Free Ghosts of Empire (Book 4 of The Empire of Bones Saga) by Terry Mixon Page A

future, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go behind my back where my people are concerned. The chain of command exists for a reason. Come back with the crew. I want you here on Invincible when King comes up. Mertz out.
    He returned his attention to Elise. “There. I’ve scolded her and given her the green light. Now, what do we do about you?”
    Elise shook her head with a bemused expression. “You stared off into space for just a few seconds. That must’ve been the fastest ass chewing in history.”
    “Hardly. You should’ve heard what she said when I got implants and didn’t tell her . So, what can you do?”
    Elise seemed to consider his words for a moment and then stood. “Actually, we can talk about that later. You have plenty of time to shower. I’ve missed you and have better things to do than talk.”
    That was a plan he could wholeheartedly get behind. Worrying about King could wait.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Kelsey stepped out of the cutter. Jared’s bridge crew filed out as soon as she cleared the way. Her security team, Talbot, and Charlie Graves followed them. The cutter crew closed the hatch and decoupled, taking the senior officers from Courageous home.
    Jared shook Charlie’s hand. “Looks like we’ll have to start cutting you in on the action.”
    Graves grinned. “I’m looking forward to getting back to Courageous and testing these implants. Now that you and the princess aren’t hogging them.”
    “I bet. Invincible , please grant everyone present with implants the appropriate access to your systems.”
    “Done, Admiral,” the AI said. “Welcome aboard, everyone.”
    Jared gestured toward the lift. “Zia, Kelsey, Talbot, Charlie, and Elise. Let’s adjourn to my office. Everyone else, you know where you need to be. Start getting familiar with using your implants.”
    The large crowd dispersed and Jared led the way to his office just off the flag bridge. It was a large space seemingly designed to impress visitors. His desk was made of dark wood and so large that Kelsey doubted he could reach the other side while sitting.
    She looked around the space with interest. The shelves were of a similar make. He’d picked up enough knick-knacks on Pentagar to fill them. The rest of the furniture was comfortable and expensive looking.
    All in all, she thought the room set the right tone for the visiting negotiators. Of course, they hadn’t seemed very impressed with a fleet of ships in orbit, so she might be wrong.
    They settled into comfortable chairs and Jared started things off. “I’m glad to see no one had any problems with the implant procedure. That’ll make things a lot better for us the next time we have to fight. Unfortunately, we have a battle of a different nature coming up. The woman assigned to negotiate with us is difficult. Now she’s coming to see me face-to-face.
    “How do we keep her from knowing we aren’t Rebel Fleet officers? Or that this ship was the one they were getting ready to stage a coup with? One misstep and they could kill thousands of our people.”
    Graves frowned. “I still don’t understand how they could be so suicidal. We control weapons of mass destruction that could obliterate millions of their citizens.”
    “Weapons we won’t use,” Kelsey said. “It’s never a good strategy to bluff. If they call, we look weak.”
    Talbot gave her a smile. “You bluff all the time.”
    “Never so often that you can read me,” she shot back. “If we blow this, we have no leverage. Let them read the threat without us mentioning it.”
    Jared nodded. “That’s probably for the best. I’d been planning to use a different conference room, but now that we have enough officers with implants, I think a trip through the flag bridge is in order. Impress her with this ship and its implied firepower.”
    “You’ll need to replace the ship’s plaque,” Zia said. “The chances of there being two major ships with the same name are too small.”
    “ Invincible ,