Over the years I’ve always thought it would be fun to do the Intergalactic Dating Agency (IDA) but when the opportunities arose, the timing was never right for me. Then this year I was again invited to participate and I found I could make it work. The next challenge was figuring out what to write. I wanted to make my three novellas crossovers between the IDA and my existing, ongoing Sectors scifi romances. I decided I wanted kind of my Star Cruise vibe, with the setting remaining static and a few continuing characters, but the main action of each novella would be the guests.
It seemed logical to me that the IDA might have set up a whole resort planet by the time in the far future where my Sectors stories are placed. It also seemed logical to me that a new race of aliens might have just entered the Sectors as citizens and thought matching with humans would be a quicker way to become fully accepted as members of the civilization. So of course they’d sign a contract with IDA to do matching and dating on a huge scale.
The Ardannans mandate every eligible male between twenty and fifty has to go on one of the five day dates IDA is arranging on their Resort Planet. Not even the crown prince is exempt.
IDA recruits women from Old Earth, way out on the edge of the galaxy, far removed from the power and cultural centers of the Sectors, even though the seeds of the civilization were sown on Earth centuries ago. I intentionally never write stories set on Earth – I prefer to invent my own planets.
I will definitely say these three novellas are a bit more romance-y than my usual stories, starting with TREYLON, who is a grumpy cinnamon roll to my sunshine Female Main Character Rosalie. The Resort Planet set up gave me plenty of scope for adding action and adventure, which is how I like to write my scifi romances, and there are a couple of open bedroom door scenes.
I found myself putting Sectors pop culture references into the books, starting with TREYLON. Not enough to be annoying I hope, but to make it clear this is all part of an established universe and if a new-to-me reader wanted to find more stories in a similar vein, they could explore the Star Cruise series.
For example, Twilka Zabour is a very high end designer so of course she has a boutique at the main resort on Resort Planet. She doesn’t appear in the book but she’s mentioned. She was a supporting character in WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM (“Titanic in space”) and the FMC in STAR SURVIVOR. I was inspired by several real life survivors of the Titanic who were dress designers.
Rosalie sings a Karissa Dawnstar song – the singer is the FMC in STAR CRUISE SONGBIRD.
In COLVIN, the third novella, the MMC and FMC do an evening with a trideo marathon of Kev Stevens trideos and he was an actor and the Main Male Character in STAR CRUISE TIME LOOP.
In LATHAM, the MMC describes how years ago a Special Forces pilot named Gabe Carter saved him and a few other soldiers. Of course GABE is the MMC in the Badari Warriors series book of the same name.
Here’s the blurb for Treylon and a short excerpt below:
TREYLON: SOLDIERS OF THE ARDANNAN (INTERGALACTIC DATING AGENCY) by Veronica Scott
Prince Treylon of Ardanna isn’t looking to find a fated mate on his one week R&R at the Intergalactic Dating Agency’s new Resort Planet. He wants to relax with friends, enjoy casual fun times with the human woman he matched and then return to active duty on the Sector’s frontlines. He certainly wasn’t expecting to find the one woman who could change his entire life. Rosalie Lenox lives a life of quiet desperation on Old Earth, juggling multiple jobs, with no future. The all-expenses paid invitation to spend a week at IDA’s Resort Planet and possibly find a serious romantic partner was impossible to resist. She quit her jobs, packed her thrifted vintage clothing and took the plunge. Only the man she was matched with doesn’t want anything serious…and he’s an arrogant prince. Will a week together on the lush Resort Planet change their minds about each other? Danger for both lurks in unexpected places as the romance heats up. The Intergalactic Dating Agency has been successfully matching humans and aliens for centuries. Now they’ve expanded to also operating a luxury resort just in time to help the interstellar Ardannan kingdom find human mates in hopes of smoothing their way into becoming well accepted Sectors citizens and allies. Every eligible Ardannan male between the ages of 20-50 has been ordered to spend a week at the resort with the woman the IDA algorithm says is their match These are a few of their stories. A 25K word novella crossover between the Sectors SF romances and the Intergalactic Dating Agency. It’s not necessary to have read any of the interconnected Sectors series to enjoy this book.
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Excerpt, where Treylon explains to Rosalie why the Ardannans are doing this massive dating exercise:
“You’re not going to want to tag along with me while I go through racks of clothes,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m picky about details.”
“You should go this morning,” he urged. “I have a meeting in the admin building. Then this afternoon we’re all going to the beach. Dinner is at seven in the five star restaurant and then more dancing. This morning is your best chance.”
A little discomfited at how he had the whole day already scheduled with no input from her, Rosalie chewed her next bites slowly. “When you say ‘all’ do you mean the group from last night?”
He raised one eyebrow. “You have a problem with that?”
“No, they seemed nice. I was hoping we’d have time just the two of us.” She lowered her eyes and covered her sudden attack of nerves by serving herself berries she didn’t want and sprinkled sugar over them. When he stayed silent, she gathered her courage and added, “And I’m surprised you’ve got a business meeting. This week is supposed to be for fun.”
Treylon reached across the small table to take her hand. “Rosalie, whatever you think is going to happen here this week isn’t. I’m just going through the motions of this ridiculous dating setup because I was given no choice. You’re a nice girl and very attractive but I’m not here to find a match. Those five guys are my closest friends. We serve together in the Ardannan military and we’re looking at this as an opportunity for free R&R, let loose a bit and then get on with our lives. Although Meeker did strike me as unusually distracted, as if he was really into the girl IDA matched him with.”
She snatched her fingers away from his grasp as if she’d been touching a hot stove. “What do you mean, going through the motions?”
“Surely you heard all eligible Ardannan males between the ages of twenty and fifty were ordered by our government to participate in this activity? We’re the first contingent but all the others will be coming in groups over the next year.”
“Don’t you have enough women on Ardanna?” she asked. “Is this a ‘Mars needs women’ kind of situation?”
He leaned back frowning. “A what?”
“It’s phrase on Earth, left over from old literature and trideos I guess. Means your people need women from us to survive.”
Treylon laughed and Rosalie enjoyed the way he threw his head back and clearly relished the humor in her suggestion. “No, we have slightly more women than men actually and a similar dating program is being set up right now through IDA for them as well. We’re doing this because our research on the Sectors tells us we’ll become a more integral member of the organization the more closely we build our ties with you humans. The more we intermarry and have children.”
“But why go to such lengths?” she asked. “It’s not a race, not a competition. I mean we’re in a backwater out on the rim on Earth but I know there are new members joining the Sectors all the time.”
His face set in serious lines and he toyed with his fork. She thought he wasn’t going to answer her, which was fair enough. She had no reason to be made privy to Ardannan policy decisions. She was drinking her orange juice when he spoke in a tone that captured her attention immediately. “Have you ever heard of the Fekkoi?”
“No.”
“Nice little civilization, out past Ardanna. Not as advanced as we are but getting there. One home world, settlements on several others in the core system, a few colonies on planets in the next. Not allies, not enemies. Good trading partners. Avid for help with their tech, especially in the faster than light drive arena.” Treylon leaned forward. “Suddenly all communication with them ceased. Eventually our government decided we needed to investigate so a small fleet was sent. Do you know what we found?”
“Nothing good, I’m guessing.” Rosalie’s chest grew tight and she realized she was holding her breath.
“Nothing but blasted planets, in both solar systems. A few floating hulks of what had clearly been vessels desperately trying to escape the destruction. You have heard of the Mawreg, right?”
Swallowing hard, she nodded. “Our enemies, sworn to eradicate humans and humanoids from the galaxy. On Earth we have a saying about being happy to be out on the far rim, away from everything including the Mawreg.”
“My people had been debating whether to join the Sectors or not. There was a lot of resistance to subsuming ourselves into a larger whole. Ardannans are quite independent by nature.” Treylon flashed her a tight grin. “After the fleet returned home and shared the holos and trideos, and brought the one Fekkoi ship to survive—twenty-seven survivors of an entire civilization—opposition vanished overnight for the most part. We couldn’t wrap ourselves in the Sectors flag fast enough, because we’re next. And we know it. The Mawreg operate on a galactic time scale only they comprehend but at some point they’ll come for Ardanna and we want the Sectors fire power.”
