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“I’m not down for lab work,” Ash said. “And our last two missions were hectic, so a little recon will be good for us.”

“You sound like you want to slow down,” Georgia said. “Is this job too tough for you?”

“I’m not slowing down. I just want to make sure you can keep up with me.” He flexed a bicep and chuckled.

“You’ll pay for that,” she muttered.

“With pleasure. How about a sparring session after this?”

Cleo tapped the table with her finger. “Before you beat each other into unconsciousness, let’s focus on this mission. The information I’ve sent has caused concerns with High Command.”

That got Ash’s attention. He may like to tease Georgia, but this work was important. “What’s the concerns?”

Cleo brought up the image of an animal he’d never seen before. “These have been recorded on several planets.”

“What the hell is that?” Georgia leaned closer. “It looks like a mash up of several animals.”

“That’s about right,” Cleo said. “High Command believe illegal experiments have been creating hybrids of several species of deadly animal.”

“To be used as...” Ash gestured at the screen. This thing was the stuff of nightmares, with too long fangs, spines on its back, and huge claws.

“Most likely, weapons. They’ve picked nature’s bad asses and made something stronger, faster, and deadlier.”

“I see wild cat in there,” Georgia said.

“The fangs and claws are from carnivorous big cats. The scales and spines from who the hell knows, and the poison—”

“This thing packs poison, too?” Georgia whistled out a breath.

“It’s a triple threat. They’re also huge. Twice the size of a lion,” Cleo said. “One got into an urban site and killed twenty people.”

“Was it captured?” Ash said.

Cleo shook her head. “It escaped. It’s still out there. Along with the rest of them and probably more we haven’t yet discovered.”

“You want us to go get it?” Georgia was already looking at the door.

“No, not this creature. There’s a ground crew tracking it from another ship. They’re focused on retrieving a specimen so we can figure out where it came from and its purpose.”

Ash studied Georgia from the corner of his eye. She was always willing to throw herself into danger. He loved working with such a capable partner, but sometimes, she put herself in high-risk situations without caring if she lived or died.

He cared. And there was no way he was losing her.

“I’m more interested in finding out who is making these animals and what their purpose is,” Cleo said. “High Command has sent through intel on a possible lab on Sysal. I need you to check it out.”

“Sure. We’ll get right on it,” Georgia said. “Send through the information and we can head out.”

“Before we do,” Ash said, “why are we looking into this? I get these things are a danger, but it’s not a rare animal. It doesn’t fit under our remit.” The Apocalypse was all about the protection of endangered species. Too many creatures lost their lives because of alien expansion, and it was his job, along with the rest of the crew, to make sure as many of them as possible got to survive.

“Does it matter?” Irritation laced through Georgia’s words. “It’s a mission. We haven’t been out for a week, and I’m getting cabin fever.”

“Three days,” he said. “We got back from ten days in the field only three days ago. You need a break. You’ll burn out if you push too hard.”

Georgia scowled at him. “I don’t burn out. And don’t make me your excuse if you need to take a vacation.”

“Settle down,” Cleo said. “Ash’s point is valid. This is off-focus from our usual work, but High Command has seen communications about a particularly rare animal being used in these experiments.”

Ash narrowed his eyes. “That changes things. What is it?”