Dark Space: Origin Read Online Free

drifted shut and his battered body relaxed in sleep.
    *  *  *

    Gina Giord finished explaining who they were and why they’d come to Obsidian Station to Captain Adram of the Interloper . They waited through a tense silence for the captain to respond. When that silence dragged on too long, Gina keyed the comm again.
    “ Interloper, do you copy?”
    “We copy, Rescue . Please stand by.”
    “Acknowledged . . . standing by . . .” Gina replied with a furrowed brow.
    Alara frowned at the comm display, reading the transcript of their conversation for a recap. A minute later she shook her head and looked up at Gina. “Do you think they believe us?”
    “Why wouldn’t they?”
    “The overlord was a holoskinner. A notorious crime lord set a devastating virus loose on the ISSF’s flagship and he’s now controlling both that ship and likely all of Dark Space, while we’re out here looking for help so we can rescue the handful of survivors from that attack.”
    “Hmmm.”
    “And after all that, no response—just, we copy. Stand by —like they’re still deciding what to think of us.”
    “Maybe they’re trying to figure out how to bring us aboard?” Delayn suggested. “It can’t be easy to operate a Sythian cruiser. They use mental control systems for everything, and half the time we don’t know what thought patterns will activate a given system.”
    “Well, there’s another mystery for you—” Gina said. “—and I still haven’t heard an answer. What are our boys doing joyriding in a Sythian Cruiser?”
    “Maybe it isss more comfortable,” Tova hissed.
    Gina turned to glare at her. They couldn’t see the alien’s expression behind her helmet, so it was hard to decide if her comment was an attempt at humor—assuming Gors had a sense of humor.
    The comm crackled once more. “ Rescue, we’ve detected a Gor aboard your ship.”
    Gina leaned forward to speak into the comms once more. “That’s correct, Interloper, but she’s friendly.”
    Another long pause.
    “The admiral doesn’t allow skull faces aboard his ships.”
    All eyes turned to Tova, but thankfully she didn’t react to the racial slur.
    Gina sighed loudly. “We’ve come a long way, Interloper, and we have people counting on us, so time is short. Don’t you think you could bend the rules, just this once?”
    “She’ll have to stay on the corvette. If you agree, we’ll bring you aboard.”
    Gina scowled. “Agreed, Interloper. ”
    “Stand by for grav lock.”
    The ship shuddered almost imperceptibly and Alara noticed their icon on the star map begin moving toward the larger icon of the Sythian cruiser. “I thought they were going to fire on us,” she said, looking up from the display.
    Gina shrugged. “Not everyone’s as forgiving as Overlord Dom—” She cut herself off with a frown and left it at that.
    It was common knowledge that the overlord had been uncovered as a holoskinner and an imposter. Knowing that, it was hard not to question his judgment in forming an alliance with the Gors.
    “What do you think will happen now that the overlord’s not in power anymore?” Delayn asked.
    Gina shrugged. “I guess the fleet will take over with Admiral Heston in command.”
    “A military dictatorship,” Alara said.
    “Better than an illegitimate civilian one.”
    Alara noticed Tova watching them as they discussed the situation, and she wondered how much the alien understood about human politics. Was Tova authorized to know about the current instability in the human government? Technically, Admiral Heston wasn’t a part of the alliance between humans and Gors, so if he took over both human factions, that alliance would be in jeopardy. If the Gors realized that, then they might take preemptive measures.
    Alara’s mind turned back to the fate of the Imperium and her thoughts began boiling with questions as she tried to reconcile her private knowledge that the man she remembered as her friend and business partner, a man named