Lost Souls 2 by Shawn Keys

Author:Shawn Keys [Keys, Shawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: New
ISBN: 9781990164286
Amazon: B0C9R4FPC9
Goodreads: 185166877
Publisher: ISBN Canada
Published: 2023-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Kandace sauntered onto the bridge, pausing briefly to ensure the radar stations were picking up all the feeds that she wanted to monitor while away from the operations room. “It’s official. We’ve lost radar contact with Rapa Island. We’re clear of all the French Polynesians.”

James sank back in his captain’s chair, not even trying to hide his satisfaction at being in the waters that were his old stomping grounds. He’d participated in at least a dozen exercises in cooperation with the New Zealand and American Navies in this area. The large swath of open ocean had no land masses to interfere with weapons firing and minimal ocean traffic to foul the ranges.

He leaned over his chair’s arm to get a better look at the track Mahathi had plotted on the electronic chart. “Looks like our CPA to New Zealand will be about 500 nautical miles. Good distance. We’re about 750 nm away now. We’ll keep getting closer for another 50 hours. Two more days.”

“Are we going to jump again before then?” Kandace started to do her rounds of the bridge, getting ready to take the watch so James would be free to leave.

It had been years since James had actually stood as Officer of the Watch. Once you advanced to the level of Operations Officer, then Executive Officer and finally Commanding Officer, you had other responsibilities that precluded you from being stuck on the bridge for a solid four hours at a time. There were times he missed it. The routine of keeping a ship on its proper course while enjoying the ocean vistas was part of the magic of a Navy life.

Even though Mercy and Vérène had learned enough to take bridge watches while in open ocean, they were often occupied with their aircraft maintenance duties. That meant Mahathi and Kandace had to take the brunt of the duties while the ship was in motion. All of which meant James felt it right to take a few watches himself, feeding his nostalgia and keeping the ship on the right track.

He allowed himself the pleasant diversion of watching Kandace do her rounds in her khaki service uniform. She seemed to like it better than her Navy combat dress, and he had to approve considering the way it hugged to her body. Combat dress was comfortable, but it wasn’t flattering to the female figure.

“No.” He shared the decision with her, though he hadn’t yet spread it around. He had arrived at it over the course of the morning watch while watching the sun rise over the horizon. “There’s nothing holding us to this world, but I want a chance for a bit of added investigation.”

“Glad to hear it. That last chain of jumps we did was a trial I’m not keen to repeat,” Kandace said.

James felt the same. With Telek’s concurrence, they had gone through a series of jumps with increasing frequency. At first, he had roused his workers after each transition. Then, the drone had left a few in their stupor to see if they could take a second exposure.

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