Countdown by John Walker (most life changing books TXT) 📕

“Yeah, I’m just tired of needing to be fixed,” Vic muttered. “You’d better hurry, Borden! This thing’s going up soon!”

“I thought I’d stop for tea!” Borden shouted. “Just be quiet and hold on! I’m going full burn before we get out of here. Somewhere safe this time. Damn stupid Gold Empire jackasses! I can’t believe…”

The rest of what he said faded as Vic gave into the pain. They made it to medical where Lyson helped him sit. As the main thrusters engaged, the ship really started shaking. Vic watched his computer through blurry eyes. Power increases on the space station went critical and a moment later… it detonated.

They were only barely beyond minimum safe distance. Possibly five thousand kilometers. The end of the shockwave rocked their vessel, making the lights flicker and the whole place quake. Lyson strapped him down to the table, leaning over him throughout the tremors.

When it finally settled down, Borden spoke over the comm. “And that was way too close for comfort, folks… but we’re on our way now. Thanks for your patience and relax. Next stop, an actual safe harbor. Talk later.”

Vic slumped, closing his eyes. Next time these people want to do something besides move on, I’m telling them to go to hell. He swallowed hard. “I know what it’ll take to fix that wound. Mind putting me out, Doc?”

“No problem, Vic.” Lyson patted his shoulder. “Rest now.”

A hypo hissed next to his ear. His body felt leaden in a matter of seconds. Unconsciousness followed. Blessed blackness after his ridiculous run. I don’t ever… want to do… that… again.

***

Zem leaned back in the chair of the command center staring at the ceiling. They’d been sitting around for a couple hours in anticipation of Loch’s arrival. The entire compound had been trapped. McCully did incredible work setting it up. She proved herself far more useful than he anticipated.

I should’ve known better. She’s a damn captain. She got there for a reason.

Ronnie and Dora moved the ship well away from the complex. They took up position far enough off that they wouldn’t be scanned upon arrival but could arrive within a few minutes if an extraction became necessary. Zem didn’t anticipate it would. He had full control over the base. Even if every man came down from the enemy ship, they didn’t stand a chance.

I’ve anticipated you, Loch. This is going to be a quick brawl.

“Hey,” McCully stepped inside, “I finished the inspection. All the explosives are good to go. You want to take a walkthrough? I can watch the control for a bit.”

“No, I’m good.” Zem nodded. “Thanks though. I appreciate it.”

“You warming up to me a little?” McCully asked. “I didn’t anticipate a thanks.”

“Maybe a little.”

“The Special Forces unit you belonged to…” McCully took a seat nearby. “Did you guys do something that ended up pushing you out? Something you didn’t agree with?” He didn’t answer immediately. “Or was it something you did that command didn’t like? Maybe a little at any cost kind of thing?”

“Something like that.” Zem looked at her. “You been on those types of missions? No connection with command, no word from your superiors… left on your own to make decisions that are picked apart later? I’m not slighting you if you haven’t, but most of the regular units don’t find themselves in that position.”

McCully shrugged. “I’ve been on missions that took us behind enemy lines. I know what it’s like.”

“Not like this.” Zem shook his head. “Not remotely. The fact of the matter is, we’re insanely expensive. Highly trained, best gear, etc… but none of that’s important. We can still be considered expendable. Often if our actions embarrass the wrong people. Which frustrated me. Getting a reprimand because some dumbass officer got butt hurt? Screw that.”

“Is that what happened then?”

“For the most part,” Zem said. “Yes.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Zem sighed. “I never have before.”

“Might be time.”

“The brief version.” Zem leaned forward. “We went to extract a high value asset. Some intelligence piece of shit. Command thought they were hanging out on this world out on the far end of the frontier border. Been giving us detailed intel about Gold Empire movements for the better part of a year.

“Their cover got blown. We were dispatched to get them back but just us. A ship, a lot like The Bounty but less fancy, a pilot, and us. Comms back to base wouldn’t be possible because the buoy was taken out just after our guy let us know where he was. We should’ve known shit wouldn’t be good.”

“What happened?”

“When we got there, our asset was a prisoner. We busted in but couldn’t find him. The pricks who caught him hid him somewhere and he didn’t have long to live according to them. They wanted to bargain. We didn’t have time. Intelligence suggested Gold Empire warships were incoming to take our guy back to their colonies to interrogate him.

“We weren’t about to be brought down for that shit. So…” Zem sighed. “We started executing the prisoners. The last guy decided to talk. Told us where our man was. We got him out. On our way to the ship, my CO blasted the final bad guy. He figured there wouldn’t be any witnesses that way.”

“So how’d you get caught?”

“One of our own grew a conscience.” Zem shrugged. “Got us busted.”

“Did you resign?”

“Immediately. Did I think it was right to kill those people? Maybe, maybe not. They were standing between us and the objective. We didn’t have time to be nice. So… we did our jobs. Whatever it takes. You know how many times our CO told us that? Do whatever it takes, guys. Get it done.”

“And so you feel like the one time you did that…”

“We got hosed. So