Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online

authority.”
    Vladimir turned to Ensign Tillardi. “Open it.”
    “What?”
    “You do know how to override an internally locked door control, don’t you?”
    “Uh, yes, sir, I do.” Tilly glanced at his CO. “I just didn’t think I was supposed to admit it—at least, not to a command officer.”
    “We’re not your typical command officers,” Vladimir said, pointing at the control panel. He looked at the two Corinari guards that had accompanied them. They got the message and moved into position on either side of Vladimir, weapons raised and ready.
    Ensign Tillardi glanced nervously back at the armed guards, as well as his CO, as he removed the control panel faceplate and bypassed the door control lock.
    The big doors to the field generator room split down the middle and slid open to either side. The two spec-ops soldiers on the inside quickly raised their weapons.
    “Drop them!” the Corinari sergeant demanded as his body tensed and his finger slid from his trigger guard to the trigger itself. He took aim on the spec-ops soldier to the left while his partner took aim on the one to the right.
    Vladimir stood in the middle of the doorway, his hands clasped behind his back as he calmly looked at the two special operations troops nervously holding their weapons at the ready. Both men wore scraggly beards and tattered uniforms, much like the rest of the Celestia’s haggard crew. “Well, apparently we have a problem.”
    “This area is classified, sir!” one of the spec-ops soldiers instructed.
    “Yes, you already told me as much,” Vladimir responded. He slowly moved his hand up to his comm-set, tapping it to place a call. “Aurora Actual, Cheng.”
    “What are you doing, sir?” the spec-ops soldier asked, his weapon pointed directly at Vladimir’s face.
    “You said you needed EDF command authority to allow me to enter, did you not?”
    “ Cheng, go for Aurora Actual, ” Nathan’s voice answered in Vladimir’s comm-set.
    “Captain, I have a pair of nervous, unshaven, special operations types pointing weapons at me.”
    “ Why? ”
    “Apparently both of the Celestia’s FTL field generator bays are off-limits. I am told that special projects was conducting some sort of experiment.” Vladimir looked beyond the two spec-ops soldiers at the massive generators in the room. Several technicians in similarly deteriorated clothing looked on from either side of the equipment. “Bozhe moi,” Vladimir exclaimed as he suddenly realized what he was looking at in the distance.
    “ What is it? ” Nathan asked, recognizing the Russian phrase.
    “Captain, I think the Celestia has a jump drive.”

CHAPTER TWO
    “She can fly,” Vladimir said, leaning forward on the conference table, “but she barely has enough propellant on board to lift off, let alone to change orbit or reach escape velocity to leave the Jovian system.”
    “Assume for a moment that propellant is not an issue,” Nathan said. “How much work would be required to get her to minimum operational status?”
    “It depends on what you mean by minimum,” Vladimir answered. “To navigate space, we only need to fix the leak and repressurize the command deck so she can at least support a flight crew. We should also connect the fore and aft sections with a pressurized passageway so we do not have to use EVA suits within the ship.”
    “How long will that take?”
    “A few days if we’re lucky.”
    “What about the flight deck?” Major Prechitt asked. “If we could get it working, we could park some fighters there to help protect her.”
    “The main hangar bay is open to space,” Vladimir explained. “None of the spacecraft transfer airlocks have been installed at the aft end of the bay. However, all of the internal transfer airlocks and elevators are installed and reported to be functional. So it is possible to use the fighter alleys and the cargo deck as the pressurized hangar decks.”
    “Basically run all flight ops in combat mode,