No Man's Space 1: Starship Encounter Read Online Free Page A

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    Awesome. So no engineering skills, no knowledge of engineering, and probably limited reading and understanding skills. I hadn’t expected the brightest of men, but where did the Navy press the men?
    “The best of the best,” Flanagan murmured quietly beside me. “Let’s see if they can fight as well as they make fools of themselves.” He tried to grin, but his eyes were tired and worried. We’d both read the news on modern warfare and we knew what the Cassocks did to their prisoners. He didn’t need to talk about it. Neither did I. We didn’t want to become dog food, nor die by decompression.
    I needed to plan something quick or I’d lose the men’s confidence.
    Here was my plan: If we couldn’t approach the enemy ship openly, we’d have to use subterfuge and trickery. We lacked the enemy’s cloaking systems, but we had many of their casualties and some of the transport shuttles they’d used to board us. We’d run into their ship, act like Cassocks, and kill our way to the brig. Once we’d freed our men, we’d activate the self-destruct systems and run out. We’d repeat the process with all five ships.
    “Isn’t this against the Laws of Space?” Gomez asked innocently.
    Flanagan chuckled under his breath.
    That’s why I don’t like to have kids nearby. It was against the Laws of Space, but could I do? Fly openly towards the enemy and wait for them to shoot? I didn’t have the soul of a martyr. If they’d sneaked into our ships, I could sneak into theirs.
    “If any of you don’t want to join me, I won’t blame you,” I said. “We’ll break a dozen international laws, and the Cassocks can hang us for treason. You know how they treat their prisoners, so I’m not scared of being hanged. I’m not letting them take 100 of us and maim and dismember them until they grow bored.”
    York and Kozinski stared at each other and nodded enthusiastically. I’d convinced them. Flanagan stepped forward symbolically to stand by my side.
    My plan wasn’t insane, was it?
    I didn’t care. Time for us to put my plan to action.
    “Are we ready?” I asked.
    The men exchanged their classic doubtful glances.
    All right, lads. You’ve made it clear: I don’t have a track record in battle. Want me to give you a pep talk or something? Would you rather have a midshipman leading you?
    Oh, the officer pose. I squared my back, sucked my stomach in, and clasped both hands behind my back. “Are we ready, gentlemen?” I asked more energetically.
    They all nodded and got ready to decontaminate the enemy ships. Decontaminating as in getting rid of all Cassocks.

Chapter 3
    “My uniform itches.” Kozinski scratched behind his neck, just where his cassock met his skin. His costume was too small for his size, and his skin wasn’t used to the sturdy cloth that Cassocks wore.
    “Speak in German or shut up,” York said. His camel cassock was two sizes too big, and he’d rolled up his sleeves. “And stop scratching, will you? Have you ever seen any Cassocks scratching themselves? No, you haven’t. You’ll get us killed.”
    The Cassocks were former mercenaries who’d abandoned the European Front. They spoke either German or French, like most of Western Europe had taken as their official languages. The European Coalition had signed peace with the English a few years before, but the mercenaries had enjoyed war too much to stop fighting. They’d offered their services to the Japs, then the Caliph, and now they fought for the new Soviets. They were doing better than the rest of us at propaganda through the terror they inflicted on their enemies, but none of us was going to acknowledge it publicly.
    We’d boarded the nearest Cassock frigate through their main hangar. We’d used their own transport shuttles and uniforms, and they’d allowed us in. Their shuttles’ security systems weren’t well-protected, and our engineers had accessed them without much difficulty. I sometimes wonder if engineers in both sides