Patrick raised a brow at Marcus. Marcus sighed and continued relating the story. “We broke into the lab and found gestation tanks filled with fetuses in the IN base laboratory. There were no parents listed for these fetuses, and they had odd birthmarks. Similar to the Regelence Rose birthmark but in the wrong places, and….” He shook his head. “They weren’t roses. More of a blob, but the coincidence that they shared birthmarks like Regelens who are products of artificial reproduction was just too coincidental. We were pretty sure they were doing research on Regelens to try to replicate our artificial reproduction, but we couldn’t prove it.”
Bannon gasped.
Louisa actually brought her right hand up to her face and bit the knuckle on her index finger.
“What?”
Bannon started shaking his head very slowly side to side. The kid was very animated and… well, adorable.
“We already know they tried to steal our procreation technology. Apparently there is something in our DNA that makes us faster and stronger, but….” He glanced over at Louisa.
Louisa lowered her hand, but her expression remained tense. “The orphans.”
Bannon nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking too.” He turned back to Marcus, and his face seemed to lose its color. “My brother and brother-in-law recently started helping with orphans on Regelence. We seemed to have an influx of them lately. But I remember Dalton mentioning weird rose-like birthmarks on some of their forearms and backs of hands and in odd places.”
The hairs on the back of Marcus’s arms stood on end. Good galaxy, they were dumping these kids they considered failures on Regelence.
Patrick tightened his grip on Marcus’s hand almost to the point of pain, but Marcus made himself relax and finish the story. “We started digging and discovered that unlike planetary wars, where the governments make money off of conflict, the IN was actually losing money on the Aquarius War because they have no economy to boost. They only get enough funding to run things and the war was taking a lot of that money. They got more funding from several planets, but men are greedy and no one was getting rich. So they made plans to change that. They began implementing a long-term plan to take over the galaxy and supplant the governments of the planets it defends. Including Regelence.”
“Oh my stars!” Bannon’s face paled.
Louisa brought both her hands up, covering the lower part of her face. She looked at Bannon. “It all makes so much sense now.”
“Nae, it doesna. I’m more lost than ever.” Ciaran frowned and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “How does Skye fit intae this? We arenae with the IN.”
Sighing, Bannon nodded jerkily at Louisa. “All the pieces just fell into place. My galaxy, we have to get home to tell my father, King Steven, King-Consort Raleigh, and the admiral.”
“No!” Marcus and Patrick said at once.
Patrick even jumped to his feet.
Marcus’s heart started pounding a mile a minute, his thoughts racing as it took a moment for information to settle in his brain. Steven was now king. He wondered what happened to Steven’s parents, but another part of him was glad they were no longer in charge, even if he did mourn their deaths. Steven would be a much better leader, and if Regelence—the galaxy—was going to survive this, they needed a strong leader, because the men they were up against…. “No military.”
“Whyever not?” Louisa asked.
“Admiral Jenkins is in on this. After the IN tried to kill us, he had us marooned on Skye.”
§ § § §
Interplanetary wars, intergalactic militaries, birthmarks, artificial reproduction, computers…. It was enough to give the average Highlander a headache and make him question his place in the universe. It certainly killed the warm glow he’d had from kissing Red earlier. Fortunately, Ciaran already knew something about the artificial reproduction and computers, thanks to Marcus’s tutelage, but his mind was still spinning. He knew gold tended to be the root of all conflicts, but this was bigger than anything he’d ever imagined. “Wait! Just hold on tae ye horses!”
Everyone was staring at him with… pity? They had all spoken as though this was… well, not that it wasn’t a big deal, but like they were not at all surprised by the information, whereas Ciaran needed a few moments to let it soak in.
He sat back, dragging his hands down his face, trying to get his bearings. “Who is this admiral? And how do we get tae him?”