Page 2 of Lashe

After the legal dust settled, I was offered the ambassadorship and accepted the position. Since then, my intense travel schedule had been death to my love life. At thirty-six, I was beginning to wonder why I was even bothering to keep trying to find love.

“When was this message sent, Stelis?”

“The second of December.”

“And you’re just telling me about it now?”

“I informed you of the invitation on December on the second, eight, and fourteenth of December. You chose not to listen to it.” Stelis managed to sound snooty even now.

I didn’t remember anything about an invitation on any of those days, but I was trying to get all my work wrapped up before my big trip to California. I had been nervous about meeting Roy’s parents. I was juggling requests and communications and had put everything off. Excitement jiggled in my belly. “Accept Sibyl’s invitation.” I turned away from the window with all thatpretty snow and the lights of the city. “I’d like to leave as soon as possible.”

“I will contact your transport operator and have him ready the shuttle,” Stelis informed me. “Would tomorrow morning be soon enough, provided the ship is ready to depart?”

My mind flashed to the operator in question. His name was Lashe. He was a stunning Destran warrior, almost dazzling to look at, and healwaysseemed to be ready. It was his job to run me between Earth and the cluster of Destran Solas—massive, living ships that housed hundreds of thousands of Destrans. If he missed his home, being stuck on Earth for most of the time, he never mentioned it. Never complained. He never revealed anything, honestly.

“Tomorrow is perfect,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “I need a break. Badly.”

CHAPTER 2

Lashe

Ding.

The sound was quiet and low, but enough to wake me from sleep. I knew that sound. It was the alert that let me know my ship was needed to bring Ambassador Anna Abel to the Destran collective.

My pulse always quickened when I heard that sound. My only job was to transport the ambassador through space, usually between Earth and my home—a group of massive living ships that were now fused together in a powerful collective. My home was far from Earth, requiring multiple days of travel, despite the newest technologies in the shuttle that allowed us to expedite the trip by going throughdarkspacechannels. The Solas had put their thick roots down on an uninhabited planet, where they grew and flourished, along with my people, who lived inside of it.

I got up and went to the control interface in my room. I opened the channel and heard the soothing digital voice of Anna’s AOA.

“Lashe Toruck, Ambassador Abel requests transport to the Destran Solas. Please have the shuttle docked at her home docking bay at 06:00 for a 07:00 departure. Please confirm compliance.”

“Accepted,” I said. “Her transport will be there at the assigned time.”

“Excellent,” Stelis said. “Departure time confirmed. The ambassador will see you tomorrow.”

I switched off the communication and began to pack my small case. Returning to Destra was never a hardship. Returning back here, could be. My assigned room was small and dimly lit, which was fine. Destrans were used to small quarters and low light. It was the loneliness that tugged at me sometimes. It was missing my home and not being around people who were like me that made the long days and nights even longer.

The Theta Station, where my lodging was purchased and my ship was docked, was on Earth’s moon, right at the line where the light side ended and the dark side began. Here, thousands of ships—large and small—departed and arrived daily. The base, especially section 206-D where I lived, was packed with small quarters just like mine. Some renters stayed short-term. Others, like me, were employees of dignitaries or the wealthy. We were summoned at a moment’s notice to bring those we worked for wherever they wished to go.

It was a good job. I was paid well in Galactic Credits, and as a former warrior aboard Lord Damiron’s Sola, it had been an honor to accept the job of transporting Anna. She had been instrumental in rescuing our people from the monsters who had planned to exploit the resources of our Solas for profit.

I got dressed, picked up my case, and exited my room. Instantly, the silence of my quarters was swallowed up by the sounds and activity of the busy corridor. Section 206-D was a loud, busy sector of the station. Voices, transport skids, anddevices of all types made for considerable background noise. It didn’t matter what time in the day-night cycle one stood in this gray, tired-looking hallway, it was always the same, with nearly overwhelming noise of life forms hurrying to a ship or from one.

I carried my case down the corridor through the familiar winding path to my assigned landing pad, where the DS Starcutter-III transport ship sat behind a level nine force field. I entered the code and passed through the field, then boarded the sleek, expensive ship.

With the hatch sealed behind me, the noise of the hangar once again fell away. I had plenty of time to run diagnostics, plan the best flight path, and make sure the power cells were fully charged before I received clearance to leave. I had six hours. Plenty of time. I sent a message to Destra, informing them of our estimated arrival time and set about making the shuttle comfortable for the ambassador. I knew the temperature she liked, preprogrammed her favorite foods into the replicator, and made sure her private quarters were freshened up and spotless.

Shewas my job.

And as much as I wished otherwise, she was my life. The pretty human with red hair and exhausted eyes called to my soul. I’d long accepted that she would never be mine. Most trips, she barely noticed me and sat in the main cabin with a furrow on her brow. She would spend most of the journey to or from Destra buried in memos, proposals, whatever absurdity the human and Destran governments decided to trouble her with. I’d seen other things, too. Such as the idiotic human men who did not see the jewel that was Anna. They had let her go for reasons I couldn’t comprehend. Any male fortunate enough to capture Anna’s attention should be on his knees, thanking the universe for the gift.

One thing I saw in her that I felt reflected in myself was loneliness. I wished, just once, I could hold her delicate face inmy hands and tell her how precious she was. How much she deserved happiness. If I touched her, I feared I knew what would happen. The mate marks would emerge, making my hopeless connection to her an immovable, permanent thing.

So I took care to never be close enough to touch her skin. I was her transport operator. Nothing more.

“Vessel number 441V-88, you are clear for departure,” said the automated station controller.

I acknowledged the message and took my place in the queue of ships leaving the lunar space station. It was minutes to Earth, where I eased through the atmosphere and arrived at the docking bay attached to the side of her living quarters.