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

by Eva Delaney

  “How you doing, man?” Antares said. “Your commander treating you well down here in the warrens?” He laughed a hearty laugh that sounded wrong coming from him.

  “Good, man, good,” the soldier said, clasping Antares’s arm. The guard looked too young to even grow a beard. He was all round and baby-faced despite towering over my bounty hunter.

  “Can’t complain, no one listens,” the older soldier said, his bushy gray eyebrows furrowing.

  Antares laughed a friendly laugh he had never used before. “Ain’t that the truth. Nobody cares what us front line workers think.”

  The older guard nodded solemnly.

  In the main walkway behind them, a screen flickered and its image of a nebula vanished. Now, it displayed a photo of a tiny pug and five people in Rigel armor, led by a woman with a scowl and a man with jade green eyes. The word Wanted flashed above it.

  Oh, fuck.

  It was security footage from Vinera. The man who had bought the Invictus must have recognized us or the captives woke up and squealed. Now everyone on Etrea would know us and be clamoring to turn us in, including these soldiers the moment they turned around and spotted a screen.

  Polaris clenched my arm in a death grip.

  “I know,” I whispered.

  “What unit are you guys from?” asked the younger guard.

  “We’re down here from the jumpship,” Antares said. “Tracking some treasonous bastards.”

  “I didn’t hear about that,” the younger one said. He stomped a foot. “They ain’t tell us anything.”

  Antares patted his shoulder. “Us little guys are always the last to know about shit and the first to deal with it.”

  “I know, right?” the young man said.

  I swallowed a chuckle. Antares’s lying was coming in handy again. He was good at fitting in wherever he went—it was useful, but worrying too. What if he was using that skill to play us?

  “That dog…I’ve seen him somewhere,” the older soldier said, frowning at Mr. Pancake.

  Fuck. I took a step closer to the guards, putting myself between them and Mr. Pancake.

  “What time does your shift end? We should grab a drink,” Antares said as though he hadn’t noticed the comment about his pug. “You two, me, and my buddies here.” He looked at me over his shoulder, meeting my gaze with a steady stare.

  He was getting ready to strike. I took a deep breath and a few steps forward.

  Antares turned back to the soldiers.

  “I could use a stiff drink,” the younger one said.

  “Perfect. We’ll drink away our fucking bosses.” Antares grasped the younger man’s forearm in both of his hands. The guard returned his handshake, smiling.

  Antares struck so quickly, it surprised even me. He yanked and the younger man stumbled to the side, crashing into the older one. Antares slammed into both of them, and all three tumbled to the ground.

  Behind me, Polaris cursed. I dove toward the fray.

  Antares knelt on the younger man, his hands around his throat. The older guard climbed to his feet. I leaped onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him into a tight chokehold.

  He sputtered and clawed at my arms, but I held on until he stumbled to his knees and collapsed onto the ground.

  I let go and felt his chest for a breath. I sighed. He was fine, just unconscious.

  Antares stood over the younger soldier who lay motionless. “Is he alive?” I said.

  “I don’t kill people who are that easy to trick.”

  So, he had a moral code. I just didn’t understand it.

  I climbed to my feet. Polaris stood at the end of the corridor, eyes as wide as moons. Mr. Pancake panted at his feet as though he was laughing at us.

  “We better hurry,” I said, marching toward the end of the tunnel. “Is your contact’s meeting spot far?”

  “I don’t even know where on Etrea we are yet,” Antares said, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’ll figure it out soon,” he added.

  We didn’t run because that would draw attention, but we did walk quickly with our heads down. Every screen showed the wanted sign, our faces plastered everywhere across Etrea.

  Were Orion, Hamal, and Rux all right? I couldn’t contact them because communication might be tracked. I had no way of knowing if they were safe or not.

  Antares stopped suddenly and I nearly crashed into him. “Soldiers ahead,” he said, “We’ll find another way to the meeting point.”

  “We don’t have time to wander around,” I said. “We need to be out of here before the Supremacy kills us on a live broadcast.”

  I glanced around. An alcove was nestled among hanging leaves and flowers in the wall nearby. I grabbed Polaris and Antares and yanked them into the small space with me.

  I pushed myself against the wall and pulled Polaris against my front. His backpack would help cover that he wore Rigel armor from behind. Antares squeezed in next to me, his front pressed against my side. Mr. Pancake plopped down among our tangled feet. We bent our heads together, helping to hide our faces.

  The men’s bodies warmed mine, and their scents filled my lungs. I swallowed a groan.

  “Pretend we’re making out,” I said. My gaze trailed over Po’s wide eyes with that strange hot look to peer over his shoulder. I eyed the guards stomping through the crowds and kept one hand on the blaster at my hip. Perhaps I could shoot the soldiers before they spotted us.

  “Why pretend?” Antares whispered against my ear. I gasped as he trailed his lips gently over my neck and jawline. He didn’t kiss me, not yet. Instead, he let me feel his breath and warmth on my skin.

  “Because we’re running for our lives,” I ground out. Polaris was so close that my lips brushed his as I spoke, sending heat through my body. His lips trembled against mine.

  “And?” Antares said against my neck, making me shiver.

  “Shut up.” I forced myself to watch the soldiers over Po’s shoulder. Four of them, each carrying a two-handed rifle, pushed through the crowds. One of them glanced at us, a tangle of lovers in a doorway, and sneered before looking away and stomping past.

  I sighed and leaned my head against the wall, enjoying a moment of peace and the feel of Polaris and Antares against me.

  But a moment was all I could afford with Agent Winters’ life and the galaxy on the line.

  I shoved the men, forcing them back a step. “If they didn’t see us, then they aren’t tracking us on the cameras. Why not? Po, you said the queen has direct access.”

  “I don’t know,” Polaris said, furrowing his brow. “Something isn’t right.”

  “Let’s get out of here before it gets more wrong,” Antares said.

  “Oh, now you care about doing things properly?” I said.

  He shrugged. “Who says seducing you is wrong?”

  I shoved him again, but not hard. Just enough to make him stumble back a step.

  A grin flashed across his face before he turned to glance around the edge of the alcove. “All clear,” he said, and we plunged back into the crowds of the narrow tunnel.

  The air down here smelled of greenery and too many sweaty bodies. With the floating globes and light and the underground plants, Etrea was a strange acid-trip of a city. I always hated it here, even when guards weren’t trying to kill me. We needed out and soon.

  After a few minutes, a line of soldiers pushed through the crowd ahead of us. Antares weaved left and hit a button to hiss open a door. I followed with Polaris and Mr. Pancake on my heels.

  We stood in the lobby of a restaurant that looked way too expensive. It was the kind of place I would never consider entering. Even the floors were clean enough to eat off of. Who bothered to keep floors that clean?

  “Is this the meeting place?” Po whispered.

  “Huh,” Antares said. “This used to be different.”

  “Are you sure you know where we are?” I said. “If you fuck us over, I’ll make sure you’re in an Uprising prison for so lon
g that your auburn hair will turn white and fall out.”

  As usual, Antares wasn’t fazed, and I glared at him.

  The restaurant host hurried forward in his little burgundy vest. He took one look at Mr. Pancake and paled. “You can’t bring animals in here, sirs, madam!”

  I startled. Nobody had ever called me madam before.

  “But that’s Mr. Pancake,” Antares said.

  “He’s a diplomat from the planet Pugtoria,” I added. “He’s as smart and clean as you or me.”

  I was being sarcastic, but the host looked skeptical like he wasn’t sure if he should believe me or not. While the galaxy was full of aliens, most of them stayed the hell away from humans and our affairs. Many people wouldn’t recognize an alien if they saw one.

  “Pugtoria orbits just inside the habitable zone of an M-type main sequence star,” Polaris said. “However, it is tidally locked to its host star…”

  “Ekacnap,” Antares said. “That’s the star’s name.”

  “Exactly,” Polaris said. “Mr. Pancake’s short stature is due to the high gravity on his homeworld.”

  “He needs to eat,” I added. “Look at all that loose skin. His people are starving. He’s come here to negotiate a trade deal to end a famine.”

  “Woof,” Mr. Pancake said.

  “That’s Pugelese,” Antares said, “for hi.”

  The host looked doubtful, but he glanced at our Rigel armor and paled. “Of course, right this way.” He showed us into the dining area.

  I eyed the restaurant’s walls and tables. Lots of sparkly crystal, but no screens. That was why the host didn’t recognize us as criminals. Yet.

  Polaris lifted Mr. Pancake onto a chair. A moment later the host arrived with a booster seat so the little dog could reach the table. He sat there, panting and grinning at us.

  “Why are we here?” I said to Antares, staring lasers at him.

  “My contact will come to us here when she’s ready,” he said. “Assuming she wants to see us.”

  “Are you sure this is the right place?”

  “Mostly.”

  I ground my teeth. “We don’t have time to wait or to fuck things up.”

  He shrugged. He was too nonchalant about everything. It made me want to punch him.

  “You’re too calm about this,” I said, eyeing Antares. Was this all a trap? Part of his plan to take us down?

  If he wanted to do that, then why had he helped us on Vinera? Maybe he wanted us to find Winters for him?

  “Panicking helps no one,” he said.

  I sighed. With nothing to do, I reached over to bring up the touch menu on the tabletop before Mr. Pancake. He sniffed the pictures, touching a bunch of them with his nose, which sent his requests to the kitchens. He probably ordered hundreds of credits worth of food.

  We’d have to dine and dash then. No wonder dogs weren’t welcomed. Ah well, watching him sniff pictures and order food at least kept me from screaming in impatience. I wasn’t used to being impatient. Long-haul smuggling missions required more perseverance than most people possessed, and I handled them easily.

  Not today, though. I felt like I was going to go mad from waiting.

  I drummed my fingers on the table and watched the pug lick pictures of food. “Why doesn’t Mr. Pancake have breathing trouble like other flat face dogs?”

  “I assume genetic engineering,” Antares said. His gaze slipped past me to the back wall. “She’s here.”

  My hand went under the table and rested on my blaster as I turned.

  The woman strolled toward us as though she owned the place. Her black braids were tied with a forest green ribbon and hung over her shoulder. In her dark face, blue-black eyes locked on us with a determined stare.

  Where had she come from? How had she sneaked up on us?

  She stopped next to our table, her gaze gliding past both Antares and me to land on Polaris.

  I shifted closer to him in case she meant him harm.

  “Polaris,” she said softly, sadly. My heart skipped a beat. “You’re back.”

  Chapter 26

  Polaris slowly looked up to face the woman. Two sets of eyes, the same blue-black color, stared at each other.

  “Ursa,” Polaris said, stunned. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Did Queen Asherah Doug send you?” Her voice sounded heartbroken.

  I looked from Ursa to Polaris. “You know the queen?” I said, stunned. “What didn’t you tell us?”

  “There’s a lot he didn’t tell you,” Ursa said, sadly.

  I stared at Polaris, waiting for an answer, but he stared down at the table.

  “Well, this got interesting,” Antares said.

  Ursa dug into a messenger bag at her side and withdrew a tablet, handing it to Polaris. “Hack into nearby cameras and clear yourself from the footage,” she ordered. “Can you do it as we walk?”

  “Of course,” Polaris said, taking the computer. It was a rare bit of confidence from him.

  We followed Ursa through a door hidden in the restaurant’s freezer. She led us down a dark stairway and through a twisting tunnel. It was so narrow that both my shoulders touched the branches and leaves that covered the walls.

  Ahead of me, Polaris hunched over the tablet, working as he walked.

  “What’s going on?” I said. “How do you know the queen?”

  “Not here,” Ursa snapped.

  My heart clogged my throat as we followed her. She must be Po’s sister—they were close in age and had the same eyes. But there was more between them than I knew, and I didn’t know where she was leading us or why.

  After ten minutes of twisting narrow tunnels, Ursa stopped and pressed her hands to a jumble of branches and leaves. Slowly, they shivered and pulled back like snakes running along the walls.

  I had never seen anything like it. “How are you doing that?”

  “Get in,” she said.

  “Polaris?” I said, silently asking if we could trust this woman. After all, she didn’t seem happy to see him.

  He nodded and stepped through the gap in the trees.

  I took a deep breath. Antares and I exchanged a glance. If there was trouble, we would be ready for it, ready to protect innocent Polaris and Mr. Pancake.

  We stepped through the door. Ursa placed her hands on the trees, and they closed behind us, sealing us in as solid as a wall. I shuddered.

  Like the passageways, plants coated the walls and ceiling of this room. Thick rugs covered the rough stone floor, making it feel like a cozy forest clearing where fairies lived. Tables lined the far wall, covered in tree roots and machinery. A chubby orange cat loafed among them, eyeing us with wide green eyes.

  A large man bent over the tangle of plants and computers. His hair hung in thick dreadlocks around his shoulders.

  “Hey honey bear,” he said, muting a screen on the table. It showed the palace’s golden steps and the queen, this time in a white gown, with three women kneeling on the stairs.

  “It’s no one we know,” he said, turning the screen face down. He spun his chair to face us. His smile vanished and one hand drifted to a gun on the table.

  I rested my hand on the blaster at my hip. Antares tensed, not moving yet, but I could tell that he was coiled and ready to sting.

  Polaris’s eyes locked on the cat. “Ms. Sweet Potato,” he said. “You’re still alive.” He rushed to the kitty, ignoring the angry man. The cat pressed her head into Po’s hand and purred.

  “Who are they?” the man said, narrowing his eyes.

  “Who’s he?” Polaris said, stroking the cat’s ears.

  “Why does everyone name their pets after food?” I said.

  “She’s sweet, orange, and looks like a giant potato,” Polaris said.

  I eyed the cat. He was right.

  Ursa’s mouth was still pressed into a straight line as she turned to the man. “It’s okay, babe, you can put the gun down. Polaris, this is my husband, Major Tom Marshal of the Etrean Resistance. Everyone call
s him Major. Sweetie, this is…” she paused to take a deep breath.

  Major’s eyes went wide. “He’s your brother.” His hand didn’t move from the gun. What had happened between Po and his family? Only the cat was happy to see him.

  How could sweet, innocent Polaris be hiding something?

  “You’re married. Congratulations,” Po sounded sad as he said it.

  “What is going on here?” I demanded.

  “That’s what I want to know,” Ursa said, turning to Polaris. “You’ve been gone for eight years.” Her voice sounded like a heart breaking. “Who sent you? Who are these people?”

  Po’s shoulders crept up to his ears. “Ursa, I’m sorry. If it means anything…though it probably doesn’t at this point…I’m not working for anyone but myself this time. Queen Asherah,” he swallowed a lump in his throat at the name, “doesn’t know I’m here. She won’t. I don’t want to see her. I’m not here for her.”

  “Why are you here now?” Ursa said.

  “I know you’re better off without me,” Po went on. “I’m sorry to drag you back into one of my messes. I didn’t mean to.”

  I nearly laughed, would have if Po and Ursa didn’t look so sad while they stared at each other with those matching eyes. Polaris creating messes? The idea was bizarre. He was always reasonable and careful and never did anything wrong.

  But clearly, more was happening here than I could have guessed.

  Ursa’s expression softened, something in her cracking at Polaris’s words.

  “Polaris….” She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “I always wanted you to come back.” She was nearly crying as she reached for him.

  Po’s lip trembled as he embraced his sister.

  I wanted to look away from their own pain and the knowledge that I would never get to hug my own sister. She was only a memory I called up when lonely and nothing more.

  I’d never find her again like Po found his sister, like Ursa found her brother.

  Instead, I had to wait in silence with Antares who wouldn’t meet my eye because he was watching Major. As Ursa and Polaris hugged, Major finally let his hand relax and drop away from the weapon on the table.

  “I’ve missed you,” Polaris said into his sister’s shoulder.