The Crucible- The Complete Series

by Odette C. Bell

  Right now she was aboard the Ra’xon, but that wouldn’t last. She’d be heading over to the Miracle with Alyssa. Once there, they’d pull the Miracle back while the Ra’xon tried to fight off the jumpers. Tried being the operative word.

  I couldn’t keep plummeting into the dread that sank through me like acid, but I couldn’t push it away. Any rational person would know we didn’t have a chance. No, worse than that: we were dead on arrival.

  “Shift that directional shield to the left,” I ordered as I punched a hand out and pointed to the ensign beside me.

  Without a word but with a shake to his hands, he grabbed the directional shield and shoved it against a wall.

  I walked over and thumbed the generator to full power.

  “God, we’re done for,” the guy suddenly said under his breath.

  I could have let it slip, but I didn’t. “The battle hasn’t started yet, son. But we really are done for if we give up now. Get to your feet and get a gun.” I heard my father’s voice in my words.

  The past two weeks of confiding in him had taught me something. Something I’d always known but hated. Despite how monstrous my father was, he was knowledgeable and effective. I couldn’t help wondering that if he were still free and in command of the Star Forces that the galaxy’s fight with the Forgotten would be going better.

  Yes, he was the kind of man who bought peace with blood, but sometimes that was the cost.

  I shook my head and shook that thought from my mind.

  The red alert klaxon suddenly blared louder as the ship-wide warning echoed over the audio system. “Contact in three minutes. Prepare battle stations.”

  Nerves crawled up my back, faster and faster, feeling like thousands of ants racing across the skin.

  This was it. This was it. Sink or swim. Fight or die.

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I didn’t want to leave.

  I didn’t have any choice. Shepherd was right. I couldn’t stay. As much as I wanted to help fight, it was too much of a risk. If the Forgotten found out I was still on board, they’d focus all of their efforts on taking me down. They may even send in the Death Giver. And while I was confident I could take on one of their strike teams, I had no chance against that massive ship. Nor Williams. Presumably in her current state she was far beyond my capacity.

  So I boarded a superfast cruiser, sat down next to the Captain, and waited for her to pilot us towards the Miracle.

  I said nothing and tried but failed to push my feelings from my addled body.

  By the time we arrived on the Miracle, she’d already pulled far back into the system, and as soon as our ship landed in her primary hangar bay we jumped to full speed.

  “Head to the medical bay,” the Captain said as she streamed past me, her tall figure cutting a long shadow across the half lit room. The Miracle was pushing all of its power into shields and propulsion, and the Chief had redirected power from all non-essential systems. The lights included. It gave the Miracle an eerie feeling as I half ran through the corridors.

  I didn’t want to head to the medical bay, but I had no option. Whenever we were engaged in a direct fight with the Forgotten, our scientists took it as an opportunity to study me. To see just how the Forgotten could affect me, even over a distance of thousands of kilometers.

  I understood the importance, but I still wanted to be anywhere but here. I needed to be out there at the front of the battle, right in the fray.

  I rounded the corner and ran into the med bay. Several of the doctors motioned me towards one of the imaging rooms. I’d been in this exact room multiple times during the three years of my training. Not a single one of those memories arose as I threw myself into the room and lay down on the massive metal bed. There was no point in dwelling on the past when the future held the promise of far more torture and pain.

  “Just relax,” one of the doctors said, pointlessly.

  Right now I couldn’t relax. Even in my sleep my dreams chased me like monsters.

  At least I lay down, closed my eyes, and remained still. There was no way I could still my beating heart, though.

  After a few tense seconds I cracked my mouth open. “I know you won’t want to do this, but please play the audio feed of the Ra’xon’s battle over the comm system. I just want to know what’s happening.”

  “That is not recommended. There’s nothing you can do. It will just stress you out.”

  “Please do it,” I said louder, voice reverberating around the room.

  There was silence, then an audible click, and I started to hear it. The battle far away.

  My body tensed, my heart virtually stopping in my chest as I focused with every ounce of attention.

  If I couldn’t be with him in person, at least I could listen from afar, and hope, pray, and wish that he had a chance.

  …

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  “Get to the side now.” I rounded my shoulder and shoved it into Ensign Hope, driving him to the left just as a body drone appeared in front of him.

  I shunted back, bringing up my rifle and getting off 20 automated rounds before the creature transported.

  By now I’d tackled enough of them to know how they fought. They were categorically the most deadly enemy I had ever faced. They didn’t wait, didn’t pause to think. They went straight for your jugular.

  So I shoved myself away, back slamming hard into the wall as that creature appeared right by my side. I let off several rounds right in its face as I drew up my electro blade and slashed towards it.

  Though seemingly not an advanced weapon in the Star Forces arsenal, it was surprisingly relatively effective against the creatures. As long as you could get close enough.

  As I slashed the blade forward, it penetrated that bubble of protection around the body drone and sank deep into its chest. It wasn’t enough to rend the creature in half, but it was sufficient to push it back.

  It staggered to the side, but no blood spilled from the split in its chest. No light, no nothing. Maybe there was energy. Something I couldn’t see. But it was disconcerting to shove that blade deep into its chest with no apparent result. You never knew how much damage you’d done.

  This one staggered back, opened its mouth, and screamed at a pitch that could break steel. Then it jumped again.

  I brought my blade around to the left in a massive swipe just as it appeared in front of me. My blow was lucky and well timed, and slashed over the creature’s back. Again my blow sank deep into its skin, but again there was no blood.

  “We have to drive them back from this section. It looks like they’re headed for life-support. Move,” I bellowed as I picked up Ensign Hope. He’d fallen to my feet. I manhandled him and shoved him down the corridor.

  I stared in horror as three more body drones appeared at the end of the corridor, surging towards us, their claws scattering across the floor like an avalanche of rock on metal.

  While we hardly had any weapons that could harm them, we we’re working on it. Every time we fought, we gathered as much data as we could to try to figure out their weaknesses. If they were any.

  As far as we could tell, they were made of some kind of specialized energy. An energy we didn’t know the origins of. But whatever it was, it was boundless. It gave them the power they needed to transport over hundreds of kilometers and send their ships sprinting through space at twice the maximum capacity of the fastest Star Forces ships.

  When this was all over – if this would ever be over – it would open the Milky Way’s eyes, prove that we could progress to an even greater civilization.

  But we would never get out of this, would we?

  Hell, it was unlikely I would get out of this corridor.

  “Move,” I screamed once more, voice pitching from my throat as I shoved Hope into a superfast lift.

  The lift doors sliced close in front of us just as another wave of body drones jumped into the corridor.

  So much blood was pu
mping in my ears it felt as if my head was going to explode.

  Hope crumpled beside me, losing his balance, his knees jerking out as if someone had hit him across the back of the legs.

  He fell hard to the floor, the lift shaking as his armor slammed into it.

  “Get to your feet.” I grabbed a hand around his arm. “Get to your feet, Ensign.”

  He didn’t shift. Instead he started shaking his head over and over, the move jerky like a trembling hand. “We’re all gonna die, we’re all gonna die,” his pleading words cracked from his lips.

  “Get to your feet.” I grabbed his arm and yanked him up then pinned him against the wall, shoving my elbow right under his chin as I stared into his eyes. “We’re not gonna die. Not today. We can still fight, and we’re going to fight until we can’t,” I repeated, voice punching out on the word fight, my tight tone echoing around the small confines of the lift.

  Eventually his eyes sliced towards mine. I wouldn’t drop his gaze. “We will fight,” I said once more, voice echoing around the lift like a gunshot.

  Before I could do anymore, the lift doors pinged open and a bullet sliced past my ear, slamming into the metal and warping it with a bang.

  I shunted to the side, falling to my knees, pulling the Ensign with me.

  I twisted my head to the left and saw a battle raging through the corridor. I spotted at least 10 resistance soldiers taking on five body drones. No, six. No, seven.

  Christ, they just kept appearing like drops of rain in a cloudy sky.

  “Fuck,” I bellowed as I pushed myself out of the lift, rolled, and came up behind a half broken directional shield.

  The shield generator had been split open by one of the body drone’s deadly claws and was sparking everywhere. The actual shield flickered in and out of existence like a vision. It sent little electric shocks through my armor as I pushed my shoulder into it and brought my gun up. Stealing a shot, I managed to strike the closest body drone right in the chest.

  “Security personnel, get to engineering. Body drones are attacking the cores,” a terrified technician screamed over the audio.

  “Fuck,” I screamed again. Goddammit, we couldn’t go down like this. We had to push these bastards back. I would not let the galaxy fall to them.

  I pushed forward, drawing my electro blade around just as one of those creatures appeared in front of a lieutenant and sliced towards him. I was faster. Somehow, I was faster, and my blade struck across the creature’s face, rending it in half from its nose down to its throat.

  Again there was no blood.

  My blow was vicious enough that it pushed the creature back and sent it tumbling through the corridor.

  Without pause I sprang forward, brought up my gun, and let off at least 50 automated rounds. The bullets slammed into the creature, shaking it against the floor, its limbs jittering and buckling like metal under pressure.

  Just before it could get up, I let my gun fall slack on its automated strap, and I flung myself forward. Grabbing both hands onto the hilt of my electro blade, I let a devastating pulse build at its tip, and I thrust forward. As the creature tried to scrabble to its feet, I sliced it in half.

  One down. Now there was just a whole ship of these bastards to go.

  “Get to engineering now,” the terrified technician screamed once more.

  The audio feed blaring in my ears, I pushed to my feet, never stopping.

  There was no time to stop. Stop, and we’d all die.

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  It was hell. Hell had descended upon the Ra’xon.

  I curled my fingers and dragged them across the metal of my medical bed.

  “Try to calm down,” one of the doctors said.

  God, it was useless. The audio feed of the Ra’xon’s fight still played over the speakers. Occasionally I heard his voice. Shepherd. He was still alive, screaming, shouting at various security forces to shift positions, to push the enemy back.

  “We need to…” one of the docs began. She trailed off, another burst of static blaring over the audio feed. Every time it happened, I tensed my body, locked it in place as if I’d turned into a glacier. Because every time it happened it could signal the end – the destruction of the Ra’xon and everyone on board.

  But just as soon as that powerful burst of static blared over the audio feed, it ended, and I heard the screaming again. “Get to engineering. Get to engineering,” a voice blared. It was Shepherd.

  At the same time I felt relieved and terrified, hot and cold, pulled and pushed. My fingers scraped harder into the medical bed until they started to push into the metal. Without being aware of it, I activated my implants.

  Several sensors shrieked, and before anyone could tell me to stop, I relaxed my hands, taking a deep breath and forcing it to settle in my chest. “Sorry,” I muttered quickly.

  “Nothing to be sorry about,” one of the doctors said as he shook his head. “We should turn off the audio feed,” he commented, but he didn’t turn it off and nor did he tell anyone else to.

  It seemed the medical staff, just like me, were equally repulsed and mesmerized by what we were hearing. Perhaps they thought, just like me, that if we couldn’t be there helping, at least we could listen and give testament to the lives lost in our own defense.

  “We’ll make it through this,” the doctor suddenly promised. “Trust me, we will make it through this.”

  I couldn’t help but let out a frustrated, bitter laugh. “Why should I trust you?”

  “Because I’m a doctor,” he said pointedly. Then he turned around and brought his scanner up.

  I couldn’t help but smile. I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t relieved. I hadn’t forgotten what was happening over on the Ra’xon and never would. But at least it was something.

  “Just settle back. How’s your head? How’s the pain?”

  “Feels like there’s a heavy cruiser driving through my temples,” I said through clenched teeth.

  “And can you hear them?”

  I paused and glanced to the side. I didn’t want to admit how loud they’d become in my mind. It sounded as if the Forgotten had taken up root in my brain stem, singing that awful song right between my ears.

  I clenched my teeth harder and harder until I feared I’d inadvertently turn my implants on again. I forced myself to take another tense breath. “They are there alright,” I managed.

  “Is it any different from before? Do you feel anything new?”

  I tried to concentrate on his question. “It’s stronger,” I admitted, heart sinking through my stomach as I realized that. “Louder too.”

  I watched the guy pale.

  “But they aren’t going to take control of me,” I confirmed in a firmer tone. “They are still too far away for that. I’m fine.”

  He cast his wary gaze over me but didn’t say anything.

  So I closed my eyes, let him continue his work, and concentrated on the audio feed.

  Every shot, every scream, every grunt of agony and pain.

  I felt my body tense up more and more, but I would not close my mind off to it.

  With every second I prayed for him.

  Nathan had to get through this, because without him I wouldn’t.

  Chapter 4

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  There was no time to think, let alone breathe. The pace of the battle was beyond frantic. It was like flashes in my mind.

  The corridors we ran through had been virtually destroyed. If it weren’t for my thick protective armor the molten metal of the floors would have burnt through my skin and charred me to ash.

  Suddenly the pitch of the red alert klaxon changed. It revved up a gear, now so insistent it felt as if it blared through my skull.

  I knew what it meant.

  We had seconds, maybe minutes. The cores were in danger, and if we didn’t push back the body drones, the Ra’xon was going to blow.

  “Spread out. Our main priority is to keep th
em away from primary controls. No matter the cost, we have to keep them away from those controls,” I repeated, voice shaking through my armor.

  My footfall pounded into the broken charred mess that was the floor as we sprinted through corridor after corridor, finally reaching the right deck.

  If the rest of the Ra’xon was a mess, the area before me was Hell itself. The lights had broken long ago, and the only illumination was provided by the exposed gel packs in the wall. They glowed phosphorescent white-blue, giving the corridor an eerie nightmarish feel.

  I still held my electro blade at my side, the thing spinning with a full charge.

  I thrust myself forward, reaching the doors that should lead to main engineering.

  They weren’t doors anymore. They were twisted hunks of metal that hung from the ceiling like knotted curtains.

  I thrust myself past them without pause.

  I could see flickering lights within engineering. They weren’t the cores getting ready to explode – they were the constant flashes of the body drones transporting from one place to another. As I skidded to a stop in the center of the room I counted at least 30 of them.

  I didn’t have time to process that fact.

  Three of them were upon me. Two pinning me from either side as a third transported into the air and then flashed back into existence right above my head.

  A mix of pure instinct and dumb luck kept me alive as I thrust to the side, span around with my electro blade in hand, and collected the two closest body drones on the shoulders, shoving them back.

  My gun was slack at my side, useless now. I thrust forward, spinning the electro blade from side to side, the pulse of its charge light like a beacon on a dark night.

  They screamed, and so did I. Every soldier in that room bellowed their rage as the body drones took us down one by one.