Despite Resek’s confidence in her, Leanne was nervous the next day. She hadn’t been out in the field since that disastrous first day, at least not as a fighter. She kept going through everything she’d learned in her head, but that did little to quell her worry.

She was surprised – and a little alarmed – that it was just the two of them.

“What about your men? Why isn’t anyone coming with us?”

“I thought about it, but in the end, I decided we need to keep this as small as possible. Just you and me. More men may make a better fighting force, but it’ll be easier to slip past defenses with just us. The Commander will be in a compound with many other soldiers. We can’t break in by force, it’s too well guarded. That leaves us with stealth.”

Leanne understood his reasoning, but still wished they had someone else along. The thought of Resek having no one but her as backup if things went wrong was terrifying. Sure, she’d trained for a few weeks, and even done well. But that didn’t change the fact that she was just a girl who worked in a bookstore and had never fought a battle in her life.

If Resek sensed her doubts, he didn’t say anything, so Leanne was left to stew in silence. Fortunately, that didn’t last long. Resek reminded her to pay attention to the pod and learn the differences. Two of his men had dropped it off that morning. Though at first sight it looked completely different to the Wescra pod, watching Resek fly it, she realized that a lot of the commands were identical, simply having different looking controls.

“Watch this screen, here.” Resek pointed it out to her. “Do you remember what it’s for?”

“That senses other ships in the area.”

“Good. I’m taking us on the least obtrusive route possible, but you should watch that just in case. If any of the other ships take an interest in us, let me know.”

Resek’s eyes were fixed on a screen showing the terrain in front of them. They couldn’t fly through the trees with the pod, but they were sticking close to the forest edge, where they hopefully wouldn’t be as noticeable.

“There’s a ship!” Leanne couldn’t keep a strain of panic out of her voice. What were they going to do?

“Is it coming toward us?” Resek's voice was calm.

Leanne shook her head, not realizing that Resek couldn’t see her, not while he was keeping his eyes on the road, so to speak.

“Leanne?”

“No, it’s not coming toward us. It’s going kind of diagonally, away from us and to the left.”

“That’s the way to the closest Greli base. They can’t fly their pods in our territory any more than we can fly ours in theirs; we both have the means to knock pods out of the sky. They are probably just moving resources, or something similar. You only need to worry if they start coming toward us, or if they hail us over the coms.”

“What do we do if that happens?”

Resek smiled grimly. “We fly very fast.”

That didn’t exactly make Leanne feel any better.

The day somehow managed to go both quickly and slowly. On the one hand, it got boring pretty fast, staring at the monitor for other ships. Leanne had never liked traveling, and this was no exception. On the other hand, despite getting used to the trip after a while, Leanne was still tense, waiting for something bad to happen.

“Why are you so calm?” she demanded of Resek. “You said this was going to be a dangerous mission.”

“It is. There’s no point in using all your energy worrying. If something goes wrong, being worn down from fear isn’t going to help you deal with the situation.”

Leanne gaped at him. Was this some Wescra thing, being able to turn fear on and off at will? It was certainly a skill she could use, but it wasn’t as easy as Resek made it sound.

To her surprise, they made it to their temporary base without any mishaps. They set up camp about an hour’s walk from the Greli base. Resek had told her they wouldn’t be able to take the pod any closer without someone checking in on the coms.

Their pod was too small to have sleeping quarters, but Resek had come prepared. He set a metal ball on the ground, and out of nowhere, a tent appeared.

Leanne gasped in delight. “That’s amazing!”

She knew enough about Wescra technology by now to work out what was going on. The tent was a hologram but made solid by force fields. It would certainly protect them better than any fabric tent would have. When she and Resek crawled inside, exhausted from the day’s travel, there was a low bed waiting for them.

They ate some of the Wescra version of trail rations – a mixture of meat and nuts, made into small, hard cakes.

Leanne was ready to lie down and sleep, but Resek was looking at her in a way that made her blood heat. Oh, she remembered. They needed to be together for strength. The thought already had her body responding, and when Resek reached for her, she surprised him by straddling his hips, leaning down to kiss him.

They were both too tired for anything fancy, but that didn’t stop the raging desire inside Leanne needing to be fulfilled. She ground down on Resek, enjoying the way his eyes closed as she rubbed against his cock.

She shimmied out of her combat uniform and was soon naked atop him. Resek was still clothed and made moves to rectify that at once, which was difficult with Leanne sitting right on his cock. He didn’t seem to want to move and lose the contact.

Leanne chuckled and yanked his uniform down around his legs. That would have to be good enough. She wasn’t sure she could wait long enough to get him fully naked. The constant tension she’d felt throughout the day seemed to demand release, and Resek could give it to her.

She positioned herself, then slid onto his cock. It filled her pussy so completely, and she moaned at the sensation of him inside her. She began to move, and Resek surged his hips up to meet hers. Leanne felt like she couldn’t go fast enough. He pumped into her, each stroke making her cry out louder, so much that she hoped this tent was soundproof.

Resek’s hand came off from around her back and reached toward her clit. Leanne felt his fingers brush it, and it was so good that she felt she might die right then and there. She was soaked, and there were slick, slapping sounds between them. Resek’s fingers worked her clit.

Leanne placed a hand over his, guiding him until he was touching her in that perfect way that made her lose control. She cried out as she came, and her tightening pussy sent Resek off. Then he was coming too, hard and fast and so delicious.

Leanne managed to maneuver herself so that she was lying next to him. It was cold, but she didn’t want to get dressed again. She snuggled into Resek’s side as he pulled a blanket over them. Apart from how amazing it was, what they’d just done would give him strength for what was to come the next day. She just hoped it was enough.

The next morning, Resek was brisk and business-like. “I will go in first,” he explained. “I need to get the layout of the place. I will signal you with this when I am ready.”

He pushed a communicator into her hand. “When I signal you, follow the trail that I’ll leave and join me. We can’t make an exact plan until I see what we’re dealing with. I’ll tell you what to bring. Hopefully, we can just blow the whole place sky high, but it may have built-in defenses against explosives.”

“What do we do if that happens?”

“We do it the old-fashioned way. Arm ourselves, seek out Commander Snu and kill him.”

Leanne bit her lip but didn’t say anything. She believed in their cause, but that still didn’t make her like the idea of killing a man, even one pressing a war. She hoped it worked out as they expected, and Resek would be the one to do it. But she knew that if it came down to it, she would be called on to complete the mission if Resek couldn’t.

She also knew, since Resek had constantly drummed it into her, that war seldom went as planned.

“While you wait, you can check the weapons. And start setting up defenses around here in case we’re discovered.”

“I will. Stealthy as well. The pod’s shields can be extended to hide this location, right?”

“Yes, but it’s still Greli technology, which leaves a higher risk of them discovering it. Do what you can, though. I will signal you when I’m ready.”

Before he could leave, Leanne grabbed him by the uniform and kissed him. Resek was surprised for only a moment before he returned the kiss.

“It’ll be ok.” He spoke gently, stroking her cheek.

Leanne nodded and clung to him for a moment, before forcing herself to let go.

“I will contact you.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

It didn’t take long before Resek was out of sight. He walked swiftly but carefully, soon entering the forest, where he wouldn’t be as easily detected.

If Leanne had thought yesterday had gone slowly, she’d been wrong. Today was the definition of slow. She knew that it wouldn’t take Resek long to get to the Greli base, but he’d take his time checking it out. Good battle strategy was good planning, he’d taught her.

Leanne knew how good he was at what he did, but she couldn’t help but worry. What if someone caught him? What would they do to him? Nothing good, she was sure of that much.

As the hours passed, Leanne resisted the urge to contact Resek on the communicator, to check if he was ok. She was only supposed to contact him in an emergency, and she doubted her own feelings of panic counted as one.

Resek had trained her well, and within two hours of his leaving, she’d already checked all the weapons and set up the pod’s shields as best she could to protect them. Then she had nothing to do but wait.

She forced herself to eat, knowing she had to keep her strength up. Today was going to be far from easy.

Leanne jumped when the communicator finally pinged. She read the message quickly.

Come when it’s dark. Bring handguns and shields. A couple of smoke bombs if you can carry them easily.

She wanted to ask him if he was alright, but obviously, he was if he was sending the message. Leanne’s insides unclenched in relief. So far, everything had gone as planned. She’d been hoping to meet up with Resek earlier, but it made sense to wait until it was dark.

Where should I meet you?

The answer came at once. When you first catch sight of the base, turn left, just before the stream. There is a storage shed just off the main premises. I will be there. Come to me one hour after the sun sets.

I will. See you soon.

Leanne tucked the communicator into her belt and started getting everything together. She made up a light pack, one that wouldn’t slow her down too much, managing to get in two of the heavy smoke bombs. She guessed the lack of explosives meant that the facility was indeed shielded against them. It would make the mission more dangerous, having to hunt down Snu and shoot him in person, but there was nothing to be done about that.

It didn’t take long to prepare for the trip. When she was done, Leanne still had hours before she needed to leave. She wanted to message Resek, just to talk to him. If he was hiding in the supply tent, he’d be available to talk, right?

Very reluctantly, she decided against it. Resek had taught her better than that. While in enemy territory, he needed to be constantly vigilant, not distracting himself by reassuring her.

Leanne didn’t know quite what she did in those hours before she left. She suspected it was mostly pacing up and down, but that didn’t stick in her mind. All she was focused on was leaving at exactly the right time to get to Resek.

She was ready to head out the moment the sun started touching the horizon. She set off at a brisk pace. She’d given herself slightly more than an hour, seeing as Resek walked faster than her. As promised, he’d left a trail.

She headed north, and before long, she came upon a red piece of cloth pinned to one of the trees. Satisfied she was going the right way, Leanne continued.

Had she been more advanced, Resek would have simply carved a line on various trees along the path, but she wasn’t confident she'd be able to find them, so Resek left the painfully obvious red strips. As long as no one came wandering this way, they should be fine.

The walk was tiring, but Leanne was pleased by how well she managed it. She’d never been particularly sporty, but over the past weeks, she’d built up a lot of strength and endurance. She ignored the aches and pains that started in her body and kept heading resolutely towards Resek.

By the time the facility was in sight, the sun had almost completely set. Leanne headed left as instructed, keeping to the trees and watching for any sign of patrols. She spotted the supply shed easily enough, though the door was facing the base. If anyone was looking, they’d see her slipping inside.

She crept around the back and smiled. There was a small hole in the back of the shed, no doubt cut by Resek, who must have had the same thoughts about going in through the door.

Leanne pushed her backpack in front of her and crawled inside. The shed was crowded and smelly, but she didn’t care about that.

“Resek?”

There was no answer to her whisper, and Leanne finally managed to get up amidst the clutter of stuff. “Resek?”

The shed was small, and there was nowhere to hide. Resek wasn’t here. She looked around in dismay. Why wouldn’t he be here? He would if he could; she knew that much. Something must have happened.

Leanne stood rooted to the spot, trying to control her panic. What should she do? If Resek needed to be rescued, she was his only chance, and she suddenly felt hopelessly inadequate. She should have gotten the contact numbers for some of Resek’s men. She kicked herself for not planning ahead for this kind of situation. Good battle strategy was good planning, and she’d failed.

What would Resek tell her to do? Leanne’s mind spun as she tried to think. He’d been waiting here. If he wasn’t here anymore, that meant he must have been captured. That meant – that meant the Greli knew about this shed. They knew that more people might be coming.

She could almost hear Resek’s voice in her head as her training kicked in. Get out!

Leanne threw herself at the hole in the shed, desperately squirming her way out.

It was too late. She heard a huge bang, and everything exploded around her.