Chapter Eight

M enace was glad to be with Naya during her first evacuation drill. They had recently changed the schedule to coincide with the Grabs and the new brides coming onto the ship. Vicious had apparently heard an earful after Hallie had been forced to navigate her first abandon-ship drill alone.

Even though he wasn't absolutely certain Naya wouldn't try to escape, Menace showed her how to follow the red lines painted on the floors to the nearest evacuationstaging area. He pointed out the scanners mounted in the ceiling that would read her ID chip and confirm her movements during an evacuation. The records were instantly transmitted to the guard ships accompanying the Valiant to aid in recovery of the life ships.

"What happens if I can't make it to one of the staging points?" Naya hugged his side as he steered her down a corridor quickly filling with people.

Menace didn't want to lie to her. "The Valiant is designed to close off any damaged sections that pose a threat to the integrity of the ship. There are emergency life-support systems like that one," he pointed to a red box that contained an oxygen mask, "but those are a last resort. Once depressurization begins, death is inescapable."

Her fingers tightened around his. "And what happens if we get separated?"

Menace stopped so fast she slammed into him. He cupped her chin. "You keep moving to a life pod. Do you understand? You get to safety." Wanting to soothe her fears, he added, "If this ship was ever attacked, it's likely I would be on duty and you would be in our quarters. The odds of the two of us reaching separate life pods and safely leaving the ship are extremely high. I would find you as quickly as possible once we're rescued."

She looked reassured and squeezed his hand. He led her to their evacuation-staging center. Once there, he put her with the other wives and young children and moved to the front with the other officers. He outranked the pilot from the sky corps who lived on their floor by four months, so it fell to Menace to take control of the evacuation drill procedures. He assigned officers to each pod and quickly separated the groups of mock evacuees.

To make this as similar to real life as possible, he put Naya in a group headed by another sky corps officer. She frowned at him but got in line with the others and filed into the life pod. He took control of his group, ushered them inside and shut the door. Once everyone was in their seats, he contacted the bridge. They exchanged a series of transmissions and then checked his pod off the list.

Within half an hour, the all clear was sounded. Menace made sure his people were safely out of the pod, shut down the controls and exited the spacecraft. He searched the milling crowd for Naya's face and found her chatting with another woman. Both were wearing the white collar of a new bride. He hung back and let her have a moment to speak with someone from her past.

When they finished talking, Naya backed away and watched the other woman return to her husband. Naya stood on tiptoes and scanned the crowd. He raised his hand to catch her attention and strode toward her. The moment he was close enough, she reached for his hand and interlaced their fingers. Her smile and the way she clutched at his hand made his stomach flip-flop.

"Was that a friend from home?"

"Not exactly," Naya said and fell into step beside him. "An acquaintance is probably the right term. Her mother and I did business."

"Oh?" He liked hearing about her life back in Connor's Run.

"Zhaneh's mother ran a small bakery in town. Sometimes she'd come to me for short-term loans to buy supplies, especially when the prices on flour and butter and milk out of Harper's Well and Grogan's Mill skyrocketed."

"Why is there such a fluctuation in prices?"

She glanced at him. "Your quotas."

"My quotas?" He realized she meant his people. "Oh. I see."

She nodded. "There was a long drought that ended three years ago and some kind of fungus killed quite a few crops last year. I'm not involved in farming so I don't know the specifics, but I understand The City government takes the Harcos quota first. We have whatever is left over."

Naya's revelation made him feel uneasy. The intricacies of the various treaties his people made with other planets had never really interested him. Now he wondered what negative effects their terms had on other people. It didn't surprise him that some of the Harcos-controlled territories had risen up to fight with the Splinter forces threatening their way of life.

"Speaking of food," Naya said as they rounded a corner, "do you think I could maybe get some breakfast soon? I'm starving."

She said it with a playful grin but Menace still felt a twinge of guilt. "Yes. I'll feed you as soon as we reach our quarters."

She laughed and rubbed his arm. "That sounds like I'm your pet."

"Sorry." He caught sight of two familiar faces lingering near his front door. Vicious and Hallie waited in the hallway. Knowing Hallie, she'd probably pestered Vicious to bring her down to see Naya.

Menace knew the second Naya spotted them. Her step faltered. He glanced down at her and winked. Drawing close to the couple who had inspired him to take this step in life, Menace grinned. "Vee."

Vicious flashed the briefest smile. "Menace."

Menace made the introductions. "Naya, this is General Vicious and his wife, Hallie."

"Ma'am." Vicious nodded in Naya's direction. "Welcome to the land corps family."

Hallie rolled her eyes and stepped forward. She grasped Naya's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Naya. How did you like your first evacuation drill?"

Naya returned the handshake. "Not so much. The alarm almost gave me a heart attack."

Hallie shot her a knowing smile. "I nearly fainted the first time I experienced one. Plus I was all alone in our quarters and I'd just gotten out of the infirmary. Someone," she glared at her husband, "forgot to tell me about the drills. Talk about a nightmare."

Vicious narrowed his eyes at Hallie but she just smiled. He turned his attention back to Menace. His expression became grim. "Menace, we need to talk. In headquarters," he added. "You'll need your uniform."

A chill raced down his back. "Am I being deployed?"

"No." Vicious' instant reply calmed him, but when his friend's gaze skipped to Naya, the worry returned. "It's about the Grab."

Menace slid an arm in front of Naya and pushed her behind him. He squared his shoulders. "You're not taking her from me."

Vicious clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Orion and his men will have to go through me before they take a bride away from one of my soldiers."

Menace frowned in confusion. "Admiral Orion? What does he have to do with the Grab?"

Vicious let his hand fall. "It seems your woman caused an injury on the field. A bad injury," he clarified. "Career-ending, possibly."

Menace turned to face Naya who looked shocked by that piece of news. He remembered the way she'd tackled him. She'd caught him unawares and taken him down, but she hadn't hurt him. It would take more than her small body weight to hurt a Harcos warrior. "Did you take a weapon into the forest?"

She reeled back, aghast. "No!"

There was no deception in her voice or on her face. "Did something happen to one of the men chasing you?"

"One of them fell," she said. "I ran across this tricky little spot in a dry creek bed. He followed me like a dumb-ass and slipped on a loose log. I saw him go down but I kept running because I didn't want to be caught." Her panicked gaze tore at him. "Menace, I didn't think he'd get badly injured. I only wanted to slow him down."

He brushed his fingertips down her face. "I believe you."

Voice lowered, she moved closer and raised fear-stricken eyes to his face. "Don't let them take me away from you."

Her pleading tone pained him. It must have taken a lot for Naya to ask that. "I won't. You're mine. That's not going to change."

"Naya," Hallie said gently, "would you like to come back to our quarters while the men sort this out? We could talk. It would be nice."

Menace was grateful for Hallie's kindness. He didn't want to leave Naya alone in their apartment while he was fighting for her. She was just nervous enough to rabbit on him. Hallie would keep her busy and secure.

Naya glanced at him and he communicated his approval with a nod. She smiled at Hallie. "Sure. Thanks."

Hallie pointed toward the end of the hallway and the elevator bank. "We're two floors up. I'll add your chip ID to our guestlist so you can come up to see me whenever you feel like it." Her gaze fell to Naya's bare feet. "Let me guess? Shoes on backorder?"

Naya managed a laugh. "Apparently."

"We'll raid my closet and find something that fits."

Menace watched Naya until she entered the elevator. When the doors closed, he steeled his jaw. "They aren't taking her from me, Vee. We've already spent a night together. Our laws are very clear on that account."

"I meant what I said, Menace. Even if you weren't one of my oldest friends, I would still fight for you. No whining little puke of a flyboy is going to order one of my men to give up his woman just because he tripped and fell." Vicious slashed his hand through the air. "It's not happening. Not on my watch."

Menace opened the door to his quarters. Vicious followed him inside. "I won't be long."

He made quick work of changing into his duty uniform and switching his boots. He found Vicious standing in the same place he'd left him. "I'm ready."

"She's very pretty," Vicious said as they left the apartment. "She suits you."

"Yes."

"She's not nearly as feral as I'd been led to believe." Vicious couldn't keep the smile from coloring his voice. "I hear she has quite a mouth on her."

Menace exhaled loudly and stepped into the elevator. "She's mellowed considerably since being Grabbed."

"Clearly."

Now it was Menace who smiled. "What can I say? Apparently I have the magic touch."

Vicious snorted. "Give it a week. I'm sure she'll be threatening to kick your ass again. Or was it shove that gag so far up your—"

"Yes," Menace interrupted. "I don't need a replay."

He remembered with extreme clarity the way she'd verbally abused him on the transport ride. She hadn't exactly shown the nicest side of herself. "I think she was just scared. Lashing out is her defense mechanism."

"And is she scared now?"

Menace shook his head. "I'm nurturing her trust in me."

"Smart move," Vicious said. "Take it slowly. There's no need to rush these things."

Menace figured there was no one else he could trust with the big issue in their relationship. "She wants to postpone conception of our first child." Vicious shot him a surprised look. "I see."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"They'll bring you in for a mandatory reproductive health check if she hasn't conceived in six months."

Menace's eyes widened in shock. "They have that authority?"

Irritation crossed Vicious' face. "It's in the small print of our Grab contracts. I wouldn't have known either if Hallie…"

Menace heard the pain in his friend's voice. "I'm sorry, Vee. I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject."

"It's fine." Vicious inhaled slowly. "I don't care if it takes Hallie ten years to conceive our first child, but these fucking population laws are putting undue stress on her. It makes her feel like a failure. Knowing she's in pain and that I can't fix it makes me feel like a failure."

Menace was certain this was the first time in all the years he'd known Vicious that his friend had ever spoken with such emotion. "I don't know what to say," he admitted finally.

"There isn't much to say," Vicious replied matter-of-factly. "Biology is a bitch."

Another thought struck him. "Can they intervene in your bond?"

Vicious' jaw tightened. "The clause concerning that is vague. It's been threatened on other men."

"So if Orion succeeds in forcing me to give up Naya—"

"It would set a dangerous precedent," Vicious said.

"I won't let them take Naya," Menace vowed. It wasn't just his and Naya's bond at stake. It was Hallie and Vicious' too. "Can the doctors here do anything to help Hallie?"

Vicious nodded stiffly. "She's undergoing testing next week. We're hopeful."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"We have a sympathetic doctor. He and I have discussed an option that would give Hallie and me more time."

"I hope it works."

"It will. It has to." After a moment's pause, he asked, "Why doesn't your bride want children?"

"She wants them, I think, just not now. She's been on her own since she was a child. Her mother and brother abandoned her, and her father was killed by a Merkorian when she was only nine. She seems to have a hard time trusting and depending on another person. I understand her concerns with bringing a child into our union so quickly."

"Is this your way of asking me to sign your petition for contraception?"

Menace faced him. "Would you?"

"Of course." Vicious frowned. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"I know you're very traditional when it comes to things like this. Now that I know what you and Hallie are dealing with, I wasn't sure."

"Menace, my personal feelings on the issue have nothing to do with it. I have no business getting involved in the private discussions and decisions between couples. If you approve of her request, I'll expedite the petition through my office."

"Thank you."

Vicious waved his hand. "You're not just one of my soldiers, Menace. You're my friend. I want you to find the same happiness with Naya that I've found with Hallie. If getting her a contraceptive device does that, so be it. Just don't pin your hopes on an approval, Menace."

"I haven't. I made sure Naya understood how unlikely it was that permission would be granted."

"Even if I can manage to get the petition approved, they might only give you a few months reprieve. These damn population laws are so invasive."

The doors to the elevator opened. Menace fell into step behind Vicious, following the protocol of their ranks. Vicious crossed the lobby of the ship's headquarters but didn't go to his private space. Instead he took Menace to Orion's. A pair of medics sat in chairs just outside the ship commander's office. Both jumped to their feet and saluted Vicious who gave them a quick at-ease. The admiral's secretary rose from his desk and knocked twice on the door before opening it and announcing them.

Menace trailed Vicious into Orion's office. His gaze settled on the face of the sky corps pilot who wanted to challenge his rights to Naya. He'd seen the man around the Valiant but didn't know him well. The pilot sat in a motorized chair and had his immobilized leg in a harness. A small medication pump had been attached to his wrist. Menace wondered if he was even competent right now with all the painkillers running through his system. Broken leg or not, Menace was ready to kick the man's ass for distressing Naya.

Admiral Orion leaned back against his desk. Just as tall as Vicious, Orion had the brown hair and hazel eyes common in the first generation of children from Grabs in the Angolier sector of the solar system. With his arms crossed, he looked annoyed by the whole situation. "Vicious."

"Orion."

The admiral sighed. "Menace, you know why you're here?"

"I do, sir." Menace glanced at the pilot. "That man wants to take my wife."

"She fractured my damn knee so badly they can't fix it! What am I supposed to do now? Hobble my way through another Grab?"

"Flare," Orion sharply reprimanded his airman.

Flare gritted his teeth. "Sir."

Orion gestured to Flare. "He claims that the woman in question deliberately led him into a trap and caused him great injury. This injury prevented him from Grabbing a woman and may have even ended his career."

"That's the risk he took when he entered the Grab," Vicious countered. "We all signed the same forms. If he was reckless enough to follow Menace's woman across uncertain terrain, the consequence rests solely on his shoulders."

"Agreed," Orion replied, "but Menace can run again and find another bride. Flare has multiple surgeries and months of therapy ahead of him. They may have to send him back to Prime and you know the bride situation there isn't exactly thriving. If he's bounced out of the sky corps because of his injuries, his standing among prospective brides won't be nearly as positive."

"I sympathize with your man," Vicious said, "but you are talking about tearing apart a couple who have spent a day and a night together. If we were back on Prime, this kind of thing would ignite a blood feud." Vicious slashed his hand through the air.

"No. Menace Grabbed her. They're bonded. It's done."

Orion looked amused. "Is that a threat, Vee?"

"It's a fact, Orion. If you try to take Menace's wife away from him, you'll have every member of the land corps aboard this ship rising up in revolt. I shouldn't have to remind you that my force outnumbers yours three to one."

Orion's smile faded. "I'm quite aware of the balance aboard my ship."

Vicious exhaled roughly. "Let's not do this, Orion. We've been friends and colleagues too long to allow something ugly like this to occur under our shared watch."

"Is that your way of telling me you have a proposal?"

"My wife remains in contact with friends on the surface. She's aware of a handful of women who desperately want to leave Calyx." Vicious addressed Flare. "Would you be willing to consider one of these women as a potential bride?"

Flare's angry expression softened. "There are women who want to be married to Harcos men?"

"The town Hallie comes from is a terrible place. Women there are given no opportunities. For many of them, being chosen in the lottery for the Grabs is like winning a one-way ticket out of hell."

"Flare, I'm going to urge you to consider the general's offer," Orion counseled the captain. "You've seen the general's wife?" Flare nodded. "She's very beautiful."

"And sweet and modest," Orion added. He shot Menace a disapproving look. "I hear the woman he was unlucky enough to grab is a shrew. You can take Menace's foulmouthed harpy or you can choose a nice, gentle woman who actually wants to leave her home and start a new life with a brave Harcos man."

Menace bristled at the admiral's description of Naya but let it slide. He recognized that Orion was actually helping his case in trying to dissuade Flare from pursuing his claim to Naya.

"Is it legal?" Flare's question calmed Menace's frayed nerves. The man was considering Vicious' option.

"It is," Vicious assured him. "The arrangement would be treated the same way as the matchmaking services from Harcos Prime."

Flare gestured to his ruined leg. "I can't go down to the surface to get her. How do I know one of the members of the team you send won't claim her for himself?"

It was a valid question. The tricky unclaimed-property laws made it very easy for another man to swipe a new bride. After the last Grab, there had been a massive brawl aboard the Arctis when a land corps sergeant had taken a pilot's new bride and barricaded her in his quarters. The Special Response Unit led by Raze had ended up blasting the door down to get them out but the bride was so enamored with the sergeant's brash "romantic" act that she'd refused to go back to the pilot. To say it had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions was the understatement of the century.

"I'll go." Menace held Flare's disbelieving gaze. "I'm happily matched to Naya and have no reason to take your woman. I'll go down to the surface and safely escort your bride back to you."

Flare narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Why should I trust you? Can you honestly say I'm not your enemy now?"

Menace scoffed. "Enemy? We're brothers-in-arms. Am I irritated that you scared my woman? Yes. Am I going to hold it against you? No. You've earned the right to a wife and a family. Naya didn't mean to cause such a traumatic injury, but she was partially responsible for your current predicament. My wife's debts of honor are mine. I intend to make this one right."

Flare nodded stiffly. "Thank you, Menace."

Orion pushed off his desk and straightened. "So it's settled? No more talks of blood feuds and mess-hall beat downs?"

Vicious smiled. "I think we've managed to head off disaster."

"Good." Orion shook Vicious' hand and clapped him on the back. He stepped forward and offered his hand to Menace. Voice soft, he said, "That bit about calling your wife a harpy? I didn't mean it."

Menace gripped the man's hand. "Understood, sir."

"I'll leave this to you, Vicious. Will Raze's team handle the extraction?"

"Yes," Vicious confirmed.

"I'll give you Zephyr for this mission. He's my best stealth pilot." Orion walked to his desk and tapped his communication unit. "Hunter? Send in the medics and call Zephyr into my office."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, the medics entered the office. One of them used the controls on the back of Flare's chair. The other waited by the door. Menace watched the broken man leave the office. He couldn't shake the sympathy eating at him. It wasn't completely Naya's fault the man had hurt himself so badly. It was simply a freak accident, but for a military man in his prime to lose it all because of something as stupid as a rolling log? It was almost too painful to consider.

Menace received a nod of dismissal from Vicious and started out of the office. Just as he left, he heard Orion ask Vicious, "Are there truly many women who want to marry and leave Calyx?"

"There are. Why? Would you like one of them? I could make the arrangement for you."

"No, no," Orion quickly replied. He laughed nervously. "I was just asking for my men. There are some who have the points to enter a Grab, but not enough seniority to make it onto the lists every quarter. There are so many men aboard the Valiant with years of dedicated service, especially in the land corps, that the younger airmen among us don't have much of a chance…"

Menace didn't hear the rest of the conversation. The admiral's thought was an interesting one. Menace had bumped a younger pilot off the Connor's Run Grab list when he'd added his name. At the time, he hadn't much cared. He'd earned his spot, after all, but now he wondered if there wasn't a better way to do things down on Calyx. If Vicious was right and there were women who wanted to marry, why not give them access to matchmaking services like the ones on Prime?

"Well, that went better than I'd expected," Vicious muttered upon rejoining him. "Looks like Hallie has saved my ass yet again. The moons know she won't let me forget it."

Menace snorted. "I can't imagine your sweet Hallie crowing over such a thing."

Vicious shot him a warning glare. "Don't laugh too hard, Menace. The two of us made a huge tactical error earlier."

"And what's that?"

"We left our wives alone together."