Free All My Sins Remembered by Brian Wetherell

Naval Transport for the Rejai Empire.”  Turning to Hawke he asked, “You said the Choyo is docked?”  Hawke nodded.  Gordy shook his head, and brought up another file to display to everyone in the room.
    “Well then, there you go.” Gordy said, a triumphant look on his face.  Hawke look mildly confused.  “The Choyo was reported as destroyed a few months back.  Someone is going through a lot of trouble to hide what they are doing.”
    “Yes, of course.” Raijan agreed.  “If the Choyo is running supplies for the Guan Yu , then the ship’s logs will hold all the answers we need to find out what the Guan Yu’s mission is.  If the Choyo officially no longer exists, then boarding her is technically not an act of war. ” Hawke’s eyes slid over to meet Nathan’s.  Both knew they were thinking the same thing.  While technically Raijan was right, they knew that the Rejai empire could still consider it an act of war under the provisions of the PMC Accord, which state that it was an act of war for a PMC under contract to one empire to board a ship belonging to, or under contract to, another empire with hostile intent.  This could still get ugly, technicalities or not.  Nathan shrugged slightly, indicating he had no better idea, to which Hawke nodded briefly, but could not keep a grimace off his face.
    “Alright then, gentlemen.  Let’s figure out how we’re going to steal data from the Choyo’s server room.”  Raijan looked pleased, he enjoyed such challenges.  Their planning session went through lunch, interrupted only when the chef and his assistant stepped in to serve lunch, which was simple sandwiches and water.  It was nearly evening before everyone was satisfied that the plan was solid.  Satisfied, Hawke dismissed Gordy and Raijan, asking Raijan to order the team that was chosen to board the Choyo to report to the briefing room immediately.  Alone in the room with Nathan, he turned to him asking a question that had been on the forefront of his mind since the briefing began.
    “I was singing ?!” Hawke asked incredulously.  Nathan roared with laughter.

Chapter 5
     
    Tasha stood in the narrow corridor outside of the ship’s Landing Force Briefing Room, also known as the LFBR, and swallowed nervously.  She still had nightmares, and now her lack of sleep was beginning to be reflected by the dark circles that were beginning to form under her eyes.  All of the recent changes in her life didn’t help matters.  She found herself in a new unit, on a new ship, and with new comrades hunting down the same ship that had killed the Pripyat and forced her to play dead in the cold expanse of space.  Though her fellow Talons, at least most of them, had tried to go out of their way to make her feel a part of the team, there were a few raised eyebrows when she was hired at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, in charge of ship’s communications and sensors.  Of course, a couple of the communications officers were a little disgruntled, thinking they might very well have earned a promotion, only to be put under Tasha’s command.  Now, she had been called to the Landing Force Briefing Room, and she didn’t know why.  Satisfied that her nerves had settled a little, she took a deep breath, and squared her shoulders.  Pressing the button on the door control to open it, she stepped through the door and looked around.
    The briefing room was set up with tiered, theater style seating facing the front of the room where a podium stood.  Behind the podium, a large display was built into the wall.  Unlike most computer displays, the display on the wall was not holographic, but was rather made of more durable construction, a common design practice that can be found on most, if not all, purely combat ships.  In addition to the display built into the wall in the front of the room, each seat facing the podium also had a small display in which they could view briefing materials to read it in more detail, if