Nature of War: An Intergalactic Scifi Adventure (The Fifth Column Book 4) by J.N. Chaney & Molly Lerma

Author:J.N. Chaney & Molly Lerma [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2022-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

11

ABANDONED REBELLION

We had an hour to go in our current slip tunnel when Mack hailed me over the ship’s intercom. “Captain, I just came across some information you’re going to want to see. We’re on the bridge if you have the time.”

“Always do,” I replied, rolling out of my bunk.

Getting some rest had been the plan, but Mack didn’t call meetings for no reason, so sleep could wait. Just outside the door to the bridge, I ran into Rourke.

“Cortez,” he greeted. “After you.”

I nodded my thanks and stepped onto the bridge to see Farah and Mack studying the holo display, their back to us. My sixth sense went off when I took in their rigid stances, and I strode up to the display to see what they were so intent on.

“Alright, someone fill me in,” I said, moving closer. “Did we hear back from the Initiative?”

“No,” said Farah, sounding sour over the fact.

They scooted out of the way to make room for me and Rourke, giving us a view of what they’d been looking at.

“Observe,” said Mack, waving a hand at the holo. “I was scanning the sub-net, as I often do, for any items of interest, when I came across this.”

“This” turned out to be wanted bulletins. The same kind Gertie had shown me and that Farah and I had already been the main feature of before the Celestial War broke out.

“I see we’re at least worth more this time around,” I joked.

She didn’t smile. “Yeah, that’s great. Five million credits. We’ve got enough charges to make a repeat felon blush too. Arms dealing, drug smuggling, treason, terrorism—”

“More like counter terrorism,” Farah muttered.

I didn’t bother to hide my snort of laughter. “Right. This isn’t really all that surprising though, unless I’m missing something.”

“It’s not so much our fugitive status but how we got it. There was a retaliation against one of the Empire’s patrols. It had Alliance crew members on board, which kicks things up a notch.”

That wiped the smile off my face. “And that’s our fault how? We didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“No,” Mack agreed. “But a few mercs claimed to support the Initiative. Kaska tied it all up in one present with a shiny bow with our names on the tag. We look like the instigators. Ergo, we’re worth a lot of money. More alive, but they’ll pay a cool two million credits for our corpses.”

“Don’t forget how hard this is going to make travel,” Rourke pointed out.

I swore loudly, pissed that we were once again getting framed for something we had nothing to do with. “That’s not good. We’re going to be dodging assassins, bounty hunters, and the government all over again.”

Farah’s groan of frustration was palpable. “This sucks in every sense. Once we’re done at Cerberus, we’re going to need a plan on how to deal with all this.”

Mack raised a hand. “I’ll get started on documents, but our faces will be an issue. Alyss is in the lead, but the two of you are too well known.

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.