“No.” All at once, all the enemy’s ships appeared on our radar. “Fuck. We have ten Scythe fighters already on our tail, two gunships, and a fully armed warship ahead of us. You start a fight, we die. Power down,” I snapped.
“Damn it. I fucking hate this.” She slapped her hand on the controller.
“Live to fight another day.” Hopefully.
“I can hit the gas, and we can run.”
I considered her idea for a fraction of a second. “No. Not with ten Scythe fighters. If it were only one or two, I’d agree. But not ten. And that warship has long-range tracking missiles. The gunships are almost as fast as we are. We can’t outrun them and their missiles. Even with our jammers, they only need one Scythe fighter to tag us for a strike.”
“So what do we do?” She looked to me, her eyes frantic and full of fight. “Surrender? Won’t they just kill us?”
I gritted my teeth, knowing what had to be done. Fuck me. This was going to be bad. “Power down.” There was only one way to save Jamie now. One. And I would probably lose her forever, but at least she’d be alive to hate me.
“Fine.” Jamie powered down her weapons, and I did the same.
“I’m opening the comm channel.”
“Fine.”
If we survived this, I was going to ban her use of that word.
“Starfighters, any last words before we destroy you?” A voice taunted through our helmets.
Jamie huffed in her seat. “I have some words for him, all right.”
I held up my hand, palm out to her, and spoke clearly so there would be no confusion. “Warship Raya Three, this is officer five-seven-nine-one-seven reporting in. Do not fire. Repeat, do not fire. Tell the queen I’ve brought her a gift. The first Starfighter from Earth.”
Jamie’s head whipped around to look at me. Her eyes were wide, her mouth open. She didn’t understand. Couldn’t process what I was saying. Because I was using my undercover persona to try to buy us some time. To Queen Raya, I was a traitor to Velerion, a valuable double agent. To keep Jamie alive, I had to play that role one more time and allow her to think I was just as bad as the guy I’d spent months trying to find.
“Alexius?” the deep voice asked. “We thought you were a lost cause.”
“Negative. Am I speaking to General Surano?”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
“This is Alexius. Inform Queen Raya of my gift. I think she will be well pleased.”
“Alex, what are you—”
Jamie’s whispered confusion was cut off by the general. “Acknowledged. Welcome back. I shall inform the queen personally. Well done.”
“Thank you, sir.” I couldn’t look at my bondmate. Couldn’t bear to see the hurt and betrayal in her eyes.
“Prepare for energy lock. We will pull you in. One wrong move and we fire.” The general considered me an ally, but the warning proved that he didn’t trust anyone.
“Understood. Engines off.” I shut down our ship, every system but life support so Jamie wouldn’t get any ideas.
I terminated external communications and stared straight ahead out the cockpit cover.
“What the fuck was that?” Jamie demanded.
“I’m sorry.”
“What do you mean, you’re sorry?” Her voice had none of that hard edge. She was in shock. Stunned. Betrayed.
I looked at her; I had to. It might be the last time I ever got the chance. I was playing a deadly game. One wrong move and one or both of us would die. She had to think I was the enemy. It was the only way now.
Making sure Jamie believed I’d betrayed her hurt like a knife twisting in my gut, but I didn’t have any other choice. I had to hurt her. She had to believe. General Surano and Queen Raya were not stupid. They would see through her in a heartbeat if she didn’t hate me with every cell, every ounce of passion and fight she had in her warrior’s body.