They burst into the corridor as the Marines entered from a cross corridor ahead of them.

  “Suckers!” Gary chuckled. “They’ve overshot.”

  Apparently, the Marines realized it too and began to run towards them.

  “Hey, no fair!” Darren protested as they raised their weapons and opened fire.

  “Down!” Todd yelled as several dark figures dropped out of the ceiling behind the Marines. “Fuck it. Up!”

  “You can’t be serious, boss,” Gary grumbled but he found his feet and leveled his rifle. “I hate you so much.”

  He ignored him. While he’d moved his team to hug the left wall, the Marines had shifted to the right and they now both fired down the corridor—but not at each other.

  Gary lobbed a grenade over his shoulder and everyone cursed. Todd glanced at the purple light sparkling around the spinning ball.

  “You need to put your dog on a leash!” the Marine sergeant shouted as a second grenade spun out from the rear of her squad.

  “You, too,” Todd yelled, caught her by the arm, and dragged her into the corridor leading to the bridge. “Fuck!”

  “I got it, boss,” Darren shouted and another purple and blue device streaked past him.

  “I ought to put you all in a cage and lock it where the sun don’t shine!” the other Marine yelled.

  “I’ll help you,” Todd promised as it landed between the two mini-guns that were rapidly coming to life.

  He glanced down the corridor to calculate whether or not it was worth trying to flee into it and wondered if the Teloran warriors were magical—or if their weapons were. He couldn’t for the life of him remember.

  The grenade detonated as he tried to make a decision and the sergeant dragged him to the floor. Behind him Gary, Henry, Darren, and three Marines mimicked the movement.

  The mini-guns died but the charge was confined to the door. Todd registered the problem as the first Meligornian grenade exploded. He glanced at the ceiling and fired into it, shattered the panel above them, and revealed the walk space he had hoped for.

  “Up!” he ordered. “Go, go, go!”

  Lacing his fingers together, he caught Gary’s eye. “You first.”

  The little man didn’t argue but stepped into his hand and leapt toward the gap. He tossed Henry and Darren next, then jumped and stretched to reach their extended hands. The Marines copied his movements and he was surprised when one stopped and gave him the boost he needed to get over the edge.

  “It’s a war, sir,” the man told him, “not a fucking competition.”

  Todd agreed wholeheartedly but he hadn’t expected anyone else to understand.

  Together, they followed the same path to the bridge as he and the team had taken into the Dreth pirate’s command center. This time, he made sure to drop near where he expected the self-destruct to be. After all, the Dreth had to get the idea from somewhere.

  The Marine commander didn’t follow him but chose another section to drop through. He wondered what she knew about Teloran command decks that he didn’t but refused to second-guess himself.

  They were both wrong.

  He landed next to a Teloran fighter instead of the self-destruct, switched his blaster to his left hand, and fired. With his right, he drew the vibro-blade and lashed out with it to open the Teloran’s armor in a single savage sweep.

  In search of the next warrior as well as the self-destruct, he turned to scan the command deck itself. Across from him, the Marine captain also looked around and she located it in the same moment that he did. While their teams wreaked havoc on the Teloran crew, both sergeants lurched toward the button.

  The Teloran mage arrived as they reached it. Todd jammed his blade through the column as his counterpart unloaded a blaster clip into it. “Self-destruct this!” the woman told it.

  Power crackled and sudden rage rolled through him. The other sergeant glared.

  “Oh, hell,” he muttered and pivoted as the Teloran mage stalked through a door at the back of the center. “We are so very fucked.”

  This time, he was the one who threw the Meligornian grenade—and again, he wasn’t alone.

  He and the Marine sergeant laughed fit to bust as they arrived in the white room.

  “The kids will kill us,” she managed to say.

  “Not when they see the party the Knight’s throwing.”

  “That was meant to be for the winner,” the Knight informed them primly as their teams materialized in the white room around them. “I rule there was no winner.”

  Todd’s jaw dropped and his expression of disbelief was mirrored by his counterpart.

  “I beg to differ,” he shouted. “We completed the mission.”

  The sergeant voiced her disbelief as well but the Knight responded, “This is true. Both your teams completed the assignments to obtain the data and rescue the hostages. Those parts of the scenario were completed, although with more collusion between competitors than I’d like.”

  Ka snorted. “It was either collude or fail.” She glanced at the corporal who stood opposite her. “I don’t do fail.”

  Seeing the way she regarded her counterpart, Todd suppressed the thought that she might not do fail but definitely contemplated other things. He cleared his throat.

  “Jimmy, is this true?”

  “They were pinned down,” the Scotsman protested. “What were we supposed to do? There were lives at stake.”

  Todd exchanged a glance with the Marine sergeant. “It looks like some of us forgot we were meant to be competing.”

  The woman shrugged. “Like your man says, there were lives at stake. Those are the kind of people I want on my ship. The ones who put aside everything to get folks out of a bad place regardless of what personal objectives are at stake.”

  She looked around the white room and finally fixed her gaze on a point in the ceiling. “I say we did complete our objective,” she told the Knight. “We did take the bridge.”

  “Yeah,” Gary snickered. “You took it apart.”

  The Marine standing beside him elbowed him. “She wasn’t the only shit-for-brains sergeant involved.”

  “Exactly.” he nudged the man in return. “We need to take away their grenade licenses. Irresponsible, the pair of them.”

  Todd stared at him, his mouth open in disbelief. He closed it with a snap, narrowed his eyes, and took a step toward the man. “And who, exactly, threw the first two?” he demanded.

  To his surprise, Gary wasn’t the only one who looked guilty. Two of the Knight’s Marines found points around the room to stare at rather than meet anyone’s gaze.

  “Uh-huh—”

  The Knight interrupted him before he could take it any further. “Your points are well made. Jimmy and Rogers were able to hold the shuttle steady while the data retrieval teams used jet packs and assisted each other to reach them. Their flying also ensured both hostages and data reached the Navy ships standing by.”

  “And the bridge?” Todd asked.

  “The bridge mission was also successful,” the ship admitted reluctantly, “albeit with all hands lost.”

  “Did the mage escape?” the Marine sergeant asked and there was a long pause while the Knight calculated the chances.

  “No, the Teloran mage was destroyed in the blast, as were the three mages coming to reinforce him.”

  Todd turned to the other sergeant and raised his hand. She high-fived and grinned from ear to ear.

  “I don’t mind dying much when the odds are that bad,” she told him, and he chuckled.

  “Me neither.”

  If any of the mages had escaped to attack the shuttle, they’d have lost the entire scenario.

  “With these results in mind,” the Knight informed them, “tonight’s banquet will celebrate your dual victory over the foe. I trust this settles your differences.”

  “For the moment,” Todd told the ship and the Marine sergeant nodded.

  “Agreed. For the moment, our differences are settled. Thank you, Knight, for adjudicating.”

  The room faded and they surfaced in their pods.

  “Your celebrations may commence in thirty minutes,” the Knight informed them as they climbed out. “You will not be able to attend until you are in a suitable state of cleanliness and dress.”

  “Are you saying we stink, Ebony?”

  “If the boot fits,” the ship replied smugly.

  Todd rolled his eyes and headed through the celebrating teams to get cleaned up. No one dawdled and the party was soon in full swing. As he watched his team mingle with the Marines, he relaxed. They might fit in after all.

  However long that took, today’s scenario had been a huge step forward. He found a table to lean against and grinned as Ka danced with the Marine corporal she’d stood beside in the white room.

  Now, there’s trouble if I’ve ever seen it, he thought and made a note to ask for a look at the man’s file. He watched them dance but became aware of someone settling beside him when the music started to fade.

  “Captain Sartre!” He came to attention.

  “At ease, son.” The Marine chuckled. “Your kids did well out there. Very impressive.”

  “Yeah, apart from their propensity for throwing things they shouldn’t,” he muttered morosely.

  The man snorted. “It must run in the ranks,” he pointed out. “Mine didn’t do much better.”

  Todd smiled but the lights dimmed suddenly until they stood in the brightest point and all attention shifted toward them. Captain Sartre gestured with a hand over his head.

  “Lights out, boys and girls. You have a full schedule tomorrow.”

  His order was met with groans of dismay, but the Marines complied and left Todd’s team to gather around them.

  “You, too,” Todd told them and they moved toward the door.

  The captain watched them leave. “They’re not bad,” he said. “Not as good as the Witch’s team, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of. My guys have gone up against them but they’ve been hammered every time. Those guys are freaks of nature.”

  He stopped when he realized the remaining members of Todd’s team stood just inside the door, their heads cocked. His expression settled into disapproval.

  “I’m serious. Don’t even think of trying it.”

  They smirked and eased out into the corridor, and Todd sighed.

  “You’ve really done it now, sir.”

  Sartre patted him on the shoulder. “My bad.”

  It was funny how the man didn’t sound sorry. He headed to the door.

  “Hit the lights on your way out, Sergeant.”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” he replied and left the room in darkness as he closed the door behind him.

  He headed to his quarters, grimaced, and shook his head.

  The team wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. Not until he let them challenge Steph’s crew.

  Despondently, he wondered how long he could put them off.

  Chapter Ten

  Stephanie shoved Bumblebee’s face out of her lap and pulled her harness tight. The big cat grumbled lightly and settled on the floor at her feet. Zeekat sat beside him and rested his back against Vishlog’s shins.

  The Dreth looked at her and smiled. “It’s good to be flying, again,” he told her and rubbed Zee’s head.

  When his hand stilled, the cat bunted his head against his palm to demand more. He purred contentedly when the warrior’s fingers began to scratch along his jawline. Bumblebee gave a pathetic mew and rubbed his head against Zeekat, trying to hijack the attention.

  Vishlog laughed and settled his other hand on the black-and-yellow cat’s head. Stephanie smiled at their antics as the rest of the team finished stowing their gear and took their seats. The hatch closed to the sound of harnesses clicking into place and being pulled tight. Lars took his place in the row of seats in front.

  With a glance at her, he smiled. “Not long now.”

  “Let’s hope so,” she told him and didn’t refer to the flight. More than anything, she wanted the war to be over.

  She sighed and stared out the window as Brenden and Avery launched the shuttle into the night sky. It was late and she was tired, but this was the best time for them to leave—when it was harder for the curious to see them.

  There was no point in advertising their departure, particularly not when the curious weren’t the only ones looking for it.

  “Emil called,” Elizabeth said. “They docked an hour ago and everyone’s looking forward to your arrival.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Todd’s team has made quite an impression.”

  Her words sent nerves jangling through Stephanie’s gut.

  “A good one, I hope,” she replied, her voice tight.

  “Mostly.” The woman’s smile grew mysterious. “But I’ll let him fill you in on that.”

  She gave the woman her best death-glare. Elizabeth knew how much she hated surprises and it had been a long day. She glanced to where the four mages were seated quietly in the shuttle’s rearmost corner.

  Felarif caught her gaze and gave her a fleeting smile. L’thinis nodded. Rayz leant against K’trevl’s chest and returned her gaze expressionlessly. She wondered what was going through the female Meligornian’s mind.

  “She does not like to fly.” Vishlog’s words were soft and clear through the team’s private comms.

  Ah, well, that explains it. Stephanie gave Rayz as reassuring a look as she could manage. The Meligornian’s lips twitched.

  They were taking the four mages to their ships. The Knight wasn’t the only one to return to Earth’s orbit for last-minute supplies and fitting before they left. Her two escorts had come with her.

  The three ships were the talk of the Earth media, with the Chauvel’s and Williams’s history of escorting and fighting alongside the Witch’s ship the focus of much attention. The fact that the two ships had been present to defend their world from the swarm of oversized meteors flung at it by a Teloran fleet was cause for much celebration.

  It was this history, the news outlets claimed, that had led to the destroyers being chosen to assist the Knight in her current duties. Stephanie glanced at Ms. E.

  One R&D’s executive face was not boarding the Ebon Knight with them and her departure from the company’s headquarters was a closely guarded secret. She’d left Matthias and his ever-present shadow standing beside the rooftop landing pad with one of the most passionate kisses Stephanie had seen.

  “Wait until you see Todd again,” the company exec had told her. “You’ll know exactly what that was all about.”

  Somehow, she doubted it. She hadn’t seen Todd in over a month or talked to him. While she’d been busy with One R&D research, he’d been sequestered for training. The only time she’d come close had been when she’d recorded the video welcome for when he arrived on the Knight, and who knew when that had been.

  She wondered if he thought about her as much as she thought about him—and if he ever thought she’d forgotten him.

  Vishlog poked her. “Happy thoughts,” he rumbled. “Think happy thoughts. You will see him soon.”

  Stephanie rolled her eyes. This had become the team’s mantra whenever she grew quiet. “You’ll see him soon,” as if he was the sole source of happiness in her existence.

  Sure, he was a big part of her being happy, but he wasn’t the only part. There were many other things that made her happy—like seeing Elizabeth spend time with Matthias.

  Even when the two of them pored over contracts or discussed marketing tactics for One R&D’s latest product, they spread an aura of happiness. Simply seeing it was enough to brighten her day. It made her wonder if she and Todd would have the ability to make others happy by merely being together.

  It was something worth hoping for. Feeling the weight of Elizabeth’s gaze on her face, she shook the thoughts away. It was a good thing the woman couldn’t read minds. Some thoughts weren’t meant for public consumption.

  “So, do you think you and Todd will have enough time for a date?”

  She groaned. The woman was nothing if not persistent.

  “Yeah, Steph. The ship will be in dock for a couple of days. You never know, Captain Sartre might be convinced to let the boy have a few hours off. You could both, you know…” Frog moved his hands together and laughed when she stared at him in disbelief. “What?” he exclaimed when Johnny elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Have you never heard of personal space?” the ex-analyst demanded, and the other man rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah, but it’s fun to watch her imitate a stop light. Look at the intensity of that blush.”

  “Whatever,” Elizabeth snapped. “We’re here and you boys ought to leave well enough alone. Imagine what it would be like if Stephanie grilled you about the state of your love lives every second of the day.”

  “Pfft.” Frog made a raspberry and waved her words away. “Our loves are few and far between and kept discreetly out of sight and mind. We don’t put our other halves on board the same ship we’re on.”

  Stephanie’s jaw dropped a second time, and Johnny trapped the small man’s head in a head lock. “Ignore him,” he advised the girl. “Firstly, he doesn’t have a single clue as to what he’s talking about and secondly, because he hasn’t gotten laid in almost a year.”

  Frog stopped struggling. “What?”

  Johnny rubbed his teammate’s forehead with his knuckles. “You heard, little man.”

  “Who are you calling little?”

  “Oh. Okay!” Elizabeth interjected before the conversation could degenerate any further. “We’re here. Grab your gear and shift your asses and all that kind of stuff. Steph and I have business to discuss.”

  Johnny released Frog’s head and the boys took a hint and unloaded their equipment while the two women debarked ahead of them.

  “Take no notice of them,” E told her. “Do you want my advice?”

  She shrugged. To be honest she didn’t know how she felt about seeing Todd again. “Sure.”

  “Take it as fast or as slow as you like but enjoy every minute you have.” She gave the girl’s shoulder an affectionate squeeze.

  “Is that it?” she asked and her companion nodded.