“Amye, what the hell!”
She ignores Doug as she types commands into the device.
Scott scoops up the unconscious girl as JC pulls Doug to his feet.
Amye hands the computer to Reynard. “That area has the weakest inhibitor distortion. Blow one of the field generators there and to open a hole.” She flips the princess back onto her shoulder.
Reynard marches down the corridor device in hand and rifle ready. Amye follows close on his heels. She keeps the princess between them so Reynard assumes the role of plasma stopper over the valued royal.
Explosions send them tumbling back. A deafening ring destroys Reynard’s equilibrium as smoke and debris cloud his vision. He crawls off, reaching his hand for the rifle. As his outstretched fingers touch the weapon, a sable boot pins the weapon to the floor.
He glances at Harbuu who speaks at a frequency he’s no longer able to process. She flips open a hand fan in each palm pointing the razor-edged blades at the commander. The sharp sting of knives burns across his chest as he lunges at the vixen. She uses Reynard’s own mass and momentum against him, sending him back to the floor in a disconcerting thud.
Before he recovers Amye points her blaster at the Calthos female only to find a fan blade lodged into the barrel. She discards the weapon along with the fan. Amye draws into a defensive stance Joe taught her. She gets in a solid punch to Harbuu’s chest, leaving the indentions of the chain-mail bra on her fingers. Amye blocks a retaliatory blow, but before she lands a second hit Scott slides between them. He takes the brunt of Harbuu’s blow meant to kill.
This allows Amye to kick the hand drilling fan blades into Scott’s lower right abdomen. What could only be a galvanized poker shreds his insides. A thousand hot needles cut into him; blood and chunks of meat spray from the hole covering Amye. She forces herself to swing again. Frantic to stop the warrior, she knows the punch has no control. As pain washes over her, she has lost all of Joe’s training. Instinct takes over, but Harbuu easily blocks the blow and counteracts it by thumping Amye’s head, sending her to the floor.
CAPTAIN KANTIAN PATROLS the mezzanine extending above the command and control stations of the Deliverance bridge. He glances down at each of his bridge crew and corrects them in their task if necessary. Brief flashes of light pop before the clear durasteel windows lining the control stations.
He plants both hands on the mezzanine rail and props himself toward the center view screen, wrenching his fingers around the handrail and twisting out of anger. He won’t be a lapdog. He graduated from the UCP Academy when there was a push to not have every fleet officer be Osirian. He proved himself again and again as a leader to earn captain of the UCP flagship. Vice-Presidential Admiral Wendy Easter placed him in the forefront of command because she felt he would be subservient to her whims.
She’s fraternizing with his own ambitions. He has prided himself in being ambitious without flaunting it. Kantian had to be the best in his command group during his academy years. This allowed him to select his choice of appointments after graduation, and he refused the top appointment in UCP Command.
It was a stagnant nomination. Yes, one works under the admiralty, but how do you advance? If an admiral retires, a popular commissioned officer takes his place, not the assistant officer who has spent a year training for the job.
No, better to take a field appointment where he could shine. Promotion from junior officer to command staff allowed him to rise to a bridge command. He even accepted one demotion in order to earn a first officer posting, and then, through careful calculating, transferred to other first officer positions, not captain. Once a captain he would become stuck. Promoting a captain alters the dynamics of a ship and not in the same way bridge officers do. The shuffling of bridge officers changes the ship nowhere near as much as when a new captain takes over. His ship, his rules, but as a first officer he only carries out those rules. When a first officer carries out those orders without conflict, masterful progress reports are received by the admiralty who consider if you are someone willing to play ball without question.
Kantian strategically put himself in consideration for this position. He bounced around the fleet, but not too often to be labeled a problem officer. Every one of his glowing recommendations was legitimate. Two captains requested a hold be put on his transfer because he did his job beyond expectations. Kantian made friends among the crew as well and learned who wanted war and who was happy with the peace Admiral Maxtin preached. Too many want the Mokarran to pay for what they’ve done to the planet systems of the known galaxy, and now that he commands the Deliverance he will commence steps toward collecting.
Admiral Easter’s simple plan—sit on the border of the Neri system. Literally park the ship on the closest point to Summersun without crossing into the Summersun system. The stabilizing thrusters keep the ship at the exact reference point, and the UCP Tri-Wing fighters run combat maneuvers inside the Neri space. With a short hyperspace jump he’ll be in orbit around Summersun in less time than it will take to retrieve the fighters on maneuvers.
Easter demands his patience. Wait. The situation on Summersun needs to be desperate for its citizens, before he must act.
The VP Admiral’s orders are illegal, but since she never actually issued them through any official channels, he has no proof they were ever dispensed. This leaves
