The Crucible: Leap of Faith (10 page)

All of this was worth it, because
the goddamn rebellion threatened everyone and
everything.

A rebellion I was now determined
to crush.

No matter what it took.

I stood and turned from the
view.

My thoughts drifted towards my
father. He never approved of a goddamn thing I did.

Even when I’d received my post as
a lieutenant commander, he hadn’t batted an eyelash.

Admiral Shepherd didn’t feel
pride. For his Alliance, yes, but not for his children. Everything
my father said – everything he did – it was all for the
Alliance.

I cleared my throat and tried to
push every thought of him away.

I had bigger concerns
now.

It was time to throw myself into
the task of researching the Hari System.

Just as I rose to head to the
generous work station in the corner of my room, there was a beep
from the computer. “Incoming message.”

I frowned. “Video or
audio?”

“Both. Do you accept the
message?”

“Who’s it from?”

“Lieutenant Hargrove.”

I frowned. “Who the heck is
that?”

“He is currently in the Mari
Sector escorting an archeological dig.”

“Ah, okay, but why does he want to
speak to me?”

“Bereavement message,” the
computer replied in an emotionless tone.

I stiffened, a cold sensation
pushing down my chest. It was customary for the Commander of a
mission to personally contact the friends and family of a fallen
comrade to deliver condolences.

I’d had to do it a few times, and
it was always awful.

I took a deep breath. “Go ahead
and patch it through.”

“Have I reached Lieutenant
Commander Nathan Shepherd?” A grave voice intoned over the audio as
a hologram appeared over my workstation.

I walked towards it and nodded.
“Yes, Lieutenant, you have. Tell me who’s dead?” I demanded
immediately. I wasn’t being rude – I was saving the Lieutenant the
trouble of dancing around the subject.

“According to our records, you
knew an Ensign Weatherby,” Hargrove said through a heavy
sigh.

I stiffened, every muscle locking
in place. A cold sick feeling descended through my gut.

I pressed my lips together, took a
breath, and nodded. “Yeah, I knew Weatherby. We grew up together
and went to the Academy together. Christ… how did he
die?”

Hargrove looked away from me. It
was such a jerky move that it would be impossible not to pick it
up.

I shivered, a chill feeling
spreading up from the base of my spine.

“Weatherby,” Hargrove began, but
paused for a breath, his face crumpling with clear
anguish.

I felt my heart quicken in my
chest, its beat reverberating up my throat until I could feel it
pounding in my ears. “What happened to him?” I couldn’t keep my
voice even anymore – it felt like my throat had constricted to the
point of a pin.

The hologram of Hargrove floated
just above my desk, a few holographic controls arranged in a
half-circle just around his image.

I pushed a trembling hand towards
one, commanding the image to zoom in.

The image of Hargrove’s anguish
expanded. I could see his bloodshot eyes, the sallow skin under his
cheeks, even the crumpled frown that seemed permanently etched on
his lips.

I found myself swallowing hard.
“Lieutenant, it’s okay, just tell me.”

“We have no idea what happened to
Ensign Weatherby. He was attacked by… something.”

There was a real troubled edge to
Hargrove’s voice. It shook with such a frightened quality to it, I
felt my heartbeat double.

I let my gaze flick to the left of
Hargrove’s floating face. There, a hologram comprised of softly
scrolling blue text outlined the nature of Weatherby’s
assignment.

It looked as if he’d been on
detachment to some kind of archeological dig. They’d discovered
some old ruins on a Class G moon in the Mari Sector.

Class G.

I frowned. Class G meant the moon
was uninhabited.

“Do you mean someone killed him?”
I corrected.

“No,” Hargrove’s voice came in
bursts. I could see the sweat beading along his brow.

“…
I don’t understand.”

“Neither do we,” he stated through
a sharp breath. “Weatherby’s body… was torn to shreds,” his voice
twisted with such anguish it made me shiver.

Then I realized
what he’d just said.
“Torn to
shreds?”
I couldn’t keep my voice steady.
Nor could I stop myself from locking my now bloodless hands on the
side of the workbench and leaning in. “What the hell do you mean?
That moon is meant to be uninhabited, right?”

Hargrove nodded. “There’s no other
biological entities on this rock apart from the research team and
our detachment of military personnel.”

“So somebody from one of those
teams killed him,” I began, voice growing dark.

“No, that’s what I’m trying to
tell you. We’ve already done the autopsy report. Ensign Weatherby
was killed by… something. But it wasn’t a member of either
teams.”

“…
Then someone else landed on
that planet and killed him.”

“We had a scout ship in orbit the
whole time. Nobody else landed on that planet, Lieutenant
Commander.”

I didn’t know what to say. I
stretched back, trying to recede from this mystery. “That’s… I
don’t understand.”

“Neither do we. But we’re looking
into it. My doctor is running a full autopsy report of the Ensign’s
remains now.”

My blood chilled.
I hated the word
remains.
It reduced a human to mere flesh and blood. Or
whatever was left of it.

“My doctor has contacted the Star
Forces for further assistance in identifying the Ensign’s attacker.
I haven’t heard back from her, but—” he stopped
abruptly.

“Lieutenant?” I leaned closer to
the hologram.

He was looking away from me,
probably at some comms panel by his side. Clear confusion crossed
over his already stress-lined face. “What the hell?” he said in a
soft tone.

“What is it?” My heart kept
beating louder and louder until it felt it would drown out
everything else.

Hargrove took a moment to answer.
“It seems Star Forces Central Command are dealing with
this.”

I felt my own brow crumple. If I
didn’t feel so sick at learning of the death of my best friend, I’d
have to laugh. Star Forces Central Command dealt with high-level
command duties. It housed the Joint Admiral Committee. They dealt
with wars and threats to the Alliance.

“I… I…” Hargrove
lost his train of thought. “They’re sending a ship… Christ, they’re
sending the
Armadale.”

I couldn’t
control myself this time – I let out a choked scoff. “That’s
impossible. The
Armadale
is a strike ship. They’re currently dealing with
pirates along the Northern Advance—”

“Unless there’s a
mistake with this transmission, they’re sending the
Armadale
,” Hargrove’s
voice shook.

Why the hell would Central Command
send one of their fastest most effective strike ships to some
obscure archeological dig?

Ensign Weatherby had been one of
my best friends. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of months, sure, but
we always kept in contact. His death was crushing. But this – this
didn’t make any sense.

I passed a hand over my face,
burying it into my palm momentarily.

“Shit,” Hargrove swore
softly.

I dropped the hand.

Hargrove’s brown skin had paled,
his bloodshot eyes more pronounced than ever.

“What is it?” I asked.

“They don’t want me to make
contact with anyone regarding this situation. I didn’t get this
message in time—”

“Relax, Lieutenant. I can confirm
you didn’t receive that communique until after you contacted me,” I
said before digesting exactly what he’d said.

…
Central Command didn’t want
information about this incident to spread?

There were several possible
reasons for a total communications blackout, but I couldn’t think
of a good one that would apply now.

Hargrove looked even more
destroyed than when he’d begun the conversation. He kept glancing
back at the screen to his left, as if he couldn’t believe what he
was reading.

I couldn’t believe it
either.

“I could lose my command for
this.” He planted a hand on his brow, his fingers drawing hard
against his hair.

“No you couldn’t. You did not
receive your orders before you put in this call. Plus, you have my
assurance that I will treat this information as secret, and will
not speak of it. I will abide by the same blackout orders you have
received.”

“This came directly from the Joint
Committee,” Hargrove said with a trembling voice.

My mouth opened.

I wanted to point out he had to be
wrong. But unless this was all some kind of elaborate joke,
Hargrove was telling the truth. He wouldn’t have achieved the
position of lieutenant if he’d been incapable of reading
communiques.

…
Which meant everything he’d just
told me was true.

We stared at each other for a few
more shocked seconds.

“Should I admit to Central Command
that I’ve already contacted you?” Hargrove asked.

It wasn’t a question he should be
asking. It only had one possible answer.

Yes.

But I didn’t snap at him. I could
sympathize with his pain and confusion, even if it meant I had to
push mine back momentarily. “Yes, Lieutenant, let them know. I will
also submit a report detailing that you are not at fault, and that
I will abide by the blackout. Have you contacted anyone
else?”

“No. Just you. I was going to
leave his family to last. I figured it would be easier to start
with a fellow Star Forces officer.” Hargrove took a stiff breath
and closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them again,
he appeared to have regained a modicum of control. “Thank you,
sir.”

I nodded my head low. “Good… luck,
Lieutenant,” I managed. Though I’d intended my words to be
encouraging, my voice faltered.

Hargrove snapped a salute and
ended the transmission.

That left me alone in my room
reeling.

Max Weatherby was dead.

…
We’d grown up together, and he’d
always been there – a voice of reason whenever my father’s imperial
fervor drove me to the edge.

Sure, we weren’t as close as we
once were, but that didn’t matter.

This still hurt like hell. This
still felt as if someone had driven a knife right through my
chest.

I stood there for a few minutes
with my hands clasped around the edges of the bench. My fingers
were painfully stiff, and I watched as they drained to the color of
bleached bone.

Finally I pushed myself
away.

I staggered, legs like
water.

Grasping a hand over my mouth, I
took a breath, letting it hiss between my fingers.

I made it to my bed and sat
down.

Max was dead, and there wasn’t a
damn person I could tell about it. By the sounds of Hargrove’s
transmission, even Weatherby’s parents wouldn’t be finding out any
time soon.

A sense of loss swelled through my
stomach, feeling as if it would make the rest of me shrivel and
disappear.

Then, at the edge of my grief, the
questions started to build.

What the hell had killed Max? And
why was Central Command getting involved? It had to be something
big – something massive to draw their attention.

They were sending
the
Armadale
too….
She was the kind of ship you sent in to make sorties behind enemy
lines.

I locked a hand on my jaw and
drove my fingers so hard into the skin it was a surprise I didn’t
pluck it off.

Angling my head
towards the window, I realized the
Ra’xon
had already left the station
far behind. In fact, somewhere during my conversation with
Hargrove, we’d jumped to beyond-light-speed. Slices of white light
spun past the window, turning to every color of the spectrum as
they disappeared.

…
I couldn’t stare at the view
forever.

Instead I closed my
eyes.

I’d lost my best friend and my
ship in 24 hours. What would I lose tomorrow?

Chapter 6

Research Dig, Mari
Sector

Research Manager Amy Lee had no
idea what was going on. Ever since they’d found the shredded
remains of Ensign Weatherby’s body, all hell had broken
lose.