In the Presence of My Enemies Read Online Free PDF Page A

translation. In any case, with the aid of some of former allies, the Meltranians were slowly being pushed back into the Darkness. That is when our enemy became aware of a powerful weapon that had been created by the humans.”
       “The Project Windstorm biospheric torpedo,” Melissa said with a nod.
       The corners of Williams’s mouth turned upward into a near-smile, evidently proud that his daughter had correctly followed the clues he had left behind for her.
       Commodore Savath ’s response was more subtle, giving Melissa a slow nod. “It is widely believed that the Meltranians felt that, if they were to detonate this weapon on the various home worlds of the Army of Light, the alliance would fracture to protect its own interests, thus leaving them defenseless against a future influx of Meltranians.”
       “ How did the Meltranians come by this information, and how did they know to look at Second Earth?”
       Savath looked over to William’s cell, and Melissa saw her father shake his head.
       “I still don’t know,” William replied dejectedly. “In any event, that’s when the Kafarans tried to head off the Meltranians here at Second Earth. So with two large alien forces moving on a direct course toward Unified space, and with the growing concern over the rumors of the Army of Light, Unified Sector Command—under orders from the OSI—sent a covert insertion team to Second Earth in an attempt to reclaim the weapon.”
       “You?” Melissa asked.
       William nodded. “Myself and six specialists. We were initially dispatched to Second Earth, but once there we began making frequent trips to the planet Corvan to check the Windstorm backup mainframes. The last time I was on Corvan, the Meltranians showed up at Second Earth. They disabled the orbiting security satellites, then killed all the specialists who were there gathering data.”
       “Did they retrieve anything about Project Windstorm?” she asked.
       William shook his head. “I’m not sure . . . I don’t believe so. From what my team could gather, most of the critical information was destroyed on Second Earth during the initial explosion that decimated the planet. The Meltranians never made it to Corvan.”
       “Because that’s when the Valley Forge showed up looking for you.”
       “It would seem so,” William said, and there was no mistaking the sadness in his voice. “The Meltranians must have been waiting for them on the far side of the planet. Not long after the Valley Forge began sending teams down to the surface to collect evidence, the Meltranians attacked. My guess is that they acquired everything the Sector Command forces lifted from the surface after they obliterated our fleet.”
       Melissa nodded. “Several days ago we came across the remains of the cruiser Icarus . I was able to extract some of the captain’s logs, and they corroborate some of what you’re saying. But how did you end up on the Kafaran carrier?”
       “I waited on Corvan for as long as I could, and then took my transport back to Second Earth. On reentry, the shuttle had a guidance malfunction, and I was forced to crash land on the far side of Crystal City. I made my way back to Addison Field, and that’s when I found that my team had been murdered, and nearly every scrap of data had been stripped from the base.”
       “That’s when you made the recording for me?”
       William smiled. “I’m glad you found it. Yes. And, as you should have deduced by now, that’s when the Kafaran fleet arrived.”
       “They took you prisoner?”
       William looked at Savath and nodded. “Yes, at first.”
       “What convinced them that you were not a threat?”
       “When they learned that I had the knowledge of Windstorm that they needed.”
       Melissa’s jaw went slack and her eyes became like saucers. “You used classified information as a bargaining chip for your life?”
       William didn’t answer; he just