Star Runners: Mission Wraith (#3) (16 page)

The room shifted again as the Star Runners looked around. This time, however, there were no conversations. Only silence.
 

“We will be patrolling this area until the
Ramelle
can be resupplied,” Braddock said. “There are no other available carriers and command believes it is worth the risk. I want you all spending double sim time until further notice—but I want it done without your sensors. We’re doing this old school, people, like in the days when Star Runners had to actually use their eyes and gamma waves in a scrap. We’ve become too dependent on our technology. We’ve become lazy. I want us talking out there to each other, watching each other’s back. Understood?”

The Star Runners nodded and leaned forward in unison.
 

“Those who have a standard flight briefing can stay,” Braddock said, scooping up his tablet from the table and shifting the lights back on in the room. “The rest of you are dismissed.”

The room came to life. Bear leaned over, shaking his head.
 

“Was that supposed to make us feel better?”

Austin shrugged. “I suppose so.”

Bear snorted. “I think I liked the idea of a spirit ship better.”

“You staying?” Curly asked, peeking over Bear’s broad shoulder.
 

“I am,” Austin said with a nod. “I’m flying patrol this morning.”

“Be careful,” Bear said, his face full of mischief. “I hear there’s a ghost ship out there looking for you.”

*****

Something watched him from the blackness.
 

He felt it in every movement, every course correction.
 

The
Wraith
was out there.
 

Looping into the final leg of his patrol, Austin eased back into the seat and noticed the sweat in his flight suit. He surveyed his sensors for the countless time in the past two hours. Nothing again.
 
Besides, it wouldn’t matter since the
Wraith
was invisible and impervious to the stunner.
 

Other patrols had been sent off in different directions in the space around
Ramelle
. The
Formidable
orbited the science station in an apparent effort not to provide a stationary target for the mysterious ship. The destruction of the four Tridents and recovery of one Star Runner had changed everything. Life on the carrier ceased to be full of wonder and awe. A silent fear replaced the camaraderie on board. Whether or not the Star Runners would speak about it to one another, a feeling of dread hung over the ship like a deadly gas. Knowing the
Wraith
was out there, and the
Formidable
was alone in the darkness of deep space along the border, caused a feeling of isolation Austin hadn’t experienced on the carrier since he arrived. He had heard about the solitary months of patrol on the Legion carrier, even thought he was ready for the life. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
 

The sound of the Star Runner’s screams from sick bay filled his mind again.
 

He shook away the thought. Austin had seen enough wounded men and women since he graduated flight school. The nightmares were an apparent side effect. When he closed his eyes, he saw the cots lining the freighter on Atlantis. He felt Josh’s terror seeping through his quarters following the battle. Captivity and torture had crushed his best friend.

The scope pinged, ripping him back to the present.
 

Focus, he thought. You don’t need to be caught sleeping out here.
 

Sketch pulled in close off his starboard wing. They patrolled in radio silence, communicating only through the text of the Whisper. Although he had known Martin “Sketch” Bolin since the early days of flight school, Austin had never flown alone with him. Martin always exuded a silent confidence, and Austin was surprised to find his presence a comfort on this lonely patrol.
 

The final leg was just as uneventful as the first. A stray memory clicked of Lieutenant Bean warning him of life on a carrier in the depths of space when they met on Austin’s first flight home before the Battle of Atlantis. Of course, everyone had said that and Austin still wanted to come.
 

He closed on the
Formidable
and passed the perimeter line.
 

“Nest, Rock,” he transmitted. “Lining up for our approach.”
 

“This is Nest,” the message came back through a hiss of static and pops. “Approach pattern being transmitted now. Welcome home.”
 

“Copy.” Austin glanced over his shoulder, saw the familiar shape of the Trident. “You with me, Sketch?”

“Lead the way, Rock.”

“You got it.”
 

Austin led the Trident through the sensor beacons flashing on his HUD. The
Formidable
soon dominated his view as he approached the aft section of the ship. The engines burned blue. Two Tridents shot out of the launch tubes. Austin glanced at his sensors, saw Gan and Bear had started on their patrol.
 

“Good hunting, guys,” he said under his breath without transmitting. “Be careful.”
 

He brought the Trident into the carrier’s bay. Sketch followed behind him in a smooth formation. Both fighters nestled to a stop on the hangar deck. Austin rolled his head around and closed his eyes. His muscles were stiff from the hours of patrol, and the inside of his flight suit felt slippery with perspiration. Opening his eyes, he watched the hangar doors slowly close.
 

The crews appeared once the atmosphere had normalized within the hangar, rushing toward the spacecraft. Austin cracked open the canopy, the hydraulics hissings as he did so. The crew pushed a ladder toward the edge of his fighter as Austin stood in the cockpit and stretched. To his right, Sketch gave a thumbs up from his cockpit. Austin returned the gesture and climbed down the ladder, his joints popping with each step.
 

After nodding to the crew now swarming over the parked Tridents, Austin ducked into the Star Runners’ locker room. Even with all of the technology surrounding him every day, the musty smell of the room gave off the same odor of sweat and well-worn, unwashed socks as the locker room in his high school. He slipped out of his flight suit, showered and put on his Tizona one-piece uniform.
 

“Crazy out there, huh?”
 

Austin glanced at Martin, who dressed several lockers down the line. “Not much going on today.”
 

“True, but knowing that thing’s out there … and this Tulin guy.”

Austin shrugged. “This Tulin has been able to orchestrate an alliance with pirates and indirectly lead an attack on my home world. He’s probably the one who hacked the science station and stole files on all of us.”

Martin paused, his large brown eyes studying Austin for a moment. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“What’s that?”

“I heard your family was attacked before you made it back to Atlantis.”
 

Austin exhaled slowly. “Yeah. We all made it.”

“Still, must have been hard.”
 

“It has been.” Austin chewed on his bottom lip. “Hey man, have you heard anything about the ship’s counselor?”

Martin frowned. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Austin shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “Just curious.”

“Oh. I’m sure they could help with, well, anything you need.”
 

Austin grabbed his tablet and shut his locker. He thought of Tulin, of Dax Rodon, of the creeping feeling he had been out of control of his life over the past year. “I’m just ready to start hitting back, you know?”
 

Sketch grinned. “I hear ya.”

The lights flickered and shifted from a cool white to blood red. The high-pitched pinging of the
Formidable
being placed on alert status filled the air.
 

“Drill?” Sketch asked, yelling over the noise.

“Doubt it. Come on!”

Austin hurried toward the Star Runners’ ready room adjacent to the lockers. The cold blue room filled with Star Runners, some off duty while others wore flight suits, crowding around the holographic board in the center of the room. The board glowed. Two seconds later, the image of the
Formidable
appeared about the size of a pen at one end of the board.
 

“What’s going on?” Brenda “Hyena” Foster of Tizona asked as she pressed against Austin’s shoulder, trying hard for a view of the board.

Austin gritted his teeth. Hyena had been one of the quiet members of Tizona, so quiet Austin had never had a full conversation with her and had only seen her called on a few times in class. In the past month, however, she had shown more personality, and her cold, shy exterior had started to thaw.
 

“The ship status has been placed on alert,” he said.
 

The Star Runners pressing around the board parted to make way for Captain Lo Talad of the Lobera Squadron. His close-set black eyes focused on the holographic board.
 

“Everyone quiet,” he said, his voice calm and confident. “Fish, activate the gamma wave.”

“Copy,” said Lieutenant Kason “Fish” Tark.

Other than the replacements fresh out of the academy, the
 
rest of the Twelfth Lobera on board the
Formidable
had been through two full tours together and were starting on their third. Captain Talad had led them all. As a result, the veteran Lobera Star Runners showed Talad a measure of respect Austin found contagious.
 

The speakers around the holographic board hissed. The voices sizzled through the crackling transmission.
 

“They’re right on me, Bear!” Gan’s voice screeched. “I can’t see them!”

Austin’s stomach dropped. He heard the fear in Gan’s voice. The holographic board shifted away from the carrier and centered on two Tridents at the edge of their range. Nothing else appeared on the hologram.
 

“Cut back, Toad!” Bear snapped. “I can’t get a shot!”

“My rear shields are gone!”

“Cut back! He’s too fast!” Bear yelled. “I’ve lost him! Pull back, Toad! Pull back!”

The two Tridents banked and looped, spinning through space. Still, they were the only two signals in the area. Whatever was attacking them couldn’t be picked up on the sensors. Austin swallowed, forcing acid back down into his gut.
 

“I can’t! I—”

Gan’s Trident disappeared from the hologram.
 

“No,” Austin whispered.
 

“Damn it!” Bear yelled, unleashing unnatural fury into the microphone. “Nest, Bear. We’ve got a problem. Need all available support ASAP.”

“Bear, Nest. Launching alert fighters now. Head back immediately.”

Curly pressed through the crowd of Star Runners and nestled up against Austin, her blue eyes wide. She folded her arms across her chest as if she hugged herself, her chin trembling. Austin draped his arm on her shoulder, squeezing softly. He tried to ignore the thought of Gan being killed and hoped an escape pod beacon would appear on the screen.
 

“It’s too late. Shields are failing,” Bear said, his voice training. “I’m punching out.”
 

A smaller signal separated from the Trident image on the holographic board, Bear’s escape pod shooting off toward deep space. A second later, the Trident disappeared and left nothing else on the board. If Gan was able to eject in time, his transponder on the pod wasn’t working. But Austin knew better.

The Star Runners stood in silence, their eyes fixated on the space. The view shifted back to the
Formidable
.
 

“Alert fighters launched,” the Tower announced. Four Tridents emerged from the launch tubes. “Launching Kardas to begin rescue operations.”

“Show’s over,” Captain Talad announced as if they had just finished watching a sporting event. “You all have work to do. Get to it.”
 

The Star Runners slowly dispersed. Curly glanced at Austin, her head shaking. She held his gaze for a moment before leaving the room. Austin lingered at the edge of the holographic board for a long moment, watching the Kardas and Tridents head toward Bear’s escape pod and the debris field that used to be his friend Gan.
 

*****

Mom twisted and writhed in agony as the flames enveloped her, igniting her clothing in a lethal dance of fire and light. Burning embers floated and withered to ash as they hit the pine straw. Austin reached for her, his arms moving in slow motion. His feet wouldn’t move as if concrete encased them. He screamed for her, but the smoke filled his throat. Mom melted into the flames. The fire was igniting his legs. He rolled away from the inferno and into the darkness, the only place where there was safety.

But the ground disappeared beneath him. He fell through space and the scene changed to a rocky beachside cliff. He continued to fall. He could feel he was getting closer to the rocks below.

Closer. Oh God.

Closer. He was going to die.

Closer. This is it!

He jolted, droplets of sweat rolling down his forehead as he sat forward. The air left his lungs as he inhaled slowly and propped himself up on the bed in his quarters. It took a moment for the fires to dissipate from his mind. He rubbed at his face.
 

Glancing at the clock, he saw he’d managed three hours of sleep. Not bad—more hours than he had slept in one stretch for the past two weeks.
 

Smack.
 

He frowned. The noise came from the hatch to his quarters. Sliding off the cot, he shuffled over to the hatch. The floor was cold. He pulled the hatch back.
 

“Major Braddock?” He snapped to attention, blinking the sleep from his eyes.
 

“At ease, Lieutenant.” Braddock glanced at the sweat stains on Austin’s shirt. “Are you all right, son?”

Blood rushed to his face. “Yes, sir. Are you?”

“Something’s happened. Do you have a moment?”