Read Online The Valhalla Call (Warrior's Wings) by Evan Currie - Free Book Online
Authors: Evan Currie
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“Don’t mind him. He was hoping to keep you around for a few months. They’ve been trying to figure out why you didn’t reject the implants the way others have.”
“Cutting them out of me seems a funny way to study their impact on my brain, if you ask me.”
Graves smiled slightly. “It’s been made clear that you’re a field op, Sarg—sorry, Lieutenant. The only way he could manage the pull to keep you off Task Force Five and out from under Brooke’s command was to pull a medical override.”
“Great. So he wants a lab rat.”
“Precisely.”
Sorilla grimaced. “He can go…
enjoy
himself, General. I’m fit and ready for duty.”
“So you are, Lieutenant,” Graves agreed, ignoring her obvious near slip and close catch of her language with some amusement. He was a Special Forces brigadier, he’d heard worse than she could throw out, but he didn’t say as much because, as an officer, now he knew that she would be expected to police her own language, around the brass at least.
It was funny, really, there were so many things a sergeant could get away with that a lieutenant had absolutely no hope of even attempting.
“Well, since you’ve passed your medical, I have a new set of clothes for you try on.”
“Sir?”
“Come on, Lieutenant, you’ll like this. I promise.”
*****
Chinese Warship Feng Lau
En Route for Hayden
Major Washington shifted uncomfortably in his seat, resisting the urge to get up and float around. The Chinese ship wasn’t built to accommodate men with his body type, and that was being generous about it.
Oh, he knew that the idea that the Chinese were all small men was more than a bit of a myth. He’d met more than his share of towering brutes from that country; it did have almost ten billion people after all. Life extension technology hadn’t been a boon there, not as far as quality of life went.
The Chinese didn’t build with comfort in mind in the first place, not for the rank and file at least, and so being larger than their average recruit left him cramped and fidgeting as they made their way from the Centuri jump point toward the Hayden one.
Unfortunately, there just weren’t any ships available in the Solari Organization at the moment. Everything was either deployed or being slagged down for recycling into one of the new class of ships, and every single one of those was spoken for at the moment.
That left the Chinese and the Russians with some spare tonnage, but unfortunately, the Russians didn’t have anything they were willing to dispatch out to Hayden.
Ton rather thought that they were bringing all their ships in for the same reason as the Solari Organization had. There were rumors of the Russians signing on fully with SOCOM, rather than the commercial and scientific partnership that had been running so far. If that was the case, Ton expected that total tonnage was about to go up by a third at least and maybe they’d be able to move some stuff around again.
Until then, however, he was stuck in a Chinese tin can with a bunch of other men who needed their space at the best of times.
“God damn it, are we there yet?”
“Jenks, if you ask that question one more time…” Ton growled.
“You’ll what? Turn the ship around?” Sergeant Micheal Jenks asked, chuckling.
“No, I’ll lighten it by about 230 pounds,” Ton growled. “Might get us there quicker. Not that you’d care in that case.”
Jenks shut up, and beside him he could hear Crow snicker slightly.
“Don’t know what you’re laughing at, Crow,” he told the younger man. “I recall a certain butter bar who couldn’t talk for stammering back in the day.”
“Between you taking an alien pulse blast for me and the Sarge kicking my ass afterwards,” Crow snorted, “I grew up. Good to be working with you again, by the way. We didn’t have much time to get reacquainted before they shoved us on this tin can.”
“That we did not. I heard your team had a helluva ride last time
“Cutting them out of me seems a funny way to study their impact on my brain, if you ask me.”
Graves smiled slightly. “It’s been made clear that you’re a field op, Sarg—sorry, Lieutenant. The only way he could manage the pull to keep you off Task Force Five and out from under Brooke’s command was to pull a medical override.”
“Great. So he wants a lab rat.”
“Precisely.”
Sorilla grimaced. “He can go…
enjoy
himself, General. I’m fit and ready for duty.”
“So you are, Lieutenant,” Graves agreed, ignoring her obvious near slip and close catch of her language with some amusement. He was a Special Forces brigadier, he’d heard worse than she could throw out, but he didn’t say as much because, as an officer, now he knew that she would be expected to police her own language, around the brass at least.
It was funny, really, there were so many things a sergeant could get away with that a lieutenant had absolutely no hope of even attempting.
“Well, since you’ve passed your medical, I have a new set of clothes for you try on.”
“Sir?”
“Come on, Lieutenant, you’ll like this. I promise.”
*****
Chinese Warship Feng Lau
En Route for Hayden
Major Washington shifted uncomfortably in his seat, resisting the urge to get up and float around. The Chinese ship wasn’t built to accommodate men with his body type, and that was being generous about it.
Oh, he knew that the idea that the Chinese were all small men was more than a bit of a myth. He’d met more than his share of towering brutes from that country; it did have almost ten billion people after all. Life extension technology hadn’t been a boon there, not as far as quality of life went.
The Chinese didn’t build with comfort in mind in the first place, not for the rank and file at least, and so being larger than their average recruit left him cramped and fidgeting as they made their way from the Centuri jump point toward the Hayden one.
Unfortunately, there just weren’t any ships available in the Solari Organization at the moment. Everything was either deployed or being slagged down for recycling into one of the new class of ships, and every single one of those was spoken for at the moment.
That left the Chinese and the Russians with some spare tonnage, but unfortunately, the Russians didn’t have anything they were willing to dispatch out to Hayden.
Ton rather thought that they were bringing all their ships in for the same reason as the Solari Organization had. There were rumors of the Russians signing on fully with SOCOM, rather than the commercial and scientific partnership that had been running so far. If that was the case, Ton expected that total tonnage was about to go up by a third at least and maybe they’d be able to move some stuff around again.
Until then, however, he was stuck in a Chinese tin can with a bunch of other men who needed their space at the best of times.
“God damn it, are we there yet?”
“Jenks, if you ask that question one more time…” Ton growled.
“You’ll what? Turn the ship around?” Sergeant Micheal Jenks asked, chuckling.
“No, I’ll lighten it by about 230 pounds,” Ton growled. “Might get us there quicker. Not that you’d care in that case.”
Jenks shut up, and beside him he could hear Crow snicker slightly.
“Don’t know what you’re laughing at, Crow,” he told the younger man. “I recall a certain butter bar who couldn’t talk for stammering back in the day.”
“Between you taking an alien pulse blast for me and the Sarge kicking my ass afterwards,” Crow snorted, “I grew up. Good to be working with you again, by the way. We didn’t have much time to get reacquainted before they shoved us on this tin can.”
“That we did not. I heard your team had a helluva ride last time
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