Neal James is a space station navigator whose lover, Dylan Teague, left him for a starmapping mission. But when Dylan radios in a distant signal one night, Neal discovers that he hasn't managed to put the relationship behind him in the two months they've been apart. When he's one of the crew members sent to investigate the signal, he finds that his ex-lover feels the same.<br><br>The source of the signal is a lost colony ship. Only a handful of the original colonists remain, survivors of a deadly disease that killed most of their fellow shipmates twenty years ago. To keep the threat of disease to a minimum, the colony adheres to strict laws, including the prohibition of same-sex relationships.<br><br>When the same fatal virus seems to appear again, Neal and Dylan find themselves in the midst of an irrational panic and hate that threatens to destroy everything the colonists have worked so hard to attain.

Operation Starseed

Dylan is the first through the door, his head down, watching his


step over the lip of the door frame. “Jesus,” he sighs. The other


crew members file in behind him and I know their names from the


log-service tech Leena Chen, navigator Vallery Andrews, radio tech


Mike Johnson—but I can’t put the faces to them. Except for Mike,


I’m assuming he’s the guy with the short blonde hair twisted into


the beginnings of dreadlocks that hang in his eyes. And then


there’s Dylan Teague, pilot and commander and my ex-lover, and just


seeing him again makes my chest hurt with each shallow breath I


take. With a quick smile at his crew, he says, “I thought you guys


were gonna make us sit out there all day—”


Then he looks up, sees me, and the rest of


his words die, his smile freezes, he stops. Surprise,I feel


like saying, but that would be mean. Instead I force a lopsided


grin, one corner of my mouth wanting to smile and the other not


Chapter 14