The Last Charge (The Nameless War Trilogy Book 3) by Edmond Barrett Read Free Book Online

couldn’t do that, not when all he had were his reservations. Reservations weren’t enough to call into question the courage of a fellow officer who had already served with such distinction. No, all he could hope for was that she could keep holding it together.
     
    Alanna slammed her fist into the cabin wall just hard enough to hurt. Leaning forward, she pressed her forehead against the wall, feeling the cool of the metalwork.
    “It’s just a ship, just another fucking ship,” she whispered to herself.
    Through the metal she could feel the distant throb of the generators and the hum of the atmospheric recyclers. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, but it did nothing to block out the memories. The fighter squadron on Dauntless hadn’t just been colleagues – they’d been comrades and friends, the centre around which her world orbited. They’d been the people she’d watched die, unable to do anything to save them and in the end, she’d failed even to join them.
    Alanna straightened sharply as she heard the hatch start to open and turned towards her packing, which also put her back to the hatch.
    “Oh hello, Alanna,” said the gunner as he side slipped into the tiny cabin. “Thought you were second watch today?”
    “No, I’ve been taken off the rotation.”
    “Oh?”
    “I’m being transferred out.”
    “That so? Well good luck with that,” he grunted as he pulled off his jacket. “A lot of last minute transfers going through, before the shit hits the fan.”
    Of all the officers on Deimos she found the gunner the easiest to deal with. He’d always seemed to accept she didn’t want to get to know people. Either that or he was just terminally uncurious.
    “Do you know where you’re heading yet?” he asked, as he flopped onto his bunk.
    “Yes. One of the new carriers.”
    “Nice. Back among your own kind.”
    Alanna made no reply.
     
    “I’ll miss old Deimos ,” Petty Officer Kristen Schurenhofer said conversationally as their Raven class fighter, D for Dubious , climbed out of the Moon’s gravity well. “Still, Skipper, a change is as good as a rest.”
    “If you say so,” Alanna replied morosely.
    Buzz Aldrin base had been a hive of activity, with transfers to and from various fleet ships, national military personnel transiting to planetary defence installations around Saturn and evacuated civilians en route back to Earth. Alanna and Schurenhofer had spent an uncomfortable night in a converted exercise hall with three score others. The time had both dragged and seemed to fly past far too fast. Now they were on their way, orbiting around the Moon on a course that would bring them onto an intercept.
    “Well, on a carrier we’re likely to be flying more than escort missions,” Schurenhofer said. “Not to mention I won’t have to listen to jokers in the petty officers’ mess claiming I’m not doing anything because I spend half my time in a fighter.”
    “You never said anything about that before.”
    “Not the business of an officer. Besides, it sort of stopped after Kite String. The shit I was getting the most attitude from was in the hangar when they pulled what was left of poor old Racklow out of his fighter.”
    Their conversation was interrupted by a beep from Schurenhofer’s control panel.
    “Entering Dauntless ’s approach lane,” she reported.
    Alanna responded automatically. “ Dauntless flight control, this is fighter D for Dubious , transfer in. Request approach authorisation and docking instruction.”
    “ D for Dubious , this is Dauntless flight control. Approach authorised. Dock at Hangar Four. Over.”
    Alanna made no reply.
    “ Dubious , are you receiving? Over,” the radio repeated.
    Schurenhofer glanced over at her and then activated the radio.
    “ Dauntless control, this is Dubious , Hanger Four we are on approach. Dubious over and out,” she responded. “You know, Skipper, if a cigar is sometimes just a cigar, then a name is sometimes just a name,” she