“You’re blushing, Vice Admiral.” Kira was grinning at me like a besotted fool, which she was. Not that I could blame her. Warlord Anghar was an impressive warrior. And the truth was, no one could have forced me into the testing chair. I allowed Kira and Rachel to cajole me, to push me. The truth was I was tired of being alone.
“Fine.” Tossing up my hands, I repeated, “Fine!”
All three of them exhaled and visibly relaxed, which only made me angrier with myself for showing weakness or doubt in the first place. “I’ll transport.”
The doctor stood and the next thing I knew, Kira and Rachel were pushing me out the door and toward the transport center, most likely before I changed my mind. I was on the transport pad and the doctor was working with the transport tech to arrange coordinates within minutes. I looked down at myself, ensuring my Coalition Fleet Vice-Admiral’s uniform was in order and that I had my weapon strapped to my thigh. If I was leaving The Colony, I was taking everything with me.
Doctor Surnen cleared his throat and I looked at him, met his gaze. “It’s tradition for females to arrive in more feminine clothing…”
I gave him an evil eye. “Don’t push your luck, Doctor. I want my potential mate to know exactly what he’s dealing with.”
The doctor actually grinned, which was a rare expression from a Prillon, especially on The Colony. “As you wish, my lady.”
“I’m not a lady.”
More grinning, but he kept his mouth shut. Definitely a smart Prillon.
“Give him hell, Niobe! Then make him beg for it.” Kira laughed, her hands on her hips. The doctor turned to scowl at what he must have considered poor advice, but I ignored him and smiled back at her.
“I intend to.” Beg. Push. Seduce. Chase me through a forest.
My pussy clenched again as the memories resurfaced. God, I couldn’t wait.
“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t!” Rachel said from her position at the bottom of the steps to the raised platform.
“I’ll give you three days, then I’m comm-ing you for details. All the details.” Kira waggled her eyebrows and I glared.
“Deal.” Hopefully, I would have some details to share. I turned my attention back to the doctor. “Where am I going, exactly? Everis?”
He glanced up quickly, then returned his gaze to the transport controls. “No, Vice Admiral. Elite Hunter Quinn is currently stationed with Battlegroup Karter in Sector 437. According to Coalition records, he is running Hive ReCon patrols from a subterranean base on Latiri 4.”
The Karter? Sector 437? The doctor was sending me into the middle of a war zone. I knew it. Apparently, Kira did as well.
“Oh my God. That’s the front line.” Her gaze jumped from Doctor Surnen to me. “Maybe you should wait. He’s not even on the battleship, Niobe. He’s on the ground.”
Elite Hunter Quinn.
Nice name. Quinn. My mind wandered momentarily. He was an Elite. He’d be strong. Fast. Maybe as fast as that warrior chasing me in my dreams…
“Niobe, no. You can’t be serious. You should wait.”
I was so preoccupied with imagining Quinn that it took me a moment to process what Kira said. “Wait. He’s on the ground? I thought you said he was with Battleship Karter.”
Doctor Surnen cleared his throat, looked at something on his tablet, then looked at me. “Normally, I would not be allowed to tell you this, nor would I be able to transport you to his location. But I see you have very high level I.C. clearance.”
“I do.” I knew just about everything going on in this war. Not all of it, but most. My work with the Intelligence Core was extensive and had been for years.
He sighed. “Elite Hunter Quinn is currently operating with a Hunter unit doing reconnaissance on the Hive. His unit is stationed in an underground facility behind enemy lines.”
“What?” My mate was currently in Hive territory?
“The battle for Latiri 4 and Latiri 7 are pivotal in this war. Those two planets and their moons are perfectly positioned to operate as forward attack bases for several sectors of space. The Hive are not willing to give it up, and neither are we.”
I knew that. I even knew we’d followed the Hive’s lead and started building bases under the ground for the sole purpose of allowing them to overrun the territory. Once they were ensconced above the ground, unaware of our below-ground reconnaissance teams, we gathered significant amounts of intel on their movements, plans, and technological developments. I’d read about the new subterranean programs in an I.C. briefing several months ago. But reading about it and transporting to an underground fortress beneath Hive controlled territory were two very different things.
Kira and the doctor both looked at me. Did I want to wait?
No. Not really. But I wasn’t stupid either.