Syn-En: Plague World: The Founders War Begins by Linda Andrews Read Free Book Online Page A

Fuck his duty. He couldn’t send her to her death. He wouldn’t. He’d nix the whole mission.
    She leaned against him. “I can beat a stupid flu bug, Bei. I can beat anything as long as you’re at my side.”
    His wife was too damn clever. Bei cast his vote. It was unanimous. “Captain Pennig, set course for Surlat.”
    He scooped up his wife and carried her toward the door. If he had to sacrifice her for everyone, then everyone could damn well give them the next few hours to themselves. Either they left the planet together, or they rode the same chariot from this world to the next.

 
     
     
Chapter 4
     
     
    “Sir, the Human ship is moving out of the solar system.” Sitting at the helm of the dreadnaught, the Scraptor in pale pink armor sat in a metal chair that listed to the right. His primary claws, the pinscher’s, hung listlessly at his side while he manipulated the gears and knobs with multi-purpose hands. “Shall I pursue?”
    Pink armor. The recruit was new, and Aircose Groat had to train him while spying on the Neo-Sentient Alliance. Some alliance. Only three species so far. The other inferiors wouldn’t dare join. The Founders were too powerful.
    And he was the enforcer of the Founders’ will.
    Like his parents and their parents before them. Stretching back to the great emptiness, when the Erwar had left a void in the universe with their departure.
    “Hold position.” Groat rose from the commander’s chair. Scratches marred the metal sides. Remnants of plush upholstery lay like fallen pennants on the dust that had once been a cushion.
    The Celestia had seen better days and had been old when Groat’s grandfather commanded her. A knock sounded at regular intervals over the purr of the Helium-3 fusion reactors. The dented deck groaned under his weight. Artificial gravity pulled on him. He massaged oil into his new armor, easing the sting as it meshed with the flesh underneath. The Syn-En scum had seemed impressed with his new sword appendages.
    The vermin would think twice before challenging the Scraptors again.
    “Holding position, Commander Groat.” The helmsman’s fingers prowled the control panel as if seeking something to do.
    Beyond him, the star field visible through the forward portholes bobbed on the riptides of the solar winds.
    Gears ground together. The door behind him squeaked as it lifted in the bulkhead.
    Groat didn’t turn. He knew who it was. Mopus Argent, the Founders’ resident stooge. What was the point of having a groveling politician aboard? He’d seen the classified communiqués. The Founders wanted this new alliance wiped out before it became too powerful.
    And the best way to accomplish that was war.
    And war meant upgrades, meant the stingy Founders would open their sacred funds for new tech, new ships, new weapons. Groat glanced around the bridge. Cables and wires poked through worn conduits like hairs sprouting from warts. The lime green paint blistered and peeled off in giant scabs. Old electrical fires left soot stains along the bulkheads. Three quarters of the panels on the command deck no longer worked.
    He bet a year’s supply of armor oil that everything gleamed and worked on the new NSA flagship, the Nell Stafford. Perhaps he would demand the ship as payment for eliminating this new threat to the Founders. Then he’d keep the chief scum, Beijing York, locked up in the bowels to rot. Groat and Groat alone would visit his prisoner but only to show him video clips of his wife undergoing the Decripi’s medical studies.
    Leadership had its privileges.
    “Open the door fully.” Mopus Argent snapped. “One cannot expect a man of my station to stoop.”
    The metal screeched.
    The new recruit at the helm shrunk in his broken chair.
    Groat plugged his ear hole with his thick finger. Maybe he should demand one of the new recruits give up their supply of armor oil to grease the doors. But he wouldn’t. Growing into a new set of armor was painful. Armor oil was the