The Crucible- The Complete Series

by Odette C. Bell

  “I know. So am I,” I admitted.

  “I just want….”

  “I know.”

  She placed her head on my shoulder, and together we turned to stare at the view. The vast blanket of black struck through with stars and constellations.

  We wanted it to be over. We needed to end this war before it tore us apart.

  As I thought that, I instinctively tightened my hand around her shoulder.

  She reacted by nuzzling my neck.

  Before I realized what she was doing, she leaned up and kissed me along the line of my jaw, just against the soft dip under my throat.

  It was electrifying. Though her cheeks were still smeared with tears and her kiss wet, it was the most intense experience of my life.

  I turned down to her, checking if that had been a mistake – that something that meaningful could happen by accident.

  She looked up into my eyes. That vulnerability was gone. The fear. The uncertainty.

  As I looked at her, I knew she’d never been surer about something in her life.

  “Alyssa—” I said breathlessly.

  “I don’t want to talk anymore,” she said softly as she kissed me against the jaw once more.

  I turned down and caught her lips.

  We pressed together, her chest against my stomach as I bent down, a flood of release washing through me.

  All tension that had torn through my body a moment ago was forgotten. Burnt away.

  Every thought was chased from my mind. Every doubt.

  None of that mattered.

  The war couldn’t touch me right now. Only Alyssa could.

  Chapter 7

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I was pulled from that kiss too quickly. I wanted to linger. I wanted to let his passion transform every deep feeling of shame and inadequacy.

  When I was with him, I didn’t need to be in control of my feelings – I could let them flow freely. I didn’t have to fear my power – I could let it guide me.

  But a ship-wide alarm broke us apart.

  Shepherd jumped to his feet, and I followed.

  The primary console that controlled the observational window flickered as a message blinked across it. “This is an important ship-wide alert. The Star Forces Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Fleets have been destroyed in an altercation with the Forgotten Death Giver.”

  Cold.

  I suddenly felt cold.

  Pure dread washed over me, chasing away every tingle of Shepherd’s lips against mine.

  “That’s six fleets. That's more than half of the Star Forces Navy,” Shepherd said breathlessly beside me. “It’s at least 300 ships.”

  I gasped, sucking in a shaking breath.

  We stood there side-by-side, the both of us pale as we stared at the observational window and the mission report scrolling across it.

  “This is… this is…” he trailed off.

  There were no words that could describe what this was.

  The Forgotten had torn through half of the Star Forces in a single battle.

  I’d hoped we’d have two months to fight this war – at this rate, we’d barely have two days.

  “We… we have to get to the bridge,” his voice shook. “This is… this is….”

  I grasped at his hand. I pushed my fingers through his, locking them there.

  I couldn’t say anything – God knows I couldn’t think of anything to make this right.

  I didn’t need to.

  He clutched onto my hand. And together, we turned and ran for the bridge.

  …

  Annabelle Williams

  Destruction. Everywhere. Complete.

  The debris of hundreds of ships surrounded me. It was thick, like walking through a frozen avalanche.

  My body still glowed, skin erupting with more and more power.

  … I’d done this. I’d done this.

  I’d destroyed all those Star Forces vessels. And with that, the last hope of the Milky Way.

  Now there was nothing that could stop me. The Forgotten would destroy anyone who could stand in their way and then claim this galaxy as their own.

  But first they had to claim back their technology.

  There was a pattern to their attacks. While we destroyed anyone who stood in our path, we also sought out locations throughout the galaxy that held Forgotten technology.

  They craved it. Needed it for some reason. I didn’t understand why, but they were desperate to reclaim their own weapons. My rational mind told me that made no sense. Whatever remained of my training pointed out that forces as powerful as the Forgotten could surely create more weapons. It was a safer tactic than mining the galaxy for what remained of their long lost civilization.

  … Could it be that they couldn’t create more? Perhaps they weren’t the original inventors of their technology, and had simply come across it hundreds of thousands of years ago. Or perhaps they no longer possessed the ability to craft more.

  Whatever the reason was, the Forgotten’s desires were clear. They would reclaim their weaponry. And then they would purify the Milky Way in one devastating attack.

  Chapter 8

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I stood on the bridge just as pale and drawn as every other member of crew.

  This changed everything.

  Though we were all members of the resistance and felt no love lost for the Star Forces, you couldn’t help but be horrified by the destruction.

  So many lives.

  All lost as the Forgotten burnt through the galaxy.

  “Everything is different now,” the Captain said in a subdued tone as she stood before her command seat, gaze swiveling slowly around every member of the bridge crew. “Now our greatest enemy is time.”

  Her words settled in, sending tight shivers escaping up and down my back.

  Shepherd was by my side. I could barely control the urge to reach out and grab his hand.

  Just when I’d found him – just when I’d gathered the courage to give in to my feelings for him – this had happened.

  The sky had fallen in.

  “We must be bold,” the Captain said plainly. “With half of the Star Forces gone, the Forgotten will fly through the rest of the Milky Way. We only have time for one decisive move.”

  Nobody said a word. We all stood there in silence as we listened to her.

  Despite the horror of what had just happened, she stood tall, her stance strong, her feet firmly planted into the floor. She took a single stride forward, boots resounding with a thump. “Right now all we have is a chance. And a hope. A hope that there truly is a weapon that can defeat the Forgotten. I wish I could give you a concrete plan. I wish I could tell you that pinning our hopes on this mission won’t be a fatal move. I can’t. Right now we only have one more role of the dice.”

  One role of the dice. One chance. God, those words echoed in my mind, cold and wild like a snowstorm between my ears.

  I heard Shepherd shift, and he took a sudden step close by my side. Closer than two ordinary members of the crew would stand.

  I let his presence settle me.

  “We will attack the outer storage station. Initial reports confirm that it is filled with prototype Alliance technology. We can only hope that amongst that technology is the weapon we seek. And if it isn’t there,” she began, pausing as her words hung heavily in the air, “then we will turn the station into our last stronghold. We will destroy as many of the Forgotten as we can. We will give the rest of the galaxy a chance.”

  Nobody said anything. What the Captain was suggesting was a suicide mission.

  But what else could she suggest? With half of the Star Forces down, this was our only hope.

  Our only hope.

  “I know I ask you to sacrifice your lives,” the Captain’s tone dropped as her gaze – once commanding – dropped to the floor, “it is your decision whether to follow my call. But I beg of you, for the Milky Way, we must all now stand strong.”

&nb
sp; As one, the crew straightened, giving their implicit support as they locked their unwavering attention on Captain H’agovan.

  We would all follow her call. Every last one of us.

  …

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  I’d been in wars before. Skirmishes. Fights I’d thought would be my last. But nothing like this.

  The mood on the ship had such a note of finality it was as if we were all preparing for our funerals.

  In such an environment, it should have been hard to focus. It wasn’t.

  I’d made my decision, and so had Alyssa.

  It had taken the end of the galaxy to show me what I really wanted, and it was up to me to buy the time to truly enjoy it.

  I’d gone to see my father. One last time, I told myself.

  Then I’d faced the door to his cell and stopped.

  Staring at the smooth sleek white-grey metal, eyes wide, I hadn’t moved.

  Though I wanted to believe I’d never sought his approval, that was a lie. Virtually everything I’d done in my career had been for him. Or at least because of him. The shadow he cast in my mind.

  In the days since the war his shadowy presence had grown immeasurably, casting into darkness every other influence.

  I teetered back and forth on my feet, half of me wanting to go in, the other half realizing there was no point.

  What I wanted from him I could never have. I didn’t need it, either.

  If I was looking for someone to understand me, I’d now found that. If I was looking for someone to fight by my side when it mattered most, I had that too.

  What he offered would be something always out of reach. The approval of a man who lived for himself alone.

  So I turned. Hard on my heel, my boot squeaking against the floor. I walked away from the door.

  Instead, I walked towards the future.

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  I stood beside Nathan as he prepped in one of the armory lockers. He methodically checked his helmet, running the joint seals between his fingers, periodically picking up a matter scanner to check the integrity of the plating.

  I didn’t say anything. Maybe at a time like this I should be telling him – and myself – that everything would be okay.

  I couldn’t.

  Not a single word.

  Occasionally his gaze would slice up, lock on mine for a few sweet seconds, then return to his task.

  I didn’t need to point out that the atmosphere aboard the Miracle was tense. It was a kind of pressure I’d never experienced. Even when the Star Forces had attacked the Ra’xon, even during the past two weeks of the war against the Forgotten – I’d never experienced something like this. This palpable sense that these could be our last few moments.

  He cleared his throat, suddenly stopped what he was doing, and let his helmet bang softly against his thigh.

  “I know,” I said softly. Even though he hadn’t said a word, the sentiment playing in his eyes was clear.

  “I want to tell myself I should be busy planning this mission, but I can’t silence the voice that keeps telling me there’s no point.”

  I shifted closer to him.

  I didn’t reach forward to pluck up his hand or press a commiserating kiss against his cheek.

  I just looked at him.

  “Alyssa, if they have the power to tear through half of the Star Forces….”

  “There will be weapons on that station that can fight them. I’m sure of it.” I had no right to hold such certainty. My only source of evidence was Admiral Shepherd, a man so treacherous he would and had betrayed his own son.

  Still, I alone knew the true cost of giving up your hope. It turned you into nothing but a mindless automaton, dead on the inside with no hope of resurrection.

  “I still don’t want you to fight,” he suddenly admitted, that helmet still slack in his grip, the visor banging softly against his thigh with every heavy breath that shook down his shoulders and arms.

  I paused. And I nodded. “I know,” I admitted softly. “But that decision has been taken out of our hands. We all have to fight now, Shepherd. Every single one of us. We have to pin every hope on this mission, or…” it was my turn to trail off.

  Or it was already over. Or we were just going through the motions until the final blow was struck.

  He stared into my eyes intensely before shifting away, pressing the back of his hand against his mouth, and swallowing hard. With a shake of his shoulders, he went back to meticulously checking his armor.

  I glanced over at the console beside me. It revealed a real-time display of our mission status.

  We had six hours – six whole hours – until we reached the outer supply station.

  Anything can happen in six hours. Another wave of jumpers could barrel down on our ships, or perhaps the Death Giver itself would come.

  Maybe I should be concentrating on what I would do once we reached the station, but I couldn’t find any sense to my thoughts. They flitted in and out of my mind, and I didn’t have the attention to follow them through.

  Instead I stood there. With him. Enjoying these moments, because in all likelihood they would be our last.

  Again I let my gaze drift around the room. Crew were perfecting weapons, requisitioning every scrap of metal that wasn’t required for essential systems to create more armor, and just doing what they had to do.

  We were all doing what we had to do.

  Suddenly I thought of Williams. Unbidden from my consciousness, an image of her arose.

  Maybe I hadn’t always liked her – because she hadn’t given me reason to – but she’d turned into a loyal friend. And the thought of her bound by the Forgotten was true torture. While we were all doing what we had to, I would need to do more. Because I was determined not to lose. Even though the odds were stacked against us, I would make things right. I would bring sense to what had happened to me – to my implants, to my life on the run, to Williams – to everything.

  I would take those horrifying experiences, throw them into the crucible of my own will, and create something new.

  Shepherd suddenly stopped what he was doing and settled his helmet onto the bench beside him.

  “Are you done?”

  “I’ve done everything I can do,” he agreed in a quiet tone. “Now all I have to do is wait. Wait,” he said through clenched teeth.

  I’d been leaning against the wall, and suddenly pushed forward. Without thinking, just following the instinct welling in my gut, I grabbed his hand.

  He looked shocked, but he didn’t shove me off. “What are you doing?” he said through half of a curling smile.

  “Let’s go to the observational deck. Let’s see it once more.”

  “What?”

  “The galaxy we’re about to save.”

  His hand in mine, I led him forward.

  Chapter 9

  Annabelle Williams

  We were on the move.

  Though they would still not reveal their minds to me in full I could sense their anticipation. The Forgotten hive, as I’d come to call them, were reaching forward to some final goal, their hearts filled with greedy elation.

  It drove me mad, stripped away the last scraps of my sanity until all that remained was the most basic core of a human being. I retreated inside and watched and waited.

  The end would come soon.

  …

  Alyssa Nightingale

  We’d reached the outer station.

  Our mission was to breach their defenses with a minimal loss of technology and lives. Our main enemy was still the Forgotten, and we couldn’t afford to lose any more potential weapons against them.

  I stood on the bridge, hands clasped behind my back, heart beating in anticipation.

  Unlike our attack on the Miracle, we couldn’t sneak up on the storage station.

  They already knew we were coming, and they were already deploying their defenses.

  “Keep her steady,” the Capt
ain commanded. She was sitting on her command seat, body pressed forward, long arms arranged on the armrests. She pointed towards the screen with a stiff hand. “We need to minimize casualties as much as we can. We'll have to utilize the Miracle’s shields system to ram away as many targets as possible.”

  “We've got at least 20 small fighters coming up on our starboard side,” one of the tactical officers said in clipped tones.

  “Do what you can,” Captain H’agovan replied.

  Suffice to say I felt useless as I stood there, hands tucked behind my back, thumbs intertwining faster and faster.

  Though I'd made the decision to fight, I needed the opportunity.

  While I was unbeatable one-on-one, there was no way I could help the Ra’xon in a space battle.

  I just had to wait my turn.

  “How are the Miracle’s shields?” the Captain asked.

  The Chief, who was now commanding the Miracle, cleared her throat over the audio feed. “We’re prepped. I should be able to send out harmonic field blasts to disable any ships that get too close.”

  “We can only try,” the Captain concluded in a grave tone.

  The battle began in full.

  Those 20 light fighters sped towards the Ra’xon and Miracle, slicing through space like small silver bullets.

  My heartbeat sped up, and I now crunched my hands so hard together it was a surprise I didn't crush them to dust.

  “Be prepared to head to the hangar bay on my command.” The Captain turned on her seat and nodded at me.

  With a stiff neck I nodded back.

  Depending on the Star Forces defenses, this battle could rage for hours or minutes.

  With the combined power of the Miracle and Ra’xon we were a force to be reckoned with. Plus, with the beating the Star Forces had recently received at the hands of the Forgotten, odds were the outer supply station wasn't as strong as it once was.

  A lot would come down to luck. It always did in war.

  I stood there and watched as the Ra’xon and Miracle combined their attack, working in unison to disable any ship that streamed towards them.

  The outer supply station sent more and more fighters and began to blast away with pulse cannons of its own.

  But it couldn't even scratch us.