Page 11

Jeff

Walking up the path to Vahru and Kari’s, Kosiiba waves and tells me she’s around back on the porch. I nod in thanks as he turns and continues his patrols around the house, leaving me to visit with my best friend. It feels like it’s been weeks since I’ve really sat and talked with Kari, she’s always locked away trying to work on her research, despite it seeming to get her nowhere. I wish she would take a break and just be for a minute, let the answers come to us. Someone is bound to have something, right? And hasn’t she contacted others for help? She’s not alone, but she acts as if she is. That’s always been her way, though, stubborn brat.

“Hey, Cap. Mind if I join you?” I call out as I round the corner and see her sitting in her rocking chair on the back porch. Her blonde hair is longer, hanging past her shoulders now compared to resting above them when we first arrived. Green eyes widen and sparkle as she shakes her head, smiling and waving me up to join her. Today, she’s dressed casually in a flowing purple dress with blue accents that match Vahru’s eyes. It frames her upper body well, leaving the bottom to swell around her ankles and feet.

I settle into the chair on her left as Vahru returns with a tray of teacups. He sets it on the small table in front of us before handing the cups out to each of us and settling to Kari’s right. He’s in his usual beige pants and t-shirt, but his long black hair is neatly braided down his back, letting his horns rise tall against his scalp. If I didn’t know he was a gentle soul, I’d be terrified of him. He looks rather foreboding with his height and those horns. Reminds me of when we first met him and I really did think he was bad news there for a minute. Oh, how wrong I was.

“So, how have you been? You’ve kept yourself locked away, working on your research. I feel like we haven’t talked in forever. What’s the news?” I sip the tea, a sweet blend of orange, honey, and jasmine. Kari’s favorite, of course.

“Ugh, it’s been miserable, honestly. All the information I seem to find is consistent, eerily so, and nothing seems to indicate that there is any other story but this one. Not to mention that laptop of frustration that does NOT want to work for me. I’ve called the so-called genius who coded it, and he’s supposed to come and help me with it soon. Not sure when that will be, so we’ll just wait and see.”

“So… you’re taking a break today?” I cock a brow at her as she leans her head back in her chair and sighs. She nods, her body deflating, and Vahru chuckles.

“Much to her disappointment.”

Kari sticks her tongue out at him without opening her eyes, and we both chuckle. Knowing her, this is eating her up inside to sit here with no solution. Kari is a woman of action, she doesn’t sit around and wait very well, never has. Maybe I can distract her with something, get her talking about something mundane but interesting.

“Willa wants a whole litter of kids.” I drop that and take a sip of my tea. Vahru grunts, not surprised, and Kari sits up slowly, her gaze focusing on me as a wicked smile of intrigue crosses her face.

“And what do you want, Lieutenant?” Her tongue runs along her back teeth as she tries and fails to hide her amusement at the change in conversation. She’s not a person of drama, she can’t stand it, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t interested in good gossip that hurts no one. I mean, who isn’t interested in knowing all they can?

I chuckle, taking another sip of my tea and making her wait. Her eyes widen as she leans farther over, closer to me. “Oh, my god! You’re gonna give it to her, aren’t you? Whatever she wants, right? You with a litter of kids!? Can you even handle that!?”

I laugh out loud, setting my tea down on the table. “Kari, you wound me! How capable do you think I am? Seriously?”

“Wha–I–” she stammers, huffing before taking a slow breath. “I don’t mean to insult, I just never saw you having kids, I guess. I never saw me having them, either. It’s such a foreign concept. But is it something you’d be happy about, something you’d want? In the future?” Her expression sobers, the smile dropping as her brows raise in genuine curiosity.

My smile remains, growing slightly as I think of how happy it would make Willa to see her belly swell, to see her carry a baby around and coo at it all day. She’d be in love, and that would be worth every struggle it comes with. “Yeah, I do. I mean, Willa would be so happy and adorable with a little baby to fawn over. Plus, it’s just more love for us, right? Isn’t that what we want, to grow families and build more love around us?”

Her head cocks to the side as she studies me, and I notice the way Vahru’s studying her instead. His eyes bore into her head, and I’d bet all I have that he’s reading through her emotions and thoughts as best he can with their bond to see what she truly feels inside about that. I have no doubt he wants to grow a family with her, but will she do it? It’s not something I ever saw her doing because she’s not the type to settle, she’s always on the move, but if she had something that meant everything to her, would it be enough to finally tie her down and plant roots?

“Wow, Jeff. I’m looking at you in a whole new light. What changed your mind on all this?”

“I found something to live for other than my missions. Willa is my home, where my heart is, and I’m putting down roots right there with her. Part of growing is expanding, becoming more. Being a dad is only the next logical step after mating, isn’t it? I mean, it’s how things went on Earth. Marriage, home, kids, big family, grow old with them, and live happily. I just didn’t have that there, but I do here. So do you.” I give her a pointed look, cocking one brow as I raise my teacup to hide my smirk.

Her lips curl in between her teeth as she nods ever so slightly, thinking on that. Vahru grins, finally turning his attention to the woods and away from Kari. Just in time, too, as she turns and examines him for a long moment.

We sit in silence for a while, just enjoying the nice weather and the sounds of the wind through the leaves, when it's broken by the buzzing of a drone. I jump up at the same time as Kari, our eyes trained on the skies. Vahru growls as Kosiiba comes running over, hands on his knives.

“No way,” Kari breathes before taking off down the trail, Kosiiba hot on her heels. Vahru yells out for her before we chase after them. She doesn’t stop until we reach the shield, where she drops down to examine it. We both do, but neither of us notice anything out of the ordinary, but we’re not coders or computer experts. We wouldn’t notice anything.

Growling in frustration, she stands and rips her comm from her pocket, lifting it to her ear. “Ayira, the shield has been tampered with again, the drones are back in our air space. We don’t know how to code this, we need some back up here… Great, thanks.”

She hangs up, putting the comm in the pocket of her dress as Willa slides her arms around my waist, startling me slightly, Cruzig stepping up behind us, his eyes on the sky. Every one of us is weary, concerned, and on the lookout now that we know we’re no longer safe.

“The Nobodies are headed this way to help us with the shield and the computer, let everyone know we’re expecting some guests,” Kari barks out before turning and marching for the chief’s cabin. I nod and pull Willa with me to find Terax and the others.

A large ship looms overhead, slowly lowering toward the ocean, and I call out to Kari as we all take off for the path. Halfway down the path, Kari’s comm rings, and she stops to answer, waving me on and telling me to meet them. I see Tavionna’s face on the holo-image before I turn and walk on with Willa, Cruzig, and Vahru. Kosiiba stays with Kari.

Melodia comes scuttling out of the water and up to me, her eyes wide. “Don’t worry, they’re friends here to help. Tonya is with Criido and knows what’s going on, we’ll meet with her after.” She nods and stays by my side, but I know she’ll go to Kari as soon as she joins us. I’m guessing these people speak English, but if not, I’m grateful for that translator dissolved into my head.

The ship lands gently in the clearing before the ocean, and we wait patiently for the door to open. A ramp descends to the ground and an Ngozii woman begins walking down, shocking me completely, followed by one Nyan man and 3 men of varying races I’ve never seen before. I step forward, and she stops before me, nodding politely. What is she doing off planet? I thought there were no Ngozii outside of Gemyasiri….

“I’m Ayira, leader of the Nobodies, and I was called here by Captain Kari.”

“I’m her Lieutenant, Jeff Mooney. This is her mate, Vahru, my mate, Willa, and our guard, Cruzig. This little thing here is Melodia, the Sautiition leader. Her people live here with us in the great lake. We’ll take you to meet the chief as well soon. We appreciate you coming to our aid.”

“Of course. This is my second-in-command, Rygen, my bodyguard, Alex the Blob, my doctor, Tohtor, and my tech guru, Tutkijaa. They’re also my mates.” Ayira points with each of her four pink arms to each of the men, Rygen being the Nyan man with teal mating marks along his arms, short-cropped black hair, and blue eyes to match Vahru’s. Alex is a huge black wall of muscle with an alligator’s tail, scaly skin, yellow eyes, and four arms. He’s intimidating like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Tohtor has orange skin that looks soft and velvety to the touch with a round face, chubby cheeks, and long brown hair that matches his eyes. His gaze is gentle and assessing, leaving me to assume he’s probably a good doctor, at least based on my past experience with doctors like him. Tutkijaa is as tall as Ayira and rail thin with a bulbous head and large purple eyes like a fly. His skin is dark blue, he has four arms, and antennae on his head.

I look around as I hear footsteps, my gaze snagging on Vahru’s puzzled expression, before I whirl around and spot Kari and Kosiiba rushing to join us. “I’m here, sorry! Hi, I’m Kari Hanley. Ayira, it’s good to meet you in person, gosh, you’re gorgeous.” Kari’s panting and out of breath, her wide eyes swinging to me in shock. I raise my brows, my lips pinching as I nod, also having noted the similarities to Tavionna in her face. I wonder what that means.

Ayira introduces her men once more to Kari, and she jumps right in, not phased at all by them and their differences. “Kij, oh, it’s so nice to meet you. Charlie’s had nothing but great things to say about you. I’m really glad you’re here to help us out.”

He nods politely. “Thank you, I’m glad to be of service to someone with such a pure mission. I hope to help exponentially.” His voice is deeper than I expected it to be for someone with such a tiny mouth, but he’s as soft-spoken and polite as I thought he would be.

“Let’s take you into the village to meet the chief and get you guys started.” Kari turns, Melodia clinging to her hand with a tentacle, and we begin our march into the village. “Oh, Jeff, Tavi will be coming to visit soon, she’ll be staying in the cabin near ours that’s empty. You might let the others know so no one is surprised by a portal.”

“Gotcha.” I grab my comm and shoot a quick message to the group chat so all my hunters are aware to keep an eye out for our new arrivals.

“Could I take a look at the shield before we have any meetings? If it’s not functioning properly, I’d like to get that fixed right away,” Tutkijaa asks from behind us, and Kari nods.

“Of course, it’s in the village center, on our way.” She leads us up through the path and into the village, stopping alongside the shield in the center. Tutkijaa drops to a knee and begins typing on the holo-keyboard that pops up for him after a few button pushes.

He grunts, shaking his head, before he looks up at Kari. “Charlie and Layanna are good, but someone better than them has hacked into the system. Lucky for you, I’m here. No one is better than me. I’ll get this re-coded and lock them out, however, it’ll take a few hours.”

“Oh, great, yeah, go ahead and take care of that, we’ve got hunters all around the village on patrol, so you’ll be safe. We can go ahead and meet with the chief for the other concerns while you work, if that’s all right?”

“Yeah, go ahead, I’ll get briefed from the others later.” His head drops as he gets to work, and the big guy moves over to stand behind him.

He grunts and nods at Ayira before nodding once more to Rygen. “Blob will stay with Kij to watch over him. The rest of us will go meet with your chief, Kari,” Ayira says through a smile.

“This way.” Vahru leads us all toward the chief’s cabin while he asks them not to speak over each other and be polite, letting the chief lead the conversation.

This could either be a great thing or something way out of left field, but I’m not sure which. My gut tells me these people aren’t entirely to be trusted, but I’m not sure why. Something is amiss, maybe it’s the quiet and guarded reactions from some of their crew or the way Vahru eyes Rygen, I’m not sure, but something is odd here.