Read Online Throne of Stars by David Weber, John Ringo - Free Book Online

I didn’t,” Roger said. He reached for the pitcher of water and poured himself another glass. “I should have been giving orders, not shooting myself. But I got angry. Those were good troops.”
    “Hmmm.” Kosutic frowned. “I don’t know, Your Highness. Let the cobbler stick to his last, as it were.” The slight frown became a smile. “I have to admit that having you with a weapon in your hand never seems to be a bad idea.”
    Pahner smiled at the chuckles around the table, then nodded.
    “Whether His Highness should’ve been shooting or ordering, we need to find a berth for Captain Fain. The infantry side was already short, so I’m just going to consolidate your personnel into a combined company. We lost Turkol Bes on the Sea Skimmer along with your boys, so we need a replacement for Captain Yair, who will be promoted to major and take Bes’ place. Initially, I’m going to attach you to His Highness as a sort of aide-de-camp. The bulk of your company’s survivors are already aboard the Hooker . We’ll work them into the rest of her detachment, and giving you a little experience with the ‘staff’ will give you a chance to see how things run. Hopefully, we’ll have you fully on board by the time we land. Clear?”
    “Yes, Sir.” Fain kept his face placid, but seeing “his” company lose its identity was not pleasant, however necessary its survivors’ absorption might be. “One question . . .”
    “Yes, you can hang onto Pol,” Roger said with a very Mardukan grunt of laughter.
    “Please do,” Captain—no, Major—Yair endorsed. “You’re the only one who can handle him.”
    “We don’t know how many more of these things there might be,” Pahner continued in a “that’s settled” tone of voice, and gestured at the pearl Dobrescu was still fondling. “Or any damned thing else about threats along the way. But we’ve found out we can kill them, at least. Any suggestions about how to keep them from doing this again?”
    “Mount a cannon at the rear. Maybe a couple,” Fain said without thinking, then stopped when everyone looked at him.
    “Go on,” Roger said, nodding. “Although I think I know where you’re going.”
    “Keep them loaded,” Fain continued. “Ready to fire, with a crew to man them at all times. When it surfaces, fire. You have about a second and a half from when they appear to when you have to shoot.”
    “You’d have to have somebody being very vigilant on a continuous basis.” Julian shook his head. “Then you’d have to make sure the powder didn’t get wet and misfire. I don’t think we have the technical capability to do that without modifications we’d need a shipyard to carry out.”
    “But a defense at the rear . . .” Roger rubbed a fingertip on the table, obviously intrigued by the notion. Then a sudden, wicked grin lit his somber face like a rising sun. “Who says it has to be a local cannon?” he demanded.
    “Ouch!” Kosutic laughed. “You’ve got an evil mind, Your Highness.”
    “Of course!” Julian’s eyes gleamed with enthusiasm. “Set up a plasma cannon on manjack mode. If something disturbs the sensor area: Blam!”
    “Bead,” Pahner corrected. Julian looked at him, and the captain waggled one hand palm-down above the table. “Those things get too close for a plasma cannon. We’d torch the ship.”
    “Yeah, you’re right.” Julian nodded. “I’ll get it set up,” he said, then wiped his mouth and looked unenthusiastically down at the chunk of meat still sitting on his plate. “You want me to break out some ration packs?” he asked in a decidedly hopeful voice.
    “No.” Pahner shook his head. “We need to eat what we’ve got. Until we know how long this journey is going to be, we still need to conserve our off-world supplies.” He paused and took a breath. “And we also need to shut down the radios. We’re getting close enough to the ports that we have to worry about radio bounce. They’re low-intercept, but if