After a quick summons from Sheena, Nate met her and Brianna in Medical. Both women looked grim. He felt the same but knew his reason wasn’t something they would know yet.

“If this is more bad news, I don’t think I can handle it today,” he said.

“Not bad news… not exactly,” Sheena said cautiously.

Bri handed over a com. Nate took it from her fingers. His eyebrows raised. “Sheena? Is there something you’re trying to tell me?”

Sheena snorted. “Yes. My sister is the one who’s pregnant. The nano flush to kill Bri’s bio-tracers also killed her implant before. While worrisome, that wouldn’t have stop alien sperm anyway. So apparently, Darcone’s birth control implant failed. Bri got suspicious after meeting Darcone’s mother. She said the woman put a hand over her uterus area and made Darcone do it too. Bri had me check… and well, his implant had to have failed. That’s the only conclusion.”

Nate hung his head and laughed. “Not really. It couldn’t have failed because he never got one.”

“What do you mean he never got one?” Brianna demanded. “They’re all required to get one. The aliens have to keep the implant active until they’ve officially taken a bride.”

“Virgins don’t need implants. Wasn’t Darcone a virgin before you got together?”

Bri gave him a death look. “How is that any of your business?”

“I’m just keeping you honest here,” Nate said. “Males on Darcone’s planet are so fertile they have never come up with anything temporary that actually prevented conception. For that reason, the males remain chaste until they take a bride. Abstinence is the only birth control on any planet that works for them. They don’t have a problem making babies. They have problems with DNA variation. Their deal with Earth is preventative maintenance only.”

Huffing, Bri glared at the man who was like a brother to her. “That might have been a good thing for you to share with me before I slept with him, Admiral.”

Nate shrugged. “I don’t recall you telling me of your intention to deflower the oldest alien on the ship, Commander, or I might have done so.”

Bri sighed as she sank back into the chair by Sheena. “God… I didn’t need another complication in my life. I’m still healing from that shot in the chest. Mothers can’t be getting shot in the chest.”

“You should also know that, given their long lives, Darcone’s people restrict the number of children they produce. The man usually gets sterilized permanently after he’s sired two offspring. However, Darcone doesn’t have any such restrictions placed on him because the whole point of his being here is to have as many hybrid children with an Earth woman as he can. Your current condition is actually a reflection of his success. His brother will be ecstatic. I’m sure his mother is proud and anxious to take the big news home with her.”

“Talk later, we will,” Brianna mocked in a falsetto Darcone tone. “Sneaky bastard. His mother knew somehow. She smelled my neck and nearly went ballistic. I thought that was strange behavior, but it’s not like I ever met one of their females before.”

Nate sighed. “This is not the end of the world, Bri. If you don’t want the child…”

“No. Don’t think that or say it,” Bri warned. “I would never get rid of any child I carried, especially not his. I’m his mate or wife or whatever the hell he calls it where he comes from. I’ll… figure out how to deal with this.”

“Okay. Then what do you want me to do?” Nate asked.

“Neuter Darcone for not warning me? Tell me I can stay on the ship? I don’t know. At least tell me I’m going to be okay.”

Nate chuckled. “I refuse to neuter any alien on the ship, and after two hundred years of waiting, Darcone deserves to have a bride and a family. Of course, you can stay on the ship. If you don’t go to Darcone’s planet with him, you can continue to serve as Commander. Having a child on board might get tricky after a certain age, but we’ll figure something out. You’re absolutely going to be okay.”

“Or we can just hire a full-time nanny when the AAS program moves to the castle,” Sheena said.

“What?” Nate and Bri shouted, turning to her.

Sheena crossed her arms. “I’ve been trying to find a time to tell you. Angus asked for a little bit more than a wedding. The real shocker is that the Guardians are actually considering it.”

Nate blew out a breath. “The madness never stops anymore.” He looked at Sheena. “Then I might as well spill my latest crisis. Toorg’s original was in a severe accident. His injuries were extensive. Three clones have already been euthanized for parts to repair the original, but the outlook is not good. We’ve been placed on official standby.”

“Standby for what?” Bri demanded.

Nate shook his head and looked away.

“What?” Bri asked, looking at her sister who looked both angry and sad at the same time.

Sheena sighed long and loudly. “Our agreement with Toorg’s planet is that he’s to be put to death if his original dies. No record of the original’s DNA is allowed to exist or be replicated after his death. Since cloning is his people’s primary means of replication, they’ve had to make some hard rules about clones living past the life cycles of the originals.”

Brianna gasped. “But killing Toorg for such a stupid reason… that's barbaric to even contemplate.”

Sheena nodded. “Yes, it is.”

“It’s not barbaric. It’s business. We agreed to honor their cultural rules,” Nate said sharply.

“Well, fuck their rules,” Bri exclaimed. “This is New Earth. Killing a perfectly good man is always wrong here.”

“I can’t change a several centuries old agreement just because we’ve gotten attached to someone who’s a lesser subspecies in his culture. That’s against the program’s prime directive.”

“I don’t see Maslin as a sub-anything and I don’t see Toorg that way either. They’re organic, living creatures just like me, no matter how the hell they were made. Clones deserve to live every bit as much as the child I carry does,” Bri stated firmly.

“Or children,” Sheena said softly. “It’s too early to tell if there’s one or two in there. The results were inconclusive about the number of viable fetuses inside you. The enzyme readings were off the charts.”

Bri drew in a ragged breath, rubbing her forehead. “I’m getting a headache. This has all been too much for me.”

“I’m sorry, Brianna. When the time comes, I’ll handle Toorg’s euthanizing myself. I would never ask you or your sister to be involved. But make no mistake, I will carry out the dictates of the agreement. If we can’t honor it, Toorg will have to be sent back for disposal on his home planet.”

“Punching out an Admiral is a federal crime, so I have to leave now before I hit you,” Bri said, walking around her sister and her superior officer whom she no longer respected.

Her sister wouldn’t even meet her gaze. How could Sheena sleep with Nate knowing what he was willing to do?

* * *

“Okay. How much are we taking off today?” Pru asked, making conversation as she combed through the commander’s wet locks.

“Shave it all off, for all I care,” Bri said, still angry at Darcone and now royally pissed at Nate.

Pru met the gaze of her harried sounding Commander in the mirror. “Are you one of those women who try all their emotional decisions out on their hair?”

Bri frowned as she nodded. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

“Well, I’m not doing any shaving today,” Pru said finally, going back to her combing. “I will give it a good trim though. When you get out of this mood, you’ll be thanking me for my refusal. Now, where’s your metal? I was using it as a guide.”

“I had to take it off. People were grabbing it during fights. It gave them an unfair advantage.”

Pru nodded as she snipped. She was running out of safe questions for small talk. “How are things coming along between you and the uber scary dude with all the muscles?”

“Fine,” Bri said, capturing Pru’s scissors in her hand and shocking her with the action. “Darcone and I are in a relationship now. I didn’t want to shock you with the news while you had sharp instruments in your hands.” She turned loose and settled back into the chair. “I love him. I always have.”

“Well, you don’t sound too happy about it,” Pru observed, wincing when she heard herself. “Sorry. None of my business. I obviously don’t know how to keep my mouth shut. That’s what got me into this mess.”

“It’s okay. Everyone who knows about me and Darcone is thinking the same thing.”

“Yeah? Well, what do you think about your relationship?” Pru asked.

Bri shrugged. “I think life is far harder than I ever realized it could be. It makes me miss my parents.”

Pru stopped snipping. “Say what?”

Bri sighed heavily. Damn—another slip. “I mean… I miss the older versions of them, the ones who’d lived a long time and were full of wisdom. Now they’re practically starting over… they’re young like me. I can’t go to them for advice like I used to. They see everything differently now.”

“Yeah, I don’t get the feeling they’re all that old when I see them. I do think they’re wise though. How about your grandparents?” Pru asked, going back to her work.

“All dead,” Bri stated flatly, thinking about how long. Her parents had lived centuries. She was closing in on one herself. But there was Nate’s grandfather… “I think you just gave me a good idea about who to talk to. He’s actually my brother-in-law’s grandfather, but he might talk to me if I ask nicely.”

Pru nodded. “Glad I could help. You’re not grinning and making snarky small talk like you usually do. I don’t like to see you this way.”

“Pru, I need to share something serious with you.”

Pru shrugged. “Okay. I’m not exactly a therapist, but what’s said in my chair stays in the chair.”

“Toorg is leaving soon. Are you interested in him at all? I know he’s interested in you.”

“He’s nice and I like him well enough,” Pru said carefully. “But I thought you said he was off-limits as an alien male.”

“He is to the brides, but what if I hired you, gave you your own quarters, and made Toorg your guard? You’d be like co-workers with benefits if anything came of the connection.”

Snorting, Pru laid her scissors on the nearby counter. She ran her hands through Bri’s hair. “What exactly are you suggesting I do with him, Commander?”

“Want to read a manual? I actually have one for every alien on board now,” Bri said with a shrug. “It seemed only fair since they have one about wooing and winning over an Earth woman.”

Pru stopped messing with her hair to laugh.

“Look, I know Toorg would like to spend some real quality time with you and I want to help him do that before he… goes… but only if you’re interested,” Bri insisted.

Pru squeezed styler into her hands. She was quiet while she thought. The idea of having a private room appealed to her. She wouldn’t mind working and keeping busy either. At this point, anything beat seeing the same walls every damn day.

“Okay, Commander. Make it so,” Pru said.

“Great. I’ll start the paperwork tomorrow,” Bri promised. She stood and looked into the mirror at her reflection. “Nice haircut. I am really liking this style.”

“Your hair grew more than two inches in a single month. That’s extraordinary.”

“Just wait. The most extraordinary things are yet to come,” Bri said, laughing at the irony of her own statement.