“Yes” she replied. He let out a breath and helped her up with his free hand and then he made a direct line to the control panel. He tapped his stud a couple of times. “Ryder, do you have a copy”
“Yes Jay” replied Ryder
“I’m on the other ship. Can you configure its system so we have control? There’s still a Pilot on here somewhere.”
“Yes” Ryder said. “Open a line to me.”
Jay tapped his stud again to turn it off and opened a line between both the ships. His voice came through the ships speakers. “If you can find the override key, I can do it remotely, that would be quickest.”
“Where do we look for the override key,” Jay asked
“It’s a long shot but it comes in the manual, but most people change it.”
“Manual,” Mia said stepping up beside him with a think book in her hand. On the first page there was the spot where the card should have been but wasn’t now.
“No good, its missing,” said Jay
“Ok,” said Ryder “Long way, it is, find the system control screen”
“Got it,” said Mia
“Now follow my instructions exactly,” warned Ryder “any mistake and it could set off the self-destruct sequence.
“Right” said Mia
Mia had stepped up to the task, so while she followed Ryders exact instructions, Jay found the security feeds to try and track down the pilot. If he was any good at his job there would be plenty of ways he could sabotage this ship. He found him. He was in corridor 3B. He found the ship manual Mia brought over. He found the ships blueprints. He spent a moment to just take in its layout. 3B was on the way to the engine room. He found the ships door system and shut the door, hitting the lock button. If the pilot had the override key he could just type it in and open the door. That would be interesting to know. He watched the Pilot carefully as he approached the door. He pulled a card out of his pocket and started typing it into the keypad. “Dam” Jay said out loud, “Ryder the pilot has the access code on him” Jay quickly hit the lock button as quickly as in went green. It went red again. Well at least he would have to type that code in again. The Pilot realising what had happened and typed the code in with his hand on the door.
“Argh,” Jay said to himself frustrated.
Mia hit the last button that Ryder had told her too. “Done she said”
“It will now take 10mins to reset the ship” Ryder said
“Hey Ryder, is there anything he can sabotage in the engine room, besides the engine”
“Yes, Jay your going to have to get him out of there. If he has the reset code he can manually start the ship and do basic manoeuvres.”
“Can we flush him out somehow?” Jay asked “Fill the room with smoke or gas?”
Ryder paused for a bit. “Actually, it you start the engine filter cleans you could knock him out cold with the fumes that causes.”
“Can we do that while the system is re-setting.” Asked Jay hopeful
“I’m not sure, you could try,” Ryder said “Mia go to a new screen select engine maintenance and select filter clean.”
Mia moved to the next screen and carried out Ryders instructions. “Yes its working but its going to take 5 minutes.”
“That’s plenty of time for me to get into position,” said Jay. He found another remote key for the ship and put it in his pocket. “Mia” he said as he walked up to her “I’m going to leave you here. Ryder can talk you through everything.” He cradled her cheek with his right hand, her eyes locked on his. She really was beautiful. He switched her earpiece back on in her left ear “and I’m here too. Are you ok with that?”
She breathed in erratically. “Yes, I’ll Be fine”
“Jay stood for 2 seconds longer making sure what she said showed in her eyes, she would be ok, she was strong and smart. He nodded satisfied. “Can you be my eyes too”
She nodded, no words coming out. He took a decided step back to break their connection or he would never leave. He picked up his gun and went to the door. He held the red button down for three seconds and the doors opened, “he stepped through and turned around to look at Mia “Lock the door now and don’t open it until I return.
Mia walked to the door and he stayed there until he had seen her push the red button, locking her safely inside.
He ran down the corridor taking the route the Pilot had taken to get to the engine room. He couldn’t see anything out of place. Four doors down and a left and he was standing at the engine door.
“Everything going well?” He asked Mia
Mia was, standing in front of the Security feeds watching his every move, he was so quick and agile and his shoulders so muscular. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought of the time they had spent in the cupboard, those big think arms wrapped around her, his heat. The way he whispered in her ear and she felt shivers all over her body. The butterflies raging in her belly and nerves, she had never felt anything like it. The way their finger had intertwined round his gun. The anticipation of where he would touch her next and what he would do . . . she was glad she wasn’t standing on her own two feet, her legs would have betrayed her.
Jays voice came through her ear piece”
She took notice of where he was again, right he had made it to the engine room.”
She looked and the reset screen “7 minutes until reset and 4 minutes until filter clean complete.
She watched him frozen in position in the frame of a corridor cam. The door for the engine room flicked green. “The door is green” she said quickly, He moved his position so he wasn’t in the way of anything that came bursting out of the door. Then he was hit head on by the pilot. They started wrestling on the ground trading punched. Oh she couldn’t watch. Should she go to him. He did tell her to stay here. She noticed the engine door was still open. It hadn’t shut. “Ryder” she said “If the engine door stays open will the fumes knock out two people wrestling in the corridor outside.?”
There was a pause, “yes probably.” Ryer said
“Will that cause any lasting effects, Jays there?”
“Yeah, he will feel like he has the biggest hangover”
“should I go get him?” There was a note of worry in her voice, She could already see it was starting to slow them both down. The pilot got a knee into Jays gut and then they both went down.
Mia had a weird dream that night, Mia was being led by someone who was familiar but she didn’t know who. It was a young woman dressed all in white, the white woman lead her into a dome and on every surface they were moving images or footage playing. Each scene contained a certain woman as the focal point. All the different scenes all starring the same woman. Mia gasp as she took in each new scene. The woman picked up and tightly hugged a young girl who had just fallen and hurt herself, the woman solving a dispute between two boys, the woman running with all her might towards a fight, the woman laughing with a friend, the woman standing strong while under attack from an unknown threat, the woman rushing to the rescue of a teenage girl, the woman taking a shot at her enemy. There were so many to see. And each footage or scene seamed to loop. Playing over and over again. It was strange Mia couldn’t place any of these scenes but each one felt like dejvu, like she h
Once they were back in their apartments, Jay stood Mia beside their bed and he removed her dress and took her hair out. Mia could feel the anticipation coursing through her heating her core. Jay then knelt before her and removed her ankle boots and holster. He then peeled her tight black pants down so she was just in her underwear. He ran his hand up the inside of her leg. He then removed his weapons belt and suit. “Have I fully disarmed you” he asked as he kissed across her collar bone. “Almost” she said as she felt her body stirring from his touch. “You were so good tonight” he claimed her lips stealing her breath and igniting the fire she felt in her core. He broke away, running his fingers down her back kissing down her neck, she didn’t even realise that her Bra was no longer there, he took her first nipple into his mouth and a sigh escaped her lips. His hands wondered lower pulling her undies down. Once they were out of the way he picke
The Elites began the Banquet and after they were announced Mia and Rota held hands while they walked out to take their seats, Jay was announced next and he followed. There were a few whispers as people took in Mia’s dress. They all stood before their seats until Rota had declared the Banquet to begin. Jay then helped Queen Rota into her seat and then Mia, taking his seat next to Mia.The food was delicious and between courses Rota took Mia around the tables to officially introduce her to the people of Ziion. She got a lot of comments about her dress. She just smiled politely and thanked them. As the dessert was brought out, they wondered back to their table. After Rota announced Jay in his new position as Ziion’s Royal Ambassador. Everyone cheered. Rota also explained that Mia would be going on a trip with General Jay to meet all the Planets leaders and to extend our continued friendship to our allies since the crowning. With the official part of the night over, M
Day 21The next day Mia was introduced to all the Palace advisors and important people at a variety of events and functions all organised by Rota and Aunt Alice. Mia was also given two senior attendants that could help her with everything from hair and make up to who she might meet at the next event and the traditions behind the events. She found it exhausting, but it fascinated her too.Dora had prepared Mia as much as she could for her meeting with the Mercern Ring. Jay had also spent some time with Dora, talking over plans about Mercer and questioning Octave. It turned out that the girls on the other planets were on loan to other smuggling rings and that the problem was a lot bigger that they had first thought. For every one of the GPS trackers, they could see, there might be more girls that they couldn’t see.Octave was stripped of all his wealth and it was directed straight into Ziion’s Royal Ambassador’s account. That Jay
Jay and Mia had arrived back to their apartments ten minutes before the dress makers Evie and Skyla arrived with a heavy suite case between them.“Hi, come in” greeted Mia “How did you go?”“Oh, we came up with some really good ideas but I need to see how they feel on you, and if you can move in them”“Ok sure,”The girls set up, they pulled out three dresses that were partially finished. One was a deep maroon, another a deep blue and the last was black.“Wow those colours are really dark,” said MiaYes, they are suitable for a queen and they reflect your true warrior abilities. I wanted your dresses to give you a edge of danger but if they are too dark we can lighten them with chiffon layers, beading and embroidery.”“They are perfect,” said Jay “these are exactly what you need to wear before the Mercern Ring, they convey power and an edge of danger.
Hunter took a big breath, “Yeah. There was another guy that started in the same class as me but his Father was 2nd in command of the Viv military, as you can imagine he couldn’t fail, instructors spent twice as much time getting him through than anyone else. I seen him take the place of other brilliant soldiers when he was incapable. No one in the class could pass or rank up until he had. It was a complete Joke. He lorded it over everyone because of his success, he didn’t even see that he was holding us back. The brass finally got sick of pandering to him and finally let me rank up before him but they got raked over the coals and he was made commander too. We were both sent out on a mission together.” Hunter stopped to rub his hand over his face “He led his team straight into a trap, they were captured and tortured while he bargained for his freedom with classified information. It was two days before my team could get into a position to rescu