Read Online Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework by Randolph Lalonde - Free Book Online

deliver.”
    “You’re not alone,” Liam said.
    She patted his hand and looked into his
brown eyes, smiling. “I know.” A long moment passed as she shared a
gaze with him. Her bracelet sent a sense that there was an incoming
message. She shook herself free of the moment with a long
inhale.
    Ayan looked at the short text message and
raised an eyebrow. “It’s Jake, he’s in Gray Dock.”
    “He’s supposed to be blending in with the
salvage workers aboard the Enforcer,” Jason said.
    “Well, he’s here, has a surprise for me,”
Ayan said. “Are you all right reviewing the rest of this
yourself?”
    “Go ahead, you two have barely seen each
other in weeks,” Laura said, interrupting an objection from
Jason.
    “Can you hold off on sending the news of
this out for a few minutes? I’d like to surprise Jake,” Ayan asked
Jason.
    “Sure,” he said, not looking away from the
scrolling documents in front of him. “You go have fun.”

Chapter 7
Reporting In
    The debrief on Skydock was thorough and
boring. Minh’s entire squadron was held after their ten hour patrol
was concluded. Even though the core of the orbital station looked
ancient from the outside, the condition of the interior was
remarkable. The surfaces were clean, but not reflective, as he
would have thought they were. The matte finish had the strange
characteristic of looking like it wanted to shine, but the
reflections were somehow impeded by the surface coat of metallic
green and silver.
    He and Slick were the last to leave the
briefing room, a half-circle space with blue padded seats
surrounding a small stage in the centre. He’d said everything he
had to, filled in all the blanks, and the rest of his wing had done
the same.
    “Hold one moment,” called Lieutenant
Commander Moda.
    Slick and Ronin stopped and turned. The
twelve pilots under their command, all formerly from the Triton,
waited expectantly in the hall. The tall, wiry Lieutenant Commander
in charge of patrol outsourcing for that sector smiled at them a
little nervously. She seemed new in her command. “I have a couple
more questions for you two,” she said, closing the distance between
them.
    “Fire away,” Minh replied.
    “First, for the record, what is the name of
your fighter wing? Does it have one yet?”
    They were still tossing around ideas, and
Minh was still undecided, so he hesitated. It seemed that Slick had
already made up his mind, judging from his answer. “Samurai
Squadron,” he said.
    Minh regarded Slick with an upraised eyebrow
for a moment, but his former copilot didn’t react, so he nodded.
“That’s us. Samurai Squadron, under the direction of Ronin.” He was
a little surprised when no one caught the issue with the terms
‘Samurai’ and ‘Ronin’ mingling.
    “All right, it is so recorded,” replied the
Lieutenant Commander. “I have an elective question for you: Did you
think the Carthan military responded appropriately to the
threat?”
    “Elective, meaning we don’t have to answer,”
Slick said.
    “I’ll answer,” Minh said before Lieutenant
Commander Moda could reply. “No, I don’t think they used the
appropriate countermeasures. That barrier weapon was heavy-handed
for the threat, and I’ll bet half my pay that those Eden ships had
an uplink to a hypertransmitter somewhere that sent readings to the
nearest Order ship. Your commanders should have sent the destroyers
they had on standby in to flank while your station’s missile
batteries tore everything else to shreds.”
    Slick regarded Minh-Chu with mild surprise.
“Don’t hold back, now.”
    “She asked,” Minh said with a shrug. “That
was the Eden fleet checking defences. I’d be surprised if those
ships were anything more than antiques.”
    “Thank you very much, Wing Commander,”
replied Lieutenant Commander Moda. “You’ll find your payment with
your lead fighters in lock boxes secured with the agreed upon
combinations.”
    They were nearly outside of the room