The Last Praetorian by Mike Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

problems at hand, like making it to Eden Prime
alive. 
    Instead Jon just replied, “For the moment let’s just
concentrate on getting you to Eden Prime safely.  We can worry about what
happens next after we arrive,” Jon answered truthfully.
    “You won’t leave me?” Sofia asked in a small voice.
    “Not unless you wish me to,” once again Jon answered
truthfully but inside a little piece of his heart died.  Upon her arrival Sofia
would be crowned Empresses.  Jon would continue to serve her, just as he had
her father, but never again would he hold her in his arms.  Tearing his gaze
from her tear filled eyes, he shifted his sight to the flight controls and
after ensuring that Sofia was seated comfortably in the co-pilot seat,
confirmed that the correct course was laid in and prepared to resume their
journey…
      …But as his fingers hovered over the controls to resume
their journey something stopped him.  Ever-since the communication from the
Commodore something had been nagging at the back of his sub-conscious. 
Initially he had just thought it the shock of the Emperors’ death, or the anger
at the Commodore’s betrayal, but over time the feeling had just become stronger
and stronger until he could no longer ignore it.  His fingers continued to
hover over the engine restart key…
    As the squadron continued to hang, motionless in space,
between the stars it finally occurred to Radec what had been bothering him for
so long…  It was quiet, too quiet…  Stabbing the control on his pilot’s seat to
broadcast on the Praetorian’s private tactical frequency he demanded.
    “Squadron, find me the fleet CAP!”  At a confused look from
Sofia, Jon explained.  “The CAP stands for Combat Air Patrol.  It’s a fleet
term from Old Earth, when they first introduced fleet aircraft carriers.  When
in unknown territory they would always have at least a few planes in the air
continuously, able to quickly respond to any threat – the Combat Air Patrol or
CAP.  This tradition has continued, and when the fleet is deployed there will
always be a CAP present…” However, in this instance it seemed not, as the calls
from the squadron replied, nobody could detect the CAP.  “That does not make
sense,” Jon uttered aloud.  No fleet would ever be deployed to the outer-rim
without a CAP, not if the fleet commander wished to keep his rank, or his head
if the Emperor had ever discovered the transgression.
    “Well maybe they were needed elsewhere,” Sofia innocently
suggested.  Jon immediately dismissed the suggestion, after all what could be
more important than protecting the fleet.  Then slowly, ever so slowly, a
terrifying thought began to creep across Jon’s consciousness.  What if Sofia
was correct, a mission the success of which was paramount, where every single
available fighter was to be utilised to maximise the chances of a successful
outcome?  The Praetorians were fanatically loyal to the Emperor and his family,
no person or group was going to succeed in replacing him until both were gone. 
The entire squadron was assembled here, protecting the last of the Aurelius
bloodline with no witnesses present.
    But how? Jon thought desperately. 
    Checking the scanners carefully there were no threats within
sensor range, only a few hundred kilometres would take them to the FTL jump and
safety.  Nothing could stop them in time… but still he could not come to
restart the engines, gazing helplessly out of the cockpit windows, with the
stars twinkling innocently, Jon desperately searched for an answer. 
    With a brief flickering of light a star illuminated directly
ahead before vanished just as quickly; but there were no stars ahead.  The
squadron was following a parabolic course away from the nearest gas giant to
escape the gravity field and jump into FTL.  Ahead was just the asteroid field
where dust had accumulated over the millennia, accumulating in places due to
gravitational instability into