The First Starfighter by Grace Goodwin (lightweight ebook reader txt) 📕

and I held my hand out to Jamie as Nave joined him. They turned to offer a hand to Jamie as I lifted her up to them and followed behind. The space was low and tight. We were between floors, although everyone on the base knew exactly where we were. I kept an eye on our tail as we moved forward into the dark. Guards would be sent to track us.

The rumble of running feet pounding through the floor over our heads shook dust loose to pepper our bodies with tiny pieces of rock and dirt.

“Where’s Lily when I need her?” Jamie asked.

“Who is Lily?” Trax asked, not slowing.

“She’s a good friend. She’d pound this entire place into dust and laugh as she did it.”

I chuckled. Jamie was not wrong. I’d seen mission recordings of the simulations Jamie had completed with her friends, Lily and Mia. Both women would make formidable allies.

A beam of laser fire struck the rock to my right, and I ducked as debris shot out at me from the impact. Turning as far as I could in the cramped space, I returned fire until I saw the fighter directly behind me slump to the ground, unmoving. Dragging him out of the tight space would slow them down a bit.

“There it is!” Trax turned to his left, crawling over and through an interlocking series of metal beams. We followed, slowly, and found ourselves huddled beneath a gridded panel that appeared to open to the floor above. Trax lifted the end of his laser rifle to the panel but didn’t open it. “If I’m right, this opens up directly inside the docking bay control room. Normal shift is four controllers.”

“Four bad guys. Got it.” Jamie looked Trax in the eye. “Go. Let’s do it.”

Trax didn’t look to me for confirmation, and I realized that Jamie had earned his respect. Not only had she not broken down in front of the queen, but she’d saved us in the elevator. Hearing about a new Starfighter taking out Scythe fighters was not the same as seeing her in action. On the ground, with a weapon she’d never touched before.

Joining shoulders with Trax, we lifted the panel and shoved it aside in one motion. Jamie and Nave popped through the opening just far enough to open fire.

The skirmish was over in seconds.

Jamie looked down at me and nodded. “We’re clear. Let’s go.”

I gave her a boost as Trax did the same for Nave. Jamie stood guard as Nave helped me climb up through the opening in the floor. I helped Trax as Nave walked to the controller’s station.

He scanned the display. “They haven’t moved the Valor. Follow me.” Nave ran from the control room and we followed. The blazing alarms had faded to background noise, my entire focus on getting us to the Valor. We had to survive. We needed to let General Aryk and the others know about Delegate Rainhart. And Velerion needed Jamie, the Starfighter, to protect the planet.

Fuck that. I needed her.

We ran, taking turns sprinting from ship to ship, from cargo box to welding unit. From hiding place to hiding place as the entire base erupted in chaos around us.

When we got close enough to see the Valor, Jamie ducked down behind a cargo box and cursed. “They have her tied down.”

Trax peeked over the top of the neighboring box and ducked back down. “She’s right. We’re going to have to blast those tie-downs before we can lift off.”

“And then hope they didn’t fix the GravEx beam,” Nave said.

“And make it on board without being incinerated,” I added.

Jamie burst out laughing, and we all stared at her like she had lost her mind, which only made her laugh harder. “In the game, Alex… mission on Asteria. Remember that one?” She checked the power level on her weapon as she spoke. “First we get on the ship. I’ll power her up while you three take out the tie-downs with your rifles.”

“That’s a small target,” Nave said.

Jamie looked up at him. “‘Aim small, miss small.’”

“What?”

“It’s from a movie. Never mind.” She tucked her weapon against her side and peeked up at our ship. “Just don’t miss.”

Jamie didn’t give us time to argue. She took off running full speed toward the ship.

The Valor’s biometric scans recognized her instantly and opened the boarding hatch. She dived inside as several shots landed on the ship’s exterior close enough to burn her hair.

“Fuck that.” I stood and rained death on the swarm of fighters running toward us. Trax joined me, and we moved as slowly as half-dried syrup across the floor to the ship. Nave disappeared inside. “Go!” I commanded Trax.

He obeyed but shot out two of the tie-downs before he disappeared within.

I took out two more, my Dark Fleet uniform absorbing two glancing shots from our attackers before I climbed inside and took my place in the copilot's seat.

“You two, open the top hatch and take out the rest of those ties,” Jamie ordered. With a flip of her wrist the small emergency hatch opened. Trax and Nave stood back to back, firing outside the ship.

Nave hit his target first. He slipped back down and buckled into the small jump seat behind Jamie’s pilot chair.

Trax was right behind him. “Got it. Let’s go.”

“Roger that.” Jamie fired up the engine as I closed the hatch. Trax buckled into his jump seat behind me, the two men’s knees touching in the cramped space. The Valor was built for speed and maneuverability, not passengers, but I didn’t think either one was going to complain.

Jamie looked at me. “You ready?”

“Always.” I meant more than just flying, and the warmth in her eyes said she understood perfectly.

“Hold on!” She shifted in her seat and rocketed the ship from a standstill to near full speed from one breath to the next.

Nave cursed as the side of his head hit the wall.

Trax laughed. “Didn’t listen, did you?”

I had the weapons system online and didn’t like what I saw. “Shut the