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

Dixon likes to keep a young crew, no one over thirty. Starmapping


can take its toll on a body, long, lonely hours out in uncharted


space, you need fast reflexes and most riggers don’t like to hire


anyone handicapped or sick or old, not if they can help it. Dixon


stays out of the union and doesn’t have to follow EOE guidelines,


keeps his station the way he likes it and changes crews each trip,


almost. I already sense he’s not going to offer me a position on


the next run, even though I know he wants Dylan to pilot again.


repeating it for someone else. Then he asks, “What’s your


Milano’s voice fills the cabin. “Don’t you dare tell him that,


Teague. The fucker doesn’t needto know.”


He looks at me and I nod. “She’s right,” I


say. It’s an odd question—does this guy seriously think we’re going


to tell him what we’re packing here? We’re assuming he’s friendly


Chapter 29