16
Alexius, Velerion Moon Arturri, Starfighter Base
I’d wantedto get Jamie to our quarters and naked the second we landed the Valor. I helped her down from the cockpit and ensured Trax and Nave unfolded themselves from the back cargo area before being stalled by General Aryk. While everyone else was clapping and cheering our return, he didn’t look amused.
I could understand why. I’d come to Arturri when Jamie had completed the training program, only a day before I went to Earth to retrieve her. I hadn’t been under his direct command before Jamie’s arrival so he had no idea I’d been on Syrax. Been undercover. Been trying to root out the traitor.
He’d learned it quick enough when we’d been intercepted behind the hex port. Probably watched on the nav grid’s array as we’d been surrounded and taken to Syrax. If they’d overheard the comms, that I’d given Jamie to Queen Raya as a gift. I had no doubt he’d thought I was the traitor.
Thank Vega that hadn’t been true. One of his own ruining the entire Starfighter Training Program by handing over the first graduate to the enemy? The idea sickened me as well. That feeling was what drove me all those months on Syrax. What had driven Nave and Trax as well.
Nave and Trax saluted the general, and I pulled Jamie into my side. I couldn’t resist. It might not be protocol when facing a commanding officer, but he’d have to deal. This time.
“What the fuck is going on here?” His voice echoed through the cavernous flight deck. His hard gaze was pinned on me. I didn’t cower. I didn’t even blink. He was deserving in his tirade, but it only meant we’d done well. “Syrax? I can’t decide if you’re the fucking traitor or if you’re just really good at a job I didn’t even know you had.”
Smiles fell from the welcoming faces surrounding us. A few weapons were raised, waiting for an order.
“We escaped Syrax,” Jamie clarified.
“You were captured by Queen Raya,” he countered, running a hand over the back of his neck. “So was the Valor. An Elite Starfighter and her ship… in enemy hands.”
Jamie gave a slight shrug. “Technically Alex gave me to her. A gift.”
It was possible the general growled. “Are you the fucking traitor? The one who blew up the base and killed all those Starfighters… your own brother among them?”
Exactly how sick and twisted did the general think I was?
“I am not the traitor. Before Starfighter Jamie’s arrival, I was working with the STS. We were caught in an ambush, General. I did what I had to do to save Jamie’s life. Fortunately the queen herself gave me the traitor’s identity.”
The general’s eyes flared wide. It was possible I’d actually surprised him. Gasps and whispers surrounded us. This was big news. The biggest in all of Velerion for over a year, since the initial attack. Everyone wanted to know who had sold out our own people. Military and civilian. “My office. Now!”
He turned on his heel and stalked off, expecting us to follow. He stopped, turned around. “Any of you dying?”
I frowned as he looked the four of us over. We shook our heads.
“Good. Medical after the debrief.”
He turned back and kept going.
Nave and Trax gave me looks, then fell in behind him. He was a caring leader. Angry in the moment, but a good man. Honorable.
I glanced down at Jamie and stopped. “You are well?” I asked, wanting to ensure I hadn’t missed any kind of injury in our hasty escape… or from before, when she was a prisoner. She was my priority, not General Aryk’s mood. If she needed to go to medical for more than just dying, then she would.
“I’m fine,” she replied.
I stepped back, looked her over from head to toe, then leaned in to murmur in her ear. “I will do a thorough check of your body. Later.”
I felt her shiver and watched her cheeks flush.
Taking her hand, I led her to the general’s office. The door slid silently shut behind us. Nave and Trax were already seated across from General Aryk, who was pacing, his own desk chair ignored.
Trax stood, offered his seat to Jamie. She took his spot, and I settled behind her, my hand resting on her shoulder. Trax moved to lean against the wall.
The general stilled, stood with his feet wide, hands behind his back. He looked to Nave and Trax, took in their Dark Fleet uniforms. “Identify yourselves.”
They did.
“Computer, confirm,” the general said and waited for the screen on the wall to pull up their images and stats.