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“I’m afraid we’re all wearing more than one hat at the moment. Speaking of, I’d love to have an actual course on Xeruvian history. In English with textbooks, if possible. And an English keyboard interface for my tablet.”

Mia reached for paper and pen again to make a note of those requests, and cursed under her breath at the lack of note keeping material. “Would you do me a huge favor? No, never mind. I’ll get her myself, just to keep you from getting any more ideas.”

Emma grinned. “Jyrak?”

“Mine,” Mia snarled in a creditable imitation of Zoran’s deeper growl.

Emma laughed, delighted. “Assimilating already.”

“If that’s what I have to do to keep Jyrak on my side, absolutely.”

When Emma left, Mia turned to her viewscreen wall to dedicate one to textbooks, became absorbed in the Xeruvian database, and forgot all about tracking down Jyrak. Another visitor interrupted her half an hour later, startling her out of a side quest on an extinct culture.

“Var’Kol?” someone said.

Mia whirled around, her eyes wide. A woman stood in the doorway holding a sheaf of paper. She was sharply put together in a way that screamed understated class. Even wearing Xeruvian clothing, it was clear this woman knew how to mingle. She was gorgeous, too, from the top of her auburn hair to the tips of her toes. Had the warlords deliberately selected for beauty, or was that a coincidence?

Mia shook off her thoughts and held out her hand, offering a welcoming smile. “Sorry. I was woolgathering. You must be Sonja Mathis.”

Sonja returned Mia’s smile with one of her own. “Guilty as charged. I’m sorry we didn’t run into each other on the ship.”

“Don’t worry about it. I had my hands full, too.”

“Literally?”

Mia blushed. “Oh, my God. No!”

Sonja laughed. “I’ve got my own warlord. I know how they are.”

Mia just bet she did. “Can I help you with something?”

“You say that like it’s rote. Fielding a lot of questions?”

“More than I’m comfortable handling. Of this kind anyway.” Mia pulled a rueful face. “Administrative things. I’m a lab rat, not a suit. And if you say we all have to wear a lot of hats right now, I may have to hit you. You won’t believe how many people have told me that today.”

Sonja held her hands up, amusement twinkling in her hazel eyes. “I come in peace bearing gifts.”

Mia finally got a good look at the paper Sonja was holding. “You brought me paper? Does it come with a pen?”

“Got those, too. Apparently they don’t bind blank paper into notebooks here or I would’ve brought you a few. Binding happens after the fact, during a compiling process.”

“Like bookbinding?”

“Yes and no. I got a lecture about it from Jyrak. You should get her to explain.”

“I will. She’s apparently become my assistant. It seems like a waste of talent.”

“Then you should see if you can find someone familiar with administrative tasks to free her up for lab work.”

Mia hesitated. “It’s not that I haven’t considered it. I just don’t know what the funding situation is.”

“Your mate will know,” Sonja said easily. She set the off-white paper on the corner of Mia’s desk and turned back to the viewscreens, studying each one in turn, then gestured toward the one displaying an encyclopedic entry for the Var’Kol. “What’s this?”

“An extinct civilization. They used to coexist with the Xeruvians on the fourth planet in this system.”

“Used to?”

“War.”