In space, you can't hide from temptation...
Nick-named Captain Hardass by the new recruits, Captain Leigh Alphin is captain of the Fighter Force of the battleship Valiant Knox. He's honorable, straightforward, and hard as nails - except for the soft spot he has for a young woman he rescued off a transport that was under attack. Now that she's one of his new recruits, it's imperative he stop thinking about her in that way. Especially now that the Knox has been secretly infiltrated by the enemy. Mia Wolf's new commander is icy, no-BS, and completely gorgeous. His glances send heat searing through her. Neither of them can afford to make this mistake, yet desire takes hold, consuming them. For the first time, Leigh's iron sense of honor falters as his heart fights for love… and against an enemy trying to destroy everything they hold dear. |
"Leigh was a revelation and an old fashioned type of hero who would sacrifice anything for the woman he loves." Marta Cox via NetGalley
"This was so good that I lost sleep just to finish it. No insta-love just a great romance that developed into love with lots of action, intrigue and suspense along the way with some hot sex thrown in." -- Jennifer Eastman via NetGalley
"...a wonderfully immersive experience that cements the series in the syfy-romance category..." -- Ankarshan Vesava via NetGalley
"Damage Control kept me on the very edge of my seat. It starts off with a bang and does not let up. It is action packed, it is suspenseful... I was reading a book, and felt like I was watching a movie!" Amber via Wild Heart Reviews
"This was so good that I lost sleep just to finish it. No insta-love just a great romance that developed into love with lots of action, intrigue and suspense along the way with some hot sex thrown in." -- Jennifer Eastman via NetGalley
"...a wonderfully immersive experience that cements the series in the syfy-romance category..." -- Ankarshan Vesava via NetGalley
"Damage Control kept me on the very edge of my seat. It starts off with a bang and does not let up. It is action packed, it is suspenseful... I was reading a book, and felt like I was watching a movie!" Amber via Wild Heart Reviews
Chapter One
Valiant Knox
In Orbit around Ilari, Brannon System
The blaring drone of the battle alarm echoed through the gym, drowning out the raucous conversation of soldiers blowing off steam while they worked out.Leigh returned the bench press to its frame and sat up, whipping his towel from where he’d draped it over his knee, and then swiping the cloth over the sweat running down his face. He wasn’t on duty until oh nine hundred, when a transport of new recruits were due to arrive. But as the CAFF—Captain of the Fighter Force—a call to arms put him on edge like binging on half a dozen double-shot coffees.
He’d worked hard to train his fighter pilots to be the most elite squadron out of all the UEF battleships. He liked to say it was for their benefit, that they’d be more likely to survive out there in the black when they engaged the enemy. But it was just as important for him to know he’d done everything to ensure his pilots made it safely back on deck every day.
“Attention, all available fighter pilots, report to launch deck immediately. Condition code bravo-one, I repeat, condition code bravo-one,” the ship-wide PA system chimed.
Oh, shit. Leigh shot to his feet and sprinted to the locker room, into the chaos of every single other fighter pilot in the gym grabbing their crap and hauling ass to the launch deck. Bravo-one was a critical code, second only to alpha-one, when the ship itself was under attack.
He ran a fresh towel over himself and threw off the sweat-drenched tank top. Grabbing up his flight jacket and shirt, he followed the wave of personnel headed for the alpha level launch deck.
As he stepped out of the transit, his XO, Lieutenant Teresa Brenner, was waiting for him, his helmet and flight gloves in hand.
“What have we got, Bren?” He tugged on the gloves and took his helmet from her as they jogged toward the shiny row of V-29 fighter jets.
“The CSS are closing in on the troop transport crossing from the Farr Zero. The shuttle isn’t going to get here before the enemy intercept. We’ve got maybe two minutes before our new recruits get blown out of the galaxy.”
“Frigging underhanded bastards.” He split off from Bren, who went to her own jet, while he scaled the side of his in a few short steps. In a matter of moments, he’d sealed the cockpit and skimmed toward the launch bay, where fighter ships were already streaming out into space like a swarm leaving the nest.
The CSS—Christ’s Sunday Soldiers religious fanatics who’d taken over the Brannon system—had split off from the United Earth Coalition, intent on turning the entire galaxy back into the dark ages of fearing God and shunning all “manifestations of evil,” which they took to be any type of technology.
Funnily enough, that didn’t stop the a-holes from matching them ship for ship and weapon for weapon in the war that had started nearly twenty years ago.
The runway in front of him cleared and he hit the juice, shooting his V-29 multi-atmospheric fighter jet into the black void beyond the battleship. His electromagnetic radar screen flickered to life, marking the positions of all the ships in the game. He set a course for the slow-moving transport, the other jets falling into formation behind him like they’d practiced a million times.
Goddamn. No way they’d make the transport before the CSS did. It’d be close, but the enemy was going to arrive a split second before them. Enough time to blow the transport out of the sky.
He switched his comms to encompass all the fighter jets on his tail. “Get ready to go in hot, people. The enemy will be engaged by the time we meet them.”
The pilots all confirmed they were weapons-ready. Leigh shifted in his seat, forcing his shoulders down and taking a deep breath, centering himself for the battle to come. It would be chaos; it always was. Weapon’s fire and other jets moving so fast, the mind barely had time to register one before moving on to the next. But, before the storm, he always took a moment of calm to blank his thoughts of everything except his focus on the mission objective: protect the transport and get it onto the Valiant Knox in one piece.
A yellow-white flash flared in the distance. The enemy had opened fire on the unarmed transport.