Chapter 2
Two
Flying was one of the greatest pleasures in life.
Jax and his jet were one. It was as if he could control the aircraft with his mind. A simple thought, and he would move to the left, to the right, up, down, sideways.
Bright stars streaked by in a blur.
If it was up to Jax, they would do practice runs every single day. Unfortunately, General Kai disagreed. The Hyena-jets used quite a bit of dillium , the valuable mineral that powered everything onboard the Ravenous , and so practice runs were rare.
Extremely rare.
In the past year, Jax and his crew had only been allowed to fly once a month. The Dragan captain pleaded his case at the last council meeting, and the wise men that ran the ship finally saw reason. General Kai begrudgingly agreed to spare enough dillium for weekly practice runs.
“Amazing!” Roan screamed from the co-pilot seat as Jax did a barrel roll. “Do that again!”
Jax grinned as he grabbed his control stick tightly. He might have… swayed the council by offering some important people a ride. Yvar and Roan were quite interested.
“Hold on to your blue butt,” Jax said as he dipped sharply to the left. The G-forces were intense as the fighter-jet spun around quickly. Roan laughed and hollered.
Piloting a class-A Dragan fighter-jet was the most fun you could have with your clothes on.
Jax’s radar blipped, drawing his attention to his controls. He glanced at it and frowned.
There were only supposed to be five jets out here — but a sixth one just appeared on his radar.
“Alpha Six, explain yourself,” Jax said as he hailed the vessel.
No reaction.
Jax sped towards the renegade vessel. As much fun as he was having, these jets weren’t toys. They were billion-credits worth of killing machines, equipped with all the high-tech weaponry needed to take down massive Torian star-faring war-ships.
“Alpha Six, come in,” Jax said again.
The sixth jet continued ignoring him.
All his fellow Dragan pilots were out here with Jax on their own Hyena’s, so that left two options.
Either General Kai or Commander Tyr personally commandeered the jet, which wasn’t impossible but seemed highly unlikely…
Or one of the humans had just committed treason.
Humans . Why General Kai ever let them on-board the Ravenous still mystified Jax. They were weaker than Dragans in every field, every discipline, every single aspect where it mattered.
Several human pilots had been assigned to Jax’s command, but he only ever let them do grunt-work. They lacked the reflexes or intelligence needed to commandeer a jet as demanding as a Hyena.
If one of the humans defied a direct order and fired up one of the jets… that amounted to treason. Back on Dzar , the punishment for that would be severe.
“Alpha Six, identity or I will engage,” Jax said.
“You don’t have the balls for that, captain,” the quick reply came. “Besides, you couldn’t hit me if you tried.”
Elara Morgan.
Of course. Of course! Only she would be stubborn enough to pull such a crazy stunt. Only the headstrong human female would dare defy a direct command from him.
“Morgan, you return that ship right now,” Jax growled. “I am not joking.”
“I am Jax and I am not joking,” Elora answered, mocking him. “I think only Dragans can fly!”
Roan roared with laughter. “Who is that?” The Dragan warrior asked. “She’s got your number, Jax.”
The angry pilot gripped his control stick so tightly his knuckles turned white. From the moment she had been assigned to his command, Elara Morgan had been a thorn in his side.
All humans were annoying, but none more so than Elara Morgan. The woman was insufferable .
Jax chased the rogue jet. Elara Morgan darted between asteroids, looped around, turned 180 degrees, and shot a laser straight at him.
In order to simulate space-combat the jets could fire non-lethal lasers at each other.
Jax barely managed to evade the shot. A direct strike would’ve undermined his command and humiliated him in front of his entire crew — who were all listening in on their bickering with bated breath.
This was no longer a game. Morgan was out of line.
“Alright, human,” Jax growled. “Have it your way.”
Elara Morgan shot right past him. Jax turned his ship sharply, using his thrusters. The maneuver was difficult, but he managed.
His jet moved right behind Morgan’s. Jax smirked. Got her!
“Sorry, Morgan,” Jax said on his mic. “You got sloppy.”
“No, I think you got sloppy, old man,” Elara instantly responded — and she blasted her thrusters at full-throttle and pulled up.
Right in front of Jax a giant asteroid hurtled towards his jet at breakneck speed.
He had only milliseconds to respond. He banked to the left with all his might — but it wasn’t enough.
The asteroid slammed into his left wing. His jet spun out of control as sparks filled his cockpit. Alarms blared and emergency lights flashed.
Up ahead, a dozen more asteroids hurled straight towards Jax’s jet. He pushed down on the throttle, but his vessel didn’t move. The damage was too extensive — the ship refused to go.
He was a sitting duck, ready to be slaughtered.
“Too slow, captain,” Elara said as her ship banked. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you out with those pesky asteroids. Just say the word.”
Jax gritted his teeth. He would rather die than surrender to this welp .
“Uh, Jax,” Roan said from the back of the vessel. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“No.”
Giant rocks raced towards the stranded jet. Roan fiddled with the controls, trying to infuse the ship with life, getting more desperate with every passing second, but it was hopeless.
“Ah, you’re no fun,” Elara said.
Her fighter-jet easily obliterated the asteroids with a few well-placed and well-timed shots of laser-fire. Even in his moment of defeat, Jax had to admit that her shooting was… precise .
“You can thank me later, captain,” Elara spoke. “I’m sure one of your goons will give you a tow. See you back in the canteen!”