Editing Eternity (Warhammer High) (section)

== Adulthood ==

=== An Ethical Dilemma ===


Eternity.  It was a bloody long time.

Jake leaned back against the black leather of his chair.  The ice in his cup creaked as it melted into his drink.  He set it down on the table beside him, slowly rubbing his moist fingers together.  He wondered.  Would he still feel the cold?

Venus sat across from him.  The interlocked gold and silver rings on her finger bespoke the three years they had been married.  The tiny trail of Nocturnean diamonds around the single blood-red ruby on the silver ring chased the blank gold in a beautiful contrast.

Jake and his wife were a visual contrast as well.  His pale, almost ill-looking skin and curly light brown hair were as different as could be from her coal-black skin and long hair, and glowing, uniform red eyes.  To the wrong viewer, she looked daemonic, terrifying.  To her friends and family, she was an easily likeable young woman.

Jake, however, had other things on his mind.  His wife and her appearance were among them, certainly, and so was he.  But the main thought in his head was eternity.  Life everlasting, youth unending, healthiness forever.  It was his, if he wanted it.

Did he want it?

He had no idea.

His wife’s eyes were dimmed and narrow.  For once, the lack of a glow in her eyes was borne of something other than contentment or exhaustion.  She was angry, she was apprehensive, she was frustrated, and she was confused.  For her, Jake’s choice was an obvious one.  However, she was a bright girl, and knew that his perspective was radically different from hers.  Normally, Venus had the patience she had been gifted by her father.  Today, that patience was drawing thin.

Jake’s jaw tightened as trains of thought chased themselves through his head.  His choice should have been so simple.  Life with the woman he loved, and the chance to start a family with her…or ignominious death, in the knowledge that he had broken her heart.

His stomach roiled.  He grimaced and ran his hand over it.  Venus’ eyes dimmed a bit more.

“Why is it a difficult choice?” she quietly asked.

“Because…because, baby, I’ll give up the body I was born to.  My appearance, part of my identity.”  He met his wife’s eyes, flinching away from the light from them as he did.  “My mother gave me these eyes.  My father gave me this hair, my skin, my voice.  I might lose them.”

She stayed quiet.  He leaned forward, pleading.  “Never think that I DON’T want to spend forever with you,” he said.  His voice was a rasp.  “If ‘Til Death Do Us Part didn’t have to come to pass…I’d be on it like a shot.  But it’s not a guarantee,” he said.

“The odds of failure are tiny, but grow bigger the longer we wait,” Venus said.  She sighed as his jaw tightened again.  “Sorry.  I just don’t understand why this is hard for you.  Michael and Nathaniel accepted in an instant.”

“I’m not Michael, and I’m not Nathaniel,” Jake said coldly.  “I’m not willing to abandon my body without thinking all of the act’s implications through to their end.”

“They were?”

“Michael was.  Nathaniel…he was smarter, but he still did it.”  Jake sat back, tired and angry.  “Venus.  Please…just…let me think.”

She stared at him, her eyes flaring a bit.  Slowly, she rose from her seat.  “I don’t understand…but I can respect that you need time.  The Emperor doesn’t want an answer right away.”

“Thanks, Venus.”  Jake sipped from his drink, feeling the frigid alcohol slide down his throat.  “I love you.”

“I know you do, Jacob, and I love you too,” Venus said.  Now, she sounded just confused instead of angry.  It wasn’t an improvement.

She walked out of the living room into the hall, closing the door behind her.  Her hand lingered on the knob for a moment, before tightening in frustration.

The vox rang.  She snatched it up from its cradle by the door, answering it before the first ring had ended.  “Hello?”

“Hello, Venus,” Angela’s voice answered.

Venus walked briskly down the hallway towards the entry.  “Hey.  What’s up?”

“I wanted to know if you and Remilia were back in town.  That confirms that,” her cousin drily observed.

“You couldn’t tell?” Venus asked.

“Yes, the emotional groundswell from Jake is pretty much blotting out that whole area.  What’s got him so scared?” Angela asked.

Venus sighed.  “The Emperor made him the offer.”

“Oh.”  Angela went quiet.  “I hope he accepts,” she finally said.

“Me too.”  Venus sank into a chair in the open kitchen.  “Did you say scared?”

“Yes.  You can’t tell?  He’s terrified.  It feels like when Morticia was hurt.  His soul is screaming in fear,” Angela said gravely.

Angela was many things.  Prone to hyperbole?  Not amongst them.

Venus swallowed a thread of guilt.  “I don’t understand why he’s having a hard time.  It’s everything we’ve ever wanted.”

“Interesting choice of words,” Angela observed.  “Is it everything he’s always wanted, for himself?”

Venus sighed.  “I don’t know.  I thought so.”

Angela nodded.  “May I come over?”

“Angela…”

“I want to help.  Do you want me to help?  I think a quick trip through his fears will expedite this.”

“Angela, you’re a sweetheart, but I can’t decide that for him,” Venus said.  Her stomach tightened.  “I’ll ask.”

“Please do.”  Angela muted the vox and looked down the road from her home to Venus’ (relatively) modest manor.  “Quickly,” she added under her breath.

Jake listened to Venus approach and closed his eyes.  He wondered which of her cousins wanted to weigh in now.

“May I come in?” Venus asked from behind the door.

“Of course,” Jake said.  She walked in, gesturing with the vox.

“Angela wants to come over.  Is that okay?” she asked.

Jake smiled inwardly.  He had hoped one of the psykers would call.  “Sure.”

Venus lifted the vox.  “Come on over,” she said.

Angela breathed a sigh of relief.  She unmuted the vox.  “Great.  I’ll be right there.”

She and her husband Michael were only a minute away.  Their regal cousin and brother-in-law arrived and made themselves at home in the living room as Jake explained his conundrum.

Michael, who had undergone the surgery himself years before, listened intently to his friend’s tale.  “Well…I suppose, really, you’re to be congratulated.  It’s a rare offer,” he said.  The surgery certainly hadn’t had any negative impacts on him, Jake noted.  The tall, handsome nobleman had accepted his grandfather’s offer in under an hour, and the procedure had gone flawlessly.  He had always been easy on the eyes, but now he projected a totally confident air that had lined the pages of many tabloids aimed at hormonal girls.  His eyes were a brilliant, piercing blue, now.  They had been green before.

“It is.  I have to know, Mike…just how bad does it hurt?”

“It’s horrific.  But…only for a day or two.  After that, it feels amazing.”  He held his bare arm out to his old friend.  “Jake, the sensations are better, I’m stronger…I swear I’m smarter.  There’s not a single drawback to a successful operation.”

“Not unless a changed appearance is a drawback,” Jake noted.  “Man, you always looked like Sanguinius.  I don’t look a THING like Vulkan, and he’ll be the donor.  My hair, my eyes, my skin, my voice…they’ll all probably change.”

“Well…that’s fair.  But if it’s the pain you’re worried about, don’t.  I actually feel better now.”  He leaned forward with an easy grin on his lips.  “Jake, my friend, it’s something to look forward to.”

Jake nodded.  “I see.”

Angela slowly inclined her head to him.  “If you’d like, Jake…I can help a bit.”  Her implication was clear.

“I’d like that, I think,” Jake said.  Michael nodded and rose, trusting his wife to her word.  Venus lingered in her seat.

“What do you want to do?” she asked.

“I want to help Jake see what it looks like,” Angela said.  She turned her smile to her cousin.  “I promise I won’t raid his memory, or anything personal.  I just want to impart a bit of understanding.  I swear it.”

Venus nodded.  “All right…Jake?”

Jake had already made up his mind.  “Do it,” he said.  He paused to squeeze Venus’ hand as she rose from her seat.  “I’ll be here, don’t worry,” he said.

“I know.”  She pulled her hand loose.  “I’ll be in the family room if you want to find me,” she said.

The door closed behind her as she and Michael walked down the hall.  Jake looked back to his sister-in-law, his heart picking up.  She rose and crossed the room, sitting down next to him.  Her wings fluttered a bit as she made herself comfortable next to him.  “Jake…I promise, I won’t give you a reason not to trust me,” she said.  Her voice was quiet, respectful.  She understood that he was asking her to invade his privacy.

“You’re like a sister to me, Angela,” Jake replied.  “I trust you.  What do I do?”

“Thanks.”  She grabbed a pillow from the end of the couch and slid it behind his head.  “Here, just relax.  You might actually fall asleep.”

“Okay…” Jake lay down a bit, staring up at his deific guest.  “What now?”

“Now you hush up and relax,” she said warmly.  She rose and knelt at his side next to the couch, looking down at him.  “Let me know, and I’ll stop.”

“I will,” Jake said.  Her eyes flared bright, unnatural blue as she slid her mental projection across his mind, easing herself in.  He gasped through his teeth.  “I’ll never get used to that,” he whispered.

Angela let her own eyes slide shut.  The roiling, twisting ball of fear at the center of his mind was glowing like a raging fire.  She could have found it if she were unconscious.  She slid her hands together over her belt buckle and relaxed, trying to find a way into his memories.

“All right…that doesn’t hurt,” Jake reported.

“Good, it’s supposed to be relaxing,” she said.  He cracked one of his own eyes open.  She was sitting still, her eyes glowing purple through the lids.  “There…I’ve found it.  Does that feel bad?”

“No…” Jake felt sudden knowledge flow into him, like a breath of hot air.  Her own understanding of the process the Emperor could bestow, and the ways her life had changed since Michael had undertaken it, blossomed in his mind.  More than that, he felt the emotional mess in his head fade a bit.

She opened her eyes and stood.  “And done.  Not so bad, was it?” she asked.

“Didn’t feel a thing after the first few seconds,” Jake said, sitting up as well.  He reviewed the burst of knowledge with a nod.  She had imparted her sense of relief at Michael’s own apotheosis, and the sense of certainty she felt when they thought of the future together.  “So you think it’s a no-brainer, huh.”

“I think it’s something you should have talked about before,” Angela gently chided.

“Probably.”  Jake sighed.  He patted the seat next to him.  As she sat, he looked at her sidelong.  “Angela…I think, to an extent, it’s the implications of success that get to me.  My parents think it’s an abomination.  My cousins think it’s the coolest thing ever.  My wife thinks I’m an idiot if I refuse, and my mother-in-law thinks I should say no and move on with my life.”

“Misja, George, and Sandra aren’t here,” Angela noted.  “And I didn’t hear Vulkan on that list.”

“He thinks it’s a grand idea.  But…he can think in the long term.”  Jake ran a hand through his hair.  “You know…that’s another thing.”  He looked over at Angela again.  “You and the other Progenitors can think in terms of eternity.  You’re mentally capable of it.  When I sit down and think about…I mean, THINK about it…it scares me.”

“I could see that.”  She grabbed his hand and held it between her own, trying to still his fear.  “Jake…all psykers have to think about eternity.  Whether they’re immortal or not.  It drives some crazy.  Others, like me…it’s a mystery to solve.  Lord Regent Malcador, before he died, he said that it was something he liked to think about.  He was a bit weird, sure, but he always liked puzzles.  You and Michael…you only have trouble comprehending it because your minds and bodies didn’t evolve for it.  Maybe I can’t show you the limited understanding of eternity I have…but I bet if you ask Michael, he can tell you what he thought.”

Jake nodded.  He felt the vaguest feeling of placation at the edge of his mind.  “I understand.  Is that you?” he asked.

“Oh, sorry, force of habit.”  The thought disappeared.  “Look…I’ll get Michael.  He’ll be better at this than me, I think.”

Jake stood.  “All right.”  As Angela rose, he gingerly caught her in a hug below the wings.  “Thanks.”

“No problem, Jake,” she said.  She returned it quickly, and parted with a beatific grin.  “Any time you need me.”

Michael downed a shot of bourbon as Jake tried to explain what Angela had given him.  “Well…I can tell you now that our circumstances are a bit different,” he started.  “Jake, Angela and I have been sharing minds since we were fourteen.  We had literally no reason not to do it.  It sounds like you might.”

“Really, dude?”  Jake looked pained.  “Man, I can’t even THINK about living forever!  How did you do it?”

“I can do it now,” Michael pointed out.  “One of the things the Emperor changed was my ability to comprehend my own lifespan.  How do you think men like Lord Luther or Lord Phaeron can handle being four thousand years old without getting made into Astartes?”

“Why didn’t Malcador do it?” Jake shot back.

“Never asked.”  Michael set his glass down.  “Believe me when I say, Jake, that it’s only scary beforehand.  I’m looking forward to it now.”

Jake grimaced.  “Well…that helps.  It does.”  He looked back up at his friend.  “What else changes?”

“Well, my senses are sharper, like I said.  I feel like it takes me less time to solve problems, too.  And…well.”  He coughed into his hand.  “I understand that it makes me genetically compatible with Angela.  We’re in no hurry to test that.”

“Wait, really?” Jake asked.  “I knew it would make me compatible with Venus, but I thought Angela was close enough to baseline…”

“She’s just out of range.”  Michael shook his head.  “Not important.”

“What about your personality?” Jake asked.  “Did that change?  Or your memories?”

“My memory’s actually much better now.  As for my personality…” Michael hesitated.  “I don’t know.  I asked Angela to mention any changes, and she hasn’t, so I assume all’s well.”

“So…as far as you know, in your case at least…no drawbacks,” Jake said, just to be sure.

Michael nodded.  “No drawbacks.  Everything feels fine.  Better, even.”  He paused.  “If you want another perspective…I suggest you speak to Nathaniel.”

Jake huffed.  “That’s part of why I’m nervous.”

“Magnus’ donation went…oddly.  Nate didn’t, you know, mutate, or anything…no extra eye,” Michael joked.  “But he has a lot of trouble sleeping now.  I think that’s worth it.  And you wouldn’t have that problem anyway,” he added.

“Yeah.”  Jake thought back to what the Emperor had told him.  “Still…what odds did he quote for you?”

“The Emperor?  Ninety seven,” Michael said.

Jake shot upright.  “What?  He told me I had an eighty five percent chance of success!” Jake said, astonished.

“Different DNA, different donor, different age…that stuff matters,” Michael awkwardly said.  “If it makes you feel better, Nate had a seventy nine percent chance and it went pretty well.”

Jake stared at his friend, before sinking back into his chair, grinding his hands into his eyes.  “Ugh…”

“Man, I’ve said my piece.”  Michael stood.  “I think you need to talk to Nate.”

“No, the one I need to talk to is my father,” Jake groused.  “He thinks it’s a crime.”

“Whoa.  Why?”

“He’s a baseliner.  Always was.”  Jake thought back to when his father explained why he had chosen to raise his family in the hives instead of Mars.  “He refused to enter the Mechanicum seminary, even though he had a guaranteed seat, because he hates augmetics.”

“Oh.”  Michael thought that over.  “I think…huh.  I think I’m beginning to sense the root of your problem, here,” he weakly joked.

Jake managed a snort.  “Maybe a little.  Angela knows, too.  She’d probably say I should go talk to Dad.”

“Wise words.”

Jake grabbed his friend’s hand and levered up out of the seat.  He paused as he did; glancing uncomfortably into the eyes Michael hadn’t had a month before.  Michael grinned wistfully, instantly realizing what Jake was doing.  Jake searched his face for a moment in silence, before nodding.

“All right.  Thanks, Mike.”

“My pleasure, Jake.”


George Seager opened the door of his new apartment and breathed the filtered air.  The ambient noises of the hive were so much fainter here.  He had an actual, dedicated landing pad for his aircar.  Sandra could walk to her job; it was so close to the apartment.

It was Jake’s gift.  After the wedding ceremony, Vulkan’s family had given Venus a generous dowry of sorts, to make a home on Terra.  Choosing to build in the new surface city of Cordoma, six hundred miles from Startseite, she had selected to construct a relatively small summer home, to complement her permanent home on Nocturne.  She and several of her cousins had chosen to do that to retain some connection with their homeworlds and Terra, where most of their families lived.  Jake had obtained Venus’ permission to send some of that money to his parents, both in payment for his years of residence there, and because he felt guilty about living like a king – or Prince, specifically – while his parents stayed in the hive.

George and Sandra had chosen to buy a much nicer apartment, five cubes up from where they had lived before, and used the money to buy it in full.  The rest of the Seager family was just a few button presses on the autopilot away, after all.  Now they had a separate kitchen and sitting room, bedrooms larger than prison cells.  It felt like opulence.

“Hey, Uncle George!” an eager young voice piped up.  George looked down and beamed at his niece, Mizuki.  Her mother Alice was Sandra’s younger sister.  Alice and her husband, along with Sandra’s youngest sibling (of two), Walter, who was really only a few years older than Jake, had come over for a housewarming.

“Hey, Zuki, great to see you!” he said, scooping the bubbly toddler into his arms.  “How’s life treatin’ ya?”

“Good!  I start first grade in two weeks!” Mizuki proudly declared.

“Well, that’s exciting!” George said.  He smiled over her head as Hajime, Alice’s husband, emerged from the parking area down the street.  “Is your Mom around?”

“She’s in the car,” Mizuki said, pointing back to the lot.  Alice and Walter were emerging too, and so was-

George tightened his grip on his niece, quite unconsciously.  Jake was with them, and Venus was also.  He looked down at the little girl and tried to keep smiling.  “Hey, when did your cousin Jake get here?” he asked.

“He got here when we did!” Mizuki eagerly said.  “And Venus too!”

“Good,” George said, letting Mizuki down.  She scampered over to her father and walked behind him to the apartment.

Hajime smiled at his brother-in-law, shaking his hand.  “Hello, George.”

“Hi, Hajime, glad you could make it,” George said.

Hajime glanced over his shoulder to where Venus was porting a bag of something up from the cars.  “Princess Venus is here…I’ll never get used to thinking of her as family.”

“It takes a while,” George said.  He managed to keep all the bitterness out of his voice.

Sandra welcomed her family in unreservedly, even Jake and Venus.  When Jake paused to shake his father’s hand, he caught the flash of suppressed anger in his father’s eyes, but chose to ignore it.  Venus dismissed her guard detail, and they vanished into the crowds of people outside the apartment like ghosts.

While Walter and Jake chatted about the end of the summer and Walter’s new job, Sandra and Venus unpacked the food Venus had brought.  “Hope you don’t mind, but I felt like bringing something,” Venus said, pulling a bag of homemade rolls out of the larger canvas sack.

“Of course not, honey, it’ll get eaten,” Sandra pointed out.  “How was your trip?”

“Awesome.  You should SEE the things we have under construction in the Expansion Zone,” Venus said.  “The new colony habs are amazing.  Makes me wonder if the older colonies will demand them from the Mechanicum.”

“Probably.”  Sandra watched as Venus’ red gaze darted away from where George and Hajime were standing.  “Something wrong, Venus?”

“I’m sensing some hostility from George, and I don’t think I need to guess why,” Venus confessed.

Sandra tutted.  “Don’t talk about it.  If George wants to be truculent in the apartment you paid for, let him.  He can talk about it like an adult.”

“Sandra, Jake paid for your apartment.  It was his money to do with as he saw fit.”  Venus nodded as she unpacked some more food.  “All I did was give it to him.  And even then, it was a present from Dad.”

“Well, thank Vulkan for us, then, because it’s much better than our old place.”  Sandra’s head turned as the front door opened.  “Grandpa!  Come on in!”

Venus tilted her head up.  Sandra’s recently widowed father, a long-since-retired Crusade veteran from the Imperial Fists Army Group, was walking in.  He started to salute by habit as he saw his Royal granddaughter, but Jake’s abrupt bear hug and Mizuki’s joyful squeeze of the leg interrupted him.

“Hey, kiddo!  What are your parents putting in the soylens they feed you?  You’re as tall as I am!” he said, ruffling his granddaughter’s straight black hair.

“No, Grandpa Eric, I’m not yet!” she pouted.

“Well, you will be soon,” he promised.

With the family assembled, they sat around the new table in the middle of the greatroom.  Mizuki scrambled into Venus’ lap as she did, as Venus discreetly slid a few napkins under her to block the heat.  Eric smiled indulgently at his granddaughter.  “Mizuki, you must be ready to start elementary school by now.”

“Two weeks!” Mizuki announced.

“Well, that should be fun.”  He glanced up at Jake.  “How about you, Jacob?  How was your trip?”

“Surprisingly productive.”  Jake leaned back in his chair and smiled as his mother passed him a roll.  “The work they’re doing with the new construction teams in the Expansion Zone is breathtaking.  So much new design.  It’s pretty encouraging.”

“I always thought that’s what you would wind up doing,” Walter said.  “You loved that stuff.”

“I still do.  The new setup we have on Nocturne has a nice design suite.  You are all invited, by the by,” Jake said, sweeping his hands over the room’s occupants.

Mizuki’s eyes bugged.  “REALLY?!”

Jake shrugged.  “If your parents are okay with you traveling through the Warp, sure.”

“Bah, I’ve been through the Warp more often than you have, Jacob, it’s a walk in the rec zone,” Eric said dismissively.

“That’s Hajime and Alice’s call,” Venus said firmly.

After dinner, Mizuki curled up on the couch with Sandra as George showed the others around the new apartment.  Jake sank down next to his little cousin and grinned.  “Hey, Mizuki, how was your summer?”

“It was okay, I guess,” she said sleepily.  “I met a few new neighbors.”

“Yeah?  Any your age?”

“No, they’re all little kids,” the six-year-old grumped.

“For now,” Jake counseled.  “But you can be like a big sister to them in a few years.”

“I don’t wanna be a big sister,” Mizuki complained.

Jake nodded, offering up a knowing grin.  “Not yet.  You will.”

“If you say so,” the little girl said.  Jake smiled fondly.

“She’s growing up quick,” he said as Mizuki wandered off to the bathroom.

“It’s uncanny,” his mother said.  She looked over at Jake as the tour group returned.  “How about you, Jake?  Do you have any plans?”

“Yeah, when do I get to be a great grandfather?” Eric quipped.

“Hmm.”  Jake looked up at Venus, as if in contemplative appraisal.  Discs of red light arced across the ceiling as Venus rolled her eyes.  “Might be worth a try.  Of course…there’s that other issue,” he said.

“So…the Emperor really did make an offer?” Sandra asked, a tone of awe creeping into her voice.

Venus nodded.  “Yes.  He offered Jake the same thing he offered Nathaniel and Michael.”

Silence met her proclamation.  “So…you gonna do it?” Walter hesitantly asked.

“Not sure,” Jake admitted.  “I want your opinions.”

“The hell for?” Hajime asked.  “It’s your decision.”

“Of course it is, but you guys will always be my family.”  Jake’s voice hardened.  “And if I do this, I may watch all of you die.  So I want to know.  What do you think I should do?”

“Go for it,” Walter opined.  “How often do you get an offer like that?”

Sandra shook her head.  “Not very…”

George shook his head.  “You know my opinion,” he said coldly.

“I don’t understand it, though, not really, Dad,” Jake said. “What about it makes you so angry?  You barely looked me in the eye when I walked in.”

George did now.  “It makes me angry because there’s nothing wrong with the body you’ve got!  You’re in perfect health.  Yes, you’ll die someday…but so does nearly every other person in the universe!  It’s natural!”

“And I’m not?” Venus ground out.

George flinched.  “Sorry, Venus, I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Maybe not consciously, but it’s an easy conclusion to reach.  I don’t remember you complaining about my biology when we met, though, or for the next eight years.  Yet, now that Jake has a chance to live life eternal, suddenly it’s an issue,” Venus pressed.  Her eyes flashed red.  “Care to share, George?”

“Venus.”  Jake’s quiet word was a request.  She was instantly silent, but seething.  “Dad.  I want to live my life with Venus…and if that means extending it, I can live with it.  No pun intended.  And it will mean we can have a family.  Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“It means more to me than I’ve probably implied,” George admitted.  “But I made a conscious choice not to twist myself with augmetics when I left the Mechanicum.  I was practically thrown out of the seminary for that.  And Dad…Carmine never fully forgave me for it.”

“Do you really want to end things between us on the same note?” Jake asked softly.  George glared at him, but didn’t say anything.

“I was ready to commit to a relationship I knew I would outlive,” Venus said.  “The Emperor thinks it shouldn’t end like that.”

“As well he should!” Eric suddenly said.  Every eye turned to him.  “Damn it, George…when Christine died, I thought I was going to…” Eric’s eyes were watering.  His voice caught.  “I thought I would go mad.  I was married to her for fifty one years.  When I was off on tour, she was always there for me.  She never lost her faith, her trust…we built a family together.  And when she died of some…some stupid virus…”  He paused to wipe his handkerchief across his face.  Alice and Sandra were both tearing up themselves.  Walter’s eyes were screwed shut.  “I lost half my life when I lost her.  Don’t you even THINK of trying to make Venus go through that too,” he said.  Venus looked away.

“Eric…”  George tried to snap something back, but couldn’t do it.  “It’s not like Christine ever got the chance Jake has.”

“What difference does that make?” Jake asked.

“Jacob, I can’t change your mind.  If you want to do this, then do it.  But you wanted my opinion.  You have it,” George said.  He didn’t cross his arms, but he did look like he was sulking.

Jake shut his eyes, trying to reconcile the patient, ferociously clever father he loved with the bitter old man in front of him.  He couldn’t.  “What do I not know, Dad?  Please tell me,” Jake said.  “Why did you decide not to get augmetics?”

George sighed.  “They’re unnecessary,” he said tightly.  “More than that, they’re dangerous.  And even if bio-modding isn’t the same, it’s still turning something that works into something that works differently.  Besides, it’s unfair.  Someone with augmetics or gene-mods can out-compete someone without them.  And the MANIA the Mechanicum and…” he trailed off as he tried to choke out the word.  “And even the Astartes have for them; it’s repulsive.  It smells like religion.”

“With whom, precisely, is Jake going to be competing?” Venus asked coldly.  “No, really, I’d like to know.”

“Fine, he won’t be.”  George huffed.

“Aunt Alice, you’ve been quiet.  What do you think?” Jake asked.

“Me?  I think you should do it.”  Alice said.  “What are the side effects?”

“Well…no way to know until you try, but my brother-in-law, Mike, he has it.  He had no negative side effects at all.  His eyes changed color a bit, but other than that…he says he feels like a new man,” Jake said.

“Then why would you have no way to know until you try?” Hajime asked.

Jake shrugged.  “No two people have identical DNA.  Well, Alpharia and Omegan, maybe,” he joked.  “But I’d be getting my upgrade, basically, from a donor, and he has very different DNA.  It might change mine a bit.”

“How much is a bit?” Sandra asked.

“What are you guys talking about?” Mizuki asked from the hallway.

Everyone looked over.  “We’re just wondering if Jake and I should have a kid, and how it could change things,” Venus said.

Mizuki sank back onto the couch.  “Would it change stuff that matters?” she asked reasonably.

“Maybe a lot,” Jake said.

Mizuki shrugged.  “Like what?”

Alice squeezed her daughter’s hand.  “Mizuki, come on, that’s private,” she shushed.

“How much is a bit?” Sandra pressed.  Clearly, she wanted to keep talking in front of her niece.

“Potentially, my hair, voice, face, eyes, and skin will all change a little.  Darken, deepen,” Jake said.

George shook his head.  “You won’t even be the same person anymore!”

“Will I still be your son?” Jake demanded point blank.  George glared at him, leaning forward to deliver a hot retort.  “Careful, Dad.  I may spend the rest of time with your answer,” Jake cautioned.

George froze, his teeth clamped together.  Eric stared at his grandson, white as a sheet.  “Jake…how could you even ask that?” Eric managed.

“You…Jacob, you will always be my son.  But I may not know you any more,” George finally said.

“According to Mike and Nate, the surgery has no impact on personality.  None.  Even psychics can’t tell the difference; believe me, I’ve asked.”  Jake leaned back.  “All right.  Hajime?”

“I think you deserve it, Jake.”  His uncle met his eyes.  “I think…if anyone deserved to enjoy that life, it’s you.”

“Mom?” Jake asked.

Sandra shook her head.  “I think…Jake, I think Dad is right.  My Dad.  I think you should take the chance.”

“All genemodding has a chance of failure,” Walter pointed out.  “What are your odds?”

Jake sighed.  “Eighty five percent chance of perfect success.  Two percent chance of partial success; that is, I live forever, but don’t stop aging.  Three percent chance that I die on the table.  Ten percent chance of perfect success, but physical changes occur.”

His mother paled.  “Five percent chance of a fate worse than dying normally,” Sandra said.

“I came here because I genuinely wanted to know what you all thought,” Jake asked.  “I guess now I know.”

“Are you leaving?” Mizuki asked.

Jake smiled down at her.  “Nope.  I wouldn’t miss a housewarming party…that I paid for,” he continued so quietly only Venus could hear it.  She sniggered.

“Can we go outside?” Mizuki asked.

“Have you been to this cube before?” Jake asked.

“No, I mean to the surface,” Mizuki pressed.

Jake paused.  “…I think that would have to happen some other time,” he said.

“Yeah, honey, let’s go later,” Hajime said.

The little girl yawned.  “What’s it like?”

“Bright,” Jake said.  “Very bright.  I had to wear dark glasses the whole time, first few years I was up there.  You get used to it, though.”

“How come you went to school up there?” she asked.

Jake grinned.  “I won an award at middle school and got to go to any place I wanted for high school.”

“I hope I can go to school on the surface,” Mizuki tiredly said.

The conversation was turning to something that was actually more uncomfortable than surgery.  Jake grimaced at the irony.  Alice noticed.  “Honey, are you tired?  Do you want to go home?”

“I’m all right,” she said, stifling another yawn.  “Can we stay a little longer?”

“Of course, Zuki,” Sandra soothed, shooting her son and husband a glance.  “You can stay as late as you want.”

A few hours later, Mizuki was out cold, the food was all eaten, Sandra’s siblings were gone, and Eric, Jake, Venus, Sandra, and George were the only ones left.  Jake and George were in the kitchen, having decided that their conversation had upset the others quite enough.

“Dad, let me make something clear: do not disrespect Venus’ origins like that again,” Jake quietly said.

“I didn’t mean to offend her before, no,” George said.  “But I meant what I said about you getting this surgery.  You won’t thank yourself.”

“How else can I not break her heart, Dad?  How else can I get her pregnant?  For that matter, how else can I fulfill my new responsibilities?” Jake asked.  “I’m a Prince now.  The Nocturneans have lived under immortals for over thirty six centuries.”

“Fine, I can’t speak to that,” George said.  “But you know my opinion, and I’m sticking to it.”  He stared at his taller son.  “Jake, why do you even want to know what I think?  You’re a grown man now.”

“I will ALWAYS care about your opinion, Dad, don’t think I won’t.  I just wish it made more sense sometimes.”  Jake ran his hand back through his hair.  His fathers’, he noted, had a streak of grey in it.  “Look…Venus and I have asked family that had the procedure, and aside from one guy who had mild insomnia, they all report that it went well.  I’ll still be Jake.  I’ll just last a bit longer.  If I go through with it.  I want Vulkan and the Emperor’s personal opinions.”

“And what will they say?”

“They both think it will be a good idea.  I want to know why,” Jake said.

Back in the living room, Eric was asking Venus a few questions about the process.  “Venus, do you know what this actually involves?  The procedure?”

“It’s a bog-standard genemodding, really, they just use a Primarch’s DNA as a base instead of a blood relative,” Venus said.  “The reason it’s so rare is that if you’re not a member of the Royal family, or absurdly well-connected to the Astartes legion, it’s technically illegal.”

“Why?  Do they just not want a bunch of random strangers living forever?” Sandra asked.

“Well, that may be a part of it, but I suspect that it’s just a precaution.  They don’t want to have the DNA of Royal Family members floating around in public,” Venus replied with a shrug.  “Also, it’s not the safest possible source of genemods.  There’s also some psychoconditioning and a few small cybernetic implantations, just to ensure the body doesn’t reject the modified genes.”

Sandra shifted uncomfortably.  The idea of her son becoming someone else was obviously disconcerting.  For once, Venus didn’t have a placatory remark to make.  “Sandra, I’m not going to say this is safe.  It’s…it’s no more dangerous than Warp travel, certainly, but it’s not safe.  But I want this, for his sake and for mine.  And frankly, the Emperor wouldn’t have offered if he didn’t think Jake should take it.  The fact that he sees it as something to look forward to should say a lot.”

Sandra nodded, her stomach tightening.  “Well…he’d know, I suppose.  Do you know what Vulkan thinks about this?”

Venus managed a smile.  “Dad thinks it’s a brilliant idea, and he’s already offered to help.”

“Has Lady Misja received this treatment, do you know?” Sandra asked.

Venus’ smile froze.  “No.  It’s…it only works on men.  Mom’s mortal, still.”

“Oh.”  Sandra looked away.  “I’m sorry.”

“Mom and I have talked about it.  We’ve talked about it many times.”  Venus sighed.  “I’ve come to terms with it, and I think she has too.  But I don’t have Dad’s resilience, really.  I couldn’t lose Mom and Jake.”

Jake and George returned to the room and sat back down as Venus finished her statement.  “Well…even if it didn’t extent my life, it would still be the only way to have a biological family,” Jake said gravely.  “That lends it weight, too.”

“Jake, it sounds like your mind’s made up,” Eric noted.

“No, Grandpa, it isn’t.  Not this fast.”  Jake leaned back in his chair, clearly drained.  Sandra and George both noted their son’s new appearance.  He had gotten much stronger since he had left Earth.  The tight cords of muscle in his arms and upper back bespoke Nocturne’s gravity.

“Look…thanks, all of you, for your opinions.”  He offered up a weak grin.  “I think we’ve all had enough.  What else should we talk about?”

As the night wore on, the group slowly broke up, and Jake and Venus departed for their own home.  As Jake sat, silent and stern behind the controls, Venus looked over at him.  “Did that help?” she asked.

“Yes.  I think so.”  Jake sighed.  “I’m sorry Dad called you unnatural.”

“Yeah, that stung.”  Venus slowly shook her head.  “Where did it even come from?  I’ve never seen George act that way before.”

Jake thought back to the conversation.  “I think he feels that the sort of genetic alchemy the Emperor uses is more danger than benefit.”

“Well, he’s wrong.  We won the Crusade with it, I was made from it, and Grandpa’s offering it to you to make your life better.”  Venus’ fraying patience was evident in her blunt statement.

Jake looked over at her, pained.  “Venus…it’s the fact that it might not work that gets to me.”

“True.”  Venus felt the conversation about to loop back to old ground, and decided to cut it off preemptively.  “Listen.  Go talk to Dad again.  He needs to weigh in on this.”

Jake nodded.  “Yeah.  Yeah, you’re right.”  He let out a tense breath.  “You know, Angela put a little knowledge in here.”  He tapped his head.  “She thinks it’s the best thing that’s happened to Mike since they got married.  That means a lot.”

“Well, it means a lot to her that Michael and she can spend their lives together,” Venus said, maybe a bit shortly.  The fact that her psychic cousin had had apparently no difficulty in convincing Michael of the procedure’s benefits was distantly annoying.  Venus wondered if perhaps she just hadn’t hit upon the right argument.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re right.”  Jake looked back out the window at the taillights of the Treasury car ahead of them.  “I’m going to talk to Vulkan tomorrow.”

The pseudoweather outside was growing cooler as summer ended.  The rooftop patio of Vulkan’s manor was still covered in the carefully-tended flowers that Misja planted, in pots and ceramic urns here and there, and the wrought-iron railing (which Vulkan had made with his bare hands, as Jake had learned) was overgrown with creeping, flowering vines.

Jake breathed in the familiar smell with a grin.  “Smells like an arboretum here.”

“It does,” his father-in-law said.  Vulkan reclined against the entry to the open patio, hands folded over his waist.  “We didn’t have these back home.”

“Still don’t, sadly, last I checked.”  Jake smiled.  “The new house on Nocturne is absolutely magnificent.  The design work we did…it’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Vulkan said with a distinct note of pride.  The two men had co-designed the structure, at Jake’s suggestion.  The manor was situated on one of the massive rooftops of Themis Castle, cunningly built to look like nothing more than another addition to the ever-expanding citadel.  It was more than half again the size of the house Vulkan and Misja shared on Terra, and five times the size of the house Venus had bought for them on Terra, after the wedding.

“I suppose you know why I’m here,” Jake said, cutting to the point.

“You want my advice,” Vulkan said.

“I do.”  Jake sighed, burying his simmering tensions.  He looked up at Vulkan and tried to meet his eyes.  “Vulkan, I’m scared.  I shouldn’t be…and if I was one of your Astartes, you’d tan my hide for it,” he said.

Vulkan snorted.  It was true.

“But I am.  And…I want to know what you think.”

The obsidian warrior clasped his hands on his son-in-law’s shoulders, mindful of his temperature.  “Jake, I think it would be the wisest decision you could make to get the procedure.  More than eternal life, it’s a chance to start a dynasty.”  He stepped back and spoke earnestly, eyes raised to the sky.  “I fought for my father’s empire for three thousand six hundred years.  I built bases, power plants, schools, shipyards.  I burned churches and temples, I crossed oceans of stars, I built a Legion of a half a million men from ten thousand over-eager Terrans…and I have never been happier than I am watching Venus grow into a Crown Princess.”  He looked down at Jake and smiled.  “I want to see her stay happy, confident, and deeply in love, Jake.  You can do that for her.”

Jake was silent, surprised and moved by the unexpected depth of Vulkan’s plea.  “I…understand.  My own father said it was an abomination, not in those words, you understand, but he did.  He thinks I shouldn’t throw away a body that works the way nature built it to.”

Vulkan nodded.  “My own father, N’bel, was surprised and unnerved by my appearance when I was growing up.  He thought it unnatural, deviant.  It was a sign of his character that he overcame it, and treated me like an honored son even when he learned my true heritage.”  He sat down in a metal chair by the door and thought back.  “When the Emperor came to Nocturne to take me away…I spoke to N’bel.  I told him who I was.  Who I was born to be.  What I was to become.  He was sad…confused.  But he was also proud.  And when I offered him the same thing the Emperor has offered you…he refused, because he wanted to go to the mountain one day.  I respected his choice.”

Vulkan looked back up at Jake, his eyes narrowed.  “I still do.  I know that it was the way of his people, my people, to respect death, even if they also held some fear of it because of the depredations of the Dark Eldar.  Nocturne was death itself, to them, a birthplace and a grave.  So please, Jake, understand, that when I say I want you to live, and give my daughter the children she so desperately wants to have, it means more than just the words themselves can convey.”

Jake felt his eyes water a bit at the pain and weariness behind Vulkan’s voice.  He suspected that he and Misja had had some tense discussions of late.  “I see.”  Jake sat too, running his hands over his narrow beard.  “Well…that’s pretty convincing.”  He slowly looked to Vulkan, resolve crystalizing in his heart.  “Then there’s really only one person left to ask, isn’t there?”

Misja pressed the envelope on her daughter, frowning.  “I mean it, Venus.  This was part of the deal.”

“I suppose it was,” Venus said.  She hesitantly took the envelope and pocketed it.  “Thanks, Mom.”

A hesitant knock on the door drew their attention.  Jake was standing at the door to the little library on the third floor, eyes wide.  “Should I come back later?” he asked.

“Please, Jake,” Misja said.

“Sorry.”  He stepped back and retreated into an adjacent study to wait.

Misja looked back to her daughter.  “Baby, you and Jake both want to keep working, which is great, but Nocturnean nobility generally make politicking their full-time job.  You’ll need money.”

“But…I mean, math isn’t exactly my strong suit, but isn’t this above critical mass, so to speak?” Venus said.

“Well above.  Don’t worry about it,” her mother counseled.  She leaned over and hugged her daughter.  “Believe me, the last thing I would want to have happen to you two is money problems, and goodness knows we’re never going to run out.”

Venus closed her eyes and sighed, accepting her mother’s wisdom.  “This is a huge deal, Mom.  Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it, Venus,” Misja said.  She leaned back and smiled.  “So…I asked Jake to wait because I want to ask you first.  What’s his decision?”

“He’s waffling,” Venus groused.  “Eternity scares him.”

“It scares me,” Misja admitted.  “But…well, we’ve talked it over, before.  I’m at peace with my choice.  And I think Jake could be, too.  But I know you want him to take the plunge.”

“If it had been viable for you, Mom, would you have done it?” Venus asked.

“Maybe.  I don’t know.  I don’t think it matters.”  Misja fidgeted, crossing her arms.  “Listen, I know you think it’s what Jake should want…but it might not be what he does.  Please, don’t resent him if he decides to live with the lifespan his parents gave him.”

“I wouldn’t,” Venus said.

Misja cocked an eyebrow.  “Really?”

Venus glared at her.  “I wouldn’t!”

Her mother was obviously not convinced.  Expedience won out over persistence, however, and she let the matter drop.  She rose and beckoned Jake in from the other room.  He walked in and sat next to his wife, squeezing her hand with a smile as he sat.  “Hey.  Sorry if I intruded before, I apologize.”
Misja smiled.  “Not a problem, Jake.  I was just giving Venus the account details for her gift.”

“Yes…such generosity.  It makes my head spin,” Jake admitted.  “You can take the hiver out of the hive, as they say.”

“Well, you only get half,” Misja joked.

Venus rolled her eyes.  “Mom, we merged accounts years ago.”

“Oh, did you?  I didn’t know.”  The former Administratum worker turned her own eyes to Jake.  “May I ask what you’ve decided?”

“I want to hear your piece first,” Jake said.

Misja nodded.  “Well, I think it’s ultimately your call, but I want you to give it fair pause.”

“I have, trust me,” Jake said.  “I sat in the chair in the greatroom for nine hours yesterday, starting at about four in the morning, thinking until my eyes were tearing.”

Misja smiled in sympathy.  “It happened to me, too.  To all of us.  Some of the Royal Mothers turned to experimental surgeries, juvenat treatments…even psychic therapies.  Me…I might use juvenats myself, if it comes to that.  But I’ve come to live with my lifespan, Jake.  I will love Vulkan and you and Venus as long as I can, then I’ll die.  I can still be happy with the time I have.”

Jake grimaced in discomfort.  “But…that’s the problem.  You’ll live on in Venus, of course…but if I don’t do this, we can never have children.”

“Can’t you?  Venus wasn’t born from my womb, but she’s still my daughter.  You could adopt,” Misja pointed out.

“That’s fair,” Jake allowed.

Misja tilted her head.  “But you don’t want to.”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t considered it.”  Jake leaned forward.  “Look…I haven’t made up my mind, because I honestly don’t know if I’ve learned everything I need to.  We’re talking about a literal change in the physical and mental structure of my brain, here.  The introduction of new conceptual capabilities.  Michael, Angela’s husband, swears he’s smarter.  He can comprehend more topics.  That scares me a bit.”

“What do you want me to tell you, Jake?  I can’t experience that.”  Misja smiled faintly.  “I have an immortal husband too, you know.  Have you asked him what he thinks?”

“Naturally.  He basically said he was looking forward to me going through with it so Venus could start popping out kids,” Jake said drily.

“Oh, really?  Really, Dad?  For fucks’ sake,” Venus groaned.

“Well he coached it in a story about his father, N’bel, but yes.”  Jake smiled.  “He was very convincing, though.  I admit I had never thought of it as matter of spiritual preference.”

Misja nodded.  “Nocturneans think of the Circle of Fire, the cycle of birth, accomplishment, death, and returning to the soil.  You’re not Nocturnean, really, I know, but I think you see the point.  And if you go through with this, become more than human, you’ll have the chance to escape it.  I think if you were a lesser man, Jake, Vulkan would have opposed this even if he still offered his genome to make it possible.  It’s a sign of his respect for you that he actually wants you to survive outside of the spiritual creed by which he’s lived for all these years.”

She leaned forward, transfixing him with her piercing brown eyes.  “There is no shame in death on Nocturne.  Everyone dies there, sometimes without warning.  The Astartes that are the pinnacle of the Nocturnean way of life live forever, like you could, until they come to an abrupt end in war, and then they have a chance to return to the flames of Deathfire where they belong.  They reconcile the fact that, on the surface, they don’t seem to be a part of the Circle of Fire by rationalizing their purpose: they are soldiers, and soldiers can die.  If the worst should happen, you wouldn’t really be escaping your spiritual burden, you’d just be accepting it long after you would have otherwise.”

Venus glanced sideways at Jake, and noted the distant look in his eyes.  “I see.”

“By the same token, there’s nothing wrong with accepting the life that you have and living it to the fullest, making yourself and other happy.  That’s what the whole universe does, save the Eldar.  And you can’t be held to a fault for it, even if it means that you can’t start a family from your own loins,” Misja continued.  “Meeting Vulkan and starting a family with him is a blessing to me, even if I know I’ll leave him some day.  Can you say the same for meeting Venus?”

“Unconditionally,” Jake affirmed.

“Then make the choice that satisfies your own conscience and desire, Jake, not the one that your parents want, or I want.  Or even what Venus wants,” she added.

Jake sighed.  “Except that I know that I can’t make everyone happy with this, and making my family and friends happy with my actions is…maybe more important to me than it should be,” he said.  “Sorry, that was a dumb thing to say.  Let me start over.  I don’t want my relationship with you or my father to worsen if I go ahead with this, any more than I want to make Venus live alone, or disappoint the Emperor.”

“Well, Jake, it sounds like you HAVE made up your mind, you just aren’t sure how to handle the consequences,” Misja said.

Jake went silent.  His hands gripped the armrests of his chair.  “Is that it?” he finally asked.

“You know my opinion.  You know the opinions of everyone who has a place sharing them.”  Misja stood.  “So if you can’t please everyone, no matter how much you want to…what will you do?” she asked.  Her voice was firm, even harsh.

Jake slowly stood too.  He looked down at Venus, then up at her mother, eyes weary, but determined.  “Thanks, Misja.”  He wrapped his arms around her shoulders.  “I needed a kick in the ass.”

“So many people do, and I can only provide them one at a time,” Misja sighed.

He snorted.  “Gee, what a martyr.”  He stood back and smiled at her.  “So…if I do go ahead with this, you won’t think less of me?”

“It’s not what I would do if I were you, Jake, but if you can give yourself, my daughter, and the Salamanders a dynasty…I could only be even prouder of you,” Misja admitted with a smile.

Jake let out a breath.  “Then my mind’s made up.”  He took Venus’ hand and gently lifted it.  She stood to look up into his eyes, and she dared to hope.

“I’ll accept the Emperor’s offer.”


Jake knelt before the Emperor’s desk, hands on his knee.  “My Liege.”  The radiant light from hidden fixtures on the walls bathed the white marble flooring in a suffuse glow.  The Emperor’s own light added to the effect.

The Emperor bade him stand.  “Rise, my grandson.  You have reached a conclusion regarding my offer?”

“I have, my Liege,” Jake said.  He stood, quelling his nerves.  “My testament is written…Vulkan has provided his blood sample.  I am as ready as I can be.  All relevant parties have weighed in, and I am prepared,” he intoned.

The Master of Mankind rose from his chair, hands planted on the surface of his desk.  “Jacob.  Your name is a significant one, even if you didn’t know it.  Do you know your name’s roots?”

“If I recall, it means something like ‘A man who wrestles,’” Jake replied, somewhat confused.

“Close.”  The Emperor slowly walked around the table, eyeing his grandson.  “In the mythology of Ancient Earth, back when people took religion as a way of illuminating themselves instead of blinding others, your namesake was a man of great and storied conflict.  He was a patriarch, so the books said, a leader who founded great families, overcame great hardships, and eventually gave his name, or a version of it, to a nation which lasted for thousands of years.”  The Emperor chose to conceal that fact that it remained a warzone for nearly its entire history.  “The name itself means both ‘A Wrestler of Angels’ and ‘A Prince of Harsh God.’”

The Emperor paused at the edge of the table.  “You will never be a Space Marine, Jacob, nor should you be.  You will overcome great struggles in your life, be sure of it, though not all of them will involve fighting.  Precious few, I imagine.  But your second name seems fitting.  Nocturne is a harsh, terrible place, where the most violent of cataclysms are used to set calendars and watches, and horrible beasts devour people alive…but within you will lie the same flame that lights Vulkan’s heart and scours weakness from his people.”

The Emperor stood before his grandson and stared into his dark green eyes.  “Tell me, Jacob.  Would you take his fire into yourself?  Become more than human…even if it means you will not be your old self anymore?”

“To what extent would my mind change, my Liege?” Jake asked.

“Your memories will remain.  So too your outlook on things, and your views and politics.  You will think faster.  Your reflexes will improve.  Strength, stamina, mental perception.  They will all become more than they are.”  The Emperor tilted his head back, looking down at the slightly shorter man.  “You will be able to comprehend numbers and ideas that humans can not.”

“But my personality will be the same?  Really, that’s my only reason for pause at this point, my Liege,” Jake asked.

“Unchanged.  I would not offer it if it made you someone other than the man whom my granddaughter loves,” the Emperor said.

Jake bowed low.  “Then I accept your offer, my Liege, and the responsibility it confers.”

“Good.”  The Emperor clasped Jake’s hand as the shorter man rose.  “Eternity is not something to fear, Jacob.  It is a wonderful thing, should one find a passion.  For some, it is war, others art, others foretelling.  I have a love of artifice and invention.  Your father-in-law loves honest, hard work, and leadership.  Your uncle Roboute enjoys the intrigue and trickery of interstellar economics.”  He smiled faintly.  “I suspect you will find Nocturne and Terra alike are places of great wonder, once you have infinite time to explore them.”

“I sincerely hope so, Sire,” Jake said.  He returned the handshake.  “Then…what do I do?”

“First, I wish for you to go to those who disagreed with your decision and speak to them frankly.  Tell them what you can.  And give me Vulkan’s blood sample,” the Emperor said.

“No need, Sire, Vulkan said he would send it over by secure courier,” Jake said.  He grimaced.  “And there’s only one man who objected in more than passing vehemence.”

“May I assume it is your father?” the Emperor asked.  Jake nodded.  “I see.”  The Emperor quirked a grin.  “I’d ask that he come and speak to me in person, but I’d rather not drown out his own opinion.”

Jake ruefully shook his head.  “Yes, Sire, I suspect he’d think I was trying to bully him into submission by intimidating him.  Remember how he nearly locked up at the wedding reception?”

“I do, and I find that sort of behavior distantly tiring,” the Emperor said.  He held his hand over to the door.  “Please.  Do what you would to alleviate the concerns of those who would fear for the outcome of the process.  The nearest time my chirurgeon can perform the operation is twelve hours out, the actual procedure is quite fast.”

“I shall, my Liege,” Jake said, stilling another bout of nerves.  “Venus herself would want to be present, I imagine.”

“She should not be, if you wish to retain some privacy.  The operation is fast, but invasive.  I would recommend she wait in the Guest Wing,” the Emperor said.

“I’ll let her know,” Jake promised.  “She and my parents, and Miranda and Nathaniel, are waiting outside.”

“I know.  I’m glad Nathaniel found his own procedure successful,” the Emperor said, walking his grandson to the door.  “Do greet them for me, would you, Jacob?”

Jake bowed again.  “I will.  Thank you, your Majesty.”

Venus quickly stood as she saw Jake returning from the Emperor’s personal offices.  “Hey!  How did it go?” she asked.

“Well.  They’ll be ready to go in twelve hours.  The Emperor’s personal chirurgeon is going to perform it,” Jake said as he walked up.

Miranda smiled serenely from her seat.  “I think you’ll be fine, Jake.  I’m not sensing any sudden upwells of mourning in your future,” she said.

“Good to know.  Now, just to be sure,” he said, turning to Nate.

Nate chuckled, his blue eyes flaring briefly as he checked his wife’s work.  “Nope, you’re good as far as I know.  Then again, I couldn’t levitate a pencil a foot off the ground.”  He stood up and grinned at his friend and brother-in-law.  “Believe me, you’ll pull through if any of us do.”

Sandra clutched her hands together, staring at the carpet.  Beyond discomfort at the sight of such psychic abilities being used, she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of her son going into surgery.  George sighed.  “Jake…are you sure you want to do this?”

“As sure as I can be, Dad,” Jake said.  “The Emperor said to say Hi to all of you, by the way,” he added.  “Busy guy, you know.”

“Subtle,” George muttered.

Miranda rose from her own seat.  “And how are you feeling, Jake?” she asked.  She could tell, of course, but she knew it would make him feel better to verbalize it.

“A little nervous, but who wouldn’t be?” Jake asked rhetorically.  “Really, though, I just want it to be over.”

Nate nodded in sympathy.  “Here,” he said, running his hand over his lower neck, just above his trapezius.  “There’s a full suite of biomonitors in there now.  Feel them?” he asked.  Jake blinked, running his own finger over the spot.

“Uh, no.”

“Exactly.  The cybernetics are completely non-invasive.  Would you have even known where to look?” Nate asked.

“No.”  Jake pulled his hand back, wondering how to ask his question.  “Man, I appreciate your trying to make me less nervous, but I think I just want to go get some rest for now.  Maybe grab a bite to eat.”

“Nope.  No food before surgery,” Sandra pointed out.

“Damn.  I forgot.”  Jake shrugged.  “Oh well.  You guys want to tour the Palace a bit?  The Emperor offered to set you all up in the Guest Wing while we’re waiting.”

“That’s very kind of him, but I think I should be going,” Miranda said.  “We’ll be back,” she added.  “Don’t worry about it, Jake.  I have trust in my grandfather’s medical experts.”

Jake offered her a quick hug.  “Thanks, Miranda.”  He turned to her husband.  “Nate, man, good to see you.  If I pull through this, we still on for poker on Saturday?”

“Count on it.”  Nate rolled his eyes with a smirk.  “You’re the only man I know who can beat a mind-reader at cards.”

“It’s gotta be the shoes,” Jake finished their joke.  “See you around, my friend.”

“Bye.”  The two psychics walked down the hall to the tramway that would take them to the parking lots.

George slowly rose to his feet, his face pinched.  Sandra and Venus started off to the trams as well, as Venus gave directions to the VIP suite.  George caught Jake’s hand as he passed.  “Jake.”

His son paused, raising his eyebrow.  “Look…I’m sorry.  I don’t want you to think that I don’t care what you and Venus want.”

Jake nodded, relieved.  “Thanks, Dad.”  He smiled faintly.  “Look at it this way.  If this works, the Seagers will be half the bloodline of the Nocturnean Royal Family.  Your grandkids could be warrior-kings.”

George snorted.  “Well, that’s something.”  He looked pained for a moment.  “Jake, you know you’ll be my son forever, right?”

“Yeah, I do, Dad,” Jake said.  He squeezed his father’s shoulder.  “Now…go get Mom and settle in in the Guest Wing.  I need to go do one last errand.”

“What do you have left to do?” George asked as the two men walked down the hall.

“I want to ask someone a quick question, and I have to find her first,” Jake answered.  “It’s very difficult.”


Alpharia set her vox down, looking up at her unexpected guest.  “Jake!  Hi, how are you?” she asked, standing up from her luxurious desk.

“I’m fine, thanks,” Jake said, shaking her hand.  “How’s the business?”

“Quiet.  Very much so.  The problems that were cropping up in Croft have subsided by a lot, which might be good or bad,” the White Queen of Espionage replied.  “You understand.”

“Sometimes, but that’s why they keep a smart thing like you running the show, so you can grasp it when we mere mortals can’t,” Jake said.  He smiled nervously.  “Not that I’ll be mortal much longer.”

“Oh, you’re taking the plunge, are you?” Alpharia asked.  She smiled coyly.  “Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“That’s true most times, I’d wager.  But yeah.  Tonight.”  Jake sighed, his nerves returning.  “Actually, that’s why I’m here.”

“Oh?”  Alpharia sat back down.  “What’s the issue?”

“Well…to be honest, it scares the shit out of me.  Now that I’m committed, it’s not so bad, really, but I still want to know.  What’s your opinion on the process?”

Alpharia thought carefully.  She and Jake had been pretty frosty to each other when they had gone off to Kouthry, but five years together had thawed them out, and now she was one of the few Royal daughters that Jake thought he could rely on to act as a confidant.  “Well, I’d say it’s in your best interest.  What could I tell you that the Emperor couldn’t?”

“I want to know its success rate.  I don’t think I’d get a straight answer out of His Majesty,” Jake admitted.  “I asked him back when he first proposed it and he quoted a different answer than the ones that Nate and Mike got.”

“Oh, really?  Hmm.”  Alpharia considered the question.  “If I recall, it’s about eighty nine percent.”

Jake nodded.  “Okay…that’s higher than what he gave me.  So…is he just hedging his bets?”

“Dunno.”  The gray-eyed, white-haired young woman looked at him contemplatively, rubbing her chin in thought.  “I think he just has more experience with its procedure than I do.  Honestly, I bet you’ll be fine.”

“All right.”  Jake stood back up.  “Thanks, Alpharia.  We still on for poker on Saturday?”

“You bet.”  She stood back up and offered him a quick hug.  “You’ll be fine, Jake.  Trust my grandfather.  He wants you and Venus to be happy.”

“I know he does.”  He smiled at the shorter woman.  “Thanks a lot.  I’ll see you after it’s all done.

The Emperor’s private chirurgeon, a stocky little man with the look of a sanctionite about him, eased Jake down on the table in the operating room, several hours later.  “All right, Prince Seager, any questions before we get started?” the man asked.

“Well, the usual.  The time it takes, side effects, et cetera,” Jake said nervously, staring at the variety of dark fluids in their glass ampoules on the side table with trepidation.

“Oh, we’ll be done in three hours,” the doctor soothed.  “As for side effects…depends on the donor.  Your skin, hair, eyes might darken a bit since your donor is from Nocturne, but you won’t grow extra eyes or anything.  Certainly, you’ll become a bit physically stronger.  As for the actual surgery, you won’t notice the effects for several days.  They’ll come gradually.  Within a month, we’ll know how well it worked, and your apotheosis will conclude.”

“Have you had it done on yourself?” Jake asked.

“Oh goodness no, I have a horrible fear of needles,” the doctor said.  Jake stared at him.  “What?  I can use them on other people, just not myself.”

Jake let out a breath.  “Okay…well, tell me you’re ready to start.”

“Sure thing, your Highness,” the doctor said distantly, sorting through a small pile of metallic beads and selecting the one he wanted to use.  The tiny cybernetic devices controlled the donor geneseed, to prevent the recipient’s system from being overwhelmed.  “In fact…we’re ready to begin,” he said.

“All right,” Jake said, trying to suppress his shakes.  “All right.  Then…let’s not waste time.”

“Time, sir?  Time isn’t an issue for you anymore,” the doctor noted, gently tapping an IV into Jake’s arm.  “Now.  Relax and start counting.”


Venus wrung her hands in the waiting room.  Her eyes were dimmed, and if anyone had tried to touch her, her skin would have felt as cool as a human’s.  Miranda was half-asleep in a chair in the corner.  Nate had his arm around her shoulders, asleep himself in the love seat.  The Seagers were sitting across from each other, both pretending to read magazines.

“Venus,” Miranda whispered from her seat.  Venus started and looked over to her cousin as her hair whipped around her like a black rope.  “He’s just fine.  Fast asleep and doing great,” Miranda said.  Her eyes flared a bit, lighting her peaceful smile.  “Trust me.  No problems at all.”

Her black-skinned cousin nodded.  “Right.  Right.”  She gave a tight, uncomfortable sigh.  “Did I push this on him?”

“Yes,” Miranda said.  Venus winced.  “That said, I would have if you didn’t.  Vulkan would have if you didn’t.  The Emperor would have if you didn’t, and he wouldn’t have asked Nate and Mike if he didn’t want to be well-informed,” Miranda continued.  She gingerly disengaged herself from her husband and walked over to Venus’ seat on the couch.  “Please stop, okay?” she quietly asked.

Venus’ pained gaze lit Miranda’s Scholastica Psykana robe of office, turning the rich purple fabric a deep red.  “I’m just worried.”

“You’re right to be worried.  It’s dangerous.  But I have an insight you don’t, and I’m telling you to relax.”  Miranda smiled again, invisibly opening her third eye and allowing the faintest hint of blue light to leak through the bandana on her forehead.  “Jake wants this to work, very much.  So did Vulkan.  Trust me.”

Finally, the Salamander Lady Primarch managed to relax, letting her cousin’s words register.  “Yeah.  All right.”  She weakly smiled at Miranda.  “Thanks.”

Miranda slid her arm around Venus’ shoulders for a reassuring hug.  “He’s just fine.  Not even dreaming.”

“Don’t tell him you peeked into his mind while he was out cold, though, okay?” Venus asked.

Miranda drew her fingers across her lips in the classic zipping motion.  Venus laughed under her breath.  “You know he went to Alpharia to ask her opinion too?”

“I did.  She told him something that took a load off his mind, whatever it was.  I won’t ask.”  Miranda straightened up.  “Oh…good.  The implants are finished.  Just the injection, then he’s all done.”

George looked up from his magazine.  “How does he look?”

“At the moment, undignified, but completely fine.  He’s under anesthesia,” Miranda informed him.

“Actually, Miranda, can we skip the details?” Sandra asked.  “It’s intensely creepy, and he asked us not to watch in person from the gantry.  This feels like we’re doing that.”

Miranda shrugged, casting her red braids over her luxurious robe.  “As you wish.”


After the last few hours passed, the doctor emerged from the operating suite and stood expectantly in the waiting room.  “Ladies and gentlemen, he’ll be just fine,” he assured the waiting family.  “The operation went perfectly.  He’ll be up and around by next week with no problems,” he said.

George sighed, a feeling of relief mingling with the last of his lingering resentment.  “And did it take?” he asked.

“We have no way of knowing,” the doctor hedged.  “Give it a week.  And I’m warning you now, Princess, he’s going to be weak as a baby for a day or two.  Water only, no food, no sex, no exercise, no direct sunlight, no loud noises, no chemical exposure.  I’ve essentially reset his cardiovascular system to default.  No Warp travel, no trips to Nocturne for a bit.”  He delivered the warning in the stern voice of a career doctor.

Venus nodded.  “We’ll be careful.”

Sandra spoke up.  “When can we see him?”

“Well, that depends on how much he needs to rest, but I’d say sometime in the morning two days from now,” the doctor said.  “Within a week, he’ll be feeling his old self, more or less.”

“Good.”  Sandra sighed.  “Then…I think we should go.”

“Sandra, you’re welcome to stay in the Guest Wing for as long as you like,” Venus pointed out.

“But you’re taking him home, right?  So I think we’ll just head out,” Sandra said.

Venus rose and hugged her, muffling a sigh.  “He’ll be okay, Sandra, I promise.”

“I think he will,” Sandra said.  A tear gathered in her eye as she moved back.  “You take care of him now, all right?”

“Bet on it,” Venus said.

“Jake’s gonna be so disappointed,” Nate said sadly.  [[Image:Nathaniel.jpg|thumb|Miranda's husband, Nathaniel]]

Venus looked over at him.  “Why?”

“You heard what the doctor said.  No chemical exposure?  He loves that,” Nate sighed.

Venus erupted in giggles as Sandra clamped her hand over her lips.  “Nate, shut up,” Venus managed.

“Just making it easier,” Nate said cheerfully.  “I had the same speech, after all.  Or so Miranda tells me.  I was out like a broken bulb for two days straight.”

=== Recuperation ===


Jake stirred.  The breeze across his face brought him about.  He licked dry lips and tried to rise, until a lancing pain from his shoulders brought him down.  He groaned through his teeth.  “Oh…not moving for a while,” he muttered.

He glanced to the side, noting the small fan that was providing the breeze.  A shifting weight on his other side pulled his attention away from the oscillating fan to the familiar sight of his wife, dressed in a thick tank top, fast asleep.  “Venus?” he asked.

Her eyes snapped open.  He winced at the light.  “Jake…you’re awake!” she said.  She leaned over to him, eyes sparkling.  “How do you feel?”

“Everywhere hurts, baby,” Jake admitted.  “How long was I out?”

“Well over a day,” Venus whispered.  “It’s 0200 Tuesday.”

“Did I wake you?” Jake asked.

Venus smiled, her shoulders shifting as if she was letting something go.  “See, you’re the best.  You just had life-altering surgery and you want to make sure I’m okay.”

Jake returned the smile, feeling her warmth brush his lips as she slid her eyes shut and kissed him.  “I don’t feel different.”  He sank into the pillow.  “In a few days, we’ll find out how it worked.”

“Until then, relax.”  Venus slid her hand down his chest, leaving a trail of her heat down his bare skin.  “The Royal Estate can wait a while until you heal properly.”

“All right.”

“You should have heard the laundry list of restrictions the doctor had,” Venus said.  “You’re basically confined to bed for a few days.”

“Yeah?  What did he say?” Jake tiredly asked.

“‘Water only, no food, no sex, no exercise, no direct sunlight, no loud noises, no chemical exposure.  No Warp travel, no trips to Nocturne for a bit,’” Venus quoted from her eidetic memory.

“Whaaaat?  Vastly increased stamina and I can’t have sex with you for a week?” Jake groused.

Venus slapped a hand over her face in frustration.  “Listen, stud, you’ve got enough on your plate.  We’ve got infinite time to get back to the grind, you get some sleep.”

“Hmph.  I suppose it’s doctor’s orders.”  Jake tried to move his arm, and he couldn’t.  He whimpered through his teeth as his nerves flared with pain.  “Can you help?  My arm is asleep.”

Venus obligingly lifted his arm and set it down at a more natural angle, gently massaging the aching muscle with her hands.  He sighed as the heat from her flesh melted into his, and she coaxed circulation into his arm after a day of disuse.  “Thanks, baby.”

She leaned over and rested her finger on his lips.  “Now…rest.  I’ll be here when you wake up, don’t you fear,” she whispered.  Her eyes dimmed as she relaxed back into the bed, letting go of his arm.

“Good night, baby.”  Jake settled back into the soft sheets.  “Now, just to confirm…no chemical exposure?”

“Go to sleep, Jake,” Venus said flatly, concealing her relieved grin in the darkness.

Sandra sat in the chair at Jake’s bedside a few days later, feeling some of her worries melt away.  “Are you sure you’re all right, Jake?” she asked again.

Jake grinned, sitting up in the bed.  “Mom, I’ll be fine by this time tomorrow.  I don’t even feel different yet.”

“So did it not work?” George asked.

“I dunno.  Give it a few more weeks.  According to the doctor, if it did work perfectly, the only thing that will change visibly is that the atrophied muscles in my arms and legs will start healing on their own,” Jake explained.  “And if it didn’t, then my eyes will start changing color, then the thing with my arms.”

“And…if it failed, and the thing we talked about at the party happens?” Sandra pressed.

“That would have been obvious to the doctor when I talked to him yesterday, he had a blood screener with him,” Jake said.  “I’ll be fine.”

George shook his head.  “Well…all right.  You come see us when you can, all right?”

“Absolutely,” Jake assured them.  He grinned up at his parents.  “Thanks for swinging by.  You two want to stay for dinner?  It’s my first solid meal since the operation.”

Sandra hesitated before answering, looking up at George.  “Sure, that’d be nice.”

“Great.”  Jake gingerly edged out of the bed, glad he had bothered to put on running shorts.  His back audibly popped as he stood.  “You guys ever had Venus’ cooking?  I don’t know where she found time to learn at school, we were always so busy,” he said, steering them out of the bedroom.


That Thursday morning, Jake stared at his reflection in the mirror.  His eyes were changing.  The rippled dark greens were fading into a uniform red.  His hair and skin were the same, but there was no mistaking it: his eyes were transforming.

He slowly reached a finger up to the mirror, brushing some drops of condensate aside.  He brought his face up to the glass, staring straight into his own gaze.  The red was bleeding out from the retina into the iris.  The cornea and iris weren’t changing, yet, but the whorls of green pigment were vanishing into a bright, brilliant red.

“’Morning, Jake,” Venus said cheerfully, walking in front of the entrance to the bathroom.  She had had to leave early for a meeting with the Chancellor.  As she crossed the door, she paused, taking in his pose.  “You all right, baby?”

Jake silently beckoned her over.  She stood by his side, looking in confusion as he held his nose to the glass.  “Venus, go get your mirror glasses, all right?” he asked.  His voice was cut with urgency.

Venus blinked in surprise, but did as she was told.  She brought the glasses to him and slid them onto her face.

Jake straightened up and gently squeezed her shoulders, holding her still.  He brought his eyes up to her own, and he could see the little ovals of fire widen behind the mirrored lenses.

“Oh!  Your eyes…they’re shifting!” she said in surprise.  “Wow…well, how do you feel?”

“I can’t feel a thing,” Jake admitted.  His voice was hollow.  “But…well.”

“You wanted to keep your mother’s eyes,” Venus said in sympathy.  “Well, we took those pictures before the operation, you can have your eyes surgically altered to look like your old ones again.”

Jake turned back to the mirror, staring at his reflection.  “Let’s see what else changes,” he whispered.

Alpharia set the bowl of chips down on the table in her modest house, looking at the well-worn leather case on the table.  “Hey, more money for me!” 

“Dream on,” Freya snorted.  She ran her hands over the case, remembering when she had bought it.  “Man, we broke that thing in fast,” she muttered.  “Several nights a week for the rest of the summer.”

Jake sat down next to her, grinning up at her from behind his sunglasses.  “I hope you’ve been practicing.”

“Bah, I don’t need practice,” she scoffed.  She smiled happily at the pile of clay chips Jake was pulling out of the box.  “I’m glad you were up to this.”

Jake nodded emphatically.  “Me too!”  He saw Nate and Remilia wander in, completing the assembly.

Nate immediately dropped a large bag of something tasty-smelling on the table.  “Hey, all, hope everyone’s hungry.”

“Always,” Remilia said.  She looked over at where Jake and Venus were sitting.  “So…don’t keep us in suspense, you two.  How did it go?” she asked.

Jake looked sideways at Venus, arcing an eyebrow over his sunglasses, which he had retained only to heighten the mood.  “Well…” he drawled laconically, pulling them off.  “You know how these things go.”

Freya actually gasped.  The others made similar, more muted sounds of surprise.  Jake’s irises were now constantly-moving circles of red.  They both looked like currents of glowing paint, swirling around his pupils.  They weren’t glowing with actual light, but the effect was still profound.

“Holy shit,” Nate murmured.  “All mine did were change color.”

“Yeah, this was something of a surprise,” Jake admitted.  He smiled.  “Looks rad, though.  This happened in less than two days,” he said, gesturing at his face.

“So does this mean more will happen?”

“If it continues, you bet,” Jake said.  He grabbed a steaming sandwich from the bag.  “At this rate, I’ll look like Vulkan in under a month.”

Alpharia gaped.  “Are you serious?” she demanded.

“No, all I’m due for is a slight change in skin tone, now,” Jake said.  “I was just poking fun.”

Freya let out a breath.  “Well…that’s going to take some getting used to.”  She leaned over him, staring intently.  “Did it hurt?”

“Not at all.”  Jake shrugged.  “Do I look different any other way?”

“…No, but you do have a different…sense, I guess,” Freya said.

“Do I smell or sound different yet?” he asked.

“Yeah, just a little.”  She narrowed her eyes, staring into his.  “It’s actually kinda fun to watch,” she said.

“Well, the only other thing I’ve noticed is increased heat resistance,” Jake said.  “I accidentally set my hand on a handle for a cast-iron skillet that had been over an element for fifteen minutes and it barely felt uncomfortable.”  He opened his hand.  It was unmarked.  “I mean, I still can’t handle heat like Venus can, but I seriously felt almost nothing.”

“Are the rest of your senses dulling?” Remilia asked.

“Not at all.”  Jake sat back in his seat and grabbed a pack of cards from the chip set.  “Honestly, I feel great.”

“Good,” Nate said.  His eyes flashed for a moment.  “You mind?”  At Jake’s shrug, he ran his own mind over the contours of Jake’s.  “Huh.  Basically the same.”

“Well, if it’s gonna change, it’ll be over the next few weeks.”  Jake cut the cards.  “I sort of prepared for this.  It’s a small price to pay.”

“What do your parents think?  I know they were both dreading this,” Nate said.

“I haven’t seen them since it started.”  Jake anted up.  “Who’s in?”

Nearly one full month after the operation, Jake sat at the dinner table in his parents’ new apartment, talking to his family, and trying not to weird them out overmuch.  Mizuki was balanced in his lap, staring up at her cousin in amazement that stood in stark contrast to her parents’ mixture of disgust and shock.  “Did it hurt at all?” she asked.

“The surgery?  A lot.  The changes?  Not at all,” Jake said.  He smiled down at the little girl in his lap.  “Want to see?”

“Yes!” she said, scooting up to look into his eyes.  Jake relaxed and opened his eyes as wide as he could, and Mizuki stared into them, entranced.  “THAT’S SO COOL!” she squealed.

Jake grinned broadly.  “Sure is.”  He looked up at Alice and Hajime, who were looked far less enthused.  “Right, guys?” he asked pointedly.

“It’s certainly different,” Hajime murmured.  He looked at the tan Jake was sporting as his skin darkened.  “Do you know how much more you’ll change?”

“Yep, this is about it, physically,” Jake said.  He hefted his free hand and held it open.  His cuticles, tongue, eyelids, all of his skin had darkened.  Where before he had been so pale that one could follow the veins under his skin, now he looked like a Tallarn.  “Mentally, the changes will be so slow and subtle that I won’t even notice.  So…this is the new me.”  He grinned down at his cousin in his lap.  “So, what do you think?  Am I still Jake?”

“I think so,” Mizuki decided.

“You do?  That’s a relief,” Jake confessed.  “I wouldn’t want to creep you out.”

“I think your skin’s too dark, though, you look like you fell asleep in a tanning bed like that one time,” Mizuki said.

“Hey, that wasn’t even me!” Jake protested.  “That was totally in a movie.”  He gestured over to where Venus was sitting, chatting with Sandra about something.  “You don’t think Venus is too dark,” he pointed out.

“Yeah, but she always looks like that,” Mizuki pointed out.  “I’m not used to you looking like this.”

Jake gently let her down to the floor.  “Well, it’s permanent.  I suspect you’ll get used to it,” he said.

Mizuki’s hand lingered on his.  “Are you sure you’re all right?  Your hand is really warm.  It’s like you have a fever.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine.”  Jake pulled his hand back, smiling to reassure her.  “This is just how my skin feels now.”

“It’s hot.”

“Not as much as Venus’.  Is it too hot?  Does it hurt to touch?” he asked.

“No, it’s just hot,” she said.  She looked up at him again.  “So do you feel different?”

Jake shrugged.  “Actually…not really.  I mean, I’m a little bit stronger and faster, but I can’t even notice it.  Seriously, I forget it happened if I’m just sitting around doing something that needs focus.  Then I pass by a mirror and ‘Oh yeah, that thing that happened.’”

George finally spoke up.  “At least your facial structure didn’t change, right?”

“Nope, still mine,” Jake said, rubbing his chin.  His facial hair was a little bit darker, but not as much as his scalp hair.  Where his tight curls had been light brown, now they were a deep brown.  “So…what’s the verdict?” he asked of the room.

His parents had spoken of it before, of course, and even seen it in person, but the others hadn’t.  Walter shrugged.  “Man, George is right.  This is going to take some getting used to.  Still, it looks natural.  I don’t know if I prefer it,” he said.

“Hmm.”  Jake sighed.  “Well.  We’ll have time.  Now, I talked it over with your parents, Mizuki, and we’ve decided that this is as good a time as any to visit the surface.”

“REALLY?!” she gasped, overjoyed.

“Sure.  Do you still want to go?” he asked.

“Yes!  Where are we going?” she eagerly asked, as her parents stood.

“You get to pick!” Venus announced.

Mizuki’s little face screwed up in sudden concentration.  “But I don’t know any places up there!  What do I get to pick from?”

“Well, do you want to go to someplace public, or private?” Venus asked.

“Public!  I want to meet people,” Mizuki declared.

“Okay…do you want to go outside or see the buildings?” Venus continued.

“I want to see what the place you and Jake went to school at looks like,” Mizuki said as a thought occurred to her.

“Sure,” Venus said.  “It’s called ‘Imperator High.’  It’s called that because it was founded on the last day of the Crusade,” she added.  The group slowly made their way out to the cars, handling the questions that Mizuki was eagerly posing, until they fell into formation in the skylanes and took off.

En route, Jake noted Venus discreetly tapping a few commands in her vox.  “What are you up to?” he asked.

“Making sure of something,” she enigmatically replied.  Jake cocked a brow, but kept his questions stowed.  Let her be mysterious.


Mizuki tucked Venus’ sunglasses over her eyes and stared up at the sky with her mouth wide open.  “WOW!  It’s so BRIGHT!”

“It’s actually pretty cloudy today, if you can believe that,” Jake said.  He smiled down at the girl who was having her mind so thoroughly blown, remembering when he had had the same experience.  “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“It’s HUGE!  It feels like I’m falling!” Mizuki said.  “And it’s so quiet up here too!”

“It feels that way, but people can hear just fine up here,” Jake said.  Walter, who had likewise never been out of the hives, was trying not to look impressed, and failing completely, if somewhat less overtly than his niece.  Hajime and Alice were looking around in wonder, too, though they had both been topside before.  George and Sandra, of course, had seen it many times, and Eric had seen more than his fair share of jungle combat, and found the display entirely unremarkable.

The old soldier had been quiet the entire time, however, only fielding the rarest of questions that Venus and Jake couldn’t answer.  At length, however, he spoke up as the group approached the school.  “Jake, do you ever think about living in the hives again?”

“All the time,” Jake said, surprising his parents.  “Nobody knows their neighbors up here.  It’s so expensive.  There’s stuff I miss a lot.”  He turned to smile at Venus.  “But we built a house up here.  I wouldn’t walk away from that.”

“Hmm.”  Eric looked up at the huge school building, which was an eclectic mix of gothic and pragmatic design that towered over the surrounding manors.  “Hell of a building,” he muttered.  “Looks like the Munitorum office I worked in back on Maractane.”

“I bet Rogal Dorn designed both,” Venus piped up.

“No, this place was built when he was still stationed on the same planet as me, at the end of the Crusade, before he moved back to Inwit.”  Eric shook his head.  “It’s still amazing.”

“It is.”  Venus walked up to the door and acknowledged the guard’s salute with a nod.  “Afternoon, Private.”

“My Lady Venus, Lord Jacob, welcome back,” the aging guard said.  “What can we do for you?”

“Is she in?” Venus asked.

“She is indeed, my Lady.  Shall I page her?  She may be in a conference.”

“Oh, I just won’t bother her,” Venus said.  “Thanks.

Jake led the group into the building, pointing out a few details that had changed since he left.  “Those doors there are where guests had to go to sign in.  It was a zoo.  So many students had mercenary guard details or something, and they were never allowed inside, so they had to just wait.”  Jake chuckled.  “So stupid.  There was never any violence here.  Well, armed violence.”

“That was the entrance to the assembly hall,” Venus said.  She propped the door open an inch and saw a small group of students doing something on the stage.  “Looks like we can’t go in, though.”

“My stars!  Venus!  Is that you?” a voice from ahead of them asked.  The group turned to see a graying man in a rumpled-looking tweed vest gaping at her.

“Wow, Professor Blenkach!  Been a hell of a long time!” she said, happily shaking his hand.

“It has!  Look at you!” he said, holding her at arm’s length.  Even in her modest denim jacket, she cut a beautiful figure.  “You look amazing, Venus.  It’s great to see you after all this time!”

“It’s good to see you, too, Professor, but what are you doing here after school let out?” Venus asked as Jake walked up behind them.

“Oh, just paperwork,” he scoffed.  “I swear, I did less in the Munitorum.”

“Hey, Professor,” Jake said.

Blenkach turned.  “Uh, hello,” he said.  His mind raced as he tried to put a name to the face. “Oh!  Jacob!  Wow, I almost didn’t recognize you.  How are you?”

“Just fine, Adam, thanks.”  Jake gestured at the group.  “My parents, grandfather, cousin, aunt, and uncles.  We’re just here to see the old stomping grounds.”

“I see.  Well, that…oh,” Blenkach started as he saw the matching Nocturnean rings on their hands.  “So you two stayed an item, then?” he asked slyly.  “Good on you both.”

“We did.”  Venus smiled.  “He’s the Bond Prince of Nocturne now, in fact.”

Blenkach stared at them both for a moment.  “Well…quite a promotion,” he said at last.  “Congratulations to you both.”

“Thanks, Professor,” Venus said for the two of them.

“I’d love to talk, but I need to hand these in to Headmaster Sebastian,” Blenkach sighed, straightening the papers in his hands.  “Do drop by again.”

Jake grinned.  “We just might.  So long, Professor.”

As Blenkach walked off, Jake and Venus shared a wry grin.  “Hmm.  Seems he got the anti-aging procedure too, because I swear he hasn’t aged a day,” Jake noted.

“Hee hee, feisty old coot.”  Venus looked back at the others.  “My old history professor.  Former political officer from the 194th Army Group.”

“He always thought I was going to join the Army for some reason,” Jake noted.  “Can’t imagine why.”

“Is it true you’ve got former Astartes on staff here?” Mizuki asked, wide-eyed.

“Faculty, not staff.  And yes.  A few.”  Venus looked around her.  “In fact…this way,” she said, leading them down one of the halls on the floor.  “Let’s see if she’s even in her office…”  They walked down a hallway, marveling at the trophies in the racks and display cases on the walls.

“What are all these for?” Mizuki asked.

“Well,” Venus said, pausing alongside one.  “This one is mine,” she said.  She pointed at the name and date on the bottom.  “I was in that team.  ‘Girls’ Team Relay Swimming,’” she read off the label.  She smiled as the memories came back.  “Good times.”

“Wow.  You have a pool up here?” Mizuki asked.

“A big one.  I can show you later,” Venus said.  She pushed open a door at the end of the long hallway as they reached it.  “In the meantime…”

Faith looked up from the student she was speaking to and started as she saw her cousin walk in.  Venus saw that she was busy and backed out with a wink.  “She’s busy, we can come back,” Venus said.

“No, no, come in!” Faith called.  She turned to smile at the nervous-looking boy in front of her.  “You let me know when you’re finished, all right?  Your group needs that.”

“I will, Miss Aurelian,” the boy said, picking up his bag.  “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem.  See you next class,” Faith said, watching him go.  “Venus, come on in.  How are you?”

“I’m doing well, Faith, how about you?” Venus asked.

Faith walked over to the group.  “I’m great.  This job is incredibly rewarding.  Who knew I was good with kids?” she asked.

Jake extended a hand to her.  “Hey, Faith.”

Faith paused, looking at him with naked astonishment.  “…Jake?”

Jake nodded.  “It’s me.  I got a paint job, but…”

“Jake!  Wow, look at you!” Faith said.  “Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” he said, finally shaking her hand.  “Oh, my parents, George and Sandra Seager, and grandfather Eric Donnelly.  My Uncle Hajime and Aunt Alice, and their daughter Mizuki, and my Uncle Wallace.”  He gestured to them all in turn as Faith shook hands and smiled.  “And this is my sister-in-law, Professor and Lady Primarch Faith Aurelian.”

“Well, not yet, until I finish my thesis and get the actual piece of paper,” Faith admitted with a warm grin.  “So, for now at least, it’s just Faith, please.”

Mizuki boggled.  “Wow.  You’re a teacher here?” she asked.

Hajime grabbed her shoulder to silence her, but Faith was nodding.  “Yep.  Ninth grade biology.”  She saw the gesture and waved it away.  “Believe me, it’s nothing I didn’t get from the students here.  Or the faculty!  They were so confused.  ‘You…want to…teach?’” she mimed the headmaster’s shock.

“Don’t let us interrupt, Faith,” Venus said.  Faith shook her concerns off.

“No, I’m pretty much done for the day.  What are you all doing here, anyway?” she asked.

“Well, we wanted to bring Mizuki up to see the surface for the first time,” Jake said, smiling fondly at his cousin.

Faith smiled and stepped back slightly.  “And how do you think it is, Mizuki?”

“Big.  Really big.  And everything’s so bright,” she said, clearly a little overwhelmed by everything.

Faith noticed.  “Well, you have fun up here.  I need to go get back to work on the papers,” Faith sighed.  “Grading.  It never ends.”

“How’s your own paper coming along?” Jake asked.

Faith snorted.  “Slowly.  I should have picked something with fewer interviews.”

“Hmm.  Well, good luck.”  Venus and company filed out as Faith grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair.  She caught Jake’s eye as he moved to follow.

“Hey, Jake.  How did it go?” she asked.

“Well enough that the pain is long gone, but the doctor says I’ll look like this for the rest of time,” Jake said quietly.  He held his hand before his face.  “I don’t quite know how to feel.”

Faith watched as he ran his hands together.  “I think you’ll adapt.  Give it a few decades and you won’t even remember being a different color.”

“I hope I do.  I wouldn’t want to forget.”  He turned his alien eyes on her, wondering what to say.  “I’m still me, though.”

“I can tell.”  Faith slid her jacket on and gave him a quick hug.  “Hang in there.  It’ll be alright.”


Outside, Venus was showing them another of the trophies in the hall.  When Jake and Faith emerged, she paused.  “Hey.  I was thinking we show them our terrible secret,” Venus said.

“We have a terrible secret?” Jake asked.

“Yes.  You know, the study hall.”

Jake rolled his eyes.  “Sure, why not.”  As Venus took off down the hall, Jake turned to explain.  “You guys will love this.”

“What are you two even talking about?” Eric asked.

Jake smiled.  “The room where we met.  Originally, it served a much darker function in my mind.”

George winced.  “Oh, I remember that.  You were just…ugh.”

“Yeah, that was bad.”  Jake paused outside the study hall on the first floor, looking into the rows of students serving detentions, waiting for late busses, or just hanging out.  “Right…there, at that table.  That was where Farah introduced us,” Jake said, pointing.

“It was,” Venus said.  She walked up next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder for a moment.  “A good call on her part, I think,” she said quietly.

Walter let them have their moment before asking the obvious question.  “So…what was its darker function?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jake said, stepping back from the door.  “I got dumped by her cousin at that same table.”

“You came home a complete mess,” George said in sympathy.

Jake sighed.  “How Hana and I stayed friends after that, I’ll never know.”

“You stayed friends because she wanted someone to boss around, and lead about by the…hand,” Venus said, mindful of the presence of little Mizuki.

“So true.  She grew out of it, though.”  Jake let his eyes travel the familiar rows of seats and benches, remembering.  “How does it feel like so long ago when it wasn’t even a decade?”

“It was a very busy decade,” Venus chuckled.

Someone in the room recognized her and gasped.  Before anyone could do anything, she took a long step back out of the doorframe and into the hall.  “Welp, that’s our cue.  Mizuki, do you want to stay here or go somewhere else?” she asked.

“I want to see the pool,” Mizuki said.

Venus nodded.  “Ah, my old lair.  That was my lair,” she said.  “My room, my cave, my haunt.”  She led the group through the empty halls to the gym area, pausing at the door.  “Oh…it’s Friday.  Blast.  Races today,” she said.  She thought for a moment.  “Eh.  It’s public,” she said.  She pushed the door open and walked in.

The smell of chlorine assaulted the group’s senses, bringing a wistful grin to Venus’ face.  “Wow.  What a time trip,” she said.  She looked out over the pool from the spectator area in which they found themselves.  She retrieved her sunglasses and slid them on so she didn’t distract the racers.

“Hey, Jake, remember the time I was in a Sectionals race and I could barely walk from that leg cramp?” she chuckled.

“Oh, that was a disaster.  You came in second place instead of first,” Jake joked.

“Hey, I was sad,” Venus huffed.

“Now, this, more than anything, takes me back,” Sandra said.  “I remember the ONE time Vulkan showed up to watch a race and nobody got anything done until he left because his security guards were scaring everyone.”

Venus groaned.  “Oh man, we were both so embarrassed…”

“Can we go in?” Mizuki asked.

Hajime squeezed her hand.  “No, honey, they’re having races today,” he said.  “Venus, is the pool open other days?”

“All the time, they let anyone come in,” she said.

“Maybe we can come back on a weekend,” Hajime said to his daughter.

“Not here, Hajime, trust me,” Jake said.  “You’ll want to go to one of the public pools in the city proper.  They don’t like hivers much around here,” he added, his voice frosting over.

“Ooh, the thing in the…yeah,” Venus said, halting before she could get too personal.  “Well, that’s it…unless you want to show something, Jake?” she asked.

“No, I want to go to the overlook now,” Jake said.  He tapped his pocket with a loaded look.

Venus took the hint.  “One last stop then, you guys,” she said.  She turned to Mizuki and grinned behind her shades.  “Trust me, we saved the best for last.”

Cora lifted her vox and smiled when she saw the caller ID.  “Hello?”

“Cora!  It’s Venus.  How are you?” Venus asked.

“Great!  I got the contract,” Cora proclaimed.

“Oh, awesome.  Did you get both distributors?” Venus asked, inquiring of the construction project Cora’s company was undertaking.

“Both, but one of them wanted an ear, an eye, an arm, and a leg, so they might have to suck it up,” Cora said.  “What’s up?”

“Well, Jake’s bringing his cousins on a tour of the surface, and he wanted to know if he could let his six-year-old cousin take pictures from the roof of the Spire,” Venus asked.  The group were in their cars, slowly folding into the general Startseite traffic.  They were far enough away from the Spire that they could divert to another building if they needed to.

“Of course!  Should I make an appearance?” Cora asked.

“If you want, then of course, it’s your home.  We saw Faith at Imperator,” Venus said.

“Yeah, how is she settling in?” Cora asked.

“She seems great,” Venus said, nodding to Jake, who sent a confirmation message to the other cars in the convoy.  “We’ll be by in ten.  Thanks, Cora.”

“Hey, no problem, I haven’t had a chance to say hi to you since you got back anyway.”  She thought for a moment.  “Hey, uh, so there’s no surprises…how did it go?”

Venus glanced over at Jake, still busy at the controls.  “Jake’s just fine.  He’ll be with us.”

“Great!  See you soon.”


Ten minutes later, the group was standing on top of the Spire, Corvus Corax’s opulent home, and Mizuki was busily snapping pictures with the vox her father provided.  “This is amazing,” Walter said, looking out over the drop to the city below.  The structure loomed over the city like the hive spire against which it backed.  Venus was sitting by the edge of the structure, pointing out significant structures for Mizuki to capture.  “It’s like a different planet,” he continued, overawed.

“I know.  I felt the same way,” Jake said.  He looked over at his uncle, who was standing stock-still.  “You get vertigo, man?”

“No, but…this is amazing, it’s like I’m on an ornithopter over the Gap,” Walter said.  He was talking about the cleft between two hive spires atop his cube, so far apart that a smaller hive could have been built between them with room to spare.

“It is pretty amazing.”  George gingerly stepped up to the edge, glancing down the endless-seeming drop.  “The hives on Mars were this big, but they weren’t open to the air.”

“I should go see them sometime,” Jake said.  “What was the Seminary’s hive like?”

“A vault.  So cramped…even compared to Tetra.  It was basically a gigantic cathedral,” George said.

“Venus, who did you say this place belonged to?” Hajime asked, holding tight to Mizuki’s hand.

Venus saw a shadow move on the ground behind them and smirked at the timing.  “My cousin Cora, who’s staying here until her own house is built.”  The shadow was moving opposite the direction of the clouds, and was very clearly defined.  Venus raised her voice.  “It’s a real shame she can’t stay in her own place like a grown-up,” she said loudly.

“Hark who speaks, you can’t even pick a planet!” Cora’s voice replied.

The group turned to see a pretty, dark-haired young woman sitting cross-legged on top of one of the air conditioners on the Spire’s top surface.  She smiled down at the group.  “How’re you doing, Venus?”

“I’m great, thanks for the invite,” Venus called back.  Cora nodded from her perch.  “We appreciate it.”

Cora uncrossed her legs and dropped the fifteen feet from her seat to the level that the others were on, landing with her arms already out for a hug.  “After two months, you can sit on my rooftop all you want,” Cora cheerfully replied, grabbing the shorter woman in a playful squeeze.  “How was the trip?”

“Fantastic.  I brought home something like five volumes to give you.”  Venus patted her pocket, pulling out a small data disk and handing it over to her cousin.  “Enjoy.”

“Yeeesssss, a sacred exchange,” Cora said, rubbing her hands together.  “Who knows you have them?”

“They’re not proprietary, wiseass,” Venus snorted.  Cora’s face fell.

“Aww, and I thought we were being clandestine!” she said, disappointed.  She glanced over at her guests.  “And who might you be?”

George shook himself loose from his surprise at her entrance.  “Uh, I think we’ve met,” he said.

“Right, the wedding,” Cora said, remembering.  “Nice to see you, Sieur Seager.  And you, ma’am,” she said, waving to Sandra.

“It’s been too long, Lady Cora,” Sandra said, dismissing her own shock at the superhuman display.

“Are you okay?  You fell like two stories!” Mizuki asked, deeply concerned.

Cora smiled.  “I’m just fine.  We’re built for that.  What’s your name?”

“Oh, I’m Mizuki,” the girl said, a little nervously.

“Corvus Cora, welcome to the Spire,” Cora said, gently shaking the girl’s hand.  She straightened up, smiling at the rather shell-shocked hivers behind her.  “The name’s a little pretentious, I know, but some habits die hard.  Who might you be?”

“First Sergeant Eric Donnelly, Imperial Fists Ninth Army Group,” Eric said formally, though he was wise enough not to salute.

Cora nodded politely.  “Sergeant.”

The others introduced themselves piecemeal.  Cora shook each proffered hand in turn.  “So what brings you topside?” she asked of the group, though of course Venus had already told her.

“We wanted Zuki to see what the surface looks like,” Venus said, smiling down at her cousin.

Cora nodded again, sagely.  “And what do you think so far?” she asked.

“It’s so big!  There’s so much air I feel like I’m going to stop breathing!” Mizuki said nervously.

“Well, you won’t.  It’s supposed to be like this,” Cora chuckled.

Venus piped up.  “So, Cora, how’s the development going?”

“Surprisingly slowly, given how much the Guild was nagging me,” Cora said, glancing back at her cousin.  Baffled looks on the hivers’ faces urged her continue.  “I’m in the macroconstruction business.  Theme parks, Prometheum refineries, office complexes, colony sewage treatment plants, what have you,” she explained.  “Anything so big that normal manufacturing and construction businesses can’t get it done economically.”

“Really?  That seems to be a pattern with the Royal Family,” Sandra said.

“What do you mean?” Cora asked.

“Well…I mean that most of Venus’ generation seem to be more interesting in working in the private sector rather than the government,” Sandra said.

Cora shrugged.  “Some.  Not all.  Hana’s in the Rough Riders.  Well, the White Scars elite auxiliaries, anyway, which means Rough Riders to me.  And a bunch of the rest of us are in the political sector.  I just prefer working in the private sector since there’s more of a challenge.  You know?  If you fail, you fail on your own merits.”

Hajime’s lips compressed a little as she said that.  Certainly what she said wasn’t true in a lot of industries.  Sometimes it felt like the aircar industry was so far into the pockets of the boards that ran them, it was impossible for anything to change for the better.

Cora noticed his anger, of course; her senses rivaled Freya’s.  She decided it was best left unaddressed, for now.
 

=== Thangir's Burden ===


Thangir, the newlywed Prince of Fenris and nominal Lord of the Fang, sat at the picture window in his suite, clad in the night sky.  The massive mountains of the Fang jutted all the way through the clouds here on stormy nights, but tonight there were none; just a clear view to the snow-covered plains and mountainsides below.

The youthful warrior looked out at the snows and rocks, feeling an uncomfortable sense of longing.  He had received his enhancement surgery from the Fang’s Wolf Priests after a brief visit by the Emperor himself; or All-father of the Imperium, as he was known to the Fang.  The experience had been awe-inspiring and frightening to the then-nineteen-year-old mortal, but clearly whatever test to which he had been subjected had impressed the Emperor, as Freya had extended the offer of the same eternal life she enjoyed to Thangir mere minutes later.  He had had not needed to think long to accept.
The surgery’s recovery had been agony, but the enhancements he had received had been quite worth it.  Better stamina, strength, senses…all of him seemed improved.  It had even caused his canines to grow a bit from his upper jaw, like Freya’s had, though they didn’t seem to be getting anywhere near as large as hers, and she had told him that her senses were far superior.

For all the improvements, though, the part he had enjoyed the most so far had been the reduction in time spent asleep.  Where before he could have slept like the dead for nine hours after a hard day, now he never felt the need to sleep more than four or five at the most.  The extra hours made each day feel fuller and more vital, and he had reveled in it.  At least, he had at first.

Of late, his mind had drifted to a darker topic.  He had tried to banish it, but it had come back, closer and quite vivid.  It was confusing.  It made him feel like he was committing infidelities, too, which didn’t help.

The quietest sound of footsteps behind him caught his ear.  His newly enhanced ears and nose told him Freya was standing in the door to the royal bedchambers, watching him.  Even with his new senses, though, he was sure he wouldn’t have been able to detect her if she hadn’t wanted him to.  His awe at her abilities had only grown as his own senses had.

The starlight glimmered an unnatural green in her lupine eyes, and allowed him a view of her bare silhouette.  She had worked the braids in her hair loose before retiring, and her hair fell around her chest and shoulders nearly to her waist in places.

She looked into his eyes in silence for a moment, letting her scent do the talking.  She was curious as to his absence, it seemed.

“Sorry.  I had a nightmare,” Thangir said.

Freya kept watching him, before walking over to the bay seat beside him on the windowsill and sitting down with her back to the far side.  She leaned back and glanced out the window, letting him see her beautiful profile.  The red moon of Fenris shone undimmed this high up, and spilled watery light like diluted blood over her naked skin.  She looked every inch the Valkyrie he had mistaken her for the first time he had seen her.

“No,” she said softly.

“No…what?” Thangir asked.

“No, you didn’t have a nightmare,” she said.

Thangir bristled.  Freya’s eyes darted to him, though her head didn’t move.  “You didn’t fall asleep yet tonight,” she said.  It was a statement, not an accusation.  Thangir deflated.

“Sorry, my love,” he said.  The guttural Juvjk they were using was his native tongue, though she had only learned it in later life.

She turned her head to look at him fully, though he was relieved to sense no judgment in her yet.  “So what troubles you, my warrior?” she asked.  She had called him that first when he had only been one of her servants, after washing out of Space Wolf training at Kerrvik Training Camp in the Asaheim foothills.  He had mistaken it for derision, at first, before she had whispered it in his ear one evening with a look of invitation he would never forget for the rest of his life.

“I feel…distracted,” Thangir said.  “I was reliving something most unpleasant.”

Freya cocked her head.

“The…” Thangir’s words failed for a moment.  He gestured at the ragged scar, nearly an inch thick in places, from his left shoulder to his waist, just below his navel.  It had killed him.  Only the medical gear in the back of Freya’s Thunderhawk had saved him.  As he had bled out on the sands of his home island, he had heard the victorious Ironjaws destroying his village, sacking his home, capturing his people to use as slaves and whores.  Freya had watched the entire battle from the sidelines with two Wolf Priests and a few skjalds, selecting the finest warriors to take to Kerrvik.

Freya nodded understanding.  “I see.”  She flicked a few stray red hairs over her shoulder and settled back against the metal walls.  “Do you still feel the pain?”

“No…not the physical injury,” Thangir said.

“What, then?”

“I…I hear the sounds.”  Thangir looked away, ashamed of himself.

Freya’s eyes narrowed a hair.  “Of the battle…or the aftermath?”

Thangir nodded as the truth crept closer.  “You have it,” he whispered.

Freya traced a hand over his leg, crossed and resting on his knee.  “Thangir, you’re a strong man.  I know you can overcome your fear.”

“Not fear,” Thangir said, harshness welling up in his tone.  He forced it back.  “I’m…I feel unfaithful, but…”

“Unfaithful?” Freya asked, confused.

“My…daughter, Freya.  My wife,” Thangir said, forcing it out.  “I flashed back to losing them.”

His second wife fell silent.  She had known he had been married before his ascension, but so had thousands of other battle brothers.  They had had more brainwashing to erase their old lives, though.  It seemed more of it lingered than she thought.  “I see.”

Thangir sighed.  “Forgive me, Freya.  It…I can remember hearing them scream my name from the back of your ship,” he managed.  “Since I met you, it’s been lessened, but it’s still there.  It’s what kept me awake.”  He shook his head.  “I’m sorry.”

Freya glanced at him sidelong, her gaze softening somewhat.  “I understand.”

“It’s not missing them specifically,” Thangir said.  He felt compelled to continue.  “Of course I miss them.  But…knowing that they’re out there and I can’t get them back is the worst feeling.”  They were undoubtedly still alive on some Ironjaw island somewhere, being used to pump out babies for the clan.  The thought set Thangir’s teeth on edge.  His daughter and wife, enslaved…and the very vow he had taken to serve the Fang – and the one he had taken to wed Freya – prevented any action on his part.  He was technically the Prince of Fenris, and couldn’t interact with his nominal subjects whatsoever.

His new wife squeezed his leg from her perch.  “I can’t help with that, Thangir, but…maybe there is one way we can help you move on.”

He looked up at her.  “How?”

She rose to her feet, letting her hair drape back down across her back.  “I can’t help you get your old family back, but I most certainly can help you make another.”

Thangir thought about that, and felt the ache in his mind fade.  “Then…you’ve thought about this?” he asked, scenting a sense of decision come about her.

She turned and walked back to the door to the Royal bedchamber, pausing to cast a glance back at him, chased with a faint grin.  “I have.”

Thangir stood to follow her.  Freya sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for him.  “…Thank you, Freya,” he murmured.  He leaned down from beside the bed and kissed her on the cheek.  “I was afraid you’d think less of me.”

“I wouldn’t.  Not for wanting to do more than you could,” Freya said.  “But not now, all right?”  She slid her hands up his arms and guided him down.  “Now…me.”

“Us,” Thangir said softly, and they embraced once more.

=== Back From the War ===

 
Jake swung the door of his home open and stared.  The man on his stoop was a stranger.

He was dressed in a layered yellow and grey tunic that looked recently-pressed.  He had a silver Power Sword clasped at his flank, with a compact Hellpistol in a holster on the other side.  The grips on both showed ample wear.  Despite being Jake’s own age, the man looked about twenty years older.

“Holy shit,” Julius Pius said.  “What happened to your eyes?”

Jake sipped at his tequila in the kitchen as Julius recounted a few stories from his time with the Geno.  “My assistants are a bit slow on the uptake, but they’re both excellent soldiers, no question of that,” Julius said.  He fingered his left elbow, staring into the past.  “Nearly lost an arm in one fight, but my batman, Baldgin, he saved me.”

“Wow,” Venus said.  “Did you have to get an augmetic?”

“No,” Julius sighed, rolling up his sleeve.  Jake winced at the red loop around his arm. The angle of the cut showed it had gone straight through to the bone. “But I did get a tiny, temporary implant just to monitor the wound.  Make sure it worked when we added bone grafts and synthflesh on there so it didn’t go septic and didn’t give me leukemia or something.”

Jake shivered.  “I’m glad you’re okay, though.”

“Thanks, Jake,” Julius said, leaning back with a sigh.  “Let’s not make this all about me, though.  How have you two been?”

“Well, you can see I took a trip to the body shop,” Jake quipped, waving a hand in the air.  “I’m banking on the fact that I was completely obscure and unimportant before marrying into the Royal Family to hide that I’m looking so different,” he said brightly.

Julius shook his head.  As much as the cynical part of him wanted to feel scorn at the flippantness of Jake’s approach to something so life-altering, he could also hear the faintest trace of relief in his friend’s voice.  Jake was masking a buried concern with levity.  He could hardly be hypocritical enough to call the young Prince on that.  Goodness knows he had seen some terrible things in the interim, too.  Briefly, he hazarded a guess as to what could have gone wrong with Jake’s ‘trip to the body shop,’ and pushed them back.  The man deserved some privacy.

Either Jake noticed his friend’s buried reaction and ignored it, or he missed it.  “Really, you’re lucky you caught us,” Jake said.  “We’re moving back home to Nocturne for a few years soon, so that we can really start getting involved in the leadership there.”

“Hmm.  ‘Back’ home,” Julius noted.  “You spend more time on Nocturne than Terra now, I take it?”

Venus shrugged.  “That was always the plan,” she said.  “You know, if your company gets shipped by, feel free to drop in.  Our door’s always open to you.  Both of them,” she added with a grin.

Julius shifted his shoulders in relief.  That, at least, was something for which his war-hardened soul had hoped.  “And I’m happy and grateful to hear it, Venus,” he said.

Jake sighed dramatically, lifting an oven mitt from the table.  “I’m gonna plod back into the kitchen now,” he said heavily.

Julius watched as Jake rose from his chair to glance over the cooking meal in the kitchen.  “You two look good married,” he said.

Venus beamed.  “Thanks.  I think so too.”

Julius nearly added ‘But then, everything looks good after three and a half years of non-stop trench fighting,’ and caught himself with the words on his lips.  Best not to sound ungrateful.

“But then, I bet everything looks good after time in the trenches, doesn’t it?” Venus asked.  She caught his sudden sharp glance and smiled gently.

Julius stared, feeling a slight grin return to his lips.  “It certainly does.  Thanks.”  He looked over to where Jake was working in the other room.  “May I ask you a personal question?” he inquired politely.

“Sure,” Venus said.

“What did your father think of a mortal marrying into the family?” he asked.

“He was all for it,” Venus said.  “Dad always said that he would support us if we decided to tie the knot.  And just between you, me, and the walls,” she added, leaning forward conspiratorially, “we’re going to try for a child soon.”

Julius stared over at Jake.  “Er.  Is that…possible?” he asked gingerly.

“One of the perks of my new frame and chassis,” Jake said from the other room.  “Along with enhanced senses and a few other bonuses,” he added, returning with the tequila bottle in his hand.

“I see.”  Julius was glad he had halted his earlier inquiries.  “Well…good on you both,” he said.  “I confess that I’ve entertained the notion of leaving the service after a few more tours to formally settle with Isis, but I think it won’t be necessary,” he said.

“How do you mean?” Jake asked.

“Well…I haven’t told anyone yet, but what the devil, there’s a Primarch in the room,” Julius grunted, accepting a fresh cup of tequila with a nod.  “I asked Isis to marry me, and she’s accepted.  Jake, I want you to be my best man, if you’d be willing.  And to cap it off, once the war is over I’m being reassigned to one of the Geno offices here on Terra.  Away from the frontlines.  It’s a long tour, too.  Eleven years.  More than enough time for…well, personal life,” he said broadly.

Jake leaned over and grabbed his hand.  “I’d be happy to!  Congrats, my friend,” he said.

Venus clapped her hands together.  “Fantastic!  Oh, that’s a hell of a thing, Julius, congratulations.”


“Thanks, Venus,” Julius said, his tension fading a bit more.  He swirled the drink in the glass a few times before downing half in a gulp.  “Good God damn, I missed Terran liquor,” he said flatly, setting the cup down.  “Geno troops are too well-disciplined to set up stills in the trenches, unfortunately,” he sighed.

“Damn shame, that,” Jake deadpanned.

“Yes, it’s a crying shame indeed,” Julius said.  “Bloody things glow like a road flare, in a thermo scope at night.”

The oven in the corner beeped.  Venus rose and swung it open, flooding the spacious kitchen with the scent of daisy ham.  “Want to stay for dinner?” she asked.

Julius looked up and smiled.  “I’d love to, thanks.”  He stood too, and rolled his neck to work out the kinks.  “Can’t say much for military food, really,” he said drily.

“Is it disgusting, or something?”

“No, it’s just…nutrients.  Not bad, not good,” Julius said.  “And then you get dropped in a trench for a while, and suddenly it’s haute cuisine.”

“Ouch,” Jake said.  “They don’t just not feed you guys in the trenches, do they?”

“Oh, they do,” Julius admitted, “just not with what you’d call ‘edible’ substances.  Hell, we had to catch rats for meat once because the supply truck got shelled out in the open, and it took two full weeks to clear out the snipers well enough to get close enough to salvage anything.  My batman fancies himself a cook, but if you ever have a chance to try his ‘Rat-Au-Van,’ just don’t. You can guess what it is.”

Venus winced.  “Fuck, that’s disgusting.  I’ve half a mind to send a Legionary ship with actual food out to you guys.”

“If ever I were to ask you or Isis to abuse your power, that would be how I do it,” Julius groused.  He tapped the bare patch of leather at his left hip as Jake grabbed plates.  “I want to thank you, Venus, as long as I’m here.”

“For…oh, for the sword,” Venus said.

“Very much so.  You, Farah, and Hana did one hell of a job.”  Julius held out his empty had to accept a glass of water.  “It’s perfect.  The balance is flawless.”

“It was fun to make.”  Venus set out plastic cutlery for the three of them.  “Do you ever actually use it?  Or is it just ceremonial?”

“I’ve worn the grip smooth in one place, and it’s partway there in another,” Julius said.  “Trust me, that thing has saved my life.”

“Well, that’s very good to hear,” Venus said.  She sighed to herself as the men sat down.  “You know, though, I feel bad.  I wish I could make your job easier, Julius.  Or, you know, safer.”

Julius shook his head.  His cropped deep brown hair was cut to a military crew, but he looked to be growing it out a bit for his leave.  “Venus, coming back to Terra to see my family, friends, classmates, and fiancé is making my job easier in ways I couldn’t have even appreciated before signing up.  Please believe that.”

“Well…if you say so,” Venus said.  She grinned as Julius reached for a loaf of bread with an almost childlike eagerness.  “Are you allowed to bring leftovers home in a napkin, Julius?” she asked.

“You’re an angel, Venus, but I’m going to go back to Isis’ apartment after this, and I came from there, too,” Julius chuckled.  “Plenty of time to filch real food.”

“So glad,” Venus said, slicing the ham.  “Well, dig in.”

Julius smiled to himself as his friends laughed and carried on.  It did feel good indeed, he decided, to come home every so often.  He made a mental note to check in with the rest of his high school confederates that had enlisted, just to make sure they were all right.  It never hurt to stay in touch.

=== Disrespectfully Pregnant ===

 
Crown Princess Venus settled down on the edge of the bed and went still.  Her husband, Jacob Seager, rested his ear on her stomach and listened.  The sound of her blood pulsing through her mingled with another, fainter sound…then a faint sense of pressure against his cheek made him grin from ear to ear.

He lifted his head up and beamed at her, overjoyed.  “I felt him.”

“Oof.  You should feel him on this end,” Venus said.  She ran a hand over her distended tummy and smiled as Jake stood.  “He’s kicking up a storm.  Hard to sleep, some nights.”

“Really?  Wow.  Anything I can do?” Jake asked.

“No, nothing, thanks,” Venus said wearily.  He sat down next to her and ran his hand over her bulge.  “The doctor said a glass of milk before bed and nothing else.”

Jake stared down at the lump over his wife’s usually trim stomach.  He squeezed his fingers slightly, a silly little smile on his face.  “…Baby.”

Venus slid her hand over his.  “Yep.”

“I think I like our idea, by the way,” Jake said, apropos of nothing.

“His name?” Venus asked.

Jake nodded.  “Yeah.  If he were growing up on Terra…I’d say no, too weird.  But on Nocturne?  It’s perfect.  And you know Vulkan will start tearing up.”

Venus chuckled.  “Sentimental old fart.  Yeah, he totally would.”

“N’bel…” Jake said.

“Grandpa’s name,” Venus said softly.  She gingerly stood.  “Ow.  Hard to believe he’s still seventy days off, he feels ready to go.”

“I bet he does,” Jake said.  “Stairs giving you trouble?”

“No, but I miss being able to swim, with a sack full of ground pork under my stomach,” Venus grumbled.

Jake frowned.  “Honey, it’s not nice to refer to our larva as a ‘sack,’” he scolded.

Venus snorted back a laugh.

Jake helped her out into the hallway and out to the balcony.  Venus leaned against the stone and stared out at the world below.  The mixing streets of Themis vanished into the tangle of buildings beyond, until they reached the massive walls of the city.  “I love that view,” Jake said.  He ran his hand over her shoulders and squeezed her gently, following her gaze out to the city.  “He will too, I’m sure.”

“I hope so,” Venus said.  She smiled into the blazing sun.  “You know…it’s the sensations I’m curious about.”

“How so?” Jake asked.

“Like…what does it feel like to hold a baby?  I’ve never done it.  Mizuki was born before we got married, and none of the others have kids.  And what does it feel like to have someone drink out of you?  That just blows my mind.  As a concept, you know.  And teaching someone two languages at once.  How will that work?” she asked.

“I expect you’ll manage,” Jake said.  “We, I mean.  I was wondering, though…do you think we’ll send him to Imperator?”

“I think we should,” Venus said.  “It’s such a good school.”

“Then we will.”  He squeezed her shoulder as she leaned against him.  “Personally, I’m looking forward to going back to Terra.  I want to show my parents their grandson.”


=== N'bel ===


George Seager sat in a chair in the middle of his apartment and stared at the warm bundle of fabric in his arms.  A baby boy was curled up inside, fast asleep, with a look of absolute concentration etched on his tiny face.  The little guy looked like him.  Quite a lot, actually.

“N’bel…” George managed.  He was tearing up, too.

“Yep,” Venus said happily, sitting beside her father-in-law and letting him examine his first grandchild.  “Two point seven zero kilos at birth, normal delivery, healthy as a horse.”

Jake smiled from across the little room.  “Go ahead and get weepy, Dad, there’s good precedent for it.  You should have seen Vulkan,” he chuckled.

His mother managed a laugh as she looked down at the tiny infant beside her in her husband’s arms.  “He’s adorable…” she said.

“For now, sure.  Then we’ll try to go to sleep and then BAM, he’s a banshee,” Jake said.  “You just watch.”

“You were hardly innocent in that regard,” his mother noted.

“True.”  Jake reached over and ran his fingers over his son’s tiny hand.  The sleeping baby instinctively squeezed one finger, and Jake shook his head ruefully.  “Strong for his age.  Or so the doctor says, anyway, I hardly have anything to compare it to.”

“Oh, trust me, Jake, he’s strong,” Venus said with a groan.

“Got a bit of a kick, does he?” Jake asked drily.

“Ugh.”

George set the baby down in Venus’ arms and leaned back, overwhelmed.  “He’s beautiful,” he said, aglow with paternal pride.  “Does he have your…er, appearances?” he asked, gesturing at his face.

“Well, when he wakes up, you can see,” Venus said.  “Assuming he doesn’t deafen you,” she added.  “But yes, his eyes are like mine.  Aside from that, though, he’s basically in line with Jake.  Same internal temperature, same anti-aging, same hair and cuticle color, everything.”

Jake nodded solemnly.  “I know you’re disappointed, Mom, you always wanted a girl to spoil,” he said.

Sandra snorted.  “I’ll let you wait a while and decide that he needs a playmate.  I’ll take my chances with round two.”

“Oh my hell, don’t even joke about that, Sandra,” Venus said.  “Yeah, the feeling when they hand him to you is incredible, but the whole ‘nine months before it’ really doesn’t seem so trivial when you have an eidetic memory.”

“Hey, at least they didn’t give you a C-section, like they did me,” Sandra said.  “I was conscious too, and sedated.  Why do you think I stopped at one?” she asked teasingly.  Jake rolled his eyes.

“Ew.”  Venus rocked her baby and beamed down at him.  “The first biological offspring of the Emperor, too…” she said quietly.  “He’s thrilled.  We’re seeing him next.”

“You’re the first of your generation to have children, Venus?” George asked.

“Yeah.  Miranda and Angela are both married, but they wanted to wait a while,” Venus supplied.  She ran a fingertip over her son’s lips and smiled contentedly.  “Not me.  There’s nothing in the whole world more important to Nocturneans than having a family.  Nothing.  If I had lived my entire life on Nocturne, I may have had kids as young as eighteen.”

Sandra shuddered.  “Luckily, I live on Terra, where the nicer boys live,” Venus finished, shooting her husband a wink.  Jake preened at the compliment.

“Well, he’s amazing, Venus,” George said, looking down at the tiny boy.  N’bel’s eyelids glowed slightly.  It was a constant glow, too, like holding an LED flashlight up to the skin of your hand and letting the light shine through.  He glanced sidelong at Venus and didn’t see the same light when she blinked.  “His eyes are so bright I can see them with his lids closed,” he said.

“Oh, really?  Damn, he’s about to wake up then,” Venus said, snugging him closer to her chest and rocking him again.  “I can’t notice it with these contacts in.  Our eyes are keyed to our emotions and wakefulness,” she explained.  “I’m just completely exhausted, too.”

“I bet,” Sandra said knowingly.

The door sounded with a knock.  George rose and opened it, and grinned at the sight of his guest.  “Eric, come in,” he said, stepping back.  His wife’s father nearly rushed in, searching the room with his eyes after a cursory ‘hello, George.’  As soon as the old veteran found where his new great-grandson was sleeping, though, he came to a complete halt.  He stared at the tableau of Venus gently rocking the little bundle in her arms, agape.

“Grandpa Eric, meet N’bel,” Jake said from his seat.  “N’bel, meet Great-grandpa Eric.”

Eric sank down on the couch next to Venus, reaching out to gently stroke the infant’s cheek.  “He’s gorgeous,” Eric said softly.  “Venus, congratulations.”

Venus smiled happily at the odd tableau.  “He is.  Thanks.”

Several hours of pure indulgence later, Venus was sitting in a chair in the Emperor’s private chambers, rocking her son on her shoulder as her husband hovered protectively behind her.  The Emperor sat across from her, a grin playing about his lips.  “So…it seems I’m a great-grandfather now, after all,” he said, watching N’bel fidget.  He glanced up at where Venus was gently shifting her baby to her lap.  “May I confide something in you, Venus?”

“What is it?” Venus asked.

“In my…copious free time,” the Emperor joked, “I had taken to wondering which of my granddaughters would give birth first.”  He glanced down at N’bel, who had calmed a bit, and was busily staring into space.  “I admit I had staked a wager on it being Angela, given how early her relationship with Michael Grecco matured.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have faulted you,” Venus chuckled.  She smiled down at her infant son.  “Want to hold him?”

The Emperor silently extended his arms, and Venus lowered N’bel into his grasp.  The Emperor shook his head as he listened to the sound of N’bel’s sleepy breathing.  “You know…it’s odd.  I have had twenty one sons, and I’ve never held a relative of mine in my arms like this.”

“It’s pretty wild,” Jake said.  “He doesn’t look a thing like Vulkan, though, does he?”

“It’s uncanny,” the Emperor admitted.  “He looks more like your father than you do, Jacob.”

Jake snorted.  “Oh, sure, pick on me, Sire,” he said.

“Did you know about the little tradition the Startseite hospital has, Grandfather?” Venus asked.

“What tradition is this?” the Emperor asked.

“The hospital takes the ultrasound picture of the baby, and then uses facial recognition software to figure out which celebrity it most resembles,” Venus said.  The Emperor shook his head with a wry grin as Jake laughed.  “According to them, he most resembles the old Senator, Cornelius Algunn.  Remember, the former Arbites representative on the Senate?”

“Of course, I appointed him,” the Emperor said.  He scanned the baby’s face.  “I don’t see it, though.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a stretch,” Venus giggled, accepting N’bel back.  “Well.  I don’t wish to impose.  We should bet getting the little guy home for dinner now anyway.”

“Oh, you may stay as long as you like,” the Emperor said.  “The VIP Suite in the Guest Wing is available for the next week or so.”

“I mean home to the house,” Venus said.  “We have so much to do!  Assembling the baby shower furniture and such.”

“Ah, yes,” the Emperor said, rising to his feet and watching as Jake helped his wife stand as well.  “Tell me…do you intend to return to Nocturne?”

“Of course!  Probably within a month or so,” Venus said.

“I would prefer if you waited,” the Emperor said gently.  “The Warp routes between here and Nocturne are quite tumultuous of late.  It wouldn’t be safe for your little one,” he added, smiling fondly at N’bel, who was deep in contemplation of his fingernails.

“Entire generations of starfarers on Rogue Trader crews have been born in the Warp,” Venus pointed out.

“And there’s a risk there, which their parents accept, Venus.  I won’t stop you…but please reconsider,” the Emperor said.

Venus looked at him quizzically, before shrugging.  “I guess we can wait a while.”

“Thank you,” the Emperor said.

Jake grinned.  “Not just eager to see more of your great-grandson, though, right, Sire?”

“That is important to me, of course,” the Emperor said, “but I can already feel his ancestral traits manifesting.  He’s eternal, as you and your wife are, now,” he said to Jake.  “I’ll have all the time in the world.”


=== Some Things Never Change ===


Freya Russ nodded to the somewhat overwhelmed-looking Governor before her.  “Well, I should hope so, Governor, but of course it isn’t my decision.”

The pasty little man sighed dramatically.  “Of course, Lady Russ, I wouldn’t wish to impose.”  He sipped at his wine as he scrambled to find a safer topic than Army tithing.  “Really, though,” he said, finally finding one, “I should thank you for being able to make it tonight at all.  The Warp in this region of space is tumultuous, some Overlords are left quite to themselves.  That a Lady Primarch herself would make it all the way out here is an exceptional honor.”

“I felt the need,” Freya said.  “Besides…I’m the active type,” she said cheerfully.  “I can’t stay still too long.”

“Freya?” a voice asked from behind her.  Freya turned from the Governor to see her husband Thangir standing behind her, a wine-filled goblet in hand.  “Here,” he said, passing it to her and setting her empty one aside.

“Thanks,” she said, turning back to the politician.  “So, Governor, if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to do some catching up do with the other guests.”  She smirked as a few familiar faces in the crowd drifted by.  “I haven’t seen some of these guys since high school.”

“Of course, your Highness, my home is yours,” the Governor said, bowing graciously.

Freya nodded and turned, to see her husband of five years making a beeline for the food.  She rolled her eyes and sipped at her drink, ambling over to a cluster of Army officers she remembered meeting on the Fang once, when a statement stopped her.

“You could still burn the dark from a blind man’s eyes, Freya.”  She raised her eyebrows in surprise as the voice registered.

She slowly turned to see a man in a rather opulent black and grey military uniform with purple trim staring at her with a knowing grin.  His broad shoulders had a narrow purple cape draped over one and a gold epaulet over the other, with a small circle of seven platinum stars on his exposed sleeve.  She wasn’t looking at his arms, much, though, because she was staring in shock at his eyes.  Eyes that she had watched from inches away for many years.

“Alex!  Alex Carlin!  I don’t believe it!” she exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.  “I haven’t seen you in twelve years!”

“It’s been that long, hasn’t it?” Alex asked, spreading his arms wide and drawing Freya into a hug.  A few people nearby made noises of surprise.  “It’s great to see you again, Freya,” he murmured.

She moved to kiss him, but caught herself.  From the sound of his breath, so did he.  They both stepped back, smiling ruefully.  She took the opportunity to look him up and down, taking in his uniform and physique.  “Wow…you landed on your feet,” she said approvingly.  “I’m glad.”

“Me too.  And I stand by my earlier comment,” Alex said slyly.  “And…I understand you’ve since been married?”

“I have,” Freya said, showing off the sparkling diamond on her finger.  “In fact…Thangir is around somewhere,” she said, looking around.

“What is it, Freya?” he asked, stepping from the crowd.

Freya grabbed his hand and brought him over to Alex.  “Thangir, this is Lord Trader Alex Carlin.”

Thangir’s light green eyes narrowed a hair, but he shook Alex’s hand anyway.  The superhuman cords of muscle through his arms and shoulders told a tale about his augmentation by the Emperor, several years before.  Despite that, his grip was direct and un-gauging.  “Lord Carlin,” he said, nodding politely.  He had to have recognized the name.

“Alex, this is my husband, Prince Thangir,” Freya said, finishing the introduction.

To Freya’s surprise, Alex immediately smiled warmly.  “Your Highness,” he said, bowing low as he retrieved his hand.

Thangir blinked, surprised as well.  “Rise,” he said immediately.  “To what do we owe the pleasure?” he said, just to cover his reaction at the unexpected courtesy.

“I wouldn’t miss a chance to attend a gathering such as this,” Alex said, sweeping the room with one hand.  “Besides…I was close.  And I wouldn’t miss a chance to say hello to Freya again, either,” he added, grinning at his former lover.  “You look radiant.”

Freya beamed.  “Thanks.  How long will you be here?”

“All night,” Alex said.  “And the next few days.  The station’s got a few small amenity traders, and they just can’t be very efficient this far from a major forge.  Think I might linger.”

“So…you got out of the crypt and coffin business?” Freya asked meaningfully.

Alex’s reply was a solemn nod.  “And good riddance,” he said coldly.  “The dead should lie.”

Freya winced at the frigid tone in his voice.  It vanished instantly, however, as Alex smiled again.  “At least the crisis we faced…dissolved,” he said.  “I was a real mess, you recall.”

“Yeah,” Freya said wistfully.  “You were falling apart.  I felt awful that it ended the way it did.  I kept wondering if there was anything I could do, but…you know.”

Alex nodded.  “I’m sure you did.  I didn’t doubt for a moment.  And pulling through on my own was…not fun.  But at least we managed to get Mom back on her feet.”

“Did you?” Freya asked.  She nodded happily.  “Good.  She was in a bad way.  I’m really glad you’re happy again,” she said.  She ran a hand over the thick, layered Fenrisian dress shirt she was wearing.  “And…I suspect you’ve not heard the good news?”

“What new…” Alex trailed off.  Her posture, the movement of her hand over her stomach... “Freya…are you pregnant?” he asked quietly.

Freya nodded.

Alex let his eyes slide shut for a long moment, and when they opened, a tear was gathering in each.  “Congratulations,” he said, smiling at her stomach with reverence.  “You…congratulations.  Boy or girl?”

“Too early to tell,” Freya said.  She lowered her voice.  “Nobody knows outside the Family and a few obstetricians, so keep a lid on it until we do the announcement, all right?” she asked.

He nodded once, wiping his eyes.  “Good on you, Freya,” he subvocalized, so quiet even she had to strain to hear it.  Thangir couldn’t have, at that range.  “You’ll do fine.”

Her senses caught the presence of a woman approaching them, from behind Alex…who smelled a lot like he did.  Freya’s eyes widened as that train of thought reached its end.  “Alex, are you here with someone too?” she asked.

Her old flame grinned broadly.  He held his arm out to the woman as she halted at his side.  “I really can’t keep anything from you, can I?”  He gestured to the woman, who was glancing at the others with a clear question in her eyes.  “Freya, Thangir…please, meet my wife, Lady Trader Vanessa Arralim Carlin.  Vanessa,” he said, gesturing to the others.  “Lady Primarch and Blood Princess of Fenris, Freya Russ, and Prince Thangir.”

The young woman’s eyes widened at the heady title, but she bowed slightly.  “A profound honor, your Highnesses,” she said.

Thangir nodded politely, but Freya caught her sudden sense of fear and had none of it.  As Vanessa straightened up, Freya stepped forward and gripped both Carlins in a hug.  “I’m really proud of you,” she whispered in Alex’s ear as she did, offering him a wink his wife missed in her surprise.  As she stepped back, leaving her own husband astonished, the watching party-goers frozen in surprise at the breach of decorum, Alex chuckling in nostalgia, and Vanessa breathless, she grabbed both of Vanessa’s hands and pumped, smiling cheerfully.  “It’s wonderful to meet you, Lady Vanessa,” she said.

Vanessa’s eyes darted to Alex, as if looking for a grounding of reality, but all he did was roll his eyes and pat her shoulder.  “Freya, you just met her,” he said, adopting a tone of indulgence.

Freya sighed and stepped back, bowing in return at last.  “Sorry.”

“N-no problem…your Highness,” Vanessa said.

Thangir overcame his own surprise and bowed slightly as well.  The thick, deep scars on his shoulders, visible under his formal tunic and sleeveless duster, shifted as his muscles tightened.  His mess of dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes were very Fenrisian indeed, as was the elaborate tattoo over his left wrist.

Freya straightened up and skewered Alex with an inquisitive glance.  “So who do I talk to, to get details?” she asked suspiciously.

Alex chuckled.  “Either of us, I’m sure.”

Freya’s eyes lit upon Vanessa’s own, and she blinked under the Primarch’s scrutiny.  “Have a few minutes, Lady Trader?” Freya asked innocently.

Vanessa nodded slowly, following Freya over to the buffet with a look of trepidation.  Alex glanced over at Thangir with a weary smile, and for a moment both men shared the same mental wavelength.


Freya stood next to Vanessa at the end of the buffet, wondering how to phrase her question, then settling on the direct.  “Vanessa…if you don’t mind me asking,” she said coyly.  “Would you humor me with telling how you and Alex met?”

Vanessa nodded, her nerves returning a bit under the Royal gaze.  “Well, his father was an employer of mine for a while.  When Alex took over his father’s business, he shut down several branches.  My branch liquidated,” she said, putting a few pieces of fruit on her plate.  “Alex opened a new branch on Cordeline’s Wake, and I requested a transfer to his office there.  He basically rehired the whole group and transported us over there.  We met at the party to reopen the place, since he felt he had to go in person.  It was…” she smiled to herself.  “It was pretty quick.”

“He’s a passionate man,” Freya said knowingly.  “There’s a lot to love.”  She offered up a smile of her own.  “I’m really happy for you both,” she said quietly.  “Alex was falling apart at the seams when we broke up.  He needed someone to love.”

“He told me that that was one of the darkest parts of his life…but…” Vanessa trailed off, glancing back at where her husband was effortlessly schmoozing up some local nobility.  “He never told me the woman he left behind was a Lady Primarch.”

“I specifically asked him not to, at least at first,” Freya said, surprising Vanessa.  “He was afraid that if he did, he would wind up turning every relationship he ever entered into a competition, whether it was fair to do so or not.”  She flashed a fang-filled grin at Vanessa.  The shorter woman blinked, somewhat unnerved.  “Alex was surprised, but he went along with it.  Ask him about ‘The Road Trip’ now that the metaphorical cat is out of the bag.”

“The…road trip?” Vanessa asked, confused.

“He’ll know what it means,” Freya giggled.

“Very well…” Vanessa said.  The two of them wended their way over to where the drinks were arrayed, and Freya passed up a third wine for a glass of ice water.  “May I ask you something as well?”

Freya shrugged.  “Of course.”

“How…how long, exactly, were you two together?  And how close were you?”

Freya looked her over, and now there actually was a sense of judgment in her gaze that did Vanessa’s courage no favors.  “We met at fourteen.  We were dating by fifteen, and shared a bed from then until twenty two.”  Her frankness was a piece of bait, placed before Vanessa as much to see how she reacted as to answer her question.

Vanessa looked away.  “I see.”

“You sound as if you expected a different answer,” Freya said.

“I did.  I wasn’t expecting such…detail.”  Vanessa looked down into her wine, trying not to say anything else.

The Space Wolf princess sensed her bait being taken.  She softened her tone as the sense she had been searching for appeared.  “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Vanessa, but do take it in perspective,” Freya said quietly.  “Alex was utterly demolished when we parted ways, thanks to his father’s death and mother’s illness.  I can see how much he matters to you,” she said.  “And you clearly matter to him.  I can sense that kind of thing.”  She glanced at Alex again.  “Ask him about that, too.”

Alex himself was leaning back against the wall by now, chatting with a few low-tier local politicos.  The deliberately casual air he projected was something he had learned to cultivate; very few things helped slice through a politician’s fragile ego like the sense that he was being outmaneuvered, and he wanted to avoid that.

As he spoke, he saw his wife being gently interrogated by Freya, and he had to grin to himself.  Time, it seemed, changes little.

Thangir walked up behind the politicians to whom he had been speaking, and waited behind them like a thundercloud until Alex met his eyes.  “May we speak for a moment, Lord Trader?” he asked.

Alex levered off of the wall and nodded.  “Certainly.”

The politicians evaporated under Thangir’s presence, until the two men were alone.  “Lord Carlin, I do not know exactly what transpired between you and Freya.  Would you be willing to tell me?” he asked.

Alex shook his head.  “No.  There’s no need, anyway,” he added.  “Freya’s telling Vanessa right now.”

Thangir looked over to where Freya and Vanessa were still in discussion.  “You can hear at that distance?” Thangir asked.

“No, but you can,” Alex pointed out.  Thangir’s eyes shot back to where Alex was standing, calm and unassuming.  An entire volume of conversation occurred between them before Thangir finally relented, his posture easing somewhat.

“Forgive my rudeness, then,” he murmured.  “I suppose that answers my question…if she was willing to share that much.”

“We kept no secrets, your Highness,” Alex said.  “She was all that kept me sane during my darkest day.”  He took a step forward, into the gene-modded warrior’s reach, but not assuming even the vaguest stance of attack.  “Do not interrogate me, Prince Thangir,” he said softly.

Thangir looked down at him, completely expressionless.  After nearly ten full seconds of silence, Thangir nodded, stepping back.  “Very well.”

As the party wound down, Freya paused at the threshold of the ballroom on the space station, her hand held up for a moment’s pause.  Alex, standing nearby in anticipation, walked up to her and immediately adopted a waiting pose.  Freya smiled to herself, her planned speech melting away.  “Alex…it really has been too long.  Send me a message the next time you’re near Terra.  I mean it.”

Alex smiled back, and even under Thangir’s and Vanessa’s eyes, he looked for a moment like he was going to go in for another hug.  He restrained himself, however, and simply bowed slightly.  “I agree.  And…if you see the others…”

“I will, count on it.”  Freya suddenly pawed at one pocket.  “Oooh, wait, hang on,” she said.  She produced a small holo card reader and flipped through some images until she arrived at one specific picture.  “Have you seen this?” she asked, showing it to Alex.

Alex took the card reader, and his clean-shaven face split in a grin.  “Wow…”

“I know!”  Freya leaned over the picture of N’bel, Jake’s and Venus’ five-year-old son, sitting on his father’s knee and beaming at the camera.

“Guess I don’t need to ask how they’re doing,” Alex said.  He shook his head as he handed the reader back to Freya.  “You’re right.  I should drop in on them.  See how the old crowd is doing.”

Freya nodded eagerly, her face flush with the same vigorous optimism that had drawn them together so many years before.  “We’d all love that.”

Vanessa stepped up to Alex’s side, oblivious to the exchange.  “It was a true honor meeting you both, your Highnesses,” she said.

Alex retrieved the reader from Freya and passed it to his wife.  “Here, look at this.”

Vanessa looked over the picture.  “Lady Primarch Venus?” she asked.

“Yeah, and Jake and their son.”  Alex shook his head.  “Man.  I’ll never remember to add the Prince in front, you know?  All I can think of when I think of him is the thing on Nocturne.”

Freya sighed.  “Really?”

“No, I remember you and him kicking my shit in at poker and darts every night all summer, too,” Alex admitted.  “But that’s not as heroic as what I did in the bar,” he sniffed.

Freya laughed.  “Never change, Alex.”

“Don’t plan on it.”  Alex passed the card back and bowed to Thangir.  “Nice meeting you, Prince Thangir.  An honor indeed.”

To his mild surprise, Thangir smiled and extended a hand.  Alex took it and shook.  “You as well, Lord Trader Carlin.”


As they parted ways, Thangir and Freya retired to their vessel, docked on the void platform.  As Freya prepared for sleep, Thangir reclined in the lavish bed, which was by far the most opulent thing in the room, decorated with mammoth furs and padding so thick it could have served as a crash cushion.  Then, on a ship, that could be a wise investment.  As Thangir did so, he thought over the evening’s revelation.  What did Alex mean to her, even after all this time?

Freya slid into bed beside him, and as had become a custom with him, he immediately rolled onto one side to run a broad hand over her flat stomach.  Their son – he would accept no other outcome, in his mind – was still only the size of a blueberry, but it was the thought that counted.  “An interesting evening,” he said quietly, admiring the way her ample curves folded seamlessly into the rock-solid muscle of her stomach and arms.  Even her coming pregnancy hadn’t diminished her pure, animal beauty.

She lay on her side and faced him, though the obstetricians had told her that wouldn’t make a difference for several months.  “It was.”  Her shining green eyes met his and she smiled, content.  “I missed Alex.  He was a great friend.”

“I understand he was far more than that,” Thangir said, somewhat harshly.  But then, his loyalty to Freya had been absolute from the moment she had revealed her true lineage to him, and to learn of her past intimacy felt almost like a declaration of rivalry.

Freya sensed his concern and headed it off.  “He was.  But you know me well, my warrior…would I settle for a man I couldn’t like as a person, as well as being a man?”

“No,” Thangir admitted.  “You would never do that.”

She settled down on the thick pillows and pulled the sheets up to her chin.  “Ask me about him.  I don’t want you to dislike him, or think of him as a foe.”

Thangir went quiet as he thought.  “…Did he ever make you cry?” he asked.

Freya hesitated.  “Only when he left me to care for his dying mother and crippled family business.”

“Did he ever make you wish you didn’t know him?”

“Never.  Not once,” she insisted.

“Did he honor you and remain trustworthy to your hand?” Thangir asked.

Freya nodded, remembering the extent of their confidentiality.  “Always.”

Thangir propped himself up on one elbow.  “Did he look down on your friends of lesser station, and treat them as inferior humans?”

Freya shook her head from the pillow.  “Not that I remember.”

Thangir’s eyes narrowed.  “Did he have a sense of honor?”

The red-haired princess thought back to the maiming Jake had received in the bar on Nocturne.  Alex’s first act had been to sprint to Jake’s side and staunch the bleeding.  Later, he had dismantled his father’s empire of graverobbers even though it cost him billions of credits.  “Unquestionably.”

“Did he respect Father Russ and All Father?” Thangir asked pointedly.

“Deeply.  They didn’t always get along, but he was always respectful,” Freya said.

“Did he make you laugh?”

“All the time,” Freya said.  “Half the Gothic jokes you’ve learned from me came from him,” she added happily.

Thangir nodded.  “Did he please you, satisfy your needs?”

Freya hid a smile.  Before her husband had been upgraded, Alex had been her finest partner in that sense.  “Consistently,” she said instead.

“And did he ever, even once, tell you that he preferred another lass?” Thangir asked bluntly, coming to his point.

“No.”  Freya was adamant.  “He always kept his trust, and I loved him for it.”

“Did he love you back?” Thangir asked.

“He did.”

Freya felt the faintest sense of something warm brush her lips as he leaned over for a kiss.  “Then he is a friend, not a foe.  For…he would do only what I would do,” Thangir said.  He settled back down on the bed and hugged Freya to his chest for a moment, imparting the sense of reassurance that he knew she loved.  She had always been a tactile woman.  “I love you, Freya.  If he did too…I can hardly blame him.”

“My thanks, Thangir,” Freya said softly, feeling her tension fade.  “The happiness in his eyes when he figured out I bear your child…he could not fake that.  When he left me…all he wanted was for both of us to find happiness again.  He found it in Vanessa.  I found it in you, and I am grateful for that.”

Thangir ran his lips over her neck, baring his fangs at the end.  The first time she had felt that, it had startled her, but she had realized it was his new lupine instincts coming to the fore after his upgrade: to place one’s fangs on another’s body and resist the urge to bite was to demonstrate profound trust, and ask for the same.  She returned the gesture with a loving nuzzle of his shoulder, and snuggled down under her furs to sleep.  “Good night, Thangir,” she whispered.  One of the criterion to which she had held him during his abbreviated courtship in the Fang’s many camps had been that she had to feel as safe as she could when she was with him.  As he draped one thick arm over her and held her close, letting her smell and hear him with such unbridled intimacy, she reflected that in that way, Thangir and Alex truly were akin to one another.

Aboard the Corundum Star, docked elsewhere on the station, Alex Carlin went through a similar motion with his own wife.  As he sat on the chair at the bedside, reading a slate, Vanessa perched on the bed and brought up the elephant in the room.  “Lady Freya was pretty…direct,” she said.

“Sure was.”  Alex chuckled.  “Some things never change.”

Vanessa shook her head.  “You met her as a child?”

“Fourteen, fifteen.  Something like that,” Alex said.  He looked up at her.  “She was on the wrestling team at school.  Undefeated, as you can imagine.”

She met his gaze.  “She was pretty open about how intimate you two were.  It surprised me,” she admitted.

“Yeah.  Well, she’s like that,” Alex said.  “Are you surprised by the fact we got intimate, or the fact she told you?” he asked.

“I guess both.  I don’t know, we were always presented with the idea that the Royal Daughters were supposed to be ideals, incorruptible, beyond basic needs.  You know?” Vanessa hedged.

Alex shrugged.  “They weren’t.  Did it make you uncomfortable?"

“I guess it did,” Vanessa said.  She sighed.  “I just didn’t expect a Lady Primarch to be using such brusque language, or to hug us like that.”

“She’s an emotional girl,” Alex said.  “I’m sorry she made you uncomfortable, though.”

Vanessa fidgeted.  “You know, she told me that she told you not to reveal to me that she was your ex.  She said she didn’t want it turn it into a competition.”

“Yeah, that happened.  Do you think she was wrong?”

“No, and I would have asked you if it was true either way,” Vanessa said.  She pushed her hair back over her shoulder and lay down, looking sideways at him from the bed.  “Do you miss her?”

Alex looked up at her from his slate.  “As a friend?”

“In any aspect,” Vanessa said.

“Sure.  All the time.  She and her cousins were very close friends of mine,” Alex said unapologetically.  “As a partner?  Not really.  By the end of our relationship, we could both tell how it was going to end.”

Vanessa looked up at the overhead lights.  “All right.”

“Baby, I’m not gonna lie to you.  But this isn’t going to be a turning point between me and her,” Alex said.  “I’m not about to go running back to her.  She loves Thangir, deeply.  Couldn’t you see she was pregnant?” he asked.

Vanessa jerked her head back to stare at her husband.  “Pregnant?  Her?  She was?”

“Yeah.  Bun in the oven,” Alex said with a half-smile.  “She’s content with what she has, and so am I.  We shouldn’t have completely failed to keep in touch, but all we’re ever going to be from here on out is friends.”

“Oh.”  Vanessa thought over that for a moment.  “You know…I think she was right.”

“How’s that?” Alex asked.

“I think I would interpret this as a competition, if I had known,” Vanessa said.

Alex switched his slate off and set it down on the chair, rising to sit next to Vanessa on the bed.  He slid his fingers through hers and gently squeezed, looking down into her eyes.  “Well…don’t.  Okay?  If it were a race, she would have lost twelve years ago, when we were only staying together so I could have a place to live for long enough to finish my degree, before I could go bury my father.  I don’t regret you at all.  You shouldn’t either.”

Vanessa smiled at last.  “All right.”  Alex flicked the lights off and slid down next to her in the bed.

“You know what you need?” Alex asked softly.

“What?”

“You need a vacation.  Somewhere tropical.”

Vanessa shrugged.  “Sounds fun.  Have a place in mind?” she asked.

Alex grinned in the darkness.  “I might.”