Fusion (Crimson Romance) Read Online Free

and one woman. Before going in we’ll have to come up with some different story than planned.”
    She sipped more water and nodded for him to go ahead with his explanation. Whatever “going in” meant, it didn’t sound like her idea of fun.
    “About three clicks past the oasis, a pleasure cruiser has landed on the surface. She’s called the Venus and she’s now officially listed as a Condorian haven. One of our enemy’s commanding officers took her over as his base of operations. He did this while his ground forces slaughtered ours.”
    “Sir, how do you know all this, or should I ask?”
    He gazed into her face for one long moment. “If you’re captured out here, you’ll need that spare round in my laser. I’ll need one too. We can’t be forced into talking.”
    “I-I understand,” Lyra insisted when he hesitated.
    Soldar continued. “The woman who owns the pleasure ship is an allied spy. Her name is Aigean Florn. She saw most of her family decimated by Condorian raiders while running a brothel on Taurus Stellar. The allies managed to save two granddaughters. They are being protecting on my home world of Craetoria. She figures she owes us.”
    Lyra nodded. “If Condorian commanding officers are on the Venus, you must mean to get aboard and take the ship out. If she relocates, you’d still be on the ship and might find a way give her location to our fleet.” She paused. “What about the innocents working aboard?”
    “If all we wanted to do was blow that particular pleasure ship into infinity, we have a current fix and could do it. The problem is, once they know about the vessel, about a thousand enemy officers located elsewhere would simply move up and take the place of those few we’d manage to kill.” He shook his head. “No … destroying the Venus and the Condorian officers on her is only part of the mission — the very last part,” he maintained as one hand curled into a fist. “I mean to get aboard, stay alive as long as possible, and collate the information Aigean’s people are obtaining concerning enemy battle plans. It’s come to her attention that Condorians like to talk when they’re full of illegal drugs and liquor and have been sated by whoring.” He swallowed some more water before continuing. “The Condorians kept Aigean and her crew alive only to provide high-ranking officers with a luxurious place to quarter and exploit her prostitutes. They do this in virtual secrecy from their own troops. Their minions would turn on them for withholding pleasures in a war zone.”
    “That’s for sure. The average Condorian is nothing but a damned savage! It’s long been my opinion that their superiors just point ’em in the right direction and let ’em go. They’re like a pack of feral beasts. They don’t have any compunction about killing wounded, or consciences when it comes to leaving civilians out of the fray. “
    “For the very reason you’ve just mentioned, the ship’s presence isn’t widely known among Condorian underlings.”
    “Yeah. I get it. There are a lot more Condorian fighters than superiors. They’re kept in reasonable control by the promise of keeping goods pillaged after battle.”
    Soldar slowly nodded. “As long as Aigean provides those Condorian supervisors with the pleasure they seek, they let her and her crew survive. But she knows the Venus’ days are numbered. She and her crew will eventually become expendable. Especially as enemy officers seek to keep her a secret from their own ground troops,” he confirmed. “It’s to our advantage that Aigean recruits men and women from all over the known universe. Most have families that’ve suffered at Condorian hands. According to what was relayed when she last made contact, her employees will readily give us the information gleaned from their nightly liaisons.”
    “What else, sir?”
    He gazed at their surroundings before answering then he turned and moved closer. “Because of Aigean’s covert