Laarn had been gone for nearly a week. Days without word from the battle group. Jess found herself jumping each time a door swished open, in case it was one of the emperor’s men to update them on the situation.

But it wasn’t. Apart from a simple message from Daaynal that all was proceeding as normal, they’d received no word from the battlefront.

“This is ridiculous! They must know something!” Kenna exploded into movement, leaping up from the low couches they’d been reclining on in the garden room attached to their suite. A pleasant breeze swept in from outside, but neither woman noticed the lovely summer day outside. Instead, Kenna was too busy pacing, a pissed expression on her face, and Jess herself was too… empty to enjoy the weather.

Instead, all she could think of was Laarn and the way he’d kissed her before he left. His clever fingers under her skirts, sliding into her pussy and against her clit to bring her to the strongest climax she’d ever had in her life. Everything seemed dull and flat without him here.

“I’m sure they’d have told us,” she said flatly, not watching as Kenna paced the exquisitely tiled floor. There was just the two of them in the suite, both Cat and Jane having gone with their husbands to the front.

“They should have,” the marine growled. “There’s no way they’re stupid enough as a warrior race to lose communications, so they have to be in contact with Xaan and his ships.”

Jess looked up, mustering a small smile despite her misery. “Oh… Xaan, is it?” she teased lightly. “Should we expect wedding bells soon?”

“Bite me, Kallson,” Kenna snarled back, flipping her the bird. “We’re just friends.”

At that Jess did chuckle. “That old chestnut? Spin me another.”

“You can talk,” Kenna shot back. “Mooning about after the healer… fuck, we’re as bad as each other.” She paused in front of the door, indecision on her face. “Fuck it. I’m going to get some answers. Daaynal will talk to me, even if I have to fucking sleep outside his door. You coming?” she asked, arching an eyebrow in question.

Jess shook her head. “No, I feel a little odd,” she said, pressing her hand over her stomach. “I think I’m going to head down to the medbay and get checked out. I think something I ate yesterday disagreed with me.”

“Okay, love. I’ll come find you if I get answers. Send someone for me if you need me, okay?”

Jess nodded, but the other woman was already gone before she’d finished hauling herself off the low couch. Her movements sluggish, she headed out of the women’s suite and made her way toward the medbay.

Once she got there though, she couldn’t face the thought of explaining to any of the healers, all tall, imposing Lathar with serious expressions who always seemed to look down their noses at her. They seemed to dislike her intently, possibly because she was here so often for tests. Why they didn’t like her for that, though, she didn’t know. Surely all efforts toward solving the problem were a good thing, right?

Obviously not. As soon as the doors swished open, they all studiously ignored her, obviously finding their screens more interesting than helping her. She shrugged to herself and walked through the main lab, heading for Laarn’s personal lab at the back. With the ridiculously advanced level of their technology, she was fairly sure she didn’t need them to find out if she had a stomach bug or not anyway. All she needed was to boot up one of those fancy diagnostic beds and have the computers scan her. She’d seen Laarn do it so many times, she was sure she could figure it out herself.

As she approached the back of the room, heading toward the double doors that led to Laarn’s lab, she resisted the urge to bite her lip in worry. She was going to look a right idiot if, with Laarn away, the lab didn’t let her in. But before she was within ten feet of the doors, the lights within flickered on and the doors swished open in front of her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she walked in and just stood in the center of the space for a moment as the doors shut behind her.

It was strange being in here without him, but there were reminders of him everywhere she looked. One of his sashes, teal to mark his role as a healer, hung on a hook on the wall next to a warrior’s leather jacket. On the counter to her left, the one he’d boosted her on and brought her to the most earth-shattering climax, was his mug. She couldn’t read Latharian, but she was fairly sure it was a humorous one, something along the lines of “Trust me, I’m a doctor.”

To her right was his office area, the surface of the desk littered with not paper, but the thin sheets of plastic-like material the Lathar used, all with Laarn’s distinctive scrawl across them. She could even smell his scent in the air, a combination of warm, clean man and some kind of citrus. That was one thing she’d noticed from the moment she’d met him… he smelled so good.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she drew a deep breath into her lungs and imagined he was here. It eased some of the ache in the center of her chest.

Opening her eyes, she brought herself back to reality and focused on the matter at hand. “I don’t feel well,” she announced to the air around her, knowing the lab’s AI system would be listening.

It was. The diagnostic bed in the middle of the floor lit up, the flashing lights running down the side of the padded mattress a silent invitation to lie down. Crossing the floor on slippered feet, Jess boosted herself up backward and swung her legs up to lie down in the middle. Once she had, the holo-arch lit up and she watched as the lights whirled and raced over it, scanning her.

“Subject scan complete. Patient alpha five seven nine, Jessica Kallson. Human female,” the AI announced. “Several in-progress tests for this subject. One complete and viable. Proceed?”

She nodded. Laarn always did a lot of tests on her to make sure she was fit and healthy before he moved on to analyzing her DNA. It seemed the bed was still set up in that routine. “Yes, please.”

“Compliance.”

The lights whirled again, centering on her abdomen. She watched as they got faster and faster, and then the bed hummed like it was about to take off. Heat washed over her stomach for a moment, starting low down, just over her pelvis, and then washing up. A gasp broke from her lips at the intensity, but within a heartbeat it was gone as though it had never been there. Her hands went instantly to her stomach, expecting to find the fabric of her gown hot, but it wasn’t. The silk was just skin-warmed from the heat of her body within, nothing more. Huh, odd.

“Computer? Is that it? Am I okay?” she ventured as the holo-arch clicked off.

“Affirmative. Subject is running a slight temperature and scan reports slight gastro-intestinal distress but no viral or bacterial cause found. Recommend rest and light repast until condition resolves.”

She was okay. Jess breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been right, it must have been something she ate.

“Thank you, computer. Can I go now?” she asked as politely as if she’d been speaking to a flesh and blood medic. Since Laarn had told her the lab computer was a sentient AI, she’d treated it as a person, albeit an invisible one. It was only right.

“Affirmative. Please return at the same time tomorrow for condition check.”

“Err…” Jess paused in the middle of sliding off the bed. “Sure, if you need me to.”

The computer didn’t reply, but the lights at the back of the lab started to shut down. Obviously the AI was done with her. With a small shrug, Jess headed out of the lab, ignoring the healers in the main medbay as she left.

* * *

“Move on the left flank!”

“Hold your fire! Wait for it…NOW!”

“Retreat! Retreat!”

“Don’t let the bastards get away!”

Laarn kept his head down as he made his way through the battlefield, his team around him. Two drakeen battle bots fought not a hundred feet away, arm cannons moving continuously as they swept the area for enemy forces that might have lingered after the battle.

The big healer watched for a moment, noting the idiosyncrasies of the bots’ movements. There weren’t many drakeen-capable pilots in the battle group. From the way the one on the left moved, Kraan was piloting, which meant the other one was Isan. The other pilots would be off duty, sleeping, apart from Jathor, who had been killed in action yesterday.

Laarn’s heart ached for a moment. Jath had been in his and Tarrick’s training group during their childhood, a quick and capable warrior with a sharp sense of humor who had dreamed of finding his bond-mate. He’d been so excited at the news of the human women, sure his mate would be amongst them. He’d never gotten to meet them all and find out, bleeding out on a battlefield in the arse-end of beyond fighting traitors.

Laarn turned, his split second of reflection over. Combat bots raced to fill the gaps between the combat teams and the bigger drakeen. His medical pack over his back and a rifle in his hand, he kept an eye out as his team moved behind him.

Even now, without battle raging around them, they operated like a combat unit, moving further into the battlefield as they checked for wounded. Some were beyond help, their bodies simply tagged with locator beacons as the team moved on… others were more fortunate, able to be treated and walk out themselves. The badly injured were locator-tagged and evac’ed by bots as soon as they could be.

But that wasn’t why Laarn was here. Normally in a battle situation, he was far behind the lines, fighting a war of his own in surgery as he battled death and serious injury to bring a warrior from the brink. But not today.

“Anyone sees the general,” he bellowed. “I want to know. Immediately.”

His team nodded, a chorus of affirmative responses through his earpiece as they spread out to check the ground the battle had swept through. The word had come through early this morning about an attack through the southern lines, which they hadn’t been expecting. Xaandril had taken a company to check it out.

Hours later, three men had returned, battered and bloody, to say it had been a trick. Some of the men within the company had been traitors, purist sympathizers, and the battle had turned into a bloodbath. The general had been lost, last seen fighting ten men and a bot as he held a break in the lines all by himself. Then enemy reinforcements had arrived… No one had seen him fall, but he must have. No warrior could face such odds and win.

The senior warrior, Laarn had been forced to assume command of the entire war group, his duties as healer taking a back seat as he gave orders and sent men into battle. He had gone into battle himself, a rifle in his hand and any mercy he had from his healer’s calling locked down tight. It had been brutal and bloody, but eventually they had emerged the victors, sending the traitorous combined forces fleeing broken for their lives. Now, they were on cleanup and body recovery detail.

“Come on, Xaandril,” Laarn muttered to himself, scanning bodies as he walked.

“Drag the enemy to the edge of the battlefield,” he ordered. “We’ll set a pyre before we go to make sure the predators don’t get to them.”

“More than they deserve,” Kriis, the warrior walking next to him, muttered. “Should leave them to get their eyes pecked out and eaten.”

“Yeah,” Laarn sighed. “I know. But that makes us no better than them and besides, this many bodies? It’ll stink the place up for the locals and foul their water supply. They might be no better than oonat, but they didn’t ask for this war, or what those assholes did to them. We have a responsibility to try and put things right, or at the least, not leave them fucked up.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean,” Kriis replied, but his expression was distracted. “Errr… Lord Healer, over here.” He broke into a run, sliding to his knees to shove a dead R’Zaa warrior to the side, revealing a male covered in blood. Laarn’s heart lurched as he recognized the pale, cropped hair.

The general.

His knees hit the dirt next to Xaandril a heartbeat after Kriis’, his experienced gaze sweeping the big warrior.

“Okay, we got multiple injuries… that arm is badly broken. Looks like a gut wound. Get some pressure on that,” he ordered, sticking his fingers into the guy’s throat. It was too slick with blood and mangled flesh for him to feel anything, so Laarn switched to his wrist and sighed with relief. Xaandril’s pulse flickered, weak but there.

“Okay, he’s still with us. Get some bots in here,” he ordered, snapping out a handheld diagnostic unit and sweeping it over the form of his fallen friend. It bleeped, churning out a list of near devastating injuries.

“Draanth, my friend,” Laarn breathed. “How you’re not dead, I do not know.”

Putting the diag-unit down by his thigh, he reached into his pack and snapped together some pressure-sprays, using combination medications that would hopefully hold the general’s condition as it was until Laarn could get him into surgery. Pulling the wounded man’s bracer away from his wrist, Laarn paused as he spotted the flash of a light blue ribbon. For a moment he smiled, flicking a glance up at the big man’s face to find Xaandril watching him, his eyes dark with pain.

“Don’t worry, my friend, I’ll get you back to her,” Laarn promised and pressed the spray to Xaandril’s wrist. He nodded a little and his eyes closed as the medication took effect.

Laarn stood up as the bots arrived. He carefully lifted the fallen warrior onto a stretcher and turned to the warrior next to him. Before he could speak though, laser fire sliced through the air.

“Take cover!” Laarn bellowed, his rifle off his back in an instant as he took a position in front of the bots loading Xaandril onto the stretcher. His keen gaze easily picked out the aggressors, hidden in a small copse nearby. Just warriors, not bots with them. “In the trees!” he shouted as the warriors with him all took cover and started firing back. The drakeen tank-bots lumbered into place, hunkering down on their six crab-like legs and using their bulk to protect the healers and their patient.

“Lord Healer!” One of the healers shouted, waving for him to take cover behind the safety of the bot wall but Laarn shook his head. These assholes had picked the wrong fight.

“Moving!” he shouted, not waiting for a confirmation as he broke cover and ran toward the trees. Laser bolts peppered the air around him, keeping the enemy’s head down as he dashed for cover again. His heart thrilled with the joy of battle as he crashed through the tree line, three warriors on his heels. A war cry broke from his lips as he slung the rifle on its strap over his back again and pulled the big blade from the sheath across his shoulders.

The enemy—R’Zaa warriors he realized as soon as he got a look at their faces—were on them in a hot-second. Half their number broke away from the firefight and raced toward Laarn and his group with blades drawn. He bared his teeth as battle was joined, his blade clashing against that of the first warrior to reach them. Blocking the blow, Laarn let the male’s blades slide down his to the guard and twisted, trapping his opponent’s blade. As he did, he lifted his free arm and slammed his elbow up and into the guy’s jaw.

Bone crunched under the blow, and the male staggered back, his blade falling from his hand as he grabbed for his shattered jaw. Lifting his blade, Laarn swung with brutal force, taking the R’Zaa’s head off at the shoulders. It bounced away, and he stepped over the falling body to meet the next warrior.

His blade rose and fell as he sliced and parried, cutting a swathe through the enemy. The fight was bloody and brutal, but within minutes he stood, blood dripping from his blade and the bodies of his enemies lying at his feet. His chest heaved as he sucked in air, and he was covered in blood as he turned around and found the small team that had followed him looking at him with a mix of awe and something near fear.

“Never make an enemy of a man who can dissect you in his sleep,” he commented in a low voice, leaning down to wipe his bloody blade on one of the men he’d killed.

“Pick up the rest of the wounded and survivors,” he ordered as he emerged from the copse and approached the rest of his men. Turning, he strode after the bots carrying Xaandril toward the waiting shuttle. “And get everyone off the planet’s surface before the predators come out at nightfall.”

“Yes, my lord. Of course.” One of the younger warriors peeled away, setting about his task without argument. Laarn didn’t spare him a glance, his boots ringing out on the metal ramp as he boarded. Watching the bots lock Xaandril’s bio-stretcher down, he patched his comms into the war group through the shuttle’s array and opened a channel.

“This is the lord healer. I have the general. He’s badly injured but alive. Prep the main surgery bay for our arrival and have healer teams standing by for my orders.”