Sol Strike (Battlegroup Z Book 3) by Daniel Gibbs

Author:Daniel Gibbs [Gibbs, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2021-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

Justin stifled a yawn as his joints cried out in pain. Trying to twist his body into a different position was nearly impossible in the cramped cockpit and just led to cramps in other areas. Four hours down, eight to go. They’d made it two jumps toward Earth, and in keeping with the mission parameters, the fighter force held its position in deep space. Fifteen minutes were left before the Lawrence drive completed its cooldown.

“Justin, you there?” Feldstein asked on a private channel.

“Yeah.” I wonder why she’s using my first name. Even friends in the military almost always used the last name to talk to someone, a system ingrained from day one of boot camp.

“You don’t have to go alone.”

Justin sighed. “Dvora, it’s my duty. I’m not going to take extreme risks. Once I stick my nose in and get a few scans, I’ll send a burst transmission back, and you all join me. No heroics. I promise I won’t take on the entire League of Sol by myself.”

“I don’t want to lose you.”

“I have no plans to die today.” Justin felt perplexed by her behavior recently. It almost seemed like she had deeper feelings than simple friendship. I’m going to have to address it if we get out of here alive. But for the moment, the only thing he had headspace for was the mission. “I promise.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“Always.” Justin cued the commlink to synch with the all-friendlies channel. “This is Alpha One. I’m going to spin up my Lawrence drive in a moment, but before I do, I wanted to tell you all that there’s no group of men and women I’d rather be flying and fighting with. Hopefully, I will find the way clear, and we’ll collectively put the hurt on the Leaguers. If I don’t return or reply within fifteen minutes, head back to the Zvika Greengold.” It felt strange to give an order assuming his death or capture, but duty required it. He wished he could’ve recorded a final message for his wife and daughter, but they were so far from the Terran Coalition that the range wasn’t there, even with FTL communication, for it to get back to the fleet’s listening posts.

“Mate, nothing is stopping me from putting the hurt on those commie bastards,” Martin replied. “So if you make it or not, I’m coming in and getting mine. You can drink a cold one to that.”

Peals of laughter spread across the commlink, and Justin joined in. “You’re on when we get back to home plate.”

“Good luck, mate. We’re all pulling for ya.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant.” Justin flipped the safety cover off the jump button and confirmed one last time that the proper coordinates were loaded. Then he pressed the button, engaging the Lawrence drive. A blue-and-orange artificial wormhole roared into being directly in front of his fighter, and he increased forward speed to enter it. As Justin closed his eyes for the transit, he hoped it wasn’t for the last time.

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