Free First Comes Duty (The Hope Island Chronicles Book 2) by PJ Strebor

over the corpse. 
    “Captain, I’m reading an automated distress beacon,” the tactical officer informed him. “It might be a life pod. It’s a long way out, so I can’t be sure.”
    “Helm, lock on to the signal, full ahead on all engines. First Officer, remain at A-C One. Tactical, full active sweeps of the entire area in case it’s a trick.”
    An hour passed before the destroyer zeroed in on the weakening signal. He could not imagine how one of Porus ’ life pods had escaped the slaughter. Following a full sensor sweep, Captain Johns ordered the damaged pod to be tractored aboard.
    By the time he got to the boat bay, the occupants were receiving medical treatment, after their removal from their tiny tomb. The two men were both in their mid-twenties, and were obviously unnerved by their experience. He appreciated their condition, but he needed to know what had happened.
    “Gentlemen, I am Captain Johns of the destroyer Sledgehammer .”
    He waited patiently until the first man pulled himself together enough to respond.
    “P-Peter Fitzsimmons.” His voice trembled as he spoke, not surprising under the circumstances. “And my business partner, Lance Goble.” The second man nodded.
    “Mister Fitzsimmons, Mister Goble,” Johns acknowledged. “I appreciate you two have been through a terrible ordeal but, well, quite frankly, you shouldn’t be alive. Pruessen raiders like the ones who destroyed your ship generally don’t leave witnesses. So, gentlemen, I need to know: how did you escape?”
    Both men glanced at one another before examining their expensive shoes. Fitzsimmons finally met his eyes, lines of shame etched onto his face.
    “We ran, Captain,” he said, in a voice strained with emotion. “We knew the ship was doomed, so we jumped into the nearest escape pod and ran.”
    “But how did you… ” the captain began.
    “We are engineers from Cestus travelling on the Porus to home for a long-overdue leave,” Fitzsimmons said. “We knew the ship was gone after the first torpedoes hit. Power went off, systems went down. She didn’t have a chance. So we left.” Again he gazed at his shoes.
    The other one, Goble, sat with his head in his hands. Johns considered Goble to be the silent partner, then dismissed the thought as being in extremely poor taste.
    “The second salvo was inbound as our pod cleared the ship,” Fitzsimmons continued. “We should have been vaporized by the blast, but instead the shock wave pushed us clear of the destruction.”
    Lucky bastards .
    “Well, gentlemen, you have both had a most eventful day. But, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. We were on our way home when we picked up your distress call, so we can have you in Talgarno orbit in a few hours.”
    Relief washed over the survivors’ faces.
    “And gentlemen, let me say this. There is no running away from a hopeless situation. There is only survival. There was nothing either of you could have done to change what happed. Porus was dead from the moment the E-boats found her. I congratulate you two for thinking fast enough to escape a hopeless situation. Now get some rest and leave everything else to me.”
    A tear ran down Fitzsimmons’ face. When he spoke, the tremor had returned to his voice.
    “Thank you, Captain. I will forever remember your kindness.”
     

CHAPTER 13
     
    Date: 8 th January, 322 ASC.
    Position: Battle station Stronghold , in orbit above Talgarno.
    Status: War preparations.
     
    President Sellassy rubbed her eyes as another report scrolled across her screen. More bad news.
    Another squadron of Pruessen battleships had joined the enormous armada poised at the system’s outer marker. When the enemy finally attacked, Talgarno would fight the unstoppable wave of savagery to the bitter end. Even though they might die as a people, their deaths would not be in vain. Word would spread throughout Tunguska and show the frightened masses they could fight back — must fight back, against anyone