Forged in Battle (Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Book 5)

by James David Victor

  "What the hell just happened, Cyrus?"

  "We were hit by a photon torpedo, Captain," he answered calmly as he stared at the seemingly empty space in front of the ship.

  "That's impossible!"

  "Yet here we are."

  Captain Cooper looked ready to explode. Instead, he took a calming breath as he ran both hands through his grey hair. "Did you drop us out of warp before we tore the ship apart?"

  "Of course," Cyrus replied without taking his eyes off the still empty space in front of the ship. "Belzaire's not gonna be happy, though. There's no telling how much of the warp system we tore up shutting it down that quickly."

  Violet had pulled herself to her feet and was using the navigation console to steady herself. "So what just happened?"

  "Somehow, we were hit by a photon torpedo while traveling at warp three," the captain muttered.

  "How is that possible?"

  "It's not."

  The captain raised his hand to head off further questions. "We'll talk later. Can you find your way to engineering?"

  "I think so."

  "Get down there and help Belzaire. There's bound to be damage of some sort."

  She was leaving the bridge when Cyrus quietly said, "There's something out there, Captain."

  "Where?"

  "Right in front of us."

  "What is it?"

  "I don't know," Cyrus answered. "I can't see it."

  "If you can't see anything, how the hell do know something's there?"

  Cyrus just shrugged.

  The captain pointed at Violet. "Get to engineering. Tell Belzaire to get that warp drive back online."

  "I'll do what I can."

  The last thing Violet heard as she headed to engineering with a renewed sense of urgency was Captain Cooper telling Cyrus to put everything they had into the shields. All their lives might depend on it.

  As Violet rushed into the warp room, she was confronted with a scene straight out of her nightmares. Glowing green warp fluid squirted everywhere. Steam leaks sprouted like geysers. Blinking red and yellow beacons were the only discernible source of light. When a huge man with deep red skin and jet black hair rounded the corner screaming curses, she thought, just for a moment, that she had been transported to Hell and was facing the devil himself.

  "What are you doing here?" the large, angry man growled through gritted teeth.

  "I...I...I'm here to help," she managed. "Captain said to help you get the warp system back online."

  "Oh," he said with a sudden smile. "Glad to have you. I'm Belzaire. Come with me. We've got a lot of work to do."

  Belzaire turned and walked straight into the chaos, not even bothering to avoid the steam blasts or leaking warp fluid. Violet followed tentatively, doing her best to avoid both. When she caught up to him, he was in the process of sliding a very heavy looking cabinet to the side, revealing a trapdoor in the floor.

  "What's in there?"

  "Warp fluid," he replied nonchalantly.

  Before Violet could ask why the warp fluid was stored behind a hidden trapdoor, Belzaire pulled the door open to reveal a deep chamber with hundreds of clear cylinders full of glowing green fluid. There was easily ten times the legal limit of warp fluid in there.

  Belzaire answered her unasked question with a mischievous smile and started pulling out cylinders. "We lost almost two hundred liters before I got the system shut down," he said. "I'll fix the leaks while you refill the system."

  "Two hundred liters is more than a ship this size needs for the entire system," Violet sputtered, finally coming to terms with what she was seeing. "Not to mention twice the legal limit of reserves allowed on a ship like this."

  "I've made some modifications," was all he said while he continued to pull out more cylinders of the precious liquid.

  When he had retrieved twenty-five cylinders, Belzaire stood up and looked at Violet, who was staring at him with wide eyes, trying to comprehend what was going on. "Now, look," he said firmly. "If the captain sent you down here to help, something is seriously wrong. We need to get this ship back up and running. You deserve an explanation, but now is not the time."

  Sensing the gravity of the situation, if not the cause, Violet nodded slowly. "What do you need me to do?"

  Belzaire smiled reassuringly and pointed across the warp room to the half-empty tank of warp fluid. "We need to refill the reservoir. Can you do that while I fix the leaks?"

  "I think so."

  "Good. Just put a cylinder on the fill pad and hit the green button."

  Those were the only instructions he gave before turning away and heading to a pipe leaking warp fluid on the far wall. Violet looked around the room briefly, wondering what she had gotten herself into, then started transporting the cylinders to the reservoir.

  It took far longer than she had anticipated because she was constantly stepping over debris and around puddles of warp fluid, which she learned the hard way were very slippery. By the time the last cylinder had been sucked into the tank, Belzaire had finished repairing the leaks and was gathering the empty cylinders and putting them back in the hidden compartment. When she attempted to ask about them, Belzaire simply said, "Later," and closed the trap door and slid the cabinet back into place.

  With the compartment of warp fluid again hidden, Belzaire turned to Violet and smiled warmly. "Thank you for your help," he said. "You should head back to the bridge. If something goes wrong, that's the best place to be."

  She wanted so say something, ask questions, or try to figure out what exactly was going on. Instead, Violet simply said, "Okay," and headed out of the warp room, back to the bridge.

  As soon as she turned to leave, Belzaire hurried to the control console and pushed the intercom button for the bridge. "Captain, we've got the system ready to power back up. We should be ready for warp travel in about five minutes, but we won't have full capacity until I can do a more thorough repair."

  "Got it," came the captain’s disembodied reply. "Call me when you're ready."

  Back on the bridge, Violet sat in the chair she had previously been thrown from, looking out into space. She was trying to piece together everything she had seen. Did the captain know there was enough illegal warp fluid hidden on his ship to get everyone on the ship executed? She thought it was likely that he did. And what did Belzaire mean by modifications? Nobody knew how warp travel really worked, it just did. Making modifications to something you didn't understand, and could kill you, was crazy. But then again, much of what she had seen and heard since coming aboard the Krim Sprinter was a bit bizarre.

  The captain's voice brought her back to the apparently tense situation. "Is it still there, whatever it is?"

  "Yes, it is, Captain."

  "And you still don't know what it is?"

  "Nope."

  Violet expected the captain to be angry, but he simply nodded, seeming to accept that there was something invisible, and possibly dangerous, just outside. Yep, things were definitely a bit crazy aboard the Krim Sprinter.

  "Captain, the warp system is online and ready to go," the intercom suddenly blared. "Tell Cyrus to keep it to warp one, one point five max. But preferably warp one."

  "You heard him, Cyrus. Warp speed one point eight."

  Cyrus looked at him with a disapproving glare, but simply asked, "Where to, Captain?"

  "Anywhere but here."

  A moment later, Cyrus reported, "We're ready when you are, Captain."

  "Drop the shields and engage the warp field as fast as your robotic arm possibly can," the captain said as he leaned forward in his chair, staring intently at the still empty space in front of the ship. "Three, two, one, go."

  Everything happened so fast; Violet could barely comprehend what she was seeing. She could hear the click of the shields dropping and feel time freeze momentarily as the warp field formed and the ship jumped into warp speed. And in the same instant, she saw three photon blasts appear out of nowhere, heading straight for them. She squeezed her ey
es shut and grabbed the chair, bracing for an impact that never came. When she managed to pry her eyes open, all she could see was the emptiness of space streaking past.

  Maybe space wasn't going to be so boring after all.

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