And maybe I’d even live through it, too.
Chapter 3
Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd
This ship really was fast. A trip that should have taken a week took a little under seven hours.
We arrived at the primary pirate base. If it weren’t for Ja'xal's presence, I imagine we’d have been shot down halfway through the sector, but we were allowed safe passage through.
Nerves had solidified into a rock right in the center of my stomach.
Everything would come down to what happened next.
We’d already calculated that with just the Miracle, the Ra’xon, and the outer station, we wouldn’t have the firepower to hold the Forgotten off long enough for Alyssa to deploy the endgame weapon.
We needed help.
It was up to me to secure it.
The pirate base was situated on twin moons bridged by a gravity well. The moons were so built up you would be forgiven for thinking they were massive ships.
The view of them on the primary screen as we swept into port took my breath away. For more reasons than one. A few months ago if I’d found this base it would have made my career. Wiping out the pirate factions and ensuring an end to their crippling sorties into Alliance space had been one of my lifetime goals.
Now they could hold the key to my salvation.
“I’ll try to soften them up and do most of the negotiation, but they are going to want to talk to you,” Ja'xal said for the tenth time as he turned in his seat to face me.
I nodded stiffly.
“Don’t worry, Nathan,” Argoza said gently from behind me as she rose softly, her elegant purple dress sashaying around her form, “I will assist. Together, we will ensure their cooperation.”
Ever since I’d silenced my father during the flight, Argoza had pretended the argument hadn’t even happened. She defaulted to that elegant, graceful woman I’d almost fallen in love with.
But now I’d seen the cracks in her facade, I couldn’t un-see them. If you looked carefully, you could see the tension crumpling her brow, the pressure in her hands as she clutched them at the skirts of her robe, and that haunted look in her eyes.
I didn’t say anything. She was right. I would need her help.
She nodded low and gestured a hand towards me. “Are you ready?”
I replied by standing and nodding.
Behind me the autopilot brought us in to dock.
“Did I mention this is gonna come down to you?” Ja'xal asked yet again as he flashed me a grin and stood beside me.
“Yes, for about the millionth time.”
“It’s only fair, fly boy. I’m only along for the ride. This is your mission. Plus, as much as it pains me to say this, the Captain is right – if anyone can do this, it’s you.”
I managed a smile and shook my head. Then I moved through the cockpit as Ja'xal opened the primary hatch.
My father was watching me from behind his force field.
As I made eye contact with him, he rose to his feet. I’d still locked out the audio, but he didn’t bother trying to speak. Instead he snapped a slow salute.
Maybe it was the exact deliberate nature of his movements, or the salute itself, but it sent a chill rushing up my back.
I saw Argoza glare at him, then we all dismounted from the hatch.
I wanted to say I’d never seen anything like the view that met me as we exited the hatch. That would be a lie. I had. I’d once toured a scrap parts factory.
The docking bay looked exactly like one. Cables and panels were strewn everywhere. The walls were a patchwork of different parts salvaged from various ships, all bolted together like a goddamn patch work quilt.
We passed several engineers as Ja'xal led us along the long metal gangway that separated the docking port from the rest of the ship. The engineers were knee deep in hatches or hanging out of recesses in the wall, doing god knows what, sparks and curses flying everywhere.
“Takes a while to get used to,” Ja'xal commented as he waved us towards a dilapidated fast lift, “our ships aren’t as clinical as yours.”
If by clinical he meant functional, he was right. I was at once surprised this rickity old bucket was holding together and that the Star Forces had never found it. If this was the best the pirates could do, there days were numbered anyway.
We all crammed into the small lift. I got a sinking feeling as I glanced up to the ceiling and saw a wad of sparking cables running across the top. “Are you sure this thing is safe?”
“Nope,” Ja'xal said as he stabbed a thumb against the control panel and the lift lurched into life. “But it works.”
I composed myself as our lift rattled like a teacup at beyond light speed. With a great big thud that shivered through the floor and up into my knees, we stopped.
The light above the rusted brown-red door blinked to green, and the doors creaked open with a guttural groan.
We walked out.
Ja'xal strode ahead, Argoza just behind him. She had her head held at a regal angle, her purple silk robes flowing around her like a gentle breeze through flowers.
I took up the rear.
We walked through a set of cramped corridors, each in a greater state of disrepair than the last. The floor panels puckered, forcing you to stare at your feet lest you trip and fall flat on your face. The walls were buckled here and there too, revealing yet more of the innards of the station. If the Chief were here, she’d have a fit.
I was starting to wonder if this was a good idea. If this was how the pirates ran their operation, then maybe they’d be no use to us. Then again, I’d seen Ja'xal fight, and I knew how far they were willing to push themselves.
The reality was, we needed every ship we could get, every gun, every person.
So I had to suck it in and do this.
After coiling our way around an interconnected set of rusty tunnels, we came out into an expansive room the size of a hangar.
If I’d thought the rest of the ship was a mess, this was worse. Old crates, cracked from age and misuse, lay on their sides, their random contents spilled in great piles on the floor.
I passed broken flight nacelles, mounds of free-foam insulation, torn and tattered flight seats, even the crushed bodies of single-man cruisers.
Right in the center of the room, in a 20m section that had been cleared from the mountains of trash, stood a group of pirates.
One in particular – a massive Magnarian warrior covered in tarnished armor – loomed above the rest. He had the most guns slung across his shoulders and rammed into the multiple holsters at his hips. He also had the most scars littered across his pock-marked face.
He had two pin prick red eyes that gave you the impression you were staring into a laser sight.
Ja'xal walked up to him, but not too close. When he was five meters away, he stopped and nodded low.
He didn’t say a word, just took several steps away until he stood alongside Argoza and myself. It was clear he was now tabbing out, and the rest would be up to us.
I swallowed, and for some reason found myself glancing at Argoza for support. She pressed her lips together in a delicate smile and nodded encouragingly.
I stepped forward.
I didn’t need to tell myself there was a lot riding on what I’d do here. I couldn’t stop my brain from repeating that fact, though. It echoed between my ears like a scream in a cave.
The main guy – who had to be in charge – looked me up and down, those laser-like eyes like targeting scanners searching for my every weakness. “I am the Chief,” he stated flatly. “You will negotiate with me.”
Standard Star Forces operating procedure told me that at a time like this, I should endeavor to shake hands or compliment my host in some way to kick off negotiations on the right foot. I had to throw that manual out the window. Try to shake this guy’s hand, and he’d probably end up wringing my throat. Compliment him, and I imagine he’d shoot me.
So I stood there and nodded. It was brief a
nd sharp, just a bare tick of my head.
I waited. Maybe too long. I let the silence settle. I also deliberately let the guy watch as I looked over his assembled pirates one in turn. Eventually I settled my gaze back on him, and I gave another bare nod. “We need your help.” I didn’t elaborate. I waited.
One of the guy’s fat dappled green lips twitched up over his teeth. “We know.”
He didn’t add anything.
At this rate, it would take us an hour of brief macho statements to get down to the actual negotiations. An hour I didn’t have.
I took a risk and shook my head. “I’ve come here to ask for your full cooperation in helping the resistance win this war. We have beyond-light-drive booster technology that could help your ships reach the Omega Sector in eight hours. We need every ship we can muster to hold the Forgotten back. If we don’t…” I trailed off.
The guy didn’t blink. His gaze didn’t flicker. His brow didn’t crumple in consternation. He made no indication he understood the severity of what I’d just shared.
I swallowed. “We need your help,” I repeated, louder this time, voice punching from my now constricted throat. “The galaxy is relying on us. If we can’t—”
He pushed up a hand and snarled. “I know the stakes, fly boy.”
I damped down on my irritation. “Then help us. Help the Milky Way in its final hour.”
“Who are you to ask us this?” He growled.
At first I didn’t understand. At first I waited for him to retract his statement, to explain himself, to do the right thing.
When it became clear he wouldn’t, I shook my head. “Who am I? A man who wants to live. Who wants all of us to live,” I said simply. “And the only way we’re going to do that is if we all work together now.”
The guy let out a short punch of a laugh that sounded like a fist slamming against the reverberating metal floor below. “You cannot fool us with your words.”
“… The Forgotten are coming.” I hardened my jaw, words harsh as I pushed them past my clenched teeth. “I’m not manipulating you.”
“We know what you want. You want us to sacrifice our lives, give up our ships and arms and men, so that you may be victorious once this war ends.”
“We will all be victorious,” I shot back, anger now rising through my throat, “winning is the only thing we can hope for. We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted by the shape this galaxy will take once—”
The guy gave a sharp, whip-like growl that echoed through the cavernous space. “We are not idiots. We know what you want.”
I was starting to lose this negotiation before it had even began.
I knew enough not to show my fear. I angled my head low so I could stare down my nose at the guy, even though he was a good half a meter taller than me.
“Unacceptable,” he growled again. “We are not fools. We will not sacrifice our forces so that we can be crushed by the Star Forces once this war is over.”
I sank my fingernails into my palms, keeping my expression as neutral as I could.
I wanted to scream at this guy – and the whole goddamn galaxy – that it wasn’t a given we’d win this war. We would have to sacrifice everything – every goddamn thing. The Forgotten weren’t pushovers. So why did everyone think we’d get through this so easily?
I knew the reason. The Milky Way had never seen a war like this. Though news of the Forgotten had spread since their violent incursion into our galaxy, to many, it was nothing but news. People simply couldn’t process the magnitude of this attack. They thought everything would work out in the end – because in living memory everything always had worked out.
This was different. And unless people woke up, they’d die.
Maybe I wasn’t doing a perfect job of controlling my expression, because the Chief gave another growl, his massive nostrils flaring. He took a stiff step towards me, heavy boots thumping and reverberating against the echoing metal floor. “We will not fall for your tricks, fly boy. You are Star Forces.”
“He was Star Forces, now he’s resistance,” Argoza rallied before I could say anything.
Which was good. If left to my own devices, I didn’t know what I would say right now.
Though I’d once felt a strong allegiance to the resistance, it was nothing but a word to me now. Hollow. Empty. Just another source of disappointment and intrigue in this twisted tale.
“He still thinks like them,” the Chief Pirate growled, his trunk-like throat ramming up against his armor. “He still thinks we will sacrifice everything for nothing in return.”
I snorted. “Nothing in return? What about peace? What about living?” I couldn’t control my tone any more.
A mistake.
The guy reared up.
A sensible man would have doubled back, apologized, and given the guy what he wanted.
I was way past sensible.
I took a sharp step towards him, gaze blazing like a pulse bullet ready to spring from a gun. “You think you can just sit this war out and let everyone else sacrifice their lives to keep you safe?”
The guy’s chunk of a lip pulled up hard against his jagged yellow teeth. “The Star Forces hounded and hunted us for years. It is their turn to lay down their lives for us.”
There was a general muttering of approval from the assembled crowd.
I was ready to explode. On the Ra’xon, everyone understood what was at stake, because we’d already lost so many lives.
These bastards were making light of that.
I took another jerked step towards him.
“Is that it? Is that what you want? You want everyone else to lay down their lives so you cowards can sit back and live? It’s not going to happen. You’ll all end up dying when we’re defeated and there’s no one left to hold back the Forgotten.”
The guy growled. His eyes became two pin pricks of hatred. He was seconds from hitting me or shooting me.
I didn’t care.
I couldn’t get past the anger welling in my gut. I was incensed that this guy – that Argoza, that everyone I talked to – didn’t understand.
This was a game to them.
A goddamn game.
Before I could do anything, and before the Chief could pull out the pulse rifle slung across his shoulder, Argoza snapped in front of me.
She tipped her head back and looked right up to the Chief’s blazing eyes. “You want a good will offering – something to show you can trust us. Right?”
The Chief, to his credit, didn’t go through with the murderous glint in his eye, shove Argoza aside, and shoot me. Instead he looked at her, lips still pulled up over his jagged teeth. “Yes,” he hissed like gas escaping a cracked pipe.
“Very well. You want a peace offering. I’ll give you one. Admiral Shepherd,” Argoza said.
“What?” I spluttered.
“We will give you Admiral Shepherd. In return, please assist us in the final hour.” She ignored me.
“No,” I said flatly. “He is not yours to negotiate with.”
The Chief Pirate looked at me, his malevolent stare crossing from my face down to my feet then back again. “Why would you protect him? We told you our terms. Either you give us something to prove your trust, or we walk away.”
“We will give you Admiral Shepherd,” Argoza said, completely ignoring me.
“No we won’t,” I let my tone drop low into an unmistakable growl. “And if you want to walk away – if you want to risk the whole galaxy for your own goddamn ego – Fine.” With that I turned and began to stalk away.
“Nathan, what are you doing?” Argoza rushed up to my side.
“What I should have done the second I got here. I will not negotiate to save the galaxy. I don’t care what position you’ll be in once the dust settles.” I now faced her and talked only to her. “If you can’t put aside your goddamn insignificant ideologies and work together, then fine. Stay here. Let everyone else sacrifice themselves so that you live. So that you can keep all of your reso
urces. When we die and we buy you peace, you’ll be fine. And if you can live with yourself, well done, because that would kill me.” With that I strode off.
Maybe I was making the greatest mistake of my life. Maybe a more diplomatic soldier would stay and at least pretend to negotiate.
I was done being diplomatic. I was done negotiating between everyone’s desires and fears.
“Nathan. Please. Stop. Nathan!” Argoza struggled to keep pace beside me.
Even if she directed a level 10 force field in front of me, I wouldn’t have stopped.
She reached out and tried to grab my arm. I pulled it away.
“Nathan. Please. I can explain.”
That saw me stop.
I shifted hard on my foot and stared at her. “Explain what? Why you unilaterally decided to give up Admiral Shepherd?”
“I know he’s your father, but if we want to get the factions on side, we have to give them something. Plus, what’s the loss? He’s a monster, he deserves what’s coming to him. You know that. You told me that.”
“This has nothing to do with the fact he’s my goddamn father,” my voice dropped to a harsh whisper. “The pirate factions will be insignificant if we can’t get the remaining Star Forces ships in this sector on our side. I thought you could understand that. You can’t. The only thing you’re interested in is whether you’ll come out of this battle with enough power to claim the rest of the galaxy.”
“And you don’t care. And that will cost us everything. Nathan, I understand we must sacrifice everything in order to defeat the Forgotten. I really do. I do not underestimate them as a threat, nor do I marginalize the sacrifices we will all have to make. However, you must be logical about this. When the dust settles, we must be in a position to shepherd the Milky Way into a brighter future. We will all be in a state of disarray, and the future of everyone will come down to those with the most power. We must be strategic in these last moments to ensure that it is us who holds that power.” She stared at me entreatingly, and there was no mistaking the genuine emotion behind her gaze. If I’d ever feared that Argoza was manipulating me, I could dispel that worry now.
The Crucible- The Complete Series Page 71