Broken Ascension by Dave Walsh

Author:Dave Walsh [Walsh, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798600312975
Published: 2020-01-27T16:00:00+00:00

12 Death Crawl

Death still felt like an inevitability, merely delayed by Drake's act of valor. There was still a chance that something—anything—would happen to Giga's fleet to detract them from following the Trystero. They had waited until Giga's forces crawled back into their transports and rode back to their ships before taking off, Vetru mildly upset that proving their valor on the battlefield hadn’t happened for his warriors, even if they were being clobbered by Giga's army.

The Gra'al were proud people, especially in war.

"So now what?" the sergeant muttered.

“I don't know,” the captain said, from her usual perch. “You and I both know that we wouldn't of held out much longer out there. As much as I hate to say it, we weren't adding much to that battle, Sarge. Drake probably saved our lives.”

"Or just prolonged the inevitable," he said.

Their ship had passed through the giant doors to the hangar bay on the Mark V, showing signs of battle on the inside, members of House Lazaar helping their wounded up and covering the dead. The outside of the ship showed signs of direct hits from the giant cannons from Giga’s fleet, pock-marked with dents. The rest of their ships bore similar signs of wear and tear, most likely from protecting the Trystero earlier on in the fight.

"Many people died today because of us," Bec said.

"Yet we're still alive," Drake replied.

"Sure are, Dray. Sure are."

"That doesn't mean shit," the sergeant snarled. "Live to fight another day only works when you aren't someone's prisoner."

"But we aren't," the captain said.

"Not yet, at least," he said. "We're gonna be heading to this mythical rockhead Shangri-La with a pack of wild dogs on our tail. Vetru can't do shit against them. We just saw that."

"You do not know that," Gentar said.

"Yeah, I do. I know your type, no offense."

"We fought side-by-side, Sergeant Rose, do you not trust me?"

"That's battle, that's different."

"Life is battle."

"So what? Some bullshit philosophy is going to convince me that we're not gonna die? In case you didn't notice, this crew is Terran. I'm a Terran and I fought in the Terran Marines. I've killed more of your kind than you've probably killed of mine. I trust my brothers in arms and that's it."

"You trust your crew," the captain said. "If you don't then the airlock is right down this hall, Sergeant."

"That's what I meant."

"I'm not your brother, I'm your captain. You two made a good team, like it or not, and someday you're gonna get over all of this, Sergeant. You know why?"

"No," he said defiantly. "Why?"

"Because I'm your damned captain and I say so."

"I hear you," he said, adjusting the bandage on his arm. "I'm gonna get this patched up better in the med bay."

"You do that," she said, eyeballing him while he marched out. "This goes for anyone else aboard this ship: if you want to be doom-and-gloom that's fine, I get it, but we respect each other here or we've got nothing, you hear that? Gentar and Bruce

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