He often dreamt of her. In the past, she’d remained a willowy shadow in the distance, untouchable, like a holy goddess too pure for any Evris, let alone him.

That night, he imagined her legs spread, sitting on the captain’s chair of his bridge, as he knelt in front of her, head buried at the apex of her sex. She kept him there, one hand holding him down, as she played with her ample breast with the other hand.

She wasn’t an effigy he should protect, admire, and relinquish. She was flesh, blood, and heart. A fierce warrior who could take him. Him. His true equal.

He shouldn’t have been surprised. Nothing and no one else would have completed him that way.

The day after that dream, things were quite uncomfortable for him. Her evil feline persisted in coming to his bridge, and this time Nalini did follow him. Seeing her so close to the chair where he’d eaten her out all night long—at least in his mind—amused and frustrated him, and made him readjust himself a few times.

Nalini didn’t dare sit anywhere when she came here. She simply lingered in the background, attempting, and failing, to remain unnoticed, until her neko consented to leave Kai’s arms. Then, she carried him down to his daily appointment at the vet.

Today, Kai just couldn’t bear it.

“Nalini.”

She lifted her eyes to where he stood on the command platform, in front of a holographic map of the sector marked with strategic notes.

Kai pointed to a familiar area. “You’ve lived in Itri. What do you think?” he asked.

She tiptoed until she came around the table, between Evi and Hart.

At her place. At long last.

Close to it, in any case.

“What am I looking at?”

Star clued her in. “The most vulnerable systems in our sector. We’re sending additional troops where we can. We can spare one command ship with five hundred light fighters, either going to the Var or Krazu.”

She bit her lip. “Don’t ask me, I’m biased. Against Itri,” she clarified.

Kai wanted to know why. He wanted to know everything about this female.

But he’d frightened her away once already with his forcefulness. Let her come to him now. Let her share parts of her because she wanted to.

And, at the end of the day, it mattered little. They could have flipped a coin about the direction of the handful of battalions.

“Krazu, then,” he settled. “Make the preparations.”

Evi nodded and moved to her station to get the ship dispatched immediately.

He changed the subject, attacking the next item on his very, very long to- do list, all the while noticing the way Nalini looked at him, inquisitively, like she was attempting to make him out.

Strange. He hadn’t believed himself capable of feeling quite so self-conscious.

“Any news on that weapon?” he asked around.

“Not yet,” Evi replied without ceasing to type directives on her command platform. “The spies are in place, but they just got there. They know how important it is, though.”

He hadn’t expected much yet. Next, he turned to Hart and Star.

“Other news?”

They always had something to say.

“There’s a festival of lights being held on Vratis. The people hope that you may attend. Given the circumstances, I gave no response, but it would be good for morale if you did attend. It’s your principal system, and you’ve barely showed your face there.”

“I went three times over the last year,” Kai protested.

“Yes, but the previous warlord actually lived there. Barely ever left. They get that things are changing, but remember – most Coats, the Merchant Guild – everyone of importance is based there. You need to kiss babies.”

Kai sighed. Posturing was getting old incredible quick.

“I remember those nights. I could hear it from my windows. Everyone below danced and laughed. I could… feel their happiness. It was one of the good nights.” Nalini said it with a delighted smile, like she was sharing a happy memory, not a nightmare.

Wench looked like he’d seen a ghost. Kai felt like someone was twisting a knife in his entrails. They both remembered too well their glimpse of what her life had been like back then. To her, recalling those festivities was a happy memory, much better than the rest of her childhood. And yet she’d been locked in her golden cage, never really living, just feeling other people’s happiness from a distance.

“Make the call. We’ll go,” Kai stated.

And by the Goddess, Nalini would get to dance and laugh all night if she so wished. Living the festival of lights for the first time. With him.

“If we announce our intention to attend ahead of time, there’s a security risk,” Star pointed out, probably just so she could speak out against her brother’s idea.

“It’s Vratis,” Evi weighed in. “Our shield there is impenetrable.”

“Perhaps not for the weapon that destroyed the Nimerian base with so much ease.”

He sighed, pointing to Hart. “You just told me to go.” Then he indicated Star. “And you’re telling me it’s too bloody dangerous. Make up your damn mind, would you?”

“Giving you every aspect of an issue is kind of their job,” Wench replied.

“How about crashing the party?” Nalini seemed as surprised she’d spoken as the rest of them. “Going without announcing it ahead of time.”

Evi laughed, punching her shoulder. “I knew this cabinet needed some fresh blood. Girl’s smart.”

“Cabinet?” she repeated.

“General of the lord’s armies”—Evi pointed to herself—“and tactical advisor.” Then, she waved toward the twins. “The Coats, politicians who always present different points, to make sure we see both sides of the situation. Wench is the genius, hacker, programmer, mechanic—if something needs fixing, he’s on it. And Mr. Warlord. We’re the brain; he’s the fist. There’s senators and royals who can weigh in on big questions, and local lords take care of their territories as long as they follow our laws; but the five of us basically rule this sector. As for these two,” now she pointed towards Park and Ollis, who stood close to the door, “they’re basically status. But they’re pretty.”

“She means to say,” Kai corrected her, “that they’re my head of security and my personal bodyguard.” Then, he had to admit, “Which means they don’t have much to do, yeah.”

Park glared, while Ollis gave him the finger. He was lying, of course. While no one was stupid enough to actually take Kai on, the two men had plenty to do in times of war.

They piloted two light fighters always stationed at Kai’s left and right, ensuring that he was covered at all times, and blasting plenty of enemies into oblivion while they were at it.

Nalini spent a minute observing every person present with a thoughtful expression. Kai would have given a lot to know what thoughts passed behind those eyes. As usual, her shields were lowered, and she broadcasted her thoughts carelessly, but they were too jumbled up, confusing, for him to read them well.

“I probably shouldn’t be lingering here then. I’m sure everything you’re saying is top secret.”

It was. And yet…

“I trust you, little lady,” he said. “Or you wouldn’t have made it on this platform.”

She pouted, quite adorably, too. “I’m not ten anymore, you know. You don’t have to call me that all the time.”

Yes. That, he certainly did know.

“You’re still little,” he countered with a shrug, earning himself a glare.

Adorable.

Feeling the looks the members of his cabinet sent his way, he turned away. “Feel free to ‘linger’ if you wish. Or you could make yourself useful.”

She lifted a brow, along with Evi. Wench just shook his head, smiling knowingly. The little shit knew how long he’d looked for her, and, no doubt, could guess Kai would do just about anything to keep her next to him. Even invent a damn job for her.

“Yeah, sure.” Through the reflection on the window, he saw her bite her lip. “I mean, I’m not exactly sure how I could—”

Her sentence was interrupted by visual and audible alarms flaring, alerting them of an imminent danger.

Kai returned to the control platform in the middle of the bridge. The artificial intelligence had already cleared their previous screen, displaying their attackers instead. A hologram showed a couple of hundred light fighters, white and orange—loyalists.

They were no threat to the Dominion. None of their weapons could pierce their shields. Still, Kai wasn’t one to miss an opportunity, should it present itself.

“Kai?” Evi asked.

He smiled. Finally. He recognized the command ship – the largest they owned. This was their last stand.

“Crush them. Crush them all now.”

His general started to give orders as he headed out of the bridge, Sky on his heels, calling the rest of his team through his comm. Before he exited the doors of the bridge, he looked back, dreading what he would see. Nalini would, no doubt, resent his bloodlust, call him out for being the barbarian he truly was at heart.

She was looking at him, all right. Walking toward him, in fact.

In her hands was the mask he’d left behind on the captain’s chair. She didn’t say a thing, simply handed it to him.

Kai laughed as he pulled her by the hand and bent his tall frame down to reach hers. Then he took her mouth, his lips brushing hers. Every world in the galaxy seemed to spin around their axis in that short, yet endless second. His tired, frazzled mind, body, and soul came alive, forever changed.

He managed to pull himself away, safe in the knowledge that when he returned, he’d take those lips again. And again, and again.