Read Online Alien Shores (A Fenris Novel, Book 2) by Vaughn Heppner - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Vaughn Heppner
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better idea?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Now let’s hurry. I want to get out of here, and I don’t want to keep looking at their corpses. I feel bad enough as it is.”
Skar gave him a blank look before heading to the corpses.
A second later, Cyrus followed. He was stuck in an alien star system. He had to do what he had to do. That didn’t mean he had to like it. No, murder was never easy. Now they had to get far away before the Kresh showed up.
6
Chengal Ras brooded as his single-ship orbited Jassac. He was having second thoughts concerning his precipitous action. Perhaps he should have taken Dez Rek into his confidence and slain her later at a more opportune moment. He could have saved Valiant and the prime cattle specimens. Now they were gone.
Yet revealing secrets to Dez Rek would have been a gamble, perhaps a bad odds hazard. He would have needed to trust her, and she had been a climber and an egotist. She might have attempted to leverage more out of him. It’s what he would have done under similar circumstances. In fact, he had done exactly that several years ago.
His screen blipped. He tapped it, and Zama Dee regarded him.
Chengal Ras knew even greater unease. He reminded himself that she was 73rd for a reason. Some might believe her more logical and more clever than he. Her rank supported such a thesis, naturally. But he rejected the hypothesis out of hand. He was Chengal Ras. He was a prodigy, one hidden from the Hundred and from the Ten. Even from this inferior position today, he would play the game with utmost skill and outmaneuver the arrogant interloper.
“I have just been informed of a tragic accident,” Zama Dee said. “Your Attack Talon unexpectedly exploded.”
He heard her gloating tone. She thought him a buffoon to have lost his vessel. Should he play that role and use that angle to trick her?
“Just before the end,” he said, “I detected sabotage.”
She stiffened. “I hope that is not an accusation directed toward me.”
“I would not be so rash as to accuse you,” he said.
“That implies you mean not to openly accuse me,” Zama Dee said. “Thus, you secretly accuse me in your heart, or at least suspect I or one of my confederates had something to do with your ship and crew’s destruction.”
“I am at your mercy, clearly. I have—”
“Chengal Ras,” she said. “We will settle this issue here and now. Do you accuse me or my confederates of sabotage?”
“I have no evidence to base such a claim,” he said.
“Am I to believe that you intuit such a thing?”
“No, of course not,” he said.
“Will you sign an affidavit to that effect?” she asked.
“Is that your price for allowing me to land?”
“Do not be absurd,” she said. “You have every legal right to land and request transfer to another locale.”
“I have already placed a summons to High Station 3. A second Attack Talon will leave the station in several hours and rendezvous with me here.”
“Do you wish—” Zama Dee glanced to her left as someone spoke in a low voice. The whitish core burn on her snout deepened in color. She regarded him again. “Survivors escaped your High Station 3 prey-craft. My observers have reason to believe your cattle have landed on the surface.”
“I find that interesting,” Chengal Ras said.
“I am sending an investigation team at once. I demand purity in my tests, and your cattle represent a possible contamination of my Jassac game preserves, infecting my primitives with new ideas. Possibly, you inserted your cattle here to warp my findings. Is that your hidden game?”
“I am not so foolish,” Chengal Ras said. He was impressed, however, with the depth of her paranoia. Yes, she had made it to 73rd for a reason. He would adjust his actions accordingly.
“It appears your cattle have landed among the primitives in the Factor Three Reserve,” she said. “Because you claim they arrived by accident, are there any unusual attributes concerning
“No.”
“I didn’t think so. Now let’s hurry. I want to get out of here, and I don’t want to keep looking at their corpses. I feel bad enough as it is.”
Skar gave him a blank look before heading to the corpses.
A second later, Cyrus followed. He was stuck in an alien star system. He had to do what he had to do. That didn’t mean he had to like it. No, murder was never easy. Now they had to get far away before the Kresh showed up.
6
Chengal Ras brooded as his single-ship orbited Jassac. He was having second thoughts concerning his precipitous action. Perhaps he should have taken Dez Rek into his confidence and slain her later at a more opportune moment. He could have saved Valiant and the prime cattle specimens. Now they were gone.
Yet revealing secrets to Dez Rek would have been a gamble, perhaps a bad odds hazard. He would have needed to trust her, and she had been a climber and an egotist. She might have attempted to leverage more out of him. It’s what he would have done under similar circumstances. In fact, he had done exactly that several years ago.
His screen blipped. He tapped it, and Zama Dee regarded him.
Chengal Ras knew even greater unease. He reminded himself that she was 73rd for a reason. Some might believe her more logical and more clever than he. Her rank supported such a thesis, naturally. But he rejected the hypothesis out of hand. He was Chengal Ras. He was a prodigy, one hidden from the Hundred and from the Ten. Even from this inferior position today, he would play the game with utmost skill and outmaneuver the arrogant interloper.
“I have just been informed of a tragic accident,” Zama Dee said. “Your Attack Talon unexpectedly exploded.”
He heard her gloating tone. She thought him a buffoon to have lost his vessel. Should he play that role and use that angle to trick her?
“Just before the end,” he said, “I detected sabotage.”
She stiffened. “I hope that is not an accusation directed toward me.”
“I would not be so rash as to accuse you,” he said.
“That implies you mean not to openly accuse me,” Zama Dee said. “Thus, you secretly accuse me in your heart, or at least suspect I or one of my confederates had something to do with your ship and crew’s destruction.”
“I am at your mercy, clearly. I have—”
“Chengal Ras,” she said. “We will settle this issue here and now. Do you accuse me or my confederates of sabotage?”
“I have no evidence to base such a claim,” he said.
“Am I to believe that you intuit such a thing?”
“No, of course not,” he said.
“Will you sign an affidavit to that effect?” she asked.
“Is that your price for allowing me to land?”
“Do not be absurd,” she said. “You have every legal right to land and request transfer to another locale.”
“I have already placed a summons to High Station 3. A second Attack Talon will leave the station in several hours and rendezvous with me here.”
“Do you wish—” Zama Dee glanced to her left as someone spoke in a low voice. The whitish core burn on her snout deepened in color. She regarded him again. “Survivors escaped your High Station 3 prey-craft. My observers have reason to believe your cattle have landed on the surface.”
“I find that interesting,” Chengal Ras said.
“I am sending an investigation team at once. I demand purity in my tests, and your cattle represent a possible contamination of my Jassac game preserves, infecting my primitives with new ideas. Possibly, you inserted your cattle here to warp my findings. Is that your hidden game?”
“I am not so foolish,” Chengal Ras said. He was impressed, however, with the depth of her paranoia. Yes, she had made it to 73rd for a reason. He would adjust his actions accordingly.
“It appears your cattle have landed among the primitives in the Factor Three Reserve,” she said. “Because you claim they arrived by accident, are there any unusual attributes concerning
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