1. Sirex

1

SIREX

"W ell, well—Cadet Jenkins. Or I suppose I should call you Agent Jenkins now. First in your class, too!" Commander Sylvan smiled broadly at Phoebe Jenkins, who returned his smile with a measured one of her own.

Sitting beside her in their Commanding Officer's office, Sirex watched his protégé proudly. She sat up straight in her chair with her hands folded neatly in her lap. Her long, curly black hair was pulled into a sleek ponytail that hung down to the small of her back. It showed up well against her deep red uniform shirt, which was tucked into a pair of black uniform slacks. The outfit accentuated her curvy, Elite figure—though Sirex tried not to notice.

However, that was a losing battle. He'd been trying not to notice his protégé's beauty almost from the very first moment she had been assigned to him. It wasn't easy—in addition to her curvy hips, ripe breasts, and deliciously thick thighs, Phoebe had a gorgeous face with full, kissable lips and large, almond shaped eyes that were a shade that defied description. Sometimes, when she was upset, they looked deep sea green. Other times, when she was happy, they were a lighter, almost silvery shade of green. They looked like jewels, especially contrasted with her creamy brown skin.

But it wasn't just her beauty that drew Sirex to her—Phoebe had a brilliant mind—she was sharp and quick to pick up new concepts and techniques. She also had a sly sense of humor and often surprised him into a smile, which was rare for him. Truly, training her had been a joy…one he was sorry had to end, if he was being honest with himself.

"Thank you, Commander Sylvan. It has been an honor to train here aboard the Mother Ship," Phoebe said. Her voice was low and musical—Sirex admitted to himself that he was going to miss hearing it.

But it was time for his protégé to go out on her own. Agents of the Kindred Elite Espionage Corps didn't have partners. Though he would miss her more than he could say, he had trained her to deal with any situation—she was ready to go solo, Sirex was sure of it.

And to think I didn't even want to train her to start with, he thought, watching her from the corner of his eye. In fact, when Commander Sylvan had called him into his office six months ago and informed him that he would be taking over the training of one of the cadets for the newly formed Elite Academy, Sirex had tried to turn him down.

"No thank you, Commander, I'm a solo act—I don't work well with others. You knew that when you hired me into the Espionage Corps," he'd said.

His boss frowned.

"I'm sorry, Commander Sirex—maybe I'm not making myself clear. This isn't a request. All senior agents who aren't currently on a mission are being assigned a cadet to train. You'll be meeting your cadet, Phoebe Jenkins, at o-eight hundred tomorrow morning at the Twin Moons café near the parklands at the center of the ship. Be sure you're prepared to teach her everything you know."

"Her?" Sirex had raised his eyebrows. "You assigned me a female trainee?"

"Is that a problem?" Commander Sylvan enquired, his frown deepening. "I know you're half Scourge, but surely your Kindred half must feel as we all do here on the Mother Ship—that females are our equals, not our inferiors."

"Mentally of course they're our equals," Sirex said. "But physically—well, you can't expect a female—especially a tiny human female, to be able to compete with a Kindred warrior."

"I don't expect the female agents we'll be training to compete in terms of strength," Commander Sylvan said calmly. "But I do expect you to teach your trainee to hold her own in a fight. My understanding is that she's already gone through a training course called the Police Academy down on Earth, so she knows something about how to handle a weapon and has some hand-to-hand combat skills as well. I expect you to hone those skills and teach her new ones—teach her what she needs to survive and thrive as an Agent in the Elite Espionage Corps."

Sirex hadn't liked it, but he wasn't one to disobey a direct order. So the next morning he had met with Phoebe for the first time…and they had been together almost every waking moment ever since. He might not have liked his assignment at first, but he took it very seriously and that meant he drove her to her limits and beyond.

It wasn't easy at first—his protégé had a pronounced stubborn streak and he'd had to discipline her more than once. But she had come through the fire of the most difficult training exercises he could throw at her and now she was ready to be an Agent on her own.

Ah, but it's the "training exercises" you're going to miss the most, whispered a dark little voice in his head. Especially the ones where you tie her up and she tries to escape…or what about the "role play" you did the other day where she was your prisoner and you were her captor, trying to get information out of her? You enjoyed your role in that situation just a little too much, don't you think? Maybe it was the Scourge half of you that enjoyed it…

Sirex clenched his jaw and did his best to banish the voice. Probably it was for the best that Phoebe was leaving him and striking out on her own as a full-fledged Agent. Their relationship had been getting complicated lately— very complicated, if he was honest with himself. So it was better for his protégé to leave his side now. She?—

"In fact, you've done so well, Agent Jenkins, that I'd like to give you your first real assignment." Commander Sylvan's voice broke into his guilty thoughts and Sirex saw that Phoebe was sitting up even straighter and listening attentively.

"Yes, Commander—I'm ready," she said eagerly. "Where am I going?"

"Well, it's actually a matter of where you are both going," Commander Sylvan said, nodding at both Phoebe and Sirex. "You see, I have a mission that requires two agents and since the two of you work so well together, I thought you wouldn't mind if your first mission wasn't a solo one."

Phoebe cast a sidelong look at Sirex and he could see the question in her silver-green eyes. She was looking to him for approval, as she had been for the past six months.

He gave her a very slight nod in return.

"It's your decision," his gesture said. "Do what you want."

"If you'd rather be on your own, I can assign another pair of agents," Commander Sylvan said, misinterpreting her hesitation.

"No, no!" Phoebe said hastily. Then she cleared her throat. "I mean, I'd be pleased for my first mission to be with Commander Sirex."

"Very well. Sirex? Do you mind taking this mission with Agent Jenkins?" Commander Sylvan asked.

For a moment, Sirex struggled with himself. Part of him wanted desperately to keep Phoebe by his side. Not just because he had grown fond of her— more than fond, whispered the little voice in his head. But also because he wanted to protect her and guide her and keep her safe.

But part of him—including the accusatory little voice—told him he ought to let her go at once, right now, while he still could. If he held onto her a moment longer, he might not be able to release her. His Scourge instincts, the ones he fought against so hard, were coming into play where his protégé was concerned and that could be dangerous…

"It's important that I have two agents—one male and one female on this case. If you'd rather, I can assign another male agent to work with Agent Phoebe," Commander Sylvan offered, as Sirex hesitated.

"No! Absolutely not!" The words came out in low, possessive growl, before Sirex could even consider them. He saw Phoebe's eyes widen and realized he had spoken too harshly. He cleared his throat and tried to modify his tone. "I mean, I'll be pleased to undertake this mission with Agent Jenkins," he said in a smooth, controlled voice. "Please tell us more about it. Where are we going and what do you need us to do once we get there?"

The concerned look that had popped up on Commander Sylvan's face smoothed away and he nodded.

"Excellent. I have to warn you, this mission will require some role playing. I'll be sending you to the Salacious System."

Sirex's eyebrows shot up.

"The Twisted System? Really, Commander?"

The Twisted System, also know as the Kink Cluster, was the nickname the Salacious Solar System had been tagged with—mainly because the three inhabitable planets in the system were all devoted to different sexual kinks or fetishes.

Salacious Prime, sometimes called Salacious Alpha, was a male dominated world where females were owned by their Masters and went around in scanty outfits and different colored collars to show what kinds of sexual acts they were available for.

Salacious Beta, the second habitable planet in the system, was given over to Pet Play. Masters and Mistresses from all over the galaxy could bring their love slaves who they treated as "pets" there to play sexual games.

Salacious Delta was ruled by females who often kept the genitals of their "male-wives" locked in chastity cages. It was devoted to the Female-led lifestyle.

"Yes, the ‘Twisted System,'" Commander Sylvan said firmly, breaking into his train of thought.

"Excuse me, but why is it called that?" Phoebe asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I'll tell you later," Sirex growled.

He had no idea what planet the two of them were going to, but any of them could provoke serious problems unless he was very, very careful to keep his Scourge instincts contained.

As Commander Sylvan began to brief them on their mission, Sirex cut his eyes to the left. He examined his protégé from the corner of his eye, wondering what Phoebe was thinking…