Heaven Saga 3: Sojourn Into Despair by Marcus Johnson Read Free Book Online

On the other side of the bridge
Baed woke up as well and held her head.
    “That
was really strange,” Baed said. Brian walked over to her.
    “Are
you alright?” he asked.
    “Yeah,
I’m alright,” she answered before brushing back her long platinum blonde hair
and returning to her station. Brian turned to see Jesela standing up as well.
    “I’m
alright,” Jesela said. “I’ll start calculating our position immediately.”
    After
everyone had gotten their bearings Jesela called up a star chart.
    “Where
are we?” Brian asked while looking at the map. Jesela called up the image with
a look of concern on her face.
    “We’ve
jumped from this point to here,” Jesela said. The map showed they had moved a
significant distance further than a standard gravity drive would entail.
“According to the position of the stars we’re still inside the Alden galaxy. But
if the positioning is correct it’ll take us six months to reach Confederation
space.”
    “Six
months!” both Baed and Zae shouted.
    “Where
exactly are we?” Brian asked before narrowing his eyes.
    “Deep
within Grey territory,” Jesela answered. “The main gravity drive’s out for the
time being.”
    Zae
stood up. “What should we do? What can we do?”
    “Survive,”
Brian answered. “Call the Raknas back and put everyone on standby. Jesela, get
everyone you can spare on the gravity drive. That’s your priority for now.”
    “Of
course,” Jesela said before running off the bridge.
    “Zae,
get me a detailed list of all remaining personnel on the Avoni.”
    “Yes,”
she said as she called up the list.
    “Baed,
look for a good hiding spot for us to go until we can figure things out.”
    “Sure,”
Baed said. She flew the Avoni towards a gas giant nearby.
    “The
list has been sent to the captain’s computer as well as your quarters,” Zae
reported as she turned to speak with him once more.
    “I
can see you’re anxious Zae,” he said before standing between the two front
consoles. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Whatever
force decided to do so has separated us from our friends by a long distance.
How long it may take us to reach home is also uncertain, although I do have a
few ideas on where to start. But what worries me more than anything is where we
are.”
    “Right
in the middle of hostile territory,” Zae said. “I pray they don’t have a
perfect surveillance system in place to cover their whole territory.”
    “Let’s
hope,” he said. The headache he’d ignored started coming back. Dammit, I
wish I knew what was causing this. Brian thought to himself.
     
    * * *
     
    After
the light show by the malfunctioning gravity drive had ended, Celi stood up
alone in her medical lab. Looking out to the main room, she saw three medical
attendants were waking up. She went into the main sickbay. “Ensign Tria, Ensign
Laedi, and Ensign Mari, are the three of you okay?”
    “I’m
alright,” Tria answered.
    “A
little bump on the head, but nothing more,” Laedi said.
    “Nothing
to worry about,” Mari said. “But commander, you have a cut on your head.”
    Celi
brushed her hand over her head and felt some blood on her. “I’ll take care of
it in a moment. That gravity jump wasn’t normal, not at all.”
    Brian’s
voice came over the come system. “All senior officers, please report to the
bridge.”
    Celi
took a regenerator and ran it over her cut. “The three of you stay here until
further notice. I’m not sure what happened, but your services may be needed at
any moment.”
    “Yes
commander,” the three answered as Celi left for the bridge.

Chapter 7 - Assessing the Situation
     
    Brian,
Baed, and Zae waited on the bridge for everyone else to show up. The first was
Jesela. She ran in and called up her work on the bridge’s main monitor. The
next to enter was Meldi, one of the two leaders of the Rakna pilots remaining
with the ship. A moment later Celi arrived.
    “I
called all of you here to