The Crucible: Leap of Faith Page 2

  But – but something. Something was happening. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but this galaxy was changing, almost from beneath my feet.

  As I thought that, I looked down at my polished regulation boots, then let my gaze slide up until I stared past the city and to the horizon beyond. Locking my gaze on the point where the land met the heavens, I concentrated.

  It was time to push away my disquiet, if only for a few hours, and prepare for the function tonight.

  Then I could worry about the future. Because then I would be on the bridge of my ship, and I’d be able to do something about it.

  Chapter 2

  Ensign Jenks

  I stood with my head pressed up against the door. I ground my sweaty flesh against the smooth metal, face contorted in pain, eyes squeezed shut.

  With bared teeth, I waited for my agony to pass.

  My hands jittered by my sides, my body now so sweaty it had soaked through the blue-black of my Star Forces’ uniform.

  Another wave of pain hit me, and I brought my head back and slammed it against the door, letting out a soft whimper as I did.

  It didn’t help. Nothing would.

  Except more compound 78.

  In a snap, the pain ended, and the nausea washed over me instead.

  I took a staggering step back and locked a hand over my mouth. My fingers slipped over my skin, and it wasn’t until I dug my nails into my flesh that they stilled.

  For several moments I stood there and forced myself to breathe. With my eyes half closed, I staggered backwards and forwards, my limbs like jelly.

  Now the nausea abated. It was replaced with a high-pitched ringing echoing through my head.

  It felt like horrendous static building in my brain.

  With one last tortured gasp, it too ended.

  I staggered over to the adjacent wall, planted a hand into it, and guided myself to my knees. My fingers left sweaty prints trailing down the smooth plain metal.

  I brought my knees up and crunched them hard against my chest, locking my head against them with my arms as I rocked back and forth.

  I had to get more of the compound. If I didn’t, I’d fall apart.

  With a deep breath, I blinked my eyes open quickly and rested my head against the wall behind me. At first my gaze was unfocused, but slowly my eyesight cleared. I stared at the plain ceiling of my quarters.

  Fortunately my roommate was on duty. Not that she was actually my roommate. I wasn’t stationed aboard this vessel – I’d been picked up with a number of other crew from the Light Cruiser Fargo. She’d faced mechanical troubles after a critical failure in our engine cores, and this ship – the Godspeed – had assisted.

  That critical failure had, in part, been caused by me.

  Not intentionally, but did that matter?

  I brought my head forward and slammed it against the wall behind me. The move echoed around the room.

  I released my hands from around my knees and pinched a trembling hand over the bridge of my nose.

  Though the bulk of the pain had passed, there was always a constant headache driving through my skull. It felt like someone taking a sonic ice pick to my cranium.

  As much as I wanted to stay there pressed up against the wall, I couldn’t.

  I had to get off this ship.

  Then I needed to find more of the compound.

  I couldn’t function without it. And if I didn’t find a way to function, they’d find me.

  If they found me, they’d drag me back to their facility and continue their experiments.

  Though it was hard, I pushed myself to my feet. My fatigued limbs shook back and forth, but within seconds settled.

  I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath through my nostrils.

  I was calming.

  By my reckoning I’d have another few hours before my next attack.

  I brought my fingers up and neatened my collar, running a hand down my trim uniform.

  Then I walked into the tiny bathroom of my quarters and dried my sweaty body with the directional heater.

  Once I was done, I walked out of my door, and out of the ship.

  I couldn’t afford to stay in one place for too long.

  …

  Lieutenant Commander Nathan Shepherd

  This was one hell of a function.

  I wouldn’t call it a party, though. Not for me. My crew, however, were having a great time.

  They deserved it.

  I didn’t.

  I kept eyeing the balcony outside. The air out there would be cool, and the constant drone of the party wouldn’t reach through the flex glass walls.

  Though I was holding a drink – actual champagne from Earth – I hadn’t bothered to take a sip. Instead my fingers periodically tightened around the flute, the tension referring down my wrist and deep into my arm.

  I caught sight of my reflection a few times in the shiny panel of the bar. The top brass had really gone all out, and there were actual bottles of real alcohol lined up on the shelves, reminiscent of that old Earth style I was so fond of.

  In principle, I should have been enjoying this party. In practice, I couldn’t push the nerves from my mind. Every time I smiled and joked with a member of my crew, my disquiet was right there at the edges of my thoughts, waiting for a quiet moment until it could take over.

  I saw a break in the crowd, and pushed forward to move through it, keeping my gaze locked on the quiet balcony outside.

  That’s when I heard a low grumble by my left. “Fleeing already, Lieutenant Commander?”

  I turned to see Commander F’val. He was from the Mancor race. Tall, he had a powerful build, sinewy muscles leading up to an angled jackal-like jaw. Despite the color of his skin, he looked unnervingly similar to those dog-headed gods from ancient Egypt.

  “I wouldn’t call it fleeing, just retreating. You know me, Commander, I never lose a battle.”

  The Commander drew back his lips and laughed. It was a harsh, hiss of a noise. “Not in the mood to enjoy your own party?”

  I considered the Commander’s question in silence.

  My silence was enough to answer his question.

  “Did you hear the results of the House of Lords and Ladies vote today?”

  I nodded stiffly.

  “To think, they are so eager to keep giving us more and more power, and yet no direction. Don’t they know what happens to an over-resourced army?”

  “It rusts and dies,” I said, incapable of keeping the bitterness from my tone.

  “Or it turns against its masters,” the Commander said as he brought up his glass and made a mock salute. “Not, of course, that anyone within my ranks would be disloyal to the Alliance.”

  I smiled. It was a brief move. I found my gaze slipping towards the quiet balcony once more.

  F’val gave a soft snort. “Don’t let me stop you.”

  “No, that’s alright,” I began, but the Commander had already turned away.

  I considered him as he walked towards the bar. He had such a powerful figure, but his power didn’t stop there. It was laced through every movement and every word. Unlike me, F’val had been in the Star Forces for decades. He’d lived through countless skirmishes and commanded his crew through a multitude of victories.

  He had wisdom where all I had was a niggling sense that something… wasn’t right.

  As that thought stabbed through my mind once more, I let out a frustrated sigh, and I made my determined way towards the balcony.

  I walked right through the flex glass, and it reformed seamlessly around me, letting out nothing but a slight popping noise like bubbles breaking.

  I expected to be alone on this balcony.

  I wasn’t.

  There was a woman standing with her arms pressed against the railing, her shoulders hunched inwards. She had short plain strawberry-blond hair that was cut blunt to her jawline. She had a slight figure that didn't stand out from the crowd.

  In fact, everything about her
was unremarkable. And yet, I still recognized her. Ensign Amelia Jenks.

  She wasn’t a member of my crew, we’d just given her a lift with the other members of the Light Cruiser Fargo.

  Because the top brass were feeling in a particularly generous mood, all of the Fargo’s crew had also been invited to this function.

  Most of the rest of them were inside, quaffing the genuine alcohol and feasting on the fine cuisine.

  She, however, stood there and stared at the night sky.

  As her hands clutched the railing, they gave a slight tremble.

  She must be cold, I figured.

  I wasn’t sure whether I should disturb her, so I walked up to the railing a few meters away and tried to focus on the view.

  My gaze kept slipping back to her.

  Quiet. Contained. There didn’t seem to be a hell of a lot going on with Ensign Jenks. Still, as she turned to me briefly, I gave her an encouraging smile. “I hope you’re enjoying the party, Ensign.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander, I am,” she said quickly, but from the dazed look in her eye I could tell her words were automatic.

  I gave her another smile.

  She didn’t reciprocate. She kept looking past me, eyes locked on the night sky. Her gaze didn’t drift down to the city, they just locked on the horizon.

  I found myself frowning. There was a definite… somber quality to her watchfulness. It reached deep inside me and—

  “Lieutenant Commander Shepherd,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

  I turned, a smile spreading over my lips long before I saw her.

  Lady Argoza. She was dressed in a magnificent purple and gold gown. With a high-cut neckline and elegant sleeves, it hugged her form perfectly. With her blazing white-blue eyes and her shimmering, almost transparent frost-colored hair, she was easily one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.

  “Why are you out here, Lieutenant Commander?”

  “Just getting some air,” I replied. “It’s such a pleasant night, and—”

  Before I knew what she was doing, Lady Argoza reached up and hooked an arm through mine. “The night can wait. You should enjoy this party… you’ve earned it.”

  Even though I followed every word she said, I got the strange feeling she actually meant something else.

  I shouldn’t enjoy this party because I’d earned it; I should enjoy it because it would be the last I would see for a long time to come.

  As the Lady led me away, I found my head turning, my gaze drifting back to Ensign Jenks.

  She hadn’t moved. There was a definite tension in her shoulders as she latched hold of the railing, and just as I walked through the flex glass, I saw her hands tremble once more.

  …

  Ensign Jenks

  I couldn’t take this any longer.

  I left the party, quietly, avoiding everyone.

  Which wasn’t hard. Amongst the crew of the Fargo, I was known as a loner. I had no friends, I interacted with no one. I kept to myself and followed orders.

  I couldn’t afford companionship. I couldn’t drag anyone else into this nightmare.

  By the time I made it out into the expansive corridor beyond the function room, my brow was plastered with sweat.

  I had to find more of the compound, and I had to find it now.

  I’d foolishly thought I’d have a few more hours until another seizure struck me. I’d been wrong.

  If it had been up to me, I wouldn’t have come to this party. But it wasn’t up to me. It had been a command. The Star Forces told you went to work, went to rest, and when to play.

  They also told you when it was time to die.

  I walked quickly, arms huddled around my middle, fingers digging hard into my forearms.

  I clenched my teeth together and kept my head angled to the side, avoiding eye contact with any passers-by.

  I was currently in the administrative district. This district housed the Star Forces Academy and the House of Lords and Ladies, as well as the other crucial administrative centers that ran the Alliance. Beyond this district were the trade markets.

  If I were lucky, I’d find what I was looking for there.

  Nobody would be able to sell me any compound 78. Not in its isolated form. I would have to synthesize it from Omega class weapons. And Omega class weapons were very much illegal.

  If you’d asked me several years ago, I would have said it would be impossible to get such weapons on the capital planet of the Alliance.

  Now I knew better.

  This Alliance was rotten to the core.

  I pushed my way into a lift, half staggering past two surprised guests. “Close the doors and take me to the ground level,” I commanded before they had a chance to enter the lift.

  As the doors swept closed with a hiss, I unlocked one shaking hand from around my middle and planted it on my brow, forcing the fingernails hard into my flesh. Pressing my palm over my eyes, I didn’t remove it until several seconds later when I arrived at the ground floor.

  Dropping my hand and taking a calming breath, I walked out.

  I had to keep blinking to refocus my gaze; it was starting to become fuzzy around the edges.

  It was a cool night, and there was a pleasant brisk breeze sweeping along the streets.

  On the ground floor of the administration district were wide white walkways interspersed with low gardens and lakes.

  Before I’d been discovered and taken into the program, I’d loved nature. I’d always dreamt of traveling to some pristine planet somewhere and living out my days free from the pressures of the modern galaxy.

  I’d never get the chance. Forevermore I’d be on the run. Though I could try to go to ground on some distant world, it wouldn’t last. I needed compound 78 to survive. And if I stopped taking it… things would happen.

  My only option was to keep moving, from planet to planet, sourcing more and more compound 78.

  I needed to keep hidden from them – the people who’d done this to me. The best way to do that was under their goddamn noses.

  I’d changed my identity, buying a new one from Manticar Raiders. To the Alliance, I was now Ensign Amelia Jenks. The Raiders were good, and nobody had a clue who I really was.

  If I wanted to keep it that way, I had to get more 78.

  I quickly made my way across the grounds to the nearest transport hub. There, it was a relatively short trip to the trade district.

  Short, that was, for somebody who wasn’t breaking apart on the inside.

  Chapter 3

  The Mari Sector, Research Dig Alpha 78

  Manager Amy Lee stood over the body… or whatever remained of it. A few of her researchers had found it.

  They’d set up a security perimeter and had already activated an environmental field.

  It was safe to breathe, yet she didn’t really want to take off her helmet.

  Take off her helmet, and there’d be nothing between her and the torn bloody remains in the dust.

  Her muscles were tense, her fists clenched by her sides.

  Ensign Weatherby had been an idiot, but he hadn’t deserved this.

  … Whatever this was.

  This moon was uninhabited. Apart from the crew at the dig site, there should be nobody on this rock.

  Well, there had to be something. The injuries Weatherby had sustained weren’t natural. He hadn’t fallen over. The ground hadn’t given out from underneath him and crushed his body.

  No. His EV suit had been torn to shreds, the flesh within ripped apart – leaving the unmistakable impression of claws.

  Whatever had done this had torn right through his chest.

  There was blood everywhere. It was mixing with the condensation of this planet, but it was still thick and sticky by her feet.

  Lieutenant Hargrove – the leader of her Space Forces detachment – stood above the Ensign’s body, his expression both grim and concerned.

  To him, this mission was simple. This wasn’t the kind of operat
ion where people died.

  Hating that her hand trembled, she brought it up and wiped it over the visor of her helmet.

  “Just take the damn thing off,” Hargrove growled, voice low and rumbling.

  “There’s no need for that tone,” she managed as she reluctantly disengaged the seal of her helmet and pulled it off, a cloud of condensation puffing around her face before it dissipated.

  “Don’t you dare,” Hargrove snapped. “The report you submitted to Star Forces said there would be no threats on this moon. You said this place was uninhabited.”

  “It is uninhabited.”

  “Something did that to him.” Hargrove extended a stiff finger at what remained of the Ensign’s body.

  “A ship must have landed,” she began.

  “Our ship hasn’t detected any incoming vessels. There is no one on this moon but us.”

  She shivered. The move snaked deep into her body, making every muscle tremble. She brought up her hand to wipe it over her face, but stopped when she felt the rough fabric of the EV suit. As her fingers shifted in front of her face, she saw a faint shimmer of red. “What the hell is this?” she hissed.

  Hargrove barely looked at her. “It’s his blood. It’s evaporating and mixing with the air. It’s this moon’s goddamn atmosphere. We need to act quickly if we are to preserve the crime scene.”

  “Crime scene?” she stuttered, finally tearing her gaze off that thin film of red and staring at Hargrove.

  “You said yourself, this planet is uninhabited, and if my ship hasn’t sensed anyone landing, that leaves one thing.” He stared at her directly, his lined brow pressing against his eyes.

  “… What?”

  “One of your crew did this to my man,” Hargrove’s voice dropped so low she could barely register it.

  “What?”

  “I will find who did this.”

  Research Manager Lee was used to holding her ground. Supervising dig sites, especially ones as large as this, required a sense of discipline and control. She was never afraid of a fight.

  Yet now she couldn’t stop the fear from tracing up and down her back. It lodged deep into the base of her spine, leaving her with the sudden urge to run.

  Not from Hargrove. Despite the menace lacing his tone, she wasn’t scared of him.