He knew what I was thinking. Nothing was working. My standard weapons were not causing any damage to the Hive structure. But I had an idea. A crazy as fuck idea, but it was all I had. With reinforcements too far away to help now, the Karter would not survive until their arrival, not with this weapon operational. And without the battleship to protect them, the smaller vessels would be hunted down and picked off one by one. Captured. Assimilated into the Hive’s army. Unless I could destroy this weapon.
The prototype fighter I flew carried enough ordnance to destroy a small planet. All I had to do was figure out a way to get clear of the blast. And if I couldn’t? Well, the Hive ship still needed to be destroyed.
Nothing else mattered.
The Hive ships above me scanned once more before moving on.
No eyes. No ears. Just sensors.
“Commander Phan, retreat. Get your fighters out of there.”
“Understood. Battle squad leaders, you heard the commander. Clear out and head for the Karter.” Chloe sounded breathless, as if she’d been running a marathon, not flying a fighter. But I understood the physical demands of fighting in space. She was tough.
“Negative. Lead them away from home. Evacuations are not yet complete.” I gave the order, not Commander Karter. It had only been a short time. There was no way all the civilians were off the battleship.
“Lead them away, Commander Phan. I’ll have something special waiting for them.”
“Copy that, sir.” Chloe sounded excited, and I smiled as dozens of Coalition fighters zipped over my head in a flash of silver light, almost too fast to see with the naked eye.
I waited in silence, expecting to see Hive fighters in pursuit, but none followed.
“They’re letting us go. No pursuit, Karter. I repeat, no pursuit.” Chloe sounded confused. I was too, until my ship rumbled beneath me.
“They are activating their primary weapon,” I reported the news with nausea rolling in my gut. Of course, the Hive would pull back their ships. They were about to blow the entire battlegroup to pieces.
“Altering course,” Chloe said.
“No.” I unbuckled from my seat and slid to the back of the small ship, to the storage racks. This ship wasn’t big, but every last inch was loaded with weapons and explosives. “Stay clear of the blast zone. Keep the fighters clear.”
She heard me. Thank the gods. “How long?”
I checked the timer on my wrist. “Three minutes. Maybe four.” I put one foot into the leg of the blast suit and pulled. The other. Zipper. Mask. Gloves.
If I could get out of range of the initial burn of the explosion, I might make it. “When it’s over, come looking for the unconscious idiot floating in a space suit.” I had no doubt, even if I survived the explosion, it would probably knock me out, at least for a few minutes. I’d have one hell of a headache for a while, but hopefully, I’d live. With Erica in my life, I very much wanted to do just that.
Chloe laughed, which made me grin. “Idiot hunting is one of my favorite games.”
“With mates like Seth and Dorian, that’s what I figured.”
“Watch your mouth, Warrior.” That was Dorian. I figured he’d be out here. He was one of the best pilots in the fleet. “That’s my mate you’re insulting.”
I chuckled and activated the timed detonation device on the first set of explosives. The I.C. didn’t like to share. And we’d not only copied the Hive tech we scavenged from the Colony, but advanced it. The self-destruct setting on my ship, once activated, was irreversible. “I would never insult your perfect female, only her choice in mates.” Activated number two. “Must have been slim pickings on the Karter when she arrived.”
That was, of course, a blatant lie. Chloe Phan of Earth had been matched through the Interstellar Brides Processing protocols. Which meant that Seth Mills, and his choice of second in Dorian, were ninety-nine percent guaranteed to make her happy.
Just like the matching protocols had given Erica to Kaed, and to me.
I thought of my family, back on the Karter, or the freighter where they should be right now. Safe. Out of the line of fire.
How did Seth Mills tolerate having both Chloe and Dorian out on these missions? They had not one child, but two, Dara and Christopher. Two beautiful, perfect children. Yet two of their parents were out here, in battle, risking their lives.
Ordnance set to go off in ninety seconds, I activated the self-destruct countdown and opened the escape hatch on the roof my fighter. I had to crawl out instead of float, the Hive ship’s rotation creating a weak artificial gravity that was just strong enough to hold me down.
Fuck. I’d planned on giving a good kick and floating out of here.
“Eighty seconds. Repeat, eight-zero seconds.”
“Copy that, Commander. Get out of there.”
I jump-floated down from the roof of the fighter to the surface of the cavern-like structure. Around me, the emptiness of space should have felt like… nothing. Instead, my entire body buzzed, as if I were being shaken from the inside out as the coils and crystal array powered up all around me.
I glanced down at my ship as I scrambled on all fours up the curved side of the star-shaped basin. At least she was recording everything and sending it back.
I glanced at the heads-up display inside my visor. We would be collecting data for sixty-two more seconds.
Was the Hive ship going to fire before the bombs could take her out?
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“Clear the Karter. I’m not sure the explosion will take out the weapon in time.”
Kaed’s voice came on over my comm. “You’ve done what you can. Now get the fuck out of there, Ronan. That’s an order.”
I could argue, but I wasn’t going to waste energy when I needed to get out of this crater and into open space. It was the only chance I had. I couldn’t change the countdown from here. That was one of the fail-safes built into the system. Self-destruction assured. Once activated, there was no turning it off – from inside or out.
Chapter 13
Erica, Freight Craft BK5-8, Battlegroup Karter
The people were scared. So was I. But we were all putting on a brave face and smiling for the handful of children running around, chasing each other in circles, as if the ride on this freighter was one great big adventure. I even heard one small Prillon boy whoop for joy about getting out of an exam that afternoon in school.
Seemed kids were kids everywhere. I could remember being excited about a snow day now and again. No school. Snow forts and snowball fights followed by hot chocolate and a lesson from my dad on how snow crystals formed.
We’d placed water on glass slides and put then in the freezer. When my dad placed them under his microscope and beckoned me over, a scientist had been born.
I’d been seven years old, and I could remember that moment, and his big, warm hand on my back like it was yesterday.
I held onto that memory as I walked among the scared mothers and medics, their children and the elders who’d chosen to spend the remainder of their lives out here in space, training the younger males or serving as mentors and counselors. They were all here, all smiling their tense smiles for the same reason I was.
Commander Makaed Karter.
They believed in him, and so did I.
“Lady Karter! Lady Karter! Come play with us!” One of the young ladies beckoned to me from where she was seated near an overturned crate. The boys were being boys, rough-housing and chasing each other in a game that appeared to me a mixture between soccer and wrestling. I suspected the wrestling was not expressly part of the game.
“Please, Lady Karter. Do join us.” One of the ladies’ mothers smiled at me. If I had to guess, I’d say she was an Atlan, because she was at least a foot taller than me and had even more curves.
For a minute, I wondered why I hadn’t been matched to an Atlan, they did seem to enjoy ladies with a few extra curves. But then I saw the collar around her neck and realized she was Atlan, but her mates wer
e Prillon warriors, just like mine.
Duh. I’d never thought of that. Everyone went everywhere. Atlan women for Prillon warriors. Prillon women for Atlans. I knew there were other races as well, but I wondered if an Atlan woman was ever mated to a human. Since Chloe had told me she was actually mated to Seth Mills, a human, I’d begun to wonder about that as well.
So much to learn. I hoped I would have time to study everything. But for now, I could sit and smile and play cards with these beautiful young ladies.
“Of course. I’d be honored.” I walked to the crate and one of them found a makeshift chair for me so I would not have to sit on the cold freighter’s floor. I took a seat and looked around with a smile seeing a beautiful little girl sitting on one of the older girl’s laps. The teenager was Prillon, with copper-colored hair and eyes and gorgeous golden skin just like Ronan’s.
She smiled at me, as did the toddler. She was so young and small and perfectly content sitting on the young lady’s lap. So innocent.
I would not be the one to frighten any of them.
“You’re going to have to teach me how to play this game. I’ve never played it before.” I looked at the cards on the table, shocked to discover they looked exactly like a standard deck of playing cards from Earth. Shaking off the déjà vu, I turned and looked at each of the women in turn. There were six, and they were all smiling like they’d just won the lottery. “And please, tell me your names. It will take me a while to learn them all, so please forgive me if I don’t remember right away.”
The girl holding the child grinned. “I’m Kamara. This is Commander Chloe’s daughter, Dara.”
I held out my hand. “I’m Erica. Pleasure to meet you.”
Kamara beamed proudly as I shook her hand, but it didn’t last long, little Dara shoved her hand between ours until it was a three-way shake. Impatient and bold. Just like her mother.
“Dara, where are your manners, love. Wait your turn.” That warm, doting voice came out of the shadows, and I turned to find a human man standing there with a golden, Prillon mating collar around his neck.
“You must be Captain Seth Mills,” I said, smiling to see whom I guessed was his son, Christopher, on his hip as the man stepped forward and nodded.
The little boy had black hair, just like his sister. But instead of Dara’s bright green eyes, his were golden, as was his skin. He was very obviously half Prillon, and I assumed that as the primary male, Seth had claimed his rights to have the first child, giving Dorian the second.
I thought of the Chloe I knew allowing that and decided I had to be wrong. I just couldn’t see her following with that custom.
These children were gifts of Fate, and I wanted some of my own. “Your children are beautiful.”
His smile was genuine and the love in his eyes was, too. But I was confused. “Shouldn’t you be—you know—somewhere else?” I didn’t want to scare the children, but I was curious. “You’re a captain, right? Why did Commander Karter put you back here with the children?”
Seth’s smile faded, but it was replaced with understanding, not anger. “I run ReCon. I’m not a pilot. Dorian and Chloe are both excellent pilots. I’m best at close quarters fighting.”
He twisted his torso so I could see the stash of weapons he had attached to his lower back and thighs, and I understood. If things went badly, he was doing double duty: staying with his kids so Chloe and Dorian could fly, and serving as last line of defense of the mates and children. He’d die to protect them, especially with his own little ones here. But I understood the honor and trust my mate and the other mated males had placed in him to protect what was most precious to them.
“I see.” And I did. I made sure to add an extra nod of acknowledgment in his direction. I understood more than he was saying.
Dara crawled down from the Kamara’s lap as she was dealing all of us four cards. There were two more women at the table now. As Lady Karter, I was, it seemed, something of a celebrity.
Dara pulled on her father’s pant leg and he grinned down, scooping her up into his opposite arm, and out of her brother’s reach. His chubby little fingers were already reaching for her long, black hair. “Daddy smashes them. Don’t you, Daddy?” Her voice was all toddler, but I understood every word and peace filled me as she nuzzled her little head under his chin.
“That’s right, baby girl. Your daddy is more a smash and grab kind of guy.” He kissed the top of her head and looked back to me. “I’m not into lining up in formation and getting shot at.”
Kamara pushed four cards across the makeshift table and smiled. “This is Commander Phan’s favorite Earth game.”
I picked up my four cards and looked them over. Pretty standard crap hand. One jack of spades, a seven of diamonds, three of hearts, and a joker. “Okay. What is it?”
“Do you know how to play Go Fish?”
I nearly burst out laughing, until I saw that Kamara was very, very serious. “Yes, I do, as a matter of fact. That’s Commander Phan’s favorite game?”
“Yes. With joker’s wild.” Her smile faded for a moment. “Do you know what a joker is?”
I laughed out loud, the sound happy and free and empty of tension. Many eyes were pulled in our direction, and I let them look. I was Lady Karter and these were my people. And right now, they desperately needed to laugh.
Three games later, Dara was on my lap, Christopher on Kamara’s and we had a mix of boys and girls playing the game. I’d also learned that Chloe’s idea of going fishing was not exactly standard practice on Earth.
If one had to “Go Fish” they had to do a physical feat of strength, or grace, before they were allowed to draw another card. Which meant push-ups, sit-ups, running in place, or showing off a magic trick or dance move. Most of the girls danced. Most of the boys showed off, and even Christopher, who could toddle around on unsteady feet, decided to get in on the action.
That set everyone to laughing, adults and kids alike, and the little hero was a total ham, bouncing up and down on his chunky baby thighs and swinging his arms like he was at a dance party.
OMG, I wanted one.
I was swirling with Dara in my arms when Kaed’s pain hit me. Hard.
Kissing Dara on the cheek, I kept up the swaying and whirling as I danced Dara back over to her father. One look in my eyes and he knew something was up even before I spoke. “I need to find Commander Karter and get an update.”
He nodded and took his daughter from me, kissing her on her belly until she squealed and kicked and begged to be put down. When he placed her on her feet, she raced back to where her baby brother was still the center of attention, took his hands and they danced together. Family.
I glanced around at the people smiling and loving each other. This was family. My family. All of them. But Kaed needed me. I could feel him through the collar. Suffering.
“Do you know where he is? I don’t want to wander all over the ship.”
Seth turned to Kamara. “Can you keep an eye on Dara and Christopher for me? I need to show Lady Karter the way to the command deck. I’ll be right back.”
The girl’s shoulders got a little straighter and she puffed up with pride. “Of course, Captain. I’d be honored.”
I touched her shoulder in thanks as we walked past, absolutely certain Chloe’s little ones would be well looked after in Seth’s absence. Once the door closed behind us and we were alone in the corridor, I turned to Seth.
“How do you do it? Let them both go fight at the same time?” I thought of both Kaed and Ronan being out there, fighting, and shuddered. “I’m not sure I could stand it.”
His smile was all too human and I instantly liked him. No wonder Chloe loved this man. “You’re doing it right now. They’re both in battle, Lady Karter. Just because the commander is on this ship doesn’t mean he’s not fighting. Fighting is easy. You fight. You live or you die. It’s harder being the one left behind.”
He walked me to the control room where my mate was surrounded by buzzing warri
ors. The scene was controlled chaos, every screen, and there were a lot of them, moving. Ships. Grids. Missile projections. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, but to the warriors out there, in space, rather than to each other. And yet, I sensed that every single one of them knew exactly what was happening.
Kaed was bent over, his head down as he looked at something on a display in front of him. He looked fierce. Strong. So confident and disciplined. Only I could sense his pain, his frustration, his desperate need to lift his head and rage.
Everyone else in the room seemed calm, well, as calm as could be expected. His pain was personal and ran deep. Which meant only one thing… Ronan. Something had happened to Ronan.
He was camouflaged. The commander in action, and I began to understand why he had hesitated to trust me with this—connection. It made him vulnerable. What I did next could crack through that armor. Make him weak.
He sensed my presence, turning to face me. His face was as cold and emotionless as granite. I understood, burying my own pain at the idea that Ronan was hurt, or worse, gone forever. I buried my anxiety, frustration and worry and replaced the emotions with calm. Kaed needed me to be strong. I would not be the weakling he’d feared I would be if faced with this situation. Summoning my memories, I called upon my hours and hours of staring out at the sky, up at the planets and stars, with complete serenity. In those moments, I’d felt like I was part of something much, much bigger than myself.
And with that surety came peace. I felt it now, and I focused on that feeling, willing Kaed to take what he needed from me.
“Are you well, mate?” he asked, the entire bridge crew froze as if holding their collective breath for my answer.
I held his gaze and nodded. “I am well, Commander. I just wanted to update you that all of the passengers are comfortable and well taken care of.”
“Excellent.” He inclined his head and I felt his gratitude pour into me, his relief that I was not going to ask him what was tearing him up inside. Not now.
“Do you all need anything here?” Kaed’s emotional turmoil calmed and I filled my heart with love. Peace. Acceptance. This was the life I had chosen. He was the mate I had chosen. No matter what happened next, whether we all died in the next hour, or lived another hundred years, I did not regret that choice.
The Commanders' Mate (Interstellar Brides® Book 15) Page 14
