Free The Rifter's Covenant by Sherwood Smith, Dave Trowbridge

moving like an automoton.
Nothing she saw or said or heard stayed in her mind. Instead she saw over and
over Hesthar al-Gessinav’s smug face, Tau Srivashti’s yellowish gaze coolly
assessing the scene, and Stulafi y’Talob’s open gloat before the three escaped
a cold-blooded massacre.

FOUR
CLAIDHEAMH MOR : IXPOTL
SYSTEM
    “In short, we’ve
been handed an opportunity to strike a mortal blow against Dol’jhar and at the
same time clean out two of the worst gangs of Rifters in the Thousand Suns.”
    Captain Cameron
ban-MacKenzie paused, taking in the plot room of the destroyer Claidheamh Mor .
    “And we owe
Neyvla-khan for Minerva,” he added.
    The officers assented
at that, though some looked troubled, even ambivalent.
    They were Navy. They’d
follow his orders. He was now senior officer, brevet commodore of the little
fleet that had coalesced around his three-destroyer squadron in the Ixpotl
system, and he knew he’d get obedience. But he wanted their understanding, too.
    “Ally with
Rifters?” Captain Agenes’s gravelly voice belied the delicacy of her features.
“I understand that your Captain Lochiel is kin, but is blood thick enough in
this case?”
    Next to her,
Captain Bonxer nodded slowly, almost rocking back and forth, as if in deep
thought. Across the table, Meliarch Refren ZiTuto, commander of the Marine
detachment, sat like a statue, his night-black face impassive. Cameron still
hadn’t learned to read him, but he had come to rely on his straightforward
loyalty.
    “You saw the vid my
cousin sent over. She’s been under the command of a Rifter named Charterly,
whose bonus chip has been clear of atrocities. And you can see the updated information
we’ve gathered on his fleet. After seeing the brag session their ‘brethren’—”
Cameron deliberately employed sarcasm, hoping to underline how little unity
there was among the Rifters “—sent of their atrocities at Asampir and Ombhul
IV, not to mention Malachronte, I think Lochiel, at least, has reached her
limit.”
    They’d all seen the
vid, comprised of scenes from all over the Thousand Suns relayed via the
Dol’jharian FTL comm— hyperwave , he
reminded himself, wincing inwardly. It felt like he’d walked into an adventure
chip, and any moment Ivard the Star Fighter would pop out of the rec room and start
declaiming against the Evil Shiidra Queen.
    But the hyperwave
existed. The resultant vid had confirmed their worst fears, showing in graphic
detail atrocities that had only been rumors or the subject of terse reports
carried by the couriers that reached them at widely spaced intervals from Ares.
Popping the DataNet still yielded little so far, although there were signs that
Ares was reestablishing its links to the Thousand Suns at large.
    “And without the Shiavona we haven’t a hope in hell of
surprising Hreem and Neyvla-khan in the Barca system,” added Kor-Mellish,
Cameron’s first officer.
    Agenes spread her
hands and shrugged. “Bring them in, then, as you suggested. Let’s get a reading
on them.”
    Cameron tabbed a
control.
    “Too bad she
couldn’t have brought one of those hyperwaves with her,” Bonxer commented, his
teeth showing as he said the word ‘hyperwave.’
    The others muttered
in agreement. The last courier, overheated near to failure by the many skips it
had made, had brought a training course in the new non-relativistic Tenno
semiology from Ares. It would be a help, but not much.
    The door slid open.
Two Marines stepped into the room and took up station to either side as Lochiel
entered, followed by her two lifemates, Messina and Bayrut. Cameron was
relieved that his cousin had taken his hint; they’d dressed plainly, and as all
were middle-aged, they looked like respectable civilians, not like swaggering
Rifters.
    Then he forgot them
when the first Kelly trinity he had ever seen in the flesh waltzed into the
plot room.
    His curiosity
turned to surprise when Meliarch ZiTuto stood up and gobbled a greeting