The Edge

different things trying to detect something, anything, to indicate where they'd gone. Each had failed.

  The X shuddered.

  "What in bloody hell is that?" Dakota asked, tugging at his beard.

  "I'd guess from that sound, amigo," Ranger said, cocking his large head, "that they're blowing the hell outta that there rock cloud,"

  "Typical," Dakota snorted, derisively. "Destroy anything you can't understand."

  "Strategy's not bad," K'hon said. "Just in case we missed something."

  "Well, old son," said Dakota, shaking his head, moodily "If there was something there, we're bloody well not going to find it now, are we?"

  "Gotta go meet, Telli" Mak told them. Being away from her now made him nervous. Before, he used to delay the return to the X as long as possible. But now, he wanted back them back home when the shift was done.

  The pilots drifted off. It'd been a subtle thing, this separation between him and the other members. He always thought that since he came up with them nothing would change. He'd still be one of the gang.

  A long time ago, Telli had tried to warn him that after the promotion things would not be the same. He hadn't believed her. But there was no denying it. And in some ways, he now welcomed it.

  Th'han'dra ignored him and brushed past. She'd been out of sorts lately, becoming even more stiff around him. He looked at her stalking off. He didn't know why she didn't like the flight suit. It clung to her body really well, defining her musculature and curves. She moved with an easy grace like a ballet dancer.

  "Doing that X-ray thing on her ass again, Boss?" Jerry asked.

  "What?" he said flustered. "No, I was, uh, just wondering if she was okay. She seems, you know, a little different."

  Jerry slapped him on the shoulder with a hand which felt like granite. "You are not a Jedi yet, young Skywalker," he intoned, shaking his head.

  "Huh? What's wrong with your voice?"

  Jerry chuckled. "You have a lot to learn about women."

  "I know tons about women," he said hotly. "Like what?"

  "As the saying goes, Boss, the more bitter the experience, the wiser the man. Which reminds me, you know, there's an old story?"

  "Uh, I gotta get going, Jerry." He had to cut the Hellborne off early or he'd never get out of there.

  His grin split his face revealing the blunt, black teeth. "Oh sure, next time. LLAP."

  He wandered after the others humming some tune and waving his arms around like he had a sword or something. Mak still didn't know what he meant. And the LLAP stood for some other saying from old Earth, which Mak couldn't remember.

  Mak retrieved a jacket and hurried to Squad Ops. Telli would be waiting for him. They didn't speak much about the strange incident, but under the jacket he hid a small firearm. The flight suit could never conceal a gun. Blue Box had given him odd looks but he wouldn't volunteer information, and they didn't ask.

  She looked grim. "We're leaving," she said tersely.

  He didn't need to ask. The activity on the Bridge said it all. The X was continuing their mission. The Battle Group had lost hope. Somebody had decided they'd never find the missing squad. No debris, no DNA, no energy signatures. The families would get a postcard saying their loved ones were gone and all they had to show for it was a load of other people's sweat.

  "The fleet is getting underway to the next Jump point."

  He nodded in acknowledgment. One of the Squad Ops staff dropped something startling Telli. She was becoming more and more jumpy. He noticed it most when he'd been away on patrol. She hadn't followed through on the extra missions for Blue Box. If anything, she had subtly decreased the time Blue Box was in space. He knew she relaxed only around him. And he'd taken to sleeping outside her door. People thought it was part of the punishment. He hadn't told her but once she'd surprised him by getting up early. She'd almost tripped over him. She had told him in no uncertain terms how completely ridiculous that was. She'd ordered him to go back to the dorm. He had agreed but was there the next sleep shift. She had given him a blanket but he hadn't really needed it. There'd been worse places he'd slept. Much worse.

  She stood and he grabbed her things. It was unsaid, but they both felt she was safer moving around the ship now he was with her. Not safe, just safer. They made their way down to Gold Ghost's quarters which was more towards the bow of the ship as opposed to where Blue Box was stationed, the stern. The Military kept the squads separated to decrease their vulnerability.

  Telli used her security codes to enter. The dorm wasn't much different from Blue Box's. It looked like Gold Ghost could walk back in at any moment. A deck of cards on a table ready to be dealt. Some moldy food sitting around. Personal items strewn about. He wondered if the Blue Box dorm smelled this bad.

  She looked tense as he waited for her to indicate what he should do. He hadn't known Gold Ghost much. They were a great squadron, one of the best. Maybe the best. The Gold Ghost pilots liked that fact to be known. Arrogant, but they backed their words up with action. He couldn't understand how anybody could get the drop on them. All of them. It seemed? Unlikely.

  Telli removed a small instrument from her pocket. She flicked it on and swung 360 degrees. It looked like some kind of home made scanner. Mak just watched, curiosity making him peer at the instrument. Not one of the rugged well made military scanners. Definitely not standard issue. She told Mak to start looking for personal effects which could be returned to the family. Mak complied following her example of making a lot of noise and occasionally making some inane comment. The scanner swept the room and a light blinked red at three different locations. She pointed to them and tugged her ear. Listening devices. They left them alone. Telli slid open Gold Ghost Leader's cubicle and swept the interior. No red lights.

  "I've brought some Aphros," she said, a little loudly. "No one's going to know and no one'll disturb us."

  "Uh, great," he said, taken a little aback.

  She sidled into the cubicle and he followed her. She closed the door.

  "I don't think they can penetrate, too low power. The ship's sensors would detect them if they were putting out more energy." She whispered it right into his ear, her lips grazed him and he thought it was an accident until her tongue traced his neck.

  Her hands moved under the jacket over the contours of his uniform. He realized she had already taken her Aphro. She grabbed his head and kissed him forcefully. Then pushed the other Aphro into his mouth. He bit on the capsule letting the bitter drugs plow into his brain quickly. She pulled the jacket off but had less success with the flight suit.

  "Dammit," she whispered. "How do you get out of this thing?"

  He peeled it off with her help then pulled the clothing from her. Her dark brown skin made his Asian skin look pale. The drugs she'd chosen were violent and swift. She wanted to be taken hard and quickly. A part of him recognized it almost clinically but the rest of him wanted it so badly that he swept into the moment without compromise. She fiercely climaxed once, then twice, then again before she let him peak. Then she swapped the positions so she could lie on top of him, her head resting on his chest, perspiration dripping onto his flesh to mingle with his.

  She was so quiet he thought she had fallen asleep. But she finally roused herself and moved to whisper in his ear.

  "I can trust you, Mak?" Then stared into his eyes.

  He gave her a small smile and a slight nod. She smiled back in return. But it was fleeting, replaced with a grim stare as if she was trying to plumb his soul. She seemed to struggle with her decision, then sighed. Her barriers fell. He could feel her tension ebbing away.

  "Something is happening on the X, the whole fleet. I don't know what it is. There are two missions going on, I'm positive." The drug's effects made her voice sound sleepy, though her eyes still sparkled. The drug only enhanced, the desire had to be there to begin with. That's what he told himself. He was still breathless from the effect. "I think that some of the crew is involved. I just don't know who. I'm pretty sure Suth is no
t. I think the Soldiers have some other mission as well. I don't think they know. Something about the command structure is wrong. I can't place my finger on it. There are meetings between commanders, messages are being sent over encrypted channels deliberately circumventing security. Or security is involved"

  "The Kyrzal have infiltrated us?"

  "I don't know." She looked worried. More worried than he had ever seen her. "I don't think so. It's got something to do with the Academy."

  He couldn't help but notice the Academy lapel pin on her discarded uniform.

  "Yes, I know." Her fingers traced the gold of the small pin in the shape of a star, the symbol of the Academy. She frowned at the metal she shined every day. "It's not all grads. In fact, I'm fairly sure it's only a small minority."

  "You think Suth's involved?"

  "No," she said emphatically. "I just can't, won't, go to him with something that's so nebulous. There'll be a time and place for everything."

  "Does Gold Ghost have something to do with it?"

  She shrugged. Her body was mature and expressive, muscular and experienced. It intertwined around him in this tiny bed, sticky, sweaty, keeping him aroused. She stroked and caressed him in a distracted manner, the Aphro hardly having any effect on her anymore. He drank in her dark perfume trying to concentrate. The buzz from his Aphro was only just starting to fade.

  "Nothing definitive. There was a pulse in the number of communiqu?s but then they