Read Online Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) by Britt Ringel - Free Book Online

starship, the hold was
forty-two meters long, sixteen meters wide and some nineteen meters tall. 
Through the darkness above, Vernay could make out the bottoms of cargo hatches
that would open upward into space.  Contrary to Brevic military regulations,
there appeared to be no containment field ready to prevent accidental decompression,
no status board showing atmospheric pressure or hatch lock-out controls, none
of the myriad of safety precautions taken in a standard Brevic naval vessel’s
hangar.  Could I really just walk over to those controls and decompress the
entire hold with us in it?   Vernay shivered at how close she was to open
space.  The group reached the far end of the hold and the captain began to open
the aft hatch when Vernay’s datapad chirped again.
    “Stacy,
it’s Jack.  Am I supposed to say anything to the SPs before we take the
freighter?”
    Vernay’s
ears burned and her mind cursed Truesworth while her blue eyes locked onto Hussy’s captain.  She opened her mouth but the words came out slower than the pirate
captain’s holdout pistol, stashed inside the sleeve of his jacket.  Instinct
drove her to the deck as the ugly, snub-nosed pistol boomed.  She turned away
from the captain and began to roll even as she heard the rounds from Brown’s
multi-rifle ricochet off the closing aft hatch.  Vernay stopped rolling and saw
Ensign May drop to her knees with an uncomprehending expression on her face and
a red blossom growing on her abdomen.
    “Dammit,”
Chief Brown cursed.
    Ensign
Olson immediately grabbed May to ease her down to the deck.  “Vivian!” he
shouted reflexively.
    Vernay
sprung to her feet and ordered, “Olson, stay with her and tell Selvaggio what’s
happened.”  She threw her datapad at the stunned ensign.  “Chief, we have to
stop him.”
    Brown,
already at the hatch, stood to one side and nudged it open with the tip of his
rifle.  He peered cautiously into the hall and whispered, “Clear.”
    Vernay
looked down the hallway before stepping in.  To her left was a hatch labeled
“Life Support.”  The corridor’s only other hatch was at its terminus.  Vernay
motioned to the closer hatch.  “We have to clear this one first.”
    Brown
nodded and again gently nudged open the portal.  The sound of cascading water
emanated from inside the room.  It was dark but the illumination from the corridor
was enough to reveal a vacant compartment.  Brown pointed to the hatch at the
end of the hallway.
    “There’s
two of them, Chief.  Don’t forget.”
    The
pair crept down the hallway to arrive at the portal.  Vernay asked quietly, “How
do you want to do this?”
    Brown
pointed and said in a low voice, “Get to that side of the door, ma’am.”  He
lowered himself to the deck directly in front of the hatch.  “When I give the
word, you kick open the door but stay hidden to the side.  If I get hit, close
the hatch an’ try to keep ‘em from openin’ it.”
    Vernay
bit her lip and nodded.
    “One…
two… THREE!”
    The
hatch swung open hard enough to slam against the inside bulkhead.  Vernay
thought she heard the holdout pistol’s report but it was difficult to tell over
the deafening staccato bursts of the multi-rifle.  Brown immediately rose from
the deck and charged into the room.  Somewhere inside, Vernay heard a desperate
voice implore in accented English, “ Nein!   Don’t shoot my babies!”
    Vernay
peered warily around the corner.  The pirate captain lay unmoving on his back. 
His chest was a stitch-work pattern of red, a crimson pool expanding beneath
him.  Brown had his weapon pointed directly at a man wearing fresh but stained
overalls who was using his body and arms to shield a pair of ancient-looking
engine control panels.
    “You
got him good,” the man said.  “He’s dead, ja ?  Now point that Gewehr away from my engines, ja ?”
    “Hands
up!” Brown bellowed, keeping the multi-rifle leveled at the man.
    The
man slowly raised