Alliance (The United Federation Marine Corps' Grub Wars Book 1) by Jonathan P. Brazee

Author:Jonathan P. Brazee [Brazee, Jonathan P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Semper Fi Press
Published: 2017-10-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Skylar

Sky slipped into the seat beside Bill and asked, “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Not a clue. Well, considering . . . it has to be related.”

Around her, the entire executive and command staff, which had grown to several thousand people, was gathering in the auditorium. Sky had been in meetings non-stop since the disaster on K-2947, trying to make sense of what had happened. She was running on stim-sticks and Joltz, which was holding the despair at bay, but only just so.

Losing close to 3,000 men and women was difficult to fathom, especially when things seemed to be progressing. The Dictymorphs had shown a new side, and accusations were flying as to how any of them, and perhaps the Dictymorph team, in particular, had been so wrong.

“So, are you still talking to me?” she asked, watching to see his expression as he answered.

He sighed, tilted his head back, eyes closed, and said, “Yes, I’m still talking to you. It wasn’t your fault.”

“That’s not what most of you military types are saying. Bishop-Colonel West, he’s been asking for all of us to be fired, you know. Called us murderers.”

“It’s his ass on the line. He’s the senior Brotherhood military rep. He’s got to blame someone.” He paused for a second, then opened his eyes and looked at her before continuing, “Do you blame yourself?”

“No . . . yeah. I don’t know. I mean, we’ve been pretty wrong so far. No one thought the Dictymorphs had that degree of adaptability.”

“Seems to me you did. At least, you told me that too many were underestimating the Grubs.”

“Yeah, to a degree, maybe I was. But not to this extent. And even if I did, I let Janus and the rest set the tone.”

“Is it true what I heard about him?”

“Yep. He resigned yesterday. He’s on his way back to the Alliance.”

Bill shrugged, then said, “Probably a good thing. So, who’s taking over his spot? You?”

“Hah! Fat chance of that. I’m not much of a team player. Hastert, maybe, God help us. Possibly L’Teesha.”

“L’Teesha?”

“You met her at the Baiae. Turquoise and pink mohawk?”

“Her? She barely speaks.”

“She’s brilliant, but yeah, she’s not much one for talking. Hell, who knows? They may bring in someone new. It’s not like no one else is working on this. We’re just the advance party. Maybe Gentle Bosovitch. He’s had lots of input.”

“Oh, here comes the bossman,” Bill said, pointing up to the stage where the archbishop and EC Baker were crossing.

Archbishop Lowery reached the middle of the stage and stopped, looking over the people. Three-thousand sets of eyes focused on him.

“In view of our losses on K-2947 . . .” he started before trailing off. “No, not in view of that. I have to be honest with you. This has been building for awhile.” He waited again, as if trying to carefully choose his words. “There’s really no other way to put it than to be blunt. As of approximately 45 minutes ago, the Brotherhood of Man, the

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