Forward Command (Galaxy Bridge Book 1) by Daniel Gibbs & Steve Rzasa

Author:Daniel Gibbs & Steve Rzasa [Gibbs, Daniel & Rzasa, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

Natara’s displays held the Distant Endeavor in her target lock. “That is what I said, and I’ll only repeat it once. Cut your thrust, heave to, and prepare to be scanned and potentially boarded.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Captain Dolan sounded, if possible, more furious about the prospect than he’d been upset by a pirate vessel trying to blow him up. “I have a deadline to meet, lady, and I don’t care how many Leaguers have gone missing. It could be an entire hold’s worth, and that wouldn’t make—”

“It’s Major, not lady. If you refuse to comply, you will be in direct violation of the station commander’s order. I shouldn’t have to remind you that he is also de facto governor for this sector, which means your refusal will be punishable by law. CDF is working in conjunction with CBI, which has jurisdiction over federal criminal investigations. You will face arrest. Your ship will be seized and held under Coalition guard until it can be searched from the bow plate to the last rusted edge of the biggest drive nozzle. That is, assuming, it gets towed back after I’m forced to order my pilots to disable your propulsion.”

The comms channel lapsed into silence, except for the soft hiss of intermittent static. Natara let the targeting reticle linger on the Distant Endeavor. Five seconds went by. She toggled the LIDAR to send out an active pulse, the warning to any ship that it was being painted by a weapons system.

“Okay.” Dolan’s gusty sigh made the channel fuzz even worse. “All right. Relax. We’re cutting the engines. There’re no shielded compartments aboard. Understand? You should be able to scan everything from where you are.”

“I’ll make that determination, Captain, and if there’s contraband aboard, just don’t have it sitting in front of any kidnap victims. Raiju One out.”

She punched the switchover for the comms channels and was immediately greeted by chuckling.

“Hell, Major, I think you went a little soft on him,” Flinch said. “I thought for a microsecond you were going to spacewalk over and punch him in the nose.”

“There’s still potential, Flinch.” Natara lifted her visor and rubbed at her eyes. The Distant Endeavor was the fourth of five ships they’d been assigned to search. So far, none had needed boarding, as the scans of life signs matched the rosters they’d been given for each ship. None had had shielded compartments, either, simplifying the matter. Except they still didn’t know where the League ambassador had vanished to.

Natara imagined a raft of possibilities—his corpse flash-frozen by deep space, spinning on a lonely, endless course away from the Arch; his laughing face as he hid in a secret compartment underneath the embassy, reveling in the turmoil he was causing his enemies; his screams as a shadowy figure, either a crime lord or a terrorist, tortured him for whatever information they sought.

She shook her head. Flights of fantasy would accomplish nothing. Only her diligence and prayers would bring about an end to the crisis, Allah prevailing.

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