by Logan Levi
Starburst
Logan Levi
Copyright © 2016 InPrint Publishing
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblances to real individuals are not intended by the author.
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever including, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the publisher.
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Special Thank You’s to The Following:
Meg Amor, my editor and my friend
Jig’s Designer for the cover design
And, to my wonderful family for their constant support
Contents
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Chapter One - The Assignment
Chapter Two – The Encounter
Chapter Three – The Rescue
Chapter Four – The Tragedy
Chapter Five – The Game of Intergalactic Chicken
Chapter Six – The Truth
Chapter Seven – The Escape Attempt
Chapter Eight – The Colony
Chapter Nine - The Hunted
Chapter Ten – The Array
Epilogue
More Books by Logan Levi
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Thank You
About Logan Levi
Chapter One - The Assignment
Pilot Second Class Lacey De Souza flicked through the channels on the vid screen in the mess hall. Around her, other crew members chatted quietly over their mid-morning coffee and whatever food the galley was serving up to their crew mates. The news service caught her eye and she stopped channel surfing for a moment to see what the fuss was about.
“Reports coming in now of heavy rebel fighting against Coalition forces on the mining moon of Ceres Six. The Coalition forces in this sector are holding fast against the rebel threat and First Minister Richard Tremaine had this message to deliver to the rebels:
“We will put you down like the dogs you are, this foolish insurgency has gone on long enough. How many more families’ lives do you need to destroy until you are satisfied? I say no more!”
“The First Minister says they have plans for their next stage in this rebellion, but when this reporter asked him if he could divulge any information in regards to this plan, his response was ‘not really.’ For Coalition News, this is Meredith Ford reporting from Starbase Pride One.”
Lacey sighed as she turned off the viewer. Several grumbles from crew members forced her to turn it back on.
The First Minister’s face was an all too familiar fixture in her life. Her service to the Coalition Star Forces meant she worked toward the safety of all Coalition Citizens. Any rebellion against the Coalition needed to be shutdown, hard and fast.
Ore production had already been halted in several mining colonies and moons due to rebel activity. There were sections of space you simply didn’t travel through in a merchant vessel unless you had at least a six-fighter-squadron backing you up.
Lacey had flown a few of those escort missions, and they were often boring as bat shit.
“De Souza! Front and center!” the voice of her Flight Commander boomed out over the heads of the seated crew members. Lacey scrambled to her feet and stood at attention before the tall FC.
“PSC De Souza reporting as ordered, sir!” she snapped, saluting briskly.
“Briefing room, now. You’ve been assigned a special mission.” The FC turned on his heel and strode out of the mess hall. Lacey scrambled to keep up with his long strides, remaining silent until she entered the small briefing room where another pilot casually sat in one of the chairs.
“This her?” he asked.
Lacey sucked in a breath. Before her was their top gun, hot shot, ace pilot, and all-round legend of the Coalition, Braxton Hewitt. The FC stalked around his desk as Hewitt looked her over like a hungry tiger. His green eyes running over her body made her shiver in a strange but delightful way. He was also rumoured to be a bit of a ladies’ man, getting into even the most tightly guarded panties.
“Well, Wildcat, think you’ve got what it takes for a top secret mission?” the FC said as he sat down. The fact that he’d used her call sign made her vibrate with excitement, the FC never used call signs unless you were well known to him.
“Ready and willing to do my part, sir.” Lacey took the seat next to Braxton.
“Good, because you’re co-piloting with Maelstrom here.” The FC pointed to Braxton with his ballpoint pen.
Braxton chewed on a toothpick as he openly assessed her, his eyes staying on her chest for a beat too long.
The mission plan and flight directives were handed out. Braxton–Maelstrom looked over the pages before he handed them to Lacey.
“Prisoner transport, sir?” Lacey asked.
“High profile prisoner transport,” the FC said, taking the pages back. “Very high profile, and as I said, top secret. As far as anyone on this ship is concerned, you’re both flying a routine supply mission to the Theta Three prison colony, with a brief stopover at Starbase Gamma for a supply pick up. They captured some high-level rebels yesterday, and word hasn’t gotten out yet. There can be no fuck-ups.”
The FC activated his holo-screen. An image of a standard long-range supply-class ship spun lazily around, stopping occasionally for an information bubble to pop up with random crap about the ship’s design, or speed capabilities.
It was all intel Lacey already knew.
“When do we leave, sir?” she asked.
“In one hour, get your kit packed, you’ll be away for about a week in transit. Report to shuttle bay three at thirteen-hundred hours.” The FC dismissed them.
“Aye, sir.” Lacey got to her feet.
“Oh and, Wildcat,” the FC said, stopping her as she turned.
“Yes, sir?”
“No one is to know the nature of the mission.”
“Understood, sir.” She nodded to the FC and Maelstrom before she turned on her heel and strode quickly out of the briefing room.
☼☼☼
An hour later they were completing their pre-flight checks.
Maelstrom spooled up the engines, the whole vessel vibrated with power as the engines kicked in, and the vertical thrusters lifted them from the shuttle bay floor. They moved the ship into the huge airlock and waited for the cycle to pass through.
The stars beckoned.
“Final flight checks complete, logging data. Engine engage one-quarter thrust station standard, on my mark, three, two, one, mark,” Maelstrom said, as he pushed the throttle forward.
The inertia pushed Lacey against the back of her seat as the shuttle’s thrust ejected them out into the open void of space.
“Shuttle Starburst clearing departure lock,” she said on contact with launch control. “Clear of all Starbase traffic, and we are clear for vector engagement.” She turned to Maelstrom, who nodded and grinned.
“Well, you’ve got this leg of the journey, Wildcat,” he said.
“Sure do, Maelstrom.” Lacey nodded and adjusted their heading for a better, more efficient travel time.
“Okay, I’m going to hit the rack for a while after I check the holding area.” He unstrapped himself and stood up, the lighter gravity of the shuttle made his movements light and jerky as he adjusted to the gravity change from the perfect one-g of their Starbase.
Lacey watched him go, the soft whoosh of the cockpit sliding door shut as he entered the main section of their shuttle. From there, he could move easily to the airlock and cargo bay which had been modified as a cell to hold their “speci
al cargo.” Then back to the habitat section, where he’d be resting. Lacey smiled, counting her lucky stars she’d been paired up with the hotter than hell Maelstrom.
☼☼☼
Maelstrom stretched as he returned, unashamedly scratching his crotch before he flopped down into his seat, belching. Lacey bit her tongue, as the suddenly disgusting side of the dreamboat that was Maelstrom made itself known.
“We’re approaching Gamma station,” she said, nodding to the white speck in the distance glinting with each rotation.
“Cool,” Maelstrom said, sliding his arms through the safety harness. He took control from her, piloting the Starburst into the docking bay with an ease that showed what a truly great pilot he was. Despite her new misgivings about Maelstrom, she had to admire his skill.
“Docking clamps secure, we had pressurisation in the airlock and security requesting permission to board with their cargo,” Lacey said, as she yawned. She’d been flying for over six hours while Maelstrom rested.
“Awesome, I’ll go and greet them and make sure they’re all secure and settled. I’ll let you know when we’re done, then you can go on rest break.” Maelstrom gave her a devilish smile.
“Okay,” Lacey agreed, as her hands swept over the controls, checking the status of all the ship’s systems as standard procedure after a flight and dock.
☼☼☼
The next strike hit Jonah hard. He grunted as the gloved fist pounded into his chest and he struggled for breath. Blood dribbled down his lower lip, and mixed with saliva to pool in a small puddle on the metal floor between his knees.
Two guards held him up. His fellow prisoners, some his own men, others hardened bastards who deserved to be in a cell were in a worse condition than he was. He looked up at the man who laughed, nursing a beer. He looked like he was a pilot—Coalition military.
Jonah hated the Coalition with a passion. Their treatment of the “lower classes” was despicable. So many people had died because of the Coalition’s greed. All the mining colonies wanted was the chance to live peacefully, to raise their kids in peace, with good medical care, and decent education.
Just like the Coalition had promised them.
But it had been one broken promise after another, and now the people were finally fighting back with Jonah’s help. But it looked like it was all for nothing, unless they could escape.
Chapter Two – The Encounter
Lacey was finally relieved by Maelstrom, who had taken more time than she thought it would to secure their cargo and passengers. She unclipped her harness and left the cockpit, leaving Maelstrom to settle down for his shift.
The smell of bleach assailed her nose. Someone had made a mess and cleaned it up. She wondered what the hell had gone on for that to be necessary. She sighed, thinking at least they didn’t get her to clean up whatever it was, and if it was from the criminals, the stars only knew what it could have been. She shuddered, forcing her mind on to the peaceful rest she was going to enjoy.
She passed through the cargo area where one guard sat sleeping with a display pad on his lap, showing some nasty-ass porno, involving three women and one lucky guy. She shook her head and continued to walk past the cells.
“Hey, Miss…” a voice croaked hoarsely.
She tried to ignore it, knowing that to engage in conversation with these guys would be a bad idea.
“Can we get some water, please?” the man begged. Lacey’s eyes turned toward the speaker, he was a mess, and she barely recognized him.
Jonah Sparks. The leader of the rebellion sat bloody and broken in the cell before her. Sitting around him, their backs to the flat wall of the cell were half-a-dozen men, all in similar states. She bit her lip and nodded. Her compassion for a fellow human being, despite his criminal history, won out over her sense of duty and common sense.
She walked out to the kitchenette and grabbed three bottles of water. Bringing them back to the cells where the guard still snored and the porno women were jiggling their bare breasts on top of the lucky male porn star.
She opened the food hatch and placed the bottles in before closing it. Jonah Sparks cracked the first one open and held the bottle to the one of his men’s lips, who looked worse for wear as well. His hands shook as they reached for the bottle. Sparks turned and nodded his thanks to her.
Lacey headed out to the habitat where her bunk beckoned.
She stripped down to her tank top and a pair of sleeping shorts and climbed into the top bunk. Maelstrom’s rumpled bedding lay limp and lifeless on the bottom bunk. Lacey settled down and pulled a picture out of her kit. She and her mother were in it. Her mother had taken her to a zoo where genetically grown animals who had been extinct for years had been brought back to life. They were standing by the Thylacine enclosure; the beautiful Tasmanian tigers lay in their habitat behind them.
It had been one of the last times she’d spent a full day with both her parents. The next day, her father was gone. He left them to be with another family he had hidden away from the world. Not an easy task considering who he was.
Lacey sighed, slipping the picture back into her kit. Her mother was gone now. She’d taken her own life after her depression had gotten too much, and Lacey had gone to live with her grandmother. Her father’s visits had become fewer and fewer as his political career had taken off, rising to levels of popularity unheard of in the Coalition.
Hot tears filled and stung her eyes as she remembered the day he posed for a campaign picture. His new family had stood beside him, one arm wrapped lovingly around the new wife and the daughter who was about her age. Her grandmother had turned off the vid screen in disgust. She’d taken Lacey out to a park where she’d sat despondently on a swing, her grandmother taking the other.
“Why doesn’t he want me?” she asked as tears fell into the dirt, scuffed from years of children using their feet to stop their swinging.
Her grandmother had no answers for the thirteen-year-old girl.
Lacey shook away the memories. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands before she rolled over and settled down to sleep.
☼☼☼
“Have you got it yet?” Jonah asked one of the men.
“Almost,” he replied. The plastic bottle had been torn and mangled. A piece that was an inch wide by four inches long was jimmied into the slot between the cell door and the barrier that held them in. With a small click the door disengaged. Jonah slipped out, followed by three men. The guard still lay snoring while the next porno vid had begun.
Jonah nodded his head as his men crept out and headed to the cockpit to subdue the pilots. He carefully lifted the guard’s blaster from the holster at his hip and took aim.
“Hey, asshole,” he said, waking the guard up.
The guard looked surprised as Jonah aimed the weapon at him with a steady hand. “Where are your buddies?”
“Sleeping, in the living area of the habitat,” he said, his voice trembling.
Jonah nodded his head in the direction of the habitat.
“Go get them,” he said to the other two men. The doors slid shut, and Jonah let his companion pat the guard down for other weapons.
“How the fuck did you get out?” the guard asked, his voice shaking as his hands raised, showing his submission.
“Luck, and a bit of ingenuity.” Jonah winked and grabbed the guard by the scruff of his uniform collar. “Get in the cell,” he ordered, as the other men brought in their captives. The pilot struggled, cursing them to hell as the two criminals hauled his ass into the cell.
Jonah noticed the pilot had the beginnings of a black eye. He raised his eyebrow in question.
“He didn’t want to come out, so we had to convince him,” explained the man who’d thrown the punch.
Jonah chuckled and shook his head. “Fair enough.”
The other two guards were hauled in, their blasters now trained on them by the escaped prisoners.
“Wasn’t there another pilot?” Grieve, one of the criminals who
was brought in with the rebels, asked.
Jonah turned to the pilot, “Where’s the girl?” He held the blaster hard up under Maelstrom’s chin.
Maelstrom spat in his face. “Fuck you, asshole.”
Jonah chuckled as he pushed the arrogant ass into the cell with the others. He turned to one of the men. “Check the sleeping quarters in the habitat.”
Chapter Three – The Rescue
Lacey stretched on the firm and uncomfortable mattress. Her eyes opened, and the crusts of salt from her tears broke away from her eyelashes as she sat up, fingers rubbing at the grainy substance. She slipped off the bunk, her bare feet thumping softly on the rough surface of the carpet.
She wondered what the time was and checked her chronometer. It was close enough to the end of her rest time, but she had time for a quick meal before she took over from Maelstrom in the cockpit. She gathered a clean flight-suit and headed to the small bathroom.
Lacey used the head and turned to the basin. She washed her hands before splashing water over her face to help wake herself up a little more.
She blinked the water from her eyes and straightened up. Her eyes widened as she took in the reflection in the mirror.
A bloodied and bruised face grinned back at her shocked countenance. His teeth were yellow and cracked, and his nose was an irregular shape, as though he’d broken it and it hadn’t healed properly. He grabbed her shoulder and hauled her back as an ear splitting scream broke from her throat and rippled through her parted lips.
His bloodied hand clamped over her mouth as an iron grip secured her against his body.
“Oh yes, keep struggling, pretty girl. Ol’ Jack likes it when they struggle, but it’s going to be so much better when you’re beneath me,” he whispered against her ear before he licked her cheek.
Lacey shuddered in revulsion, continuing to struggle as he dragged her out of the sleeping quarters to the common area where the kitchen and living spaces were located.
She looked desperately around for something she could use against him, but his grip was like solid iron against her struggling body. Her arms were pinned at her sides as he pulled her over to the metal table and pushed her over it. She gasped as the chill of the metal touched her body. He hauled up her tank top, exposing her bra.