The officers stared at each otherfor a tense moment, then the reptilian officer said, “I step down.It’s your scrawny human neck if Samrat Condor doesn’t like yourdecision.”
“Take her back to her ship,”human officer said, glancing at the soldiers who’d brought herthere.
“Thank you,” Toemeka said tothe officer, lowering her head in respect. She was surprised todiscover that some of Samrat Condor’s officers were decent men. Shefollowed the soldiers to the hall, then asked, “Who was that creepyreptilian guy? I don’t like him.”
“General Gorgin. You’re luckyhe let you go,” the Hinto soldier said. He seemed to be the leaderof the four soldiers.
“Yeah, he looked like he wantedto eat me for dinner. You know, I still need fuel. Can you guys helpme out?”
He frowned. “I don’t thinkthere are any regulations against helping a civilian.”
“It’s the least we can do forher inconvenience and it might smooth things over with her father,”said one of the soldiers who had a short, stocky build.
“Great! By the way this ship ispretty cool. The biggest I’ve ever been on. How many men do youhave on it anyway?” she asked, hoping the question soundedinnocent.
“One hundred thousand men andit’s heavily fortified with all the latest equipment,” the stockysoldier said in a proud sounding voice. It carries ten thousand smallone-man fighters.”
“Wow! Is this like your bestship or something?”
“No, we’re part of a fleet ofeight battle aircraft just like this one, but there are ten total,”the Hinto soldier said. “We left two on planet Alandra. We have thepower to take over entire planets.”
“Impressive. That Condor guymust be nearly as rich as my dad.” She stopped abruptly. They hadreached her ship and some androids were searching it. “What arethey doing? Do they think I’m smuggling dope or something?”
The soldier nearest her laughed.“They aren’t concerned about that. They just want to be sureyou’re not involved in the war.”
“Me! The only thing interestingabout war is a lot of men gathered together in one place and I’vegot plenty of them at home.”
Once the androids finished theirsearch and replaced the ship’s energy cell, Toemeka was allowed toboard her ship. The disk under her ship rotated 180 degrees so hership faced the landing bay door. The soldiers left the bay and theexit door opened. She started the twin engines, beginning to shakenow that it was almost over, and flew toward freedom.
A few hours later, Toemekaspotted a Coalition starship and decided to land on it rather thancontinuing to the Coalition space station. She didn’t want to riskbeing pulled aboard another Raptor starship—she doubted her luckwould hold a second time. After receiving permission, she landed hership in a large landing bay filled with fighters.
Several soldiers approached herwhen she got off the ship. “Let’s see your ID,” one of themsaid, his eyes roving over her colorful flight suit and shiny highheeled boots.
She pulled off her helmet,revealing her striped violet, hot pink and chartreuse hair, irritatedby the way he was looking at her. “I’m on a mission so I’m onlycarrying a fake ID card.”
“Let’s see it.”
Annoyed at the delay, she handedhim the ID card. “Here, but it’s only a cover. I’ve broughtvaluable information. I demand to see your commanding officer.”
He scanned her ID card on asmall, handheld computer. “So you’re Felicia Alenzata.”
Toemeka snatched her ID crystalback, losing her patience. “I told you it’s fake! I’m here onofficial business from planet Borko. I’m Toemeka Kimes, ToemekaGanti up until a few months ago. I’m a Coalition intelligenceagent, so stop treating me like some mindless rich kid! I’m workingwith Major Erling Fenian who is in charge of the mission and iscurrently stationed in Borko.”
“Have you heard of this MajorFenian, Cliff?” the soldier asked.
“Nope, never heard of him orher. She sure doesn’t look like an agent to me—too young and shecould never fly a combat ship.”
“She’s definitely FeliciaAlenzata,” a third soldier said. “I’ve seen lots of photos ofher.”
“I’m not Felicia and I’llhave you know I can outfly any of you!” Toemeka exclaimed.
“We’d better search herbefore taking her to our superior,” the nearest soldier, saidignoring her outburst. “She could be armed. Felicia, raise yourarms and spread your legs.”
She stared at him, not about tocomply when he was treating her so rudely. He slid his hands underher arms. She brought the edges of her hands down and smashed theminto his arms, breaking his hold, then wrapped her leg around his andtripped him. He fell to the ground with a thud. Three other soldiersmoved in and pinned her against the ship, then searched her. “She’sclean,” one of the soldiers said.
“Release her,” a man said,coming over to them. Toemeka couldn’t see him, because he wasbehind the soldiers surrounding her, but the deep, smooth voice wasimpossible to mistake. Relief flooded through her—the voicebelonged to one of her close friends.
“I don’t think we should,sir. She put up a fight when we tried to search her.”
“Maybe you frightened her, nowmove.” The soldiers moved warily aside and Toemeka found herselflooking into Jake Navarro’s striking, dark blue eyes.
He looked stunned, then his facebroke into a grin. “Toemeka?” His voice sounded uncertain.
“Hi, Jake.”
He glanced at the soldiers.“She’s a field agent. Fun’s over. Get back to work.” Jake’seyes returned to Toemeka, then he closed the space between them andembraced her. “It’s good to see you, Tiger.”
“It’s been awhile,” shereplied. The smell of his cologne and familiar feel of being wrappedin his arms brought back a flood of memories. She stepped awkwardlyaway from him.
“Four months, two weeks andfive days, but who’s counting? I like the new look.”
“Don’t give me a hard time,Jake. This is my undercover disguise. I’m posing as FeliciaAlenzata.”
“Why are you risking your lifeby flying in a war zone on a civilian ship?”
“I’m reporting in after mylatest mission.”
They began walking toward a rowof tube cars. The smell of fuel and an edgy feeling of excitement anddanger permeated the place. She missed being part of it—doingsomething she believed in so strongly. She missed the adrenaline rushof leaving for a new mission.
“How have you been, Jake?”Toemeka knew he would have been at
