1 Chapter 1

“I got my assignment.”

Nate set his comm on the bedside table and returned to bed. Morning sunlight had long since started warming the room, but the rest of us—me, Fara, and Josh—had the day off, so of course we were still in bed. We hadn’t received our orders yet, but Nate was part of the consulate, so he operated on a slightly different timeline. It was hard to tell if Nate’s assignment was good news or bad news based on his behavior. He always looked reserved and serious, even when he was happy.

“Well?” Fara asked, when the tension had lasted too long.

“Pelona 4,” Nate said. “I leave in a few weeks to talk the humans out of declaring war.”

Josh scrunched up his nose. “That doesn’t sound fun.”

“Yeah. My briefing packet is two hundred pages long.”

We all made noises of disgust, and Nate snorted in response.

We’d officially come together as a foursome several years ago on a long-term off-planet mission. Now that we were back home on Reyhan, it was only a matter of time before the next assignment came along, and the odds of all four of us ending up together again were slim. I rolled over and threw myself across Nate’s bare chest.

“Maybe I’ll get to go with you as your personal security escort,” I said.

He smiled. “That’d be nice.”

The chances of me going to Pelona 4 with him weren’t high. I wasn’t a consulate member. They’d send their own security with him. The chances were much higher that I would go wherever Fara and Josh were going, but I wanted to keep hope alive.

Josh flopped himself over my back, crushing me against Nate. I groaned. When Fara joined the pile with a laugh, Nate protested and used his bulk to push us all off him. We toppled into a laughing pile on the bed, and he pounced on top of us.

For the moment, our upcoming separation was forgotten.

* * * *

Our orders came a few days later. The simultaneous chime of three comm pads broke into our breakfast conversation, and the four of us fell silent. Josh and Fara glanced at each other, then at me. There was only one reason that all three of our comms would go off at the same time. New orders rolled out.

We’d all been in an anxious haze since Nate received his orders, waiting to find out how bad the damage would be. Would all four of us be sent to different places? Would three of us stay together and only Nate get sent away?

Now the answer was here, floating over us, just waiting for us to tap the button that would open the new message. We were about to find out if Josh, Fara, and I were all going to get flung to opposite sides of the universe, too.

We sat together around a circular table in the sunny kitchen, a small buffet of breads, fruits, cooked meats, and eggs laid out in the middle. Despite the sun and the bright checkered tablecloth, a gloom sank over us. No one spoke for several seconds, until finally Fara settled her fork against the edge of her plate with careful precision. Everything about Fara was precise, down to the part of her greying auburn hair. “On three?” she suggested.

Josh whined low in his chest and we both reached out and took one of his hands. “I’m nervous,” he whispered.

“I’ll read yours for you, if you want,” Nate offered, and held out a hand for Josh’s comm. “I’ve already gotten a kick in the proverbial balls, it can’t get much worse.”

“I’ve never been nervous about orders before. I’ve always been excited,” Josh said.

I understood that feeling. My stomach twisted and roiled, but I hadn’t gone through five years of physical and emotional training at the Viol Academy just to let a little thing like a new job assignment throw me into a state of panic. “Want Nate to read them for you, sweetheart?”

Cringing, Josh nodded, and I passed his comm pad into Nate’s waiting hand. Fara and I had ours ready. The four of us glanced around the table at each other, Fara and I still holding Josh’s hands, all of us half clothed and disheveled. Getting dressed before eating and caffeinating was too much work, but for some reason now I wished we had. My uniform helped me put a little bit of distance between personal and professional.

Fara counted, and on her cue, three fingers tapped three identical icons on three different comm pads. I skimmed mine. Security detail, as always. Foreign dignitaries visiting. Personal bodyguard for some alien ambassador…here on Reyhan.