Chapter 2

Serval

"As you can see behind me, there really is no hope for the Karkaros rebels. Coalition troops are sweeping through the battle lines, utterly decimating their numbers. Contacts within the Coalition army tell me that they expect to have this region fully cleared of rebels by tonight. By tomorrow morning, civilians in this area can expect aid to arrive. No further battle plans were shared with me, but I imagine that the Coalition army will continue to press their advantage, pushing forward into the mountains, which the rebels are known to use as their base of operation. More updates will come in the following days, even the coming marks, on the status of the combat situation here on the front lines. Make sure you're staying up to date with all the latest in this, and many other stories, by following the channel. And I'll be back with a new update soon."

Serval gestured, motioning his hand up, across his chest, as though striking through it. The hand sign he had designated for his combots to finish recording. The little device flashed red, confirming that recording had, in fact, stopped.

"Perfect," he said, lifting his arm to access the controller within the armored vambrace. He had to be armored or Coalition forces wouldn't let him this near an active battlefield.

He paid the explosions, laser fire, and cries of the wounded no mind as he hit the commands to open the box he had resting by his feet. Five more combots, exactly like the one already floating, zipped out and lingered in the air.

"Alright," he muttered to himself, opening the individual command screens. "You keep watch on the northern half of the field, you take the south, you two cover the central area, you keep watch for the Coalition leaders at the back. Lucky, you go see if you can pick up anything on the retreating lines."

His combots weren't sentient, of course, their AIs were very simple, but he had a bad habit of talking to himself – and, thus, them. Too many years on his own, he supposed.

The combots flashed once before their colors dimmed and they zipped out into the air. He didn't need anyone firing upon them, so they were designed to go dark when in active use. Still, it wasn't uncommon for him to lose a combot or two – especially in an active battle zone.

Not Lucky, of course. That little combot continued to survive even when every other combot in rotation had been replaced twice over. He had been beaten around, struck by a plasma bolt once, and nearly crushed by an avalanche. Yet, somehow, Lucky always managed to come back. It was no wonder Serval had gotten a little attached to it.

With his six flying companions off getting their footage, Serval dropped to his knees in front of the box they had been charging in. He dropped one of the side panels, revealing another computer. He used it to finish uploading the recording he had just made to his boss, who would then post it on the netsite.

But it was a race against time. Serval certainly wasn't the only one trying to cover this story. So, he had to make sure it was sent to his boss quickly.

The upload dinged, finishing, and he put through a comm patch.

"I got it," Nox said in that rough, sharp tone of his the moment he answered. "It's getting posted now. Good work."

He smirked. "I got the bots out, getting more footage. I'll have that back to you soon. When the battlefield changes again, I'll do another update."

"That's enough, Serval. Get out of there before anything happens to you."

"I'll leave when I'm done," Serval assured him, ending the comm before he could insist. Serval would escape when the story was complete, not a moment beforehand.

***

In the end, it took more than a few days for the rebels to be completely driven back and rooted out from under the mountain. Serval was there the entire time, getting interviews with the highest ranked officers that would speak to him, capturing distant combot footage of the rebel leaders being arrested, and following the frontlines.

When he finally let himself climb back into his landing pod and take off from the planet, into space, to his waiting starship, he was exhausted but satisfied. He bit back a yawn as he stepped out of the pod and into his refuge, his home, his peaceful palace of rest and respite.

The starship Ha Valol had been his home for years. It was big for a single male, but it was comfortable and state of the art. He pushed the combot case into its charging port on the wall, all twenty of his bots – including Lucky – finally resting after days of near nonstop use.

All Serval wanted was a long soak in the ship's pool – to ease the heat under his skin after being on that dry, warm planet for so long. But he needed to get to his next story. He'd have to settle for a cool wash in the cleansing mist instead. Which was nowhere near as good, but it was what he had time for.

However, when he stopped in the cockpit to set the autopilot to take him to his next destination, his comm system began beeping. He frowned at the familiar number.

"What the hech do you want?" He asked no one even as he answered the comm.

"There you are! Hey, Serval!" A loud mouthed, obnoxious male laughed when his face appeared on the screen in front of him.

"Korvii," he greeted, voice tight. Already annoyed.

The male on the other end of the comm laughed loudly – sensing his irritation. He was a domini, a color changing idiot, with more gumption than brains. He had his own news show, in direct contest with Serval. Most times, the universe was big enough that they could follow their own, respective stories without interfering with each other. However, there were also times when they both caught scent of the same, big story, and their paths crossed.

And when that happened, Korvii always had to make it a competition. To see who broke the story first. To see who got the best bits of the story. Who got the best footage, who presented the story the best, who interviewed the most interesting witness or person involved.

It was so aggravating. It was such a typical domini move.

And Serval couldn't help but want to beat him.

Even now, he smirked. "If you're after the Karkaros rebellion, it's already over. I got the entire story. You're too late."

"Saw that," Korvii nodded, crossing his arms, one of his three eyes twitching. "I'll admit, it's hard for me to give you the victory, but just this once, I've got to admit that you beat me."

Serval hesitated, feeling oddly like he missed a step and nearly fell. That wasn't the response he expected. "Well…er, thank you."

"I mean, it's true. I couldn't even go. I had something more important to do." Korvii smirked, three eyes sparkling. "And I couldn't wait to show you! Do it, vi adassi!"

The camera turned and Serval suddenly found himself looking at another domini. She was a tall, muscular, beautiful female with long, braided hair, wearing a lovely, pink dress that had changed the color of her skin to match. She smirked, one fang glistening, as her tail whipped into view. She held out her arms, as though commanding him to behold her glory.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Korvii asked from behind the camera, sounding boisterous and excited as always, but also strangely tender and loving. Serval realized what was happening before he said it. "This is Hela. Vi adassi. My mate. Isn't she perfect? Strong. Fast. Stunning. That's where I've been. I had to claim my female and mate her properly. So, really, overall, I think I won again, don't you?"

His loud, grating laughter made Serval's teeth clench.

He had a mate. Which meant he had-

"She's going to be helping me." Korvii stepped back in front of the camera, putting his arm around his mate's shoulders, their tails twining together. "With the two of us working together, we'll be able to cover twice as much and interview twice as many people as you. You better enjoy that victory, Serval, it's going to be your last one!"

"You better believe it," Hela declared, tossing her head with a wicked smirk. "Korvii and I are going to make you regret ever getting into journalism in the first place."

"I hear there's some political unrest going on over on Hov Awee. Those tricksy bird people are up to something, and Hela and I are going to get the story. If you move fast, you might be able to get there just in time to watch us upload our new, dual person segment. Later, loser!"

Laughing, Korvii ended the comm before Serval could respond. He growled, annoyed, fists tightening against the arms of his chair. He hadn't heard anything about unrest over on Hov Awee. The farasie were a largely peaceful and nonviolent people, even under duress. Anything that had them up in arms could only be a story of the juiciest variety. Maybe he could-

Another incoming message cut off his thoughts. Nox's name flashed across the screen, and he connected the voice comm immediately – he never saw his boss' face.

"You off planet now?"

"Yeah. Probably going to head off to Hov Awee. I hear there's some unrest there to investigate."

"Forget it. I already have someone else headed there. I need you for something else."

"Oh?" Serval perked up. If Nox had an even better story to chase, then he would be able to shove that in Korvii's ugly face. Proof that he didn't need a mate to help him. He was still the best, even when the odds were stacked against him.

"Yeah. A Carvadolian princess is celebrating her fourth birthday in Coalition space."

Serval's eye twitched. "Are you joking me right now?"

"It's a very big story. Carvadolian princesses aren't that common, you know. And it's setting up to be one of the rare few peaceful relationship building interactions between the Carvadolians and the Coalition. It's a good story."

"It's a fluff story."

"Serval-"

"Why, by the rest of the great sleeping spirits, are you sending me on a fluff story? Anyone can cover that useless harai. Why are you sending me?"

"Because Coalition law requires that I give my employees a certain amount of time off, and you've been running from battlefield to battlefield for so long, I'm about to get into trouble."

Serval's eye twitched again. "That's my choice."

"And it's my license. You're either taking a vacation, or a fluff story. Or I'm going to comm Korvii and send him to get me your next story just to piss you off."

"You soggy, fetid, allava hovonai, uri uwi akawee!"

"Love you, too. So, what's it going to be? Time off, or cover the little princess' party?"

Serval's thumb bounced rapidly, a sign of his inner agitation. A vacation meant probably going home – something he was long overdue for, really. But it also meant dealing with his family and their constant questions about when he'd give up this job and finally come back home to settle. Something he'd rather die than do. Going home was suffocating.

But the princess' party sounded absolutely dull and horribly boring. There was a chance, of course, that the Carvadolians would start trouble, or cause some kind of insult, but he doubted it. They were stuffy and proper, to an annoying degree. Even if they weren't, the likelihood of them putting one of their princesses at risk was so low, they would hurt themselves before letting anything bad happen to her.

Whatever he chose, he'd be doing, essentially, nothing. The only question was how bored or aggravated he was going to be by the end.

As he was contemplating his options, a new comm request beeped through. He grabbed onto the opportunity gratefully.

"I'm getting another comm. I'll message you back with my decision."

Nox made a dull sound of disbelief, but Serval ignored him as he switched to the other comm – a video call this time. The furry, muzzled face of a male kreecharma filled his screen. His comm signature indicated that his name was Vigo, though Serval had never met him before. He was pretty sure he hadn't anyway, though it wasn't impossible. He'd met and interviewed a lot of people in his time.

"Serval speaking, how can I help you?" He answered calmly, desperately hoping that this male was a contact of his that he didn't recognize, come to save him with an actually good story.

"Hello, Serval. My name is Vigo. I'm the owner of a company called True Match."

"Never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised. We haven't had a location open on the allowee homeworld yet. That's not important though. I'm comming you now about a scan you did for a colleague of mine. About two and a half Standard years ago."

Serval frowned, thinking back. A scan from three years ago? Being on battlefields and in dangerous situations meant that Serval went through mediscans a lot. To isolate just one time from so long ago…

"It would have been an experimental scan. And it would have been very uncomfortable."

"Oh, that one," Serval sat up, grimacing at the memory. "I was doing a story on some male's lab. He was working on a sort of cure or treatment for something or other. That was the last time Nox sent me on a fluff piece, actually, now that I think about it."

"What?"

"Never mind. I remember. What about it?"

"The scan was performed to obtain multiple subjects for my research."

"Yeah, he told me it was for someone else. Paid me for it too." Serval sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "It was about subspace waves or something, right?"

"Yes. I developed a program that is capable of matching people to their mates based upon deep, subspace scans, never needing them to meet at all."

Serval's brows and curiosity raised. "Really? That would be incredible if it worked."

"It does work. We have multiple successful locations on my home planet, as well as a few others. We have currently matched hundreds of mates successfully, with more coming. And you, I'm pleased to say, are one of them."

Serval's brow furrowed this time. "I'm what? Matched? You… You found my mate?"

Vigo dropped his head, a gesture he didn't recognize. "Your mate was scanned just a few marks ago. Normally, I wouldn't comm personally to tell people that a match has been made, but yours is very special, and we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity."

"I thought you said your business wasn't operating on my homeworld yet."

"It's not. Your mate is human."

The floor dropped out from under Serval, and he felt like he had just crashed into freezing water. A mate? A human mate?

Humans were practically mythical creatures. They were a nearly advanced race of aliens that were currently a protectorate of the Coalition. They were the most sexual, fertile, and prolific race that had ever existed. They were so fertile, they were capable of crossbreeding with other races. Serval had followed the stories of the research into their race, stunned when he realized just how incredible their species was and what their ability could mean in the greater universe.

He had, unfortunately, not been able to make a story on them. The list of people allowed to even know where the human homeworld was located was a short one. And while he was sure he could find it if he really wanted to, he didn't want the legal trouble that would follow if he did.

But if he was mated to a human…

"What does that mean though?" He frowned at Vigo. "If her people aren't allowed off Earth, and I am not willing to live on a primitive planet, how can we be mated?"

"Humans are allowed off Earth if they are mated, with the understanding that they likely will not be allowed to return to keep Earth from obtaining any advanced technology. True Match has been given special permission to transport humans off Earth and to their mates – for a fee, of course. We aren't a charity. But we are willing to wave the fee to bring your mate to you if you are willing to allow us to use your mating as advertising for our company. We don't have an interspecies pairing yet, and we'd like to use you two."

Serval smirked, seeing right through that excuse. "And I suppose the fact that I'm already famous had nothing to do with it?"

"Actually, it's her fame we wanted, but yours is certainly a welcome surprise. She's well known on Earth, and she is willing to go to space since she can still submit videos to her home subnet. We won't ask much of you. We want to record your first meeting, and we'd like to have you perform a few photo shoots and ad reels for us on occasion. You will, of course, be paid well for this, we don't expect it for free."

Serval said nothing. Thinking quickly about the offer.

He never really wanted to find his mate. But that was because he assumed his mate would be allowee, like him. If she was, then he'd have no choice but to return home. Female allowee didn't like to be far from their nesting pools. And they had to be in their nesting pools if they were giving birth. Allowee young had to be born in special water only found on his homeworld. Those that did not wouldn't survive. He could hardly damn his own young because he wanted to go off chasing adventure and intrigue. He also couldn't leave a mate and child behind, rarely ever seeing them.

But that was only if his mate was allowee.

If she were human…

How would that work? Human females were capable of breeding with alien males – he remembered that part of their published research. In fact, if he remembered correctly, they were very good at it. To the point that they exceeded the fertility rates of a person mating within their own species.

Would she still need to birth his young in the nesting pools? Would she feel drawn to them like an allowee female would? What if she didn't approve of his lifestyle?

Serval loved what he did. Hunting down stories and chasing down bad guys and exposing them to the universe was everything he had ever wanted to do. Even when he had been freshly spawned, he had been nosy and chasing after business that wasn't his.

But if his female was unhappy with that life…

What if he never met her though? No mating bond had been triggered. He was still a free male. He only knew she was out there intellectually – which, really, wasn't anything more than he knew before. He knew he had a mate somewhere. He just also now knew she wasn't on his home planet as he had originally assumed.

But how could he leave her though?

She was on a primitive, unadvanced planet. What if something happened to her? They likely wouldn't have the medical care necessary to save her. Or maybe she would find a human male and spawn younglings for him.

The very idea made him want to rage.

And he hadn't even met her yet!

Cursing under his breath, he ran his hands over his olules. The wiggling, sensitive appendages on his head immediately wrapped around his fingers. Seeking comfort like he was still a youngling.

He couldn't put off meeting her until he was ready to settle down. Who even knew when that would happen? If it ever did. But in that time, she could grow old and die, or get injured and die, or meet some other male. Humans didn't have access to advanced medicine, which meant her lifespan was going to be much shorter than his. If it took him fifty more years to be ready to settle down, would she even still be alive and waiting for him?

"Your mate has already agreed to this," Vigo told him calmly, interrupting his frantic thoughts. "She was already doing a piece on our new location on Earth. Her scan was part of it. My mate made the offer for her to be part of our ad campaign if she was matched with an alien mostly in jest, because she didn't think it would really happen. But it has, and your mate has agreed. We need only get your agreement as well."

"Will I be allowed to do a story on this?" Serval asked. This definitely counted as a fluff piece – there was nothing dangerous about this – so he could fulfill his obligation to Nox and also meet this female that was supposedly his.

It might not have been what Nox intended, but it was something that would definitely be popular to watch. Humans were still rare in the universe, but they were prized and coveted. If he mated one…

"We'd be honored if you did a segment on her and us. She has to agree, of course, but that will be between the two of you. True Match can only bring you together, we can't guide you through your entire relationship."

Serval couldn't stop the grin from forming on his face.

If his mating itself was newsworthy, that would be a victory over Korvii. And his mate would be a human – a far greater prize than a domini female. Not that he would be measuring them, of course, but the rest of the universe would.

And Serval would be the clear winner.

"Let me see her. My mate. What is she like?"

"That's the other thing. She's already agreed to this, so it's up to you. We want to bring you two together in a controlled environment where we can get the reaction to your meeting on video. So, we can use it as part of the ads. The amazement of the first meeting caught on camera for the viewers to be a part of. That kind of thing."

"That's actually… brilliant. Audiences love that kind of thing. Whose idea was that?"

"Your mate's. As it happens."

Serval smirked, pleased.

Vigo said that she was well known on her planet. Perhaps she was an investigative journalist like himself. In which case, even better. He'd have a partner in his career just like Korvii. And one who would look even better on video.

"You have yourself a deal, Vigo," Serval said, pleased beyond measure. "Where are we meeting?"