Page 67 of Chosen By Swift

Swift glanced at his watch. “You’ve got to get quicker.”

Hazard grabbed the tablet and inspected it. “Your calculations are off.”

“What? How?” Drift snatched the tablet back and frowned at his work.

Swift moved around the table and leaned over Drift’s shoulder. He spotted the problem almost immediately and pointed it out to Drift who slumped forward in defeat. Not wanting the kid to lose his confidence, he said, “You’re supposed to mess these up, Drift. We want you to screw up now when it doesn’t matter. We want you to learn from your mistakes.”

“Yes, sir.” Drift returned to his calculations with renewed purpose.

“You headed to your bunk?” Hazard stabbed his juice box with the tip of the pocket knife he carried everywhere. Apparently, opening the box correctly took too much time.

“Yeah.” Swift had finished an eight-hour shift in the cockpit and was due for his rest period. If their bio sensors didn’t register a complete rest cycle, the cockpit and controls would lock them out unless an override code was entered. It was meant to prevent unsafe flying, but in battle situations, it was a pain in the ass. “I’m going to finish up here first.”

“I’m heading back to the cockpit.” Hazard drained the last of his juice box with big gulps like some oversized toddler. When he was done, he tossed the box into the recycling receptacle. “Rigel makes me squirrely behind the controls.”

“Why?” Drift asked after Hazard had left them alone in the mess.

“Why what?” Swift dropped down onto the bench across Drift.

“Why does Rigel make him squirrely?”

“Oh. That. Years ago, when he was barely out of the Academy, Rigel had a weird reaction to a vaccination and passed out at the controls during planet re-entry. Hazard was asleep in his bunk and got thrown out of it. The pilot overseeing Rigel hit his head on the dash and knocked himself out cold. Hazard managed to get into the cockpit with seconds to spare and saved the flight.”

Drift’s jaw dropped. “Should he be flying alone?”

“It was a long time ago.”

“Yeah, but—.”

“We have much better autopilot tech these days.”

“Okay, but—.”

“You’re welcome to go shadow him in the cockpit.” Swift gestured to the tablet. “After you finish that chart.”

“Yes, sir.”

Swift finished his meal replacement bar and drink and threw away the trash. Drift completed his chart correctly this time, and Swift signed off on the assignment. The kid left for the cockpit, and Swift returned to his bunk to rest.

Alone in his cramped quarters, he stripped down to his undershirt and boxers and climbed into the hard bed. Immediately, he missed Alys. Was she sleeping now? Was she in bed thinking of him? Or was she already with Hallie at their planned lunch? Time was difficult to keep when they were dropping in and out of hyperdrive to avoid detection.

Swift had never been the type of man who shirked his duties, but he would have given anything to be back on theValiantwith Alys. Boring patrol flights would have been preferable to this. He usually loved these kinds of highly dynamic Shadow Force ops, but that was before Alys.

Awake in the dark, he stared at the ceiling. The hum of the hyperdrive engine and the slight vibration of the ship usually lulled him to sleep. Not tonight. His mind raced as he considered all the ways this operation could go bad.

Shadow Force had tracked one of the chips of the missing pilots to a shipping lane in a far quadrant of the sector. A passing satellite had taken images of an abandoned ship, anchored in the lane by its autopilot. The satellite scan had shown no signs of life within the ship. It was a mystery that Shadow Force wanted solved.

Grim was the lead Shadow Force operative and had brought Lethal, Clash and Fury along as his team. Swift still wasn’t sure why Grim had requested him as the lead pilot for the mission. Hazard and Rigel were more than qualified and had plenty of experience on Shadow Force ops.

Of course, Swift was the best pilot in this sector, and that wasn’t arrogance talking. That was proven fact based on his flight record. Only Zephyr came close to beating him. Swift would have put Hazard in that first slot. Unfortunately for Hazard, he had a little problem with authority. As skilled as he was and as many missions as he had flown, Hazard should have been in the direct pipeline to the admiralty. Sometimes Swift suspected Hazard pulled his stunts to avoid being placed on the leadership tract.

Slowly, his exhaustion took hold, and he fell asleep only to be startled awake by the sudden lurch of the ship out of hyperdrive. He bounced off the ceiling before hitting the floor. He groaned as he tried to stand, his head spinning from the unexpected movement. Alarms blared. He staggered to his feet and toward his flight suit.

“Fucking Rigel,” he swore as he hopped around and tried to get dressed. He had barely moved the zipper an inch before the ship pitched violently left and then overcorrected to the right. He managed to not slam his head into his bunk, but only barely.

He burst out of his room and into the hallway just in time to feel the ship dip wildly and then rise sharply. He braced himself against the wall before hitting the floor, both feet on the ground this time. He skidded down the narrow hall and then stumbled around a corner. The ship continued to pitch and yaw as he made his way to the cockpit.

When he wrenched the door open, he found Rigel and Drift furiously attempting to regain control of the ship. It was clear within seconds that something had gone wrong with the hyperdrive autopilot.

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