► Though the crews on every ship in the task force worked feverishly, immersing themselves in tech and crunching numbers as quickly as possible, the small group still took considerable time before they were ready to move. Thankfully, the squadron wouldn’t have to waste any of that time escaping the well of a solar system, though they had taken the opportunity to put significant distance between themselves and the ancient megastructure.

Even given its massive size, the structure didn’t produce anything close to the gravitational field of a star, something future researchers would spend much time on, Eric had little doubt.

Within the hour, however, they were in formation and preparing for transition out of the deep black and back to Priminae space.

“All ships report ready, Captain,” Sams said from his station.

“Very well. Signal transition alert,” Eric said as he tried to settle his stomach.

He honestly wasn’t sure if it was the upcoming transition that was causing his gut to roil violently like a ship at sea or if it was the fear of what they would find on the other side of the jump. He didn’t think they were going to encounter the Drasin again, but even the barest possibility of finding another destroyed world . . .

There were limits to what any man could take, and Eric had no desire to find his. How many times could one look into the face of genocide and walk away with sanity and morality intact? He’d had to physically hold himself while looking at the main Imperial vessel, doing anything he could to keep from calling no quarter and burning the ship down to the quantum level—and he’d only suspected what the so-called Empire had done.

He was a Marine, a warrior, and a citizen of a civil nation, and he would not fall to their level of depravity.

I will find you, he thought grimly. I will prove what you’ve done, and I will see you shot by the numbers . . . but I will not become you.

“All systems stand ready to transition,” Miram announced from her station.

Eric nodded sharply. “Initiate transition on my mark . . .”

He waited a heartbeat, taking a deep breath to settle his stomach. “Mark.”

The Odysseus Task Force vanished in a whirling, roiling mass of subatomic particles that leapt across the black in a single instant of chaotic motion.

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER 22

AEV Odysseus

► Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

Eric despised transition. For all that it was the fastest and most efficient method of FTL travel he knew of, it—for lack of a better word—sucked. Pushing his stomach back down where it belonged through force of will and little else, he kept his eyes open and on the telltale displays lighting up around him.

“Space-warp drive coming online—”

“—watch out for the Boudicca, she’s drifting our way.”

“—comm center is swamped with distress calls! We’ve got them on every Priminae frequency!”