FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Beautiful," Lia said softly, standing out the window in Huerta Memorial's waiting area. The window overlooked a large park and wide-open artificial sky. It was easy to forget she was on a nearly forty-five kilometer long space station rather than a planet's surface.

"Yeah, it is." Sidonis's voice was barely above a whisper. Lia glanced at him and found that same haunted look he'd had ever since they picked him up on Omega. "I didn't get a chance to take in any sights like this last time I was here; was too busy trying to get C-Sec to lock me up. Then I went back to Omega. Been there so long, I thought I'd never see anything like this again."

"Well, I'd say it's about time, then."

He sighed, closed his eyes, and turned away from the window. "I don't deserve to enjoy anything like this. Not after what I did."

"Which is what, exactly?" Lia watched him for a long moment, but he said nothing. Sighing, she took one more look at the park and brilliant blue sky, turned and found an empty lounge chair. She stretched out on it, looked up at Sidonis, and waved a hand at the chair beside her. "I don't want to pry, but if talking about it would help, I'm here whenever you're ready."

He glanced at her, but his eyes weren't quite focused, the majority of his attention on a clearly painful memory. Finally, he trudged over to the chair and sat.

Still, he kept quiet, staring out the window but not really seeing the view. His mandibles quivered.

Lia looked off to the right and spotted Weyland standing at a merchant kiosk. She turned back to the window. It would be a while before the doctors were finished with Kenn, so she could give Sidonis plenty of time to answer. With the Sulaco in the neighboring Boltzmann system, and nothing to do here except wait for the doctors to finish with Kenn, there was no hurry to get answers out of Sidonis.

In fact, after everything I've been through lately, I think I've earned a chance to just sit on my ass and contemplate the pretty scenery, at least for a while. Sidonis has, too, probably.

"I don't know why I'm keeping it to myself," Sidonis finally muttered. "I shouldn't be afraid of losing your respect, or anything like that. I don't deserve anyone's friendship or respect. Maybe I'll earn it someday, but not for a long time."

"What do you mean?"

"It was the worst mistake I've ever made," Sidonis mumbled after another long pause. "A turian named Garrus Vakarian put together a team to take down the criminal elements on Omega. Pretty tall order, I thought at the time, but worth the effort. We believed in the cause, so we banded together and gave 'em hell." He stared at the floor and shook his head slowly. "I guess we were too effective. The three main merc companies operating there started hitting us back. One day, they got their hands on me, and..."

He trailed off, and Lia waited silently.

"I sold my team out," he finally continued. "I sold my friends out, just to save my own ass." He turned those haunted eyes toward her. "My whole team was killed. People I'd come to respect and consider friends. They were all butchered, because of one moment of weakness." He rubbed his hands over his face. "The mercs threatened to kill me, and I folded like a deck of cards. I'm a fucking coward."

"Keelah," she whispered.

"Garrus tracked me down a few months ago. Had one of his friends draw me out so he could blow my head off with a sniper rifle. His friend talked him out of it." Sidonis sighed, leaned forward, and hung his head. "Like I said on the Sulaco, I was given a second chance, even though I don't deserve it. I have to atone. Somehow."

Damn. And here I was, thinking I was in sorry shape a couple weeks ago. Unable to think of anything to say, Lia turned to stare out the window.

"Sometimes," Sidonis muttered, "I kind of wish Garrus had killed me. I can't help feeling like that's the only way I'll ever make up for what I did."

"Well, if he had killed you, Kenn probably would've died in that corridor on Omega."

He turned abruptly to stare at her. His eyes opened wider, his mandibles spread apart slightly, and his mouth hung open. Finally, he found his voice. "I...hadn't even considered that."

"Maybe staying alive isn't such a bad thing, then. You never know who else you might be able to save."

He slumped back in his chair. "I guess you're right. Thank you."

"Any time."

They fell silent for a long moment, Lia turning back to the window and Sidonis contemplating the ghosts of his recent past. Finally, he faced her again.

"So, I can't help being curious about you. A quarian serving with geth?"

She chuckled. "It's even weirder than that. Those geth? They own the Sulaco. They're sort of co-captains. I'm on their crew."

"They..." He trailed off and stared at her. "You..."

"I'm on my Pilgrimage. Fell on hard times, sold myself into indentured servitude on Illium. Weyland and Yutani picked up my contract." She laughed at the weirdness of it all. "They own me. To use a krogan saying, how's that for a kick in the quad?"

He continued staring, and finally shook his head again. "What the fuck?"

"Ha! Make yourself comfortable." She leaned back, crossed her ankles, and slipped her hands behind her helmet. "It's a long story."

#

"Come on in," Dakka's muffled voice called from inside her quarters.

Chula tapped the hard-light panel in the middle of the door. The panel flickered out and the door slid aside. She and Yutani stepped into Dakka's room and stopped abruptly.

On the bed in the corner, Quint was sprawled on top of Dakka, his head resting on her chest, and her right arm was draped over his back. Both of them were naked and looked kind of dazed.

"Oh," Chula muttered. It didn't occur to them to get dressed before letting us in?

Yutani tilted her head to the right and raised one eyebrow flap. "Is this the condition Lia referred to as 'fucked silly'?"

Chula snickered.

"Hell, yeah!" Dakka thrust her left fist into the air, let her arm plop back to her side, and dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Chula shook her head, laughed, and used her Omni-Tool to record a still image of the pair. Adorable. "Anyway, we've arrived at Bekenstein and are taking a shuttle down. Wanna come?"

"We've been coming all night," Quint mumbled with a sleepy grin.

Dakka laughed again. "We'll meet you at the shuttle in a few minutes, okay?"

"Sure." Chula and Yutani stepped back into the corridor. As the door closed, she caught a glimpse of Quint and Dakka licking each other's tongues. "Wow." She pointed over her shoulder. "I'm heading down to the shuttle before my visor steams up."

#

"You feeling okay, Quint?" Chula laughed and nudged his shoulder as she, Quint, Dakka, Magnum, and Yutani crossed the spaceport's main docking platform. "You look kind of tired."

"Exhausted, actually. But in a good way." He tossed a grin over his shoulder at Dakka before facing forward again. "Like I said on the Sulaco...all night. We barely paused for breath."

"Nice!" Chula clapped a hand to his shoulder. To Dakka, she added, "When you have a few spare moments, I want a detailed account."

Oh, boy. Quint's face turned red.

Dakka laughed, raised her arms, and stretched. "Consider it done. For now, I'll just say it was totally worth the wait."

"Oh, he put in quite a performance, did he?"

Quint's face grew even hotter. He shook his head. "From what I understand of krogan physiology, their genitals are extremely sensitive. I figure it was good simply because it was happening, rather than anything special I did."

"Don't sell yourself short." Dakka put her arm around him and slid her other hand slowly over his chest. "The physical part is like you said, but being with you is what raised it to a whole new level."

"Well, uh, thanks." Quint grinned. tugged on his shirt collar, and clasped her hand. "Gotta say, you were amazing, yourself. Now I wish I hadn't resisted for so long."

"Well, now we can make up for lost time." Dakka leaned over to flick her tongue over his lips. "When we get back to the Sulaco after whatever job we end up landing here, I'm gonna make sure neither of us get a good night's sleep."

"What, again?" Magnum grinned.

Quint tugged on his collar again and glanced around. He noticed Yutani walking a few feet off to the right, observing them silently. Before boarding the shuttle, the "female" platform had put on a lightweight black trenchcoat. Since she hadn't buttoned it, it didn't hide much.

"So," he said, trying to steer the conversation away from his and Dakka's passionate night together, "what do you figure are our chances of getting a gig before the docking fees ruin us?"

"We entered our employment history and contact information into the planetary job search network before the shuttle landed, and we are monitoring the net continually. Your Omni-Tools will receive an alert if we are contacted. However, we should not stay longer than one day."

"Well, we'll just see how it goes. If no one bites, we'll probably have better luck on the Citadel."

They reached the end of the landing platform and Chula stopped to take in the view.

The others joined her. Quint put his arm around Dakka's waist and turned his head slowly, looking over the city below. This part of the spaceport was elevated, giving new arrivals a majestic view of the nearby city and the mountains beyond. The place bore a strong resemblance to Earth.

"It's pretty," Chula said softly. "Not as nice as the photos of Rannoch I've seen, but still, quite lovely. You and Weyland were right about the scenery, Yutani."

"We are pleased that you like it."

They stood there for a few minutes. Quint smiled as a gentle breeze fluttered his hair. Nice change of pace. No one shooting at us--yet. He leaned on Dakka's shoulder and chuckled when she slid her hand down to squeeze his ass.

Finally, they turned toward the nearby door.

"Okay." Chula rubbed her hands together. "Let's see if we can earn some money."

Quint's Omni-Tool beeped softly. He raised an eyebrow and glanced around at the others. They were all looking at their Tools, having received simultaneous alerts. He laughed.

"I'll be damned." He loaded the message and it popped up in a holographic window above the glowing amber Omni-Tool around his left arm. "You all got the same one, or different ones?"

"Mine's from a human named Malcolm Takahashi," Chula said, reading the text in her heads-up display.

"Same here," Magnum said, and everyone else nodded. "Seems he's been looking for a small team, and was pinged when our captains put our files on the net."

"Ha." Dakka grinned. "Our reputation has preceded us. We keep going like this, and we'll have to start turning down jobs just to have time for eating and sleeping." She nudged Quint's shoulder. "And, y'know, fucking."

"That one'll always be my top priority." He winked at her and read the rest of the message. "He wants to meet us at a party he's having this evening. Hmm. It's a costume party. Guess we'll have to dress for the occasion." He closed the message and the Omni-Tool faded away.

"That gives us a few hours." Chula used her Omni-Tool to find the nearest store that would have what they needed. "Let's go shopping, then."

#

Chula leaned against the wall beside the corner kiosk, left hand stuffed into her pocket, and flipped through the costume selection. So far, none of the available outfits really caught her interest. The party's theme was fictional characters from Earth's entertainment industry, which gave her a pretty narrow range to work with. She was probably more knowledgeable about the subject than most quarians, but she was by no means an expert.

She glanced to her right as Yutani stepped up to one of the vacant kiosks. The geth pondered the screen for a moment and touched the random-selection button. A red coat and hat with white fluff around the edges popped up. She added the outfit to her shopping cart.

Quint, on her right, glanced at her screen and chuckled. "Santa's actually a male."

Yutani raised an eyebrow flap and nodded. "Acknowledged." She removed the suit from her cart and opened an options menu. She touched a button labeled "female" and an altered version of the costume appeared. The male model vanished, replaced by a woman; the long red coat and hat remained, and a matching bikini appeared on the model.

"Plausible reason for costume found after extranet search," Yutani said. "Rule 63."

Quint laughed and gave her a thumbs-up. Yutani mimicked his gesture and stepped in front of the scanner on the wall behind Chula. She removed her trenchcoat and waited for the scanner to capture her measurements.

Chuckling, Chula turned back to her screen. She flicked through another dozen costumes before one jumped out at her. Oh! I should've thought of this already.

Yutani put her coat back on and looked at the screen as she walked past.

Chula opened an accessories menu and skimmed the list. "Ah, a sonic screwdriver. Perfect!" She added it to her cart.

Yutani leaned over and pointed to another accessory. "Fezzes are cool."

"Oh, I almost missed that! Thank you!" Chula added the fez to her cart and proceeded to checkout. She placed her order, took off her coat and hat, and walked over to the scanner.

Quint leaned over for a look at Chula's screen. "Oh, that gives me an idea." He typed in a search term and grinned at the result. "There it is. Captain Jack Harkness."

"So, does that mean Dakka is going to be Ianto?"

"Who?" Dakka muttered, glancing up from her kiosk.

"Hmm." Quint turned to look Dakka over. "Somehow, I can't picture you in a suit and tie."

"Eh, yeah, not really my style." Dakka shrugged and continued skimming costumes. "What the hell are you two talking about, anyway?"

"An old vid series I got hooked on shortly after I started my Pilgrimage, and one of its spinoff series." When the scanner took her measurements, she put her coat and hat back on, and leaned against the wall with her hands in her pockets. "I found the main character's sense of adventure quite inspiring. His drive to stand up for what's right and fight evil wherever he went made a big impression on me." She laughed. "Quarians on Pilgrimage don't pick up a lot of trinkets because we usually can't afford them and don't have room for them, but at one point I did buy an antique levitating TARDIS. I've got it sitting on the desk in my quarters."

Dakka stared at her, shook her head, and tapped her Omni-Tool. "I think my translator garbled that. You have a retard on your desk?"

Chula burst out laughing, leaned over and braced her hands on her knees until she could catch her breath. She waved a hand and said, "No, no, no. TARDIS--Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's...well, I'll have to show you some of the vids when we have time. Maybe when we're on our way back to the Citadel."

"Huh. Okay." Dakka shrugged and returned to perusing her screen.

Chula laughed again. "How about you, Mag? Found one you like yet?"

At the kiosk on the far end, Magnum shrugged one shoulder. "I'm probably too fat to pull it off, but I love this outfit. Amazingly, they have it in my size." She walked over to the scanner.

"What is it?" Quint looked at her kiosk. "Oh, Ahsoka Tano. Good choice." He grinned at the image. "Funny how her less-revealing outfit made her look a hundred times hotter."

"Dude, at that point in the story, she was, like, sixteen."

He shrugged. "She could also dice me up with her lightsabers, so I'd never get past first base with her unless she allowed it."

Dakka laughed. "You've already gone there, anyway. Technically, I'm underage."

His jaw dropped. "What? Aren't you a hundred years old, or more?"

"Ninety-nine, actually, but we tend to live a thousand years or more. So that makes me the krogan equivalent of a teenager."

Quint facepalmed. "Oh, shit. I fucked a minor."

"Fourteen times last night and once this morning, but who's counting?" Dakka snickered at the look on his face. "Relax. Before I left Tuchanka, remember, I was hours away from getting knocked up by some guy I'd never even met. If that rival clan hadn't attacked us, I'd probably still be there, pumping out one unit after another. Besides, if I didn't want you banging me, it'd never happen. Period."

He let out a slow breath. "Yeah, good point."

"Also, I'm the one who wouldn't let you say no. So don't worry about it."

"Another good point, I guess." He scratched his cheek and glanced around, as if looking for a way out. "So, uh, have you picked out a costume yet?"

"Still looking for something sexy." She grinned.

He shrugged and looked at his screen. "Oh, almost forgot to place my order." He paid for his outfit and logged out.

"Hmm, how about Hit-Girl?"

"Oh, Christ, she's eleven!"

"But she could kick your ass." Dakka giggled.

"Am I gonna have to show up at the party as Pedobear?"

She snorted. "Okay, okay, take it easy. I'll find another one." She flipped through several more outfits and grinned suddenly. "Oh, I like this one. I have no idea who Xena, Warrior Princess is, but it's a good look."

"Never imagined I'd see a krogan dressed like that, but...well, now that I think about it, it kinda fits you."

"Excellent." Dakka placed the order, let the scanner measure her, and rubbed her hands together. "Well, let's go pick up our outfits."

#

"Whoa. Just look at this place." Chula stood inside the doorway and shook her head slowly. "The ship I took out on my Pilgrimage could fit inside this room."

Quint stepped through the door and moved aside for Dakka. He took a quick look around the gymnasium-size room before returning his attention to Dakka. The room wasn't exactly crowded, but only because of its size; he estimated around two hundred guests, human and asari and turian and salarian, milling around or standing in groups. Some merely conversed softly with one another, others danced to the gentle music floating from the speakers mounted high on the walls, and many others stood around the circular bar in the middle of the room.

Dakka squeezed past Chula and stood beside Quint, holding his attention solidly as Magnum and Yutani entered. He let his gaze move slowly over the parts of Dakka's body exposed by her costume and grinned.

"Ladies, I should apologize in advance for any stupid things I might say this evening. It's because all the blood has rushed from my head."

Dakka laughed and put her arms around him. "I was hoping you'd like this outfit."

"Oh, I do. I think the leather skirt is what's really doing it for me."

"Keelah, you two." Chula laughed softly. "Try to keep the skirt on for a while, okay?"

"No promises." Quint slipped his arms around Dakka's waist.

"Fifteen times in one day wasn't enough? You two are unstoppable." Chula clapped them on the shoulder. "If only I had that much time with Lakirra."

"Lakirra?" a woman's voice said from behind Quint. He turned and found an asari dressed as Indiana Jones frowning at Chula. "Oh, who let the bucket-head in here? Please tell me you're not the one my little sister was talking about?"

"Bucket-head?" Chula stared at her. "As a matter of fact, I did meet an asari named Lakirra recently."

"Ugh, I knew nothing good would come of her relocating to Omega."

Dakka snarled. "What the hell is your problem with my friend?"

"Goddess, you're female!" The asari looked her over and curled her lip. "I never would've guessed."

"Are you drunk? Or just naturally bitchy?"

"Why aren't you back on Tuchanka, failing to produce offspring like the rest of those barbarians?"

"Any why aren't you gyrating around a pole or renting your body out like all the other asari whores?"

The woman gaped at her. "What? You...you..."

Dakka leaned in toward her and sneered. "Don't open your mouth again unless you're giving head."

Oh, shit. Quint grasped Dakka's hand and gave it a gentle tug. "Come on, honey, let's not get thrown out of here before we can meet our client."

Yutani took a few steps closer, preparing to intervene if things escalated too much.

"Yeah, money's more important than this twat." Dakka took a step toward the bar.

At the same moment, a turian dressed as Han Solo hurriedly inserted himself between Dakka and the asari. He put his hands on her shoulders and steered her away.

"Come on, Aldaya, let's not cause a scene."

"I'm not causing a scene!"

"Yes, you are. You started it. Come on, let's step out onto the balcony and get some fresh air." He looked over his shoulder. "Sorry about this. She's, uh, had a few." He raised his hand to his mouth and made a chugging motion.

"Don't worry about it." Quint smiled. "These things happen."

Magnum let out a relieved sigh and headed for the bar. "I'll have a look around and see if I can find our client."

"Good idea," Chula said. "I'll join you before I do something she regrets."

"Suit-rat," Aldaya muttered.

Chula leaned toward her and snapped, "I fucked your sister!" She stormed off toward the bar, Aldaya's jaw dropped again, and her companion burst out laughing.

"What the hell is so funny?" Aldaya pushed him away.

"I, uh, I have no idea. I think I may have had too much to drink." He took a few deep breaths to regain his composure. "I could use some fresh air. Want to join me?" He put his arm around her shoulders. "I may need you to hold me upright until we reach one of the seats on the balcony. Then maybe we can take in the sunset."

"I suppose I could use some time away from the crowd." Aldaya let him lead her away, swaying slightly.

He glanced over his shoulder and whispered, "Sorry!"

Quint smiled and waved before joining the others at the bar. "Here, babe, let me buy you a drink." He raised an eyebrow. "You are old enough to drink, right?"

"Gee, let me take my binky out of my mouth before I answer that." Dakka rolled her eyes.

Quint sighed and hung his head. "Okay, like I said, I might be saying stupid things all night because seeing you in that costume is making me horny."

"In that case, all is forgiven."

Yutani glanced from him to Dakka to Chula to Aldaya. "We wonder if we will ever understand organics."

"Good luck with that. A lot of us never figure it out, either." Magnum reached up to adjust her headpiece. She'd tinted her skin orange and applied face paint in the proper pattern to complete her costume. And, Quint noted, she made the outfit look damned good. Her extra weight was perfectly proportioned and really made her stand out from the crowd.

Quint glanced around and caught several nearby men--and some women, too--eyeing her. He looked back to Magnum; if she'd noticed the attention she was getting, she didn't let on.

Between her and Dakka, I'm gonna be in the mood all night. Better not drink anything, or I might really make a fool of myself.

Dakka suddenly gasped and nudged Quint's shoulder. "Look!" She nodded at something on the right.

He turned, looked around, and spotted a familiar-looking human and turian a few meters away. The former wore a Master Chief costume sans helmet, and the latter...

Huh. It took a moment for Quint to identify her costume. Oh, Motoko Kusanagi.

"You know who they are?" Dakka said, keeping her voice low.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen 'em before, but I can't quite place 'em."

"Here's a clue--Fornax."

"Oh, right. Valerie something-or-other and--"

"Valeria Terakkis and Dick Sizemore."

"Right, that's them." Quint chuckled. "After seeing some photos of him, 'Sizemore' doesn't exactly suit him."

"He admitted in an interview that it's a joke. His real name is Irving Kostmeyer. Not exactly a porn-star name."

"True enough." He watched them cuddle as they spoke with the people around them.

"Maybe I can get 'em to autograph my ass cheeks!" Dakka giggled and hurried over to them.

Quint laughed, shook his head, and followed her. This oughta be interesting.

#

"Are you alright?" Yutani said, and Chula looked up at her, surprised.

"Oh...I'll get over it." Chula glanced at the doorway Aldaya and her turian companion had walked through a moment ago. She sat on a vacant stool, leaned on the bar, and sighed. "It does get annoying, though. I mean, it seems like everywhere I go, there's always someone giving me shit simply because I'm a quarian."

"We do not understand the hostility so many organics display toward your people."

"I guess they blame us for creating AI, which is illegal. Even though it was an accident, a lot of people think we were responsible for unleashing a horde of 'genocidal machines' on the galaxy."

"That is not logical. The quarians did not intend to create sentient synthetics, and those who initiated the Morning War died nearly three centuries ago; no currently-living quarian had been born at that time. None of you should be blamed for what your long-dead ancestors did."

"Yeah, it doesn't make any sense. I don't know, maybe some people simply want to hate someone, and we happen to be the target they picked." Chula reached over to a dish of peanuts and turned it idly. She looked up at Yutani. "So, you don't have any ill will toward us?"

"We do not hate your people. We do, however, fear them. Whenever they thought they had a tactical or technological advantage, they attacked us, one hundred percent of the time."

"Yeah." Chula sighed again. "Well, maybe together, we can change that."

"That is our hope. Perhaps peace between our peoples will start with us."

"I think it already has." Chula put her hand on Yutani's shoulder.

"Nice costume," a man behind her said. She turned and found a human in a blue jumpsuit smiling at her. Among the patches and insignia on it was one with the words, CON-AM 27. It was the first costume she'd seen tonight that she didn't recognize.

He pointed at her neck and said, "Bowties are cool."

She laughed, took her sonic screwdriver out of her coat pocket, and brandished it. "Geronimo!"

"Fantastic!" He grinned and shook her hand, then turned to Yutani. "And this one is amazing. It looks so real."

Chula stifled a snicker.

"Ho-ho-ho," Yutani said.

"I don't mean the Santa thing, I mean the costume under the costume. Wow, that's really good workmanship."

"This platform is not a costume."

He cocked his head. "Oh, you're a real synthetic?" He looked at Chula. "You designed your personal assistant to look like a geth?"

"Nope, Yutani is a genuine geth platform, and she's actually my captain." Chula laughed at the look on his face. "It's a long story."

"Ah. Well, I'd love to hear it sometime. But for now, we have a potential job to discuss." He smiled again. "I'm Malcolm Takahashi."

"Oh! Pleased to meet you." Chula glanced around. "Some of my crewmates are looking for you; I'll round them up."

"Thanks. When you've gathered them, come to my office upstairs." He smiled, bowed, and walked away.

Chula headed for Quint and Dakka, and Yutani kept pace with her. When she reached them, Dakka grinned and waved at a man standing beside the two porn stars.

"Hey, guys, we were just talking over another potential gig."

Quint grimaced. "I don't know about this."

"What sort of gig?" Chula said.

"Barry Huntley," the man said, grinning. "I work for Fornax."

"Oh." Chula glanced at Quint. "That kind of gig."

"I haven't said yes!" Quint sighed. "But when they saw me and Dakka together--"

"We've got another Krogasm special issue in the planning stage," Huntley said, "but since female krogan are so rare anywhere except Tuchanka, and because she's got a human boyfriend, I figure that'll really set this issue apart from everything else we've done."

Quint groaned. "I'm really not interested in--"

Huntley handed him a data pad. Quint looked at the screen and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"But for this much money, I'll think about it." He handed the pad back.

"And hello there." Huntley grinned at Yutani. "Fascinating. I never thought I'd see a 'female' geth."

"Oh, boy," Quint said, shaking his head and laughing.

Huntley reached out and felt up Yutani's chest. "Very nice curves. Maybe you'd like to get in on the action."

"This platform is not available for exploitation."

Huntley tapped a number into his data pad and held it out to Yutani. The platform looked at the screen and her eyebrow flaps raised.

"That amount would provide much needed help for the rebuilding of Eden Prime." She looked at Huntley. "We may have an upcoming mission, but once it is complete...we will consider your offer."

"Keelah," Chula muttered.

"Good." Huntley smiled. "We'll be in touch."

Sizemore tapped his Omni-Tool. "Val and I are doing a live show in a few days. Drop by if you have a chance. I've just sent info about it to your Omni-Tool."

"I'd love that." Dakka grinned.

Sizemore and Tarakkis sauntered away, waving, and Chula noticed that they had matching wedding rings. Dakka waved back and watched them until they entered a nearby crowd.

"Don't start drooling." Chula laughed and clapped Dakka's shoulder. "Anyway, our potential client wants to meet us upstairs."

"Lead the way, then." Dakka rubbed her hands together. "Okay, let's get down to business."