Authors: Laurie Roma
Unlike other mothers within the Alliance who practically handed their children over once they entered the training facilities, Donna refused to stop looking out for Jax or his siblings once they turned ten. As the oldest of four children, Jax considered himself the test case. He often told his younger brothers and sister that their parents had worked out most of their neurosis by the time Jax had graduated from the Academy.
Back when Jax was young, his parents had changed the conditions of the training facilities in the Capital. Ian and Jack had been used to the barren environment of the Academy, but Donna had been horrified when she’d gone to visit. She would not rest until the facility looked more like a school than a military barracks. Jax’s fathers had tried to protest, but there was nothing they wouldn’t do for their chosen, and Donna was a frightening force to be reckoned with when she wanted something.
Outraged that some of the other parents had abandoned their own children, Donna had opened the Spartan-Rollins home to Jax’s friends, and to anyone who had nowhere else to go when they were given leave from the training facility. Learning from all three of his parents, Jax had become a champion of those who had no one to fight for them.
Sullivan Archer had been one of those children.
Left on the doorstep of one of the Alliance outposts in the outskirts of the badlands, Archer had started his life as an orphan. He’d never known who his mother or father were, and they obviously hadn’t cared about him enough to raise him themselves. He was just another nameless child, another mouth to feed out in a place where resources were scarce.
Fortunately, he had been taken in by a pair of elite soldiers who had fallen in love with an infertile woman who ran an orphanage located in the outpost. The female children were always taken in by families, but the boys…they were left to fend for themselves until they became old enough to be tested. All of the elites on that particular base had taken turns helping raise the children. They were luckier than other innocents had that been thrown away, but it still didn’t mean they had a place where they truly belonged.
After Archer turned ten and went through testing, he had been sent to the Capital and enrolled in the Academy. Far from his foster family, he had been scared and alone…until he met Jax. From the moment they had started training together, the two of them had become fast friends. Where Jax had black hair, steel-gray eyes and a quick temper, Archer was his opposite, with burnished gold hair, light-brown eyes and a wicked sense of humor. They were the dark and the light, but they had a similar mindset. They balanced each other and grew stronger together.
Working with Jax, Archer had finally found his place.
Several years later, Archer had been the first to recognize a fellow lost soul in Serra. Jax had been concerned when they had seen the frightened young girl thrown in among them, but it quickly became clear why the transfer had been made. He and Archer had made an unspoken vow to watch out for her in order to make sure she didn’t get lost in the sea of recruits.
Before Serra was given the enhancements, she had already shown promise of being extremely intelligent, but after, she surpassed even genius level. She had been lost, terrified by her new surroundings. Her advanced mental capabilities had ensured that she would never fit into normal society, and something in her somber pale-green eyes had touched Jax and Archer. Serra had been almost resigned to the fact that the older recruits resented her for being smarter than them, and her gifts marked her as an oddity who could never fit in.
From the moment they’d met Serra, Jax and Archer had felt an overwhelming urge to protect the little girl with sad eyes too big for her small face. They had quickly ensured that the other recruits knew that anyone messing with her would have to deal with them.
No one wanted to face the wrath of Jax…even back then.
While they were in the Academy, Jax and Archer had taken many recruits under their protection, but there was something special about Serra. Over the two years they had watched over her, she had blossomed out of her shell, but only around them. Whenever she needed comfort, she would run to Archer to wipe away her tears, but she’d always run to Jax to fight her demons. If she were ever scared or worried about anything, Jax was the first person she sought out. His friends used to tease him about his little shadow, but one hard look from him would shut them up.
When they’d graduated from the Academy and had been sent off on their first official assignment on Alpha Station: X1, it had been difficult to say goodbye to Serra. Because of her age, she’d been kept in the training facility. While they were away, the trainers had chosen to have experts in a variety of fields of science and engineering come to the Academy to tutor Serra privately, but losing her two closest friends had destroyed the fragile cocoon of safety she’d felt when they were around.
Jax and Archer had tried to keep in touch with her, but it was difficult to do when they were always working. It wasn’t until two years later, when they were able to get reassigned back on Earth, that they came face-to-face with a sixteen year old Serra. Seeing her again had taken their breath away, and that was when those simple protective feelings changed to something more.
Something deeper and harder to explain.
Serra had turned into a beauty while they had been stationed off planet. At sixteen, she had lost the softness that came with youth, and there was a new confidence in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Jax and Archer had only to share a look to know they were in complete accord. They knew that the little girl they had adored with veiled amusement and affection would be the woman they’d one day claim as their chosen.
Unfortunately, they weren’t aware their reactions to her were being observed until it was too late. Tania Lysander-Dobbs, Serra’s overprotective mother, had taken note of Jax and Archer’s interest in her daughter, and had been alarmed by their attention. It wasn’t long after their reunion when Tania had pulled Serra out of the Academy and entered her into an internship program off planet.
That had been almost eight years ago.
Jax and Archer had watched with pride as she’d become one of the brightest minds the Alliance ever had working for them, and they had wanted her. Serra’s development of the shield that protected Earth and all of the Alliance bases throughout space kept her traveling. During the years that had passed, Jax and Archer’s contact with Serra had been reduced to random letters they received from her. They always responded, but she kept their correspondence infrequent, driving them crazy with her resistance to come home. She had an important position, and they knew that, but it didn’t mean they’d been happy about it.
Back before she had turned eighteen, Serra had been granted special status due to her contributions to the Alliance when she had signed on as an official inventor. Her new status allowed her to choose her own bonding partners, warning any overzealous elites that there were extreme consequences if she was claimed against her will. It had soothed Jax and Archer’s anger when she made it clear she wasn’t interested in any other men during her travels.
Still, they’d kept track of Serra wherever she went, watching out for her however they could. She had been appointed three sets of guards who rotated the duty of keeping her safe, and all six men having been warned that if they tried to touch her it would mean their death. Jax hadn’t fucked around when he’d made that statement to each of the guards, and he had let them see the truth in his eyes.
Archer had been more subtle with his protection of Serra. Perhaps it had been a little over-the-top, but he had placed a tracker in a small heart necklace made of
xithradite
he’d given her before she had left all those years ago.
Xithradite
was a precious metal found on the Helios planet that shimmered and constantly changed colors, which made it perfect for jewelry. The necklace was beautiful, but it also allowed them to know where she was, in case she ever needed them. Archer had once told Jax that he would delete the program if she ever chose a bonding pair instead of coming back to them, but she never had, so the link remained active.
They knew in their hearts that she was meant for them. She knew it too, but something held her back—something they didn’t understand. They had been willing to let her work up her nerve to come to them. Over the last few years they had seen her briefly, and the hunger for her had been growing into a gnawing ache that needed to be sated. Now the time had come and they wouldn’t wait any longer.
They had a past, but more important…they had a future.
Jax’s patience was at an end and he turned away from the two regents, heading to the door of the viewing room. He had to force himself not to snarl as his father reached out to grip his arm, stopping him before he could open the door. He didn’t pull away because the hold was gentle, and he respected his father too much to dishonor him by doing so.
“Jax, this is too important to just let go. We may not have any evidence that she was the one who sold the shield tech, but we cannot let this new stealth technology get into the hands of our enemies.”
“She isn’t behind this. Where are her guards? I want them questioned.”
Regent Ian Spartan released his hold on Jax and huffed out an impatient breath. “Already done. They were also taken into custody when they landed. Two members of the SI Division are with Officers Meyers and Rhine now.”
“I’ve called in my own interrogators from SI. Hold them until my men can interrogate them,” Jax ordered. He knew that all the officers of the SI Division were capable, but his friends were the best, and he and Archer would only trust them with Serra.
As soon as Jax had discovered that Serra had been taken into custody, he had made the call to the Capital’s Director of the Security and Interrogation Division, Dominic Stryker. Dom was known as a bad-ass that could make a suspect spill his guts with just one hard look of his piercing black eyes. He also had the added advantage of working with Arik V’Dir, one of the few members of the D’Aire alien race that had decided to make Earth his home.
In the year 2960 a new alien race came to Earth called the Zyphir. They’d been a colony race of insect-like creatures that stood on two feet. What they came for was total annihilation of the human race, after which they’d planned to take over Earth and deplete the world of all resources until moving on to the next planet that suited their needs. A three year war ensued, during which a large portions of Earth were destroyed. Not just by battle, but by an unknown virus the Zyphir carried that nearly wiped out the entire population. Without the aid of the Arcadians, Krytos and the D’Aire alien races, Earth would have been nothing but a memory.
Regent Spartan’s eyes narrowed. “Who have you called in?”
“Director Stryker and Ambassador V’Dir.”
With a satisfied nod, Regent Spartan said, “They are the best. If she’s innocent, they’ll clear her. The information we have is that the sale for the new stealth technology is set to be held on New Vega in a few weeks. Serra Lysander is booked on a private shuttle for New Vega before the deadline. That is highly suspicious. Even you have to admit that.”
“And why is she back on Earth now?” Regent Marks asked. “She hardly ever comes back on planet, so why has she decided to check out the drones we’re testing the stealth tech on? We aren’t set to add it to the fleet for another three months, so why is she here now? She arrived here in the Capital. If she is here to examine her creation, why didn’t she arrive in Light City where the testing site is? We need to know what the hell she is trying to hide!”
Jax stared at the regents, knowing the older men saw the hard edge that gleamed from his own eyes. “Archer,” he snapped.
Knowing what Jax was asking for, Archer stepped forward. “Serra Lysander comes back to Earth every year for a two week period this time a year so she can attend the Freedom Day Gala. She’d never fly into Light City unless she has to, because that is where her fathers are stationed. Since they’re more interested in spending their free time with their mistress instead of seeing their daughter, Serra doesn’t bother with them. Tania Lysander-Dobbs is sure to stay clear of Earth if Serra is going to be anywhere near her fathers.”
“Why would Serra have handed the technology over to the Alliance if she just wanted to sell it?” Jax asked. “If you’ve looked at her accounts, you know she doesn’t care about credits. She hardly spends anything, and has more than she could spend in a lifetime anyways. All her time is focused on work.”
“Still, that doesn’t explain about the timing of the sale,” Regent Marks argued.
Jax turned to glare at the regent. “It’s not her, and you’re wasting time thinking it is.”
Regent Spartan sighed. “Jax, we are doing what we have to in order to protect the Alliance. Hell, to protect Earth. This new stealth program Serra has created far surpasses everything we have to date. Christ, even our systems can’t pick it up on scans. Can you imagine what would happen if one of our enemies had that tech? They could get within range to destroy our shields before we even knew they were there. There is too much at stake for us to simply let her go because you believe her.”
“Our people are working on a system to detect the stealth mode, but they’ve hit a wall and can’t figure out how to do it.” The irritation in Regent Mark’s voice was clear. “We have to figure out who is selling our tech and track the buyer so we can shut it down from that end. We need information, and that woman is the key!”
The grin that crossed Archer’s face was anything but amused. His amber eyes had a dangerous gleam to them that warned everyone in the room that he wasn’t a man to cross. “We’ll figure out who is behind this. Believe me.” He jerked his head toward the door. “Jax.”
Jax nodded then pulled the door open, striding out into the hallway. The two regents scurried out of the room after them, their protests falling on deaf ears. Jax simply glared at the soldier standing guard in front of the closed door to the interrogation room and watched with satisfaction as the poor man shifted to the side with a hunch of his shoulders as if trying to escape notice.