Ep.#4 - "Freedom's Dawn" (The Frontiers Saga) by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

care to be manhandled in such fashion, especially by a noble. He, like his commander, had little use for his type. “The only place my birds are going is back to command, sir. My orders were to free you and your staff and to bring you back… and I follow orders. So that leaves you with two choices, sir. Either get in the extraction birds and go back to command, or wait here for Corinairan reinforcements to arrive.
    Captain de Winter stared at the arrogant young sergeant. “I out rank you, sergeant.”
    “I’m not under your command, sir. So while I do have to show you the proper respect, I do not have to follow your orders. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with my CO back at AI command… in ten minutes.”
    The captain continued to stare at Andre as the extraction birds came down and landed behind them. “Very well, Sergeant. You have your victory… this time,” he added as he moved past Andre toward the waiting airships.
    Andre didn’t turn to watch the captain and his staff board the airships. He had listened to many a story from his commander about the arrogance of Ta’Akar nobility. He had always figured they were the exaggerations of a bitter, aging commander on his last assignment. Now he knew otherwise.
    “The vehicles are rigged and ready to blow,” his partner reported to Andre.
    “Great. Let’s withdraw and head back to base,” he told him.
    The extraction airships were already taking off as his own airship came down to pick them up. Andre walked back to idling Kalibri, stepping over the still smoldering bodies of the men from the rear vehicle. He was the last one to arrive at his airship, and stopped to turn around and take one last look at the devastation his team had caused. Satisfied that their mission was complete, he sat down on the edge of the airship’s deck and slapped the side of the canopy three times. Once again he leaned back slightly and felt the restraint system lock him against the tiny airship as it leapt off the ground and into the evening sky.
    They circled around the area to provide cover while the shooters were recovered by Strike Two. Once everyone was clear of the scene, Andre activated his remote detonator and the entire corridor containing the four armored vehicles and the dead guardsmen erupted in a massive white-hot fireball as the plasma charges planted by his team detonated. It would take forensic teams months to figure out who or what had been destroyed by that explosion, and considering all that was going on lately, he doubted that anyone would ever take the time.
    Andre had been in the service for over a decade now, and this had been the first real combat action in which he had been involved. He had always heard that until you were under fire, you could not know for sure how you would react. Some men had it, some did not; and no matter how hard you trained you never knew until the moment came. Today had been Andre’s moment, and it had been far more enjoyable than he had anticipated.
     
    * * *
    Marcus’s eyes nervously darted back and forth between the auto-flight status and the near-space traffic display. The shuttle had reached orbit a few minutes ago, and as best he could tell, they were rapidly approaching the Aurora. Finally, his guilt got the best of him and forced him to speak. “Uh, we may have a slight problem here,” he admitted sheepishly.
    Enrique had been aware of Marcus’s increasing concerns. “What kind of problem?”
    “We’re closing on the Aurora, but the auto-flight system isn’t locking onto her control signal.”
    “What are you talking about? What’s an auto-flight system? Is that like some kind of autopilot?” Enrique asked.
    “Well it’s what pilots the ship, if that’s what you mean.”
    “And it’s not working?”
    “It’s working fine. It’s just not receiving a control signal from your damned ship.”
    “What kind of control signal?” Enrique asked.
    “The kind that tells the ship what to do!