Drifter's Folly (Peacekeepers of Sol Book 4) by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing
Published: 2021-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Henry stood in Paladin’s cramped shuttle bay, watching grimly as the Kenmiri prisoners filed onto the waiting shuttle. The Eerdish spacecraft was only mildly different from the Terran spacecraft that belonged there, and could have been on any ship he’d seen for two decades.

The Vesheron and the successor states they’d become still relied heavily on ex-Kenmiri hardware and designs. It would be a long time before any of the ex-Vesheron powers had shuttles that weren’t identical.

His focus couldn’t stay on the shuttle forever, though, and his gaze inevitably drifted to his prisoners. They all looked like Earth ants scaled up to a larger size, with heavy chitin carapaces that could resist light projectile fire.

Henry knew that, unlike ants, the Kenmiri had something similar to a skeleton inside their chitinous skin, supporting their height and weight. The comparison was still inevitable to humans as the bipedal creatures with their three-part bodies walked across the deck.

The lead four Kenmiri were Warriors, towering two and a quarter meters tall with dull black carapaces and sharp edges to the chitinous armor on their upper arms. Their eyes were multifaceted gems, tracking every movement around them—and Henry’s people had double-manacled every Warrior.

There would be no risks with the Kenmiri military caste.

The other dozen prisoners were smaller, barely a hundred and forty centimeters tall with carapaces colored in delicate patterns of blue and green. The Drones’ eyes were less capable than the Warriors’, but their gazes still swept the shuttle bay.

They were awake and aware and paying attention. Part of him had expected the Kenmiri prisoners to be subdued and lackadaisical, a direct manifestation of their dying race.

The difference was probably a solid metaphor for his errors about the Kenmiri Remnant itself.

Eerdish troopers in full body armor and face-concealing helmets stepped off the shuttle, energy rifles at parade rest as they took over control of the chain line from Henry’s GroundDiv troopers. There were quiet conversations, likely in Kem, that Henry couldn’t hear.

He had to watch. He had to make certain that the Kenmiri were off his ship. His sanity couldn’t permit anything less.

To his surprise, however, one of the helmeted Eerdish stepped away from the line of prisoners at the direction of the GroundDiv squad leader and walked in his direction.

Focusing to the moment, Henry smoothed his emotions from his face and stepped forward to greet the alien.

“I am Commodore Wong,” he told them. “How may I assist?”

There was an audible gust of air as the Eerdish disconnected their helmet, the atmosphere seals releasing as she took it off. A tightly-wound crown braid kept the Eerdish woman’s thick black hair under her helmet and she saluted crisply, UPSF-style, with the helmet under her arm.

“I am Shield-Bearer Cochall,” she greeted him in Kem, tapping the single blue stripe painted on her armor. “On behalf of the War-Shields of the Gathered Tribes, I wanted to offer our thanks for the capture of these Kenmiri.

“Politics between the Gathered Tribes and the United Planets Alliance may prevent proper

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