Page 71 of Starfighter’s Salvation

“Understood.”

“I mean it.”

“I know.” I pressed her body to mine, hugged her through our flight suits. Hard and fast, because lingering would only make her hurt worse.

Dekker’s voice came over the team channel, tight. “Corvan. I can reach you. I'm at the outer lock. Give me four minutes.”

“We don't have four minutes. Fly cover for the Salvation. Get her home.” I didn't mean the ship, I meant my mate.

Silence. Then: “Understood.”

I secured my helmet and ran for the stairs that would take me to the lower level of the control ring. Behind me, the Salvation's loading ramp closed, securing the female I loved inside the ship. I made my way down to the lower ring, crouched under the landing pad, and began hunting the enemies that threatened my mate.

Mia somehow managed to hack into at least some of their systems over the next few minutes. She opened two security doors and disabled one enemy sensor as I made my way to the manual clamp release. The maintenance ring narrowed around me, and I was bathed in red emergency light. Smoke rasped past my throat despite my helmet's filter, and my grip on my rifle had gone damp inside my gloves.

“Six hostiles just entered the upper ring,” she said. “Two are heading for the override station. Four moving toward your position.”

“Can you lock the four out? Slam a door down on them or something?”

“No.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Charming conversation. You're welcome.” Sass. Seemed all the human females had it in abundance.

I reached the first junction as the enemy team entered it. They expected a medic, but they found me. The first soldier went down before he raised his weapon. I used the wall for cover, fired twice, and moved. My second shot struck armor. The third shot shattered an enemy helmet.

Two dead. Two more in my way. Two guarding the release controls. They were all dead, they just didn't know it yet.

I threw a charge into the side corridor to disorient the two closest to me and ran toward the manual override.

The explosion bought me a head start, and I reached the manual override station to find the two soldiers exactly where Mia said they would be. They fired, their rounds striking the doorway next to me as I approached. I returned fire, hit one in the neck, and crossed the room before the second corrected his aim. I lowered my shoulder to ram him and drove him into the console.

He lost his weapon. I fired, point blank, into his chest and looked around for the release that would free Gina from this hellhole. "Mia? What am I looking for?"

"The override handle should be on your left. Beneath a red cover."

There. It was sealed behind some kind of emergency glass. I slammed my elbow through the glass to shatter the cover. Then I gripped the handle and pulled.

“Manual release engaged,” Mia said. “Launch sequence beginning. Ninety seconds. Eighty.”

I had one hand on the release, only one rifle, and two approaches to defend. The dead-man control required constant pressure. If my grip loosened, the clamps would reset and the launch would start over. I slipped my forearm through the handle and wedged the pull switch in the bend of my elbow to keep it pulled while I changed the rifle’s power cell with my free hand.

“Sixty-six seconds,” Mia said.

“You said eighty.”

“Time passes.”

“Make it pass faster.”

“Would if I could. You've got two at the door."

"I see them." I slammed the power cell into my rifle and dropped to one knee for partial cover.

"Gina ordered me to get you out of there alive.”

Of course she had.