Free The Sentinel (The Sentinel Trilogy Book 1) by Michael Wallace Page B

Commander ?” she asked.
    Her tone was still short of respectful, but she rose obediently to her feet. There was something almost akin to relief in her expression, and Megat no longer looked hostile.
    “I told you, Engineer Li,” he said to his sister. “We are and will continue to operate in silence. This Albion warship has nothing to offer us, and will not be engaged. Am I understood?”
    “Yes, sir.” Her tone was sharp.
    “Megat?” Li demanded.
    “Understood, sir. And agreed.”
    “I don’t ask your agreement, only your compliance. Now, we will find and arrest those who have disobeyed orders and attempted unauthorized communication with an outside party.”
    “Yes, sir!” they both answered in unison.
    No sign of rebellion now. Apparently, all they wanted was a leader, a high priest for their religion of eternal vigilance in defense of the home world. Not that Li trusted them; their loyalty had returned too quickly, and would disappear again with the wrong word from his mouth.
    Li nodded curtly at their response. Inside, he was still in turmoil, not only from the factionalism that had taken hold of the base, but from the Albion message itself.
    We are aware of the fate of your people, and wish to help the survivors any way we can.  
     
     

Chapter Six
    Captain Tolvern hurried onto the bridge after receiving Tech Officer Smythe’s message on the com. Lieutenant Capp and Pilot Nyb Pim followed her, the latter ducking to get through the human-size doorway.
    A return message. Salvation and redemption. Information blinked on the viewscreen, which Smythe was manipulating from his console. Seen from the right angle, Smythe was the picture of masculinity, with a square jaw and broad shoulders. He looked like a captain or the son of an Albion duke, but he was all tech geek when hunched over his console.
    His junior tech officer was a quiet young woman named Lomelí, short and unimpressive to look at, but nevertheless one of the hardest workers in the entire crew. She worked the defense grid computer when not helping Smythe. Now she was bent over her own console on the other side of the tech station.
    “What have we got?” Tolvern said, hurrying to take her seat while trying to make out the information scrolling across the screen.
    In her excitement, she plopped into her old seat in the first mate’s chair. Capp had followed her in, and now snickered and moved as if to take Tolvern’s place in the captain’s chair.
    “Thanks, Cap’n. I always did fancy this big seat.” Capp ran a hand along the armrest. “From prisoner to ensign to lieutenant. And now captain of my own ship. What would my mates make of me now?”
    Tolvern fought down her blush of embarrassment as she jumped to her feet and took her proper place, while Capp settled into the chair she’d just vacated.
    Sixteen months had passed since James Drake had put down Lord Malthorne’s rebellion against the crown and defeated a Hroom suicide fleet. They’d landed marines on Saxony to defeat a rogue general who’d seized control of one of the continents, but once that final gasp of internal conflict was settled, Drake, now at the head of the Admiralty, had turned the navy’s attention to defending the kingdom against Apex and forging an alliance with the battered remnants of the Hroom Empire. He’d taken the massive battleship Dreadnought as his flagship and given Blackbeard , his navy cruiser turned pirate ship turned navy cruiser, to the newly promoted Tolvern.
    Sixteen months. When would Tolvern learn? When would it come naturally? She was too young, too inexperienced. Too in love with the former captain.
    Act confident. Pretend. It’s almost as good as the real thing.  
    Tolvern almost believed that as she settled into the chair and studied the data Smythe was manipulating on the larger screen. The tech officer pushed the star chart to one side, shunted off the long-range scans and the scroll of jump calculations, and placed the coded