The Orphan Alliance (The Black Ships Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

the
stations.”
    “Your boys didn’t happen to ransack that main station before
they blew it, did they?”
    “No time for that,” the big Midgaard grinned. “This was just
a quick smash-and-grab, and you’re the grab. Reinforcements are probably
already on their way here to stop us.”
    There are other stations like that one, Harry
thought. “I may not have gotten the parts that I came here for, but I did
manage to stumble onto something far more important while I was here.” He
grinned at Lothbrok, finally accepting that he was going to live. Every sense
was hyperactive. Even the air of the shuttle, tainted with metal and hydraulic
fluid, had never smelled so sweet.
    And he had gathered information that completely justified
the risk his friends had taken on his behalf. “I’ve got an idea you can help me
with.”

Part of the Solution
    The Old Man & Faust
    The Midway, Weirfall Orbit
    D wight
almost bumped into the guide who had stopped at the hatch to Towers ready room
and he shook his head to clear the cobwebs. Time to focus, you’ll only get
one chance to get them on side.
    “You’re on your own, folks.” The 2 nd lieutenant
punched a button to open the hatch and waved them on.
    Dwight followed Shelby through and the heavy panel slid shut
behind him. The floor in here was the same steel decking as in the hallway, but
a large Persian rug covered much of the open space. A low table sat in the
middle of the rug, surrounded by three leather couches. The wall on the inboard
side of the room was decorated with a row of portraits, pride of place given to
a preserved copy of an antique magazine that depicted a naval officer and a
model aircraft carrier.
    The outboard side was half wardrobe and half windows and
Dwight wandered over to look out at a magnificent view of Weirfall. A chime
sounded and he looked down to see a coffee maker, its light blinking. A jury
rigged transformer was wired to its top and several copper lines snaked out
from the bottom to disappear into the upper left side. Shelby remained by the
hatch, not moving a muscle.
    “It was a gift from my sister.” The voice sounded inside his
helmet, the internal speakers reproducing the direction of the sound.
    Dwight spun in surprise at the unexpected interruption.
Towers was standing at the door of a small side room, drying his hands on a
towel. A headset hung from his right ear. He wasn’t a very large man but he
seemed to be, nonetheless.
    “A gift, sir?”
    “The coffee pot,” he explained as he hung the towel neatly
on a ring inside the small washroom. He walked over to the couches and dropped
onto the one that faced the windows, indicating with a wave that Dwight and
Shelby should also take a seat. “I can’t bring myself to let it go. Engineering
found me a new heating element down on Weirfall and rigged it up so it would
still work. Not that we have much coffee left…”
    “We have quite a lot on the Pandora , sir,” Shelby
offered, joining Dwight on the couch opposite the admiral. “Figured you might
be glad to get a taste of fresh stuff for a change.”  
    “Don’t toy with me, Captain. I’m almost ready to take my
chances on infected coffee.”
    That sounds like an opportunity to bring up our purpose
in coming here, Dwight realized but, in the time it took him to think it,
Towers had already moved on.
    “Intriguing name, Pandora ,” he mused. “Since evil has
already been unleashed, am I to assume that your ship’s name indicates hope?”
    Before Dwight could answer, the hatch slid open and a
middle-aged officer entered, a tablet in one hand and a steel travel mug in the
other.
    “Dr. Young, Captain Shelby, this is Dr. Strauss, our chief
medical officer.” Towers grinned and waved the new arrival over to the coffee
pot. “You can see why my personal stock is almost gone: damn freeloaders always
show up with an empty mug in hand. I’d offer you some, but I’m not sure how
we’d get it into your helmets.”
    Dr. Strauss