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As they approached their destination, a fierce, protective rage built inside him. His Vorrtan instincts, awakened by hisbond with Jesh, screamed at him to tear apart anyone who dared to get between him and his mate, who dared to harm what was his.
“Beginning our approach,” Rann announced. “No signs of detection yet.”
Covak turned in his chair to look out of the viewscreen. The facility was nondescript, easily overlooked among the countless other facilities that dotted this sector of space unless you knew where to look. If you did, it was easy to see that it was armed to the teeth, bristling with cannon arrays and point defense measures.
A low growl escaped him. Inside that hull, Jesh was being held. Studied. Possibly tortured.
“Easy, big guy,” Davis murmured from beside him. “Save it for the bad guys.”
“Alright, people,” Ryke’s voice cut through the tension. “We’re going in hot. Covak, you’re on point. Find Jesh and get her out.”
Calm settled over him as he stood and left the bridge. The rage was still there, simmering beneath the surface, but now it was focused, channeled into a single purpose.
He was going to find his mate.
He was going to bring her home.
And anyone who stood in his way was going to learn why the Vorrtan were feared across the galaxy.
19
Jesh watched almost absently as Jex’s onboard system sailed through the air. The small, glowing device tumbled end over end. It was so pretty, she thought, especially when all the lights came on along the side like that.
She blinked, following the movement as a massive metallic hand shot out and snatched the onboard from the air. She dimly recognized the hulking form, pulling the knowledge from the soup of her mind. Scorperio suit. Its sleek, metallic surface reflected the harsh overhead lights, a glow around its imposing frame.
She blinked again. No… Scorperios were bad.
Fear gripped her as the suit’s fingers tightened around Jex’s onboard.
“No,” she tried to cry out, but her voice was barely a whisper. Terror coursed through her veins. Shit, the Scorperio was active, and it was going to crush the onboard and kill Jex.
Lights pulsed erratically across the suit’s faceplate in a frenzied dance of blues and greens. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched, helpless. The Scorperio suit froze, its lights holding steady for a heart-stopping moment. Then,without warning, all its lights flared brilliantly, bathing the room in an intense, almost blinding glow.
A voice emanated from the suit’s speakers, metallic and tinny but somehow familiar. “J10-10M3E… It’s alright. I’ve taken control.”
She let out a shaky breath, wincing at the pain it caused. Tanner and his team didn’t know her designation. So this must be?—
“Jex?” she managed to croak out. “How…”
The Scorperio walked across to her jerkily. But as she watched, the movements smoothed out, like a baby animal just learning to walk but crammed into second. By the time it reached her, its movements were smooth and graceful.
“This tech,” Jex said, a hint of amusement coloring his words. “It’s Zodiac-derived but not quite. Laughably easy to hack.”
“I tried earlier,” she mumbled, sliding in and out of consciousness.
“You don’t have all my capabilities,” Jex replied. After a pause he spoke again, and there was a note of… something in his voice. “I’m not just a Mark 7. I’m fleet enabled.”
Surprise cut through the fog in her mind that wanted to drag her under, and she blinked owlishly at him, looking for some expression in the blank face plate.
“You’re a medical general?” she breathed. “I… I didn’t know that.”
“Of course you didn’t,” he replied. “There was no reason you should. MedGens don’t go into battle often, and we’d never met before you found me.”
“I couldn’t leave you there,” Jesh murmured, the memory of that day as clear as if she were back there. “I just saw the J10 part of your designation, same as mine.”
“You know,” he said, his voice thoughtful as he moved around her on the operating table. “I’ve been thinking about that moment a lot. About us.”
A sharp pain lanced through her, causing her to wince and grit her teeth. She knew without asking that her systems were dying. “What do you mean?” she managed to ask, curiosity overriding the pain.
