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

sometimes leave backdoors in case they ever find themselves in my situation. If engineers from all sides leave small holes in their ships’ systems, no engineer will ever be left without a way out. Call it professional courtesy.
    Either that, or engineers were getting dumber and dumber.
    Out of my crew, only five of us still wore the Coalition’s clothing. We’d told the Cassocks that I was going to surrender the ship, so I’d be taken straight to the bridge to hand my sword to the enemy captain. We were armed to our teeth, but none of the Cassocks expected their own men to let their prisoners carry any weapons. As soon as we got to the bridge, we were going to attack the enemy and sabotage the frigate before they warned anyone.
    Easy as pie, right?
    Instead of remaining on the outer deck to go to the bridge, two Cassocks joined us and guided us belowdecks. Cassock frigates were mostly made of dark metallic colors, lit by red lighting now that they’d beaten to quarters.
    Everyone sings songs about glorious battles, about defeating great enemies against all odds. They’ve never been in a real fight.
    My men didn’t dare to breathe in case the enemy discovered our plans.
    There’s nothing quieter than the silence before battle. It’s a blood-freezing kind of silence. Everyone remembers and honors their mortality. You need to hide your position like a poker player hides his cards. Being quiet is of little use – it won’t help if you’re caught – but it sort of puts you into the mindset.
    You talk about heroism in battle? I’m too busy trying to stay alive.
    The Cassocks entered the axial elevators with us. The two Cassocks were square-jawed and with dangerous expressions, genetically enhanced to increase their height and muscles. One of them stared at me from above and sneered. He knew the fate that awaited me.
    He didn’t know the fate that awaited him .
    As soon as the elevator’s doors opened and the Cassocks walked out, I took out my electric gun and zapped both Cassocks. They dropped onto the floor and shook with the power of my electric gun.
    Sneer at me again if you dare.
    Flanagan stared at the men by our feet and let out a low, admiring whistle. Didn’t he think I could shoot two unguarded men with their backs turned to me? Engineers are capable of shooting at men’s backs. I’m less capable of facing someone twice my size if I’m unarmed, but I manage quite well against unsuspecting men.
    I split my men: Gomez took some to find the brig, my engineers left to place explosives at strategic locations around the frigate, and the rest needed to find the bridge and seize control of it. Flanagan, Kozinski, York and I would take care of the unconscious Cassocks.
    I took one of the men’s legs and told Flanagan to help me drag him.
    “Aye, sir.” Flanagan nodded and pulled the man’s arms.
    We dragged them into an empty storeroom and locked them up. When Kozinski and York took care of the second man, Flanagan looked at me even more confused. He kept his jaw pressed tightly and didn’t speak a word.
    Oh, right. Naval hierarchy stops him from speaking.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “Well…” Flanagan hesitated, but he finally spoke up. “Shouldn’t we be killing them, sir? They would’ve killed us. Why don’t we return the favor?”
    Because we were going to need them as hostages if things didn’t go well. Four other frigates orbited around the North Star with their arsenals ready. Even if we got rid of everyone aboard the ship, there was no way of using our weapons against four other frigates. We lacked the manpower and the defense systems, so we had to resort to a prisoner exchange. The Cassocks were tough, but they wouldn’t want us to kill off their men or to use them as cannon fodder. Besides, we could always coerce some of our prisoners to convince the frigates that they’d captured the North Star. If we killed them off, we lost our leverage.
    Leverage? Tricking the enemy? I was an