Star Runners: Mission Wraith (#3) (13 page)

“I think that’s enough for one day, Rock,” Braddock said. “Our boys’ll save who and what they can. Let’s get onboard.”
 

*****

“Anything to add, Rock?”

Austin shook his head. “No, sir.”

“That’s my report, sir,” Braddock said, standing at attention like a statue.
 

Commander Mitchem Horace squinted. He slid a hand over his closely shaven face and folded his arms over his lean chest. He exhaled. Horace was shorter than Austin would have expected for some reason. His lean frame fit snugly into the gray Legion Navy uniform.
 

Horace had ordered Braddock and Austin to the debriefing room immediately after landing. When the retrieval bay door shut and the atmosphere normalized, the “grease lykers” or space maintenance division had scurried around the Trident as soon as Austin opened the canopy. Braddock had led Austin to the briefing room where Commander Horace waited for them.
 

Braddock had described the incident in detail, detailing the brief dogfight with The Fringe vultures.
 

“Any idea what clan they were from?” Horace said, his voice calm and precise.
 

“We didn’t exchange any communication, sir,” Braddock said. “It’s my guess they picked up the damaged ship on their sensors and were hoping for an easy pay day.”

Horace sighed. “The Fringe trash gets worse every year.”

“Yes, sir.”

“What about the word of this ‘invisible’ ship? What did Jakara call it? A spirit?”
 

Braddock nodded. “Yes, sir. Our conversation with the commander of the
Searcher
was brief, sir, but it sounded like they were attacked by something they could not pick up on their rudimentary sensors.”

“It’s a good thing for them you were there,” Horace said with a hint of pride. “We have rescued eighty-seven from their crew. We’re making arrangements to rendezvous with a transport ship to get these people to safety. Hell of a way to carry out Revelation Protocol. They were in pretty bad shape—worst situation on a generational ship from a dark world I’ve seen in a long time.”

Horace stood at attention and looked at both of them. “I’ll send in the information regarding the spirit ship with my next log. I’m sure it’s something an admiral would like to read about. For now, let’s stay calm about this incident. We don’t want to go about creating worry when we don’t have to. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Braddock and Austin said in unison.

“Very well. Thank you for your time. Carry on, gentlemen.”
 

Braddock and Austin left the briefing room. They marched down the corridor toward the locker rooms.
 

“You did well in there, Rock.”

Austin looked at Braddock. “How so?”

“You kept your mouth shut.”

Austin smiled. “Seemed like the thing to do at the time, sir.”

“I’ve seen young lieutenants who couldn’t wait to start talking about their first patrol with any action. They always ramble on like idiots talking to a girl for the first time. I appreciate you keeping quiet. I guess Nubern was right about you.” He paused at the hatch leading to the locker room and looked at Austin as if he were sizing him up. “Of course, this wasn’t your first dance in a Trident.”

“No, sir,” Austin said with satisfaction.

“Well, don’t let it go to your head. I’m glad you’ve learned something in your previous encounters.” He gestured to the locker room. “Get dressed and take the rest of the day. See you tomorrow.”
 

*****

After Austin showered and changed from his flight suit to his regulation blue one piece, he made his way forward through the main corridor toward the berthing compartments. He lingered at the viewport overlooking the retrieval bay and watched the incoming traffic. Two Tridents escorted a Karda in for a landing. Austin stared transfixed on their blinking position lights. The bay door slid shut, breaking his attention.
 

Above, two Tridents flew past his view. He wondered about the other Star Runners and their first patrols. The
Formidable
had sorties departing around the clock—his just happened to be first. He pulled his tablet from his satchel and studied his schedule. He didn’t fly tomorrow. His schedule had filled with classes, training and a briefing on the next day’s flight. In some ways, this schedule wasn’t much different than on Tarton’s Junction.
 

He put the satchel away and stared into space above the
Formidable
. Jakara sounded scared over the gamma wave, frightened at the possibility of an invisible attacker coming from the black of space. Although Horace had ordered him to stay calm about the incident, he couldn’t prevent his mind from wondering about it. Perhaps it was just the imaginations of people too far removed from society?
 

No, he thought, he saw the damage to their vessel. Something had attacked them, but he wasn’t sure he believed a spirit ship had been responsible. Most likely, their inability to detect the culprit was a result of their antiquated equipment on board the
Searcher
.

He shook his head and tried to focus. He probably needed to go to sleep early tonight. The nightmares from the night before coupled with the excitement of his first patrol weighed on his mind. His joints ached, and his eyelids grew heavy.
 

He might skip dinner, drink a protein shake instead, and hit the rack.
 

There were a few things he wanted to do first.
 

He roamed toward the communications center, saw one other enlisted woman at the back of the room lined with comm terminals. Sitting down at the terminal, he slipped the headphones over his ears and prepared for transmission. He recorded messages for Nubern and Mom, informing them of his successful transition to life on a carrier. It felt good to speak casually, leaving out the endless details of his job and letting them know he was happy. The one-sided conversations would be transmitted an immense distance and prevent them from chatting simultaneously. With Mom on the other side of Legion space, she wouldn’t receive the message for quite some time. Still, it felt good to communicate with both of them. It reminded him of chatting with his parents after the first day of school. No matter how it had gone, he wanted to let them know everything was fine even if he had to stretch the truth.
 

When he finished, he took a deep breath and left the communications room. He longed to see Ryker, to tell her the details of his first patrol. It could have been his last patrol, and he felt the need to be with her.
 

He strolled toward her quarters, enjoying the relative quiet. The corridors were sparsely populated compared to earlier in the day. He stepped in front of her hatch, looking forward to seeing her in private. After receiving no answer from his first ping, he pressed the button again.
 

“Coming,” Ryker’s voice came through the intercom. The hatch slid to the side, revealing Ryker wearing a blue Tizona sweatsuit. Her black hair tangled into clumps of curls. Behind her on the bed, a flight tablet sat atop a mountain of scattered papers of plans. Her mouth opened, and her shoulders lowered. “Austin.”

“Hi.” He adjusted his satchel on his shoulder. “I wanted … I thought I’d come by to see how you were doing.”

“I’m fine.”

He lingered out in the corridor, feeling like he’d showed up uninvited at a party.
 

She glanced back to her quarters. “I’m getting ready for my first flight as Captain. Braddock wants me and all the captains onboard to start giving briefings beginning next week. I’m a little nervous.”

“You know you’ll be great,” he said. He reached out to touch her face, but she took a step back into her room. “What is it?”

“I don’t know.” She glanced down the corridor. “Come in.”
 

He stepped into her tight quarters. His stomach turned.

“Listen,” she said, grabbing his hands. She stared down as she spoke. “I think you might be too vested in this.”

Austin blinked. “In what?”

“In us.” She looked at him. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Oh.” He released her hands and stepped back. He sighed. “Just like that.”

She frowned, her brow lowering. “Don’t make this harder than it already is.”

“I wouldn’t want to make it harder than it is,” he said, his voice straining.

“Look, I’m your Captain—your CO.” She put her hands on her hips. “You can’t think we can stay together on this tour and work efficiently. And do you think command would be okay with this? What about Braddock—not to mention Horace? This isn’t going to work. You came over here tonight expecting what, Austin? Did you really think we could keep doing this?”

“Yes,” he said without delay.

She sighed. “You can’t afford to be so naive. We’re on the border. This is dangerous. You can’t keep coming over here at night, thinking we can continue being together when this is a life and death situation every day. On top of that, there could be a war starting any day now. You need to stay focused on flying, not … us.”
 

Austin sighed, shaking his head. He could not believe what he was hearing.

“After all we’ve been through,” he said, looking at her, “you should have a little more faith in me than that.”

“I’m sorry.” She sighed. “I can’t sacrifice my career for this.”
 

She shook her head, and they stood in silence for a moment.
 

“I won’t do it,” she whispered.

Austin swallowed and stared at her. She looked away from him, blinking.
 

“Okay,” he said, his voice shaking. Anger shot through his body. His hands trembled. He wanted to say something—anything—to hurt her and make her feel like he felt.

He turned away from her and opened the hatch. He faced her from the hallway, but she remained staring at the floor in her quarters.

“I came over here tonight to congratulate you on your promotion,” he said, turning to the corridor. “That’s all. Nothing else. See you around … Captain.”

He felt her eyes on him, but he walked away.
 

Austin’s shoes pounded the rubber surface of the treadmill. Sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping down his nose as he started in on the fifth mile of his workout. Music blared into his ears, propelling him to run faster. The workout mix had been the same since he played baseball in high school. It made him feel at home.

He was alone in the workout facility. After spending the morning in the UV room to grab his required minutes of Vitamin D, Austin had rushed to the gym to run. Over the past month, he had grown to love this time in the early morning. Other than the occasional officer who couldn’t sleep, it was a time when most of the other Star Runners not on duty were asleep in their racks. The only sound in the hallway was the low rumble of the
Formidable
’s engines.
 

Besides, working out helped him shake the burning images of his recurring nightmares. Most of the time, the dreams continue to focus on burning forests and the impending doom of not being able to save his mother. Once his nightmare was in the cockpit facing insurmountable odds—no matter how many pirates he shot down into the Pacific Ocean, they just kept coming. Sometimes, the dreams focused on Ryker …
 

After his workout, Austin would settle in to study the next flight plan for the day or catch up on the continued learning courses studying everything from dogfighting tactics to Legion officer etiquette.
 

His patrols commenced every other day—alternating from night and day sorties—and had been fortunately non-eventful since the first. In addition to his normal threats to stay focused and maintain professionalism in and out of the cockpit, Braddock warned daily about keeping an eye out for the ship that had attacked a generational ship from a dark world in The Fringe.
 

Jakara and her people from the
Searcher
, a generational ship from a dark world called Batral located somewhere in The Fringe, had been evacuated on board a legion medical frigate that rendezvoused with the
Formidable
the day after the incident. Austin had heard the previous generation of the Batral people had departed their planet in search of a new home due to overpopulation, limited resources and several environmental disasters.