Page 1 of Guardian's Destiny

SLOANE

"So, your first mission in space."Ashley's holographic form hovered in front of me. "How is it?"

"Surreal," I answered honestly, automatically gazing through the large window at the spaceships coming and going. Every now and then, I still had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Never in a million years had I thought I would ever be in space. Hadn't even had the desire to do so. If I had, I would have joined NASA, not the Marines.

Ashley laughed. "Right? I still get emotional."

That made me laugh. "You? Emotional?"

"Hey, don't bang on a marine only because she has feelings. Not everyone can turn them off like you."

It wasn't a barb. Coming from Ash, it was a compliment. She and I had met at boot camp several years ago and became fast friends. She was the sister I never had. Our friendship had lasted through being stationed at different posts, a change of jobs for me, and an alien invasion.

That we had been reunited after the Cryons attacked had been a small miracle. One, I thanked the lucky stars for every day. Not because Ash had given me the opportunity to keep doing the job I so loved, but because I had my friend back. Oneof my only two friends. The other was Tucker, whom I had, unfortunately, lost track of during the invasion.

"What can I say? It's a gift," I bragged.

"You should give some of that to Daryus. By the way, what did you think of the Emperor?"

That was a loaded question. What did I think of Emperor Daryus? "He's… enigmatic?"

Ash snorted. "Yeah, that's one way to describe him. Did he have one of his famous temper fits?"

Did he ever.

The moment I walked in to meet him, I had to duck because the head of a sculpture came flying my way. "You can call it that."

"I'm sorry. I should have warned you."

The expression on her holographic image dancing in front of me told me that she wasn't actually sorry. After a second more, she broke out in laughter that had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Remember that grunt… what was his name… Ryan?"

"Ryan Sullivan," I nodded. "Nobody will ever forget the man who thought he was God's greatest gift to the entire world's female population.”

"You should know that you will be my inspiration tonight when I make myself cum," Ash whispered in a false baritone, while fighting laughter in between words.

Yeah, Ryan Sullivan had been one of the worst male specimens Earth had to offer and one of many reasons I would stay single for the rest of my life.

I imitated Ash's voice from a time back on Earth, "Oh Ryan, there's a kitty stuck in there."

Ash kept her deep voice, "There is only one kitty I'm interested in…"

It was my turn to snort. In the end, we had been able to talk Ryan—making many, many false sexual promises—into going toretrieve thekitty. What we hadn't told him was the kitty was a bobcat, sleeping in its den.

"Well, now I know how he felt," I said, wiping random tears of laughter from the corner of my eyes. "Now thanks to the Emperor and you I know how he felt."

"In my defense, I had no idea he would have one of his temper fits." Ash tried to sound contrite.

"But you were hoping?"

"Pleading the fifth." She made a zipping motion over her lips. "No, honestly, how was it?"

What she was really asking was, did I get the job?

Only a year in with the marines, I switched to MARSOC, and a few operations later, Deputy Director Jane Austin recruited me to the CIA, where I found my true calling.

After Ash and I had a happy reunion on Earth, she intimated that the Pandraxian Emperor was looking for a new Chief Intelligence Officer. I tried to tame her excitement about us working together. A Chief Intelligence Officer position wasn't really something you got offered. You had to earn it. And despite my talents for the job, Emperor Daryus and I both knew that I lackedspaceexperience, including alien politics, assets, contacts and so on.

Ash had done her best, training me in the alien technology, even taught me how to fly a spacecraft, but at the end of the day I was knowledgeable enough to admit that even though I had a vast knowledge of a lot of shit, I didn't know anything. I lacked assets and connections to the right people. I lacked the knowledge of the political minefield a Chief Intelligence Officer had to navigate. These were things you learned on the job, and as good as I had been on Earth, this was a whole new ballgame for me. One, I needed to learn how to play first.

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