Star Traders (Corporate Marines Book 3) by Tom Germann Read Free Book Online Page A

captain look at Two, who is clearing the program from the computer’s active memory and resetting action parameters for a future use of the sim.
    Patroe starts the conversation that the captain had been shying away from for the last several days. “Two, how are you both doing on board?”
    Two stops her work and looks at the two men. “As far as I am aware, everything is operating to parameters. So in simple English, everything is good. Why? Is there a problem?”
    Patroe looks at the captain and they both feel awkward.
    There is the sound of a clearing throat behind the two men. Then Terry’s cheerful voice pipes up. “I am sorry, Two. These two are going to have a hard time just coming out and asking you as they are dealing with their personal baggage and are men. Are you and Eight okay? Is deep-space travel causing you any issues that would cause you to have a psychotic break and try to kill everyone on board?”
    Two watches the interaction and deep down finds it amusing that both men are turning red and spluttering.
    The captain is the first to recover enough to talk, with Patroe right behind him. “Terry! That is not exactly what we were looking to find out!”
    Terry steps around so that she is standing next to Two. She grins at Two and then faces the men. “That was exactly what you wanted to know and have been dying to know for two weeks. They both are working hard and getting all their tasks done, but are not really very social. Well, Eight seems to have made some friends, including sweet little Sue. But Two, as a distant woman, is scary. So I figured that it made more sense for me to smash the ice and then we can all move forward with life.”
    She turns toward Two again. “Okay, Two, how is it going and are you okay?”
    Two laughs out loud at Terry’s antics and that seems to put the two men at ease. She smiles. “You really don’t know how to deal with us, do you?” Again it seems like the men are going to get flustered so she eases them down. “We are doing fine. We have armor that is up to spec, all the rest of our gear is good and we are actually ahead a bit on some of our sim training. Eight has had a great time working some of our basic scenario sims into your shipboard security training. He has made that training fun by making it zombies instead of drones. But that sim is on Level 1, which is a good recreational level. Eight is much more social than I am, however. So your concern is that I am not interacting as well as Eight is with the rest of the crew. Is that correct?”
    The captain nods affirmation while Patroe just watches Two.
    That faint smile that Two has comes back and she sits down at the conference room table. She gestures for the rest to sit, which they do. Curiosity has the trio, including Terry, which is strange for someone so forward; for once, she is listening and not asking.
    Two leans forward and steeples her hands in front of her. “You believe that I am the bigger threat as I do not interact well with the rest of your crew and personnel. That is correct, and I do not really do small talk. Our training sees to that. Attachments are a problem. ‘Never leave a man behind’ is a wonderful concept when you are looking at losing thirty more soldiers to get that one soldier back. To us, one lost does not mean that the section goes back to get the body or for revenge. That is inefficient.”
    Two does not notice that all three of the crew are staring at her with incredulous to horrified looks on their faces.
    “The cost to get a trooper up to speed and in their custom armor ready for deployment anywhere in Earth space is, according to what we were told in training, just under two hundred and fifty million. A full ten-troop section costs two point five billion.” Two waves her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Now I have looked at the numbers and it is actually less than that by a bit. The Corporation factors in the ongoing maintenance of having smaller ships and all the rest of