Star Carrier (Lost Colonies Trilogy Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

who’d joined up out of a sense of patriotism or simply to expand their wallets.
    The Guard’s pay rates, all the way down to the level of those who bore a single stripe, had more than doubled. That simple fact had counterbalanced the grumbling of the oldsters about the snot-noses they were now surrounded by.
    “They’re not the best,” Rumbold said as he walked laboriously at my side, “but at least there are a lot of them.”
    “They have the energy of youth,” I said. “They’re anxious to get out there to the stars.”
    “Damned fools, the lot of them,” he muttered. “God bless them and keep them all.”
    I hadn’t seen Admiral Halsey in person since we’d left Earth, and I’d had precious little contact with him during our trip to Mars. It had come as no surprise I’d been ordered to meet with him in his office upon arriving back home at Araminta Station.
    After buying Rumbold lunch, during which he polished off two beers in my honor, I took my leave of him and headed to Halsey’s office.
    There were subtle improvements to be seen even from outside his suite. The doors were more ornate, run through with filigreed platinum and punctuated with starbursts of gleaming gold. I had to wonder if these improvements had come from his own salary or the general fund. I suspected it was the latter.
    Inside, the secretary primly escorted me to yet another door and swept it open—an entirely unnecessary gesture. It was formal and courteous, however, so I bowed slightly to her before proceeding farther into the Admiral’s lair.
    There, in the innermost sanctum, the Admiral sat at his desk. He was in an uncharacteristically good mood and greeted me with enthusiasm.
    “Sparhawk! Come in, good man. I hope all’s well with you and yours.”
    “It is, sir,” I said, stepping onto a lush royal-blue carpet. The gravity was light on the station, but I sank into the soft rug nonetheless. “May I say, you’ve upgraded this place quite tastefully.”
    “I have indeed. Finally, at long last, Earth sees the benefit of the Guard. Good to be the first in line at the budget troughs when they’re full, isn’t it?”
    “As long as our odds of victory improve, there’s no expenditure I would vote against.”
    Halsey paused. His grin faded somewhat.
    “There’s that prissy attitude of yours again, rearing its accountant’s head. Don’t you think we should be enjoying things a little? Don’t you think seeing their admiral treated appropriately for his rank improves the morale of our spacers?”
    “I’m sure there are incalculable benefits,” I said with deliberate vagueness.
    He muttered something, then stood up and came around his desk to give me a hearty handshake.
    “Well, let’s forget about all that. Years under the penny-pinching Guard of the past has no doubt warped your thinking. Miserly reactions are only to be expected until our people unlearn such conditioning.”
    Feeling by no means miserly, I felt my mouth opening to object, but then I thought the better of it and clamped my jaw shut. What was the point? It wasn’t as if the admiral was going to sell his massive desk or his engravings and buy additional plasma cannons with the proceeds. Pursuing an argument at this point was counterproductive, so I merely nodded and smiled as I shook his hand in return.
    “I’ve done a lot of thinking about our first foray into space,” Halsey said, “that’s why I brought you here.”
    “Excellent. What’s the plan to retake our colonies, sir?”
    He waved toward a massive window of lead-impregnated glass. Outside, the cosmos glittered with cold light.
    “We’re flying into the unknown very soon now, Captain. I’ll be flying with Iron Duke at the center of the formation. She’ll be my flagship.”
    I nodded, having gathered that much.
    “First, we’ll visit Gliese-32 as you did. We’ll refuel there and impress them with the might of our fleet. Moving on, we’ll eventually recapture the Crown system.