Like A Guiding Star

chapter 4

At twenty Ple is the youngest captain in the fleet. It's what she has dreamed of for what seems like her entire life and she has worked extremely hard to achieve her dreams.

Her crew is small, and most of the ship's functions are automated. There is her brother and navigation engineer Som. Som's husband Sig who acts as an ambassador for their crew. Then Por who is a computer and linguistic expert in case their translators in their C-Bracs fail them.

Sig is the only alpha of the group. Por is a beta and Som and Ple are both omegas. It shouldn't matter in their society but Ple can't help but to feel a secret pride at being the youngest captain not just the youngest <i>omega</i> captain.

Normally their job is to open diplomatic relationships among the more advanced societies. Since the war started their mission has been to search for allies. Now they only have one priority to locate a certain prince and his royal guard.

"Captain," Por says. Off duty they are on a first name basis having all grown up together but on duty they must remain professional. People always watched such a young crew closely.

"Yes, Lieutenant?" Ple says.

"We've found Sky's C-Brac signal but not Prince Rain's." He says.

Ple frowns at this, does that mean they are not together or that the Prince's C-Brac is broken.

"Prepare the teleport, I will go down with First Mate Som and Sig. You stay here and keep scanning. Include the Prince's DNA signature just in case his C-Brac is offline." All scanners included the royal families' DNA signatures in case of kidnapping, it just took longer to narrow down a single DNA signature among millions.

Just like the gate the teleporter wasn't an accurate description of the machine. It was another word from ancient fiction that had been popularly adopted. The machine resembled the gate only smaller as it is meant to transport over shorter distances.

They find themselves transported onto well manicured grounds outside a large palace. Before they can get their bearings they are surrounded by guards.

The guards speak directly to Sig ignoring Ple and Som. "Alpha, who are you and are these your omegas?"

"Sig, and this one is," he motions toward Som earning him a glare from his husband.

Ple moves forward, "Thank you, ambassador Sig," she says significantly. Technically Sig isn't under her command but her tone leaves no doubt who is in charge here. She turns to the guards, "Please forgive our intrusion, we are searching for a colleague and our instruments indicate he is here. Sky is his name."

The guards frown at her, probably thinking she is being impudent for speaking. They have encountered civilizations like this before where omegas are thought of as lesser beings.

At the name though there is a stirring among the guards. "Follow me," the head guard says.

They are shown into a small room. Two of the guards stay with them while the head one goes out. He comes back a few minutes later followed by two alphas and, "Sky." Ple says happily.

"Captain," Sky says, "I am happy to see you. Have you located the prince?"

Ple shakes her head, "So he isn't here with you?"

"We were separated when the gate was damaged by the insurgents."

The female alpha clears her throat and Ple finds her gaze drawn to the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Ple feels almost drawn to her. The alpha has a pleasant spicy scent sort of like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger all mixed. Ple feels her mouth go dry and drags her gaze away. She doesn't know what brought this on all of a sudden, she has never been interested in a relationship and this is the worst possible timing.