The Gardens of Nibiru (The Ember War Saga Book 5) by Richard Fox Read Free Book Online

training.”
    “Where’d you hear all that, Gunney?” Standish asked.
    “You’re not the only one with contacts.” Cortaro pulled a canister off Bailey’s back and shook his head. “This filter’s at thirty percent. Get a new one.” He slapped her on the shoulder and returned the bad filter to her.
    “That why we’ve spent every waking moment on the range or doing drills since I came aboard?” Rohen asked. “I thought we were going at it a bit hard, considering your and Hale’s reputation.”
    “And what reputation is that?” Orozco asked.
    “After everything you did on Earth, the Crucible, Anthalas…I doubt any of you’d ever have to pay for a drink at a bar ever again,” Rohen said.
    “Which bars are you talking about?” Bailey asked.
    “Don’t mistake an intense desire to not be eaten or killed as something special.” Standish looked at Egan, Torni’s replacement. “Not all of us made it home.”
    “Or in one piece,” Cortaro flexed the muscles in his cybernetic foot and calf. The clone replacement for the limb he lost on Anthalas would have to wait until after this mission. “All right, big mouth,” Cortaro said, pointing at Standish, “let’s see if you remembered to double-check your auxiliary air lines for once.”
     
    ****
     
    Hale, clad in his armor and with his rifle attached to his back, walked off a lift and onto the Breitenfeld ’s flight deck. He found most of his Marines and Steuben standing behind the yellow and black chevrons running along the perimeter of the deck, demarking where one could watch flight operations safely.
    Only Yarrow was on the flight deck, almost empty of craft but for a few Mules and a pair of ready-alert Eagles toward the stern of the deck. Yarrow held both hands out in front of him, pawing at the air as he meandered around the deck.
    “Sir,” Cortaro said as Hale stopped next to him.
    “What the heck is he doing?” Hale asked.
    Bailey and Standish fought a laugh and stifled all but restrained sniggers.
    “He is looking for the cloaked Mule,” Steuben said.
    Standish bit the knuckles on his armored gauntlet as a tear fell from the corner of his eye.
    “Hey, Gunney,” Yarrow called out. “I don’t think it’s in spot 2-4.”
    “I said 3-4!” Cortaro waved Yarrow farther down the flight deck. The medic gave a thumbs-up and moved away, a hand held up in front of his face like he was walking through a dark room.
    “So this is…Earth humor?” Steuben asked.
    “How long has this been going on?” Hale asked.
    “Ten minutes,” Bailey said, her shoulders jerking from stifled laughter.
    “It started before I got here,” Cortaro mumbled.
    “Preflight checks are complete. Ready to go,” Egan said, his voice coming through the IR receiver in Hale’s earpiece. “And what the hell is Yarrow doing? Lafayette’s in the cockpit with me and he thinks it’s some kind of war dance.”
    “He’s looking for the Mule,” Hale said. “Flash the running lights.”
    Egan burst into laughter and Hale cut the channel.
    Spotlights on a Mule almost thirty yards from Yarrow blinked on and off. Yarrow stopped stumbling around, looked at the Mule, then to the Marines, then back to the Mule.
    “Aww…fuck you guys!” Yarrow stomped across the deck to the Mule.
    Hale bit his lip to stop from smiling as his Marines broke down. Standish fell to the ground, on the verge of hyperventilating as he laughed.
    “I don’t understand this,” Steuben said.
    “I got it—” Bailey wheezed, “I got it on video.”
    “All right, that’s enough.” Hale nudged Standish with his foot. “Time to saddle up.”
    Standish got back to his feet. “Sir, I haven’t laughed that hard since I had Yarrow asking the ship’s foundry for a box of grid squares.”
    “You know if you get hit he’s the one with all the pain meds,” Hale said.
    Standish stopped laughing.
     

CHAPTER 5
     
    Darkness. Stacey’s world beyond the small sled was nothing but absolute darkness.