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“We won’t let it happen.”

“You will speak to me if it does.”

“Loudly!” she said animatedly.

Quin kissed her, then supported her as she slowly turned her body to look out of the window again.

“Are you alright?” he asked, when he saw her lift her hand to press against her lower back and stretch a bit.

“Just really tired. It’s hard to move around comfortably lately.”

“I have noticed. I will make sure that you rest more than needed.”

“I’m okay. Just tired. Thank you, though,” she said. She looked up at him over her shoulder gratefully, but the dark circles under her eyes, and the tightness around her lips told him of the strain she tried to hide from him.

“I will make sure you are well,” he said replacing her hand with his own and beginning to massage the spot on her lower back she’d been pressing on.

They looked out over the planet as they approached until he exclaimed excitedly. “There, Vivi! There’s the palace. That’s our home.”

Vivian gasped again. “Oh, my God! It looks like the Taj Mahal!”

“It’s much more than a hall. It’s an entire palace,” Quin said, concerned that she was not understanding.

Vivian laughed. “Not a hall, the Taj Mahal. It’s a magnificent palace built by one man for the woman he loved.”

“This hall is magnificent you say?” he asked.

“It is one of the most beautiful buildings ever built.”

Quin nodded, looking out of the window again. “This is good, then. You will like it.”

“I love it already,” she said, knowing how important it was to him that she like his childhood home; now her home, too.

“Sovereign, we’re approaching the landing pad. Our forces are in place.”

Quin turned to look at Zahn. “Sovereign? I am not Sovereign. I have not taken the oath yet.”

“Of course, Sire.”

“Confirm once more that all communication implants are operable, now that we’ve broken through the atmosphere,” Quin ordered.

Zahn raised a hand and used a fingertip to run lightly over the communications device that had been implanted just behind his ear to activate it. “K1 to team A. Comm check required. Count off now.”

Zahn listened as all members of security who volunteered to accompany them planet side responded with their assigned number. Each member had consented to the implant of a communications device that not only allowed them to hear any communications sent out to them and or their teams, it allowed them to respond. A slender, almost invisible wire of just a few inches in length had been inserted along their upper jawline just below their ear so that their voices could be transmitted along the communication implants back to whomever may be waiting on a reply. It was a simple thing to implant these devices, equating to little more than the momentary discomfort of an ear-piercing on Earth, the entire team of security for both Quin and Vivi had been successfully implanted in under an hour.

Unfortunately, since Missy wasn’t installed in the palace, and none of the ships or transports assigned to Command Warship 1 would be coming to the planet permanently, they would have not the use of their standard communicators. For a communicator to work properly, it had to have access to the mainframe its software ran on. Without the ability to run ‘Missy’ or a ship connected to her full time, the communicators from the ship just wouldn’t work. They’d have to connect the old fashioned way, through vidcoms.

And that was the whole reason those accompanying Quin and Vivi to the planet had consented to implants. It was imperative for them to be able to communicate at all times.

Zahn stared ahead, mentally keeping track of all the voices that counted off their number when their turn came. When the last number was spoken, he nodded then ran his finger over the implant once more to change the frequency. “K1 to team K. Count off.”

“K2”, Rel said.

“K3”, Asl said.

“K4”, Kail rounded out.

“Sire. The entire team, as well as Team K have confirmed. Please test Team Q.”

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