Winter in Paradise by T C Archer

Chapter One
     

    Major Kelly Andres woke from the nightmare, unable and unwilling to move. The feeling of depression and aloneness lingered like a Uldaran Howler bug waiting in the shadows of the cave to feed upon her carcass. In the dream, she was cold, freezing cold. Her fingers and toes where dead and black. Frost sparkled on her skin. Purple bruising and dead flesh spread from the frostbitten digits up her hands and feet to her wrist and ankles. She had felt no pain, only dead lifeless stumps that made her certain her hands and feet would be amputated—the kind of certainty with which a person knows their name, rank, and serial number. She was always cold and alone in the dream. So very alone.
    She shivered despite the thick furs that cocooned her in warmth. The nightmare always left her hollow with the conviction she would spend her life with no hands or feet, deformed and unloved. She remained unmoving, sorting through her emotions. It was only a dream. She was in her bed, under her covers, facing away from her man. He was always warm, as if he had a fusion reactor at his core. So much heat radiated from him, she couldn’t hold him long when they settled beneath the covers for the night. Her body clenched with the need for his warmth—and his readiness to fill her. If she cupped his balls, he’d wake with a hard cock and make her feel loved. The memory of dead hands and feet would vaporize.
    Kelly snaked a hand behind her, but only cool sheets met her fingers. She rolled to face him and stretched out again. He wasn’t within reach. She opened her eyes. The yellow cave-light seemed to emanate from all directions, an effect created by walls carved of clear crystal. The top fur on his side of the bed lay flat on the mattress. He must have risen as he often did to check the instruments and surveillance systems. She shifted toward the main part of the cave, pulse already accelerating in anticipation of seeing the muscled buttocks she’d felt beneath her fingers countless times these last five months. But he wasn’t standing among the consoles, storage drives, or quantum communicator.
    She pushed back the furs and sat up. She hugged herself against the chill. The atomic power unit, the source of the yellow glow, provided too little heat to be wearing only panties. They were surrounded by sold mountain crystal, but couldn’t chance much heat. If the enemy detected them, their planet—and their people—would have no chance for survival.
    “Byron?” she called.
    Only the whisper of fans and the faint beep of the power sequencer answered.
    “Grayson!”
    Still no answer. The one room cave, her and Major Byron Grayson’s duty station, was only forty feet wide. She swung her feet to the cold stone floor, yanked a fur off the bed, and dragged it around her bare shoulders.
    “Grayson, damn you, answer. This isn’t funny.”
    She forced back panic and approached the surveillance station. The weather monitors displayed the same uniform whiteout and gale winds that had swirled ice crystals outside the station ever since they broke free of the Kirsovals’ tyranny.
    “Byron, you’re scaring me.”
    His furs still hung by the exit, but… Her blood chilled. His enviro-suit was gone. Heart pounding, Kelly leaned forward and looked to the far left. Half hidden from view, a smaller storage cabinet sat beside a large locker. The small locker was open and the quantum disruptor that had been stored there was gone. She couldn’t mistake the message behind the disruptor’s open case. That was like him. No note, no good-byes, just an open door that stated I’ve taken matters into my own hands.
    Anger replaced fear. The fool had disobeyed orders. Her orders. They were officers in the Provisional Army and she was the senior officer on this mission—senior by four months, but senior nonetheless—and she had ordered him to stay put. Worse yet, he’d promised. He’d promised!
    She dropped the fur and rushed to Biometrics,