Wing Commander #07 False Color by William Forstchen (best books to read in life .txt) 📕

Travis flashed a painful grin. "Most guys at least give me dinner and a holo-vid before they try something like that," she said.

Bondarevsky pulled his good hand away from her bare breast, flushing. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Don't worry about it," she told him. "All in a good cause. Just remember about the dinner if we get back to Landreich, okay?"

"It's a date," he said, adjusting the healstrip one last time. "Can you handle the armor again?"

She nodded. "Yeah. But I won't be doing any dancing for a while." He helped her back into the chest and back pieces of her space armor, uncomfortably aware of her bare skin now. When it was sealed up, he gathered up her helmet and pointed to the top of the ramp.

"The firing's stopped. Let's see what's going on."

She gave a nod, and allowed him to help her up the incline.

Combat Information Center, FRLS Mjollnir Deep Space, Vordran System 0315 hours (CST)

Vectors matched and flying in close formation, Mjollnir and the captured picket boat shaped their course for Jump Point Three, the route that led straight to the Imperial provincial capitol at Baka Kar. Tolwyn should have been in his quarters, at least pretending to sleep now that they had passed the first obstacle, but he was too wrapped up in considerations of what the new day would bring to even consider retiring to his bunk.

The captured escort had been relatively easy to pacify once the bridge had been secured. The crew of one hundred thirty-two had been ferried across in stages, and were now secured in a locked cargo hold aft of the port hangar deck. Casualties had been fairly light, with two marines killed, three wounded, plus one of Bondarevsky's officers. And, most importantly, they had captured the computer files intact, and extracted the communications codes and protocols they needed without difficulty. Dahl had put together a soothing message from the picket boat to the Cats at Baka Kar, declaring that the carrier they had encountered was friendly and headed in to the capitol to refit after their long ordeal in space. Encoded with the picket ship's burst signal encryption tag, the transmission would read as a completely genuine message from Vharr.

Tolwyn checked a status display. The last shuttle load of crew and passengers for the escort was on the way over. He had decided to put a prize crew aboard, a mix of trustworthy Cats from Murragh's party and human crewmen. They would keep the picket boat on station for the time being, with orders to run if anything came after them looking for trouble. It gave him a way of keeping watch over his rear as he went through to Baka Kar... and a place to offload his few remaining noncombatants. Armando Diaz was probably glad to be off the carrier as it spaced into battle. He and his two top computer experts, Voorhies and Mayhew, had done wonders extracting the authentication codes and transponder signals from the old computer records, and their work on the simulacrum of Admiral dai Nokhtak had been about as good as anyone could have produced on either side of the frontier. But there wasn't much more they could do at this stage of the game, so they were aboard the escort, clear of Mjollnir's upcoming fight. But many of the crew detailed to the picket ship had been reluctant to go. Even though they knew the odds against them, their morale was high. Even the casualties from the firelight had refused the chance to go.

Murragh and the other Kilrathi were just as adamant, too. Tolwyn was beginning to get a renewed faith in the loyalty and support of a good crew. The Belisarius Group had shaken that faith once, but Mjollnir's officers and spacers proved that not everyone was tainted with that kind of corruption.

"Sir, multiple disturbances in Jump Point Nine," Kittani reported. After a moment, the Exec went on. "First trace is the Xenophon. It's the battle group."

He nodded. "Right on schedule. Pass on an update of our situation to Admiral Richards, with my compliments, Lieutenant Vivaldi."

"Aye aye, sir," the Communications Officer responded. "What's our status, Exec?" he asked.

"Four hours to Jump Point Two," Kittani responded. "All systems are nominal. Mr. Deniken reports that he's come up with a solution to that gunnery problem you posed him yesterday, and he should have it in operation by the time we reach Baka Kar. And the Wing Commander passed the word that he's got two Zartoths and a Kofar ready to launch. He recommends you delay dropping them until we're ready for the jump."

"Very good." He stood slowly, stretching weary limbs. Suddenly he felt that he might, after all, be able to sleep for a little while. Everything was running smoothly . . . and if he didn't rest now, while he could, he'd certainly have no opportunities later. Once they hit Baka Kar, rest would be impossible for any of them. "Call me when we are ready to make the jump. You have the bridge, Mr. Kittani."

The Turk nodded solemnly. "I have the bridge, sir," he said formally, taking the command chair.

Geoff Tolwyn left CIC, striding with his back ramrod-straight. They might be about to engage in their last battle, but he was damned if he was going to show the least sign of strain or worry.

Right now, he had everything he could want—a good ship, a good crew, and the prospect of striking a blow for freedom.

For Geoff Tolwyn, that was enough and all else, all the other things were at last, for this moment, forgotten. Things were again as they once were.

CHAPTER 19

"Consider the story of Karga the Hero, which tells of the rewards of honor and duty. Consider the story of Vorghath the Hunter, and reflect on the perils of complacence."

from the Seventh Codex04:17:09

Flag Bridge, KIS Dubav Deep Space, Gorkhos System 0410 hours (CST), 2671.042

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