Chapter 47

Chapter

Forty-Seven

Vyk

A fter the admiral left, I tried to focus on my work, but my thoughts were swirling and spinning like eddies in a rushing stream. The idea of the human captain leaving with Fiona had made it impossible for anything to hold my attention. Not the security reports, not the long-distance scans, not even the communications from my former Inferno Force colleagues.

I pushed back from my desk, standing to leave, when my device trilled. I tapped the surface and glanced at the name on the incoming vid call before I accepted it.

“Jaxon.” I nodded at the image of the Inferno Force pilot on the screen, his cheeks dark with scruff. “It is good to see you. ”

“It is good to see you, Commander. I take it things are quiet at the academy with the cadets gone?”

I thought about the visiting Earth envoy and the human instructors and cadets who had chosen to stay. “Not as quiet as you might expect.”

He raised an eyebrow but did not press me for details.

I cleared my throat. If he was reaching out via vid call instead of sending a report or standard update, he must have important news. “Is this about the mission to find the human pilot?”

Jaxon grunted, frowning as he glanced at something in his hands. “You know we sent out several Inferno Force warriors on solo recon missions.”

I had read the reports about the warriors chosen for the missions earlier. All were battle-tested and had knowledge of Kronock space. “I do. Have they returned with news?”

My pulse quickened. If there was positive news and Inferno Force had located Sasha, then we would need to launch the rescue mission immediately. I would not be sad to leave the academy and the Earth envoy behind.

“In a way.” Jaxon pursed his lips and then sighed. “All the warriors have returned, except for one.”

I leaned forward, my heart stuttering in my chest. “Was a warrior killed?”

Jaxon gave a curt shake of his head. “We have no proof that he was killed, but he has not returned at his appointed time. The last transmission we received from him was before he entered Kronock space. ”

My mind raced with possibilities. “There are no reports of explosions or energy anomalies, no enemy chatter about destroying a Drexian ship?”

“Negative, Commander. The Kronock usually do not hesitate to share with us when they take out one of our ships. We have heard nothing.”

I tapped my fingers on the desk. “This could mean that he was delayed because he needed time to determine if he had found the missing pilot. It could mean that he is in a position where moving would reveal him to the enemy.”

“Or it could mean that he was taken prisoner by the Kronock, “Jaxon added, his expression grim.

The Inferno Force pilot knew plenty about being held captive by our enemy. He had been in a dank alien cell and tortured before we had found him. Even now, I could see the painful memories flicker behind his eyes.

“What do you think happened to him?” I asked.

He released a long breath as if purging himself of the past. “My gut tells me that the enemy has him, but I think they have him because he got too close to something they do not want him to find. I think he located the pilot.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I am not.” He raked a hand through his shaggy hair. “That is why I am not suggesting we deploy a rescue team. It could just as easily be a trap.” He released a bitter laugh. “Knowing the Kronock, it is both.”

“You think the Kronock have taken him to lure us into sending more warriors to save him? ”

“Like I said, I cannot know any of this for certain, but our warrior was one of the best. He was smart and tough, and he would not have been discovered if he had run the simple recon mission he’d been instructed to carry out.”

I leaned back. An Inferno Force warrior who had gone off-script sounded very familiar. The problem with the elite Drexian fighting force was that it was filled with daredevils and heroes who were more than willing to risk their lives to save others. Most Inferno Force fighters I’d served with would have diverted the mission if they’d thought it meant bringing home the missing pilot. “So, either he is in the middle of his own rescue attempt, or he is also a captive of the Kronock?”

“Those are the best options, but either way, I think we have a better idea of Sasha’s location.”

I rubbed a hand along my beard. “But not enough to justify launching an official rescue mission.”

“Not unless you wish chances to be high that it would be a suicide mission.”

I did not. “Will you send another warrior in after him?”

“We have a plan that involves a team, with one member who excels at subterfuge and, as she calls it, B&E.”

I narrowed my gaze at him. “Do you mean your wife?”

He opened his hands wide. “She is the best, and once she heard that a pilot from Earth was missing, there wasn’t much I could do to talk her out of it. I will be joining her on the mission, as well. ”

My chest tightened. I knew what a sacrifice it was for the Drexian to go back into enemy space after his horrific ordeal getting out. “Your courage is admirable.”

“We do not leave warriors behind.”

I nodded. It did not matter if the pilot was human or Drexian, we did not leave allies behind. “I wish you good hunting.”

Jaxon thumped a fist across his chest, and the transmission ended.

I took a moment to digest what he’d told me before standing again. I needed to tell Zoran. This was not information that should be transmitted or sent in a report.

My nerves jangled as I walked briskly from my office. We were quickly approaching the time when the rescue team would leave the academy and race toward danger ourselves. I could not wait.