The pilot did so, and sure enough, Dorian’s voice answered the call. I didn’t bother with formalities. The emotions bombarding me told me too much already.
“Where is she, Dorian? What’s wrong?”
Dorian quickly recapped the mission, the argument between our mate and Commander Bruvan, Bruvan’s decision to blow up one of the hubs of the net, and the fact that my mate was, at this very moment, strapped to an Atlan and floating in space on the other side of that net with no way back but the fuel canisters strapped to her back.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. How could you let her go?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. He’d had no choice. Neither of us did. She was a commander. A warrior. We either loved her the way she was, or we walked away.
And that was not happening.
“Forget that, Dorian. I know you had no choice.”
Dorian’s chuckle was reassuring, but held no mirth. “You’re right about that. Just like you have to go save Izak and everyone else on that shuttle and leave Chloe to me.”
I wanted to leave Bruvan to rot, but that wasn’t an option either. And Izak was a damn fine pilot. A good warrior. I had to go. “Damn it. I want constant reports, Dorian.”
He understood. I knew he did, because the concern for our mate flooded both of us at the moment. And immediately after that emotional tidal wave passed, both of us hardened our resolve. Duty. We would do what we had to. For Chloe. For everyone. We were soldiers and we had a job to do.
“You know what I know, Seth. After you connect to the other shuttle, you might want to keep your ReCon team close for a couple extra minutes. In case we have to go after her.”
“Copy that.” The pilot closed the comm and I turned to my team. “Let’s go save the asshole who put my mate’s life in danger.”
Trinity grinned at me. “You thinking it’s time for another demotion, Captain?” She referred to the last time I’d had a problem with another ReCon captain’s orders. That jerk from Earth had cost me two men and wrecked my ship, all because he refused to break off pursuit of a Hive Scout vessel. And that after we’d just saved his ass from an Integration team. He’d been hours away from being one of the Hive himself.
I understood his rage at the time. But when he took command of my ship and got us all into a battle we couldn’t win? Well, my fist found his nose when we made it back alive. After that punch, I’d been a lieutenant for about three months. But his nose was still crooked and he couldn’t look me in the eye.
Totally worth it.
“Absolutely.” I grinned back.
Chloe
* * *
Space was cold. That was my main thought as Angh and I drifted closer and closer to the buzzing network of explosives trapping our people for the Hive attack. Not just cold, bone numbing, silent cold. Like you were lost. Nowhere. Utterly and completely alone.
Even as the thought crossed my mind, Dorian’s resolve flooded me through the collar and I knew I wasn’t really alone and never would be again. I had my mates now. They were connected to me. They were mine. And if I ever wanted to see them again, feel their touch, kiss them…well, I had to live. Which meant I had to stop the freak-out and focus on what I was doing.
Angh tugged on the line connecting us until we faced each other and he wrapped his arms around me. “We have to be small.”
“I understand.” I wrapped my arms around his waist, or as much of it as I could, and held on. It wasn’t intimate in the traditional sense, not with enough armor and explosives between us to blow up a small moon, but it was intimate in another way.
We could both hear the mother calling, the nexus of the net, that thing which was connected to the Hive mind. We were, in a way, one with the Hive. And in that, we understood each other, too.
“We’re close to the net. Don’t move,” Angh instructed as he used his fuel pods to navigate us through the space between two Hive mines. It hummed around us as we drifted by, crackling with energy like the sparks of static I used to get when I forgot fabric softener and had to pull my fuzzy sweaters out of the dryer.
Except I knew it wasn’t static cling, and if it zapped us, we’d be dead.
The gap between Hive mines was almost like floating through a short tunnel. Soon, we emerged on the other side, the hum of the net much quieter, but the pull of the master control hub loud. Too loud. It was everywhere. And nowhere.
Angh released me when we were clear and we drifted, side by side, both of us scanning the area, looking for our target.
“I don’t see anything. Do you?” I asked.
“No, but I can feel it.”
“Me too.” Our communication seemed to be disabled on this side of the net. I could no longer hear any chatter between Dorian and the other ships. It was just me and the beast. “Let’s keep drifting for a few minutes. Try to listen.”
His grunt of agreement was enough and we floated farther away from the shuttle, from the net, from the battle taking place behind us. The wall of Hive mines seemed to mute it all. I could see flashes of light, explosions and ion blasters firing, but it was all behind a haze.