Dark Running (Fourth Fleet Irregulars Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

anything. Who is that? Please, please, whoever you are, please , tell me that you’re going to pick me up, don’t leave me here!’
    ‘It’s okay, relax, we won’t leave you.’ The woman said soothingly. ‘My name is Shion, okay? I’m in a fighter just a few klicks above you. We will come in and get you, I promise. We just need to follow procedure. Do you have any ID or orders to confirm who you are?’
    Jermane floundered for a moment, then remembered. Ambassador Jeynkins had given him the letter, in case it might be needed.
    ‘I have a letter from the president,’ he offered. ‘But it’s on a secure tape so I can’t upload it.’
    ‘Okay – just wait there,’ she said, as if he could do anything else. ‘We’re coming in now.’
    ‘Oh, thank God, thank God!’ he babbled. ‘You’ve no idea, I’ve been here for days, days and days and days – oh the ice! Be careful when you come in, there’s ice everywhere. I don’t think it’s safe. There was a place where the shuttle landed when they brought me here but that’s covered with ice now so I don’t know where you’ll be able to land.’
    Even in his frantic relief, something was trying to force its way into his awareness. Shion . Fighter .
    He ran to the window and saw a star fighter, a sleek dart, dropping feather light to land nearby. It was bigger than the dome, studded with pyramid guns. It had military grey paintwork and an emblem which displayed Fourth Fleet Irregulars, but it also had a nose-emblem, a sparkling ruby insect with the legend Firefly .
    Jermane’s knees went weak beneath him.
    ‘It’s you!’ he gasped. ‘Oh my God, it’s you!’ Then he realised how rude that sounded. ‘Your grace!’
    ‘Oi,’ said Shion, amused, mock-stern. ‘Pack that in. It’s just Shion, okay? Hi. Give me a wave – I can see you at the window.’
    Jermane obeyed, dazedly. Titles were ringing in his head – strange and ancient, with a thrilling resonance of exotic, alien lands. Chamlorn Lady Ariel Mgwamba et Savurai, Grace of a noble house, purest of blood, Breath of the Karlane. The only one of her people to emerge from the mysterious Veiled World in living memory. A visitor so important that the League President himself had crossed half the League just to meet her. And here she was, piloting a fighter.
    ‘Good boy,’ Shion said. ‘Now, take a couple of deep breaths and try to focus, okay? Some of our guys are coming over to you now…’ she heard him catch his breath as a hatch opened on the fighter and silver figures sprang out of it. They wore huge, mirror-bright armour and carried deadly-looking rifles. They clearly meant business, too, as they leapt out two by two in perfect unison, hitting the ground and forming a rapid, close formation. ‘Yes, I know they look a bit scary but they’re not, really,’ Shion told him. ‘They’re coming to help. Have you got a space suit there, Jermane?’
    ‘Er – yes,’ he said, looking over at the locker where the space suit was kept. ‘But I haven’t tried putting it on. Andi said I should only use it in emergencies.’
    ‘Don’t worry about it, then, we’ll get you in one of our own suits,’ Shion said, matter of factly. ‘But you may want to pack anything you want to bring with you. Don’t worry about the guys, they’ll let themselves in.’
    Even as she spoke, four of the eight figures in combat armour were coming through the outer hatch into the airlock, while the other four held at-the-ready positions. Moments later, the inner hatch opened and the first of the figures clumped in.
    ‘Hi,’ she said, clearing her visor to reveal that she was a young woman, still a teenager by the look of her, with a look of sturdy common sense and a broad grin. ‘Tina Lucas,’ she introduced herself, and stuck out a massive gauntleted hand. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
     
     

    Two
    Three months before, and three hundred and forty seven light years away, Cadet Officer Tina Lucas sat in the office