Vira Episode One

by Odette C. Bell

  The question was, would he take everyone else with him?

  “Doing this for the Coalition,” Rogers suddenly said, for the first time volunteering information that wasn’t along the lines of, “stand up, shut up, and do as I say.”

  Park’s brow clunked down. “What are you talking about?”

  Rogers looked up suddenly, almost as if he’d been speaking to himself and hadn’t expected Park to answer. “The end,” Rogers added.

  Park’s stomach shifted. “What?”

  “The end the Admirals,” he spat, “are allowing to plow down on us. The end that is coming from every direction. The end that is seeping through the cracks in our security. The end that has been foretold for hundreds of thousands of years. The end that the Force will bring,” he added.

  Park couldn’t control his expression. He just hoped that the exact pale hue to his cheeks was hidden by blood loss. “The Force?” he asked innocently.

  Rogers clenched his teeth and shook his head. “Don’t move,” he went back to saying as he leveled the gun at Park.

  Rogers shifted to the side and started rapping his hand on an apparently innocent looking section of wall plating.

  Before Park could wonder if Rogers had completely lost his mind, the wall plating popped off with a pneumatic hiss.

  Rogers made no attempt to catch the plating as it tumbled and clanged against the metal floor.

  It revealed a hollowed-out section of the bulkhead, and inside was a metal box.

  Park knew what it was as soon as Rogers reached inside, grabbed the box, pulled it out, and let it fall to his feet.

  Armor. Space armor – long-range if Park was any guess.

  Seriously sophisticated stuff.

  Rogers wasn’t being careless as he allowed the armor box to clang onto the floor by his feet. He was activating it. And in a second, it started to open, the metal shifting out like the petals of a flower. Then, with a metal clang and a snap, it reached out, grabbed hold of Rogers’ ankle, and started to climb up his body.

  Within several seconds, it had manufactured a full set of long-range armor.

  Park’s original assessment had been correct, too – this armor was sophisticated.

  Was that Rogers’ plan? To head out into space?

  He would need more.

  He had more.

  The armor had been smart enough to grow over Rogers’ hand without jeopardizing his grip on his gun. Now it was in place, it would also give Rogers the advantage of being able to completely shift his attention while keeping his aim on Park. The armor, after all, could pair to the gun and fire whenever Rogers needed.

  Rogers reached a hand into that same hollowed-out section of wall and brought something out.

  It was a large box, and even though it was relatively nondescript, Park’s stomach sank.

  His gut told him it was a heck of a lot more than a chunk of metal. Sure enough, as Rogers brought it around and slammed it over his arm, it shifted, encasing his arm in a second.

  It revealed a sophisticated screen which Rogers typed two things into.

  Then he took a step back and faced Park. “Sorry, Lieutenant. I read your record; you’re a good man. If we’d had the time, we would have invited you to join the cause. But there’s no time. And unfortunately, considering the entire galaxy is on the line, you will have to make the final sacrifice.”

  Park swallowed. “You say this is for the whole galaxy. Then save the ship. Take me, but save the ship.”

  “I’ll only take this deck with me,” Rogers answered.

  Park’s stomach sank. His heart practically broke.

  Rogers spread his hand wide and shifted it to the side.

  Park felt something move behind him, and he jerked back just in time to see something appear over the door.

  It had been hidden by a sophisticated hologram.

  And what was it?

  A massive bomb. One with a high enough yield to take out the whole deck.

  Park jerked away.

  Rogers brought his hand up. He settled it over the large device that had grown around his wrist.

  He saw Park staring at it.

  “A transporter. One more than strong enough to get me off this ship and to safety. Lieutenant,” Rogers actually snapped a salute, “the galaxy will thank you for making the final sacrifice.”

  Rogers brought his hand down. At the same time, the bomb behind Park activated, the entire door vibrating as the thing armed.

  He had seconds.

  Seconds to live.

  This would be Park’s end.

  Rogers’ finger reached toward his transporter. He didn’t get the chance to press it.

  Something emerged from the wall.

  In a flash. In a spark. In a goddamn blast of divine intervention.

  Vira.

  She reached forward and clamped her cast-iron grip over Rogers’ hand, holding it in place. “Park will not make the final sacrifice today,” she said.

  And Vira, the Spacer, wrenched the transport device off Rogers’ wrist.

  Park had just a moment for his heart to open, for relief to wash through him. Then the bomb behind him vibrated.

  They were not out of trouble yet.

  The end of Vira Episode One. Vira Episode Two is currently available.

  Please note that this is the seventh installment in the Galactic Coalition Academy universe. The sixth installment – Ava – occurs at the same chronological time as Vira and follows the Artaxan conflict from another point of view. Ava is currently available.

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  Do you want to read more complete sci-fi space operas by Odette C. Bell?

  Ouroboros

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  The only silver lining comes in golden boy Lucas Stone. The hero of the Academy, he takes an interest in her. But he'll have to act fast to stop what will happen next....

  In Episode One, you are thrust into a sprawling sci-fi adventure that throws you across the galaxy and far through time. Lucas and Nida are pitted against brutal space pirates, mysterious powers, and the greatest enemy of all - the unknown.

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  Check out Broken here.

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  Betrothed

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