Read Online Scrapyard Ship 7: Call to Battle by Mark Wayne McGinnis - Free Book Online Page B

who’d been promoted to skipper of the Anvil , one of the Craing’s heavy old cruisers. Next to him was Commander Dolm Mo Huck, a representative of the now-collapsed Alliance. And directly to the admiral’s right, surprisingly, sat Secretary of Defense Benjamin Walker.
    “Thank you for joining us, Captain,” his father said, making no attempt to hide his annoyance. Jason glanced around and noticed that each of the inset displays in the ready room had active live feeds, showing at least another twenty attendees. Now Jason did feel some guilt at holding things up … especially seeing Nan, the acting president of the United States, looking back at him with obvious irritation.
    The other, virtual, attendees were mostly unknown to Jason, but judging by many of their non-human physiologies, it was evident that they also were, for the most part, past Alliance dignitaries and command personnel. Jason took the next few moments to acknowledge each of the virtual attendees. His focus abruptly stopped on the display on the bulkhead directly to his left when he recognized the king. An imposing figure, with wide, muscular shoulders, and wearing some kind of animal hide robe, was King Caparri, whose striking violet skin first caught Jason’s attention. So did the unmistakable female beauty, sitting just slightly behind him. Like the Jhardonian monarch, she was also attired in formal, royal vestments. So striking was Dira’s appearance, Jason realized she’d purposely downplayed her looks while serving on The Lilly . Their eyes met and held—locked on each other for several moments.
    The admiral cleared his throat. “I’m going to move things along. We have four key developments or issues we need to address, one by one.”
    Jason brought his attention back to the meeting. He consciously willed his heart rate to slow—to concentrate on the words his father was saying.
    “Issue number one: The ongoing revolution within the Craing worlds has culminated in what appears to be a fortuitous end; they are becoming an independent and free society that is separating itself from its former Craing dominion warring ways of the past. With the death of the emperor, and the scattering of their remaining high-priest overlords, all the Craing worlds are on the precipice of true change. We have been in direct contact with the interim revolutionary government there and Earth has agreed to further peace discussions.”
    “ Pssst … they’re sitting ducks,” Bristol interjected. “They’re living in a fantasy world if they think that Ot-Mul, and his Craing forces in space, will allow them to continue.”
    The admiral looked irritated at Bristol’s unsolicited comment. “We’ll get to Ot-Mul in a moment. Moving on to issue number two … it’s been confirmed: Both Ricket and Gaddy have been taken prisoner and are confined on something called the Dreathlor prison barge. Unfortunately, from the intel we’ve been able to uncover … the damn thing is impregnable. The vessel has never been breached. No escapes … no successful incursions.” The admiral looked like Jason felt … totally disheartened. His father had spent many a year with Ricket by his side. It was the admiral who had discovered the then-cyborg, buried far beneath the scrapyard, within an ancient, dried-up aquifer. As close as Jason had become to Ricket over the last year, his father was equally close, perhaps even more so.
    “There will be no rescue operation. Not with what we’re up against—”
    Jason wasn’t sure he was hearing him correctly. He cut him off, “After what he’s done for you … for all of us … how can you sit there and casually relegate him to a miserable life on a Craing prison barge?”
    All eyes were on Jason. He hadn’t realized he’d stood—his fists clenched white in anger.
    “Sit down, Captain, and let … me … finish!” the admiral barked, fury smoldering in his eyes. He waited for Jason to sit back down before continuing, “There