Page 1 of Honor Bound

PROLOGUE

Aboard the international spacecraft:

Gliese 581g Deep Space

“Julia, will he live?”

The voice cut through the haze, tugging at her consciousness. Familiar. Urgent. Just out of reach. It clung to her like a thread from a fading dream. Julia tried to latch onto it, to remember.

Mei… Mei, where are you?

“Get to the escape pods!”

Josh’s bark sliced through the haze clouding her mind, sharp and demanding. Her pulse raced, and with it came a flicker of clarity. Adrenaline poured through her, pushing back against the heavy fog of sedatives that dulled her senses. Her body fought her control, sluggish and unwilling. Something was wrong—terribly wrong—and she needed to wake.

“Warning: hull integrity compromised.”

The sterile, mechanical tone echoed in her ears, pulling her further into wakefulness. A groan escaped her lips as flashes of disjointed memories bombarded her: the hum of alarms, the blinding red lights, Sergi’s limp body, Josh’s command. Then, nothing.

She reached out, her fingers fumbling along the cold, curved interior of the escape pod. The surface was slick, wet with condensation that smeared beneath her trembling touch. A faint hiss accompanied each labored breath, the sound amplifying the panic rising within her.

“Warning: oxygen levels at eight percent.”

The computerized voice was clearer now, external and male. Her eyelids felt weighted, as if lead had settled upon them, but she forced them open. What greeted her wasn’t blurry vision but the opaque fog of her breath on the window of the escape pod. It swirled into fleeting patterns before fading, a stark reminder of the dwindling air supply.

A sharp inhale stung her lungs as the memories aligned, snapping into place with terrifying clarity. The Gliese. The alarms. The alien gateway. The explosion. The void of space. The fractured pieces of it all coalesced, grounding her in the reality of her precarious probability of survival.

Two Earth weeks earlier:

Gliese 581g Interstellar Spaceship

Calm settled over Julia, a deceptive cloak isolating her from the chaos erupting around her. Alarms wailed, a discordance of urgency and disaster, their shrill tones reverberating through the exterior of the docking module. Red lights strobed, casting the scene in an ominous glow. Yet Julia’s focus remained sharp, honed by years of training. Chaos was a backdrop; survival was the objective.

Sergi Lazaroff’s pale, lifeless face filled her vision as she knelt beside him. His grizzled hair clung to his forehead, damp with sweat, and his lips had taken on a faint blue tint.Not here. Not like this.She tightened her jaw, blocking out the thought.

“Mei, hold him steady,” she directed, her voice firm despite the tremor threatening its edges.

Mei Li Hú’s dark eyes met hers for a fleeting moment, reflecting equal determination as she nodded. Together, they maneuvered Sergi’s limp body in the weightless atmosphere, the lack of gravity turning the simple act into a struggle.

The magnetic boots anchoring Julia to the floor provided a semblance of control, but the constant tremors rattling the ship fought to steal it away. Her medical bag, strapped to the wall, swayed in time with the vibrations. She reached for it, her fingers brushing against the smooth fabric as the ship jolted violently.

“Damn it!” Josh’s voice boomed from behind her.

She turned her head sharply, glimpsing the Gliese’s commander pulling himself along the wall with determined, jerky movements. His helmet clattered as he hooked it to a shelf, and his gloves disappeared into the net beside it.

“The gate’s pulling us in!” he barked, his voice taut with urgency. “The ship won’t hold much longer. How’s he doing?”

Julia turned back to Sergi, her hands working methodically even as her mind raced. “His lifeline got caught in the gate’s gravitational field. The shock must have stopped his heart.” She didn’t wait for Josh’s reply. Time was running out for all of them.

Her hand hesitated over the defibrillator, the cold, metallic surface biting against her fingers. A thought, unbidden and cruel, crept into her mind:If we’re all going to die, does it matter if I bring him back?

“No.” The single word escaped her lips, a whispered defiance against despair. Her hands moved on their own, pressing the defibrillator’s paddles to Sergi’s chest. “Clear!”

The machine jolted, sending a pulse of energy through Sergi’s body. His chest arched upward, then fell back into stillness. Julia swallowed hard, her fingers trembling as she prepared for another attempt.

“Clear!”

“Come on, old man. I would not think you would let a little shock knock you offline,” Mei growled.

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