Book 2: Chapter 43: Firestorm One

Book 2: Chapter 43: Firestorm One

USD: Sometime in the morning

Location: Nu Crateris, Dedia IV, Tifara, Eliss Apartment

Elis disentangled herself from underneath an arm before sliding out from under the bedsheet, escaping into the bathroom to pee. As she came out, she bent down to snag her panties and slide them back on. A quick check of the time told her what she already knew: she had overslept and missed her morning sitrep with Alex.

That was sloppy.

It was not the first time shed had gone to bed with a soldier. It was something she had done regularly, even with her squad mates. The service had been very lax in allowing relationships between members of cryo-teams like hers and did not care at all who they shagged during the time they were awake.

So why did she feel a knot of pain in her chest as she considered what to do with the lump still in her bed?

She knew the answer almost immediately. It was because he reminded her of him.

Not personality wise. She didnt even know the man in her beds name. It was the shape of his face, the color and cut of his hair, that he was younger than her and handsome.

She had even, for a short time during the night, been able to pretend that he was him. When they had both exhausted themselves, she had even fallen asleep with him plastered against her back and arm around her.

And it had been wonderful. That was why it hurt.

Pulling a tank-top and pair of shorts on, she put her guest out of her mind and began to read the updates on her datapad.

It took her only two lines before she felt like she had been kicked.

|AMCN strike authorized for tomorrow. |

|Call me as soon as you can. |

That was not good. She changed her mind, wanting to have some privacy while calling Alex. She was sure she was going to have some kind of work to do.

Elis looked back at her guest, raising her voice at the lump still under the sheets. Hey, wake up.

He grumbled and rolled over, but that was the end of his response.

She stood up and walked over to try again. Hey, wake up, time to go.

He rolled over and looked up at her with a confused look on his face. What?

Time to go. She repeated. This always felt so awkward with strangers. Thankfully, he got up, stumbling towards the bathroom. When he came out, she tossed his clothes at him.

He took them, then looked at her. Do I have time to put them on?

She wanted to laugh and tell him it would be funny to send him out in his skivvies, but she only managed to nod and say, Yes.

She watched as he pulled his outfit back on piece by piece on. Sorry. Just I have stuff to do.

I understand. Its no problem. It was great spending time with you.

Her cheeks heated slightly. Now she felt like a bitch for kicking him out. Why did he have to be polite and understanding?

He headed for the door, but she swallowed and spoke, Wait.

He turned around with a confused expression.

Elis, Elis Myers. Whats your name?

Daniel Ashburn.

[Affirmative: AMCN missile launching now.]

[If you are reading ShipCore this somewhere other than Royal Road, Scribble Hub, or my Patreon then you should know this content was posted without the author's permission-Erios909, Author.]

USD: A short time later

Location: Planet Dedia, Central Continent, somewhere underground east of Tifara

Szizsielia had pulled her nestlings into the hive for long enough that they had begun to consume each other. She hated it, but it was necessary to remain out of reach of her rampaging mothers clutch.

The screams of her mother had continued unabated. They had grown louder until even Szizsielias sisters from far away were responding in annoyance. Those sisters had far larger broods than Szizsielia. They had moved far from their mothers influence, while she had remained close.

Her mother did not truly care for any of her daughters, but as long as she was not challenged, she did not bother to harm Szizsielia directly. So she had learned to keep her nest small and covert.

Now it felt like a mistake as the unceasing shrieks of pain and rage vibrated through the air and into her scaled carapace.

Szizsielia had been contemplating moving her hive in a great migration to the east or west, even if that meant she would likely have to fight one of her sisters or their own progeny there. Living near the conflict was quickly becoming more and more hazardous.

There was only one benefit to being so close to her mother and the horrible noise that wracked all the Rexxor hives.

She was close enough that she could piece together the events that had begun the rampage in clearer detail than her sisters. Her smallest, craftiest nestlings had finally reached the location of the battle between her mothers horde and the soft-skins.

But the soft-skins did not fight with their weak bodies. Instead, they had cloaked themselves between mountains they had built themselves; they prowled the land inside metal carapaces that let them challenge even a triumvi.

Their spitters could fire small spikes through the air for miles, that would land and cause concussive fire and death. Nestlings and guardfangs had no chance to survive if they were near them.

Then had come the sky fire. Even one of her favored with the keenest eyes could not make out the metal sky carapace in the heavens that had spit the fiery rods from the heavens. She knew it was there, though. She had memories passed on to her of such things.

Once, long ago, her mothers nest had been brought to the world by the sky gods as a reward for the nests service. The soft-skins waged war in the same way the sky-gods had.

Szizsielia didnt dare consider the soft-skins the same as the sky-gods, but they were powerful. If her mothers wound and the poison that harmed her had stopped, Szizsielia was sure she would have abated and not continued to stir them to war.

Now the soft-skins had begun to rain down their sky fire once again. It was a vicious, nightmarish scene. She wondered how long until the soft-skins would come out of their crafted mountain and strike.

It was only for a small second that her scout nestlings observed the starfire blossom erupt. Then her connection to them was severed painfully by a sudden overload of death. Her mothers cries suddenly went silent.

Szizsielia feared. Before she could close her mind, a poisonous burst arrived through her remaining thought links with her children that had been further from the detonation to not be instantly destroyed. Their pain radiated in her mind for a brief moment as the poison filled energy forced her mental channels open for a brief moment.

She shrieked in agony before losing consciousness, and her children rose in anger.

USD: A few days later

Location: 92 Pegasi, SMS Grazhdanin, CIC, en route to Theta Corvi jump point

Corporate Intelligence Officer Fallon walked onto the bridge in his new Solarian Officers uniform and headed directly for the captains command seat. The massive CIC room had three tiers of consoles, with the captains dais set in the center rear, where he could observe all the officers and crewmen below.

The ship was not on alert, so only about a quarter of the seats were manned, mostly engineering stations that oversaw the continuous maintenance of the massive vessel. It was nearly state-of-the art for a post-collapse ship, and the electronics and systems showed no major ongoing issues.

One crewman was taking a nap.

Fallon frowned, but it was not his place to discipline the crew and the Captain was present and allowing it, so he focused on his purpose.

Captain Rolks Walker noticed him approach and stood. Commander, welcome aboard. Would you care to join me in my office?

Of course, Captain.

Watching the interplay from his watch station, Bridge Officer Lieutenant Lavigne frowned. He had never seen the commander on the ship before, and he was sure he knew the faces of all the officers aboard that were above him in rank.