Read Marauder Kronos: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Mating Wars) for Free Online

will brief all of you. Security! Report!”
    Ramu turns so he’s partially facing Minna and Delphie. “Training with Delphie is progressing quickly, Captain. I’m teaching her to use the skull poker, sir!”
    “Good,” I say. “Engineering, report!”
    “We’re going to do this every day?” Delphie asks.
    “Report!”
    “The batteries are mostly recharged from the brief period we used the laser. We have plenty of reaction mass left for engines. I’ll do routine maintenance on the heat sink tomorrow probably, or whenever we dock. Uh, everything is good, I guess.”
    I wait.
    “ Captain,” Ramu hisses to her.
    “Captain,” Delphie says.
    “Thanks, Delphie,” I say. “Now, kitchen, report!”
    Minna looks up at me nervously. She’s more stunning every time I see her. Half of the reason I decided to make the crew report to me first thing in the morning is simply so I can wake up and get to see her face first thing. And her body.
    “I have been cooking around the clock,” Minna says. “Mostly high-protein meals with beans and artificial meat.”
    “Yes,” I say. “Dinner was excellent, great work. But how have you been cooking around the clock? Where’s all the food? I just saw the portion for dinner, and we ate it….”
    Minna looks down, blushing. Damn she looks good when she blushes.
    “Uh…,” she mumbles.
    “He’s Captain!” Ramu roars. “Respect him!”
    “It’s fine, Ramu,” I say. “Minna?”
    “I ate all the rest,” she says. “Captain.”
    “How much did you eat?” Delphie asks.
    “A lot,” Minna says, looking embarrassed. “It’s...it’s the suit. I felt hungry as soon as I put it on. It’s a prototype...I don’t think we got the efficiency of it quite down yet.”
    “You mean you know how to make a biosuit?” Ramu asks.
    Biosuits aren’t produced so much as grown, and they haven’t been made since the Marauders arrived in the solar system well over 27 years ago. Some say the peacekeepers still know how to make them, others think the knowledge has been lost entirely. Either way, biosuits are strictly illegal aside from use by peacekeeper Marauders and Seraphim. Darkstar – the renegade Marauders on the edge of Pluto’s orbit – ignores all human laws, and they of course use biosuits. But word has it that the peacekeepers kicked Darkstar’s shit a while back, and Darkstar hasn’t done much of anything for some time.
    “Not without a lab,” Minna says. “And a full team.”
    “Damn,” Ramu says.
    I smile at Minna and perk my ears up. “Well, Minna, eat all you’d like. We understand your situation, so don’t be shy.”
    “Yes, Captain,” she says.
    “If you took the suit off,” Ramu says, “you’d feel a lot better.”
    “I don’t know how,” she says. “And even if I did, I would not let you sell it.”
    I say nothing. It’s not that I only care about profit, but I have crew to pay. Delphie depends on me, and I’ll quickly run out of money if I become all heart and no pirate. If I can get that suit off her and sell it, Minna will be a lot safer. The suit is powerful and might protect her against a handful of people who are out to hurt her, but it’s basically a big, bright, orange target painted on her back. Hell, I may even give her a cut of the profits to ease her loss.
    “Are you going to report, Captain?” Delphie asks.
    “Huh?”
    “You said the crew would all report, and then you would.”
    “Oh,” I say, “right. Lila, screen!”
    The screen turns on, and it shows us less than an hour away from New Rotterdam.
    Ramu grins, Delphie sighs, and Minna stares at the screen with a horrified expression.
    “Ever been on a habitat, Minna?” I ask.
    Her lips move in silence, and finally she gets some words out. “New Rotterdam doesn’t count, it’s a pirate habitat, you’re not...you’re not going to drop me off there ?”
    I remember I promised I’d drop her off when we first docked. I wasn’t counting New Rotterdam as a real