Free Starship Revenant (The Galactic Wars Book 3) by Tripp Ellis Page B

ship’s logs. She hoped that they would shed some light on what had happened 25 years ago. “That’s weird. All the logs are blank. It’s like they’ve been erased.”
    “Maybe electromagnetic interference wiped the drives?”
    “I don’t think so.” She kept scrolling through the data. “All of the escape pods were jettisoned.”
    “Why abandon a ship that seems to be intact?”
    Zoey shrugged. Her eyes fixated on the pile of broken glass. It was all that remained of a bottle of wine that cost 10,000 credits. Larger shards were still clinging to the label. Zoey stepped toward the debris and knelt down for closer look. She lifted up the label and tried to see through her foggy visor.
    “What, are you some kind of wine connoisseur?”
    “I know a good bottle when I see one. And I can also read labels. This bottle of wine is only five years old.”
    Mitch’s eyes went wide. “Then what’s it doing on this ship?”
    “Somebody else must have boarded her in the last five years.”
    “And what happened to them?”
    Zoe shrugged, her face tinged with worry.
    “So, I guess we’ll just go back to the Zephyr and wait for the atmosphere to come up?” Mitch smiled nervously. He didn’t want to be aboard the Revenant any more than Zoey did.
    “Let’s check out engineering first, see what we’re dealing with?”
    “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”

18

Walker
    W alker , Malik, and Saaja cleaned their battle armor and made it somewhat more presentable. It wasn’t quite worthy of an official event with the Emperor, but it was close enough.
    Afterwards, Walker explored the ship. Most of the Decluvian crew had never seen a Saarkturian up close and personal. In full battle armor, Walker got plenty of stares as he strolled the corridors. He was convincing, dressed as a Saarkturian.
    He found a navigation map on one of the bulkheads. He couldn’t read the Decluvian language, but the visor optics in the Saarkturian helmet gave him an onscreen translation. It was pretty handy, and he wished the UPDF had that technology.
    Walker tabbed through the screens and familiarized himself with the basic layout of the ship. It wasn’t all that different from a UPDF carrier. There were only so many ways you could put together the same basic components. Flight decks, command centers, living quarters, recreational facilities, reactors, med center, hangar bays, storage, engineering, etc. He looked for the detention center. It was on deck 3 amidships.
    No harm in sizing the place up, he thought. If he could reasonably rescue the prisoners and escape the ship, it would be worth a shot. But he didn’t need to turn this into a suicide mission. He couldn’t let his anger get the best of him. He couldn’t go in guns blazing.
    He strolled aft down the corridor—a large bay window overlooked Delta Vega. He gazed out over the destruction below. There was a constant flow of transports, fighters, and drop ships coming to and fro the armada.
    Walker clenched his fist, and he swelled with anger. This was going to be the fate of New Earth if someone didn’t stop the Decluvians. Right now, he was the only operational member of the military in the vicinity. He was going to have to be that someone .
    “Quite a sight, isn’t it?” a Decluvain sailor said. He spoke in Saarkturese. The Decluvians seemed to be going out of their way to make the Saarkturians feel welcomed. He had taken a position next to Walker, gazing out at the triumphant victory.
    Walker wanted to strangle the frog-like bastard. “Quite a sight indeed.”
    “If you would have told me six months ago that we’d be fighting for the Saarkturians, I would’ve said you’re crazy. But I’m glad we’re on the same team. We’ll control the entire galaxy in no time.” He grinned. “I’m Gludard, by the way.” He held out his hand to shake.
    Walker hesitated. He wanted to punch the bug-eyed amphibian.
    “Don’t worry. Our skin is only toxic when we’re threatened.