Ignite by Tana Stone

Chapter Five

Kalex

By the time I reached the crew holodecks, I was breathing normally again and no longer grinding my teeth together in frustration. Still, my expression must have been stormy, because Vekron shook his head when he saw me stalking down the corridor.

He stood at one of the holodeck wiring panels, the insides of the contraption spilling out as he worked on it, his long hair pulled up into a topknot. “I take it your discussion with Zoey didn’t go well?”

I blew out a breath in an attempt to release any latent frustration. “She’s going to make her additions, but I didn’t give her any additional time.”

“Sounds fun,” Vekron said, turning his attention back to the wiring. “I guess I should expect some long nights coming my way.”

I blinked at him for a moment, before realizing that adding work to holo creation meant more work for him. “Sorry, but we can’t afford to lose any more time.”

“I get it. You aren’t the only one who’s anxious to get back to our Inferno Force ship.”

I scraped a hand through my hair. “Is it that obvious?”

“Only to anyone with eyes to see you impatiently stalking the construction workers, or ears to hear you scold any of us for falling behind.”

I rubbed a hand over my forehead. So much for keeping a cool and collected demeanor as captain. According to Vekron, I was a tyrant with no patience. At the moment, it didn’t sound like such a stretch, even to me.

“I was tasked with getting this station operational by the time the tribute brides arrived. If I allowed Zoey and Serge to have their way, they’d redesign the entire place every time someone had a new idea.”

Vekron leaned one hand against the shiny, white walls. “I’ll admit that we’ve got a lot of opinions going on. As Inferno Force, we aren’t used to so much dissent. The captain gives the orders, and we obey as a disciplined unit.”

“Exactly,” I said, pacing a slow circle as I thought about how close we were to the station being done. “But that’s not what’s happening here. My orders are challenged and sometimes openly flouted.”

“We aren’t dealing with Inferno Force. Your team is a collection of women, aliens, and a partly human construction crew. There’s bound to be friction, if you try to run this like an Inferno Force ship.”

I stopped pacing and looked at him. “You think I’m at fault?”

Vekron considered his words before speaking. “I think your expectations are betraying you.”

I snorted. “That’s a nice way of saying I’m being rigid and demanding.” I shook my head. “I never should have accepted this post.”

“Acting captain is a big step up, Kalex, and one that you deserved. You’ve been Captain Brok’s first officer for long enough that you could easily lead your own Inferno Force crew.”

“But this isn’t that. I miss the hunt and the thrill of battle.”

“From what I hear, our old crew isn’t getting much of either, right now.”

“Still no sign of the Kronock?” This worried me. Our enemy had gone quiet before, and they’d come back stronger than ever and had almost destroyed our original space station and invaded Earth. Quiet was never better when it came to the Kronock.

Vekron shook his head. “Nothing. So don’t be jealous of them. We’d be cooling our heels, even if we were on our old ship. At least here, we’re doing something productive.”

“Building a space station to indulge human women?”

My friend raised an eyebrow at me. “And the Drexians they take as mates. Are you not a fan of the tribute bride program?”

I bristled at this. I knew as well as anyone that human females were the answer to our species’ survival, but I also couldn’t help thinking that all our emphasis on mating and pleasing the humans was making us soft. It was certainly a distraction. Every Drexian I knew was eagerly awaiting their own match, since there were now willing volunteers and no more interminable waits. If we weren’t careful, every Drexian warrior would be so busy with their new brides that the Kronock would be able to waltz through our defenses.

“I appreciate the necessity of it,” I said. “I just wish The Reveal hadn’t changed things so quickly.”

“You’d rather be on a waiting list for a mate until your balls withered away?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “My balls have never been in any danger of withering away.”

“Pleasure planets? Don’t you tire of them?”

I didn’t tell my friend that I viewed the pleasurers in much the same way as I viewed Inferno Force. Both provided me the excitement and intensity that I craved. I couldn’t imagine one of the small humans being any type of match for my sexual desires.

I didn’t answer Vekron. Instead, I pinned him with my gaze. “I take it your name is on the list?”

His eyes returned to his work. “Not yet. I’m waiting until my next tour is up.”

I released a sigh. “At least that’s two of us who aren’t pining away for a bride.”

“Don’t dismiss it so quickly,” he said with a chuckle. “Commander Dorn seems happy, and there’s never been anyone as committed to Inferno Force and battle as him.”

I nodded. I hadn’t served under the commander when he’d been in Inferno Force, but his victories against the Kronock were legendary. “Weren’t there rumors that he and his tribute bride didn’t get along at first?”

“More than rumors. According to Serge, they despised each other. She almost killed him once.”

“A human female almost killed an Inferno Force warrior?” I asked, my voice dripping with disbelief.

“She pushed him into a holographic ocean, and he almost drowned.” Vekron grinned as he told the story. “Then she jumped in after him naked and dragged him out.”

“Those don’t sound like the actions of a weakling human.”

Vekron dropped the wires he was holding. “What made you think humans are weak? Their smaller stature?”

I shrugged. “We’ve protected them for so long it’s hard not to think there’s a reason they need protecting.”

“We served alongside Captain Brok’s mate. She’s no weakling.”

“Maddie?” I thought back to the woman we’d rescued from an alien planet, but not before she’d saved our captain and fallen for him. “She’s different.”

“How so?”

I couldn’t tell Vekron that the human was different because she was like me—a thrill-seeker who’d been chasing danger so she’d feel alive. It was a secret she’d shared with me once, when I’d complained about a slow mission. She’d survived an accident when she was younger, and I’d survived a deadly illness, leaving both of us with the unquenchable need to chase danger—and prove we were tough enough to survive anything.

It was why Maddie had ended up battling her way off an alien planet and why I’d risen so quickly in the ranks of Inferno Force. Neither one of us backed down from danger, or could give up the thrill of it. But there were few females like her—and even fewer who were humans.

I twitched up one shoulder. “She was willing to give up a fantasy suite and life on one of these stations to be with Brok on a dingy, Inferno Force battleship.”

Vekron thumped a hand on my arm. “Love makes you do crazy things.”

I frowned at him. Love was the last thing on my mind, and the last thing I needed to distract me from getting back to the fight. I hadn’t put my name in for a tribute bride for a reason. Now all I needed to do was power through until the station was finished, and I could return to a world that made sense to me. My momentary fascination with Zoey was a fantasy that I had no intention of indulging.

“One more reason to avoid it like the Neerian plague.”

“Neerian plague?” Jaxon, one of our fighter pilots—and another Inferno Force transplant—shuddered as he walked toward us. He wore his black Drexian flight suit, his dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail, and insisted his friends call him Jax. “Don’t tell me someone on board has it?”

“No,” Vekron said. “Kalex, here, was comparing it to love.”

Jax barked out a laugh, throwing his head back. “Sounds about right, but why are a bunch of Inferno Force warriors talking about love? We used to talk about how many alien females we could bed at the same time, and how many Kronock we’d killed.”

“That sounds better than discussing tribute brides,” I said.

“Agreed.” Jax’s expression darkened for a beat, reminding me that he was one of the few Drexians who was also not enthused about human females.

I shot Vekron a look before turning my attention to the pilot. “Everything looking okay out there?”

“No sign of the enemy.” He pretended to snore, slumping his head to one side.

Vekron shook his head, but I laughed. “As much as I despise the Kronock and am glad we repelled them, a part of me would love just one small attack.”

“Sounds like you need to get off the ship and clear your head.” Jax tossed me a metal ear cuff. “How about joining me for a fly-about?”

I hooked the cuff on my ear, glad for another way to get some distance between myself and the space station. And the astro-architect who was driving me to madness. “All right, Jax. Let’s go.”