I grinned. I couldn’t stop myself. “You did.”
“I’ll have your head this time, Pilot,” he snapped. The veins in his temples pulsed.
The fucker wasn’t just a nemesis who wanted to see me kept down, but now he was following me around? Haunting me like a ghost? He was old enough to be my father and had the attitude and personality of a Velerion jungle rat. He hated me.
The feeling was mutual. He was known for harassing lower-ranking staff, especially females. I had hacked the system to transfer one of his favorite targets to serve under a different leader. I’d denied him his fun and games, his torment of someone weaker and vulnerable.
He’d suspected what I’d done, but I never shared the video with him. He had no proof. Sure, I’d just admitted it, but again, no real proof. The silent standoff had lasted for more than a year until he’d refused to give me clearance to enter Starfighter training. That was why I’d hacked into the system and given it to myself. I’d taken my career into my own hands because I knew he’d never let me out from under this thumb. I knew too much but probably not everything. I was a threat to his career.
And now I outranked him.
He was not happy. I’d pulled off the ultimate deception right under his nose. I’d gone around the one and only blockade he’d erected that had kept me from becoming a Starfighter. He knew, but he couldn’t prove anything. Again.
“Are you threatening a superior officer?” I asked.
“I’ll speak to the general about this.” Sponder’s hair was gray. His face was lined. His eyes were almost black and void of any kind of compassion or warmth. I had to wonder if he wasn’t part cyborg with the lack of emotion and empathy he routinely displayed.
“I believe my rank is now Starfighter MCS,” I replied, my voice deepening. He wasn’t going to temper my happiness. Mia had remained silent through all this, and he was wasting my time and ruining her arrival.
I squeezed Mia’s hand and moved to skirt around him, but he held up his hand in front of my chest. I bristled because of my pair bond. He could fuck with me all he wanted, but he wouldn’t even look at Mia.
“You were not approved for the training program.”
I stood beside him, but we faced opposite directions. “Yes. I was.”
“No, you certainly were not.”
It seemed we were going to argue in circles.
I turned to face him, tucking Mia behind me. I hadn’t realized how pointed his nose was. “Because you made sure of it.”
He tipped his head. “That’s right. The Starfighter program doesn’t need anyone like you.”
I smiled then, in victory. “Actually they do.”
“I will write you up for interfering with the training protocols and deny your transfer to the Starfighter program.”
“You may file a complaint with General Jennix, Captain, if you feel you have been wronged by a higher-ranking officer. If you will excuse me, I have my pair bond to orient to our new home.”
Sponder leaned to look around me, as if he hadn’t even noticed Mia was with me before. He lowered his hand and practically snarled his response. “You are not my superior, Pilot. I’ll see to that. And this female, wherever you found her, can go back under whatever rock you two crawled from.”
“Are you threatening her?” I growled. He was gravely mistaken if he intended to interfere. Nothing would stop me from claiming what I’d worked so hard to achieve. Not with Mia’s life on the line as well. Her future. Her career. When it had only been my future at stake, I had put up with his bullshit, worked my way around him. But Mia was expecting me to be there for her, fighting beside her.
Mia would need me. To pilot the Phantom, to have her back, to help her hack into Dark Fleet networks, to keep her safe and happy and thoroughly pleasured. She’d matched herself to me, chosen me through the complex questionnaire program that ultimately united us as a connected, highly specialized fighting team. We were a bonded fighting pair. We had completed every mission in the Starfighter Training Academy. Together.
I admired her, had fought beside her for months, and, if I were being brutally honest, I’d already fallen in love with her. Her determination. Her brilliant mind. Her sassy mouth.
She was beside me now, and nothing would break us apart. Not only did Velerion law prevent anything from severing a pair bond, but I would see to it that nothing separated us.
A communications tech approached. He saluted Mia first, then me, then tipped his head to Sponder almost as an afterthought. “Starfighter MCS. Welcome aboard. We’ve been expecting you.”
I glanced at Mia, who looked a little overwhelmed but happy. I was pleased by his words. Starfighter MCS. Yeah, that sounded perfect.
“His rank is lieutenant, and he is nothing more than a shuttle pilot,” Sponder snapped at the tech, whose spine stiffened. That was how the asshole had always expected me to respond to him, but I’d always refused. I didn’t kowtow to assholes like him.
The tech looked between the three of us, unsure. Then he stiffened to attention as a tall woman approached. “General Jennix,” the tech said. “This is our new Starfighter MCS bonded pair. Kassius Remeas of Velerion and Mia Becker of Earth.”
The general smiled and practically rubbed her hands together in subdued glee. “Welcome aboard, Starfighters. I am General Jennix, and you have been placed under my command. You answer directly to me and only to me.” She emphasized the last as she stared down Captain Sponder.