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Back Embers of War
Chapters (85)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Gareth L. Powell and available from Titan Books
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue: Pelapatarn
  7. Part One: Three Years Later
  8. One: Sal Konstanz
  9. Two: Ona Sudak
  10. Three: Ashton Childe
  11. Four: Sal Konstanz
  12. Five: Trouble Dog
  13. Six: Sal Konstanz
  14. Seven: Ashton Childe
  15. Eight: Sal Konstanz
  16. Nine: Sal Konstanz
  17. Ten: Trouble Dog
  18. Eleven: Ona Sudak
  19. Twelve: Sal Konstanz
  20. Thirteen: Trouble Dog
  21. Fourteen: Nod
  22. Fifteen: Sal Konstanz
  23. Sixteen: Ona Sudak
  24. Seventeen: Sal Konstanz
  25. Eighteen: Ashton Childe
  26. Nineteen: Ona Sudak
  27. Twenty: Sal Konstanz
  28. Twenty-One: Ashton Childe
  29. Twenty-Two: Trouble Dog
  30. Twenty-Three: Ona Sudak
  31. Twenty-Four: Sal Konstanz
  32. Twenty-Five: Trouble Dog
  33. Twenty-Six: Ashton Childe
  34. Twenty-Seven: Trouble Dog
  35. Twenty-Eight: Nod
  36. Twenty-Nine: Ona Sudak
  37. Thirty: Sal Konstanz
  38. Thirty-One: Nod
  39. Thirty-Two: Ona Sudak
  40. Thirty-Three: Sal Konstanz
  41. Thirty-Four: Nod
  42. Thirty-Five: Ashton Childe
  43. Thirty-Six: Sal Konstanz
  44. Thirty-Seven: Ona Sudak
  45. Thirty-Eight: Ashton Childe
  46. Thirty-Nine: Ona Sudak
  47. Forty: Trouble Dog
  48. Forty-One: Sal Konstanz
  49. Part Two: The Marble Armada
  50. Forty-Two: Ona Sudak
  51. Forty-Three: Sal Konstanz
  52. Forty-Four: Nod
  53. Forty-Five: Trouble Dog
  54. Forty-Six: Sal Konstanz
  55. Forty-Seven: Ashton Childe
  56. Forty-Eight: Trouble Dog
  57. Forty-Nine: Sal Konstanz
  58. Fifty: Nod
  59. Fifty-One: Ashton Childe
  60. Fifty-Two: Ona Sudak
  61. Fifty-Three: Trouble Dog
  62. Fifty-Four: Ona Sudak
  63. Fifty-Five: Sal Konstanz
  64. Fifty-Six: Ashton Childe
  65. Fifty-Seven: Ona Sudak
  66. Fifty-Eight: Trouble Dog
  67. Fifty-Nine: Sal Konstanz
  68. Sixty: Ashton Childe
  69. Sixty-One: Ona Sudak
  70. Sixty-Two: Sal Konstanz
  71. Sixty-Three: Ona Sudak
  72. Sixty-Four: Nod
  73. Sixty-Five: Trouble Dog
  74. Sixty-Six: Ashton Childe
  75. Sixty-Seven: Sal Konstanz
  76. Sixty-Eight: Trouble Dog
  77. Sixty-Nine: Sal Konstanz
  78. Seventy: Sal Konstanz
  79. Seventy-One: Ashton Childe
  80. Seventy-Two: Trouble Dog
  81. Seventy-Three: The Marble Armada
  82. Seventy-Four: Nod
  83. Acknowledgements
  84. About the Author
  85. Also Available from Titan Books

Thirty-Eight: Ashton Childe

THIRTY-EIGHT

ASHTON CHILDE

Looking up at the galley’s ceiling, I knew with an aching and stone-cold certainty that I had failed in my mission. I couldn’t continue, not now. The medic, having operated on my already battered internal organs with the help and guidance of the ship, had done his best to repair the additional damage caused by flailing around in the powered suit, and by Captain Konstanz’s fingers. However, there was a limit to the miracles that could be performed on a ship like this. I could be patched up, but not healed. We were due to arrive at our destination in a few hours, but a full recovery would take weeks, or maybe months, of rest. In addition, my elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles were still welded to the floor, and the only person I could really blame was myself.

I had been sloppy. I had let myself get shot by a nervous barman in a nowhere town, and then I had worsened the situation through my own stupidity. I had let the stress of my job almost destroy me. Laura had been right; I could see it now. After months of sweating my life away in a filthy jungle, I had cracked.

Mercifully, nobody had been seriously hurt.

Unfortunately, my attempt to commandeer the Trouble Dog had violated several important treaties. When word of it leaked back to the House, the least that could be expected would be a serious diplomatic incident. Through my actions, I had proven myself unfit for duty and become a source of embarrassment for my superiors. In all likelihood, the next twenty years of my life would be spent staring at the walls of a military jail cell. The only reason I hadn’t already been summarily discharged from duty was that I was being held incommunicado, with no access to the ship’s communications array. Reprimand and censure lay ahead, but I would have to wait to receive them, and somehow the waiting made it worse. I felt like a condemned man. I was a quantum particle caught between two states of being: no longer an agent of the Conglomeration, but not yet fired. A criminal detained but not yet convicted.