by J. N. Chaney
“Be ready to run,” I said.
Moments later, the doors to the bridge opened, and McCabe bolted through.
“I believe you had a job,” I said, a dangerous warning in my voice as I frowned at him.
“Dressler ordered me out,” answered McCabe. “She said I was an adequate pilot but a useless assistant.”
I groaned, hardly in the mood for Dressler’s antics. “So be it. Take your seat,” I eventually said with a nod to the pilot’s chair.
I studied the holo, a thought passing through my mind that I didn’t rightly want to consider. The enemy was on the way, and if they arrived before the slip tunnel to Earth opened, it would mean we had to run. But it would also mean leaving the back door open to Earth and everything we’d built thus far on the planet, and I wasn’t about to invite the enemy in to save my own hide.
Arms crossed, I already knew what I had to do—I just really, truly did not want to do it. If the enemy arrived before we could make it through the tunnel, I would send the order to collapse it from Earth’s side. It would mean the others would be saved from the Celestials, for a time—but it also meant we might never make it back.
I thought of Lex, of leaving her without me or Abigail, and it felt like a treasonous thing to do to the kid. In the end, however, I shoved the thought from my mind. I wouldn’t make the call until the situation required it, and truth be told, I was very much banking on it not being required.
“Sir, a slip tunnel has opened at our previous location,” said Sigmond. “It would seem the enemy is en route.”
“Can they see us?” I asked.
“Unknown, sir,” answered Sigmond. “All scans and sensors indicate that they do not, but I can’t be certain.”
“Be ready,” I ordered. “One of two things is about to happen. One, the slip tunnel opens. If that happens, we got to move fast. The moment you detect slipspace, Siggy, you get us through and establish a line to Alphonse. We need to close the tunnel the second we’re through to the core.”
“Yes, sir,” said the Cognitive. “And if the enemy arrives before we have the chance?”
I sighed. “Then you blow the tunnel with every mine we’ve got, Siggy, and we run like the gods themselves are chasing us.”
Everyone on the bridge except for Rackham gasped in horror at the idea, but I ignored them all and kept my focus on the holo. No one questioned me, and rightly so. They knew it was the only thing we could do and, same as me, they all hoped to hell it didn’t come down to that.
“Sixty seconds until the rendezvous with Earth,” announced Sigmond.
“Siggy, patch me through to the entire ship for a second,” I said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Listen up,” I said, and my voice boomed through the halls outside the bridge doors. “You all best hold tight to something. Strap in to whatever you can be strapped into. This is about to get rough.”
Around me, Leif and his fellow Eternals buckled themselves into nearby seats, and several others did the same.
“Cut it,” I ordered.
“Disconnected from the ship line, sir,” said Sigmond.
“Good,” I said with a nod. “No one else needs to hear the rest of this.”
The sixty second countdown to the slip tunnel check in was the longest sixty seconds of my life. I sat in the Captain’s chair, prepared for the full throttle bolt. McCabe itched at the controls, chomping at the bit to punch it through the green lightning of slipspace with the enemy hot on our heels.
“Prepare the mines,” I ordered.
“Sir?” the crewman manning weapons asked, a concerned look on his face. “But we still have time—”
“Just prep them,” I snapped, not in the mood to explain myself. “Don’t fire unless I give the signal, but when I do, you’d best not hesitate,” I added.
“Yes, sir,” he said, returning his attention to his screens with a shaky breath.
“Everybody strap in tight,” I ordered. “And somebody tape Rackham to the wall or something,” I added with a brief look over my shoulder at him.
“I’m fine,” he said, slurring as the drugs hit his system.
The countdown timer ticked by, painfully slow.
10…
9…
8…
“Come on,” I muttered, my grip tightening on the chair’s armrests.
7…
6…
“Sir,” interjected Sigmond. “The enemy ships will arrive at any moment.”
5…
4…
“I’m well aware, Siggy,” I said, teeth practically grinding with the building tension.
3…
2…
1…
The fiery storm of slipspace cracked open before us as the impossibly large slip tunnel to Earth cut through the void.
“Punch it!” I ordered.
McCabe thrust the ship forward, hurling us into slipspace almost faster than I could even give the order. Within seconds, the blindingly fast lightning of the emerald stream landed us dead in the center of Earth’s hollowed out core.
Alphonse’s face appeared on the holo before me. “Captain—”
“Close the tunnel!” I ordered, standing. “Close it, Al!”
“But Titan—”
“Do it now!” I yelled, my voice thundering through the bridge.
With a slight frown and an expression brimming with questions, Alphonse nodded. “Right away, Captain.”
Several hours after we arrived back on Earth, I stormed through the halls of the medical bay. I’d already checked on Abigail, who was sleeping soundly and going to make a full recovery, thanks to the joint efforts of both Dressler and Octavia. Both had tried to strap me into a bed of my own, but I’d managed to wriggle away for the time being. I wouldn’t be able to duck it much longer, but as I had told Sigmond earlier, I had things to tend to first.
Namely, I needed to have a little chat with the Union officer currently occupying the most secured room in the central medic bay. I’d had Siggy keep a close watch on the man and listen in on the inevitable broadcast he sent to Vick, but thankfully it didn’t contain any information I didn’t already know. The last thing I wanted right now were any more surprises.
The door to Rackham’s medical bay slid open as I arrived. He sat on the bed across from me with his back against the wall and an IV drip in his arm.
“This is truly unnecessary,” the officer said with a nod to the drip.
“Yeah, probably,” I admitted, grabbing a nearby chair and dragging it closer to him. I twirled it on one of its legs and turned it around, straddling the seat as I leaned my elbows against the backrest. “You pissed off Octavia, didn’t you?”
Rackham smirked. “Is it possible not to?”
I chuckled. “Any word from your boss?”
The lieutenant watched me with a curious expression on his face, as if he was trying to figure out what game I was playing with him. “The Celestial threat has been proven real,” Rackham eventually said. “Made evident by the men I didn’t bring back, as well as the footage Sigmond provided from my suit cam.”
“Yeah, Siggy’s the helpful sort,” I said with a smirk, knowing full well we had vastly limited the footage provided. “Shame about your buddies,” I added, crossing my arms as I watched his face. “Except for the tech guy, all of them died out there—all but you.”
“Yeah,” Rackham said without a hint of remorse on his face. “It’s a damn shame, Captain.”
“You lot went hunting for a Celestial,” I said plainly, making it clear I wasn’t asking. “You woke up the beasts. You realize that.” I studied the soldier’s face, wanting to make sure he felt the weight of everything he had to bear on this one.
Rackham let out a long, slow sigh. “They were already awake, Captain,” the man eventually said. “Long before we got there.”
I hadn’t had a chance to review all of the footage yet, so I couldn’t confirm what he was saying. His conviction sure was convincing, tho
ugh. “Siggy?”
“He’s correct, sir,” said the Cognitive through the personal comm in my ear. “After processing the footage in full, it’s clear that they did stumble across a Celestial that was—”
“Don’t get me wrong,” added Rackham, probably not realizing he was interrupting Sigmond. “We wanted to kill it and retrieve the body. I didn’t know quite how to do that, but it had to be done.” He ran a hand over his bandaged head, tenderly touching the gauze. Maybe it was just the drugs making him talk, but I rather liked Rackham when he was speaking the truth.
“Guess that’s what happens when your boss says not to come back without one,” I quipped. “You get stupid.”
“You listened in on—” Rackham pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “That was a secure transmission, Hughes.”
“Not that secure, obviously,” I said without smiling.
He studied me, equal parts concerned and impressed. “Aren’t you full of surprises.”
“A few,” I said.
“Well, I didn’t bring one back, and he hasn’t taken my access away yet,” Rackham said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Which means I might be sticking around, after all.”
“Guess you never know with a man like Vick.”
Rackham didn’t answer, choosing instead to stare at the white sheets draped over his legs. A dip formed in his cheek, though, and his jaw tensed as I figured he bit back all the things he truly wanted to say to that. “You and Vick might hate each other, but you’re fighting on the same side now, Captain,” Rackham said. “And, as such, I’ve been cleared to grant you resources to aid the fight. What do you need, Hughes?”
“I’ll be needing more neutronium,” I said, not bothering to mince words. “But seeing as that’s the rarest metal in the galaxy, I know there’s not much hope in my getting that.”
Instead of a witty quip or a dismissive laugh, Rackham crossed his arms and stared off at the wall, his eyes slipping momentarily out of focus. I thought perhaps the second round of drugs had kicked in, but after a moment, he tilted his head toward me with the barest hint of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “The Union may not have a surplus of neutronium, Captain Hughes, but we might know the recipe if we were able to find the right ingredients.”
“What ingredients?” I asked, perking up.
“Most of them aren’t too hard to find,” replied Rackham, giving me an easy shrug. “Except for prodium.”
“And you know where this elusive material?” I guessed, getting a little annoyed by his games.
“Have you ever heard of the Aldera system, Captain?” asked Rackham, answering my question with one of his own.
“Don’t the Sarkonians own that?”
Rackham flushed slightly. “They took it from us, as it happens, but yes. I don’t imagine they’re likely to give it up, either.”
I leaned back in my chair, happy with the direction this little visit had taken. “Then I guess we’d better go and have ourselves a talk.”
Epilogue
I stood with my boots in the dirt, outside under Earth’s vast blue sky. I sucked in a deep breath as I allowed myself to enjoy the day. I wasn’t far from Verdun’s encampment, standing just far enough away so as not to be spotted by any Union eyes I didn’t want watching me at the moment. I would be leaving for Sarkon in just a few hours, but not without a ship.
Specifically, the ship Sigmond had promised me.
I tilted my head backward, scanning the clouds for any sign of it, wondering why Sigmond had brought me to this remote area in particular if he was just going to land it regardless. “Where is it, Siggy?”
“It’s already here, sir,” said the Cognitive through the comm in my ear.
I scanned the empty field before me and gestured toward the vast stretch of nothing. “It’s gorgeous,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “I can see that all my waiting and patience really paid off.”
As I spoke, the ship decloaked in front of me, and I stared up at a vessel designed with delightfully familiar curves along the hull. The vessel’s polished metal shimmered in the sun, the ominous glint of Celestial metal giving me pause even as I admired the rest of it.
“As promised, your new ship has the top-of-the-line, fully developed Union cloak,” said Sigmond as the main door opened to let me on board. “In addition to the advanced cloak, you also have Titan’s beam weapons and the metal hull of the Celestial ships. It’s by far the most powerful vessel we have in our fleet.”
I entered and stood in the cargo bay, surveying the ship around me. I patrolled the memorable halls, every corridor, every room reminded me of the ship that had started this whole journey for me. “Siggy, did you base this on the Star?”
“Correct, sir,” said the Cognitive. “I thought you would appreciate it feeling a bit more like home. However, this version is larger than your original vessel to accommodate extra rooms and the engine is far superior”
“Sounds good. Though, I have to say, I never figured you one for sentiment, Siggy,” I said, grinning as I patrolled my new ship. Save for the size and absence of furniture and a coffeemaker, it was identical in every way to my old vessel. I finished my brief tour on the bridge, crossing my arms as I watched the holo, and took in a satisfied breath.
“Do you have any ideas for a suitable name, sir?” asked Sigmond.
“Oh yeah,” I said, a wide grin on my face. “That’s easy, Siggy.”
“What’s that, sir?”
I sat back in the Captain’s chair, already at home. “Welcome aboard the Renegade Star.”
Jace, Abigail, and Lex will return in Renegade Descent, coming in June 2019.
Read on for a special note from the author.
Author Notes
Here we are at last. It’s been a few months since we left Jace, Abigail, and Lex, but I hope the wait has been worth it. I’ve been working hard on getting more content out and increasing my production cycle. That means more books to keep you reading, including a faster turnaround on additional Renegade Star books.
Speaking of, I am hoping to get book 11, Renegade Descent, out by the end of June. We will also see the second Constable book, The Constable Returns, as well as the second Fifth Column book, the third Reaper story, and much more. It’s been quite the productive year and I’m hoping I can continue to deliver more adventures to you.
So, where do we go from here? With Jace dealing with the loss of Lucia, Athena’s status unknown, and a brand new Renegade Star, the future is looking to be an interesting one. When we pick back up with our heroes, we’ll find a mission to gather resources, grow their forces, and finally strike back. This is the start of the war, and our heroes will face challenges unlike anything they ever seen.
Finally, I’d also like to note that I’m currently working on a Lucia trilogy that will cover her life before encountering Jace. The first book will be titled Warrior Queen and will release sometime in June.
In the meantime, let me know your thoughts on this new entry in the series and where you’d like to see the story go in the future by posting in the Renegade Readers Facebook group or emailing me directly. I’d love to hear what you think!
As always, thanks for reading, Renegades,
JN Chaney
PS. Amazon won’t tell you when the next Renegade book will come out, but there are several ways you can stay informed.
1) Fly on over to the Facebook group, JN Chaney’s Renegade Readers, and say hello. It’s a great place to hang with other sarcastic sci-fi readers who don’t mind a good laugh.
2) Follow me directly on Amazon. To do this, head to the store page for this book (or my Amazon author profile) and click the Follow button beneath my picture. That will prompt Amazon to notify you when I release a new book. You’ll just need to check your emails.
3) You can join my mailing list by clicking here. This will allow me to stay in touch with you directly, and you’ll also receive a free copy of The Amber Project.
Doing one of t
hese or all three (for best results) will ensure you know every time a new entry in the Renegade Star series is published. Please take a moment to do one of these so you’ll be able to join Jace, Abigail, and Lex on their next galaxy-spanning adventure.
Preview: The Amber Project
Documents of Historical, Scientific, and Cultural Significance
Play Audio Transmission File 021
Recorded April 19, 2157
CARTWRIGHT: This is Lieutenant Colonel Felix Cartwright. It’s been a week since my last transmission and two months since the day we found the city…the day the world fell apart. If anyone can hear this, please respond.
If you’re out there, no doubt you know about the gas. You might think you’re all that’s left. But if you’re receiving this, let me assure you, you are not alone. There are people here. Hundreds, in fact, and for now, we’re safe. If you can make it here, you will be, too.
The city’s a few miles underground, not far from El Rico Air Force Base. That’s where my people came from. As always, the coordinates are attached. If anyone gets this, please respond. Let us know you’re there…that you’re still alive.
End Audio File
April 14, 2339
Maternity District
MILES BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, deep within the walls of the last human city, a little boy named Terry played quietly with his sister in a small two-bedroom apartment.
Today was his very first birthday. He was turning seven.
“What’s a birthday?” his sister Janice asked, tugging at his shirt. She was only four years old and had recently taken to following her big brother everywhere he went. “What does it mean?”
Terry smiled, eager to explain. “Mom says when you turn seven, you get a birthday. It means you grow up and get to start school. It’s a pretty big deal.”
