Retribution (The Federation Reborn Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the captain said, looking at the image of the tumbling wreck.
    “Roger,” the engineer replied grimly after a moment of hesitation.
    :::{)(}:::
     
    Main Engineering had run-away plasma leaks all over the ship to contend with. The survivors couldn't handle that level of damage control required to save their ship. Chief Faver swore viciously as the computer cut fuel to the power plant in a desperate but sabotaging act. Instead of saving the situation as it had been programmed, it instead stalled the fusion reactor and set the governors to scram it for the safety of the ship. Bottle containment failed, and the emergency systems powered the reactor down before it could collapse, venting the plasma to space in the process. A long superhot trail of plasma wrapped itself around the ship and scalded the hull, welding some areas shut and melting through others in hull breaches where the skin was thin enough. Some of the plasma drifted away, but some stayed close to the hull, attracted by the ship's weak mass and flickering gravitational field. With the feed cut and the remaining plasma in the conduits rapidly cooling, there went the ship's remaining power.
    That left the ship a derelict. “We are so, so very much screwed,” Chief Faver growled, placing a hand over the oozing cut on his arm.
    :::{)(}:::
     
    Brrfrak was left trapped in the stygian darkness of his polluted water chamber prison; he used his sonar and felt the terror as his enraged captors came for him. He watched helplessly as they cut the feed to his life support and refused to cry out in pain as the three two-legs stood around him, arguing in their vocal language.
    They were going to stand there and watch him die, perhaps die as well? He wasn't certain. His vision was keen in the dark. He looked around, but there was no point, no hope.
    There was something odd though, odd about it all. Not about the situation but in his reaction to it. He didn't feel regret, just … acceptance. And a little bit of triumph at finally getting them for a little for all the torment they'd inflicted on him and his beloved.
    It was small, cold comfort, but it was something. He decided to treasure it for as long as the feelings lasted.
    :::{)(}:::
     
    “This is Captain Levinton of the federation frigate Descartes again. Whether you like it or not, you are now heaving to. Prepare to be boarded,” a cold voice said over the radio before the communications link went dead.
    Captain Belerose knew the end was nigh. The chase was over; their ship was dead. The drifting debris trail behind her ship told her all she needed to know about the state of her sublight drive. And with it gone was her last vestige of hope.
    Not that she'd had much to begin with. But there was one last thing she could do. One last act … call it spite, she thought as she her hands flicked at her keyboard to launch the computer works into the computer network.
    “We've got a minute of power remaining,” Oswald said from the helm station. “Everyone else is dead, Skipper. Looks like it's just you and me in here,” he said, handing her an emergency mask. She took it and slipped it around her neck. She'd use the small bottle and rebreather charge only when it became absolutely necessary.
    She rerouted power ruthlessly from life support to finish her plan just as the computers started to die.
    “This is the captain. I'm using the remaining power to order you to disconnect the Ssilli. Destroy all databases; don't bother to try to get life support up and running.”
    “Captain?” Oswald asked.
    “I'm on it,” she said long fingers flicking out commands she alone knew and could use. She pressed her thumb to the activation port for the final authorization. She swore vilely when the self-destruct failed to go off. There was something cut between her and the packages and reactor. No matter, she thought. Where there was a will there was a way. She flicked out fresh commands.
    “We're going to be boarded. You heard me,