Logan Ryvenbark's Saga Box Set

Table of contents-19

“Even with the ship’s speed, itwill take two or three years to get to the edge of the next galaxy.Afour to six-year journey for the crew, but it’s for a goodcause.”

“Then they will release the sphere?”Astrid said.

“Yes. Whoever created it wanted todestroy us. But they created the seed of their own destruction.We’regiving it back to them, with our best regards.”

“At times, my dear, you amaze me,”Astrid said, smiling.

“Thank you. But we’d have failedexcept for our new friend Huck. Let’s go have a farewell toast tohim.”

DEADLYSQUAD

LoganRyvenbark's Saga-Book3

Chapter1

Thetwo Hakeki jets zoomed down, bolts of fire searing through the airfrom their turrets. Flames erupted along their paths then died out.The ground exploded around me, tossing dirt balls into my face anduniform. The blasts rang in my ears. I grabbed the turbo-gun, didthecalculations on the computer and fired back. My defensive volleyssoared as blue balls. One clipped the wing of a jet. The jaggedwingflew one way in the air and the jet flew another, now wavering initspath. A second blue bolt blasted a hole in its side. Metal andotheralloys flew skyward. The jet lost elevation and a fiery tailspinbrought it to the ground. It exploded in a purple flame. I had noidea what the Hakeki used in building their jets but, whilecombustible, the materials were quite colorful.

Twomore jets zoomed over and dropped the bombs that looked like blackeggs. I figured the computer again and the two eggs exploded whentheblue bolts hit. The turbo-gun swirled around and sent two morelethalvolleys toward the retreating jets.

“Verygood, Logan, but it’s time to stop playing games,” Astrid said,as she walked in.

Thesimulation disappeared, as did the Hakeki attack.

“Justkeeping my skills at a high level,” I said.

“Sureyou were. You just like to play games. At least you weren’t playinggolf.”

“Hey,golf is a great game. You know what Arnold Palmer saidonce?”

“No,but you’re going to tell me, aren’t you? By the way, who washe?”

“Hewas one of the finest golfers to ever play the game. He startedplaying in the mid-nineteen fifties I think and retired abouttwenty-five years later. He built the famous Bay Hills course inOrlando, Florida.”

“Ifit’s famous I never heard of it.”

“That’sbecause you’re not a golf fan. Anyway, Arnold said, ‘Golf isdeceptively simple and endlessly complicated. It satisfies the souland frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding andmaddening – and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind hasever invented.’ Thatstill holds true twohundred years after he said it.”

“Howabout baseball?”

“Thatcomes in second,” I said.

Astridgave me a condescending smile. “Well, I hate to play through, butBelen wants to see you.”

“Didshe say about what?”

“No,but I gather it’s important.”

“OK,on my way.”

Belenhas such a huge complex it took about five minutes walking throughwinding corridors, riding up escalators and spending time in anelevator before I was ready to rap on her office door. It swungopenbefore I knocked. Belen was standing in the middle of her mile-longheadquarters. She waved me in. Belen is the chairman, the CEO andthemajor stockholder of Morganthal Enterprises.

“Takea chair, Logan.”

Ieased into a red cushioned chair that adjusted itself to my body.Very comfortable. Too comfortable. You can drop off to sleep in oneof these chairs. And I figured sleep was the last thing Belenwantedme to do.

“What’sthe problem?” I asked.

Ithought a cigar would help me keep awake, so I yanked one out of ablue carton and stuck it in my mouth.

“Ineed you for a rescue mission. Or possibly a rescue mission.Perhapsnothing has happened to my team. At least I hope that’s the case.But just in case I need you and your team,” she said.

“Asit so happens, we’re available,” I said, puffing out some smoke.

Ifrowned. Belen doesn’t wear her emotions on her sleeve. She’s anattractive dark-haired woman with stunning brown eyes. Usually theysparkle. But they had dimmed and looked listless. Which startledandworried me. The voice, while strong, had a worriedundertone.

“What’sthe mission?”

Sheflicked something on her desk and a planet popped up on one of thebig screens in her office. Looked like a pleasant place. Plenty ofgreen land, long stretches of blue. A few rushing rivers. All inall,rich individuals might like a summer home there.

“Thisis Verdunne. Or at least that’s what we call it. It’s on theoutskirts of our known space. I sent in an exploration brigade.Therewere no signs of sentient life there and nothing appeareddangerous.Even so, they had military support.”

Inodded. I can’t keep track of all of Belen’s enterprises but sheis an enthusiastic spacer. One of her many companies is anexploration agency. It has turned up some amazing finds.

“Sowhat’s wrong?”

“What’swrong is we have lost contact with them. No contact for two daysnow.A lot of things can go wrong in space, so I don’t automaticallyjump to horrible conclusions. It simply could be a communicationproblem. The planet is a long distance from here. Who knows whatcould happen with the signal.”

“Butyou’re worried enough to send a rescue team.”

“Isure am. I knew some people on this mission. I didn’t think itwould be dangerous, and I sure don’t want to lose them. I have asecond ship ready, theRanger Two.How long will it take your squad to get ready?”

“Aboutan hour.”

Shesighed. Her voice weakened. Which shocked me. She leaned back inthechair and stared at the ceiling.

“Itold you I know some people on the expedition. One of the crew isRegina Kellers. We’ve been good friends for twenty years. She is adear woman…” Her voice trailed off.

“We’llfind her. And the rest of the crew.”

“Thanks,Logan.” She looked at me. “Are we good? I know you disagreed withme about the Rinaldi matter. I don’t want any acrimony between us.I made what I thought was the best decision.”

“Ofcourse we’re good. Friends disagree at times but they stay friends.We’ve been through a lot together, Belen. One minor disagreementdoesn’t change that. We’ll be pals forever.”

Hersmile warmed my heart.

“Thankyou, my friend. I appreciate it.” She gave a deep sigh. “Nowdon’t waste time. You have one hour before takeoff. I have a crewready to man the ship.”

“Yes,ma’am.”

Chapter 2

Theship was a triple-A small star cruiser called theRangerTwo. I hadn’t been on the Rangerfor a while, but it looked first-rate. Polished and humming.Excellent inside and out. My boots clanked on the corridor leadingmeto the bridge. The cruiser would have the minimal number of crewneeded. Add in a dozen of my squad and another fifty of Belen’ssecurity people and there was still plenty of lodging space.

Self-cleaning.That’s one of the modern pluses of our naval vessels or, to be moreprecise, Belen’s naval vessels. The Artificial Intelligence of theship keeps it clean. No more enlisted personnel polishing the deck.There is still somewhat of a controversy among scientists and navalofficers over where the ships are actually AIs or are simplyprogrammed so well they merely seem intelligent. I find it amusingbut a waste of time. As long as the AIs or non-AIs respond tocommands, that’s what counts.

Ialso enjoy private work. Even in the military there arebureaucraciesgalore. It’s even worse dealing with government than privatebureaucrats. Even though we’ve been in a digital/computer age formore than a hundred and fifty years, some government officialsstilldemand paper certification. I think it’s easier to cover their buttwith paper. And the iron-clad rule of CYB is true all across thegalaxy. Human nature doesn’t seem to change.

Workingwith Belen there’s just one boss. You get rid of all theofficecrats. No delays, no long conferences. No idiots makingdecisions. Things get done quickly and efficiently. You can’t askfor more.

Whenthe elevator doors opened to the bridge, Admiral Adjin Nikanawaturned around and walked toward me. He saluted and I saluted back.

“Welcomeaboard, major.”

“Thankyou. Good to see you again Adjin. How’s the family?”

Hesmiled. “Doing very well. My youngest, Ada, just graduated from theAcademy. Her first assignment is in the Nova system. It’s peacefulthere, so I hope she won’t see too much excitement. Seeing his ownchildren in action is not good for a father, or a mother for thatmatter.”

“Iimagine it isn’t. I assume the ship is ready to go.”

“Itis. It’s one of the finest ships in Ms. Morganthal’s Navy. It cantake anything thrown at it and it will get us to our destination inrecord time.”

“Belentold me there’s been no communication with the expedition party. Isthat still true?”

“Alas,yes. No communication, no static, no nothing. We have no idea whathappened out on Verdunne.”

“Didthat party have a ship like this one?”

“No.It was more of exploratory ship. TheBelarusTwo. Less military, less armament.It was supposed to be a peaceful region,” he said.

“Well,that has been the epitaph put on the tombstone of many a spacer.‘Itwas supposed to be a peaceful region.’ Do we have the standardmissiles and lasers?”

“Wehave more than that. Much more. Belen’s scientists have added a newweapon to our arsenal. They’re a brilliant bunch.”

“Belenonly hires the brilliant and that includes me and you,Adjin.”

Hislaughter bounced off the walls. “I’m not sure I’d includemyself in that category, major.”

Well,I did. The admiral often displays a degree of humility. You don’tsee much of that trait in humans. Ironically, it is mostlydisplayedby individuals who have actually accomplished a great deal. Astridtells me I don’t display a great deal of humility either. I’msure she’s right.

“Sowhat has the science branch come up with?”

“ADisintegrator Ray.”

Iopened my mouth but didn’t say anything. The last time I wassurprised was about eight months ago. But that was an unpleasantsurprise.

“Sowe can push a button and whatever we are fighting goes…poof?”

Nikanawanodded. “Pretty much. The ray hasn’t been through final testing,but all the preliminary tests were positive. A great many things,including small comets, went poof when they turned it on. Thescientists wanted even more testing, but I told them we might needthe ray now, so it was installed in the ship. Since the ray hasn’treceived final approval they asked that we be a bit careful withit...”

“Idefinitely agree with your decision. I’m glad we have it on board.I will assure the scientists that we will be careful and won’t useit unless we… have something we need disintegrated.”

“Ihave sent the scientific background to your computer so you canlookthe info over if you like.”

“I’llprobably skip that. I don’t care how it works just so long as itdoes, actually, work. Besides, I couldn’t second-guess the sciencebranch. I don’t tell them how to build things and they don’tadvise me on military strategy.”

“Thereis one other addition that goes with the ship. Courtesy of thescientists.” He smiled. “They’ve been a busy bunch.”

“Whatelse did they come up with?”

“APlanet Buster Bomb,” he said.

Ilet that sentence sink in. I am used to dealing with things that goboom, but the words took my breath away.

“MayI assume the name of this explosive is not anexaggeration?”

“Youmay, major. For a weapon that will allegedly take out a planet,it’snot that big of a bomb. But apparently it’s the gift that keeps ongiving.”

“Itrust we won’t need something like that on this trip. But I’mglad the scientists were thinking of us. We should send them athankyou card.”

Iwalked to my cabin. At the door was my old friend Master SergeantRab, who gave a ragged salute.

“Ihave two new volunteers for you, major. Like to meet now orlater?”

“Nowis fine.”

AfterI sat down at my desk, Rab escorted in a young man with black hair,asteel jaw and green eyes. He looked about eighteen and, for amoment,I thought wistfully about my age.

“Lt.Jerico Markan reporting, sir.”

Iflicked on the computer and called up his background.

“Yourrecord is impressive, Mr. Markan. You distinguished yourself at thebattle of Cressida. Two medals for courage under fire.” I lookedup. “So why did you quit the Federation services and decide to goprivate?”

“Toomany fools being promoted, sir. Including one who was promotedaboveme. I was sure his command would be a disaster.”

“Yeah,that can happen. How do you know you’re not working for a foolnow?”

“Iknow your record, sir. It would be an honor working with you andyoursquad.”

“I’mglad to hear you don’t like working under fools. If you quit, Lt,then I’ll know I have to reexamine my strategicdecisions.”

“Idon’t think that will happen, sir.”

Istood up and offered my hand. “Welcome to the squad.”

Hesmiled like a child seeing ice cream for first time. “Thank you,sir.”

Ashe marched out, a young woman walked in. She wore a blue cadetuniform. About five-five, her features declared Asian ancestors,butshe peered at me with stunning green eyes. She brisklysaluted.

“AmeriTagashi reporting, sir.”

Iclicked the computer and read her background. The resume was veryimpressive. Great physical skills. IQ way above average. Creative.Innovative.

“Ameri?”I asked.

“Yes,sir. Six generations of my family have lived in the United States.Somy father though Ameri would be a good name. We’re fromTennessee.”

“Avery nice state. Why do you want to be in this squad,Ameri?”

“Adventure,sir. The regular military was a bit dull. I hear that’s not aproblem with Ryvenbark’s Rangers.”

“That’swhat you heard?”

“Yes,sir. It’s said no one gets bored in this unit.”

“Probablytrue. Any other reason?”

Fora second, the confident young lady before me looked a bit edgy. Ididn’t think edginess was a major part of her personality.

“Idon’t believe you have some shadowy, sinister reason for joining,so just tell me your second reason for joining up,” Isaid.

Shegave a quick, embarrassed smile.

“Lt.Rico Diamond, sir. He’s in your squad.”

Shelet that hang in the air.

“Careto share a little more?”

“Weare engaged, sir. But I wasn’t sure you’d accept that as a goodreason for wanting to join the Rangers.”

“Nonsense.I’m a sentimentalist. I’m a strong believer in love. Engaged?When’s the marriage date?”

“Today,sir. We thought we better get married before we leave port. Notelling when we’ll get back. That is, sir, if you approve myapplication.”

Ismiled. “Call the chaplain. You’re approved. But you have lessthan an hour to get married. Find a chaplain who talksfast.”

Herhigh-beam smile lit up my office.

“Bythe way, there was a Col. Tagashi in the military when I served. Hewas in the intelligence division. Any relation?”