Read Online Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone by Chris Kennedy - Free Book Online

dark hair slightly longer than regulations permitted, and he had thick-rimmed glasses that would probably have worked better at birth control than condoms. If he had seen the Sun in the last decade or so, it wasn’t apparent from the pallor of his skin. He also looked like he was about 16 years old, far too young to be in uniform, much less a lieutenant.
    Before either could say anything, the lieutenant walked over and stuck out his hand to Calvin . His walk was weird, Calvin noted, almost like he was dragging his right foot. “Good afternoon, Lieutenant Commander Hobbs,” he said, his speech faster than normal. “It is such a pleasure to meet you. I have read all of your reports. Very exciting. Did you really kill the god Quetzalcoatl with a spear? Of course you did. It was in the report. You have always had access to the best and newest equipment, so it was really surprising that you used a spear to kill him. I wish that I could have been with you when you first met the aliens. It must have been really cool to be the first person to get to use alien technology.”
    “ Who’s the new guy?” asked army captain Paul ‘Night’ Train, walking into the room. Night was the XO of the special forces platoon that Calvin commanded, in addition to his job of being the Gulf’s squadron commander.
    “ I don’t know,” said Calvin. “He hasn’t stopped talking long enough for us to find out anything about him.”
    “Oh ! Of course! We need to introduce everyone so that I can get on with my work,” said Lieutenant Finn. “I must confess to being a big fan of yours. I can’t imagine going to all of those places and doing all of those things. Of course, now I guess I will be going to new places and seeing new things, too. I just don’t know about all of those adventures. I’m not sure that my heart will be able to take it. I’m just...”
    “ What the hell are you talking about? ” growled Night loudly. He had received a wound to his voice box earlier in his career that made his voice sound gruff at the best of times. When he was annoyed, it only got worse. Like now.
    “Oh! I’m doing it again!” Lieutenant Finn said. “I just get so excited sometimes that I can’t help myself.” He turned to focus on Night. “Oh, my goodness! Lieutenant Paul Train! Now Captain Train! The man they call ‘Night.’ You singlehandedly killed 27 Ssselipsssiss onboard the Emperor’s Paw , giving you the all time record for extraterrestrials killed. The way you took down that dino-bear on Keppler-22 was nothing short of amazing, too. I just can’t imagine being in the same room with both of you.”
    Night held up a hand. “Do you have a death wish?” he asked.
    “No,” said Lieutenant Finn. “Why would you ask that? If anything, it would seem that you are the one that puts yourself into positions from which there is no escape, leading one to infer that—”
    Night held up his hand again. “Then. Shut. Up.” Night said slowly. “Or. I. Will. Kill You. Myself.”
    The threat worked; the lieutenant stopped talking.
    Captain Sheppard used the pause to regain control. “I’m Captain Sheppard,” he said. “What was so important that we needed to wait for you?”
    Lieutenant Finn blinked. “Didn’t anyone tell you?” he asked.
    “No,” Captain Sheppard replied, “Until you got here, we didn’t even know you were coming.”
    “Oh! I get it,” he said, looking around furtively. “It’s a military secret, of course. We wouldn’t want the word to get out that we’ve got it, now would we?” He looked around the room as if looking for spies.
    “This ship is quite secure,” said Captain Sheppard. “Whatever it is that you’ve brought for us, you can talk about it here.”
    “Really?” he asked. “Oh! OK. As promised, I’ve brought your stealth modules.”
     
     
    CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf , Earth Orbit, December 13, 2020
    Realizing that it was going to take a while to get anything coherent from