Prime Selection (16 page)

“Your brother is a stubborn idiot. This is their personal business and we need to stay out of it.”

“If it begins to affect their work, I will have to get involved. Until then, I will do as you suggest,
gemate lubha
.” Wulf kissed her cheek. “Iolyn and I might have to beat our brother to a pulp for his actions, though.
Diew
, even Aeron went out of his way to mention Huw’s behavior. There was an incident in the training room this morning. Huw attacked one of the Jod brothers and then stormed out. No one has seen him since.”

“I heard.” Melina sighed. “Unfortunately, someone spotted him. I was eating lunch with Nadia in the crew’s mess on planet, and the whole room was filled with talk of the training incident. Then some loud mouth said Huw had gone to Susa’s. The men in the room snickered.” His
gemate
’s eyes flashed with anger. “Nadia asked me point-blank who Susa was. I told her the truth. Nadia paled, excused herself, and left the room. The Jod brothers were present at the time. Bre told the men who’d spread the gossip they were asses and that such private matters weren’t for public consumption. I was ready to give him an additional commendation for his loyalty to Nadia.”

Wulf sighed and hugged Melina. “It will be a rough period of adjustment for my Prime soldiers. They aren’t used to male-female interactions in their workplace and will fixate on the relationships that do develop. It is a good thing the doctors planned so quickly to have the lecture on dating and social interactions with non-Prime women this evening. I am ordering Huw to attend.”

“What if Huw doesn’t?” Melina’s brow wrinkled with concern.

“Iolyn will drag Huw’s ass to it even if we have to beat on him a bit.” Wulf wouldn’t allow Nadia to be hurt by his brother. She was an excellent officer and a good friend to his
gemate
. His brother needed to get over his fixation on mating with a Prime woman and take the obviously compatible and lovely woman right in front of him.

And if he and Iolyn had to kick his brother every day until he woke up and realized the fact—they would do it. Their father was also on board; he had adored Nadia since the kidnapping. His father recognized a strong woman when he saw one—too bad Huw didn’t seem to be as astute.

“I’ll help beat on him if you need me.” Melina rubbed her cheek against his arm.

“That is very generous of you,
lubha
. We’ll let you know.” He patted her thigh and left his hand there. The connection soothed him.

“The meeting will come to order.” Ilar Caradoc looked around the table, a solemn look on his face.

Wulf sensed anger in his parent and wondered what else had happened since he’d last spoken with his father that morning.

“Thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedules to attend this hastily arranged meeting.” His father made eye contact with every person at the table. His gaze lingered on Wulf and Melina for a split second longer than the others, and Wulf felt his father’s pride and pleasure in their bonding. “Matters have come to my attention which concern Gold’s upcoming mission to find any remaining Lost Ones. Another layer of duties will be added to that mission.”

Wulf stiffened and unconsciously gripped Melina’s thigh tighter. This was news to him. Melina covered his hand with hers and stroked until he loosened his grip.

“Wulf, I know this comes as a surprise … and I’ll get to the additional duties in a minute. But, first, we need to address a more immediate concern.” Ilar looked down the table. “General Arnat, please share your findings gleaned from the intelligence elicited during interrogations of the mercenaries and Prime traitors and your suggestion on how to handle what you’ve learned.”

“Thank you, Premier Caradoc.” The General stood and strode to the head of the table. “My adjutant is handing out the transcripts of the interrogations. Briefly, the mercenaries and the few traitors working with the rebels planned to use the joint training as a way to get their hands on female Alliance soldiers. The rebels would then have used some of these women as hostages to leverage their demands upon the Prime government.

The women not so used would have been sold to the Antareans as sex slaves.”

Lia and Melina gasped and the men rumbled angrily. Wulf wanted to kill someone; preferably the man he suspected had given the orders to the hirelings—his second cousin, Darga Caradoc.

“Therefore, I have advised Premier Caradoc it would be unwise while Gold is in space dock and the soldiers are on planet for training to allow the female crew members to walk about without extra protection. He has agreed. Thus, we wish to request the Alliance Military Command make it a requirement the women of Gold Squadron have at least one male Gold soldier with them while out in public on planet at all times. The Prime Military Command will do what is needed to keep the peace on the planet and protect the Alliance soldiers, but we cannot be everywhere. Thank you.” The General returned to his seat and sat.

Wulf’s father turned to Admiral Nelson. “Admiral, would you like to address this concern and our request?”

The Admiral stood, but remained at his seat. “After reading the transcripts and having sat in on some of the interrogations, I’m very concerned over the rabid tenor of the orders given to these thugs and traitors. I don’t want any of my personnel, male or female, in the hands of these animals. I’ve been in touch with Alliance Command and my superiors have concurred. An order will go out at the end of this meeting. It requires
all
Gold Squadron soldiers to stay in pairs while on the planet. My order also further requires that our women will always have at least one male soldier with them. My soldiers will also be armed at all times with their hand weapons set on the highest stun levels. Do you have an issue with that last order, General?”

“No, I do not. I will make sure my people know this is authorized … with your permission, Premier Caradoc?”

“Granted. The female soldiers do not have the physical strength to take on even the weakest Prime male…”

Wulf had to smother a smile when Melina snorted.

Ilar paused and smiled at Melina. “Maybe with the exception of my daughter-kin, but, Melina, you are a Prime battle-mate and thus have an advantage.”

“Acknowledged, Father-kin.” Melina inclined her head in respect. “But I have several female soldiers whom I know could take down a Prime male—and have in training. But I agree with the Admiral, pairing the women with another male soldier and the addition of the lasers set on high stun should be a deterrent—and that is, after all, what we want to do, isn’t it? Send a message?”

“Exactly, Captain Melina,” the Admiral said. “And I’ve observed the women in question and am proud their Alliance training has stood them well. Keep up the good work. I witnessed a lot of respect from the Prime males who were put on their asses earlier today as I passed through the training center. And the sense of teamwork is coming across very well in the short two weeks since the merger.”

“The Tarn situation was the turning point, Admiral.” Wulf swept a glance around the table. “I have not had a chance to read the transcripts from the interrogations, but did any of the traitors provide us any leads as to whom they worked for?”

“No, Wulf.” Ilar scowled. “They all had the same story. They joined a small cell and the instructions were provided in written messages, left in pre-arranged spots. And they burned the messages.” His father snarled and shook his head. “There were never any direct voice communications that could be traced. The mercenaries were hired by the small cell leaders per instructions spelled out in the messages. We are at a dead end unless we can get someone undercover in one of the cells or the rebel leaders make a mistake and become more visible to their followers.”

“They have made mistakes in the past, Father. They will again.” Wulf hoped it would happen before anyone he loved was captured or killed. “How are you distributing the new orders to our crews?”

“A text message has been sent to all Gold crew members. And a scrolling notice is on the monitors in all barracks. And I will also ask that the good doctors mention the new orders this evening at the mandatory program on social interactions among Prime Gold crew members and non-Prime females.” Ilar looked at the two doctors and inclined his head. “I applaud the doctors for coming up with this program so quickly. We do not want any misunderstandings during this crucial period of adjustment.”

Wulf nodded. “Now, Father, what has happened that Gold’s first mission’s objectives have been altered?”

“I will turn that over to Admiral Nelson.” Ilar sat.

“Thank you, Premier Caradoc.” The Admiral walked to the front of the room, speaking as he moved. “The Alliance has had a request from two scientific outposts in the Iota Persei system.” The Admiral stopped by an audio-visual panel and called up a galaxy map. He zeroed in on the part of the galaxy between the Perseus and Cygnus-Orion arms that was affected. “Mercenaries and pirates are raiding the outposts and the scientists need assistance. So far they’ve only lost supplies and no lives, but the head scientists feel they’ve just been lucky.”

Melina’s breath hitched and the hand she’d placed on top of his trembled.

“Melina mine, are you all right?”

“Yes, just remembering how helpless I felt when the Antareans attacked Obam IV—
and killed my parents and their scientific team. We have to help these people.”

“We will.”

Ilar must have sensed their telepathic communication, because his eyes gleamed with sympathy as his gaze singled her out. “My daughter-kin can testify to the helplessness of the scientists who are not soldiers and are at the mercy of these marauders.”

Admiral Nelson also turned a sympathetic eye on Melina. “This situation is very reminiscent of what happened with your parents’ expedition. We hope to avoid another tragic outcome. Thus, Gold shall visit each expedition so threatened, resupply them, assess, and then bolster their defenses. Gold will also leave one battle cruiser per colony to remain on patrol and present a defensive posture to any would-be raiders.”

“Will this be a permanent assignment?” asked Melina. “While I’m sure Gold can handle anything tossed at it, battle cruisers are the only large ships we have that can make a dirt landing. This might hurt us in a battle to protect other colonies.”

“I agree, Melina,” said Admiral Nelson. “Once you’re back from the Lost Ones mission, we’ll assign two more battle cruisers to your squadron. You’ll then be able to rotate the duty to protect the scientific expeditions. The permanency of the assignment will be dictated by the expeditions’ durations.” He looked first at Wulf and then Melina.

“Do you have any concerns about the Lost Ones mission and being down two cruisers?”

“It won’t be a problem, Admiral,” said Wulf. “My bigger concern would be a battle cruiser per expedition might not be enough if the Antareans chose to attack. Pirates are more easily handled. But Gold will be within twelve-to-twenty-four standard hours of the planets you’ve noted. So, I don’t see a big problem. Our battle cruiser captains have the heavy air experience to go dirt-side and defend the scientists on the ground until we get there. Don’t you agree, Melina?”

“Yes. I’d like to suggest the
Renard
and the
Picarus
as the two battle cruisers.”

Melina leaned into Wulf’s body. “The captains of those two cruisers have the most experience at dirt-side defense.”

“I concur. My Melina knows her captains well.”

“Good. Inform your captains,” Admiral Nelson said. “I’ll request two new battle cruisers and crews from Alliance Military Command. They’ll be here, ready for crew mergers with the Prime when you return from your mission. Good luck and God speed.”

That evening, an ocean-side bar, Cejuru Prime
“How do we know Prime males can mate with other hominids?”

“What do you mean by mate, Huw?” Lia eyed him curiously.

Dr. Kerr Lenke, her Prime colleague, nodded his agreement with Lia’s clarifying question. “Be specific, Huw. Do you mean actual procreation? Because we know we can have offspring with Terrans—we did so in the distant past. There are family lines on our planet with Terran DNA, although it’s recessive. I also don’t expect too much of an issue with other hominids especially in light of Dr. Brianna Martin’s successful gene-splicing work with the Volusians. Or, do you mean
actual
production of a
gemat-gemate
bonding?”

And wasn’t that the million-credit question.

Nadia leaned back against the plush booth and surveyed her dinner companions, all of whom were focused on Kerr’s comments. To her right were Huw and then Iolyn. To their right was Royce Nowicki. On Royce’s right were Aeron, Kerr, and Lia. Sitting to Nadia’s immediate left was Joen Dakkin.

The current topic of debate had begun during the required lecture for all Gold Squadron crews members: “Dating Dos and Don’ts.” The early evening lecture had carried over post-class to this ocean-side bar. While the lecture had been aimed at educating the Prime males about non-Prime social interactions, Huw had broached the topic that had been the ten-megaton pachyderm in the room: would all this interaction produce what the Prime male desired the most—the mind-body-spirit trinity?

Nadia hadn’t needed to attend the lecture or its aftermath to hear how Huw felt about the topic. From the heated discussion during and after the doctors’ lecture, he seemed to be the only Prime male who cared about the bonding aspect all Prime had sought in the past.