“Who the hell is Kira?” Evelyn walked into the administration, and everybody turned to her, then to Adam, who looked back at her confused.

“What?” He looked up from the table screen. Roks, Vorts, Jork, Kina, and a few human officers stood with him. The room itself was filled with people working at different stations. The media crew, who had been quarantined in the hallway, immediately followed by recording drones focused on the new development.

“Don’t you give me that! Who is Kira?” Adam looked at her, and then it snapped; he looked at Roks, who raised his hands disarming as he said. “Not me!”

“Just somebody we meet. She is a human piratehunter. She is pretty good.” He explained, and James looked at Adam.

“Is she good? Maybe we can get her to join?”

Roks nodded, and Adam looked at them, but it was too late.

“WHAT! Dara told me she was more than that! Don’t you lie to me Adam Wrangler!” She said loudly with an angry voice.

The room fell so silent that you could hear a pin drop. After a few seconds, Kina was the first to speak. “That gossiping hag! Just like the rest of them! I'm going to kill her!” Then she stormed out of the room. Roks and Vorts exchanged looks. Both said, “Nope!” and stayed. Adam walked over to Evelyn.

“Let's go into the office, please.”

Evelyn looked at him, crossed her arms, and walked into the office. Once he closed the door, she turned and looked at him. ”Well? Who is she?”

“I told you. She is a pirathunter that saved my life, and she was surprised to find another human out here. So she wanted to meet up. We met her at the Hub in the Surga sector, and we had a short fling. Then she left me. Look, I hadn’t seen you for five years; I was finally able to move on a little bit.”

“Don’t change the subject. How much of a fling?” Evelyn looked at him, and Adam had enough.

“Seriously? You came back after five years. You broke up with me to get married, remember? Do you think I would sit on my ass pinning for you forever? It took me four years before I even looked at another, and now you come back and fuck up my mind again!” He heard his voice getting louder but Evelyn didn’t care.

“I told you I was young and stupid. Why didn’t you fight for me? If you were so much in love with me!”

“Because you clearly were not. You said you were getting MARRIED, for fucks sake! I thought you had cheated! You broke me!” He started at her; she was the one he had always dreamt about, and she was both an angel of pleasure and the devil of despair—the drug he never could quite.

“I didn’t cheat! It was a test, and you failed. You cheated with this Kira whore!”

Adam laughed. “How could I cheat on you when I thought you were happily married and had been so for five fucking years!”

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“Because you're MINE!” She screamed at him, and he could see tears in her eyes. She was no longer a woman but that teenage girl he had fallen in love with all those years ago.

“You left me!” he said.

“I didn’t mean to. I was stupid.” She whispered the words as she wiped her tears away.

He walked over to her, and he halfway expected her to move away, but she didn’t,

“So why didn’t you contact me? Tell me it was all a mistake?” He asked softly.

“I thought you would hate me.” She was crying now, leaning into his shoulder, her arms still crossed, but now it was more to hug herself. The anger was fading, and she looked up at him with pleading eyes. “I’m sorry, I’ll leave. I'll go back to..” He kissed her, and the world faded away.

“Do you think it's safe to check on them? They haven’t been screaming for five minutes,” James mused, and Roks laughed.

“You got a death wish?” He asked, and James shook his head. Vorst sniffed and chuckled. “Okay, everybody out. Let them be. I think we have our plan. They won't be of any use to us in the near future.”

Roks sniffed and laughed. “I hope she doesn’t kill him.” Then, to the people in the room. “Everybody out. Use the secondary stations. Adam needs to have a long, serious.” He grinned, and Vorts laughed. “discussion with his close friend.”

The officers looked at each other and then heard a sound that made them quickly usher everybody out of the room and lock it with two droid guards outside.

Roks and Vorst laughed as they went to find their wives, hoping nobody had gotten hurt too badly in the argument, as Tufon women were known for two things: fighting and gossiping.

Evelyn leaned into Adam as they watched the ships taking off; Roks was surprised, as they had called it. The five human marines followed, including James, in the captured frigate with a Haran crew. Roks’ friends had arrived, and they had reached out and contacted Kira. She would meet them near the target coordinate. Evelyn had calmed down after the argument, and Dara had apologized for her gossiping. Apparently, Kina had really beaten her up, but she took it as a Tufon, with her head held high. Adam had also given her a crash course in the different races that were here. The warriors were the Tufon and Haran, or the doggies and the blue cats, as the marines had started to call them. They had the traits as well. Then there were Jorks and Skee species, The Buginos or four eyes, strong and with a knack for tech and slight disrespect for authority. Of them, the Tufon was the most sociable, which meant nothing stayed a secret, and the Haran was as secret as a house cat.

“And there they go. God help that cartel; Roks wants to kill something; I fear he will scare your marines with his blood lust.” Adam said, and Evelyn nodded.

“He was a beast during the attack; Ramiez said he ripped one of the pirates in half that jumped him. I guess werewolves would be a better name for them.”

“I'm just glad he cut down that pink mohawk of his. It looked ridiculous.”

“He had a mohawk?” Evelyn looked up at him, and he nodded and smiled.

“Yeah, it was at least 8 inches tall. And pink.”

They both laughed, and then Adam took a deep breath. “God, this is crazy. You coming here and not being married.“

“Hey! We are over that. I am not going to kill you for the whole Kira thing, and you won't mention how stupid I was.” She grinned as she said it, and Adam kissed her.

“If you say so.”

“I hate to do this, but we have work to do, and we can’t stay locked inside here forever.” She kissed him back and tried to be professional, but he knew he could push a little, and that facade would fall. However, she was correct; there was work to be done.

“Okay, but you will move into my room for the duration of your stay. That’s an order.”

“You're giving me orders? I outrank you. So no. I will commandeer your bedroom for the duration of my stay. I will be gracious and allow you to stay as well.” She winked and went to get dressed. Adam followed her and got his clothes.

“Are you claiming that you conquered me?” Adam replied.

“I did that a long time ago.” She winked.

When the door opened, they found the hallway empty, except for two droids standing guard. Evelyn kissed him and returned to her ship; it was still there and used as a temporary base for the marines. Adam watched her leave and took a content breath before going to check on the base and the building projects. He found Jorks in his office, and Skee giggled when she saw him. She whispered to Jork.

“What?” Adam asked.

Jork grinned. “In Scisya tradition, you two just got married.”