Page 39 of Caught By Menace

Vicious exhaled roughly. “Let’s not do this, Orion. We’ve been friends and colleagues too long to allow something ugly like this to occur under our shared watch.”

“Is that your way of telling me you have a proposal?”

“My wife remains in contact with friends on the surface. She’s aware of a handful of women who desperately want to leave Calyx.” Vicious addressed Flare. “Would you be willing to consider one of these women as a potential bride?”

Flare’s angry expression softened. “There are women who want to be married to Harcos men?”

“The town Hallie comes from is a terrible place. Women there are given no opportunities. For many of them, being chosen in the lottery for the Grabs is like winning a one-way ticket out of hell.”

“Flare, I’m going to urge you to consider the general’s offer,” Orion counseled the captain. “You’ve seen the general’s wife?” Flare nodded. “She’s very beautiful.”

“And sweet and modest,” Orion added. He shot Menace a disapproving look. “I hear the woman he was unlucky enough to grab is a shrew. You can take Menace’s foulmouthed harpy or you can choose a nice, gentle woman who actuallywantsto leave her home and start a new life with a brave Harcos man.”

Menace bristled at the admiral’s description of Naya but let it slide. He recognized that Orion was actually helping his case in trying to dissuade Flare from pursuing his claim to Naya.

“Is it legal?” Flare’s question calmed Menace’s frayed nerves. The man was considering Vicious’ option.

“It is,” Vicious assured him. “The arrangement would be treated the same way as the matchmaking services from Harcos Prime.”

Flare gestured to his ruined leg. “I can’t go down to the surface to get her. How do I know one of the members of the team you send won’t claim her for himself?”

It was a valid question. The tricky unclaimed-property laws made it very easy for another man to swipe a new bride. After the last Grab, there had been a massive brawl aboard theArctiswhen a land corps sergeant had taken a pilot’s new bride and barricaded her in his quarters. The Special Response Unit led by Raze had ended up blasting the door down to get them out but the bride was so enamored with the sergeant’s brash “romantic” act that she’d refused to go back to the pilot. To say it had been a clusterfuck of epic proportions was the understatement of the century.

“I’ll go.” Menace held Flare’s disbelieving gaze. “I’m happily matched to Naya and have no reason to take your woman. I’ll go down to the surface and safely escort your bride back to you.”

Flare narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Why should I trust you? Can you honestly say I’m not your enemy now?”

Menace scoffed. “Enemy? We’re brothers-in-arms. Am I irritated that you scared my woman? Yes. Am I going to hold it against you? No. You’ve earned the right to a wife and a family. Naya didn’t mean to cause such a traumatic injury, but she was partially responsible for your current predicament. My wife’s debts of honor are mine. I intend to make this one right.”

Flare nodded stiffly. “Thank you, Menace.”

Orion pushed off his desk and straightened. “So it’s settled? No more talks of blood feuds and mess-hall beat downs?”

Vicious smiled. “I think we’ve managed to head off disaster.”

“Good.” Orion shook Vicious’ hand and clapped him on the back. He stepped forward and offered his hand to Menace. Voice soft, he said, “That bit about calling your wife a harpy? I didn’t mean it.”

Menace gripped the man’s hand. “Understood, sir.”

“I’ll leave this to you, Vicious. Will Raze’s team handle the extraction?”

“Yes,” Vicious confirmed.

“I’ll give you Zephyr for this mission. He’s my best stealth pilot.” Orion walked to his desk and tapped his communication unit. “Hunter? Send in the medics and call Zephyr into my office.”

“Yes, sir.”

A moment later, the medics entered the office. One of them used the controls on the back of Flare’s chair. The other waited by the door. Menace watched the broken man leave the office. He couldn’t shake the sympathy eating at him. It wasn’t completely Naya’s fault the man had hurt himself so badly. It was simply a freak accident, but for a military man in his prime to lose it all because of something as stupid as a rolling log? It was almost too painful to consider.

Menace received a nod of dismissal from Vicious and started out of the office. Just as he left, he heard Orion ask Vicious, “Are there truly many women who want to marry and leave Calyx?”

“There are. Why? Would you like one of them? I could make the arrangement for you.”

“No, no,” Orion quickly replied. He laughed nervously. “I was just asking for my men. There are some who have the points to enter a Grab, but not enough seniority to make it onto the lists every quarter. There are so many men aboard theValiantwith years of dedicated service, especially in the land corps, that the younger airmen among us don’t have much of a chance…”

Menace didn’t hear the rest of the conversation. The admiral’s thought was an interesting one. Menace had bumped a younger pilot off the Connor’s Run Grab list when he’d added his name. At the time, he hadn’t much cared. He’d earned his spot, after all, but now he wondered if there wasn’t a better way to do things down on Calyx. If Vicious was right and there were women who wanted to marry, why not give them access to matchmaking services like the ones on Prime?

“Well, that went better than I’d expected,” Vicious muttered upon rejoining him. “Looks like Hallie has saved my ass yet again. The moons know she won’t let me forget it.”

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