“Yes,” he declared. “I’m thinking it’s high time the colonel learned what his precious little girl’s been up to.”
❦
Dia Tian stared through the panoramic window of the cramped hotel room, giving her a picture-perfect view of deep space. In the days of the apocalypse, when mankind faced certain death if they did not evacuate their home planet, the galaxy had seemed like such an intimidating place—a yawning, endless sea of blackness filled with the unknown.
Now that she’d lived on various space stations, though, she’d discovered comfort in being so close to the stars. They twinkled much closer now, interspersed with clouds dyed various colors by naturally-occurring gases. No manmade thing could compete.
“Daydreaming again?”
The deep voice intruding on her solitude brought a smile to her face. Turning, she locked gazes with the soldier who’d stolen her heart.
“Am I, Onyx?” she asked, walking to join him in the center of the room. It didn’t feel so cramped with him here. Everything—the entire world—seemed far vaster with him in it. “If I’m dreaming, then I never want to wake up.”
He smiled, something he rarely did. When they’d first met, Dia had thought his hard face intimidating and harsh. Now that she knew the secrets his lips concealed, she appreciated his usually placid expression. It made his rare smiles all the more enchanting—a perfect display of white teeth against his black-as-night skin.
They called him an alien, which she supposed he was, being from another planet and all. Yet to her he seemed to possess more humanity than most people she knew. They called him odd, and believed him to be inherently evil just because of where he’d been born. But she knew better. With her, he’d never been anything but good—open, honest, loving. She couldn’t have asked for better if she’d tried.
He wrapped his arms around her, leaning down from his towering height to kiss her forehead. “I’m afraid the dream has to end sometime. We can’t go on like this.”
Sighing, she leaned into him, resting her face against his chest. Instead of a heartbeat, the inside of his chest emitted a low, steady hum—like machinery. Yet, his skin felt warm and he drew in air just like she did. They really weren’t so different. If she could see that, why were others so blind?
“I know,” she replied. “Not like it matters anymore. No one can break us up. We won’t let them.”
Hiding their relationship had been her idea, not his. Lying wasn’t programmed into the DNA of the Ethelene, who had been a highly intelligent species. They believed in knowledge and truth, and shunned deceit. Onyx was the last of his kind, and she’d corrupted him by making him more human. However, she’d known her dad would never understand. If he’d known for a moment that she cared anything for Onyx, he’d have sent her clear across the galaxy to another space station. He’d have kept moving her around to keep her out of the major’s reach, until one or both of them lost interest, or until she could be married off to someone more ‘suitable’.
“I don’t like lying to the colonel,” he said, taking her shoulders and pulling her back so he could look into her eyes. “I want everyone to know we belong to each other.”
She smiled up at him and reached up to caress his strong, dark jaw. “They will. Let’s go tell him now, together. The sooner it ends, the sooner he’ll get over it and we can get on with our lives.”
His fathomless eyes, as dark as his skin, glittered like precious gems and he smiled again. “I like the sound of that.”
Lifting her to meet his height, he kissed her, taking her breath away. Everything that existed outside the door of their tiny hotel room faded away, and for that moment, there remained only the two of them.
A knock sounded at the door, and Onyx reluctantly released her. His hawkish gaze darted to the door.
“It’s probably room service or housekeeping,” he reassured her. “No one knows we’re here.”
That proved untrue when he crossed the room to open the door. The major’s personal ensign, Captain Isaias Royce, stood on the other side, an expression of shock on his face as he glanced past Onyx and saw her standing there.
Her cheeks grew hot, but she refused to act like she was embarrassed. They hadn’t done anything wrong.
Snapping to attention, Isaias saluted Onyx with a swift, sharp motion.
“I apologize for disturbing you, Major, but when I went to your first lieutenant and told him it was an emergency, he told me where you were. I understand that you’re off today, but—”
“It’s all right, Royce,” he replied. “What is it?”
“The council has gathered and you’re being summoned. Now.”
Onyx turned back into the room, crossing toward the garment bag draped across the bed. “Go back and tell them I’ll be there shortly. I just need to change into my dress uniform.”
“Of course, sir.”
Saluting again, the ensign backed out of the room, leaving them alone once more.
“What do you think that was all about?” Dia asked, wringing her hands as she watched him change. “You don’t think they’re sending you out again, do you? You just got back.”
He shrugged, reaching for his shirt. Dark, Ethelene tattoos covered his chest and back in an intricate pattern, etched over rippling muscles. Despite his serene expression, she noticed his darting eyes. He was thinking.
“It’s possible,” he replied. “It doesn’t matter to them that I just got back. My unit has the best success rate, and the Matsai have been stirring up trouble all over the galaxy. If I’m needed, they’ll call me and there’s nothing I can do. It’s my duty, Dia.”
Feeling bad for making him think she’d want him to do otherwise, she came forward and began helping him with his buttons.
“I’m a colonel’s daughter,” she reminded him. “I’ve watched my father leave for explorations and battles since I was a little girl. I’m proud to watch you do the same.”
He grasped her hands, stilling them when she reached for his tie. “Don’t be afraid.”
She forced a smile. It was too late for that. The Earth Army had been exploring for almost a decade in search of an inhabitable planet. Along the way they’d encountered many hostile alien species, most of whom saw humans as inferior beings and wanted nothing more than to exterminate them. War had decimated their numbers, leaving them vulnerable to attack. The Matsai took that to mean one thing: open season on humans and their space stations.
“I’m not,” she assured him. “So long as you come back to me.”
Grasping her chin, he tipped her head back and kissed her as if stealing her last breath. “Always,” he whispered. “I will always come back to you.”
❦
Chapter 2
Napet Space Station
Earth Army—Space Flight Corps, Division III Headquarters
Onyx entered one of several officers’ conference rooms contained within the building housing his division. The third division of Earth Army’s Space Flight Corps was nestled right at the heart of Napet’s gleaming city. Steel and glass reflected the light of billions of stars inward, lighting his way along the long corridor.
The building was mostly empty, as it neared midnight. His commanding officers had summoned him in the dead of night for something they’d cited as ‘an emergency’. While Dia had feared his being sent out on a mission, he knew it had to be more than that. Assignments were never given in this haphazard manner. Officers were called in and given orders, which also got transmitted to them via email. The tablet he always kept nearby would have alerted him to any incoming orders or messages.
There had been none.
Which could only mean he’d been accused of some form of treachery. Again.
He sighed, ensuring his posture remained erect as he marched into the room and to the center of the circle of tables where his superiors sat. Five years hadn’t been enough to prove him a good soldier, or a decent human being.
Of course, he wasn’t human, but that didn’t seem
to matter when he was killing off the Matsai for them. It didn’t matter when he took his orders like a good boy, and went the extra mile to ensure that he excelled at a level far beyond his peers. Sometimes, he thought perhaps he’d done it. Why else would they promote him to major if he hadn’t earned it—if they didn’t trust him?
Yet, someone always feared him, or saw him as a foreigner infringing upon their privilege. It wasn’t enough that he’d lost his family and home—that his home planet had been destroyed in a war they had started. It didn’t matter that he’d spent most of his childhood in a prison, working to earn enough money to buy his freedom, or that as a soldier he had an impeccable record. After all, having an army full of young men—most of whom were no older than twenty-one—meant someone always found trouble. Drunkenness, lasciviousness, bad conduct: all were offenses his fellow soldiers, both enlisted and officers, had been found guilty of at one time or another.
But not him. He’d always done everything he could to fit in, short of altering his dark, Ethelenian skin. He wouldn’t have even if he could.
Standing at attention, he met the eyes of each of his superiors with confidence. Cowering had never been his style and he didn’t intend to start now.
“Major,” said General Watrous from his place dead center. “Thank you for making haste to arrive promptly.”
He inclined his head. “Of course. It’s late, and I’m certain you all wish to have this done with so you can all return home.”
To his left, Lieutenant General Wycke raised his bushy gray eyebrows at him. “Do you know why we’ve asked you here tonight?”
“No, sir,” he replied quickly. Rapid responses made them feel respected.
“I want you to know that I think its bull,” the lieutenant general said, shaking his head, his expression reading as one of annoyance. “But once the colonel brought the matter to our attention, I’m sure you realized it became our responsibility to investigate.”
Onyx’s blood ran cold as his worst fear became reality. They knew about Dia and him.
“Of course,” he said aloud, determined that they would never see him sweat. “You’re only doing your duty, like any good officer.”
Wycke nodded in agreement. “Precisely.” Turning to his left, he got the attention of the private standing at attention near the closed door. “Show Tian in.”
The door swung open and Colonel Tian entered, his face a mottled shade of red, a murderous glint in his eyes. He bared clenched teeth as he neared, marring his otherwise handsome features. He had the same swarthy skin, dark hair, and hazel eyes as his daughter, though at the moment it became hard to see the resemblance.
“I’ll see you decommissioned for this, you piece of alien trash,” he growled, so low only the two of them could hear.
Anger boiled his blood, just beneath the surface of his skin, but Onyx ignored him, refusing to even acknowledge that the other man had spoken. If he showed anger, they would say they’d always expected him to act in such a way. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
“Colonel,” General Watrous said, folding his hands in front of him. “You have entreated us to decommission Major Onyx under the rules of Article 246—behavior unfitting a commissioned officer. Under what grounds?”
“The son of a whore has been… he…” The colonel could hardly get the words out, he’d grown so angry. He sputtered and stuttered for a while before finally getting it out. “I have been informed, just tonight, that he has been consorting with my daughter behind my back. In secret, in seedy hotel rooms, no less.”
Wycke hardly looked concerned, though a few of the other officers stared at Onyx with disgust. Many of them trusted him with an entire fleet of ships, but they wouldn’t leave him alone in a room with their daughters for more than five minutes.
“Is this true, Major?”
Squaring his shoulders, Onyx did what he’d always done: he told the truth.
“It’s true, I have been seeing Dia Tian for the last six months,” he admitted. “But I never took her to a hotel room until—”
“Until you talked her into doing whatever sick sexual acts your kind indulges in against my wishes, you sadistic—”
“Until after I’d married her,” Onyx interjected, swiveling his head to meet the colonel’s narrow glare. “Dia and I are married. She is my wife.”
A low hum filled the room as the other officers leaned toward each other, whispering among themselves. If at all possible, the colonel turned even redder.
“No! That can’t be true! I know my daughter. She would never do something like that without telling me.”
“It’s true,” Onyx insisted. “I have the documents to prove it. We’ve been married for a month now. We had our reasons for keeping it a secret, but had intended to tell Colonel Tian together in private.”
He could feel the censure being directed at the colonel for openly airing out his family’s dirty laundry. The army frowned on the personal lives of their officers spilling over into their duty. It made things far too messy.
“There you have it, Colonel,” said Wycke. “The boy’s gone and married her. This is cause for celebration, not reprimands and secret meetings.”
“My daughter’s marriage to a dishonest, filthy alien?” the colonel hissed, his chest heaving with rage. “Tell me, sir. Would you want him married to your daughter?”
“Half the enlisted have been in trouble for drinking too much and disorderly conduct. The other half can’t keep it in their pants and practically live in the infirmary complaining about the burning sensation when they take a leak. Major Onyx has served the army with honor and distinction. If I had a daughter, I could think of no better man for her.”
Onyx fought back a smile. He could always count on Wycke to have his back, even when the others failed him.
“But… but he lied to me! He encouraged my daughter to keep secrets from me. I know Dia, sir. She would never willingly lie to me. He’s practiced some kind of alien sorcery on her. I know he has!”
Onyx cleared his throat. “With all due respect, Dia is seventeen. I do believe that is the age humans are encouraged to find a mate to begin procreating. Earth’s population is severely diminished, and every young girl must do her part. Dia and I just so happen to have fallen in love, making the decision of choosing a mate easy for us both. We kept it a secret only because we wanted privacy and time to be together before I come down on orders.”
“You wanted her to yourself so you could influence her,” Tian accused. “That way, no one could stop her from making such a horrible decision!”
“Enough!” Watrous thundered, pounding one fist on the table. “I have heard quite enough. Colonel, if the marriage is legal—which I’m sure it is—then there is little that can be done about this. Dia has reached the age of consent, and Onyx has done the right thing, marrying her instead of continuing to carry on with her behind your back. You should be grateful she’s chosen so well.”
The Colonel seethed, lowering his eyes to the floor. His jaw tightened and loosened spasmodically, his hands clenched behind his back.
“We will hear no more of this,” Wycke agreed. “This matter hardly constitutes a decommissioning. You are lucky we don’t bring you up on charges for dragging us all from our homes this late over nothing. You are dismissed.”
Tian faltered, glancing from their commanding officers to Onyx with fire in his stare. Onyx had never felt so hated in his life. Yet, relief flooded him now that it had all been dragged out into the open. No more secrets. He and Dia were free to be together in public, something he’d always wanted.
“I said, you are dismissed, Colonel,” Wycke repeated, his tone indicating he wouldn’t tolerate defiance.
Snapping to attention, Tian saluted the other officers. “Good night, sirs.”
They saluted him back, and the room fell silent as he exited. Onyx remained at attention, as he hadn’t been dismissed yet.
“Major, first allow us to congratulate you on your marriage,�
�� Wycke continued. “You hardly needed to keep it a secret. We all must do our duty in the repopulation effort, and well… you aren’t human, but you look like one, and you have proven yourself to be honorable. Your son will likely be as good an officer as you someday.”
Will you all scorn him behind his back like you do me? Will you call him a half-breed?
It was one of his greatest fears—one of the reasons it had taken him so long to marry Dia. Even though he’d known from the first time they’d kissed that she was the one, he’d waited. He’d never wanted to ruin her life by sentencing her to an existence like his—one where she would be shunned because of him. Yet, she’d insisted that all that mattered was their love. She didn’t care about such things.
Even now that it had been done, he wasn’t so sure. Still, he possessed just enough selfishness that having her outweighed it all. One shard of happiness among the ruin that the rest of his life had become.
“Thank you, sir,” he replied.
“Now that we are all here, you may as well know that you’ll be coming down on orders first thing in the morning,” Watrous chimed in. “The Matsai were spotted in Quadrant Four, near the Avaron Space Station. We believe they mean to attack.”
“When do I leave?” Onyx asked without hesitation. Despite the way he’d been treated, nothing excited him more than engaging in battle and putting his knack for strategy to work.
“As soon as your fleet can be readied,” Wycke said. “You’ll have fifty airships in your charge. They’re expecting you.”
He nodded. “A request, sir?”
“Yes, Major?”
“May I be allowed to bring my wife along?” he asked. “Under the circumstances, I do not believe it’s wise to leave her behind.”
The moment I’m gone her father will start poisoning her against me.
The last thing he needed was the colonel sticking his nose into their new marriage. Besides, he knew she would only worry once he was gone, despite her insistence that she could handle it.
“Request granted,” Watrous replied with a decisive nod. “We could hardly expect to keep a man away from his bride.”
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