Beware the Black Battlenaut Read Online Free Page A

for suicide duty. How do you think that makes me feel?"
    Grist shrugged.
    "Makes me feel like kicking your ass," said Cray. "How about getting your shit together, so I can at least feel like my death meant something. Like you learned from your mistake and went on to accomplish something."
    Grist rubbed his chin. "I'll try."
    "Just do it."
    "What about the universe?" said Grist. "Are you going to destroy it?"
    "Ask the chicken-fish." Cray hiked a thumb toward one side of the cockpit.
    A long, green fish with the head of a chicken bobbed in a bubble of pink water floating in midair. "Redeye Base to Redeye Squad," it said. "Come in Redeye Squad."
     
    *****
     
    Once upon a time, a filthy young beggar decided to ply his trade outside the military academy in Soldier City on Archibald.
    (As the hypo cuff pumped go-juice into his arm again and again, Raw listened to the voice in his head tell the story.)
    Not surprisingly, the privileged and arrogant young men who passed through the academy's doors proved to be terrible pickings. They spat in his beggar's bowl and ridiculed him. Sometimes, they struck him on their way past.
    But one young man was different from the others. Whenever he passed the beggar, this young man always greeted him and put coins in his bowl. Eventually, he even brought the beggar food and clothing.
    The beggar was suspicious, as the young man's kindness was so unlike any of the other privileged military students. The young man, however, assured him that his motives were honorable.
    Over time, the two became friends. They were of about the same age, in fact. Each week, the military student took the beggar to a local restaurant for lunch. The student even suggested that there might be a place for the beggar on the estate of his father, a baron.
    The student was truly good luck for the beggar...especially after the beggar murdered him.
    The beggar did it in a matter-of-fact way, with a strong cord around the throat. He slipped away with enough money to start a new life in another town as another man.
    And he never looked back. He never regretted killing Braeburn Score in cold blood. It had simply been a thing that had to be done, a matter of survival.
    His name was Flynn Jarvo.
    He changed that name to Robert Pellucid. Nickname "Raw."
     
    *****
     
    "You don't know the whole story," said Freak. She had adjusted remarkably well to being thrown back in time and was pumping round after round from her old Battlenaut's guns into the enemy garrison. "That's why you don't blame me."
    Gwen sighed over the comm. "Go ahead. Do it."
    "Do what?" said Freak.
    "This is when you send the signal," said Gwen. "The go-ahead for the rebel ambush."
    A chill rippled through Freak's body. "What?"
    "You were working for the rebels," said Gwen. "You tipped them off."
    "You knew ?"
    "I do now. The Black Battlenaut knows all." Gwen laughed. "I also know you've been beating yourself up about it ever since."
    Freak clenched her hands around the joysticks and drove her Battlenaut hard. "You weren't supposed to die."
    "Did I or did I not save your life?" said Gwen.
    "You did," Freak said through clenched teeth.
    "Then I've got no complaints. I'd do the same thing all over again."
    Freak pushed the Battlenaut through the forest of close-set, mushroom-like mineral plugs. Geysers erupted right and left, spraying jets of hot steam that misted the viewports and cameras.
    The tear that rolled down Freak's cheek felt as hot as the steam outside. "I've missed you so much," she said. "There are so many things I've wanted to say to you."
    "I've got something to say to you, too," said Gwen.
    Freak continued to manhandle the controls. "What's that?"
    "Redeye Base to Redeye Squad," said Gwen. "Come in, Redeye Squad."
     
    *****
     
    "You've never really paid for what you did to me," said the voice in Raw's head, the voice of Braeburn Score. "You feel no guilt whatsoever."
    Raw watched the laser cannon outside the forward viewport, the weapon that his own