Page 74 of Rogue Starfighter

Through the bond, I felt Priya moving away from the fight. Fast. Terrified. Alive. The first Scythe followed me between two rotating slabs of rock. I rolled at the last second. It did not. The explosion consumed the ship behind it. Ten remained.

My sensor display failed. I flew on instinct and what little I could see outside the ship's canopy, tried to sense the debris moving around me. An enemy round tore through the cockpit wall. Air screamed out through the breach. Emergency seals deployed, too slow to stop the pressure loss.

The Gate flashed at the edge of the remaining display. One small pod approached it. Priya. The last four Scythes holding the Gate finally noticed her. They turned. Too late.

I overloaded the core. The Wraith lit the system like a homing beacon.

Priya’s pod reached the Gate. For one second, the completed bond blazed between us. Love. Fury. Fear. A promise that this was not over.

Then the Gate took her.

She was through.

I smiled and turned the Wraith back toward the fight.

14

Priya, Command Center, Moon Base Arturri

I came through the Gate cursing. Velerion command caught the escape capsule, downloaded the data, and two dolts tried to carry me to medical. Not happening.

“Put me down.”

The two medics holding my arms kept moving.

“Starfighter Anand, you have bruised ribs, low blood oxygen, and signs of extreme⁠—”

“My mate is on the other side of that Gate. Put me down. Now! Right fucking now!”

They did when General Aryk ordered them to. I hit the deck on unsteady legs and followed him into the command center. General Jennix was already there, surrounded by tactical officers and three-dimensional displays of the intelligence Vesh and I had nearly died to bring home. Queen Raya's new gigantic ship filled the main screen. I didn’t care.

“Find him,” I said. "Where's the Wraith?"

Aryk turned. “The Wraith's transponder stopped transmitting after the escape pod cleared the gate. We don't know where he is.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s dead. The Wraith is designed to disappear.”

“The last sensor record shows twelve Scythes converging on his position.”

“Ten. He killed two.” I'd watched him do it, loved him and wanted to kill him at the same time. "He killed two. He's not dead."

Everyone in the room looked at me.

“I can feel him through the bond,” I said. "He is not dead. He's out there. Still fighting."

General Jennix came closer. “Can you feel him now?”

I pressed two fingers to the mark at the back of my neck. Warm. Faint, but there. Vesh. “Yes. He’s alive.”

“The bond remains active after death for a short time,” a medical officer said behind me.

I turned on him. “Not helping.” Asshole.

He wisely stopped talking. Aryk pulled up the pod’s final recording. The Wraith vanished into the debris field with eight interceptors behind her. Four more broke from the Gate when Vesh overloaded the core. Then the pod crossed and the image ended.

“No confirmed explosion?” I asked.

“No,” Aryk agreed.