Kim was livid.

She had felt true anger only a few times in her life.

When they plucked her off the stage at graduation, seconds before she could take possession of her degrees.

When she suffered through a sloppy and pointless interrogation at the hands of arrogant sapiens who had no idea what she was.

When she stood up and fought against the sapien enslavement of hesh.

And now, with this flagrant attempt to block her from piloting the ship she designed.

She punched the com unit on her desk after she cleared away some of the gifts.

"Kim," Dana answered immediately.

"How is the qid?" she asked. No matter how much turmoil she was in, her first thought was of the child she left behind. He would be disturbed by her absence, but Dana's skill, patience, and deep mutual affection for the child made up for it.

"We are playing Hide and Seek," Dana told her. "Shem is winning."

"As usual," Kim smiled slightly. "I need some research."

"In your service, First."

She shook her head, deciding against her automatic objection to those words. The Words were practically tattooed on their brains. It took very little effort for her to stop saying such things. But then, she wasn't bred as a domestic or a laborer.

Her fellow hesh no longer spoke the Words of Service to sapiens. She sincerely wished they would stop speaking the Words to her.

She detailed what she needed and ended the call without confronting Dana. He didn't do it to aggravate her. It was just his way of showing her respect and affection. Service was the universal hesh love language. It was coded into their genes. Freedom didn't make them stop wanting to serve.

She moved flowers and boxes to the window seat to clear more space on the desk and the chair.

Taking a deep breath, she fell into the chair and propped her elbows on the desk. She sat in thought for a moment, ignoring Wyatt at the door. She could not allow him to see her this way. She had to regain control of herself first.

Kim listened to him try the keypad, and when it failed, he walked away.

The flash on the com caught her attention and she punched the keys to answer.

It was not Dana.

"Onscreen." She sat back in the chair as a horizontal panel opened above the desk. She smiled at the hesh on the screen.

"Cori," she bowed her head to her in greeting and respect. Cori was decades older than Kim but looked like a cousin of the same age.

It was all about breeding.

"Kim, I am so pleased to see you out of that compound, m'lami!"

"It is not my doing," Kim demurred. Cori was the only one that harassed her to go out and be social. She didn't care what she did, just leave the damn house, m'lami! "Have you been briefed?"

"I have and I will transmit the files at once." Nagging could wait. They had work to do and very few could hyperfocus like Cori.

"To my private line, if you would," Kim cautioned.

"Done. Is there anything else you need?"

"Samples."

Cori nodded. "I am sure we have viable specimens stored."

"Fresh and untainted is preferred, if possible," Kim said.

"In your service, First."

Kim shook her head with a smile. Cori didn't speak the Words in deference, respect, or affection. She meant them as a tease. She was no more domesticated than Kim. "I dearly hope not."

Cori laughed and ended the call.

Kim took another breath, still trying to calm the fury rolling in her heart.

She heard Wyatt back at the door and pressed the button on her desk to open it.

He stood with a hand raised to knock.

"May I come in now?"

"You may," she confirmed.

He entered slowly, standing just inside the door. "I'm sorry."

Surprised, she sat forward, resting her arms on the desk. "Why?"

"Whatever I did," he stuffed a hand in his pocket.

"You did nothing." Trust this man to take responsibility, even when he had no idea what he might have done.

"You're angry." He watched her closely, as close as he always did. He told her once that having his eyes on her was one of his favorite things to do.

"Not with you." She picked up the film from where she tossed it on the desk. "This is why I am angry."

He seemed reassured, coming close enough to sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He had to move a stack of gift boxes to do it. "I thought it was because I said I would take care of it."

"There are only a handful of very high-ranked military who would have the power to push something like this through."

Wyatt nodded slowly. "You have some idea who they are?"

"I know exactly who they are," she said in a low voice.

He waited for her to elaborate but she got to her feet instead. She didn't want to involve Wyatt in this mess any further than he was already, but she was sure he wouldn't give her much choice in the matter. Wyatt was the very embodiment of a champion, ready to go to battle at a moment's notice.

"Will you call your driver? I must get back to the compound. I have work to do."

"Of course," he stood as well, bewildered.

"Is there a public address system?" she asked while he tapped his phone to summon Bobbi.

"The yellow button right there."

She pressed it. "Workers of Sol-Dyke," she began, "please be aware that the delay in launching our ship is temporary. This issue will be resolved forthwith. At which time, I am sure Wyatt will be delighted to throw you all a celebratory meal here.

"The fruits of your labor will not gather dust," she continued. "Akhenaten will fly. Mark me on this."

She released the button and Wyatt could hear cheers erupting from the hangar.

"Are we ready?"

"Bobbi's just outside. Should I call a caterer?"

He didn't give a damn about Kim volun-telling him to throw their workers a party. Hell, he didn't need an excuse. He already had one planned to celebrate the official launch anyway.

He was just pleased that their thoughts were following a similar path. It boded well for the future and his place in her life.

"I have a few in mind," she remarked, sweeping past him and out the door.

Wyatt was content to follow, even though he was clueless as to her plans. He had faith that she would do her thing while he did his and they would resolve this issue and be flying in time.

He caught up to her outside, chatting with Bobbi. They fell silent as he approached, and Kim slid into the car as Bobbi waited for Wyatt to join her.

"Can I get that film from you?"

"I actually need it for a bit," she said mildly. "I will see a copy sent to you."

"Or," Wyatt said slowly as they pulled off, "you could just give me a copy yourself."

She was silent, staring out the dark-tinted window to her left. "I have some work to do," she said distantly, "and I need that film to complete it."

"What kind of work?" He never did find out, even after throwing around the considerable weight of the Thorndyke name and fortune, exactly what Kim was designed for. She didn't fit any of the broad categories. She wasn't a Domestic, a Laborer, or an Artisan, at least as far as Wyatt knew.

He always believed she was a unique designer-bred Erudyne. She certainly had the smarts. The coursework at the Academy would have broken a lesser person. Kim carried the multiple majors without breaking a sweat and still managed to carry on a torrid affair with him while maintaining a highly active social calendar.

She bestowed an oblique look on him. "Gift wrapping."

He frowned. "Gift wrapping?" She nodded. "For the people that did this to us?"

The dim hope that Kim would confide in him died a quiet death.

"I will be occupied for the next three days," she said. "Perhaps four. I will call you when I am ready."

She looked away from him again, apparently lost in thought. He mentally ran through several different high-ranked military officials he might be able to access.

"Do you know anything about General Fredrick Miles?"

She nodded once. "He is not in a position to be involved," she dismissed.

"His signature is all over the permits, and that film," Wyatt told her. "He may not be involved but he may know who is."

"If you speak with him," she said as they passed through the gates of her compound, "record everything. Not just audio. Visual cues can be more revealing than the spoken word."

When Bobbi opened her door, Wyatt caught her hand. "Are you really not going to talk to me for three whole days?" he asked quietly.

"I am sorry, Wyatt. I must be focused, and I am anything but in your company."

She gently detangled her hand and left the car.

***

Dana met her as the door closed behind her.

"Report," she said as he fell into step beside her. She nodded to Peyton at the desk as they passed.

"They expect to deliver within 36 hours," Dana told her. "The qid is fed and waiting for a bath. I could not convince shem to accept one without you."

She smiled. "How much trouble did shem really give you?"

Dana surrendered with a sheepish grin. "It only took me ten minutes to work the knots free this time."

"Dana, will you never learn?"

He shrugged. "I have no younger siblings. Ari is a pleasure."

"When you're not tied down, I'm sure."

Dana laughed as she climbed the stairs.

"I am afraid," she sighed, "that I will require your services for the next several days," she told him.

He nodded. "At your service, First."

***

Kali found her brother glumly jabbing at a plate of pot roast and potatoes that evening.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," Wyatt grumped. "They shut us down."

Kali was stunned. She knew how meticulous her brother was. He was obsessive, really, with ensuring all pieces were in place. He planned every move down to the most minute details. This thing with Kimbre Sol made him even more attentive to the details. He couldn't possibly have missed something. He spent twelve years making sure of it.

"How the fuck did they do that?"

He tapped the copy of the film that was waiting for him when he got home. Kali read it quickly, then slapped it down on the bar.

"That's bullshit," she spat.

"That's what I said."

"What about Kim?"

"She was pissed," Wyatt released a slow breath. "I think she was worried about me seeing her angry, but I think it was sexy as hell."

"Of course, you do." She stole a potato from his pate. "So, what are you going to do?" It wasn't in his nature to surrender. If his way was blocked somehow, he would blaze another trail. Hell, he would tunnel underground if he had to. Her brother was unstoppable.

It was a trait they shared and one of the reasons why their father was enjoying his retirement instead of still grinding away in the corporate world.

"I'm going to see Fred Miles tomorrow. Kim," he sighed and shook his head, still baffled. "Kim is gift wrapping."

Kali stared at him as he chewed a bite of the roast. "Gift...wrapping?"

"That's what she said. And," he added, gesturing with a potato on his fork, "she said she needs three, maybe four days to do it."

Kali rolled her eyes. "That's why you're in a mood." Kali knew her brother to the core. They were too much alike, and she knew she would be in a mood if the roles were reversed.

Wyatt just wouldn't admit it. Maybe she wouldn't either.

"I don't know what you mean," Wyatt objected, knowing full well what she meant.

"Now that you've had your eyeballs on Kim, you don't want to go a day without seeing her," Kali exposed him. "You are so spoiled."

Wyatt shrugged. As the younger sibling, he often got his way. As the co-chair of Thorndyke Industries, that did not change much as he matured.

Of course, as the elder sibling Kali was not accustomed to being thwarted either. They were peas in a pod.

"I could help her," he pointed out, doing his best not to whine. Petulance wasn't a good look. It felt even worse.

"For the last decade or more she has been the leader of the Hesh Movement," Kali reminded him. "If she needs help, she's got it."

Wyatt chewed his last bite of pot roast, sinking even further into his dismal mood. He wanted to be the one to help her. He wanted to show her that he was valuable and that she could count on him. If he wasn't allowed to do anything to help her, there was no way he could win her back. She was too capable, too assured to make room in her life for a partner that couldn't carry their own weight.

He was desperate to show Kim that the boy she knew from school was a man she could rely on. How the hell he was going to do that with Akhenaten grounded remained to be seen.

"Or maybe she just doesn't want me around," he muttered, the doubt that wormed into his thoughts seeping out in a bitter grunt.

Kali shook her head. "We need cheesecake."

"There's pineapple upside-down cake." He had a piece when he got home a few hours ago.

"With cherries?"

"And whipped cream."

Kali headed for the kitchen.