The Last Starship Read Online Free

to the dock, where your ship is, and they begged the crew you left behind for help. They’re doing what they can. From what was said it seems like they’re creating something that’s like a laser gun, but isn’t.”
    Jake smiled. “That sounds like my crew. Thank you for helping us, Tobias.”
    “Joanne, in the not so distant past, was one of my closest friends.” Tobias shrugged. “I’ll do anything I can to help her because she was there for me at a difficult time and I don’t know how I would have dealt with it alone.”
    “She’s a good person.” Jake’s eyes sharpened on Tobias’s. “I want you to be careful. The last thing we need is for the Emperor to find out how you’ve been helping us.”
    “He won’t find out. The Emperor doesn’t care what’s going on around him and without his personal assistant here there’s no way for him to find out what I’ve been doing. In the future, he might learn something of what I’ve done, but by then it’s going to be too late. I’ll be gone. It’s obvious I’m needed far more out there than I am here.”
    “Toby…”
    “Don’t, Jo. I know to be careful. I’m not going to do anything stupid, I promise.”
    “Okay.” She shook her head. “Come by the ship when we’re done here. I should be able to help you out with some money and some weapons if you want them.”
    “I want them. If there are aliens in New York, it seems likely there are aliens in other places, and the Emperor isn’t doing anything to fix things.”
    “Does he want us yet?”
    “He hasn’t said anything.”
    “Without us in orbit…” Jake didn’t like not being where he knew he was needed. “I think we need to go back and get this conversation finished because there is a chance he’s putting us off.”
    Giving a solid nod, Joanne stood. The rest of the crew did the same. “Lead the way, Toby.” Joanne smiled at him. “I’ll make sure this won’t be blamed on you.”
    “He won’t know who it was.”
     

Chapter 6
     
     
     
     
    As they made their way through the same halls they’d been through before, Jake did his best to work out some way of talking to the Emperor about the choices he’d made, without the aliens being involved.
    The last thing Jake wanted was for the aliens to do or say something that might turn the Emperor against everyone in the room.
    Breathing deeply, Jake did his best to push away the panic that was close to getting the better of him. Could that be the aliens’ influence as well? He’d never been so panicked before.
    Focusing on what needed to be done helped, and he came to the conclusion it had to be the aliens - who were focusing on the two strongest members of the crew. He reached out to take Joanne’s hand.
    “We’re okay,” he told her.
    “That’s what I keep telling myself.”
    “There might be an alien in with the Emperor, and who wants to stop us from going into the receiving room. We can’t let that happen. If we’re going to put an end to their invasion plans, we need to know what they are.”
    Joanne nodded in agreement. “There’s not going to be anything we can do to cure the Emperor, is there?”
    “Probably not. If he's been liaising with the aliens for more than a few days, there's a chance he's been changed for good.”
    When they stepped through the door, the Emperor looked over at them. “I don’t remember calling you back, Captain.”
    “I’m afraid we can’t wait any longer. We need to get back into orbit, because we shouldn’t have been here this long when we are the only ship left, and it seems like we’re going to be the only ship for a while, at least.”
    “You can’t leave.” The Emperor smiled. “I haven’t given you permission.”
    “According to the law, we can ignore your orders if we believe they’re putting the Earth at risk.”
    “Why would you believe that?”
    “There were aliens in New York.” Jake shook his head. “You don’t seem to have done anything about that, and