Read Online Starship Desolation by Tripp Ellis - Free Book Online

this. It was all about posturing, but eventually the Ambassador would come back down to reality.
    “Phiblios.”
    “There are 15 inhabited planets in that sector. We’d have to relocate countless civilians, not to mention the mineral value.” Rylon pretended to be appalled at the idea.
    “We want Phiblios.”
    In truth, there were only a handful of settlers in the Phiblios sector. It was junk. The planets had no real value. Rylon knew the Declovians wanted the system, but he had no idea why. “I don’t know, that’s asking a lot. I’ll have to bring that before the King, but I don’t think he will agree.”
    “Phiblios, or there is no deal.”
    “I will need assurances from you. Do not make me look like a fool. I will present this to the King on your behalf. But you must give me your word that the Emperor will agree to these terms.”
    The Ambassador leaned in and smiled. “Unlike you, I have the authority to negotiate on his behalf.”
    “I can only aspire to be someone as powerful as yourself. Thank you for your time and consideration. I will be in contact with you as soon as the King makes a decision.” Rylon was stroking Borgnavi’s ego, and playing hard to get. He didn’t need to get Valinok’s approval on anything. The boy would do as he suggested.

16

Slade
    T he inmates were hosed down with a high pressure line. It felt like thousands of pellets hitting your skin. Afterwards, they stepped into a chamber with a disinfectant gas.
    Slade emerged from the chamber, hacking and coughing. Her lungs were on fire. It was probably Methylchloraltrioxilate. A known carcinogen.
    She covered her private parts as best she could. But no one was shy about looking. Half of the men had pitched a tent. The other half probably couldn’t get it up. Slade was a good looking woman. That fact wasn’t lost on anyone.
    The prisoners were marched to another room where a woman with latex gloves performed a cavity search on each of the inmates. Slade breathed a sigh of relief that it was a woman conducting the search, and that she was changing gloves between each prisoner. But Pemberton made sure to take a special interest in Slade’s examination, standing over the woman’s shoulder.
    The prisoners were issued new jumpsuits, then escorted to their cells. The entire prison watched with glee as the freshman class of inmates nervously strolled into their new home. There were whistles and catcalls. Hoots and hollers. And all manner of sexual offers.
    Giles was pulled out of line and forced to wait in the commons area. The rest were shown to their compartments.
    Slade caught a lucky break—she was bunking with Kirby. At least she wouldn’t have a fight every night after the lights went out. She figured she could handle Kirby. And he seemed like a nice enough kid. He had probably hacked a computer system somewhere. Exposed government corruption. Did something to piss someone of power off. He wasn’t like the others, and he probably didn’t really belong here. Neither did Slade, for that matter. But if you asked anybody who was an inmate at Alpha Ceti 7, none of them belonged here. They were all innocent .
    “What we’ve got here is a leader,” Pemberton said as he circled Giles. “An instigator. One thing we do not like here are leaders. Thinkers. Revolutionaries. You keep your head down and do your time, and we will all get along just fine. But this man started a riot.” Pemberton gripped his baton. “Let this be a lesson to anyone who would lead a revolt.”
    Pemberton whacked Giles in the gut. He doubled over with pain. The other guards joined in beating Giles to the ground. They hit him and kicked him and zapped him with their stun batons. Blood splattered. Ribs cracked. Bones broke. When it was all said and done, Giles was a twitching blob on the floor, amidst a pool of blood.
    Pemberton looked upon his handiwork with glee.
    A couple of guards dragged Giles’s broken body to the medical center.
    It was a running