Page 44 of The Commanders' Mate

His shocked fascination blended with Kaed’s rage at the immediate threat to his people. It was his turn to tap his comm. “Bard, this is Karter. Hive sighted starboard. Beta Cluster 7-9-5-5. Attack imminent. Sound the alarms. I want everyone off this ship. Evasive maneuvers. Reroute the evacuation vessels to new coordinates. Send the fighters out to intercept and buy them some time.”

“Yes, Commander. Confirmed. We have a visual.”

“Transmit visuals to I.C. and Prillon Prime. Broadcast to the incoming battlegroups. They need to know what to look for. This might not be the only one.”

“Copy, Commander. Battle alarms in three.”

The link went dead, but two seconds later the entire ship vibrated as an alarm rumbled through the air. Not a high-pitched screech, like I’d been expecting. More like what I imagined an Atlan beast might sound like when it roared on the battlefield.

Ronan grabbed me, kissed me hard. “We have much to learn about you.” He took off running toward his fighter. I made sure to fill my entire being

with love so he would feel it and come back to me.

Chloe gave me a quick hug. “Just like finding the Death Star in Star Wars, huh?”

I thought of the movie and the huge evil space ship that had blown Alderaan to bits.

I couldn’t answer because she was already halfway to her own ship. She was going to be in the heart of this battle, and her mates were going to have to deal with that, just like I had to watch Ronan walk away.

Next to me, Commander Karter was a pool of calm, the layer of ice he’d placed over his emotions calming me as well. “You amaze me constantly, mate. Come. It’s time to get you off this ship.”

I didn’t argue, not one bit.

Ronan, Stealth Fighter Prototype HS-7, I.C. Defense Special Issue

* * *

I was halfway to the Hive weapon ship, flying solo. I didn’t have time to wait for the rest of the fighter teams to catch up. I needed to be up close and personal, gathering intel on that stealth ship and its weapons before the actual fighting started. “Going ghost, Karter. I’m going to disappear from your sensors in three… two… one… ghost.”

“Confirmed. No hits on sensors. Stealth mode engaged. Good luck, Commander.”

I was going to need all the luck I could get.

Fifteen silent minutes later, I flew directly at the ship that I assumed was responsible for the destruction of the Hyrad Battlegroup. Nine thousand lives lost. The Varsten. Thirty of the toughest warriors I knew, friends, dead, along with one of the most respected battle commanders in the fleet.

And now the Hive was hunting the Karter and her crew. My mate and my new people. I hadn’t had a home for five long years. Longer, if I was being honest with myself. Erica and Kaed were my family now. Even so far from them, I could still feel the fierce pride and deep love Karter had for Erica as his mate, and for me—as his best friend and brother in all but blood. Erica’s pure, fearless love had poured through me like fire washing away the cobwebs and filth from my soul. I’d never felt anything so powerful, so pure. So fucking courageous. Love like that was dangerous. All in. Live or die. Dangerous.

Her courage shamed me as nothing else ever had or would. She dared to love us, despite our flaws, and we’d been stupid enough to think we were the strong ones in this mating.

We were weaklings compared to her fierce spirit. I’d do anything to protect her. Anything at all. Like flying right for a Hive super-weapon.

Reaching for the controls, I deployed the decoy communication buoys behind me. Seven of them. They would bounce the quantum communication signal directly from my ship, around the Hive sensors and back to the battleship. Unless the Hive were scanning every single light frequency, they wouldn’t be able to hear or see me.

Being in the I.C. had a few perks, and one of them was this ship. Fitted with the latest in stealth technology, I could go anywhere undetected.

It worked. I knew it worked, because we’d stolen the technology from the enemy. My fighter ship had been reverse engineered from Hive technology we’d recovered on The Colony moon.

Another reason I wanted to meet the human female, Gwen, and thank her personally for leaving behind the garbage for us to find.

When the comm pinged that the relays were all in place, I opened the data link to the Karter. “Battleship Karter, this is Commander Wothar. Do you copy?”

“Confirmed. Go ahead, Commander.”

“Activating visual. Please confirm.”

I waited as the data from my ship’s camera systems were transmitted back to the battleship, two, maybe three seconds to get through all of the light relays. “Confirmed visuals. We are recording. Proceed.”

“Copy. I’m going in.”

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