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“I always need you.”

Georgia opened her mouth as heat fluttered inside her. She had to shut Ash down. He couldn’t keep making these comments and not expect them to have an impact. But she couldn’t let him see he affected her. They were together when she chose. She was in control, and that was the only way this thing would work.

Ash’s smirk softened. “If I get in any trouble, you’ll be the first to know, partner.”

Georgia nodded. She hurried away before she blurted out something she’d regret.

The time passed quickly, mainly thanks to Georgia disassembling and greasing all the manual weapons on the ship. That kept her occupied, and she was feeling mellow as she headed back to the cockpit to see how Ash was doing.

“Hey! Having fun back there?” He smiled at her as she settled into her seat.

“We have a fully operational weapons array.”

“I can always count on you to make sure we have stuff to shoot the bad guys with.”

She shrugged off the comment. The only person she counted on was herself. “How far out are we?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Any signs of trouble?”

“No. It’s been smooth cruising all the way. I’ve found us a touch down site. From there, we can survey the area and see what we can pick up.”

“I’ll let the Apocalypse know.” Georgia opened a comm link to the main ship. “Cleo, this is Georgia. We’re ten minutes out from Sysal.”

“Confirmed. Any problems?” Cleo’s reply was almost instant. She was always on the alert when any of her crew were out on a mission.

“Everything is A-Okay.”

“Good. Keep me informed.”

“Will do.” Georgia signed off then checked through the system logs.

Sysal wasn’t known for being friendly to most lifeforms. The bogs, heat, and rocky terrain put off most aliens and animals. That was probably why whoever was doing this had chosen to conceal the white tails there. They didn’t expect anyone to come poking around.

“Keep a look out for flash lightning,” Ash said. “This atmosphere is a mother.”

She nodded, her attention on the controls. They needed to be ballsy to land here because of the rough atmospherics, but she had big lady balls, and Ash was definitely packing in that department. They’d do this.

He lowered the ship through the planet’s cloud bank, revealing a vista of mountains and sickly looking trees beneath them.

Georgia kept one eye on the surroundings and the other on the scanners, checking for any approaching ships or signs of life.

Ash steered the ship over the trees and landed on a flat piece of bare rock.

After a few minutes of powering down the ship and checking the coast was clear, they grabbed their equipment packs and headed outside.

Georgia was behind Ash as they walked out of the ship. He always had to take the lead. It annoyed her when they’d first started working together. That was her default position, and she hated giving ground to anyone. But after Cleo had barked at her for not following protocol and making use of the asset provided, she’d relented. If Ash wanted to get shot first, that was up to him.

She huffed out a quiet laugh. If that happened, she’d destroy whoever injured her partner. He could be a gruff alpha male most of the time, but they were still a team. Sometimes a reluctant team, but she didn’t leave a partner behind or screw them over.

“Is something amusing?” Ash said softly.

“I was just thinking about you getting shot.” Georgia looked around at the stunted, bare-leaved trees as a strong whiff of sulfur drifted through the damp air.

“That’s funny to you?” He slid her a glare.

“No! I was just thinking about what I’d do to someone if they ever shot you.”