Rosa Marteen, who became Exeter’s best friend during their five weeks onboard the Aston James and later joined the Ministerial Council as Trade Minister, stood with her delegation. It didn’t slip past him that four of the six-member cohort who once considered removing Michael from office reunited here.

  All distractions disappeared, however, when he took his place across from Caleb. Damn, those blue eyes. So bold, so hypnotic, so piercing. From the beginning, they drew Exeter in like a pair of magnets. He met Caleb on day two after being “made” as a citizen. Cap Silver introduced himself as Exeter’s Platoon leader. Was it love at first sight? No. He learned his lesson many times before, especially with Ryllen. Yet the truth didn’t take long to uncover.

  Rafael Kane started the ceremony.

  “Good morning, everyone. This is a day of firsts for Aeterna. Our first wedding. My first attempt at officiating one.” He chuckled, as did the audience. “I had less than a day to devise a ceremony. I hope you two fine officers will forgive me if I stumble. I reviewed ceremonies from a number of worlds. I modified the wording to suit who we are as immortals.”

  He lowered his voice and addressed the couple.

  “Captain. Colonel. Shall we begin?”

  They had discussed the general outline before departing Lioness. Rafael gave each a silver ring which he called a placeholder.

  “Friends of Aeterna, today we witness the formal union of United Naval Forces Capt. Exeter Woolsey and United Naval Forces Col. Caleb Silver. They make this commitment to each other because they have decided, though their journeys may last many centuries and allow them to cross the stars – through the Collectorate and perhaps beyond – they wish for one constant, which is a love shared with no others.

  “They have set a new standard for what it means to be immortal. Most of us present are products of forces beyond our control. For a decade, we struggled to find our place in a universe where all life ends. Our journey has barely begun, but we are taking bold leaps to experience the possible. This union between Exeter and Caleb is yet another leap.”

  Rafael motioned to the grooms, who each displayed a silver ring.

  “Exeter, do you take Caleb as your spouse, to love, respect, and cherish him through the great journey ahead?”

  Exeter didn’t remember the last time his heart beat so fast.

  “I do.”

  He grabbed Caleb’s hand and placed the ring over his finger.

  “Caleb, do you take Exeter as your spouse, to love, respect, and cherish him through the great journey ahead?”

  “I do, and then some.”

  Caleb winked as he placed the ring on Exeter’s finger. They held hands as Rafael continued:

  “Each of you wishes to state a vow. Exeter?”

  He had planned what to say long before the Council approved the petition for marriage. In his excitement, Exeter almost forgot the words.

  “I didn’t know who I was until I met you,” he told Caleb. “I was lost and angry. You saved me. I’m yours until the universe says I can’t be. I love you.”

  Caleb crinkled his lips and shook his head.

  “I can’t top that, X. But I’ll make a confession. I fell for you the first day. I tried not to show it because I was your Cap, but I’m a terrible actor. Just know this. Duty is going to separate us for a while, but we’ll always be at each other’s side. I love you.”

  The rest was a blur of joy and tears. The kiss, the cheers, and the handshakes were a blessing but also reminded Exeter:

  Happiness was a fleeting prize.

  * * *

  The reception was as brief as the ceremony, but the affair brought back memories Michael thought he’d lost. The quiet, loving moments with Sam were often small islands surrounded by an ocean of chaos and danger during their years on Collectorate Earth. They navigated life in a place where they didn’t belong until circumstance tossed them more than three hundred light-years away.

  He called Aeterna home from the day he expelled the Chancellors and vowed their time in this paradise would never end.

  The paradise remained but not the dream.

  “Time dies,” the Jewels told him. “You are time.”

  Michael carried Grace on his shoulders as they walked home along the main avenue. The tension headache returned, along with a bout of unprecedented soreness in his shoulders, but Michael gave no hint of his distress.

  “You doing all right up there, baby girl?”

  “I’m great, Daddy!”

  “Nice view. Huh?”

  “You’re so tall. Will I grow big as you?”

  “As long as people know you’re coming, it don’t matter how tall you are, baby girl.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You’ll understand, but it’s gonna take a few years.”

  Daniel and Harry whispered before breaking into snickers.

  “Dad,” Daniel said. “We have a question. Exeter and Caleb didn’t stick around long before they hopped a rifter. Where did they go?”

  Michael and Sam shared a knowing grin. Was it too soon?

  “I reckon they’re getting in some alone time, Danny. It’s tough serving in the UNF. They report back to their ships in a few hours.”

  “Oh. So they’re having sex.”

  Michael didn’t own an inventory of dad jokes to cover the moment. Sam saved him.

  “Son, they love each other, just like your father and I. We should respect their privacy. OK?”

  “Sure, Mom.”

  Sam looked at Michael with that you-need-to-talk-to-him glare. He nodded as if he agreed. Yet he doubted it would ever happen.

  He was going to miss these moments the most.

  * * *

  Exeter took nothing for granted. He brought passion to every moment with his husband. If there were such a thing as perfection, an hour in the bed they hadn’t shared for months met the standard.

  In the end, they lay together, exhausted and wet, and shared a digipipe with their favorite leaf.

  “Do you remember our first time?” Caleb asked.

  “You started to take off my shirt, and I asked if we were violating AN rules since you were my Cap.”

  Caleb laughed. “You asked three times, and every time I said no, you replied, ‘Are you sure? This feels wrong.’”

  “Three times? I don’t remember it like that.”

  “Three? One? Five? Who keeps track?”

  Exeter leaned over and kissed him.

  “I remember what I thought afterward. You were gentle, and you cared. I wasn’t used to that.”

  “A lot of Aeternans aren’t. You have no idea how many asked what it was like.”

  Exeter grabbed the pipe. “Wait. What? You never told me …”

  “Shh. Don’t worry. I didn’t say a word. They were scouting. Wanted to know how the new guy tasted. Pissed me off, X. That’s when I realized I wanted you for myself.”

  “I had the orange braids by then, didn’t I?”

  “Oh, yeah. You were all in. That’s what worried me. I thought once you experienced a few others, I wouldn’t have a chance.”

  “Now you know, C. It was always you.”

  Caleb took a deep puff and exhaled a long, melancholy stream.

  “We’ll have to shower soon and report to Lioness. After that …”

  “I know. It’s not enough time. But they gave us today. We’re married. Who would’ve thought it?”

  “Do you ever wish …?” Caleb caught himself.

  “Wish what?”

  “We probably won’t be together again for months.”

  The issue they’d been avoiding rose to the surface. Exeter wanted to tell him about Lightfoot’s mission.

  No. Not today.

  “The war’s coming,” he told Caleb. “Everybody feels it. You’ll have your own ship soon. People are counting on us.”

  “X, you’ve been there. You know the Swarm. Are we ready?”

  “It’s going to be a hard fight. We’ll make it, C.”

  “How do you know?”

  Exeter didn’t, but his journey flashed before his eyes and provided the comfort Caleb sought.

  “There’s only one way my life ends: Right here with you, in the home we’re going to make. That’s a promise.”

  10

  UNF Central Command

  Battle Cruiser Yellow Dawn

  The next day

  K ARA TOOK COPIOUS NOTES before every diplomatic mission. She read advance intel and background material on major players. She analyzed the recommended strategy. She looked for inconsistencies and plotted new approaches, which comprised most of her notes. Parts of this latest plan bothered Kara, but she doubted her conclusions mattered at the eleventh hour. Smarter people spent months devising the plan, and she had less than forty hours to prepare.

  She was exhausted when Cando returned home at day’s end. Like the evening before, he offered a kiss but said little. He took a shower, changed into evening clothes, and settled down with a stiff drink and a tablet to review operations reports from across the galaxy.

  They said nothing for half an hour, consumed by screens. Yet their eyes did meet from time to time. They had so much to say, but who dared to jump in first? The tension drove Kara to wonder: Is this what it’s like when a marriage hits an impasse? She waved the white flag.

  “Are you hungry, sweetie?”

  Cando didn’t look up. “Dinner would be good. The cantina, I was thinking. Not kiosk.”

  “When?”

  “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  “I’ll change into something more comfortable. I …”

  He looked up. “Maybe something bright and festive. Let’s make it special. Agree?”

  “I can do that.” She set down her tablet. “Do we have a go-time?”

  Cando sipped the last of his whiskey.

  “For dinner or the mission?”

  “Both.”

  “Dinner is your discretion, but I’d like you to set aside two hours, which is a fair ask. The mission leaves tomorrow at One-Nine. Command shuttle Argo will leave Deck Four to rendezvous with Lightfoot. From there, you’ll jump to Esperanza.”

  He said the words with an underlying plea to reconsider. Cando returned home two days ago after allowing the Inner Group to approve Kara’s inclusion on the mission. Yet from the moment he told her, the High Admiral did everything in his power to talk her out of it. The more he spoke, the greater her resistance, the angrier his tone.

  This latest update cemented the reality for Kara. Though she might have preferred more prep, she didn’t want the go-time to drag out the launch window. Any significant delay posed too great a risk.

  Kara started for the bedroom but stopped and turned. Cando stared off into the distance. She came from behind and draped her arms over his shoulders.

  “It’s a diplomatic mission, sweetie. We’ll sit down across a table from bureaucrats. They might be annoying and stubborn, and they might say no. But they’re not the enemy, and we will return.”

  He grabbed her left hand and squeezed.

  “If it was that simple, we wouldn’t send a warship.”

  “I’ll be surrounded by friends. People we know and trust. They’ll look after me.”

  “You’ve never needed looking after, Kara.”

  “That’s what really has you worried, isn’t it? You think I’ll try too hard, maybe go off-script. Bring on trouble where there’s none.”

  Cando chuckled. “That’s your life story.”

  She couldn’t argue the point.

  “If you thought I might pose a risk, why did you allow the vote?”

  “Is it so hard to understand? I want us to grow old together. That won’t happen if I try to hold you down.”

  “Oh, sweetie. I’m not a wild horse.”

  “No, but you hate stables.”

  He knew her too well.

  “I suppose when you’re raised inside one like I was, you learn to resent it. You have to trust me, Cando. I won’t do anything to put this mission in danger. We’re trying to save billions of lives. How arrogant would I be to put myself ahead of that goal?”

  “You wouldn’t. Not intentionally. But when a strong person is convinced they’re right, and the stakes are high? I’ve seen well-intentioned people step into the muck, and they have no Plan B.”

  “Fortunately, I’m on a team with brilliant minds. If I have a crazy notion, they’ll be the first to hear it. If they say no, I’ll defer to their judgment. Please have faith, sweetie.”

  He rose from the chair and wrapped her in a warm hug, their first since the Inner Group approved her inclusion.

  “I’ll never lack for faith in you, hon. There are damn few constants in my life, but that’s one. The other is how much I love you. After that, everything’s up for grabs.”

  She felt ten pounds lighter.

  “OK. So, two hours for dinner? Something bright and festive?”

  When they separated, Kara felt the last of the room’s tension disappear. Cando’s smile suggested he lost weight as well. At the very least, he said what weighed on his heart.

  “Yes,” he told her. “Bright and festive. I want a fun dinner.”

  “Fun? Absolutely. I’m game.”

  She almost made it to the bedroom again, but Kara found she couldn’t help herself. It was a nagging point from the intel, but if she didn’t make it now, when?

  “I’m curious about something I read, sweetie. Just a little thing, really. The background history makes a hundred references to Orzed’s Admin Council but only one to their actual name.”

  He shook his head.

  “Really, Kara? You’re going to do this now?”

  “Hear me out. Their original name, which is still in place, is the Shunta Hia. Yet all the intel refers to the Admin Council. Some just plain Admin. Why?”

  Cando sighed with a shrug.

  “That’s how everyone knows them, Kara. They control the purse strings, the authorization for major operations. All of it. Ever since I joined the Talons, we called them Admin. Why does it matter?”

  “The Shunta Hia was created in response to the Swarm crusade. Its mission was to end the Swarm advance, not delay it. That’s changed over the years.”

  “For sure. They lost their way. Now they’re focused on profit and financial risk assessment.”

  “Admin is. Yes. Not the Shunta Hia.”

  “Your point?”

  “Names matter. Legacy matters.”

  “You’re talking about principles, Kara. They don’t shift overnight. It didn’t happen with the Shunta Hia and won’t with Admin.”

  “True, but sometimes people have to be reminded of their origins in order to see what they’ve become. When all else is equal, it might be the push they need.”

  Cando wagged a finger.

  “There it is. The Kara Syung Doctrine. Just because you’ve made it work a few times in this universe doesn’t mean it will apply across the divide. Those people are insidious; they stand to lose everything.”

  “People on the brink. Right. I understand about them.”

  “I don’t think you do. Billions of humans died on their watch.”

  “We’re their best hope now, and vice versa. If was there no chance of a deal, we wouldn’t talk to them.”

  Kara saw Cando’s exasperation; she needed to shut up before she ruined their last night together for a while. Kara kissed him.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’ll speak to Henri Kato in the morning and share my thoughts.”

  “You do that. Just remember, it’s too late to change the script.”

  Kara rushed into the bedroom.

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. No more business tonight. Time for dinner.”

  “Remember,” he shouted. “I want two hours. No business talk.”

  “Right. A fun dinner. Bright and festive.”

  Moments later, she emerged in a floral dress heavy on pastels. She received it as a gift after DRC success on New Caledonia.

  “Beautiful,” he said en route to the door. “Let’s eat.”

  They ordered more courses at the cantina than their stomachs had room for. Nonetheless, the food was top-drawer, the candlelight a lovely throwback, and the red wine Kartuffe’s best.

  The only missing element was the fun. Random chitchat was too skimpy a dress to cover their emotions.

  The third course brought a surprising shift in tone. They stared at the house specialty, a mélange of whitefish and blue prawns over a bed of seaweed. The seasonings opened their sinuses, and the fish was buttery and light. Halfway through his dish, Cando set down his fork and wiped his lips. He pushed the plate away.

  “What’s wrong?” Kara asked.

  “With the food? Nothing. It tastes like something pulled from the sea this morning. I just, ah, well, it brought back a memory.”

  “Of?”

  “My introduction to Kohlna.”

  She reached for the wine.

  “The Scramjets?”

  He nodded with a wistful grin.

  “You and I had our first little talk after I woke you from the still-seat. Then we walked across from Horn to Ram. Everyone sat down to a meal of Kohlna steak.”

  He referred to a meal they shared less than four years ago but felt decades removed.

  “It was great fish,” she said. “I think some of us Hokkis wondered if that was the last time we’d ever eat so well.”

  “Almost was, given what happened at Artemis.”

  “How many of us were there? Twenty-two?”

  “Twenty-four. Most didn’t speak the entire meal.”

  “Shocked, scared, and didn’t trust each other.”

  “I don’t agree, hon. After the mess we left behind, I think everyone appreciated a bit of normalcy. Half of us were new to this universe, and the rest were flying in space for the first time or on the run.”

  She set down her glass and cupped her hands under her chin.

  “You’re right. It was a crazy time. Madness.”

  “But we had a common goal, experienced soldiers, and two fine ships. Not that Ram got a chance to prove herself. I think the meal was a moment of bliss. We didn’t know what lay ahead. We certainly didn’t know we’d been manipulated by Ryllen, Ya-Li, and Bonju. In absence of the truth, we had fellowship. It was nice.”