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

“How many?” Jamie asked as she steered us through the closing docking bay doors. Her voice was one I recognized from our training. Laser focused. Sharp.

“All of them.” We shot out into black space and straight into chaos. Scythe fighters zoomed over and below us. Laser fire came from at least five directions. There was no way the queen would allow us to escape. A Starfighter and three traitors.

Jamie put us into a dive, and we all breathed a sigh of relief when the GravEx beam didn’t lock on and pull us back inside.

“Told you,” Trax said. “I wrecked that fuse array. Fucking wrecked it.”

“Well done.” I turned to Jamie. “You can’t fight them all.” I spared a glance at our passengers.

Jamie fired at a Scythe fighter, listening to me but clearly not giving a shit. She sent it spinning. With a twist of her wrist, she spun the Valor to avoid two incoming missiles. “You two figure out who the traitor is?”

“Yes, Starfighter. The queen shared that information with your bondmate.”

“Seriously? At dinner? That’s lame.” She fired once more, then pointed the Valor toward deep space. “Okay then. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

15

Jamie

“We did it!” Trax yelled from behind Alex. Those guys were big, and the space behind us was tiny. I couldn’t look behind the high backs of our seats, but I imagined them to have their knees in their noses. But the happiness radiating from Trax’s voice didn’t sound like he was uncomfortable.

Alex reached out and set his hand on my shoulder, his fingers squeezing. I looked his way, met his dark eyes.

I had no idea how long I’d spent alone in that rock cell. It had been long enough to think through everything Alex had ever said to me. Every action. Nuance. Glance. Touch. All of it. Then I processed what he’d done… capturing me and the Valor for the queen.

He was good. He should get an Academy Award, because I’d believed him. That probably had been what had saved us all. I’d been devastated by his supposed betrayal. There was no way I could have faked that. But his words, it’s only a game for humans, had been so glaringly inaccurate it stopped all my thoughts except one.

Why?

Why had he said that? Why had he lied about that? Why would he?

That had made me come around to the answers. He’d done it to keep us alive. He’d never told me what he’d done before I’d completed the training program. Not one word. That had crossed my mind as well as I worked through it all. Another why.

Why hadn’t he told me about what he’d done before we became Elite Starfighters?

Because he couldn’t. Because he would have had to lie.

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

“You were undercover,” I said. He nodded. “With those two.” I thumbed over my shoulder.

“I had to give you to the queen. Fuck, that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.” His eyes were bleak and tortured.

“I understand.”

He shook his head. “You don’t. Not yet. When we’re back on Arturri, I’ll tell you everything.”

“General Aryk’s going to want a debrief,” Nave commented.

I’d missed the one from the skirmish, being unconscious and all, but I had a feeling this was going to be a long one. It wasn’t often there were three double agents exposed after turning in the first Starfighter from Earth and her ship. Yeah, he was going to be pissed.

“Fuck,” Alex muttered. “I have other plans for you as well, bondmate.”

“Hey, we’re on this starfighter too,” Trax said.

Alex’s jaw clenched. “Get your own bondmates,” he told them.

“Can’t wait for the day,” Nave muttered back.

“We’re out of the asteroid’s airspace. We better comm in,” Alex said. I nodded and he continued, “Arturri base command, this is the Valor.”

“This is Arturri base. We have you on radar. Identify yourself.”

I glanced at Alex. “This is the Valor. We escaped Syrax and are returning to base with two extra on board.”

“We have shoot-to-kill orders for you, Elite Starfighter.”

Fuck. Jamie looked at me, eyes wide.

“This is Elite Starfighter Jamie Miller of the Valor. Do not shoot. Repeat, do not shoot. No enemies are on board. I have two friendlies along for the ride. Tell General Aryk we know the traitor and he better not have us blown up.”

There was radio silence for a stretch as I held my breath. I didn’t really think about the fact that Alyx would be considered the enemy after what he’d done. I liked him alive and had to keep it that way.

“That’s good to hear, Valor. Arturri out.”

Relief at the response made me almost giddy. I’d been in space such a short time, and yet I was ready to return to Arturri. To my new home. With Alex… who had a lot of explaining to do. The weight of his responsibilities had been so heavy, ones he’d carried alone or with Nave and Trax. It must have been so hard with that pressure upon his broad shoulders.

I respected him… loved him even more.

A red indicator light flashed. The one for a ballistic missile that appeared on our grid array. “Missile alert,” I said, my eyes fixed to the display.

“It’s not incoming,” Alex said, watching as well.

“Fired from Syrax,” I commented. “It’s not even headed toward Arturri. Or Velerion.”

“It’s moving fast. It’s one of their IPBMs.”

“Oh shit,” I whispered. “I didn’t think those were real.” An IPBM was an interplanetary ballistic missile. It was like an atomic bomb that could travel across space. It was big enough to destroy a planet in one go. The Starfighter Training Academy referenced it, but it wasn’t ever part of battle because there was no battle with one. It was fired and destroyed the enemy with one strike. An entire planet, an entire species, their civilization, gone. The war would be over.

“They’re real. This one’s headed toward grid sixty-seven. That’s… oh fuck.”

I looked to Alex, suddenly panicked. We’d gotten