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Back Ark Royal
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover Blurb
  2. Contents
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty

Ted shook his head, firmly.  “If there are survivors, we will have to hope they hold out until the end of the war,” he said.  “One shuttle flight was dangerously revealing.”

The Marine looked as though he wanted to argue, but didn’t.  Instead, he saluted and left the compartment.  Ted watched him go, then turned back to the display.  One tramline had been explored, the other ... God alone knew where it went.  No, that wasn't entirely accurate.  They knew which star held the other end of the tramline; they just didn't know what might be orbiting that star.  An alien homeworld ... or merely a staging base?

“One day,” Ted said, out loud.  “And then we will know.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“So,” Rose said.  “What do you think of our chances?”

Kurt considered it.  She'd come to his office, they’d fucked, they’d showered ... and every instinct told him to get her out of his office before someone caught them together.  Every time he was called to a meeting, he wondered if the senior officers knew.  But he knew Rose and he needed to talk ... and besides, he didn't want to chase her out.  They were supposed to be working together, after all.

“I wish I knew,” he said.  Every war the Royal Navy had simulated had involved purely human opponents, with both sides aware of the tramline networks reaching through their territories.  Now ... tramlines could be predicted, to a certain extent, but there was no way of knowing what might lie ahead of Ark Royal as she made her way through enemy territory.  “Too little data to calculate.”

Rose smiled.  “You don't think this is a lucky ship?”

Kurt shrugged.  They'd won their first engagement through surprise and superior firepower, the second when the enemy had broken off and the third ... technically, they’d fled the battlefield, after giving the enemy a bloody nose.  Luck had played a large role in their success, he had to agree, but he preferred careful planning.  Planning tended to be more reliable, in the long run.

“I think we need to keep ahead of the bastards,” he said.  Whatever damage they’d done at New Russia, the aliens would still be in command of the territory – and priming themselves for a drive on Earth.  Or maybe head around the edge of human space and attack one of the other settled worlds.  There was no way to know what they might have in mind.  “And I also think we have to concentrate on our planning.”

Rose gave him a bewitching glance.  It was funny how he could no longer think of her as anything other than beautiful.  And she was beautiful.  But dangerous, so dangerous ... Molly was comforting, when Rose burned like a candle alight at both ends.  And yet ... how long had it been since he and Molly had made love, even before his recall to duty?