Foray by Sandra R Neeley

Euphrosyne Traeger has had enough of playing second fiddle to all those who think they’re better than she is. So, she’s signed up for her dream job — science officer on a scientific exploration vessel. A foray into new worlds, and new places among those who have their own responsibilities and couldn’t care less about taking credit for hers. She loves her new job as part of the first fully female mission scientific exploration crew. Any discoveries Euphrosyne, or Phrosy as she prefers, makes, will remain her own. Of course, the crew will get credit as a whole, but most importantly, she will, too. She’s doing well, settling into life aboard the Intergalactic Exploration Vessel Foray. She’s even figuring out how to efficiently run the communications equipment, which is the second part of her duties. Now, if she can just manage to elude the infamous pirate she’s been left to face alone, she might just survive long enough to get home.Anhidar has been pirating ships since he was barely sixteen years of age. His father, who was Anhidar before him, died leaving his mother, himself and his younger brother alone with little hope of ever truly knowing exactly what happened to him. All they know is he’s dead, because if he was alive, he’d have found a way to return to them. Anhidar stepped up to take his place under the guise of Anhidar — a pirate rumored to be hundreds of years old, who’s threatened any who dared to travel outside the reaches of documented space. Many years later he’s still at it, but with much less anger than he started with, and less violence than his father, and his father’s father before him were known for. All he wants is whatever he can salvage from the ships he targets to resell to feed his planet. Occasionally he’ll scrap the ships themselves. Most often, after he’s taken everything of value off them, he sets them adrift in space to be recovered by their owners at a later date.This time, though, he’s found something much more valuable than the ship or its contents. He’s found his mate. And it’s a conundrum. He’s never wanted one, still doesn’t, yet can’t stand to let her go. Either way, she’s taken that choice away from him. She’s escaped, activated one of the escape pods on his own ship and disappeared in the darkness of space. She’s the only damned thing he’s ever let himself consider wanting, and she’s run from him. Now he has to track her down before anyone else does. Not every world out there is welcoming of a lone female. Not every male she comes across will recognize or even care that she’s his. He’s got to find her before anyone else does, or there’s a very real chance she may not survive.