Fangs Out (Uplink Squadron Book 3) by J.N. Chaney & Chris Kennedy

Author:J.N. Chaney & Chris Kennedy [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2022-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

MEDICAL, TSS ENTERPRISE, SOLAR SYSTEM

“Hi, XO,” Derek Ikehara said as Sofia Jimenez opened her eyes. “Welcome back.”

Jimenez blinked a couple of times. The lights seemed too bright, and the younger pilot was talking too fast. Where am I? This isn’t my stateroom—it’s far too clean.

“Back?” she asked, still trying to focus. “Where… did I go?”

“You’ve been out for two days.”

“Did I—” She stopped as realization came to her. “Is Daiyu okay? Did we win the battle? Where is the skipper?”

Ikehara made a patting motion. “Easy, XO. If you get your heart rate up, they’re going to come kick us out.”

“They were very clear about that,” Ikehara’s WSO, Sarah Nelson, added.

Jimenez took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, first things first.” She bit her lip a second, too terrified to ask the most important question. She couldn’t live with the possible answer… but she still had to know. “Please tell me they found the jump drive in my gear.”

“They did. The ops officer gave it to me, and Sarah and I loaded it up into Three-Oh-Two. Daiyu is fine. She says our system smells like cinnamon and makes her itch somehow, but she’s adjusting.”

“Three-Oh-Two? Why didn’t you put her back in—”

Ikehara nodded. “Three-Twenty was destroyed and unrecovered. You’re lucky the marines were able to grab you before we retreated.”

“So I guess that answers my second question.”

“It does. We lost the battle and retreated to the Solar System. On the good side, we met up with a fleet of Overlord reinforcements, and they want to go back to Tau Ceti and reclaim it before the Kardons can destroy the civilization there.”

“What were our losses?”

Both junior officers looked at the deck.

“Uh, well…” Ikehara said. “Maybe we should come back and talk about that after you’ve rested a bit.”

“Why’s that?” Jimenez tried to sit up, but the pain in her stomach made her collapse back onto the bed with her eyes screwed shut. When she could open them again, she ground out, “What aren’t you telling me?”

Ikehara sighed. “After you got Three-Twenty shot out from under you, the skipper went wild. He and I chased the Kardon fighter that got you down to the surface of the planet. We had a dogfight through some of the towers of this really freaky city. We got separated when more of the Kardons jumped us. After I took care of the new ones, I went looking for the CO. We got there just as he ejected.” His voice caught. “I killed the fighter that got him…” Tears fell from his eyes, and he looked away.

“We looked for him afterward,” Nelson said, picking up the tale when Ikehara couldn’t continue. “He went down in a swamp. We looked until we had to come back, but we couldn’t find any evidence of him. We never got radio contact with him either.”

“We have to go back and look for him!”

“Ma’am, it’s not possible,” Nelson said. “We’re not in Tau Ceti anymore, and there was nothing to find there.

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