Battlecruiser Alamo - 7 - Battlecruiser Alamo: Sacred Honor Read Online Free PDF Page B

hand.
     “The tugs are on the way. I’ll be heading back now; you will report to me with your logs and records upon arrival. If I am not satisfied, you and your crew will be placed in detention until all of this has been cleared up. Is that understood?”
     Orlova looked at Carpenter, then back at Price. “Completely. Everything will be ready by the time we dock.”
     “Fine.” He tossed a datapad at her, then continued, “Landing protocols, the works, and you can put all the information I’ve requested onto it. Make things a lot easier.” 
     He turned again, ducked into the shuttle, and closed the airlock behind him. Orlova watched wordlessly as the vessel disappeared into the deck, and with a loud bang, dropped away from Hercules on its path back to the station.
     Carpenter looked across at Orlova, relief on her face, “I can’t believe that worked!”
     “That’s because it didn’t,” she replied. “He doesn’t trust a word I said, but getting us to the station is going to make it a lot easier to capture is.” With a deep sigh, she continued, “It always was a bit of a long shot.”
     “So what now?”
     “We need to continue with the plan, follow it to the letter.” Pushing off, she slid into the elevator, Carpenter hard on her heels.
     “What’s the point, though? If they know that we’re not who we made ourselves out to be?”
     “It was a lousy cover story, Susan. I wouldn’t have believed me. I’ve bought a little time, and that’s all – and we might be able to use it to our advantage.” The ship shuddered, the elevator pausing on its tracks for a moment. “Looks like the tugs have locked on. That’ll make it easier, anyway. I’d hate to have to try and bring this ship in with the few thrusters we have left.”
     The doors opened on the bridge, and Curry turned as she floated in, rising from the seat and waving her hands in the air.
     “Our guidance system is being controlled from the station. I’m just sitting and watching at this point.”
     “Good, you can help with the faked flight logs.”
     “This isn’t going to work,” Nelyubov said. “We can’t put together everything they need this quickly.”
     “No, it probably isn’t. Nevertheless, I want you to make the attempt.” She punched a button on the side of her chair, “Sergeant Wilson, you there?”
     “Still working with my needle and thread.”
     “Stop working on them, and get down to missile control.”
     “We haven’t got any missile tubes working.”
     “No, but we’ve got some warheads, right?”
     Every eye turned to look at her as he replied, “We do, ma’am.”
     “Distribute the warheads around the ship, place them in positions where they will not be easily found, and rig them to detonate on demand. Put in a dead man’s switch.”
     Carpenter yelled, “You can’t be serious.”
     “The crew deserve better than this,” Mathis said.
     Shaking her head, Orlova said, “Wilson, get it done.”
     After a long pause, the engineer replied, quietly, “Aye, ma’am.”
     “There’s no point to this,” Curry said. “Hercules has been in enemy hands for years, it won’t give away any secrets if they take it again.”
     “That isn’t the reason. If we have any problems, I want an ace up my sleeve.”
     “Fix our ship or we blow up your space station?” Nelyubov said, frowning. “Isn’t that a little desperate?”
     “I thought we had already reached ‘desperate’,” Mathis replied. “What have we got to lose at this point? It isn’t as if we would actually use it.”
     Orlova sat, quietly, watching the station grow closer. A standard design, long central column surrounded by spokes. It would be nice to be in gravity again.
     “Lieutenant?” Mathis said. “You wouldn’t detonate it, would you?”
     “They need to think so,” she replied. “And as a last resort, I damn well would.”
     

 
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