Psi War: the Complete Trilogy by Rick Partlow

Author:Rick Partlow [Partlow, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2018-09-24T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“That’s a hell of a lot of ships, dad.”

“Watch your language, son,” Munroe murmured automatically. “You know your mom doesn’t like it when you swear.”

Cesar mumbled a quiet apology, but neither of them could tear their eyes away from the seemingly endless stream of missile cutters, assault shuttles, Marine drop ships and cargo landers coming down at Demeter’s only spaceport. The roar from their landing jets echoed across the valley, rattling the windows of buildings in Amity kilometers away, a peel of thunder that just kept going, a constant background noise.

“This is bad, isn’t it?” his son asked. There was an undertone of fear in the words, buried under the adolescent’s automatic bravado. “This means the war is coming here.”

Munroe forced his gaze away from the rows of ships coming down from the early-morning sky and looked into his son’s dark eyes. He had his mother’s eyes, his mother’s passion for science and for life in general, but Munroe had started to detect something of his own cold efficiency for unpleasant tasks in the boy. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing; he’d thought he’d developed the trait from the case-hardening of a year of guerilla war on Demeter, but perhaps it had been there all along.

“It’s not good,” he admitted. There was no point in lying to the boy. “But we’re going to have the best minds around trying to think about how to solve the problem. We’ll be okay.”

Munroe wanted to offer him a hug, but Cesar was at the age where he didn’t want his parents hugging or kissing him anymore.

“Will I have to fight?”

The question caught him off guard, but he knew it shouldn’t have. Cesar wasn’t one to shrink from a burden, or a fight. He was like his namesake that way.

Be honest, he told himself.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t come to that, and your mother is, too. But if you have to fight, I know you’ll make us proud.”

That seemed to satisfy the boy and he relaxed slightly, leaning against the porch rail of what had been the City Administration offices but were now, officially, the planetary headquarters of Commonwealth Space Fleet Command. It was a grandiose name for a three-story building constructed from local brick and wood, but the Fleet administrators who’d already landed were doing their best to make it work. The front door was propped open to let in the mild, spring day and he could see the blue-uniformed clerks and technicians rushing here and there, trying to connect communications terminals to the satellite dishes they’d set up on the roof.

Sophia was inside, deep in conversation with one of the officers, Commander Dobbs, a serious man with a serious face to go with it. Outwardly, he thought, Sophia Rocca hadn’t changed much from the college student she’d been two decades ago when she’d found him in the Revenant Forest, wounded and unconscious and alone, and dragged him to safety. Inwardly, she’d

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.