Starship Defender: Beyond Human Space by Keats Michael

Author:Keats, Michael [Keats, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Published: 2016-05-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

I set the marines to sweep the ship, check for enemies, and gather anyone who didn’t want to take part in the mission. Everyone thought that they were forced to follow my orders because Fleet Command had commanded them to do so, but I didn’t want any pressed hands to demoralize the men, especially if we ended up facing a technologically advanced fleet. If someone wanted to leave, they were free to board a shuttle and abandon us.

Luckily, only a couple of men disliked the idea of following me. They were ordinary seamen with a couple of years of experience, so we weren’t going to miss them too much.

Hooke offered to update the patrol schedules now that some of our men had fallen.

As soon as she’d left, Harry pressed his ear with one finger. He’d returned to his usual holographic image and hadn’t mentioned my aunt again.

“These marines are too loud,” he complained. “They shouldn’t shout so much. Conference calls don’t lose volume anymore. What century do they think we’re in?”

“At least they’re on our side now,” I said. “Might need their guns.”

“But can we keep them locked up until we need them?” Harry said. “Can’t disconnect them like me, but we can lock them up so that they’re quiet. Or we can place duct tape over their mouths.”

“Shut up, Aunt Eleanor,” I said as I headed to the great cabin.

“Oi!” he said. “Don’t even think of calling me auntie again, or you’ll have to pull yourself out of your next conflict with the marines.”

I didn’t tease him again and he didn’t ask me to introduce him to my aunt. The prior events had never happened.

We reached the great cabin and checked the star charts. We flew somewhat faster than the enemy ship, so we’d catch them soon. Was it a trap?

While I checked the star charts, Harry dropped onto the admiral’s armchair and took out a doodling program to draw funny mustaches on the crew’s pictures. He acted quite mature for his age. This was his first test flight, after all.

“Should we test the weapons before the fight?” I asked, trying to draw him away from his doodling.

Harry wasn’t paying attention and didn’t care about what I’d said. “I’m considering starting a business. Impersonators 4 All. Sounds catchy, doesn’t it?”

“Can we act as though we haven’t broken all identity theft laws and impersonated one of the highest authorities in the Navy?”

“Why?” Harry turned off the screen and looked up. “We should be proud of ourselves. Does We Impersonate sound any better?”

“I’m serious, Harry. We can’t walk around the ship saying that we’ve supplanted my aunt and lied to the marines.”

Harry shrugged lazily. “Think I can open a bank account for the company?”

“I honestly don’t care.”

Even if he opened a bank account and succeeded in his dodgy business practices, the bank would eventually hold his money ransom as soon as the justice system declared him an outlaw. Ignoring Fleet Command wasn’t just going to change our legal statuses, but our futures too.

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