Accord of Honor Read Online Free PDF Page A

like the ball really is in the pirates’ court for now. I don’t see that there’s much else that we can do until we know their next move, other than batten down the hatches and bring our ships in toward the planet.” Both Clarke and I were looking quizzically at Dad now. He wasn’t known for taking a passive stance on, well, anything!
    “Oh!” he went on. “I’m going to grab the company courier ship for a quick run to our R&D station. Governor, can I get rapid clearance for undocking? We have research out there that we can’t afford to let these people get their hands on.”
    “By all means, go then!” Clarke started, then added, “What sort of things? I don’t want to pry into company secrets, but if you have any ideas that might help...”
    “Well, among other things, our people have been working on a tweak for a faster ion drive,” Dad said. His face was poker-smooth, which meant he was telling the truth...just not all of it. I was instantly curious.
    Clarke stared at Dad a moment longer. For a second I thought he was going to ask more questions, but I guess he thought better of it. I didn’t plan to be as quiet about my own curiosity.
    “I’ll make sure your ship is cleared as soon as you’re ready to go,” Clarke said, and smiled. “Just be careful out there. Mars needs you right now, maybe more than ever.”
    Dad took that as a dismissal. He nodded to Clarke and Tabby, ignoring Turrell completely – who scowled in return – and turned on his heel to head to the door. With a smile and a wave, I followed right behind him. Something was up, and I intended to find out what.

Chapter 3
Thomas
    I hurried to keep up as he marched out of the control room. He wasn’t running, but he always set a fast pace when he walked. Dad ignored me as we moved down the halls away from the station hub, headed out toward the docking sections. He pulled out his phone and made a call.
    “Is the courier ready to undock?” he asked. “I’m going to need a fast flight.” Whatever he heard must have satisfied him. He nodded. “No worries, not bringing crew. They wouldn’t have clearance to go where I’m headed anyway.” Then he hung up on the call.
    “Dad, stop.” He did, and turned to look at me. I raised my eyebrows. “You know the station has a two pilot rule – no ships fly out of orbit without a second person on board.”
    He started walking again. “The governor just said he’d expedite. They won’t hold me up.”
    I caught up, came up alongside him. “They will if I inform them you’re taking off by yourself in a ship meant to be crewed by ten.” At that, he froze in his tracks and turned to glare at me. I took a deep breath and met his stare evenly. I had his attention, at least.
    “You need a copilot. I’m here, I’m flight and command certified for interplanetary class ships. And I have a sneaking suspicion you don’t want to be stuck with just anyone.”
    “You should head to the surface, get down in the corporate building. The bottom levels should make a pretty good bunker,” he said. “This is going to get messy, and fast.”
    “So you’re pretty sure they’re going to hit Mars Station, then.” It wasn’t a question.
    “It’s their next logical target,” he replied. “Once they have control of the mining bases and Mars, they have Earth in a bad place.”
    I looked at Dad. I could see he didn’t want me anywhere but safe in a hole. I could even understand why. But maybe I had inherited more from him than I usually wanted to admit. I could feel that this was the cusp of something important. I knew damned well that my father was about to go and do something drastic to help solve the problem. And...
    I had friends on Mars. And there were thousands of other people there who relied on the station, and contact with Earth. Like the governor said, life without contact would be hard for the people on Mars. Very hard. More, there was a part of me that was burning in anger at the people