Atrophy (34 page)

Epilogue

R
ian glanced over the nav chart Lianna had sent him, plotting the most backward, out-of-the-way course to Barasa they could possibly take. It would be weeks before they arrived but the alternative—getting nabbed by the authorities because of their new status as intergalactic terrorists, or the Reidar making another move against them—made being stuck on this junker, in each other’s pockets seem like a tropical fiesta.

Point of fact, they were currently re-supplying on an unmanned mining platoon—Callan had switched up the
Imojenna’s
authorization beacon yet again, and now they were traveling as a sonic drill hauler, bouncing between excavation and quarry outposts.

“Rian!”

Zahli’s yell echoed up the stairs to the bridge, her tone heavy with indignant expectation. In the week since they’d left Dalphin and he’d grudgingly resisted every impulse within him to damage her ex-inmate boyfriend whenever the guy touched her, she’d been in a deliriously sweet mood that left his teeth aching. She was happy—and considering the mess he’d mired them all in, he should probably be grateful for it.

More than one set of tread thumped up the stairs, which probably meant Tannin was trailing Zahli around like usual.

“Rian, you need to see this.”

A commpad was thrust in front of his face, close enough to make his eyes cross.

He took it with a brief scowl shot toward Zahli.

He scanned the newsreel, a picture of himself years younger, standing at attention in his IPC uniform, next to the charming headline of
War Hero Turns Intergalactic Terrorist
. He started to hand the commpad back, annoyance compressing his lungs. “The last thing I want to do is read about myself—”

“Not that.” Zahli pushed the commpad back and tapped a smaller article in the lower half of the screen, enlarging the text. “This. Did you have something to do with this?”

A few brief lines of careless reporting stated that Tannin Everette, of the wealthy and prominent Everette’s from Barasa, had died in custody on Erebus. If not for his parents’ reputation, it probably would have gone unreported altogether.

He glanced up to where Tannin stood behind Zahli, his fist clenched and expression like someone had just smacked him upside the head with an asteroid.

“They think I’m dead.”

Rian handed the commpad back to Zahli. “Apparently so. Convenient.”

“The article says there was a fire in one of the decommissioned buildings, slated for upgrades. The body was burned beyond recognition, but they identified it through DNA.”

Rian braced a hand against his mouth, glancing back to his viewport, where the route to Barasa flickered. “Fascinating.”

Zahli kicked the bottom of his chair. “Rian!”

He sighed, pushing straighter in his seat. “What do you want, Zahli? The authorities think he’s dead. No one will be looking for the scumrat any longer.”

“Did you do this for us? I know you have connections all over the galaxy, but this is—” A sheen glinted in Zahli’s eyes, and he clenched his jaw over a curse as he glanced away from her again.

He couldn’t claim he’d done it for Zahli or Tannin’s benefit, though that had been a small part of it. Mostly, he’d done it because the entire crew were already wanted intergalactic terrorists. If he could take away the one small element of his tech analyst being an absconded prisoner, then he’d take the pragmatic route. Besides, this also covered up the little issue of his sister stabbing an IPC officer. Not that the bastard hadn’t deserved it. Zahli had helped him cover up too many bodies over the years, so it was probably about time he returned the favor.

When an old buddy of his, stationed in security and surveillance on Erebus had sent him the footage of Zahli being attacked, he’d had half a mind to take his ship and his huge-ass illegally modified nucleon cannon mounted on the bottom of the
Imojenna
to blow half that frecking planet into space dust. Instead, he’d called in favors and arranged to have the officer’s body burned and identified as Tannin Everette.

“Let’s just enjoy the fact that certain
dead
ends have been taken care of, and leave it at that.”

“Thank you.” Zahli lightly touched his shoulder. He tried to keep a lid on the ripple of unease that tripped through him at the contact, but from the brim of disappointment in her gaze, hadn’t been all that successful.

She shot him a small smile and stepped back, brushing by Tannin, who still stood, shoulders bunched with restless tension.

“I have no idea how you managed this, but thank you. I really mean it. I owe you—”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Rian pushed to his feet, all this touchy-feely-crap-a-doodle conversation making him antsy. “Just don’t ever hurt my sister and we’ll call it even.”

Tannin nodded, his gaze set with a steadfast determination that told him Erebus would have to freeze over before the guy ever did anything to upset Zahli.

Rian left Tannin standing on the bridge and headed down to his quarters, about the only two places he’d stepped boots in the last week. Anywhere else risked running into Ella. While he might need her on his ship for the long haul and smack bang in the middle of his plans against the Reidar, he sure as shite didn’t have to acknowledge her existence in the meantime.

Maybe she thought he was her little pet Arynian-savior project, maybe she thought she was doing him a favor, bringing him back from a fatal injury, coming to him when he’d thought Zahli was dead, telling him it wasn’t his fault. And she might think she knew him, after seeing the shadowed recesses of his mind that even he shied away from. But the truth was, he was nothing but seething, bubbling darkness inside and most days, even he didn’t know what he was capable of.

Eventually he would destroy her, of that he had no doubt. And his own end was likely to be nothing but blood, pain, and annihilation. He only hoped he didn’t take anyone else down with him. Anyone except the Reidar.

For them, the end was just the beginning.

The End

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Author’s Note and Acknowledgments

This book has been a long time coming. I wrote it in 2008 at a time when, besides a handful of authors doing the almost impossible, there was really no such thing as science fiction romance.

Admittedly, I was still a newly-minted sci-fi fan when I started this book. I think I’d always been one but just hadn’t realized it until I read Linnea Sinclair. I want to say thank you to Linnea, though I don’t know her personally, however her books had a huge hand in getting me where I am today. I’ve seen her working to build SFR’s profile through things like the Science Fiction Romance Brigade, as well as a number of other authors who are tirelessly passionate about this genre. To all of those authors (especially those who run the Science Fiction Romance Brigade), you are awesome, and I can only hope your continued efforts make sci-fi romance shine like it deserves to.

Atrophy spent a long time being the book that almost was. I submitted it to almost every reputable agent and publisher I could think of, both in the US and Australia. The number of “good” rejections I got was staggering. But the same problem kept coming up—the romance agents/publishers said it was too hardcore sci-fi for romance readers, and the sci-fi agents/publishers said it had too much romance for sci-fi readers. Most agreed it was a good book, however they didn’t know where to “shelve” it. To all those agents and editors who sent me a good rejection, or took the time to give me some feedback, thank you. Every one of you played a small part in this journey.

At some point in the middle of all that submitting, I sent the first few chapters to Kylie Griffin. And I need to make sure she realizes that without her encouragement to continue, without her telling me “we (sci-fi romance fans and authors) need more books like this out there!” I may have decided it was too hard and frustrating, and simply given up. So, thank you, Kylie, because everything you said in that email after reading my chapters has stuck with me to this day.

Late 2010, after over two years of the submission/rejection cycle, I could see that sci-fi romance was really starting to emerge as a bit of an underground, but exciting genre. I decided to put Atrophy away—with no time frame in mind—while I kept an eye on the industry and watched sci-fi romance slowly grow. But I’d found my stride as an author in sci-fi romance, so I worked on other projects.

Throughout that time, I was also supported by my very fabulous critique partner, Erin Grace. Thank you, Erin, I know it can’t have always been easy keeping track of what I was doing, bouncing back and forth between genres. But you definitely helped ground me, and your unapologetic crits got me ready for working with an agent and editors.

In late 2013, I submitted
Escape Velocity
to Entangled, and met a very awesome and enthusiastic editor, Robin Haseltine, who was excited about my sci-fi romance. After several months of emailing back and forth, I realized that Robin and Entangled were the ones I needed to send
Atrophy
to, and with sci-fi romance continuing to gain in popularity, I thought the time might finally be right.

As they say, the rest is history. If there was anyone I’ve forgotten, who helped shape
Atrophy
in some way over the past seven years, thank you and sorry if it’s slipped my mind.

As always, thank you to my wonderful, extraordinary editor, Robin. I could spend another entire page gushing about how great I think you are, and the awesome things you’ve done for my books and writing in general, but I think you already know.

Thanks to Production Editor Heidi Stryker for simply putting up with me and my demands. Also, thanks to Liz Pelletier and the team at Entangled, all the people working in the background who made this book possible. You’ve made a long-time dream of mine into reality, and I am beyond grateful.

Like usual, I want to thank my family, especially my husband, Mario. I’ve been making promises that this will all work out for almost as long as we’ve been together, and despite the years going by without me being able to show you any evidence to support my stubborn belief, you kept faith in my word, believed me and never once suggested I should maybe be doing something else. To my sister-in-law, Lisa. We spent so many hours talking about
Atrophy
, Rian, Ella, and the whole crazy concept. And now we’re going to be able to hold it in our hands.

Cafrine, I always knew from the beginning that I would dedicate this book to you. Those afternoons and evenings when we used to plot, dream and generally throw ideas back and forth were some of the best days, and I’ll remember them forever. I still have some of our conversations saved on my computer.

I’ll never forget BCIS and I hope you don’t either.

About the Author

Jess
has been making up stories ever since she can remember. Though her messy handwriting made it hard for anyone else to read them, she wasn’t deterred and now she gets to make up stories for a living. She loves loud music, a good book on a rainy day, and probably spends too much time watching too many TV shows. Jess lives in regional Victoria, Australia, with her very supportive husband, three daughters, two hyperactive border collie dogs, and one cat who thinks he’s one of the kids. Find out more about Jess and her books at
www.jessanastasi.com

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Also by Jess Anastasi…

Escape Velocity

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