Anna and the Three Generals by Suzanne Graham

mate. Not that the designation necessarily meant anything, but as the youngest of the men and the last to receive his third star, he hated to be in third place as mate as well.
    He checked the navigation panel for an update on his status—only two hundred more kilometers until his rendezvous with his intended’s mate’s transporter. They were meeting on the outskirts of Fourth Quadrant to take the runabout onboard the larger ship before entering the General’s home turf as a complete foursome, better for protecting Anna. He was sure that was Vadim’s only motive, but Marco was glad to be reunited with her sooner rather than later. He wanted to be at her side when they entered their new home together.
    It was obvious as he’d organized his security force and took inventory of the damages in First Quadrant that he couldn’t bring Anna back there. Not for the foreseeable future. The scientific sectors were nearly leveled, but surprisingly few deaths or even injuries had been reported. He’d only gotten shot in the arm because he’d surprised one of the terrorists as the man had been running from the scene of a bombing. The terrorist had actually looked remorseful for shooting at Marco.
    He didn’t think the terrorists could have caused any more damage with less loss of lives if they’d tried. It made him wonder if the rumors he’d heard were true. Were the terrorists really only targeting places and things and not people? He’d heard the propaganda that extolled the Open Air Society as a force of revolutionaries, rather than terrorists. They fashioned themselves after the ancient militia of the American Revolution. As an avid fan of history, Marco couldn’t help but note some similarities between the Society’s dissatisfaction with their lack of voice on the Council and the ancient Colonists’ protests against England’s taxation without representation. Could the Open Air Society really be fighting for a just cause?
    Marco shook the thought from his head. Lack of sleep was causing his brain to take irrational leaps. He set the chronometer alarm for fifteen ticks. Nothing like a quick combat nap to reset his brainwaves.
    Shutting his eyes, he pictured Anna spread before him on a silk covered mattress, naked and glowing with her need for him, which made it practically impossible for him to shut down his brain, but he managed at least five ticks of sleep before the chronometer’s alarm sounded.
    * * * *
    “He’s approaching,” Kojo announced with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm from his seat in the pilot’s chair.
    Anna leaned over his broad shoulder, scanning the displays on the control panel in front of her, looking for the one that would show her Marco’s runabout. But she’d never taken flight courses; her studies had been intensely focused on the biological sciences. In fact, she’d never spent much time in flight. After this past day airborne, she was yearning to learn more about the science of flight and the mechanics of the machines that flew.
    “Which screen are you looking at, Kojo?” she finally asked when the data before her didn’t arrange itself into translatable knowledge after she’d been studying it for several moments.
    Kojo tapped a datapad to his right near the communications console’s empty seat, and Anna narrowed her eyes as she tried to sort out the numbers and letters flashing across the screen. After five ticks, she still had no clue about the key to unlocking the data.
    “So, we must be close to Vadim’s Quadrant. Should we wake him?” she asked. When Kojo and Anna had returned to the bridge this afternoon, Vadim had agreed to grab a nap and leave the transporter in Kojo’s capable hands.
    “No need. We’re still eight hundred kilometers from Fourth Quadrant.”
    “Close enough that I should be on hand.” Vadim’s voice behind Anna made her jump.
    She spun around to face him. “Did you sleep well?”
    “Well enough.” He strode the few paces to the communications