Defiance by Raymond Cooper

Author:Raymond Cooper [Cooper, Raymond]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Interstellar Press
Published: 2018-10-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“He actually offered you command of a battlegroup?” Kyndra asked.

I nodded. “Actually, he offered me the position of Supreme Admiral, commander of all UCP forces.”

“And you passed that up?” she laughed.

“Technically, I told him to give me a little time to think about it,” I said.

Veryk cast me a sidelong glance. “You're not actually thinking about it, are you?”

I rolled my eyes. “Please.”

We walked through the marketplace in Tarja's Old Town. It was once the capital city, but as the planet prospered, the capital was moved to a more picturesque location – which, given that the planet was mostly water, wasn't all that far away.

Tarja wasn't a UCP-aligned world. At least, not yet. I was sure that Drayma and Auggie were working hard to strong-arm them into joining though. But for the moment, they remained independent. Which meant there was no standing UCP garrison. No Battlecruisers in orbit overhead. For the most part, we were safe to walk the streets there – relatively speaking.

Of course, knowing that Drayma had an army of bounty hunters searching for me, I probably shouldn't let myself feel too safe.

Tarja was a beautiful planet. Gorgeous, really. It was lush, green and blue, with ancient forests, soaring mountains, and skyscrapers that blended seamlessly into their surroundings. It's major cities were thoroughly modern – except for the remnants of its past, like Old Town.

To the credit of the Tarjan government though, they didn't try to sweep the past under the rug. They celebrated it. And because of that, Old Town had a charm all its own. The marketplace wasn't unlike any of the others on hundreds of other worlds. Crowded, loud, and redolent with the smells of a thousand different foods.

“Why did you tell your brother that you would think about it then?” Veryk asked, a note of concern in his voice.

“It's called sarcasm, Veryk,” I said. “You Q'pathians are familiar with sarcasm, aren't you?”

“Clearly not as familiar as you humans.”

Kyndra and I exchanged a glance and a laugh. Veryk just grumbled and shook his head. I stopped at one of the booths and purchased a couple of delicious smelling meat pies for us. I handed one to Kyndra and then turned to Veryk who shook his head, declining it.

“I”m a vegetarian,” he said, his voice haughty.

I shrugged. “More for me.”

“I get half of that,” Kyndra said.

“Done.”

Dak had taken the hover-hauler into the town proper to pick up the supplies we needed for the run to Balov, leaving Kyndra, Veryk, and I to walk the marketplace to kill some time. I still wasn't entirely sure how this was going to work. The UCP fleet was docked in permanent orbit around Balov, and on the planet's surface was where they trained their ground forces.

We were literally planning on walking into the middle of an entire army.

But, somehow, we had to do it. Veryk paid his fare and I planned on making good on my promise to get him there. My biggest fear was what would happen afterward.

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