by Terry Mixon
Regardless of what Carl had said, she expected Angela to be upset about that. It shocked her deeply when the big woman laughed and shook her head.
“Highness, I’m a Marine Raider and was a marine before that. I can’t even count the number of people who’ve seen me naked. Also, I have no doubt that my husband was the perfect gentleman. So long as nothing improper happened—and I’m absolutely certain that nothing did—then you’ve got no reason to be worried about me.
“I’ll be happy to tell you all about Carl and give you my best advice. Honestly, it took me a long time to understand the kind of person that he really is. If your version of Carl is anything like mine, you’re going to need that information to plan your campaign, because this is not going to be something that happens overnight.
“Now, if that’s all, we really should be getting back to the bridge. We’re coming up on the area around the far flip point, and there’s still a couple of distant patrol ships that we want to make sure don’t cross our path before we leave the system.”
Somewhat shocked at how easily the conversation had gone, Julia followed Angela back to the bridge and wasn’t surprised to find Kelsey and Talbot already there.
Angela sat in the command seat just as one of the people around her looked up from his console. “One of the destroyers patrolling the outer system just changed course and is headed toward the area around the far flip point. It’s going to pass within a fair distance of us.”
“Can we change course enough to avoid them entirely?” Angela asked.
The man shook his head. “No, ma’am. We don’t have enough time at this low rate of speed.”
“Then let’s hope that they don’t see us. If they do, we might manage to blow the hell out of them, but that’s going to clue the enemy in on the fact that we’re out here. If they ever suspect anything like the far flip points or multi-flip points exist, I can’t begin to tell you how screwed humanity is. That’s our secret weapon, and we’ve got to keep news of them to ourselves.”
At that moment, Mertz entered the bridge. From his expression, he’d overheard enough to realize the situation they were in. He stepped over to the command chair and put his hand on the seat back.
“It looks like the moment of truth is upon us,” he said.
Kelsey clapped Mertz on the shoulder. “It’s time to roll the dice. No snake eyes.”
Julia shook her head. Where the hell did her doppelgänger keep coming up with all these strange sayings? She’d never understand her.
Jared stood behind Angela, and between Kelsey and Julia as the Marine Raider strike ship slowly crept toward the far flip point. It was marked on the screen with a small blue dot.
The red dot approaching Persephone represented the Rebel Empire destroyer. Its course wasn’t directly toward the flip point, and it was going to come closer to Persephone than the flip point itself, which made it a real hazard.
“Can we reduce our detection threshold?” Mertz asked. “What if we stop thrusting entirely and just drift?”
Angela considered that for a moment and then shook her head. “I would suggest, however, that we don’t stop moving entirely. Maybe we can just give ourselves a little angular momentum and take ourselves as far away from the destroyer’s course as we can.
“At the very least, that will keep us a bit further away from the detection threshold and reduce the time that we’re in danger.”
Without waiting to see if he agreed, Angela ordered the helmsman to make the course change, and the strike ship turned away from the flip point. Jared watched as the enemy destroyer kept coming closer and closer, waiting for the moment it turned toward them.
And thankfully, that moment never came.
They waited until the destroyer was out of detection range before they resumed their course toward the flip point. A little bit more than an hour later, they were safely there, and at a stop.
“I assume you’ve already sent a probe to the other side,” he said. “What did you find?”
“It’s not an occupied system,” Angela said, turning to face him slightly. “It’s not on any of the old trade routes, so the odds of any vessels detecting us there are low, particularly since we’ll be appearing far outside the normal area where any ship would be.
“With any luck, we can wait there for the fleet to join us. It might take them a while to get to our location, but I think it’s better if we wait for them than try to meet up somewhere else. We’re isolated and need to play defense.”
He couldn’t argue with that. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Flip the ship, Major.”
Angela gave the order, and moments later, the transition was complete. He waited for the passive scanners to report and relaxed when they said nothing was near them.
“I’m pulling data from the drone we left here,” Angela said. “If anyone’s been through, it’ll have records. And we’re good. No ships have transited this system since I put the probe here four days ago. If the system is used as a gateway from one place to another, it’s not used very often.”
Jared stretched his neck, feeling good for the first time in what felt like months. “Once we get the fleet to our location, our next step has to be Twilight River. We can’t go in through the front door, but with our ability to use multi-flip points and far flip points, there’s a decent chance that we can get in through the back door.
“It’s going to be challenging to find the other end of an undetected flip point that leads to where we want to go, but we’re going to have to spend the time doing just that. We can’t count on using a hammer to break our way in.”
“What if we can’t find a way in?” Julia asked.
“Then we do it the hard way,” he admitted. “We’d put the fleet through the flip point that we know leads to Twilight River and force our way through. I’m certain that it’s heavily guarded, and if I were the AI, I’d do everything in my power to make sure that that system is invulnerable.”
“Say we manage to sneak through a back door,” Kelsey said. “You know the station is going to be surrounded by every ship they can stuff in there, just like Terra was. It’s going to be impossible to get on board the station without being seen.”
He smiled. “Getting on board the station is a Marine Raider job, so I’ll leave that to you.”
His sister grimaced. “At the moment, we’ve got three Marine Raiders and a few others that are partially ready. Oh, and one in the medical center. That’s not exactly a Marine Raider strike force of old.”
“We’re not going to get to Twilight River today. We’re not even going to get there next week. By the time we finally have a way in, months will have passed.
“Once we get everybody in the fleet together, I believe you can use Caduceus to get more of your people transitioned. Hell, there’s a ton of marines in the fleet that would kill for an opportunity like this. Pick the very best among them, and you’ll have your strike force.
“By the time we’re ready, Persephone is going to be stuffed to the gills with Marine Raiders. We’ll get your crew transitioned as quickly as we can as well, but the main thing is getting our fighting force prepared for the assault.
“We’ve got to get our people on board that station. All we’ve got are two Marine Raider pinnaces. If we stack people in armor aboard those, that means we can get almost a hundred and fifty people in regular marine armor. With the smaller Marine Raider version, maybe as many as a hundred and eighty. They’re all we’re going to have to make this work.”
He looked around the bridge and at his friends. “Twilight River is coming, folks. This is a fight we can’t afford to lose, and I want everyone’s minds fully focused on winning it. When we get there, we’re only going to get one chance at this. Let’s make it count.”
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Also by Terry Mixon
You can always find the most up to date listing of Terry’s titles on his Amazon Author Page.
The Empire of Bones Saga
Empire of Bones
Veil of Shadows
Command Decisions
Ghosts of Empire
Paying the Price
Recon in Force
Behind Enemy Lines
The Terra Gambit
Hidden Enemies
Race to Terra
Ruined Terra
Victory on Terra
The Humanity Unlimited Saga
Liberty Station
Freedom Express
Tree of Liberty
Blood of Patriots
The Imperial Marines Saga
Spoils of War
The Fractured Republic Saga
Storm Divers
The Scorched Earth Saga
Scorched Earth
Omnibus Volumes
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 1
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 2
The Empire of Bones Saga Volume 3
Humanity Unlimited Publisher’s Pack 1
The Vigilante Series with Glynn Stewart
Heart of Vengeance
Oath of Vengeance
Bound By Law
Bound By Honor
Bound By Blood
About Terry
#1 Bestselling Military Science Fiction author Terry Mixon served as a non-commissioned officer in the United States Army 101st Airborne Division. He later worked alongside the flight controllers in the Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center supporting the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station, and other human spaceflight projects.
He now writes full time while living in Texas with his lovely wife and a pounce of cats.
www.TerryMixon.com
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