The Final Battle Read Online Free

liked to plaster everywhere—lifted his spirits a fraction.
    Why he had been taken off Asthana the way he had, he could not understand, but wherever he had ended up, it was not on a Hammer planet. That was all he cared about right now.
    But what the hell was he supposed to do now?
    Baffled, he began to think he should go knock on a few doors when a large mobibot came down the road and stopped in front of him. Four men climbed out; they spread out into an arc and walked over to where he stood.
    “Michael Helfort?” one of the men asked. “Lieutenant Michael Helfort?”
    “Yes,” Michael replied, his face twisted into a puzzled frown, “but how’d you know that?”
    “I’m Detective Inspector Macauley, Jamuda Planetary Police. I have—”
    “Jamuda? What am I doing—”
    “Lieutenant!” Macauley barked. “You can ask all the questions you like, but not now, okay?”
    “No, it’s not okay,” Michael snapped back, glaring. “I’ve been stunshot, kidnapped, dragged halfway across humanspace, and dumped on some shithole of a planet I’ve never heard of, so if you don’t mind, I’ll ask all the damn questions I like, and I’ll keep on asking until I get some fucking answers, all right?”
    Macauley’s face hardened. “Listen to me, Helfort. Shut your damn mouth or I’ll stunshoot you myself. Is that understood?”
    Common sense prevailed. Taking a deep breath, Michael nodded.
    “Good. Lieutenant Michael Wallace Helfort, I have here—” Macauley held out a piece of paper. “—a warrant for your arrest pending a formal extradition request from the government of the Federated Worlds. You will be remanded in custody until your extradition hearing. Do you have any questions?”
    Hundreds, Michael thought as he took the warrant. He could not speak, stunned into silence by the terrible realization that he must have been betrayed by the one person in humanspace he’d thought he could trust: Vice Admiral Jaruzelska.
    • • •
    “… and then the police turned up,” Michael said, “and I was arrested. The rest you know, François.”
    “Hmm,” the fresh-faced man sitting across the table said. “The Federated Worlds was behind your abduction from Asthana; there can be little doubt about that. The problem is that we have no way of proving it.”
    “Hah!” Michael snorted his derision. “One hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?” he said.
    “Of course it is, but without hard evidence, that’s all it is. I’m sorry, but how you got to Jamuda is irrelevant.”
    “So what are my options?”
    “Limited, to be blunt. The provisional arrest warrant specifies that you will be charged with aggravated grand larceny.”
    “That doesn’t sound so bad,” Michael said. He tried to sound flippant. “I did steal three dreadnoughts, after all.”
    “I know you did, and the Federated Worlds were at war, which is why the charge specifies aggravated grand larceny. The bad news is that’s a capital offense …”
    “Oh,” Michael whispered.
    “… and unfortunately for you, Jamudan law permits extradition for capital offenses.”
    “So what?” Michael said, dismissing the problem with a wave of his hand. “The Federated Worlds haven’t executed anyone for centuries.”
    “That’s not a precedent you can rely on,” Hammel said. He pulled a piece of paper out of his folder and pushed it across the table. “This is a transcript from one of the Federated Worlds’ news networks, and needless to say, your arrest is the headline story.”
    “Those scum-sucking lowlifes,” Michael hissed after he’d read the page. “Bastards,” he said, and pushed the page back. “They don’t like me … not that they ever did.”
    “No, they don’t, and they’re not alone. There’s enormous pressure on your government not to waive the death sentence, and that pressure will not go away.”
    Michael’s head dropped into his hands; his mind raced. He looked up again. “You think they’d ask for the death