Resolve of Steel (Halloran's War Book 2) by J.R. Geoghan

Author:J.R. Geoghan [Geoghan, J.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Military Scence Fiction, time travel, space fleet, Science Fiction
Publisher: Adventus Press
Published: 2019-04-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Prax Sol System Center, Earth

Xylan disembarked and immediately felt the heat wash over him. It felt wonderful. For all his time in the Sol system, he’d only set foot on Earth twice. The atmosphere was oppressively thick, however, and he took a shallower breath to compensate. Better.

His aide, Commander Third-Rank Hrodax, accepted the Admiral’s tablet from the shuttle pilot and tucked it under his arm. “The temperature is agreeable, Lord.”

“It is.” Xylan moved off toward the entry into the Center. His practiced eye ran over the various types of ships standing in the massive bay as well as the attending crews moving back and forth between them.

Hrodax kept with his Admiral’s quick pace, but said nothing until they entered the passage, leaving the heat behind. “Communication between us and our fleet may be intercepted within this facility, Lord. Or dampened.”

“Yes, I understand,” Xylan answered. “We shall see very shortly if this is a problem for us. Keep that transponder ready.”

Three armed guards awaited them at the far end of the passage. “Admiral Xylan, come with us,” one announced overly officiously. Attempting to intimidate the elderly man.

Xylan eyed the Prax closely. “How old are you, son?”

“Lord?” The man held himself stiffly, suddenly wary of the officer. Xylan noticed his eyes shift slightly. Trying to see if he’s being watched somehow, he thought. “You are to come—.”

“I only ask,” Xylan interrupted, “because I am not accustomed to being addressed in such a direct tone, with seeming disregard for my rank.”

Their eyes held until the younger man relented. “My Lord,” he continued with a now-bowed head. “Please come with us.”

Good. Xylan saw the other two staring with awe at how the old Admiral had cowed the bully. When—if—the time came to seek allies, these three might do. He waved a hand. “You may escort my aide and I.”

With a last glance of uncertainty as to what he’d done to himself, the guard moved off to lead. The other two fell in behind Xylan and Hrodax, who now walked side by side.

“I am glad of your company, Hrodax,” Xylan said conversationally.

After a moment Hrodax replied, “The honor to be at your side in this hour is almost too much to bear, Lord.”

The Admiral nodded. “Let us hope we live beyond it, that we may celebrate our good fortune.”

They fell into a tense silence until the lead guard approached the heavy blast door that denoted the entrance into the core of the Center. Xylan had been in two other Centers installed on conquered planets, and the basic layout was the same. The facility was massive, larger than his biggest fleet vessel in sheer cubic volume. Level upon level, half of it excavated from the planet’s crust, with the core beneath tapped for its thermal energy to power the base. An entire occupying army was stationed within, with every conceivable department of support needed to subjugate and police an entire planet for a generation. In fact, the soldiers and support staff housed within a Center typically spent a lifetime, a career, in the same star system.

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