Star Bridge (Space Rogue Book 4)

by Jay Toney

  "How did your appointments go?"

  "Terrible, we've been double grounded. Doc told us that if we are too fat to fit into our flight suits, then we are too fat to fly. He's your father, talk to him!" Jewel demanded.

  I'd already learned my lesson when it came to arguing with Doc for medical clearance to fly. Any argument would only extend the grounding. It was hard to hide the fact that Jewel's, Amber's and Persephone's bellies were noticeably larger. Both Amber and Jewel were wearing maternity clothing now. Persephone tried to keep her belly hidden under a loose dress. She made it clear that goddesses didn't get fat, and tried to keep her image. Fortunately for me, I didn't have to tell her otherwise. Nugget did that for me.

  Persephone was lounging on a seat near Amber and Jewel. She hadn't disapparated since we left the Temple of Destruction. I think she was fond of staying in her corporeal body, amongst her friends. By now the whole fleet thought I was sleeping with Amber, Jewel, and Persephone. How else could she get pregnant by me?

  With the rumors came the fans. One group was fascinated by my rumored sex life. The other thought I was an adulterous cad and should repent my sins. In truth, I hadn't been sleeping with any of them since Persephone moved in.

  After Persephone got over her morning sickness, I was able to move onto the couch. It was a step up from the floor, but still uncomfortable and lonely. Even though she was over her morning sickness, the bond we had remained. I didn't have to stay in direct sight of her, but I still had to remain close by.

  The walls of our suite were my new boundary, as long as Persephone was inside the cabin with me. Wherever I went, she had to follow, or vice versa. My freedom was still limited. My constantly having a chaperone assured my wives that I wouldn't be cheating on them. It was also an endless source of humor for Nugget. He knew my sex life was nonexistent, while his was thriving with Astrea.

  "Persephone, can you set up a short jump of 500 light minutes, scan and jump again, until we reach our destination?"

  "Do you think I'm too fat to fly too?"

  It was a loaded question, no matter how I answered, it would imply that she was indeed getting fat. Nugget laughed.

  Persephone was getting moody. If I didn't watch what I said and upset her, I would be in trouble with all three women. I needed a diversion, not answering her question would be just as bad.

  "It's nearly dinner time, I think a break is in order." "Dinner already? My daughter and I would both love some pancakes."

  I rolled my eyes, she ate little else besides pancakes.

  "I knew it. You do think I am getting fat." Nugget laughed hysterically. In this case, no answer was the best answer. I followed the girls to the elevator and our cabin.

  Jumping to hyperspace took a lot of power. It took relatively little power to stay in hyperspace. The short jumps took a lot of time, between the need to decelerate, run our scans, and recharge the jump capacitors. We were only capable of making four jumps per day. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months before our sensors finally picked up what we were looking for. A portal to another galaxy. The wormhole at the end of the line of beacons was enormous. It was capable of swallowing a ship several times larger than the Persephone. Our scans showed that the wormhole was stable.

  Wormhole travel had been given up, as being too risky. Most wormholes could take you across the galaxy into unexplored regions. Occasionally, they could transport you to another region of the universe, such as another galaxy.

  Early explorers traveled by wormhole before hyperspace was commonly used. Only a few returned from their explorations. Someone had to have traveled to this galaxy and returned before the exodus started. It was the only way to tell if the wormhole could be safely traveled.

  We were at the point of no return. Every member of our fleet was here because they wanted a new life, much like our ancestors did. Instead of venturing off to a new galaxy, we were going home. In the nearly 4000 years that we had been gone, a lot could have changed. What we would find when we reached Earth, was anybody's guess. If our ancestors could make the trip, so could we.

  I used my comm to call engineering. Jane's cheerful voice greeted me. "What can I do for you, Captain?"

  "It's time, build our shield reserves, and divert all available power to the shields and engines."

  "Persephone, raise our shields. We are going in."

  I didn't know anything about traveling in a wormhole, or how one entered it. I hoped that flying into its maw was enough. Our ship moved towards the opening. Flashes of energy discharged against our shields. We began to moving faster as we neared the wormhole. Our ship approached light speed as it was drawn into the opening. The wormhole had us and we continued to move faster and faster. There was no turning back.

  Our tactical screen became erratic, flashing with heavy static. The Vengeance, was behind us, with the Valkyrie, the Sequoia, the Falcon, and the Griffin following. It looked like the former Crimson Tide fleet was remaining behind. Our sensors became more erratic, losing data, and shutting down as we were pulled into the wormhole.

  The ship was buffeted and began rolling violently in the wormholes vortex. Persephone fought with the ships controls to stabilize our flight. Our instruments were going crazy and raw energy splashed off of our shields. Main and emergency power was lost leaving us in total blackness.

  The Persephone was out of control, rolling and spinning wildly in the dark. Then it all stopped. The ship was calm, no longer being affected by the wormhole. We were on the other side.

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  Other Books:

  Space Rogue

  Alliance Gold

  Freedom Flight

  Coming Soon:

  Lost in Space

  Doc Roberts: Space Pirate

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