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“Careful,” I teased, once I caught my breath. “We can't be too noisy out here.”
He withdrew and set my feet on the ground. I leaned against the rock for support while my legs were still shaking. I pulled my skirt down, doing my best to smooth out the wrinkles. I was gladit was night or someone could probably take a good look at my wrinkled wardrobe and figure out what I'd been up to.
Seeing as how Rone and I would soon be strolling out of the Procyon desert to get to our ship, they’d figure it out anyway. “Should we turn our com links back on?”
“I suppose.” Rone was buttoned up again, looking pristine in his uniform. I should have had my outfit made in the same space age fabric. He pressed the button on his own com link at his wrist. “As much as I’d like to linger, it’s back to business.”
“Which is?”
“First, we return to HQ for a week to maintain and restock the ship. Then we head out to visit two moon bases and two planets in the solar system, including Racopia for a coronation.”
A tour of four interplanetary stops. I was certain to need wrinkle-resistant clothing for this trip.
He held out his hand. “Ready?”
I gave one last look at the beautiful star-filled night on Procyon. Then I took his hand. “The life of an overlord and an ambassador of Earth is never dull.”
I walked beside him back towards the space hub, wondering what new adventures and faces this trip would bring.
Chapter Two
RONE
One month later
Our interplanetary tour was delayed by a few weeks, but there was no time for Cammie and me to even think about taking a break. As soon as our ship landed back on Xaxos , I received word that the renegade Quareks organized a skirmish on one of the western outposts. After making sure Cammie was safe and well in our home at headquarters, I deployed with my troops to break up the fighting.
We spent three weeks in the field, rooting out the renegades. Towards the end of the campaign, I sustained an injury from a Quarek’s laser rifle: a flesh wound to the ribcage.
Perhaps it was more than a flesh wound because a rib or two was fractured. I had worse in my lifetime. Still, my medic Bhesur advised me to give it time to heal.
“No strenuous activity for at least one month,” he warned, after forcing me to wear a bind on top of the bandaged wound. “With all due respect, commander, cuts and scrapes heal fast on your species but fractured bones take longer just like the rest of us.”
I didn’t like the idea of sitting idle while I had work to do. “I’ll rest during the first leg of the interplanetary tour.”
Even that didn’t satisfy the medic. “No strenuous activity for a month. That goes for off-duty, too.”
I knew what he meant. I'd already spent three weeks away from Cammie, and it would be another week before I returned to her at HQ. Now I was supposed to spend another four weeks with her on this trip and not make love to her? Thirty days without touching her sunlight-infused brown skin and enjoying her long legs wrapped around me? Nonsense.
These injured ribs of mine would simply have to bear it.
