Page 73 of Starfighter’s Salvation

Gina, Eight Hours Later

* * *

The bond mark on my neck was still warm, and that meant Corvan was alive. Priya had explained it twice. I made her explain it a third time while we stood in the main operations bay of the Battleship Resolution, because I needed to hear it again.

The Dome Erys battle was still raging, despite the fact that no one seemed to be able to figure out why the Dark Fleet had attacked it in the first place.

They were obviously after something, but no one, not the generals, the Scouting units, the spies, no one could figure out what. The dome itself was in shambles now. According to some of the engineers I overheard in one of the non-stop briefings, even if the Velerions regained control tomorrow, it would take years to rebuild.

I had a much larger and more personal emergency hanging by a thread of warmth at the nape of my neck. Corvan was still somewhere in that dome. Hurt. Alone. Fighting for his life against a seemingly endless number of assholes trying to kill him.

The dome was basically destroyed. The last evacuation ships had fled hours ago. They were fighting over scraps now. So, why were Queen Raya's forces still crawling all over the outpost like cockroaches? And why hadn't we heard from Corvan? He was supposed to figure out a way to get home to me. Steal a ship. Hitch a ride. Something. He promised me.

I wrapped my arms around myself as a whiff of cold air blasted through the Resolution’s vents. None of the chaos displayed on the multitude of screens reached me. I ignored the quiet murmuring of the officers and crew manning the Resolution's command deck. General Aryk had shown up about an hour after we made an emergency landing in the large battle cruiser's docking bay. Lieutenant Maro had done his job, he'd gotten us off the ground and out of the dome's airspace. But we'd taken a few hits on the way out and the damage to our engines made travel through the gate, back to the Arturri moon base, 'unwise'.

Whatever that meant. They'd tried to explain to me about electromagnetics and energy fields, but I'd zoned out. Didn't care how any of this shit worked. Only cared about one thing, getting my mate back. My complete attention had narrowed to the small warm point at the back of my neck, the one piece of him I could still touch.

“Warm means alive?” I asked Priya for the fourth time.

“Yes.” She and Vesh had come in when General Aryk did, along with a handful of Elite Starfighters. Priya and Vesh had spent most of their time locked away with the people trying to figure out what the Dark Fleet was after. Mia and Kassius were still in the fight, along with Jamie and Alex. I was trying to keep track of everyone I cared about, but there was too much going on, and one very important person missing. His absence made it hard to think.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.” Priya squeezed my shoulder as I stared at the gigantic, 3D, holographic display in the center of the large room. Dome Erys was at the center surrounded by blips that looked like hundreds of tiny fireflies darting around what remained of the dome's exterior. Light green for our people. Red dots for theirs. There were swarms of green and red ships as well as soldiers roaming in packs through the dome. The bad guys were rounding up any survivors they found—light yellow dots for civilians—and taking them to the subterranean levels along with anyone else they captured. Why? No one knew.

I looked at the handful of little green dots huddled in the center with the civilians and prayed Corvan wasn't one of them. The next, I hoped he was. Better that than one of the other green dots moving through the corridors and tunnels surrounding the dome. There were several that I watched with an obsession that was physically causing me pain. One or two green dots would be surrounded by red. I'd freeze, unable to breathe as I watched one red dot, then another, then another blink out. Dead.

The green would move on. So many of them, and not nearly enough. They were outnumbered at least five to one, and one of those moving green dots was Corvan.

I pressed my hand to the back of my neck. Warm. Alive. He better stay that way.

* * *

General Jennix had remained back on Arturri, but she also sent three Titan teams to fight on the ground around the dome, including Lily and Darius, as well as more fighter pilots and search and rescue teams. The operation grew larger every hour. This Dome Erys incident was turning out to be a much larger problem than anyone anticipated.

All I could do now was wait. Wait. Wait. I fucking hated waiting. “I need help,” I said.

Priya smiled and grabbed my wrist. I followed her into a smaller, private meeting room. Vesh closed the door behind us.

“Vesh and I are ready. What do you need?”

For thirty-four years, I had been the person other people called. I came, and I fixed things. I stayed late, and I handled it. Now the man I loved was trapped under a dome full of enemy soldiers while a group of Elite Starfighters stood around counting little dots on a hologram.

Fuck that. I wasn't a Velerion. I didn't answer to any of these people. As far as I was concerned, I answered to God, my mate, and my own conscience. "I want to go get him."

“Dome assault to rescue the rescue pilot? Absolutely. We're in.” Priya grinned at me. "Jamie and Mia are already there. They'll help us, too."

"Do not forget Kassius and Alexius," Vesh offered.

“See?" Priya wrapped her arm around Vesh and leaned close. "He gets me.”

Before I could even try to come up with a plan, Lily and Darius walked in, closing the door behind them. "When are we leaving?" Lily asked. "This is bullshit."

Priya turned to her. "We need to get ahold of Jamie and Mia. Privately."

Lily grinned. "No problem. We have a private comm. Mia set it up for us a while ago." She looked at me. "It's good to have a top tier system hacker on your side. So, what do we need to tell them?"

Everyone had their own ideas.