Free The Alpha Prime Commander by Kelly Lucille Page A

down, taking in his naked, sweating, and shaking length.  “You are in no
position to fight anyone and your new friend starts something on an Alliance
battleship, it will be an act of war Alpha Prime does not want.”
    “Do not presume to know
what I will do, human.  The Prime do not run from battle, and you have cost me
too much time already.”
    Charles looked at Cordan
and saw the promise of death lurking in those eyes.  He swallowed and switched
his attention to Jackson before his arrogance reasserted itself.  “You don’t
have your sword this time, Jackson.”  Then the idiot smirked.
    Jackson moved, leaping at
the bigger man in a move only Cordan expected.  Taking him to the ground, he
beat his fists down into that smirking face four times before the other man had
a chance to react, then it was too late.  Jackson grabbed him by the hair and
pounded him down against the floor, knocking him out cold.  He stood up shaking
with the change and adrenaline.  “You always were slow as fuck, Charles,” he
muttered.  Cordan snorted his agreement.  They both turned to look at the doctor
who stood watching it all.
    He looked at Jackson, his
eyes grim, and the awkward moment stretched as they waited to see what he would
do.  When he finally spoke, it was Jackson’s turn to be surprised.  But he
should not have been. Besides Jus, he had known Flynn the longest.
    “General Spears contacted
me specifically to give him information on you and anything I found suspicious.” 
He gave Jackson a stoic face, but that did not mean they missed the tightening
of his lips.  “This was before we landed on space station Lux, by a week.  He
has family connections with the Annux Four Great House by marriage, one of the
few Great Houses that did not come to this auction.  If I were a betting man,
my money would be on him.  I still have friends in high places, we will get to
the bottom of this.”  The grey-haired doctor shook his head in disgust looking
down at Charles bleeding on the floor.  “If it wasn’t the commander here who
did the deed, I will find out who he has working with on the ship that could
have affected the sensors.  You are going after The Collector?”
    Cordan watched Jackson
grind his teeth.  “The girl.  But The Collector’s top of the fucking list.”
    “You realize even if we
find the truth they will bury it with all haste with the general and anyone
else involved.  You may not have a command to come back to.”  The doctor looked
him over one more time and then handed him his leathers from the chair they had
been hanging over.  “Not to mention you may not survive the trip the way your
body is fighting itself.”
    Jackson took his clothes,
barely noticing that they were cleaned of all blood and gore.  The doctor would
have put all of them through the decom before allowing them in his pristine
infirmary.  “I’ll take my chances.”
    The doctor held up his
hand and Jackson took it.  They shook.  “Good luck,” Flynn said grimly.  “You’re
going to need it.”
    “If you’re going to set
the dogs on Spears, you will, too,” Jackson said, a warning in his words.
    “I’m old, but I’m not out
yet.”  The doctor’s voice was a grim promise of justice.  “And I did not work
my whole life for the Alliance only to see it corrupted by the rich and
arrogant.”
    Cordan watched the men
shake hands, and then Jackson dressed and armed himself.  Together they walked
out of the infirmary and off the ship.  For now, they were of one mind.  Find
Lena, kill The Collector.  But first Jackson had to survive the transformation,
and in all the visions Cordan had dreamed over the years, it was Lena who had
touched a stone.  Lena who needed the mind touch of both her Roenh to survive
it.  It had never been Jackson.
    ***
    Lena woke from one breath
to the next with no idea where she was, but she knew where she wasn’t; the ache
of her missing men was like a fire branding her