Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

“We should go check this out,” Smith suggested.

“I think that’s a good idea,” I said.

I was already slightly worried about fuel since the ship needed such a large amount, but I knew it was important everyone at least know the basics of how to get it moving, and how to steer it. Nobody would get an extended amount of practice, just enough to be able to get out of danger if necessary.

However, that now depended on what was going on with the fuel.

The girls, the SEALs, and I made our way down to the lower level of the boat so we could get a look at the fuel system. On the way there, we passed some Navy guys and civilians cleaning up the deck of the ship. It was a bloody mess, and I knew it would probably take all day to get it looking decent.

Once we got down to the fuel system, Pike and Smith started to look around, though I wasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for. We were surrounded by plasma weapons and tanks, which only reminded me that we needed to tally them up before day’s end as well.

“What’s going on?” I asked after a minute. “Do you see any leaks?”

“No leaks.” Pike shook his head and crouched down by a large pipe. “I think I know what’s going on, though.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Come look,” he said, and he pointed to one of the large tanks near him.

I walked over and crouched down next to him. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, but then I saw it. The pipe he was looking at was connected to the large tanks of plasma fluid.

“They rigged the ship to run off plasma?” I asked with narrowed eyes as I continued to inspect the setup.

“It looks like it.” Pike nodded.

“The stuff is highly combustible,” Smith said. “And those NKs are assholes, but they’re not stupid. I mean, the plasma weapons they’ve built are incredible. I’m not surprised they’d be able to do something like this.”

“You’re right,” I agreed, and a smile came over my face as I realized something. “That’s great for us, though.”

“Why’s that?” Bailey asked.

“Fuel,” Anna and I said at the same time.

“Right,” I chuckled. “We have enough plasma liquid to last a long time here. And once this war is over, engines powered by plasma can help us rebuild fast.”

“And besides, it doesn’t seem to use a lot of it,” Paige said. “The tanks are nearly full still, and they’ve probably come all the way from the west coast.”

“We’ll keep an eye on them while we do our practice runs today,” I said. “I’m sure the ship uses more than our weapons, but there should still be more than plenty.”

“Soooo, does this mean I can drive the ship now?” Tara asked with a grin.

“I suppose so,” I laughed. “Let’s go.”

I felt relieved as we made our way back up to the command center. I’d been concerned about the ship using up all our fuel if we needed to take it on a lengthy journey, which might be the case considering we would be heading down to Georgia as soon as we took out these Boston assholes. Now, we didn’t have to worry about running out of fuel anytime soon.

Using the plasma to run the ship would cost us a small amount that could be used for other purposes, but it was worth it in the long run. The faster we could get down to Georgia, the better.

Once we’d taken care of that, it was time to actually get the training started. Tara insisted on being first, of course.

“Sit here,” Pike instructed her.

Tara eagerly sat down, then she looked around, clearly confused as to where the steering wheel was.

“Um, excuse me,” she said in her best sweet voice. “But there’s no steering wheel thingy here. You know, the ones you see on ships in movies and stuff. Like Pirates of the Caribbean, have you ever seen that? You know what I’m talking about?”

While she talked she held her hands up and acted as if she were steering and spinning an imaginary wheel in front of her.

“I do,” Pike laughed. “But no, there’s no wheel like that here. It’s that joystick in front of you.”

Tara looked at the joystick used to control the rudder, and her face fell flat. She was thoroughly unimpressed.

“Hmm,” she said, and she pursed her lips. “Not ideal, but alright.”

The girls and I couldn’t help but snicker at her disappointment, but then she shot us a death glare that quickly quieted us down.

The navy guys walked us through everything very slowly, and eventually, Tara got her chance to steer. They had her push all the correct buttons to get the ship moving and let her go a few hundred yards before telling her good job and moving on to the next.

The platinum-blonde didn’t seem as disappointed to get out of the Captain’s seat as I thought she’d be. After she’d realized there wasn’t a wheel I think she’d lost interest. We each took our turn to navigate the ship for a few minutes, and once I was confident that everybody knew all the basics, I grabbed Paige and Minji and headed down to the supply room to take inventory.

I was eager to get a tally of all the supplies we’d gained. Once we knew exactly what we had, we’d be better able to formulate a plan of attack using their own weapons against them.

On the way there, though, I decided to take us by the Captain’s quarters.

“Where are we going?” Paige asked when I made a left hand turn into the barracks.

“I want to see if the Captain has anything important in his room,” I explained. “I figured Minji would be