In Fire Forged: Worlds of Honor V-ARC by David Weber Read Free Book Online Page A

it’ll be neck-and-neck, at the very worst.”
    “And Ogapoge is large enough to fit us all?” Judith asked.
    “More than,” Michael said. “I’d hoped…”
    A funny note came into his voice and he cleared his throat and started over again.
    “I’d hoped to take some friends out to see more of the other planets in-system, but I wasn’t sure just how large our party might end up being.”
    Judith blinked. He means me. I’m sure he means he wanted to take me and Ruth out. And he prepared from the start not only for the two of us, but whoever I might want with us so I wouldn’t think the worst of him… And bodyguards. Always bodyguards.
    She sat mulling over this, thinking that the only time a young man worries about a young woman thinking the worst of him is when he thinks of her as more than a friend.
    Or maybe when he doesn’t want her to get any ideas that he thinks of her as more than a friend?
    She lowered her face into her hands and rubbed her forehead and temples, trying to clear the confusing maelstrom of thoughts before they overwhelmed her. Her muddled thoughts wove and interwove with her worry for Ruth until Todd gently brought the air car to rest at the berth that had been reserved for it.
    Vincent Valless was first out, and he spoke with the several security types who immediately bustled over. Their expressions were relaxed and easy beneath the formality that came from their all too great awareness that the young man swinging his legs out of the back seat of the air car was the current crown prince and their reigning queen’s only brother.
    Judith guessed that Valless had used Michael’s original explanation as to why he had reserved Ogapoge for his own use. Prince Michael was taking a few friends on an outing. That was all.
    I wish, Judith thought as she hurried after the others to the pad where the shuttle which would ferry them up to where Ogapoge waited, that this truly was all, that Ruth and I were going out with Uncle Michael, perhaps to visit the treecat preserves on Sphinx or go snow skiing at one of the resorts on Gryphon. God willing, this will be so, someday. Someday soon.
    When the shuttle reached Ogapoge, Judith realized that the little vessel’s armament was almost as well concealed as the guns of Ephraim Templeton’s privateers had been. Then she shook herself. Of course Security wouldn’t want to casually advertise the fact that the crown prince’s runabout was armed. Or, for that matter, draw any untoward attention to it in the first place. After all, concealment and surprise were weapons in their own right, and often decisive ones. That sleek hull probably concealed a deceptive amount of armor as well.
    For related reasons, the ship was not adorned with the Winton colors. The shining ice blue of the hull was attractive and expensive, but told nothing of the ship’s occupant.
    As soon as they cleared the boarding tube from the shuttle, they discovered that the ship was already occupied. A woman and two men sat in the seats closest to the back of the vessel. They wore the uniforms of Palace Security and the very neutral expressions of people who know their presence may cause someone important to lose his temper.
    Indeed, Judith saw the storm that swept across Michael’s dark features when he saw the three additional security operatives. She also saw the sigh he swallowed as he turned to Vincent Valless.
    “I called ahead, Prince Michael,” Valless said without waiting to be asked. “My duty requires that you be properly protected. Since we’re leaving the planet, and in pursuit of potentially dangerous people, I couldn’t take the responsibility for your safety wholly upon myself.”
    “Understood, Vincent,” Michael said. “Do they know of our mission?”
    “I haven’t told them,” Valless replied. “They’re part of the detail already assigned to your protection, so I could alert them without any need for explanations.”
    “Fine. Explain now, making