The Rise of Earth by Jason Fry Read Free Book Online Page A

“But Earth is the dominant power of the solar system. It’s crazy not to acknowledge that.”
    â€œThen why doesn’t His Majesty actually act like the solar system’s leader, instead of its biggest bully?” Tycho asked.
    â€œGood question. Perhaps if we abandoned our provocations, we could have that conversation with him.”
    â€œProvocations like what?” Yana asked. “Like privateering?”
    â€œYes, like privateering.”
    The three of them were silent for a moment while the machine whined and worked.
    â€œThis isn’t about what’s happening in the Cybeles,” Yana said quietly. “You want to abandon the family business.”
    Carlo crossed his arms over his chest.
    â€œLet’s be honest about what the family business is. We’re pirates . Nobody will say it, but it’s true—and giving these new letters of marque to a bunch of rogues just proves it. After 624 Hektor they came up with a new name for what we do, but it’s the same profession.”
    â€œThat isn’t true and you know it,” Tycho said. “We follow the rules of our letter of marque and abide by the laws of interplanetary commerce. Pirates don’t do that.”
    â€œThat’s a little speech we’ve all memorized,” Carlo said. “But we’re the only ones who interpret the laws that way. Unless you want to count the Ice Wolves, which isn’t the company I want to keep.”
    â€œWhat about Earth, since they have privateers of their own now?” Yana asked. “Here’s what I don’t get, Carlo—you want to be captain, but you think we shouldn’t be privateers anymore. So what’s the point?”
    â€œHow much longer do you think there will be privateers?” Carlo asked.
    Yana and Tycho glanced at each other, puzzled.
    â€œAs long as there are Hashoones,” Yana said, and after a moment Tycho nodded in agreement.
    â€œI don’t think so,” Carlo said. “The current situation can’t continue.”
    â€œAnd why not?” Tycho asked. “Have you noticed there are a lot more privateers now than there were a month ago?”
    â€œThat’s just another sign of how unstable everything is. We need to think about what happens the day privateering ends, because it’ll be here soon. And we need to be ready.”
    â€œSo what do you think comes after privateering?” Tycho asked his brother.
    â€œNothing,” Yana said. “If privateering ends, we have nothing.”
    â€œWhy should that be true?” Carlo asked, his voice rising. “We’ve got a fast ship that’s tough in a fight, a highly skilled crew, and a long service record.”
    â€œAnd that gets us what?”
    Carlo hesitated, and Tycho knew he was debating how much to share with them.
    â€œA place in the Jovian Defense Force. If we play our cards right. After privateering ends, the JDF will bring the best privateer bridge crews into the military as officers. The question is, will we be able to take advantage of it?”
    Yana leaned forward, causing the machine strapped to her shoulder to squall a warning as the tubes began to stretch too far. She scooched back on the examining table and glared at Carlo.
    â€œYou know, you could have just joined the JDF in the first place,” she said. “That would have saved us all a lot of trouble. I just don’t get how you can still be so inlove with them. Don’t you remember what happened at Saturn?”
    â€œOf course I remember what happened at Saturn.”
    â€œThen you remember that to the JDF, we’re auxiliary units. Expendable.”
    â€œThat was the opinion of one commander who was unfit for duty.”
    â€œPlease,” Yana said. “Admiral Badawi never had an original thought in his life. They all think that way. If privateering is coming to an end, there’s nothing waiting for us. We’re useful tools