Damage Control (Valiant Knox) by Jess Anastasi Read Free Book Online Page B

hull. The smoke hadn’t cleared, but he followed it up with a second round of fire, relying on his jet’s targeting system to lock onto the enemy ship.
    A third enemy ship slipped around to his portside. An alarm beeped, warning him of a targeting lock on his position. He banked aggressively and cut back, putting him in a half loop. The streak of energy fire exploded out of the smoke and clipped his left wing, flipping him into a full spin.
    “Alpha, are you hit?”
    Leigh couldn’t answer as he fought the controls in the opposite direction to his jet’s barrel roll. Sweat dripped down the side of his face, his heart galloping against the inside of his ribs. His upper arms and chest burned from the exertion.
    He pulled the jet up and got it stable in time to see a second enemy ship exploded, with the last two breaking off from pursuit. He forced a slow inhale as he glanced out at his damaged wing.
    The jet shook forcefully from the hit, trying to buck his control. He gauged the remaining distance to the secondary base, considered ejecting for half a second. They were only minutes away, so he’d take the risk on sticking it out.
    Landing was going to be a bitch.
    “Any damage to report?” He asked into his comm, glancing out to see Lawler’s jet and Cam’s personnel carrier both appeared to be in one piece.
    “We’re all good. But your wing looks like Swiss cheese,” Lawler replied.
    “Yeah, the maintenance crew is going to be really impressed. That was some nice shooting, Lawler, I owe you one.”
    “Thanks, Alpha, and I’d love to take full credit, but Cam shot down that second bastard.”
    He gave a short laugh as the relief of getting through another battle mixed with the downhill side of his adrenaline high. “For someone who didn’t want to shoot at things from inside a ship, you’ve got killer aim, Colonel.”
    “Or a whole lotta dumb luck,” Lawler interjected.
    “I never said I couldn’t, just that I didn’t want to.” The deadpan tone of Cam’s voice came through loud and clear on the radio.
    “Well if you ever get sick of being on the ground, I might be able to find a place for you in FP squadron.”
    “Thanks, but no deal, Alpha. I like my boots planted firmly in the dirt.”
    They were coming up to the secondary base, and ground control contacted them, interrupting the conversation. Leigh confirmed he’d taken damage, and they directed him to a specialized landing pad, while Lawler and Cam split off to the general launch bay.
    Tightening his already hard grip on the controls, he slowed his decent, fighting the jet’s pull to portside, not quite able to lock into a level trajectory as he maneuvered over the emergency landing pad.
    Clenching his jaw, he tipped the jet into the precise angle and lowered the thrusters, bringing himself down by gradual degrees. The closer he got to the ground, the more his jet shook, fighting to buck out of the slanted descent. By the time the landing clamps bumped into contact with the pads, his shoulders had seized up. He took a moment to drop his head against the back of the seat, forcing some of the tension out of his tight muscles.
    Again, the CSS were on them, despite encoded launch times and trajectories. Damn. More and more, it pointed to a traitor in the FP ranks. He needed to get back to the Knox as soon as possible and talk with Bren.
    When most of the aches had subsided, he hopped out of the jet, tugging his helmet off and wiping his forearm across his sweat dampened face. He paused to fill out the appropriate logs, then made his way from the emergency landing pad to find Lawler. If his sub-officer was feeling generous, they could both squash into Lawler’s jet for the flight back, otherwise he was going to be stuck on the ground for who knew how many hours until the transports resumed. Of course, if he’d been feeling particularly mean, he could simply commandeer Lawler’s jet and leave the sub-officer to cool his heels on the dirt for a few