‘What!?” I snapped taking my lips from Nova. I ignored the fact she sashayed her way behind me, an arm moving around my waist, another hanging over my shoulder and gripping my chest. I felt hot, really hot. Shaking my head, a little blurriness distorting my vision, I saw a familiar figure just between the two Ghosts, though in armor. “Nova?” I said, or rather tried to say. It came out more along the lines of ‘narqua’

Why was it suddenly so hard to think? Added to that, why were there two Nova’s, and why did the arm that was beginning to blur seem to grow larger? It was hard to think, really hard to think. I frowned, forcing my eyes on that arm, then to the other Nova in the doorway. I frowned more, trying to clear my head, but the people seemed to be growing distant, and the ground looked closer, but I still hung in the air, feeling light.

I tried to blink my eyes, hearing them talk. I had a feeling I needed to know what was being said, also...why did the voice closest to me sound so masculine?

-Nova-

I sensed another person in the room a minute or so before we had burst in. It felt wrong, Damian shouldn’t have guests at all. I’d called Pierce and Stone to join me. Taking the better part of ‘do and ask for forgiveness later’ I had the door blown open with Psionic power and rushed in. What I saw gave me pause.

Damian, half naked, kissing a woman who looked disturbingly like me. A flare of anger that he had ordered some look-a-like whore shot through me, even as she moved around him, placing him firmly between the guns and his body in a way so natural it set of warning bells.

I saw Damian seem to slump, held up by the slim arms of the woman. He frowned, squinting at me, called what I believed was my name and then seemed to go slack. If I didn’t hear the odd slurred word or two he murmured I’d have believed he was dead.

Fuck! I stared at the copy of me, realizing with odd fascination that she was swiftly growing larger, not much, but enough to tell it was clearly NOT a woman, but a man. Slimmer than Damian, though more toned, he sported a little goatee and had clear, strong, features that seemed oddly familiar.

“Release the Commander at once!” Pierce shouted, aiming his rifle while trying to get a clear shot. Stone was concentrating so hard I knew he was attempting to use Psionic abilities to move Damian, but for some reason couldn’t break through, that made me worried.

“Now now Sweetheart. Is that any way to talk to the man who has your oh so gentle leaders life in his hands?” His voice was dark, thick like molasses, and way too deep for how he was acting. I frowned, placing a hand on Stone’s shoulder and stepping forward, looking for a way to kill him without endangering Damian.

“Why are you here?” Start talking, look for methods. He smiled, running his hand absently against Damian's bare chest, making an odd purring sound. I wasn’t liking this at all.

“Mmm, so firm. You have a nice little boy-toy here Sweetheart.” he continued rubbing his hand against Damian's chest and the upper layer of his abs while speaking, pissing me off more. “As to what I want, why, I want my sister of course. She’s such a sweet young thing, but always gets far too ahead of herself.”

I focused on him, sister? What did he mean, sister? “I doubt we have your sister in our custody.” I eased forward a step, stopping when I saw the man move a hand to Damian's throat, grasping it tightly and laying a light kiss on his ear.

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“Now now Sweetheart, none of that. We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to boy-toy, now would we?” I was going to kill him, it was that simple. The man was dead and didn’t even know it. “You do indeed have my lovely sister though, I believe General Vex spoke with you about obtaining her. I’m afraid that won’t happen now. You see, my sweet Hika can’t be allowed into the old man's hands, so I will obtain her however I need to before that can occur.”

“What makes you think we won’t kill you once we have the Commander back?” I needed to know his contingency plan, had to make sure I had things prepared to end him, him and his roaming fucking hands. He smiled at me, showing off white teeth while he nibbled the groaning mess that was Damian's earlobe.

“Oh, that’s simple. While the boy-toy here was kissing me, thinking it was you, I slipped a little poison in him. Only I have the antidote to this special little blend of hell. He’ll be in this state for about two days and then die without it. You’’ be taking me back to Mar Sara, that little backwater planet, and giving me my sister. Provide us a ship, and then the antidote will be sent a day later.”

I didn’t like this, he was setting the speed and taking control of the situation. “Fine, but release Damian now, or I will kill you and take my chances at curing him.” I had to get ahold of Green somehow, send her blood work and try to synthesize a cure with what we had.

The man shrugged lightly, still smiling as he allowed Damian's body to hit the floor with a thump, he groaned and I glared at the man who slowly shifted to take Damian's appearance, right down to his clothes, what the fuck kind of infiltration gear did he have to do that?

“Good girl, Sweetheart. Now, I suggest we put him in some luggage and get moving. I want to see my darling sister as soon as possible.” He took a step back, smirking while wearing Damian's face, lifting an arm to gesture toward his body on the floor. “Chop cop, Dears, we’re on the clock.”

“What do you mean there isn’t anything we can do!” I shouted at the image in front of me. We were half-way back to Mar Sara, moving with all due speed to return, it was close enough to have an actual conversation with Bastion with only a slight delay thanks to comsats I had purchased and sent out ahead of us, Damian would just have to accept the cost.

Green was looking at some results from the blood sample data we had sent to her, a minute passed as we obtained the response, each second of lag time setting my teeth on edge. “It’s Nocturnal Bliss, Nova. There is only one known cure, and it belongs to the Assassin Guild, the fact any of them are even still alive is bad enough.” She paused, another minute of waiting. “We have to do exactly what he wants if we want Damian to survive. I can replicate the cure itself once we obtain it...if we obtain it, after the Pirates release.”

I threw the holographic image display against the wall in my personal quarters, screaming in frustration. Goddamnit! I’d had one job, keep him safe, I’d let my guard down and now we were playing fiddle to an assassin who had Damian at his mercy, I’d at least made it so Damian was in my own room, away from everyone else.

The crew knew the situation, Pierce was constantly trying to find a way to secret into the room the man, Hiko Morimoto, was staying to rummage through anything he might have to obtain the cure. So far, each attempt had been met with failure. The bastard never left the room, when he did, he was wearing Damian's half dressed form.

I looked at the unconscious mess that was the actual Damian on my bed, sighing as I made my way to him. “Idiot…” I murmured, lightly tracing a finger against his face. It had been fun, teasing him. I regretted it now, it seemed that the fucker had used my body as a promise, a way to get close enough, and Damian had fallen for it. No doubt thinking I had wanted just that, perhaps a small part even did, but he was my superior officer. We were closer, close enough to tease him, but it might need to stop after this. I couldn’t allow anyone else to use me to hurt him. I’d also be riding him hard about lowering his guard at all from now on, and he would also be living with a constant security team of at least two Ghosts at all times. I’d be making a few trainees take the procedure to become Ghosts on our way back to Mar Sara.

It was bad enough this had happened on my watch, no doubt the Fernando would make a huge stink about it. He’d be right to, of course, but I still hated that he had the ammunition. To make matters worse, we had no way to save Damian at all, not yet at least. I sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the man. “I’ll find a way to cure you, Damian. One way or the other, nothing like this will be allowed to happen again.”