This Forsaken World

This Forsaken World Chapter 19

This Forsaken World Chapter 19

Commander Devin Crowe

As I entered the bridge the first thing that caught my eye was Sally standing next to the Captain wearing handcuffs. The Commanding Officer must have noticed my confused look and she held up a hand.

"Save the questions, we don't have time. We both know our bombers can't disable that Dreadnought and our Capital ships are no match for its firepower and armor. I need you to shut that thing down from the inside." My confusion grew.

"Um, that's a tall order. Exactly how do we do that?" I asked, moving to stand next to Sally. The vampire gave me a smile, the gesture showing her fangs, before nodding her head and turning her attention back to the Captain.

"Our prisoner here has agreed to guide you from inside the ship. Your going to take a platoon of S.C.A.R. Troopers and three transports. The bombers and fighters are going to clear you a path to the enemy hangar and your going to board the dreadnought and shut it down. I hope you remember your close quarters combat training because this will be as close as you get." I shook my head slowly.

"I'm not a trooper, I belong in space in a cockpit." I protested. The Captain sighed and waved a hand dismissively.

"I'm aware of that but the vampire refuses to cooperate unless you go with her. Frankly we don't have time to argue about this. We've injected her with an explosive device that will detonate if she strays too far from this remote." Sasha handed me a little control that resembled an old school TV remote with two buttons instead of a dozen.

Grumbling in irritation I turned to face Sally. "Can I trust you?" I asked in all seriousness. The vampire squared her slender shoulders and stared me straight in the eye.

"We've had this conversation. Trust me and you won't regret it, don't and you will. Your choice." I tried to gauge the honesty in her eyes and failed to find it.

"Alright let's go. Are the troopers ready to deploy?" I asked the Captain.

"There already loaded in the hangar bay waiting for you. You'll have a set of armor and some weapons to use, dress as you travel. I don't need to tell you if that Dreadnought closes range on us before you can disable it there won't be a ship for you to return to. Don't fail us, everything is riding on this." I nodded slowly as the gravity of the situation settled in. Turning to the Captain I gave her a salute and left the bridge, Sally in tow.

As we made our way to the hangar Sally held out her hands. "Could you take these off? There kind of tight." I growled under my breath and looked at the cuffs.

"I don't have the code, we'll have to get one of the MP's to do it when we get there." Shifting my attention back to the hallway a sudden metallic 'ting' sound caused me to turn back. Sally was smiling as she displayed the broken cuffs dangling from one finger.

"I didn't want to break them but as I said, they were too tight." A broad mischievous grin played across her beautiful face and I rolled my eyes as she handed the scrap metal to me, shouldering me out of the way and taking point. I couldn't help but grin myself as I tossed the restraining device to the side and followed her, admiring the view she was obviously accentuating to tease me.

As we neared the hangar we both equipped an oxygen mask and cycled the door to walk onto the flight line. The majority of the fighters had already left the ship and I could imagine were circling around outside. The pressure doors were sealed at the moment as the next wave of space craft were being prepped to launch.

I noticed the absence of Reaper Squadron and had to assume the Captain already notified Angel that she was in command. That was reassuring at least, this entire situation was a bit strange.