The War Revealed - 3rd Novel in the Shadow Series

Chapter 18 .

Vai

The corridor was slightly cool as Warpaint and I exited the elevator. The two security officers didn't hinder us as we entered the bridge. Owen sat in the new chair that had been set up near the captain's chair. His short legs didn't reach the floor. He looked more like a child instead of the 18 year old he would soon be. Especially since he kept pushing the command button on the arm of the chair that caused the chair to swivel back and forth.

Captain Axa was doing her best to ignore him. I was surprised she hadn't told him to stop. The other people on the bridge would sneak glances at my friend, but no one said anything.

Owen saw me and jumped from the chair landing lightly on his feet. "My friend," he said. "I relinquish the next shift to you." He swept his arm out grandly to the new chair.

"Thanks," I said.

He drew closer to me and motioned for me to lean in closer so I did.

"Remind me why we have to take shifts on the bridge again," he whispered.

He knew. We had been over it many times, but instead of explaining it all again, I just whispered back, "Because the captain ordered us too."

Owen frowned at Captain Axa. She in turn lifted the ridge above her right eye, but didn't say anything.

"It's pointless," Owen whispered as he turned his attention back to me. "The Corruption is not stupid enough to attack the G.E.F. Especially now that they don't have any spies in the fleet."

"Maybe," I whispered back, "but the G.E.F. hasn't been hiding it's schedule. The Corruption has already tried to attack us on some of the colonies and the Starwatcher homeworld. And the Gathering council is paying us now as official Light Specialists."

"Yeah, but - "

"Gentlemen," Captain Axa interrupted our whispering. "You can talk later, when Vai isn't on duty."

"Of course, friends. No problem," Owen said. He gave me a look and then left the bridge.

I sat on the seat Owen had just vacated. I wouldn't admit it out loud, but secretly I agreed with Owen. At least partially. I thought it was good that we be included in meetings discussing the Corruption and colony safety, etc. But I wasn't sure why we had to take shifts on the bridge. It allowed us less time altogether and less time to train. And if the Corruption attacked the fleet, what could we do? Shel and Minmin knew the internal workings of the ships and commands, but the rest of us didn't. We didn't have the authority to order the ship to attack if we thought the Corruption were attacking.

In the middle of the bridge was a projected image of the Shadow and the space around it. It showed the nearest G.E. ships. Space was quiet around the G.E. ships. The ships jumped into a new section of space led by the Shadow. Two officers currently worked at the F.T.L. stations. There was one person at the science station. I recognized her as one of my dad's people. I supposed all the science officers were my dad's people. She was a Starwatcher with dark gray fur. I couldn't remember her name.

There were of course other stations. The pilots for example worked closely with those at the F.T.L. stations. Then there were those at the Aether field station and the weapons and shields stations and the engineering station. I didn't recognize any of them. They didn't say much to us when we came on our shifts. If anyone thought we shouldn't be there, I never heard it.

The good thing about having a shift on the bridge, is that I finally got paid. It wasn't much, but it was my own money and not my dad's. We were officially on the Gathering payroll.