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Georgia didn’t miss the flicker of disappointment in Sloane’s eyes. If Dallin didn’t go on a field mission, then neither did Sloane. Occasionally, she went out on missions as part of a larger crew, but she mainly spent a lot of time on the ship.

If Georgia got stuck inside as long as Sloane did, she’d go mad.

“I’ll liaise with Cleo and Hunter,” Ash said. “If we get the green light, we can pull everything together so we can go out tonight.”

“Great. And get us on that team,” Georgia said.

“I’ll make sure you don’t miss out on a single thing.” His warm grin made her insides heat, but she looked away.

They were close to a breakthrough. She could feel it. And so long as she didn’t let herself keep getting distracted by Ash, everything would work out fine.

***

Eight hours later,the return mission to Sysal was underway. A team of six left the ship and headed onto the desolate planet.

Georgia was by Ash’s side, just where he liked her to be. They had Daisy and Rexx and Eden and Blaze with them.

“I’m thinking this is the work of the Achie,” Blaze said.

“It’s not their style,” Rexx said. “They’re more slash and burn.”

“It could be the Inkral,” Daisy said. “They have the technology to do this kind of thing.”

“There’d be more tentacles on the hybrids if they were involved,” Eden said. “The Inkral love their tentacles. And slime. The animal brought back to the ship had none of those slippery additions. Thank the stars.”

“I don’t think it’s them. They’re more underhanded. They could be using middlemen to do their dirty work,” Georgia said. “That’s definitely their style.”

“I’m going for the Engels. This smacks of advanced technology, and they have the morals of an alley cat,” Eden said.

“What’s that?” Rexx said.

Daisy chuckled. “A randy furball, who’ll do whatever he has to do in order to get what he needs. It usually involves seducing a furry female.”

Rexx grunted. “That sounds like Asshole.”

Ash smirked at that comment. Rexx’s cantankerous cat was almost a celebrity on the ship.

“It could be the Zarlen,” Blaze said.

“Or the Siblet,” Rexx said.

Daisy squeezed his bicep and nodded at Georgia.

Rexx grunted and dropped his chin to his chest. After that comment, no one spoke for several minutes.

Ash surreptitiously studied Georgia. Her shoulders were tight and her jaw clenched. Every time anyone mentioned the Siblet, she shut down. But hiding from the pain didn’t make it go away. He knew that first-hand.

Ash never dwelled on battle losses, but there was one loss he always struggled with. His sister’s death at the hands of a terrorist still haunted him. He should have been able to save her. That was his job. He was a warrior. Instead, he’d been away on a mission, saving someone else’s ass, and had to hear the horrific news from his devastated family. They never said they blamed him for not being there. They didn’t need to. It’s what he knew was the truth.

“It’s not the Siblet,” Georgia finally muttered.

“How can you be so sure?” Rexx said.

“Because they only destroy, not create.”

“It could be them,” Rexx said. “They’ve got the technology to—”

“It’s not them. The Siblet aren’t on this planet.” Georgia glared at Rexx.