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

by Eva Delaney

  My parents hadn’t cooked much, and once the Supremacy invaded, they abandoned my sister and me. We lived off whatever we could find—sometimes even garbage. Home was with Celene, and it didn’t involve food.

  Hamal seemed determined to change that.

  “Get cooking if you want a chance to win,” Hamal said and smiled. “Or else I’ll get all the bragging rights.”

  “Like hell you will,” Orion said. Rux grumbled something under his breath.

  As the five of us tried to cook, we elbowed each other, pressed against each other, and dropped food on each other’s hands and feet. It was annoying as hell, and at the same time, oddly cozy as though the point was smooshing against each other rather than cooking.

  “Where are my veggies?” Rux looked around.

  Antares snorted and Rux rounded on him.

  “Have you tried caring about something that’s not dick shaped?” Antares said.

  “You,” growled Rux. “You stole my carrots.”

  “Do you have more than one?”

  “Are you talking about food or dicks?” Orion said.

  “Food,” Rux said at the same time Antares said, “Dicks.”

  “Fuck you,” Rux snapped. He grabbed a handful of something gooey from a bowl—I couldn’t tell what he had been trying to make—and threw it at Antares.

  The bounty hunter ducked, and Orion whirled with me in his arms. Suddenly, I was facing the opposite direction and Orion was cursing. I craned my neck to see the goo running down the back and side of his head.

  He had saved me from a Rux goo attack.

  But I didn’t have time to feel touched by that. Instead, my stomach clenched in rising panic.

  They were wasting food we couldn’t spare. Food that might need to last weeks or months while we fixed the ship and reached a jumpgate. “That’s enough—”

  Antares grabbed a bowl of spices and tossed its contents at Rux. The gruff man coughed as the cloud of red powder hit his lungs. The coughing didn’t stop him from reaching for more goo.

  I broke from Orion’s arms to intervene, but he leaped between me and them.

  “Let them fight it out like everyone did in our last company.”

  “Our last company was a mess.” I pushed him aside. “This one won’t be.”

  Antares wielded a cooking pan like a shield as Rux flung everything he could get his hands on. Mr. Pancake weaved around the floor, gobbling up everything that fell.

  “Stop,” I roared, my voice echoing around the small room.

  Rux froze, his hand poised to throw breadcrumbs. Antares froze with his shield raised.

  A lump of goo ran down the shield and hit the floor where Mr. Pancake was eagerly waiting. Rux coughed despite trying to look grim.

  Rux was always serious and gruff while Antares was always calm and smooth. He didn’t even sweat most of the time. Yet here they were flinging food like little boys.

  “You’re both ridiculous,” I said.

  Rux’s gaze slid sideways to his upraised hand full of food. He lowered it. “No, you are.” He was almost pouting, and I laughed at him.

  “I’m not,” Antares said, spreading his arms to show off his still perfectly crisp and clean black clothing.

  It was suspicious that he could stand in the middle of a food fight and walk away completely calm and untouched.

  Suspicious and charming. I always liked a man who could come out of a fight unscathed—unless it was a fight with me.

  But that didn’t change that he and Rux were putting us all in danger by wasting what little supplies we had. “Unless you want to eat off the floor with the dog, stop throwing food.”

  “Time’s up,” Hamal said cheerfully. He stopped humming for the first time since the contest started.

  “There was a time limit?” Rux said. “Assholes keep changing the rules. We need a written contract before the next challenge.”

  “Don’t you know anything, Rux?” Orion said. “Everything in the galaxy has a time limit, even stars. Everything that is, except love.” He flashed me his best charming smile.

  I sighed at the cheesiness of it—and smiled at the cheesiness of it.

  “Desperate,” Antares said in a false sneeze.

  Rux snorted. Well, at least they could get along about hating Orion and me.

  “You’re just jealous,” Orion said, wrapping an arm around my waist and resting his hand on my hip.

  Why did he keep doing this? Did he like to show the men that he had a woman to himself? Or did he think I would abandon him as I had before?

  Either way, I didn’t like it. We needed to have a talk in private, though that wasn’t easy with all these men on a cramped ship.

  For now, I took his fingers and lifted his hand from my hip.

  Antares and Hamal watched as I removed Orion’s hand. Someone coughed and I glanced up to see Polaris standing in the doorway, his blue-black eyes wide.

  Antares raised one perfect auburn brow. Hamal bit his lip. They looked hungry, hopeful.

  My face felt hot. Were they always watching me like this, and I never noticed?

  The realization made my skin shiver. I wanted to hate them watching me. I was a smuggler; going unnoticed was my specialty. But my skin goosebumped at the hungry look in their eyes.

  I tried to shove the feelings away. Orion had gotten me worked up, that was all.

  Rux rolled his eyes. He at least didn’t watch me with desire like the others. It was the one thing I liked about him.

  “Polaris,” I said to break the silence.

  “Huh? Yeah? What?” he said, his gaze shifting from my hand to my eyes.

  “Is the ship fixed?”

  “I’ve removed the systems lock and disconnected the ansible.” A device that could send and receive messages anywhere in the galaxy instantaneously. Only Supremacy ships carried them.

  “The engine and navigation systems are restarting,” Polaris said. “We’ll know soon if they work.”

  I nodded, but inside my stomach was twisting with worry. Even if they worked, we might be stranded if we couldn’t find a jumpgate—if we failed this mission, the war that broke my family would never end.

  “Since you’re here, you can judge the cooking contest,” Hamal said brightly. “We need a neutral person to do it.”

  “He’ll pick Firebrand’s,” Antares said.

  “What? Why? I don’t…” Polaris stammered.

  “No reason. You’re just friends, right?” Antares said, shooting me a quick sidelong glance.

  “Of course we are,” I said.

  Polaris looked away, his hands twisting in front of him. “Yeah,” he said softly. “Only friends.”

  Chapter 5

  As Hamal set up the table for Polaris’s taste test, I took stock of how much food Rux and Antares had wasted. Well, I tried to, but Mr. Pancake had already eaten everything that hit the floor, so I guess it didn’t go to waste after all.

  Hamal had been right that this whole crazy idea had kept the others distracted from just how dire our situation was.

  “Polaris,” I said. “How long until the engines reboot?”

  “Sorry, Commander Cal, I haven’t worked on Blade Star ships before…maybe a few minutes, maybe hours. There’s no manual, and I—”

  I touched his shoulder to stop his rambling. His eyes widened, and he leaned into my hand. “You don’t have to make excuses or explanations. If you don’t know, that’s fine.”

  It wasn’t. My stomach was clenched tighter than a fist in worry, but I couldn’t have our technician freaking out. He needed to stay focused if we were going to fix the ship and find our way to Agent Winters.

  “All ready to eat,” Hamal said.

  We squeezed onto the bench around the small kitchen table with Polaris on my left and Orion on my right. Their thighs and shoulders pressed against me, their warmth seeping through my body.

  I turned my focus to the dishes of food Hamal had arranged on the table. It didn’t help. When I breath
ed in, I didn’t only smell the food. I smelled Orion’s earthy scent and Polaris’s sandalwood one.

  Hamal pushed a bowl toward Polaris. “Here’s your first gourmet dish.”

  Polaris lifted the spoon to his mouth. As he chewed, I tilted my head, hoping to hear the engines. The ship remained stubbornly silent, and my stomach remained clenched in fear.

  “It has no taste,” Polaris said.

  “It’s a highly nutritious porridge,” Rux said. “A full day’s worth of vitamins in that!”

  “And a full day’s worth of no taste,” Po said.

  I snorted. Rux made a sound of disgust.

  “Sorry,” Polaris said.

  “You don’t have to apologize,” I said.

  “I don’t want to upset anyone.”

  “Who cares if people get upset? Upset everyone.”

  “That’s why I like you, Firebrand,” Antares said from across the table.

  “No one asked you,” I said.

  He snorted.

  “You see?” I said. “Upset everyone.”

  “You’re sweeter than you let on,” Orion said, wrapping an arm around my waist.

  I wasn’t sure he was right about that. I had been kinder when he had last known me, but now I’d rather not give a fuck. Unfortunately, I had a crew to look after. No wonder my nerves were frayed by the busted ship and the delayed mission. It wasn’t only my life and future on the line anymore. It was Orion’s, Polaris’s, Hamal’s, and Mr. Pancake’s. Well, Antares and Rux too, though I cared less about them.

  If I went hungry and starved, oh well. I could handle it. But now I would have to watch them waste away and know that I couldn’t save them. Even if we got out of this mess, we had to find Winters. If we failed that, The Uprising would think we were traitors, and we could never go home.

  Hamal pushed another dish across the table to Polaris. He picked up a spoon, his hand brushing against mine. It sent a tremor along my spine. Orion squeezed me tighter against him. Shit, did he notice what had caused me to shiver?

  I grabbed Orion’s wrist and lift his arm from me. He frowned but said nothing.

  Something clattered. “Did you hear that?” I said.

  The men tilted their heads, listening. The ship remained silent.

  My heart dropped. “Never mind. I thought it was the engines starting, but they’re still off. Try the food, Po.”

  “Sorry about the ship,” he muttered and leaned over the bowl. He frowned, looking up. “It’s just cereal.”

  “With milk,” Orion added proudly.

  Polaris didn’t answer.

  “Give me a break. I’ve lived in the military for ten years. They cooked everything for me.”

  “Before then?” Po said.

  “I was born after the Battle of Home….” Orion rarely spoke about it, and I knew how difficult it was for him. I squeezed his leg under the table for support.

  “Our armed forces on Cabrac were mostly women—and most of them died in that battle. Fucking Supremacy,” he shot Antares a look.

  The bounty hunter watched him with his usual frown and puppy-dog eyes.

  “With so few women around, they started collecting husbands.” Orion tried to sound light, but I heard the strain in his voice. “Mom had four so there was always someone around to cook and look after us kids until….”

  He trailed off, his gaze sliding to the wall.

  “Until you joined The Uprising,” I finished to cover for him, so he didn’t have to tell them about the massacre that had befallen his family.

  “That the cereal didn’t catch on fire is a success. My best meal yet,” Orion said, grinning.

  “Was your mother…happy with her four husbands?” I asked.

  Orion scrunched up his face into his thinking expression. He never realized how cute he looked when thinking hard. “I don’t know.”

  “Oh,” I said, surprised at the disappointment in my voice.

  “I mean, no one was happy back then because of the war. Though I guess they found comfort in each other, because they kept welcoming more men to the family. It meant we always had someone around to care for us. I liked it, at least.” Orion gave me a small smile.

  “Do you miss it? Being part of a big family?”

  “We had one with our last company,” Orion said.

  But we had lost them years ago. He didn’t continue, and I didn’t push the subject.

  “Here you go.” Hamal handed Polaris a bowl of my salad.

  “It needs dressing,” Po said while chewing.

  “There’s some in the cupboard,” I said absently as I strained my ears for signs of the engines rebooting. “Help yourself.”

  “It’s a cooking contest, so you have to make everything from scratch,” Hamal said.

  I shot him a glare. “That makes no sense. It’s not like I grew the vegetables myself.”

  “Vegetables are a foundational ingredient. The dressing isn’t.”

  “Well, I have a problem with rules,” I said.

  “Clearly,” Rux grumbled.

  I let that go because it was true and one of the nicer things Rux had said to me, but Orion shot him a warning look.

  Hamal looked between them. “Try this,” he said quickly, pushing a bowl to Polaris. It smelled of fragrant spices.

  Polaris dug into it and made an “mmmm” sound.

  Antares smirked, a flash of cockiness passing across his face before it returned to a grim frown.

  So, the bounty hunter knew how to cook. He was full of surprises.

  “You’ve curried my favor,” Polaris said softly.

  I snorted.

  Antares grinned. “Lucky me,” he said.

  “This spices things up nicely,” Po added, his wrist brushing mine as he rested his arm on the table. My skin goosebumped, and I shifted away from his light touch.

  “You know I like it hot,” Antares said and winked at me.

  Orion placed his hand on my wrist. How could he be jealous of Antares?

  My heart dropped. Because he saw how the other men looked at me. He saw how I responded to them.

  “This speaks to the cumin condition,” Polaris added.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Rux said.

  Po smiled to himself and chuckled. Damn, even when he was annoying, he was cute.

  “Let him have his fun,” I said to Rux.

  He crossed his arms. “Pick a winner. This isn’t fun, this is a competition.”

  “Do you name your goo like you name your guns?” I said.

  “Yes,” he grumbled in that gravelly voice. “I call it George.”

  The room was silent for a long, awkward moment. There wasn’t even the gentle hum of the engines to fill the quiet. Did Rux make a joke? He glared, so I wasn’t sure.

  Then Hamal laughed and when he did, I couldn’t help but laugh too. Then we were all laughing, Polaris’s shoulder shaking against mine.

  Hamal patted Rux on the shoulder. The furious man cracked a smile for the first time outside of battle.

  “Is there any more food?” Polaris said as the laughter faded.

  Hamal smiled, and I glanced away as a flush crept up my neck. He was still the most gorgeous man I had ever seen.

  The final dish was a hearty veggie, beans, and meat soup by Hamal. Polaris took one bite and said, “This one wins.”

  Hamal’s arms shot into the air over his head. “Yes!” It was the only time I had seen the doctor’s steady, calm demeanor crack. His deep voice was well suited to happy shouts; it reverberated around the small room like a note from a song.

  He liked caring for others. Winning this meant more to him than most of the things we had done on this mission.

  “Well, this surprises nobody,” Orion grumbled. “Hamal picked something only he could win.”

  True, but it had provided a distraction for a couple of hours and we had a meal that Hamal didn’t have to make alone. I figured that was his goal, a homey warm kitchen and a shared task.

  He alway
s made things seem like family, home, and safe.

  That feeling was made stronger by Orion’s hand on the small of my back, by Polaris’s arm and leg against my own, by the warm feeling spreading through my chest as though my battered insides were wrapped in fuzzy blankets.

  This ship wasn’t home, but surrounded by these men, it almost felt like it.

  Now if only we could make it back to civilization alive.

  Chapter 6

  Behind the after-dinner chatter and arguing, a beeping filled the air.

  My heart leaped into my throat. That was the sound of an incoming message. Someone was nearby—had Castor found us? Or were we saved?

  I jumped from the bench and raced for the cockpit. The men’s boots pounded on the floor behind me.

  “Orion, take the co-pilot’s seat and get the shields up in case of danger. Rux, Hamal, prep the guns but hold fire.” I dropped into the pilot’s chair, eyeing the scanners.

  They showed only empty space, yet the comms light flared and beeped. I glanced at Orion, who shrugged. He flicked on the comms.

  A jumble of voices and static blared from the speaker. A hundred voices shouted orders, warnings, and despair. Through the mess, I caught only bits and pieces of their words. “…Supremacy bombers have hit Kirtec. The city is gone…I can’t hold them off…I’m hit, I’m going down…” and then through it all, sobbing.

  My ship had gone silent except for the crying voices and the static. I scanned the empty space before the viewport and the scanners. Both showed nothing.

  But I would know those sounds anywhere. I had first heard them when I was a child and the Supremacy reached my homeworld. “That’s an invasion.”

  “Where is it coming from?” Orion said. “There must be a system nearby. We’re…saved…sort of.”

  We could reach it once the engines were working. We wouldn’t starve, but we would be walking into a Supremacy invasion force.

  Through the static and sobbing came a single clear voice. A woman whose professional tone couldn’t hide her sorrow. “Yeknowa has fallen. If you can escape, you have leave from the generals to do so. May the Ancients save our souls.”

  The line went dead, plunging us into deep cold silence. I shuddered.