Ruin: A Seven Stars Novel (Dark Tide Trilogy Book 3) by Dayne Edmondson

Author:Dayne Edmondson [Edmondson, Dayne]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Dark Star Publishing
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10- Patience is a Virtue

A void portal opened and the Dauntless passed through. John raised the shields and Derek studied the sensor display, looking for hostile threats. He half-expected to hear target lock alarms or proximity alarms, but instead was met with a scene of carnage.

Pieces of ships floated through space, forming a miniature asteroid field of metal debris that circled Proxima X.

John whistled softly. "Well, something went down here."

"Yes, but what?" Ashley asked. "I don't see any Krai'kesh remains, only human ships."

"So maybe it truly was pirates?" Derek asked. "A large enough force to overwhelm the defenses?"

"It could be," John said. "The deutronium mines are a high value target. Pirates could have taken advantage of the situation to try to make a power grab." He laughed. "Ha-ha, I made a pun."

Derek quirked an eyebrow. I'm surprised he knows what a pun is, he thought

"Well, if it was pirates, they stuck around to operate the mine," Ashley pointed to a spot on the display and zoomed in. A large ore ship was docked at a station orbiting the moon Proxima X but showed no damage. A pair of fighters flashed past it but did not fire.

"Are they displaying a signature?" John asked.

"If I ping them they'll know we're here," Derek pointed out.

"Son, they already know we're here if they have any kind of sensors. Void portals aren't exactly subtle."

"Right," Derek said, blushing. He tapped a few times on the screen before responding. "They're listed as belonging to House...Artois." He felt so shocked he almost hadn't gotten the last word out.

"That doesn't make sense," Ashley said. "The briefing Admiral Rigsby passed on to us said House Vivendi owns the moon and runs the mines. What is House Artois doing here?"

"I have a feeling we're about to find out," John said, pointing to where the pair of fighters had turned and were speeding toward them.

"Attention unauthorized freighter. You have entered restricted property owned by Artois Industries. Leave now or we will be forced to take action against you."

"Hey there, gents," John said. "We were just passing through. Maybe you can help us. We're looking for someone. My daughter, in fact, Emma Edgerton. She's a pilot in the Federation. Have you seen her?"

The previous speaker did not respond but instead closed the link. Missile lock alarms sounded as the enemy fighters came within range. "I guess that's a no." Two pairs of missiles streaked toward the Dauntless.

"Or they do know and they don't want to tell us," Ashley said.

"Well, we'll just have to be persuasive," John said as he targeted one of the missiles and fired the forward lasers. It exploded. He targeted the next and fired. He opened a link to Ethan. "Ethan, can you take a turret and send one of your boys to the other turret?"

"On it. And I'll send one of my men to the other turret."

"Men, boys, it's all the same."

"Except it's not."

"Listen to your father. He knows things."

"Like how to speak in the third person? So wise.

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