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“I think it would be lovely. But I don’t think you should ignore that communicator anymore.”

“I’m off duty. They all know it.”

“Maybe someone needs you,” Rosie said.

“Maybe someone needs to leave me alone so I can plan some time away from this ship with my Ehlealah! So, do you want beaches, or do you want mountains, or perhaps we can justfly away until we find a place with no inhabitants so there will be no interruptions.”

“If there are no inhabitants, wouldn’t that mean that the wildlife will have grown out of control and we could become their dinner?”

“I wouldn’t let that happen,” he said, wrinkling his nose as he scoffed at her comments.

“They might be stronger than you are,” Rosie said.

“No one is stronger than I am. No one can take me down.”

“I took you down.”

“I let you, because I thought you were cute.”

“Cute?” Rosie said, her dark eyebrows rising almost to her hairline. “Puppies are cute. Children are cute! I am neither!”

Rokai grinned at her. “No, you’re not. You’re my sexy, dangerous, fiery mate, and I love to push you to the point that the fire inside you spills over and you start thinking you’re the boss.”

“I am the boss, Rokai.”

“Maybe, but only because I let you be the boss.”

The hydraulic doors of the cafeteria swished open and Vennie squelched into the room, stopping just inside the doorway before stopping and looking around. “Lieutenant Commander Rokai ahl!” he cried, moving as quickly as he could — which wasn’t very quickly at all — toward Rokai.

Rokai didn’t look toward Vennie, but he sighed dramatically. “They never, ever leave me alone,” he complained to Rosalita.

“They need you. You’re important.”

“But am I important to you?” he asked, fluttering his eyelashes at her as he grinned comically at the same time.”

“You were, before that horrible thing you’re doing with your face, but now I’m not so sure,” Rosie said, laughing.

“You just can’t feed my ego at all, can you?” Rokai asked before turning to the short, green, odiferous creature approaching their table. “What?” he barked out.

“Forgive me, Lieutenant Commander…” Vennie said.

“I’m trying,” Rokai snapped.

“Stop it!” Rosie whispered harshly.

Rokai blinked slowly, then pressed his lips together as he focused on Vennie. “What is it I can assist you with, Communication Specialist Vennie?”

“Chairman Bartholomew has been unsuccessfully attempting to contact you. He has an emergency he needs your assistance with,” Vennie said.

“Tell him to call his friends. He hasn’t been very nice to me lately.”

“He says that,” Vennie hesitated and looked carefully around before leaning a little closer to Rokai, “if you will help him, he will ignore anything you have to do to help him, and the Unified Consortium Defense will bestow an unending immunity on you.”

Rokai let go of Rosie’s hand and sat up straighter as his head canted slightly, sending his many braids into a jingling cacophony as the metallic bands holding the braids together rattled against one another. “He said that?”

“Yes, sir. He did, and he made me give him my solemn vow that we were on a closed channel before he even spoke the words to me in confidence, to be respoken only to you.”

“No matter what I have done, or do, I’m immune from prosecution?” Rokai asked, his gaze wandering for a moment as he thought over some of his past activities.

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