Chapter 14
Priya, Command Center, Moon Base Arturri
I came through the Gate cursing. Velerion command caught the escape capsule, downloaded the data, and two dolts tried to carry me to medical. Not happening.
“Put me down.”
The two medics holding my arms kept moving.
“Starfighter Anand, you have bruised ribs, low blood oxygen, and signs of extreme—”
“My mate is on the other side of that Gate. Put me down. Now! Right fucking now!”
They did when General Aryk ordered them to.
I hit the deck on unsteady legs and followed him into the command center.
General Jennix was already there, surrounded by tactical officers and three-dimensional displays of the intelligence Vesh and I had nearly died to bring home.
Queen Raya's new gigantic ship filled the main screen. I didn’t care.
“Find him,” I said. "Where's the Wraith?"
Aryk turned. “The Wraith's transponder stopped transmitting after the escape pod cleared the gate. We don't know where he is.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s dead. The Wraith is designed to disappear.”
“The last sensor record shows twelve Scythes converging on his position.”
“Ten. He killed two.” I'd watched him do it, loved him and wanted to kill him at the same time. "He killed two. He's not dead."
Everyone in the room looked at me.
“I can feel him through the bond,” I said. "He is not dead. He's out there. Still fighting."
General Jennix came closer. “Can you feel him now?”
I pressed two fingers to the mark at the back of my neck. Warm. Faint, but there. Vesh. “Yes. He’s alive.”
“The bond remains active after death for a short time,” a medical officer said behind me.
I turned on him. “Not helping.” Asshole.
He wisely stopped talking. Aryk pulled up the pod’s final recording. The Wraith vanished into the debris field with eight interceptors behind her. Four more broke from the Gate when Vesh overloaded the core. Then the pod crossed and the image ended.
“No confirmed explosion?” I asked.
“No,” Aryk agreed.
“No wreckage.”
“Not yet.”
“Then he’s alive.”
The general’s expression did not change, but he had stopped arguing. Jennix enlarged the tracker data Vesh had transferred into the capsule. “This is an encrypted command beacon. It was embedded inside the Wraith’s core telemetry.”
“Can you identify who installed it?”
“Not from this record.”
“Can whoever planted it track another ship?”
“Every scout in the fleet is being grounded and inspected now.”
“Inspect the ship you’re giving me first.”
Aryk’s eyebrows rose. “The ship I am giving you?”
“The fastest scout on this moon. I need it fueled, armed, and cleared to launch.”
“You are injured.”
“So is Vesh.”
“We do not know his position.”
“I do.” I touched the mark again. The bond pulled toward the Gate. Weak, but steady. I couldn’t give them coordinates but I could find him.
“The completed pair bond can locate a partner over interplanetary distance,” Jennix said. “Not precisely.”
“I don’t need precise. I’ll find him when I’m closer.”
Aryk folded his arms. “And the enemy fighters?”
“I’ll kill 'em all.”
“Alone?”
“If I have to.”
“Starfighter Anand, I will not send a lone, injured scout into battle with an entire enemy wing. That's suicide.”
“Then send backup.”
“We cannot commit a strike force to Xandraxian space without—”
“Without what? Permission from the traitor inside your command?” I shouted.
The room went silent. Aryk’s face hardened.
I didn’t care. “The mission was a trap. Your extraction point was watched. Someone planted a tracker inside Vesh’s ship.
Tavik died because the same thing happened six years ago.
You can investigate while I fly, or you can explain to me why finding the man who brought you proof of all of it isn’t worth the risk. ”
I stepped closer to him.
“You recruited me because I can fly the way Vesh does. Because I see openings your other scouts don’t.
He’s out there in a ship designed not to be found, and I’m the only person in this room connected to him by a permanent bond.
I’m going after him. You can authorize the mission or arrest me after I steal the ship. ”
“I told you she would be trouble,” General Jennix said.
“You sound pleased,” Aryk replied.
“I am.”
A familiar voice came from the doorway. “I’ll fuel her ship.”
Jamie walked into the command center with Alex beside her. Mia and Kass followed. Lily and Darius stood behind them. Every Earth Starfighter on Arturri. Jamie looked me over. “You look terrible.”
“Thanks.”
“Vesh?”
“Alive.”
Jamie nodded as if that settled it. “Then let’s go get him.”
Alex studied the tactical display. “The interceptor wing will still be at the Gate. Priya can’t fly a recovery scout and fight twelve ships.”
“Ten,” I said.
“Of course.” He enlarged the enemy formation. “Kass and I punch the first hole.”
“I’ll take overwatch,” Kass said.
Mia was already working at an empty console. “I can blind their long-range sensors from this side of the Gate. Once we’re through, the jamming will be directional. Stay inside my cone or you’re visible.”
“Lily and I hold the Gate,” Darius said. “Nothing follows Priya into the debris field.”
Lily grinned. “Ground and pound.” I had no idea what that meant in a space battle but I liked the confidence. Aryk looked at the six Starfighters who had just volunteered to disobey him.
“This is not a democracy,” he said.
“No?” Jamie replied. “Then make the right decision and save us from committing mutiny.”
The corner of Jennix’s mouth moved. Aryk noticed. “You are enjoying this far too much.”
“You wanted more Elite Starfighters from Earth.”
“I am having second thoughts.”
Jamie came to stand beside me. Her hand closed around mine.
I had spent most of my life being the person everyone else counted on.
The calm voice. The responsible one. The woman who got strangers home and went home alone.
Now six people were ready to fly into enemy space for me, and for Vesh. I squeezed Jamie’s hand. “Thank you.”
“Save it for after we bring Vesh home.” She looked toward the general. “Authorization?”
Aryk stared at the image of Raya’s unfinished war platform. Then at the tracker data. Finally at me.
“You can take our fastest available scout,” he said. “Engineering will scan her command core before launch.”
“How long?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Make it ten.”
“Fifteen.”
“Done.”
“I was not negotiating.”
“Neither was I.”
His mouth twitched.
“Take the scout,” Aryk said. “Take the entire reckless lot of them. Retrieve Lieutenant Vesh, return without engaging anything larger than an interceptor, and don't get yourselves killed.”
The command center erupted into motion. Flight plans, weapons checks, Gate clearance. I touched the mark at my neck. Still warm.
“Hold on,” I whispered. “I’m coming.”
The bond pulsed once beneath my fingers. That was enough. I ran for the launch bay.