Epilogue
JANE
“Whoa!” Sage flipped the popcorn bucket, sending kernels in every direction.
Taylor tugged it from her grip, whining, “No more for you. You’ve lost more than half to the floor.
The two sat on my navy-colored couch in my quarters, freaking out over every detail of my journey. “You know your both cleaning this up.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Sage waved at me as if the popcorn decorating my rug were of no consequence. “Will do it. Now, keep going.”
“Speak for yourself,” Taylor muttered, guarding the bucket like it was a ring of power.
“That’s everything. The Rhonar saved us from the Mangox attack and guided us back to the coordinates.” I downplayed the severity of the attack and how close we’d come to not making it home. No need to scare them. “Then, we used the wormhole generator and came home.” I snagged some popcorn as Taylor narrowed her eyes at me. “You two have to make some serious tweaks to that by the way, ladies. That is not a fun ride.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Sage snorted.
Taylor rolled her eyes. “It’s not like we can control a trip through a wormhole. We’re basically using it to punch temporary holes in space.” She plopped more of the buttery treat into her mouth. “Be thankful it works at all.”
“Fair, fair.” I leaned on the arm of the couch and stretched my legs. “I have another job for you anyway, Taylor.”
She perked up at that. “Oh yeah?”
“Wait!” Sage held up her hand. “What happened to the other Rhonar first? You said they found one of the lost crew members from DS1?”
“Right.” I snapped my fingers. “I forgot that part.” Snagging my holo-pad, I pulled up the details on the lost vessel. “So, this is the roster of the missing.” I scrolled through the list. “Ava was the first found, which you know led the Rhonar to earth. But other teams of their warriors are traveling the different sectors in search of the abducted crew and science team.”
“Didn’t the scientists make it off the ship as the attack took place?” Sage’s gaze scanned over the list.
“Yes.” I stopped on a picture of a security officer, Elena Rivera. “The crew helped evacuate most of the science team before they were abducted. But now, one of the personnel has been found. This woman.”
Taylor jumped up, spilling more popcorn.
Sage gave her a side eye. “You are so cleaning this with me.”
She waved off my sister’s remarks. “That’s incredible. This means we have more leads, right?”
“Sort of. Elena was rescued from apleasure cruiser.” I made the sign for quotation marks in the air. “At least that’s what the bastards who kidnapped her claimed it to be.”
“Guess it wasn’t, huh?” Sage snagged the bucket back.
“No. It was a cover for a slave market.” I put down the holo-pad and rose from the couch. “But no other humans were aboard. So, the Rhonar are back to square one in the search.”
The bottom of my couch took a wallop as Sage kicked it. “Damn.”
“Yeah, my thoughts too.” I whirled toward the blond tech genius. “But that’s where Taylor comes in?”
Her hazel eyes widened, and she squeaked, “Me?”
“Yes, you.” I smiled and strode to my side table. Grabbing the flash key, I handed it to Taylor. “You’re going to figure out how to make stealth shielding last on the Rhonar space fighters—and ours when we start building them—without draining the energy supplies.”
Her tongue peeked out from the side of her mouth as her eyes narrowed in thought.
Sage smiled at our friend, and then looked at me. “And what about you, Captain?” A knowing look passed her face. “What are you going to do?”
I crouched beside my sister and snagged an arm around her shoulders. “I, my nosy sister, am going to spend time with my new mate.” I tweaked her nose. “And then, I’m going to make sure our government officials stick to their end of the deal.”
“And perhaps, a double wedding?” Her brows wiggled. “You wouldn’t have to be a bridesmaid then.”
