When the bay’s shielding returned, the Condor dropped. She yanked on the controls.Thwack.The landing gear slammed into the deck, the sound echoing inside her head.
Nia sat, staring at nothing, her heart rate slowly lowering. Blinking twice, she forced herself to let go of the controls one finger at a time, then shook out her arms.
Peeking through the viewer, she affirmed she was the only one left in the bay. She pressed the control for the canopy to retract. It whined, the vastness of the bay greedily sucking the sound away. When the strength returned to her arms, she pressed the control for the ladder, pushed herself over the edge of the fighter, and clumsily half-slid, half-slipped down the rungs.
Her feet hit the deck and she fell to her knees. Gasping for breath, she dry heaved. Twice. How had she survived her flight? She had no idea. Some celestial being must be watching out for her.
Silence pulsed, disturbing in such a large space. Legs shaking, she stood, and searched for an exit near the rear of the bay. Several lined the bulkhead along with lifts. Which one led to Mace?
She headed to the closest one, then stopped when the swishing sound of a door opening hushed farther along. Turning toward it, her heart jumped into her throat when Mace stepped through, his uniform splattered in blood, a gun in his hand, and Betel right behind him.
On a shout, she ran, and launched herself at him. Her body slammed into his and it felt like coming home. Disregarding everything else, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and heard his weapon thump to the ground a second before his arms encircled her. She buried her face in his throat and squeezed him tight, inhaling his minty scent entwined with the acrid smell of weapons discharge.
“Ah, Nia,” he said, hugging her close. “Izar.” His lips skimmed her ear. “I don’t think I can let you go again.”
Her heart squeezed at his words, and she held him tighter. “I don’t think I want to be let go.”
A tortured sound emerged from his chest as he returned her embrace and pressed his cheek to hers. She closed her eyes and let the moment wash over her. The disquiet she’d been feeling since their separation disappeared. She was safe, and protected, and had never felt more whole.
All too soon, Mace set her on her feet and held her at arm’s length with his hands on her shoulders, his expression severe and eyes haunted. “What the hell did you do? You were supposed to be far from here.”
She covered his hands with her own. “There was a man.” Beneath her fingers, Mace’s flexed. “He stopped me from getting on my transport, almost killed me because I saw him in the engine core the day Commander Foley threatened me. He was doing something inside the chamber.”
Throughout her explanation, Mace’s expression became more murderous.
“He was alone?” Betel asked from beside her, his voice gravelly.
She nodded, meeting his eyes.
“There aren’t supposed to be solo maintenance crews,” Mace said, the planes of his face hard. “Tell me more.”
She told him everything about what had happened on thePhalanx. “I think—” Nia finished, swallowing against the dryness in her throat. “I think he’s a CORE agent.”
Mace pulled her close and turned to Betel. “Do you know the status of those medical crews?”
“Still on stand-by as far as I know.”
Mace bent and grasped his weapon. “Come,” he said, his hand skimming her spine. “We need to get to the command center.”
Mace didn’t think his heart rate would ever return to normal. When he’d heard her voice over the comm, his heart had stopped dead. Thinking about her flying across a battlefield with nothing more than an hour of the most basic instruction…
He couldn’t stop touching her as they made their way out of the docking bay, needed affirmation she was safe—that she’d returned to him.
His hand on her spine, he focused ahead. Mouse may have been able to clear most of the station of defenders using the emergency environmental systems, but it didn’t mean he’d gotten everyone. There could be pockets where defenders survived.
With Betel taking point, they headed the way they’d come. Mace kept his senses alert. He wouldn’t be able to breathe easy until they’d returned to their defensible position. The empty corridors echoed with their footsteps.
A few of the lifts were working, courtesy of Mouse, and they returned to the one they’d taken to the docking bay. As Betel reached for the control panel, Mace’s instincts hummed, hair pricking on his nape, and he turned.
Laser fire erupted in his peripheral vision. In the next instant, he twisted, shielding Nia with his body and returning fire.
Blistering heat scalded his back. A shout erupted from his throat. He tried to protect Nia, cover her, as the haze of pain overtook his vision.
Chapter forty-three
Circumstanceschangedsofast,she wasn’t sure what happened. One moment she’d been tucked securely against Mace. In the next, weapons fire exploded around them.
They crashed to the deck, Mace’s arms around her ribs. Her breath left her in one big whoosh, her head smacking the hard surface. Stars danced in front of her eyes. Mace flattened her, a solid, motionless mass.
