The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution Read Online Free PDF Page A

oppressors in the past. The response had been quick and brutal. Legions of Modos soldiers had stationed themselves on his world. What little freedom his people had under Modos rule soon disappeared. Families and entire nest colonies were uprooted and separated. Food, already scarce, became even scarcer. The largest of his people were taken as slaves and personal servants. The rest wer e‘ pressed into labor camps and forced to produce whatever the Syndicate required.
    This was what life had become for his people: a life of servitude, never-ending and absolute. Fedom had spent a lifetime looking for a way out of the bondage. It had always been a dream while the Modos legions were camped in their small little part of the univers e … That is, until today.
    Fedom watched contrail after contrail form as rockets blasted off from the various legion bases scattered around the major cities of his world. The bulk of the Modos forces were leaving. He did n’ t know it at the time, but it was a sight duplicated on hundreds of other worlds.
    The Modos were leavin g … but for where, and would they be back? He turned his back on the contrails and made his way back into his underground den. It was time he reported to the others. Perhaps the day had finally come to take back their planet.
    ***
    Ken Kirkland pushed back from the table. His wife was unquestionably the best cook in the service. Unfortunately, she was also a Lieutenant with advanced degrees in environmental sciences and xenobiology. Her unique combination of skills meant she was invaluable for certain challenges faced by the GCP. As a result, she was on temporary duty assignment (TDY) with a new race called the Yagur.
    The Yagur were a desert people who had recently been discovered by the GCP. As a species, they could not tolerate moist atmospheres well. This meant that, although they were oxygen breathers, they would have difficultly serving on most Coalition vessels. In addition, the ability of humans and the D’ lralu to actively sweat moisture made working directly with these races especially difficult for the Yagur.
    Ke n’ s wife, Lieutenant Rebecca Kirkland, had designed an active-nanite-infused fabric that could filter out H 2 O from perspiration and store it in a reservoir in a pouch located near the small of the weare r’ s back. A mask provided the same service for exhaled breath. Rebecca was onboard a Yagur starship attempting to develop a similar system that would allow Yagur to visit and perhaps even serve on GCP ships.
    The end result for the Yorktow n ’ s first officer and chaplain was that he had to deal with his own cooking. Despite holding doctorates in both engineering and theology, he had never taken the time to learn how to cook anything more ambitious than a fried egg or a hotdog. Rebecca had been gone for a week and there were only so many ways to fry an egg or boil a hotdog. Ken missed his wife. The fact that her captai n’ s mess held the only Michelin star ever awarded to a kitchen on a starship only served to remind him of what he was missing.
    His commlink bleeped for his attention.
    “ Kirkland her e ” he answered as he gathered his plate from the table.  
    “ Sir, this is the bridge. Admiral Kimbridg e’ s shuttle is about to dock . ”
    “ Roger that, bridge. Notify senior department heads that there will be a briefing in the captai n’ s ready room at 16:00. Kirkland out . ”
    ***
    The next several days were busy for the crew of the GCP Yorktown . While Admiral Faragon coordinated with the various member-worlds of the Galactic Coalition to create a coherent defense strategy; Cat worked with WhimPy 101, Captain Takei, and his team, which now included Ricky Valen and his synthetic copilot, Honey. Their mission was to digest the flood of information coming in through the ENOs and to develop a strategy to refocus the Modos Syndicat e’ s attention away from the Alphaverse.
    Ca t’ s plan centered on the general sense of unrest