Steel Apocalypse (Paladin 05 Book 1) by Rodney Hartman

Author:Rodney Hartman [Hartman, Rodney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-24T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19 – History

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The Grand Entrance ceremony was all pomp-and-circumstance combined with a whole lot of talk. A few of the competitors put on some firepower demonstrations. The most impressive was the demo by the Kraken with the skull insignia. The disintegrator ray mounted on the pirate’s top turret turned an old junk of a Leviathan into a pile of metallic dust in nothing flat.

At the end of two hours, the dog-and-pony show was finally over. The UHAAVs were led to their various maintenance hangars by orange-suited ground personnel in hover-cars.

Once Jake was safely back in the hangar he shared with the Trecorians, he shut down the Paladin. Not once during the two hour Grand Entrance had Maggie reappeared. Despite his many attempts to start a conversation, she refused to acknowledge his existence. He was about to use command voice to order his AI to present herself when Casey floated up in front of his windscreen with the aid of her anti-grav belt.

She pounded on the windscreen until he looked at her. “Hey, I’ve been trying to contact you. Let me in.”

Nodding, Jake pressed the icon on his control panel to open the access door.

Within seconds, Casey was inside the cockpit and wasted no time getting to the point of her visit. “I want to know what the hell happened out there. That little stunt of yours could’ve gotten us all killed.”

Jake motioned at the empty copilot’s seat. “Yeah, tell me about it. I was just about to try and get to the bottom of it.”

Once Casey sat down, Jake steeled himself to have it out with his AI. He didn’t get the chance.

The hologram projectors in the upper corners of the cockpit flickered. A hand-high Maggie appeared on the control console. Her eyes were a subtle shade of green that matched the light-green, full-length dress she wore.

That’s different, he thought. I rarely see her in a dress. She can be elegant when she wants to be.

Maggie sighed before speaking in a voice that was almost a whisper. “I know what you’re going to say, Jake, and you’re absolutely right.”

Jake was silent for a couple of seconds. “Actually, I don’t know what to say. I’m concerned about you, Maggie. Something’s obviously wrong. We’ve always been able to talk things through and come up with a way to help each other. Don’t shut me out. Tell me what’s wrong? What set you off?”

Maggie bowed her head for a half dozen heartbeats. When she returned her gaze to Jake, her eyes were more like a gray sky after a hard rain. She glanced at Casey sitting in the copilot’s seat. “I suppose since you’re involved as well, it is only right you see what I’m going to show at the same time as Jake.”

Jake leaned forward in his chair. “What are you going to show me, Maggie?”

Maggie stared at Jake. “It’s a bit of history I think you need to see. I want both of you to get up and move to the back of the cockpit.

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