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“Exactly, Lieutenant Commander,” Vennie said, his voice low and conspiratorial.

“Hmm. I wonder what he wants in return,” Rokai said thoughtfully.

“Do you really need the immunity?” Rosie asked.

Rokai met his mate’s gaze, his mind still flipping through the memories he’d accumulated over his lifetime of pirating behavior through the multiverse before finally finding his way back home again. He began slowly nodding as he pursed his lips, holding her gaze unwaveringly. “Oh, yes. It would be a really convenient thing to possess if some of my more… imaginative adventures ever come to light.”

The mobile communicator Vennie carried began to give off its repetitive tone. Vennie looked down at the mobile set attached to his hip and rested his gelatinous finger just above it. “That’s the Chairman, Lieutenant Commander. Should I put him through to your private communicator once more?”

Rokai was still looking into Rosie’s eyes, and she into his. She nodded.

“Yes,” he said.

Vennie answered the incoming communication. “Chairman Bartholomew. I’m standing with him now. I’ll put you through at once, and as I stated before this is a secure unrecordable channel.”

Vennie looked at Rokai as he performed the necessary transfer before squelching away, presumably on his way back to his work station on the command deck.

“Bart! How are you?” Rokai asked.

“I need you,” Bart growled out.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m mated now, and she’s female — more my tastes,” Rokai said jovially.

“Did Vennie have time to deliver any of my request before you finally answered your damn communicator?!” Bart snapped.

“Not really, no. What is that saying my Rosie uses so often… oh, yes, ‘Who has pissed in your cornflakes this fine day?’” Rokai said, thoroughly enjoying himself.

“My female is missing, Rokai. I’m not playing games. I’m not up for a power struggle. I simply want her back unharmed and safely. Now! I want her back now!”

Rokai’s entire countenance shifted from mischievous to focused and alert. “Bart, you’re the fucking Chairman of the Unified Consortium Defense. Go get her.”

“I can’t! She’s somewhere on a space port looking for her piece of shit brother and no one on these fucking space ports will give me any information.”

“Because you’re with the Consortium,” Rokai said.

“Yes. These are the kinds of places that you spent the last half of your life in before Rosie. I need you.”

“I will try, Bart, but I haven’t been moving in those circles for the last few years. They may not trust me as they once did.”

“But they still fear you,” Bart said.

“Well, yeah, I suppose.”

“Remember what you did to the males that hurt Rosie?” Bart asked.

Rokai slowly stood, looking down at his communicator. “Why?”

“Because no one will ever know. And if they do, you’ll have full immunity. Maybe you were on a mission sanctioned by the Consortium.”

Rokai looked worried, a little distracted as he focused on Bart again. “You think someone’s hurting her like that?”

“It’s possible. But it’s also possible that she’s hiding from me. But she’s out there searching for her brother alone. She’s moving through the seediest, most criminal of the ports you traversed and operated in. I need you to find her, I need her safe.”

“Why is she hiding from you?”

“I hurt her. Quin accused her of being involved in the sabotage of his family. I didn't defend her.”

“You’re a fucker,” Rokai said.

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