Starfighter Command

by Grace Goodwin

  “Mia.” The large ship rolled overhead, and it was now or never.

  “Got it! Go!”

  I released the magnetic-field-generator pulse I’d been using to assist with our attachment to the warship’s outer hull, and the Phantom drifted away from the Dark Fleet ship like debris. We rode the ship’s plasma distortion wave perfectly.

  A strange warning signal sounded. Just once. A ping that made me jolt to attention as Mia’s screens filled with interference for several seconds before returning to normal.

  The soft alarm stopped.

  “What was that?” Mia asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s gone.” I checked every gauge and sensor, everything I could think to inspect as Mia did the same. “Find anything?”

  “No. I guess it must have been the plasma field. Or maybe cosmic radiation? Warp core? Solar storm? I’m out of sci-fi words, and I have no idea how this space stuff works. I only know how to run things in this seat. I hated science class.”

  I was in love. “As did I. If I couldn’t fly it or hack into it, I wasn’t interested.”

  “You wanted me bad enough to hack into the Starfighter Training Academy.”

  “You have no idea,” I replied.

  “Maybe there really is something to this pair-bond thing.”

  I grinned. “Give me a couple minutes, and I’ll convince you. Again.” I glanced at the sensors, relieved to see the warship moving away from us at an increasing pace. No Scythe fighters launched. No communication issues. It appeared we’d accomplished our mission without being detected.

  This was so much better than being a shuttle pilot. And with Mia by my side…

  A few more minutes and I’d have her all to myself. Getting her naked would be my top priority.

  7

  Mia

  * * *

  A few more minutes? I craved him now. I squirmed in my chair at his promises. With that ping not repeating itself, I let the adrenaline course through me. We were away from the Dark Fleet ship, and we had the data.

  We’d completed a real mission.

  “Is it always like that?” I asked.

  “Like what?” Kass replied, monitoring the ship’s course back to the Resolution.

  “Like… insane. Exhilarating. Soooo much better than the game.”

  Of course, we had sneaked in and sneaked out undetected. We hadn’t used any of the fighting skills we’d practiced in the game. But still… it was real.

  I looked out the window at space. Space. Would I ever get used to this? There was no green. No blue sky. I wondered what it was like on Velerion. Was it like Earth? The Starfighter Training Academy didn’t reference the home planet much. Since we were stationed on a battleship, it wasn’t as if I was going to find out anytime soon. And based on the data we’d just uncovered, we were likely going to be at the center of the latest battle with the Dark Fleet.

  Now that we were done, I was antsy. I felt like I couldn’t sit still, which was pretty difficult in a spaceship. There was nowhere to go.

  “What’s the matter, my Mia?”

  “I’m… happy,” I admitted, and a slow smile crept across my face. “No, it’s more than that. Thrilled. It’s nothing like playing in my living room. You were there with me then, but I didn’t know you were real.”

  “Do you need a reminder?”

  Definitely not. I knew he was real. So did my body. But I was across the galaxy staring out at space. It was like I was another person, completely different than who I’d been just a few days ago. But that version of me was real, too. Kass had been on Earth. He’d seen my other life. And saved me from it. Literally swept me off my feet, up against the door, and then to another planet.

  “Mia? I want you. Naked. Now.”

  I flushed all over, and my core clenched. He wasn’t tame, that was for sure. And I liked him that way. I glanced at my sensors one last time to make sure we were totally and completely alone out here.

  “Kassius Remeas?”

  “Naked, Mia.”

  “I know you’re real.”

  “Indeed.”

  “So is your magical cock,” I countered, sorting the data I’d downloaded into manageable packets.

  “Magical?” He laughed.

  “I can’t believe we just did that. So surreal.”

  “Very real. Now the general’s people can analyze the data and plan an attack.”

  “How are they going to blow up the IPBMs without destroying an entire planet?”

  “That’s for Jennix and the others to figure out. In the past, our science teams suggested we fire them into our star, Vega. That is not for us to worry about. When we get back, we are required to rest.”

  I glanced at him, and I heard the deeper timbre of his voice.

  “Rest?”

  “Sleep. As a pilot I am required to recharge for a duration of twelve hours prior to a new mission. You as well.”

  “Do we have to… rest the entire time?”

  He gave the controls one more glance, then shifted to give me all his attention. “Do you have battle lust?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  His dark gaze roved over me. Every inch, and his attention made my nipples tingle. “It is when a fight is over that my cock is hard. I need to fuck. Quick. Hard. Dirty. It bleeds off the adrenaline.”

  “I don’t have a cock,” I countered.

  He winked. “I’m well aware of what you have.”

  I bit my lip. “I don’t know if it’s battle desire or what, but I do need you. Now. I can’t wait until we get back to our quarters.”

  He unclipped his harness. “Then we won’t.”

  “What?” When he crooked his finger, I looked around. “Here?” He’d told me to get naked, but I’d thought he was just teasing. Flirting. Increasing the anticipation.

  My body liked the idea, but the Phantom was small. Really small.

  “Here. Now. You’re going to climb onto my lap and you’re going to ride my cock until you come at least twice.”

  I narrowed my eyes, equally turned on and appalled. No one had ever talked to me like that before, not without being throat punched. “Is that a command, Starfighter?”

  He cocked his head. “Do you want me to boss you around?”

  Did I? We’d had sex within ten minutes of meeting each other. Only a door had separated us from my coworkers. Now there was no one around. There was nothing around.

  I needed the connection with Kass. His touch. The feel of him inside me. Of knowing we were alive. And I needed it now.

  “Oh yeah,” I said.

  “That’s ‘yes, sir, Starfighter,’” he countered. When his voice went that deep and dominating, I shivered.

  I also unbuckled my seat harness and climbed onto my knees. It was like getting undressed in a big SUV. There was some room but not much. I bumped a display screen with my elbow, kneed something else, got my foot caught for a second, but got naked. Flight-suit battle armor wasn’t easy to strip out of.

  Lesson learned. But the way Kass watched me was worth it because when I was finally bare, he licked his lips and the heat in his gaze was scorching.

  He opened his pants, lifted his hips, and pushed the material down. Damn him, that was all he had to do for his cock to spring free.

  I crawled over everything to get to him. His hands came around my waist to help me.

  Then I was there. In his lap. Straddling him so that my back was to his controls and the front window. All I could see was Kass.

  Then I couldn’t see him at all because his mouth was on mine in a searing kiss. Hot, carnal. Wild.

  He broke his mouth away, and with a hand pressed to the center of my chest, he tipped me back into his controls as he sucked a nipple. Hard. I arched my back and gasped, tangled my fingers in his dark hair.

  “This is on autopilot, right?” I asked, my eyes closed, the pleasure from my nipple zinging right to my core. God, I was going to come like this. “We’re not going to fly into an asteroid or anythi
ng?”

  He came off my nipple with a loud pop, and I blinked my eyes open. He leaned to the left, checked the controls. “No. And if you’re thinking about that, I’m not doing this right.”

  “How this works is you put your cock in my pussy.”

  A grin spread across his face as his hand came down on my ass in a hard swat.

  Heat flared along with the sting. Holy shit, he’d spanked me!

  “Who’s in control here?”

  “You.”

  “You want my cock?”

  I looked down between us where it was long and thick and dripping pre-cum. I wanted to lick that drop off, but I was an MCS, not a contortionist.

  “Yes.”

  “Then lift up your hips and take it.”

  I did as he said, pushing up on my knees and gripping him at the base. Lowering down, I didn’t wait, only notched him at my entrance, then settled him deep.

  Once he was fully inside, he bucked up and I went with him. My hand slapped back on the controls for balance.

  I smiled, then let my eyes roll back. “Yes. Harder.”

  He gripped my hips, lifted me, and dropped me down as he angled his hips up. We slapped together, flesh against flesh as I cried out. Only the sounds of our fucking filled the starfighter’s small cabin… Yes. Harder. You like it rough, don’t you? Your cock’s so big. I need every inch. Take it. I’m coming!

  It wasn’t long for either of us to come. He was right. Sex after a mission was intense and frenzied and so, so good. My mind was already making excuses for my out-of-control reaction to him. Otherwise I’d have to say this voracious need for Kass was too much. Who fucked like rabbits in a spaceship?

  Me.

  I was a total space hussy. And that made me smile.

  Sweaty and satisfied, I slumped in Kass’s arms. “Next time we’ll—”

  “Do it in your private quarters.”

  I froze at the strange voice coming through the comms.

  Shit. Someone had heard us. I looked to Kass, who appeared a little contrite, but he was still smiling.

  “Starfighters, this is the Battleship Resolution, MCS command. Now that you’re finished, disengage autopilot and return to base.”

  Kass leaned forward, his cheek brushing my breast, to press a button. One it seemed I’d sat on and activated with my ass.

  “Affirmative,” Kass said, his finger hovering over the button. “Returning to base.”

  He pushed the button, and I dropped my forehead to his chest. He was still inside me, and I was completely naked.

  “We’re screwed,” I said.

  “You definitely were. And you will be again once we get back to our quarters.”

  “We’re in such big trouble.”

  “Maybe. Doubtful,” he said. He glanced at my discarded flight suit. “How long will it take you to get back into your clothes?”

  I did the mental math. “Maybe five minutes, if you count the boots.”

  With a grin, he leaned forward, both arms around me, and I had to cling to him, shoving my breast into the side of his face to prevent myself from falling backward again. “What are you doing?”

  “Putting the ship on autopilot.”

  “Why? They said to turn off autopilot and return to base.”

  He nipped at the outer edge of my breast, and my body reacted with a jolt of need that had my wet heat in spasms around his hard length. “Because the ride home is over an hour through heavily protected Velerion space, I have us in stealth mode, so no one can see us anyway, and—” He finished whatever he was doing behind me and leaned back into his seat, one hand lifted to cup my jaw, the other at the curve of my lower back.

  “And?”

  He leaned in and kissed me, this time gentle, unhurried. I felt like I was being worshipped. Craved. Loved. “And I’m not finished with you yet.”

  Using my inner muscles, I squeezed his cock over and over again until he groaned, his kissing becoming wild. Desperate. Uncontrolled. I tried to tell him what I was feeling with my hands and mouth, but something had happened to me. I was broken, every shield I’d built around my heart tumbling to ruin like rocks in a landslide. I was shaking. Tears ran from the corners of my eyes, and I had no idea where they came from. It was like my body was crying for me.

  Kass shifted his hips, and I moaned in encouragement but didn’t let go of the kiss. Where we’d both been out of control the first time, this was slow. Deliberate. Full of emotion and longing and contentment.

  This was not me. I did not believe in fairy tales, true love, finding the One, and soul mates. I’d watched my parents grow to hate one another, keeping me trapped in their house because they were staying together—for me. My colleagues, one after another, came home after a trip abroad or a long mission to find a coldly worded note or an empty closet and divorce papers. Love was a lie created by chemicals in the brain designed to drive human beings to procreate.

  But fuck me, the lie felt so good. I wanted to believe this was real, that Kass adored me, needed me, loved me.

  He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and held me in place. I blinked up into those dark eyes, completely in his thrall. He could ask me for anything right now, and I’d want to give it to him.

  “I can feel you thinking, my Mia.”

  I denied nothing but didn’t lay my soul bare at his feet, either. Silence was often the best answer. With a lingering kiss, he moved his other hand between us, his thumb moving closer and closer to my clit.

  “No more thinking.” He placed a soft kiss on each eyelid before pulling me forward so his lips hovered above my ear. “I’m going to make you come now, love. Again and again until you beg me to stop.”

  I scoffed. I couldn’t help the reaction. “That’ll be never.”

  He tugged on my earlobe with his lips. “I do love a challenge.”

  I squirmed at the tone of his voice and blushed because I’d never been so wild for someone before. I’d never been this insatiable. Sex was sex. An orgasm made me relax, but with Kass, it was so much more. And I couldn’t get enough.

  When we landed and walked down the ramp just over an hour later, my knees were shaky and I still had not regained control of my breathing. I had to be a mess. Flushed. Swollen lips. Glazed eyes. But I realized, with no small bit of satisfaction, that Kass hadn’t even bothered to run his fingers through his hair. As well fucked as I looked, he looked like he’d literally just rolled out of bed.

  Unrepentant. No apologies or excuses or shame.

  Vintis and Arria walked to us with huge smiles on their faces. “How’d the ship do?”

  “There was a glitch for a few seconds. Whole system. Screens went blank, then everything seemed to be normal,” I said.

  Arria frowned. “I’ll get on that. Track every line and connection personally.”

  “Thank you.”

  Vintis was watching Kass. “You have any trouble, sir?”

  Kass looked down at me, then back to the ship with a considering look on his face. “No. But I do have some interior modifications I’d like to discuss with you.”

  Arria giggled and I realized Kass intended to make sure the next time we had sex on the ship, it was more comfortable.

  With a grin that was pure happiness, Arria pointed to the outer landing bay where the rest of the Resolution’s ships were kept. “You better get going. The general has been pacing for almost an hour.”

  Great.

  Kass squeezed my hand, and we walked shoulder to shoulder into the main landing bay. Everyone there, from mechanics to cleaning crews, turned our way and clapped. A few whistled, and everyone was grinning.

  And it wasn’t because we’d hacked into the Dark Fleet system and collected the data.

  No, it was because I’d sat on a comms button with my bare ass and broadcast a live porno. I slowed my steps, realizing it was possible it had been heard by all of Velerion and its bases around the universe.

  That would be bad. How many bases or whatever did Velerion
have, exactly?

  “How far do our ship comms go?” I asked Kass.

  “They are on a closed frequency to the Resolution.”

  I sighed with relief as Kass tugged me close. “No one will doubt our bond now, my Mia. Relax. We’re good.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Based on the response, I’d say we were better than good.”

  He laughed and wrapped his arm around me, then kissed the top of my head. He led me through the throng, accepting some ribbing and innuendo good-naturedly. I smiled and while I was embarrassed, I was also proud.

  Everyone knew we were pair bonded now. Everyone knew it was a good match. Kass was happy, and I wasn’t ashamed of us.

  Damn proud.

  8

  Mia, Two Days Later, Battleship Resolution

  * * *

  “Settle in and settle down, everyone,” General Jennix called.

  The Starfighters and other crew members serving on the Resolution who would be involved in the mission moved into chairs lined up in rows around the meeting room. I guessed there were about twenty present and at least double that amount of people attending remotely via the comms covering the walls around the room.

  “To make introductions. From Arturri, we have General Aryk and the Starfighter pilots. They will be known as Group One. From Eos Station, Captain Sponder is leading the shuttle pilots.” The general paused. “Where is Captain Sponder?”

  I didn’t see the jerk on the screen either. It had been two days since I’d met Kass’s former commanding officer. Sponder had been an asshole, and it was clear he hated Kass.

  That fact did not bother me. Sponder was one of those guys who always felt the need to throw their dicks on the table and get out the measuring tape. I’d met plenty of jerks just like him back on Earth. Hot hunks. Creeps. Dedicated soldiers. Uptight commanders. Rebels. It seemed people were people, no matter what planet they were on.

  Kass, for his part, hadn’t mentioned Sponder since that initial encounter. After our mission, we’d gone back to our quarters and rested, as protocol required. But Kass had made good on his promise of taking me again once we were in bed. He'd bathed me, had food brought to our quarters, then sexed me into unconsciousness. I wasn’t sure if that was how Jennix wanted us to rest, but it was a great way to fall asleep. I was now fresh, relaxed, and ready for another mission.