Liberation: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Bad Company Book 4) by Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle

Author:Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle [Martelle, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2018-04-21T22:00:00+00:00

Pittsburgh, Earth

“Where is she?” Cory asked as she hurried back onto the bridge.

“Take us down,” Ted said, seemingly to himself as he continued his engagement with Plato. The screens showed the ground racing up to meet the ship. Ramses’ Chariot pulled up and hovered about thirty feet off the ground. The ship cast a great shadow over a house immediately below. Vertical obstructions like trees prevented them from going lower.

“She’s in there,” Joseph said. Cory ran from the bridge, vaulted over Bundin, and raced for the hatch. She popped it open and launched through.

“She jumped!” Bundin exclaimed as he wedged himself into the hatchway to look down. He twisted his stalk-head forward. “She’s okay!”

Cory hit the ground, rolled, and came to her feet running. She reached the door and started yelling and beating on it.

Dokken tried to gauge the height, but couldn’t. Cory was down there. He wasn’t with her. He stepped into the opening. With his heart in his throat, he jumped.

Bundin’s tentacle arms lashed out and caught the dog before he’d traveled more than a few centimeters.

“It’s too great a drop,” Bundin exclaimed. Dokken started to struggle.

“Not for me it isn’t,” Kailin told them. He crawled over Bundin’s shell and hoisted the huge German Shepherd into his arms. “Wow, dog. You need to cut back on the treats.”

Kailin held him tightly as he jumped through. The pair accelerated toward the ground. When they hit, Kailin threw Dokken sideways before he rolled through the impact. Dokken hit and stumbled, but his legs churned and he found himself running toward Cory as the door opened in front of her.

A woman, the spitting image of her mother minus the glowing eyes, stood there, confused. “Mother?” she asked. Dokken slid into Cory, almost knocking her down. Sylvia caught her.

Cory pulled her into a hug and started crying.

Kailin stood back while Dokken leaned against Cory, trying to comfort her through his warmth and kind thoughts.

When Cory was able to get it out, Sylvia didn’t change her expression.

“I understand,” the young-looking woman said, frowning.

Cory hardened up and brushed the tears away. She looked angry. Sylvia asked her to be calm.

“I thought it was inevitable that someone would die. I didn’t expect it to be my father. I thought it would be my grandfather who died first. He places his body between the enemy and everyone else. Not because he thinks he’s invincible, but because he can’t stand someone else doing something that he thinks he’s supposed to do.”

“But your father...” Cory blinked before a new flood of tears could start.

“I’m sure he died saving the universe. Isn’t that how we were raised? In the service of others. I didn’t understand it then, but I do now. Most people don’t respect that, but I do. Did Dad die for a cause worth dying for?”

Cory held her daughter’s gaze. “He did, and you’re right. Mom and Dad took the hardest part of the mission, but when things went bad, we were trapped with too many Skrima when our nanocytes were disabled.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.