4
Starfighter MCS Kassius Remeas, Battleship Resolution, Landing Bay
I setthe speed of the shuttle to its maximum and was in the Resolution’s landing bay within minutes of coming through the jump gate and back into the Vega System. I was home. Even better, Mia sat next to me, where she would be from now on, her face calmer than I expected as she took in the stars, the planet below us, and the giant battleship we would call home. Autopiloting features kicked in and pulled us inside before settling our small shuttle into one of the specialty berths.
“Welcome to the Resolution, Starfighters.”
Mia gasped at the greeting that filled the cockpit and I grinned. “Thank you, Resolution. Please notify General Jennix of our arrival.”
“Already done, sir.”
A battleship comms officer had just called me sir. I grinned. Yes. I could get used to that.
Mia was rubbing her head again, and I wanted to pull her into my arms and take her pain away. “How are you? I can delay if you need more time to adjust to the cipher implant.” I’d shared the details of the implant injection and the side effects and offered her a sedative so she could sleep through the worst of it. She had, of course, declined.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse. And I don’t want to miss anything.”
“Of course not.” Not my Mia. She wanted to see everything. Analyze our surroundings. Take in every detail. Already her gaze scanned what little was visible of the BattleshipResolution’s landing bay. She turned her head to look outside of the shuttle, and I barely resisted the urge to stroke the soft skin of her neck. Again.
The dark swirling mark below her ear made me want to strut around with this beautiful, talented female and show her off. Let everyone see the marks on her neck and mine, the marks of a pair-bonded Starfighter team. But the cipher implant was busy working on Mia’s neural network, the cipher’s microelectric nanites connecting with her human nervous system to make sure she could understand everything she saw and heard out here in space. Once fully integrated, they would help her see more clearly, increase her reaction times, and help her integrate with Velerion ships’ systems at maximum efficiency.
Didn’t mean the damn implants were without issues. The dagger-to-the-skull levels of pain as they duplicated, then merged with the host’s neurons was not pleasant. And the deep lines of pain around Mia’s eyes and mouth had not lessened much during our trip back to the Vega System.
“Are you sure, Mia? I’m sorry for implanting it, but there was no choice. I can take you to medical. I can also offer you something for the pain.”
“No. Kass, I’m fine.”
No, she was not. But she was a fully trained Starfighter MCS. Deadly. Sexy. And mine. If she said she was all right, I would honor her wishes. And watch over her whether she liked the attention or not. I inspected Mia in her Starfighter MCS uniform and allowed the sense of pride, contentment, and lust to wash over me. She was mine. She was magnificent. And she was really here. After packing a few of her things, inspecting the small but comfortable place she lived, giving her pleasure until we both passed out from exhaustion, then a few hours of rest, I’d escorted her to my ship. When I’d arrived on Earth, I landed my shuttle while the humans were sleeping, using the autopilot feature to park my vessel at the bottom of the city’s large river once I’d disembarked. Even without the water, my ship would have remained hidden from Earth’s sensors by advanced stealth technology.
To return, I’d walked her to the river’s edge in the dead of night and summoned the shuttle. Watching her face as the ship appeared out of thin air had been the most fun I’d had in years. I’d felt like a little boy showing off a new favorite toy.
There was no question then of Mia wondering if it was only a game.
Several hours of flying, one trip through the jump gate, and we had arrived.
“We’re home, Mia. Welcome to Velerion. Well, to the Velerion Battleship Resolution, currently under the command of General Jennix.”
“Holy shit.” Mia stood and followed as I led the way to the shuttle’s hatch. She glanced around before stepping out onto the ramp. “This is Battlestar Galactica, next-level, Star Wars insane.” She reached out and ran her fingers through my hair, which was quickly becoming one of my favorite things in life. “Do you guys have the Force?”
“What is the force?”
She was smiling wider than I’d ever seen. “You know, mind control and telekinesis and knowing things about the future, or sensing when someone you care about is in trouble. Telepathy, I guess.”
Interesting. “No. Do humans have these powers?”
She shook her head. “Only in movies.” She placed her palm over the mark on her neck and winked at me. “So far, anyway. We’ll see what these crazy implants do to us.”
She had a point. She was the second human to have received them. Our scientists assured us they were safe for all species, but that didn’t mean they had a clue what the cipher technology would do to humans.
When I walked down the shuttle’s back ramp, Mia’s hand in mine, there—fuck—stood Captain Sponder, blocking our way.
“Captain.” I shifted Mia behind me, putting my bulk between Sponder and my bonded one. I waited for the verbal explosion I knew was coming. Sponder wasn’t supposed to be here. He was normally on the surface of Velerion, inside Eos Station, strutting around like he owned the place. Why was he on the battleship?
“Shuttle Pilot, what the hell is this bullshit that you’ve been pair bonded and promoted to Starfighter MCS? You were never approved for the training program.”
“Actually I was,” I countered. Mia was proof of that.
“Who approved your training?”