better
time. It was her Graduation Day; the Duke of Columbia had almost
finished pinning on her classmates' gold Second Lieutenants' bars. Her
own, the silver of a First Lieutenant since she was first in her class,
already gleamed on her immaculate gray uniform. She was impatient for
the ceremony to end. She'd seen her recruiter in the crowd, and she
wanted to carry out the plans she'd made for him, plans that bore no
resemblance to the sometimes-sadistic ones her classmates claimed to
have for their recruiters. She'd discovered the surprisingly
pleasurable reality of the Enforcement Service's sexual freedom not
long after her arrival at the Academy, quickly losing her inhibitions.
Being the only woman in the class, she had enjoyed her instructors'
attentions--but the corollary was far less enjoyable. In prewar days,
being a teacher's favorite had supposedly meant having an easier time
than other students; at the Royal Academy, it meant additional work,
more intensive instruction, and more severe testing. The harder they
were on her, she was repeatedly told, the better her odds of survival
would be when she got out in the field--and she had thrived on the
increased challenge, as she'd proven by graduating at the top of her
class. But much as she had enjoyed her instructors'--and a few of her
classmates'--beds and bodies, it hadn't taken her long to realize that
Mike Odeon was the one she wanted most, and she was determined to take
full advantage of this chance at him.

The ceremony ended at last; she accepted congratulations--and her first
salute, from Lieutenant Odeon. She returned it with the proper
dignity, then launched herself at him for a completely undignified, and
equally thorough, kiss. He cooperated after a second's startlement,
then grinned down at her. "That isn't the kind of attack I carried out
on my recruiter!"

"Oh, that's just the first sortie," Cortin assured him, pleased to find
that although he was sterile, he certainly wasn't impotent, as quite a
few sterile men were; she'd felt that quite clearly during the kiss.

"I think I'm going to like this attack," he said, still grinning.

"I hope so." She tightened her arms around him. "You're staying at
the VOQ?"

"Uh-huh." Odeon raised an eyebrow. "You're thinking of a tactical
strike?"

"Not exactly--more like a siege, if you don't mind my using your
toothbrush in the morning. I couldn't think of a reasonable excuse to
bring my ki