Cover Fire (Valiant Knox)

by Anastasi, Jess

  Seb helped Jenna to her feet, murmuring a thanks as they headed up the ramp. While he scanned the inside, the hatch whooshed into place with a hiss. He didn’t like being sealed into what appeared to be an inescapable cargo hold, but this was their best way of getting to the crash site by the end of the day.

  As the shuttle rumbled to life, Jenna did a lap, peering into crates, lifting tarps, and generally being nosy.

  “Find anything interesting?” He crossed his arms, watching her procession.

  “If I’m right about my hunch…” A crate seemingly filled with salt, stacked on several identical crates, distracted her. “Why would they be transporting this much salt? There’s no mine in this district.” She removed the lid and plunged her hand into the white grains. A second later, a triumphant expression crossed her face, and she tugged, coming up with a weapon.

  “They’re transporting a lot more than farm produce.”

  Seb stepped forward, gripping what looked to be a gun and unwrapping the protective sheeting to reveal the stock. “This is a UEF-issued electromagnetic pistol.”

  She took the weapon back from him to examine it. “You’re right. Didn’t a shipment of weapons go missing between the Ilari base and a frontline outpost a few months ago?”

  “We didn’t hear about it on the Knox.” Maybe he shouldn’t have been so surprised the UEF had apparently covered something like that up, but he was, and it left him questioning what else the UEF kept hidden from its soldiers.

  “Command Intelligence assumed they were taken by CSS forces. But if the rebels got them—”

  “Then that’s probably not such a bad thing,” he finished. “So let’s leave them have their toys and hope they take a few of the bastards out for us.”

  She relented, but didn’t look convinced as he took the weapon, carefully rewrapped it, plunged it back into the crate of salt, and then secured the lid. Once done, he sat with his back against the stack, glancing up at Jenna, who had all kinds of contrition over her face.

  “You want to do something with this information, don’t you?”

  She came down next to him, reaching out to take his hand. “After we’ve seen the crash site. I just have to work extra hard at making sure we survive so we can get this information back to the Knox. If we could make contact, maybe join forces with the rebels, it might be the turning point the UEF needs.”

  He couldn’t disagree. They’d come this far. One quick glimpse of the wreckage, and they could head home armed with intelligence that might give him a small chance of not being completely buried for the number of offenses he’d committed since Jenna had dropped into his life.

  Neither of them said anything else for the rest of the hour until the shuttle set down. The hatchway opened and Neiman let them out, wishing them well as they went on their way.

  The early morning markets bustled with people buying and selling goods, so it was easy for the two of them to blend into the crowds. Jenna led them out, heading away from the holy city looming in the distance, the sun rising behind it, casting wispy golden fingers of light over the buildings.

  The crash site was a few miles south and Seb estimated that with any luck, they’d be there by lunchtime. And then finally he would know if he could bury in his mind the man he’d called a friend once and for all.

  …

  Seb had been so preoccupied with getting to the crash site, he’d never for one second considered what they might find when they got there. The answer, apparently, was a dozen CS Soldiers in the area, which was cordoned off for a good five hundred feet in every direction.

  “Well, this sucks.” They’d stopped by a fallen, thick, weathered trunk on the side of the road that had obviously been used by travelers as a resting place—close enough to see the patrol and half-crumpled pod, but far enough away that they hadn’t attracted any attention… Yet.

  Jenna scrutinized the men, probably picking out their guarding patterns or something equally secret agent-like. “My guess, they’re stripping the craft of anything useful, probably under the pretense of destroying the superior technology so as not to tempt the people of Ilari toward evil.”

  “And the truth is?”

  Her features tightened. “They’ll be taking it to a secret base where they retrofit some of their older ships to fight us. Looks old and clunky on the outside, but it’s all new and deadly on the inside. The Pontifex tends to have double standards when it comes to what’s good enough for the people of Ilari, compared to him finding a way to beat the UEF out of the Brannon System once and for all. Only a select handful of his most-trusted advisors know the truth of the technologies used over the years.”

  “That explains a lot about how they’ve managed to meet us push for push all these years. But doesn’t explain how only a select handful of his most-trusted advisors and one CI agent knows about it.”

  “For a while, one of those trusted advisors was a contact of mine. But apparently I wasn’t the only one he was sharing secrets with. He got careless, and then he got dead.”

  A commotion roused the distant CS Soldiers to alert. Without a word, he and Jenna shifted off the log and moved around to crouch behind it.

  “What’s got their panties all bunched up?” he muttered as the soldiers fell into formation.

  “I have no idea, but considering how agitated they are, it can’t be anything good.”

  She’d hardly finished saying the words, when the drone of aircraft reached them. Seb looked up to the horizon, finding three too-familiar looking jets whizzing toward them, pursued by four older CSS ships.

  “Great. We just get here and the UEF finally decide to send a team in for a flyover inspection.”

  Typical. If the UEF had moved their collective asses, he could’ve been sitting pretty in his cockpit with a bird’s-eye view of the crash site, not crouched behind a log in the firing line after defying orders and spending nearly two days getting here.

  “We can use this to our advantage.” Jenna reached under her cloak, into the bulk at her belly, and produced a gun. “Go in while they’re distracted and get a closer look at the escape pod.”

  “And if my own squad opens fire on me?”

  She shrugged, not looking too concerned about the possibility. “You wouldn’t be the first soldier to be taken down by friendly fire. But I’m pretty sure they’ll be distracted by the dozen men on the ground with bigger guns and the four ships currently trying to pluck their wings.”

  “Just when I start thinking you’re not some coldhearted, too-damned-logical CI droid,” he muttered, checking the gun’s power pack.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll watch your back.” She took out a second gun and then an automatic sighter, attaching the piece of sniper equipment to the top.

  No point in asking if the girl knew how to use the thing, it was obvious in the way she expertly fitted the tech and then settled the gun in her grip.

  “One of these days, I swear I’m going to stop being surprised at the tricks you’ve got up your sleeve.”

  “I hope not.” She sent him a grin. Between the two of them, she was going to enjoy this far more than he would.

  “Stay safe,” he murmured, before planting a quick, too-brief kiss on her mouth. She replied with the same as he got to his feet, her attention already turning to the soldiers forming defensive positions as the jets closed in, whipping back and forth in the near distance as the UEF fighter pilots tried to lose their tail.

  Seb waited until the soldiers had their backs turned, tracking the jets as they took a long sweep into the near distance. He took off, running as fast as he could while trying to keep a low profile. Halfway across the open space, one of the CSS ships came down in flames, and while not close enough for him to take any shrapnel, he still hit the ground, ducking as a few stray clumps of dirt spat around him.

  He was up again in another second, as a waft of black smoke billowing across the field blurred his view of the pod. A couple of CS Soldiers split off from the main group, no doubt to
check the latest wreckage. Seb swore under his breath as they turned, because he was going to end up right in their line of sight. Pushing himself, he sprinted the remaining distance to the shallow crater, gunshots peppering his feet a second before he slid down the lip and came to rest against the crumpled, charred side of the Farr Zero pod.

  The shooting intensified, but it didn’t seem to be aimed at him. No doubt Jenna had drawn their fire, leaving the CS Soldiers firing on both the jets—when they swooped over—and her sniper position. He only hoped she stayed low and didn’t take any stupid risks for him…well more stupid than hiking this far into enemy territory. Another muted boom reverberated as a second CSS ship fell victim to the Knox jets. The enemy ship had exploded in midair, raining droplets of fire across the landscape.

  Sliding along the side of the pod, and trying to keep below the mound of dirt amassed from the impact, he clambered to the front where the hatch would have been located.

  The thing was in worse condition that he’d imagined. At some point, the pod had caught fire, though it was impossible to tell if that was secondary to the crash. Half the hatchway had been torn off, and everything that could have melted had, leaving the insides an unidentifiable mess. Lawler’s body could easily be in there, but it was impossible to tell. If the fire had burned hot enough, even his bones wouldn’t have withstood the heat.

  Seb crouched, swearing a long string of curses. This trip had been a waste. Seeing the wreckage didn’t tell him squat. He’d put them on the line for nothing, was no closer to getting any kind of answers, no definitive conclusion to put all this behind him.

  He rammed an elbow into the wreckage, expending some of the fury, but leaving an ache radiating up his arm. It was probably a lot less than he deserved. The only way to ensure this wasn’t a complete balls-up would be to make it back to the Ilari base with the intel about the rebels.

  Shifting, he glanced around the edge of the wreckage. The two remaining CSS ships were playing defense against the three Knox jets. Having cleared the way, another UEF ship was approaching—this one an armed personnel carrier that could take small teams of soldiers and insert them into conflict or hot zones. Had the UEF decided to put boots on the ground to inspect the wreckage? Well didn’t that just beat all. On the bright side, he and Jenna might have an easy ride back to the Knox. The downside? He’d have to face the music sooner rather than later.

  One of the jets broke off from pursing the last CSS ships and wheeled around to escort the armed personnel carrier. Both ships opened fire on the CS ground soldiers, sending them scattering.

  Seb took advantage of the anarchy, pushing up and launching himself over the lip of the crater, keeping low as he sprinted back to the log where he’d left Jenna.

  She didn’t spare him a glance as he came down beside her, keeping up her sporadic firing at the CSS, creating more confusion.

  “What’d you see?” she asked him, popping off a few more shots.

  “Nada. It’s all burned. Couldn’t tell if there was a body in there or not. So I still have no idea if he died in the crash or escaped.”

  “Sorry.” She brought her gaze up from the sight, pulling the gun down from its perch. “I know this meant a lot to you.”

  “Try telling that to the panel when I front up for court-martial.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, loosening some dirt he’d gotten showered with.

  “You think Yang will take it that far?”

  The drone of the ships overhead changed, and he glanced over the log to see the CS ships and soldiers had all scattered, leaving the personnel carrier to set down not far from the pod.

  “I guess we’ll find out sooner rather than later.” He shoved the gun Jenna had given him into the back of his pants and stripped off the voluminous coat, revealing his Knox shipwear so the friendlies wouldn’t accidentally shoot him. “Stay behind me until they know it’s us.”

  Jenna gave a quick nod, then also stripped out of her coarse clothes and shoved them in her pack, which she slung on her back this time like it was meant to be carried.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  “Not in the slightest.” He pushed to his feet and held a hand out to help her up. As he stepped around the log, he kept his hands out to the side. The personnel carrier’s engines had remained online—probably to be ready for a quick take off—while the hatchway cycled open, revealing two figures. They didn’t wait for the ramp to lower but jumped to the ground, guns drawn and jogging straight toward him instead of heading for the crashed pod.

  The why of it became apparent as he recognized Bren and Alpha. So they weren’t here to inspect the crash. They were here to retrieve him. Shit. That was either going to be very good, or very, very bad. He was betting on the latter.

  He lowered his hands, shifting to bring Jenna to his side as he met up with his CO and former-CO. They both had varying degrees of barely controlled anger on their faces.

  “Sub-Lieutenant Rayne,” Alpha greeted.

  Aw hell. He was really in the crap house if Alpha was referring to him by rank.

  “Having a nice holiday?” Bren asked, a note of steel in her voice.

  “Sirs,” he returned, adding a salute. “It wasn’t my first preference in destination, but it’s been interesting. How did you find me?”

  Alpha shot him a look that told him it was a stupid question. “Where else were we going to look? This is the only place you’d go.”

  “You know, Rayne, the amount of stupid you’re rocking is blowing my mind.” Bren’s tone was almost conversational, but there was no missing the pissed-off in her expression. “Not only did you escape lockup—which you’re going to explain, by the way—but you also decided to bring your girlfriend along on your suicide mission. Who, I’m assuming, was supposed to have started at her own post on the Ilari base by now.”

  Seb glanced at Jenna, but she wasn’t giving anything away. There was no post for Jenna—they’d forged and fabricated that. But the tiny detail—that she’d only meant to stay with him for a few days—was the first thread of the lie. And he could see it all unraveling from here.

  “There’s a really good explanation for that,” he blurted out. Okay, so he didn’t have one right now. But give him two minutes alone with Jenna, and they could get a story ironed out. Why not add one more to the avalanche of falsehoods he’d already told?

  “And we’ll be very interested to hear it,” Alpha said, taking Jenna’s arm. “But right now, we need to get off the ground before the CSS send reinforcements.”

  He clenched his jaw as he nodded, because the best thing he could do was cooperate, not blabber. Yep, there was a whole lot of cooperation coming up in his near future if he wanted to keep his spot on the squad.

  They jogged to the personnel carrier, and maybe he was being a paranoid son of a bitch, but Alpha kept himself planted between Jenna and him the whole way over. And once they were on board and Bren gave the waiting pilots the order to take off, Alpha also managed to sit himself between them.

  Jenna shot him a quick, concerned look as the personnel carrier gained a small amount of altitude and then leveled off. So, maybe he wasn’t the only one imagining Alpha was keeping them apart. Which was going to make it damn hard to ensure they had their story straight before they were questioned.

  Hell, this whole thing was going to come undone faster than a jet hitting the mesosphere with no shields. But he didn’t care what that would mean for him. So he might lose his post, but if the truth came out about Jenna, CI would make sure she disappeared for good this time. In the most permanent way.

  Maybe it was time to hit eject. He’d never thought about doing anything other than being a fighter pilot, but since Lawler, everything had been slowly unraveling. And his time on the ground, speaking with Halden, seeing the truth of Ilari he’d never before considered, it left him wondering what he was really fighting for and why. The glory? The adrenaline high? The next promotion? Compared to people like Halden, who were fighting for a peaceful existen
ce and to keep their families safe, his hollow goals made him one selfish bastard.

  He could make a real difference. With the information about the rebels they’d inadvertently uncovered, maybe all the things he’d done would actually mean something.

  “I suppose Stanton will be waiting to question me when we get back to the Knox.”

  “Stanton is first in line to speak with you,” Bren answered. “But it won’t be on the Knox. We’re heading to the base.”

  His heart skipped an uneasy beat or two. The questioning would be bad enough, but he’d counted on the advantage of being on home turf. On the base, where he didn’t have people like Yang to back him up— Hell, he could end up in a cell before he got back to the ship. And Stanton was the last person he wanted to give the information to. The agent could just as easily bury the intel or completely discount it. He needed to know whoever got the information would use it to a full advantage.

  “Why aren’t we headed back to the ship?” He tried to keep his tone light, not conveying his concern, but wasn’t sure he’d made the mark.

  Alpha turned to look at him, expression landing somewhere between sympathy and vexation. “Because we have to assess you as a security risk before we let you anywhere near the ship.”

  His heart crashed into the inside of his ribs, but he didn’t know whether to laugh or curse. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Alpha leaned in closer. “I don’t think you realize how much trouble you’ve put yourself in. After everything that’s happened in the past few months, the enemies we’ve discovered in our own ranks. Did you really think you could escape lockup and waltz around behind enemy lines without raising questions?”

  Well, when Alpha put it like that, yeah, it was easily the dumbest thing he’d ever done. The problem was, he hadn’t thought. Not beyond his burning need to see Lawler dead for what he’d done.

  “I’m not a security risk. I’m an FP squad member.”

  Alpha glanced away from him. “Yeah, well so was Lawler.”

  The words landed like a blast to the chest, radiating shock and pain through his body.