Prime Obsession(51)

“Doesn’t it always,” Mel said. “Life is not a children’s tale, and I’m not a legend come to life. I’m afraid that reality is going to be all too with us for some time to come.”

“You may not be a legend, but you are my deepest fantasy come to life,” Wulf said, kissing her hair. “And I plan on keeping you alive.”





Chapter Eighteen


One Standard Month later, orbiting Cejuru Prime

Mel sat back and observed the interactions among selected members of her Gold Squadron’s crew and the Prime soldiers who were to trade places with them. The meeting took place in the Commander’s Board room on the Prime military space station that circled Cejuru Prime once every eighteen standard hours. The trip from Tooh 10 space dock had been less eventful than the current meetings. In fact, no one, Antarean, mercenaries or otherwise, had tried to kill her or Wulf since the night of the embassy party.

But she wouldn’t guarantee that blood might not be shed in this room.

“Lubha, should we referee?” Wulf’s low growl contained a tinge of amusement. “I’d hate to see the agreement between our military organizations fail before it fully commenced.”

Mel followed his gaze to the most contentious of the pairings in the room.

 Galanti’ s Science Officer, Commander Ard, was in the middle of talking down to his Terran counterpart, Commander Nadia Petrovich from the Leonidas. Talking down was in the figurative sense since Nadia at six-foot-two-inches tall nearly saw eye-to-eye with the large Prime male, who may have had two inches on her. The heat of Nadia’s anger projected clear across the room. Lucky for them all Nadia could control her temper.

Nadia would be an excellent fit for the Galanti. All of the women Mel had chosen for the formerly all-Prime male ships were like Nadia—smart, strong, self-confident, and totally in control while on duty. Women who could hold their own in a male-dominated military. The Prime would crush any other kind.

“No need to intervene. Nadia will be fine,” Mel replied and would have added a word on Ard when some movement in her periphery interrupted her train of thought.

Huw had left his position against the outer perimeter of the room and moved toward Ard and Nadia. His actions reminded her of a raptor swooping to capture its prey.

“Oooh, boy,” muttered Mel.

“What?” Wulf asked, his eyes scanning the room for the cause of her concern.

Huw thrust his body between the dueling science officers and was now in Ard’s face.

Both men were yelling. The exact words of their confrontation were lost in the chaos of the large room and the multiple conversations.

“Your brother just ran interference for Nadia,” whispered Mel. “Not smart. She’ll hand him his ass for that. Nadia doesn’t need—or ask—for help in dealing with peers.” They watched the scene play out—as now did a majority of the teams in the room.

Nadia moved around Huw and got in his face. His hands went up, warding off her jabbing finger. Ard, his lips quirked with amusement, had already figured out the attractive Terran and backed away. By allowing her to handle the angry Huw, Ard displayed his respect for her abilities. A strong message had been sent to every other Prime soldier in the room who would serve alongside her on the Galanti. Smart man, that Ard.

Wulf murmured, “Nadia and Ard were just testing each other’s limits, yes?”



“Yes,” replied Mel. “That transition will work well.” When Nadia turned to continue her conversation with Ard, Huw turned on his heel and stalked off to the side of the room where Iolyn leaned against the wall, calmly observing his brother’s humiliation.

“Huw will be smarting for a while. The Iceberg has given another man his conge.” Mel chuckled.

“Ice Berg?” Wulf asked, his breath brushing the hair by her ear.

“That’s what my crew calls her,” Mel explained. “She has a very low tolerance for male shenanigans, as she calls them. Huw playing the gentleman mediator would fall under that classification.”

“She does not socialize with the crew?” Wulf frowned. “That would not be good for morale.”

“Oh, she’s fine while on the ship. She is cordial and respectful of her peers and would die for them,” Mel hurried to clarify. “Outside of the ship? No one has ever seen her with a male.”

“I trust your judgment, gemate,” Wulf said, a slightly skeptical tone to his words.

“She’s the best science officer I’ve ever seen—she’ll do fine on a ship with a mostly male crew. She’ll gain their respect quickly. She has already impressed Ard.”

“Then she is very much like you,” he whispered. “And you handled me well enough.”

“Well, there was added incentive,” she teased as she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.

The small confrontation among Ard, Nadia and Huw seemed to have been the signal to move things ahead. The other teams had their heads together working together rather than at cross-purposes.

“The tension in the room is lessening—well, except for Huw,” Wulf laughed, “he looks as if he would like to carry your Nadia off and teach her who’s boss.”

“I wouldn’t if I were him,” Mel retorted. “Her last would-be manhandler sported his injuries for quite a while.”

The man had also been court-martialed and, after a lengthy stay in the prison ward of the military hospital, sent to the Alliance’s prison world for convictions on battery and attempted rape. Mel had confined her crew to the ship or the man would have been lynched—that was how angry they had been over Nadia’s treatment.

Wulf frowned. “She was okay? How bad was it?”

Mel shook her head. “It was bad. Nadia took months to heal.”

“All the women will be fine on Prime ships , lubha, ” Wulf said. “Prime soldiers do not beat up on women.”

“I know.” She stroked Wulf’s hand, which had fisted on her thigh under the cover of the table. “I have no concerns about that. And all my female soldiers can handle themselves. After all, it was attempted rape.” She smiled grimly. “Nadia beat the shit out of the bastard and then called the military police.”

The sound level in the room decreased measurably as the teams of two finished introducing themselves to one another.

Mel stood up. All activity in the room ceased and all attention turned to her and Wulf at the head of the large oval titanium table.

“You’ve had a chance to get acquainted. In front of each of you are your formal orders. These just reiterate what you’ve been briefed on individually by either Captain Wulf or myself.”

Mel paused and swept the room with a glance. Every crew member was attentive.

The mood in the room was equal parts anticipation and trepidation. Each and every one of them understood the historical significance of this merger of militaries. The Prime had never, in their millennia of existence, allied themselves with any other planet or conference of planets. The non-allied planets of the Milky Way would watch this partnership with close scrutiny.

She continued, “You’ll have the opportunity while Gold Squadron is in space dock to visit your new assignments in the company of your exchange counterpart. We expect all exchange partners to thoroughly indoctrinate each other in the idiosyncrasies of their jobs.”

“Let us know if you have issues or questions,” Wulf added. “Captain Melina and I will be on station for another standard day before heading dirtside. Even then, we’ll be in constant contact with Captain Nowicki, who will be officer in charge while we are gone.

We will return frequently for briefings and training sessions.”

“When will Gold go back out on patrols?” Huw asked, all remnants of his former anger gone from his voice and facial expression. But Mel sensed something boiling beneath the surface. Some emotion she had a hard time pinning down.

“Once Captain Melina and I are sure the merged crews are working together in an optimal fashion,” Wulf said. “We anticipate that will take less than two standard weeks.

While Gold completes the personnel merger and the training period, Blue Squadron will cover the outer Perseus spiral, backed up by the all-Prime military ships.”

“Is Cejuru Prime going to maintain an all-Prime military presence in this part of the galaxy?” A Prime soldier unknown to Mel asked the question.

“Wulf?” She turned toward him. “Do you want to answer that?”

“Sure. The Prime military that does not merge into the Gold Squadron will maintain planet order and be used to patrol within the confines of the Cejuru solar system. We expect that to be approximately ten full units.”

“What will be our patrol duties when fully merged?” Iolyn asked.

“Gold Squadron, and if needed, any other available Alliance squadron, will patrol the no-man’s land between the central portion of the Cygnus-Orion and Perseus spirals, the populated areas of the Perseus spiral minus Cejuru solar system, and the dark space immediately beyond the Milky Way toward Andromeda,” Mel answered, then added,

“The Alliance considers the Antarean threat grave to the peace of the Milky Way.” A grunt of Prime male approval filled the room her detailing of their new duties.