Gareth: The Nova Force: Book 3 Read online

  Gareth

  The Nova Force: Book 3

  Vivienne Savage

  Gareth

  The Nova Force: Book Three

  By Vivienne Savage

  All material contained herein is Copyrighted © Vivienne Savage. All rights reserved.

  * * *

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  Contents

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Other Books by Vivienne

  The Hidden Court by Vivienne Savage

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  I’m thrilled to concluded the first trilogy of The Nova Force!

  As some of you may know, this was originally a series of two books named Across Our Stars with an unwritten third book titled Evangeline.

  Finishing Gareth felt so good.

  As you also may have noticed, these books are intended to be a melding of action-adventure, space opera, and romance. For readers who dislike a lot of action and can’t stand detailed plot or science fiction jargon, these books will not be enjoyable for you.

  This will be a feature of every book in the series. We love adventure, love writing complex plots, and hope this makes us unique. It won’t be changing.

  To those of you who have faithfully waited three years for this conclusion, encouraging us to this point, thank you!

  Chapter One

  Gareth wasn’t a small man, but standing alongside the enormous Lexar made him feel like a child. For the past hour, he’d been following the instructions of a female engineer with biceps bigger than his thighs.

  “Do you understand?” Teacher Aziza asked, voice placid and calm, the ultimate instructor, because no matter how many times he screwed up the physical connections, she never rushed him. She towered above him by more than a foot, shorter than the male Lexar prowling around the ship who measured in at nine feet. In their society, they considered her a runt.

  A runt. At seven-foot-six. Christ.

  “I think I do. Sorry for the delay. These fittings aren’t like anything we’ve ever seen.” They glowed with imbued energy, plus they were coded in the Lexar language instead of the human tongue. Thankfully, he’d been learning it for ten years, and considered himself fluent enough for casual reading and conversation.

  “It is no trouble. Previously, we strove to provide familiarity by incorporating many human design features, but such will not be the case now. The Jemison will be improved.”

  “After the way we got our arses kicked by the HMS Shepard, we’ll take all the improvements your lot want to give.”

  Aziza laughed, her chuckle throaty and warm despite her intimidating stature. The Jemison had the distinct honor of being the first ship and crew to receive hands-on instruction from the Lexar, and Gareth planned to soak up every iota of information he could.

  “You learn quickly, Gareth Lockhart. I believe you will master the new communications array with ease.”

  His grin stretched from ear to ear. “I have a good teacher. Plus, I have good motivation. I wanna get everything figured out before I take my leave.”

  “Leave?” She blinked, brows furrowing, before understanding dawned in her pale eyes. “Ah, yes. What your kind call an absence from duty.”

  “Asheuk nara in your tongue.”

  “I am impressed.”

  “Seemed wise to learn the language if we’re going to be part of your galaxy.”

  “Ah, but there you are wrong, Gareth. It is our galaxy, one shared between all of us. Though the sentiment of recognizing our…” Her words slowed, mouth pressed together as she thought. “Our seniority to your kind is one I understand and respect much the same. If only more of your fellow humans agreed.”

  “Some of us are getting there. Now then, this line next?”

  Three more hours passed before Aziza declared their work done for the day and dismissed him. In another couple weeks, the Jemison would be as close to brand spankin’ new as ever. Gareth figured they’d have the most advanced ship in the entire fleet—a worthy vessel for the newly appointed admiral.

  For his part in the recent upheaval and rescue of their monarch, their commanding officer had been promoted from commodore to rear admiral. Gareth didn’t know the particular details of the conversation between Queen Catherine and the Lexar, but the Jemison was soon to become one of three command vessels for the Admiralty Board.

  And no one deserved the honor more than Ethan. The guy had served over thirty years of his life in the Royal Navy, but more important than his experience, he’d proven himself incorruptible.

  Gareth couldn’t be prouder of his friend, but he’d come to realize he was surrounded by officers in every direction. Xander, Thandie, Nisrine—even his twin brother had received his bars, elevated by the queen for his recent sacrifices. Then a position had opened up, the role of Communications Officer vacated by a prick who abandoned their ship when they needed help.

  Ethan had promised no one would hold it against the crewmen who left to save their own skins during the emergency, but the truth was, he couldn’t control the sailors under him. Some of the servicemen returned to a socially hostile work environment aboard the Jemison and found themselves, for lack of a better word, shunned.

  Communications Officer Riggleman had been one of them. When that position opened, Gareth tossed his name into the hat, along with Ethan’s recommendation and seventeen years of loyalty to the UNE. He’d be shipping out in three months to the Yokohama Naval Academy on Xiao, but in the meantime, he had four weeks from the time of his arrival to enjoy family and relaxation.

  And Flidais.

  After four years of dating through a virtual game, they’d finally be meeting face to face.

  Gareth stepped onto the lift and punched in the button for the quarterdeck. The lift descended a couple levels, and he disembarked from the ship through the hangar’s airlock, traveling down a terminal onto Maatan Station.

  Through a space station viewport, the Planet Aaru swirled with color. Gareth could make out an ivory mountain range that spanned the largest continent. It butted up against an ocean so blue, it glowed aquamarine. Brown, green, and purple stretched across the landmasses, interspersed by pristine oceans.

  He’d never been on a planet more beautiful or peaceful. The Lexar prided themselves on the purity of their homeworld and the joy their entertainments provided. Gareth had gone down twice with his close friends, Thandie and Xander. He’d been the third wheel during an art class in a field of lavender grass, then later split from them to swim in a lake with over twenty small wa
terfalls.

  Another lift took him to the assigned berthing floor where the Jemison’s skeleton crew would live until the Lexar finished upgrading the ship. An empty three-bunk room awaited him, the space shared with two of his fellow chiefs thrilled to be on the Lexar homeworld.

  Thank fuck they weren’t in. The two guys meant well, but neither ever left Gareth alone, too eager to drag him out to some event and get him out into the real world. He showered and changed into his casual clothes before sitting down at his desk, where a pile of plasteel machinery and its miscellaneous pieces awaited him.

  Since he and Flidais were coming up on their fifth anniversary soon—did it even count if they hadn’t touched or held hands in real life?—he’d wracked his brain for days to determine a gift to present her at their meeting. It only came to him during the flight from Albion to Aaru, and thankfully, his technopath brother had helped him locate the part.

  Apparently, being permanently wired to the intergalactic web was amazing for finding results.

  Gareth had spent much of his free time since the motorcycle part’s arrival piecing together the goddamned thing because it hadn’t come pre-assembled as advertised. If he’d been wise, he would have had it shipped to his brother and had him assemble it. But that defeated the purpose. The point was that Flidais was worth the effort.

  An hour into the delicate procedure of attaching the sonic stabilizer of a hyperspeed core, the door slammed open and two men swaggered inside. Gareth cringed.

  “Time for Liberty, Lockhart!” Mitchell Ross shouted from the doorway. He stepped over, wearing a grin stretched wide from ear to ear. His perpetually tousled blond hair, dark citrine eyes, and flawless smile made him a hot commodity among the ship’s female crew. Gareth had lost count of how many ladies wandered by to see the Supply Chief with all manner of ridiculous questions about requisitions. Behind him, Chief Haraam Nadras entered and wasted no time stripping from his work coveralls.

  “No thanks,” Gareth replied, bent over the pile of disassembled parts spread over his table. He leaned closer to his work, tested the seal, and pumped a fist in victory when no air leaked. “Fuck yes. Finally.”

  “When’re you going to come with us to get good and plastered, mate? You need to have a good shag. It can’t be healthy to sit here every night, glued to the bloody machine.”

  Gareth released an exasperated sigh, and then he twisted on the rotating stool to stare at his bunkmates. “I have no plans whatsoever to tag along with your merry band of sex-deprived idiots. I’m very, very happy as I am.”

  “Are you still dating that girl online?” Haraam asked.

  “So what if I am?” Gareth leaned back in his seat and laced his fingers behind his head.

  Mitchell rolled his eyes. “That’s what’s stopping you?”

  “In the standard English tongue, we call it cheating if you don’t let it stop you.” Gareth cocked a brow afterward, while Haraam chuckled and grabbed his toiletries for the shower.

  “Ah, mate. What she won’t know won’t hurt her. She’s, what—three solar systems away? Come out and get your pickle wet so that if you do get to meet her, you’ve at least got some stamina.”

  Gareth grimaced. “I’m not going and there’s not a bloody thing you can say to change my mind.”

  “Fine. Go get a massage then. Something. Sit on the nude beach and appreciate the Lexar chicks with us.”

  “That’s kinda rude, man. They’re not there to be ogled—”

  “They’re walking around stark naked, tits out. If that’s not wanting to be ogled, I don’t know what is. They sure don’t seem to have any qualms about doing the same to us.” The corner of his mouth raised. “They think we’re cute and adventurous. You have to pull out all kinds of kink to satisfy a woman built to take two cocks. Haraam and I both spit-roasted a—”

  “Yeah, well, you have fun with that. It’s not my thing.” He had no desire to hear the details of that particular sexual liaison. As pretty as the Lexar women were, strangers didn’t interest him.

  Mitchell threw his hands up in defeat and stepped into their shared restroom to spice up his appearance for the scheduled break from duty.

  Gareth had no intentions of joining them. He had a gadget to build and a date to meet in the digital world.

  * * *

  After working until his fingers ached, Gareth logged into Realm of Spellbound, a popular virtual reality game where players completed adventures as faeries, knights, and magicians.

  The sweet digs of his girlfriend’s upscale Paris flat clarified, one room at a time. According to the game developers, it was a perfect replica of a penthouse in 2010 Paris, with ivory carpet, enormous bay windows, and a terrace overlooking the city.

  Since Gareth had set the flat as his main avatar’s Home, he received the option to port to her residence whenever he logged in as Alexander Solo. As Alex, he was a templar, a sort of warlock hunter armed with holy water, evil-slaying weapons, and mage-crippling spells.

  Flidais stood on the terrace, waiting for him. Instead of her usual shining armor, she wore jewel-toned silks that fluttered around her body in the breeze. When she turned, a big smile spread across her ruby lips. “There you are!”

  “Sorry. Ran into some difficulties before logging in.”

  A concerned line creased her brow. “Is everything okay?”

  “Aye, everything’s fine. Just had something to complete IRL. And nosy… flatmates.”

  Damn. There he lost his courage again to fess up to being a military man. Part of him was positive she’d drop him the moment she discovered he was a Royal Marine, because that’s what Tara had hated about him the most.

  “No nosy brother?”

  “Nah. He’s lying on a beach somewhere with his girlfriend, which means I can game all night without waking up to permanent marker brows and cocks on my face.”

  Flidais tossed her head back and laughed, a rich and warm sound that wrapped around his heart like a hug. God, he loved the sound of it and wondered how much it measured up to the real thing. Stepping closer, he eased both arms around her and dragged her in close against him, technology and video game magic convincing his brain the pixels in his arms were the real thing. She felt real and smelled real, and his cock definitely believed she was real.

  “Now, tell me how the Great Hunt went.”

  Every faction held their own exclusive yearly event to encourage community within the ranks and to advance storylines affecting the entire game setting. The Great Hunt was for the fae. Gareth had teamed up with other templars for a huge raid on a dark cultist demon-summoning ceremony about a month before everything went down with his brother’s mission.

  “I was in the group that slew the second boss.” A mischievous smile lit her face. “Check our shared inventory.”

  Gareth pulled up the inventory window and tapped into their joint account. As characters, they’d been married for a year, for practical reasons he’d told himself. Bonding the characters Alexander Solo the Templar and Flidais the Sidhe Knight had allowed him to move into her place and share their belongings.

  In the real world, he wondered how it was possible to fall for a woman he’d never met.

  “What am I looking—” He cut himself short when he saw the Blade of Molten Starlight. The legendary item was available only to participants in the yearly event. “There’s only a five percent chance of this dropping from a boss, and that’s only at the end of the four-hour raid.” Players couldn’t wait for him to respawn and fight him again, over and over, as they did with smaller bosses and monsters. They had to initiate the quest again and start over from the beginning, enduring all four hours of monster-slaying and puzzle-solvering.

  “And it fell into my hands.”

  He equipped the sword onto his character for a better look. The blade vanished from their shared space, reappearing in his hand. He angled it, letting the lights shine on the metal before making a few test strokes. It glinted in the light and cast rainbow sparkles, mote
s of magic glittering from the edge like prismatic snowfall. When he ran his finger over the blade, runes flared. “It’s holy magic.” Gareth skimmed the stats on the object and whistled. “Damn. I’m kind of jealous.”

  “I thought you might like it. I don’t have any need for another one-handed sword, so… it’s for you.”

  Gareth blinked at her then considered the item’s value in the trade market. A small window blipped into the corner of his vision declaring its value. A million dollars. Enough to carelessly toss game money away for a year at least on all kinds of purchases from high-quality rations to healing items. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah. That’s why I joined the quest. I figured you’d like this.” She smiled and the expression lit up her face. It was impossible to make an ugly sidhe character. His brother had tried and failed dismally.

  Deep down, Gareth thought the soul behind the machines and avatar had to be as beautiful as her virtual face. Even if she wouldn’t share her photo with him over the net. Hearing her voice was enough.

  “Flid, this is… This is too much. I can’t take your legendary gear. You do use one-handed blades.”

  “Not holy ones. And why not? We’ve been playing together for almost five years now. You moved in a year ago. Figured earning loot for each other was a natural progression.”

  “True.” Gareth glanced around the living room, its shelves filled with trophies from various dungeon raids they’d attended together and alone. He couldn’t be bothered usually to arrange his belongings on the displays, but Flidais had done it for him the day he moved in. “You even pick up after me and clean my messes. It’s almost like being a real couple—” The stupid comment left his lips too quickly to be restrained.