Fracture (First Colony Book 8) by Ken Lozito

Author:Ken Lozito [Lozito, Ken]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Acoustical Books LLC
Published: 2019-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

19

The Raven class scout ship only had one command bridge located amidships. Jon sat in the commander's chair of what could scarcely be called a bridge. They weren’t quite crammed on top of one another, but it also wasn’t what anyone would consider overly spacious. Both the pilot’s and the tactical officer's workstations were set side by side. Oscar sat at the alternate tactical workstation to Jon’s right. To his left was officially the operations workstation, but it was being manned by Specialist Amber Vandercamp. Amber was the resident expert on space gates. Jon hadn't wanted somebody who knew the theoretical concepts of how space gates worked; he wanted someone who'd actually worked with them. Thankfully, Colonel Cross had agreed and approved the transfer.

They’d put Phoenix Station behind them over an hour earlier and were heading to a space gate they'd positioned out near Gigantor’s orbit.

Jon glanced at Oscar, who had his lips pursed and was nodding approvingly at the data on his holoscreen.

“Our engine output is at peak performance. We won’t be at the space gate for another two hours, but we could cut down that time considerably if you wanted, Captain,” Oscar said.

“It’s tempting, but I don’t want to thread any needles before we’ve had a chance to begin,” Jon said. His comment drew a few chuckles from the bridge crew. That was a good sign. “Maybe on the way back.”

The Raven may not have packed an offensive punch, but the stealth recon ship was jam-packed with some impressive equipment. They'd had to limit the number of crew serving aboard the ship because of advanced stealth recon systems. Jon reviewed the ship’s systems, deciding whether he intended to alter the plan.

Jon looked away from his holoscreen to watch his crew for a moment. They were all quietly working, diligently going over their responsibilities, but there was very little they could do until they actually went through the space gate. The closer they came to it, the more he could feel the tension build. It could have been just him, but he doubted it. He’d never gone to another universe, but he'd led quite a few missions among hostile ships. Mostly, they'd been from combat shuttles or salvage ships with squads of heavily armed soldiers.

Jon stood up and stretched his arms overhead. He took in a deep breath and exhaled. Corporal Bruce Wente, a short man not much more than five-foot-nine, glanced at him from the pilot seat.

“It feels good,” Jon said. “Go for it, Corporal.”

Corporal Wente hesitated for a mere second or two and then stood up. He held his arms up over his head and stretched. Then he rolled his shoulder and stretched his neck from side to side. Jon could hear it pop and had to suppress a shudder. Hearing anything like knuckles or backs cracking had always bothered him.

“Am I right?” Jon asked and then added, “It gets the blood flowing.”

“It does,” Corporal Wente replied.

“Anyone else?” Jon asked, and even though he received a few speculative glances, no one else rose to their feet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.