Frontiers 05 Rise of the Corinari by Ryk Brown

Author:Ryk Brown
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Ryk Brown
Published: 2012-10-10T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Other than his first two days, during which Lieutenant Commander Nash questioned him endlessly about his knowledge of Ta’Akar tactics, Travon Dumar had spent most of his first week on the Aurora cooped up in the intelligence shack. A large, dimly lit room, it was filled with workstations and displays that seemed constantly manned. Most of the work consisted of studying old communications traffic and past arrival and departure logs of Ta’Akar ships from both the Darvano system and her nearest neighbor, Savoy, only a light year away.

Other than the intel shack, his quarters, the galley, and the head were the only other spaces he regularly visited. So when Lieutenant Commander Nash asked him to inspect the dead Ta’Akar bodies found in the forward section of the ship, he welcomed the opportunity for a change of scenery. After ten days aboard the Aurora, he still had no idea if or when he might have an opportunity to get a good look at Redmond Tugwell in person, which had been his sole reason for volunteering in the first place.

The original hull breach had affected only the main deck, so his journey would be a short one. After traveling down the main ramp from the command deck on which the intel shack was located, to the main deck directly below, he made a U-turn and headed forward down the central corridor. As he approached the previously sealed off entrance to the forward section, he could see two men standing off to one side, talking. He recognized the man facing him as the Aurora’s chief engineer, Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy, whom the crew normally referred to using the acronym ‘Cheng’. However, the other man had his back to him. The second man was not wearing an Aurora uniform nor that of the Corinari, although the man’s pants were of Corinari issue.

As he closed the distance between them, the unknown man’s features became recognizable, even from behind. It was the same hair, the same build, the same mannerisms. It was the man he had been seeking, Redmond Tugwell, the leader of the Karuzari, the rebels who had plagued the Ta’Akar Empire for the last thirty years. He could not help but stare at the man’s face as he walked by. He was older than Dumar remembered, much older, and his facial features had changed somewhat. It was possible they had been altered by whatever injuries he had sustained on that day thirty-seven years ago. The explosion Dumar had witnessed had been so immense, that there had never been any doubt that it had taken the life of this man. Yet here he stood, alive and talking.

“Gentlemen,” Dumar greeted politely as he passed the two men in the corridor. Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy nodded acknowledgment of Dumar’s greeting, but no reply was offered by the man going by the name of Redmond Tugwell. Their eyes did meet, however, even if only for a moment, before Dumar stepped through the hatch into the forward section.

Dumar kept his concentration, kept his composure, as he continued down the main corridor and to the left.

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