The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) Read Online Free PDF Page B

while everyone looked Skyhold over.
    “It’s
tempting to assume that all the Trilisks are together there,” Siobhan said.
“Maybe the others are just Trilisk sympathizers, or… just power hungry people
who don’t know who their allies really are?”
    “The
same thought occurred to me,” Telisa said. “But we can’t assume it. I don’t
know enough about Trilisks to know if they would prefer to segregate
themselves, even in human form.”
    “Maybe
they take other forms there, and no one is around to see,” a Cilreth said.
    “Then
one of us goes ahead to figure out what’s going on,” Caden said.
    “The
security is insane there,” the other Cilreth said. “The habitat itself carries
as much armament as a Space Force cruiser. Internally, there’s a strong robotic
security force controlled by multiple AIs.”
    “Sounds
like a target for Clacker ’s main weapons,” Caden said. “Take them all
out in one shot.”
    “Maybe.
We have to verify they’re actually Trilisks,” Telisa said.
    “There
are others on that station. Servants,” a Cilreth said.
    “Slaves!”
Siobhan said. “You can bet on it. Those ‘servants’ are slaves.”
    She
said something about her family being slaves, Caden thought.
    “I’ll
go in and scan them,” Caden said. “I can let you know, get out, and we can let
them have it! If there’s a mix of targets and noncombatants there, then we need
a more complicated plan B.”
    “Thanks
for the offer, but I have another mission for you, Caden,” Telisa said.
    Really?
She already has a mission for me?
    “What?”
Caden said.
    “Space
Force Command,” Telisa said.
    What!
    No
one dared speak for a moment. Everyone stared at him.
    “There’s
a Trilisk…?” he asked.
    “Three
people on the list. Two men and one woman. Admirals. They’re likely Trilisks in
my opinion. If you were setting up the Space Force as a tool to do your
bidding, this is where you would be.”
    Caden
bristled at the thought.
    Wow.
I’ve got to weed them out! We can’t have aliens in control of the Space Force!
    “Security
would be tight,” Caden said slowly. But he thought something else.
    If
I got rid of those aliens, they’d have to let me in. I could still be an
officer.
    “It’s
not lost on me that you planned to join the Space Force, Caden,” Telisa said.
“Here’s your chance to be their hero. Though they won’t know that until we’re
done. We have to figure out how to get you, or at least an attendant sphere in
there and scan those people. If they’re Trilisks, we have to take them out. And
we won’t be able to use the orbital weapons or the Clacker to do it. We
can’t open fire on Space Force Command. We have a lot of planning to do. I’ll
be coordinating with all of you separately. We’re taking a hiatus from our
group training, because we all need to start working simulations of our
individual missions.”
    Telisa
sent Caden a copy of the Orwell Papers. Caden had already read them. They were
famous. The Space Force had studied them carefully and put several safeguards
into place to ensure the plan could never succeed. Telisa seemed to know that,
but she considered the information valuable since it gave clues about who the
Trilisks might be.
    The
meeting broke up and Caden headed off with Siobhan.
    “I
guess we can’t do the jumping around right now,” he said. “We have a lot of
sims to set up. I want to do a lot of practice runs around a virtual command
center.”
    Siobhan
nodded. “I have work to do, too.”
    They
split up to head to their own areas of the ship. Caden had his own room set up
like a modern strongpoint, with robots guarding the door and a laser emitter
embedded in the ceiling.
    Maybe
I can take a break later and hang with Siobhan.
     
    ***
     
    Siobhan
felt a bit depressed as she left Caden after the meeting. But she knew there
were huge things ahead of them. How could she be feeding her silly crush on
Caden when they needed to be saving Earth?
    And
I need