The Squad Novelettes 1-5 by Stephen Arseneault

Author:Stephen Arseneault [Arseneault, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, intergalactic war, aliens, military scifi, alien, series, mens adventure, Space Opera, scifi adventure, alien abduction, super human, Star Wars, galactic empire, alien worlds, military, scifi series, Hard Science Fiction, Action Thriller, space battles, space travel, scifi action adventure, scifi, adventure space
Published: 2018-11-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

* * *

On the thirteenth day of our journey we reached the Maxan outpost colony we had encountered before. There were no ships in sight and no soldiers on the ground. For whatever reason, the Maxans had chosen to not defend her further.

Three other star systems were checked before a Maxan scout was spotted. We had no weapons, but we did have a faster ship. Before the scout could enable its jump engine, we were on it with a breach tube extended. Xurpok raced aboard and made short work of the crew of four. Their bodies were placed in the freeze.

Tanner stood on the bridge of the scout, looking back at the Fracker. "Sarge? What happened to our ship?"

I stopped and looked. "Are you talking about the extra armor?"

"When did that happen?"

"It was one of the upgrades we paid for. And a reason we had the work done inside a private bay where snooping eyes wouldn't get people asking questions."

"She looks like a big blob now."

"Almost triple the armor we had. Won't have an effect on maneuverability out here, but we'll need to keep an eye on that when in-atmosphere. Either way, we should be able to stroll right up to any ship the Maxans have. We don't have anything to shoot back at them with, but we can safely extend a pipe, which is what we want to do anyway."

Tanner scowled. "I like the thought of the extra armor, but she's hideous now. I'd almost be embarrassed to cruise up to a port flying that."

I chuckled. "How is it you survived out here this long? And when did you start giving a rat’s-ass about what our ship looked like?"

"Well, I guess I don't. Just that was a bit of a shock seeing her for the first time. She was definitely not beautified."

Collins walked in. "Looks like a pregnant whale don't she?"

Tanner sighed. "Not gonna be picking up chicks in her on Saturday night, that's for sure."

I asked, "What is it you two are talking about?"

"Old Earth movies," Collins replied. "Kind of got on a kick watching them the last few days just to see Xurpok's reactions."

Tanner looked around the bridge of the captured scout. "So what do we do with her? I know there's a bounty, but is it worth a trip all the way to Alday and then back out here again?"

I shook my head. "There would be a profit, but not the kind of profit we're looking for. We may just have to fly her into that star or something."

Mendez came up behind us. "Why not program in a rally point? We send her on to a bit of dead space between here and Alday with a local beacon transmitting that says she's ours. In fact it might work best for us to drag those bodies back here and to just stick them in the crew quarters or something with the heating off. Program her to make jumps to the rally point and we'll pick her up later.

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