Ignite by Tana Stone
Chapter Thirty-Five
Kalex
“What the grek?” Jax’s sharp-edged voice jerked me back to the reality of staring down a Kronock battleship.
I swiveled my head around to check for incoming enemy fighters or laser fire, but the skies were surprisingly quiet. Even though we weren’t near the bow of the Kronock ship, that didn’t mean we couldn’t be seen.
I glanced down at my console. The energy readings which had been off the charts moments ago had now gone back to normal, which meant the energy rift that had sucked us through space was gone.
“We found the rift,” I said to him through my comms link.
“But only us. Where is everyone else?”
I didn’t know if the Island was five light years away or five thousand, but that’s where the rest of our security patrol was.
“Why the grek didn’t we outfit these fighters with stealth shielding?” Jax asked, letting out a string of Drexian curses.
“They were only ever meant for security patrols around the station.”
“Remind me to bring this up with the captain when we get back.”
I choked out a dark laugh. “Noted.”
If we survived this and got back to the station, I was going to make sure every ship was equipped with the stealth shielding that made our ships undetectable, even the puny tow ships and trash transporters.
“For now, we’ll have to rely on evasive maneuvers and our flying skills while we figure out a way to get back through the rift or plot a jump route.” I banked my ship hard to the right but didn’t use thrusters. “Let go in close to the enemy battleship. That will at least make us harder to target.”
“Closer to the Kronock,” Jax grumbled. “Great.”
He fell in behind my ship and we both skirted along the bottom of the mammoth battleship. Luckily, the Kronock designed ships with few windows and lots of thick steel, so there was a chance we could hug their hull and not be seen. Whether they’d detect our distinctive Drexian signature was another matter.
When scores of Kronock fighters didn’t pour from the battleship to attack us, I let out a cautious sigh of relief. “We need to gather as much data about where we are as possible. We can’t plot a jump route back to the battleship without knowing our location.”
“Agreed. And we need to keep an eye on our arrival coordinates in case that rift opens back up.”
“You do that, and I’ll try to scrape as much data as I can. I’m going quiet.”
Jax didn’t reply, having already gone comms silent himself. I cast a quick glance at the muddy-gray ship I was hovering under, the scale-like exterior ominous and dark.
I hated being this close to the enemy. As many times as I’d battled the Kronock, I’d never flown so close to one of their ships I could reach out and touch it. My fingers quivered at the thought of the frigid hull, and I shivered at the knowledge that beyond the metal casing were hundreds—maybe thousands—of scaly Kronock, with heavy tails and long snouts, their claws razor-sharp.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to focus on my console, and not the distinct possibility that I would die far away from my Drexian brothers and the station I commanded. And Zoey, I thought, my fear turning to regret.
As hurt as I’d been when Zoey had run away from me, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering what might have been if I’d gone after her instead of insisting on chasing battle with Jax. Would I have caught up with her and pulled her into my arms, kissing away any hesitation? Would she have picked another fight? Would we have verbally sparred until our irritation with each other had bubbled over, and we’d ended up tearing each other’s clothes off?
I grinned at the thought, my heart beating faster as I imagined her dark eyes flashing and her chin lifted in challenge. What I wouldn’t give to be facing off against her now, instead of the Kronock.
Shaking my head and attempting to rid myself of the distraction that did nothing but make me ache more, I swiped my fingers across the screen of my console. Using my universal mapping grid, I was able to pinpoint our location.
I swallowed hard as I stared at the flashing, green dot that indicated our position on the star chart. We were on the far side of Kronock space. Too far for us to traverse safely without passing by hundreds of Kronock ships and outposts, and too far for us to jump all the way back to the station in a single jump. These fighters didn’t have enough juice for multiple jumps. One jump would put us in the heart of Kronock space with not enough power to jump again—or outrun an enemy attack. We had no choice but to find a way back through the rift.
“Jax,” I reopened our secure comms channel. “We’re not jumping from here. Any progress with the energy rift?”
“So far, just a few blips. The good news is that I’ve been analyzing the data from before the rift appeared on the other side. There does seem to be a pattern.”
“So, the rift isn’t naturally occurring?”
“That I can’t tell you. The Kronock could have happened upon a wormhole and piggybacked onto it.”
“Or this rift could be a result of them attempting to alter a wormhole, which could explain its instability. That also means there’s no guarantee the rift will deposit us back at the station.”
“Maybe that’s why the Kronock appearances have been so irregular and fleeting.”
I rubbed a hand across my forehead, imagining the Kronock sending ship after ship through an unstable wormhole. The brutal creatures would have no problem losing soldiers in the attempt to destroy us.
“If my calculations are correct,” Jax said. “The energy rift should appear off the port side of the Kronock battleship within the next two minutes.”
“Right where we came through?”
“The exact spot.”
“What guarantees do we have that if we can get through the rift that it will take us back to the station?”
Jax was silent for a beat. “You’d rather stay here?”
I gave another glance at the battleship looming over me. “No. You’re right. We should make a run for it, especially since the Kronock don’t seem to have spotted us.”
“What are the chances?” Jax mused. “You’d think they’d be monitoring the rift, especially if they’re using it to send their own ships through.”
I shifted in the cockpit, an uneasy prickle slithering down my spine. My friend was right. The Kronock should have spotted us. They had sophisticated technology, even if they were brutal monsters.
“I’m not sure how long we’ll have when it opens. The duration has varied and there seems to be no pattern to that.” Jax exhaled audibly. “But we also can’t fly at the rift at full impulse. Our engines could ignite the energy field.”
“So, we have to fly toward the rift and then turn off impulse and let momentum carry us through before the rift closes?”
Another loud sigh. “Basically.”
I curled my fingers around the control yoke of the fighter, anticipating the delicate timing of what we’d be attempting. “Let’s do it.”
“Once we engage thrusters again, the Kronock could pick up on it,” Jax warned.
“Then let’s hope that our scaly friends are asleep on the job, or that I still remember some of our old Inferno Force evasive maneuvers.”
Jax chuckled. “I’ll take the first option.”
A red light flashed on my console indicating an increase in radiation. “Is this it?”
“This is it,” Jax said, engaging his own thrusters and moving away from the battleship.
I followed him, my fighter lurching forward and rushing toward the coordinates of the rift. My pulse quickened as I spotted a nearly imperceptible shimmer in space. The Island should be just on the other side.
“Disengage thrusters,” Jax called out, his fighter right beside mine as we flew toward the rift.
I reached to disengage my thrusters, but a blast from behind sent my ship careening forward, red warning lights flashing. I craned my neck behind me and saw a fleet of Kronock fighters gaining on us, laser fire erupting from them.
“They’re not asleep!” Jax yelled, rotating his ship so he could fire back.
The smell of burning metal filled the cockpit as I tried to regain control of my ship. Where had I been hit? The acrid smoke stung my eyes and made it hard to make out the readings, but I could tell by the feel of the yoke that my steering was damaged.
I glanced out the side of my cockpit. Jax was firing at the Kronock fleet and appeared not to be hit. But where was the rift, and how much longer did we have? I attempted to pivot my ship around so I could join Jax in the battle, straining against the intransigent control stick.
“I’ve lost control of my fighter,” I told him. “Go without me.”
“Inferno Force doesn’t leave brothers behind,” he reminded me, as laser fire exploded around both of our ships.
I gritted my teeth, resigned to my fate. “You have to get the data back to the station. Go!”
“The rift is closing!” Jax screamed, his face turning to watch me pass as my ship continued to fly out of control.
When my fighter finally rotated to face the approaching enemy fleet—through no action of my own—I shifted my hand to start shooting. Then my eyes caught an incoming torpedo, and I sucked in a breath. I knew it would be seconds before it reached me, and I had no way to avoid it, I closed my eyes for a beat. I wanted Zoey’s face to be the last thing I saw before I died.
Then the exploding laser fire ceased. I opened my eyes and gasped. I was back in front of the Island. Somehow, I’d made it through the rift before it closed. I let out a whoop before glancing around to celebrate with Jax, but his ship wasn’t there.
I swiveled fully in the cockpit searching for him, but his fighter was no longer by my side. I’d made it back, but he hadn’t.