Exit Strategy (Tales Of The Citadel #58)(16)

Yna set her cup down. “Administrator?”

“Yes, Specialist?”

“When can I go?”

Veera smiled. “The shuttle is waiting. It will take you there and help you connect with him. Do you need anything?”

“Five minutes in medical. I need the wedding marks.”

“He’s waiting with the program. Go, and for the love of all that’s holy, have a proper wedding night for your own sake.”

Veera flapped her hand and dismissed Yna. Fixit raised his wings and screeched.

It was a vociferous dismissal if ever there was one.





Ahlgos and the others hunkered down, unwilling to injure the locals, even with the bombardment of artillery around them.

He sat back and looked at the scientists from four different worlds who had come to help with the blight. “I am afraid that this isn’t good.”

“Have you heard from the Sector Guard?”

He shook his head. “We respected the request for radio silence that Jurata requested. They blew up my shuttle, so we are on our own.”

The rocking blasts were getting closer. His cover of vines and brush was not going to last much longer.

Two days on Jurata had been normal, and then, everything had begun to go to hell. Now, two weeks in, he wished that he had told Yna that he had tried to follow the ship that she had been taken away on the first time he saw her. His superiors had his own men haul him off to see how far the corruption went. It had turned out, Peacekeepers had been bribed to look the other way and encourage trafficking, but her life had nearly been the true price.

He had fallen in love at first sight; her defiant expression had tugged at his heart. The fury he felt when she was taken away was genuine and agonizing. Even learning that she had survived had its own pain. She had hated him and blamed him. While he was fairly sure that her emotions had turned a corner, he had never heard it from her lips.

That was something he was really going to miss.

An explosive charge got much closer to their position, but it was something else that made the walls shudder.

He watched as the dirt wall bowed toward them before it broke. A muddy face with a bright smile emerged from the hole.

He wasn’t sure what he was seeing, but he pulled Yna from the ground and kissed her heartily.





Yna enjoyed the kiss for a moment before pulling back. “Dude, I made a hole. It is reinforced and should last for a few hours. Let’s go, and we can discuss our relationship and just how much I have missed you in the shuttle home after we drop off your scientists.”

The scientists were all for it. They were in the hole and moving as fast as they could toward the other end.

Yna gestured for him to precede her, and when he hesitated, she winked. “I just want to admire the butt that I am saving, now move!”

The shelling continued, so they got moving.



Two hours of dirt, collected energy supports, and staring at Ahlgos’s butt later, they were on a hillside near where she had landed her shuttle.

It was sealed, but there was an exploration party heading straight for it. She did what any woman would do. She formed her Masuo into a blade, and she ran toward the men, screaming and waving her weapon.

Her feint got the scientists to her shuttle and scared the scouting party over the hill. With a grin, she shifted her suit to a frictionless surface, and she slid down the hill to her shuttle.

They got inside and sealed the door as the first shots were fired.

Humming to herself, Yna ignored the explosions and got to the pilot’s seat. She took off calmly as if the air wasn’t filled with deadly particles trying to break her ship apart.

She got them out of the atmosphere and made her report.

“Six scientists and one Guardsman, ready for deposit at the debriefing station. I am jumping to a safe location, so confirm the destination when you can.”

She set the ship for the nearest jump point and went to look at her passengers.

She did a head count and confirmed that she had six plus one. When she finished that bit of math, she grabbed her plus one and kissed him soundly.

“Um, Guardsman Ahlgos? Who is this young woman? Is she another Guardsman?” One of the scientists seemed to need to know who was molesting their guardian.

“Ah, Dr. Himian, this is my wife, Yna.”

Yna grinned, “Pleased to meet you. Pardon my affection, but we are newlyweds, and he was sent out here the day after we got back from our wedding. This isn’t the type of circumstance one normally envisions.”

Ahlgos wrapped his arms around her waist. “I will take you any way I can find you.”

She smiled. “I am very glad. We have some things to discuss, but this isn’t the venue.”

He paused and stroked her forehead and brow. “You have the wedding marks.”

“Well, I intend to remain married to you indefinitely, so we need to figure out how this works. Wearing the marks seemed a good second step.”

He blinked. “What was the first step?”

She grinned. “Marrying you. I thought it was the best place to start.”

He laughed, and the scientists looked sheepish and pleased at what they were witnessing. It was more affection than most horticulture involved.

Yna sighed. “Now, let’s wash up and have something hot to eat. I am pretty sure that it will be an excellent use of our time.”