Voice of Mars (Starship's Mage Book 3) by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing Inc
Published: 2016-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

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They were close enough to the hulk of the Mistletoe Solstice that Damien could see it through the transparent titanium of his office’s massive window. The ship was illuminated by the lights of the shuttles hovering around it, or it would have been invisible against the void with no lights and no nearby star to reflect off the hull.

Dead spaceships had a certain eerie finality to them. Only the presence of humans and a supply of power gave the metal and machinery life, and in the absence of either only metal remained. His practiced eye could pick out where along the keel the simulacrum chamber where Nuru Afolayan had died trying to save her ship was, and he shivered as he remembered a few days of his own that could have ended just as permanently.

“My lord,” Christoffsen greeted him.

He turned to find that both of his subordinates had snuck in while he was distracted, but Amiri had simply grabbed a chair and waited for him to stop staring at the dead.

“We failed them,” he said simply. “The entire purpose of the Protectorate is so that people like Captain Afolayan don’t get killed doing their goddamn jobs.”

“There was nothing you could have done,” Amiri pointed out. “We got involved as soon as we knew there was a problem. Unless we’d swamped every jump zone between Sherwood and Míngliàng with Navy warships, there’s nothing more we could have done.”

“And it should be pointed out that these pirates took on a Sherwood frigate, one of the most powerful warships in the possession of a regional militia, as I understand,” Christoffsen added. “Had we, say, stationed a destroyer at every jump zone, all we might have accomplished would have been to add Navy dead to the tally.”

“The timing to all of this is suspicious as hell,” Damien pointed out. “We arrive in Míngliàng, and Admiral Phan shows up the next day having dueled with a Sherwood frigate? We head to Sherwood, and we get jumped by Míngliàng destroyers? While we’re in Sherwood, there’s an attack that allows us to definitely identify the MSF?

“It’s all too neat, and I don’t trust it,” the Hand told his aide, finally putting the itchy feeling between his shoulder blades into words. “I am half-convinced that someone is fucking with us.”

That silenced the other two for a long moment, but then Amiri started shaking her head.

“I can see why, but the timing is impossible,” she replied. “If they had a fleet of cloaked couriers – which would require dozens of Mages as I understand hiding a ship is not-quite-impossible – and had a frigate standing by to jump Phan on command, and were prepared to sacrifice two destroyers to bait the trap… maybe. But that’s a lot of stretching, Damien.”

“I know,” he admitted. “I feel paranoid, but the sheer amount of coincidence, the degree to which something starts to aggravate the situation for one side or another as soon as we show up… I feel like there’s a target painted on my back.

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