Here Be Dragons by Alan Craig

Author:Alan, Craig [Alan, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boxfire Press
Published: 2013-07-02T07:00:00+00:00

They rendezvoused at the derelict and turned sideways in their orbits to face one another, mere kilometers apart. The two Archangels were so close that, if not for the shadowed bulk of Jupiter blocking the Sun, Elena could have gone outside and seen it her with her own eyes. At this distance, either ship could kill the other in between eyeblinks. And Gabriel’s landing party was still stranded between the two of them. The message repeated endlessly.

Greetings, Gabriel.

“Vijay, turn over the lasers to Hassoun. Keep an eye on the boarders.”

Unknown vessel, identify yourself.

This is Metatron.

Elena looked around the room and saw nothing but blank looks.

“Not in any Bible that I have read,” Demyan said.

“Could that be Michael?” Hassoun asked.

“She’s not due to be completed for another three months,” Elena said. “Even we couldn’t have finished her that quickly.”

We have no record of a vessel by that name.

That is what we intended.

“Black ops,” Hassoun said. “Completely off the books.”

“And built entirely in secret?”

“We did it,” Vijay said.

State your intention.

It is the same as yours.

“Why send two ships on the same mission?” Hassoun asked. Thanks to Jupiter’s bulk standing between them and Earth, the question could not be put to Control.

“That was the plan, Mr. Masri,” Vijay replied. “Gabriel and Archangel were intended to attack the outsiders together.”

“Together,” Elena said. “Not separately. And if the Agency had sent another Archangel in ahead of us, I would have been told.”

“All due respect, Captain, but are you quite certain?”

“Trust me.”

You are interfering with a vital Agency mission.

We mean you no harm.

“Mierda.”

“Captain, if she had wanted us dead, she would have killed us.”

Then disarm immediately.

We cannot disarm in the face of the enemy.

“Not an unreasonable position,” Vijay said.

“You’re supposed to be on my side. How’s visibility?”

“Beg pardon, Captain, but I cannot see a bloody thing. There is absolutely nothing to stop an outsider from doing exactly what she did.”

You should depart for Union territory immediately.

We cannot do that either.

“But we can,” Elena said.

“What about the boarders, Cap’n?”

“What boarders? How would she know anything about them?” Unless a telescope focused minutely, there was no way to spot an object as small as a person through the static.

Then we shall. Good luck.

We cannot allow that.

“Now we’re getting down to business,” Elena said.

You said you mean us no harm.

And we do not. But we cannot allow you to leave. Not yet.

Elena kept the corner of her eye on her watch screen. If the other ship fired its ballista, she would have only a second to see it before she died. And if the outsiders fired, she would probably never know.

The outsiders are approaching. If we stay here, we will die.

We know.

At the helm, Demyan crossed himself slowly, right to left.

Are you willing to die here, Metatron?

If necessary.

So are we.

Hassoun was sweating profusely as he typed with his keysticks, and he frequently had to wipe his forehead with the back of his glove. There came a long pause.

If you die now, you die for nothing.

The other captain had known exactly how to twist the knife.

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