Page 60 of Starfighter’s Salvation

"No. It's been bothering me, the ease with which we escaped."

"You thought that was easy?" Gina's eyes were round with shock.

I took her hand. "They didn't shoot us down. So, yes, it was easy." I turned to look at Wroxxon, whose thinking seemed to be most closely aligned with what I was about to say. "We should have been dead ten times over. One hit to the engines, and we would have gone down. They had enough fighters to take use out easily. They could have buried us under a pile of rock when we hid in that cave. They had a general idea of where we were. Instead of a bomb, they sent foot patrols. Why didn't they destroy the ship? Why didn't they fire a missile into Bunker Nine while the survivors were trapped there? They could have buried them alive just as easily. Ended any perceived threat. But what threat? A few engineers, a couple apprentices who are still children, and a handful of civilian researchers? There was no military threat. Only their Titan escorts were armed. So, if they weren't attacking a military target, what was their goal? Nothing makes sense unless they wanted to take us alive."

“They're after someone,” Wroxxon leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “One of your passengers. One of the survivors. And they need this person alive.”

Aryk cursed. “Fucking hell. It's not my Titans they were after. Not the Starfighters.” He looked from me to Gina. "You interacted with the survivors. Talked to them. Do you have any idea who they might be after? Was there a traitor on your ship? Is there a traitor in medical on the Resolution right now?"

“I don't know. I don't do spy stuff or read people very well. That's Alisha's job.” Gina shared a look with Priya, who seemed to nod in agreement.

Priya was frowning now. "How close is Alisha to finishing the game?" She looked around the room. "Training. Whatever." Her attention locked on the two generals. "Well. Aren't you tracking her progress?"

General Aryk answered. "We are. She has completed sixty percent of the final mission. Her bondmate, Torek, has already been sent back to the Citadel to conduct a preliminary assessment."

Gina groaned quietly and leaned over to rest her head on my shoulder. "God, that last mission is such a bitch."

Priya sighed. "Well, we can't afford to wait for Alisha. And don't ask Gina about her patients. She takes care of everyone and only sees the good in people. She'd probably stitch up the devil himself if he walked into her ER."

Gina snorted, but there was amusement behind it. "True."

"What about you, Corvan?" General Aryk asked. "Any idea who it might be?"

I shook my head. "I spent most of my time in the cockpit. Most of them barely spoke. They were in bad shape by the time we arrived. I have no idea."

“We need the truth. And we need to contact the Resolution and make sure they assess and monitor the survivors on their ship,” Aryk said. “This is the third time we've been caught with our pants down in the last few weeks. It cannot happen again." He glanced at General Jennix. "No more transmissions to command. We'll tell them what we've done after the fact."

She chuckled. "They're not going to like that."

"I don't care. Go back and look at every mission over the past five years where something went wrong. Including Hex Port Cassia."

That snapped my attention from the feminine scent of Gina's hair to the furious general at the center of the room who was still talking. "Track that access code and bring me a list of every date and time the code was used, and every mission update we sent. I want to know exactly what these traitors have cost us."

My hands stopped moving on the table. Gina reached for me, her fingers cold as they closed over my knuckles. My mark flared at the touch, the heat comforting me in a moment when I wouldn't have believed anything could. “You think Callis may have been part of this?” I asked.

“It never made sense,” Jennix answered. “The attack occurred during a civilian shift rotation. They didn't take anything. We had no fighters or research teams on the station. The rescue calls were rerouted through command. There was no solid military target. It may be unrelated. It may not.”

Eighteen months of believing Callis had been my mistake — that I had simply been too slow, too late, too weak, to get Renn and all survivors out of the disintegrating station. Now there might have been a traitor behind the attack? My mind whirled with possible implications.

“For the record,” Gina said, “Captain Wroxxon warned us that it was probably a trap before we launched. His instincts were spot on.”

Aryk looked at the captain and frowned. “Yes. His nine-page report titled ‘As Predicted’ made that clear.”

Wroxxon's face gave nothing away. If anything, he looked bored. “It was eight pages, General. The ninth was supporting data.”

Priya covered her laugh with a cough. I thanked any god who would listen that he'd been enough of an ass to find a work around and make sure Gina and I, and everyone else on our ship, had survived. Based on what Priya, Jamie and the others told us once Gina recovered enough for visitors, I owed him one. He was the main reason we'd escaped with our lives.

“Starfighters Anand and Vesh will continue investigating the Citadel issue from here,” Aryk said. “Quietly. The Salvation will stand down for ten days. Medical leave and repairs.”

Gina lifted one finger as if she were about to protest.

“That is an order,” Aryk scowled until she dropped her hand back onto her lap. "Dismissed."

Outside the briefing room, Gina leaned against the corridor wall looking pale.

“You are tired,” I said. "And in pain." She'd been released from the medbay for less than a day and she'd demanded to attend the meeting. Stubborn female.

“I’m fine.”