Ouroboros 3: Repeat

by Odette C. Bell

  ‘And if we don’t,’ she now interrupted in her own emotion-filled tone, ‘we find out what we can from other sources.’

  Carson held her in his gaze and nodded once. ‘Then let’s do this.’

  Expectation rose like a flare deep within her belly, shooting up towards her throat and forcing her lips open as she hissed through a breath.

  This was it.

  It was time to find out what the Vex had done.

  She had so many questions that desperately needed answers.

  In fact, foremost was whether the Vex had done this at all. That was just an assumption based on what they’d done to Carson and what Nida had learnt from them.

  For all she knew, the United Galactic Coalition could have been destroyed by the Barbarians or the Kore.

  Yet, deep down, she knew it was the Vex.

  Everything was down to them.

  She had not yet escaped their influence, and even though she was about to escape their planet, she knew they still waited for her beyond it.

  She closed her eyes briefly as Carson commanded the computer to initiate its ascent.

  The ship shook as its engines turned to full, and she was forced to clutch hold of the console before her.

  ‘It will be a rocky ride, but we’ll get through,’ Carson promised.

  She kept her gaze locked on the view screen before her. At first it showed the mid-morning sun glinting off the field of broken ships around them. Then it lifted up, and she could see the sky above.

  As they punched through the atmosphere, she closed her eyes briefly.

  She didn’t want to see this, she told herself.

  The destruction and desolation that waited for them in orbit.

  She knew it would be there; she’d seen it in a vision.

  Sure enough, she blinked her eyes open when Carson gave a strangled gasp.

  There it was before her; the United Galactic Coalition Fleet in ruins.

  The tumbling ships, the bodies, the broken turrets and engine cores.

  Carson took heavy breath after heavy breath, and she turned to see how pale his soot-covered skin had become.

  Though he’d pushed through his grief and surprise on Remus 12 to get this ship into orbit, now it was all flooding back.

  It flooded back into her too.

  But she pushed past it, and so did Carson. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them, there was a hard edge to his jaw. ‘Alright,’ he said simply, ‘do you know how to modulate the scanners to pick up secure frequencies without leaving a trace of our activity?’ he whirled on his foot and nodded at her.

  She shook her head silently.

  ‘Then you’ll learn,’ he said determinedly.

  And she did. Patiently yet firmly, he walked her through the task.

  ‘While we could just scan for any frequencies, we can’t run the risk of any Vex picking up our activity,’ Carson explained. ‘So we have to be painstakingly careful to cover our tracks while we look for our friends.’

  She shuddered at that explanation.

  While they looked for their friends . . . .

  Though Nida had been careful not to plunge too far into what it would mean that the United Galactic Coalition had been destroyed, now thoughts rose unbidden from her mind.

  Were her parents and sisters dead? What about Alicia? What about Commander Sharpe?

  Carson suddenly clamped a hand on her shoulder. ‘Just keep scanning,’ he said in a firm tone.

  She nodded.

  She clutched hold of the fire and determination in his voice, and in doing so, let it lead her to her own.

  Clenching her teeth and breathing through them, she did as he suggested.

  Soon enough she found something. Carson had already withdrawn back to the main navigational panel. He was tirelessly searching all incoming readings for any hint of the Vex. He also, quite literally, had his hand hovering over the weapons panel.

  ‘I think I’ve got something,’ she waved him over, excitement tumbling through her at the hope she’d found them.

  The United Galactic Coalition, or whatever was left of them.

  Carson immediately strode over to her side.

  He was back to being a lieutenant, back to being the leader of the Force. She could see it within each of his confident movements.

  Yet she remembered his fragility.

  How he’d acted when he’d thought she’d died.

  That mollified her assessment of him now. She no longer looked on at the great Carson Blake as though he were a legend.

  He was nothing more than a man. And nor should he have to be more than a man.

  ‘Alright,’ he leaned close by her shoulder as he assessed her panel. Quickly, he shook his head, and disappointment flashed in his gaze. ‘This is just interference from a nearby quasar,’ he clarified as he straightened with a sigh.

  ‘Oh god, sorry,’ she mumbled.

  ‘Don’t be. You can do this, Nida. You opened a time gate and saved me from the Vex.’

  He didn’t add anything more, like the fact that basic communication scanning was one of the first lessons at the Academy.

  He just nodded down at her, muttered for her to ‘keep trying,’ then he returned to his own tasks.

  She had a few more false starts, but every time, Carson was patient with her.

  And diligent. And kind.

  It was the exact combination she needed to flourish, and soon enough she found what she was looking for.

  ‘I think I’ve really got it this time,’ she bit her lip as she stared down at her screen, hoping she wasn’t wrong yet again.

  Carson didn’t sigh as he walked across to her. Instead he took up position close to her shoulder again, then leaned down past her, his arm against hers.

  After his eyes assessed the information on the screen, he jolted upright. ‘Christ,’ he muttered. ‘That’s it. That’s what we’ve been waiting for.’

  Her heart leapt into her throat, both at the prospect she’d found it and his proximity.

  He smiled, for the first time in days. A proper, genuine look of relief filled his expression, and he closed his eyes slowly.

  ‘Right,’ he said after a moment’s pause, ‘okay . . . ,’ he took a steadying breath. ‘Play it.’

  She hesitated.

  He nodded at her once.

  Closing her own eyes now, she commanded the computer to play the file.

  First it had to decrypt it, then, out of the blue, a voice came crackling over the audio feed. ‘This is a general distress call to any surviving United Galactic Coalition ships. We have fallen back to the Coltex System. Repeat, the Coltex System.’

  Both Carson and Nida listened in total silence, their expressions slack with fear.

  ‘We have heavy losses. All surviving ships are ordered to fall back. Rendezvous in the Coltex System.’

  Carson closed his eyes.

  Nida kept hers open.

  Wide open.

  She couldn’t close them even if she tried.

  She’d trained for situations like this—or at least catastrophic scenarios had been mentioned during her course.

  But this . . . this was so real. So visceral. Hearing that message hammered it all home.

  She locked a trembling hand over her chest.

  ‘Repeat, rendezvous in the Coltex system.’

  The message suddenly cut out.

  ‘Travis,’ Carson immediately breathed, snapping his eyes open.

  ‘What?’

  ‘That was Travis,’ Carson croaked.

  Nida blinked, realising he was right. She had recognised that voice.

  ‘He’s alive,’ Carson smiled, but immediately the smile soured, ‘or at least he was.’

  She simply looked at Carson, waiting for him to make the next move.

  It took a long time, but he finally walked back to his own console, and slowly and deliberately typed something into it.

  She didn’t have to ask what he was doing.

  He
was setting their course to the Coltex System.

  Back to the United Galactic Coalition.

  Finally he looked up at her. ‘We can do this.’

  Though his gaze was strong, his words were weak. They wavered up and down, making his statement more like a question.

  She nodded firmly. ‘We can,’ she agreed.

  He appeared relieved, finished setting the course, then stood back. ‘Alright. It’s time for you to get some rest. We’ll take shifts,’ he began, then shook his head.

  She knew what he was thinking. She jumped to her feet. ‘You can rely on me,’ her voice was bold and forceful.

  ‘I know I can, but . . . .’

  ‘And the entity,’ she added. ‘Plus, you’ll need your rest too. We don’t know what we’re going to face out there. But if we’re careful, and we rely on each other, we can get through this.’

  He considered her with a pressed-lip frown, then slowly one corner of his mouth kinked up. ‘Are you trying to motivate me, Cadet?’

  ‘No, Carson,’ she said his name pointedly, ‘I’m giving you an order. You are going to get some rest, because we both know what will happen if you don’t. And I’m going to rest up too. We’re going to be careful, and we are going to get through this. Sleep on the bridge if you have to, but we need to look after ourselves and each other if we want to find out what happened here and stop it.’ Passion rose through her as she spoke, and she stabbed a finger towards the hull forcefully.

  He watched her, then, for the first time in weeks, tipped his head back and laughed. It was nervous and tired, but it was still a laugh.

  ‘ . . . What?’ she asked, her fire giving way to a pang of awkwardness.

  ‘You. Christ, you’ve changed. That, or no one ever noticed how incredible you are.’

  She blushed.

  The United Galactic Coalition was destroyed, the Vex had somehow infiltrated the future, and still Cadet Nida Harper blushed.

  Carson indulged in a private smile, set his sparkling gaze on hers, then shrugged his shoulders. ‘And you’re right. We need to look after each other. So yes, I will get some rest. But I’ll take you up on your offer and sleep right here,’ he pointed to the command chair.

  Though she could have fought him on that—though she could have pointed out that sleeping in an actual bed would be more restful—she didn’t.

  Instead she nodded, and it was her turn to shrug.

  They considered each other in silence.

  A strangely comfortable silence.

  Then he ordered her to get some rest.

  She didn’t question.

  She walked through the narrow corridors until she found the small crew cabin. Selecting a bunk, she flopped onto it, drawing the foam pillow close to her face until it pressed her eyes closed.

  She watched the darkness behind her closed eyes.

  And she waited for sleep.

  A dreamless sleep. One without visions. One without tortuous illusions.

  Just sleep.

  Chapter 18

  Carson Blake

  He’d been on many missions in his time, and every mission had been important.

  This went beyond that though. What they were doing here would mean everything. If they didn’t manage to find out how the United Galactic Coalition fell . . . he’d lose everything.

  No, not everything; she was still by his side.

  She was still alive.

  He held onto that fact tighter and tighter. In fact, it felt as if he’d never let it go, no matter how long he lived.

  He’d gone through the shock of losing her—or at least thinking he had. And he never wanted to face that again.

  Pressing his fingers into his brow, he watched the silent bridge around him.

  Here and there consoles beeped softly as they went about their automated tasks.

  He’d set the computer to continually scan for any incoming ships. In fact, he deliberately kept it in a state of red alert.

  They had to be ready for anything. For the Vex, the Barbarians, even for a stray freaking comet.

  As he sat there, his thoughts shifted through his mind, one after the other, in an endless progression of plans and counter plans.

  If Nida really could open a time gate at any point, then things weren’t as hopeless as they seemed.

  . . . .

  Which was incredible when he paused to think about it. She could open a time gate. She had somehow learned to control the entity, and if not control it, direct it.

  She’d told him that she had stopped it from corrupting, that she’d protected it.

  She had once admitted in a bitter moment that the entity would have been safer if it had found someone else. If it had possessed a member of the Force, or J’Etem, or anyone but Nida.

  Well, she was wrong.

  She was the perfect person for the job. He somehow doubted anyone else could have shepherded it this far.

  Thinking about that, he pushed back in his chair and he smiled.

  A genuine, proper smile that curled high into his cheeks.

  In fact, he had to latch a hand onto his chin to try to shift it.

  She really was incredible; he hadn’t been fooling around when he’d admitted that to her.

  He still remembered how vibrantly she’d blushed though.

  ‘You’re an idiot,’ Carson suddenly announced aloud, chiding himself.

  He didn’t know why he said it; it was just a reaction to the feelings churning within.

  A reaction to the fact he shouldn’t be thinking about her. Not now.

  . . . .

  Or maybe now was the perfect time. Maybe she was the distraction he needed. There was nothing more to do—he’d set the computer to automate all the scanning and tactical processes he could. So all he had to do was sit back and wait.

  . . . .

  And think of her.

  ‘Focus,’ he tried to tell himself.

  He did focus. It wasn’t on his mission though—it was on Nida.

  No matter how hard he tried to push the thought of her away, it would just flood back around him as if he were trying to shove at a wall of water.

  So he let go. He sighed, he closed his eyes, and he smiled.

  Upon meeting Cara, he’d been instantly attracted. What wasn’t there to like? She’d possessed such incredible fire, drive, determination, passion, courage. She’d been able to pull him along with little more than a word and a look.

  Nida was completely, 100 percent different though.

  And yet she wasn’t. She still had fire—it just didn’t sizzle right through her to burn all it touched. She had drive too, and determination, and god knows she had courage.

  Throughout everything—no matter what the entity had done, what visions she’d experienced, and what the Vex had done to her—Nida hadn’t given up.

  It was different courage to that which Cara possessed, but it was infinitely more attractive now he paused to think of it.

  Carson had a history of choosing bad dates.

  When you were travelling through time though, history no longer counted.

  You could change it.

  Just as he realised that, he looked up to see her walking in.

  She was clearly still tired, and she let out a cute noise as she yawned and stretched.

  ‘You don’t have to get up yet,’ he stood, suddenly feeling awkward as he did. He didn’t know what to do with his arms, and he settled for locking them behind his back as if he were on parade.

  ‘It’s okay; it’s time for you to get some rest,’ she yawned again as she walked over to the navigator’s chair and plonked herself down on it.

  He was suddenly reminded of how, according to Nida, he snuffled in his sleep. And how, according to Nida, it was adorable. No, not adorable—attractive.

  He felt heat take to his cheeks.

  . . . Seriously?

  Was he blushing? Now? When the world was ending?

  She turned around to consider him, curiosity and confusi
on crumpling her brow. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Nothing,’ he cleared his throat gruffly. ‘I’ll just . . . get some rest,’ he forced himself to sit again.

  She nodded.

  Her cheeks were pink from sleep, and she wiped her eyes distractedly with her thumb.

  ‘Good night,’ she mumbled sweetly as she turned and started to type silently on the panel before her.

  ‘Ah, yeah,’ he managed.

  . . . Ah, yeah? That was the best he could do?

  Groaning at his sudden nerves and idiotic behaviour, he closed his eyes. Then he spent several uncomfortable minutes tossing and turning, willing his body not to snuffle while he slept.

  ‘Carson,’ she said softly after several moments, ‘why don’t you head back to the crew quarters? It’s more comfortable in there.’

  ‘I’m fine,’ he assured her.

  With another silent groan, he forced his mind to still. It took a long time, but eventually sleep took him.

  He dreamed.

  Of Nida being dead, of the soulless task of protecting the entity, of the simulation he’d been forced to endure.

  Yet if he ever surfaced into waking, all it took was a single look to convince himself that she was still okay.

  Alive for now.

  They were both alive for now.

  Chapter 19

  Cadet Nida Harper

  He snuffled occasionally, and every time he did, she grinned to herself. It was that or laughing, and she simply couldn’t wake him up.

  He needed his rest. He’d been working non-stop for days.

  So she sat there silently, doing what she could. Not that there was much to do—most of the systems were automated. Plus, though this wasn’t her first time in space, she was rapidly understanding that there was a lot she had left to learn. From how to scan for communications without being detected, to simply looking after the ship’s systems.

  Still, she wasn’t alone. Carson was right behind her.

  Sitting back in her chair, mindful to make the move slow so she made no noise, she turned her gaze up to the ceiling.

  With nothing to do to keep her distracted, she found her thoughts drifting to one topic.

  It wasn’t the entity, and neither was it the grisly, desperate task that had been thrust upon her and Carson.