I glanced around. “Electronic controls?”
He smiled. Pointed to the wall. “The system is state-of-the-art for a battleship. The monitors connect directly to the ship’s central command station. You’ll be monitored from there.”
This kid was cool. A tech geek like me.
“Before you go, think you can get me something to eat? I don’t want to be forgotten because of the mission.”
“Sure.”
He disappeared for a few minutes and then came back with a tray filled with standard food rations. It wasn’t fancy, but it would do. He opened the small access door in the bars and passed me the tray.
“Thanks. Good luck with the mission.”
“Fuck Queen Raya,” he said before turning on his heel and leaving me behind.
Under the electronic controls of the system.
I ate as quickly as possible—because I was hungry and would need sustenance when I flew with Mia—and then set the tray on the bed. I picked up the knife. It was dull and probably wouldn’t even pierce someone’s skin, but it would work. The walls and ceiling were a smooth white. The floor had a glossy dark finish that matched the rest of the battleship.
There would be a control panel under one of these floor tiles that activated the locks on my prison cell’s bars. That activated and controlled everything in this area. I needed to find it and hack into the locks to get the hell out of here and back to Mia.
I’d hacked the Starfighter Training Academy. I could hack this.
Almost an hour later, I did. The cell door opened, and I took off at a run. I had to hope I’d get to the docking bay in time to meet Mia before she took off.
Fortunately the entire battleship was in launch prep mode. I wasn’t the only one running. When I got to the docking bay, I slowed. None of the ships had left yet. But the mechs were either walking away from their craft or doing the final steps on their checklists.
I went to the prep rooms where the flight suits were kept and grabbed mine, changed into it in record time. I activated my retractable helmet to hide my face as I jogged to the Phantom, went up the ramp.
Mia and some asshole I’d never seen before were going through flight pre-checks.
“You’re in my seat,” I said.
Mia gasped and looked over her shoulder to see me. “What the hell? Kass?”
With a simple command I retracted my helmet so that it once again rested inside the flight suit’s collar. “Pilot, I said you are in my seat.”
The pilot looked confused but ready to argue. I couldn’t blame him. I was willing to fight to sit next to the most talented, beautiful Starfighter MCS I’d ever met.
Rather than waste time arguing, I punched the pilot in the jaw, satisfied to see I hadn’t lost my touch. He slumped in the seat, unconscious.
“Kass, what the hell are you doing?”
Unbuckling his flight harness took less than a second. Once he was loose, I yanked the pilot out of the chair, walked to the edge of the ramp, and rolled him down. “Hey, Mechs!” I yelled for Arria and Vintis, who came running.
“Is there a problem?” Arria asked. “Captain Sponder was already down here with that commissioner, demanding to take a look at the ship. Said you might have done something to the system controls? Sabotaged it or something?”
“He’s an asshole, and he’s full of shit.” I pointed to the unconscious pilot. “We had an extra passenger. Get him out of here and take him to medical, would you?”
“Sure thing.” Vintis lifted the pilot over his shoulder with a grin and walked away. Once I knew we were clear, I waved to Arria, hit the button to close the ship up tight, and took my place next to my Mia.
Mia’s jaw gaped, then closed, then opened again.
I leaned over and placed a hot, lingering kiss on those speechless lips. “Miss me?”
“What do you think you are doing?” She didn’t sound like she’d missed me. She sounded angry.
I activated the launch sequence and buckled into my seat as the Phantom lifted from the floor of the launch bay. “You didn’t really believe I was going to let you go out there all alone, did you?”