Melissa Good - Xena Sci-Fi 1 Partners By Melissa Good

Her lips twitched. “You know better than that.”

“I do.” He spoke gently. “I know better. I'm a geneticist now, Jess. I study humanity for a living.” He reached out and touched Jess's fingers. “More to the point, I was able to study someone like you at very close quarters for quite some time. Trust me. Your father was no monster, and neither are you.”

Jess reluctantly met his gaze.

“You have too much heart.” He smiled gently. “You care too much, Jess, and you love too easily.” He saw the blush, and closed his hand around hers. “That's the only reason I agreed to leave Dev here. I trust her with you.”

They were both quiet for a bit. “Push comes to shove, they don't want you to have hooks in her.” Jess said, in a serious tone.

“Reasonable.” Doctor Dan admitted. “But I won't transfer her legal status to Interforce.” He stated. “I trust you. Not necessarily them.”

“No, you wouldn't.. and shouldn't.” Jess's eyes took on a glint. “But you might consider transferring her contract to the controlling stakeholder of a long established settlement.”

Kurok studied her warily. “What settlement?” He asked, in a puzzled tone.

“Drake's Bay.”

“Dr..” Doctor Dan leaned forward and stared intently at her. “And the other half of this story is??? I know how they feel about bio alts at the Bay, Jesslyn. I was surprised you took her there.”

“She's my partner.”

Kurok shrugged one shoulder. “Yes, of course.” He admitted. “That would matter but I still don't understand.”

Jess signaled the server. “That'll take another round.” She said. “It's a quirky string of circumstances.” She cleared her throat. “And a delicate piece of timing.”

Kurok laughed gently. “Now I know I”m talking to a Drake.” He shook his head, and set his glass down, folding his arms and waiting. “Quirky is the only kind of circumstance they have.”

**

Dev wiggled her toes in contentment, turning a page of her book as she lay comfortably on the couch in her quarters. She had a cup of hot tea by her elbow, and a pad nearby showing the ops consoles, and it felt very very good to just relax for a while.

She had one of her off duty jumpsuits on, and she'd had herself another shower, and she'd actually gotten a chance to order some resupply on top of it, though she didn't expect to happen until they got all the rest of the citadel sorted out.

The agents and officers who had come from HQ were standing watches, and at the moment she thought he man Alters was the one who was in charge.

Everyone still seemed to be looking to Jess for answers though, and Dev thought that was good, and right, and that Jess was enjoying it. After all, she managed to fend off the whole bunch of bad guys by herself and as April had said, it was a trust thing.

So funny, really since she'd been brought here specifically to address a trust thing, hadn't she?

Dev read a few pages, then she put the book down, and folded her hands on her stomach, gazing quietly at the ceiling of her relaxation area. So much had happened since then.

Doctor Dan had spoken to her. Dev still felt a warm sensation thinking about it, he'd praised her so much she hadn't even known what to say after a bit. She felt like she'd really just tried to do her best with everything, but he seemed to think she'd overrun even the highest expectations he'd had for her programming.

So awesome.

Dev stretched luxuriously and settled back onto her couch, then glanced up at her door as it opened and Jess entered. “Hello, up here.”

“Devvvieieeee!” Jess surprisingly gamboled up the steps and pounced on the couch, nearly bowling both of them off it and onto the floor. “What are you up to?”

Dev goggled wide eyed at her. “Um.” She she looked around “Up to my relaxation space?”

Jess rolled off onto the floor and stretched out on the padded surface, extending her long legs out and crossing them at the ankles. “Just visited Jason. He's gonna be all right.”

“Oh. I'm really glad to hear that.” Dev sat up and regarded her supine partner. “Brent was worried.”

“Yeah me too.” Jess admitted. “Looks like most of the support staff's checked in and most of the bios too. Things are coming back into normal trim.”

“The sets really liked being on comms.” Dev ventured. “And also, helping defend this place. They're really excited about what they did.”

“They and the mechs saved our asses.” Jess agreed. “Maybe we can... “ She paused. “I talked to Alters. We'll see what happens.”

“Excellent.” Dev tucked her legs up under her and rested her elbows on her knees, looking down at Jess. “Maybe you could speak to them? They think you're amazing.”

Jess pointed her thumb at her own chest. “Me?”

Dev looked around the space. “Yes.” She said. “Did you think there was someone else I was referring to?” She watched her partner twiddle her thumbs. “You seem in good spirits.”

“It's been a good day, in the end.” Jess's eyes twinkled gently. “I got what I wanted.”

“Me too.” Dev smiled at her.

The comm crackled over head. “Ops to Drake.”

“Ah, work is never done.” Jess rolled over and punched the commset on Dev's console, tapping in the keys for ops. “Drake here.”

It was April's voice. “Theres an assembly in the mess, requesting your presence.”

“Ah huh.” Jess pondered that. “All right. Be over shortly.”

“Ack.”

Comms clicked off. Jess and Dev regarded each other. “Wonder what that's all about?” Jess sat up. “You better come with me. I might need some asses kicked.”

“Jess.” Dev sounded adorably exasperated. “I would never do that to the people here.”

“Hey they all saw you tossing those janks around.” Jess said. “Maybe we should see if we can build one of those grav gyms here. Ya think?”

“I think you will not like it at all.” Dev said mournfully as they went down the steps and towards the door. “It's difficult.”

“Bet they put up with it if they end up being able to seriously kick ass like that.”

It was comforting to see the halls full of people, and the lights at normal levels. Dev kept up with Jess's long strides as they angled through the central corridors heading for the mess, and she realized that she not only saw more bio alts than she had before they now seemed to be going out of their way to make eye contact with her.

She straightened up a little and reached up to make sure her insignia were adjusted correctly, just as they got to the door to the mess and passed inside.

There were a bunch of people inside. April and Mike, Doug and Chester, wearing a plas bandage and an arm sling, Brent and Tucker, Elaine, all the ops personnel who had been with them on the rescue and the return.

“Hi.” Elaine said, as soon as the door closed, and the low hum of conversation died. “So, Jess, I got bushwhacked and asked about burns.” She got straight to the point. “As in, when can we get them.”

“Ah.” Jess understood now what was up. “I see.” She perched on one of the tables, regarding the small crowd. “So what's the question?”

April cleared her throat. “We'd like to get our first.” She indicated Mike and herself. “And our partners wanted them too.”

“I explained techs don't get them.” Elaine stated. “It's not reg.”

“Well.” Jess folded her arms. “It used to be reg.” She said, in a mild tone. “Back in my dad's day, apparently.”

“His ghost come back and tell you that?” Elaine responded, in an equally mild tone.

“No.” Jess chuckled. “We saw the doc with his shirt off. He's got them.” She said. “And.. matter of fact, Dev's got one too.” She regarded her partner, who had quietly taken a seat at one of the tables. “I think if it's going to be a tradition, it should be one for everyone who thinks it means something, not just agents. Techs do scary things and get hurt too.”