“Aw man! Magi’s getting sappy and I’m not there to see his face. This is not fair, Rossi,” Dante grumbled.
“I love you too, my friend. I’ll come give you a big squishy hug later,” Eric called, grinning.
“Smartass. Hang on, we’re about to make contact. This is going to get a little…Fraxx! Brace-Brace-Brace!”
Eric barely had time to register Dante’s warning before the ship lurched and an ear-piercing screech of twisting metal tore through the air.
“Sonofabitch used their thrusters to swing into us at the last minute!”
“Damage report!” Dax demanded.
Eric scanned the readout. “Extensive external damage. One breach in sector two-dash-eight, directly below us. Repair droids deployed, automated systems responding.”
“It was a glancing blow. I managed to rotate the ship enough to avoid a direct hit. Sneaky vething bastards. Be careful in there. This isn’t going to be like the last mission.”
Dax looked grim. “You heard the man. Don’t get cocky.”
“Cocky gets you dead,” they recited in unison. It was an old IAF expression taught to every soldier during basic training.
Eric looked at Nyx in surprise. She’d recited it along with the others. “Where’d you learn that?”
She tapped her temple. “The corporations didn’t have time to send their war toys to basic training, so they implanted what we needed to know. I guess that was part of the programming I received.”
“You did basic training while you were asleep?” Cris sounded envious. “Damn, and I had to do it the hard way.”
There wasn’t time for anyone to respond to Cris’ comment before they linked to the other ship and started the boarding sequence. This time, they stayed well clear of the door as the bulkhead fell.
“Two life signs taking position twenty meters away from our entry point and more on the way,” Dante warned.
Cris slapped a button on the panel, and a temporary shield shimmered into existence over the doorway just in time to absorb the incoming barrage of blaster bolts fired at them. The energy bolts sizzled against the shield while Trinity and Aria took up positions on either side of the door. They took their time lining up their shots through the blaze of incoming fire, but they both dropped their targets on the first shot.
The shield dropped, and they stormed onto the Enigma, everyone peeling off in pairs and heading off to their assigned tasks. Eric palmed the data stick he’d liberated from his stash of ‘not-exactly-legal’ tech onboard the Malora and looked for the nearest data node or access panel. This was the part of the plan Nyx hadn’t known about. The data stick was full of copies of his digital sprites, programmed to self-replicate, spread out, copy whatever data they could, and return to the ship’s system as soon as their task was done. He was going to break a string of laws and protocols, but it was the only way they could be sure they got what they needed to win the battle against the Grays.
He sprinted down a hallway, trusting Nyx to deal with anyone who tried to stop them. Blaster fire streaked past him, and an automated gun exploded into sparks and shrapnel before he made it halfway to his goal. “Nice shot!”
“You’re insane!” She called back. “Next time, give me a second to clear the area before you start running.”
“I knew you had my back.”
She caught up a few strides before he reached the console he’d spotted earlier. “How long will it take you to get what you need?”
“Not long.” He placed a hand on the console, turned, and leaned in to steal a kiss. He’d intended it to be brief, but when she opened her mouth and wrapped her arm around his waist, he forgot about everything else for a few perfect, blissful moments. He breathed in the scent of her, memorizing the soft play of her lips as they moved under his.
They broke away from each other at the same moment, both of them breathing harder than they had been a few seconds before. “Hold that thought. And for the record, you are fraxxing sexy in combat gear. See you soon, starshine.”
This was the part of the plan Dax hadn’t liked. Eric needed to jack into the system briefly to shut down the automated defenses and make sure there were no surprises waiting for them. It would also give them a good shot at locating Absalom and Nyx’s clone, but it came with risks. While he was jacked-in, he was vulnerable. Eric trusted Nyx not to go after Absalom alone, leaving him unguarded, but Dax had reservations. In the end, he’d let Eric make the call.
She set her hand on his shoulder. “Do it.”
He plugged in and crossed into another world. He had a job to do, and the sooner he got it done, the sooner he and Nyx could move on to their next objective – payback.
For Nyx, every second he was gone felt like an eternity. Part of her was screaming that she could leave him here and go after Absalom alone. He’d be safe enough, and every second she waited her quarry was getting further away. But he trusted her to watch his back, and she would not betray that trust.
She tightened her hand on his shoulder as she scanned for any sign of danger. He was so still it was eerie, his body emptied of all animation so it was like holding onto a mannequin. She missed his smile, his laugh, the way his mouth ticked up at one corner when he was amused. He had more life and energy than anyone else she’d met, and it didn’t feel right to see him like this, silent and still.
Without thinking, she brushed a kiss to his ear and whispered, “Come back to me, lover.”
He shivered, inhaled sharply and straightened up. Without a word he turned and kissed her, pressing her up against the wall of the corridor with a suddenness that took her breath away.
“What was that for?” she asked when he finally raised his head again.
“Staying with me, lover,” he stressed the last word, and she realized he must have heard her calling to him.
An unfamiliar heat warmed her cheeks and her throat tightened a little, but there wasn’t time for that now. They needed to go. “Did you find him?”
“You were right. Shuttle bay one. Main level.” He relayed that information to the others over their comms.
“Moving the Malora to that side of the station,” Dante reported, and cursed a few seconds later. “Fraxx. There’s a shuttle breaking away on the far side. Which one do I focus on, Commander?”
“Absalom is our main target. Stay on your current course. You got missile lock?”
“Already firing, sir, but the shuttle is evading. Dammit, the Enigma is blocking my direct line of sight so I can’t use the cannons.”
Nyx pushed thoughts of the other shuttle out of her head. They didn’t matter. Only Absalom did, and he was in shuttle bay one, which was on the same level they were. She had memorized the ship’s layout and knew exactly where to go. She was going to get her shot. A thought occurred to her and she took Eric’s hand, pulling his attention back to her.
“If something happens to me, promise me you’ll finish this.”
Eric shook his head sharply. “Nothing is going to happen to you.”
“Promise me!” She’d always expected to do this alone, but now she realized this was better. No matter what happened to her, the team would see justice done. It wouldn’t be as satisfying as the revenge she had planned, but it would be enough. If she didn’t die in vain, it would be enough.