Hex Division (Starcaster Book 2) by J.N. Chaney & Terry Maggert

Author:J.N. Chaney & Terry Maggert [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2020-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

12

Thorn sat in the Hecate’s witchport and watched the repeater showing the tactical display. The ship glided past a screen of scanner buoys and picket ships now standing well off from Code Gauntlet, forming an essentially impenetrable early warning network. There’d been no indication that the Nyctus would try to fling another enormous impactor at the FOB, or that they even could do it a second time, but the Commander and his senior staff were taking no chances. If the squids did try it again, they’d find the FOB’s QRF—quick reaction force—in their faces almost immediately.

And with them would be the ’casters, their magical reserves full.

After a few traffic control delays, the Hecate finally slid into her assigned berth in the orbital docking platform locked in geosynchronous orbit high above the ground-based FOB. She was capable of entering atmo, and there were facilities planet-side to handle a ship of her class, but the FOB Commander had decided to keep anything bigger than a corvette either docked at the orbital platform, or in a parking orbit. The skies above Code Gauntlet were crowded, with ships and traffic control engaged in a complex dance that never ended.

But Thorn saw the wisdom in it; ships could get underway far more readily if they were already in space and didn’t have to claw their way out of a gravity well. In terms of reaction time, the rewards far outweighed any risks.

As soon as he could depart the Hecate, Thorn headed for a common comm terminal, one not restricted to classified, military traffic. There was a bank of them in the main concourse of the orbital dockyard—and all of them were out of service. Thorn cursed. Possibly shitty maintenance but more likely there was an upcoming op and all non-essential comms had been shut down to prevent leaks, inadvertent or deliberate. There’d been much discussion about the latter; it seemed inconceivable that any human could ever help the squids, but who knew? Soldiers were people, and people were more than capable of doing stupid things, for even stupider reasons.

Thorn activated his personal comm. “Captain Tanner, Lieutenant Stellers here.”

“Go ahead, Stellers.”

“Permission to go planetside, sir? I have to send an urgent personal message, and all the comms up here are shut down. I should be able to go to the comm center in the FOB and at least get something into the queue for transmission.”

“Sorry, Stellers. Under ordinary circumstances, I’d say yes, you’ve certainly earned that kind of latitude. But I was just going to recall you to the Hecate. Captain Densmore is here, and she wants to meet with us—and last time I checked, us would include you.”

Thorn deflated, angered by the dead comms before him. “Aye, sir. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Make it quick, Lieutenant. Densmore seems to have something urgent to discuss.”

“Aye, sir.”

Kira, I’m still listening.

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