Cali & Drake (The Alliance Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Reliant ? Cali wait…”
    Cali just smiled reassuringly and activated the transport. With that
taken care of, she turned to leave. Tapping
the communication, or com, badge built into every uniform she ordered, “Bridge.
Lay in a course for the Buffer Zone. Engage the caterpillar drive, at maximum
speed.”
    She heard Vareen answer, “Engaging captain” over her comm badge.
    Behind her, she heard, “I thought
you said I was going to The Apoxis ?”
    Cali turned to gape at her friend, “What happened? I just sent you over.”
Cali hurried to tap her comm badge, “Bridge, are we at maximum speed?” Cali
called frantically. They couldn’t transport at maximum speed, and if they had
warped away, Diandra would have to stay with them on The Reliant . They couldn’t possibly return to Cestori now. The
planetary defenses would be on guard and The
Reliant would be disabled from escaping. Their brilliant plan was
deteriorating into ashes.
    “ Yes, captain. We engaged CD-ten
the moment you requested maximum speed.”
    CD stood for their caterpillar drive unit. It pulled energy from around
them in space and used it to catapult the ship forward. The dilation of the
drive openings, running along both sides of the ship, ranged from one to ten.
One being the slowest, and ten the fastest. In the case of The Reliant , CD-ten was very fast
    Tapping her comm badge, she said, “Science officer to my quarters, ” When the comm was clear she yelled.
“Dammit!”

Chapter Six
    Diandra, not the only reason for leaving Cestori but a major one, was on The Reliant with her.
    There was nothing Cali could do except stay the course and take The Reliant on the planned mission. With
twelve months of supplies, they had been monitoring and exploring the area
between the three nearest planets. Cestori, Titus, and Atheon . In this expanse of space, no single planet could claim authority,
which worked in Cali’s favor. She was out of reach of her mother and the
council, and the only pitfalls were the pirates, which they had no trouble
outrunning, and the worry they would come across a ship from Atheon .
    Atheon was the closest inhabited
planet to Cestori . They didn’t have any
contact with the humanoids from that planet. Cali had always wondered why,
until her History of Advanced Culture 300 class. There she learned about
the animosity between the two worlds. Though the acrimony had been dormant for
a long time. It was written in history books that the humanoids of Atheon were easily offended and would declare
war over the smallest slight. It was a shame
really, if not for their hostile natures, she might have sought refuge
on Atheon. The last reports on them showed they equaled Cestori in
technological, cultural, scientific and medical advancement. By all accounts, they
had all the comforts of home. The only downside being that Atheonians were crazy.
    Cali shrugged off her melancholy and took another look at the display. It
was time for another probe to be launched. Drumming her fingers on the arms of
her lounge chair she looked up to face the large holographic viewport . Since they were stationary at the
moment, the sight before her was calm space. When in motion the computer would
show a representation of the stars flashing past the ship. If she turned the
holograph off, the wall would appear as it actually was, the stark silver of
the metal used to build the ship. For the sanity of the bridge crew, the
holograph always showed their current view of the space around them.
    “Launch the communication probe,” Cali ordered.
    Vareen pushed the button to send the probe to the designated location. “Launch
in progress,” Vareen’s voice announced. “Probe will reach the designated
distance from The Reliant in twenty
seconds.”
    “Take us out of here, CD-4,” Cali ordered.
    “I’ll be away from my station. Science Officer Nas, you have the bridge,”
not that she expected Vareen to stay at her station. It was protocol for her to give the