A Star Pilot's Hero (All the Stars in the Sky Book 2)

by Eva Delaney

  I knew Polaris better than any of them. “I’ll go,” I said, standing.

  Besides, I needed to get away from Orion so I could breathe again.

  I strolled the length of the ship and found Polaris in the engine room. I paused to listen to the reassuring hum of the ship. Our lives and this mission weren’t lost, thanks to Po.

  “Do you need to work on the ansible from here?” I said.

  Polaris hunched his shoulders near his ears. Despite the loose-fitting sweatshirts he always wore, I could see a hint of his lean muscles every time he moved. He didn’t need to hide his body, and I wished he wouldn’t.

  His navy-blue eyes bordered on black in the dim light of the engine room. They matched his dark skin and midnight black hair that was growing thick and kinky on his head.

  “Polaris, what’s wrong?” I said. “Did you send the message? We don’t have time to spare. The galaxy is counting on us.”

  “I sent it,” he said. Behind square glasses, he avoided eye contact. Since Star Keeper, he had been looking right at me with a kind of wonder and softness.

  That is, until he admitted to liking me and I refused him. Now he averted his gaze again. I didn’t think it was from shyness, like before. It was from embarrassment. Hell, I felt embarrassed for him after what happened between us.

  “Your plan is a good one,” I said just to fill the silence with something nice.

  He liked being the smart one, and he smiled a little with his head ducked low. I always thought he had a cute smile, small and sweet.

  “You’ve saved us,” I added to try to get him to talk.

  “We don’t know yet. The jumpship might not come. They might not fall for our ruse.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short. I bet you’ve got something quite long—” I sighed. “Sorry, I shouldn’t tease you like this.”

  It was what misled him in the first place and started this mess. I only ever flirted with Po because I could make him stammer, which was adorable. Plus, he was the only man who ever got like that around me.

  I cleared my throat. “Why did you rush out?”

  “To check the engines,” he said.

  Po smiled at me over his shoulder. Shy smile with bright teeth. He gestured for me to join him as he sat on the floor before the engine. I hesitated, but maybe the engines needed repairs and he was asking for help.

  Plus, I needed things to be back to normal between us. He had been my only friend during the lonely years. I couldn’t imagine flying into Star Keeper Base without his deep, soft voice on the comms.

  I crouched across from him. He dug into his pockets and pulled out little ship pieces: a hydrospanner, a boson plate, a bolt from a flux capacitor. He arranged them in a grid between us. I watched and waited for him to explain.

  “They’re from the Firebrand,” he said.

  My missing ship. My old home. We had to abandon it so quickly that there had been no time to grab anything, not even a change of clothes. “Did you save random old equipment before fleeing the ship?” Why would he have kept them at all?

  He dropped his gaze and poked one of the bolts around the floor. “I put them in my pocket while working, then Vinera happened. They were already with me.”

  “So, you carried bolts and a spanner all this time, through all the fights and hiding? Wouldn’t it have been easier to throw them away?”

  “But they’re important to you. They’re part of your home.” The corner of his mouth quirked into a quiet smile though he kept his gaze down on the ship parts.

  Something in my stomach tightened like a clenched fist. Panic. Worry. At the fluttering and racing in my chest, at the soft squishy feeling there.

  “I was thinking…if it’s okay with you, Cal….” He raised his twilight eyes to meet mine. “We could add them to the Invictus’s engine to make it a little more like home for you.”

  And just like that, the squishy feeling in my chest spread through my stomach and legs. I had to sit down on the floor. I licked my lips and looked away from him. I had to change the subject before this feeling kept growing.

  “Do you carry any pieces of your home with you?” I said, making my tone light. I glanced at him sidelong.

  He shrugged. “Neural networks form memories. Ions in my teeth from home and Star Keeper. You can tell where someone is from, right down to the planet, space station, and continent, by analyzing the elements in their teeth. The rest of the elements in my body are from home too. I guess I carry home in my blood and bones, in the shape of my neural networks, in my brain and heart.”

  I gazed at him, half in wonder. “You’re more poetic than I knew.”

  He shrugged again, ever modest. “How about you? You carry anything from home with you?”

  “No…well, ions, I guess as you said.” I picked up the spanner and fiddled with it. It was the exact one we had printed on the Firebrand’s fabricator to replace the older version. It was a piece of home.

  “Oh. Nothing from Erow?” Po said.

  “Just the memory of my sister and emotional scars.” I tried to sound jokey, but it didn’t work because Po dropped his gaze to the ship pieces.

  “Same here,” he said. “Except…I don’t know if my sister carries me with her.”

  He had never mentioned his sister before. I realized with a pang that even though Po had been my closest friend for three years, I knew little about his past.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I said.

  He shook his head and fiddled with the edge of his sleeve.

  Something was bothering him, but he was trying to hide it. I didn’t like digging into emotions much either, so I let him hide.

  “Shall we?” he said.

  “Shall we what?” I turned to him and found he had turned to me and we were staring into each other’s eyes. His held a soft, sad look. His breath caressed my lips, and I gasped.

  “Shall we add the Firebrand’s parts to the engine and make this place more like home?” he said and flashed me that innocent smile of his. So close, I could almost taste it.

  He was one of the older members of the crew, but he always seemed so naive and young. It made me want to hug him.

  “Let’s do it,” I said and turned away.

  It felt good, comforting, to be working on a ship with Polaris as we had done together on the Firebrand. For a little while, I could pretend like everything was back to normal. That we were friends and I had no feelings for him.

  But when we finished, I had to face that saving parts of my ship to make this one more like home was one of the sweetest things anyone had done for me—that didn’t end with someone dead or in jail. This was innocent, thoughtful.

  I couldn’t thank him for it. It would be admitting how much this meant. How much he was starting to mean to me. I loved Orion, as though my heart beat only for him.

  So why would I need anyone else?

  “That was fun,” Polaris said. I couldn’t help but smile because he found work more fun than anything else.

  “Cal….” he said, his voice trailing off.

  “Yeah?”

  He looked away, cleared his throat. “Are you a quasar?”

  “A what? Why? Huh?”

  “Because you’re the hottest thing in the galaxy.”

  I gaped at him with my heart echoing in my head.

  Polaris’s smile broke like the dawn. “I’m teasing,” he said shyly. “Like you do to me all the time. I’m learning to do it back.”

  “Oh! Right! Of course!” I forced myself to laugh. “Good one.”

  He looked proud of himself, but then neither of us had anything to say. The silence was odd, stifling.

  “Ummm…hey, Po? Are you a comet?” I said to fill the silence.

  “No….”

  “Because that’s a fine tail.”

  He blinked, his eyes going wide as a ship’s door. Then he laughed. He had never laughed at my lines before. He only got flustered.

  I couldn’t help but laugh too.

 
“Well,” I said before the silence could fill the room with awkwardness again. “I better go check on the others.”

  I had to get back to Orion before I did something to hurt him—or something else that would mislead Polaris.

  So I stood and hurried for the stairs.

  Chapter 9

  When I reached the main corridor, I found Orion and Hamal glaring at each other.

  Shit. Those two were friends, and the only two men here who got along. What was happening?

  Antares watched with his usual frown. Mr. Pancake trotted down the hall as though he wanted to escape this mess too.

  “You do want her,” Orion said, stunned, to Hamal.

  I rolled my eyes. A gorgeous man like Hamal wouldn’t be interested in a mess like me.

  “We shared before,” Hamal said, dropping his voice.

  “You what?” I said, stunned. They both startled and turned to me with their eyes wide.

  Antares laughed as though the sound had been ripped from him. I wished he would shut-up and go away. He wasn’t helping.

  “It was years ago before Orion met you,” Hamal explained quickly. “Rose was the only woman in our basic training—”

  “Hamal, please stop,” Orion groaned.

  He blinked. “You never told Calpurnia—Commander Bellatrix?”

  Orion hadn’t. I didn’t like that they were talking about me like this, but a part of me wanted to hear more about their sharing arrangement.

  “We shared before, so I thought—”

  Orion clenched his fists at his sides. His expression was so dark and angry that Hamal stopped speaking. Orion’s jealousy was getting out of hand if he was angry at his best friend.

  “You’re fighting over sharing me?” I said, raising my voice to cut off their bickering.

  What would it be like to have many men loving me and pleasing me? I pushed the thought away. It would hurt Orion and the mission.

  The crew worked well together on Vinera, but if tensions remained high, they would fall apart. We’d fail the mission, and the Supremacy would kill or capture us in the process. Once we failed, the war would never end.

  This time, it might be because of me. Because they were arguing over me.

  Whatever nonsense they were thinking, I had to put a stop to it before it grew out of hand, before they kept discussing ways to share me. How dare they do that without asking me first?

  “That is none of your business, Hamal,” I said, using my best cold, commanding voice. “It is wildly inappropriate for any of you to be discussing your commander in this way. If any of you continue, I will write you up as insubordinate when we return to Star Keeper.” Never mind that we couldn’t return until we found Winters since Castor had framed us. But they didn’t need to know that. “Have I made myself clear?”

  “Yes, Commander,” Orion and Hamal muttered.

  I shot a glare at Antares, who crossed his arms and smirked at the whole situation. He refused to agree to my command, as though he weren’t part of this too.

  “Bounty hunter—” A blaring alarm cut me off. My heart leaped into my throat.

  That was the proximity warning. Someone was near.

  I raced for the cockpit and slid to a stop. An egg-shaped drone with eight spindly legs sat on the center of the viewport, its single red eye peering into the cockpit. It flashed orange as its scanners slid over the window. Thankfully, the viewport was one-way; we could see out, but nothing could see in.

  “Shit fucker.” My heart thundered in my chest.

  “What the hell is that?” Orion said behind me.

  “A scout drone,” I said. “It must be from the jumpship.” I stepped slowly into the cockpit. Even though the drone couldn’t see me, my skin crawled as though it could. Its red eye seemed to follow me, and its long legs reminded me of the giant spiders on Hatchteck.

  I slipped into the pilot’s seat and took a deep breath to try to calm myself.

  “Let’s blow it up,” Rux said somewhere behind me.

  “No,” I ordered. “The jumpship will never come pick us up if we destroy its scout. For the sake of Agent Winters and the galaxy, we need to work with this…this robotic spy spider.”

  Rux sighed loudly. “Fine. I won’t kill it.”

  Orion plopped into the co-pilot’s seat next to me, his fingers hovering over the comms controls as something scrolled over the message screen. “It wants to know Castor’s code to confirm our identity.”

  “Antares?” I said, not taking my gaze from the glaring red eye. I shuddered. It really felt like it could see and even hear us. “Do you know Castor’s code?”

  He hesitated. “They change it every few weeks. I don’t know the latest one.”

  “Shit. Can we hack that robot? Po!”

  The ship went silent except for the distant thump of footsteps. A minute later, Polaris pushed past Hamal and Rux into the cockpit.

  “Oh,” he said as his gaze locked at the spy robot.

  “Can you steal its jumpdrive to move the Invictus?” I said.

  Po shook his head. “It won’t be strong enough to transport something this big.”

  I sighed. “Can you hack it?”

  Polaris frowned, staring at the drone. “I guess I have to.”

  I gestured for Orion to move to give Polaris the co-pilot’s seat. Po settled in with his shoulders hunched up toward his ears. “Well…here’s goes everything.”

  His hands flew over the control panel. I eyed the drone with my heart in my throat. This was our only chance to get back to civilization. If Polaris couldn’t fool the drone, we’d die of starvation and there would be nobody to save Agent Winters.

  I’d have to watch my men waste away—and die knowing that the war would never end.

  Orion whacked Antares on the shoulder. “You knew Castor’s security code once? How? Why are you so close to the prince?”

  “Now isn’t the time to argue, Orion,” I said. “Polaris needs to concentrate.”

  “I’m just helping,” he said.

  “I don’t need your help managing the crew.”

  Orion laughed. “You don’t know how to ask for help. You never did.”

  I gritted my teeth.

  “Cali,” he lowered his voice. “I want to make your life easier, happier. You should never suffer or be uncomfortable—”

  “That’s life,” I said.

  “She gets it,” Antares said. “All is misery and anyone who claims otherwise is selling something.”

  “I’m selling love,” Orion snapped.

  Antares’s mouth quirked. “For how much?”

  “Your dignity,” Rux said. “You can’t keep it with someone hugging and making kissy faces all the time.”

  My skin burned. They did notice Orion being touchy-feely, and they did think less of me for it.

  “All of you shut your dick holes,” I said. “Let Po work.”

  “If this fails, can I shoot the drone?” Rux said.

  “Yes,” I said. We’d be doomed anyway, so he might as well have a bit of fun first. Besides, maybe if we made it clear who was on this ship, Castor would show up to kill us. We’d avoid a slow death, at least.

  And I wouldn’t have to listen to these men argue while I slowly died.

  The drone’s eye flared orange. Its legs bent low and it leaped away from the viewport, drifting through the black of space until its dark casing blended into the sky, leaving only a red dot growing smaller.

  “Did you trick it?” I said.

  “Maaayyybeee,” Polaris said slowly. “I told it to inform the jumpship that it received the correct code, but I don’t know if they can tell that it was tampered with.”

  I took a deep breath. “I guess all we can do is wait and see if anyone shows up to save us or kill us.”

  The cockpit went silent.

  “Well, shit,” Rux said finally.

  Mr. Pancake’s little claws clattered on the floor, the only sound. At least we had the dog to keep our spirits up. He dashed
into the cockpit with something black hanging from his mouth and dragging under his little legs.

  I watched him, puzzling over what he had found to play with. It was small, black, silky. He shook it, growling, and his whole chubby body shook with the effort.

  It flew from his mouth and landed at Orion’s feet. A little piece of black fabric with C.R. stitched on it in Rigel gold.

  Oh. Oh, shit.

  “Is that…” I started.

  “Castor’s underwear?” Orion finished.

  Chapter 10

  Mr. Pancake grabbed Castor’s underwear in his mouth and shook it. Orion and Hamal jumped back so the fabric whipping back and forth wouldn’t touch their legs.

  I laughed. Strong, fearless men were afraid of a dog with a bit of fabric.

  “Fuck,” Hamal said. Antares went pale.

  I strolled down the hall to the bedroom that had been Castor’s until a day ago. A closet door stood open and an overturned pile of clothes spilled out.

  “Ah, shit fucker,” I said. “There’s a whole pile of Castor’s…underclothes. Someone has to touch that to clean it up.”

  “Burn it all,” Orion shouted.

  “Since the only change of clothes on the ship is Castor’s, you guys better get used to wearing his stuff,” I said.

  They all looked at me, horrified. I grinned, enjoying how much this bothered them.

  “I would rather go commando,” Orion said and winked at me. “Easier access.”

  “I already do,” Antares said with that mischievous grin he brought out sparingly.

  It was charming. I had to remind myself that he was a treacherous bounty hunter and not charming at all.

  Mr. Pancake growled and shook the black fabric again. It looked silky and small…I shook the thought away. I didn’t need to visualize the prince in tiny black underwear; I’d be cringing as much as the men.

  Orion, Hamal, and Antares leaped away from the dog.

  “Fuuucccckkk,” Orion shouted.

  “Why are you whining about underwear?” Rux said.

  Great, just what I needed. More Rux.

  “Next one to piss me off is cleaning it up,” I said and shot him a glare before he could start trouble.

  Rux stared wide-eyed at Mr. Pancake. The little pug’s tail wagged as he dragged the black underwear around the ship.