Page 72 of Starfighter’s Salvation

The first soldier came through the entry and moved to my left. I fired once as the second used the right side of the ring to trap me between them. I turned, keeping pressure on the handle, and fired again. The second moved quietly, behind cover, and shot out the lights.

Darkness filled the entire area. My helmet display came online. Heat signatures replaced faces and uniforms. The second soldier moved low along the right wall.

I let him reach the edge of the launch console opposite me before firing through the thin side panel he had chosen as cover. He screamed but he was already irrelevant to me. Dead.

One asshole left.

“Clamps releasing,” Mia said in my ear. “Forty seconds.”

Enemy rounds hit the console beside my head. Fuck.

“Corvan?”

“Still here.”

“Good. Stay that way.” Every step away from Gina had stretched the bond into a hot line at my nape, and it pulled at me now, steady and unbroken.

The last asshole trying to kill me threw an explosive into the center of the clamp's control ring. I kicked it behind the console toward his dead buddy. The blast was still strong enough to lift me off the floor and throw me against the wall. My arm stayed looped through the handle, and I swung around it like a ball tied to the end of a string. I came crashing to the floor feeling as if my shoulder had been yanked out of the socket. If I could feel the left side of my body, it would probably hurt like hell.

“Thirty-five seconds,” Mia said.

The last soldier fired. The first round struck my armor and bounced. The second entered my shoulder. The pain was instant. Hot. Deep.

So much for being numb.

I returned fire with my good arm and hit him twice in the chest. He slumped over the control panel before sliding to the floor. I shot him again as a thank-you for the blood dripping down my side.

“Sensors say you’re hit,” Mia said. "Shit."

I watched two new threats appear on the edge of my sensors. They'd be here quick. Too soon. "How much longer?"

"Fifteen seconds.” Mia's tone was clipped. "How bad is it?"

“I'll live.” My shoulder hurt like a mother fucker, but I raised my rifle and held on to the manual release like Gina's life depended on it.

“That is not a medical analysis.” That was Mia's voice, but that didn't sound like Mia.

"Who's asking?"

Mia's chuckle actually made me smile. "You know the answer. She said she doesn't want to distract you."

Gina. She was on the scanners, on comms, watching. Listening to everything.

The launch cradle doors finally opened on the level above me. Light filled the ring over my head as the Salvation’s engines came alive. I had flown that ship for years and would know her sound anywhere — and somewhere in that rising roar was Gina.

“Five seconds,” Mia said.

The launch indicator turned green and I released the handle. The Salvation rose through the cradle doors, carrying everyone aboard away from me, the failing dome, the Dark Fleet attack. The bond at my nape stretched thin enough to become a whisper but did not break.

The two soldiers that had just entered the upper level of the ring appeared on the walkway above me. They stood fully exposed as they opened fire on the retreating ship, on my mate.

I took them out in seconds and ducked behind cover to look for a place to hide. More would be coming. Didn't matter. My mate was clear. She was alive. Whatever came through the door hunting me now was of no consequence, she was safe.

"Get out of there!" Mia's warning had me moving. "You've got a full unit moving your way."

Moving silently, I lifted my rifle and crawled into a maintenance tunnel.

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