Page 3 of Bernadette

“I might. He’s my favorite player of all time.” As if he hadn’t told her that over and over. “He’s a living legend. And a handsome guy.”

“I suppose.” Halmikowashandsome in a rough sort of way. He wore the aura of a tough customer, but the almost-decent sort. He had the look of a man who’d beat a guy to bloody bits for disrespecting his mother.

Handsome Nobeks faded to the recesses of her brain. Bernadette’s gaze was all for her ship as they approached it. TheRoguewas an older craft, Earther salvage from after her former home’s war with Kalquor. Big and clumsy compared to most ships of the member planets of the Galactic Council, it had been a bargain when she’d discovered it being auctioned off. She’d been shocked it was in such good repair considering the price she’d paid, but most were unimpressed by vessels that relied so heavily on hybrid mechanical-computerized engines. Unlike Bernadette, who’d grown up in garages that serviced older vehicles, techno-geeks were turned off by moving parts.

TheRoguewielded impressive firepower too. Bernadette was certain that was what had lured Kom into joining her crew of fifteen between the Earth-Kalquor war and his empire’s civil war. TheRoguecould dare shipping routes known for Tragoom and pirate activity and emerge relatively unscathed. Thanks to theRogue’sweapons and Kom’s expertise, Bernadette had successfully run blockades during the Kalquorian civil war, shipping supplies to siege-weary colonies that had remained loyal to the Imperial government. Haven, where Dramok Tumsa supposedly lived, had been among such colonies.

Her ship was big, it was awkward, but it was hers. She loved every inch of it.

“Am I right in guessing you’ll be researching Haven’s population in hopes of locating the Dramok?” Kom asked as they neared the ship.

“Of course. I swear, if I find out I’ve passed more than two words with Dramok Tumsa and never knew it when we dropped supplies on Haven during the war, I’ll lose my mind. What about you? You’re not touring the station tonight?”

Kom sighed. He had a fruitless search of his own, with less hope of success than Bernadette. “Is there any point? It’s too big, unless you decide to take a month’s layover.”

“Can’t do it, big guy. I have bills to pay, including your salary. I also see a large number of refugees who need a ride off this hellhole of a station.”

“Yeah, yeah. I might head out again in an hour or so and drink myself stupid rather than face the disappointment.”

Bernadette slapped his acre-wide back in sympathy. Kom might hit the bars, all right, but even certain failure wouldn’t keep him from looking for the Earther man who’d won his heart.

Two men. Two disappearances. Two lovelorn people trying to track them down.

“We’re crazy, aren’t we, Kom? I knew Doljen a little more than a couple of weeks. You exchanged barely more than a few meaningful stares with that Larsen guy. Yet here we are years later, tearing up the known galaxy, looking for them.”

His silence was no surprise. She hadn’t expected him to answer. Despite his dogged search, he wasn’t given to sentimentality.

He shocked her a few seconds later. “We’ll regret never finding out if what we felt then was real. It feels like it was. It damned near chokes me, it’s so real. Even if I find Matt and figure out I’ve been an idiot all along, it’s better than wondering. It has to be. Right?”

She thought about Doljen, and a familiar ache woke in her chest. It was the pain of emptiness, of a piece of her heart that had been torn away.

“Right.”

Chapter Two

Seven years earlier

They’d put her in a storage room that had been emptied of cleaning supplies after her suicide attempt. Sister Bernadette raged the six steps it took to pace what amounted to little more than a closet, then returned to the wall where she’d started. She sheltered in her fury. It shielded her against terror that might have otherwise sent her to her knees in hysterics.

Kalquorians had invaded Europa’s tiny convent. Her shelter and refuge. They’d taken the nuns and aspirants prisoner.

They hadn’t stopped there. They’d captured two hundred-plus women and divided those of childbearing age over eighteen from the rest. Any fool would have figured out what the alien men had planned, and Bernadette was no fool.

Kalquorians were going extinct, thanks to rampant infertility among their women. They’d discovered they could breed with Earther females. They’d kidnapped over fifteen hundred for that purpose in the years before. More had run to their empire, done with Earth’s poor treatment of women. An Earther had become one of four rulers of the Kalquorian Empire. War had broken out between the planets.

Now the Kalquorians had invaded the tiny outpost on Europa, inhabited solely by females. No, it didn’t take Bernadette’s solid IQ to realize the aliens’ plans for them.

Though she was a nun, second in rank to Mother Superior, Bernadette wasn’t the sort to rely on prayers or miracles. She’dwitnessed too much sadness to believe the Almighty was waiting in the wings to gallop to the rescue the instant a follower said the right words. Humans had been gifted with life to show they were worthy of salvation, even if it meant dying for it. In her mind, life was a proving ground, the test to gain entrance to heaven when all was said and done. God was the sole judge of that contest.

Bernadette was a woman of faith, but she was also a hardnosed realist.

She couldn’t imagine a worse reality than what was happening, but she knew better than to think it couldn’t get worse than being locked in a bare storage room with no hope for escape. Of course it could, and it probably would. She had the history to prove it.

As if to underscore her certainty, the door opened. A Kalquorian walked in and locked it behind him. He stood there and stared at her, barely an arm’s length distant.

She’d halted her pacing the instant he’d entered. Somehow, she managed to quell the urge to back to the wall behind her. What would an extra couple of feet do to help her?

She stood tall and stiff in her tent of a nightgown, as rigid as a soldier at attention. She met the alien’s purple slit-pupiled stare with as stony an expression as she could manage.

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