was being too understanding, too nice. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

Michael quickly grabbed her, and pulled her back down in the bed covering them with the blankets and bedding.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a perfect solution. We’re both benefiting. This was just an unforeseen event. Probably will never happen again, or if it does, I’d rather it be a joint decision and both of us awake.”

“Maybe we’re too...”

“Compatible? I know. Moment of honesty? If you offered to finish what we started I’d wouldn’t say no. Actually I’d more than likely just say yes. But, we have a mission and other things we need to accomplish...right?”

Michael almost laughed aloud at her nodding head. Damn. He was good. Max and Sean had told him he had no tact, but he was proving them wrong.

“We hardly know each other enough to jump into bed. So let's just put this behind us, let our friendship grow naturally, and see where it leads us. Okay?” Michael said in his most even understanding tone.

Maria nodded, and snuggled back down on him. He was warm, actually he was warmer than she remembered, and knowing why, she blushed again. Burying her face against him, she tried to go back to sleep.

She couldn’t.

“I’m really sorry...”

“Maria! Sleep.”

“You’re not sleeping.”

“I’m sort of too 'up' to sleep right now, and all your wiggling isn’t helping.”

“Up?” Maria’s eyes moved down the covers. “Oh. I’m...”

Michael put a hand over her mouth. “Maria, if you say you’re sorry one more time I’m going to take you up on your apology, and have you finish what you started. Okay?”

Maria nodded again. She almost remained quiet for a full minute.

“What are you going to do about it?”

Michael sighed. She was sexier than hell, but damn she asked more questions than a small child.

“I was thinking of going to take a cold shower.” Michael paused. He wanted to invite her to join him. Quickly leaving the bed, he went into the next room and took care of business trying to decide how to approach his current dilemma.

If she realized that he had accepted her offer with the idea of their relationship being sexual and not just a physical exchange of body heat minus body fluid, more than likely she would toss him from her rooms. Next thing he knew she would be measuring up other candidates' "requirements". Michael frowned at the thought of Sean, Kyle, or even Max eagerly accepting her terms.  Not going to happen.

If he just bided his time, kept their relationship close and friendly with lots of kissing, sooner or later she would start to think of him in a more physical way. If her assertion was correct and their journey was a long one, he could be looking at a long-term relationship, the first of his life. Sooner or later it would save on cold showers and credits for Bay Whores.

He needed to be charming, exude sincerity, and above all manipulate the hell out of her. Michael swore as the cold water froze his skin. He needed help. Subtlety was not one of his greatest traits. Okay, he lacked any semblance of tact or finesse. Charming? Strike two. Sincerity? Michael groaned. He needed lots of help. From a master. Sean.

~~~

“Okay, explain it one more time.”

Sean just shook his head and reached for his tools. Michael was driving him insane.

“Michael, I don’t have time for your love life right now.” Sean growled in irritation when another one of his staff brought the latest report. They weren’t making any headway. With half their staff imprisoned for another few months, the standard diagnostics were being overlooked, and invariably systems were breaking down due to lack of regular maintenance.

“Sean...”

Sean rolled over on his back. “Look, in less than twenty-four hours we’re scheduled to stop at Phloth II. Can’t you pick up some entertainment and give Maria and the rest of us a break.”

“I’m not that bad.”

“No. No, you’re worse.”

“I’ve been very understanding, and considerate, and...”

“You're horny as hell and taking it out on her and the rest of us. You yelled at her yesterday for working on the forward sensory array.”

“She didn’t call and clear the work order before taking sensors offline.”

Sean just shrugged. “Who cares? She’s a better engineer than half my staff. And truthfully she's better than the other half and maybe even me. Her people knew and understood more about engines, physics and space than any other. All that information is trapped in that tiny little body.”

“She’s a menace.”

“So what? So she gets into tricky situations? So what if she doesn’t follow standard protocol? She’s revamped all our replicators, found a gremlin in the lifts that we searched for for almost a year. She helped me install the power nodes to the crystal chamber, and increased our slip drive capacity over forty percent.”

Michael sat down next to the open panel Sean was working in, handing him tools.

“I know. She’s a wiz, in a freak of nature sort of way. She's dedicated, inquisitive, and just a little strange and whacked. So what am I doing wrong?”

Sean stopped and sighed. “I don’t get it. You sleep with her every night. Right?” Michael nodded. “Then why do you need advice? Seems like you already got everything covered with her.”

“I told you. She doesn’t want to get that physically close that fast. I’m trying to...” Michael paused. He had no language to state what he was doing. In the last ten days since moving in with Maria, he was making little to no headway, and actually things were looking grim.

They were fighting, and it was mostly his fault. Sleeping with her night after night was harder than he realized it would be. She moved in her sleep. She moved a lot. She slept in the nude, which normally he didn’t, but recently started. Skin to skin contact allowed for a more efficient transfer of heat. But truthfully, he loved the feel of her skin on his. And her hands...they were everywhere. It was like her mind took a nap, and the rest of her body kept on working. He went to bed hard and aroused, and woke up harder and even more aroused.

A few nights ago, he was so frustrated and unable to sleep that he decided to relieve some of the tension. Maria wasn’t amused to wake up to him jerking off in bed with her. It led to a big fight ending with him on the sofa and her freezing in her bed, alone. They were still in a disagreement, but Michael agreed to take it to the bathroom. They were in a stalemate and every little thing seemed to set them off.

“Look, just go down to Phloth II, pick up some action, get your pipes cleaned, and come back with a better disposition than when you left.”

Michael thought about it. Sean was right. He was holding out waiting for Maria, but that could be a long time in coming if at all. His added frustration level was taking its toll on their new relationship, and every day he was worried that she was going to toss him out of the room.

“Maybe I might.”

“Please do. Personally, I think you had a screw loose when you agreed to this arrangement. Coming from a man who barely went a day without some sort of sexual gratification to being damn near celibate is just deranged.”

“So you wouldn’t have taken her up on the invitation to move in and sleep with her?”

Sean just laughed finishing up the repair and replacing the panel. “In a heartbeat. I’d have moved in immediately, been waiting in her bed with nothing but a smile, and some type of restraints.”

“Restraints?”

“Learned it on my wedding night. Best to be prepared.”

Michael laughed. “You’re sick.”

“No I’m not. I just know the difference.”

Michael stood up and helped Sean gather the tools. “So what makes you think you’d get farther with Maria than me? Best case scenario, you’d be whimpering like a bitch’s pup begging with those soulful eyes of yours.”

“That’s why I’d already be doing the nasty, making like bunnies with her. No one can resist the trademark 'Sean eyes'.” Sean ignored Michael’s sneering laugh. “Honestly. Over seven systems of women will testify on my behalf that I am charm incarnate, and too sexy to resist.”

“Maria is a hell of a lot more classy than your garden variety of bar wench or bay whore. She’d clean your clock with little to no effort.”

“It’s not my clock I’d be wanting her to clean.”

Michael could feel the rush of heat up his neck as he began to let Sean irritate him. Maria wouldn’t fall for all that phony charm. She was much smarter than that.

“What makes you think she would fall for your lines?”

“Granted, she probably wouldn't. But I’ve got one advantage over you.”

Michael just made a face. “What?”

“She likes me. You...you just piss her off and yell at her.”

Sean walked away chuckling, leaving a thoughtful Michael behind.

~~~

“Why can’t I go?”

“Maria,” Michael moved around the room trying to get ready for bed. “it’s just a restocking stop. Not even a real rest or break. We don’t want too many people wandering around getting into trouble.”

Maria sat down in a huff on the bed. “That’s it. I knew it!”

“What?” Michael closed his eyes and counted to ten.

“You’re afraid that I’m going to get into trouble or cause problems.”

“That’s not it.”

Michael turned off the light and got into bed as Maria scrambled in next to him. He moved the covers around and frowned at her cold skin. Moving his hand up and down her back, he tried to warm her quickly.

“Then what is it?” Maria frowned. He was avoiding answering her, or giving her a direct answer.

“I have some personal business I’m going to attend to. And I won’t be able to take you with me.”

“You don’t have to. I’ve taken care of myself before without much trouble or problem long before I met you.”

Michael knew that, but he also knew that she was courting danger. “Maria, all it would take is you being scanned and it’s over.”

“I told you, Michael, I’ve wandered around six years without being actively scanned. I think I can continue to do so.”

“You can’t come.”

Maria went silent. “Want to tell me the real reason?”

“Maria...”

“Just tell me.”

Michael sighed. He was never going to get any sleep at this rate. Tenacious. She was like a tenacious hunter refusing to relinquish her prey.

“I’m picking up...that is...um, look...I just need to see someone about a problem I have, and I’ll be too busy to keep an eye on you.”

Maria’s hand was moving over his chest, and suddenly it was still. “This is about sex.”

“Maria.”

“It is! You’re going to hire a whore?” Maria moved away from him and sat up in the bed. Michael just laid back and enjoyed the view. She really was exquisite. “I can’t believe this. Why? Because I don’t want you...”

“This has nothing to do with you!” Maria snorted. Yeah, right. “Okay, maybe a little. Look, I’m normally very...um...” Michael was at a loss for words.

Maria’s eyebrow went up. “Frisky?”

“Yeah, frisky. And sleeping with you climbing all over me all night, every night is causing problems to arise.” Maria rolled her eyes at that. “Anyway, this is how I normally take care of business, and trying to ignore it is making me frustrated and cranky...”

“Damn skippy it is.” Michael ignored her.

“So I am taking the opportunity to relieve some of the tension and maybe give you a break from my foul humor.”

“Not that that wouldn’t be appreciated, but can’t you just take care of this yourself instead of finding some diseased piece of meat disguised as human on a constant prescription of antibiotics, to cure the eternal drips?”

Michael groaned at the description. It was too accurate and far too descriptive for his taste. “Look, I need some relief, and this is my only real option at this time. You don’t realize how hard this gets at times, and...”

Maria just snorted in derision. “Yes I do. I feel how hard it gets every morning when I wake up with it poking me in my stomach and sometimes my back. It’s not that easy to overlook.”

“Maria, I’m not talking to you about this, okay? This is my private business. I’m your heating stone, not your mate. And not wanting to be too crass, I need sex, plain and simple.” Michael rubbed his face with his hands and waited for her reaction. Worst case scenario, she’d kick him out. “I honestly want to keep you warm, but I also want more from you...maybe more than you want to give me. I can live with that. I’ve learned to live with things not working out before, so this is just like looking in the mirror of my life. But, if this is it...it’s reading the same from front to back. We’re ending where we started.”

She was quiet. He never knew she could be so quiet.

“You’re right, and I’m sorry. I never meant this arrangement to cause you pain or discomfort. I thought that...Nevermind, I don’t know what I thought.”

Michael didn’t like this. He didn’t know what he was feeling, but somehow he felt like he had just lost ground with her, or perhaps any chance he’d ever have with her. It was unsettling. She was more than just a potential bedmate; over the past few weeks she had shaped up into a real friend. She was someone he wanted more than just for sex. He wanted her company. He wanted to be around her.

“Maria...”

“Goodnight.”

Michael was shocked that not only was she quiet after that, but she didn’t move. At times, it was as if she tried to reduce how much body contact they had. Sighing in exhaustion, he finally went to sleep.

The next morning when he woke up, she was gone.

TBC:  CHAPTER FOUR: CLOTHO AND ABYDOS