Spacer Clans Adventure 2: Naero's Gambit by Mason Elliott Page B

of all varieties.”
    “A nd the honeymoon?”
    Zee grinned. “We’ll rent a small yacht and cruise the Joshua Tech play worlds for a few weeks of endless sex, besotting ourselves with each other like good newlyweds should.”
    “Y ou guys don’t get enough of that? You’re practically joined at the hips as it is.”
    “Hey, you ’re the one who just promoted my fiancé, gave him his own ship, and sent him away from me.”
    “Sorry about that. But Tye was ready for a command, and he ’s perfect for this mission. It’ll be good for him.”
    “I know that.” Zhentisa giggled, her face beaming with love. “But even before, there wasn’t as much time for lust as you might think. We both had our duty shifts and kept pretty busy with the fleet, plus our rigorous training schedules. Unfortunately, we were stuck with this over-achiever fleet captain. Many days we were so exhausted, frankly we just stumbled home and fell asleep.”
    “Y ou’re kidding me? And here I had this idea that you guys got more action than Saemar.”
    Zhen bl inked. “I don’t think that’s possible. For anyone.”
    They both laughed.
    Naero held up both hands. “Not after I made her captain of an entire strike carrier of handsome fighter jocks.”
    Zhen sighed. “She can have all that. I just want my life with Tye.”
    “I know he’s right for you, Zee. You two are so good for each other.”
    “H e’s such a sweet guy, En. A bit of a goof, but he’s always so sweet and tender with me. Always finding little ways to show how much he adores me. Some days we can’t wait to get our life going and start having our babies together.”
    Naero paused.
    “Whoa. Babies, again?”
    Zhen nodded with excitement and glee. She reached into her front pocket and pulled out a small armored case, flipping it open to proudly show off the half-dozen nanofrozen capsules inside.
    “N ot right away, but we already have our first six kids picked out.”
    “First six?”
    “Of course, I screened their genetics myself. We know a lot about them already. When the time comes, we just have to pop ‘em back in the oven and start the timer.”
    Naero struggled to keep her jaw from bouncing off the floor.
    “How many of those jaspers do you plan on having?”
    “W e’re not sure yet, so we decided to start with six.” She pointed to the first frozen little capsule affectionately “This guy will be the big brother to all the rest. We decided to name him Gallan.”
    Naero nodded. “Oh, how sweet. Gallan was always good with kids. He would have loved that.”
    More twinges of regret about losing Gallan. But f uture children continued to be a new consideration.
    Right now their trade group was mostly young single spacers, hot only on furthering their careers. A few couples, and more that inevitably formed up between the various Clan ships.
    Like all peoples, Spacers found a way to link up and get together.
    Everyone but her, at least.
    Eventually they ’d all have their own lives and families that would divert their time and attention.
    A natural progression. A part of life. Spacers had dealt with the natural life cycle for centuries, and had time-tested programs and policies in place to deal with every aspect.
    Still, she ’d have to get used to kids of all ages being managed and educated and herded within her fleet. Just having young, driven adults on board was a lot easier and efficient for a time. But that wouldn’t last. Like all the Clans, they owed it to the next generations of Spacers to raise and train them well to both survive and thrive in a challenging and dangerous universe.
    Another priority call came in. This time directly from Admiral Klyne.
    Naero ’s sense of warning spiked almost instantly.
    “Naero…what ’s the current position of you and your fleet?”
    Klyne tried to hide it, but the tension in his voice rose to a certain level.
    “They just dispersed on trade runs throughout the nearby sectors.”
    “Call them back this