Rivers of Orion by Dana Kelly (a court of thorns and roses ebook free .TXT) 📕

“It was my privilege to do so,” said Eleski.

“Torsha, you’re becoming a regular soldier,” said Iona. “Careful you don’t develop a taste for it. You’ve got your dad's blood running through your veins too, you know.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom,” said Torsha. “It’s not like I enjoyed it! It was kill or be killed.”

Iona sighed. “Well, if there was no other way, then there was no other way.”

“There wasn’t,” said Torsha.

“Do I need to worry about you joining the space marines?” asked Iona.

“I’m about to hang up on you,” said Torsha. “Seriously, it was kill or be killed. I’m not kidding.”

“Hey guys, Orin needs our help,” said Eridani. “There’s a very bad man named Schurke who’s determined to capture him. Those were his mercenaries in the shuttle. The way I see it, since he hired Bloodtusk to help, for as long as Admiral Schurke believes Bloodtusk is still in charge of Imperium, we’ve got a chance at finding out what he’s planning. Eleski and Katsinki have already agreed to help us do that.”

“Admiral Schurke,” said Aurora. “You don’t mean Admiral Anton Schurke, do you?”

Eleski leaned into view. “Yes, that is his full name.”

“He’s a war hero! People look up to him.” Aurora squared her jaw. “Orin looks up to him!”

“I don’t know,” said Martin. “He toured the morning talk shows a couple years back, and the man looked haunted.”

“After what he witnessed—and survived—can you blame him?” asked Aurora.

“Refresh my memory,” said Oliver.

“He was there at the Straits of Actron during the Pegasi War,” said Aurora. “Rogue binaries crippled three of his warships, killing close to a thousand people under his command. That’s how MABAS justified commissioning BICOM.”

“Along with legitimizing every bounty hunter that has a spaceship and an IPF contract,” said Martin.

“Haunted or otherwise, he better keep his paws off our boy,” said Oliver.

“If Admiral Schurke is involved, I doubt he’s planning to hurt our son,” said Aurora.

“You’re not hearing me!” said Eridani. “Admiral Schurke is involved, and because of him, Thuraya is dead! I won’t let him kidnap my brother! Martin, I could really use your help right now.”

“Of course,” said Martin. “You two have been through more than enough already. Why don’t you take the shuttle and come home? I’ll send up a pilot and some of my marines to crew Imperium. They’ll work with your denshi-tengu friends to put a stop to Admiral Schurke.”

Eridani glanced at Torsha, who shot her a defiant glare. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”

“Then I can’t help you,” said Martin.

“Yes, you can,” said Eridani.

“I won’t help you,” said Martin. “Is that better?”

“At least it’s more honest,” said Eridani. “Sorry guys, but we’ve got to get going. Mom, Dad, I love you very much. We’ll be in touch.”

“Bye, Mom,” said Torsha.

“I love you, sweet girl,” said Iona.

“Eridani, wait,” said Martin. “Stop for a second, and think this through—really give it some thought, okay?”

“I have,” said Eridani. “If I have to, I’ll just terrify the current crew into submission. If it worked for Bloodtusk—and we killed him—I’m sure it’ll work for us too.”

“I do not mean to undermine your assertion,” said Katsinki. “However, while Husthar terrified us, he also paid us. A surprisingly high percentage of the working population will tolerate a significant amount of abuse if they are paid at regular intervals. Without steady wages, another mutiny would be… imminent.”

“I’m working on that,” said Eridani.

“One moment,” said Aurora, and she suspended the video feed.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” asked Torsha.

“Nothing. They’re probably tracing our call, getting our exact position so they can meddle, even though we told them not to,” said Eridani.

Torsha rolled her eyes. “I bet you’re right.”

The video feed returned. “Tell me what you need,” said Martin.

“Really?” asked Eridani.

“Really,” said Martin. “Your mother can be very convincing when she wants to be.”

“In that case, I need three things,” said Eridani. “First, I need you to convince King Romero to declare war on Blacktusk’s Buccaneers so I can appropriate this starship and all of Bloodtusk’s holdings.”

“He already did, and he didn’t need any convincing,” said Martin. “It happened the day of the attack, but that won’t help you appropriate anything unless you’re a Falcon citizen.”

“I figured as much,” said Eridani. “Which leads me to the second thing—please make me a Falcon citizen.”

“Wait. Really?”

“Really,” said Eridani.

“I’ll expedite it,” said Martin. “What’s the third thing?”

“I need to borrow a lot of money until all that goes through.”

“Enough to run and crew Imperium, I presume,” said Martin.

“That’s right,” said Eridani. Eleski sent her a detailed report of the starship’s fiscal overhead. Eridani conveyed it to Martin, and they discussed the details.

“I’ll transfer you enough for three months,” said Martin. “That should be plenty of time for all the red tape to clear.”

“Thanks for trusting us to do this,” said Eridani.

“We’re here if you need us,” said Aurora. They exchanged warm goodbyes and ended the call.

“That went better than I thought it would,” said Eridani.

“For you, maybe,” said Torsha. “What does your mom have on Marty, anyway? This isn’t the first time she’s made him do a one-eighty like that.”

Eridani chuckled. “I have no idea.”

The lift clanked, immediately drawing their attention.

A moment later, the doors opened to reveal a woman of above-average height and a solid build, with wavy black hair and a blue jumpsuit. Slowly, she lowered her coffee mug. Her dark brown eyes danced around the bridge. Without hesitation, she pressed the “Close Door” button, but Torsha lunged forward to keep the doors open.

“What are you doing here?” asked Torsha.

“I work here.”

“Doing what?” demanded Torsha. “And who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Gretchen,” she answered. “Gretchen Myeong, and I’m the senior pilot. I fly this starship, and I fly the Starwind.” Agitated, she stepped past Torsha onto the bridge. As the lift doors closed, Gretchen looked at Eleski. “What’s going on?”

“Much has transpired in a short amount of time,” said Eleski. “Suffice to say Ostonk and Husthar are no longer aboard Imperium, and ownership has been conferred to