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Chapter One
Nobek Halmiko stared at the Earther female who’d walked into the raucous bar. The Dantovonian space station Nove was a rowdy locale, worse than its parent planet’s never-ending party atmosphere. It was certainly no place for the notoriously repressed Earther species. Especially one of their women.
Despite the reputation of the alien race’s females, there was something about this Earther that shouted “don’t fuck with me” as she paused a few feet inside the doorway. It had nothing to do with the scarred Nobek who walked in with her, nor their party of assorted species that included a couple of Isetacians, an Adraf, and a Yeknap clattering at their ankles, of all things. All thenewcomers but the Nobek and human wandered into the bar, taking one of the few rickety, stained tables available.
The woman held the bar’s patrons’ attention. Conversation had quieted at her appearance, and Halmiko could understand why. Beyond the self-possessed attitude was a spare, athletic figure and a posture of regal assurance. At first glance, the dozen sex workers draped over would-be clients would have appeared more attractive, especially the three Plasians. A longer look at the Earther, however, paled them in comparison. In her dark blue uniform and her attitude that of a hunter queen, the human was all presence.
Talk ensued again among the gathered, as if in defense against such a noteworthy individual. People returned to their conversations, pretending not to keep her in their peripheral vision. Halmiko’s attention remained openly fixed on the woman. He drank her in, from top to toe.
Her hair was the softest and loveliest attribute she possessed. Sable curls tumbled to her slender waist. They almost overwhelmed the planes of her face, which was made up of sharp cheekbones, a pointed nose, and dark eyes made darker by the rim of long lashes. She wasn’t plain, but she wasn’t precisely pretty either. Nonetheless, he appreciated her look. She possessed the avid intensity of a bird of prey.
He wondered anew as her assessing scan of the bar halted when it found him. She stared, as if she didn’t have a riveting Nobek at her back already. She started toward Halmiko where he sat at the bar, her gaze steady. The other man followed, but he hung back a few feet.
All the surprises were nothing compared to the shock of her announcement, “Nobek Halmiko, it’s about damned time I found you. You’ve been hard to track down.”
He was too much of a Nobek to gape, but he blinked. “I’m to be found anywhere my cargo transport is. Who sent you?”
“I sent me. I’m looking for Imdiko Doljen. Your clanmate?”
He couldn’t have been left more breathless if her Nobek companion had punched him in the gut. Doljen. After all these years,Doljenwas a name with the power to curdle his guts.
“Who are you?” Growled between clenched teeth.
The Nobek behind her narrowed his eyes, ruining the illusion of a private conversation.
“Captain Bernadette Miller of the cargo transportRogue.” She crooked a brow at him. “I take it your clan hasn’t managed to make up?”
Halmiko skipped the unlikelihood of an Earther female captaining a ship. She apparently had some inkling of his clan’s disposition and history. His ears were still ringing from the name she’d spoken. “How do you know Doljen?”
“I met him during the Earth-Kalquorian war.” Though her severe aspect failed to ease, she bit her lips together for an instant, as if to stop herself from laughing. “We grew well acquainted. I owe him a debt of gratitude. Do you know where I can find him?”
At last, his astonishment eased enough for him respond with more sense than he’d shown thus far. “I have no idea.”
“Have you seen him since Kalquor’s civil war?”
An image of Doljen flashed in his mind’s eye. The handsome Imdiko, silent and refusing to look at Halmiko despite his attempts to draw him out. Turning from him. Walking away for the final time.
Anger, brought on a wave of hurt and guilt, blazed for a second before the old hopelessness tamped it down.
“I saw him once, between wars. He wouldn’t speak to me. Since I can take a hint, I haven’t bothered him since.” He grabbed his half-filled glass of bohut and downed it in a single gulp. He signaled for another from the Tratsod bartender.
“Where was this?”
Her interrogation was getting on his nerves. “Darkori Station. It’s a military installation. Part of the Imperial Fleet.”
The woman…Bernadette…scowled. “He’s no longer a member of the fleet. He left it after the civil war.”
More likely, he’d been discharged. Depending on how Doljen had conducted himself, it might have been dishonorably. “Well, you’re more up to date on his whereabouts then I am then. I guess I can’t help you where he’s concerned. Anything else I can do for you?”
He wasn’t feeling amorous, due to her digging up a past he didn’t want to think. Halmiko gave her a leer anyway to suggest what he could help her with.
She couldn’t be bothered to respond to his invitation. “Would your Dramok know where Doljen is?”
If Doljen was painful to think about, Tumsa was downright agonizing. Halmiko gulped the bohut he’d been brought and briefly contemplated throwing it at the Nobek bodyguard, or whatever he was. A fight might shut the woman up and make Halmiko feel better. Though Captain Miller's muscle had kept a discreet distance and the bar had resumed its earlier cacophony of loud conversations, he’d no doubt heard every word of their conversation.
Too many people hearing his business made Halmiko grumpy.
“Last I heard, Tumsa was on Haven. Why don’t you try your luck there?” He turned his back on her and debated the wisdom of another drink. In his mood, it was a bad idea. Having to think about his clanmates wasn’t giving him warm fuzzies either.
