The Black Sheep (A Learning Experience Book 3) by Christopher Nuttall Read Free Book Online Page B

flag rank, and allowed someone else to take command of Jackie Fisher .  It would have made the discussions a little less awkward.
     
    “Gentlemen and ladies,” Hoshiko said.  “Thank you for attending.”
     
    There was a brief pause as the holographic images organised themselves.  Griffin sighed, inwardly; there was a reason most meetings were meant to be face-to-face, rather than via hologram.  The captains could be using holographic masks to conceal their true feelings; hell, they could be completely naked and no one would know, as long as they had the common sense to ensure their images wore a mask.  Hoshiko might be a child of the Solar Union, but even she had good reason to appreciate personal meetings.  She must have a motive to insist on holographic communications for this meeting.
     
    “I trust you have reviewed the data,” Hoshiko continued, after a moment.  “The interview with Captain Ryman, the debriefing of the refugees, the intelligence recovered from the freighter’s databanks ... is there any doubt over what’s happening on Amstar?”
     
    Griffin shook his head.  The evidence was overwhelming.  No one would have expended three warships and an entire freighter, to say nothing of risking a shooting war with the Solar Union, just to set up a trick of some kind.  The idea of one alien race trying to exterminate everyone else ... humans hadn't found it hard to come up with justifications to commit genocide against their fellow humans, why wouldn't an alien race come up with a reason to slaughter billions of different aliens?  God knew there were humans who had advocated, in all seriousness, exterminating the Hordes in response to their crimes against humanity.
     
    “I have very little information on these ... Druavroks ,” Captain Hamish Macpherson said, curtly.  “My datafiles are curiously scanty.”
     
    “I have put in a request for more information from Martina,” Hoshiko said.  “But, from what little we know, it seems they now want an empire of their own, instead of holding up someone else’s empire.  Taking Amstar makes sense from an economic point of view, but outright genocide ...”
     
    Her voice grew very cold.  “I intend to take this squadron to Amstar and put a stop to it,” she added.  “It is our duty.”
     
    There was a long pause.  Griffin felt his blood run cold.  He understood the impulse, he understood how far their standing orders stretched, but it could be a terrible mistake.  The Solar Union had no treaty with anyone on Amstar, nor was it directly threatened by the Druavroks.  It was hard to escape the feeling that they were about to commit a direct violation of their orders.
     
    He cursed Admiral Stuart under his breath.  As a captain, it was his right and duty to argue with his commanding officer, if he believed it necessary, even in front of other captains.  But as a commander, he couldn't argue in front of the senior officers.  He was supposed to present a united front with his captain, even as he disagreed with his commodore.  There wasn’t anything in regulations for a semi-permanent arrangement where the captain and the commodore happened to be the same person.
     
    “Captain,” Captain Joanne Mathewson said, finally.  “Is this actually wise ?”
     
    “There are times when wisdom will not serve,” Hoshiko said.  “Our orders say, basically, that we are to protect human settlements throughout the sector - and, in more general terms, throughout the galaxy.  Humans are being threatened with extermination by the Druavroks, along with countless members of over twenty other races.  It is our duty to respond, to save them from certain death.  It’s the right thing to do.”
     
    And you weren't interested in intervening to prevent the fighting on Earth , Griffin thought, coldly.  He didn't actually disagree with Hoshiko’s stance - Earth was reaping what it had sown over decades of mismanagement - but she lacked even basic