Captain (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 4) Read Online Free PDF

Dream , a registered Federation yacht was seized by the Confederation System Guard while in neutral space.  It was taken under traction and towed to the CF-32 system where we have learned through the Brotherhood embassy on Neuvo Bogata that a Confederation Navy cargo vessel, probably the CS Prince of Celeste , will bring it back to the Firenze Station,” LT Brisco Telemark, the ship’s intel officer, briefed the gathered staff. 
    “We have lodged a complaint with the Confederation of Free States and demanded the ship’s immediate release, but the Confederation has accused the Julianna’s Dream of being on a spy mission in their space.  Since that response, the President of the Confederation has recalled his ambassador and pulled our ambassador’s credentials.
    “Here is the CF-32 system,” he said, pointing to an image over the portable holo base that had been put on the wardroom table.
    The Inchon was extremely advanced in most ways, but for a troop transport, there was no central briefing room.  Each stateroom was connected for conference briefs, but the sailors and Marines quickly abandoned the system except for entertainment.  A briefing needed to be face-to-face for the best conveyance of information, so the wardroom was quickly chosen as a defacto briefing room.  It was crowded with all the required staff, but it was better than the alternative.
    “The system has no habitable planets, but it has two research stations, one which is experimenting with methods to mine the atmosphere of its gas giant, CF-32-5.”
    The holo centered on a ringed planet.
    Ryck wasn’t up-to-date on all mining research, but he was basically aware of the drive to develop an economically viable method to pull substances such as hydrogen deuteride, which  increased efficiencies in modern fabrication, out of gas giants.  Most of the gas giants’ atmospheres were simple hydrogen, but with such huge volumes of gasses, even trace amounts of hydrogen deuteride resulted in tremendous amounts of the gas.
    If the Julianna’s Dream strayed too close to the system, then Ryck wasn’t surprised that the ship was detained.  Why the Confederation wouldn’t release the ship now was another story, though.
    “The Prince of Celeste is a Tonder class heavy hauler, and we don’t think it can arrive on station before 05:15 on June 8, MST.  It could be preceded by a warship, of course, but we’ve had no indication of sudden unplanned departures of capital ships in the region.
    “That leaves the System Guard ship.  We do not have a firm identification of the ship yet, but it is probably a Wrym class packet, which would put it at 50,000 tons, armed with a second generation 50 KJ plasma cannon, four torpedo tubes, and a 50mm railgun.”
    Ryck could almost see the slight easing of the tension among the Navy staff.  While that ship might be more than enough to be a deterrent of pirates and tax runners, it was hardly a match for the Inchon .
    “The Julianna’s Dream is a Cessna 900,” he went on perking up the ears of all the ship groupies.  Ryck was not up on all the newest and greatest in the yacht fleets, but even he knew the Cessna was top-of-the-line.
    “The owner-pilot is Mr. Terrance Gilbreath, a businessman.  Onboard are his wife, three children, and four personal staff.
    “That’s all for my initial assessment.  I will feed more out as I receive it.  Let me turn it over to Commander Marsov.”
    “So are we going to show the flag, you think?” Donte asked Ryck as they sat in the second row of seats.
    “You’ve got me,” Ryck said as he looked at the other staff crowded around.
    Over half of the men were in civvies.  At least everyone had gotten back on the ship before it left orbit, which was a minor miracle.  Ryck had made it back to the shuttle port with minutes to spare, but both the battalion and the ship’s CO, along with several key staff had been out on some alpine lake, and the LCDR Wyzusky, the senior watch