Free Wanted: White Russian by Marteeka Karland

here than just our lives. I'm not sure of exactly everything going on, but what I did see was horribly wrong. I'd be less than human if I let you do this alone, and neither of us could live a contented life if we simply turned a blind eye." She 71

    Wanted: White Russian
    by Marteeka Karland
    clutched him to her then, and Yuri felt all the ferocity her reputation painted for her. "You're not leaving me behind while you go off to battle when I can help you. I refuse to let you, and if you even think of trying, just remember what I did to the one guy who tried to jack me."
    Yuri couldn't help himself. He chuckled and hugged her closer. "Well, I guess that's that. I'm pretty content with my balls just where they are."
    "Quite," she said, and her breathing evened out, and Yuri knew she slept.
    Whatever fates, whatever gods had seen fit to grace his life with Tiressa, he owed a great debt. He only hoped that, by helping the remaining people of Deblin 4, he could begin to repay that debt.
    With great care, he slipped from their bed and went to his desk to begin planning. They only had a few hours left, and he had to make doubly sure that every detail was covered.
    She insisted on going, and that was fine. But he'd make damned sure the planning was flawless.
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    72

    Wanted: White Russian
    by Marteeka Karland

Chapter Eight
    Tiressa held the stick with a white-knuckled grip. The plan had not gone as it was supposed to. The Consolidation ships hadn't even glanced at their decoy, but had gone straight after her and Yuri. Thanks to the modifications Yuri's team had made to the freighter, it had more spunk than the average cargo ship, but it wasn't a fighter. Even if it had been, Tiressa wasn't a fighter pilot.
    She did her best to follow Yuri's commands, but the damned ship was just too sluggish to fly like the smaller, more maneuverable escort ships. Thank goodness the others had seen their folly and rushed to offer their protection, but things were not going well. At best, they'd land the cargo ship, let her board Yuri's craft, then head back to base. At worst, they'd all die. And quite soon, from the looks of things.
    Sparks and fire engulfed her ship as she entered the upper atmosphere. Her plan was to hide in the chaos that came with planet reentry and adjust her course so that she emerged somewhere other than where they thought she was supposed to. They had maintained strict radio silence except to state the obvious. The operation was F.U.B.A.R. From there, they had to rely on instinct and familiarity. The first, Tiressa had plenty of. The second? Well, she didn't know the others well enough. So she simply kept her eyes on Yuri and hoped she could follow his lead well enough to keep them all from getting killed.
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    Wanted: White Russian
    by Marteeka Karland
    Fortunately, they seemed to follow her lead and stayed in tight formation around her. Any adjustment she made was minor and gradual while they were in the entry window.
    Hopefully it would be enough to move them several hundred miles from where they should have been, and away from their original target.
    That was Tiressa's primary concern. She didn't want the Consolidation to find where the last band of resistance was.
    They were the only thing left of the planet's once dense population.
    It wasn't long before the flames cleared and they flew through a thick hedge of clouds and fog. Thank goodness they had planned this run under cloud cover, because that would give them a few extra minutes. Flying in such close quarters, hopefully anything the Consolidation picked up would look like a flock of birds.
    Minutes later, she was going through her landing checklist as the ship cruised much faster than she liked toward the cover of the forest surrounding their target destination. She struggled to land the craft smoothly and considered herself lucky she only bounced once before coming to a standstill.
    She hoped she hadn't knocked over any trees, because