3013: Afterlife
Captain Tira Meadowlark does not need a vacation--thank you very much. She has neither the time nor desire to pursue leisure activities, and she has an especially low tolerance for nonsense. And she can think of nothing more nonsensical than playing make-believe when she has important duties to perform. Unfortunately, she has also sworn an oath to obey her king, even orders she finds to be a gross betrayal of their friendship.
Like sending her to Evo to beta test a series of new virtual reality games.
Vadis Kesski’s road to Evo has been a somewhat complicated one, and even now, he considers his stay temporary. There’s nothing wrong with the planetoid or his job. He just tends not to stay in one place for too long. Then, a fiery female blows into his life like a wild storm, bringing with her the one thing he’d been searching for.
A home.
Tira doesn’t just have walls around her heart, though. She has erected mountains and fortified them with steel. It won’t be easy to penetrate her defenses, and he fully expects her to run. But where she leads, he’ll follow, all the way to the ends of the universe, or even the gates of the afterlife.
Because one eternity with her will never be enough.
Like sending her to Evo to beta test a series of new virtual reality games.
Vadis Kesski’s road to Evo has been a somewhat complicated one, and even now, he considers his stay temporary. There’s nothing wrong with the planetoid or his job. He just tends not to stay in one place for too long. Then, a fiery female blows into his life like a wild storm, bringing with her the one thing he’d been searching for.
A home.
Tira doesn’t just have walls around her heart, though. She has erected mountains and fortified them with steel. It won’t be easy to penetrate her defenses, and he fully expects her to run. But where she leads, he’ll follow, all the way to the ends of the universe, or even the gates of the afterlife.
Because one eternity with her will never be enough.
Excerpt
In the years since Xenthian had opened its borders to outsiders, a lot had changed on the planet. Many visitors had come…and almost as many had stayed.
A sanctuary of sorts had been established for Tarin females who were fleeing a life of captivity and abuse. Because of their distrust of males, every personnel assigned to them, from sentries to attendants, consisted entirely of Xenon females.
It wasn’t fair to judge a whole race based on the actions of a few individuals. Yet, of all the races that had visited their planet, Captain Tirallarah Meadowlark liked the Krytos the least.
Loud, arrogant, and often violent, they tested her commitment to peaceful resolution at every turn.
So, when a trio of Krytos brothers had requested a volunteer from Xenthian to beta test their new mixture of virtual reality, live action, and holo-tech games, she had been somewhat dismissive. While she admitted to a mild curiosity about Evo, she had no desire to be chosen for that particular assignment.
Which was why she now had to contend with feelings of anger and betrayal that her king had ordered her to the planetoid to take place in the trials.
As captain of the royal guard, as well as head of security for all of Xenthian, she didn’t have time for such idle nonsense. She had responsibilities, people who depended on her for their safety.
She also did not need a vacation, as her Vasili had so laughingly suggested. In fact, she felt a wave of bitterness crash over her at the idea of not reporting for duty for the first time in over two thousand years.
Still, no amount of reasoning had been able to sway her king. So, just three days after the request had been received, she had found herself aboard the Reverie, a luxury transport vessel provided by Artane Electronics as a courtesy to their testers.
At least, that was how it had been presented. She, however, suspected they had gathered the volunteers onto one ship as a security precaution. It was exactly what she would have done.
Being provided private quarters on the voyage was not an indulgence she had anticipated, but one she greatly enjoyed. Especially after meeting the other passengers.
The D’Aire females aboard were quiet and reserved. In direct juxtapose, the Tarin males were, to borrow a phrase from her human queen, total dicks. There was also a Helios pair—brother and sister, she’d learned—who took great delight in causing mischief among the others.
They had been the cause of the fire suppressant mishap in the onboard entertainment suite, which had resulted in everyone being covered in thick, viscous foam. It had taken her two days to fully remove the substance from her hair.
The only Krytos on the Reverie were the crew, who largely ignored them. That should have been enough for her, but frankly, their very presence still annoyed her.
Because of the journey, she had encountered her first Reema, a reptilian-like humanoid race obsessed with anything of value. As she understood it, they were not an enemy of the Alliance, but not exactly friendly, either. More like a hostile ally.
The lone male hadn’t spoken a word since boarding the vessel. He just stomped around the ship, eyeing the others through yellow-green eyes with disdain and suspicion.
Him, she liked.
A sanctuary of sorts had been established for Tarin females who were fleeing a life of captivity and abuse. Because of their distrust of males, every personnel assigned to them, from sentries to attendants, consisted entirely of Xenon females.
It wasn’t fair to judge a whole race based on the actions of a few individuals. Yet, of all the races that had visited their planet, Captain Tirallarah Meadowlark liked the Krytos the least.
Loud, arrogant, and often violent, they tested her commitment to peaceful resolution at every turn.
So, when a trio of Krytos brothers had requested a volunteer from Xenthian to beta test their new mixture of virtual reality, live action, and holo-tech games, she had been somewhat dismissive. While she admitted to a mild curiosity about Evo, she had no desire to be chosen for that particular assignment.
Which was why she now had to contend with feelings of anger and betrayal that her king had ordered her to the planetoid to take place in the trials.
As captain of the royal guard, as well as head of security for all of Xenthian, she didn’t have time for such idle nonsense. She had responsibilities, people who depended on her for their safety.
She also did not need a vacation, as her Vasili had so laughingly suggested. In fact, she felt a wave of bitterness crash over her at the idea of not reporting for duty for the first time in over two thousand years.
Still, no amount of reasoning had been able to sway her king. So, just three days after the request had been received, she had found herself aboard the Reverie, a luxury transport vessel provided by Artane Electronics as a courtesy to their testers.
At least, that was how it had been presented. She, however, suspected they had gathered the volunteers onto one ship as a security precaution. It was exactly what she would have done.
Being provided private quarters on the voyage was not an indulgence she had anticipated, but one she greatly enjoyed. Especially after meeting the other passengers.
The D’Aire females aboard were quiet and reserved. In direct juxtapose, the Tarin males were, to borrow a phrase from her human queen, total dicks. There was also a Helios pair—brother and sister, she’d learned—who took great delight in causing mischief among the others.
They had been the cause of the fire suppressant mishap in the onboard entertainment suite, which had resulted in everyone being covered in thick, viscous foam. It had taken her two days to fully remove the substance from her hair.
The only Krytos on the Reverie were the crew, who largely ignored them. That should have been enough for her, but frankly, their very presence still annoyed her.
Because of the journey, she had encountered her first Reema, a reptilian-like humanoid race obsessed with anything of value. As she understood it, they were not an enemy of the Alliance, but not exactly friendly, either. More like a hostile ally.
The lone male hadn’t spoken a word since boarding the vessel. He just stomped around the ship, eyeing the others through yellow-green eyes with disdain and suspicion.
Him, she liked.