Homefall: Book Four of the Last Legion Series Read Online Free PDF

oh. Sorry,” Garvin said. “I should know, never wise up the mark.”
    “And this is yours,” Ristori said, giving Garvin back his watch ring. “And this.” It was Garvin’s wallet, which had been most secure in his buttoned rear pocket.
    “But you never got within a meter of me!” Garvin blurted.
    “I didn’t, did I?” Ristori said, in a deep voice full of ominous significance. “If I had, I might have all your credits, which you’ll find in your left front pocket.”
    “You two,” Garvin said, knowing without checking, the money would somehow be there. ‘Out. Report to Njangu and draw your gear.”
    “And try to leave him with his pants.”
    • • •
    The tall man in greasy coveralls slid out from underneath a Zhukov Aerial Combat Vehicle. He held an unpowered torque wrench about as long as his arm.
    Njangu saluted him smartly as he got to his feet.
    Mil
Taf Liskeard returned the salute, after noting the wings on Yoshitaro’s chest.
    “Didn’t think you flyboys would even recognize my existence these days,” he said bitterly.
    Njangu didn’t respond to that, but said, “Sir, I’d like to speak to you privately.”
    Liskeard looked across at the two mechanics, who were visibly not paying the slightest attention.
    “In that grease trap that passes for my office, then.”
    Njangu followed him inside, closed the door.
    “All right. What do you want, Yoshitaro? Aren’t you too busy putting together your latest scheme to be wasting time on a grounded old fart who broke under fire?”
    “I want you, sir, as one of the pilots on that scheme.”
    “Bad joke,” Liskeard said shortly. “I say again my last. I broke, remember? I had Angara ground me. Or hadn’t you heard? I couldn’t take killing people.”
    “I know,” Yoshitaro said. “But I still want you. To fly that Big Ugly Flopper we’re going out in. I looked your record up, sir. You had more than two thousand hours in converted civilian transports before you transferred to Griersons. And we’re very, very short on people who’ve got experience moving hogs of steel about.”
    “I did do that for a while,” Liskeard said. “I should have known my limits and kept pushing those BUFs around the sky.
    “But that’s not the point. I couldn’t take it, busting other transports apart like the ones I flew, like gutting fish, and turned my wings in. Angara said he’d make sure I never flew anything military again, and would have my ass out of the Force as soon as he got around to it.
    “I guess he forgot about me down here in this motor pool,” Liskeard went on. “And I’ll be damned if I know why I didn’t remind him.”
    He rubbed his forehead, leaving a greasy smear.
    “No, Yoshitaro. You’ve got something else in mind than rehabilitating a coward. Am I supposed to be the Judas Goat on this new operation? I hear you’re famous for nasty little tricks like that.”
    “I want you,” and Njangu paused, trying to hold back his temper, trying to hold to his purpose. But the words didn’t come easy, “for personal reasons. A month or so after you … grounded yourself, I got in the center of somebody’s sights and they dropped a barrage on me. And I broke, too.”
    “But you came back. Obviously, or you’d be under that Zhukov with me, looking for grease points.”
    “Yeh,” Njangu said. “I did. Maybe because I was too cowardly to tell somebody who saw me go down that I was shattered, that I couldn’t keep on keeping on.”
    Liskeard’s manner changed. He eyed Njangu.
    “So this is a kind of rehabilitation. You’re willing to take a chance on me again?”
    “We’re not going out in
Big Bertha
to shoot at people,” Njangu said. “We’re going out to have a look around and get our asses back here to report.”
    “That doesn’t mean I’ll be able to hold together if things get sticky.”
    “Then I’ll yank your ass off the controls and break it myself for real. Sir.” Njangu growled, his fingers unconsciously