Page 132 of Home

“I’m home,” he sing-songed.

The ramp extended from its side as the door seemed to slide back into its own body, granting Rokai entry to his ship.

The moment he was aboard the ship, he sealed himself inside and reactivated the cloaking mechanism. The only way anyone would happen upon him was if they literally bumped into the ship itself.

He sat down at the console and typed in a series of codes, which resulted in the message from Gaishon being displayed right on the windshield on the ship. Rokai took only a few moments to absorb what he saw. A map, two dimensional, with a tag on a spot days away from where he was currently sitting. And the tag said, ‘Ba Re’ band - Mirilla’.

“Ba Re’ band? The hell does that mean?” Rokai asked aloud. “And Mirilla?”

Unsure what the message meant, but knowing that it was important enough for Gaishon to have activated the implant, which Gaishon knew he hated and always had, he dutifully logged in the location and quickly calculated a route back to the port. “Already been there - twice, Gaishon. But if you say I have to find Ba Re’s band to find Mirilla, I’ll go back,” he grumbled.

“Ba Re’ band…” he said again as he strapped himself and quickly ran a check to be sure no one had messed with the ship since he’d left it unattended. He always left it flight checked and ready for take off, just in case. But if you weren’t trying to escape quickly, it was always a good idea to be sure nothing had been touched since.

Secure in the functionality of his ship, he fired the blasters to prepare the ship’s engines to lift it from the man-made surface of the space-port he was sitting on. As he lifted into the darkness surrounding the port, he watched as the ship slowly turned itself toward the path he’d programmed in to his navigation controls. He sat in his command chair, eyes scanning the darkness around his ship, glancing at the rear facing feeds only once more as he left the port far behind. “Could use a little nap. I am not used to drinking like that anymore.”

He kicked off his boots, and pulled his stiff leather shirt off over his head, tossing it to lie on top of the boots just beside him. He crossed his ankles, reclining his chair just enough to be able to doze for a few hours and closed his eyes, confident that his ship would let him know if anyone or anything got within striking distance of him. He crossed his arms over his stomach, and promptly felt the buckle of his credit band digging into the soft flesh there. Irritated, he lifted his head and unbuckled the band before dropping it to the floor beside his shirt and boots.

He closed his eyes again, but then they popped open wide. “Ba Re’ band! Ba Re’s credit band. What the hell does Ba Re’ have to do with Mirilla going missing?” He glanced around the command deck of his own private ship and then frustratedly reached for the communicator he kept plugged into the ship’s mainframe. He pressed the buttons to attempt to contact Gaishon, only he realized before he finalized the comm that if Gaishon was sending him coded information, for whatever reason, he didn’t want the information broadcast across any means that would make record of their conversation. Sighing, he returned his communicator back to its place, and closed his eyes again. He could easily have checked Missy’s memory banks if he still had her programs installed on his ship, but he’d removed them in the event the ship was compromised. He didn’t want anyone to accidentally gain access to Artificial Intelligence thatoversaw all the technology that kept Command Warship I working. So he’d have to wait and see what he found when he arrived. He’d need some rest, because if he found Ba Re’ with Mirilla, and holding her against her will no less, there would be a multitude of bullshit to wade through. Harming Ba Re’ was not an option, so it would come down to any other way out. “The fuck are you doing, Ba Re’?”

~~~

“I can get it, Au’revele,” Zahn said, pushing himself into a sitting position on the sofa.

“But why? I’m here, so there’s no reason to get it yourself.”

“Because I’m not helpless. In just a few days I’ll be back on duty. You don’t have to wait on me hand and foot.”

“No, I don’t. But why won’t you allow me to take care of you? It’s what we do for one another isn’t it? Or at least that’s my understanding — it’s what normal mated couples do for one another.”

“What do you mean by that?” Zahn asked. “We’re normal!”

“Zahn, we are not normal in any way. I daresay that the only reason you’re even here in my home is because you got hurt and I suggested to the Sirena that I could take care of you here more easily than in your quarters.”

“That’s not true,” he said haughtily.

“Enlighten me. How is it not true?” Au'revele challenged.

“We’d have ended up here no matter my injuries.”

“I’m not altogether sure I believe that,” she said tiredly, handing him the plate of food and turning to walk away.

Zahn reached out and snagged her wrist in his hand, pulling her off balance to fall toward him. As she fell he let go of her wrist and caught her as she landed across his thighs.

“Zahn! You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“Female, I am not a weak male. I do not need to be coddled and I am offended that you think I do,” he growled, before he kissed her with a hard demanding kiss.

She pushed him away, turning her face away from his. “The doctors said you need to rest for a few more days.”

“I’ve been in a healing unit. I’ve been lying in a bed for days. I’m about to lose my mind. Rest is the last thing I need.”

“Then what do you need?” she demanded.

“I’m trying to show you!”

“No, you’re not! You’re being argumentative and avoiding the question.”

“What question?” Zahn asked.

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