In the end, I had to grab the stubborn beast from behind, wrapping my arm through the straps of his fuel pod where he couldn’t reach me, and fired my jet packs, gaining as much momentum as I could.
If the net didn’t go down when the explosives fired, we’d fry when we tried to pass it. But if the net didn’t go down, we were all doomed anyway.
The explosion was blinding. Brilliant. So hot I felt like my space armor was melting to the back of my legs, burning my flesh. I ignored the pain and kept going, fired my fuel pod until I had nothing left.
And then we drifted.
Trapped. Out of fuel. Running out of oxygen.
And the net was still there.
Dorian
* * *
The blast rocked the small shuttle, the two Prillon warriors shouting curses as they were tossed around like bouncing balls in the back. When they regained their feet, the eldest of the two cousins strapped himself in to the co-pilot’s seat.
“Where is your mate, Dorian?”
I checked the scans and searched the screen before me. Saw nothing. “I don’t know.”
The comm line opened and I knew who it was before I heard Seth’s voice. “Tell me Chloe wasn’t in the middle of that blast.”
“I don’t know. We’re searching for her now.” I didn’t need to tell him how desperate I was to find her. He could feel it.
“Keep me posted.” Seth closed the link but I paid him no attention, my entire being focused on finding the only woman in the galaxy who mattered to me right now. My brave, fearless mate.
“I see something.” The Prillon next to me pointed to his sensors and enlarged the screen. It was Chloe, the back of her armor charred and frayed. And she was hanging onto Angh’s back, dragging him with her. Relief flooded me at the sight of her, alive.
The warlord appeared to be unconscious.
What the fuck had happened out there?
“They’re still on the other side of the net.”
“Can you get a reading on their life signs?” I asked. The co-pilot ran his hands over the controls, re-linking the ship’s system to the armored space suits Chloe and Anghar wore.
“Anghar is critical. Oxygen low. His suit is losing pressure and his core body temperature is too low.”
Fuck. “What about Chloe?” She wasn’t Commander Phan at the moment. Not to me. She was mine. Chloe. My mate.
“Oxygen low. She’s not as cold, but she’s running out of air.”
“How much time do they have left?” I asked.
He scanned the control panel. “Less than five minutes.”
“I’m going after them. Either of you don’t want to come along, jump in a space suit and go the other direction.”
My co-pilot grunted as if insulted, and his cousin knelt on the floor behind us. “You’ll have to ram the net. I will put on a flight suit and get ready to retrieve them.” The Prillon warrior rose, walked to the back of the shuttle and started to put on a space suit like the ones Anghar and Chloe wore. I’d have to get him close enough to pull them in.
“We should fire at the net first,” my co-pilot said. “This ship has a few weapons.”
I reached for the ion blaster controls. “Brace yourselves. We’re going in hot.”
“Excellent.” The Prillon roared behind us as I opened fire, careful to aim away from where my mate drifted, practically helpless.
The blast hit and amazingly, the hub exploded, a burst of energy traveling along previously invisible lines to the next hub…and the next. The entire net went down in a cascade of red fire and explosions of sound so loud they rocked the small shuttle. The ripple effect of each blast pushed Angjar and Chloe farther and farther away from the shuttle.
“I’m going through.”
“Do it.” The Prillon behind me slammed his hand down on the manual control, sealing me and the co-pilot inside as the back of the shuttle emptied of atmosphere. He was hooked to a secure point just inside the exterior doors, the cold dark of space stretched out before him as I raced toward the net.
“Contact in 3, 2, 1.”
The hull of the shuttle rammed the blasted remains of one of the net’s hubs. The engine strained and I pushed through until the structure shattered.
I reached for the comm even as I raced to my mate. “Commander Karter, this is Captain Kanakar.”
“Go ahead, Captain.” The commander’s voice was clipped, all business, and I could hear the chaos of battle on the control deck of the Battleship.
“The net is down, sir. The battlegroup is clear to push through.”
The sounds of cheering on the command ship reached us, but I didn’t smile. Not yet. My mate was still out there.
“Understood, Captain. And Commander Phan?”
“I don’t know yet, sir. We’re retrieving her and Warlord Anghar now.”
“Gods be with you, Captain.” The line went dead and I pushed the shuttle faster, toward the small floating targets I knew were the Atlan and my mate.
We moved in close and I clenched my teeth as the Prillon warrior flew out the back of the shuttle. It felt like hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes before the Prillon returned, pulling both Chloe and Anghar with him.
He floated them into the rear of the shuttle and closed the exterior door. It took long minutes for the chamber to regain pressure and the interior door to open. I abandoned the controls to my co-pilot as I reached Chloe’s side and pulled the helmet from her head.
She blinked up at me, slowly, as if she were dazed, but she smiled. “We did it.”
“Yes, love. You did. You saved us all.” I knelt there and held her as the Prillon took off his suit and attended to the Atlan. We were in Hive controlled space, behind the now destroyed net, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I ordered the co-pilot to get us back to the main launch bay of Battleship Karter as quickly as possible.
Chloe
* * *
Things were insane back on the Karter. When our small shuttle was docked, support staff helped us off, assisting in removing the excess armor and weapons.
The commander himself approached before I even unstrapped my thigh holster.
“Commander,” he said. I stopped what I was doing and gave him my full attention. “Well done.” He glanced to Angh and the Prillon who was assisting him with his gear.
“He needs medical, sir,” I told him. Dorian stood at my side. I could feel our connection through the collar, so much more intense than the feel of his hand on my shoulder. Outwardly, he was chill. But I knew he was restraining himself for the sake of propriety.
“I do not,” Angh replied, a slight grin turning up the corner of his mouth.
“Excellent work, Warlord Anghar. Now get yourself and your beast to the med unit to be seen to. That’s an order.”
Angh looked to me. “I owe you my life.”
I shook my head. “We saved each other. I’d say we’re even.”
He didn’t like my answer much, but nodded, then looked to the commander. He shook off the Prillon’s assistance. “If I’m going to the med unit, I’ll walk on my own,” he grumbled. Based on that cranky tone alone, I knew he was going to be all right.
We watched his retreating form as he left the shuttle area. Others stepped out of his way. While they gave him deference because of his rank as warlord, it seemed they somehow knew he’d been the one to save us all.
“Chloe!”
I heard my name at the same time I felt the hot pulse of relief and possessiveness flood my collar. Seth.
I spun about as I was scooped up into my mate’s arms, a fierce hug that practically knocked the air from my lungs.
“Captain, give the commander some space,” Karter said.
Seth set me back on my feet, but didn’t let me go. “With all due respect, Commander, Chloe went past the net in a fucking space suit to set charges that blew up the fucking command hub for the entire net. Once that blew, one shot from the other shuttle annihilated the whole thing. What she d
id was fucking insane and dangerous and if I want to hold my mate, I will.”
Oh shit.
The commander was quiet as he studied Seth. I felt my mate’s defiance through the collar.
“I agree,” the commander finally replied. “Hold your mate. You both have earned it.”
Dorian cleared his throat and Karter shook his head. “All three of you have earned it.”
“What the fuck do you think you were doing, Commander Phan? Against my orders?” Bruvan’s voice cut through the shuttle bay as he stomped toward us. The rest of his crew followed, but they weren’t hostile, perhaps only curious.
My hackles rose at the other commander’s tone. His attitude, his very existence.
Seth released me, walked over to Bruvan and punched him in the nose. I stood staring, motionless, completely surprised.
Bruvan bent at the waist, his hand on his face, swearing. Yeah, Seth had broken it, for sure, based on the sick bone crunching sound.
“Throw me in the brig, Commander. I don’t give a shit,” Seth said, pulling me back into him again. I could feel his rage, his harsh breathing.
“Everyone saw it. You’re all witnesses. Commander, you need to—”
“Stop talking,” Karter said.
Bruvan slowly stood, his hand still over his nose, blood dripping down off his chin and onto his chest armor.
“But they disobeyed orders and this captain assaulted me.”
“Yes, they did and because of it the entire battlegroup isn’t under Hive control. As for the assault, at least Captain Mills did it for me. It wouldn’t look good if the commander of the entire battlegroup hit one of his subordinates. Or is it insubordinate?”
Bruvan’s eyes narrowed as he breathed hard through his mouth.
“I heard the comms, Commander. What you told your team, how you tied the hands of the other shuttle. The recap Dorian gave to the ReCon group. All of it. You might be used to working I.C. and having everything cloaked, but not here.”
I felt Dorian’s hand once again on my shoulder.
“Your actions were reckless and against protocol. I am stripping you of your rank of commander here and now, but you will go before a hearing to determine penalties.”
A bubble of surprise filled me. And a sense of karma. I didn’t wish an entire battlegroup’s lives for redemption, but it was a perk.
Bruvan started to squawk and spout crap about how the I.C. will bury all the transmissions, that nothing he did was out of the ordinary.
“Out of the ordinary? If your actions that we all witnessed is ordinary for you, then I will have a talk with I.C. and have your past missions unsuppressed.”
Commander Karter flagged down a waiting security team. “Take Bruvan to his quarters, enhanced lock.”
Within seconds, my nemesis was dragged away and I had to hope that would be the last I saw of him.
“As for you, Commander Phan.”
“Sir?”
“You’re dismissed. Get some sleep. Your mates have permission to detain you in your quarters for twelve hours to do so. If I see you before then, you will be stripped of your rank as well.”
Seth leaned in, his warm breath fanning my ear as he said, “Don’t worry, mate, we’ll strip you naked. You can keep your rank.”
Chapter 14
Chloe, fifteen hours later…
* * *
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked Angh. We were in the transport room, but off to the side. Everyone had peeled off the heavy space suits, but most of the warriors still reeked of sweat, fear and war. They hadn’t had a break like I had. But we were all here. And that was a victory that wouldn’t have been possible without the huge Atlan standing before me. I knew my mates were watching me, but I couldn’t see a thing around Angh’s big body. He looked haggard, as if he hadn’t rested at all. His armor still in place, I had no idea if he’d slept or eaten or taken a moment away from his duties since our return.
My men hadn’t gone far since we’d returned from battle. In fact, all we’d done is climb into bed, hold each other and sleep. They had stripped me naked, all three of us were bare, but all we’d done is crash and crash hard, pulled so I was halfway over Seth’s lean body, Dorian tucked into my back. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to touch me because I’d felt the same need to keep them close. And now, in the transport room, even though I could sense them through the collars, even across the expanse of the battleship, I needed the reassurance of seeing them with my own eyes. Of feeling them, alive and whole.
Whatever medical attention he needed had been swift and he was ready to move on. His life wasn’t here anymore. He was destined for a new life on the Colony.
Angh nodded. “Yes, Commander.”
Inwardly, I rolled my eyes. “We’ve been through battle together. Perhaps even more than that.” I lifted my hand to my head, felt relief at the relative quiet of the NPU beneath my scalp, but the buzzing was still there, an indefinable thing that would always connect me to this Atlan, to the other contaminated warriors, and to the Hive. “I think we can skip formality, Angh, don’t you?”
He relaxed slightly, nodded once more. “Yes, Lady Chloe.”
Well, it wasn’t completely without formality, but it seemed to be the closest he could get, and I found it somewhat endearing. He wasn’t one for many words, but I wanted to know he was going to be fine. “You have a chance at a second life. I’ve heard the Colony is a great place to live.” I sounded like a Realtor on Earth trying to upsell a bad neighborhood. The words felt shallow, even to my own ears. “There have been several brides from Earth who now live there. Perhaps you will be tested for one of your own?”
His mouth fell open as if he’d never considered the possibility.
“Like this? I assure you, Commander, I mean, Lady Chloe, the testing will not find a match.”
“Any female would be lucky to have you.” Those words were complete truth and I would fight anyone who said otherwise. “You’ve earned the right to happiness. You are an excellent warlord and veteran in your own right.”
“Thank you.”
Commander Karter joined us, slapped Angh on the back. “The coordinates are loaded, transport is ready.”
Angh offered me a slight bow, then moved to shake a few fighters’ hands. He stopped in front of Seth.
“No hard feelings?” Seth asked. I felt my mate’s concern for the warlord. While I hadn’t been there, he’d told me that Angh had asked Seth to kill him, to end the misery of his life when Seth’s ReCon team had decided to save him, to knock him out and take him off that ship. Angh had been so integrated, he’d asked for death. To die a warrior was perhaps the better outcome for some so heavily integrated by the Hive. But for Angh, the med unit was able to remove some of the integrations, but certainly not all. He could lead a full life if he chose. A mate, children, a new career within the Coalition on the Colony. He just had to want it.
“Thank you for saving my life,” Angh replied. “I haven’t said it before and I apologize for that. The battle has proven that I am more warlord than Hive and that I can still be an asset.”
While he said the words, I wasn’t sure if he truly believed them. I had to hope the others on the Colony, those who’d been through similar horrors and survived could help him in ways we never could.
“Keep in touch, Angh. That’s an order.” The beast actually grinned at me.
Seth put his free hand on the Atlan’s upper arm, the closest thing to a man hug I was going to see on the Karter.
Angh moved down the line, saying goodbye to the others before walking up to the transport pad. Without any fanfare, he nodded and the sizzle and electrical pull made the floor vibrate, made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Within seconds, he was gone. On to a new life. Safe from the Hive and hopefully in a place where he could find peace and happiness. And if I could connect with Warden Egara, or the human women on the Colony, I might be able to do a little matchmaking, get him an Earth bride
of his own. Perhaps his inner beast would force him by going into his mating fever. I’d heard of that happening before. He’d have to take a mate or he’d be executed.
The thought made me sad, and I vowed to contact the warden as soon as possible. Maybe she could pull some strings. I doubted it, but it never hurt to ask.
Seth’s arm circled about my waist and pulled me from my thoughts. I turned my head to look up at him, saw the easy smile. “Ready?” he asked.
I offered a small nod and he steered me toward Dorian. Everyone, obviously, knew we were mated, but we’d agreed there would be no more PDA. We could be touchy feely and affectionate in our quarters, but that was private. That was for us alone. I loved my mates, but it wasn’t professional for a commander to be making out in the corridors like a teenager. I’d give them everything when we were alone. Out here, I’d told them to hold back, and they had respected my request.
The hand on my hip was a reasonable concession and it felt good.
While we’d been asleep, Commander Karter had put out notice that all who had participated in the Battle of the Beast, as it was being called, had a three-day furlough from mission assignments, although they were expected to work on the ship.
We watched Angh disappear on the transport pad.
“Captains,” Commander Karter called. My mates turned and saluted. Standing between them, I did the same. “I’ve given you all two days leave. The doctor doesn’t feel Commander Phan is ready to return to work. Something about her neural pathways needing more time to recover.”
I frowned as Dorian replied. “Why was I not told? That is unacceptable. I will discuss this with the doctor at once.” He didn’t seem the least bit concerned about mouthing off to the other Prillon warrior, our commander.
“Stand down, Dorian. Why do you think I’m here?”
Seth’s jaw was clenched tightly, his hands in fists at his sides as he shook his head so slightly I barely noticed the action.
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