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It took him a moment to form the words.
"Unless you'd like me to stay on Earth while you're running around sector 12," she said with a wink.
He was due to take command of SOLAR Team 4 in a couple of days and Naval Special Warfare Group One was based at Citadel Firestorm.
"You've been sitting on this for the last month and a half?" he finally managed.
"No." Maylene kissed him on the cheek. "Your friend—the Fleet Admiral—sent me a voice packet last week and 'suggested' I take this billet. That is, unless you want me to beat you to admiral."
Eric let out a joyous laugh and pulled his wife closer. One hand cupped her breast. The other went down between her legs.
"Mmmmmm, you do that so well," she cooed in his ear.
"I've had lots of practice," he replied softly.
Maylene bit her lip as Eric's hand massaged her clit. He couldn't feel it, but she was slick with excitement. Her husband's cum that was leaking out of her didn't hurt either.
She started to buck her hips against his hand.
"Right there," she gasped as he continued to rub her button.
She was close. Her breathing was ragged.
"Oh, god . . . oh, Eric," Maylene moaned. "That feels . . . so . . . so . . . What the hell?!?"
Eric stopped suddenly and stood. He caught Maylene before she fell and took her in his arms.
She looked into his eyes and saw faintly mischievous laughter. She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled up against his neck as Eric carried her inside to the bed.
The covers had been thrown off the night before. He set her down and took her in with his eyes.
Then he pushed her back. His weight was on top of her and she reveled in the feeling. They kissed eagerly.
Maylene spread her legs with anticipation. She felt his hips push forward and the tip of his cock rubbed against her sex.
Both continued to grind until he found the moist opening to her pussy. She broke their kiss long enough to squeal with delight.
Eric let out a feral grunt when he bottomed out. Their bodies pressed together.
"That feels so good," Maylene purred. "I love the way you fill me up."
"I'm going to fill you with cum," he growled, pulling back so only his head was still inside her.
"Oh, god, Eric," she gasped as he thrust inside her. "Fuck me!"
He didn't reply. Instead he pulled back, only to ram his cock back inside her.
Maylene threw her head back and moaned in ecstasy.
Building a steady rhythm, Eric made love to his wife. He alternated between hard, fast strokes and slow, deep ones.
When he felt her hands ball up into fists he knew she was close. So was he.
She arched her back to take as much of him inside her as she could. Her eyes were closed. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she pulled him close.
"I'm about to . . ." he groaned through clenched teeth.
"Yes . . . Yes! . . . Cum inside me!" she implored. "Cum all over me!"
Eric pulled his hips back and then thrust forward into her. Maylene let out an ear-splitting scream and he felt her pussy fill with hot cum.
His cock pulsed as they came together.
Neither of them moved, but their orgasms seemed to go on forever.
He could hear the blood pounding through his veins. He could hear her heart pounding, and not because he had his cyberneticly-enhanced hearing turned on.
Finally, Eric collapsed into her arms, his spent cock still inside her. The only sounds in the cabin were their ragged breaths.
They kissed each other gently for a long time.
"I love you, Eric," she whispered.
He bit her neck, right behind her ear. "I love you, too, May."
"So you won't mind having me around if I take the sky boss billet?"
"If I get to wake up with you every morning, no," he replied with a laugh. "But I'm warning you: living with a SOLAR isn't easy. Especially me."
"I think I'll manage," there was a slight teasing in her voice. "Remember, I outrank you, mister."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied mockingly. He leaned in to steal one more kiss. Then his voice became serious. "The Team I'm taking over—Team 4—got beat up pretty bad on their last deployment. I've got some good SOLARs, but a lot of new kids . . . I'm going to have to train their asses off . . . You may not see much of me for a while."
"Sweetheart," her hand went under his chin, and turned him so he was looking into her mechanical blue eyes. "Any chance to see you is better than the last year. I'll take whatever I can get. But you have to promise me something."
"Anything, my love."
"Promise you'll come home to me."
He leaned down and kissed her. "I promise."
Of course, deep down, both knew that was one promise he might not be able to keep. He lived a dangerous life. So did she, as her injuries were sure to attest. However, Eric's lifestyle was imminently more hazardous, and they both knew it. He also knew that if he was ever in the field, all thoughts of home and family had to be pushed aside. In combat, stray thoughts almost always led to death.
But in this moment, that didn't matter. Those were the words she needed to hear and he needed to say.
They held each other for a long time over the next couple of days before packing up their things and setting the cleaning robot loose on the cabin. Then it was back to the war.
*************************
"My god, these kids get younger and younger, don't they, Master Chief?" Commander Burke said quietly, surveying the room.
"That they do, sir," Master Chief McDaniel replied.
They were watching the group from behind a one-way mirror. The Team was one of the few that was operating at its full authorised strength: 96 platoon SOLARs, a 5 member command team and a staff of 12.
"How many virgins have we got?"
"Thirty-five, sir," the old veteran replied. "Remember the days when that was two classes at BUD/S?"
"Only because you made some many of us quit," Burke snorted.
"I didn't make anyone quit, sir," the other man flashed a wicked grin. "But God knows I tried to get you to ring that bell."
"You should have tried harder, 'Instructor' McDaniel." For just a moment, the two flashed back to an earlier time in their lives. Before the war. Before they buried so many of their comrades. When McDaniel's job was to weed out those who didn't have the makings of a special operator and Burke was a smart-assed kid who couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Let's do this."
Along with three other SOLARs, the pair strode out of the small office at the back of the small auditorium.
"Attention on deck!" someone called.
The hundred or so people in the room snapped to their feet and fell silent. Burke, who could walk without making a sound if he wanted, made a point to step heavily, the sounds of his boots breaking up the stillness of the room.
He set his jaw and held his head high. Commander Burke projected confidence. Leadership. Within the special warfare community, his reputation spoke for him, but he wanted those under his command to fell his presence. They were in a serious business, and he wanted everyone to understand where they stood with him.
With a few swift steps, he ascended the dais and took the podium.
"As you were." The audience sat. The other four people with him took their places on the stage. "Welcome to SOLAR Team 4. For those of you who served under Commander Harper, it's good to have you back. Everyone in this room is here because I want you here. If I don't know you personally, I know your reputation. There are no half-asses in here. If you decide to become one while with Team 4, I will see you gone. If we are in the field when you decide to slack off, I will shoot you myself . . ."
The welcome speech was half pep talk and half scare tactic. He introduced his command staff: the Team's command master chief, the executive officer, the operations officer and the operations senior chief.
Scattered about the crowd were Juggs and Bunny from Team 6, a handful of men and women he knew from previous assignments or even from his own BUD/S class, but mostly they were strangers. Youngsters who had no idea what lay in front of them. They were the best and brightest of the Terran Space Navy and some of the most capable special operators in the galaxy.
And Commander Burke knew many of them weren't going to make it home.
"Rule number one: Don't lie, don't cheat, don't steal," Burke continued. "I shouldn't have to say this, but I will, just to go on record. Every one in this room is going to fuck up. If you do, come clean about it, take your lumps and we'll move on. If you screw something up, tell someone. We can fix mistakes. We learn from mistakes. We can work with you and make sure it doesn't happen again. That's why we train—and believe me, we are going to train until your arms fall off—we train to eliminate mistakes so when the missiles start flying for real, everyone comes home."
He surveyed the room, trying to make eye contact with as many of the SOLARs as possible. "But if you cover something up. . . . If you try and hide something because you think it might look bad on your next fit rep . . . If you lie to me or one of your officers, that's when people die. Liars and cheaters and thieves are liabilities, and I will not have anyone on my Team who is a liability."
There were murmurs of assent from around the room.
"Rule number two: Give one hundred percent." Burke said. "Put out for me and I will go to bat for you every time. Slack off or sandbag, and I put your ass in a sling and shoot it into a star. We are in a war, and holding back will get you and your Teammates killed. If you are having problems at home—money, spouse, kids, whatever—see your chief or your platoon officers and we will help you take care of it. When we go out in the field, you are on my time, and we don't need distractions that can be taken care of beforehand. If you are not willing to give everything you've got for your platoon, you need to turn in your shooting star and go home."
He looked around one more time.
"Rule number three: Watch out for each other." There was some extra gravity to his voice. "When you go in to combat, you must trust the people next to you. They must trust you. Do noteverlet your Teammates down. You might fail in your mission. But you will not ever fail the people in this room. I will ask you to go on missions which have long odds. I will sometimes ask you to do things that seem crazy. But know this: I will never ask you to do anything that I am not willing to do myself, nor will I leave any of you behind."
Burke paused a second to let that sink in.
"The officers and chiefs of SOLAR Team 4 willneverlet you down. This is my pledge to you. We will provide you with the best training, the best equipment, the best intelligence and the best leadership. The rest is up to you. Look around this room. Look at the person on your right and on your left. Their lives are in your hands. If they cannot trust you, and if you cannot trust them with your life, you need to request a transfer right now and I will put you in a nice safe billet somewhere back on Earth."
No one took him up on the offer.
"I intend for this to be the finest SOLAR Team in the Navy. Do not disappoint me."
Burke sat down. The Master Chief said a few words, followed by a short orientation by the XO. Then it was off to meetings with the officers and platoon chiefs.
He didn't know which he hated worse: getting shot at or all the paperwork. But a part of him felt like he was home.
*************************
Two months later.
"Sir, why don't they just nuke us from orbit?" asked one of the Marines. His visor was up, revealing his boyish face.
Lieutenant O'Connell took a second to think of his name. The stencils on the kid's helmet had long since worn off.Atkinson. Left over from the 3rd Marine Division.
"Because we're sitting on one of the largest terraforming stations on the continent," he replied. "And no one wants to rebuild these things. They'd rather send troops down and take them one at a time. Besides, our air defense guns would get any nukes they tried to drop on us from orbit."
"Are reinforcements coming?" the boy asked.
"That's what they tell me," the lieutenant replied. "There were two AD turrets in the last drop and Colonel Frazier is sending another company from Omicron Station."
"I mean from off-planet, sir," Atkinson said softly.
O'Connell put on his best reassuring smile. "They're coming, son. Marines never leave their own."
He clapped the young Marine on the shoulder. He walked away, afraid the young man might see the doubt in his own eyes.
The station buzzed with activity. On the surface, the Marines were safe from the Federation fleet's beam weapons, which were easily diffused by the planet's atmosphere. Missiles were also not much of an issue, as long as the air defense turrets were operational.
A ground assault was more likely, although at this station they had enough air cover to deter all but the most serious assaults. Every now and then the Feds staged a raid or probed their defenses, but they seemed to be holding back. At least for now.
If not for the war, Iridin wouldn't be that bad a place to live, O'Connell once thought to himself. The atmosphere was breathable and the gravity was just a shade under Earth's. The temperature was a little low but the terraforming stations were bringing that up. About half the surface was covered by oceans. The other half was rocky, but slowly being taken over by the plants and trees transported in from Earth.
A few lichens on land and a handful of small fishes in the seas were the most advanced lifeforms indigenous to the planet. So why were they fighting over it?
The fact that it was inhabitable for one. That was another reason why no one was in a rush to use nukes. Why turn a livable planet into a radioactive mudball if you don't have to? It was also loaded with metals and ores. Unlike other planets which had vast colonisation potential, Iridian was one big mine, and the atmosphere made working there safer than mining asteroids in space.
The other planet was the system's real gem. Mombar was where people wanted to live, and for the time being the Federation was sending troops and ships there. But they couldn't let the Alliance have a base this close; that's why these Marines were holding Iridian.
O'Connell walked through the maze of underground tunnels finally reaching the command center. The massive holotank in the middle of the room showed the planet, ringed by a blockade of Alliance warships. A mix of blue and red areas on the surface showed the territory controlled by the Alliance and the Federation.
The red portion was getting bigger with each week as the Federation brought in more troops and more ships. At first they thought this was a feint, meant to draw the Federation away from another target. But now, almost six months into the campaign, it was apparent that this was the big push into sector 12.
The Alliance ground forces had retreated to the major terraforming stations or to their undersea bases. They managed a few raids but were mostly fighting a defensive war.
Supplies came in irregularly. The Federation managed to blockade most of the planet, but couldn't cover it all. Some fresh troops were landed, but only the most seriously wounded were taken off. The dead were buried where they fell.
"How's it going, Bill?" Major Nakamura offered him a cup of coffee.
"Not so good, sir," he replied. "They hit one of our AD guns this morning and I don't know that we have the parts to fix it. I've got a mobile battery there right now, but if that goes down, too, almost half of the northeast quadrant will be exposed."
They looked over at General Kravchenko, who was staring blankly at the holotank.
"How are things here?" O'Connell asked so no one else could hear.
"The old man's starting to slip," the other man replied. "He's talking less and less. I don't think he expected to be left out here for this long with no relief in sight."
"None?"
The dark look in Nakamura's eyes told him everything. "Echo station fell this morning. Some of them got out, but most of the 35th Marines were killed or taken prisoner."
"Is there any good news?"
"Yeah, the Cubs won the pennant," Nakamura managed to smile.
"That leaves . . . what? . . . Eight stations?" O'Connell thought for a second.
"Ten, if you count Seabase Alpha and Glacier Station Zebra."
"They're chipping away at us one at a time," he finished his coffee and crumpled his cup into a ball.
"Mm-hmmm," the major replied. "And we're next. We shouldn't have sent the 2/28 to Emerald River. Right now, we're the weakest station on the planet and the Feds know it."
*************************
Four months later.
Maylene rolled over the blinked her eyes a couple of times. It took a second for them to activate. The screen across the room was on. Eric was sitting in front of it. She turned up the magnification on her eyes, first looking to see if the report was rated Secret or better.
There was a crease in his brow and a scowl on his face.
He heard her stirring and turned, his gaze softening.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Did I wake you?"
"No," she lied. She sat up, unconsciously drawing the sheet around her body. Maylene looked him over and saw new lines around his eyes. Each day it seemed there were some more grey hairs at his temples. The burden of command was catching up to him. She knew he hated to send his "kids" out into the field without him. He thought he was made to be a platoon leader, living in the mud with his SOLARs, not sitting in a command center a star system away. "It's killing you, isn't it?"
Eric let out a deep sigh. This was a side no one in the Teams ever saw. Just as Maylene never knew the steely-eyed killer caged deep within her husband, the SOLARs never saw this face: the broken-hearted man who wrote letters of condolence to husbands, wives, mothers, fathers and children, or the worried parent who stayed up waiting to hear how each mission went, and who winced every time the voice on the speaker cried, "I'm hit!"
"I lost two more kids last night," he whispered.
Not, "two guys bought it this morning" or "we had two casualties".
Ilost them.
As if he were responsible for them individually. Maylene heard the stories about Eric from BUD/S and from his platoon time in the Teams. She read his IKC citation and had been there when he was presented the medal. The ribbons on his chest weren't just for show, and they weren't for good conduct or joint service. They weren't even earned. They were bought. There was a price to pay for each one, and often that currency was blood.
She knew he took the safety of his entire Team personally. It was what made him the kind of leader men and women would follow to the Gates of Hell because they knew he would bring each of them back.
And it was what was going to burn him out.
Maylene got out of bed and walked over behind her husband. She put her arms around him. He turned his head and kissed her gently.
"Come back to bed," she whispered. The chrono read 0433. They would be getting up soon anyway.
He knew he couldn't do his Team any good, but it was still hard for him. He sighed, then flipped the screen off. Maylene took his hand and led him through the darkness to the bed.
Maylene lay on her back and pulled Eric close. His head was on her shoulder. She ran her mechanical hands through his hair. Her fake fingernails gently raked his back.
A few minutes later, she felt his body twitch a couple of times and his breathing became slow and regular. Still she held him, knowing what always came on nights like this.
Soon enough, he cried out softly. His speech was incomprehensible, as it always was. But she knew what it meant. His breaths came in short, ragged spurts. He curled up into a ball, his arms and legs—especially the one that was still flesh and blood—sometimes jerking wildly.
