Star Crusader: Hero of the Alliance by Michael G. Thomas

Author:Michael G. Thomas [Thomas, Michael G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swordworks
Published: 2015-07-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Alliance Armoured Assault Ship ‘ANS Relentless’

Day 4

Relentless was silent, a ghostly vessel bereft of crew and passengers. In the past she may have been filled to bursting point with officers, crew, and pilots, but no longer. Nate had travelled aboard many ships in his life but never on such a large vessel with so few people aboard. They were already halfway to the hangar deck and still he’d seen not a single soul outside of their own group.

This is too weird.

He entered one of the many junctions, instinctively checking both directions before crossing. It was big enough that he could expect to make it through without bumping into people, but after the bloodbath on the starbase, he was taking nothing for granted. There were blackspots throughout the ship, and they had been warned to stay together and well away from them. As he continued to make his way through the passageway, his mind filled with images of space fighters. Since humanity’s expansion into space, they had fought many enemies, including factions from within, aliens, and even the dreaded biomechanical machines of the last two wars. All he wanted was take command of one of the fighters and do his part, like so many pilots before him.

Cassandra walked in front and Billy at his flank. Their boots made a clunking sound, and though incredibly tired, Nate found that for the first time in days he was starting to relax. It wasn’t that they had nothing serious to think about, but he was actually beginning to feel comfortable controlling the fighters. What had seemed complex and confusing was quickly becoming second nature, and Lieutenant Higgins must have noticed it.

“Hey, Nate. Do you think he’ll let us actually sit inside one of the active Lightnings? I’ve only been in one of the Mark I models in the military museum on Terra Nova.”

Nate looked at him, and although he’d heard the words, they were just sound, nothing more. He looked at his friend for a second as he tried to gauge what he was saying. Normally, Nate would have loved to listen to more stories of Terra Nova. He’d spent his entire life on Kerberos, and even though it was one of the most advanced planets in the Alliance, it was still never going to match the prestige of either Proxima Prime or Terra Nova. His mind was far from thoughts of those planets, though. Seeing armed spacecraft was quite the distraction, but then so was the odd sound he could hear. He kept walking but tilted his head to listen. It was a knocking sound, like somebody on the other side of a door hitting it with a wrench.

Weird.

It stopped as quickly as it had begun. He shrugged, lifted his foot, and took another step forward. It returned, but this time it was a jarring sound like rough metal being dragged along a flat surface. As his foot touched the floor, the entire ship shuddered violently. It wasn’t enough to make him lose his balance, but he did reach out to make sure he didn’t bump into Billy or the wall.

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