"Distasteful, but necessary," Webb sighed. He and Welford spoke over one of Earth's new hyperlink com systems that allowed a full holographic representation to be transmitted in real-time. It was like he and the director sat in the same room together. As far as he knew, it was a technological breakthrough only Earth had achieved.
"And now, your prodigy has decided to go all in, you say? He's going to take on Margaret Jansen and win the war all by himself?" Welford asked.
"Him, his crew of degenerates, and two battlesynths," Webb said. "The situation is less than ideal, to say the least."
"You're not pursuing him to try and stop it?"
"My command is depleted. Commander Toma has informed me that 3rd Scout Corps has nothing available to try and track him down with. The rest of NAVSOC is in a similar state. If I ask the NIS to do it, I'll have to formally declare Obsidian a rogue element."
"I see your problem," Welford said. "Solutions?"
"I've reached out to the Viper to try and appeal to her humanity. She told me where I could roll that up and shove it," Webb said while Welford laughed. "She and Abiyah are also still actively tracking the rebel fleet Edgars was with. She didn't admit it, but I think she might have actually been hired by Seeladas to kill Admiral Colleran."
"The Viper doesn't really do wet work unless it's personal," Welford disagreed. "As far as I know, she and Colleran got along fine the few times they've met. So, she's out. You already know what I’m going to suggest, right?"
"I've been putting it off. If I call them in on this, I might not have to wait around for Jansen to try and have me killed."
"Risks of the job." Wellford shrugged. "I'll let you know what we find out from Bennet on a back channel, and then hand him back over to you for processing."
"Thanks," Webb said. "And Michael? Only go as hard as is absolutely necessary. He's an idiot and technically a traitor, but I don't like the idea of anyone's frustration being taken out on him."
"We're very good at this," Wellford said. "Don't worry." The channel closed, and Webb could tell he'd offended his friend at the insinuation the NIS teams would torture Bennet for the fun of it. He was hurt and angry beyond belief that Bennet had betrayed them all, but he didn't have it in him to hate the kid even after all the damage he'd caused.
Pushing away thoughts of Bennet and NIS interrogations, Webb steeled himself for what he had to do next. The slip-com address he'd just entered was to a secret relay installation that would automatically connect his channel via another slip-com channel to his intended recipient. It was a common method used by smugglers that made tracing the connections nearly impossible. He held out hope the person he was trying to get a hold of would just ignore the call, and he could instead send a tactfully worded message.
"Webb?" a sleepy voice asked. "What's up, douchebag?"
"Oh, you're up," Webb said, his voice flat. "Great."
"Don't sound too excited to talk to me," Jason Burke said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "It's not like you called and woke me up or anything. Is this important?"
"This could take a few minutes to explain, Jason," Webb said. "Do you have a few minutes, and are you sober?"
"Yes, and mostly."
"You remember how you asked me to keep an eye on Jacob for you? Well, funny story…"
Also by Joshua Dalzelle
Thank you for reading Boneshaker.
If you enjoyed the story, Lieutenant Brown and the guys will be back in:
Vapor Trails
Terran Scout Fleet, Book 3.
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