Condition Evolution 4 by Kevin Sinclair (books for 10th graders TXT) 📕

for justice. I believe that attitude would cause deep problems for Uprising in time.”

“Agreed,” Ember said.

“With that in mind,” I added, “can you get everyone back here together in an hour? There are things to discuss. Not least a name for our new home.”

“And if any of you see William before me,” Ember said loudly, “tell him we're not calling this place the Flyingfucking Scotsman.” That brought a round of laughs.

“Okay, carry on getting settled,” I said. “We're gonna have a little walk around the place. See you all back here in an hour.”

After a good inspection of one of four small towns that we had on our ship, we had our meeting with the crew. It was a positive affair. The response to encouraging family and community was a noticeable lifting of a dark cloud I hadn’t even recognized until it was gone. Involving everyone in a vote for naming the ship also brought a great round of positivity. If the crew had a stat sheet with morale on it, I reckoned it had gone from 10 to 90 percent over the past few days. It had a huge effect on me, too. I still considered myself little more than a figurehead, but helping everyone shed some of that darkness we had all been carrying around with us was better than any of the other powers and abilities I’d developed so far. Now I just had to deliver on the dreams I was preaching. It would have to wait until after our little dance with the Fystr fleet in the coming weeks, but I looked forward to it.

The following week was a hive of learning and activity. The ship was loaded with spare fuel and the torture training devices. Ialos, our new Chief Medical Officer, ran through the workings of the apparatus with those who’d been filling medical roles for Uprising so far. To my utter surprise, Ogun joined that number. I assume he wanted to learn everything he could from Ialos, and he was kind of a doctor on Earth, so it did actually make sense.

While we came to terms with our new ship, the Apochros Alliance Fleet was already moving into position. It filled me with confidence that they were so well prepared, and our job appeared to become much less dangerous. Simply make contact with the Fystr’s advance scouts, piss them off a bit. Get them to come after us. To be fair, it was my idea to piss them off a bit. The Fystr didn’t need any encouragement to follow us. I was spoiling for a fight with the motherfuckers and so was Havok.

When it came time to depart from Accre’s orbit, I sat in the captain’s chair and made a ship-wide announcement. “Members of Uprising, the votes are in, and the name of our new chariot is decided. Thank you for all your suggestions, can you all please prepare for departure on board... the Haven.”

Cheers erupted on the bridge as I announced the name.

I came off the comm and called the bridge crew, “Okay, guys, let’s boogie.”

And they did. Funny that I didn’t have a clue how they made it possible, and I didn’t really care either. My job was to just say cool things and kick ass, which was just as well, because I was good with at least one of those things.

A few hours out from Accre, Hwista spoke from the navigation station. “Captain, there is some kind of barrier ahead. It wasn’t mentioned in any of our training. Shall I contact Accre?”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. This ship has the codes to pass, it only affects ships that shouldn’t be moving into the central areas of the Apochros Alliance territory.”

Literally every fucker on the bridge turned to look at me in shock.

“What’s up?”

“How did you know that?” Ember asked.

“I told you, they pumped a ton of information into my head. It’s why my Intelligence is so high; I know shitloads of random stuff. Did you forget?”

“Maybe I did. You’ve done such a good job of keeping it a secret. How terrifying that you might be one of the most knowledgeable people on the ship,” Ember mumbled, as everyone else got back to work.

“Providing it's something I know, then yeah, I'm pretty clever now.”

“How amazing that you can go from inspiring to stupid in a heartbeat. It’s a true skill,” she joked in my mind.

“I’m glad to have you back, Ember,” I said aloud and clapped my hand on her thigh.

“Ow! That bloody hurt!”

“Yeah, your Constitution is pretty shit.” I grinned at her.

“Not for long, once we get training with the new stuff.”

“You know you won't be saying that once you do start, don’t you?”

“If it makes me stronger, I don’t care. I’ve spoken to Ialos and I’m going in, in an hour.”

I cringed at the memory of the post-workout pains I’d felt after training. “I hope it’s everything you're expecting.” I’d done my best to warn her. She was in for a bloody shock.

The journey was boring until we reached the first line of Beler stations. As we passed the huge, slowly spinning behemoths, we could see signs of the forming Apochros Alliance Fleet. The number of warships increased until we hit the second line of Beler stations, which formed the frontline of our defense.

We had a few hails from fleet commanders wishing us luck, then nothing but tense boredom again until we reached the coordinates of our old, busted-up ships. The Apochros had not fucked about destroying them. They were barely recognizable as ships.

“Is there any sign of Fystr scouts?” I asked Miraek, who was scanning for signs of them.

“Nothing that I can tell. There are quite a few Galactic Empire energy signatures far to the left of our position, but that is all.”

“Orders, Captain?” Hwista asked me.

“We came with a job to do and we have a fleet waiting for the results of this little excursion of ours. I don’t think we have any choice but to go a