Raiders: The Secret War by Simon Haynes

Author:Simon Haynes [Haynes, Simon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Unknown
Publisher: Bowman Press
Published: 2019-05-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Sam was sitting in the Commander's office, right across the desk from Tosell. Nothing had been said for several minutes, and the Commander was still engrossed in her terminal. She hadn't spared Sam a glance, and the more time went by, the more Sam felt her stomach clenching.

Then, finally, Tosell cleared her screen and sat back, steepling her fingers. "What am I going to do with you?" she asked.

Sam said nothing, assuming it was a rhetorical question. Even if it wasn't, she didn't think the Commander would appreciate her advice.

"First you refuse a direct order," continued the Commander. "Then you drag an injured colleague from the sick bay, and take him and one of my valuable robots off on some hare-brained hunt for the enemy agent. Next you were told to stay off the seventeenth deck, but you ignored that order as well. Finally, you ended up brawling with a Mayestran agent while a live explosive was ticking away nearby. Does that cover it?"

Sam decided not to mention the use of her brother's uniform, or his ID.

"There will be consequences for your actions," said the Commander quietly. "I don't have time to deal with you now, but you're relieved of duty until further notice."

Sam nodded. She knew there was no point protesting, and a suspension was better than she expected.

The Commander sighed. "Your brother was a brilliant pilot, but he was also a difficult man to deal with. Stubborn, strong-willed, opinionated… but also kind and willing to put himself out for others. I can see you're cast from the same mold, and one day, when you're brilliant in your chosen field, you'll be able to get away with it like he did. For now, I need you to keep your head down and obey orders."

"Yes sir." Sam hesitated. "Have you learned anything from Jones?"

"He's refusing to talk, but we'll get there." There was a buzz, and the Commander frowned at her commset. "I said no interruptions."

"Sir, the Mayestrans are moving again. Not the whole fleet, just a single battle group."

Tosell tapped her screen, her brow furrowing as she saw whatever was on the display. Very casually, Sam leaned sideways until she could see the screen too. There was a group of ships heading towards the camera, comprising a powerful force of cruisers and destroyers accompanied by dozens of sleek fighters. And in the middle of the battle group, a curious vessel the likes of which she'd never seen before. It had a large, bulbous nose, but no visible weapons.

"What the hell is that?" demanded Tosell.

"We think it's a jammer. Something to disrupt our TacOps. That would turn the battle in their favour, and—"

"I know what it would do," said the Commander shortly. "Assign two fighter wings to take it out. Whatever it is, I don't want it closing with the Coriolis."

"Just two, sir?"

"We can't spare any more pilots."

"Yes sir," said the voice, and there was a click as they disconnected.

Sam saw the concern on the Commander's face, and she took a chance.

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.