Wings of Steele - Flight of Freedom (Book2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

effects of the gate, tendrils of color reached out, the swirl enlarging, dancing around and swallowing the ship into clouds of undulating, effervescent color, exploding outwards like a giant Roman candle, spilling the ship from the starless tunnel of shimmering, satiny, silver silk into the star-filled blackness of Haruna Tier . In an instant, they were out and the color was gone, the effects of the gate behind them.
    The motionless mining ship loomed in front of them like a fallen tree across a narrow trail, its long dark cylindrical hull stretching in both directions off the view screen. “HARD TO PORT, SHIELDS UP!” Steele flipped the screens on his command console to the flight control tower as he watched the view on the bridge's big screen swing hard to the left. “Comm, alert the Archer and Bowman!” He activated his mic, “Tower this is the bridge, are you ready to launch...?”
    “ Affirmative, bridge,”
    The nose of the Freedom was clear of the hulk in front of them, “All fighters break to port on launch... LAUNCH!” The floor vibrated as a pair of Cyclones shot from the Freedom's bow, their engines igniting after clearing the tubes and arcing gracefully up to the left. Jack looked around the bridge, “helm, keep us moving, tactical, do we have any readings out there?” An inset picture showing a rearward view popped up on the main view screen and Jack glanced at it momentarily as the Archer exited the gate, a halo of exploding color surrounding it.
    Raulya turned in her chair, “No targets in our scan range Captain. I am reading some relatively fresh energy residues...” The floor vibrated again as two more Cyclone fighters launched. “There doesn't seem to be a clear trail or wake, though it does look like there was considerable activity around the ore miner and the gate...”
    “ What about the miner? Are you picking up anything off of her?”
    “ No sir, all systems are offline except the emergency beacon... Engines are cold, so she's been sitting for at least a day... I'm not seeing any life signs on board. As cold as she is, I'd think they'd be pretty obvious.”
    “ I'm not seeing any damage...”
    “ I'm not either Captain, but it does look like the forward cargo bay is open.”
    “ Does she have an ID?”
    “ Checking...” Raulya pulled the serial number off the emergency beacon signal to look it up. “UFW has her listed as the Oceania , she's owned by the VirTech Mining Corporation. Their stats show a crew of ten.”
    “ Ten? That's it? That thing has to be over a mile long... holy crap.” He keyed his mic for a ship-wide page, “Lieutenant Giardo, and Ensign Myomerr to my ready room, on the double... ”
    Jack rose from his command chair, Fritz rising with him, “Commander, you have the bridge.”
    Professor Walt Edgars nodded, “Right you are.”
     
    ■ ■ ■
     
    Jack was sitting on the corner of the holo-chart table, Myomerr and Giardo standing behind him. The vid-screen was split down the center, for a conference with the commanders of the three ships. “There's only two possibilities here,” started Jack, “they were running and got caught just short of the gate, or, and I think this is more likely, the Oceania was moved in this position on purpose, to hinder travel through the gate - giving them the perfect opportunity for a seizure...”
    The Admiral nodded, “I'm sure you're right. I think the first course of business is clearing the way...”
    “We're going to send a boarding team over, we'll know more shortly.”
    “ Perfect. And in the meantime, we notified VirTech Mining and they're sending a crew to come and see if they can reclaim her... the snag is that it'll take them at least a day to get here.”
    Jack shrugged, “No problem. We can hang here and see if we can find any clues. If you want to patrol on, maybe you can pick up their trail. We'll catch up as soon as we get free here.”
    “Alright Mr. Steele, we're going to head to Klinghoffer, I think