Untamed Skies Read online

  Untamed Skies

  Compiled by

  Mirren Hogan

  Contents

  Five Minutes and Counting

  Angel’s Blood

  About the Author

  Månen’s Order

  About the Author

  A Change in His Stars

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  About the Author

  Under Attack, As Usual

  About the Author

  M-Hero-1

  Location: Deep Space, Mars Rendezvous, 95% complete

  Location: Deep Space, Mars Rendezvous, 99.9% complete

  Location: Mars, Alba Mons, Northern Tharsis Region

  About the Mars Journey Series

  About the Author

  One Possible Future

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  About the Author

  The Last Beer

  About the Author

  Defining Justice

  About the Author

  Into the Fire

  About the Author

  Mixed

  Fortune’s Eve

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 by C.L. Cannon

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Five Minutes and Counting

  C.L. Cannon

  “Captain. Captain! Did you hear me? We’ve got five minutes until impact.”

  Captain Hunter had always been a practical woman. She did everything by the book. She worked hard and ran a tight ship. She didn't know if all that hard work had been worth it if this was where she ended up. Her crew was counting on her to make a decision—but the thought of making the wrong one—terrified her. Would she be responsible for the demise of her friends? She should have listened to Cole. She couldn't believe that she'd just thought that, but it was true. If she'd done what he asked, they'd never be in this situation to begin with. Now was not the time to falter. She had to act.

  Five minutes. Five minutes and counting. Isn’t it funny how that small amount of time can drastically change your life… or end it?

  She'd been checking the ship's inventory against the invoice she'd received from their supplier when he suddenly burst through the bay doors.

  His dark shaggy hair looked as if it hadn't been combed in a week, and his dungarees were so loose on his frame that they threatened to swallow him whole at any minute.

  "Can I help you?" she asked, thinking he must be either lost or extremely drunk.

  He ambled his way over to her position and quirked his head to the side. "Are you the captain of this ship? I heard there was an openin’ for a mechanic."

  She couldn’t quite place his accent. He definitely didn’t come from Antiva or any star system she was familiar with. His voice had a slight lithe to it.

  "Yes, Captain Victoria Hunter," she said, extending her hand.

  His dark brown eyes didn't meet her own, nor did his hand reach for hers. Instead, he seemed to be looking directly at her chest.

  "Are you checking me out?” She drew back, crossing her hands over her chest in a futile attempt to cover herself. “This is a job interview, not a date," she chastised.

  A smile, no, not a smile, a smirk spread across his face like wildfire. “Well, that’d be a bit hard, me being blind and all, but you do sound hot. Uptight, but hot.”

  Who did this guy think he was? And how was she to know he was blind, if he were even telling the truth about that.

  “And why would I hire a blind mechanic? Seems like a liability to me. I’d be putting my whole crew in danger.”

  “I said I was a mechanic, not a ruddy pilot. Besides, being blind has its advantages. The ship sings to me, and only I can hear the finer notes of the song,” he said, hooking his thumbs into his pockets.

  “I’ll bet,” she mumbled under her breath, though, from the slight quirk of his mouth, he'd heard her just fine. There was one way to end this nonsense promptly. “Listen, I don’t have time to play games. I’ll take you down to the engine room, and if you can figure out the problem, you’ve got the job.”

  “Well, get your contract ready and kindly guide the way,” he said, voice dripping with confidence.

  His right arm extended in front of him, and Victoria finally understood what he meant by guiding the way.

  “Don’t hold your breath. We’ve had three other so-called mechanics in here this week, and none have been able to determine the cause of all the racket.”

  She took hold of his elbow and directed him to the engine room a couple of decks below. She intercomed her pilot, Rick Guerra, instructing him to fire up the ship, and a few seconds later, the massive vessel hummed to life. The quiet hum didn’t last for long. It was soon replaced by a sickening scrape as if the innards of the ship were grinding against one another.

  “So, what happened to your old mechanic?” he asked, turning his head to the side as he placed his ear closer to the metal casing of the engine.

  “Murphy’s been gone for a few months now. We’ve been doing all right on our own, for the most part. Our pilot knows a little about repairs, but he’s never heard a ship do this,” she said, gesturing around the small room.

  She suddenly felt a little daft. He couldn’t see anything she was doing after all.

  “Have you tried replacing any of the ion rods? It sounds like at least one of them is faulty.”

  “No, no one has said anything about that.”

  “Can you hand me a cerate wrench, please?” he asked, turning his hand over expectantly.

  Victoria rummaged in the tool chest on the far wall and found the adjustable wrench the man had asked for. She placed it in his hand, and he immediately went to work. He popped off the service panel with ease and began fiddling with the metal rods inside.

  “The good thing about ion rods,” he began, clenching the wrench between his teeth,” is that you don’t need all six to keep the ship runnin’.”

  He jerked a long metal rod from inside the engine’s base. His skinny fingers ran over the old part, pausing around the middle where Victoria could see significant cracks in the casing. The grinding noise halted, and he smiled before stuffing the ion rod into one deep pocket of his dungarees.

  “You’ll lose some power, but that should do you until you can get the part in,” he informed her.

  A blind mechanic. Well, she’d seen stranger things in her life. “What was your name again?”

  “Cole, Cole Declan.” He extended one greasy hand for her to shake. She paused for a moment before finally giving in. It was the least she could do at this point.

  “Well, Cole, welcome to the Orcrist.”

  She couldn’t do this. What had she been thinking? Her mother has discouraged her from joining the academy, but she’d been a stubborn teenager who knew everything and joined to spite her. Her mom warned her that having relationships would be damn near impossible. After all, how can you be with someone if you’re never there? When she met Eric a year or so earlier, she thought he was the answer to it all. As
a pilot in the international fleet, she thought that meant he would understand her dreams and aspirations. That he wouldn’t mind her being away so often, or for long durations. If the video call she’d just received was any indication, she’d been dead wrong. He wanted to take some time apart. He wanted to date other people and see where to go from there. He was basically trying to dump her easy.

  Her heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces, and all she wanted to do was fall apart, but she was the captain of this ship. She had to set an example. She had to be strong, and when she couldn’t be strong for a second more, she bolted. She politely excused herself to check on the next shipment orders, but instead found herself wandering aimlessly below deck, her eyes burning and heart thundering in her chest. She felt like all the air in the ship had been sucked up.

  Finally, she found herself in one of the lower deck storage compartments, panting for breath with her eyes squeezed shut as she leaned against the doorframe.

  “Just take deep, slow breaths. In… and out,” came a voice from the shadows.

  She did as instructed, inhaling slowly and exhaling deeply a few times before gradually gaining her composure.

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I didn’t know anyone else was in here. The lights were off.” Her fingers fumbled until she found the room’s control panel. A dim yellow light flickered to life, and she could see a handful of tools and metal gathered in Cole’s arms.

  He stepped closer to her, bowing his head in respect. “It’s okay, Captain. Everyone needs a break sometimes. Are you all right?”

  “It’s stupid. I’ll be fine,” she said, brushing it off.

  Silence hung in the musty air for a moment before she decided to ask the question she’d been wondering since day one. “Can I ask you a question?”

  “It’s hereditary. My father has it, an’ my little brother,” he said, cutting her off before she could form the words.

  “How do you know that’s what I wanted to ask?”

  A grim smile flashed across his face before he answered. “It always leads there eventually.”

  She guessed it would be sort of inevitable and familiar to him.

  “So, you were born with it?” she asked.

  “I was born with the trait, but I didn’t start losing my sight until I was twenty,” he replied. He deposited his tools and parts on a nearby cart and began fiddling in one of the small drawers for something else.

  She didn’t know if it was a better fate, to have never seen the world, or to experience it for such a short time only to have it stolen away.

  “That must have been very difficult,” she said, not really knowing what else to say.

  “It was, and it wasn’t. My da’ was already blind at that point, so I sorta knew what things to expect, but it didn’t make adjustin’ to it any easier.”

  He waited a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

  “You know, one time, I fell straight on my arse just tryin’ to go to the fridge. It was just a few weeks after I lost my sight, and I still wasn’t used to navigatin’ my apartment. Tripped right over a lounger chair I forgot was even there.”

  “Okay?” Victoria said, a confused by where this conversation had led.

  “You know why I’m tellin’ yah this story?”

  She began to shake her head before catching herself. “No idea, but I bet you’re going to tell me.”

  A quick smile lit up his face for a moment. “My, aren’t we confident?” he teased. “I’m tellin’ yah because it was stupid. I’d walked around that lounger a dozen times when I could see it there, but I still fell over it all the same. And I felt like an idiot. I felt sorry for myself. I was useless. I would never be worth anythin’ again, I thought.”

  “You’re far from useless, Cole. If it weren’t for you, this ship would have been out of commission months ago,” she admitted.

  “And where do you think it would be without a captain?” he challenged. “Even if it seems stupid, even if it’s somethin’ you think shouldn’t matter, you still have the right to be upset about things.”

  She shook her head. “It’s nothing like what you’ve been through, I’m sure. Just a guy who doesn’t want me anymore. It’ll pass.”

  Suddenly she felt foolish for worrying over such a thing when he’d been through something as traumatic as losing his sight.

  “Well, I remembered to walk around the lounger after that, but it still didn’t keep me from bawlin’ my eyes out that night. What I mean is, you don’t have to be strong all the time.” He reached in front of him, feeling his way over to her before he found her shoulder and gave it a little pat.

  Victoria let out another long exhale and brushed her tears from her eyes. “Thank you. I’ll remember that.”

  He was downright infuriating sometimes. He knew just how to get under her skin. But there were also times, like in the storage room, when he knew exactly what to say. Today he was practically flaying her alive. Every word that came out of his mouth made her cringe and challenged her to make a wittier comeback.

  “I’m just sayin’ you need to think about these things!” Cole protested, throwing his hands in the air.

  “I’m perfectly capable of running my own ship, thank you.”

  “And what happens if you’re compromised?” he demanded.

  “I would never allow myself to be compromised.”

  “No, I imagine you wouldn’t, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. There are dozens of scenarios where you’d be powerless to interfere,” he said, trying to reason with her.

  “Are you a strategist or a mechanic?” she asked, her voice cold as steel.

  “Both!” he said, jabbing his finger in her direction.

  “Well, that’s not what I’m paying you for, so I’d appreciate it if you’d keep your ideas to yourself unless they involve the mechanical well-being of this ship.”

  “Fine, suit yourself,” Cole scoffed, turning on his heel and disappearing down the hall.

  And just like that, she’d won… or had she. No matter how much she hated to admit it, he had a point. There were situations she wasn’t prepared for and leaving the safety of this ship and the men and women aboard it so carelessly by the wayside, was a mistake. One she wasn’t willing to pay the price for.

  She trailed after him, down the hall and through to the hydro-kitchen before she finally caught up. Her hand grasped his shoulder, and he turned to face her.

  “Cole, wait. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked to you that way. You were just trying to help.”

  He blew out a long breath and ran his hands through his long dark hair. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to challenge your authority, or whatever, but I worry about you.”

  Sanchez, Orcrist’s resident navigator, popped her head out from one of the bottom cabinets, taking a generous bite from her energy bar.

  “You two need to go at it already and get it over with,” she remarked, mouth full of granola.

  “What? What are you talking about?” Victoria asked, confused at the sudden emergence of her crew member.

  The raven-haired woman swallowed her bite before clarifying. “I’m talking about the sexual tension that you can cut with a friggin’ knife.”

  Cole had the decency to look flustered, his face turning beet red. She could bet that she had also reddened a few shades.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Victoria said, dismissing the claims.

  Sanchez shrugged, taking another bite. “Just being observant, but what do I know?”

  “Shouldn’t you be on the bridge?” Victoria asked.

  “Gah, Captain, like you’ve never heard of a lunch break, geez.” She backed through the swinging door and presumably, back up to her post.

  Sanchez was much younger and much more laid back than Victoria had ever imagined being at her age.

  “That one’s bold, innit she?” Cole commented, a crooked smile on his face.

  “Sometimes too bold,” Victoria answered.

 
“Yeah, but it’s been my experience that the Captain is open to suggestions from time to time.”

  He was digging for something. Trying to appeal to her better nature.

  “When warranted, I suppose. I’ll work on your suggestions. You’re right. We shouldn’t be made vulnerable just because my ego’s bigger than my brain.”

  “I’m not touchin’ that comment,” he said, shaking his head and backing away.

  She couldn’t keep the smile from spreading across her face. “Smart man.”

  There was an awkward moment of silence before they made their excuses to go in opposite directions, but Sanchez’s words filled Victoria’s thoughts for weeks later.

  “So, are we going to address the elephant in the room or let it fester?” he asked suddenly as they were in the middle of a troubleshooting assessment.

  “Excuse me?”

  He gave her what she’d started referring to as the look. The don’t bullshit me look.

  “C’mon, we’ve been dancin’ around it for weeks, but what Sanchez said was truth. I feel something for you, an’ I think you might feel the same.”

  “And what makes you think that?” she asked, not ready to lay her cards on the table just yet.

  He shrugged his shoulders and continued fiddling with the part in his hand. “I have a hunch.”

  “A hunch. You have a hunch about the knock of an engine or the amount of fuel left for a journey. You’ll have to do better than a hunch,” she challenged.