Starship Eternal (War Eternal Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

head lightly, feeling the world start to spin. The alcohol inhibitor in his gut let him get just wasted enough to be vulnerable, but not enough to completely lose his senses.
    "Which planet are we headed to?" he asked, circling around the table. He had seen it pass by on his p-rat, but he hadn't paid much attention.
    "Kolmar."
    "Really?"
    "I know, it's a mining planet. We get some of our highest enlistment rates from there. I mean, given a choice would you rather pilot a digger or a Zombie?"  
    He put his arm over Mitchell's shoulder and shifted in front of the Marine, looking him in the eye and preparing to give him advice as if they were friends. If Mitch had been sober, he might have punched him for it.  
    "Look, Mitch, I know the situation isn't what you-"
    A shrill tone sounded in Mitchell's inner ear. Evan's head pitched forward at almost the same time, the front it breaking apart and spraying him with flesh, blood, and bone.
    He reacted out of pure instinct, his years of training working faster than his mind could figure out what had just happened. He took a tighter hold of Evan's corpse and ducked beneath it, at the same time feeling his body begin to warm. His neural implant flooded him with adrenaline, pushing away the inebriated haze. He looked past Evan and watched more holes appear in the clear carbonate, feeling the shock of each slug burying itself deep into the Corporal's flesh. If the force hadn't been reduced by the window, the shots would have gone right through both of them.
    Mitchell dropped Evan and rolled to the side, finding his AZ-9 and bringing it to his hand. He came up behind a table, looking out the window and up towards an office on the other side of the street. His p-rat showed him the residual signature of a high-powered rifle. Both it and its user were gone.
    He connected his p-rat to central dispatch. "Command, this is Captain Williams. Corporal Kwon is down. I'm under attack."
    A clinical, emotionless voice replied. "We have your position, Captain. The authorities are being notified, and a team is being deployed."
    "Like I'm going to wait for a team," he mumbled, dropping the connection. He stayed crouched behind the table, his eyes scanning the street. A dark car slid to a stop in front of the building, black window descending to reveal the end of a heavy rifle.
    "You can't do that with a corpse," Mitchell spat.  
    The assassins might have expected him to run away, to try to evade their fire. He did the opposite, breaking from behind the table and sprinting towards the door.
    The rifle opened fire, spraying the front of the bar. The bullets screamed around him, his aggressive maneuver throwing the shooter's aim just enough. A bullet tore clean through his right shoulder, his p-rat showing the damage in the corner of his eye, assessing and sending stimulants and healing drugs from a second implant in his buttocks. Another shot hit him in the same arm. If he hadn't been left-handed, he would have dropped his gun.
    Instead, he brought it up and took two shots into the car. The rifle stopped firing. The driver's side door opened, and a man slid out and started aiming. Mitchell rapid-fired six more rounds. The first four skipped off the roof of the car, the last two hit the driver in the face.  
    He could hear sirens now, the York police dispatched ahead of the military for faster local response. He thought about stopping and letting them handle the cleanup. No. Someone across the street had killed Evan, and he wasn't about to let them get away.
    He kept running towards the dark car, jumping and using the open window to vault up and over it. He shoulder-rolled on the other side, a little awkward on his left, and got to his feet, running for the front of the office building. Everything had happened so fast, he doubted the shooter could have gotten down from their perch yet.
    He pushed his way past the bystanders who had paused in the street to watch, shoving a man in a suit aside and squeezing