Test of Mettle (A Captain's Crucible Book 2) Read Online Free

civilians. Survivors from the other destroyed vessels had replenished the ranks, and the Callaway was not short of hands. Even so, Jonathan felt personally responsible for every death that had occurred, not only on the Callaway , but all the ships under his command. He had spent the entire first month after the attacks writing letters of condolence to the families. That had been one of the worst months of his life.
    None of those digital letters would be delivered until the Gate was complete and they returned to civilized space. He dreaded the flood of responses that would come. Some families would accept what had happened. Many would blame him.
    He would accept that blame as part of his punishment for losing all those lives. And he would resign, if there was a big enough public outcry. He was already going to face a full inquiry when he returned, once the AIs of the various ships reported the mutiny Jonathan had attempted against Admiral Hartford Knox.
    When he returned...
    That wouldn’t be long. “A few more days of structural testing,” the captain of the Marley had told him. “And Contessa is golden.”
    Jonathan accessed the video feed from the forward drone and zoomed in on the Gate. The Builder had basically completed the gravitational distortion device. It was composed of individual segments fifty meters wide that combined to form a circular ring ten kilometers in diameter. The radius and thickness of the individual segments were tailored to each individual Slipstream, and served to reduce the gravitational shear forces that would otherwise tear a ship apart during passage. One could emerge from a Slipstream at the natural egress point without a Gate, but one could not enter. The aliens, however, possessed tech that allowed them to pass through Slipstreams both ways without Gates. Jonathan had footage of the final dart ship fleeing the system via 2-Vega to prove it.
    He spotted the Grimm near the outer edge of the Gate; the squarish Builder vessel slowly maneuvered along the perimeter, performing its structural scans. Beyond the Gate, space seemed perfectly normal. The constellations weren’t distorted, and there was no hint that passing through would transport one light years across the galaxy to Prius 3.
    The first order of business when they reached Prius 3 was to dispatch a comm drone informing NAVCENT of their situation. He would request reinforcements, and recommend the evacuation of the dome colony on Prius 3A. Jonathan planned to remain in the system to guard the Gate leading to Vega 951 until relieved, which would be a few weeks at least given that there were another two Gate jumps to any substantial United Systems military presence, and Prius 3A’s tiny garrison only had two corvettes. A telemetry drone would remain behind in Vega 951, with instructions to enter Contessa Gate and warn them if enemy reinforcements arrived.
    “Another beautiful morning in Vega 951,” Robert commented, drawing Jonathan from his thoughts.
    “Vega 951,” Jonathan deadpanned. “System of princes.”
    “Paupers, more like.” Robert extended his noise canceler around the captain so that they could speak in private. “It’s a good thing we’re leaving soon. I don’t think the crew can take any more of this tension. Stress leave is at an all-time high. And we’ve had more suicides in the past six months than the past six years.”
    Jonathan nodded slowly. “We’ve lost a lot of good people. It’s only natural that tensions are running high. And that some people, perhaps grieving for lost friends or family, can’t take it anymore. But even when we pass through that Gate, I don’t expect the tension levels to die down anytime soon. Only when fleet reinforcements arrive and we’re on our way back to main United Systems space will the apprehension really abate. I know I won’t rest easy until then. Scratch that: I don’t know if I’ll ever rest easy, knowing we have a new enemy out here.”
    Robert frowned.