Chapter 48
Piru Torgud Bale Phatie stomped across the bridge of the Malguurian warship and pointed his sword at the captain. The destroyer had just returned from the first real battle with the human fleet out of Bayliss.
“And you return to our space with not a mark on your hull? Not a single scratch? How is that possible Captain Wiiene?”
“Your eminence, we had already lost all of our ships. Even with the new technology, the humans were not easily put down. They employed tactics that we did not anticipate. At the last —”
“What part of fighting to the death did you fail to grasp, you miserable coward. I should kill you all.”
“Our men fought gallantly, sir. Down to the last man. We left thousands of men back there, men who gave their lives to support you and the Vanuuiad.”
“Yet, you return with half-full magazines. You come back with your tale of woe and expect supplication to supplant satisfaction? Get off this bridge, Captain, and await my final disposition. If it were not for the fact that you are only one of two leaders to return with the details of this defeat so that we may study them in more detail, I would send you to the Deliverer right now.”
“Sir,” one of the bridge crewmen spoke up quickly, “I recorded the entire battle on the digital cameras. You do not need his account at all.”
Before Captain Wiiene could respond to this treachery, Bale Phatie took off his head with one clean stroke and turned aside as the man’s body crumbled to the deck. “I want to see those tapes, lieutenant,” he said as he wiped his sword on the fallen captain’s uniform tunic. “Gather your things and return with me to my ship. You will now be my official aide. From this point on, you will always be at my right hand.”
The startled communications lieutenant jumped from his seat and pounded his chest.
Phatie looked at the remaining bridge crewmen and said, “Clean this mess up. Vent this carcass to space without any ceremony. Let this be a lesson to all of you. Defeat is something I can tolerate in the ebb and flow of war. Cowardice is something I will never show mercy for. We are on our Divine Course and the Deliverer is behind us. We will fight and we will die and others will fight in our place. But hear me well: we must fight until the last shell is exploded; we must fight until the last ship is destroyed; we must fight until the last sword is dulled by the blood of our enemies; and we must fight until the human empire runs red with their blood and their stars no longer shine. Until the end, gentlemen, til the bitter end we must fight!”
He scowled and made his way from the bridge. Lieutenant Manciir followed him with a satchel full of digital recording wafers. The lieutenant looked over his shoulder at his shipmates.
Men he would never see again.
He followed Bale Phatie to his waiting shuttle and climbed aboard.
The Piru Torgud headed back to Rauud Mithie and his secret weapon shops.
Back to the weapons designers and the proverbial drawing board.
Back to get a bigger weapon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert B. Jones, an accomplished futuristic artist and illustrator, and a former Chinese linguist for the US Air Force, grew up in Washington, D.C. He has worked in some of the most security-sensitive places in the country, including the White House, Camp David and the National Security Agency. He is the author of A Chip In Time and his follow-up Danny DeVille novel, The Hand Is Quicker.
The Belt Loop is the latest from Jones and he now has two epic space adventures destined to become fan favorites in the space-opera genre. His long-range goal is to take the saga in unlimited directions and follow many of his characters from the cradle to the grave in an ever-expanding galactic adventure series. He calls Henderson, Nevada home and is hard at work on the third Belt Loop novel.
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