Page 6 of Chosen By Swift

“He’s got a woman and a baby now.”

“The hell he does!” Rampage said, shocked. “What woman in her right mind would stay with that one-eyed bastard?”

“You’d like her,” Swift said, thinking of Terror’s mate, Maisie. “She’s strong and brave. She’s the reason we had a heads-up about the impending attacks. She nearly died getting that information. She saved a lot of lives. A lot,” Swift repeated, his thoughts turning to the mayhem and bloodshed they had all survived.

“I guess my mother was right. There really is someone out there for everyone.”

Swift chuckled. “I hope so.”

“You thinking about taking a mate?”

Swift nodded. “I’m on the list for the Grab. Two days.” He held up two fingers. “And I’ll finally collar a woman.”

His hand drifted toward his shirt pocket. He could feel the outline of the thin white collar there. He had picked it out the night before leaving on this mission. Orion had promised him a slot on the first Grab after returning, and he had gotten his confirmation only hours ago along with his new housing assignment.

“I was planning to Grab before...,” Rampage’s voice trailed off to nothing. “After this, my points will be in the negative.”

Swift frowned. “Why would your point tally go negative?”

“My men and I were captured,” Rampage said as if Swift were the dumbest man he had ever seen. “I lost seven of them in that prison. Seven men, Swift. I’ll be lucky if I’m not hauled up on charges and given the death penalty.”

“You’re not going to be hauled up on charges, and you’re not getting the death penalty. Vicious would never allow that to happen. You two were in the same class at the Academy. You’re one of his most trusted officers.”

“I was,” Rampage muttered.

Taken aback by Rampage’s defeated tone, Swift finally understood how deeply scarred the man was by his experience in the Splinter prison camp. Out of his depth, Swift nevertheless tried to reassure Rampage. “You were outmanned and outgunned. It would have been suicide to keep fighting. Yes, you lost seven men in the camp, but you’re bringing home sixteen. Sixteen men, Rampage,” he repeated deliberately. “You kept them alive. You took the brunt of the punishment.”

Rampage shook his head. “I didn’t do—”

“You did,” Swift argued. “They told us everything you did to keep them alive and to get them home. You risked your life to get that coded message out. You were in solitary confinement for weeks until we found you.” Swift couldn’t even bear to remember the inhumane conditions they’d discovered. “You proved you’re the type of leader we all strive to be. When it counted, you were there for your men. You brought them home.”

“Not all of them,” Rampage replied stubbornly.

“I see why Vicious likes you so much,” Swift grumbled. “You’re as ornery as he is.”

“The curse of the Land Corps, I guess. We don’t know when to stop.”

“No, you do not.” Swift sighed. “You’ll be fine, Rampage. Your men will be fine. Just keep your head down and get through whatever bullshit interviews and debriefs they require.”

“Swift, you copy?” Hazard cut-in via the earbud jammed into his ear.

Swift touched the small patch on the front of his throat, activating the new and highly sensitive disposable mic. “Yeah. I copy.”

“We’re throwing a fuel cell sensor. I thought it was a false read or a bad circuit, but even after a hard reset, it’s still yelling at us. I tried to raise Quark, but he’s silent and the camera in the systems bay is out.”

“Do we have enough power to get us home?” Swift shoved out of his seat. It wasn’t unusual to have fuel cells issues, especially after long-haul flights. They hadn’t docked or replaced their cells since leaving theValiant. What was unusual was for the ship’s main engineer to be unresponsive.

“Weifwepare down the non-essential systems.”

Swift winced at the sharp alarm that echoed in his ear. He recognized the tone as a warning from the environmental control system. “Are we losing power to ECS?”

“Uh, looks that way,” Hazard said. “Hit that switch, kid. Then run the—”

“Non-essential systems divert loop,” Drift interrupted. “I’ve got it, sir.”

“Keep me updated, Haz. I’m headed to the maintenance bay.”

As he left the flight deck, he heard Hazard’s voice across the ship wide comms. “All passengers and crew to flight deck. All passengers and crew to flight deck. Loss of life support to all berths impending.”

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