Page 49 of Starfighter’s Salvation

“What if they find us?”

Corvan checked his rifle. “They will regret it.”

The kid looked at me.

“He’s serious,” I said. “Sleep.”

We powered down everything we could. Enemy patrols crossed the rock above us every fifteen or twenty minutes. Each time, we sat in the dark and waited. During the third pass, a search beam moved along the lip of the gigantic cave Corvan had flown us into. My man rose without a sound and took position beside the hatch, rifle ready, his body a wall between the door and everyone I was keeping alive. I watched the line of his back and realized I trusted him to keep us all alive. Crazy? Probably. Couldn't argue with the emotion, so I stopped trying.

With our systems dark, everything turned brutally cold. Condensation gathered on the metal near my shoulder, and every distant bootstep traveled through the hull as if the ship herself were frozen.

No one spoke. I'd distributed thermal blankets and those who could were huddled together for warmth. One apprentice woke and started to ask a question. I covered his mouth before the first sound escaped and held one finger to my lips. Boots moved over the rock, and the search beam stopped within a few steps of the Salvation’s landing gear. Corvan’s finger settled on the trigger. Five seconds. Ten. Then a voice called from farther up the trench. The beam moved away, and the foot patrol followed.

The apprentice exhaled against my hand.

“Sorry, honey," I whispered. He nodded and adjusted the blanket around his shoulders.

Corvan waited a few minutes, then returned to sit beside me again. His arm circled my shoulders and carried did a far better job of warming me than the emergency blanket. I leaned into him, tried to melt into his side.

“Tell me about Earth,” he whispered.

“What about it? It's not that exciting.”

“Your life.”

That was worse, and I rested my head against his chest. “I work. I go home. I play the game with Priya and Alisha. Repeat.”

“No family?”

“Three half siblings ten years older. Dad was never around. My mom is busy with her fourth husband. They all call when someone needs medical advice or money.”

“Do they call for any other purpose?”

“No. I guess I don't really have a family, except Priya and Alisha.”

"You do not. They sound terrible. Not worthy of you."

I lifted my head. “You’re supposed to argue with me and make excuses for them."

“Why?”

“I don't know. It's what humans do." I snuggled closer, practically crawling onto his lap. "Besides, winning an argument less satisfying when you surrender.”

“I did not know we were arguing.”

“We are now.”

The corner of his mouth lifted with a grin as the engines from another patrol passed by outside. We stayed still until the noise faded.

"How do they not know where we are?"

"I executed a perfect evasive maneuver when they had no line of sight. As far as they are concerned, the Salvation vanished into thin air." He pulled me all the way onto his lap and rested his chin on top of my head. "They're jamming their scanners as well as ours. And it's a very big trench."

I dozed in Corvan's arms and everyone slept in shifts. After my nap, I checked lines, adjusted medication, and argued with Brennix about giving him something for pain. He refused and held onto Corvan's spare rifle.

“Cassia took more damage,” he said. "Give it to her."

From three racks away, Cassia opened one eye. “Don't need it. I'm perfect.”