Enemy Colours by R.M. Olson

Author:R.M. Olson [Olson, R.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

SILAS

When they reached the Sweet Jenny, Silas hesitated before turning for the cockpit.

“Go on, ain’t got all day,” Ari snapped from behind him.

He knew damn well her snappishness was from the mixture of strain and exhaustion that they’d all been drowning in since they’d started for the Level, however many hours or days ago that had been. Still, he had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping back. Instead, he drew a deep breath, nodded, and tapped the cockpit door open.

Even having just seen her lying in the Verity’s med bay, Silas’s brain half-way expected to see Gracie seated in the captain’s chair, her stained oilcloth jacket thrown over the back of it, her mild expression and sharp gaze turned on him. And the jolt at seeing the empty chair instead set a pit of nausea in his stomach.

“Well, Sil, your ship,” said Ari, gesturing.

He sighed again, the tension singing through his muscles, and stepped over to the controls.

He’d piloted a ship before—captained a few temporarily, if they’d taken a prize and his captain needed someone to bring her in. But the Sweet Jenny was so much Gracie’s ship that he could practically see her at the controls, smell the scent of her—oilcloth and sweet tea and old tobacco—permeating the air.

He closed his eyes, collecting himself. When he opened them, Ari was standing next to him, and he was surprised at the hint of compassion in her face. “Crew’ll take your orders, Sil,” she said quietly. “Ain’t one of us here who don’t trust you.”

That was exactly the problem. He still wasn’t sure why they trusted him, still wasn’t sure he was trustworthy.

He blew out his breath. “It should be you doing this.”

She grinned just a bit. “Figure I’d do a better job of it, yeah. But it ain’t me, so may as well stop moping and get to work.”

He nodded grimly and turned back to the controls.

When he pulled up the scanners, he could see the Rosette naval ships in their loose formation around the Sweet Jenny and the Verity. He frowned, examining them.

They were in the standard formation he’d expect if they were trying to cut a ship off. But that formation worked better against ships flying together than it did against independent ships.

Which may just save their lives. He could already see, even through the sensors, the small shifts in the Rosette fleet’s formation as the ships turned, preparing to fire on them. The line they’d had through to the Chasseuse had been cut off, and by now the commodore would certainly have figured out that Hollis and Gracie had played him. But the fleet was braced for a counter-attack, not for a small, heavily armed ship trying to break out, and the chaos they’d caused on the Chasseuse while making their escape meant the flagship had drifted a little, not quite in formation with the rest.

Price had stepped in behind him and Ari, standing quietly against the wall, their face a bland mask. Silas

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