Future Winds by Kevin Laymon Read Free Book Online Page A

full smile on her awkwardly thin face. “That we do. Though I admit, I too know very little of farming. We have some great scientist aboard eager to come out and play, but first we must rendezvous on what we know of our new found world.”
    She rose to her feet and brushed her hands free of the dirt she held just a moment ago.
    “My name is Vice Admiral Natalia Fox. Until Admiral Vetrov arrives on his carrier, I will be leading commander of the Project Salvations naval defense fleet. Now please, tell me everything you have gathered thus far.”
    That’s right, we shook hands with this woman once during our training , Aisha thought. Figures she wouldn’t actually remember any of us by name.
    “Not much-” Abram began to answer, but was cut off.
    “In absence of officer Leon Fleisher, I am commanding officer Tyler Flynn. This is specialist Aisha Sayegh and specialist Abram Orlov,” Tyler trumpeted out, interrupting Abram.
    Wow, Aisha thought, that came off rude as hell. That was very much unlike Tyler but in the presence of such a high ranking commander it was important to follow the edict in chain of command.
    “And what happened to officer Fleisher?” asked the admiral.
    Her eyes darted about the three of them looking for any sort of discontent.
    The friendly welcoming party Aisha had hoped for, perhaps with balloons and cake, had been squashed before it had even started.
    “As I am sure you are aware, there were six pioneers total, everyone made landfall clustered relatively close to one another but one ship containing Valerie Fournier went astray landing a little further from the rest, off to the east. Failed attempts in communication resulted in Fleisher and Kaito Shimizu venturing off to bring her back to the group.”
    “I see. And you have yet to hear back from the other half of your squad?” She continued with her interrogation. “How long have they been gone?”
    “Well, they left soon after we landed this morning.”
    “Wait,” she frowned, “you guys made landfall this morning and constructed the warp gate in a single afternoon? Then continued to pull in a vessel packed full of civilians to your location? Did you even follow through with inspections to be sure the gate was constructed correctly?!” Her tone now elevated to a level reflecting her annoyance in the three.
    “Well-” Tyler tried to defend.
    She was quick to cut him off, snapping her fingers to one of her escorts. “Bring me two chief mechanics. Abram will escort them to the warp gate to thoroughly inspect it for malfunction before we even consider pulling in another carrier.” Her eyes jumped back over to Tyler. “Pardon my lack of compassion, but when there is zero communication from you and your squad up until my ship and I, with millions of lives aboard, lives I am directly responsible for, were ripped from one end of the galaxy to the other using super advanced technology, you three, half the number of your actual squad, hastily constructed in one afternoon,” she paused, “I just cannot help but feel a little uneasy with that.”
    “That was the plan though, no?” Tyler faltered.
    “If your mission is to escort a lady to the prom, do you go to her bedroom early in the wee hours of the a.m. unannounced and drag her out by her hair like some caveman with a club?” she questioned with intimidation.
    Tyler rallied a dash of courage. “Ma’am our mission was not to escort a lady to the prom, it was to land on a scorching, hot planet, establish a warp gate, and begin pulling in ships to establish a new world to call home. Now we tried to send outbound communications but the anomalies that be would not allow it to be done with success.”
    Her frown turned to a very awkward smile, “Well, as long as you gave it the ole college try.” Then her smile returned back to a serious scowl, “Go find the other half of your squad, Tyler Flynn.”
    Were all the captains of these space carriers bipolar sociopaths? Aisha