Along the Watchtower: A Gritty Space Opera Adventure (Frontier's Reach Book 4)
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He put a hand on Ortega’s shoulder. “Thanks for the drink.” He gestured toward the door. “Lead the way, Commander.”
Chapter 16
UECS Repulse
The admiral didn’t have the balls to be there when Jason arrived. Commander Hariri sat him down in his office and told him Kostecki would be with him shortly.
He waited, and he waited. Jason swore an entire hour passed until the Repulse’s CO finally turned up. Then without so much as an apology, he walked in, passing Jason by and taking a seat on his chair on the opposite side of the desk.
Jason realized it was the admiral’s way of putting himself in the power position. Unlike last time, though, Jason held the upper hand. And he’d play it.
“I suppose you got caught up watching the news?” he asked the admiral.
Kostecki glared at him.
“Astounding, wasn’t it? Imagine if that report hadn’t broken when it did.” Jason pulled out a fist-sized apparatus and placed it on the desk between them. “I guess my crew and I would be floating around the bottom of Verada IV by now if that were the case.”
The admiral’s eyes darted down at the homing device Aly had yanked from the Argo’s engine and looked back up at him with a face of stone. While Jason didn’t believe Kostecki had anything to do with their near deaths, he was responsible following an order to place the beacon on their ship in the first place.
“Are you done, Mister Cassidy?”
Jason wondered whether to continue gloating to make a point or not. Once upon a time he might’ve. But perhaps he’d grown a little wiser as he’d got older. “I guess I am.” He at least wanted to hear what Kostecki had to say.
“I’ve received word from the Admiral of Fleet Operations. With what has transpired in recent days, the CDF, along with the Ministry of Defense, are looking for some extra help.”
“Extra help?”
Kostecki appeared to swallow his pride. “Command have instructed me to ask you to rejoin the service.”
Everything around Jason seemed to stop. He remembered the day he’d got his marching orders as if they were yesterday. His life had been the CDF, and to have it stripped away had destroyed him.
“Your dishonorable discharge would be overturned, and you’d be reinstated with the rank of full commander.”
Suddenly he’d gone from being completely dispensable to being a sought-after commodity. So much so they’d given him a promotion. What the hell are they playing at?
Since the moment he’d left, he’d always wanted to return. But now when he thought about it, he wasn’t so sure anymore. These are the same people who signed my death warrant.
“They’ve also authorized me to green light repairs for your cargo ship should you require them.” Kostecki slid over a data tablet with a timetable of the repairs on it.
“With or without the homing beacon this time?”
“I’ll ensure my team leave the Argo in as near original condition as possible.”
Jason did his best to hide his irritation. “I’ll let my crew know to expect your help.”
“Good.” Kostecki took back the data tablet. “Now we come to the matter of your decision.”
Jason didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t something he could take lightly. He could return to Vesta III, stay aboard the Argo, or do the unthinkable. He had so many options for the first time in what seemed like forever. Everything had changed now that Tyler might be alive, too.
“I’ll need to think about it.”
Kostecki nodded. “Don’t take too long.”
*
Jason pushed the door open to the sight of Doctor Tai sitting in her mobility chair with Beethoven’s Number Nine playing over the speakers.
She looked like a shell of her former self while Professor Petit helped her around the room.
The professor peered up. “Mister Cassidy.”
Jason nodded and smiled at Tai. “It’s good to see you, Doctor.”
She put her hand on Petit’s arm. “I need a word with Mister Cassidy in private?”
Petit walked from her ward, closing the door behind him. Jason took a seat beside her unoccupied bed while she wheeled her chair toward him.
“The professor told me everything that happened,” she began. “You got lucky.”
“Sometimes you make your own luck.”
“Indeed. How did you do it?”
Jason grinned.
“Come on, no doubt even the brass at the CDF figure you somehow got word out before the Argo was intercepted by the Repulse, after we left the trans-space corridor.”
“A little trick I picked up during the war.” Jason knew Tai had served in the CDF before her time with TIAS so she grasped how the world worked.
“Before we sent out our original call to Outpost Watchtower, I left a worm in a nearby comm satellite.”
“A worm?”
Jason nodded. “It’s a term for a data packet in limbo. I wasn’t sure if we’d need it, but after we called Watchtower and the Repulse blocked all our outgoing commlinks, I knew we did. We’d be interrogated, and at that stage I wasn’t sure what that’d mean for us, but I realized it mightn’t be good. Luckily, I transmitted a low frequency beam, one much too low to be blocked by the jamming field or to be picked up by scanners, but sufficient enough to activate my worm.”
“And you sent it off to the Martian Tribune?”
“An old friend works there. It may have taken a while to get to her, but it did just in time.”
“Almost genius.”
“Enough to save our lives at least. If they’d destroyed us with that story out, people would’ve asked questions. It seems those with their finger on the trigger realized that.”
She nodded. “You’re like a cat, Mister Cassidy. How many lives do you have left?”
Jason laughed, and they sat in silence for several moments until it was his turn to put the blowtorch on her. “Professor Petit told me everything that happened with you.”
Tai frowned. “He’s such a gossip. I must have a word with him.”
He looked at her with concern. “Are you okay?”
She chuckled. “If you’re asking me if I’ve got any more suicidal tendencies? No, I don’t. Since hearing this…” She gestured to the music playing over the speakers. “My priorities have changed.” She eyed him. “I’m sure you feel the same.”
Jason most certainly did.
“I want you to promise me, Mister Cassidy, that you’ll do everything in your power to rescue them.”
Jason wasn’t sure how to begin planning something of such magnitude, but somehow, he’d figure it out. “Don’t worry, I’ll bring them home.”
The Frontier’s Reach series continues with Book 5 – The Eye of Jupiter
Author’s Notes
Time for my traditional thank you to everyone who joined me on this adventure of Frontier’s Reach. I hope you enjoyed Along the Watchtower. I had a lot of fun writing this installment with the opportunity to steer it in a different direction compared to the first three. With any luck, those that had their pitchforks out for me at the end of Dark Side of the Moon will put them away with the major revelation in this book… at least for now.
It seemed like only yesterday I released my first book, which was also the initial installment of this series. Everything has moved incredibly quickly and I can’t thank those enough who’ve supported since.
As Frontier’s Reach rolls on so does the heavy workload. In the back end of April, I’ve discovered the saying is true—there is indeed no rest for the wicked. While working on this series and fitting it in with real life is challenging, it is very rewarding. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Next up is Book 5-The Eye of Jupiter which will go live on Amazon in three weeks. This was another one I loved writing and hopefully, you’ll enjoy reading it too. To keep up to date don’t forget to sign up to my mailing list where you can find out information about the Frontier’s Reach series before anyone else. Once agai
n reviews on the product page over at Amazon are always appreciated.
Until next time…
Robert C. James
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Table of Contents
Welcome
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Author’s Notes
Connect with the Author