“You’re so beautiful,” he said, hoarse.

“It’s too dark to see.”

“In the darkness or the light, you’re beautiful.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, her heart too full and aching. The demands of her body wouldn’t let her retreat, however. She angled herself to precisely where she needed to be, and then sank down, taking him inside her.

The sensation… It engulfed her. She couldn’t hold in her sounds of pleasure as he filled her. He made feral noises, deep, masculine growls that traveled in waves through her body. They both kept still, as if stunned into immobility by the wonder of him within her, the feeling of their bodies intimately joined. Immobility couldn’t last, though. Not when an even greater pleasure arose as they moved.

He was thick and hot within her, and as she lifted up and moved down, radiating pleasure suffused her. At first, she moved with slow deliberation, savoring each slide of him. Her pace soon quickened, and he bent up, thrusting into her with deep, full strokes. She lost herself in sensation, freed from expectation, knowing she could be entirely herself with him.

She bent over him and rode him hard, just as he drove up with an unrelenting strength, and she could see enough to watch his head thrown back, the column of his neck and underside of his jaw, as his mouth opened on rough exhalations of pleasure.

Her orgasm stole thought, and seemed to obliterate the confines of her body. She felt herself everywhere, in every thing, in herself, in Nils, in the living jungle, and the sky overhead and the stars and planets scattered throughout. And as she expanded outward to encompass everything, he joined her, groaning out in release.

How much time passed, she couldn’t measure. There was only before making love with Nils, and after, and she found herself at some point carefully dressed, tucked against his side. They lay together on their platform, looking up at the star-filled sky.

She had a brief, panicked desire to grab him by the hand and drag him back to the Phantom. They could find a tiny, barely inhabited world and make a home for themselves there, hiding from PRAXIS, from the 8^th Wing. Alone and alive.

But she pushed that desire aside. It was a fantasy, a dream that could never happen, for even if they could somehow evade the 8^th Wing and PRAXIS, neither she nor Nils could turn their backs on duty.

On an elevated ridge, Nils and Celene took up a position. Each trained silmät scopes toward a point to the east.

Marek’s compound. It perched at the edge of the jungle, three of its sides surrounded by dense forest, and the fourth side facing the seething ocean.

Even from a distance of a geomile, it was evident that the waves would destroy any vessel foolish enough to brave them. Dark shapes of creatures also lurked beneath the surface of the water, large creatures who formed massive shadows under the waves. One of the sea-dwelling beasts breached, snapping up a low-flying animal, and Nils cursed to see numerous rows of jagged teeth gleaming in the beast’s mouth.

“Rules out a water approach.”

A thick perimeter wall enclosed the compound, with plasma wire atop the wall. No one could breach the wall, and if one attempted to scale it, the wire grid would reduce them to atoms. Should someone be lucky enough to get past the outer fortifications, he or she would find themselves amidst a series of buildings. A large main structure, surrounded by two smaller outbuildings.

At one corner of the compound was a landing pad. A medium-sized cruiser already occupied a spot there.

“Place looks deserted,” Celene noted. “No guards patrolling. But his ship is there.”

“Robotic sentries.” As Nils spoke, three mechanized sentinels traversed the compound, their blaster-mounted turrets continuously sweeping back and forth. “Marek’s paranoid. He already didn’t like working closely with others in Engineering. Makes sense that he’d create a haven free of all people.”

“Except himself.”

He nodded grimly. With a suspicious, intelligent mind behind the design of the compound’s security, it would make his and Celene’s objective that much more difficult. Cracking the defense systems would take all of his skill and focus. But getting inside was merely the first step. Once he and Celene did manage to get in, they would have to contend with the sentries. And Marek, himself.

Yet with only a few geomiles separating Nils from the traitor, he knew that turning back wasn’t an option. Marek had betrayed the 8^th Wing, had almost cost Celene her life and freedom. For that, the traitor must be punished.

“Did you bring the holographic projector?” Celene asked.

Lowering his silmät scope, he pulled the device in question from his pack. He and Celene had discussed their plan before leaving the Phantom, with him making the necessary adjustments to their equipment. The implement would project the hologram of two Black Wraith ships, making it appear as if the ships approached the compound. Careful calibration ensured that, for a few minutes at least, the signatures of the projected ships would appear real to other sensors, presenting enough of a perceived threat to distract Marek. Nils and Celene would breach the perimeter during the distraction. Once inside, they would find the Black Wraith disruptor device and destroy it.

As he set up the projector, he fought to keep his attention solely on the task. His mind kept drifting back to last night, the all too brief pleasure they had shared. They had slept in shifts, and all he had wanted to do was lay beside her, sleep with her in his arms. But he’d had to stay awake and vigilant for his shift, and had kept himself alert with running scenarios about the mission.

If he and Celene survived, if they made it back to base, would they have more nights like the one they shared? Or had it been a one-time event, never to be repeated? Would she even want to be seen with him?

A scene played out in his mind, clear as a high-def vid: him, walking down a corridor on base, seeing Celene with her Black Wraith buddies coming toward him. Pretending he didn’t exist. Her gaze never meeting his.

Could NerdWorks and an ace fighter pilot really make it? He wasn’t sure, and she hadn’t said anything about what might come after the mission.

Damn it, don’t think about that now. Just get the gear set up. Then survive the next thirty minutes.

“Might want to delay the projector,” she said. “Another distraction has arrived.”

He glanced up and cursed. A PRAXIS clipper appeared on the horizon, and seemed to be heading straight toward Marek’s compound.

“The hells…?” Nils turned his scope up to the PRAXIS ship. “This planet’s a lot more popular than I’d thought. Or Marek serves a really nice cup of kahve.”

“It’s not kahve that brings PRAXIS here.” Celene growled. “The bastard’s going to sell the disruptor to them.” Which was precisely what the 8^th Wing feared.

He and Celene shared a look. “Lucky we showed up when we did. We can prevent the sale.”

“Yes, but it also means the timing of this operation has accelerated. We’ve got to get into the compound and destroy the disruptor before PRAXIS can get its hands on it.”

Immediately, he and Celene jumped to their feet. After securing their packs and checking their weapons, they jogged down the rise, and began pushing hard through the jungle, toward the compound.

“Marek will drop some of the shields to permit PRAXIS to land,” he noted, shouldering aside several hanging vines. “We won’t need the holographic projector.”

She remained stone-faced, the look he now knew well. Her battle mask, behind which she retreated to get herself in the proper mindset for combat. It had nothing to do with him. Taking his cues from her, he forced icy calm to thread through his body and mind. He could think only of achieving success, and not dwell on what may or may not happen afterward. Doubt had no place on a mission. Particularly one with stakes this high.