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  “Oh, really?” She darted around the counter, grabbing a dish towel as she passed. “So you're the ass-face responsible for my sleep getting disturbed.” She wound up the towel, her mouth twisting into a wicked grin. “You'd better run!”

  Peter hopped the counter to escape the sting of the towel. “If I’m an ass-face, doesn’t that mean you like kissing ass?” He ducked the towel and made a break for the sitting area.

  Tabitha blocked him with a flick of the towel. “I've never killed anybody with a towel before, but I'm sure I can figure it out easily enough. Todd and I will just have to get by without you.”

  Peter slid around Tabitha and vaulted the couch, grabbing an armful of cushions as he went. “Wait until his nanocytes kick in and see if you feel the same. You need me, but I don’t need these.” He raised one of the cushions.

  “Don't you dare!” Tabitha squealed, and scrambled for the corridor with Peter on her heels.

  Hirotoshi exchanged amused glances with Ryu. “They’re going to wake the baby.”

  Ryu chuckled. “It is good to see her happy.”

  Hirotoshi nodded, smiling. “That it is, my friend. It has been a long time coming.” He looked out the window at the dissipating crowd far below. “There are rather a lot of people down there.”

  “You don't say,” Tabitha cut in as she and Peter returned to the living area.

  Hirotoshi turned from the window to look at Peter. “Surely a percentage of them would be more suited to the military?”

  Peter nodded. “I’ll have Tim filter those out. This isn't the first group of angry citizens who have turned up in the last month wanting to defend their planet from the Ooken.” He grinned. “I’ll say this: for a planet that’s mostly nonhuman, they sure had a human reaction to that invasion.”

  Tabitha smiled. “I know, right? I love this place. If you don’t count the weird flora and fauna, it’s pretty much just like Earth used to be, only without the politics spoiling things for everyone.”

  “Bethany Anne had it right,” Peter agreed. “Some people just do better outside of a regimented society.” There was a giggle from the baby monitor.

  Tabitha's eyes lit up at the sound of her son's laughter. “Looks like we woke Todd up with all the shenanigans.”

  “I’ll get him,” Peter offered. “I have the day off. I'm going to take Trouble up to the Guardian to see his Uncle Tim. You have the space to work this out.”

  Tabitha headed for the nursery. “No way, my turn. Besides, I’m coming with you guys. Tim is just the person I need to see before I leave for High Tortuga.”

  High Tortuga, Space Fleet Base, Requisitions and Stores

  Jean met her daughter’s old school friend and the base's sometime quartermaster, Sofia Gutierrez, in front of the massive warehouse area.

  Sofia's cheerful face was split by an even wider grin than usual. “Nice to have you back, Jean.” Her eyes narrowed, although the grin stayed. “But something tells me I’m going to have a lot less inventory to keep track of once you leave.”

  Jean returned her grin as the two women walked into the first building, each grabbing a large antigrav cart from the rows by the door. “Yes…and no. I brought a few things to leave here with you.”

  Curiosity added an extra glint to Sofia's smile. “Oh?”

  Jean nodded. “It’s a gift. For my granddaughter.”

  Sofia's eyes sparkled with hope. “Merry’s coming home?”

  Jean wiped away the shine in her own eyes, closing them tightly. “I don’t know, but I fucking hope so, Sofia. I want my baby girl back.” She snorted softly. “Nickie hasn’t been my baby for a long time, but the reports are looking better.”

  Sofia laced her hands over her chest. “Really? I hadn’t lost hope, but when her exile ended and she didn’t come back…”

  Jean patted her old friend’s arm in sympathy. “I know. You did a lot for her when she was younger. Her exile hit us all hard. But she’s not alone.”

  Sofia’s eyebrows went up, and concern replaced her hopeful smile. “She’s fallen in with another gang?”

  Jean saw Sofia’s face and remembered the heartache the woman had gone through back when Nickie had first succumbed to the temptation of not giving a shit. She shook her head, flushing with pride—and the relief of being able to give her some good news. “No. She’s gotten herself a crew, and she’s been taking care of a colony that was hit by the Skaines. She’s doing well.”

  Sofia hid her emotion with a joke. “The Skaines are still a problem?” Her mouth twitched. “Don’t tell Tabitha.”

  Jean snickered. “Tabitha has her hands full with that gorgeous boy of hers. My Nickie has taken up the mantle. She’ll be home, Sofia, and when she gets here, she’s going to know exactly how proud I am of her.” She indicated the seemingly endless rows of multi-tiered racks filled with crates and boxes of all sizes and shapes. “I’ll get the crates for Nickie sent over before I leave. For now, Bethany Anne wants ships, and she’s in one of her oh-so-rare impatient moods. I’m about to get very creative.”

  Devon, The Hexagon, Underground Hangar, QBS Izanami

  Michael sat on the couch in the remodeled cargo bay, his arms spread along the back and his feet up on a box he’d repurposed. His gaze was firmly on the screen, where Bethany Anne laughed and joked with Alexis and Gabriel while she guided them through the exercises they had carefully constructed to test the twins’ capabilities.

  Michael could have made his observations from inside the scenario, but sometimes the beauty of his wife in competition was an art form best enjoyed from a distance.

  With popcorn.

  Bethany Anne called instructions while the children sparred as a team against her. She deflected everything Alexis and Gabriel threw at her, encouraging them to dare while giving them no quarter whatsoever.

  Michael snickered as her lips moved and he read her favorite training mantra. “There are no prizes for trying and no commiseration for missing. In this situation, there is only surviving to fight another day. If you land a single finger on me—and make no mistake, one day you will—it’s going to happen because you damn well earned it. Until then, well, failure is still an attempt, and I’m proud of you both.”

  All the while, Bethany Anne fought Gabriel and Alexis off without once causing them pain, in contrast to her traditional training methods. Every move she made was an improvement on a technique the twins had believed they’d mastered before she showed them differently.

  There was a detachment to her, a determination to extract the best from Alexis and Gabriel that made even his admittedly epic relentless streak appear reasonable. Nevertheless, both children responded to her teaching methods with the same enthusiasm as always.

  He popped a piece of popcorn into his mouth absentmindedly, forgetting about the rest when the twins attempted a risky maneuver.

  Gabriel blinked out of reality as Alexis tossed one of the two energy balls she was holding at Bethany Anne. The other she threw underarm to Gabriel, who had appeared high above Bethany Anne's head to catch it and send it hurtling ahead of him toward his mother.

  Bethany Anne deflected the energy balls, halting Gabriel’s freefall with a wave.

  Michael was on the edge of his seat when Eve appeared at the side door leading to her lab—or lair—distracting him from the outcome.

  “How is it going in there?” she asked, making her way over.

  An almost pensive look flickered across Michael’s face for a second before his usual imperturbable mask came down. “It’s all good. Alexis and Gabriel are doing well.”

  As if Eve couldn’t read micro-expressions. Michael’s outwardly relaxed demeanor wasn’t fooling her for a second. She crossed the floor and took a seat on the couch. “You’re worried about Bethany Anne. Why don’t you just ask her how she is?”

  He regarded his wife and children, who were still playing onscreen. “I did, and she wouldn’t tell me,” he admitted. “In fact, the query as to her wellbeing was met with what
I can only describe as a distinct feeling of ‘oh shit, what bomb did I just set off?’”

  Eve nodded in sympathy. “She is extremely focused at the moment.”

  “Focused, obsessed; it’s a matter of how you look at it.” His tone was quiet. “Touching the prisoner’s mind affected her. You know how she feels about the innocent being made to suffer. Add to that her insistence she avoid repeating her supposed mistakes with the Leath.”

  Eve tilted her head. “Still?”

  Michael nodded. “I’ve looked over the records. To my mind, she did everything she could. The time it took to overcome the Phraim-‘Eh was unavoidable.”

  “And yet she still feels responsible for the toll it took on both sides,” Eve whispered, her head bowed. “That is why she is our Queen, whether she wants to be or not. She cannot do anything but fight for whoever needs her. Her heart is too pure for the evil she has to face, but I have faith that she’s equal to the challenge.”

  The corner of Michael’s mouth turned up at her choice of phrase. “That isn’t in question.”

  Eve scrutinized him for a moment. “You’re wondering how much of your wife will be left once the dust settles.”

  Michael looked long and hard at her.

  Eve lifted her hands. “What, the android can’t understand emotion?”

  He shrugged and returned to watching the screen. “I didn’t say that. You surprised me is all.”

  Eve nodded, her eyes wide and innocent. “The only obstacle to growth is the decision to stop learning.” She lifted a finger. “Or snooping on Bethany Anne. That’s for people who wish for a short life expectancy, and I plan on living a long time yet.”

  Michael swept a hand in Eve’s direction without looking away. “And there’s the almost-but-not-quite Zen adage which tells me absolutely nothing. Will you help me or not?”

  “Not.” Eve got to her feet and sailed out of the room, waving a hand as she went. “Talk to your wife.”

  Michael contained the urge to fling a bolt of lightning through the open door after Eve. It wouldn’t be the most honorable thing to do, given that she was right. Instead, he resumed his careful observation, watching his wife even as he kept track of Alexis’ and Gabriel’s efforts.

  He’d noticed the recent difference in Bethany Anne during lighter moments like this, when the weight of galaxies dropped away and she existed solely in the memories the four of them were creating together.

  However hard the face he presented to the world, his heart softened at the sight of his wife. The woman he would die without.

  She was his strength and weakness in one, his equal and his better. The mother of his children. How he had lived for a thousand years without knowing what light she would bring to his life, he couldn’t contemplate.

  Michael didn’t care one bit about galactic politics. He didn’t care if the Estarians and the Oggs ever managed to get along. Let the Bakas hold themselves separately, and the Noel-nis cheat the Leath to score points. The Torcellans could go fuck themselves with their systematic oppression of the males, and the Shrillexians—well, he felt a little for them. They didn’t ask to be compelled to fight.

  What he cared about was the woman in that machine. The one who fought for them, one and all.

  He would never forget the blur of nothing his life had become before Bethany Anne swept into his existence demanding her Justice. She had walked her high heels into his life and brought him back—twice.

  To see Bethany Anne in any kind of turmoil was a constant burning. She had given him her heart to keep him grounded, and he would offer himself up like Prometheus upon the rock to keep it safe.

  He was restricted in his course of action by his personal war; the internal pull to action which also demanded he be the parent his children needed. His duty to Gabriel and Alexis prevented him from bringing down unholy hell on the Ooken until they were laid waste to a one, as his instinct demanded.

  However, it did not prevent him from unleashing the Patriarch given the necessity. Quite the opposite. He would tear this entire universe to atoms and rebuild it from scratch if that was what his love required to be at peace.

  Bethany Anne and the children vanished from the screen as the scenario ended. Michael collected their water bottles and waited for the Vid-docs to cycle open before handing them out. “Very well done,” he told Alexis and Gabriel. “I’m impressed with your improvement in your control of the Etheric, and even more so in your tactical thinking.”

  Bethany Anne kissed Michael as she took her water from him. “Honey, we have to find somewhere planetside for the children to train. Somewhere it won’t matter if we make a mess.”

  Gabriel pumped the air with a fist. “Yes! I want to try that flip thing in reality.” He looked up at Michael, the distance not so large these days. “D’you think I can make the midair turn and land it, Dad?”

  Michael grinned. “I think you would do better to make the fall in the Etheric. You will both wear armor during practice. I don’t want you missing the catch and getting blown up again.”

  Alexis squirted Michael with her water. “Let it go, Dad. I blew him up one time.” She huffed a stray strand of hair out of her face. “No wonder Aunt Tabbie gets so annoyed with you.”

  Bethany Anne chuckled. “One time was more than enough, thank you, Alexis. Now, you two have what going on for the rest of the day while your father and I are in meetings?”

  Gabriel reeled off their afternoon schedule on his fingers. “Math with ADAM and TOM, socioeconomics with Sabine, galactic history with Phyrro, then Uncle William promised we could blow some stuff up because that counts as chemistry and it’s a lesson.”

  Alexis let out a little squeak. “Gabriel! You weren’t supposed to say!”

  Bethany Anne chuckled and shooed Gabriel and Alexis toward the door. “It’s okay, William already cleared it with us. We’ll walk out together.”

  A smile for the loves of his life graced Michael’s lips as he slipped his arm around Bethany Anne's waist, savoring the chaos of a life he’d always believed would be denied him.

  Alexis’ and Gabriel’s nonstop chatter filled him with the same deep urge to protect them that burned in his wife. It gave him strength and reinforced his determination.

  Bethany Anne settled into the hollow of Michael’s shoulder as Alexis and Gabriel headed down the ramp first. “We have to do something about a permanent place to live,” she murmured against his cheek. “They’re starting to settle, and we are not raising our children on a ship.”

  2

  Location Three, QBS G’laxix Sphaea, Bridge

  Kael-ven looked over from the viewscreen when the door to his ready room opened and the Admiral rejoined him and Kiel on the bridge. “What’s the word from our Queen?”

  Admiral Thomas glanced at the screen as he made his way over to his station. “The word is that she’s on her way here to deal with the Moen personally.”

  Kael-ven considered that for a moment. “No change in how we deal with the Ooken in the meantime? She still wants us to stand back?”

  The Admiral arched an eyebrow at his old friend. “What do you think? Bethany Anne is not the most patient, but neither does she change her mind once it’s made up.” He thought for a moment. “If she happens to change her mind, remember that was in the plan as well and don’t comment on it.”

  Kael-ven chuckled as he discarded the orders he’d been about to send to the ground teams, his hands hovering over the comm. “You’re leaving?”

  Admiral Thomas shook his head. “As much as I wish I could spare the time to see my wife and children, no.”

  Kael-ven turned in his seat, his face sympathetic to the Admiral’s plight. “That’s how it goes in this life. You sacrifice your time with your family, knowing it’s the right thing to do to keep them safe. They understand eventually if they don’t get it at the start.”

  The Admiral sighed. “That sounds like experience talking.”

  Kael-ven nodded. “My children are grown
now, don’t forget.”

  “And your wife is a distant nightmare,” Kiel chipped in.

  All three shuddered at the memory of Kael-ven’s ex-wife.

  Kael-ven shook it off. “What is Bethany Anne’s plan for the Moen?”

  Admiral Thomas lifted his hands. “I couldn’t tell you, since she didn’t bother to divulge it.”

  “We all know how she deals with things ‘personally,’” Kiel conjectured. “It would take the patience of a saint to keep coming up against a wall and still not give up.”

  Kael-ven snorted. “The only saint we’ll see will be Saint Payback when Bethany Anne gets here. This is possibly the oddest standoff I’ve ever encountered.”

  Admiral Thomas pointed at him. “Got it in one. None of it sits well with any of us, but there’s no way of getting rid of the Ooken when the Moen willingly sacrifice themselves to protect them every time we move in.”

  Kael-ven saw a flaw in the reasoning. “We haven’t taken a single Moen life, so they must understand we value their lives more than their masters do.”

  Admiral Thomas grimaced. “You would think so. It’s a wonder they haven’t gone extinct already.”

  ArchAngel spoke up from the screen. “There are several species on record who are submissive in this way.”

  “Yes.” Admiral Thomas nodded at the avatar. “But not to this extreme. The species’ whole reason for existing seems to be nothing more than to obey. How have they survived?”

  ArchAngel looked off to the side for a moment. “My conclusion, based on the data we have, is that the Moen have evolved to be indispensable to a stronger group who are able to protect them. In this way, they are able to survive, and given the right circumstances, thrive. It could be something as simple as them sticking with the oppressors they are familiar with as the more certain choice.”

  Kiel grunted in annoyance. “Then why are we still here? There’s a bigger war going on out there, and we’re missing it.”

  Kael-ven shrugged. “We know they’re smart. The tech they produce is proof of that, so why not make some provisions for defense? I agree with Kiel; we would be of more use to the fleet right now. If not for the people suffering down there, I would take the argument to Bethany Anne.”