Countdown by John Walker (feel good fiction books txt) 📗

Justin do it. He’s got plenty of combat experience, and he’s been seconding you anyway. I’d put him in charge. And you’ll still be guiding them. You’ll just have the opportunity to do it without being directly shot at yourself.”

“He’s a good call.” Nina’s shoulders finally slumped as she stared at the floor. “I know I don’t really have time to think about this. I’m going to accept. I’ll do it, sir. I’m assuming you need me to jump right in?”

“Sooner the better.” Noah motioned at the door. “When you’re ready, head up to the bridge. We’ll fill you in on everything happening. You can brief the pilots, let Justin know, then we’re pretty much on our way. Right now, we’re waiting the go ahead to travel to ervas space. Our fleet’s going to meet us on the border. Lots to do, Nina.”

“I won’t let you down, sir.”

“I know.” Noah clapped her shoulder. “See you later. Thanks again.” He headed up to the bridge, logging into his terminal right away. It took a moment to update Nina’s status while also transferring Jack off the ship. Once the administration part was done, he turned to Erica and Dorian. “Jack’s on his way home. I’ve assigned Nina to take his place.”

“What?” Erica looked over her shoulder with raised brows. “Wow.”

“What’s wrong?” Noah asked.

“Just… surprised, I guess. She was pretty outspoken at the meeting.”

“That’s why I picked her. She’s got the nerve to tell me how it is when necessary. I need a partner more than a parrot. Anyway, don’t you like her?”

“Yeah, I like her fine. She’s cool.” Erica shrugged. “I just didn’t expect it. That’s all.”

“Who did you have in mind?”

Erica shook her head. “No one. I don’t get paid enough to even think about that stuff.”

Noah chuckled. “Dorian, you’re quiet. What’re your thoughts?”

“Who takes over for her?”

“Justin.”

“I like it. I’ll do my best to help her get caught up and acclimated.”

“This is definitely the crucible,” Noah said. “We’ll be going into battle soon. I’m keeping her duties focused. She’s got fighters and coordination with some of the other departments. Figure out what you absolutely must hand off and make that the priority. Otherwise, we’ll divvy it up.” He leaned back. “Otherwise, we’re playing the waiting game.”

I don’t think it’ll be much longer though. And when we get word, the next steps will come quickly. Noah appreciated the time to prepare but he looked forward to knowing the outcome. It’ll happen soon enough. Best to let it go in its own time. Which was really easier said than done but then, there wasn’t much of a choice either way.

***

“Sir!” Daisy shouted, startling Sasha to look in her direction. “Sir, the second ship just performed a microjump! They’re directly behind us on the other end of this asteroid field. Weapons are powering up right now!”

“Are their shields still damaged?” Sasha asked. “Get me some information.” They couldn’t spin back around just then. Not with all the rocks floating about in the way. He needed another few moments to break free of the obstacles so they could address the other vessel. I can’t believe they had the nerve to try that.

Throughout their confrontations with the ervas, they rarely performed risky hyperspace jumps. That seemed to be the purview of human commanders. The Confeds were willing to do it all the damn time. Those Gold Empire officers who came from their ranks also had no qualms pushing ships to the limit like that.

Sasha himself had only done it once. The act scared the piss out of him, and he refused to try it again unless it became absolutely necessary. What would push him that far, he had no idea. Perhaps the threat of total annihilation but if that was the case, he doubted he’d have time for the calculations.

I barely am going to have the time to do a proper jump in a few minutes.

“They are still damaged,” Daisy said. “But their weapons appear to be at full power.”

“How long before we depart the field?” Sasha asked.

“Two minutes. We’ll be in range of their weapons in one.”

One minute of attacks to our rear. Exactly what we prevented the other ship from doing. Good job, you assholes. I have to hand this one to you. I’m impressed.

“Can they get the damn thing off of us?” Sasha needed that device gone. They couldn’t jump from the asteroid field but once they cleared it, they’d have the opportunity to break and run. The ship waiting for them could not keep up. They’d have three or four volleys at the most before they’d be out of range.

Unfortunately, that means putting our ass to them a second time. Dammit! The odds felt like they were in his favor. Two enemy ships, one damaged, the other occupied, gave him some space to maneuver. But eventually, he’d find himself fighting both. Destroying them quickly seemed unlikely, making a head to head battle impractical.

“Engineering is cutting through it now,” Daisy said. “It is superheated. They’re having a hard time getting close to it. The radiation is serious. It’s giving off quite a bit.”

“Are our hazard suits sufficient?”

“Affirmative, but only just. They probably won’t be any good when they’re done. They’ll definitely have to detox when this is all over. Possibly for a while though medical is only speculating on that right now.”

Perfect. On top of everything else, my people are being poisoned by the damn thing. And it’s not even a type of radiation we’re familiar with. Alien crap. Sasha sighed, rubbing his eyes. I wonder if they have more of these. I’m sure they do. That means they can infect other vessels. I have to get this information back to the fleet.

The intelligence they put together may well be the key to winning the war… or at