Night Song (The Guild Wars Book 9) by Mark Wandrey (best ereader under 100 .txt) 📕

let it bother her. The bay had pressurized, and the loading ramp opened. Time to go aboard.

* * *

“How in the hell do you do this without killing yourself?” Rex growled as he clumsily tried to pull his bulky CASPer out of the Phoenix.

“Practice,” his dad said.

“It’s impossible,” Rex complained.

“Tell that to the marines,” Sergeant Bana told him. “They fight in CASPers in zero G. It’s spectacular to behold.”

“Sounds like suicide to me,” Drake agreed.

“Tell you what,” his dad said, “once we’re in hyperspace, let’s do some zero G CASPer drills.”

“Sounds like fun!” Ripley said.

“Yeah!” Sonya agreed.

Great. My damned sisters. Rex tried to forget their enthusiasm as he struggled with his CASPer’s ungainly arm length. He grabbed for a handhold on the outside of the Phoenix and missed completely. He tumbled out, a one-ton doll spinning out of control.

A cargo-handling robotic arm grabbed him, arresting his spin. Rex took hold of the arm and reoriented himself to the personnel door. Through a window, the Zuul operator of the arm waved at him. Rex growled inwardly, but waved back.

“Come on, Private,” Corporal Plesh called on Rex’s personal channel. “Enough screwing around.”

Rex pushed off the cargo arm and reached the personnel door on his second attempt. The rest of the squad was waiting there.

“You okay?” Drake asked on the private channel.

“Yeah, no worries,” Rex said despite his inward fuming.

The entire ship was in zero gravity, which was annoying. His dad led the squad through two companionways into the area of the ship they’d been given. He was surprised to find quite a bit of room, though First Squad was already there, securing their CASPers.

Despite the Zuul not using powered armor, the bay they’d been given was generous enough to allow the company armorers and mechanics to set up their management equipment. Since Humans often traveled on alien ships, the CASPer designers at Binnig had come up with modular systems designed to help transport the suits. Nobody wanted a ton of ceramic armor and steel crashing around inside their ship.

The traveling racks were magnetic, designed to be fitted to the metallic walls ubiquitous in a starship. Attach it to a bulkhead, then lock the CASPer into it. Simple. Rex had heard from his dad that sometimes alien ships provided few areas to do this. The Zuul ship possessed wide, unadorned walls that were perfect for securing CASPers. The mechanics were nodding to each other and chatting, a sure sign they were pleased.

“Any problems, Colonel?” Captain Tucker asked as his dad popped his canopy open.

“Nope, we’re squared away. Flop is taking care of the Phoenix. Looks like the mechanics are adapting.”

“Piece of piss,” Smithers said. He was supervising the other armorers and mechanics securing the last of First Squad’s CASPers. “We already have your squad’s racks set.”

“Fair dinkum!” Alan said, then turned to Rex and the others. “Get your suits locked away,” he ordered.

Rex was worried he wouldn’t be able to get his into one of the racks. However, a pair of mechanics were waiting and quickly helped maneuver him backward into the rack, locking the suit in place. By the time he opened his cockpit and floated out, Rex was a little less excited about the suit than he’d been back at the beginning. Gravity was a huge help.

A rap on the compartment hatch made Rex look. A Zuul he hadn’t met yet floated there, along with Teef. Their dad turned, and his body language instantly changed when he saw the new arrival.

“Am I coming at a bad time?” the new Zuul asked. Rex realized he could judge it as male from his scent. His high tail and forward-pricked ears spoke of authority and confidence.

“Not at all,” Dad said.

“You are Colonel Porter?”

“I am, and this is Captain Tucker, my XO.”

“Please to meet you. I am A’kef, Rei’shin of clan Insho’Ze.” He smiled. “I would be like you, a colonel.”

“Pleased to meet you, Rei’shin,” he said. Rex admired him for trying; the Zuul words were harder for Humans with their short mouths. He was also regretting not having learned his native language. He and his siblings needed to consider fixing that problem.

“I wanted to be sure you were settling in. We are scheduled to break orbit in three hours and set course for your system’s stargate.” He looked at the busily working mechanics. “Is that acceptable? We could alter the departure time, but it would require a higher G transit.”

“No problem at all,” Alan replied. “We’ll be ready ahead of your schedule.”

“Excellent,” A’kef said, inclining his head. He scanned the bay, gaze snagging on Rex and his brothers and sisters. He examined each of them, taking a full handful of seconds each. Then he took in the five CASPers that were obviously meant for Zuul. “I am honored you brought your…children.”

“Yes, we are glad you decided to come on the mission, too,” Teef quickly added, as if he was worried A’kef might have offended Alan.

A’kef held out a standard data chip, which Alan took. “This contains a briefing on shipboard operations. I’m sure we do a few things differently than you do on Human ships. It will help you familiarize your personnel with our operations to avoid confusion or incidents.”

“We wouldn’t want to be using the toilet when you’re accelerating,” Tucker said with a grin.

“Yes, that would be bad,” A’kef agreed. “Colonel Porter, you and your XO are welcome on Paku’s bridge at your convenience.”

“Thank you, I’ll be there well ahead of maneuvers.”

A’kef and Teef tilted their heads, flicked their tails, spun around, and were gone.

“So prim and proper,” Sonya said to her siblings quietly.

“Without a doubt,” Shadow agreed. “Did you smell A’kef?”

“Yeah,” Ripley said. “Wow.”

“He smelled like electricity,” Drake offered.

Rex nodded in agreement. A’kef was an alpha, no