by Tana Stone
We’d found the enemy. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that they’d found us.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Zoey
“Where are we going?” Serge called as he jogged behind me, his platform shoes clomping.
“I’m going to find out what’s going on with the captain’s mission.” I barreled down the corridor with Serge, Reina, and Nina close on my heels. “You decided to come along for the ride.”
Serge huffed out a breath, although most of his breath seemed to be taken up by his brisk steps as he attempted to keep up. “If you’re implying that we’re hangers-on, you can bite your tongue, missy. I’m coming to make sure you don’t skip out on your date.”
I glanced back and saw Serge holding his tablet tightly under one arm. “This is definitely not the time for me to meet a new guy.”
“Things do seem to be a little chaotic at the moment.” Reina’s warbly voice was even higher and more breathless, although with her long legs she didn’t need to walk as fast as Serge. “Are you sure we should go to the bridge uninvited?”
“She makes a good point,” Nina muttered as she walked shoulder to shoulder with me. “I’m sure the captain will be back soon.”
I shook my head, not slowing down as I strode onto an inclinator car. “I’m probably the reason he went on that mission. He was upset and not thinking clearly. The last thing he should be doing is flying a mission.”
“Why was the captain upset?” Serge bustled into the compartment after me. “Did you two get in another fight?”
“Not exactly,” I said as the doors closed and we surged up, the lilting instrumental tones of “U Can’t Touch This” a sharp contrast to everyone’s heavy breathing.
Serge’s tablet made a pinging sound, and he jumped. “There he is.”
“There who is?” Nina asked, eyeing the tablet as if it were alive.
“Dryx, of course.” Serge swiped his finger across the tablet’s shiny, black surface and the screen came to life.
“The Inferno Force guy you want to set me up with?” I stepped away from Serge and the tablet, bumping into the curved white wall of the inclinator.
“I told you I was able to get special permission to reschedule it.”
I groaned. This was the last thing I needed. I had enough problems with the guy I was involved with. I didn’t need to add another to the mix. “This isn’t a great time.”
Serge cut his eyes to me. “It’s never a good time. You’re always busy.”
“But this really isn’t a great time,” Nina said.
Serge tapped his short fingers on the screen and suddenly a face appeared. If this was Dryx, he was even better looking than I’d expected him to be, with the trademark Drexian dark hair worn long and scruff on his cheeks that seemed to be more of an Inferno Force hallmark. The eyes peering out at us were a captivating shade of dark blue.
“At last,” Serge said, smiling brightly at the Drexian.
The inclinator stopped and the door slid open.
“At last,” I murmured as I hurried off, leaving Serge spluttering in the compartment.
Nina caught up with me first, casting a nervous glance over her shoulder to where Serge was attempting to hold the tablet in front of him while he ran, and Reina was bending over and shouting apologies at the screen. “You’d better hope Serge forgives you for this one day.”
“I promise you she’s not normally like this,” Serge was saying to Dryx as he shot menacing looks at me.
I paused outside the double doors leading to the bridge, turning abruptly to face Serge and Reina—and Dryx via vid link. Serge almost plowed straight into me, the tablet bumping my stomach. I snatched the tablet from him.
“What are you doing?” He tried to grab it back, but I held it high enough that he couldn’t reach it.
I held the tablet over my head at arm’s length and smiled up at the clearly confused Drexian. “I’m really sorry about all this, but it’s not going to work out between us. It’s definitely not you, it’s me.”
Serge was squawking as he jumped up. “Don’t pay any attention to her. She’s been under a lot of duress lately.”
Dryx laughed, seemingly unconcerned by the drama unfolding on the other end of the vid link. “Not a problem, but it’s too bad it won’t work out between us. You’re as beautiful as Serge said you were.”
I smiled at the smooth compliment. “Thanks. It might have worked out if I’d met you sooner, but I’ve kind of fallen for someone else.”
“What?” Serge stopped reaching for the tablet. “What do you mean you’ve fallen for someone else? Who else? How is this possible?”
“Then I’m happy for you,” Dryx said. “And jealous of the other male.”
I laughed. “If it makes you feel any better, he’s jealous of you, too.”
Serge stamped one foot. “What is going on here? Why is everyone jealous of each other?”
Reina clapped her hands together. “I think I know.”
Serge snapped his head to her, his expression outraged and his hair flushing pink at the roots.
“I’m sorry, Serge.” I handed him back his tablet. “I’m involved with the captain, and until I figure out what’s going on between us, I can’t start something with anyone else.”
Serge gaped at me. “The captain? What captain?” Then his round eyes widened. “Kalex? You and Kalex?”
Dryx let out a bark of laughter from the tablet. “If you’ve managed to tame that battle junkie, then you deserve him.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d tamed him, but I was pretty sure he’d changed something in me.
“This is wonderful news.” Reina pressed her long fingers to her chest. “Our captain and our astro-architect.”
“We aren’t officially together, and I don’t know where things stand.” I shifted from one foot to the other. “So, I’d like to keep this quiet for now.” I jerked a thumb toward the bridge. “Especially in there.”
Nina lifted her arm overhead and swirled her hand it in a circle. “Cone of silence.”
Serge got a sharp glance from Reina before giving a mournful glance at his tablet. “Fine.”
I waved my hand to open the doors and strode onto the bridge. Once again, I was struck by how different it was from the rest of the station. The last time I was here, however, the atmosphere wasn’t nearly so chaotic. The space was still dimly lit, but the bridge crackled with energy as monitors beeped and static cut through the air. Drexians in dark uniforms turned to our group as we walked in, their expressions startled.
“Zoey, Nina!” Vekron walked toward us from the front of the bridge. His gaze lingered on my friend for a beat before glancing at Serge and Reina behind us. “What are you doing here?”
“Serge told me that Kalex left the ship on a mission.”
Vekron’s face twisted for a moment. “That’s correct. He and Jax took out a squadron of fighters to search for an energy rift that we believed might connect to Kronock space.”
My gut clenched. “That sounds dangerous.”
“You all really shouldn’t be here,” Vekron said. “The command deck is off-limits to civilians.”
“I know.” I looked over his head at the wide view of space where gleaming black fighter jets flew in what appeared to be a circle. “But I don’t think Kalex should be out there.”
Vekron blinked at me. “Why not? He’s a highly skilled pilot.”
I drew in a breath and dropped my voice. “Something happened between us. It was my fault, but he was probably pretty upset.”
A strange look passed over his face. “That actually explains a lot.”
I glanced around to make sure none of the other Drexians had heard but they seemed intent on their tasks. “Is there any way I could talk to him while he’s out there? Maybe send him a transmission telling him I’m sorry? I don’t like to think of him flying when he’s upset.”
“Actually, there isn’t.”
My shoulders sagged. I’d thought Vekron wou
ld have been more understanding. “But—”
He took me by both shoulders. “It’s not that I don’t want to, Zoey. Believe me, I’d love nothing more than to let you talk to him, but he and Jax vanished into the energy rift.”
My skin went cold, and all the Noovian wine I’d drunk threatened to come back up, the sharp tang of bile stinging the back of my throat. I pressed a hand to my lips.
“He’s gone?” Nina asked, her voice trembling.
Vekron gave us both a grim nod, turning to a Drexian who’d just approached him with an urgent report regarding the energy readings. All the sounds of the bridge seemed to disappear as the truth of what he’d said hit me.
“This is awful,” Reina said.
“We should go.” Serge’s voice had lost its normal exuberance.
I shook my head. Until that very moment, I hadn’t realized how much I cared for Kalex, even if he could be an infuriating ass. What had started as just sex had become something more. He’d known it when he’d attempted a romantic gesture, and I’d been too freaked out to admit that I’d developed feelings that went beyond our powerful physical connection.
I’d been determined to keep things casual so I wouldn’t fall for him, but it hadn’t worked. Even though Kalex was nothing like Theo, I’d fallen for him just the same. It wasn’t the same kind of steady love I’d shared with my fiancé—things with Kalex were anything but predictable—but it was undeniable, nonetheless.
Strangely, I didn’t feel guilty that I’d found love again. Nina was right. Theo would have wanted me to be happy—and loved. Thinking of Theo made my stomach tighten, but it wasn’t the familiar ache of loss. It was a pang of regret. Regret that it had taken me so long to get my head out of my ass.
I squared my shoulders with determination. I’d lost one guy I’d loved. I couldn’t lose another. “I can’t go. I have to help get him back.”
“How can you help, hon?” Reina asked.
I gazed out the front of the station, my mind gripped with fear. I didn’t know yet, but I had to try. I couldn’t lose him just when I’d found him.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Kalex
“What the grek?” Jax’s sharp-edged voice jerked me back to the reality of staring down a Kronock battleship.
I swiveled my head around to check for incoming enemy fighters or laser fire, but the skies were surprisingly quiet. Even though we weren’t near the bow of the Kronock ship, that didn’t mean we couldn’t be seen.
I glanced down at my console. The energy readings which had been off the charts moments ago had now gone back to normal, which meant the energy rift that had sucked us through space was gone.
“We found the rift,” I said to him through my comms link.
“But only us. Where is everyone else?”
I didn’t know if the Island was five light years away or five thousand, but that’s where the rest of our security patrol was.
“Why the grek didn’t we outfit these fighters with stealth shielding?” Jax asked, letting out a string of Drexian curses.
“They were only ever meant for security patrols around the station.”
“Remind me to bring this up with the captain when we get back.”
I choked out a dark laugh. “Noted.”
If we survived this and got back to the station, I was going to make sure every ship was equipped with the stealth shielding that made our ships undetectable, even the puny tow ships and trash transporters.
“For now, we’ll have to rely on evasive maneuvers and our flying skills while we figure out a way to get back through the rift or plot a jump route.” I banked my ship hard to the right but didn’t use thrusters. “Let go in close to the enemy battleship. That will at least make us harder to target.”
“Closer to the Kronock,” Jax grumbled. “Great.”
He fell in behind my ship and we both skirted along the bottom of the mammoth battleship. Luckily, the Kronock designed ships with few windows and lots of thick steel, so there was a chance we could hug their hull and not be seen. Whether they’d detect our distinctive Drexian signature was another matter.
When scores of Kronock fighters didn’t pour from the battleship to attack us, I let out a cautious sigh of relief. “We need to gather as much data about where we are as possible. We can’t plot a jump route back to the battleship without knowing our location.”
“Agreed. And we need to keep an eye on our arrival coordinates in case that rift opens back up.”
“You do that, and I’ll try to scrape as much data as I can. I’m going quiet.”
Jax didn’t reply, having already gone comms silent himself. I cast a quick glance at the muddy-gray ship I was hovering under, the scale-like exterior ominous and dark.
I hated being this close to the enemy. As many times as I’d battled the Kronock, I’d never flown so close to one of their ships I could reach out and touch it. My fingers quivered at the thought of the frigid hull, and I shivered at the knowledge that beyond the metal casing were hundreds—maybe thousands—of scaly Kronock, with heavy tails and long snouts, their claws razor-sharp.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to focus on my console, and not the distinct possibility that I would die far away from my Drexian brothers and the station I commanded. And Zoey, I thought, my fear turning to regret.
As hurt as I’d been when Zoey had run away from me, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what might have been if I’d gone after her instead of insisting on chasing battle with Jax. Would I have caught up with her and pulled her into my arms, kissing away any hesitation? Would she have picked another fight? Would we have verbally sparred until our irritation with each other had bubbled over, and we’d ended up tearing each other’s clothes off?
I grinned at the thought, my heart beating faster as I imagined her dark eyes flashing and her chin lifted in challenge. What I wouldn’t give to be facing off against her now, instead of the Kronock.
Shaking my head and attempting to rid myself of the distraction that did nothing but make me ache more, I swiped my fingers across the screen of my console. Using my universal mapping grid, I was able to pinpoint our location.
I swallowed hard as I stared at the flashing, green dot that indicated our position on the star chart. We were on the far side of Kronock space. Too far for us to traverse safely without passing by hundreds of Kronock ships and outposts, and too far for us to jump all the way back to the station in a single jump. These fighters didn’t have enough juice for multiple jumps. One jump would put us in the heart of Kronock space with not enough power to jump again—or outrun an enemy attack. We had no choice but to find a way back through the rift.
“Jax,” I reopened our secure comms channel. “We’re not jumping from here. Any progress with the energy rift?”
“So far, just a few blips. The good news is that I’ve been analyzing the data from before the rift appeared on the other side. There does seem to be a pattern.”
“So, the rift isn’t naturally occurring?”
“That I can’t tell you. The Kronock could have happened upon a wormhole and piggybacked onto it.”
“Or this rift could be a result of them attempting to alter a wormhole, which could explain its instability. That also means there’s no guarantee the rift will deposit us back at the station.”
“Maybe that’s why the Kronock appearances have been so irregular and fleeting.”
I rubbed a hand across my forehead, imagining the Kronock sending ship after ship through an unstable wormhole. The brutal creatures would have no problem losing soldiers in the attempt to destroy us.
“If my calculations are correct,” Jax said. “The energy rift should appear off the port side of the Kronock battleship within the next two minutes.”
“Right where we came through?”
“The exact spot.”
“What guarantees do we have that if we can get through the rift that it will take us back to the station?”
Jax was silent for
a beat. “You’d rather stay here?”
I gave another glance at the battleship looming over me. “No. You’re right. We should make a run for it, especially since the Kronock don’t seem to have spotted us.”
“What are the chances?” Jax mused. “You’d think they’d be monitoring the rift, especially if they’re using it to send their own ships through.”
I shifted in the cockpit, an uneasy prickle slithering down my spine. My friend was right. The Kronock should have spotted us. They had sophisticated technology, even if they were brutal monsters.
“I’m not sure how long we’ll have when it opens. The duration has varied and there seems to be no pattern to that.” Jax exhaled audibly. “But we also can’t fly at the rift at full impulse. Our engines could ignite the energy field.”
“So, we have to fly toward the rift and then turn off impulse and let momentum carry us through before the rift closes?”
Another loud sigh. “Basically.”
I curled my fingers around the control yoke of the fighter, anticipating the delicate timing of what we’d be attempting. “Let’s do it.”
“Once we engage thrusters again, the Kronock could pick up on it,” Jax warned.
“Then let’s hope that our scaly friends are asleep on the job, or that I still remember some of our old Inferno Force evasive maneuvers.”
Jax chuckled. “I’ll take the first option.”
A red light flashed on my console indicating an increase in radiation. “Is this it?”
“This is it,” Jax said, engaging his own thrusters and moving away from the battleship.
I followed him, my fighter lurching forward and rushing toward the coordinates of the rift. My pulse quickened as I spotted a nearly imperceptible shimmer in space. The Island should be just on the other side.
“Disengage thrusters,” Jax called out, his fighter right beside mine as we flew toward the rift.