The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #6, Insurrection by Andrew Beery

Author:Andrew Beery [Beery, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Published: 2015-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10: Orders

Cat sat in the forward observation lounge of the fully repaired GCP Yorktown. The ship was in orbit around a large gas giant in the Zeta-2 Reticuli star system. Zeta-2 was actually the second of two Sol-like stars in the binary system. The binary system was surrounded by a debris disk composed of dirty water ice and frozen hydrocarbons. The disk was the reason Cat was in the observation lounge.

For a few hours while on the dark side of the gas giant there was an unobstructed view of the highly reflective debris ring. It looked very much like a scimitar arching across the heavens. Cat couldn’t help but think that the sight, while spectacularly beautiful, was a harbinger of dreadful things to come. No sooner had that thought occurred, her comm-link bleeped for her attention.

“What’s up Cal?”

Her Heshe AI responded with a brief summary of an emergency transmission received by the bridge. It seemed several sectors within two jump points of their current position were engaged in civil uprisings. A representative from the Grand Senate was requesting a holo-link video conference to discuss the situation.

“Inform the representative that I am heading to my office where we can have a secure conversation… give me five minutes.”

She met Captain Kirkland and Commander Ben on the way to her quarters.

“Ken, I assume the bridge has briefed you on the conference request with the Grand Senate?”

“Actually Ben had the big chair when the call came in,” her friend acknowledged.

Ben, for his part, looked concerned. “There was something off about the way they requested the meeting. Almost as if the person on the other end was being extremely careful to not signal via their hand about something that is going on. I’ve gotten pretty good at reading pink-skins, especially now that I am one. Something was off.”

“Understood,” Cat said. “For the moment I want Ken with me. Ben you take the bridge and bring the ship to yellow alert. I want full sensor sweeps of the surrounding area including the jump points.”

The look of disappointment was fleeting but definitely present. Cat realized the Yorktown’s First Officer was hoping to hear what the mystery from the Grand Senate was all about. Cat smiled and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t worry my friend, Ken and I will brief you fully. For the moment though I need a senior officer on the Bridge in case the caca hits the fan.”

***

Cat paused to pour a cup of coffee for both Ken and herself. She used the time to consider what the Grand Senate might want. In the several weeks the Yorktown taskforce had been back in this timeline the Senate had barely reached out to her. Perhaps they were waiting to see how the power struggle between herself and Junior Fleet Admiral Imera played out. Perhaps the waiting was over and they were planning on weighing in on one side or another.

Ken accepted his cup and with a pensive look that paralleled Cat’s own he nodded towards her terminal.

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.