Shots Fired: Liberation War Book 9 by John Walker

Author:John Walker [Walker, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-01T22:00:00+00:00

***

Warren sat in his seat on the bridge, staring at the vast expanse of stars on the screen. He waited for Atalis to contact him with the briefing, to explain the fight to come. The conversation would be a fantastic distraction after Avania left. Paras’s ship departed not even thirty minutes earlier, taking her to the Duke’s homeworld.

Where he’ll have all the time in the world to court her while I’m off at war. Warren fought hard not to harbor bitterness toward the man. He knew it was coming, even tried to prepare for it. When they won, he figured she would end up having to leave him behind. Unfortunately, those thoughts came before they slept together … or said such things as I love you.

The fact of the matter remained simple: Warren didn’t want to give her up. Not to the empire, not to the universe. Not for peace or prosperity. The selfish, human side of him felt a dramatic pull to keep her for himself, to encourage her to leave that responsibility behind. Regardless of the consequences.

This relationship is doomed. The gloomy thought made him sigh. Victoria looked over at him, brow quirked.

“Is there a problem?”

Warren shook his head. “Thoughtful about the coming mission. That’s all.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Warren scowled at her. “What do you mean by that?”

“Just that I haven’t seen you so … I don’t know. Quiet, I suppose.”

“We haven’t gone to war yet,” Warren replied. It surprised him just how easy it was to fib, to deflect her comments to the professional situation rather than his personal one. He cleared his throat, wondering what might be taking Atalis so long. “Anyway, I’m glad you got to come with us. I thought for sure they’d need a ranking commander down there.”

“Jacks had a contingency plan.” Victoria shrugged. “He’s lucky to be alive though. Knife missed his lung by an inch or something. I can’t remember the exact statistic. Suffice to say, he won’t be running around for a while. He still plans on helping out from bed though, if the doctors don’t sedate his ass first.”

Warren chuckled. “That sounds about right.”

“Captain,” Madeline spoke up. “I have Atalis on the line and waiting to come on. He’s joined by Duke Ervin.”

God damn it. Warren bit his lip before he replied. It was one thing to prepare for the man to have a go at Avania. It was quite another to have to look him in the face, listen to him talk about a mission. “Put them on screen.”

“Yes, sir.”

A moment later Atalis appeared on the left, Ervin on the right. The former was all business while the latter scowled, brows furrowed over his nose. Warren knew the reason but he didn’t know whether or not the man might bring it up in a public forum like the briefing. Or would he ask for a private audience?

“Captain,” Atalis said. “We have word that the royal military has arrived in Gellan space and has attacked. You will be jumping into a difficult situation, one that requires immediate intervention.

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