Starfighter Command

by Grace Goodwin

  Sponder’s face was turning a dark shade of red.

  “I have sorted multiple threads of conversations between Rainhart and Sponder as well as detailed instances of report tampering. The ghost trail Sponder left behind while inserting Starfighter Training Academy mission modifications is included as well. As for today’s mission, my mech team and I both saw Captain Sponder exiting the Phantom a few minutes before takeoff. And our ship wasn’t hit by the enemy; it was blown up from within.”

  Jennix clenched her jaw. “Comms,” she called again. “Analyze data in the Phantom’s docking bay, previous three hours. Can you confirm reports of Captain Sponder’s presence near the Phantom.”

  “No data found,” the AI voice responded.

  The corner of Sponder’s mouth tipped up.

  “May I, General?” Kass asked.

  Jennix nodded.

  “Comms,” Kass called. “Analyze data in docking bay, previous three hours. Report and display the last person to approach the Phantom prior to Starfighter MCS Becker’s arrival.”

  “Processing. Data visible on screen six.”

  The image showed Mech Vintis, one of the mechanics, placing something beneath the weapons panel. But his uniform looked odd and the image was a bit blurry.

  “Comms, locate Mech Vintis at the time this recording was taken.”

  “Processing. Data visible on screen six.”

  A view of the docking bay popped up on the screen. Mech Vintis and Mech Arria were sitting at a small work station, laughing and enjoying a meal together while taking a break from their duties.

  “Vintis could not be in two places at once,” Kass said.

  “And I personally saw Captain Sponder walk off my ship.” I couldn’t help myself; I wanted to jump on Sponder’s back and strangle him. “You bastard.”

  Kass interrupted before I could say more, which was probably a good thing as I was really close to acting on my instincts.

  “Comms, track Captain’s Sponder’s location five minutes prior to that time.”

  “Processing. Data visible on screen six.”

  I held my breath until I saw Captain Sponder with Commissioner Gaius enter the Starfighter docking bay. Sponder carried something small. He walked across the docking bay toward the Phantom as Gaius spoke to the Mechs. Vintis asked Sponder if he required assistance. Sponder declined.

  We all watched Sponder cover the distance to our ship. A few paces away, he looked up into the camera and the screen blurred, his clothing changed to that of Mech Vintis.

  The new, blurry version of Vintis/Sponder walked straight up to the Phantom and disappeared inside.

  Several minutes later he reappeared on the ramp, still a confusing, blurred image of Vintis/Sponder, when I appeared on the screen.

  I remembered it perfectly. I looked at him, glared, and asked what the hell he was doing on my ship. He’d said he was there to apologize about Kass, let me know he was saving me from a cheat and a liar, and to have a good mission.

  But on the screen Vintis and I had that conversation instead.

  Sponder might be an ass, but he was more than adequate at covering his tracks in the digital world.

  Until me.

  “I remember that conversation, General Jennix. And it was not Mech Vintis I spoke to, but Captain Sponder. I give you my word.”

  There it was. Proof that Sponder had placed the bomb on the Phantom. The time stamp was when Kass had been in the brig and I was clearly on-screen, having a little chat about my pair bond.

  “Sponder had no way of knowing I would escape the brig and go on the mission with Mia. He intended to kill my pair bond, General,” Kass growled. He was coiled and ready to strike more than just Sponder’s nose.

  “I wanted to see your face when you found out she was dead,” Sponder snapped, spittle flying.

  Kass attacked then, punching Sponder so hard he fell to the ground. Kass jumped on him, pummeled him. “You don’t fuck with my Mia,” he said, each word followed by a brutal punch.

  Jennix didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but then waved her hand to have the guards pull Kass off. Sponder was conscious but bloody and in bad shape. The guards hoisted Sponder to his feet and had to hold him up.

  “You’d have gotten away with everything,” I told Sponder. “No one would have suspected you of being in allegiance with Rainhart. It was your hatred for Kass that gave you away. You should have let him join the MCS without complaint. He was your downfall.”

  “Take Sponder away,” Jennix ordered. “Transport him immediately to the lockdown station on Velerion. Maximum security.” She frowned. “I’ll deal with Commissioner Gaius later.” She turned to look at me. “What about the commissioner? You find anything on him? Is he a traitor as well?”

  I shook my head. “Not that I can tell. Just a man with an asshole for a nephew.”

  “Well, at least that’s something,” she muttered. “General Aryk?”

  “Yes, General.”

  She looked to the other leader, who blinked, stunned at what had just happened. “Aryk, we need to finish the mission.”

  General Aryk nodded. “I will take control of Group Two. We will see the liberation of Xenon a success.” He looked to us. “Good work, MCS pair.”

  “Yes, good work,” Jennix added, then frowned. “I’m going to assume the records showing you cheated in the training program are false, as Starfighter MCS Becker has attested. However, I have a mission to run. You are ordered to remain in your quarters until a full review can be completed.”

  Kass grinned. It was the first time he’d done so since he’d kicked the replacement pilot, Markus or something, out of the Phantom and hopped in with me.

  “Affirmative, General. We will obey your command.” Kass looked to me. Winked. “With pleasure.”

  13

  Kass

  * * *

  A guard escorted us to our quarters, but unlike the last time, when I was taken away by one, I wasn’t in restraints. No weapons were out and ready to stun me. No smart remarks or shoving occurred. And—very different—this time I held Mia’s hand, even raised it to my lips and kissed her knuckles a time or two.

  She’d saved my ass. If not for her, no one would have caught Sponder’s lies and exposed him as a traitor. My mind reeled with the information that he’d been working with Delegate Rainhart this entire time, that he’d also been responsible for the attack on the Starfighter base. That he’d helped Queen Raya take Xenon prisoner, helped the Dark Fleet target Velerion with the IPBMs. Why would he do such a thing? He was Velerion himself. His family was wealthy. His uncle was a commissioner in the Hall of Records.

  I squeezed Mia’s hand. “I can’t believe Sponder is a traitor. I knew he was an ass, but—I don’t understand what drove him to betray his own people.”

  Mia’s turn. She lifted my hand to her lips and kissed me. “Sometimes people don’t make sense.”

  Well, that was the truth. “They’ll execute him, if what you found was true.”

  “It’s true.” She sounded completely confident, sure of herself, and very, very sexy.

  Mia had given General Jennix and General Aryk more than enough proof to convict Sponder of everything we’d claimed and then some. It was over. Not the mission to save Xenon and to rid the universe of IPBMs, but our fight to be together, to prove ourselves worthy of our uniforms. We would not be torn apart. I’d told Mia that from the first time we met in her place of employment on Earth. She was mine.

  Forever.

  I never expected Sponder to be more than just a nuisance to me. And a horrible leader. But Mia had found not only the truth about me, but the depth of his evil. Of course Mia had found it. No one else had and that was why Sponder had gone unnoticed, free to work with Delegate Rainhart in an unlimited capacity. Time would reveal the extent of his traitorous actions, but someone else would dig for those details. Mia had given them the trail to follow. That was all they were going to get, because Mia would be busy with me. In the shor
t term, she would be busy being pleasured. I would see her rewarded for her actions. I would also ensure she was whole. Alive. Safe.

  My heart seized at the idea of her dying in a fiery explosion of Sponder’s making. It would have been as he’d said. Horrible. I would not have survived if she’d been killed. And with the other pilot trying to control the Phantom during the crash? I’d barely managed to save us, and I had more training in that ship than anyone on Velerion. I was a Starfighter for a reason. With Lieutenant Markus flying when that bomb went off, I would have lost her.

  Being alive and in the brig would have been a fate worse than death. Even if the charges against me for cheating had been proven false, I would not have been whole. I never would have forgiven myself for not being on that ship next to her. For not being there when she needed me.

  For allowing her to die alone.

  When the door to our quarters slid closed behind us, I locked the door, closing us away from all interruptions, and pulled her into my arms. Held her in a fierce hug.

  Felt her heartbeat. Her breath.

  “Kass,” she whispered.

  “I know,” I replied, kissing the top of her head.

  “Now. It has to be now,” she murmured.

  I couldn’t agree with her more, but we were still wearing our flight suits, dust and debris from the crash, the smell of burning metal and rock draping over us both like a cloud. Dropping to my knees, I yanked and pulled to remove her flight suit and boots. When she stood naked before me, I placed a kiss in the center of her abdomen and leaned my forehead into her body. I inhaled the scent of her feminine heat and reveled in the feeling of her fingers stroking my scalp, combing my hair. Holding me to her.

  “I almost lost you.”

  “We almost lost each other.”

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and held on tightly, sinking into her, memorizing everything about her. Scent. Touch. Softness of her skin. Gentleness of her hands. She sighed. “It won’t be the last time, Kass. We are Starfighters. We aren’t going to be sitting behind a desk.” She grabbed a fistful of my hair and tilted my head up to meet her gaze. “And I don’t want to be. I want to be out there, making a difference. With you. And if we die, we die together.”

  This woman was going to be the death of me one way or the other. At the moment I feared my heart was going to burst inside my chest, the explosion of emotion inside me crippling and painful. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Live together. Fight together. Die together.”

  “Exactly.” She grinned. “Are you in or are you out?”

  “Oh, I’m in. And so are you.” I stood in a flash and lifted her off her feet, throwing her over my shoulder as I marched us both to the bathing room. I set her on her feet in the stall, and she started the water as I stepped out of my flight suit and boots.

  Hot water streaming, we washed one another in record time. The second I had her soft and wet and clean, had inspected every inch of her for injuries and found nothing but a few bruises, I dropped to my knees and used my hand on her stomach to hold her back pressed to the shower wall. She fought for balance, but I had no more self-control. I needed her. “Now. I need you now.”

  “Kass,” she said again, this time on a moan. My intention was clear. Her fingers tangled in my hair, and I looked up at her.

  “Now,” I repeated, then licked into her. It was hard to do with her legs so close together, but her clit was hard and poking from its hood as if eager for me. With my other hand, I cupped her bare pussy in my palm, slipped two fingers deep inside her body, and made it my mission to get her off. With fingers and tongue, I pushed her toward orgasm without mercy. There was no teasing. I was focused, quick, and precise. I knew what she liked. Knew where to touch and stroke and lick.

  She didn’t fight me, gasping and crying out as I made her come.

  My cock was hard. Aching to fill her. I denied myself any satisfaction. Yet.

  She screamed her second release, her knees buckling. Her pussy gushing with her essence. I drank it down, savored the way her inner walls rippled around my fingers, the way her entire body shook, knees weak, gasping for air. Mia was out of control. Mine.

  Yes.

  Fuck, yes. She held nothing back, gave me everything. Trust. Love. Surrender. She. Was. Mine.

  Completely.

  Mia

  * * *

  Kass stood with a smug grin on his face.

  Yeah, he was pleased with himself.

  He should be.

  That had been epic. And I knew we were far from done.

  Kass dunked his head under the water as I recovered enough to reach for him. I pulled him to me for a kiss that went on and on. I wanted to merge our bodies into one being. Hold him this close forever. He was mine. I would fight to protect him until my dying breath, and I knew he’d do the same for me.

  Bonded pair. I understood what that really meant now. Bonded. One.

  I was thankful to Jennix and her order to remain in our quarters. Based on what Kass had just done to me, he had big plans to take advantage of our alone time.

  Turning off the water, I tugged him out of the shower and toward the towels. I took my time drying him off because… yeah, I had plans, too.

  “I can’t decide what turns me on more, you in uniform in the cockpit flying the Phantom, or you naked,” I said, taking a bit of extra time to gently rub the towel along his hard cock.

  “I prefer both in the cockpit and naked. That was epic,” he replied.

  Our pace was slow for once. We weren’t frantic for each other. Okay, we were, but after everything we’d been through, savoring this alone time was nice, too. Maybe I wasn't in a hurry because he’d taken the edge off my need with his mouth. But the bulge was a sign that he had yet to ease his battle desire. Almost dying—twice—was one thing. But we’d also had to fight Sponder. Fight to be together. And we’d won.

  We were together. Nothing could keep us apart now. And if anyone interrupted us… they’d have to deal with me. Because house arrest meant lots of sexy times.

  “Only if you don’t set me down on top of the comms controls next time,” I muttered, then giggled when he tickled me.

  He took his time, dried me off at a leisurely pace, but as he touched and rubbed and explored more and more of my bare skin, I became more eager.

  “I need you,” I admitted.

  His gaze met mine. I saw the heat there. The need.

  “Again?”

  I nodded. “I can't get enough of you. I’ll never get enough.”

  His face softened at that, if just for a moment.

  “I need you, too,” he replied. “In bed. With your legs parted so I can see every gorgeous part of you.”

  My inner walls clenched at his words, and I didn’t wait but turned and headed toward the bed.

  A hand came down on my ass. I spun about as the sting bloomed and turned into heat. Kass stood there, naked, arms crossed over his chest, cock thrust toward me like a soldier standing at attention. He was grinning, definitely pleased with himself.

  “What was that for?” I asked.

  He looked at my butt, tilted his head. “I like seeing my mark on you.”

  I huffed in fake indignation when the truth was, that sting had traveled straight to my core, tightened my nipples, made my body wake up in a way I’d never felt before. I wanted more.

  He stepped close, reached down, and cupped my pussy. “You’re drenched. You loved it.”

  I tipped my chin up, ready to deny it. But this was Kass. He would give me anything I wanted. Anything I needed. Anything at all without judgment or hesitation. He was mine.

  “I did. And your mouth on me, too.”

  His eyes flared. “Noted.”

  He licked his fingers of my essence, then growled.

  “Change of plans. On the bed. All fours. Ass up.”

  This time, I turned a little slower.

  “Gorgeous, you’re getting your ass spanked no matter
what. Don’t be shy now.”

  I set a knee on the bed, then crawled up into the center, positioned myself as he wanted. Arched my back. This stuck my butt out, and he could see everything. I’d never been a prude, but I was very exposed. He could see all of me. When I looked over my shoulder, saw the way his jaw was clenched, the way he looked on the edge of losing control, almost feral, I basked in my power over him.

  I wiggled my butt, and he broke his stare. He moved quicker now, settling onto the bed in a way that confused me. A few seconds later I nearly moaned in anticipation because he’d flipped onto his back, his head between my thighs so I straddled his face.

  “Scheisse,” I breathed.

  When his hands cupped my ass to pull me down so he could lock his lips around my clit and suck my flesh, I moaned. Writhed. Rode his face. It didn’t take long to come. There had been so much buildup. So much need.

  I was wild and rocking on him as he used his mouth and tongue to get me off. My clit had never been so happy to see someone.

  After I screamed his name, lost in the pleasure only Kass could wring from me, he moved again. Kneeling behind me, he spanked me.

  “I should punish you for being too gorgeous. Too smart.” His palm struck my ass with a sharp sting that made me wiggle. Again. And again. “Too brave.”

  My ass heated up. One side, then the other. My body rocked forward with each heated smack on my ass, my breasts swinging below me, nipples so hard they ached.

  More. I wanted more.

  “You are mine, Mia. Mine.”

  One more smack and then he was at my entrance, the broad crown nudging, parting, then thrusting deep.

  “Yes!” I cried as my walls rippled to accommodate him.

  “Gods,” he gritted out. “Fuck, you’re perfect.”

  He pounded into me. Hard. Deep. As if chasing something.

  My breasts swayed, and I rubbed the sensitive nipples along the bedding as I pushed back into his thrusts, met him. Took him deep. Demanded more.

  I gripped the bedding. Held on. I was close to coming. So close. I reached beneath me for my clit. If I just rubbed it once or twice, I would come again.