Hawk and Storm looked slightly shocked. Dmitry did not.
He only looked grimly satisfied, as if something he'd long suspected had just been confirmed.
"You're an ass, Yuri," Storm spat. "We all agreed to do this. We all gave up our lives and any chance of a normal existence. Why should you take all the risk?"
"Because it was my idea. I'm willing to accept your help, but I'm not condemning all of you to a life on the run. When you're ready to leave, you'll be able to. I'll see to it in any way I can."
The four men looked at each other for a moment before Hawk spoke up. "Well, we're getting our share of the danger anyway, boys. If all goes as planned, every Consolidation ship in the area will be after us. So whoever is flying that freighter better be damned good."
"Do it by remote," Yuri said. "The ship will be sacrificed.
That was always the plan, even if we never said it. By the time they realize what we've done, we'll be back here safe and sound."
Dmitry nodded. "I'll get on it. I'll ride with Hawk in the second fighter and fly it from there."
"Get to it, then. I'd like to get on the go within the next twenty-four hours. The one remaining hidden colony needs these goods."
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Wanted: White Russian
by Marteeka Karland
Chapter Seven
For the next several hours, Tiressa spent her time studying and familiarizing herself with the freighter she was expected to fly. There was nothing fancy about it, but the shields were much stronger than her ship's had been. It also had some firepower. She'd taken it out for a few test flights and ran some basic maneuvers to get a feel for the craft, and was very pleased with the quality of the equipment the men had at their disposal.
She'd also watched official, classified documentaries on what had really happened on Deblin 4 and several other worlds. Apparently, Yuri had once been part of the Consolidation's military command. When he'd refused to carry out orders that aided in the genocide, they'd named him a traitor. Officially, he was public enemy number one.
Unofficially, he was their scapegoat to explain everything away. Secretly, Tiressa wondered if there wasn't more to it, but she said nothing.
"How did you manage to get all this stuff?" she'd asked Yuri when he finally dragged her off the ship and hurried her down the corridor.
"Stole it, mostly," he replied matter-of-factly. "We jacked them, stripped them down, and went through every piece of electronics and metal we could short of melting them down to ensure there were no beacons to let the Consolidation home in on us." He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Is that a problem?"
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"After viewing the surveillance footage meant for Consolidation Command? No problem at all. They've obviously got some kind of experiment going on down there, and it's not for the betterment of mankind."
"They were trying to create super soldiers," Yuri explained as they went down the corridor. He stopped at a door, pressed his palm to the control pad, and practically yanked her inside. "What they did was kill a whole lot of people."
As if the memory of it was too much for him to take, Yuri pulled Tiressa into his arms and covered her mouth with his.
There were many questions Tiressa wanted to ask, but Yuri obviously needed a distraction. Needed not to dwell on what they were going into, and she was more than willing to help.
In the very short time she'd spent around him, she'd learned about the man he tried so hard to hide from the others.
He was strong and deadly when necessary but, underneath it all, he was a kind-hearted man. He wanted so much to end these people's suffering but was afraid it was too late. His only consolation was the small band of survivors hidden deep within the Deblin 4 jungles.
Yuri also did his best to protect the men he commanded here. Though they saw each other more as equals, the others followed him with only a minimum of question. It seemed like they all realized that, in this kind of situation, it was necessary to have one person making decisions instead of all of them going their own way. One thing she had learned, though, was that risking her life by asking her to pilot the freighter was rapidly growing unacceptable to him. He wasn't 67
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willing to risk her life for any reason. Even saving the lives of thousands.
"I'm so sorry I dragged you into this, Tiressa," he murmured in between kisses. "If I had any respect for you at all, I'd take you away from this and tuck you away somewhere safe. Your belly would grow big with my babies, and you'd live on a world where the Consolidation couldn't touch you. We'd live a fairytale life that no one could take away."
She let him kiss her a while longer before putting her hand on his cheek and gently pushing him away so she could look at him. "You're a good man, Yuri. I'm proud to be part of this.
If by some miracle this works, maybe we can talk about this again. Right now, there are probably many other women whose bellies are big with children who need your help. Our help. And from what I've seen, we're the only ones who have a chance of delivering." She smiled when he closed his eyes, his face heavy with emotion he tried so hard to hide from the others but seemed to show freely with her. "Now, make love to me before we have to go. I want to go on this mission knowing, when it's done, I've got someone worth coming home for."
Yuri grunted his assent, scooped her up, and laid her gently on the bed. He shrugged out of his clothing and helped Tiressa out of hers when she wasn't naked enough to suit him. Which meant he'd stripped slightly faster than she had.
He kneed her thighs apart and settled his body between them, though he didn't enter her.
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"I'll never get enough of you," he groaned and latched onto the side of her neck.
Tiressa smiled as she slid her arms around his neck and arched into him. She loved the way his body felt against hers.
All hair-roughened against her smooth skin, he felt like the man he was. There was nothing soft about him other than the way he handled her. He was inordinately careful not to hurt her with his passion or his size. He seemed to think she was a delicate flower in need of protecting, but she didn't mind. She loved the feminine way he made her feel. Working alongside men for her entire adult life, she'd missed out on being a woman.
Not when she was with Yuri. Even now, he kissed his way down her neck to her breasts, blazing a trail of fire wherever he touched. She cried out when he took one ripe nipple in his mouth and pulled firmly. He seemed to know just the right amount of pressure to push her nearer the edge without bordering on pain. Letting it go with a little pop, he immediately latched onto the other one.
Tiressa quickly lost herself in the sensations Yuri created.
She loved how he knew just how to touch her. They'd only known each other a few short days, but he'd managed to find out more about what made her squirm than any other lover she'd ever had. He was truly a special man.
He licked down her body to the little strip of hair at her sex before parting her lips and plunging his tongue inside. Tiressa squealed and held his head to her, loving the sensations. He quickly found her clit and flicked it gently before sucking it until an orgasm shattered around her. Tiressa could no more 69
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hold back her pleasure than she could stop time. Yuri was in complete control of her body, and she surrendered willingly.
Over and over again, Yuri brought her to a shuddering climax with his mouth. His growls and grunts only fanned the flame he'd started until she finally could stand no more.
Tiressa pulled him up by his hair. He chuckled as he crawled up her body only to be flipped to his back with a surprised grunt.
"It's my turn, flyboy," she said breathlessly.
"Paying me back?"
"Tit for tat, so they say." She smiled as she straddled his hips and sank down on his cock. They both groaned as she settled herself and began to ride.
Tiressa braced her hands on his chest, moving up and down in a leisurely rhythm. The last time had been frantic, and she wanted to slow things down a little. This might be the last time they enjoyed each other, and she wasn't about to waste it.
She loved the way he felt inside her. He filled her comfortably, snugly. They were a perfect fit, and she knew they always would be. In the midst of chaos, she'd found the one man in all the universe who could complete her.
"You know you've made me fall in love with you, right?"
She looked him in the eyes, hoping he truly understood the depth of her feelings. "I never thought it possible, especially given how we first met, but I am. I do."
"Oh, Tiressa," he groaned and flipped them over again, beginning a driving motion, moving inside her with all the passion Tiressa mirrored in her own feelings. "I love you, too.
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I'll always cherish and protect you." And he took her mouth in a hot, wet kiss.
She loved the way he surged inside her, hitting her clit with every stroke and building her pleasure at exactly the right rate. He urged her legs around his waist, and she braced her feet on his calves as she rode him as hard as he rode her.
He grunted. She whimpered. And no matter how much Tiressa wanted to draw the moment out, it wasn't long before she was coming and taking him with her.
His hoarse shout and last, hard thrust into her cunt signaled his orgasm. His cock throbbed inside her in time with her own grasping completion. Soon, they just lay together, coated in sweat, and pleasantly exhausted.
"I've changed my mind. I can't let you go on this, Tiressa,"
Yuri finally said, breathing hard and showing his recent exertion. "I can't put you in that much danger and it was wrong of me to even consider it."
"It's not up to you now," she replied easily. There was no anger in her voice or accusation, only a mild statement. "I volunteered. Besides that, you need me. There's no way you can pilot the fighter and the transport, even by remote, and you can't pull one of the others off the other group. You need me, and I'm going."
"No one else ever questions my orders. Why are you?"
"Because you're not my boss. And there's more at stake here than just our lives. I'm not sure of exactly everything going on, but what I did see was horribly wrong. I'd be less than human if I let you do this alone, and neither of us could live a contented life if we simply turned a blind eye." She 71
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clutched him to her then, and Yuri felt all the ferocity her reputation painted for her. "You're not leaving me behind while you go off to battle when I can help you. I refuse to let you, and if you even think of trying, just remember what I did to the one guy who tried to jack me."
Yuri couldn't help himself. He chuckled and hugged her closer. "Well, I guess that's that. I'm pretty content with my balls just where they are."
"Quite," she said, and her breathing evened out, and Yuri knew she slept.
Whatever fates, whatever gods had seen fit to grace his life with Tiressa, he owed a great debt. He only hoped that, by helping the remaining people of Deblin 4, he could begin to repay that debt.
With great care, he slipped from their bed and went to his desk to begin planning. They only had a few hours left, and he had to make doubly sure that every detail was covered.
She insisted on going, and that was fine. But he'd make damned sure the planning was flawless.
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Wanted: White Russian
by Marteeka Karland
Chapter Eight
Tiressa held the stick with a white-knuckled grip. The plan had not gone as it was supposed to. The Consolidation ships hadn't even glanced at their decoy, but had gone straight after her and Yuri. Thanks to the modifications Yuri's team had made to the freighter, it had more spunk than the average cargo ship, but it wasn't a fighter. Even if it had been, Tiressa wasn't a fighter pilot.
She did her best to follow Yuri's commands, but the damned ship was just too sluggish to fly like the smaller, more maneuverable escort ships. Thank goodness the others had seen their folly and rushed to offer their protection, but things were not going well. At best, they'd land the cargo ship, let her board Yuri's craft, then head back to base. At worst, they'd all die. And quite soon, from the looks of things.
Sparks and fire engulfed her ship as she entered the upper atmosphere. Her plan was to hide in the chaos that came with planet reentry and adjust her course so that she emerged somewhere other than where they thought she was supposed to. They had maintained strict radio silence except to state the obvious. The operation was F.U.B.A.R. From there, they had to rely on instinct and familiarity. The first, Tiressa had plenty of. The second? Well, she didn't know the others well enough. So she simply kept her eyes on Yuri and hoped she could follow his lead well enough to keep them all from getting killed.
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Fortunately, they seemed to follow her lead and stayed in tight formation around her. Any adjustment she made was minor and gradual while they were in the entry window.
Hopefully it would be enough to move them several hundred miles from where they should have been, and away from their original target.
That was Tiressa's primary concern. She didn't want the Consolidation to find where the last band of resistance was.
They were the only thing left of the planet's once dense population.
It wasn't long before the flames cleared and they flew through a thick hedge of clouds and fog. Thank goodness they had planned this run under cloud cover, because that would give them a few extra minutes. Flying in such close quarters, hopefully anything the Consolidation picked up would look like a flock of birds.
Minutes later, she was going through her landing checklist as the ship cruised much faster than she liked toward the cover of the forest surrounding their target destination. She struggled to land the craft smoothly and considered herself lucky she only bounced once before coming to a standstill.
She hoped she hadn't knocked over any trees, because that would be a dead giveaway as to their landing point.
Before she could even shut down the engine, Yuri burst into the control room and grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet. "We've got to get the fuck out of here! Leave it!"
She let him pull her out of the ship and practically throw her into the copilot seat behind him in his fighter. Without another word, he lifted off and shot out of the forest as hard 74
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as the ship could stand. Tiressa's stomach rolled at the extreme G-forces, and for one horrible moment she thought she'd be sick. Fortunately, she managed to suck it up and hold everything down.
Yuri didn't say a word, and she didn't see the other ships anywhere. She didn't know what they were doing, but the last thing she wanted to do was distract Yuri with stupid questions.
"We're safe, Four." It sounded like Hawk on the encrypted channel, but she couldn't be sure. That one, short message was the only sound she heard other than the whine of the engines as Yuri made one evasive move after another. The way he was flying, she was sure there had to be a fleet of ships after them, but she saw nothing.
Tiressa closed her eyes and considered everything that had happened. Even now, she could sense Yuri's warring with himself over protecting his crew and protecting her. He'd done everything he could to make sure all of them came out of this alive. Even if she dismissed all the footage she'd seen, the official documentation classified as Ultra Top Secret about nuclear war games and biological and chemical weapons testing against these people, of the projects that took children
and tried to transform them into the perfect soldiers only to have them go mad and destroy themselves and everyone around them, she'd have known Yuri wasn't a killer. He was a hero of the best kind.
His flying gradually became smoother and less like the hounds of hell were after him. Soon after that, they approached their hideout again and docked. Once in the 75
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hangar, Tiressa found the other three men packing up shop.
Everything was stowed neatly in a few small boxes and being loaded onto the decoy freighter.
"We'll be ready to leave in fifteen more minutes, Yuri."
Dmitry spoke to Yuri as if informing a commander of their current status. Yuri claimed not to lead them, but they followed him. Tiressa recognized the difference, and it only spoke more to Yuri's character.
"Good. We'll move to Karni 2. Take different routes and meet there in one standard month." He looked at them all, worry hard in his eyes. "Someone betrayed us."
"I have a thought on that," Dmitry voiced. "It's something I'll look into before I rendezvous with the rest of you."
"I'll go with you," Hawk clapped the younger man on the shoulder. "Someone will need to keep that temper of yours under control."
Dmitry gave Hawk a you've-got-to-be-kidding look. "And who's gonna keep your temper under control?"
"I think the bigger question," Storm interrupted, "is whether or not I care if either of you control your tempers. I hate a fucking traitor."
"I second that," Yuri growled. "Just don't get caught. As much as you two irritate me on occasion, I wouldn't want to lose either of you." He gave his team one last look. "Be safe.
Be swift. And come home safely." Then he ushered Tiressa down the corridor back to his cabin.
"You know, I could start a systems check on the freighter while you pack. It would save time." Tiressa grinned.
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