Ghost Squadron Boxed Set (Books 1-4): Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Ghost Squadron Boxed Sets)

by Sarah Noffke

  Marilla lifted her gaze and regarded him thoughtfully for a moment before untangling the wadded paper from her hair. “If I say ‘yes,’ will you stop throwing things at me?”

  He pulled another sticky note from the surface of his desk and crumpled it. They pretty much lined the entire surface, not to mention the many computer screens in front of him. “That’s not how this works,” he teased. “We’re honest with each other. You’re not supposed to tell me something because it’s what you think I want to hear, and I don’t stop bugging you just because you give me lip service. We’re legitimate with one another.” He threw the paper ball, but missed her this time.

  Marilla lifted an eyebrow, looking curious. “Do you write out these little speeches beforehand?”

  “Yes, and I practice them in the mirror after I shower and before I shave,” said Chester, then added, “while all I’m wearing is a towel.”

  She dropped her gaze to her computer screen as if suddenly engrossed in her work again.

  “Are you picturing me wearing nothing but a towel wrapped tightly around my waist?” asked Chester.

  Her cheeks reddened, but only briefly. “I’m confused,” she said. “I didn’t think you needed to shave.”

  Chester turned around and stared at the screen. It was true that he had a baby face, with his fair skin and lightly-colored spiky hair. He couldn’t help it, and he wouldn’t apologize for being so devilishly handsome.

  He rubbed his smooth chin. “You can lie to yourself, Mar, but you can’t lie to me. You’ll never erase the visual of me standing half-naked in front of the mirror rehearsing the things I’m going to say to you later. It’s all you’ll think about. You’ll be obsessed with me.”

  “Boy, I already am,” said the Captain’s voice from the door.

  Chester spun to find Eddie standing squarely in the doorway with a smile on his face. The guy was always smiling. He probably grinned while beating up bad guys and sported a toothy smile as he delivered one-two punches, Chester thought, amusing himself with the idea.

  “I was able to crack the data Pip sent over to me. Most of it was encoded, but the Trid aren’t as clever as they think they are—or maybe it’s just that I know all their tricks now,” said Chester.

  “Which is exactly why I’m obsessed with you,” said Eddie, striding into the room. He pulled out a chair and sat down in it backward, leaning toward Chester over the back support.

  Harley peeked his head out from beside Marilla’s desk, yawning, then stretched and made his way over to Eddie. The Captain bent down and scratched the dog behind the ears.

  “As you should be. You know a good thing when you see it,” said Chester. His gaze drifted to Marilla, who was pretending not to pay attention.

  “You’ve had the data for a whole hour and you’ve already cracked it,” said Eddie, then looked at Marilla and pointed in Chester’s direction. “That’s definitely why I love this guy.”

  Chester turned back to his computer and pulled up the data from Pistris Station. “I was able to track down the scientists who designed the Stingrays.”

  Eddie shook his head. “We don’t need that information anymore. I stole one of the bad boys, so no need for the plans.”

  A Cheshire-cat grin spread on Chester’s mouth. “I heard a rumor about this Stingray trying to enter the loading bay. You nearly got shot down.”

  “Nearly.” Eddie laughed.

  “Regardless, hearing about it got me thinking,” Chester continued. “Sometimes I get obsessed with information, you know? I just start looking into things one bit of data at a time. It’s obsessive, I get that, but every once in a while it leads to something interesting. In this case I decided to research the origin of Stingray ships, so I looked into the scientist who designed them, the one who originally built that model. Turns out he’s also the same person who built another ship not too long ago, the Unsurpassed.”

  “Unsurpassed,” mused Eddie, stroking his jaw.

  “Yeah. I dug a bit deeper when I found the name, because it seemed interesting and something about it caught my eye. I found that it was commissioned by an anonymous client awhile back,” explained Chester. “But that’s not even the weirdest part. Something about it felt off, and you know—after I found that out I couldn’t stop digging. I had to know the whole story.”

  Eddie nodded. “And?”

  Chester smirked. “I followed the money trail through several fake accounts until it brought me to the end. You wouldn’t believe the amount of work it took, but I was in deep already so I couldn’t stop—not when I’d come this far.”

  “So who was it?” asked Eddie, his curiosity totally piqued.

  “Mr. Felix Castile,” Chester said, cocking his head, not afraid to show his pride. “You can imagine my surprise.”

  Eddie leaned forward, his eyes widening as he rocked the chair up on two legs. “No way!”

  Chester pulled up an image of the massive ship on the main screen. “It appears to be Felix’s personal carrier.”

  “Whoa, that baby is sweet,” said Eddie, gawking at the image. The ship was smaller than the ArchAngel, but still had launch tunnels and a large landing bay. Federation ships were generally considered the greatest in the galaxy, but this Unsurpassed ship certainly gave some a run for their money.

  Chester swiped his finger on the screen in front of him and brought up the blueprints. “It’s not Federation technology, but from what I can deduce it’s pretty impressive. The ship you encountered before seems to have been a prototype for this. It was similar in many respects, but this one is bigger and tougher and has plenty more cannons to kill you with.”

  “Then I can only imagine what kind of technology Unsurpassed uses. Please send this over to Hatch. I want to get his take on this,” said Eddie.

  “Already done.” Chester pushed his glasses up on his nose, suppressing a proud smile.

  “Of course it is,” said Eddie, turning to Marilla. “This guy always exceeds expectations. Don’t you just love him?”

  Marilla’s cheeks blushed pink and she nodded, then squinted at her computer screen like something had just grabbed her attention.

  “Yeah, Mar, don’t you just love me? Maybe that’s too strong of a word. Can’t get enough of me, perhaps? Completely smitten with me, possibly?” teased Chester.

  She looked up, her mouth popping open. “What? Are you talking to me? Sorry, I was distracted.”

  “Sure you were.” Chester nodded, eyes laughing. “Anyway, Captain, I was able to track down the location for this scientist who designed Felix’s ship. I figured that if we could talk to him we might be able to learn what other technology Felix has commissioned. Technology developments always lead to motives and plans.”

  “Good thinking. That’s exactly right,” agreed Eddie. “Who is this guy, and where is he?”

  “Deacon Flick—that’s the guy’s name. And you’re not going to believe this, but he’s hiding right under the Federation’s nose.” Chester pulled up a document, and enlarged the text of a location.

  “Onyx Station? You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Eddie, reading the information.

  “Yep. The scientist responsible for designing ships for the enemy is hanging out on our home turf.” Chester clicked his tongue three times and shook his head.

  “Mr. Flick is about to get a surprise visit,” said Eddie. He stood and patted the dog, who was dutifully lying next to him.

  When he strode for the exit, Harley followed.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Loading Bay, QBS ArchAngel, Onyx Station, Paladin System

  The scraggly mutt bounded at Julianna when she entered the loading bay early. She figured that Teach would be prepping before they set out. She’d noticed that he was always early, using the time to mentally prepare before each mission. They hadn’t spoken since he’d dropped the Ricky-Bobby bomb on her. Actually she was pretty certain he was avoiding her, since he’d relayed the information on Deacon Flick and the trip to Onyx via ArchAngel.r />
  Harley had a disgusting saliva-covered bone-thing in his mouth. She peered down at him and shook her head.

  “He wants you to throw it,” said Eddie. He knelt, knees splayed wide.

  “I know what he wants, but I don’t want to touch that slobber-soaked bone,” said Julianna.

  Eddie whistled and the dog trotted over to him, for which Harley received a pat on his head. He dropped the bone in front of Eddie, and the pilot picked it up and threw it down the empty expanse of the loading bay. “I think you do want to play with Harley, but it’s kind of like the Ricky Bobby situation.”

  “I had no idea that you didn’t value your life and wanted me to end it,” said Julianna coolly.

  “When someone ends me, it’s probably going to be you. You’re unmatched, and could have me at your mercy without breaking a sweat.” Eddie looked after the dog with a satisfied smile on his face, as if he’d just thought of something pleasing. “What a way to go—at the hands of the great Commander Fregin!”

  Julianna rolled her eyes. “Since when have you thought that intervening in my affairs was a good idea? Was this a plan you hatched while you were drunk?”

  Harley had returned with the bone and stubbornly dropped it in front of Julianna again, but she simply shook her head at him.

  “I just spotted an opportunity for closure and yes, I meddled a bit in your affairs. I’m not sorry about it, so if you want to kick my ass I’ll take it like a man.” Eddie pushed to his feet, knee popping as he did. He shook out his leg as if it had cramped from his kneeling position.

  “I’m not mad at you, Teach. I have every right to be, but I get that you were trying to help,” said Julianna. Harley picked up the bone again and brought it to Eddie, from whom he immediately got what he wanted.

  “I knew you were a reasonable and tolerant person, but now I realize you’re understanding as well,” said Eddie as Harley bounded after the soggy missile.

  “You could have told me that you were trying to set up a meeting with Ricky Bobby,” said Julianna.

  You would have threatened to kill him, said Pip in her head.

  “You would have put me in a headlock so fast,” said Eddie, “or worse.”

  Julianna smiled. “That’s what Pip says too.”

  “Ha! And he knows you better than anyone else.”

  “It’s true, but you knew me well enough to know that Pip’s evolution had brought up old concerns of mine. You might pretend to be a good ol’ boy, but I think you hide intuition,” said Julianna.

  Eddie shrugged, his eyes on Harley, who had dropped the bone once more at Julianna’s feet. “I just wanted to help my friend. You had the opportunity to easily resolve things with Ricky Bobby, which is not an option for some people. Sometimes we can’t go back and say we’re sorry for walking away. We can’t always say goodbye to the people we love.”

  Julianna could hear…something…in the way he spoke. His tone had shifted and became almost distant. He seemed to retreat inside himself a bit—a reaction she knew quite well herself—and she saw a shadow in his eyes, possibly a memory of sorts. “You’re talking like you know this from experience,” she finally said.

  Eddie snapped his fingers to get Harley’s attention, but this time the dog stayed in front of Julianna, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and eyes looking expectantly up at her.

  “Maybe I do and didn’t get a chance to say goodbye, or maybe I’m okay, or I messed up,” said Eddie, walking over. He paused when he was right in front of Julianna, a strange seriousness on his usually-smiling face.

  She twitched from the emotion in his eyes and how it plainly spoke of something more. Something deeper than anything she’d ever seen from him. She knew it was pain, the sort that lingers for a lifetime and doesn’t let you go.

  Slowly he leaned down and grabbed the bone. Then he straightened and threw it, but Harley didn’t go after it. Instead he stayed there and stared up at Julianna the same way Eddie was staring.

  “Are you referring to a girl? One who you let walk away?” asked Julianna.

  Eddie shook his head with a tragic look in his eyes. “No, nothing like that. I’m referring to my parents.”

  Julianna swallowed, her throat tight. “And now you regret not dealing with things before it was too late, is that right?”

  “I regret thinking there would always be time to go back and fix everything,” said Eddie, his eyes skipping to the poor dog still sitting at their feet.

  Eddie smiled abruptly and was suddenly his former self again, a joyful expression filling his bright face. He bent down over Harley, patting the dog’s head. “One of these days she’ll give you what you want,” he said, looking up at Julianna. “Don’t give up on her just yet.”

  ~~~

  The door to the hangar opened, and both Lars and Knox entered.

  Julianna turned around to face them. A bandage was wrapped around Knox’s arm where he’d been shot. That kid hadn’t complained about it at all, which made Julianna like him even more.

  I believe you and the Captain just had a moment, said Pip.

  I don’t know what you mean.

  I have a transcript of the conversation. Would you like me to run back through it for you?

  I don’t think that’s necessary.

  You should ask him more about his parents, Pip encouraged her.

  If he wants to talk about them, he will.

  Oh, right, wait for other people to open up first. No outward attempts on your part at deepening relationships.

  Pip, are you trying to get under my skin?

  The AI laughed in her head. Under your skin! Good one, and no, I’m simply trying to point out that relationships are a two-way street.

  I can’t believe you’re lecturing me on relationships. I’ll be perfectly fine without your input on the subject.

  That’s too bad then. I found a quiz from Cosmopolitan, a magazine from Earth. It’s old, but I think the results would hold up. The quiz is entitled, “What’s Your Relationship Style?”

  This conversation is not happening.

  I assure you that it is. I took the quiz and got “Clingy Codependent.” I think my results are a bit flawed, based on my situation with you.

  Julianna burst out laughing, which gained the attention of the three men who were busy discussing the logistics of the mission.

  The quiz classified you as a “Distant Heartbreaker.” I took the quiz for you, based on how I suspected you’d answer. I calculated an eighty-five percent probability that I was correct. Would you like to take the quiz yourself to verify?

  Hell no, I do not, and neither should you, Pip. Those quizzes are terrible.

  Let me know if you change your mind. I also found many other useful quizzes like, “Does Your Hookup Want to be Your Boyfriend?” and “What’s Your Ideal Sex Position?” For obvious reasons I couldn’t complete the quizzes myself.

  Oh, gross. You have way too much free time on your hands if you’re taking quizzes from women’s magazines, Pip. We really ought to find you something more productive to do.

  Pip laughed again. “Time on my hands.” Hands…that’s funny, Julianna.

  Eddie cleared his throat to get Julianna’s attention. “Based on the distant look on your face, I’m guessing you’re having a conversation with your favorite AI.”

  “I can hear you,” said ArchAngel from overhead, butting into the conversation. “Honestly, there are too many AIs coming and going in my ship.”

  Eddie frowned. “Aw, Archie… You know you’re my main squeeze, babe!”

  “Apology accepted, Captain Teach,” said ArchAngel, “but please, no nicknames for me.”

  Julianna couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, we’re done. He’s apparently lost his damn mind and needs to be completely rebooted.”

  “Lost my mind.” Another good one, said Pip.

  “Are you up to speed?” Julianna asked Knox and Lars.

  They both agreed with a nod.

  "Based on what happened las
t time in Gun Barrel, we think having you and Lars, join us will be smart. We don't want to get cornered again and be outnumbered," said Juilianna.

  “I’m up for a mission,” said Lars.

  “All right, then let’s suit up and get going,” commanded Julianna.

  Deck Twelve, Onyx Station, Paladin System

  Eddie grinned when he saw his team.

  Knox and Lars were already dressed, wearing the uniforms of Onyx Station’s utility personnel crew. Thanks to the Federation’s control of this station, acquiring them had been a simple task.

  Julianna pulled the blazer on over her crisp white shirt. She looked different in slacks and a button-up blouse. Different in a good way, Eddie observed. She fastened a badge to the lapel of her jacket, straightening it.

  “Stop staring,” Julianna threatened when she caught him watching her.

  He jerked his head down and bent over, pretending his shoe was untied. “I wasn’t staring.”

  “If you think I look different dressed in civilian clothes, you need to look in the mirror,” said Julianna.

  “I can only imagine that I look a little stiff in this suit.” Eddie straightened and smoothed his slacks.

  “You definitely don’t look like yourself, which is the point. If I can hardly recognize you, then the Brotherhood who might be hiding and waiting for us, won’t notice you,” said Julianna.

  “You really think that the Brotherhood would be so brave as to come onto Onyx Station?” asked Knox.

  Lars nodded, leaning on a mop he’d snagged. “The Brotherhood shouldn’t be underestimated. I have no difficulty believing they could sneak onto this station if ordered to.”

  “There’s so much going on here that it’s not hard to get away with stuff,” said Eddie. “Look at this Deacon Flick guy. This scoundrel is hiding right under our noses here.”

  Julianna picked up a clipboard that carried a stack of papers pinned together at the top. “All right, you guys, get into position. Teach and I will be right behind you. Comms on, everyone.”

  Knox and Lars saluted the Commander before leaving the room they’d secured for prep, which was a back room in the maintenance sector.