This was about that damned kiss? Ah, c’mon…
“Make it happen. If you can find those with the capability to embed with our cabals, then we will welcome a flank or two of personnel. And I mean if.” The High Commander stressed the final word.
“Naturally,” said the Envoy. “I’m confident it will be a beautiful blend.”
CHAPTER 4
The military camp outside the bus window looked exactly like the one where Liam had spent the last nine weeks, except for the Urilqii. The green and brown buildings, green and brown vehicles, personnel in green and brown uniforms lent a similar feeling to the situation. Other than the flag that displayed an alien camel spider, it could have been just another Army camp anywhere on this globe.
Not a camel spider, he reminded himself. Basic Training blended with culture sensitivity training had given him the name for the beast. It was called an E’ssennet. And yeah, just as he’d assumed, it was one bad-ass critter. According to the information texts, it owned the ground on the Urilqii home planet, thereby forcing the Urilqii into the trees as they evolved.
Yeah, Gorgeous Mike was fundamentally a mammal with a really fine ass, he noted to himself. In fact, that ass was so fine Liam found himself looking outside the window, not for a glimpse of the Urilqii camp buildings, but for a glimpse of his dance partner. After all, that was the main reason he was on this bus.
No need to lie, least of all to himself.
The bus shuddered to a stop and exhaled with a hard cough.
The driver opened the side door and exited, taking the three small steps with an easy clatter of his boots. He headed for a near-by building. After a moment, when no one was there to oversee them, the bus full of volunteers began to squirm, turning this way and that as they gaped at the sights outside.
A flight of mechanized vehicles boomed over their heads.
Everyone lunged from the other side of the bus to his side as they attempted to trace the fast path of the unfamiliar airplanes overhead. Liam found himself shoved up against the window by another guy equally pressed into the space by some other dude.
The uniform tag said “Goodard.”
Three deep, and no one was going anywhere fast.
He exchanged a nod with the guy. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Goodard replied.
Liam would have offered to shake his hand if both of his hadn’t been squashed between his chest and the bottom of the window frame.
“Sinclair,” he said instead and tried not to breathe into the other guy’s face.
A smile transformed Goodard’s expression into something way more pleasant.
“Jace,” said Goodard. “You’re familiar. You’re that guy, aren’t you?”
Liam felt his cheeks warm. “That Guy” had been the worldwide term for him since his moment of passion at Paradiso.
“That Guy” was something he didn’t expect to ever leave behind.
“Liam,” he corrected. “Good to meet you, Jace.”
Jace huffed out a laughed. Liam caught the scent of peppermint on the guy’s breath. After a moment, Jace spoke again.
“I suppose it’s no surprise you volunteered to be tested for embedded status,” he said.
The bus rocked and thumps on the steps sounded as someone boarded it. Liam couldn’t see who it was because of the forest of heads that blocked his vision, but he recognized the voice when it shouted a command.
“Get back into your seats, maggots!”
That was Drill Instructor Jackson, or “DI Jackass” behind his back.
Bodies shuffled, the pressure eased, and Jace moved back across the isle with a departing slap to his shoulder. Liam was once again alone in a seat, but he was getting used to it. After all, he was “That Guy,” right?
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell had nothing on him. Hell, was it possible to be any more out of the closet than he was? It was about as possible as him being a volunteer.
No one had cracked rulers over his knuckles to get him to sign his name on the dotted line. When the whispers of an embedded platoon had traveled through the ranks, he hadn’t jumped on the idea. His version of “volunteered” had been three members of brass tromping over to him at the mess hall and leveling sausage-thick index fingers into his face.
“You. You’re with us,” barked the one with the most ribbons on his chest.
And that had been that, but Liam had gotten used to the idea.
He even began to like the idea once he’d been informed he was headed for the camel-spider company—er, the Urilqii E’ssennet Company—where his gorgeous dance partner was assigned.
Sergeant Mike, the First Sergeant of the unit based in the Pacific Northwest, whom he’d labeled Gorgeous, had haunted his dreams nightly and starred in plenty of hand-job scenarios since that dance. Every time that amazingly handsome face had shown up on the Basic Training videos, Liam’s mouth had dried, his heart had stuttered, and his cock had gone rock hard.
Mike had kissed him back, brazenly, unashamedly, and so very publicly! Liam wanted more of those kisses. He also wanted more of that beyond erotic cologne in his nose. Endlessly more.
“Fall out!” roared DI Jackass before he preceded them off the bus.
Liam and the rest of the busload of soldiers stood and filed off the vehicle in an orderly manner beneath the glaring stink-eye of Jackass. God forbid anyone embarrass the DI by acting badly.
They’d been warned ahead of time to mind their manners and watch their asses.
The volunteers formed into a disciplined rectangle formed of three long lines, endured an inspection, and pretended not to notice the arrival of a Urilqii base representative. Liam stood strong as DI Jackass and the Urilqii exchanged salutes, and locked knees against the urge to run after the bus as it drove off with Jackass alone.
This was new territory for everyone, both for the platoon and for this planet.
It was alien territory.
Embedded, like the journalists of past conflicts to “oversee
