The Crucible- The Complete Series

by Odette C. Bell

  Now I wasn’t, I had to decide what to do with her on my own.

  Williams walked in, her stride and stance strong. She stopped just before my desk, clasped her hands behind her back, and nodded low. “You wanted to see me, sir?”

  “There’s no need for formalities,” I began.

  She held my gaze for a few seconds. “Are you sure about that? Aren’t you about to remand me to the brig?”

  I didn’t reply immediately. To be honest, I still didn’t know what I was going to do.

  “It’s okay, sir, I realize I stepped out of line. But I also know that I saved this ship. Without Alyssa, that elite forces soldier would have torn through the Ra’xon. And I wasn’t going to go back,” she suddenly said through a clenched jaw, any semblance of emotional composure fracturing.

  Now I had no option but to look at her. I also swallowed.

  “But you do what you need to,” she continued, smoothing a falsely calm smile onto her face.

  I nodded. “I’ll be honest with you, Lieutenant, I still don’t know what I should do. I appreciate that your decision may have saved this vessel, but it was still out of line. Who knows what…” I trailed off. I couldn’t finish that sentence, not because I couldn’t find the words, but because the very thought behind it kept shifting and twisting like smoke.

  She watched me carefully. “I thought you trusted her?” There was a real edge behind Williams’ gaze.

  “Trust her,” I repeated in a far-off tone, then I shook my head, “I don’t know her,” I said seriously, ashamed of the slight hint of weakness in my tone. But it was true – I didn’t know Alyssa Nightingale. Sure, I’d tried to get to know her, and I’d seen that footage. But what did that really amount to? Did I know her character? How she thought? What she really wanted?

  “If you don’t trust her, why do you trust me? Or have you stopped trusting me?” Williams said as she locked me in a determined glare.

  My brow compressed hard over my eyes. Where was she going with this?

  “You don’t understand, Nathan, and you never will.”

  “… Don’t understand what?”

  “What it was like,” her voice cracked with frustration and exasperation, “what it was like to go through that program. You think Alyssa is going to threaten this ship? You think she’s some kind of spy for the Star Forces?” As Annabelle continued to speak, her voice became more and more broken, as if it could shatter completely.

  “No, I don’t think she’s a spy for the Star Forces.”

  “But?” her snapped word rang through the room.

  For some reason I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. I wasn’t scared Williams would attack me with her power. Just the truth.

  I hadn’t had the time to process my feelings over what was happening. I still didn’t know enough about telekinetic warriors, and Alyssa especially, to perceive the situation for what it was.

  “What are you going to do with us, Nathan? Throw us away? Kill us?”

  “What?” It was my turn for my voice to crack with exasperation. “Of course I don’t think like that. Williams, this is a security decision. We don’t know—”

  “Why don’t you ask her?” her voice shook. “Rather than lock her up in the med bay, ask her what she wants. If she’s anything like me – and I know she is – the only goal she has is to destroy the Farsight Program. To stop this from happening to anybody else.”

  Annabelle’s emotional barrage was leaving me reeling. It took a lot of control not to recoil back towards the window. There was so much intensity, not just behind her words, but behind her piercing gaze, that I felt exposed.

  I swallowed and tried to think.

  Williams kept on glaring at me. “I thought you would be different, Nathan,” she spat, “I thought you would understand.”

  “… I do understand,” I tried.

  “So why have you stuck her in the med bay behind that shield? You do realize it won’t stop her, right?”

  I swallowed again, the move so rigid it felt as if my neck would crack.

  “Locking her up doesn’t do anything but send her a message that we don’t trust her. You seem unwilling to sedate her anymore, but why not let her out?”

  My gaze had drifted towards the desk, but finally I let it snap up. “This situation is impossible,” I suddenly admitted, voice cracking with real emotion. “I have no idea how to deal with… with… your kind.”

  Williams didn’t say a word.

  Here I was, in command of the Ra’xon, and I couldn’t even hold my own in an argument.

  Then again, I wasn’t sure I wanted to win this one.

  Maybe Williams’ words were timely. Maybe I did need to revisit locking Alyssa away. But what else could I do? She had already proven that she was far, far too powerful. She could tear through half this ship before we’d be able to stop her. And yet the idea of sedating her again… it wasn’t right. It made me recoil.

  Maybe my thoughts played across my face, because just for an instant Annabelle’s expression softened. “Let her out,” she said softly, “invite her to the table. You’re treating her like she’s some kind of liability, but don’t you realize she could be the greatest asset the resistance has?”

  … I didn’t know what to say. Worse, I didn’t know what I should be thinking. I couldn’t come up with a clear directive. There didn’t seem to be one right path going forward. As the newest commander of the Ra’xon I had a duty to my crew, and yet I couldn’t turn a blind eye to Alyssa’s suffering, could I?

  A few seconds passed in silence, then Alyssa took a quick step towards my desk. The anger that had once been plastered over her face melted away. She looked at me and I saw my old friend from the Academy. “Nathan, do what’s right. You don’t need to think about anything else – just do what’s right.”

  I held her gaze. I wouldn’t have been able to turn away for the world.

  Then finally, finally I closed my eyes and nodded. Then I winced.

  Williams saw it. “… You’re scared, aren’t you?”

  “Sorry?” My eyebrows peaked together in confusion.

  “You’re scared of her.”

  “She is powerful,” I began.

  “You know that’s not what I mean. You’re scared to face her again after everything that happened.”

  Her words punched straight to my gut.

  Annabelle walked forward then leaned a hand down and locked it on the desk as she stared across at me. “You’re not a coward, Nathan.”

  I twitched.

  Was I scared to face Alyssa after everything that had happened? Yes. This mess of emotions in my gut wouldn’t be quelled. The guilt and hope condensed into one immovable lump that sat lodged in the center of my chest.

  I wasn’t fearful that Alyssa would attack me, just judge me, judge me for being too weak. Judge me that I hadn’t realized what F’val wanted sooner. And even then, when I’d decided to break Alyssa out, I hadn’t gone on to stop the Captain from sedating her.

  I didn’t… know what she’d think about me. And I didn’t want to know.

  I felt my teeth clench together and the tension shift deep into my chest.

  Annabelle didn’t look away. She held my gaze with all the strength of someone lifting up a planet.

  Finally I stood back, closed my eyes, and nodded. “Go talk to her.”

  Alyssa stepped back and nodded herself. Then she offered me a brief flash of a smile. “Did you ever think we’d be here?”

  One of my eyebrows flattened as the other kicked up in an arch. “Sorry?”

  “When we graduated from the Academy, did you think this would happen to us?”

  I took a second then laughed. “I can’t say I imagined spearheading a resistance against the Alliance and my father, no,” I admitted softly.

  “But you’re the youngest ever commander of a flagship,” she pointed out with a soft smile.

  A smile spread across my lips too. Then I nodded. “I guess I am.
But only for a few hours until the Captain gets back on her feet.”

  “Take every victory you can,” Williams advised as she turned and walked out.

  Her words echoed in my head.

  Then I did it. I left my office and headed to the med bay.

  I wasn’t ashamed to admit I felt fear churning through my gut as I walked through the corridors.

  What would she think?

  What would Alyssa Nightingale think of everything I’d done and everything I’d failed to do?

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I was back in the med bay. Back behind the level 10 shields.

  But I hadn’t been sedated.

  I was also back on my feet, quite literally as I paced from one end of my small shielded cell to the other.

  At any moment I could have activated my implants and torn the shields from the wall.

  I didn’t.

  Williams had come to see me a couple of times. She kept telling me not to give up hope on the resistance. She kept begging me to help them.

  As I strode back and forth, hands locked behind my back, her words echoed in my mind.

  To her, I held the key to the resistance defeating the Alliance.

  I wanted to tell myself that that was simply wishful thinking. That, in all likelihood, I would never be more than a liability. If I ran out of compound 78, I would wreak untold havoc.

  And yet… and yet, maybe she was right. I’d helped save the Ra’xon from that EF soldier. Maybe I could do more?

  I stopped, drawing my hands up. I opened my fingers and stared at my palms.

  I locked my gaze on every whorl and indent, following the lines down until I stared at my wrists. Then, one by one, my eyes darted from elbow to elbow.

  My implants. The source of my power.

  They couldn’t be removed. They could protect themselves, even when I was unconscious. Only Professor Axis had the technology to extract them, and he never would.

  Williams’ words kept echoing in my mind.

  Make a difference. Make a difference.

  I even parted my lips and prepared to whisper them.

  That’s when I heard someone behind me. Heavy footfall coming to a rest in front of my shields. Whoever it was cleared their throat.

  I turned.

  I froze.

  It was Shepherd.

  For a man who usually wore a confident and easy expression, he now looked fragile, as if he had no idea what would happen next.

  With my hands still clasped behind my back and my head on an angle as I looked at him, I felt my heart flutter in my chest.

  He cleared his throat again, and opened his mouth. But he paused, as if his words escaped him.

  I should have turned to face him in full, but couldn’t. That flighty feeling of nerves erupting through my chest told me all I wanted to do was hide.

  I cleared my throat, and he did the same thing at the exact same moment.

  Then his gaze dropped to the floor as he took a breath. “I’m sorry,” he managed.

  My lips pressed together as my brow crumpled over my eyes. “… About what?”

  He wouldn’t look at me. Instead he locked his gaze on the corner of my shield. “Everything.”

  “You don’t need to be sorry for what the Star Forces did to me,” I said seriously.

  “Not that.” He shook his head, the move quick and erratic. “For not understanding what F’val was doing until it was too late. For suspecting you could be a spy. For…” he trailed off.

  “Lieutenant Commander, if you hadn’t rescued me from F’val’s ship, I would be as good as dead now. You have nothing to apologize for.”

  “I put you behind that shield,” he suddenly admitted, gaze flashing up towards me.

  I stared at him. It would have been easy to look away, and yet something… something stopped me from doing that.

  “Alyssa, I’m… lost. I have no idea what we’re facing. I….”

  “You’re doing it by the book, Lieutenant Commander. You don’t know what my intentions are and you don’t truly understand my power. So you’re containing me, as per operational recommendations.”

  He smiled, but it was a stiff move that only accentuated the tight muscles along his neck. He brought up a hand and pressed it over his eyes, drawing the fingers in until they pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re in the resistance now. We don’t need to repeat the Star Forces’ line. Jenks, I mean Alyssa, I’m sorry I put you behind that shield. I just didn’t know what else to do.”

  I nodded. It took a long while, but soon enough I encouraged my stiff muscles to move. Then I looked at him. I saw past the confident face and looked at the man beyond.

  He appeared to become uncomfortable at the intensity of my gaze, but did not step back. “Alyssa, I’m sorry. I know that sounds like a feeble thing to say, but I am. And I know all you want me to do is turn off the shields, but…” he trailed off.

  “But you want an assurance from me that I will not attack the Ra’xon?”

  He nodded.

  “You want to know how far I’ll take my fight against the Star Forces?”

  He nodded again.

  “You want to know what I really want?”

  He paused, then nodded. He looked up at me, eyes opening wide with attention.

  It was my turn to recoil back. It was my turn to think.

  What, in all honesty, did I want? Just revenge? Did I simply want to wipe the Farsight Program from existence and make Professor Axis pay for his crimes?

  Or was there something else I needed?

  … To be part of something bigger?

  For all my life I hadn’t understood that feeling – the feeling I’d experienced on the bridge of the Ra’xon as we took off from the resistance base. The immense feeling of connection when you worked with others for a greater goal.

  I was aware of the fact Shepherd was staring at me intently.

  “I just need to know… I need to know you….” Whatever he wanted to say, it was clear he couldn’t form the words.

  I could. I lifted my chin and looked at him directly. “I’ll join the resistance. But I won’t follow just anybody’s orders. I refuse to be used as a weapon, even against the Star Forces. I don’t want this to be about revenge,” my voice broke on the word revenge, “I want it to be about creating something better.” I stopped abruptly as I realized what I’d just said. To think, I wouldn’t have been able to even form that concept several weeks ago. Back then, my whole life had been about surviving.

  Now, if I was lucky, I would gain a sense of purpose.

  It took Shepherd a long time to react. Slowly he shook his head. “Then you have my word, Ensign Nightingale, that together we will create something better.”

  It was an odd way to phrase it. I assumed he’d promise that the resistance would only dedicate themselves to the betterment of the galaxy. He didn’t. And maybe he couldn’t.

  But he could promise me how he felt.

  I found myself nodding.

  Before I even knew what he was doing, he turned sharply on his heel, walked across to the shield console, and a second later, the level 10 force fields blinked off.

  I stood there.

  He smiled softly. “The door is open, Alyssa. You can walk out now.”

  I glanced at him, glanced around the med bay, and then did as he said and walked into the center of the room.

  He watched me, watched every movement. I can’t say there was a sense of wariness behind his gaze, just attentiveness.

  “So what now?” I asked slowly.

  It took him a while to answer. His gaze drifted from me until it locked on the door. “Now we figure out how to take back the galaxy.”

  “It won’t be easy,” I cautioned.

  He smiled, and it was such a pleasant engaging experience to watch the move bloom over his lips. “No, you’re right – it won’t be easy. Nothing ever is.”

  …

  Mari Sector, dig site

/>   All progress had stopped.

  They couldn’t make it through the wall.

  Imposing, massive, and daunting, there seemed to be no technology in this galaxy that could punch its way through that thick, thick metal.

  They kept trying. The Star Forces, it seemed, were obsessed with getting inside. No matter the costs.

  And the costs were numerous.

  Despite the fact a full team of elite forces soldiers had been dispatched to protect the dig site, accidents kept happening.

  People kept dying. Mangled bodies appearing in the damp dust of the moon’s surface.

  But the dig would not be stopped.

  And yet, at the same time, it could not continue until they found a way to make it through that wall.

  That way was Alyssa Nightingale, Professor Axis was sure of it.

  But Alyssa had flown the coop. Not for long. The Star Forces had bent there will to recapturing her. For without her, they would not be able to pry through that wall to the secrets and treasures beyond.

  Chapter 6

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  My short stint as commander of the Ra’xon was over. The Captain had been fixed up and was now back.

  I faced her as she sat in her chair.

  “I stand by my decision, sir.” I stood, back rigid, hands clasped tightly behind me.

  The Captain half faced me, her gaze intermittently drifting to the window behind her. There was a pensive quality to her expression as the reflected light of space beyond sliced across her face.

  “We can’t hold Alyssa forever – we have to start trusting her.”

  The Captain put up a hand. “You did what you had to when you were the commander of this vessel. I will stand by your decisions. However…” she trailed off.

  “You can trust her, Captain,” my tone dropped. “She has assured me she will help the resistance.”

  “Alyssa Nightingale’s allegiance is not what bothers me,” the Captain admitted, still only half facing me as she kept the majority of her attention for the view of space beyond.

  “Sorry?”

  “It’s the rest of the resistance that bothers me.” She finally turned, clasping her hands together as she locked them on the table before her. She stared at me for a few seconds. “Alyssa’s allegiance currently stands, however, it will be dependent on what the resistance decides to do with her.”