Dauntless (Blood on the Stars Book 6) by Jay Allan

Author:Jay Allan [Allan, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: System 7 Publishing
Published: 2018-01-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

Fortress A-074

Geosynchronous Orbit

Barroux, Rhian III

Union Year 217 (313 AC)

“Barroux Fortress Control, this is Union vessel Flamant, requesting status report.”

Remy Caron stood in the orbital platform’s control center. The room looked like a wreck, but miraculously, none of the vital equipment had been destroyed. The bodies of the security troopers, and his own people who had fallen, had all been removed, but the walls and floor were still marked by bullet holes and stained with blood.

He looked across at one of his soldiers—he’d decided they’d all had enough of a baptism of fire to be called soldiers now—and nodded. The man moved the rifle toward the man seated at one of the workstations.

“You’re going to answer that communique, Lieutenant Cezare, and you are going to use normal protocol. Give no indication that anything is awry aboard this platform or any of the others.” In fact, the entirety of Barroux’s orbital defense network was firmly in the hands of Caron and his rebels, though it remained an open question if they’d managed to spare enough specialist crew to man the weapons systems.

The technician glanced hesitantly in Caron’s direction. He was clearly terrified.

“If you give any warning, or say anything I think might be the slightest bit abnormal, Pierre is going to blow your head right off your shoulders. Do you understand?”

The quivering man managed a shaky nod.

“I want you to remember, even if you’re able to give some kind of warning we don’t catch, if they don’t approach normally, we’re going to assume you tipped them off…and Pierre will blow your brains out. We’ll have plenty of time to kill you, no matter what they do. So, keep all that in mind.” He gestured toward the wall. “And remember what happened to the security forces, and to many of your own comrades. There is only one way off this station for you still breathing, and that’s with us. Understood?”

“Yes,” the technician croaked weakly.

“Barroux Fortress Control, this is Captain Givan, commanding Union vessel Flamant. Please respond.”

Caron nodded. “Go ahead. Answer them.”

The man extended his arm, his hand shaking as he struggled to work the controls. “Flamant, this is Barroux Fortress Control. Lieutenant Alian Cezare on duty.”

“What was the cause of your delay in responding, Lieutenant?”

“Nothing…I mean, we’ve been monitoring the surface activity, Captain.”

“Report on status.”

“Status green here, sir. The surface of Barroux is completely in the hands of the rebels, however.”

“We had received a report that General Lisannes landed ground forces to pacify the rebellion.”

Cezare turned and looked toward Caron.

“Tell him the landing failed. That Lisannes is dead.”

Cezare turned back toward the comm unit. “Yes, sir. General Lisannes landed his forces, but they were overwhelmed and defeated. I’m afraid the general is dead, Captain.”

“That damned fool.” It was a different voice on the comm. “Lieutenant, did you provide ground fire support to the General’s operation? It was still unsuccessful?”

“Negative, sir. Our installations are not set up for ground bombardment, only to defend against approaching ships.”

“Well, we’ve got a landing force with us, Lieutenant.

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