CHAPTER 28

Alexander

M y thumb and forefinger pinched the skin between my eyes in a futile attempt to release the pressure that was still steadily building. What had started as a dull, background ache had transformed into a pounding stress headache that was persisting through all my efforts to soothe it.

I blew out a breath through a thin hole in my lips, my frustration growing. I was only a few days away from landing at Nova Academy where the cadets would start the bulk of their training. I would be forced to teach the little snots how to be decent, respectable officers alongside the skills they needed to succeed in the military. My girlfriend had befriended the most inadvertently troublesome cadet of the bunch. I had to open up my private space to keep them safe and under my watch.

Oh, and I still hadn’t found the assailant that brutally assaulted an officer on my ship, not to mention the idiotic team of cadets that attempted to sully an innocent man’s name, successfully redirecting my crew’s anger by pinning it on him.

And it’s still not over, because I was standing in the med bay over the prone, unconscious form of yet another one of my officers. She was just as brutalised as Katira, and what was worse? The most recent victim was the original victim’s roommate.

But that connection just created even more questions than answers. It wasn’t possible to get her story until she awoke from her induced coma. Instead, all I could do was stare down at her bruised, bloody, thoroughly pulverised body and let the questions and the stress swirl around my head like a tornado of destruction.

Fuck, I needed a drink.

‘When are you waking her up?’ I directed the question to the array of nurses and doctors bustling about the room.

‘If all goes well tonight, we’ll try waking her tomorrow. It just depends on how long it takes for the swelling in her brain to go down,’ Doctor Klum, the senior doctor on call informed me. I’d guessed as much. Her head was smashed in less than Katira’s, but the wounds to her body were more extensive and were clearly made with more thought and intent than before. Katira’s attack was passionate and personal, spontaneous , whereas Ari’s gave off the impression that it was planned. As if the attacker had lain in wait, used the element of surprise, then followed through.

Unlike Katira, Ari’s cuts were shallower, though there was more of them, and the cuts themselves were neater, as if completed with precise intent. Katira’s were sloppy, as if the attacker had snapped and taken out his anger on her body. Ari’s wounds indicated a level of forethought that suggested she may have known more about the original attack than she’d let on.

Had he threatened her and followed through to ensure she kept her mouth shut?

Was this a warning for more than just Ari, possibly even directed at me?

Was he playing mind games, proving to me just how much damage and trauma he could inflict on my crew right under my nose? Did it even have anything to do with me at all, or was it just my ego?

But there were no more answers to be found in the med bay. I bid the medical team a good day with instructions to keep me informed of any changes and secluded myself in my room as soon as I could get there.

My breath stuttered as it left my body, but the emptiness and the blessed silence was welcome and needed. I had to pull myself together to be the pillar for the rest of my crew. And the cadets. I hadn’t forgotten that Katira’s younger brother was part of this year’s intake and had barely moved from her side all week. I’d had to threaten him with failure and dismissal in order to get him back to class with the others. It wasn’t for lack of sympathy, but he would fail out of Nova Academy if he didn’t put in the effort. His sister was alive, awake, and healing, so there was no more reason for him to miss classes.

But now wasn’t the time to let thoughts of all the shit that had piled up in. Now was the time to clear my head, breathe, and simply exist for a little while without it weighing down on me.

But even that didn’t last.

A knock sounded at the door as I worked on matching my breaths to my heartbeat, my meditative state broken abruptly by the noise. Grumbling, I opened the door to find a friendly face I hadn’t seen in what felt like far too long, especially since he was spending his nights right next door these days thanks to his budding relationship with my first lieutenant.

‘Markus,’ I greeted, stepping back to let him in.

He lifted a clear glass bottle as he stepped inside, the amber liquid inside glowing bright under the artificial lights. ‘Heard about the attack. And the brewing drama with the cadets. Figured you might need this.’

I immediately retrieved two glasses and watched as he filled them. The first sip was bitter and strong, but the second was smoky and smooth. I groaned appreciatively as it slid down my throat, warming me from the inside. ‘Stars, that’s good stuff.’

Markus chuckled and took his own sip, savouring it before swallowing. ‘Nicked it from Jorna. Figured she wouldn’t mind. Don’t think she ever intended on drinking it herself, anyway.’

I almost spat it out when it clicked. ‘Shit, this is the stuff from…?’ I couldn’t finish the sentence. Jorna’s team had saved up to buy her the bottle, gifting it to her for a birthday only a few short weeks before they’d been killed. She had lost her team during a raid on the illegal genetic engineering program I’d been benched for looking into. Her team had been… obliterated was the only accurate description. There wasn’t even a single body part left to retrieve.

It was one of the reasons why I was so desperate to shut them down. They were still out there, and they were beyond dangerous. They had the means to destroy everything the Intergalactic Union stood for, and our government was letting them get away with it.

Objectively, I knew that wasn’t the case. Unfortunately, due to the now personal stake we had in the mission, we’d been sidelined to allow for a more unbiased company to take over. But I’d promised Jorna her pound of flesh, and I intended to follow through.

Reaching over to take the bottle from the side table Markus had placed it on, I pointedly replaced the glass stopper. ‘I don’t think that was the point, Markus. You need to put this back.’

He sighed as if he was put-out, then pouted at the stoppered bottle. ‘Fine. Fine. I’m finishing this glass, though.’ And then he tossed it back like those few ounces of liquid weren’t worth almost as much as this ship.

It was too late to put what was in my glass back into the bottle, so I reluctantly took more sips. I savoured mine to appreciate it while it lasted. It was the least I could do now that I knew exactly what it meant.

The door opened again without my consent and Addy walked in, catching us red-handed. She scowled at Markus sitting beside me, then at the alcohol in our glasses. When she recognised the bottle we were drinking from her lips pinched and her face turned an alarming shade of magenta, so dark she was almost red.

‘What the fuck , Xander? Markus, does Jorna know you’re drinking that?’ she started in on us. I let her, knowing full well I deserved the bashing, but Markus had never stood for letting anyone chastise him for anything. While he owned his actions the majority of the time, he never responded well when someone called him out.

‘Whatever, Adara. Mind your own business. This doesn’t concern you.’

‘Now wait a minute,’ I piped in, not liking the way he spoke to my woman. ‘Don’t talk to her like that, man.’

He scoffed. ‘But it’s okay for her to just waltz right in and say whatever she wants, right? You used to be more of a man’s man, Xan. Now you’re just her little bitch.’

He swiped the bottle and stomped out of my quarters. I heard the door further down the corridor whirl as it opened before mine closed the rest of the way behind him.

I turned to Addy, displeased at the way that went. They were as bad as each other. Markus had been a close friend of mine just as long as I had known Addy, though whereas our friendship was strong from the beginning, my relationship with Addy had started out a little rockier. I understood where he was coming from to a degree, but I had hoped that his relationship with Jorna would have given him some insight about how a partner was supposed to be treated. I wouldn’t let anyone disrespect Addy and would back her even if she were in the wrong (then talk to her about it privately so she knew I didn’t agree). I was a little disappointed to discover he hadn’t figured that out yet.

And where Addy was concerned, she’d never had a good relationship with him. They clashed like waves in a storm, and I never did find out why she disliked him so much. To this day she remained silent on the subject.

‘Sorry,’ she said, but she didn’t sound the least bit apologetic.

I stood and wrapped my arms around her, burying my nose in her hair to inhale her familiar sweet, briny scent. ‘Nothing to be sorry about, my love. He really was just trying to help, though.’

I felt her face twist into a frown from where she rested against my chest. ‘What happened?’

I forced my body to remain relaxed, though my muscles tried their stars damned hardest to tense back up again. ‘There was another assault. Ari. She’s in the med bay in an induced coma. ’

‘What?’ she screeched, pulling away from me to look me in the eyes.

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I said, and I felt like a petulant child when I did, but it was true. I had come up here to unwind and destress before I had to go back into solve-it mode.

She must have realised as much because she let the subject drop, albeit reluctantly.

Just in time for a connection requestion to come through on my holo-tab from Corporal Stanson. I pulled away from Addy completely to accept the call, my break over whether I wanted it or not.

'Corporal,’ I greeted.

‘Captain, there was another situation this morning,’ came his scratchy voice through the holo-tab’s speakers.

I sighed. ‘Let me guess, Arthur Mercer was involved?’

‘Yes, sir. But he didn’t instigate it. He was approached by Cadet Christianson and his cohort of followers,’ he informed me.

‘Shit,’ I swore under my breath. ‘What happened?’

‘Mercer’s team and his friends guarded him the best they could, but threats were made. The younger Christianson is taking the rumours to heart and is now gunning for Hastings and Mercer.’

‘Was there a physical altercation or did it remain verbal?

‘No blows. Just some exchanged words.’

‘This is going to make things more difficult with the investigation,’ I surmised. ‘Do you have anything on that, yet?’

‘No, sir. Nothing we don’t already know.’

‘That’s not the news I wanted to hear today, Corporal.’

‘I’ll keep digging, sir.’

‘Bring me something useful next time please. I’m sick of the bad news.’

‘I’ll do my best, sir,’ was his last reply before the call cut out.

‘How do we keep Arty safe, Xan? The Christiansons will destroy him before he can even get his footing,’ Addy supplied as soon as the beep sounded to indicate the end of the call.

‘We keep doing what we’re doing. I have his instructors keeping an eye on him and the rest of his team. Ituk and his team are there to help prevent anything physical as an additional protective measure. It will only end when I find and apprehend the unsub.’

‘But can’t you pull him from classes and keep him away from it all? Xander, I’m worried. If this escalates, it could be more than an angry brother that comes after him…’

‘I won’t let that happen, my love. I swear, I will do everything in my power to catch this bastard and clear Hastings’ name once and for all.’

Her short arms wrapped around my waist and she rested her head against my chest, seeking comfort. ‘I don’t want him to get hurt. How do we know it’s enough?’

I held her close, seeking my own comfort from her presence. ‘It’ll have to be.’