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But the thought alone has her squirming inplace.
Of course, in her panicked, runaway imagination, the CO in question is ridiculously hot and just as unattainable. He looks like a Ranger. Maybe he’s wearing one of those helmets with the mask and he’s got a big, shiny pistol on his hip… and before she knows it, her blood is rushing to all the wrongplaces.
No. Between officers and cadets, sex is strictly forbidden. Which is why the rumors about Station Six arewrong.
And there’s nothing at all kinky about being singled out, cuffed and taken to thebrig.
CHAPTERTWO
Catch takesthe service elevator down to the hangaralone.
Normally he heads down to the Hub to check out his new batch of virgins in the flesh on arrivals day. Not all trainers do. First never bothers. But Catch likes to get a look at his trainees while they’re herded onto the station and sorted. While they’re off their game. Nervous and overwhelmed, irritable from transport. Battling shuttlelag.
More importantly, he wants them to get a look athim.
Catch knows he intimidates most virgins, and it’s not just the tattoos or his reputation. It’s important he be seen during their first anxiety-charged moments on Station Six as a reminder that he will be as integral to their experience here as the air system. Pass or fail, it’s up to him, the officer watching fromabove.
But today, he’s late. A last minute meeting with the XO and another meeting on its heels with the training leads meant none of the trainers made it to Transport in time to watch the virginsdisembark.
And now this. Cleaning up a mess for First’s little sisteralready.
Score met Catch as he was coming out of the trainers’ meeting to show him the incident report. Catch immediately deleted it rather than authorize and log it in the system. As long as Thorough keeps his mouth shut, First will never have to know about this little stunt or the items confiscated from his sister’s ruck: two lace bras, three pairs lace panties, and one dildo, according to thereport.
As the elevator sinks, Catch’s irritation climbs. What the hell was she thinking, smuggling that shit onto the station? When trainees break the rules this early, it’s never a goodsign.
Everything Catch knows about his trainees before they step into the training core comes from their files. Lana Marsden is no exception. First hasn’t told Catch anything about his sister that he couldn’t read in her file, which indicates a dedicated and highly disciplined cadet with above-average potential for passing DEEP Training. She’s a Northern Fed, five-six, one hundred and twenty-six pounds, and has brown hair and blue eyes like her brother. The only flag in her medical file is an allergy to mushrooms. She rated within the top fifteen percent of her class coming out of Basic, fourth out of almost two hundred women. On Station One she completed six months of training with Communications Division before her acceptance to DEEP. Her evaluation scores are impressive, the only criticisms noted by her previous trainers things likepushes herself too hardandneeds to manage expectations of herself. Catch had the impression of a hardworking and nerdy nice girl, not a spoiled brat. No prior Code violations. Not one thing in her file that hinted at this type of behavior. First didn’t hint at it either, though First’s not one for dropping hints. Surely if his sister was a shit disturber, he would have saidso.
Then again, she’s six years younger than First, and they haven’t been on the same planet for eight years now. Maybe big brother’s out oftouch.
Apparently, she told Thorough the confiscated items aren’t hers, though. Maybe they aren’t. Maybe this is all somemisunderstanding.
Surely that’s the story she’s going tospin.
Or maybe she just thought she’d get away with it. Maybe Lana Marsden thinks the rules don’t apply to her because her brother is a trainer. Maybe she’s not a serious contender for deep space status at all. Maybe she heard the rumors about Six and assumed this quarter would be a free-for-all. Maybe she’s nothing but a tourist looking for a party and a long line of hard dicks to play with. She wouldn’t be the first. But she won’t find that here. Not in Catch’s unit. If that’s what she has in mind, her long, arduous service in Catch’s command will make her wish she’d never come to Six and wasted histime.
By the time he steps into the hangar, Catch’s blood is running hot. He stalks past the fleet. The recon cruisers, the Meridian, the Skywatch, big beefy ships, the ones he figured he’d be piloting when he gets old enough he wants to slow things down. He avoids the patrollers but it’s tough not to snatch a look at the sleek Phoenix line, the birds docked prominently in the center of the hangar. The flashy Starfall, the peppy little Starchip and the pride of the fleet, the Starcrasher. A gorgeous Crasher is docked in front of the security door and as Catch swipes through he gazes up at it, justonce.
The memory comes on like a black storm as he stalks the narrow corridors to the brig—the command from Fleet Control repeating in his headset, the nauseating feeling of knowing he’s going into free fall and there’s not a damn thing he can do about it, fighting the urge to vomit and struggling to see straight as the universe spins out around him and his control panel goesberserk.
Crasher 2, return to Jump… Crasher 2, return toJump…
Sometimes he still hears it in hisdreams.
He hasn’t decided yet if hewantsback into the cockpit. Which is okay, since no one has asked yet. Point is, he was there and now he’s here. And it doesn’t bother him as much as it should. As much as people seem to think it should. As much as it bothersthem.
Catch likes being a trainer. He’s a damn good one, too. What the hell is wrong withthat?
What he doesn’t like is being a goddamn glorifiedbabysitter.
The moment he opens the door to the brig, the stench hits him. The dank room holds several cells, a shuttlehiker curled in the corner of the first awaiting deportation, his stink and his snoring filling the room. No civilians are allowed on the outer stations, but occasionally one manages to stow away aboard a shuttle. Little surprise that a trainee was able to smuggle a few goodies past her initial clearance check. It happens all the time. Security in transport isn’t as rigorous as it is on Six. The way Catch sees it, the outer stations, Six and Seven, are a last gut check on the precipice into the black. Any virgin who arrives with prohibited items in their ruck and therefore a chip on their shoulder or a defiant bent in their nature will have to surrender it—or fail the program. Take that shit forward into the deep and you might as well harbor a deathwish.
Catch wouldknow.
Beyond the shuttlehiker, the cells are empty. All but the last. He glimpses First’s sister in the near-dark, standing, facing into thecorner.
He takes his time, boots thudding on the floor. Let her sweat it out. He could turn up the security lights to get a better look, but that might put her at ease. And right now he couldn’t give a fuck about putting Lana Marsden atease.
As he approaches, he takes in the long ponytail that tumbles down between her shoulder blades. She’s slim, but the skin-tight bodysuit reveals inviting curves, a narrow waist and a flare of hips. He realizes only as he reaches the bars of her cell that she’s been cuffed and hooked to the ceiling. She stands stretched, balanced awkwardly on the toes of her boots. Cruel, but maybe she needed the shock. Crueler still, if she were just a couple of inches taller she could probably unhook herself, or at least turn around. As it is, she tries but can’t quite twist enough to seehim.
