Virtues of War by Bennett R. Coles Read Free Book Online Page B

through his mind, and he indulged for just a moment as his eyes slid closed. Those were happy times, but as he flipped through the recorded pictures, he sensed other images seeping into his mind, like tendrils of smoke. Just wisps at first, hints that grew to envelop his carefully controlled memory access.
    Flashes outshone his pictures, and the heavy coat on Rupa faded to that simple, comfortable outfit she’d been wearing that hellish night. The smiles on the girls’ faces began to stretch, morphing into screams as memory gave way to nightmare.
    “No!”
    He opened his eyes and stared around the room, grounding himself in reality. Memory access channels began shutting down automatically, following his pre-set responses alert to dangerous infiltration. Still he was tired, and it was hard to seal all the gaps. The smoke of memory seeped in, and despite all his training, all his discipline as an agent of the Centauri government, he felt his mind slowly, inexorably slipping back…
    * * *
    “Daddy, Daddy! The stars are falling from heaven!”
    Kete kept his eyes on the v-ware screen projected at his work station, irritated that his train of thought had been interrupted. He’d promised the girls that he’d come and play as soon as he was finished. Didn’t they understand that these interruptions only slowed him down?
    “That’s great, honey,” he called. “Try and catch some for me.”
    Olivia—at least, he thought it was Olivia—shouted something back in her usual, excited manner. He was vaguely aware of the thumping of little feet headed out to the deck, but his attention remained on the analysis in front of him.
    Reports from the front lines indicated that at least half the Terran fleet was still in port, with perhaps two star forces worth of ships being readied for departure. The combined Centauri-Procyoni squadrons had repelled the latest Terran assault on the jump gates, and the mighty Astral Base Five was effectively out of the fight. Most of the Terran forces scattered through the colonies had been destroyed, but some forces were still unaccounted for, most notably the remains of the expeditionary force in Sirius.
    Finding the missing Terran warships wasn’t the highest priority, as long as the jump gate accesses were held by friendly forces. Yet it was still Kete’s job to find them, and he was determined to help his government tie up that particular loose end while the generals and admirals planned the main assault into Terran space.
    Letting his thoughts soar free, he looked and listened for hints that might point the way to the rogue Terran ships. Errant radio signals, unusual bends in spacetime, even subtle shifts in temperature within the Sirian solar system might be enough. He loosed general queries, listened to what drifted back. It was work that required patience, and stillness of mind.
    “Daddy! Come and look!”
    Kete sighed in frustration. Checking the time, he realized that the girls were already up past their bedtime. Perhaps the war effort could take second place to his family, at least for a short while. He withdrew from the Cloud, locked his secure terminal, and rose from his chair.
    It was a short walk through the dining room to the open doors leading out to the deck, and he saw both girls in pajamas, leaning against the railing and staring upward. Rupa was next to them and was looking out toward the night sky with equal rapture. She heard him coming and motioned with interest for him to join them.
    The night air was cool. It had lost the crispness of winter, but Kete still shivered slightly in his t-shirt and jeans. He put his arm around Rupa’s shoulders and gently pulled her against him, resting his other hand on Olivia’s head.
    “What’s going on?” he asked.
    “Look, Daddy!” little Jess cried, pointing all across the southern sky. “Look at the stars!”
    At first all he saw were the familiar, twinkling points in the sky, some obscured by the scattered clouds common at this