Deviation Read Online Free PDF Page B

- the best damned pilot since the invention of Interstellar Travel - just to get the ship moving. Keats was necessary should something bust, and was technically the owner of the Lothogy. Co-owner, he corrected himself. The math filtered down to Keats paying fifty-one percent of the purchase price, while Hedric had only managed forty-nine.
    Keats just lacked that leadership quality. Charisma, some might say. He was also the only crew member not certified as a Field Arc. The lanky, awkward man simply wasn't built for the mercenary fighting that Hedric and the others were used to. Keats preferred to tinker with the mechanics while Hedric had more of the people skills. Up until now, Hedric had kept to a strict code; take care of your men, take care of your ship. By keeping that code, he had earned the respect of their small crew.
    Jellison was easy to win over. The bulky, ex-military man was comfortable with following commands, which was good since he was their star Arc. When push came to shove, Jellison had a terrifying aim and an unnerving sort of calm under fire. Freeman was nearly as good, but he'd come from the civilian sector. That made him unpredictable, disorderly, but as long as he got paid he followed Hedric's command.
    And then there had been Mesa. There wasn't anything that woman wouldn't have done for him and he knew it. He prayed she had known the depth of his feelings for her. The absence of her voice was an ever-present goad to his soul, reminding him of just how much he had lost. His mind teased him with flashes of memories. They were brief and quick; the glare of sun on her mechanical arm, the burnished shade of her hair, but they were all fleeting, and he couldn't hold onto it.
    An alarm sounded, startling him out of the reverie.
    Hedric's attention snapped to the controls. The MEDS screen flashed the presence of three Borden Company ships entering Solitude, Australia. Hissing a stream of curses, he flipped the comms toggle and began to rush through the last of the pre-flight checks.
    Oxygen - full to capacity.
    The crew would get the alarm on their individual comms receivers, a small circular device at the lapel of their uniform, and hurry back.
    Ionic Fuel - full to capacity.
    Petrol Fuel - full to capacity.
    "Damn that money-grubbing whore of a man!"
    Solar Generator - Go.
    Matthew Borden, probably the richest man this side of the Milky Way, had a mean streak to him. In the seven years Hedric had led the Field Arcs of the Lothogy, he'd run into the Borden Company two dozen times. Borden's elite, known as the Fomorri, were aggravatingly good at their jobs. It didn't matter if they were hunting the same creature, plant, rock or planet; Borden kept a ruthless standard for his men: meet the objective or die trying.
    And this time Hedric knew he wasn't just the competition. Hedric and the Lothogy were the objective. Whatever Mesa had uncovered, it had been important. Their reprieve at the Temple had only given Borden's men time to regroup and arm up.
    Three more ships set off the alarm again and Hedric felt his stomach knot. "Six?" The word filled the cockpit, echoing the surprise and horror that had settled in his chest.
    Six ships? He'd known stealing from the Borden Company would piss the man off, but six ships?
    "Well that was a quick walk," Myron leapt down the ladder and shot into the pilot's seat.
    "Outer doors sealed," Jellison's gravelly voice announced over the ships speakers.
    "Cargo secure," Freeman reported.
    With a cursory glance at the MEDS screen, Hedric flipped the switch for all systems go and dropped back into the navigator seat. The crew had been through enough rushed take offs to know it was time to sit down and hold tight, let Myron do his job. As soon as they were airborne they could wander the ship, double check systems and the like. Unless, of course, Myron was forced to take on an evasive flight pattern, and given the six Borden ships that had identified the Lothogy on entry, Hedric knew