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training.”
    She wondered if she was expected to
sympathize with him at this point. He looked like he’d never had a
comfortable tour of duty in his life. Why was he complaining to
her?
    “ So the boys have to cut loose once in
a while. You know there aren’t a lot of women on the base. A man
gets tired of the Bellac whores here. Getting your ass grabbed once
in a while isn’t exactly worth shooting people over.”
    “ If you value discipline so much you
should be instilling that into your men. I’m not here for their
amusement.”
    “ You don’t get it, do you, Whiteside?”
His eyes had settled on her chest and seemed content to stay there.
“If you can’t handle that sort of prank you should not have come
here. You could have taken another assignment instead of front
line. So now you’re going to have to fit in.”
    “ This is outrageous!” she hissed. “I’m
an Air Command officer. Your men were out of line.”
    “ I know,” he said and rose to his full
height. “I can make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
    “ Good,” she said. “No apologies needed.
Just tell them to stay out of my way.”
    He took a step closer to her. She flinched
when he raised a massive hand to cup her chin. “They will stay away
from you if they knew you were... under my personal
protection.”
    She blinked, not sure if she understood what
he was proposing. “What?”
    His hand came to rest on her shoulder. “No
one will touch you again as long as you show me a little
appreciation for that.”
    Nova laughed harshly. “You’re out of your
mind. Get out of my room.”
    A terrible darkness moved over his already
severe features. Before she could react he tore her loosely tied
robe open and reached around her to pin her arms behind her back.
She gasped when he forced her bare chest to press against his.
“Then how about I show you what you can expect from my boys,” he
growled.
    She struggled to escape his grip, overwhelmed
by his size and strength.
    “ Go ahead, yell. Digger’s in the
hallway. Just don’t think he’ll be rescuing you if he comes in
here.”
    She snapped her head forward and sunk her
teeth into the skin of his jaw.
    He reeled back, releasing her to clutch his
face, checking for blood. “Little bitch!” He grabbed her arm when
she turned to run to the door. Nova suddenly found herself airborne
when he flung her across the room, over her bunk, to careen into
the wall. A sickening bolt of pain shot through her shoulder when
she crashed to the floor.
    Beryl lurched over her bunk to haul her up
again. “Looks like you popped a joint there, Whiteside,” he said
and pushed her down onto the bed.
    Nova struggled weakly, fighting an urge to
either throw up or faint, aware of little more than the pain from
her dislocated shoulder. She stared in disbelief when he reached
down to unbuckle his fatigues. She had to get out of here, get away
from this monster now clutching her legs.
    “ Could have done this friendly.” The
captain leaned over her when she tried to roll away. He pressed one
hand over her mouth and the other onto the grotesque lump
distending her shoulder. She screamed into his hand until, almost
gratefully, she passed out.
     
    * * *
    She was alone now. Alone with pain that
flared up the moment she stirred on her bed. She groaned loudly and
then pinched her lips tight when, little by little, she shifted her
body until she finally sat on the edge of her bed.
    Nova looked around her room as if her
assailant might still be lurking in one of its corners. How long
has she been unconscious?
    Painfully, she pushed herself off the bed and
fought a wave of dizziness before she could see again. It seemed to
take forever to pull on a pair of loose-fitting trousers and fasten
her robe. Tears of pain and anger spilled over her face and she
wiped at them away, annoyed with herself to have fallen into
Beryl’s trap. This wasn’t the academy and this wasn’t Targon. She
had already seen enough here to realize