Burning Love [Flights of Fancy 1] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Read Free

mutinies from breaking out and spreading through the ship." Spence shrugged. "Fact is, we're here to protect the rest of the crew if something goes terribly wrong on one of these first contacts."
    "What, are there about fifty Marines aboard?"
    "Fifty-four counting me." He laughed. "Don't look so surprised. We wouldn't stand a chance against an entire planet, but we're here anyway. Maybe we can buy the skipper enough time to get off a warning message to Fleet."
    She blinked at him, amazed by the casual way Spence dismissed the situation. "That's a pretty fatalistic view."
    "It's a pretty fatalistic business." He clinked his glass of milk softly against hers. "Cheers."
     
    * * * *
     
    The tactical officer turned from the console. "Commander Harris, I'm detecting small weapons fire on the surface."
    Chris looked up from his paperwork. "Any threat to Daedalus ?"
    "No, Sir. It's all small stuff, handheld lasers and blasters." The officer paused for a moment, his face wrenched into a puzzled expression. "And something else strange. It looks like energy waves, but I see no hardware it could be coming from."
    "Show me the location, please." The officer worked the controls, and a map formed on the main bridge screen showing the fire concentrated to a fairly small area about eight kilometers southwest of the city. "Science, can you overlay life sign scans on that?"
    "Yes, Sir." The science officer typed a few commands, and two groups of dots appeared. "The red dots are the species from the city, and the green dots are the people living outside."
    "Thank you." Chris studied the display. The red dots clustered nearest the city and the green dots concentrated farther away. Traces on the display showed the groups of dots shooting at each other, blue for lasers, yellow for blasters, and the unknown energy weapons in silver. "What the fuck? Has anyone heard these people say they have a war going on?"
    No one answered him. He wondered how this would impact the planned descent by the diplomatic team in the morning, but there was no sense doing anything now. He logged the event, and made a note to himself to make sure the captain and the diplomats knew about it at the briefing.
     
    * * * *
     
    Star didn't like the sound of what Commander Harris saw on the sensors in the wee hours of the morning. It wasn't so much that they would be going into a war zone as it was the fact the Hendri had concealed something from them. In the radio discussions with the people from the city, there was mention of another species calling themselves the Rangor, but the Hendri diplomat she spoke with told her they were a primitive people who lived in the hills. No one said a thing about a war.
    From the furrows between the captain's eyes, she was at least as concerned about the events.
    "I'm not a diplomat, so I don't know how we should proceed." Captain Davis turned to face Star directly. "You need to tell me what to do next, Lieutenant."
    She had thought over how to proceed with the contact since finding out about the firefight on the planet and decided what she needed to do as leader of the diplomatic team. "I'd like to talk to Krell and get his side of the story, and then proceed with the landing, Captain." Star just wasn't sure it was the right thing to do.
    "Are you sure about that? It could be dangerous down there."
    "I know that, Ma'am, believe me. I think I can get a good feel for what's going on by talking to Krell, and I'll know even better after I meet him in person." Over the last couple of days, she'd built what she thought was a good rapport with Krell, the Hendri diplomat.
    "Commander Harris and I are combat officers, and we agree that the best thing to do is to get the righteous fuck out of here." The captain shrugged a little. "We can't guarantee the safety of the landing party."
    "I understand." Star thought for a moment. "How about if I talk to him, and we decide what to do next after that?"
    "It can't hurt anything talking. The ship is in no