Terra Dawning Read Online Free PDF

middle of the room. “Before we begin, I would like to make introductions.” He waved his hand as he introduced each person. “These are our guests, Captain Elrond Coir; the current chief of the group known simply as 'the Pirates'. Beside him is his lady, Ms. Arivan Jythee.” He introduced the rest of the people to the newcomers and greetings were exchanged.
    However, before Ben could get to the meat of the discussion, Councilor Carlyle asked a question. “Excuse me, Prime Council. I don't mean to sound rude, but I thou' th' goal of yon raid was to gather information prior to eliminatin' them?”
    The news was clearly a shock to the two new people, but Ben didn't miss a beat. “That was the original plan, Councilor. However, things have changed. Thus, the reason I included you in this meeting is for you to act in the capacity of Council Adviser. We need to figure out how this will affect us and what to do about it if anything.”
    “I understand,” Councilor Carlyle nodded. “Thank ye for askin' for me, then,” she said. “I ken you wanted me because of me post-fall profession, then?”
    Ben nodded this time. “Yes I did. We do have other former intelligence operatives among our people, but you are the only one I know and trust personally.
    “So, here is what we know, suspect, and believe,” Ben began. “First, before we made the raid on the base, we suspected that the Duke was the primary behind all the attacks on the surface. Elrond has confirmed that for us, but can offer no proof. Thus, we still can only speculate on his motivation for these actions.
    “I believe he's planning a coup against the Empire itself. Now, this is mostly conjecture on my part and I have no proof. I've given this a lot of thought and it’s the only conclusion that fits.
    “However, those actions, made through Elrond and his people, have attracted the attention of the local Imperial Rangers. They landed two days ago to investigate the destruction of the Great Falls Aerie. So now we have a new element added to the mix.
    “I'm told these Rangers are very good at their jobs, and there is now a very good chance that Elrond, his people, and by extension, us, will be discovered. However, that runs counter to my theory of an Imperial attack,” Ben said and paused to take a drink of his cappuccino.
    “Why's ta' odds with yon theory?” Carlyle asked. "I'm not trackin' yer logic Prime."
    “Simple; the Duke had to have known that destroying an Aerie would bring in the Rangers. If he planned to attack Hyclarion using Earth as a staging point, the last thing he would want would be for Rangers to look under every rock. Also, he recently ordered Elrond to kill the team, and capture their leader. That action by itself would bring even more Rangers and they would be even less gentle than this team is being. His preparations would be discovered and he'd be found out.”
    “Uh, p-Prime Council, I think I might have some more information,” Elrond said, hesitantly. “You see, all the ohto and other stuff we stole had to be given back. One of my people that handled a lot of the shipments told me that there were hundreds of House Tammerain troops already here at the underwater base where we returned our cargoes. He said there seemed to be more every day. The transports were all parked on the bottom of the sea surrounding the base. If the HRO does any planetary scans looking for us, they should find them quite easily.”
    “What type of scans?” Marci asked.
    “Multi-spectrum, broad bandwidth, ultra-high resolution scans. Everything from thermal differences to energy signatures to neutrino particle density,” Elrond said, shrugging. “That's why I was so scared they would find us. We should show up like a super-nova in the void.”
    “Energy scans on this planet are inconclusive," Addson added, shaking her head. "There are too many random energy flares from all the ruins. There are literally billions of energy signatures spread all over the