The Crucible- The Complete Series

by Odette C. Bell

  “We can do this,” Williams said, probably for her own benefit, “we can do this.”

  In all honesty, I didn’t know if we could.

  If the rest of the Ra’xon’s crew couldn’t hold off this soldier on their own, I doubted I could do much in my broken state.

  But I had to try.

  …

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  We reached the bridge.

  I didn’t take the primary hallway. Instead I led J’lax through a back access walkway that took us through the discussion room and into the bridge from the side.

  When the doors opened up in front of us to reveal the bridge, I realized it was too late. From the other side of the room, the primary doors opened, and that soldier walked in, his glistening armor untouched, in spite of the beating I’d put it through.

  Whereas I could barely stand, that soldier moved with that same damn cold efficiency. I had barely enough time to take in the rest of the crew on the bridge, then the battle began.

  Somewhere along the line the soldier had lost his gun, but it wouldn’t matter; his armor was a far more effective weapon than any rifle. The electrified gauntlets on his hands could probably eat through a structural support like acid, let alone somebody’s body.

  Though there were a few crew on the bridge with guns, they didn’t use them. There was no point. They knew enough about that armor to realize that if they shot, most bullets would ricochet off. And they couldn’t risk damage to the bridge and their crewmates.

  This wasn’t how it was going to end. I kept telling that to myself, kept repeating that phrase over and over like a prayer.

  This wasn’t how it was going to end.

  The Captain surged forward, her enormous body bent in half as she threw herself towards the soldier.

  Mancor women were stronger and more powerful than their male counterparts.

  Despite the fact this guy was still in armor, I knew the Captain would put up a fair fight.

  The guy dodged back, shifting to the side as he curled his fist and tried to punch the Captain, but she simply rounded her shoulder and slammed it into the man’s arm, knocking him off balance.

  He pivoted back on his foot, trying to regain his balance, but failing as the Captain sliced towards him with her own punch.

  He was still wearing armor, but goddamnit that didn’t seem to matter to her.

  Her fist struck the side of his jaw, and actually forced him back. He was wearing ablative plating that could withstand an explosion at close range, but she still pushed him back.

  You could kid yourself that captains and commanders stood there on the bridge and ordered others to sacrifice their lives for victory. But we were often the last line of defense, and that statement rang true when it came to Captain H’agovan.

  She twisted around again, locking her hand into a fist as she slammed it into the man’s shoulder.

  I heard the guy hiss, heard him spit some swearword, then he balled up one of his hands, and I watched an electric pulse charge into it.

  Despite the fact the Captain was a formidable warrior, that guy still had armor. He still had the advantage.

  We were done for.

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I was still battling the effects of my sedation. Though I could follow Williams, at times I felt as if I would slip back into sleep without a second’s notice.

  We made it to the bridge.

  “Hurry,” Williams pleaded.

  I threw myself forward, every movement jerky and lethargic.

  As we approached the large electronic doors to the bridge, I realized they were locked. Someone had scrambled the controls.

  It didn’t matter.

  Immediately Williams stretched a hand out towards them, struggling as she used her ability to try to open the meter-thick blast doors.

  I stretched out my hand and helped her, and together we managed to force them open.

  Then the bridge waited.

  Williams ran forward first, her desperation evident in every move.

  I followed.

  The doors opened onto chaos. There was an elite forces soldier fighting the Captain, hand-to-hand. Though she was valiant, she couldn’t win, and the soldier struck her once and then twice with an electrified gauntlet. Anyone else would have been driven to their knees and driven unconscious. The Captain, however, fought, wrapping her body around the fist, stopping the blast of energy from spreading out and affecting any of her systems or striking any of her crew.

  I watched, almost in slow motion, as Shepherd threw himself towards the Captain.

  The EF soldier rounded his fist, ready to strike them down.

  Shepherd would be knocked dead.

  Williams acted. She threw herself forward, hands spreading wide, telekinetic energy surging over them.

  She skidded to a stop, half a meter from the soldier, her hands spread wide as she tried to lock him in place.

  She couldn’t quite manage it. Though the energy surged over her arm, his hand inched closer and closer to the Captain who was now on her knees.

  “Help me, help me,” Williams screamed.

  I was having trouble keeping up, and the weariness was sinking further and further into my body. It would be very easy, too easy, to allow myself to collapse. But I fought against it. I shook my head and tried to focus my blurry gaze on Williams. Without pinpoint concentration, I couldn’t risk using my powers. I could just as easily shatter the Captain’s skull as stop the EF soldier.

  “Help me,” Williams bellowed once more, voice cracking with stress.

  I had to… I had to… concentrate. Push away the stress, push away the fear, push away the weakness.

  Time kept slowing down and speeding up.

  I saw Shepherd twist his head towards me. Saw every movement in his neck, then saw his expression, saw the surprise slacken his features as he realized it was me.

  I had seconds, seconds to save the Captain, Shepherd, and Williams. I knew that, but I couldn’t act. I couldn’t concentrate long enough to push through my fatigue.

  There was every chance I would simply slip back into unconsciousness. Then this soldier would tear through the rest of the bridge and take me back. Without a fight.

  Without a fight.

  I stumbled to one knee, eyes ready to roll back into my head.

  “Come – on,” Williams managed. Then she buckled forward, incapable of holding the soldier anymore. His fist sailed towards the Captain’s head.

  The Captain was in no state to defend herself, no state to pull back. So Shepherd thrust himself in front of her.

  The soldier’s fist slammed towards him.

  Then it stopped. Just as it connected to Shepherd’s head, it stopped.

  I stopped it. Still on one knee, one hand locked on the floor to stabilize myself, I reached my other hand out towards the soldier. I spread my fingers wide, calling on the power of my implants.

  And I did it. I conjured up the concentration and power to lock the soldier in place.

  Williams staggered back to her feet, shooting me a quick glance before turning and spreading her own hand towards the soldier.

  The two of us could keep him locked there easily. But we wouldn’t be able to do it forever.

  We needed to remove his advantage – his armor. And we needed to do that now.

  I needed to do it. No one else would be able to.

  So I pushed past it. The pain. All of the pain that burnt through my body. I swept it aside, I locked my hand harder against the floor, and I reached, reached with not just my hand, but my mind.

  I forced my implants to activate, forced them to flood with power.

  And that power lifted the soldier off his feet.

  I rose with him, staggering to my own feet as I lifted him right into the air. Then I gritted my teeth, I managed to steal a breath, and I concentrated.

  My powers sank into his armor, despite its strength, despite its technical prowess.
<
br />   My telekinetic abilities locked around it.

  And I pulled. Pulled at the armor like a child’s prying fingers might pull back the flesh of an orange.

  A terrified scream ripped from the soldier’s throat, but there was nothing he could do. His arms were thrown wide and his legs pulled at an angle as if he were being drawn and quartered. I gritted my teeth harder and harder until it felt like I would chew through my very jaw, and I took a staggering step forward, always reaching my hand out towards him.

  More and more power surged over my hand as I finally caught hold of his armor in full.

  Then I pulled it off him. In a cascade of energy and light, the black plates shot off his body, and slammed into the far walls.

  I let go and fell to my knees.

  The soldier fell with me, slamming onto the floor with a thud.

  He wasn’t injured; I hadn’t killed him. I’d simply pulled the armor from his body.

  So there was nothing to stop him from snapping towards me. Despite the fact I’d stripped his obvious advantage, he was still a Mancor warrior, and I was now too tired to fight.

  Time slowed down again as I watched him lunge at me. He looked like nothing more than a blur.

  I heard him scream in anger, a bellow baying for revenge.

  Before he reached me, something slammed into his side.

  As I lost my balance and fell onto my stomach, I saw who it was. Shepherd.

  He managed to catch the soldier around the middle, and haul him off his feet.

  Despite the fact I could barely move my body, I angled my head towards them to watch the fight.

  Now I’d stripped the guy’s armor, the rest of the bridge crew rushed forward. Fortunately some of them even had weapons.

  Williams managed to stagger to her feet too, and managed to lock the soldier in place as he was stunned, and his thick massive body struck the floor with an echoing thump.

  … It was over.

  I could fall unconscious easily, slip back into the welcome arms of sleep.

  But I didn’t. I rallied against it. From somewhere, from some uncharted depths, I found the strength to push myself to my knees. I could barely hold myself steady, and at any moment I could have fallen back onto my face. I didn’t.

  I knelt there long enough for Shepherd to turn and face me. Again time seemed to slow down for long enough that I caught his expression in full. Every micro movement of every muscle. For those few short seconds it was as if Shepherd expanded to take up my entire universe.

  He faced me, faced me the entire time, staring right into my eyes. Then he span on his foot. “We need to take off. All crew to battle stations. Call the med bay and have the Captain seen to. But everybody else, man your consoles, and get ready. Williams,” he shouted over his shoulder as he threw himself, not at the command chair, but at one of the piloting consoles, “you take command for now.”

  Williams replied by throwing herself at the command seat.

  “This is going to be a tight escape,” Shepherd roared.

  Everybody assumed their positions, leaving me, the Captain, and the now downed soldier on the floor.

  But Shepherd didn’t leave me entirely. Every few seconds, despite the severity of the situation, he turned as if to check on me.

  All I could do was watch as the bridge crew battled to fly the Ra’xon.

  It felt like I was half in a dream. Every time I closed my eyes, I doubted I’d be opening them again.

  But I did it – I held onto my consciousness for long enough to watch what was happening.

  I was no pilot, but I could appreciate that landing and taking off with a ship like the Ra’xon was a virtually impossible task. She was designed for deep space maneuverability, speed, and power, not lifting out of a hangar bay sunk into the desert.

  But we didn’t have a choice.

  As soon as the hangar bay doors opened, the barrage started from space. I watched the view screen with half an eye as shots slammed into the desert all around us.

  They weren’t close enough to do any damage. The Star Forces would be too scared that if they got a direct hit, they’d take me with it.

  I’d never faced such tension as the bridge crew all worked as one to lift this beast.

  I locked my gaze on Shepherd especially, watching the rigidity shift down his shoulders and lock into his jaw. He kept switching his attention from the main view screen back to his navigating console.

  Though everyone barked orders at each other, he was silent, poised over his controls as he moved them with expert ease. Despite the fact he looked practically dead on his feet, he still worked with astounding efficiency and speed.

  I kept swaying back and forth on my knees as I watched him and the rest of them.

  The Ra’xon’s engines kicked in, and soon the view on the screen shifted.

  We started to move, started to lift right out of the now open hangar bay doors. As explosions sank deep into the sun kissed sand all around us, the Ra’xon hovered further and further up.

  The tension on the bridge only mounted until it felt like hands pressed around everyone’s throats.

  Even if I’d had my abilities back and a clear mind, there would be nothing I could do for the Ra’xon right now. This takeoff would take only pure skill.

  Shepherd and the other pilots seemed to have it. For we did the impossible: we rose further and further out of the hangar bay, despite the destabilizing blasts sinking into the desert all around us. Until finally, finally we were out.

  The Ra’xon’s shields formed in full, and we immediately took a blast to our stern side. But we rebuffed it.

  “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Shepherd warned, “we need to get another 1000 meters up before our main maneuvering thrusters can kick in.

  Everyone worked as one. Now we were out of the desert, our weapons could work, and we lay down fire as we raised further and further off the desert floor.

  I hadn’t joined the Star Forces for a sense of adventure. It had been under the naive belief that I could change people’s lives for the better. But this, this feeling swelling in my chest at the sheer power of everyone working towards the same goal, I knew others had joined for this. The way it made you feel bigger than you were, worth more than your cursed life could achieve.

  Finally we did it. We reached 1000 meters.

  A shudder passed through the floor.

  We’d been struck.

  “Fight back,” Annabelle suddenly commanded, her voice reverberating through the room.

  The Ra’xon started firing. We were now high enough that all our systems could work properly.

  The Star Forces ships in orbit had no chance.

  We’d dodged a bullet.

  I could have let myself sink back to the floor. I didn’t, couldn’t. I remained kneeling until finally he twisted around in his chair and stared at me. I wasn’t sure what expression I was expecting, wasn’t sure what I wanted. But it wasn’t enmity playing over Shepherd’s face, and yet it wasn’t compassion either. It was expectation.

  One chapter of our journey had just ended. Another was about to begin.

  Chapter 5

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  Somehow we made it through.

  No, not somehow. If Williams hadn’t broken Alyssa out of the med bay, we wouldn’t have beaten that soldier.

  But now there was the question of what to do with her.

  The Ra’xon had reached orbit, and almost immediately, we’d jumped into beyond light speed.

  We were now headed for the Contax System. The rest of the resistance fleet was on the move, too. Considering F’val’s long reaching treachery, the resistance could not afford to stay in the same place. We were already starting to hear word of attacks on resistance bases.

  It seems our war with the Alliance had just begun in full.

  The Captain would be out of action for a few hours, which left me in command. While there were a few other members of the resistance who had a h
igher Star Forces rank than me, no one else had experience commanding a ship. Though the Godspeed wasn’t on the same scale as the Ra’xon, I’d had to adapt.

  Strangely, the non-Star Forces members of the resistance were fine with my command, J’lax especially. It seemed our desperate adventure in the access tunnels had solidified a nascent friendship between us.

  Still, that left the problem of Alyssa.

  I was standing in the Captain’s office, hands clasped tightly behind my back as I stared at the view. Slices of colored light shifted past as we travelled beyond light speed.

  Every few seconds, I gripped my hands tighter and tighter until I finally loosened them.

  This was a no-win situation. Sure, we’d managed to do the impossible and escape with the Ra’xon, but what now?

  The resistance was on the run.

  “Lieutenant Commander,” I suddenly received a message from the bridge, “we have more word from the resistance. Star Forces personnel have assaulted our forces in the Mangor System.”

  I took a moment to respond. I closed my eyes, squeezed them tightly shut, and pressed my lips against my teeth. “Received. Casualties?”

  “The resistance are reporting heavy losses, but the majority of our ships have been able to escape.”

  I nodded.

  In my few short hours of command, I’d already given the Resistance Council a direct recommendation. Rather than have all our forces meet in the same system, we should spread them thin, go to ground. And more importantly, restrict information flows.

  We still had no idea how many Star Forces spies were amongst our ranks.

  We needed to be careful at every turn.

  I brought a hand up and latched it over my face.

  There was a beep at my door.

  I stiffened, hand falling so fast to my side the fingers banged against the back of my seat.

  I turned sharply.

  “Requesting entrance,” Williams said.

  Williams. She’d gone against a direct order to break Alyssa out. In doing so she might have saved the ship, but it had never been her call. Or at least that would have been the line I would have repeated if I was still a Star Forces soldier.