“Couple more klicks of separation,” Dolph said from the bridge, “and then we burn for home.”
He had come around while we were on our way to the rendezvous with the Harnith Po. Face-licking really does work, if only because the lickee gets tired of being slobbered on. When I explained what we needed to do, he’d agreed, and taken a couple of stim pills to get his edge back. I’d hated to see that, but I needed him firing on all cylinders right now.
“I’m sending Smith forward,” I said. “He’s gonna come on the bridge and say bye-bye to the Eks.”
“Roger.”
Smith was so rigid with fury, he looked like he might explode. “I suppose you’ll want us to surrender our weapons,” he gritted.
I was going to say yes. He was in my power now, and I had a mind to rub his face in it. he deserved a little taste of his own medicine. But I recognized the impulse and fought against it. I was still trying to be a better person. “No. Keep ‘em. I’m putting you on your honor.” I stuck out my hand.
He glowered at me instead of shaking it, and left the engineering deck with his stunned-looking subordinate in tow.
I followed them to the pressure door, saying, “MF, come with me. I have to trust ‘em, but I still want to keep an eye on ‘em for a while.”
A suppressed shriek emanated from MF’s corner, followed by the sound of metal smashing on metal.
I flew back with Martin to see what he was doing.
Clinging onto one of the AM ring’s electromagnets for stability, MF held the new maintenance bot in two grippers. He bashed it against the side of the AM ring. Shrieked. Bashed it again. Its tentacles flopped loose. Its chassis was stove in.
“I already disabled that,” I said. In fact, I had shot it with Dolph’s Koiler.
“You took my job!” MF screeched at the bot’s broken corpse, flailing it against the ring again. “Take that! And that!”
Martin touched my arm. We moved away.
“He’s angry with it for hurting Dolph,” Martin whispered. “Figure he’s also upset about you destroying the device, but he knows that’s irrational, so he’s taking it out on the bot instead.” Martin sighed. “Figure he’s upset about … everything.”
MF caught up with me in the trunk corridor. He blinked his optical sensors shamefacedly. “I apologize, Captain.”
“It’s all right.” I could hear Smith on the bridge, talking tersely to the Eks.
“I apologize … for leaving the St. Clare. That was the mistake which led to … to all this. I should have stayed quietly on board and watched my movies.”
I half-smiled. “You’re capable of a lot more than that, bot. And I’ll make you prove it before we’re done.”
We floated at the back of the bridge and listened in as Smith completed his transmission to the Eks. Speaking in English, for our benefit, he explained that he would be returning to Ponce de Leon on the St. Clare, and that other Fleet ships would shortly arrive in the Mittel Trevoyvox volume to wind up the operation. “Smith out.” He floated up to face me.
“Well done,” I said. “You stuck to the script.”
“What now?”
I shrugged. “It’s a two-week journey. Make yourselves at home. You don’t bother us, and we won’t bother you.”
The Marine introduced himself as Kwok, and said he wouldn’t mind getting a poker table together.
“Maybe,” I said. “Later.”
They drifted away. Dolph said, “We should lock ‘em up.”
“I learned my lesson on that,” I said. “Locking Ijiuto up was a big mistake. We had a chance to talk to him, get him talking to us, maybe even form a rapport. We could have found out about the Transcendence before it blindsided us on Mittel Trevoyvox. I didn’t want to make friends with the guy, but there was no need to make him hate us. I don’t want to repeat the same mistake … especially since Smith is still a big-shot Iron Triangle officer.”
“Not for much longer, I bet,” Dolph said.
“Dunno about that. It’s the Fleet. Bad guys fail upwards.” I sighed. “So for the next two weeks, our mission is to make him not hate us.”
Dolph said under his breath, “Good dog.”
“What?” I’d heard what he said.
“Nothing.”
I studied him. “You’re still all messed up. Shift.” I led by example, stripping and Shifting into my wolf right there.
“Someone needs to stay on the bridge,” Dolph said.
“I got it,” MF squeaked.
“You could fly this bird without us, couldn’t you, bot?” Dolph said.
“I could,” MF admitted. “But I do not want to. It is nice to have friends.”
“Aw,” Dolph said. “You’re gonna make me bawl.”
I felt a bit sentimental, too. But wolves do not cry.
Dolph Shifted into his jackal, and we drifted down to the lounge, where Robbie was in wolf form, eating tandoori chicken out of the packet. Smith and Kwok floated amidst the exercise equipment like they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
We paid them no mind. They would have to get used to our ways. “Dammit,” I said. “I forgot to get a present for Lucy.”
That’s when Dolph told me what he had realized about fatherhood, the way it reshapes your priorities. He told it haltingly, a bit embarrassed, as if he didn’t have a right to the insight now that I was back. But I felt chastised as I listened. A reluctant new awareness settled in, of stakes larger than my personal fate.
“We’re gonna have to save the Cluster, aren’t we?” I said. “Whatever it takes.”
THE STORY CONTINUES IN ENEMY PLANET,
BOOK 3 OF A CAULDRON OF STARS.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m deeply grateful for multiple brainstorming sessions with Walter Blaire, whose books I heartily recommend to all sci-fi readers! This book also benefited from the expertise and suggestions of Bill Patterson; Dr. Martin “X-Ray Eyes” Miller; Christopher Andersen; Jerry Larson; AJM; and Ben Aupperlee. Any remaining mistakes are my own.
READ MORE BY FELIX R. SAVAGE
An exuberant storyteller with a demented imagination, Felix R. Savage specializes in creating worlds so exciting, you’ll never want to leave.
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A CAULDRON OF STARS
Space Opera Adventure
Far in the future, in the distant Messier 4 cluster, humanity coexists with the legalistic Ekschelatan Empire, a host of lesser alien species ... and an age-old mystery that could shatter the balance of power. The long, uneasy peace is about to boil over into war.
A foiled terrorist incident on a backwater planet lights the fuse ... and drags freighter captain Mike Starrunner and his crew into an intrigue spanning thousands of light years, with all the wealth and power of the Cluster at stake.
Lethal Cargo
Dirty Job
Enemy Planet
… and more to come!
EARTH’S LAST GAMBIT
A Quartet of Present-Day Science Fiction Technothrillers
Ripped from the headlines: an alien spaceship is orbiting Europa. Relying only on existing technology, a handful of elite astronauts must confront the threat to Earth’s future, on their own, millions of miles from home.
Can the chosen few overcome technological limitations and their own weaknesses and flaws? Will Earth’s Last Gambit win survival for the human race?
The Signal And The Boys (prequel story, subscriber exclusive)
Freefall
Lifeboat
Shiplord
Killshot
EXTINCTION PROTOCOL
Hard Science Fiction With a Chilling Twist
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br /> Humanity has reached out into the stars - and found a ruthless enemy.
It took us two hundred years to establish fifteen colonies on the closest habitable planets to Earth. It took the Ghosts only 20 years to destroy them. Navy pilot Colm Mackenzie is no stranger to the Ghosts. He has witnessed first-hand the mayhem and tragedy they leave in their wake. No one knows where they came from, or how they travel, or what they want. They know only one thing for sure:
Ghosts leave no survivors.
Save From Wrath (short story, subscriber exclusive)
The Chemical Mage
The Nuclear Druid
THE SOL SYSTEM RENEGADES SERIES
Near-Future Hard Science Fiction
In the year 2288, humanity stands at a crossroads between space colonization and extinction. Packed with excitement, heartbreak, and unforgettable characters, the Sol System Renegades series tells a sweeping tale of struggle and deliverance.
Keep Off The Grass (short origin story)
Crapkiller (prequel novella, subscriber exclusive)
1. The Galapagos Incident
2. The Vesta Conspiracy
3. The Mercury Rebellion
A Very Merry Zero-Gravity Christmas (short story)
4. The Luna Deception
5. The Phobos Maneuver
6. The Mars Shock
7. The Callisto Gambit
VOID DRAGON HUNTERS
Military Sci-Fi with Space Dragons
In 2160, a Void Dragon ate the sun.
In 2322, eight-year-old Jay Scattergood found a Void Dragon egg in his garden.
Humanity survived the death of the sun, but now we're under attack by the Offense. These intelligent, aggressive aliens will do whatever it takes to destroy humanity and take Earth for themselves.
Our last hope against the alien aggressors is Jay Scattergood ... and his baby Void Dragon, Tancred.
Guardians of Jupiter
Protectors of Earth
Soldiers of Callisto
Exiles of the Belt
Knights of Saturn
THE RELUCTANT ADVENTURES OF FLETCHER CONNOLLY ON THE INTERSTELLAR RAILROAD
Near-Future Non-Hard Science Fiction
An Irishman in space. Untold hoards of alien technological relics waiting to be discovered. What could possibly go wrong?
Rubbish With Names (prequel story, subscriber exclusive)
Skint Idjit
Intergalactic Bogtrotter
Banjaxed Ceili
Supermassive Blackguard
Dirty Job Page 37